Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Back in the summer, my son kindly bought me a copy of the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell boardgame from Osprey and, finally we managed to give it a go at the weekend

If you haven't read JS&MN (and you really, really should), it's a fantastic Regency period book describing the magical duels of 2 rival magicians against each other and the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair.  It's hard to describe but has a level of depth and writing that's rare and is (as you can probably tell) one of my favourite books.

In the game (for up to 4 players), you take on 1 of the main characters and via a selection of cards, travel around London and Europe engaging in social activities and using the connections you make to perform magic: these enhance your Prestige, which is important in determining initiative and making social connections, and building your magical power via completing Feats of Magic.  Each turn you can perform 1 action, which is then unavailable until you spend a turn resetting your action points (or 'Stilling the Waters in the silver bowl... there's a lot of that kind of flavour).  Magic is determined by which magical elements (wind, rain, hills, forest or rocks) are active in a given turn/year... these need to be matched to the elements on a Feats of Magic card which will ultimately increase magicianship.

So, for example, as my action I may choose to summon elements of rocks and rain.  I then travel to Geneva to attend a Musical Soiree before popping to Paris to call on Shelley.  The social side is all very Jane Austen and these social actions can either generate more introductions and invitations, or be used to progress your magicianship.  Ultimately this is what counts as, when the year counter reaches certain points, each player needs to 'confront the fairy/Gentleman with the Thistle-Down Hair.  His power steadily increases as the game progresses and the winner is the player with the highest Magicianship when the fairy is defeated.

There isn't much in the way on interaction between players, except perhaps taking cards or companions to deny them to another player, so it would work well as a solo game.  Reviews on BGG weren't great but we both really enjoyed the game... it has alot of flavour and the components are very nicely done.  It's also very reasonably priced so worth trying, especially if you're a fan of the book.