Upon a Salty Ocean Rulebook

Table of Contents

Set-up
Game play
Phase 1 - Events
Phase 2 - Actions
- Turn example
Phase 3 - Turn end
Game Ends
Actions
- Action example
Events
Buildings
2 or 3 player game
Contents

Set-up

Place the gameboard on the table. Each player takes ships and cubes in his chosen color and a Player Sheet.
Each player places a cube on the leftmost position of the Saline track.
Place the Price counters on the middle row of the Price table.
Decide the first player randomly and place a player counter on the Turn Order track in clockwise seating order.
Place the Action counters on the initial position of the Action table.
Place a round player counter on 10, 12, 14 and 16 coins respectively on the Coin Track according to the player order. During the game this track is used to shows the player coin amount.
Randomly choose 5 Event tiles and place them face down on the Turn Grid. Flip the first one face up. Stack the remaining tiles face down beside the gameboard.
Each player places a cube in the first column of the Dépôt.
Each player puts a Caravel 1 tile in the port of Rouen. This Ship starts loaded with 3 salt barrels. To show that, the player places 3 white cubes on the Caravel 1 space on the Player Sheet.

Pink cubes represent herring barrels and violet cubes cod barrels.

Put the remaining cubes beside the gameboard. Keep in mind that big cubes count as 4 small cubes.

City buildings show one or more symbols inside a circle: the symbol describes the building's effect. If the circle is a solid line, the effect happens at the end of the game. If it's a dotted line, the effect happens during the player turn.

Game play

The game consists of 5 turns and each turn is divided into 3 phases: 1) Events, 2) Actions, 3) Turn end.

Note: the following rules are for the 4-player game. A section at the end of rulebook describes the changes for games with 2 or 3 players.

Phase 1 - Events

At the beginning of the turn the corresponding Event is activated by checking Market prices and weather conditions.

The selling price of each good in the Price Table is modified as specified on the Event tile.
The weather specified on the Event tile is in place until the end of the turn and it will affect all ships leaving Rouen and entering the open sea. If a ship already is in the open sea, it will not be affected by the current event (Storm or Pirates).

At the end of the Event Phase, the Event tile for the next turn is flipped face up. Note that this event tile is not valid for the current turn, but gives the players insight about future market and weather conditions. On the fifth and last game turn, no future Event Tile can be flipped.

Phase 2 - Actions

Phase 2 is divided into a variable number of rounds. In each round the players, following the turn order, may perform one action or pass for the current round. If the player performs an action he has to pay the activation cost associated with the action type, and the corresponding Action counter is increased by 1 in the Action Table. Therefore, the next player performing that action type will pay more. If a player passes he may still perform actions in the following rounds. There are 4 types of action:

City
Navigation
Harbor
Market

The Action phase ends when no player wants to pay the activation cost for playing a new action. If the activation cost reaches 10 coins it does not increase any more and all the following actions of that type cost 10 coins.

Is it allowed to be overdrawn by contracting a debt. However, if a player goes overdrawn he has to pay 1 additional coin as interest when goes overdrawn and 1 coin at the turn end if still overdrawn. Example: Anna has 2 coins and 3 herring (current price 3). The cost of the Selling to the Market action is 4. Anna plays the Selling to the Market action and pays 4 coins and therefore has -2 coins; immediately she pays 1 coin as interest and is now overdrawn by 3 coins. After the sale she receives 9 coins and has a balance of 6 coins, so at the end of the turn she doesn't need to pay any additional interest.

Turn example

Anna builds a Saline (City Action) and pays 0 coins. The City Action cost increases to 1 coin.
Bea performs a sale (Market action) and pays 0. The Market Action cost increases to 1.
Carlo performs a City action, buying an Auberge and pays 1. The City Action cost increases to 2.
Anna moves her Ship to the Ocean (Navigation Action) and pays 0. The Navigation Action cost increases to 1.
Bea passes.
Carlo passes.
Anna buys a Chantier Naval (City Action) and pays 2. The City Action cost increases to 3.
After that, Anna passes and the turn ends.

