Luther: Das Spiel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Game Overview
• Explanation of a Round
  • A. Start Player Reveals Provisions Cards
  • B. Take Provisions
  • C. Player Actions
    • a. Travel
    • b. Uncover a Section of the Luther Portrait
    • c. Play a Benefit Card
    • d. Discard Luther Portrait Cards and/or Benefit Cards, and Draw Provisions Cards
  • D. Cranach Paints
• Game End
  • Points for Collected Sets of Portrait Tiles
  • Points for the Most Martin Luther Portrait Tiles
  • Additional Points
• Further Explanation of the Event and Benefit Cards
  • Event Cards
  • Benefit Cards

Game Components

• 4 Player Figures in Black, Brown, Grey and White
• 4 Experience Markers in the player colors
• 4 Pathway Rings
• 1 Luther Rose, used as the Start Player token
• 1 Game Board
• 4 Overview Cards (front and back)
• 1 Historical Brochure detailing the important people and places of the Reformation
• 20 "Cranach Paints" Tiles
• 20 Cover Tiles for the large Luther portrait
• 44 Portrait Tiles: 14x Martin Luther, and 5x each of Katharina von Bora, Friedrich der Weise, Philipp Melanchthon, Lucas Cranach, Johann Tetzel and Karl V.
• 70 Provisions Cards: 26x Cheese (valued 1-4), 26x Bread (valued 1-4), 18x Beer (valued 3-6)
• 60 Special Cards: 20 Event Cards (with a red seal), 20 Benefit Cards (with a green seal), 20 Luther Portrait Cards (with a blue seal)

Game Setup

• Before your first game, carefully remove all parts from the punchboards.
• The Game Board is placed in the center of the table. Twelve locations that were important during the Reformation are depicted on the board, divided into three regions of different colors (red, orange and green). The numbers on the pathways indicate the travel time, in days, between pairs of locations.
  • Note: For more information on these locations, please refer to the enclosed Brochure.
• Each player chooses a color, and takes the Player Figure and Experience Marker in that color, as well as an Overview Card. The Player Figures are placed in Eisleben (Luther's birthplace), and the Experience Markers are placed on the starting space of the scoring track ("95/0"). The Overview Cards are kept in front of each player.
• Each player receives 2 Provisions Cards: 1 with a value of 1 (for 1 day of travel) and 1 with a value of 2 (for 2 days of travel). It does not matter whether these cards are Cheese or Bread cards.
  • Note: There are no Beer Provisions Cards with values of 1 or 2.
• The remaining Provisions Cards are shuffled and placed, provisions side facing up, as a draw stack on the corresponding space on the Game Board.
• The 20 Cover Tiles are placed, word side facing up, in any arrangement on top of the Luther portrait on the Game Board.
  • Note: Each Cover Tile contains a notable word or phrase from Luther's famous translation of the Bible.
• The 20 "Cranach Paints" Tiles are shuffled and placed face down in a stack on the "Cranach Paints" space. (These tiles contain the same words and phrases that appear on the Cover Tiles.) The top 5 tiles are turned face up. The Cover Tiles showing the same words and phrases as the revealed tiles are removed from the Luther portrait and returned to the box, along with the drawn "Cranach Paints" Tiles.
• The 60 Special Cards are shuffled and divided into two roughly equal stacks. The stacks are placed face down on the Game Board: one stack on the "Cheese" space and the other on the "Beer" space.

Game Overview

The game lasts for several rounds. In each round, each player chooses 2 Provisions Cards and uses those cards to travel from location to location, gaining experience points. At the destination location, the player collects the Portrait Tile that is there. Portrait Tiles earn the players experience points at the end of the game. The more different Portrait Tiles a player collects, the more points he will receive. Additionally, the player who has collected the most Portrait Tiles of Martin Luther himself receives points as well. Players can earn still more experience points during the game by playing a Luther Portrait Card that matches a Cover Tile, thereby helping to uncover and complete the Luther Portrait. Once the portrait is completely uncovered, a final round is played and then the game ends.

