Hellweg westfalicus

Hellweg westfalicus Rulebook

Table of Contents

48 Merchandise Tokens (in the 4 players' colours)
32 Carriages (in the 4 players' colours)
2 Additional Carriages (black)
8 Merchants (in the 4 players' colours)
45 Coins (25x copper with a value of 1 Thaler, 15x silver with a value of 5 Thaler and 5x gold with a value of 20 Thaler)
12 Trading Cards (brown stands for beer, white stands for salt and grey stands for ironware).
9 Merchandise Cards (coal, herring, wine and tobacco)
12 Privilege Cards (3 types)
1 Additional Carriages Card
1 Starting Player Card (simultaneously an action overview)
1 Game Board (showing the old trading towns and roads of mediaeval central Germany. The colours in the Trading Houses of the towns represent offer and demand of the three types of merchandise - beer, salt and ironware.)

Game Idea

The Westphalian Hellweg road is a trading route, more than 5000 years old, running from Duisburg to Paderborn and was of utmost importance during the Middle Ages.

Buy merchandise cheaply and sell at the highest price possible! On offer are beer, salt and ironware. If you wait, you will get a good price but only receive what's left.

With the help of carriages, you can construct trading routes so that towns far off can be delivered to.

After twelve months, the player who has generated the most money is the winner.

Preparations

The game board is placed in the centre.
The coins are placed beside it as the "Bank". Money can be changed at any time during the game.
The 12 Trading Cards are shuffled and placed as a face down stack at the top right beside the game board.
The family game version is played using the brown side of the Merchandise Cards. Depending on the number of players, some of the cards are not required and are returned to the box. At the top of the Merchandise Cards, small Roman numerals show with which number of players this Merchandise Card is used. With 2 players the game is played with 6 cards, with 3 players with 8 cards, and with 4 players with all Merchandise Cards. The remaining Merchandise Cards are now sorted into four separate stacks: coal, herring, wine and tobacco (layered so that their added functions can be read). The cards are placed beside the game board as a general Supply, brown side up.
Each player receives coins with a value of 10 Thaler, as well as the Merchandise Tokens, Carriages and Merchants of the same colour. He places these before him as his personal Supply.
The 12 Privilege Cards, the Additional Carriages Card and both of the Additional Carriages are part of the expansion and are not required for the family game.
One player is chosen at random as Starting Player. He receives the Starting Player Card which he places in front of him on the table, brown side up.
Finally, in 3 placement rounds the players place some of their Merchandise Tokens and Carriages on the game board. More on this topic later under "Starting Set-up".

Tips for the first game: Take the top two Trading Cards from the stack and return them face down to the box (=shortened game of 10 months). Even experienced players should also begin with the family game.

Gameplay

The game is played in 12 months.

One month consists of the following four phases, which are played through completely and consecutively.

New Trading Card
Sale of Merchandise
Actions
New Starting Player

Then the next month begins.

The phases in detail

1) New Trading Card: The top Trading Card of the stack gets revealed and placed face up on the space at the top right of the game board.

2) Sale of Merchandise: This phase is played in a clockwise direction. Beginning with the Starting Player, each player looks to see which type of merchandise is required in the four towns on the Trading Card and whether he is able to and wants to sell the corresponding merchandise. More later under "How merchandise is sold".

At the end of the phase the Trading Card is pushed down to the next space.

3) Actions: This phase is played in a clockwise direction and consists of two action rounds. Beginning with the Starting Player, each player places one of his Merchants either on the open Trading Card or on the Market Square and carries out exactly one action. To do so, he has the following four options a) to d). Then the next player on his left takes his turn.

a) Purchase Merchandise Tokens and Carriages

Each Trading Card displays a Trading House for each town. The background colour indicates the corresponding type of merchandise. In addition to that, the purchase price from three to five Thaler and one to three small symbols are shown. Circles represent Merchandise Tokens and rectangles represent Carriages that you can purchase in the corresponding towns.

=> The player places his Merchant in one of the four towns shown on the open Trading Card which is not occupied by another Merchant. He pays the Bank the price of three to five Thaler, as indicated for the town.

Important: If the player's other Merchant was already standing on the Market Square before this action, then he pays two Thaler less.

For each Merchandise Symbol (circle) the player now places a Merchandise Token from his Supply onto the Trading House square of the chosen town on the game board.

Important: If there are two Trading Houses in the town on the game board (e.g. as in Dortmund), the player must place his Merchandise Token on the Trading House of the corresponding sort (colour).

