Ragnarok: The Final Battle

Christopher Mayfield

The materials need for this game, 40 index cards and a pen. It should be noted that artistic ability is

not needed as I have none.

Getting setup by breaking out the decks of cards and pulling out the rules.

Explaining the rules to Travis.

Showing that I have no character cards in my initial draw, I now have to put the cards back in the deck

and reshuffle.

Travis taking a look at his first hand.

On his first turn Travis is the first player to put a character card into play.

On my first turn I play my first character card.

On Travis’s second turn he equips a weapon to his character card and defeats mine. After his turn he

must discard the weapon card.

Taking note in short hand to record the results during the game.

I’m using two effect cards to cast spells on Travis’s character card in order to do damage so I can

defeat it.

Travis is able to make sure he maintains the advantage on the playing field.

My discard pile is building up with the bodies of my fallen character cards.

Trying to even out the playing field when I finally get my most powerful character card Odin, but will

it be enough?

Using Odin to finally get rid of the character card that has the bane of my existence, at least for this

game.

The turns keep adding up and so do the notes.

Travis uses the disarm spell effect card in order to make sure my character doesn’t kill his character

card.

I get some payback on Travis when I’m able to play my disarm spell effect card against him.

My last character card in the deck, if he is defeated I lose.

And he was defeated. Travis celebrates his dominate win over me.

I can’t believe my loss. How do you create a game and lose in the first play through?

Two pages of notes were taken during this play through.

Observation notes taken during the play through translated from its short hand

• Travis chooses to play the Monster deck

• We decided that Travis will go first

• During the initial draw I did not draw a character card. I had to put

the cards back in the deck, reshuffle, and draw again.

• Travis’s first turn- He plays his first character card. He can take no

further actions and ends his turn.

• My first turn- I play a character card. I can take no further actions

and I end my turn.

• Travis’s second turn- He draws a card. He plays a weapon card on

his current character card and attacks my character card in play

and defeats it. End of his turn.

• My second turn- I drew a card but could not play any. End of my turn.

• Travis’s third turn- He draws a card and puts another character card in play.

He ends his turn

• My third turn- I play two effect cards against one of Travis’s character cards.

My cards do enough damage to defeat that character card. End of my turn.

• Travis’s fourth turn- He draws a card and then plays another character card.

End of his turn

• My fourth turn- I draw a card and put a character card into play. End of my

turn.

• Travis’s fifth turn- He draws a card. He plays an effect card against one of

my character cards. He uses a character card and attacks my character

card. My character card is defeated. He discards the weapon card. End of

his turn.

• My fifth turn- I draw a card and play a character card. End of my turn.

• Travis’s sixth turn- He draws a card. He plays a weapon card on one of his

character cards and then attacks my character card and defeats it. He

discards the weapon card. End of his turn.

• My sixth turn- I draw a card. I put a character card in play. End of

my turn.

• Travis’s seventh turn- He draws a card. He plays an effect spell

against one of my character cards to damage it. He attacks with

one of his character cards and defeats one of mine. End of his turn.

• My seventh turn- I draw a card. I put a character card into play. End

of my turn.

• Travis’s eight turn- He draws a card. He uses an effect card to

damage to my character card. He then uses both of his character

cards to attack my character card. My card is damaged but not

defeated. He discards the effect card. End of his turn.

• My eighth turn- I draw a card. I put a character card into play. I play

a weapon card on my character card that can attack this turn. I use

that character card to attack and defeat one of his character cards.

I discard the weapon card. End of my turn.

• Travis’s ninth turn- He draws a card. He puts into play a character

card. He plays a weapon card on his character card that can

attack this phase. He attacks with that character card to defeat

one of my character cards. He discards the weapon card. End of

his turn.

• My ninth card- I draw a card. I put a character card into play. I

attack with my character card that can attack this turn and defeat

one of his character cards. End of my turn.

• Travis’s tenth turn- He draws a card and puts a character card into

play. End of his turn.

