Dunhuang: Pearl on the Silk Road Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• I. Components
• II. Setup
  • Areas on Main Board
  • Setup Instructions (4-player game)
• III. Gameplay
  • 1. Starting Phase
  • 2. Action Phase
  • Effects in the Game
  • A. Basic Actions
  • B. Ultimate Actions
  • C. Fresco Actions
  • Completion of a Fresco
  • 3. Cleanup Phase
• IV. Endgame
• V. Achievements
• VI. Variants
  • 3-Player Mode
  • Solitaire Mode
  • Special Rules
• VII. Quests on Achievement
• VIII. Promo Characters and Tiles
• IX. Promo Tiles
• About the Game

I. Components

• 1 Main Board
• 1 Round Marker
• 4 Player Boards
• 12 Overseer Dice (3 in each player color)
• 16 Meeples (4 in each player color)
• 56 Achievement Tokens (14 in each player color)
• 4 VP Tokens (1 in each player color)
• 16 Coin Tokens (8 gold and 8 silver)
• 35 Grain Tokens
• 30 Pigment
• 1 First Player Tile
• 12 Starting Packs (featuring 12 different themes)

II. Setup

Areas on Main Board

The printed setup page labels these areas of the Main Board: VP Track, Round Track, Overseer Spot, Fresco Actions (13 action spots in total), Public Fresco, Ultimate Actions (3 action spots in total), Overseer Reward, Character Recruiting, and Basic Actions (12 action spots in total).

Setup Instructions (4-player game)

The following setup instructions and rules are set in a 4-players game scenario. For other modes and scenarios, please check the corresponding sections.

Main Board Setup

1. Place the Round Marker on the space indicating the first round on the Round Track.
2. Players select three Starting Packs and take out all components from those packs. Place all Achievement Boards and Derivative Tiles beside the Main Board. Note: For your first game, we recommend using Silk, Gold and Tea Starting Packs. Note: Please check the details of those components in the Starting Packs rulebook. For the examples of this rulebook, Clothes Tiles of the Silk Pack, as well as Trade Tiles and Field Tiles of the Tea Pack are used.
3. Place all Resource Tiles (if any) of the Starting Packs chosen on the fourth and rightmost zone of the Basic Action area, with each tile covering one action spot.
4. Place all Ultimate Action Tiles of the Starting Packs chosen on the Ultimate Action area, with each tile covering one action spot.
5. Shuffle all Character Cards of the Starting Packs chosen into a face-down deck and place the deck beside the Main Board. Draw four cards from the deck and place those cards face-up on the four positions of the Character Recruiting area.
6. If the Tea Pack and/or China Pack are selected, place the Resource Tiles of those packs on the Basic Action area to cover the action spot(s) that cannot be used during this game (for example, since Tea Pack is used and Jade Pack is not used in this game, a tea Resource Tile will be placed to cover the action spot showing jade).
7. Place the Pigment, Grain and Coin tokens as well as Material and Product tokens beside the Main Board to create a General Supply.

Player Board Setup

1. Each player chooses a color, takes a Player Board as well as 4 Meeples and 3 Overseer Dice of that color. Then he/she places 3 Meeples on the Meeple Spots of the Player Board and the last one on the space showing "0" on the VP Track of the Main Board. Each Meeple is associated with the Character Card above it and the Grain tokens to its left.
2. Each player takes 1 Material token from each chosen Starting Pack, and places the 3 tokens on his/her resource area. Then each player takes the Achievement and VP tokens of his/her color, and places those tokens beside his/her Player Board.
3. Each player places the 3 Overseer Dice of his/her color on the Overseer Income area, covering the spaces showing the rewards (the values of those dice don't matter).
4. The player who has just won a game of Pingyao shall become the First Player and gain the First Player Tile (or players choose randomly). Starting from the First Player and going clockwise, players shall receive initial resources as following:
   • First player: 1 Coin (each Silver token is worth 1 Coin, and each Gold token is worth 2 Coins);
   • Second player: 2 Pigment tokens;
   • Third player: 1 Pigment token and 1 Coin;
   • Fourth player: 2 Pigment tokens and 1 Coin.

