Wettstreit der Baumeister ========================= These rules have been modfied to include several variants picked up from newsgroups and the internet - I have noted changes to the standard rules (German). This translation is itself based on two other translations both available on the internet. For 3 or 4 players age 10 years and up Medieval master builders conduct a contest. Who will erect the most beautiful and most valuable city? In several auctions builders try to erect edifices. But: Not each building may be built beside each other. Furthermore some buildings during the building phase (during the game) are more important than others, and at their completion are more highly valued. And then saboteurs, who can tear buildings down again, also occasionally appear. Goal of the Game ---------------- The player whose city scores most points at the end wins the contest. Game Materials 40 building cards: Corner Tower - 5 pairs: 2x 1+VV, 2x 2+V, 1x 3+V Tower - 6: 2x 1+VV, 2x 2+V, 2x 3+V City gate - 10: 2x 2+@@, 3x 3+@@, 3x 4+@, 2x 5+@ Town hall - 6: 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7 Church - 8: 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9 4 building tents (with information notes) 20 golden coins in the value of 3 Thalers 30 silvery coins in the value of 1 Thalers 5 black saboteur stones 1 die Game Preparation ---------------- - The 40 building cards are mixed thoroughly and placed in two stacks, with 20 cards per stack, in the middle of the table - one stack is face up, the other is face down. - Each player gets the three parts that belong to a building tent, puts it together and places it in front of them. - Furthermore gets each coins in the value of 10 Thalers. During the entire game, everyone keeps secret his/her money supply behind his/her building tent. - The remaining coins forms a cash supply in the middle of the table. - Here is also placed the five saboteur stones to be ready at the start of the game. By a roll of the die, determine the starting player. Play proceeds clockwise. The Building Cards ------------------ - These show five different building types that occur with different frequency, with values, defense and income as above. - Also in the inside of the building tent is shown beside each symbol, in parentheses, how many cards there are of each building type. - City gates carry a money symbol (one or two coins) and produce additional revenues during the game. - Towers and Corner Towers possess a shield as a protection symbol, in order to protect themselves against attacks by the saboteur. - All building cards possess at the right a point value that is crucial to the game play. Game Play --------- Thecurrent player may perform three things in the following sequence. He/she _must_ perform the first two; he/she _may_ execute the last: 1. Revenues determined 2. Building card auctioned 3. Builds or sabotages With the money that a player has he/she can buy building cards and can lay these out in the course of the game to form a cityscape. In the end the cities that are laid out are assessed and the winner is determined. Course of a Game Turn in detail ------------------------------- 1. Revenues Determined ...................... - The player rolls the die. With a result from 1 to 5, he/she gets that many Thalers from the cash register (the golden coins count 3 Thalers, the silvery coins are worth 1 Thaler). Alternatively a player may play safe and not roll the dice, but instead treat the dice as having rolled 3 (there is no chance of obtaining a saboteur this way though). - If a player has already laid out city gates in the course of the game, he/she gets for 1 additional Thaler for each coin on his/her city gates. - If the saboteur appears as the die result (*), the player gets only the Thalers for his/her city-gates. Instead of the dice based income he/she takes from the reserve a saboteur, which he/she puts visibly for all to see in front of his/her building tent. If no more saboteurs lie in the reserve, he/she may take away a saboteur from any player. 2. Building Card Auctions ......................... Afterwards the player auctions a building card - either the most upper card of the open deck or the most upper card of the concealed stack. If the card visible on the open stack is not wanted then the current player may pay 1 Thaler to change it, placing it at the bottom of the _smallest_ stack. This may be done only once in a player's turn. Doing this does not commit a player to auctioning from the open stack. [This swap the open card option is a variant, and is not in the standard rules]. Note: It is illegal to bid more Thalers than you actually have. [The original rules give a penalty for doing so, but I prefer to eliminate the possibility altogether] a) Auction of the Open Stack The auctioneer selects the face-up card on top of the open deck and places an opening bid on it. The other players can increase the bid in turn or can pass. Whoever passes is eliminated from the auction. If all have passed, the player offering the most money gets the card, takes it into his/her hand and must pay his/her bid in coins. One-half goes into the cash supply, the other half goes to the auctioneer. (With odd amounts the half to the auctioneer is rounded _down_.) If the auctioneer makes the highest bid, he/she pays the full sum into the cash supply. b) Auction of the Hidden Stack Only the auctioneer looks at the top card and must do a first bid without saying or showing which building card it is. In seat sequence, each player increases the bid or passes. If the auction is still going when it gets back round to the auctioneer then he/she must name the building type for all players to hear, but not, however, the building value or number of shields / coins. Afterwards the auction proceeds normally. The highest bidder gets the hidden card and takes it into his/her hand. If the auction doesn't go into a second bidding round, since nobody outbid the auctioneer, the card is handed over without the other players knowing anything about the type of the building. Then the top bidder pays the offered amount to the cash supply and the auctioneer as with the auction of the open stack. 