The Colonists Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• General Notes
• Components
  • Tiles
  • Wooden Figures
  • Goods
  • Cards
  • Other
• Setup
• Course of Play
  • Start of an Era
  • Start of a Year
  • The Half-Years
  • Your Turn
  • The Various Place Types
• Movement Rules
  • Markets
  • Range
  • Fee / Moving to Occupied Places
  • Multiple Stewards
  • You Must End Your Turn on a Different Place than You Started
• Goods
• Storing Rules
  • Storage
  • Warehouse
  • Buffers
  • Storing Goods
  • Using Goods
  • Rearranging Goods
  • What Is Considered an Action?
• Developing the Community
  • Buildings and Employment
  • Colonists and Workers
  • Building
  • Razing
  • Remodeling
  • Activating a Building
  • The Factory
• Improvements and Hand Cards
  • Drawing Improvements
  • Playing Improvements
• Diplomacy
  • Establishing a Diplomatic Relation
  • Improving Relations
  • Special Ambassadors
• Starting Player
• End of a Year
  • The Balance Card
• End of an Era
• Game End and Scoring
• Starting in a Later Era
• Saving the Game
• Credits

Game Objective

Send out your Stewards to collect goods needed for Buildings and valuable Improvements. These create jobs for the Colonists of your Community. The more Buildings you build and the more Colonists you employ, the more valuable your Community will be. In the end, the player whose Community is worth the most Dollars wins.

General Notes

A game of The Colonists consists of 4 Eras. You decide in which Era you would like to start and after which Era the game should end. You may even play through all 4 Eras, and you may stop, and continue the session on another day, if need be. For a better overview, we use the following labels throughout this rule book:

• Labels II, III, and IV+ indicate rules that only apply to Eras II, III, and IV, respectively. (There is a "IV+" label instead of just "IV" because future expansions may introduce additional Eras.)
• A Colony label indicates rules that only apply if the specified Colonies are in play (see the Diplomacy section).

Everything in this rule book applies to all numbers of players. We assume you start in Era I. Rules for starting in a later Era are provided at the end of the rule book.

Components

Tiles

62 Places

• 13x starting Places
• 12x Era I
• 12x Era II
• 12x Era III
• 13x Era IV

202 Buildings, including:

• 20x Factory / Casino
• 25x Forester's House / Hollow
• 20x Hunting Lodge / Hunting Grounds
• 20x Pub / Theater
• 24x Flat / Apartment
• 16x House / Community Hall (Community Hall 1x)
• 32x Farm / Estate
• 12x Tailor Shop / Textile Mill
• 8x Boardinghouse (2x limit)
• 4x Library (1x limit)
• 4x Institute (1x limit)
• 9x Iron Mine
• 4x Stables (1x limit)
• 4x Customs Office (1x limit)

72 Embassies (Altruist Embassy shown as an example; 4x per Colony)

8 Warehouse extensions

• 4x showing 1 and 3 lots
• 4x showing 2 and 3 lots

36 Storage Facilities

• 12x Storage Shed (3x per set)
• 12x Storage House (3x per set)
• 12x Storage Hall (3x per set)

Market pieces

• 3 Markets
• 1 small Market (for a variant)
• 4 Basic Storage upgrades
• 1 starting player marker

Wooden Figures

• 16 Stewards (4 per color)
• 3 Special Ambassadors (Alchemist, Altruist, Laborer)
• 120 Colonists: 60 Farmers, 40 Citizens, 20 Merchants
• 1 Round indicator

Goods

• 40 Tools (20x each of two denominations)
• 55 Dollars (20x "1", 20x "5", 15x "25")
• 30x Bricks
• 20x Coal
• 30x Robes
• 90x Wood
• 50x Clay
• 40x Ore
• 30x Planks
• 20x Iron
• 50x Food

Cards

• 140 Improvements (35 per Era)
• 28 Market cards (7 per Era)
• 4 Balance cards
• 4 Era cards (1 per Era)
• 1 Round card
• 3 Overview cards

Other

• 9 Colony overviews
• 4 Community boards (two-sided)
• 1 Scoring pad

Setup

Before you set up the game, decide together how many Eras you want to play!

1. Buildings, Storage Facilities, and Goods. Place the Buildings and Storage Facilities at the edge of the playing area, up to the last Era you are going to play. Return Buildings and Storage Facilities of later Eras to the game box. The Era is indicated on each tile by a corresponding symbol. Place the goods at the edge of the playing area. Which types you will need also depends on the last Era you are going to play; leave the goods you do not need in the game box.

2. Colonies. Shuffle the 9 Colony overviews and choose 4 at random. These define the active Colonies for this game. Place them at the edge of the playing area, in view of all players. Return the remaining Colony overviews to the game box.

• At the start of Era III, a fifth Colony is added.
• Place the corresponding Embassies next to the Colony overviews. Use one tile showing I/II and one showing III/IV per player, for each Colony that will be in play during the game.
• Warehouse extensions: If the Altruist, Industrialist, or Storekeeper Colony is in play, you also need the Warehouse extensions. For each player, you need one tile showing 1 and 3 Warehouse lots and one tile showing 2 and 3 Warehouse lots.
• Basic Storage upgrades: You only need those if the Storekeeper Colony is in play and you are playing at least through Era II. There is one such tile per player.
• Special Ambassadors: You only need the Special Ambassadors if you are playing at least through Era II with the Alchemist, Altruist, or Laborer Colony in play (the "Alchemist", "Altruist", and "Laborer" Special Ambassadors, respectively).