Printed text reads "the player who has just won a game of Pingyao"; this is kept as printed.

Fresco Setup

5. Shuffle all Fresco Tiles of the Starting Packs chosen, and randomly pick one of them and place it face-down on the Public Fresco spot of the Main Board. (If no player chooses to paint the Public Fresco, then this tile will not be used.) Then each player is randomly given 5 Fresco Tiles, which are kept unseen from other players. Each player checks the 5 tiles and keeps 1 of them, then gives the remaining tiles to the player to his/her left while receiving a new tile from the player to his/her right. Players shall repeat this several times until each player has drafted 5 Fresco Tiles. The tiles should always be kept face-down during the drafting.
6. Each player chooses 1 Fresco Tile from those he/she has just drafted and places it face-down on the rightmost column of the Fresco Area of the Main Board, beside the Overseer Spot of his/her color (tiles with a "no" icon on their lower left-hand corners cannot be placed this time). Then flip all Fresco Tiles on the Main Board, including the Public Fresco tile. Finally, each player places the leftmost Overseer Die from his/her Player Board on the Overseer Spot beside the tile he/she has just placed, and sets the die value equal to the value illustrated on that tile.

Printed "Fresco Tile Example" callout (page 3): 1. This tile belongs to the Silk Starting Pack; 2. When using a Meeple to perform this action, place the Meeple here; 3. This dice value indicates the number times this action can be performed; 4. The effects of this action when it is performed; 5. This action can only be used in 4-players games.

Printed "Player Board" callout (page 2): Areas on Each Player Board are Characters, Coins, Overseer Income, Resources (including Pigment, Material and Product tokens), Grain Supply, and Meeple.

Printed note (page 2): "Only the setup of the red player is illustrated here."

III. Gameplay

Each game of Dunhuang: Pearl on the Silk Road has eight rounds, with each round divided into the following three phases:

1. Starting Phase
2. Action Phase
3. Cleanup Phase

1. Starting Phase

1. Each player chooses one of the rewards shown in the Overseer Income area (those which are not covered by dice) of his/her Player Board and gains that reward (skip this phase if this is the first round of the game).
2. If any players have effects that are effective in Starting Phases (e.g. effects of Clothes Tile of Silk Pack, Field Tiles of Tea Pack, Drawing Cards of Silver Pack and Brewing of Wine Pack), these effects can be resolved now.
3. Starting from the First Player and going clockwise, any players who can gain achievements will gain them.

Starting Phase Example (printed): This player can gain 1 Pigment token during the Starting Phase of this round. And this player can choose from 1 Pigment, 1 Coin or 5 Victory Points, and gains the chosen reward.

Character Card Example (printed callout):

1. This character belongs to the Silk Starting Pack;
2. Portrait of the character;
3. Ability of the character;
4. Coins required to recruit this character;
5. After recruiting this character, the player will gain this amount of Grain tokens. Grain tokens are used to activate the ability of this character or resolve Emperor's Quest effects. Upon using the last Grain token, this character leaves play immediately.

2. Action Phase

Starting from the First Player and going clockwise, players shall take turns to perform actions. On his/her turn, each player places one of his/her Meeples on different action spots to perform the corresponding actions. This phase ends after all players have placed all their meeples.

There are three kinds of actions in this game: Basic Action, Ultimate Action and Fresco Action. Each has a corresponding area on the Main Board.

Printed notes on actions (red text in the rulebook):

1. Each action spot (no matter which area it is in) can only be occupied by one Meeple.
2. An action can be performed as long as at least one of the effects can be resolved (some effects have costs or requirements). The player can skip some effects if he/she cannot or do not want to resolve them, but he/she cannot skip all of them on a single action. The player can decide the order of resolving those effects.
3. After performing an action (as described above), if the Meeple used is associated with a Character Card, the ability of that character can be activated. Performing one action can trigger the ability of no more than one character.

