Orient Express (2017) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Starter Setup for a First Game
• Sequence of Play
• Rules of Play
  • Placing and Removing Track Segments
  • Ferry Points
  • Channel Tunnel
  • Completing a Regional Card
  • Drawing Regional Cards
  • Completing a Passenger Card
  • Reshuffling
  • Bonus Designs
  • Player Aid
  • Bonus Cards
  • Nationalism Tokens
  • Entry Waivers
• Ending the Game
  • Game End Example
• Scoring
  • Passenger Route Bonus Table
• Player Aid Summary
• Designers' Notes
  • Passenger Routes
  • Removing Track
  • Money

Components

• I. Game Board
• II. Passenger Cards
• III. Bonus Cards
• IV. Regional Cards
• V. Entry Waivers
• VI. Nationalism Tokens
• VII. First Player Marker
• VIII. Track Segments
• IX. Player Aid Cards

Setup

1. Each player chooses a color, and takes a Player Aid sheet and 35 Track Segments of that color, as well as 10 Entry Waiver tokens.
2. Divide the Regional Cards into 9 decks by color. Then shuffle each deck and place near the game board.
3. Place all of the Nationalism Tokens on their matching spots on the board.
4. Determine the First Player using any method desired. Give that player the First Player marker.
5. Divide the Bonus Cards into 3 decks by type (yellow, green & blue): Shuffle each deck, put the top card from each deck face-up on the table, then put the rest back in the box (they will not be used this game).
6. Shuffle the Passenger Cards and draw 4 and place face-up in a tableau beside the board. Set the remainder beside the board as a face-down draw deck.
7. In turn order each player will draw 5 total cards from any deck or decks:
   • 7a. Draw from the Passenger Card Tableau or Passenger Draw Deck.
   • 7b. Draw from any Regional Card Deck.

There is no limit to the number of cards that can come from any one stack or type. The mix of cards is completely up to the player.

Starter Setup for a First Game

Because Orient Express provides so many player choices, we have decided to provide you with a starter setup for your first game. This may not be needed or wanted by everyone but for those that wish to have a better understanding of the game from the start, we recommend the following five cards for each player as their starting hand. Pass these cards out before you lay out the 4 Passenger Route cards in their tableau. Re-shuffle that deck and then lay out the cards as indicated above.

Each player takes 2 Passenger cards from one of the groups shown (seen at the top of each card). Then add the associated Nationalism cards as listed below:

• Player 1: 1 each from British Isles, Germany & Scandinavia.
• Player 2: 1 each from Iberia, France & Italy.
• Player 3: 1 each from Central Europe, Balkans & Italy.
• Player 4: 1 each from France, Germany & Central Europe.
• Player 5: 1 each from Russia, Central Europe & Italy.

(The game layout shows the Passenger Cards tableau, Bonus Cards, the Nationalism Track, and the Regional Cards sorted by Region.)

Sequence of Play

Each player will have an equal number of turns per game but the number of turns played will vary from game to game.

On your turn, you must do one of the following actions:

• Place 1-3 of your Track Segments on the board.
• Pick up 1-3 of your Track Segments from the board.

Afterward, you may do one of the following:

• Score one Passenger Card from your hand. (All Track Segments remain on the board.) Draw a card from any deck or the Passenger Tableau.
• Score one Regional Card from your hand. (Your Track Segments of that route leave the board.) Draw a card from any deck or the Passenger Tableau.
  • If there is a Nationalism Token of that Region still available, take the token with the highest value.
• Discard one Region Card from your hand, Draw a card from any deck or the Passenger Tableau.
• Discard a Passenger Card from your hand Draw a card from any deck or the Passenger Tableau.

You may also do the following anytime on your turn:

• Claim one Bonus Card & place it in your score stack located on your player aid (see "Player Aid" below).
• Once per turn each a player may pay 1 Entry Waiver to discard all of the face-up Passenger Cards and replace them with new ones from the draw pile. If a card is not taken from the TABLEAU of four face-up cards, that player must then pay 1 additional Entry Waiver to the bank. Entry Waivers paid to the bank are removed from play.

After your turn, play proceeds to the left.

Rules of Play

The players are taking on the role of European railroad innovators. Placing Track Segments represents the creation of small independent rail lines, operated by the player.

