You may not know who Jonathan Fryxelius is, but you have heard about the games designed and published by FryxGames. Terraforming Mars’ cult status gives it immediate recognition with board gamers of all stripes. Jonathan, Jacob Fryxelius’ brother – the designer of Terraforming Mars- is a co-owner of the family-owned FryxGames.
Fight the Hordes of Monsters as You Protect Freyja’s Well
The family lineage aside, Jonathan has submitted a new entry on BoardGameGeek, in which he provides plenty of illustrations and a short description of a new thematic “wargame” he is designing, his first standalone project as a matter of fact since Brawling Barons which he designed back in 2012. Fate: Defenders of Grimheim is set to release in 2024 and is a 1-4 wargame that plays between 30-180 minutes and is fit for players age 14+.
Fate is about bringing together players who will play as talented but inexperienced heroes who will defend Freyja’s well against the dead, fire monsters, and trolls, who will be coming from all sides of the board.
Fate reminds you of a tower defense game as you will need to hold your ground, slay monsters, and upgrade your heroes, but also complete quests, work on your weapons and equipment and hold your ground firmly against the devilish onslaught spurred onward by none other than Loki, the trickster god.
The place of battle is Grimheim which sits in the center of the map based on an image from 2019, and another one from 2023, which saw the game demoed during SPIEL 2023. There are no artists listed in the title just yet, but there are plenty of fun illustrations that reveal a lot about the style that has been chosen with the game.
Play as One of the Characters Who Fight Off the Hordes
The playable heroes seem to be based on quintessential adventure types, with a strong muscular barbarian-type warrior who surprisingly favors bow and arrow (although he casually props a short axe on his shoulder), a Xena-type Amazon woman who yields her sword and shields, a dwarf with a treacherous small-looking axe to chop monsters right at the knee, and a woman archer who seems to be fully focused on never letting an enemy get close to her.
To be fair, 3 hours of monster slaying to hold a location in town may seem a bit much at first glance, but we are definitely looking forward for this one.