The Castles of Burgundy
120 questions players ask about The Castles of Burgundy, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-24.
120 questions players ask about The Castles of Burgundy, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-24.
The rulebook's 2- and 3-player section lists the 4 black depot spaces, and players agree the old "2 to 8" was a misprint.
4 with 2 players, 6 with 3 players, 8 with 4 players — fill only the black depot spaces printed for your player count. Older English rules said "2 to 8", which was a translation slip; the German original reads 4 to 8, and the current rulebook gives the 2-player game 4 black depot spaces.
The rulebook's section on 2- and 3-player games spells out which spaces are used.
Only the board side and which depot spaces you fill. Flip the board: with 2 players you fill just the inner 12 hex spaces and 4 black depot spaces, and with 3 players you also fill the spaces marked 3. No tiles are taken out of the supply, so some tiles simply never appear in a given game.
Several players explain the same note from the board and older rulebook; no official ruling was needed.
It alternates between a castle and a mine by phase. In a 3-player game that space gets a dark green castle in phases A, C and E and a gray mine in phases B and D. It is not used this way with 4 players, and if you set it up correctly the gray mines never run out.
Several experienced players agree; no official ruling.
It shouldn't happen — there are exactly enough tiles for five phases. Running short means a setup slip, usually refilling the depots every round instead of only at the start of each phase, or filling spaces not meant for your player count.
The rulebook's setup tells you to divide the hex tiles by the colour of their backs; players confirm the rest.
Yes — sort every hex tile by the colour of its back, so black-backed tiles form their own face-down pile. The black depot is filled at random from that pile whatever the fronts show, while each numbered depot space is filled from the pile matching its colour. The small black dot on a tile's front just marks it as black-backed, so you can sort it back without flipping it.
No. The starting castle is part of setup, not a placement made with an action, so it triggers no extra action and no area scoring, even when it fills a one-space castle area. If it sits in a larger castle area, that area still scores at its full size when you later place its last castle.
The rulebook's advanced-setup section states the free choice of side and castle space.
On any dark green space you choose. In the basic setup everyone uses board 1 or 2 with the castle on the central 6 space. In the advanced setup each player gets a random duchy, picks a side and picks which dark green space to start on — after turn order has been decided. You always start with a castle.
One player's reading of the setup order, which the other player in the thread conceded; no official ruling.
Before. The castle goes down during game setup, while the depots are only filled in the phase setup that starts play, so you choose without knowing phase A's tiles.
The rulebook's setup section hands out the starting workers once.
Only once, at setup. The start player gets 1 worker, the next player in turn order 2, then 3 and 4. After that, workers come only from actions and tiles.
The rulebook's setup gives each player one silver coin.
One each. Starting with two would let the start player buy the best black depot tile before anyone else can.
The rulebook says so directly.
No. They aren't meant to be limited; use a substitute if the supply runs out.
The rulebook's setup gives the numbers; players worked out the spare count.
Yes, you can. Setup uses 25 goods tiles for the five phase stacks and 3 per player from the remaining 17, so even a 4-player game leaves 5 unused.
The rulebook's setup describes the starting stack.
All in one stack on the first space, start player on top. The other players' pieces go underneath in turn order, so in a 2-player game the second player's piece sits under the start player's.
The rulebook defines a turn as two actions, one per die.
Both dice on your own turn. You take your two die actions (plus an optional black depot purchase), then the next player in turn order takes theirs. Splitting turns one die at a time around the table is a common early mistake.
The rulebook's round sequence says all players roll first.
Yes. Everyone rolls both dice at the start of the round (the start player also rolls the white die), and all dice stay visible so later players can plan.
The rulebook sets out five phases of five rounds.
25 — five phases (A–E) of five rounds each, with every player taking one turn per round. The five goods tiles laid out at the start of each phase act as the clock: one goes to a depot each round.
The rulebook's phase and round setup describes this.
