Mini Express: Map Pack 2 – Japan and Spain

Mini Express: Map Pack 2 – Japan and Spain Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Components

1 x Double Sided Map (JP + ES)
1 x Taxation Board
6 x Favor Tiles
6 x Headquarter Tiles
10 x AVE Proposal Tiles
4 x Bonus Marker Tiles
4 x Starting City Hex tiles

Dagger & Cloak

Mini Expansion by Mark Gerrits

This mini expansion can be used with any map. Players begin the game with hidden Favor Tiles with positive influence. Add excitement to your games by revealing a hidden favor you had all along to surpass your opponents!

Changes to Setup

Each player randomly takes a Favor Tile, looks at it, and places it face down in front of them.
The Favor Tiles should be hidden at all times and may not be shown to any other player during the game.
Players are still encouraged to discuss and speculate on the contents without actually revealing their Favor Tiles to other players.

Changes to Gameplay

Nothing is changed.

Changes to Game End

Nothing is changed.

Changes to Final Scoring

Before Final Scoring starts, all players reveal their Favor Tiles and apply the indicated positive influence to their Player markers on the Influence tracks.

The rest of scoring is not affected.

Death & Taxes

Mini Expansion by Mark Gerrits

As a tribute to Mark Gerrits' previous train game Mini Rails, a taxation board is added to the world of Mini Express. If a company does not pay enough taxes, players may find the value of those shares limited and worth less than expected. Who shall be the one to instruct a tax payment while losing out on potential growth? But if you wait too long, you may never get the chance to unlock the higher share levels.

Changes to Setup

Place the Taxation board on top of the Tracking board.

Changes to Gameplay

After taking a Build Action, the active player may pay taxes by performing the steps below:

If the current Company built this turn has any remaining trains on the Company Asset board, then the active player may take one train for tax payment.
Place the train token on the smallest unoccupied number on the Tax Payment Track of the same color.
- The 3 spaces are marked with 3/7/12.
- If all 3 of a company's spaces are occupied, this company does not pay any more taxes for the rest of the game.
- During the game, the Track Length marker may pass the limit indicated by the Taxation board.

Changes to Game End

Nothing is changed.

Changes to Final Scoring

Before Final Scoring:

Check the Tax Payment Track for each company, and note the lowest uncovered number in each color.
This number will be the maximum possible length each company may use to calculate share value. Lower the Track Length marker if needed.

The current maximum Length each company may use to calculate share value are:

Brown: Length 3
Grey: Length 7
Orange: Length 12
White: No Limit

Japan 1987

Map Designed by Hisashi Hayashi

Introduction

Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatized and broken into separate regional passenger railway companies in 1987. The Seikan Tunnel and Seto Bridge were opened in 1988, connecting the railway networks of all 4 major islands of Japan. You stand at the brink of a brand new age of railroad transportation, but can you grasp this fortune and capitalize on the opportunity?

In the Japan map, players try to build new lines connecting the 6 newly formed Japan Railways (JR) companies. With a bold expansive map that covers all of Japan from Okinawa to Hokkaido, players can build ferries, bridges, and underwater tunnels to connect the 4 main islands of Japan.

Changes to Setup

There are no fixed starting locations for the Brown, Grey, Orange, and White companies. Before placing Demand Tiles, follow the steps below to randomize them for every game:

Shuffle all 6 Headquarter Tiles in a face down pile. Then randomly draw one tile for each of the Brown, Grey, Orange, and White companies. The unused tiles are returned to the box.
Take the Starting City Hex tiles for the Brown, Grey, Orange, and White companies, and place them on the city indicated by their drawn Headquarter Tiles. Then, place a Train Token of their color on top of the Starting City Hexes.
If a company is starting in Takamatsu (City ID: 12) or Sapporo (City ID: 27), place 5 trains into their available track space instead of the normal 4 trains on the Company Asset Board. They will have 1 fewer train of their color in the general supply.

The Headquarter Tiles for Takamatsu & Sapporo will have a track icon as a reminder they start with 5 tracks in their Asset areas.
After placing the Starting City Hex tile, there will be 32 cities that need Demand Tiles. The special city Naha (City ID: 37) does not need a Demand Tile.
Place the Brown, Grey, Orange, and White Bonus Marker Tiles on the 1 space of the JR Interchange Track located in the northern section of the JP map.

If the Ferry between Takamatsu & Wakayama is built, then players can build from Wakayama to Takamatsu via the Bridge hex. Note that Takamatsu can't be a destination if it is a starting location.

