The Danes

The Danes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Setup
Getting Started
What You Score Points For
Course of Play
Ships and Placement Rules
- Ships
  - Buying Ships
  - Equipping Ships
- Covering Boards and Buildings
The Action Spaces
- Two Basic Rules
- Production Spaces (gray)
Environs and Trade (gold-brown)
Playing Occupations
Hunting, Fishing, and Raids (red)
End of the Game and Scoring
Additional Rules
Variants
- The Shorter Game (6 Rounds)
Solo Game
- Setup
- Gameplay

Setup

Gernot: The 8-round version is the main version of the game. The shorter version is intended for players who are already familiar with the game and are looking for either a greater challenge or a shorter playing time.

Action Board and Goods Boxes

Assemble the action board in the center of the table. The action board consists of 4 parts which, when correctly assembled, run from row 1 "House Building" to row 18 "Emigration". Place each action board section with the side face up that corresponds to your player count.

The marking at the bottom right indicates the number of players for which that side of the action board section is used:

1–2-player games only
1–3-player games only
3–4-player games only
exactly 4-player games only

Draw a number of random setup action tiles equal to the number of players plus 1. (In a 3-player game, draw 4 tiles.) Reveal the drawn tiles and place them on the corresponding spaces in the rightmost column of the action board. Return the remaining setup action tiles to the box.

Example: This setup action tile is placed in row 7 ("Animal Husbandry") in the far-right column (E).

Open the goods boxes and place them side by side so that all players can easily access the tiles inside.

Kaupangs and Round Track

Each player takes a Kaupang booklet in which all Kaupangs are described in detail.

Place the round track in front of the holder with the 8-round side face up and align the sections with the numbers 1 to 13 on top with the respective boxes. Place the round marker and the phase marker next to the round track (you will place them on the track during the first phase).

Place the Kaupang holder at the edge of your play area and fill it with the Kaupang boxes so that the side with a number at the bottom is facing forward. Sort them by that number, starting with number 1 on the left and ascending up to number 14 on the right.

Supply Board and Turn Order Board

In addition to the colored goods tiles in the goods boxes, there are gray special tiles. There is only one copy of each special tile—unlike the goods tiles, whose number is not limited by the game material. Lay out the supply board for the special tiles and place all gray special tiles on it. Do not place any blue tiles on the board, they are just shown on the board for reference.

Gernot: The front side of the supply board is divided into sections so that you can immediately see which special tiles can be purchased, forged, and/or looted. If you prefer a simpler layout, you may instead use the reverse side and simply sort the tiles according to their sword value.

Place the turn order board near the action board so that it is clearly visible.

Victory Point Tokens

For each player in the game, add one 4-point token, one 3-point token and two 2-point tokens to the supply. Make a pile out of these tokens, starting with the 2-point tokens at the bottom, then the 3-point tokens and the 4-point tokens on top. Return the remaining victory point tokens to the box.

Environs Strips and Supplies

Sort the environs strips by their backs. Shuffle the 8 environs strips without a symbol on their backs into a face-down stack.

When playing alone, return the 2 top environs strips to the box without looking at them. Then reveal 1 environs strip.
With 2–3 players, return the top environs strip to the box without looking at it. Then reveal 2 environs strips.
With 4 players, reveal 3 environs strips (without returning one to the box first).

Then draw 1 random start environs strip (light back) and place it face up with the others.

Draw 2 random end environs strips (dark back) and place them under the face-down stack.

Example of the initial layout of the environs strips in a 3-player game.

Additional Supplies

Sort the remaining wood, stone, and ore pieces as well as the Thing penalty tokens, and place everything within easy reach as a general supply.

Personal Setup

Each player takes one home board and places it in front of them with the side for the 8-round game facing up (recognizable by the numbers 1 to 8 in the upper right corner). Choose a player color and take the 11 Vikings, the drinking horn, and the action copy tile in that color:

Place the action copy tile with its active side face up on the corresponding space of your home board (approximately in the center of the placement area).
Place one Viking on each numbered space of your banquet table and place your remaining Vikings on the Thing square in the center of your home board—these 3 Vikings are your starting Vikings.
You will need the drinking horn in the next step to indicate the initial turn order.

Additionally, take 1 green and 1 red building availability tile and place them next to your home board.

Shuffle the remaining weapon cards and place them as a face-down draw pile.

Then sort the occupation cards according to their back sides into two stacks: light brown starting occupation cards and dark brown occupation cards to be drawn later. Shuffle both stacks separately.

You begin the game with one starting occupation. Each player draws 2 light brown starting occupation cards, chooses 1 to keep, and takes it into their hand. Return the other card and then remove the light brown stack from the game. Place the stack of dark brown occupation cards nearby.

Gernot: Your chosen starting occupation gives you an initial indication of the strategic direction you might pursue.

Starting Resources and Initial Turn Order

Take the following starting resources: 1 "Egg" goods tile and 1 "Mead" goods tile, as well as 1 weapon card each of "Bow and Arrow," "Snare," and "Spear." Place the tiles and cards face up in your personal supply in front of you.

Determine the initial turn order and receive 1 additional weapon. To do so, use the start cards with the numbers from 1 to the number of players in the game (in a 3-player game, use cards 1–3). Then each player draws 1 random start card:

Place your drinking horn on the leftmost space of the turn order board that corresponds to the number indicated at the bottom of the card.
Place the card face up in your personal supply. For all purposes it is now a normal weapon card of the depicted type.
Take a die joker tile and place it with your weapon cards.

Tip: You will not need all the cards included in the game. Set up only part of them and replenish the stacks as needed.

Getting Started

This section precedes the actual explanation of the rules in order to provide an initial overview of the game. No rules are introduced here that are not explained in detail later.

How You Play This Game

The basic principle is simple. Over 8 rounds, you repeatedly place your Vikings on the spaces of the action board and immediately carry out the actions shown there.

Since action spaces may normally be occupied only once per round, players will inevitably get in each other's way.

What You Want to Achieve

You begin the game with your home board, whose placement area you gradually fill in a puzzle-like manner with green and blue goods tiles as well as gray special tiles. Any gaps that arise can be filled with ore and silver coins (as shown in the example).

At the beginning, you will want to generate your first income and bonuses quickly, while covering the negative point spaces becomes relevant only later in the game.

You obtain the required goods tiles, for example, through hunting, animal husbandry, or by exchanging orange and red goods from agricultural production. Gray special tiles, on the other hand, can be purchased, forged, or looted in true Viking fashion.

This legend illustrates the placement rules of the home board. The blue and green illustrations represent your goods tiles.

In the first example on the left under "What You Want to Achieve," the red egg space was covered; here it is completely surrounded. As a result, you receive 1 egg as a bonus each round.

There are also 2 immediate effect spaces (yellow decorations), whose bonus you receive once when you cover them, and 1 unlock space (green decorations), which permanently grants you your action copy tile once all surrounding spaces are covered.

Income

You need silver coins for many actions, which makes steady income essential. The large numbers with the hand symbol that run diagonally across the placement area of your home board represent a "money diagonal." The lowest uncovered number on this money diagonal shows your income for the current round.

In the example image from the previous section, your income is currently 2 silver coins per round—a good start! If you manage this in the first round, you will establish a strong foundation.

Bonus, Immediate Effect, and Unlock Spaces

The placement area of your home board contains several bonus spaces (gray decorations). You receive the depicted bonus each round if you have covered all surrounding spaces.

Building Materials for Buildings and Ships

You mainly obtain building materials in the form of wood, stone, and ore through action spaces and as bonuses. You need them to build buildings and ships.

Buildings are large tiles that expand your display with additional placement areas. This allows you to generate more income, bonuses, and points.

Ships come in different types, which can be distinguished by their victory point value and sail color. You need them for actions such as fishing, long-distance trade, and raids, and also to set out on voyages of discovery.

Discovering Kaupangs

Your home board is only the beginning. You can (and should) discover new Kaupangs early in the game to gain additional placement areas and expand your strategic options.

* The historical-archaeological term "Kaupang," originating from Norway, refers to craft-specialized settlements, as opposed to purely trading sites and cities.

A Kaupang is a set consisting of a Kaupang board together with matching buildings, action tiles, occupation cards, and possibly a special tile. There are 26 Kaupangs, stored in pairs in 13 boxes. During setup, you place these boxes in the corresponding holder. Only the Kaupang of a box that faces forward in the holder is available. During the course of the game, Kaupangs that are not discovered during the action phase are gradually replaced by the other Kaupangs by turning the corresponding box in the holder. Each Kaupang has its own focus. Discovering them and trying out different strategies is a central element of the game. All Kaupangs are described in detail in the included Kaupang booklets. You can look through them for inspiration when it is not your turn.

The Brattahlíd Kaupang consists of one Kaupang board, 2 buildings, 2 action tiles, 1 special tile, and 6 occupations.

You can keep different animals, which reproduce and are worth different numbers of points. The reverse side of the animal tiles shows pregnant mother animals. You can recognize them by the meadow and their lying position. In addition to sheep, there are pigs, cattle, and horses.

Your ships increase in value when you use them for emigration during the game (by flipping them to their reverse side). The value of the blue ship shown on the right increases to more than three times its original value. However, it is no longer available for other actions.

