Hi Hi! Hello readers! The game introduced today is Tiny Epic Vikings, which releases a series almost every year! Although the official TTS module has not been opened for the time being, from the point of view of the rules, “Tiny Epic Vikings” is a light and medium strategy game with simple rules, brisk game pace, and quite good player interaction. There is still one week before the end of fundraising, readers who have not decided whether to participate in fundraising, may wish to refer to this rule before making a decision!

Tiny Epic Vikings

Number of Players: 1 – 4 Players Play Time: 45 – 60 minutes Fundraising Deadline: 5/26

Tiny Epic Vikings is a fast-paced strategy game that combines drafting, regional control, and collection sets. There are three eras in the game, players will play as Vikings, dominate the North Sea where the Rune Islands are located, sail through the cold fjords, find fertile soil on the rocky cliffs to settle, and use blood and steel for the clan. Fight for glory, but also to win the favor of the gods. After death, you can go to Valhalla to serve the gods and fight!

Game settings

Open the map board, flip to the side corresponding to the number of players (at the bottom right of the board), and place the board in the center of the desktop. According to the instructions of the map icon, place 1 piece of the corresponding rune on each island (picture A), and place a village on each place where the village icon is drawn (picture B), and then put the rest of the game Put the accessories back into the game box.
After washing the god board, randomly place 3 of them face up and place them in a row on the top of the map . Then place 3 rage tokens in your hand and shake them well, randomly drop 1 of them from your hand, and place this token next to the “1” on the rage track on one of the god boards (meaning the current rage is 0) . Repeat the above steps until a rage marker is placed next to each deity board (Diagram C).
Place the era board with the raven face up on the right side of the gods board, and leave room for the boon card on the left side of the era board (image E). Then place a raven marker on the “1” position of the era board, representing the current era of the 1st era (Figure D).
After shuffling the Viking cards, stack the cards face down as the Viking card library, and reserve a discard area next to the library.
After washing the favor cards, set up a row of favor card supply areas at the top and bottom of the map respectively. According to the number of players being 2 / 3 / 4, place 4 / 5 / 6 face-up favor cards in each row of supply areas. Next, put the rest of the cards back into the game box.
Each player takes 1 clan board and all game accessories of the corresponding board color: 6 settlers (picture F) , 4 ships (picture G) , 2 temples (picture H) , 1 score marker (Picture I) , 3 resource markers (wood, food, steel) (Picture J) , and place these accessories in the designated positions according to the instructions in the manual.
The player who has recently set foot on an island becomes the starting player, and takes the horn as the starting player marker.
Starting with the last player to act, each player takes turns placing 1 of their ships in a counterclockwise direction in any of the fjords (water slots) on the edge of the map.

Game overview

map

The game map has many islands where players can deploy settlers, build temples and moor ships. In addition, each island is surrounded by a fjord, and the islands are connected by a route formed by white dots.

The information on the map includes:

Fjord: Equivalent to water, players can only moor their ships in fjords and docks.
Dock: When the player’s ship is docked at the dock, it is possible to deploy settlers on islands or loot villages.
Islands and Runes: When you control an island, you can get the runes on the island.
Village: Village is also a type of dock, but the effect of looting a village can only be triggered when a ship is moored in a village.
route.

resource

There are three resources in the game: wood, food, and steel. Whenever a player gains or loses a resource, move the corresponding resource marker on the personal clan board to the left (decrease) or right (increase). The maximum number is 7 and never goes below 0.

rune

There are three kinds of runes in the game, each corresponding to a deity:

When the player “controls the island” or “plays the Viking card”, they will get the rune provided by the island or the card (the rune obtained by playing the Viking card is painted on the upper left of the card).
There is no limit to the number of runes a player can hold, and they will not be consumed by use. The rune will only be lost when the player “loses control of the island” or “discards the Viking card at the end of the era”.

These runes have three functions:

Players must have runes in order to perform the Viking Card’s Rune Action (Figure A).
Players can use runes to enhance actions, such as increasing combat power, obtaining resources, etc. (Figure B).
At the end of the game, the island rune and the boon card rune will give the player victory points (Figure C).

