Snowdonia
Snowdonia Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Game Board
- Deck of 66 cards comprising:
- 5 Alternative action cards for variations in the number of players
- 30 "Contract" cards
- 7 "Train" cards (double-sided with an extra Build action space on the reverse)
- 8 "Station" cards (double-sided)
- 14 "Track" cards (double-sided)
- 2 Reference cards
- 40 "Iron Ore" (orange cubes)
- 24 "Stone" (grey cubes)
- 14 "Coal" (black cubes)
- 90 "Rubble" (small brown cubes)
- 8 Game markers (black discs)
- 5 Event markers (white cubes)
- 18 "Steel Bars" (black rods)
- 11 Weather discs (3 each in yellow and blue and 5 in grey)
- 80 Ownership cubes (16 each in yellow, blue, green, pink and purple)
- 15 "Labourer" pawns (3 each in yellow, blue, green, pink and purple)
- 5 "Surveyor" pawns (1 each in yellow, blue, green, pink and purple) ("Surveyor" and "Labourer" look the same)
- 1 Score pad
- 1 Start Player Marker (wooden train)
- 1 Supply Bag (not pictured)
Setup
Use the diagram of the game board as a guide to how to set up the playing area.
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Game Board. Place the game board in the centre of the table, so that all players can reach it.
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Start Player. Randomly determine who will be first to play and give that player the Start Player Marker.
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Player pieces. Players take all the pieces of their colour. The 16 x Ownership cubes per player is a fixed limit. If these run out, the player cannot take ownership of any more Track cards or Building sites.
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Surveyors. Each player puts their Surveyor in any empty space on Llanberis.
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Labourers. Each player puts two of their Labourers into their personal supply for use in the first turn, leaving the remaining Labourer in the Pub.
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Railway Route: Station cards. For the Snowdon game use the yellow side of the Station cards; the blue side is for the Blaenau Ffestiniog game (see Blaenau Ffestiniog). Sort them into numerical order by the number on their top right hand corners. Waterfall Station (2) is not used if playing solo or with 2 players. The Passing Loop (4½) is only used with 5 players.
Starting at Llanberis (printed on the board) and going clockwise round the board, lay out the Station cards in numerical order with spaces between them, so they go from Two Viaducts (1) to Yr Wyddfa (7).
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Railway Route: Track cards. Shuffle the Track cards. The number of Track cards between each Station card is printed on each Station card's top left hand corner. Place randomly drawn Track cards, shovel side up, between the Station cards adjusting them, so that the Track and Station cards are evenly spaced.
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Rubble. Place rubble on each Track card equal to the number on the card, and also put the indicated number of rubble pieces on the Station cards in the boxes marked with a shovel.
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Action Space Cards. The game board has the action spaces for a 3 player game printed at the top in seven Action Areas marked A to G. If you are playing solo, or with 2, 4 or 5 players, take the alternative action space cards and place them over the Action Areas printed on the board, so that the number at the top of each Action Area matches the number of players.
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Game Markers. Put a Game marker on each of the 2 dots on the Work Rate tracks. Put the other 6 Game markers with the general supply of pieces off the board.
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Contract cards. If playing solo or with 2 players, remove the two Contract cards marked '3-5' (28 and 29) from the deck. Shuffle the Contract cards and place them in a pile face down on the board.
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First weather forecast. Take the top three Contract cards and put them face-down, one per space, on the numbered spaces at the bottom right of the board; these spaces form the Site Office.
Take a Weather disc of the same colour as the weather icon on the back of the middle Contract card and put it into the middle space of the Weather Track; then repeat for the right-most card putting the Weather disc into the lowest space of the Weather Track. Turn the three Contract cards face-up.
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Trains. In the 2 to 5 player game shuffle the Train cards and place six Trains, selected randomly, below the game board to form the Engine Shed. Set aside the remaining Train card for now – it will not be available as a train in this game. Put Coal from general supply onto each Train as indicated on the card.
