Tabletop_Gaming__April_2019

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come a nal scoring sheet, cards score

in at least three dierent ways – its

presentation feels a little less inventive.

e muted wood eect and awkward

arrangement of its three Europe-forming

central boards, which serves a gameplay

purpose but looks strangely disjointed,

sits alongside cards that are nicely

illustrated but lack any individuality

versus any one of the countless Viking

games out there. In a word, the look of

Lindisfarne is forgettable.

Lindisfarne won’t change the world.

Taken piece by piece (of the few pieces

there are), its gameplay mechanics

and look are overly familiar and fail to

do anything special alone. Put them

together, though, and this compact set

becomes so much more than the sum

of its parts. It’s fast and fun, and asks

little of your time or money. A lot for a

little – who can argue with that?

MATT JARVIS

L

indisfarne is a whole lot of game

in not a lot of box. With just a

deck of cards, three smallish

boards and a few handfuls of tokens,

this Viking dice-roller manages to

create an experience that feels like it

belongs in a package several times the

size – and price.

At the centre of the Norse action

is dice-rolling, with players chucking

cubes equal to the number of Vikings in

their clan: six to start, then fewer as they

head o to European shores in search

of regions to pillage. e results can be

assigned to each of the boards to try and

achieve the most unique die results,

longest consecutive run of numbers or

largest number of matching rolls. e

diverse objectives – with the caveat of

having to place at least one token and

only being able to assign dice to a single

board each turn – means that the luck of

the dice is oset, leaving enough room for

a competitive, tactical feel. e chance to

collect dice-modifying runes for unspent

Vikings at the end of a round opens up

control of the cubes further, without

taking away the excitement of throwing

down and seeing what turns up.

Achieve one of the objectives and

you’ll swipe one of that board’s attached

cards, which is where Lindisfarne’s

second clever half comes into play. e

cards can be worth points alone, but

also earn points for the player with the

largest collection and oer bonus score

for completing connected sections of

the panoramic frescos that run across

several cards. Meanwhile, objective

cards award specic sets of card suits,

based on the various destinations; cards

from the Viking home of Norway grant

bonus actions and scoring opportunities.

Dice-rolling and card set-collection

are two staples of the gaming world, and

Lindisfarne doesn’t necessarily reinvent

the wheel when it comes to its gameplay.

e rules will be familiar to those who’ve

spent time in similar small-box card and

dice games, and can be picked up in a

couple of minutes by everyone else.

at said, what the combination of

dice and cardplay here lacks in originality,

it makes up for with dependability as

tight as a longboat's planks. It’s wholly

satisfying to assign dice, collect cards and

score points, and the quickness of turns

and setup makes a good experience

even better. You’re left with the feeling of

having played a much more substantial

game thanks to the mixture of gameplay

elements and scoring considerations

coming together seamlessly.

Where Lindisfarne excels in making

its components go the distance – the

three main map boards ip over to

A snack for Odin

Lindisfarne

30-45m 2-4 15+ £15

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ Three map boards

◗ Six dice

◗ 38 destination

cards

◗ 20 objective cards

◗ 24 Viking tokens

◗ 12 rune tokens

◗ First Player pawn

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED... RAIDERS OF THE NORTH SEA

Love Vikings? This pairing of compact Norse-themed Eurogames will give you

plenty of gaming joy to be thankful Thor.

PLAY IT? PROBABLY

Its gameplay isn’t revolutionary –

but the amount it crams into an

extremely reasonable package is. This

is a thoroughly solid and strategic

experience that deserves the small

space it’ll occupy on your shelf.

largest collection and oer bonus score

for completing connected sections of

Designer: Damien Fleury, Alain Pradet | Artist: ann&seb 30-45m £15