Nordic Industrial Strategy

Man this Nordic Industrial Strategy was tough to nail down! I tested A LOT of other strategies that all ultimately either took too long, had popularity issues, or just felt clunky and not fun to play. The Nordic Industrial strategy I landed on is a 3 worker “minimalist” approach that should get you a W in 20-21 turns.

What I like about it is that it feels very streamlined and consistent in results. However, the thing I don’t love about it is not having doable objectives forces you to find your last star elsewhere. More on a solution to that after the step by step.

Nordic Industrial Strategy Step by Step

• Turn 1 Move the worker on oil to the village toward Rusviet, move the worker on wood to oil.
• Turn 2 Trade for 2 metal.
• Turn 3 Produce.
• Turn 4 Move workers back to oil.
• Turn 5 Produce.
• Turn 6 Trade for 2 wood.
• Turn 7 Bolster power, Upgrade Bolster power and Deploy.
• Turn 8 Produce, Deploy speed.
• Turn 9 Bolster power, Upgrade Bolster CC and Build.
• Turn 10 Move 1 worker with a mech to the mountain, move Bjorn to the mountain and do the encounter. You need to select the first option here because this strategy ends at exactly 7 popularity including 1 from an encounter. The only other thing that can be helpful is paying to gain an upgrade as it gets you that star 2 turns earlier. Build your monument, check if either of your 2 territories counts towards the building bonus.
• Turn 11 Produce.
• Turn 12 Bolster power, Upgrade Move and Upgrade.
• Turn 13 Produce, Deploy Seaworthy mech.
• Turn 14 Bolster power, Upgrade w.e you want at this point
• Turn 15 You can either start moving out to the center of the board to start claiming territories or Produce and deploy. It just depends on how the game is going. You DON’T want to spend much power here though, as you need the max power star. Technically you could spend 2 power and a combat card if there is an especially weak opponent. For the step by step sake, we are going to say you produced and deployed artillery.
• Turn 16 Bolster power this will get you max power star, Upgrade w.e.
• Turn 17 Produce, Deploy your last mech.
• Turn 18 Bolster for 2 CC, do your final Upgrade.
• Turn 19 Move to the factory, win combats, complete objectives.
• Turn 20 Use your factory cards movement to win combat, gain territories, and complete objectives. If you didn’t have a completable objective you will need to start alternating between trade for 2 wood and move/build instead
• Turn 21 Move and get that final combat or objective completion, whatever remains. Or if you didn’t have an objective continue to alternate trade and build.

Tips and Thoughts

So, you should be in a good place to end the game by turn 20 or 21 with an endgame score of about 80 coins. This should be enough to get you the W, as scores don’t usually get crazy until turn 23+. Just make sure you don’t lose popularity in combat and drop into the bottom tier, you have no room for error there.

In the event that you cant complete an objective your chances of victory do go down a bit. The plus side is that even though you add 6 turns, you also add territories that you control. Try to build your buildings for the building bonus as you will need to squeeze every coin out at this point. In low player count games, you also have the opportunity to snag an extra encounter or two.

Anyway, that’s it for my Nordic Industrial Strategy, take it for a spin and let me know what you think in the comments below! Use it in conjunction with my general Nordic Strategy Guide and it should net you some victories! Check the game out at Stonemaier Games if you haven’t already! I don’t get paid for this I just love the game and think you will too!