The collective got together for a festive game of Bloodrage - minus Sylon who was on his works do, so getting a little tipsy and Tiger-king who was claiming man flu illnesses …
The rest of us had played DK’s beautifully painted Bloodrage a long while ago, so effectively it was a first play (Bloodrage’s first play through is somewhere on the blog, but I couldn’t find it. Edit - February 9th 2019 so nearly 4 years ago).
As a quick reminder of how to play, each player is given 8 cards from which they pick one, then past to the left and repeat until each player has 6 cards (the reminder are discarded). The cards can upgrade each players clan, warriors, leaders or mystics OR they can improve your figures in a fight OR access monsters OR you can complete a quest at the turn. To play cards you must spend rage (action points) - once you have run out of rage you can’t do any of the free actions - pillaging an area … and some other things I can’t remember.
Turn one - the area with the reward for pillaging - red more rage, blue more figures on the board and green - I can’t remember … the game didn’t start well for me as I wasn’t sure what was going on - I had high fight cards, but my quest for for warriors to die …), so I finished the first age in a lowly 4th place - Steedo thwarting my quest (to get 4 warriors into Valhalla) by not pillaging areas where i expected him too. I had played a upgrade card that meant when I lost a battle I was able to place a warrior for free, which turned into a very useful card.
Some of the really nice figures from the game, expertly painted by DK … I’m not jealous … really I’m not … git!
The second turn was very good for me - as the drafting when around I was able to pick up 2 quest requiring at least 4 warriors in Valhalla before the Ragnarok and an upgrade to the clan so that every warrior returned to me after Ragnarok got me 2 victory points (the last thing I played so they couldn’t see the plan) … so my plan was to pillage when ever I could (and lose) so that I would get a warrior into Valhalla and on the board for no action points, so this appeared to be self perpetuating … meanwhile DK over populated the board which his figures - there is a maximum number of figures you can have on the board, unless to can upgrade your clan or gain the extra by pillaging a blue axe (?) area … this meant that DK had to remove a number of figures from the board, which did rather bugger up his plans. Steedo and Snake-eyes were going for area control quests to get victory points. However I managed to get most of my warriors in Valhalla, so completed quests and lots of points from the figures in Valhalla, which shot me into the lead … which was nice.
The final round also saw me as the first player - and must of the drafting worked for me. I was able pick up a card which got me 3 points for each figure in Valhalla - this stacked, so it was 5 points! But most of the cards were attack focused or area dominance (which I had avoided). I continued with my plan to pillage a lose … unfortunately the others allowed me some wins, as this stopped the repeated pillaging of an area (can only be done once) and meant I couldn’t place for free … I did force Steedo and Snake-eyes into a three way Pillage in the area about to be destroyed in Ragnarok (figures in that area got you extra victory points), so I could squeeze a figure in there myself. DK had a mare of a turn as Steedo thwarted has quests in the final round - upheld claims that he missed out on 54 points in the final turn …
Snake-eyes and Steedo got some of the area control, but the 5 points per figure in Valhalla was crucial for me. Final scores on the doors were DK 62, Steedo 135, Snake-eyes 136 and myself 151. A nice win for me, and such a surprise and unusual event, the collective have sent many nice messages.
Apparently I was playing the “Loki” strategy, which is a thing in the game - apparently with more plays it becomes less of a thing, as it can be blocked in the card drafting, but this was effectively our first game. I am also not sure if we were doing the pillaging correctly, as this seemed to boost my upgrade and then amplified the Loki/Valhalla points.
A win and a fun evening - I then departed as I had a busy day on the morrow .
The others stayed and managed to get in a game of Unmatched - Jurassic Park (win for DK) and Splendor (win for Steedo).
Morts
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