Virgin Card

Virgin Card information includes:

The rune that the player will get when they play the Viking Card.
Leader name.
The combat power provided by the Viking card when participating in the war.
Leader Actions: Actions that the player can perform after playing the Viking Card.
Rune Actions: After the Viking Card is played, the player must have a specific rune to perform an additional action.

Game flow

There are three eras in the game (indicated by the location of the raven on the era board), and each era is divided into three stages:

Draft Phase: Each player keeps 1 Viking card in hand and passes the rest to other players.
Action Phase: Players play cards to perform actions such as sailing, building, fighting, and harvesting.
Tidying up phase: Return used Viking cards to the bottom of your deck and start a new era.

After the end of the three eras, the final scoring stage will begin, and players will receive victory points from the islands they control and the bounty cards they collect.

Phase 1: Draft

Each player is given 4 / 5 / 6 Viking cards according to the current era of 1 / 2 / 3.
After each player looks at the cards in their hand, keep 1 of them and place the card face down in front of them.
According to the current epoch 1 / 2 / 3, each player passes his hand to the next player in a straight/anti/clockwise direction.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the draft is completed (choose 1 from the remaining 2 Viking cards, and pass the last unused card to the next player), then put all the Viking cards (covered in front of yourself and the players next to you) The last card sent) is used as a hand.

PS players can view their covered Viking cards during the draft process, but cannot replace these cards.

Stage Two: Action

In the action phase, starting with the starting player, each player takes turns performing their turn in a clockwise direction, and each player’s turn is divided into three steps in sequence:

Step 1: Settle 1 battle (mandatory)

Step 2: Play and execute 1 Viking Card (mandatory)

Step 3: Complete a Village (optional)

At the beginning of a player’s turn, if the most recent Viking card played by “the player” is face down, “all players” must turn over their face down Viking cards, and compare the combat power to settle the battle result.

fighting

▲ Choose 1 favor card from either side of any supply area

▲ Put the favor card on the left side of the Epoch board

start a fight

When a player covers a Viking card under the personal clan board on his own turn, and there are no cards covered by other players at the moment, the player is the initiator of the battle. Next, the battle initiator selects a favor card on either side of the supply area from one of the supply areas above or below the map board. And put the card in the left column of the era board, players will decide the ownership of this favor card by battle.

take part in the battle

From now on, if other players also cover a Viking card in their own turn, they will join the battle initiated by the battle initiator and participate in the battle for this favor card.

settlement battle

▲ Possessing runes or resources can get combat power bonus

▲ Must consume steel to provide combat power

When it is the turn of the battle initiator again, all players participating in the battle must turn over the Viking cards covered by themselves. After comparing the combat power, the player with the highest combat power wins the battle and receives the favor card next to the era board.

The combat power of some Viking cards is based on the number of runes or resource types “held” by the player as the combat power bonus. At this time, the player only needs to hold the resources specified by the card to obtain the combat power bonus, without actual Consume resources.

Some Viking cards require the player to “consume” steel to use. If the player cannot consume the specified amount of steel, they will not be able to participate in battles, nor will they be able to gain Valkyrie buffs or increase the rage of the gods.

win the battle

The player with the highest combat power wins the battle and gets the boon card contested for that battle, as well as the two bonuses the boon card provides:

The Rune of the Favor Card (above the card) will provide the player with victory points when the final score is scored.
The bounty card’s sack (below the card) will give the player immediate access to the resources indicated by the icon.

Next, the player places the boon card face down in one of the slots above the personal clan board:

Players themselves can view these overlaid favor cards at any time.
Each player can only hold at most 3 favor cards, and when the fourth favor card is obtained, one of them must be returned to any supply area, on either side.

lose the battle

Starting with the start of the battle, each losing player performs the following two steps in clockwise order:

According to the rune icon on the upper left of your Viking card, you can get the Valkyrie buff corresponding to the god.
Increases the deity’s rage by 1. If the rage exceeds 19 because of this, turn the anger marker to the “20+” side, and move the rage marker back to the starting point of the rage track.

a tie

In the event of a tie, no one wins, return the gift card to the supply area (to the place where the card was originally taken), and then all players gain Valkyrie buffs and increase the rage of the gods according to the rules of “lose the battle”.

