What follows is not a comprehensive guide to the 190 occupation cards in A Feast for Odin, but my play notes from using or choosing not to use the occupation cards I have drawn. With 114 plays of A Feast for Odin under my belt, I have probably seen most if not all of the cards, but I only started these notes–which originated as a Board Game Geek thread– after I passed the 100 games mark, the point at which i realized I definitely had my favorite cards, as well as certain cards that would oddly make their way to me despite the improbability of seeing a particular card in back to back games (Farmer perhaps being the most conspicious example of a card that likes to fall into my hand).
This post will periodically be updated as I play more A Feast for Odin, as I find it easier to write the card commentary after I have used it, or not used it, in a recent game. Currently, 31 of the 190 occupation cards have commentary. However, I doubt I will write anything for the banned cards or the “recommended to remove” card list that appeared in the Harvest expansion.
The cards that I have played in recent games:
Farmer (48 A; as an anytime action, exchange a cow for a jewelry) is one of the strongest of the blue anytime cards. Sure, you can upgrade cows to green jacket tiles with viking actions, but with Farmer, you can shoot them all the way up to blue tiles with no vikings. Towards mid to end game, you need larger blue tiles to abut your green tiles, while large green tiles often have too many points of contact to place them easily on your board without spending hacksilver. If I have to spend vikings to turn my cow into a jacket and then spend silver to fit it on my board, that’s not as good a deal as simply placing a jewelry tile, and using the vikings for some other action. The combination of free upgrade actions and easier puzzling makes Farmer an incredibly powerful card, and if you draw it, you should make a run on acquiring cows, whether through the animal market or through Orkney. In Norwegians, with Farmer in play, the 4V animal market could be used to get 2 jewelry tiles (spend 3 hacksilver and a grain for 2 cows, then trade them in for jewelry with Farmer immediately), which isn’t as strong as the 4V crafting action, but farmer is much easier to do with this card in play.
Any card that gives you free tiles should be played, and Cottager (15 C; when played, get 1 mead per house, and thereafter, receive one pelt per house built) is no exception. It’s better to play this card early than late, as pelt income is better than bonus mead.
Wholesaler (83 A). A yellow “one-time” card which lets you upgrade four tiles of the same type. Another card good for animal or market strategies, also whaling, or any other spot you can spam round after round for the same tiles. It’s really strong if you have a pile of cows you’re done with—voila! Four jackets. On the four viking mountain strip action space, I’ve used this to flip four fruit baskets to whaling meat, then double upgrade two of those to the large chests. But probably strongest with a pile of cows and a bunch of exploration boards you want to capitalize on quickly.
Ore Boatman (9 A, +1 ore per longship, just prior to income phase. Must be placed immediately on a board (i.e. not on a ship.)) Ore is extremely useful in A Feast for Odin, and any way you can produce it should be explored. If you have the income, it’s definitely worth buying extra longships before income phase to make the extra ore. Even if you can’t use it for crafting, whaling, or pillaging, making some free ore every round to fill gaps will save you hacksilver, which will save you points. The point value of this card is probably pretty high if it is used early and capitalized upon by shrewd longship purchases. If you have four longships, this card is basically making the equivalent of a small (2×2) chest every round. I’ve had three longships with this card, and it’s still nice at that level of production. With one longship, it’s moderately useful.
Modifier (39 C, allows you to return ore to your supply from ships.) Basically, you can swing your ore from your longships to your whaling ships and back again with Modifier in play. You can also snitch one for crafting or to fill in a pesky spot on one of your boards that you really need to fill to jump from 6 to 8 income. Also, at the end of the game, you can empty all your ships and use the ore to cover negatives.
Middleman (120b; on every weekly market stop, upgrade one tile for one hacksilver). Middleman is super strong with animal strategies, especially in Norwegians, with its enhanced Weekly Market action spaces. In a recent game, I used this a lot to flip fruit baskets to whaling meat, then to cloaks. Upgrading cows to jackets when you’re already getting a ton of milk or wool is pretty great. In a recent game with Middleman in play, on the 4V weekly market, I got not only a spice, a wool, a meat, and an herb, but used the hacksilver from that space to upgrade a cow to a jacket, then played Storeman (31C; see below) for an extra wool. All told: for four vikings and a cow, I got a spice, two wool, meat, herb, and a jacket. That’s 26 squares worth of blue and green to put on my homeboard and exploration boards. That’s 216% of a plunder action, not counting the food tiles for houses or the feast.
