Image via BGG User W Eric Martin
With Thanksgiving weekend, the time came to pull out the party games and get together with friends and family to make a big showing. And, consequently, that meant many plays of One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Well, with so many, I decided to try a few gambits. Some worked, some … did not.
Gambit 1. It’s a six player game and I draw a werewolf. I wake up and see my wolf partner. When the village wakes up, I announce loudly, “I’m the Seer and he’s a Wolf!” pointing to my wolf buddy. My plan was to cast some disinformation and maybe even make my buddy look suspicious. Then, when the real seer came out, I’d back off my seer claim, say I was just a villager (or robber if there was none) lying to get info. I figured that I could cover it up fairly well (since I’m known to make crazy statements when I’m a good role) and that by putting suspicion on my partner and then dissipating it, the village would focus elsewhere.
Unfortunately, my master plan ran into a snag when the real seer came out, said he looked at my card, and that I was a wolf. Nuts. Now I couldn’t realistically back off my claim as seer because I would essentially be conceding that I was a wolf. So I had to double down. I claimed that he must be a wolf trying to clear his wolf buddy and that, therefore, we should all vote him. It was flawed from the start. He might have been a minion. And, if the other guy was a wolf, why not just vote him? Still, I pushed hard and tried to waive away concerns.
Sadly, I only managed to convince one of the other goods and we had three votes on the seer, and three on me. With a werewolf dying, the village won.
Gambit 2. Again I was dealt a wolf card, but this time I was alone. Still, there was a minion and a drunk in the role set. I flipped over a center card to reveal a seer. Maybe I could work with that.
As soon as the village woke up, I came out shooting and said, “Ok, guys. I’m the Minion and there were no wolves in play. Which means, whoever started as the drunk is probably (two thirds chance) a wolf. So, drunk, whoever you are, you are on my team. Don’t get lynched.”
I had a few goals. Since I knew the middle held a wolf and a Seer, I also knew that at least one of the minions or the drunk was out there. By making that claim, I was hoping to get the drunk immediately suspicious and quiet. Plus, it changed the dynamic of the game. Everyone immediately started looking for the hidden wolf because, like I said, “You can all lynch me, but there’s a two in three chance I win if you do that.” That quieted them down.
My plan was going great and it looked like it was going to work until the troublemaker finally claimed and said that he swapped me with another player. Yikes! After I was convinced he was telling the truth, in the final seconds I said, “I was really the wolf. If my card was traded to her, she’s the wolf now. Vote her!” A vote on her snagged my victory!
Which makes me think that, as evil, I need to just spout some spurious logic right in the final seconds before everyone has a chance to think about it. If it works when I’m on team good, there’s no reason it can’t work when I’ve evil…
Also Played. Werewolf (x2) and Sentinels of the Multiverse.
The State is the complete collection of all three books in The State trilogy, a set of action-packed sci-fi dystopian novellas. The resistance fights the state on every hand, trying to gain a foothold against their military might. Kara meets up with Matt, her childhood friend. For several years, he’s been indoctrinated by the state. Kara must work to turn him back while fighting to stop the force that captured him so long ago.
