Village Builder
Village Builder Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 Villagers
- 5 Wood
- 5 Stone
- 10 Coins
- 79 cards: 3 Start Buildings, 1 Scoring Card, 2 Plague Cards, 1 Fire Card, 72 Buildings
- 1 Player Board
- 1 Scoring Helper
Set Up
Locate the three "Start Building" Cards and the Scoring Card. You begin with a Peasant Hut card, two villagers, 2 coins, and 1 of the start building industrial cards which you may choose at random (but if you feel really strongly about it, pick whichever one you want; for a greater challenge, choose the Ore Mine). Place the buildings in the play area, this is your starting village. Place the villagers and the two coins in the appropriate places on the player board. Return the unused Start Building Card to the box. You may place all remaining resources in the space next to the Draw Deck. Place the Scoring Helper and/or scoring card to the side within reach. You may refer to them through the game to help make decisions with respect to end game scoring.
To set up the deck: split the cards into three roughly even piles. For the standard game: Shuffle 1 Plague Card into the second pile. For the intermediate game: shuffle the Fire Card into the first pile and the Plague Card into the second pile. For the advanced game: shuffle the Fire Card into the first pile and a Plague Card into each of the second and third piles. Combine the piles by stacking each on top of the other (stack 1 on top followed by 2, and stack 3 on the bottom).
Rounds
(Heading added for navigation; the printed rules have no heading for this overview.)
Village Builder plays out in rounds, each comprised of 4 steps:
- Draw to a hand of 5 cards (more if a building instructs you to do so).
- Send your villagers to work in your buildings.
- Collect resources and benefits as indicated on the building cards. Send your workers back home.
- Build as many building cards as you wish and can afford.
Once you draw the final card (even if your hand is not full) it initiates the final round of the game. After the final round, the game ends and scoring commences.
1. Draw Cards
Each round you will draw cards to your maximum hand. At the start of the game your maximum is 5. There are buildings that will allow you to increase your hand size to 6, 7, and 8 should you choose to construct them.
Building Types
There are five building types: Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Farm, and Special. Each card has a written label at the bottom, and a symbol in the upper left-hand corner that denote its type.
The Plague Cards and the Fire Card
There are three cards in the deck that are not buildings, the 2 Plague Cards and the Fire Card. When one of these cards is drawn, immediately perform the listed action. Then discard the card and replace it with a new building card and play continues as normal. If in the unlikely event you draw two of these cards in one hand, apply the effects of one, and shuffle the second card into the draw pile.
2. Send Villagers to Work
You begin the game with 2 villagers. Your villagers are used to collect resources and benefits. Place each of your villagers on building cards to collect the associated resources. You may only place one villager on each card. Resources are limited; you may never have more resources than allowed by the components list.
Some buildings have ongoing bonuses that do not require a worker to gain the indicated benefit. Only cards with an icon on the lower right of the card require a villager to gain the indicated benefit.
Note: The number of villagers you may have is restricted by the number of residences in your village. Each residential building can house 2 villagers. So, if you have one residential building, then you can have a max of 2 villagers. If you have two residential buildings (it can be a combination of peasant huts, citizen, patrician or noble houses) then you have a max for 4 villagers. Note: the patrician house produces 2 villagers at a time, it still counts as a single residence.
3. Collect Resources and Recall Villagers
Your villagers will produce resources and benefits during their day of work. The Production Type is indicated on the lower right of the card. As you collect each resource, place it and the corresponding villager on the relevant spaces of the player board.
Note: you may collect resources and benefits in any way you see fit.
4. Build
Coins and the cards in your hand count as money. Each card is worth 1 coin. In the example below, Martin would like to build the Warehouse. The building has a cost of 6 coins. In addition to the Warehouse, he has 4 cards and 3 coins. Martin chooses to purchase the Warehouse using 3 cards and 3 coins.
All new buildings must be built orthogonally adjacent to existing buildings and no continuous line of buildings may exceed a length of 5. See the diagram on the next page for an example. You may construct as many new buildings as your resources allow. You may opt to build nothing; however, if you do so, you must discard half of the cards in your hand rounding down if necessary (e.g. if you have a hand of 5 cards, discard 2 if you have a hand of 7 cards, discard 3, etc. ).
If you remove a building due to a card effect, your buildings must maintain the adjacency rule; all buildings in your village must be adjacent to at least one other building.
Card Level
A card's level is indicated on the upper left of the cards. Level 1 cards can be built anywhere. Level 2 cards upgrade level 1 cards and are built on top of cards of the same Type. Likewise, Level 3 cards upgrade Level 2 cards. You may not place a Level 3 card on top of a Level 1 card.
In the example below, Cheryl builds a level 2 residential building, the Patrician House. To do so, she pays the cost and places it on top of a level 1 residential building, the Peasant Hut.
