Viking (game)

[1] In 1971, Stephen Patrick designed a game about historic battles during the medieval period that was published by the new wargame company SPI as Dark Ages.

Viking was published as a single game and immediately moved into SPI's Top Ten Bestseller List at #7.

In a 1976 poll conducted by SPI to determine the most popular board wargames in North America, Viking was rated at 54th out of 202 games.

[1]: 157 In the January 1976 edition of Airfix Magazine, Bruce Quarrie noted "these rules allow a wide degree of flexibility in approach to the game.

It can be an absolutely basic and 'unrealistic' affair [...] or by addition of optional Panic, Facing and Melee rules, and a [simultaneous movement sequence, ir reproduces quite accurately the true conditions of the time."

He concluded, "In general [...] the result is as SPI intended, to satisfy both those who desire a simple format and those who can assimilate relatively complex restrictions.

He concluded by giving the game an Overall Evaluation of "Good", saying, "The system is clean, and most battles can be played in a short time.