Transatlantic Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Material
• Overview of the Game
  • Start
  • Game Flow
  • Game End
• Setup
• The Ships
• The Ship Market
• Deploying Ships
• Transporting with Ships
• Action Cards
  • Shipyard
  • Shipyard (Extension Card)
  • Transport
  • Transport (Extension Card)
  • Region
  • Cargo
  • Cruise
  • Global
  • Fleet
  • Commerce
  • Blue Riband
  • Coal
  • Coal (Extension Card)
  • Ship Agent
  • Invest
  • Invest (Extension Card)
  • Director
• Further Rules
  • Scotia
  • Director Tokens
  • Player Sheet
  • Headquarters
• Scoring
  • Ship's Score
  • Scores During the Game
  • Final Scoring
• Variant
  • Variant Ship Market
  • Variant President
  • President

Game Material

• 5 Sea Regions
• 5 Player Sheets for 2-4 players
• 1 Victory Point Chart
• 1 Ship Market (3 pieces)
• 4 box inserts to be put together
• 108 wooden pieces (of which 68 are in player colors: red, green, yellow, and blue)
  • 10 Captains per player
  • 7 Houses per player
  • 40 Coal Cubes
• 110 Cards
  • 1 Start Player Card
  • 54 Action Cards: 32 Player Cards (8 per player) and 22 Extension Cards (A and B)
  • 55 Ships and Buildings (on reverse side 0-10): Scotia, 4 Sailing Ships, 45 Steam Ships, 5 Buildings
• 4 Directors
• 8 Victory Point Markers
• 2 Final Scoring Overview tokens
• 67 Markers
  • 12 Blue Ribands
  • 16 Coal Bunker
  • 13 Freight
  • 12 Mail
  • 13 Passengers
• 32 Contracts with values 1 and 3
• 80 Banknotes (10, 20, 50 and 100 thousand Pounds)
• 1 Game Rules, 1 Quick Intro, 1 Booklet "Age of Steam Ships"

Overview of the Game

Start

The setup is described in detail on a separate page.

Each player receives 1 random Sailing Ship. The owner of the oldest ship becomes the starting player and takes the Start Player card. Players take their turns in clockwise order.

Before starting to play, each player purchases a steamship from the ship market in anti-clockwise order and deploys it.

Players keep their action cards hidden in their hands.

Game Flow

A player's turn consists of playing one card and executing the related action/s. Played cards are stacked in front of a player in such a way that the last card played is always visible to others. When their Director card is played, players return their stack of played cards to their hands. In the course of the game players acquire additional cards.

Ships are purchased from the ship market and deployed in sea regions. They are the most important source of cash, especially when transporting. In combination with personal markers on the player sheet and neutral ships in the docks, they also are the main source of Victory Points (VPs). VPs are already gained during the game, for instance when older ships are scrapped, as well as in the final scoring round. In combination with Trade Houses, ships may also gain VPs when transporting.

Game End

The game ends after the last steamship is purchased from the ship market. The current round is completed, and one additional round is played.

Setup

(From the official separate setup sheet, "TransAtlantic – Game Setup".)

1. Regions. In addition to the North Atlantic, there are as many regions as players taking part (here shown for 3 players). Alternatively the reverse side with the American ports may be used.

2. Ship Market. The 3 parts are joined together and placed above the regions.

3. Extension Cards. The Extension Cards are sorted by the letter on their back (A and B), and placed face down with stack B below stack A. The first 5 cards are turned over and displayed. This open display is placed along the ship market.

4. Victory Point Chart. The chart is placed alongside the regions.

5. Bank. The bank's supply consists of banknotes, coal units, and 5 different types of markers (in the President variant contracts are added). The supply is considered unlimited.

6. Player equipment. Each player starts with a player sheet (look at the corresponding printed number of players), 10 captains, 7 Trade Houses, 1 Director Token, 2 victory point markers, 7 cards of his color (the PRESIDENT card is only used with a variant), and cash of £150.

7. Ships and Headquarters. All ships and headquarters are sorted by their reverse side number (0 – 10).

• 7a) The SCOTIA is placed in the North Atlantic region.
• 7b) Each player receives 1 random Sailing Ship. The owner of the oldest ship becomes the starting player and takes the Start Player card. He deploys his ship in the rightmost region with 3 open places and marks it with a captain. The other players follow in seat order. When set up correctly, there now should be 1 ship per region.
• 7c) In a 3 player game, stacks 1 - 9 lose 1 random ship each. These 9 ships are sorted by flag and are placed in the docks beneath the VP-chart. In a 2 player game, each stack number loses 2 ships and the docks start with 18 ships. In a 4 player game, no stack number loses ships and the docks start with no ships.
• 7d) The stack of ships is prepared with all cards face down near the ship market: The headquarters (10) at the bottom, followed by stack numbers 9 -1 in descending order. To be clear, stack number 1 is on top.
• 7e) The Ship Market is filled from left to right with 6 ships from the stack of ships.

8. Steamships. Before starting to play, each player purchases a steamship from the ship market. The market is replenished after each purchase, but without a ship entering the docks. Each player deploys his steamship (together with a captain and 1 coal) in the region which contains the sailing ship of the player to his left. Finally, the starting player begins the game by playing his first action card.

The Ships

Each ship card shows:

• The year — determines whether a ship can enter a region or not.
• The ship's historical name.
• The income generated when the ship transports.
• The ship's basic price on the ship market.
• The flag — there are 5 different flags (blue, black, green, white, red). They represent 5 categories in which players score victory points.
• The ship's tonnage.
• The speed in knots.
• The passenger capacity.

Players mark their ships with 1 captain.

Steamships need coal for transporting. Sailing Ships can always transport and do not need coal.

The Ship Market

When purchasing a ship from the ship market the cost is paid to the bank. Its total price consists of the basic price depicted in the red field on the ship itself plus the additional cost depicted under its current position on the ship market. Finally the market is restored: The ship in the leftmost position is placed inside the docks, the remaining ships move left, and the empty positions are refilled from the stack.

The six market positions, from left to right, carry these additional costs: 0, +£10, +£20, +£30, +£50, +£70.

Example: A player purchases the NUBIAN (white flag) for £40 and the HAMMONIA (blue flag) for £70 + £30 = £100. He pays a total of £140 to the bank and takes both ships. Now the ship market is restored: The DEVONIA (red flag) is in the leftmost position and therefore is placed inside the docks near the Victory Point Chart. The remaining 3 ships move left, and the empty positions are refilled with 3 new ships from the ship's stack.

Deploying Ships

Playing a corresponding action card, players deploy new ships at the top of the sea regions.

As younger ships (by year of construction) are always located above older ones, a region can only be entered if the new ship is at the same time the youngest inside that region. As an exception from that general rule, a new ship may be deployed in a position in between other ships, according to their age, if that region still has free spaces left and there is no other region where it could enter at the top.

If a new ship enters a region, all older ships move down one position to accommodate it. If a region cannot contain more ships, the oldest ship is pushed out and has to be redeployed immediately if that is possible (applying the deployment rules from above, the ship's owner decides). If no redeployment is possible, the ship is scrapped instead. In that case, it may bid farewell by transporting a last time (see: "Transporting with Ships", the owner collects the ship's income and, if appropriate, VPs from Trade Houses). Finally, the scrapped ship is scored in the usual way (see: "Ship's score"). The scrapped ship is now out of the game and does not enter the docks.

Special case: Newly purchased ships which cannot enter a region remain with their owner and only score during the final scoring round.

If a newly deployed ship is the fastest in the North Atlantic region (or New York), it wins a Blue Riband, and its owner places a respective marker inside his player sheet.

Example: Green deploys the UMBRIA which finally pushes out the GERMANIC. In this example she cannot enter on top elsewhere. But as the South Atlantic still has an empty position, she can enter there in between. Green wins a Blue Riband and adds a marker to his player sheet.

Transporting with Ships

The action cards TRANSPORT, REGION, BLUE RIBAND, GLOBAL, CARGO, and CRUISE (= cards marked with a small anchor) allow ships to transport and thus collect income. This is done as follows:

1. Each transporting steamship loses 1 coal unit. Steamships without coal cannot transport. Sailing Ships never need coal.
2. When transporting, the owner collects the ship's income (on green background) from the bank (Important: the income is calculated in a different way when playing CARGO or CRUISE).
3. With Trade Houses, the owner receives 1 VP per ship multiplied by number of own Trade Houses in that region.

Example: Yellow owns 2 Trade houses in the South Atlantic. By playing the TRANSPORT card the GERMANIC is able to transport. The GERMANIC loses 1 coal unit and generates an income of £40. In addition Yellow receives 2 victory points for his ship with 2 Trade Houses inside that region.

