Odin’s Ravens

Odin’s Ravens is a racing game for two players. In the game each player takes on the role of one of Odin’s ravens. The ravens have made a race out of their daily patrol of the world. Each raven wants to be the first to fly once round the World and return to Odin. They can also call on Loki, the God of trickery, in order to try and hamper their opponent.

Read on below to find out how this race around the World works.

Ready, Set…

Shuffle the land cards and place 16 cards in a line between the players. There are two sides to each card and these will form the routes the ravens will fly before turning round at the top and returning on the other route.

When setting up the track, no two land types can be next to each other on a route. If this would happen, rotate the newest card by 180 degrees. If there would still be a match, discard the new card to the bottom of the deck and draw a replacement card.

Place the deck of land cards in reach of both players. The players take the raven, flight cards and Loki cards in their colour. Place the raven at the start of one of the routes. Shuffle your land cards and Loki cards separately, leaving them in two separate draw piles.

The players then draw their starting hand of five cards. The starting hand can be made up of any combination of Loki cards and land cards. The start player is the player who lost the last race.

…Go!

On their turn players will play cards from their hand either to advance their raven (flight cards) or to influence the race (Loki cards). There is no limit to the number of cards which a player can play on their turn.

Round the World in 15 Minutes

In order to advance their raven, a player must play a land card matching the type of terrain on the next space. Players can play two cards of the same land type as a substitute for another card. A player may continue to play flight cards, advancing their raven, for as long as they have the correct cards in their hand. If several spaces of the same land type are next to each other, a player can use a flight card of the matching land type to move to the end of the row of spaces (i.e. a player could use one mountain card to move over several mountain spaces in a row, placing their raven on the last mountain space). Used flight cards go into the discard pile.

Playing Tricks

Loki cards influence the game by adding in different abilities. Players can, amongst other things, swap or rotate land cards or even add an extra land card to one of the flight paths using a Loki card.

There are four different types of Loki card, each with two effects on them. Each player starts the game with two Loki cards of each type. When playing a Loki card a player can only use one of the effects on the cards. The Loki card is discarded from the game once it has been used.

Cards which move or rotate land cards cannot be used on cards with a raven on. If a player adds a card to the flight path using a Loki card, the additional card is placed alongside one of the routes at ninety degrees. Both spaces on the additional card become part of that flight path. Players can add additional cards to the loop if they want.

If a card is in a loop, or has been moved by the slide action it cannot be slid, swapped or removed but it can be rotated. Sometimes a card may be slid to overlap a card placed in a loop. The card which is being placed or moved will be the card on top and the land type on the bottom card is ignored. Any partially covered card cannot be moved by the actions of a Loki card.

Pit Stop

A turn ends when a player has played all of the cards they wish to. They then draw three cards into their hand. These can be any combination of flight cards and Loki cards and players can look at each card they draw as they draw it. After drawing cards a player has more than seven cards in their hand, they must discard down to seven. When your draw pile is empty, shuffle your discard pile and place it as a new draw pile.

And the Winner is…

The winner of Odin’s Ravens is whoever manages to fly their raven to the end of the world and back first. If that player went first the other player can then take a turn to see if their raven can finish too. Then if both players finish on the same turn, the player who has more cards in their hand wins. If both players have the same number of cards left there is a tie and the ravens need to race again.

Odin’s Raven Tips

• Loki cards – these change the game when they are played. Make sure you use all eight of your cards before the end of the race as this could be the difference between winning and losing, especially as your opponent is likely to use all of their cards.
• When to use Loki cards – sometimes it may seem like a great idea to move a card out of the way on your flight to the end of the world, but don’t forget you are going to have to fly on your opponents route on the way back. It can be worth holding on to some of your Loki cards until you are on your way back so you make sure to really benefit your raven.
• Balancing cards in your starting hand. It can be tempting to take all flight cards or all Loki cards, however, you need a good blend of both to be able to effectively advance your raven at all stages of the game. I would recommend taking either three flight and two Loki cards or four flight and two Loki cards.
• Remember the same type of land in a row can be flown over using one card. This is a rule which can commonly be overlooked when starting to play the game.