Beer & Vikings Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Symbols (Reference Cards)
• Short Rules
• Full Rules
  • Game Turn
  • Playing Cards
  • Minions
  • Berserk
  • Spirits (Alcohol)
  • Life Points and Death
  • Sudden Death Round and Victory
  • Valhalla Cards
  • Afterlife Rules
• Summary of Changes
• Combined Game With Other Games of the Series
• The Symbols
• Valhalla Cards (Detailed Descriptions)
• Optional Rules
• The Cards (Detailed Descriptions)

Components

• 1 Beer Mug to fold: follow the instructions on the back of the sheet to fold the origami Beer Mug (Sake & Samurai has established this tradition!).

• 98 playing cards: Cards have two specific and independent characteristics: the Action Boxes in the four corners and the Card Text in the middle. All cards have three different types of back (troublesome, quarrelsome, drowsy) used only by the dead Vikings who have become Spirits of Loki.

• 4 Location cards: Vikings can go anywhere on their drakkars. If you are tired of getting drunk in a smoke-filled inn, change location! At the beginning of each game, you can decide to set the fighting in one of the scenes represented by the Location cards! Each of these cards include specific rules modifying the standard rules.

• 10 Valhalla cards: Only the bravest can aspire to Valhalla. The Valhalla cards represent special powers only granted to those who eliminate another Warrior.

• 8 Warrior boards: The fierce warrior you portray in the fight for the last mug! Each Warrior board has on its front side the characteristics of the Viking alive:

  • its power;
  • the number of its initial Life Points, which are represented by a pile of cards placed on the left of the Viking board;
  • the Wounds area where are placed, turned 90°, the Life Points cards lost when damage is taken;
  • the Defense area where is placed the Weapon wielded to defend against the attacks during the turn of the other Vikings;
  • the Energy space where is placed the Berserk counter.

  The back of the board depicts the dead Viking become Spirit and is used only when he is killed in combat. The Spirit side of the board has a Spirits space where are placed the Spirits drinks stolen by the Spirit.

• 8 Berserk counters: Vikings can arouse the terrible Berserk warrior rage of the raiders from the North. Everybody knows this! The Berserk counter represents the ability of the Viking to go Berserk. When the counter is removed from his board, the Viking goes Berserk!

Overview

BEER & VIKINGS is a quick and wry game, with much tactical depth. The rulebook may seem long but you will soon realize that the rules to know are few and simple; they are summed up in the Short Rules section p. 2. In the games of the SPIRITS & WARRIORS series, much freedom is left to the player: the rulebook provides very detailed explanations to give you all you need to figure out the situations you may encounter. The colors and symbols associated to terms and topics refer to those found on the cards. Read the rules (slowly), play a trial game and you'll see everything makes sense. And please, don't substitute right away the Beer drink counters included in the game by real pints of fizzy beer!

If you already own SAKE & SAMURAI

These rules apply to every game in the SPIRITS & WARRIORS series. If you already know SAKE & SAMURAI, have a look at the section Summary of Changes p. 7. Furthermore, you may have wondered what would happen if Vikings and Samurai sit at the same table. Now, you can play a combined game! Look at the section Combined game with other games of the series p. 7!

Game Symbols (Reference Cards)

• Attack (crossed swords): used to Attack.
• Ranged Attack (icon).
• Defense (helmet): used to Defend.
• Step: one Step counter, i.e. one step distance between Warriors.
• Movement (boot): used to Move; Drink (beer): used to take Spirits drinks (Beer)!
• Any Warrior, all other Warriors, a card, a Weapon/Item card.
• Remove from game 1 card or 1 Spirits drink, cancel an action or discard a card! (red X symbol)
• Exchange (arrows symbol).
• One Spirits drink (in this case, Beer!)
• One Life Point (red drop symbol).

Short Rules

Setting Up the Game

At the beginning of the game:

1. place the Mug in the middle of the table;
2. the players sit as they wish around the table;
3. deal randomly to each player one Warrior board which is placed in front of him. The remaining Warrior boards won't be used in the game;
4. give to each player one Family Sword Weapon card;
5. place 3 Step counters between each Warrior and his neighbors on his right and on his left;
6. shuffle the Event, Weapon/Item, Minion and Interrupt cards to form a draw pile (face down) and place it in the middle of the table;
7. shuffle the Valhalla cards to form the Valhalla deck (face down) and place it on one side of the table;
8. if there are 5 or less players, put in the Mug 3 Beer drinks per player; if there are 6 or more players, put 2 and half Beer drinks per player, rounding up the total (e.g., in a 7 players game, 2.5 x 7 = 17.5, rounded up 18 Beer drinks);
9. Each player then sets up his Warrior board.

Example of a 3 Players Setup

Setting up the Warrior board - Each player:

1. places a Berserk (Energy) counter in the Energy space: the Viking is quiet, but the Berserk within is ready to awaken;
2. places his Family Sword in the Defense area; the remaining space in front of the Warrior is called the "Equipment area" where the Weapon/Item cards will be placed when the Viking will equip himself with;
3. draws a number of cards (without looking at them) equal to his Warrior's Life Points and places them face down in a pile on the left of his Warrior board;
4. draw 4 cards from the draw pile in the middle of the table as his starting hand.

Let's the game begin!!!