Action Cards

Shipyard

Card text: Purchase up to 2 steamships. Deploy 1 of them at sea.

1. The player may purchase 1 or 2 ships from the ship market. Each ship is equipped with a captain and loads 1 unit of coal.
2. The player must deploy 1 of the newly purchased ships immediately. The other ship remains on the table near his player sheet.

Shipyard (Extension Card)

Card text: Purchase up to 2 steamships. Deploy 1 of them at sea. Load 1 of them with 1 extra coal.

Like the usual SHIPYARD card, but the player may load 1 of the newly purchased ships with 1 additional unit of coal.

Transport

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Let 2 of your own ships transport.

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player transports with up to 2 of his own ships.

Transport (Extension Card)

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Let 3 of your own ships transport.

Like the usual TRANSPORT card, but the player may transport with up to 3 of his own ships.

Region

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Choose 1 region. All ships in that region transport. Take the income of the oldest transporting ship of another player as your extra bonus.

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player chooses a region where all ships transport (other player's ships as well). As a bonus, he collects the income of the oldest transporting foreign ship from the bank. All other players collect their income as well. (example 1)

Cargo

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Let 1 ship transport, earning an income of: 5,000 t — £100; 10,000 t — £150; 20,000 t — £200; 30,000 t — £300.

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player transports with 1 of his ships and collects an income of up to £300, depending on the ship's tonnage. (example 2)

Cruise

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Let 1 ship transport, earning an income of £10 per 100 passengers.

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player transports with 1 of his ships and collects an income of £10 per 100 passenger capacity. (example 3)

Example 1: Yellow plays REGION. His income is £40 from the GERMANIC plus a bonus of £70 from the CITY OF NEW YORK. This is the oldest transporting foreign ship because the ABYSSINIA has no coal. In total Yellow collects £110, and Red collects £70. In addition both players receive 1 victory point each in combination with their trade houses.

Example 2: Red plays CARGO. As the CITY OF NEW YORK has a tonnage of 11,000t, he collects £150 and receives 1 victory point.

Example 3: Red plays CRUISE. As the CITY OF NEW YORK has a passenger capacity of 1,700, he collects £170 and receives 1 victory point.

Important: All transporting steamships lose 1 coal each!

Global

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Let 1 ship per region transport, or let 1 steamship per flag transport.

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player makes a choice:
   • a) he either transports with 1 of his ships per different region, or
   • b) he transports with 1 of his steamships per different flag. (example 1)

Fleet

Card text: Get 2 Victory Points per active steamship with a different flag.

The player receives 2 victory points per steamship with a different flag (example 2). Purchased ships still waiting for deployment are included.

Commerce

Card text: Get £50 per house you own.

The player collects £50 per own Trade House. (example 3)

Blue Riband

Card text: Deploy 1 ship (if possible). Let 1 ship transport for every Blue Riband you own.

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player may transport with as many of his ships as he owns Blue Ribands on his player sheet. (example 4)

Coal

Card text: Load as many coal units as: Amount +2. Distribute them evenly.

Own steamships are loaded with coal. The player loads as many coal units as he owns Coal Bunkers on his player sheet plus 2. The coal has to be distributed evenly on his active steamships in the regions. At first, ships without coal are loaded, then ships with 1 coal (which may be the same ships) etc. (example 5)

Steamships can carry up to 3 coal units each. Sailing Ships do not need coal.

Coal (Extension Card)

Card text: Load as many coal units as: Amount +3. Distribute them as you like.

Like COAL, but the amount is number of coal bunkers plus 3. The coal may be distributed as the player wishes. The maximum of 3 coal units per steamship still applies. (example 6)

Ship Agent

Card text: Copy the last card played by an opponent.

The player may copy the action from a card which was last played by another player. The action is executed in a way as if he had played that card himself. Ship Agents from other players cannot be copied.

Example 1: Green plays GLOBAL. As the COLUMBIA carries no coal, and the ARIEL has no flag, in any case (region or flag option) only 2 ships can transport. Green chooses the region option in order to transport with the ARIEL and thus preserve the coal on the DEVONIA. Green collects £80 and receives 3 VPs. The UMBRIA loses 1 coal.

Example 2: Green plays FLEET and receives 6 victory points.

Example 3: Green plays COMMERCE and collects £150 for his 3 Trade Houses.