Some Kaupangs require the construction of wooden palisades, stone walls, or graves. Completing these constructions grants you bonus points.

Finally, there are a few special tiles that are worth victory points. However, they require masterful forging or successful raids.

The effects of occupation cards can not only enhance your strategy but are also worth points—usually positive, but sometimes negative (as shown here).

Gernot: As you can see, A FEAST FOR ODIN: THE DANES offers many ways to score points. Exploring the wide variety of strategies is what makes the game particularly enjoyable.

What You Score Points For

Almost everything that scores points in this game is marked with the Viking shield symbol. This includes your home board, discovered Kaupangs, built ships and buildings. Only the silver coins are not marked with the shield, yet your remaining cash on hand still gives you points at the end of the game.

Each placement area requires you to cover negative point spaces; otherwise, the indicated points will be deducted at the end of the game.

For example, one wool tile can cover four "–2" spaces.

Course of Play

The standard game is played over 8 rounds. (The rules for the shorter game can be found on page 26.)

Each round consists of 11 phases, which are played in sequence and explained here in that order. Most phases are carried out simultaneously. Only in Phase 4—the main phase of the game, in which you carry out your actions—do players take turns in turn order. The initial turn order was determined randomly during setup.

Use the round marker and the phase marker to indicate the current round and phase on the round track.

After the final round, scoring takes place (→ p. 25). The player with the most points wins.

Phase 1: Turn Kaupangs

The round track is divided into one section per round. Starting in round 3 (or in round 1 in the shorter game), each section is assigned 1 to 3 Kaupangs—recognizable by the width of the section and the numbers indicated on the round track. All Kaupangs that are in the holder and facing forward are available to be discovered during each action phase.

Move the round marker forward by 1 space on the round track. (In the first round, place it on the first space of the track instead.) If the round marker thereby reaches a new section with Kaupang boxes, those Kaupangs are turned. To do this, remove the indicated Kaupang boxes of the new section from the holder, rotate them 180° so that the side without a number at the bottom of the box faces forward, and place them back into the holder.

Note: The Kaupang booklets also show how long each Kaupang remains in the game and when it enters play.

From now on, the Helsingborg, Lincoln, and Roskilde Kaupangs are available for discovery. You can easily see that you turned the Kaupang boxes because the new side does not have numbers at the bottom of the box anymore.

Round	Kaupangs leaving the game	Kaupangs entering the game
3	Skiringssal, Rouen, Dublin	Helsingborg, Lincoln, Roskilde
4	Brattahlíd, Avaldsnes, York	Aarhus, Hedeby, Vineta
5	Ribe, Nidaros	Birka, Aalborg
6	Vejle, Cambridge	Kalmar, Karlstad
7	Nottingham, Île de Noirmoutier	Colchester, Île de Ré
8	Odense	Oslo

In the shorter game, the Kaupangs are replaced two rounds earlier. For example, the three Kaupangs Brattahlíd, Avaldsnes, and York are already replaced in round 2 instead of round 4 by Aarhus, Hedeby, and Vineta.

Phase 2: Take a New Viking

Take the Viking from the banquet table of your home board that is farthest to the left and place it with your other Vikings on the Thing square. (The space that has now become empty on the track should correspond to the space of the round marker and therefore also indicates the current round.)

In each round you receive one additional Viking—this also applies in round 1.

Phase 3: Harvest

You receive the orange goods tiles from the general supply that correspond to the harvest symbol of the current round. You can find the harvest symbol below the banquet table space from which you took your new Viking.

During the course of 8 rounds, you receive these harvests (the harvest strip shows the symbols for rounds 1 to 8 in order: 2+3, 1, 1-3, —, 1+4, —, 1, —):

Harvest symbol	Goods tiles
2+3	Grain and cabbage
1	Peas, beans, and flax
1-3	Peas, beans, flax, grain, and cabbage
1+4	Peas, beans, flax, and fruit
—	You receive no harvest.

Take the goods tiles listed for the harvest symbol once each from the general supply and place them in your personal supply.

In the shorter game, the harvest distribution is different (→ p. 27).

Phase 4: Carry Out Actions

This is the main phase of the game. The spaces on the action board are arranged in 5 columns from A to E and, according to their function, in 18 numbered rows. The background color highlights the function of the spaces. (The effects of the action spaces are explained after the course of play on p. 16. You should be able to understand most actions based on the illustration on the space.)

Gernot: In your first game, the large number of action spaces may feel overwhelming. At the beginning, focus on exploring the possibilities the game offers. In the early rounds you make initial preparatory decisions. The truly important decisions usually happen later on.

Taking Turns: Place a Viking and Carry Out an Action

In turn order, place Vikings from your Thing square onto exactly 1 empty action space and immediately carry out its action(s). The drinking horns on the turn order board indicate the player order. Continue in turn order until no one can or wishes to place any more Vikings from their Thing square.

If a space offers several partial actions, you may determine their order.
You do not have to carry out all partial actions. However, you may only occupy an action space if you carry out at least 1 partial action of that space (it is even sufficient to pay the cost of 1 partial action; you do not have to be able to use its effect).
Each action space may be occupied only once per round—unless you use your action copy tile (→ box).

Action Copy: Once you have unlocked your action copy tile (→ p. 14), you may use it once per round to occupy an action space that is already occupied by Vikings of another color. Turn the action copy tile over to do so. The player whose action you copy receives 1 silver coin from the general supply (not from you!). Each space may be occupied only once per round via an action copy.

The Columns of the Action Board

The column determines how many Vikings you must place on a space in that column: Spaces in column B must be occupied with exactly 1 Viking. Spaces in columns C and D must be occupied with exactly 2 or 3 Vikings, respectively.

Columns A and E are special columns: In column A (Start), you may place only your first Viking of the current round. In column E (End), you may place only your last Viking. You are not allowed to use column E prematurely (in other words: after placing a Viking in column E, you may not have any Vikings left).

In addition, the following applies:

If you occupy a space in column D, draw 1 occupation card before carrying out the action of that space.
If you occupy a space on which another player's Kaupang action tile is placed (→ Placing Kaupang Action Tiles), that player receives 1 silver coin from the general supply (not from you!).
When occupying a space, you may place 1 additional Viking to draw 1 weapon card and play 1 occupation card before or after the action. This is also possible in columns A and E.

Example: For an action in column C, you place 3 Vikings instead of the usual 2 in order to draw 1 weapon card and play 1 occupation before carrying out the action.

Double Spaces in 1–2-Player Games

In games with 1–2 players, the top section of the action board contains action spaces that extend over two rows and are connected by "OR." These spaces count as a single space that may be occupied only once per round—either for the effect above or below the "OR."

If the space shown on the right is occupied, the player builds either a building or a ship. The entire space is then considered occupied.

Placing Kaupang Action Tiles

At the start of the game, some spaces on the action board are empty. By discovering Kaupangs (→ p. 23), you may unlock action tiles during the game that can be placed on the action board.

Instead of taking a normal action, you may place one of your unlocked action tiles on the action board and immediately place the required number of Vikings there to carry out the depicted action. It is not allowed to place an action tile without immediately using it by placing Vikings.

Each tile has a specific target space indicated by coordinates on its back side (and on the board/building where the tile was originally located).

Observe the following rules:

In column A or E, place the tile on an empty space. In these columns, you may place and use such an action tile even if it is not your first or last Viking of the round.
When placing an action tile in column A, you receive 1 silver coin as a one-time placement bonus from the general supply. (The icon on the action board serves as a reminder.)
Upgrade action tiles are placed on printed action spaces and improve them (for example by reducing the cost of a space).
You may place an upgrade action tile even if the target space is already occupied. Lay down all Vikings currently on that space and then place your Vikings there as usual. The space is still considered occupied but may be occupied again via an action copy. (This is the only situation in which Vikings of more than two colors may be on the same space.)
Whenever another player places Vikings on an action tile that you placed, you receive 1 silver coin from the general supply (not from that player!). If someone uses their action copy for this, the player who had already placed Vikings there also receives 1 silver coin.

You place the Dublin Kaupang action tile that you previously unlocked on space 2A and receive 1 silver coin from the supply. Because you must use the space immediately, you place 1 Viking there and carry out the depicted action.

Passing and New Turn Order

As soon as you have placed your last Viking, you end the action phase for yourself. Move your drinking horn to the lowest available space in the other column that does not exceed your player number. In other words: the earlier you finish, the later you will act in the next round.

You may also choose not to place all your Vikings and pass voluntarily before doing so. In this case as well, move your drinking horn.

Blue was the first to place all Vikings and moves their drinking horn to space 3 in the other column.

The action phase ends once all players have placed all their available Vikings or have passed.

The new turn order corresponds to the positions of your drinking horns on the turn order board.
Once you have moved your drinking horn, you are skipped for the remainder of the current action phase until all drinking horns have been moved.

Gernot: When explaining the game, it may be helpful to explain the covering of the home board in detail at this point, since these rules are very important for determining income.

Anytime Actions

There are several actions that you may carry out at any time during the game and as often as you like—even while performing a main action or when it is not your turn. These actions are listed here for completeness but are explained later:

Covering your boards and buildings (→ p. 12)
Buying a ship (→ p. 12)
Equipping a ship (→ p. 12)
Sending a ship (→ p. 15)

Phase 5: Receive Income

In this game, a distinction is made between income and bonuses. In this phase, you receive the income from each of your "money diagonals" in silver coins. Bonuses are received later in Phase 8 in the form of goods.

