Helvetia
Helvetia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Before the Game
- Distributing the Starting Buildings
- Setting Up Your Own Village
- The Game — Overview
- Object of the Game
- Course of Play
- The Personalities (Overview)
- Production and Production Chains
- Personalities and Actions in Detail
- End of Round
- End of the Game
- Appendix: The Buildings
- Appendix: The Villagers
- The Two-Player Game
- Credits
Components
- 1 game board
- 54 square building tiles
- 1 sticker sheet with 72 "child" stickers (8 of which are spares) and 64 "hat" stickers
- 64 villager figures (Dorfbewohner) — 16 each in 4 colours
- 68 delivery cubes (Liefersteine) — 17 each in 4 colours
- 24 coins (Münzen) — 6 each in 4 colours
- 10 square goods tiles (Güterplättchen)
- 6 square special tiles (Sonderplättchen)
- 5 square personality tiles (Personenplättchen)
- 5 rectangular "village centre" tiles (Dorfmitte)
- 1 start player tile (Startspielerplättchen)
Villagers
There are male and female villagers.
Villagers are either awake (the figure stands upright) or asleep (the figure lies down).
New figures come into the game as children and are then placed leaning against their parents.
Before the Game
Before the first game, carefully punch all the die-cut pieces out of the cardboard sheets. Put a "child" sticker on the underside of the base of every villager figure, and put a "hat" sticker on both sides of every male villager.
- Place the game board in the middle of the table.
- Sort the building tiles into 3 stacks according to the numbers on their backs. Lay the building tiles marked 1 face up next to the board, sorted by building type. The tiles marked 2 and 3 are each shuffled separately, face down, and set aside for now as 2 stacks.
- The tiles with letters on the back are sorted by building type, laid out face up and then distributed among the players (see Distributing the Starting Buildings).
- The 5 personality tiles and the 10 goods tiles are placed on their corresponding spaces on the game board. The 6 special tiles are laid out ready beside the board.
- Each player receives the components of one colour: 16 villagers, 6 round coins, 17 delivery cubes.
- Each player places one of their delivery cubes on space 0 of the victory point track.
- In addition, each player receives one of the 5 "village centre" tiles. The letters on the back are only needed for the beginner's game (see the box Simplified Version). The remaining village centre tile(s) are returned to the box.
Distributing the Starting Buildings
With 4 players, all 15 buildings with letters on the back are available. With 3 players, one of each of the 5 building types is removed, so that each building is present twice. Unused buildings go back into the box.
Two-player game: there are special rules for the two-player game. You will find them at the end of these rules.
A start player is determined. That player chooses 1 building, then the remaining players choose in clockwise order. Once every player has chosen 1 building, the player to the right of the start player now chooses 1 building, and the remaining players follow anticlockwise. The third round begins with the start player again, and choice again proceeds clockwise. Each player may choose each building type only once. Once all players have received 3 buildings, the buildings that were not chosen are put back into the box. Each player now places their 3 buildings in their village (see Setting Up Your Own Village).
If, contrary to Swiss tradition, you prefer to play clockwise, you should carry out the distribution of the starting buildings exactly the other way round — so the first round anticlockwise, and so on.
Special case: in an extreme case it can happen during the selection that the player who has to choose last could only take a building that they have already chosen. In this case that player may take one of the 3 chosen buildings from any player, so that they have 3 different buildings. The player from whom the building was taken now chooses from the buildings that remain.
The player who chose a building last receives the start player tile and is the start player from now on.
Simplified Version
For your first game we recommend using a simplified distribution of the starting buildings:
Letters are printed on the backs of the "village centre" tiles. Each player is randomly assigned a village centre and receives, from among the building tiles, the three buildings that carry the corresponding letter. The remaining lettered tiles are put back into the box.
In the simplified version you determine a start player at random.
A further rule simplification: the personality tiles are left out. Put them back into the box and ignore all rules elements that refer to the personality tiles. Otherwise there is only one rule change: because there are fewer victory points in the game, the game already ends when, after the adjustment of victory points, a player has 18 or more victory points. The winner is determined according to the usual rules (see End of the Game).
