Knarr Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• FOREWORD
• COMPONENTS
• GAME OBJECTIVE
• SETUP
• PLAYING THE GAME
  • REPUTATION
  • ACTION
  • RECRUIT: A viking joins the crew
  • EXPLORE: Discover a new land
  • At any time
  • TRADING
• END OF THE GAME
  • ASSETS
  • PLAYING WITH ARTIFACTS
• GLOSSARY

FOREWORD

Vikings (often Scandinavians) were defined by a particular activity: gaining wealth by going to sea. This included plundering but also trade. Here, the player will be able to experience this in a fun way.

They will discover that the Viking Era (8th-11th Century), known for its raids and exploration of distant lands, also saw the rise of trade in the English Channel, the North Sea, and the Baltic—made easier by the introduction of the use of sails, meaning more space on board, and the widespread use of silver as a means of transaction. In Scandinavia, silver was still mostly used by weight, by cutting coins or jewelry into pieces which were weighed on small scales to determine the transaction cost. However, a good part of trade was still carried out by bartering goods.

While some men and women left their native Scandinavia to settle across the sea, merchants from the North—but also Frisians, Anglo-Saxons, Franks, and Slavs—met in large ports dedicated to commercial activities and the working of amber from the Baltic, glass from Italy, or reindeer antlers from Norway. These ports developed in the West (Quentovic, Dorestad...) as well as in Scandinavia (Hedeby, Ribe, Kaupang, Birka). Furs of Nordic animals, walrus ivory, and whale blubber were traded, but also women and men taken prisoner during raids. These goods could then be sold in distant destinations as far away as Baghdad and Constantinople.

By playing as a warrior, a merchant, a sailor, or a skald, you will discover the different facets of the vikings and the place of some exceptional women in these patriarchal societies, as well as the extent of the commercial links forged by the Scandinavians, in both the east and the west.

Lucie Malbos,
Senior lecturer, specialist of the northern worlds in the Middle Ages, particularly the viking phenomenon

COMPONENTS

• 1 board
• 35 Destination cards
• 20 Trading Lands
• 15 Lands of Influence
• 4 Ship sheets (white, beige, brown, black)
• 50 Viking cards
• 7 Artifact cards (to play with the variant)
• 12 Silver Bracelet tokens
• 12 Recruit tokens
• 4 Scoring tokens
• 4 Reputation tokens
• 4 Destiny tokens

GAME OBJECTIVE

Recruit vikings (víkingar) to form your band (félag). 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!

SETUP

1. Place the board in the center of the table.

2. Shuffle the Trading Lands cards , form a deck, and place it face down to the side of the board. Reveal the first 3 cards on the designated spaces.

   Shuffle and place the Lands of Influence cards in the same way.

3. Prepare the Viking cards according to the number of players:

   • For 4 players, play with all the cards
   • For 3 players, remove the cards marked 4 at the bottom left
   • For 2 players, remove the cards marked 3 and 4 at the bottom left

   Shuffle them, form a deck, and place it face down to the side of the board, then reveal the first 5 cards on the designated spaces.

4. Each player takes a Ship sheet, 3 Silver Bracelet tokens, and 3 Recruit tokens. The players decide together whether the game will be played with the normal side (recommended for your first game) or the advanced side, and the ships are placed accordingly.

   Each player’s starting Viking cards and assets can be seen in the box below the ship: Each player takes 2 Viking cards of different colors ≠ ≠ from the deck and places them face up in front of them, in their Crew Zone. Slide 1 Recruit token and 1 Silver Bracelet token onto the designated spaces on each side of the boat.

5. Take the 2 wooden tokens corresponding to the color of each player’s ship. Place the round one on the starting space of the Score Track and the square one on that of the Reputation Track.

6. Each player draws 3 Viking cards to make up their hand.

7. One of the players takes the colored Destiny tokens of the ships in play into their hand and draws 1 at random to choose the first player.

PLAYING THE GAME

The players take turns going clockwise. On their turn, each player performs the following steps in order:

1. Reputation
2. Action: Recruit or Explore

In addition, once per turn at the beginning or end of their action step, the player may Trade using their silver bracelets.

REPUTATION

The player moves their Scoring marker forward a number of spaces equal to the highest value that their Reputation marker has reached.

ACTION

The player must choose between 2 actions: Recruit or Explore.

RECRUIT: A viking joins the crew

1. The player places a viking from their hand in front of them, in the Crew Zone. The Crew Zone is divided into 5 columns, corresponding to the 5 viking colors. When a player Recruits a viking, they must place them in the column of the same color. Vikings of the same color are placed on top of each other so that only the top part of the previous card is visible. The vikings in front of a player will also form lines of different colors (important for some Artifacts).

2. The player then takes the assets shown at the top of every card in the column where the new viking was just placed, including any on the new card. These assets are taken in any order the player wishes. The different types of assets are explained at the end of these rules.

3. Next, the player adds to their hand the Viking card on the board that is in the space matching the color of the viking they just Recruited. For example, if a yellow viking was placed, the Viking card on the yellow space of the board is taken.

   Important: A player may spend 1 recruit (by removing a Recruit token from their ship) to take the Viking card of their choice from the 5 visible cards, instead of the matching one.

