Barrage Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Important Concepts
• Setup (Introductory Game)
• Round Structure
• Phase 1: Income and Headstreams
• Phase 2: Actions
  • Construction Action
  • Management Actions
• Production (Using Energy)
• Phase 3: Water Flow
• Phase 4: Scoring
• Phase 5: End of Round
• End of the Game

Aim of the Game

Each player is one of four national companies aiming to prevail in producing energy. The player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game wins. You can score VP:

• At the end of each round: by producing the most Energy Units in the round (1st place 6 VP, 2nd place 2 VP; only players who produced at least 1 Energy Unit); and by producing enough energy to activate the current round's Bonus tile (which awards VP for one type of structure or element).
• During each round: by getting income on your Company Board (activated by building a certain number of structures), and by fulfilling Contracts that reward VP.
• At the end of the game: by achieving the Objective tile (top 3 players: 15/10/5 VP); by leftover Machineries and Credits in your supply (1 VP per 5 items of any type); and by Water Drops held in your Personal Dams (1 VP each).

The Energy Track is the most rewarding way to score, so plan around the order of the Bonus tiles.

Important Concepts

The Game Map represents part of the Alps, divided (top to bottom) into Mountains, Hills, and Plains. Each area contains basins with building spaces. Basins are connected by rivers; colored conduits connect the dams of one basin to the powerhouses of another.

Structures — players build Dams, Conduits, and Powerhouses. Dams are made of two piece types: Bases and Elevations. A Base can be built on a building space with the Base icon; Elevations are built over Bases or other Elevations (of your own color). A Dam's level (1–3) equals the number of pieces it is made of, and corresponds to the exact number of Water Drops it can hold. There are two types of Dams: Neutral (placed at setup, unmodifiable, usable by all) and Personal (built by and belonging to one player).

Water is the most precious resource. Players don't own water but try to control it. Water Drops enter at the Headstreams at the top of the Map and flow downhill following rivers, filling dams they pass; the natural flow is interrupted by Dams. When a Water Drop passes over a basin at the bottom of the Map, it is removed.

Setup (Introductory Game)

• Place the Map (icon-free side recommended once mastered), the Energy Track, and the Management board. Place Machineries (Excavators and Concrete Mixers), Credits, and Water Drops in the general supply.
• Shuffle Headstream tiles and place 4 face up. Shuffle Bonus tiles and place 5 face up on the Energy Track. Place 1 random Objective tile at the end of the track.
• Shuffle National Contract tiles; place (players − 1) face up on the Management board. Set up Private Contract tiles face down with two face up per pile.
• Place Neutral Dams in the indicated basins (a level 1 Dam in the Mountains, level 2 in the Hills, level 3 in the Plains), each with 1 Water Drop behind it.
• Assign each player a Company board and Executive Officer tile, all pieces in their color, and a Construction Wheel. Each player receives 6 Credits, 6 Excavators, 4 Concrete Mixers, and their Starting Contract.
• Place Turn Order markers, Energy markers (starting space), and VP markers (space 10). (The Patent Office and Advanced Technology tiles are not used in the introductory game.)

Round Structure

The game lasts five rounds, each with five phases in order:

1. Income and Headstreams
2. Actions
3. Water Flow
4. Scoring
5. End of Round

Phase 1: Income and Headstreams

Income: All players simultaneously get the active income shown on their Company boards. Income (symbol "!") is activated by building structures — building the 2nd Base/Elevation/Conduit gives the first income for that element, the 4th gives a second (more profitable) income, and the 5th gives the third income (7 VP, same for all companies). Powerhouses do not provide income; they boost energy production.

Headstreams: Place Water Drops on the Headstream tiles according to the number indicated for the current round (rounds 1–4; no Headstream drops in round 5). These drops flow during the Water Flow Phase.

Phase 2: Actions

Players take turns in the order shown by the Turn Order markers. On your turn, you must place Engineers onto ONE free action space to perform the corresponding action. Each action space requires 1–3 Engineers; spaces with a red outline require an extra payment of 3 Credits to place there. You cannot place Engineers in a space without performing its action, and cannot place them if you can't afford or perform it. Your turn ends after your action; if you have no Engineers left, you pass. The phase ends once all players have passed.

Construction Action

Each Company board has four action spaces for the Construction action; requirements increase left to right (the more you build in a round, the more Engineers needed). To build:

1. Place the requested Engineers in the first available action space on your board (from the left; red-outlined spaces cost 3 extra Credits).
2. Put the Technology tile for the structure you want to build (or a wild tile) in the open segment of your Construction Wheel. Without a matching or wild tile, you cannot build that structure.
3. Put the Machineries required in the open segment, below the tile. Without all required Machineries, you cannot build.
4. Rotate your Construction Wheel by one segment (shifting the tile and Machineries out of the open segment). They return to you after a full rotation.
5. Place the structure piece on the Map (taking the first piece of that type from the left of your Company board). Building a Powerhouse or Base on a red-outlined icon costs 3 extra Credits. If you uncover an income space, receive that income immediately (and again each Income Phase).

