Midgard: The Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Contents
• Set-up
• Goal
• The Game
  • Card's Anatomy
• Hiring
• Preparation
  • Event Cards
  • Troop Cards
  • Lay Down Troops
  • Snedig
  • Class Table
  • Completing Troops
• Wildcards
  • Tyr
  • Thor
  • More than a Wildcard
  • Wildcards Sets
  • Claiming for Gods
  • Wildcard is not a Requirement
• Onslaught
  • Engage and Regroup a Troop
  • Travelling by Nine Worlds
    • Table of Mythological Worlds
  • Face a Challenge
    • Example
  • Instant Effect
  • How to Face a Challenge
  • Bonuses (Event and Reaction Cards)
    • Bonus in Challenges
    • Bonus in Battles
  • Might vs. Difficulty
• Battle Against Another Järl
  • The Battle
• Spoils
  • Discard
  • Reset Hand
  • Turn's End
  • Rules for Disposal
• Rewards
• Reaction Cards
• End of the Game
• Who Wins the Game?
• Reference Card

Game Contents

This box contains all items of the base game and all that is needed to play. The components of Midgard: The Card Game are:

• 122 Game Cards (88 Troops, 9 Wildcards, 17 Event Cards, 8 Reaction Cards);
• 40 Challenge Cards;
• 30 Reward Cards;
• 50 Coins;
• 06 Meeples (markers of players);
• 01 Board;
• 01 Rulebook.

Set-up

Place the board on table center allowing visibility and easy access for all participants of the game.

Shuffle the Game Cards, dispense nine cards to each player and place the remaining pile face down adjacent to Thing field of the board.

Allocate 6 coins for each player and place the remainder on the side of the Skat field of the board.

Shuffle the Reward Cards and place the stack face down next to the Rewards field of the game board.

Shuffle the Challenge Cards and place the stack face down adjacent to the Challenges field of the board.

Open 6 challenges and put them in the list of active challenges. Some of them will require to open other. Six is the minimum number of challenges that must be opened and placed in play.

Place the Meeples (markers of players) of all players at Midgard on game board, and that's it, now you can play Midgard!

Goal

The objective of each Järl is to accumulate Renown points by traveling around the Nine Mythological Worlds, by facing and winning Chalenges or even by winning Battles against other Järls.

In the end of the game, the player who has more Renown points is the winner.

The Game

A match of Midgard unfolds in rounds of players. In other words, each player, in your turn, performs actions in phases, as described below:

• Phase 1: Hiring (Mandatory)
  • Draw a card from the Thing;
• Phase 2: Preparation
  • Regroup all Troops engaged;
  • Lay down your troops on the table;
  • Play one, and only one, Event Card.
  • All the above actions, inside the phase, can be performed in any order.
• Phase 3: Onslaught
  • Engage one of your troops to perform each of the following actions:
    • Travel to one of the Nine Worlds;
    • Confront a Challenge;
    • Battle against another Järl that is in the same world as you.
  • All the above actions, inside the phase, can be performed in any order.
• Phase 4: Spoils
  • Discard a card.
  • If you won at least one challenge or travel to at least one of the Nine Worlds, complete your hand up to 9 cards.

Card's Anatomy

Event card: 1 - Type of Event (A = Attack, affects everyone at the table; M = Personal, only affects the player); 2 - Bonus; 3 - Effect.

Challenge card: 1 - Mythological World; 2 - Points of Renown; 3 - Instant Effect; 4 - Requirements; 5 - Difficulty; 6 - Calendar.

Troop card: 1 - Sequence; 2 - Icon Class; 3 - Might.

Reaction card: 1 - Type of Reaction (Defense, or Personal); 2 - Bonus; 3 - Trigger and Effect.

Hiring

The hiring marks the beginning of the player's turn. The player must draw a closed card in the Thing to start his turn.

Preparation

In the preparation phase, the player will use properly events to prepare his troops to Onslaught Phase. In this phase, the player must disengage the troops that have been used in the previous round (see below) and may play event cards and lay down all your troops on the table. All these actions can be performed in order which player wishes, however, they cannot be performed if player has started the Onslaught Phase (Phase 3).

Event Cards

Event cards have a pink ball in the top left corner. All cards with this identification must be played in the Preparation Phase and only in this phase.

Each player may play only one Event Card. The card effect, described therein, occurs immediately when it is played. Until all effects of the card are resolved, no player may take any other action (unless he plays a card of reaction).

The effects of the Events Cards are determined in the description field of each card (see Anatomy of the cards). Some events allow player playing other Event Card, which is described in text of the card.

Troop Cards

The forming Troop Cards are identified with a green or blue ball (wildcards) in the upper left corner of them. All cards that have this identification must be used to lower troops on the table and only take effect in the game when they are laid down. The cards with green ball are simple cards to form troops. Each represents a class and must be laid down to form troops under the rules of regimentation below. The cards with blue ball are wildcards, which specific rules are ahead.

