Vikings
Publisher: Rio Grande Games
The Basics
Vikings is a strategic purchasing and placement game for 2-4 players played in 6 rounds, wherein the players take on the role of a Viking leader who sends off other Vikings to explore nearby islands. Once the islands are found, the player populates the islands with other Vikings, each with distinct roles to play, providing much needed resources to maintain the new island's population and send back precious goods to the player's Homeland, providing wealth and fame. But there is danger. Enemy ships lurk about and will attempt to disrupt trade and wreak havoc on the islands.
The Game Components
This game includes a game board, player markers, a starting player marker, homeland bases, viking meeples (affectionately known as "veeples"), coins, a cloth sack (for the many veeples to live in), scoring summary cards, ship tiles, and land tiles.
The game board keeps track of the player's score, what offerings are available for each round, and the Viking Wheel, which determines what resources are available (ships, landmasses and veeples). The homeland bases are used to strategically place the purchased ships, landmasses and veeples.
In all cases, the components of the game are of the highest quality.
Playing the Game
There are 3 stages to each of the 6 rounds that make the complete game.
Stage 1: Distribute the Offering
Each round a new offering is place around the Viking Wheel. The offering is always random. The landmasses are placed first followed by the ships (the enemy ships are mixed in with the landmasses). Then the veeples are drawn randomly out of the bag and placed in groups around the wheel.
This makes for a different offering each round and also requires the players to think about what they will be purchasing as there might be many veeples of one type and little of another. There might also by many enemy ships, but little land to be found.
Stage 2: Acquiring Sets
Once the Viking Wheel has been populated with the offering, the players take turns purchasing sets (ship or landmass and a single veeple). Each player MUST purchase a set if they have money to do so. The player may purchase any set except the one marked as “0”, which is reserved. Players have the option of selling their fame points (what counts as “scoring”) for 1 gold per fame point, but they are never forced to do so.
Once a player buys a set, they place them immediately. An added level of difficulty comes in when you are required to place the veeple on the same landmass you just purchased. And since veeple types (Scout, Fisherman, Goldsmith, Warrior, and Boatsman) must be placed in certain areas of your homeland, a player must think ahead and determine if they can use both.
Ships and Landmasses are always played, but not necessarily the veeples. Any veeple that cannot be played at the same time as the ship or landmass goes on a temporary spot and is later ferried over by any Boatsman the player may have. The benefit here is that the veeples are not lost; however, they don't score points, either. Therefore, careful planning is in order.
Throughout this entire stage, the Viking Wheel will move if either the “0” cost set is taken (by the first player who doesn't have any money) or all of the veeples of one group are purchased. When the Viking Wheel turns, the cost of all offerings still on the board are reduced.
Stage 3: Scoring
After all the sets have been purchased and placed, the round ends and the current state of the game is scored. There are 6 rounds and so there are 6 times the game is scored, plus one End of Game scoring round. The game is scored differently each round. Small and Big scoring, respectively.
Small scoring happens after rounds 1,3, and 5; while Big scoring happens after rounds 2, 4, and 6. The End of Game score is taken after the Big scoring at the end of round 6.
The character with the most fame points wins the game.
Final Thoughts
Vikings is a very good game that is quick to learn and difficult to master. The game components are easy to use, the game is fast to setup and start, and the rounds do not take long. In general, a game may last you no more than 60 minutes, less if you are playing with others who are familiar with the game.
The learning curve for this game is not terribly huge if you are familiar with games such as Alhambra, Settlers of Catan, and Puerto Rico. Any player who has had little to no experience with such games will need some hand holding.
I highly recommend this game and would be happy to play and teach it anytime, anywhere.
LONG LIVE THE VEEPLES!