Haithabu

Haithabu Rulebook

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

At the end of the early Middle Ages, Haithabu was the most important trading center in the North and Baltic Seas area thanks to its central location. Goods of the whole known world were traded at Haithabu: commodities, resources from Scandinavia and luxury goods from the Baltics, Constantinople, Baghdad and The Frankish Empire.

In addition, pottery, ceramics and tools were manufactured at Haithabu.

Haithabu is a clever and mechanically simple economic game. Two to four players trade with the known world, trying to fulfill trade orders and make profits.

2.0 Components

Each Haithabu copy contains:

1 large game board
1 large action dial (backprinted, English/German)
4 player dials (backprinted, English/German)
4 player mats (backprinted, English/German)
4 player aids (backprinted, English/German)
1 events table (backprinted, English/German)
1 character chart (backprinted, English/German)
115 silver coins (25 each of 1, 5 & 10 denomination; 20 each of 50 & 100)
9 safe-character markers
16 loan markers (backprinted, English/German)
53 order cards
54 transport vehicle cards (27 ships & 27 wagons)
18 character cards (9 cards each in English and German)
2 dice
2 wooden ships (game turn and game phase markers)
144 goods cubes in six colors (24 each for mead, cloth, pottery, tools, weapons and spices)
6 price markers (1 disc each in the 6 goods colors)
12 workers (3 each in the 4 player colors)
3 neutral workers (black color)
4 victory point discs (1 each in the 4 player colors)
2 rules booklets (English/German)

2.1 The Game Board

The victory point track frames the game board.

The inn in the center of the board is home to the neutral workers.

In the bottom right corner is an action dial with a total of eight action spaces. The players set most of their actions here. Four spaces of the action dial are always inside the lighter daylight side and the other four are always inside the darker night side. The game phase track is located to the left of the action dial. Each game turn consists of a start phase and three "months" (phases).

In the upper right corner are eight spaces for order cards (in two rows).

To the left of the order cards there are six spaces for the transport vehicle cards - three each for wagons and ships of different costs.

The nine character cards are placed to the right off the board.

The market is situated in the lower left section of the board. It has six different kind of goods - mead, cloth, pottery, tools, weapons, and spices. Each kind of good has its own price scale. Players put the goods cubes into the market below the scales. To the right of the market are the displays showing any possible price changes at the end of a game turn. Below the market are the action spaces where the players put their workers when buying or selling goods.

The game turn track is located above the market. Haithabu consists of eight game turns (divided into two years with four seasons each).

2.2 The Player Mats

Each player has a player mat. On the left is the player's warehouse and on the right is the trading post. In between are the two spaces for one purchased wagon and one ship each. At the bottom of the mat are five spaces for order cards, "inserted" from left to right.

2.3 The Game Cards

HAITHABU includes 53 order cards including five start cards. They show how much of each kind of good a player has to sell in order to earn the victory points and silver shown on the card.

Moreover, HAITHABU includes 54 transport vehicle cards - 27 ships and 27 wagons each. They transport a player's goods from his warehouse to his trading post. Depending on their capacity, they cost different amounts of silver. A "?" on a transport vehicle card means any goods; the other goods shown may be delivered.

The nine character cards support the players at various times in the game.

2.4 Charts and Player Aids

Each player receives a downsized version of the action dial. Especially during your first HAITHABU game, it helps to understand the various action choices.

Each player gets a player aid containing important information on the sequence of play and the final scoring.

The events table lists the event results, the character chart summarizes the texts of the nine character cards.

2.5 Wooden Components

Each player has three workers and one victory point marker in his player color.

Depending on the number of players, up to three neutral workers are placed into the inn.

The two dice are used to determine the results of events, to adjust the prices at the end of a game turn, and to determine the re-supply of goods.

The goods (mead, cloth, pottery, tools, weapons, and spices) are depicted by colored goods' cubes in the game. Each kind of good has 24 cubes and one disc to set the price.

The two wooden ships are used to mark the current game turn and the current game phase.

2.6 The Cardboard Playing Pieces

HAITHABU contains coins in the following denominations: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 silver.

As long as a character card has a safe-character marker on it, it may not be stolen.

Each player may take one or more loan markers when he cannot do an action because he does not have enough money.

3.0 Aim of the Game

The players conduct actions trying to acquire goods, transport vehicle cards, helpful characters, and orders to earn profits and victory points.

Planning, timing and a little bit of luck are important to win HAITHABU!

4.0 Game Set-Up

The gameboard is placed in the center of the table.

