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Sheep & Thief box art

Sheep & Thief

Game ID: GID0284768
Game Info
Year
2014
Collection
Ratings
Creator Score
Mechanic profile
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Description

Breed some sheep, and watch them prosper, but watch out for those shifty sheep thieves.

This is a drafting type game.
Players can play sheep cards to add sheep to the board, or play the sheepdog card to herd the sheep into their pens. Once they are in the pens they are safe. If a thief card is played the thieves will move, if the encounter a sheep they will steal the sheep.

Description

Breed some sheep, and watch them prosper, but watch out for those shifty sheep thieves.

This is a drafting type game.
Players can play sheep cards to add sheep to the board, or play the sheepdog card to herd the sheep into their pens. Once they are in the pens they are safe. If a thief card is played the thieves will move, if the encounter a sheep they will steal the sheep.

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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment: pos 4 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video E4oa6GBw_9A Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Top List at 3:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 8305 · mention_pk 112777
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design - Sheep & Thief video thumbnail
Click to watch at 3:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • tight, concise tile-based network building
  • appealing thematic tying to roads and sheep
Cons
  • limited depth for longer play sessions
Thematic elements
  • pastoral resource collection in a map network
  • network/road-building motif
  • light strategy with route implications
Comparison games
  • Steam
  • Railway games with networks
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • tile_based_network_construction — drafted cards/tiles are used to form a network of roads to score
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • I like building the machine which is all done instantly grabbing tiles racing the other players to build your spaceship better than theirs
  • number ten on the list is real time tile laying games
  • tessellation is the absolute epitome of the tile laying
  • patchwork is beautiful and accessible and plays in a short duration
  • it's a brilliant game in all its forms
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video EaPZS6CPXwI Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Top List at 4:18 sentiment: positive
video_pk 7315 · mention_pk 106788
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design - Sheep & Thief video thumbnail
Click to watch at 4:18 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Simple rules
  • Attractive
  • Works very well
  • Loads of fun
  • Gets wider release by Pegasus Spiel
  • Nice components with cotton wool sheep
Cons
  • Paper boards in original version
Thematic elements
  • Pastoral
  • Map with sheep and roads
  • Light strategy
Comparison games
  • Seven Wonders
  • Carcassonne
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Drafting — Seven wonders style drafting
  • Set Collection — Gather sheep and connect roads/rivers
  • tile laying — Similar to Carcassonne
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • if you're German you may well have heard of some of these games but for everybody else hopefully some of them will be new to them
  • it's surprising that no one really seems to know about it
  • I love the push your luck mechanic
  • this is a game that I think loads of people should be playing
  • I would love to see this game reprinted
  • I can't Rave about it enough
  • excellent abstract strategy game
  • I've never realized that before I love both these games
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 2P28Z-jcflw Actualol Discussion at 0:09 sentiment: positive
video_pk 6876 · mention_pk 20339
Actualol - Sheep & Thief video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:09 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • accessible gateway game with quick play
  • charming, cute sheep artwork
  • interesting interaction via the fox mechanic that can steal sheep
  • simple yet meaningful decisions in card placement
Cons
  • components could be sturdier and the boards could lie flatter
  • placement sometimes blocks optimal layouts, which can slow turns
Thematic elements
  • sheep herding and rural infrastructure with light, abstract competition
  • Pastoral farmyard with roads, rivers, and towns to connect via cards
  • family-friendly gateway experience
Comparison games
  • 7 Wonders
  • Sushi Go
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • Card Drafting — Players select and place cards to create roads, rivers, and sheep-related infrastructure on their own farmyard.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • it's a great gateway game and it plays quickly
  • the artwork is really nice and the sheep are cute
  • I found Covert interesting but it requires careful discussion and can be long
  • Near & Far is a big pass for me due to its disconnect between theme and gameplay
  • the map book in Near & Far is gorgeous and adds a lot, even if the rest doesn't land for me
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video wF9w1EUwcaQ Adam in Wales - Board Game Design Top List at 0:09 sentiment: positive
video_pk 5062 · mention_pk 107281
Adam in Wales - Board Game Design - Sheep & Thief video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:09 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
very_positive
Pros
  • Recent release (previous year)
  • Combines drafting with tile placement
  • Carcassonne-style gameplay
Cons
none
Thematic elements
  • pastoral
  • theft
Comparison games
  • Sushi Go
  • Carcassonne
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • board games are diverse but card games really could feature anything
  • players are all doing this simultaneously and so you want to be the player that stays in the longest
  • if you turn over to many matching cards then you end up with nothing
  • auction games are are well served by the sort of card game mechanisms
  • play very quickly for three to six players
  • an excellent excellent game
  • take that card games or I think the most combative sort of card games
  • totally silly extremely random but essentially we're playing cards to attack other players
  • still one of my favorite games
  • each card is a floor on a building
  • there's a whole genre of what we call take that card games
  • you could place bombs or or murderers into these buildings or the police can then take away a murderer
  • Seven Wonders was the sort of figurehead for the cloud drafting games
  • sushi go has been an enormous hit
  • now the figurehead for the genre is probably sushi go
  • deck building was created really by the game of Dominion
  • there's something delightful about the simplicity of a game like Dominion
  • you can teach to people really easily and play very very quickly
  • a form of set collection again
  • classic tableau builder would be something like San Juan
  • this is a fantastic card game
  • buying cards laying them out in front of us and they're going to keep generating us money
  • this really is one of my favorite genres
  • anybody can play these games and not everybody can play them well
  • I love speed games I think it's a fantastic category of card games
  • trick-taking games very very straightforward in their basic format
  • the basic mechanism can be turned into all these different games
  • all tweak it slightly in different ways
  • my top ten card game mechanisms
  • hopefully I've given you a broad picture of the world of card games
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
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