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.