Review of Blood Rage: Mystics Of Midgard

Blurb from the publisher: 'This expansion offers all clans the opportunity to get a powerful new unit to join them in battle: the Mystics of Midgard! These shamanic warriors invade the land with ease, and through the Ages can be given useful new abilities granted by the Gods. The clans that are able to wield their mystic power in battle will surely earn their place at Odin's side!'

What you get: Your USD 19,99 or equivalent buys you Blood Rage: Mystics of Midgard, the first expansion in the Blood Rage game line. The multilingual edition that I received for the purposes of this review contains the following: one Rules Leaflet in six different languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish), a set of 11 cards in each of these languages, 10 highly detailed plastic miniatures and 10 coloured miniature bases (two bases per colour). In other words, the present expansion can support any number of players including five, which can only be reached through the Blood Rage: 5th Player Expansion.

Gameplay: Each clan has now two Mystics at its disposal. Mystics have a strength of 2 and invade free of charge. Otherwise speaking they behave like other figures in the game: they count towards the Horns limit, give glory when perishing in Ragnarök, return to your reserve from Valhalla etc.

Mystics are not fielded before getting the relevant Upgrades, which are shuffled into the appropriate God's Gifts decks from the basic game. The first upgrade allows you to field one Mystic who will also get the additional ability mentioned there (retreat, invade and destroy a solitary figure, gain extra glory for shamans participating in battle). The second upgrade allows you to field your second Mystic, while adding a second ability; both your Mystics will now have both abilities. The third and final upgrade adds a third ability to the ones your two Mystics have, not a third Mystic.

Mystics cannot be played on the same turn one receives them. They only come in play one turn later.

The strong points: More dudes on the board means more epic mayhem! The Mystics are obtained like Monsters, yet they feel more like Leaders, thanks to their free Invasion. Their abilities are powerful, potentially even too powerful when experienced Blood Rage players face inexperienced ones who don't know how to deal with them (hint: you are warned in advance before they arrive). The additional 3 glory per battle won that they provide is no small bonus. Idem for destroying figures, and even more so if you use this creatively and destroy those conveniently waiting for Ragnarök. Tactics can be taken to a new level; combine Mystics who retreat without getting destroyed with cards that reward you when you lose battles, or use them to occupy villages and become a thorn on the side of more powerful clans. You will understand what I mean when I write 'pain in the arse'.

The game definitely gains on replayability. Drafting is more nuanced than before. Grabbing the Mystics Upgrade cards during the draft in order to preclude your opponents from getting them should be always considered, even if your tactical situation doesn't care much about them. Woe to those who allow an opponent to come down with three Mystic upgrades, and even more so, three different Mystic upgrades.

The rules come in a leaflet, meaning you need less than a minute to understand and implement them. Frankly, you know all the rules by reading this review. There is nothing more than that.

Even though the box is not the most sturdy on the market, production values are extremely high. Once again, the miniatures steal the show; they are totally awesome! Like in the basic game, you can choose which Mystics will represent you through the coloured plastic bases. Thus, if it doesn't become too confusing in your table, you can field different minis and still readily see who they belong to thanks to their base. In addition, the minis are perfectly protected inside a dedicated plastic insert that tucks them tightly in; I recommend you keep that insert. I can easily see someone buying the box for the minis alone, in order to use them in other games or dioramas.

The weak points: Just because Mystics become available doesn't mean that you will get to see them. With one Mystic card per Age up to 3 players, there is a chance from 19 in 35 (54,28%) to 11 in 35 (31,42%) that the Mystic will not appear at all. Half and one third of what respectively remains is the chance that it will land in your hand in the first round of the draft. With 4 players there are two Mystic cards per Age, thus the chances of Mystics appearing in the game are exponentially improved. Tough luck if they do so to the benefit of an opponent and not yours; that chance is divided by four, after all. Paying such a sum of money for a unit that might simply not appear is rather troubling.

Do not expect Mystics of Midgard to alter the nature of the basic game. To start with, why wasn't this unit in the basic game, seeing how it immediately becomes an integral part of the Blood Rage experience, randomness included? Then again, I have been complaining for stunts like this since Seafarers came out for Settlers of Catan back in 1997.

I am a big fan of multilingual editions, seeing how they allow me to play a game with different crowds that I would have otherwise being unable to. Yet, when you see a stack of 66 cards and know that you can use only 11 at any point in time, you do wonder whether your money is wisely spent.

As stated in the review of the basic game, unless you throw the miniatures haphazardly inside the box of Blood Rage at the danger of damaging them, the minis and the plastic insert of this expansion do not fit inside the box of the basic game. If you are pressed for space like me, tough luck; you have to keep all boxes in your library. That's uncool, and could have been easily avoided. Also: what is this stuff about sleeved cards no longer fitting in the plastic insert of the expansion? How is it humanely possible that a company pays so much attention to protecting the minis, yet doesn't consider for a moment that players protect the game's paper elements too?

Conclusion: Blood Rage: Mystics of Midgard is a solid addition to the basic game even when its two major shortcomings are taken into account, namely the price and its actual appearance on the game. Once the unit appears however, it increases Blood Rage's tactical depth and improves on the experience. Having a handful of additional cool miniatures that can be used elsewhere should never be underestimated.

For more info on Blood Rage: Mystics Of Midgard visit CMON at https://cmon.com.

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