Victory through Industry Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Concepts
• Number of Players
• Products
• Factories
• Factory Operation
• Contracts
• Setup
• On Your Turn
  • Production Move
  • Input and Output Options
• Non-Production Move
  • Build a Factory
  • Tear Down a Factory
  • Move a Factory
  • Move a Product
  • Trade with Other Players
  • Trade with the Bank
  • Discard a Product
  • Claim a Contract
  • Contract Fulfillment
• Example Turn
• End of Game
• Rules Summary

Concepts

Victory Through Industry is a production game. Your goal is to build a complex of factories capable of providing the products necessary for the war effort. The player who supplies the most valuable products and uses them to fulfil the best-paying government contracts wins the game.

The game uses cards, but it is not a card game in the usual sense. Instead of keeping the cards in your hand, you place them face up on the table in front of you. The arrangement of those cards forms your industrial complex.

The cards in your industrial complex are kept in an arrangement of columns and rows, so that it is always possible to see which cards are adjacent to one another.

Number of Players

This game is designed for 2 to 6 players. For larger groups, combine two copies of the game.*

Products

The image on the left is of a product. Each product type has a name, a symbol, and a numeric point value. The example in the image shows the product Ammunition, whose value is 9 points.

At the end of the game, each product you have adds its point value to your score. Thus, if you finish the game with, for example, five Ammunition cards, you receive 45 points.

Factories

Products are obtained using factories. The image on the left is of a factory. Each type of factory has a name and a symbol, together with a series of inputs and outputs that show the symbols of product cards.

The example in the image is a Steel Mill, which consumes Coal (a product represented by a black rock, on the left) and Iron Ore (a product represented by small pieces of mineral, on the right). By combining both products, the Steel Mill produces Steel (a product represented by a beam, shown below).

* (If you combine multiple copies of the game, you need to add a change to the rules. (If you are not familiar with the rules, come back to this note later): When a player first takes the Fulfillment token, the other Fulfillment token (from the second copy of the game) goes to the player sitting opposite.)

Factory Operation

For a factory to operate, it must have the products beside its inputs, and also the empty space beside its outputs, for the new products. Here we see a Steel Mill ready to operate:

Here we see the layout of the Steel Mill after it has been activated:

Note that in this process the Steel Mill has consumed all of its input products (coal and iron ore) to produce all of its output products (steel). Before this mill can be activated again, the steel it produced must be transported away, and the coal and steel replaced [the printed translation reads "carbón y acero" here; the inputs of the Steel Mill are coal and iron ore].

Contracts

The Government seeks suppliers for certain products. To acquire them, it issues public contracts. The image on the left shows a Knapsacks Contract (Army Knapsacks, Government Contract, 35 points). Signing a contract means you are designated as the supplier of a certain product needed for the war effort.

Every few turns, the Government will ask the holders of each contract to hand over another unit of their designated product. If the supplier does not do so, the supplier loses the contract. (Claims and fulfilment of contracts are explained in detail in the section On your turn, below.)

Setup

Industrial complexes can become quite large, so make sure each player has enough free space on the table in front of them; a square about 60 cm wide should suffice.

Set the Contract Fulfillment token aside for the moment; it is needed later.

Sort the factories and products into piles by type (one pile for all iron mines, another for nitroglycerin factories, and so on). Place them in the centre of the table where all players can reach them, or in a place where one of the players takes charge of handing them out.

Shuffle the contracts. Reveal four times as many contracts as there are players. These will be the only contracts available during the game. Spread them out so that all players can see them. Keep the unrevealed contracts in the box.

Select the following nine factories: 4 forests, 1 iron mine, 1 coal mine, 1 oil well, 1 cattle ranch and 1 cotton plantation. These are the possible starting factories. Give the nine to a randomly chosen player, who takes one of his choice, and then passes the set to the player on his right. That player does the same, and so on until each player has chosen a factory. If there are enough factories for each player to get a second one, the set goes around the table again, and so on until there are fewer factories left than players. Leftover factories are returned to their respective piles. (For example, with two players, each player gets four factories and one is left over at the end.)

Afterwards, each player places their starting factories in their play area, in front of them. Factories may be rotated, but only in 90-degree turns, as shown in the image:

[Image: factories shown rotated in 90-degree steps are allowed; a factory shown at an angle is crossed out.]

All of your factories must form a connected group, with the factories touching each other along their sides or corners. This means there can be no gaps in your industrial complex. Below we see an example of a valid industrial complex, in which all the factories are connected:

[Image: a Coal Mine, an Iron Mine and a third factory, all touching.]

Here, by contrast, we see an example of an invalid industrial complex, in which there is a gap between factories:

[Image: a Coal Mine and a third factory with a gap between them, and an Iron Mine placed apart.]

The player who chose the last starting factory card will be the first to play. Play proceeds to the left.