• My tenth turn- I draw a card. I play a weapon card on one of my

character cards. I attack with both of my character cards. Travis

uses the Disarm effect card, and I must discard the weapon card

without it adding any damage. My character cards only damage

his character card. End of my turn.

• Travis’s eleventh turn- He draws a card. He attacks my two character

cards with his two character cards. One of my character cards is

defeated, while the other is only damaged. End of his turn.

• My eleventh turn- I draw a card. I put a character card into play. I

attack using the one character card I can use. I defeat one of his

character cards. End of my turn.

• Travis’s twelfth turn- He draws a card. He puts a character card into

play. He attacks with the two available characters cards and defeats

one of my character cards. End of his turn.

• My twelfth turn- I draw a card. I play an effect card on one of Travis’s

character cards and defeat it. I attack with a character card and

damage one of his character cards. End of my turn.

• Travis’s thirteenth turn- He draws a card. He puts a character card into

play. He uses his two available character cards to defeat my character

card.

• My thirteenth turn- I draw a card. I have no actions. End of turn.

• Travis’s fourteenth turn- He draws a card. He can take no actions. End of his

turn.

• My fourteenth turn- I draw a card. I put a character card into play. End of my

turn.

• Travis’s fifteenth turn- He attacks my character card with one of his character

cards. He defeats my character card. End of my turn.

• My fifteenth turn- I draw a card. I put a character card into play. End of my

turn.

• Travis’s sixteenth turn- He plays a weapon card on one of his character cards.

He attacks with all three of his character cards. I use the Disarm effect card

and he has to discard the weapon card. His attackers only damage my

character card. End of his turn.

• My sixteenth turn- I draw a card. I put a character card (my last one in the

deck) into play. I attack with my available character card and defeat one of

his character cards. End of my turn.

• Travis’s seventeenth turn- He draws a card. He puts a character card into

play. He attacks with his two available character cards and defeats my last

two cards. Travis wins the game.

Conclusions

• I felt the luck of the draw caused the game to sway in one player’s favor. I can see

where this could end up being an issue that would impact a player’s level of fun.

• I feel some adjustments to the stats of the character cards could also help balance

this out.

Preparing for the play through of the second iteration. The decks have been picked and shuffled.

I draw my first hand, and begin to form my strategy for play.

Travis looking at his hand and preparing for his first move.

Travis has made his move, and now I contemplate on what is the best move to make.

I put two character cards into play to fend off Travis’s cards.

I figure out a strategy that will give me the advantage for the time being.

Unfortunately the great strategy I came up with was foiled by Travis using the Disarm effect card.

Because of Travis’s Disarm effect card, I have to adapt and use the Fireball effect spell to finish off

one of his character cards.

Spoiler Alert! Travis plays his two most powerful character cards, and so begins my slow demise.

In order to try to limit his dominance I do a preemptive assault. I may not be able to defeat all

his characters now, but if I can do enough damage I may be able to defeat them later.

My discard pile is starting to fill up.

I play my second most powerful card. I attempt to use him to do some major damage before his

ganged up on and defeated.

Now that Travis has the three on one advantage all the cards I play are just fodder at this point.

I come up with the idea to horde character cards until I can play multiple ones at one time. I hope this helps me gain some ground. Unfortunately Travis’s Dragon consumes my shield maiden.

I describe my intricate plan of action to finally get rid of the Dragon.

Travis prepares to but the death blow to my warriors.

Travis plays the Giant Axe weapon card in order whip my character cards out of existence.

I lament my loss as my record goes to 0-2 in my own game.

Conclusions

• Adding the armor class stat did help even out the combat portion

of the game.

• Allowing the players to put down more than one character card

per turn once again gave a serious advantage to the first player to

play multiple cards. For the final outline I reverted this rule back to

its original state.

• The game seems easy for people to grasp due to its simplicity.

Too much variety and depth could cause it to become convoluted

if too many elements were added.