The Pixie's Box: Pt 3

Waiting

at the

Tavern

Part Three: A Race Of Ravens

For my third of three posts concerning fun, quick filler games to play while waiting for all your players to show up for RPG game day I present an epic two-player race of mythical proportions…

ODIN’S RAVENS

A Mythical Race Game For 2 Players

Odin’s Ravens (Second Edition) Designed By: Thorsten Gimmler

Art By: Johan Egerkrans Game Publisher: Osprey Games Year Published: 2016 Number of Players: 2 Player Age: 8+ Game Time: 20 - 30 minutes Game Type: Card Game, Mythology, Racing, Trickery

Set-Up Time: Minutes

ISBN: 978-1472815033

MSRP: $24.00

Game Box Contents:

2 Wooden Raven counters

50 Flight Cards (25 cards per player)

16 Loki Cards (8 cards per player)

40 Land Cards

The box and art…

Osprey Games really hits it out of the gaming store with their boxes in most cases and this is no different. The box weighs in at less than a pound and a half and measures a mere 6.2 x 1.4 x 8.7 inches. Not a pocket game but an easy to travel with game none the less.

Johan Egerkrans’ art is beautiful and deeply evokes the atmosphere of Norse mythological imagery.

The components…

Opening the beautifully designed, illustrated, and colored box the first thing you’ll see is the rule book, or booklet I should say. Pamphlet actually. With so many games today, even small filler games, having a dozen or more pages in their rule book it is a happy relief to find this game comes with a 6 page booklet. Why? Because that is all this game needs to teach you in minutes how to play. It’s that easy. The rule book is a quick read and flows very naturally. It tells you exactly what you need to know exactly where you need to find it in the rules. Not that you’ll need to go back to the rule book very often, though.

Next you’ll find three sets of cards. These cards are neatly held in the box by a clear plastic retainer. One set is called the Land Cards. These cards each show two (Usually different but not always) land types, one on the top of the card the other on the bottom of the card… Mountains, River, Plains, Forest, Desert. The other two sets of cards are the players’ Flight Cards and Loki Cards. Each player has the exact same deck of both the 25 Flight Cards and the 8 Loki Cards. Flight Cards are played in order to move while the Loki cards help the players while and hinder others. The art on all the cards is magnificent; the land is realistic yet artistic and Loki looks convincingly sinister.

Lastly, you’ll discover the two Wooden Raven tokens representing Allfather Odin’s ravens Huginn and Muninn; one dark one light. These represent the players as they race through the Land Cards. The first back to Odin wins the race.

All the components to this game are top notch!

Game play...

This game is a sleek, smooth running machine of precision. The rules, which will be learned in minutes, are clear and simple. This does not take away from the game at all but enhances the levels of fun as players will not be constantly spending game time with their faces buried in the rule book.

After shuffling the Land Cards 16 are drawn and placed in a long line. This will be your race path. Game time can be altered longer or shorter if you place more or less Land Cards down to form the race path.

Each player starts at the same end of the race path; one raven aligned with the top half of the first Land Card, the other raven aligned with the bottom half for the first Land Card.

During the course of the race each player will, in turn, play cards from his or her hand in order to move their raven. You can play Flight Cards from your hand that match Land Cards in front of you to move to that Land Card. One Flight Card will move you across ALL Matching Land Cards in a row in front of you. Example, if there are two Mountains in front of you in a row then it only takes one Mountain Flight Card to move across BOTH the Mountain Land Cards. Alternately, if you don’t have any Flight cards in your hand to match the Land Card in front of your raven you can play ANY two Flight Cards from your hand that match each other to move one space foreword on the race path.

Players may also play one of their Loki Cards. Each Loki Card has two options for the player to choose from when played. Some Loki Cards alter the Land Cards, add Land Cards, remove Land Cards while others directly move a raven or even add more cards to your hand. Unlike the 25 Flight Cards which will be reshuffled if your deck runs out your 8 Loki Cards are eliminated from play completely after you play them.

You have no limit to the amount of cards you can play from your hand on your turn. At the end of your turn you draw three cards in to your hand. You choose how many of the three cards you take from your Flight Cards and Loki Cards respectively. Example, you may draw 2 Flight Cards and 1 Loki Card, or 3 Loki Cards, or 1 Flight Card and 2 Loki Cards, or 3 Flight Cards.

Simply put each player has to reach the end of the Land Cards then turn around and race back on the Other Row… NOT the half of the Land Cards they just raced through. If you started the race on the top row after you reach the end of the Land Cards you turn around and race back on the bottom row.

This is what really makes the game a strategy challenge. Anything you do to alter the Land Cards to your opponent will still be in effect when you race back on their path! If players aren’t careful they can really ruin their own flight plans. I’ve seen players curse themselves when they turn back and run right into their own handy work. Many players have lost the game simply because their own Loki Cards, played earlier in the game to mess with their opponent, hampered them too much on their return flight to Odin.

Winning the game is as simple as being the first player to make it back to the start. Sounds simple but plays much deeper than one would think.

Final Thoughts…

This game belongs on every gamer's shelf!

Odin’s Ravens is a fun, exciting, strategy racing game that does not disappoint. The very fact that almost anything you do to mess with your opponent will come back to bite you in your own ass makes this a deceptively more strategic game than most people realize. Over the last several months that I’ve owned this game it has become one of the most requested games by both my regular players as well as my non-gamer friends. Odin’s Ravens is a fun 15-20 minutes for anyone, veteran grognards and new gamers alike. This game will get you excited without stressing you out. The game is light and small enough to carry with you and bring on trips or while visiting friends and family.

Valhalla awaits nerds!