Short Rules: Playing

Each player starts with a hand of 4 cards, 4 being the maximum hand size. If at any time a player has more than 4 cards in his hand, he must immediately discard down to 4 cards. The starting player is the oldest player. Play proceeds with the next player in clockwise order.

During Your Game Turn

The turn of each player is divided in the following 4 Phases:

1) WARRIOR PHASE: play up to 2 cards

In order for a Warrior to act, you MUST play cards! Cards represent his physical actions (Action boxes) or his strategic tricks (Text in the middle of the card). Cards may be played in two different ways:

a) With the values of the 4 Action boxes in the corners of the card; OR

b) With the Text in the middle of the card.

You can choose between these two options, but never play both!

a) Action boxes: Based on the values of the 4 Action boxes in the card's corners, you can play the card to take a Drink, make a Movement or an Attack. During your turn, you cannot use the Action box Defense.

• If you take a Drink: take from the Mug as many Spirits drink counters as the Action box value and place them (one per card) on your cards in play (Weapons, Items, Warrior board, Life Points pile) making them unusable.
• If you make an Attack: select any Weapon in your Equipment area and an enemy target at the right Step distance to be hit by this Weapon. The value in the Action box indicates how much damage you may deal: add to this number the Attack bonus of the Weapon used for the attack. The total is the number of Life Points lost by the target, unless he defends himself. If his Life Points pile is reduced to 0 cards, he's dead!
• If you make a Movement: move from the side towards you move to the opposite side as many Step counters as the value in the Action box. You may also make the special Movement Charge: if, after a Movement you make an Attack, add to this Attack a bonus equal to the number of Step counters moved with this Movement. The Warrior launches a fierce charge!

b) Text: You may play the card to apply the specific effect described by the Text in the middle of the card. During your turn, you may play the card as an Event, Weapon/Item or Minion. During your turn, you cannot play an Interrupt.

• If you play an Event: apply immediately the effect described in the text.
• If you play a Weapon/Item: place the card in the Equipment area in front of your Warrior. The card will remain there until another player forces you to discard it and its effects, described in the text in the middle, are always available. The Weapons indicate the step distance at which they hit and the bonuses they give in Attack and in Defense. On the other hand, the Items may have powers that are permanent or activated by paying a cost. There is no limit to the number of Weapons/Items you may equip with! Important: a Warrior may not have two identical Weapons/Items in his Equipment area.
• If you play a Minion: place him alongside your Warrior board, on the right or on the left; this will be the side towards which he will move.

In this Phase, you may also go Berserk! Remove the Berserk counter from the Warrior board to play immediately 2 more cards to perform 2 Attacks! But you will have to skip the Cards Phase this turn.

2) MINION PHASE: your Minions move and attack

Minions are less quick and nimble than the Warriors they fight for, therefore they move and attack only after the Warrior Phase. During their phase, Minions move a number of Steps equal to their Movement value in the direction where they have been deployed. As soon as they are 1 Step away from an opponent (whether a Warrior or another Minion), they attack him: draw a card and check the value in the Attack Action box; this value, plus any Attack bonus of the Minion, indicates the amount of damage against which the enemy will have to defend himself. When attacked, Minions defend themselves in the same way: draw a card and check the value in the Defense Action box; this value indicates the amount of damage prevented by the Minion. If he takes at least one damage, a Minion dies and his card is discarded.

3) CARDS PHASE: draw 2 cards

Draw 2 cards from the draw pile. If you have then more than 4 cards in hand, discard down to 4 cards.

4) DEFENSE PHASE: select a Weapon with which to defend yourself during the other players' turn.

Among all the Weapons you have in your Equipment area, you may only use one with its Defense bonus to defend yourself during your opponents' turn. Select one and place it in your Defense area. Once you've made your choice, you won't be able to change Weapon until your next turn.

At this stage, your turn ends and it's now the turn of the player on your left.

During Your Opponents' Turn

Remember: you must play cards to make Actions, even when you want to defend yourself! During the turn of your opponents, you may:

• Perform a Defense Action when you're attacked: each time an opponent attacks you, you may play one card from your hand to use the Defense Action box: this value, added to the Defense bonus of the Weapon you have in your Defense area, is the amount of damage subtracted from your opponent's Attack. However, you can't use Weapons to defend yourself from Ranged Attacks: hence, their Defense bonus are not applied, only the value in the Defense Action box of the card played will count to defend yourself.
• Sacrifice a Minion from your hand when you're attacked: if you have a Minion card in your hand when you're attacked, you may discard it to cancel the attack. Your Minions are ready to die for you!
• Play Interrupts: During your opponents' turn, you may play Interrupt cards to get the effects described in the card's Text; their effects are applied immediately and are unstoppable.

At Any Time

Skilled Warriors draw on their last resources if needed, wisely looking for any opportunity to win. They know that the gods favor only the bold Warriors. The following special actions don't require to play cards and may be repeated several times, provided conditions are met and/or cost is paid.

