Forged in Steel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Game Play Overview
• City Planning
  • City Planner
• City Building
  • Card Description
  • Playing Cards
  • City Building: Card Selection
  • City Building: Building Placement
  • City Building: Buying and Building
  • City Building: Seizing
  • City Building: Playing an Event Card
  • City Building: Playing a Card with a Response Action
• Immigration
• Riots
  • Unrest Penalty
  • Riot Sequence
• County Assessment ("Scoring Phase")
  • Scoring Example
• The Elections
  • Influence order
  • Selecting Roles
• Clean Up
• Game End
• Commonly Overlooked Rules
• Variant: Industry Leaders
• Additional Information
  • Acknowledgements
  • Special Thanks
  • Playtesters
• Designer's Notes
  • Publisher's Notes
  • Credits
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Kickstarter Mini-Expansion
  • Mogul Variant – (4 wood tokens & 1 rules token)
  • Bigwig Variant – (15 Role tokens & 1 rules token)
  • Companion Guide
• Glossary

Game Components

• Game board
• 106 Era cards
• 6 Industry Leader cards
• 80 Houses (20 per player)
• 12 Mansions (3 per player)
• 120 Player Ownership cubes (30 per player)
• 7 Victory Point markers
• 30 City Ownership cubes (White)
• 15 Commercial buildings
• 15 Factories
• 8 Civic buildings
• 3 Hospitals
• 9 Parks (4 small, 4 medium, 1 large)
• 4 Player aids
• 5 Role Tokens
• Four sided die

Game Setup

1. Tracks: Place a City Ownership cube on the lowest value of each Prosperity track, the various Neighborhood Tracks, and finally the Era Track. Influence order and the 3 Prosperity tracks are Mining, Industrial, and Commercial. Neighborhood Tracks are beside each Neighborhood: North Side, Goat Hill, East Pueblo, Mesa Junction, and Bessemer. Finally, place 1 cube from each player to the 0 spot on the Scoring track.
2. Establish Initial Influence: The players randomly determine the initial influence and use a cube of each player's color to mark the Influence order on the board.
3. Determine Mayor: The player who is first on the Influence track receives the Mayor Role, and takes that Role token.
4. Organize the Deck: Sort the cards into 3 Era decks: 1890, 1900, and 1910. If playing with fewer than 4 players, remove 10 cards at random from both the 1890 and the 1900 deck for each player missing. If you are playing with 3 players remove 10 cards and with 2 players, remove 20 cards. You will always use the entire 1910 deck, regardless of the number of players. Note: Era is identified in the lower right of each card.
5. Seed the Board: The game starts in 1890, after Pueblo, CO, was established. To reflect this situation, the players seed the board with the first Houses built in the city. First, place a Civic building on the "City Hall" 2 Lot space. Then, in Influence order, players place 2 Houses, one at a time, on the North Side area of the game board. The Mayor, who is always first in Influence order, starts by placing 1 House on "El Pueblo." Continuing in Influence order, each remaining player places 1 House on a vacant Lot (empty space) that is orthogonally adjacent to any House or City Hall. Repeat this cycle 1 more time, so all players have exactly 2 Houses on the game board. Finally, the Mayor takes 3 City Ownership cubes and places them on vacant Lots that are adjacent to any House, City Ownership cube, or City Hall. IMPORTANT: Refer to the terms "Lot" and "Block." Lots are single spaces, whereas a Block is a group of Lots surrounded by streets. Buildings that take 2 Lots cannot be built across a street. Designer's Note: El Pueblo marks a small adobe trading post where the city was founded in 1842.
6. Deal and Select Hand: Deal 7 cards from the 1890 deck to each player. Place the remaining cards aside; these constitute the main deck. Players then choose 2 cards to set aside, face down, to form their Bank. Then each player must discard down to 4 cards. Players will always place discarded cards face down in the discard pile. Note: The banked cards will be available to add to a player's hand in later Eras. For ease of tracking, banked cards may be partially slipped under the Player Aid or game board in front of the player. Players may inspect these cards at any time.
7. Select Roles: In Influence order, each player selects 1 of the Role tokens. The player with the highest influence has already been assigned the Mayor Role so the first selection goes to the player that is second on the Influence track. Repeat this until all Roles have been selected. The Roles are Mayor, City Planner, Mining Official, Mob Boss, and the Immigration Official. (See Selecting Roles, for more detail.)

Game Play Overview

The game is played over 3 rounds, called Eras. Each Era is divided into several Phases: City Planning, City Building, Immigration, County Assessment, The Elections, and Cleanup. Most of the gameplay occurs in City Building. The Player Aids describe the flow of the game and the details of scoring.

City Planning

City Planning is skipped for the first Era because it occurred during setup.

During the second Era, deal 7 cards to all players from the main deck. Each player combines these 7 cards with the 2 cards in their bank from the first Era. From these 9 cards, each player selects 4 cards to be placed in the bank, placing them face down under their player aid, and 1 card to discard.

In the third Era, deal 4 cards to all players from the main deck. Players combine these 4 cards with their 4 banked cards, and from these 8 cards, players must discard 4.

In all Eras, players should have 4 cards remaining in their hand at this point.

City Planner

The City Planner then draws a number of cards equal to the number of players from the main deck. The City Planner keeps 1 of these cards and passes the remaining cards to the player with the lowest Influence that has not yet picked a card. Players continue choosing 1 card and passing the cards to the player next highest on the Influence track until all cards have been selected. Each player will have 5 cards by the end of City Planning.

Example: In a 3-player game, the City Planner draws 3 cards.

City Building

City Building is the heart of Forged in Steel, accomplished by playing cards.

Card Description

At the top of the card is its title. To the left of the title is the amount of Municipal Muscle (MM) that the card is worth. Every card also has an event that can be used instead of the MM. Each card has a specific Era in the lower right corner. Some cards also have additional identifiers. The possible identifiers are:

• Headline – These cards represent unique events in history. If you play this card for its event, then you must also play the card as a Headline.
• Recurring Card – These cards are shuffled back into the main deck at the end of the Era.
• Immigrant Card – Certain card events will refer to Immigrant cards.
• Response Card – These cards can cancel certain game events from happening such as Riots or specific card events. Cards that can be affected by a Response will have the symbol shown in the upper right corner of that card.

