Profiteers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Setup
• Game Play
  • 1. Commerce Phase
  • 2. Battle Phase
• Game End

Contents

• 48 Troop cards (24 Union, 24 Confederate)
• 48 Bond cards (24 Union, 24 Confederate)
• 1 Battle Sequence card
• 1 Bond Value card
• 36 Gold cards
• 5 Factory cards (1 for each player)
• 11 Special Contract cards
• 15 Factory Marker tokens (Black)
• 8 Victory/Bond Value tokens (3 Union (Blue), 3 Confederate (Grey), 2 Tied (White))
• 1 First Player card

Game Setup

1. Place the Bond Value card in the play area with a Blue and a Grey token at level 1.

2. Place the Battles Sequence card in the play area with the remaining white, blue and grey tokens alongside for recording the results of the battles.

3. Shuffle the troop cards into two separate piles, Confederate and Union, and place face down in the play area.

4. Place Gold, Bonds and Special cards face up in the play area.

5. Take one Union and one Confederate bond per player and shuffle them together to make a starting deck. Deal two of these cards face down to each player. A player's Bond and Gold cards are kept secret throughout the game.

6. Give each player 8 Gold, a Factory Card and three black factory tokens. Each player then places a token on the "1" of the British Factory track.

7. Select the starting player randomly and give them the First Player card.

Setup figure note: the Battle Track figure lists the battles in order as Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Cold Harbour and Petersburg. Its per-battle advantage icons have no printed key in the rulebook text; they are shown only on the figure and the Battle Sequence card.

Game Play

1. Commerce Phase

Starting from the First Player and proceeding clockwise, each player performs actions in the following order:

a. Sell (optional)

• Sell any number of regular Bonds for gold to the bank at their market price as indicated on the Bond Value Track.

Note: Victory Bonds may never be sold.

b. Buy (optional)

• Buy any number of Factories
  • British Factories cost 8 gold, Union and Confederate cost 6 gold each
  • Purchased Factories are marked on the player's Factory card
• Buy one Special contract card
  • Pay the cost in gold indicated on the card
  • Special contract cards are placed face up in front of a player

Players may only buy one of these special cards per round but may buy and keep any number over the course of the game.

c. Produce

Produce arms to supply either side. For each factory a player owns they draw one troop card from either the Confederate or Union Troop decks and receive one bond of that side in payment.

• Union and Confederate Factories only produce troops for their respective side
• British Factories may produce troops for either side
• All factories must produce troops. In the unlikely event that there are no remaining troops in a deck, then production and payment doesn't happen for that side.
• A player can produce and sell arms to each side in the same game round
• Troop cards received are placed face down in front of the player, with their type (infantry, artillery or trenches) kept secret from other players.

However the number of troop cards players have for each side must remain visible.

2. Battle Phase

a. Commit Troops

Starting with the player to the right of the First Player, proceeding anti-clockwise and ending with the First Player, each player may take any of the following actions:

• Commit troops - Place any number of troop cards face down next to the Battle Sequence Card. The number of cards placed is revealed, but not their type.
• Play Railroads - Commit any number of Railroad cards to the battle. The player must state which side the Railroad is being used to help.
• Pass - however this is their only opportunity to participate in the battle.

b. Fight the Battle

Once troops have been committed, the battle is fought. Battles are fought in the order of the Battle Sequence card and after the first battle, each side has an initial advantage in each battle as indicated on the Battle Sequence card.

• Turn all troop cards committed to the battle face up and add their troop value to any initial advantage and any Railroad cards played, to determine each side's total troop value.
• A battle is won by either side if their total troop value exceeds the other side by 2 or more. (If a "Trenches" card has been played the battle is only won by the side opposing Trenches if their total troop value exceeds the side playing Trenches by 5 or more).
• In all other cases the battle is a tie.

Battle Example:

Fredericksburg - Confederate advantage = 1

Result: Confederate Troop Value = 5 Union Troop Value = 2 Confederacy + 3 advantage But outcome is a tie because Trenches were played by the Union

(The example figure shows the Confederate side as Artillery (2), Infantry (1), Infantry (1), and the Union side as Trenches (0), Infantry (1), Infantry (1).)

c. Resolve Outcome

Once the result of the battle has been decided, take the following actions, in this order:

• Undertakers - Count the total number of troop cards committed to the battle and reward each player holding an Undertaker card 1 Gold for every 3 troop cards committed to the battle (rounded down). Railroads do not count towards this total.
• Saloons - Count the number of troop cards remaining in players hands. Each owner of a Saloon is rewarded 1 Gold for every 3 troop cards that remain in players hands (rounded down), excluding that Saloon owner's own troop cards. Railroads do not count towards this total.
• Record the Result - Place a token on the Battles Sequence Card to show the result of that battle (Blue for a Union victory, Grey for a Confederate victory, White for a draw).
• Change Bond Values - Move the value of the bonds on the Bond Value Track. The winning side moved to 2, the losing side to 1 and with a tie both sides are moved to 1.
• Check if War Ends
  • If this is the third victory for either side or the third tie the game ends.
  • Move the value of the bonds of the winning side to 3, and that of the losing side to zero, or if the third tie leave both at 1.
• Prepare for next round (if game not ended)
  • Return all troops used in the battle to their respective decks and re-shuffle
  • Return any Railroad cards played to the Special Cards deck. They are now available for purchase again.
  • Pass the First Player card clockwise to the next player, and proceed to the next round.

Game End

The game ends immediately as a Victory if either side wins 3 battles or as a Stalemate if 3 ties have occurred. Players then count up the value of their assets as follows:

• Gold at face value
• Bonds times their market value (3x for Victorious side, 1x for each side in Stalemate, 0 for Defeated side)
• Victory Bonds only if war ended in a Victory (15 or 24 for the 5 or 8 Victory Bonds) of the Victorious side only
• British Factories only if war ended in a Stalemate (4 for each British factory)
• All other cards and factories are worth 0

The player with the highest value of holdings at the end of the game wins.

Tiebreakers are decided by the number of troop cards remaining in hand, then number of factories, then biting sarcasm and finally a shouting match.

There is no second place.