Phase 3 - Turn end

During the turn end phase, the following operations are performed:

Players with Phare or Fierte Saint Romain can use the special ability of the building. Used counters on Gros Horloge are returned to their original position.
Saline produces salt according to the value on the Saline track. The produced salt is stored directly in the Dépôt (Player Sheet).
Auberges generate their rent.
Banque and Salle des Coffres pay out their interest.
Players that are overdrawn at the end of the turn pay 1 coin as interest. If the lower limit (-22 coins) is reached, no further interest is charged.
Action counters are reset to zero on the Action table.
Players check if the maximum number of coins is exceeded. The maximum number of coins is 40 if the player doesn't have a Banque, 80 without Salle des Coffres. If it is exceeded, the counter indicating the number of coins is moved down to the limit. Example: at the end of the turn Luca has 44 coins but no Banque: he has to discard 4 coins.
The new Player Turn Order is established in reverse order of the number of coins held. Example: at the end of the turn Anna has 12 coins, Bea 18, Carlo 15. The Player Turn Order is Anna, Carlo, Bea. If two or more players have the same coin amount the player with the upper counter on the coin track goes first.

Game Ends

The game ends at the end of the fifth turn when King Francis I of France arrives in Rouen. Some buildings (Hotel-de-Ville, Notre-Dame, St. Maclou, Notre-Dame Vitrails and Phare) provide additional coins at game end. Any bonus due to buildings is added after the coin check and does not count against the Banque/Salle des Coffres limit.

The winner is the player with the most coins. In the case of a tie, the player with more buildings will win (in this case, improving buildings will count as 1, like Notre Dame). If still tied, the players concerned share the victory.

Note: it's possible to go over 100 coins: let counters make another round on Coin track. As +100 coin memo, put a resource cube on the player counter.

Actions

The action type is shown in parentheses:

Buying a Saline (City): With this action a player moves his cube one step along the Saline track.
Buying a building (City): A city building is built by placing a player cube on the building space on the gameboard. A player may not buy the same building more than once.
Travel to open sea and fishing (Navigation): The player may move one or more of his ships from the harbor to the open sea. Each barrel of salt carried in the cargo is transformed into one barrel of fish (herring or cod, the player chooses). The same ship may fish both cod and herring, if the player wishes.
Travel to Rouen (Navigation): The player may move one or more of his ships from open sea to the harbor.
Ship building (Harbor): The player builds one ship. A ship can only be built if there is at least 1 Chantier Naval and 1 Académie de la Marine. A Caravel costs 6 coins (3 coins paid to the Académie de la Marine and 3 to the Chantier Naval), while a Carrack costs 8 coins (4 coins paid to the Académie de la Marine and 4 to the Chantier Naval).

If there is only one Chantier Naval or one Académie de la Marine, the owner of the building receives the coins spent in his building. If there are two Chantier Navals or two Naval Academies, both the owners receive 1 coin each for a Caravel and 2 coins each for a Carrack.

Each player can have at most 2 Caravels and 1 Carrack as shown on the Player Sheet.

Example: Anna and Carlo have the Académie de la Marine, Bea has the Chantier Naval. If Marco builds a Carrack he has to pay 8 coins; Carlo receives 2 coins, Anna 2 coins, and Bea 4 coins. If Anna builds a Caravel she has to pay 3 coins for the Chantier Naval (0 for Académie de la Marine as she owns one): in this case Bea receives 3 coins.
Movement of goods (Harbor): This action allows goods to move between Dépôt (player Sheet) and ships in Rouen. The normal number of barrels allowed in the Dépôt is 6. If players bought Dépôt level 1 the maximum number allowed is 15 barrels; with Dépôt level 2 the limit is 30 barrels. If the capacity is exceeded at the end of the action, the additional barrels are lost (players choose which kind).

