Im Reich der Wüstensöhne Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Setup
• Sequence of Play
  • 1. Move the Caravan
  • 2. Discover
  • 3. Oasis Scoring
  • 4. Using the Caravan Leader – Bonus Turn
• Sequence of Play in Detail
  • 1. Move the Caravan
  • 2. Discover
  • 3. Oasis Scoring
• Game End
• The Two-Player Game

Game Components

• 85 discovery tiles
• 1 start cross, made up of a center piece and 4 strips
• 4 sets of figures in 4 colors, each consisting of 1 caravan (camel) and 4 explorer figures
• 1 turban
• 1 rumor board
• 20 water stones (glass stones)
• 4 caravan cards
• 10 camel tiles
• 40 goods tokens
• 6 rumor tokens

Setup

The start cross is assembled from the center piece and the 4 strips. The start cross establishes the edge of the play area and the play area itself. The start cross shows round central spaces, connected to one another by lines. The central spaces are surrounded by desert or border on part of an oasis. The play area outside the cross is undiscovered territory. Open connecting lines lead to it.

Each discovery tile has a central space, and some also have an action space. The discovery tiles are sorted by the numbers on their reverse side. Tiles with the same number are gathered into a pile. The 5 resulting piles are placed face down next to the start cross. During the game, tiles are drawn first from pile "1"; once that pile is used up, from pile "2", then from pile "3", and so on.

Each player draws one tile from pile 1 and places it face up in front of them as the first tile of their display.

Each player chooses a color and receives a set of figures in that color. Each player places their camel (the symbol for their caravan) on one of the end spaces of the start cross.

Note: The explorer figures are all different heights. If each player stacks their explorer figures into a tower, all the towers will nonetheless be the same height.

Each player receives a caravan card and places it face up in front of them. The caravan consists of 2 camels, each with two spaces for goods, and one caravan leader, one scout, and one camel driver. Further camels can be acquired during the course of the game.

The rumor board is likewise placed in a free spot next to the start cross. The rumor board is used to determine the value of the goods. Each good has a base value of 4, which can change over the course of the game.

The rumor tokens are turned face down, shuffled, and placed face down next to the rumor board. The value of each good can change during the game through the assignment of rumor tokens.

The water stones, as well as the 10 camel tiles and the 40 goods tokens (best sorted by good), are placed next to the start cross.

Each player receives 2 water stones.

The youngest player receives the turban and places it on their tallest explorer figure. This player also begins the game.

Sequence of Play

1. Move the Caravan

Whoever is on turn may move their caravan, or leave it where it stands.

2. Discover

If a player's caravan is standing on a central space that has at least one open connecting line, they attempt to attach a discovery tile that fits (to discover).

• If no tile fits, the player places it in their display. Their regular turn then ends.
• If a tile fits, the player must attach it and move their caravan onto the central space of this tile. If it shows part of an oasis, the player may place one of their explorer figures on it (see "Oasis Scoring"). Their regular turn then ends.

3. Oasis Scoring

If, with a tile, a player has completed an oasis that is entirely enclosed by desert or the edge of the play area, an oasis scoring takes place after their turn (see "Oasis Scoring").

4. Using the Caravan Leader – Bonus Turn

After each of their regular turns, a player may use the leader of their caravan once (see the caravan card) and, by giving up a water stone, buy a bonus turn (a second turn, immediately following). Whoever decides to take a bonus turn again has all the options they had on their first turn (move the caravan, discover).

Sequence of Play in Detail

1. Move the Caravan

If a player is on turn, they may either leave their caravan on its space and discover from there, or move it to another free space and discover from there.

The central spaces are connected to one another by white or brown connecting lines. A caravan is moved along these connecting lines. A caravan may be moved any distance, as long as it only moves along brown lines. However, as soon as a player moves their caravan across a white connecting line, the caravan's move ends on the central space beyond it (exception: camel driver, see below).

The space on which a player ends their caravan's move may not be occupied by another caravan. However, a caravan may be moved past a fellow player's caravan.

Example: The player moves their caravan, starting from tile "A", first along the brown line and then along the white line. They must stop on tile "B", because they moved across a white line. Since there is a free, undiscovered side to the left of tile B, they may still discover now.

Using the camel driver: Whoever uses their camel driver (see the caravan card) on their turn pays a water stone and may move across any number of white connecting lines.

2. Discover

If a player's caravan is standing on a central space, or the player moves it onto a central space with one or more open connecting lines, the player has several options for attaching a fitting tile:

• They draw the top discovery tile from the current pile and try to attach it, fitting, to an open connecting line of the tile on which their caravan stands. Important: Tiles may only be drawn from pile "1" at first. Once it is used up, tiles may only be drawn from pile "2", and so on.
• Or they draw no tile, and instead attach a tile from their own display that fits.
• Or they use the scout of their caravan, pay a water stone, and attach a fitting tile from the display of any fellow player. As compensation for the stolen discovery tile, the affected fellow player may draw a tile from the current pile (if any remain) and place it in their display.

Attaching a tile, fitting, means: a tile must be attached so that each of its sides matches the sides of the tiles already laid out, or the start cross: brown lines must border brown lines, and white lines must border white lines. Usually, a player must turn a tile to find a position that fits.

If there is one fitting position, the player must attach it there and move their caravan onto the central space of the tile. If there are multiple fitting positions, the player may choose how to attach the tile. If there is no fitting position, the player places the tile face up in their display.

Example: The tile does fit on the right (green arrow), but not on the bottom — no matter how the tile is turned. The player places the tile in their display.

