Review by Board Game World

Written by Brigitte den Hartog | Full review: https://bordspelwereld.nl/en/reviews/sheep-showdown 

Herding sheep together with your shepherd dog. Already at Zuiderspel in March 2024, I saw this game as a prototype on the table at Growly Games under the name ‘What the Flock!?’. I immediately knew I had to keep an eye on this one. Fortunately, we are now allowed to write a review of the prototype in advance.

The artwork is fantastic. I love cute little sheep. I can't help this quirk. Then also include images of a wolf in sheep's clothing, a bomb sheep, or a sheep with a rocket tied to its back and I'm sold.

In this game, you try to collect as many sheep as possible with your shepherd dog. Everyone starts on a board with a shepherd. When it's your turn, you move 1 step (orthogonally) and immediately receive the card where you end up. That can be 1, 2, 3, or 5 sheep, but there are also many other cards and then something else happens.
If you step on a wolf in sheep's clothing, take this card (unfortunately 1 penalty point) but you may move a shepherd dog of one of your opponents and really annoy someone with it.
If you land on a rocket sheep, you may immediately make another jump of 2 cards further.
When you come across a blocking sheep, take it and immediately place the card face down on one of the other cards in the field.
If you step on a card with a shepherd again, you can teleport yourself to another shepherd. Just be careful that there is no other dog standing there; in this game, you are never allowed to end up on the same spot together.
By using a sliding sheep (with bananas) you slide one card further, also diagonally, and you get the card where you end up, or you perform that action. Cards can therefore cause chain reactions.
If someone lands on the bomb sheep, he himself, as well as all the other cards around it (the 8 cards directly adjacent) are removed from the game. Even if there are other dogs on those cards at that moment, they also leave the playing field.
Fun to kick an opponent out of the game via the bomb through a wolf. If you block or blow up another player and their dog can no longer move, you may also draw one of their collected cards.
This game is not mean, but very mean!

If the last player is still on the field, he must take 2 more steps, even if that results in penalty points (a wolf).

If you enjoy a bit of teasing and causing trouble, then this game is really something for you. The standard field is 7x7 in size, but with 5 or 6 players, it's 9x9 cards. This means that with the extra cards and only 2, 3, or 4 players, you can also create variants for even more chaos on the field.

It is a short game, so the advice is to definitely play it 3 times and the player with the most points wins. It is also fun with 2 players, then you play with 4 dogs, 2 each.

This game is not fun, but very fun! And did I already mention how beautiful the artwork is? One sheep farts. Two sheep at the table, five sheep wearing party hats.

The rules are simply explained, quick to play, easy to carry.
I would recommend playing the game at the end of the evening. But oh well, with kids during the day (if they are not sensitive to exploding sheep) it is also a lot of fun! That's why I give it an 8.