Another week, another spotlight for Civilization VI. While last week we went to the sun-drenched shores of Kongo, we now move to the decidedly less warm mountains and lakes of Norway led by Harald Hardrada!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onb-hdjuNbU&feature=youtu.be

Harald Sigurdsson's days before becoming the ruler of Norway were filled to the brim with violence and hardship. Originally a mercenary in the Byzantine army, Sigurdsson rose to power in 1046. During his reign as King of Norway, he was known as a harsh and unforgiving ruler, which got him the epithet Hardrada (hard ruler in Old Norse). His knowledge of warfare and experience as a fighter no doubt influenced his decision to attack both Denmark and England, both to varying degrees of success. King Harald managed to successfully claim the throne of England until he found his death during the battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, a battle which came to symbolised the end of the Viking tyranny in England.

Harald's ability is the 'Thunderbolt of the North', which allows all Norway's naval melee units to perform raids on coastal cities and districts. Norway also gets the familiar longship which can heal in neutral territory (other civs can only heal their ships in friendly territory). Because Norway has historically always been a naval-focused civilization, Norse units pay no movement penalty for embarking or disembarking. All your units will also be able to cross over ocean tiles once you've researched the shipbuilding technology.

Norway's unique unit is the Berserker. Berserkers can pillage districts and cities with a diminished penalty to their movement in addition to a bonus to attack strength. While the Berserker is stronger when attacking, it's less powerful at defending than units from other civs.

Norway's unique tile improvement is the Stave Church, which is a wooden church that was very common in Norway during the middle ages. This church gives the player all the bonuses of a temple but is able to generate more faith per turn if you build it next to a tile that has woods on it.

Norway seems to be at its best when it's close to the open sea and will probably become one of the go-to civs for a domination victory.

What do you think of Norway and its leader Harald Hardrada? Let us know in the comment section below!