Explanation of a Round

Each game round consists of 4 steps:

• A. Start Player reveals Provisions Cards (1 pair more than the number of players)
• B. Take Provisions: Each player takes 1 pair of Provisions Cards
• C. Player Actions: Each player takes an action turn
• D. Cranach Paints: The Start Player reveals new "Cranach Paints" Tiles and passes the Luther Rose clockwise

A. Start Player Reveals Provisions Cards

The Start Player reveals Provisions Cards by taking the top 2 from the draw pile and placing them as a pair next to the Game Board, provisions side up. He repeats this until the number of pairs of Provisions Cards equals 1 more than the number of players.

• Example: In a 4-player game, 5 pairs of Provisions Cards will be revealed.

B. Take Provisions

• Next, the Start Player chooses 1 of the pairs of cards and takes them into his hand, keeping their value sides hidden.
• If a Bread card is taken, the player draws the top Special Card from the "Bread" space. If a Cheese card is taken, the player draws the top card from the "Cheese" space.
  • Note: If a Beer card is taken, the player does not receive a Special Card, since the Beer cards usually have higher values than the Bread and Cheese cards.
  • Example: If a player chooses the top pair shown on the page, he draws a Special Card from the top of the "Cheese" space, but he does not receive a Special Card for the Beer card. If he would have taken the lower pair shown instead, he would draw 2 cards from the "Cheese" space.
• If the Special Card drawn is a Benefit card (green seal) or a Luther Portrait card (blue seal), the player looks at the card and takes it into his hand.
• If a player draws 1 or 2 Event cards (red seal), he places it/them face down in front of him without reading the front of the card(s).
• Each player in clockwise order chooses a pair of Provisions Cards just as the Start Player did. There will be 1 pair left over for the next round.
  • Note: If during the course of the game the Provisions draw stack is depleted, the discarded Provisions Cards are shuffled and placed as a new draw stack.
  • If either of the stacks of Special Cards is ever depleted, there will be no further cards taken for taking the corresponding Provisions Card (Bread or Cheese).

C. Player Actions

Each player takes an action turn. The Start Player begins by taking his turn, followed by the other players in clockwise order, by performing these 2 steps:

1. Resolve any Event Cards

   • If, on a player's turn, he has any Event Cards present in front of him, he must first read the card aloud and execute the event listed on it.
   • After resolving the event, the used Event Card is returned to the game box, out of the game.
   • If a player has 2 Event Cards in front of him, they are revealed and resolved individually, one after the other.
   • Most Event Cards are self-explanatory. However, for more information on specific cards, see page 7 (see "Further Explanation of the Event and Benefit Cards" below).

2. Actions (in any order)

   Then, the player can perform the following four actions, as many of them as desired, and in any order, but each action can only be performed once per round:

   • a. Travel
   • b. Uncover a section of the Luther portrait
   • c. Play a Benefit Card
   • d. Discard any number of Luther Portrait Cards and/or Benefit Cards, and draw Provisions Cards for them

a. Travel

• On his turn, a player may move his Player Figure from one location to another.
  • Note: A player does not have to travel on his turn.
• There may be any number of Player Figures at a given location.
• A player may only travel to a maximum of 3 locations on his turn.
  • Example: From Marburg, the player may travel to Eisleben on 1 turn, but not to Magdeburg.
• In order to travel, the player must discard Provisions Cards from his hand. The numbers on the pathways between 2 locations indicate the travel cost in days. The player adds these numbers along the chosen route, and must discard Provisions Cards with values equaling the total.
  • Example: The journey from Marburg to Eisleben totals 10 days, via Eisenach and Erfurt.
• If a player pays more in provisions than is necessary, due to not having the exact values on his cards for the travel cost, he does not receive anything back as "change". Additionally, he only receives experience points for the actual distance traveled.
  • Example: In our example, if the player overpaid a total of 12 provisions, he would still only receive 5 points, not 6.
• A player is not required to use the route with the shortest distance when traveling between 2 locations.
  • Example: By paying 12 provisions, the player in our example could travel through Frankenhausen instead of Erfurt, earning 6 experience points instead of only 5.
• If there is a Portrait Tile available at the location the player travels to, he takes it and places it in front of him.
  • Example: In our example, the player has traveled from Marburg to Eisleben. Since there is currently a Portrait Tile of Katharina von Bora at that location, he takes the tile and places it in front of him. He cannot take the Lucas Cranach tile from Erfurt, because he did not end his journey there.

