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TOP 500 REVIEWERon November 28, 2016
OVERVIEW:
8 rounds
Place workers during a round and get the action of that spot...just like Lords of Waterdeep (LoWD) or Stone Age
Random buildings each game to take actions and/or collect resources
Where it is different. . .
Your meeples can be set to go battle. There are land battles and sea battles. Sea battles have a lot more going on and can be more exciting with random events and greater rewards.
If your meeple takes damage the meeple loses a die for each damage taken.
If your meeple wins the battle, then they get the glory points for that monster.
Goal of the game is to get the most glory by the end of the 8th round.
There are quest/mission cards that give you bonus points at the end of the game too.
Each player has a character card that gives them a special ability/bonus, just like the lords in LoWD.
COMPONENTS:
+ Tiles were nice and sturdy cardboard, with nice artwork.
> The cards are nice with great artwork. Though for me, some of the colors are all the same muted look, so I had to look more closely at what the card color symbols were at times.
+ Rulebook is nice and colorful, with clear pictures for buildings, cards, and clear explainations.
-- No room in box to add much of any expansion parts, if/when an expansion is available. This means that any expansions will require to keep in the expansion box versus merge with this box.
THEME:
This is where the game shines over LoWD in my opinion. Similar mechanics and lots of similar aspects, but this game is so much better at theme than LoWD. After a while in LoWD we were calling wizards as purple cubes and warriors as orange cubes, because it was much easier since all the cards refer to those objects that way visually.
+ Here I felt like each component was a specific component and not just a color cube. I liked it a lot better.
LUCK:
+Low luck.
Yes, there is some dice rolling during combat, but that isn't the focus and it's one part of the game. Some who don't like randomness of dice may still get frustrated and not like this component of the game. Whereas LoWD has zero dice rolling, so you know what you are getting into with most decisions.
STRATEGY:
+ We find this to be a mid-to-high strategy game.
> It doesn't feel like it most of the time, but myself and my 18yr old are the most strategic players, which means we tend to win more often. Thus your decisions have definitely gains and consequences and can be unforgiving at times. This means some players may need to not be so competitive with strategy OR choose to help guide other less strategic players, so they can still have a good time too.
BUILDINGS:
Like Stone Age and LoWD, there are action spots that you claim with one of your meeples.
+ Thematically the buildings make a lot of sense and are cool, such as seeing the future of a battle encounter.
+ Unlike LoWD, where you need to wait till you get an Intrigue card or wait till round 5 to get additional meeples, you can actually got to a building and pay gold to get your extra meeple. But there are incentives to not be the first to rush out and get that extra meeple right away. I like this building!
COMBAT:
+ There are game mechanics that incent players -- in the form of negative points -- to actually fight monsters instead of ignoring monsters
+ There are public and private ships that can be used for sea battles. There are pros/cons to each.
+ In some scenarios, if you beat the monster you not only get glory but can assign "blame" to another player (negative points). Wow! Ruthless.
END of ROUND:
At end of round monsters are rotated out and some buildings may be restocked and coin incentives are added to other action spots to encourage players to go there next round.
OVERALL:
Especially in worker placement games, I like a game where there isn't always a clear winner until the final points are calculated.
Also I really like games where even if you feel behind, that doesn't mean you have no chance of winning, as there are tons of ways to get glory points and maybe even win in the end. Thus, there are many strategies to try and win and lots of replayability. . .and it has great theme and excellent components while doing it.
We still have a place on our shelf for LoWD (a plethora of strategies can be used to win) and Stone Age (more of a gatweway game for new gamers or younger, less experienced players). But we don't feel this replaces either of the two but meets its own audience need and thus we give this one two-thumbs-up!!
8 rounds
Place workers during a round and get the action of that spot...just like Lords of Waterdeep (LoWD) or Stone Age
Random buildings each game to take actions and/or collect resources
Where it is different. . .
Your meeples can be set to go battle. There are land battles and sea battles. Sea battles have a lot more going on and can be more exciting with random events and greater rewards.
If your meeple takes damage the meeple loses a die for each damage taken.
If your meeple wins the battle, then they get the glory points for that monster.
Goal of the game is to get the most glory by the end of the 8th round.
There are quest/mission cards that give you bonus points at the end of the game too.
Each player has a character card that gives them a special ability/bonus, just like the lords in LoWD.
COMPONENTS:
+ Tiles were nice and sturdy cardboard, with nice artwork.
> The cards are nice with great artwork. Though for me, some of the colors are all the same muted look, so I had to look more closely at what the card color symbols were at times.
+ Rulebook is nice and colorful, with clear pictures for buildings, cards, and clear explainations.
-- No room in box to add much of any expansion parts, if/when an expansion is available. This means that any expansions will require to keep in the expansion box versus merge with this box.
