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How to play
Grounded in Blood Rage's rulebook — cite-checked answers, not guesses.
Get a straight answer with the exact rulebook passage to back it up.
The easy-to-forget bits, straight from the rulebook.
Cards dealt
Each player is dealt 8 cards at the start of an Age.
Cards after draft
After drafting, each player will have 6 cards.
Hand limit
Players must discard down to 1 card at the end of an Age.
Third Age discard
In the Third Age, players must discard all cards, completely emptying their hands.
First Player start
The player born furthest to the north receives the First Player token to start the game.
First Player pass
The First Player token is passed to the left at the end of each Age.
Tie-breaker battle
In a battle, on a tie, all participants lose the battle.
Game end trigger
The game ends once the Release Valhalla phase of the Third Age is completed.
To set up Blood Rage, follow these steps: 1. **Prepare Your Clan**: * Each player chooses a clan and takes their Clan Sheet, Leader figure, 8 Warrior figures, 1 Ship figure, and all associated small plastic bases in their clan's color. Keep these figures in your reserve. * Keep your clan's extra 2 small and 2 large bases for Monsters. * Place your Glory Marker on the "o" spot of the Glory Track. * Place one Clan Token on the first spot of each of your three Clan Stats (Rage, Axes, Horns) on your clan sheet, setting them to 6 Rage, 3 Axes, and 4 Horns. * Place your last Clan Token on the "6" spot of your Rage Track. 2. **Prepare the Board**: * Place the Valhalla sheet and Age Track sheet next to the Game Board. * Place the green-bordered Pillage token face-up on the Yggdrasil province. * Shuffle the other 8 Pillage tokens and place them randomly, face-up, on the other 8 provinces. * Shuffle the 8 Ragnarök tokens and place one on each of the three Ragnarök spots on the Age Track, text side up. * Place the Doom token on the province indicated by the Ragnarök token on the First Age track. * Based on the number of players, randomly take and place Ragnarök tokens (destroyed side up) on provinces: * 4 players: 1 province destroyed. * 3 players: 2 provinces destroyed. * 2 players: 3 provinces destroyed. * These provinces are out of the game; no figures can be placed there. 3. **Last Steps**: * Place all Monster figures next to the board, within reach of all players. * Place the Saga token on the "Gods' Gifts – Age 1" spot of the Story Track. * Give the First Player token to the player born furthest to the north. 4. **Prepare the Cards**: * Separate the cards into three decks (1, 2, and 3) by their card backs. * Remove cards based on the number of players: * 4 players: No cards removed. * 3 players: Remove all 4+ cards. * 2 players: Remove all 3+ and 4+ cards. * Shuffle each of the three decks separately and place them face down on the appropriate Gods' Gifts spots of the Age Track.
On your turn during the Action phase, you perform one action at a time by paying its [RAGE] cost. You have five action options: * **Invade**: Place a figure from your reserve onto an empty village. This costs [RAGE] equal to the figure's [STR], unless it's a Leader, which is free. You cannot Invade Yggdrasil, and Ships can only Invade fjords. * **March**: Move any number of your figures from one province to empty villages in another single province. This costs 1 [RAGE]. You cannot move Ships with this action, nor can you move figures from two different provinces or to two different provinces in a single March action. * **Upgrade**: Place an Upgrade card from your hand onto your clan sheet. This costs [RAGE] equal to the card's [STR]. If you Upgrade a figure, you may immediately Invade with that figure for free. * **Quest**: Place a Quest card from your hand face down on your clan sheet, committing to it. This action costs no [RAGE]. * **Pillage**: Choose an un-pillaged province with at least one of your figures (or in a supporting fjord) to attempt to pillage it. This action costs no [RAGE] and involves a battle. **Important Notes:** * You cannot take any action, even those that cost zero [RAGE], if you have 0 [RAGE] remaining. In this situation, you can only react to other players' actions. * You can choose to **pass**, but doing so means you lose all your remaining [RAGE] and cannot take any further actions in that phase. * You can take the same action multiple times throughout an Action phase. * The Action phase ends when all players have 0 [RAGE] or all provinces are pillaged.
Rules summaries are AI-generated from the official rulebook and may contain mistakes — check the manual for anything critical.
You win the game by achieving the greatest amount of glory. The player with the most glory at the end of the game is declared the winner. Glory can be gained in several ways throughout the game, including: * Victory in battle * Pillaging * Accomplishing quests * Dying valiantly in battle The game ends after the Release Valhalla phase of the Third Age. At the very end of the game, players also gain a final glory bonus for each of their clan stats that have reached legendary levels (4th or 5th step grants +10 Glory, and the last step grants +20 Glory). After all glory is tallied, the player with the most glory wins.
Scoring in Blood Rage revolves around gaining "Glory," and the player with the most Glory at the end of the game wins. You can gain Glory in several ways: * **Victory in battle**. * **Pillaging**. * **Accomplishing quests** for the gods. If you fulfill a Quest's requirements, you gain the Glory indicated on the card and may raise one of your clan stats. * **Dying valiantly in battle**. During the Ragnarök phase, you gain Glory for each of your figures destroyed in a doomed province. * **Legendary clan stats**. You gain an indicated Glory bonus for each of your clan stats that reach legendary levels.
The game ends once the Release Valhalla phase of the Third Age is completed. Specifically: * The game is played over three rounds, called Ages. * The game ends when the Saga token reaches the end of the Third Age. * Once the final phase of the Third Age, the Release Valhalla phase, is finished, the game concludes. At this point, the player with the most glory is the winner.