Pax Viking 0.74 concise rules

If you see a word in all caps anywhere in the game, that word is defined in the glossary. If you have questions or would like to suggest edits, please post in this forum thread.

Components

Game Anatomy

The map is separated into 4 WINDS. These WINDS are further separated into REGIONS. These REGIONS are further separated into POSTS.

There are four types of tiles. Ventures are played on POSTS. Gods and Advocates are played on the indicated spaces of your Jarlboard. Events immediately RESOLVE when played.

A tile will have its type icon at the very top, its location REQUIREMENT below that, its Follower icon on the top left, its trigger icon on the top right, its ability in the bottom middle, and flavor text below that. The Follower icon determines what type of Follower is placed on that tile. The trigger icon determines when the ability activates. Refer to the icon definitions below for more information.

Setup

1. Deal one or more Victory Condition cards of one or more different difficulty types in the indicated spaces. Victory Condition cards are only active when they are face up. You can deal them face up at the start of the game, or face down, in which case one card is turned face up every time an Event is RESOLVED.
2. Create a SAGA PILE with 12 random tiles per player. For a more balanced game use the starter deck, removing the "6p" tiles in a 5 player game, etc. To make your own custom balanced deck, include 4 Ventures, 3 Events, 3 Advocates, and 2 Gods per player. For a longer game you can add more tiles, which we recommend for the hardest Victory Conditions.
3. From the unused deck grab a number of Ventures, equal to 6 minus the number of players, whose location is unique. Place those Ventures on POSTS in their locations.
4. Put all your Followers and Longships on your Jarlboard in their indicated spaces. Put a HOME marker on your starting HOME lcation on the map (your Jarl's nameplate color tells you what WIND your HOME is in).
5. Place the Influence markers in their indicated spaces at the top of the game board, and Trade Center markers at the side of the game board.
6. A starting player is chosen randomly, and that player receives 3 Silfr. Every subsequent player in clockwise order receives one more Silfr than the previous player. Some Jarl abilities also give you additional starting Silfr.

How to Win

You are trying to achieve one of the revealed Victory Condition cards, which vary in difficulty between Novice, Standard, Advanced, and Eklundian. Novice victory conditions are checked at the end of your turn. Every other victory condition is checked every time an Event is RESOLVED.

The game ends when someone has met a victory condition during a check or no tiles remain in the SAGA TRACK, at which point you check the victory conditions one last time. If no player or more than one player has met a victory condition at game end, whoever amongst those players has the most ESTABLISHED Followers wins. If there is still a tie, whoever amongst those players has the most Silfr wins. If there is still a tie, those players share the victory.

Sequence of Play

A turn consists of the following three phases.

Influence Phase: If you alone have the most ESTABLISHED Followers of any type, take the corresponding Influence marker(s) and put one of your action markers on the space next to it. If you have any Influence markers but no longer have the most ESTABLISHED Followers of that type, RETURN the Influence marker and take back your action marker.

Action Phase: Use all of your Action and Influence markers to perform Standard or Influence actions, EXHAUSTING them on the indicated spaces of your Jarlboard. You will never perform more than four actions in a turn. You can perform the same Standard action multiple times, and use Influence markers to perform Standard actions instead of Influence actions. You can perform each Influence action you have access to once a turn.

• Standard Actions

  • INVEST: DRAW and REFRESH, or BUY from the SAGA TRACK.
  • JOURNEY: Move one of your Longships up to three STEPS, then EXHAUST. You may TRADE with COLOCATED RIVALS during any STEP.
  • PLAY: If the REQUIREMENT is met, RESOLVE an Event or (RE)PLACE and ESTABLISH a tile.
  • ACTIVATE: If you have a Longship and Follower on the Venture, perform its ability, then EXHAUST that Longship.
  • PARLEY: If you are ALONE, ESTABLISH. Otherwise CHALLENGE, then if you are ALONE you may ESTABLISH.

• Influence Actions

  • JARLDOM: May move 1 STEP into a Venture and RETURN 1 RIVAL Longship, then if ALONE ESTABLISH.
  • SWEDEN: DRAW from the SAGA PILE. If it is a Venture, PLACE a Longship in a POST in that Venture's location and if possible PLAY the Venture.
  • THEOCRACY: ESTABLISH a Theocracy Follower on any Theocracy Venture or Powerful Ally.
  • RUS: If you have a longship ALONE in the same location as a RIVAL's ESTABLISHED Advocate, take that Advocate and PLAY it.

