La Venise du Nord Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Contents
  • Raw Materials and Merchandise
  • Individual board
• Set-up
• 1 How to play
  • 1.1 A player turn
  • 1.2 Phase 1: roll the dice
  • 1.3 Phase 2: movement of the Burgher
  • 1.4 Phase 3: Activation of the arrival tile
  • 1.4.1 Tile powers
    • 1.4.1.1 The Raw Material tiles (Wool, Flax, Gold)
    • 1.4.1.2 The Workshop, Order and Master Builder tiles
    • 1.4.1.3 The Market tile
    • 1.4.1.4 The Port tiles
  • 1.4.2 Use of the cards
    • 1.4.2.1 Workshop Cards
• 2 End of the game
  • 2.1 Victory Points
    • 2.1.1 The sale of goods from the Store
    • 2.1.2 Points for Bridges
    • 2.1.3 Points from the Master Builder cards
• 3 Other starting positions
  • 3.1 Predetermined positions
  • 3.2 Free placement
• 4 Appendix: List of Master Builder cards

Overview

Each player moves his Burgher around the different Quarters in the city to take advantage of their functions.

Each quarter enables a specific action to be carried out. Players will need to acquire Raw Materials, build Workshops and then collect Orders. Orders can then be fulfilled by transforming, through workshops, raw materials into Goods/Merchandise. These goods will then have to be sold.

These sales earn Victory Points (VP). Other VPs can be earned by building bridges and by hiring Master Builders. At the end of the game, the player with the most VPs is declared the winner.

Contents

• 9 hexagonal Quarter tiles
• 4 individual boards
• 56 cards including: 15 Workshop cards, 16 Master Builder cards, 24 Order cards, 1 First Player card
• 4x5 dice
• 4x5 Bridges
• 4x3 scoring markers
• 4 Burgher meeples
• 15 Workshop tiles
• 1 Boat token
• 90 cubes in 3 different colors

Raw Materials and Merchandise

There are 3 types of raw materials in the game: Wool, Flax and Gold. Each of these raw materials has an associated commodity: Clothing for wool, lace for flax and jewelry for gold.

Wool and clothing are represented by purple cubes. Gold and jewelry are represented by orange cubes. Flax and lace are represented by white cubes. A cube represents a raw material or commodity depending on where it is on the player's board. In the raw materials stock and the workshops' stock, they are raw materials. In the store, they are goods.

Individual board

The individual board has: the stock of Raw Materials (top left), the scoring track, a player aid, a row of Workshop cards (1st row), rows for Master Builder cards, a row of Order cards (2nd row), the Store, and an area for used Master Builder cards.

Set-up

1. For your first few games, arrange the Quarter tiles and the Boat tile as shown in the rulebook diagram to form a game board (with 2 players: place a cube on a 3 space of the Market tile and a cube on a 2 space; with 3 players: place a cube on a 3 space of the Market tile).
2. Place the Master Builder, Order and Workshop cards face down (with 2 players, remove 2 Order cards of each type, with 3 players remove 1 Order card of each type. Do not remove any +2 cards).
3. The first player is chosen randomly. He takes the First Player card and keeps it in front of him throughout the game (this is useful for the endgame).
4. Then, each player:
   • Takes the individual board, the 5 dice and the 5 Bridges in their color.
   • Puts one of their three score markers on the 0 space of their scoring track.
   • Puts their Burgher meeple on a tile of their choice, starting with the 1st player.
5. Put the remaining cubes and the Workshop tiles nearby.
6. The players place one cube of each color in their stock of Raw Materials at the top left of their individual boards.

1 How to play

The first player is chosen randomly. He will remain so throughout the game.

The game is played over successive rounds. Players play one after another in a clockwise direction. When the round comes back to the first player, the endgame conditions are checked. If the end of the game has been triggered, each player has one last turn and then the VPs are counted to determine the winner.

1.1 A player turn

The actions of a player are carried out in several phases, in the following order:

• Phase 1: roll the dice,
• Phase 2: movement of the Burgher,
• Phase 3: activation of the arrival tile,
• Phase 4: secondary activations,
• Phase 5: construction of a Bridge,
• Phase 6: production of Goods.

At any time during his turn, he can also execute the effect of one or more Master Builder cards.

1.2 Phase 1: roll the dice

The active player rolls two dice of his own color from those that are not already on a Quarter tile. If there is only one die available, the second must be taken from one of his dice on the tiles.

Then he chooses which die will be used for movement and which will activate the arrival tile.

Author's note: in the rare cases where neither of the two dice allows a move to be made, the player must re-roll them.

1.3 Phase 2: movement of the Burgher

The player must move his Burgher meeple the exact value of the die chosen for movement.

Movement is made from tile to adjacent tile. To move onto a tile costs 1 movement point.

