Viking Raiders Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• For First-Time Players
• Set-Up
  • 1. Separate the Decks
  • 2. Decide Game Length
  • 3. Set Up the Market
  • 4. Chief Cards
  • 5. Viking Cards
  • 6. Who Starts?
• Play
  • 1. The Aim of the Game
  • 2. A Turn
  • 3. Buying Market Items
  • 4. Trading for Resources
  • 5. Playing an Action
  • 6. Raiding
  • 7. Abilities
  • 8. Winning
  • Example Layout
• Key Terms
  • At Random
  • Victory Point Requirements
  • Stealing
  • If Two or More Players 'Win'
• 2-Player Variant: The Arctic Clan
  • Set-Up
  • Play
  • Raiding
  • Abilities
  • Berserkers
  • Winning
• Playing with Chiefs
  • Offerings
  • The Black Market
  • Mercenaries
• Credits
• Card Reference
  • Berserker
  • Hidden Victory Point Cards
  • Abilities
  • Cornucopia & Gift of the Gods
  • Raiding
  • Fenrir
  • Ragnarok & Stormy Seas
  • Harvest Festival
  • Market Fire
  • Midsummer Madness
  • Odin's Favour
  • Skirmish
  • Trading Fair

Contents

Viking Deck

• 12x Gift of the Gods
• 8x Vikings, Food, Wood, Stone, Gold, Cornucopia
• 4x Berserker, Vör's Vision
• 2x Dawn Raid, Night Raid, Spring Raid, Winter Raid, Plunder Raid, Skirmish
• 1x Buried Treasure, Curse of Valhalla, Fenrir, Freyja's Fortunes, Gefjon's Disguise, Ghost Ship, Harvest Festival, Hidden Farm, Jörmungandr, Loki's Favour, Market Fire, Midsummer Madness, Njord's Plunder, Odin's Favour, Trading Fair, Yggdrasil

Market Deck

• 12x Raid Protection
• 6x Armoury, Cache, Drakkar, Jewellery, Karvi, Longhouse, Settlement, Snekkja, Village
• 4x Fleet, Fortress, Throne
• 1x Efficiency, Guile, Leadership, Ragnarok, Stormy Seas, Surge of Strength

Other Cards

• 6x Chief cards
• 5x Learning cards
• 3x Quick set-up / How to play
• 2x Victory Conditions
• 1x Arctic Clan variant (for 2 players) / Help

Instructions: How to set up and play the game, Rule and card reference, Play out of the box

For First-Time Players

Skål and welcome! Viking Raiders comes already shuffled and you have the option of playing the game straight out of the box and without reading the instructions. After a quick set-up, you can start taking turns.

DO NOT SHUFFLE before your first game!

As you play, you will come across some learning cards. These will help teach you the basic rules along the way. After you have read them, remove them from the game.

Without shuffling, follow the 6 steps under SET-UP on the instruction sheet. When you know the starting player, look at the EXAMPLE LAYOUT to see how to lay out your cards. Now start taking turns.

If you want to reset the game as it came, the card order is online: www.vikingraidersgame.com/help

Set-Up

1. Separate the Decks

There are 84 Market cards, 97 Viking cards, 6 Chief cards, 2 Victory Conditions cards and 4 Help cards.

From the Market cards, take out the 12 RAID PROTECTION cards and place them face up on the table.

There are also 5 learning cards in the Viking and Market decks. You don't need to take these out.

2. Decide Game Length

Use this table to decide how many Victory Points (VP) you need in each category (NAVY, CLAN and LOOT) to win the game:

Players	Quick game	Normal game	Long game
2-3 players	6 VP	7 VP	8 VP
4-5 players	5 VP	6 VP	7 VP

Place the corresponding Victory Conditions card on the table - visible to all players - as a reminder of what you agreed. Put the other Victory Conditions card back in the box.

3. Set Up the Market

Shuffle the remaining Market cards and place 8 cards face up on the table, accessible to all players. This is the Market.

If RAGNAROK or STORMY SEAS appear, put them to one side and shuffle them back into the remaining cards once the Market has been set up.

Place the remaining Market cards face down on the table - this is the Market supply pile.

IMPORTANT! If there are no cards worth 1 Victory Point in the Market, collect the cards, shuffle, and set up the Market again. Victory Points are shown in the top left corner of Market cards.

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT!! This applies for the rest of the game: There must always be at least one card worth 1 Victory Point in the Market.

4. Chief Cards

We recommend that you play a few games before using the Chief cards. If it is your first game, go to SET-UP step 5.

