Play the cards you get and have fun

[branchilo]

Hello, everybody!
It's been a while since I played this game and decided to use the BGA tools to make some comments. I really enjoy playing Blood Rage and though playing it live on a real board with a few old friends brings a completely different atmosphere, I have to say thank you to the developers and to the team who took part in creating it so well online. With all the obligations that middle age brings, organizing live sessions has unfortunately become a luxury. So this site provides us at least with the possibility to play the game we like, as it requires a lot less time and effort this way.

The game I want to show was played against strong players and I was so proud to win it. Until I watched the replay, I thought I played a perfect match. Of course I made mistakes, but as it usually happens - so did the others, which is one of the things that makes this game so attractive to me. The storyline is amazing and there can be no 2 same matches played. So many things can go wrong with a single poor decision, and even the right ones don't always guarantee the win. There's always some luck involved and thanks to that part, a weaker player, such as myself in this match, can have a shot.

This is not a tutorial. The comments were made to describe the thinking process and I have probably not selected all the main points in the match. But I will be happy to add a few words to this community just to show my appreciation for being part of it.

Here's the link for the game: https://boardgamearena.com/gamereview?table=784266226


P.S. I would also like to mention Ndez here, a phenomenal player and thinker. She invested a lot of time and effort to make an amazing comprehensive strategy guide, which really made a difference in the perspective. Also her eloquently commented matches helped me a lot in understanding the game concepts and goals. If there is still someone here who hadn't had a chance to see the guide and the commented replays, I highly recommend to look them up:

https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42555

Cheers!

[Lofski]

Nice work on the commented playthrough, I watched only the 1st draft but that was already interesting. This inspired me to do one of these too, maybe from a game where I use a strategy that I consider under utilised among arena players.

You are so right that no 2 games played are the same! Optimal play is so hard to pin down, and it varies dynamically based on the game state that has huge variety in itself. Some people who don't know the game well say it's just all chaos and luck, yet some players like elbananos and Finkster have achieved incredible consistency, and now over 600 ELO. Of course I'm not doing too badly either with over 500 ELO myself, but I still have lost and probably would lose 2/3 or even 3/4 games to either of the aforementioned players. Yes, luck has an impact of course, but good players can do so much to manipulate the odds of winning in their favor.

[Lofski]

I watched full replay just now, you played a great age 2 and nicely took advantage of an uncommon situation where Ygg was empty. You said you made many mistakes, but looked to me like everybody made a lot of mistakes, like usually is the case in this game. It might have looked like blue had good plays, but they actually had nothing to get points with, and didn't manage to get use out of Prowess. Whereas you had good back up plans in age 3 even though you might have misplayed with the ragnarok province (I also think you might have overestimated how much of a hurry yellow was in for ending the game, but then again you never know of course).

[branchilo]

Thanks for the review and the comments, Lofski! I'd love to see some of your commented matches. Something like that can really help to anybody who wants to improve their decision making and understand goals and the situation on rhe board more clearly.

Age 2 did turn out great for me. I got greedy and insecure afterwards. You are completely right, no one played their cards at the moment when I was thinking that I should wait with securing the Ragnarok province beacuse of it. There was so much more time, the age had almost just started. But pressure and overthinking influence every game significantly. Add some regular living room distractions and the focus is gone, advantage follows. Got lucky in the end, I think I could have made a bigger point difference.

Though it helped a lot just to go through the thinking process again and take some time to analyze it without pressure.

I hope we meet at the board some time. Cheers!

[Ndez]

Appreciate the shout out and glad my similarly weird obsession of this awesome game helped you improve. I’m so happy that more commented replays of games were created as it’s really fun seeing how different players think.

This really is such a niche but cool community to be apart of and am really happy a digital version of this game exists with some truly incredible players. It’s cool to share ideas in this media format. I feel like when learning a new game the go to solution is going to YouTube to learn about it and when I found that there isn’t much content that really dives deep into this game it inspired me to figure it out myself by watching replays of top players, commenting on replays, and eventually writing the crazy 40 page strategy guide.

I recently got my own physical copy of the game which has been really fun to play. I’d love at some point to get into mini painting to paint some of the figures as this truly is my favorite board game of all time.

Also you played a really great game and recognizing mistakes in your gameplay is essential for improving.

[branchilo]

Thanks for the post, Ndez! First Lofski, now you..I feel inclined to write 'omg'

Yeah, the real board is something else completely. And I am not just talking about the social part, the game-related atmosphere is something else. You feel pressure you can never feel online. Guys around you hiding their cards, thinking over, using strong body language to bluff you out of a fight..it almost feels like a different game. Also it usually lasts a lot longer, 2 hours at least, sometimes 3 even..hence the organization issue.

But it is great to move the real figures through the provinces, to calculate how many troops there are in a fight, combined with upgrade cards, especially when the Ygg attracts more players at the same time..amazing. We also play the cards face down first, it makes it even more dramatic..

I actually purchased a real board last year. I bought it used, but it was previously owned by another real enthusiast who looked after it as if it was a sacred possession (which I can totally understand and would do the same). So not only was it spotless, it looked even more valuable to me as it already had history of play behind it. I hope I don't sound crazy here, but we didn't use to have such games available as children.

Anyway, I purchased it for somebody else, not for me. It was a gift to my best man's son, a teenage boy, who developed love for Roblox and such like any other healthy modern-age boy. And I wanted to give him an alternative. I gave my best to explain the value of the gift to him, and he is quite a sharp and respectful kid, which is also refreshing nowadays. Hence I have no doubt he'll almost be wearing gloves while using it. So I had the real board in my possession for a short period of time and used it to explain the rules and concepts of the game to the boy and his father and then passed it on. I also wanted the Blood Rage community to receive another member, as it is definitely a great game and a great way to vent after a busy day or week.

And I turned this post into a novel, ok. I congratulate you on the purchase, Ndez and wish you lots of nice moments with the board. I believe you should definitely try to personalize the figures one by one, it is a project of its own value. They become much more recognizible and the whole set becomes much more valuable as well, something to pass on to younger generations in time. And it could really last, it is built solid. Only wish it was a bit bigger.

Cheers and see you at the board, I hope.