Norway
Harald Hardrada (Varangian)
Uniques and adjacency effects read from the game data.
Victory focusDominationReligion
Kit at a glance
Harald Hardrada (Varangian) fights through city-states: levying their armies costs him far less, kills by levied units return Culture, Faith and Science, all his units cost less Gold upkeep, and each Stave Church adds Influence toward envoys.
Opening: the first 60 turns
Open Scout, Slinger, Settler, Settler with the capital on the coast, and send the Scout toward city-states early, because everything this persona does runs through them. Harald Hardrada (Varangian) pays far less to levy the army of a city-state he is suzerain of, so the opening goal is envoys, and eventually suzerainty, at a militaristic city-state near a likely target. Research Astrology and plan Holy Sites in wooded spots: the Stave Church, Norway's Temple replacement, gives Holy Sites an extra standard adjacency bonus from Woods, and for this persona each Stave Church also adds an Influence Point per turn toward envoys. Every unit he owns costs 2 less Gold upkeep, which makes early Warriors, Slingers and Spearmen free to keep, so you can hold a real army from the start without starving the treasury. Research Shipbuilding when you are ready to cross oceans.
Unique to this civilization
Unit
Berserker
Replaces Man-At-Arms
Technology: Military Tactics
Building
Stave Church
Replaces Temple
Civic: Theology
Adjacency effects
No adjacency bonus — standard district rules apply.
Try Harald Hardrada (Varangian) in the adjacency calculator →
How to play it
Court city-states early and lock in suzerainty over militaristic ones near your targets, then levy their armies when a war starts so every kill pays out. Build Stave Churches for the extra Influence, and use the cheaper upkeep to keep a larger standing army of your own.
Victory paths
Domination is the main road, but it runs through city-states rather than your own production queue. Levies are cheap for Harald, and every kill a levied unit scores returns Culture, Faith and Science equal to half the defeated unit's Combat Strength, so a levied army marching on a neighbor takes ground while also feeding your civics, religion and technology. Back the levies with your own core of Berserkers, which replace the Man-at-Arms, and use Norway's ocean access after Shipbuilding to reach fronts others cannot. Religion is the realistic second path: Stave Churches strengthen Holy Sites, levied kills add Faith, and the Influence the churches generate keeps city-states on your side. Treat culture and science as by-products of the wars rather than separate goals.
Synergies: city-states, wonders, policies
Envoy generation is the engine, so Charismatic Leader (extra Influence Points) and Diplomatic League (the first envoy to each city-state counts double) are the key diplomatic cards, and Merchant Confederation turns the envoys you collect into Gold for levies. Amani is the governor to promote early: as a Messenger in a city-state she counts as two envoys, and Puppeteer later doubles your envoys there, which makes suzerainty over the city-state you plan to levy hard to contest. Among militaristic city-states, Wolin turns your land kills into Great General points, Ngazargamu cheapens Gold purchases of land units in cities with Encampment buildings, and Valletta lets Faith buy Encampment and City Center buildings. For a pantheon, God of War adds Faith from kills near your Holy Sites on top of the Faith from levied kills, and Potala Palace adds a diplomatic slot for the envoy cards.
Weaknesses and counters
The kit is only as good as your city-state relationships: if a rival out-envoys you, or the map has few militaristic city-states near your targets, there is little to levy and Harald plays like a plain Norway with cheap upkeep. A levy is temporary, so plan each one around a specific objective instead of treating it as a permanent army, and expect the yields from kills to stop when the levied units go home. Opponents counter by contesting your suzerainties, attacking the city-states you rely on, and defending behind walls so levied units trade badly. Common mistakes are levying before the war actually starts and wasting the units' time, spreading envoys thinly across many city-states instead of locking in a few, and confusing this persona with the base Harald Hardrada: the Viking Longship and the coastal raiding bonus belong to him, not to the Varangian.
Similar civilizations
Related guides
- Domination: Building Cities That Feed a WarHow to lay out an empire for conquest in Gathering Storm: which cities become production cores, where the Encampment goes, the four classic attack windows, siege composition, holding conquered cities, and when to stop fighting and win another way.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Which Civilization Should You Play? Picks by Victory TypeThree to four leader picks for each victory type — science, culture, domination, religion, and diplomacy — with the reason each one teaches that victory well, plus flexible all-rounders and a guide to matching a civilization to how you actually like to play.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- Early District Planning: The First 100 TurnsHow to read city sites for future adjacency, decide between settling for yields now or reserving tile clusters, and know when a planned layout should be abandoned.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
- City-States and Envoys: Where Your Influence Should GoWhere envoys come from, how to spend the first handful, which city-state types match each victory plan, how to win and keep suzerainty against the AI, and when conquering a city-state is the right call.Last reviewed: 2026-10-03
Last reviewed: 2026-10-03