Longboat
Longboat Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
First each player selects a Colour and gathers all the cards of that colour.
Any unchosen colours are returned to the box.
In a 2 or 4 player game, each player must also remove 2 random cards of their colour that are not a Jarl or Figurehead and return them to the box.
In a 2 or 4 player game, each player should now have 20 Cards.
In a 3 player game, each player should have 22 Cards.
Next, players should find their Figurehead and Jarl cards and place them side by side to form their Boat.
This is where you will keep your Vikings, Loot, and Sheep.
Make sure you have plenty of space, because your Boat will be getting a lot longer!
All remaining cards are pooled and shuffled to form the Play Deck.
Lastly, 12 cards are drawn from the top of the Play Deck and laid out character side up, in the arrangement shown in the booklet (the source reads "arangement shown bellow" here; the diagram is a layout figure). These cards are The River, from which players will be drafting Vikings, Loot, and Sheep.
You are now ready for the first round!
Play
Starting with the bravest player, players take turns to choose a card from the bottom row of The River and add it to their Boat.
When a card is taken from The River, any cards above it are moved down to fill the gap.
If the chosen card was a Berserker, Drummer, or Sheep, then a Special Action is played.
Once the Special Action (if any) has been resolved, play moves to the next player clockwise.
Players keep drafting cards in order until there are none left in The River. Then the round is over.
Now players must calculate the Speed of their Boat. This is done by adding up the number of Vikings on the Boat and subtracting the number of Sheep.
A Viking is any card with a person on it. This also includes Drummers, Berserkers, and Jarls.
A Sheep is a Sheep.
Remake The River from the Play Deck as on Card 3 (see Setup).
Order of the next round
The Fastest Boat: Then the new round begins with the player whose Boat has the highest Speed.
The Loyalest Boat: If there is a draw, the player with the most Shields of their colour on their Boat goes first.
The Longest Boat: If there is still a draw, then the Boat with the most cards in it goes first.
Play continues in this fashion until there are no cards left in either The River or Play Deck. Then the game is over and the player with the most Glory wins!
Special Actions
Some cards will trigger Special Actions that you can use to help yourself or hinder other players. These are Drummers, Berserkers, and Sheep.
Drummers and Berserkers can be identified by their Shields (see the card illustrations in the booklet).
Sheep are Sheep.
Drummer
When a player drafts a Drummer from The River, they may then select any two of the remaining cards in The River and switch their positions.
Berserker
When a player drafts a Berserker from The River, they may then Steal any 1 Loot card from one other player's Boat and add it to their own.
Sheep
When a player drafts a Sheep from The River, they may play it into another player's Boat. This slows the other player down and robs them of Glory.
Shielded Loot
Any Loot card added to your Boat that has a Shield that matches your chosen colour cannot be stolen by Berserkers. This Loot is worth the most Glory!
Scoring
Your final score is calculated by adding the following:
Speed: Number of Vikings minus number of Sheep. Loot does not affect Speed, it is far too glorious!
Loyalty: Players score 1 point for every Shield on their Boat of their chosen Colour. Even those on Sheep, Loot, and Jarls.
Loot: Players score 3 points for every Loot card on their Boat. Glorious!
Speed + Loyalty + Loot = Glory!
The player with the most Glory wins.