Blood Rage (Board Game) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Horns

There are three clan stats: Rage, Axes, and Horns. Rage is the currency in "Blood Rage," used to pay for figures and Upgrade cards. Axes indicate how much Glory a player earns for winning battles. Horns indicates how many figures a player may have on the board at once. Horns start off at just 4, but can be raised up to 10.

Answer: Perform a free Invade with the corresponding figure

There are eight upgrade slots on each clan sheet: one Warrior, one Leader, one Ship, two Monster, and three Clan. Apart from the Clan upgrades, whenever a player plays an Upgrade card, they may immediately perform a free Invade action with the corresponding figure.

This is most obvious with Monsters. When a Monster upgrade is played, the player takes to neutral Monster, attaches their coloured base to it, and may immediately place it on the board. The same rule applies to other figures. If a player Upgrades their Warriors with Brothers in Arms, they may immediately place a Warrior on the board.

This rule is often forgotten by new players who will, for example, Invade with their Ship on one turn, and then Upgrade it the next instead of using the free Invade action.

Answer: Yes

When a player attempts to Pillage a province, a Call to Battle is made, during which players may move in figures from adjacent provinces. Figures already in the province may not move out, and must participate. Ships in fjords count as being in both provinces on either side of the fjord, and must participate.

In "Blood Rage" Vikings may not always run into a fight, but they never run from a fight.

Answer: The winner discards their card

This is another rule that is often missed by new players. Only the winning player discards their card after a battle. This means you (usually) do not have to worry about playing your big battle card in fights. If you lose the fight, you will still have the card for a later fight (and the winner will have fewer cards to use against you).

Answer: Everyone loses

In a battle, the winner discards their revealed card, and losers move all their figures in the province to Valhalla. In the case of a tie, all players lose, meaning all figures go to Valhalla, and all revealed Battle cards are returned. No Glory is gained for winning a fight.

Answer: No

Each province has a tile indicating the reward of a successful Pillage (most of them improve a clan stat). The only way to get that reward (and flip the tile to the Pillaged side) is by being the player who initiates the Pillage. If another player wins the battle, then the Pillage was unsuccessful, and no player claims the reward.

The winning player still receives Glory for winning the battle.

Answer: Tyr

Tyr is the Norse god of war. His cards are about raw Strength, often with no additional text. The strongest card in the first Age is Tyr's Smite, which grants +5 Strength. The strongest card in the second and third Ages is Tyr's Rage, which grants +6. If playing with the "Fifth Player Expansion" for "Blood Rage," the strongest card in the third age is Tyr's Judgement, which grants +8 Strength.

Answer: Provide benefits for losing fights

One of the most interesting things about "Blood Rage" is the ability for players to build a winning strategy around losing battles. Loki's Trickery is a well-known first Age Battle card that grants no additional Strength, but it lets the player steal a Rage from the winning player. Loki's Eminence is a Clan upgrade that gives Glory for having figures in Valhalla, which can be paired with the Glorious Death! quests, which are fulfilled by having at least four figures in Valhalla.

Answer: Raise each of the clan stats

Each province has a tile indicating its Pillage reward. The reward is either a specific clan stat or Glory. Yggdrasil's special tile rewards one of all three clan stats, making it very strong. Yggdrasil, as the central province, is adjacent to all other provinces, and unlike the other provinces, it has no maximum figure count.

This means that when one player Pillages Yggdrasil, every other figure (excluding ships) has the potential to come in and contest them.

Answer: You may play this card after all player's battle cards are revealed.

Heimdall's description in the rule book is, "Foresight and surprises." Heimdall's Eye is a second Age card that grants +2 Strength, and Heimdall's Gaze is in the third Age, granting +3. These tricky cards can be played to turn a losing or tied battle into a winning one (or turn a losing battle into a tied battle to prevent another player from winning).

It is not uncommon to see one player play an additional card, just for the other player to play their own Heimdall card. The winning player still has to discard all their revealed cards (the first revealed card and any additional Heimdall cards).

Answer: Thor's Primacy stops cards from being discarded

When evaluating Battle cards, follow the "C-D-E" order: Cancel, Discard/Destroy, Everything else. In this case, Thor's Primacy wins, cancelling the text of Heimdall's Watch. Both of these cards can be useful ways to counter a player trying to use Loki battle cards, which only provide benefits when the player loses a battle.

Answer: No

When a player has no Rage left, their turn is skipped. They cannot even perform free actions, like playing a Quest card, or trying to Pillage a province. They can still participate in battles on other players' turns. This means that players need to budget their Rage until they have played all the Quest cards they want, and Pillaged everything they mean to.

