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Kharnage is published by the same publisher as Heroes of Normandie, Devil Pig Games, and is a card based game for between two and four players.
The game is set in a world loosely based on medieval and crossed with what only can be described as Lord Of The Rings.
Kharnage - The Game
Kharnage comes in a standard size box and the art is very striking which makes it stand out on the shelf. The contents consist of one small punchboard of skull and Kharnage tokens, along with several decks of cards.
The cards are of good quality but where the game really makes you take notice is again the art. On each army card, the art is done to a great standard, Bowmen, Golems, and Goblins to name a few are all brilliantly drawn and really draw you into the theme of the game.
The victory condition of the game is simple as the Chief of an army use unit cards to defeat your opponents and claim the centre card ‘The Hill’.
Turn Order
Unfortunately, like other Devil Pig titles, the rule book makes the game look harder than it actually is to play - but if you stick with it and watch a video or two you will see that it’s such a simple game.
To set-up your game of Kharnage all you need to do is follow these simple steps:
- Place the Skull and Kharnage tokens in stacks.
- Place the ‘Hill’ card in the centre of the table.
- Each player gets to choose an army and shuffles the unit cards to create a draw pile.
- Place the strategy card with ‘0’ on it next to the hill (this has red flags on it and determines the starting strength of your army).
- Draw unit cards to the amount of red flags om the strategy card.
Once set up is complete you play the game over four rounds, where you will play cards, attack opponents and collect points. You choose a strategy card which all have numbers on and this determines the turn order, reinforcements and the type of attack.
Depending on the number of flags and the indicated colour on the reinforcement card, you can deploy troops or generals in to battle. Each troop card has a symbol which determines where it will be placed in battle. Front, middle or rear troops all have varying abilities (melee, Magic and ranged). Once you have worked out your attack strength you decide who to attack and slaughter their troops.
You carry on doing that until everyone has played their strategy cards and the player who killed the most enemies takes the five point token. After four rounds of Kharnage, everyone counts to see who has the largest army left and they are the winner. If there is a tie the person with the most skull tokens is the winner.
That is all there is to this game. It’s a quick light-filler game that plays in around 30 minutes at the full player count, when everyone knows what they are doing, and it really does provide some great senseless fun for everyone.
To set-up your game of Kharnage all you need to do is follow these simple steps:
- Place the Skull and Kharnage tokens in stacks.
- Place the ‘Hill’ card in the centre of the table.
- Each player gets to choose an army and shuffles the unit cards to create a draw pile.
- Place the strategy card with ‘0’ on it next to the hill (this has red flags on it and determines the starting strength of your army).
- Draw unit cards to the amount of red flags om the strategy card.
Once set up is complete you play the game over four rounds, where you will play cards, attack opponents and collect points. You choose a strategy card which all have numbers on and this determines the turn order, reinforcements and the type of attack.
Depending on the number of flags and the indicated colour on the reinforcement card, you can deploy troops or generals in to battle. Each troop card has a symbol which determines where it will be placed in battle. Front, middle or rear troops all have varying abilities (melee, Magic and ranged). Once you have worked out your attack strength you decide who to attack and slaughter their troops.
You carry on doing that until everyone has played their strategy cards and the player who killed the most enemies takes the five point token. After four rounds of Kharnage, everyone counts to see who has the largest army left and they are the winner. If there is a tie the person with the most skull tokens is the winner.
That is all there is to this game. It’s a quick light-filler game that plays in around 30 minutes at the full player count, when everyone knows what they are doing, and it really does provide some great senseless fun for everyone.
Final Thoughts
Kharnage is advertised as a strategic card game but in my opinion there is little to no strategy needed to play this game. Yes, you can think about what cards to play ect, but there is not a huge number of variables and the game is a case of play cards and resolve the actions it triggers.
That being said, Kharnage is great fun as it is quick to set up and play helps the game flow. In the games that I have played people tend to go after the player with the most troops, making it a fair and balanced game with no runaway leader.
Player interaction is high and there is always laughs and conversation (name calling) going on around the table. Ideal player count for me is four as the two player games are just a backwards and forwards affair with little or no change in what you do each round.
The art, as previously mentioned, is very good as is the quality of the cards. If you are looking for a silly-fun game and can spend a bit of time (more than should be needed) to get to grips with the rule book then you will be rewarded with a game that will get lots of playtime.
