Merchants Cove Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• About the Rulebooks
• Core Components
• Setup
  • Main Board Setup
• Game Structure
• Arrival Phase
• Production Phase
  • Turn Sequence
  • 1. Choose Action & Move Merchant Figure
  • 2. Perform Action
  • 3. Draw Corruption Card
  • 4. Resolve the Clock
  • Load the Boats
  • End of the Production Phase
• Market Phase
  • Selling Goods
  • Sponsorships
• Cleanup Phase
• Final Scoring
  • Winning the Game
• Common Actions
  • Recruit / Replace Townsfolk (Cost Varies)
  • Activate Staff (Usually 2 Hours)
• Appendix: Townsfolk Abilities
  • Locals
  • Mercenaries
  • Sailors
• Appendix: Rogue Card Effects
• The Merchants
• Game Overview
• Credits

About the Rulebooks

This Rulebook covers the core rules of Merchants Cove, which are common to all players. The other Rulebooks cover the unique rules specific to each Merchant. If a Merchant's unique rules contradict or modify a core rule, the Merchant rule takes precedence.

Core Components

• This Rulebook
• 1 main board
• 1 Adventurer bag
• 52 Adventurer meeples: 13 Red Warriors, 13 Green Bards, 9 Blue Wizards, 9 Yellow Nobles, and 8 Grey Rogues
• 6 3-D cardboard Boats
• 12 plastic Rock Rose Gems ("+100 Gold")
• 5 Merchant Banners and plastic standees
• 36 Townsfolk cards: 12 Locals, 12 Mercenaries, 12 Sailors
• 3 Rogue cards: Criminals, Cultists, Robbers
• 4 Merchant cards (one for each Merchant)
• 60 Corruption cards
• 2 wooden Mice
• 1 wooden Market Phase indicator
• 5 Gold trackers (one in each player color)
• 5 Timepieces (one in each player color)
• 2 Double-sided Adventurer tokens

Each Merchant additionally has their own components, described in their respective Rulebooks.

Setup

Main Board Setup

1. Place the main board on the table.
2. Place the 6 Boats in the sea area of the board—3 on each side of Dragon Island.
3. Prepare the Townsfolk Deck:
   • Choose 2 or more sets of Townsfolk cards (Locals, Mercenaries, or Sailors), shuffle the chosen cards together into a single deck, and place it face-down on the bridge.
   • Deal 4 cards face-up into the Town Square.
4. Shuffle all the Corruption cards into a deck and place it face-down in its designated space.
5. Place 1 Warrior, 1 Bard, 1 Wizard, and 1 Noble into their matching colored Faction Halls.
6. Place the remaining 12 Warriors (red), 12 Bards (green), 8 Wizards (blue), and 8 Nobles (yellow) into the Adventurer bag.
7. Choose a Rogue card and place it face-up in its designated space.
   • a. Place as many Rogues as indicated in the top-right of the card into the Lair.
   • b. Place as many Rogues as indicated on the top-right of the card into the Adventurer bag.
   • c. Return any remaining Rogues to the box.
8. Each player chooses a player color and takes the Timepiece, Gold tracker, and Merchant Banner of that color.
9. Set up the Clock:
   • a. Place the Market Phase indicator on the "12" space.
   • b. Place a Mouse on each of the two Clock Hands.
   • c. Take each player's Timepiece and randomly stack them together on the "1" space.
   • d. When playing a non-4-player game, adjust the Clock according to your player count:
     • 2 players: add Double-Adventurer tokens over the icons at "9:30" and "11:30".
     • 3 players: add a Double-Adventurer token over the icon at "11:30".
     • 5 players (expansion): add a Zero-Adventurer token over the icon at "3:30".
10. Place each player's Gold tracker on the starting space of the Gold track.
11. Each player selects a Merchant and takes the Rulebook and components associated with them. Optionally, you may randomly draw Merchant cards to assign Merchants.
12. Players now follow the setup rules in their Merchant Rulebooks.

Tip: For your first game, at Step 3 use the Locals and Mercenaries Townsfolk decks, and at Step 7 use the Criminals (No. 1) Rogue card.