THEME:
This is where the game shines over LoWD in my opinion. Similar mechanics and lots of similar aspects, but this game is so much better at theme than LoWD. After a while in LoWD we were calling wizards as purple cubes and warriors as orange cubes, because it was much easier since all the cards refer to those objects that way visually.
+ Here I felt like each component was a specific component and not just a color cube. I liked it a lot better.
LUCK:
+Low luck.
Yes, there is some dice rolling during combat, but that isn't the focus and it's one part of the game. Some who don't like randomness of dice may still get frustrated and not like this component of the game. Whereas LoWD has zero dice rolling, so you know what you are getting into with most decisions.
STRATEGY:
+ We find this to be a mid-to-high strategy game.
> It doesn't feel like it most of the time, but myself and my 18yr old are the most strategic players, which means we tend to win more often. Thus your decisions have definitely gains and consequences and can be unforgiving at times. This means some players may need to not be so competitive with strategy OR choose to help guide other less strategic players, so they can still have a good time too.
BUILDINGS:
Like Stone Age and LoWD, there are action spots that you claim with one of your meeples.
+ Thematically the buildings make a lot of sense and are cool, such as seeing the future of a battle encounter.
+ Unlike LoWD, where you need to wait till you get an Intrigue card or wait till round 5 to get additional meeples, you can actually got to a building and pay gold to get your extra meeple. But there are incentives to not be the first to rush out and get that extra meeple right away. I like this building!
COMBAT:
+ There are game mechanics that incent players -- in the form of negative points -- to actually fight monsters instead of ignoring monsters
+ There are public and private ships that can be used for sea battles. There are pros/cons to each.
+ In some scenarios, if you beat the monster you not only get glory but can assign "blame" to another player (negative points). Wow! Ruthless.
END of ROUND:
At end of round monsters are rotated out and some buildings may be restocked and coin incentives are added to other action spots to encourage players to go there next round.
OVERALL:
Especially in worker placement games, I like a game where there isn't always a clear winner until the final points are calculated.
Also I really like games where even if you feel behind, that doesn't mean you have no chance of winning, as there are tons of ways to get glory points and maybe even win in the end. Thus, there are many strategies to try and win and lots of replayability. . .and it has great theme and excellent components while doing it.
We still have a place on our shelf for LoWD (a plethora of strategies can be used to win) and Stone Age (more of a gatweway game for new gamers or younger, less experienced players). But we don't feel this replaces either of the two but meets its own audience need and thus we give this one two-thumbs-up!!
VINE VOICEon January 18, 2017
First off, I'm not a huge fan of eurogames- games that feature indirect competition, no player elimination, resource management, etc... There are some that I like, but I'd almost always rather play a good ole' Ameritrash game- dice chuckers, combat, etc... One eurogame that I always enjoyed was D&D Lords of Waterdeep, which was a fun and engaging worker placement game, if not very thematic, (I've heard the expansion brings more to the game, and I own it, but haven't played it yet). So I was not very interested when I initially ordered Champions of Midgard from Amazon Vine, but I thought in the interests of broadening my gaming experiences, I'd give it a go. So glad I did.
Like Lords of Waterdeep, Champions of Midgard is a worker placement game- a game where players have a finite number of workers that can be placed at locations across the board. Players take turns placing their workers and then gaining the advantages of that unique space. For instance, players may place a worker at the market to trade resources, or on a spot to gain warriors (dice), or buy a longboat, or fight trolls, or any number of other unique adventures that allow players some advantages. Each game also features a number of random buildings that will differ with every game. Players attempt to gain glory points by fighting monsters across the sea, (which require them to gain dice, food, and boats), or by fulfilling destiny cards, or by gold held to the end of the game, or through various other means. When players fight trolls or monsters, players roll their warrior dice for success, trying to beat the enemy's armor value, then lose dice equal to the enemy's strength, unless shied icons are rolled. If successful, the player gains the reward printed on the monster like glory points, gold, and more.
The game features numerous ways to gain glory points during final scoring, so everyone remains invested in the game right up until the end. Game time is usually around 90 minutes or so. One thing that really struck me is how easy to catch on to this game is. After the first turn players will understand the game very easily. Teaching this game in the future will be a breeze. In short, Champions of Midgard is an excellent game and a fine addition to any gamer's shelf.
The Discriminating Gamer
Like Lords of Waterdeep, Champions of Midgard is a worker placement game- a game where players have a finite number of workers that can be placed at locations across the board. Players take turns placing their workers and then gaining the advantages of that unique space. For instance, players may place a worker at the market to trade resources, or on a spot to gain warriors (dice), or buy a longboat, or fight trolls, or any number of other unique adventures that allow players some advantages. Each game also features a number of random buildings that will differ with every game. Players attempt to gain glory points by fighting monsters across the sea, (which require them to gain dice, food, and boats), or by fulfilling destiny cards, or by gold held to the end of the game, or through various other means. When players fight trolls or monsters, players roll their warrior dice for success, trying to beat the enemy's armor value, then lose dice equal to the enemy's strength, unless shied icons are rolled. If successful, the player gains the reward printed on the monster like glory points, gold, and more.