The action dial is placed in any alignment on its space on the board - four action spaces are on the day-side, four spaces are on the darker night-side. We recommend placing the action dial in such a way that spaces A - D are on the day-side at the start of the first few games.

Now the players place a certain number of goods cubes of each kind onto the corresponding spaces of the market on the gameboard:

Good	Cubes
Mead	10
Cloth	11
Pottery	12
Tools	13
Weapons	14
Spices	15

One additional goods cube is placed as a price marker onto the start spaces (in red) of each column of the price scale.

The remaining goods cubes are the common pool next to the gameboard (it is recommended to place them into the top of the game box).

The silver coins are organized by value and form the "bank."

One player sorts the transport vehicle cards by cost (20, 30, and 40 silver) and kind (wagon or ship) and then forms six stacks with nine cards each. Each stack is shuffled separately and placed face-up on the respective spaces on the gameboard.

One wooden ship is used as the game phase marker and is put on the 0 space next to the action dial; the other wooden ship becomes the game turn marker and is placed on the spring space to the very left of the board.

Each player takes three workers, the victory point marker, one player mat, one downsized action dial, and one player aid. The workers are placed next to the player mat and the victory point marker on space 5 of the victory point track. Each player receives 250 silver from the bank.

One player takes the five start order cards, shuffles them and hands out one to each player. Each player places his start order card on the leftmost order card space of the player mat. Afterwards each player gets the goods listed on their order card and places them in their warehouse (on the left of the player mat).

Surplus start order cards are now placed face-up on spaces of the lower row of order cards. All other order cards are shuffled and put as a face-down stack next to the board. The top cards of the stack are taken and placed on the remaining empty order card spaces.

The neutral workers are placed into the inn (depending on the number of players):

	2 players	3 players	4 players
Neutral worker	1	2	3

The start player is determined randomly; he receives the start player character card.

Beginning with the player to the right of the start player each other player selects one character card each (in reverse player order). The players place their character card next to their mats and put a safe-character marker on them. This shows that these characters may not be stolen in the next game turn.

One player puts the other character cards - face up - next to the gameboard; the other safe-character markers and the loans are placed in the common supply next to the board.

Finally, the events table and the character chart are set aside.

5.0 Sequence of Play

HAITHABU encompasses eight game turns (two game "years" with four "seasons" each). At the end of the fourth game turn (the end of the first year), the players may score their characters. At the end of the eighth game turn, the winner is determined.

Each game turn is divided into three game phases (roughly, a "month" each).

At the start of each phase, the game phase marker is advanced to the next space and the action dial is rotated one space clockwise (including at the start of the very first phase).

NOTE: This step is supported by the Imposter special character.

NOTE: We will explain all special characters in these rules, as they support various actions. Details on the characters are included in the Character Overview.

In each phase, a player places one of his workers on an action space (either market or action dial) and immediately conducts the chosen action. Afterwards, the player to his left conducts a player turn.

On a player's turn, he may, before he has placed one of his own workers and done his action, hire one neutral worker (if still available) from the Inn. A neutral worker has to be placed on the market or the action dial in the same phase it was hired. Therefore the player conducts two actions in a row; one with his own and one with the neutral worker, in either order. The costs for hiring a neutral worker are:

Neutral worker	Cost
1st neutral worker	40 Silver
2nd neutral worker	30 Silver
3rd neutral worker	20 Silver

NOTE: This step is supported by the Landlord special character.

Example: The first neutral worker has already been hired by a different player; Marion now takes the second neutral worker at the start of her turn and pays 30 silver to the bank. If she had the landlord in her possession, she would have only paid 15 silver.

The players must consider the following restrictions when choosing an action:

There may never be two or more workers of the same color on the same space of the action dial. Note: A neutral worker has its own color.
The same market space may hold any number of workers - even of the same color.

Example: With her own and the neutral worker, Marion may conduct two actions. There is already a neutral worker on the space for transports (A) so she has to use her own worker here. She uses the neutral worker on the market to purchase cloth.

It is possible (but normally not useful) to place a worker on the market or the action dial but then not do anything.

The players may keep their silver coins hidden during the whole game.

5.1 The Actions in Detail

I. Actions at the Market

The player places one worker (that has not been used yet this game turn) onto an action space of the market to either buy or sell goods.

A player may never buy and sell the same kind of good in the same phase.

a) Buying Goods

The active player takes one of his workers and puts it onto the action space of one kind of good. Now he may buy any number of goods of this kind at the current market price. The silver used to purchase the goods is put into the bank.