Example 4: Green plays BLUE RIBAND. 3 Blue Ribands on his player sheet enable him to transport with up to 3 ships. As the COLUMBIA carries no coal, he transports with the UMBRIA, DEVONIA, and ARIEL. He collects £110 and receives 5 victory points. The UMBRIA and DEVONIA lose 1 coal each.

Example 5: Green plays COAL. He has only the coal bunker printed on the player sheet and therefore may distribute 1 + 2 = 3 coal units evenly on his steamships. At first the COLUMBIA has to load 1 coal, then both the COLUMBIA and DEVONIA load one more coal unit each.

Example 6: Green plays COAL – EXTENSION CARD. He may distribute 1 + 3 = 4 coal units on his steamships as he wishes. He loads the UMBRIA with 1 coal, whereas the COLUMBIA with 3 coal units.

Example (Ship Agent): These are the last action cards of the other 3 players. The 4th player plays SHIP AGENT. He now may choose either to use the action SHIPYARD, or the action CRUISE. The SHIP AGENT of the 3rd player cannot be copied.

Invest

Card text (icons): Purchase 1x — Trade House + marker, or Coal Bunker + coal.

The player has 3 options:

1. He builds a Trade House in a region where he has a ship and pays £20 - £50 (depending on its position). In addition, he takes a marker, either for freight, mail, or passengers, and puts it into the corresponding column on his player sheet. Important: each building site in a region can take only 1 Trade House, and each player can build no more than 2 houses per region. The North Atlantic (or New York) has room for 4 houses, but the other regions only have room for 3 houses each.
2. He purchases a Coal Bunker from the supply, pays £50, and puts it into the corresponding column on his player sheet. In addition, he takes 2 coal units and distributes them onto 2 different ships if possible.
3. He pays £50, takes 1 marker, either for freight, mail, or passengers, and puts it into the corresponding column on his player sheet.

Example: Yellow plays INVEST. Having a ship in the South Atlantic he builds a Trade House there for £20. In addition he chooses a marker for freight for his player sheet.

Invest (Extension Card)

Card text (icons): Purchase for £100 — 2x markers — and take 1x Trade House / coal.

The player pays £100, takes 2 different markers from the supply (coal, freight, mail, or passengers) and puts them into the corresponding columns on his player sheet. In addition, he may either build without further payment 1 Trade House in a region where he has a ship, or, if a Coal Bunker was included, distribute 2 coal units onto 2 different ships if possible.

Example: Yellow plays INVEST – EXTENSION CARD. He pays £100 to the bank, takes 1 Coal Bunker plus 1 marker for freight, and either builds a Trade House or loads 2 ships with 1 additional coal unit each.

Director

Card text (icons): Take all cards back into hand (at least 4). 6 → 1x marker; 8 → 2x different markers. Finally choose 1 card from the bank and play it immediately.

1. The player takes all his cards back into his hand. Important: He must take back at least 4 cards including the DIRECTOR. Otherwise he cannot take this action.
2. If at least 6 cards are taken back, he receives 1 coal bunker or marker for freight, mail, or passengers for his player sheet. With a minimum of 8 cards taken back, he receives 2 different markers (but never a Blue Riband).
3. The player chooses 1 new action card from the open display, plays that card immediately, and executes the related action.
4. The open display is restored: The card in leftmost position is removed and put aside on a separate stack, the remaining 3 cards move left, and 2 new cards are displayed. There must always be 5 different cards on display; duplicate cards go to the separate stack immediately. If the original stack is empty, the separate stack is shuffled and then used.

Example: A player decides to take CRUISE and plays that card immediately. After that, the display is restored: FLEET leaves the supply and is put onto the separate stack to the right, the remaining 3 cards move left, and 2 new cards are displayed.

Further Rules

Scotia

The SCOTIA is a neutral ship which starts in the North Atlantic (or New York). She always carries coal.

Director Tokens

With his personal Director Token a player copies a card from the open display, instead of playing a card from his hand. After using the token once it is out of the game. The open display does not change; all cards remain in their position.

Player Sheet

Even if a column is full, more Blue Ribands or other markers can be acquired. They are placed beneath the player sheet and count 1 additional VP for their respective flag.

