It’s time to assemble your team of adventurers and plunge into a world of battle, blood, and chaos!Can you claim, and hang onto, the ring of chaos long enough to rack up enough summoning points for a win? Or will your team need to rely on rage to take your opponents out one by one? Let’s find out!

What Is It?

Variable Player Powers – Each player has their own adventuring party, each with their own special power

Hand Management – Players will have a hand of action cards (move, attack, bonus). They can only do 1 action of each type each turn, and can only hold 5 cards at the end of their turn. They can also only use cards that match any of their living hero types

King of the Hill – Players will get points any time they pick up the ring, and even more points if they start their turn holding it

Player Elimination – Players can steal summoning points if they eliminate others. If a player loses all 4 of their heroes, they are eliminated from the game and taken off the map

Who Is It For?

  • 3 to 6 Players – Scales pretty well, I might say it’s best at 4. It’s a bit long at 5/6, especially when you factor in player elimination
  • Ages 10 & Up – Light ruleset, smooth gameplay, very approachable
  • Fans of fantasy themed free-for-all battle

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Nice art, good graphic design
  • Components – I love the acrylics, the ring is super fancy, the cards and boards are also nice quality, and it has a good insert in the box
  • Rules are clear/well-written
  • Simple set-up/clean-up
  • More adventuring parties than how many players it plays, so everyone gets some choice
  • 2 maps to choose from

CONS

  • Player Elimination can be rough at higher player counts, especially if someone is out early
  • Luck of the draw with the cards can leave you with not much to defend with, or not much to attack with
    • This can get worse throughout the game too, since you can not play cards for a class if your hero of that class is dead, meaning your options get more limited as you take damage
  • I thought the larger map (more spaces) led to a little less player interaction
  • A bit long for what it is, so it starts to feel a little repetitive

Final Thoughts

The game definitely has some chaos, so the name doesn’t lie! I like that the rules are pretty simple, so the game is overall very approachable. It’s a game that players can really get into turn to turn as they’re stealing the ring back and forth and trying to run away from each other with it; it ends up feeling like silly fun, even though the theme is pure chaos and “bloodshed,” and it just works really well. I did think that it ran a bit long, especially when you have someone who got eliminated and is just waiting on the sideline. But if you can overlook that, and enjoy a chaotic card game, check it out!

Additional Information:

Designers – Jon Ciccolini, Matthew Lillard, Bill Rehor,
Charlie Rehor, Paul Shapiro
Publisher – Beadle & Grimm’s
MSRP – $45.00
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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