Type: Weather Power
Effect Text: Choose the Range row or the Siege row. In the next round, double the strength of that row, for all players.
Flavor Text: Madness, Murder, Mayhem; Shadows turn to daggers under the Midnight Sun.
Artwork: The Feast of Saint John by Jules Breton (1875)
Strategy:
Weather cards, like Solstice, which double the strength of a row next round have the advantage that you choose the row, but the disadvantage that your opponent can also capitalize on this information. For this reason, it’s best to play these cards in a row that your opponent has already heavily played in so far (in the hope that they don’t have many of these units left for the next round). Alternatively, trick your opponent by combining with a card like Gale which can move the weather: (1) declare a row to double next round, then (2) move the weather to a different row late in the next round. Remember, you must declare the weather’s row when the card is played.
About the card:
Since the times of the Vikings, men have gone into the Arctic in order to find fame and fortune. Wether it be the search for the Northwest passage (a fabled route across the northern edge of Canada that could take trade ships to Asia), gold miners in the Yukon, or the race to reach the North Pole, the Arctic has served as a beacon for adventurers and misanthropes who wanted to strike it big and prove themselves against the unforgiving elements. Because the Arctic Circle is vast and underpopulated, there are resources in this desolate waste (gold, furs, oil, etc.) that far outmatch the lands where people have mined and exploited nature since before written records. But just as the potential rewards are immense, the risks are even greater (see also Frost).
In the case of Henry Hudson's expedition, which had successfully mapped out much of Hudson Bay, their ship became trapped in ice during the winter. When the ice melted, most of the crew wanted to return to England instead of continuing the search for an eastward route. A mutiny ensued, after which Hudson and his son were set adrift in a small boat, never to be seen again.
There are strange things done in the midnight sun,
by the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
- The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service