IMPORTANT: In the standard game over 8 rounds, this phase is skipped in the final round. Therefore, you do not receive any income in round 8.

During the game, you cover the spaces in the placement area of your home board with tiles (and possibly ore and silver). The lowest uncovered number on this "money diagonal" determines how much silver you receive.

The 5 is the lowest uncovered number on this money diagonal and therefore generates an income of 5 silver.

As described in the "Placement Rules for the Home Board" (→ p. 13), you may cover the spaces of the money diagonal only in ascending order from the lower left to the upper right.
During the game, you may gain additional placement areas that often include further money diagonals. The same rules apply to them as to your home board. In this phase, you receive the income from each of your money diagonals.

Phase 6: Carry Out Animal Breeding

In this phase, your animals may become pregnant or produce offspring. Your sheep, horses, and cattle can produce offspring every second round. For this reason, the two sides of these tiles are different: the front side shows "not pregnant," and the reverse side shows "pregnant." Pigs, on the other hand, reproduce every round and therefore do not have a pregnant reverse side.

For sheep, cattle, and horses, the following always applies: (A) either exactly 1 pregnant animal produces exactly 1 offspring, or (B) exactly 1 animal becomes pregnant. These breeding rules are illustrated here using sheep as an example:

A. If you have at least 1 sheep on the pregnant side, turn exactly 1 of them back to the non-pregnant side and take exactly 1 additional sheep from the general supply. Place it in your supply with the non-pregnant side facing up. If you have several pregnant sheep, only one of them produces offspring, while the others remain pregnant.
B. If you do not have a pregnant sheep but have at least 2 sheep that are not on the pregnant side, turn exactly 1 of them to the pregnant side. It will produce offspring in the breeding phase of the next round.

For pigs, the following applies:

If you have at least 2 pigs, take exactly 1 additional pig from the general supply.

Examples of Animal Breeding

You have 3 non-pregnant sheep and 1 pregnant sheep. The pregnant sheep produces offspring and is flipped back, while the other sheep remain non-pregnant. After this breeding phase, you have 5 non-pregnant sheep.
You have 4 non-pregnant sheep. Exactly 1 of them is flipped to its pregnant side, not more.
You have 2 pregnant sheep. 1 of them produces offspring and is flipped back, the other 1 remains pregnant.
You have 6 pigs and gain 1 additional pig as offspring.
You have 1 pregnant and 1 non-pregnant sheep. In the action phase you exchange the non-pregnant sheep for other goods. In the animal breeding phase, the pregnant sheep still produces offspring, even after being left alone.

Gernot: Because of their relatively low victory point value, it may be worthwhile during the game to exchange pigs, sheep, and cattle or upgrade them into green goods tiles. Horse breeding, on the other hand, can remain worthwhile even until the end of the game (reflecting their special social importance).

Phase 7: Feast and Fill the Tax Barn

In this phase, you must keep your Vikings satisfied with a feast and pay your taxes to the king.

Feast

For the feast, you must fill the spaces on the banquet table of your home board that do not contain Vikings.

In this example, only 2 Vikings remain on the banquet table, leaving 9 spaces that must be filled for the feast.

Fill these empty spaces with orange and red goods tiles from your supply and/or with "1 silver" tiles. The following rules apply:

Tiles of the same color may not be placed directly next to each other (no orange next to orange and no red next to red).
Silver coins may be placed directly next to each other.
Building materials such as ore may not be placed on the banquet table.
If you use the same type of goods multiple times (such as the salted meat in the following example), only the first of these tiles may be placed horizontally on the track. All additional tiles of the same type must be placed vertically and therefore less favorably. (Square tiles are naturally unaffected by this rule.)
It is also allowed to place the first tile of a type vertically. (This may help you comply with the rule mentioned above.)
You may not exceed the length of the banquet table. In the rare case that you place hemp or small ale vertically, the tile may extend above the table, which is allowed in that case.

The legend below the banquet table illustrates these rules.

It is usually worthwhile to serve only one salted meat per feast. Beans, on the other hand, can be served multiple times without disadvantage.

Tax Barn

The tax barn consists of three rows. To fulfill taxation, you must completely fill 1 row of your choice with appropriately colored goods tiles, building materials, and/or "1 silver" tiles from your supply.

The following rules apply:

Each tile must cover at least one space of its color but may extend into rows of other colors. However, it may never extend beyond the outline of the tax barn.
Tiles may be placed horizontally or vertically, and any tiles may be placed next to each other, even tiles of the same type.
Building materials are allowed. However, wood and stone always occupy exactly one space and must therefore be placed upright.

The special rule that tiles may extend into rows of other colors allows you to fill a row completely or partially with tiles of a lower color (and vice versa). A fruit tile placed at the lower left, for example, is large enough to extend into the green row and fill it completely. However, if you use a herb or pig tile to fill a higher row, you must also fill the "gap" of that U-shaped tile (as illustrated in the following examples).

You must fill both the banquet table and then the tax barn if you can (you may not voluntarily choose not to). If you cannot fill the tax barn, you must fill the row that would have the least free spaces.

Examples for the Tax Barn:

A single fur tile is enough to completely fill the green row.
Tiles may be freely replaced with silver and upright building materials.
1 beans tile already fills 2 spaces of the red row. The remaining 3 spaces may, for example, be filled with 1 mead and 1 egg tile.
Because tiles may extend into rows of other colors, the green row may already be filled with 1 fruit tile or with 3 vertically placed flax tiles.

The U-shaped herb tile fills a higher row (on the left the red row, on the right the green row). In both cases, the gap of the tile must also be filled.

This pig tile extends only into a lower row, so the gap does not have to be filled in this case.

Thing Penalties

For each space on your banquet table that you cannot fill according to the rules, you must take 1 "Thing penalty" tile. If you cannot completely fill any row of the tax barn, you must take 1 Thing penalty in total for this. (You may receive more than one Thing penalty at once. However, Thing penalties are distributed only rarely, because you always fill the banquet table and the tax barn after receiving silver income and therefore usually have enough silver coins.)

For each Thing penalty, 3 points are deducted at the end of the game. A Thing penalty, once taken, remains in your supply until the end of the game.

At the end of this phase, return all tiles from your banquet table and tax barn to the general supply.

Phase 8: Receive Bonuses

In this phase, you receive the yield of all visible bonus spaces on your boards and buildings that you have completely surrounded. (→ Placement Rules for the Home Board, p. 13.)

Take the corresponding goods tiles or building materials from the general supply and place them in your personal supply.

Normally, you must cover all 8 surrounding spaces. However, if a space lies at the edge of a placement area, there are fewer surrounding spaces that must be covered.
During the game you may gain additional placement areas that may also contain further bonus spaces. Their bonuses are received in this phase according to the same rules.
All bonuses you receive are granted simultaneously. (You cannot immediately place a newly received bonus to surround another bonus space and gain it right away.)

This home board generates 1 wood, 1 egg, and 1 ore each round. The stone bonus at the bottom right is not yet completely surrounded and is therefore not yet active. Because the wood bonus lies at the left edge, you needed to cover only 5 surrounding spaces (instead of 8).

Gernot: It is often advisable to increase your income before the income phase by placing tiles and silver, so that you can use the newly gained silver before the bonus phase to surround additional bonus spaces. (For example, you could immediately use the silver gained from the home board in the example above to activate the stone bonus at the bottom right.)

Phase 9: Draw a New Weapon

Each player draws 1 weapon card from the draw pile and places it face up in their personal supply.

By drawing new cards, you may also obtain longswords and axes: these weapons are not received during setup (except through the start card with the number 1).

Phase 10: Reveal and Adjust Environs Strips

The environs strips provide building materials and silver that you can acquire during the action phase (→ Environs, p. 18). The starting and ending environs strips even provide goods and ships.

From each environs strip in play, remove the leftmost space that still contains something (the one closest to the green arrow). Return the removed building materials and tiles to the general supply.

Each environs strip contains exactly 7 spaces. If 2 building materials or tiles are stacked on top of each other, they count as the same space (and are therefore removed together).
As soon as an environs strip is empty, remove it from the game.

Afterwards, if there are less than 2/3/3/4 environs strips in play in a 1-/2-/3-/4-player game, reveal a new environs strip and place the depicted building materials and tiles on it. If not, remove the top environs strip from the stack and return it to the box.

The upper environs strip has been emptied and removed. A new environs strip has been added below.

Phase 11: Retrieve Placed Vikings

Take all your Vikings from the action board and return them to your Thing square. If necessary, flip your action copy tile back to its front side.

Continue the game with Phase 1 of the next round.

Ships and Placement Rules

There are several actions that you may carry out at any time and as often as you like during the game, usually even while performing your main action. These include buying, equipping, and sending ships, as well as placing tiles from your supply on boards and buildings.

Ships

There are five different ship types. You need them for various actions on the action board and you may send them to certain Kaupang boards and buildings (→ p. 15).

The sail color divides the five ship types into three groups: Ships with yellow sails are used mainly (but not exclusively) for fishing. Blue sails mark ships used for long-distance trade, while ships with red sails specialize in raids.

