Vikings Risk: The Conquest of Europe Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• A Look at the Game
• The Viking Tribes
• The Dice
• The Cards
• Rules for 2–5 Players
  • Setup
• Turn Sequence
  • 1. Place Your Warriors
  • 2. Attack
  • 3. Manoeuvre Your Tribe
  • 4. Draw a Card (If You Can)
• Winning the Game
• Game Variants
• 2-Player Game
  • 2-Player Setup

A Look at the Game

How Risk Vikings works: Quite simply, you place the warriors of your tribe in a territory to control it. At the start of each turn you receive more warriors, which you can place on the board in those territories. The more you control, the more warriors you receive! Use your tribe to attack other players and conquer their territories. At the end of your turn you must manoeuvre your tribe and your longship to defend your territories and prepare for the next attack. Draw cards when you can. Challenge fate by playing a god card at the start or during any of your turns, and, based on your raid cards, make strategic decisions about which territories to invade when you want to gain more troops.

Territories are linked by borders or by a black sea route. During play, tribes attack enemy tribes across these territory lines. The territories are grouped into 9 regions of different colours. If you control an entire region at the start of a turn, you receive bonus warriors. If you receive a raid card at the start of the game, you may decide whether to complete the raid to receive bonus warriors.

If the card "End of the Viking Age" is drawn from the territory card deck during play, the game ends immediately and all players must count their territories. The player with the most territories wins.

Contents: game board, 5 Viking tribes, 42 territory cards, 10 god cards, 10 raid cards, 1 "End of the Viking Age" card, 1 overview card, 5 dice.

The Viking Tribes

There are 5 different tribes, and each tribe has 3 differently sized playing pieces. The Viking warrior is one unit, the Viking rider counts as three units, and Thor's Hammer counts as ten units. At any time during the game you may exchange 5 warriors for one rider, or 10 for one hammer (or vice versa), to make movement easier for larger tribes or to replace warriors lost in combat.

The longship playing piece is placed on the board during setup and is used during the attack phase of your turn. As usual, you may make an attack from the territory in which the longship was placed during the movement phase of the last turn onto another coastal territory on the board. If you win, the longship stays in the attacked territory. If you lose, it must return to the territory from which the attack was launched.

The Dice

Attack dice: You roll the black dice when you attack a territory.

Defence dice: You roll the red dice when you defend a territory.

The Cards

Territory cards: Each of these cards shows a territory and 1 or 2 stars. During play you collect these cards by conquering territories and then use them at the start of your turn to receive more warriors. Each player collects the cards he draws from the main deck.

Raid cards: Each player receives 2 raid cards at the start of the game. These show a particular territory or territories that must be conquered to complete the raid. If you succeed, you receive bonus warriors. You do not have to carry out the raid — you may choose whether it is strategically sensible. After a successful raid, the warriors are placed on the board in the player's next turn.

God cards: At the start of the game each player receives 2 god cards. The god cards either strengthen your warriors, make you lose warriors, or give you an advantage when attacking or defending. If a card makes you lose warriors, you must play it immediately. The other cards tell you whether you must play them in your next turn or whenever you like.

Rules for 2–5 Players

If you have played Risk before, much will be familiar to you, but there are some changes and additions in the Vikings edition. Take the time to read these rules carefully. If you are playing with 2 players, you should still read this section first before reading the 2-player rules at the end of these rules.

Setup

1. Each player chooses a Viking tribe in his favourite colour and places it in order of size in front of the board. This is your warrior stack.

2. Decide who goes first. Play proceeds clockwise.

3. Shuffle the 42 territory cards and deal them to all players. If the distribution is uneven (in a 4- or 5-player game), make sure that the players who go last receive the surplus cards.

4. The players look at their cards and place their warriors in the territories dealt to them. Place one warrior for a 1-star card and 2 warriors for a 2-star card. At this point you may only use warriors.

5. Put all the territory cards and the "End of the Viking Age" card together in one stack and shuffle it. Place it face down beside the board.

6. Take the raid cards and shuffle them. Then deal 2 to each player. Look at your cards, but keep them secret.

7. Take the god cards and shuffle them. Then deal 2 to each player. These cards should remain face down at first. Do NOT look at the cards.

Turn Sequence

The aim of the game is to be the first player to control the most territories before the "End of the Viking Age" card is drawn, or to conquer all 42 territories before this happens. Every result makes you the winner of the game.

