New England
New England Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 game board
- 60 land tiles
- 1 bag
- 58 development cards
- 13 Pilgrim pieces
- 11 Barn pieces
- 10 Ship pieces
- 4 marker tokens
- 10 bid markers
- 3 victory point cards
- 1 start player marker
- 12 start tiles
- 4 family markers
- 60 money chips (30 x 1 shilling, 30 x 5 shillings)
- 1 rule book
- 1 overview
Preparations
The board is placed in the middle of the table. It shows 98 spaces which represent the unsettled country. The spaces at the upper and right edges border the sea.
To the right of the unsettled country are 9 offer spaces. 3 of these are exclusively for land tiles, 3 are exclusively for development cards and the 3 central spaces can hold either land tiles or development cards.
The 10 bid markers are put on the corresponding number spaces at the top of the board.
The land tiles are well shuffled and placed in the bag.
The development cards are shuffled and placed face-down next to the board.
The Victory point cards, marker tokens, Pilgrims, Barns and Ships are placed next to the board.
Each player receives:
- 1 family marker, which is placed openly in front of him/her to show to whom each belongs.
- The 3 start tiles of his family.
- 12 shillings (white chips worth 1 shilling and yellow worth 5). Money must be kept openly in view and change can be obtained from the bank at any time.
The remaining money is placed next to the board.
The player with the longest ancestry gets the start-player marker and begins.
Start Round
The player to the right of the start player places one of his start tiles, undeveloped side up, on the board so that it covers two spaces. Then play passes to his right-hand neighbour who does the same. This continues until all start tiles have been placed.
During this start round only, no tiles are allowed to touch one another horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
The start tiles show the initial letter of the family surname in the colour of that family.
Game Rounds
Each round consists of 3 phases:
- Uncover land tiles and development cards
- Take bid markers
- Buy, settle and take income
Uncover Land Tiles and Development Cards
The start player uncovers the tiles/cards available to buy in that round. There are always nine items available initially.
First he announces how many land tiles (minimum 3, maximum 6) he wants to make available. He draws that number of tiles from the bag and places them, undeveloped side up, on the appropriate offer spaces. Afterwards, he fills the remaining offer spaces with development cards, drawn from the top of the deck and laid face up.
Take Bid Markers
The start player begins and the remaining players follow in clockwise order.
On a player's turn, he draws one bid marker from the board that has not already been taken, and places it openly in front of him.
The number on the bid-marker serves two purposes:
- it determines the player order for the third phase;
- it represents the amount the player must pay for each land tile or development card he buys.
Buy, Settle and Take Income
The player with the highest bid marker begins.
He may make up to two purchases, although he can choose or may be obliged to make fewer than two. After each purchase he must immediately use it to settle.
He then returns his bid marker to its appropriate space on the board and draws 4 shillings of income.
Afterwards, it becomes the turn of the player with the next-highest bid-marker.
Once all players have completed phase 3, the round ends. All land-tiles and development cards not bought during the round are removed from the game and placed back in the box. The start-player marker is passed to the player on the left of the current start-player and that new start player begins the next round.
Buying
The player takes any land tile or development card left on the offer spaces and pays the amount shown on his bid marker to the bank.
The player may make at most two purchases. He can choose not to make any or just one purchase instead. Each purchase is independent: two of the same type or one of each in any order may be bought.
Example: The player has the number 4 bid marker. He chooses to buy two development cards and pays 8 shillings to the bank.
Tiles and cards taken from the offer spaces are not replaced during the round. The following players, therefore, have fewer choices of what to buy.
A player may only buy land tiles that it is possible for him to place onto the board and development cards that it is possible for him to execute.
Settling
If a player buys a land tile, he must immediately place it, undeveloped side up, on a free country space. The space must be next to (horizontally or vertically) one of his family's existing tiles of the same land type.
It can never join the same land type of two different players (horizontally or vertically). The same land type of two different players may touch diagonally.
If all surrounding spaces are covered or would join to the same land type of another player, the player cannot place this type of land tile and so cannot purchase the tile. He can extend this land type no more.
A player may only have one connected area of each land type. Once placed, land tiles cannot be moved for the remainder of the game.
