Red Rising Board Game Review

What's successful the box:

• 1 Rulebook (multiplayer)
• 1 Rulebook (solo)
• 112 quality cards
• 30 Automa cards
• 6 asymmetric location tiles
• 1 crippled b oard
• 1 wolf-head tray and lid
• 60 Helium-3 reddish gem tokens
• 60 power cubes
• 1 Sovereign token
• 1 crescent satellite first-player token
• 1 customized Red Rising die
• 6 fleet tokens
• 1 scorepad (50 double-sided sheets)
• 6 notation cards

Red Rising TBG is published by Stonemaier Games and designed by Alexander Schmidt and Jamie Stegmaier. You whitethorn admit that sanction from his different notable games, including Scythe, Viticulture, and his latest, Vantage, which was 1 of the astir fashionable games astatine Gen Con this year. The Red Rising adaptation they created puts anyplace from 1-6 players successful the roles of heads of assorted houses from the novels arsenic they vie for powerfulness and power successful 3 chiseled areas—the Institute, the Fleet Armada, and Helium-3 production. The houses, Apollo, Ceres, Diana, Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva, each person their peculiar abilities that trigger whenever they negociate to assertion the Sovereign Token (more connected this successful a moment), which adds successful a tiny sprinkling of asymmetry to the package.

Gameplay successful Red Rising is alternatively straightforward. On your crook you play a paper from your manus to 1 of the 4 rows connected the crippled board, triggering that card’s deploy effect, past you prime up a paper that from 1 of the 3 different rows adding it to your manus and triggering that rows effect, oregon if nary of the cards look peculiarly appealing, you tin gully blindly from the apical of the platform and rotation a dice, taking the enactment of whichever enactment is shown connected the dice. These actions volition fto you beforehand your fleet way market, summation a Helium-3 token, adhd power successful the Institute, gain the Sovereign Token, and trigger your house’s bonus. The crook past passes to the adjacent player, continuing until either: Between each players determination are 7+ Helium tokens/influence astatine the Institute/Fleet Track oregon a azygous subordinate has met 2 of those criteria, astatine which constituent scoring takes place.

While determination is simply a bully magnitude of strategy and readying successful Red Rising, the deficiency of overmuch enactment betwixt players is simply a spot of a bummer. Outside of possibly snagging oregon banishing a paper different you deliberation whitethorn want, during my plays, I was ever much acrophobic with my manus and wherever I was astatine successful my trackers and not connected my opponents. In the books, struggle is simply a large focus, and the committee crippled offers a astir implicit deficiency of that, minus the fewer cards that interaction different player’s manus oregon set their influence. Backroom dealings and backstabbing play a portion successful the novels, too, sure, but portion I was playing, I conscionable wished I could bash much for the different players. Slamming down Sevro oregon the Howlers should consciousness exciting. Instead, successful the Howlers card’s case, it serves to support you from different subordinate from trying to bargain oregon banishing 1 of your cards, an enactment that lone 4 different cards successful the full 112-card platform tin do. This fundamentally turns Darrow and Sevro’s elite set of soldiers into thing you conscionable privation to support successful your hand, doing nothing, due to the fact that it tin people immoderate decent points astatine the extremity of the game.

On the taxable of scoring, I recovered it to beryllium a spot of a mess. Each paper successful your manus has a constituent worth that it volition people astatine the extremity of the arsenic on with a bonus effect that tin nett you further points based connected different cards successful your hand, you volition summation antithetic points depending connected however overmuch power you person successful the 3 factions, bonus points if you person the Sovereign token, and past you subtract points for each paper successful your manus implicit 7 you have. If the constituent values were conscionable successful azygous digits, this would beryllium annoying to each tally up, but constituent values are treble digits, with immoderate being unusual values similar 28 oregon 43 conscionable makes it much of a hassle than I privation it to be.

If I’m being honest, a bulk of my enjoyment from Red Rising came much from seeing artwork for my favourite characters from the books, coating a clearer representation successful my caput of the satellite that Brown has crafted. I loved seeing the cards showcasing the larger-than-life Telemanuses (Sophocles too), being capable to enactment a amended look to the likes of Eo, Sefi, Uncle Narol, and Ragnar. There are inactive unusual choices, though, with the characters that person been included, specified arsenic lone showing Darrow arsenic a Red Laborer card, and the information that determination is simply a generic “Mess Hall Cook” and “Dataport Specialist” but not a Reaper mentation of Darrow oregon immoderate of the different notable Howlers similar Screwface? Weird.

Where Red Rising excels is successful its manus absorption and however it makes its players interact and deliberation astir the committee state. Maneuvering cards astir to the assorted rows, devising strategies that volition permission their manus successful the champion signifier imaginable to nett those coveted bonus points portion ensuring they besides dispersed their power to maximize imaginable determination each feels good. The information that the wide travel of the gameplay is comparatively elemental arsenic good means you tin absorption connected crafting those strategies arsenic well, and what results is simply a coagulated solitaire-style game. It’s a crippled that I wouldn’t needfully privation to play with my friends who are prone to analysis-paralysis oregon person to instrumentality the astir optimal turns possible, truthful they instrumentality forever, but the mechanics are coagulated capable that I would beryllium good playing this crippled if idiosyncratic were to bust it retired astatine a crippled night.

As a Red Rising fan, however, I ne'er truly got that “Red Rising feeling” portion playing it, feeling much similar it was a antithetic crippled with Pierce Brown’s enactment benignant of finessed connected apical of it. When I ideate a committee crippled based connected these books, I representation calling down Iron Rain to wreck my enemies, making pugnacious decisions with large ramifications, deftly moving my Howlers down force lines, and putting my allies successful harm's way, oregon adjacent sacrificing them, for my cause. Instead, this crippled offers a hand-building acquisition that incentivizes synergy. It’s a amusive capable game, but it unluckily doesn’t usage Pierce Brown’s spot to the champion of its quality and alternatively makes it travel disconnected much arsenic conscionable a acceptable dressing.

Go work the books if you haven't already

Originally posted:

Aug 9, 2025 2:34 pm