Lay Down Troops

To form troops, a player must lay down the cards, from hand, on the table in sequence or in series. He/she can download [lay down], at once, how many troops as possible with the cards he/she has in his/her hands. However, each player can have a maximum of 5 troops on the table simultaneously. A troop must have a minimum of 3 cards to be laid down.

To lay down a sequence troop must be observed the numerical value that exists on the green ball. Each class corresponds to a number, as shown in the table. The cards, therefore, must be placed in sequence from lowest to highest number. A troop may be formed by sequences initiated in any number, taking into account it must have a minimum of 3 cards.

The troops in series are formed by cards of equal classes put together. Observe a minimum of 3 cards to lay down, and a set, entering only a kind. So, for example, if a player laid down a set of Berserkers, he cannot enter a card from another class in this group, only Berserkers. The exception is the wildcards, described ahead.

Snedig

The card of Snedig (Ladin) has no numbering, but the symbol of Special Troop on the green ball. This means that the Snedig is not a wildcard, but enters the troops in a special way. He never enters in a set troop of same type (in series), on the contrary, it shall be part of troops in sequence.

The Snedig is always placed at the beginning or at the end of a troop. This means that it is never surrounded on both sides. When placed at the beginning, there are no cards before him, when in the end, there are no cards after him (not even a wildcard or other Snedig). In other words, Snedig is always on the flanks of each troop.

Illustrated examples in the source: "Troop formed correctly" – a sequence with the Snedig at the end; "Troop formed wrongly" – "Wrong sequence with subsequent card to Snedig".

Class Table

Seq.	Class Name	Meaning
0	Hyggelig	Villager
1	Skålde	Scald
2	Kriger	Warrior
3	Berserker	Berserker
4	Bueskytter	Archer
5	Sjømann	Sailorman
6	Ränger	Ranger
7	Göddar	Cleric
8	Krigsjärl

Completing Troops

After your first troops have been laid down, in previous turn, is allow to the player to complete them. For this, he/she should insert new cards, which have obtained, by observing the rules described above.

Important: if a player will insert a card in a troop that has a Snedig, it must continue keeping at the beginning or at the end of the troop.

Example: a player has a troop formed as follows: Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Snedig, and want to insert a ranger. He must enter the Ranger between Sjømann and Snedig, leaving the troop with the following line: Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Ranger - Snedig. The same applies to wildcards, when the player is completing his own troops.

Wildcards

Wildcards are identified by the blue ball in the upper left corner. They are representations of the fighter gods Tyr (6 cards) and Thor (3 cards) and incorporate the troops to expand its strength by replacing a card class. Just like a conventional deck game, each wildcard serves to replace a card or more cards in a troop, but there are some details:

Tyr

Tyr works as a normal wildcard and should be placed in a troop to replace a single card. If a player, for example, has the following cards: Skald, Berserker, Bueskytter, Sjømann, Snedig and Tyr on hand. He/she can lay down the following troop: Skald - Tyr - Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Snedig. Therefore, Tyr is replacing Kriger.

If, on the next turn, the player has a Kriger card in his hand and want to lay down it in his/her troop, he/she should put it in the place of Tyr and Tyr must be putted beyond Sjømann or before the Skald. Tyr is not withdrawn its troop. If there is no possibility of relocating a wildcard, the player cannot place a card in its place.

Thor

Thor is a peculiar card. Despite always being counted as only one card, he replaces two cards in sequence and not only one.

For example, Thor replaces Kriger and the Berserker in a troop with the following line: Skald - Thor - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Snedig. However, for all purposes, this remains a troop of 5 cards.

To relocate the Thor in a troop, the player needs to fit the two cards that Thor is replacing and put it in another position. In the example above, should include Kriger and Berserker and move Thor into position between Sjømann and Snedig or before the Skald. As Tyr, if there is no possibility of relocating the Thor, the player cannot put two cards instead.

It is important to note that the Thor replaces two cards, then it cannot be put in a position that would not be replacing a card. It is impossible, for example, putting Thor after Runicastr or before Hyggelig, because in both cases there is only one card that can positioned on, the Snedig.

Another important observation is that the Thor, despite replacing two cards, counts as only one card. So, it is not possible, for example, lay down a troop with Thor and only one more card (Kriger - Thor, for example). Since they were being written off only two cards and the minimum is three to lay down.

More than a Wildcard

Contrary to what occurs in a conventional game of cards in Midgard you can have more than one wildcard in a troop. The maximum number of wildcards is equal to the half of total cards that compound a troop, rounded down. For example, a troop of 6 cards can have up to 3 wildcards; and a troop of 5 cards can have up to 2 wildcards.

