New World: A Carcassonne Game
New World: A Carcassonne Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 95 Landscape cards, showing various trail segments, crossings, town segments, farms, and plains segments. (Card backs, farm pieces, and town segments are illustrated on the cards themselves.)
- 30 Settlers in 5 colors (6 of each). Every settler can be deployed as a Robber, Shopkeeper, Farmer, or Trapper. One settler of each color is used as that player's scoring marker.
- 2 Surveyors. They follow the trek westward.
- 1 Game board with a scoring track and 10 starting spaces, representing the east coast.
- 1 Rulebook (this document).
Goal of the Game
Alongside the scoring track, the game board shows the east coast of the United States. Starting from there, the players lay landscape card after landscape card. Trails, towns, farms, and plains take shape. On the trek westward, players deploy their settlers to claim territory and buildings in order to score points. Because points can be scored both during the game and at the end, the winner is not known until the final scoring.
Setup
Place the game board at the edge of the table so that the starting spaces face the middle of the table. Place one Surveyor on the topmost starting space and the other on the bottommost starting space. Shuffle the landscape cards and lay them out on the table in several face-down stacks so that every player can reach them easily. Each player takes the 6 settlers of one color and places one of these settlers as a scoring marker on space 0 of the scoring track. The remaining 5 settlers stay in front of each player as their supply for now. The youngest player decides who begins the game.
Playing the Game
The starting player begins, and play continues clockwise. On their turn, a player carries out the following actions in the order given:
- The player must draw 1 new landscape card and place it.
- The player may place 1 of their own settlers from their supply onto the card they just placed.
- If placing the card has completed any trails, towns, or farms, they must now be scored. After every scoring, a Surveyor must be moved one step further west.
Then the next player takes their turn.
1. Placing a Landscape Card
As the first action, the player must take 1 landscape card from one of the face-down stacks. They show it to all the other players first (so they can "advise" on where to place it), and then lay it down. In doing so, they must observe the following:
- The new card (shown outlined in red in the examples) must be placed so that at least one edge touches one or more cards already in play, or one of the starting spaces on the game board. Placing a card corner to corner only is not allowed.
- All trail segments, town segments, and plains segments must be continued.
If the rare case arises that a card cannot be placed anywhere legally, it is removed from the game entirely, and the player draws a new card.
2. Placing a Settler
Once the player has placed the card, they may place a settler. In doing so, they must observe the following:
- They may only ever place 1 settler.
- They must take it from their supply.
- They may only place it on the card they just placed.
- They must decide which part of the card to place the settler on. Either as a…
Robber — on a trail segment Shopkeeper — in a town segment Trapper — on a plains segment (Trappers are laid down!) Farmer — on a farm
- No other settler (including the player's own) may already be standing on the trail segments, town segments, or plains segments connected by the new card. It does not matter how far away the other settler is. Two examples make this clearest:
Blue can only deploy a Trapper. A Shopkeeper already stands in the connected town segment.
Blue can deploy their settler as a Shopkeeper or as a Robber, but as a Trapper only on the small plains segment. The large plains segment is already occupied.
If a player runs out of settlers over the course of the game, they can only place cards. But don't worry: settlers do come back. Now the player's turn is over, and the next player clockwise takes their turn. Exception: if placing the card has completed a trail, town, or farm, it must now be scored.
3. Scoring Completed Trails, Towns, and Farms
A Completed Trail
A trail is complete when the trail segments on both ends are bounded by a crossing, a town segment, or a farm, or when the trail forms a closed loop. Any number of trail segments may lie between these boundaries.
For a completed trail, the player who has a Robber on that trail scores as many points as the trail is "long" (number of cards) plus 2 points for every Trading Post that lies along the trail.
These points — like all further points — are marked immediately on the scoring track. The scoring track is a circuit of 50 spaces that can be gone around several times. If a scoring marker reaches or passes space 0 again, it is laid on its side. This way you can see that the player has already scored 50 or more points.
A Completed Town
A town is complete when its town segments are completely surrounded by a wall and the town area has no gaps. A town may contain any number of town segments. For a completed town, the player who has a Shopkeeper in that town scores 2 points for every town segment (counted by number of cards, not number of segments). Every Town Flag counts for 2 extra points.
If two town segments lie on 1 card, they only count as 1 town segment.
A Completed Farm
A farm is complete when it is surrounded by 8 landscape cards. The player who has a settler on the farm immediately scores 9 points (1 point for every landscape card).
What happens if several settlers stand on a completed trail or in a completed town?
Through clever placement of landscape cards, it is entirely possible for several Robbers to end up on one trail, or several Shopkeepers in one town. The points go to the player with the most Robbers or Shopkeepers. In case of a tie, all of the tied players score the full points.
Settlers Return to Their Owners
Only after a trail, town, or farm has been completed and scored do the Robbers, Shopkeepers, or Farmers deployed there return to their owners. Starting with their next turn, players may deploy them again in any role.
Is it possible to place a settler, score it immediately, and take the settler back, all in the same turn? This is possible. You must always proceed in this order:
- Complete a trail, town, or farm with the new card.
- Place a Robber, Shopkeeper, or Farmer.
- Score the completed trail, town, or farm.
- Take back the Robber, Shopkeeper, or Farmer.
The Surveyors
Bonus Points
When a settler scores points and stands in the same column as one or more Surveyors, it scores an extra 4 points per Surveyor. Note: a Surveyor is only moved after scoring.
