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The Struggle for Zorn: The Red Blight is a 1-5 player semi-cooperative fantasy wargame. Players collectively represent the various Houses of the Kingdom of Zorn, and these Houses have joined together to defeat the existential threat of the vile Red Blight. The Red Blight is an evil entity that has just launched an invasion of peaceful Slumbering Troll Valley, the northern-most province of the kingdom. The monsters of the Red Blight are now holding the citizens of the valley hostage and have absconded with the province’s valuables, treasures, and vital resources. The Houses have been summoned by King Rufus V of Zorn to launch a Royal Crusade to free the valley and rid it of this blight. The game’s players will each control a Commander, a Magic User, and a House Army, made up of various types of military units. Each player attempts to defeat enemy units and capture Treasure Tokens, and by so doing earn Glory Points. The player scoring the most Glory Points will be awarded with the title “Hand of the Crown” and win the game. However, players must cooperate and assist each other as well. If the Red Blight achieves certain conditions, all the players lose the game, regardless of their situation or amount of Glory Points. If players can stave off The Red Blight’s attempt to exploit the valley for four full days, the monsters will lose access to the malignant power that sustains them. If this evil has been successfully thwarted, peace and freedom will be restored once again to the valley and one of the intrepid Houses will gain the ultimate royal reward. Will you become Hand of the Crown, Sire?
-description from designer
- Fantastic artwork reminiscent of the 80s
- Cloth map saves space and lays flat
- Spiral-bound rulebook lays flat
- Double-sided tokens reduce clutter
- Some people may not like the old-style artwork
- Concern about cloth maps laying flat without plexiglass
- Heroes working together to thwart the red blight taking over the land, with one player ultimately being the winner.
- Fantasy world
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control/Movement — The game features a map with cities, entry zones, and movement tracks.
- Card Play — Event cards are drawn by rolling a d20 on an event table.
- Dice Rolling — Various types of dice are included, including six-sided, tens, eights, twelves, and a twenty-sided dice with marbling.
- Modular Board — The game uses a cloth map that is likely modular.
- Semi-Cooperative — Players must work together, but there is a single winner.
- token management — Wooden tokens are used for various game elements, including houses, troops, and status effects.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- The artwork on this reminds me of some of that stuff that I used to play back in the 80s, late 70s, 80s.
- I love these fantasy type of war games like this.
- I love these cloth maps.
- I love spiral binding on rule books.
- This game looks fantastic. I love this old style artwork. You know, everything doesn't have to be modern day and all this other stuff for art. I grew up with this, so I like this.
References (from this video)
- Random or semi-random activation order adds tension and negotiation
- Varying house/leader/mage combinations create high replayability
- Map-board presentation and thematic flavor strongly conveyed
- Engaging combat system with terrain-based modifiers and diverse unit types
- Solo to 5-player support and strong thematic cohesion
- Complex rules and setup could be daunting for new players
- Semi-cooperative nature may create some interpersonal tension
- Dark fantasy warfare with resource management and blight threat
- Fantasy kingdom under attack from the north with rival houses, leaders and magicians
- Seasoned war-game with variable factions and asymmetric roles
- Burning Banners
- Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Asymmetric Mechanics — Players choose a faction and deploy units of various classes (archers, infantry, horsemen) with unique leader and magician roles.
- Blight activation deck — At the start of blight activation, a deck card dictates movements or special effects; the blight acts first.
- Champions spawn — Powerful Blight champions spawn occasionally with strong effects that must be defeated.
- Combat resolution with dice and terrain modifiers — Missile and melee combat use dice; terrain provides defensive bonuses and can affect hit outcomes; first to deal more damage wins.
- Combat: Damage Based — Damage is tracked via wound tokens; multiple hits flip units or place tokens; unit can be destroyed after four hits.
- Entrenchments and camps — Players can build defensive works to mitigate future damage.
- Faction and unit deployment — Players choose a faction and deploy units of various classes (archers, infantry, horsemen) with unique leader and magician roles.
- Limited Points — The Blight gains points via various actions; if terror track hits 21, players lose; otherwise a 12-turn cap with the highest score wins.
- Movement arrows and color dice assignment — Movement is guided by blue/yellow arrows set by a dice roll, affecting enemy advancement and activation order.
- Night resource collection and hunger mechanics — During nighttime, players collect resources; food must be consumed to avoid hunger penalties on daytime turns.
- Regroup and healing costs — Regroup phase allows removing markers and healing at a cost of supplies.
- Resource Management — During nighttime, players collect resources; food must be consumed to avoid hunger penalties on daytime turns.
- Semi-Cooperative — Players can attack fellow houses to gain strategic advantage, not purely cooperative.
- Semi-cooperative play with betrayal opportunities — Players can attack fellow houses to gain strategic advantage, not purely cooperative.
- Terror track and win condition — The Blight gains points via various actions; if terror track hits 21, players lose; otherwise a 12-turn cap with the highest score wins.
- Treasures and traps — Treasures appear on the map; some provide resources while others are traps to be resolved.
- Turn structure (day/night) — The game runs over 12 turns consisting of two daytime turns and one nighttime turn per round.
- Wound/damage tracking system — Damage is tracked via wound tokens; multiple hits flip units or place tokens; unit can be destroyed after four hits.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I love games that have kind of a random or semi-random activations.
- This is a war game. This is a war game. And it is a fun war game.
- On the Cody scale, I'm going to give the Struggle for Zorn a nine out of 10. It is fantastic.
- I might this might be my favorite Herman Lutman's design.