If later on you want to distribute the starting buildings via the village centres for a faster start, we recommend adding the personality tiles back in and playing to 20 victory points.
Setting Up Your Own Village
Each player begins with a village centre and 3 buildings. A building is always placed against the village centre tile in such a way that the building lies in exactly 1 quarter (top, bottom and in the corners) or in 2 quarters (left and right). (The manual illustrates correct and incorrect placements.)
The 3 buildings each player receives at the start may be placed freely in accordance with these rules. (It is advisable, however, to place them around a corner, as shown in the top-left illustration.)
Each player takes 3 pairs from their villagers — 3 times 1 woman and 1 man each. The pairs are distributed as follows:
- Pair 1: 1 villager each on 2 of your own buildings of your choice.
- Pair 2: 1 villager on your remaining own building, and 1 villager on the "School" space on the game board.
- Pair 3: 1 villager is "married" into the village of your left-hand neighbour by placing it there on a building that contains a villager of the opposite sex. The remaining villager is placed in your own village centre.
First all players place their first pair, then all players their second pair, and after that all players their third pair. Since it can matter which building a woman or a man is placed on, the 3 placement rounds are played in turn order.
All villagers are awake at the start of the game, so the figures stand upright. The remaining villagers stay in front of the player as their supply.
Each player takes 2 of their 6 coins and gives 1 each to the two players to their right. Those players place the coins they receive in the centre of their village centre as a "dowry" (Mitgift). Afterwards each player should own 4 of their own coins, and have in their village centre 1 coin each from the two players to their left.
The Game — Overview
Each player expands their village with further buildings. For this they need various goods. Every villager can produce 1 good with their building, whether in their own or in another player's village — but only as long as they are awake (standing upright). After producing the good, the villager goes to sleep (is laid down) and cannot produce anything more for the time being. The villager can be woken with the "Night Watchman" action. There are no goods cards or goods tiles in Helvetia: goods are produced exactly when they are needed. You then own the good in question and use it immediately, for example to construct a building.
When other players marry into your own village, the pairs can have children. That is how you obtain new villagers who can occupy new buildings. You want to marry into other villages in order to be able to use their buildings too — and because that is the only way to get additional coins.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to have 20 or more victory points at the end of a round, after the adjustment of victory points. Victory points are gained by "delivering" goods to the market, by fulfilling special goals, through victory point buildings, and — temporarily — through possession of personality tiles and of the start player tile.
Victory points in Helvetia are not added up. The victory point track is only an indicator of your current victory point total. Because victory points gained through the personality tiles and the start player tile are only temporary (for as long as you hold the tile), your victory point total can also go down again.
Course of Play
Helvetia is played in rounds. In each round the players take turns anticlockwise, and on their turn place one or more coins. This continues until only ONE (1) player has coins left. That player does not take another turn, but becomes the start player of the next round.
At the end of the round there is an interim phase in which, among other things, victory points are adjusted and it is checked whether the game has ended. If the game has not ended, another round follows.
The Personalities (Overview)
The engine of the game is the 5 personalities: Master Builder (Baumeister), Carter (Fuhrmann), Night Watchman (Nachtwächter), Priest (Pfarrer) and Midwife (Hebamme).
Basically, a player's turn consists of choosing one of the 5 personalities and carrying out one or more actions with that personality. For each action a player wishes to carry out with the chosen personality, they place 1 of their coins on that personality's space. If a player wishes to place several coins on a personality's space, they must first decide how many coins they want to spend; only then are the actions carried out.
Important: on their turn a player chooses ONLY ONE (1) personality, and may carry out as many actions with that personality as they have "paid" coins for.
If they come round to their turn again during the current round, they may choose the same personality OR a different personality for their action(s).
If a player's turn comes and they have no coins left, they must pass and drop out of play for the rest of the current round. A player may not pass voluntarily as long as they still have coins.
A player may only place coins on a personality if they use its function. It is not permitted to place more coins on a personality than the number of actions you can carry out.