Playing Cards

Cards can be used in 1 of 2 different ways.

1. Play a card for the MM, which may be used in any combination to:

   • Buy
   • Build
   • Seize

   IMPORTANT: MM cannot be held, saved, passed, or banked for later; if you do not use it now, then you lose it. In general, this means that any leftover MM should be used to buy Lots or build Houses.

2. Play a card for its event. If the card contains a Headline, it will trigger long-term effects as described in the Headlines section (see City Building: Playing an Event Card). Note: A Headline on a card is never applied to the event listed on the card itself.

After being played, for MM or an Event, if the card is a Recurring Card, place it in the discard pile; otherwise, remove it from the game by placing it back in the game box.

Note: In some cases, event cards allow you to break the rules. In these cases, always ignore the base rule and apply the event/Headline as stated on the card. If a card refers to a cube or Ownership cube, it always means a cube of the current player's color. Cards will explicitly state when a City cube is to be placed.

City Building: Card Selection

All players simultaneously select 1 card they want to play and places it face down in front of them. Once all players have selected a card, each player announces the MM of the played card without revealing it. The player that played the card with the lowest MM gets to carry out the first action. In the event of a tie, the player highest in Influence order acts first. Repeat this process until all have resolved their cards, thus ending the Era. To summarize:

1. Players choose 1 card and place it face down.
2. Announce the MM of all cards played, lowest MM acts first.
3. The active player announces whether the card will be played for MM or used as an event card.
4. Use the MM to build, buy, or seize or complete the event.
5. Resolve the Headline if applicable.
6. If the card is a Recurring Card, discard it to the discard pile, otherwise, remove it to the box.
7. The active player clearly announces that they are finished, and the next player in MM order repeats steps 3-7.

IMPORTANT: Once a card has been selected, it no longer counts as a card in your hand, nor can it be used for a Response Action. For all purposes, the card has been set aside to be used.

City Building: Building Placement

Before explaining building in detail, a few definitions are required.

The Game Board. The game board is divided into small squares known as Lots, and groups of Lots outlined by a street border are Blocks. In general, a Block is 4 Lots, but there are a few exceptions on the game board.

Example: There are 17 Lots covering 6 blocks in a typical illustration. Note: A block with 2 red Ownership cubes can contain only 2 Lots. A block marked "Lot" in a red dotted outline can contain only 1 Lot.

Vacant Lots have no Ownership cubes. Players use Ownership cubes to mark the vacant Lots they have purchased, which then become owned Lots. Only 1 cube is allowed per Lot. Owned Lots indicate where any player can construct a building. The color of the cube is important as it indicates the player that receives a VP when someone builds on that Lot. City Ownership cubes can be placed on Lots only by using specific card events. City Ownership cubes have a different color (white) than the player's Ownership cubes. For all purposes, City Ownership cubes act like player Ownership cubes in every way. When any player constructs a building on a City Ownership cube, the Mayor receives a VP. Civic buildings, Mansions, and Factories always take up 2 adjacent Lots on the same block. Hospitals take up 1 Lot, while Parks vary in size from 1 to 4 Lots. Civic buildings, Mansions, Parks, and Hospitals can be constructed only with card events. Factories can be built on Lots only with a black Factory symbol, but these "Factory spaces" may be used for any other development, such as a House or Park.

Example: A player can legally have a House and Mansion on a Factory space. A Factory owned by another player can also be on a Factory space.

Neighborhoods, Adjacency, and the City Grid. The game board is divided into 5 Neighborhoods. Actions are allowed only in Lots that are part of the City Grid, and all erected buildings must be connected to the grid. The grid is defined as any space containing a building, and any space adjacent to any existing Park, building, or owned Lot, i.e., a Lot with an Ownership cube.

IMPORTANT: When a card event states a building may be placed "anywhere," ignore City Grid rules.

The term adjacent is a key concept of the game: to be considered adjacent, buildings must be orthogonally adjacent. In other words, a Building or Lot must share a side with another Building or Lot (diagonal adjacency is not allowed).

Lots in different Neighborhoods can be adjacent to one another, e.g., Bessemer and Mesa Junction. Lots in Neighborhoods that are separated by rivers need to be connected by a bridge to be considered adjacent. If you have a building adjacent to one side of a bridge, then the Lot on the other side of that bridge is considered adjacent to the building.

Example: The only Lot that is adjacent on the right side of a bridge is the one indicated with a green check mark. Except for Mansions, no Lots can be purchased, allowing buildings to be constructed, until the City Grid is established in East Pueblo.

City Building: Buying and Building

In general, when you buy or build, you pay the cost and carry out that action. Each type of item is described in the following sections. After the card is used for MM, place it face down in the discard pile if the card is a Recurring card; otherwise, remove it to the game box.

Buying & Building Costs (MM Cost):

Type	Buy	Build
Lot	1	–
Mine	2	–
House	–	1
Factory	–	2
Commercial	–	3

Lots. Lots are owned by either the player who bought them or the city. To buy a Lot, pay 1 MM and place an Ownership cube on a vacant Lot that is connected to the City Grid. In general, a Lot with an Ownership cube is zoned for building, and a building can be constructed on it.

Houses. Houses may only be built on a Lot that was zoned for building (marked with an Ownership cube) on a prior turn. Pay 1 MM and replace the Ownership cube with a House of your color. If you build on a Lot owned by another player, that player immediately scores 1 VP. No VP is awarded if a player builds on a Lot they own. If you build on a Lot owned by the city, then the Mayor scores 1 VP. The Mayor will score a point even if the player who is the Mayor builds on a city owned Lot.

IMPORTANT: You cannot buy a Lot and immediately build a House on that Lot. Players must wait until a later turn to build a House on a newly purchased Lot; however, an opponent could build on a Lot you recently purchased.