Some buildings have a Card Level "X." These cards should be treated like Level 1 cards while building; the X is used for scoring purposes. VP are awarded if you build 2 or more of the same X buildings adjacent to each other. You score 1 VP per building.
Note: you may not build over your start buildings. They are of great historical importance!
Unique Buildings
Some buildings have a "U" in place of the Card Level. These buildings act as Level 1 and are unique. You may only have one building with that name within your village at any given time. If you demolish a unique building with the catapult, you may construct it again.
In the example below, Lou wants a building worth VP. She has already built the Harbor Statue so she cannot build a second. Instead, she can choose to build the Statue.
Special Buildings
Some special buildings will grant you extra VP during scoring. For example, The Statue card grants a post-game bonus of 5 VP. Other cards require certain conditions to be met. The following vocabulary is used:
Adjacent means that the buildings are orthogonally adjacent to each other. Buildings along a diagonal are not considered to be adjacent.
A Set is a group of buildings all orthogonally connected to each other. In the example below, the Bazaar, Warehouse, and Apiary are a set of Commercial buildings. Notice that the Sugar Mill building is not a part of the set because it is not adjacent to one of the commercial buildings in the set.
The Vineyard is a special building adjacent to this commercial set. During scoring, the Vineyard bonus would be activated, and the player would gain an additional 3 VP (one for each of the three commercial buildings in the set).
Notes on buildings:
The Workshop, Vineyard, and Processing grant VP only for their designated sets: Residential, Commercial, and Industrial respectively.
The Surgery building is an ongoing effect and you do not need to place a villager on it to receive the benefit.
The Warehouse building stores cards. You must place a villager on the Warehouse to store or unstore cards during a given turn. Your villager can move up to two cards total into or out of the warehouse in any combination. There is no limit to the number of cards the Warehouse can hold.
The Apiary and Brewery grant resource benefits as usual, but also grant a post-game VP bonus.
The Sawmill and Quarry must be built on top of a Lumber Hut and Ore Mine respectively. They do not count toward scoring for either building type. Additionally, they may break up a Lumber Hut or Ore Mine set depending on where they are placed.
For a full list of building abilities, see the Card Glossary at the end of the rules.
Special Connections
Some buildings can be connected to earn instant bonuses. Cards with semicircles on the right side can be matched with those that have a semicircle on the left-hand side to make a complete image. When a match is made, the player instantly gains the bonus indicated on each card.
Note: Buildings cannot be rotated. They must be placed with the title at the top.
In the example below, Austin builds a level 2 Patrician House over a Peasant hut. This completes the Special Connection and he immediately gains the 2 coins listed. Vp gained in this way should be noted on the Scoring Helper.
Additionally, should you place a new connection symbol over an old one, you score the listed bonus.
Game End
The round in which you draw the last card is the final round of the game. After the final round the game ends and scoring commences.
Game Scoring
Each building type is scored differently. To find your score, add the following:
Residential Cards: Find the number of buildings in Residential sets (must be greater than 1; recall a set is a group of buildings all orthogonally connected to each other). Multiply each set by its highest building Card Level. Add to total (must be greater than 1). Add Workshop card VP and Local Pub card VP.
In the example below, Rachel has three Residential buildings (two Peasant huts and one Patrician House) and her set is Level 2. She scores 2x3=6 VP. She also has the Local Pub, which is adjacent to one residential buildings earning her another 2 VP.
Industrial Cards: Find the number of Ore Mines in each Ore Mine set (recall each set must be greater than 1). Add that to your total. Repeat this process with Lumber Hut sets and add to your total. Recall that neither the Quarry nor the Sawmill are considered Ore Mines or Lumber Huts. These buildings do not score, and they separate sets. Add Processing card VP and Blacksmith card VP.
Continuing from above (see previous image), Rachel scores 3 VP for her Lumber Hut set and 2 VP for her Ore Mine set. She does not score any points for the Ore Mine at the right since it is not in a set. She does not score for the Sawmill because it is not a part of the Lumber Hut set. Rachel also build the Processing building. She scores 7VP for the seven industrial buildings adjacent to it.
Commercial Cards: Find the number of buildings in Commercial sets that are different to each other. Multiply each set by its highest building Card Level. Add to total (must be greater than 1). Add Vineyard card VP and Tannery card VP.
In the example below, Doc has two commercial sets, 1 and 2. Set 1 has five buildings, four of which are different to each other (the Sugar Mill cannot be scored twice) and it is Level 3 because of the Big Market. This earns her 12 VP. The second set is comprised of two buildings and is Level 1, thus earning Doc 2 VP. The Vinyard is adjacent to two sets, set 1 has five buildings for 5 VP and Set 2 has two buildings for 2 VP.
