Red Outpost Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Game Setup
• Turn Sequence
• 1. Moving Workers
• 2. Influencing the Workers
• 3. Changing the Workers' Mood
• 4. Performing Actions
  • Resource Production
• Location Description
• End of a Phase
• End of a Round
• Final Scoring
• Special Cards

Goal of the Game

Each player, tasked with controlling the workers of the extraterrestrial communist settlement, aims to become its only true leader. Players, however, share both the workers and the resources produced – this future has no place for private property (well, almost)! Nevertheless, this is not a cooperative game – earn victory points by keeping workers productive, shipping goods in time and keeping the workers you influence happy. «From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution», so make your contribution seem to be the biggest one.

Components

1 Phase Marker

24 Resource Cubes – 6 Coal, 6 Wool, 6 Fish, 6 Wheat

6 Mood Markers

6 Workers: Shepherd, Farmer, Fisherman, Bureaucrat, Commissar, Miner

1 First Player Token (Assemble the first player token before your first game.)

44 Influence Disks – 11 orange, 11 blue, 11 tan, 11 pink

6 Location Blocking Tokens – 3 morning, 3 evening

24 Crystals

12 Spaceship Cards

6 Lake Cards

18 Special Cards: 12 location cards, 6 worker cards

1 Game Board

1. 12 locations
2. 6 character portraits with mood tracks
3. A victory points (VP) track
4. Export tracks
5. A phase wheel
6. A production wheel

Game Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table.

2. Put all resource cubes and crystals next to the game board to form a supply.

3. Each player takes 11/9/8 influence disks (in a 2/3/4-player game) of one color and places one of them on the starting (upper right) space of the production wheel, and another on space '5' of the VP track, leaving 9/7/6 in front of him.

4. Each player takes one crystal, placing it in his personal supply.

5. Place the phase marker on the Morning space on the phase wheel.

6. Place a mood marker on the starting space (smiley) of each mood track.

7. Place all the workers upright on the Barracks location.

8. Shuffle the lake deck and the spaceship deck separately and put them facedown on the corresponding locations.

9. Despite the fixed working hours, you can never know when a facility will be open. Pasture closed for inventory is a common sight. "Out of beer" sign, however, is far more dreadful.

   For your first few games, we recommend placing the morning blocking tokens on the Spaceship, the Palace of the Soviets and the Beerhouse, evening blocking tokens on the Field, the Pasture and the Lake. Place morning tokens red (blocked) side up, and evening tokens white (open) side up. Flip the morning tokens white side up at the end of the Morning, and red side up at the start of the Morning. Flip the evening tokens red side up at the start of the Evening, and white side up at the end of the Evening.

   In your future games, you may shuffle the location deck (minus the Barracks and the Field Kitchen cards) and draw 6 cards. Put the morning blocking tokens on the first 3 locations drawn, then put the evening blocking tokens on the last 3 locations drawn. Flip the tokens during the game as described above.

10. We recommend using the special cards once you are familiar with the game. Shuffle the worker cards and the location cards separately and deal each player one card from each deck, face up. Keep the special cards in front of you, visible to all players. Put the rest of the special cards back in the box, you won't need them.

11. One who most recently shared with someone takes the first player token and begins the game.

Turn Sequence

The game consists of two rounds.

Each round consists of the following phases:

1. Morning
2. Day (1st half)
3. Lunch
4. Day (2nd half)
5. Evening

During each phase players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the first player. At the end of each phase, pass the first player token clockwise to the next player.

On your turn, perform the following in order:

1. Move a worker.
2. Place an influence disk on the worker's portrait.
3. Adjust the worker's mood.
4. Perform the action of the location.

1. Moving Workers

Take an upright worker and place him flat in a different empty location (the worker is tired and won't move anywhere else this phase). You cannot move a worker into a location occupied by another worker, except for the Barracks and the Field Kitchen.