What you do during your turn: On every turn:

1. Place your warriors.
2. Attack.
3. Manoeuvre your warriors and longship.
4. Draw a card (if you can).

1. Place Your Warriors

Decide how many new warriors you want to place on the board. You always receive 3 new warriors in each round, but if things go well you receive bonus warriors. If you receive more than 5 bonus warriors, it is better to use riders instead of warriors. This is also the time to turn over a god card, if you wish.

Controlling territories: The more territories you control, the more warriors you receive. You receive one bonus warrior for controlling 12–14 territories, 2 for 15–17, and so on. See the legend at the bottom of the board to see how many bonus warriors you can receive.

Controlling regions: If you control every territory in a region, you also receive bonus warriors. The number of warriors you receive for controlling a region is shown in the legend at the bottom right of the board. You receive these in each round for as long as you control the region. It is a good strategy to control regions at the start of a turn in order to receive additional warriors, or to prevent other players from fully controlling a region, which reduces the number of new warriors they can claim.

Note on the source scan: the region values in the board legend are legible for these regions (bonus warriors in brackets): England (7), Denmark (5), Scotland (5), Ireland (4), Francia (3), Norge (3), and one further region whose name is not legible in the scan (3). The scanned legend shows only these seven rows, while the rulebook describes nine regions. The remaining region values could not be read and are not transcribed; consult the board legend itself.

Completing raids: At the start of the game you receive two raid cards. If you decide to complete a raid and are successful, you may be entitled to further bonus warriors. Each raid card has one or more territories. You complete a raid simply by gaining control of the territory or territories concerned — for example, if at the start of the game you receive the raid card "Conquer Saxony" and you conquer Saxony, you receive 2 additional warriors at the start of your next turn. You can only receive additional warriors for this territory if you hold a raid card, and the card can only be used once per game.

God cards: You do not have to turn over both of them in each game. During the "Place your warriors" phase of your turn you may turn over one of your god cards. This may give you some additional warriors that you can add to your tribe, but be careful: it may also cause you to lose warriors on the board. Some god cards must be played immediately, but some can also be played later in the game during an attack or a defence. You do not have to turn over a god card every round — only when you wish to.

Trading in cards: You collect territory cards in each round when you conquer territories. Each card has 1 or 2 stars. You may exchange these for warriors during your turn. The graphic "WARRIORS FOR CARDS" on the board shows how many warriors you receive when you collect stars. It is a good idea to collect your cards and redeem them for many warriors at a critical moment. The location shown on the cards you collect does not correspond to the territories you have conquered. Trading in a territory card does not mean that you lose that territory.

Note on the source scan: the "WARRIORS FOR CARDS" graphic on the board is partly covered by the board artwork in the scanned rulebook. The values shown for the star columns could not be read in full, so they are not transcribed here; consult the board graphic itself.

2. Attack

Attack is the main part of your turn. This is the point at which you decide where to attack, whom to attack and when you should stop. You may attack several times or as few times as you like.

Choose a territory: Choose a territory that you control, and attack an opponent who is linked to it by a border. Alternatively, if a longship was placed in this territory during your previous turn, you may attack any coastal territory. You may attack only 1 territory at a time, and attack from only 1 territory at a time. You may attack a territory that is not connected only if you use a longship.

Advance: Move the number of warriors with which you want to attack across the line (or by sea, if you use the longship) into the defending territory. You may send as many warriors as you wish, but at least 1 warrior must remain in your territory as a guard. For example, if you have 3 warriors in a territory, you may attack with only 2. The defender uses all of its warriors to defend a territory, and the battle lasts until the territory is conquered or the attacker withdraws. If a longship is used, it must return to the attacking territory from which it sailed.

Example of attack: The red tribe attacks Dalriada from Cumbria with 3 warriors and leaves 1 behind to stand guard. Dalriada defends with 2 warriors.

Rolling the dice: The attacking tribe rolls one black die for each warrior — at most 3. Even if you attack with 6 warriors, you roll 3 dice. If you lose a warrior and continue to attack with 5, you still use 3 dice. You only reduce the number of dice when your attacking troops fall below 3. The defending tribe rolls one red die for each warrior, at most 2. The dice are rolled at the same time.

Combat: Line up the dice from the highest result to the lowest and compare each pair. If the attacking die is higher than the defending die, remove one defending warrior from the board. If the defending die is higher or equal, one of the attacking warriors is removed from the board.