If no other players are involved in the battle

If there are no other players participating in the battle except the battle initiator, the battle initiator must fight the “invader”:

Flip over the Viking card at the top of the Viking deck and stack the card on the right side of the Era board (the invaders will always be stacked here).
Compare the combat power of the initiator of the battle with that of the aggressor. When the combat power of the aggressor needs to consume steel or possess runes, the aggressor is deemed to have enough resources to pay for the steel, and the “rune on the upper left of the previous aggressor” is used to satisfy the rune. Rune conditions (regardless of the type of rune, as long as the number of runes is sufficient).
If the initiator of the battle loses the battle, return the gift card to the supply area, and obtain the Valkyrie buff and increase the rage of the gods according to the rules of “lose the battle”.
If the starter of the battle wins the battle and gets back the boon card. Although the aggressor will not gain the Valkyrie buff, it will still grant the corresponding deity 1 rage according to the rune on the upper left.
In the event of a tie, except that the aggressor will not receive the Valkyrie buff, the initiator of the battle and the aggressor will act according to the rule of “losing the battle”.

PS If a battle is launched in the last round of the era, after each player has performed their respective round actions, the battle will be settled according to the above rules, and then the sorting phase will be entered.

Step 2: Play and execute 1 Viking Card (mandatory)

Players play 1 card in their hand and place Viking cards face up or face down in front of them:

Place the cards face down: start or join a battle.
Place the card face up: Perform the card’s leader action, and if the player has enough runes, the card’s rune action.

While the rules force players to play Viking cards, they do not force players to perform actions on the cards. The types of actions on the Viking Card are:

Leader Actions: Sail 1 Ship, Remove Hostile Settlers, Settlers Explore, Harvest, Build.
Rune Action: Temple exploration, remove settlers, swap Viking cards, enter battle, collect resources, exchange resources.

Leader Action

Sailing 1 boat

Players can move 1 of their own ships, and according to the state of the ship, “sail to adjacent fjords”, “at anchor”, “sail away from the dock”, “deploy settlers”, “remove hostile settlers”, “Plundering the Village” and other effects.

Ships can only be moored in fjords or docks, and the Virgin Card’s navigation icon indicates the ship’s moving distance. For example, “Sail ×3” means that the ship can move at most 3 steps, and each step can make the ship:

Leave the jetty and sail to the adjacent fjord (picture A).
Sailing from a fjord to an adjacent fjord (Figure B).
Sailing from the fjord to the adjacent pier (picture C).

Related rules:

Only one ship can be moved per action, and the movement power cannot be divided among different ships.
The same fjord can berth multiple ships, but each pier can only berth one ship (village is also a type of pier. When this article refers to piers, it includes villages, but when it refers to villages, it does not include piers). If the dock is already berthed with other ships, the player who owns the first ship must immediately move their ship to the adjacent fjord so that the later ship can only park at the dock.
When the ship is docked at the dock, players can immediately deploy their settlers on the island .
In addition to deploying villagers when a ship is anchored in a village , players can also pillage the village.

Rules for deploying settlers:

The maximum number of people deployed per deployment is equal to the ship’s mobility, and 1 food item is consumed per 1 settler deployed.
When deploying settlers, the settlers on the personal clan board must be deployed first, and if there are not enough settlers, the settlers on the map can be redeployed.
After deployment, if the action player has the most settlers on the island, other players who deploy settlers on the island must remove 1 of their own residents from the island.