Example: a ship is in the harbor with 4 cod. In the Dépôt (Player Sheet) there are 3 barrels of salt. By playing the Movement of goods action, Anna can load 3 barrels of salt onto the Caravel while moving 4 cod into the Dépôt.
Selling to the market (Market): This action allows one type of good (herring, cod or salt) to be sold to the Market. The goods can be in ships in the harbor and/or in the Dépôt. The unitary price is given on the Price table. After the sale, the current price is decreased by one step for every 8 barrels sold or part thereof (2 steps in a two-player game).

Action example

Carlo chooses and pays for a Navigation Action: he moves his ship from the Harbor to the Ocean, where he chooses to fish herring. He exchanges each salt barrel loaded on the ship (white cubes) for a herring barrel (pink cubes).

As his following action, he chooses and pays for another Navigation Action: so he moves his ship back to Rouen Harbor.

After that, he chooses a Market Action: he sells the 3 herring barrels to the market making 12 coins (4x3=12) and the price counter is moved down on the Market Table by 1 step. Alternatively, he could choose a Harbor Action and move the herring barrels to his Dépôt.

Events

Event tiles show the price change for each type of goods and the weather conditions or Event in the open Sea.

The weather/Event can be:

Calm: No effect.
Storm: When a ship enters the open sea it is damaged and the cargo capacity is reduced by one. The damage point is represented by placing one of the player's cubes on the cargo space of the ship. Moreover, an additional event may be shown:
Pirates: The first ship entering the open sea is attacked by the pirates and receives 2 damage points. All the other ships, even those of different players, are unaffected.
Poor fishing: One barrel of salt is discarded from every ship going into the open sea without being transformed into a barrel of fish.

Buildings

The available buildings in the game are:

Saline (salt mine)

Each player starts the game with 1 Saline of capacity 3. The second mine produces 4 more barrels of salt (7), the third 3 more and the fourth Saline produces 2 more salt barrels (for a total of 10 and 12 respectively). Salt is produced at the end of the turn and is stored in the player's Dépôt.

Dépôt (warehouse)

Players can stock up to 6 barrels of goods without improving their Dépôt (salt and/or fish). A level 1, the Dépôt can store up to 15 barrels and a level 2 stores up to 30 barrels. If Dépôt capacity is exceeded, the excess barrels are lost. Each player uses their own Dépôt: they cannot store other players' cubes.

Banque & Salle des Coffres (bank and vault)

Without the Banque at the end of the turn the player is allowed to have at most 40 coins. With the Banque, the limit is increased to 80 coins. Additionally, at the end of the turn, the Banque generates 1 coin for every 20 coins the player has.

Example: Anna has the Banque and has 45 coins. At the end of the turn she gains 2 coins (1 for every 20 coins).

In order to buy the Salle des Coffres, the player must already have the Banque. The Salle des Coffres allows an unlimited number of coins. Additionally, at the end of each turn it generates 1 coin for every 10 coins the player has. This replaces the income generated by the Banque.

Bureau des Finances (Treasury office)

The first player building it receives 3 additional coins every time he sells goods to the Market. The second player receives 2 coins for each sale. Other players' sales do not generate income for the owners of the Bureau des Finances.

Auberge (inn)

At the end of the turn, the owners of the Auberge receive 2 coins plus 1 additional coin for each player without the Auberge.

Example: In a three player game, Anna and Bea have the Auberge. At the end of the turn Anna and Bea gain 3 coins (2 for the privilege and 1 for the player without the Auberge).

Chantier Naval (shipyard)

The Chantier Naval enables ships to be built. The owner may use it for free. Every time a ship is built, the owner receives 3 coins/Caravel and 4 coins/Carrack (if there is only one Chantier Naval) or half if there are two of these buildings.

Académie de la Marine (naval academy)

The Académie de la Marine trains ships' captains. The owner may use it for free. Every time a ship is built the owner of the Académie de la Marine receives 3 coins/Caravel and 4 coins/Carrack (if there is only one Académie) or half if there are two Académies.

