Legends of Robin Hood
Theme: Steal from the Rich and Win the Game!
Company: Avalon Hill
Type: Board
# of Players: 2 - 5
Avg. Game Time: One Hour
Rating: 

Ken Says: Not to be confused with the OSG original, which Avalon Hill acquired in the early 1980's.  This game, though long out of print, is primarily for children.  It is one of Avalon Hill's better efforts of the late 1980's.  The game components consist of five cardboard stand-ups representing each player, counters for Merry men and gold pieces, a deck of cards divided into four colors:
Blue for movement - From one to four squares.
Red for Sheriff Attacks - Use these to reduce your opponents' number of Merry Men.
Black for Robbery - Steal Gold from travelling merchants, toownships and castles.
Green for Special Cards - The Horse doubles your movement, Maid Marion rescues you from the dungeon, there are also disguises, shortcuts, etc.
   The mapboard of Sherwood forest is divided into squares.  On the map are castles, towns, forests (of course) and the Camp, where the players begin the game.  Each player chooses which legendary figure they will be.  The choices are Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, and Alan A' Dale.  Each player on their turn may play one card for every color (up to four) or discard, they cannot due both.  After the action deck has been gone thru a predetermaned number of times (twice the amount of players.  Example: A three player game would end after the sixth time thru the deck) the game ends and the player with the most gold is the winner.

Pros: Very easy to learn with well produced components and has suprising replay value.  A great way to introduce the joys of gaming to the family, as well as a nice break from more complicated fare.

Cons: Veteran gamers my grow weary after a couple of trips through the forest.  The luck of the draw dictates the players' strategy to a large degree.  But, considering the audience this game is aimed for, this is a minor nit at best.

Tips
If you are lucky enough to acquire this game, here's a few helpful pointers;

- Spend the first half of the game recruiting Merry Men.   You want a big a force of Merry Men as possible before you start robbing the rich.

- If you are in the lead and it's the last deck, you can "sandbag" by discarding your entire hand each turn and drawing up to six cards, which will end the game even sooner.

- The "Rob Prince John" card is the best card in the game.  The one who holds onto it until they recruit a lot of Merry Men will laugh all the way to the bank.

Rules Suggestions
- To prevent "sandbagging" (as I've described above), limit the total discard of any player to four cards.  Which is the maximum amount that could be played in a turn.  

Ken Says: