Over 1000 years ago in the far north lived an infamous group of men: Vikings. They spread fear and terror, and brought entire kingdoms to their knees. But before any of that was possible, they first had to unite their homeland under one banner ...
Vikings, Jarls and Mead - the good old days
In Nord you lead a group of Vikings battling for supremacy of your homeland, the Lofoten Islands, a small archipelago in the northwest of present-day Norway. But the defenses of the opposing Jarls (the viking ruling class) will not be so easy to overcome. Alliances with other settlements will be required, perhaps later allowing the Jarl to be "disposed of".
Or will you focus more on resources - gathering wood, ore, or treasures in order to gain important victory points. But you also can't ignore the legendary Jarls like Ragnar, Floki, Thorstein and Eirik, any of whom could thwart your plans.
For experienced gamers who love strategy and tactics
Whether as farmers, fishermen or warriors, you'll have to use your men at the right time in the right places - without relying on luck.
Nord is a superb tactics and strategy game, and is not a game that is overly complicated or that gives you no important decisions. The game mechanics are easy to learn and offer plenty of choices and depth of tactics, with luck playing only a minor role.
Experienced gamers will find much to love in this game. Whether through the variable board layout, or the special Jarls like Ragnar and Floki, you'll always have new challenges to face. Nord is for up to four players and takes about 45 - 60 minutes of your time.
Here are some of the things that make Nord such a noteworthy game:
deep strategy and little luck
exciting theme
simple mechanics, but many choices
multiple ways to earn victory points
high replayability through a variable board layout
over 100 Meeples!
Only with your support, however, will Nord be the next game from Kronberger Spiele. Despite our past successes, completely financing the game won't be possible without your help.
Our goals for Nord
Nord is an expansive multi-player game with more than one hundred Meeples and dozens of tiles. These types of games unfortunately very expensive to produce, especially when produced in the EU, which is very important to us. With your help, our dearly beloved and most played prototype will see the light of day in the quality it deserves.
Wondering what you'll get in Nord? Check out this overview:
We also have a exciting expansion for you. The Jarl expansion adds four special Jarls to Nord as a variant. These Jarls have different colors and attributes, which will affect the hunt for victory points. You can get this optional expansion by supporting at the Jarl level, or through the add-ons.
As an added incentive we also have a Spieleschmiede exclusive bonus for you! The 100 Warrior Meeples can be outfitted with thematic Viking designs. As a Spieleschmiede exclusive you'll receive more than 200 stickers for the Meeples get to put a little more theme in your wooden warrior's fight! Also included in the set are 12 stickers for the Jarl expansion.
Additionally, you'll have the opportunity to design a Jarl. This means that you can pick the weaponry, gender, clothing, and cape insignia. You'll discuss your desires directly with Christof Tisch, the graphic artist. In addition, Christof will use your image as the basis for the face of the Jarl. You can see what this can look like from this example of Roland Goslar. The Jarl will then be designed in the sticker set and be included for all players. This option can be found in the right column under the rewards.
How to play
Nord is easy to learn. There are only two possible moves, but as in any good strategy game the depth is in the details. Mostly you'll be placing one to three workers who can be farmers, hunters or fisherman depending on the location, and can become warriors when needed. And sometimes you'll have to go to war to defeat an opposing Jarl and claim victory points.
Lädt den Player
But Nord is not a worker placement game, rather it's more reminiscent of classic games like Tigris and Euphrates or Vinci. Whether through the creation of alliances, or the battle for supremacy in a settlement, your moves must be carefully planned. And if an opponent interferes with your plan, you'll need to come up with a solution quickly or risk running out of time. There are a total of four scoring stages in which alternately the resources and the warriors are scored. At the end there are additional victory points for the number and type of treasures you've obtained - as long as you haven't spent them during the game for useful bonuses.
The Goals of the Vikings
Because Nord is a Euro Game of considerable size, we need your help. The production of so many high-quality wood and cardboard pieces is expensive and without start-up funding, we won't be able to achieve it alone. With enough support, you can also make it possible for everyone to get an even better game. Working together we can achieve the following improvements:
9.000€ - Nord is funded: At this level we'll be able to produce Nord without unacceptable risk. All major game-related components are included at this stage, so you cam be assured you won't be receiving only half a game.
10.000€ - an additional landscape illustration: Our graphic artist will create alternative art for every forest, mountain, meadow and city.
11.000€ - wooden dragon boat: At this level, all supporters will receive a small wooden dragon boat instead of the black disc.
12.000€ - an additional landscape illustration: At this level, there will be an additional art variant for every forest, mountain, meadow and city.
13.000€ - wooden score marker: The cardboard score marker in Nord will be upgraded to wood.
14.000€ - an additional landscape illustration: At this level, there will be an additional art variant for every forest, mountain, meadow and city.
15.000€ - double-sided map tiles: All eight map tiles will have an alternative layout on the back side. This more difficult layout will present an additional challenge to the players.
16.000€ - an additional landscape illustration: At this level, there will be an additional art variant for every forest, mountain, meadow and city.
17.000€ - ship stickers: The sticker set will include a set for the fishing boats, in addition to the sticker for the 100 Meeples.
18.000€ - an additional landscape illustration: At this level, there will be an additional art variant for every forest, mountain, meadow and city.
?: We still have a few other ideas for stretch goals. We'll discuss these later if we reach the others.
Who is Kronberger Spiele?
We're a game-crazed family with a small self-publishing company from the beautiful town of Kronberg im Taunus. We took the name Kronberger Spiele after our hometown. I'm Roland Goslar, and I founded Kronberger Spiele over 10 years ago with my brother Tobias Goslar. We started with board games built around diamonds: Tom Tube and Lost Valley. This was followed by card, quiz and dice games as well as a trip into the electronic gaming world with Frantic Frankfurt. Concurrently, I've also done editing work for Heidelberger Spielverlag for several years. Now that my sons have grown up, I've turned back again in recent years to designing challenging games. And together with my oldest son Johannes, I've discovered an exciting, very dynamic placement/connection/sacrifice mechanic which has been developed into Nord.
Together we've spent several hundred hours working out the design - pondering, playing, changing, playing, and cutting. Just since the huge prototype test at the Leipziger Messe modell-hobby-spiel 2013 Fair we've already put in a year's worth of improvements. And now, Nord is so perfect that we're ready to present it as our company's newest large board game, and hope that it will be a success with your support.
Playtester thoughts
It's only natural for you to still be a little skeptical concerning Nord. So we've sent prototypes to many different testers and asked for their opinions. Here you can see the results:
The more you play, the more tactics and strategies you'll discover. In the beginning you might think that you're not doing anything useful. But it quickly became clear that there were countless possibilities. [...] Conclusion: We are very excited to see the end result, the game certainly has potential.
Spellenmolen - zum Test
Nord is an interesting game with unique mechanics, but you have to love brain games like this. [...] The average euro-coregamer should definitely have a look at this.
Jplay - YouTube Spielereviews - Link zum Channel
Finally another Viking-esque game! :) The first impression is pretty good. Theme and presentation are already consistent and the game is likely to look very good with nice wooden components.
Pascal von Engelbrechten - für Heimspiele.info - Preview
Spieleschmiede's assessment
Kronberger Spiele has already proven with Lost Valley that they can develop an excellent game.
hat schon mit Lost Valley bewiesen, dass sie ausgezeichnete Spiele entwickeln können. The company has a highly experienced editor behind them in Roland Goslar, who worked many years for a large German publishing company. Christof Tisch is responsible for the art - Mr. Carcassonne at Hans im Glück.
The cost calculations for the project are, in our experience and assessment, realistic. The small print run is a aspect that makes production more difficult. The game is intended for experienced gamers and we believe a recommended age of 12 years and older to be appropriate.
Delivery in January
Our goal is to be able to deliver Nord in the first quarter of 2015. Spiele-Offensive.de will handle the delivery of the rewards. Backers in Germany will receive everything shipped for free. For other countries see this postage cost table.
Please do not add the postage costs to your pledge amount yourself. Spieleschmiede will automatically calculate and add them based on your delivery address.
Join in!
Please support Nord by backing this project. You can also help us greatly by telling others about the project - whether by posting in your favorite forum, linking it from your website, or sharing it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
If you're excited about Nord then use one of these avatars for your profile on your favorite social networks! Just right-click on the image and choose "Save Image As..." (the option may be slightly different depending on your browser).
Support Nord now to help make this game a reality and secure yourself a copy with the exclusive meeple stickers.
This project is run by Kronberger Spiele, Wendelinsweg 2 in 61476 Kronberg, Deutschland.
Pictures of the game and packaging represent the current state of development, and may still be subject to change.
Additionally, there are the following optional rewards available:
+8 EUROJarl Expansion One copy of the "Jarl" expansion.
+6 EUROStickers One copy of the sticker set.
+10 EUROSponsor Your name will be listed as a supporter in the rulebook.
+10 EUROSigned Rulebook Your rulebook will be signed by the designer of the game.
+50 EURODesign a neutral Jarl You may design the look of one of the neutral Jarls for the sticker set. This means that you can pick the weaponry, gender, clothing, cape insignia, and have the face based on your photo.
Only 4 left!
+50 EURODesign a special Jarl You may design the look of one of the special Jarls from the Jarl expansion for the sticker set. This means that you can pick the weaponry, clothing, cape insignia, and have the face based on your photo. (only for male characters)
Only 4 left!
Here you can change or add something to your contribution: Manage Contribution.