Portolano

Portolano Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

13 double-sided sea tiles
8 double-sided port tiles
5 bow tiles
9 stern tiles
25 movement cards, 5 in each player's colour
5 merchant ships
1 pirate ship (black)
24 ship extensions, 6 each of 4 types
12 mission cards
6 dice
15 cannons
5 rum barrels
54 goods markers: 17 white cotton, 17 red wine, 17 green tea, 3 brown cocoa
52 coins: 40 one thaler and 20 five thaler values
1 peacemaker marker
15 mission markers, 3 in each player's colour
3 double-sided supply boards
15 treasure chests, 5 each of value 1, 2 and 3
1 wind direction marker with spinner

Setup

The following rules apply to 4-5 player games. For 2-3 player games please see the chapter Game variant for 2-3 players.

Choose 3 random port tiles and shuffle them thoroughly with the sea tiles, then create a 4x4 game area in the middle of the table! For each tile, decide randomly which side will be facing up. All tiles should be positioned in the same direction.
Choose a supply board and place it next to the play area facing either side up. Place the indicated goods on it according to the player number (example: with 4 players you have to fill the 4+ fields on both ends and the fields between them). Removal of goods will occur in the direction of the arrow and in order. After setup, no more goods will be placed on the supply board. In all cases when a player discards a good, it is placed back in the box.
Place the coins, the dice and the treasure chests with the value hidden next to the play area in an accessible place. The treasure chests are placed face down in a stack.
Place next to the board 3 times as many cannons, as is the current player number.
Shuffle the mission cards, and reveal 3 of them randomly next to the playing area. These will define the extra goals for this game. The remaining mission cards go back in the box. If among the chosen mission cards there is the one with no cannons on ship or the one with no mutiny, each player should place one of their mission markers on these cards.
Place next to the play area as many ship extensions of all types as the number of players. Separate all types in stacks, with the 1-s on the bottom and the one corresponding to the player number on the top. In this way, for example in a 4-player game, for all types of extensions, they will be stacked 1-2-3-4 from bottom to top. The 0-numbered extensions are only used during setup when the player with the Gadgeteer ability (see Special abilities of Stern tiles) chooses an extension.
All players should select the merchant ships, mission markers and the bow tiles of their colour, as well as a rum barrel and 5 movement cards. Shuffle the stern tiles and deal a random one to each player. The stern tiles will determine the special ability the players have for the game (see Special abilities of Stern tiles). The bow tile should be placed on the left side of the ship. The rum barrel should be placed into the third space from the left on the cargo hold in the bow. During the game the players will collect the trading goods in the cargo hold, so that they are always to the right of the rum barrel. If needed, any goods or rum can be discarded from your ships, and the goods can be rearranged at any time. Note: If a player has the Peacemaker ability on their stern tile (see Special abilities of Stern tiles), then he/she should place the special marker on this, indicating that this once-per-game ability has not yet been used.

Gameplay

The game consists of several rounds, each round consists of more phases:

Card selection
Player turns a. Movement b. Actions
Setting wind direction
Moving the pirate ship
Battle

At the end of the round (after the Battle phase) the current starting player passes the wind direction spinner to the next player on his/her left. This player will be the starting player in the coming round. The game ends when one of the goods runs out from the supply board. At this time, finish the current round, and then play one more complete round. Then the endgame scores are counted.

1. Card selection

At the start of each round, each player selects one of his/her movement cards and places it face down in front of himself/herself.

If a player has the Extra sail ship extension (see Ship extensions) and would like to move two spaces, then this player places 2 movement cards in the order of planned moves. If both moves should be in the same direction, then the 2x movement card is placed together with the intended movement direction.

If the player has the Strategist stern ability (see Special abilities of Stern tiles) and in this round does not want to move, then only the 2x movement card by itself should be placed.

If a player does not have rum in the hold at the start of the round, then the crew will mutiny! For now, the player may not play any movement cards, the ship will drift downwind (see Movement).

If a player's ship was drifting in the previous round, and using the tile actions was not able to get some rum, then at the start of the round he/she may discard 2 goods to gain a rum before playing movement cards. If the discarded good was brown cocoa, this is only considered as one good. The discarded goods are placed back in the box.

2. Player turns

After all players with available rum had placed one or two movement cards; starting with the first player, in clockwise order all players take a turn. A player performs their whole turn in full before the next player takes a turn.

