Canalis Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• Components
  • Tiles
  • Draft Cards
  • Mission Cards
  • First Player Marker
  • Guile Markers
  • Game Board
  • Faction Boards
  • Faction Seals
  • Crowns
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Overview
  • Key Concepts
    • Owned
    • Adjacent and Connected
• Turn Order
  • Starting a Stage
  • Selecting and Playing a Card
  • Ending a Stage
  • Using the Scheme Section
  • Laying a Tile
  • Canal Tiles
  • Gardens Tiles
  • Resource Tiles
  • Industrial Building Tiles
  • Specialty Building Tiles
  • Tenement Tiles
  • Locks Tiles
• Anatomy of a Tile
• Scoring Industrial Buildings
• Faction Abilities
• Victory
• Sample Moves
• Reference
  • Setup
  • Start a New Stage
  • Play
  • Scoring a Building

Object

In Canalis, 2–4 players act as leaders of one of several power groups helping the City-State of Tempest, each looking to expand into a new area of swampland. During the game, you will dredge canals to connect your buildings with the necessary raw materials and the sea, and blocking your rivals from doing the same.

Your goal is to be the dominant organization in this area, expanding the reach of your cabal so that the residents and Senate alike will acknowledge your authority in the area.

Points are awarded for connecting industrial buildings with resources (to supply materials) and the harbor (to export goods), as well as for completing the secret objectives of your silent partners. All point values are shown in the seal symbol.

Whoever ends the game with the most points wins.

Components

Your game of Canalis should include the following:

• 64 draft cards
  • 32 with "1/2" on the card back
  • 32 with "3/4" on the card back
• 18 mission cards
• 6 different punchboards of tiles and tokens
• game board
• these rules

Tiles

The punchboard tiles represent buildings, gardens, and canals you can use to colonize the Fens. The details on these are covered under Laying a Tile.

Draft Cards

The two decks of draft cards drive the game. They split into two halves. The top half is a build order, which always gives you a tile to place on the game board; the bottom half is a scheme order, which can have a variety of effects.

Mission Cards

The City-State of Tempest is full of secrets, and this game is no exception. The mission cards represent your silent partners who give you alternative ways to score points.

First Player Marker

Canalis uses a rotating player order, and this helps you keep track of who goes first.

Guile Markers

Some of the various factions in Tempest have sneaky tricks. These keep track of how often they are used.

Game Board

There are three sections to the game board. At the top are spaces to organize the various tiles used in the game.

In the middle is the score track. Players should use one of their seal tokens to mark their score. If a player passes 100 points, that player should leave one seal on 100, and use a second seal to count points above that.

The bottom portion is the map grid, where players place tiles during the game. Spaces at the edge that have the rock graphics encroaching on them are part of the usable board area.

Faction Boards

There are six double-sided faction boards. These tell you which faction you play, and who the leader is. And, of course, your special ability and your mission.

Faction Seals

These two-sided markers are used to track who owns which buildings. Place them with the seal side up to mark a building that has scored, and X side up to mark a building that has not scored.

Crowns

These coins help you track the players' wealth.

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table, in easy reach of all players.

Separate the eight resource tiles from the rest. Shuffle the eight resource tiles and randomly place six of them in the designated spaces at the edge of the board. Place the other two resource tiles, as well as all the other tiles, on the game board in their designated areas. You don't have to shuffle the tiles, and they should be stacked face up.

Separate the three decks: the mission deck, the stage 1/2 deck, and the stage 3/4 deck. Shuffle each deck well and set them beside the board. Each deck also has its own discard pile; leave space for these.

Place all the crowns near the board as a bank. Give each player five crowns from the bank.

Place the guile markers beside the bank.

Shuffle the faction boards, flipping half of them over a couple of times during shuffling to randomize both their order and which side is up. Each player randomly chooses a faction board (you can use a die, blind picking, or drawing faction tokens from a mug), and plays with whichever side is face up. This gives the player a faction, a special power, and a unique mission.

Each player takes a set of the tokens that match the faction board's seal, and places them in a pool close at hand. Place one of each player's tokens on the "10" location of the score track. Additionally, if the player's faction board has guile markers shown on its right side, that player takes three guile markers.

Finally, each player draws two mission cards. The mission cards are kept face down; players can inspect their own missions, but not those belonging to other players.

Select a starting player (e.g., the person who owns the game, or whomever was most recently on a boat). Give that player the first player marker.

You are now ready to begin.

How to Play

Canalis is a drafting and tile-laying game. Your goal is to build valuable properties, connect them to the resources they need (e.g., workers, lumber), and also connect them to the harbor.

Overview

The game is played in four stages, each of which has a number of turns that varies based on the number of players in the game.

