Black Forest Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview and Aim of the Game
• Before Your First Game
• Components
• Game Setup
  • General Setup
  • Personal Setup
• General Rules
  • Your Production Tableau
  • Gaining and Spending Resources
  • Charcoal and Provisions
  • Producing Glass, Provisions, and Commodities
  • Gaining Rewards
  • Your Domain and Estates
  • The Game Board
• Jobs
• Gameplay
  • A Standard Turn
    • 1. Spend 1 Commodity
    • 2. Movement
    • 3. Action
  • Begging
  • Rewards
    • Glass Hut Progress (and Expanding Your Domain)
    • Constructing a Building
    • Housing Livestock
  • Anytime Actions
• End of the Game and Scoring
• 2-Player Game
• Solo Play
• Appendix
  • Jobs
  • Small Buildings
  • Large Buildings
  • Tradespeople
  • Advice for Getting Started
  • Credits

Overview and Aim of the Game

You'll start out with a rather humble domain. To expand it, you'll travel through the Black Forest from village to village hiring skilled tradespeople. They will help you construct new buildings, work the land, and breed livestock.

Develop your Glass Hut to expand your domain and make room for new buildings.

At the end of your journey, whoever scores the most points—mainly through buildings and livestock—will win!

Before Your First Game

Assembling the wheels on the production tableaus: Place the wheels on the tableaus so that the symbols on the dials match the wheels (left and right) and the numbers are visible on the dials. Use the plastic pins and a bit of pressure to fasten the dials to the tableau.

Resource markers: Attach the stickers to the wooden disks of the matching color.

Components

General components

• 1 game board (double sided)
• 12 Small Estates
• 3 Buildings boards (double sided): one for large Buildings, two for small Buildings (spaces numbered 01–36)
• 23 Forests
• 52 Landscape tiles (32 Fields/Ponds, 20 Pastures)
• 11 Jobs (back of the tile shows: 5x owl, 5x fox, 5x stag, 2x mouse)
• 17 Tradespeople
• 14 large Buildings (backs sorted by level: 6x level I, 3x level II, 5x level III)
• 36 small Buildings (double sided)
• 1 player aid (double sided)

Small Estates, livestock, Landscape tiles, and Forests are unlimited. In the unlikely event that you run out, please improvise.

• 1 Cuckoo Clock for solo play

Personal components — 1 each per player:

• 4 production tableaus (including 2 dials and 2 fastening sets each)
• 4 Main Estates
• 4 Glass Huts
• 4 Glass Hut Progress trackers for the Glass Huts
• 4 Job + Resource reminder tiles
• 5 pawns (blue, yellow, red, black, white) — the 5th pawn is required for solo play
• 5 player color tiles (blue, yellow, red, black, white)
• 4 markers of each basic resource: porridge, meat, wood, charcoal, sand, water, brick
• 2 each per player of the refined resource markers: glass, commodity, provision — 8 markers of each in the box

Livestock components: 25 pigs, 25 cattle, 16 Livestock tiles (3 pigs/3 cattle, double sided).

1 sticker sheet in the box.

Game Setup

General Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table. Use the side corresponding to your player count.
   • For solo play, use the side with the cuckoo clock symbol in the top left corner.
   • For 2–4 players, use the side that lists the additional starting resources for different player counts in the top left corner.
2. Place the 2 larger Buildings boards for small Buildings next to the game board. The spaces have numbers on them. Arrange all small Buildings so side A is facing up, then flip 10 of them at random onto side B. Then place all Buildings on the spaces matching their numbers (keeping the same side facing up).
   • For your 1st game: Instead of flipping 10 Buildings to side B, use side A for all the small Buildings.
3. Place the small Buildings board for the large Buildings with the side facing up that matches your player count (e.g. 1–3 players). Sort the large Buildings by their backs and shuffle the three stacks separately, face down. Then fill each space on the Buildings board with 1 random Building (face up) of the matching number. There will be 2 Buildings of level I, 1 Building of level II, and (based on your player count) 1 or 2 Buildings of level III. Return the remaining large Buildings to the box; you won't need them.
4. Sort the Tradespeople by their backs and shuffle each stack separately, face down. Then place 1 matching Tradesperson on each space of the 5 villages on the game board. Once all Tradespeople are placed, flip them face up.
5. Shuffle the 11 Jobs and set them in a face-down pile on the space in the bottom left of the game board.
6. Form a general supply for the Small Estates, Fields, Ponds, Pastures, and Forests, as well as the pigs and cattle.
7. Place the player aid in view of everyone, with the turn summary face up.
8. Randomly determine a starting player.
9. Now perform the personal setup for all players.
10. 2-player game only: Choose another pawn to act as the neutral pawn. The starting player chooses in which village it starts the game. The other player then places it on a space of their choice within that village.

Personal Setup

A. Place a production tableau showing the resource wheels in front of yourself, with the brick track on the left side. Set both dials to the 8 o'clock position (i.e. the hand with a small arrow near the center is pointing up).

B. Take 1 marker each for commodities, porridge, meat, glass, sand, water, and wood, as well as 2 markers each for charcoal and provisions. Place them on the spaces with those symbols on your resource wheels. You will start the game with 0 sand, 1 charcoal, 2 water, 3 wood and 0 glass on the left wheel, and with 0 porridge, 1 meat, 2 charcoal, 3 provisions and 0 commodities on the right wheel.

C. Take 1 brick marker and place it on the space with value 3 on the brick track.

D. Take 1 Job + Resource reminder tile and place it on the indicated space on your right resource wheel.

E. You start with extra resources based on the player count and your place in the turn order. (See Gaining and Spending Resources below.) The starting player gains no extra resources. The extra resources the other players receive are shown in the top left of the game board. (Example: the 2nd player in a 3-player game.)

