Renegade Game StudiosRaiders of the North Sea: Fields of Fame, Expansion for Raiders of the North Sea, 2-5 Players, Ages 12+, Strategy Game

This is an expansion to the game RAIDERS OF THE NORTH SEA and requires that game to play. Enhances the base game by adding another player, expanding the board/components and adding another scoring track (the FAME track). Players may also choose to fight or hire Jarls - powerful enemy Norsemen who may be lurking in the areas that players raid.

This expansion is a must have if you already own “Raiders of the North Sea”. It adds a few more elements.It adds a new “plunder” token called jarls. They are opposing Viking leaders that you can kill for fame or subdue and have them join your crew. But either way they deal wounds to your crew which weakens your military power.It gives you more choices on your turn.

Love this gameThe worker place/pull action is great and is a unique way to take the actions.Great gameLove the metal coins.

To put it simply: If you own Raiders of the North Sea you should buy this expansion. It makes the gameplay much smoother and far more interesting. It is an absolute gem.If you didn't like Raiders, I'd still say try the game with this expansion, but it is 100% more of the same flavor as before.

Great worker placement game. Theme is very enjoyable and works nicely. Components are excellent quality. High replayability.

This adds Jarls, fame and a board expansion. It gives even more options when more people are playing and adds depth.

Great addition to the base game!

Fields of Fame is an expansion for the base game, Raiders of the North Sea. This expansion gives players a new area to raid, another player color (to increase player count), a new fame track, and a new Jarl tokens to be added to the board.Setup for the new expansion will add a new encounter board to the side of the main board, Jarl Tokens will be added to the token bag to be randomly distributed on raiding locations, and new cards added to the townsfolk deck, and jarl deck will be shuffled and placed on the new encounter board.The main new mechanic in this expansion is encountering Jarls. When players decide to raid a location on the board, it is possible that a Jarl token will be with the plunder and Valkyrie tokens. Players will flip a Jarl card (for each Jarl Token) and then decide if they will kill, subdue, or flee from the Jarl (separately for each Jarl drawn). To kill a Jarl, a player will take wounds equal to the Jarl's military strength +1. These wounds will be placed on their crew members (up to their military strength) which will reduce their military strength for each wound. After doing this, players will receive two fame points and whatever reward the Jarl has for eliminating them. Choosing to Subdue, players will take wounds equal to Jarl's military strength -1. Players will then pay silver to hire the Jarl to be a part of their boat crew. Players are not allowed to take a Jarl into their hand, but will be able to reduce their crew with either Valkyrie tokens or simple removal. Jarls will give end game scoring conditions when they are a part of a player's boat crew. Fleeing, players will discard the Jarl card and lose 1 fame, or victory point.An additional fame tracker allows players to score additional victory points at the end of the game. Players will raise their markers by defeating Jarls, and by exceeding their military strength required for raiding. The rates a player must go over in a raid is 4/1, 8/2, and 12/3. So if a raid required a 20 military strength, but a player managed to obtain 26 military strength they will obtain 1 fame point.A dice variant is provided in the game that replaces the base games red dice with Valkyrie dice. They have the same possible numbers to roll, but the added affect of rolling a Valkyrie icon that will cause a death in the raid (two sides of a die has a Valkyrie icon). Also, a card drafting variant is provided to allow players to choose their starting hand.Fields of Fame is a good expansion for Raiders of the North Sea. It gives new townsfolk cards and an additional area to raid. The fame track is a good addition as players usually raid with a military strength greater than the location they attacked. This means that all those extra military strengths can be used for something. The Jarls seem like a good addition, but it really does not add much to the game. Sure it is a new Token that is added to the bag for setup, but there really is no strategy. Players choices are take wounds or take wounds and pay money. It simply makes eliminating a player's crew with Valkyrie tokens a sought after option. This is helped with the use of the Valkyrie dice as players will be able to allow more crew members to die. The wounds simply slow the game down as people will need to build their raid engine all over again. This is especially true if they were unable to kill off the wounded members of their ship. Their is no spot to remove wounds as it can only be done with certain Townsfolk cards. The encounter board is a nice as it gives players an additional choice to make when choosing an area to raid. The addition of the fame tracker does give a benefit to players raiding with high level military, and the extra encounter board allows some townsfolk cards to be used a little longer. It is great to have more things to do in the game, but it is not something that needs to be bought immediately.Teaching the game: Make it clear that wounds cannot be healed unless a card is played that can do it. Players should focus on removing their wounded members with Valkyrie tokens, or the Valkyrie dice (if used). Depending on the players playing, people new to the game may not want to use this expansion until the base game is played. There are some nuances that players will need to be accustomed to like eliminating crew members to raise the Valkyrie marker, or the building and destroying of a players boat crew for raiding.

This is one of my favourite games (for reference, other games I rate highly are Through the Ages and Concordia). It's medium weight, takes an hour or two to play, and has lots of replayability. The game is strong thematically for those, like me, who enjoy that. I strongly recommend you get the two expansions, Hall of Heroes and Fields of Fame, as they each add a lot to the base game. I give the base game 4 stars, but I would give 5 stars to the combination of the base game with the two expansions.

This is the 2nd expansion - and changes the character of the game greatly. The first expansion is 5* great, and adds greater gameplay to Raiders - this one bloats it out a little too much: the game is remarkably slower with it, the card deck unwieldy with both in play and it seems like that there are now too many options . I can imagine playing Raiders again without this addition, but not without Hall of Heroes. I don't regret getting it but it's one for the serious player only

This expansion firstly increases the number of players that can play Raiders of the North Sea. It also adds a new dynamic to play and ultimately scoring without overly complicating what is a nice simple boardgame.

Great game. Shipped through canada post.