NOTE: This action is supported by the Trader special character.

Price adjustment +1: After a player has bought one or more goods of a kind at the market during an action, the price of that kind of good always increases by one level.

Exception, price adjustment +2: If a player buys the last goods cube from a market space during an action, the price of that kind of good increases by two levels.

Hereafter, we will use "price adjustment +1 / +2" when the price has to be adjusted after the purchase of goods.

A player may buy goods that are not available anymore in the market at the indicated price (he takes the goods cubes from the supply). In this case, the price increases by two levels after the purchase until the maximum price has been reached. If there are no goods remaining in the supply, no goods of this kind may be purchased.

The player puts the purchased goods into his warehouse. During a game turn, any number of goods may be in a player's warehouse; at the end of a game turn, the maximum warehouse capacity of 10 goods cubes applies.

Example: Marion buys four cloth at the market for a total of 16 silver and puts them into her warehouse. Afterwards the cloth price increases to 6 silver. Marion now has 11 goods in her warehouse and should try to remove a good with another action or to hire the character card Administrator - otherwise she loses one at the end of the game turn.

b) Selling Goods

The player whose turn it is takes one worker and places it on the action space of a good. Now he may sell any number of goods of this kind from his trading post at the current market price.

NOTE: Goods cannot be sold from the warehouse.

The player places his sold goods into the market area and takes the silver from the bank. If, before his sale, there were no goods of this kind in the market, the player immediately receives two victory points.

NOTE: Supported by the Trader Special Character.

Price adjustment -1: After a player has sold one or more goods of a kind at the market during an action, the price of that kind of good always decreases by one level.

(From now on, we are writing "price adjustment -1" when the price has to be adjusted after selling goods.)

Example: Marion sells three mead from her trading post into the empty market area and receives 12 silver and 2 victory points. Afterwards the mead price decreases to 3 silver.

II. Actions on the Action Dial

The player places a worker (yet unused in this game turn) on an action space of the action dial to conduct the action of that space. Almost all spaces give the player two choices for actions. The player then selects one of the two choices to conduct.

On the action dial, a player may not sell and then immediately buy the same kind of good in the same phase.

Placing on the day or night side: Depending on the position of the action dial, actions are either in the daytime or nighttime.

Placing a worker at the day side has no consequences.
Placing a worker on the night side means that the player has to roll the die for an event on the events table before conducting the action. Before rolling the die, he may buy a second die by paying 20 silver to the bank. The player then rolls the die/dice and selects one - effectively reducing the probability of a negative result on the events table. The player has to implement the rolled/chosen event immediately, before conducting his selected action.

All events are explained on the Events Table.

NOTE: Supported by the Seer special character.

Example: Marion has paid 20 silver to the bank and rolls with two dice - a 2 and a 3. Result "2" (Assassination) is negative, therefore she decides to take result "3" (Fog) - nothing happens. With the Seer she would have received the second die for free.

A character's ability may be used beginning with the next action of the player. This means, he may be used during the second action of a phase when a neutral worker had been taken.

The Character Chart shows all characters and their abilities in detail.

Space A - buying 1 wagon and/or 1 ship

The player places a worker and either takes the topmost wagon and/or the topmost ship card from one of the six stacks of transport vehicle cards. Pay the cost of the card(s) immediately to the bank and put the card(s) on the appropriate spaces of his playmat. If there is already a transport vehicle card, the older one must be replaced. The old card is removed from the game without any compensation.

Note: An empty transport vehicle card space on the game board stays empty till the end of the game.

NOTE: Supported by the Carpenter special character.

Example: Marion buys a ship for 30 silver and a wagon for 20 silver. She already has an unused wagon on her play mat; therefore she has to remove it (without any compensation) before she places the new wagon. Supported by the Carpenter, she would have been able to pick up the top three cards of the selected decks and choose one of each of them.

Space B - hire 1 character or entice away 1 character for 10 silver

The player places a worker and either hires a character not selected yet by any player or entices away a character from another player. Hiring a character does not cost anything; enticing a character away costs 10 silver paid to the former owner of the card.

A player places all of his character cards openly in front of him and places a safe-character marker on the card. A card marked with such a marker may not be enticed away by another players in the current game turn.

Example: Marion entices away the Administrator from Angelika and pays her 10 silver. She places the character card in front of her and puts a safe-character marker on top of it.

