How to Play

Raiders of the North Sea

2-4 players 60-80 min 7.7 Board Game Geek Rating

In this Viking-themed game, players command warriors seeking to impress their Chieftain through strategic raiding. The core mechanic involves placing a worker to perform an action, then picking up a different worker for another action. Players alternate between working in village buildings to recruit crew and gather supplies, then raiding settlements like harbors and monasteries for plunder and glory points to win.

Published 2015

Get Ready

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

Prepare offering tiles

Shuffle all 16 offering tiles and stack them facedown by the bottom-right of the board

Display offerings

Deal 3 offering tiles face-up into the spaces at the bottom-right of the board

Fill the bag

Mix all valkyries and plunder (gold, iron, and livestock) in the bag

Stock raiding spaces

Fill each raiding space with the number of valkyries and/or plunder shown in its green icon, drawn from the bag

Create main supply

Empty the remaining valkyries and plunder from the bag to form a main supply by the board

Place raiding space workers

Fill each white or grey worker spot at the top-right of each raiding space with a corresponding worker

Place starting black workers

Put 3 black workers on the work spots (circles) of the Gate House, Town Hall, and Treasury

Distribute player workers

Give each player 1 black worker

Remove excess black workers

Remove remaining black workers from the game

Set out common supplies

Put the silver, provisions, and dice beside the board

Give starting silver

Give each player 2 silver

Distribute ship cards

Give each player 1 ship card in their color (with the 50 VP side down)

Place score markers

Put the 3 score markers of each player on the 0 spaces of the armoury, valkyrie, and victory point tracks

Remove unused components

Remove any remaining ship cards and score markers from the game

Prepare townsfolk deck

Shuffle all 71 townsfolk cards and stack facedown

Deal starting hands

Deal 5 townsfolk cards to each player

Select starting cards

Each player keeps 3 of their 5 townsfolk cards and returns the other 2 facedown to the bottom of the deck

Determine first player

Roll dice to select start player

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Choose your action

On each turn, either Work or Raid

Place your worker

Put your worker at any building that is available (has no worker at it) and activate the building

Take a worker

Take a worker from any other building that has a worker and activate that building

Gate House activation

Draw 2 townsfolk cards

Town Hall activation

Discard 1 card from your hand for the action shown at its bottom right

Treasury activation

Discard 1 card from your hand to gain 2 silver, or discard 2 cards to gain 1 gold

Barracks activation

Hire a crew member by paying the silver shown on a card in your hand and playing it face-up in front of you

Armoury activation

Pay 1 iron to gain 2 armour, or pay 2 silver to gain 1 armour

Mill activation

Gain 1 provision for placing or removing a black worker, 2 for a grey, or 2 provisions or 1 gold for a white

Silversmith activation

Gain 3 silver for placing or removing a black worker, or 2 silver for a grey or white worker

Long House activation

Either pay 1 livestock to gain 2 provisions, or offer goods to the chieftain

Select target

Choose a settlement (harbour, outpost, monastery, or fortress) that has plunder left to raid

Meet worker requirement

Your worker must match a worker color shown below the settlement

Meet crew requirement

You must have at least as many crew as shown

Pay costs

You must pay the provisions and gold shown

Place your worker

Put your worker on an empty worker spot below the settlement

Harbour reward

At a harbour, gain 1 point

Roll for strength

At other settlements, roll the dice shown

Calculate military strength

Sum your military strength from the dice, your armour, crew strength (red at top left), and crew abilities (bottom left)

Gain battle points

If your strength equals or exceeds a threshold shown in red, gain the points shown in yellow

Minimum strength result

If your strength does not exceed the lowest threshold, you gain no points but your raid continues

Crew bonus points

Gain points from crew that offer additional victory points for raiding this type of settlement

Collect spoils

Take the valkyries, plunder, and worker from any raiding space of the settlement

Excess valkyries

If you take more valkyries than you have crew, discard the excess valkyries

Lose crew to valkyries

For each valkyrie taken (and not discarded), discard a crew card of your choice

Advance valkyrie track

Move your score marker 1 space up the valkyrie track for each crew lost (but not beyond its end)

Return valkyries

Return the valkyries to the main supply

Resource limits

Resources are limited to the supply; unavailable resources cannot be collected

Deck depletion

If the townsfolk deck runs out, shuffle the discards to form a new deck

End of turn limits

Players may have no more than 8 silver, 8 provisions, and 8 in-hand cards at the end of their turn; discard excess

Crew limit

Players may have no more than 5 hired crew at any time

Replacing crew

A player may discard any crew before hiring another crew member

Unlimited plunder

Players may have any amount of plunder

Winning

How to claim victory.

Game end triggers

Play turns clockwise until one of three conditions occurs:

Final round

After a player finishes a turn reaching one of the above conditions, each player (including that player) takes 1 final turn

Score valkyrie track

Give each player points for position on valkyrie track, as shown beside it

Score armoury track

Give each player points for position on armoury track, as shown beside it

Score offerings

Give each player points for their offering tiles

Score crew

Give each player points for hired crew that indicate victory points

Score plunder

Give each player 1 point for each gold, 1 for each iron, and 1 for each 2 livestock

Determine winner

The player with the most points wins

Tiebreaker

In case of ties, favor highest on valkyrie track, then highest on armoury track

Raiders of the North Sea

Get Ready

On Your Turn

Winning

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