Little Town: Artisans
Little Town: Artisans Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview and Goal
At each turn, place a Worker on the board, as in the base game. However, choose carefully which Artisan card the Worker comes from, so that you benefit as much as possible from that card's effect. Then Improve that card into a more efficient version, for ever more optimal actions.
Components
- 88 Artisan cards (double-sided):
- 9 Harvest cards of each level (I to IV), 36 in total;
- 9 Construction cards of each level (I to IV), 36 in total;
- 16 blank cards.
- 1 Artisan board.
- 8 Building tiles.
- 6 Objective cards.
- 1 player aid.
Artisan cards
These cards have a front side for standard games and a back side for advanced games. Artisan cards are of three types:
- blank cards;
- Harvest cards (marked with a leaf icon);
- Construction cards (marked with a hammer icon).
Several elements are printed on each card, such as its cost, the number of Victory Points it gives, its type and level, and its effect. On the sides, spaces are reserved for Worker tokens. Each side space is a half-space for Worker tokens: two cards placed side by side form a complete space.
Artisan board
The Artisan board has 8 spaces, for the Artisan card stacks.
Objective cards
The Objective cards present 6 new Objectives. They are shuffled with the base game Objective cards during setup.
Building tiles
8 new Building tiles can be added to the game, as in the base game. You are free to play with all 8, or with only some of them.
Setup
During setup, take the following elements into account for the steps concerned:
-
Shuffle as many new Building tiles as you wish with the base game Building tiles, before placing the 12 tiles needed in the Market.
-
Before anything else, shuffle the 6 new Objective cards with the 18 base game Objective cards.
-
Attach the Artisan board to the right of the base game board. Separate the Artisan cards by type (leaf or hammer) and by level (I to IV), then place them on the corresponding spaces of the board.
Place all the cards on the same side. For a standard game, use the side with the chickadee (mésange). For an advanced game, use the other side.
Each player takes in front of them the number of blank Artisan cards shown in the table below:
| Number of players | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of blank cards | 6 | 5 | 4 |
Place them side by side in front of you, so as to create a continuous landscape. Then place your Worker tokens on the complete spaces thus formed.
Structure of a Turn
A new phase of play appears. Each player's turn is now divided as follows:
- Action Phase: this phase is the usual turn of play of the players, as described in the base game. It consists of playing the action Gather/Activate a Worker or Build a Building.
- Improvement Phase: during this phase, you acquire 1 new Artisan card, allowing your Workers to specialise and become more and more efficient.
Action Phase
Workers placed between two Artisan cards are considered unused. You are free to choose the unused Worker of your choice to carry out your action this turn, whatever the type of the cards next to it.
When you send a Worker to take an action on the board (Gather/Activate a Worker or Build a Building), you may activate the effect of one of the two cards the Worker comes from, as long as the type of that card matches the action of the Worker.
Note: if the effect of the card shows a slash ("/") separating two elements, you must choose one of those elements; you may not benefit from both.
Artisan card effects in a standard game
- + [wood] + [wheat] + [stone] + [fish]: Gather 1 additional Resource of the matching type.*
- + [any Resource, "?"]: Gather 1 Resource of your choice.*
- + [Coin]: Gather as many Coins as indicated.*
- + [Victory Point star] with a 1: Gather as many Victory Points as indicated.*
- [Resource of choice] > [5 Coins]: Spend 1 Resource of your choice to gain 5 Coins.
- [Resource of choice] [Resource of choice] > [5 Victory Points]: Spend 2 Resources of your choice to gain 5 Victory Points.
* Even if you did not gather them this turn.
Artisan card effects in an advanced game
- [Resource of choice] > > > [2 Victory Points]: Spend up to 3 Resources of your choice. For each Resource spent, gain 2 Victory Points.
- - [wood] - [wheat] - [stone] - [fish]: The Construction cost of the Building you Build this turn is reduced by 1 Resource of the type indicated.
- - [Resource of choice]: The Construction cost of the Building you Build this turn is reduced by 1 Resource of your choice.