If all the defending warriors are defeated, the attacking tribe wins the territory. If the defeated territory has a coastline with an enemy longship, the longship is sunk in the combat and removed from the board for the rest of the game. Be careful where you drop anchor!

Example of combat: The red tribe rolls 3 black attack dice and the yellow tribe rolls 2 red defence dice. The dice are lined up from highest to lowest value. Black 6 beats red 4, so the yellow tribe loses 1 warrior. Black 3 beats red 2, so the yellow tribe loses its other warrior and the red tribe wins the territory. If the yellow tribe had rolled a 3 or higher, the red tribe would have lost one warrior and would have to decide whether to continue attacking.

Normally 1 additional die remains at the end of each attack. The attacking tribe may choose the higher 2 numbers and ignore the third die.

The attacking tribe may attack for as long as it wishes — until the territory is conquered, or it withdraws or is defeated. You roll with 3 and 2 dice until you have fewer warriors — that is, if you attack with only 2 warriors, you roll only 2 dice.

Further attacks: When the attack has been successful or you withdraw, you may attack further territories using the same process as on the previous pages. If you are defeated in an attack and lose all your warriors, you may not make any further attacks.

God cards during attack: When attacking or defending, remember that you have god cards that you can use in combat. You may not turn over god cards at this stage. You may do this only during the "Place your warriors" phase of your turn. But if you have turned a card over and kept it, you may use it during combat.

3. Manoeuvre Your Tribe

Once the attack is over, you may carry out one reinforcement move. Tribes may move from one territory to another territory that you control, provided it is linked by a border (or by a territory with a longship that was placed on it during your last turn) and you control the territories in between. Take as many warriors as you wish from one territory, leave at least one warrior behind, and place them in an adjacent territory. You may make only one such move.

Example of a move: The red tribe chooses to send reinforcements from Gwynedd to East Anglia, because East Anglia is likely to be attacked by the blue tribe. The red tribe controls North Humbria and Mercia, so its warriors can be redistributed within those territories. If the red tribe did not control Mercia, it could not do this.

The red tribe decides to send reinforcements from Shetland to Telemark. It can do this because its longship is in Shetland and it controls both territories.

4. Draw a Card (If You Can)

You may now draw one card from the territory card deck for each territory you have conquered, and add it to your hand. This will not match the territory you have just conquered. If you have not won a territory, you may not draw a card.

Winning the Game

You win Risk Vikings by controlling the most territories when the game ends, or by controlling every territory.

The game normally ends when the "End of the Viking Age" card is drawn.

As soon as the "End of the Viking Age" card is drawn, the game is over. The players must then count their controlled territories. The player with the most territories is the WINNER!

If one player controls all territories, he may take his place on the throne as conqueror of Europe!

All cards, dice and warriors are then returned to the box, ready for the next invasion!

Game Variants

For a longer and more complex game, you may choose not to use the "End of the Viking Age" card, which means that play continues until one tribe conquers all territories. In this version of the game the territory cards may run out, so you must shuffle the discard pile and form a new stack from which you can draw again.

2-Player Game

In a 2-player game there are still 5 tribes in play, although there are only 2 players. Each player controls one tribe and the other 3 remain neutral. Unless stated otherwise, the rules for a 3–5 player game apply in a 2-player game.

The aim of a 2-player game is to control the most territories when the "End of the Viking Age" card is drawn, or to eliminate the other player.

2-Player Setup

1. The 2 players choose a tribe in their favourite colour, and the remaining 3 colours remain neutral.

2. Shuffle the territory cards and deal each player 12 cards. Look at the cards and place 1 or 2 warriors in the corresponding territories on the board.

3. Deal 6 cards for each of the neutral tribes and place their warriors in the same way on the board.

4. Shuffle the territory cards again and then set aside 3 cards for each neutral tribe beside the board. Place 1 warrior per tribe on the stacks, so that each neutral tribe has a stack of 3. Place the remaining territory cards in one stack.

5. Deal 1 raid card to each player.

6. Deal 3 god cards to each player.

Then play exactly as in a 3–5 player game, with one exception. Each turn 3 warriors must be added to a neutral tribe.

The warriors may be added in 1, 2 or 3 territories, but warriors may not be added to more than one neutral army.

Conquering a neutral tribe: When you conquer the last territory controlled by a neutral tribe, you receive the 3 cards that were placed under its coloured warriors at the start of the game. Add them to your hand and trade them in whenever you like.