Champions of Midgard Core Game: How to Play Your First Voyage

Quick answer

Set up the board and tokens, give each player their ship board and starting resources, then take turns placing dice on action spaces to gather warriors, food, and gold before sending a crew to fight monsters. Follow the steps below in order to avoid the most common first-game mistakes.

Your first voyage in seven steps

1. Set up the board and token pools: Place the game board in the center, put the turn marker on the first space, and sort the gold, blame, and food tokens into piles within reach. Shuffle the card decks and place them on their marked spots. Common mistake: leaving tokens in the box lid, which slows every turn. Check that all token piles are visible to every player before the first turn.
2. Give each player a ship board and starting resources: Hand each player a ship board and the starting warriors, food, and gold listed in the rulebook. Place your dice on your ship board as your available crew. Common mistake: mixing up personal dice with the common pool. Keep your dice on your own ship board; the common pool is only for unresolved actions.
3. Choose the first player and explain turn order: The rulebook specifies how the first player is chosen. On your turn you will place one or more dice on an action space, then resolve that action. Common mistake: resolving actions immediately without checking if another player wants to place on the same space first. Announce your intended action space before placing dice so others can respond.
4. Place dice to gather resources and recruit warriors: Use action spaces to gain food, gold, or warriors. Each space has a limit shown on the board. Common mistake: placing more dice than a space allows. Count the dice already there before you place. If a space is full, look for an alternative that still advances your plan.
5. Prepare a voyage by assigning warriors to your ship: When you have enough warriors and food, use the appropriate action to send a ship to a monster destination. Load the required warriors onto the ship board. Common mistake: sending too few warriors and losing the fight. Compare the monster's strength to your warrior count before committing.
6. Resolve combat with dice rolls: Roll the combat dice for your warriors and apply hits to the monster. If you win, collect the glory and rewards; if you lose, take blame tokens. Common mistake: forgetting to apply monster abilities that trigger during combat. Read the monster card aloud before rolling so no ability is missed.
7. End the round and score after the final round: After all players have taken their turns, move the turn marker and refresh any action spaces as instructed. The game ends after the specified number of rounds. Count glory, subtract blame penalties, and add any bonus points. Common mistake: forgetting to score set-collection bonuses from cards. Use the score pad and double-check each category before declaring a winner.

Product facts

• Champions of Midgard: The Core Game (Retail Edition): Plays 2 to 4 players and has a Board Game Geek average player rating of 7.75. The player count means you can learn with two and add players later, while the rating suggests a well-regarded mid-weight experience for a first game.