One per round goes onto a depot. At the start of each round the start player takes the next goods tile from the round spaces and places it on the depot matching the white die. The tiles left on the round spaces show how many rounds remain in the phase.
The rulebook says this explicitly.
No. The white die only decides which depot receives the round's goods tile. After that it has no use that round, and workers can't change it.
The rulebook ties turn order to the pieces on the bridge, top to bottom within a stack.
No, it follows the bridge for every player, not just the first. The piece farthest along (nearest the city) goes first; where pieces share a space, the top piece goes before those under it. Seating position plays no part after setup.
The rulebook's ship rule says to move forward one space and stack on top.
On top of the pieces already there. Each ship always moves you one space forward, even if someone has since stacked on top of you; you never just swap to the top of your current stack. Arriving second on a space therefore puts you ahead of the player who got there first.
The rulebook's ship rule hands the white die to whoever is now the next round's start player; players confirm the timing.
Next round. The current round finishes in its existing order; you take the white die at once and lead from the next round. This can give a player two turns in a row — last this round, first next round.
The rulebook moves you on the bridge only when you place a ship; players confirm there is no reset.
Neither — only placing a ship moves it, and it never resets. Pieces stay where they are across rounds and phases, so the start player keeps that role until someone overtakes them with ships, and the advantage from ships builds up over the whole game.
Several players point out the track length matches the ship spaces; no official ruling.
Later arrivals stack on top, and no one can move further. The bridge has as many spaces as a duchy has ship spaces, so you only reach the end by placing your last ship. Whoever arrives there last is on top and goes first; in the base game the others can't retake the lead.
The rulebook only refills depots in its before-each-phase steps.
No — only at the start of each phase. Tiles taken during a phase leave empty spaces, so choices thin out as the phase goes on. Between rounds the only change is the new goods tile placed by the white die.
The rulebook's before-each-phase steps remove all remaining hex tiles and refill every depot.
Yes, every leftover hex tile on the game board goes back in the box, black depot included, and all spaces are refilled. Removed tiles stay out for the rest of the game. Older rules noted you may leave plain ships, mines and castles in place since identical tiles would replace them; that shortcut never covers black-backed tiles or the alternating 3-player space.
The rulebook's phase setup says not to remove goods from the depots.
No. Only hex tiles are cleared. Goods stay on their depots until someone collects them with a ship.
The rulebook's cleanup refers only to tiles still on the game board.
No. Phase cleanup only clears the game board; tiles in your storage spaces carry over.
Yes, all of them, including the black depot. Only the supply piles beside the board are face down. The original rules said so for the black depot explicitly; newer wording only says it for the numbered depots, which causes the confusion.
The rulebook allows the same action twice.
Yes. Your two die actions can be any combination, in any order, including the same action twice.
The rulebook's worker rule covers multiple workers and the 1–6 wrap.
Yes to both. Each worker shifts a die by 1 up or down, there's no limit per die, and the values wrap: 6 to 1 or 1 to 6 costs one worker, so three workers reach any number. You can adjust both dice in a turn, and the changed value works for any action — taking or placing a tile, or selling goods.
The rulebook lets you use workers at any time and take workers with any die.
Yes. Workers can be spent at any time, including right after you gain them. You can also use both dice to take workers, for 4 in one turn.
The rulebook says any die result takes two workers.
Neither — any single die gives 2 workers. The value doesn't matter, so a die is never wasted. The "2x" on the board means you may do it with each die, not that it costs two dice.
The rulebook's take-a-tile action spells out the discard.
Yes — first discard one of the tiles already in storage to the box, any one you like, then put the new tile in its place. You can't discard the new tile instead, and you can't avoid the discard by placing a stored tile with your other die afterwards: each action is finished before the next begins. The rulebook calls this usually a bad idea, but it's allowed, even on purpose.
The rulebook lets you take a tile of your choice from the depot, with no placement condition; many players confirm.
Yes. Taking a tile only needs the matching die; the rules limit placing, not taking. Hate-drafting a fifth castle or a ship you have no room for is legal. The tile just sits in storage until you discard it to make room.
