Corto Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Principle of the Game
• Game Components
  • Quest Tiles
• About the Cards
• Set-up
• Game Turn
• Long Range Cards
• Character Cards
• Object Cards
• Advantage Cards
• Corto and Rasputin Cards
  • Corto Takes Action
  • Rasputin Takes Action
• Discarding and Missing a Turn
• No Markers Left
• End of Game
• Treasure Count
• Example of a Treasure Count
• Example of a Game Turn
• Corto Example

Aim of the Game

To gain the biggest share of Gold by the end of the story.

Principle of the Game

The players make progress in several storylines at the same time.

Enrolling support from Corto and despite Rasputin's attempts at disruption, they will form teams of adventurers and seek to gain as much gold as possible from the available quests.

Game Components

• 2 figurines (Corto and Rasputin)
• 4 sets of 13 markers
• 4 "seal" tiles
• 6 storyline boards (6 Corto adventures)
• 6 decks of 20 cards
• 1 small discard board
• 2 handbooks (rules and quests)

Quest Tiles

• A: 1 sailing vessel
• B: 1 "4 aces" tile
• C: 3 "ingot" and 3 "crow" tiles
• D: 6 "leopard" tokens
• E: 1 train and 9 "railway carriage" tiles
• F: 4 "big gold" tokens

About the Cards

There are several types of cards:

Characters — these include cards with white borders, black borders, or black-and-white borders.

Objects — these are white or black, with 1 or 2 onomatopoeias (e.g. "bang").

Advantages (written instructions) — only use those that are in your own language.

Corto and Rasputin cards are used to play the figurines.

Set-up

1. Each player takes a set of 13 tokens and the seal of the same color. This will be the player's stock.
2. Place the figurines close to the decks of cards.
3. Take 4 storyline boards (or just 3 boards if there are only 2 players). Choose them randomly or select them to play out your favourite adventures. Place them on the table as shown. The order of the boards will also be left to chance.
4. Separately shuffle the cards for each adventure (look at the backs to determine which adventure deck they belong to) and then place each deck on the first square of the appropriate storyline.
5. Reveal the 1st card of each deck. If it's a character card (colored background), place it on the 2nd square on the board. Otherwise, set it aside and draw the next card. Once all of the storyline boards have their characters assigned, put any cards set aside back into their respective decks and shuffle each of them again.
6. Consult the Adventures handbook for the specific set-up details and the treasure each quest can yield.
7. Place the small discard board alongside the storyline boards.
8. Starting with a randomly chosen 1st player and proceeding clockwise, each player places 1 marker on a character on the board, then draws 4 cards. There may be several markers on the same character and you can also draw multiple times from the same deck.

The first player can then start!

Game Turn

When your turn comes, you can:

• Play 1 to 4 cards from your hand and draw a maximum of 2 cards, remembering that you must never have more than 4 cards in your hand.

or

• Discard 0 to 4 cards from your hand and then draw back up to a full hand of 4 cards.

You can draw cards from the deck of your choice.

You may draw cards one by one to look at a card before drawing the next one.

Long Range Cards

Characters and objects with triangles in their borders can act on any position in the entire row or column in which they are played.

This extended action zone only applies to the action of the card itself. Objects or characters played at the same time do not benefit from this extended range.

Character Cards

When you play a character:

1. Place it on an empty square. The storyline board you choose must be of the same background color as that of your character and the square must be adjacent to* an already placed character or figurine. (Some characters have 2 background colors, meaning you can choose between two different storyline boards.)
2. Place a marker from your stock on that character. If you run out of markers, you must transfer one from a character already in play.
3. Optional: have your character act according to the color of its card's border:

• White border: Add one of your markers to an adjacent character.
• Black border: Remove an opponent's marker from an adjacent character and return it to its owner.
• Black and white border: You can treat the border as though it were black or white and have the character act accordingly.

If this action is played on a character with no marker, that character is killed. Remove it from the board and slide it under your seal. This card will win you 1 Gold at the end of the game.

*Meaning touching one of the 4 edges of that character's or figurine's square (i.e. no diagonal connection).

Object Cards

An object is always played along with a character (or a figurine). Do not place it on a square. Apply its effect from the square of the character you have just played and then discard it.

The number of markers added or hits registered on one or more characters will depend on the number of onomatopoeia (1 or 2).

Nothing prevents you from using a white object with a black character or vice versa.

• White objects allow you to add markers to adjacent characters.
• Black objects allow you to remove markers from adjacent characters. If the targeted character has no marker, he or she is killed (slide their card under your seal).