For an extra challenge, deal each player a Chief card at the beginning of the game. With Chiefs, you get a permanent ability and can make Offerings, buy items on the Black Market and hire Mercenaries.

See 'Playing with Chiefs' on the rule reference sheet.

5. Viking Cards

Shuffle the Viking cards, and deal them clockwise until each player has 6 cards. These cards are held in your hand, hidden from the other players.

Place the rest of the cards face down on the table as the Viking draw pile, with space for a discard pile next to it. The piles can be placed next to the Market.

6. Who Starts?

Take the top card from the Viking draw pile to see who starts:

• VIKINGS - The player sitting furthest to the North
• WOOD - The player sitting furthest to the East
• STONE - The player sitting furthest to the South
• FOOD - The player sitting furthest to the West
• GOLD - The player with the longest hair
• CORNUCOPIA - The player whose birthday is closest to Viking Midsummer (June 24th)
• GIFT OF THE GODS - The youngest player
• ACTION (A) card - The player who last hurt themselves, had an injury or needed a plaster
• Victory Point (VP) card - The winner of the last game you played together. Not just Viking Raiders - any game!
• BERSERKER - The player with the loudest voice
• YGGDRASIL - The oldest player

Place the card on the discard pile. Play starts with the selected player, and continues clockwise.

YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY!

Play

1. The Aim of the Game

The aim of the game is to collect the agreed number of Victory Points (or more) in each of the categories, NAVY, CLAN and LOOT.

Victory Points and category are shown in the top left corner of cards which can be bought from the Market.

2. A Turn

First, draw 2 cards from the Viking draw pile to your hand*. You may now, in any order:

• Buy 1 item from the Market
• Play 1 Action card

You may choose to do both, just one, or neither.

When you are finished, play moves on to the next player.

*If you are playing the 2-player Arctic Clan variant, there is an extra step at the beginning of each player's turn. See the Rule and Card Reference sheet for more details.

3. Buying Market Items

You can buy items from the Market using resources which you have in your hand. The cost of buying an item from the Market is shown at the bottom of the card. For each symbol you need to play one resource card of that type.

Some items also require you to have a certain number of Victory Points already, before you can buy them. (Hidden Victory Points held in your hand also count - but then you must show them to the other players.)

Example: Buying a Village. Costs: 1 Vikings + 1 Food + 1 Cornucopia. "1 CLAN VP" means that you must already have at least 1 CLAN Victory Point to buy this card, as well as the resources.

To buy the item, simply place the resource cards from your hand on the discard pile and take the card from the Market. Immediately fill the empty space in the Market with a card from the Market supply pile.

Remember that if there are no cards in the Market worth 1 Victory Point, you need to set up the Market again (see SET-UP, step 3).

Place any items you buy face up on the table in front of you, so that it is easy for all players to see how many Victory Points you have in each category.

If you buy an Ability, place it face up on the table in front of you as well. See EXAMPLE LAYOUT.

4. Trading for Resources

If you do not have the resources you need to buy an item from the Market, you may trade ANY 2 cards in your possession for 1 resource of your choice. You can make as many trades as you want during your turn.

Example: Buying a Karvi using trading. Player uses GOLD and an Action instead of WOOD.

5. Playing an Action

Action cards have an 'A' in the top corners. To play an Action, simply place it on the discard pile and follow the instructions on the card. Read it out loud so that the other players know what you are doing.

BERSERKER cards can be played by any player, to cancel any Action, including another BERSERKER. Example: Player 1 plays a RAID card against Player 2. Player 3 thinks this may be a winning move, and cancels the raid by playing a BERSERKER.

OH, ONE MORE THING ... If you want to cancel an Action using a BERSERKER, you must do this before you know the outcome. You cannot for example wait to see if a raid is successful, and then play a BERSERKER card.

6. Raiding

When you play a raid card, this is your chance to attack another clan and possibly capture a NAVY, CLAN or LOOT card.

• Declare which player and which category (NAVY, CLAN or LOOT) you are raiding.
• The defending player takes all of their cards in that category from the table and for each card adds 1 Raid Protection card.
• Pick a card at random from these cards.
• If it is a NAVY, CLAN or LOOT card, you keep it.
• Return the rest of the cards to the defending player or to the Raid Protection pile.

Sometimes players can reduce the number of Raid Protection cards used during a raid. No matter what, there must always be at least 1 Raid Protection card when raiding.

7. Abilities

There are 4 ABILITY cards in the game which can give you a significant advantage. You can buy an Ability from the Market, and you must place it face up on the table in front of you. Your Ability lasts as long as you have the card.

