Colorado Midland Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Parts
• Setting Up The Game
• Sequence Of Play
  • Build Railroad Track
    • Large Railroads
    • Restrictions
    • The Big Bonus
  • Start a Railroad
  • Shut Down a Mine
  • Score Mining Victory Points
  • Close Mines
  • Check for End of Game
  • Advance Locomotive

Game Parts

• 1 Game Board
• 192 Railroad cubes, 32 of each of 6 colors
• 20 Player cubes, 4 each of 5 colors
• 65 Mine Claims:
  • 11 Leadville, 10 Silverton, 9 Creede
  • 8 Crested Butte, 7 Aspen
  • 6 Cripple Creek, 5 Ouray
  • 4 Georgetown, 3 Telluride, 2 Lake City
• 1 Locomotive
• These Rules

Setting Up The Game

Lay out the game board.

Players should choose a player color and take their set of 4 Player cubes. Using the Player cubes, randomly select a First Player. Give them the Locomotive. They are the First Player for the first round.

Each player should place one of their Player cubes on the Victory Point track in the 0 position.

Shuffle all the Mine Claims.

In a 3 Player game, deal 20 Mine Claims to each player. In a 4 Player game, deal 15 Mine Claims to each player. In a 5 Player game, deal 12 Mine Claims to each player.

Any remaining Mine Claims are not used in the game, place them face down in the Discarded Mines area.

Players must place their Mine Claims face up in front of themselves, grouped by their Mining District location. These are the Player's Holdings. For example, Pete has 3 mines in the Leadville Mining District and places those Mining Claims so that everyone can easily see that he has 3 mine claims in Leadville.

The First Player (with the Locomotive) selects one set of Railroad cubes to be the first open railroad and places one of the railroad's cubes in Denver.

The First Player places one of their Mine Claims from their Holdings next to the Mine Track in the first position. They place one of their Player cubes on the Mine Claim to show their ownership of the Claim.

The second player (clockwise) places a Mine Claim from their holdings in the second position, with one of their Player cubes. Then the third player, etc. This continues until the Mine track is full. Full depends on the number of players:

With 3 Players, positions 1-9 are used. With 4 Players, positions 1-12 are used. With 5 players, positions 1-15 are used.

Starting with the First Player and continuing clockwise, each player takes a turn in a round of play.

Sequence Of Play

Each player gets a turn in a Round of play: Each player, starting with the First Player and continuing clockwise, must select and perform one of these 3 Actions:

• Build Railroad Track or
• Start a Railroad (First player only) or
• Shut Down a Mine

After each player has selected and performed an Action, these functions are performed:

• Score Mining Victory Points
• Close Mines
• Check for End of Game
• Advance Locomotive

Build Railroad Track

A player must Build Railroad Track during this phase if they choose this action.

Taking a Railroad cube and placing it in a hex on the map shows that a railroad has built track in that hex. A single railroad may not have more than one cube in a single hex.

The track built must connect to the other track of that railroad using only that railroad's track. Please note that hexes separated by a red line (Impassible) are not adjacent and do not directly connect.

The player has 5 points of railroad building that they must use completely. They can use these points in building track for one or more railroads this turn.

If a player can not use all 5 points, the game is over at the end of this round. Also note that if every Mine District has a railroad in the hex, the game is over at the end of this round.

Points Costs:

Placing a Railroad cube in a tan Normal hex, a Mine District hex or a violet City hex consumes one railroad building point.

Placing a Railroad cube in a green Difficult hex consumes two railroad building points.

Placing a Railroad cube in a white Mountain Pass hex consumes four railroad building points.

Example: Vince uses 3 points to place 3 green cubes in 3 tan Normal hexes west of Denver and 2 points to place another green cube in a green Difficult hex further west.

Example: Dave uses 4 points to place a green cube in a white Mountain Pass and 1 point to place a yellow cube in a tan Normal hex.

Large Railroads

Each railroad has a 32 cubes of its color that are used for building track. If a railroad has used all 32 cubes in building track, the railroad may immediately freely acquire all 32 cubes of any unused color group. That color group is now part of that large railroad and may not be used to start a new railroad.

