Wooly Bully

by Shelley Stuart

(Upstate NY)

Game:
Wooly Bully
Board game manufacturer:
Asmodee
Number of players:
2-4
Ages:
7yrs+

Quick verdict

This sheep in wolf’s clothing is a must-have for all sheep game collectors.

The game and gameplay

Build up your flock of sheep and safely enclose them in a pen, while limiting the flock size of your opponents.

Play consists of picking a tile then placing it. Tiles are double-sided and may have a combination of sheep, fencing, woods and village landscaping.

Sheep come in flocks of four different colors, which correspond to players’ hidden shepherd colors.

When you place a tile, like landscapes must touch and fields containing sheep must have like colors. You also have the opportunity to place a wolf or a hunter. Wolves turn the value of any touching field to zero – thus negating an opponents hard work – and hunters protect fields from being threatened by wolves.
The game ends once all tiles are exhausted. You reveal your shepherd color, then count the number of sheep in your largest field. Add bonuses for stopping early and the player with the highest total wins.

Pros and cons

Wooly Bully is a very lighthearted game with simple rules, therefore easy to learn. The double-sided nature of the tiles is an interesting twist on typical tile-placement games.

There’s more luck than strategy involved, and it becomes fairly easy to figure out each player’s hidden color, thus negating one of the larger aspects of the game.

The verdict

With more luck than planning to dominate your strategy, Wooly Bully doesn’t challenge more experienced gamers. The sheep art is adorable, and the game interesting enough for casual play now and then, but not one that most adults will clamor to play again and again.