Due Norse: Comprehensive Extreme Mode North-Guide

A comprehensive guide to Northgard's unforgiving "Extreme" Mode campaign. Includes General Tips (for getting the most out of Extreme Mode), Level Strategies (for those who want the big-picture of a level without following a particular strategy), and Specific Walkthroughs (for a more in-depth look at each level). For those who are struggling with Extreme, or even Hard, these tips, tricks, and general strategies will (hopefully!) help ease your frustrations.

Introduction / How to Use

Introduction

Greetings, eager extreme-mode Northguardians! As someone who struggled desperately to complete the campaign on this ultra-challenging difficulty, I thought I would try to provide a go-to resource for anyone who needed a little strategic help or clarity. I can't promise that I know the best way to do every mission, but I hope I can provide some level of insight regardless. If you have suggestions for improvements, let me know!

Why Complete the Campaign on Extreme?

Besides the Steam achievement (and no doubt a hearty "I'm-proud-of-you-son" from your parents), there is an in-game reward for finishing the Campaign on Extreme and completing all bonus objectives (on any difficulty): unlocking each Clan's unique Warchief for both Single-player and Multi-player non-campaign games!

How to Use This Guide

You can use this as much or as little as you want; each chapter begins with general tips and strategies (Overviews), and a more in-depth step-by-step walkthrough complete with illustrated pictures. The overviews are designed to provide "big picture" help in roughly the order you'll need it for the level: unique strategies, special rules, major events, and things to watch out for. The walkthroughs are step-by-step guides for the level, using the fastest, most effective strategies I've discovered in my time playing, redoing levels, and writing this guide!

So, to everyone reading, good luck! I wish you success on your path to finishing Northgard on the hardest difficulty!

General Extreme Mode Tips

Introduction

This section is designed to help you understand the basic tenants of Extreme Mode to lay a basic groundwork for the rest of the guide. Master these, and you'll (hopefully!) be well on your way to completing Extreme Mode in no time.

Starting Each Mission

1. Beginning with a simple tip, save as soon as the opening cutscene ends! That way, you can experiment with tricky missions, scout the landscape without intending to finish the mission, and go back to a convenient starting point.

2. Master the beginning moves by doing them as quickly and efficiently as possible; every second you waste in the beginning of a game costs you exponentially later.

3. Build a Scout Camp and a Woodcutter's Camp at the beginning of every mission. This is the de-facto start I have found to be most successful. Make 1 villager a Scout, and at least 1 a Woodcutter, making sure you still produce enough food for colonization.

4. Scout and colonize the nearest Food source in this order: Field > Hunting Ground > Fish Pond. Scout one or two more territories which you intend to colonize (more food / forest), always prioritizing the "best" colonization order.

5. When your next villager is at around 55% complete, make a house. Never hit your population cap if you can help it.

6. Your Chieftan is powerful enough to take two tiles with 3 wolves each by himself / herself. To accomplish this, attack when one wolf is near the border and the others are on the other side of the tile; when the other wolves get close, pull the Chieftan out, and repeat when the wolves have dispersed. This is an especially powerful tactic when you need to expand quickly but can't spare Wood, Krowns, or Villagers.

7. My guide assumes rapid expansion for every mission, so you can either build a Healing Hut to support your Warchief when his health gets low, or a Training camp. I usually create a Training Camp and train 2 Warriors. With the support of a Warchief, the trio can take down another 6 Wolves (3 and 3 in 2 territories). When you can no longer take another tile, turn your Scout / Warriors into Civilians and get to healing everyone.

General Tips

Efficiency
1. Be a save-scrub champion. Whenever you're on a tricky mission, save every other month. Since Northgard implements semi-random events and world hostility, going back to an earlier save may change where / when Wolves and Draugr invade, which bad event (Rats, Blizzard, Earthquake) comes up, etc. In some levels, you need to do as well as you possibly can throughout the mission in order to beat it. The idea is to save as soon as you've done a perfect iteration of gameplay; that way, if something happens in the next couple months, you have a 'near-perfect" save to go back to.

2. Time is of the essence. You are allowed to relax in Skirmish, but in Extreme, you should always be micromanaging your military or villagers to be as efficient as possible. Pay attention to notifications, especially idle villagers. Turn scouts and warriors into villagers when you can; don't retain an army unless necessary or you can't afford to disband them.

3. Maximize efficiency. Make sure you leave room for silos on food tiles, place Markets and Trading posts on the same tile, and leave room for a Mine when Stone / Iron is on the tile. Pay attention to each clan's Lore when planning out what to colonize.

4. You should almost never need to develop land (paying 100 Krowns) unless you are Goat and can do it for 20. Instead, push food production and expand to a new tile.

Resource Management
1. Expand until you can have a steady supply of everything you need. On Extreme, you rarely need to take more than 5-6 territories besides your home province.

2. Make sure you store nothing but the bare minimum of resources! Food is good for colonization and not starving; nothing else. Wood should be used immediately; if you can't use that 150 wood immediately because you don't have building space, you need more food to colonize another tile. If you have over 300 food or 200 wood and Winter isn't coming, you're not spending your resources in a timely fashion. Pretend you're a project manager, and your boss is going to take your budget away if you don't spend it.

3. Krowns are nice, but unless you are playing Raven, you only need enough for upgrading buildings and hiring a few military units. Try to keep about 100-150 in reserve with at least +2 production and only push Krowns if you need them for Upgrades or Military.

4. Mine Stone and Iron as early as possible on most maps. Upgrading buildings is vital.

5. Trading Posts are the Great Equalizer. If you have a map rich in forests, or food, you can sell off the excess from your efficient, upgraded buildings instead of posting villagers as Merchants. Depending on the map, you can get 2-6 trade routes going at once, though you rarely need more than 2.

6. Don't buy resources from the Market! It's almost a guaranteed sign you haven't expanded properly or in the right order. The campaign ensures that you are near all vital resources, so don't buy from the Market unless absolutely necessary!

Upgrades
1. Upgrade buildings relative to what you need as quickly as possible. If you're running low on Food, upgrade a Food building. Generally, the order I upgrade is (Woodcutter's Lodge in Forest -> Farm (unless winter is approaching) -> Brewery -> Other Food Buildings -> etc. according to my needs). Upgraded buildings with Lore (depending on the faction you play) are incredibly efficient.

2. There are 3 essential tools to upgrade with Iron every level: Woodcutters, your biggest group of Food Gatherers, and Axe Throwers.

Other Tips
1. Never fall below 0 on happiness. If you notice you're getting close, build a brewery immediately! Low happiness means no new villagers, which puts an end to your dream of expansion.

2. Never hit your population cap! If you're at 10/11, 15/16, etc. it's time to build a house. That said, there are times when excess population creates "drag" if you don't have an efficient use for them. So unless you are intentionally limiting your population, make sure you never hit those unmagical red numbers.

3. Generally, turn Villagers into Healers in the Winter when you have wounded, since Villagers are less efficient in Winter.

Military Strategies

Unit Ranking
Units in order of importance:
1. Axe Throwers
2. Shield Bearers
3. Warriors

Reasoning: your Warchief is the most defensive unit you're going to get. Axe Throwers have the highest damage potential, and if you have enough of them, they can down anything attacking your other units before they are seriously harmed. Always try to have a couple Shield Bearers to keep attention away from Axe Throwers.

Target Enemy units in this order:
1. Axe Throwers
2. Warriors
3. Shield Bearers

Target Wild units in this order:
1. Wolves
2. Bears

Fightin' Words
1. This is the most important tip to remember! Pull injured units away until the enemy turns its attention to another unit, then attack again. This way you can avoid losing units but still keep them in the fight.

2. Prioritize a "damage soak" unit to enter hos-tiles first. This means Warchief or Shield Bearers. This unit will be auto-targeted by the enemy, allowing your heavy-hitting units to spend extra time bashing heads in.

3. Go fly a Kite! You will run into many situations when your Axe Throwers will need to hold the line, and in every case you need to master the tactic of "kiting' slower units. Target, throw, run a short distance away, throw, repeat.

4. When you have the luxury, build Towers in "trouble" tiles prone to invasion by wild animals and enemies. This means your villagers spend less time fighting and more time doing the Jarl's bidding.

5. When attacking adjacent enemy territories, swap out wounded units to be healed mid-fight / mid-takeover, then send them back in when they're healed.

Clans (Pt. 1)

This is my personal ranking of how each clan performs in Extreme Mode. This is situational, of course; different clans perform better or worse in individual levels, and I'll have sections within each level's walkthrough for them. This section provides a general overview of the Clans' performances from a campaign perspective. Each Tech Tree section also has my "rank" of their unique technologies:

Stag

Overview
Highly adaptable to a variety of situations. I played Stag every chance I got, primarily due to their strong economy and lack of weaknesses. Prioritize expansion and production in order to support a big military.

Start Bonuses / Fame Bonuses
1. +75 Food, Wood, and Krowns
- A nice bonus. This means colonizing 2 extra territories, building an extra building, and a buffer to not focus on Krown production.
2. Hall of Skalds replaces Brewery, producing Fame (and with Tech, Krowns).
- Every clan builds a brewery anyway, so this is a helpful way to get to your Fame bonuses (and earn a few Krowns on the way).

1. Supplies (200 Fame): Gain +150 Food, Wood, and Krowns, and 10 Stone.
- This brings tears to my eyes. It takes a little over a year to generate 200 fame, by which time this boost is an absolute necessity to continue expansion and production.
2. Dedication (500 Fame): Upgraded Production buildings gain an additional 10% bonus.
- That's all upgraded buildings, including Woodcutter's Camps, Hall of Skalds, etc. This is one of the best fame bonuses for the Campaign.

Tech Trees
In my opinion, their unique technologies are the best of all the clans for campaign.


(1) "Eradication" provides +1 happiness and 10% production per silo, which is amazing (CotS Update: now reduces cost of Silo Upgrades by 50%. Even better!)
(4) "Advanced Silos" provides +2-4 food per silo, which is a nice boost.
(2) "Young and Proud" is perhaps their second-best tech after "Eradication", providing up to +25% attack for 8 or more happiness.
(3) "The Value of Great Deeds" only provides +1 Krowns per Skald (CotS Update: now provides +2 Krowns per Skald). You generally have 4-6 skalds by the end, which is a nice bonus since their main job is to produce happiness.
(5) "Glory of the Clan" increases Fame Gain by 20%. This is terrible in every circumstance except Fame victories. By the time you get to this tech, you should already have 500 fame, making it useless for all missions except the Bear Clan competition.

Overall Score
Chapter #1: Mandatory
Chapter #2: Mandatory
Chapter #4: 9/10.
Chapter #8: 10/10.
Chapter #10: 8/10.
Chapter #11: 8/10.

Wolf

Earning food for slaughtering endangered wildlife? Someone call PETA! This bonus is their most notable benefit. Expands rapidly, but then slows down. Focus on your military to get food. It's worth noting they are the only clan to become more effective on Extreme Mode (see Start Bonus 1 below).

Start Bonuses / Fame Bonuses
1. Killing Wolves = +20 meat, Bears = +140 meat.
- For perspective, most neutral tiles have 3 Wolves or 1 Bear on Extreme Mode, and once you have at least a couple axe throwers, you can start clearing out random tiles just for food.
2. Military units eat 30% less food and provide happiness.
- The reduced food consumption is not noticable, but 2 military units = 1 happiness, which is nice.

1. Dominion (200 Fame): Berserkers can colonize cleared areas for free with a 12 month cooldown.
- Changed in CotS update; now saves the player quite a bit of food.
2. Advanced Assault (500 Fame): Reduces Dominion cooldown to 6 months and grants 15% attack power.
- You won't be expanding much in the campaign after 500 Fame, but the attack bonus is great.

Tech Trees
(2) "Field Rations" reduces military food consumption by 80%. (Replaces 30% reduction.)
(4) "Spoils of War" provides +15 Krowns for each non-animal enemy killed.
(5) "Plunder" heals your units 30% of their max health when decolonizing an area - not all too common in the campaign.
(3) "Conqueror" increases attack against Towers by 100% and makes decolonization twice as fast. Useful in a few circumstances.
(1) "Veiled Threats" gives +75% income from trading routes. Good if you rely on trade, such as in Mission 10.

Overall Score
Chapter #5: Mandatory
Chapter #8: 8/10
Chapter #10: 9/10
Chapter #11: 8/10

Goat

Overview
Focus on food and productivity, but without the extra supplies of Stag. Steady, consistent growth with good defensive bonuses.

Start Bonuses / Fame Bonuses
1. Sheepfold for food production using Sheep, starts with 1 sheep.
- A great, but circumstantial bonus. Sheep are only widely available on a couple maps.
2. Increases the Production Bonus of Feasts by 30%.
- This one is just okay. You won't be putting on more than 1-3 feasts per game, making this one somewhat less desirable.

1. Spare Tools (200 Fame): +2 free tools for villagers.
- A nice, but unnecessary boost. All maps have at least 1 iron deposit nearby, and coupled with Mining Efficiency, one rock can generate 20 iron.
2. Team Work (500 Fame): 1 Free Feast, 20% resistance for Military when feasting.
- At 500 fame, this is the last feast you'll be throwing.

