Designers:  Matt Eklund (Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance, Pax Transhumanity), Phil Eklund (High Frontier, Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance, Pax Viking), Justin Grey (High Frontier 4 All), Jon Manker (Bios: Megafauna, Bios: Origins, Crusader Kings, Pax Viking)

Artists:  Madeleine Fjall (Pax Viking), Josefin Strand (High Frontier 4 All, Pax Renaissance)

Publisher:  Sierra Madre Games (High Frontier, Pax Porfiriana, Pax Renaissance)

Genre/Mechanisms:  area majority/influence, auction: once around, card drafting, card game, cooperative game, economic, negotiation, political, tile placement, trading, variable player powers (Pax Viking); action points, card drafting, increase value of unchosen resources, market, simulation (Pax Renaissance); auction/bidding, civilization, deck building, economic, exploration, hand management, network and route building, pick-up and deliver, point to point movement, simulation, variable player powers (High Frontier 4 All)

Funding Status:  At the time of this posting, Pax Viking, Pax Renaissance & High Frontier 4 All: Module 3 is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total almost 10x the initial funding goal with 3 days to go on the campaign.

Player Count:   1-6 (Pax Viking); 2-4 (Pax Renaissance); 1-5 (High Frontier 4 All)

Solo Mode:  yes (High Frontier 4 All, Pax Viking); no (Pax Renaissance)

Complexity:  medium-light (Pax Viking); heavy (High Frontier 4 All, Pax Renaissance)

Risk:  medium-low

What It’s About:  “Pax Viking is a lighter entry into the Pax series, easy to learn for families and those new to the Pax series. Pax Renaissance is a new, updated 2nd Edition with some updates and rules tweaks. And High Frontier 4 All: Module 3 is the latest smaller expansion for High Frontier 4 All that adds a War of Independence to the game.”

How It Works:  “In Pax Viking, players are Jarls, one of the powerful leaders in the Nordics during the 10th century, a period which shaped the future of the Nordic kingdoms. Their goals is to grow their family’s power and influence through trade, personal connections, and smart (if often deceitful) actions. All with the ultimate goal of becoming the first king to rule a united Sweden, and bring it into a new millennia.”

“Pax Viking is a tile driven game where players compete over tiles in a common market in combination with strategic movement of longships on the map. Players can play tiles they buy on map locations they control through their longships, create trading posts, claim benefits from events, and more. They can also play tiles on their jarlboard, adding abilities to their player through friends, allies, and gods. In the east, players can explore and develop the regions and trade routes. In the west, they can find powerful allies and gods to help them. Through their actions, they’ll collect followers to give them power and influence for their final bid to be the first king of Sweden.”

Each turn, players will take 4 of the possible 9 actions, which allow them to do things like buy tiles, place tiles, move their longships, replace Followers on the board with their own, and execute various card abilities. Every time an Event tile is played, players perform a victory check. If any player fulfills the requirements of the check, they win the game. There are 5 different paths to victory, each utilizing a different strategy. “A Sweden Victory results when a player has a Follower on 1 or more Sweden locations in each of the four winds. A Rus Victory results when a player has 2 Duchies that contain only Rus tiles. A Jarldom Victory results when a player has all of their ships on Locations. A Theocracy Victory results when a player has all of their Theocracy Followers on Locations. And a Dominance Victory results when a player has all 4 Power Markers.”

“In Pax Renaissance, players have two actions each turn. As in other Pax games, they can acquire cards in a market, sell them out of the game, or play them into their tableau. They can also stimulate the economy by running trade fairs and trading voyages for Oriental goods. A map of Europe with trade routes from Portugal to Crimea is included, and discovering new trade routes can radically alter the importance and wealth of empires, ten of which are in the game. As a Renaissance banker, players will finance kings or republics, sponsor voyages of discovery, join secret cabals, or unleash jihads and inquisitions. Their choices determine whether Europe is elevated into the bright modern era or remains festering in dark feudalism. Four victories determine the future course of Western Society: Will it be towards imperialism, trade globalization, religious totalitarianism, or enlightened art and science?”

“In High Frontier 4 All, players represent a space enterprise in the near future, spanning about 100 years from now. Their goal is to initiate the exploration and industrialization of the solar system. The game has several variants but the main goal is to build factories on various locations in the solar system. To do this, they need to be smart when developing technologies and daring but precise when navigating the solar system with their space craft. High Frontier’s iconic map is the most complete representation of the solar system in any game ever published and their options and combinations for strategies are next to limitless.”

“Module 3 adds a War of Independence to the High Frontier 4 All experience. Previously, combat was merely opportunistic; now, all ingredients of organized warfare are present: the ideological and economic difference leading to the outbreak of war, the Earth blockades and blockade runners, shutdown of boosting, collapse of the water market and stock prices, confiscation of Homer Bernals, exomigration stifled, market replaced by black market, and the programmers on strike.”

Comparisons:  The other games in the Pax series are likley the best comparisons, particularly considering how the Eklunds and their company, Sierra Madre games, have a very specific design style that stands apart from most other board games. The most famous (and mainstream) of their games is probably the re-design of Pax Pamir by Cole Wehrle, the designer of Root. But keep in mind that his redesign made the game more digestible by a mainstream audience. Pax Viking is Sierra Madre’s attempt at making an introductory game in their series to help outsiders get their feet wet in the series. Other games in the Pax series include Pax Emancipation, Pax Porfiriana, Pax Transhumanity; and some other games produced by Sierra Madre include John Company, Neandrathal, Bios: Genesis, Bios: Megafauna, and Bios: Origins.

What Should I Pledge?:
$14 Conflict: just the expansion Module 3 – Conflict for High Frontier 4 All, including all applicable stretch goals (it does not include the base game).
$64 Renaissance: a copy of the newly-printed 2nd Edition of Pax Renaissance, including all applicable stretch goals.
$64 Viking: a copy of the new Pax Viking, including all applicable stretch goals.
$74 Politician: combines the rewards from the Conflict and Renaissance pledge levels.
$74 Explorer: combines the rewards from the Conflict and Viking pledge levels.
$105 All-In High Frontier: includes the High Frontier base game, plus modules 0-3, including all applicable stretch goals.
$109 Historian: combines the rewards of the Renaissance and Viking pledge levels.
$119 Completionist: combines the rewards of the Conflict, Renaissance, and Viking pledge levels.

Add-Ons:
$15 High Frontier 4 All Module 1: Terrawatt & Futures
$18 High Frontier 4 All Module 2: Colonization
$65 High Frontier 4 All base game, including Module 0: Politics
* And while not specifically listed, Sierra Madre states on the Kickstarter page, “If you want a combination of games that are not in any of the pledge levels or if you want to add any other games and/or add-ons for combined shipping, they will all be available in the pledge manager after the campaign ends.”

KS Exclusives
This is unclear, but it’s possible that all of the additional cards and tiles that are campaign goals for the 3 games may be Kickstarter-exclusive.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $119 for the Completionist pledge, $65 for the High Frontier 4 All base game, $33 for High Frontier 4 All Modules 1-2, plus undisclosed shipping costs. The fact that Sierra Madre has not provided any kind of shipping estimates, makes a grand total impossible to calculate, but it will be $217 plus shipping costs.

Pax Viking, Pax Renaissance & High Frontier 4 All: Module 3 completes its Kickstarter on Friday, April 25th and tentatively ships in October 2020.