Chaos Marauders
Here the players find themselves as Orc War Chieftain’s on their way to fight those intolerable forces of the Empire. Only problem is that several Orcish clans have run into each other so inevitably they start to squabble over the carcass of some unfortunate Elf that is roasting over a campfire. In the time it takes for the sun to move from up to just a little more up the Orcs are at it and it’s each Orcish War Chief for himself.
Each player is trying to create armies, which are placed into 3 battle lines or formations. Each line must have one musician and one standard bearer and each of these must be placed on the far left or right of each line. Each line can be up to 12 units long but a player can create a shortened battle line by placing the two required units closer together.
Each turn a player will draw one or more cards from the deck. Units drawn must be placed whilst other cards are discarded for their effects. Once a battle line has a musician and a standard bearer and all spaces in between the to are filled )with units or loot), that line can go to war and attack the battle line of another player. All units are worth a battle rating. Both sides simply add up their ratings for all units and the highest total wins, although the roll of a fate dice can still mix things up.
The winner can take any loot present from the defeated player's line and this is in truth the main aim as loot is worth points that are tallied up at the end to determine the winner.
Chaos Marauders also allows for players to try and construct larger units made up of multiple cards such as War Machines.
User Reviews (2)
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Like many board game aficionados, a game’s ability to make you earn a victory is a rather large factor in its overall value to me. I shouldn’t be able to play a game for the first time against old hats and sneak away with a win unless they really took it easy on me. I want to feel like I’ve learned from game to game until everything clicks and I can compete. It’s usually a pretty big red mark against a game if I can master it but still have a rookie wipe me out due to a lucky string of randomness. Chaos Marauders is nothing but random… but I enjoy playing it anyway. It’s just too silly to not have fun with, and I won’t let myself become so curmudgeonly that I can’t appreciate it for what it is.
Observed Set-Up and Play Time
Chaos Marauders is an awesome game to have delivered in the mail and play the very same night. The contents are limited to a deck of 110 cards, 16 plastic cones in a zip lock, 1 die and 4 player boards (basically, a long sheet of card stock built for holding 12 playing cards side-by-side). There is no prep time to the materials, and the rulebook is easy (there is an additional instructional booklet included that outlines the exact rules of particular cards… this is a little harder to read through, but it’s unnecessary to do so before playing). From the first, you can have the game out of the box and set up in 2 minutes. Game time is very hard to predict; I’ve had numerous 15-minute games and just as many 45+ minute games. It should never take more than an hour, even if the cards fall in a way that prolongs the game as much as possible.
My Learning Curve and Teach Time
Chaos Marauders is teachable to literally anybody (gamer or not) in under 10 minutes. There is really no learning curve to speak of… the thing about a game this random is that there is no point in wasting brain cells on strategy. Sure, you can think long and hard on one and do your best to implement it. But the next player can (and will) draw one card that completely throws every one of your little plans in the dirt and laughs at their tears. Cards are such bullies.
Group Sizes and Dynamics
This game can be played with anybody… but that doesn’t mean it should be. By definition, it’s too random for strategy gamers and too light for power gamers; but these classifications do a particularly poor job in Chaos Marauders’ case of determining who will enjoy it. While any strategy or power gamer you know may have a blast with it, anybody (gamer or otherwise) that takes winning too seriously will be awful to play with. There’s one particular guy we occasionally play games with that tends to get overly sulky when he loses and overly exuberant when he wins. We played this with him and he was getting destroyed – heading into what proved to be his final turn, I would say he had around 100 points while everybody else was between 600 and 800 (point values are huge in this game). He pulled one random card that let him wipe out the points of the player sitting at 800 while catapulting himself to over 1000, and ended the game (not because of the points, but because it completed his 3rd battle line). The rest of us – who are used to the game and this kind of random dumb luck – laughed about it. But he started gloating like this was his master plan, and still talks about his amazing victory to this day. If you tell him the game is random, he gets flushed and rattles off a list of obvious tactics he employed (in his very first game) that the rest of us just couldn’t see. I will never play this game with him again… and I suggest you avoid playing it with people like this. I’ve also seen this guy get upset about losing a game of Zombie Dice.
Objectionable Material
It’s technically a war card game, so some illustrations are carrying fantasy weaponry or piloting machines of destruction. But these are goofy animated orcs, and there’s such a tenuous link to reality that I can’t find it objectionable. There are no images of violence or blood on the cards, and you don’t really “attack” each other – you just mess with each other’s battle lines and occasionally roll the die to see which one stays intact.
