Vikings

Champions of Midgard (formerly Defenders of Nidaros) is a middleweight, Viking-themed, worker placement game with dice rolling in which players are leaders of Viking clans who have traveled to an embattled Viking harbor town to help defend it against the threat of trolls, draugr, and other mythological Norse beasts. By defeating these epic creatures, players gain glory and the favor of the gods. When the game ends, the player who has earned the most glory earns the title of Jarl and is recognized as a champion of Midgard!

Placing workers allows for the collection of resources and warriors, which players may then send on journeys to neighboring villages or across the sea to defeat monsters and gain the glory they need for victory. Resources are used to to carve runes, build ships, and feed your followers. Viking warriors (custom dice) do battle with the myriad enemies the town faces.

Norse law dictates that every man shall posses a weapon at all times. The need to swiftly wield an axe in the name of battle, honor, or revenge was ever-present. Valhalla will not be filled with the weak.

In Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga, originally released as Viking Fury, you vie for glory across three epic Viking sagas, each one a different journey to raid, trade, and settle territories. Will you choose the path of diplomacy and trade for victory? Or will your longship cast a bloody wake?

Start your journey by gathering crew and goods to outfit your boat. Will your ships be filled with warrior or goods? Settlers or sackers? After your launch from bustling ports into the open sea, you must choose your path to power — but don't get lost in the wind; the sea will gladly devour souls who take her lightly...

The life of a Viking is one of power and glory, or untold sorrow. Which shall be your destiny?

In Vineta, 2 to 6 players take on the roles of angry Norse Gods, seeking to sink the city of Vineta beneath a succession of pounding waves.

However, each player is secretly assigned one of nine city districts to protect. Likewise, each player secretly protects one color of houses.

By use of cards, players send waves against districts, joining together to sink them and moving houses in and out of threatened districts. At the end of each round, the district that has the most waves played against it -- along with any houses in that district -- are removed.

After eight rounds of play, only one district (and any houses it contains) will remain. Players score for houses claimed during the game, and bonuses are given to whoever was secretly protecting the remaining district and its remaining houses -- if any.

Awards

Won the 2004 Concours International de Créateurs de Jeux de Société (as Waka-Waka Island)

Yggdrasil is a co-operative game in which players are different gods of the Norse mythology: Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frey, Heimdall and Frejya. Monsters, the wolf Fenrir, the huge serpent Jormungand, the Fire Giant Surt, the Goddess of the Dead Hel, the traitor Loki and the cosmic dragon Nidhogg are moving forward in Asgard inescapably and announce the impending coming of chaos and destruction on the world tree Yggdrasil. Together the players have to resist to the impending coming of the Evil forces in Asgard, the gods' world.

Game flow
During his turn, the active player first draws an Enemy card, corresponding to one of the six Evil creatures. The corresponding counter is moved one space forward in Asgard and the associated effect applies. Then the active player performs three different actions among the nine at his disposal in order to resist to the advance:

Ask for the Elves' help
Get a Weapon from the Dwarves
Send the Valkyries looking for Vikings' souls on the mankind world Midgard
Fight the Giants and try to gather the parts of a magic rune
Negotiate with the Vanir
Get rid of the Fire Giants who invade Midgard
Get the Vikings back from Hel's world
Exchange forces with another god
Fight against the Enemies in Asgard

Each player, depending on the god he plays, has a specific power that allows him to perform some actions better. All of these actions have to be used in the right moment or the victory will be unreachable. The players will need cleverness, calm and team spirit to challenge the game.

Vikings is a fast economic game. Despite the nominal "Viking" theme, no actual exploration or pillaging is involved.

The resources in the game consist of coins and several types of ship tiles, island tiles and meeples. In each of 6 rounds, a random set of 12 tiles and 12 meeples becomes available. Players take turns buying and placing pairs of meeples and tiles. There is no direct player interaction, only indirect contention for resources during the buying phase.

The most unusual aspect of the game is the pricing wheel, which pairs meeples with tiles and sets their prices.