You’re looking for the best Viking board games, aren’t you?
You are in the right place, but before jumping into the list let’s take a step back to briefly introduce the protagonists of this article: the Vikings.
Expert sailors and brutal warriors; they have raided, conquered and settled throughout the north of Europe between the 8th and 11th centuries.
Even today in most parts of northern Europe there are visible testimonies of their culture, and their mythology is still a source of inspiration for various cinematographic and literary works.
We know a lot about them, but how much do we know about board games with a theme inspired by them?
Could you name 10 Viking board games?
If you can, well done!! Write your top 10 list in the comments section and we can have a chat about it!
Otherwise, prepare yourself to start a journey towards the best Viking board games currently available.
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Best Vikings Board Games
A Feast for Odin
1 – 4 players | 30 – 120 mins | Age 12+
Blood Rage
2 – 4 players | 60 – 90 mins | Age 14+
Champions of Midgard
2 – 4 players | 60 – 90 mins | Age 10+
Raiders of the North Sea
2 – 4 players | 60 – 80 min | 12+
878 Vikings: Invasions of England
2 – 4 players | 60 – 120 min | 12+
Reavers of Midgard
2 – 8 players | 15 min | 14+
Pax Viking
1 – 6 players | 60 – 90 min | 12+
Yggdrasil Chronicles
1 – 5 players | 90 min | 14+
Explorers of the North Sea
1 – 4 players | 45 – 60 mins | Age 12+
Vikings Gone Wild
2 – 4 players | 45 – 90 min | 10+
A Feast for Odin
A Feast for Odin it’s a worker placement board game, designed by Uwe Rosenburg, in which players can experience life in a Viking tribe and compete against each other to become the wealthiest.
The goal of the game is to fill your home board with goods, such as silver, weapons, resources, and so on, earning then victory points.
In order to fulfil your mission, you can send your villagers to do some tasks:
- Harvest vegetables and fruit
- Hunt
- Gather materials like stone or wood
- Build ships and houses
- Raid and pillage, in a perfect Viking style
- Explore new territories
Every time your workers complete the assigned activity, you collect loot that comes in the form of a shaped tile.
These tiles have to be placed on your home board in a way that allows you to collect as many extra bonuses as possible, without leaving any blank spaces. Basically a mini-game in a game!
The game lasts for 7 rounds, with each round divided into 12 phases. At the end of the last round, the person with the most points wins!
A Feast for Odin is, in general, one of the best Viking board games to get if you like the worker placement type of games.
It’s a heavy, challenging and balanced game, that requires you to build a deep strategy in order to win the game. If you’re into this genre, definitely a worthy purchase!
A FEAST FOR ODIN
1 – 4 players | 30 – 120 mins | Age 12+
Blood Rage
In Blood Rage, each player takes control of a Viking clan, with its own warriors, leader and ship.
As Ragnarök progressively destroys the world, the game proceeds through three Ages. The winner is the one who has the most glory at the end of the game.
You may conquer and loot the country for its treasures, destroy your opponents in epic battles, complete missions, boost your clan’s attributes, or even die gloriously in combat.
The board of the game represents a land divided into 3 regions (Manheim, Jotunheim and Alfheim) with each of them having 2 or 3 provinces and at the centre Yggdrasil the world-tree.
Here is where you’ll fight to become the most glorious clan!
The gameplay is quite easy to pick up, and everything appears to be well balanced.
After a few matches, the game truly shines and reveals to be a fast-paced game of drafting card and area control. Pretty much all the cards are very powerful, so be careful when planning your moves!
For me, replayability is the major flaw. The game lacks a bit of complexity, and the shortage of variations creeps in quickly, despite the fact that you may play a lot of games before becoming bored.
The miniatures’ quality, on the other hand, is exceptional! They are, in my opinion, among the greatest ever made for a board game.
You will just want to keep them in your hand while playing.
Shortly, I think Blood Rage is a solid game that deserves to be in every best Viking board games list!
A game that rewards you with tremendous sensations by combining relatively basic rules with such great components.
Ragnarok is coming, be prepared!
BLOOD RAGE
2 – 4 players | 60 – 90 mins | Age 14+
Champions of Midgard
The Jarl of Trondheim has died. Trondheim, once a prosperous harbour city, has now fallen into a state of chaos and destruction.
Trolls, Draugr and Monsters of any kind are attacking and terrorizing the city and the villages nearby, and this is where your adventure begins.
In this game, you take the role of a Viking leader who is called to protect the city and slay the hostile beasts, in order to gain Glory and, why not, the title of next Jarl!
Champions of Midgard is a Viking themed board game, in which the main goal is to earn as most Glory as possible over the course of 8 rounds.
The game falls into the worker-placement category and as expected your workers, in this game represented by meeples, can be sent to various locations to fight monsters, recruit warriors, gather and trade resources, build ships, go to sea expeditions and so on.
Your warriors are represented by dice of three different colours (Swordmen, Axemen and Spearmen) and each of them has different abilities. During the Combat Resolution phase, you roll them to fight enemies.
