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878 Vikings: Invasions of England

2-4 players 60-120 min 7.5 Board Game Geek Rating

In 878: Vikings – Invasions of England, players battle as either Viking invaders or English defenders in 9th-century England. Vikings arrive by sea each turn while English forces recruit from controlled cities. Both sides coordinate strategies to capture and hold settlements across the map. Victory goes to whichever faction controls the most cities when the Treaty of Wedmore ends the conflict.

Published 2017

878 Vikings: Invasions of England

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Prepare the event deck
Shuffle 1 event card into the deck, then split the 8-card deck into two piles of 4 cards each
2
Distribute events evenly
Shuffle 2 event cards into one pile and 2 into the other, then place the piles on top of each other
3
Random deckbuilding option
Randomly draw 5 event cards and shuffle them into your deck using the luck mitigation event rules
4
Remove duplicate cards (optional)
Before random deckbuilding, remove card #17 from Norsemen and Berserker decks and card #18 from the Housecarl deck
5
Remove disliked events
Remove the "Traitors" battle event and "Viking Nemesis" mission card from the game
6
Set Viking reinforcement values
Use modified charts: "B" vikings use 10/3, 11/4, 13/5; "C" vikings use 12/5, 14/6, 16/7

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Determine turn order
If a team's dice is pulled in rounds 3+4, randomly remove 1 of that team's dice next turn and keep it secret
2
Early round dice pulls
During rounds 1+2 of the next turn, pull 2 dice from the 3 remaining dice
3
Late round dice pulls
Mix the removed dice with the remaining 1 and pull dice for rounds 3+4
4
Apply last round restrictions
During the final round, each faction must choose to either move one space less with each army OR move one army less
5
Handle boat burning
When burning a boat with 0 retreated Norsemen units, remove 1 Norsemen (viking's choice) from the kingdom where the boat anchored
6
Build forts (without churches variant)
Remove 3 Norsemen units to build a fort instead of the standard cost
7
Assign mission cards with Lagherta
When Lagherta enters play, choose whether Lagherta or her companion leader receives the mission card

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Complete Epic Battle mission
Only counts as completed if you are the attacker (applies to both Viking and English)
2
Complete expansion missions early
Explorer (viking), Empire Builder (viking), and Forge Empire (english) must be completed before turn 5
3
Redraw late expansion missions
If you draw Explorer, Empire Builder, or Forge Empire in turn 5, 6, or 7, discard and draw a new mission
4
Complete Longevity mission
Achieved if all viking leaders survive the game (more difficult if Lagherta enters play)
5
Complete Alliance Forger mission
Achieved if you have 3 viking leaders in the same kingdom
6
Late game mission restriction
No mission cards are dealt in turns 6 and 7

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

878 Vikings Play Examples

878 Vikings Play Examples

Instructional

How To Setup And Play 878 Vikings

How To Setup And Play 878 Vikings

Instructional

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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