3. Starting Player. Randomly determine the starting player and give them the starting player marker.

4. Game Board. The game board grows as the game progresses. It represents the mainland and is comprised of Market and Place tiles. You determine the layout of the tiles together, laying out some tiles before the game begins and the rest during the course of the game.

• Place the first Market in the center of the playing area.
• Take the starting Places, indicated by a "0" on the back side, and return the Day Laborer tile to the game box (it is only used in the introductory game). Shuffle the starting Places face down and place the pile nearby. Beginning with the starting player and in clockwise order, take the topmost starting Place from the pile and add it to the game board. Each Place you add must share at least two edges with already existing tiles.
• Notes:
  • There are only two ways to place the very first Place: it must go into one of the two "indentations" of the first Market.
  • The orientation of the Place tiles does not matter at all.
  • You may leave "holes" in the game board, as long as you follow the placement rules. You may also "plug" holes.
• Once all 12 starting Places have been placed, the starting player adds the second Market. This Market must share at least one edge with an existing Place, and the shortest path between the two Markets (beeline) must go through at least two Places.

5. Personal Display. Choose a color. Take a Community board, a Balance card, and 1 Steward figure of the chosen color and place them in front of you.

• If the Envoy Colony is in play, you may need another Steward. From Era III on, you may need up to two additional Stewards.
• Your Community board represents the small Community that you are supposed to develop. On the right side, it provides Storage spaces; on the left side, there are Building spots. At the top, you find the Smithy, which generates Tools; at the top left you are reminded of important rules and certain values.
• If you are only going to play Era I, turn your Community board to the side showing 12 Building spots. Otherwise you have access to 20 Building spots. On top of that, there are 3 Building spots for Storage Facilities.
• From Era III on, you can gain access to all 30 Building spots by building the Community Hall. Until then, you may not build anything on the dark Building spots—the so-called Borderland spots.
• Place 2 Farms on the (available) Building spots of your Community board and place 1 Farmer in each Farm. (These two Farms are preprinted on the side showing 12 Building spots.)
• Fill your Basic Storage with any combination of Wood and Clay. You do not have to decide right away; you may wait until your first turn. Available options: 3 Wood; 2 Wood and 1 Clay; 1 Wood and 2 Clay; or 3 Clay.
• Place 1 Food in your Warehouse and 6 Tools in the Toolbox on your Community board.
• Typically, you will not need the Balance card before Era II. You will place your Steward on your first turn.

6. Cards. Place the Round card next to the game board, leaving a little space to the left and right for additional cards. Place the Round indicator nearby. The Improvements, Market, and Era cards will be placed at the start of the first Era.

Course of Play

The game is played over one or more Eras—depending on how many Eras you decided to play. At the start of each Era, you make some preparations as described on the corresponding Era card. Then you play 5 Years, each consisting of 2 Half-Years (i.e. Rounds). In each Half-Year, each player takes 3 turns. At the end of each Year, you generate goods and distribute your Workers for the next Year. Also, you may have to sustain your Workers.

Summary:

• Start of an Era: turn a new Era card face up and carry it out. Each Era consists of 5 years (with 2 half-years each).
• Start of a Year: turn a Market card face up; turn three Places face up (in years 1 to 4).
• Summer Half-Year: each player takes three consecutive turns.
• Winter Half-Year: each player takes three consecutive turns.
• End of a Year: new starting player, if applicable; starting player adds new places (in years 1 to 4); you may redistribute your workers; sustenance phase (balance); production phase (incl. Smithy).
• End of an Era: scoring if this was the last era.

Start of an Era

At the start of a new Era, place the current Era card to the left of the Round card. Return the Era card of the previous Era to the game box. The Era card tells you which preparations to make:

1. First, a new game element is introduced:
   • In Era I, this is the second Market that you already placed during setup.
   • In Era II, a third Market is added to the game board, according to the same placement rules.
   • In Era III, you introduce a fifth Colony. As an optional variant to make the game easier, also add the small Market to the game board.
   • In Era IV, you replace the Head Official with the Chief Officer.
2. Next, select the Market cards of the current Era and shuffle them face down (they show the Era on their back). Return 2 Market cards from the pile to the game box without looking at them—only 5 of the 7 Market cards are used in each Era. Place the pile with the remaining 5 Market cards (still face down) to the right of the Round card. The topmost card is turned face up at the start of the Year.
3. Select the Improvements of the current Era and shuffle them face down (they, too, show the Era on their back). Place the draw pile at the edge of the playing area with space next to it for a discard pile. Return the draw and discard piles of the previous Era to the game box. All players keep their hand cards, even from a previous Era! Once added to your hand, you may not discard cards from hand.
4. Finally, select the current Places (they show the Era on their back). Shuffle them and place the pile face down next to the game board.

The Era card also shows two pieces of information that apply for the entire Era: the maximum Colony level and the amount of the Fee. Leave the Era card in the playing area even after finishing preparations.

Start of a Year

At the start of each Year, turn over the topmost Market card and place it face up on top of the pile (returning the previous Year's Market card to the game box if necessary). The Market card indicates which actions can be taken at the Markets.

Then turn over three Places from the top of the draw pile and place them face up next to the pile. At the end of the Year, the starting player will add these to the game board.

• Note: There are only 12 Places per Era, so the draw pile will be empty after four Years. In the fifth Year of each Era, there are no more Places to turn face up—simply skip this step.

The Half-Years

Now 2 Half-Years are played: a Summer and a Winter Half-Year. Move the Round indicator to the appropriate space of the Round card at the start of each Half-Year.