Game Structure

A game of Merchants Cove is played over the course of 3 rounds (days), and each round is divided into 4 phases:

• Arrival Phase — the first Adventurers set sail for Merchants Cove.
• Production Phase — players produce Goods, secure Sponsorships, and manipulate Adventurers to suit their aims.
• Market Phase — players earn Gold by selling their Goods and receiving their Sponsorships.
• Cleanup Phase — the boards are prepared for the following round.

After 3 rounds, there is Final Scoring. Then, the player who accumulated the most Gold wins.

Arrival Phase

In the Arrival Phase, Customers (and possibly Rogues) partially load the Boats en route to Merchants Cove. This gives players a preliminary idea of which colors of Customers may be available to sell Goods to in this round.

• Ensure all Boats are empty and that there are 3 Boats on each side of Dragon Island.
• Randomly draw and place 2 Adventurers from the Adventurer bag onto each Boat.
  • If the Arrival Rule on the Rogue card shows the "no Rogues" icon, set aside any Rogues that are drawn and continue drawing until there are only Customers on Boats. Then return the set-aside Rogues to the bag.
  • If the Arrival Rule shows the "Rogues allowed" icon, place Rogues in the Boats when drawn.

Note: Customers and Rogues are considered distinct in Merchants Cove. When a rule mentions Customers, this specifically refers to the four colored Customers (Warriors, Bards, Wizards, Nobles). Adventurer is used in this book to describe both Customers and Rogues.

Production Phase

During the Production Phase, players use the various action spaces on their Shop boards to produce Goods, recruit Townsfolk, activate Staff, and secure Sponsorships. Players will also influence the placement and arrival of Boats and Customers, which will determine the value of Goods during the upcoming Market Phase.

Turn Sequence

The Production Phase is played in a series of player turns. The Clock serves as a "time-track", which dynamically determines the active player and signals the end of the round.

Each turn begins by determining the active player; this is the player whose Timepiece is farthest back on the Clock. If players are tied, the player whose Timepiece is on top of the stack becomes the active player.

The active player takes a turn, following these four steps in order:

1. Choose an action and move figure.
2. Perform the chosen action.
3. Draw a Corruption card (if indicated).
4. Resolve the Clock.

Then, check the Clock to determine the active player. It is possible for a player to take consecutive turns.

1. Choose Action & Move Merchant Figure

The active player chooses an unoccupied action space on their Shop board by moving their Merchant figure to it. The same location may not be used twice consecutively; the Merchant figure must move to a new action space.

Each action space shows a specific action icon and a cost expressed in Hours and possibly Corruption cards. After the active player performs the chosen action, they must pay the associated action cost when resolving the Clock, drawing a Corruption card if indicated.

2. Perform Action

The active player performs the action of the chosen action space in full.

There are two actions common to all players: Recruit Townsfolk and Activate Staff (see Common Actions). All other actions are unique to each Merchant and are described in their respective Rulebooks.

The following general rules apply to actions:

• All components are considered limited in quantity.
• When Goods are produced, they should be displayed prominently on the player's Sale Shelf for all to see.

Thematically, each merchant produces unique Goods. All Goods are defined by one of four colors (red, green, blue, or yellow) and one of two sizes (large or small). Color determines which Customers can purchase that Good; size determines which Pier(s) the Good may be sold at. Note: There are more red Warriors and green Bards than blue Wizards and yellow Nobles. However, red and green Goods are worth less Gold than yellow and blue Goods.

3. Draw Corruption Card

For each Corruption symbol of the chosen action space cost—if any—the player draws 1 Corruption card into their supply. Corruption cards show either a single Corruption icon or a mix of Corruption and Faction icons. During Final Scoring, these icons will cause players to lose or gain Gold, respectively. Players may look at their Corruption cards at any time, but should keep them face-down to conceal them from their opponents. The quantity of Corruption cards each player has, however, is considered public information.

Tip: Having many Corruption icons on Townsfolk and Corruption cards can be risky, since each icon causes you to lose Gold during Final Scoring. Look for ways to discard Corruption cards using Townsfolk or Staff abilities.

4. Resolve the Clock

For each Hour of the chosen action space cost, advance the active player's Timepiece 1 Hour forward on the Clock.

• If the Timepiece passes an Adventurer indicator, the active player immediately takes the Load the Boats action.
• If the Timepiece ends its movement on a space with another player's Timepiece, place it on top.
• The Timepiece may advance beyond the Market Phase indicator.