In addition to sail color, ships differ in the size of their tile and in how many victory points they are worth. Each ship also shows its transport capacity in the lower left corner, which is relevant when you send it (→ p. 15).

Yellow ships: Fishing Boat (left) and Skuta (right). Blue ships: Knorr (left) and Nef (right). The only red ship: Longship.

Ship	Sail color	Victory points	Transport capacity	Cost (silver)
Fishing Boat	Yellow	3	2	4
Skuta	Yellow	4	5	5
Knorr	Blue	5	6	6
Nef	Blue	6	9	7
Longship	Red	8	4	9

The Fishing Boat and Skuta each already have 1 printed ore. The Fishing Boat may be equipped with 1 additional ore (the Skuta may not). Longships may hold up to 3 ore. Blue ships have no ore and cannot carry any.

Buying Ships

You may buy ships at any time during the game. Pay for ships with silver coins from your supply. Ships cost 1 silver more than their victory point value. Their price is also shown in the lower right corner of your home board. (You do not necessarily have to buy ships; you may also build them with wood. → The Action Spaces / Shipbuilding, p. 17.)

The number of ships in the supply is unlimited. However, you have only seven landing stages on your home board: three small landing stages, three large landing stages, and one landing stage that can hold either a small or a large ship. Place each ship you buy or build on a landing stage of the appropriate size. It is not allowed to place small ships on the three large landing stages.

Equipping Ships

You may equip ships at any time during the game (even immediately before, but not during an action) by placing ore from your supply on the designated spaces of your Fishing Boats and Longships. This improves your chances during fishing and raids (→ p. 21).

Once ore has been placed on a ship, it may not be removed again (unless an action explicitly allows it).

Covering Boards and Buildings

Basic Placement Rules

A placement area is a framed space consisting of several green square spaces. Placement areas can be found on your home board, Kaupang boards, and buildings.

Covering is an anytime action that you may perform at any time and as often as you like during the game. The following basic rules apply:

Tiles placed in a placement area may not extend beyond the printed frame.
Tiles may not overlap each other, not even partially.
Once placed, tiles may not be removed from your boards or buildings.
However, you may temporarily place tiles within a round in order to better plan how you want to arrange them.

Gernot: It may happen that someone unintentionally violates a placement rule. If such a "placement error" is discovered too late, a rule for this situation is provided under "Incorrectly Placed Goods Tiles" on page 25.

Placement Rules for the Home Board

You may cover your home board at any time with blue and green goods tiles as well as gray special tiles, silver coins, and ore (other tiles and building materials are not allowed). The following rules apply:

Green tiles may not be adjacent to other green tiles, but they may touch diagonally.
Blue tiles may be adjacent to blue tiles. The same applies to special tiles next to special tiles, silver coins next to silver coins, and ore next to ore.
Spaces and areas framed with a thick green border may not be covered (such as the columns in the middle of the longhouses).

The legend below the placement area illustrates these placement rules.

Gernot: Even though tiles may not be removed once placed, it is advisable to place them generously before income and bonuses are received. Tiles that cover many spaces should be placed on the board rather than kept in your supply.

Placement Rules for Kaupang Boards

The same placement rules apply to Kaupang boards as to the home board. You may also cover them at any time with blue and green goods tiles, gray special tiles, silver coins, and ore (other tiles and building materials are not allowed here as well). However, you may place orange and red tiles as an exception when doing a ship transport (→ Ship Spaces, p. 15).

Some Kaupang boards have special features that are described in the Kaupang booklets.

The legend on the top right of each Kaupang illustrates these placement rules.

Placement Rules for Buildings

Your standard buildings may be covered at any time with goods tiles of all colors (blue, green, red, and orange) as well as with gray special tiles and silver coins. Kaupang buildings normally may not be covered with orange tiles; this is possible only via ship transport (→ Ship Spaces, p. 15). Ore is not allowed on either type of building.

As the legends on the two buildings indicate, normally only standard buildings (left) may be covered with orange tiles.

In addition:

Red tiles may not be adjacent to red tiles, and orange tiles may not be adjacent to orange tiles, but they may touch diagonally.
Green and blue tiles may be adjacent to tiles of the same color, just as special tiles may be adjacent to special tiles and silver coins to silver coins.

Some Kaupang buildings have special features described in the Kaupang booklets.

Bonus Spaces (gray decorations)

Bonus spaces have gray decorations in their corners and a yield symbol in the center. You receive this yield (usually goods tiles or building materials) in Phase 8 of each round as a bonus (→ p. 9), provided that you cover all surrounding spaces while leaving the bonus space itself uncovered.

Normally, you must cover 8 surrounding spaces. If a space lies at the edge, there are fewer surrounding spaces that must be covered. (This occurs on many Kaupang boards; such bonuses are therefore easier to surround.)

Bonus spaces count as already covered from the beginning. Nevertheless, you may cover them like empty spaces (although this is rarely worthwhile, since you would permanently forgo the bonus).

Your home board has 6 different bonus spaces. In this example, the egg space at the bottom left is completely surrounded and therefore grants 1 egg as a bonus each round. For the wood bonus at the left edge, you only need to cover 5 surrounding spaces (instead of 8) in order to receive the wood each round.

Money Diagonal

The spaces with the large numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 …) form the money diagonal (→ Receive Income, p. 9) of a placement area. Covering these spaces is subject to the following special rule: you may cover an income space of the money diagonal only if you also cover (or have already covered) all spaces that

lie to the left of the income space,
lie below the income space, and
lie in the rectangular area to the lower left of the income space.

To cover the income space "3," you must first cover all spaces within the framed area.

The alternating background colors in the placement area of the home board help you observe this special rule. Kaupang boards and buildings may also contain a money diagonal.

In this situation, a single wool tile is already enough to cover both income spaces "3" and "4," because all necessary spaces would then be covered. (However, you would forgo the ore bonus.)

Reminder: bonus spaces count as already covered and therefore do not have to be covered (although they may be). Unlock spaces cannot be covered and therefore are not relevant for the money diagonal.

Some Kaupang boards have separate placement areas. Even in this case, the spaces to the left and below the income space must be covered—even if they lie in a different placement area. This also applies to construction spaces (such as palisades, walls, and graves) (→ p. 15).

To cover the income space "2," the spaces in the left area must also be covered, including the two palisade spaces.

Gernot: Within the placement rules explained on the previous page, it is perfectly allowed to cover the negative point spaces of your home board without covering the spaces at the lower left. However, you must make sure not to cover any higher income spaces if there are still uncovered spaces below and to the left of them. This can be particularly relevant toward the end of the game.

Immediate Effect Spaces (yellow decorations)

Immediate effect spaces have yellow decorations and each consist of four spaces arranged in a 2×2 grid. As soon as you cover the last single space of such a space, you immediately carry out its effect once.

Your home board contains two identical immediate effect spaces that allow you to immediately play 1 occupation card when fully covered.

Immediate effect spaces are not considered covered from the start (unlike bonus spaces). You cover them in the same way as empty spaces.

Unlock Spaces (green decorations / arrows)

Unlock spaces are surrounded by green decorations or arrows and have a tile placed on them at the start of the game. These spaces are not part of the placement area and therefore may not be covered. However, once you cover all surrounding spaces, you unlock the tile placed there and remove it.

The unlock space on your home board grants you your action copy tile. Place it with its active side face up on your Thing square once you unlock it. From then on, you may use it once per round (→ p. 7).

Unlocking Buildings

Each Kaupang comes with 1 or 2 buildings marked with a rune. However, these Kaupang buildings are not immediately available for construction when a Kaupang is discovered. Instead, you must first unlock them by covering all surrounding spaces of the corresponding unlock space (with the same rune as the building) on the Kaupang board. Only then will the building be available for future build actions (details on building Kaupang buildings → p. 17).

The Skiringssal Kaupang comes with 2 buildings. If you cover the 4 surrounding spaces at the top left, you unlock the bronze foundry.

Only 2 spaces are required to unlock the bloomery hut.

Stack your buildings that have not yet been built under your two availability tiles: buildings not yet available for construction under the red tile, and unlocked buildings under the green tile. This helps you keep track of your buildings.

Gernot: The runes used are from the Elder Futhark, a writing system used by Germanic tribes between the 2nd and 8th centuries AD. The rune F (Fehu) means cattle, property, or wealth, while D (Dagaz) stands for day.

Unlocking Action Tiles

Each Kaupang board and some Kaupang buildings include an action tile that is placed on the board when the Kaupang is discovered. These action tiles must also be unlocked by covering all surrounding spaces.

Then remove the action tile from the board and place it in your supply. The coordinates next to the space (and on the back side of the tile) indicate where it may be placed on the action board during the action phase (details on using action tiles → p. 8).

With only 2 surrounding spaces, the action tile on the Skiringssal board can be unlocked quickly. From then on, it may be placed on space 13B of the action board.

Storage Spaces

The standard building Shed and some Kaupang buildings contain special storage spaces that help avoid negative points. You may place the depicted building materials or goods tiles there at any time and remove them again at any time (to use them for other purposes), since they are counted only at the end of the game.

In this storage space, 1 stone has already been stored, leaving only 2 negative points visible.