If one of the player's bridges is between two tiles, the player can choose not to pay the movement cost.

Each tile on the route can only be visited once, including the starting tile.

Example: the yellow player chose a 2 die for movement. The Burgher can therefore be moved to any of the three tiles marked 2. Note that his bridge enables him to reach the Order tile because movement via a bridge of his own color can be free, at the player's choice.

During his movement, the Burgher can use the Boat to navigate the city's canals.

The use of the Boat costs 3 movement points. It must be adjacent to the tile on which the Burgher is located when it is used. The player takes the Boat and places it next to a Quarter tile of his choice, and then moves his Burgher onto the tile.

The same Quarter tile cannot be visited twice, even if the Boat was used.

In the example, the yellow player has chosen a 5 die for movement and his Burgher starts on the Market tile. He decides to use the Boat and spends 1 movement point to get to the Order tile, then 3 to use the Boat to reach the Workshop tile and finally 1 point to finish his movement on the Port tile.

Author's note: the use of the Boat is the only way for the yellow player to move to the Port tile.

1.4 Phase 3: Activation of the arrival tile

With the second die (the first was used to move), the player may optionally activate the tile reached at the end of the movement.

The die determines the activation level of the tile and is called the activation die. This die is placed on the tile by the active player if:

• No other die is already on the tile, or
• Its value is less than or equal to the die already on the tile. The die already present is then returned to its owner.

If neither of these 2 conditions is met, the player does not put his activation die on the tile. He puts it back into his personal reserve at the end of his turn.

Author's Note: At any time, only one die can therefore be present on a given Quarter tile.

In the example, the red player chooses the Gold tile to complete his movement. He activates it with a value 2 die. As his die has a smaller value than the blue player's die that's already there (5), he replaces the blue die on the tile with the red one. The blue die is returned to its owner.

Whether he placed a die on the tile or not, the player may activate the tile's power.

1.4.1 Tile powers

1.4.1.1 The Raw Material tiles (Wool, Flax, Gold)

Each tile is used to acquire a type of Raw Material (Wool, Flax or Gold) as shown by the color of the cube drawn on it. The number of cubes acquired is equal to the value of the activation die.

Author's note: shortages are not a game element. Consequently, in the very, very rare case where you run out of cubes, I invite you to borrow some from another asyncron or pearl games game!

The player has 4 options for placing the acquired cubes:

• In his raw material stock: each player board has 6 spaces, each able to hold a single cube.
• On the Workshop cards on his player board for the construction of the workshop. You can build it over several turns, therefore only partially fill it with the cubes needed.
• In the stock of a completed Workshop on his player board (see 1.4.2.1).
• On the Master Builder cards on his player board in order to activate them (see 1.4.2.3).

At any time during his turn, a player can free up space in his Raw Materials stock by moving cubes down onto valid spaces. On the other hand, cubes may never be moved upwards from one section to a higher section or from one card to another.

Example: a player cannot transfer a cube from a workshop card to his stock, or from a Workshop card to another Workshop card.

Cubes that a player cannot place are lost. It is permissible to discard cubes and replace them with others just obtained.

1.4.1.2 The Workshop, Order and Master Builder tiles

When he activates one of these tiles, the player may draw a number of cards equal to the value of the activation die. He may keep one of them, or none. Those not selected are shuffled and put back under the deck. If there are no more cards, the action is no longer available.

The player must immediately put the card he has chosen onto an empty space on his player board:

• Workshop cards are placed on the 1st row,
• Order cards are placed on the 2nd row,
• Master Builder cards are placed on the 1st or 2nd row at the player's choice.

Only one card may be placed on each space. Once a card has been placed, it cannot be discarded or moved; if the player does not have any more valid spaces on his board, he must give up the action.

1.4.1.3 The Market tile

This tile allows players to sell Merchandise from their Store to earn Victory Points (VP).

The player may only sell one type of Merchandise each time. The maximum number of Merchandise cubes he can sell is indicated by the activation die.

Author's note: it is permissible to stop on the Market tile even if you don't have goods to sell.

The sale earns VPs which are immediately noted on the player's scoring track.

VPs earned = Number of goods sold multiplied by the price of the goods.

The price of the goods is the number of Order cards and cubes of this type that have been placed on the table near the Market tile (the +2 cards count as 2) (see 1.4.2.2).

Example: the price of Jewels is 4, that of Clothes is 2 and that of Lace is 1.

The price is modified by a bonus. For each sale, the bonus is equal to the largest value of the empty spaces on the Market tile.

Note! The bonus applies to the price of the goods, not the total price.

Example: yellow carries out the first sale on the Market tile. He therefore enjoys a bonus of 4. He can sell up to 3 goods of one kind because his activation die is 3. He sells 3 Jewels. The price of Jewelry is 4. He earns 3*(4+4) = 3*8 = 24VP.

