When comparing Ghost Stories vs Broom Service, the Slant community recommends Ghost Stories for most people. In the question“What are the best scary board games to play around Halloween?” Ghost Stories is ranked 1st while Broom Service is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Ghost Stories is:
From the start the game feels stacked against your team, which is on purpose as it gives a feeling of impending doom and destruction. The game is a balancing act of what to do each turn as the team tries to fend of the ghosts which leads to never quite feeling like you are winning.
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Pros
Pro Gives a sense of impending doom
From the start the game feels stacked against your team, which is on purpose as it gives a feeling of impending doom and destruction. The game is a balancing act of what to do each turn as the team tries to fend of the ghosts which leads to never quite feeling like you are winning.
Pro Designed well with beautiful artwork that exemplifies the horror theme
All of the pieces of the game are colorful and have much attention to detail.
Pro Expansions available that extend gameplay
Ghost Stories offers two expansions (there was a third but it was limited and not available anymore) called White Moon and Black Secret that extend the gameplay for users that would like to add more complex elements to the gameplay or are just looking for a different experience within the same theme and world.
Pro Quality construction to the game that feels very solid
All of the cardboard components have a nice weight to them and a glossy finish over the art.
Pro Combines risk/reward with strategy
There are two roles for the cards a player will play, Cowardly and Brave. Each turn there can be only one player that gets to be Brave so everyone must try to strategically guess what everyone else will do in order to decide if it is worth the risk of playing the Brave card for more rewards over safely playing a Cowardly card and getting less in that outcome.
Pro Solid components that are designed well
The design of the cards and board are colorful and pleasant and the quality of the cardboard used and wooden pieces feel solid like they will last for years. Overall a nice game to look at and use.
Pro Rules that allow for 2 player
Unlike original Witches Brew game Broom service has an optional 2 player ruleset for those times when there are not enough people for the normal ruleset to be used.
Cons
Con The rule book is really poorly written
Unlike most Anotine Bauza games, the rule book for Ghost Stories is pretty terrible. This means that, unless you're learning the game from somebody already familiar with it, the first few games will probably be a slog of constantly consulting the rules.
A game like this, which uses symbology heavily, should also come with some quick reference sheets.
Con Difficult to win
The game is pretty difficult to beat, especially if played with a group of casual players that are not extremely familiar with the game and its rules of which are difficult to understand and may take a few watches of Youtube videos to really understand all the mechanics of play.
Con Game board is busy
The board design while colorful is a bit busy in that it may be confusing what some parts of the board are for as specific colors and shapes are important to the gameplay and getting lost in the design can be a detriment to play.