Island Fortress Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
  • Setup Summary
• Overview
• Rounds
  • The Income Phase
  • The Petition Phase
  • The Action Phase
    • (A) Selecting an Action
    • (B) Performing the Action
    • (C) Buyback
• Actions in Detail
  • Recruiter Card Actions
    • (A) - Recruit Laborers
    • (B) - Collect 6 Convicts
    • (C) - Collect from Prison
  • Planner Card Actions
    • (A) - Buy Wall Blocks
    • (B) - Draw Favor Cards
    • (C) - Remove a Reinforcement
  • Builder Card Actions
    • (A) - Build Wall
    • (B) - Play a Completed Favor Card
• Governor Blocks
• Favors
• Mid Game Scoring
  • Completing a row
  • Building a level FOUR block
  • Completing a level
• End of the Game
• End Game Scoring
• Variants
• FAQ

Contents

• 4 Region Boards
• 2 Scoring Towers
• 72 Player wall blocks, 18 blocks per player
• 12 Governor Wall Blocks
• 20 Role Cards, 4 sets of 5 cards per player
• 4 Taskmasters
• 1 Governor Marker
• 36 Favor Cards
• 30 Reinforcement Tokens
• 36 Treasure Tokens
• 12 Buyback Chips
• 1 Score Track
• 4 Score Track Markers
• 60 Jade Cubes: 40 small jade cubes (each represents 1 jade), 20 large jade cubes (each represents 3 jade)
• 45 Laborers
• 75 Convicts
• 4 Player Boards
• 1 Rulebook

Setup

For two or three players, take two region boards, and place them edge-to-edge near the center of the table. For four players, take three region boards and place them edge-to-edge near the center of the table.

Each player selects a player color. Place the 18 wall blocks of each player's color in a general stockpile area, away from the players. Place each player's score track marker on the 0 space of the score track. Place each player's taskmaster in the camp in the left-hand-most region. Return any unused region boards, colors of wall block, score track marker and taskmaster to the box.

Give each player one set of five role cards (one Recruiter card, one Planner card, one Builder card, one Treasurer card and one Taskmaster card). Return any unused sets of role cards to the box.

Give each player a player aid.

Give each player 12 jade. Use the remaining jade to form a jade stockpile.

Form a stockpile of Governor Wall Blocks, consisting of 12 blocks (2-3 players), or 11 blocks (4 players). Return any unused Governor Blocks to the box.

Form resource stockpiles of reinforcements, treasures, Buyback chips, laborers and convicts.

Shuffle the Favor Cards to form a deck. Deal 5 Favor Cards to each player. Each player examines their cards, keeps three in their hand, and returns the other two to the deck. Then reshuffle the deck.

Setup Summary

	2 players	3 players	4 players
Region Boards	2	2	3
Governor Wall Blocks	12	12	11
Starting Jade Each	12	12	12
Player Wall Blocks	18	18	18
Favor Cards Each	Deal 5, Keep 3	Deal 5, Keep 3	Deal 5, Keep 3

Overview

Island Fortress is played over a number of rounds as determined by the number of Governor Wall Blocks used in the game. During these rounds, players take turns to perform actions in order to build the Governor's fortress.

The wall to the fortress is spread across 2-3 regions (depending on the number of players). In each region, 17 wall blocks are required to complete the wall - three rows of five blocks each, and then a fourth block at each end of the region to form a tower.

Each player has a taskmaster, who is in charge of building the fortress wall. The taskmaster is always located in the camp section in one of the regions. All actions that a player can perform (with the exception of playing a Favor Card and placing a Governor Wall Block) must be performed in the region where the player's taskmaster is currently located.

The player selects the actions they wish to perform by playing role cards. Each role card contains a number of actions. Players play a role card and then select an action from the card to perform.

In order to help them build the wall, the taskmasters may utilize two types of worker - laborers and convicts. Some actions can use either type of worker, while others require a specific type. The workers which the player currently holds, along with the jade they've acquired and the blocks they've bought, are held openly in the player's supply.

As the wall is built, players earn points for their work. They can also earn Favors from the governor, by building specifically requested patterns of blocks into the wall.

When the wall is completed, or when the maximum number of rounds in the game have been played, the game ends, and the player with the most victory points wins.