During a turn, all players take the cards dealt or passed to them, select one of those cards to use, place the selected card face down in front of them, and then pass the unused cards to the left. Passed cards cannot be inspected until next turn.

After all players have selected a card, players use their cards one at a time in player order. Each player in turn flips the selected card face up and decides whether to use the build action (the top) to place a tile on the board, or the scheme action (the bottom) to do something else. The player completes that action before the next player reveals. Once all players have finished their actions, the first player marker slides one seat to the left, and all players pick up the hands that were passed to them.

Key Concepts

Here are a few important concepts and terms used throughout the rules.

Owned

A player owns a tile if that player has a faction seal on that tile, whether the marker is face up or face down. Players own every building tile they place. No one owns gardens or canal tiles.

Adjacent and Connected

Two tiles are adjacent if they abut one another along the side of one of the map squares. Tiles that touch only at the corner are not considered adjacent.

Two tiles are connected if they are adjacent (easy walking distance), or if they are each adjacent to a common contiguous canal. In other words, if you can trace a path from one tile to another using only a series of adjacent canal tiles, then those two buildings are connected. Harbor squares count as canals for purposes of connection.

Buildings that are neither adjacent nor connected by a single path of uninterrupted canal squares are not connected. You cannot trace canal paths through buildings, nor are two buildings connected if they are both adjacent to a common third building. Tempest is a city that relies on gondolas and barges.

Turn Order

There are four stages in the game. Each stage uses its own deck. During Stages 1 and 2, use the deck marked "1/2" and use the "3/4" deck for the last two stages of the game.

During the game, players are either doing things simultaneously (selecting which card to draft) or sequentially (playing those cards). When doing things sequentially, always start with the first player and proceed clockwise around the table.

Starting a Stage

At the start of a stage, deal out the cards as follows:

• Two players: 7 cards each *
• Three players: 5 cards each **
• Four players: 4 cards each

* Before dealing at the start of Stage 1 and Stage 3, discard four cards from the deck. ** Before dealing at the start of Stage 1 and Stage 3, discard two cards from the deck.

Selecting and Playing a Card

Inspect your hand of cards (whether it was dealt or passed) and select one of those cards to play this turn. You will not know what other people are choosing, but you can get a sense based on what they have done thus far, and what cards they have passed your way. Be careful not only to choose cards that are good for you, but also to avoid passing cards that you think the other players may want.

Once you've chosen your card, set it face down in front of you. Pass the rest of the cards to your left.

Once all players have selected their cards, the first player reveals his or her card and announces whether they are choosing the build action or the scheme action. Once the first player resolves all effects of that action, the next player does the same, and so on around the table. You do not need to declare in advance whether you will build or scheme; it's fine to decide when you reveal the card.

After a player has resolved the card they chose, place that card in that deck's discard pile. Once all players have played and resolved their chosen card, pass the first player marker one seat to the left. Then players begin a new turn by picking up the cards that were passed to them and choosing a new one to play.

Ending a Stage

A stage ends when there are no cards left to draft. At that point, start a new stage by dealing cards from the appropriate deck.

Using the Scheme Section

If you choose to use the scheme section of the card (the bottom), you will not lay a tile this turn. Simply follow all the instructions on the card and discard it.

Laying a Tile

If you choose to use the build section of a card, take the specified tile(s) from the supply and place it on the board. If the specified tile is not available, you cannot use the build section; you must use the scheme section.

When placing a tile, you must place it so that it aligns with the grid of the board. You can place it anywhere that you wish, and in any orientation, so long as it does not overlap another tile. The tile you place does not have to connect or be adjacent to any other tiles.

The two harbors and the four natural gardens are treated as if they were tiles; you cannot place a tile in such a manner that it overlaps any of these areas.

Many tiles have a symbol on them in a red-hued box. The symbol indicates things you must attend to when the tile is played. If there is a gold coin icon, this indicates a cost in crowns to play that tile. You must pay the cost in crowns to play a tile; if you do not have enough crowns to pay the cost of playing that tile, you cannot choose that build action. There may also be other game effects such as instant scoring (given in a seal symbol) or other game effects.

After playing a tile, you must check to see if it or another tile scores; see Scoring Industrial Buildings.

Canal Tiles

Canal tiles create navigable waterways that are key to transportation around this expansion of Tempest.

Canals cost nothing to play, and no player owns them (barring a certain scheme effect). Placing a canal tile can connect resources and industrial tiles, and/or industrial tiles and a harbor. After you play a canal tile, check to see if any tiles score.

Gardens Tiles

Gardens are lush cultivated areas that display Tempest's wealth and prestige.