Rules for looting villages:

When plundering a village, you must consume the specified amount of steel according to the instructions on the era board.
Players take 1 village from the supply area and place the village next to their personal clan board. Players can execute “Complete 1 Village” immediately or leave it to execute later.

settler exploration

Players can move settlers from one island to another adjacent island along the route:

The number and distance of settlers that the player can move is determined by the Viking card played by the player, such as “Explore ×2”, which means that the player can move 1 settler to 2 islands, or move 2 settlers to 1 island .
After the exploration, if the action player has the most settlers on the island, other players who deploy settlers on the island must remove 1 of their own residents from the island.

reward

Players can collect any type of resources, and the number is determined by the Viking cards played by the player. For example, when “Harvest × 3”, players can collect 3 resources of any type (the same or different types can be selected).
When players build ships or temples, they can obtain additional resources according to the instructions on the clan board: for every ship they build, they get 1 additional food; for every temple they build, they get 1 additional resource.

put up

Players can build 1 ship or 1 temple, and the construction cost (wood) is indicated on the clan board:

When building ships, take 1 ship from your personal clan board and place it in any fjord adjacent to any of your units (settlers, ships, temples).
When building a temple, take a temple from your personal clan board and place it on an island with your own settlers.

It’s important to note that each unit costs a different amount to build, but the player is not required to build the units in a specific order.

Influence and control islands

Each island has 1 rune, when the player “deploys at least 1 settler or 1 temple” on the island and “has the most influence”, the rune of the island can be obtained immediately, and the rune can be placed in the personal Next to the clan board:

Players gain 1 / 4 / 2 Influence for every settler/temple/ship on the island.
While ships allow players to gain influence, players must have settlers or temples on the island to obtain runes.
When another player has more influence over the island than the player controlling the rune, and deploys at least 1 settler or 1 temple on the island, other players will steal the rune.
If a player holding a rune removes a settler or temple for any reason and no longer meets the “deploy at least 1 settler or 1 temple” requirement, the rune must be returned to the island.
Whenever a rune is acquired by a new player, the corresponding deity’s rage will be increased by 1. For example, when a player first takes control of an island, or when a rune is stolen by another player.

rune action

After executing (or not executing) the leader action, if the player has the runes needed to execute the rune action by playing the Viking card or taking control of the island, they can then perform the rune action on the Viking card.

Players can move 1 of their sanctuaries to another adjacent island along the route.

Players can remove settlers of any opponent (same or different) from any island (same or different) within the number specified on the card.

Immediately draw 1 card from the Viking deck and add it to your hand, and place 1 card face up in the drop zone.

Immediately cover 1 Viking card and join the fight. If there is no current battle, start a new battle.

Follow the card instructions to obtain resources.

Choose an arbitrary resource, and exchange it for another arbitrary resource at a 1:1 ratio.

Step 3: Complete a Village (optional)

After playing and executing a Viking card, the player can then execute “Complete a Village”, and place a plundered village in the “Complete Action Slot”, and execute the action indicated by the action slot :

The completion action slot is located on the era board and the god board. There are four actions to choose from the stage board’s completion action slot , and the god board increases the god’s rage by 2.
Each player can only build 1 village per turn.
The maximum number of villages that can be placed in each completed action slot is equal to the number of players.

Stage 3: Tidy up

An epoch ends after each player has played all their hands:

Each player puts the Viking card they played in that era into the drop zone and advances the raven counter on the era board.
Each player is given the specified number of Viking Cards as directed by the Era Board. If the Viking deck is exhausted, shuffle the cards in the discard zone and reuse them.
Find the player with the fewest number of runes, and give the horn to the player to the left of that player, and the player with the horn becomes the starting player for the next era. In the event of a tie, the player with the lower order of action among the tie players wins.

game over

The game ends when the three eras are completed, and victory points are calculated based on the boon cards and runes held by the player . When calculating victory points , victory points will be given according to the rage value of the corresponding deity. The higher the rage value of the god, the more victory points the player will get :

Each island rune controlled by the player, ranked 1st / 2nd / 3rd according to the rage of the corresponding deity, will receive 6 / 5 / 4 victory points.
For each rune of the favor card, the 1st / 2 / 3rd place according to the anger of the corresponding deity will receive 4 / 3 / 2 victory points .

When the gods are angry at the same time, both runes give lower-level rewards. For example, when two gods are tied for first place in anger, the rune corresponding to each god will give the player 5 victory points .

After adding up all victory points, the player with the most victory points wins. In the event of a tie, the tie players are compared in order: the number of island runes held → the number of favor cards held → the number of temples built → the number of ships built → the total number of resources held.