A player's turn consists of two parts: movement and action.

a. Movement

The player taking a turn will reveal the chosen movement card or cards and performs the indicated movements. During movement, the ship is moved in the chosen direction to an adjacent sea tile. If the player has the Extra sail extension (see Ship extensions), and has played two movement cards, both movements are carried out now. If a player's stern ability is the Strategist (see Special abilities of Stern tiles), and only the 2x movement card was played, then that ship remains on the same tile.

During movement, we should consider that the Earth is round, therefore if a player is located on the edge of the play area, and would move in a direction that would take them off the map, then they finish their move on the opposite end of the column or row, they go around so to speak.

All movement requires energy, or in this case the crew requires rum to move the ship. If the ship moves downwind, it costs 0 rum, if perpendicular to the wind, then 1 rum; while sailing upwind requires 2 rum for movement of each step. Spending rum is indicated by moving the rum marker in the cargo hold to the left. If the player has the Extra sail extension (see Ship extensions), and has moved two spaces, then the player must spend the required rum for both steps. If a player's stern ability is the Strategist (see Special abilities of Stern tiles), and has chosen not to move, this does not cost any rum.

Example: If a player did not play any movement cards as they had no rum in the cargo hold and their crew mutinied, then the ship drifts downwind by 1 tile. If a player had at least one rum at the start of the round, but had played one or two movement cards (with Extra sail extension, see Ship extensions) for which the rum costs could not be paid, then mutiny breaks out again and no planned movement is carried out, the ship drifts downwind by one tile, and all rum in the hold is lost. If the player has the Extra sail extension (see Ship extensions), then still the ship only drifts by one space.

When a player's ship moves off a sea tile, and no other ships are on that tile, then the tile is flipped to its other side.

Example: Peter has 2 rum in the cargo hold and an Extra sail extension. The wind direction is as it is depicted above (north). He plays the movement cards south and east. This movement would cost him 2+1=3 rum that means mutiny breaks out, both rum in the hold will be lost and instead of the planned movement the ship drifts downwind by one tile.

b. Actions

A player may after movement carry out the action associated with the tile on which he/she has arrived on (see Possible actions). If the player has the Extra sail extension (see Ship extensions), and hence has moved 2 tiles in the current turn, then only the action of the last tile can be carried out, that is the one where the ship ends up on.

If a player's stern ability is the Strategist (see Special abilities of Stern tiles), and has chosen not to move this turn, they may still carry out the tile action. If a player's ship has drifted to a tile due to mutiny, the action may still be carried out as before.

Possible actions

The active player during his/her turn may perform an action following the completion of movement, based on the last tile he/she has reached.

Actions on sea tiles

If a player reached a sea tile, they may take a good or a cannon and may carry out the tile action. The order of these two is up to the player and both of these things may be omitted.

The goods that can be taken from a tile are indicated on the bottom of the sea tile, the player may select one of these, take a good from the supply board and put it in any empty slot of the cargo hold. If the sea tile also has a cannon on it, the player may take a cannon from the supply instead of a good, and place this on a free cannon base. If the supply of cannons from the start of the game has run out, then no cannons may be taken. If the brown cocoa is on the supply board in the next available good slot in the cotton, the wine or the tea rows, then the player takes the cocoa and places it in the cargo hold. Later on, when entering a port, this cocoa may be used as 2 arbitrary goods (see Actions on port tiles).

On top of sea tiles there may be the following actions:

Ship extension: Pay a thaler and take an accessible ship extension of your choice! Always take the top one of any stack that is the highest value extension. You may take an extension that you already have on your ship.
Trading goods and rum: Trade goods for rum or rum for goods (during one action only in one direction) 1 for 1. In one action, you may trade several, even different goods. If you gain goods during a trade, take these from the box instead of the supply board! You cannot gain cocoa via a trade.
Trading goods: Trade a good for another good with a 1:2 ratio. This means you give back 1 good and take 2 other goods, which could be different. In one action you may trade only one good. The given up good is returned to the box and the gained goods are also taken from the box. You may not gain back a good of the type that you gave up in the trade. You cannot gain cocoa via a trade. If you give back a brown cocoa, you still get 2 goods in trade.
Free rum: You gain a rum. Move the rum barrel in your cargo hold to the right by one.
Thalers: You gain a thaler.
Island of peace: In this round you are left out of any battles. If you are on this tile, you cannot choose to participate in some battles.

If during a goods trade or a free rum action there is insufficient free space in your cargo hold, you may discard any goods or rum and/or rearrange the goods in the hold so that all goods are located to the right of the rum barrel. The new goods may be put in the now freed up space, or the rum barrel may be moved there.

