Commissioned (A Homeschool Review Crew)

Ready or not! The Holidays are upon us. I am kinda, sorta ready for some of it. The rest is going to be a “fly by the seat of my stretchy pants” situation. The 2016 Review year is also winding down. This is my last review with the Homeschool Review Crew for the year. Hopefully, I’ll be back next year with fresh new products!

I have expressed my love for board games in the past. We have a great collection and there is nothing better than gathering around the table for a fun, family gun night. I was excited to get to review a brand-new kind of game, Commissioned by Chara Games.

The creators of Chara Games, Patrick and Katherine Lysaght, wanted to design family games with Christian themes. Commissioned is the result of hard work, sacrifice and the commitment provide historical and Biblical education.

Commissioned is a board game intended for ages 14 and up. It can be played with 2-6 players and takes about an hour to play. It is a cooperative game set during the time of the New Testament.

The game begins by each player selecting an Apostle. We got to choose from Barnabus, Andrew, James, John, Peter and Paul. A player can also play as an adversarial Roman legion. This player tries to slow the growth of the church.

There are different scenarios you can play. So far we have just played the “Acts of the Apostles” card. Our objective was to plant churches and add books to the Canon. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, however. Just like in the New Testament, there are many trials and intense persecution.

The construction of the game itself is stellar. Everything is so well-made. There are LOTS moving parts. If you have young children this might be a game you put up at the top of the game closet.

It comes with:

• 1 double sided game board
• 5 double sided scenario cards
• 6 unique player boards
• 96 faith cards
• 27 trial cards
• 4 wood missionary meeples
• 75 wood church member cubes
• 1 wood elder's staff
• 6 wood player pawns
• 30 double sided stop tokens
• 5 double sided extinguish tokens
• 1 converted city leader's token
• 1 Roman Legion token
• 1 8-sided die
• 1 rule book
• 1 Theme Appendix

How We Played and What We Thought

At first glance this is not an easy game. Let me just get that out there. I don’t want to scare you off, but that’s the truth. There is a reason why Commissioned is intended for a more mature age group.

There is a great video, however, that has been created for those of us who need a bit more instruction than we can garner from the written instructions.  I would suggest that you watch it RIGHT AWAY! It will make things much clearer, my fine friends.

My pastor husband, Josiah (who is almost 15) and me (whose age is yet to be determined) enjoyed the game during Family Game Night. The game is supposed to around an hour, but it has taken us just a bit longer.

My husband’s only critique is that he wishes that it would do more actual teaching of the Bible as opposed to strategizing. However, there is a nice Appendix that provides scripture for each and every card.  Josiah loves playing this game. He’s asked to play it a few times…like during math. I don’t know if it’s simply a diversion, but I imagine not.

Overall, this is really a neat game. It is different and fresh. Most importantly, my husband and I loved talking to our son about all the strategies, faith actions and the actual persecution that happened in the New Testament. 

 Chara Games also has another game that should be coming in my mail box any day now. It’s called 3 Seeds, so be looking out for another review!

You can connect with Chara Games via the following social media outlets. Click on the banner below to read more reviews.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharaGames/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CharaGames/ @Charagames