Tech Trees
(5) "Cooking Mastery" reduces Food Consumption by 5%. This is such a tiny bonus that it isn't really noticable until much later (for perspective, when you reach 35 villagers, you'll have ~73 food consumption, meaning this bonus would reduce that to ~70.)
(1) "Industrious" allows an extra villager at upgraded food-production buildings. Paired with "Food Trade", it's pretty darn good. (Note this also counts for Sheepfolds.)
(4) "Barricades" increases civilian resistance by 20% per building in an area! This is incredible on maps with frequent attacks, but not so much otherwise.
(3) "Amenities" reduces the cost to "Develop" a tile to 20 Krowns, allowing you to build extra buildings cheaply.
(2) "Food Trade" increases income from trading food by 50%, which is a welcome bonus paired with "Industrious" when you can trade with several groups.

Overall Score
Chapter #3: Mandatory
Chapter #4: 7/10
Chapter #8: 6/10
Chapter #10: 7/10
Chapter #11: 10/10

Clans (Pt. 2)

Bear

Overview
Two military units to begin each level is great for early expansion, but overall, relies too heavily on fish ponds and Winter to fully blossom.

Start Bonuses / Fame Bonuses
1. Winter Food and Firewood penalties are reduced by 30%.
- Nice to have, but certainly not essential.
2. Begins each mission with Kaija, the Armored Bear.
- Having Borgild and Kaija to start out with is really amazing, as you can clear 2-3 tiles before needing to heal them
3. Units have 10% increased attack power in Winter.
- Situational. Most of the fighting that goes on in Missions 10 and 11 is not during Winter, reducing the usefulness of this bonus.

1. Kindred Spirit (200 Fame): Having Kaija or Borgild on a tile increases production by 15%.
- This is really helpful when you can simply plop your two strongest fighters in a production tile, but if you are expanding as steadily as you should be, it's tough to keep them where they can do the most good.
2. The Bear Awakens (500 Fame): You gain +3 Fame when a unit is killed in the same area as Borgild, and your units gain +1% attack power per 100 fame.
- Ouch. You don't need more fame after 500, and you're likely to cap out at 500-700 in Missions 10 and 11, adding 5-7% to your attack power. Not even remotely useful.

Tech Trees
For Campaign, their tech tree is pretty weak, with a heavy reliance on Winter boosts.


(5) "Hibernation" allows non-sick clan members to heal during Winter. Your people shouldn't go that long without being healed anyway.
(1) "Harpoons" increases productivity of Fishing Huts by 25% and allows an extra Fisherman at upgraded Fishing Huts. Great if you can find fish, not so good otherwise.
(2) "Protector of the Land" provides +1 happiness per military camp. A small, but decent bonus.
(4) "Shield Mastery" reduces the cost of Shieldbearers and increases their resistance by 15%. You won't be using Shieldbearers in Mission 10, and only a couple in Mission 11, making this a rather bad technology.
(3) "Winter Festival" reduces Food Production loss by a further 50% and increases happiness by 3. Pretty useless unless you struggle with Winter, which should be the least of your concerns on Extreme.

Overall Score
Chapter #9: Mandatory
Chapter #10: 6/10
Chapter #11: 8/10

Boar

Overview
A focus on Population and Lore, but not enough of either to be too useful in Extreme Mode.

Start Bonuses / Fame Bonuses
1. The Mender's Hut replaces the Healers Hut; Menders produce +1 Lore while not healing.
- Bah! In Extreme Mode, Menders should be constantly healing or doing something much more useful, like gathering food. If this were a constant bonus, it might be worth it.
2. Each additional territory gives +2 Max Population.
- This is actually a nice bonus, since it reduces the need for houses, but you may as well eat the 50 Wood and 10 Krowns and build a house anyway.
3. No penalties to Happiness for non-upgraded houses.
- I would say, "Sign me up", except by the time missions 8, 10, and 11 end on Extreme Mode, you won't have more than -2 or -3 happiness for lack of adequate housing.

1. Heritage (200 Fame): Gain +1 free knowledge (though it does not count towards Blessings).
- Nice, certainly, but in most games you will have between +12 and +16 lore when you get to 200 fame, reducing the value of a single free knowledge.
2. Greater Blessings (500 Fame): Freya (Blizzard Penalty reduced by 50%), Baldr (+5 Happiness), and Jord (Svarn and Upgraded Towers gain +10% attack).
- There are no blizzards in missions 7, 8, 10, or 11. The +5 happiness is nice, but not essential, as once you have enough Lore to unlock Baldr's blessing, you don't really need the extra +2. The final blessing is also nothing to write home about, as +10% isn't that much so late in the game.

Tech Trees
Other than a few really good technologies, their Lore works against them.


(5) "Lay of the Land" reduces environmental hostility by 90%; however, this isn't really a factor in the campaign.
(6) "Herbalism" allows a 5% production bonus per active mender in a territory. But you'll only have 2 active menders for the most part, giving you a whopping 10% bonus to (if you're lucky) 2 industries.
(7) "Legacy" doubles production of the Altar of Kings. Spoiler: you won't want to build an Altar of Kings on Mission 10, and you won't need to on Mission 11. This top tech tree is so useless in Campaign that you should skip it and go straight to the bottom row.
(4) "Bartering" allows trade but swaps out a +2 Krowns production bonus for +1 per 8 Population. You won't really notice until you're halfway through a mission, and by then, you'll have trade routes. But this tech is essential to get to the really good ones, so hey.
(2) "Simple Living" reduces Wood costs for building by 50%. This is neat and frees up a LOT of wood.
(3) "Handiwork" increases production of non-upgraded buildings by 15%. Honestly, it feels like shooting your upgraded buildings in the proverbial foot, but you rarely have enough stone to upgrade everything anyway, which smooths out the curve.
(1) "Osmosis" provides +2 happiness per Swamp, Forest, or Fish tile, averaging out to about +6 Happiness on Missions 8, 10, and 11. A wonderful boost; I cannot emphasize this enough.

Overall Score
Chapter #7: Mandatory
Chapter #8: 4/10
Chapter #10: 10/10
Chapter #11: 7/10

Raven

Overview
A solid economy with a reliance on Docks & mercenaries to truly shine. Certainly viable for an offensive strategy on Mission #8, but not for #10 or #11.

Start Bonuses / Fame Bonuses
1. Can colonize using Krowns instead of Food.
- This would be a nice bonus if you started with more than 50 Krowns or had the luxury of making a strong economy in Extreme Mode, but this is not the case. Useful for expansion in Mission #8.
2. Can build the Harbor to explore Coastal areas and send Mercenary attacks.
- There are 5 coasts in Mission 8 (3 near you), 2 coasts in Mission 10, and 2 (useful) coasts in Mission 11, both at your starting position.

1. Recruits (200 Fame): Gain +3 Villagers and +3 Max Population, +1 Happiness.
- Nice, and slightly nicer now that it gives +1 Happiness in Patch 1.1.
2. Mercenaries (500 Fame): Can hire mercenaries at your Harbor and send them to raid Coastal areas.
- As mentioned above, only one of the missions Raven is available for have strong coastlines. There is literally no one to raid in Missions 10 and 11, and it is only a viable strategy to force Borgild to surrender in Mission 8 (like the sons of a motherless goat that Raven clan are).

Tech Trees
Due to their reliance on ports and coasts to exploit their technology, Raven really hurts in missions 10 & 11. As such I'm going to rank their technology according to how useful it is ONLY in Missions #6 and #8.


(5) "Rangers" increases Scouting speed by 100%, scouts no longer consume food, and cannot be hurt while scouting. How much food do scouts really consume? Not enough for this to be useful.
(3) "Journeymen" increases Happiness based on areas explored. A nice boost, but not really helpful for being in the last tier of Production.
(4) "Gear Upgrade" increases your military units' attack based on Krowns in storage. Since most missions are timed and you need to focus on Food and Wood more than Krowns, you should never have enough Krowns to exploit this.
(2) "Improved Trade Routes" increases each trading route's income and Marketplace supply by 50%.
(1) "Exotic Goods" generates 1 Happiness per Harbor (2 if upgraded). A must-have for Missions #6 and #8.

Overall Score
Chapter #6: Mandatory
Chapter #8: 10/10 (for War Victory)
Chapter #10: 1/10
Chapter #10: 1/10

Chapter 1: Exodus

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Raiding Lindisfarne with battleships, tanks, and AK-47's.
(1/10)

Primary Enemy: Wussy Wolves and the occasional Boring Bear.

Goal: Reach the Northern Shore, then build a Dock.

Clan Choice

You don't get a choice. You have to be Stag. Thankfully, they're the best friggin' clan in the campaign, so kudos to Shiro for making them the default!

Overall Strategy

Do literally anything you want, as long as you don't starve. If you fail this level, I don't forgive you, and you should stop reading this guide. Go play outside.

Don't bother with the Abandoned House tiles; they'll just slow you down. (But you can if you want. You have time.)

Walkthrough

You want a Walkthrough? Hah!

Well, alright. Here goes. I'm going to make it way more detailed than anyone needs, because I find that sort of thing funny.

Just a reminder for starting out:
1. Build a Scout Camp
2. Build a Woodcutter's Lodge.

Scout the Farm Tile.

Clear & Colonize the Farm Tile while you scout the Forest:

You'll also need to build your first House right about now.

Build a farm immediately and send two young, strong Viking chaps to work there. (Though technically, they would not be "Viking" chaps, because a "vikingr" was the term for one who undertook a lengthy expedition, usually across the sea, and they haven't left for Northgard yet...)

Scout the Forest next, then the Hunting Grounds above.

Next, take the Forest; if you attack at the right time (when only one or two wolves are on the edge), you can take it easily without healing Brand.

When your Scout has finished Scouting, send him back to be a Villager.

Build a Healing Hut in your Home Tile. Assign one or two healers to heal Brand.

Build a Woodcutter's Lodge in the Forest when you have spare wood. Assign 1 Woodcutter here and move one from your Home Tile for a total of 3.

Meanwhile, when Brand is close to full health, start poking at the Wolves in the Hunting Grounds; look for opportunities when 1 or 2 Wolves are far away from the others, then strike. Clear & Colonize the Hunting Grounds.

Heal Brand up to about 1/3 health, then send your Healers to be Villagers / Woodcutters as desired.

Build a Silo in your Farm Tile.

Here's what your wonderful, wonderful Stay-king settlement should look like around October, Year 1:

Next, build a Hall of Skalds:

Assign Healers over Winter to heal Brand up to full strength.

Scout the Wolf Den over Winter.

If marauding Wolves invade, clear the Villagers and send big, strong Brand in to save the day:

As soon as your Scout finishes exploring the Wolf Den, send him to the Shore North-West:

Build a Training Grounds around March, Year 2.

As soon as the Training Grounds is finished, train 2 Warriors immediately.

Send your Warband to clear the Wolf Den. Remember to re-focus your Warband on a single target when one Wolf dies!

Colonize the Wolf Den when you have enough food. (No Fame or Stone to be gained here, sorry!)

Heal everyone up (making sure Brand is at least 3/4 health), then head into Bear Country:

Paddington they ain't, but sooner or later those oversized furballs will fry. Colonize the Shore as soon as you have enough food:

Send a hapless Villager to build a Dock for you.

All that really hard effort...

Boo-ya.

Final Note

Well, if you followed this guide correctly, you snagged the Bonus Objective by sailing away before the end of Year 2. If you weren't able to, don't worry. You can come back on Normal difficulty and complete it like a scrub.

Don't expect the rest of the campaign to be this easy.

It won't be.

I promise.

Chapter 2: Foothold

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Raiding Lindisfarne with cannons and muskets.
(3/10)

Primary Enemy: Wussy Wolves and the occasional Boring Bear, with cameos from Michael Berryman.

Goal: Build up a solid economy before going Rambo on some wolf dens to save your Goat Clan friends, whose leader is so wise that he decided not to make a Healer's Hut.

Clan Choice

Once again, you have to be Stag. Thank goodness.

Overall Strategy

Do literally anything you want except starve, again, but do it quickly. You need to reach Halvard by about Year 4 / Year 5, or his mighty people are wiped out by wolves.

Important Tips to Note
DO NOT SCOUT THE TILE ABOVE THE HUNTING GROUNDS UNTIL BRAND IS FULL HEALTH / YOU HAVE MILITARY UNITS.

You'll end up with 3 Fish tiles if you follow this guide, so make tools for your Fisherman before other Villagers.

Lore Path

You can pretty much do whatever you want, but I would personally recommend sticking to the Production (top) tier first, going in this order:
1. Sharp Axes
2. Colonization
3. Eradication

Supplement with the Economy (bottom) tier as desired.

When you've got your economy running like a well-oiled machine, go for the Military lore. Remember, no matter how prosperous you are, Halvard will be Wolf kibble if you don't get to him fast enough.

Walkthrough

This time, you'll want to belay the Woodcutter's Camp. Build only a Scout Camp to begin, placing it near the Forest tile.

Colonize in the below order:

The basic idea (once again) is to get to the farm as soon as possible. Use Brand to clear out the Wolves in the Forest as soon as you've scouted it. Send your scout to the Farm.

Once the Forest is clear, immediately colonize it and build a Woodcutter's Lodge there. Assign two workers. Build a Training Camp in your main tile immediately after this.

Send your scout back to being a Villager after exploring the Hunting tile.

When the Training Camp is done, immediately create two warriors, and attack the Farm tile, making sure the wolves aggro to Brand first. Pull him out if he comes close to being wounded. Colonize it ASAP after clearing it. Slaughter the sheep; he's no good to you alive. Build a Farm as soon as you have wood to do so.

