Yellow & Yangtze
Yellow & Yangtze Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Setup
- States
- Play
- End of a Turn
- Pagodas
- Conflicts
- Game End and Winner
- Helpful Reminders
Components
Your game contains:
- This rule book
- 1 folded game board
- 150 cubes in 5 different colors (black, red, green, blue, yellow) and 2 different sizes (10x large and 20x small for each color)
- 4 player screens
- 20 leader tokens in 5 different colors (1 set per player)
- 9 pagodas (2x black, 2x red, 2x green, 2x blue, 1x yellow)
- 1 red unification marker
- 138 tiles (42x black, 36x red, 24x green, 24x blue, 12x yellow)
- 1 bag to keep the tiles in
Setup
A: Place the board in the middle of the play area. It shows China during the warring states period with its two main rivers Yellow and Yangtze.
B: Place one black governor tile on each of the marked board spaces. These represent the capitals of the seven warring states. Put all remaining tiles into the bag and shuffle them.
Option: With two players, you may agree to play a shorter game and remove 24 tiles from the bag unseen into the box.
C: Place all the pagodas next to the board. Divide all the victory point tokens by colors and place them by the board. Place the red, hexagon-shaped unification marker by the board.
D: Each player chooses a dynasty (lion, bull, archer, pot), places his matching screen in front of him, and his five leaders in front of the screen. Put any spare screens and leaders back into the box.
E: Each player draws six tiles from the bag and places them behind his screen.
F: A further six tiles are drawn from the bag and placed face up as merchant tiles in the southern corner of the board, indicated by a green scroll.
States
Tiles and leaders with a common edge are adjacent. Tiles or leaders are linked, if they are adjacent or if they are connected through a chain of adjacent tiles and leaders.
A state is one or more linked tiles and at least one linked leader on the board. As long as a state only contains leaders of different colors, everything is peaceful. Conflicts arise when there are two like-colored leaders within one state.
Play
Choose a starting player at random, then play proceeds in a clockwise order.
During his turn, the player must resolve up to two actions in any order. There are five possible actions. The player may choose two different actions or the same action twice:
- A) Position (place, move, or withdraw) a leader
- B) Place a tile
- C) Discard two blue farmer tiles to cause a peasants' riot
- D) Discard two green trader tiles to establish a pagoda
- E) Replace up to six tiles from behind his screen
These actions will now be explained in detail...
A) Positioning a Leader
Each player controls a dynasty of five leaders: Governor (black), Soldier (red), Farmer (blue), Trader (green), and Artisan (yellow).
When a player takes this action to position one of his own leaders, the leader can either come from the outside of the board or be repositioned from another space on the board. Furthermore, a leader can be withdrawn from the board.
The following restrictions apply:
- A leader must be placed on an empty space on the board (without a tile or leader).
- A leader must be placed adjacent to a black governor tile.
- A leader cannot be placed in such a way as to unite states leading to a conflict – see "Conflicts" below. (Note: As long as no conflict arises, a leader may be placed to unite two or more states.)
- A leader cannot be placed on a river space.
When the last black governor tile adjacent to a leader is removed from the board, the leader must also be removed and returned to its player.
B) Placing a Tile
There are five different types of tiles: Governors (black), Soldiers (red), Farmers (blue), Traders (green), and Artisans (yellow).
When a player takes this action, they take one of the tiles from behind their screen and places it on the board.
The following restrictions apply:
- A tile must be placed on an empty space.
- Blue farmer tiles can only be placed on river spaces. (Farming needs irrigation.)
- Any other tiles, apart from blue farmer tiles, cannot be placed on river spaces.
Special Green Trader Tile and Blue Farmer Tile Effects
- After placing a green trader tile on the board, the player may choose one of the face up merchant tiles from the southern corner of the board and place it behind his screen.
- After placing a blue farmer tile, the player may continue to play further blue farmer tiles within the same action, as long as the next tile is always played adjacent to the previous tile and the previous tile does not lead to a conflict or the placement of a new pagoda.
Victory Points
There are five different types of victory points: Scrolls (black), Weapons (red), Crops (blue), Goods (green), and Gold (yellow).
