The release date for Monsters of Norso has been announced, and rather appropriately Realm Runner Studios are aiming for a Halloween release.

I thought I’d have a look at the teasers we have to date. First up, the release poster:

There’s a strong Greek myth feel here, with the Minotaur from the labyrinth of Crete myth standing front and centre, with a backdrop of the labyrinth which became his prison. This Greek style has continued in many of the spoilers to date. Next up, some characters we’ve seen:

We know that the character on the left is a/the Gorgon, another reference to Greek myth, though lacking serpentine hair.
We don’t know the name of the second character, though it was tagged “guard”, so may have something to do with the mysterious GUARD keyword referred to in the description of the POISONOUS keyword in the rules. This is the character that most matches the look of the trolls from the Warriors of Wishwell.
The third character is Drengora, the Fierce, who seems to be a human wearing armour, the first human to make an appeared in Norso planum. Intriguing.

The Monsters continue the Greek theme, with a Hydra kicking us off here.
The second character we are told is the Chimera, another monster straight out of Greek myth, though looking a little different to classical mythology here. Less goaty.
The third is known as Crescendo, and includes a decidedly creepy image of a ghostly little girl in a giant maw. Is the girl the monster? Or is the monster consuming the girl? It remains unclear.
The final monster is more down to Earth, and is a Cyclops (complete with matching one-eyed belt).

The overall colour palette is pretty dark. I’m really hoping for a strong achrom faction in this release.

These four locations do not have a particularly mythological look, but instead are much more in keeping with traditional Achroma theme. We have a couple of rocky locations rich in colour, and a couple have some grass and wood, suggesting that this release may be a tad less subterranean (superterranean?) than Warriors of Wishwell. We may even see some green flora shards appearing in this set.
However, we also have these 3 dark landscapes:

The first is the Minotaur’s Domain, and looks a bit like Kang’s Castle from Loki: Season One.
The second one is known as Hunting Grounds, and it’s unclear whether it’s a place for hunting, or whether the grounds are doing the hunting. Both word linguistically.
The final location looks like a viaduct, except it’s oozing achrom. An achroduct?
This is all very dark, and I like it.

And finally, Righteous Strike:

What a stark image! Less visually deep than many Achroma cards, but this is really going to pop when on the card. I really hope this is a highly playable card, meaning I can include it in decks. If not, I might just have to include a copy of it just for the sake of the artwork.

Overall, I’m enjoying the Greek/Achrom style of this set. Mechanically it’s difficult to say what we’re going to see, but I’m hopefully for a strong Monster faction, and something light and verdant for our chroma/neutral faction with this release.

---

Next time you’re ordering achroma products, please use the discount code dracotemple at checkout on the achroma webstore for 10% off all orders, including pre-orders. By using this code, you are also supporting me, as I also earn commission on any sales made using this code.