Actions on port tiles

All port tiles contain 2 pieces of information: the types of goods that may be unloaded in this port, and the amount of rum that can be filled in the cargo hold.

If a player's ship ends its movement in a port, they may unload such goods that are in demand (and not yet matched) at that port. They may choose not to unload all goods that are in demand. The brown cocoa good is a special case, it may be used as 2 arbitrary goods. The player may choose to place the cocoa on 2 adjacent empty unloading slots. Alternatively, the cocoa may be placed on just 1 unloading slot, but this way it is only worth 1 good. Unloading of goods in a port can happen in any order, no need to fill spaces from left to right or from right to left.

The player gains thalers based on the number of goods that was unloaded: 1/3/5/7/10 thalers for 1/2/3/4/5 unloaded goods. The brown cocoa placed on 2 unloading slots is counted as 2 goods. After unloading, the player may fill the cargo hold with the amount of rum indicated on the port tile (at least one good must be unloaded for this to occur, otherwise no rum is gained). It is possible not to load all of the available rum, or to discard goods to make room for rum. The rum barrel moves to the right by as many spaces as the amount of rum gained.

In case the player has unloaded the last missing good to a port, in addition to the thalers and rum, they may also draw a treasure chest from the face down supply. This treasure chest is stored face down in front of the player. Then the goods are removed back to the box from the now completely filled tile and a new port tile is drawn in its place. The active player may not unload anymore in the current round onto the newly revealed port. If no more port tiles are available, then the used tiles are shuffled and are used to form a draw pile using the other sides.

Setting wind direction

After all players have carried out their actions, the starting player then spins the wind direction spinner. This will be the valid wind direction (North, South, East or West) for the rest of the round, during pirate ship movement and battles, as well as in the next round during players' turns.

Important: The wind direction spinner must always be positioned so that it is aligned with the play area.

Moving the pirate ship

The starting player now moves the pirate ship in the direction of the wind by one tile. During movement, we should consider that the Earth is round, therefore if the pirate ship is located on the edge of the play area, and would move in a direction that would take it off the map, then they finish their move on the opposite end of the column or row, they go around so to speak. If the pirate ship moves off a sea tile, and no other ships are on that tile, then the tile is flipped to its other side.

Important: The pirate ship may never under any circumstances stop on a port tile, therefore if this would be the result of movement, the pirate ship moves on downwind until it reaches a sea tile.

Battle

If one or more players' ships are on a sea tile with the pirate ship or are adjacent to the pirate ship, or if two or more players' ships are on the same tile, then a battle will take place. The first battle will be against the pirate ship, the players that participated in this battle will not battle each other again, even if they are on the same tile.

Note: If a player's stern ability is the Peacemaker (see Special abilities of stern tiles), then before the first battle of the round he/she must announce that he/she does not want to participate in any battles this round. At this time the marker must be removed from the ship's stern. The player has no possibility to pick and choose his/her battles this round using the stern ability, so that some battles are fought but others are not.

Battling the pirate ship

All players, whose ships are on a sea tile with the pirate ship or are adjacent to the pirate ship must battle the pirate ship. If a player is on a port tile, they will not battle the pirate ship, even if the port is adjacent to the tile of the pirate ship.

Important: Tiles on two opposite ends of a row, or tiles on the upper and lower ends of a column of tiles are considered adjacent!

The pirate fights separate battles with each opponent. In a battle, the player sitting to the right of the battling player acts out the part of the pirate.

If a pirate ship is on the same tile as a player, then the pirate rolls 3 dice; if the pirate ship is on an adjacent tile, then the pirate rolls 2 dice. The player rolls as many dice as the number of cannons on the ship. Each rolled symbol is considered a hit.

If a player scores more hits than the pirate, they will receive as many thalers, as the difference in hit points.
If the pirate and the player score the same amount of hits, nothing happens.

Note: If a player's stern ability is Lucky (see Special abilities of Stern tiles), then the player receives 1 thaler.
If the pirate scores more hits than the player, the player must discard as many loots (goods, rum or thalers) from hold, as the difference in hit points. If several loots are discarded, the player may choose any combination of goods, rum or thalers. The brown cocoa discarded in this manner is only counted as one good. The discarded goods are returned to the box.