Space C - sell 1 to 3 identical or different goods (price: +1 level)

The player places a worker and either sells one to three identical or one to three different goods located in his trading post. The price per good is one level higher than indicated by the price scale. The player places the goods in the correct market area and takes the silver from the bank. If there were no goods in the market area before the sale, he also immediately gets two victory points.

NOTE: Price adjustment -1; supported by the Trader (cumulative).

Example: Marion sells 3 weapons to the market. Because of this bonus and her Trader she now gets 28 each instead of 20 silver and takes 84 silver from the bank. Afterwards, the weapon price decreases to 16 silver.

Space D - take 1 order card and 1 good free of charge or take 1 victory point

The player places a worker and takes an order card and any good free of charge from the market. Alternatively, he immediately gets 1 victory point.

Note: It is not possible to take a good from the general supply if the market area is empty.

If the player decides to take an order card and a good he has to do both things; i.e., he may not take a free good and not take a new order card.

NOTE: Price adjustment after taking the goods +1 / +2 (if the last one)

After the player has taken an order card, he may have to push an order card from the upper row to the spot directly below and put the top card from the draw deck in the empty spot.

The player places the taken order card on the left most space of his player mat. If there is already an order card there, it is pushed (and all cards to its right) one space to the right. If there are empty spaces in between, these are not pushed but filled. If an order card is pushed beyond the fifth space off the mat, this order is not fulfilled: all goods on the card are returned to the general supply and the card is removed from the game.

The player puts goods they take into the warehouse. During a game turn any number of goods may be located there.

Example: Marion takes one cloth and puts it into her warehouse. The price increases by one level. Afterwards she takes an order card and puts it on the leftmost space of her player mat. There is already an order card which is now pushed to the empty space to its right. The order card on space 5 stays in place.

Space E - deliver and score goods on order cards

The player places a worker and delivers goods from his trading post to one or more order cards. The order cards show the goods required. A player may not put any other goods beside the required ones on an order card.

If all of the required goods are on the order card, the player immediately scores the card. He puts the goods back into the general supply (not into the market!) and immediately receives the victory points and the amount of silver listed on the card. Afterwards, he flips the order card and places it next to his player mat.

NOTE: This is supported by the Supplier special character.

Example: Marion puts a cloth and a weapon on her first order card and a mead on her third order. This order is now "full" with 4 cloths and 2 mead - therefore it is scored. She places the goods back into the general supply, receives 6 victory points and 40 silver and puts the order card, face-down next to her play mat. Because of her Supplier character she receives an additional victory point and 10 silver.

Space F - transport goods (1 wagon or 1 ship)

The player places a worker and uses one of the transport vehicles on his player mat (wagon or ship) to transport the goods listed on the transport vehicle from the warehouse to the trading post. The listed goods are the maximum number of goods that may be transported - (divided into pre-defined goods and into any kind of goods, see the ? on the cards. E.g.: A Player may transport 1 mead and 1 weapon.). Less goods may be transported.

The player puts the used transport vehicle back into the game box. Therefore, there is immediately room for a new transport vehicle.

NOTE: This action is supported by the Stevedore special character.

Example: Marion transports 2 mead and 3 pottery pieces from her warehouse to her trading post with her ship. Afterwards she puts the ship card back into the game box. Unfortunately, she does not have the Stevedore - which would allow transporting 2 more goods.

Space G - buy 1 to 3 identical or different goods (Price: -1 level)

The player places a worker and either buys one to three identical or one to three different goods. The price per good is one level lower than currently listed on the price scale.

NOTE: Price adjustment after purchase +1 / +2 if last good in market; this action is supported by the Trader (cumulative).

The player places acquired goods in his warehouse. During a game turn any number of goods cubes may be located in the warehouse.

Example: Marion buys one mead, one cloth and one weapon. She pays 33 silver in total - one price level lower than "current" (5 + 12 + 16) and places the goods into her warehouse. Unfortunately, she does not have the Trader to save even more silver. Afterwards, the prices of all three goods increase by one level.

Space H - take 1 order card and/or sell 1 good or get 1 victory point

The player places a worker and takes an order card and/or sells a good from his trading post at the current market price. Alternatively, he gets one victory point.

The player takes an order card. Afterwards, if the card is from the lower row, he moves the card directly above it down to the lower row. A free space is filled with the top card from the order card deck.

The player places the taken order card on the left most space of his player mat. If there is already an order card, it is pushed (and all cards to its right) one space to the right. If there are empty spaces in between, these are "not pushed" but filled. If an order card is pushed beyond the fifth space off the mat, this order is not fulfilled: all goods are returned to the general supply and the card is removed from the game.