• Using the Beer: The Spirits drinks (Beer), once placed on a card, may not be moved, but only burnt to: 1. draw 1 card; OR 2. recover 1 Life Point: move one card from the Wounds area (Wounds pile) and put it on top of your Life Points pile. The Spirits drinks burnt are removed from the game!
• Burning your Soul: One per turn (yours or another player's), you may draw a declared number of cards from your Life Points pile! Important: you must leave at least one card in the pile, you may not commit suicide! Cards drawn this way are Life Points that the Warrior will never recover.
• Use a Power (Warriors, Items, Valhalla cards): The powers of Warriors, Items and Valhalla cards requiring to pay an activation cost may only be used during your turn (e.g. Sigrid the Haughty), while power activated when specific conditions are met (e.g. Fenrir's Chain) may also be used during your opponents' turn. On the other hand, all the other powers are always active (e.g. ShieldWall). Remember that if you have a Spirits drink on a card, its power may not be used, you're too drunk to remember how to use it!
• Gain Valhalla Cards: Each time your Warrior or one of yours Minions kills an opponent Warrior, draw immediately 2 Valhalla cards, select 1 to place it in your Equipment area and shuffle back the other in the Valhalla deck. The Valhalla card gained will never be removed as long as the Warrior lives!
• Death: If you lose all your Life Points, your Warrior's life comes to an end. Will death really submit your spirit? You may yet win and get back at your opponents! Look up the AFTERLIFE RULES in the full rules! p. 6.

Sudden Death Round and Victory

When a player takes the last Spirits drink from the Mug, the Sudden Death round begins. Each player, except the one who emptied the Mug, has a last turn to play! At the end of the round, the winner is the Warrior who has the most Spirits drinks on his board and cards. In case of a tie, the winner is the Warrior with the most Valhalla cards, otherwise the Warriors with the most Spirits drinks begin a new Sudden Death round, while the others are eliminated!

Now that you know the sequence of play backwards and forwards, all you've got to do is clear up any doubt by reading the appropriate sections of the Full Rules.

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Full Rules

Game Turn

The starting player is the oldest player sitting at the table. In clockwise order from the starting player, each player's turn is divided in the following phases:

1. Warrior Phase: play up to 2 cards (see below PLAYING CARDS).
2. Minion Phase: your Minions move and attack (see MINIONS, p. 5).
3. Cards Phase: draw 2 cards.
4. Defense Phase: select a Weapon to wield during the turn of the other players (see WEAPONS IN DEFENSE, p. 5).

This is then the next player's turn, in clockwise order. Play proceeds in this way until the last Spirits drink is taken from the Mug, at which point the Sudden Death round begins (see SUDDEN DEATH ROUND, p. 6).

At Any Time

Skilled Warriors draw on their last resources if needed, wisely looking for any opportunity to win. They know that the gods favor only the bold Warriors.

The following special actions don't require to play cards and may be repeated several times, provided conditions are met and/or cost is paid.

• Using the Beer: The Spirits drinks (Beer), once placed on a card, may not be moved, but only burnt to: 1. draw 1 card; OR 2. recover 1 Life Point: move one card from the Wounds area (Wounds pile) and put it on top of your Life Points pile.
• Burning Your Soul: At any time, even during the other players' turn, a player may draw cards from the Life Points pile to add them to his hand. A player may draw cards this way only once per turn (his turn or the other players'), but before doing it, he must declare openly the exact number of cards he wants to draw and must draw this exact number! These cards will never go back to the Life Points pile or to the Wounds area! The Warrior burns his own living essence to win! Important: the player must always leave at least one card in the Life Points pile. The Warrior may never commit suicide by burning up his soul!
• Burning up Spirits (Beer): At any time, you may burn up 1 Spirits drink to get various effects. Burning up 1 Beer drink allows you to: draw 1 card; OR recover 1 Life Point. Spirits drinks burnt up are removed from game.
• Spirits drinks on cards: If a Viking must discard a card with a Spirits drink on it, remove from game this Spirits drink. If an Item card with a power requiring to burn 1 Spirits drink has a Spirits drink on it, it cannot be used and you may not burn up the Spirits drink on it to activate its power.

Use a Power (Warriors, Items, Valhalla cards): The powers of Warriors, Items and Valhalla cards requiring to pay an activation cost may only be used during your turn (e.g. Sigrid the Haughty), while power activated when specific conditions are met (e.g. Fenrir's Chain) may also be used during your opponents' turn. On the other hand, all the other powers are always active (e.g. ShieldWall). Remember that if you have a Spirits drink on a card, its power may not be used, you're too drunk to remember how to use it!

Gain Valhalla Cards: Each time your Warrior or one of yours Minions kills an opponent Warrior, draw immediately 2 Valhalla cards, select 1 to place it in your Equipment area and shuffle back the other in the Valhalla deck. The Valhalla card gained will never be removed as long as the Warrior lives!

Hand and Draw Pile

• Hand size limit: At any time, a player cannot have more than 4 cards in hand: if that's the case, he must immediately discard down to 4 cards!
• Exhausted draw pile: If the draw pile is exhausted, shuffle the discarded cards to form a new draw pile.

Hand and Draw Pile (continued)

Hand size limit and exhausted draw pile are as above.

Playing Cards

Each card may be played in one of two different ways:

1. ACTION: use one of the Action boxes in the card's corners to perform the corresponding action (Attack, Defense, Movement, Drink), OR
2. TEXT: use the Card's Text, playing Events, Weapons/Items, Interrupts or Minions.

If a card is played to make an ACTION, the TEXT is ignored and vice versa. Discard the card played once its effect is resolved (except for Weapons/Items see below and Minions see p. 5).

Actions

You may play a card to perform one of the actions described below, using the Action value indicated in the box corresponding to the Action you want to perform. The Action performed, discard the played card.

