You take part as 'Jarls' of a settlement on the barren island of Fjörnheim.
Your goal is to gain the favour of the Gods by extending your settlements and trying to find other people’s fortune overseas. And then take it.
Every game starts with the summer raids, the so called "Vikingfahrt". All players pick a town they want to attack with their troops. Afterwards they fight, following the intuitive battle system of fixed attack and defense stats combined with dice rolling. In case of success, the players get to loot the cities for treasures by drawing one of 35 unique loot cards, this is the main income the players have throughout the year.
Back home in their viking settlement, the players make use of their new gained fortune, recruiting more troops, bringing sacrifices to the gods and starting to build more ships buildings to extend their settlement.
From now on every season will start with the draw of an event card, there are 60 different ones, and each one of them may bring you joy or pain, or something in between. Every card has it's own story, many of them inspired by actual mythic stories of the time.
Another important part of the game are the ways of the northern gods. Their will is represented by 60 cards. By bringing sacrifices and certain events, the gods will grant you their Benevolence. Other events or hostile fellow players may force you to draw Wrath of the Gods cards. As in the event cards, every single card of the gods tells a story, many of them following the recorded stories about the gods.
Goal of the game is to rise in the favour of the Gods, as only one of the players will be allowed to enter Valhal! Gaining the favour of the Gods can be achieved through various ways in the game.