Factories. Factories must be built across 2 adjacent Lots that are zoned for factories. To be zoned for factories, both adjacent Lots must contain an Ownership cube, placed on a prior turn, and both Lot spaces must be marked with the Factory icon. To build a Factory, a player pays 2 MM, removes the Ownership cubes from the Lots, places a Factory on those Lots, and then places 1 Ownership cube on the Factory. For each Lot that was owned by another player, that player scores 1 VP. No VP is awarded for building a Factory on a player's own Lot(s). For each Lot owned by the City the player with the Mayor Role scores 1 VP.

IMPORTANT: You cannot build a Factory across a street. You cannot buy Lots and immediately build a Factory and place it on those Lots. A player must wait until a later turn to build a Factory on any newly purchased Lots.

Example: The Red player started a turn with a card worth 4 MM, and has already spent 2 MM to build a Factory at the bottom of the "Goat Hill" Neighborhood. With 2 MM remaining, Red chooses to build another Factory on a Lot with a blue and red Ownership cube. Red must remove both of the Ownership cubes, giving the Blue player 1 VP as an opponent who previously bought 1 of the Factory space Lots. Because it is a red owned Lot, the Red player does not receive 1 VP for building the Factory on it. Finally, the Red player takes a Factory token and places 1 Ownership cube on top.

Designer's Note: Large industrial sites required a water source during this time period.

Commercial buildings. Commercial buildings have an additional guideline that must be followed beyond the previously explained adjacency rules. A Commercial building may be placed on any owned Lot as long as the Lot in which you are building is adjacent to another fully built block. Basically, fully built blocks have no vacant Lots; they have buildings or parks on all Lots, and no Ownership cubes.

If you meet the requirement above, then pay 3 MM and build the Commercial building. All Commercial buildings are immediately owned by the player who built them. To indicate this, the active player places an Ownership cube on top of the Commercial building. If you removed the Ownership cube of another player from a Lot, then that player scores 1 VP. No VP is awarded for placing a Commercial building on a player's own Lot. For each Lot owned by the City, the player with the Mayor Role scores 1 VP.

IMPORTANT: You cannot buy a Lot and immediately build a Commercial building on that Lot. A player must wait until a later turn to build a Commercial building on a newly purchased Lot; however, an opponent can build over your Lot.

Example: Consider four blocks, A through D. The only block that can support a Commercial building is Block D. Block C and D both have an owned Lot for the Commercial building to be placed; however, only Block D is adjacent to a fully built block (Block B). Block A cannot support a Commercial building because there is no owned Lot to place it on and Block B is fully occupied.

Mines. To purchase a Mine, pay 2 MM and place an Ownership cube on the Mine you want to buy. Mines are not part of, or subject to, any City Grid or adjacency rules, therefore, players may purchase any available Mine. A player who buys a Mine immediately rolls a D4, and scores as many VP as the result of the die roll. If the result of the die is 3 or higher (after all possible modifications from Roles, Card events, and Headlines), then the player that rolled the die must add unrest by placing 1 Ownership cube on the Unrest track.

IMPORTANT: Rolling VP for Mines happens only once for each mine.

Designer's Note: Players receive Unrest for pushing workers hard.

Special Buildings & Parks. Mansions, Hospitals, Civic buildings, and Parks modify gameplay and change scoring. These special developments can be built only with card events, and are limited to the number of components provided in the game, e.g., once all Civic buildings are in play, no more can be placed. All Special buildings and Parks provide adjacent Houses an additional VP, but each House can only earn 1 additional VP regardless of the number of Special buildings to which they are adjacent.

• Mansion – During The Elections, Mansions count as 2 ballots. Mansions also score points based on the Neighborhood they are in, plus they score an additional VP for each of your own Houses that are adjacent to them. Mansions can be built anywhere and extend the City Grid. This allows any adjacent Lots, beside a Mansion, to be purchased and allows the construction of buildings and Parks, as well.
• Hospitals – A Neighborhood with a Hospital is immune to certain card events.
• Civic Building – During The Elections, a Neighborhood receives an additional vote for each Civic building.
• Park – When a Park is placed, it increases the Neighborhood track for the Neighborhood in which it is placed.

City Building: Seizing

Seizing a building means taking it from another player that already has ownership of it. The seizing player pays 4 MM, and places the House or Ownership cube to replace the one currently on the Lot. Seizing also causes unrest, so for each structure seized, add 1 Ownership cube from the seizing player to the Unrest track. Seizing buildings via card events does not cause unrest, unless the card states otherwise.

City Building: Playing an Event Card

Instead of using a card for its MM, it can be used for events, which can be very powerful. Read the event text towards the bottom half of the card and carry out the instructions. You must carry out all aspects of the event, if possible. After playing the event, if the card is a Recurring Card, discard it face down to the discard pile; otherwise, remove it to the game box.

Note: In some cases, event cards will allow you to break the game rules. In these cases, ignore the base rule and apply the event as stated on the card.

Using Cards to Place Buildings – When adding a building with an event, the rules may be broken as stated above. However, unless specifically stated on the card, conform to the following rules:

1. You must place a building on the City Grid, unless the card says to place it anywhere on the board.
2. A House may be placed on any vacant Lot, as long as the Lot is on the City Grid.
3. A Factory must always be placed on the designated and marked Factory spaces on the board, unless the card states to place the Factory anywhere.
4. Commercial buildings can be placed on any vacant Lot on the City Grid, ignoring its usual construction rules.
5. A Mansion can always be placed anywhere on the board, unless the card states otherwise.

Headlines. Certain cards in the deck contain Headlines. Like any other card, it can be used for MM. In this case, ignore the Headline and play the card as you would normally. However, if the card is used as an event, it must also be played as a Headline. A Headline represents an event, movement, or trend in the American society at the time. As a player, you can manipulate this strategic circumstance to your advantage. These cards have an immediate benefit, the event, as well as an additional ongoing benefit, the Headline. Read the event text of the card and carry out the instructions, as you would for a normal event. Then, place the card on the left most headline space, shifting any existing cards to the right. When shifted, the card that was in the far right space is removed from the game and placed in the game box, out of play. Place one of your Ownership cubes on the headline card just added. The additional text on a card listed under "Headline" will usually have a continuing effect. Once a card has been placed on a headline space, its Headline is in effect until the card is pushed off the board by other Headline cards. Apply the end of Era effects on all Headline cards at the end of the Era. The newest Headline (furthest left) overrides all other Headlines in the event of a conflict.