Each player may have as many Merchandise Tokens as he wishes lying on a Trading House on the game board. Merchandise Tokens belonging to different players may lie in one Trading House. For a better overview, Merchandise Tokens belonging to the same player should be stacked.

Note: The number of Merchandise Tokens lying on a Trading House on the game board denotes the number of merchandise items that a player has there of the type dictated by the background colour.

For each Carriage Symbol (rectangle) the player now places a Carriage from his Supply onto the game board on a road of his choice which leads directly out of the town. For the player, a Carriage connects two towns with each other. Each player can have as many Carriages on a road as he wishes.

Some streets show a small Village Symbol. If the player places a Carriage on such a road, he immediately receives one Thaler from the Bank.

Note: The colour of the road (brown or light grey) initially plays no role when placing carriages.

A player may not choose more than one town on the Trading Card per action.

Example: A vacant square on the Trading Card shows the brown Trading House in Dortmund. Alex (blue) places his Merchant on Dortmund, pays the 5 Thaler demanded and places 2 Merchandise Tokens from his Supply on the brown Trading House in Dortmund on the game board. He could place his Carriage on one of the 6 roads leading out of Dortmund. He decides on the road between Dortmund und Soest and places 1 Carriage from his Supply there. There is a Village Symbol on this road and that means Alex gets 1 Thaler from the Bank. Alex now has two Merchandise Tokens lying on the brown Trading House in Dortmund. That means that Alex has two items of brown merchandise (beer) there. For himself, he also connects Dortmund and Soest with his Carriage.

b) Stock up

=> The player places his Merchant on the round Market Square, pays one Thaler to the Bank and places a Merchandise Token or a Carriage on the game board according to the previously detailed placement rules.

Either he takes a Merchandise Token from his Supply and adds it to a Trading House in which he already has Merchandise Token(s) on the game board.
Or he takes a Carriage from his Supply and places it on a road which borders directly on a town in which he already has Merchandise Token(s).

If the player places a Carriage on a road with a Village Symbol, he receives one Thaler from the Bank.

A player may not Stock up with more than one Merchandise Token or Carriage per action.

c) Purchase a Merchandise Card

=> The player places a Merchant on the round Market Square and takes any Merchandise Card from any stack of the general Supply. (Attention, it need not be the top one!) He pays the price shown on the top left of the Merchandise Card to the Bank (between 15 and 30 Thaler). Merchandise Cards are placed brown side up in front of you.

Important: If his other Merchant was lying on the Market Square before this action, then he pays two Thaler less. In addition to purchase a Merchandise Card, the player receives a bonus and may place a Carriage from his Supply onto the game board according to the placement rules (as previously detailed under "Stock up").

A player may not purchase more than one Merchandise Card per action.

d) Take a Thaler

=> The player places his Merchant on the round Market Square and takes a Thaler from the Bank.

Applies to all actions

Furthermore, the following applies to all previously mentioned actions:

If a player is not able to fulfil the conditions of an action, he must choose a different one.

No more than one Merchant is allowed to stand on each of the four towns on the Trading Card.

There may be any number of Merchants of different players on the Market Square.

In each month each player may choose two different or two of the same actions. To begin with, it is recommended to choose two different actions.

After the end of the second action round, the players retrieve their Merchants and remove the Trading Card face down from game.

Note: Trading Cards already played may not be looked at later.

Example: Alex is the Starting Player and begins the action phase. He places one Merchant onto the Market Square and takes 1 Thaler from the Bank. Bert also places one Merchant on the Market Square and purchases 1 Coal Merchandise Card. He pays the purchase price of 15 Thaler to the Bank and as a bonus he may take 1 Carriage from his Supply and place it on a road on the game board. Claus places his Merchant on the town of Mönster (grey background colour) on the Trading Card. He would like to purchase Merchandise Tokens and Carriages and pays 4 Thaler. Then he places 1 Merchandise Token on the grey Trading House of Mönster on the game board and subsequently places one Carriage on the road from Mönster to Dortmund.

The second round of the Action Phase starts with Alex again. He places his second Merchant on the town of Hagen and pays 3 instead of 5 Thaler to the Bank, because he already has one Merchant from the first action round on the Market Square. He places 2 Merchandise Tokens in the town on the game board and 1 Carriage on a road leading out of Hagen. Bert places his second Merchant on the Market Square and purchases one more Merchandise Card (pays 2 Thaler less and places 1 Carriage on the game board). Claus places his second Merchant on the Market Square, pays 1 Thaler and stocks up in Mönster. He places 1 Merchandise Token on the top of his other Merchandise Token in the grey Trading House of Mönster. Both action rounds are now finished. The Merchants are retrieved and the Trading Card is removed face down from the game.