2 and 3 Players: When passing a Double-Adventurer indicator, the active player draws 2 Adventurers from the Adventurer bag and places them one after the other onto Sailing Boats.

Note: You cannot add an Adventurer to a Docked Boat. If there is an excess Adventurer that cannot be placed, return it to the Adventurer bag.

Clock Hands and Mice: A player may not move their Timepiece onto or through a Clock Hand space covered by a Mouse. In rounds 2 and 3 a player may advance their Timepiece onto a Clock Hand instead of a numbered Hour. Doing this grants a player one extra Hour during the round, however:

• The player immediately draws 1 Corruption card when their Timepiece passes through or ends its movement on a Clock Hand.
• The player forgoes the Adventurer indicator and does not Load the Boats.

After resolving the Clock, determine the active player and proceed to the next turn.

Load the Boats

When taking the Load the Boats action, the player randomly draws 1 Adventurer from the Adventurer bag and places it into an empty slot on a Boat that is Sailing. Boats that are not Docked are considered to be Sailing.

• The Rogue card's Arrival rule has no effect at this time. However, some Rogue cards have effects that restrict Rogue placement or trigger when a Rogue is placed onto a Boat.
• The player who fills the final empty slot on a Sailing Boat must immediately Dock that Boat into an empty Pier on the same side of Dragon Island as it was Sailing. Remove all Adventurers from the newly Docked Boat and place them onto the Pier.
• When both Pier spaces on one side of Dragon Island are occupied, immediately remove the remaining Boat that is Sailing on that side from the board. Remove all Adventurers from that Boat: place Customers into their matching Faction Halls, and place Rogues into the Lair.
• When each of the four Pier spaces are filled with a Docked Boat, the end of the round is signaled:
  • Place the Market Phase indicator on the Hour space that is directly after the farthest forward Timepiece(s) on the Clock.
  • The Load the Boats action is ignored for the remainder of the round.

End of the Production Phase

Once all Timepieces are on top of—or beyond—the Market Phase indicator, the Production Phase ends, and no additional turns will be taken this round.

Move all Timepieces that advanced beyond the Market Phase indicator to the top of it, preserving their order.

Though rare, there may be Boats still Sailing when the Production Phase ends. In that case, all Adventurers on them are placed into their matching Faction Halls or the Lair, respectively. This will leave one or more empty Pier spaces.

Market Phase

In the Market Phase, players sell Goods from their Sale Shelves to the Customers on the Piers to gain Gold. Then, players gain Gold for Market Phase Sponsorships based on the quantity of Customers in the Faction Halls.

Selling Goods

Players may sell as many Goods as they wish during each Market Phase at the three Piers. Sales are resolved in the following order:

1. Resolve the Bazaar Pier (left). Large Goods may be sold at this Pier.
2. Resolve the Grand Plaza Pier (center). Small Goods may be sold at this Pier.
3. Resolve the Black Market Pier (right). Both large Goods and small Goods may be sold here.
4. Each player who sold at the Black Market Pier must draw exactly 1 Corruption card.

At each Pier, sales are made in turn order—based on the stack of Timepieces, from top to bottom. When selling, the active player makes all desired sales at the current Pier before play passes to the next player.

Customers represent the demand for particular Goods. For each Good sold, gain Gold equal to the price printed on it, multiplied by the number of matching colored Customers at the current Pier. Advance your Gold tracker on the Gold track by this amount. Remove all sold Goods from your Sale Shelf and return them to your supply.

Do not move any Customers from the Piers until the end of Market Phase; all Customers remain for other players to sell to.

Goods may not be sold at a Pier containing no matching colored Customers.

Each player may sell any or all Goods on their Sale Shelf during the Market Phase. Unsold Goods are kept on the players' Sale Shelves.

Tip: The base price for red and green Goods is 3 (small) or 6 (large); and the base price for blue and yellow Goods is 4 (small) or 8 (large)—but remember that there are fewer blue and yellow Customers in the bag.

Simultaneous Play: Your group may choose to complete the Market Phase sales actions simultaneously, as players' sales do not directly affect each others' options. However, following proper resolution order allows players to make tactical adjustments based on their opponents' choices.