b. Uncover a Section of the Luther Portrait

• Important: On his turn, a player may only play 1 Luther Portrait (blue seal) Card.
• The player plays a Luther Portrait Card that shows a word or phrase that matches one of the Cover Tiles on the Luther portrait on the Game Board.
• The played card is returned to the box (out of the game).
• He then removes the matching Cover Tile from the portrait and returns it to the box as well.
• For uncovering a section of the portrait, the player receives 2 points for the newly-removed Cover Tile. In addition, 1 point is earned for each previously uncovered section of the portrait in the same row and column as the newly-removed tile.
  • Example: As shown on the page, the player plays the "friedfertig (peaceful)" Luther Portrait card, and removes the corresponding Cover Tile from the Luther portrait on the board. For this he receives 2 points. He receives 1 additional point for the section already uncovered from the same row, and 1 point for the uncovered section in the same column. This gives the player a total of 4 experience points.
  • If the player had played the "Ebenbild (Image)" card instead, he would have received 6 total experience points (2 for the newly-removed tile, and 2 each for the uncovered sections in the same row and column as the newly-removed tile).

c. Play a Benefit Card

• Important: On his turn, a player may only play 1 Benefit (green seal) Card.
• The played card is returned to the box (out of the game).
• Most of the Benefit Cards are self-explanatory. Further explanation for some of the cards can be found under "Further Explanation of the Event and Benefit Cards" below.

d. Discard Luther Portrait Cards and/or Benefit Cards, and Draw Provisions Cards

• Once per turn, a player may discard any number of Luther Portrait and/or Benefit Cards which he cannot or wishes not to use. All discarded cards are returned to the box (out of the game).
• For each card discarded this way, the player draws 1 Provisions Card from the draw stack.
• If he draws any Bread or Cheese cards he does not receive any Special Cards from the stacks on the board, as he would at the start of a game round.

D. Cranach Paints

• Once all players have taken a turn, the round ends.
• The Start Player turns the top "Cranach Paints" Tile on the stack face up, and removes the corresponding Cover Tile from the Luther portrait on the board.
• If the corresponding Cover Tile has already been removed from the board, the next "Cranach Paints" tile from the stack is revealed. This continues until a Cover Tile can be removed from the Luther portrait.
• All revealed "Cranach Paints" tiles are returned to the box (out of the game).
• Finally, the current Start Player passes the Luther Rose to the player on his left, who becomes the Start Player for the next round. He draws Provisions Cards from the stack and places them next to the board in pairs, until there are once again as many pairs as there are number of players, plus 1. (There should be 1 pair remaining from the previous round.)

The game continues with the next round, as described above.

Game End

• If the final Cover Tile is removed from the Luther portrait on the Game Board, either during or at the end of a round, the game end is triggered.
• In either case, after completing that round, 1 final round is played.
• Following the final round, a final scoring occurs, with players moving their Experience Markers along the scoring track as usual.
  • Note: If a player's Experience Marker passes the "95/0" space on the scoring track, he simply adds 95 to his score according to the marker's final position.

Points for Collected Sets of Portrait Tiles

• First, players earn points for their collected Portrait Tiles. The more different portraits a player has collected, the more points he receives.
• Each set of different Portrait Tiles earns points as shown on players' Overview Cards:

Number of different Portraits	Points
1	1
2	3
3	6
4	10
5	15
6	21
7	28

• Example: The player has collected these Portrait Tiles: 4x Martin Luther, 2x Katharina von Bora, 1x Friedrich der Weise, 1x Johann Tetzel and 1x Karl V. For this collection, he earns 20 points, as follows:
  • 15 points for 1 set of 5 different Portrait Tiles (Martin Luther, Katharina von Bora, Friedrich der Weise, Johann Tetzel and Karl V.).
  • 3 points for 1 set of 2 different Portrait Tiles (Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora).
  • 1 point for the first single Martin Luther Portrait Tile.
  • 1 point for the second single Martin Luther Portrait Tile.