4) New Starting Player: The Starting Player Card is passed to the next player. The next month follows.

How Merchandise Is Sold (Phase: "Sale of Merchandise")

Beginning with the Starting Player, each player checks, one after the other, which types of merchandise (background colour) are required in each of the four towns on the Trading Card and whether he can and wants to sell the corresponding merchandise. In doing so, the order shown on the card must be adhered to. First of all, the town shown at the top left. The town shown at the bottom right is last in order. In each of these four towns the player may not sell more than one item of the requested merchandise, if he can and so wants, and he must also fulfil one of the two following conditions.

Locally: If the Trading Card shows a town in whose Trading House of the same type on the game board the player has Merchandise, then the player may sell one of these, if he wants.
Transport: If he wishes, a player may sell one of his Merchandise Tokens from another town, if he has merchandise there of the type requested and his own carriages form a direct connection to that town. A player considers two towns to be directly connected when the player has at least one Carriage standing on each connecting road between them.

In this case, the player must remove one of his carriages from every brown road (brown stands for poor road conditions). These carriages are returned to his Supply. By contrast, the player is not required to remove any carriages from a cobbled (light grey) road.

Important: A player never needs to remove a Carriage from a road with two of his own carriages (a so-called "permanent connection").

If the player sells merchandise, the Bank pays him the allocated value of three to five Thaler as shown on the Trading Card. The Merchandise Token is returned to his Supply.

Remember: each player may sell exactly one item of merchandise for each of the four towns on the Trading Card, even if he could supply more.

The length of the connection is irrelevant. If a player has alternative connections, he can choose which one to use.

A connection is valid for the whole town, even if it consists of two Trading Houses.

Each town must be fully resolved before resolving the next one.

Exception: If a player cannot or does not want to sell anything in any of the four towns, he may sell one own item of his choice from the game board for two Thaler, if he wishes to do so.

Important: The last Trading Card in the game brings an additional bonus of two Thaler for any sale.

Tip: In order to accelerate the game, experienced players should not play the Sale of Merchandise Phase one player after the other, but simultaneously (and individually).

Example: In Dortmund iron (grey) is required. Alex (blue) has 2 Merchandise Tokens in the grey Trading House on the game board. He sells 1 of the items and receives 5 Thaler. The other players do not have any Merchandise Tokens there, but Claus (red) has 1 Merchandise Token of the required item in Mönster and in Olpe and 3 direct connections from there to Dortmund. So, Claus has 3 possibilities to sell, but may only use one of them. If he were to deliver from Olpe to Dortmund via Corbach along the two brown roads, he would subsequently have to remove the two carriages used. If he were to deliver from Olpe to Dortmund via Hagen, he would not have to clear his carriages off the roads, since he uses cobbled roads. If he were to deliver from Mönster to Dortmund, he would not have to clear his carriages off the roads either, because he has a "permanent connection" there - consisting of 2 carriages.

Merchandise Cards - Special Functions

Many of the Merchandise Cards offer their owners Special Functions, as marked on the big banner on the card.

Merchandise +1: Every time a player sells an item of merchandise of the type displayed (colour), he receives one extra Thaler.

Removing Carriage +1: Every time a player must remove a Carriage from the game board and take it back into his Supply, he receives one Thaler from the Bank. Important: The player may not withdraw any carriages of his own accord.

Bonus: At the end of the game, each pair of Merchandise Cards that the player has corresponding to the two types of merchandise depicted on the banner have the value shown on the banner instead of their individual values.

Important: Each Merchandise Card may only be used once for this kind of bonus. Two Tobacco Merchandise Cards are necessary for the Tobacco Bonus.

No Merchandise Tokens or Carriages

If a player no longer has any Merchandise Tokens or Carriages in his Supply, but would like to use more with an action, then he takes whatever is needed from the game board. However, if he prefers, he can partially or completely forfeit placing a piece on the game board. But, this is only allowed if a player definitely has no corresponding piece in his Supply.

Note: You don't receive a Thaler for the special function "Removing Carriage +1", when removing a Carriage in this way.

Starting Set-up

Beginning with the Starting Player, each player takes it in turn to place a Merchandise Token on any Trading House - except in Dortmund - and a Carriage on a road bordering directly on the town chosen. The standard rules for placing pieces apply. If the player places the Carriage on a road with a Village Symbol, then he receives one Thaler from the Bank accordingly. Pieces are placed on the game board over three rounds, so that afterwards each player has three Merchandise Tokens and three Carriages on the game board.

