Auf Achse
Auf Achse Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 game board
- 48 goods cubes
- 28 event cards
- Play money: 30 x €100, 15 x €500, 40 x €1,000, 15 x €5,000, 5 x €10,000
- 54 contract cards
- 6 trucks
- 2 dice
- 1 roadwork sign
- 1 traffic-jam sign
- 8 trailer cards (4 small, 4 large)
Goal of the Game
The goal is to complete as many lucrative transport contracts as possible and thereby earn as much money as possible. At the end of the game, the player who holds the most cash wins.
Setup
The goods cubes are placed on the loading area of the game board. The traffic-jam sign and the roadwork sign are pushed into their plastic stands and set down next to the board. The event cards are shuffled and placed face down on their space on the board.
Each player receives a starting capital of €5,000. The rest of the money is managed by one player, who acts as the bank.
The contract cards are shuffled well and each freight forwarder receives 3 contracts, which they take into their hand face down. Depending on the number of players, a further set of cards is counted off and placed as a face-down pile next to the game board:
| Players | Cards |
|---|---|
| 2 | 12 cards |
| 3 | 16 cards |
| 4 | 20 cards |
| 5-6 | 24 cards |
The remaining cards go back in the box. From the face-down contract pile, the top 4 cards are dealt face up onto the four contract spaces of the game board.
Each player now chooses a truck and places it on any space of the game board. Players may look at their own contract cards beforehand to help choose a starting location. A truck may also be placed in a city that is the starting point of one of that player's contracts.
Sequence of Play
Rolling and Driving
The player who has driven the longest distance this month begins. Whoever is on turn rolls both dice and moves their truck according to the value of one die, in any direction. A maximum of two trucks may stand on any regular space; any number of trucks may stand together in a city. Overtaking other trucks, or passing them while travelling in the opposite direction, is allowed. There is generally no obligation to move the full amount. Surplus pips may be forfeited to stop exactly at a starting or destination city, or in front of a roadwork or traffic-jam sign. Both ferries may be crossed normally using the dice (Rotterdam-Flensburg: 3 pips; Flensburg-Rostock: 2 pips). No extra costs are incurred.
A player who rolls a 6 may choose to move 1-6 spaces instead. This makes it easier to reach a city directly in order to pick up a public contract.
Event Spaces
Event spaces are marked with a red-and-white warning triangle. A player who lands their truck exactly on such a space, without forfeiting pips to do so, must draw an event card from the face-down pile and carry out the action printed on it. Once resolved, the card is removed from the game. If a player cannot pay the cost of an event card, the card stays in front of them until they are able to pay double that amount.
Note: most event cards are positive.
Roadwork: A player who selects a rolled 1 (or uses a rolled 6 as a 1) moves their truck one space further and must then bring the roadwork sign into play, or move it if it is already on the board. This sign is placed on a board space and blocks that stretch of road. The roadwork sign may not be placed on a city or on an occupied space.
Traffic jam: The traffic-jam sign applies for one round only and comes into play through certain event cards. It, too, can force trucks to wait or take a detour.
Contracts
Every contract card shows a starting city and a destination city. To carry out a contract, a player must hold the contract card and, once they have reached the contract's starting city (surplus pips may be forfeited to do so), must lay the contract card face up on the table and load the number of goods shown on the contract onto their truck. The player may not continue moving until their next turn — they need not drive straight to the destination, and may instead visit further starting cities to make better use of their cargo space.
A player who is standing in a city and receives a contract card that names that city as its starting point may lay the contract down immediately and load the truck accordingly.
As soon as a player's truck reaches a destination city (surplus pips may be forfeited to do so), they unload the contract's goods and return them to the supply on the loading area. The contract card is placed on a discard pile and the player is paid the freight proceeds by the bank.
Once a player has finished their turn, the next player clockwise is on turn.
Note: each truck can carry a maximum of 6 goods. A contract must always be carried out in full — it is not possible to deliver only part of the load. If a player's truck does not have enough cargo capacity, they may buy a trailer.