Example (printed): Zhao, the red player uses one of his Meeples to perform a Basic Action (1), gaining a Gold Material as the effect (2). The Meeple Zhao has just sent is associated with his Gold character, so after resolving the effect, Zhao can now trigger the ability of that character, paying 1 Grain token and 1 Gold Material (3) to recruit a new Jade character to replace the Gold character (4). Since Zhao has activated a character's ability, he cannot activate the ability of this newly recruited Jade character this turn.

Effects in the Game

1. Gain Material: gain 1 Material token according to the Starting Pack type (Gold / Silk / China / Tea / Jade / Wine / Bronze / Iron / Silver Drawing).
2. Upgrade Resource: Upgrade a resource token once according to the upgrading rules of the corresponding Starting Pack (check the explanations of that pack for upgrading rules).
3. Gain Pigment: Gain 1 Pigment token.
4. Gain Coin: Gain 1 Coin.
5. Gain VP: Gain Victory Points equal to the shown number (3 in this example).
6. Emperor's Quest: If the Meeple used is associated with a character, the player must complete Emperor's Quest with that character. The player has to pay 1/2 Grain tokens for a reward of 3/6 Victory Points from the Emperor. If the Meeple used is not associated with a character, ignore this effect. Note: (1) During the Emperor's Quest effect, the ability of that character cannot be activated. If the character is still on Player Board after the effect (there are still Grain tokens associated with that character), the player may activate that character's ability. (2) While resolving the effect with the 3-Victory-Point Emperor's Quest icon, if the Meeple used is associated with a character and only 1 Grain token, that Grain token shall be paid and only 3 Victory Points are gained. The character will leave play, but the effect is still successfully resolved.

Example (printed): The Fresco Action below has two effects: Upgrade Resource and Emperor's Quest. Zhao, the red player uses a Meeple to perform this action (1). He doesn't own any resource token, so the Upgrade Resource effect is ignored, only the Emperor's Quest effect will be resolved. The meeple used is associated with only 1 Grain token, so Zhao pays that Grain for 3 Victory Points (2). Since the last Grain is paid, the associated character has to leave play (3). After resolving effect, no character ability can be activated because there is no character associated with that Meeple at the moment.

7. Recruitment: To resolve this effect, the player chooses a character in the Recruiting Area, pays the required amount of Coins shown on the lower left corner of that Character Card. Then the player can gain this Character Card and place it on any one of the three Character Spots on his/her Player Board. After that, the player will gain Grain tokens from the general supply equal to the number shown on the lower right corner of that card and place them on the Grain Supply area below that card. Finally, draw a new character card from the deck and place it on the Recruiting Area to fill the vacancy. If the character deck ever run empty when drawing a card from it, immediately shuffle the character discard pile into a new deck. Note (1): If the newly-recruited character is going to be placed on a spot with another Character Card already on it, the original character will be replaced by the new one, and the Grain tokens associated with the original character will also be moved back to the General Supply, making way to the newly added Grain tokens. Note (2): With this effect, players can only recruit Character Cards with coins shown on the lower left-hand corner. Characters from the Gold Starting Pack cannot be recruited this way.
8. Free Recruitment: Gain a character from the Recruiting Area without paying any resource. Note: There are special rules regarding abilities of characters from Gold Starting Pack. Please check the explanation of Gold characters for more information.

Example (printed): Zhao, the red player uses a Meeple to recruit a character (1). After paying the required 2 Coins (2), he can place the card on any one of the three Character Spots on his Player Board (3), and then gains 3 Grain tokens and places them below that card (4). Since that Character Spot is associated with the Meeple for this action (5), Zhao can immediately activate the ability of this character once.

