Skibe
Skibe Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 3 bow cards
- 40 Viking cards
- 25 Chieftain cards, in different player colors (5 per player)
- 10 stern cards, in different player colors (2 per player)
- 6 food supply stones (brown)
- 4 equipment stones (black)
You will also need a pencil and a sheet of paper to record the score.
Game Setup
Each player selects a color and receives a set of cards in that color. A set of cards consists of 5 Chieftain cards and 2 stern cards. Lay the cards face down in front of you on the table so that all the players can see each player's color.
Game setup for less than 5 players: Put all unused sets of cards back into the game box. From the Viking cards, remove all cards that show only shields in a color that does not belong to a player. Do NOT remove cards that show at least 1 color belonging to a player.
Lay the 3 bow cards, one below the other, in the middle of the table. Put 1 food supply stone on each bow card. Put the remaining 3 food supply stones and the 4 equipment stones off to the side as a general stock pile. Shuffle the Viking cards thoroughly and lay 2 cards face up to the right of each bow card. Then lay 3 more Viking cards face up, one next to the other, above the bow cards. Put the remaining Viking cards into a draw pile face down beside the 3 Viking cards that are facing up.
How to Play
The youngest player goes first. Each player takes turns in a clockwise direction. On your turn, you can do one of two things:
- Extend the length of a ship and add cargo or
- Lay a stern card on one of the ships and begin the evaluation
1. Extend the Length of a Ship and Add Cargo
Extend the length of a ship: Select one of the 3 Viking cards that are facing up and next to the draw pile, or draw the top card from the draw pile that is facing down. Lay the card in one of the 3 ships. When laying Viking cards, the following rules apply:
- Always lay the Viking cards directly to the right of the Viking cards that are already in the ship.
- If the maximum number of Viking cards per ship (see page 11) has already been reached, you cannot put any more Viking cards in the ship.
Maximum Viking cards per ship:
- In a 3-player game, a maximum of 5 Viking cards are allowed per ship.
- In a 4-player game, a maximum of 6 Viking cards are allowed per ship.
- And in a 5-player game, a maximum of 7 Viking cards are allowed per ship.
Adding cargo to a ship: After extending a ship, you must load cargo onto one of the ships of your choice. You add cargo by placing the required stone onto the respective card. The symbol on the Viking card that you just finished laying indicates which stone you have to load.
- Food supplies are always laid on bow cards.
- Equipment is always laid on Viking cards.
Food supplies (brown stones): Place 1 food supply stone on a bow card of any ship of your choice. As long as there are still food supply stones in the general stock pile, you must take 1 stone from the stock pile. If all 6 food supply stones from the general stock pile have already been placed on bow cards, you may take a food supply stone from one of the bow cards and move it to a different bow card.
Important: There must always be at least 1 food supply stone on a bow card. Never take the last food supply stone from a bow card.
Equipment (black stones): Place 1 equipment stone on a Viking card in any ship of your choice. As long as there are equipment stones in the general stock pile, you must take 1 stone from the stock pile. If all 4 equipment stones from the general stock pile have already been placed on Viking cards, you may take an equipment stone from one of the Viking cards and move it to a different Viking card.
Important: You can place equipment only on a Viking card that shows a different shield than what is showing on the Viking card that you most recently laid.
Example: You lay a Viking card that shows a blue shield. The symbol indicates that you have to load an equipment stone. You may not lay the equipment on a Viking card with a blue shield. You have to lay an equipment stone on a Viking card that does not show a blue shield.
If there are no Viking cards in the ships on which you can lay an equipment stone, you do not lay an equipment stone in this turn.
Laying Chieftain cards (optional): Having laid 1 Viking card and loaded either equipment or food supply, you can play exactly 1 Chieftain from your hand if you want to.
When playing a Chieftain card, the following rules apply:
- You can lay your Chieftain in any ship of your choice – regardless of where you just played the Viking card.
- The first Chieftain is laid to the left of the bow card. Further Chieftains are then always laid to the left of the Chieftain card that was last laid.
- For each ship, each action symbol may be laid once only.
- You can lay a Chieftain in a ship in which you have already laid Chieftains in previous turns, provided that the Chieftain card shows an action symbol that hasn't yet been laid in this ship by any of the other players.