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Stock Yard and Supply Bag. Put 7 Iron Ore, 4 Stone and 1 Coal on to their spaces in the Stock Yard. Put the number of Iron Ore, Stone and Coal into the Supply Bag as indicated in the Supply Table. All other Iron Ore and Stone should be put back in the game box; they will not be needed in this game.
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General Supply. Put all remaining pieces into a general supply area.
Supply Table
| Players | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Ore | 16 | 20 | 20 | 27 | 33 |
| Stone | 10 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 20 |
| Coal | 6 (minus Coal for starting train) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Put Coal on the Train cards in the game and the rest into the bag.
- 1 player: Remove Waterfall Station (2), Passing Loop (4½), 3-5 Contract cards (28 and 29).
- 2 players: Remove Waterfall Station (2), Passing Loop (4½), 3-5 Contract cards (28 and 29).
- 3 players: Remove Passing Loop (4½).
- 4 players: Remove Passing Loop (4½).
- 5 players: Use all Station cards.
Game Sequence
The game is played using the following sequence:
- Initial Setup
- Rounds
- Assign Labourers
- Resolve Actions
- Restock Contract cards
- Check the Weather
- Restock the Stock Yard
- Repeat Rounds until the End of Game is reached
- End of Game Scoring
Rounds
Assign Labourers
In clockwise order beginning with the Start Player, each player places one of their Labourers from their personal supply onto any of the numbered action spaces in any of the Action Areas on the game board (A through G). Continue to place Labourers, one piece per player at a time, until all players have placed all of their Labourers in personal supply.
Before placing their first Labourer, each player with a Train may return one Coal (two Coal for Train No. 6) from personal stock to the Supply Bag to take the temporary Labourer in their colour from the Pub and put it into their personal supply. The temporary Labourer can be assigned to actions just like any other Labourer.
Resolve Actions
Action Areas are resolved in order A through G. Within each Action Area resolve the actions in numerical order one-by-one from space [1]. If a player has a Labourer on an action space, that player must carry out that action; taking actions is not optional. If a player has two or more Labourers within a single Action Area, that player must carry out the action once for each Labourer.
After completing actions, return Labourers to each player's personal supply, except that temporary Labourers (a player's third Labourer) are returned to the Pub when used.
Contract Cards
Contract cards have effects printed on the middle part of card that modify the action you are taking or change the rules in your favour. They also have a scoring bonus on the top part that is used at the end of the game.
Before the first action is resolved for an Action Area, players may play Contract cards. In clockwise order beginning with the Start Player, each player may play one or more Contract cards that have the current Action Area shown at the bottom left of the card. When a Contract card has been played, turn it sideways to show that its effect has been used and leave the card in the player's area. Card effects persist until the end of the current round.
A. Stock Yard
Take 3 Iron Ore and/or Stone from those available in the Stock Yard into personal supply. Alternatively, take one Coal and two Iron Ore and/or Stone.
If a Labourer is in the last space of the Stock Yard, the owning player additionally becomes the Start Player; that player takes the Start Player Marker. If no-one occupies this space, the Start Player Marker remains with the current Start Player.
B. Excavation
The current Excavation Work Rate is shown by the Excavation Work Rate marker. Take the number of Rubble cubes equal to the current Excavation Work Rate, including any bonuses from an owned Train and/or a played Contract card, from Track and/or Station cards into personal supply. A player with a Labourer on an Excavation action space must take the full number of Rubble cubes up to the current Excavation work rate plus any bonuses and cannot choose to take fewer, unless there is no Rubble left to excavate.
Rubble must be taken in this priority order:
a) The Track card with remaining Rubble closest up the mountain to Llanberis.
b) If all Rubble has been removed from Track cards leading up to a Station card, then take Rubble from the leftmost excavation site on the Station card.
The player who takes the last Rubble cube from an excavation site on a Station card will gain the victory points for the site at the end of the game. Put one of that player's Ownership markers on the excavation site.
If there isn't enough Rubble left on the whole route for your action, take as many cubes as there are available.