Rounds

The game is played in a number of rounds. Each round consists of three phases:

• The income phase. Players collect their income.
• The petition phase. Players bid for the petition of the governor.
• The action phase. Players take it in turn to perform actions.

The Income Phase

Each player takes 3 jade from the jade stockpile, including during the first round. In later rounds (but not in the first round), players may have played Favor Cards which allow them to take additional jade during the income phase. See "Favors" for details.

Example: Adam has played a Favor Card that gives him two additional income. He collects five income - three income as standard plus two for the Favor Card.

The Petition Phase

The players bid for the petition of the governor.

Each player takes all their jade into their hands. They secretly divide the jade between their two hands, and place one hand, as a closed fist, in front of them over the table. This represents their bid. Players may bid any amount of jade, including zero or all the jade they hold.

Once all players have selected their bid, the amount held by each player is revealed.

In later rounds (but not the first round), players may have played Favor Cards which add to the petition bid. See "Favors" for details. Each player calculates the value of their bid by adding together the amount of jade in their bidding hand plus the amount which is added to their bid by their played Favor cards. The player with the highest bid wins the petition of the governor.

In the case of a tie, the player with the most jade in their bidding hand, ignoring played Favor Cards, wins the tie. If two or more players remain tied, the governor marker is moved clockwise around the table from its previous position, until it reaches one of the players who remain tied. This player wins the petition of the governor. The player who previously had the petition of the governor cannot retain it in this way. In the case of a tie in the first round, the tie is split randomly.

The player who wins the petition of the governor discards the jade from their bidding hand into the jade stockpile, and places the governor marker in front of them. The other players retain all their jade.

The player who wins the petition of the governor takes one Governor Wall Block from the stockpile and places it in their play area. They also place one jade and one convict from the resource stockpile to the cell of the region where their taskmaster is currently located.

Example: Adam has played a Favor Card which gives him +2 petition, and places three jade in his bidding hand. Bill has played no Favor Cards, and places four jade in his bidding hand. Charles has played two Favor Cards that together give him +3 petition, and places two jade in his bidding hand. Adam and Charles have both bid five in total, beating Bill's bid of four. Adam wins the tie-break, as he has more jade in his bidding hand.

Second Example: Before the next petition phase, Bill has now also played a Favor Card which gives him +2 petition. In the next petition bid, Adam and Bill both place three jade in their bidding hand. Charles does not place any jade in his bidding hand. Adam and Bill both have a bid of five, including three in their hand, so they are tied. Because Adam had the petition of the governor last turn, this turn it passes to Bill.

The Action Phase

At the start of the Action Phase, all players take their five role cards into their hand.

Starting with the player who has the governor marker in front of them and playing clockwise around the table, players take it in turns to perform one turn each, until all players have performed three turns during this action phase.

Each turn, a player performs the following steps:

• (A) Select an action to perform.
• (B) Perform the action.
• (C) Optionally, use buyback (if available) to repeat (A) and (B).

The player currently taking his turn is the active player.

(A) Selecting an Action

The active player selects one of his Role Cards from his hand, and places it on the table. He then states which of the actions on the card he is performing.

(B) Performing the Action

The player performs the selected action. For the details of how to perform each action, see "Actions in Detail".

(C) Buyback

If the active player selected the Taskmaster Role Card to play, then he may choose to buy it back. He discards three jade into the jade stockpile, picks up the taskmaster card, and returns it to his hand.

Alternatively, if the active player holds a Buyback chip, he may choose to discard it in order to buy back the role card he just played. He discards the Buyback chip to the resource stockpile, and returns the role card he just played into his hand. A Buyback chip may be used to buy back any Role Card, including the taskmaster.

If the active player chooses either of these buyback options, then he must now select another action to perform, and perform it, as described above. The new action may be the same as, or different to, the action selected originally, and may be on the same role card, or a different role card.

Example: Adam plays the Taskmaster Role Card, and moves his taskmaster to a new region. He then pays three jade, picks up his Taskmaster Role Card, and plays his Builder Role Card from his hand, and performs the Build Wall action.

Second Example: Bill plays the Planner Role Card, and performs the Buy Blocks action. He then discards a buyback chip, picks up his Planner Role Card, plays his Builder Role Card from his hand, and performs the Build Wall action.

Third Example: Charles plays the Builder Role Card, and performs the Build Wall action. He then discards a buyback chip, picks up his Builder Role Card, plays his Builder Role Card again, and performs the Play a Favor Card action.