1. All workers start the Morning in the Barracks. You cannot move workers to the locations with the morning blocking tokens during the Morning. The Morning ends after each player has taken a turn. At the end of the Morning, increase the mood of each worker still in the barracks by 1.
2. During the first half of the Day, you can move workers to locations with blocking tokens of any kind. This phase ends after each of the 6 workers has been moved. In a 4-player game, the number of turns taken will not be the same for all players.
3. During Lunch, you can only move workers to the Field Kitchen. Moreover, that location is only available during Lunch. Lunch ends after each player has taken a turn.
4. The second half of the day does not differ from the first one.
5. During the Evening, you cannot move workers to the locations with the evening blocking tokens. Barracks are only available during the Evening. This phase ends after each player has taken a turn.

2. Influencing the Workers

Place one of your influence discs on the portrait of the worker you just moved.

3. Changing the Workers' Mood

If the mood symbols are present on the location you moved the worker to, change the worker's mood accordingly. When the mood of a worker increases, move the marker towards higher values, and move it towards lower values when it decreases.

Example: Alexander is the first player during the Morning. He can make his turn with any worker (they are all standing upright in the Barracks), but he cannot send the worker to Barracks (it's not Evening), Field Kitchen (it's not Lunch), or to any of the three locations with morning blocking tokens (as it is morning). He has 7 locations to choose from.

He decides to move the Bureaucrat to the Beer House, placing his influence disk (pink) on her portrait and raising her mood by two (he doesn't want to spend a crystal at this location).

Now it is Britta's turn. She cannot use the Bureaucrat (she is already tired), nor she can send a worker to the now occupied Beer House. She can choose from 5 workers and 6 locations to send them to.

4. Performing Actions

Resource Production

Several locations allow you to produce resources. For each resource cube you produce, advance your marker one space clockwise on the production wheel. Whenever your marker passes the reward area of the production wheel, score 2 VP and gain a crystal.

Note the REWARDS AREA is not a step on the wheel and players markers will never stop on the rewards area but will proceed to the next "?" space on the wheel.

"Adding" a resource does not count as production

Produced resource cubes are placed on the Storehouse location, never into players' personal supplies. Whenever there are 3 or more resource cubes of the same color in the Storehouse, remove 3 cubes of that color from the Storehouse, put one of them on the leftmost empty space of that resource's export track, and then return the rest to the supply near the board. Active player then receives a number of VP printed below the newly occupied space of the export track. If the cube was placed in a space with a question mark, return it to the supply after scoring the points.

Location Description

1. Pasture. The Shepherd likes to watch over animals and to shear them, quite unlike other workers.

The worker loses 1 mood, unless he's the Shepherd. Then produce 1 Wool.

2. Palace of the Soviets. Palace of the Soviets is the symbol of the bright future, as the Commissar is eager to tell every visitor. Workers like to listen to her stories about the marvelous time soon to come. Anyone can contribute to the completion of the construction.

Both the visiting worker and the Commissar gain 1 mood. The Commissar gains no mood when visiting the Palace of the Soviets. In both cases, you may the place 1 crystal on a space of your color next to the Palace of the Soviets (to contribute to its construction). At the end of the game, the players who donated crystals gain 4 VP if they donated the most, 2 VP for the second place and 1 VP for the third place. In case of a tie, all tied players earn the full amount of VP.

3. Farm. The Farmer is fond of working in the field, but other workers are not.

The worker loses 1 mood, unless she's the Farmer. Then produce 1 Wheat.

4. Beer House. Though condemned by the Commissar in her weekly lectures, drinking is still favorite pastime of many workers. They say that it is even possible to recieve someone else's ration, for a small fee.

The worker gains 2 mood, unless she is the Commissar (then she loses 1 mood instead). Then you may pay 1 crystal to make any one worker gain 1 mood, and another lose 1 mood.

5. Storehouse. Resources, jointly produced, cannot belong to a single individual. They are common goods, and are kept in a common storehouse. Maybe, that is why they go missing from time to time.

