Thurn und Taxis: Der Kurier der Fürstin Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Material
• Rules
  • Preparation
  • The Nobility Letters
  • The Princess's Messenger

Game Material

• 28 nobility letters
• 1 Princess's Messenger figure

Rules

The rules of Thurn and Taxis remain unchanged, with the following exceptions:

Preparation

1. Before starting the game, place one nobility letter in each city on the game board.
2. After determining the start player, the second player receives one nobility letter, the third player receives two letters and the fourth player receives three.
3. If there are less than four players, the remaining nobility letters are removed from the game.
4. The Princess's Messenger figure is placed next to the game board.

The Nobility Letters

Each time a player places a house in a city that doesn't already have one, he takes the nobility letter lying there and places it in front of him. Each city provides only one letter in this manner. Other players, who later place a house in this city, do not receive a nobility letter.

Through the use of nobility letters, it is possible to gain the support of more officials, in addition to the usual aid of one official, during the turn.

• The support of one official is – like in the basic game – free.
• A player can use nobility letters in order to receive the additional support of one, two or all three remaining officials.
• Each of the four officials can be use only once per player turn.
• For each additional official that a player would like to use, he must use two of his nobility letters.
• The player must possess the nobility letters used at the beginning of his turn.
• Used nobility letters are removed from the game.
• The Administrator can now be used after the player has drawn one or two cards.
• Nobility letters that were not used are worthless at the end of the game.

Example: Uwe already has Freiburg and Sigmaringen on the table and has Salzburg in his hand. He possesses four nobility letters. He takes Kempten from the face-up cards. It is replaced by Ulm from the face-down pile. Since he would really like to have Innsbruck – to be able to move through it to Salzburg – he uses the aid of the Administrator (free support) and exchanges the face-up cards. Innsbruck appears. Uwe can now use two nobility letters to take Innsbruck with the aid of the Postmaster (1st additional support) as a second draw. If he would now like to play two cards by means of the Postal Carrier (2nd additional support), he would again have to pay two nobility letters.

The Princess's Messenger

Each time a player scores a route and receives no carriage (because the route is not long enough or he voluntarily declines to take a carriage), he takes the Princess's Messenger figure. The figure remains with this player until another player takes the Princess's Messenger in the same manner.

The player that possesses the Princess's Messenger at the beginning of his turn only needs to use one nobility letter (instead of two) for each additional official.

The player that possesses the Princess's Messenger at the end of the game receives one victory point.