Note: The effect of a Headline is never applied to the event on its own card.

Prosperity Scoring Tracks. Only card events can manipulate the Prosperity tracks. These tracks model the success of the important economic sectors during the Era and affect the scoring of buildings. There are 8 Tracks (Commercial, Industrial, Mining, and 5 Neighborhoods). The tracks act as multipliers during scoring. A player can use a card's event to raise a track's multiplier, which increase the reward for owning the respective building(s). Some events can decrease a track's multiplier. Tracks can never go above or below their maximum and minimum values respectively.

City Building: Playing a Card with a Response Action

Some cards contain a Response action in addition to, or instead of, a normal event. A player may use this card to react to a specific situation that arises in the game, the most common being a card event played by an opponent. When the condition on the response card is met, you may immediately show your response card to affect the event. This may allow you to cancel an opponent's event; however, the opponent can still use the card for MM. After resolving the Response action, return the response card to the owner's hand, and the current player's turn continues.

Note: Playing a card for its Response action is optional.

IMPORTANT: Once a card has been selected, during the City Building: Card Selection phase, it cannot be used for a Response.

The exact steps for playing these cards are as follows:

1. If you have not already used this card for a Response action, and a situation listed on the Response card occurs, immediately reveal the card from your hand.
2. After resolving the Response action, play continues with the active player, who may still use the card for MM, if applicable.

Response action cards can be triggered by game events, such as Riots. When this occurs, reveal and resolve your Response card as described previously. The only difference is that you do not cancel an opponent's event.

IMPORTANT: With Response cards, you never cancel another player's turn or their ability to use a card for MM.

Immigration

Immigration represents the employment pull that the city generates based upon the number of Factories and Commercial buildings on the game board. Immigration proceeds as follows:

1. Calculate the Number of Immigrants – Add the number of Commercial buildings and Factories on the game board. The number indicates which column of the table will be used for the next step of Immigration. The top row of the Immigration Chart represents the number of jobs available, luring new immigrants to Pueblo, CO. The second row represents how many new Houses must be constructed for the immigrants to live.
2. Place Immigrants in Houses – Refer to the second row of the Immigration Chart. Using the same column established in the previous step, each player will construct that many new Houses for incoming immigrants, with the Immigration Official adding 1 additional House. The Immigration Official starts by placing Houses on any Lot with any city/player's Ownership cube. For each opposing player's Ownership cube removed, that player scores 1 VP. For each City Ownership cube removed, the player with the Mayor Role scores 1 VP. After the Immigration Official completes a turn, the next player in Influence order places 1 or more House(s). This step repeats until all players have placed Houses for the incoming immigrants. IMPORTANT: If, at any time, there are either no available Lots with Ownership cubes or a player is out of Houses, then a player must place 1 Ownership cube on the Unrest track for each House that cannot be placed. Once the Unrest track contains 8 Ownership cubes, Immigration immediately ends, and a Riot begins.

Example: If there are a total of 2 Commercial buildings and 2 factories, players use the "1 – 5" column. Referring to the second row, this means that every player must build 1 House to support the incoming immigrants. The Immigration Official goes first and places 1 House on any Lot with an Ownership cube, plus 1 additional House because of the Immigration Official's ability. The remaining players, in Influence order, would place 1 House each in the same manner.

Riots

Riots represent the turbulent labor conditions during the turn of the century, and the growing dissatisfaction among workers and immigrants regarding their conditions. A riot can significantly alter the landscape at any time, even just before scoring. Distributing your building placement can be a good way to avoid significant losses.

When adding an Ownership cube to the Unrest track, place it on the next free space, starting from the left. Each player can, and likely will, have more than 1 cube on the track at any given time.

Riots are conditional, meaning the current phase halts, and the Riot immediately begins, whenever the Unrest track reaches or exceeds 8 cubes or called for by an event card.

Note: If a card event triggers a Riot, immediately begin the Riot. Once the Riot has been resolved, the player who played that card continues any remaining actions listed on that card.

Resolve riots according to the sequence below. If the Unrest track contains fewer than 8 cubes, then the cubes remain on the track at the end of the riot, unless a card event states otherwise. Some card events may cause the Unrest track to exceed 8 cubes. If this happens, players simply place the extra cubes below the track, and these will be taken into consideration when determining the Riot Target and Riot Instigator.

If the Riot interrupts City Building, resume City Building after the Riot ends with the player who was active at the start of the Riot. A Riot during Immigration, immediately ends Immigration, so players continue to County Assessment after completing the Riot.

Note: There is no limit to the number of Riots which may occur during any given Era.

Example: You have 3 cubes on the Unrest track and the track has a total of 7 cubes on it. During a 4 player game, you play the Socialism card for its event. You will score 3 VP and then all 3 opponents must add a cube to the Unrest track. The order in which these cubes are added to the track is not important. One of the opponents will place a cube on the #8 spot and the remaining opponents will place their cube below the track. A Riot is then triggered and the 10 cubes on and beside the track will be used to determine the Riot Sequence defined below. Once the Riot has been resolved, the player who played the Socialism card may continue to resolve the card event; however, a Riot has occurred and the Unrest track will be reset and will deny the player from gaining the additional 6 MM mentioned in the final portion of the card event.

Unrest Penalty

As soon as the number of cubes on the Unrest track reaches 8 or higher, each player who contributed 1 or more cubes to the Unrest track subtracts VP equal to the number of contributed cubes.

Riot Sequence

Resolve the riot by completing the following steps:

1. The player who contributed the least cubes to the Unrest track is the Riot Instigator, selecting the location where the riot begins. In the event of a tie for Riot Instigator, the player that is lower in influence (closest to the 4th spot) becomes the Riot Instigator. The Riot Target is the player that contributed the most cubes to the Unrest track. In the event of a tie for Riot Target, the player that is higher in influence (closest to the 1st spot) becomes the Riot Target. In the unlikely event that all players are tied, the least influential player becomes the Riot Instigator and the most influential player becomes the Riot Target. Each player loses VP equal to the number of Ownership cubes on the Unrest track as a penalty for their unpopularity.