Production and Production Chains
Goods can be used to construct new buildings (Master Builder action, see below) or to gain victory points by delivering them to the market (Carter action).
There are two different kinds of goods in Helvetia:
1. Simple goods, which are produced directly. You recognise them by the fact that only 1 good is depicted at the top right of the building.
Example: at the Grain Farm (Getreidehof) you can produce the good "grain" directly.
2. Complex goods, which come about through production chains. Several steps are needed to create these goods. On the corresponding building, a good is depicted small which you must produce as a precondition in order to produce the actual good.
Example: in the Cow Shed (Kuhstall) you can process the grain produced at the Grain Farm into the good "cow". You then have a cow; of course you no longer have the grain, because the cow ate it.
A production chain can consist of up to 3 goods.
In general, you can only produce goods if you have your own awake villager in the corresponding building in one of the villages — and, in the case of complex goods, additionally in the building for the precondition good. After all this effort, all the villagers involved are tired and go to sleep.
Personalities and Actions in Detail
Master Builder (Baumeister)
The Master Builder makes it possible to construct new buildings.
If a player wants to construct a building, they choose the Master Builder and place 1 of their coins on the Master Builder's space. They then take the desired building from the buildings laid out face up and pay its cost by producing the required goods (see Production and Production Chains above). A building's cost is shown at the top left of the respective building tile.
An overview and explanation of the individual building types and kinds can be found in the appendix The Buildings.
If the player wants to construct more than 1 building, they place correspondingly more coins on the Master Builder's space. A player may construct as many buildings as their coins and goods allow.
But: each player may construct each building type only once!
If a player wants to construct a building and cannot (or does not want to) produce all the goods required for the construction, they may acquire the goods depicted on the Master Builder space (wood, brick, stone) from the Master Builder by paying 1 additional coin per required good. Coins spent as payment are likewise placed on the Master Builder's space.
It is permitted to construct a building entirely with coins, and you may also acquire a single good several times if that is necessary.
Attention: you can only acquire the 3 depicted goods, and this is possible exclusively with the Master Builder action. Goods acquired from the Master Builder cannot be exchanged for other goods at the Marketplace (see Exchange Buildings).
Example: Yellow wants to build the Butcher (Metzgerei). For that they need 2 bricks and 1 stone. They have 1 awake villager each on a Stonemason and a Brickworks. So they are missing a second brick. Since they also have no villager in a Brickworks in any other village, they must buy the missing brick from the Master Builder. They therefore place 1 coin on the Master Builder to activate the "Master Builder" action, and 1 further coin to buy the missing brick.
New buildings are placed on any free building spaces around the village centre.
As soon as a player places a new building, they immediately check whether there are villagers in their own village centre. If there is a villager there, it moves into the new building at once. After that the player may construct further buildings, provided they have placed further coins on the Master Builder. They may already use a building that has just been constructed, if applicable. (See also The Villagers and The Buildings in the appendix.)
If, later in the game, the village centre is completely built around, a second "ring" may then be started around the village centre.
The player who is the first or the second to have completely built around their village centre receives 4 or 2 victory points respectively and takes the corresponding special tile.
To receive these victory points, all buildings (except the victory point buildings) must be occupied by villagers.
Carter (Fuhrmann)
The Carter delivers goods to the market in the nearest large town. Each player may deliver each good exactly once per game.
In order to be able to deliver goods, they must first be produced by the villagers. When a player delivers a good, they place one of their delivery cubes on the corresponding space on the market. Every delivery cube standing on the market is worth 1 victory point.
If a player is the first to deliver a complex good to the market, they additionally receive the corresponding goods tile, worth 1 or 2 victory points.
Example: Red places 2 coins on the Carter and thus delivers 2 goods to the market. They first produce 1 x wood and 1 x water. They process the water into 1 x beer. Then they deliver 1 x wood and 1 x beer and mark the corresponding spaces on the market. As they are the first to deliver the complex good "beer", they also receive the corresponding goods tile.
