Shadows over Camelot

My experiences of this game have centred around crowd control. This may be because I've only ever played it in a group of seven.

You have a number of quests that the knights (players) can undertake but, crucially, the quests are only practically completable if a number of players coordinate their efforts. In some groups, this is a pretty big "ask". In others it is extremely easy to achieve. How well your group works together and listens to each other will entirely dictate how easy this game is.

I think that is the core issue to consider: once you get past the initial thrill of the gorgeous board, the pretty miniatures, and the individually crafted knights of the round table, this game is a management training exercise. There is a large group. Nobody is in charge. One person has a hidden agenda. It's your interaction with your fellow players that dictates your success (or otherwise) in this game.

The other cooperative game I have played, Pandemic, is much more of a brain burner. You really need to think and plan every single action there. Shadows is more forgiving of a casual, unplanned approach, so long as you are able to work as a team.

There is a chance that one of the players will be a traitor. This adds a nice element of intrigue. With a lot of players, the danger of accusations bouncing uncontrolled around the board is significant. Accusations are expensive if wrong, but unmasking the traitor gives you a great bonus, so a well judged unmasking of a hidden traitor can turn the tide of the game.

In my opinion, a well organised group will either be impossible for a traitor to significantly disrupt, or capable of finding any traitor who acts suspiciously.

So, overall I would say this is a great game for a group that is not too serious, and not too organised. Good, cooperative players will tear through it too easily. But if you enjoy negotiation and collective decision making, or just the chaos of seven people simultaneously puling in different directions, this is one for you.

Shadows over Camelot is one of my favorite games of all times. It certainly is my no.1 among other co-operative titles.
Why is it so good? Let's start with the theme – you are one of King's Arthur Knights participating in various quests, tournaments and of course searching for The Holy Grail. It's epic, magical and medieval at it's best.
Then we have the components. The main board is divided between the Camelot castle, two battlegrounds (Picts and Saxons are at the gates!), tournament (fight against the Black Knight) and the castle grounds that are occasionally threatened by siege engines. There ale also separate boards for Grail and Excalibur quests and two-sided board with the Lancelot and the Dragon quest. The game is based on cards and there are three types of them – black, green and white (first one to see what evil things will happen to Camelot, next one to determine at the start of the game which knights are loyal to their king and the last one to complete the quests). Then we have the cards of knights (with their special ability and rules summary on them), their figures and little cardboard swords. There's even little Grail miniature! All of these components are high quality and accompanied by beautiful artwork. You can buy the game just to have opportunity to sit and stare on the illustrations.
The game play – the game is not very complicated and rules can be explained in 10 minutes, then there is pure fun. Evil things happen at the beginning of the turn and brave knights are trying to bring honor to their king and complete as many quest they can. For each successfully completed task white swords appear at the round table, for each one that was lost, black swords appear. The goal of the game is to have majority of white ones at the end – when all of the slots are full. But beware of the traitor! He can sabotage the quests and if he remains undetected to the end of the game he can flip one of the white swords to the black side.
I enjoy this game very much and I'd never refuse playing it. If someone likes co-operative games and is not afraid of little twist in the mechanic he should really try playing this one.