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How To Build A Viking Ship In Minecraft


Viking ships are a lot easier to build than the larger, normal ships, like the one in our other tutorial. The hull of a viking ship is a lot smaller and lower, which means it’s a lot easier to make it look good. However, the decoration, curved end pieces can be a bit tricky to create in Minecraft.

If you’re looking for a viking ship for your harbor, I’ve also included instructions on how to build those sails, which are very easy, found in the last section of this article.

Bow (front) and Stern (back)

As mentioned, both the stern and bow of my viking ship is the same, which makes building a large viking ship a whole lot easier. As you can see in the image below, I start with the middle of the ship and build up gradually. The 2 blocks at the top is the point where we’ll start to build the curved end pieces. Those 2 blocks also mark where we build the edges of our viking ship, everything below that will be either the deck or storage space.

The remainder of the stern and bow is build in a similar way to our normal ship, but we make it even pointier by increasing the intervals at which we increase the width of the ship. There isn’t a real right and wrong way of doing building this part, it’s mostly relying on your own taste and some experience, but if you’re inexperienced or if you just can’t get it to look right, feel free to download our ship and either use it as it is or try to copy and adjust it to your own preferences, practice makes perfect.

I usually build the decoration piece right after I’ve build the stern or bow, but we go into more detail on how to build this part further down below the page.

Hull (body)

The hull couldn’t be easier, especially if you’ve build the bow and/or stern first, you simply extend it to your desired length. The hull of a viking ship is generally quite flat and wide, but I also wanted space below deck to use as a storage space or perhaps as sleeping quarters. So the bottom of the ship had to be at least 2 blocks below deck, which meant there was only 1 design that looked good enough.

I usually place the bottom 2 layers underwater, because I prefer the extra height it gives me, but even placed the bottom 3 layers underwater will make it look good, perhaps better.

For those looking for a way to create spaces in which viking could place their paddles, using stairs at the edges works perfectly. Place 1 stairs about once every 2 blocks, with the holes facing sideways of course, and then add a row of 2 stairs on deck on which the vikings can sit and row their ship.

Decoration Piece and Sails

The decoration piece may seem tricky, but it’s quite easy to build. Almost the whole piece is made with stairs and wooden planks, with just 2 slabs at the top. If you have difficulties figuring out where each block is placed, click on the image below to take you to an image that points out each block clearly.

The sails of the viking ship build are built the same way as the ship in our other tutorial. I used the stereotypical red and white colors, which always work great.

For the viking ships that are docked, I use folded up sails and ice to add to the cold looks of the surroundings and to make it look like they’ve been docked for a while. The sails itself shouldn’t be difficult to create. The ice is first created as 1 hanging row of 3-5 ice blocks and I then add blocks on the sides to make it look better. It’s pretty much just a matter of experimenting a little.