Just got back from GenCon, and interestingly, when I picked up MC on Friday, the guys at the SJ Games booth said that this would be coming out in a couple of weeks/months. Yet the next day, I managed to snag a copy of this at their booth, where they had about 20 copies tucked into a corner for $10 each. Odd that they hadn't told me the day before they had a few copies.

Anyways, just some quick info on the game, based on what I've seen thus far. Obviously, it plays like any other Munchkin game, and as an expansion it simply adds more of what was offered in the original MC. What was interesting was what it didn't add.

First, of course, the theme. Cthulhu meets Green Acres, complete with the namesake Cowthulhu (not only a level 19 monster, but it forces you to discard any footwear--what's more, it has the base game's Cthulhu's power to force you into a Cultist, but also adds the further Bad Stuff of making you unable to wear footwear), a new vehicle (The Green Reaper), and plenty of other farm-themed monsters and items (The Churninator, which can automatically kill low-level monsters, or the deadly K'horn Roze). What made them think Cthulhu and farms would mix I don't know, and of course everyone will have a different opinion on how well it works (Depending on their own preference for Munchkin humor), but it seems to work to me.

There were a lot of monsters that had something similar to "goth" in the name, even a few that actually had it somewhere within the name, but I didn't see a single monster ending in -goth. One of the new mechanics they threw into this and Bites! was the free Wandering Monster plays--in Bites! you could play an unlimited number of Bats, while in MC you could go through the turn order until a single -goth monster got added to another (didn't Fu have some minions that were similar?). The -goth monsters were already diluted by having them have lower levels on average than in Bites! (at least, it seemed that way), and being only able to play one per combat total. Now their power is diluted further, since the percentage of -goth monsters in the total pool is lower.

Also, no new classes. Typically each new expansion added some basic class/race/whatever, but nothing here. A few extra cards from the original classes (including more Cultists than any other class, of course), but nothing new.

Madness! Actually, a bit of an interesting concept, Madness! cards are similar to curses or traps, with a bit of a twist. Instead of being a one-time effect, they stay with you, and instead of being completely undesirable, they offer a desirable feature, but for a price. Kleptomania earns you the original Munchkin thief's ability to steal items--but you must steal once per turn, which can lead to a lot of lost levels. Paranoia can drastically limit negative cards others can play into your combats, but also prevents you from accepting help in combat. That sort of thing.

There was a cheap plug for the next Munchkin game in there--sounds like a Wild West theme. The Good, The Bad, and The Munchkin has just been announced, and one of the items grants an extra bonus to the Cowboy class in that game. Felt a bit forced.

Overall not a bad expansion, but left a little to be desired. But of course, it's Munchkin. I don't expect a perfect game, just something to while away an hour or so having some foolish fun.