Raids Rulebook

Table of Contents

Overview and Goal of the Game
Game Elements
Setup
- Starting Vikings by Player Order
Gameplay
- Summary of a Voyage
- Overview of a Turn
  - Phase 1 - Take a Voyage Tile
  - Phase 2 - Navigate
Rules of Navigation
- Discard All Voyage Tiles Between You and the Next Player in Front of You
- Navigate to the Tile You Want to Visit Next
Fighting an Opponent
End of the Turn
Passing by a Village, Visit, or Pillage Tile
Fighting Monsters
End of the Voyage
- Begin a New Voyage
End of the Game
- Scoring Glory Points
Clarifications on Voyage Tiles
Variant for 2 Players
Clarifications on Harbor Tiles
Credits

Overview and Goal of the Game

Over the course of four Voyages, prepare your crew and steer your Longship to the best locations to discover the most treasure and earn the greatest glory.

Another Viking may have his sights set on the same location as you. Don't hesitate to order your Vikings to attack his ship and try to make him run away. Only one of you can leave with the treasures you've discovered!

The player with the most Glory points at the end of the fourth Voyage wins the game.

Game Elements

4 Longship markers — Longship markers come in four colors, corresponding to the colors of the Longship boards. They track each player's progress on the World board.

4 Longship boards — Longship boards represent the players' Longships. Each board shows the following parts: the stern ends the Longship. The bow displays the player's color. You can place Voyage tiles on the 5 middle spaces. You can place a single Viking pawn on each Shield space.

40 Viking pawns — Viking pawns represent the Vikings you can recruit during your Voyages. They allow you to fight other players and brave terrible monsters.

20 Coins — Coins represent Glory points equal to the value shown on them. A value-6 Coin would give you 6 Glory points at the end of the game, a value-3 Coin gives you 3 Glory points, and a value-1 Coin gives you 1 Glory point.

1 World board — The World board represents the world you are exploring during the four Voyages. It shows the Harbor tile space, the starting positions, arrows that show the direction of Navigation, the Voyage tile spaces, the Villages, and the Viking pawn reserves.

64 Voyage tiles — Voyage tiles represent all the different things you might encounter during your Voyage. These tiles allow you to accomplish heroic feats during the game (see the "Clarifications on Voyage Tiles" section for more details).

IMPROVE YOUR LONGSHIP — Weapon, Sail, and Mjöllnir tiles: place these tiles on the 5 middle spaces of your Longship board.
GAIN GLORY POINTS — Goods and Pennant tiles: place these tiles on the 5 middle spaces of your Longship board.
GAIN GLORY POINTS BY COLLECTING — Rune tiles: place these tiles next to your Longship board.
SELL GOODS — Port tiles: place these tiles next to your Longship board.
PASS AN EVENT — Visit and Pillage tiles: these tiles remain on the World board. You can never stop on these tiles.
FIGHT A MONSTER — Monster tiles: these tiles remain on the World board as long as the Monster is undefeated. You can never stop on these tiles.

9 Harbor tiles — Each Harbor tile shows a different condition that awards victory points to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd players who can best fulfill it. The symbol on the tile shows what condition the players need to meet.

One of the Harbor tiles has no specific condition. It is always (and only) used for the first Voyage.

Setup

For a two-player game, changes for setup are described in the "Variant for 2 Players" section.

