''Valley of the Four Winds'' is a fantasy board game published by

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

in 1980 that is based on a serialized story that appeared in ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

''.

Description

''Valley of the Four Winds'' is a two-player board game where one player attempts to occupy the city of Farrondil and the other player tries to save it. The evil player has an invading army of skeletons and various monsters controlled by a giant bell. To destroy the giant bell and end the invasion, the good player must attempt to fend off the skeletons while sending a hero in search of a relic. The hero must then take the relic to a good wizard to activate it, while avoiding monsters such as a wind demon and an evil wizard. All of this must be accomplished before the skeleton army reaches the city. The evil player wins by successfully occupying the city, the good player by destroying the bell.

Components

The box contains * mounted

hex grid A hex map, hex board, or hex grid is a game board design commonly used in wargames of all scales. The map is subdivided into a hexagonal tiling, small regular hexagons of identical size. Advantages and disadvantages The primary advantage of a h ...

map in two sections * 100 die-cut counters * rule booklet * story booklet containing reprint of the Rowland Flynn novella "Valley of the Four Winds"

Publication history

In 1978, the British miniature figurine company Minifigs produced an extensive line of 25 mm fantasy figures designed by Dick Higgs under the name "Valley of the Four Winds." Simultaneously, ''White Dwarf'' published a serialized novella titled "Valley of the Four Winds" by Rowland Flynn in Issues 8–12. In 1980, Games Workshop published ''Valley of the Four Winds'', a board game designed by

Lewis Pulsipher Lewis Errol Pulsipher (born January 22, 1951), often credited as Lew Pulsipher, is an American teacher, game designer, and author, whose subject is role playing games, board games, card games, and video games. He was the first person in the North ...

that was based on the Flynn novella and the miniatures.

Reception

In Issue 37 of ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' (March 1981),

David Ladyman David Ladyman is an American game designer of board games such as ''Car Wars'', and role-playing games such as ''GURPS''. Career In 1977, while studying linguistics as a grad student at University of Texas at Austin, Ladyman began playtesting ga ...

noted that "''Valley of the Four Winds'' suffers from being a British import" due to its higher price in the U.S., but concluded "If you enjoyed the short story, by all means buy the game." In the April–May 1981 issue of ''White Dwarf'' (#24), Alan Paull was impressed by the game, saying, "Lewis Pulsipher has designed a game which is simple enough for the novice to tackle, and yet sufficiently demanding to offer a challenge to the experienced fantasy gamer. Information needed by the players is quickly and easily available. It is an ambitious project, successfully executed, and makes a very enjoyable fantasy game." He concluded by giving the game an above-average rating of 9 out of 10. In Issue 33 of ''

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'' (September–October 1981), Roger Musson was impressed by the quality of the components, especially since this was one of the first four games produced by Games Workshop. He called the rules booklet "the most astonishing part of the game. It is, believe it or not, clear throughout. It seems to have been proofread properly." In fact, Musson said the game show signs of being "fully developed and play-tested before being released." He found the game "entertaining". He concluded, "The great variety of courses that the game can take is what gives it interest. On this account alone it deserves some success."

Reviews

*''

Games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

'' *'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #11 (as "La vallée des quatre vents")

References

{{board-game-stub Board games introduced in 1980 Games Workshop games