Champions of Midgard: Valhalla — Rules Manual

Valhalla
In Valhalla, fallen warriors led by the Valkyries fight alongside Odin and feast with Freyja for all eternity. Nothing is more glorious to a fallen Viking warrior than entering the halls of Valhalla. At Odin’s side and in Freyja’s field, death doesn’t seem so bad. In this expansion for Champions of Midgard, players earn sacrifice tokens for the deaths of their warriors. These sacrifices turn into opportunities for the living in the form of powerful blessings and stronger warriors ready to join your clan and aid you in your quest for glory! By defeating epic monsters in the afterlife and using the blessings of the Valkyrie, you will discover even more ways to gain glory in Midgard.

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110 Sacrifice Tokens
20 Swordsmen
20 Spearmen
20 Axemen
20 Bowmen
15 Shieldwarriors
15 Berserkers
10 Berserker Dice
10 Shieldwarrior Dice
5 Burial Ground Tiles
2 Leader Boards
9 Leader Ability Boards
1 Market Stall Tile
1 Military (Trainer)
9 Epic Monster Cards
5 Destiny Cards
2 Rune Cards
36 Valkyrie Blessing Cards
1 Valhalla Board
5 Leader Dice
Components

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Champions of Midgard: Valhalla requires some additional setup from the base game version of Champions of Midgard. The setup instructions which follow are in addition to the normal setup instructions for Champions of Midgard which should still be followed precisely unless noted otherwise. Additionally, if you are playing with both the Dark Mountains and the Valhalla expansions, you should follow both sets of setup instructions in their entirety. Step 1 in each rulebook tells you to mix expansion components with base game components. These steps can be combined to save you additional work.
Before setting up your game for the first time using this expansion, make sure to shuffle your new Destiny cards, rune cards, and market tile in with those from the base game.
Place the Berserker dice and Shieldwarrior dice beside the board near the other Viking Warrior dice.
Place the Sacrifice tokens beside the board near the other tokens.
Place the Valhalla Board next to the main game board.
Shuffle the Valkyrie Blessing cards and place the deck face-down on the indicated space.
Then, add 1 card face-up to each of the 4 empty spaces.
Shuffle the Epic Monster Cards and reveal 2 of them (3 in a 4-5 player game), placing them on the indicated spaces on the Valhalla board. Return the unused cards to the box.
Give each player the Leader Ability board that corresponds to their chosen leader, to be placed beneath their Leader board and a Burial Ground tile to be placed beside it.
Finally, give each player 1 Leader die in addition to their normal starting resources.
You are now ready to begin playing.
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Some of the components in Champions of Midgard: Valhalla are designed to be mixed in with the components from your Champions of Midgard base game. The Valhalla expansion components are marked with for easy removal, should you wish to separate them.
Additionally, some components are also marked with . These components must be removed if you are playing without the Champions of Midgard: Dark Mountains expansion.

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You will notice a new icon on many of the new components. This icon means “a warrior die of your choice.” This icon is necessary to include the new Shieldwarrior and Berserker dice. & mean the same thing and should be read interchangeably.
Additionally, you will sometimes see . This icon indicates you may take a resource of your choice (food, wood, or gold). This icon will have a number in the center showing how many resources you are entitled to. You may take any combination of the same or different resources.
Finally, results on dice rolled in combat are always optional. In this expansion, you will find times when you want certain warriors to be lost. Each result you roll may negate a loss but you may also choose to ignore it and take the loss as though you did not roll a shield.
Gameplay
New Icons & Rules

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First, she resolves her Leader Ability and claims one from the supply. Next, she resolves combat damage, defeating the Troll and losing one die. In the first round of combat, Thyra rolls the above results. Leader dice may be used (and lost) in combat like any other dice. Leader dice show the following results: Viking leaders bring benefits to their clans by inspiring them to be better workers, better traders, and better warriors. A leader can lead in many ways but some things may only be attained on the battlefield.