Ending your turn: If you took a Viking card from the Viking cards facing up next to the draw pile, you must replace it with a card from the draw pile so that there are always 3 Viking cards facing up next to the draw pile. The player to your left now takes his turn.
2. Lay a Stern Card on One of the Ships and Begin the Evaluation
If a ship already has the maximum number of Viking cards, you can lay no more Viking cards in this ship, but only a stern card to complete the ship. You can also complete a ship by laying a stern card even before the maximum number of Viking cards have been laid in the ship. However, the ship must have at least 3 Viking cards. By laying a stern card, you automatically begin the evaluation stage of this ship, which consists of three phases.
Phase 1: Carry out actions of Chieftain cards. If the ship being evaluated contains Chieftain cards, the actions of these cards must be first carried out. Begin with the Chieftain card furthest to the right and progress towards the left. In other words, the player who was the first to play his Chieftain card, which lies directly beside the bow card, goes first. The various action symbols are explained at the end of these game instructions. Only the actions of the Chieftain cards from the ship being evaluated are carried out.
Phase 2: Record the points. In turns, add up and record your points as follows: Each player counts the number of shields of his color in the ship being evaluated, including the number of equipment stones that are on Viking cards with his shield color. Add up the two sums and multiply it by the number of food supply stones on the bow card of the ship being evaluated.
Victory points = (player's own shields + equipment stones on player's own shields) × food supply stones
Record your points on the sheet of paper as a subtotal.
Phase 3: Embarking on the journey (clearing away the evaluated ships). Put all equipment stones that are lying on Viking cards of evaluated ships back into the general stock pile of equipment stones. Put all Viking cards and any Chieftain cards of evaluated ships off to the side. These cards are no longer in the game. Leave the bow cards where they are. Put all food supply stones but one back into the general stock pile of food supply stones. Then draw 2 Viking cards from the draw pile and lay them next to the bow cards, which no longer have any Viking cards next to them (as described above in the game setup).
The round continues and the next player in a clockwise direction takes his turn. In the rare case that all 3 ships have the maximum number of Viking cards and no player can, or wants to, play a stern card, immediately evaluate all 3 ships. Start with the ship at the top and work your way down until all three ships have been evaluated.
End of Game
Once the draw pile has been used up and the last Viking card from the three Viking cards facing up next to the draw pile has been laid on a ship, the final evaluation begins immediately. The last Viking card can either be laid by a player, or played after an evaluation as the beginning of a new ship.
Final evaluation: First, all Chieftain actions are carried out starting at the top and working your way down to the bottom. That means, you start with the Chieftains of the top ship, then move to the Chieftains of the middle ship and finally to the Chieftains of the lower ship.
Then add up the points for all ships (see Phase 2). In the final evaluation, incomplete ships (i.e. ships that have less than 3 Viking cards, and ships that have not been completed by a stern card) are also evaluated.
Add up all the points of all subtotals and the final evaluation. The player with the most points wins!
Chieftain Actions
Move an equipment stone: You can move 1 equipment stone to wherever you like. Move 1 equipment stone from a Viking card to another Viking card of your choice (the color rule does not apply!), or from the general stock pile to a Viking card, or from a Viking card to the stock pile. The cards do not have to be in the ship being evaluated.
Move a food supply stone: You can move 1 food supply stone to wherever you like. Move 1 food supply stone from a bow card to another bow card of your choice, or from the general stock pile to a bow card, or from a bow card to the stock pile. Important: You cannot move the last food supply stone of a bow card.
Remove a Viking card: You can remove a Viking card of your choice, on which no equipment stone is lying. The card does not have to be in the ship being evaluated. Equipment stones protect Viking cards from being removed. The removed Viking card is out of the game.
Swap Viking cards: You can swap 2 Viking cards of your choice, on which no equipment stones are lying. Equipment stones protect Viking cards from being swapped. The cards do not have to be in the ship being evaluated. You can also swap a card with a card from the 3 Viking cards facing up next to the draw pile.
Protection: This card protects your Viking cards from the actions "Remove a Viking card" and "Swap Viking cards". Unlike other cards, this protection applies only to cards that are in the ship being evaluated. This card also only protects against actions that follow your protection card, that is to say, against actions that are laid after your protection card has already been laid and thus to the left of it.