   Example: Red and green players have only 1 cube on the Unrest track, and blue and purple players both have 3 cubes on the Unrest track. Blue is the first in influence, followed by red, green, and then purple, who is the 4th in influence. Green and red are tied for the fewest cubes, but green has lower influence, so green becomes the Riot Instigator. Purple and blue are tied for the most cubes, but blue has higher influence, so blue becomes the Riot Target. Blue and purple each lose 3 VP, while green and red each lose 1 VP. Had all players contributed 2 cubes to the Unrest track, Purple would have been the Riot Instigator and blue would have been the Riot Target.

2. Next, the Riot Instigator selects a Lot with a structure owned by the Riot Target, i.e., House, Factory, Commercial building, Mansion. The Riot Instigator then rolls a D4, adding +1 to the result in the 1900 Era or +2 in the 1910 Era. This roll establishes the number of Riot points they must use to destroy structures if possible. Any structure (including a Park) can be destroyed; to do so, the Riot Instigator must spend a number of Riot points equal to the number of Lots the structure occupies. For example, it costs 1 point to destroy a House and 2 points to destroy a Mansion. Beginning with the chosen starting structure, the Instigator spends Riot points to destroy structures, giving them back to the owning player or city. If Riot points remain, then the Instigator must use them on a new structure that is in a Lot adjacent to the last structure that was destroyed. This continues in a connected trail, destroying a new structure that is adjacent to the last destroyed one, until all Riot points are used, there are no further adjacent structures, or there are not enough points left to destroy a structure.

   After the Riot is complete, the rioters have gotten it out of their system, and will wait for things to get worse before raising more havoc. If there are 8 or more cubes on the Unrest track, clear the Unrest track.

   IMPORTANT: Riots may not move across vacant Lots! A Riot Instigator may conduct the riot so that it exhausts itself before using all the Riot points by selecting a Lot where there are no more adjacent structures to destroy. It is also possible that a Riot Instigator may be forced to remove 1 or more personally owned structures, depending upon where the Riot starts.

County Assessment ("Scoring Phase")

The County Assessor rewards each player for contributing to the growth brought to Pueblo in each Era. Owning various types of buildings and utilizing the power of their roles, earns players VP throughout the game.

• Mining – Each player counts the number of Mines personally owned, multiplies that number by the value of the Mining Track, and scores that many VP. The Mining Official scores 1 additional VP per mine, but cannot exceed earning more than 4 points per Mine.
• Industrial – Each player counts the number of personally owned Factories, multiplies that number by the value of the Industrial Track, and earns that many VP.
• Commercial – Each player counts the number of personally owned Commercial buildings, multiplies that number by the value marked on the Commercial Track, and earns that many VP.
• Houses – For each Neighborhood, players earn VP equal to the number of Houses they own that are not adjacent to Factories, multiplied by the value on the Neighborhood's Prosperity track. Each House can earn 1 bonus point if it is adjacent to a Special building (Hospital, Civic Building, or Mansion) or Park. Each House can earn only 1 bonus point regardless of the number adjacent Special buildings or Parks. IMPORTANT: Houses adjacent to Factories score only 1 point regardless of other adjacent buildings or the value of the Neighborhood's Prosperity track.
• Mansions – For each Neighborhood, players earn VP equal to the number of Mansions they own multiplied by the value on the Neighborhood's Prosperity track. Each Mansion will score 1 additional VP for each of their Houses that are orthogonally adjacent to the Mansion.
• Headline Cards – Score any special end-of-Era VP on the active Headline cards on the board. After completing scoring in County Assessment, unless otherwise stated, or it is the third Era, also apply any additional end-of-Era effects on the active Headline cards. If there are conflicts, the Headline card furthest to the left always takes precedence.

Scoring Example

This example will score the mining and industrial sectors, followed by the Houses and Commercial buildings in the North Side and the Goat Hill Neighborhoods. First, Mines are scored. The mining track is at 2, so each mine is worth 2 VP. The red player is the Mining Official and will score 3 VP for each Mine.

Next, the industrial prosperity is scored. The industry track is at 3, so each Factory is worth 3 VP. The only player with factories is Red, who has 2, and scores 6 VP. Then Commercial Buildings are scored. The Commercial track is at 4, so each Commercial building earns its owner 4 VP.

Then Houses are scored. The North Side Houses are worth 1 VP each. Red receives 6 VP for 6 Houses, plus 1 House is beside a Park, 1 is beside the Blue player's Mansion, and 1 is beside a Civic building, giving 3 bonus VP. Purple gets 3 VP for 3 Houses, plus 1 House is next to a Civic building, giving 1 bonus VP. Green receives 5 VP for 5 Houses. The Green player receives 1 bonus VP for 2 Houses next to Civic buildings and 2 beside a Park.

Note: The green House beside both the Park and Civic building can score only 1 additional VP.

The green player also has a House next to the Blue player's Mansion for 1 bonus VP, giving Green a total of 5 bonus VP. Blue has 3 Houses for 3 VP. The Blue player has 1 House beside a Civic building; however, it is also beside a Factory.

Note: Houses beside Factories always score exactly 1 VP, regardless of the Special buildings around them or the Neighborhood track being raised.

Blue has 1 House adjacent to Blue's Mansion which scores 1 bonus VP. In Goat Hill, Houses are worth 2 VP because the Neighborhood track has been raised. Red has 1 House beside a Factory worth 1 VP. Purple receives 6 VP for 3 Houses, but no additional bonus points. Blue receives 4 VP for 2 Houses, plus 1 bonus VP for being next to the Blue Mansion (yes, it is adjacent, even though it is in another Neighborhood).

Finally, Mansions are scored. Only the Blue player has a Mansion in this example. The Neighborhood track is 1, so the Mansion will score 1 VP, plus 2 additional VP for the 2 blue Houses beside that Mansion.

