Of Snails and Grails

I was vaguely aware of this in the past, and I don't know what reminded me of this recently (I think it was just some surfing the web for cool pictures), but medieval monks seem to have had some bizarre ideas when illuminating manuscripts.  In particular, there was a period around the late 13th and early 14th centuries when a significant number of manuscripts were decorated with images of knights doing battle with giant snails.  Don't believe me? Here is a great blog post at the British Library (check out their Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts for a wonderful resource of medieval stuff) with a load of examples and some context.

I have a personal challenge running at the moment to draw something every day
and this is my approximation of one of the snail battles depicted on a manuscript.

This is golden stuff for game inspiration.  There really need to be games about knights doing battle with snails.  I've been chatting to a friend who came to the same conclusion some time ago, so maybe we will be able to come up with something cool between us but I have also, after a few nights of weird dreams come up with a first attempt at a prototype of a light, trick-taking game based on the idea of knights fighting snails combined with a suggestion from a Twitter friend that grails would fit well with this.

This game involves simultaneous play of cards, tricks being played to collect sets of knight cards in assorted suits, get bonuses for collecting grail cards, and penalties for snails. We tried a three-player game of it today and it kinda worked, but it felt maybe a bit too chaotic.  I think I would like to play it a few times and with assorted player counts, as often trick taking games need everyone to get a feel for the game before it really shows its character.  The character of this game may be deeply flawed, but I need data to find that out.  On the plus side, as it is the game takes maybe ten minutes or so to play a hand, so it shouldn't be too hard to get more testing.

And here's what my quick, sharpie-scribbled first prototype looks like.

I don't think I see myself pitching this game to a publisher, but I think it could be a good exercise and if game play holds up after a bit more testing, working towards making it into a nice print and play game could be a good objective.  I just need to work on making medieval illumination style artwork.

And, of course, there is the possibility of a meatier game with the same thematic inspiration...