Odin Day’s Spotlight: A new challenger approaches

October 7th, 2015 Ragnaroll

This Odin’s Day we’ve got something a little special. I’m currently looking into the possibility of adding on an extra pledge level that will let you bring the game up to 5 players. The game has been fully tested with 5 and we’d hoped to be able add enough dice to stretch to 5 players with stretch goals, but it doesn’t quite look like we’ll get there. The good news is this means adding an extra hero for every backer when we fund. These heroes take the game to the next level, but heroes aren’t just born, they’re made on the battlefield and we’d like your help to choose which warrior to turn into our newest hero, but you’ll need to know what they’re all about first.

(Psst… obviously the art below is just a rough sketch for now. Check out our other hero spotlights to see how awesome the final image will look!)

First up is Olaf Foeseeker.

Olaf Foe-seeker made his name young. He travelled far and wide, always keen to lend his sword to a battle with a storied hero on the other side of the shield wall. While other heroes proved their worth with battle prowess – fighting five men at a time, holding a bridge single-handedly – Olaf watched and waited, saving his strength. And when the time was right, when the battle was almost done, he would pounce, raising himself up by striking other named warriors down. When the great winter came, Olaf didn’t have a great hall or a strong clan behind him but his name and his boasts drew a desperate few. If you fought with Olaf, you would not die in your hall, wasting away from hunger, you would fight and you would kill and your deeds would be remembered in story and song.

Our testers have found Olaf to be one of the most heroes difficult to play, but also one of the most rewarding. Many of the other heroes Paths to Glory provide a reliable stream of glory, but Olaf needs to bide his time, relying on Fate until he can find the perfect moment to strike. His very presence can strike fear into the hearts of other heroes and can change the dynamic of the game as other players do their best to not fall into Olaf’s traps. The Hunter ability can be used to pounce on players who have left their hero at home without enough support, but also adds a great degree of flexibility, if you can stomach the glory cost.

Next, we have Brenna Battleborn!

There are many tales of babes born on the battlefield. The seers say it is an omen of a great but cursed warrior. A child so born will grow into a strong warrior but is fated to die as they were born, covered in blood, screaming and surrounded by loved ones. Actually, to a Viking, that doesn’t sound half bad.
Brenna Battleborn Rough

Brenna isn’t afraid of death, and any player that uses her shouldn’t be either. To head towards a glory victory, you’ll need to flirt with danger, pushing Brenna into battles she won’t win and might just lose, taking best advantage of the Fate cards available. Other heroes are faced with a tough decision when battling Brenna as slaying her can end up in a pretty large glory gain for her player, more than enough for her inevitable revenge.

Ready to rally behind your hero?

We’re giving you lots of ways to show you support for your hero, and a week to do so. We’ll be counting up all the results across all the social media.

Tweet with #ragnaroll and your hero’s first name, #Olaf or #Brenna
Share or like our Facebook pictures of Olaf or Brenna
Vote in the BGG poll, and add your thumbs to the BGG pictures of Olaf or Brenna
Shout out your hero’s name in the comments below!

Odin’s Day Spotlight: Freya the Red

September 30th, 2015 Ragnaroll

Freya was but one of her father’s seven noble-born children, and with so much noble blood around it was all but inevitable it would come spurting out. The sole sister among a brood of brothers, Freya refused every suitor brought to her and took to the sea instead. She would raid, like her father before her, and came to be known by the bright red sail of her flagship. If you saw that sail, you knew that death was coming in with the tide.

While Freya went a Viking, her brothers smiled at each other across the table but plotted behind close doors. It seemed that every time she returned, another brother had met with an unfortunate accident, a hunting arrow gone astray, a fall from a horse, accidentally falling on one’s one sword several times in a row.

When Freya left her on her last raiding season before the seas froze over, only two brothers remained. The oldest and the youngest, and she hoped that when she returned, the surviving brother would be greeting her with open arms and not waiting weapons. When she finally returned, she found herself greeted not by a brother, but by a father, still defiantly clinging to life. He had grim news, both brothers had met with another unfortunate accident. The clan would need a strong leader for the dark times ahead, he told her. A storied warrior with a reputation to be feared.

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Odin’s Day spotlight: Hilda Shieldmother

September 23rd, 2015 Ragnaroll

Today’s also our very first Odin’s Day of the Ragnarol campaign, also called Wednesday by the English. While Thor might be the most famous god of the Viking pantheon, it’s his daddy Odin that will be hearing battle prayers in Ragnaroll, and that gives his name to the most middle of the week days. Thor was loved by the working man perhaps because, unlike his father, he favoured strength and honesty over guile, and his iconic hammer was symbolic of this, a tool of labour, not of war. Odin, on the other hand, was a god for those who did not sow, and delighted in the wars and battles of men. Odin was a god of kings, jarls and heroes; a god for the bad times ahead; a god for hump day! So every Odin’s Day we’re going to feature one of the heroes of Ragnaroll. First up is Hilda Shieldmother, the fierce lady you see in our main image.

Nobody weak survived this far into the long winter of Ragnaroll. When everything else was falling down, when brother turned against brother, and banditry was rife, Hilda stayed strong and held her ground. There were other heroes in her clan, men who called themselves leaders, but their ambitions were often bigger than their raiding parties, and it wasn’t long before the people of the clan looked to Hilda as a voice of reason. But nobody makes it through the long winter innocent, there were some hard choices to make in those dark times. Hilda’s not a maiden anymore, she’s one mean mother.

Path to Glory

Gain 1 glory for each of your Vikings that is lost or slain. Gain 2 glory when Hilda successfully defends.

Unique Battle Ability

• Hold the Line • 2 glory
Reroll all of your Vikings with a Snakes result. Your opponent must use axes to slay as many Vikings as possible before using axes to take stores. No Vikings are lost or wounded in this battle.

Death

If Hilda is slain defending your hall, gain 2 additional glory. If Hilda is the only one of your Vikings slain in a battle, gain 2 additional glory When Hilda dies, flip this mat to the revenge side.

Hilda in action

If you were going to hold up in your hall with anyone all winter, you’d want it to be Hilda. With her path and abilities centred around defense, Hilda’s determined to bring her clan out of the apocalypse alive and will sacrifice glory and honour to do so. With Hilda, you might send a few single raiders off early in the game, to their death and your glory, saving more stores for later in the winter. But like all the heroes of Ragnaroll, Hilda shines in battle and you’ll need to offer a juicy enough target for other players to risk facing her in battle. Of course, you know that your opponents expect Hilda to stay home and protect her stores, so they might be inclined to leave their own stores lightly guarded giving you the perfect opportunity for a surprise raid, but then they know that you know…

Hilda’s Death condition also provides some interesting options and a nice chunk of glory, making her revenge inevitable (and perhaps sudden) if you can have her sacrifice herself in defence of her hall.

Next Odin’s Day…

So what do you think of Hilda Shieldmother? Perhaps she’s a little too pragmatic for those of you who have their ambitions set on carving a name for yourself with some epic raiding. Well, next week, you’ll meet another lovely lady of the apocalypse. They call her Freya the Red and that’s got nothing to do with the colour of her hair.

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