• 2-player game: 2nd player: 1 pig
• 3-player game: 2nd player: 2 wood | 3rd player: 1 provision, 1 meat
• 4-player game: 2nd player: 2 brick | 3rd player: 1 cattle | 4th player: 1 glass

F. Take 1 Main Estate and place it to the right of your production tableau.

G. Take 1 Glass Hut and 1 Glass Hut Progress tracker. Place your Glass Hut as shown on the large stable on your Main Estate. Place your Progress tracker on the bottom space of the Glass Hut.

H. Take 2 Fields, 2 Ponds, and 3 Forests. Place them on the spaces indicated on your Main Estate.

I. Choose a color. Take the pawn and the corresponding player color tile.

General Rules

Before we explain how to play, we'll explain your production tableau, your Domain, the game board, and the Jobs.

Your Production Tableau

Your production tableau shows two resource wheels. The left wheel is your Glassmaking wheel, and the right wheel is your Cooking wheel. The numbers in the center of the wheel indicate how much of each resource you currently have.

Each wheel has 2 sections: one large and one small, separated by the hands of the dial. The resources in the large sections are basic resources. Brick also counts as a basic resource, although its number is indicated by the track on the left, not on the wheels. Glass, provisions, and commodities are shown in the small sections of the wheels and are refined resources.

Basic resources: porridge, meat, wood, charcoal, sand, water, brick

Refined resources: glass, commodity, provision

Gaining and Spending Resources

Whenever you gain resources from an action or spend resources, move the markers on your wheels and/or the brick track accordingly. You do not move the dials when gaining or paying resources.

For basic resources, move the markers clockwise when gaining them, and counterclockwise when spending them.

For refined resources, it's the opposite (gaining: move markers counterclockwise; spending: move them clockwise).

Example: You have 0 commodities, 3 provisions (1+2), 0 charcoal, 3 meat, and 2 porridge. You gain 2 charcoal, so you move the charcoal marker to the "2" section.

You can never advance the marker of a basic resource higher than 7 or the marker of a refined resource higher than 3. Similarly, you can never have fewer than 0 of any resource.

Charcoal and Provisions

You have 2 markers each for charcoal and for provisions. For them, the following rules apply:

• When gaining resources, you can only gain them on one of the wheels.
• When spending resources, you can spend them from both wheels.

This means: Whenever you gain charcoal, you can choose on which wheel to move the charcoal marker, but you can't split it between both markers. You can also never increase your charcoal on one wheel by decreasing it on the other.

When you spend charcoal, you may split it between both wheels (e.g. when spending 4 charcoal, you could spend 1 from the Cooking wheel and 3 from the Glassmaking wheel).

Whenever you gain or spend provisions, you can always split it between both markers (since they are on the same wheel).

Producing Glass, Provisions, and Commodities

The resource wheels not only store your resources, but also produce refined resources.

Both wheels have two dark markings in the center. One is in the large section on the "0" space, the other in the small section on the "3" space. Whenever both of those spaces on a wheel are empty (i.e. without any resource markers on them), you immediately and automatically produce resources.

Turn the dial of the resource wheel clockwise until at least one of the spaces with dark markings is no longer empty.

In other words: You can (and must) produce whenever you can turn the dial clockwise without moving any resource markers, until that is no longer the case.

This is how you produce glass, provisions, and commodities: As they increase in number, the number of your basic resources decreases. (They are used up during production.) You must produce immediately and cannot choose not to. This also applies if you gain multiple resources at once and the first resource gained causes both marked spaces to be empty.

Example: (1) You just gained 2 charcoal, and now both marked sections of your Cooking wheel are empty. You must immediately turn the dial. (2) You are only able to turn the dial 1 space before the marked space of the small section is no longer empty. You now have 5 provisions (2+3), 1 commodity, 1 charcoal, 1 porridge, and 2 meat. You lost 1 porridge, 1 charcoal, and 1 meat, but gained 2 provisions (1+1) and 1 commodity.

Gaining Rewards

• You must take everything you can take (unless the rules explicitly allow you to decline).
• You cannot choose to forfeit part of the reward.
• When you gain a reward consisting of various parts (for example: more than one type of resource), you may choose the order in which you receive them.
• If you can produce partway through gaining a reward, you must produce before gaining the next part of the reward.
• If you gain more resources than you are allowed to store on your wheels, the remainder is lost.
• If you gain Landscape tiles or Forests but have no empty spaces in your Domain (and you don't want to make room for them, see Anytime Actions below), they are wasted.

Your Domain and Estates

Your Domain consists of your Main Estate (your starting board), all your Small Estates, and everything on them.

Each board is considered to be its own Estate (except your production tableau).

The Game Board

There are 5 villages printed on the game board (2 large and 3 small). The large villages contain 4 Tradespeople each and the small villages contain 3 Tradespeople each. There are also several spaces on the game board where Jobs will be placed throughout the game. Some of them are inside the villages and some are outside them. With one exception (see Begging below), your pawn will always be either in a village between 2 Tradespeople, or on a Job outside a village. You will move along the paths between the villages and Job spaces throughout the game. The travel cost is 1 provision per path. This is indicated next to each path.

Example: (1) You produce on your Cooking wheel for the second time. This moves your reminder tile. (2) You reveal a new Job. (3) The Job is assigned to the "Landowner" Tradesperson, so you place it in the village with that Tradesperson. (4) On the previous turn, another player produced with their Cooking wheel for the second time and revealed the "Hermit" Location Job, which has a fixed location on the game board.

Jobs

During setup, you formed a face-down pile of Jobs.

As soon as your Cooking wheel produces for the 2nd time (i.e. when the dial moves the Job + Resource reminder tile), you immediately reveal 1 Job from the pile. You also gain 1 basic resource of your choice. Then return the reminder tile to the box.

There are 2 types of Jobs.

• Location Jobs — You can identify Jobs with a fixed location on the game board by their green mountain background and a white symbol in the top left corner. When you reveal a Location Job, place it on the space on the game board that matches its symbol.
• Tradesperson Jobs — The other type of Job has a village background with a black symbol in the top left corner. These are always assigned to a specific Tradesperson. When you reveal a Tradesperson Job, place it on the Job space of the village with the matching Tradesperson. If there is already a Job in that space, instead place the new Job in the closest (clockwise) village that does not have a Job. If you move the Tradesperson to another village by spending a commodity (more detail later: see Spend 1 Commodity below), leave the Job where it is and do not move it.