Structures and costs:

• Base: creates a Dam that holds water. Costs 3 Excavators in the Plains, 4 in the Hills, 5 in the Mountains. No two Bases of the same color in one basin.
• Elevation: increases a Dam's capacity; built over a Base/Elevation of your color. Costs 2 Concrete Mixers (Plains), 3 (Hills), 4 (Mountains). Max two Elevations per Base (Dam level max 3).
• Conduit: brings Water Drops from a Dam to a Powerhouse. Costs 2 Excavators × the conduit's production value.
• Powerhouse: activates energy production. Costs 2 Concrete Mixers plus 1 extra Concrete Mixer for every Powerhouse you already built. No two Powerhouses of the same color in one basin.

Machineries used to build are placed on the Construction Wheel and return after a full rotation; Credits are never placed on the wheel. There are five Technology tiles (one per structure plus one wild); tiles stay on the wheel until they return to the open segment.

Management Actions

Place the required Engineers on an available space of the shared Management board and immediately perform its action. The first player to occupy a space makes it unavailable for others that round (except the Bank). Every Management action has two spaces (left cheaper, right more expensive but a second chance); both may be used by the same player in a round.

• Turbine Station (Production): activate energy production (see below), applying the space's energy bonus/malus.
• Water Management: add 2 Water Drops (one space) or 1 Water Drop (other space) to Headstream tiles of your choice; the "1" drop flows immediately.
• Bank: take Credits equal to the Engineers you place. The Bank is non-exclusive — you can always place any number of Engineers here even if occupied.
• Workshop: rotate your Construction Wheel by the number of segments shown (paying any cost), taking back any Machineries/Technology tiles that return to the open segment.
• Contract Office: take ONE Private Contract for free (one Engineer), or pay 1 Credit to take TWO Private Contracts. You cannot pick National Contracts and may never keep more than 3 face-up Contracts.
• Machinery Shop: pay the Credits shown to receive the indicated Machineries.

Production (Using Energy)

To produce energy you need three connected elements: a Powerhouse (must be yours), a Dam holding at least one Water Drop (yours or neutral), and a Conduit connecting them (any player's — if another's, pay its owner 1 Credit per Water Drop moved, and they score 1 VP per drop).

Move any number of Water Drops from the Dam along the Conduit to your Powerhouse; you immediately produce Energy Units equal to the Conduit's production value × the number of Water Drops moved, then apply the action space's energy bonus/malus. You cannot produce if the total is less than 1. After production, the water leaves the Powerhouse and continues its natural course downhill.

Energy Track: Energy Units produced each round are recorded on the Energy Track. This determines your Credits for the round, Bonus tile eligibility, and end-of-round VP for the most energy produced. Producing energy can also fulfill a Contract whose required Energy Units you meet or exceed (immediate reward: VP, Credits, Machineries, or a special action). Each Contract is fulfilled only once, and only one Contract per single production. A National Contract can be fulfilled by the first player to produce its required energy.

Phase 3: Water Flow

After all Engineers are placed, all Water Drops on the Headstream tiles flow down, following rivers and basins. Water Drops move one at a time, filling the Dams they flow into; when a Dam is full (drops = its level), further drops flow past it. The phase ends once all drops are placed or removed (drops reaching the lower basin are lost).

Phase 4: Scoring

• The first player on the Energy Track scores 6 VP; the second scores 2 VP (only players who produced at least 1 Energy Unit; ties split, rounded up).
• Gain Credits according to your position on the Energy Track. (On the "0" space, gain 3 Credits but lose 3 VP.)
• Score VP from the current round's Bonus tile (the leftmost visible one). The Energy Track has five sections, one per round. Full Reward if your Energy marker is in the current round's section or further; Reduced Reward (−4 VP per section behind) if earlier; No reward if before the "6" space. You can never lose VP from Bonus tile scoring.
• Discard the current round's Bonus tile (uncovering a −4 VP reminder). If you remove the last Bonus tile, the game ends.

Phase 5: End of Round

Update the turn order: the player who produced the least energy this round becomes first player, and so on (ties invert the previous round's order). Move all Energy markers back to "0". All players take their Engineers back. (The End of Round phase is not played in the last round.)

End of the Game

The game ends after the Scoring Phase of the fifth round. Then, final scoring:

• Gain VP from the Objective tile (1st/2nd/3rd: 15/10/5 VP; ties split, round up).
• Score 1 VP for every 5 leftover resources in your supply (Excavators + Concrete Mixers + Credits together; resources still on the Construction Wheel don't count).
• Score 1 VP for each Water Drop held by your Personal Dams.

The player with the most VP wins. In case of a tie, the player who produced the most Energy Units during the last round wins.