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Red Rising
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Welcome to the dystopian society of Red Rising, the book series by Pierce Brown where the people have been divided into fourteen classes. The players represent a house attempting to piece together a group of followers (represented by your hand of cards), all in an effort to rise to power.
Red Rising is a reimplementation of Fantasy Realms, and plays broadly in the same way. Managing your hand by deploying a card from your hand to one of the four locations, triggering the card’s deploy ability. Then draw a card back from either one of the other three locations and trigger the location ability; or blindly from the deck and roll the die to get a random effect.
Once all three end game conditions have been met, or when two have been met by a single player, the game will end and the player with the most points wins. Definitely one for lovers of high scores.
Contents
60 Helium tokens
60 Influence tokens (10 in the 6 player colours)
6 Fleet tokens (One in each player colour)
1 First player token
1 Sovereign token
112 Character cards
6 House tiles
1 Game board
1 Scorepad
1 Custom Rising die
6 Reference cards
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Description
Welcome to the dystopian society of Red Rising, the book series by Pierce Brown where the people have been divided into fourteen classes. The players represent a house attempting to piece together a group of followers (represented by your hand of cards), all in an effort to rise to power.
Red Rising is a reimplementation of Fantasy Realms, and plays broadly in the same way. Managing your hand by deploying a card from your hand to one of the four locations, triggering the card’s deploy ability. Then draw a card back from either one of the other three locations and trigger the location ability; or blindly from the deck and roll the die to get a random effect.
Once all three end game conditions have been met, or when two have been met by a single player, the game will end and the player with the most points wins. Definitely one for lovers of high scores.
Contents
60 Helium tokens
60 Influence tokens (10 in the 6 player colours)
6 Fleet tokens (One in each player colour)
1 First player token
1 Sovereign token
112 Character cards
6 House tiles
1 Game board
1 Scorepad
1 Custom Rising die
6 Reference cards
Red Rising is set in the world created by author Pierce Brown in his series of books. A dystopian future and a world ruled by a class system based on “colour” (not related to race). People are assigned roles in life that seem impossible to break. A “Red,” the lowest class, attempts to change that. I won’t go into the story much more to avoid spoilers. But you will get all this and more from the back of the first book, so I hope that was ok! But suffice to say, it becomes a very big story and the world created is very engaging. I was excited to see how this translated to the game.
I am certain the simplicity of this will put some people off. People who are more accustomed to the more mid-weight nature of Jamey’s games may be disappointed. But after playing this game now many times, I can say that is not the case for me. The rules are simple, and I can see why people may think this makes Red Rising a simple game. But it is not. But first, let me take you through the rules.
Red Rising Rules
The game is simple. To set-up, layout the board and deal two cards to each of the four areas. Jupiter, Mars, Luna, and the Institute. Then deal five cards to each player and give them their house card, player rules card, rocket and influence tokens. Then each player can place your rocket token on the Flight track. In a two-player game, you would also add three tokens to the Institute. This acts as a dummy third player for this part of the scoring. This is the only change for a two-player game.
On your turn, you will place a card from your hand onto one of the four areas on the board. You can carry out that cards deploy effect if you choose. You will then take a card from any one of the other three areas and take that areas location effect. From this exchange of cards, players are looking to maximize the points from the cards in their hand.
Each card has a simple score on the top left, but also an end game scoring opportunity on the bottom. This will often need cards working with other cards in combo effects. And through the game, you will be looking to find ways to curate a hand that works together as best you can.
The Institute is where you can place your influence tokens at certain points in the game. This can be from a card deploy power or when you take a card from this part of the board and use that location benefit. At the end of the game, the person with the most influence tokens in the institute gets four points per token. The player with the second most gets two points per influence token.
On the Fleet Track, players can move their ship up a space to gain more end game points. As above, this is done when a card deploy action allows it, or if you take a card from the Jupiter section of the board.
Taking cards from Mars will get you one helium. Little red crystal components that score you points at the end of the game. They can also be used to buy extra cards and activate other end game card powers.
The last area is Luna. This is how you get the Sovereign Token. This gets you 10 points at the end of the game if you have it, but also combos with certain card powers for extra points.