Even though the Job space is next to one of the spaces for player pawns, you can complete this Job from any space in that village (see Complete a Job below).

All Jobs are one-use. Once you complete a Job, place it next to your production tableau. Then reveal a new Job from the pile and place it on the game board as described above. A detailed description of all Jobs can be found in the Appendix.

There will never be more Jobs in play than 3, except for a 4-player game, where the maximum of Jobs is 4.

Gameplay

You take turns in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player. When it's your turn, you can either perform a standard turn, or go Begging (see Begging below).

A standard turn consists of up to 3 steps, in this exact order:

1. Spend 1 commodity (optional)
2. Movement
3. Action

When you go Begging, you may have to move your pawn, then you gain 1 provision and end your turn.

A Standard Turn

1. Spend 1 Commodity

This part of your turn is optional. You may spend exactly 1 commodity to swap the Tradesperson Traveling Merchant with any other Tradesperson. It doesn't matter which village or villages the Traveling Merchant and the other Tradesperson are in. Your pawn does not have to be adjacent to one of the two.

You cannot spend more than 1 commodity in a single turn.

In a 2-player game: After swapping the Traveling Merchant with another Tradesperson, you must move the neutral pawn to an empty space in any village. The neutral pawn blocks whichever space it is in.

Example: You spend 1 commodity to swap the Traveling Merchant with the Lumberjack.

2. Movement

You must move your pawn. If you can't perform any of the actions of a space, you cannot move to that space. You must choose another space instead.

If you cannot move, you must go Begging instead of taking a standard turn (see Begging below).

When you move, you can choose to move your pawn:

• a) within the same village;
• b) to another village; or
• c) to a Location Job.

Moving within the same village

When you move within a village, place your pawn on another empty space between 2 Tradespeople in that village, at no cost.

Example: Black moves to an empty space within the same village. Black doesn't have to pay anything to do so.

Moving to another village

To move your pawn to another village, move along the printed paths. Each path has a travel cost of 1 provision (printed next to it). If you travel further than 1 village, add the travel costs of all paths you traveled along and spend that amount of provisions. You must always choose the cheapest path available.

Place your pawn in an empty space between 2 Tradespeople in that village.

If the village you moved to contains other pawns, you must pay those players basic resources. Pay them 1 basic resource of your choice each. You can pay them a resource that they don't have room for. They may also choose to decline the resource. Either way, you must still spend the resource.

You only have to pay other players in the village you moved to, not those along your way.

If you can't pay the travel cost or the resource cost to the other players, or if all spaces in a village are occupied, you cannot move to that village.

In a 2-player game: If the neutral pawn is in the village you moved to, you must spend 1 resource of your choice.

Example: (A) Red spends 1 provision to move to the next village. Since Blue is already there, Red must also pay 1 basic resource to Blue (not shown). (B) Red spends 2 provisions to move to the "Hermit" Job. Since Red is only passing through, Red does not have to pay a resource to Blue.

Moving to a Location Job

Moving to a Location Job works just like moving to another village. You must pay the travel cost (in provisions) for each path you travel along.

You may only move to a Location Job if you then complete it as your action (see the action Completing Jobs below). If you cannot complete a Location Job, or there is no Job in that space, then you cannot move there.

Keep an eye on your provisions, or you might get stuck! Make sure you always think ahead a couple turns.

Only on your first turn

Instead of moving your pawn, place it in any empty space between 2 Tradespeople. This costs no provisions or resources. Then proceed with your action.

3. Action

You perform 1 action. Depending on whether you are in a village or at a Location Job, choose one of these options:

• a) Visit 1 or 2 adjacent Tradespeople
• b) Complete 1 Job, if available

a) Visit 1 or 2 adjacent Tradespeople

You can visit one or both Tradespeople adjacent to your pawn as a single action.

If you visit both, you visit one after the other, in the order of your choice.

Each Tradesperson has either 1 effect or offers you a choice of 2 effects.

There are 3 different types of effect:

• You gain the reward shown. Example: The Cattle Farmer gives you 1 cattle. The Builder allows you to construct 1 Building for its cost (see Constructing a Building below).
• You gain a reward based on the elements in your Domain. Example: The Glass Miller gives you 1 sand per Pond in your Domain. The Herder gives you 1 porridge per cattle in your Domain.
• You spend something to gain a reward. You may do this exactly once. You must always pay the cost before you gain the reward. The cost is shown on a red background. It might also involve removing a Forest from your Domain. This gives you more space to place Buildings or Landscape tiles. Example: When you visit the Brickmaker, you spend 1 charcoal to gain 4 brick. When you visit the Woodworker, you remove 1 Forest from your Domain to gain 1 wood and construct 1 Building.

Example: (1) Blue first visits the Gardener and spends 1 brick. This allows Blue to place 1 Pond in their Domain. (2) Then Blue visits the Cook. Since Blue now has 4 Ponds in their Domain, they gain 2 meat.

b) Complete a Job

• Village Job — If you're in a village with a Job, instead of visiting Tradespeople, you can use your action to complete the Job. You can do this from any space within that village.
• Location Job — If you traveled to a Job outside the villages, you must use your action to complete the Job. (If you can't, then you were not allowed to move there.)

To complete the Job, you'll usually have to pay something. The cost is shown on a red background.

After paying the cost, gain the reward shown on the Job. Then place the Job next to your production tableau. It cannot be completed again. Reveal a new Job and place it in its corresponding place on the game board (see Jobs above). If the Job pile is empty, you do not reveal another Job. If you reveal a Job that would be placed in a village that already has a Job, place it in the closest (clockwise) village that does not have a Job. All Jobs are explained in detail in the Appendix.