Place the World board in the middle of the table.
Each player chooses a Longship board, takes the Longship marker of the matching color, and places both in front of them.
Place the Viking pawns in the middle of the World board.
Pile the Coins into one Reserve.
Sort the Voyage tiles according to their backs (1, 2, 3, and 4) to form face-down stacks. Set the stacks near the World board.
Shuffle the Voyage 1 tiles and place them face up on the designated spaces of the World board, beginning with the space immediately after the Harbor space and following the direction of the arrows on the board.
Take the Harbor tile with no specific condition and place it on the Harbor space on the board.
Shuffle the other Harbor tiles. Place one face up next to each stack of Voyage tiles. Return the remaining Harbor tiles to the box: they will not be used this game.
Choose the starting player randomly. Starting with this player and going clockwise, each player places their Longship marker on the starting spaces of the World board, going from 4 to 1. For example in a 3 player game, the first player will be on starting place 3.
Starting with the first player and going clockwise, take the number of Viking pawns indicated on the setup table and place them on your Longship board. Place each Viking on a different Shield space. Each Shield space can only hold a single Viking.
Finally, place as many Viking pawns as there are players in each of the Villages (this helps remind players to take them when they pass over a Village) and 3 Viking pawns on the "Visit" Voyage tile.

Starting Vikings by Player Order

Players	1st player	2nd player	3rd player	4th player
2 players	1 Viking	2 Vikings	—	—
3 players	1 Viking	2 Vikings	2 Vikings	—
4 players	1 Viking	2 Vikings	2 Vikings	3 Vikings

Gameplay

The game plays over 4 Voyages. During each Voyage, you will set sail in your Longship from your starting position, and continue until you reach the Harbor tile again. Turn by turn, you'll move around the World board, stopping on the tile you want to try to claim.

Summary of a Voyage

A voyage continues over several consecutive turns, until all of the players have returned to the Harbor tile. Turn order is not determined by where you sit at the table. Instead, the owner of the Longship marker furthest back (going clockwise) is always the player who takes the next turn. Therefore, the turn order can change each round. You might even take multiple turns in a row!

At the start of a Voyage, the Longship marker on the "4" space is the furthest behind (on the 3 for a 2 or 3 player game).

Overview of a Turn

A turn has two phases: (1) Take a Voyage tile, (2) Navigate.

Phase 1 - Take a Voyage Tile

At the beginning of your turn, take the Voyage tile your Longship marker is in front of and place it in its corresponding space (on or next to your Longship board):

IMPORTANT! During your first turn at the start of each Voyage, skip this step and go straight to the Navigate phase. There is no Voyage tile to take.

Weapon, Sail, Mjöllnir, Pennant, and Goods tiles are placed on any of the five middle spaces of your Longship board. When you take one of these tiles, you may place it on any empty space or discard a tile that was already on your Longship and replace it with your new tile. You can also immediately discard your newly acquired tile without placing it on your Longship. However, any discarded tile is removed from the game and doesn't count toward your score.
Rune tiles are placed next to your Longship board and do not take up space on your Longship.
Port tiles are placed next to your Longship board and immediately allow you to sell 1 or 2 Goods on your Longship and also recruit 1 Viking. Goods sold this way are placed next to your Longship board and free up 1 or 2 middle spaces on your Longship. You may only sell immediately after taking a Port tile. You cannot go back and use the Port later, even if you decided not to sell when you took it.

IMPORTANT! You can move Vikings in your crew from one Shield to another and reorganize the Voyage tiles on your Longship at any time.

Example: He takes the AXE tile his Longship is on and places it on his Longship. Then he discards the WOOD and MONSTER tiles that are between him and the next player (see Navigation Rule below). He may then move to spaces (a), (b) or (g) without fighting, or spaces (c) or (d) by fighting. He cannot land on spaces (e) or (f), as no Longship can ever land on Passage spaces (see Navigation Rule below).

Phase 2 - Navigate

During this phase, you must move your Longship marker. You must Navigate by following the direction of the arrows printed on the board. You may stop on any Voyage tile, as long as you follow the Rules of Navigation.

Discard All Voyage Tiles Between You and the Next Player in Front of You

First of all, discard all the Voyage tiles that are currently between you and the next player in front of you on the World board. These tiles are removed from the game and, therefore, you cannot choose to stop in front of them: you must catch up to the other players before choosing your next Voyage tile.