Repeat this for 8 turns until the player with the most Glory wins!
A very strong theme combined with fun gameplay (that has a very small component of luck in it), deep strategy and good replayability are the perfect ingredients for a great Vikings board game!
CHAMPIONS OF MIDGARD
2 – 4 players | 60 – 90 mins | Age 10+
Raiders of the North Sea
Raiders of the North Sea is a worker placement board game, set during the Viking Age’s middle years.
Players take on the role of Viking warriors, attempting to impress the Chieftain by invading settlements.
During the game, you must organise a company, gather supplies, and go north in order to loot gold, iron, and cattle.
The goal to impress the Chieftain has to be done by accumulating the most Victory Points by the end of the game. Raiding Settlements, taking Plunder, and making Offerings to the Chieftain are the most common ways to earn Victory Points.
Players’ success is also determined by how they use their Plunder.
When either one Fortress raid remains, all Valkyries have been removed or all Offerings have been consumed, the game is considered over.
It’s raiding season, so assemble your troops!
Imagine a classic worker placement board game, where you place your worker to gain the loot or trigger some effects. Pretty basic and common.
This game though is different, it has a unique twist that consists of taking another worker from any other action spaces on the map and gain that benefit too.
The combination of these two gameplay mechanics makes the game even more fun and extremely strategic.
You not only have control over the benefits you gain but you could also influence other players’ strategies. If you can understand what they are aiming for, you could easily mess up their strategy by taking a worker from an action space, that you know they wanted, forcing the opponents to play following another path.
Considering the high level of strategy, really entertaining gameplay and amazing artwork, this pearl is 100% one of the best Vikings board games out there.
RAIDERS OF THE NORTH SEA
2 – 4 players | 60 – 80 min | 12+
878 Vikings: Invasions of England
Year 878.
Viking raiding expeditions from Norway and Denmark have terrorised the English coastlines with hit-and-run assaults for the past 75 years.
The Norsemen have been able to assemble vast armies of eager men seeking fame and wealth because of the treasure and stories obtained from these attacks.
These troops are now ready to thunder over England, where they will settle and farm the fertile land they conquer.
878 Vikings is a 2 to 4 players area control board game in which players take on the roles of invading Vikings or English nobility attempting to repel the invasion.
Viking players command the fierce Viking shock soldiers known as Berserkers, as well as the Norsemen Viking freemen.
On the other side, the English players take on the roles of Housecarls, the King’s household warriors, or Thegns, regional aristocratic leaders. They are also able to call to war the peasant militias, known as Fyrd, to protect their towns.
Each side’s players plan together to coordinate their strategy. To win the game, each side has to take control of the cities on the map.
The English begin the game with complete control of England, but on each turn, a Viking Leader will attack from the sea.
Players decide when to end the game by calling for the Treaty of Wedmore. The team controlling the most cities by the end of that round wins the game.
878 Vikings: Invasions of England is a great asymmetric strategy game (that could remind Risk), well balanced between Viking brute force and English tactical intelligence.
878 VIKINGS: INVASIONS OF ENGLAND
2 – 4 players | 60 – 120 min | 12+
Reavers of Midgard
Reavers of Midgard is another Viking board game set in the Champions of Midgard universe.
This time your goal is not to become the Jarl of Trondheim, but to set sail with your small crew of warriors in order to gain as most Glory as possible!
Raiding villages, assaulting castles or engage naval battles, are some of the tasks you’ll be doing during your lurk of fame.
But don’t forget to bring food to keep your warriors happy and do your best to recruit the most powerful Reavers – elite Viking warriors that you be better to have by your side for when the time comes!
Raiders of Midgard is a glorious sequel of its famous big brother and in a list of the best Viking board games it couldn’t be left outside.
It has many things in common with Champions of Midgard, but also a major difference: when you place a worker on a spot to perform an action and acquire the loot, all the other players can do that too if they pay the required fee.
The introduction of this new gameplay mechanic basically kills all the downtime in between turns, making the overall experience more dynamic and fun.
Visually speaking, the game looks stunning! The well chosen colour palette combined with great artwork makes this game a true pleasure to watch for your eyes.
If you like games where you have to make through and intense strategic decisions, without waiting for ages when it’s not your turn to play, this game could be good for you!
Will the story of your conquests be told to the next generations of warriors? Or will your rivals surpass you and have their stories told in the Halls of Valhalla?
REAVERS OF MIDGARD
2 – 8 players | 15 min | 14+
Pax Viking
Pax Viking is a strategic, historical game in which you take on the role of a Jarl, a great Norse chieftain whose family has grown strong over the years.
The theme of this game is focused on the lesser-known Vikings who migrated eastward in the 10th century.
Those who journeyed eastwards, towards Persia’s wealthy trade routes and around the Black Sea, are the main highlights in the game. They were skilled opportunists when it came to the use of both dazzling silver and pointed steel, whichever worked best in any given scenario.
