Railways of Europe
Railways of Europe Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
The game board is a map of Europe (30 by 36 inches) from the beginning of the railway era, mid-19th century. The map is divided into hexagons. Hexagons show cities, mountains (brown) or plains (green). Some hexagons may also contain water (blue), and a mountain ridge may run along the sides of some hexagons (dark brown lines).
Starting the Game
Setup: Refer to the basic rules of the game to prepare for play. For a two-player game, reduce the number of goods cubes placed in each city by one (the minimum number of goods cubes in each city is 1). After the game board is prepared, each player is dealt two railway Baron cards. Each player chooses one Baron card (keeping it face down in front of them) and places the other, unused card back in the box without showing it to anyone. At the end of the game, players reveal their Baron cards. If a player has met the requirements of their Baron card, they receive the victory points shown on the card.
Playing the Game
Hex Classification
Mountain hexagons are identified by a dot. If a mountain hexagon shows water, it is still considered a mountain hexagon. If a hexagon has no mountain but has water (blue), it is considered a water hexagon, and laying track on it costs $3,000. If a hexagon has neither a dot nor water, it is considered a plains hexagon.
Mainlines
Mainlines are available throughout the game. Mainlines are shown on the game board. As in the basic game, if a mainline has been completed by one of the players, no other player can then score points for it. A player who completes a mainline is advised to place a locomotive of their color on it to mark who completed it.
Issuing Bonds
Players may issue bonds only when they need cash for purchases or for payments in an auction. Only as many bonds may be issued as are needed to make the payment. (For example, if a player has no cash ($0) and needs $16,000 to lay track, they may issue four bonds, but may not issue any more bonds in connection with that purchase.)
New Operation Cards
Passenger Lines – The first player to ship 4 goods cubes of different colors out of the 6 possible receives this card and the corresponding bonus points. For counting purposes, players lay their goods cubes in front of themselves (one of each color, immediately after making a shipment) until one of the players makes a shipment of the fourth color. At that point, all goods cubes that were in front of each player are returned to the bag.
Tunnel Engineer – If a player takes this card, they may use it during one subsequent track laying. In that case, laying track through all mountains will cost half price ($2,000 each).
Capital Charter – If a player takes the Capital Charter, after taking this card they receive 1 victory point for each track built into (or out of) the given capital city. (For example, if a player takes the Capital Charter for Paris and already has two tracks connected to Paris, the maximum number of points the player can receive for the Paris Capital Charter is 4, since only two possible track connections remain.)
City Charter – If a player takes a City Charter, no player other than the card's owner may build track into the given city. This charter does not affect track that was already built into that city before the charter was taken.
End of the Game
The number of empty warehouse markers that ends the game (on the same principle as in Railways of the World) depends on the number of players:
- 2 players: 9 markers
- 3 players: 11 markers
- 4 players: 13 markers
- 5 players: 15 markers
Strategy Tips
- Issuing a large number of bonds early in the game in order to build the railway network can be very dangerous. The maximum income in this game is not as high, and does not last as long, as in the basic game.
- Now that mainlines are available from the start of the game, remember where they run, and try to build (or prevent your opponents from building) one or two mainlines as part of your game strategy.
- Note that the game board shows a turn order counter for players who wish to use one of the auction variants. Several examples of auction variants are given on the Eagle Games website (http://www.eaglegames.net) and in the Railways of Europe thread on the BoardGameGeek forum.
Actions
- Laying track (up to 4 track tokens inclusive – see the cost below)
- Developing a city (cost – $10,000)
- Upgrading a locomotive (one level at a time – see the cost on the locomotive cards)
- Shipping one goods cube
- Choosing an Operation card
Track Laying Costs
- Plains (green hexagon) – $2,000
- Water (if present on the hexagon) – $3,000
- Mountains (hexagon marked with a white dot) – $4,000
- Crossing a mountain peak – an additional $4,000
Baron Cards
- Alexander Lyman Holley – Score 5 points if, at the end of the game, you have built track to the largest number of cities.
- Czar Nicholas I – Score 2 points for each of your track links connecting Moscow and any other city.
- Dr. Ernst Werner Siemens – Score 6 points if, at the end of the game, you have the highest locomotive level.
- Franz Anton Gerstner – Score 5 points if you connected Vienna and St. Petersburg.
- Friedrich List – Score 6 points if you have more cash than anyone else.
- Jacob Bronnum Scavenius Estrup – Score 5 points if you have built the largest number of tracks.
- Johannes Scharrer – Score 6 points if you have more cash than anyone else.
- King Alfonso XII – Score 2 points for each Spanish city to which you have built track: Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Gijon.
- King Charles Albert – Score 5 points if you have built the longest continuous route (by number of tracks).
- Otto Von Bismark – Score 6 points if you have fewer bonds than anyone else.
Note: the source prints identical text on the Friedrich List and Johannes Scharrer cards. It is transcribed as printed.
Operation Cards
- Capital Charter – Score 1 point for each track built into Berlin. Limit – one Capital Charter per player.
- Capital Charter – Score 1 point for each track built into Paris. Limit – one Capital Charter per player.
- City Charter – No other player may build track into Prague.
- City Charter – No other player may build track into Munich.
- City Charter – No other player may build track into Essen-Ruhr.
- City Growth – Add 2 random goods cubes to any city of your choice.
- Hotel – Score 1 point for each goods cube delivered to Amsterdam, regardless of who makes the delivery.
- Hotel – Score 1 point for each goods cube delivered to Athens, regardless of who makes the delivery.
- Hotel – Score 1 point for each goods cube delivered to Vienna, regardless of who makes the delivery.
- Hotel – Score 1 point for each goods cube delivered to Madrid, regardless of who makes the delivery.
- Hotel – Score 1 point for each goods cube delivered to Rome, regardless of who makes the delivery.
- Hotel – Score 1 point for each goods cube delivered to Milan, regardless of who makes the delivery.