Winter Solstice: GAIN 1 Silfr for every unique Follower type you have currently ESTABLISHED. DISCARD down to your HAND LIMIT. REFRESH.

Turns will continue clockwise from the starting player until someone wins. For a game with more strategy and negotiation consider playing with open hands.

Glossary

ALL: Every player, including you.

ALONE: Have only your Longship(s) in a POST.

ALTHING: In turn order, vote whether the Event RESOLVES. If 50% or more agree, RESOLVE. Check victory conditions regardless.

AVAILABLE: If the component is in your hand, Jarlboard, the SAGA TRACK, or the discard pile.

BUY: Transfer the listed amount of Silfr to the supply to add the tile in your hand.

CHALLENGE: Choose a RIVAL in the same POST who has fewer Longships. RETURN RIVAL'S first Longship and move every other RIVAL Longship to the nearest REGION. RETURN all Followers acting as Longships.

COLOCATED: Longships that are in the same REGION. A POST is always in a REGION.

COPY: Use a RIVAL's ability.

DISCARD: Move tile(s) to the discard pile face up.

DRAW: Draw a tile from the top of the SAGA PILE and place it in your hand. If you used the INVEST action to DRAW, remove the 1 cost tile from the SAGA TRACK.

DUCHY: A REGION with two Ventures with Followers of the same color. Some abilities may also create a DUCHY. Add a HOME marker to a DUCHY you control.

EAST: Is in the East WIND.

ESTABLISH: (RE)PLACE Follower(s) on the indicated Follower icon(s), pay the cost at the bottom of the POST if necessary. There can never be more than one color Follower on a tile. Abilities are not active until after the Follower is ESTABLISHED.

(UN)EXHAUST: Mark or unmark that a component has been used. It can no longer be used for actions that require EXHAUSTING that component.

GAIN: Without spending an extra action or money, gain this ability or component.

HAND LIMIT: The number of tiles allowed in your hand (the default is 4) at the end of your WINTER SOLSTICE.

HARBOR: Denotes that the POST may only be entered from the Sea REGION the HARBOR is in.

HOME: A starting location, either printed on the map or added with HOME markers. It is not considered a part of any REGION or WIND.

KEY TRADE CENTER: TRADE CENTERS marked with a key icon: Miklagard, Chang'an, India, and Damascus.

NORTH: Is in the North WIND.

ONCE: Ability applies only once per any player's turn.

(RE)PLACE: Place or replace a component from your hand or Jarlboard on the map. You cannot replace Trade Centers or Powerful Allies.

POST: Any circle on the map. These include empty POSTS, Ventures, TRADE CENTERS, and POWERFUL ALLIES.

POWERFUL ALLY: The brown preprinted POSTS on the map. Their abilities immediately trigger when ESTABLISHED.

REFRESH: Refill empty SAGA TRACK spots. If you're in Winter Solstice, UNEXHAUST all of your components.

REGION: Any named area on the map that is not a POST. Sea REGIONS have black names. River REGIONS have white names and at least one white border. Harbor REGIONS have white names, but no white borders.

REQUIREMENT: Have only your Longship(s) in a POST in the location listed near the top of the tile.

RESOLVE: You must follow the instructions on the Event tile as much as possible, then remove it from the game. Then check to see if anyone has met a victory condition.

RETURN: Return the component to its starting setup position.

RIVAL: Any other player or components another player controls.

SAGA PILE: The stack of unrevealed tiles on the zero cost space.

SAGA TRACK: The selection of tiles in the marked cost spaces.

SOUTH: Is in the South WIND.

STEP: One movement into/out of a POST, or across a white border into/out of a REGION or HOME marker. POSTS without a HARBOR must be entered from a River REGION.

TRADE: Exchange tiles, Followers, Longships, Silfr, and/or non-binding promises with a COLOCATED RIVAL.

TRADE CENTER: The grey preprinted POSTS on the map. After ESTABLISHING, their abilities trigger during certain actions.

WEST: Is in the West WIND.

WIND: One of the 4 colored areas of the map: North, South, East, West.