Montana Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Object of the Game
• Gameplay
  • Limited workers and goods
  • Action A: Recruit
  • Action B: Work
  • Action C: Build
  • Extra action: Cattle trade
• Ending the Game
• Credits

Components

• 1 worker board — The worker board consists of 4 production areas (mine, quarry, grain field, and farmland), the bank and the city. During the game players will place their workers here to receive new goods and money.
• 6 canteen markers
• 1 recruitment wheel — Assemble the recruitment wheel prior to the first game. Place the arrow on the wheel and attach it on the backside. Each time you need to use the wheel, you spin the arrow by flicking it with your fingers. The arrow must rotate at least 360 degrees when doing this. The space on which the arrow stops determines which workers you may collect from the general supply.
• 4 player boards — 1 per player colour (blue, yellow, green and red). The player board shows the fields on which players can store their cattle, goods, money and canteens. There is no limit to the amount of goods a player can store on their player board. In addition, there are 8 spaces to store workers on. You can never have more than 8 workers. At the top of the player board all the different available actions are depicted.
• 72 workers — 18 per goods colour (copper, stone, grain and pumpkin). The workers are not connected to the player colours, but are connected to goods of the same colour. During the game you will use your workers to collect goods of the same colour.
• 1 starting tile
• 12 landscape tiles
• 1 starting player tile
• 4 contractors — 1 per player colour (blue, yellow, green and red)
• 24 cows
• 48 settlements — 12 per player colour (blue, yellow, green and red)
• 49 coins — 10x gold (value 5) and 39x silver (value 1)
• 120 goods — 24x grain, 24x pumpkin, 36x copper (24x small; 12x big) and 36x stone (24x small; 12x big). There are two denominations of copper and stone. In this game an icon with a yellow border and a yellow arrow is used for the big denomination.

Setup

1. Create the landscape board with random landscape tiles. The shape of the board and the number of tiles depends on the number of players:

   • 2 players (7 landscape tiles)
   • 3 players (9 landscape tiles)
   • 4 players (10 landscape tiles)

2. Place the starting tile on a field of your choice on the landscape board.

3. Place a cow on each field on the landscape board with a cow symbol. Put the remaining cows in the general supply. Place a canteen marker on each field on the landscape board with a canteen symbol.

4. Place the recruitment wheel and the worker board next to the landscape board.

5. Put all workers in the general supply.

6. Put (depending on the number of players) a number of goods in the general supply:

   Players	Copper (small)	Stone (small)	Grain	Copper (big)	Pumpkin	Stone (big)
   2 players	10	10	10	6	10	6
   3 players	15	15	15	9	15	9
   4 players	20	20	20	12	20	12

   Return the remaining goods back to the game box. The goods in the game are limited.

7. Put all coins in the general supply. The coin supply is virtually unlimited. Should there be insufficient money then use other (game) material to indicate the amount of coins a player has.

8. Every player receives in the chosen player colour:

   • 1 player board
   • 1 contractor – Place the contractor on the "hardware store" on the worker board.
   • Settlements (2 players: 12 settlements; 3 players: 10 settlements; 4 players: 8 settlements; remaining settlements are returned to the game box). Place the settlements on your player board.
   • In addition, each player receives 1 cow and 4 goods (1 grain, 1 pumpkin, 1 (small) copper and 1 (small) stone). Each player places these on the depicted spaces on their player board. Take these goods from the game box (and thus not out of the general supply)!

9. Each player starts the game with 4 workers. To determine these workers, each player spins the recruitment wheel twice. After each spin the player takes the 2 workers depicted on the space on which the arrow stops from the general supply. If the arrow is pointing to a space with 2 white workers, then the player may take any 2 workers of his choice. Place these workers on the appropriate spaces of your player board.

10. Choose a starting player. This player places the starting player tile in front of him and receives 3 silver. Every following player in playing order receives 1 coin more than the player in front of him. So player 2 receives 4 silver, player 3 receives 5 silver and player 4 receives 6 silver. Place these coins on your player board.

Object of the Game

Collect workers and put them to work in the quarry, in the mine, on the grain fields and on the farmlands. Send your workers to the bank for money and to the city for trading. Deliver goods in a region so that settlements can be built. Settlements on strategic places are more valuable, but others will try to cut you off. Make sure you have all your settlements on the board first and you will have a good chance of winning the game.

