A Feast for Odin Review

How do you review a top 20 all time game? What hasn't been said about A Feast for Odin that hasn't already been said?

Spoiler alert: This is my favorite game of all time. I'm going to do my best not to gush over it and I'll look for some flaws. This is going to be tough.

In A Feast for Odin, you control a Norse village and must fill it with supplies and food for your villagers. This can be accomplished in so many different ways. If you want to focus on pillaging and raiding, then get yourself a longship and lay waste to other kingdoms. Want to keep it simple and farm? Buy some cows and sheep and use them for their goods. This is the definition of a sandbox game and it does it so well.

The Good: As I mentioned above, there is no wrong way to play the game. There are some strategies that may work better than others but it's not a guarantee you will win. I've played games where I thought I crushed it and scored in the 40s and I've had games where I thought I played terribly and I scored in the 90s. That's what I love about this game. I'm also a huge sucker for polyomino games and this has it in spades.

The Okay: I guess one complaint I have is that the occupation and weapon/hunting cards are all luck based. If you do not get the cards you need then you'll need to quickly pivot strategies onto something else if you want to truly optimize your points. A lot of people dislike the luck based rolling of the die for hunting and raiding but I don't have an issue with it. To me it makes sense that you may not be successful with something like that.

The Not so Good: This really has nothing to do with gameplay but it can be an extremely difficult game to teach. It's not overly difficult to grasp but there are so many action spaces (60+) that it's daunting for new players. I had to play both my game and my wife's game when we played together. She still won. She always wins.

Overall Score: 10/10 definitely historically accurate horned helmets

Maybe I'm biased but it's my favorite game. How could I give it anything less? The Viking theme, the polyominoes, the different ways to play each time; It's incredible. I could play this every single day and never get tired of it. Eventually I'll get around to playing the expansion to continue living my viking dreams but for now I'll gladly keep playing this way.