Example: You complete the "Count" Job: (1) You spend 5 sand. (2) In return, you gain 2 glass, 5 porridge (not shown) and (3) move your Glass Hut Progress tracker by 3. (4) Then you place the Job next to your production tableau. (5) You reveal a new Job. The "Captain" Job is a Location Job, so you place it in its assigned space on the game board.

Begging

Instead of a standard turn, you can decide to go Begging.

If you can't move (for example, because all spaces in your village are occupied and you have no provisions for travel), you must go Begging.

To go Begging, perform the following steps:

1. If your pawn is in a village, place it in the center of the village. (If your pawn is outside the villages, ignore this step.)
2. Gain 1 provision, then immediately end your turn.

Example: Red has no commodities, no charcoal, and no provisions. Red would like to travel to the next village, but has no way to gain provisions in their current village with a standard turn. So instead, Red decides to go Begging. Red places their pawn in the center of the village, gains 1 provision, and immediately ends their turn.

Rewards

Tradespeople and Jobs give you a variety of rewards. You may gain the various parts of a reward (e.g. more than one resource) in any order. You cannot forfeit part of the reward.

Remember: If you can produce while you are gaining rewards, you must produce before taking the next part of the reward.

Remember: You can never advance the marker of a basic resource higher than 7 or the marker of a refined resource higher than 3. If the marker of a resource would exceed this, the excess is forfeited.

In this section, we'll explain more about the Glass Hut Progress and Constructing a Building rewards, as well as how to house Livestock in your Domain. You can find detailed descriptions of all Tradespeople and detailed descriptions of all Buildings in the Appendix.

Example of Glass Hut Progress and Expanding your Domain: You gain 2 Glass Hut Progress steps. (1) The first step advances the tracker to the top space, so (2) you take a Small Estate. (3) You place 2 Forests and (4) your Glass Hut on that Estate. (5) Since you still have 1 Progress step left, you advance the Progress tracker 1 step up from the bottom.

Glass Hut Progress (and Expanding Your Domain)

Whenever you gain the Glass Hut Progress reward, move your Progress tracker up the track by the number of steps indicated. When the marker reaches the top space, your Glass Hut relocates. Take a Small Estate and add it to the right side of your Domain. Take 2 Forests from the supply and place them on the spaces indicated on that new Estate. This Small Estate and everything on it are now part of your Domain.

Now place your Glass Hut over the stable on the new Small Estate. Set your Progress tracker back at the bottom space of the track. If you still have Glass Hut Progress steps remaining, advance the tracker accordingly.

Medieval forest Glass Huts required large amounts of firewood, and so were frequently relocated to more heavily wooded areas.

Constructing a Building

Whenever you construct a Building, you can choose any Building on the Buildings boards.

To construct a Building, you must first pay the cost indicated on the left side of the Building.

Then take the Building from the Buildings board and place it on 1 empty space (or, in the case of large Buildings, 2 empty spaces) in your Domain. Spaces are considered to be empty if they have no Landscape tile, Forest, Building, or stable.

If the Building provides you with an "instant" reward, gain that reward immediately. As usual, you must gain the entire reward and cannot voluntarily forfeit parts of it. If the reward consists of various parts, you can choose the order in which you gain them.

Small Buildings cost 0, 1, or 2 glass (they are sorted in columns accordingly), while all large Buildings cost 3 glass.

The left-hand side of both Building boards for small Buildings shows the main reward given by the Buildings in this row. If you need a specific resource, look here to see which Buildings can provide it.

Example: You construct the Water Tower, by spending 1 glass and 3 brick. You place it on an empty space in your Domain. The Water Tower gives you 1 water per empty space in your Domain, so you gain 4 water.

Some Buildings have a condition that you must fulfill when constructing them. They are characterized by a wooden background and a sack. Example: To construct this Building you need to have 4 Fields.

Different types of effect

There are 4 different types of Building effects. You can identify the different types by their background color and the illustrations in the foreground. Some Buildings have more than one effect. Almost all Buildings will also score you points at the end of the game. You can find their points value in a star in the top right corner, or halfway down the right side for large Buildings.

• Conversion — Buildings with a blue background and a gold arrow give you a conversion ability that you can use (almost) anytime (see Anytime Actions below). You can use them before and/or after your action. When visiting Tradespeople, you may also perform the conversion after visiting the first Tradesperson but before visiting the second. You cannot use the conversion during your action, e.g. while paying the cost to construct a Building. To use the effect of a Conversion Building, pay the cost to the left of the gold arrow to gain the reward on the right. You can do this multiple times in a row. Remember to check after each reward whether it triggers production (turning the wheels). Example: The Clay Pit allows you to convert 2 water into 3 brick (almost) anytime during your turn. Don't underestimate the value of Conversion Buildings!
• Instant, one-time reward — Buildings with a beige background and a barrel in the foreground give you a one-time reward immediately after construction. They have no lasting impact on the game apart from their points value (unless they have another effect). Example: The Hotzenwald House provides a one-time reward of 3 sand and 1 cattle.
• Permanent — Buildings with a red brick background and a wagon wheel in the foreground have permanent effects. They are usually "each time" effects, i.e. they trigger whenever you take a specific action or gain a specific reward. Example: After constructing the Glaswald Lake, each time you expand your Domain (i.e. each time you take a Small Estate), you gain 3 sand.
• End of game points — Buildings with a yellow background and a lantern in the foreground score you points at the end of the game. This type includes most of the large and some of the small Buildings. Unless they have additional effects, they have no other impact on the game. This is in addition to the Building's normal points value. Example: At the end of the game, in addition to the 4 points it scores by default, the Village Church scores 1 extra point for each empty space adjacent to the Village Church on the same Estate.

Housing Livestock

Some rewards and Buildings give you Livestock (cattle or pigs). The following rules apply for housing Livestock:

• A Pasture can house up to 3 Livestock of the same type, i.e. up to 3 cattle or 3 pigs.
• A Stable can house up to 2 cattle, but not pigs.
• A Forest tile can house up to 1 pig, but not cattle.