Moving the Surveyors
Every time a completed building is scored, the player whose turn it is moves 1 of the Surveyors 1 column further west (further from the coast). It does not matter which card the Surveyor is placed on, only the column matters. If the two Surveyors are not standing in the same column, the player must move the Surveyor that is closer to the coast. This means both Surveyors always stand in the same column, or in neighboring columns.
If placing the active player's card completes several buildings at once, the Surveyors are also moved several times. The player whose turn it is decides in which order the buildings are scored. If a building is completed but not scored (because no settler is standing on it), no Surveyor is moved.
If both Surveyors stand in the same column and there are no more cards to the west of it, the Surveyors are not moved further. They stay there until a building is scored and there are cards to their west again.
Removing Settlers to the East
After a Surveyor has been moved, it is checked whether any settlers still stand in the rows east of the Surveyors. These are removed and returned to their owners. Trappers are not removed — they remain lying down until the end of the game.
A player is allowed to place a settler on a card just laid to the east of the Surveyors, but this is risky, since that settler (other than a Trapper) will definitely be removed after the next scoring.
For every completed building, the following is done, in order:
- Score the building (possibly with bonus points).
- Move a Surveyor further.
- Remove settlers to the east.
The scoring and movement of the Surveyors is illustrated once more in detail with an example on the last page (see "Example of Surveyor Movement and Scoring" below).
The Plains
Several connected plains segments are called a Plains area. Plains and plains segments are not scored during the game. They exist only to hold Trappers. The owners of Trappers can only score points for them at the very end of the game (see Trapper Scoring below). Trappers therefore remain on the plains for the whole game and never return to their owners! (To make this clear, Trappers are laid down when placed.) Plains areas are separated from one another by trails, by towns, and by the edge of the laid-out cards. (Important for final scoring!)
Note: the player who placed the new card that connects two previously separate plains areas into one may not place a Trapper on that card if a Trapper is already standing on the now-connected plains area.
End of Game
The game ends at the end of the turn in which the last landscape card was placed. If placing this final card completed one or more buildings, they are scored as usual. Then the final scoring takes place.
Final Scoring
Scoring Unfinished Trails, Towns, and Farms
In the final scoring, all unfinished trails, towns, and farms are scored first. Every unfinished trail counts 1 point per card and 2 points per Trading Post (just as with a completed trail). For every unfinished town and farm, its owner scores 1 point for every segment. A Town Flag now also counts for only 1 point. After these buildings are scored, the corresponding settlers are removed.
Trapper Scoring (for the animals on the plains)
Tip: to make Trapper scoring easier, first remove all settlers from the scored unfinished trails, towns, and farms.
Now only the Trappers remain on the plains, and these are settled up. For each plains area, its owner is determined. If only 1 player has a Trapper on a plains area, they are its owner. If several players have Trappers on the same plains area, the player with the most Trappers is the owner. In case of a tie, all tied players are owners of the plains area. The owner(s) of a plains area score 1 point for every animal on that plains area.
Every animal (regardless of species) counts for 1 point.
Once all plains areas have been scored this way, the game is over. The player with the most points wins.
Scoring Overview
Completed buildings during the game:
- Trail (Robber) — 1 point per card + 2 points per Trading Post.
- Town (Shopkeeper) — 2 points per card + 2 points per Town Flag.
- Farm (Farmer) — 9 points.
- Surveyor bonus — 4 points per Surveyor standing in the same column.
(Unfinished) buildings at game end:
- Trail (Robber) — 1 point per card + 2 points per Trading Post.
- Town (Shopkeeper) — 1 point per card + 1 point per Town Flag.
- Farm (Farmer) — 1 point per card (farm + surrounding cards).
- Plains (Trapper) — 1 point per animal on the plains.
Overview of Landscape Cards (95 Cards)
The 95 landscape cards are distributed across 50 different card types, in these counts: 2x, 3x, 3x, 2x, 1x, 1x, 1x, 3x, 2x, 1x, 4x, 3x, 1x, 3x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 4x, 1x, 1x, 3x, 1x, 1x, 1x, 1x, 3x, 2x, 1x, 2x, 2x, 1x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 1x, 3x, 3x, 1x, 3x, 2x, 1x, 1x, 1x, 1x, 1x, 3x, 1x, 2x, 1x, and 1x, totaling the 95 landscape cards.
Example of Surveyor Movement and Scoring
(See "The Surveyors" above for the full rules.)
In the first few turns, the players deployed their settlers as follows. The 2-card trail to the north was scored, the settler there was taken back, and the top Surveyor was moved further.
Now Yellow places the red-outlined card and places their settler on the trail leading south. For the now-completed trail, Yellow scores 10 points (4 cards + 1 Trading Post + 1 Surveyor). Yellow's settler is scored and taken back, and the bottom Surveyor is moved 1 card further west.
Next, Blue places the red-outlined card and places their settler on the small town. With this card, three buildings are completed at once: Red's town to the north, Blue's farm, and Blue's small town. Blue scores their farm for 17 points (9 cards + 2 Surveyors), takes their settler back from the farm, and moves the top Surveyor. Then Blue scores their small town for 8 points (2 cards + 1 Surveyor), takes their settler back, and moves the bottom Surveyor. This forces the Green and Red settlers out of the column the Surveyor has just vacated — the Red settler is removed as well, so Red's town is not scored, since Red's settler is no longer there!
Credits
Author: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede. Rules layout: Christof Tisch. © 2008 Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH, Birnauer Str. 15, 80809 München.