Forest Blacksmith (103C). Grab a resource from the mountain strips before any ore-consuming crafting action. A great source of action-free ore for crafting or puzzling, or stone for houses.
Master Tailor (44B; as an anytime action, trade a wool, a pelt, and a linen for a jacket and three hacksilver) is worth it if you can use the card at least once, but it’s even better if you have a way of making some of this stuff action free, which in a recent game I accomplished through bonus tiles from Labrador and the Cottager card. As I was already making wool with a sheep strategy, the combo gave me everything I needed to make several jackets in the endgame.
Herb Gardener (182C; as soon as you have two houses, exchange 2/5 lumber for 1/2 spice tiles) is a great card if you set up a lumber engine (e.g., homeboard bonus, Isle of Skye, Isle of Mull). If you must use actions to get the lumber, not so much. But it’s great thing to hand in five action-free lumber for two spices.
Milkman (119 b; +1 milk with every weekly market action) is one of the better unbanned starting cards, but Messenger (118 c; +1 mead and +1 stone with every weekly market action) is better. As I like animal strategies,
both are auto plays for me. Middleman (120 b; see below) is the strongest of the weekly market enhancing starting cards.
Chronicler (187B). Anytime card. Any time and as often as you wish, trade three flax for a chest. Also, but only during one of your viking actions, you may trade two flax for the belt special tile. Chronicler is ok in the base game, but it is one of the best anytime cards when expansions are in play. In Norwegians, flax is much easier to make, whether from the flax shed, Isle of Skye, or the 2V weekly market.
Chronicler also adds to a horse strategy, as it increases the value of the 2V market action, with the flax there feeding into chest production. Without horses, you’ll still get the flax from the 2V market, but you want the bonus grain to put in houses. You could hit the 2V market six or seven times in multiplayer, as many players undervalue the market, and all this saved flax would translate to possibly 18 points worth of chests. Maybe more points than that, as chests are good pieces on 3V islands like Waterford, Labrador, or Newfoundland, activating the big bonuses on these islands).
If you draw Chronicler early, take Isle of Skye and unlock its flax bonus, then buy horses if you can to make the 2V market better. In the best case scenario, having the flax shed, Isle of Skye, and 6 stops on the 2V weekly market, you’re looking at as many as 6 chest tiles, or about half the coverage of the homeboard. Plus you’ll have all that grain and mead from the market for your houses.
Chronicler’s restriction on taking the belt (which can only be taken with Chronicler on a viking action, unlike its anytime action of producing chests) is no doubt to prevent someone from taking the belt as an anytime action in the middle of another player’s raiding or pillaging action. Without this rule in play, you could roll an 8 on raiding, and another player with Chronicler could snipe the belt just as you’re picking your tile from the special tiles. A good limitation for this card.
Host (19C; 1x take a free silk, spice, or jewelry if you have 3, 4, or 5 special tiles). A one time yellow occupation card. As it is so easy to get five special tiles, I always play this mid to end-game for the jewelry. I suppose with a small island like Lofoten, it can be better to play earlier for the silk.
Storeman (31C; 1X if you have three tiles of one kind in your supply, get another of that kind). While Storeman CANNOT be used to get a free animal, it can be used to make a free wool or a fruit basket. This is a good card to combo with tiles you can either make quickly (wool, milk), or orange tiles that can accumulate in your supply, like the fruit baskets you accumulate when you’re making wool on the 3V weekly market in Norwegians, or like the cabbage bonus tiles you get from Shetland or Wexford. While it’s tempting to save jackets so you can make a free hacket with Storeman, you’re missing out on tons of income you might have made had you simply placed the jackets on your board immediately.
Preacher. (87A; 1X take the cross or four items from the mountain strip)
While there are competitive spots to lock down in multiplayer—fishing, the fur trapper—generally it is best to perform your planned 3V actions first, so the occupation card draw can factor into your strategy.
For instance, in a recent game, I had already planned on taking Isle of Skye to synergize its runestone bonus with my Undertaker card, but when I hit 3V crafting to take the anvil (among the best tiles for Skye), and drew Preacher there, I knew I should play Preacher before Undertaker, to combo the cross and the anvil in filling Skye. Taking an oil barrel from 1V fishing, and a linen from 1V craft flax to linen, I unlocked Skye’s income, wool, and runestone bonuses in round one.
