Beacon Patrol Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Objective
• Gameplay
  • Place Tiles
  • Move Your Ship
  • Swap Tiles (for 2 or more players)
  • Turn End
• Game End & Scoring
  • How did you do?
• Mini Expansions
  • Windmills
  • Piers
  • Scoring with Expansions
• Credits

Components

• 4 Wooden Ships
• 4 Reference Cards
• 1 Beacon Patrol HQ Tile
• 9 Movement Tokens
• 54 Base Set Tiles
• 9 Expansion Tiles (depicting windmills and piers)

Setup

1. Place the Beacon Patrol HQ tile in the middle of the table.
2. Remove the expansion tiles (depicting windmills and piers) from the game. To include the expansion, see the Mini Expansions section.
3. Shuffle the remaining tiles to form a draw pile and place it face down at the edge of the table within reach of all players.
4. Each player chooses a ship and a matching reference card. They place their ships on the Beacon Patrol HQ tile.
5. Each player then draws tiles and movement tokens according to the number of players (see below). They place their tiles face-up in front of them and the movement tokens (blue side up) below.

Number of Players	Tiles (per player)	Movement Tokens (per player)
1 player	3 tiles	4 tokens
2 players	3 tiles	3 tokens
3 players	3 tiles	3 tokens
4 players	2 tiles	2 tokens

6. Return all remaining ships and movement tokens to the box.
7. The player who last visited the sea is first player.

Objective

In Beacon Patrol, work together to explore as much of the sea as possible, spotting lighthouses and beacon buoys along the way. At the end of the game, you will score for the explored tiles on the board.

Tiles are considered "explored" when they are connected to other tiles on all four sides. Explored tiles with lighthouses and beacon buoys gain additional points as well.

Example: A center tile is explored since it is surrounded by tiles on all four sides. Tiles that are not surrounded on all four sides are not explored.

Gameplay

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the first player. There are three types of actions you may take during your turn:

• Place a tile
• Move your ship (with a movement token)
• Swap tiles with another player (once per turn)

You may take these actions in any order. See below for more details on each action.

Play Example: On her turn, Eske moves her ship two spaces and uses two movement tokens. She then places one of her tiles, and then uses her last movement token to move her ship again. Eske swaps a tile with Enno, another player. She places the tile she received from Enno, as well as the last tile in front of her. Her turn is now over.

Place Tiles

Place the tiles set up in front of you to visit new areas with your ship. You may place up to 3 tiles if playing with 1-3 players, and up to 2 tiles if playing with 4 players. Do not draw new tiles until your turn is complete.

There are a few placement rules you must follow:

1. Ship Adjacent: The tile that your ship currently occupies is called your "current tile." When adding a new tile, you must place it on a vacant space adjacent (up, down, left, or right, but never diagonal) to your current tile.
2. Correct Orientation: All tiles must be oriented in the same direction (use the arrow in the upper right corner of each tile for reference and match it with the Beacon Patrol HQ tile).
3. Matching Edges: All tiles placed must fit appropriately with adjacent tiles on all sides (land must always be next to land and water must always be next to water).
4. Required Movement: When you place a tile, you must move your ship onto it. This movement is free and does not use a movement token.
5. Move by Water: Since ships cannot move over land, the tile you place must connect to your current tile on a water edge.

Example: Even though all tiles match the adjacent tiles, a tile cannot be placed if it is not connected to the current tile with a water edge.

Move Your Ship

You may use movement tokens to move your ship to an adjacent tile (up, down, left, or right, but never diagonal). Ships can only travel by water, so you can only move your ship to a tile that is connected to your current tile on a water edge.

Example: The red boat cannot spend one movement token to move over land to the tile above it, but it can spend 3 movement tokens to travel 3 spaces by water to the same tile.

Each time you move your ship one space, flip one of your movement tokens from the blue side to the red side. This way, you can see how many moves you have left this turn.

