Shadows Over Camelot: Merlin’s Company Board Game Review

Rating: 4.0/5.0

King Arthur and his knights are facing a losing battle, but Merlin has brought help in Merlin’s Company, the expansion for Shadows Over Camelot! Play as one of the seven new knights who have joined the fray. Battle more powerful evil forces and contend with the perils of travel. Utilize the aid of Merlin, and prepare to deal with more traitors in this expansion set for the hit medieval adventure board game!

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are fighting an ongoing battle with the forces of evil led by the nefarious Morgan the witch. Merlin’s Company expands the battle by adding new Knights, new evil forces such as Morgan’s seven witches, a new travel mechanic, and even the direct presence of Merlin on the board to aid your team. This article reviews the new changes introduced in Merlin’s Company. For a review of the base Shadows Over Camelot board game, click here.

Fans of Shadows Over Camelot have long complained that the game can become very easy if the playgroup is experienced and can work well as a team. Merlin’s Company solves that problem by making the game much more challenging and deadly. It does that by introducing a couple of new game mechanics and new cards that amp up the difficulty. However, it has managed to stay true to the overall feel, gameplay and complexity level of the original game.

The most obvious addition in the expansion is the presence of new knights. King Arthur doesn’t change, but the other six original knights now have a new counterpart. These new knights come with new abilities, and you can choose to play either the old or new knight for each specific color. Also introduced in this set is Sir Bedivere who was previously only available in a magazine and a miniature box set. This effectively increases the maximum number of players to eight.

However, eight players working together can make the game lopsided. So the traitor rules have been adjusted, and now if you are playing with seven or eight players, there will be up to two traitors in the mix! That’s not all that increases the game’s difficulty though. New powerful Black cards have been introduced to impede your progress. They include Morgan’s seven witch allies, each of which has a huge game-altering effect. A couple can force all knights to lose life (depending on conditions), while another can permanently reduce Merlin’s influence on the game!

As if that weren’t enough, a new travel mechanic is also introduced. Previously, if you wanted to travel to a quest location, you would get there without incident. Now, you need to draw a travel card each time you want to move. Sometimes nothing happens, but sometimes you may get captured, waylaid or suffer other forms of interruption or damage. This can effectively cost you a valuable heroic action. But more importantly, movement and actions are no longer as strategically dependable as they once were. These random events can now destroy the best-laid plans.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. You now have Merlin on your side as a physical representation on the board. He is moved using specific travel cards, and can be interacted with using White cards to produce useful effects. His very presence also helps you: any knight at the same location as Merlin can draw an extra White card. And if Merlin is located at a completed quest, he also prevents related Black cards from adding siege engines. There are also a whole lot of new White cards that can turn the tide of battle in your favor.

Overall, Merlin’s Company has added a much-appreciated dose of challenge to a board game that is already a great game to begin with. All the new additions also serve to reinforce and complement the original game without diluting or changing the game’s feel and pacing. This is especially true for the travel deck that opens up a new dynamic to the game. The game has definitely become tougher, and you really need to work together to prevent Camelot from burning all around you.

Getting Merlin’s Company is a no-brainer if you already own the original Shadows Over Camelot. In fact, as this is an expansion set, you need the original game in order to play it. You will also love it if you like other cooperative board games such as Battlestar Galactica, or medieval-themed games such as Dominion.

Complexity: 2.5/5.0

Playing Time: 1.5 hours

Number of Players: 3 to 8 players

Check out the other games in this series!

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