Ravenfeast

What is Ravenfeast

Ravenfeast is a free skirmish game for the Viking Age, made by Little Wars TV, the YouTube channel about historical wargaming. Each player leads a warband of Viking raiders, and the setting is the raids on Saxon England.

It’s built as a way into the hobby. The full book runs 44 pages, but the rules themselves are under six. The rest is a beginner’s guide: what historical wargaming is, what you need, how to assemble and paint your Vikings, how to make cheap terrain and a longhouse, and where to go next.

The rules are by Al Halden, who wrote Ravenfeast in 2010 for his historical wargaming club in Pennsylvania. He based it on a free one-page set called One Page Fantasy Skirmish by John David Slor. After Al died, Keith Stine wrote up the book in his memory, and Little Wars TV published it in 2020.

The PDF is free. Print copies were sold cheap with support from HMGS, the non-profit Historical Miniatures Gaming Society. Little Wars TV’s own print run is now sold out.

How it plays

Six phases a turn. Initiative, Rally, Movement, Missile, Melee, End of Turn. Every player finishes each phase before the next starts.
Roll under your stats. Every Viking has Move, Missile, Melee, Armor and Morale ratings. To hit, roll a D6 equal to or under the attacker’s rating. The target then rolls under its Armor to shrug the hit off.
Wounds land at the end of the turn. A wounded Viking gets a Blood Token and keeps fighting until the End of Turn phase. Most figures die from one wound. Jarls and Huskarls are Tough and can take more.
A Death Worthy of a Song. In melee, a to-hit roll of 1 against an Armor roll of 6 earns a free second attack. If that one lands, the wound gets a Raven Token, and every enemy within 6” has to test morale.
Shield walls. Three or more Vikings with shields can lock into a shield wall for +2 Armor and +1 Morale. It moves at half speed, only straight ahead or a quarter move back, and spears in the second rank can fight through the front.
Leaders hold the line. Kill the enemy leader, or wound more than half the warband, and everyone tests morale. Leaders and Heroes lend their Morale to nearby Vikings. Fail a test and the Viking flees and has to rally next turn or be removed.
Points, or build your own. The book gives ready-made Jarls, Huskarls, Berserkers, Hirdmen, Bondi, archers and Thralls, plus an open points system for making your own troop types.
Optional extras. Rune cards add one-off twists. Geld coins buy rerolls and extra Berserkers, and can be looted off a dead leader. There are Saxon lists with cavalry, a big battle option using group bases, and a mythology supplement with trolls, frost giants and draugar.

How to start

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Ravenfeast (free full-colour PDF)

The complete 44-page book: rules, warband lists, three scenarios, and the hobby guide.

Download the book. It’s free on the downloads page, in full colour or a print-friendly black and white version. There’s a one-page quick reference sheet too.
Watch the tutorial. Little Wars TV has a video walkthrough of a full turn.
Try it with paper Vikings. The downloads page has hand-drawn, double-sided paper figures. About a dozen per player is enough for a first game.
Gather a warband. The book suggests 12 to 20 figures: a Jarl, two to four Huskarls, six to ten spearmen, two to four archers and a Berserker. Any scale works. The book uses 28mm on 1” square bases. You also need a tape measure, ten D6 and some red, yellow and black markers.
Pick a scenario. The book has three: Back to the Boats!, Fight for Honor! and Pillage & Burn! More are on the scenarios page, including a big battle scenario for Ashdown.

Community & reviews

The book ends with a list of Viking miniature makers in 28mm and 15mm, and suggests SAGA, Strandhogg, Lion Rampant and Dux Britanniarum once you want something deeper. Fan translations are up in French, Polish and Chinese.