Placing and Removing Track Segments

You always lay your Track Segments on the connection lines. Each connection line can only hold a single Track Segment, and thus only one player's track can occupy it. Exception: See "Channel Tunnel" rules below.

Note: You can only place or remove your own Track Segments - never an opponent's!

You may place your Track Segments on any legal connection line on the board; you are not required to connect with previously placed Track Segments.

Train Segments may not be placed where there is no line (such as over bodies of water).

Ferry Points

Some lines represent Ferry Crossings. Any time a player wishes to place a track segment over a Ferry Crossing, that player must return one Entry Waiver to the box for each segment placed, removing it from play. This represents the extra cost required to maintain a separate seaborne transportation system.

Example: København is surrounded by Ferry Crossings. Each track segment would cost 1 extra Entry Waiver to place a track.

Channel Tunnel

Any turn after a 2 VP Nationalism token is taken from the Nationalism Track the Channel Tunnel or 'Chunnel' may be built on one of the three marked ferries emanating from London. From the next player on, any player may pay 1 Cube and place down 2 tracks on one of the three 'Chunnel' spaces. These two tracks may never be removed by any player or card. Only one Chunnel may be created per game so once one is built the other spaces may not be used for a tunnel.

Example: Blue builds the Channel Tunnel between London and Lille. Those tracks will remain at that location for the remainder of the game. The connections between London and Antwerp and Le Havre will not be allowed to be used for a tunnel for the remainder of the game. They may still be used for ferries.

Completing a Regional Card

Completing Regional Cards during the game represents the founding and eventual Nationalism of the various railroad concerns of Europe. Removing the pieces shows that you no longer control those companies but they have become state-run entities.

Regional Card anatomy: the name of the Rail Company; the color indicates the region; the cities that must be connected to complete this card (the colors indicate the regions in which the cities are located); the end of game Victory Points for completing the rail line; the Company Logo (no game effect).

You complete a Regional Card when all of the cities listed on the card are connected to each other via one contiguous group of your Track Segments. These do not need to be placed in the most direct or efficient fashion, and there can be any number of branches.

Example: Blue has just completed the Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord. Now that it is complete all of the blue Track Segments shown will be removed from the board.

When you complete a Regional Card...

• Place the card face-up in front of you on your score stack.
• Take the highest valued token matching that region from the Nationalism Track (if there is one remaining) and place it on your score stack on your Player Aid.
• Immediately draw a new card from either a region of your choice, the Passenger Card tableau or the Passenger Card deck.
• Now, remove the track from the board: Remove the minimum number of Track Segments required to connect all of the cities listed on the card. You cannot choose to take more.

In the example, blue plays the TGV France-Italy Regional Card. The highlighted Track Segments are required to connect Paris, Lyon and Milano as required by the card and are removed from play. It has been nationalized and is no longer available for player use. The Track Segments that were not required to connect the cities were not removed, remaining under blue's control for future turns.

Drawing Regional Cards

Whenever a player elects to draw a new Regional Company Card, that player has the option of taking the card from any Region. Players are never required to draw from any specific region and players may possess multiple cards from the same region. If a player ever needs to draw a card, but a Region deck is exhausted, no cards may be drawn from that deck.

Completing a Passenger Card

European rails are driven by the need to deliver passengers all over the continent. These are shown by Passenger Cards. These routes are the foundation of the companies and shrewd placement of these tracks will help you maximize the affects of Nationalization.

Passenger Card anatomy: Set Design (a collection of sets of the same design can increase profitability of the tracks); location of the cities on the map; regions where this set of cards will appear; the cities that must be connected to complete this card (the colors indicate the regions in which the cities are located); Victory Point value for end of game scoring.

You complete a Passenger Card when all of the cities listed on the card are connected to each other via one contiguous group of your Track Segments. These do not need to be placed in the most direct or efficient fashion, and there can be any number of branches.

When you complete a Passenger Card...

• Place the card face-up on your score stack on your Player Aid.
• Do not remove any track!
• Draw another card from the top of any Region Deck or from the Passenger Tableau or Passenger Draw Deck.

Track Segments that were previously used to complete a Passenger Card may be used again during the connection of a different Passenger Card, or removed in a future turn during completion of a Regional Card. Passenger Cards and Regional Cards only need to have the proper links in play at the time of completion. Once the cards are in your score stack, they will not be removed from the stack if the links used to connect the card are removed.

