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Description
The generations before you have relied on harvesting the oceans. But as the 19th century ends, change and opportunity reach your fishing village in northern Norway.
In Saltfjord, you must decide if you will expand your settlement with new buildings, send your boat to collect fish, engage in trade, or pioneer new technologies to make everyday life easier. How will you shape the destiny of your village?
Saltfjord is set in a Norwegian fishing village, and is loosely based on the dice drafting mechanisms from "Santa Maria", but the game has otherwise been completely redesigned and expanded with new elements.
To add to the replayability, the game has lots of variable elements in the set-up, such as what special abilities and end scoring tiles are available.
Over three rounds, players draft dice to activate buildings in their settlement. This provides resources as well as activating actions such as sending out your fishing boat, advancing along the various technology tracks, completing trade orders, or erecting new buildings.
Each player's player board shows a grid. When you draft a die, you activate all buildings in the row or column corresponding to that die. By erecting buildings in your settlement, each die can activate more buildings.
The technology tracks unlock special abilities, such as upgrading your fishing boat. And fishing is an important part of daily life in Saltfjord.
—description from the publisher
Year Published
2024
Featured Videos
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 4
This page: 4
Sentiment:
pos 4 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–4 of 4
Video xaeS2-XJYHo
Toy Tabled playthrough at 0:03 sentiment: positive
video_pk 41273 · mention_pk 125250
Click to watch at 0:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Flexible upgrade path via a special power that lets you upgrade any of the basic goods
- Engaging puzzle of activating a grid by moving dice and managing resources
- Rich multi-track scoring with boardwalks, crates, tech, and orders
- Solo mode with clear objective to beat a high score
- Varied reward pathways (tech, shipping, upgrades) keep gameplay dynamic
Cons
- Complex rule set may be intimidating for new players
- High planning overhead and potential for fiddly management of dice and tokens
- Endgame scoring involves many components that can be easy to miss without careful tracking
Thematic elements
- Settlement development, fishing, trade, and technological advancement
- End of the 19th century, Northern Norway fishing village
- Solo commentary with instructional playthrough
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- boardwalk scoring — Filling boardwalk spaces with matching tiles yields additional points; meeting boardwalk-related objectives is key to scoring.
- building placement and row/column activation — Players place large buildings on a fixed grid by spending resources; activation of a column/row triggers actions and upgrades.
- dice-driven action selection / activation — White and orange dice determine which buildings can be activated; dice are moved along a grid and/or spent to activate actions.
- orders and crates — Orders can be fulfilled to gain points; retiring triggers crate-related upgrades and additional scoring opportunities.
- retirement and dock upgrades — Retiring at end of a round triggers dock-based upgrades and end-of-round scoring for the player's crates and orders.
- ship and fishing track — Shipping action moves a ship along zones, draws fish, and delivers tokens to the boat, with higher advancement yielding better rewards.
- tech track — Technology actions advance markers on a technology track, unlocking new capabilities and better rewards.
- Track advancement — Technology actions advance markers on a technology track, unlocking new capabilities and better rewards.
- upgrades and flexible resource conversion — A special ability allows upgrading any one of three goods (wood, grain, paper) into higher-value goods, providing flexibility.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the heart of the game is this board right here and manipulating this to do what you need to do
- special power is going to let us upgrade any one of these three kind of lesser Goods
- this is the shipping action
- platinum that's excellent
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video YgLpB-FtXEM
Doly TBL top_10_list at 12:45 sentiment: positive
video_pk 36877 · mention_pk 149417
Click to watch at 12:45 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- remake/reimagining of a beloved Santa Maria mechanic
- potentially improved art and theme with fresh setting
Cons
- must preserve core dice mechanism that fans expect
Thematic elements
- fishing industry, trade, and exploration
- Norwegian fishing village; reimagining Santa Maria
- dice drafting/placement as a core rhythm
Comparison games
- Santa Maria
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice drafting — take a die and place it in a row or column to activate actions
- Dice drafting and placement — take a die and place it in a row or column to activate actions
- grid-based action activation — as dice are activated, you trigger actions across the grid
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's an Allstar cast of designers led by Antoine Boza of Seven Wonders and ghost stories Fame
- absolutely my most anticipated game of the year
- Slay the Spire the board game is incredible
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video vNpScAP8yFc
Peaky Boardgamer rules_teach at 0:20 sentiment: positive
video_pk 13510 · mention_pk 39516
Click to watch at 0:20 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Interesting dice activation mechanism
- Multiple strategic paths
- Varied technology tracks
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Village development
- Norwegian village
- Resource management
Comparison games
- Santa Maria
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice placement — Players use dice to activate building columns and rows
- Resource management — Players collect and upgrade resources
- technology tracks — Players advance on four different technology tracks
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The game is played in three rounds
- Players can use fish to alter die values
- After three rounds, the player with most points wins
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video uCDhmaxhU_0
R runs through playthrough at 0:14 sentiment: positive
video_pk 6397 · mention_pk 114509
Click to watch at 0:14 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Engaging and meaningful dice drafting with clear branching paths
- Strong engine-building with multiple viable endgame strategies
- Two-player asymmetry via unique starting powers and layouts
- Boardwalk bonuses add satisfying mid- and endgame incentives
- Solo mode offers a distinct drafting experience that enhances replayability
- Flexible strategies—shipping, upgrading, or building—depending on setup
Cons
- Rule complexity can be intimidating for new players
- Early rounds can feel tight or constrained by setup and available spaces
- Dice luck can influence early options, potentially skewing early turns
- Downtime can occur if both players chase the same tracks or buildings
- Visual clutter and iconography may require careful reading or reference.
Thematic elements
- fishing industry, local town management, and trade
- 18th-century Norway fishing towns; Saltford
- historical realism; village-level tension and growth
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Boardwalk bonuses and endgame tracks — Filling rows/columns activates boardwalk bonuses; advancing on technology tracks unlocks bonus points and abilities that impact endgame scoring.
- dice drafting — Players draft colored dice to trigger actions from their own board, with color and value guiding which spaces and buildings they activate.
- Fishermen and shipping actions — Fisherman tokens and upgrades enable enhanced fishing and the option to ship goods to neighboring towns for points.
- Resource upgrading and conversion — Starting goods can be upgraded to higher quality goods using dice results and special powers (e.g., paper to planks via a power, etc.).
- Technology tracks and endgame scoring — Four separate tracks provide ongoing bonuses and endgame scoring implications, including faster selling, upgraded goods, and efficiency bonuses.
- tile placement — Players place regular or special buildings on their village board, activating powers and unlocking boardwalk bonuses when rows/columns are completed.
- Tile placement / building placement — Players place regular or special buildings on their village board, activating powers and unlocking boardwalk bonuses when rows/columns are completed.
- Track advancement — Four separate tracks provide ongoing bonuses and endgame scoring implications, including faster selling, upgraded goods, and efficiency bonuses.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- Saltford and in this game each of us controls a small local fishing Village that we are trying to guide to Greatness by scoring lots of points.
- I'll switch things up and show you how the solo mode works as well because it's very very nice.
- There are four special powers out there waiting to be grabbed.
- Boardwalk bonuses pay out when you completely fill a row or column.
- The fact that I can shift things around that I mean if I need some grain I can just say oh I'll just turn that into grain.
- Remember to use your fisherman and you can send them out and get two actions for even more flexibility.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–4 of 4