Drinking

Yell "ODINNNNN!" (you'll feel much better!) or "BEEEEER!" and take from the Mug the amount of Spirits drinks indicated by the value in the Drinking Action box. Cheers!

Movement

The number represents the number of steps moved towards your opponent on your right or on your left.

The player moves this number of Step counters from the side he moves towards to the opposite side (All the Vikings sit around the same table: when the distance to an opponent is reduced, the distance towards the other is increased).

Important: you may never have less than 1 Step counter between two opponents (Warriors or Minions) or change position around the table to move over an opponent: Vikings never give ground!

Charge: declare the Charge when you play a card to make a Movement. If your next action is an Attack, you may add to the Attack value the Movement value of the card used for the Charge.

Example: Bruno is 3 Steps away from Charles (on his left) and 2 Steps away from David (on his right). Bruno plays a card using the value of the Movement Action box (value 2) and moves 2 Steps towards Charles (moving to his right 2 Steps that are between Charles and him). The distance from Charles is now 1 Step, from David 4 Steps.

Attack

There are three kinds of Attacks:

• Barehanded: You hit 1 Step away from your opponent. You deal an amount of damage equal to the value in the Attack action box of the card played.
• With Melee Weapons: Select an equipped Weapon. You hit at the number of Steps equal to the number indicated on the Weapon card used to attack. You deal an amount of damage equal to the value in the Attack action box of the card played + the Attack bonus of the Weapon used.
• With Ranged Weapons: You hit at a number of Steps equal to or greater than the number indicated on the Weapon card used to attack. You deal an amount of damage equal to the value in the Attack action box of the card played + the Attack bonus of the Weapon used.

Each damage dealt to the target makes him lose 1 Life Point.

Example: Following the previous example, after his 2 Steps Movement, Bruno decides to attack Charles who is 1 Step away. Bruno has in his Equipment area a Family Sword (which hits at 1 Step) and a Battle Axe (which hits at 3 Steps). Therefore, Bruno may attack barehanded or use his Family Sword. The choice is obvious, he declares he will use the Family Sword and plays a card from his hand to use the value (2) of the Attack Action box: his final value will then be 4 (2 for the Attack Action box + 2 for the Family Sword). If Bruno had declared a Charge when he made his Movement described in the previous example, his final Attack value would have been 6 (2 for the Attack Action box + 2 for the Family Sword + 2 for the Movement Action box used for the Charge).

Example: Bruno decides to throw his Battle Axe. He cannot target Charles because he is only 1 Step away from him, but he may throw it at David who is 4 Steps away. Bruno discards his Battle Axe that goes to the discard pile and David must defend himself. The Attack value of the Battle Axe is 3 and David cannot use the Defense bonus of his Family Sword because it's a Ranged Attack!

Defense

When you're attacked, you may use the Defense value of a card to reduce the damage taken. You may add to this value the Defense value of the Weapon which is in the Defense area of your Warrior board, but only if this is not a Ranged Attack!

Example: Charles faces an attack of value 4 from Bruno. Charles has in his Defense area a Family Sword and plays to defend himself a card with a Defense Action box value of 1, therefore he defends at 3 (1 for the Defense Action box + 2 for the Family Sword). He takes then 1 damage (4 in Attack - 3 in Defense) and therefore moves 1 card from his Life Points pile to the Wounds area of his Viking board.

Card Text

A player may play a card using the Text as described below, ignoring then the Action boxes.

• Events: You may play Events during your turn: the effect is applied and the card discarded.

• Interrupts: You may only play Interrupts during the turn of the other players to get the effect described. The effect is applied and the card discarded. Fast reflexes are of the utmost importance: if several players play an Interrupt, only the first declared is applied! In case of doubt, apply first the Interrupt played by the closest player in clockwise order to the targeted player.

• Weapons/Items: You may play a Weapon/Item card to equip yourself with. There is no limit to the number of Weapons and Items a Warrior may possess, but he may never possess two identical Weapons or Items (if at any time you have two identical Weapons or Items in play, discard immediately one of them!).

  To equip a Warrior with a Weapon or Item, place the corresponding card in the Equipment area in front of the Warrior board. Weapon/Item cards remain in the Equipment area and may only be discarded by the effect of some cards or powers.

• Minions: see MINIONS below.

Weapons

Each Weapon has an Attack bonus, a Defense bonus and a Steps value:

• the Steps value indicates the exact number of Step counters that must be between the Warrior and his target so that he may hit him with the Weapon. If a Weapon has a + after the number, it means that the target must be at least at this Step distance from the attacker (from both sides).
• the Attack bonus of a Weapon is added to the Attack value of the card played to perform the Attack Action.
• the Defense bonus of a Weapon is added to the Defense value of the card played to perform the Defense Action, only if this is not a Ranged Attack!

Axes

Weapons bearing the Axe symbol may be used in a particular way. At any time during his turn, a player with one of these Weapons in his Equipment area may decide to throw it at another Warrior! To do this, discard the Axe card and perform a Ranged Attack dealing an amount of damage equal to the Attack bonus of the Axe. The target must be at a greater distance than the Steps value indicated on the Axe card.

Items

Each item has an effect described on its card and this power either is permanent or requires an activation. A permanent power may always be used while the item is in play, whereas for a power requiring an activation you need to pay the cost indicated on the card during your Warrior's turn (the cost is indicated before =).