Recommendation: It is best to place pieces in three different towns and to place three different types of merchandise.

During the starting set-up several players may, of course, place their Merchandise Tokens on the same Trading House and Carriages on the same road.

End of Game

Once the last Trading Card has been turned over, then play only continues to the phase "Sale of Merchandise".

Important: Don't forget the additional bonus of 2 Thaler for the last Trading Card of the game.

The game then ends immediately and the scores are counted up.

Note: There is no further Action Phase and therefore no further opportunity to purchase Merchandise Cards, for example.

Scoring

At the top right of each Merchandise Card, you can see how many Thaler it pays to the owner at the end of the game, unless it has a higher value due to the special "Bonus" function.

Each player counts his Thaler and adds them to the value of his Merchandise Cards. The player with the most money wins.

In the case of a tie, the player with the most Merchandise Tokens on the game board wins. In the event of a further tie, the player with the most Carriages on the board wins. In the event of another tie, there is more than one winner.

Note: There are no Thaler credits for Merchandise Tokens and Carriages still on the board at the end of the game.

Before the First Game (important!)

It's worth taking a brief look at the Trading Cards: Each type of merchandise can be found at least once on each card. Each Trading House on the game board is pictured three times on the cards - once each with a value of three, four and five. Since the game is played with all the cards, it is generally apparent what is still to come.
It is not always worth selling at just any price, for example, if you only get three Thaler and have to remove Carriages. On the other hand, regarding the Merchandise Cards, it is often important to have the necessary funds available to make a purchase.
To win the game, it is not necessary to memorize all the cards already played. It is usually sufficient to build up a good network of Carriages. Furthermore, towards the end of the game you often have a good sense of what is still to come, without having memorized it.

Other Important Points

Money supply is not limited. If the Bank is empty, then continue with any other supplementary materials.
Merchandise Cards may not be sold.
Even if you already have a Merchant on the Market Square, the price for Stocking up is still not discounted by two Thaler.
Even if you would expect to receive one Thaler for a Village Symbol after placing a Carriage, this may not be counted as credit before the action has been completed.
The space at the bottom right of the game board plays no role in the family game version.
If you forget to place the one-off Bonus Carriage on the game board when purchasing a Merchandise Card, this cannot be done later.
It makes no sense to have more than two Carriages on one road.
"Permanent connections" on a cobbled road offer no advantage.
The Tobacco Bonus is only applicable in a game of four players, because only then are both Tobacco Merchandise Cards in the game.
The historical spelling of towns and currency have been used for the game, insofar as they are not too unusual.

Expansion Module: Warehouse and Privileges

This is the same preparations as for the family game version, but with the following additions.

Preparations

The game is played using the blue side of the Starting Player Card and the Merchandise Cards.
The two additional black Carriages are placed on the Storage Area (warehouse) at the bottom right of the game board.
The 12 Privilege Cards are separated into the three types and placed blue side up beside the game board as a general Supply.
The Additional Carriages Card is placed, blue side up, beside the game board.

Starting Set-up

Beginning with the Starting Player, each player takes his turn and places as usual one Merchandise Token on any Trading house - except in Dortmund - and one Carriage on a road bordering directly on the town chosen. However, in the second and third rounds, only a Merchandise Token is placed. After the three placement rounds each player has three Merchandise Tokens and one Carriage on the game board.

The gameplay is the same as for the family game version, but with the following modifications. Hereafter, only those rules which have been modified or supplemented are listed.

Gameplay

3) Actions:

a) Purchase Merchandise Tokens and Carriages: There are no changes to this rule. => As usual, the player places his Merchant in the chosen town on the Trading Card.

e) Storage Storage is now a possible action. => The player places a Merchant on the Market Square and lays a Merchandise Token or a Carriage on the Storage Area. Storage is free of charge. Each player may have as many Merchandise Tokens and Carriages on the Storage Area, as he wishes.

b) Stock up The previous rules regarding "Stock up" are substituted completely: => The player places a Merchant on the Market Square and removes all his Merchandise Tokens and Carriages from the Storage Area and places them on the game board according to the rules for placing game pieces. So, Merchandise Tokens are only placed on Trading Houses where he already has Merchandise Tokens and Carriages only on roads which border directly on towns where he already has at least one Merchandise Token. Stocking up is free of charge.

Note: The same applies here, insofar as a Merchandise Token may not be placed on a Trading House, on which a player has no Merchandise Token at all. Not even, if he has Merchandise Tokens on a different Trading House in the same town.