Important: in order to be able to deliver complex goods it is NOT necessary to have delivered the corresponding precondition goods. The arrangement and order on the market only serves to show the production chains, but has nothing directly to do with delivery. (See the example above: Red was allowed to deliver the beer without having had to deliver water first.)
Reminder: with the Carter action you cannot buy goods in order to be able to deliver them.
Special Victory Points through Delivery
Besides the victory points already mentioned, there are also victory points to be gained via the market for 4 special goals. The first player to have delivered goods for a complete production branch of the market receives the corresponding special victory point tile.
Example: Blue is the first to have completely delivered the middle production branch (ore – iron – cowbell). As a reward they receive the corresponding special victory point tile.
Night Watchman (Nachtwächter)
The Night Watchman is the only way to wake sleeping villagers. For each coin a player places on the Night Watchman's space, they wake 1 complete quarter in ANY village. There, ALL villagers (their own and other players') are woken and stood upright again.
Attention: the buildings on the left and right side of the village centre belong to two quarters, and are woken when the Night Watchman is used in either of the two quarters.
Example: Red places 1 coin on the Night Watchman in order to wake 1 quarter in their own village. They decide on the top-left quarter. They thus wake their sleeping brickmaker and also their sleeping woodcutter, because the woodcutter's hut partly belongs to the top-left quarter. The yellow sleeping brickmaker is also woken. The red-blue stonemason pair is already awake and is therefore not affected by the Night Watchman action. The red-white pair in the Goat Shed is asleep, but the Goat Shed is not in the quarter in which the Night Watchman was used, so this pair sleeps on.
Priest (Pfarrer)
The Priest action is used to marry your own unattached villagers into other players' villages.
A villager is unattached if it does NOT already occupy a building. So only villagers who are either in the village centre or in the school can be married.
If a player wants to marry an unattached villager, they take the villager from the village centre or from the school and place it
- in ANOTHER PLAYER'S village, and
- in a building in which there is only 1 villager of the OPPOSITE sex.
Example: White has an unattached young man in the school and an unattached, unemployed woman in the village centre. They place 2 coins on the Priest in order to marry both.
In Red's village there is one unmarried woodcutter. In Blue's village there are as many as 3 unmarried villagers: a market woman, a well keeper and a grain farmer.
White can only marry their man in the school to the blue market woman. The white woman, on the other hand, has a free choice among the three men. White decides on the blue grain farmer. Whether the villagers being married are currently awake or asleep has no influence on the marriage possibilities.
If there is still at least 1 coin in the village centre of the player into whose village the marriage took place, the player who married in takes that coin. They may use one of their own coins immediately, even in the same round — but no longer in this turn. A coin belonging to another player they place in their own village centre as a dowry. If several coins are available as a dowry at a wedding, the active player chooses 1 of these coins.
Example: White has placed both of their villagers with their new life partners. They also receive the white and the red coin that were still lying in Blue's village centre. They can use the white coin on their next turn; the red coin they place in their own village centre.
Midwife (Hebamme)
With the Midwife action you bring new villagers into the game. For each coin a player places on the Midwife space, 1 pair in their OWN village can have 1 child (= a new villager figure). The player chooses one of their villager figures (yes, full control over the sex) and places it, tilted, next to one of their pairs in the building.
Important: each pair can have only 1 child per turn. It is possible, however, to choose the Midwife several times per round, so that a pair can also have several children in one round.
End of Round
The round ends when only 1 player has coins left. (In an extreme case this player may not even have had a turn during this round.) That player receives the start player tile and is the start player from now on — until the tile is reassigned at the end of the next round. In addition, possession of the start player tile is worth 1 victory point.
The following steps are now carried out in order:
1. Awarding the Personality Tiles
There is 1 tile for each of the 5 personalities Master Builder, Carter, Night Watchman, Priest and Midwife. At the start of the game this tile lies on the corresponding space.
For each of the 5 action spaces it is now checked whether one player has placed more coins there than each individual other player. If there is such a player, they receive the tile. If there is no such player (because nobody carried out an action there, or because there is a tie between 2 or more players), the tile stays where it currently is — that is, either on the action space or in the possession of the player who won it in the previous round.
