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In Gates of Valhalla, players take on the role of a group of Norse Vikings, exploring the icy crags and snowy forests of the Norse Lands filled with snarling beasts and mythological creatures emboldened by the power of the Dark Stone.
As a Team of Viking Heroes, you can play as the stalwart Jarl Chieftan, leading his clan from the front of the pack, the classic Raider, armed with shield and axe to pillage and plunder, the frenzied Berserker, unleashing his bloodthirsty age in a flurry of death, or the Huscarl honor guard, firing her Viking Bow before charging valiantly into the fray.
New Enemies include Trolls, beastly creatures that regenerate even the most grievous of wounds while hurling large stones and tearing at the Heroes with brutal claws, Gremians, a horde of mischievous little goblins that swarm the Heroes to slice and slash and claw and bite, Centurions, robotic soldiers armed with power swords and shields to fight off intruders, and the terrifying Frost Giant, a towering behemoth that smashes the Heroes with his tree trunk club before charging across the field of battle in a frothing frenzy!
This set also features brand new material for the Targa Plateau OtherWorld (first introduced in the City of the Ancients Core Set), an ancient alien city, frozen and abandoned for millennia save for the robotic constructs that awaken to defend the icy halls. The Heroes will explore a new region of Targa - The Library, with new Map Tiles, Encounters, Artifacts, World abilities, and Enemies to battle, letting you explore the frozen city for the first time, or expanding your existing collection.
Includes everything you need to play a group of Viking Heroes and explore the alien Library on the Plateau of Targa, or adventure in the Norse Lands on Earth. Includes 4 Viking Heroes, 12 Gremian miniatures, 6 Centurian miniatures, 3 large Troll miniatures, 1 Frost Giant XL miniature, 3 Viking Warrior Ally miniatures, and 3 Targa Librarian miniatures with bases; plus dice, map tiles, cards, rulebook and reference sheets.
—description from the publisher
- Strong Viking/Norse theme and thematic art direction
- Camp upgrade system adds meaningful long-term goals between sessions
- Team hero mechanic encourages cooperation and synergy
- Standalone gameplay that can also function as an expansion to other Shadows of Brimstone releases
- Nice variety of loot, gear options, and hunting/pelt mechanics
- Limited enemy variety in the base set; desire for more creature types
- Smaller map tiles and fewer exploration tokens reduce exploration options
- Loot, scavenging, and encounter decks are smaller; expansion content desired
- Some legacy elements (random camp events) are less emphasized compared to older sets
- Viking exploration and campaign-driven dungeon crawling with camp management and narrative beats between missions
- Norse/Nordic setting featuring a frozen Norse landscape, Norse mythic elements, and two distinct worlds (Norse lands and Target/Targa) for exploration
- Eight-episode, structured campaign with standalone missions and a rotating team-hero dynamic; narrative focused but adaptable to other Shadows of Brimstone releases
- Madara
- Oathsworn
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- ally expansion — Includes an ally expansion with Viking warrior options and upgrades
- archive and library components — Archive towers and library-style tokens track discoveries and lore; new artifacts and world-specific rules
- camp upgrade / Viking Camp — Between-mission camp management with levels to unlock upgrades and new capabilities
- campaign structure — Eight-episode campaign with missions that can be played standalone or in order
- Events — Darkness, growing dread, and encounter cards provide tension and variability in exploration
- random encounters and dread — Darkness, growing dread, and encounter cards provide tension and variability in exploration
- Resource Management — New tokens (rage, pelts, etc.) used to activate abilities, track upgrades, and enable hunting mechanics
- resources and tokens — New tokens (rage, pelts, etc.) used to activate abilities, track upgrades, and enable hunting mechanics
- team hero / Viking powers — Vikings have two starting powers and draw random team abilities to mix into missions
- worlds and maps — Two different worlds (Norse lands and Target) with smaller map tiles and unique terrain pieces
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a new kind of shrunken down smaller core set that focuses on four Viking Heroes who kind of work together as a team
- eight episode campaign
- the camping in between missions is pretty cool
- I think this set is just a little bit lacking in terms of a variety
- playing as the Vikings is fun they do feel different they've captured the theme of the Vikings and the Norse lands