You can only have 1 Ability at a time. If you get 2 Ability cards, you must shuffle one of them back into the Market supply pile.

8. Winning

The first player to have the agreed number of Victory Points (or more) in EACH of the 3 categories - NAVY, CLAN and LOOT - wins the game.

Hidden Victory Points (VP) held in the player's hand also count.

You can win during another player's turn, but any ongoing Actions and events (for example RAGNAROK) must be fully completed before victory can be declared.

GOOD LUCK and HAPPY RAIDING!!!

Example Layout

The layout shown is for 3 players, about halfway through the game.

The table holds a Viking draw pile and a discard pile, a Market of 8 face-up cards with its Market supply pile and the Raid Protection cards, and the Victory Conditions card showing the agreed target. Each player has their bought cards laid out face up in front of them, grouped by category (Navy, Clan, Loot), plus their Ability card if they have one.

Key Terms

At Random

Cards are shuffled or mixed up, so you can only see the back of the cards when you take one. Typically, the cards are fanned out and held in another player's hand. You can also lay them face down on the table. But it is completely up to you how you do it!

Victory Point Requirements

The Victory Point requirement only applies when buying from the Market. It does not apply when stealing, taking, raiding, swapping, or buying from the Black Market (when playing with Chiefs).

As well as the NAVY, CLAN and LOOT cards you have on the table, you may use hidden Victory Points in your hand to meet the requirements. You do not discard hidden Victory Point cards when you use them, but you must show them to the other players.

Stealing

Take a card from another player. You can only steal cards that are visible on the table.

If Two or More Players 'Win'

Vikings do not share victories! If two or more players get the required number of Victory Points at the same time, the winner is determined in the following order:

1. The player with the most Victory Points in total
2. The player with the most 3 Victory Point cards
3. The player with the most 2 Victory Point cards
4. The player with the most 1 Victory Point cards

If it is still a draw, we suggest a fight to the death with wooden spoons (just kidding - the winner is then the player who started last).

2-Player Variant: The Arctic Clan

You can of course play a 2-player game with the normal rules, but we highly recommend the Arctic Clan variant. It is very easy after the first couple of turns.

When you play this 2-player game variant, an Arctic Clan joins your world.

The Arctic Clan does not hold a hand of cards, but slowly collects items from the Market and can also win the game.

Set-Up

The Arctic Clan acts as a 3rd player, and needs to have space on the table for collecting cards.

If you are playing with Chief cards, the Arctic Clan is also dealt a Chief card. Not all of them will actually help, but the possibility is there.

Play

At the beginning of your turn, draw a Viking card and place it directly on the discard pile.

If it is a resource card*, the Arctic Clan gets the top card from the Market supply pile. Victory Point requirements do not apply.

Once this is done, you continue your turn as normal.

Both players draw a card for the Arctic clan at the beginning of their turn.

*Resource cards: VIKINGS, FOOD, WOOD, STONE, GOLD, CORNUCOPIA and GIFT OF THE GODS.

Raiding

If the Arctic Clan is raided, the non-raiding player mixes and holds up the cards for the Arctic Clan.

Abilities

The Arctic Clan can get Abilities just like other players. If it already has an Ability, the new Ability is kept, and the old Ability is shuffled back into the Market supply pile.

Berserkers

If the Arctic Clan is raided or otherwise attacked, the other player can, of course, cancel the Action using a BERSERKER card.

Winning

The Arctic Clan wins the game if it gets the agreed number of Victory Points in each category - just like any normal player!

Playing with Chiefs

If you want an extra challenge, deal a Chief card to each player at the beginning of the game. The Chief card gives you a permanent ability, which is described on the card.

Chief cards remain with you for the entire game and cannot be taken, stolen, or used for trading. Place your Chief card face up in front of you on the table.

When you play with Chiefs you can also make Offerings to the Gods, buy items from the Black Market, and hire Mercenaries to protect against raids.

Offerings

You may choose to draw 3 cards at the beginning of your turn instead of the normal 2. However, after looking at the cards, you must then discard 2 of these cards before proceeding.

The Black Market

Instead of buying from the Market as normal, you may buy the top card of the Market supply pile for any 3 resources, for example 2 Stone and 1 Gold. You may trade for those resources as normal. You are not allowed to look at the card first.

Mercenaries

If you are raided, you may buy extra Raid Protection cards for that raid only. 1 Raid Protection card costs 1 resource, and you may buy as many cards as you have resources for. You may trade for those resources as normal.