Scoring Example Totals:

	Red	Purple	Green	Blue
Mines	6	4	2	6
Industrial	6	0	0	0
Commercial	0	0	0	8
Houses – North Side	9	4	10	4
Mansions – North Side	0	0	0	3
Houses – Goat Hill	1	6	0	5
Total	22	14	12	26

The Elections

Ballots decide the player who receives the available votes for the Mayoral election at the end of the first 2 Eras, i.e., there is no Mayoral election at the end of the 3rd Era.

• Ballots - Each House and Commercial building provide 1 ballot for the player that controls it. Mansions provide 2 ballots. Factories and Mines do not count in The Elections, unless a card event states otherwise.
• Votes – Each Neighborhood casts 1 vote, plus 1 additional vote per Civic building.

Choose a Neighborhood, and then each player counts the number of ballots from their Houses, Commercial buildings, and Mansions. The player with the most ballots wins that Neighborhood's votes for Mayor. If multiple players are tied with the same number of ballots, they each receive all the votes from that Neighborhood. Repeat this until all Neighborhoods have been tallied. Players add up all of their votes, and the person with the most is elected Mayor.

Note: To more easily track votes, players can place their Ownership cubes in a common area, e.g., the blue player receives 2 votes and places 2 blue cubes on the game board above the newspaper image.

IMPORTANT: If 2 or more players are tied for the most overall votes, then the player closest to the 1st position on the Influence Order track wins the election and takes the Mayor role for the next Era.

Influence order

The election results also determine the influence for the next Era. The player who received the most votes places an Ownership cube on the first space of the Influence track; the player with the second most votes will be second; and so on. This means the newly elected Mayor will be highest on the Influence track. A player with the higher influence, closer to the 1st spot, will break any ties.

Selecting Roles

In Influence order, all players select 1 of the Role tokens. This repeats until all Roles have been selected, which may give a player more than 1. For the upcoming Era, players perform the duties of their Roles, including the benefits belonging to that Role.

IMPORTANT: Remember, the player with the highest influence has already taken the Mayor Role, so Role selection starts with the player that is 2nd in influence.

• Mayor – The Mayor Role is automatically assigned to the player that won The Elections. If you are the Mayor, you have the highest influence and, will break all ties when players select cards during City Building. In addition, you are awarded the City VP accumulated during the Era in which you serve, i.e., whenever any player (including yourself) builds or places a structure (including Parks) on a City Ownership cube, you score 1 VP.
• City Planner – If you are the City Planner, then you draw cards during the City Planning phase and have first choice of 1 of these cards regardless of your position on the Influence Order track. This is very powerful as you choose from the greatest number of cards and pass weaker cards to your opponents.
• Mining Official – If you are the Mining Official, then you have several benefits; first, you can add or subtract 1 to the die roll when buying a Mine. This allows you to score more points or control whether or not to receive Unrest. In addition, you score 1 additional VP when scoring Mines during County Assessment, up to a maximum of 4.
• Immigration Official – If you are the Immigration Official, you act first during the Immigration phase and must place 1 additional house. This allows you to choose the best Lots available as well as avoid unrest when there are not enough Lots to house all the incoming immigrants.
• Mob Boss – If you are the Mob Boss, you direct the mafia to destroy player resources. You have a special one-time per Era power. At any time, during City Building but before County Assessment, announce that you want to use this Role. You choose 1 Block and then roll a D4. The value rolled determines how many Houses you may remove from the selected Block. You are never required to remove your own House(s), but may if you so choose.

Clean Up

Add the cards from the discard pile, and the cards from the next Era Deck, to the main deck and shuffle.

Game End

The game ends after County Assessment in the 1910 Era, i.e., the 3rd round. The player with the most VP wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player closest to the 1st position on the Influence Order track wins.

Commonly Overlooked Rules

• You cannot buy or place a Lot, and then build on that Lot, during your same turn.
• Unless stated otherwise, when you place a Park, increase the Neighborhood Track where the Park was added.
• Do not forget to determine The Elections after County Assessment (Scoring) in the 1890 and 1900 Era.
• Mansions provide 2 ballots during The Elections while Commercial Buildings provide 1.
• Mansions can be placed off the City Grid, and the City Grid extends from the Mansion.
• Do not forget to roll a D4 when buying or placing a mine.
• Seizing, except when done with a card event, causes Unrest.
• You never score VP for building on your own Lots.
• Riots occur immediately whenever the Unrest track reaches 8 or higher.

Variant: Industry Leaders

During the Industrial Age, various leaders emerged. Fortunes and fame were won and lost over the course of a few decades. Some of these families from Pueblo County Colorado gained these fortunes from various industries, such as Mining, Industrial, and Business. Some of the most famous families during this time were the Thatchers, Ormans, Adamses, Mihelichs, and Trujillos just to name a few.

This variant allows players to either randomly select an Industry Leader card or choose one. Players gain an ability from these cards, which can be used whenever it is triggered. For example, The Speculator is triggered when a Neighborhood track is raised. When this situation occurs in the game, even if another player has raised that track, then the player that owns this Industry Leader card may place a House in the same Neighborhood where the track was raised.

Additional Information

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks

In no particular order, we wanted to thank a few special people who have helped us along the way. Thanks go out to the Library of Congress for its significant repository of historical photos and illustrations. We would also like to thank Marie Steinbach and Mary Wallace at the Pueblo County Historical Society for helping with photo retrieval. You both helped us secure the final iconic photos that we needed for the game. To all of the staff of the Steelworks Center of the West (http://steelworkscenter.com), especially Tim Hawkins, Executive Director, who was kind enough to give us unfettered access to their digital photo collection. The images from the steel mill and Pueblo are iconic Progressive Era images. These images will let you step back into time while you rewrite history. The people at the Steelworks are doing a lion's share interpreting and preserving the difficult and beautiful life that existed in Pueblo on a tight budget.

There were also many people from BoardGameGeek.com who helped provide feedback at various stages. To Jeff Cramer for many simple but elegant improvements, to Z-Man for trying it out, to Daniel Danzer for years of encouragement, and one special person, Gary Rice, who is a godsend. Gary's irrational love for an unproduced game allowed us to produce the first serious set of cards and to refine the rules and game play. Gary deserves some kind of self-sacrifice board gaming medal; having none I will send him a copy of the game instead. Big thanks also go to my friends, Dan Rivera, Jose Balderrama, and Jason Leveille for creating prototype versions of the rules and game board.