3. Builds or Sabotaging ....................... a) Builds - The player who would like to build for the first time must lay out three of his/her acquired building cards face up. He/she can begin with a Corner Tower, but this is not mandatory. Note - in this case exactly 3 cards must be played. [This is not completely clear in the standard rules, but is my group's interpretation]. - If he/she wants to develop his/her city further later on, new cards are placed against those already already laid out. Once put down, cards may not be repositioned or exchanged. Exception: The saboteur can sweep away a gap into a cityscape. This may be filled in again during the building phase by a new card of course. Note - in this case at MOST 3 cards must be played. Building Rules - The cards must be placed together side by side so that a cityscape forms. - Everyone may build only one city. - Each city may contain only one town hall. - Two buildings of same type may never stand side by side. Tower and Corner Tower are regarded as buildings of same type. (The colors of the building symbols help with this.) - The city may be completed only in the final round (when the auctions have finished), i.e. only then may the second Corner Tower or both Corner Towers be placed. Tip: Don't wait too long before laying out your building cards, because the sooner you begin to lay out city gates, the higher your revenues will be. Remember also, that you may only lay out three cards per game turn, except b) Sabotaging Instead of building a player can play a saboteur, provided he/she possesses one (only one per game turn though!). The saboteur can be used in one of two ways: 1. Sabotage Against Buildings That Have Been Laid Down [This section varies considerably to the standard rules] - The player puts down his/her own saboteur on the building that he/she would like to attack. - The victim and saboteur may then negotiate a pay-off, a payment in Thalers paid by the victim to persuade the saboteaur not to act. If an agreement is made then the money is handed over and the saboteur is discarded with no further effect. - If no agreement is reached then the attacker rolls the dice. To be successful either the dot must be rolled, or the number rolled must be strictly greater than the number of shields in the city being attacked. - If successful the building sabotaged is placed on the bottom of the smaller of the two stacks of building cards. It will leave a space which may later be filled in by another suitable building. - Whether or not successful the sabotage token is returned to the pool. 2. Sabotage Against Cards in the Hand - If a player has five or more cards in his/her hand, a saboteur may be played against them, no matter how many shields they have in their city or hand. There is no defence against this sort of attack. - No negotiation is allowed in this case. - The attacked player mixes his/her cards and holds them out face down to the aggressor. The aggressor selects one of them, shows it to all players and puts it under the smaller stack. The saboteur is returned to the reserve. Game End -------- - As soon as a player has auctioned the last card from one of the two stacks, then this player performs their build or sabotage as normal, but no further standard turns take place. - Afterwards there is a final round: Each player may one last time lay out up to three building cards from their hand. Only now may a city be completed, i.e. the final corner tower played. Scoring ------- The cities now are assessed as follows: - Each building card counts the printed point value. - If a city is complete, i.e. there are no gaps and there is a Corner Tower both on the left and right, extra-points can be scored: Extra points ............ - If the city is complete and there is a Town Hall exactly in the middle, the city scores 10 extra points. (To achieve this the city must therefore have an odd number of building cards.) - If the city is complete and there are an equal number of Churches on each side of the the Town Hall (zero churches doesn't count, of course), the city scores 5 extra points. (The churches do not have to be in the same position on the two sides.) - If the city is complete and the Corner Towers on both the left and right ends are the same value, the city scores 5 extra points. Penalty Points .............. - Each building card that is still in a player's hand counts as a minus value. Finally, coins and saboteurs are worth nothing at the end. Whoever achieves the highest score has won the contest of the master builders. Wettstreit der Baumeister - Summary of buildings ------------------------------------------------ Corner Tower 5 pairs 2x 1+VV, 2x 2+V, 1x 3+V Tower 6 2x 1+VV, 2x 2+V, 2x 3+V City gate 10 2x 2+@@, 3x 3+@@, 3x 4+@, 2x 5+@ Town hall 6 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7 Church 8 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9