Overview

Fjords is a tile-laying and area-control game played in two phases. In the Exploration Phase, players draw and place hexagonal landscape tiles to build a shared map of mountains, plains, and ocean, placing longhouses to establish footholds. In the Settlement Phase, players expand outward from their longhouses, placing vikings to claim as much plains territory as possible. The player who claims the most land wins.

Components

• 64 landscape tiles (green backs)
• 3 starting tiles (blue backs)
• 80 vikings (20 each in 4 colors)
• 16 longhouses (4 each in 4 colors)
• 22 rune stones (for variant play)
• 4 player aids
• 1 bag (for tiles)
• Rulebooks

Setup

1. Each player chooses a color and takes all matching longhouses and vikings.
2. Place the 3 starting tiles face-up in the center of the play area in the specified arrangement.
3. Place landscape tiles in the bag:
   • 4 players: use all 64 tiles
   • 3 players: remove tiles marked “4”
   • 2 players: remove tiles marked “3” and “4”
4. Draw 4 tiles from the bag and place them face-up in a row near the play area.
5. Randomly select a starting player.

Turn Structure

Exploration Phase

On your turn:

1. Place a Tile: Choose any tile from the 4 face-up tiles and add it to the play area.
   • The tile must touch 2 or more existing tiles.
   • All terrain types (mountain/plains/ocean) must match at shared edges.
   • Placement must not create a second separate landmass (even if it could theoretically be reconnected later).
   • Creating “holes” in the layout is allowed.
   • Creating separate plains areas divided by mountains is allowed.
2. Optionally Place a Longhouse: After placing the tile, you may place 1 longhouse from your supply onto the tile you just placed.
   • Longhouses cannot be placed on the all-mountain tile.
   • Once placed, longhouses cannot be moved or removed.
3. Draw a Tile: Draw a new tile from the bag and add it to the face-up row.
   • If no tiles remain in the bag, the row has fewer than 4 tiles.
   • If no legal placement exists for any of the 4 face-up tiles, draw 4 new tiles and return the old ones to the bag.

The Exploration Phase ends when all landscape tiles have been placed, or when all remaining tiles cannot be placed legally.

Settlement Phase

The first player in the Settlement Phase is the player to the left of whoever placed the final tile.

On your turn, place 1 viking from your supply on a vacant tile that:

• Is adjacent to a tile with one of your longhouses or vikings.
• Contains plains connected to your adjacent longhouse/viking by plains (vikings are only placed on green grass).

Vikings cannot share a tile with another viking or longhouse. Once placed, vikings cannot be moved.

If you cannot legally place any more vikings, you are out. The Settlement Phase ends when all players are out.

Actions

The primary actions are tile placement (Exploration) and viking placement (Settlement). There are no combat or special action mechanics in the base game.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

After the Settlement Phase ends:

• Each player scores 1 point per viking placed in the play area.
• The player with the most points wins.
• In case of a tie, play another round and combine scores.
• If any uncontested tiles remain that a player could have claimed but ran out of vikings, those tiles count as claimed by that player.

To quickly determine the winner: the player with the fewest vikings remaining in their supply wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Longhouse Timing: Any longhouses not placed during the Exploration Phase cannot be placed later. Plan carefully.
• Blocking: In the Settlement Phase, your vikings block opponents from crossing through your territory. Plains paths are blocked by opponent pieces.
• Tile Cannot Be Placed: If no legal placement exists for any face-up tile, swap all 4 tiles for new ones from the bag. Repeat if necessary.
• 2-Player Epic Variant: Use all tiles. Each player takes 20 vikings + 4 longhouses of one color AND 10 vikings + 2 longhouses of a second color, treating both as their own.
• Classic Variant: No rune stones. Play 3 games, combining scores. No face-up draft row – draw 1 tile at a time and attempt to place it; unplaceable tiles are set aside and can be chosen on future turns.
• Rune Stones (7 variants, mix and match):
  • Strength (Thor): Placed on the all-mountain tile. Adjacent vikings score +1 VP each.
  • Water (Laguz): Placed on a specific water tile. Vikings on tiles sharing that water region score +1 VP each.
  • Journey (Raido): Each player gets 1. Discard to place a viking 1-3 tiles away along a contiguous water route.
  • Horse (Ehwaz): Each player gets 1. Discard to place a viking 1-3 tiles away along contiguous mountain.
  • Friendship (Gyfu): Placed on all-plains tiles. Player with most adjacent vikings scores 2 VP per rune.
  • Wisdom (Odin): Each player gets 1. Place on an empty space adjacent to 2+ tiles to “jump” a gap.
  • Home (Odal): Each player gets 1. Place during Exploration under a longhouse. Your adjacent vikings score +1 VP each.

Player Reference

Turn Checklist – Exploration Phase

1. Choose 1 of 4 face-up tiles
2. Place tile (must touch 2+ tiles, terrain must match, no separate landmasses)
3. Optionally place a longhouse on the tile
4. Draw 1 tile from bag to refill the row

Turn Checklist – Settlement Phase

1. Place 1 viking on a vacant plains tile adjacent to your existing piece
2. If no legal placement: you are eliminated

Tile Counts by Player Count

| Players | Tiles Used | |———|———–| | 2 | Remove “3” and “4” marked tiles | | 3 | Remove “4” marked tiles | | 4 | All 64 tiles |

Scoring

• 1 point per placed viking
• Rune stone bonuses (if used)
• Highest total wins