Part 1: Spring
Part 2: Summer
Part 3: Fall
Part 4: Winter
After a harsh Winter that saw some unfortunate casualties, Eyjolf heads into Spring, Year 2 with a good stockpile of resources and a couple of Hirðmenn. Other than planting many crops (that will hopefully succeed), what else will Eyjolf get into in prep for the Summer Raids?
Month 1, Spring
We’ve got Iron but no Hide (sold them all off). So the House Extension will have to wait. We start with some clear weather, so we head out to plant some crops. Eyjolf still has terrible Farming, and he never made or bought an Ard for a Plant Crops bonus. He’s going in with just +1 for his Farmhand. But we’ve got one field square with a bonus * which gives +2 when we go to Harvest. So with an okay roll, Barley gets planted into the good space. We go cut some Wood for our second Activity; the House Extension is expensive, so we’ll want an extra supply if we want to build or craft anything else.
Week 2, some Onions get planted. It’s a good roll, so it’s two field spaces. Then a really good Fishing trip gives us a pile of Meat and Oil. However, Week 3 is beset by Storms. There’s no way Eyjolf can go out to Build or Plant Crops with his low Farming and a -4 penalty for the Weather. Time to stay inside. We rest off our remaining wounds and get back to 7/7 HP and head to the local market to sell the Oil. Unfortunately, Eyjolf only gets 50% of the normal value for 12 Silver total. 1 Pea Seed is the only purchase. We get a single field space of Peas planted in Week 4, then a sad Fishing trip brings in 1 stinking Meat.
At the end of the Month, we dine on Meat since we have no other Food still. Didn’t get anything started in construction, but we’re too short-handed for the free box anyway. No event. A slow month, but things will pick up once the crops are planted. Though, I completely forgot about the Spring Festival. The Weather bonus is nice, but we have no Animals to sacrifice anyway. Maybe next year.
Month 2, Spring
Storms roll in. But I can’t waste time, so Eyjolf goes out to Hunt in the storm. No illness and he manages to make a basic trap for +1. And with a strong roll and my bonuses (3 Survival, +1 Hunt from the Hunting Spear, +1 from the Trap), we bring in a stag for 5 Meat and 1 Hide. We brave the storm again to cut more Wood. Week 2 saw Rain instead, so we repeat the process now that the modifier isn’t as bad. More Meat, Hide, and Wood.
Now that we’ve got our Hide, we can start building the House Extension (though we’re no longer a full house after that nasty Winter). However, the continued Rain prevents any actual progress. We then head indoors to make a Carving for +1 Happiness. Week 4 is back to Storms (what a lousy month!). Since we have a Shovel for a total of +4 for Mining Iron, we try but return empty-handed. Another Carving to bring us back to 2 Happiness.
We stockpiled so much Meat from Hunting that 2 go to waste, but that’s okay. Our Preserved Meat was restocked with 4 more. No free build on the House Extension since we’re still short-handed (might have to go hire Servants or buy Thralls), and another quiet month with no Event. We need the Weather to change in this last Month if we’re going to get any more crops planted.
Month 3, Spring
The Weather has finally cleared, so we get back to planting crops. A good roll fills up our fields (even wastes 1 since we only had 2 empty fields left) with more Onions. Maybe we should have built another Small Field but it’s a bit late in Spring to worry about it now. Eyjolf isn’t that great of a farmer anyway, so we’re happy with the one full field. We head out to do some Fishing but only bring in 1 Meat. Week 2, more clear Weather, so we go work on the building but only get 1 box. Our Fishing at least yields 5 Meat and 3 Oil. We’ll need some Oil to sell at the market.
Another Week of clear Weather. Let’s Explore! We get an amazing roll that gives us a Special Encounter. We come across the king’s convoy, however, at our pitiful Fame 1, he doesn’t stop for us and only nods. But we get a bit of Happiness from having glimpsed the king. We go back to Fishing and get another 1 Meat.
Week 4, we try Exploring again (we really should be building to get that Extension done) and come across a starving wolf. I toss him some Meat but he just takes it and runs off. Ah well. Our last Fishing trip brings in another large haul, giving us a total of 6 Oil to take to the market. At the end of the Month, our Preserved Meat is back up to 15. We get a Mishap Event, but it’s just some rodents looking to get into our Food (of which we have none, we only eat Meat in this house now). And thus ends Spring. We had some surprisingly good crops getting planted, we’ve got a stockpile of Oil to sell (probably looking to spend the money filling up the house again), got the House Extension started. We even have 7 Wood left for another project or some crafting. No Iron though.
The Summer Raids should be very rewarding this Year with our 2 Hirðmenn and Combat bonuses.
Thomas P. King, author and game designer 
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