Play continues until as a group, all three of the following factors have happened. Someone has got seven helium, at least seven points are on the Fleet Track and at least seven influence tokens are in the Institute. This does not have to be the same person doing all three of these things. Rather, they need to have been reached collectively. Once this happens, each player counts up their points from their cards and activates any end game powers. They then add their points from their helium crystals, points from the Fleet track and tokens in the Institute to get their final score. Most points win. Want to play again?
Red Rising Response
OK, so you have learnt the game in under five minutes of reading, and I get that makes it sound simple. But it is worth noting that one thing Jamey looks for in a game is that it can be explained to others with ease. He does not want to publish games that are intimidating or long and boring to learn and teach. This may seem off-brand? With games like Scythe on the market, which on the surface, looks like a more complex game. But it is easy to learn and teach. Way easier than some may think. Hard to master for sure, but easy to get started.
But is there any complexity in Red Rising beyond the simple mechanic and gameplay? Yes! Yes, there is! And very simply, from the card-combos. At the end of the game, you will have between four and seven cards. Perhaps more, maybe less. But generally, that amount. But you can still score between 100-400 points from these. The combo effects are huge, wild and fun, but also, complex.
Players will be thinking through the game about what cards have come up? What is available? What may not be seen in this game? Which cards to keep? What to deploy? Which ones to try and pair with something else? What cards are your opponents perhaps keeping based on the cards they are taking? It is very deep. It can lead to a bit of mild analysis paralysis for some players as they learn the deck and opponents’ tactics. Red Rising is simple in rules and Mechanics, but it is not simple in strategy. Well, if you want to try and score well anyway!
Red Rising Recording
A typical game for me at two-player took on average 25-35 minutes to play. For three players, around 35-55 minutes. Each time, scoring was around ten minutes to complete. Some people will not like that balance. Thinking too much time is spent counting and not playing. But I loved it.
The scoring was a fun part of the process. I enjoyed seeing what each player had done with their cards. There are some ways to see how people are doing during the game score-wise. From the progress they are making on the Fleet Track, how many Helium tokens they have and how many Influence tokens they have in the Institute. But this usually pales to the hundreds of points in each player’s hand that you will not know about. So the score at the end can be a bit of an event.
It’s fun to go through card by card, how many points each player has, and for the early games, learn how each player did it. To see which cards work well with others, and which less so. I enjoyed the process, for both the dramatic reveal of the scores, but also learning and analysis of the game. So many games end with a moment of, “and you got 124 and I got 67. Well done! What’s next?” Whereas with Red Rising, there is a bit of drama. It unfolds over time and can be exciting!
Red Rising Recipe
The fun in this game lives within the card combos. This is where the complexity lies too, but it is also where the joy from the game comes. Finding cards that work together is very satisfying. The way this game asks you to curate your hand is so engrossing. Sometimes, you may need to place a card down you want to keep, to free up another card you also want. This of course puts the first card at risk of being taken by the other players in the game. Anything on the board is free game for any other player and you won’t always know what their plans are. You may also tempt them to change their plans with a juicy piece of bait.
I don’t have many games that play as “rule-light” as this, but also offer the level of complexity with the scoring. As such, it meant that I played it a lot. And that I and those I was playing it with, all got quite adept at the game quickly. I am more used to playing a new game five to ten times whilst the new game sheen lasts. And then it falls into a “once every few months” rotation when something else comes through the door. I don’t see this happening with Red Rising.
Red Rising Red Flags
The components are great. The presentation is great. The rule book is great. But it is not perfect. Theme wise, like Pendulum and Tapestry, I am left a little underwhelmed. I don’t feel I am in the Red Rising world at all. There is zero story in this game. This is to avoid any spoilers for those that have not read the books. I get that. But this is an IP. People expect a bit of that, don’t they?
A minor point that has also come up is the deck size. In most games, especially at a lower player count, you will not get through the deck. A lot of the cards need other cards to be present to maximise their scoring. If they don’t come up; those powers are redundant. This can be frustrating and did bug me for the first three games.
Quickly, I realised I was playing the game wrong. I was trying to make my starting handwork for me too much. I was being stubborn with my “Plan A”. But then I started working with the cards I had available to me, rather than the cards I wanted to have, and this changed. It became a much better experience. I realised each game was going to be very different based on what comes up and I started to enjoy the game even more.
Red Rising Round-Up
I love Red Rising. It sits currently fourth in my all-time Stonemaier favourites.