Changes to Gameplay

The following changes are added:

Building Restrictions:
1. Some hexes have a red border line. Players are not allowed to build track crossing a red line. Players may build around the red line but may not build directly through it.
Naha City Bonus:
1. Naha (City ID: 37) has 2 wild influence icons instead of Demand Tiles and also has a bonus length icon on it.
2. When building into Naha, the active player gains 2 wild influences. The 2 influence gained must be in different colors; they cannot be the same color.
3. The Company building into Naha will receive an extra length. Since Naha is only accessible by a Ferry line, it will use exactly 3 tracks to build into Naha and will increase length of the Company by 3.
Ferry Lines:
1. Instead of laying track, a player may build a Ferry Line if the city they're building from is connected to an empty Ferry hex. i. If the destination city is already full, the player cannot build a connecting ferry to the destination city. ii. If both ends are occupied by the same company, then the Ferry Line can't be built by this company.
  
  Note: There are 2 Ferry Lines marked (1) and (3) which crosses the edges of the map to connect Hokkaido to Honshu. Lines with the same number are considered to be connected together.
2. Add 2 trains to the Ferry hex. Each Ferry Line can only be occupied by one company.

Changes to Game End

Nothing is changed.

Changes to Final Scoring

JR Interchange Bonus:

Before final scoring, count how many different JR Regions the Brown, Grey, Orange, and White Company is connected to. If they are connected to 3/4/5/6 different regions, their respective track length marker receives an additional 1/2/3/5 to their overall length on the map. Adjust the length markers as needed.

Naha Length Bonus:

Before final scoring, remember to check the company that built into Naha has their length increased by 1 for the Naha bonus and 2 for the Ferry bonus.

Spain 1975

Map Designed by Christian V. Tunn

Introduction

Experience the Spanish railway's incredible transformation from 1975 to the present day! This map recreates the journey from the last steam locomotive to the AVE, the longest High Speed Rail network in Europe. Collect Demand Tiles to trade for bonuses and experience the excitement of the transition from 1975 to today!

In the Spain map, companies will have 2 separate starting locations at the beginning of the game. Collecting Demand Tiles seems to be a subtle rules change, but it will actually turn building priorities upside down. Grasp this golden opportunity and make a fortune in this new age of railway transportation.

Changes to Setup

The following changes are added:

The 4 Companies will have a shared, extra starting location on Madrid. Take a train from each company and place it in Madrid. Thus, they will all start with 1 fewer train (total of 19) in the general supply.
Separate the AVE Proposal Tiles according to the color on the back of the tiles. Shuffle them separately. Make 2 stacks of 3 tiles for short-distance (light colored) AVE Proposals and 2 stacks of 2 tiles for long-distance (dark colored) AVE Proposals.
Place all 4 stacks faceup on the map as shown. The top 4 tiles will be the available proposals at the start of the game.

Changes to Gameplay

The following changes are added:

Fulfilling Demand:
1. When a player fills a city to its capacity level after building tracks into it, instead of removing the Demand Tile from the game, the active player receives the Demand Tile and keeps it in front of themselves.
Sponsor an AVE Line:
1. Before the end of a player's turn, after performing their actions, they may choose to spend their Demand Tiles to Sponsor an AVE line.
2. There will be up to 4 AVE Proposal tiles available for players to choose from. Each Proposal tile will have a required cost indicated as 2-3 demand tiles.
  - Short: 2 separate Demand Tiles each containing one icon from one of the indicated companies must be used for payment. The black icon may be paid by any icon, including purple or double icon tiles.
  - Long: The exact 3 Demand Tiles must be used for payment. The purple wild influence icon may be used to represent any icon.
  Note: Only the Demand Tiles are needed to Sponsor an AVE Line. The city connections of the route names are not required.
3. The active player may spend their Demand Tiles to pay the cost of a Proposal tile: a. Spent Demand Tiles are removed from the game. b. Payment must be done within a single turn. c. Players can only sponsor 1 Proposal tile per turn.
  
  Note: In a 2-Player advanced game, players can only sponsor 1 Proposal tile in one of their 2 consecutive turns. This can be done on the turn that ended the game.

Changes to Game End

Nothing is changed.

Changes to Final Scoring

The following changes are added:

Sponsored AVE Lines:

Each Long Distance AVE Proposal tile obtained by players will count as an extra share tile of the indicated Company for themselves.