Odin's Ravens - A MYTHICAL RACE GAME FOR 2 PLAYERS

At Salute I got my hands on a little 2 player game from Osprey with a nordic connection, Odin´s Ravens by Thorsten Gimmler and illustrated by the very talented Swedish illustrator Johan Egerkrans.

From the box:

Every morning Odin sends his ravens, Huginn and Muninn, across the world to bring back news of what life is like on Earth. Naturally, after thousands of years, they've gotten a little competitive… 
Race through the landscape in opposite directions to be the first to return to Odin. Focus on speed, or enlist the help of the trickster god Loki to create shortcuts and hinder your opponent. Can you be certain Loki's changes won't help your opponent instead? There's only one way to find out! This revised edition of Thorsten Gimmler's award-winning game has been completely redesigned, with new rules and a beautiful new art style inspired by Norse mythology. 

2 Players Playing
Time: 20-30 minutes
Ages 8+

Odin's Ravens have turned in to a new family favourite, both my wife and the children love the game, and my Son that are 6 years can play it without any problem. I can absolutely recoment it, give good games and stunning illustrations.

The Swedish illustrator Johan Egerkrans have done a very good work on the game illustration for Odin's Ravens. He have lately done other jobbs for Osprey, like the cover art for the "Black Ops" wargaming rules.

I really like his work on this Odins Raven´s as well as his other work, top of the list are the book "Nordiska Väsen" that is a a bestiary about scandinavian folkloric beings and have so fare sold about 34.000 copies here in Sweden. The book have only been published in Swedeish as far as I know...sorry.

Here are some more pictures from the Nordiska Väsen book and at the bottom one of my favourite pictured by Johan, from a childrens book.

While you waiting...

...for my Medieval Week pictures, try to find the 55 faults in the lower picture:)



You can see the right answer here

Last Argument of Kings!

At last are the 1st Black Powder supplement approaching, Last Argument of Kings! by Peter Brown. It is to be hoped that there are some more AWI info...although the preview article dosen´t say so...at least there are info about Great Northen War and Charles XII...



At the beginning of the 18th century, warfare entered a new era. The widespread use of the flintlock musket had transformed the way armies trained and fought. This period was a golden age for the crowned heads of Europe. They commanded professional troops, gloriously outfitted in splendid uniforms, and fought each other over land, wealth and the succession to their thrones. Some even led their armies on the field of battle. Yet by the end of the century, the real power of kings was gone or greatly eroded – parliaments would decide the foreign policy of nations, democracy had taken hold in the New World and the divine right of kings was everywhere being questioned.

These were the last wars fought to protect the succession rights of royalty. These wars were the Last Argument of Kings.

This supplement for the Black Powder game overviews the main conflicts and armies of this period, and includes army lists and special rules to enable you to refight these wars using the Black Powder rules, as well as scenarios for the most dramatic battles of the time. Featured conflicts include:

The War of the Spanish Succession – the Battle of Blenheim (1704)
The Great Northern War – the Battle of Holowczyn (1708)
The Austro-Turkish Wars – the Battle of Petrovardin (1716)
The War of the Austrian Succession – the Battle of Fontenoy (1745)
The Wars of the English Succession – the 1745 Rebellion
The Seven Years’ War – the Battle of Hundorf (1762)
War in the Colonies – The French Indian War & The War in India
Raids and Invasions – Amphibious Warfare in the 18th Century

Manoeuvre

Yesterday I was to my local gaming store...I could not resist to buy me a new board game...I realy wanted to have it for some time...

Manoeuvre by GMT Games. Its a easy boardgame set i the napoleonic era. I´m not a real fan of napoleonics but I realy like the easy rules and the format of the game. I can set it up on my kitchen table and still have room over for beer and snacks and its possible to finish a game in an houre or so.

In the box you get all the stuf you need to get started, and if you get some extra dice and fix some extra redoupt markers you can play up to 8 players at the same time only using one box...

I have only had the chanse to play some test games last night but I already like it very much:)



Here are a short rundown about the rules writen by Peter Stein

There are eight countries represented: France, Britian, Russia, Spain, Austria, Turkey, Prussia and the US. Each country has 8 units and a deck of cards(60) specific to the country.

Two ways to win: Kill off five of your opponents units, or control more territory on your opponent's side of the map if both players go through their decks.

Each turn you can move one unit, one square for infantry, two for cavalry. You don't need cards to move, but you do need them if you wish to attack. Each unit has several cards in the deck that will let you attack with that unit. Combat is simple:

1. You play a card to activate an attacking unit
2. The defender plays any cards that might help him. The unit cards can also be used to add to defense, leaders and Withdraw cards are good.
3. The attacker can now play any additional cards. If you want two or more units to combine on an attack you'll need a leader, other special cards help here too.
4. Basically it's the attacker's unit strength plus whatever die roll the card played offers vs. the defenders strength. Weak units roll a 2d6, good units might roll d10s. There are terrain mods and other things to add - it's simple.

If the attacker wins by a little the defender chooses to take a step loss or retreat. If he wins by double he gets to choose and it gets worse as the difference gets worse. If the defender empties the square the attacker MUST advance (unless the unit card played says you don't have to). If the defender wins, all attacking units lose a step (Don't lose a battle as the attacker).

Certain unit cards will let you Bombard or Volley fire, you roll the die and hope you get lucky. No harm if you miss.

After the battle you can try to restore a unit that took a step loss. There are several cards that will do that; there's also a Guerilla card that will stop your opponent from resupplying.

That's a rough sketch of how a turn works.

The designer did some homework when it comes to each country's units and cards. Spanish cavalry is lousy. Russian units don't start off too strong, but if they take a step loss there is little drop off in effectiveness. The Prussian and French decks have good leaders. Austria and Spain have several Guerilla cards in their deck used to cut resupply attempts. The Americans aren't that great, but they've got Ambush cards which you can use to knock off units that have taken a step loss, even if they've retreated from the front line. And so on.

I hope that gives you an idea of what the game is like. Simple, Simple, Simple. Game should be done in under 60 minutes, even if it goes the distance.