The game features numerous ways to gain glory points during final scoring, so everyone remains invested in the game right up until the end. Game time is usually around 90 minutes or so. One thing that really struck me is how easy to catch on to this game is. After the first turn players will understand the game very easily. Teaching this game in the future will be a breeze. In short, Champions of Midgard is an excellent game and a fine addition to any gamer's shelf.
The Discriminating Gamer
on February 21, 2017
Champions of Midgard is a worker placement, resource management, dice rolling game. It takes everything I loved about two of my favorite games , Lord of Waterdeep and Stoneage, and mashed them together. This game is a recent addition to my collection but has made it to the game table every time my game group gets together.
You play as one of the viking leaders trying to become Jarl. You place your Meeples on spaces to recruit warriors, or gather resources, such as wood and meat. You must protect the village by fighting monsters, such as Trolls or travel a sea to face more dangerous foes. Along your sea travels you may encounter storms, or even the might Kraken! so prepare by making sure to stock your ship as full as possible. In the end whom ever has the most Glory becomes the Jarl.
The randomness of the dice rolling is balanced quite nicely by the ability to re-roll them using your horns that are gathered by defeating less dangerous foes, and the ability to "plan" for the loss of warriors. If you liked either Lord of Waterdeep or Stoneage I highly recommend this game.
You play as one of the viking leaders trying to become Jarl. You place your Meeples on spaces to recruit warriors, or gather resources, such as wood and meat. You must protect the village by fighting monsters, such as Trolls or travel a sea to face more dangerous foes. Along your sea travels you may encounter storms, or even the might Kraken! so prepare by making sure to stock your ship as full as possible. In the end whom ever has the most Glory becomes the Jarl.
The randomness of the dice rolling is balanced quite nicely by the ability to re-roll them using your horns that are gathered by defeating less dangerous foes, and the ability to "plan" for the loss of warriors. If you liked either Lord of Waterdeep or Stoneage I highly recommend this game.
on May 18, 2017
With some many praises, I thought I would offer the negatives here:
1) No escalation. You pretty much will be doing the same for all 8 rounds, gathering warriors and going to battle. And you will be always feeling your chances to winning the battles are slim since your ability to gather warriors is always limited. I don't mind the game being tight, my point is that it would be nice if some basic engine building was present so to increase your ability to kill monsters throughout the game. After the 3-4 rounds, the games feels samey.
2) The dice rolling. The battles use a special dice which gives you a 1/3 chance of defeat. So it is not a regular die and it takes time to get used to correctly accounting the probability of winning/losing a battle. You will most likely misjudge your chances and lose some battles just for rolling poorly, which is quite frustrating. Also the mitigation factor the game introduces is too weak in my view. You can reroll some dice if you pay a token. I believe they should have used regular 1 to 6 dice and made the defense value of the monsters higher. Also the token should give you a chance to directly adjust your die and not just reroll it. After you pay 2 tokens, reroll twice and still got nothing, you will want to throw the game through the window.
Conclusion: This is a good intro for a worker placement game. That is it.
1) No escalation. You pretty much will be doing the same for all 8 rounds, gathering warriors and going to battle. And you will be always feeling your chances to winning the battles are slim since your ability to gather warriors is always limited. I don't mind the game being tight, my point is that it would be nice if some basic engine building was present so to increase your ability to kill monsters throughout the game. After the 3-4 rounds, the games feels samey.
2) The dice rolling. The battles use a special dice which gives you a 1/3 chance of defeat. So it is not a regular die and it takes time to get used to correctly accounting the probability of winning/losing a battle. You will most likely misjudge your chances and lose some battles just for rolling poorly, which is quite frustrating. Also the mitigation factor the game introduces is too weak in my view. You can reroll some dice if you pay a token. I believe they should have used regular 1 to 6 dice and made the defense value of the monsters higher. Also the token should give you a chance to directly adjust your die and not just reroll it. After you pay 2 tokens, reroll twice and still got nothing, you will want to throw the game through the window.
Conclusion: This is a good intro for a worker placement game. That is it.
on May 13, 2017
This game is awesome.
I own a ton of board games and this is the one that i ALWAYS want to play. When I ask the wife "what do you want to play?" I secretly want her to say CHAMPIONS OF MIDGARD every time.