Leader Abilities & Leader Dice
Every Viking Leader now has a secondary ability which can only be activated as a result of an act of strong leadership on the field of battle. New Leader Ability tiles placed beneath your leader board show each Leader’s new secondary ability and have a space for your leader die. This space holds your leader die. Other warriors do not reside in the leaders’ quarters and their dice cannot occupy this space. When you roll while using your leader in combat, immediately activate the ability on your leader ability board. Like other dice, your leader can be defeated in combat. Thematically, Leader dice are wounded and not killed. Leader dice are returned to the supply until such a time as they can be healed (see Instant Valkyrie Blessings on pg. 9-10). A player may never possess more than 1 Leader die.

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After resolving any combat location, you may spend any number of your collected Sacrifice tokens to activate the effects on the Valhalla Board, to purchase 1 or more Valkyrie Blessing cards, and/or to defeat 1 or more Epic Monsters. The Sacrifice tokens you spend can be any combination of tokens just collected and those saved from previous rounds. If multiple players are resolving a single combat location (e.g. the Hunting Grounds) they should purchase cards in the order they placed their workers on that location. You may see the symbol which means “a Sacrifice token of your choice.”
When purchasing Valkyrie Blessings or defeating Epic Monsters, you may purchase multiple cards at the same time. Cards are refreshed after you have completed all your purchases, unless noted otherwise. Additionally, the following options are always available:
Included in Champions of Midgard: Valhalla are sacrifice tokens which correspond to each of the various types of Viking Warrior dice in the game. These tokens represent your warriors who have died in the quest for glory and now inhabit Valhalla gaining the approval of the Valkyries and defeating Epic Monsters at Odin’s side. Specifically these tokens are resources which may be spent to activate Valkyrie Blessings or claim Epic Monster tiles.
When playing with the Valhalla expansion, each time you return one or more of your Viking Warrior dice to the supply, take the corresponding token and store it on your Burial Grounds tile.
Sacrifice Tokens
Viking Leader dice do not have Sacrifice tokens because the Leader is never killed. Instead they are merely wounded and the die is returned to the supply until a Valkyrie Blessing allows you to retrieve it.
Sacrifice tokens are earned whenever your dice are returned to the supply for any reason (defeated in combat, unfed on a journey, lost to an event, etc.) They are not gained when you attempt to collect more dice than you can hold. Dice returned to the supply in this case are not yet yours and therefore do not produce Sacrifice tokens.

Whenever you spend Sacrifice tokens, you may use these effects 1 or more times:
• Spend any 2 Sacrifice tokens and gain 1 Glory
• Spend any 3 Sacrifice tokens and claim a Viking Warrior die of your choice from the supply (this does not include your Leader die.)

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Valkyrie Blessings
Valkyrie Blessings are how the Valkyries show their favor for Viking Leaders who bravely
lead their warriors to battle for glory! There are 2 types of Valkyrie Blessings: Instant Valkyrie
Blessings and Permanent Valkyrie Blessings (each described in detail on the following pages).
Instant Valkyrie Blessings give you Resources, Glory, or Viking Warrior dice in addition to
conveying a very important benefit – healing your wounded Viking Leader. Permanent
Valkyrie blessings give you an instant Glory reward and an ability which persists for the
remainder of the game.
Cards of the same name will
often have slightly different
costs and slightly different
effects. Pay attention to the
details on the card when you
purchase it.
Card Name
Card Effect
Card Cost
Instant valkyrie blessings
Instant Valkyrie Blessing cards are the primary way players gain access to the new and powerful Berserker and Shieldwarrior dice. Every Instant Valkyrie Blessing has this icon which allows you to heal your Viking Leader die (if they are wounded). When purchasing an Instant Valkyrie Card, immediately claim a Viking Leader die from the supply and place it in your play area – assuming you don’t already have one. No player may have more than 1 Viking Leader die at any given time. Instant Valkyrie Blessings take effect immediately and are then placed face-down in your player area.

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Freyja’s Blessing x3

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Gain a favor or discard a blame. Repeat if indicated.
Valhallan Berserkers x4

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Collect the indicated number of Berserker dice from the supply.
Valhallan Shieldwarriors x4

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Collect the indicated number of Shieldwarrior dice from the supply.
Fortune of the Gods x3

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Gain 3 resources of your choice.
Odin’s Feast x3

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Gain 3 food.
Valhallan Fighting Band x2

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Collect the indicated number of Shieldwarrior dice and Berserker dice from the supply.
Divine Glory x5

Retrieve your Leader die from the supply. Gain the indicated Favor token(s).
Instant valkyrie blessings (cont.)
Don’t forget: remove any cards showing if you are not also using the Champions of Midgard: Dark Mountains expansion.
Don’t forget: Cards of the same name will often have slightly different costs and slightly different effects. Pay attention to the details on the card when you purchase it.

