In the expansion review series, we take a look at a game expansion to discuss whether it is a necessary purchase/addition to one’s collection.
This breakdown is for the expansion for the hit game Fort, and this expansion titled Fort: Cats & Dogs Expansion.
This expansion adds a bunch of Dog cards, some Cat cards, and four Doghouse tiles. The Dog and Cat components belong to their respective modules, and the expansion can be played with either module or both simultaneously.
The Dogs module will add Dogs to players’ starting decks. When a Dog is played, their need (the text immediately below their picture) must be fulfilled before their special action is completed. They may also be used as their normal icon to be played with the base game actions. Most Dog cards are then discarded to the players’ Doghouse. However, if Dogs end up in a player’s Yard, at the beginning of their turn they must discard the Dog to the neighbor’s Doghouse. The player with the most Dogs in their Doghouse at the end of the game scores a cool seven points!
Cats, however, are little terrors and have no loyalty to their owner and their special abilities may be lent to whomever currently controls the Cat card. Cats are attracted to certain players based on which cards are present in their Yard at the end of their turn. It is then that the Cat card moves to the player’s tableau and can offer ongoing effects. The other players may then attempt to lure the Cat card to their own Yards at the end of their turns as well. Players score more points at the end of the game for having more Cats attracted to their Yard.
In my opinion Fort did not need any expansions that change the game. However, after adding Cats & Dogs to my game I found that another level of attention must be paid to each turn if you wish to score these extra bonus points. For example, should a player monopolize all the Cats and also have the most Dogs, that will score them 17 bonus points at the end of the game! That is certainly nothing to sniff at. The cards feature great art, again by Kyle Ferrin, and the Doghouses are nice cardboard tiles. I still most certainly enjoy playing vanilla Fort, but I think that with other gamers who are familiar with the base game I will almost always include both Cats & Dogs modules in my games.
Official recommendation: If you are a fan of Fort, as we all are, then adding in Cats & Dogs may spice up your game for you. However, if you are a fan of Fort as is, then this is certainly not a must-have. I thoroughly enjoy this expansion, and like I mentioned – will probably always be adding it into my games, but Fort definitely stands on its own. It is a luxury expansion, yes, but it is also very affordable. So pick it up the next time you are filling your board game carts. I recommend it highly, and the value added far outweighs the cost for this reviewer. MORE FORT!!