Gameplay

The game will play out in turns. The starting player begins. Then play continues in clockwise order.

When it is your turn, you have to perform one of the three following actions:

• A — Recruit
• B — Work
• C — Build

Additionally, as often as you want, you can perform the extra action Cattle trade (see below).

Limited workers and goods

If a player would get goods or workers which aren't available in the general supply at that moment, then all players must first (if possible) return 1 good of the missing type or worker of the missing colour from their player board to the general supply. Repeat this until there are enough goods and workers in the general supply to fulfil the player's demand. Thereafter the player takes the goods or workers he is entitled to.

Example: A player would get 3 stone. There is only 2 stone in the general supply. First all players (including this player) must return 1 stone back to the general supply. Thereafter the player takes 3 stone from the general supply and places it on their player board.

Action A: Recruit

Recruit workers who can help collect goods which are needed to build new settlements.

Spin the arrow on the recruitment wheel by flicking it with your fingers. The space on which the arrow stops indicates which 2 workers you receive. Collect these workers from the general supply and place them on two free worker spaces on your player board.

Note: The arrow must rotate at least 360 degrees, otherwise you must spin again. If the arrow stops on the line dividing two spaces, slide the arrow to the space after this line.

Then you can pay grain to advance the arrow, clockwise, one space. You can move the arrow up to 7 spaces. For each space advanced this way, you must pay 1 grain to the general supply. Then take the 2 workers indicated by the arrow from the general supply and place them on two free worker spaces on your player board.

You can only do this once per turn. You are not required to pay grain to gain extra workers.

The player board only offers room for 8 workers. If you do not have enough room to place workers on your player board you have to return the excess workers back to the general supply. These may be workers you have just received, but you can also remove workers from your board to make room for new workers.

If the arrow stops on a space with two white workers, the player can choose to receive any 2 workers from the general supply. These can be two workers of the same colour or two workers in different colours.

Example: A player spins the wheel and takes a grey and an orange worker from the supply. After that he pays two grain to move the arrow two spaces and takes two additional orange workers.

Action B: Work

Send your workers to different areas of the city to collect goods and/or money.

Bank — Place 1-3 workers on an unoccupied space at the bank and receive the indicated amount of coins. These workers may have any colour. You must place the exact depicted number of workers on a space. If at the end of a player's turn all spaces at the bank are occupied, all workers in these spaces are returned to the general supply and these spaces will be available again starting from the next turn.

Example: A player places a brown and a black worker on a space at the bank. He takes 8 silver from the supply and places it on his player board.

Mine, quarry, grain field and farmland — Place workers on an unoccupied space at the mine, the quarry, the grain fields or the farmlands and pay money to receive goods.

A field is unoccupied when there are no workers on the large left-hand space. You must place 1 worker of the specified colour or 2 workers of any other colour. Then you have to pay the amount of money indicated on the space and receive the indicated number of goods. You cannot choose a reward from another space.

After that, you can use the same rules to employ workers on the small space to the right of this space to receive an additional good of the same type. You are not required to employ workers on the smaller space.

If at the end of a player's turn all large spaces in a goods area are occupied, all workers in this area (on either large and small space) are returned to the general supply. The spaces in this area will be available again starting from the next turn.

Example: First a player places a blanc worker on this left-hand space at the grain fields area. He pays 6 silver and gets 4 grain. After that he places two additional workers on the right-hand (smaller) space next to the initial space to gain 1 extra grain.

City — Take 1 pumpkin from the general supply and place it on your player board. Then place your contractor on a space of your choice in one of the rows at the store. To receive the reward on the right at the end of your turn you must be able to pay a number of pumpkins. This number is indicated at the top of each column. When you place your contractor on a space, you must have enough pumpkins to be able to pay the costs in order to receive the reward, otherwise you may not place your contractor there.

After that, the other players, in clockwise order, may also place their contractor on a space at the shops or pass. However, they do not receive a pumpkin from the general supply.

If someone wants to place their contractor in a row where there is already a contractor of another player present, he has to place it in a space to the right of that contractor. The player whose contractor was "outbid" must immediately move his contractor (according to the rules above) or pass. If a player passes he may not place his contractor this turn, he must place his contractor on the "hardware store" to indicate that he has passed.