Example: This tile fits. The player attaches it and moves their caravan onto it. They may then also place an explorer figure on the oasis part of the tile.

Desert: If a player has attached a tile that shows only desert, they move their caravan onto the central space of the tile. They may immediately move their caravan again, and discover again if applicable.

Limiting the display to three discovery tiles: If a player's display consists of 3 tiles, they may not draw a tile from the pile. They may then either use their scout to steal a fitting tile from a fellow player's display and attach it, or try to reduce their display by at least 1 tile. To do this, they must move their caravan, if possible, onto a central space that has at least one open connecting line to which they can attach a fitting tile from their display.

If they cannot reach such a space on their turn, they can only try to bring their caravan into a better position, so that on the next round, or in a possible following bonus turn, they can attach one of the tiles in their display. As soon as their display consists of fewer than 3 tiles, they may again draw a discovery tile from the pile when discovering.

Note: In very rare cases, a player may hold 3 tiles in their display for which no attachment is possible for any of them. In that case, before moving their caravan, the player must discard one of their display tiles. (The tile is removed from the game entirely.)

Limiting the play area: The start cross establishes a play area of 11 x 11 spaces. No tile may be attached (discovered) outside the edge of the play area. Tiles may face the edge of the play area with either a desert side or an oasis side.

Placing an explorer figure

If a player has been able to attach a tile fitting, and has moved their caravan onto this tile, they may place an explorer figure if part of an oasis is shown on this tile.

• In general, an explorer figure may only be placed on a tile discovered on the same turn.
• An explorer figure is always placed on a free area of an oasis. It may not be placed on an action space, nor on the central space.
• If the tile shows two or three oasis parts separated by desert, the player must choose one oasis part.
• If a player has no explorer figure available, because all four are already placed on the board, they cannot place an explorer figure on this turn.

But: if a player places no explorer figure on their turn, they may remove any one of their own explorer figures from the board and return it to their supply. They may then place it again on their next turn.

3. Oasis Scoring

If the connected parts of an oasis are surrounded only by desert, or by desert and the edge of the play area, the oasis counts as completely discovered and an oasis scoring takes place.

A player removes all explorer figures from the oasis and lines them up in a row, ordered by their height. If an explorer figure holds the turban, it always counts as the tallest explorer figure.

If the row consists of at least two explorer figures (regardless of whether they belong to one or several players), the following applies: the player who owns the tallest explorer figure must pay a water stone. If they cannot pay a water stone, they must remove their tallest explorer figure and take it back to their supply. If there is only one explorer figure in the oasis, its owner does not have to pay a water stone.

Note: For each oasis scoring with at least 2 explorer figures, at most one water stone must always be paid. If the player with the tallest explorer figure could not pay a water stone and took their explorer figure back to their supply, then the player whose explorer figure is now the tallest in the row does not have to pay a water stone.

The player whose explorer figure stands at the front takes it and thereby occupies an action space of the oasis. Then follows the player whose explorer figure stands at the front next, and so on. Depending on which action space a player occupies, they carry out one of the following actions:

Myrrh, frankincense, gemstone, and salt: The player takes the corresponding goods token and places it on a free space of one of their camels. If a player no longer has a camel with a free space, they must either forgo the goods token, or make room for the new goods token by removing any other token and returning it to the supply.

Camel: The player takes a camel tile and attaches it to their caravan.

Rumor: If the supply of rumor tokens still consists of at least one token, the player takes a token from the supply, looks at it secretly, and places it face down on a free space of the rumor board. If the supply of tokens is exhausted (all 6 tokens have been placed), the player may look at one token on the rumor board and either leave it in place or remove it and place it next to the board. This token must then (since the supply once again consists of one token) be placed again, by the next player who occupies a rumor space, on one of the three free spaces.

If all explorer figures have been placed on the action spaces of the oasis (it can well happen that there are not enough action spaces for all the explorer figures), all players take their remaining explorer figures back to their supply.

Important: Whoever placed an explorer figure holding the turban during an oasis scoring must give the turban to their left-hand neighbor afterward. This player must then place it on their tallest explorer figure, regardless of whether that explorer figure is in their supply or on the board.

Example: Player "Blue" discovers the tile marked with a red frame, moves their caravan onto the tile, and places an explorer figure. With this tile, they have completed an oasis, since all parts of the oasis are surrounded by desert and the edge of the play area (on the right). An oasis scoring takes place.

A player lines up all the explorer figures of the oasis in a row. Player "Orange" has the tallest explorer figure but cannot pay the water stone. They must return their explorer figure to their supply.

In the order "blue", "red", "red", "blue", the players place their explorer figures on the action spaces of the oasis and carry out the actions. Player "Orange" passes the turban to the next player clockwise, who in turn places it on their own tallest explorer figure.

Game End

As soon as a player has drawn the last tile of the last pile, every player (including the player who drew the last tile) gets one more turn. The game then ends. Explorer figures in unfinished oases are not counted. All rumor tokens are revealed. Each good has a base value of 4 gold. If rumor tokens are laid out in a good's row, their value is added to, or subtracted from, this base value.

Each player determines the value of their goods tokens. Whoever reaches the highest total has won the game. In case of a tie, the number of water stones decides the winner.

The Two-Player Game

Entdecker – Im Reich der Wüstensöhne unfolds its greatest appeal with three or four players. But the two-player game is also interesting once you know the game and its subtleties a little better. For the two-player game, we recommend leaving out pile "1" and beginning the game directly with pile "2".