Eketorp (German)

    1 game board
    6 gamers' sheets
  48 game pieces (8 each in 6 different colours)
  30 amulets
  54 fighting cards
  12 item cards   
126 construction items 
       60 green foliage
       48 brown wood
       12 natural mud
         6 grey stones  

The game proceeds in weeks, and every week runs down after the following scheme: 
1. The items of this week appear.
2. Every player plans simultaneously his movements and writes them down.
3. The recorded movements are executed.
4. Fights and sieges are carried out.
5. The obtained items are built into the strongholds.
6. All Vikings recover one step. Change of the starting player. 

I like the theme, which is strongly connected to more or less well-known ancient fortresses on the Swedish island Öland. It's a very light game, which brings down my personal rating, but still it quite okey as a filler or as a family game. It's worst default is the need of paper and pen, but it can be solved with my player mat, where you secretly can deploy your armies on behind a screen or your arm sleeve. The battle mechanism is nice, as the winner or looser has to change battle cards, which will even out future fight. Still everyone can use one amulet to change battle cards just before a fight.