The rulebook says a taken tile always goes to storage first, never directly into the duchy.
No — taking and placing are two separate actions. A tile always goes into a storage space first, but you can place it with your other die the same turn. The same goes for a tile bought from the black depot.
The rulebook's placement action requires adjacency for every placed tile.
Yes, next to any tile already placed — not necessarily the one placed last. The space must also match the tile's colour and the die value. Only the starting castle is exempt, because it's placed during setup.
The rulebook says placed tiles may not be moved, removed or replaced.
No. Placed tiles are permanent; only tiles in your storage can be discarded.
The rulebook's castle rule describes the extra action at a value of your choice.
No roll — it's an extra action as if you had a die showing any number you choose, and you take it immediately. It can be any die action: take or place a tile, sell goods, or take 2 workers. It can't be saved for later in the turn.
Several players agree; one objection in the thread was rebutted.
Yes. Each castle placed gives its own extra action, and taking and placing are separate actions, so the chain works as long as the new castle goes on a legal, adjacent space.
The rulebook's limit names only the eight building types in a town.
Several castles are fine. The one-of-each-type limit applies only to beige buildings within a town, so it never restricts castles (or any other colour).
The rulebook's black depot section states the once-per-turn purchase at any time.
Once per turn, at any point in it. The purchase is in addition to your two die actions, so you can buy before, between or after them, using silver you gained earlier the same turn. You still buy only one tile per turn however much silver you hold, and only from the black depot unless a monastery tile says otherwise.
The current rulebook explicitly adds "during"; older forum rulings against it predate that wording.
Yes, under the current rules. The anniversary-edition rulebook lets you buy "before, during, between or after" your dice actions, so you can buy a black tile and then place it with the castle's extra action or the town hall's free placement. Older rules said only before, between or after, and older forum answers forbade buying mid-action on that basis. The purchase still isn't a die action, so the castle's extra action can't be spent on it.
The rulebook's ship rule is the only one that collects goods from a depot.
No — placing a ship is the only way to collect goods. It lets you take all goods from one depot of your choice, whatever the die showed. Taking a hex tile never brings the goods with it, so once you've placed all your ships you can't get more goods.
The rulebook's ship rule says to take all goods and leaves tiles that can't be stored in the depot.
You take every goods tile that fits; the rest stay in the depot. You can't leave fitting goods behind. A tile doesn't fit when you'd need a fourth colour, so those remain on the board for someone else.
The rulebook's ship rule sets the three-colour limit and stacking.
Three colours, unlimited tiles. You can hold at most three different colours, one stack per colour, but a stack can be any height. Which storage space a colour sits in doesn't matter.
Several players agree; the rules give no way to discard goods.
No. The only way to empty a goods space is to sell that colour. Goods that don't fit stay in the depot.
The rulebook moves sold goods to their own space, freeing the storage space.
Yes. Sold goods move to the separate sold-goods space, so the emptied space can take any colour you don't already hold.
The rulebook says the die result decides which colour can be sold; the tiles print the matching number.
Each goods tile shows a die face — that's its number. Every tile of a colour has the same number, and a stack holds one colour, so one die of that value sells the whole stack. The goods icon on each depot is different: it shows where the white die places that round's new goods.
The rulebook's sell-goods action states the payout.
One silver coin per sale, plus 2, 3 or 4 VP per tile sold in a 2-, 3- or 4-player game. You must sell the whole stack of that colour. Each tile scores once, when sold; tiles already in your sold pile don't score again later (apart from monastery tiles #15 and #25 at game end).
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No. The silver coin comes from actually selling at least one tile; an empty sale isn't an action. Use the die to take workers instead.
The rulebook's sell-goods action puts sold tiles face down on that space.
They stay face down on the sold-goods space of your player board for the rest of the game. Some monastery tiles score at the end for how many goods you sold or how many colours, and you may look through the pile at any time.
The rulebook's placement rules describe the two-part score on completion.