Reshuffling

There is no reshuffling of the Passenger Card Draw Deck. If at any time the Passenger Card draw pile is emptied no further Passenger Cards may be drawn.

Bonus Designs

There are nine sets of Bonus Designs on the Passenger Cards. Each design appears on five cards. At the end of the game players score a bonus score for the number of each design visible on their completed Passenger Cards. This value is displayed on the Player Aid Cards.

Player Aid

The Player Aid card presents the sequence of play, and scoring notes for each player to quickly view. It also has a holding box to place your score stack.

As the game progresses, you will score and thus accumulate Passenger Cards, Regional Cards, Nationalism Tokens and Bonus Cards. When you score or claim these cards, place them face-down on your score stack (the area marked "Scoring Cards"). When you claim a Bonus, show the other players that you have fulfilled the requirements by revealing all of the cards from your score stack that were necessary to claim the bonus.

You may freely look through your own stack, and re-order it as desired.

Bonus Cards

Bonus Cards are either scored during the run of play or at the end of the game. If they score during play, they are awarded to the first player to achieve the goal shown on the card. If they score at the end of the game, award them as instructed on the card. When a player can claim a Bonus Card it is taken at no cost in action to that player. That player must disclose to all players the cards that are used to claim the bonus.

Entry Waivers (see below) may not be used to claim a Bonus Card. If a player wants to complete the Danube Express; London, Budapest, Warszawa and Istanbul must all be connected by only that player's colored track. No other player's track may be used.

Nationalism Tokens

As Regional Cards are scored and nationalized, shown in the game by removing the trains from the board, the player scoring that company also takes the highest value Nationalism Token from that region's column. If a player was the first to complete a Germany Regional Company Card, that player would remove the tracks and take the "4" value Nationalism Bonus Token for the Germany region. When a player can claim a Nationalism Bonus Token it is taken at no cost in action to that player. It is simply taken as soon as the player scores a Regional Card provided that any remain.

Entry Waivers

At some points in the game, you may be unable or unwilling to use your own track to complete a Regional Card or Passenger Card. This is when you can take advantage of your Entry Waiver tokens! They allow you to use other players' Track Segments to complete your route. You pay the tokens to the player or players whose track you use. This means that they can later spend those Entry Waivers in the same fashion, because Entry Waivers are completely fungible! Entry Waivers are passed around from player to player, and rarely leave the game, so the more you "use" other players track, the more you enable them to use yours later! ...and each Entry Waiver in your possession is worth 1 point at the end of the game....

• You must pay each player 1 Entry Waiver token for each of her Track Segments you use.
• You cannot use more than 5 Track Segments belonging to the same player in one turn.
• If you fulfill a Regional Card, only your Track Segments come off the board; other players' segments that you used remain on the board.
• You cannot use other players' track if the route does not include any of your track whatsoever.
• You cannot use Entry Waivers to complete a Bonus Card.

Examples (from the illustrated board):

1. Red cannot use the Blue connection to connect Dresden and Hamburg because Red has no trains in that route.
2. If Red wants to connect Minsk to Dresden she would need 3 Entry Waivers. One for Blue and two for Green.
3. Yellow can connect Sankt-Petersburg to Hamburg by giving Green two, Blue three and Red four Entry Waiver tokens.

Waiver Reset

Once per turn a player may elect to remove 1 Entry Waiver from the game to discard the face-up Passenger Cards and place four more face-up. If the player does then not take one of those 4 cards into her hand, that player must spend 1 additional Entry Waiver, removing it from the game.

Ferries

An Entry Waiver must be spent (This is removed from play) to build each segment that displays a ferry indicator.

Channel Tunnel

An Entry Waiver must be spent (removed from play) when a player creates the Channel Tunnel. See rules above.

Fungibility

All Entry Waiver tokens may be used by any player that possesses them. If Blue paid Red 2 Entry Waiver Tokens to use track, Red could then remove one of those blue Entry Waivers to initiate a Waiver Reset at a later point in the game.

Ending the Game

The game end situation is reached when the Nationalism Tracker has reached one of the two states below.