Having performed a second action, the active player may not select either buyback option again during this turn. Hence each player is limited to two actions per turn, and therefore six actions per round.

Because of the way buyback works, each player will still always end each turn with one more Role Card played than at the start of the turn. Therefore the number of turns that each player has played this round can always be checked by counting the number of role cards that they have played.

Actions in Detail

The available actions are all shown in diagrammatic form on the Role Cards.

In general, where a diagram shows a hand, you must lose the items at the wrist end of the hand, and you gain the items at the finger end of the hand.

Where a number of items is shown as a tight collection, the actual number is variable. Where they are shown spaced out, it is always that number.

The actions are all summarized on the player boards.

Recruiter Card Actions

(A) - Recruit Laborers

The active player takes one convict from the resource stockpile, and places it in the cell of the region where his taskmaster is located.

He then takes between 1 and 5 laborers from the resource stockpile into his supply. Depending on the number of laborers taken, he pays an amount of jade to the resource stockpile, according to the following table:

Laborers	1	2	3	4	5
Cost in Jade	0	1	2	4	6

Example: Adam chooses to take three laborers. He pays two jade, takes the three laborers, and places one convict from the resource stockpile into the cell in the region where his taskmaster is located.

(B) - Collect 6 Convicts

The active player discards two laborers from his supply into the resource stockpile. He then takes six convicts from the resource stockpile into his supply.

(C) - Collect from Prison

The active player takes all the jade and convicts from the cell in the region where his taskmaster is currently located, and places them in his supply.

Planner Card Actions

(A) - Buy Wall Blocks

The active player takes one convict from the resource stockpile, and places it in the cell of the region where his taskmaster is located.

He then takes between 1 and 5 wall blocks of his color from the resource stockpile into his supply. Depending on the number of blocks taken, he pays an amount of jade to the resource stockpile, according to the following table:

Wall Blocks	1	2	3	4	5
Cost in Jade	0	1	2	4	6

(B) - Draw Favor Cards

The active player draws three Favor Cards from the top of the deck. He examines them, keeps one, and returns the other two to the bottom of the Favor Card deck. The two cards returned must be two of the three cards just drawn. The player cannot return cards from his hand.

(C) - Remove a Reinforcement

The active player chooses a reinforcement token from any wall block in the region his taskmaster is currently located and returns it to the resource stockpile. The reinforcement token removed may be one that is on one of his own built wall blocks, or on that of an opponent.

Builder Card Actions

(A) - Build Wall

The active player takes one convict from the resource stockpile, and places it in the cell of the region where his taskmaster is located.

The active player chooses whether to build one or two blocks of the wall. If he chooses to build two blocks of wall then he must pay one jade to the resource stockpile. He must have the blocks to build in his supply.

The active player selects where to build the block(s). The location or locations selected must conform to the following rules:

• The location must be in the same region as the active player's taskmaster.
• There must not already be a block in the location.
• If it is a level 2 block, then there must be a level 1 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 3 block, then there must be a level 2 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 4 block, then there must be a level 3 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 4 block, then it must be in one of the end columns of the region.

The active player may choose to build two new blocks such that one is directly above the other.

For each block, the player must assign a number of workers to build the block from his supply, according to the following table:

Level	1	2	3	4
Workers	2	4	6	8

Each worker may be a laborer or a convict. If two blocks are to be built, then the workers for both blocks must be assigned simultaneously.

All the convicts and half the laborers that are assigned to building the wall are killed, and are returned to the resource pool. If the number of laborers assigned to building the wall is odd, then the number killed is rounded up. The active player places his new block or blocks on the wall.

Example: Adam selects the build wall action. He places one convict from the resource stockpile into the cell in the region where his taskmaster is located. He chooses to build two blocks, so he pays one jade to the resource stockpile. He places one block on level 2 and one block on level 3 in the region where his taskmaster is located. He shows ten workers (seven laborers and three convicts) to build the wall. He discards four of the laborers and all three convicts into the resource stockpile, and returns the other three laborers to his supply.

(B) - Play a Completed Favor Card

The active player selects a Favor Card from his hand, and lays it on the table. The pattern on the Favor Card must match a pattern of blocks in the wall. The blocks forming the pattern must all meet the following criteria:

• They must all be of the active player's color.
• They must not contain a reinforcement.
• When the card is orientated such that the bottom of the card is aligned with the bottom of the wall, the pattern must be in the same orientation on the wall as on the Favor Card.

