Black Hills Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Info
  • Contents
• Object of the Game
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Beginning of the first round
  • Place a Character Card
  • Reputation Points
  • Activate an Event Card
  • Carry Out a Robbery
  • End of the Round
• End of the Game
• Character Cards
  • Adventurers
  • Settlers
  • Special Characters
• Event Cards

Game Info

Number of players: 2-4 Players aprox. time: 30-40 min. Age recommended: +10 years old.

Contents

• 37 cards
• 1 gameboard
• 43 wood tokens
• 1 aiming die

Object of the Game

Each player needs to get 5 reputation points by investing resources in the City in order to become the City Mayor. Each player should use the character cards in his hand in one of the areas of the Black Hills territory to get resources (gold, fur and logs) and/or invest them to increase the number of reputation points.

Setup

1. Place the game board in the centre of the table.
2. Resources tokens (gold, logs and fur) are placed next to the game board and will be used during the game.
3. The gunmen tokens are placed over the Jail area on the game board. There will be placed as many gunmen as players are gathered around the table.
4. Every player will place a reputation token on the initial box of the board. The other reputation token will be his colour token and will be placed in front of every player.
5. The sheriff badge will be handed to the player with more coins in his pockets. He will be the one that will start the round.
6. Each player receives 4 character cards.
7. The remaining character cards are left face down on the other side of the game board; this deck will not be used during this round. If there are 4 players, no cards will be left over.
8. Each player takes a look at the cards in his hand and decides to discard 2 of them that are placed face down on the deck of character cards that are left over. The other players should not see which characters have been discarded.
9. The deck of events cards is shuffled and placed at the side of the game board. Every player receive 1 event card per round. If the player already has 2 event cards in his hand, he cannot receive another one until he use or discard 1 of them.

The game board has four territory places — Plain, Forest, Mine and City — plus a Jail area and a starting square where each player's reputation token begins.

How to Play

Beginning of the first round

The player who holds the sheriff badge starts the first round. Each round consists of 2 turns. Players take turns one after another in a clockwise direction. When all players have taken their first turn, the second turn will start.

In each of their two turns, each player can carry out at least one of following actions in any order, but he cannot start one without having finished the previous one:

• Place a character card on its place on the board and carry out the corresponding skills (mandatory action).
• Activate an event card, paying the cost indicated on the card, or discard one or two of the event cards of his hand (optional action).
• Carry out a robbery (optional action), using a gunman and the aiming die.

Place a Character Card

After placing one of the character cards on the its place on the board, a player can take advantage of the skills associated with that character in order to obtain resources, exchange resources or invest those resources to gain reputation points. These skills can only be carried out once per round and on the player's turn, in the order that the player decides. They cannot be used again at another time during the round. If another player has placed a card on the same location on the board, the new card is placed on top of the one on the board covering the bottom card.

It is not possible to pass a turn and not place the character card and carry out the associated skill or skills. If the card has more than one skill associated with it, the player can decide in which order to use them, however he cannot start a new one without having finished the previous one. If any of the skills cannot be carried out due to the flow of the game and not due to the player's decision, the player is allowed to carry out the remaining actions during his turn.

Reputation Points

In order to invest and gain reputation points, a player must one of the Settlers cards (the ones with the investment symbol) and must placed them on the City (see Settlers section). The player should pay 3 resources, 1 gold plus 2 log tokens or alternatively 3 fur to achieve 1 reputation point. Players could pay, following the proportions shown previously, as much gold, log and fur as they wants in order to gain reputation points. (eg. If a player pays 2 gold and 4 log he would get 2 reputation points), with the known exception of the Sheriff Card, which allows the player to invest only once per turn (See the section Character cards in this same Rulebook).

Some events cards can also be used for a player to get reputation points, under the conditions shown in the event.

Activate an Event Card

In order to activate an event card, the player must place the card face up in front of him. In the case that the event card has a cost (1 or 2 gold pieces) it has to be paid at the activation moment. The event must be read out loud so that the other players are aware of it.

The actions indicated in the event card must be carried out. Some events will only have an impact during the player's turn, whilst others will affect the remainder of the round. The card will remain face up next to the player during the rest of the round. Only one event card per turn can be activated. In other words, in one round (2 turns) a player can activate up to 2 event cards. If a player has two event cards, he will not receive any new event cards, although he could discard one or two cards in order to get new ones. A player cannot activate any event cards in his turn if he has discarded any event cards in the same turn.

Carry Out a Robbery

In order to carry out a robbery, a player must have previously contracted a gunman. The gunmen are locked up in the jail area at the beginning of the game and they will be placed back there after every attack. Only one robbery is allowed per player and turn, although every player has the right to contract with more than one gunman.