Meanwhile, send Brand and his merry men off to the Hunting Grounds and clear it out. As soon as they've finished, turn both Warriors into Villagers. Build a Healing Lodge next and focus on healing Brand.

At this time, you'll most likely need a second house. Build it. Scout the Fish tile. Build a Hunting Lodge when you have enough Wood.

When you have about 11/16 population, turn a full-health villager into a Warrior, making sure Brand is about at half-health. Send them into the Fish tile, kill all the wolves, and colonize it. DO NOT ATTACK IN WINTER WITHOUT A SECOND WARRIOR.

* * * * * If you've reached this point before December of Year 1, you've done everything about as optimally as you can. Don't stress out if you have to wait until March to take the Pond, or if you have to use two warriors since it's Winter; this mission is pretty forgiving. * * * * *

DO NOT SCOUT THE TILE NORTH OF THE HUNTING CAMP YET. Two Draugr will attack when you do, so make sure Brand is full health!

Now that you've got a solid Foothold (hee-hee), build up your Krown production with Sailors, make Skalds when necessary, build another Woodcutting camp if you want, build Silos when you have the Wood, and build a Mine to exploit the 35 ore you've captured in the Farm tile.

When you've got a good economy going and plenty of food, you should prepare a small military force to start heading North. You can function with Brand and a couple warriors for quite some time, but if you want to minimize time spent healing, grab a couple Axe Throwers instead.

Once your Warband feels good, scout the tile to the North. As soon as you scout it, two Draugr will invade. Make sure you keep your Warband on the Hunting Ground to keep those pesky cadavers from hunting your Hunters.

Send your Warband in and kill the remaining Draugr, colonize the tile ASAP, and send a couple Villagers to be Loremasters.

Scout the tile to the North, then to the East, using your Warband to clear these tiles and colonize them, pulling them back to heal when necessary.

* * * * * When you scout the Fish Pond to the East, you will trigger the "sighting" of the Goat Clan. You can now trade with them, dropping excess Food in exchange for Krowns. He will also be periodically attacked by wolves, but that's hardly your fault. * * * * *

Continue to develop and make Fisherman's Huts in your new territory when you can. Build a tower in the Fish Pond to the East to make your life easier.

The last tile you may want to colonize is the Draugr Tomb next to the Fish Pond. It contains enough Iron to upgrade Axe Throwers and your Fisherman (and another Civilian group if you have Mining Efficiency).

Continue to strengthen your economy as you scout North to Halvard's camp.

When you've discovered the path to his camp, make a Warband of ~ 3 Shield Bearers and 3 Axe Throwers and send them North to clear a path. Pull them back to your territory to heal when necessary, then send them back.

Once you've cleared a Wolf Den, you just need to wait for Halvard to spray Wolf-B-Gone on the tile, and it'll trouble you no more.

Once you've cleared both, Halvard will thank you enthusiastically, as you've done the impossible: keep your civilians alive despite dealing with no plagues, earthquakes, or blizzards, all while dealing with endangered wildlife and 31 degree weather.

Final Note

If this was a step up in difficulty from the last mission, you'll need a ladder to reach Mission 3. Whoo, boy.

Chapter 3: Settlement

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Fending off the Lindisfarne Vikings with Bibles and fountain pens. Which is basically what you'll be doing.
(8/10)

Primary Enemy: Endless hordes of slush-fund Mercenaries.

Goal: Expand quickly to a choke point, then prepare for the onslaught. Slog through to the enemy camp, and witness the Deus Ex Machina to end all Deus Ex Machina's.

Clan Choice

You still have no choice; but this time, you get to herd goats like a true Viking!

Overall Strategy

Expand quickly to the Iron choke point while keeping your people alive, then fortify your territory as if the Mongols were invading.

Important Tips to Note
Build Towers in every coastal region you own, as well as any borders with the enemy. If you fail to do this, you're going to die painfully.

Focus on upgrading food and wood collection, as there are no Forests and only 2 Food tiles nearby.

Lore Path

You can either prioritize Economy or Production first, but I would personally recommend:
1. Trading
2. Amenities
3. Carpentry Mastery*
4. Sharp Axes
5. Mining Efficiency
6. Food Trade
7. Weaponsmith
8. Barricades*****
9. Medicine
10. Industrious*

* These are important technologies.

***** THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL SAVE YOUR BACON. And your Lamb.

This of course depends on special events. Blizzards throw a wrench in production, so you may need to rush Hearthstone and Industrious if you're concerned about your supply, but by the time you get there the worst should be over.

Walkthrough

Colonize in the below order:

Build the usual buildings (Scout Camp, Woodcutter's Lodge, and a House when the next villager is at 55% completion). Scout the Hunting Ground, then the Fish Pond.

Once the Hunting Ground is cleared, build a Sheepfold, send the sheep into the sheepfold, then send your villager back to your Home Tile to gather food until you can build a Hunting Lodge. Finally, build a Silo in this territory.

If you want a challenge, you can have Halvard take the Hunting Ground and Fish Pond by himself without additional warriors to expand "as efficiently as possible" (remember, you don't have Stag's bonus resources keeping you afloat). See my tips on Military Strategy in the "General Tips" section for specifics. Otherwise, build a Training Camp and start using "excessive force" on the Wolves.

Next, after Halvard (and possible co.) has courageously cleared out the Fish Pond, colonize it and send someone to be a Loremaster.

If you elected to hire extra Warriors, send them on to the Stone Tile to claim it. Otherwise,
you'll want to build a Healer's Hut now in order to heal Halvard so he can take the Stone tile as quickly as possible. It will take some time for him to become fully healed, so be patient and gather food.

Next, build a Fishing Hut and a Silo in the Fish Pond tile and get to fishin'.

Once the Stone Tile is cleared, colonize it, and scout the Ruins for a Lore / Krowns buff. Try to colonize this Tile by November. Build a Brewery and a Mine here when available.

Send your Scout to peak at the Iron tile; after the Winter passes, you'll need to keep an eye on this tile to prevent Hagen from taking it with Mercs.

Scout the Tile to the West, and Southeast to the next Hunting Tile.

Build a Training Camp (or use the one you have) and prepare one or two Warriors; you'll need them to keep Hagen out of the Iron tile.

As soon as Hagen sends enough Mercs in that they'll kill the Draugr here, rush your Warband in to help the Draugr, then take the tile yourself. Build a Tower immediately. Once this tower is constructed, you're pretty much home free; keep Halvard and at least one Warrior here when you can to fend off the routine attacks into this territory (about 1 per 6 months).

Continue to upgrade your infrastructure and invest in Lore.

You'll also need Krowns soon, so build up Trading Posts and begin selling away excess Wood / Food to the Kobolds; you should soon have enough Stone to upgrade Wood and Food production, and 2 free Tools as well.

If you end up facing a Blizzard, your people may temporarily dip into unhappiness and starvation, but you'll recover soon enough. Keeping the Iron Tile chokepoint is the most important part.

Next, colonize the Wolf Den to stop their continual invasions into the Fish Pond. When you have the resources, colonize it for extra Fame and Stone, and build a Mine here.


At about this time, your economy should have stabalized, allowing you continue building, upgrading, etc. to keep up with population growth.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When Hagen reaches 500 Fame, he will begin raiding your Coastal territories. Begin building Towers on all your Coastal territories when he hits about 450; additionally, you should be able to research "Barricades" around this time. These two things will save your population from being massacred.

Continue fending off attacks and clear out neutral territories when you have the time to do so. A couple villagers in the chokepoint tile work wonders, as they hardly take any damage due to "Barricades" and the enemy Mercs prioritize attacking the Tower unless intercepted.

Colonize the Circle of Stones to the West if you want more Lore, continue Southeast if you want more Food, or begin building up an army if you're fed up with this mission.


Upgrade your Scout Camp and continue scouting towards Hagen. The adjacent Forest is the next tile you need to take.

Once you are able to, build a Warband consisting of 2 Shieldbearers and 4 Axe Throwers; upgrade the Axe Throwers or both if possible. Supplement your army with more of each if you would like to end the game quickly.


After he sends a Mercenary horde into your chokepoint, slaughter them, heal, and start whittling down his actual army. Pull wounded units out and repeat until his actual army is gone; don't let the Tower claim your troops. retreat into your chokepoint territory if he sends a Mercenary horde. Once his core army is sufficiently weakend, start destroying his Tower, pulling wounded units out before they are killed.

(Note that taking this Forest is a long and painful process, as he will continue pouring units into it until he's bled white.)

Once you take the Forest, the real threat is over. Heal your Warband and press onto the Hunting Ground. Once you decolonize it and advance to the Coastal Tile ahead, the ending ceremonies commence; watch your hard work be swept by with poor storytelling.

Final Note

That felt pretty easy, didn't it? Yeah, right. Well, you've got some easy ones coming up, so don't worry too much... Until Chapter 6, that is.

Chapter 4: Trade War

Overview

Exreme Difficulty Level: Making more Gold by staying at home and tending markets than by raiding and pillaging.
(7/10)

Primary Enemy: Your own inability to become rich and successful. And Blizzards. And random Draugr attacks.

Goal: Reach 2,000 commercial influence before the cooler Vikings do.

OR, destroy the Raven clan by force, knocking them out of the game before they reach 2,000 commercial influence. (I won't cover this tactic, as it is fairly straightforward.)

Clan Choice

Stag (My Preference)
Pros:
1. Extra resources allow rapid expansion and a buffer for Winter, as well as a nice supply drop at Fame 200.
2. Plenty of Stone allows you to properly exploit the 10% productivity bonus gained at 500 Fame.
3. Two prosperous food industries (Hunting and Farming) can be enhanced with both Silos and the 500 Fame bonus.
4. Skalds provide +2 Krowns.

Cons:
1. No available Economy Lore to boost Sailor or Trade production; only Merchants.

Goat
Pros:
1. Two prosperous food industries (Hunting and Farming) can be enhanced with the tech "Industrious".
2. Two neutral parties available to trade Food with.
3. Since building space is at a premium in this level, the ability to develop with 20 Krowns is nice.

Cons:
1. The only sheep you can get to are protected by a horde of Valkries, which is a big problem for a Sheep-focused clan.

Overall Strategy

Expand quickly with a focus on Krown production (primarily Merchants); when your economy is stable and you have all the Tech you need to keep your people happy through Winter, create as many Merchants as possible and start trading like no Viking has traded before.

Important Tips
Build a Lighthouse AS SOON AS POSSIBLE in your home tile to begin the Tier 1 Great Route (thanks danep for this tip!) or wait until ~November, Year 2 if you are more comfortable expanding, upgrading, and pushing Krown production later. Both are viable, but the second is riskier.

You can be as little as 700:1000 Commercial influence against Raven and still win as long as you can sustain the top-level Great Route.

Liv seems to randomly create her Great Route between November, Year 1 and ~May, Year 2. If you want, Save Scrub if she creates her Great Route in Year 1 to save yourself some trouble.

Build Towers in the Circle of Stones and Farm Tiles to save yourself trouble and production slowdown.

Watch out for Blizzards and random Draugr attacks. If these happen at bad times, don't be afraid to reload.

Liv reaches 2,000 influence around December, Year 5.

Lore Path

Stag:
1. Trading
2. Sharp Axes
3. Mining Efficiency
4. Eradication
5. The Value of Great Deeds
6. Carpentry Mastery
(Baldr's Blessing)
7. Coinage
8. Avanced Silos
9. Hearthstone
(Jord's Blessing)

Walkthrough

I played (and recommend playing) as Stag for this, but I'm guessing it's a similar routine with Goat. Just with fewer resources.

Begin as usual. You know what that means. Scout Camp + Woodcutter.

Head for the Field to the East first, using your warchief to clear it out. Colonize it and build a Farm immediately.

Build a Training Camp (in your Home Tile if you intend to construct the lighthouse in Year 2, or in the Farm Tile if you do not) when you have the wood to do so.

Scout the Hunting Ground to the West and the Forest South of your Home Tile. Turn your Scout to a more useful occupation.

Train 2 Warriors; use your Warband to clear out the Hunting Ground, then the Forest. Colonize the Hunting Ground immediately and build a Hunter's Lodge there. Turn your Warriors into Villagers;
but do not destroy your Training Grounds.

When you have the food to do so, colonize the Forest. Build a Healer's Hut here, then a House (as you'll be close to your Pop Cap). Your thriving colony should look something like this right now as you head into November, Year 1:


Next, build a Stone Mine in the Hunting Ground Tile. You should have a miner harvesting Stone (with Mining Efficiency) through the coming Winter.

Now build a Silo on the Farming Tile, a Dock on the Hunting Tile, and a Woodcutter's Lodge on the Forest tile. Make at least one citizen a Sailor and move your Woodcutter's to the Forest tile, supplementing with your first Woodcutter's Lodge as necessary.


Continue building up your economy. You'll need to upgrade your Town Hall soon and build a Hall of Skalds. Try to have a Lighthouse built by October, Year 2 and begin the first Great Route immediately. Upgrade your Food production as soon as you can while maintaining your Great Route.

You can start your Great Route as late as December, Year 2 as long as you get a Tier 2 / Tier 3 Great Route going soon enough; but try to do it earlier.

It's now time to set your sights on the Circle of Stones Tile to the South-West. Your Warchief should be able to take on the 2 Wolves and 1 Bear with consistent healing.

