I’m
going to be doing a review of Battle Ravens designed by Dan Mersey and
published by PSC Games. I was provided a
pre-production copy of the game to review.
This game will be launching via Kickstarter on November 20, 2018.
This game is
set in the Viking era and represents a shield wall battle between Norse and
Anglo-Saxon armies.
I have a pre-production copy, so components could be different in the final edition, but what I have here is very nicely done. At first, I wasn’t all that excited about the cardboard standees that represent the units in the shield wall. I have been a miniature gamer for many years and thought that models would add a lot to the look of the game. However, the art work on the standees has grown on me and I think they actually look very nice. They are a little difficult to tell apart, but I’ll talk about that a little later.
I have a pre-production copy, so components could be different in the final edition, but what I have here is very nicely done. At first, I wasn’t all that excited about the cardboard standees that represent the units in the shield wall. I have been a miniature gamer for many years and thought that models would add a lot to the look of the game. However, the art work on the standees has grown on me and I think they actually look very nice. They are a little difficult to tell apart, but I’ll talk about that a little later.
The rulebook
is laid out well and has some snippets of poems from the dark ages that add a
nice bit of character to the book and really fits the theme of the game.
Set-up
The players
set up their shield wall with 3 hirdmen and 3 bondi in each of 6 sections in
their shield wall. Each player also has
3 thralls set up behind their line. Each
player takes 20 Raven tokens that are used in the game to take actions. Both players roll 4 dice, and whichever has
the most successes is the first player throughout the game.
Objective
To win the
game, you need to capture 3 sections of the enemy’s shield wall. If the enemy section has no models in it
during the end phase, all of your models across from that section move forward
and take it. Your models that take that
section are out of action as they are now busy looting the bodies and tending
their wounds. For each section you lose,
you must remove 3 raven tokens from their pool and remove one thrall from the
board.
Raven Placement
At the
beginning of each turn, starting with the first player, the players take it in
turns placing raven tokens into sections of the shield wall. A player can place up to nine ravens in an
area, but they are limited to placing ravens in each area one time. So, if I place a single raven in an area and
then my opponent puts 5 in the area across from it, I can’t go back and add any
ravens to that area.
Raven tokens
are essentially action points that can be spent in that area. This is an interesting mechanic as you have
to decide if you want to put a lot of effort into a couple of areas or spread
out your violence across your whole line.
Actions
The raven
tokens allow you to take an action during the game. On your turn, you can spend as many tokens as
they like from 1 area to either attack or move.
The ravens are also spent to defend against successful attacks your opponent
makes against you. When attacking, each
raven spent allows you to roll 1 die.
One hit is scored on a 4 or 5 and 2 hits are scored on a 6. Each player has 3 Thralls, running around
behind their lines shooting at the enemy. The effect of these in the game it that each thrall can be spent to
reroll one attack die each turn.
After the
attacker rolls to hit, the defender can spend as many ravens as they like (from
that area) to try to block hits. They
roll one die for each raven spent and any successes reduce the number of
hits. Successes are the same as attacks
so a 4 or 5 blocks one hit and a 6 blocks two hits.
Unblocked
hits are applied to the models in the enemy’s section. It takes 2 hits to knock out a Hirdmen and it
takes 1 hit to knock out a bondi. You
must apply all hits if possible. Extra
hits that don’t knock out a model are ignored.
For example, if I have 2 hirdmen in my area and receive 3 hits, I will
remove 1 hirdmen for 2 hits, but the 3 hit is ignored because it isn’t enough
to knock out the other hirdmen.
When moving,
you spend 1 raven per model you wish to move, and each model can move one space
left or right. You cannot move over an
area of your shield wall that has been captured by the enemy. Moving can be important to fill gaps in the
wall during the game.
Advanced Rules
The advanced
rules add tactics cards to the game.
Each side has a deck of 10 cards and draws 5 of them at the beginning of
the game. These cards allow for a
variety of actions to be taken at different times during the game. The decks for each faction include different
cards so the tactics of the Norse are a bit different than the Anglo-Saxons.
These cards
add some interesting options and I think are a great addition to the game.
Thoughts
This is a
light wargame and I thought it was a lot of fun. It is easy to teach and learn and it takes 45
minutes to an hour to play.
The game
really feels like a battle of attrition.
While movement is important, I didn’t do a lot of it until I had to fill
holes in my line. As both sides start
losing models, the lines get thinner and thinner and eventually, you just don’t
have the models to plug the holes in the line.
I really
like the action system in the game.
Placing ravens at the beginning of the turn forces you to decide where
you want to focus your efforts. But then
you have to decide, based on the enemy’s ravens, if you want to strike hard
with a big attack or hold some back to defend against their attack.
I did have a few minor quibbles with the game. The artwork is very nice, but the units can be hard to tell apart. Each model has its name on the base, but that is mostly covered by the plastic stand. This adds a little time to the set up as I had to separate out the forces to place on the board. I will bag the models in the future by faction, so it is easier to set up. But maybe a little different design would make this quicker.
I did have a few minor quibbles with the game. The artwork is very nice, but the units can be hard to tell apart. Each model has its name on the base, but that is mostly covered by the plastic stand. This adds a little time to the set up as I had to separate out the forces to place on the board. I will bag the models in the future by faction, so it is easier to set up. But maybe a little different design would make this quicker.
My other
minor problem is this is a dice game and luck can play a big factor. This is fun and frustrating at the same
time. It is great when your 2 die attack
becomes 4 hits and represents a surge in the line. But it can feel frustrating when you are on
the receiving end of that attack. I’ll
call this a pro and a con as it is fun when one side is clearly falling behind
but pulls off a great attack and swings the battle back into their favor.
You can watch my video review below.