Wildcards Sets

It's possible to insert wildcards in series troops. In this case, you should observe only the maximum amount of wildcards in a troop. If the wildcard is Thor, you should remember that it replaces two cards. Then in a troop like Berserker - Berserker - Thor, the wildcard would be replacing 2 Berserkers.

Claiming for Gods

Wildcards are gods and the gods can answer the call from any of the Järls in the game. So it is possible for players to withdraw wildcards from his/her opponent's troops, putting on them the card(s) that replace the wildcard(s). Otherwise, it is allow to put a wildcard in the opponent's troop to grab the card that wildcard replaced.

A player can only do this in the Preparation Phase and, therefore, should have already laid down troops on the table, in previous turn. He must use a card from your hand and put it in the enemy's troop, removing the card that is being replaced.

An example: Alfred has on the table the following troops: Skålde - Tyr - Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Snedig. Beatrice has troops already laid down on the table and is in turn and in its preparation. It uses a card of Kriger of your hand and fits in position, taking the Tyr to your hand. The troop of Alfred becomes: Skålde - Kriger - Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Snedig.

Another example: Catherin has on the table the following troops: Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Snedig. Alfred, from previous example, already has troops lowered the table and need a Snedig in one of his troops to meet the requirements to face the challenge "Crossing the Lava River". He puts the Tyr in place of Snedig Catherin's Troop and Alfred takes the Snedig for him and can use it in your troop. The Catherin's troop becomes: Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Tyr. Alfred can now download Snedig in his troop and go to Onslaught Phase, which will face the challenge "Crossing the Lava River".

Wildcard is not a Requirement

Although replacing cards, wildcards do not work as requirements from the replaced cards. Unless the Challenge Card indicates that Tyr and/or Thor are requirements, they not work for this purpose.

An example: Alfred wants to face the Challenge Draugr and has a troop with the following cards: Kriger - Berserker - Bueskytter - Sjømann - Tyr - Göddar - Krigsjärl - Runecästr - Snedig, however, he does not have the Ränger, because the Tyr (Wildcard) is taking in its place. So, it does not have the necessary requirements to face the Draugr and cannot face it. However, were facing the Challenge Hel, Alfred could combat it, once it has the necessary requirements (Bueskytter, Runecästr and Tyr).

Source page captions: "Correct uses of wildcards" – Thor replacing 2 cards and Tyr replacing 1 card; "Wrong use of a wildcard" – Thor always replaces 2 cards.

Onslaught

In the Onslaught phase, Järls use his/her troops, prepared in the previous stage, to perform their actions: travel to one of the Nine Worlds, face Challenges and/or Attack another Järl that is in the same world as him/her. The player can perform any actions as possible and in the order he/she wants. This means that he/she can, for example, face a Challenge Card in the world he/she are, then travel to another world, Contending against another Järl and if there are still available troops, face a new Challenge, or perform a new journey and Contending again.

All actions are performed using player's troops laid down on the table. To perform any action, player must Engage troop(s) required(s), indicating that(s) troop(s) is(are) busy(ies) with the respective action (see Engage and Regroup a Troop below for more details). A troop Engaged is regrouped only at the beginning of Järl's next turn or when some any effect demands this (such as Event Card or other). While staying engaged, the troop is considered busy and cannot take any action or defend itself in battle.

Engage and Regroup a Troop

Whenever a player, during the Onslaught Phase, uses a troop to perform an action, he must engage it. Engaging means using a troop to perform an action. When engages a troop, the player must tap one of the cards of that troop (the last card, for example) to indicate that the troop was engaged. The troop must remain so until the beginning of the next player's turn or until a card determines that the troops should be regrouped. When this occurs, the player returns the tapped card to its original position, indicating that the troop is available to perform a new action.

An Engaged troop is considered to fulfilling an action and cannot makes any other actions or defender it's Jarl in a battle.

Travelling by Nine Worlds

All Järls start the game at Midgard (the man kind world and the mythological representation of the Earth) and can travel freely to any of the other Mythological Worlds: Nidavellir (underground kingdom of the dwarves), Vanaheim (world of Vanir gods), Jotunheim (inhospitable land of the frost giants - the Jotuns), Alfheim (home of the magical Alfar - the Elves of Light), Niflheim (home of the dishonored dead), Muspellsheim (boiling kingdom of giants of fire), Svartalfheim (dark world of Svartalfar - the Dark Elves) and finally Asgard (Aesir gods realm). Each world is represented by a color and an icon (rune). This representation appears both on the board and in the Challenge Cards.

