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  Expeditions Vikings Preview         Logic Artists, who brought us Expeditions Conquistador (soon to be reviewed on the blog) in 2...

Expeditions Vikings preview Expeditions Vikings preview

Expeditions Vikings preview

Expeditions Vikings preview

  Expeditions Vikings Preview


      


 Logic Artists, who brought us Expeditions Conquistador (soon to be reviewed on the blog) in 2013, now heads north to Scandinavia. It is a turn based RPG driven by a story line. Your father has just died in a raid to the west. He went 'a viking' to find treasure and fame in new lands. This game has much more of an RPG element than I expected. Not that I am not used to turn based RPGs, it's just that I wasn't expecting it to go down to the level of an inventory where you would have to equip yourself with arms and armor. The games are trying to catch both RPG players and strategy players in their base.



  It starts out with your typical character creation screen. You can play with your character's beard for a few hours until it is just right, or go the path of pre-selected character, as I did. There are skill trees for you to flesh out your character. You can choose to have a human tank of warrior muscle or a rogue like archer who has good leadership qualities, or a combination of both.



        

                               



 The first part of the game is to clear up any other challengers to you taking your father's place as head of the clan. You start at his arval, your father's funeral feast. You have your mother, brother, and certain other clan leaders to talk to, or warriors vying with you for the clan. The story line and actual dialogue is right out of a Viking novel. Your position and the trials you have to undergo are all very believable for the time and setting. 


  The first trial you have to face is a holmgang, literally " to go to a small island". This is a stylized duel between two persons over a slight or as in this case over leadership. You can start right away to be sneaky and use snares, etc. or to choose to do a stand up fight. Contrary to popular belief the Norse loved trickery and sneakiness. A leader who was not versed in their arts would not have gone far. One Viking chieftain, believing he had found Rome and wanted to capture it, was actually at a city on Italy's coast decided on this gambit. He had his followers tell the people in the town that their leader had died, but that he had turned Christian before passing and wanted to have a mass for the dead and a burial in holy ground. The city people agreed and let all of the Vikings in with the casket of their 'dead' leader. They were quite surprised to see the coffin open and be presented with an armed mass of raiders in their midst. Viking tales are full of such trickery. Vikings also loved puns. It is probably from them where we get the idea to nickname large men 'tiny' etc. 





 Battle takes place on the map with a superimposed hexes. You have the typical mechanic of each member of your force having points to use for either movement or attacking, or a combination of both. The battle is won when one side or the other is completely destroyed. 

 This is a very fun game. the battles are nail biters, and they also have some additions that you do not normally find. Some terrain is block-able to arrows, while other hexes have the chance to ensnare or trip up your warrior during movement. The game really does have a Viking vibe to it. You do believe you are leading your character in the 8th century Scandinavia. It does not have a cookie cutter feel, where you could just as well have a tank or AA battery in one of the hexes instead of one of your followers. Fans of strategy and RPGs should be looking forward to its release in the future.


 Robert


Game: Expeditions Vikings
Publisher: Logic Artists
Preview: 10/23/2016
 

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