Champions of Midgard Board Game

Product Information

Get the expansions of Champions of Midgard while upgrading your experience at the same time with the Champions of Midgard Jarl Collector’s Box! This product comes with both Champions of Midgard expansions (Valhalla and The Dark Mountains) as well as exclusive content not available at retail, all included inside a box designed to hold everything including the base game. So, at the start of this article I said I hear a lot of comparisons between Champions of Midgard and Lords of Waterdeep. Is this justified? They are both worker placement games and that’s about as far (for me anyway) as the similarities go. Champions of Midgard is a captivating strategy board game perfect for 2-4 players aged 10 and above. With a playing time of 60-90 minutes, players are transported to a Viking era where they take on the roles of competing Viking leaders. Their mission? To hunt trolls, battle draugr, and vanquish mythical Norse beasts in pursuit of glory. Buy The Game Here. So, Champions of Midgard is the better game, it says so above right? Me and my group prefer Lords of Waterdeep and we cannot put our finger on why. In all honesty, every time I set up Champions of Midgard I get excited and think ‘I am going to have a blast here’ and I do but just not as much as I do when I play Waterdeep. Now I’ll admit I wasn’t an immediate fan of the box/component artwork, plus I’m one of those pedants who bores you with “Vikings never wore horned helmets blah, blah, blah”. But not only has the artwork grown on me, but the horned helmets serve to remind that this is a game of Norse mythology and heroic sagas, not some historical hex-bound chit-shuffling.

Hours Champions of MidgardChampions of Midgard (formerly Defenders of Nidaros) is a middleweight, Viking-themed, worker placement game with dice rolling in which players are leaders of Viking clans who have traveled to an embattled Viking harbor town to help defend it against the threat of trolls, draugr, and other mythological Norse beasts. By defeating these epic creatures, players gain glory and the favor of the gods. When the game ends, the player who has earned the most glory earns the title of Jarl and is recognized as a champion of Midgard! This game has gained a loyal fan base since it was published in 2015. It was featured on Wil Wheaton's Tabletop and has two critically-acclaimed expansions, The Dark Mountains and Valhalla.

Champions of Midgard blends worker-placement and dice-driven combat to create an exciting and strategic experience. Recruit warriors, gain powerful runes, and peer into the future – then send your faithful fighters on journeys to defeat fierce and mythical beasts. Gain the most glory to become the new Jarl and be recognized as a Champion of Midgard!

I was keen to find out how Champions of Midgard would fair against it. Champions of Midgard is a worker placement game for 2-4 players that plays in just over an hour (once you know what you are doing). The game’s theme is more appealing to me than Lords of Waterdeep and the box art is also more pleasing on the eye. What’s in the box?The premise of Champions of Midgard is that the Jarl (leader) of the port depicted on the board has died and evil creatures have sensed the vulnerability this has caused. You play as a Viking leader who seeks the glory of the gods in hope to become the new Jarl and lead the port to safety.

Components – This is a draw. Both are excellent, although the insert in Lords of Waterdeep is immense. So what makes it able to shine from under the shadow of Blood Rage, that other game vying for Viking Game of the Year 2015? Components With its unique blend of worker placement and dice-driven combat, Champions of Midgard provides hours of fun and strategic gameplay for both casual and experienced board game enthusiasts. In other words this is about one thing: GLORY! Victory and defeat are all the same so long as there’s a place in Valhalla at the end of it! Gameplay Overall it’s a fun game that is a good entry level worker placement game that has a place in anyone’s collection. I would love to try out the two expansions, The Dark Mountain and Valhalla, to see what they can add to a good game. Viking Vs LordI guess it would explain the red rages, a fondness for mead and the urge every time I pass a church, to steal all its shiny things and burn the place to the ground. Combat in this game is one of the factors that made me enjoy it as much as I did. You can fight Trolls, Dragurs and even monsters out at sea. There are three types of warrior dice in the game: The objective of Champions of Midgard is to amass the most glory over the course of eight rounds. Players can earn glory by vanquishing enemies, but must also be cautious not to accumulate blame for failing to protect the town. All the components are of good quality and there is even an insert to keep it all in place during travel. How to Play

The goal of Champions of Midgard is to have the most glory at the end of 8 rounds. Players gain glory through fighting enemies and lose it by accruing blame for failing to defend the town. So you’re going to want to fight early and often. More significantly, somebody has to fight and defeat the troll card for the round or everyone receives a Shame marker, which counts against your score at the end of the game. But it is a one-person-only spot, so whoever does it has to win or their failure impacts everyone. If they beat it, they also get to give one player a Shame marker. I love this. It’s fun and it adds a sometimes hilarious psychological element to the game. And it is also the only aggressive-aggressive point of conflict in an otherwise passive-aggressive design. Though I had social events happening both Wednesday and Thursday, I also had some downtime. So I re-tuned my customized randomizer (an Excel spreadsheet with lists of heroes, scenarios, modular sets,... Theme – Champions of Midgard again. I prefer the Viking setting and the game just feels more thematic. Replay-ability – Draw again. Both games have been played loads of times and never got bored. I would say Lords of Waterdeep should win this but with the new expansions to Champions of Midgard, its only fair to call it a draw.After being introduced into the hobby, I heard a lot of people mentioning Lords of Waterdeep and Champions of Midgard as the ultimate worker placement games. I own and love Lords of Waterdeep and if you add the expansion to it, it’s simply one of the best worker placement games I have played. It’s easy to set-up, teach and play. Art – Champions of Midgard is the winner here. A beautiful looking game compared to the bland Lords of Waterdeep. Well okay, I’m obviously not an actual Viking, but having had my DNA tested on a whim last year it transpires that most of my ancestors, for at least the past 28,000 years, hailed from Scandinavia. The game is played over eight rounds where you’ll send workers from your clan into town to gather the weapons and supplies necessary to fend off hordes of enemies just beyond the walls. Most locations on the board can only be occupied by 1 worker per round; so if you want something, you better send your worker there first!