By Odin's Raven! 3 tips for playing Raiders of the North Sea.

Worker placement games have become the “Jeu du jour” around the house at the moment, with Charterstone hitting the table regularly as we make our way through the campaign, and Lords of Waterdeep and it’s expansions frequently getting dusted off. But one game has always been close to my heart for worker placement. Ever since I first played it at the LXG meetup with Stephen and Eddie, I made it my mission to find it since I missed its original Kickstarter run. And that game is Raiders of the North Sea.

Since then, I’ve played it a lot. I may not always win, but there’s a few key elements to the game that may give you an edge the next time you lead your vikings onto the shores of merry old England.

1. Offering tiles win the game

These little tiles look inconsequential, but, if you’re plundering your way through the old kingdoms, these tiles win you the game. Combine them with the Sage crew, and you can easily double or even triple the output of a raid. Because these points aren’t added to your score until the end of the game, you can easily steal a win from another player.

2. Utility Crew are key to early game advantage

It may be tempting to throw down a Huntsman or Champion as soon as you get them but all you are doing is wasting your silver. There are three crew members that can expand your capabilities in the early game; the Jeweller, the Recruiter, and the Forager.

The Jeweller and the Recruiter work in tandem to increase your silver income and decrease your crew hiring cost respectively. The Forager then increases your provision output, setting you up for some fast raiding. I suggest hunting these cards down early so that you can get that raiding engine up and running.

3. Don’t let the Valkyries go to one player

This is an extremely important point that can either hand you a win or a defeat. The key to the Valkyrie scoring is the exponential returns as you go up the track and, if no one is paying attention, jumps considerably near the top. So, what can you do? This one requires a little finesse.

If you are the player running the Valkyrie strategy:

Don’t bring attention to it. The Valkyrie strategy is somewhat of a glass cannon of point scoring. It can easily net you a swathe of points in the upper levels but can easily be blocked by your opponents beating you to your raids.

If you are an opponent to the Valkyrie Strategy:

Then all you need to do is beat them to their raids. Getting your own 3 or 4 ranks on Valkyrie track will give you a few points, but also deny your opponent the opportunity for more Valkyrie deaths. If the other players at the table are clued on to the strategy, they may also work to stop your opponent as well.

There you go. Three tips that can give you the edge over your opponents in Raiders of the North Sea.

If you want to put these tips in practice, we have a tournament coming up soon. Don’t forget to reserve your spot. Also, if you want to try your hand at the game before the tournament, you can find it in our in-store library or join in the learn-to-play before the tournament on March 17.