Every game of Viking Village ends one of three ways. You can force the outcome β or let time make the decision for you.
The oldest answer. When the skalds sing of Skjaldvik a hundred years from now, they will sing of the village that broke all others.
Your village must be the only one still standing with population above zero.
| Method | Trigger | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Combat attrition | Population reduced to zero | Village collapses |
| Surrender | Population drops below 20 | Village surrenders to a chosen village |
A village at critical population (under 20) may surrender rather than fight on. The surrendering village:
A weakened enemy is a resource, not just a corpse.
Best for: Unbound (Iceland) Stormborn (Norway)
You never had to raise a sword. You simply became too good to leave. One by one they came β first the hungry, then the curious, then everyone else.
Your village controls 65% or more of the total living population across all villages simultaneously at the end of a year.
The wooing mechanic runs every year β prosperous villages passively pull population from struggling ones. The trigger is checked at year-end after wooing resolves. This requires sustained prosperity β a single good year won't do it.
Best for: Coin Speakers (Denmark) Deep Roots (Sweden)
If no village has conquered or absorbed all others by the time limit, Skjaldvik has reached an uneasy balance. The skalds must judge who built best.
| Option | Years | Character |
|---|---|---|
| A Single Generation | 10 years | Fast, aggressive β little time to build |
| The Age of Settlement | 20 years | Balanced β default recommended |
| The Great Saga | 50 years | Full arc β empires rise and fall |
Highest score wins. Calculated at the year limit:
This rewards different playstyles β guards and boats matter as much as raw wealth.
Best for: Between-Folk (Orkney) Deep Roots (Sweden)
Villages don't simply flip between alive and dead. They pass through states:
| State | Population | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| π’ Thriving | 50+ | Full participation |
| π‘ Struggling | 20β49 | Can still act; wooing pulls harder from them |
| π΄ Broken | Under 20 | Must surrender or face collapse within 2 years |
| π Fallen | 0 | Eliminated β name recorded in the logs |
A Broken village can still fight on β a desperate last stand is very on-brand for the Unbound β but the odds are almost always fatal.
Your results across all games accumulate on the leaderboard. Finishing positions matter:
| Finish | Points | Title Earned |
|---|---|---|
| 1st β any victory | +3 wins | Varies by win type |
| 2nd β survived to end | +1 win | Landhaldarr β Land-Holder |
| Eliminated mid-game | +1 loss | β |
| Surrendered | No win, no loss | ΓrΓ¦ll β Thrall (temporary shame) |
Your Level = 1 + (Wins β Losses) / 10. Higher level players have proven themselves across many sagas.