Credits

Game designer: Morten Billcliff

Artwork: Mofei Wang

Character artwork: Noman Afzal

Design consultancy, additional graphic design and illustration: Tristam Rossin

Logo: Ahmed Shakoor

Published by Neowulf Games ApS, Denmark. © 2021 Neowulf Games ApS.

Card Reference

Berserker

Berserker cards can be played at any time, by any player, to cancel any one Action. The cancelled Action card is placed on the discard pile.

Berserker cards can also be played to cancel other Berserker cards.

You must play your Berserker card before you know the outcome of an action. For example, if you want to cancel a raid, you must play it before the raid takes place. In other words, you are not allowed to wait and see if the raid is successful, and then use a Berserker to cancel the raid.

Fenrir vs Berserker: If you play Fenrir when you are raiding, and another player then plays a Berserker card, the Berserker only cancels Fenrir and not the raid itself. To cancel the raid as well, another Berserker would need to be played.

Hidden Victory Point Cards

Hidden Victory Point cards - BURIED TREASURE, GHOST SHIP and HIDDEN FARM - are not included in raids.

Each of these cards give you 1 Victory Point (VP) in the indicated category (NAVY, CLAN or LOOT) while the card is in your hand. You must show the card to the other players when you use it.

You can use these cards to meet the Victory Point requirements for buying cards from the Market and for winning the game.

You do not discard the card when you use it as a Victory Point. Nor does it count as playing an Action, which means that using the card cannot be cancelled by a Berserker.

Abilities

Each player can only have 1 Ability. If at any point you get 2, you must shuffle one of them back into the Market supply pile. It is up to you which one you keep.

Efficiency: The player chooses which resource is not needed, and it can be a different resource for each card that is bought. Efficiency can be combined with other cards, which means that items may be bought without any resources at all.

Guile: Example: If the agreed Victory condition is 6 Victory Points of each type, you can win the game with 5 NAVY, 5 CLAN, and 5 LOOT Victory Points.

Leadership: Remember that there must always be at least one Raid Protection card when raiding. Leadership is not able to reduce this to zero.

Surge of Strength: A raid is not fully complete until the Surge of Strength Ability has been resolved. The Victory Points are therefore not gained by the raiding player - and so cannot be counted towards victory - until Surge of Strength has been resolved.

Cornucopia & Gift of the Gods

Cornucopia gives you any one resource of your choice, for example STONE.

Gift of the Gods gives you any two resources of your choice, for example WOOD and GOLD.

You must declare your choice to the other players when you play the card.

Raiding

See 'Raiding' in the 'PLAY' section of the instructions.

You can only raid cards that are visible on the table. Hidden Victory Point cards held in players' hands are not included in raids.

Successful / Not Successful: If a raid is cancelled using a Berserker, the raid has prevented the raid from happening. The raid was therefore neither successful nor unsuccessful.

The outcome of a raid is not known until the raid is completely over. Some Actions and Abilities may affect the final outcome of the raid (for example Surge of Strength).

If the raiding player gets a card after all Actions and Abilities have been resolved, then the raid was successful. If not, it was not successful.

Fenrir

If you are raiding, you must play this card at the same time as the raid card.

If you are being raided, play this card after the raid has been declared.

Fenrir may be cancelled by a Berserker (see FENRIR vs BERSERKER).

Although this is an Action card, it does not count towards the number of Actions a player may use during their turn.

Ragnarok & Stormy Seas

Ragnarok and Stormy Seas are such catastrophic events that they cannot be stopped.

A player cannot win during Ragnarok or Stormy Seas. In other words, you must complete all the instructions on the card before a winner can be declared.

During Ragnarok, when a player gets a card at random, it is not used as one of the cards offered to the next player.

Harvest Festival

You must replace the first item in the Market before you buy the second item. If you have already bought an item when you play this card, you may buy one more item during your turn.

Market Fire

This card can be combined with other cards that allow Market cards to be bought for less resources (for example Chief cards). It is up to you which resources are not needed.

As this card is an Action, you may also buy a card as normal from the Market during your turn (at the normal cost).

Midsummer Madness

When you play this, you will end up with 2 or 3 more cards in your hand than the other players.

Some players may end up with fewer cards than they had before Midsummer Madness was played.

Odin's Favour

You do not have to pay any resources to take a card from the Market.

As this card is an Action, you may also buy a card as normal from the Market during your turn (at the normal cost).

Skirmish

If the player you are taking from only has one card in their hand, you take that card, and the Skirmish action is finished.

Trading Fair

To use this card, you must have at least one other card in your own hand that you can swap.

For a list of every card in the game, including all available translations, go to: www.vikingraidersgame.com/help