Headquarters

They appear on the ship market after the last steamships. They count just like ordinary ships in the final scoring round (depending on their flag). They are purchased like a ship with SHIPYARD and have to be paid with the usual additional costs as written on the board. Additionally, the following rules apply:

1. A player may purchase 1 ship plus 1 headquarters, or only 1 headquarters, but never 2 headquarters at once. Important: If only 1 headquarters is purchased, no ship enters the docks (headquarters never enter the docks). The ship market is restored in the usual way as long as possible.
2. A purchased headquarters is marked with a captain and remains on the table near the player sheet.

Scoring

Ship's Score

The ship's score is the main way to generate Victory Points (VPs). Depending on the situation on the personal player sheet, VPs are gained for ships (and headquarters) of a certain flag. As shown here, a player receives 7 VPs per ship with a blue flag, 3 VPs per ship with a black flag, and 5 VPs per ship with a green flag.

Additional VPs are gained with the help of ships with a certain flag inside the public docks. As shown here, each blue ship receives 2 VPs extra, each black ship 3 VPs extra, and each green ship receives 1 VP extra. The dock's VPs are the same for every player.

Scores During the Game

Victory Points (VPs) are tallied with a captain on the Victory Point Chart. While playing the game, VPs may be gained in 3 different ways:

1. If a ship is pushed out of its region and cannot be deployed elsewhere, it is scrapped and scores immediately (see "Ship's score"). It is taken out of the game and does not enter the docks!
2. If ships transport in a region where their owner has Trade Houses as well (see "Transporting with ships").
3. With the action card FLEET.

Final Scoring

Players gather their ships, either from the regions or still waiting for deployment, together with their headquarters and score them altogether in the usual way as described above (see "Ship's score").

In addition they receive 1 VP per full amount of £100 cash.

Players receive VPs for complete rows of markers they have acquired on the sheet (not for markers already printed). The first row gives 5 VPs, the second row 10 VPs, the third row 15 VPs, and the fourth row 20 VPs. In addition, each marker in the uppermost incomplete row scores as follows: 1 VP if it is the first row, 2 VPs if it is the second, etc. The player sheet as depicted would score a total of 21 VPs.

(Illustration of the depicted player sheet, top row to bottom: 0 Points (printed) — 5 Points — 10 Points — 2 x 3 = 6 Points — 0 Points.)

All VPs are tallied with a captain on the Victory Point Chart. Whenever reaching 50 VPs, the player places a respective VP marker at the chart. Winner of the game is the player with most VPs. In case of a tie, the owner of the youngest ship wins that tie.

Example for a final scoring round: Both the personal player sheet and the public docks are shown to the right. The player has £290 cash and owns the following 6 ships and headquarters:

Ship's and Headquarter's score:

• black: 2 x (9+3) = 24
• green: 3 x (10+1) = 33
• red: 1 x (7+5) = 12

Cash: 2 VPs for £290.

Player Sheet: The first row is complete and scores 5 VPs. The second row is incomplete and scores 2 VPs per marker. All markers on the Player Sheet score 5 + 4 x 2 = 13 VPs.

In total, the player scores 24 + 33 + 12 + 2 + 13 = 84 VPs.

Variant

There are 2 variants, which may be applied separately or in combination:

Variant Ship Market

Here the reverse side of the Ship Market is used. There are no additional costs to be paid. But only ships purchased from the first 3 market positions start with coal. The other 3 ships are deployed after purchase without coal.

Variant President

The action card DIRECTOR is replaced by the PRESIDENT card. In addition, contracts enter the game as a new element. They are gained only when deploying a new ship: For each of the 3 characteristics tonnage, speed, and passenger capacity the player gains 1 contract, if his new ship outnumbers all other ships in the region (example). Ships being pushed out cannot gain contracts elsewhere.

Example: Green deploys the GERMANIC. With most tonnage and passengers he wins 2 contracts. The tie in knots is not enough!

President

Card text (icons): Take all cards back into hand (at least 5). 3 contracts → 1x marker; 1 contract → £20. Finally choose 1 card from the bank and play it immediately.

1. The player takes all his cards back into his hand. Important: He must take back at least 5 cards including the PRESIDENT. Otherwise he cannot take this action.
2. For 3 contracts each he may buy 1 Coal Bunker or marker for freight, mail, or passengers for his player sheet. If he has enough contracts, he may buy even more markers, which have to be different (but never a Blue Riband). Leftover contracts are sold for £20 each to the bank.
3. and 4. like DIRECTOR.