Sponsorships

After selling Goods, players gain Gold for all active Market Phase Sponsorship icons on their Shop boards. For each active icon, players advance their Gold tracker a number of spaces equal to the number of Adventurers in the matching Faction Hall.

Immediate Sponsorships: Some Merchant actions allow players to gain Immediate Sponsorships, represented by a lightning bolt in place of the Market icon. These are calculated the same way as Market Phase Sponsorships, but are scored only at the time they are activated.

Cleanup Phase

Skip this phase in round 3 and proceed directly to Final Scoring.

To prepare for the next round:

• Return all Adventurers from Piers to the Adventurer bag. (Do not remove Adventurers from the Faction Halls or Lair.)
• Discard the rightmost Townsfolk card in the Town Square to the bottom of the Townsfolk deck, then refill the Town Square like normal.
• Reset the Clock for the next round:
  • After round 1, move the Mouse from the first Clock Hand to the "1" space.
  • After round 2, move the Mouse from the second Clock Hand to the "2" space.
  • Move the Timepiece stack—without changing their order—to the lowest numbered Hour space not covered by a Mouse.
  • Move the Market Phase indicator to the "12" space.

Then proceed to the Arrival Phase of the next round.

Final Scoring

After round 3, all players reveal their Corruption cards and receive Final Scoring Sponsorships.

• For each Faction icon on a Townsfolk or Corruption card, gain Gold equal to the number of Adventurers in the matching Faction Hall.
• For each Corruption icon on a Townsfolk or Corruption card, lose Gold equal to the number of Adventurers in the Lair.

Note: Faction and Corruption icons that score at the end of the game have a circular border. These are primarily found on Townsfolk and Corruption cards. Faction icons that score during each Market Phase (but not at the end of the game) are shaped like a shield. These are primarily found on each Merchant's Shop board.

Note: If you advance your Gold tracker past the "100" space, take a Rock Rose gem into your supply (worth 100 Gold) and move your tracker onto the start space to continue gaining Gold.

Winning the Game

The player with the most Gold wins.

• If tied, the tied player with the most unsold Goods left on their Sale Shelf wins.
• If still tied, the tied player with the fewest Corruption cards wins.
• If still tied, victory is shared among the tied players.

Common Actions

There are two actions common to all Merchants: Recruit Townsfolk and Activate Staff. Players can Recruit Townsfolk from the Town Square into their Staff boards. When recruited, Townsfolk give immediate use of their Townsfolk ability. Then, they are assigned to a Staff ability on a player's Staff board. By using Activate Staff a player can use each of their Staff abilities with a Townsfolk assigned to it.

Recruit / Replace Townsfolk (Cost Varies)

Hire 1 Townsfolk to your Staff board. To take this action:

1. Select a Townsfolk card from the four in the Town Square.
2. Immediately activate the card's Townsfolk ability.
   • The ability must be used immediately, if possible. Otherwise it is lost.
3. Slide the Townsfolk card into an empty slot above your Staff board, covering its Townsfolk ability with a Staff ability. This Staff ability will be available for future Activate Staff actions.
   • Townsfolk cannot be moved or voluntarily discarded once they are recruited. However, you may replace a Townsfolk card with a newly-recruited one. The replaced Townsfolk is discarded to the bottom of the Townsfolk deck.
4. Pay the cost of the Townsfolk card you selected.
   • The card's cost is printed below its space in the Town Square.
5. Slide all Townsfolk cards in the Town Square to the right, if possible. Then, flip a new card from the Townsfolk deck face-up to fill the leftmost space.

Townsfolk cards may have Faction and/or Corruption icons shown in their top-left corner. These icons are scored during Final Scoring; they do not score during the Market Phase.

Activate Staff (Usually 2 Hours)

Activate any or all Staff abilities on your Staff board with a Townsfolk assigned to it. Staff abilities may be activated in any order. Completely resolve each Staff ability before proceeding to the next.

This action becomes more efficient throughout the game as you recruit more Staff.

Each Merchant has a unique set of Staff abilities, which are detailed in their respective Rulebooks.

Appendix: Townsfolk Abilities

Locals

• Choose and discard 1 Corruption card from your supply.
• Choose and discard up to 3 Corruption cards from your supply.

These actions are resolved before you pay the cost of the Recruit Townsfolk action, meaning you cannot use these actions to discard Corruption cards gained as part of the current action's cost.