NOTE: At the start of a Voyage, only the last player to leave their starting position in the Harbor must catch up to the nearest Longship token. They must discard the Voyage tiles between them and the closest player before Navigating. This means that in a four-player game, the first three players don't need to catch up to the nearest player, since they start off on the same space (the Harbor) as at least one other player.

Navigate to the Tile You Want to Visit Next

After discarding any Voyage tiles you are required to, Navigate by moving your Longship marker, following the arrows printed on the board. You can travel any distance, passing by as many Voyage tiles as you wish. You can stop in front of any Weapon, Sail, Mjöllnir, Pennant, Goods, Rune, or Port tile still on the board.

You can either stop in front of a tile before you reach the Passage, or Navigate past these locations and stop in front of a tile on the other side of the Passage. But, if you pass in front of a Monster, you must fight (see "Fighting Monsters" below)!

On any turn, you can decide to Navigate the rest of the way in one go and return to the Harbor tile. If you do so, place your Longship on the smallest available number shown on the starting spaces. You don't get to take any more turns during this Voyage, however, which continues until all the other players have docked their Longship in the Harbor also.

If you stop in front of an empty Voyage tile, meaning one without another Longship marker, your turn ends. If you stop in front of a Voyage tile that already has a Longship marker, you must begin Combat (you must have at least 1 Viking to do so).

IMPORTANT! You never take a Voyage tile when you end your Navigation. You only take a Voyage tile at the beginning of your turn.

Fighting an Opponent

If you Navigate to a tile that already has a Longship on it, you must immediately fight the other Viking crew.

To begin Combat, you must send 1 Viking from your crew to fight. In other words, you must discard one Viking pawn from your Longship and place it in the Viking reserve on the World board. If you don't have any Vikings on your Longship, you cannot begin Combat, and therefore cannot stop on a tile that is already occupied.
Your opponent now must choose to Retaliate or Flee to a different Voyage tile.

RETALIATE

To Retaliate, your opponent must send 2 Vikings into combat (by discarding them). Then it's your turn to Retaliate or Flee. Each time you Retaliate, you must discard as many Vikings as your opponent did plus one. So, your first Retaliation would require you to discard 3 Vikings from your Longship. If you do not want to or cannot Retaliate, you must Flee.

FLEE

If you Flee, you must immediately leave the tile you are on without taking this tile or discarding any others. Simply move your Longship to one of the tiles in front of you. You can trigger another combat by stopping on a tile that is already occupied, if you have at least 1 Viking in your crew.

NOTE: During Combat, players take turns discarding 1 Viking, then 2 Vikings, then 3 Vikings, then 4 Vikings, etc. to stay in Combat. You may never discard more Vikings than necessary.

Example: Continuing the last example, it's still the Blue player's turn. He moves to the same tile as the Green player. This triggers a fight. (A) Blue discards 1 Viking. (B) Green wants to stay and discards 2 Vikings. (C) Blue stands his ground and discards 3 more Vikings. (D) Green cannot keep up and must move forward to another space (he has 1 Viking remaining and may trigger another combat).

End of the Turn

Your turn ends as soon as you end your Navigation on an empty Voyage tile (or back at the Harbor tile), after resolving any Combats and possible bonuses given by Village spaces or Visit or Pillage tiles. The player whose Longship marker is furthest behind on the World board becomes the next active player. It's possible that this means you play another turn.

Passing by a Village, Visit, or Pillage Tile

You cannot stop on a Village, or on Visit or Pillage tiles. Instead, each time your Longship marker passes by one of these spaces, you take whatever is shown there (see "Clarifications on Voyage Tiles" below).

NOTE: If you recruit a Viking and don't have any empty Shields on your Ship, discard the Viking and put it back in the Reserve.

Fighting Monsters

When you pass by a Monster tile, you have a choice between Sacrificing a Viking to the Monster so it lets you pass or Fighting the Monster by discarding a number of Vikings from your Longship equal to the Monster's strength (the number shown on the Monster tile). In either case, you cannot stop on this tile and must Navigate past it.