After the sale, the player must reduce the price of the goods concerned by discarding one of the cards or cubes that set the price. He may choose to discard a +2 card, which lowers the price by 2. Continuing the example: Yellow decides to discard a cube. Then he discards the sold cubes and puts one of them on the highest value free space on the Market tile (the space that corresponds to the bonus which he took) to show that this bonus is no longer available.

1.4.1.4 The Port tiles

The Port tiles allow the player to sell goods for export from his Store.

Each type of goods can be sold only once in the same port. In one action, the player can only sell a single commodity. The player earns the value of the activation die in VPs.

The player immediately adjusts his scoring markers to account for this.

The player puts the Merchandise cube on the empty square of the same color on the Port tile, indicating that the Merchandise may no longer be sold in this port.

After the sale, the player may increase or decrease the price of the type of commodity sold by 1.

To decrease the market price, he discards one of the elements indicating the price: a card with a value of 1, or a cube, or a card with a value of 2 (replacing the latter with a cube taken from the stock).

To increase the price, he adds a cube from the stock to the cards defining the price.

1.4.2 Use of the cards

1.4.2.1 Workshop Cards

A workshop can store Raw Materials matching the colored squares on the card and produce Goods.

The squares at the top indicate the type and quantity (from 1 to 3) of Raw Materials that the workshop can store once built. It is also the number of Goods that it produces when used to fulfill an order.

Example: 2 gold.

The bottom squares show the workshop's construction cost (from 1 to 6).

Example: 2 gold and 1 flax.

Author's note: the construction of a workshop can be done over several turns. It is therefore possible to store cubes there for its construction.

When all the cubes have been placed, return them to the stock and put a Workshop tile on it to show that it is complete.

Your workshop is now built. It can be used to store raw materials and to manufacture goods from these materials.

Each workshop is specialized and can only make one type of merchandise.

The quantity of goods produced varies according to the workshop (from 1 to 3).

A workshop must always produce at full capacity.

Example: This workshop can transform two flax cubes (raw material) into two lace cubes (goods).

1.4.2.2 Order Cards

Order cards enable goods to be produced in the workshops.

Each Order card has 2 characteristics: the type of goods concerned, as well as the change in the price of the goods which will occur when this order is carried out (cf. 1.7).

Example: a clothing Order card with a value of 1.

1.4.2.3 Master Builder cards

The Master Builder cards earn VPs, provide special abilities or a bonus to the player (cf. 4 Appendix).

The squares at the top show the cost to activate the card. The player may benefit from this effect as soon as he places all the cubes necessary on it. The card's activation is immediate.

There are two kinds of Master Builder cards.

Permanent cards. The Padlock symbol means that the card has a permanent effect. A player can only have one permanent card of each type.

Single use cards. Unlike permanent cards, their effect applies only once. Once used, the card is slipped under the player's board until the final points count.

1.5 Phase 4: secondary activations

Other players who have a Burgher and/or a die on the activated tile can immediately benefit from a secondary activation.

If they have either a Burgher or a die, they can activate with a value of 1. If they have both a Burgher and a die, they can activate with a value of 2.

The activation is performed according to the same rules as the activation by the active player.

Secondary activations are possible on Raw Material, Workshop, Order and Master Builder tiles.

There is no secondary activation on the Market or Port tiles.

1.6 Phase 5: Construction of a Bridge

During this phase, the active player can build a bridge, and only one, between the tile where his Burgher is and an adjacent tile, if he has a die on both tiles.

If there is currently no bridge, he must pay the difference between the two dice in cubes taken from his stock of raw materials. The cubes are returned to the common stock. Any type of raw material can be used.

Example: one die shows 6 and the other 3 (the construction cost is therefore 3: 6-3), the player pays 1 gold and 2 wool to build the bridge.

If the 2 dice are of identical value, the construction is free.

If another player's bridge is already present, the cost is the sum of the two dice in raw materials taken from his stock. The other player's bridge is destroyed and returned to its owner's stock.

The player places one of his bridges between the two tiles and returns one of the two dice to his own stock.

Example: the yellow player begins his turn with his Burgher on the Market tile. He rolls the dice which come up 1 and 4. He chooses to use the value 1 to move onto the Gold tile which he activates with the 4. The red die has a higher value and is driven out. Yellow receives four gold cubes and Red 1 thanks to the secondary activation of his Burgher. Yellow decides to use 1 gold cube to build a bridge between the Raw Materials tile and the Port tile (difference between the values of the 2 dice: 4-3 = 1). He must remove one of his two dice and decides to take back his die with the value of 4.

Bridges provide Victory Points (see 2.1.2). In addition, they allow you to move freely from one area to another if desired (see 1.3).

