The game is part resource management, part worker placement, part battle strategy. Players are in charge of their own viking clan and trying to gain the most glory before the world ends, and then ends again, and ends some more times just for good measure.


Blood Rage is a Viking board game created by acclaimed game designer Eric M. Lang. In this fast-paced yet highly strategic game, 2 to 4 players take control of Viking clans, invading, pillaging and battling in a quest to gain as much glory as possible before Ragnarök finally consumes the land!

From Guillotine Games, the studio that brought you Zombicide, comes the ultimate Viking saga. The game’s striking visuals are a combination of Adrian Smith’s highly evocative artwork, and Mike McVey’s amazingly detailed miniatures. Blood Rage comes with 46 pre-assembled miniatures, including some huge and impressive legendary monsters.
In Blood Rage, each player controls their own Viking clan’s warriors, leader, and ship. Ragnarök has come, and it’s the end of the world! It’s the Vikings’ last chance to go down in a blaze of glory and secure their place in Valhalla at Odin’s side! For a Viking there are many pathways to glory. You can invade and pillage the land for its rewards, crush your opponents in epic battles, fulfill quests, increase your clan’s stats, or even die gloriously either in battle or from Ragnarök, the ultimate inescapable doom.

Most player strategies are guided by the cards drafted at the beginning of each of the three game rounds (or Ages). These “Gods’ Gifts” grant you numerous boons for your clan including: increased Viking strength and devious battle strategies, upgrades to your clan, or even the aid of legendary creatures from Norse mythology. They may also include various quests, from dominating specific provinces, to having lots of your Vikings sent to Valhalla.
Most of these cards are aligned with one of the Norse gods, hinting at the kind of strategy they support. For example, Thor gives more glory for victory in battle, Heimdall grants you foresight and surprises, Tyr strengthens you in battle, while the trickster Loki actually rewards you for losing battles, or punishes the winner.

Players must choose their strategies carefully during the draft phase, but also be ready to adapt and react to their opponents’ strategies as the action phase unfolds. Battles are decided not only by the strength of the figures involved, but also by cards played in secret. By observing your opponent’s actions and allegiances to specific gods, you may predict what card they are likely to play, and plan accordingly. Winning battles is not always the best course of action, as the right card can get you even more rewards by being crushed. The only losing strategy in Blood Rage is to shy away from battle and a glorious death!

BLOOD RAGE DESIGN DIARY #2 - The Draft

Eric here to talk a bit more about game play and design. The full rules for Blood Rage will be posted on day one of the Kickstarter, so I won't repeat them here, but instead share some insight into the design process for this game (that we've been working on for over a year).

I love card drafting games, where players draw randomly from a deck of cards, pick what they want and pass the rest to their opponents. This is a popular play mode in trading card games, and for good reason - it's highly strategic and fun. What I was looking for was a game that allowed players to use the cards they had drafted to play a board game with, and because I love Vikings I wanted that board game to be about pillaging and glorious combat.

The cards you draft are everything to your strategy, and you must balance them carefully. Battle cards help you win combat when you are both pillaging and defending. Quest cards give you tons of Glory (the game's victory condition) and also raise your clan stats if you complete them, and upgrades help your figures and clan itself get stronger by giving them special abilities.

Furthermore, since the cards represent the Gods' gifts, many of them are "aligned" with one of the gods (as you can see by the titles). When you are choosing your cards, keeping one or two Gods' cards primarily will nautrally synergize, but as you get to know the game better it's also key to pay attention to which cards are missing (so you know what your opponents are going after).

Because of the core drafting mechanic, Blood Rage is a strategy game that rewards discovery and multiple plays. It also awards bloody combat and pillaging; all the good things in life.

Rage on!

 tre manor wrote:
" From Guillotine Games, the studio that brought you Zombicide, comes the ultimate Viking saga. The game’s striking visuals are a combination of Adrian Smith’s highly evocative artwork, and Mike McVey’s amazingly detailed miniatures."

Did Mike McVey sculpt for this project??

 Buzzsaw wrote:

 tre manor wrote:
" From Guillotine Games, the studio that brought you Zombicide, comes the ultimate Viking saga. The game’s striking visuals are a combination of Adrian Smith’s highly evocative artwork, and Mike McVey’s amazingly detailed miniatures."

Did Mike McVey sculpt for this project??

I must second this question: why is the project manager (for lack of a better word) being presented as the sculptor? Presuming he is not the sculptor, this has all the intellectual honesty of those movie ads that trumpet "from the team that brought you The Matrix", when it's the electrical gaffers that are in common.

 Alpharius wrote:
Those are 'production miniatures'?!?

Wow!

I'm in!

 tre manor wrote:


Well he did sculpt at one time.

He is the Art director though, and no offense to him intended but I think there shoudl be a litany of artist credits if there are any at all. None of these miniatures would be what they are without the people who made them making them regardless of who the art director is.