Construction Spaces: Palisades, Walls, and Graves

Some Kaupang boards and buildings contain constructions in the form of palisades, walls, and graves. You may cover these spaces at any time as follows:

A palisade space with 1 wood
A wall space with 1 stone
A grave space with 1 runestone tile

A construction whose spaces are all filled is worth the bonus points indicated at the top left of the Kaupang board or building at the end of the game.

Construction spaces that do not show a negative point symbol (such as the leftmost space in the Helsingborg example below) count as already filled and may therefore not be filled again.

The general rule also applies here: once building materials are placed, they may not be removed again (also because they often form part of a money diagonal).

On the left, one grave is still missing for completion. In the center, the wall on the left has been completed for 3 points, while the palisade on the right has not yet been started.

Ship Spaces and Ship Transport

Some Kaupang boards and buildings contain ship spaces. You may at any time place suitable ships from your landing stages onto empty ship spaces and thereby "send" them. Each ship space specifies which type of ship may be sent there (more about ships → p. 12).

This space allows a ship with a blue sail, meaning a Knorr or a Nef.

Ships that are sent cover the negative points of the space, but the victory points printed on the ship itself will no longer count at the end of the game. If the ship had been equipped with ore, that ore is lost and returned to the general supply.

Whenever you send a ship, you trigger a ship transport. You may then immediately and once place orange and red tiles from your supply onto the placement area where you placed the ship. The transport capacity of the ship indicates the total size of the tiles you may place there. The size of a tile corresponds to the number of spaces it covers. You may divide this capacity among one or several tiles as you wish.

To this space shown, you may send a Knorr with a capacity of 6 or a Nef with a capacity of 9. Both ships offer many placement combinations as long as the transport capacity is not exceeded.

Additionally:

Ship transport is an exception to the normal placement rules and is the only way to place orange tiles on Kaupang buildings or orange and red tiles on Kaupang boards.
Red tiles may not be adjacent to red tiles and orange tiles may not be adjacent to orange tiles, but they may touch diagonally.

Once you have placed all tiles, the ship transport ends—even if you did not fully use the ship's transport capacity (you may not deliver the remaining capacity later).

This Knorr has transported 4 tiles with the maximum allowed total size of 6 onto this Kaupang board.

The Action Spaces

The action board contains a large number of different action spaces. They are divided into categories by color, which are explained below. (How action spaces are generally used was explained on page 7 under "Phase 4: Carry Out Actions.")

Here we focus on the general function of the categories instead of describing every space in detail. Since they all use the same icon language, you will understand most of them immediately. A detailed description of all action spaces, as well as the actions of the start and Kaupang action tiles that can be placed on the empty spaces of the action board, can be found in the appendix.

Two Basic Rules

Many actions give you tiles. Whenever you gain a tile, take it from the general supply (the goods boxes) and place it in your personal supply in front of you. Whenever you spend tiles, return them from your personal supply to the general supply.
Some actions require you to own a specific ship type. This is indicated by sail colors or by a victory point value inside a small ship symbol. For such an action, you do not have to give up the ship. Therefore, the same ship may be used multiple times in a single round for different actions.

Example: If you have exactly 1 Longship in your harbor, you may use that ship first for a raid, then to discover a new Kaupang, and finally in the same round for emigration.

In a raid, ships of all types may be used, whereas the blue long-distance trade action explicitly requires a Skuta. The "4" refers to the victory point value of that ship type.

Gernot: All the actions hinted at in the example above are explained in detail on the following pages.

Production Spaces (gray)

The gray action spaces are production spaces. These include building houses and ships, as well as the categories processing, textile production, and crafts.

Here you exchange what is shown to the left of the gray arrow from your personal supply (usually goods or building materials) exactly once for what is shown to the right of the arrow from the general supply.

House Construction

On these action spaces you may build:

a small building for 1 wood or 1 stone, OR
a medium building for 1 stone.

The roman numeral on the building symbol indicates the size of the building to be constructed (and corresponds to the number of Vikings placed on the space):

1 Viking for a small building
2 Vikings for a medium building
3 Vikings for a large building

Place the constructed building in front of you. From that moment on you may cover it according to the "Placement Rules for Buildings" (→ p. 13).

Each building tile shows its size that way in the upper right corner. You always have the choice between:

the still available standard building tiles from box 14 (you can choose which side to build) and
your unlocked Kaupang buildings in your supply (→ Discovery, p. 23).

When building the second or only building of any Kaupang, you may immediately play 1 occupation (it does not have to be an occupation from that Kaupang). The icon in the top left corner of your Kaupang buildings reminds you of this rule.

Two action spaces offer you 2 different actions, which you can both take. For 1 stone or wood you may build a building of the respective size. Additionally (or instead) you may build 1 ship of the depicted type. For a Fishing Boat you pay 1 wood and 1 silver, for a Skuta you pay 1 wood and 2 silver.

Shipbuilding

Here you build either the less expensive ship of the indicated ship class for 1 wood, or the more expensive ship of that class for 2 wood. ("Less expensive" or "more expensive" refers to the ship's victory point value or price.)

If the ship is blue, you also receive 1 ale tile. Take the built ship from the supply and place it on a landing stage of the appropriate size.

With this action space you may build a Longship for 1 wood, and/or a small building for 1 wood and 1 silver.

Note: In the solo game and in the 2-player game, the house and shipbuilding spaces in columns C and D are merged into one space. A player placing Vikings there must choose between the upper and the lower action (indicated by the large OR symbol).

Processing / Textile Production / Crafts

The action spaces in these three categories follow the same principle described above: Give up what is shown to the left of the gray arrow and take exactly once what is shown to the right of the arrow.

On this space, you exchange 1 orange grain tile for 2 larger and more valuable red small ale tiles.
Here you exchange 1 orange herbs tile for 2 blue spices tiles and 2 silver.
If you have at least 2 animals (of any type), you may also exchange 1 beans tile for 1 salted meat tile.
If you have at least 4 animals, you may exchange 2 beans for 2 salted meat (or remain with 1 for 1).
Here you exchange exactly 3 of the depicted goods tiles for 1 silver, 1 clothing, and 1 vadmal. For the goods tiles you give up, you may choose any combination of wool, fur, linen, and hemp. (You may therefore give up three identical tiles, three different ones, or two identical and one different.)
In the forge, you may exchange 1 ore for 1 tile with a blacksmith tongs symbol and 1 random weapon card. Usually you will want to forge a gray special tile (16 of them show a blacksmith tongs symbol). However, you always have the option of forging a blue goods tile "Chest" or "Treasure Chest" instead.

Some spaces depend on the tiles in your supply or allow you to choose how much you wish to exchange.

Animal Spaces (green)

Green animal spaces are divided into three categories.

Livestock Market: In the top category, you may buy red animal tiles. Pay everything shown on the left side of the action space: the silver amount beneath the money bag and, if required, additional tiles. 1 sheep or pig costs 1 silver and 1 beans tile. For 2 silver, you receive 1 sheep, 1 horse, or 1 cattle tile with the pregnant side facing up (lying on a meadow).

Animal Husbandry: The Animal Husbandry category contains production spaces that follow the usual rule: give up what is shown on the left and take what is shown on the right. Note for the space in column D: you must give up exactly 2 pigs in order to receive the silver coin and the four tiles shown.

Products

Spaces in the Products category are yield spaces. On them you receive exactly what is depicted. A possible additional yield depends on whether—and which—animals you have in your supply.

Left: You receive 1 beans, 1 grapes, and 1 amber tile. If you have at least 1 animal (of any type), you also receive 1 egg.
Right: You receive the five tiles shown, and additionally 1 milk if you have at least 1 cattle or 1 sheep in your supply.
Choose 3 space: You always receive 1 hemp. Then you choose three additional yields (you may choose the same one multiple times). However, you may only choose yields whose depicted animal type you own. Finally, you receive 1 silver for each different yield you selected. (The space's icon reads "+1 per chosen animal type".)

Example: You own 1 cattle and 3 sheep, but no pigs. You choose the cattle yield twice and the sheep yield once. In total you receive 1 hemp, 2 furs, 1 wool, and 2 silver.

Gernot: Hemp used to be a widely cultivated and versatile plant, used for example for clothing, sack production, nutritional supplements, and rope making.

Environs and Trade (gold-brown)

Environs

Spaces in the Environs category allow you to take building materials and silver from the environs strips and draw weapon cards. The starting and ending environs strips may even provide goods and ships.

Whenever you take something from an environs strip, you always take from left to right (starting with the space closest to the green arrow).

Each environs strip contains exactly 7 spaces. If 2 building materials or tiles are stacked, they count as the same space and are taken together (for example the 2 ore or 2 silver shown in the image).

As soon as the last space of an environs strip is emptied, the strip is immediately removed from the game; any remaining extractions from that strip are lost.

"3 extractions" action: Choose one environs strip and take the content of up to 3 spaces from it. You may not take from different strips. Additionally, you receive 3 random weapon cards.
"4+1 extractions" action: Take the content of up to 4 spaces from one strip and exactly 1 space from another strip. You may not take the content of all 5 from the same strip. Additionally, you receive 1 building material of your choice from the supply and 2 random weapon cards.
Here you take nothing from the environs strips and instead receive everything shown: 2 wood, 1 stone, 1 ore from the supply and 1 random weapon card.