The active player then selects one of the blocks that forms the pattern, and places a reinforcement token on it.

The pattern of blocks in the wall does not have to be in the region where the active player's taskmaster is located, and the pattern may straddle two regions. For the effects of played Favor Cards, see "Favors".

(C) - Replace a Built Block

The active player selects an opponent's block in the wall to replace with his own. The player must have a wall block in their personal supply to use for this action. The block being replaced must meet all of the following criteria:

• The location must be in the same region as the active player's taskmaster.
• It must not be a Governor's Wall Block.
• It must not belong to the active player.
• It must not contain a reinforcement.
• If it is a level 4 block, then there must be a level 3 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 4 block, then it must be in one of the end columns of the region.

IMPORTANT: If this new block replaces a block that was already in a completed row, the row will NOT be scored again. Likewise, if a player replaces a block on the 4th level of the wall, they will not receive 5 points, as that area had already been scored by the player who originally built there. In short, everything in the game gets scored once, and once only. However, replacing an opponent's blocks with your own can help you (and/or hinder your opponents) with end game scoring when determining how many blocks you have built in your least built region. See "End-Game Scoring" for details.

Treasurer Card Actions

(A) - Collect Jade

The active player collects three jade from the resource stockpile into his supply.

Players may have enough treasures in their coffers that allow them to take additional jade during the Collect Jade action.

Example: Charles chooses the Collect Jade action. He has three treasures in his coffer which gives him one extra jade, so he collects four jade in total - three as standard, and one from the treasures in his coffer. If Charles had six treasures in his coffer, he would instead collect an additional two jade when taking the Collect Jade action.

(B) - Collect a Treasure

The active player takes 2 convicts from his supply and sends them to 2 different cells. The player then takes one treasure token from the resource stockpile and places it on their coffer card and moves his scoring track marker ahead one space (all treasure tokens collected are worth one victory point).

Taskmaster Card Actions

(A) - Move the Taskmaster

The active player moves his taskmaster to the camp area in any other region.

(B) - Repeat a previous role

The active player selects a role card that he has already placed on the table, due to having played it in an earlier turn of the round.

He pays an amount of jade equal to the "repeat role cost", according to the following table:

Role Card	Repeat Role Cost
Recruiter Card	1
Planner Card	2
Builder Card	2
Treasurer Card	3

He then selects an action from the selected role card, and performs that action.

Example: Charles has previously played his Builder Role Card. He plays his Taskmaster Role Card, and uses the Repeat Previous Role to pay 2 jade and perform the Build Wall action on his Builder Role Card.

Second Example: Adam has previously played his Builder Role Card. He plays his Taskmaster Role Card and moves his taskmaster to a new region. He then pays 3 jade to pick up his Taskmaster Role Card. He then plays his Taskmaster Role Card again, and pays 2 jade to perform the Build Wall action on his Builder Role Card.

Third Example: Bill has previously played his Builder Role Card. He plays his Taskmaster Role Card, and using the Repeat Previous Role action, he pays 2 jade to perform the Build Wall action on his Builder Role Card. He then pays 3 jade to pick up his Taskmaster Role Card. He then plays his Taskmaster Role Card again, and pays 2 jade to perform the Build Wall action on his Builder Role Card again.

Option: After playing the Taskmaster Role Card and performing the action, that active player may immediately choose to buy back the Taskmaster Role Card. To do this, simply pay 3 jade to the jade stockpile and pick up the just played Taskmaster Role Card back to your hand. You must now play a Role Card from your hand. This card may be the Taskmaster Role Card that you just bought back, or it may be any available, unplayed Role Card from your hand. If you play the Taskmaster Role Card again, the buyback option will not be available this time since each player may only take, at most, 2 actions on any given turn.

Governor Blocks

The player who wins the petition of the governor receives a Governor Wall Block at the start of the round. This player may place this wall block on the wall at any point during one of their three turns during the round, subject to the following restrictions:

• There must not already be a block in the location.
• If it is a level 2 block, then there must be a level 1 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 3 block, then there must be a level 2 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 4 block, then there must be a level 3 block directly below it.
• If it is a level 4 block, then it must be in one of the end columns of the region.

