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Wikinger
Author: Michael Kiesling
Publisher: Hans im Glück
Year: 2007


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As chiefs of a hoard of Vikings, we have decided that it’s time to colonise new land. And why travel through perilous unknown waters, if what you are looking for can be found right under your nose? Therefore, we decide to go for the many islands that surround the Scandinavian coasts. Of course, all this discovering yields riches, fame and glory, and the chief of the clan that manages to obtain most of these wins the game!

All players get their own player board, a coastal strip in the shape of a right angle, where six rows of island tiles can be placed. Each row depicts a coloured Viking (black, red, green, yellow, blue) or a pirate ship.

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Additionally, there’s a main board with a rotatable wheel with numbered positions 0-11. Surrounding the wheel there’s a circle where twelve island tiles and twelve Vikings can be placed. Each round, island tiles are placed on the twelve positions around the wheel. The tiles depict pieces of island (starting pieces, middle pieces or end pieces) or pirate ships (in red, green, yellow or blue). In addition, twelve Vikings are drawn randomly and placed next to the tiles. The Vikings are placed in a fixed order: first, starting at position 0, all the blue Vikings, then the yellow, green, red, black and finally the grey Vikings.

In a player’s turn, he must purchase a combination of an island tile and a Viking. He pays the amount of gold that is indicated on the wheel next to the chosen combination. The combination at position 0 can only be purchased if the Viking on that position is the only Viking of his colour. If there are two blue Vikings, that are placed on positions 0 and 1, the Viking on position 0 may only be taken after the Viking on position 1 has been purchased by a player, because then the blue Viking on position 0 is the only blue Viking on the board. In that event, the wheel is subsequently rotated in clockwise direction until there is again a combination of an island tile and a Viking facing the 0. The prices of all the remaining combinations have thereby dropped!

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When a player has purchased a combination, he has to place the island tile in his coastal area. This way, islands can be created, that can be composed of a starting tile, optionally followed by a middle-tile, and finished by an end-tile. A tile can be placed directly adjacent to the coastal strip, or adjacent to another, previously placed island tile. The Viking may be placed on the island tile, but only if the tile was placed in the row that corresponds to the colour of the Viking. Otherwise, the Viking must be placed temporarily on the kayak symbol in the top left corner of the player board. The grey Vikings, the sailors, are always placed on this kayak. Tiles displaying a pirate ship are placed in the top row, next to the ship symbol.

The round ends as soon as all twelve combinations surrounding the wheel have been purchased. After each round there’s a scoring phase; there are minor and major scoring phases that alternate each round. In a minor scoring round, all players receive three gold for each yellow Viking on an island in the yellow row. In a major scoring round, each red Viking scores two points, each green Viking 1 point plus 1 point for each yellow and blue Viking in the same column (so, directly underneath the green Viking), and again each yellow Viking yields three gold. For both the minor and the major scoring, points and gold can only be scored when the Viking is not threatened by a pirate ship.

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These ships are in the top row of the board, and they can threaten the Vikings in the same column. The colour of the sail indicates how many rows are threatened by the ships. The weakest ships (red sail) only threaten the Viking in the red row, and the strongest ships (blue sail) threaten all Vikings down to the blue row. Luckily, these attacks can be countered by the black Vikings, the warriors. They are positioned in the second row, directly underneath the ships. Each ship with a black Viking underneath it is warded off, and doesn’t pose a threat. The player receives a reward for countering the attack, in gold or victory points, which is depicted on the ship tile.

Another important element in the major scoring rounds are the sailors. These grey Vikings are able to transport a number of Vikings that were placed in the kayak in the previous phase to vacant islands in the row of their own colour before the scoring begins. Each sailor can transport either one Viking of each colour, or all Vikings of one colour. The sailor is discarded after use.

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After the major scoring phase that follows the sixth and final round, there is one final scoring phase. All players receive minus points for all ships that have not been countered by warriors, and bonus points can be scored for the most finished islands, the longest island, and the most remaining sailors. Finally, each fisherman (blue Viking) is able to supply himself and four other Vikings with food. If a player doesn’t have enough fishermen to feed all his Vikings, he is under-supplied and looses one point for each Viking that cannot be maintained. If he has more fishermen than required to feed his population, he scores two points for each over-supplied Viking. The player with the most victory points wins the game!


After a lot of Romans as subject for games, the Vikings suddenly seem to have become a very popular theme for boardgames. Wikinger is a very successful member of this extensive Viking game list, with fun and original elements. The game looks good, with simple illustrations that give a nice atmosphere, with robust material and cute wooden Vikings. The climax of the game is without a doubt the wheel, which provides a nifty way to introduce variable prices into the game.

Because each player is sailing in his own coastal waters on his own board, the game can be a bit solitary. The interaction mainly takes place around the wheel: removing the last, highly desired sailor or warrior, purchasing the last ‘end-tile’ right before the eyes of the player that has room only for end-tiles on his board, forcing someone to take a nasty pirate ship, or to pay an awful lot of gold for his tile, that sort of stuff. When a player removes the combination at position 0, he has a cheap bargain, but as a consequence, the wheel rotates and the prices will drop for all the other players as well… This will probably not be done without ample and careful deliberation!

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The game lasts six rounds, and there are only three major scoring rounds; that’s not really enough to build a nice civilisation on your newly discovered islands, and the game feels a bit too short. On the other side, Wikinger plays in approximately one hour, which can also be an advantage. There is an advanced version of the rules, that includes extra bonus tiles that can be obtained after buying the most expensive combination currently available on the wheel. Also, the order in which the Vikings are placed around the wheel is variable instead of fixed in the advanced rules.

The advanced version is certainly recommended after you’ve familiarised yourself with the game, since it adds some extra spice and strategic options. Altogether, Wikinger is a very nice game that is not too long or complex, but it’s certainly challenging and has considerable depth.
© 2007 Barbara van Vugt

Wikinger, Michael Kiesling, Hans im Glück, 2007 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 60 minutes


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