Scout the tile East of the Forest to begin trade with the Kobolds.

(Yes, I know I haven't built a Lighthouse yet; I should have done so already.)

Build a Trading Post (and assign 2 merchants to it) in the Circle of Stones tile and begin trading excess Wood or Food to the Kobolds.

When the Stone Mine runs dry, replace it with a Silo and upgrade your Woodcutter. Build a new Stone Mine to continue Stone production.


Upgrade your Trading Post and assign another Merchant there. Continue upgrading Food production, and scout the Ruin Tile to the North-East.

As soon as you reach ~+15 Krowns production, start switching between Tier 1 / Tier 2 Great Routes. Drop down to Tier 1 when you need to Upgrade buildings!


Use your Warchief and a couple Warriors to clear out the Ruin Tile, colonize it, and send a Scout to explore the Ruins for a Krown boost. Use this territory for extra Housing / Skalds.


When the Stone Mine runs dry, replace it with a Marketplace and assign more Merchants here. Around this time you should also be able to build a second Trading Post and start another Trade Route with the Kobolds.


Once you get Jord's Blessing, upgrade your Farmers and Merchants.

8 Merchants (6 on upgraded TP's / Markets) can sustain +35 Krowns. With your other bonuses this allows you to access the Tier 3 Great Route; if you can do this around ratio 1100:1300 Commercial Influence, you should be okay! Once Liv hits ~1500 Influence, she starts gaining it at a rate of about 14.5.

Once you hit the Tier 3 Great Route, sit back and relax. Fend off Draugr and drink a strawberry daquiri while you watch the cash flow.

Final Note

Notice that building your Lighthouse late results in a very close game, as you can see by my final screenshot. Take danep's advice; build it soon!

Don't feel too bad if you resort to slaughtering those poor, innocent Raven clansmen. (Just remember, Vikings don't have to solve their problems with violence.)

Chapter 5: Punitive Expedition

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Destroying your enemies with your berserkergang
(4/10)

Primary Enemy: Time, misclicking units (i.e. letting them die).

Goal: Reach Hagen's outpost and exact your revenge on his big, dumb father-killing face.

Clan Choice

Wolf Clan is your only option, and thank goodness, because no other clan could sustain itself on Wolf and Bear meat.

Overall Strategy

Research Military Lore, scout the Wolf Dens + Ruins near you, and slaughter wildlife for food. Then scout a path straight to Hagen's camp and wipe that grin right off his ugly mug.

Important Tips
According to Northguardian "Mc Intire", it is possible to defeat Hagen's mercenary invasion (which appears close to the end of Year 2) by splitting your warband into the "Center" and "Right" home tiles when the invasion comes, healing them, and finishing off the remaining mercenaries in the "Left" tile. It is then possible to finish the level at your own pace!

Research Weaponsmith, Fur Coats, and Military Strategy right away. These will boost your attack power immensely.

Pull wounded units away and heal them routinely.

When your units need to heal in your own territory, pull off full-health units to kill Wolves for extra food.

Remember to slaughter Sheep if you need to!

There is enough Iron to upgrade your Healers and Axe Throwers. Do this as soon as possible.

Scout only the territories you need to. This will help you make it to Hagen in time. If you're not sure which ones those are, try a game on Normal or look below.

Do not colonize the Wolf Dens; you'll need the respawning wolves for extra Food, and you don't need the extra Fame.

Make sure you are at 200 Fame by the time you begin attacking Hagen's Camp. This will provide an extra 15% Damage bonus to your troops. (Swapped with Dominion in CotS Update)

You can survive for about ~2 months after the "Invasion" arrives (November, Year 2), giving you some wiggle room to kill Hagen if you mess up at all.

If you lose any units, you may need to create Sailors early.

Lore Path

1. Weaponsmith
2. Fur Coats
3. Military Strategy
4. Conqueror
5. Legendary Heroes

Walkthrough

The key to this mission is scouting and colonizing only the territories you need to. This will save you a great deal of time & trouble.

Begin by repairing all your buildings, which spontaneously combust before the mission starts.

Assign one Woodcutter, one Miner, one Scout, and one Healer as soon as your Warband starts taking damage.

Villager #5 (the second one created) should be Scout #2.
Villager #6 should be Healer #2.
Villagers #7-9 can stay as a Villagers.

Use both Scouts to explore the same Tile, making sure your Warband always has something to do.

Remember to send in Egil / a Shieldbearer into the Tile first to draw Aggro; this will minimize damage taken.

Scout / Clear / Colonize in the below order:



In the end, you'll end up colonizing all 3 Ruin Tiles and the Circle of Stones Tile. Each of these has 1 sheep on it, providing a nice buffer of 80 Food / Sheep.

When you start running low on Krowns, scout a Ruin.

Continue scouting South, clearing Tiles with your Warband as you go.

Remember to pull your Warband out piecemeal when units need healed; if you have 1 seriously wounded unit, the rest of your Warband can keep fighting while the injured unit is healed.


Around October, Year 1 you should hire an extra Scout to explore the remaining 2 Ruins while your other scouts continue South.



By ~February, Year 2, you should have found a path to Hagen. Send your 3rd scout to be a Healer, and make your other 2 Scouts Sailors (producing Fame to reach 200).

Heal up your Warband and get ready for a showdown.

By ~May, Year 2 you should have 200 Fame for the Attack Bonus, as well as Improved Tools for your Healers / Axe Throwers. Create a 2nd Shieldbearer.

Clear out Hagen's first territory, remembering to send in your Shieldbearers first. Target the closest enemy and prioritize Axe Throwers > Warriors > Shield Bearers > Tower.


Once the territory is decolonized, head back to your home and heal your Warband. Head back to the Tile just above Hagen, and wait for him to stroll near the border (closest to you). When he does, send everyone in and focus him down.

Once you kill him, witness Egil's epic Slam Poetry skills!

Final Note

If you scouted the right territories and pulled wounded units out in time, that one shouldn't have been too difficult.

It's nice of Shiro to put this nice, easy mission just before Mission #6...

Chapter 6: Intervention (Overview)

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Protecting a Viking hippie with no self-preservation skills and a severe lack of resource management.
(9/10)

Primary Enemy: Svarn's inability to support his own clan.

Goal: Support Svarn's non-profit organization with huge donations of Food, Wood, and Krowns until you can use sheer Mercenary Might to wipe your enemies off the face of the earth.

Clan Choice

As this is Raven's introductory mission, you will be playing them! If only they had the massive resource advantage of Stag, this might be easy...

Overall Strategy

Whew, this is a toughy. Hang in there; with proper planning, you'll be just fine.

Expand slowly, carefully managing and setting aside resources for Svarn while supporting your own clan. You'll need to get easy pickings first (Sheep / Shipwrecks / Ruins) to keep Svarn funded. Once your Lore / Harbors get kicked into high gear, distract your enemies with Raids, then swarm them before Svarn's requests become too exorbitant.

Important Tips
Svarn's Requests Demands:
#1: July, Year 1 - September, Year 1 (100 Food)
#2: December, Year 1 - February, Year 2 (100 Wood)
#3: May, Year 2 - July, Year 2 (100 Krowns)
#4: October, Year 2 - December, Year 2 (200 Food)
#5: March, Year 3 - May, Year 3 (200 Wood)
#6: August, Year 3 - October, Year 3 (200 Krowns)
#7: January, Year 4 - March, Year 4 (300 Food)
#8: June, Year 4 - August, Year 4 (300 Wood)
#9: November, Year 4 - January, Year 5 (300 Krowns)
#10: April, Year 5 - June, Year 5 (400 Food)
#11: September, Year 5 - November, Year 5 (400 Wood)
#12: February, Year 6 - April, Year 6 (400 Krowns)

Fulfilling Svarn's Requests now gives you +1 Happiness from the time you fulfill it until his next request; fulfill his requests as soon as possible for maximum benefit!

Fulfill Svarn's early requests by getting the Sheep Tile + Shipwreck Tile.

You can Save Scrub to reveal different Coasts just before "Exploration" finishes.

Raid Boar's Farm tile for Food, and his Forest tile to distract him from attacking Svarn. This will buy you valuable time, especially in case you miss one of Svarn's requests.

When you hit about 600 Krowns (and Svarn doesn't need them), you can launch a series of 5-6 Raids on Boar's Home Tile to win the game.

Lore Path

1. Trading
2. Shipbuilding
3. Carpentry Mastery
4. Exotic Goods
5. Sharp Axes
6. Mining Efficiency
(Jord's Blessing)
7. Recruitment
8. Journeymen
9. Hearthstone
(Freya's Blessing)
10. Improved Trade Routes

Chapter 6: Intervention (Walkthrough)

Walkthrough

Colonizing Tiles in the proper order will make things go a lot more smoothly on Extreme. Because Svarn's requests always come in the same order (Food - Wood - Krowns), you can plan ahead sufficiently to meet them.

After building the usual starting buildings (you remember them, right?), immediately Scout the Hunting Ground to the East, then the Stone Tile to the West. Assign one Woodcutter.

As soon as it is explored, use Liv to clear the Hunting Tile, and colonize it immediately with Krowns.

Don't forget to build a House around this time!

Build a Hunting Lodge here immediately after it is colonized. Assign 2 Hunters. Note that this tile borders a Wolf Den, and will be subject to attacks once in awhile. This is a decent place to keep Liv just in case.


Assign an extra Woodcutter around this time. When you have 50 Wood, build a Training Camp.

When the Training Camp is complete, turn 1 Villager and 1 Woodcutter into Warriors. Take the Stone Tile immediately; try to attack when 1 Wolf is alone near the border. Prioritize Wolves, then the Bear. You should end up with Liv & 1 Warrior close to death, and the other at half.


Colonize using Food.

Right around the time you invaded, Svarn should have requested Food. Try to get at least 20 Food as soon as possible, then slaughter one of the Sheep to reach 100.

Keep your healthiest Warrior and turn the other into a Scout; have him scout the Shipwreck Tile to the West. When he's finished, turn him into a Villager.

Around this time, you'll be at 10/11 population and need to build another House.

When you hit 60 Wood, you should create a Healer's Hut to heal Liv to about 1/3 health, then clear the Shipwreck Tile just before Winter. Colonize it with Food ASAP.


Heal Liv to about 1/4 health, then focus on other Villagers. Supplement with a second healer as desired, but do this as little as possible.

Create a Scout and scout the Shipwreck (this generates 200 Wood and 100 Krowns). When he is finished, turn him into a Loremaster.

You should now be able to create a Stone Mine and a Silo; do so. Scout the Field and Forest Tiles.


As soon as you have ~150 Krowns, create 2 Warriors, and make sure Liv is at least 1/2 health. Clear the Farm Tile, then the Forest Tile. Return your Warriors to being Villagers.


Around April, Year 2, your happiness will decline steeply as you approach 200 Fame. Don't worry about building a Brewery; if you've followed this guide so far, you'll be able to get to "Exotic Goods" soon.

You should build a Harbor around May, Year 2 and create 2 Sailors; have them Raid for Lore.

Throw a Feast as soon as you hit 100 Food to keep unhappiness problems at bay and supplement production.

Build a second Harbor, but don't assign Sailors to it yet.

Around July, Year 2 you should have 60 Krowns to colonize the Field Tile. Do so, and immediately create a Farm here, assigning 2 Villagers to be Farmers. Unlock the "Exotic Goods" technology. From now on, you can create Ports to solve your Happiness problems.



You should hit 200 Food just as Svarn requests it in October, Year 2.

As soon as you get 80 Krowns, colonize the Forest and build a Woodcutter's Lodge, making 1 new Woodcutter and moving another for a total of 3 Woodcutters.


Upgrade your Town Hall and the Woodcutter in the Forest as soon as you can. Assign an extra Woodcutter for a total of 4.

You may run out of food over the course of the Winter, but this is okay as long as you run out sometime in February.

Svarn will request demand 200 Wood in March; push Wood production to reach his demand.

Build another Harbor.

When you are able to unlock Jord's Blessing, "Improve Tools" for your Sailors and Woodcutters. Upgrade your Farm (assign an extra villager), then a Harbor (ditto), then your Hunting Lodge. Finally, build a Silo for your Farm.



Start "Exploring" using your Harbors to reveal various coasts around your enemy. Your goal is to reveal his Farm and Wood Tiles, as well as any unexplored coasts near you, each of which can be used to supplement your resources.

Hold another Feast.

Replace the Woodcutter's Lodge in your Home Tile with a Harbor around July, Year 3.

Scout, clear, and colonize the Iron Tile Coast to the East. This is the last tile you need to take. Build an Iron Mine here. Build a Tower in your Forest to ward off any invading Wolves.


"Improve Tools" for your Farmers, then Hunters, then Villagers.

Build a Stone Mine in your Farm Tile.

Around December, Year 3 you should be able to launch a Raid to supplement your Food.


Around March, Year 4, launch a Raid against Boar's Forest Tile. This is a poorly-defended tile which will distract him from bugging Svarn.


Build a second Woodcutter's Lodge in the Iron Tile.

Continue upgrading your Silos & Harbors.

Build 3 Trading Posts around July, Year 4 and begin trading excess Wood & Food to Svarn & the Main Trading Post.

At this point, you should be pretty much set; keep meeting Svarn's Requests Demands until you have about 600 Krowns, then launch a series of 5-6 Raids against the Boar Home Tile to destroy them and complete the mission.