9. Payment Effect: To resolve this kind of effects, players would pay resources (to the left of the arrow) and then gain rewards (to the right of the arrow).
10. Continue Painting (icon: Product/Fresco with -1): The player chooses one of Frescoes he/she is painting and advances its progress once (by reducing the value of the dice on the associated Overseer Spot by 1).
11. Begin Painting: The player pays 4 Pigment tokens and places the Public Fresco (if any) or a Fresco Tile in his/her hand on the right-most vacant Fresco Action spot of his/her color (judging from the associated Overseer Spots). Then the player places the leftmost Overseer Die on his/her Player Board on the associated Overseer Spot of the newly placed tile and set the dice value according to the tile. Finally, the player performs the action on the newly placed fresco tile immediately (no meeple is used for this extra action, all Emperor's Quest effects are ignored, and the value of associated Overseer Dice will not change).

Note (1): While resolving a Begin Painting effect, if the player's only vacant Fresco Action spot is the leftmost one, the player will immediately gain 5 Victory Points as soon as the effect is resolved. Note (2): If all three Fresco Action spots are occupied, then the Begin Painting effect cannot be resolved for that player. Note (3): When resolving this effect, if there is no dice on turn player's Player Board, the turn player chooses a dice of his/her color from the Overseer Reward area, immediately gains the reward shown below that dice, and uses that dice to associate with the tile that is going to be placed.

Example (printed): Zhao, the red player uses a Meeple to perform an action that contains Begin Painting effect. He pays 4 Pigment tokens and places a Fresco Action tile. Then he places a red Overseer Dice on the Overseer Spot associated with this tile, and set the dice value to 2 according to the tile. Finally, Zhao immediately resolves the effect of gaining 1 Gold Material, but ignores the Emperor's Quest effect.

12. Triggered Effect: To resolve this kind of effects, players have to meet some requirements (to the left of the arrow) to gain some rewards (to the right of the arrow).
13. Leaving Effect: When the character leaves Player Board, gain the rewards shown to the right of the arrow.
14. Gain Product: Gain 1 Product token of any Starting Pack type.

A. Basic Actions

The first Basic Action zone contains the following spots:

1. Effect: Gain 1 Coin;
2. Effect: Gain 1 Pigment token;
3. Effect: Gain 3 VP.

When a player uses a Meeple to perform any Basic Action in the first and leftmost zone, if he/she is the first player to perform an action here this round, he/she immediately gains the First Player Tile and becomes the First Player of the next round. The current First Player can also do the above to become the First Player of the next round. If no player performs any action in the leftmost zone, the First Player will not be changed.

The second Basic Action zone contains the following spots:

1. Effect: Upgrade Resource;
2. Effect: Begin Painting;
3. Effect: Begin Painting & gain 1 Coin.

The third Basic Action zone contains the following spots:

1. Effect: Emperor's Quest;
2. Effect: Recruitment;
3. Effect: Recruitment & Emperor's Quest.

The effects printed on spots of the fourth Basic Action zone are covered by Resource Tiles and other tiles from the Starting Packs chosen for this game. They may have different effects due to different Starting Pack choices, but in most cases the effect will be gaining a corresponding Material cube.

B. Ultimate Actions

Players can perform Ultimate Actions from the chosen Starting Packs in the Ultimate Action area. For those actions, refer to the explanations of Starting Packs for more details.

Example (printed): Zhao, the red player uses a Meeple to perform the Gold Ultimate Action (1). He can now recruit a Gold exclusive character with the cost of one Gold Product token.

C. Fresco Actions

The turn player can use a Meeple to perform an Fresco Action on any Fresco Tile on the Main Board. If the associated Overseer Dice of that tile belongs to the turn player, the value of the dice will not change. Otherwise, the value of the dice will be reduced by 1, which means the player has helped his/her opponent with the fresco.

Example (printed): Zhao, the red player uses a Meeple to perform his own Fresco Action. The value of his Overseer Dice associated with that Fresco Tile will not change. But when Sun, the green player wants to perform this action, the value of the associated red dice is reduced by 1.

Completion of a Fresco

When the value of the Overseer Dice associated to a Fresco Tile is reduced to 0, the turn player shall immediately move it to the left spot of the Overseer Reward area. Then this fresco is complete, and it will leave play during the Cleanup Phase of this round. Then the owner of this Fresco Tile shall immediately gain Victory Points according to the Round Track.