On Your Turn

Your turn consists of three parts:

1. Fulfilling your contracts, if you have the Contract Fulfillment token (explained below).
2. Make one move, either a production move or a non-production move.
3. Make a second move, either a production move or a non-production move.

Each of these parts is explained in detail below, followed by an example turn described step by step.

Production Move

A production move is made by using your factories to manufacture products. Choose one type of factory. All your factories of that same type may be activated at the same time. For a factory to operate, all of its inputs must be covered and the empty spaces needed for all of its outputs must be available.

For example, this Steel Mill cannot be activated, because it does not have all of its input products (it has Iron Ore, but no Coal):

[Image: a Steel Mill with only an Iron Ore card beside it.]

A factory also needs all of its output spaces free of products. For example, this Oil Refinery has three output spaces, but one of them is blocked by Sulfur:

[Image: an Oil Refinery with an Oil card above it and a Sulfur card blocking one of its output spaces.]

This rule applies on a "factory by factory" basis. That is, if some of your factories have what they need to operate, even if others do not, the ones that do have what they need can operate.

For example, this industrial complex is able to activate two of its three textile factories, even though the third is blocked:

[Image: three Cotton cards, each above a Textile Mill, with a Cloth card below.]

Input and Output Options

Most factories have an exact number of inputs and outputs, but a few have some different options. Thus, an Ammunition Factory can use either Wood or Cotton in its top input:

[Image: Ammunition Factory with Wood/Cotton on its top input, Nitroglycerin on its left input, Copper on its right input, and Ammunition as output.]

When the Wood and Cotton symbols are placed next to each other on the same side of the card, they indicate that you may choose one of the two options. Thus, the Ammunition Factory can be operated with:

• Nitroglycerin, Wood and Copper; or
• Nitroglycerin, Cotton and Copper.

The Nylon Factory, by contrast, gives you two output options. It consumes Naphtha and produces Cloth or Parachutes; you may choose one of the two:

[Image: Nylon Factory, consuming Naphtha, with Cloth or Parachutes as the output options.]

When you activate several factories of this type in a single move, each factory may choose its output independently. For example, you may activate four Nylon Factories in a single production move, making Cloth with one and Parachutes with the others. Remember, all your factories of the same type can be activated during a production turn.

Non-Production Move

Your turn consists of two moves, either production or non-production moves. If you choose a non-production move, you may perform as many of the following non-production actions as you like, in any order:

• Build a factory.
• Tear down a factory.
• Move a factory.
• Move a product.
• Trade with another player.
• Trade with the bank.
• Discard a product.
• Claim a contract.

Build a Factory

Building a factory costs two products. You may choose any combination of products from three sources: the input products of the factory to be built, its output products, and Wood (which is the universal construction material in this game).

For example, a Nylon Factory consumes Naphtha and produces Cloth or Parachutes. To build a Nylon Factory, you may pay with any of the following pairs of products:

• Naphtha + Naphtha
• Naphtha + Cloth
• Naphtha + Parachutes
• Naphtha + Wood
• Cloth + Cloth
• Cloth + Parachutes
• Cloth + Wood
• Parachutes + Parachutes
• Parachutes + Wood
• Wood + Wood

To pay for the Nylon Factory, Naphtha, Cloth, Parachutes and Wood are the only products that may be paid, since they form the inputs and outputs of that factory, plus Wood.

When you build a factory, first you pay the two products, removing them from your industrial complex. Then place the new factory in any location in your complex, adjacent to another of your existing factories, whether sharing a side or a corner.

The maximum number of factories of each type is four. If you have already built four of the same type, you may not build any more factories of that type. *

* Products, however, are not limited. There are enough product cards in the box, so under normal circumstances they should not run out. If you ever need more, do not hesitate to make more using pieces of paper, or else ask the publisher for more.

Tear Down a Factory

You may tear down one of your factories during a non-production move, returning it to its pile. If doing so causes your industrial complex to become disconnected, you must immediately build another factory and place it in its place to reconnect the complex. Otherwise you may not tear down that factory this turn. Your industrial complex must always be connected.

Move a Factory

You may move a factory by tearing it down and immediately rebuilding it in the new location, paying only one product instead of two. You may move a factory to or from another player's industrial complex only if you have their permission.

Move a Product

[The printed heading for this subsection reads "Mover una factoría" (Move a factory) a second time; the content below concerns products, so the heading is rendered here as "Move a Product".]

You may move one of your products to any space next to any factory in your complex. A product does not have to be on an input or output side of your factories, but it must be next to one side of any of them. The following image shows some valid and invalid product placements.

[Image: examples of valid and invalid product placements next to factories.]

Remember that a non-production move lets you perform as many non-production actions as you like, in any order. (If tearing down a factory leaves products in invalid locations, you must move them to valid locations or else discard them.)

Trade with Other Players

During a non-production move, you may give products to other players and receive others in exchange. To give a product, simply hand it to the player in question, who must place it in a valid location within his industrial complex. Receiving products works the same way, but in reverse.