A victory point is gained for placing a tile under the following circumstances:
- If the tile is placed in a state, and this state contains a leader of the same color, then the victory point is gained by the player controlling that leader.
- If there is no leader of the respective color, but there is a black governor leader within the state, then the victory point is gained by the player controlling the black governor leader.
If several blue farmer tiles are placed within the same action, a blue victory point is gained for each of these tiles if the above circumstances apply.
No victory point is gained:
- If the tile is placed so that it unites two or more states leading to a conflict. (Note: As long as no conflict arises, a victory point is gained if the above circumstances apply.)
Victory points are kept hidden behind the players' screens. At any time during his turn, a player may exchange five small tokens valued at "1" for one large token valued at "5".
C) Discarding Two Blue Farmer Tiles to Cause a Peasants' Riot
A player may take an action to cause a peasants' riot. To do so, the player takes two blue farmer tiles from behind his screen and discards them face down into the box. As a consequence, the player must then choose any one tile from the board and also discard it face down into the box. The respective space from where the tile is removed becomes empty again.
Note: A peasants' riot may divide a state into two or more parts. If a peasants' riot removes the last black governor tile adjacent to a leader, that leader is removed and returned to its player. If a tile is removed from below a pagoda, then the pagoda is also removed and placed next to the board – see "Pagodas" below.
Special Blue Farmer Leader Effect
- If the player has his blue farmer leader in front of his screen (hence not on the board), this leader may (but does not have to) represent one of the two required tiles. The player then only discards one blue farmer tile from behind his screen to cause a peasants' riot.
Note: A peasants' riot, or conflict (see "Conflicts" below) may remove a starting governer tile from a capital city space. These spaces have no special purpose after setup. With future actions, leaders and tiles may be placed here, except for farmer tiles (blue) as these spaces are not on rivers.
D) Discarding Two Green Trader Tiles to Establish a Pagoda
This action will be described in detail under "Pagodas" below.
E) Replace Up to Six Tiles From Behind Your Screen
As an action, a player may discard up to six tiles from behind his screen into the box face down. Then he refreshes his supply of tiles by drawing the same number of tiles from the bag and placing them behind his screen.
End of a Turn
At the end of his turn, after resolving up to two actions, the player collects victory points for any pagodas he controls – see "Pagodas" below.
Finally, the player refreshes his tiles by drawing from the bag so that he ends his turn with six tiles behind his screen. If other players have fewer than six tiles at this point, they also refresh their tiles to six. If there are fewer than six merchant tiles in the southern corner of the board, these are also replenished from the bag. Then it is the next player's turn.
Pagodas
There are five types of pagodas: Court (black), Garrison (red), Granary (blue), Market (green), and Workshop (yellow).
Sometimes, after placing a tile, the player has the opportunity to establish a pagoda. This opportunity arises in the following circumstances:
- The player places a tile in such a way that he creates a "triangle" of three like-colored tiles.
- The placed tile does not create a conflict.
- None of the three tiles of the triangle is yet supporting another pagoda.
The player then takes a pagoda of the corresponding color from next to the board and places it on the triangle (as part of the Placing a Tile action). If no such pagoda is available next to the board, he takes any such pagoda from elsewhere on the board and repositions it. The player can decide not to establish a pagoda.
Note: The tiles forming the triangle remain face up and they still count when located under the pagoda. In particular, adjacent leaders are still supported by black governor tiles under a black pagoda.
A pagoda regularly provides victory points. At the end of the player's turn, he determines if one or more of his leaders are in the same state as a like-colored pagoda. For each such leader, he gains one victory point of the leader's color for each like-colored pagoda in the same state.
Note: A black governor leader gains victory points only when linked to a black pagoda (court). While the placement of a tile can allow the black governor leader to gain victory points in other colors (in the absence of the respective leader), this does not apply for pagodas.
Now we are able to describe the outstanding action:
D) Discarding Two Green Trader Tiles to Establish a Pagoda
To establish a pagoda on a "triangle" of tiles that has been created earlier by any player (but the pagoda was not placed at the time, or it has since been removed), the player must take this action to do so. To establish a pagoda, the player takes two green trader tiles from behind his screen and discards them face down into the box. As a consequence, the player then establishes a pagoda of the corresponding color on the given triangle. If available, the player takes the pagoda from next to the board, otherwise the player takes any such pagoda from elsewhere on the board and repositions it.