Note (1): There is no limit to the number of dice on each spot of the Overseer Reward area. Multiple dice can be stacked on a single spot. Note (2): If the value of an Overseer Dice is reduced to 0, the Fresco Action of the associated Fresco Tile can still be performed within this round, and no other Fresco Tile can be placed on that spot until the Cleanup Phase of this round.

Example (printed): Sun, the green player uses a Meeple to perform a Fresco Action on a tile owned by Zhao, the red player, thus reducing the value of the associated Overseer Dice to 0 (1). So Zhao moves that red dice to the left spot of the Overseer Reward area (2). Since this is the second round of the game, Zhao gains 18 Victory Points upon completion of this fresco.

Example (printed, page 8): During the Starting Phase of the next round, since the spot showing 5 Victory Points is covered by his dice, Zhao can only choose from 1 Pigment token or 1 Coin as income of the new round.

3. Cleanup Phase

1. Each player places all his/her 3 Meeples on the Main Board action spots back to the Meeple Spots on his/her Player Board.
2. Remove tiles in Fresco Action area that are not associated with any Overseer Dice from the game.
3. Discard the leftmost card in the Character Recruiting area, move all other cards in that area one spot to the left, and then add a new card from the character deck to the rightmost spot.
4. For each Overseer Dice in the Overseer Reward area, its owner gains the reward below that dice. Then for each dice on the right spot, its owner places it back on the rightmost vacant spot of the Overseer Income area of his/her Player Board. Finally, move all dices on the left spot of the Overseer Reward area to the right spot.
5. Move the Round Marker one space to the left, then the Starting Phase of the next round shall begin.

Example (printed): During the Cleanup Phase, Zhao, the red player has one Overseer Dice placed on the right spot of the Overseer Reward area, so he can choose from three types of Material cubes and gains 1 of that type. His choice is 1 Gold Material cube (1). Then, Zhao places that dice back to the rightmost spot of his Overseer Income area (2). If Zhao's dice is originally on the left spot, he can gain 1 Pigment or 1 Coin, and then he moves that dice to the right spot (3).

IV. Endgame

After the Cleanup Phase of the eighth round, the game ends and players shall score their Victory Points following those steps:

1. Each player checks his/her VP already gained on the VP Track.
2. For each unused Material cube or Product token, its owner gains 1 VP.
3. For each Overseer Dice on the Main Board associated with a Fresco Tile, its owner gains 6 VP.
4. Each player gains VP according to his/her rankings on the Achievement Board.
5. Some Starting Packs have special rules for endgame scoring, those rules may bring extra points.

(Printed in parentheses: When a player reaches or surpasses 100 VP, that player places his/her VP token on the "0" space of the VP Track showing the "100" side. When a player reaches or surpasses 200 VP, that player flips his/her VP token to the side showing 200.)

The player with the most Victory Points wins the game. If there is a tie, the tied player with more Achievement Tokens on all Achievement Boards wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player share the victory.

V. Achievements

Achievement Boards work under the two circumstances below:

1. When a player has performed an action, fully resolved all its effects and resolved the ability of the character associated with the Meeple used, if he/she has met the requirement of any one spot on the Achievement Boards, the player can place an Achievement Token on that spot and immediately gain the corresponding Victory Points.
2. During the Starting Phase, after a player has resolved effect(s), if he/she has met the requirement of any one spot on the Achievement Boards, the player can place an Achievement Token on that spot and immediately gain the corresponding Victory Points.

Each spot can hold one and only one Achievement Token. If two spots have the same requirement, the first player to meet that requirement will take the spot which grants more VP, and cannot take the other spot for the rest of the game.