At the end of the round in which there are no more Rubble to excavate from any Track and Station cards, take the Train card set aside at the start and place it on the Excavate Action Area with the Build Action Area uppermost. This card now replaces the Excavate Action Area and provides an extra Build action space in position B of the Action Area sequence.
C. Works
Convert 3 Iron Ore into 1 Steel Bar, or change 2 Rubble into 1 Stone. Do this up to three times per action space. You may mix these trades if you choose, for example gain 2 Steel Bars and 1 Stone, or 2 Stone and 1 Steel Bar, and so on.
Take Steel Bars from general supply and Stone from the Supply Bag; if the bag runs out, players cannot make more Stone until some is returned to the bag. Put the Iron Ore back into the Supply Bag and the Rubble into general supply.
Players are not allowed to look in the Supply Bag prior to converting Rubble to Stone.
D. Lay Track
The current Lay Track Work Rate is shown by the Lay Track Work Rate marker. Return to general supply a number of Steel Bars up to the current Lay Track Work Rate plus any bonuses and, for each one, turn over the fully-excavated Track card closest up the mountain to Llanberis. Place one of the player's Ownership markers on the Track card to show which player laid the track.
A player with a Labourer on a Lay Track action space cannot choose to lay track at less than the current Work Rate plus bonuses, unless the player has insufficient Steel Bars, or there are not enough excavated Track cards, or there is no more track to lay. If there are not enough excavated Track cards to complete the action, the player must complete as many as possible.
E. Build
After all Track cards leading up to a Station card have been excavated, each Labourer on a Build action space can build any one non-excavation site of that Station (for excavation sites, see Excavation).
Pay the resources specified on the non-excavation site of your choice by putting them in the bag, if they are Stone or Iron Ore, or to general supply if they are Steel Bars, and place one of the owning player's markers in the site space. Players must pay the full cost of the site, as non-excavation sites cannot be partially fulfilled.
Note: Players cannot complete parts of a Station until all Track cards up to that Station card have been excavated. However, the excavation spaces on the Station card do not need to be cleared; they represent the track continuing past the Station up the mountain.
Alternatively a player can use this action to obtain a Train card from the remaining available Trains, after the "Trains may now be bought" event has happened (see Resolving Events). The owning player takes one of the remaining Train cards and any Coal on it and pays the number of Steel Bars stated on the Train card to general supply.
A player may not own more than one Train. A player can return a Train card to the Engine Shed during a Build action when buying a different Train. Put more Coal from the Supply Bag (if available) on the returned Train card, as indicated on the card.
F. Site Office
Take a card of the player's choice to hand from the three face-up Contract cards in the Site Office. Put the card face up in the player's playing area (until it is played and turned sideways, it counts as 'in your hand'), so that other players can read it.
G. Move the Surveyor
Move the player's Surveyor on to the next Station card numerically along the route. Whether Rubble has been excavated or track laid is irrelevant to the Surveyor.
Restock Contract Cards
If a Contract card is in position [1] in the Site Office, put it face down onto the discard pile. Move any other Contract cards in the Site Office to the left to close up any gaps. Add cards face up to the end of the line from the top of the Contract Card Deck, until the Site Office spaces have one each.
Check the Weather
Move the Weather discs one space along to the left. The disc furthest to the left (with the "!" on it) shows the current weather.
Look at the top (unrevealed) card of the Contract Card Deck, take a Weather disc in a colour matching the weather icon on the back of that card and place it in the lowest position on the Weather Track.
Adjust the markers on the Excavations and Lay Track Work Rate Tracks according to the current weather, referring to the Weather Key below the Weather Track. Don't go off either end of the tracks!
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Sun = Excavate +2 spaces, Lay Track +1 space
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Rain = Excavate -1 space, Lay Track -1 space
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Fog = No Excavation [B] or Lay Track [D] actions can be performed this round. Leave the Work Rate markers as they are, but put a Fog disc on both those Action Areas to show that Labourers cannot be placed there.