Special Green Trader Leader Effect
- If the player has his green trader leader in front of his screen (hence not on the board), this leader may (but does not have to) represent one of the two required tiles. The player then only discards one green trader tile from behind his screen to establish a pagoda.
Conflicts
A conflict occurs when there are two like-colored leaders in a state. There are two different types of conflicts:
- Revolts
- Wars
Any conflict is resolved immediately. An action does not end before the conflict is resolved and all states only contain leaders of different colors.
Revolts
A revolt occurs when a leader is positioned in a state that already contains a leader of the same color.
During a revolt, the player positioning the new leader is the attacker. The player who controls the existing leader of the same color in the state is the defender.
Resolve revolts as follows:
- The attacker and the defender draw their strength from black governor tiles adjacent to their leaders. It is possible that a black governor tile counts for both leaders.
- First the attacker, and then the defender, may increase their strength by committing to the conflict any number of extra black governor tiles from behind their screens, placing them face up in front of their screens.
Whoever has the higher total strength (total number of black governor tiles) wins the conflict. If there is a tie, the defender wins.
The consequences of a revolt are as follows:
- The loser must withdraw his leader from the board.
- The victor gains one victory point in the color of the conflicting leaders.
- Both players discard their committed black governor tiles into the box face down.
Special Black Governer Leader Effect
- If a player involved in a revolt has his black governor leader in front of his screen (hence not on the board), this leader may (but does not have to) add one extra strength to his side of the conflict.
Wars
Wars occur when two or more states are united through a new tile, and the new, larger state contains leaders of the same color.
Remember that no victory point is gained when a tile is placed leading to a war. Instead the red unification marker is placed on the unifying tile.
All the conflicts between like-coloured leaders are resolved in one large war as follows:
- All warring states draw their strength from red soldier tiles in their state.
- Starting with the player to the left of the player who played the unifying tile and progressing in a clockwise order, each player may now increase the strength of one warring state of their choice by committing any number of extra red soldier tiles from behind his screen, placing them face up next to the board close to the supported state. All the players may contribute to the war, even if none of their leaders is involved in the conflict. The player who played the unifying tile is always the last player to contribute.
Whichever warring state has the highest total strength (total number of red soldier tiles) wins the conflict. If there is a tie, the player who played the unifying tile decides which of the tied states wins.
The consequences of a war are as follows:
- Simultaneously remove all conflicting leaders and all red soldier tiles from all the losing states. Only non-conflicting leaders remain in the losing states.
- For each leader removed and returned to its player, the player who controls the like-colored leader in the winning state gains one victory point in that color.
- All the committed and all the removed red soldier tiles from each losing states are collected next to the board close to each losing state. Each collection represents the former total strength of the losing state. The highest of these totals now defines the number of red soldier tiles that must also be discarded for the winning state: First discard all the red soldier tiles committed for the winning state. If this number is not sufficient, then the player who played the unifying tile chooses and removes red soldier tiles from the winning state itself until the total number of discarded red soldier tiles matches the required total.
After the war, remove the red unification marker and place it by the board. Also return all discarded red soldier tiles to the box, face down.
Special Red Soldier Leader Effect
- If a player has his red soldier leader in front of his screen (hence not on the board), the player may (but does not have to) commit this leader alone or together with any committed red soldier tiles to support one of the warring states. The leader is treated like an extra red soldier tile. After the war, committed leaders are returned to their players.
Example
Andrew, the archer, places a tile to unify two states. This causes a war. No victory point is gained for this placement, instead the red unification marker is placed on the new tile.
Currently, the state on the left has strength 2 (two red soldier tiles) and the state on the right has strength 4 (four red soldier tiles).
Barbara, the bull, follows Andrew in clockwise order. She is the first to commit extra tiles. She places 2 red soldier tiles from behind her screen next to the state on the left where her leaders are.
Paul, the potter, follows next. He does not want to commit extra tiles, but as his red soldier leader is not on the board, he decides to use this leader to support the state on the left.