If you have Weapons on your Longship, the Monster's strength is reduced by 1 for each simple Weapon and by 2 for each double Weapon.

If you want to pass by the Monster without fighting it, you must Sacrifice 1 Viking (if you have any) and place it in the Reserve. If you have no Vikings, nothing happens.

If you Fight the Monster, you must discard Vikings from your Longship equal to the strength of the Monster, reduced by any Weapons you have (return them to the reserve). Then, you immediately take the defeated Monster tile and place it next to your Longship board. At the end of the game, you will gain Glory points equal to the initial strength of the Monster (as shown on the tile). Finally, since you cannot end your movement on a Monster or an empty space, you must complete your Navigation as normal.

End of the Voyage

Each Voyage ends when all players' Longship markers have reached the Harbor tile and are lined up on the starting spaces. Each player takes a Viking from the reserve for each Sail on their Longship.

The player who best fulfills the condition on the Harbor tile (see "Clarifications on Harbor Tiles") takes a 6-value coin from the reserve. The 2nd best player takes a 3-value coin, and the 3rd best player gets a 1-value coin. The 4th player doesn't gain anything.

If there's a tie between players, the player who reached the Harbor tile first breaks the tie (the player whose Longship marker is on the starting position with the smaller number).

After completing the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Voyages, begin a new Voyage (see below).

At the end of the 4th Voyage, the game ends (see "End of the Game" below).

Begin a New Voyage

Shuffle the Voyage tiles for the next Voyage (in increasing order) and place them face up on the outlined spaces on the World board, starting with the space after the Harbor tile and going clockwise.
Place coins on Pillage tiles and Vikings on Visit tiles as illustrated on each tile.
Replace the Harbor tile with the one set aside with this round's Voyage tiles.
Finally, place a number of Viking pawns on the Village spaces equal to the number of players.

A new Voyage may now begin. The player who reached the Harbor last is the active player and takes the first turn.

End of the Game

The game ends when all players have finished the 4th Voyage by bringing their Longship marker back to the final Harbor tile.

Then everyone counts their Glory points. The player with the most Glory points at the end of scoring wins the game!

Scoring Glory Points

There are many things that give you Glory points:

Coins: Count the value shown on each Coin.
Runes: Score Glory points for each set of Runes you have, earning points for the number of Runes in each set.
Mjöllnirs: Score Glory points by multiplying the number of Mjöllnirs you have by the number of Vikings on your Longship.
Pennants, Goods, and Monsters: Score Glory points as shown on each tile you have on or next to your Longship board. Exception: Goods tiles still on your Longship do not give you any Glory points.

After adding up all of your Glory points, the player with the most points wins the game. If there is a tie, both players share the victory.

Clarifications on Voyage Tiles

Tiles Placed on the Middle Spaces of Your Longship

1. Weapons

Simple Weapon: This tile helps you fight Monsters by reducing their strength by 1.
Double Weapon: This tile helps you fight Monsters by reducing their strength by 2. This tile counts as two Weapons for the Weapon Harbor tile.

2. Sails

Simple Sail: This tile lets you gain 1 Viking at the end of each Voyage.
Double Sail: This tile lets you gain 2 Vikings at the end of each Voyage. This tile counts as two Sails for the Sails Harbor tile.

NOTE: There is a limit of 1 Viking per Shield on your Longship. You cannot gain a Viking if there are no available Shields.

3. Mjöllnir

Simple Mjöllnir: This tile gives you 1 Glory point per Viking on your Longship at the end of the game.
Double Mjöllnir: This tile gives you 2 Glory points per Viking on your Longship at the end of the game.

4. Pennants

Pennant: This tile gives you the Glory points shown on the tile at the end of the game.

5. Goods

Goods: This tile gives you as many Glory points as shown on the tile at the end of the game, but only if you have sold it at a Port and set it next to your Longship board.

