First of all, it's a well layed out book, very nicely formatted, with full color photographs.

I had a chance to play a session with the author, at a local games festival. The game is fun, and fast paced. I never felt as though I was wasting a turn, and there were always difficult decisions to make. Exploring the barrow felt risky, and while initial boldness was quickly rewarded, the hasty retreat required when the undead hordes woke felt desparate and cinematic.

My band of looters barely escaped with only some of the treasure, and some were left behind to join the undead ranks of gaurdians. It was my personal highlight of the day, and an instant buy afterwards.

The other night, I got to try out the Into the Barrowlands playset for Ragnarok: Age of Wolves. This is a playset that pits different factions against each other while looting an undead-infested tomb. It uses the Ragnarok: Age of Wolves rules, along with some supplementary card decks to automate the environment and give the different factions special abilities.

It moves the skirimish game structure of Age of Wolves a little closer to a board game in structure and play time. The skirmish aspect still exists as each player controls a warband of a few models and you still move through the environment in turns, fighting the barrow's undead defenders (and the other warbands). The environment deck spawns monsters and events, as well as treasures. The goal is to accumulate victory points, which are largely tied to collecting treasure and killing named opponents.

The Barrowlands playset is a lot of fun, with a solid structure for play, and a nice random element to bring in surprises during play. You can download all the faction cards for the current version of the playset (it's in a playtest state, right now) here:

https://d-infinity.net/game-content/ragnarok-age-wolves-bonus-material-barrowlands-playset-material

And the Barrow deck and playset rules are available here:

https://d-infinity.net/game-content/ragnarok-age-wolves-bonus-material-barrowlands-playset-material-part-2

I recommend you check it out.

Having now read through the rules and watching playthroughs of the game, I can say this is quickly becoming a top favorite of the various skirmish wargames I have purchased over the years. I love the setting and the Norse Saga feel to the game, which is brought about my several unique mechanics inlcuding the wyrd die, Runes, etc. Also something I very much like, it would be very easy to adapt these rule for an RPGlite campaign. There are rules for dismounting riders! This is so cool, and I have yet to see another wargame with mechanics for it. Rules for seigecraft, thematic magic and spells and a great and expanding bestiary. Ragnarok: Age of Wolves has newly inspired me to tackle new and unfinished projects, including a great many unpainted vikings, and a slew of other minis suitable for gaming in "The North". Thank you to Clint Staples and Skirmisher Publishing for producing such a great and unique game.

Reading through Ragnarok: Age of Wolves was super easy, the flavor and philosophy of Viking battle got me excited to play. Easily the easiest game to set up, the mechanics serve the story and the fun, not points values or complicated sheets, it just has a well layed out creation system for heroes and fighters that you can create your armies from. While the book gives you stats for soldiers and heroes, it also gives you the stats/equipment/info to create your own followers, soldiers, and heroes with abilities like Fire Lash or transformations, spells, and even Runes to affect play.

Combat works in phases, movement, charges, spells and missles, evasion, standard procedure, with easy conflict resolution, and clear dice rolls determining effect/result of actions taken but with a chance for your opponent and you to change up the odds with bonus dice earned in the rolling of wyrd.

This book also includes a lot of options to really feel Northern combat. From burning great halls, to ice covered terrain, the only thing missing were the longboats, and I hope that's be in the next book.

Pick this up and start your own saga soon.

I had the pleasure of play testing this game with its creator while it was in its various stages of development. It is a fast paced, mini-skirmish game with a unique Norse fantasy flavour that is easy to set up and doesn't require a major investment in terrain or figures. You can go as elaborate as you want with your table top for the battle setting, or strip it down to the absolute basics and be ready to play in minutes. Because the rules support any proxy miniatures you choose to use, there is a lot of flexibility on that end as well. If you're on a budget, plastic minis from any tabletop game are suitable, or if you want to satisfy your viking bloodlust a little further, you could skip over to the Baelor Miniatures or Armor Cast online stores and get some nicely sculpted figs. there. Skirmisher also produces a line of nice paper miniatures that would work great as well.

During the many play tests, I didn't feel weighed down by a clunky rules set, and the different Norse themed factions made the playability a lot of fun. I commanded Giants, Trolls, Huldrfolk and Eirik Wyrmson's band of warriors, each with a different style based on their tactical strengths. Each time the game was played using a mix of miniatures from a wide range of brands and this had no negative effect on gameplay. It was nice to see the rules had been structured with this in mind.

The play testing was my first real foray into tabletop miniature wargaming. Being a newbie, finding a rules set that was not intimidating and quickly learned was a good experience. However, there is enough in the way of variety and themes with a new (and old) historical fantasy twist, that experienced wargamers will find plenty to keep them entertained. The Norse setting and use of the unique sounding names flowing from that culture and mythology also lend a sense of realism. The content has obviously been well researched and this helps make the game come alive for players. Particularly, the choice to set the game during the time of the brutal Fimblvintr (a terrible magical winter that will not end, heralding the beginning of the viking Ragnarok apocalypse) struck a chord with me, as it lent a sense of desperate urgency and grittiness to the stories played out on the battle map.

This is an affordable, extremely enjoyable table top war game that will be a fresh experience for long time gamers, as well as a good jumping on point for players new to this kind of hobby. Get it and enjoy.

This is the first wargame I have ever played and it was a blast. It is a very intuitive system and I absolutely love the Wyrd die idea. The concept of it taking place during Ragnarok is also really cool. I cant wait to start playing it in a group. Thanks to Clint Staples and the entire Skirmisher team for making this happen! You should be very proud!

Ragnarok: Age of Wolves (R:AW) is a skirmish-style miniatures combat game based in nordic mythology. It is designed as few as 10 figures per side to larger battles of 30 per side or more. The rules are well written and Clint goes to great lenghts to make them as clear as possible. There are also ample examples throughout it to help clear up any questions that may arise.

There are a variety of troops detailed ranging from lowly footsoldiers to monstrous Ice Giants. Clint draws deeply from mythology to populate the types of units avaialbe in R:AW. The main thing that seperates R:AW from many other games of this nature is each unit can be customised to create personalised forces for each battle.

To me the shining portion of R:AW is it's magic system, which uses the 24 runes of nordic myth. The runes illustrate not only the flavor of the Ragnarok world but also add more tactical options to it. Each rune has its own special abilities, but may only be used once. Once that rune is used, it's powers leave the field of battle.

Ragnarok: Age of Wolves has plenty of features that will interest new players and experts in the hobby. Well worth picking up.

I have long awaited this release. I played it at Comicpalooza for I think three years. Each year Clint would make another change and for the better. I sincerely suggest that if you like mini gaming and role playing, you would be well served to buy this game and put it to use. The art is great, and it is quality stuff. Skirmisher comes out with some great stuff, but I have waited quite a bit for Ragarok. Well done Clint and Skirmisher!

This is a really fun miniatures skirmish game - the rules are simple enough to pick up quickly, but robust enough that you can play them again and again. You can use whatever kick-ass Viking miniatures you have (or Viking-ish...I know what I'll be doing with some Space Wolf minis I have kicking around.) Also, this book is just plain gorgeous; it is beautfiully laid out and full of informative full-color photographs to illustrate various rules. As more of a visual than text-based learner, I found the photograph examples especially helpful. Can't recommend this enough for any wargamer!