Review – Last Will

2 -5 Players, Age 12+ , Playing Time 60 minutes

A review copy of Last Will (designed by Vladimir Suchy; his other games include 20th Century, Shipyard and League of Six) was kindly provided by CGE.

I am a sucker for humour and good artwork and Last Will struck me as having both; set in Victorian England the game has a slightly Dickensian feel about it. Prior to his death a rich man had the inspired idea of deciding which of his nieces and nephews should inherit his fortune by giving them £70 each - the one who spends it fastest is obviously the most ‘competent’ and deserving beneficiary of his fortune!

What follows is an overview of the game broken down into 5 sections: Game Components, Setting Up The Game, Playing The Game, What Did We Think? and finally Who Do We Think Will Like It?. So if reading the whole review doesn't appeal just scan down to the headings that do.

Match Report 7th November 2011

Victorian England doesn't work for everybody, however foxes and dwarves do!

As people arrived we congregated in the kitchen whilst drinks were sorted and people caught up with what we had all been up to since our last evening. Gwen had had a very tiring day (still recovering from two operations on her feet) so she needed to sit with her feet well up and bowed out of the evenings activities. When all were gathered we had Malcolm, Crispin, Ben and Daniella, whilst Alex, Ruth and Natalie all had circumstances conspire against them to ensure they were detained elsewhere.

With a pile of the games brought back from my trip to Essen at one end of the table, Daniella was soon opening boxes and delighting in the artwork and quality of the components the games she looked at. We briefly considered Giestesblitz (reviewed here) but with drinks on the table a game that call on the players to grab objects in the middle of the table was never going to be a good idea!

Gwen and I had played Last Will three times over the weekend (on one occasion with one of our cats determinedly trying to play with Gwen’s Errand Boys). Whilst our initial reaction had been that is was complicated we had both really enjoyed it and were keen to play it with more players, although as it was one of the meatier games brought back from Essen I was a little nervous that it might not work for everybody.