It is very different from any of their other games. Quicker and lighter. And as silly as it sounds, the huge numbers available in the scoring do make it more fun. I like scoring in the double and triple hundreds for games!
If you are looking for the next Scythe, you will not find that here. If you want a game that oozes the IP, you will not get what you hope for. But if you want a polished, Stonemaier game that is the perfect sub-hour game, then look no further. Red Rising is a solid game that I will keep in my collection and enjoy for many years to come.
I don’t know whether it was the effect of the last few years, or whether I am just a greedy-guts gamer. But I have fallen head over heels for solo gaming. And one publisher that is synonymous with excellent single-player modes is Stonemaier Games.
Wingspan, Libertalia, Viticulture… The Automa Factory AI opponents aren’t just afterthoughts tacked on to the end of a rule book. They have fully fleshed out opponents who happen to exist only inside the rule book. And Red Rising is no different.
In case you have stumbled here without knowing much about the game itself, Red Rising is a hand management, deck building, card drafting game based on a young adult series of books by Pierce Brown. Set in a strict caste system, 6 power hungry Houses are clawing, fighting, and thinking their way to supremacy.
But for you to rise up over all others, you must accumulate the most points. And you do this by amassing the greatest group of followers there ever was. Luckily, your own House has asymmetric abilities which you can trigger throughout the game.
Plus, each character (all 112 of them!) has its own particular power. What you want to do is exploit the synergies between certain characters. Because when that happens, believe me, the gameplay really pops!
Tull Au Toma
The solo mode has been designed by a master of single player variants, Morten Monrad Pedersen. And, as I had hoped for, Tull Au Toma is quick and easy to operate with minimal thinking on your part.
(Note: for the remainder of the review, I’ll presume you are now familiar with the multiplayer rules but if you aren’t, click here for a Red Rising rundown).
The board and your components are set up almost exactly the same way as the multiplayer game. End game triggers are also the same (at least 7 helium, 7 on the fleet track and/or 7 Institute cubes). The only difference for solo play is the addition of an automa deck of cards, an EVEN/ODD card (for Tully’s end game scoring), an extra set of cubes on the Institute, and the addition of “priority” cards (A, B, C, D) at the back of each of the 4 locations.
You take your turn in the same way as you would in the multiplayer game – deploying and scouting and trying to form your ultimate hand of fantastic followers.
But when Tully (yes, we are now that close haha) takes a turn, you draw two cards from the special automa deck. Each card shows two moves, and she carries out both of them, one after the other (so 4 moves in total per turn).
Her first move will be to place a card from the deck to the location shown in the first half of card #1 (using the priority lettering indicated). She doesn’t activate any immediate benefit on the card. The second move will be to take a card from the location shown in the second half of the card (again using the priority lettering).
If the card allows, she also takes the relevant bonus. This is then repeated for card #2. Once done, those cards are discarded and two new cards are revealed from the automa deck.
As the game goes on, Tully will be stockpiling cards like crazy until the end game triggers are satisfied.
A Different Dystopia
You may have guessed by Tully’s indiscriminate card hoarding that she is a very different opponent with a very different objective. Her only goal is to amass VPs. And the way she does that is by virtue of the EVEN/ODD scoring card. Essentially, that little nugget of insider information tells you whether Tully’s even or numbered cards are going to score higher when her end game card collection is totted up.
Granted she doesn’t get to keep all of her cards, but you’ll know from the get-go which digits are going to pay out big time for her. And so, with that in mind, in solo mode, you also take a different approach to your own gameplay (or you should if you want to beat her!).
Final Thoughts; A Satisfying And Surprising Sci-Fi Solo!
I really love the multiplayer mode in Red Rising. But I also really playing the AI even though it feels very different and requires a different approach. When playing with other humans, the unpredictability of their choices can send me into an analysis paralysis spiral. And that, although exquisitely enjoyable, can be quite intense.
But with the AI, I know card benefits don’t wash with her. She’s not into relationships. She’s all about the numbers. And I get to adapt my strategy to suit. I appreciate that some might not like the fact that Tully’s location priorities remain the same throughout the game, but that small constant gives me comfort. One less thing to factor into my decision making.
It also keeps the solo mode pacey as her turns are over and done in seconds. Tull’s variation on House powers (in that she doesn’t lead one but when triggered it will give her a location bonus), also helps to mix things up a bit when playing against her. And most enjoyably, it enables me to cycle through more cards in a game than I would see in a regular multiplayer game.