You take 3 wood and 1 stone from the upper strip and the spices from the last space of the other strip.

Barter Trade

Using barter trade, you may upgrade your goods tiles to more valuable goods. The number indicates how many tiles you may upgrade, and the number of arrows shows how many levels they increase.

With the right partial action "1 type of goods ↑", you upgrade exactly 1 goods tile to the next higher level. Keeping the same shape, you may upgrade:
- an orange tile → red tile,
- a red tile → green tile, or
- a green tile → blue tile. Additionally, you may take the content of 1 space from an environs strip.
With the left partial action "2 goods ↑", you may upgrade up to 2 goods tiles to the next higher level. They may be of the same type, but you may not upgrade the same tile twice in succession.
With the right partial action "1 type of goods ↑↑", you may upgrade exactly 1 goods tile twice in succession, for example orange → green or red → blue.

You may for example upgrade 1 sheep into 1 fur.

Another action space allows you to upgrade 3 different goods tiles in total.

Other spaces on the action board allow you to upgrade more than 2 goods or even upgrade goods by 3 levels.

Your red animal tiles may also be upgraded to green or blue tiles—as large tiles they cover many spaces on your boards.

Gernot: Before using these actions to trade your goods to more valuable ones, check how many and which goods you need for the upcoming feast and tax payment. It is advisable to place the goods needed for those there during the action phase as a test.

Long-Distance Trade (blue)

Many gray special tiles have a silver value and can be purchased using the blue Long-Distance Trade spaces—provided you have the required ship and pay the total price including the additional fee. (Some gray special tiles may only be forged or obtained through raids.) The blue goods tile "Tusk" also has a silver value and may be purchased in this way.

The three long-distance trade spaces offer different possibilities with different requirements:

Additional fee: 1 silver → buy 1 tile (requires Skuta)
Additional fee: 2 silver → buy up to 2 tiles (requires Knorr or Nef)
Additional fee: 3 silver → buy up to 3 tiles (requires Nef)

Add together the silver values of all tiles you wish to acquire and add the additional fee once. Pay the total price in silver and/or green tiles. You may combine those freely. The size of green tiles counts as their silver value (a green tile covering 2×2 spaces counts as 4 silver). Other colors may not be used for payment.

With the action space in column C (see the illustration above), you acquire the two tiles on the left. You may pay the total price of 5 (1 + 2 + additional fee) with 5 silver, 2 silver and 1 fur, or any other combination of silver and green tiles.

Emigration (yellow)

On the yellow Emigration action spaces, you may turn a ship from one of your landing stages to its reverse side and place it as far to the left as possible on the banquet table of your home board. The ship will no longer be available to you afterwards, but it reduces the amount of food you must provide during the feast (→ p. 10).

Place the reverse side of the ship correctly oriented on the banquet table: Fishing Boat, Knorr, and Longship are always placed vertically on the banquet table. Skuta and Nef are placed horizontally.

Emigration with these two ship types saves more food during the feast, but these ships are more expensive and have fewer victory points.

Place the ship from your second emigration to the right of the first one. By counting the empty spaces you can see that after each emigration, you need less food for the feast. In the current round for example you only need to cover 3 spaces.

If a money bag is printed on the action space, you must pay for the emigration:

For emigration with a Knorr/Nef (blue) or a Longship (red), pay silver equal to the current round. (For example, emigrating in round 3 costs 3 silver.) You may replace any part of this cost with green tiles, exactly as in long-distance trade (→ p. 18).
Emigration with a Fishing Boat or Skuta (both yellow) is always free.

In addition:

You receive any ore that was placed on an emigrated ship back into your supply. (The ore symbol with the backward arrow serves as a reminder.)
In the unlikely case that you have already emigrated so many times that the Vikings on the banquet table block space for another ship, further emigration is not possible.

Gernot: You do not lose Viking figures through emigration. The Viking figures represent the leaders of your clan and would never abandon you.

Occupations (brown)

You begin the game with exactly one light brown occupation card (→ Setup, p. 4), which you keep face down in your hand. During the game, dark brown occupation cards are added from the draw pile or by discovering a Kaupang. Only when you play a card does its function take effect.

The brown spaces in the Occupation category allow you to draw cards and/or play cards. The number before the symbol indicates how many cards you may draw or play.

Two of the action spaces have a gray trade arrow indicating on the left what you must give up in order to carry out everything shown on the right.

Drawing Occupations

New occupations are always drawn from the face-down deck and kept face down in your hand. You may hold any number of occupation cards.

Some cards have an "OR" effect at the bottom. If you have such a card in your hand, you may discard it at any time without effect and draw a new occupation as a replacement. (This can be useful if the card does not fit your plans.)

Another way to obtain occupation cards is through column D action spaces: whenever you place Vikings on a space in column D, you draw 1 occupation card before performing the action.

With this column D action space you draw 3 occupations in total: 1 as the column bonus, and 2 from the action space itself.

Playing Occupations

When you play an occupation, reveal it from your hand and follow its instructions. (More about the function of occupation cards is explained below. If you have a specific question about a card, you will find it described in detail in the appendix.)

Whenever you are allowed to play an occupation, you may instead discard it without effect and take the highest available victory point token from the supply. These tokens are worth the number of victory points printed on them at the end of the game. Once all victory point tokens are taken, this option is no longer available.

In addition to action spaces, there are other ways to play occupations:

You may place 1 additional Viking on an action space to play 1 occupation (and also draw 1 weapon card) before or after the action (→ p. 8).
When you completely cover one of the immediate effect spaces on your home board, you may play 1 occupation (→ p. 14).

How Occupation Cards Work

All occupation cards have the same structure:

Top left: card title
Top right: victory points for the end of the game
Below: the card's effect

If an effect refers to whether you "have" or "possess" something (for example a specific goods tile or animal type), the item must be in your supply, not already placed on your boards.

The OR Slash

Some cards include a slash ("/") indicating that there are multiple options to use this card. Most of the time, you can choose which option to use.

Example: When playing the Peacemaker, you receive either 1 wood or 1 ore.

If several elements with slashes are connected, they correspond to one another.

Example: If you fulfill the condition on this card, you receive 1 silver during round 1. In round 2, you receive 2 silver and in round 3 you receive 3 silver instead.

If there is no connection between the elements with slashes, you can choose freely for either option.

Example: The Self-Sufficient Farmer allows you to bring back 2 ships from your Kaupangs to your home board. No matter which small ship you choose, you can choose freely for the second, large ship.

Occupation Categories

Occupation cards fall into five categories:

Immediate Cards (yellow)

You receive the yellow effect immediately and once when playing the card. If you must have or give up something and cannot do so at that moment, the effect is lost and cannot be resolved later.

Repeatable Cards (blue)

Blue effects may be used any number of times during the game, even multiple times in succession. Some effects allow conversions of goods tiles and may be used at any time, even when it is not your turn. Other effects modify an action or game rule for you and may be used whenever that action or rule applies.

Whenever Cards (red)

Red effects include both a trigger and a reward. The trigger is shown in a slightly lighter shade. The trigger may be the start of a phase—in that case you receive the reward during that phase. Otherwise you receive the reward whenever you (or in some cases another player) perform the indicated action.

With this card, whenever you successfully use a Hunting action (trigger), you receive the content of 1 space of an environs strip (reward).

Once-per-Round Cards (brown)

These cards have both a dark upper section indicating the phase in which the effect may be used and showing the 1× symbol, and a lighter lower section describing the effect itself. When you use the lower effect, the card becomes exhausted by turning it 90° sideways. You may use the effect only if the card is not exhausted yet. At the end of each round, you may rotate all exhausted cards back into an upright position.

Example: Once per round in the action phase, you may use this occupation card when you use a Crafting action with exactly 1 Viking. Exhaust the card, to receive either 1 stone or 1 ore, just before using the action.

Once-Condition-Is-Met Cards (green)

Green effects occur exactly once during the game, but not when the card is played (unlike yellow effects). Instead, the effect occurs the next time after playing the card that you meet the condition described on it. If you had already fulfilled the condition before playing the card, the effect does not trigger immediately—you must fulfill the condition again.

Cards with Two Effects

Some cards contain two effects (usually an Immediate effect and another type), separated by color. When you play such a card, you may use both effects.

Special Cases When Receiving a Special Tile

Some Kaupang occupation cards grant you the special tile of the other Kaupang in that pair. In this case, simply take the indicated special tile from the corresponding Kaupang box.

Through the Tent Maker from Roskilde, you receive the Tent special tile from Dublin, which you take from the corresponding Kaupang box.

If you would receive a special tile through an effect but that tile has already been taken by someone else, take silver instead equal to the size of the special tile. Place these silver coins immediately on a placement area in exactly the shape of the special tile.

If the Cauldron is no longer available, you recreate it using 8 silver coins and immediately place them in that shape.

Hunting, Fishing, and Raids (red)

The red Hunting, Fishing, and Raid spaces provide actions that require rolling a die. On each space, the die used is shown in the upper left corner—either the orange 7-sided die or the blue 14-sided die.

In general:

In Hunting and Fishing, you want to roll low numbers, because you must pay the result using the depicted weapon cards and possibly wood.
In Raids, high rolls are advantageous because they determine the quality of your reward. You may increase your result using the depicted weapon cards and possibly stone.