Weapons in Defense

At the end of his turn, after his 2 cards draw, the player selects which equipped weapon he will wield during his opponents' turn! Place the selected weapon in the Defense area of the Warrior board: he will use the Defense bonus of this Weapon against the attacks of the other Warriors.

Minions

Each great Viking leads a large and seasoned crew. A Minion may be played to attack opponents. When you play a Minion, place him on the right or on the left of your Warrior board. A Minion acts during the turn's Minion Phase, as described below.

Minion card: Each Minion card has an Attack bonus, a Defense bonus, a Movement value and a Step distance:

• the Attack bonus is added to the Attack value of the card drawn for the Minion's Attack.
• the Defense bonus is added to the Defense value of the card drawn for the Minion's Defense, but only if this is not a Ranged Attack!
• the Movement value indicates the maximum number of Step counters a Minion moves during his Phase.
• the Step distance indicates the exact number of Step counters that must be between the Minion and his target so that he may perform an Attack. The Minion will perform Movements until he is at this exact distance from his closest target.

Minion rules: When a Minion acts (during the Minion Phase), the player makes him move and attack. A Minion always moves in the same direction from the Warrior board's side where he was deployed. He moves a number of Steps equal to his Movement value (place the Minion between two Step counters, with his base turned towards his master) until he is at the Step distance indicated on his card from the closest opponent Warrior or Minion. As soon as he is there, perform immediately an Attack (if there are several equidistant targets, the player controlling the targets selects which one will face the Attack): draw a card and check the value in the Attack Action box! The amount of damage dealt by the Attack will be equal to the Attack value of the card drawn + any Attack bonus of the Minion.

The Defense works the same way each time the Minion is attacked: draw a card and check its Defense Action box value! The amount of damage prevented will be equal to the Defense value of the card drawn + any Defense bonus of the Minion.

Important: Minions are not battle-hardened as Warriors; if they take one damage or more, they are eliminated!

Minions block the Movement of opponents, but not an Attack through them!

Finally, if the Warrior is about to move over one of his Minions during a Movement Action, he pushes him in front: perform the Movement and keep the Minion alongside the Warrior board, as if you had just played him!

Example: During his turn David plays a Minion (Broddi) alongside him, then his Warrior Phase ends. During his Minion Phase he moves Broddi 2 Steps towards Albert and, being 1 Step away from an opponent, he attacks automatically. David draws a card and checks the Attack Action box value (2). The Minion's Attack is then 2 (the Minion has indeed +0 Attack), but Albert discards from his hand a Minion card (Otrygg) and does not take damage. David draws 2 cards and it's Albert's turn. He replies in playing a Minion on his right towards David and then a Shield Wall (an Item) he places in front of him. His Warrior Phase ended, he activates Otrygg who doesn't move as a target is already 1 Step away (Broddi, David's Minion) and attacks: he draws a card that has an Attack value of 1, David draws for Broddi but the Defense value is 0! David's Minion takes one damage and is eliminated!

Sacrifice a Minion: Moreover, Minions are always ready to sacrifice themselves for their master: when a Warrior is attacked, you may discard a Minion from your hand to avoid losing Life Points!

Berserk

Once per game, during his Warrior Phase, the player who controls a Viking may remove the Berserk counter from the Energy space to use this power: play 2 more cards (a total of 4 cards will then be played during this Warrior Phase). These 2 cards must be played to perform Attack Actions. Once his Berserk fury is drained, the Viking is exhausted.

If you use your Berserk power, skip the Cards Phase of this turn!

Once removed, the Berserk counter cannot be recovered.

Spirits (Alcohol)

Drinking Spirits

The Vikings have been drinking for quite a while now and they have reached their limits. Each new swallow of beer gets them so drunk that they can't remember things.

When you take a Spirits drink from the Mug, you must place it on any card in front of you that does not already contain one. You can place it on:

• any Weapon or Item card in your Equipment area;
• your Warrior board;
• your Life Points pile.

If you place it on a Weapon or Item card, this card will be unusable until the Spirits drink is removed!

If you place it on top of your Life Points pile, when you'll take damage, remove first the Spirits drink, that in this case will count as 1 additional Life Point! There's also a downside: you may not draw cards from your Life Points pile (see 'Burning your Soul' below) if there is a Spirits drink on it!

If you place it on your Warrior board, you may no longer use the power of your Warrior and while it's still there, you must speak drunkenly!

Once placed, Spirits drinks may not be moved and are removed only if burnt up! (see 'Burning up Spirits' below)

Spirits drinks on cards

If a Viking must discard a card with a Spirits drink on it, remove from game this Spirits drink. If an Item card with a power requiring to burn 1 Spirits drink has a Spirits drink on it, it cannot be used and you may not burn up the Spirits drink on it to activate its power.

Burning up Spirits (Beer)

At any time, you may burn up 1 Spirits drink to get various effects. Burning up 1 Beer drink allows you to:

• draw 1 card; OR
• recover 1 Life Point.

Spirits drinks burnt up are removed from game.

Mixing Spirits

A drop of hot Sake in a drink of cold Beer? Don't get sick!

If there are different kinds of Spirits in the Mug when you take a Drink, you may take from the Mug the counters of the Spirits you prefer. The Spirits drinks taken are placed according to the rules described above (see SPIRITS, p. 5), but if you take a different type of Spirits drink from those you already have, you are mixing.