Table of Mythological Worlds

World	Requirement	Benefit
Midgard	1 troop of 4 cards	Draw a card from Thing
Nidavellir	2 troops of 3 cards	Draw 2 coins from Skat
Vanaheim	1 troop of 5 cards	Choose a card in Valhalla and put it in your hand¹
Jotunheim	1 troop of 3 cards and 1 troop of 4 cards	Choose a card in Krog and put it in your hand²
Alfheim	1 troop of 6 cards	Choose a Challenge Card from Active Challenge List and Assets it to you³
Niflheim	3 troops of 3 cards	Draw 1 Reward Card
Muspellsheim	2 troops of 2 cards	Draw 1 Reward Card
Svartalfheim

¹ The player must pick up the Valhalla pile and choose any of the cards in the stack. If there are no cards in the stack, it just does not get the benefit. During the game, at any time, players can look at the existing cards in Valhalla.

² The player must pick up the Krog pile and choose any of the cards in the stack. If there are no cards in the stack, it just does not get the benefit. During the game, at any time, players can look at the existing cards Krog pile.

³ The player must choose one of the open challenges and put it in front of him/her also opened. If there are less than 6 active challenges, a new challenge must be opened immediately. The challenge chosen by the player is considered reserved and only that player can face it. This challenge reserved is not available to other player, however it is considered active and its instantaneous effects apply (see Instant Effect). To face this challenge the Järl must comply with all rules necessary as if facing any challenge. A player can reserve only one challenge at a time. If he/she has a reserved challenge and set aside another, he must discard the first.

Note on the table: the Muspellsheim requirement is printed as "2 troops of 2 cards", which is below the three-card minimum stated for laying down a troop elsewhere in this rulebook. It is transcribed as printed.

Each world has a requirement for troops that must be engaged for the player can travel to and a benefit what the player receives when arrives in that world. A player can travel from one world to any of the others, just owning the necessary requirements.

The requirement of troops is represented by an icon of a soldier and a number. The icon represents the amount of troops and the number represents the minimum quantity of cards that each troop must be assembled. For example, 2 troops (two icons of soldiers), with 3 cards each (number 3) are required to traveling to Nidavellir; or, to go to Jotunheim, the player must engage one troop with 3 cards (a soldier, number 3) and 1 troop with 4 cards (1 soldier, number 4).

When the player travels to a world, he/she takes his/her meeple in the source world and places it in the world which traveled for. Doing this, he/she gets the benefit of that world. This benefit is represented by an icon next to the requirement of troops and must be given to the player immediately to complete the journey. The benefit is only available to the player when they complete the trip, arriving in the world. This means that the player does not get the benefit of the world if it remains on it. Each world has its own benefit, as can be seen in detail in the table above.

Important: The number in front of the soldier's icon is the minimum quantity of cards that a troop must have to make a trip. Therefore, a troop of 6 cards, for example, can be used to travel to Midgard, which needs at least 4.

Note: Thor is a wildcard that represents 2 cards, but always counts as only one card. Then, a troop with Thor in his formation does not have a card more.

Face a Challenge

The most efficient way for a Järl expand his renown is facing and overcoming challenges. Possible challenges to be faced are those opened in the list of active challenges or reserved by the player. To face a challenge the player must be in a determined world indicated on the top of the card of the challenge and fulfill the requirements at the bottom of the card.

The challenges are those available in the open list of active challenges. In the beginning of the game are open 6 challenges and this value should always be the minimum number of open challenges in the game. Whenever any time when a Challenge Card is opened a new Challenge may be claimed (see Instant Effect, below), than this number increases by 1.

Example: there are opened the challenges: Bjorkun - Trade - Fenrir - Scots - Dipute of Runes - Saxons. The "Dispute of Runes" Challenge indicates that should have been open a new challenge. That means we have 7 challenges at stake, instead of 6. Let's suppose that the new open challenge is "Crossing the storm" Challenge, which also determines you to open a new challenge. This means that we must have eight active Challenge Cards in game, and so on.

Whenever a challenge is overcome and this causes the list of challenges is less than 6, a new challenge must be opened (and set active) to complete the total of 6.

Important: if a player uses "Urd's Auspices" card and renew all the challenges, the new list of challenges will consist of 6 challenges, regardless of the number of challenges that was active before the use of that card.

A Järl can engage only one troop to face a challenge. That troop must have all the necessary requirements to confront it. However, the player may need more troops and, therefore, must pay coins. Each extra troops engaged in addressing a challenge costs 1 coin. When Järl uses over a troop the requirements can be dispersed among all troops.

All players always suffer the Instant Effect of the challenges, unless they have a card that makes them immune.

Example

A player, in Muspellsheim, has three troops on the table and decides to face Surt, King of Fire Giants. He/she engages his first troop (Kriger - Berserker - Thor - Ranger) and realizes that this is not enough; then he/she pays a coin and engages a second troop (Tyr - Krigsjärl - Runecästr). Now he/she has all the requirements needed to face Surt, but the Might of his two troops is not enough to defeat Surt. He/she paid more money and decides to engage his third troop (Hyggelig - Skålde - Snedig) and the sum of their power is 20, and the power of Surt is 17. No other player decides to put a bonuses card to Surt and the player wins the challenge.