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Enemyslayer Shields x4
Gain Glory immediately. From now on, 1 shield result blocks all damage for a single round of combat (when fighting an enemy of the indicated type.) You may choose to lose dice up to the enemy’s attack value if you prefer.
Each of these four amulets corresponds to a specific enemy type.
Enemy Amulets x4
Gain Glory immediately. From now on, gain 1 Resource of your choice whenever you defeat an enemy of the indicated type.
Each of these four amulets corresponds to a specific enemy type.
Loki’s Compass x2
Gain Glory immediately. From now on, after you encounter a Journey card, you may take 1 Blame from the supply to ignore the negative effect.
Bow of the Hunter x2
Gain Glory immediately. From now on, you always receive 1 resource of your choice when at least 1 die hunts. It is not required that you roll a hit to collect this reward.
Permanent Valkyrie Blessings
Don’t forget: remove any cards showing if you are not also using the Champions of Midgard: Dark Mountains expansion.
Permanent Valkyrie Blessings provide a variable amount of Glory when you purchase them and give you an ability which is active until the end of the game. Permanent Valkyrie Blessings have this icon which means “Gain Glory equal to the current round number.” They also have permanent abilities described in detail below. When you purchase a Permanent Valkyrie Blessing, gain Glory equal to the current round number immediately then place the card face up in your play area.
Don’t forget: when purchasing Permanent Valkyrie Blessings, the amount of Glory you earn immediately is equal to the current round number. (e.g. in round 6 you gain 6 Glory.)

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Berserker Dice
Berserker dice are a new and powerful Viking Warrior type with only 1 blank side and 3 double hits! However, due to their reckless nature, Berserkers are the first to die. In any combat, when wounds are assigned (dice are discarded due to the enemy’s attack value in excess of shields rolled), Berserker dice must be sacrificed first. Berserker dice have the following results:
Shieldwarrior Dice
Shieldwarrior dice are a new and powerful Viking Warrior type with 3 sides that block and hit simultaneously! These are great warriors for providing protection to your reckless Berserkers. Shieldwarrior dice have the following results:
Epic Monsters
Epic Monsters are powerful creatures, defeating them can provide big bonuses for you at the end of the game. Each of them offers a certain amount of glory immediately upon being defeated and then an additional effect to be resolved at the end of the game often with big scoring potential.
Berserker & Shieldwarrior dice
Because there are a finite number of Epic Monsters available, if you want to be the one who defeats one, you must hurry toward that goal. In most games, not every player will be able to defeat an Epic Monster. In such a case, they will have to content themselves with having the opportunity to purchase additional Valkyrie Blessing cards.
Card Name
Card Effect
Card Cost

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Fenrir
Score 8 Glory immediately. At game-end, score 4 glory for each Troll you have killed.

Jormungandr
Score 9 Glory immediately. At game-end, score 4 glory for each Monster you have killed.

Geirrod
Score 10 Glory immediately. At game-end, score 3 glory for each Bergrisar you have killed.

Pesta
Score 10 Glory immediately. At game-end, score 1 Glory for each Blame token in play. (Count the Blame tokens possessed by every player including yourself.)

Ymir
Score 12 Glory immediately. At game-end, each blue enemy you have defeated counts twice for sets.

Fylgja
Score 9 Glory immediately. At game-end, each of your destiny cards scores twice.

Nidhoggr
Score 12 Glory immediately. At game-end, each yellow enemy you have defeated counts twice for sets.

Haugbui
Score 7 Glory immediately. At game-end, score 3 glory for each Draugr you have killed.

Surtr
Score 12 Glory immediately. At game-end, each red enemy you have defeated counts twice for sets.

Don’t forget: remove any cards showing if you are not also using the Champions of Midgard: Dark Mountains expansion.