4. Finally, a new viking is revealed to replace the one that was taken.

EXPLORE: Discover a new land

1. The player chooses a Destination card from the 6 face-up cards near the board and pays its exploration cost, shown at the top left of the card. They must discard the vikings of their choice from those in their Crew Zone, matching the required number and colors. The symbols = = = = mean any 4 cards of the same color.

   Important: One or more recruits can be spent instead of vikings: Each recruit spent (by removing a token from their ship) replaces any 1 card required for the exploration cost.

2. Then, they take the Destination card and place it above their ship. They immediately take the assets shown in the upper right corner of the Destination card.

3. A new destination (of the same type) is revealed to replace the one that was taken.

At any time

• If the viking deck is empty when a player needs to draw a card from it, the discard pile is shuffled and a new deck is formed. If at that time the discard pile is also empty, the player(s) with the most Viking cards in front of them must discard 1 of their choice.
• A player can never have more than 3 recruits and 3 silver bracelets on their ship. Any extras are lost.

TRADING

Once per turn, before or after their action, a player can spend their bracelets to buy assets from their Destination cards. These assets are represented at the top of their ship and at the bottom of the destinations.

The player chooses to spend 1, 2, or 3 silver bracelets by removing the corresponding number of tokens from their ship. Then the assets are taken:

• 1 bracelet allows the player to collect the assets from the 1st column of all their Destination cards and ship.
• 2 bracelets allow the player to collect the assets from the 1st and 2nd columns of all their Destination cards and ship.
• 3 bracelets allow the player to collect the assets from all 3 columns of all their Destination cards and ship.

At the end of the player’s turn, it is the turn of the player to their left.

END OF THE GAME

The end of the game is triggered when a player reaches 40 Victory Points or more on the Score Track. The current round is finished, ending with the player to the right of the one who took the first turn of the game. The person with the most points on the Score Track wins! In case of a tie, the one with the most recruits and silver bracelets wins.

ASSETS

Gain 1 Victory Point: The player moves their token forward 1 space on the Score Track.

Gain 1 Recruit: The player adds 1 Recruit token to their ship. It is not possible to have more than 3. A recruit allows a player to draw the Viking card of their choice when Recruiting or replaces a Viking card during Exploration.

Gain 1 Silver Bracelet: The player adds 1 Silver Bracelet token to their ship. It is not possible to have more than 3. They are used for Trading.

Gain 1 Reputation Point: The player moves their token forward 1 space on the Reputation Track.

Draw the first Viking card from the deck: It is placed in the player’s Crew Zone (without taking any assets).

PLAYING WITH ARTIFACTS

To play with this variant: 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.

Important: If 2 players are playing, we recommend the use of the Mead Cup Artifact card in addition to the randomly revealed one.

Amulet — If a player completes a line of vikings with all 5 different colors, they can take 1 silver bracelet and 1 recruit, and gains 1 Reputation Point.

Weathervane — If a player completes a line of vikings with all 5 different colors, they can immediately carry out an Explore action. They still have to pay the exploration cost.

Golden Bracelet — If a player recruits a 3rd viking of the same color, they can reserve a Destination card of their choice. It is taken from the available cards and placed next to their playing area. When that player takes an Explore action, they may choose to Explore a destination they have reserved instead of an available destination. Each player can have up to 2 reserved Destination cards at a time.

Cauldron — If a player Recruits a 2nd viking of the same color, they may take the Viking card of their choice instead of the one imposed by the card they played.

Helmet — If a player places a Lands of Influence card which they have just Explored directly onto a Trading Lands card, they may immediately carry out a Recruit action.

Mead Cup — If a player takes an Explore action, they may discard a viking from the board and replace them with the first card from the deck.

Silver Coin — For each viking of the same color a player Recruits beyond their 3rd viking of that color, they gain 1 Victory Point.

GLOSSARY

Silver Arm Bracelets — Decorative elements, symbols of wealth and loyalty, they were also used as a means of payment in silver by their weight.

Knarr or Knörr — A cargo ship with a shorter hull than a warship (langskip), only partially or not decked at all, to allow the transport of goods in the hull, and adapted to the high seas.

Recruits — Non-Scandinavians could join a viking band. They could be deserters from an opposing army, former prisoners, young men recruited in the ports, or those tempted by adventure.

Skalds — Poetry held a great place in Scandinavian culture, as shown by the important role of the skalds. These poets, singers, and adventurers could accompany kings and great lords in battle and then sing their praises at court. Skaldic poetry took various forms: descriptions of battle, love songs, glorification...

Trading Lands — In the trading posts (Emporia), vikings peacefully exchanged goods. These large ports, which grouped together trade and craft activities, were at the heart of the exchange networks between Scandinavia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Lands of Influence — Vikings settled in certain foreign lands in small groups. They married, sometimes negotiated with the local lords, and from generation to generation melted into the population, as was the case in France (Normandy), Russia (Rus’ Kingdom), and England (Danelaw, Kingdom of Orkney, Kingdom of the Hebrides and Man, Kingdom of York, Eastern Mercy).

Vikingr/vikingar (plural) — In Norse, the term "viking" refers to a sea expedition. The vikingr is therefore one who participates in this expedition to get rich through trade and piracy. They could be a warrior, a peasant, or a merchant, and chose this way to make a fortune at some point in their life. The term does not designate a people, but an activity, a way of life.