One of the significant differences between Viking and Conquistador is that you don't draft your crew at the start of the game. A major part of the first campaign is gathering the crew for your ship. As long as you don't have a crew or a ship, your village is under constant attack since it is seen as weak. You can collect crew members from the starting village and from your travels through Denmark. The first two people that join you are your two best friends, which you have known for a long time. One of them is a spear-wielding shield maiden, and the other is a hunter with a bow. The advantage of a spear in the game is that you have a longer reach and you can pass one hex, so you hit someone at a two hex distance. You can even go over the head of standing before you, or over defensive formations. In addition, you don't have any issues with attack of opportunity as that works only for adjacent hexes. You can't dismiss any of your party members during the first campaign, as they are essential to the narrative.
