Overview

Claim features on the main board to slowly build your Fjord in order to have the most points when all 13 Vikings have been played

Turn

On your turn, you have a number of options:

Place a Viking (Mandatory)

Capture a Building (Conditional)

Complete a Construction Site (Conditional)

Select a Longship (Optional)

Use a Shield (Optional)

Claim a Trophy (Optional)

After you've done as much as you can or wish to, it's the next player's turn

Place a Viking

Place a Viking on the main board as long as the space is unoccupied AND adjacent to either any other Viking (not just your own) OR adjacent to a Longship

After which, depending on the space, you will gain a resource tile to your personal board (Fjord) which, after choosing an empty space for it, CANNOT be moved later

If you complete your personnal board, extra ressources will be DISCARDED, happens rarely but if you capture "too many" building.

Capture a Building

There are three building types (Houses, Watchtowers, Castles) and each function slightly differently

If you played your Viking adjacent to a House, take a House tile and place it on your Fjord, you can capture multiple Houses this way if you are adjacent to multiple

If you played your Viking so as to make a route of YOUR Vikings between 2 Watchtowers, you gain 2 Watchtower tiles for your Fjord. Each pairing can only be claimed once, even if you make two routes between them, however each watchtower isn't limited to one route, so if you make a route between Watchtower A & Watchtower B gain 2 Watchtowers, do this again and gain 0 Watchtowers, later make a route between Watchtower C & B and gain 2 Watchtowers, later make a route between C & A, gain 2 more Watchtowers

If you have a group of four Vikings that belong to you, and at least one of them is adjacent to a castle, you will receive the castle tile. If you expand this group to eight of your Vikings, you will receive a second castle, and if you expand it even further to 12 of your Vikings, you will receive a third castle tile.

Complete a Construction Site

You have a number of Construction Sites dotted around your Fjord, in the main body these show what resources or buildings need to be adjacent for it to complete, and in the lower banner it shows how much it scores

As soon as you surround a Construction Site with all the resources or buildings shown, you may flip it to demonstrate it is complete

If the Construction Site depicts multiple of a resource/building, you need to have this number of that feature surrounding it

The direction of where each resource/building is is irrelevant

Select a Longship

At end of your turn, you MAY claim a single Longship

If you fail to complete a claimed Longship, it will lose you 5 points

Longships require 3 resources to complete (shown in the main upper area), they then give bonus points to a certain feature (shown in the low banner)

To satisfy the requirements, the resources MUST be adjacent to the Longship's space, if multiple of the same resource is required then multiple of this resource needs to be adjacent

Resources adjacent to multiple Longships will satisfy all adjacent

Once a Longship meets the criteria, flip it to show it has been satisfied

Longships provide scoring opportunities for the following: Castle, Gold, Watchtower, Sheep, Wood, House

After claiming a Longship, draw a new one to replenish the market

BLACK ships are usually worth double.

Use a Shield

You can use as many Shields as you wish on your turn, but each Shield is a ONCE per game effect

There's a Shield to play 2 Vikings in one turn

There's a Shield to play your Viking on the same space as an opponent

There's a Shield to gain two resources from your Viking's space instead of the normal one

Claim a Trophy

ONCE per game, you can claim a SINGLE trophy

These trophies require a certain number of Axe Resources (2-6) to be collected, however their positions don't matter

The more Axes required, typically the more points it gives

However, each trophy is a first come first served, so timing is important

Game End

The game ends when everyone has placed all their Vikings

As there are effects which allow some people to play extra Vikings on a go, this may mean it seems like some players get extra turns at the end if they haven't taken advantage of this feature (however everyone will have played the same number of Vikings overall)

Castles, Watchtowers, Houses, Gold, Sheep, and Wood are all scored in the same following way: Add the base value to any related bonuses then multiply this by the quantity of that feature you have

Completed Construction Sites score their depicted value

Your Trophy scores its depicted value (if collected)

LOSE 5 points for each incomplete Longship (unflipped)

The player with the most points, wins!

If tied, the player with the highest valued Trophy wins!

If neither hold a Trophy, share the victory!

Summarised by https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=90078516