Viking Invasion: Game Summary

Now that I have a successful play test under my belt, I'm ready to reveal my first game to the world!

Viking Invasion (working title) is a cooperative game for up to 8 players. Currently its limit has been tested to 6 players, but the 8 player test will be happening in a couple of weeks.

Here is the premise of the game: in 871 CE, Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, was forced to pay a hefty tribute to the vikings of the Great Heathen Army in order to buy a 5 year peace treaty. Viking Invasion takes place during this 5 year span. The players all take the role of one of Alfred's advisers or delegates and must work together to build the infrastructure of Wessex, as well as construct fortifications and recruit soldiers to fend off the vikings.

The game map is an outline of Wessex, with 16 cities and marked on it. Each city is identified with 3 resources, but can only support buildings producing 2 of those resources, forcing players to plan which resource producers are to be constructed in each location. Resources can then be harvested and spent to build other buildings or recruit soldiers.

Each player selects a pre-made character. All of the characters share a set of abilities; for example all of the characters are capable of recruiting soldiers. However, each of the characters also has at least one unique ability that gives them some sort of an advantage at a specific task. For example, Beorhtside the King's Thegn is a much more capable commander than any of the other characters, and is allowed to lead more troops than any other character, and also has bonuses while in combat.

So, at its heart the game is about resource management.

In order to win, the players must earn a certain number of points, which increases or decreases relative to the number of players in the game. Points are earned by fulfilling missions drawn from a deck of cards. Missions are either building structures, constructing fortifications, or recruiting troops, and thus tie in to the activities that the players want to be doing anyway. The catch is that the players have just 12 turns to score all their points in.

While all this is going on, randomly spawning raiding viking bands (in all honesty, some of them turn into obscene sized raiding viking armies) will land in Wessex and begin to plunder the country side, potentially derailing any building done by the players (these armies have the ability to severely damage the economy of any town they pillage, as well as the ability to destroy fortifications and cause the players to lose points).

The net result of all of these facets coming together is a game that seemed to combine all of these facets quite smoothly. It encourages player synergy and provides a challenge. The game also has a touch-and-go sort of feel, and there will be times that come up in play where you know that unless a particular battle goes your way, or a turn goes off exactly right, that you will lose and Wessex will be lost to the Vikings.