With 112 characters, it’s nice to dig down the deck and try out new synergies and combinations before unleashing them on fellow players!
Overall, I really enjoy the challenge Red Rising Solo presents. It encourages me to make better choices and smarter combinations each time I play. And for that, I will gladly have a game against Tully any day!
What Are You Getting Into
Red Rising was not the game I expected it to be when I first played it having read the books. It works very simply and is based around you managing your hand of cards so that, when the end game is triggered, you have a hand of cards that works well together in order to outscore your opponents. It’s a game of efficiency rather than the in your face attacking that I was expecting. Let’s show you how it works.
How To Set Up
Unlike some other Stonemaier Games, there are not a mass of components to go through here so setup up is quick and straight forward. First of all, crack the board out in the middle of your play group and I would try and ensure that no-one is reading the board upside down as the text on the cards will be important. Shuffle up the large deck of cards and deal two cards to each of the four locations ensuring that the name of each is clearly visible, then deal everyone 5 cards and pop the deck onto its designated spot on the board.
Next, randomly give each player one of the cardboard House tiles and give all of the coloured components of a single colour to each player, this includes a really helpful reference card. Get every player to place their rocket onto the 0 of the blue Fleet Track, put the red Helium tokens onto the the designated space on the board. If House Apollo is in play then they take the first player token, otherwise dish it out randomly. Put the die and Sovereign token within easy reach of every player.
There are some slight adjustments when playing with 2 players but this is simply popping 3 cubes of an unused colour out to act as a 3rd player.
Now you are good to get playing Red Rising.
How To Play
So what do you do on you turn? Well, I told you it was simple, let me explain just how simple it is. You can do one of two actions and it goes back and forth until the game end condition is met. The way the game ends is when any combination of players have 7 or more helium Tokens, have 7 influence on the track and are on at least 7 on the fleet track. It does not have to be the same player that has all of these. Let’s take a look at the two actions you might take.
1. Lead Action
This is going to be your primary action based on my experience and will be the one that you will take more often than not. This consists of two stages. First you play (deploy) a card from your hand on one of the four locations. If the card has an ability that triggers when deployed then that occurs straight away. You then pick one of the remaining three locations to draw a card from and you gain the ability of the location.
The abilities of each location are referenced on your player card and they will help you gain Helium, move up the fleet track, place influence in the institute and gain you the the sovereign token which enables you to do different things depending on your house. If you don’t take a card from a location you can draw blindly from the top of the deck and then roll the Rising Die to see what bonus you get
2. Scout
The other thing you can do is to scout: a good way to try and reveal more cards onto the board in the hope of finding the one you want. Instead of playing a card from your hand you draw from the top of the deck and choose which location you are going to deploy that card to. Once deployed you take the action of the location that you deployed the card to.
That is the choice of action you have on each turn and each of the actions are quick which helps the game move at a nice pace. The difficulty comes in trying to make sure you have the best combination of cards to score. Speaking of end game scoring…..
Did You Win
When it comes to it, the goal of Red Rising is simply to outscore your opponents. Be sure to trigger any end game effects that you may have in your hand before everyone starts counting up their final score. The cards in your hand will all have a certain amount of points that they will score as indicated in the top left corner.
However, at the bottom of the card there will be a condition which, if met, will give you either additional or negative points to your total score. Then add the points for your position on the Fleet track as marked on the Fleet Track, 3 points per helium token, 10 points if you have the sovereign token and then each of your influence tokens will score a set amount depending on who has the most on the board.
But, if you have more than 7 cards you are also going to lose 10 points for every card over 7. The game does come with a pad of handy score sheets which helps remind you of all the little bits that will score so you can all add up each aspect at the same time and jot it down before totalling it up.
Once you’ve totalled everything up, you will compare with everyone else and the person with the highest score will be the winning house of Red Rising!
Setup Time – Very quick. 5 minutes is more than enough.
Ease of Learning – Rulebook is clear and to the point. Simple to learn but takes time to master your strategy.
Play time – Less than an hour and does not outstay its welcome.
Zatu Score
You might like
- The Red Rising characters in board game form
- The simplicity of teaching and learning the game
- The satisfaction of card combos
Might not like
- Its a lot lighter than a usual Stonemaier game on surface value
- The theme is somewhat abstract