Final Note

Boy, you said it, Liv.

Chapter 7: Jötunnheim

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Wrestling an Ice Giant while being tickled with feathers.
(7/10)

Primary Enemy: Jotunheim's "Baby Boomer" generation.

Goal: Fend off angry giants caught up in Jotunheim's very own Communist Revolution.

Clan Choice

This is Boar's introductory mission, so you'll get to see just how great they are!
.
.
.
...Not as good as Stag, of course.

Overall Strategy

Take it slow, expand wisely, and make sure to have your units healed before Jotnar attacks.

Important Tips
Angry Jotun Attacks:
#1: January, Year 2 - 1 Jotnar
#2: May, Year 2 - 1 Jotnar
#3: September, Year 2 - 1 Jotnar
#4: January, Year 3 - 1 Jotnar
#5: May, Year 3 - 2 Jotnar
#6: September, Year 3 - 2 Jotnar
#7: January, Year 4 - 2 Jotnar
#8: May, Year 4 - 2 Jotnar
#9: September, Year 4 - 2 Jotnar
#10: January, Year 5 - 2 Jotnar
#11: May, Year 5 - 2 Jotnar
#12: September, Year 5 - 2 Jotnar
#13: January, Year 6 - 2 Jotnar

Upgrade Tools in this order:
1. Farmers
2. Fisherman
3. Woodcutters
4. Axe Throwers
5. Menders
6. Loremasters
7. Brewers
8. Warriors

Allying with Skrymir is easier! Regardless of your feelings towards land claims & inheritance, siding with him gives you access to better land. It allows you 2 Farms, 2 Fish Ponds, 1 Forest, 1 Circle of Stones, and a Swamp (for Osmosis if you so choose).

You have 3 options for victory: Force, Wisdom, and Food Trade. In my opinion, it is easiest to get a Food victory (trading food with Skrymir), so always try to make sure you have food available to trade.

Throw the first 3 Feasts during the Summer months when you have the luxury and decent production.

Build Silos as soon as possible in all Food Tiles. With the 50% cost reduction, Silos are dirt cheap!

It's easy to run out of wood during the Winter as your population grows; try to avoid this!

Watch out for wild animal attacks. They can seriously impede your Food production at critical times; therefore, you should clear out Wild Tiles when you have a chance.

Send Log in to tank battles, as he has incredible HP + Defense. Focus on healing Log to full, as he is the most efficient damage-taker in your Warband.

Note that in this picture, the Jotnar is heading for my home province! Keep an eye on the Jotnar border, and use these visual clues to send your Warband to the right place.

In this picture, the Jotun is heading for one of my Northern territories.

Jotnar heading South.

Jotnar going to either Farm 2 or Circle of Stones.

Jotnar can also travel through their mortal enemy's camp, just because.

Lore Path

1. Bartering
2. Simple Living
3. Handiwork
4. Osmosis*
5. Erudition
6. Sharp Axes
(Baldr's Blessing)
7. Colonization
7.5. Weaponsmith (Free)
8. Fur Coats
9. Feeling Safe
(Freya's Blessing)
10. Moster Slayer*
11. Military Strategy
12. Recruitment
(Jord's Blessing)
13. Legendary Heroes

Walkthrough

Since you start out with 6/6 population, save yourself some trouble and build a House in addition to your Scout Camp and Woodcutter's Lodge. Assign 1 Woodcutter.

Scout the Ruin Tile, then the Fish Pond Tile. Clear & colonize them in this order.

Scout the Farm Tile, then send your Scout to search the Ruins. Clear & colonize the Farm Tile.

Build a Farm immediately after colonizing the Farm Tile, then scout the Tile to the North-West. Scouting this tile lets you see where enemy Jotnar will be striking before they get there! Build a Fishery. Assign 2 Farmers and 2 Fishers.

ALTERNATIVELY, colonize in the order Fish 1 -> Farm 1 -> Fish 2 -> Ruins. This is slightly easier and ensures food production before Winter, but is a tiny bit slower overall.

Scout the Fish Pond, then the Circle of Stones to the North-East. Clear these tiles. Build a Mender's Hut and a Silo in the first Fish Pond Tile, and assign 2 Menders to heal Log in preparation for the January invasion. (NOTE: You can also save some wood for Winter by waiting for the "Simple Living" Lore.)

Colonize the second Fish Pond and assign a Loremaster.

Around mid-January, the first enemy Jotnar will appear on your doorstep, demanding a quick blood donation.

After the first invasion, you'll want 2 permanent Menders, excepting resource shortages!

When you have the wood to spare, build a Silo in your Farm tile and a Fishery in the second Fish Pond. Assign 2 Fishers. Fend off the second Jotun invasion.

Build a Silo here when you can spare the wood.

Colonize the Circle of Stones Tile when you can; assign a Loremaster.

Around August, Year 2, you should be able to build a Trading Post and start trading Food to Skrymir. If you don't have stable Food growth, hold off until after Winter. This will slow you down,
but you can take your time with this mission.

Build a Stone Mine. Assign 1 Miner.

Scout and clear the Forest tile by November, Year 2 to secure your Southern border.

Build Towers in your Farm and Stone Tiles when you have the resources.

Scout the Swamp Tile during December, Year 2. This will help you see which Tile will be attacked earlier. Scout the second Farm Tile next.

Assign a 3rd Loremaster around March, Year 3.

Try to have a Training Camp up and 2 Warriors trained by the time of the May, Year 3 invasion. Clear & Colonize the second Farm Tile. Build an Iron Mine.

Upgrade your Town Hall, then a Farm. Around November, Year 3, your clan may look something like this:

Build a second Trading Post heading into November, Year 3.

Build an Axe Thrower's Camp; train Axe Throwers as needed.

Colonize the Forest around April, Year 4, and build a Woodcutter's Lodge there.

Sometime around August, Year 4, you'll have enough Krowns to upgrade your second Farm! With your newly aqcuired bread, build a 3rd Trading Post.

By March, Year 5, your economy should be stable enough to support a 4th Trading Post. Build one and trade more Food if you can. Build a Brewery shortly after.

Shortly after Rig's realization that he could have ended hunger in Africa rather than pursuing his dumb quest, you should be greeted with a friendly - if somewhat melancholy - victory.

Final Note

As long as you prepared and sent your Warband to the right place, that shouldn't have been so bad! Keep up the good work; the next chapter is a little more tense...

Chapter 8: Contest (Overview)

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Trying to get famous while a prettier, more successful version of you spreads rumors and badmouths you.
(8/10)
OR, agreeing to an arm-wrestling contest, then punching your opponent in the face when you start losing and declare yourself the victor.
(4/10)

Primary Enemy: A prideful cheater with a serious inferiority complex. Oh, and virtually constant Wild Animal attacks.

Goal: Reach 1,500 Fame before your opponent does.
OR, flip the table over, declare that the contest is unfair, and crush Bear Clan beneath your boot.

(I will not be covering this second tactic, as it is fairly straightforward, but I will provide a few tips for it.)

Clan Choice

Stag
Stag's various Production / Fame bonuses play very nicely into this mission. Their Lore "Glory of the Clan" is a great boost to gather Fame quickly in the end-game, making every Wolf Den, Draugr Tomb, and Wyvern that much more lucrative.
(10/10)

Raven
Do you really want to build up an economy, struggle tooth and nail to earn fame, and win the contest fair and square? Of course you don't! Why play by the rules when you can break them (and your opponent) over your knee?

You can bypass the contest altogether by forcing a military victory, and Raven has the most power to do so. Establish a basic economy, build 3 Harbors, reach 500 Fame, and raid Bear's Home Tile repeatedly to win the game.
(1/10 for Conventional Victory, 10/10 for son-of-a-motherless-goat Victory)

Wolf
You'll be doing a lot of killing in this mission. There are about 2,000 Wolf / Draugr Dens to go wild with on this map, so getting Meat / Krowns for clearing them is a nice bonus, along with their usual military superiority. Very little that directly ties in with Fame, however.
(8/10)

Goat
Slow and steady wins the race, but if you recall, the fable was about a Tortoise and a Hare - not a Sheep and a Bear. Goat acts a lot like Stag in this mission, with bonuses to Food production (and a few Sheep to be had), but lacks any direct Fame bonuses.
[6/10]

Boar
You will be expanding a lot in this chapter (good for Boar), but there are two major issues: their Tech Tree eliminates two important Lores (Mining Efficiency - 30% more Ore - and Carpentry Mastery - 20% cost reduction to Upgrade), while Osmosis only gives you +4 total Happiness, and their Fame Bonuses are very little help in achieving a Fame victory.
[4/10]

Overall Strategy

To achieve a fair victory, you will need to expand quickly to get a well-oiled economy underway before focusing exclusively on Fame. Focus on colonizing the right tiles in the right order to get your economy smooth while preparing for big "bursts" of fame: Destroying the Jotnar Camp and killing the Wyvern.

Important Tips
Borgild reaches 1,500 Fame around the end of Year 5 / Beginning of Year 6.

Full map of your "half" of the island:

Upgrade Tools in this order:
1. Farmers
2. Woodcutters
3. Skalds
4. Fishermen
5. Healers
6. Axe Throwers
7. Sailors
8. Shield Bearers

Fame Value of Colonizing Territories:
1. Normal Tile - 20 Fame
2. Wolf Den - 50 Fame
3. Draugr Tomb - 70 Fame
4. Thor's Wrath Tile - 70 Fame
5. Jotnar Camp - 170 Fame

Fame Value of Various Actions:
1. Upgrading a Building - 10 Fame (Note that this is the same regardless of the type of building, so Houses can be upgraded in a pinch.)
2. Lore - 15 Fame
3. Feasts - 20 Fame
4. Altar of Kings - 50 Fame
5. Killing the Wyvern - 250 Fame
6. Skalds - ~6 / Month (Skalds can earn you up to ~250 Fame by the end of this mission, which is worthy of song!

The AI cheats by "Leaping" their Fame on top of their normal Fame gains.

Wild Animal attacks are incredibly frequent in this mission due to the overwhelming number of Dens / Tombs. When you are attacked, it is often by 2-3 Wolves or 2-4 Draugr, so build Towers when you have the luxury to do so!

Lore Path - Stag

1. Sharp Axes
2. Mining Efficiency
3. Eradication
4. Trading
5. Advanced Silos
6. Value of Great Deeds
(Jord's Blessing)
7. Carpentry Mastery
8. Glory of the Clan
9. Weaponsmith
(Freya's Blessing)
10. Fur Coats
11. Young and Proud (You probably won't reach this one, but that's okay.)

Chapter 8: Contest (Walkthrough)

Walkthrough

Fun fact: if you uncheck "Play Intro" when starting the level, your Warchief can take 3 Tiles without healing, as there are only 2 Wolves in each of the neighboring Tiles!

Forgo the Woodcutter's Lodge this time and start out with only a Scout Camp.

Scout, Clear and Colonize in the following order, building & manning a Woodcutter's Lodge, Farm, and Fisherman's Hut (respectively) immediately after Colonization. Send a Villager to become a Loremaster immediately after Colonizing the Fish Pond.

Build a Healer's Hut soon around July, Year 1, and start healing Brand. You'll also need a House soon, so see to that!

Scout, Clear, and Colonize the second Farm Tile once Brand is a little over half-health. You should be able to colonize it sometime in November, Year 1:

Build a Silo in Farm Tile 1. Build a Farm in the second Farm Tile. (Yes, I know it's no more efficient than villagers in the Winter, but you may as well do it now. Quit interrupting me.)

When you have enough Wood, build a Stone Mine in your Farm Tile 1 and assign 1 miner. Assign an extra Healer if your population starts having trouble with Wild Animal attacks.

Assuming Wild Animals haven't destroyed your population during the first Winter, you should be able to start scouting the Shipwreck Tile to the East of the Forest arond March, Year 2. Once Brand is at a little over half-health, send him over to deal with those pesky black-furs, and colonize it once you have the food. In the mean-time, Scout the Draugr Tile above.

Build a second Silo in your Farm Tile 2. Send your Scout to see about that Shipwreck...

Boo-yah! That's what I'm talking about, Wood and Krowns. What more does a Viking Chieftan need? Now, take your hard-earned lumber, and splurge on an upgraded Town Hall. After upgrading you should be presented with this beautiful sight:

While you're on the high of upgrading your Town Hall, go ahead and upgrade your Woodcutter's Lodge as well. Assign an extra Woodcutter. Note that after this point, you pretty much won't have to worry about Wood. If you start to get low on wood, build an extra Woodcutter's Lodge somewhere.

Scout the Iron Tile to the East.

In case you were wondering, it should be around July, Year 2. But don't beat yourself up if it's August, or even September; if you play it right you'll have between 4-8 months of wiggle room.

Make sure to start healing Brand toward full health around this time.

Build a Silo in your Fish Tile, then a Trading Post and Hall of Skalds in your Shipwreck Tile. Start trading Food to the Main Trading Post:

Once Brand is full health, send him to deal with the Bear in the Iron Tile; colonize it afterward:

Build an Iron Mine here and assign a Miner. It should be around October, Year 2.

Upgrade a Farm and assign an extra Farmer. Upgrade your second Farm when you have the resources.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Try to avoid upgrading more than necessary. If possible, hold off upgrades until you research Carpentry Master.