1.7 Phase 6: Production of Goods

3 conditions must be met for the active player to produce goods in a workshop:

• The workshop must be built (see 1.4.2.1).
• The Workshop card's stock must be completely filled with Raw Material cubes (of the correct color),
• The player must have an Order card of the correct type on his board's second row.

Author's note: the position of the card does not matter as long as it is on the 2nd row.

In this case, the player can produce the goods as follows:

• The workshop cubes are moved down onto the Store at the bottom of the board,
• The associated Order card is placed on the table next to the Market tile to increase the price of the goods concerned: the number of cards of each type determine prices (each card and cube is worth 1, +2 cards are worth 2).

Example: 1. The yellow player has 3 gold cubes in his raw material stock. 2. He decides to use 1 to complete the construction of his workshop and two to fill the workshop's stock. 3. The player has 2 Order cards, one which will increase the price of jewels by 1 and the other by 2. He decides to produce 2 jewels by using the order with a value of 2. 4. The 2 Gold Raw material cubes are transformed into 2 Jewelry Goods and are placed in the Store. 5. The Order card is placed near to the Market tile.

Each workshop can only produce once per turn. It is possible to produce with several workshops during the same turn.

2 End of the game

If, at the beginning of the first player's turn:

• A player has built his 5 bridges, or
• All the market sales have been completed (7 with 4 players, 6 with 3 players, 5 with 2 players), meaning that all the squares on the Market are covered by cubes.

Author's note: when all the market sales have been completed, it is still possible to make additional sales with a price bonus of 0.

Each player can have one more turn and the game ends. This is followed by the final scoring.

2.1 Victory Points

The players already have VPs earned from sales during the game. To which are added:

2.1.1 The sale of goods from the Store

Each player can sell up to 6 goods of each type at 1 less than the current price (0 being the minimum price).

Example: at the end of the game, the yellow player has 3 clothing cubes and 2 jewelry cubes in his store. The final price of lace is 3 (4-1). The final price of jewelry is 2 (3-1). The final price of clothing is 0 (1-1). The yellow player's score for this final sale is 4 VP:

• 0 for lace (0 x 3),
• 4 for the jewelry (2 x 2),
• 0 for clothing (3 x 0).

2.1.2 Points for Bridges

Each chain of bridges earns VPs. A chain of bridges is a set of bridges connecting adjacent areas so as to create a continuous chain. A chain of bridges scores VPs equal to the square of the number of bridges it contains.

A player can score VPs for several chains of bridges. A solitary bridge is worth 1 VP. A bridge belongs to only one chain.

Example: the red player has built 4 bridges which constitute 2 chains: a chain of 3 bridges and one of 1 bridge. The chain with three bridges earns 9 VP. The isolated bridge earns 1 VP.

2.1.3 Points from the Master Builder cards

The Master Builder cards that the player drew and activated during the game earn VPs. Count the cards which are on or under the board; these cards must have been activated by the necessary cubes during the game. The number of VPs earned is equal to the square of the number of cards up to a maximum of 25 VP.

Example: 4 cards earn 16 VP, 6 cards earn 25.

The player with the most victory points after the final scoring wins. In the event of a tie, congratulations to the joint winners!

3 Other starting positions

3.1 Predetermined positions

The rulebook shows 4 alternative set-ups (tile layout diagrams only) that change the feel of the game.

3.2 Free placement

Experienced players can place the tiles as they wish during set up, as long as each tile touches at least one other tile along a side.

Each player in turn places a tile. The Boat is placed by the player sitting to the right of the first player, before the placement of the Burghers.

Author's note: the placement may affect the accessibility of the tiles and the duration of the game.

4 Appendix: List of Master Builder cards

• (Permanent, 1 wool + 1 flax to activate) At the end of the game, receive 2 additional Victory Points per built bridge.
• (Permanent, wool + gold to activate) You can modify the value of your Burgher's movement die by plus or minus 1 (the modified value must be between 1 and 6).
• (Permanent, flax + gold to activate) You can modify the value of your activation die by plus or minus 1 (the modified value must be between 1 and 6). Author's Note: It can be useful to decrease the value of the activation die in order to remove an opponent's die.
• (Single use, 2 wool to activate) Increase the price of the merchandise on the left by adding a cube of that color to the cards defining the goods prices and decrease the price of one of the other two goods by removing either 1 card or 1 cube. The price cannot be negative.
• (Single use, wool to activate) Fill the 6 squares of your Raw Materials stock with 2 types of Raw Materials of your choice.
• Three cards (+1 Order-type cards for each of the three goods) function exactly like the Order cards. They do not count towards Master Builder VPs at the end of the game.

Source note: cost icons on Master Builder cards in the appendix were read from the printed card illustrations; the English rulebook text above is otherwise transcribed in full.