Each player starts in the first Age with only six Rage points. Loki's Trickery, which lets the loser of a battle steal a Rage from the winner, can be devastating in the early game, especially because the loser keeps their card, so it can be used multiple times. It's common for a player to have their last Rage point stolen from them, stopping them from taking turns for the Age. It's possible for a player to have no Rage, which skips their turn, to then use Loki's Trickery to steal a Rage, and start taking turns again.

Answer: Give Glory to the owner when the Ship is destroyed

There is only one type of Ship upgrade in each age, and they follow a pattern. Loki's Dragons in the first Age grants 4 Glory when the Ship is destroyed. Fire Dragons in the second age grants 8 Glory, and Eternal Dragons in the third Age grants 12. It can feel strange when a losing player gains more Glory for their Ship being destroyed than the winner of the battle.

These upgrades pair well with a "Loki strategy," and with the Sea Serpent Monster, which counts as a ship. They also pair well with Frigga's Domain, a Clan upgrade that lets the player Invade from Valhalla. Using this "boat loop," a player can bring their Ship back from the dead and place it in losing fights, gaining the bonus Glory each time.

Answer: It costs no rage to Upgrade or Invade

The Rage economy is very tight in the first Age, so having a 2-Strengh figure for free is very strong. Every clan has a Leader, which also invades for free. In the third Age, the Soldier of Hel is a 3-Strength Monster that Invades for free.

Answer: It can Invade Yggdrasil directly

All other figures can only Invade one of the outer provinces, and can only get Yggdrasil using a March action, or during a Call to Battle. The Dark Elf can invade Yggdrasil directly, and goes up to a 3-Strength figure while there (it's a 1-Strength figure everywhere else).

The Dark Elf is great for Pillaging Yggdrasil and securing the Yggdrasil Quest (which requires the most Strength in Yggdrasil at the end of the Age).

Answer: It destroys enemy non-Monster figures when it Invades

The Fire Giant, available in the second Age, is the strongest figure in the game with 4 Strength (tied with the Frost Giant). When it Invades, it destroys all non-Monster enemy figures in the province, so placing it on the board can be a major Strength swing.

The Troll from the first Age is similar, but it has only 2 Strength, and only destroys enemy Warriors, leaving Ships and Leaders alive.

Answer: When there is nothing left to Pillage or all players have no Rage

When a player has no Rage, they cannot take turns, so when all players have no Rage, there are no turns left to take, so the Age ends. The point of the game is to Pillage the provinces, so when none of those are left, the Age ends.

In the first Age, when Rage is scarce, it's more common to end the Age by depleting Rage. In the last Age when there is lots of Rage, and players already have a board presence, the Age is usually ended by Pillaging everything.

Different strategies try to push for different speeds. A player who wants to use a "Loki strategy," or play lots of Quests will usually want the Age to last longer. A player who wants to win by fighting can counter these strategies by trying to Pillage everything before the slower players have enough turns to do everything they want to do.

Answer: Raise a clan stat

Clan stats are very important, both for opening up options, and for end game bonus Glory. The usual way to upgrade a clan stat is by Pillaging a province with a corresponding tile. But if a player was unable to Pillage their preferred tile, or if they pursue a "Loki strategy," where they explicitly don't want to win fights, they can still raise their clan stats by completing quests. Each successful Quest can raise any clan stat by one point.

Answer: It doubles the Glory reward

Odin's Throne is a Clan upgrade in the third Age, doubling the Glory value of each completed Quest (but not the clan stat upgrade). As the player count increases, the number of Quest cards, and the ratio or Quest cards per player also increases. At four players, duplicate Quest cards are added, meaning multiple quests can be completed by just meeting one criterion.

This means Odin's Throne gets stronger with more players in the game. In a four-player game, it's not too hard for a player to complete four quests, doubling all their values, and using the clan stat upgrades to get additional end-game bonuses.

A player trying to pull this strategy can beat their opponents by massive margins if the other players don't notice and counter it.

Answer: One province and all figures in it are destroyed

There are eight outer provinces. During setup, three province tiles are drawn randomly, indicating which province will be destroyed at the end of each Age. Any figures in the doomed province are moved to Valhalla, granting Glory for dying. Once a province is destroyed, no figures may enter it for the rest of the game.

As the game progresses, the board gets small and smaller, while the cards and figures get stronger. The bonus glory for dying during Ragnarok increases with each Age, and can be doubled. Players should beware trying to kill all their figures in Ragnarok during the first two Ages, because it means they will start the next Age with fewer figures on the board, giving an advantage to their opponents.