Die Trödler aus den Highlands
Die Trödler aus den Highlands Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
48 goods:
- 8x anvil
- 8x bottle
- 8x chair
- 8x cup
- 8x pot
- 8x vase
110 game cards:
- 44 routes (11 each of mountain trail, bridge, ferry, moor path)
- 26 goods requests (order cards)
- 24 special feed (food for the horses)
- 4 extra goods (+1)
- 12 starting cards (4 sets of 3 cards each)
4 carts
1 horse
1 gameboard
Object of the Game
Collect goods from the villages and bring them where there are none! In doing so, fulfill goods requests (order cards) to earn the most goods points. But don't use up more special feed than the other dealers, otherwise they will win!
Set-Up of the Game
- Take 1 cart and place it on the starting village of the corresponding color.
- Take the 3 starting cards in your hand that show the symbol of your starting village.
- If you don't play with four players, you put the surplus starting card sets and carts back into the box.
- In the two-player game, observe the rule changes for 2 players (in blue writing).
- The last player to join the game session becomes the starting dealer. He places the horse in front of him.
- Distribute the 48 goods, unsorted, onto the villages that show a number, always as many goods as the number reads.
- Use 9 goods requests (randomly drawn order cards) (1), along with 9 special-feed cards (2), to form a shuffled face-up discard pile. In the two-player game, you use only 7 goods-request cards and 7 special-feed cards.
- Shuffle all 80 remaining cards. In the two-player game, you use 84 cards. Form a face-down game-round pile.
Overview of the Game
At the beginning of each round, you form several card piles and lay them out face up. Watch closely what cards get into which pile, since you will take one of these piles into your hand and play with these cards. The cards contain routes (e.g., bridges/mountain trails) that allow you to move your cart along the respective ways from one village to the next. Wherever you arrive, you may collect a good. When you reach an empty village, you can deliver goods there. To do so, you play a goods-request card and earn goods points for that. Special-feed cards enable you to collect even more goods, use otherwise inaccessible routes, and even fulfill goods requests without having the fitting goods for that. But beware: If you are the one who has used up the most special feed by the end of the game, you suffer total damage and lose the game! The one among the other players who has accumulated the most goods points wins.
Course of a Round
Each game round consists of these 3 phases:
- Form a dealer pile
- Take a dealer pile
- Play cards, move your cart, collect and deliver goods
Phase 1: Form a Dealer Pile
The starting dealer receives the game-round pile. He uses them to form several well-visible goods piles in the middle.
Form one dealer pile for each player in the game, plus one additional pile. Dealer piles always consist of 4 face-up cards; only the top one is visible (at this point).
This is how the starting dealer forms the piles: The starting dealer reveals one card after another from the game-round pile and places them face up next to one another. As soon as there is one more card on display than there are players, he puts a second face-up card on top of each laid-out card. After that, he lays a third card and, finally, a fourth one face up on top of each pile. It is up to the starting dealer to decide how quickly he wants to form the piles.
Observe carefully what cards are contained in which dealer pile! You may no longer check the cards that got covered when the piles were formed.
In the three-player game, the starting dealer forms 4 dealer piles. In the four-player game, he forms 5 piles.
If the game-round pile has been used up, shuffle the discard pile thoroughly at the beginning of the next game round and make it the new game-round pile.
Phase 2: Take a Dealer Pile
One after another, everybody takes one dealer pile and adds the cards to his hand. The first player to do so is the left neighbor of the starting dealer, then the others in clockwise order. Finally, the starting dealer takes a pile. One dealer pile is left over; it is put on the discard pile.
In the two-player game, the starting dealer first puts one dealer pile (of the 3 he has formed) on the discard pile. After that, the other player takes one of the remaining piles, and finally, the starting dealer does.
Phase 3: Play Cards, Move Your Cart, Collect and Deliver Goods
In clockwise order, each player has one turn. The starting dealer begins. On your turn, you may play any number of cards, one after another, and carry them out straight away.
This is how you carry out the cards:
Route (mountain trail / bridge / ferry / moor path)
Move your cart to a neighboring village along a route that corresponds to the card you have played. There, you may (but don't have to) take a good of your choice and place it in front of you.
Example: If you play a bridge, your cart crosses a bridge and then gets into a neighboring village, where you may take a good of your choice.
Example: You can leave this village via a moor path, a ferry or a bridge. A mountain trail card would not help you to leave from here.
Each village can hold any number of carts.
Extra good (+1)
Collect an additional good! You can do this in any village where your cart is located during your game turn. You may use this card also after having fulfilled a goods request, i.e., delivered goods.
Goods request
Deliver goods to a village that hasn't any, if your cart is there. Use only one goods-request card in this village.
Put exactly those goods from your collection in this village that are shown on the goods-request card you have played. Of course, this is only possible if you actually have these goods...
You may deliver goods anytime during your game turn, also to several villages in a row.
That means you deliver to...
- any village without any goods where your cart starts or arrives at;
- any village from where you take the last good during this game turn.
Example: Before you start, you play an extra goods card, thus taking the last good, a vase, from the village where your cart is standing. Then, according to your goods-request card, you deliver 2 anvils from your collection to the village. Now you move your cart (along a moor path) to a neighboring village. You take the chair from there. Since there won't be any goods left in the village after that, you can now deliver to this village. Your goods-request card lets you place 2 vases and 1 chair from your collection in the village. How convenient that you have just collected the chair from here, and one of the two vases from the previous village!