Note: The Work Rate markers show how much Rubble can be excavated or track laid by each Labourer assigned to one of those actions.
When the weather has been resolved, put the marker in the current weather space back in general supply.
Restock the Stock Yard
The number of cubes required for restocking varies according to the number of players and is shown on the board to the left of the Event Track. Take the appropriate number of cubes at random from the Supply Bag and place them on the Stock Yard spaces according to the cube type, Iron Ore, Stone or Coal.
If any Event cubes have been drawn, put them on the Events Track, one cube per space, starting immediately after the last occupied space; as you place each Event cube, resolve the Event immediately before placing any more Event cubes (see Resolving Events).
End of Game
The game ends at the end of the round when the last Track card in the route - the one next to Yr Wyddfa - has had track laid on it.
In the Solo and 2 player versions, if the last Track card in the route has not yet been placed, the game ends immediately after the last Ownership marker is placed (number 16 or number 32 respectively).
Scoring
Beginning with the Start Player each player scores victory points as follows. Use a page of the Score Pad to record the scores.
When counting up Rubble cubes and Ownership markers to score bonuses, you cannot score more than one Contract card with the given resources; for example, if you have laid 4 tracks and have a '4 track' and a '3 track' Contract card, you can only score one or the other, not both.
Completed sites on Station cards
Add the victory points for each excavation and non-excavation Building site on which the player has an Ownership marker. Don't remove the Ownership markers yet; these are used for scoring Contract card bonuses.
Completed Track
Add the victory points on each Track card on which the player has an Ownership marker. Don't remove the Ownership markers yet; these are used for scoring Contract card bonuses.
Contract Cards
Players score bonus points for all Contract cards they have in their playing area, regardless of whether or not their effect has been used. The end game scoring section is the top part of the card.
- Excavate bonuses: put the indicated number of rubble pieces from personal supply on to the card and gain the stated victory points. If the player cannot pay that many rubble pieces, leave them where they are, and the card scores nothing.
- Track bonuses: move the indicated number of that player's Ownership markers from completed Track cards onto the Contract card and gain the stated victory points. If the player cannot move enough markers, leave them where they are and the card scores nothing.
- Track and Excavate bonuses: put the indicated number of rubble pieces on to the card and retrieve the indicated number of completed Track Ownership markers to score the stated victory points. If the player cannot complete all the conditions, leave rubble and markers where they are and the card scores nothing.
- Track, Excavate and Building bonuses: put the indicated number of rubble pieces on to the card, retrieve the indicated number of Ownership markers from completed excavation and/or non-excavation building sites and Track to score the stated victory points. If the player cannot complete all the conditions, leave rubble and markers where they are and the card scores nothing.
- Building bonuses: move the indicated number of that player's Ownership markers from completed excavation and/or non-excavation building sites and gain the victory points on the card. If the player cannot remove enough markers, leave them where they are and the card scores nothing.
- Surveyor bonuses: If the player's Surveyor has reached at least as far as the indicated station, the player scores the stated victory points. Otherwise the player does not score the bonus on the card. The player's Surveyor still scores the victory points on the Station card reached by the Surveyor.
- Coal bonus Contract card (27): If the player has this Contract card, score 2 victory points per Coal cube in your personal stock.
Train No. 4, Snowdon
If the player has No. 4 Snowdon, add 9 victory points to that player's total.
The Surveyor
Add the victory points printed at the top right of the Station card reached by the players' Surveyor.
Winning
The player with the most victory points is the winner.
If there is a tie, then all tied players win.
Trains
Trains cannot be bought by any player until the "Trains may now be bought" event has occurred. Once this event has occurred the Build action may be used to buy a Train.
If a player decides not to pay the upkeep for a Train (see Resolving Events), return the Train card to the Engine Shed.
A player may not own more than one Train. A player can return a Train card to the Engine Shed during a Build action when buying a different Train. Put more Coal from the Supply Bag (if available) on the returned Train card, as indicated on the card.
