The manic game of orcish mayhem

Publisher's Description:

Chaos Marauders is a game for 2 to 4 players with each player representing one of the sides in an Orc Tribal dispute. The fighting is stopped by the army’s powerful commanders before it gets too serious. This is when one of the tribal groups is in battle formation (i.e. it has three complete battle-lines).

The winner is the player whose battle-lines contain the highest number of valuable items, such as Orc Grog, treasure and the like. This tribe is "da best" and it gets to fly its banner above all the other tribal flags (a position of great prestige)…at least until the next fight.

Box info:

Designer : Stephen Hand

Published : 1987

Publisher : Games Workshop

Players : 2 to 4 (needs 4 - TC)

Ages : 10+

Playing Time : ½ to 1½ hours

Complexity : "Orc level (very low indeed)"

Trev says:

One of three games I have by Stephen Hand, although the basic mechanics come from older games about Indian canoes and, I think, something about space. This theme is more fun than those. Where this game really works well is in the level of player interaction, which allows any player, no matter how far they are trailing, to scupper the chances of any other player. The game is also biased such that the less cards a player has on their playsheet, the more cards that player can generally draw, allowing for speedy comebacks.

It is not a game for the highly strung, though, as the bottom can drop out of your winning position at a stroke. A friend of mine,  once felt it necessary to go outside and recover during one game in which he twice had his entire playsheet wiped clean whilst attempting to attack from a superior position. This uncertainty is also what makes it hard to predict the length of a game. The game also features such classic cards as the "Sneaky Git" and the "Venomous Creeps". If you like barely controlled mayhem, buy it!