Beginning with the starting player and in clockwise order, each player takes 3 consecutive turns. Only after one player completes all three turns does the next player take theirs. A Half-Year ends after each player had three turns. Then you play another Half-Year in the exact same fashion (move the Round indicator to Winter).

Your Turn

Each turn starts with moving your Steward from one Place to another and carrying out the action of the target Place. Special abilities may grant you additional actions on the same turn.

At the start of the game, your Steward is not on the game board yet. Before your first turn, you must place him on a Market of your choice. This initial placement is not considered a turn, so you do not carry out a Market action.

Initially, your Steward may only move to adjacent Places, because his Range is 1 at the start. Each Place is adjacent to up to 6 other Places; Markets are adjacent to up to 8 Places, due to their special shape.

You must carry out an action at the Place to which you move your Steward. It is not allowed to move to a Place without carrying out an action. (However, you may not be required to carry out the printed action—for instance, the Lord Colony allows you to carry out an alternative action at a Place, except on Markets.)

The Various Place Types

There are 6 types of Places, each providing a different action:

• Markets: Markets have a special role (see Movement Rules), yet they are Places nonetheless. Each Market provides the same three Market actions from which you must choose one. The available actions change each Year and are described on the Market card:
  • Sale: The top part lets you sell goods, providing two options. You may use one or both any number of times. You may only sell goods from your Storage.
  • Subsidy: The middle part shows goods you may take from the general supply. Some cards provide two options here. You may only take the offered goods once per turn. You must immediately store the goods or discard them.
  • Action: The bottom part offers an action that is usually weaker than the same action at the corresponding Place (e.g. by having a limit like "1x").
• Resource Places: They offer certain types of goods in the indicated quantity. Take these goods from the general supply and store them. (Example: the Riverbank Grove offers 2 Wood.)
• Sustainers: They provide Sustenance goods (Food and Robes) or allow you to sell them for Dollars. Every time you visit, you may freely choose whether to get Sustenance goods or sell them. (Example: the Baker either gives you 2 Food, or lets you sell 2 Food for 1 Dollar any number of times.)
• Builders: They let you build a new Building or remodel an existing one. Unless stated otherwise, you may build any number of Buildings of the given type during the same turn, provided you can pay the total Building cost from your Storage. If there is a limit (like "1x"), you may only build the indicated number.
• Refiners: They allow you to refine goods by exchanging basic resources for refined ones. You may refine any number of goods during the same turn, but only goods that were in your Storage before the action. (Example: the Joiner lets you exchange 2 Wood for 1 Plank any number of times.)
• Other: These Places provide actions that do not fit any other category.

Movement Rules

Markets

Usually, you must move your Steward to an adjacent Place and carry out an action there. Markets play a special role:

Your Steward may jump to a Market, regardless of where he is. Instead of moving to an adjacent Place, you may move him directly onto a Market of your choice. The distance does not matter—ignore all the Places on the way; you do not carry out actions on the way. Jumping to a Market constitutes a turn, so you must carry out an action there.

• Note: It is always possible to carry out an action at a Market. If necessary, choose the Subsidy action and decline the goods you are offered.
• If you improve your relations to the Envoy Colony to level II and the Scholar Colony to level III, you may also jump to the Diplomat and Developer, respectively.

Range

In Era II at the earliest (via the Envoy Colony) and in Era III at the latest (via the Stables Building), you can increase your Steward's Range (up to a Range of 4). Range indicates how far your Steward may move before he must stop and carry out an action. As soon as you take a Place's action, your movement ends—you may not carry out actions at Places you simply move through. Your Steward is not required to move in straight lines.

• Range does not equate to "number of moves"!
• If your Steward jumps to a Market, his movement ends immediately and you must carry out an action there, regardless of your Range.
• If your Range is 2 or greater, you may move through a Market. You must only end your movement at the Market when you jump there.

Fee / Moving to Occupied Places

The Place you would like to move to may be occupied by other players' Stewards. It is explicitly allowed to move to an occupied Place. However, when you do, you must pay a Fee to each player whose Steward is on that Place.

On Markets, you never have to pay the Fee.

The amount of the Fee depends on the current Era and is shown on the Era card. It is 1 Tool or 1 Sustenance good (Food or Robes) as well as a number of Building resources equal to the number of the current Era. If you must pay more than one player, you may pay each differently. If you cannot pay all the players occupying a Place, you may not move there.

• Special Ambassadors may (and often should) also move to occupied Places. Special Ambassadors never require a Fee—neither when they move to an occupied Place nor when you move your Steward to a Place occupied by a Special Ambassador.
• Important! "Fee" always refers to the cost shown on the Era card. Usually you pay it when you move to an occupied Place. Some special abilities (unlocked with certain Colonies) require you pay the Fee to activate them.
• Certain Improvements and Buildings may reduce or remove the Fee entirely for you (e.g. the Customs Office; the "Automobile" removes tools/sustenance from the fee; the "Pass" removes building resources from the fee). This affects both Fee payments to other players and special abilities that require the Fee.

Multiple Stewards

In Era I at the earliest (via the Envoy Colony) and in Era III at the latest (via the Boardinghouse Building), you can increase the number of Stewards you control (up to 4). Like your first Steward, you must introduce every new Steward via a Market of your choice before you first move him.

When you have more than one Steward, you must choose one and move him according to the movement rules. Each turn you may freely choose which Steward to move. You are not required to move the same Steward on all three turns. You may never move more than one Steward per turn.

Except Markets, no Place may contain more than one Steward of the same player. You may not move a Steward to a Place containing another one of your Stewards, and you may not circumvent this by paying the Fee. Markets are exempt.