You start the game with 1 stable on your Main Estate. You can gain further stables progressing your Glass Hut. Whenever your Glass Hut relocates, the stable underneath becomes available.

• You can relocate the Livestock in your Domain at any time.
• If you can't house or can no longer house an animal in your Domain, you don't gain it (or must return it to the supply, if you already had it).

Anytime Actions

You can use "anytime" actions at any time, even during another player's turn, with one exception.

The exception is: When visiting Tradespeople, you cannot use anytime actions while visiting a Tradesperson. You can, however, use them between visiting the first and the second Tradesperson.

You may use anytime actions to make room for something before you gain it.

The available anytime actions are:

• Using the conversion ability of your blue Buildings.
• Removing Landscape tiles (Fields, Ponds, Pastures) from your Domain. This can provide you with the space you need. You cannot remove Forests or Buildings in this way.

End of the Game and Scoring

The end of the game is triggered at the end of your turn if one or both provision markers on your Cooking wheel have reached or passed a specific symbol. You must loudly announce that the end of the game has been triggered. Each player (including you) takes one final turn.

Then proceed to scoring. Flip over the medium-sized Buildings board and place your pawns on the 0 space of the scoring track. Then score your points on the score track.

You score:

• 1 point per glass
• X points based on the position of your Cooking wheel. You score the points that the large hand of the dial is pointing at.
• 2 points per Small Estate
• 1 point per Livestock on a Pasture (Livestock that's not on a Pasture doesn't score any points.)
• X points for your Buildings (as printed in the star)
• X points for End of game points Building effects (see above)

The player with the highest score wins the game. In the case of a tie, if one of the tied players triggered the end of the game, that player wins. Otherwise, the winner is the tied player who would be next to take their turn.

Example: (1) You score 2 points for your 2 glass. (2) You score the 7 points that the large hand of your Cooking wheel is pointing at. (3) You score 2 points for your Small Estate. (4) You have 3 cattle on a Pasture. They score you a total of 3 points. The cattle in your stables score you no points. (5) You score a total of 16 points for your Buildings. (6) The "Smokehouse" large Building scores an extra 6 points because you have 6 Ponds. Your total score is 2 + 7 + 2 + 3 + 16 + 6 = 36 points.

2-Player Game

Setup

Before the game starts, take another pawn of an unused color. The starting player chooses which village this neutral pawn is placed in, and the other player chooses the exact space within that village.

Jobs

The second player to reveal a Job (when their Cooking wheel moves the reminder tile) immediately reveals another Job. They only gain 1 basic resource of their choice, as usual. From now on, there will be 3 Jobs available. When you complete a Job, reveal a new Job as usual.

Gameplay

1. Spend 1 commodity — After spending 1 commodity to swap the Tradesperson Traveling Merchant, you must move the neutral pawn to an empty space in any village. This may be the same village, but it cannot stay in the same space.
2. Movement — The space with the neutral pawn counts as occupied. If you move to the village with the neutral pawn, you must spend 1 basic resource of your choice.

Solo Play

Setup

You set up the game as usual, with the following differences:

• Use the side of the game board with the cuckoo clock symbol.
• Place the Cuckoo Clock on the first space of the Years tracker.
• Take all 5 pawns.

Gameplay

General gameplay: The solo game plays out over 5 years (rounds). In each round, you take 5 turns by placing the 5 pawns one after another. Steps 1 (Spend 1 commodity) and 3 (Action) of each turn use the same rules as the multiplayer game. When you have placed all 5 pawns, the round ends. Advance the Cuckoo Clock 1 space along its track and take back all your pawns. Then begin the next round.

Movement: Instead of moving around the board with a single pawn, one after the other you place the 5 pawns onto a Location Job or an empty space between 2 Tradespeople.

Travel costs: The usual rules for travel costs still apply. This means that if you place a pawn in the same village as the previous pawn, you pay no travel cost. However, if you place a pawn in a different village than the previous pawn, you have to pay the travel cost in provisions (based on the previous pawn's position). Placing the first pawn each round never costs provisions.

Example: On your last turn, you placed the Red pawn, so your travel cost is calculated from Red's position. You choose to travel to the adjacent village, so your travel cost is 1 provision. Since the Blue pawn is already in this village and you are placing the Black pawn, you must pay 1 resource. If instead you had placed the White pawn, you wouldn't have to spend the resource.

Resource costs for pawns in the village: If you place a pawn in another village and there are already pawns in that village, you must spend 1 resource per pawn already there.

Important exception: When you place the white pawn, you pay no resources for the pawns already in that village.

Traveling Merchant: When visiting the Tradesperson Traveling Merchant, you gain 2 basic resources as usual. The 1 basic resource for the others (in a multiplayer game) is not given to anyone.

Jobs

When your Cooking wheel produces for the second time, reveal 3 Jobs instead of 1. You gain exactly 1 basic resource of your choice, just like in the multiplayer game.

Changing the Tradespeople at the start of round 4

Before you start placing the pawns in round 4, remove all the Tradespeople from the game board. Place them again in the appropriate places as described in the game setup (General Setup, step 4). Then continue the round as usual by placing the pawns.

Begging

If you need to go Begging, skip 1 turn by placing the pawn to the side instead of on the board and gain 1 provision.

Scoring

When playing solo, try to beat your own personal high score. For reference, here are the titles that some scores will give you.

Score	Title
20 points	Water carrier
30 points	Smallholder
40 points	Large scale farmer
50 points	Master builder
60 points	Glass Hut master
70 points	Duchess

Appendix

Jobs

Location Jobs

• Brickmaker — Spend 7 wood to gain 5 brick, 4 sand, 4 water, and 1 glass.
• Cook — Spend 5 meat to gain 5 wood, 5 sand, 5 porridge, 4 charcoal, and 3 provisions.
• Glass Miller — Spend 7 charcoal to gain 4 brick, 4 wood, 1 glass, 1 cattle, and 1 pig.
• Landowner — Remove 3 Fields from your Domain to gain 2 Pastures, 2 pigs, and 2 cattle. Immediately place the Pastures on an empty space in your Domain.
• Lumberjack — Remove 3 Forest tiles from your Domain to gain 5 wood, 4 meat, and 1 cattle.

