Which is better: Cthulhu Wars or Blood Rage?
Cthulhu Wars is the stronger pick for players who want the deepest asymmetric factions, a cosmic-horror theme, and the largest miniatures on the table. Blood Rage is the stronger pick for a faster, card-drafting Viking brawl with a lighter rules footprint. Both are big-box asymmetric area-control games built around distinct, miniature-heavy factions, so the right answer depends on what your group actually wants from game night.
I designed Cthulhu Wars, so weigh my recommendation accordingly. The comparison below still aims to be honest. Blood Rage is a genuinely good game from CMON, and it earns its reputation. It just solves a different problem than Cthulhu Wars does.
What do Cthulhu Wars and Blood Rage actually have in common?
Both games put asymmetric factions on a shared map and let them fight over territory using sculpted plastic miniatures rather than cardboard tokens. Neither one hands every player an identical toolkit. In Cthulhu Wars, each faction has its own units, its own spellbook, and its own path to victory. In Blood Rage, each Viking clan has its own leader and a distinct set of starting abilities that shape how you draft cards across the game.
Both are also unapologetically big-box. Neither game hides its ambition. You are not getting a 20-minute filler here. You are getting a full evening centerpiece with real table presence, the kind of box that gets a photo before it gets opened.
How do Cthulhu Wars and Blood Rage differ in theme and mechanics?
Theme is the clearest split. Cthulhu Wars is built on H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror mythos: players control monstrous Great Old Ones racing to dominate Earth before it falls, with gates, spells, and cultist armies doing the work.[1] Blood Rage is set in Norse mythology as Ragnarok approaches, with Viking clans fighting for glory before the world burns. It was designed by Eric Lang and published by CMON Limited in 2015, and it plays out over three "Ages" using card drafting to determine what each clan can do that round.[2]
Mechanically, the games solve area control differently. Cthulhu Wars runs on a power-and-spell economy: you gather power each round and spend it to cast spells, summon monsters, and open gates that let your Great Old One's forces flood onto the board. Blood Rage runs on card drafting: each Age, players draft cards that dictate their moves, then spend those cards to invade provinces, summon monsters from Norse legend, and complete quests. Combat in Cthulhu Wars is a straightforward battle-dice resolution over contested territories. Combat in Blood Rage resolves through played cards, and the game rewards glorious losses almost as much as wins, which is a genuinely clever twist for a war game.
Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition, at a glance
- Factions in the core box: 4 (Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat, Yellow Sign) — all core, none are expansions.
- Great Old Ones in the core box: 5.
- Faction spellbooks in the core box: 4, one per starting faction.
- Miniatures: 72 total, including roughly 24 cultists and 35 monsters across the core factions.
- Theme: Lovecraftian cosmic horror, original mythos-based faction warfare.
- Price: $249.00 as listed on the O4 Edition product page.
Blood Rage, at a glance
- Designer / publisher: Eric Lang, published by CMON Limited in 2015.
- Players: 2-4 in the base box (a 5th Player Expansion is sold separately).
- Playing time: roughly 60-90 minutes, per Wikipedia and third-party listings.
- Theme: Norse mythology, Viking clans racing toward Ragnarok.
- Core mechanics: card drafting, area control, sculpted plastic miniature combat over three Ages.
Worth noting: neither Cthulhu Wars nor Blood Rage publishes an official rundown of every card or unit in this post. Component counts above for Cthulhu Wars come from the O4 Edition product itself; Blood Rage's designer, publisher, and general format come from Wikipedia and are cited below.
Which game has deeper asymmetric factions, Cthulhu Wars or Blood Rage?
Cthulhu Wars does. That is not a knock on Blood Rage's clan design, which is well regarded and genuinely differentiated. The gap comes down to how far each game pushes asymmetry. Blood Rage's clans differ in leader abilities and drafting tendencies, though they still share a single unified action and combat system. Cthulhu Wars factions differ at a more structural level: separate spellbooks, separate summon costs, separate win conditions layered on top of the shared map and battle-dice combat.
That depth is also why Cthulhu Wars scales the way it does. The core O4 box seats 2-4 players across its four factions, and the game's expansion ecosystem (additional factions, neutral Great Old Ones, Terror units) keeps growing outward from there. If your group already owns a mid-tier area-control game and is ready to step up to something with more faction identity and colossal-scale miniatures, that is exactly the gap Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition is built to fill.
Is Cthulhu Wars worth it if you already own Blood Rage?
Yes, for most collectors, because the two games do not really compete for the same slot on the shelf. Blood Rage is a faster, card-driven Viking brawl that plays in roughly 60-90 minutes with a lighter learning curve. Cthulhu Wars is a heavier strategic centerpiece built around spellcasting, gate control, and colossal Great Old One miniatures. Owning both gives a group two different flavors of asymmetric war game rather than two versions of the same night.
If you are choosing your first big-box asymmetric war game and cosmic horror pulls you harder than Viking mythology, or you want the largest miniatures and the deepest faction split available in the genre, Cthulhu Wars is the one built for that table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cthulhu Wars similar to Blood Rage?
They share a genre more than a design. Both are asymmetric, miniature-heavy area-control games where distinct factions fight over a shared map. Cthulhu Wars uses a power-and-spell economy in a Lovecraftian cosmic-horror setting, while Blood Rage uses card drafting in a Norse mythology setting. The overlap is structural (asymmetric factions, area control, big-box miniatures); the theme and core mechanics are different.
How many factions does Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition come with?
The Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition core box includes 4 factions: Great Cthulhu, the Crawling Chaos (Nyarlathotep), the Black Goat (Shub-Niggurath), and the Yellow Sign (Hastur). All four are part of the core game, not expansions. The box also includes 5 Great Old Ones and 4 faction spellbooks, one per starting faction.
Who makes Blood Rage, and is it related to Petersen Games?
Blood Rage was designed by Eric Lang and published by CMON Limited in 2015. Petersen Games does not make, own, or sell it. This article references it only as a comparison point for players choosing between big-box asymmetric war games.
How long does a game of Blood Rage take compared to Cthulhu Wars?
Blood Rage runs roughly 60-90 minutes according to Wikipedia and third-party listings. Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition does not publish an official play time on its product page, so we won't give a specific number here; expect a full evening centerpiece game rather than a quick filler, especially at higher player counts.
Which game has bigger miniatures, Cthulhu Wars or Blood Rage?
Cthulhu Wars. The O4 Edition ships 72 miniatures total, including 5 colossal Great Old One sculpts that dwarf standard tabletop miniature scale. Blood Rage uses sculpted plastic Viking figures that are well detailed for the genre, though built at a more conventional miniature scale, without a colossal centerpiece figure in the base box.
Ready to see the difference on your own table? Check out Cthulhu Wars O4 Edition at Petersen Games for the full faction breakdown, component list, and current price.
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