Trailers: A player who wants to transport more than 6 goods may, on their turn, buy as many trailers as they like; these increase cargo capacity by 4 or 6 goods respectively. The purchased trailer card is placed by the player on the table in front of them, and extra goods may be loaded onto it as needed. A trailer card remains in the player's possession for the rest of the game. A player who sells their trailer before the game ends is paid a residual value of €500, regardless of the trailer's size. A player who still owns a trailer at the end of the game receives no money for it — it is worthless. Available trailers:
- 4 large trailers with room for 6 extra goods each, at a price of €3,000 per trailer
- 4 small trailers with an extra cargo capacity of 4 goods, at a price of €2,000 per trailer
Public contracts: When a player has used the full value of their die roll and their truck has arrived in any city, they may select one of the 4 face-up contracts on display and declare their interest in it. A player may not select a public contract if they forfeited pips to load or unload in that city, or if they reached the city through an event card.
Once a player has declared interest in a contract, other players who are also interested (or who wish to drive up the price) may bid against them for that contract.
All players may, in turn, make a bid — as in an auction. The player to the left of the player who selected the contract bids first, or passes. The other players follow in turn. The player who originally selected the contract has an advantage: they do not need to outbid their competitors, only match the last bid made. Players who have not passed may, on the next round of bidding, raise the current highest bid or pass.
For simplicity, the bids on a contract card are numbered 1 to 5 and show, via the table on the card, the corresponding cost and the resulting net proceeds.
The player who wins the auction for the contract must immediately pay the purchase price shown in the cost table to the bank. No credit is granted. If no other player has made a bid, the player who selected the contract receives it without payment.
The player takes the contract into their hand and may lay it down at any time on reaching its starting city, or immediately if they are already there and have enough free cargo space.
Whenever a gap appears among the public contracts, the remaining contracts slide in the direction of the arrows to fill the gap. A new contract is then dealt from the face-down pile onto the empty space in the corner.
Whenever a player's truck arrives in a city without forfeiting pips to do so, and has no interest in a public contract, the contract lying next to the loading area is removed from the game. The remaining contracts then slide in the direction of the arrows, and a new contract is dealt from the face-down pile onto the space freed up in the corner. Declining public contracts is, especially near the end of the game, a good way to speed the game along.
Example
Four players (RED, YELLOW, BLUE, and GREEN) are in the game. RED selects the pictured Berlin-Trieste contract. YELLOW passes. BLUE skips bid 1 and immediately calls bid 2. GREEN is also interested and calls bid 3. RED matches. He selected the contract and does not need to raise. BLUE now also passes. GREEN now raises to bid 4. RED also passes now. GREEN therefore receives the contract and immediately pays €2,800 to the bank. On reaching the destination he receives €3,900 in freight proceeds. His profit is therefore €1,100.
End of the Game
The game ends immediately once no public contracts remain on the game board and a player has completed all of their own hand contracts. It does not matter in which order these two conditions occur. The player with the most cash wins the game. Contracts that were not completed earn no further proceeds.
Simplified Variant for Children Age 8 and Up
The rules of the base game apply, with the following changes:
- During setup, each player receives 5 contract cards into their hand.
- The public contract pile contains only 10 cards, of which 4 are dealt face up onto the contract spaces.
- The trailer cards are removed from the game. Every truck therefore has a cargo capacity of only 6 goods.
- Whoever is first to reach the starting city of a public contract may take that contract for themselves. Public contracts are not auctioned! If the required goods can be loaded onto the truck immediately, the contract is laid face up in front of the player. If the goods can only be loaded later, the card must be taken into hand. To load, the starting city must be reached again.
A new contract is then dealt out. The arrows have no meaning in this variant. The bid table on the contract card has no meaning.
Credits
Wolfgang Kramer (design) · Jochen Frick, Harald Lieske (art) · published by Schmidt Spiele GmbH, Postfach 470437, D-12313 Berlin · www.schmidtspiele.de