Example: The Master Builder tile goes to Yellow, because Yellow spent more coins than any other player. The Carter tile goes to Red for the same reason. The Night Watchman tile is not awarded, i.e. it stays with the player who currently holds it, because no player spent coins there this round. The Priest tile goes to White, because they were the only player to spend coins there. The Midwife tile is not awarded, i.e. it stays with the player who currently holds it, because Blue and Red spent the same number of coins.
Possession of a personality tile brings 2 advantages:
- Possession is worth 1 victory point.
- Whoever possesses a personality tile can use it to carry out 1 additional action with the corresponding personality on their turn. So you spend coins on any personality with your regular action, and with the personality tile you can carry out 1 further action with the personality belonging to that tile. This may also be an additional action with the regularly chosen action.
Each personality tile can be used once per round. After that the tile is turned over!
Example: the player chooses the Carter and spends 2 coins to deliver 2 goods to the market. Then they use the Priest personality tile they received in the previous round, and marry 1 of their villagers into another village.
Note the following:
- a) A player can use only 1 personality tile per own turn.
- b) If a player has no action left because they have no coins left, they can no longer use a personality tile they still hold either.
Further rules for using the personality tiles:
- a) The additional action may be carried out before or after the regular action. An action cannot be interrupted, so it must be completed before you begin the next action. But:
- b) If you use a personality tile and choose the same action with your regular action, both actions are carried out together.
- c) Special case: normally no coins are spent when using a personality tile. If, however, you use the Master Builder personality tile for 1 building action, you may also spend coins on buying goods (wood, brick, stone) with the additional action. (It is possible here for a player to spend all their coins on buying goods and then be unable to carry out a regular action.)
2. Take Coins Back from the Action Spaces
All players now take their coins back from the personalities into their supply.
3. Villagers Return from the School into the Village
At the latest now, the children have grown up (some will already have been married off) and are now full members of the village community. If there are free buildings in your own village, the new villagers move in there. If there are more free buildings than new villagers, the player decides which building someone moves into and which stay free. If there are more new villagers than free buildings, the player decides which villagers move into the available buildings. Villagers for whom there is no free building are placed in the village centre for now. From there they can, in the next round, either be married off or move into newly constructed buildings.
In this phase the placement order can matter (for example, if several players have a completely built-around village but not all buildings are yet occupied by villagers). If necessary, this phase is therefore carried out in turn order, beginning with the new start player.
4. Children Go to the School
All children brought newly into the game by the Midwife this round are now placed in the school. From there they can be married off in the next round, or they become part of their own village community at the end of the next round.
5. Adjustment of the Victory Points
Each player counts their current victory points and adjusts the position of their cube on the victory point track. (Reminder: victory points are not cumulative!)
Overview of the possible victory points:
- 1 victory point for possession of the start player tile
- 1 victory point per delivery cube on the market
- 1 or 2 victory points per goods tile
- 1 victory point per personality tile
- 3 victory points per victory point building
- 4, 2 or 1 victory point(s) for being the first to deliver a complete production branch
- 4 or 2 victory points for a completely built-around village (production and exchange buildings must be occupied)
If a player now has 20 or more victory points, the next step no longer takes place and the game is over (see End of the Game).
6. New Buildings
5 new buildings are drawn from the "2" stack and added to the buildings not yet built. Once the "2" stack is used up, drawing continues from the "3" stack. If not enough buildings are available any more, all remaining buildings are laid out; after that there are no more new buildings.
A new round then begins.
End of the Game
The game ends when, after the adjustment of victory points, a player has 20 or more victory points. That player wins.
If several players have 20 or more victory points, the player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the number of awake villagers of the players concerned (in all villages) is counted. Whoever has more awake villagers wins. If there is still a tie, the players concerned share the victory or the place.
Appendix: The Buildings
There are 3 different kinds of buildings: production buildings, exchange buildings and victory point buildings.