The player sells one good from his trading post at the current market price. He places the sold good into the right market area and takes the silver from the bank. If there were no goods in that market area before the sale, the player immediately gets two victory points.

NOTE: Price adjustment -1 after sale, Supported by the Trader (cumulatively).

6.0 Loans

If it is a player's turn, he may return one or more of his loans by paying 200 silver per loan to the bank.

If a player still has at least one loan at the end of the game, he loses 10 victory points. In addition, he may not get victory points for silver during final scoring (see 8.0).

NOTE: A player should avoid loans whenever possible.

7.0 Game Turn End and Preparation for Next Game Turn

When all players have completed the third phase, the game turn ends.

To prepare for the next turn, the following steps are conducted in order. During your first few games, the players may refer to the player aids to not skip a step.

Each player moves all of their order cards on their player mats one spot to the right. If a player pushes a card off the fifth space, this order has not been fulfilled: put all goods back into the general supply; the card is removed from the game.
Each player removes all safe-character markers from their character cards.
Only in game turn 4 (winter of the first year): In game turn order, each player decides which character(s) he wants to keep and which he wants to return to the general supply of character cards. For each returned card the player immediately receives 2 victory points.
The owners of the character cards Start Player, Seer, Stevedore and Carpenter may now use the special abilities of these characters in game turn order.
One player rolls both dice. The dice pips determine which goods are placed from the general supply into the market. For each die, add one good of each type equal to or lower than the number rolled.

Mead / Cloth / Pottery / Tools / Weapons / Spices (the rulebook shows each as a die face, in this order, 1 through 6)

Afterwards, the price of goods that got one or two new goods decline by one level.

Example: Marion rolls a 2 and a 4; therefore the following goods are added: 2 mead, 2 cloth, 1 pottery, 1 tool.
One player rolls one die per kind of good, beginning with mead and advancing to the right. Looking at the price change table next to the market he adjusts the price of the good by +1 or -1.

Example: After Marion has adjusted the prices for mead, cloth, pottery and tools, she now rolls a "4" for weapons. The price decreases from 32 to 28. Afterwards he rolls a 6 for spices; therefore the price increases from 10 to 15.
Each player now checks the capacity of his warehouse and trading post. There may be a maximum of 10 goods each. Surplus goods (owner's choice) are returned to the general supply. Each player now has to pay a fee of 2 silver for each good in his warehouse.

NOTE: This is supported by the Administrator special character.

Each player takes back his workers: the neutral workers are returned to the inn.
One player puts the order cards in the lower row on the discard pile and shifts the cards in the upper row down to the lower row. Then the upper row is refilled from the top cards of the deck.
One player moves the game turn marker to the next space/season and the game phase marker to the start space of the action dial.

NOTE: At the start of each phase, the game phase marker is advanced to the next space and the action dial is turned one space in a clockwise direction.

8.0 End of the Game and Final Scoring

A game of HAITHABU ends after eight game turns (two years).

Final Scoring

Each player with loans has to return them to the bank, if possible. Cost per loan: 200 silver.
Each player sells all goods still on his player mat (from warehouse and trading post) at half of the current market price.

In addition to the victory points scored during the game, the players now get these points:

Source	Victory points
each character card	2 victory points
each unpaid loan	-10 victory points
per 40 silver (not available for a player with at least one unpaid loan)	1 victory point
per 2 goods on order cards (rounded down)	1 victory point
per unused transport vehicle on the player mat	1 victory point
having fulfilled the most orders (count order cards)	6 victory points
having fulfilled the second most orders (count order cards)	4 victory points
having fulfilled the third most orders (count order cards)	2 victory points

Note: If there is a tie, the players divide the points among them.

Example: Angelika and Michael have fulfilled 6 orders each, Marion 5. Angelika and Michael receive half of the points for ranks 1 and 2 (5 points each), Marion gets 2 points.

The player(s) with the most victory points is the winner.

Events Table

Roll for Event. Take & roll second die: 20 silver.

Roll	Event	Effect
1	Viking Games	Receive from each other player (their choice): 1 good or 10 silver or 1 victory point
2	Assassination	Return one of your characters (lose 2 victory points if none to return)
3	Fog	Nothing happens
4	Buy Drinks	You pay the current mead price times the number of players (lose 2 victory points if you do not have enough silver)
5	Storm	Return one of your transport vehicles (lose 2 victory points if none to return)
6	Time of Unrest	All other players return 1 good (lose 2 victory points if none to return)

The rolled event must be performed, if possible.