- [Activate-again icon]: You may activate once more 1 space that you have already activated this turn. Always pay 1 Coin to activate an opponent's Building.
- + [cube placed on this space]: Gather 1 additional Resource of the same type as the cube placed on this space.*
- - [cube placed on this space]: The Construction cost of the Building you Build this turn is reduced by 1 Resource of the same type as the cube placed on this space.
Transcriber's note: the advanced effects table is printed across two columns on the same page, and the rows are listed here in that column order.
Example (printed on the rulebook page): the printed example shows four Artisan card spaces in a row, with Worker A placed beside them. If you use Worker A to do the Gather/Activate a Worker action, you may only benefit from the effect of the card placed in third position, because it is the only card next to the Worker whose type matches the action of that Worker.
Improvement Phase
During this phase, you may acquire 1 new Artisan card.
If you have not activated the effect of any Artisan card this turn, you may Start a New Craft (Démarrer un nouvel Artisanat). Pay the cost of the first card of the Level I deck of the type corresponding to your action. Then place it in place of the card of your choice among the two cards next to the Worker used, and gain the Victory Points indicated. Return the replaced card under its deck (or into the box, if it is a blank card).
If you have already activated the effect of an Artisan card this turn, you may Improve that card. The same applies if you could have activated a card but preferred not to benefit from its effects.
To Improve a card, pay the cost of the Artisan card of the immediately higher level of the same type, and place this card in place of the card activated (or potentially activated) this turn. Gain the Victory Points indicated. Return the replaced card under its deck.
Example: the printed example shows Worker B gathering, benefiting from the effect of the card to its left. You then Improve that card, because you have just activated it, by paying the cost of the newly acquired card, and replace it as described above. A summary printed over the example reads "-1 [Wood]" and "+2 [Victory Points]". On the following turn you may already benefit from its effect by using Worker A for a Gather action.
In a standard game
The Artisan cards of a standard game are all unique. The effects are predefined on each card.
At any time during your Improvement Phase, you may spend 1 Coin and choose a deck of Artisan cards. If you do, place the first card of that deck under the same deck. You may spend as many Coins as you wish in this way. It is forbidden to browse the decks to learn the effects of the cards placed under the first card of each deck.
In an advanced game
The Artisan cards of an advanced game are all similar, and it is up to you to specialise them.
- When you Start a New Craft in an advanced game, take one of your Resources of your choice from among those you have gathered, and place it on the reserved space. This Resource is considered spent. There is therefore no cost shown at the top left.
- When you Improve an Artisan card from Level I to Level II in an advanced game, transfer the Resource chosen previously onto the new card. In addition, take a second Resource of your choice from among those you have gathered, and place it on the second space.
- When you Improve an Artisan card beyond Level II, transfer the 2 Resources previously placed onto the new card.
- If, when you Start a New Craft, you replace an Artisan card that has one or more Resources, those Resources are returned to the general supply.
- The Resource or Resources placed on an Artisan card cannot be spent, nor moved to another card (except when Improving a card, as described above). If you cannot place enough Resources, you cannot Start a New Craft or Improve an Artisan card.
End of the Round
Prepare the next Round
When you retrieve your Workers, place them on the complete spaces formed by your Artisan cards.
End of the Game
The end of the game takes place exactly as in the base game.
When scoring, the Artisan cards of Build a Building type at Level IV, as well as the Museum Building tile, give Victory Points.
The "?" printed in the Victory Point star is the printed placeholder of these formulas; the amount is the one given by the formula that follows it.
Victory Points from Artisan cards at the end of a standard game
- [Victory Point star with "?"] = 3 x [Construction card]: At the end of the game, gain as many Victory Points as three times the number of Construction cards (Build a Building) you have.
- [Victory Point star with "?"] = 2 x [Harvest card]: At the end of the game, gain as many Victory Points as twice the number of Harvest cards (Gather/Activate a Worker) you have.
Victory Points from Artisan cards at the end of an advanced game
- [Victory Point star with "?"] = [card with "?"]: At the end of the game, gain as many Victory Points as there are cubes of the Resource of your choice placed on your Artisan cards.