Mixing drinks is not good. If you mix, your Warrior staggers immediately: choose an opponent, he will move your Warrior 1 Step to your right or to your left.

If at the end of the Sudden Death roud, there is a tie in Spirits drinks, the winner is the player who has the most different types of Spirits drinks on his cards. If there is still a tie, check the Valhalla cards.

Life Points and Death

Life Points and Wounds: loss and recovery

On the left side of the Warrior board is the Life Points area, where at the beginning of the game is a number of cards equal to his Life Points. On the left side is the Wounds area, which starts empty.

Each time a Warrior loses one Life Point, one card is moved from the top of the Life Points pile to the Wounds area, kept face down but turned 90° clockwise (the Wounds pile).

Each time a Warrior recovers one Life Point, the opposite operation is done.

Death of a Warrior

When a Warrior has no cards left in his Life Points area, he dies. Remove from game all his Spirits drinks and discard his hand, his Minions and all cards in his Equipment area. Keep only in play the smallest set of Step counters between those on his left and those on his right (remove the other). If between the Step counters removed, there are Minions controlled by a player with his Warrior still living, the owning player takes them back in his hand.

At this point, the player flips over his Warrior board and takes in hand the cards in his Wounds area (this is his new hand), flipping them over to their back: his Warrior is now a ruthless and thirsty Spirit.

Note: If only two Warriors stay alive, keep only in play the smallest set of Step counters between those two Warriors. The Movements will be done adding or removing Step counters.

Death

If you lose all your Life Points, your Warrior's life comes to an end. Will death really submit your spirit? You may yet win and get back at your opponents! Look up the AFTERLIFE RULES in the full rules! p. 6.

Sudden Death Round and Victory

When a player takes the last Spirits drink from the Mug, the Mug is turned upside down: the Sudden Death round begins! Each player, except the one who emptied the Mug, plays one last turn. Note that the Sudden Death round begins as soon as the Mug is emptied.

Special rule: During the Sudden Death round, you may no longer drink Spirits (even out of play or by using the power of a Valhalla card).

Who wins? At the end of the Sudden Death round, the winner is the player with the most Spirits drinks. Spirits count the Spirit drink counters as a team (see POSTMORTEM RULES below).

• There is a tie. The winner is the player with the most different types of Spirits (only for a COMBINED GAME WITH THE OTHER GAMES OF THE SPIRITS & WARRIORS SERIES, see p. 7).
• There is still a tie. The winner is the player with the most Valhalla cards.
• There is still a tie. Eliminate all the other Warriors and play a new Sudden Death round.
• All Spirits drinks have been eliminated. The winner is the last surviving Warrior!

How to win: At the end of the Sudden Death round, the winner is the drunkest Warrior, i.e. the Warrior with the most Spirits drinks!

Tie in the Sudden Death round: If two Warriors or more have the same number of Spirits drinks and more than the others, the winner is the Warrior who has the most Valhalla cards. If there is still a tie, all the other Warriors are eliminated (they have less Spirits drinks and Valhalla cards: they are subjected to the Blood Eagle torture for the disgrace of their defeat) and a new Sudden Death round begins; the winner is the drunkest (more Spirits drinks) or more epic (more Valhalla cards) Warrior!

In case no Warrior has Spirits drinks or Valhalla cards, the winner is the last surviving Warrior!

Valhalla Cards

Gain an Epic card: A player gains a Valhalla card when he kills a Warrior playing a card from his hand. The player draws two cards from the Valhalla deck, selects one card and places it in his Equipment area. The other card is shuffled back in the Valhalla deck.

Standard rules: Each Valhalla card gives to the Warrior a power always active. The Valhalla cards marked with their symbol have a power activated by the player at the end of his turn. The Valhalla cards are discarded only when the Warrior who owns them becomes a Spirit. No Spirits drink may be placed on a Valhalla card.

Afterlife Rules

Are you dead? Too bad for your opponents...

Spirits of Loki (Ghosts)

Loki, the evil god of deceit, is envious and thirsty for Beer. While the Vikings fight each other for the precious amber drink, the dark god lies in ambush, ready to seize the spirits of the fallen to make them his servants: only through them will he be able indeed to taste the delightful drink of the Warriors from the North!

When a Warrior dies after having lost his last Life Point, he becomes a Spirit. His new hand is formed of the cards in his Wounds area, but the Spirit plays cards using their backs!

Spirits use neither Weapons, nor Items, they don't move because they drift around the living Warriors and they use the back of cards. They have the same objective though: total up more Spirits drinks at the end of the game.

Spirits are now instruments in the hands of Loki and therefore play as a team to honor their master with the victory!

Important: a Spirit is not a Warrior and the cards or powers which have effects upon Warriors, don't have effects upon Spirits!

Golden rule for Spirits: Spirits are now in the afterworld and see everything from the opposite side. Spirits play cards using their back and not their face which have no value for them! They have however a restriction: from their hand, they may only play cards whose back is the same as the back of the top card on the draw pile.

Rules for the Spirits of Loki

Turn of the Spirits of Loki: During his turn, a Spirit performs in order the following actions:

1. Use the power of Elation
2. Draw a card
3. Torment a Warrior OR Steal Spirits from the Mug

At any time, a Spirit who is attacked may Dematerialize.