Metalsmith. (73C; 1x pay 0/2/5 hacksilver for a silverware, the cross, or the chalice)
When you draw Metalsmith, you often don’t have the hacksilver to play it to full effect, so it figures into next round‘s actions. In this regard, it is somewhat less useful than Preacher, which has no prerequisites and can be played the round you get it. While you could take the cross with Metalmisth if you have 2 hacksilver, it usually seems better to save the card and the two hacksilver for next round, paying it towards the 5 hacksilver you need for the chalice. Despite the delayed effect of this card, the chalice is useful on many exploration boards, and I am usually happy to draw this card.
Metalsmith can be less useful when your table is focused on acquiring special tiles, especially in Norwegians, in which crafting is much better and you can use the Theft action. Sometimes you can plan to take the Chalice next round only to watch another player take it this round with a Viking action. If the chalice and the cross are both gone, this card isn’t nearly as good, although taking the silverware can feed into the powerful 4V crafting action.
Carpenter (121B; take one good from the mountain strips whenever you build houses or ships, an “each time” card) Carpenter is worthwhile in house-focused games, depending on the timing of your build actions. Combined with an early stone bonus, like on Isle of Man, Carpenter can be pretty strong. For instance, if you have a stone bonus activated, and a stone is open on a mountain strip, you can use the 3V build longhouse without going to the mountain strips, as you made one of the stone, and take the other stone prior to the action through Carpenter. To use Carpenter most efficiently, focus on the 3V and 4V build actions.
Undertaker (100b; get 1 hacksilver whenever you place a runestone on a board) is an overrated starter card. It earned me 7 free hacksilver in a recent game, and since the card is -1VP, it was a net 6VP overall. And I received five free runestones from Skye, one from my homeboard, and another from an oil barrel upgrade on overseas trading, so you can’t say I wasn’t exploiting this card. There are many better occupation cards than this, and most of the starter occupation cards are better.
Maximizing Undertaker to a greater degree would involve overinvestment in 1V crafting or upgrading too many oil barrels, so I can’t see this card breaking the single digits in VP production without undermining other areas of your strategy. Perhaps Undertaker might pay off more VP with frequent stops on overseas trading, assuming a good green tile engine to make it worthwhile. The reason to play this card, though, is it’s one of a handful of cards that provide you hacksilver between income phases. Need an extra hacksilver to buy a knarr? Undertaker can give you that extra coin if you have a runestone.
Dorestad Traveler (185B; on the raiding action space you may instead upgrade two tiles, an “each time” card) is a great card if you can play it early and build an early longship. (As the appendix says nothing about the prerequisites for using the raising action space, we can presume they are the same, and Dorestad Traveller requires a longship for this nonstandard use of the action space). A 2x upgrade action space for one Viking, and you get to block raiding when you use it. In multiplayer this card can be quite strong, as you get to enjoy a popular action space but with an entirely different use. In solo and 2P Norwegians, there is no 2x upgrade spot, and Dorestad Traveller gives that powerful action to only one of the players.
Ironsmith (108c; when you exchange ore on a crafting space, pay 1 hacksilver to return a Viking). One of the more powerful starter occupation cards, as it effectively lowers the cost of the 3 Viking ore crafting to two Vikings and a hacksilver, due to the refund of one Viking. Ore crafting is already one of the better early paths in the game, requiring neither ships nor hacksilver compared to raiding, pillaging, and the knarr market, and it is easy to get started with a minimum investment of one ore, and you can keep it going for as long as you like if you activate just one ore bonus. Ironsmith makes ore crafting even easier and cheaper in terms of actions. Ironsmith can be less useful at higher player counts due to blocking, as special tiles are wanted by any means available, and hence the card is strongest in solo and two player. Ironsmith is stronger in Norwegians (the Armory; more ore bonuses on islands; the sickle or elk horns easily unlock the homeboard’s ore bonus), and Harvest (ore token).
With Ironsmith, 2V chest crafting also becomes more interesting, as you can use your hacksilver from the action to refund one of your vikings, effectively giving you a 2×2 blue tile for one viking.
Sympathetic Soul (92C) and Wanderer (95A). As I played both for the first time in a recent game, and as they’re both similar to each other, providing useful resources when there is no harvest, I’m covering them in the same entry. We could call these cards, and others like them, “Alternative Harvest” cards, in that they give you a yield when you’re not supposed to get one, not unlike the brown backs of harvest tokens in the Harvest mini-expansion. These cards synergize well not only with Harvest, but WITH each other.