Battle between players

If two or more players are on the same sea or port tile, and have not battled the pirate ship, then they must now battle each other. If a player has already battled the pirate ship, they will not battle the other players there again. If there are several tiles with several players on them, then all battles are enacted separately, every player only battles the ones on the same tile.

During a player battle, all players on a tile roll the dice. If the players are at sea, then each player rolls as many dice as the number of cannons on their ship. If the battle takes place in a port, then they use as many dice as the rum barrels they have in hold. Each rolled symbol is considered a hit.

When evaluating a battle, we start with the person with the most hit points. If several players have the same number of hit points, then the player closest clockwise to the first player will go first.

If two players score the same amount of hits in a battle, nothing happens between them.

Note: If a player's stern ability is Lucky (see Special abilities of stern tiles), then the player can steal a loot (1 rum, 1 good or 1 thaler) from the other tying players.
If a player scores more hits than one or more other players in the battle, then the winning player may take loot from the losing players. He/she may take as many loots from each losing player as the difference in hit points. For each hit point difference, 1 good, 1 rum or 1 thaler is taken. If several loots are taken, the winning player may choose any combination of goods, rum or thalers. The brown cocoa taken in this manner is only counted as one good.

It may occur that at least 3 players participate in a battle, and a player is defeated on one side, but at the same time wins against other opponents. In this case, first the players that defeated them will take loot from them, and after that he/she in turn takes loot from the opponents that he/she defeated.

Endgame and scoring

Following the last round, scoring proceeds as follows:

Add up the thalers gained during the game!
Add to these the thalers on your treasure chests!
If a player's stern ability is the Peacemaker (see Special abilities of Stern tiles), and the player has not used the ability in the game, so the marker is still on the ship's stern, this player gains 1 thaler.
Count the ships' worth by adding the values on the ship extensions. The owner of the most valuable ship takes an additional 6, the owner of the second most valuable takes 2 thalers. In case of a tie in first place, all tied players receive 4-4 thalers and no second place is awarded. In case of a tie in second place, all tied players receive 1-1 thalers.
Compare the number of cannons on the ships and determine the most militant player! The player with the most cannons gains 4 thalers, the player with the second most gets 2 thalers. In case of a tie in first place, all tied players receive 3-3 thalers and no second place is awarded. In case of a tie in second place, all tied players receive 1-1 thalers.
All players take half as many thalers, as the sum of the rum barrels and goods markers in the cargo holds of their ships, rounded down. The brown cocoa markers are worth one at this stage.
All players take the thalers rewarded for their positions reached on the mission cards according to the table below:

	I.	II.	III.	IV.	V.
5 player game	4	2	1	-	-
4 player game	4	2	1	-
3 player game	3	1	-
2 player game	2	-

For the mission cards without cannons and no mutiny all players that completed them gain 3 thalers irrespective of player number and reached position.

All players lose 2 thalers for all mission cards that they were unable to complete. The without cannons and no mutiny mission cards are exceptions to this rule, if a player has not completed these cards, they do not lose 2 thalers.

Add up the thalers gained, the player that has collected the most is the winner, and gains the title of the mighty Seawolf! In case of a tie, the player with the smaller ship value is the winner. In case a tie still persists, the tied players share the victory.

Example for scoring: Peter has 6 thalers by the end of the game and has gained a 2 thaler treasure chest. He has built a ship with a value of 7, this is enough to tie him for first place, so he gains 4 thalers for this. Peter has gained 3 cannons for 3 cannon bases, while Daniel gained 2 cannons for his 5 cannon bases, Silvia and Laura had no cannons. For the 3 cannons Peter is the most militant player, this is worth 4 thalers for him. In his cargo hold he has 4 rum, 1 white cotton, 1 red wine, 2 green tea and 1 brown cocoa. This is 9 goods in total, half of which is 4 rounded down, so that is worth 4 thalers. He completed the missions with a 2nd and a 3rd place and he was unable to complete the third mission. For these in a 4-player game he gains 2, 1 and -2 thalers. To sum up, Peter gained 6+2+4+4+4+2+1-2=21 thalers.

Game variant for 2-3 players

For games with 2-3 player count, the following changes apply with respect to the base game. The rules not listed here remain unchanged.

Setup

When setting up the play area, choose 1 sea tile with ship extension action on it. Add to this tile randomly 6 other sea tiles and 2 port tiles. Shuffle the 9 tiles and place them in a 3x3 formation on the table. Decide randomly which side should be upwards for each tile. The tiles should all be oriented in the same direction.