Finally, I give considerable credit to my publisher Don Lloyd and my close friends in Colorado Springs. It was in the last 8-10 months of development that the slow, ceaseless, friction of play testing wore the rough edges down and the polished version emerged. Modifications to the city cubes and riot process took hold and a big change took shape; making turns a type of Simultaneous Action Selection. This change further increased the playability and decreased the playing time, it also introduced my favorite mechanic (to my own game). Another simple modification was changing how the headlines operated to give them more utility and purpose. Of course, serving as the preservation planner for Pueblo for 8 years, it was Eric Johnson who suggested we change the old Tax Official role to the City Planner role, a nice change that worked thematically and honored my profession.

Finally, this is homage to the people of Pueblo County who made steel and forged a community against a backdrop of difficult times. They have always persevered and found a way to enjoy life, merge disparate cultures, and honor hard work. It is a one of a kind place and I was honored to work there and share the unique history, in a game format.

Playtesters

In alphabetical order: Matt Allard, Jose & Jenny Balderrama, Alex Berry, Richard Breese, Bill Broadhead, Tavian Broadhead, Craig Chapman, Jeff Cramer, Chris Krier, Matt Dawkins, Daniel Danzer, Jesse Dean, Paris Elliott, Chris Flood, Tony Fryer, Hannah Haley, Jessie Hartkop, Mike Hartkop, Nate Hayden, Scott Hooper, Eric Johnson, Joe Joiner, Jenny Kedward, Dave Koster, Mike Lantz, Jason Leveille, Shannon Liska, Ceilidh Mar, Jason Matthews, Juan Morales, Melinda & François Neville, Brett Orr, Dave Ray, Randy Reith, Dani Renaud, Gary Rice, Dan Rivera, Leokesh & Tony Santistevan, Doug Saxon, Dan Shaw, George Starkgraf, Kirsten Taylor, and David Thomas. Our sincere apologies if we missed anyone who volunteered their time to help us play test the game!

Designer's Notes

Forged in Steel is a labor of love that started back in 2007, and as such it's the longest pregnancy I've ever witnessed (and I have four kids!). At its heart, Forged is a game about my favorite aspects in the hobby: strategy, tension, fun, and delicious decisions. Like most designers, I set out to make a game that I and my close friends would enjoy. During this long labor, I suspected someone would beat me to it, but to my chagrin, nobody has. I wanted to produce a creative work that played on those things I knew and loved: city planning, American History, and Card Driven Games (CDG). I was obviously incredibly inspired by a long term love affair with Twilight Struggle (a two player CDG that plays through the Cold War) as a way to bring obscure history to a wider audience. Since I had more than one friend, and Twilight Struggle is a two player game, I wanted a similar experience with a game that I could play with up to 3 other friends. Twilight Struggle also showed me a genre of games that were not arbitrarily fair, that good play was essential and that players sometimes had to manage bad hands. Those aspects generated far more tension and pleasure than games where all players are fairly treated each round. Forged, like Twilight, is almost a skill, you might expect to lose your first game, but know that you will get better each play. I was lucky enough to play the early incarnation, "Adobe, Stone, and Steel", with Jason Mathews (creator of Twilight Struggle) in 2010. Despite a lot less polishing, he really enjoyed the game (see comments on BoardGameGeek.com) and he embraced some of the chaotic elements that have been edited out. For example, early riots involved a small Meta game where National Guard could intervene with rioters, and while fun, it added onto the game time and length of the rules.

In Forged, as in life, you play the cards that are dealt to you to the best of your ability and you work against, and sometimes with, your opponents. Card driven strategy games give players the ability to play out history. In Forged, we learn about a wild Western United States beyond gun fights, and cowboys, where tension grew with an industrial revolution. This Progressive Era (1890-1920) fundamentally shaped the world we live in today, but it is often an overlooked Era. Citizens had to do the hard work of fighting bigotry, creating community, as well as figuring out how to build sewer systems! In Pueblo, the city was created from a desert with an average of 8" of rainfall per year: a true accomplishment. Forged is not a simulation, but an evocation, trying to evoke the development of a region and city while balancing that with simplicity and exciting game play. In that process, we weeded out agriculture tracks, rail VP systems, and even an amusing 3 block tall skyscraper idea. There was so much more I wanted in this game, but I also wanted as many people as possible to enjoy the game from novice to experienced gamers. I wanted to show how big American developments (Suffrage) and the seemingly small (kindergartens) influenced city development and our way of life in an organic way. I wanted to show a world in which mayors and mafia shape policy but so do woman and our children. Big City, the brilliant German city planning game, was a huge influence showing me how, with a rather simple rule set, players could craft a narrative arc and a physical city each game, while never getting tired of the game. Forged allows players unique rewards in setting up "juicy ah-ha moves" but still allows players to piggy back off opponents' similar moves, generating fun, and even straining friendships in its wake.

Most CDGs relate to obscure historical military conflicts. I hope Forged expands that audience and allows people who love city building, history, or just delicious decisions to experience the enjoyment a CDG can unleash on a table. I hope Forged is the type of game you talk about afterwards and are craving to play again and again.

Publisher's Notes

To all of the Kickstarter backers, please accept my humble thanks for your support and interest in this game. Back in 2011, I was lucky enough to be an early adopter of Kickstarter with the 43rd successful campaign in the "Tabletop game" category. This in some ways limited my success back then, but in other ways it allowed me to set the tone of how campaigns would be run in that very same category. I look forward to publishing great games in the future.

Finally, I wanted to thank the folks who backed at the $55 Mayor Pledge reward. In no particular order they are: Michael Mehl, Peter Dahlstrom, Matthew Ryan Robinson, Richard Erwin, Neil Christiansen, David Slonosky, Jesse Rebeck, John Ward, John Cannon, Ivano Brindisi, Susan Wolf, Jessica Ward-Denison, Thomas Köhler, Kris Gould, Hiren Thakar, Jereme Greenblott, Glyn Stanley, Jason Guagliardo, Joel Flenniken, Gregory Syrek, Anton Galazyuk, Jonathan Bohlmann, Laima Haley, Jake Waltier, Erin Murphy, David Vandendorpe, Justin Ingram, David Jones, Stephan Szabo, and Kristen Crosson.