Placing the Governor Wall Block on the wall is not an action, it is done in addition to one of the player's normal actions. Furthermore, it does not cost any workers or any jade in order to place it, and it can be played in any region, regardless of where the player's taskmaster is located.

Example: Charles places the Governor Wall Block on level 3 of the wall. He then immediately plays his Builder Role Card, and builds one of his own blocks on level 4, directly on top of the Governor Block he just played.

If the player fails to play the Governor Wall Block during one of his three turns in the current round, then they lose the wall block, and it is returned to the box. It is a legal play to select the Build Wall action to build two blocks - build one block, then place the Governor Block on top of it, and then build the second block on top of the Governor Block.

Favors

Favors are a great way for players to obtain extra victory points and other rewards during the course of the game. Players can play Favor Cards using the "Play a Completed Favor Card" action on the Builder Role Card. Favor Cards that have been played are displayed on the table, and give the player who played them a combination of the following rewards:

• Additional income. During the income phase each round, the player receives additional income on top of the three income that they receive as standard. The amount of additional income is specified on the played Favor Cards.
• Additional petition. When bidding for petition each round, the player receives an automatic addition to his bid. The amount that is added to the bid is specified on the played Favor Cards.
• Jade. The player receives an amount of jade from the jade stockpile specified on the played Favor Card. This is a one-time payout at the time the Favor Card is played.
• Victory Points. The player scores points as specified on the played Favor Cards. When the player plays the Favor Card, they move their score track marker along the score track by the number of spaces specified on the Favor card. This is a one-time payout.
• Treasure. The player takes treasure token(s) as specified on the played Favor Card. When the player plays the Favor Card, they take the appropriate number of treasure tokens from the stockpile and places them on his coffer card. They then move their scoring marker ahead on the scoring track, a number of spaces equal to the number of treasure tokens just received. All treasures placed in a coffer are always worth one victory point each. This is a one-time payout at the time the Favor Card is played.
• Buyback Chip. The player takes a Buyback Chip from the resource stockpile and adds it to their supply. This chip may be used immediately to buy back the Role Card just played, used later in the game, or saved for victory points during end-game scoring. See "End-Game Scoring" for details. This chip is a one-time payout at the time the Favor Card is played.
• Convicts. The player takes an amount of convicts as specified on the played Favor Card. The player takes the appropriate number of convicts from the stockpile and adds them to his supply. This is a one-time payout.
• Laborers. The player takes an amount of laborers as specified on the played Favor Card. The player takes the appropriate number of laborers from the stockpile and adds them to his supply. This is a one-time payout.
• Wall Blocks. The player takes an amount of wall blocks as specified on the played Favor Card. The player takes the appropriate number of wall blocks from the stockpile and adds them to his supply. This is a one-time payout.

The items on the red section of a Favor Card are awarded only once, when the card is played. The other effects of played Favor Cards are cumulative (blue section). So if a player has played two Favor Cards, both of which give an additional 1 income each, then the player receives an additional 2 income each round, which adds to the basic income of 3, to make 5 income in total.

There are no penalties or negative effects for players with unplayed Favor Cards remaining in their hand at the end of the game.

Mid Game Scoring

Completing a row

When the active player builds the fifth and final block in one of the first three rows of the wall, the row is completed. For building the block that completes the row, the active player immediately receives a Buyback chip.

As soon as the row has been completed, the player whose blocks are most common amongst those that make up the row is identified. That player is awarded a number of points according to which level the row is on, as follows:

Level	1	2	3
Victory Points	3	6	10

The player moves his score track marker along the score track by the number of spaces specified. If two or more players have an equal number of their blocks in the row, then all players involved in the tie score the full number of points specified in the table above. The number of Governor Blocks in a row does not affect the scoring of a completed row.

Example: Adam plays the fifth block into the first row. He immediately receives a Buyback chip. He and Bill both have two blocks in the row, while Charles has one block. Adam and Bill both score three points.

Second Example: Bill plays the fifth block into the second row. He immediately receives a Buyback chip. He and Charles have one block each in the row. The other three blocks are all Governor Blocks. Bill and Charles each score six points.

Building a level FOUR block

When the active player builds one of his blocks at level 4, he immediately receives five points. He moves his score track marker 5 spaces along the score track. Note that players do not score any points for building a Governor Block at level 4. Likewise, players do not score 5 points if they replace a block on level 4. See the "Replace a Built Block" action on the Builder Role Card.