No.1 L.A.D.A.S.
Comes with one Coal. The owner may pay one Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
Whenever the owner carries out the Excavate action, the Labourer excavates at 2 more than the current Excavation Work Rate. The total can exceed the maximum rate on the board.
No.2 Enid
Comes with no Coal. The owner may pay one Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
Whenever the owner uses the Works action, convert 2 Iron Ore into a Steel Bar instead of 3.
No.3 Wyddfa
Comes with one Coal. The owner may pay one Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
Whenever the owner takes the Stock Yard action, take an additional cube from the Stock Yard, if available (still maximum of one Coal per action).
No.4 Snowdon
Comes with one Coal. The owner may pay one Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
At the end of the game this Train card adds 9 victory points to the owner's score.
No.5 Moel Siabod
Comes with two Coal. The owner may pay one Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
This Train card costs 1 Steel Bar less to purchase than most of the other trains. It also comes with 2 Coal cubes.
No.6 Padarn
Comes with one Coal. The owner may pay two Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
At the end of resolving the Build Action Area [E], if there has been at least one Build action performed this round by any player, the owner may perform an additional Build action.
No.7 Ralph
Comes with one Coal. The owner may pay one Coal at the start of a round to gain a temporary Labourer for the round.
You may Lay Track at a rate one more than the current work rate for that action. The total can exceed the maximum rate on the board.
Resolving Events
When Event cubes are drawn from the Supply Bag, put them on the Events Track, one cube per space, starting immediately after the last occupied space; as you place each Event cube, resolve the Event immediately before placing any more Event cubes. The Events are described below. Resolve each Event before moving on to the next one. If the Events in 4, 7 or 10 occur, put 3 Event cubes back in the bag as described below.
Events happen regardless of the weather.
1. Excavate a number of rubble spaces immediately
Remove all Rubble cubes from a number of Track cards/Building spaces, starting with the card closest to the start of the route, where the number is equal to the current Excavation Work Rate. If you reach a Station card, take Rubble cubes from the left-hand space and then, if necessary and present, the right-hand space before carrying on up the mountain.
No player gains Rubble or scores for excavations done in this way.
2. Trains may now be bought
Trains cannot be bought by any player until this event has occurred; once it has happened, the Build action can be used to obtain a Train card.
3. Lay Track immediately
Turn over a number of Track cards equal to the current Lay Track Work Rate, starting with the Track card closest to the start of the route. Remove Rubble from the Track cards if necessary (put them in general supply).
Ignore Station cards when resolving this event.
No player scores for track laying done in this way.
4. Complete a Station immediately
Put one of the Game markers on to the first Station in the route that has not yet had all of its Building sites completed. Remove any Rubble on the Station card and return it to general supply. Players cannot carry out Excavate or Build actions in relation to this Station card for the rest of the game.
Do not remove Ownership markers on the Station card; these can still be used for end game bonus scoring.
6. Train maintenance is needed
Each player with a Train card must immediately pay one Steel Bar to general supply or discard a Train Maintenance Contract card (16 and 21). If a player cannot, or chooses not, to pay, return the Train card to the Engine Shed. Put more Coal from the Supply Bag (if available) on to any returned Train cards, as indicated on the cards. If there is less Coal than needed, re-stock the trains in numerical order starting with the lowest.
Coal cubes held by the player are unaffected.
Events 4, 7 and 10
In addition to resolving the event on the numbered Event space, put the indicated Event cubes back into the Supply Bag. Continue to place drawn Event cubes into spaces after the right-most occupied space on the Event Track. This means that when the 10 space is reached, the 7 space will always be the right-most occupied space, and the events will loop through 8, 9 and 10 until the end of the game.
Solitaire Play
Snowdonia can also be played solitaire, for which you play a series of games using a different Train each time to see if you can beat your previous scores.
Solitaire is played in the same way as the normal game, except for the following changes.
In the solo game you will be playing a series of 7 games each with a different starting Train card, starting with No. 1 and ending with No. 7. Select the Train card for your current solo game.