Example: Red places his contractor on the second row. Now Blue has to move his contractor immediately. He has four options to move to. Of course he can also choose to pass (and move his contractor to the "hardware store") or to place his contractor on a space even more to the right in a row to increase his chances not to be forced to move again. Note that if he moves his contractor to a space on the second or fourth row, the contractor currently on that row must move immediately too.

If all players have placed their contractors in different rows or have passed, then the active player plays pumpkins first to receive his reward. Put the pumpkins in the general supply. The other players follow in clockwise order.

Finally, all players place their contractor back on the "hardware store" in the city.

The city rewards, by row, are:

• Receive 1 cow from the general supply. Additionally you may trade 1 small stone or copper for a larger denomination up to three times in any chosen combination. Trade with the general supply.
• Receive 3 goods in any chosen combination from the supply. You can choose from small copper, small stone and/or grain.
• You may trade 1 small stone or copper for a larger denomination up to two times in any chosen combination. Trade with the general supply.
• Receive 2 silver from the general supply. Additionally you may trade 1 small stone or copper for a larger denomination. Trade with the general supply.

The player must, before he receives the reward, indicate how many goods he wants to receive or trade. If at that moment there are insufficient goods in the general supply, the rules regarding insufficient goods apply.

Action C: Build

Deliver goods to an area and build a settlement.

Choose a field on the landscape board that borders a field with a tile (the starting tile or any other settlement) and return the goods, which are depicted on that field, from your player board back to the general supply. Then place a settlement of your colour on that field.

It is not possible to build a settlement on a field with a mountain or a lake.

Important: There are two sizes of copper and stone. You have to hand in exactly what is depicted on the field. It is not possible to deliver small goods for large goods and vice versa.

In this way you can build up to three settlements during your turn. You must build at least one settlement when you choose this action. If you refrain from building a second or third settlement during your turn you will receive 1 silver for each settlement you refrain from building.

• If the symbol for two settlements is depicted on the field, then you place two of your settlements on that field. Placing this additional settlement is part of the same build action and doesn't cost you any goods.
• If you create a straight continuous line with exactly four fields containing settlements in your colour, you immediately place an additional settlement on the fourth field in this line. Placing this additional settlement is part of the same build action and doesn't cost you any goods. (However, for any subsequent settlement in this line you may not place an extra settlement).
• If a cow is present on the field, then you place this cow on your player board.
• If the field is adjacent to a field with a lake containing a canteen marker, then you will receive the canteen. Place the canteen on the appropriate space on your player board. You can spend the canteen at the end of any own turn to immediately take another turn. When spent, the canteen is returned to the game box and can't be used again during this game. If the canteen on the field is already taken by another player, you will not receive anything.

Example: Red decides to build a settlement. He pays one big stone and one grain, and places a tile in his colour on the space next to lake. He gets the cow on that space and also takes the canteen marker, since he was the first player to build a settlement next to this lake.

He has still 3 different goods (a small stone, a grain and a pumpkin) on his player board. So he decides to trade his just gained cow with a cattle trade action (see action below) to get a small copper. Now he has the required goods to build an additional settlement. Since this space shows a two settlement symbol, he places two tiles on the space. With no goods left on his player board, he refrains from his third option to build a settlement and takes 1 silver from the supply. Note that if he builds a fourth settlement (in a later turn) in this line, he can place 3 tiles on that space since it's the fourth settlement in a straight line and it shows a two settlement symbol.

Extra action: Cattle trade

In addition to any of the above actions, you can (at any time during your turn) return 1 cow from your player board to the general supply in exchange for:

• a good of your choice (small copper, small stone, grain or pumpkin), OR
• 3 silver, OR
• a worker of your choice.

You can perform an unlimited number of cattle trade actions during your turn. These may concern the same exchange or different ones.

Ending the Game

The game ends after the round in which a player has placed his last settlement on the landscape board. When a player builds his last settlement, the current round is finished. The game ends after the turn of the player sitting to the right of the start player.

The player with the most settlements on the board wins the game. In a case of a tie, the tied player with the highest total of cows and canteens wins the game. If there is still a tie, then the tied player with the highest total of coins, workers and goods on his player board wins the game.

Credits

• Game design: Rüdiger Dorn
• Graphic design: Klemens Franz | atelier198
• Rulebook development: Jeroen Hollander
• English translation: Kenny van den Bergh
• Project manager: Jonny de Vries
• © 2017 White Goblin Games
• www.whitegoblingames.com