Advantage Cards

The effects of Advantage cards are explained in their title block above the picture.

Unless clearly stated otherwise, these cards are not to be placed on a storyline board but are to be discarded or placed in front of you as you apply their effect.

Corto and Rasputin Cards

These cards are used to play the figurines. They are discarded before moving the corresponding figurine by 0 to 3 "steps".

A step is a move from the space where the figurine is located to an adjacent space. A figurine can therefore move up to 3 spaces orthogonally.

Some cards have a "vehicle" giving you the right to take up to 6 "steps".

The first time a figurine enters the game, it will "appear" on the deck of your choice before proceeding to move.

After the figurine has finished moving, you can perform its action within its area of influence. The area of influence of a figurine corresponds to the square it is located on as well as the 8 neighboring squares, adding up to a total of 9 squares.

Corto Takes Action

Corto has a double action that he can perform in the following order:

1. Each friend of Corto (with the thought bubble on the left) located in Corto's area of influence earns 1 Gold for the player who has the most markers on it. Take this Gold in the form of a card from the discard pile and slide it under your seal. If the discard pile is empty, use the cards from an adventure not being played. In case of a tie for the number of markers on a card, nobody gains any gold.
2. You can place 2 of your markers anywhere you wish within Corto's area of influence.

Corto and Rasputin can use objects in addition to their actions.

Some cards show both Corto and Rasputin. Choose which one you want to play. Both figurines can end up on the same space.

You may not play a character card under a figurine, but you can act on a character card placed under a figurine.

Rasputin Takes Action

Rasputin immediately eliminates a character card located in his area of influence. Slide it under your seal. It will count for 1 Gold at the end of the game. Return any markers to their owner(s).

Discarding and Missing a Turn

If a player is unable to play any cards (maybe because he or she has only object cards in his or her hand), or if that player does not want to play, he or she can discard as many cards as he or she wants and end his or her turn by drawing cards back up to a full hand of 4 cards.

No Markers Left

You might need to place a marker and find you have none left in your stock. In this case you may (and sometimes must) move one that is already in play.

End of Game

The game immediately comes to an end if, after a player's turn, all the squares on 2 boards are occupied (a single figurine is enough to occupy a square).

Caution! The player ending the game is only entitled to place a single character on his or her turn or play a single figurine. Object and advantage cards however are not limited.

The treasure count can then start. The player with the most Gold wins.

Empty draw pile: If all decks of cards are depleted, players keep on playing until no player can play anymore (if only one player can still play, he or she keeps on playing alone).

Treasure Count

Each player earns:

• 2 Gold per character in their largest group. A group is made up of adjacent cards under the player's control (player's markers outnumber any other opponent's markers on that card). If players each have the same number of markers on a card, no-one benefits from it.
• 1 Gold per character from the player's other groups (minimum 2 adjacent cards). An isolated character awards no gold.
• 1 Gold for each card present under his or her "seal" tile.
• Gold gained from quests (see the adventure handbook).

In the event of a tie, the winner is the player with the most markers left in his or her stock. If the number of markers is also tied, then all tied players share the victory.

Example of a Treasure Count

1. Groups of characters: The green player gets 10 Golds (5 x 2 Golds) for his or her biggest group (cards a-b-c-d-e); 2 Golds (2x1 Gold) for another group (cards f-g); h-i-j-k bring in nothing as green fails to gain a majority on i and there is no connection between these cards.
2. Cards under the seal: 5 cards = 5 Golds.
3. Gold from quests: the player has collected tiles bringing in a total of 7 Golds.

The player's final treasure therefore is 10+2+5+7 = 24 Golds.

Example of a Game Turn

1. The red player first plays a character with a white border.
2. He or she places a marker on it.
3. As the character has a white border, the player can add a marker to an adjacent character.
4. Red then plays a knife to eliminate the character above as it had no marker to protect it.
5. The next move is to play a double cannon so the player's character…
6. …can remove an opponent's marker from a distance,
7. and launch an attack against the train.

Red then decides to end his or her turn by drawing 2 new cards.

Corto Example

1. The green player plays a Corto card and moves the figurine 2 steps and stops. This immediately earns 1 Gold for the yellow player for cards (a) and (b). The card at (c) earns no money, as no player has a majority.
2. Green then decides to place his or her markers on the same card to claim the majority and form a larger group of cards under their control.
3. He or she then plays a black object and attacks the train.