Finally, add up your Special Buildings VP including the Fortress, Harbor Statue, and Statue. Don't forget to include the Apiary and Brewery as well as an additional VP you scored during the game!
Score Chart
| Score | Result |
|---|---|
| 40 or less | Oh dear! The Medieval Yelp reviews are not so good for you village. |
| 41-55 | Your village is a pitstop on the way to someplace a little more glorious. |
| 56-84 | Villagers are really starting to notice your village. |
| 85-100 | Glory is within your grasp! Your village is pretty great. Not great…pretty great. |
| >100-120 | Your village rivals the city from whence you came. A muddy, cramped victory! |
| 121+ | Glory to you! Glory to your family! The most victorious of victories! |
Card Glossary
Apiary: Place one villager, gain 3 coins. End game scoring bonus. Gain 3 VP.
Bakery: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Bazaar: ongoing benefit. You must draw to 6 cards during the draw phase.
Big Bazaar: Ongoing benefit. You must draw to 7 cards during the draw phase.
Big Market: Place one villager, trade any number of resources for any other resources. Resources include coins, stone, and wood.
Blacksmith: End game scoring bonus. Gain 2 VP for each adjacent Ore Mine.
Brewery: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Catapult: Place four villagers, pay 5 stone and 2 gold to demolish 1 building. Remove the building from the game. You may not remove a building if it detaches any other building(s) from the village as all buildings must be adjacent to at least one other.
Citizen House: Place one villager, gain 1 villager (max of 8).
Crop Farm: Place one villager, gain 2 coins.
Exotic Bazaar: Ongoing benefit. You must draw to 8 cards during the draw phase.
Fortress: End game scoring bonus. Gain 5 VP.
Harbor Statue: End game scoring bonus. Gain 3 VP.
Lumber Hut: Place one villager, gain 1 wood.
Market: Place one villager, trade 1 resource for any other resource. Resources include coins, stone, and wood.
Medi Market: Place one villager, trade up to 2 resources for any other resources. Resources include coins, stone, and wood.
Monastery: In game bonus. When the Monastery is built, select one card from the Discard Deck and shuffle it into the Draw Deck.
Noble House: Place one villager, gain 2 additional villagers (max of 8).
Ore Mine: Place one villager, gain 1 stone.
Patrician House: Place one villager, gain 2 additional villagers (max of 8).
Peasant Hut: Place one villager, gain 1 additional villager (max of 8).
Pig Farm: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Processing: End game scoring bonus. Gain one VP for every building in an adjacent Industrial set. Any industrial building can be contained in this set including the Lumber Hut, Ore Mine, Trapper, and Wheelwright. May be adjacent to multiple sets.
Quarry: Place one villager, gain 2 stone.
Sawmill: Place one villager, gain 2 wood.
Statue: End game scoring bonus. Gain 5 VP.
Sugar Mill: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Surgery: Ongoing benefit. Ignore the effect of the Plague card if the Surgery is in your village at the time the Plague card appears.
Tannery: End game scoring bonus. Gain 2 VP for each adjacent Farm.
Tinsmith: Place one villager, gain 1 VP.
Tournament: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Trapper: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Vineyard: End game scoring bonus. Gain one VP for every building in an adjacent Commercial set. This included duplicate commercial buildings within a set. May be adjacent to multiple sets.
Warehouse: Place one villager, move up to 2 cards into or out of the Warehouse in any combination. There is no limit to the number of cards the Warehouse can hold.
Wheelwright: Place one villager, gain 1 coin.
Workshop: End game scoring bonus. Gain one VP for every building in an adjacent Residential set. May be adjacent to multiple sets.
Appendix
Each of these examples make use of industrial sets and Processing to illustrate more scoring examples. These examples are applicable to the other special buildings as well because the Workshop, Vineyard, Tannery, etc. follow the same basic rules even though their scoring applies to different types of sets.
Notice, the Ore Mine and Lumber Hut sets are not adjacent to each other, but each IS adjacent to Processing. In this example the lumber huts are scored as a set of 3, the ore mines are scored as a set of 3, and Processing scores two sets of 3.
In this example, the lumber huts are scored as a set of 2, the ore mines are scored as a set of 3. Processing scores all of the lumber huts and ore mines as one big set of size 5. The trapper does not score as it is not a part of a set (which requires a minimum of 2 buildings).
In this example, the lumber huts score as a set of 2, the ore mines score as a set of 3. Processing scores as one big set of 6.
In this example, the player has built the quarry over an existing mine, thus isolating the mines with the X's, and breaking up what was a set of 4 mines. The lumber huts score as a set of 2, there are no sets of ore mines so no score there. Processing scores as a set of 6 - every industrial building in the set including all of the mines and quarry.