Battle with the pirate ship

The pirate ship does not attack all 4 adjacent tiles, but only those that are perpendicular with the wind direction. If the wind blows north or south, then only the players east and west of the pirate ship are attacked, in addition to the ones sharing the tile with the pirate ship. In this case, the players north and south of the pirate are safe. In the same way, for a wind direction of east or west, the players to the east or west of the pirate ship are safe and not attacked by it.

Ship extensions

Ship extensions may be gained on sea tiles with the Ship extension action on them (see Actions on sea tiles). You may pay one thaler to take an accessible ship extension of your choice from the top with the greatest value. You may take an extension that you already have.

Hold extension: The ship's cargo hold increases by 2 spaces, so the ship can carry this much more rum or goods.
Cannon base extension: This gives the ship an extra 2 cannon bases, so you can attach this many more cannons.
Extra sail: During the movement phase, if needed the player can move 2 tiles, even in different directions. If the player wants to move 2 tiles, he/she places 2 movement cards in the order of desired movement. It is possible to arrive back to the original tile, but the move costs for both movements must still be paid in rum. If the player wants to move twice in the same direction, then the 2x movement card is played together with the direction card. Actions are only carried out on the final destination tile. Irrespective of the number of extra sail extensions, only 2 spaces can be moved in a round.
Extra wick: For each one of these extensions, during battle it will give your cannon a definite hit without rolling dice for success. In battle, before dice roll, put aside a die for each wick with symbol side up and only roll the remaining dice. The Extra wick does not give you more hit points then the number of cannons you have. The Extra wick cannot be used for a battle in a port.

Special abilities of stern tiles

The stern tiles provide a special ability for each player that they may use at the start of the game or during the game.

Sticky fingers: At the start of the game take 2 thalers.
Canister master: At the start of the game take a cannon from supply. Place the cannon on the cannon base of the bow tile.
Gadgeteer: At the start of the game pick a ship extension worth 0 points.
Hoocher: At the start of the game take 4 rum, or 3 rum and 1 good of any kind. Take the good from the box and place it in the hold.
Marketeer: On sea tiles, instead of the indicated action, you may trade 1 good for 1 rum.
Southerner: If you move in a southern direction, you have to pay one less rum for it. The costs for the move may not be reduced below 0.
Lucky: In battle against the pirate or another player, if equal hits are scored, you may take 1 thaler or 1 loot from them.
Peacemaker: Once in the game, you may choose to sit out and not participate in a battle. During setup, place the peacemaker marker on your stern. Once you have used the ability, remove this marker. If you did not use the ability until the end of the game, so the marker remains on the stern, you score an extra thaler during the scoring phase.
Strategist: During movement you may anchor your ship and decide not to move. You may not choose to do this in consecutive rounds, so you must move in the next round after you have anchored. To use the ability, during movement card selection only place the 2x card in front (see Movement). If at the start of your round you do not have any rum, then mutiny will break out on your ship, your ship will drift, and you may not choose this ability. Anchoring does not cost rum.

Mission cards

At the start of the game, randomly choose 3 mission cards, you can gain thalers at the end for their completion. The completion criteria should be checked for each card during different game phases. If a player completes the success criteria of a mission card for the first time, their mission marker is played on the highest still empty space on the mission card. A player may only have one marker on a mission card.

Mission cards to be checked at the end of player actions

4 white cotton goods on the ship.
4 red wine goods on the ship.
4 green tea goods on the ship.
6 rum on the ship.
At the same time 1 white cotton, 1 red wine, 1 green tea and 2 rum on the ship.
Has 2 treasure chests.
At least 3 different ship extensions on the ship.
2 of the same ship extensions on the ship.
No cannons on the ship. *

Mission cards to be checked at the start of the round and during player movement

There was no mutiny on the ship, it never happened that at the start of the round there was no rum in hold or that the player could not pay enough rum for the selected movement cards. *

Mission cards to be checked at the end of battle

Defeated the pirate ship (scored more hit points). **
Scored at least 3 hits in a battle on a sea tile. **

* For these mission cards, all players place a mission marker on them at the start of the game. The marker is removed if the player fails the success conditions. For these missions, the order of completion does not matter, all players with a marker still on the card at the end will receive 3 thalers. If a player does not complete such a mission card, no 2 thaler penalty applies.

** For these mission cards, completion should be checked once all battles for the round are over. If several players complete this mission for the first time in the same round, the player that is closer to the first player in clockwise direction will place their marker in the higher slot.