Once, the moment you place its last tile: points for its size plus the current phase bonus. Sizes 1–8 score 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28 or 36, and the phase bonus runs from 10 in phase A down to 2 in phase E, so a 3-space area finished in phase B scores 6 + 8 = 14. There's no end-of-phase scoring, the area never scores again, and earlier completed areas of the same colour are not added in.
The rulebook applies the phase bonus to every completed area regardless of size.
Yes. A single space is completed as soon as you fill it, so it scores 1 point plus the full phase bonus — 11 points in phase A. That makes small areas worth finishing early. (The starting castle is the exception: it's placed during setup and scores nothing.)
The rulebook defines towns and pastures as contiguous areas of one colour.
Only a connected group of same-coloured spaces. Spaces of one colour split by other spaces are separate areas, and each scores on its own when completed — on board 1, for example, the beige spaces form four separate towns.
The rulebook notes towns of 1–8 spaces depending on the duchy.
Other duchy boards have bigger areas. Board 1, recommended for first games, tops out at 5, but board 2 has an 8-space town, so the table covers every size up to 8.
The rulebook ties the bonus tiles to covering all spaces of one colour.
Only for covering every space of that colour in your whole duchy, however many separate areas it's split into. The first player to do so takes the large bonus tile, the second the small one, and no one can earn both tiles of one colour.
The rulebook says the bonus tile is taken and scored immediately.
Immediately, when you take them — on top of the normal size and phase points for the area you just finished. Adding them again at game end double-counts them.
The rulebook's livestock rule and example describe this scoring.
Each placement scores the new tile plus every tile of that animal already in the same pasture. Adding a 3-cow to a pasture with a 4-cow and a 2-cow scores 9. Placing 4, 4, 3, 3, 3 sheep in turn scores 4, 8, 11, 14 and 17. Other animal types and other pastures don't count, and the tiles needn't be adjacent.
The rulebook states the one-per-town limit and monastery tile #1's exception.
No — unless you have monastery tile #1. A town is a connected group of beige spaces, and each of the eight building types may appear only once in it. A duplicate can go in a different town. Monastery tile #1 lifts the limit.
The rulebook's town hall and general placement rules together answer this; players agree.
Different number yes, different colour no. "Any colour" refers to the tile you place, not the space: it must still match the space's colour, sit next to a placed tile and respect the one-building-type-per-town limit. No die is used, so the space's number doesn't matter. The tile must already be in your storage — with empty storage, the town hall gives nothing.
The rulebook's town hall entry says the placed tile's effect triggers as usual.
Yes. Any tile placed with the town hall triggers its normal effect, so a bank pays 2 silver, a castle gives another action, and so on, letting you chain actions.
The rulebook's warehouse entry lets you choose any type of goods you own and sell it as a normal sale.
It sells any one colour you own, with no die needed — and with nothing to sell you get nothing. The silver coin, and tile #3's extra coin, comes from the sale, not from placing the warehouse.
The rulebook words those building effects with "may".
The ones worded "may" are optional. You can skip the market, carpenter's workshop, church, warehouse or town hall effect and still place the building. Effects that simply give you something (bank, boarding house, watchtower) aren't worded as a choice, though there's rarely a reason to refuse them.
The rulebook excludes the black depot and says an unusable effect can't be used later.
No — only from the six numbered depots. If no matching tile is there when you place the building, the effect is lost; you can't use it later.
Yes, and it rarely comes up. The building you just placed came out of storage, so a space is usually free. If not, you may discard a stored tile to make room, as with any tile you take.
The rulebook says monastery effects apply once the tile is in your duchy; players confirm black backs make no difference.
Only once it's placed in your duchy, and from then on for the rest of the game. Like any hex tile, you take it into storage first and place it on a yellow space with a later action; a tile sitting in storage does nothing. A black back only shows where the tile is offered — bought from the black depot, it works exactly like a yellow-backed one.
The rulebook gives tile #6's text and the one-purchase limit; players document the other editions' wording.
