The forge master has gone missing & it’s up to you to step up. Who will prevail in the Forges of Ravenshire?
OVERVIEW
Played over 4 seasons, 1-4 players will use their dice to collect resources, build up their guilds, run their forges & eventually forge weapons, shields & armour as well as accomplishing Titles (goals), earning them additional victory points (gold) & possibly prestige.
GAMEPLAY
Forges comes with dice of 3 colours, each matching one of the guilds. Players start the game with one of each, and they will roll their dice at the beginning of each season. Additional dice will be placed around Ravenshire, one for each location.
On your turn, you’ll place one of your dice on the main board to collect resources, mystics & guilds. At some locations, low numbers provide a better reward while for others, higher is better. Either way though, you’ll get something.
I should mention, each location can hold up to 2 dice. If the location is already full, you’ll have to pick a different spot.
“But I need THAT resource.”
You’re in luck. The next step of the process is to pull a die, again, gaining the resources from that location (you just can’t take the die you placed this turn).
The colour of the die comes into play when you place it on your personal board. You’ll slot it above one of the 3 guilds, matching the colour of the die to the guild it belongs to, and then run that guild (gaining additional resources and mystics).
Mystics?
These are special resources that are typically used for manipulating the dice, improving your forged items or other bonuses.
This ends your first turn.
You continue around the table until everyone has placed/retrieved 3 dice At this point, everyone runs production.
Using those same dice from your guilds, you’ll place each one on the opposite side of your player board. Here the numbers matter again.
Turn wood into charcoal, or charcoal & ore into steel. Maybe pick up a few resources you were short of, gain reputation or even, run one of your guilds again. There are so many options.
Once this phase is done, you can spend your resources to forge the different items, essentially fulfilling contracts, keeping in mind, certain titles may steer you in a certain direction & accomplishing them can add up to big points.
At the end of the season, re-roll your dice (those that were just used in your production), re-roll & place the dice on the main board (one per location), then cycle the available guilds.
After 4 seasons, the game ends & the smith with the most gold wins.
COMPONENTS/ARTWORK
First off, all of the player boards are dual-layered & the main board has dice slots punched out. This is so nice in making sure the dice stay where they belong.
The artwork is amazing (& keep in mind, this was a prototype that I was playing with). The resources & mystics are chipboard which is fine.
Overall, the game looks fantastic on the table.
Also, I wanted to mention the “assistants”. These are asymmetrical player abilities that make your experience just a little different than the next player. Each one feels unique.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As I said, this was a prototype but I have played it 4 times, at various stages of development & I for one, think it’s a really fun, engaging dice placement/engine builder.
I’m gonna start using a double rating system, one for families & non-gamers while the other will be directed at gamers.
Family/Non-Gamer – 6.5/10
I feel it may be a bit too much for a non-gamer to grasp. Not saying they couldn’t get it after a few plays but initially, they are gonna feel like they don’t know what they should do or are not being efficient. There is quite a bit going on & I think it could be overwhelming.
Average Gamer – 8/10
If you like this style of game, I think you’re gonna dig it. There are enough decisions to make you feel clever & has a bit of player interaction (although a bit more would be welcomed).
With this being a prototype, I feel the game could potentially increase to an 8.5/10 once it hits store shelves.
FORGE ON!
You can back Forges of Ravenshire on Kickstarter until May 10, 2023 and join us again tomorrow for a CrowdFUNding Spotlight on the campaign.
You can find B.A. Games online at bagamesco.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/BAGamesCo