You Must End Your Turn on a Different Place than You Started

Each Steward that you move during your 3 turns must end up on a different Place from where he started. He may return to a Place he has been to within those 3 turns, as long as he ends up elsewhere. Markets are exempt: a Steward that started on a Market may end up on that same Market.

• With one Steward, you cannot block a Place; but with a second Steward, you may move only one and leave the other in the same Place (you are not required to move all your Stewards).

Goods

There are four types of goods:

• Tools are required for building. You keep them in the Toolbox on your Community board.
• Building resources are also required for building. There are Wood, Clay, and Ore, as well as their refined versions Planks, Bricks, and Iron. Coal is also considered a Building resource (even though it is not used for building) that is refined from Wood.
• Sustenance goods are Food and Robes. You need them to sustain your Workers.
• Dollars are the currency. You can place them with your Tools in the Toolbox. Dollars measure the wealth of your Community. Buildings, Improvements, and Embassies have a printed Dollar value; you can also collect hard Dollars. Dollars are not spent in this game.

Main sources of basic Building resources are Resource Places and Production Buildings. Refiners allow you to exchange Building resources for their refined versions. Sustenance goods are available at certain Places and via Sustenance Buildings. Tools are generated by the Smithy on your Community board, or directly at the Developer. Money Buildings yield hard Dollars.

Storing Rules

You do not simply keep your goods loosely in your supply; you must store Building resources and Sustenance goods. Only Tools and Dollars do not require storing. There are three ways to store goods: in the Storage (your Basic Storage and any Storage Facilities), in the Warehouse, and in the Buffers of your Buildings, Improvements, and Embassies.

Storage

At the start of the game, you only have access to 3 Storage spaces in the Basic Storage printed on your Community board. You get more by building Storage Facilities. There are three types:

• Storage Sheds are available from the start and provide 2 Storage spaces each.
• Storage Houses become available in Era II and provide 5 Storage spaces each.
• Storage Halls are only available from Era IV on and provide 9 Storage spaces each.
• If the Storekeeper Colony is in play, you may extend your Storage capacity even further (see Appendix).

Warehouse

Your Warehouse consists of that one space below the Building spots for Storage Facilities, the so-called Warehouse lot. Certain Colonies allow you to extend your Warehouse by adding Warehouse extensions.

• If the Altruist, Industrialist, and Storekeeper Colonies are in play, you can extend your Warehouse to up to 7 Warehouse lots.
• Certain Improvements provide additional Warehouse lots. The Warehouse extensions are only used with the above-mentioned Colonies.

Buffers

Production and Sustenance Buildings, which generate goods, can store one batch of goods that they generate. Simply place the generated goods on the Building. If another effect increases the output (like Factories), the Building can store additional goods accordingly. Certain Improvements and Embassies have the effect of a Production or Sustenance Building, and so they also have Buffers.

• Example: The Forester's House generates 2 Wood per Year, so it can store 2 Wood in its Buffer.

Storing Goods

Whenever you get goods, you must either decline or store them immediately, placing them on Storage spaces or Warehouse lots—but not in Buffers. You may discard goods at any time for no reason (e.g. to make room). You may decline any goods that you get without storing them first.

Using Goods

During actions, you may only spend goods from your Storage! Whenever you have to pay goods during an action (building, refining, paying the Fee), you must take them from your Storage. When you refine goods, you spend the input goods first, before you take the refined goods.

Your Warehouse and Buffers are not part of your Storage! During actions, you may not spend goods from your Warehouse or Buffers. However, immediately before you carry out the action, you may rearrange goods.

Rearranging Goods

At any time—except during an action—you may move goods between the three storing options, according to these directions:

• You may move goods back and forth between your Storage and Warehouse without restriction. You may even swap two or more goods.
• You only place goods into Buffers when they are being generated. From there, you can move them into your Storage or Warehouse, but never the other way round. Moving goods into Buffers is never allowed!

What Is Considered an Action?

Carrying out a Place's action is considered one action—regardless of how many micro-transactions were made. For instance, the number of Buildings built at a Builder does not matter—the action starts with building the first and ends with the last. The same applies to Refiners.

• Paying the Fee is considered an action of its own; it is never part of another action. You must complete it before you carry out the Place's action. If you must pay multiple players, you pay all of them simultaneously (you may not rearrange goods in-between).
• The Institute Building allows you to play two Improvements instead of one; playing the second is an action of its own (so you benefit from the first Improvement's effects while you play the second).
• Certain Colonies may grant you additional actions. If you get multiple actions at once, you decide the order; an action must be completed before you can rearrange goods and carry out the next.
• Sustaining your Workers is not subject to the storing rules and is not an action. Usually you sustain your Workers at the end of the Year, but activating a Building may also require Sustenance.

Developing the Community

You use the goods you collect to develop your Community in three categories: Buildings, Improvements, and Diplomacy.

Buildings and Employment

The Buildings are the heart of the game. Your goal is to build as many as you can and place Workers in them. There are 6 different types of Buildings:

• Residences: They provide new Colonists that you can employ. You start with two Farms; each Farm provides a Farmer. (Beige icon.)
• Storage Facilities: You store goods in them. (Blue icon.)
• Production Buildings: Once per Year, they generate goods. Your board has a preprinted Smithy that generates Tools. (Brown icon.)
• Sustenance Buildings: Once per Year, they generate Sustenance goods (Food and Robes). (Purple icon.)
• Money Buildings: Once per Year, they generate Dollars. (Golden icon.)
• Special Buildings: All Buildings that do not fit the other categories. (White icon.)

Colonists and Workers

Residences draw new Colonists into your Community: Farms and Estates provide Farmers; Flats and Apartments provide Citizens; Houses and the Community Hall provide Merchants.

