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Hold The Fort
2020 saw the release of FORT from Leder Games. Designed by Grant Rodiek, a reimplementation of his earlier game SPQF, FORT is a deck builder in which players assume the role of kids expanding their neighbourhood group of friends in order to build and play in their fort. Coming from Leder Games, the game not only gained attention for its incredible production value and Kyle Ferrin’s art being the primary draw. After this success, an expansion was inevitable. But was Fort: Dogs and Cats needed?
Raining Cats And Dogs
At some point in everybody’s life growing up came that nagging question, “can we have a pet pplleeaassee??”. Well here comes the introduction of Fort: Cats and Dogs into the life of the children of FORT.
The expansion is simply a deck of cards offering two independent modules to add into the base game.
The first, and simplest, is the Dogs. 18 unique (and adorable) dogs are added into the main deck with each player starting with kennel board to go alongside their player mat. In many ways Dogs work the same as friends. They have the same suits as before and can be played to follow the leader at any point. But they can’t be trashed or placed in a treehouse and can be only played on your turn if you can satisfy their play conditions. If so, then you play the dog, which nobody else can follow, and gain the rewards. Once the dog is confirmed as yours you place it on your Kennel and at the end of the game, the player with the most dogs gets seven points. Much like friends, dogs that aren’t played with will go to the yard, allowing them to be recruited by another player.
However, if by the time it gets back around to you, instead of placing any remaining dogs from your yard to your discard pile, they will go to the discard pile of the player to your left. This means you have to think about placing your dog in the yard each turn, knowing that it will be lost, and you may not get it back. Also some of the dog rewards are overpowered when compared to others which pushes you towards trying to get the conditions met quickly before others can steal them.
The second module is the cats. This smaller deck of 8 unique cats works very differently. To start, you only add one cat for each player to the game, lining them up near the park at the top of the game. These smaller cards do not have specific suits and cannot be played to follow the leader. Cats are their own personality and will wander throughout the game depending on what they are looking for.
At the end of each turn, you will check what the cats are attracted to, and if anyone meets the criteria then that cat will sit on your mat until attracted to someone else. These fickle animals come with bonus abilities, but not all good. Some might offer extra cards whilst others offer victory points, with one feline making it more expensive to upgrade your fort. Cats are drawn to what suit dominates your yard at the end of your turn. Be careful who you don’t play with, or you might be lumbered with a cat you don’t want and can’t shake off.
The Purrfect Expansion
In many ways, Fort: Cats and Dogs represents my favourite kind of expansion.
It comes in a little tuck box, at a very reasonable price, and every component fits comfortably into the base game box. It also offers two modules, easily added into the game, depending on your mood, with very little effort.
The dogs are fine, they give those indecisive players targets to aim for and seven points at the end of the game is not something to be sniffed at. This expansion works at all player counts and doesn’t effect the game a huge amount.
But, when only playing with two (maybe even three) people you don’t get the tension of losing a dog forever. Especially at two, you know that you are probably going to be able to get that cute cocker spaniel back before your next turn. In the same way, the cats really don’t work at two or three players. With only a limited number of cats in each game, the chances of attracting them are so slim, I have played games where not a single cat as left the park.
At four players, however, the cats really shine. They whizz around from player to player and when someone gets lumbered with a negative effect, it’s fun to work to keep that cat there for as long as possible. FORT, for me, is best at two players, becoming a tight little deck builder and limiting the targeted take that mechanism. But with this expansion, that four player game really gets the tail wagging.
