Dorfromantik: Head to Head Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• What's New
  • 1. Selection Phase
  • 2. Laying Phase
• Gameplay
  • 1. Selection Phase
  • 2. Laying Phase
  • Placement Rules
  • Completing Tasks
  • Multicolored Flags
• End of Game
• Score Pad
• Example Scoring

Components

63 tiles, including:

• 44 Landscape tiles, showing Grain, Forest, Village, River, Lake and Multicolored Flag. Each Landscape tile has a Back side.
• 19 Task tiles, with the following 4 Task types:
  • 4x River with River Task with values 3, 4, 5 and 6
  • 5x Forest with Forest Task with values 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
  • 5x Grain with Grain Task with values 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
  • 5x Village with Village Task with values 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

27 Tokens

• 19 green Tick tokens
• 8 red X tokens

1 Score pad (20 double-sided sheets)

Setup

1. Each player takes 2 Multicolored Flag tiles (1x with Mountain, 1x with Lake). Place these 2 tiles face up in front of you.
2. Sort all Task tiles by type and value (in ascending order) and lay them face up between you.
3. Lay all Landscape tiles face up next to the Task tiles. It is best to group the 3 tiles of each tile type together (e.g. 3 edges with Forest/Village/Grain with the end of a River, or Forest/Village/Grain connecting 2 opposite edges). This makes it easier to get an overview of the different tiles.
4. Place the green Tick and red X tokens within easy reach of both players at the edge of the play area.
5. Set the score pad aside as it won't be needed until the end of the game.

Goal of the Game

In this version of Dorfromantik, you play against each other. In Phase 1 of the game, you take turns selecting tiles, assembling your own set of Landscape and Task tiles, which you then use in Phase 2 to play a game of Dorfromantik against each other. Each player builds their own separate play area, completing Tasks, scoring Flags, laying the longest River possible, and forming Mountains and Lakes. The more efficiently you manage this, the higher your score, and whoever scores the most points at the end of the game will be the winner.

What's New

Quick-start for Dorfromantik veterans. Do you know Dorfromantik - The Board Game? Then read the following summary of changes so you can jump straight in.

Everyone else, please continue reading from the Gameplay section.

You play against each other. The game consists of 2 phases:

1. Selection Phase
2. Laying Phase

1. Selection Phase

You each begin with 2 Multicolored Flag tiles (1x with Mountain, 1x with Lake). Lay all other tiles in the center of your play area, then take turns selecting 1 tile (either a Landscape or Task tile). The player who selects second receives the final 2 remaining tiles at the end. Finally, shuffle your chosen Landscape and Task tiles separately and form a face-down stack of each type.

2. Laying Phase

Simultaneously, you always reveal 1 tile each and place it in your own play area. In this game, the Task tiles have a Task marker printed on them - you do not draw a separate Task marker to place on the Task tile. Only the player who completes (or abandons) a Task then reveals 1 Task tile. When completing a Task, place a green Tick token on the Task. When abandoning a Task, place a red X token on the Task.

There are Forest, Grain, and Village Tasks each with values 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and River Tasks with values 3, 4, 5 and 6.

The Multicolored Flags follow the usual rules for Flags. The terrain type adjacent to the Multicolored Flag determines its color.

Mountains/Lakes are a new element. You may only place a Mountain edge against another Mountain edge. In the same way, you may only place a Lake edge against another Lake edge. A completed Mountain/Lake scores 3 points.

At the end of the game, check who has scored more points. That player wins the game.

Gameplay

1. Selection Phase

The game begins with a Selection Phase, in which both players assemble their tiles for the game. The following rules apply:

Decide who goes first. That player selects 1 tile and places it face up in front of them. Then the other player selects 1 tile. Continue alternating until only 1 tile remains. This final tile goes to the player who took the last tile (i.e. the player who did not get to select first). That player therefore has 1 extra tile to lay. All selected tiles must remain visible to both players throughout the entire Selection Phase.

When selecting each individual tile, you are free to choose whether it is a Task or Landscape tile. At the end of this phase, both players will therefore have a different number of Task and Landscape tiles in front of them.

At the end of the Selection Phase, shuffle your Task tiles into one face-down stack and your Landscape tiles (including your 2 Multicolored Flag tiles) into another.

2. Laying Phase

You always play simultaneously. Each turn, both players reveal 1 tile, the topmost tile of the relevant stack, and place it in their own play area following the Placement Rules (see below). Your individual play areas will develop independently of each other.

Whether you reveal a Landscape or Task tile is governed by the following rules:

• In the first 3 turns of the game, reveal 1 Task tile each turn.
• From the 4th turn onwards, first check how many Task tiles with an unfulfilled Task are currently in your play area:
  • A) If there are fewer than 3 Task tiles with an unfulfilled Task, you must reveal 1 new Task tile and place it in your play area following the Placement Rules.
  • B) If there are 3 Task tiles with an unfulfilled Task, reveal 1 new Landscape tile and place it in your play area following the Placement Rules.

Important: You only reveal a Task tile if you completed or abandoned a Task in your previous turn, regardless of what the other player must reveal.

Placement Rules

The fundamental rule: All tiles belonging to a player must always form a single connected play area. This means every tile must be placed with at least 1 of its 6 edges touching an edge of a tile already in your play area.

Beyond that, there are only the following 3 additional requirements:

• River edges must always connect to other river edges. You cannot place a river edge adjacent to a non-river edge. (You may, of course, have multiple separate, non-connected rivers across your game boards.)
• A Mountain/Lake is made up of 2 tiles whose edges match and together form a Mountain or Lake. You may only place a Mountain edge against another Mountain edge. In the same way, you may only place a Lake edge against another Lake edge.
• For the landscape types Forest, Grain, and Village (as well as the neutral Meadow), edges may be placed freely and do not have to match to each other.