When the game ends, each Achievement Board will be resolved. For each Achievement Board, the player who has more Achievement Tokens than all other players will gain 12 VP, the player with the second most number of Achievement Tokens will gain 6 VP, and the player with the third most will gain 3 VP. If there is a tie, the tied players shall divide the VP of related rankings evenly, rounded down. (For Silk and Iron Achievement Boards ranking rewards, please check the corresponding explanation.)

Example (printed): On this Achievement Board, Qian, the yellow player has completed 3 achievements, Zhao, the red player and Sun, the green player have each completed 2 achievements, and Li, the blue player has only completed 1. So Qian gains 12 VPs, Zhao and Sun each gains 4 VPs, and no VP is rewarded to Li.

VI. Variants

3-Player Mode

1. In 3-player game, initial values of Overseer Dices associated with all Fresco Tiles are set to 2. Also no Fresco Tile will be placed on the Public Fresco spot. (All 4-player exclusive Fresco Tiles are removed from game and not used in this mode.)
2. After two of the three Ultimate Actions have been performed by using Meeples, the last one cannot be performed. This means at the end of each round, there is at least one Ultimate Action Tile with no Meeple on it.

Solitaire Mode

Rule

1. During setup, randomly choose two packs from Silk, Tea, China and Gold Starting Packs. Shuffle the Character Cards and Fresco Tiles of the chosen packs.
2. Flip the Achievement Boards to solitaire side and take 1 Coin, 2 Pigment tokens and 1 Material cube from each of the two Starting Packs as initial resource.
3. Take 4 Fresco Tiles, choose 1 as the initial Fresco Action and place an Overseer Dice to associate it, then place the rest to the bottom of the Fresco Tile stack in any order. Note: In this mode, initial values of Overseer Dices associated with all Fresco Tiles are set to 2.
4. Take 4 more Fresco Tiles and choose 2 as Public Frescoes (place them on another line in the Fresco Action area to indicate that they're public), then place the rest to the bottom of the Fresco Tile stack in any order. Public Frescoes have no Overseer dice associated to them, and after each Public Fresco action has been performed once, the tile will leave play immediately.
5. The gameplay is the same as 4-player mode. The goal of the player is to complete all quests listed on two Achievement Boards.
6. The player is required to complete the first set of quests on each Achievement Board. After this requirement is met, the player can continue the game and is required to complete the second set of quests on each Achievement Board. Finally, the player is required to complete the remaining quests and gain as many VP as possible. If the player failed to complete a certain set of quests in designated time, this game is lost. Upon completing each quest, the player will immediately gain the reward shown to the right of the quest.
7. The player must complete all quests in the first set before completing any quest in the second set. The same is true for the final quest.

Special Rules

Printed as "Special Rules" on page 10, following the Solitaire Mode rules.

1. When the player uses a Meeple to perform his/her own Fresco Action containing Continue Painting effect, the value of the associated Overseer Dice will also be reduced by 1.
2. After the player's all 3 Fresco Action spots are covered by tiles, the player can still resolve Begin Painting effect by placing the new Fresco Tile as Public Fresco. The action of this new Fresco Tile can only be performed once as other Public Frescoes.
3. Each time when the player wants to place a Fresco Tile, he/she draws 4 tiles from the Fresco Tile stack and chooses 1 to place, then places the rest to the bottom of the Fresco Tile stack in any order.
4. In this mode, all Fresco Tiles and Character Cards that leave play are not put into discard pile but placed near the Player Board instead. They will not be shuffled back into the corresponding stack or deck, either. After all quests are completed, these tiles and cards will help add more VP.

VII. Quests on Achievement

Each Achievement Board in solitaire mode lists quests in a first set, a second set, and a final quest. Quest rewards are printed as shown.

Silk Starting Pack

• First Set:
  1. Own 2 Clothes Tiles. Reward: 2 Coins.
  2. Have recruited 2 Silk characters. Reward: 1 Silk Material cube.
• Second Set:
  1. Own 4 Clothes Tiles. Reward: Resolve a Begin Painting effect by paying only 3 Pigment tokens.
  2. Have painted 2 Silk Fresco Tiles. Reward: 2 Pigment tokens.
• Final Quest: Own 5 Clothes Tiles. Reward: Upon completion, gain 8 VP for each Silk character recruited (including those who have left play).