Die Joker

During setup, each player received one die joker. You may use it once during the entire game to set the result of a roll with the orange die to 3.

You must use the die joker before the first roll, and afterwards it is removed from the game. (The joker can help prevent an early failure when you do not yet have many weapons.)

Hunting

In hunting actions, you want to roll as low as possible, because you must pay the result using the depicted weapon cards.

Performing the Hunting Roll

Roll the indicated die. To succeed, you must discard as many of the depicted weapon cards as your final result. If you cannot or do not wish to pay these costs, the hunting action fails.

Outcome	Result
Success:	Take the depicted reward.
Failure:	As compensation, you receive 1 weapon of each depicted type. In Laying a Snare and Drive Hunting, you also take back 1 or 2 Vikings from the action space.

Example of a Failed "Laying a Snare" Action: You choose the "Laying a Snare" action and place 2 Vikings on the space. You want to roll as low as possible with the orange die. First roll: 3. You could keep it, but you hope for a better result and roll again. Second roll: 7, which is too high. Third (and final) roll: 4. You could complete the hunt successfully by paying 2 traps and 2 axes, but you decide the cost is too high and choose to fail voluntarily. As compensation you receive: 1 trap, 1 axe, and you take 1 Viking back from the action space. If you had succeeded, you would have received 1 fur, 1 egg, and 1 trap weapon card.

Basic Rules for Die Rolls

For each of these actions, you may roll the indicated die up to three times. If you decide to roll again, the new roll replaces the previous result.

Once you accept a roll (or after rolling three times), your result is final. Then determine whether the action succeeds or fails. The exact outcome depends on the action type, but the basic principle is the same:

Success: You receive the reward shown (usually goods, occasionally cards).
Failure: You receive compensation:
- Take everything shown on the left side of the space (usually weapons, sometimes wood or stone), once each. Choose weapons from the face-up weapon cards; take wood or stone from the general supply. If a weapon is not available face up, take it from the draw pile and reshuffle afterwards.
- On spaces in columns C and D, you also take back 1 or 2 Vikings from the action space and return them to your Thing square. You may place them again later in the same round. (The Viking symbol in the lower left corner indicates this.)

Fishing

In fishing actions, you also want to roll low numbers, because you must pay the result with the depicted weapon cards.

First determine which ships will be used. You may still equip them before rolling (→ p. 12).

Net fishing: may be performed without a ship or with exactly 1 yellow ship.
Whaling: requires 1 yellow ship, and you must choose exactly one. If you have several ships, the one with the most ore is used.
Pothead whaling: requires at least 1 yellow ship, but you may use several ships (you can have up to four yellow ships on your landing stages).

Performing the Fishing Roll

Roll the indicated die.

For each ore on the ships used, subtract 1 from the die result, without discarding the ore. A final result of 0 is possible; negative results count as a 0.

To succeed, you must discard as many depicted weapon cards as the final result. During whaling, you may replace each weapon with 1 wood. If you cannot or do not wish to pay the cost, the fishing action fails.

If your final result is 0, voluntary failure is not allowed. You must keep the result and may not reroll.

Outcome	Result
Success:	Take the depicted reward.
Failure:	As compensation, take 1 weapon of each depicted type; during whaling, you also receive 1 wood. During whaling and pothead whaling, you also take back 1 or 2 Vikings from the action space and return them to your Thing square.

Example of a Successful Pothead Whale Hunt: You have a Skuta and a Fishing Boat that you have already equipped with 1 additional ore. For 4 silver, you quickly buy a second Fishing Boat, but you do not have any ore to equip it further. You choose the "Pothead Whaling" action and use the blue die. First roll: 9. If you kept this result, you would have to pay 5 spears/traps to succeed, because the 4 ore on your ships reduce the 9 to 5. You roll again and get a 3, which is reduced by 4 to 0. A final result of 0 means that your pothead whale hunt immediately succeeds. If you had instead performed a Whaling action with the same ships, you would have been allowed to use only one yellow ship—in this example the Fishing Boat with 2 ore on it.

Raids

During raids, you want to roll high numbers in order to capture the most valuable blue goods tiles or gray special tiles.

First determine which ships will be used. You may still equip them before rolling (→ p. 12).

Raid: requires at least 1 ship of any type. Any ore on that ship is ignored (which is why the ore symbol on the space is crossed out).
Plundering: requires exactly 1 Longship. If you have several, the one with the most ore is used.
Raiding Expedition: requires at least 1 and at most 2 Longships, but the reward is independent of how many ships are used.

Performing the Raid Roll

Roll the indicated die.

For each ore on the ships used, add 1 to the die result, without discarding the ore. On action spaces marked with this symbol (such as Raid), ore does not add to the result.
Afterwards, you may discard any number of longswords and axes to increase your result by 1 each. During Plundering, axes are not allowed, but stone may be used instead.

Outcome	Result
Success:	All blue goods tiles and all displayed special tiles have a sword value. Choose exactly 1 blue or gray tile as your reward whose sword value is equal to or lower than your final result. (If you choose a tile with a lower value, the difference is lost.) During a Raiding Expedition, you may choose 2 tiles as your reward, whose combined sword value must not exceed your final result. It does not matter whether you used 1 or 2 Longships.
Failure:	If your result is not high enough to capture any tile, the raid fails. Alternatively, you may voluntarily declare the raid a failure (usually because your result is not high enough). As compensation you receive: 1 longsword and 1 axe, or 1 sword and 1 stone in the case of Plundering. During Plundering and Raiding Expedition, you also take back 1 or 2 Vikings from the action space and return them to your Thing square.

Outcome

Result

Success:

All blue goods tiles and all displayed special tiles have a sword value. Choose exactly 1 blue or gray tile as your reward whose sword value is equal to or lower than your final result. (If you choose a tile with a lower value, the difference is lost.) During a Raiding Expedition, you may choose 2 tiles as your reward, whose combined sword value must not exceed your final result. It does not matter whether you used 1 or 2 Longships.

Failure:

If your result is not high enough to capture any tile, the raid fails. Alternatively, you may voluntarily declare the raid a failure (usually because your result is not high enough). As compensation you receive: 1 longsword and 1 axe, or 1 sword and 1 stone in the case of Plundering. During Plundering and Raiding Expedition, you also take back 1 or 2 Vikings from the action space and return them to your Thing square.

Example of a Failed Raid: You have 1 Longship and choose the Raid action. It does not matter how much ore is on the ship, because it cannot be added to the result. Using the orange die, you roll: first 4, then 5, and finally 1. Even with 2 stones and 1 longsword, your final result would be only 4, which would allow you to take only the gray "Arm Ring" special tile. Instead, you declare the raid a failure and take 1 longsword and 1 axe as compensation.

Example of a Successful Raiding Expedition: You have 1 Longship equipped with 2 ore and choose the "Raiding Expedition" action. Before the first roll, you equip the ship with 1 additional ore from your supply. First roll with the blue die: 4, but you hope for a better result. Second roll: 8, which you keep. With 3 ore and 1 longsword, you reach a final result of 12 and choose the gray "Chain mail" tile as your reward. Instead, you could also have chosen 2 tiles with a combined value of 12, such as two runestones.

Discovery (orange)

On the orange Discovery spaces you may discover new Kaupangs. This allows you to expand your display, which initially consists only of your home board, with additional placement areas. Each Kaupang has its own focus and contains either:

2 buildings, 2 action tiles, and 6 occupations (purple and turquoise Kaupangs), or
1 building, 1 action tile, and 4 occupations (blue, yellow, orange, and red Kaupangs).

Some Kaupangs also contain 1 gray special tile.

All Kaupangs that are placed in the holder and facing forward (that is, visible) are available for discovery. This information can also be found in the Kaupang booklets, as shown in the illustration.

The Avaldsnes Kaupang is available in rounds 1–3, as indicated by the number in the corner and the green spaces in the table.

In round 5, six Kaupangs have already been discovered, leaving their spaces empty. All other Kaupangs remain available for discovery—both the already turned Kaupangs Helsingborg, Hedeby, Birka, and Aalborg and the still unturned Kaupangs Cambridge, Nottingham, and Odense.

Discovering a Kaupang

To discover a Kaupang, you must have a ship. You only need to own the ship; you do not give it up.

Each Kaupang has a size of I, II or III. The size indicates which action space you need to use to discover the Kaupang and what kind of ship you need to do that.

The general rule is: The size of the Kaupang matches the minimum number of Vikings you need to place on the Discovery action space. And the fewer Vikings are required to discover a Kaupang, the more ship types can be used (making the discovery easier).

With the left action space and any ship, you may discover the Dublin Kaupang (and also receive 1 weapon card). On the middle space, you already need a large ship for a size-2 Kaupang. Size-3 Kaupangs may only be discovered on the right space, which requires a Longship.

Discovery Bonus

Once you have chosen a Kaupang, you first receive a discovery bonus. Look in the Kaupang booklet to see the discovery bonus for that Kaupang in the current round and take that amount of silver from the supply.

In round 1 and whenever you just turned a Kaupang, the discovery bonus is always 0 silver. In each subsequent round, it increases by 1 (in the short game by 2).

In round 3, discovering Vejle provides a bonus of 2 silver (or 4 silver in the short game).