Trade with the Bank

During a non-production move you may trade with the bank. Give three products of the same type to receive any one product of the same or lower value. For example, you may give the bank three Rubber cards (each worth 2 points) to receive a Parachutes card (worth 2 points). Place the received product in a valid location within your industrial complex. The products given to the bank return to their respective piles.

Discard a Product

During a non-production move you may discard products from your industrial complex. Return the cards to their respective piles.

Claim a Contract

To take an unclaimed contract, give up one of the products of that contract. Return the product to its pile. Take the contract card and place it in front of you. If all the contracts have been claimed, or if someone has eight contracts, the game ends (see End of Game, below). No player may have more than eight contracts.

Contract cards are not part of your industrial complex, so they do not need to form part of its grid. You may place them wherever you like in front of you, face up, so that the other players can see which contracts you hold.

If you are the first player to claim a contract, take the Contract Fulfillment token and place it in front of you.

Contract Fulfillment

If the Contract Fulfillment token is in your possession at the start of your turn, you must do two things:

1. Give one product for each contract, or otherwise you will lose every unsatisfied contract. (You may voluntarily lose a contract if you wish.)
2. Pass the Contract Fulfillment token to the player on your right. If you fulfil five or more contracts, the game ends (see End of Game, below).

Example Turn

Let us examine one turn in detail. Our example player begins with the following elements in front of him on the table:

[Image: the player's starting cards: several Oil cards, an Oil Well, an Iron Mine, Iron Ore, a Contract Fulfillment token, a Brass Government Contract (5 points) and an Oil Government Contract (5 points).]

He begins his turn with the Contract Fulfillment token, so he must fulfil or lose each of his contracts. This player has Oil cards, so he chooses to fulfil his Oil contract. He has no Copper card, however, so he loses his Copper contract [the printed translation says "contrato de cobre" (copper contract) here, while the contract card in the image is labelled Brass]. He then passes the Contract Fulfillment token to the player on his right.

[Image: the player's cards after fulfilling the Oil contract and losing the other contract.]

Now our example player has two moves. He chooses first to make a non-production move. He begins by trading three Oil cards to the bank for one Wood.

[Image: the Wood card received from the bank, beside the Iron Ore card and the rest of his complex.]

With this Wood, plus the Iron Ore card, he builds another Iron Mine.

[Image: the complex with the newly built Iron Mine, which is placed next to his other factories.]

For his second move, the player makes a production move, using his two Iron Mines. Both have space for their outputs (and require no inputs), so both are able to produce.

[Image: the complex with both Iron Mines producing Iron Ore.]

End of Game

The game ends as soon as any of the following conditions is met:

• Someone fulfils five contracts.
• Someone has 8 contracts.
• No more contracts remain to be claimed.

When the game ends, everyone totals their score. Contracts in your possession and products in your industrial complex count their value in points. The player with the highest score wins.

Rules Summary

Setup: Sort factories and products into piles by type. Shuffle the contracts and reveal 4 × the number of players. Starting set: 4 forests, 1 iron mine, 1 coal mine, 1 oil well, 1 cattle ranch, 1 cotton plantation. A random player takes the set, then passes the rest to the right, one at a time, until fewer factories remain than players. Leftover factories are returned to their piles. The last player to choose a starting factory goes first. Play proceeds to the left.

On your turn: Contract fulfilment (if you hold the token), then two moves: production and/or non-production.

Contract fulfilment: If you hold the token, for each of your contracts pay a product or lose the contract. Pass the token to the right. If you fulfil 5 or more contracts, the game ends.

Production move: Choose one type of factory. All factories of that type that have products in their inputs and free spaces in their outputs may consume all of those products and produce all of their outputs. Where two symbols are shown on one side, you choose.

Non-production move: Any number of actions, in any order: build a factory, tear down a factory, move a factory, move a product, trade with a player, trade with the bank, discard a product, claim a contract.

Build a factory: Pay two products. Valid options: the inputs of the factory, its outputs, and/or Wood. The new factory must be connected to the others in the complex.

Tear down a factory: Only tear down a factory if the industrial complex remains connected.

Move a factory: Tear down and rebuild a factory for half the price, within your complex or in another player's complex with their permission.

Move a product: Move a product to any location next to the complex.

Trade with players: Give or receive any products to or from other players, who must place them in valid locations within the industrial complex.

Trade with the bank: Give three of one type and take one of equal or lower value.

Claim a contract: To take an unclaimed contract, pay a product of that contract. If you are the first, take the Contract Fulfillment token (when using both copies of the game, the second token goes to the player opposite). If you have 8 contracts, the game ends.

End of game: The game ends as soon as any of these conditions is met: someone fulfils 5 or more contracts, someone has 8 contracts, or no unclaimed contracts remain. Products and contracts count. The highest score wins.