STUDIO H Northgard: Uncharted Lands | Viking Adventure Board Game | Strategy Board Game for Adults | Ages 14+ | 2 to 5 Players | 60 Minutes

Normally when a game combines components from classic games of the past it results in too many moving pieces and confusion for all parties. This is not the case with Northgard. Dominion's deck building, Carcassone's board creation, and Risk/Catan's settlement and military battles and management all come together here for a well-paced game. In addition to the way that Northgard integrates classic games and paces settlement growth and competition, it allows for continued interaction amongst players, because since everyone's in such close proximity, you must interact with others (nobody's going to create an isolated civilization and wait out other clans!--think Smallworld). This, in my opinion, is excellent, because it leads to fun, social interactions with those that you've chosen to play the game with. The game also takes into account replayability, with different NPC creatures that will interact with groups during a given game, and there are expansions that should have something for everyone (I have yet to jump into the expansions, so I can't speak to them specifically, but they look excellent!).All of this said, with so many concepts borrows from classic games, the game may sound complicated. However, it was a breeze for my partner and I to set up and begin playing (and this is coming from a duo that has had real trouble setting up Spirit Island on our first playthrough). The rulebook is easy to follow and well-made--if you have to return to it on your first playthrough, there's no reason to worry about it holding up. The same goes for the game board itself, the cards, and the figures. This is a well-crafted game that will last through the countless playthroughs I have planned!

Box : A high quality box with nice art. It does fit on a Kallax just fine, although it is a somewhat large-ish box.Components : The components are high quality and all well executed. I would usually separate the board from the rest of the components, but as the board is built during the game, it is instead part of the components.Gameplay : This is one I'm having a slightly hard time fully rating ; the group I game with has looked this over, and for a few weeks it's been 'in the queue', but other games keep getting voted to the table over it. This isn't the fault of this game (as I am consistently asked to bring it back for the next game night since everyone is interested in playing it), so much as just bad timing with a lot of new games finally making it to the collections of my group in the last few weeks. With that said, a deck-building 4X with all of the usual trappings (area control, construction, expansion, resource management) and a really good design seems to be a solid contender for 'a good night'. I will gladly update this when we finally do get this to the table.

I only was able to play the 2-player variant, but so far I love what I have experienced of Northgard. It reminds me a lot of Dominion (the card & deck mechanics), Carcassone & Betrayal at the House on the Hill (board-building mechanisms), and Risk & Settlers of Catan (competing armies, settlements). The deck-building mechanics work quite a bit differently than Dominion (more random-ness; more streamlined), but this change in deck-building dynamics integrates well with the expanding map dynamics and the various different win-conditions available. Additionally, another layer of the Northgard experience (which I have yet to delve into) reminds me of board games like Spirit Island, in which there are creatures controlled by non-player mechanics that interact with the players and complicate paths to victory. This, in my opinion, is something that sets Northgard apart from its look-alikes and competitors: its re-playability. Given the different game types that emerge from different numbers of players, different board configurations, and different creatures, the possibilities seem endless. A note on the rulebook: it appears long and complex, but I was actually quite surprised by how easy to interpret they were, a task which was aided by their large and detailed illustrations/pictures and clearly-written text. The material of the rulebook itself is also high-quality, which gives me confidence that it will stand up to repeated plays and references. I'm someone who often goes back to rulebooks and find myself upset when they start degrading. Northgard's rulebook seems extremely durable, however. Overall, I'm excited to dive back into Northgard and play with more people as well as with the additional layers of complexity obtained by the optional additional monster mechanics.

Very impressed with the quality of the components and rulebook with this game. Ruleset is fairly straightforward and easy to understand. This game provides a lot of depth and gameplay but is not overly complex. I really enjoy this one!

COMPONENTS:+ The artwork is great! Not overly busy but it is very vibrant.The art style is faithful to the video game.+ Tiles are big enough to fit the dudes-on-a-map pieces...-- But...sometimes your dudes are hiding production items found on a tile. There needs to be a better way to track resources on tiles regardless of how many dudes are walking onto or off of that time.Some of the art/resources blend too much into the rest of the tiles.+ Miniatures are great!!GAMEPLAY:+ Yes, it is a 4x game experience in under 2hrs with 4-players (I didn't get a chance to try this at 5-players)+ It 'seemed' to us that taking different approaches/strategies to playing allows for multiple successful strategies. I feel that was worded poorly...I mean...you aren't forced into one(1) strategy to play, but could use different playstyles (more aggressive vs more defensive, etc.) that everyone has a chance to do well.> There is a good amount of randomness (typical of deck-builders). I'm just calling it out so you know to expect it.> The combat has a good amount of randomness, but that also drives a more strategic decision of are you 'over powered' for the next fight or could it be too close of a win/loose?! Some may appreciate this additional level of strategy while this will frustrate others who are looking for multiple ways to mitigate randomness.+ There is a good amount of replayability with different achievement cards and random tiles.It will take you a few plays to learn and even more to 'master' this game.OVERALL:2-5 players45-120 minutesBest with 4 (per BGG community)Complex enough that you do need to invest time to learn the rules and the first couple of plays you will be referring to the manual.Out of my hundreds of board/card games, I don't have much 4x. This will be staying in my collection for a good while.