1. Power of Elation: There are three different kinds of inebriety: troublesome, quarrelsome or drowsy. Spirits are able to control the effects of beer and hence use them to hinder the Vikings. During his turn, first the Spirit checks the back of the top card on the draw pile and activates the corresponding Power of Elation:

• Troublesome: you may add or remove anywhere a Step counter;
• Quarrelsome: you may move a Spirits drink counter possessed by a Warrior;
• Drowsy: you may draw a random card from any Warrior's hand to give it to another Warrior.

2. Draw a card: The Spirit MUST draw a card from the draw pile. Remember: at any time, a player may not have more than 4 cards in hand, even if a Spirit!

3.A. Torment a Warrior: If the Spirit decides to Torment a Warrior, he is not restricted by weapons and distance and may hit any Warrior. The Spirit declares the Warrior targeted and plays as many cards from his hand as he wants, as long as their back is the same as the back of the top card on the draw pile. The number of cards played is the number of Spirits drinks stolen to the target. The targeted Warrior may defend himself using the Defense rules, cancelling any loss of Spirits drinks as if it were damage. If the Spirit succeeds in stealing Spirits drinks, he chooses which ones to take.

Important: Torment is a special action of the Spirits and not an Attack, therefore it cannot be affected by cards or powers targeting Attacks!

3.B. Steal Spirits from the Mug: The Spirits takes one Spirits drink from the Mug and places it in the Spirits space of his board.

Example: David has just been killed by Charles and is now a Spirit of Loki. At the beginning of his turn, he uses his power of Elation. The card on top of the draw pile has the Quarrelsome back: David uses his power on Charles, moving a Spirits drink from Charles' Life Points pile to his Family Sword. David then draws a card and must now decide to Steal a Spirits drink from the Mug or Torment a Warrior. Tormenting Charles seems a good idea. On top of the draw pile is the Drowsy back and David has two such cards in his hand. He plays his 2 cards Tormenting David who cannot defend himself with his Family Sword, rendered useless by the Spirits drink counter moved there by David. To defend himself, Charles plays a card of value 1 in its Defense Action box, losing therefore one Spirits drink stolen by David.

Dematerialize: A Warrior may always Attack any Spirit to make him lose Spirits drinks he stole, regardless of the Steps value of his Weapon: Warriors may always attack Spirits! When a Spirit is attacked by a Warrior, he may avoid the attack if he plays a card whose back is the same as the back of the top card on the draw pile. If such a card is not played, the Spirit loses (eliminates from his Spirits box) one Spirits drink for each damage taken.

Example: Albert attacks Bruno with a War Axe for an Attack total of 4 (1 for the Attack Action box + 3 for the War Axe), but Bruno (who is a Spirit of Loki) plays a card with the Drowsy back and dematerializes, cancelling the Attack. However Albert attacks one more time with a total of 3 (0 for the Attack Action box + 3 for the War Axe) and this time Bruno has no card with the Drowsy back to play, therefore he takes damage and must eliminate up to a 3 Spirits drinks from his board: he has only 2 Spirits drinks in his Spirits box, both are hence eliminated!

Team play: Spirits belong to one and large family... Loki's. Each other Spirit around the table may help the Spirit whose turn it is:

• Torment: he may play cards with the same back to increase the Torment action.
• Dematerialize: When a Spirit is attacked, any other Spirit may play a valid card to allow him to dematerialize.

How to win, the Spirits way: The victory conditions for the Spirits are the same as the Warriors', the only difference is that Spirits count Spirits drinks as a team and lose or win together.

Note: if there are no longer Spirits drinks in play, the Spirits are eliminated at the end of the Sudden Death round. The winner is the last surviving Warrior.

Summary of Changes

If you already own SAKE & SAMURAI: A Viking may always teach you something: Samurai have learnt a little something from their meeting with Vikings...

BEER & VIKINGS introduces the new rules of the SPIRITS & WARRIORS series. Rules remain the same except for the following changes:

• Sitting counter: It is now the Energy counter. Samurai don't remove the Energy counter when they move: instead, they may perform the Iaido special action at any time during their turn, as usual once per game.
• Iaido: in addition to his standard effect, a Iaido Attack has an Attack bonus equal to the number of Steps moved (a Iaido Attack with 1 Step Movement has +1 Attack, with 2 Steps +2 Attack).
• Charge: even Samurai can perform the Charge special action, using the rules described above p. 4.
• Axes: Axes Weapon cards may be thrown! See p. 4.
• Valhalla cards: if you kill an opponent Warrior, draw 2 Valhalla cards and select one to place in front of you. In case of tie with Spirits drinks at the end of the Sudden Death round, the winner is the Warrior with the most Valhalla cards!

Combined Game With Other Games of the Series

Between a Samurai and a Viking, who has the mightiest stomach?

If you own a copy of another game of the Spirits & Warriors series and a copy of Beer & Vikings, you may combine them! Form one single draw pile with the cards of both games (or see 'Optional rules' below); the other rules remain unchanged!

Here are a few clarifications:

• during setup, for each Warrior, place the corresponding Spirits drink in the Mug (a single Mug is used for the game);
• each Warrior starts with the Weapon indicated in the setup of his own rulebook in the SPIRITS & WARRIORS series (e.g. a Samurai starts with a Katana);
• All cards may be used by all players, regardless of their Warrior (e.g. a player controlling a Samurai may play BEER & VIKINGS cards);
• each type of Spirits may be drunk by all Warriors and may be burnt up to get its effect;
• all Spirits are allied!