Tiles Placed Next to Your Longship

1. Rune

Rune: This tile gives you Glory points depending on how many Runes you've collected. The more Runes you have, the more Glory points you'll get.

NOTE: If you have more than 5 Runes, you can begin a new set with the extra Runes.

2. Port

Simple Port: This tile lets you sell 1 Good on your Longship and recruit 1 Viking. Choose 1 Goods tile to place next to your Longship board, along with the Port tile, freeing up one of the middle spaces of your Longship.
Double Port: This tile lets you sell 2 Goods on your Longship and recruit 1 Viking. Choose 2 Goods tiles to place next to your Longship board, along with the Port tile, freeing up two of the middle spaces of your Longship. This tile only counts as a single Port (since there is only one anchor symbol) for the Port Harbor tile.

NOTE: You can take a Port tile even if you have no Goods on your Longship. They still let you recruit 1 Viking.

3. Monsters

Monster: This tile gives you as many Glory points as shown on the tile at the end of the game. You can only take this tile if you successfully defeat it. If you decide to pass by it without Fighting, you must Sacrifice one of your Vikings.

Tiles That Stay on the World Board

1. Visit

Visit: This tile lets you recruit 1 or 2 Vikings depending on the order in which players pass by this tile. When you place this tile on the board, add 2 Vikings to the space with 2 Viking symbols, and 1 Viking to the space with 1 Viking symbol. The first player to pass by this tile takes two Vikings and places them on his Longship, if possible. The second player to pass by this tile takes the remaining Viking and adds it to his Longship, if possible. Any other players who pass by this tile do not take any Vikings.

2. Pillage

Pillage: This tile lets you take a 3-value or 1-value Coin depending on the order in which players pass by this tile. When you place this tile on the board, add 1 value-3 Coin to the space with the 3-value symbol and 1 value-1 Coin to the space with the value-1 symbol. The first player to pass by this tile takes the value-3 Coin and adds it to his personal reserve. The second player to pass by this tile takes the value-1 Coin and adds it to his personal reserve. Any other players who pass by this tile do not take any Coins.

Variant for 2 Players

The game plays using the standard rules with a few exceptions:

Setup: Choose one of the unused Longship boards to become a Ghost Longship. Place the corresponding Longship marker on the first starting position. The Ghost Longship will move last during the first turn.
Navigation: The Ghost Longship moves following the standard rules, moving when he is furthest behind on the World board and has been passed by both of your Longship markers. However, he always moves 5 spaces at a time, navigating from Village to Village, until he reaches the Harbor tile.

Since he only moves between Villages, you can never engage the Ghost Longship in Combat, and he can never engage you. The Ghost Longship never takes Vikings or Coins when he passes by a Visit or Pillage tile.

Furthermore, when he passes by Monsters, he ignores them and does not sacrifice a Viking.

If it's your turn and the Ghost Longship is the first marker in front of you, you still need to catch up to it following the standard Rules of Navigation.

Begin a new Voyage: The Ghost Longship always begins each Voyage in the 1 starting position. If he didn't arrive first, switch the places in order to put him last.

WARNING! Raids might be a punitive game if you have only 1 or even 0 Viking at the wrong time. Be careful!

Clarifications on Harbor Tiles

The first Harbor tile is always the same: Give a 6-value Coin to the 1st player to reach the Harbor, a 3-value Coin to the 2nd player, and a 1-value Coin to the 3rd.

The other Harbor tiles all work in the following way: Determine who has the most total Goods tiles, different Goods, Runes, Shields, Weapons, Ports, Monsters, or Sail tiles, as shown on the Harbor tile. Give a 6-value Coin to the player with the most, a 3-value Coin to the player with the 2nd most, and a 1-value Coin to the player with the 3rd most. If there's a tie, the tied player who arrived at the Harbor first wins the tie.

Credits

Designers: Matthew Dunstan and Brett J. Gilbert Illustrator: Biboun Graphic Designer: Allison Machepy Translator: Danni Loe