If the railroad uses all 32 cubes of the new color, it may use the cubes of yet another unused color, if one exists. That is the limit, 3 color groups is the maximum for a railroad.

Restrictions

• Only one railroad may occupy a white Mountain Pass hex.
• Up to three railroads may occupy a violet City hex or a Mine District hex.
• One or two railroads may occupy a tan Normal or green Difficult hex.
• Hexes separated by a heavy red line are not adjacent and track may not be built directly from one to the other.

The Big Bonus

• If a player has just built to a Mine District, every player with a Mine on the Mine track in that Mine District immediately receives 1 VP (not 1 VP per Mine).

Start a Railroad

Only the First Player may start a new railroad. They do this instead of Building Railroad Track. They must choose an unused railroad color group of 32 cubes and place a cube in one of the four Cities: Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo or Trinidad.

Shut Down a Mine

A player choosing this action must shut down one of their Mine Claims that is on the Mine track. They receive 0 VP. The owning player removes the Mine, places it in the Discarded Mines area, slides all lower mines upward to fill the gap and places a new mine from their Player Holdings (if any exist) in the bottom most position, with a Player cube to denote their ownership of the mine. It may be the case that a player does not have a Mine to place on the Mine track. If this is the case, the game is over at the end of the Round.

Score Mining Victory Points

Starting with the Mine in the first position of the Mine Track, and continuing for each mine on the Mine Track, players now score points for these open Mines.

A Player cube on a Mine Claim denotes the ownership of the Mine. Use the Player cube on the Victory Point track to record the VPs.

Mines have a Victory Point value listed on the Mine Claim, from one to five VPs.

A Mine with 1 railroad in the hex scores the listed VPs.

A Mine with 2 or more railroads in the hex scores twice the listed VPs.

If a Mine scores, slide the Player cube to the right of the Mine card. This will facilitate closing mines.

A mine without a railroad in the hex does not score any VPs. This is an unscoring Mine.

When a player exceeds 40 VPs, they wrap around the Victory Point Track. If a player has more than 60 VPs, the game will end at the end of this Round.

Close Mines

Scoring mines always close before unscoring mines close. If there are no scoring mines, only unscored mines will close.

The topmost (closest to the #1 position) scoring Mine will close. Take the Player cube from the mine and place it in the 'First' box of the Replacement Order track.

Put the Mine Claim in the Discarded Mines area.

The fourth position is used in 4 and 5 player games, the fifth position is only used in 5 player games.

Continue this until enough scoring mines close.

In a 3 player game, 3 mines will close. In a 4 player game, 4 mines will close. In a 5 player game, 5 mines will close.

If not enough Mines scored to meet the required number of closures, the unscored Mines begin to close, starting with the topmost. This continues until the required number of Mines have closed.

Examples

It is a 5 player game and no mines score VPs. The top five mines (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5) close.

It is a 4 player game and 3 mines (positions #4, #6 and #7) score VPs. The mine in position #4 closes, then the mine in position #6 closes, then the mine in position #7 closes, then the unscoring mine in position #1 closes.

It is a 3 player game and 6 mines (positions #2, #3, #5, #6, #7 and #8) score VPs. The mine in position #2 closes, then the mine in position #3 closes, then the mine in position #5 closes.

Once enough Mines have closed, slide the remaining Mines up to fill in the gaps left by the closed Mines.

Players now replace the remaining empty slots with Mines from their Holdings, in the order determined by the Replacement Order track. As Mines are opened and placed on the Mine track, place the corresponding Player cube on the Mine to show ownership.

It may be the case that a player does not have a Mine in their Player Holdings to place on the Mine track. If this is the case, the game is over at the end of the round.

Check for End of Game

Players should check for the ending condition at the completion of every round of play. The game ends if a player has

• 60 (or more) Victory Points
• No Mine Claims in their Player Holdings
• Could not use all 5 Railroad Building points
• The game also ends if every Mining District has a railroad in the hex.

The player with the most VPs wins the game. Ties are possible.

Advance Locomotive

If the game is not over, another round of play begins. The Locomotive is passed to the player to the left and another Round begins with the new First Player (the player with the Locomotive). Play continues clockwise.