Overview
Recruit vikings (vĂkingar) to form your band (fĂ©lag). Make your fortune by sending them to discover new territories on your ship (knarr). Establish trade routes and, in some cases, settle down for good. At the same time, increase your reputation and make your name resound in heroic songs to earn even more victory points!
Key Notes:
• If the Viking Deck and Discard pile are empty, the player with the most Vikings has to discard a recruited Viking of their choosing to become the new drawn card
• The maximum of Silver Bracelet and Recruit Tokens you can have is capped at 3 each
Turn
A turn consists of the following stages
• Trade (Optional)
• Reputation
• Action (Recruit or Explore)
• Trade (Optional)
Trade
This is an optional action, but can only be taken once in your turn either at the start or at the end
As you'll see, the Destination cards line up with the ship to form three columns of empty spaces or symbols. You can either:
• Spend 1 Silver Bracelet to gain all the assets on column 1
• Spend 2 Silver Bracelets to gain all the assets on column 1 and column 2
• Spend 3 Silver Bracelets to gain all the assets on column 1 and column 2 and column 3
Note that 1 Silver Bracelet isn't for a single column, but specifically column 1, i.e. you must spend 3 Silver Bracelets if you wish to gain assets from the third (rightmost) column
Reputation
Check where your Reputation marker is at and score this many points
Recruit
Play a Viking from your hand onto the stack matching its colour, this will cover up the previous Viking whilst still displaying the symbol at its top
After which, take ALL assets now visible in that colour's stack (old cards + the new card)
Finally, take the Viking from the space matching the stack's colour (This may NOT be the same colour Viking, just the Viking from the matching colour area) then replace the empty space
Note: You may spend a Recruit Token if you have one to pick any Viking, not the one from the matching colour area
Explore
Pick a Destination card from those visible and discard the appropriate colour Vikings shown in top left from your play area to pay for it
You do not need to use the most recent Viking of that colour, just of that colour
If the cost is in equals "=" signs, this means all of the same colour of your choice
You may use Recruit Tokens in place of spending Vikings
Place the Destination above your Ship and gain the Assets shown on the top right
Replace the bought Destination with a card from the same deck (Green A or Blue B back)
Assets
As mentioned throughout, there are various ways to gain Assets, some of these are tokens and others are instant bonuses
• Yellow Triangles - Gain 1 Victory Point
• Green Helmet - Gain 1 Recruit Token (Max 3 Possessed)
• Red Band - Gain 1 Silver Bracelet Token (Max 3 Possessed)
• Blue Lyre - Move up 1 on the Reputation Track
• Black Card - Gain 1 blind Viking from the draw deck, but do NOT gain assets like in Recruit
End Game
The game ends when a player reaches or exceeds 40 points
The round finishes with everyone having equal turns.
After which, the player with the most points wins!
Ties are won by the player with the most remaining tokens (recruits + bracelets).
Card Distribution
The distribution of assets on the cards is different for each suit and it also varies by player count:
2-P | VP | Bracelet | Recruit | Reputation |
---|---|---|---|---|
Red | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Yellow | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Green | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Blue | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Purple | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
3-P | VP | Bracelet | Recruit | Reputation |
---|---|---|---|---|
Red | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Yellow | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Green | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Blue | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Purple | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
4-P | VP | Bracelet | Recruit | Reputation |
---|---|---|---|---|
Red | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Yellow | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Green | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Blue | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Purple | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Optional: Artifacts
During setup, 1 Artifact card is revealed at random and placed next to the board. The others are put away in the box; they will not be used. After a player’s action on their turn, each time they meet the condition on the Artifact card, they get the reward.
Publisher and developer notice: As the rules are not very clear to exactly when to check the Artifacts, here is what have been decided by the publisher for the BGA implementation. Actions flow : (optional Trade) => Action => check artifacts => (optional Trade) => check artifacts (only weathervane / amulet)