Village Rails
Village Rails Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
- Randomly deal each player a corner piece. Each player then takes all the border pieces with the matching letter on their back and places them in an upside-down L-shape in front of them. Return any unused border pieces to the box.
- Shuffle the railway cards into a deck with the trip side facing up and place it at the centre of the play area.
- Draw and place one railway card track-side up next to the railway deck, forming the track market. Repeat this step until there are seven cards in the track market.
- Draw and place one railway card trip-side up on the other side of the railway deck, forming the trip market. Repeat this step until there are four cards in the trip market.
- Place the coins close to the railway deck in a common supply. Give each player coins totaling £5.
- Shuffle the terminus cards into a facedown deck. Then deal each player three terminus cards. You may look at the terminus cards you are dealt but should keep them secret from other players.
- Give each player a scoring dial and set them to zero points.
- Give each player a reference card.
- The player with the corner piece in earliest alphabetical order goes first.
How to Play
Overview
Village Rails is a tableau-building card game. In the game, your tableau is framed by your border pieces. In the 3x4 area within your border pieces, you'll place railway cards as tracks, creating your personal rail network. Outside your border pieces, you'll place railway cards as trips instead, which will score points throughout the game.
Your border pieces depict the start of seven railway lines. By placing tracks, you will extend these lines. When a line runs all the way from a border piece to an edge of your tableau, that line is completed. When you complete a line, you score for all the trips and features associated with it, and play a terminus card to earn money from it.
After all players have taken twelve turns, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.
Player Turn
On your turn, you must build tracks.
You may also plan a trip, either before or after you build tracks.
After you have finished your turn, the player to your left takes their turn.
Plan a Trip
To plan a trip, spend £3, returning it to the general supply.
You cannot plan a trip if you can't afford it!
Take one trip from the trip market. Taking the trip furthest away from the railway deck has no additional cost. To take any other card, you must place £1 on each card in the trip market that is further away from the railway deck than the one you are taking.
Gain any money on the card you take.
After you have taken a card, slide the cards that were closer to the railway deck down to fill the space left by the card you took. Then, place the top card of the railway deck trip-side up into the trip market in the space closest to the railway deck.
There should always be four cards available in the trip market.
Next, assign the trip to a railway line. To do so, simply place the trip next to the start of a line on one of your border pieces.
You cannot assign a trip to a line that already has two trips assigned to it.
You cannot assign a trip to a line that is already completed. Completed lines will have a face-down terminus card next to them to indicate that you cannot assign trips to them.
Build Tracks
Take one track from the track market. Taking the track furthest away from the railway deck has no cost. To take any other card, you must place £1 on each card in the track market that is further away from the railway deck than the one you are taking.
Gain any money on the card you take.
After you have taken a card, slide the cards that were closer to the railway deck down to fill the space left by the card you took. Then, flip the top card of the railway deck so that it's track-side up and place it into the track market in the space closest to the railway deck.
There should always be seven cards available in the trip market.
Next, place the track into one of the twelve spaces in your tableau. You must place the track in an empty space so that it is adjacent to at least one border piece or track.
You must place tracks in a landscape orientation, but you may rotate them 180 degrees.
Out of Money?
If you run out of money, you won't be able to plan trips, and you'll have to build the track furthest from the railway deck. To earn more money, play terminus cards by completing railway lines, and pick tracks and trips from the market with money on them.
Completing a Line
A line is completed when track runs continuously from a border piece to an edge of your tableau without one. When a line is completed, score any associated trips and features, and resolve a terminus card.
When you score points from trips and features, adjust your scoring dial accordingly. Points are open information.
When scoring trips and resolving terminus cards, the terrain type or feature shown on the border piece where the line starts is considered part of the line.
If you complete multiple lines simultaneously, you choose which completed line to resolve first.
Trip Scoring
Score any trip assigned to the completed line. Each trip scores based on characteristics of the completed line (including border piece), as detailed on its card.
Some trips take the form 'At least one (terrain type) and fewer (terrain type) than any other type on line.' These score only if there is at least one of the indicated type on the line, and every other terrain that is present on the line appears more times than the indicated type.
Feature Scoring
Score any non-siding features along the line.
Each barn indicates a terrain type. A barn scores one point for each track with the terrain of the indicated type on the line.
Each farm scores one point for each different terrain type on the line. The maximum a farm can score is five points.
Each halt scores the points indicated by its icon.
Signals score points according to the total number of signals on the line:
| Number of Signals | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 0 | 0 | 8 | 16 | 24 |
Sidings only score at the end of the game.
Resolving a Terminus Card
After scoring for trips and features, choose and play one terminus card from your hand. Gain the amount of money from the supply indicated on the card based on the characteristics of the completed line (including border piece).
Next, place any scored trips on the bottom of the railway deck with their trip side facing up, in any order you choose. Place the played terminus card face down next to the start of the scored line. This serves as a reminder that the line is completed and you cannot assign any more trips to it.
Finally, if you have not completed all seven of your lines, draw a terminus card from the deck.
Terminus cards will gain you a minimum of £3.
Game End
The game ends when all players have taken twelve turns and filled all the spaces in their tableaux.
Players score points for the number of different lines that have at least one siding:
| Number of lines with 1+ sidings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 36 | 49 |
Lastly, players score one point per £3 they have remaining.
The player with the most points wins. If players are tied for the most points, the tied player with the most money wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Example Turn
Mildred chooses to plan a trip, placing £1 on the bottom trip card and taking the card second from bottom. She returns £3 to the supply and gains the £1 on the card. She then refills the market and assigns the trip to the rightmost line on her top border piece.
Mildred then builds a track, taking the bottom card from the track market and refilling the market. She chooses to place it upside down into the bottom right of her tableau. This completes her rightmost line and her bottom line. Mildred decides to resolve the rightmost line first.
The trip assigned to the rightmost line scores four points (as the line is made of five tracks, including the border piece). The only feature on the line is a farm, which scores five points for the five types of terrain on the line (fields, pastures, forests, villages, and lakes), meaning Mildred scores a total of nine points for the line. Mildred then plays a terminus card, which gains her £4 from the one field on the line. Finally, she puts the assigned trip on the bottom of the railway deck, places the played terminus card face down in the space the trip was in, and draws a new terminus card.
Next, Mildred scores the bottom line. No trips were assigned to the line, so the only points will come from the line's features. The barn on the lake scores four points for the four tracks with lake terrain on the line (as the border piece also shows lake terrain). The two signals on the line score her another eight points. Then, Mildred plays a terminus card that gains her money according to the number of trips assigned to the line, however, as no trips were assigned to the line, she only gains £3. Mildred then places the played terminus card facedown next to the start of the scored track and draws a new terminus card. Her turn is now over.
Components
- 80 railway cards
- Tracks: When a railway card is this face up, it is considered a track. Each track features two railway lines. One or both lines may have a feature. In addition, each track has a terrain type: field, forest, pasture, lake, or village.
- Trips: When a railway card is this face up, it is considered a trip. Each trip tells you how it will score when its railway line is complete.
- 38 terminus cards
- 4 reference cards
- 4 scoring dials
- 12 border pieces
- 4 corner border pieces
- 44 coins
- 32 × £1
- 12 × £5
Credits
Game design: Matthew Dunstan & Brett J. Gilbert Illustration: Joanna Rosa Game development: Filip Hartelius & Anthony Howgego Graphic design: James Hunter
First published in Great Britain in 2022 by OSPREY GAMES, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.