Defending Hegra against the invading forces

I’m not a history buff, and normally I am not drawn to games with historical settings. The primary reason I was interested in ❄ ️ Halls of Hegra is how people started comparing it to Robinson Crusoe, which is still one of our favorite cooperative games. Halls of Hegra tackles the story of a short period of time from the second World War, where Norwegians made a stand against invading German forces in the fortress of Hegra. 🏰

The comparison to Robinson Crusoe is appropriate: 👉 Defenders are symbolized by wooden discs, and you can use them each round to plan what actions you want to do, then execute the actions in a given sequence. 🧐 You can fight incoming infantry, fire the artillery, go on supply runs, improve the fortress by e.g. shoveling snow to unearth old equipment or repair damaged stuff, or tend to the injured in the infirmary. Many actions, tons of decisions, but never enough people to do everything you need. Not by a long shot. 🙉

Halls of Hegra is a solo game, but I think it will also be suitable for us as a 2p co-op game because the rules overhead is pretty big and there are lots you can discuss. My first go at the game was a bit bumpy as I kept having to check rules. Lots of information is available on the board itself, but there are some fiddly rules that are hard to remember. 😶

The game is split up into distinct sections. The first few rounds are about Mobilization: recruiting people and gearing up for defense. 💪 Then during the 1st Attack you start fighting off infantry, which is followed by two Siege phases, where you are also dealing with artillery fire and aerial assaults. Your goal is to survive the Final Stand. 🛡️

The game is hard and pretty unfair, but I think it is by design to reinforce the theme - you are supposed to feel hopeless, and cheer even for the smallest little victories. That said, there is lots of dice rolling and even getting new defenders involves drawing tokens from a bag. Being lucky could mean an easy victory, while bad luck could spell doom even if you make good decisions. It all feels pretty thematic though, so you just have to learn to roll with the punches. 🥊