A Feast for Odin

Get ready for an epic adventure in 'A Feast for Odin,' a game that transports you directly into the saga of the Vikings—but not just the pirates you might imagine! Here, we revisit the cultural achievements, mercantile expeditions, and even the pillages of these Norse peoples who, by the end of the first millennium, were far more than mere raiders. They were audacious explorers and founders of kingdoms, like Leif Eriksson, who reached America long before Columbus. Remember the Normans, like William the Conqueror? Well, they also came from this lineage! The necessity to venture across the seas, incidentally, stemmed from an unfavorable agricultural situation, with often disappointing harvests.

In this game, you'll embark on explorations and invasions of new territories, but you'll also dedicate yourself to daily tasks to ensure your prosperity. The goal is to accumulate the greatest value in goods and possessions to emerge victorious. The core mechanic revolves around an individual player board with many negative spaces that need to be covered by polyomino tiles. The more you cover, the more points and income you generate. Expansions like long halls and island colonies offer rewards, but they also come with their own challenges.

Each year in the game follows a rhythm of preparation, worker placement, and, of course, the feast. The main phase is a festival of worker placement, with 61 different options on the action board. These actions are organized into columns, and the more Vikings you use in a column, the more powerful the action becomes. At the end of each round, it's time to fill the feast table with food, alternating between vegetables and other items. And don't forget to fit those green and blue tiles into your main hall, following placement rules to cover coin icons and generate resources. It's a constant balance between expanding, hunting, developing, and cultivating, all to build your engine and decide which risks you're willing to take for the rewards. It’s truly a feast of possibilities!