Reviews

This sleeper hit was one of the initial Firebird Silver releases.

The rules are pretty simple which makes it easy to get to grips with, but like all good strategy games there are certain subtleties that you'll only pick up with a lot of practice; the basic Viking warriors are the bulk of your force and necessary to capture castles, but catapults can be devastatingly powerful with accurate supporting fire and boats, although an expensive gamble, can allow you to outflank opponents and break out of an isolated corner.

Don't be fooled by the primitive graphics and obvious use of BASIC here; this is a fun strategy game, especially so with multiple players.

Viking Raiders is a fairly simple turn based war / strategy game loosely based on the game Battle 1917 which preceded it by about a year.

The basic aim of the game is to defeat the other Vikings by taking over their castle , this was done with the clever use of the limited resources , soldiers , ships and deadly catapults. These had to be purchased at various costs , soldiers could either defend , move into battle , get drunk (if they went next to the drinking sacks dotted around the map) or collect gold from the treasure chests to boost your war funds.

The land was covered in a network of rivers and the only way to traverse them was by ship , each ship could carry 3 Vikings up and down the map , the could disembark the ship anytime the ship was near land so they were a good way to sneak up and capture an enemy castle or launch an attack on some unsuspecting soldiers.

Catapults were used every turn to fire one shot across the map , this could also sink ships which could prove costly if you were carrying 3 Vikings.

The movement was simple enough , a 1 – 9 directional control was used to point and move each man , ship or catapult , then pick the length of movement , also between 1 and 9 blocks , if you collided with another Vikings troops a random battle would break out with some nice animation , one Viking would be victorious and continue in the game , the other would be killed !

After about 15 turns the rivers would freeze over , reducing the ships usage , ships could get locked in the ice and were no longer of use , opening up the whole area for use on foot.

If and when an enemy viking reached your castle , he could attack and if successful take over your base , thus ending your game. The last viking left standing won the game.

The great thing about Viking raiders besides its simplicity was the fact you could have multiplayer games , which at time was quite unusual , 1 – 4 players took part , any combination of human / computer controlled players could take part and it made for some smart battles , the computer did have 1 mayor advantage though , its catapult could fire anywhere on the map where yours could only fire a maximum of 9 blocks in length. It didn’t spoil it though and you just had to plan ahead.

Viking raiders was and is a great little game , it was released by firebird on their budget range and is still a fun game to play now , its remembered with great fondness and If you haven’t played it , bypass the simple graphics and give it a go !

This game is a classic... the fun with friends or siblings playing against each other (leading to many arguments) was great and one of the of most enjoyable multiplayer hotseat budget titles for the speccy.

As a fan I am doing a remake (30 years edition) for windows and mobiles.

1984 Firebird Software (UK)
by Mark Lucas

This was one of the earliest efforts from Firebird. By this time war strategy games, together with soccer games, became very popular in the Spectrum machine, much more than in other platforms. I never did own a copy of Viking Raiders, but I would certainly have played it extensively, as I was a strategy games nuts, right after playing Football Manager for the first time, and then Dictator from D'K tronics. I wrote a few myself.
Anyway Viking Raiders, also written in BASIC, as were the other two above mentioned games without affecting much the gameplay, is slightly different. There is little management to do, and plays more as a board game, a bit like Stonkers.
After selecting the number of players (1-4), a one-screen map is drawn and everything happens in front of you without any map scrolling. You then buy armies, boats, catapults, and move them thru the board, trying to win the game.
Sounds simple, looks simple, plays simple, but I used to love Stonkers, even with it's limitations, and although I'm less familiar with Viking Raiders, and can easily see I good this game was in 1984, even if today seems outdated.

My vote is mostly influenced by Brunhilda's resemblance to Vicky the Viking.

unforgettable memories
...for the cartoon

Good Strategy efforts! Altough with the logical limitations, but you can see the principles and basics of the genre.

Good fun, in-game graphics not marvelous but only functional assets

Norse Sagas also fits well. Pity that it doesn't include clear elements of the Norse mythology {Yes, I was thinking about Age of Mythology!!}