Mercenaries

• Move 1 Good of the matching size and color from your supply to your Sale Shelf, if possible.

Sailors

• Draw an Adventurer from the Adventurer bag and place it onto a Sailing Boat.
• Remove an Adventurer from a Sailing Boat and place it onto a Pier.
• Remove a Customer from a Sailing Boat and place it into their matching Faction Hall.
• Remove an Adventurer from a Sailing Boat and return it to the Adventurer bag.
• Remove an Adventurer from a Sailing Boat and place it into a different Sailing Boat.

Appendix: Rogue Card Effects

1. Criminals — No effect.
2. Cultists — During the Market Phase, players may draw 1 Corruption card for each Rogue at any given Pier to treat that Rogue as a Customer of each color.
3. Thieves — After you place a Rogue, but before Docking any Boats, you may draw 1 Corruption card to remove 1 Customer from the same Boat as the newly-placed Rogue and place it into a different Sailing Boat.

The Merchants

Each player controls a completely different Merchant, with unique components, a unique Shop board, and a unique set of actions and Staff abilities detailed in that Merchant's own Rulebook. The four base-game Merchants are:

• The Alchemist (Phoenestra Orwyn) — Gather mysterious Ingredients from your decanter, mix them in your Brewing Cauldrons, and brew them into Merchants Cove's finest Potions (small Goods) and Elixirs (large Goods). Your supply of magical Ichor is a slightly toxic filler ingredient—great in moderation, but too much can stir up trouble.
• The Blacksmith (Olaf Thundercrack) — Work with fire and metal at your four hot furnaces, forging weapons and armor to equip adventurers for battle. Honest, efficient, and hardworking, you can easily avoid corruption—as long as you can handle the heat.
• The Captain (Captain Greentail) — Sail your fleet on the high seas in search of valuable treasures to bring back and sell at the piers. You won't know what treasures are buried on the outlying islands until you go searching, and you may also discover mysterious temptations and dark curses hidden in the waves—or simply make ends meet by fishing and patrolling the waters.
• The Chronomancer (Wiz Grey, with his assistant Humpty McHalf) — Entrepreneurial time travelers who revisit history to bring back valuable relics and artifacts. But the machines are rickety, and throughout the day you and Humpty end up running around the workshop trying to configure the unstable time portals.

Game Overview

Merchants Cove plays over 3 rounds—the player who accumulates the most Gold wins.

Each round consists of 4 phases:

1. Arrival Phase — Randomly place 2 Adventurers onto each Boat following the Arrival Rule on the Rogue card in play.
2. Production Phase — Players produce Goods, Recruit Townsfolk, Activate Staff, and secure Sponsorships. Players also influence the placement and arrival of Adventurers and Boats.
   • Turn Sequence — Determine the active player according to the position of players' Timepieces on the Clock. The active player chooses an action space on their Shop board and moves their Merchant figure to it, performs the chosen action, and pays its cost by drawing a Corruption card (if indicated) and resolving the Clock.
   • Load the Boats — Players place Adventurers in the empty slots of Sailing Boats each time their Timepiece passes the Adventurer indicator on the Clock. The player who fills the final empty slot on a Boat immediately Docks that Boat into an empty Pier space on the same side of Dragon Island as it was Sailing. When all Pier spaces are filled, the end of the round is signaled: place the Market Phase indicator on the Hour space directly after the farthest forward Timepiece(s) on the Clock.
3. Market Phase — Players sell Goods from their Sale Shelves and gain Gold from Market Phase Sponsorships. Selling a Good gives a player Gold equal to the base price multiplied by the number of matching Customers on the Pier. Goods are sold to matching-color Customers at the 3 Piers: the Bazaar Pier (left) for large Goods, the Grand Plaza Pier (center) for small Goods, and the Black Market Pier (right) for both (draw 1 Corruption card when selling there).
4. Cleanup Phase — Empty the Boats, discard the rightmost Townsfolk card and refill the Town Square, then prepare the Clock.

After 3 rounds, Final Scoring is applied and the player with the most Gold wins.

Credits

Created by Carl Van Ostrand. Designed by Carl Van Ostrand, Jonathan "Jonny Pac" Cantin, and Drake Villareal. Artwork by Mihajlo Dimitrievski—The Mico. Published by Final Frontier Games.