Tradesperson Jobs

• Captain — Spend 5 water to gain 1 provision and build 1 small building for free.
• Count — Spend 5 sand to gain 5 porridge, 2 glass, and 3 Glass Hut Progress steps.
• Feudal Lord — Pay 2 provisions to gain 2 Glass Hut Progress steps, place 1 Forest, 2 Fields, 1 Pond, and 1 Pasture. Place those on empty spaces in your Domain.
• Freiburg — Spend 7 brick to gain 3 charcoal, 3 meat, 3 water, 1 glass, and 2 Fields. Immediately place the Fields on empty spaces in your Domain.
• Hermit — Spend 7 porridge to gain 1 glass, 3 pigs, 1 Pond, 1 Pasture and 1 Forest. Place those on empty spaces in your Domain.
• Market — Spend 5 Livestock of any kind to gain 3 of each basic resource.

Small Buildings

Legend: Conversion = anytime conversion ability. Instant = instant one-time reward. Permanent = permanent effect. End-game = end of game points.

No.	Name	Cost	Effect	VP
01A	Clay Pit	1 wood, 3 water	Conversion: Spend 2 water to gain 3 brick.	1
01B	Brick Basin	1 wood, 4 water	Instant: Immediately gain 1 brick per Pond in your Domain.	2
02A	Tenement Building	1 glass, 3 brick	Conversion: Spend 2 meat to gain 2 brick and 2 wood.	3
02B	Day Laborer Square	1 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 porridge to gain 1 brick.	3
03A	Kiln	2 glass, 2 brick	Conversion: Spend 2 charcoal to gain 3 brick.	4
03B	Half-timbered House	2 glass, 1 brick, 2 wood	Instant: If you have 5 wood after construction, immediately gain 7 brick.	4
04A	Lumber Storage	3 water, 2 sand	Permanent: Whenever you add a Small Estate and have less than 3 wood, move your wood marker to 3.	1
04B	Log Driver	4 porridge	Instant: Immediately gain 7 wood.	0
05A	Ox Stable	1 glass, 1 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Remove 1 Forest tile from your Domain to gain 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 wood for 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 cattle in your Domain.	1
05B	Carving Workshop	1 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 porridge to gain 1 wood.	3
06A	Sawmill	2 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Remove 1 Forest tile from your Domain to gain 3 wood.	2
06B	Shadow Mill	2 glass, 3 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Remove 1 Forest tile from your Domain to gain 1 wood and 2 porridge.	3
07A	Glaswald Lake	4 brick, 1 water, 1 Forest tile	Permanent: Whenever you place a Small Estate, gain 3 sand.	1
07B	Mortar Mixer	2 brick, 1 meat, 1 porridge	Instant: Immediately gain 2 water and 3 sand.	1
08A	Hotzenwald House	1 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 3 sand and 1 cattle.	2
08B	Tavern	1 glass, 1 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 water and 1 porridge to gain 2 sand.	3
09A	Sand Sifting Plant	2 glass, 2 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 meat to gain 2 sand.	5
09B	Clockmaker	2 glass, 1 brick, 2 wood	Instant: Move each basic resource marker of which you have 0 to 1. Immediately take another turn. In solo play you take another turn with the pawn you just placed. Move it instead of placing it and pay the travel cost from your starting village to the village you moved to. If applicable, pay resources for any pawns in the village you moved to (unless you move the white pawn).	3
10A	Forestside Herder's Hut	1 brick, 3 wood	Permanent: Whenever you visit the Herder Tradesperson, gain 1 charcoal.	1
10B	Coal Merchant	5 brick, 2 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 4 charcoal on each wheel.	1
11A	Potash Manufacturer	1 glass, 4 wood	Instant: Immediately remove the charcoal marker from your Glassmaking wheel. Return it to the box.	2
11B	Renderer	1 glass, 1 brick, 2 meat	Instant: Immediately gain 6 charcoal. You may immediately convert exactly 1 meat to 3 charcoal.	3
12A	Charcoal Pile	2 glass, 1 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 wood and 1 meat to gain 3 charcoal.	5
12B	Storehouse	2 glass, 5 brick	Instant: Immediately gain 3 wood, 3 charcoal, 2 meat, and 1 sand.	3
13A	Well	3 brick, 3 wood, 1 water	Conversion: Spend 1 porridge to gain 1 water.	1
13B	Cistern	4 brick	Permanent: Whenever you move and enter the village with the Cook Tradesperson, gain 2 water. You do not gain this water if moving within the same village.	1
14A	Water Tower	1 glass, 3 brick	Instant: Immediately gain 1 water per empty space in your Domain.	2
14B	Lakeside Forest Cabin	1 glass, 4 wood	Permanent: Whenever you remove a Forest tile (no matter how), gain 1 water.	3
15A	Cooperage	2 glass, 2 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 2 wood to gain 3 water.	4
15B	Bathhouse	2 glass, 2 brick	Permanent: Whenever you move the Traveling Merchant (by spending 1 commodity), gain 1 water.	4
16A	Grain Mill	5 wood	Conversion: Remove 1 Field from your Domain to gain 3 porridge.	1
16B	Larder Tunnel	5 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 1 water, 1 meat, and 3 porridge.	1
17A	Festival Ground	1 glass, 2 wood, 1 charcoal	Instant: Immediately gain 1 meat, 1 porridge, and 1 pig.	2
17B	Grocer	1 glass, 1 brick, 1 wood	Instant: Immediately spend 3 different resources to gain 5 porridge.	3
18A	Lord's Manor	2 glass, 3 wood	Conversion: Remove 1 Pond from your Domain to gain 2 water OR remove 1 Field from your Domain to gain 1 porridge.	4
18B	Cabinet Painter	2 glass, 1 brick, 2 wood	Permanent: Whenever you gain glass (no matter how), gain 1 porridge per glass gained. Producing glass also counts as gaining it.	3