Instant Effect

There are challenges that have an instantaneous effect identified by the instant-effect icon. The effects described in the text indicated by this icon enter into operation and should be applied at time the challenge is opened.

Some of these effects are unique and applied at the moment the card is opened. It is the case of Fenrir, for example, its text is "All players return to Midgard". Once the card of Fenrir opens, all players must pick up their meeples and put them back on Midgard (without receiving the benefit of the world, since they not traveled there, but were transported to Midgard by an effect of a card).

Other effects are lasting or occur at specific times, as in the examples below:

• Dragon Hrodsorm: "All Active Challenges get +1 while Dragon Hrodsom is active". Means that while the Hrodsorm Dragon remains open (even if booked by a player) all other challenges have difficulty +1.
• Draugr: "Each Troop in combat with the Draugr have -1 attack". It means that the player, when you face the Draugr must apply -1 in the power of each troops he/she is using to try to win the challenge.

How to Face a Challenge

Before facing any Challenge, the Järl must fulfill the requirements for this. If you do not fulfill all requirements of the challenge, the player cannot face it. The requirements are:

• Mythological World: each Challenge Card has in its upper portion, the representation of the world that it belongs. This representation appears in the card by the image of the world, as it is seen on the map, and the world icon (as well as its color). To face the challenge, the player must be in one of the worlds that appear at the top of the card. If the Järl is not in the world of a Challenge he/she cannot face it and must travel to access this challenge.

  There are challenges that are present in only one world. This is the case, for example, of the Draugr that can only be faced in Niflheim. Others Challenges are present in both worlds, and can be faced in any of them. This is what happens with the Kraken, which can be faced both in Vanaheim, as in Asgard. And there is a third type of challenge that can be faced in any world. These have only a representation of a ripped parchment in the upper portion of the card and no indication of any mythological world. This means that player can face them anywhere on the board, regardless of the world they are located. The Fenrir is an example of this type of challenge.

• Classes and other requirements: in the lower portion of the card are the requirements themselves. The requirements indicated in that part of the card are as follows:

  • Classes: the troop (or troops) which will face the challenge must possess all classes identified in the card. Classes are represented by their icons and can be identified by comparing with each card class. To face the Huldre People, for example, the troop must have a Skålde and a Bueskytter. To face a Veksorm from Caves, the troop must have a Ranger, a Runecästr and a Snedig.
  • Discard: some challenges (Fenrir and Jormungand) require discard a card before facing him. This means that when the player declares which will face one of these challenges, in addition to fulfilling all other requirements, he must have a card to discard (subject to the rules of discard). Only after having discarded the card may be compare all other requirements and the strength of his/her troop(s) with difficulty value of the Challenge.
  • Coins: sometimes you need to pay a coin to perform some activities. Where the coin icon appears in the list of requirements, the player must pay a coin before facing the challenge. Only after you have paid the coin, you may compare all other requirements and the strength of his/her troop(s) with difficulty value of the challenge.

Some requirements are presented with a subscript number. This number identifies the amount needed of that requirement. Face a "Maelstrom", for example, requires 2 Sjømann. "Crossing The Ice Lake" requires 2 Ränger, "Trade" requires the payment of 1 coin and 2 Hyggeligs.

Unless the effect of a card says otherwise (as is the case of Balder's Assistance), it is necessary that all requirements are fulfilled to face a challenge.

Bonuses (Event and Reaction Cards)

The Event Cards and Reaction Cards have in the lower left corner the annotation of a sum value that can be: +3, +5 and +7. These values can be used to add bonus to the strength of the troops or the difficulty of the challenges. When used this way, as a bonus, these cards lose their effect (event or reaction) and serve solely to add their bonus to what they were applied.

Only one bonus card can be applied to a troop (or group of troops) or a challenge, in other words, if a player has placed a bonus, neither he/she nor anyone else, can add one or more bonuses.

Whenever a player uses a card as a bonus, he/she discards it and therefore takes a new card from Thing to replace the card discarded.

Bonuses are always placed facedown both on a troop or on a Challenge and they are revealed simultaneously by both players, as described below:

Bonus in Challenges

Whenever a player faces a Challenge other players may want to rattle him by placing a bonus to increase the power of the Challenge. Only one player can place a bonus on the Challenge and, in this case, there is precedence in the order of the game. Thus, the first player to the left of the player who is facing the challenge has a preference to put the bonus. If he/she does not, the second player can place a bonus, if he/she does not, a third and so on. The important thing is that the moment a player put a bonus on Challenge, no one else can do it.

The player, who is facing the challenge, can then put one bonus in his/her troop(s) to increase its strength.

The bonus cards are placed closed (facedown), one on the troops and the other on the challenge, and are revealed simultaneously, adding their values to the power values of troops and challenge. The summed values at both sides indicate the contention winner.