China Starting Pack

• First Set:
  1. Own 1 Faience Tile. Reward: 2 Pigment tokens.
  2. Have painted 2 China Fresco Tiles. Reward: Resolve 2 Upgrade Resource effects.
• Second Set:
  1. Own 3 Whiteware or Faience Tiles. Reward: 2 Coins.
  2. Have recruited 2 China characters. Reward: 1 China Material cube.
• Final Quest: Own 5 Whiteware or Faience Tiles. Reward: Upon completion, gain 8 VP for each China character recruited (including those who have left play).

Tea Starting Pack

• First Set:
  1. Resolve Tea Trade effect 4 times. Reward: 2 Coins.
  2. Own Tier 2 Field. Reward: 1 Tea Material cube.
• Second Set:
  1. Resolve Tea Trade effect 5 times. Reward: 2 Pigment tokens.
  2. Have painted 2 Tea Fresco Tiles. Reward: 1 Tea Product token.
• Final Quest: Have gained trade rewards of three different trade routes. Reward: Upon completion, gain 8 VP for each Tea character recruited (including those who have left play).

Gold Starting Pack

• First Set:
  1. Have recruited 2 Gold characters. Reward: 2 Pigment tokens.
  2. Have painted 1 Gold Fresco Tile. Reward: 1 Gold Material cube.
• Second Set:
  1. Have recruited 2 Gold characters. Reward: 2 Pigment tokens.
  2. Have painted 2 Gold Fresco Tiles. Reward: Resolve 1 Upgrade Resource effect.
• Final Quest: Have 6 Gold characters that have left play. Reward: Upon completion, gain 8 VP for each Gold character that has left play.

VIII. Promo Characters and Tiles

Printed under the heading "Promo Characters & Tiles": If Promo Character Cards are used for the game, just directly shuffle cards of the corresponding Starting Packs into the Character Card deck. If Promo Tiles are used, another 4-player exclusive tile needs to be removed first to ensure that there are totally 21 tiles in the Fresco Tile stack. (Promo Tile is only used in 4-player mode.)

Promo Characters

(Character portraits are not named in the printed text; the characters are listed in the order printed.)

1. Pay 2 Coins to recruit this character and gain 3 Grain tokens. Ability: After performing an action with the associated Meeple, the player can pay 1 Grain token to gain 2 VP for each Wine cube on the Winery Board.
2. Pay 1 Coin to recruit this character and gain 1 Grain token. Ability: After performing an action with the associated Meeple, the player can pay 1 Grain token to resolve a Recruitment effect.
3. Pay 3 Coins to recruit this character and gain 2 Grain tokens. Ability: After performing an action with the associated Meeple, the player can pay 1 Grain token to resolve a Deposit effect.
4. Pay 1 Coin to recruit this character and gain 3 Grain tokens. Ability: After performing an action with the associated Meeple, the player can pay 1 Grain token to resolve an Emperor's Quest effect.
5. Pay 1 Coin to recruit this character and gain 3 Grain tokens. Ability: After performing an action with the associated Meeple, the player can pay 1 Grain token to resolve a Seminar effect.
6. Pay 4 Coins to recruit this character and gain 2 Grain tokens. Ability: After performing an action with the associated Meeple, the player can pay 1 Grain token and choose any 1 Bronze Fresco Tile on the Main Board, then the player may resolve all effects on that tile but the Emperor's Quest effect cannot be ignored.

IX. Promo Tiles

1. Each Promo Fresco Tile has two parts, the player who perform the action of this tile will first resolve the upper effect, then the player may choose to resolve the lower effect. For the tile illustrated tile above, the player can pay 2 VP to resolve a Recruitment effect.
2. A lower effect of a Promo Fresco Tile can be resolved twice at most. For the illustrated tile above, the player can pay 4 VP to resolve two Recruitment effects in total.
3. All Promo Fresco Tiles have the same initial Overseer Dice value: 6. Whenever a player resolve the lower effect of the tile, the value of the associated Overseer Dice is reduced by 1 (Who painted this Fresco Tile doesn't matter here). For the illustrated tile above, the player resolve both effects on this tile, gaining 1 coin and then paying 2 VP for a Recruitment effect, finally he/she reduces the associated Overseer Dice value by 1.