1. Each Row of Nationalism Tokens contains only 1-value tokens or no tokens at all.
2. There are six regions that have no Nationalism Tokens remaining in their row.

Whenever this state is reached, all players finish the current turn. The game ends when the player holding the First Player Token would be up to play.

Game End Example

In the example shown, the game is nearing the end. If the France #2 Nationalism Token is taken it will empty the second column, triggering the game's end. If any of the #1 Nationalism Tokens are taken from the British Isles, Russia or Iberia, the game will also end.

Scoring

At the end of the game after all players have completed their final turn, check to see if any player or players should be awarded any Bonus Cards that are determined at the end of the game.

Evaluate your score stack:

• Each Regional Card indicates its value.
• Each Bonus Card indicates its value.
• Each Nationalism Token indicates its value.
• Each Passenger Card indicates its value.
• In addition players need to count the cards from each Passenger Route Symbol Set to get an additional value (see table below and on the Player Aids).
• Each Entry Waiver token you have is worth 1 point.

The highest score wins. In a tie, the player who has scored a higher total number of Regional Cards and Passenger Cards wins! The second tiebreaker is the number of Entry Waivers. If it is still a tie, History will remember these luminaries as evenly matched!

Passenger Route Bonus Table

For each set of matching designs at the end of the game:

Number of Cards	Victory Points
1	1
2	4
3	9
4	16
5	25

Player Aid Summary

On your turn you must do one of the following: place 1 to 3 track segments; or remove 1 to 3 track segments. In addition, after you have placed or removed track segments you may do one of the following: score a Passenger Route Card; score a Regional Card and remove all of your necessary track segments to connect all cities on the card (if there is a Nationalism Token of that Region still available, take the token with the highest value); or discard one Card and take a replacement from any stack or the Tableau.

You may also do the following anytime on your turn: claim one Bonus Card and place it in your score stack; once per turn each a player may pay 1 Entry Waiver to discard all of the face-up Passenger Route cards and replace them with new ones from the draw pile. If a card is not taken from the Tableau of five face-up cards, that player must then play 1 additional Entry Waiver to the bank. Entry Waivers paid to the bank are removed from play.

Entry Waivers: when an Entry Waiver is used, give the player whose track you are using one token per track segment used, up to a maximum of 5 to each player. They may be used to complete a Regional Card or a Rail Company Card. Multiple players track segments may be used if you have a Waiver to give each of them. Opponent's links remain on the board regardless of why they were used. An Entry Waiver must be spent to place a segment on a Ferry Crossing.

Scoring: at the end of the game all players total up their score values on the cards in their score pile and then add the values of any "end of game" bonus cards. Each Entry Waiver token is worth 1 point. Add Passenger Route Bonus Scoring and Nationalism Tiles.

Source note: transcribed from the official Rio Grande Games English rulebook. The Player Aid Summary is the text printed on the player aid illustrated on the components page (it says "five face-up" Tableau cards, whereas the rules say four).

Designers' Notes

Passenger Routes

We spent 80-90% of the game's development time trying to follow famous and historical European train routes for the Passenger Cards. While we tweaked and fixed other problems, we continued to keep "Donbas Rose", "Copernicus" and "Berlin Express" in the game. But when the other parts of the game were finished, the historical routes were just too unbalanced. Players could settle on some high traffic paths and score insane points because so many of the great routes covered a small fraction of the actual game map. So the last thing we had to do, was to break up those famous routes and cover the board more evenly. If you look hard, you can still see the bones of the famous routes in the different sets and cards. Some of those routes did end up in the Bonus Deck.

Removing Track

When you score a Regional Card in Orient Express, you are forced to remove the track necessary to connect all of the cities on the card. This does not represent tearing up of the track and removing it from play. It represents the nation involved nationalizing the track and taking it under its control. The players are no longer allowed access to those stretches of track. In return for selling them to the company listed on the card, you receive points representing money, stock and power. In addition, by selling early in a region, you identify yourself as a "friendly" entrepreneur and receive a larger reward than those that come to the region later.

Money

There is no money in the game. We decided to not use money for builds like some of our favorite train games, but to assume that each player was equally skilled at raising capital. Therefore money is represented in turns (effort) and Entry Waivers. By putting everyone on equal footing, it becomes the decisions of when and where to build that separates the players.