Colonists do you no good until you employ them in your Buildings, turning them into Workers. This is worth a lot of Dollars at the end of the game, and it is necessary so that your Buildings actually do something—most Buildings (including Storage Facilities) do nothing until someone works in them.

• Farmer Buildings (green background) only do something when a Farmer works there. Citizens and Merchants may not work there.
• Citizen Buildings (yellow background) require a Citizen. Farmers and Merchants may not work there.
• Merchant Buildings (red background) are only available from Era III onward and require a Merchant. Farmers and Citizens may not work there.
• Other: Residences provide potential Workers; they do not need any. The Library works without any Worker; and the Factory can take any type of Worker.

For Storage Facilities in particular: you only gain access to the additional Storage spaces when you employ the appropriate Colonist in them! Your Basic Storage and Warehouse (and the preprinted Smithy) do not require any Workers.

• The Laborer Colony allows you to employ Colonists in "wrong" Buildings (see Appendix).

Building

To build a particular Building, you must visit the appropriate Builder on the game board. (Occasionally, Markets and Improvements may allow you to build a certain Building.)

Most Buildings have no limitation on how many you may have; you may build any number at the appropriate Builder during the same action, provided you can pay the total Building cost. Buildings limited in number show that number behind their name (e.g. at most 3 Storage Sheds); you may never have more copies than stated.

After you pay the total building cost from your Storage, place the new Buildings on empty Building spots. At the start of the game, you have access to 20 Building lots (or just 12, if you only play Era I), of which two are already occupied by a Farm. You may not build on the dark Borderland spots. Additionally, you have 3 Building spots for Storage Facilities, which you may use to build normal Buildings instead (but they are the only spots on which you may place Storage Facilities).

• From Era III onward, you may build the Community Hall to gain access to all 30 Building spots, including the Borderland spots.

Razing

When you run out of Building spots, you may raze Buildings when building new ones. Return the razed Building to the general supply and replace it with the newly built one. Razing a Building costs an additional 2 Tools.

• You may raze Buildings at any time, even if you have empty Building spots left.
• Remodeling Buildings does not count as razing!
• You may only raze a Residence if all of its Colonists are "at home", i.e. you must have enough unemployed Colonists left. You lose these Colonists together with the Residence.
• If you raze a Storage Facility, you may use the goods in it to pay the Building cost of the replacing Building, before returning the Facility to the supply. Rearrange or discard leftover goods.
• If you raze a Production or Sustenance Building, you may rearrange the goods in their Buffers first; discard what you cannot store.
• If you raze a Building with a Worker present, the Worker becomes unemployed and returns, as a normal Colonist, to his Residence. You may activate the new Building immediately (possibly paying the Sustenance cost).
• Although rarely reasonable, you may raze a Building only to replace it with the exact same Building.

Remodeling

Some Buildings are upgrades to existing Buildings and are not placed on empty Building spots; instead, they replace the upgraded Building, as indicated at the corresponding Builders. Almost all Residences are examples: Farms are the only Residences built directly; every other Residence is an upgrade of another.

There are two directions in which you can upgrade Residences:

• You increase the number of Colonists it provides. Turn the tile to the other side and place the additional Colonists on it. This is possible even if the Residence is empty. (Estates and Apartments provide two additional Colonists; the Community Hall provides one additional Colonist.)
• You replace the Colonist with a "better" version. The Colonist must be "at home", i.e. you must have an unemployed Colonist of the appropriate type left. Replace the Colonist and the tile with the new versions. (Farmers become Citizens; Citizens become Merchants.)
• Note: Only at the end of a Year may you remove employed Colonists from Buildings.

Certain Improvements ("Holiday Cabin", "Holiday Flat", "Holiday House") are effectively Residences: they provide additional Colonists without costing Building spots. These cannot be remodeled. Building Contracts (certain immediate Improvements) that allow you to build Residences work like Builders and may require you to remodel an existing Residence.

• From Era II onward, you may remodel other types of Buildings as well, replacing them with stronger versions. The stronger versions require a "better" type of Worker; the previous Worker becomes unemployed and returns to his Residence.
  • Example: If you remodel a Storage Shed into a Storage House, you increase your Storage capacity by three spaces; but the Farmer who ran the Shed must return, and you must employ a Citizen to get access to the House's 5 spaces.
• If you remodel a Production or Sustenance Building, the goods in its Buffer are lost unless you rearrange them or store them in the upgraded version (which requires immediately employing an appropriate Colonist). Some Improvements are effectively Production and Sustenance Buildings; these cannot be remodeled.

Activating a Building

Most Buildings require a Worker to actually do something. At any time, you may activate a Building by placing the required Worker in it.

Whenever you build a new Building (directly or by remodeling), you may immediately move an unemployed Colonist of the appropriate type from a Residence to the new Building; its effects become available immediately.

• Note: Do not activate Production, Sustenance, and Money Buildings (or the Factory) immediately. Do this at the end of the Year when it matters.
• The Institute is the only Building requiring 2 Farmers to activate; until 2 Farmers work there, it has no effect.

When you place Citizens or Merchants in Buildings, you must immediately sustain them: 1 Food for each newly employed Citizen, and 2 Food and 1 Robe for each newly employed Merchant. You may pay this from any of the three storage options, because sustaining Workers is not subject to the storing rules.

• Note: Even though you just sustained the Worker, you will have to sustain him again at the end of the Year if he remains in the Building. This is why you should not immediately activate Buildings that only do something at the end of a Year.

Removing Workers from Buildings is strictly controlled! You may activate Buildings at any time, but you may not remove Workers from them except at the end of each Year.