Printed tile descriptions:

• Sutra Promo Fresco Tile: Upper effect: Gain 1 Coin; Lower effect: Pay 2 VP to resolve a Recruitment effect (can be resolved twice at most).
• Silver Promo Fresco Tile: Upper effect: Resolve a Seminar effect; Lower effect: Pay 3 VP to resolve a Researching effect (can be resolved twice at most).
• Wine Promo Fresco Tile: Upper effect: Resolve a Continue Painting effect; Lower effect: Pay 1 VP to resolve a Brewing effect (can be resolved twice at most).
• Exotic Beauty Promo Fresco Tile: Upper effect: Resolve an Emperor's Quest effect; Lower effect: Pay 2 VP and 1 Wine Material cube to gain 2 Coins (can be resolved twice at most).
• Bronze Promo Fresco Tile: Upper effect: Gain a Bronze Material cube; Lower effect: Pay 5 VP to resolve a Mimic effect (can be resolved twice at most).
• Bronze Promo Fresco Tile (second): Upper effect: Resolve an Upgrade Resource effect and an Emperor's Quest effect; Lower effect: Pay 2 VP to gain 1 Coin (can be resolved twice at most).

Printed tile names: the two tiles described last are both printed as "Bronze Promo Fresco Tile"; they are kept as printed here, with the second marked.

About the Game

Printed background text on page 12 (publisher's game description, kept as printed):

Dunhuang: The Silk Road is the second game of Jing Studio's Chinese City Series. And also there's another Dunhuang-themed game designed by us, Dunhuang: Apsaras, with completely different gameplay style.

In this game, we have designed 12 Starting Packs, all featuring key elements along the Silk Road: Camel, Gold, Jade, Silk, China, Tea, Exotic Beauty, Iron, Bronze, Sutra, Wine and Silver. This game focuses on simulating the daily lives of people in Dunhuang region during Tang Dynasty and recreating the spectacularity along the Silk Road, with the playing acting as government officers of that time. That is why we made Starting Packs for the game.

Dunhuang is famous for its grottoes fresco art and Buddhism relics. This city is holding one of the greatest and most spectacular legacies in human history. Recreating the creation of Mogao Grottoes frescoes is also a key part of our game.

The basic structures of the grottoes are mainly the same, and each grotto is composed of a corridor and a cave. The frescoes were painted on the walls of the corridors. The funders and owners of those grottoes, who would be acted as by players in the game, were illustrated in those frescoes.

Painting the frescoes was a work of hardship and harshness. Many painters entered these grottoes and spent the rest of their lives in the corridors and caves. That is the reason why in the game, a player cannot complete the painting of a fresco all by himself/herself, and he/she has to pay other players (with action effects) to help complete the fresco.

The frescoes in Mogao Grottoes contain multiple layers, not only one! In 1940s. master painter Zhang Daqian noticed this when he was copying those frescoes. He pried the outer layer in order to copy the inner ones. This has made him infamous in the history of arts. In the game, after a fresco is complete, the Fresco Tile shall leave play, but the fresco is already painted on that spot. So when placing another Fresco Tile on that spot, it is like painting another layer upon the original fresco, which never disappears.

Apart from its contribution on art and culture, Dunhuang is also a place with military and trading importance in ancient China. Yumenguan Pass and Yangguan Pass are not only important troop stations, but also the key gateways that connect Central Plain areas with the Western Regions. That is why in the game, players have to heed the call and complete Emperor's Quests. The completion of Emperor's Quests requires resources and manpower (in the form of characters), and no reward shall be given except for fame (in the form of VP).