Gardens cost nothing to play, and no player owns them. When you place a gardens tile adjacent to one or more buildings that have already scored, the player who owns each such building scores extra points equal to the value shown on the gardens tile.

Resource Tiles

Resource tiles provide necessary materials for Tempest's thriving commerce.

Resource tiles cost nothing to play, and no player owns them. They provide their resource type to adjacent or connected industrial buildings. After you play a resource tile, check to see if any industrial buildings score.

Industrial Building Tiles

Industrial buildings are those that convert resources into desirable trade goods. Each building has a cost in crowns that must be paid to play it. If you cannot pay the full cost, you cannot play the tile.

You own the industrial buildings you play. When you play an industrial building, place one of your markers on the tile with the X side up. After playing an industrial building, check to see if it scores.

Specialty Building Tiles

Specialty buildings do not produce goods, but perform a variety of other services for the community. Each building has a cost in crowns that must be paid to play it. If you cannot pay the full cost, you cannot play the tile.

You own the specialty buildings you play. When you play a specialty building, place one of your markers on the tile with the X side up.

Some specialty buildings have an ongoing effect (Black Market, College), or no effect at all other than a big score (Senate Annex). However, most of them provide scoring bonuses at the end of the game.

If you play the Black Market or College tiles, check to see if any of your industrial buildings score.

Tenement Tiles

Tenement tiles are a mixture of a specialty building and a resource. They are the only source of workers in Canalis, and all industrial buildings must be connected to workers in order to score.

Tenements cost 3 crowns to play. You own the tenements you play. When you play a tenement tile, place one of your faction markers on the tile with the seal side up.

After you place a tenement tile, check to see if any tiles score.

Locks Tiles

These are a special combination tile consisting of a one-square specialty building and a one-square canal. You must be able to pay one crown in order to play the locks tile.

You own the locks you play. When you play a locks tile, place one of your markers on the tile with the seal side up. Locks do not score you any points.

The water square acts just like any other canal, and can cause an industrial building to score. If an industrial building must use a locks tile to score (i.e., it cannot score by using any other path of canal squares), then the owner of that scoring building must pay you one crown for each such building that scores.

If a player does not have enough to pay all the locks for all the buildings being scored, then that player selects one scoring building, pays one crown to each eligible player in seating order, and repeats the process until he or she has no crowns left to pay. At that time, the player loses one point for each crown he or she failed to pay.

Anatomy of a Tile

1. The red-tinted area marked with the symbol gives the various game effects when it is first played.
2. The cost on the tile must be paid by the player before it can be played.
3. Other text in the box is executed immediately after the tile is played. This may include instant scoring (given in a seal symbol) or other effects.
4. The title of the tile is also given, and may be referenced by faction boards and/or mission cards.
5. The tile's point value is given in the green seal. The player gains this many points when the tile scores. There may also be other game text in this area; such game text is always in effect.
6. The resources the tile needs are given with icons, in this case, ore, workers, and timber, respectively.
7. The colored border around the edge echoes the colors of the needed resources, and also identifies this as an industrial building tile.

Each industrial building needs workers, and, depending on size, up to two other resources. Each industrial building needs resources to fuel its manufacturing. These resources are shown on the tile itself, and the resource color appears at the edge of the industrial building tile.

To score, a building needs to be connected to each resource that it requires. It also needs to be connected to a harbor. Note that these connections do not have to be the same; a building could be connected to one resource via a canal on one side of the building, and to the harbor from a different canal on the other side.

Building a solid manufacturing base is a big deal for the Tempest Senate, which wants to grow not only Tempest's position as a trade hub, but also wants to reach a situation where Tempest doesn't rely solely on transportation services for a profit.

Scoring Industrial Buildings

When a building scores, the owning player scores the points given in the green seal on the tile (the one not in the red-hued box). In addition, that player gains the crowns shown next to each resource used (resource tiles placed during the game do not gain the scoring player any crowns, nor do workers).

In addition, when a building scores, the owning player scores points for each adjacent gardens tile (including the natural gardens at the corners of the board).

Finally, if a single player owns all the tenements that supplied workers to a building that scored, that player scores 2 points for each such building. Note that this includes the player's own buildings as well as those owned by other players.

Once a building has completed scoring, flip its control marker so that the seal side is up.

Faction Abilities

Each player has a faction ability. Some faction abilities affect setup, some have an ongoing (continuous) effect, and some require the use of a guile token.

Players use their setup abilities at the start of the game. Ongoing abilities always take effect. Both are self-explanatory.

Faction boards that have guile abilities start with three guile tokens on them. Each time you use that faction ability, you must discard a guile token as well. Under no circumstances can you ever use a guile ability more than once per turn, nor can you use a guile ability if you have no guile tokens left on your faction board.