The Factory

The Factory is the only Building that may be run by any type of Worker (Farmer, Citizen, or Merchant). Its effect depends on who is working in it: the Factory increases the output of all of your Production and Sustenance Buildings that are run by the same type of Worker as the Factory by 1 good. Permanent Improvements that generate goods (e.g. the "Beaver's Lodge") do not require Workers, so Factories do not affect them.

• Example: You have a Factory and two Forester's Houses run by Farmers, plus a Factory run by a Citizen. Your Forester's Houses generate 3 Wood per Year; the Factory with the Citizen does not affect that.
• Important! Factories have no impact on Money Buildings!

Improvements and Hand Cards

There are three types of Improvements:

• Immediate: When played, immediately carry out its effects, then place it on the discard pile. (Example: the "Stone Axe" provides an immediate 4 Wood that you must store or discard.)
• Permanent: When played, pay its cost and place it face up in front of you. These cards have a Dollar value and a permanent effect. Some provide the same effects as certain Buildings but do not require Workers. (Example: the "Loam Hollow" generates 1 Clay per Year, like the Hollow, but requires no Worker.)
• Limited: These can only be used a limited number of times. When played, place it face up in front of you and place the depicted goods from your Storage on the card. Every time you use its effect, return one of its goods to the general supply; once all goods are removed, discard the card. (Example: the "Ticket" takes 3 Wood; up to three times you may spend 1 Wood from the Ticket plus 2 Wood from your Storage to move your Steward to any Place.)

Drawing Improvements

At the start of the game, you have no Improvements. To get some, move to the Librarian, where you get 2 Improvements from the draw pile into your hand. (If the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile to form a new one.)

• You may not have more than 6 cards in hand! If you have 5 already, you may only draw one. As long as you have 6 cards in hand, you may not use the Librarian at all.
• You may not discard cards from hand! The only way to get rid of cards is to play them. You may get stuck with cards you cannot play.
• The Library and the Scholar Colony can partially disable both rules: they let you exceed the hand size limit for a brief moment (you must reduce back to 6 immediately afterward by discarding unused). They also enhance the Librarian action: you get 4 cards from the draw pile, keep two, and discard the other two.

Playing Improvements

You can play your hand cards at the Developer. First, you get 2 Tools; then you must play a card from your hand (you may not just take the Tools). If the card shows a cost at the top, you must pay it before carrying out its effect.

• Once you improve relations with the Scholar Colony to level II, you may also play an Improvement every time you draw cards at the Librarian.
• With an active Institute, you may play 2 Improvements at the Developer, one after another. (Playing more than 2 in one turn is currently not possible.)
• It does not matter which Era the card belongs to; you may play cards from earlier Eras. Actions from Improvements may be limited, like most Market actions.

Diplomacy

A third way to develop your Community is to establish diplomatic relations with distant Colonies. There are 9 different and unique Colonies; only 4 (or 5 from Era III onward) are available each game. Depending on the Eras you play, you can establish relations on up to 4 levels, gaining powerful special abilities.

The Colonies:

• Alchemist Colony: You gain the ability to exchange goods for other goods the moment you get them. In Era II, the Alchemist Special Ambassador comes into play.
• Altruist Colony: At the start of each Year, you get goods for free. In Era II, the Altruist Special Ambassador comes into play.
• Envoy Colony: You get another Steward as well as increased Range.
• Industrialist Colony: At the end of each Year, you may refine goods.
• Laborer Colony: Activating your Buildings becomes easier. In Era II, the Laborer Special Ambassador comes into play.
• Lord Colony: Moving across the game board becomes easier.
• Scholar Colony: This is all about Improvements and hand cards.
• Storekeeper Colony: This is all about storing capabilities.
• Trader Colony: You gain an alternative Market action that allows you to exchange goods.

Establishing a Diplomatic Relation

At the Diplomat, you can establish a diplomatic relation by building an Embassy of that Colony in your Community. Alternatively, you can improve relations with a Colony by upgrading its Embassy. The cost is printed on the Colony overview—it does not depend on the Colony but on the relation level. The Colony overview also shows how many Dollars each level is worth (also printed on the Embassy tiles). The costs of the various levels are cumulative; the Dollar values are not.

• In a single action, you may establish and improve any number of relations!

When you establish a new relation, pay the level I cost, take the corresponding Embassy from the general supply, and place it on an empty Building spot. Each Colony provides two Embassy tiles per player: one shows I and II on its front and back; the other shows III and IV. These numbers indicate the level of your relation and look like Era numbers intentionally, because you may not improve a relation beyond the number of the current Era.

Take the Embassy tile showing I/II and place it with the I side facing up. Each player may have at most one Embassy of each Colony. Embassies are subject to the same rules as Buildings. In particular, you may raze an Embassy (paying an additional 2 Tools); if you do, you immediately lose all special abilities that Colony granted you, and possibly additional components.

Improving Relations

You can improve an existing relation (during the same or a later action) by paying the cost of the next higher level. Turn the Embassy tile to the other side (going from I to II, or III to IV) or exchange it with the other one (going from II to III).

• You may only improve relations up to the level equal to the current Era number! (For instance, in Era II, only up to level II.) This is described on the Era card.
• Note: In a single action, you may establish any number of new relations and improve any number of existing ones, even ones you just established. But since it is a single action, you must have all required goods in your Storage before the action.

Special Ambassadors

In Era II, the Alchemist, Altruist, and Laborer Colonies introduce Special Ambassadors of the same name. Once you improve relations with these Colonies to level II (or higher), you may move the corresponding Special Ambassador once per Half-Year, in addition to your Steward's movement.