For the special victory points "complete village build-around", production and exchange buildings must be occupied by a villager. As long as a production or exchange building stands empty, the village does not count as completely built around. Victory point buildings always count towards the special victory points, even though they are never occupied by villagers.
1. Production Buildings
Production buildings must generally be occupied by an awake villager in order to be able to produce.
Starting buildings — 15 buildings, 3 each of: Brickworks (Ziegelei), Woodcutter (Holzfäller), Stonemason (Steinmetz), Grain Farm (Getreidehof), Well Master (Brunnenmeister).
Stack 1 — 9 buildings, 3 each of: Mine (Bergwerk), Cow Shed (Kuhstall), Goat Shed (Ziegenstall).
Stack 2 — 11 buildings:
- 2 each of: Bakehouse (Backhaus), Brewhouse (Brauhaus), Ironworks (Eisenhütte)
- 1 each of: Dairy (Molkerei), Butcher (Metzgerei), Cheese Dairy (Käserei), Tannery (Gerberei), Bell Foundry (Glockengießer)
Stack 3 — 5 buildings, 1 each of: Dairy (Molkerei), Butcher (Metzgerei), Cheese Dairy (Käserei), Tannery (Gerberei), Bell Foundry (Glockengießer).
2. Exchange Buildings
Exchange buildings work basically the same way as production buildings: you need an awake villager of your own on the exchange building, as well as a produced good that is to be exchanged. Each exchange building exchanges 1 depicted good for 1 other, likewise depicted good.
Example: White has a Bakehouse and would like to deliver a bread to the market. They have no Grain Farm and cannot produce grain, which they need for the production of bread. However, White has a Marketplace, at which they can exchange the goods wood, brick, stone, ore, grain and water for one another. They use their Stonemason and produce 1 stone. They exchange the stone at the Marketplace for 1 grain (a villager is needed for this too, who goes to sleep after the exchange action) and can now produce the bread in the Bakehouse and deliver it to the market.
There are the following exchange buildings:
- Stack 1 — 2 x Marketplace (Marktplatz): with the Marketplace the simple goods (wood, brick, stone, ore, grain, water) can be exchanged for one another.
- Stack 2 — 1 each of Cattle Market (Rindermarkt) and Goat Market (Ziegenmarkt): with the Cattle Market, cow, bread and iron can be exchanged for one another. With the Goat Market, goat, beer and iron can be exchanged for one another.
- Stack 3 — 2 x Grocery (Spezerei): with the Grocery the complex goods milk, cheese, meat, cloth and cowbell can be exchanged for one another.
3. Victory Point Buildings
Victory point buildings only have to be constructed and are then worth 3 victory points each. They produce nothing and are not occupied by villagers. Victory point buildings count towards the special victory points "complete village build-around" even though they are not occupied by villagers.
Stacks 2 + 3 — 4 buildings each, 1 each of: Mill (Mühle), Inn (Wirtshaus), Community Hall (Gemeindehaus), Church (Kirche).
Appendix: The Villagers
Villagers are either in the supply, on a production or exchange building in their own or another player's village, in their own village centre, in the school, or as a "newborn" next to a pair on one of their own production or exchange buildings.
In general: there is no way to refuse or prevent a wedding. There is also no divorce, no same-sex marriage and no marriage between villagers of the same player. Once a villager has settled down (it has moved into a building), it stays there until the end of the game.
Villagers in the supply
- wait to be brought into the game by using the personality "Midwife" and a pair in their own village.
Villagers on a production/exchange building in their own village
- can use the building's function (produce or exchange a good) if they are awake. Afterwards they go to sleep.
- can be married by a villager of the opposite sex belonging to another player if they are unmarried, whether they are awake or asleep. (Status remains unchanged.)
- can, if they are married, have 1 child per turn, whether they are awake or asleep. (Status remains unchanged.)
- can be woken by the Night Watchman if they are asleep.
- stay there until the end of the game. (They may NOT leave their building in order to marry in another village or to move into another building in their own village.)
Villagers on a production/exchange building in another player's village
- can use the building's function (produce or exchange a good) if they are awake. Afterwards they go to sleep.
