The Domesday Deck: Collect Them All
The estate game no one knew they were playing — until now.
The Domesday Deck: Collect Them All
The estate game no one knew they were playing — until now.
“They came with swords. She came with a ridge.”
— Anonymous sokeman proverb, probably
You’ve heard of Magic: The Gathering. You’ve heard of Pokémon. But have you ever wanted to battle your friends using 11th-century sokemen, forgotten Norse widows, and the spectral estate logic of post-Conquest Lincolnshire?
Welcome to the Domesday Deck.
A collectible card series built from the lost tacticians, erased matriarchs, and silently stubborn stewards of 1066 England.
What Is It?
Each card in the Domesday Deck represents a figure — real, reconstructed, or plausibly extrapolated — who survived (or shaped) the Norman Conquest not by winning battles, but by understanding land.
They're scored using my FOGOL+ framework (Field, Overlay, Ghost, Orientation, Lineage), along with stats like:
Tactical Intelligence
Cultural Masking
Symbolic Control
Strategic Flexibility
Some are powerhouses — like Hugh Bigod, with his heavy symbolic firepower. Others are subtle ghosts, like Thorvi of Stainfield — erased from records but still holding her ridge in silence.
Why Cards?
Because history can be heavy. And this is a way to carry it lightly — on a playing card, on your screen, or yes, even printed out and glued to a cereal box and cut out with kitchen scissors like it’s 1994.
⚔️ “I challenge your sokeman with Godric the Steward.”
🛡️ “Too bad — Thorvi’s holding high ground, and she’s got Ghost 5.”
Coming Soon:
The Sokemen of Henstead – collective ferryline holders with serious field logic
William de Percy – corridor controller and estuarial tactician
Nog of Nogdam End – playable only near marshland cards
Sörli of Surlingham – mythic settler class; not legally documented, but unbeatable in “Ghost Terrain” mode
How to Use Them?
Read them alongside the blogposts
Download and print them
Stick them to your fridge / cereal box / dog
Create shadow battles where terrain memory trumps martial power
Teach a 10-year-old how Norse land logic still shapes ferry crossings
Can I Really Print Them?
Yes. Do it.
I dare you to post a photo of Áskell of Ashby St Mary stuck to your recycling bin. #DomesdayDeck
Why This Matters
The Domesday Deck isn’t just a game. It’s a framework in your pocket — a tactical entry into post-Conquest England through the lens of continuity, not conquest. These aren’t just cards. They’re fragments of ghost estates, remembered in ridge-lines, ferry crossings, and place-names barely still spoken.
Collect Them All Before the Normans Redact Them
New cards drop with each blog post. Subscribe to follow the series — and keep your scissors sharp.
“To play is to remember. To cut one out is to restore a forgotten zone.”
CARD #12: Hugh Bigod (FOGOL+)
🛡️ Faction & Identity
Faction: Norman Corridor Overlord
Archetype: Tactical Inheritor · Marsh-Fork Consolidator
Deck Affiliation: East Anglian Powerline
Tags:
#ShadowLord #FeudalStrategist #BigodLineage #ConquestOverlay #MarshRidgeControl #FOGOL+
CORE STATS
Leadership👑7Military Skill⚔️6Wealth / Power💰9Resilience🛡️5Mystique❓4Brutality🔥7Fame / Legacy🌟6
Card Ability
CONQUEST MASKING
(Aura): If Bigod plays into a zone with Norse or erased figures, gain +1 Wealth and +1 Tactical Bonus for the rest of the round.
(Triggered): Once per game, you may override a terrain-based FOGOL+ ability and install Bigod’s stat total instead.
“He does not erase the map — he inks himself over it.”
🕯️ FOGOL+ Feature
FOGOL+ Score: 19/25
Field Logic: 4 · Overlay Presence: 3 · Ghost Layer: 3 · Orientation: 4 · Lineage: 5
Immune to discard by terrain-triggered removal.
If defeated by a FOGOL+ figure, lose 2 Cultural Masking permanently.
© The Northvegr Journal · 2025
Written by Richard Harpur
All research, text, frameworks (FOGOL+), and Domesday Deck materials are the intellectual property of the author.
Feel free to share or reference this work with attribution.
For republishing, classroom use, or nerdy board game adaptations — please get in touch.
We support fair-use scholarship, print-it-yourself curiosity, and cereal box historiography.
🜃 All rights ridge-served.