Vikings

Vikings (Norwegian and Danish: Vikinger; Swedish and Nynorsk: Vikingar; Icelandic: Víkingar), from Old Norse víkingr, were Germanic Norse seafarers, speaking the Old Norse language, who raided and traded from their Scandinavian homelands across wide areas of northern and central Europe, as well as European Russia, during the late 8th to late 11th centuries. The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. This period of Norse military, mercantile and demographic expansion constitutes an important element in the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, Ireland, France, Kievan Rus' and Sicily.

Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Following extended phases of (primarily sea- or river-borne) exploration, expansion and settlement, Viking (Norse) communities and polities were established in diverse areas of north-western Europe, European Russia, the North Atlantic islands and as far as the north-eastern coast of North America. This period of expansion witnessed the wider dissemination of Norse culture, while simultaneously introducing strong foreign cultural influences into Scandinavia itself, with profound developmental implications in both directions.

Viking (comics)

Viking is a creator-owned comic book series published by Image Comics. It is written by its creator, Ivan Brandon, with art by Nic Klein.

Publication history

The first issue appeared April 22, 2009 but had sold out before it went on sale.

The fifth issue appeared in January 2010, and finished the first arc. No more issues were published afterwards.

Characters

Plot synopsis

Issue 1

Date of Publication: 22 April 2009

Egil and Finn kill a group of Vikings led by a man named Knut, stealing their cache of weapons for their own purporses, leaving one messenger alive to tout their bravado. Upon reception of his message, this messenger is put to death by Aki and King Bram.

Viking (satellite)

Viking was Sweden's first satellite. It was launched on an Ariane 1 rocket as a piggyback payload together with the French satellite SPOT 1, on February 22, 1986. Operations ended on May 12, 1987. Viking was used to explore plasma processes in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere.

Spacecraft

Space was limited underneath the SPOT 1 satellite, and Viking had to be quite sturdy in order to withstand the stress of launch. The basic shape of the Swedish satellite was a flat octagonal disc, 0.5 metres thick and 1.9 metres across. The mechanical interface of the payload adapter from the Ariane rocket was duplicated on top of Viking. This enabled it to be added to the launch with a minimum of redesign of the SPOT satellite. After SPOT had been released, Viking fired its own rocket engine and was sent into its proper polar orbit.

Mission

Once in orbit, 4 wire segments of 40 metre length each were spooled out in a radial direction from the edge of the spinning satellite disc. Also, 2 stiff rods of 4 metre length were extended in the axial direction. A sensor pod was stationed at the end of each of these, forming three orthogonal pairs. Together they could measure the electric field of the earth in all three dimensions. Stiff booms were also extended for other types of sensors and antennas.

Shogun

A Shogun (将軍, Shōgun, [ɕoːɡu͍ɴ], "general", literally "military commander") was a hereditary military dictator in Japan during the period from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns were the de facto rulers of the country, although nominally they were appointed by the Emperor as a formality. The Shogun held almost absolute power over territories through military means, in contrast to the concept of a colonial governor in Western culture. Nevertheless, an unusual situation occurred in the Kamakura period (1199-1333) upon the death of the first shogun, whereby the Hōjō clan's hereditary titles of Shikken and Tokuso (1256-1333) monopolized the shogunate, collectively known as the Regent Rule (執権政治). The shogun during this period met the same fate as the Emperor and was reduced to a figurehead until a coup in 1333, when the shogun was restored to power.

The modern rank of shogun is roughly equivalent to a generalissimo. The title of shogun, is the short form of Sei-i Taishōgun (征夷大将軍, literally "Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians"); the individual governing the country at various times in the history of Japan, ending when Tokugawa Yoshinobu relinquished the office to the Emperor Meiji in 1867.

Shogun (2006 board game)

Shogun is a strategy board game designed by Dirk Henn and published by Queen Games in 2006. It is based on his earlier game Wallenstein, but it is set in the Sengoku period, which ends with the inception of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Background

Japan during the Sengoku or “Warring States” Period: each player assumes the role of a great Daimyo with all his troops. Each Daimyo has the same 10 possible actions to develop his kingdom and secure points. To do so he must deploy his armies with great skill. Each round, the players decide which of the actions are to be played out and in which of their provinces. If battle ensues between opposing armies, the unique Cubetower plays the leading role. The troops from both sides are thrown in together and the cubes that fall out at the bottom show who has won immediately. Owning provinces, temples, theaters and castles means points when scores are tallied. Whichever Daimyo has the highest number of points after the second tally becomes shogun and wins the game.

Shogun (1986 board game)

Shogun, designed by Michael Gray, was a board wargame first released in 1986 by game maker Milton Bradley as part of their Gamemaster series. It was renamed to Samurai Swords in its first re-release (1995) to disambiguate it from other games with the same name (in particular, James Clavell's Shogun, a wargame with a similar theme, released in 1983), and renamed again to Ikusa in its 2011 re-release under Hasbro's Avalon Hill banner. Set in feudal Japan, two to five players take control of a fictional warlord and pit their armies against one another in hopes of winning the title Shogun.

In 1988, Shogun won the Origins Awards for Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1987 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame of 1987 .

Each player controls a number of daimyo, or generals, who command an army. Other forces on the board represent militia and garrisons. Players also have the option of hiring ronin (mercenaries). There is also a ninja, principally used as an assassin against enemy daimyo. Units include samurai swordsmen and bowmen, and ashigaru spearmen and gunners. Income, called koku, is derived from control of territories. Players attempt to destroy their rivals in battle and seize their territories. Some interesting features include the orchestration of armies in battle, the emphasis on generals (who gain levels, much like roleplaying game characters), and the unpredictable element of ronin placement.