Battle Ravens - first game(s)

I backed the kickstarter for this game as it looked interesting and met several the criteria for a club night game:

1. simple rules, so should be easy to learn

2. short playing time - the box says 45-60 minutes

3. nice playing pieces - rather than loads of tiny counters with even tinier print!

Although it is only a two-player game the playing time should make it possible to run the game several times in an evening.

The game arrived during my recent office refurb so it was only on the recent Bank Holiday Monday that I got round to trying it out.  

You will, I hope, forgive me for recording events with a camera rather than a tapestry...

Key point to remember:  It's all about breaking the other guy's shieldwall.

I set up the two armies - Norse and Anglo Saxon - which are included with the game.  Others available as options are Norman, Welsh and Scottish.

The armies are made up mostly of Hirdmen and Bondi - basically with and without armour, and a few Thralls (skirmishers) skulking behind.  Hirdmen need two 'hits' to be eliminated, Bondi only one.

To try the system I set the armies up symmetrically.  The Anglo-Saxons are nearest the camera.

Having deployed the toys - sorry, troops - players then alternately place their 'Battle Ravens' tokens.  This done, they alternately 'activate' and area and either move troops to other areas or attack the area directly to their front. Needless to say, I didn't bother with any poncy moving but went straight to some hefty attacks.

The A-S right launched a 9-dice attack on their opposite numbers.  A 4 or 5 is a success, a 6 is two successes, so this attack has potentially inflicted 9 hits!

However - and this is where the story really starts - if the defender has any Battle Ravens he can attempt to get rid of the hits.  Each success he scores - six in this example - reduces the enemy's score by that amount.  Of course, the Norse defender here didn't have to use all of his Battle Ravens to whittle down the attack - he could have held on to some for an attack of his own.

This is what three 'points' worth of dead Vikings looks like.

A word about Thralls.  These chaps are skirmishers and do not form part of the battle line.  They can be 'spent' to re-roll dice.  If you remember.

A few more dead Vikings later and the Anglo-Saxons created their first breach in the enemy shieldwall!

A few areas were looking a bit thin by now.

In the end of turn phase the vacant enemy areas are occupied and the occupiers take no further part in proceedings - presumably being too busy with looting, drinking the blood of the fallen and so on.

Next turn...

..and two more Norse squares are emptied.  A brief but bloody game!

The start...

...and finish of the second game.  There was more by way of movement in this - with weakened areas being reinforced.

I have not tried the optional tactics cards which are different for each army but I am greatly encouraged by the games I tried.

Total playing time for both games was under a hour.  All being well I will try it with actual players on Wednesday.