The Journey from Famine to Feast in A Feast for Odin
Settle in for a session report about back-to-back plays that resulted in the best and worst of times in A Feast for Odin.
Don’t move, A Feast for Odin! Board games that take up a lot of table space are often difficult to clean up for me. I love the almost meditative quality of setting up components and card decks… But not all the time! So it was no surprise that I was about to embark again. With more ideas and a few new strategies to utilize I was ready to win! Or just try…
Game Overview
Game Name: A Feast for Odin
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Artist: Dennis Lohausen
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
There are dozens of actions to choose from in the quest to earn victory points. What works best? That’s the whole challenge of the puzzle! It takes lots of experience.
I’ve been slowly working towards trying out some of the actions I steer clear of. Like the adorable sheep!
First Play
April 5, 2020
Complexity
4
Latest Play
July 19, 2020
Expansions
0
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
8
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
113
Game Area
44" x 28"
Low Score
45
Exploration Time
During my first play of the day, I decided to head off and do some exploring. There are 4 double-sided islands included with the base game. Each is vastly different.
After a few seconds of deliberation, I decided to aim for the Faroe Islands. The small extra income would be nice, and the bonus goods looked very enticing.
Even though I was proud of my choices, my performance was horrendous. Remember my initial 45 points?
I tied my worst score! I ended up producing too many goods because I didn’t really have a plan in mind.
Practice Makes Perfect
Although more experience will typically lead to better scores, I’m still very early in my journey through the game. A lot of my plays are more like experimenting with different actions. I’m learning what works… More importantly and more commonly, though, I’m learning what doesn’t work! Horrible scores are to be expected, which is fine with me.
This is also why I’m grateful that I have a place to keep a board game set up for an indefinite period of time. Not having to worry about cleaning this up afterwards actually gives me more time to concentrate!
A Misleading Ending
As I completed my second play of the day, my home board looked rather terrible. So many negative point spaces!
Earning victory points is important, but it’s wise not to forget about all of the potential lost victory points. Larger luxury goods can be very helpful to counter the losses.
I still haven’t quite mastered the income track, though. I usually find other ways to earn silver coins. That may need to be improved in the future, though!
My home board looked pretty unappealing, but I had something up my sleeve… My Vikings did very well!
Off to New Lands
The secret to my success came in the form of the longships. As I’ll explain a little further on, I had a bunch of occupation cards that guided my focus.
When I was done with one, it gladly set sail to emigrate. This not only earned me plenty of victory points but cut down on the amount of food needed during feasts.
One small detail I noticed was the backgrounds. Look closely… Each ship is sailing past a unique landscape!
Little touches like these always make me smile. Yet I had much more to celebrate with the conclusion of this play!
A Reliable Labrador
No dogs here, but the island of Labrador proved to be extremely lucrative! This time, I bided my time and aimed for a single exploration action late in the game.
I should have discovered Labrador a round earlier to fully take advantage of the goods bonuses. Next time!
Although I didn’t end up with additional income, I pulled in plenty of useful items and covered all of the negative point spaces. The result? 36 victory points! Yeah!
There were still some actions I could have changed up, and I wasted a couple of rounds sputtering a bit. Still…
Session Overview
Play Number: 4 and 5
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Deck A
Required Play Space: 44″ x 28″
Setup Time: 5 Minutes
Play Time: 1 Hour per Play
Outcome: 45 and 113 (1 Win and 1 Loss)
Success! I found a way to hit the 100-point threshold, and it was amazing. There was an actual plan in place this time. Definitely worthwhile! Yet I was still flexible, particularly in regards to the occupation cards.
The Important Role of Occupation Cards
With such an open action board, it can be downright mind-boggling to figure out what to do next! I’ve noticed some obvious moves and worthwhile combinations, but it’s not always easy to plan ahead. Now that I’ve started to understand the actions some more, the occupation cards are becoming more and more important.
My starting occupation was Catapulter. On dice rolls related to raiding and pillaging, I could get a much nicer bonus from stone. So I immediately figured I would focus on picking up longships. The Helmsman card is partially hidden, but besides the immediate luxury tile, I could draw a new weapon card every time a longship was used.
Not everything synergized, but I still earned points or bonuses from every card! Figuring out when to play them was tricky. The action spaces requiring 4 Vikings allow a card to be played, but the only other main way is by using 2 Vikings to play 1-2 occupation cards. I feel like it was all worthwhile in the end, though. I was even a bonafide Dragonslayer!
Finding the synergies between the cards and actions seems to be a vital element of gameplay. I’m far from mastering it, but it helps highlight some of the best possible paths to follow during a particular play.
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
6
Victory Conditions
Score 80+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 50 points.
Score at least 100 points.
Score at least 120 points.
Continue the Conversation
Have you had any excellent plays with A Feast for Odin? I thoroughly laughed at myself when I tied my worst score ever, and then went ahead to earn my best score! It isn’t that it’s unbalanced, though. It really comes down to learning what works best. What are some of the strategies you’ve perfected? I’m slowly getting there, and having a wonderful time!
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