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Champions of Midgard: Valhalla Expansion Board Game Review
- WadeMonnig
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You shall ride eternal, shiny, and chrome!
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As a huge fan of the base game, didn’t hesitate backing the expansions. I never played either expansion on their own, I went whole hog right from the get go after getting my stuff. I can see where Dark Mountains could be boring on its own, but both together? I’m not going to say they complete the base game, it was fine on it’s own, but the expansions truly elevate it well beyond being “Lords of Waterdeep with dice.” Such a badass game, and I can’t think of another WP game that I can label “badass.”
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- Jackwraith
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- Maim! Kill! Burn!
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Jackwraith wrote: My question is: If I'm already playing Blood Rage, which is aggressive/combat-heavy worker placement about Vikings... do I need another game that basically does the same thing?
Yes. They’re completely different beasts.
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- WadeMonnig
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Josh Look wrote:
Jackwraith wrote: My question is: If I'm already playing Blood Rage, which is aggressive/combat-heavy worker placement about Vikings... do I need another game that basically does the same thing?
Yes. They’re completely different beasts.
Totally Agree with Josh on this. The fact that the comparison between the two never really occurred to me until you posted (and I love them both) attests to how different they play.
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- WadeMonnig
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mezike wrote: Please may I ask if anyone has much experience playing this with two players?
Man, that is a question that almost needs another review. If you are talking base Champions of Midgard, it seems (at first glance) like 2 player doesn't work well. The blame system means that the first few games, you'll usually be fighting over who fights the Troll in order to avoid taking blame and to give one blame to your opponent. You start feeling like your first actions in every round revolves around troll but the more times you play it, the more you realize it doesn't have to be key. If you are playing Jarl's Longhouse correctly (which the same player can't take the first player token two turns in a row without passing it to the other player), then it becomes a bit of a game of whose going to blink and whose going to go to the Troll. So, you go though phases over multiple 2-player games of "This doesn't work...oh, wait, it does work...nope, still doesn't work quite right." and it can be the focus of playing more than the rest of the game. In the context of adding both expansions, suddenly all the choices you have make this much less of a focal point. You can just go all-in and max out blame and avoid the troll all together. Or not, and let one person dominate the troll aspect of the game and spend it wondering if they have Troll bonus cards. The whole process I just described is fun to realize on your own in a two player game.
tl:dr- It can look like it doesn't work at 2-players in the base game but it actually does a decent job. Adding both expansions makes it work even better/smoother at two players. I still prefer it at 3/4/5 players.
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- WadeMonnig
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Edit: I should add that I’m not suffering from confirmation bias and fishing for validation on this. I’m genuinely interested in whether Valhalla will work well on its own or if the game really needs both expansions together.
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- WadeMonnig
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Valhalla works great on its own. You just pull some cards that reference dark mountains, if I recall. It works, imho, better with DM just because of the additional choices. If you love the game, then bite on DM. it's nothing you NEED.mezike wrote: So I came across a second hand bundle of the base game plus Valhalla at an attractive price and took a bite at it as I can always flip it for little or no cost. I don’t mind paying a little extra to also get the mountains as it’s discounted down pretty much everywhere at the moment and we’re certainly not bothered by lengthy or complex games. Is it worth getting both expansions at the same time for a full experience, or do you think Valhalla on its own will work? I don’t want to go into a lopsided experience if the two work better in conjunction but equally don’t want to spend money without reason.
Edit: I should add that I’m not suffering from confirmation bias and fishing for validation on this. I’m genuinely interested in whether Valhalla will work well on its own or if the game really needs both expansions together.
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