Finally, the order comes back to Andrew to commit extra tiles. The current strength is 5 for the state on the left, and 4 for the state on the right where his leaders are. Andrew commits 3 red soldier tiles from behind his screen and places them next to the state on the right.
The state on the right wins the war. The conflicting red bull and black bull are removed from the losing state and returned to Barbara. Andrew gains one red victory point for his victorious red leader, and Paul gains one black victory point for his victorious black leader. The green leader and the blue leader remain unaffected as there are no conflicting like-coloured leaders.
The total number of tiles removed and committed from the losing state is 5. The 3 committed tiles for the state on the right are not enough to match this total. Therefore, Andrew who played the unifying tile must remove 2 more red soldier tiles from the victorious state on the right. This also causes the red pagoda (garrison) to be lost and placed next to the board.
All the committed and removed red soldier tiles are discarded face down into the box. The committed red leader is returned to Paul. The red unification tile is removed, and the war is over.
Game End and Winner
The game ends when a player who is attempting to draw a tile is unable to do so because the bag is empty. (Note: The game does not yet end when the last tile is drawn from the bag.)
At this point, all players remove their screens. Each player determines in which of the four colors (black, red, blue, and green) he possesses the fewest victory points, with each player freely allocating his yellow victory points to any of the other four colors. (Each yellow victory point is wild and can stand for any other color.) The number of his fewest victory points determines the player's result.
The player with the highest result is the winner. In the case of a tie, the tied players determine in which of the four colors they have their second lowest results and compare these, and so on.
Helpful Reminders
Turn Sequence
On your turn, perform two of the following actions (you may do the same action twice):
- Position (place, move, or withdraw) a leader
- Place a tile (and possibly, earn points)
- Discard two blue farmer tiles to cause a peasants' riot
- Discard two green trader tiles to establish a pagoda
- Discard and replace up to six tiles from behind your screen
At the end of your turn, earn points from any pagodas you control, then draw back up to six tiles (if required).
Tiles
After placing a tile on the board, a like-colored leader in its state will earn one victory point. Placing different tiles also gives the following effects:
- Governor (black): Gives strength to adjacent leaders in a revolt. Leaders must be adjacent to a governer tile.
- Trader (green): After placing a trader tile, the player may draw a tile from the market.
- Farmer (blue): Players may place multiple, adjacent farmer tiles as part of the same action (with some restrictions.)
- Soldier (red): Gives strength to a state during a war.
- Artisan (yellow): No special effect, but all yellow points (gold) are treated as wild when determining the winner.
Leaders
Besides being used to earn victory points and cause conflicts, your five leaders can give you the following benefits:
- Governor (black): After a tile is placed in a state, a governor will earn the point if the corresponding leader is absent. The governor may also be used to add one extra strength to your side of the conflict during a revolt (if off the map).
- Trader (green): May replace a green tile when establishing a pagoda (if off the map).
- Farmer (blue): May replace a blue tile when causing a peasants' riot (if off the map).
- Soldier (red): May be treated as an extra soldier (red) tile during a war (if off the map).
- Artisan (yellow): No special effect, but all yellow points (gold) are treated as wild when determining the winner.
Conflicts
Revolts occur when a leader is positioned in a state that already contains a leader of the same color.
- Whoever has the higher total strength (total number of black governor tiles adjacent to leader and committed from screen) wins the conflict.
- The loser withdraws the leader from the board, the victor gains one victory point in the color of the conflicting leaders, and both players discard their committed black governor tiles.
Wars occur when two or more states are united through a new tile, and the new, larger state contains leaders of the same color.
- Soldier (red) tiles determine the strength of each state (plus the committed tiles from involved players and their allies).
- The losing state removes all conflicting leaders and soldier tiles, the winning leaders earn points, and, depending on the size of the victory, some soldier tiles may also be removed from the winning state.
Credits
Reiner Knizia thanks all the playtesters who contributed to the development of Yellow & Yangtze, in particular Iain Adams, Drak, Gavin Hamilton, Martin Higham, Ross Inglis, Kevin Jacklin, Chris Lawson, and Dave Spring.
Yellow & Yangtze is ©2018 Dr Reiner Knizia. All rights reserved. This production is ©2018 Grail Games.