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Example of Sacrifice token use
He defeats the troll and collects 6 Glory and 1 Wood as a
reward. Then, he discards 1 blame and tells Gylfir to take
one from the supply.
At the conclusion of this combat, Asmundr can spend
these tokens (and any others he has collected) to purchase
Valkyrie Blessing cards or to defeat Epic Monsters.
Asmundr sends 2 Swordsmen and 2 Spearmen to fight
the troll. He rolls 1 blank, 1 shield, and 2 single hits.
He then sends his 2 Swordsman dice to the supply as
a result of the Troll’s attack and claims 2 Swordsman
Sacrifice tokens.
This time he chooses to spend just the 2 Swordsman
Sacrifice tokens he just collected to claim the Divine
Glory Blessing. He immediately resurrects his leader
die and gains 1 Favor from the supply. (Asmundr could
have chosen not to purchase anything in order to save
his Sacrifice tokens to defeat Fenrir later for instant
Glory and an end game bonus!)

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Appendix
I. Viking Leaders
Hemming the Changer - Hemming is as good a craftsman as he is a fighter and perhaps better because of his ability to transmute materials from one type into another. Once per round, Hemming may trade a resource in his possession into the supply to gain any other resource.
Thyra Valkyrie-Born - Thyra has always felt a connection to the spirit realm – as though the blood of Valhalla flows through her veins. When exchanging Sacrifice tokens for dice, she may exchange any 2 tokens for a die of her choice from the supply (instead of the 3 normally required).
II. Viking Leader Powers
Asmundr’s Battle Prayer - Gain a Favor token. Immediately, collect 1 Favor token from the supply.
Dagrun’s Prophetic Vision - Take a Sage’s Hut action. Resolve a complete sage’s hut action when you resolve this die. Choose and look at a Journey Card (Land or Sea) then take another Destiny card (using Dagrun’s ability to draw two and choose which one to keep).
Gylfir’s Supply Lines - Claim any 1 reward currently shown on the merchant ship card. Collect just 1 item indicated on the card, not the whole reward.
Hemming’s Rune Carver - Activate the effect of 1 of the runes face-up in the supply or gain 1 wood from the supply. It is your choice which effect to resolve.
Jorunn’s Tell the Tale - Gain 1 Glory for each Viking Warrior die lost in this round of combat. If you suffer no losses, gain a Favor token. You may not choose the favor token if dice have been lost.
Ragnhild’s Field Training – You may exchange any other Viking Warrior die in this combat with another die from the supply and immediately roll the new die and execute the result. You may not execute the result of the die you removed. You may not exchange your leader die. You do not receive a Sacrifice token for the die you return to the supply.
Svanhildr’s Legendary Leadership – Choose the result of a Swordsman die in this battle and set it to a result of your choice. If there are no swordsman dice in this battle, there is no effect.
Thyra’s Chooser of the Slain – Gain any 1 Sacrifice token from the supply. This is in addition to the Sacrifice tokens you collect from losing dice in this combat.
Ullr’s Berserker Cry – Add 1 Berserker die from the supply to this combat and roll it immediately.

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Game Design: Ole Steiness
Development: Joshua Lobkowicz & Shane Myerscough
Art: Jakub Politzer, Alberto Moldes, Victor P. Corbella, and Andre Garcia
Graphic Design: Nick Banjai
Rulebook Layout: Nick Banjai
Editing: Joshua Lobkowicz, Owen Reissmann, Dawn Lobkowicz
Playtesters: Ben Whiteman, Hal Moore, Charlie Theel, Matthew Roberts, Connie Roberts, Rebecca Barr, Vincent Gasperson, Bunny Burn, Jimmy Joe, Dawn Lobkowicz, Owen Reissmann, Joseph Reissmann, Pedro Mendoza, Aaron Belmer, Thomas Steiness, Adel Hadi, Simon Gjerloev, Christian Engelbrecht, Daniel Skjold Pedersen, Morten Weilbach, Johannes Sjolte, the customers and crew at Pieces STL Board Game Cafe ... and many more.
Special Thanks: All of our Kickstarter backers for their help and support!
Thank you all for helping to make our game shine!
Credits
- Berserker Die
- Any Die - Any Sacrifice token
- Shieldwarrior Die - Any resource (number indicates how many)
- Retrieve your Leader Die from the Supply (if wounded)
- Valhalla Expansion
- Dark Mountains Expansion
- Score Glory equal to the current round number
new Icons

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