Normally you can't — silver buys only from the black depot. Tile #6 changes that, but its text differs by edition. In this rulebook (anniversary edition) it lets you pay 2 workers instead of 2 silver and buy from any depot, black depot included; it's still your one purchase for the turn, and it combines with tiles #13 and #14. The first edition allowed 2 silver for a tile from any depot. The later Special Edition limits it to 2 workers for a beige building from a numbered depot.
No to the first, yes to the second. Tiles #9, #10 and #11 give ±1 only when placing their tile types from storage into your duchy. Tile #12 gives ±1 only when taking a hex tile from a numbered depot, for any colour — the building icons on it just stand for the depots.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Once the tile is in your duchy its optional ±1 applies every time you take the named action, for the rest of the game, and you can spend workers on top of it to change the die further.
Several players agree; one hyper-literal reading in the thread argued otherwise.
No. Tiles #9–#12 work "as if" you used a worker, but no worker is spent, so #8 doesn't apply to them. You can still spend a real worker (±2 with #8) and then apply the tile's extra ±1, for a change of up to 3.
Several players agree, citing the tile's original and German wording; no official ruling.
Yes to both. The original tile reads "up to ±2" per worker, so a change of 1 is still allowed. And 1↔6 is just how die values wrap, not a separate power, so with #8 one worker turns a 2 into a 6 or a 5 into a 1; online implementations play it this way.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Yes. Effects that modify the same action stack, so each sale (by die or by warehouse) gives 2 silver from #3 and a worker from #4.
The rulebook notes these tiles have no effect on the boarding house; players confirm how they combine.
4 workers plus 1 silver for each take-workers action — and nothing extra for a boarding house. #14 turns the action's 2 workers into 4 and #13 adds a silver coin; they don't add up to 6 workers. Both apply only to the die action, so a boarding house still gives exactly 4 workers.
The rulebook's tile #5 adds one adjacent depot; players confirm the 6–1 wrap.
Two neighbouring depots only. You take all goods from the depot you choose plus one depot next to it — not both neighbours, and not any two depots. The depots form a ring, so 6 and 1 are neighbours.
The rulebook gives tile #7's rule and a worked example.
It's a during-play bonus from when it's placed, not retroactive. Whenever you later place livestock, add 1 point for each tile that scores, including the new one. A 3-sheep into a pasture with a 2-sheep, a 4-sheep and a 2-pig scores 3 + 2 + 4 = 9, plus 3 = 12. Animals placed before #7 get nothing when it arrives.
The rulebook's tile #2 text pays a worker per mine.
One per mine: at the end of each phase, including phase E, you get a worker alongside the silver coin for every mine in your duchy.
The rulebook's text and example for these tiles describe the scoring.
4 VP for each beige building of the matching type anywhere in your duchy. They needn't be adjacent to the tile. The yellow tile isn't a building, so on its own it scores nothing, and each such tile scores independently.
Several players agree, including a playtester; one poster read it the other way.
Yes. "Unsold goods are ignored" only means they don't count toward that tile's bonus; every unsold goods tile still earns its normal 1 VP at game end.
The rulebook pays mines at the end of each phase and starts final scoring once phase E is complete.
Yes. Phase E ends like every other phase: you collect 1 silver per mine (and a worker per mine with monastery tile #2) before final scoring, and that silver then counts 1 VP each. With no mines you get no silver at any phase end.
The English rulebook says fewest; players cite the German original and the translator's admission for most, with no publisher correction.
Most likely the player with more empty spaces. The English rulebook, including the anniversary edition, says the player with the fewest unused spaces wins. But the German original says more empty spaces, and the English translator acknowledged the mistake on BGG. Agree on a reading before you play; the German rule is the better-supported one.
The rulebook's tiebreaker uses position on the bridge when the game ends; players explain it as the turn order of the final round.
At the end — the last round counts, not the start of the game. Among players still tied, the winner is the one who went latest in the final round (round 25). Who started the game doesn't matter. If someone moves up with a ship during that round, players read the rule as using the order the round was actually played in.