- can be woken by the Night Watchman if they are asleep.
- stay there until the end of the game.
Villagers in their own village centre
- automatically settle down when new production/exchange buildings are constructed in the village. (Status awake.)
- can be married into another player's village. (Status awake.)
Villagers in the school
- come out of the school at the end of the round either onto one of their own unoccupied production/exchange buildings (if available), or otherwise into the village centre. (Status awake.)
- can be married into another player's village. (Status awake.)
Villagers as newborns next to a pair on a production/exchange building
- go to the school at the end of the round. (Until then they can do NOTHING!)
The Two-Player Game
In the two-player game all the rules of the three- and four-player game remain valid, with the exception of the following changes:
Preparation
- First the start player is determined at random. The starting building tiles are prepared as in the three-player game (that is, 2 of each type), then the starting buildings are distributed according to the normal rules. (Alternatively, each player randomly receives a village centre with the 3 building tiles belonging to it.)
- Each player receives the components of one colour.
- A third village centre is laid out as the neutral village, and the villagers of a third (neutral) colour are laid out ready. The neutral village receives the remaining 4 building tiles, so that there are exactly 2 of each building type in the game. Example: if the players begin with "Woodcutter", "Brickworks" and "Grain Farm", and "Woodcutter", "Quarry" and "Grain Farm" respectively, then the neutral village receives "Quarry", "Brickworks" and 2 x "Well Master". (The German rulebook writes "Steinbruch" — quarry — here, where the component list calls the same starting building "Steinmetz" — stonemason.)
- The neutral buildings are placed alternately by the two players and occupied with a neutral villager. A total of 2 neutral pairs is available to the players for this. The player who is not the start player begins. The remaining neutral villagers are placed in the neutral village centre. Once the neutral village is completely set up, the players set up their villages according to the usual rules. With the third pair, each player marries into the other player's village; the neutral village is not taken into account.
- Each player places 1 coin each in the neutral village centre and in their fellow player's village centre. 1 coin of the neutral colour is laid out ready beside the neutral village.
Course of Play
The basic course of the game remains unchanged.
- You can interact both with your fellow player's village and with the neutral village, that is, marry into both and use your own villagers there.
- The neutral village does not act itself and does not receive an action phase of its own. Nevertheless the neutral village can carry out certain actions:
- Instead of carrying out an action of their own, the active player may also take the neutral coin and carry out an action for the neutral village — provided the coin is still lying beside the neutral village. Only the actions "Priest" and "Master Builder" can be chosen for the neutral village.
- Priest: the active player may take a villager from the neutral village centre and marry it into their own village.
- Master Builder: the active player builds one of the buildings laid out face up for construction into the neutral village and places a neutral villager there. No goods have to be paid for the construction of the building.
- So per round exactly 1 action with the neutral village is possible, for only one of the two players.
- The neutral villagers cannot otherwise be used. They do not produce, never become tired, do not have children in the neutral village, and so on.
- End of round: the round ends as soon as only coins of one colour are left in the game. If that is the colour of the neutral village, the start player changes.
- When awarding the personality tiles, the coin of the neutral village is not taken into account. The neutral village can neither receive a personality tile nor bring about a tie with a player.
- The neutral village also cannot receive special victory points for the village build-around.
Credits
The designer: Matthias Cramer was born in 1969, shortly before the lunch break, and has been an enthusiastic gamer ever since. He has a weakness for diving holidays with guaranteed good weather, everything to do with history, laying cardboard rails, beers of the world, cheese fondue, un-American television series from the USA, and driving too fast. Ten years ago he gave a Swabian registrar a coin and has since had not only an insight into village life but also a reliable source of genuine Maultaschen. That is how Helvetia, his second game with Kosmos, came about.
The author and the publisher thank all the playtesters, and especially Xavi Bühlmann for his help in doing justice to the Swiss atmosphere.
© 2011 Kosmos Verlag. Author: Matthias Cramer. Graphics: Imelda Vohwinkel. Illustration & figure design: Franz Vohwinkel. Editing: Eva Kuon, Sebastian Rapp.