General rules:

• Like Stewards, Special Ambassadors enter the game board via Markets. The first player to unlock one must immediately place him on a Market.
• Special Ambassadors are subject to the same movement rules as Stewards, except they do not pay the Fee. They may jump to Markets, and their first placement is not considered movement.
• Special Ambassadors have an intrinsic Range of 2. You can increase their Range the same ways as your Steward's (e.g. via an activated Stables).
• All players "share" the same Special Ambassador figures. You may agree upon where they should be, but you do not have to honor such agreements.

Details:

• Alchemist: You may move him at the start or end of one of your three turns. If you move him to a Place with at least one other player's Steward on it, you may immediately carry out that Place's action, as though you moved there with your Steward. (With the Lord Colony, you may instead ignore the Place's action and take a good—see Appendix.)
• Altruist: You may move him at the start of one of your three turns. He grants a discount on all of your actions if he is at a Place providing goods unconditionally (all Resource Places, Markets via Subsidy, and Sustainers; not the Developer). The discount equals the number of goods provided by that Place. He can also reduce your Sustenance demand during the Sustenance phase if he is at a Sustainer (or Market with the appropriate Subsidy). Relations to the Alchemist Colony have no impact on the Altruist discount.
• Laborer: You may move him at the end of your third turn. You benefit only on another player's turn: every time another player spends goods at the Place (Market included) where the Laborer is, you get 1 good of each type spent—except Tools.

Starting Player

As the starting player, you go first and, at the end of every Year, you may add the new Places to the game board. The starting player is indicated by the starting player marker.

The starting player does not change automatically. To become starting player, you must either move to the Head Official or take the corresponding Market action (if available). When you do, take the starting player marker. However, you do not become starting player immediately—the Year (especially the Winter Half-Year) must finish in the current order, and the marker may change hands multiple times. Only at the end of the Year does the current holder become the actual starting player.

• At the start of Era IV, the Head Official is replaced with the Chief Officer. There you still get the starting player marker, and you may additionally swap any two unoccupied Place tiles.
• The Head Official also provides 1 Clay from the general supply (the Chief Officer provides 1 Tool and 1 Dollar instead). At the start of Era I, the Head Official is the only source of Clay (unless the current Market card provides Clay).

End of a Year

After each player had three consecutive turns twice (once per Half-Year), go through the following 5 phases in order. The Year ends after these phases.

1. New Starting Player. The current holder of the starting player marker becomes starting player. (This may be the same player as last Year.)
2. Adding New Places (not in the 5th Year of an Era). The starting player adds the three face-up Places to the game board, following the setup rules (each new Place must share at least two edges with an existing tile).
   • Replacement Places: Some Places replace an already existing Place instead of being added. They state which Place they replace. Remove the replaced tile and position the replacing one on the same spot. If there are multiple copies of the Place to be replaced (like the Riverbank Grove), the starting player chooses which copy to replace.
3. Redistributing Colonists. Now you may redistribute all of your Colonists among all of your Residences and other Buildings. This is only allowed in this phase! If you wish to remodel Residences next Year, now is the time to send some Colonists back "home".
   • Note: If you remove a Colonist from a Building with goods in its Buffer, you must move those goods to your Storage or Warehouse, or discard them.
   • Important! In this phase, you do not need to sustain your Workers (that is done in the next phase), but you still must make sure that you can sustain all of them.
4. Sustenance Phase. Your Sustenance Buildings generate goods and you must sustain your Workers. Colonists in Residences are not Workers—they do not require sustaining. Proceed:
   • a. Determine your Sustenance demand, i.e. the sum of the Sustenance costs of all your Workers. Per Worker: Farmer needs nothing; Citizen needs 1 Food; Merchant needs 2 Food and 1 Robe. (Farmers sustain themselves.) You may spend Sustenance goods from your Storage, Warehouse, and Sustenance Building Buffers to lower the demand. If your relations to the Altruist Colony are at least level II, the Altruist Special Ambassador can lower demand further if he is at a Place providing Sustenance goods (neither value can be less than 0).
   • b. Determine your Sustenance capacity, i.e. the sum of all Sustenance goods generated by your Sustenance Buildings (including certain Improvements and Embassies).
   • c. Compare the two values:
     • If demand is greater than capacity, pay the missing Sustenance goods from your Storage, Warehouse, or Sustenance Building Buffers. Important! If you cannot sustain all of your Workers, you must repeat the "Redistributing Colonists" and "Sustenance" phases until you can.
     • If demand is lower than capacity, distribute the surplus between your Sustenance Buildings (respecting Buffer sizes), or place them in your Storage and Warehouse; discard the excess if need be.
     • If both values are equal, nothing happens.
   • Important! Sustenance demand and capacity are applied against each other. You do not generate Sustenance goods first and then sustain—both happen simultaneously. This matters especially when the Buffers of your Sustenance Buildings are full.
5. Production Phase. Your Money and Production Buildings generate goods, including the preprinted Smithy (which generates Tools). Place produced Tools and Dollars in the Toolbox. Place produced Building resources on the Production Buildings that generated them (respecting Buffer sizes); if there is not enough room, place them in your Storage and Warehouse, discarding the excess if need be.

The Balance Card

Your Balance card helps you track the difference between your Sustenance demand and capacity. Use a Food and a Robes marker to track that difference. Every time you put a new Citizen or Merchant to work, move the markers back by the appropriate number of spaces; every time you activate a new Sustenance Building (or play a corresponding Improvement or build a corresponding Embassy), move the markers forward accordingly (and back again when you deactivate one). If the track does not suffice, use additional markers to indicate over-/underflow.

