Fans of Norse mythology take note, here comes an expert game to suit your taste! Thorgal by Pegasus is a cooperative adventure board game based on the popular European comic series of the same name. It is designed for 1-4 players aged 14 and over and offers intense, narrative scenarios, each lasting around 90-120 minutes. Players take on the roles of Thorgal, his wife Aaricia, their son Jolan and the warrior Kriss. They experience adventures together and explore various locations where they come across resources, enemies and unexpected encounters and find themselves in exciting combat situations.

Game content and structure

First of all, as an expert game, Thorgal requires a certain amount of experience, because anyone who has never played in this field before will certainly feel overwhelmed by the relatively extensive game instructions and the additional storybook. At first glance, the box doesn’t look particularly large, but it is packed full of books, cards, markers, tiles, game pieces and dice. The first thing to do is to get an overview. The enclosed “Atlas of Adventures” serves as the playing field, in which you will find the maps on which you will move during your quests. The game instructions also show you how to set everything up in detail. Choose one of the four characters, for which you will receive a matching hero board and an ability card. Now you can choose a quest from the “Book of Adventures” – the developer recommends starting with “Torkan’s Temple”, which is also our recommendation.

Procedure

The basic course of the game is divided into two phases in each round, an action phase and an event phase. In the first phase, you choose one of the action cards laid out in front of you and place one of the four action chips underneath it. There are the following types of actions: Move, Travel, Gather, Assign, Combat, Sacrifice and Craft. (Note: the “Adventures” book specifies which action cards you start your current quest with and also which special rules apply!) The actions ensure that you receive important materials and can move around the map and fight enemies. As you are working together as a team, it is worth choosing your actions strategically from the start with the potential game objective in mind and supporting each other.

As soon as all actions have been completed, you move on to the event phase. This is where the effects of the currently displayed event card are activated. In addition, all action chips are flipped back to their active side.

Aim of the game

The objective depends on your current quest, of course. In the case of “Torkan’s Temple”, you have to defeat Torkan and destroy his temple. The “Book of Adventures” gives you two hints on how to do this – so you can choose your own path. The book also contains a number of so-called entries that become relevant as your characters move around the map. This gives you a multi-layered and interesting story around the game. Please note: If one of the heroes dies during your game or you complete the last round without having reached the goal, you will lose the quest. So always keep an eye on the number of rounds.

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Conclusion

After a relatively long period of preparation, including setting up and studying the rules – as was to be expected for an expert game – we were finally able to start playing. Because Thorgal is fundamentally a cooperative game, the focus is on strategic cooperation. We liked that very much. However, you can also play the game in solo mode if you prefer to fight your way through the mystical comic world alone. As the manufacturer’s recommendation already indicates, Thorgal is only suitable for older children aged 14 and over and adults. We completely agree with this assessment. However, if you want a game with a lot of playtime and a complex story, this is the game for you!