Mixing Spirits is described above (see Mixing Spirits under Spirits (Alcohol)).

The Symbols

Here are the symbols' correspondence:

• Warrior symbol: a Warrior
• Spirits drink symbol: a Spirits Drink

Valhalla Cards (Detailed Descriptions)

The Valhalla cards with the symbol have a power activated at the end of the player's turn. The Valhalla cards are discarded only when the Warrior who owns them becomes a Spirit. No Spirits drink may be placed on a Valhalla card.

• Dragon's Blood: lose Life Points only if you take an odd amount of damage. If a Defense Action is performed, this applies after having subtracted any damage from the Attack.
• Eye of the Maelstrom: at the end of your turn, move (from one place to another), remove or add (if there are any available) up to 3 Step counters.
• Fenrir's Chain: when a player plays a card to make his Warrior perform a Movement, you may cancel this Action. The card played for the Action is discarded, but the Step counters are not moved.
• Mead Barrel: when you take a Drink, you may take Spirits drinks out of play, even those eliminated. Mead Barrel cannot be used during the Sudden Death round.
• Mjollnir: if a Warrior uses any equipped Weapon or Items to defend himself from any Attack of yours (e.g. Family Sword or Shield Wall), once the Attack is resolved, remove from game these Weapon and Items used in Defense.
• Odin's Ravens: after the Defense Phase, draw 2 additional cards, select 1 to keep and discard the other.
• Quarrelsome Crew: at the end of your turn, draw one card for each Warrior or Spirit in play. Each of them faces an Attack whose value is indicated in the Attack Action box of his card.
• Sleipnir: you may attack any opponent as if he were at the right distance for any Attack.
• Ticket for Valhalla: at any time during your turn, you may draw and immediately play the top card of your Life Points pile. Show it to the other players before playing it: discard it if you decide not to play it. You may draw such cards several times during your turn, but you may never draw the last card. Cards played in this way don't count in the limit of cards you may play during your turn.

Optional Rules

Loki's trick: The god of deceit is very mischievous. When playing with this rule, the value "-" in the Action boxes means that this Action is impossible.

Combined game: two different draw piles: If playing a combined game, instead of forming a single draw pile, form two different draw piles. Each player may draw cards from the draw pile he prefers. Spirits will check the back of the top card on their draw pile: e.g. a Viking Spirit will check the back of the top card on the BEER & VIKINGS draw pile, a Samurai Spirit will check the back of the top card on the SAKE & SAMURAI draw pile.

The Cards (Detailed Descriptions)

Vikings are men of few words, therefore the quasi-absence of text on cards as everything is summed up in a few symbols. In any case, to avoid despicable confusions, each card's effect is explained in detail below!

Event cards

• Buxom Barmaid: take an equipped Weapon or Item from a Warrior and give it to another Warrior. If there are any Spirits drinks on it, the player who loses the Weapon or Item may move them on his other cards or burn them up.
• Dragon's Breath (burp!): eliminate 1 Spirits drink in your possession, perform 2 Ranged Attacks of value 2 at a distance of 3 Steps or more. You may attack two different targets.
• Epic Moment: lose 1 Life Point, draw 2 cards.
• Lick the Floor: remove anywhere 1 Step counter in play, take 1 Spirits drink out of play (even eliminated). This Event may not be played during the Sudden Death round.
• Outrage!: select a Weapon or Item in the Equipment area of another Warrior. Eliminate 1 Spirits drink in your possession, discard the selected Weapon or Item.
• Proof of Manhood: lose 1 Life Point, all other Warriors discard a card.
• Throw the Stool: remove anywhere 1 Step counter in play, perform 1 Ranged Attack of value 2 at any distance.

Location cards

• Battleground: each player starts the game with 1 base Minion (0 Attack bonus, 0 Defense bonus, 1 Distance, 2 Movement) on the right or on the left of his Warrior board. If during the game, a player kills another player's Minion, he places him immediately alongside his Warrior board. Deploying a Minion in such a way doesn't count as a card played during the turn.
• Burning Drakkar: at the beginning of his turn, a Warrior may remove one Step counter among those on the right or on the left of his Warrior board. If a Step counter is not removed, he loses one Life Point. One Step counter must always remain between 2 opponents!
• Banqueting Hall: once during his turn, a Warrior may add any card from his hand to the Wounds area of his Warrior board. This card becomes one Life Point lost that may be recovered using the standard rules. Drink beer to swallow the pill!
• Stormy Fjord: at the beginning of a Warrior's turn, draw a card. The Warrior faces a Ranged Attack whose value is indicated in the Attack Action box of this card.

Interrupt cards

• From the Spittoon: cancel a Drinking Action.
• Left on the Drakkar: play this card when another player plays a Weapon/Item to equip himself with. This Weapon/Item is discarded.
• It's for You!: redirect any Ranged Attack to any other player, regardless of distance.

Weapon/Item cards

• Axe (all cards): remember that you may throw them! See p. 4.
• Double-bottomed Mug: +1 Drinking Bonus.
• Dragon Horn: you may place up to 2 Spirits drinks on the Dragon Horn.
• ShieldWall: double the value of the Defense Action box of the card played. No effect if you play the card for an Action other than Defense.