Try to build an extra Hall of Skalds rather than upgrading existing ones, as each Skald earns the same amount of Krowns / Fame regardless of building level.

For me, at least, the Year 2-3 Winter was awful about attacks from various quarters. In light of this, try to build Towers around November / December, Year 2 in Farm Tile 1 and your Forest Tile or another vulnerable Tile. Try to position the tower between your border and your Production buildings:

Once the snow clears in March, Year 3, you should build a second Stone Mine.

Build a second Hall of Skalds (assigning 1-2 Villagers) and a Trading Post in your Iron Tile. When the latter is finished, trade Food with Borgild.

It's also likely that you suffered a large-scale Wild Animal attack (either 2-3 wolves or 2-3 Draugr), so make a note of which region they attacked from and Scout it. For me, it was the Draugr Tomb above the Shipwreck. Heal Brand and use him to take over that Tile while there are fewer enemies:

Build another Trading Post, as well as a Woodcutter's Lodge, here. Assign extra Woodcutters as needed. Trade Wood with the Main Trading Post as desired.

Scout the Ruins Tile to the North.

Around August, Year 3, you will probably need another Hall of Skalds. Build one in the Draugr Tomb Tile and assign Skalds as needed.

Once you research Carpentry Mastery, go nuts upgrading buildings as desired - if you need more Food (who doesn't?), upgrade Silos / the Fisherman's Hut.

When Brand is full health and you have no bigger concerns, send him to attack the Bear in the Ruin Tile. Colonize it and send a Scout to search the Ruins.

Around September, Year 3, you should hit your glorious 500 Fame bonus.

At your leisure, build Docks on your Shores and assign a few sailors to gather Lore / Krowns. This will help you hit some of the later Lores faster. As you can see, I started as late as December,
Year 3... But I turned out fine. (Right, mom?)

Over Winter Year 3-4, scout the second Iron Tile to the West, as well as the Wolf Den and Draugr Tomb to the North. Finally, scout the Thor Wrath tile.

Around this time, go ahead and build a Training Camp and an Axe Thrower's Camp. Train 2 Axe Throwers.

Clear and Colonize the second Iron Tile. Build an Iron Mine and Altar of Kings here.

At this point, it's likely either the Wolf Den or Draugr Tomb nearby have been depleted. Clear and Colonize it.

Clear and Colonize the Thor Wrath Tile.

Build 3-4 extra Axe Thrower and Shield Bearer Camps. Upgrade a few of them if you have spare resources.

When you hit 1200 Fame, turn 12 Civilians into 4 Shield Bearers and 8 Axe Throwers. Make sure you've upgraded their weapons!

Assemble on the edge of the Wyvern tile, and prepare for the fight of your life...

Actually, it's more of a slaughter. Manually space your Melee Units apart from each other to avoid the area-of-effect damage from the Wyvern's Fireball:

Once you defeat the Wyvern, watch the end cutscene, and chalk another win up for MEN!

Final Note

That'll show her.

Chapter 9: Tremors (Overview)

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Shooing worms away from your favorite metal deposit.
(5/10)

Primary Enemy: Nordheim's very own 'Roid Rage worm.

Goal: Evict Bears from their favorite Fish Ponds, play the most dangerous game of Frogger ever to mine ore, and fulfill every Irishman's dream of slaying the D'ampton Worm.

Clan Choice

The last "Clan Introductory" mission, featuring a furry animal! And a Bear. Take that, Borgild. Thankfully, you've got 4 fish ponds to choose from, which is a small miracle in itself. What are the odds that so many fish would thrive on a bitterly cold plateau?

Overall Strategy

Expand at your own pace to Fish Ponds, gather up Lore to increase your Food economy, and start mining Rimestone like crazy when you hit ~600 food.

Important Tips
Beginning in July, Year 1, the Hrimgandr destroys between 3-4 Rimesteel deposits per year. There are between 3-4 in each tile, spread out over 8 tiles; so as long as you push to mine it by Year 5/6, you should be able to get enough. The earlier you are able to go in (with at least 600 food), the easier a time you'll have mining the 70 Rimestone necessary.

Full map:

Upgrade Tools in this order:
1. Fishermen
2. Brewers
3. Loremasters
4. Woodcutters
5. Miners

Don't worry about Wild Animal attacks on this level; you have 5 stalwart Warchiefs ready to pounce at a moment's notice. If you're attacked, pull your civilians out, and let your allies deal with it.
"Chaaaaaaarrrrrggggeeeee!"

You have quite a bit of time to expand in this level, so don't rush yourself. Keep your economy stable and try to avoid freezing or starving. Don't waste resources if you don't have to.

DO NOT BUILD ANYTHING IN THIS AREA. Otherwise, your game will crash after forging Wyrmslayer.

Stone is plentiful on this map; don't worry about reaching "Carpentry Mastery" before Upgrading buildings.

Send Borgild into combat first; she has great defense. Swap Kaija in when Borgild is close to death.

When you have around 600 food (and steady production) and 6 free Villagers (including Loremasters), you can start colonizing Rimestone deposits.

Instead of focusing on one deposit, send Villagers / Miners to as many deposits as you can in a circular pattern. The Hrimgandr can only take one Tile at a time.

DO NOT ATTACK THE HRIMGANDR until you have the Wyrmslayer. Your allies may attack it, but your first priority is evacuation.

Lore Path

1. Sharp Axes
2. Mining Efficiency
3. Recruitment
4. Harpoons
5. Trading
6. Coinage
(Baldr's Blessing)
7. Hearthstone
8. Carpentry Mastery
9. Erudition
(Jord's Blessing)
10. Weaponsmith
11. Colonization

Chapter 9: Tremors (Walkthrough)

Walkthrough

Once again, build a house right away and forgo the Woodcutter's Lodge to save some wood.

Kill the Bear in the Forest Tile while you scout the Sheep Tile to the South-West. Once the tile is scouted, Clear it & Colonize it once you have 20 Food. Scout the Runestone Tile.

Slaughter a sheep and colonize the Forest. Build a Woodcutter's Lodge here.

Slaughter a second Sheep. Clear & Colonize the Runestone Tile. Assign a Loremaster & build a Fisherman's Hut when you have the Wood to do so.

Build a Healer's Hut and heal Borgild to about half-health. Borgild & Kaija should both be around half at this point.

Clear the Circle of Stones, focusing on the three Wolves before the Bear. Wait until you unlock the "Colonization" Lore. Colonize the Tile once you do, slaughtering yet another sheep in the process. (Looks like Shiro has something against the poor little buggers...)

This tile contains 2 Sheep, bringing your total to 3. Always keep 1 in reserve to ward off starvation!

Build a Fisherman's Hut on the Circle of Stones tile before Winter and assign 2 Fishermen. Assign a second Loremaster.

Sometime over Winter, build a Mine and start gathering Stone. Around this time, your Happiness & Krowns will get quite low. Build a Trading Post and assign a Merchant. Build a Brewery next and assign a Brewer. Try to keep your happiness above 0 as much as possible.

Heal Borgild & Kaija over the Winter to at least "Full / 1/2", respectively. Slaughter a sheep and reassign a Woodcutter to Villager duty if you need to last the Winter; you're almost to the Harpoon Lore.

Scout the Stone / Fish Pond to the East in March. As soon as you unlock Harpoons, assign 2 more Villagers to be Fishermen at each of your Fishermans' Huts.

Clear & Colonize it when you have the food. Be careful with this battle; the Draugr pack a punch.

Build a Fisherman's Hut here and assign spare Villagers to it.

When you unlock "Trading", start trading excess Food to the Main Trading Post. Swap your Merchant out with another desired occupation as needed.

Around October, Year 2, Upgrade your Town Hall.

Upgrade your Woodcutter's Lodge next, followed by your Brewery. Throw a feast around this time if you need the increased production. Assign a 3rd Loremaster.

When your Stone Mine runs out, build a new one in the second Stone Tile.

Scout the Ruin Tile to the South. Repeatedly heal Borgild & Kaija to full, then send them in, gradually whittling down the Bears throughout Year 3.

By July, Year 3, your Clan should look something like this:

Continue throwing feasts when you have the food to boost Production. Your economy should be running smoothly by now.

When the Ruin Tile is cleared, Colonize it.

Build a Brewery and an Iron Mine here. Assign Brewers as desired. Scout the Ruins for Kash Money (and a minor Lore boost!).

Build a second Trading Post around November, Year 3, and begin trading Wood.

Get along, little Doggies.

Clear the remaining Wolves (be they 2 or 6) and capture the Wolf Den.

Build a spare Woodcutter's Lodge here and get the Smith up and running while you're at it.

Around August, Year 4, you should have tons of food and at least 6 spare Villagers / Loremasters. Send them to the Wolf Den for their new, deadly occupation...
"Rimestone Miners, Assemble!

"Cut it out, Bob. This is no time to be gathering food."

Alright, here's the tricky part, so save before you commit! Your ultimate goal is to colonize in a "Rimestone Ring", sending in Villagers to every mineable Tile to build & man Mines. Colonize every Tile ASAP to get the most time.
"I think it's fairly obvious what you need to do here, lady."

If the Hrimgandr attacks, evacuate to another Rimestone Tile! Recolonize tiles as soon as it leaves to keep it occupied.
"Live to mine another day!"

Once you have 70 Rimestone, get out of there!
"Run away!"

Mr. Smith heard you liked to Smith at Smiths, so assign a Smith to Smith at the Smith. (That word looks pretty funny now, doesn't it?)

In the meantime, build a Training Camp and an Axe Thrower Camp. Upgrade them and assign 6 Axe Throwers to speed up the final battle.

Now that Wyrmslayer is finished, are you ready to slay a Worm?
Svarn sums it up best.

Send your Warband in, led by Borgild, and your allies will follow. With the magical power of Wyrmslayer, who can stand in your way? (And why did Borgild throw it away before Chapter 10?)

Final Note

You and me both, buddy.

God, if you can hear me, please strike me with lightning before I have to write Chapter 10.

(If that's not okay, a Ferrari would be nice.)

Chapter 10: Fimbulvinter (Introduction)

Introduction

I'll be honest, the first time I played this mission, I thought the second invasion was a joke - that something had gone terribly wrong and too many enemies had appeared. I quit, and tried again.

The second time I played this mission, I managed to fend off the second invasion. I was very proud of myself. Then the final invasion came; I thought I was witnessing a cruel bug: a launch issue which somehow forced the player to fight 80+ enemies. I watched as my Warchief, 2 Shield Bearers, and 6 Axe Throwers were devoured by what seemed like an unbeatable wave of evil, straight from the frozen-over jaws of Hell. "Territory Under Attack" notifications came so fast that they didn't fit on the screen. I wept, wiped away my tears, and wept again. I had to wash my pillowcase that night, so moist as it was with the bitter tears of defeat. I had been defeated.

Every night, I woke up screaming, "Fimbulvinter! No! It can't have been 4 years already!" My work suffered, and my family could only stand by and watch as my life tore itself apart.

When my beard grew long and whiskey took its hold, I sunk into the depths of depression. It took me months to recover. And when I did, I could speak only one word... "Fimbulvinter."

So the last time I played this mission, when all my other hopes were shattered, I fell back to the only thing I truly knew I could count on: Axe Throwers. They were the answer. They were the key.

And by golly, I did it.

So, if you were in that position yourself (or at least a less-extreme version of it), do not despair! Daunting as it may seem, it IS possible.

Chapter 10: Fimbulvinter (Overview)

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Thumb-wrestling an Ice Giant with one hand while playing Chess against Odin with the other hand.
(11/10)

Primary Enemy: Nature's de-frost cycle.

Goal: Build up and maintain an economy in preparation for the biggest invasion since D-Day, if the Allies were the bad guys and the Germans had 10 Axe Throwers to defend Normandy.

Clan Choice

Boar
My last attempt of this mission was with Boar, and they bring home the bacon. They have great bonuses once their Lore picks up:
1. +2 Population / Tile. (Reduces the need for houses, which take up valuable building slots.)
2. +1 Free Knowledge at 200 Fame. (Essential for getting some of the advanced Military Lore to make life easier.)
3. 50% Reduced Wood Cost (Simple Living) allows you to build like crazy without extra Woodcutters.
4. +15% Production from Non-Upgraded Buildings (Handiwork) is great, since you won't be able to upgrade most of your buildings by the end of the mission.
5. "Osmosis" can provide up to +8 Happiness. This is amazing.

The only real strike against them is that they can't trade, but this can be mitigated with Docks (which also produce Lore).
[10/10]

Wolf
A solid choice for players who can multi-task easily. 85% of the Neutral Tiles are filled with Wolves and Bears (averaging about 1 Bear and 3 Wolves / Tile), allowing Wolf to subsidize food like no other clan. This provides opportunities for rapid expansion and a bonus to capturing tiles for your allies. Their only downside is their mediocre Lore Tree.
My first "Extreme Mode" completion of this mission was done as Wolf.
(9/10)

Stag
Stag's various Production / Fame bonuses are helpful for rapid expansion, but it is incredibly easy to mess up / not expand fast enough. Properly balanced, however, they can throw their entire weight into Axe Throwers while sustaining themselves.
The following walk-through was done as Stag.
(8/10)

Goat
Goat is a mixed bag: their food bonuses allow them slow, but constant expansion. Food Trade allows them to generate extra Krowns from trading, which is absolutely essential, but it is very difficult to get to all the Lore they need in order to excel.
[7/10]

Bear
I love having 2 "Tank" units for early expansion + invasions, but Bear lacks the power development of other factions. Their Lore Tree is mediocre, their Starting / Fame bonuses hardly apply, and there are only 2 Fish ponds (1 of which is hotly contested.)
[6/10]

Raven
Do you want to imitate the experience of peeling your fingernails off with serrated glass? Then play Raven!
(1/10)

Overall Strategy

Full map:

Enemy Stats

Enemy	Attack	Defense	HP	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3
Draugr (S.)	10	5	31	~11	~17	~39
Draugr (J.)	10	5	31	~2	~4	~11
Valkyrie	20	8	44	2	~2	11
Jotunn	20	18	50	0	2	11

Two important notes: Fimbulvinter units have decreased HP and Speed (roughly halved). They move incredibly slowly, allowing you to more effectively kite their forces.