The rulebook's Inns section gives the current rules; players document the original Cloister wording.
An inn is bought from beside the black depot for 2 silver and placed on any legal empty space; it has no effect except adding 1 to its area's size. It never produces anything, so an inn in a mine area gives no silver. The current rules allow only one inn per area. The original Cloister promo allowed several per area, capped at size 8.
45 VP under the Special Edition rules, which state that a 9-space area scores 45. Before that text appeared, some players capped scoring at 36, the 8-space value.
Several players quote the expansion text and agree on reading it as placed tiles; one poster thought castles were also restricted.
Besides being adjacent to a placed tile, every new tile must connect to a castle — either directly next to one, or touching a placed tile of its own colour that is itself linked back to a castle through same-coloured tiles. Empty spaces don't count as links. New castles are exempt and are placed as normal.
The new boards, yes; the connection rule on the base boards, no. The new duchies work fine under the normal rules or mixed with the original boards, and their castle-connection rule is optional. That rule was designed for these boards — on the original duchies it can leave parts of the board unreachable.
Several players agree on this reading of the expansion text; no official ruling.
It's an escape hatch when the connection rule leaves you stuck. For 5 VP and both die actions of your turn, you take a castle that left play earlier, usually one cleared from the board at a phase end, and put it in an empty storage space. You still have to place it with a later action as normal; it doesn't move a castle already in your duchy.
One player's reading of the expansion wording; another disagrees and there is no official ruling.
Probably not. The expansion's wording is "both actions", which reads as giving up your whole regular turn — both rolled dice — while a castle's bonus is a single extra action, so it shouldn't stand in for one of them. Another player found using it reasonable; there's no official ruling.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Mix two tiles into the yellow supply and two into the black-backed supply, and use only one set. Each yellow tile is meant to be unique, and the wild park and goats would be too strong in multiples.
The designer answered this directly in 2012.
Yes. The park acts as any building in the game, whether or not you own one, including a type already in its own town.
“You can also choose a function of a building, that is in the same region.”
— Stefan Feld, designer
Several players agree; one dissent, and no official ruling.
Most players say no — it counts as one building type of your choice at scoring. It may be a different type from the one whose effect you used when placing it, but it scores for only one monastery tile. One player reads the crane's wording as a wild card for each tile; no official ruling has settled it.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No — it only keeps your piece on top of whatever stack it's in. Anyone moving onto your space goes underneath, but players farther along the bridge still go before you.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
No. The once-per-turn limit applies only to the black depot purchase. With this tile you can buy as many workers as you can pay for, at 2 workers per silver.
Several players quote the expansion text and agree, one after checking with alea.
One tile per space, filling from left to right. You get a space's bonus only if the tile placed there matches its colour, so selling smaller stacks can help you line up bonuses.
One left-to-right sequence, in random order. Lay the cards out in the order you drew them and fill every space of the first card before moving to the next. Choosing the order yourself is a house rule.
Yes. A sale pays its usual silver coin and victory points per tile; a matching trade route space only adds a bonus on top.
Nothing more — the routes don't restart. From then on, place sold goods on the sold-goods space of your player board as usual. Monastery tiles that count sold goods still work: count the goods on your routes plus any on the sold-goods space.
Several players agree; no official ruling.
Only a beige building tile. The bonus uses the carpenter's workshop symbol, and the route bonuses mirror the matching board effects; by the same logic it takes from the numbered depots, as the workshop does, not the black depot.
Two players agree; no official ruling.
A castle-style bonus action. You get a virtual die set to any value you like and take one action with it immediately.
The designer answered this directly in 2020.
Yes. Each time you take a hex tile you freely choose your private storage or the team's shared storage, as long as the chosen space is empty. Once stored, a tile can't be moved between storages.
The designer answered this directly in 2018.
Yes. Teammates share the whole team board and may place on any legal space adjacent to any tile already there. Only the private storage spaces are separate.
