When you hear the word Viking, what comes to mind? Did it invoke images and thoughts of Norse gods, two-handed axes, berserkers, or some thorn-head team out of Minnesota? I’m not going to lie that those are some of the first things that came into my mind. Did explorers or Lief Erikson come to mind? I mean, he should. Lief is thought of as the first to set foot in North America 500 years before other Europeans. Hopefully, those with a more civilized brain than mine thought of him.

This brings us to today’s review of the Knarr from Pandasaurus Games, where players are leaders of a Viking band looking to gain reputation by exploring new trade routes and territories. Knarr is mainly a hand management game with additional racing & engine building mechanics that plays around 30 minutes and is designed for 2-4 players.

Game Overview:

Knarr is made of turns, and each player will have the chance to complete the three steps on their turn:

1. Reputation: players will move their score marker according to the highest level of their reputation marker.

I’m in good shape to recruit and will get a nice amount of assets with either color from my hand.

2. Action: Recruit or Explore: players will choose which action to take on their turn

• Recruit: players will take a Viking card from their hand and play to their crew zone. Crew is arranged in columns by color (there are 5 different colors). Players will then gain each asset listed on the crew cards in that column. Players then gain a Viking card of the same color from the 5 corresponding colors under the game board. Players will draw a new Viking card to replace the one taken under the game board.
• Explore: player can choose to gain one of the 3 Trading Lands or 3 Lands of Influence Cards by spending the corresponding cost in crew in the upper left corner of these destination cards. The player will instantly gain the assets listed in the upper right of the destination card (same as noted above) and place that card above their ship sheet. A new destination card of the same type is drawn for the one taken above the game board.

A player may also trade before or after their action. The player can spend 1-3 silver arm rings and gain the assets listed in the first, second, and third columns listed on their ship sheet, as well as gain from their collected stacked destination cards.

After a player completes these steps, their turn is over, and the player to their left will take their turn. Knarr endgame is triggered when a player reaches 40 victory points or more on the score track. The current round will continue but end once the player to the right of the first player completes their turn. The player with the most points on the score track wins.

Players have one action: explore and claim a destination or recruit and claim the same Viking Card of that color column after they play a Viking from their hand to their crew zone.

Game Experience:

Knarr has beautiful art and great production values. The Viking cards especially have excellent detail and really reinforce this game’s theme along with the ship sheets, destination cards, and game board as well. Also, all components are of quality and should be durable even without sleeving. My only issue is with the design of the reputation track on the game board. It should have gone the width of the board, but instead is a zig-zag design of the left half only which makes it appear crowded, especially at 3-4 player counts.

My ship sheet – just traded and used all my arm rings but moved forward on both tracks.

The next positive for Knarr is that each turn is both fast and productive. This game plays fast due to a quick step 1, where players might move on the score track, and the same for step 2, where you either recruit or explore and gain assets and cards. Trading is optional and not frequent, so again, turns will be fast for Knarr. Players will also always be gaining assets, which makes turns productive. Now every turn might not be as productive as the last due to spending crew to gain destination cards, but players will always be gaining something to help them achieve short or long-term game goals.

Another positive that Knarr does well is luck mitigation. Yes, players will experience the luck of the draw with Viking and destination cards, but Knarr allows players to spend recruit tokens to choose which crew card they take after they recruit instead of drawing the same color used or use in place of crew requirements when they explore. This is a great mechanic because it allows players to possibly keep their crew columns intact for gaining assets, but also helps players still reach their goals if they don’t have the required crew or when choosing a preferred Viking card after they recruit.

Reputation track needs redesign – cannot easily see the white player token or the 1 marker.

The last positive that I wanted to highlight about Knarr is that this game has a very balanced engine-building and breaking mechanic. You will gain Viking cards during recruiting that help build an engine to gain assets, but you also must spend crew breaking your asset engine when exploring. Players are also limited to only ever having 3 recruit and 3 silver arm ring tokens at a time. This cap helps prevent players from having crazy surpluses and should make them careful when gaining assets, and not hoard otherwise, those gains will be wasted.

The only issue I had with Knarr is that if a player doesn’t put much effort into moving up on the reputation track, then the game will become a running away. It has no catch-up mechanic, and on each player’s turn during the reputation step, players can move on the score track depending on their place on the reputation track. This is what makes Knarr race like because it’s 40 and most points to win. Players need to try to stay close with others on the reputation and also score track, so that no one gets too far ahead or out of reach.

Final Thoughts:

Knarr is a great game with excellent art and production values, aside from one minor design flaw for the reputation track. Game turns are played fast and are productive for players, with any action providing assets. Knarr has great luck mitigation mechanics as well an excellent engine building and breaking balance.

The only thing that players need to be aware of and manage is the reputation and score tracks, and try to stay close to other players since there are no catch-up mechanics in Knarr. If not managed well, the game can become a runaway.

Final Score: 4 Stars – A great hand management and racing game that plays fast and has excellent engine building and breaking mechanics.

Hits:
• Well produced
• Fast and Productive turns
• Luck mitigation mechanics
• Balanced machine building & breaking

Misses:
• Minor design issue
• No catch up mechanic