Phare (lighthouse)

At the end of the turn, it enables one damaged ship to be repaired, removing all player cubes from a cargo space on the Player Sheet. At the end of the game, the owners of the Phare receive 2 coins for each ship they own.

Notre-Dame

Every time a player builds the Cathedral, he moves his counter forward 1 step on the Notre-Dame Cathedral track. At game end, each player receives the number of coins shown on the track. For example, if a player built the Cathedral once he receives 5 additional coins. If a player built the Cathedral twice he receives 11 coins, and so on. Only a limited number of players can access the last three positions on the Track (45, 55, 70). Only one player can gain 70 coins, for building the Cathedral 8 times during the game.

Example: during the game Anna built the Notre-Dame cathedral 3 times. At the end of the game, she receives 18 additional coins.

Vitraux de Notre-Dame (Notre-Dame stained glasses)

When the +18 position on Notre Dame grid is reached, it is possible to build the cathedral's Vitrails. At game end, the first player to build them gains 10 additional coins, the second player 7 coins and the third player 5.

Example: Anna was the first player to build the Vitrails, so at the end of the game she gains 10 additional coins.

Hotel-de-Ville (town hall)

When at least one Banque has been built, the Hotel-de-Ville may also be built. At game end, the first player to have built it receives 3 additional coins plus 1 coin for each own building in the city. The second player gains 1 coin for each own building and the third player 1 coin for every 2 own buildings (rounded down). Saline and Dépôt are not counted while Notre-Dame Cathedral count as single buildings regardless of any improvements.

Gros Horloge (the Great Clock)

The players that build it can perform two consecutive actions of different types once in a turn. The second action costs its current activation price plus 3 coins for the first player to build the Gros Horloge and 5 coins for the second player. Each player can use the Gros Horloge only once in each turn. To remember that, when a player uses it, move the player's cube counter onto the building.

Example: the Navigation action type counter is set to 0 and Harbor is set to 3. Bea is the first player with the Gros Horloge. Bea can use it and she can perform a Navigation action paying 0 and a Harbor action paying 6 (3 for normal activation cost +3 coins).

Eglise Saint Maclou

The players that build it are protected by the Saint of the Church and their Ships are protected from Pirates (but Pirates will remain active for other players). At the end of the game, the first player gains 6 additional coins and the second player 3.

Fierte St. Romain

This building gives immunity to the Poor Fishing event. Moreover, at the end of each turn it allows the first owner to look at two face down Event tiles (including tiles that are not currently in the game) and, if he wants, to swap them. The second player building it can only look at an Event tile without changing it.

2 or 3 player game

In a two-player game it is not possible to fish/sell/buy cod and every sale causes the Price counter to move by two steps. Moreover, each building is available once with the exception of the Phare, Banque, Salle des Coffres, Auberge, Dépôt, Saline and Notre-Dame Cathedral which are available in twice.

In a three-player game, all buildings are available twice with the exceptions of Saline, Notre-Dame, Phare, Dépôt, Auberge, Banque and Salle des Coffres which are available 3 times.

All other rules remain unchanged.

Note: player number indication on building need to be respected also in 2-3 players game. For example, Notre Dame Vitrails has 3 boxes available: first one is only for 4-player game, the second one is for 3-player game, and the last is for 2 player game; this means that in 3-players it's possible to earn at maximum 7 coins with this building.

Gameboard and rulebook
32 salt (white), 24 herring (pink) and 24 cod (violet) wooden cubes. 10 salt (white), 10 herring (pink) and 10 cod (violet) large wooden cubes (x4 value).
72 player markers (wooden cubes: 18 for each player color: blue, green, red, yellow)
4 coin markers (wooden disc)
7 market/action counters (black cubes)
3 ship tiles for each player color.
10 Event tiles, 4 Player Sheets