Game Night Fun Playing Champions of MidgardThis week the gaming group played one of our favorites, Champions of Midgard. I have the Jarl Edition which is a version that includes both of the expansions, some upgraded components, exclusive extras and a box designed to hold everything. In addition I have the neoprene game mat to round out my setup. In this post I'll give you a brief rundown on our game and offer some thoughts regarding the expansions and extras. Nikki, Jeff, Chris and Brian joined me this week to play Champions of Midgard with both expansions. The expansions allow for up to five players and add a lot of additional gameplay and strategy. I started off by going over the rules with the group. It had been a while for some since they last played, and Brian had only played the base game. This probably took about thirty minutes. After selecting a starting player each of us chose our character cards. Each character has a unique ability and with the expansions also has an extra leader ability and die. We each received our respective character tableaus, starting warrior dice, and resources (see photos below). The game went rather smoothly as we each proceeded to place our viking meeple workers, then progressing to allocating our warrior dice to battles against monsters and other adversaries. Before you know it, three hours had passed and we were in our final round of play. If you are unfamiliar with this game, it is worth noting that Glory (victory points) are scored along a track on the outside of the game board, however, not all Glory is calculated until game end, allowing for surprising outcomes. In our case, Chris, Jeff and I appeared to be ahead when the final round ended. After we all went through the process of adding additional Glory to our victory point totals we had a tie! I hadn't seen a tie in this game before. Chris and Jeff had 147 points and I was about 5-6 points behind, just outside of the lead. The tiebreaker is the most enemies defeated. Chris edged out Jeff by having 12 defeated enemies to Jeff's 11. Very close! I enjoyed the game even in defeat and hope everyone else had the same sentiments. The worker placement and rolling of dice make for a nice mixture of Euro and American-style game integration. One of the sources of enjoyment, at least for me, is the upgraded components in the Jarl Edition expansions. Aside from feeling somewhat privileged by owning a "special edition" of the game, it is debatable as to whether extras or upgraded components make a real difference. These are little things at the surface, however, I do think they add something to gameplay. For instance, the Jarl Edition included viking meeples versus the standard meeples included in the regular version. Not a big deal. Either works just fine. It's just plain fun to see the viking helmet horns on your meeple workers, adding to the theme of the game. Also there are wooden Viking Helmet player markers to use as victory point counters versus a standard disk. I had also purchased upgraded resource pieces. Instead of just red and brown cubes for the meat and wood resources, we used wooden pieces shaped in the form or ham and wood. The standard cardboard markers for wounds, blame, round marker, and gold coins are upgraded to wooden representations of each. Again, all of these things are superficial but added to the enjoyment of handling gold or blame tokens. The tactile nature of these "upgraded" wooden pieces adds to the experience of playing the game. The neoprene game mat was another item I acquired for this game. It's available as a separate purchase and is well worth it. All of the expansions are printed on the mat making set up easier. The feel of playing on the soft and cushy surface also improves gameplay. It's easier to place and pick up cards. Items tend to not shift and slide on the game mat. It truly gives the game an extra level of appeal. Though it's certainly not necessary to have the extras for Champions of Midgard, I do think it adds that extra something. I would strongly encourage playing with all expansions if available. The expansions add additional warrior dice, leader dice, new game elements and more. The expansions complete the game. I think getting the Jarl Edition for expansions works quite nicely as it also includes a box to hold everything. For more information about the Champions of Midgard Jarl Edition click here. The hobby of owning/playing modern board games is a great source of enjoyment. Adding extra bling to your favorite games can prove to be rewarding as well. I have several different games for which I've purchased expansions, neoprene mats or additional miniatures, etc... For which games do you have expansions and extras? Have you made something custom for your games or found everyday items that work well to supplement the game? In my photos you'll see some silicon cupcake tins that Nikki bought for us to use for game bits. They work great! Share in the comments your experiences with expansions, extras, and "blinging out" your games.
Have a great week and ... Game on!
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