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The Champion of the Wild (Second Edition)
- 3–8 players
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The Hen Commandments
2015
Rules assistance for The Hen Commandments
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3–8 players
- 45 min
- 15+
- Complexity 2.0/5
For 3 players
Rules assistant for The Hen Commandments
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Hen Commandments is a board game released in 2015 for 3–8 players, 45 minutes per game, and ages 15 and up. It was designed by Andrew Sheerin and its main mechanics are Storytelling, Role Playing, and Voting.
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About the game
The Hen Commandments is a chicken-based religion-building party game. Players are disciples of the Holy Chicken, who has been sent to earth to redeem humankind. Her commandments appear encoded on a series of eggs and it's your job as a devout disciple to not only work out the true meaning of the message, but to convince all the other disciples that your reading is the correct and only Truth. The Laying: The Holy Chicken lays 6 eggs, on each is written a word that together forms a sentence The Reading: All disciples have 1 minute to select the virtue card they think best covers the commandment The Preaching: Disciples reveal their chosen virtue card and each disciple with a unique virtue gets a further minute to explain their reading of the commandment in detail, with regard to their virtue. The Judgement: All the other disciples become judges for the round, and vote on which disciple gave the most compelling explanation of the commandment. The Reward: The disciple who gets the most votes is rewarded with 2 pieces of corn. Or, if the vote is split, those disciples get 1 piece of corn each. Canonisation: Play ten rounds, each time revealing a new commandment. The disciple who has collected the most corn is made into a Saint and rewarded with the record of all 10 commandments so they can go forth and start their own sect of Heninism. It's a simple, creative, funny group game that scales well and plays out in about 45 minutes. The cool thing is that while each disciple is competing to have their individual opinion heard and recorded, together, you collaboratively create what is essentially a new religion in the course of a game.
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Terrorbull Games
Questions and answers
The Hen Commandments supports 3–8 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Hen Commandments is 45 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Hen Commandments for ages 15 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Hen Commandments has a complexity rating of 2.0 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Hen Commandments belongs to these categories: Humor, Party Game, and Religious. Its main mechanics are Storytelling, Role Playing, and Voting. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Hen Commandments are: Andrew Sheerin. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Hen Commandments as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.