Take the box of the chosen Kaupang from the holder and take out all components. Each box contains the components for two Kaupangs. First return all components that do not belong to the discovered Kaupang to the box and remove the box from the game. The other Kaupang in that box can no longer be discovered.

Note: All Kaupang components are marked with the number of their box, allowing you to sort them back quickly after the game.

Then prepare the discovered Kaupang as follows:

Turn the Kaupang board to the correct side and place it next to your home board. You may now cover it according to the placement rules for Kaupang boards (→ p. 13).
If the Kaupang contains 4 occupations, draw 1 random card; if it contains 6 occupations, draw 2 random cards. Take the drawn cards into your hand and return the remaining ones to the box. Kaupang occupations function exactly like normal occupations.
Turn the Kaupang buildings to the correct side and stack them under your red availability tile. They are not yet available for construction and must first be unlocked (→ p. 14). When you build the last building of a Kaupang, you may immediately play any occupation card (as indicated by the symbol in the upper left corner of the building).
If the Kaupang board contains a space for a gray special tile, place it there. This tile cannot be obtained through forging or raids. Instead, you may purchase it at any time by paying the depicted cost (similar to a production space).
Place the action tiles on the shaded spaces of the board or buildings. These must also be unlocked first before they can be placed on the action board. (The symbol on the shaded space reminds you that you receive 1 silver whenever another player uses the action of that tile.)

End of the Game and Scoring

The game ends after Phase 7 "Feast and Fill the Tax Barn" of the eighth round (or the sixth round in the shorter game). Therefore, no bonuses are paid out in the final round.

Before scoring, you may place any building materials, silver, and goods tiles still in your supply onto your boards and buildings, and you may also buy and send ships if applicable. Then score the game using the score pad.

The value of boards, buildings, and tiles is always shown in a Viking shield symbol. The player with the most victory points (VP) wins. In case of a tie, you share the victory.

Positive Points

Ships: Each ship on your landing stages is worth the VP shown on its front side. Fishing Boat: 3 VP, Skuta: 4 VP, Knorr: 5 VP, Nef: 6 VP, Longship: 8 VP. Ships placed on Kaupang boards are worth no points.
Emigrations: Each emigrated ship (i.e., placed on your banquet table) is worth the VP shown on its reverse side. Fishing Boat: 5 VP, Skuta: 6 VP, Knorr: 18 VP, Nef: 16 VP, Longship: 21 VP.
Discoveries: Kaupang boards are worth different amounts; each is worth the VP shown in its upper left corner. (The range is from 4 to 45 points.)
Buildings: For each building you have built, score the VP shown in the upper left corner of the building. Sheds are worth 8 VP, Stone Houses 11 VP, and Longhouses 17 VP. Kaupang buildings are worth varying amounts.
Constructions: For each completed construction (palisade, wall, grave), score the VP shown in the upper left corner of the corresponding board/building. Special case "Jomsburg (Vineta)": the harbor chain also counts for this.
Animals: Each animal in your supply is worth the VP shown on its visible side.
- Sheep: 2 VP / 3 VP (pregnant)
- Cattle: 3 VP / 4 VP (pregnant)
- Horse: 6 VP / 8 VP (pregnant)
- Pigs are always worth 1 VP each.
Occupations: For each occupation you played, score the VP shown in the upper right corner of the card. Note that some occupations are worth negative points.

Offsetting Negative Points with Positive Points

Add up all negative points that remain uncovered on your home board, your Kaupang boards, and your built buildings. If you received Thing penalties (→ Phase 7: Feast and Fill the Tax Barn / Thing Penalties, p. 11), enter 3 negative points per penalty here.

Subtract your total negative points from your total positive points to get your final score.

Incorrectly Placed Goods Tiles

It may happen that someone accidentally placed goods tiles next to each other even though the placement rules do not allow adjacency. In such cases, the mistake must be corrected immediately.

If you notice it too late (for example during scoring), we recommend treating this as one Thing penalty per incorrectly placed adjacent pair of tiles.

In the example on the left, three green goods were placed adjacent to each other: two green–green pairs result in two Thing penalties, for a total of 6 negative points.

In the example on the right, the same goods tiles were placed so that they are all adjacent to each other. This results in three green-green pairs and therefore 9 negative points.

Additional Rules

Gifts

It is explicitly not allowed to give away or discard goods, ships, boards, buildings, or cards in your possession—unless an action explicitly allows it.

Weapon Cards

If the face-down weapon card draw pile runs out, shuffle the discarded weapon cards to form a new face-down draw pile.

Whenever you gain a specific weapon card (for example through hunting compensation or a bonus), look for the corresponding card among the face-up discarded weapon cards. If it is not there, search the face-down draw pile for the card and shuffle the pile afterwards.

Silver Coins and Making Change

You may exchange silver coins at any time during the game. There are silver tiles with values of 1, 2, 5, and 10 silver.

Limited Components

Only the standard buildings are limited in quantity. Once a stack is empty, no more buildings of that type may be built.

All other components are unlimited:

Building materials: If building materials run out, you may take a Thing penalty tile from the supply, flip it to the "3×" side, and place a building material on it. That material then counts as 3 of that type.
Victory point tokens: Even if no victory point tokens remain in the supply, occupations may still be discarded instead of played. In that case, note 2 victory points for each additional discarded occupation.
Ships: There should be any number of ships. If you run out of ships of a type, please improvise.
Weapon cards: If you gain a specific weapon and cannot find it in either the draw pile or the discard pile, also use the "3×" side of a Thing penalty tile from the supply. Place it on a weapon card to indicate that the card represents 3 weapons of that type.
Goods tiles: If the available goods tiles run out, you may return tiles from fully covered areas to the general supply. You must then remember for the rest of the game that the area was already filled, or fill the spaces with silver or other tiles.

Variants

The Shorter Game (6 Rounds)

The shorter version of the game lasts 6 rounds (instead of the usual 8). It is aimed mainly at players who already know the game and are looking for a different challenge or a shorter play time.

Setup and gameplay follow the standard rules with the following changes:

Setup

Use the reverse side of the home boards (without the tax barn) and the 6-round side of the sequence track.
You start with 2 additional Vikings on your Thing square, since the banquet table has only 6 numbered spaces.
Remove 2 normal environs strips before shuffling the remaining 7 into a face-down stack and revealing the usual number of strips.
You also begin the game with a starting Kaupang. Starting with the last player in turn order and proceeding in reverse player order, choose a size-1 Kaupang and discover it immediately using the normal rules. Available choices: Skiringssal, Helsingborg, Rouen, Lincoln, Dublin, Brattahlíd, York, and Avaldsnes. Alternatively, you may assign the Kaupangs randomly.

Gameplay

The game ends after 6 rounds.
Kaupangs are replaced 2 rounds earlier. As a result, the first 3 Kaupangs are already replaced in round 1 if they were not chosen during setup. (This means: Skiringssal, Rouen, and Dublin can only be chosen during setup, because they are replaced in round 1.)
Follow the modified harvest distribution shown on the harvest track of your home board.
The discovery bonus for Kaupangs that were already available before doubles to 2 silver per round (instead of 1).

Solo Game

You play the solo game the same way as the multiplayer game, taking one turn after another. Since no one but you blocks action spaces, you leave your Vikings on the action board at the end of a round and play the next round with the Vikings of a second color.

Setup and gameplay follow the standard rules with the following changes:

Setup

Turn your home board to the side of your choice. You may play solo either over the normal 8 rounds or the shorter 6 rounds.
Choose 2 colors and take all 12 Vikings of both colors (in the example: Blue and Yellow).
Remove 1 Viking of the first color (in the example: Blue) from the game.
Place 1 Viking (normal game) or 2 Vikings (short game) of the first color on space 1 of the banquet table, and place 2 Vikings of that color on each odd-numbered space (3 and 5; in the normal game also on 7).
Place 2 Vikings of the second color on each even-numbered space (2 and 4; in the normal game also on 6).
The remaining Vikings of the first color (3 in the normal game, 5 in the short game) go to the Thing square. The remaining Vikings of the second color (4 in the normal game, 6 in the short game) go to the "waiting area" at the lower left of your home board.

In the first round of your game, you place your 4 blue Vikings on the action board. Leave them on the action board at the end of the round and move the 3 yellow Vikings from the waiting area to your Thing square. After that, you do not need the waiting area anymore, as the Vikings of the different colors alternate on the Thing square.

You do not need the drinking horns or the turn order board, since you always act first. Still draw a starting card to determine your additional starting weapon.

Gameplay

Play the first round as in the multiplayer game. In Phase 11, however, you do not take any Vikings from the action board. Instead, move the Vikings of the second color from the waiting area (lower left) to your Thing square. At the beginning of the second round, 2 more Vikings of that color are added from the banquet table.

At the end of the second round, leave the Vikings of the second color on the action board. Instead, take the Vikings of the first color back from the action board to your Thing square to play the third round with that color.

Repeat this pattern until the final round: in Phase 11, the color you just played remains on the action board, and you instead take the Vikings of the other color back from the action board. (Tip: the banquet table shows you which Vikings must be removed.)

Special rule "Action Copy": You may use your action copy tile to occupy a space again that is currently occupied by the "other" color (i.e., the Vikings currently on the waiting area). You do not receive a silver coin from the supply for doing so.