Completing a level

When a level of the wall has been completed across all rows (except on level 4), the player whose blocks are most common amongst those which make up the level is identified. That player is awarded one treasure token. The player adds the treasure token to his coffer and then moves his score track marker 1 space along the score track.

If two or more players have an equal number of their blocks in the level, then all the players involved in the tie score receive a treasure and score 1 point each.

The number of Governor Blocks in a level does not affect the scoring of a completed level.

Example: Charles plays the last block on the first level. He immediately receives a Buyback chip, as he has completed the row. The row is then scored. Charles has three blocks in the row, while Adam and Bill have one each. Charles therefore receives three points. The whole level is then considered. Adam has four blocks in the level, Charles has three and Bill has two, so Adam receives a treasure token and moves his scoring marker ahead one space on the scoring track.

Note that the treasure bonus for completed levels applies to all levels of the wall, EXCEPT level 4.

End of the Game

The game ends in one of two ways.

If a player builds the last block of the wall, then the wall is completed, and the game ends as soon as the player has finished performing their current action. The player who built the last block of the wall receives all the jade and convicts from all the cells into their own supply.

Alternatively, if at the end of a round, there are no governor blocks remaining in the resource stockpile, the game ends immediately. Thus the game is limited to 11 or 12 rounds (depending on the number of players).

End Game Scoring

If the game ends before the wall is completed, then all uncompleted rows and levels are scored as if they had been completed. See "Mid-Game Scoring" for details of how rows and levels are scored.

At the end of the game, players score additional points as follows:

• Each player counts the number of buyback chips they have in hand. These are scored according to the following table:

Buyback Chips	0	1	2	3	4+
Points	0	1	3	6	10

• Each player counts the number of their blocks that they have built in each region. In the region in which they have built the least of their blocks, they receive three points for every one of their blocks which they have built.

  Example: Adam has seven blocks in one region and four blocks in the other. He scores three points each for the four blocks in the second region - 12 points total.

  Second Example: Bill has ten blocks in one region and none in the other. He scores no points for blocks in his least occupied region.

• Each player counts the number of treasure tokens on their coffer card. The player or players with the most treasure tokens each receive 3 victory points. The player or players with the fewest treasure tokens on their coffer card each lose 3 victory points.

• Each player counts up how much jade they have in their supply. The player with the most jade receives 3 points. In the case of a tie, all players involved in the tie score 3 points.

• Each player counts up how many total workers (laborers and convicts) they have in their supply. The player with the most workers receives 3 points. In the case of a tie, all players involved in the tie score 3 points.

Example: Charles has six laborers and three convicts. Adam has two laborers and two convicts. Bill has one laborer and eight convicts. Charles and Bill both receive three points.

Each player moves their score track marker along the score track according to the number of points they score in each of these four categories.

The player with the highest score is the winner.

In the case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who built the most of their blocks in the wall. If it is still a tie, the winner is the tied player with the most jade in their supply. If it is still a tie, the winner is the tied player with the most treasure in their coffer. If it still remains a tie, then the game is tied.

Variants

The game can be made more friendly by having one more region board than recommended, or more cutthroat by having one less region board than recommended. However, you should not play with less than two region boards, or with more region boards than players.

For a slightly quicker game, players may start the game with additional jade and/or begin with an agreed upon number of resources in their supply such as laborers, convicts and wall blocks.

FAQ

If I complete a row using the purple Governor's Wall Block, do I still collect a Buyback chip? Yes. Anytime a player completes a row using a Governor's Block or their own color, they collect a Buyback chip. Keep in mind, however that a player never collects a Buyback chip if they are simply using the "Replace a Built Block" action of the Builder Role Card in a row that has already been scored.

Can I use a Governor's Block to complete the pattern on a Favor Card? No. All completed favors must consist of the player's own color.

When level 4 blocks are built, do we check for majority? No. Majorities never apply to blocks built on level 4 of the fortress. Building these towers simply yields 5 victory points to the player who built the block there, in their own color. No treasure tokens, Buyback chips or majority points are ever awarded for building on level 4.

Must the players complete an entire row before building up on a higher row? No, players are always free to build anywhere they like in the region where their taskmaster is located, as long as they have enough workers in their supply and there is support below the block they are building. This means that if they are not building on level 1, then there must be a block directly under the block they currently wish to build.