Vendel to Viking is the first board game being launched in the partnership between World Book and Ion Game Design. For more than 100 years, World Book has been the worlds premier reference source, and stands for trust and expansive knowledge covering almost every subject imaginable. Designed by ION's lead game designer Jon Manker, Vendel to Viking is a standalone prequel to Pax Viking for 1 to 6 players.

While inspired by the clever mechanisms of Pax Viking, Vendel to Viking includes some significant differences in the game system as well as taking players back to the centuries prior to the Viking era. In Vendel to Viking, you are immersed in Nordic culture between 550 to 800 CE as you build your familys legacy with every turn. Vendel to Viking and Pax Viking can be played as a campaign. The end state of Vendel to Viking will interface with the starting state of a game of Pax Viking. Because of this, Vendel to Viking contains a few new Pax Viking components. These can also be used in Pax Viking regardless of if it is played as a part of a campaign.