You may also discard tiles in front of you which you can't or don't wish to play to move one space per discarded tile. Discarded tiles are removed from the game. Do not flip a movement token when moving this way.

Swap Tiles (for 2 or more players)

Once per turn, you may exchange one of your unplayed tiles with an unplayed tile from another player. You have access to this tile immediately. You must discard it if you do not use it during this turn.

Turn End

Once you can't or don't want to take any further actions, your turn ends. Take the following steps:

1. Discard any unplayed tiles in front of you (discarded tiles are removed from the game and will not be shuffled back into the draw pile). Then, draw new tiles (draw 3 tiles if you are playing with 1-3 players or 2 tiles with 4 players). If you are playing solo, you may keep 1 unplayed tile and do not have to discard it. In this case, draw only 2 new tiles.
2. Flip all of your movement tokens back to their blue side.

Game End & Scoring

The game ends when all tiles have been placed or discarded. To calculate the final score, total the points from top to bottom, row by row. Only the explored tiles are awarded points.

• Explored tiles with a lighthouse (including the Beacon Patrol HQ): 3 points
• Explored tiles with a beacon buoy: 2 points
• All other explored tiles: 1 point

Example: A game scores 11 points—6 pts for the 2 explored lighthouses, 2 pts for the 1 explored buoy, and 3 pts for the 3 remaining explored tiles.

How did you do?

• 0-25 points • Novices — It's easy to get lost at sea. Keep trying!
• 26-35 points • Sailors — Looks like you're starting to learn the ropes!
• 36-45 points • Captains — A solid effort! The wind is at your back.
• 46-55 points • Navigators — Great job! The mysteries of these waters are second nature to you.
• 56+ points • Cartographers — Incredible work! The good folks of the North Sea Coast will tell stories of your prowess for years to come.

Mini Expansions

Once you're comfortable with the base game, you can add in one or both of the following expansions included in this box. Expansion tiles include a red arrow in the upper right corner. Each of these expansions adds a few new tiles with additional ways to score as you explore the coast. Shuffle these with the other tiles during setup. The scoring conditions for both expansions only trigger when the tile itself is completely explored, just like any tile in the base game.

Windmills

Ocean Windmills stand out in the open water, using the strong sea breeze to provide power to the towns of the North Sea and across Northern Germany. When fully explored, a Windmill will score 1 point, plus an additional point for every open ocean tile that is adjacent to it (up, down, left, or right, but never diagonal). An open ocean tile is any tile with no land depicted. Open ocean tiles can also include other windmills, beacon buoys, and the Beacon Patrol HQ.

Example: A windmill in the center earns 4 points: 1 pt for being fully explored and 3 pts for the 3 open ocean tiles adjacent to it. Other tiles do not add to the score, either because they are not adjacent to the windmill or they are not open ocean tiles.

Piers

Piers make the residents of the North Sea happy by providing them with a convenient way to travel to and from the various islands where they live and work.

When fully explored, a Pier will score 1 point, plus an additional point for every building on the landmass it is connected to. While the Pier must be fully explored, the landmass that the Pier is connected to does not have to be fully explored or completed to award additional points.

Example: A pier will earn 5 points: 1 point for being a fully explored tile and 4 points for the 4 houses on that land mass.

Scoring with Expansions

If you're a seasoned member of the Beacon Patrol and using expansions, more is expected of you! The chart below shows the points you will need to achieve each rank when playing with the expansions.

Rank	Without an Expansion	With One Expansion	With Two Expansions
Novices	0-25	0-35	0-45
Sailors	26-35	36-45	46-55
Captains	36-45	46-55	56-65
Navigators	46-55	56-65	66-75
Cartographers	56+	66+	76+

Credits

Design and Illustration: Torben Ratzlaff. Development: Alex Cutler. Layout Design/Rulebook Editing: Gwen Ruelle. Additional Graphic Design: Peter Wocken. ©2023 Pandasaurus Games, LLC. All rights reserved.