Comparable Titles
It’s pretty hard to pinpoint a game that shares anything mechanically with Chaos Marauders. While there are other war or battle card games they usually involve taking actions against your opponents, where this game focuses exclusively on building your battle lines (with occasional “take that!”s as a byproduct). While Chaos Marauders is not a deckbuilder, it may best be likened to Ascension (and the 50 deckbuilders that are similar to it). Four players sit around building out their hand/battle lines by claiming cards from the center of the table, and once in a while an opposing player gets a card that causes you to lose a construct/warrior. Thematically, I think of Chaos Marauders much like the Red Dragon Inn series… there is no alcohol involved here, nor a plethora of fantasy races, but the orcs from CM would be at home visiting the Red Dragon Inn after a day on the battlefield.
Random is not my thing, but I simply laugh too much while playing Chaos Marauders to be put off by it. It isn’t one of my favorites, but even after a year of regular play I am never chagrined to see it hit the table (you do need a whole table… while the box is approximately 7” x 4” x 1”, a four-player game takes every inch of my 4’ x 4’ dining room table). I would definitely avoid paying MSRP for it (there isn’t nearly enough in the box to validate the $25 price tag on Fantasy Flight’s website), but you can frequently find it under $10 as a clearance item online, and it’s worth grabbing then.
In Chaos Marauders each player command a vast Chaos, Orc clan, When suddenly the sprawling mass of bored and surly Orcs grinds to a halt because of yet another petty feud. In the amount of trickery will be low enough, the amount of thugish brutality too vile. And only one tribe can come out on top.
Chaos Marauders is a fast and frenzied card game of Orcish mayhem for 2-4 players que places you in charge of an orc mob preparing to lay waste to rival mobs! These grunts are boorish, disorganized, and just plain stupid (oh really, see, very stupid orcs…) but they’re the only tribe have to win.
Rules of understanding is extremely easy, even a person with intelligence and quick thinking of the orc grabs the rules quickly (lol). It takes less than 2 minutes to explain all the rules.
Each turn you will draw cards to recruit new fighters, construct war machines, and acquire treasure to add to your battle lines, and you have three battle lines and these lines are what will see you to victory or end in crushing defeat. Battle lines have to have at least four cards, but can have as many as twelve. Each fighter you discover must be added to one of your three battle lines. War machines, the engines of death and destruction, are made up of multiple pieces and the crew (follow the illustration card stupid orc !). Once assembled, these mighty engines of devastation can lay waste to many an opposing mob. Also each line must have a Musician and a Battle Standard to keep the orcs in line and get them to go the right direction (go to that direction stupid orc!). Once a line is filled, They rush forth to take treasure and war machines from one of your foes (kill, loot, steal, kill, loot, steal, kill… what came next?).
This game is great for expecting that guy who always takes to get to play the main game board, day or session que RPG which is indispensable to have all the characters participating. You will have lots of fun and you certainly will not spend neurons of your brain (orcs have brains ? … Good follow the drawing).
Game Components and size:
– It’s a small little box the size of a box of candy, in addition there are some items:
– Play 4 Sheets;
– 110 Cards;
– 1 Cube Of Devestation (or simply to ‘die’ if you’re a wimpy git);
– 16 Sneaky Git Control Markers (4 Sets of 4 Colors);
– Rulebook 1 Game;
– 1 Card Reference.
The cards are made of durable materials and well made , the proper standard of FantasyFlightgames.
The game gives for 2-4 persons (4 persons recommended for greater dynamism and laughter in board).
The game is small and easily stored in your bag. But the space to play has to be a large table, after all, you can make 3 lines of combat with up to 20 cards on each line.
15-30 min playing time, no more than that unless you actually have the intelligence of an orc to take much to think about.
– The Family Gamer – 5/5 – Good for kids to play with by their parents their extreme simplicity of rules. Laughter guaranteed.
– The Social Gamer – 5/5 – Kill, loot, steal… (lol).
– The Strategy Gamer – 2/5 – There few strategies in this game, if you like complex games, gaiety another. But what are you waiting for a game orcs?
– The Casual Gamer – 5/5 people to expect or When it is in a short team and 1/5 if you’re only with this game (seriously, this game you can not play the whole afternoon).
– The Avid Gamer – 5/5 – Good for calling acquaintances of view and an “ice breaking “. Good for strangers who will join the RPG table or shortly will play a big board game and lose if desinibirem shyness in front of the group Which he does not know. Of course it is good to see also strange if your usual gaming group you called guy is a nice guy and a tremendous boring.
– The Power Gamer – 3/5 – Check one or more fighting machines and wreck as if the enemy line porridge is good for your ego. Believe me.
Pros:
– Playing fast and very easy to understand;
– Game mechanics and simple theme;
– Great game side, great to “break the ice” if you know not all of the people at the table.
Cons:
– Few strategies, three times after playing the game, you’ll be wondering where is that guy barks Which you are expecting;
– There is no complexity in this game. If you only play board games for avid thinkers and strategists not play this game;
– Seriously, this board game that requires people who play are a bit playful, if you consider yourself a more serious guy, do not buy and do not play this game.
In my opinion a good game to play with friends waiting for more friends to arrive. And above all, causes many laughs.