19A	Bar	3 wood, 2 water, 3 charcoal	Instant: Immediately gain 3 meat and 4 porridge.	1
19B	Ham Cellar	5 brick, 1 wood	Permanent: Whenever you gain meat from the Butcher Tradesperson, gain 1 extra meat.	1
20A	Trout Fishery	1 glass, 3 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Remove 1 Pond from your Domain to gain 1 water and 1 meat.	3
20B	Alehouse	1 glass, 3 brick, 2 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 2 water, 2 meat, and 2 porridge.	2
21A	Slaughterhouse	2 glass, 3 brick	Instant: You may immediately spend 3 Livestock (pigs and/or cattle) to gain 6 meat.	4
21B	Lake Fishery	2 glass, 2 wood	Permanent: Whenever you use the Gardener Tradesperson to gain 1 Pond, you may immediately convert 1 water to 2 meat.	4
22A	Watering Trough	2 brick, 1 wood, 3 water	Conversion: Spend 2 water to gain 1 pig OR spend 3 water to gain 1 cattle.	2
22B	Forester's Lodge	1 brick, 2 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 1 pig per 2 Forest tiles in your Domain.	1
23A	Tannery	1 glass, 1 brick, 2 water	Permanent: Whenever you spend pigs at the Butcher Tradesperson, place them on this Building. Up to 5 pigs can be on the Tannery. At the end of the game, score 2 points per pig on it.	0
23B	Pig Farm	1 glass, 1 brick	Permanent: Whenever you gain 1 Field from the Farmhand Tradesperson and have at least 2 pigs in your Domain, gain 1 pig.	1
24A	Feeding Farm	2 glass, 2 brick, 1 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 1 Livestock of your choice per Field in your Domain.	3
24B	Beechnut Gatherer's Hut	2 glass, 1 wood	Instant/Permanent: Immediately place 1 Pasture in your Domain. From now on, each Forest tile in your Domain can house 1 extra pig.	4
25A	Schauinsland House	3 brick, 2 wood	Instant: If you have at least 2 Pastures in your Domain, immediately gain 3 cattle.	0
25B	Feeding Trough	1 brick, 1 wood, 2 sand	Conversion: Spend 2 porridge to gain 1 pig OR spend 3 porridge to gain 1 cattle.	0
26A	Alpine Hut	1 glass, 3 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 1 cattle per empty Pasture in your Domain.	2
26B	Farrier	1 glass, 3 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 3 charcoal to gain 1 cattle.	4
27A	Breeding Station	2 glass, 3 wood	Instant: Immediately gain 1 matching Livestock for each of up to 4 Livestock pairs in your Domain.	3
27B	Cattle Farm	2 glass, 1 brick, 1 wood, 1 water	Permanent: Whenever you gain 1 Field from the Farmhand Tradesperson and have at least 2 cattle in your Domain, gain 1 cattle.	3
28A	Irrigation System	2 brick, 4 wood	Conversion: Spend 2 water to place a Pasture in your Domain OR spend 4 water to place a Pond in your Domain.	1
28B	Wilderness Hut	3 brick, 4 wood, 2 meat	Instant: Immediately place Landscape tiles of your choice (Field, Pond, Pasture) on all empty spaces on this Estate that are horizontally or vertically adjacent to this Building. You may choose a mix of different tiles.	1
29A	Clearing House	1 glass, 4 wood, 1 Forest tile	Instant: Immediately place 2 Fields OR 1 Pond OR 1 Pasture in your Domain.	3
29B	Wildlife Park	1 glass, 4 wood	Instant: Immediately place up to 3 Pastures on this Estate.	1
30A	Farm Laborer's House	2 glass, 3 brick, 3 wood	Permanent: Whenever you move the Traveling Merchant (by spending 1 commodity), gain 1 porridge per Field in your Domain (max. 4).	3
30B	Farmhouse	2 glass, 2 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 porridge and remove 1 Field from your Domain to place 1 Pasture in your Domain.	3
31A	Glass Furnace	2 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 2 meat to gain 1 Glass Hut Progress step.	2
31B	Glassworks	4 brick, 3 meat	Instant: Immediately gain 3 Glass Hut Progress steps.	2
32A	Glass Blower	1 glass, 3 brick, 2 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 meat and 2 porridge to gain 1 glass.	3
32B	Storage Shed	1 glass, 3 wood, 1 charcoal	Instant: Immediately gain 3 glass.	0
33A	Bakery	2 glass, 1 brick, 1 wood	Conversion: Spend 1 water and remove 1 Field from your Domain to gain 2 provisions.	3
33B	Guildhall	2 glass, 2 wood, 2 meat	Instant: If you have 1 glass and at least 3 provisions after construction, immediately gain 3 Glass Hut Progress steps.	4
34A	Knight's Manor	4 brick, 4 wood	End-game: At the end of the game, lose 1 point per empty space in your Domain, up to a maximum of 5 points.	6
34B	Distillery	3 brick, 1 wood, 1 charcoal	Permanent: Whenever you visit the Farmhand Tradesperson as the first Tradesperson, instead of visiting the other adjacent Tradesperson, you may spend 2 water to visit any other Tradesperson in any village, without moving your pawn.	2
35A	Fort	1 glass, X brick, 1 wood	Permanent: X (brick cost) is equal to the number of other players. From now on, pay no resources to other players to move into a village containing their pawns. In a 2-player game, the neutral pawn counts as another player (X is 2). In solo play, X is 1.	3
35B	Hermit's Hut	1 glass, 1 brick, 1 wood	Condition: When you construct this building, there must be no other Buildings on that same Estate. You may construct further Buildings on that Estate later, though.	4
36A	Village Church	2 glass, 3 brick, 2 wood	End-game: At the end of the game, score 1 extra point per empty space on this Estate that is horizontally or vertically adjacent to this Building.	4
36B	Colonization House	2 glass, 1 brick, 1 wood	End-game: At the end of the game, score 2 extra points per set of 1 Field, 1 Pond, and 1 Pasture in your Domain, up to a maximum of 10 points.	1