Example: The Palmer family buys a field tile. This can only be placed on the spaces marked with a tick. He cannot place it on the spaces with a cross, because this would join the Palmer fields with those of the Winslow family. He cannot place it on any other free space because none of them border his existing fields.
If a player buys a development card, he must immediately carry it out and lay the card openly in front of him. The card is then worth the number of victory points marked in the corner of the card at the end of the game.
The card may only be used once.
There are two types of development card:
A) Cards that develop the land into settlements, fields for crops or pastures for grazing livestock. Settlements, fields and pastures can only be developed using the corresponding land type; the player must have the correct number of undeveloped land tiles in the correct shape shown on the card. The card may be rotated to match the tiles with the shape.
The player marks the tiles to be developed with the marker tokens and then turns these tiles over to show the developed side. The marker stones are then removed.
Note: The start tiles cover two spaces and must be developed at the same time.
As soon as the player has started turning the tiles, he has to complete the action. He cannot choose another area instead.
Example: The card allows the player to develop three of his brown tiles into a settlement. The three tiles must form a right angle to be valid. By developing these tiles, the player will receive 6 victory points at the end of the game.
B) Cards which allow the player to place a Pilgrim, Barn or Ship piece on the board. A piece may be placed on any undeveloped land tile of the player buying the card. Only 1 piece may stand on each tile. A tile on which a Pilgrim, Barn or Ship stands may not be developed.
Note: The start tiles may have only one piece on them, not two.
Example: The Howland player buys a development card allowing him to place a Barn. The barn can only be placed on the tiles marked with a tick. It cannot be placed on the tiles marked with a cross since these are already occupied with other figures. It cannot be placed on the remaining tiles, as these have been developed into a pasture.
Pilgrims
In each round, the player receives 1 shilling additional income for each pilgrim.
A pilgrim may be moved at any time to another of the player's own undeveloped, unoccupied land tiles. It doesn't matter which land type the Pilgrim has previously occupied.
Barns
1 development card can be stored in each barn a player owns. The development card to be stored is pushed under the development card of the barn storing it.
In subsequent rounds during phase 3, a stored development card can be removed from the Barn and executed. The Barn then becomes free to store another development card if necessary.
Cards stored in barns at the end of the game do not score victory points for the player.
Barns cannot be moved once placed.
Ships
A ship may only be placed on an undeveloped land tile bordering the sea.
A ship may be moved at any time to another of the player's own undeveloped, unoccupied land tiles. It doesn't matter which land type the ship has previously occupied.
At the start of his turn in phase 3, if the player has the most ships on the board, he may uncover 1 additional land tile or development card before his first purchase. The additional item is placed next to the board. It increases the number of items available to him and all players still to play after him in this round.
If there is a tie for most ships, he still has this option available.
The player does not have to buy the additional tile/card he uncovered.
Take Income
The player returns his bid marker to its appropriate space on the board and draws 4 shillings of income from the bank. For each pilgrim he has placed, he receives an additional 1 shilling of income.
Game End
The game finishes immediately if, in phase 1:
- there are fewer land tiles in the bag than announced by the Start player to be placed on the offer spaces, or
- there are not enough development cards to fill the remaining offer spaces, after the land tiles have been placed.
All development cards in Barns are removed and placed back in the box.
Scoring
Each player adds up the number of victory points on his development cards.
The player with the most pilgrims receives the 4 victory point card. The player with the most barns receives the 3 victory point card. The player with the most ships receives the 2 victory point card.
If there is a tie for most pilgrims, barns or ships, each of the tied players receives the full bonus victory points.
The player with the most victory points is the winner.
If there is a tie for victory points, the player with the most money wins the tie.
Development Card Configurations
The following land-configuration values, used on the settlement/field/pasture development cards, are taken from a BoardGameGeek player-aid summary card (by user Eddy Bee) rather than the rule book itself.
| Land Configuration | Points | Number of Cards |
|---|---|---|
| 2 in a row | 3 | 4 |
| 3 in a right angle | 6 | 4 |
| 3 in a row | 6 | 2 |
| 4 in a square | 10 | 4 |
This same set of configuration values is repeated across each of the game's land types (settlements, fields, and pastures).