Bonus in Battles

When in a battle, players can put bonus on their troops. Each Järl, participant of battle, can put a bonus card in his/her troop(s). The bonus cards are placed closed upon each troop (attacker and defender), and are revealed simultaneously, adding their values to the power values of the attacker and defender troops, respectively. The summed values at both sides indicate the contention winner.

Might vs. Difficulty

The might of an army is its power. And with this value, the troop can both fight and accomplish things. It is given by the sum of the existing numbers in the lower left corner of each component of a troop card.

Example: Peter has the following troops: Kriger (1), Berserker (1), Thor (6), Ranger (1) and Göddar (2). The values in parenthesis are the power values of each card of the troop. So, the total troop power that is the sum of these values, which, in this case, is 11.

When facing a challenge, the player must compare the power of his troops with the difficulty of the challenge. The difficulty of each challenge is the number on the shield of the Challenge Card. This number can be increased by the effects of summer and winter (see Summer and Winter), by Instant Effects (as explained above) or by bonus cards from other players (see Bonuses in Challenges and Battles). The added power of the troop (or troops), must be greater than or equal to the difficulty of the challenge for the player to win.

Example: based on the Peter's troop, cited in the previous example. His troop power is 11 and he faces the Jotun, in summer (in winter the Jotun has +2). He has all the requirements (Berserker and Göddar) and the strength of his troop exceeds in 1 of the Jotun's defense, who is 10. However, Thomas, on his left, puts a card bonus for Jotun (see Bonuses in Challenges and Battles) and also Peter decides to place a bonus. The card from Thomas is "Loki's Trickery" (+5). So, the Jotun finds it difficult to 15. Card bonuses from Peter is "Odin's Reprimand" (+7), so the Peter's troop strength shall be 18. Then he wins the challenge.

Winning a Challenge

By winning a challenge the player must accomplish the following:

• Renowned: the winner takes the card of the challenge for you and puts it besides to his troops. The renown points obtained for the victory are represented by the number in the yellow ball at the top portion of the card of challenge. In the case of the previous example, Jotun, Peter gains 5 points of Renown.
• New challenge: if the list of active challenges remains less than 6 challenges, the player must open a new challenge and immediately apply your Instant Effect at the same time.
• Calendar: if the Challenge Card has the Nordic calendar icon in the lower right corner, the calendar tray should be rotated one step in a counterclockwise direction, toward the end of the game. If the spin causes the timing range marking the sword on board, the game ends. In the previous example, in which Peter won the Jotun, the calendar would be turned.
• Valhalla: whenever a troop (or more) faces and win a challenge, it means that his soldiers fought bravely and can follow to Valhalla – the place where the valiant and honorable fighters go after death, in which there are eternal battles, banquets and drinking! – Thus, all the cards of the troops (or troops) who won the challenge should be discarded in Valhalla. The waste disposal rules should be disregarded in this case and all cards must be placed in Valhalla.

Important: the troops of a Järl just go to Valhalla when he wins a challenge. There will be only sent troops engaged to overcome that challenge. The other troops remain on the table. Troops engaged to a challenge that could not been defeated will not go to Valhalla and remain engaged until the beginning of the next player's turn. Do not win a challenge does not mean that the troop was defeated by it, but was not able to face it, retreats and so on.

After that, the player can engage other troops to accomplish another actions or move to finish his turn.

Summer and Winter

The climate in northern world is severe and full of fear. Therefore, despite the four seasons, it is common that the Vikings split the year in a warm season (which is not so hot as well) and a cold season – summer and winter –. The calendar of the board, in addition to marks the game time, also marks the seasons of the Nordic year. Every spin in the calendar indicates that a new station appears, always alternating between summer and winter.

Some Challenges has, near the icons representing summer and winter, a value of bonus superimposed on these icons. This means that these challenges have bonuses in their difficulty in one of the Nordic calendar seasons. Players should always observe what season is on game calendar and apply the bonus defined in the difficulty of the respective Challenge Card.

Example: in winter, Jotun has bonus +2, then its difficulty becomes 12. In summer Vekksorm of the Seas has +1, then its difficulty becomes 11.

The effects of the seasons remain in the game only while the calendar remains in that position; and are cumulative with all other effects.

Example: in the list of active challenges there is a Hrodsorm Dragon (+1 to all active challenges) and Vekksorm of the Seas, among others. And the calendar marks summer. This means that the difficulty of Vekksorm of the Seas right now is 12 (10 + 1 from Summer + 1 from Hrodsorm Dragon). However, Alice faces and wins the Trollgjaldi and that causes the calendar to rotate one step, becoming winter. So, the difficulty of Vekksorm becomes now 11 (10 + 1 Hrodsorm Dragon).