Large Buildings

Name	Cost	Effect	VP
Castle Hotel	3 glass, 3 brick, 1 wood	After constructing this Building, you can no longer add Small Estates. If your Glass Hut Progress tracker reaches the top space, nothing happens, and any additional Progress steps are lost. Conversion: Spend 1 Glass Hut Progress step to gain 1 meat. You cannot perform this conversion if your Progress tracker is on the bottom space. End-game: score 1 extra point per Small Estate.	5
Charcoal Storage	3 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood, 3 charcoal	Conversion: Spend 2 wood to gain 1 charcoal. End-game: score 1 extra point per 2 charcoal.	7
Construction Yard	3 glass, 3 brick, 3 wood	End-game: score 2 extra points per adjacent Building on this Estate.	5
Farm Store	3 glass, 3 brick, 3 wood, 5 porridge	End-game: score 2 extra points per meat.	5
Farmer's Residence	3 glass, 4 brick, 4 wood, 1 Forest tile	To construct the Farmer's Residence, you must have at least 4 Fields in your Domain. Conversion: Spend 4 porridge to place a Field in your Domain. End-game: score 1 extra point for each Field in your Domain.	5
General Hospital	3 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood, 2 water, 3 porridge	—	10
Hardware Store	3 glass, 3 brick, 3 wood	End-game: score 1 extra point per set of 1 brick and 1 wood. (Example: If you have 2 brick and 3 wood, score 2 extra points.)	7
Hunting Lodge	3 glass, 3 brick, 3 wood, 3 Forest tiles	—	10
Inn	3 glass, 1 brick, 2 wood, 1 meat	Conversion: Spend 2 water to gain 1 porridge. End-game: score 1 extra point per porridge.	5
Livestock Farm	3 glass, 2 brick, 4 wood	End-game: score 2 extra points per Pasture with at least 2 Livestock on this Estate that is horizontally or vertically adjacent to this Building.	5
Reservoir	3 glass, 6 brick	End-game: score 1 extra point per water.	6
Sand Storage	3 glass, 2 brick, 2 wood, 1 sand	Conversion: Spend 2 porridge to gain 1 sand. End-game: score 1 extra point per sand.	5
Smokehouse	3 glass, 2 brick, 3 wood, 1 Field	To construct this Building, you must have at least 3 Ponds in your Domain. End-game: score 1 extra point per Pond in your Domain.	5
Thermal Baths	3 glass, 3 wood, 3 charcoal, 2 Ponds	—	10

Tradespeople

• Brickmaker — Spend 1 charcoal to gain 4 brick.
• Builder — You may construct 1 Building (see Constructing a Building above).
• Carpenter — You may construct 1 Building OR gain 1 Glass Hut Progress step.
• Furnace Maker — Spend 3 brick to gain 2 Glass Hut Progress steps.
• Woodworker — Remove 1 Forest tile from your Domain. You gain 1 wood and may construct 1 Building. You may spend the wood gained on the construction cost. You are not allowed to only gain wood OR build.
• Cook — Gain 1 porridge per Field in your Domain OR gain 1 | 2 | 3 meat for 2 | 4 | 6 Ponds in your Domain.
• Farmhand — Spend 1 wood to gain 1 Pasture OR gain 1 Field. Place the Pasture or the Field on an empty space in your Domain.
• Gardener — Spend 1 brick to gain 1 Pond (place it on an empty space in your Domain) OR gain 1 water per Pond in your Domain.
• Glass Miller — Gain 1 sand per Pond in your Domain.
• Traveling Merchant — Choose a basic resource. You gain 2 of that resource, and all other players gain 1 of that resource. You must loudly announce this. The others may choose not to gain the resource.
• Butcher — Spend 1 pig to gain 2 meat OR spend 1 cattle to gain 3 meat.
• Cattle Farmer — Gain 1 cattle.
• Herder — Gain 1 porridge per cattle in your Domain OR gain 1 wood per pig on a Forest tile in your Domain.
• Landowner — Spend 1 water and 1 porridge to gain 1 pig and 1 cattle OR spend 1 water and 1 brick to gain 1 pig and 1 cattle.
• Pig Farmer — Gain 1 pig.
• Charcoal Burner — Spend 1 wood to gain 4 charcoal.
• Lumberjack — Remove 1 Forest tile from your Domain to gain 4 wood.

Advice for Getting Started

• To begin, choose 1 or 2 Buildings that provide a permanent benefit, e.g. an anytime conversion. If they combine into a chain conversion, even better. Use Tradespeople to collect the resources to construct Buildings as soon as possible.
• Gain Ponds, Fields, and/or Livestock to improve the effect of Tradespeople like the Gardener and Herder.
• Large Buildings will score you a lot of points at the end of the game. But they are very expensive, so don't construct them too early. Plan ahead.
• Keep an eye on your fellow players, or they might foil your plans (such as constructing a large Building).

Credits

Designers: Uwe Rosenberg & Tido Lorenz. Art: Lukas Siegmon. Graphic Design: Lukas Siegmon, Christof Tisch. Development & Editing: Frank Heeren & Inga Keutmann. Translation, copy editing and English layout: Board Game Circus (Richi Anna Haarhoff, Harriet Cooper, Agnieszka Kopera).

© 2024 Feuerland Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Nassaustr. 3, 65719 Hofheim am Taunus, Germany. www.feuerland-spiele.de

Published in North America by Capstone Games, 2 Techview Drive, Suite 2, Cincinnati, OH 45215. www.capstone-games.com. Distributed in the UK by Esdevium Games Ltd, trading as Asmodee UK, 6 Waterbrook Road, Alton, GU34 2UD, UK.