Invasion 1: March, Year 3
Invasion 2: March, Year 4
Invasion 3: March, Year 5

It varies clan-by-clan, but here are the major points:

1. Try to colonize 4 Tiles by the end of Year 1. (In order: Hunting Grounds 1, Forest Left, Hunting Grounds 2, Fish Pond 1).
2. Expand as quickly as you can without starving, freezing, or becoming unhappy. There is a necessary balance which becomes extremely obvious once get about 24 Months in.
3. Your Allies will scout the majority of Tiles for you; don't scout more than you need to!
4. Take Tiles for your Allies! You quite literally will not survive if you don't help your Allies take Tiles. It will increase their overall strength, allow them to throw extra Feasts, and even let them weather the final invasion un-aided.
5. Occupy at least these Tiles by the final invasion (the second Stone Tile is optional depending on your clan / how much stone you need):
6. Have at least 3 Axe Throwers for the first invasion, 6 for the second (with upgraded Tools), and 10 for the final.
7. For the first two invasions, your Warchief can hold the horde in place as they funnel into a tile while your Axe Throwers do the majority of the work. For the last invasion, you'll need to do some serious Kiting to defeat the enemy.
8. Build your Home Tile carefully, creating as much of a "circular obstacle" course as you can to eventually block your enemies:
As you can see, the Town Hall does most of the work, but the Axe Thrower Camp and Training Camp are positioned as close as possible to extend the circular path enemies need to get around. This is not necessary, but it does give you more breathing room during the final battle.

Important Tips
I highly recommend saving about 4 months ahead of each invasion. This will save you a lot of time; if you have a set "point" where you feel you've done everything pretty well, you can go back and make minor adjustments without losing everything.

Lore is incredibly important; keep as many Loremasters going as you can. Once you clear the Circle of Stones to the North-West, your Ally will colonize it and you can request the area to take it over.

The Sheep in the first Forest Tile are essential for rapid expansion.

Trade instead of making Merchants or Sailors (if you are not Boar). Trade is efficient and does not require vital Villagers.

Axe Throwers are your friend; after your initial expansion, they are the only military unit you should invest in.

Clear Tiles for your Allies when your Warband is idle.

Build Towers at the far edges of tiles to further slow down / restrict the movement of enemy forces. Paired with Axe Throwers, they can be used to effectively whittle down the enemy army.

If you OR YOUR ALLIES lose a Tile during the 2nd Invasion, any enemies in the tile will stay there until the 3rd invasion, when they will appear in your territories quite unexpectedly. Take these tiles back when you are able to - use their unit's slowness to your advantage. Run in, kill a few, and retreat, but make sure to retake the tile!

The further North you push, the more enemies come straight to you. This makes each wave larger, but more predictable, as you'll have fewer waves filtering in from the sides.

Learn to Kite enemies using Axe Throwers. There are video walkthroughs out there (such as those by OnlyRex Gaming) which demonstrate this tactic; learn it, love it.

Upgrade Tools in this order:
1. Hunters
2. Axe Throwers
3. Woodcutters
4. Loremasters

Lore Path - Stag

1. Sharp Axes
2. Mining Efficiency*
3. Eradication
4. Trading*
5. Value of Great Deeds
6. Erudition*
(Baldr's Blessing)
7. Carpentry Mastery
8. Weaponsmith
9. Defensive Strategy
(Freya's Blessing)
10. Young and Proud
11. Monster Slayer* (Tough to get to as Stag, but if you manage it, it makes everything a lot easier.)

Chapter 10: Fimbulvinter (Walkthrough, Part 1 - Stag)

Walkthrough

I decided to make this walkthrough as Stag for two reasons:
1. They aren't the easiest Clan for this mission, meaning there are more "optimal" choices (namely Wolf and Boar) which will make your experience easier. I want to demonstrate that it is possible, even with the less-optimal Clans.
2. They have a playstyle that translates well into other clans; other than their resource drops / reliance on Silos, they don't have any "special abilities" which can't be copied by other clans. Basically, they get the point across.

Note: if the buildings change slightly between screenshots, it's because I redid something later but didn't have the right Save file to go back to.

Alright, now let's get started:

Pre-Wave #1
Start out as usual. Assign 1 Woodcutter.

Scout, Clear and Colonize the Hunting Grounds:

Build a House while your Warchief is fighting.

Immediately assign a Loremaster and build a Hunter's Lodge as soon as possible. Assign Villagers to it as soon as possible.

Build a Training Camp and assign 2 Warriors.

If not playing as Stag / Wolf, you may have to build the Training Camp before the Hunter's Lodge, or even colonize the Forest first for the Sheep.

Clear & Colonize the Forest Tile to the North-West:

If not playing as Wolf, slaughter the sheep, then advance on to the Hunting Grounds above:

Send your weakest Warrior to be a Villager. If playing another faction, you may have to build a Trading Post / Port / Healer's Hut instead, as you won't have spare Krowns.

Assign Woodcutters as desired to build a Hunting Grounds without starving.

Around this time, you'll need a second House.

Build a second Woodcutter's Lodge in the Forest. Move your Woodcutters here and supplement as necessary.

Scout the Fish Pond to the South-East:

Assign a full-health replacement Warrior, then Clear & Colonize the Fish Pond:

Build a Fisherman's Hut here before Winter.

If you are able to spare the Wood, build a Healer's Hut in your first Hunting Ground.

As Stag, you'll also want to build a Silo in your first Hunting Ground over the Winter (around the time you'll be able to get Eradication.

Around February, Year 2, your Clan may looks something like this:

If you weren't worried enough by this point, Rig is here with a pleasant reminder:
Already?!?

Build a Silo on the second Hunting Ground.

Sometime in April, Year 2, you should also be able to get a Trading Post going to start trading Wood:

You may also want to assign a Merchant temporarily to help recruit extra units.

If you can somehow manage to get Axe Throwers for this next sequence, that's ideal, but 1-2 Warriors will suffice.

Scout the second Forest Tile. Assign 1 Warrior. Clear & Colonize it. (Brand should be fully healed at this point.) Remember to kill Wolves, then Bears!

Build a Stone Mine here.

Assign a second Healer and start poking at the Wolf Den to the North-East.

Here's what your Clan may look like around October, Year 2:

Clear & Colonize the Wolf Den.

After colonizing the Wolf Den, you should hit Fame 200, giving you a substantial Resource Boost heading into the Winter.

Upgrade your Town Hall and a vital industry (such as a Woodcutter's Lodge).

Once your units have been healed from clearing the Wolf Den, Clear the Circle of Stones Tile. Allow your neighbor to take it, then Request it from them:

Assign at least 1 Loremaster here and build a Tower if possible, as this region is prone to Wild Animal attacks.

Build another Trading Post to increase Krown production.

Heading into Winter, you will probably need to build a Hall of Skalds. Do so, and try to keep your Happiness from becoming negative.

Use this Winter to clear out as many tiles for your Western neighbor as possible:

Have an Axe Thrower's Camp built before the end of Winter.

Yes, we know, Rig. We're pretty worried about it too.

Wave #1
Turn 3 Citizens into Axe Throwers and position them in the first tile the Draugr are likely to invade. If you have cleared out the Fish Pond by now, that's excellent; otherwise, situate them in either the second Hunting Grounds or Wolf Den.

If they split up, attack them in order of which area they invaded first. Focus on the larger group if possible to take advantage of their "one-at-a-time" entrance.

Continue upgrading necessary industries and expanding your economy. Make sure to produce a steady flow of Krowns in preparation for the second wave.

Around July, Year 3, your Clan may looks something like this:

You'll want to clear out some tiles for your Eastern Neighbor around now:

Note that the Fish Pond has no enemies in it, allowing your ally to expand unhindered once the forest is cleared.

Build an Iron Mine around now to get upgraded Hunters / Axe Throwers.

Clear & Colonize the Fish Pond before Winter.

Clear out the Ruins and Wolf Den with your Western neighbor around October, Year 3:

Build another Military Camp somewhere.

Here's a reference point for February, Year 4:

Build a Tower at the far end of your 2nd Fish Pond when you can.

Wave #2
Make sure you have at least 6 Axe Throwers going into the upcoming invasion!

Sigh.

Send your Warband to the Fish Pond.

The key to fending off the 2nd wave is positioning within the Fish Pond: your Warchief needs to be close to, but not touching the border: if he's too close, the enemies stack up. If he's positioned properly, enemies will walk around each other to try and form a "circle" (usual attack behavior).

Keep expanding industry only as needed; by now, you should be pretty much set. Focus on getting the most Krowns you can without starving / freezing over Winter, and continue building Axe Thrower camps until you can recruit 10.

Clear out your Western Ally's Wolf Den / Circle of Stones to buy yourself more time during the final invasion:

You can also clear out the second Iron Tile for your Eastern Ally.

It is not necessary to colonize the Stone Tile unless you have time to exploit it; it just bunches up the final wave, making it hard to kill them as they come into the Fish Pond.

Chapter 10: Fimbulvinter (Walkthrough, Part 2 - Stag)

Wave #3

Here's what two important tiles should look like before the end of Fimbulvinter:

These are the only tiles worth defending, because they make it easy to kite enemies. When you can no longer sustain a fight in the Fish Pond, retreat to the next tile, staying only long enough to attack enemies as they filter in before falling back. Be the Russians; remember Scorched Earth warfare.

Make sure you have an upgraded Healer's Hut and 3 Healers by the 3rd Wave.

Gods save us.

Just to emphasize how bad this really is, you can't even fit the number of enemies you have to fight (~80) ON THE SCREEN.

Alright, strap in, it's going to be a rough ride.

Position your Warchief and your 10 Axe Throwers at the edge of your Fish Pond in a semi-circular fashion, like this:

This formation allows them to attack the enemy without running around for half an hour like idiots.

Note that I made the mistake of colonizing the Stone Tile (without exploiting it), which bunches up the 3rd Wave! Don't colonize it unless you really need the Stone!

Pull your Warchief away when he's near death and send him to your Home Tile.

Gradually give ground, running away and throwing (kiting) at every oppotunity. Leave the Fish Pond before the other "mini waves" from your allies arrive. Continue until you reach your Home Tile:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Use the tower to group up the enemy Javelin Throwers, then kill them all while the main force is distracted. These units eat your Axe Throwers alive and will be your downfall unless you get rid of them. It's still possible to defeat the main army while they are alive, but it's much more difficult.

Remember to pull wounded units out in sequence, allowing them to heal while your main force continues distracting them.

All that is left to do once all the enemies are in your home tile is to run around like a headless chicken, repeating the simple process of "Throw, Run, Throw" until you kill all enemies:

If you have trouble micro-managing your forces to the extend necessary, you can also perpetually run around your home tile while re-colonizing lost territory, expanding your economy, and fighting them off the "traditional way", but this is quite time-consuming.

Phew.
"There's nothing left, Rig. It's gone... All of it."

"But you have to ask yourself - was it really worth it?"

Ladies and Gentlemen, please witness the single-most beautiful sight in the history of the modern world:

Final Note

Now, pat yourself on the back, pour your favorite beverage, and hug your loved ones (who have no idea why you've been screaming at your monitor for the last hour and a half.)

The next mission is tough, but NOT this tough.

Chapter 11: Bifrost (Overview)

Overview

Extreme Difficulty Level: Playing with fire without getting burned.
(9/10)

Primary Enemy: Walking campfires with a bone (and a hammer) to pick with humans.

Goal: Seal the Muspell Gate closest to the Rainbow Bridge before it is destroyed (toward the end of Year 2), then build up your forces, make your way to Hvaedrung, and slay him.

Clan Choice

Clan choice doesn't matter as much in this level, as your primary tool for victory is, ironically, avoiding actual fighting for as long as possible. As long as you don't play Raven. Please.

