The Six of VIII (Saturday Review)

Passions flamed and power waned. Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. First Catherine of Aragon, who had the most time to establish loyal supporters and powerful allies, then Anne Boleyn, queen for less than a year. They were followed by Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr. These were The Six of VIII by Carol LaGrow from New Mill Industries.

I love it when modern trick-taking games tie themselves to a historical background and it doesn’t get more dramatic and famous than a game that follows the reign of King Henry VIII and more specifically his six wives. Yes, that’s exactly what The Six of VIII is about and it is very good at it. So expect plenty of intrigue, betrayal, short reigns followed by long periods of political influence and a great many other Tudor scheming.

As a mere peasant myself, I only played The Six of VIII with four players, where you play in pairs, with your partner sitting opposite you, and only with the base setup. You can play the game with three people and/or throw in some extra cards for some advanced variants. However, I felt the base game works extremely well and there is enough excitement without having the Church of England and other cards in the mix.

Henry VIII Teams

The Six of VIII integrates its historical setting in a number of ways. There are six suits or colours, representing Henry’s six wives, some of which have fewer, but still very powerful cards, emulating the relevant queen’s length and strength of political influence. Their reigns are also replicated on a timeline that moves on one step with each trick played and which decides what suit is trump, in other words, which lady is the current queen of England.

Playing in teams wonderfully imitates how the Tudor king and his regularly changing queen worked together against enemies within and without. At the beginning of each hand, each player in a pair gives their partner two cards from their hand in exchange for two of their partner’s. It is as if you’re passing secret messages to each other. You feel more like Thomas Cromwell than the king and queen. You want to appear to be a loyal servant, but secretly you impose your own influence and slowly steer the future in your own favour. In fact, because you play in pairs, it’s as if there are two Cromwells scheming together.

If you aren’t familiar with trick-taking games, it’s hard for me to explain how wonderfully exciting this asymmetric deck and trump distribution is. On the other hand, you will find it easier to adapt to the idea that trumps not only change from trick to trick, but that some suits are more precious than others. However, for me and my family who have grown up with traditional trick-taking games, it took a few hands to understand how much we had to adapt our usual strategies, before finally getting to grips with a game that cleverly emulates the constantly changing realms of influence at Henry VIII’s court.

Trick-Taking Basics

Of course, at its core, The Six of VIII is a true trick-taking game. There are suits, trumps, tricks, a lead player, having to follow the lead suit colour and everything else. That makes it very easy to explain the game. You just have to focus on the differences from whatever traditional trick-taking game your audience is used to. Mostly, that will be the suit that changes from trick to trick, following a predetermined timeline. It will also be the fact that not every suit has the same number of cards. That’s about it. After that, it’s a matter of starting to play and allowing everyone to learn the best strategy for themselves.

It certainly won’t take long for The Six of VIII to click, even though it will take a while for people to formulate viable strategies. At the same time, many concepts, such as clearing your hand of a suit or two to allow you to help your partner, that work in traditional trick-taking games work here as well. In fact, what card you play when can give your partner a clue about what your plans are. Just like saying the right word at the right time in Henry’s court or outside of it can suggest to your allies what scheme you are pursuing.

The Six of VIII really is a deceivingly clever game that will immediately appeal to lovers of trick-taking games, just like the six wives, one after the other, immediately appealed to Henry VIII. Yet, unlike the unfortunate women, this game will stay in favour for a very long time indeed. It certainly reigns my world of card games. So if you fancy a game while watching Wolf Hall, you can’t go wrong with choosing The Six of VIII.

Useful Links

• The Six of VIII: https://www.newmillindustries.com/store/p/the-six-of-viii
• Rulebook: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/279695/the-six-of-viii-rulebook
• New Mill Industries: https://www.newmillindustries.com/
• BGG listing: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/394691/the-six-of-viii

Transparency Facts

I feel that this review reflects my own, independent and honest opinion, but the facts below allow you to decide whether you think that I was influenced in any way.

• I was sent a free review copy of this game by the publisher.
• At the time of writing, neither the designers, nor the publisher, nor anyone linked to the game supported me financially or by payment in kind.

Audio Version

Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot (https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/)

Music: https://www.bensound.com/free-music-for-videos
License code: XD5BLJITFDUDV7O6

Music: bensound.com
License code: EGDLGSJATHYJHECC

Playlist

These are the songs I listened to while I was writing this review: