In Long Cow you’ll take on the role of a cattle rancher, competing against other players to raise the largest possible herd, including some of the longest possible cows, all while the other players race to do the same.
Somehow, Long Cow isn’t the first game about using cards to build out long versions of things that I’ve played this year, with the first being the rather portable and easy to pick up and play Hoddog. However, while Long Cow is also about set collection, there’s a lot more mischief afoot – as well as opportunities to nurture and grow your cows if you draw the right cards.
A two-to-five player game, Low Cow is incredibly quick to set up and learn, and with its fun, inoffensive theme and silly artwork, it’s perfect for younger families. Turn structure is also incredibly easy, with the deck shuffled, each player given six cards and then the rest of the cards placed into a central deck (with one discarded to form a discard pile).
After that a player’s turn is simple. First of all they draw, either on cow part from the discard pile or two from the face down draw pile. Then you can place as many completed cows (which must have matching parts, or parts with some of the special, rule-flaunting variety) as you can, use food cards to grow a cow, or use one of the various special or attack cards.
The attack, defence, special and wild cards are where Long Cow comes into its own. Some attack cards will steal away cows or cow parts, others will discard them or move parts around. There are defense cards that can block those attacks, but others can be placed as preventative means ahead of the fact – storing away the cows in a barn, or branding them so that they can’t be stolen. The special cards are the top layer of this, they override the majority of the rules, including most of the defense cards, and can result in full hand swaps or extra turns.
Where Long Cow does struggle a bit is with the game length when there are lots of players, at this point the generous starting hand count and limited number of cow parts can result in short games where players don’t quite get to play out their clever plans. Nothing that a few replays can’t fix, but a little bit of a learning curve for those who are used to playing games that run longer than 15 minutes, or revolve around large plays to ramp up the total scoring.
Long Cow is available now, including from Amazon.