Setting up the Stock Yard
Draw 6 cubes out of the bag at random and place them on to the Stock Yard (return any Event cubes un-resolved at this point and re-draw, so that 6 cubes are in the Stock Yard).
Check the Weather
Discard all Contract cards and deal out three new cards.
Trains
Only one Train card per game is available in the solo game. If you cannot maintain your train when the "Train maintenance is needed" event happens, you cannot buy another one.
Game end
If the last Track card in the route has not yet been placed, the game ends immediately after the last (16th) Ownership marker is placed.
Credits
Game Design: Tony Boydell
Game Development: Alan Paull, Carl Crook, Elizabeth Crook, Richard Clyne, Iain Shirley, Hanno Girke
Illustrations: Tony Boydell, Charlie Paull and Klemens Franz
Graphic Design: Charlie Paull, Klemens Franz | atelier198
Playtesters: Rob Fisher, David Perrin, Charlie Paull, Ben & Becky Bateson, Julian Freeman, Raymond Fong, Phil McDonald, Sebastian Bleasdale, John Plant, Bill O'Neill, Richard Breese, David Brain, Miles Ratcliffe, Brett Gilbert, Phil Pettifer, Blaine Rogers, Neil Yates, Gavin Birnbaum, Ian Vincent, John and Gareth Walker, Steve Walker.
© 2012 Surprised Stare Games Ltd 58 Norton Wood Forest Green Nailsworth STROUD Gloucestershire GL6 0HG
Blaenau Ffestiniog
On the back of the Snowdon Stations are the Blaenau Ffestiniog Stations. The Blaenau Ffestiniog game is for 1 to 4 players only.
Setup
Put the Blaenau Ffestiniog station on top of the Llanberis space on the board, then lay out the rest of the route around the board as normal. Remove Contract cards 28 and 29 from the game. Everything else (resources in the Supply Bag, action spaces, weather, and so on) is the same as the Snowdon game, except as follows.
Beginning with the Start Player and continuing clockwise round the table, each player selects their starting position - Blaenau Ffestiniog or Porthmadog Harbour - and puts their Surveyor in one of the three spaces at the bottom of the card. There is a fixed limit of three spaces for players' Surveyor pawns on Blaenau Ffestiniog and Porthmadog Harbour, so with 4 players it is possible that one player will not get a choice.
The last player to place their Surveyor chooses one end of the route to place one of the game's Game markers (no surveyor space is required). This marker represents the game's Surveyor who will alternate between Blaenau Ffestiniog or Porthmadog Harbour as Events resolve.
Put an Event cube on space 7 of the Events Track. Only spaces 8, 9 and 10 of the Events Track are used. Players can use the Build Action to build trains from the start of the game.
During Play
Excavate and Lay Track Actions
For the Excavate and Lay Track actions each player carries out the action along the route in the direction away from that player's starting position.
As soon as all rubble counters have been removed from Station 4, the 'Train maintenance is needed' event happens.
Build Action
When a player builds:
a. Track cards do not have to be excavated before a Station card can be built upon.
b. A player can only build on Station cards from the player's starting position up to and including the location of that player's Surveyor. Therefore, if players do not move their Surveyors, they will be unable to build sites elsewhere.
c. Some Station cards give a player free resources each time that player builds on a non-excavation site. Take these from the Supply Bag, if available, otherwise receive nothing.
Surveyor Action
When a player moves their Surveyor off Blaenau Ffestiniog or Porthmadog Harbour, put one of that player's Ownership markers in the starting Station to show that player's starting position. This means that all players, if they move, will have one less Ownership marker to use in the game.
What happens when an Event occurs?
If an Event occurs, resolve it from the end of the route where the game's Surveyor is currently located - either Blaenau Ffestiniog or Porthmadog Harbour (it never moves along the route). After the Event has been resolved, move the game's Surveyor to the starting Station at the opposite end; Events alternate between the two ends of the railway route.