Wanderer provides two free resources from a mountain strip in non-harvest rounds, which means, if you could play it round one, you would be guaranteed three payouts, or six resources, in a classic long or short game and anywhere from three to four payouts for a Harvest long game or two to four payouts for a Harvest short game. I played it round two of a recent Harvest short game, and it paid off three times, giving me lumber and stone in early rounds, and hacksilver and ore in the endgame. What a sweet card! I can’t believe I never played it before.
Sympathetic Soul is not quite as strong, as it requires engine building to make it worthwhile. That said, it is worth more straight VP. With Sympathetic Soul, on no-harvest rounds you get 1, 2, or 3 hacksilver if you have 3, 4, or 5+ special tiles. I played it mid-game and got paid out 3 hacksilver twice. Counting its 1VP card value, this card was worth 7 VP to my score. Extra income is always nice.
Etiquette Teacher (176B; receive 1 peas tile every time you play an occupation). Any card worth 3+ VP should probably be played, as it’s already worth as much as a VP chip, aside from the first two VP chips. Additionally, each pea tile in a house covers a negative VP, and hence is worth 1 VP.
Don’t get me wrong. This is one of the least exciting cards in the game. No one gets dealt Etiquette Teacher and thinks, “WOW! I have to rethink my entire strategy!” It is, however, a useful card.
Ship’s Architect (46B; as an anytime action, you may trade 3 lumber and a wool or a linen for a longship).
Ship’s Architect is more useful with an early lumber bonus, either from the Lumberjack’s Hut, or the lumber bonuses on your homeboard, Lofoten, Isle of Mull, or Isle of Skye. Skye synergizes particularly well with this card, making not only lumber but wool.
Generally speaking, I prefer getting my ships action-free. I often buy longships and knarrs as anytime actions with hacksilver rather than build them with viking actions. Ship’s Architect gives you another action-free method to make ships. Three lumber and a wool sounds expensive, but when you’re making lots of wool from Skye or a sheep strategy, and have a lumber bonus or two, it can seem better to trade three lumber, a wool, and NO vikings for a longship rather than THREE Vikings and two lumber, especially in the mid-game to end-game, when vikings are worth more and more points. And if we ompare it to the standard buy longship anytime action (8 hacksilver–>1 longship), a pile of lumber isn’t worth any VP, and a wool is only worth whatever negatives it covers, while 8 hacksilver are worth 8 VP.
Ship’s Architect can also surprise your opponents when they’re not paying attention to your occupation card plays. When you have no longship in your harbor, they might think the pillaging and 3V explore actions are safe from you, and choose other actions, letting you pump out a quick longship with Ship’s Architect before your Viking action, so that you can take the action space unexpectedly. Having no ship, but a wool and a pile of lumber, you could even play Ship’s Architect on the 4V Explore action space, churn out your first longship, and take Waterford, as occupation card plays and 4V Viking actions can be performed in whatever order you wish.
Skinner (157C; each sheep or cow used in the feast gives you a bones (2×3 green)).
A weaker but more versatile version of Farmer (see above), although drawing either makes my eyes light up, as I like animal strategies in A Feast for Odin. Skinner is similar to Farmer in that it provides an action-free method of animal conversion into tiles, it is more versatile in that you can translate sheep as well as cows, and it is weaker in that it is not an anytime action (although it does not cost an action to use, it occurs outside of action phase entirely), and you get a smaller green tile rather than a blue tile. While the conversion rate for Farmer is better (cow->jewelry is 3:8), Skinner’s conversion rate for cows is still acceptable (3:6). To use Skinner to its fullest potential, get sheep and cows breeding as soon as possible, and use those non-pregnant sheep and cows that aren’t being used as a milk or wool engine in feast phase for the free green tile. Note that you can use Skinner as often as you want in a feast, so you can place one sheep vertically and one horizontally to get two bones tiles.
In the final round, you could potentially place three sheep in the feast (right side up and two vertical) to make three bones after action phase to finish filling in your homeboard and islands. There are lots of places to slip 2×3 green tiles on the exploration boards, and if you’re planning for it, you can make this even easier for yourself.
One nice side effect of Skinner, and certainly a plus when compared with Farmer, is you can save smaller food tiles to place in longhouses. Hence, longhouses become a priority on playing Skinner, or you might end up with a heap of unused food. If you are not inclined to buy longhouses, you shouldn’t convert cows with this card, as it would be better to use harvest and bonus food on the feast, and upgrade cows on the mountain strips with no more than 2 vikings. But sheep are always worth converting with Skinner (2:6 action free, saved hacksilver during feast phase, and saved food for houses).
