Caravans of Ahldarahd
Caravans of Ahldarahd Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setting Up the Game
Remove the gold chips and place them in the center of the table. This is the bank.
Remove the commodity cards. Separate them according to color and shuffle each pile.
Remove the bags of city stones and route chips. Pair these up with the map of the same color (indicated by the border).
Finally, remove the right of passage cards, camel cards, Favor of the Shah, Eyes of Shamesh, and Pirate Queen. Set these two one side of the table.
Beginning the Game
Each player chooses a color. They take the corresponding board and tokens of that color. They should also draw three cards from the top of the corresponding colored pile of commodity cards (these cards are kept secret). Next, each player the right of passage corresponding to the person to their left. Finally, each player takes five gold chips from the bank.
Example: Brian chooses the color red. He takes the map with the red border, the red chips and tokens, and three red commodity cards from the deck. Additionally, he notices that Nancy is sitting to his left. She has chosen blue, so Brian will take the right of passage with the blue border. Lastly, Brian takes five gold from the bank.
Once all players have chosen, remove the decks, chips, tokens, maps, and rights of passage not claimed by a player and place them back in the box. The commodity cards are stacked into one deck, but not shuffled. This deck is placed near the bank.
At this point, all players may build two routes on their map for free. These can be either land or sea routes, and if this gives them a majority of routes into a city, they may also claim control of that city. EXPLAINED BELOW. The Favor of the Shah is given to the youngest player. They will act first when the game begins.
The Turn
The player with the Favor of the Shah takes commodity cards equal to the number of players from the top of the deck and places them face up so all can see.
From here the turn is broken down into two phases.
The Bidding Phase
Each player is given the chance to bid on the following items.
- A face up commodity card
- A right of passage that has been sold to the bank (you may never own your own right of passage)
- The favor of the Shah
- The Eyes of Shamesh
- The Pirate Queen
The player with the favor of the Shah begins by bidding on any of the above items. He/She may bid any amount they like, including zero. In a clockwise fashion, each player has the opportunity to outbid the current bid.
Once a player has passed, however, they may not bid on the item if it comes back around. When only one bidder remains, that player gets the item. If the bid was greater than zero the player must pay the bank. In the case of the favor of the Shah, you may give this item to anyone else whether they want it or not. Of course, the other items can be given away to any player who wants them.
The bidding continues in this fashion with each player (moving clockwise) getting a chance to initiate a bid. The following guidelines apply:
- Each item (cards counts as separate items) can only be bid on once per turn.
- A player who has bif and payed gold for any item this turn may not bid more than zero on an item.
- A player may never bid on their own right of passage, nor may they acquire it through trade.
The Action Phase
Start with the player with the Favor of the Shah, which may have changed as a result of the bidding phase. Moving clockwise around the table, each player gets a chance to do any of the following in any order.
- Create One or More Routes: To create a route between two cities, a player must pay one gold to the bank and discard a card matching one of the two connected cities. If the player holds the Eyes of Shamesh, land routes cost no gold. If the player owns the Pirate Queen, sea routes cost no gold.
- Buy One or More Routes: If a player does not have a card matching one of the cities he/she wants to build a route between, it is possible to buy the route outright. This cost is equal to the total number of routes going out of both connected cities.
- Destroy a Route: A player may destroy someone elses route by paying double that routes cost. Hence, if a route costing 9 gold to buy outright, will cost 18 to destroy. Players may NOT destroy their own routes.
- Sell a Right of Passage to the Bank: The value of this right of passage is equal to the number of developed cities on the corresponding map.
- Trade with Another Player: A player may initiate a trade with another player. The terms of this trade are entirely up to the participants. The only rule is that a player may not give another player his/her own right of passage, and you may never buy, sell, or trade your controlled cities or controlled routes.
The first three actions may be taken on the players map or on another map if that player holds the corresponding right of passage.
Immediately after a player controls the majority of routes into a city, he/she places a control marker onto it. That player gains gold equal to the number of routes going into that city. The player may spend this gold during the same action phase. All opponent roads that go into this city are removed. If this means that that opponent loses control of OTHER cities, then remove their control markers immediately (They may repurchase those routes in the future). In other words, the routes are only destroyed at the moment a city is controlled.
Ending the Game
The game end in one of two ways:
- The last commodity card is played
- All players take no actions during the action phase.
At this point its time to tally up the score. For each city a player controls, he/she receives one point. If a player controls a city type (i.e. ivory) on more than one map, they receive three bonus point for each extra city. Hence, if player controls metal on their map and two of their opponents maps, they will receive six bonus points.
The winner is the player with the most points.
A Bidding Example
Four players, Donna, Phil, Jason, and Christina, sit down to playe Caravans of Ahldarahd. Since Donna is the youngest player, she begins with the favor of the Shah and starts the bidding phase. She would really like the Eyes of Shamesh, so she immediately bids two for it. Both Phil and Jason pass, however Christina ups the bid to three. In turn, Donna raises her bid to four. At this point Phil and Jason may not join the betting since they already passed. Christina does not wish to bid higher, so Donna gets the piece. Before taking it, she pays the bank and turns her camel face down.
Next, Phil bids zero on the favor of the Shah. Both Jason and Christina pass, and Donna may not bid one or more since her camel is turned face down. Phil gets takes the Shah and (since he paid no gold) does not need to turn his camel face down.
Next Jason bids zero on a gem commodity card. Christina bids one, Phil passes (he could have bid since his camel is still face up), and Jason decides to pass. Christina pays her gold to the bank, turns her camel face down and takes the card.
On her turn, Christina bids zero (the only amount she can bid since her came is now face down) on the Pirate Queen. Phil bids one and Jason passes. Since Christina can not outbid Phil, he takes the piece.
Notice that Phil ended the phase with two items, and Jason got nothing.