Battle Against Another Järl

The battles are contentions among two Järls' troops. For a player to start a battle with another player he must fulfill the following requirements:

• Mythological World: a Järl can only send its troops to fight a Järl who is in the same world as him.
• Troops laid down: one Järl that has no troops on the table represents no threat, so a Järl can only send his troops to fight another Järl that has troops on the table.
• Pay 1 coin: to battle against another Järl the player must pay a coin for each troop he engages.

The Battle

To start the battle (after fulfilling the requirements described above), the player (attacker) engages a troop (only one) and declares that this troop is attacking the troops of another player (defender). The defending player can engage an army to defend himself from the attack. Both attacker and defender add the powers of their troops and the highest value wins. Moreover, as happens in the challenges, both may include bonus cards, raising the values of power (see Bonuses in Challenges and Battles).

Example: Alice and Benjamin are in Nidavellir. Both have troops on the table. Alice engages one of her troops (6 of strength) and declares that the player is attacking Benjamin. He, in turn, has his strongest troops already engaged (since he faced challenges in his turn) and there remains only one troop of power 4 regrouped. He engages this company to defend himself and adds a bonus card. Alice, even though in theoretical advantage, also adds a bonus to the card of her troop. The cards are revealed: Alice has put an "Ivaldi's Forge" (+3) and Benjamin one "Roots of Yggdrasil" (+7). Thus, the power of the troops of Alice is 9 and Benjamin's is 11. Benjamin wins the battle.

The prize for winning a battle (attacking or defending) is a Reward Card, which must be taken from the Rewards pile. Troops are not lost in battles (unless by the power of a card) and the troops used in battle remain engaged until the beginning of the next turn of each player.

If a player declares a battle against another player and it refuses to defend or has engaged all its troops and cannot defend themselves, the attacker takes 2 Reward Cards, chooses one and returns the other to the top of the stack of rewards.

Important: in case of a tie, the attacker wins the battle. So, if in the example above, Alice had put the card as a bonus "Loki's Trick" (+5), the strength of her troops would be 11 and she would win the battle.

Spoils

The spoils phase is the closing of the player's turn and splits into two actions:

Discard

At the end of each player turn, it is mandatory to discard a card from hand, respecting the rule of disposal (see Rules for Disposal). The player will not be forced to discard only when he/she has no cards in hand. Otherwise, even if he/she has only one card, he/she must do the disposal.

Reset Hand

If at the end of his turn the player has made at least one trip or won at least one challenge, he must replenish his hand by drawing up to 9 cards. I.e., he/she must draw cards from Thing until he/she has 9 cards in hand. This replacement should be made mandatory after the disposal.

If the player did not do any of the acts described above (a trip or win a challenge) he/she does not reset the hand and must wait until the beginning of your next turn to buy a card in the Thing. Winning a Battle against another Järl is not considered a feat and does not allow the player to reset his/her hand.

If there are not enough cards in the Thing pile to reset the hand, the player must shuffle both the Krog (except the card on the top) and Valhalla decks and put them in the Thing stack.

Turn's End

After a player discards a card and resets his/her hand, if possible, he/she ends his/her turn and the turn passes to the next player. At that moment, one of the most important elements of the game happens: Contracting in Krog.

The Krog is the tavern of the Nordic people. It is there that the soldiers go after being waived by Järls, and they become available for hire by other Järls. So it is also important to observe the game of opponents: to discard wisely (a soldier dropped by you can become an important element in the ranks of your opponents).

Contracting in Krog happens as follows: whenever a player completes his turn and the turn passes to the next player (on his/her left), the top card in Krog is available to be hired. It can be purchased by any of the players at the table, observing the order of precedence that will be in the way that the game is rotating. This means the first player at immediate left of the player who just ended his/her turn has the preference for purchase. If he/she does not want to contract, the second can. If the second does not want, the third can, and so on, until the circle closes and the player just ends its turn. Only one card can be purchased from Krog at that moment, and only the top card from the pile. This means that if a player buys a card, no other player can do that.

To purchase the card, the player must pay a coin and take the top card from the Krog pile and a card from the top of the Thing pile too, and put both in his/her hand.

Important: Contracting in Krog is held between shifts of two players. So if the first player to the left of the player who ended the turn wants to make Contracting in Krog, he will take the top card of Krog and a card in Thing. Then, the turn starts with its first action, and he draws a card at the Thing (phase Hiring).

Rules for Disposal

In Midgard there are two discard piles: the Krog and the Valhalla. Krog means tavern, and that is where soldiers go after being waived by the Järl. The Valhalla is the great hall of the gods, where go the fighters killed in battles with honor and with their tired hands from battles.

