Sail, raid, harvest, battle, conquer … but most importantly — WIN! Take control of the icy lands and bring glory to your clan, young viking. If you’re truly brake, join the Valkyries to slay the giants of Jotunheim. Are you ready for a real battle? Let’s get to it!

What Is It?

Drafting – Each round starts with players drafting viking cards which they’ll then play for battles or actions later in the round

Action Selection – Players will take turns playing through all the cards they draft. They can play face down to start or join a battle, or face up to do the leader action (sail, harvest, build, explore, etc) and/or the rune action (if they have the right number of active runes to perform it)

Area Majority – Players are trying to have the most influence on the various islands to gain control and take the island runes, which can be used to activate rune abilities and will be points at the end of the game

Resource Management – Up to 7 each of the 3 resources can be held at a time. Any combination of items can be taking when doing the harvest action. Players must manage these to pay for deploying settlers, raiding, battle strength, and building

Who Is It For?

  • 1 to 4 Players – Solo had a bit too much upkeep for me. 2-player was good and added just a little bit to ensure there was competition on the board, and extra cards for drafting. 3 to 4 players works well too
  • Ages 13 & Up / Mid-Wight Gamers – The rules do have a lot of detail and game has plenty of strategy. Good for people comfortable with mid-weight games
  • Fans of drafting and area majority primarily
  • Players who enjoy having varied options for cards on each turn

Expansions / Variants

Shamans – This mini expansion adds Shaman viking cards with double runes, new God mats, and cairn tokens which start on favor cards and can be used as a wild rune – Really simple to add in and gives players a little flexibility thanks to the cairns. The double rune symbols can be useful too. It’s a good add-on that I’d probably always mix in.

Ragnarok – New map and new Gods. Adds Valkyrie tokens and mats for each player, and giants on the board which players can slay for points. There are also new viking cards that can boost the giant slaying actions for players. – It’s pretty easy to learn once you’re familiar with the game. I like that it presents additional scoring opportunities for players. I also thought it was neat to balance the presence of the giants since they push back the fury of the Gods, which will affect scoring. It’s a solid addition, but I wouldn’t use it for someone’s first play, most likely.

Solo – Enemy clan, plays with 2 colors. Changes drafting to looking through piles to select cards. Then the player and the enemy clan take turns, and the player will perform the enemy actions. New instructions for battle resolution as well – To me it just had a lot of overhead, and too many details. I’d rather play the multiplayer game.

PROS

  • Aesthetics – Nice art on the various cards
  • Components – Great wooden, screen-printed pieces; map and mats are clear; nice cards
  • Rules are clear
  • I like that you can use cards for actions or battles each turn
  • I also like that you aren’t forced to join battles if you don’t want to, and if a player is alone in a battle, they still have to with the invaders (deck)
  • It’s interesting to try and manipulate the Gods’ fury in your favor depending on what runes you’re collecting
  • Even though the map is small, I thought the spots were clear
  • With the expansions, there’s a good amount of variability with the different Gods
  • Valhalla boons are a nice compensation for losing a battle

CONS

  • I wish there were reference cards for all the action symbols
  • Hard to store everything back in the box nicely
  • The drafting can definitely prolong the game a bit and slow it down at times
  • I thought scoring was a little anticlimactic – wish it was more than just runes (Ragnarok helps with the addition of giants)

Final Thoughts

Overall, I thought the game was alright. The drafting could bog it down a bit, but I thought that choosing your actions was neat and I liked the versatility of the cards. I really enjoyed the expansions as well for added variability, and more scoring options in the bigger expansion. They might be a bit much for newer players, but if you know the game, I’d definitely recommend them.

If you’ve been a fan of other Tiny Epic games in the past, this might be another for you to check out!

Additional Information:
My Final Rating – 6/10

Designer – Scott Almes
Artist – Nikoletta Vaszi
Publisher – Gamelyn Games
MSRP – $35.00 (base game)
Website

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

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