All Aboard the Hype Longboat

I recently got a chance to play Blood Rage, the most hyped board game since the vikings invaded Europe.  Which was their version of a board game.  Hype often does as much to tarnish a game as it does to promote it.  I was concerned about that factor when the lid came off.  Well the hype is real and Blood Rage absolutely lives up to it's reputation.

Blood Rage's theme is right up my alley.  Vikings engaging in glorious battle to see who can pillage the most loot and send the most worthy warriors to Valhalla.  Oh and Ragnarok is here.  So there's the whole fire from the sky, end of the world thing going on.  Your job is to get the most glory before Ragnarok is over with.

This game is stunning to look at.  The quantity and quality of minis is excellent, which is to be expected being produced by Cool Mini Or Not.  But they raised the bar on this one.  Each mini has beautiful sculpting and detail from the lowly warriors to the sea serpent.  The art for the cards, board and player tiles are equally well done and ensure that this is always going to look great on your gaming table.

I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy Blood Rage was to learn.  We sat through about ten minutes of explanation before getting started and there were only a few clarifying questions as gameplay progressed.  The play flowed smoothly with little room for confusion or exploitation of rule loopholes.

Seriously large amount of anger issues in this picture.

I tend to be a bit of a chaotic player and spent a lot of my limited rage early to recruit a sea serpent to my cause.  Much to the chagrin of my friend who was desperately trying to manage two adjacent spots on the board.  My serpent hanging out on the coast affected both.  I did a terrible job of managing my rage, which is the main resource used to fuel the game.  I was typically undermanned in skirmishes which isn't all bad.  Warriors who go to Valhalla before Ragnarok are worth points and one turn I managed to complete a quest involving dead guys which helped me a little.  

Overall the game is easy to learn and plays quickly and easily.  I never found myself drifting off because I was waiting too long to take a turn.  The game pieces are sturdy and attractive and work very well for their intended purpose.  Each clan has a set of colored disks that snap on to the bottom of their base for easy identification.  These sets include two larger disks for the monsterous creatures you can recruit.  Not only do these bases snap on and stay on, they snap off very easily and with no damage to the minis.  I was very impressed with the craftsmanship.

I think you can tell that I like the game and you would be right.  This gets two thumbs way up and quickly catapulted to the top of my want list.  Considering the amount and quality of minis included in the box a price tag of $79.99 is really quite reasonable.  Remember to support your Friendly Local Game Store.  Amazon might save you a few bucks but you can't go play games in their warehouse.  Keep your eye on this one.  It's going to be a classic.