Whenever a player discards a card, and there is nothing to indicate otherwise, it must obey the following rules:

• In Krog, are always discarded Troop Cards and Wildcards, i.e. cards of green and blue balls, respectively.
• In Valhalla, are always discarded Event and Reaction Cards, i.e. cards of roses [pink ball, as printed] and golden balls, respectively.
• Still, whenever a troop wins a challenge, all its Troop Cards are discarded at Valhalla (regardless of their types).
• Whenever an Event or Reaction card is played, after applying its effect, it should be dropped in Valhalla. However, this does not count as the disposal of the player at the end of his turn, since the card was not discarded but used.

Important: when the Thing cards run out, it must immediately reshuffle all cards from Valhalla and Krog (except the card on the top) and put the new deck in the Thing downwards.

Rewards

The rewards are acquired by victories in battles against other Järls and by travelling to some worlds on the board. There are two kinds of reward in the basic game: Renown Points and Coins.

The Renown Points count as points to win the game at the end of the match. A player must hide the points of reward cards. So the reward cards remain facedown until the end of the game.

The coin reward remains facedown until the player wants to take its coins (it can be revealed anytime). So he/she reveals the reward card and gets the coins from the Skat. The revealed card remains in his/her playing area until the end of the match.

Reaction Cards

Reaction Cards are identified by a golden ball in the upper left corner. These are the only cards that can be played out of turn by a player, in response to a situation (trigger) given in the card.

Every reaction card has two pieces of information: the trigger, identified by an icon, and an effect, identified by an indented and italicized text. The trigger is the situation or the fact that must occur for that reaction card to be played. The effect is what occurs when the reaction card is played. Thus, a reaction card may be played only when its trigger occurs, and immediately after the trigger has happened. This can occur in the turn of the player who is playing the card or in the turn of any other player.

When a reaction card is played, the player who played it takes a new card from the Thing, and then the game immediately moves to resolve the reaction.

Card anatomy (Reaction card): 1 - Type of Reaction (Defense, or Personal); 2 - Bonus; 3 - Trigger and Effect.

Example 1: Adam, in turn, plays the "Loki's Trick" event (which causes all players to discard a card, and the player who played it stays with one of them). Bethany, who did not want to miss a card, plays "Odin's Reprimand" as a reaction. The trigger of this reaction is "An Event or Reaction card is played", and that is what happened, because Adam played an Event Card. The effect of "Odin's Reprimand" is "Cancel the card played". Therefore, it cancels the "Loki's Trick" and nobody needs to discard a card. Bethany, who played the reaction card, must take a card from the Thing to replace the Reaction Card played.

Example 2: Charlie engages one of his troops to face the challenge "Exploring the Underground". However, his troop does not have a Snedig, which is one of the requirements. He then uses the "Balder's Assistance" reaction, whose trigger is "A troop is engaged in addressing a challenge" and whose effect is "Ignore one of the requirements of the challenge." Thus, it ignores the requirement Snedig and he can meet the challenge normally. After playing the reaction he draws a card from the Thing to replace the card played.

End of the Game

Playtime is determined by the Norse Calendar. Every challenge won that has the calendar icon (bottom left corner) rotates the wheel of the calendar one step in the counterclockwise direction. [Editor's note: the Challenge Card anatomy and the Winning a Challenge section place this icon in the lower right corner; the End of the Game section says bottom left. The source is inconsistent; both are transcribed as printed.]

The game ends when the dial (the circle which determines the seasons - summer and winter) comes to the sword marking on the board.

Normally, the circle starts the game in the position of the sword, and shall make a full round to define the end of the game. This determines 8 turning points, 4 for summer and 4 for winter. A standard game, with the circle starting at the position of the sword, lasts approximately 90 minutes. However, the circle can be positioned at a later point in order to allow a faster match. This should be decided before the match begins and must observe the proportion of times that summer and winter appear in the game.

Other ways to turn the calendar are by Event Cards, Special Rewards (only in a few expansions) or by Heroes (expansion too).

Who Wins the Game?

At the end of the game all players count the Renown points they have accumulated, and the player who has the most points wins the game. The Renown is given by the challenges overcome and the Reward Cards, and is always presented by a number inside a yellow ball.

In case of a tie, the following tiebreakers are applied in the order set forth below:

1. More points of Challenges: the player with the most accumulated Renown for winning challenges wins.
2. Number of Coins: if there is still a tie in score by challenges, the player with the most coins at the end of the game wins.

If neither of the above two criteria decides the victory, the game is a draw, and a new game should be started to decide who is the most renowned Järl of the Nine Worlds!

Reference Card

Printed on the last page of the rulebook.

During the game

• Minimum of 3 cards to lay down a troop.
• Troops and Wildcards are discarded in Krog.
• Events and Reactions are discarded in Valhalla.
• Coins paid go to the Skat.
• Rewards received are kept facedown until the end of the game.

Set-up

• 09 cards of each player.
• 06 coins for each player.
• 06 challenges are opened in the beginning of the game.
• All players begin in Midgard.
• Calendar in the start position (sword by default).