End of an Era

The current Era ends at the end of the Production Phase of the fifth Year. If this was the last Era you agreed to play, the game ends. Otherwise, prepare the next Era, as described in "Start of an Era".

Game End and Scoring

The game ends at the end of the last agreed-upon Era. Then score your Communities:

• Add up the Dollar values of all of your Buildings and Embassies as well as your permanent Improvements.
• Add the Dollars you collected in your Toolbox throughout the game.
• Add the value of your Workers. Unemployed Colonists sitting in their Residences are worthless. Each Farmer is worth 2 Dollars; each Citizen 6 Dollars; each Merchant 16 Dollars.

Use the scoring pad to compute your score. The player whose Community is worth the most Dollars wins. In case of a tie, the initial turn order breaks ties: the later you took your first three turns, the better. Otherwise (or if you cannot recall the initial turn order), there are multiple winners.

• Example: You have 6 Farms, 2 Flats, 2 Factories, 2 Forester's Houses, and 3 Storage Sheds worth a total of 30 Dollars. You played the "Beaver's Lodge" and "Loam Hollow" Improvements for another 3 Dollars. You have 6 hard Dollars in your Toolbox. On top of these 39 Dollars, add the value of your Workers: 5 of your 6 Farmers are employed (10 Dollars) and both Citizens work (12 Dollars). In total, your Community is worth 61 Dollars.

Starting in a Later Era

You do not have to start in Era I. You can start in any Era (even Era IV). If you start in another Era, there are some setup changes. Lay out all the components you need (including the Colonies). Then play the following five phases—adjusted versions of the "End of a Year" phases:

Phase 1: Starting Player. Determine a starting player.

Phase 2: Game Board. Beginning with the starting player and clockwise, set up the game board using the Places of all Eras prior to the Era you want to start in. Lay out the Places (and replace them, if required) Era by Era. Before laying out the Places of the next Era, perform the first step of that Era's Era card (e.g., place the second and third Market, introduce a fifth Colony, replace the Head Official with the Chief Officer).

Phase 3: Personal Display. Each player gets 1 random permanent Improvement from each skipped Era, placed face up (considered played, no cost). Additionally, each player gets 2 random Improvements from the last skipped Era into their hand.

Next, decide which Buildings, Embassies, and goods to start with. In each category, you get a certain amount of Dollars to spend, up to the last skipped Era:

Start in Era	Embassies	Buildings	Goods	Tools
II	2	29	5	0
III	8	59	8	1
IV	16	92	12	2

• To avoid players only placing Money Buildings, you may require each player place at most 3 Money Buildings during setup.
• The Embassy values also indicate Dollars (pay attention to the printed Dollar values on the Embassy tiles). You may spend any or all of your Embassy Dollars as Building Dollars.
• After placing all Buildings and Embassies, place Colonists into your Residences and immediately put them to work; you will sustain them in the next phase.
• Then spend your Goods Dollars. Goods are not worth Dollars during scoring, but when starting in a later Era each good is assigned a Dollar value during setup (for this purpose only). You may add any remaining Building Dollars to your Goods Dollars.

Good values during setup (and the Era each becomes available for purchase): Wood/Clay/Food-type basics = 1 (from Era 1); some = 2 (from Era 2); refined resources = 3 (from Era 3); higher-tier = 3 and 6 (from Era 3/6 respectively per the printed table). Additionally, each player gets 1 Food (regardless of goods purchased) plus the number of Tools shown in the table. You cannot spend Goods Dollars on Tools. Place your goods in your Storage and Warehouse.

• Note: If need be, you may even place goods in the Buffers of your Buildings (only allowed during setup!). This only makes sense for Sustenance Buildings, because your Production Buildings will all generate goods in phase 5.

Phase 4: Sustenance Phase. Proceed with a regular Sustenance Phase. If you cannot sustain your Workers, repeat phase 3 until you can.

Phase 5: Production Phase. Play the Production Phase as usual (including the Smithy). Now you are ready to go!

Saving the Game

The Colonists allows you to save the current game state and continue later. To do so, you must quit the game just before the "End of a Year" phases at the end of the fifth Year!

Proceed with a simplified scoring. Use the scoring pad to write down your Building and Embassy Dollars as well as the Dollars in your Toolbox. Instead of scoring Improvements or Workers, write down:

• the total Dollar value of your goods, except Dollars
• the number of Tools in your Toolbox
• the permanent Improvements you played
• the number of cards in your hand

Also note the Colonies in play and which Era is up next. (Alternatively, put your goods, tools, and played permanent Improvements in a plastic bag with the components in your color; the starting player also bags the starting player marker. If you really want to continue exactly, take a photo.)

When you continue, proceed as described in "Starting in a Later Era", with these changes:

• Colonies: Lay out the Colony overviews and Embassies of the noted Colonies.
• Improvements: Restore the permanent Improvements you played according to your notes, then draw the noted number of random Improvements into your hand (from all Improvements of all Eras prior to the one that is next up).
• Community board: Spend the Building and Embassy Dollars on the scoring pad to set up your Community board, instead of the table values. Take goods and Tools according to your notes or bag. You do not get any additional Food or Tools! Restore the Dollars in your Toolbox according to the scoring pad.
• Do not forget to play the Sustenance and Production phases!

Credits

Designer: Tim Puls. Editing: Grzegorz Kobiela. Graphic design: Klemens Franz, atelier198. Typesetting: Andrea Kattnig, atelier198. © 2016 Lookout GmbH. Published in English by Mayfair Games.