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Let’s set the scene: You are a clan leader of Norsica, an island in turmoil, divided by the feuds of your clan and three others, and starved by a long, cold winter. But as the winter moves into spring the ice begins to melt, and the feeding frenzy begins. You must be strategic in your baiting of fish and placement of fishing boats. Which tribe will starve from lack of food, and which will come out victorious with food in their bellies and all other clans destroyed?
Gameplay Overview
In Skora there are two phases: Baiting and Fishing. In which you place fish cards in strategic positions based on the locations of yours and others’ boats (baiting the fish), then you draw fish cards based upon your population of ships in an area. Baiting: you begin with a varying number of cards in hand at the beginning of the game. You then pick one of your cards and place it in one of the three fishing locations, each card then has an action associated with it, and you then play out that action. If you have placed on card on top of a card of the same colour you then pick a axe token (these will become useful in the fishing phase). Fishing: now depending on how many of your boats have been placed in the fishing sections due to card actions, you ‘fish’ for food in that section- pick up a card of your choice. If you have the most cards in a section then you get to pick first, then the second most and so on. However, if there is a tie then war breaks out! Whoever has the most axe tokens, flips one over, and gets to pick first.
Decree Cards
Is your tribe the Fisher folk? The occultist? Voyager? At the beginning of the game, you will choose between two decree cards, these are bonus cards with a specific condition, and if you complete it there is a useful reward as your tribe is happy with what you have given them. For example, if your tribe are the crabbers and your catch (cards in hand at the end of the game) is made up of mainly crab cards you get a bonus of five points, and important difference between winning and losing in a game of Skora.
Artwork/ Components
I think that the artwork in Skora is very well thought through and is how I would expect art to look at the time that the game is set. Simplistic yet effective. The components are very high quality, and make the game feel luxury, which I wouldn’t expect from a small producer, but I am very impressed with. For example, the box is designed as a toolbox, as a Norse fisherman may have, and has a very satisfying magnetic close. My one slight annoyance with it is that the cards aren’t provided with plastic bags but simply the plastic packets that they come in, but I do accept that this may be as a small help for the environment.
Final Thoughts
I think that Skora is a beautiful, inventive game, different from any other that I have played, and one that I wouldn’t dare no recommend if asked. I would recommend it for any family looking for a short simple game to play, but I think it could be improved if more players could play it as I think that it could easily benefit from that, making it better for a game to bring out on a family gathering, or when you have people round for dinner. The artwork is amazing, effective, and stunning, which paired with the lovely quality of the game, makes for a massively enjoyable play experience for any age and ability of board gamer. However, I think that as nice and inventive the theme and backstory is, it is slightly lost during game play, and makes out to be more of a fishing game than one of feuding clans fighting for food to survive, but that takes nothing away from the enjoyability of the game, and hoe good it is.