Best strategies: sheep, cows, longhouses, with cows being contingent on longhouses.
Linen Weaver (59A; as an anytime action, trade two flax + two hacksilver for two linen.) Another flax-converting card. I love the flax converting cards. While Linen Weaver is not as strong as Chronicler (see above in this thread), it is still a strong card, and worth playing if you capitalize on flax production (Isle of Skye, Weekly Market/Horses).
If you draw both Linen Weaver and Chronicler, play Chronicler. Three flax for a 3×3 blue chest is better than two flax and two silver for 2 1×4 green. While the linen are more versatile tiles, useful on small islands like Loftoten or big islands like Wateford, they are green tiles, not blue, and you have to pay silver to produce the tiles. Chronicler is better, but Linen Weaver is still a good card.
Linen Weaver can feed into 2V crafting (linen+pelt=>jacket+silver), especially if you have a method of pelt production, like hunting, the Cottager card, or a stone house.
Best strategies: Isle of Skye, Horses, Longhouses. While you can get the flax on the 2V Norwegians Weekly Market without horses, it is a shame to stop there to get flax, and not be able to take the grain. Taking two horses early on will make 24-30 VP worth of horses by endgame, plus when you hit the 2V Market for flax you will get more food for your feast or houses. So Horses/Longhouses aren’t necessary to make Linen Weaver work, but they do feed into each other nicely, letting you make tons of points from horses and houses. Why wouldn’t you do this if you were planning on exploiting this card?
Clerk (88C; before Overseas Trading, one diagonal upgrade (see below) per knarr, at a cost of one hacksilver per upgrade.) A fantastic card. There are three cards like this (the other two are Ship’s Cook 36A or Foreign Trader 37A), and this one is more versatile, and arguably the stronger of the two. While Foreign Trader lets you upgrade one item before Overseas Trading for free, and it is a straight upgrade of the same size, Clerk lets you upgrade on the diagonal once per knarr, at a cost of one silver an upgrade.
A So while Foreign Trader lets you flip a cow (3×4 red) to a jacket (3×4 green) before overseas trading, which you can bump up again by overseas trading to a loot tile (3×4 blue), with Clerk, if you have three Knarrs, you can pay three silver, then upgrade a cow to a cloak (3×3 green), a whaling meat to a fur (2×4 green), and a sheep to a bones (2×3 green), then upgrade ALL of those to blue with your overseas trading action, ending with a chest (3×3 blue), jewelry (2×4 blue), and a spice (2×3 green).
If you draw Clerk, it may be better never to buy a longship, and instead fill your harbor with knarrs. While this bars you from raiding and pillaging, and any 3V islands like Waterford, it also lets you do 4 upgrades before overseas trading, which is a fantastic advantage. There’s no reason why someone who draws Clerk in round one shouldn’t have their entire homeboard filled up by midgame, even while working on an island or two.
When you consider just how much fast income Clerk can give you on your homeboard or islands, this may be the most valuable card in the game. Being not only a quick tile converter but an action saver (giving you all those upgrades for just one viking, or maybe two), it would be hard to estimate just how many points Clerk is worth. Ship’s Cook and Foreign Trader are strong cards too, but not as strong as Clerk.
Best strategies: Cows, Sheep, Whaling, Fast Income (for buying knarrs, so Isle of Man or Iceland could be good). You want big red tiles every time you land on overseas trading, so you should try to start cow breeding as early as possible, or acquire Orkney if you can get it. If you focus on getting cows and sheep breeding in the early game, you could get your whaling meat tile as a bonus by grabbing Greenland. Shetland could also be good, as you’d have a 2×3 meat to convert to a 2×2 chest.
Catapulter (89a; when raiding and pillaging, stone is worth not +1, but +2 each)
Catapulter is the one die-roll bonus card that I like, as you can use it on both raiding and pillaging, and stone bonuses are now pretty common between the homeboard and the exploration boards. On playing Catapulter, it’s good to activate as many stone bonuses as possible. I would buy the longship after the stone bonuses are unlocked, as activating the bonus stone will feed into income production, which can be used to then buy your longship without using valuable actions.
Once you’ve accumulated a stash of stone and a longship, of course you use it to grab the largest tiles that you can. Catapulter and enough stone can bring the largest special tiles within your reach much sooner than the other players.
