Dear supporter!
Let me introduce to you our history-themed board game. In this game you will travel back in time to the Viking Age, to a time when brave adventurers sailed the seas and rivers to many distant lands to bring home treasure gained through trade or conquest. As a player, you are an intrepid sailor who, defying many difficulties, attempts to bring home as much Arabic silver as possible. At the beginning of the game, you will get Viking ships loaded with Nordic beaver skins. You will then head to the east and to the far south to trade them in the rich Byzantine and Arab cities. There you can exchange beaver skins for silver in the shape of Arabic silver coins, which you can subsequently use to acquire cities, ships and followers.
The game board, the playing cards and the game box are all illustrated with original drawings by the artist Epp Margna. All the illustrations on the board are related to the Viking era, including themes from mythology, culture, shipping, nature and economic geography. The texts on the 64 playing cards also give small insights into the Viking Age.
The game is made of natural materials and is as historically factual as possible. Birch, cherry, walnut and ebony trees have been used to make the wooden buttons, 50 melchior coins are reduced copies of dirhems found in the Viking age settlement at Rõuge. The only plastic playing pieces are the dice, that were created to look like Viking era bone dice.
Playing "The Vikings of the Eastern Road" is fun but also very educational, as it helps better understand the events of a world separated from us by over a thousand years. In addition, you can find out more about the historical background of the game HERE. Many researchers from the Universities of Tartu and Tallinn, the Estonian Maritime Museum and elsewhere have helped create the game. Our sincere thanks go to the helpers: Arvis Kiristaja, Anti Lillak, Ragnar Saage, Eve Rannamäe, Mauri Kiudsoo, Laura Mihkelson and many others.
I myself am a teacher of crafts and technology who some years ago, together with my wife, had an idea to create an experimental craft centre to learn about the past lives and technologies of ancient Estonia, based on hands-on, personal experience. We found a suitable place for this in Rõuge, where some of the oldest Arab coins in Northern Europe have also been found. Thanks to friends at the University of Tartu, the many volunteers and supporters, all the buildings of Rõuge Ancient Farmstead have now been finished. Alongside these reconstructions we also now offer various educational activities for both young and old.
Subsequently the idea arose for us to create an educational game, one that would help people gain knowledge of the Viking Age and a better understanding of the trade and economy of this past world. The game is suitable for history enthusiasts from the age of 14 and over.
The development process, which took more than a year, is nearing completion. The English-language playing cards, the game board and game box are still to be printed and the melchior coins to be minted. Now you can also support this game. The gift will be sent in a parcel directly to your home.
If we collect 9000 euros, the board game will be produced in English and Estonian. If we manage to collect 14 000 euros, the board game will also be produced in Swedish.
Many thanks!
Tiit