It is currently a crucial period in history, with the potential to combine numerous Jarldoms into a single country.
To become the first ruler of Sweden, you may utilise a commerce network in the east, powerful friends in the west, and astute tactics!
Pax Viking is a card-based game in which you fight for cards in a common market, while strategically moving longships across the game board.
Players may use purchased cards to play on map areas you control with your longships; you can also set up trade stations, collect event bonuses, and so on.
You may also use your jarlboard to play cards, giving your character new powers through friends, allies, and gods.
Explore and develop territories and trade routes in the east; discover strong friends and gods to aid you in the west is the recipe to win.
You gain followers via your acts, granting you power and influence in preparation for your last goal: become Sweden’s first king.
In short, Pax Viking is a viciously competitive game, perfect as a first step into the Pax games genre. Rules are not too difficult to understand, even though some points should have been explained in more detail.
One important thing to know is that terminology is key in the game, therefore you may want to keep the rules by your side until you feel comfortable.
PAX VIKING
1 – 6 players | 60 – 90 min | 12+
Yggdrasil Chronicles
Yggdrasil Chronicles is an asymmetrical compelling and engaging cooperative game for 1 to 5 players.
This game has several game modes such as 6 replayable scenarios, a two-player mode and a single-player mode.
To repel their foes, the players take on the role of Norse Gods browsing the World tree Yggdrasil.
They may rely on the help of the Nordic peoples and creatures, as well as their powers and the power of their holy objects, to remove these diseases that threaten the cosmic ash’s very existence.
Are you ready to enter the Nordic Mythology Hall of Fame?
Yggdrasil Chronicles is played on a three-level game board to be assembled, that represents the Sacred Tree and the 9 Worlds.
The goal of the game is to face the relentless attacks of the evil foes and keep them from destroying the Tree.
Odin and his wife Frigg, Freyr, Freyia, Heimdall, Tyr and the Mighty Thor, each with their unique powers, are ready to fight.
Form a party and remember that cooperation and relationship between Gods will be indispensable to overcome the brutality of Surt, Hel, Iormungand, Fenrir, Loki and Nidhögg.
YGGDRASIL CHRONICLES
1 – 5 players | 90 min | 14+
Explorers of the North Sea
Explorers of the North Sea is a board game set in the late Viking Age.
Players take on the role of ambitious maritime captains looking for new territories to colonise and govern.
They’ll have to transfer their crew between the newly found islands in order to acquire cattle, build outposts, and accomplish a variety of other objectives.
Controlling Islands, providing Livestock, raiding Settlements, building Outposts, and killing enemy ships are all ways for players to earn Victory Points.
The game comes to an end with the start of winter.
The player with the most Victory Points is proclaimed the winner!
Explorers of the North Sea’s goal is to become the most distinguished Captain by mastering navigation and planning.
The game designer had the brilliant idea to create a modular map made up of 48 hex tiles.
Similar to Carcassonne or any other tile placement board games, you have to lay a landscape tile on the map, ensuring all touching edges always line up.
Explorers of the North Sea is the latest piece to the North Sea trilogy, after Shipwrights of the North Sea and Raiders of the North Sea.
Its gameplay mechanics give huge replayability to the game and a deep level of strategy while maintaining the game very easy to learn and suitable for all kinds of players.
So get your longships ready; there are new horizons to discover!
EXPLORERS OF THE NORTH SEA
1 – 4 players | 45 – 60 mins | Age 12+
Vikings Gone Wild
In Vikings Gone Wild, players take on the role of clan chiefs battling it out to show who is the greatest to the Gods.
Victory Points are earned by assaulting other players, successfully defending yourself, improving your Town Hall, and fulfilling assignments. Depending on the number of participants, the game finishes when a player reaches 40 or 30 Victory Points.
You use the cards in your hand to buy units or defensive cards, create structures, and attack other players throughout each round.
You’ll have to strike the perfect balance between expanding your army and investing in your economy (buildings, special cards).
Vikings Gone Wild is a deck-building, resource management board game, in which players can either buy permanent facilities to improve the resources production or buy units, towers and special cards to strengthen their deck and offence/defence capabilities.
The way to win the game is to complete mission cards and to attack each other effectively.
The most interesting gameplay mechanic is that each player is unaware of other players defence strength, therefore after sending your warriors to raid an opponent’s village, your attack can either be successful or fail depending on that player’s defence power.
While being a game that combines different gameplay mechanics (and it does it with great success), this game has a big flaw.
The base game deck counts a very limited amount of cards and you will probably see them all by the end of your first game, dropping the replayability value to almost 0.
There are some expansions that can counter this problem, but I would have appreciated a bigger deck since the beginning.
VIKINGS GONE WILD
2 – 4 players | 45 – 90 min | 10+
There you go. A personal list of what I currently consider the best Viking board games.
Did you know all of them?
Anyway, thanks for sticking around and I hope you found some useful information in this article. If you have any further recommendations feel free to comment below!
Bye!