The art, gameplay, presentation, and overall feel of this game is 10/10. Sometimes theme is lost in worker placement games and things boil down to cube color, tile numbers, etc. This game the theme courses through the entire game and really puts you in the position of a viking clan in heated battle to become the new Jarl of the village. Plus it is easy to pick up, learn and teach. I was able to explain it to my 10 year old niece and after the first round of play she was right in the thick of it.
I can't say enough nice things about this game. If you like worker placement, dice rolling, or just board games in general, you won't be disappointed with CHAMPIONS OF MIDGARD.
I own a ton of board games and this is the one that i ALWAYS want to play. When I ask the wife "what do you want to play?" I secretly want her to say CHAMPIONS OF MIDGARD every time.
The art, gameplay, presentation, and overall feel of this game is 10/10. Sometimes theme is lost in worker placement games and things boil down to cube color, tile numbers, etc. This game the theme courses through the entire game and really puts you in the position of a viking clan in heated battle to become the new Jarl of the village. Plus it is easy to pick up, learn and teach. I was able to explain it to my 10 year old niece and after the first round of play she was right in the thick of it.
I can't say enough nice things about this game. If you like worker placement, dice rolling, or just board games in general, you won't be disappointed with CHAMPIONS OF MIDGARD.
on April 16, 2017
Fantastic game! I'll spare you the summary of the game because all the other reviews here do a good job of that, but I just want to say that this is probably my new favorite game that I own now.
It was also a big hit with my friends (I was a little nervous because it's the first worker plcement game we've played). Only takes a few minutes to set the game up after you've played a game and are familiar with the cards and dice etc...
In the first round it clicks with everyone at the table. Very easy to get the hang of. And you're never really out of the game even if you're in last place. We just played our second game tonight and after the final scoring takes place, the two people that were in the lead finished last and the person who was in last place during the game scored some big bonuses from some objectives and shot into first.
Anyways, I never really write reviews on here but I was compelled to give this a 5 star review and share my thoughts because our group had an absolute blast playing this!
Oh and lastly, the artwork is phenomenal and the theme is lots of fun. Who doesn't want to kill monsters and trolls with Vikings?
It was also a big hit with my friends (I was a little nervous because it's the first worker plcement game we've played). Only takes a few minutes to set the game up after you've played a game and are familiar with the cards and dice etc...
In the first round it clicks with everyone at the table. Very easy to get the hang of. And you're never really out of the game even if you're in last place. We just played our second game tonight and after the final scoring takes place, the two people that were in the lead finished last and the person who was in last place during the game scored some big bonuses from some objectives and shot into first.
Anyways, I never really write reviews on here but I was compelled to give this a 5 star review and share my thoughts because our group had an absolute blast playing this!
Oh and lastly, the artwork is phenomenal and the theme is lots of fun. Who doesn't want to kill monsters and trolls with Vikings?
on March 7, 2017
Great game to play. If you have played Lord's of Waterdeep, this game will be easy to learn. My husband and I played it 3 times in a 12 hour period. This game is multifaceted and requires some strategy but a great family game! If you like to play board games, I would highly recommend this one.
on March 8, 2017
Great game for people that like worker placement games, but that also want an extra level to the game mechanics. Most worker placement games can lose an edge of excitement due to being "solvable". The added aspect of dice rolling to defeat monsters gives the player a higher level of investment than just collecting resources to trade back in to complete a task.
Pros
-Game piece quality
-Art work
-Game play style
-Space in the box for all game pieces
Cons
-Max of 4 players (this is situational, depending on the size of your gaming group)
Pros
-Game piece quality
-Art work
-Game play style
-Space in the box for all game pieces
Cons
-Max of 4 players (this is situational, depending on the size of your gaming group)
I have received no less than three texts/calls where she is raving about how much fun it is and how I need to buy my ...
on January 9, 2017
Bought this for my sister and her husband to play together because they don't have many friends who play games (It allows 2 player matches). I have received no less than three texts/calls where she is raving about how much fun it is and how I need to buy my own copy. It is currently on my Amazon Wishlist for my own family. She highly recommends it!
Update: I have since played this game and just spent $100+ on the latest Kickstarter campaign for the expansion. That should tell you how good this game is.
Update: I have since played this game and just spent $100+ on the latest Kickstarter campaign for the expansion. That should tell you how good this game is.
on February 13, 2017
I like this game a lot. However, I am taking away a star because of how the game was packaged and sent to me. The board itself is damaged-- it is bent and part of the backing is coming away from the rest of the board. All in all, it is a good worker placement game and the pace of the game is good. The pieces seem to be high quality, (cards included). The only issue; however, would be that some of the cards are rather small and easy to lose. They may also be hard to read if you have vision problems. Although, if you really like games like "Lords of Waterdeep" this would be a good addition to your collection, since they have similar mechanics. Definitely a game I will play over and over again!