For every Carriage that the player places on a road with a Village Symbol he receives one Thaler from the Bank, as usual.

Example: Claus chooses "Stock up" as his action. He removes all his Merchandise Tokens and Carriages from the Storage Area and places them individually onto the game board: he places 1 Merchandise Token on his Merchandise Token in Dortmund and places 2 more on his Merchandise Token in Mönster. He places 1 Carriage on the road from Essen to Dortmund and 1 Carriage on the road from Mönster to Builefeld.

c) Purchase a Merchandise Card: => The player places his Merchant onto the Market Square as usual and purchases a new Merchandise Card (blue side up). If it has a value of 20, 25 or 30, then he may also choose a Privilege Card from the general Supply, if he doesn't already own one of this type, and lay it face up (blue side up) in front of him on the table. If he already owns all three different Privilege Cards, then he may not take another one.

d) Take a Thaler and Reveal Privilege Card(s): => The player places his Merchant on the Market Square and as usual takes one Thaler from the Bank and in addition, he reveals all his face down Privilege Cards.

Reminder: In the expansion as well, each player may choose in each month two different or two of the same actions.

Receiving Privileges with Trade Routes

There are four routes by means of which the players can receive special benefits. These are displayed at the top of the Privilege Cards and the Additional Carriages Card. For example, if a player forms with his carriages a direct connection from Builefeld to Corbach, then he receives the corresponding Privileges Card from the general Supply, and lays it face up in front of him on the table. However, if the player already owns a Privileges Card of this type, then he may not take another one.

The first player to connect Duisburg with Paderborn receives the Additional Carriages Card, which he places face up (blue side up) in front of him on the table. From now on and until the end of the game, he may use both Black Carriages as additional Carriages. He can enter them into the game, as soon as he has chosen "Stock up" as his action. Players connecting Duisburg and Paderborn later in the game go empty-handed.

Note: It follows that you may never possess more than three (different) Privileges.

Reminder: As described above, Privilege Cards can also be received with the purchase of specific Merchandise Cards.

Using Privileges

While a player is carrying out an action, he may additionally use one or more of his Privilege Cards lying face up in front of him. This may take place directly before or after his chosen action. Used Privilege Cards are turned over. They may be turned back again in action d) "Take a Thaler and Reveal Privilege Card(s)".

Privileges are "Storage", "Stock up" and "Take a Thaler and Reveal Privilege Card(s)" - they all work in exactly the same manner as the standard actions of the same name.

Important: Privilege Cards which have just been revealed may not be used again straightaway, but must be held back until the player has his next turn.

Note: The card "Take a Thaler and Reveal Privilege Card(s)" cannot reveal "itself", of course.

Reminder: As described above, Privilege Cards may also be revealed when action d) is carried out.

Example: Bert chooses the action "Purchase Merchandise Tokens and Carriages". Subsequently, he also uses his Privilege Cards lying face up in front of him: he turns his "Storage" Card over and in return he places 1 Carriage on the Storage Area. Now he turns over his "Stock up" Card and in return removes all his own Merchandise Tokens and Carriages from the Storage Area, which he then places on the game board according to the rules for placing pieces on the board. Finally he turns over the Card "Take a Thaler and Reveal Privilege Card(s)". In return, he takes 1 Thaler from the Bank and turns over the other two Privilege Cards once again. He may not use these straightaway, but must wait until his next turn.

No Merchandise Tokens or Carriages

If a player no longer has any Merchandise Tokens or Carriages in his Supply, but would like to use some more as part of an action, then he takes what's needed from the game board (also possible from the Storage Area). However, if he prefers, he can partially or completely forfeit carrying out this action.

Important: Removing pieces from the board is only allowed if a player definitely has no corresponding piece in his Supply.

Other Important Points

With this expansion the Merchandise Tokens and Carriages in a player's Supply may run short, the aim here is to find a working balance - this also goes for the Privilege Cards.
If you forget to take your Privilege Card when you purchase your Merchandise Card, then you can still do this later.

Expansion Module: Passenger Transportation

Experienced players can play this module together with the family game or combine all three sets of rules.

Gameplay

2) Sale of Merchandise

Transportation: If the player sells an item of merchandise and in doing so uses one or more roads with a Village Symbol, then the player receives one extra Thaler from the Bank. Here the same rule applies: if a player has alternative connections, then he may choose which one he uses in order to get the Thaler for "Passenger Transportation". Used single Carriages on brown roads must then be removed, of course.

Note: The player cannot receive more than one Thaler per item of merchandise sold for "Passenger Transportation".