Special feed
If you play a special-feed card, it allows you to carry out one of the following 3 actions:
- Move your cart along a route of your choice!
- Collect an additional good (as explained above, under "Extra good (+1)")!
- When you are about to fulfill a goods request, replace one good on the card with any other good from your collection!
Example: Since you have no bridge card, you cross the bridge by spending special feed. In the village, you immediately use another special feed, so you are able to take not only one, but both goods. Now there are no goods left in this village. However, the goods you have collected don't enable you to fulfill any goods request from your card hand. You play another special feed. This allows you to replace one of the 3 anvils of your goods request with a different good from your collection: You use a pot. Consequently, you put 2 anvils and 1 pot in the village, thus fulfilling the goods request "3 anvils." These are the cards you have left in your hand after this game turn.
The dark side of the special feed
As you see, you can achieve a lot with special feed. But hard work without taking breaks and extra loads take their toll on your horses and your cart. This jeopardizes your existence as a traveling dealer. And that means:
If you use up too much special feed, you will lose the game!
Therefore, bear in mind early on that you should not use up more special feed than the other players! (Read the sections "End of the Game" and "Scoring and Losing.")
Discard the Cards You Have Played, End of Your Game Turn
Once you don't play any more cards, your game turn ends. Now you discard the cards you have played as follows:
- Put the routes and the extra goods on the discard pile.
- Collect the special feed and the goods requests you have fulfilled in a personal value pile that you keep in front of you. Put it face down in front of you. You may look at it anytime.
Card hand at the end of your game turn: limit 4
After the end of your turn, you may never have more than 4 cards in your hand. Choose any surplus routes, goods requests or extra goods to put on the discard pile.
You may never put special feed on the discard pile! Keep it in your hand!
If you end your game turn with 5 or more special-feed cards in your hand, keep 4 of them in your hand and put any surplus ones on your value pile.
Next Game Round
After all players have had their turn (in phase 3), the current round ends. The starting dealer of this round passes the horse clockwise to the starting dealer of the next round, who will now form dealer piles (phase 1).
End of the Game
The game ends at the end of the game round in which at least one player has accumulated the following number (or more) of goods requests on his value pile in front of him.
- In the four-player game: 5 goods requests
- In the three-player game: 6 goods requests
- In the two-player game: 7 goods requests (observe the rules for the two-player game!)
If you have fulfilled that number of goods requests, don't let the other players know you have done this, before the game round ends!
Scoring and Losing
First, check who does NOT win!
Too much special feed...? Too many goods left...?
If you have used up too much special feed and have kept goods by the end of the game, you have completely exhausted your horses and worn out your cart to the last bolt. With such total damage, you lose your basis of existence as a dealer... and therefore lose the game.
Total damage: Check out who is affected!
- Add up all special-feed cards in your value pile (...but NOT the special feed in your card hand)!
- Add half your goods (that are still lying in front of you) to this number! (Round up an uneven number. For instance, half of 7 goods would be rounded up to 4 goods.)
- The result of this calculation is your damage. If you are the only player who has the highest damage, you have suffered total damage and lose the game; you are no longer part of the scoring. But if several players have the highest damage, none of them has suffered total damage. In this case, ALL players are involved in determining the winner.
In the two-player game, both players are involved in determining the winner, provided that the difference between their damages is (only) 1 or 2. If one player's damage exceeds the other player's damage by 3 or more, he has suffered total damage. In this case, the dealer without total damage wins the game.
The winner is... the best dealer in the Highlands!
Now all players who have not failed due to the highest total damage tally their points:
- A: all goods points of their fulfilled goods requests in their own value pile
- B: all goods that are still lying in front of them
Add A + B. The player who has reached the highest total score (from A+B) is undoubtedly the most legendary dealer in the Highlands... and wins! In case of a tie, the player involved who has fewer goods in front of him prevails.
There can be several winners.
Example of a final scoring
Ivy: 4 special feed used = 4 damage points. 5 leftover goods = 3 damage points / 5 goods points. 4 goods requests fulfilled: 7 + 6 + 5 + 3 = 21 goods points. Total: 7 damage points / 26 goods points.
Jack: 5 special feed used = 5 damage points. 1 leftover goods = 1 damage point / 1 goods point. 5 goods requests fulfilled: 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 3 = 21 goods points. Total: 6 damage points / 22 goods points.
Freya: 3 special feed used = 3 damage points. 6 leftover goods = 3 damage points / 6 goods points. 4 goods requests fulfilled: 5 + 5 + 4 + 4 = 18 goods points. Total: 6 damage points / 24 goods points.
Scott: 6 special feed used = 6 damage points. No leftover goods = 0 damage points / 0 goods points. 5 goods requests fulfilled: 7 + 7 + 4 + 3 + 3 = 24 goods points. Total: 6 damage points / 24 goods points.
Result: Ivy has suffered total damage (she is the only player with the highest number of damage points). It doesn't help that she was able to accumulate the most goods points... Ivy loses the game, unfortunately.
Scott wins. He is tied (in goods points) with Freya, but he prevails because he has fewer goods left (that is to say, none...) than Freya.
If Scott had one more damage point, i.e., 7 in total, he would have the same damage as Ivy. With this, Ivy would not have suffered total damage and would have won the game.