Yes. Every yellow tile on the team board counts for both teammates.
The designer answered this directly in 2018.
Both teammates get its effect against the other team, but their order relative to each other doesn't change. It only matters when you share a bridge space with an opponent.
“The relative order of the two team mates stay the same, but both gain the bonus compared to the players from the other team.”
— darkpact, designer
The designer answered this directly in 2019.
Only when every space of that colour on the whole team board is filled — all 6 mines, not just those on one player's half.
4-player values. There are still four players, so each goods tile sold scores 4 VP and the bonus tiles use their 4-player amounts.
Players quote the team-game rules; no official ruling was needed.
A1, B1, A2, B2 — the teams alternate. From round 2 on, turn order follows the pieces on the bridge as usual.
The designer confirmed this in 2020.
Per player. A player whose own piece is already on the final bridge space goes on top of the stack there when placing another ship. A teammate who is farther back simply moves forward one space.
The designer recommends ignoring that restriction. The rulebook says each team picks the 1 or the 6 dark green space, but the designer says that limit was added during development and can lock a team out on turn 1, which wasn't intended.
“I also remember that limiting the starting position on the backside was added by Stefan Brück, so I would ignore that rule.”
— darkpact, designer
Yes, you can still sell, and no, colour doesn't matter for the exchange. Selling works as usual and still needs a die matching the goods. Trading any 5 goods for a face-down black depot tile when you place a ship is just an extra option, and any mix of colours will do.
Several players agree; the rules don't say it outright.
No. Only goods still in your storage can be exchanged; sold goods have already been turned into silver and points.
The designer answered this directly in 2018.
No — each blue hex is its own 1-space region. The rivers connect spaces but aren't spaces themselves, so they don't merge the blue hexes.
The designer confirmed the river rule in 2019; players explain the connections.
A hex is adjacent to the hexes it shares a side with and to any hex a river leads to directly. To reach another land area you place a ship and grow out along its river. Where no river links two hexes, you have to build across the land in between.
The designer answered this directly in 2018.
No. In solo, a monastery tile's points are scored once, immediately when placed, counting only what you already have. Later items add nothing.
Yes. Only the colour bonus changes in solo; every completed region still scores its size plus the phase bonus, small 1- and 2-space regions included.
The designer answered this directly in 2019 and 2020.
A black depot tile placed straight into your duchy instead of bonus points — and yes, it chains. The trigger is covering every space of a colour, not a single region. If the placed tile completes another colour, take another, as long as the black depot has a tile left. The depot is never refilled for this.
One experienced player's reading, which the asker adopted; the rules are silent.
Most likely you get nothing. The rules don't cover it; the accepted reading is that you neither take nor discard a black depot tile. The black depot is face up in solo, just as in the multiplayer game.
No — first everything the placed tile itself gives (such as its livestock points), then the points for any regions it completes. The rulebook's note that you choose the order of partial actions doesn't let you reorder these. So at 46 VP, a 4-sheep tile that completes a 1-space pasture first takes you to 50 (reset plus a free action) and then adds the 11 area points; at 39 VP you can't score the area first to reach 50.
“No. You always trigger everything from the tile you placed, then the points for filled up regions.”
— darkpact, designer
One experienced player explains the solo rule; no official ruling.
It's how you earn the extra actions you need. When your score reaches the target, reset to 0, move the target down 5, and immediately take a free die action of your choice. Without these actions, 25 rounds aren't enough to fill all 37 spaces.
In depots 2, 3, 5 and 6 the top tile, then the bottom; in depots 1 and 4 the left tile, then the right. If that depot is already empty, move clockwise to the next depot and apply the same order.
One player's answer, pointing to the base rules; no official ruling.
Yes. The base rule still applies: once per turn you may buy one black depot tile for 2 silver, besides the 5-goods exchange when placing a ship.
Yes, both. The designer says the solo rules work with any duchy (some easier, some harder), and the solo board can be used in a regular game, though that pairing hasn't been balance-tested.