Board Game Spotlight: Champions of Midgard

In another of our regular board game spotlights, Zatu only has three minutes before the bell rings, three minutes to give a lasting impression, to charm, to woo, to find some semblance of happiness again. Across the table? Champions of Midgard, the 2015 release from publisher Grey Fox Games and Designer Ole Steiness.

The Game

Champions of Midgard is a game about defending a beach from monsters, much like the 1975 film Jaws except with Vikings instead of Roy Scheider, trolls instead of a shark, and not being a film instead of being a film.

Players take on the roles of Viking clan leaders, instructing workers to gain resources and recruit warriors to help defend from the tides of mythological Norse creatures threatening the scenic coastline.

Resources are used to help protect, transport and feed your clan. Warriors are only used for the first of those. Players may send them to defend a village or shiv a beast. Doing so will bring them glory, and sufficient glory will bring them the title of Jarl and victory.

Gameplay itself is a mixture of dice rolling and worker placement across a number of 3-phased rounds. Players must balance their actions and coin between recruiting warriors, bartering for food and defending villagers. Failure to balance properly can leave you either vulnerable or poor. As the old Chinese proverb goes: You can’t kill a troll with money, and you can’t buy a ship with a man.

The Publisher

Grey Fox Games are a board game publisher and distributor that pride themselves on producing games that they themselves would want to play.

Their most well-known titles (bar the above, of course) include 7 Ronin and Neil Gaiman’s A Study in Emerald.

The Designer

Ole Steiness is a video game developer who has worked on such titles as Kane & Lynch and Total Overdose. When off-duty he turns his attention to board games, and is the designer of Police Precinct, Spurs and Champions of Midgard.

Become a Champion - of Midgard!

If you’re wholeheartedly against the destruction of harbours, contact the council and buy this game from Zatu now!