You may either:

• discard 1 resource from the Storehouse to make one worker gain 1 mood, and another lose 1 mood
• discard 1 resource from the Storehouse to gain 1 crystal
• pay 1 crystal to add any one resource to the Storehouse

Do not forget that all produced resources are kept in the storehouse, not in the players' personal supplies.

6. Administration. The Bureaucrat only ever comes to this empty building to receive her salary. She likes visitors, and is willing to change some papers for a good chat.

If the Bureaucrat visits the Administration, you gain 1 crystal. If any other character visits it, Bureaucrat gains 1 mood, and you may move 1 influence disk belonging to a different player from one worker to another. You cannot move the disk to/from the worker visiting the Administration.

7. Spaceship. The ship 'Krasnaya Zarya' once brought first people to this planet. It was so huge that even now something useful can be found among the wreckage, if you are not afraid of the spectre of communism!

The worker loses 1 mood. Then draw a Spaceship card, receive the reward depicted (nothing, add a specific resource or a resource of your choice to the Storehouse, and, possibly, gain a crystal), and then discard it. Do not advance your marker on the production wheel.

8. Mine. A work in a mine is far too hard for anyone but a true miner!

If the worker visiting this location is not the Miner, he loses 2 mood and produces 1 Coal. If he is, he loses no mood and produces 2 Coal instead.

9. Field Kitchen. Joint meals are an important remainder that all people stand together – well, all who managed to finish their work in time.

The worker gains 1 mood. You may only move workers to the Field Kitchen during the Lunch phase.

10. Lake. Despite all the achievements of the socialist technology, fishing still requires a lot of skill and luck. Only the fisherman can be glad to sit all day long holding a fishing rod, but a good catch will make anyone happy.

If the worker is not the Fisherman, he loses 1 mood. Then draw a Lake card, receive the reward depicted (produce 1 Fish, produce 2 Fish and +1 mood, or nothing), then discard it. If the Lake is visited by the Fisherman, take two cards instead and choose one of the rewards, then discard both cards. If all cards with Fish depicted (there are 3 of them) are in the Lake discard pile, shuffle the Lake deck and discard pile. Whenever Fisherman visits the Lake, the active player may decide to reshuffle the deck before or after drawing the cards. If you need to draw 2 cards, but there is only 1 left in the deck, draw that card, reshuffle the deck and then draw a second card.

11. Labor Camp. Labor Camp is a masterpiece of planned economy, allowing workers to be productive every second of their day.

The worker loses 2 mood. Then produce 1 Wheat, 1 Wool and 1 Fish.

Locations where resources are produced are marked with a gear icon.

Example: Britta sends the Miner to the Mine and places her influence disk on his portrait. He produces 2 coal, losing no mood in the process! So Britta places 2 coal cubes from the stock onto the Storehouse location and advances her marker two spaces on the production wheel. As her marker passed the reward area, she receives 2 VP and a crystal. In addition, there were already 2 coal cubes on the Storehouse, so Britta removes 3 coal cubes from there, putting two into the stock and one onto the leftmost empty coal space on the export track, scoring 3 VP. Thus, she managed to earn 5 VP with a single action!

12. Barracks. The best way to rest from an honest day's work is to go to bed early, and to get up late.

The worker gains 1 mood. You may only move workers to the Barracks during the Evening phase.

Don't forget that each worker remaining in the Barracks at the end of the Morning phase gains one mood.

End of a Phase

Day phases end after each of the 6 workers has been moved. Other phases (Morning, Lunch and Evening) end after each player has taken a single turn.

When a phase ends, move the phase marker to the next phase, put all workers upright again and increase the mood of all workers still in the Barracks by one. At the end of the Morning, do not forget to increase the mood of each worker still in the Barracks by 1.

Example continued: As Alexander and Britta are the only players at the table, the Morning phase ends after Britta's turn (each player has taken a single turn in that phase). Players put all workers upright again and increase the mood of all workers still in the Barracks by one. The first Day phase begins, and Britta becomes the first player. This phase, however, will only end when all the workers are lying on their sides, so each player will take three turns during this phase.