There are two ways to contract a gunman:

1. Play the character card The Outlaw. (See Character Cards).
2. Play the event card Jailbreak. (See Event Cards).

The player who has contracted the gunman needs to throw the aiming dice, the result of the dice indicates the number of resources that can be steal from the other players reserve. If the result of the die indicates that the player could steal two resources, the attacker could decide to take the resources from just one player or two players.

After the attack, the gunman will be locked up again in the jail area of the board.

End of the Round

When all players have had both turns and placed their 2 character cards, the round has finished.

Players with more than 5 resource tokens have to return all those above that number to the resources pile. Each player can decide which type of resources they wish to return. All events cards used during the round are placed face up at the side of the deck of events cards not yet played. All character cards are gathered together, shuffled and four cards are once again dealt to each player. If a player has 2 event cards in their hand, they cannot receive more event cards. The Sheriff will start a new round, playing in the same manner as the previous round.

End of the Game

If at any time one of the players reached 5 reputation points, the game ends immediately and the player who reached the goal, will be appointed major of the city of Black Hills and, therefore, winner of the game.

Character Cards

The 16 characters used in the game are classified according to the actions that they can carry out: Adventurers, Settlers and Special Characters.

Adventurers

Adventurers help a player to take resources from the Plain, the Forest or the Mine. The player who first places a character card on a specific area takes 2 resources tokens, whereas other players who place a character card in the same area during the same round can only take 1 resource token. The resources obtained by the placement of a character card can only be taken once during a round, at the same moment when the card is placed in the area.

If a player is unable to take all the resources that are due if there are not enough left on the pile, he will only take those he can and the game continues.

• Hunter. take 1 fur on the Plain.
• Explorer. take 1 fur on the Plain.
• Lumberjack. take 1 log in the Forest.
• Indian Chief. take 1 fur on the Plain or 1 log in the Forest.
• Tracker. take 1 gold in the Mine or 1 log in the Forest.
• Miner. take 1 gold in the Mine.
• Gold digger. take 1 gold in the Mine.
• Engineer. take 1 gold in the Mine.

Settlers

The Settlers are placed in the City. Their skills allow them to carry out different actions. This group of character cards will allow the players to invest their resources to obtain reputation points, if they have enough resources to invest obviously.

• Preacher. Take 1 fur on the Plain. Can invest in the city.
• Merchant. Can carry out one of the following exchanges: 1 fur for 2 logs (or vice versa) or 1 gold for 2 furs (or vice versa). Can invest in the city.
• Gambler. Take 1 gold from any other player. Can invest in the city.
• Madam. Take 1 fur or 1 log from any other player. Can invest in the city.

Special Characters

The special Characters are characters with unique abilities in the game. Although the Sheriff and the Outlaw are placed on the City, the Colonel and the Shaman has no predetermined location.

• Colonel. Can be placed in any area and stops the next player who places their card in that area from carrying out the corresponding actions. Additionally this card allows a player to steal an event card from any player he chooses, unless the player who is playing the Colonel already has 2 event cards on his hand.
• Sheriff. Takes the sheriff badge for the next round. Can invest in the city 3 resources of any type in order to obtain a reputation point during that turn.
• Outlaw. Take 1 gold from the pile and recover 1 gunman from the jail at no cost. He cannot invest in the City.
• Shaman. The player can choose one of the following actions:
  • The card is placed over one of the visible cards played previously and can carry out the action associated to that card in that area.
  • The discarded character cards are shuffled, four cards are dealt and the player can choose one of them. The player must carry out the action associated to that card immediately.

Event Cards

The events cards included in the game are as follows:

• Protection. Cannot be attacked by gunmen during this round.
• Passionate speech. Add one point to your marker.
• Fire in the city. All other players lose one reputation point.
• Stagecoach. Change 1 resource in your possession for any other resource you may like.
• Tax collection. The other players return one resource of any type to the pile, providing that they have resources when this card is played.
• Bank. Receive one reputation point for each 2 gold tokens returned to the pile, without having to use the Settlers.
• Mine collapse. Take 1 gold. The remaining players cannot take gold from the mine during the rest of that round.
• Bison migration. Take 1 fur. The other players cannot take fur from the Plain during the remainder of the round.
• Storm. Take 1 log. The other players cannot take log from the Forest during the rest of the round.
• Plague. No investments can be made during the remainder of the round by the character cards. It does not affect the player who activates the card.
• Deputy Sheriff. Takes the sheriff badge.
• Stolen gold. Take 2 golds.
• Bearskins. Take 3 furs.
• The sawmill. Take 4 logs.
• Safeguard. The Colonel block will not affect you. The Colonel cannot act against any other player during the round.
• Jailbreak. Recover your gunman from the jail at not cost. You can use your gunman from that moment on your turn.
• Reinforcements. Send another player's gunman to jail.