Blood Rage - How To Play

Summary

In this video, Rodney Smith explains how to play Blood Rage, a strategy game set in the Viking mythos of Ragnarok. Players take control of Viking clans, battling for Glory by pillaging, questing, and even dying heroically. The game is played over three rounds, with each consisting of six phases. Players make decisions based on their Rage, using actions like Invading, Marching, Upgrading, Questing, and Pillaging. Victory comes from collecting the most Glory points by the end, with additional points from quests, battles, and stat improvements. The video also covers setup, game mechanics, and interactions to help new players understand the flow of gameplay.

Takeaways

• 😀 Blood Rage is a 2 to 4 player game where players compete for Glory by battling, pillaging, and completing quests in the Viking world of Ragnarok.
• 😀 The game board consists of 9 provinces, and regions are defined by colored borders, with one province, Igdrasil, in the center.
• 😀 Players use Rage as the in-game currency to perform various actions, including invading, marching, upgrading, questing, and pillaging.
• 😀 Players' goal is to gain Glory points, which are earned through battles, completing quests, and even dying gloriously in battle.
• 😀 At the beginning of the game, each player chooses a Viking Clan and starts with a set of figures: a ship, a leader, and warriors.
• 😀 The game is played over three rounds (Ages), each consisting of six phases, starting with the God's Gifts phase, followed by the action phase.
• 😀 During the action phase, players take turns performing one action per turn, such as invading a province, marching units, or upgrading figures.
• 😀 A player's Clan sheet includes various stats, such as Rage, Glory, and Axes, which impact the strength and abilities of their figures.
• 😀 Pillaging is a key part of the game and involves deploying figures to provinces with pillage tokens to gain rewards, including Glory points.
• 😀 At the end of each round, players reveal and resolve quests, gain rewards from pillaging, and handle the destruction of provinces in the Ragnarok phase.
• 😀 The game ends after the third Age, and the player with the most Glory points wins, with additional Glory points awarded for stat progress.

Q & A

What is the primary goal of players in Blood Rage?

The primary goal of players in Blood Rage is to gain the most Glory by engaging in battles, pillaging, completing quests, and even dying gloriously in the end-of-world setting of Ragnarok.

How is the game board structured in Blood Rage?

The game board in Blood Rage consists of nine provinces separated by borders, grouped into three regions, with a separate province called Igdrasil in the middle. The provinces are important for gameplay and each has specific rules regarding movement and pillaging.

What role do the pillage tokens play in the game setup?

Pillage tokens are placed face down at the start of the game, with one randomly placed in each province. These tokens are revealed during gameplay and represent rewards for successfully pillaging the province.

How are the God's Gift cards prepared for gameplay?

The God's Gift cards are sorted by their backs into three separate decks. Cards that are higher than the number of players are removed, and then each deck is shuffled and placed on the corresponding spaces on the age track.

What are the phases of a round in Blood Rage?

A round in Blood Rage consists of six phases: God's Gifts, Action, Discard, Quest, Ragnarok, and Release Valhalla. These phases are repeated for three ages, with the Saga token keeping track of the progress.

What is the significance of the Rage track in the game?

The Rage track determines the amount of Rage each player has available for performing actions. Players start each round with Rage based on their current stat level, and they spend Rage to take actions such as Invading, Marching, Upgrading, Questing, and Pillaging.

What are the five actions available during the Action phase?

The five actions available during the Action phase are: Invade (deploying figures to the board), March (moving figures between provinces), Upgrade (playing upgrade cards), Quest (taking and completing quest cards), and Pillage (attacking a province to gain rewards).

What happens during the Pillage action in Blood Rage?

During the Pillage action, the player chooses a province with a face-up pillage token and at least one of their figures in it. A call to battle is made, where players take turns adding figures to the battle. Players then reveal battle cards, and the player with the most strength wins the pillage reward.

How are battles resolved during the Pillage action?

Battles during the Pillage action are resolved by adding up the strength of the figures and battle cards played by each participant. The player with the highest strength wins and gains the pillage reward, which could include Glory points or an increase in clan stats. If there is a tie, all players lose the battle.

How does the Ragnarok phase affect gameplay?

During the Ragnarok phase, a province is destroyed, and any figures there are sent to Valhalla. Players gain Glory points based on the number of figures destroyed. The Doom token is then moved to indicate which province will be destroyed in the next age.

What is the purpose of the Valhalla phase at the end of each Age?

In the Valhalla phase, all figures, including Monsters, are returned to the player's reserve, allowing them to be used again in the next age. Any figures remaining on the board at the end of an age stay in place, and the pillage tokens are flipped to their reward side.

How does a player win in Blood Rage?

A player wins by having the most Glory points at the end of the third Age. Players earn Glory through battles, pillaging, quests, and the effects of Ragnarok. At the end of the third Age, additional Glory points are awarded based on the player's stats.