Permitted examples: [diagrams omitted]

Forbidden examples: [diagrams omitted]

Completing Tasks

Every Task tile has a number on it (3, 4, 5, 6 or 7). This number specifies how many tiles (Landscape and Task tiles combined) the corresponding territory or River must consist of exactly for the Task to count as completed. (A territory is formed by tiles of the same landscape type connected via matching edges.)

You can complete Tasks immediately when placing a tile.

Example: The Grain Task is completed, as the Grain territory consists of exactly 4 tiles. [diagram omitted]

When you have completed a Task tile, cover the printed Task with a green Tick token. At the end of the game, completed Tasks are one source of points.

Example: The River Task with the number 4 has not yet been completed, as the River currently consists of only 3 tiles. [diagram omitted]

On a later turn you place a River Task tile with a Task value of 5 next to it. This completes the Task with value 4. Place a green Tick token on the completed Task. To complete the Task with value 5, you must place one more tile with a River.

Don't forget: Your next tile must be a Task tile, since you now have fewer than 3 uncompleted Tasks in your play area. What the other player must reveal is independent of this.

Additional details:

• You may place Task tiles in a territory that already contains 1 or more Task tiles with or without a completed Task.
• You may complete more than 1 Task simultaneously through the placement of a single tile. (In this version of Dorfromantik, these can only be Tasks of different types.)
• You may not place a Task tile in such a way that the territory (or River) would consist of more tiles than the Task requires at the moment of placement. It is also forbidden to place a Task tile in a way that would close off the territory (or River) with fewer tiles than the Task requires. The territory would then have no open edge left to be expanded, making the Task impossible to complete from the moment of placement.

Example: You would not be permitted to place the Task with value 5 in this way, as the Village territory would be closed off but consist of only 4 tiles, whereas the Task requires 5. To place the tile in this position, you would need to rotate it 1 edge clockwise or anti-clockwise. Then either 1 or 2 more Village tile(s) would still be needed to complete the value 5 Village Task, depending on which way it was rotated. [diagram omitted]

• It is, however, permitted that through a later placement of a tile next to a territory (or River) with an uncompleted Task, that territory ends up consisting of more tiles than the Task requires. You must then abandon this Task and place a red X token on it. The same applies if you later close off a territory (or River) that contains fewer tiles than the Task requires. Cover the Task with a red X token in that case as well.
• Should the Task stack be exhausted, you cannot bring any further Task tiles into play. Continue the game placing only Landscape tiles until the end of the game.

Multicolored Flags

Place a tile with a Multicolored Flag into the play area like any other tile, following the Placement Rules. Try to place the edge with the Multicolored Flag next to 1 of the 3 landscape types. The tile with the Multicolored Flag then becomes part of the corresponding territory. (For this reason, the edge displays all 3 landscape types.) Both Flags may also end up in the same territory.

To earn points for Multicolored Flags at the end of the game, the territory containing the flag must be fully closed off, with no open edges remaining.

End of Game

Players do not necessarily end the game at the same time. The game ends immediately for a player when they would need to reveal and place a Landscape tile but have run out of Landscape tiles. The other player continues to play until they too would need to reveal and place a Landscape tile but have run out of Landscape tiles.

If you complete a Task (or abandon one) with your last Landscape tile, continue revealing new Task tiles until you neither complete nor abandon any further Tasks.

It may happen that you have face-down Task tiles remaining at the end of the game. These do not come into play during this game.

At the end of the game, cover any uncompleted Tasks with a red X token.

Now use the Score pad to help calculate your scores.

Score Pad

1. Tasks: Add up the values of your completed Tasks, those covered by green Tick tokens (slide the tokens aside to check the values), and enter the totals in the corresponding fields: points for all completed Forest Tasks, points for all completed Grain Tasks, points for all completed Village Tasks, and points for all completed River Tasks.
2. Longest River: Count how many tiles your longest River consists of. (A River is defined as all River tiles connected to one another without interruption.) Enter this number in the corresponding field.
3. Multicolored Flags: First check which of your Flags lie in closed-off territories, as only these score points. For each Flag in a closed-off territory, you score points equal to the number of tiles that territory consists of. (If the edge of a Multicolored Flag is adjacent to a Meadow edge, that Multicolored Flag's territory is only 1 tile in size.) Enter the total in the corresponding field.
4. Mountains/Lakes: Each completed Mountain/Lake scores 3 points. Enter the total in the corresponding field.
5. Result: Enter the total of your points across all 7 categories in the rightmost column. Whoever has scored more points wins the game.

In the event of a tie, resolve it using the following tiebreakers: if the first does not break the tie, try the second, and so on until a winner is determined:

1. The player who formed more Mountains & Lakes in total wins.
2. The player who formed the longer River wins.
3. The player who scored more points from their two Multicolored Flags wins.
4. The player who scored more points from their Task markers in total wins.
5. If there is still a tie, you have experienced a truly unique game and share the victory.

Example Scoring

Excerpt from an end-of-game scoring example. [score pad image omitted]

Tasks: During the game you completed 2 Forest Tasks and 1 River Task. Together these completed Tasks score you 10 points. The Grain territory with value 4 Task tile consists of only 3 tiles. You therefore had to abandon this Task and place a red X token on it.

Longest River: There is 1 River visible: it consists of 3 tiles, so you may record 3 points for the Longest River.

Multicolored Flags: The Forest territory with the Multicolored Flag is closed off, so the Flag scores you 6 points (the territory consists of 6 tiles). The Village territory with the Multicolored Flag is not closed off, as it still has 2 open edges. You therefore score no points for this Multicolored Flag.

Mountains/Lakes: 2 Mountains and 1 Lake are complete, scoring you 9 points in total.

Your score: 28