End of a Round

A round ends after the Evening. Pass the first player token clockwise as usual.

At the end of a round, check the workers' mood: for each worker, players who have the most influence disks on that worker receive or (if the number is negative) lose a number of VP marked on the worker's mood track. In case of a tie, all tied players gain or lose the full amount of VP.

Example: There are two pink disks and one orange disk on the Bureaucrat's portrait, so Alexander receives 3 VP for her mood. Commissar, however, has one pink and one orange disk on her portrait, so each player loses 2 VP for her.

• Return all mood markers to the starting spaces, and all influence disks from the portraits to the players' reserves.
• Do not return resource cubes from the Storehouse of the export tracks, or crystals from the players' reserves.
• Then put all workers upright in the Barracks and move the phase marker to the Morning phase.
• Play the second round using the same play sequence, and then proceed to the final scoring.

Final Scoring

The game ends after 2 rounds. Players score VP for the contribution to the construction of the Palace of the Soviets (see location description on page 5), as well as 1 VP for each 2 crystals they have. The player with the most VP is the winner! In case of a tie, the tied player with the most crystals wins.

Special Cards

Special cards come in two flavors: worker cards and location cards. Worker cards can be used whenever you make a turn with the corresponding worker. Location cards can be used whenever you perform the action of the corresponding location. Using special cards is always optional. You can use your special cards any number of times per game.

1. Pasture. Instead of performing the normal action of this location, you may increase the mood of the visiting worker by 2.

2. Palace of the Soviets. Instead of placing a crystal at this location, you may place a crystal on any worker's portrait. That crystal counts as an influence disk of your color during the end-of-the-round scoring. Return it to the common supply after the scoring.

3. Field. Instead of producing 1 Grain at this location, you may produce any 1 resource cube (mood decrease, if any, still occurs).

4. Beer house. Instead of performing the action of this location (increasing mood, changing it for a crystal), you may gain 2 crystals.

5. Storehouse. While performing the action of this location, you may exchange a resource for a crystal or vice versa up to 2 times (instead of only once).

6. Administration. While performing the action of this location, put your influence disk on this card instead of a worker's portrait. On a later turn, you may place the disk from this card on a portrait of a worker you are taking a turn with (in addition to the disk you would normally place).

7. Spaceship. After performing the action of this location, you may remove four different resources from the Storehouse and put one of them on the corresponding shipping track, scoring points on them as usual (put the rest into the stock).

8. Mine. Instead of performing the normal action of this location, you may advance your marker on the production wheel 3 spaces and decrease the mood of the visiting worker by 1 (produce no resources).

9. Field kitchen. At the beginning of Lunch, you may put up to two workers on their sides (they won't take part in this phase).

10. Lake. While performing the action of this location, you may take any card from the lake discard pile instead of drawing a card from the lake deck.

11. Labor camp. While performing the action of this location, you may forfeit placing your influence disk on the character's portrait. If you do not place it, do not reduce the character's mood as well.

12. Barracks. At the end of the Morning, you may move your influence disk from any worker to a worker in the Barracks.

13. Shepherd. You can take a turn with this worker without moving him – just put him flat in his current location and use that location's action (don't forget to place your influence disk on Shepherd's portrait). You cannot use a blocked location this way.

14. Farmer. You can send this worker to a location occupied by a worker lying flat.

15. Fisherman. After taking a turn with this worker, you may move any other worker from his current location to any other empty location unblocked (that worker remains standing or lying flat).

16. Miner. If you produce any resources except coal while taking a turn with this worker, you may produce one more resource of the type produced and decrease his mood by 1 (in addition to any other possible mood decrease).

17. Commissar. While taking a turn with this worker, you may donate a crystal to the Palace of the Soviets (see location description), in addition to performing the action of the location you are visiting.

18. Bureaucrat. You can send this worker to a location with a blocking disk in any phase.