Credits

• Game design: Wade Broadhead
• Final game development: Don Lloyd, Eric Johnson, Jason "Smiley" Leveille, and Jose Balderrama
• Graphic design & layout: Don Lloyd and Eric Johnson
• Artwork & illustrations: Jamie Noble Frier
• Photographs: Steelworks Center of the West, Pueblo County Historical Society, and Library of Congress
• Lead copy-editor: Rob Duman
• Copy-editing: Eric Johnson, Eric Alvarado, Jason Leveille, Paul Marjoram, and David Combs

Published by Knight Works, LLC, Colorado Springs, CO, USA — www.KnightWorksGames.com

Frequently Asked Questions

• Card #5 (Bryan vs. McKinley) – If both Gilded Age and Labor is headlined, then you choose which card event to use.
• Card #15 (Fire Brigade) – This cannot be used to save a Park from being destroyed in a Riot. This card does not affect the path of a Riot. For all intents and purposes, the Rioters are burning the building that will be saved and moving on, but the Fire Brigade card is saving it.
• Card #41 (Speculation) – A vacant Block has 4 vacant Lots, i.e., no Ownership cubes, Buildings, or Parks.
• Card #47 (Women's Auxiliary) – The Park you place with this card event would normally increase the Neighborhood track where it was placed; however, this event requires a different Neighborhood track to be increased.
• Card #54 (Bessemer Boom) – Normally, you cannot build on newly acquired Lots/Cubes; however, this card allows it.
• Card #65 (Huddled Masses) – Every card with the Immigrant symbol (suitcase) has two conditions that the player must choose between. This Headline allows all players to use both card event conditions.
• Card #80 (Temperance) – Response cards may be used only once for their Response action.
• Card #85 (Vaudeville) – You can only use this to play either Opera Block or Movies for both the event and MM.
• Card #105 (Suffrage) – You must have the fewest VP without being tied. The card you select from the 3 drawn must be played immediately as part of the same turn in which you played Suffrage.

Kickstarter Mini-Expansion

This expansion was a Stretch Goal offered to Kickstarter backers in February, 2015. The expansion offers 2 game play elements and is available separately from Knight Works.

Mogul Variant – (4 wood tokens & 1 rules token)

In this variant, each player receives a Mogul wood token and players place that token on the game board for some added benefits. The trick being that each player only has access to the additional abilities in the Neighborhood where their Mogul is placed. At the beginning of each Era, players may move their Mogul token to a different Neighborhood. Players can add the Mogul variant to the game by itself or include the Bigwig variant, as well.

Bigwig Variant – (15 Role tokens & 1 rules token)

This variant allows players to take 3 powerful Role tokens that have a limited use. A few of these Roles are; Labor Leader, Capitalist, Developer, Black Hand, Philanthropist, and Architect. Players may use 1 of these tokens per Era, which means they have to decide whether they feel the ability will trigger, or not. The abilities that each of these Roles provide can only be used once and then the token is discarded. These abilities allow you to target your opponents, construct additional buildings, and even gain VP.

Example: The Entrepreneur has the following ability: "If an opponent places a building in the same Neighborhood as your Mogul, you may place the same type of building (including Parks)."

Companion Guide

The designer created a Companion Guide that contains additional information and clarifications on some of the card events and game mechanisms. Please check the F.A.Q. located in this book, as well as the Companion Guide for questions about a specific card. It also contains rule variants that players may opt to use instead of, or in addition to, the standard rules. A full-color deluxe book with artwork can be obtained from Knight Works or you may download a free black and white text only version of the PDF from https://www.BoardGameGeek.com/boardgame/32002/.

Glossary

• Ballot: Each House and Commercial building receives 1 ballot. Mansions receive 2 ballots. All other buildings do not cast ballots or affect the Neighborhood vote, unless stated by a card event.
• Block: A group of Lots surrounded by roads within a Neighborhood.
• Bridge: A linear feature that connects 2 Neighborhoods over water. Each lot adjacent to one end of a bridge is adjacent to the Lot on the other side of the bridge.
• Buildings: Consist of any normal building constructed on the board, i.e., House, Factory, Commercial. Note: Ownership cubes are not buildings.
• City cube: These white Ownership cubes represent Lots that are owned by the city. When any player constructs buildings on Lots with these cubes, then the Mayor scores 1 VP per City cube.
• El Pueblo: The site of the first settlement in 1842 in Pueblo, Colorado. El Pueblo has no other game function besides being the starting Lot for the first House placed on the game board.
• The Elections: This happens at the end of Era 1 and 2. The person with the most overall votes across 5 Neighborhoods wins the Mayor Role and is highest in Influence order.
• Era: There are 3 rounds in the game defined as Eras: 1890, 1900, and 1910.
• Headlines: Headline Cards are always played on the "Headline #1" area. If there are other Headline cards on the board, then move each Headline to the right. A Headline on the "Headline #3" area is discarded to the game box.
• Headline Cards: Cards marked with a Headline that, when played for the event, must be placed as a Headline.
• Lot: A single square space on the map within a Neighborhood. Owned Lots have an Ownership cube on the space whereas vacant Lots do not.
• Mines: Have a unique area on the left side of the game board. There are a total of 12 Mines, and they have a specific Mining Prosperity track. Mines are immune to many card events or issues such as riots. When a player buys a mine, he/she receives a one-time D4 roll for VP. However, if the modified die roll is 3 or higher, a player must place an Ownership cube on the Unrest track for working the crews so hard.
• Municipal Muscle (MM): Used in the game to conduct actions. MM is used to build, buy, and seize buildings and Mines. The MM value for each card is represented by a large number in the upper left corner, and ranges from 3 to 5.
• Neighborhood: There are 5 Neighborhoods on the game board. Each Neighborhood is made up of Lots and blocks. The Neighborhoods are: North Side, Goat Hill, East Pueblo, Mesa Junction and Bessemer.