Mountain Guard (122A; when taking 2/3/4 goods from a mountain strip, take a mead/pelt/small chest)
Mountain Guard proved a surprisingly strong card in a recent game, especially combined with Catapulter, above. While you get the free tile on any mountain strip action space where you get 2-4 resources, the trick to maximizing Mountain Guard is to have big tiles to upgrade, and hit the spots that give you both upgrades and resources at the same time, like the 4V Norwegians action space which gives you 4 resources and two double upgrades, or the 3V 1-2P Norwegians action space which gives you 3 resources and two upgrades. When I played Mountain Guard, I accumulated cows and sheep, as per usual, so when I hit the 4V mountain strip, I got not only 4 resources and a small chest, but upgraded two cows to two loot tiles. While I was mainly taking the action space for the upgrades, having to cart away goods, I took as much stone as I could, which synergized well with Catapulter. A great card combo to have, as all the stone I was taking put the larger special tiles in my reach very early in the game, not only the shield but the English Crown.
Some cards I did not play in recent games:
Meat Trader (25B; a one time bonus of one 1×4 red meat for each knarr in your harbor). A very situational card. It could be a strong play, and I did have three knarrs when I drew this card recently, but I drew it in round seven, when my strategy was basically already committed for the round. While I had longhouses, I already had food to fill them, so I passed on this for another 1x card.
Punchcutter (173B; when ore is taken from a mountain strip to the supply, get 1 silver; when silver is taken from a mountain strip to the supply, get 2 silver). I have never played this card. While my intuition tells me it could be strong, especially in a multi-player game featuring lots of mountain strip actions, the card is too passive to get me excited. I should try it some time? Free income/points sounds good. The more I play, the more I save hacksilver for the point value, so this would only add to my score. And in a recent game (See above in this thread), other passive cards–Sympathetic Soul and Wanderer–proved very strong in the Harvest expansion. So while I’ve never played this card, it makes me think every time I draw it.
Sword Fighter (90C; remove ore from your longship for +2 on raiding). Essentially, Sword Fighter lets you use ore on raiding, and doubles the value of that ore to boot, even if it does make the ore a consumable resource.
Unless I’m really wanting to change things up, I rarely play die roll bonus cards. In multiplayer, a card like Sword Fighter is too easy to block, and in solo, you can only use raiding three or four times. Should I waste a valuable card play on that, or something that converts or acquires tiles without risk, and in many cases, without an action? (The one exception to this personal rule is Catapulter, which is a pretty good card, as you can use it on both raiding and pillaging, so you have more opportunities to use it).
Sword Fighter can be stronger in two player than in solo or higher player counts, as there is less competition for the raiding action space, especially when only one player has a longship. If you can activate multiple ore bonuses, so you’re not wasting actions on acquiring ore, and if you can hit raiding five times or more, Sword Fighter can be worth it. At higher player counts, too many people want that action space, and you’re better off playing another card. At 4P, you may only be able to take the raiding action space one time.
Innkeeper (71C; take the drinking horn from another player’s board and replace it with a chest/runestone combo from the supply). Even considering the -1 VP, Innkeeper is a great card if the drinking horn is taken, but absolutely worthless when it’s not. Much better at higher player counts, when the drinking horn is more likely to be taken.
Village Leader (165A; if you have a jacket (3×4 green) in your supply, get 2 hacksilver before the feast). It’s worth 3 VP, and about as good as a VP chip, and probably the only reason I would ever play this card. Having this and Etiquette Teacher in hand, I chose to play the latter instead. Should I keep a valuable engine builder like a jacket in my supply or unlock income on my boards?
Weapons Supplier (32A; a one-time card which gives you 2/5/10 weapon cards if you have 1/2/3 longships). I have used this one in the past, and it worked out handsomely. I tend these days to work non-risk paths like crafting, sheep, and animal upgrades, only jumping into raiding and pillaging when I can make a longship action free, but I almost played this card to get some extra weapon cards on the Theft action space. Remember, the occupation card and the action can be played in any order, so you could use Weapon Supplier to give you a big bonus on the Theft action. I chose to play another card instead.
Sower (169C; during harvests, produce an extra flax or grain if you already have flax or grain in your supply). I have played Sower before. While it isn’t a horrible card, it is more of a helper card that links with other, stronger cards. Hence, it is rarely played. It synergizes well with Chronicler, Linen Weaver, and the other occupation cards that consume flax. I may not be seeing the full potential of this card, such as how making extra grain can quickly fill houses or feed into a heavy animal strategy.
Board of Life 