Victory

At the end of stage 4, the final scoring begins.

Score all specialty buildings that score at the end of the game, flipping their player tokens from the X side to the seal side. Don't forget to award points for any gardens adjacent to those buildings.

Reveal your secret mission cards and score points (or don't) appropriately.

The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most crowns wins.

Sample Moves

It's the middle of a game, and the board is as shown.

The Atheneum player has just paid 3 crowns (the price shown in the box with the red symbol) and has placed the Apothecary tile.

As soon as it is placed, the Atheneum player performs the other text given in the box with the symbol. It says that he gains one crown per adjacent tile owned by an opponent.

The Tenement is adjacent and owned by an opponent. The Gardens are adjacent, but not owned. The Locks are not adjacent, since the two tiles only touch on a diagonal. The canal to the left is adjacent, and is owned by the Guild (who used a certain scheme effect to be able to place a seal on the tile). Thus there are two adjacent tiles owned by an opponent. The Atheneum player takes two crowns from the bank and adds them to his treasury.

Next the Atheneum player checks to see if the Apothecary scores.

The Apothecary is adjacent to the Guild's Tenement, and also connected to the Church's Tenement through the harbor. It is connected to the spices via the canal with the Guild's seal, and to the dyes via that canal as well as the Church's Locks. It has all the resources it needs, thus as soon as the tile is placed, it scores.

The Atheneum player gets 7 points (shown in the seal) and adjusts his score accordingly. He also gains 1 crown for using the dye resource and 2 crowns for using the spices resource. Finally, he gains 2 points for the adjacent gardens.

He pays both the Guild and the Church 1 crown each for using their canal and Locks tiles.

Neither the Church nor the Guild gain any points for their workers, since neither was the exclusive provider.

In this sample move, the Merchants player uses a build card to place an ore resource tile (it was not among the original six tiles placed on the board). She does not place one of her faction seals on the ore tile, since no one can own a resource tile.

Although she placed the resource next to a Gardens tile, Gardens only score points for adjacent buildings. The ore resource is not a building.

After placing the tile, the Merchants player checks to see if any other tiles score. As planned, her Engineer tile does.

The Engineer is connected to both ore and timber by the canal. It is adjacent to the Tenement tile, as well as connected to the Tenement via the harbor (which is treated as a canal). Thus it is connected to all the resources it needs to score. Although she is connected to the timber through the Church's Lock tile, she is also connected by another path that involves no fees, so she owes the Church player nothing.

The Merchants player scores 7 points for the Engineer, and gains 1 crown for using the timber. She gets no income for using the ore, since it was placed by a card effect and has no income value.

After scoring her points and taking her crown, she flips her player token over to the seal side to show that the Engineer has scored.

Since the Church player's Tenement was the only one that supplied workers to the Engineer, the Church player scores two points for providing an exclusive supply of workers.

The Atheneum player cannot score the Smelter. Although it has workers, it is not adjacent to the ore (diagonal does not count as adjacent). Worse yet, the Merchants player's Guild Hall is in the way, so if the Atheneum player wants to score the Smelter, he's going to have to dredge out a long section of canal all the way around the Guild Hall...

Reference

For your convenience, here is a listing of all the steps in game play.

Setup

Sort the various pieces and tokens. Place one random resource in each of the marked boxes on the board. Each player gets a random faction board and five crowns. Players also take three guile tokens if their faction ability requires it. Select a first player.

Start a New Stage

Deal cards from the appropriate stage deck as follows:

• Two players: 7 cards each *
• Three players: 5 cards each **
• Four players: 4 cards each

* Before dealing at the start of Stage 1 and Stage 3, discard four cards from the deck. ** Before dealing at the start of Stage 1 and Stage 3, discard two cards from the deck.

All players select one card dealt to them, place it face down in front of them, and pass the remainder to the player on their left.

Starting with the first player, players reveal their cards and play them as described below. Once all cards are played, players pick up the cards passed to them and continue.

When all cards have been exhausted, start a new stage.

Play

Starting with the first player, each player reveals his or her selected card and uses either the build action or the scheme action.

To build:

• Find the tile(s) matching the illustration at the top of the card.
• Pay the cost in crowns shown in the coin icon found in the red box with the symbol.
• Place the tile on the board.
• Follow any other instructions given in the box with the symbol.
• Place your faction marker on it, X side up.
• Discard your card.
• Check to see if any buildings score (see below).

To scheme:

• Do what it says on the bottom half of the card.
• Discard your card.

Scoring a Building

An industrial building scores if:

• It is connected to all resources it needs (including workers).
• It is connected to a harbor.

When it scores:

• Score the points shown, and flip the player marker on the building seal side up.
• Collect crowns as shown for each resource used.