Age of Steam Expansion: Japan/Venezuela/Tasmania Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Tasmania
  • Setup
  • Playing the Game
    • Action Selection
    • Build Track
    • Actions
    • Tax (new phase after the Income Reduction Phase)
    • Advancing the Round Marker
• Venezuela
  • Setup
  • Playing the Game
    • Issue Shares
    • Build Track
    • Actions
    • Move Goods
    • Pay Expenses
    • Goods Growth
• Japan
  • Setup
  • Playing the Game
    • Action Selection
    • Build Track
    • Move Goods
    • Goods Growth
  • End of Game

Tasmania

Players: 3-4 (3 recommended).

Unless the changes described here say otherwise, the base Age of Steam rules apply.

Setup

• Place 4 goods in Hobart and 2 goods in each other city.
• The game ends one round earlier than usual.
• Place a grey disc on the Locomotive action so that it cannot be selected.

Playing the Game

Action Selection

Actions covered by a grey disc cannot be selected.

Build Track

Track laying costs

• Plain: $2
• Forest: $3, and income is reduced by 1 (immediately move your disc on the Income track down 1 space for each forest hex built on).

Example: if you build 2 forest hexes and 1 plain hex, you pay $8 and must reduce your income by 2.

Actions

Urbanization: When urbanizing a town hex adjacent to a forest, income is reduced by 1.

Engineer: When laying track on a forest hex, there is no income penalty (reduction of income by 1). Unlike the normal Engineer action, no additional track may be laid.

Tax (new phase after the Income Reduction Phase)

To protect the island's nature, the government levies an additional tax on the players. After the Income Reduction Phase, that is, once the Income Receipt Phase and the Expense Payment Phase have also been completed, each player pays $3 for each one of their completed links, regardless of the link's length. If a player cannot pay, they may issue shares at $5 per share as usual (simply move the marker on the Issued Shares track).

The maximum number of issued shares remains 15, as normal.

Advancing the Round Marker

If the grey disc is on the Locomotive action, move it to block the Urbanization action. If the grey disc is on the Urbanization action, move it to block the Locomotive action.

Venezuela

Players: 4-5 (4 recommended).

Unless the changes described here say otherwise, the base Age of Steam rules apply.

Setup

Start the game with no goods on the map. The corruption that has spread through the country has removed all of the goods, but the arrival of the railway barons will end this shortage!

Place one yellow good in the first row of each city on the Goods Display (including the new cities). This uses all 20 yellow goods. Then fill the remaining squares of the Goods Display with goods drawn at random, as normal.

Playing the Game

Issue Shares

Players may issue more than 15 shares. However, instead of moving the marker past the 15th share space, each share issued beyond 15 immediately reduces that player's income by 1.

Build Track

Track laying costs

• The cost of each track tile is always $R, where R is the current round number. For example, a track tile laid in round 4 costs $4. As normal, a player may lay only 3 track tiles per turn.
• Replacing an existing tile with a compound parallel tile or a compound crossing tile always costs $2.
• The blue lakes around Maracaibo cannot be crossed, and track cannot be laid on them.
• The 3 dark brown hexes may be built on only by the player who takes the last turn of the round. The cost is the normal $R, and only the last-turn player may lay track there.

Actions

Engineer: The total cost of laying track is halved (rounded down). Unlike the normal Engineer action, no additional track may be laid.

Move Goods

Yellow goods (cash) cannot be transported unless the player is the Money Launderer (see below).

Priority Shipping: A player who takes this action carries out Priority Shipping as normal, but becomes the Money Launderer.

Money Launderer: The only player who may transport yellow goods this round.

Pay Expenses

When paying for shares, pay only $15, even if the player has issued more than 15 shares.

Goods Growth

Do not roll dice. Instead, for each city, refill goods from that city's column of the Goods Display until the city holds exactly 2 goods.

Translator's note: the source gives no further ruling for the case where the Goods Display does not hold enough goods to complete the refill; that remark is omitted here.

Japan

Players: 3-5 (4-5 recommended).

Unless the changes described here say otherwise, the base Age of Steam rules apply.

Setup

The map has 5 fishing area hexes, marked with a fish icon. Place 2 blue goods (fish) on each fishing area, and put the remaining fish into the bag. Place 3 goods each in Tokyo and Kyoto, and 2 goods in each other city. Fill the Goods Display at random as normal, but do not place goods in the new cities.

New action table: Use the new action table printed on part of the Japan map when choosing actions.

Playing the Game

Action Selection

On the new action table, the turn order action and the production action are replaced by the Fishing Area action and the Sea Route action.

Only the first and last players in turn order may select the Fishing Area action and the Sea Route action.

Once the turn order determination phase is complete, follow these steps:

1. The last-turn player selects an action first. They must choose one of the following:
   • Select the Fishing Area action or the Sea Route action.
   • Pass once, and wait for all other players to select.
2. The other players then select actions in turn order, as normal.
3. If the last-turn player passed in step 1, that player now selects from the remaining actions, as normal.

Example: after the turn order determination phase of a 4-player game, the turn order is blue, yellow, purple, black. Action selection then proceeds in one of two possible ways:

Case 1: The black player selects the Fishing Area action. Blue may then select from all remaining actions, including the Sea Route action, and selects the Locomotive action. Yellow and purple may select from the remaining actions, except the Sea Route action, which only black and blue could select.

Case 2: The black player does not want the Fishing Area or Sea Route action, so passes. Blue selects the Fishing Area action, yellow selects the Locomotive action, and purple selects the Engineer action. Black may then select from all remaining actions, including the Sea Route action, which only the first and last players (here, black) can select.

Build Track

Track laying costs

• Plain: $2
• Mountain: $3

Translator's note: the map has no mountain hexes.

Action: Sea Route

The sea has 7 long lines that connect a city with another city or a town. These may become sea routes, but a sea route can only be built between two cities. Therefore, to build a sea route to Niigata or Kushiro, those towns must first be urbanized.

In place of 1 of your 3 track-laying actions, pay $5 and place one of your discs on an empty sea-route circle to show that you own that sea route. Only one disc may be placed on sea routes per turn. In addition, up to 2 track tiles may be laid on any other hex.

Action: Fishing Area

The map has 5 fishing areas, each connected to land by one or more blue circles. In place of 1 of your 3 track-laying actions, pay $5 and place one of your discs on an empty blue circle to show that you own that circle. Only one disc may be placed on blue circles per turn. In addition, up to 2 track tiles may be laid on any other hex.

Move Goods

Fish on fishing areas cannot be transported. However, fish on the map that are not on a fishing area may be transported by any player.

Action: Fishing Area: Fish may be transported from fishing areas.

Goods Growth

Fishing areas are never replenished with fish. Over the course of the game, the fish decline gradually through overfishing.

End of Game

Each disc on a sea route or a fishing area is worth 3 victory points.