Knarr

**Knarr** is a 2023 board game where players take on the role of Viking leaders assembling a crew to explore various destinations and engage in trading. Designed by Thomas Dupont and featuring artwork by Carrion Antoine, the game is published by Bombyx. It accommodates 2 to 4 players and has a playing time of approximately 30 minutes. The game is suitable for players aged 8 and above, with a complexity rating of 2.00 out of 5.

In Knarr, players manage the recruitment of their Viking crew and strategically choose territories to explore. The goal is to reach different destinations for trading and influence purposes, while utilizing the abilities of the Vikings accompanying the player. The accumulation of reputation and wealth is pivotal in the game. During each turn, players can either add a new member to their Viking crew, activate the effects of all crew members with a matching icon, and acquire another member from the available options on the central board, or explore new destinations for trading and potential gains or reputation increase. The game combines crew management and exploration mechanics to create an engaging Viking-themed experience.

## Gameplay

### Game Setup

* Place the game board in the center of the table.
* Shuffle the trading lens cards and place them face down next to the board. Then reveal the first three cards.
* Do the same with the land of influence cards and place them above the trading lens cards.
* Depending on the number of players, discard Viking cards if necessary. Shuffle the remaining cards to form a deck and reveal the first five cards.
* Each player takes a ship, three silver bracelet tokens, and three recruit tokens.
* Decide whether to play with the normal side or the Advent side of the ship. For the first game, it is recommended to play with the normal side.
* Each player takes two Viking cards of different colors to form a deck and places them face up in front of them. This area is called the crew zone.
* Slide one recruit token and one silver bracelet token onto the designated spaces on each side of the ship.
* Take the tokens corresponding to the color of your ship. Place the round one on the starting space of the score track and the square one on the repetition track.
* Draw three Viking cards to make up your hand.
* Use the Destiny tokens to determine the starting player.

### Game Turn

* Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes their turn.
* At the start of your turn, move your scar marker forward the number of spaces equal to the highest number your reputation marker has reached.
* Choose whether to recruit or explore.

### Recruit/Place a Viking

* To recruit, place a Viking card from your hand in front of you in the crew zone.
* Place the Viking card in the column according to its card color, ensuring the top of the cards is visible.
* Take the assets shown at the top of every card in the column, including the new card, in any order you wish.
* Assets can be victory points (score track advancement), repetition points (reputation track advancement), or recruits (silver bracelet tokens added to your ship).
* Add a new card to your hand from the Viking card on the board that matches the color of the Viking you placed.

### Explore

* Instead of recruiting, you can choose to explore.
* Choose one of the six visible destination cards and play its exploration cost by discarding Vikings or recruits from those in front of you.
* Take the destination card and place it above your ship, then immediately take the assets shown on the card.
* Replace the taken destination card with a new one of the same type.

### Trading

* Once per turn, before or after your action, you can trade by spending your bracelets.
* Spend one bracelet to collect the assets from the first column of all your destination cards and ship.
* Spend two bracelets to collect the assets from the first and second columns of all your destination cards and ship.
* Spend three bracelets to collect all the assets from all three columns of your destination cards and ship.

### End of the Game

* The game ends when a player reaches 40 or more victory points on the score track.
* Finish the current round so that all players have played the same number of times.
* The player with the most points on the track wins the game.

## Further reading

* Vikings
* Artifacts