Goat
Who would have guessed that the last level contains literally a billion and a half sheep? Goat Clan! While the others have been off fighting and colonizing, Halvard has been relocating countless herds of sheep from the previous islands onto this island. This all pays off quite well, as Goat has access to ~5 food sources within 5 tiles (6 Sheep - 2 Sheepfolds, Farm, Hunting, Fishing). This allows them to focus more exclusively on Economy / Military without delving into the Production Lore Tree.
My first "Extreme Mode" victory was as Goat.
[10/10]

Stag
Stag is solid in the early game with rapid expansion, but begins to lose steam around the middle of Year 2 (as they are forced to build up a military early, which hinders their economic growth). However, if multi-tasked properly, Stag has the best "early game rush." By relying on Brand to kite Fire Giants while the villagers do their work, they can develop rapidly in the early game and once the main threat is gone.
My second "Extreme Mode" victory, as well as my Guide run-through, was done as Stag.
(8/10)

Wolf
Your starting tiles are surrounded by Wolves and Bears, which allows Wolf to expand rapidly. Military units also consume less food and provide 1 Happiness / 2 units, which minimizes the impact of making your Warband early; but overall they lack economic support and partially rely on getting Supply Drops in the correct order (food last).
(8/10)

Bear
Much like Wolf, Bear has no real economy to fall back on (until you get the second Fish Pond), but has a much easier time sealing Gates early with their 2 damage-soak units (Borgild and Kaija). Their military also gains power in Winter, allowing you a nice "grace period" for sealing gates!
(8/10)

Boar
Boar is middle-of-the-road from beginning to end. Their bottom Lore Tree (Economy) is great, and helps sustain them while they focus on Military early on. However, they don't have the "rush" of Stag or the sustained production of Goat.
[7/10]

Raven
Ah, yes. Hm.
(1/10)

Overall Strategy

Full map:

The key to completing this mission on Extreme is multi-tasking, timing, and kiting. Here are the basic steps:
1. Enter the Forest Tile with your Warchief and Allied Warriors BEFORE ANY GIANTS ENTER (check "Play Intro" to get a few extra seconds). Clear the Wolves, pull your Allies out, and use Brand to kite the Fire Giants until they die.
2. While Brand is kiting, clear & colonize the Farm Tile.
3. Using the Sheep from the Farm Tile, use your Warchief + Allies to continue clearing Tiles.
4. Scout in a direct path toward Bifrost + the nearest Gate.
5. Build up your economy with an early focus on Krowns.
6. Hire 3-4 Axe Throwers by March, Year 2 (or June), and use your entire military might to seal the gate to the North before May.
7. Clear the path to Bifrost. Start kiting Fire Giants on the Tile between the Gate and Bifrost (starting in December, Year 2) with your Warchief while your allied troops protect your homeland.
8. Kite here until you have a full Warband (8 Allies, 4 Axe Throwers, Warchief), then seal this gate.
9. At this point, you're home free. Lounge around for the next 3 years until you feel like slaughtering Hvaedrung.

Important Tips
Angry Fire Giant attacks occur 3 times a year in this sequence:
#1: September, Year 1
#2: January, Year 2
#3: May, Year 2
#4: September, Year 2
. . . . .

If you're having trouble with Fire Giant attacks, Save Scrub before each invasion until they stack up on your Forest Tile. This may be a little cheap, but it makes them easier to deal with as they chase your Warchief while your economy hums along. (Don't worry, I won't tell.)

Supply Drops occur 3 times a year, 2 months after each attack:
#1: July, Year 1
#2: November, Year 1
#3: March, Year 2
#4: July, Year 2

The sequence of Supply Drops is determined randomly at the beginning of the mission. To make the mission easier, you can save at the very beginning, play through Year 3 (when Bifrost is destroyed), and write down the sequence of Drops to plan accordingly.

It is not possible to Save Scrub Supply Drops for a different reward.

Supply Drops grant 4 Warriors each with a total limit of 8 Allies. Kill off Allies who are wounded just prior to supply drops. As morbid as this sounds, it's a great savings!

Upgrade Tools in this order:
1. Woodcutters
2. Farmers
3. Woodcutters
4. Hunters
5. Skalds
6. Axe Throwers
7. Healers
8. Shield Bearers
9. Villagers

Tool upgrades affect Allied units! You may therefore want to upgrade your Warrior's Tools at some point.

Military Lore does not affect Allied units.

Lore Path - Stag

This depends on what you get in Supply Drops (which seem to be randomly chosen at the beginning of the game), but generally I suggest:

1. Sharp Axes
2. Mining Efficiency
3. Eradication
4. Trading
5. Weaponsmith
6. Value of Great Deeds
(Baldr's Blessing)
7. Advanced Silos
8. Hearthstone
9. Defensive Strategy
(Freya's Blessing)
10. Young and Proud
11. Feeling Safe

Chapter 11: Bifrost (Walkthrough, Part 1 - Stag)

Walkthrough

The key to this mission is multi-tasking. If you can focus on / keep track of two things at once, you'll be good to go. Otherwise, you may need to do some excessive pausing / saving.

The order of Supply Drops plays a pretty big role for Stag, as they generally produce plenty of Food / Wood; the worst I've seen is getting Food -> Iron at the beginning (which is what I got in this Walkthrough), but even with this setback, it's possible to win.

The opening to this mission is tricky. It'll probably take a few trys before you can perfect it. I've linked a video of a pretty much "perfect start" for Stag below. In it, I demonstrate the opening "Kiting" tactic, as well as how to continue colonizing while Fire Giants try to destroy everything you love.

I recommend checking the "Play Intro" box, as it gives you a few precious seconds at the beginning of the game. Save as soon as you get in so you don't have to re-play the intro if something goes wrong.

Send your Warband into the Forest tile IMMEDIATELY after gaining control.

Build a Scout Camp and a Woodcutter's Lodge in the mean-time.

Clear the Wolves before the Fire Giants get there (concentrate on one Wolf at a time). Send your Warband out, but leave Brand to distract the Fire Giants.

Assign a Scout and 2 Woodcutters. Scout the Farm Tile to the West. Send your scout to the Iron Tile to the South.

While the Fire Giants chase Brand, use your Allies to clear & colonize the Farm Tile:

Slaughter both Sheep. Build a Farm and assign 2 Farmers.

Scout the Hunting Grounds.

When the Fire Giants are dead, send Brand to help clear the Iron Tile.

Colonize the Forest Tile, then the Iron Tile:

Assign a Loremaster. Remeber to pull your Loremaster out during each invasion!

Clear & Colonize the Hunting Grounds:

Build a Hunter's Lodge here. Build a second Woodcutter's Lodge in the Iron Tile and assign Woodcutters as able.

Build a Tower in the Forest Tile before the September invasion. This will give you a nice buffer in case Brand is needed elsewhere when an invasion starts:

Here's what your clan should look like around August, Year 1:

Defeat the September Invasion.

Build a Silo in your Farm, then Hunting Ground, then build a Stone Mine.

Build a Trading Post and assign 2 Merchants heading into November, Year 1. You need at least 65 Krowns by March.

Reassign clan members and alter your build order based on what supplies have dropped; if you got 200 Krowns, you don't need a Trading Post yet.

Assign a Scout and begin scouting North.

Once January rolls around (that bitterly cold time when FIRE GIANTS like to come out and play...), fend off the invaders while you continue scouting.
"Nothing to see here, Sir Scout. You keep exploring, I'll fend off these 5-ton death machines..."

Build a Training Camp + Axe Thrower's Camp over Winter, along with a Tower (between your Farm and the border). Here's what your Clan should look like just before March, Year 2:

Train 3 Axe Throwers, then take them and the rest of your intrepid Warband to the first Northern Gate. Send Brand in first to deal the most damage while keeping your Axe Throwers away from the front-lines:

If everything has gone according to plan, you should have sealed the gate before the May invasion. If not, don't sweat it; build a Healer's Hut and attack in June when the May Invasion is over.

Scout the Tile East of the Gate, then North-East, then North to Bifrost.

Build a Healer's Hut.

Upgrade your Town Hall when you can.

Here's what your Clan should look like around June, Year 2 and August, Year 2:

Note that the September, Year 2 invasion is the last wave Bifrost can handle; it will fall during the January, Year 3 invasion if you do not intervene.

Heal Brand + any others you can in preparation for the push North.

Once you research "Weaponsmith" and have a reasonable Warband under your command, clear the path North:

Leave Brand up here. Focus your attention on him, kiting the Fire Giants while the rest of your Warband protects your territory:

Keep Brand in this Tile until you have a full Warband again (8 Warriors + 4-5 Axe Throwers). As long as he doesn't get caught, you could theoretically protect Bifrost with this tactic for the next 50 years.


Continue upgrading infrastructure as needed (Woodcutters / Food Production). Upgrade your Axe Thrower Camp before July, Year 3 and get up to 5 Axe Throwers.

July, Year 3 reference point:

AS SOON AS REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE, send your Warband up to Brand to seal the Bifrost gate.

Once this gate is sealed, you can pretty much relax... Or can you?

Chapter 11: Bifrost (Walkthrough, Part 2 - Stag)

Walkthrough

Yes, you can relax. But I'll keep providing tips, because that's just the kind of guy I am. (What can I say, I'm a giver.)

Once the Bifrost Gate is closed, send your Warband and Brand down South to kite Fire Giants around the forest once more. (Don't worry, you'll be done with those pesky charcoal-brains soon enough.)

Here's what your Clan may look like around October, Year 2:

Colonize the North Iron Tile, then Clear & Colonize the Ruin Tile.

Build a Tower here, as your neighbor has a tendency to invade without warning.

Once Brand is healed, prepare your Warband for battle! Send them in to shut those overcooked chicken nuggets out of Midgard for good.

Once you seal this gate, you'll be safe on this side (except for your aforementioned neighbor). Keep your Warband in your Northern Tiles and confront any invaders head-on.

Clear & Colonize the Stone Tile to further propel your late-game economy.

September, Year 4 reference point:

Continue to expand your economy with a focus on Krowns while fending off the Fire Giant invasions (now a mere irritant, rather than a full-blown calamity).

Upgrade your Scout Camp and scout the territory North to Hvaedrung.

Once you feel comfortable with your Military, seal the second North Gate.

Now that you've found a way to Hvaedrung, vengeance shall be yours!

Of course, in what must be the dumbest design decision ever, Shiro has placed all these random clans in your way, so you have to both upgrade your Scout Camp and fight off their random army. Why they didn't simply put non-invasive Fire Giants in your path, or scattered around the map to keep you from expanding, I'll never know...

(At least the Vedrfolnir no longer reveals random Island Tiles...)

Anyhow, you know the drill. After you attack, he brings his army over to defend. Send your Shield Bearers in first and target:
(Axe Throwers > Warriors > Shield Bearers > Warchief > Tower).

Unfortunately, you have to wait to de-colonize before you can move on. Geez...

Invade the next Tile and take out the Tower.

Thankfully, you don't need to wait to de-colonize; you can just move right on.

Ignore the Mercenaries and target Hvaedrung. He's not so tough.

Once he falls, immerse yourself in the story and the deep characters with complex, subtle motivations that Shiro clearly invested a lot of time in developing...

Oh, my...
If it's not one thing, it's your mother. Wait... Is Hvaedrung Rig's mother? We never learned what happened to her, and Norse women are pretty buff. That would be a pretty exciting full-circle plot twist.

Final Note

Well, that about covers it... With that cliffhanger of an ending, they better get the next part of the story up soon!

Conclusion

If this guide has prevented you from pulling out all your hair, my mission has been accomplished. I hope these tips and strategies have helped!

If you have any tips, suggestions, or constructive criticism, feel free to comment & share!

[noob-alert]

For Chapter 5 I failed the mission twice following the advice here. Instead I succeeded by not collecting the iron nor using the forge (I just let both buildings burn). Saves the miner to do other tasks and use existing army with one more axe thrower or so to mostly clear the map until raven clan territory. Capturing territory was done the same as in the guide. Early sailors to not lose too much gold. Before Liv arrives with her army, explore the ruins and go for max army (created 1 more shield bearer and otherwise axe throwers). And go kill the boss.

[Richard Sein]

Don't know about your experience but for me 10th was one of the easiest one (I don't count first 2 chapters beacuse these literally an tutorial), did it first try. The hardest one was chapter 3, it was hard as hell. More I play more I get overruned in the end (reinforcements phase), even these "reinforcements" doesn't really help, so, to the point. One time (And last one before i speedrun it, because it is bs) I got to this "phase" and your guess how many mercenaries were there? 10? 20? 30? I didn't check, but I had 13 people in my army and if I sum reinforcements (~30 people) we have 43 people. After fight there were... 28-30 mercenaries left (So from the start there were 60+ of them, maybe it was some kind of bug, I don't know). So after all suffering I checked some speedrun guide and did it like that.

[AstaAlana]

Not everything is up to date anymore, but eventhough that was the case the general tips and tricks and the order of the tiles on chapter 8 were still super useful! I had a very clutch victory by 10 points difference on beating the wyvern ;) Thaanks so much~!

[Tourist]

Great guide, thanks for the help!

[Jannika]

So, am i the only one who wanted to side with Hvedrung by the end?

[Gnonpom]

I did fimbuilwinter on extreme with Raven to try and get the secret objective without towers (I thought they would be the easiest to have a huge army by year 5). Was relatively easy: just make sure to rush the tech against mythical units asap and don't be afraid to convert all your villagers to hunters and woodcutters during the final assault. Boar was a walk in the park though: the animals do all the fighting for you.

[adrsildia]

Great guide, it helped me a lot. Nice work

[Novmaryllis]

I do not usually make comments or give awards, but I must say that your guide is perfect. It was just what I needed. Thank you!

[Duelist]

Not sure if Fimbulvinter has been nerfed since, however it felt pretty easy to me. Chapter 3 felt more difficult and Bifrost pace to close the gates can be tight and requires good kiting. Thanks to you I have completed the achievment. Thank you!

[Mc Intire]

Ended up with negative coins somewhere along the way since I put everything after getting 2 axe throwers into food eco, but it worked out. No idea how it plays out after ~3 years of rebalancing.