Wargame Design: Odin's Ravens: Viking Age Bad Boys

 

You know what really speeds up the wargame design process?  Two things: 

1. Having an existing set of rules to build off

2. Having the miniatures for photos in your collection

Both of those details can be the difference between finishing a game in 1-3 years, versus finishing in 5 years.  For me, post-production is the longest part.  That is where those two points really help out.  Post-production involves making sure the game works as intended and getting all the parts to publish together.  Those parts take the longest amount of time in the whole process.  

If you all ready have a set of rules to work off of, then you know the game mostly works.  It really speeds up the process if you don't have to test the 4Ms, just the chrome.  You probably recall the Play-testing process, well building off an existing game cuts the first couple layers of play-testing off.  

The second point is self-explanatory.  Most miniature wargamers have a pile of shame they are painting through.  Buying, building, and painting models takes times and money.  If you all ready have the models in your collection then you can go straight to the photography stage, that alone can save a year in the production pipeline!  

So, that brings us to today's game: 

Odin's Ravens is a model-vs-model skirmish game with a narrative campaign element added to it. As the sub-title implies the game is focused on Norse warbands with a Hero, a Second, and up to 8 other soldiers.  The game can be played as a straight historical game, or with mythological elements added into it.  

Like all my games, Odin's Ravens is scale and model agnostic.  I did this by using generic measurement units with no fixed scale.  This way it works with 15mm, 28mm, 54mm, or other scales.  All models are individually based because this is a model-vs-model game.  There is no fixed time or ground scale, as is my design preference.  The game can be played on just about any playing surface thanks to the adjustable size of an MU, but typically plays on a 36-48MU square.     

This game can be played as a Versus game, Solo, or Co-op.  There is a simple Narrative Campaign added so warbands can evolve and grow based on your Heroes Legend.  There is myth magic, mythological monsters you can fight, mythical gear to find, and several special solo/co-op only scenarios.  

Taking on a troll

The game is trying to answer the problem of Melee Yahtzee and how to add Tactical Gameplay to a melee heavy game.  In addition, it is trying to capture the idea of Heroes being heroic and special, but not game breakers.  These are all tough needles to thread.  So, how does this game do it?  

Here are a couple key features of gameplay to keep in mind: 

1. It uses facing as a tactical component to gameplay
2. Outnumbering plays a critical roll in combat
3. Winning a combat can do more than just causing damage, sometimes causing damage is not the best option so you have to decide what to do
4. Melee does not lock you, as there are several ways to escape melee
5. Heroes have more dice and activations than soldiers    

In addition, there are about 6 Versus scenarios, and 6 different methods for deployment and 3 special Solo/Co-op scenarios.  This gives the game a lot of replayability with different tactical set-ups.  In addition, Heroes, Seconds, and Soldiers can also have a variety of set load-outs.  Each hero also has a special ability granted by his god to make him a worthy hero to follow.    

A hero and his loyal warband of followers

The astute observer will notice something right away.  This is not a new game!  It is a reskin of my popular Greek Mythology game; Homer's Heroes: Bronze Age Bad Boys.  The core gameplay is the same and uses the same core mechanics.  The Chrome has been modified to fit a Norse setting.  For example, chariots have been removed from the game.  Instead, I have replaced it with the chance to have a mounted soldier, Hero, or Second and updated the Mounted rules accordingly.  I have also changed some of the weapons and load-outs to better match Viking warfare compared to Greek Homeric combat.  

Most of the miniatures in the book came from my existing collection.  Thanks to my Viking Age rules Fury of the Northman; I have a decent sized selection of Vikings and Dark Age warriors to choose my Odin's Ravens from.  My monsters came from my rather larger selection of HeroQuest and Reaper models.  That made post-production on these rules a snap!  

When I started the year, this game was not even on my radar.  I had toyed around with some expansions of the Homer's Heroes concepts, but it wasn't until early this year when I started working on this particular version of the game.  Maybe I will expand the core game further into new periods and eras?  Got any suggestions?  

Final Thoughts

The first step to being a game designer is to create your game and get it out there for others.  From there, they get easier and easier.  The first one is the hardest because you are building it all from scratch.  Once you have the first, you have a set of templates to build your next one.  

To get more games to market, it is easiest if you: 

1. Build off of your existing designs

2. Use miniatures and art you all ready have in your collection

The more games you make, the easier it gets to make more of them!      

If you like Vikings, you like Skirmish games, or you like Homer's Heroes: Bronze Age Bad Boys then you will probably enjoy recreating the Norse epics and sagas with this game.  You can find Odin's Ravens now on Bloodandspectacles.com.  

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