Points for the Most Martin Luther Portrait Tiles

• When scoring for the Portrait Tile sets, the Martin Luther tiles are included. In addition, the player with the most Luther tiles receives 12 points, and the player with the second most Luther tiles receives 6 points.
• If there is a tie for the most Luther tiles, all tied players receive 12 points. The player with the second most Luther tiles still receives 6 points as usual.
• If there is a tie for the second most Luther tiles, all tied players receive 6 points.

Additional Points

• For each 5 days of travel value a player has on his remaining Provisions Cards, he receives 1 point.
  • Example: A player has a total of 11 travel days on his remaining Provisions Cards. He receives 2 points.
• Each Luther Portrait and Benefit Card that a player has remaining in his hand also earns 1 point.

After totalling all experience points, the player who has earned the most points is the winner of the game. If there is a tie, the tied player with the most Martin Luther Portrait Tiles is the winner. If that number is the same, all tied players share in the victory.

Further Explanation of the Event and Benefit Cards

Event Cards

• Pathway Ring: The Pathway Ring is placed in such a way that the travel value can still be seen. Once placed, the next player to travel from Eisenach to Frankenhausen (or vice versa) does not have to play Provisions Cards for the travel cost between these 2 locations. The Pathway Ring is then returned to the supply.
  • Example from page 4: For the journey from Marburg to Eisleben via Frankenhausen, the player would only have to play Provisions Cards for 8 days of travel, but would still receive the full 6 experience points.
  • Note: If all 4 Pathway Rings are already on the board when another card of this type is played, the player may move 1 of those Rings.
• "All players in turn order draw from the Provisions draw stack. You draw 2 cards and your opponents draw 1 each.": The active player draws first, and then the other players draw in clockwise order. Additional Special Cards for Bread or Cheese cards are not taken when drawing Provisions Cards with this Event Card.
• "You must discard 1 of your Provisions cards to the discard stack. Your opponents must discard 2 cards each": If a player needs to discard Provisions cards but has none, he is lucky; a player cannot discard cards he does not have.
• "In the region where your Player Figure is located, place a new Portrait Tile on each empty space": In only the color region on the Game Board where your Player Figure is located, a new Portrait Tile is drawn and placed face down on each empty space, and then turned face up. In this way, the region will once again contain 4 Portrait Tiles.
• "Each player whose Player Figure is located in the red region of the game board draws 2 Provisions Cards from the draw stack": The active player draws 2 cards first if he is in the proper region, and then the other players in that region draw in clockwise order. Additional Special Cards for Bread or Cheese cards are taken when drawing Provisions Cards with this Event Card.

Benefit Cards

• "If you are in Worms when this card is played, you receive 3 experience points": It does not matter if the player begins or ends his turn in the specified location. He does not, however, receive points for this card if he only passes through the location when the card is played.
• "Before traveling this turn, place your Player Figure in any location on the board": The player will then begin his traveling from the new location. If there is a Portrait Tile at the placed location, the player does not receive it (unless he returns to that location at the end of his traveling).
  • Example: The journey from Augsburg to Eisenach costs 14 travel points. The player plays a 5-value card, which counts double, and a 4-value card. He still receives the normal 7 experience points as usual.
• "1 Provisions Card played this turn counts as double its printed value": See the example above.
• "Each player whose Player Figure is located in the red region of the game board receives 2 experience points. If that player is in Marburg, he receives 4 points instead": It does not matter if the player begins or ends his turn in the specified region or location. He does not, however, receive points for this card if he only passes through the location or region when the card is played.
• "Draw 5 Provisions cards from the draw stack. Choose 3 to keep and discard the other 2 to the discard stack. If you are in Nimbschen, keep 4 cards instead": If the player begins or ends his turn in the specified location, he may keep 4 cards, but not if he only passes through the location. Additional Special Cards for Bread or Cheese cards are not taken when drawing Provisions Cards with this Benefit Card.
• "Discard up to 3 of your Provisions cards and draw the same number of new cards from the draw stack": The player must decide at once how many cards he wishes to discard. Additional Special Cards for Bread or Cheese cards are taken when drawing Provisions Cards with this Benefit Card.