In more serious news, the amazing husband of my incredible cousin passed away from cancer earlier this week. You will be missed, Jon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you, Mindy.
For the past few days I have been working on typing up the preliminary instructions for Somerset. I have included them below.
Somerset
Somerset: the lush green country where the
mythological Camelot resided. You and the other players will take on roles of
ancient leaders in the city, each with peasants, knights, and wizards to do
your bidding. As the years pass and the countryside grows, so too must your
ability to build towns and villages, advance in the government, construct
personal buildings, and use your wizards to cast magical spells, all in the
goal of becoming the richest ruler.
A game for 2-5
players, ages 12 and up.
Goal of the game: Have the most money when the game ends.
Different ways
to get money include: having other players use your country tiles, advancing in
the government, getting money from the bank, having a large spell book,
constructing buildings, and having your country tiles touch Camelot and other
players’ tiles.
Game End: The game will end after the round when
one of the following conditions is met: (a) All country tiles have been built.
(b) A player builds their sixteenth country tile. (c) A player builds their
eighth building.
Set Up: Take the Camelot city tiles depending on
the number of players you have. Always use the ones labeled 2+, and use the
ones with 3+ for a three or more player game and those with 4+ for a four or
more player game. Place these face up on the table in a random arrangement.
Note: all tiles must be connected by at least one road; one part of the board
cannot be inaccessible to another part.
All country
tiles are laid face up nearby so that all players may see and access them.
Every player
takes all of their workers, roads, and claim markers. The government track is
set out, and each player puts one claim marker on the left-most column of the
government track.
Each player gets
one Residence building card and one random spell card; this will be their
starting hand. The two decks are then shuffled separately and placed near the
board. The magic tokens, coins, and resources are also placed nearby.
Pick a starting
player. That player will receive 5 coins. The player to his left will receive 1
more coin (6), the player to his left one more (7), and so forth all the way
around the table.
First Round: For the first round, each player will
take one of their peasants and one of their knights. Pick a starting player.
That player will place one of these two workers of his and place it on a city
tile, taking that action. The player to his left then places one of his workers
on an unoccupied city tile, taking that action. Continue around clockwise until
everyone has placed both of their workers.
These workers
are now in the city and from now on can only move according to normal moving
rules, which are:
·
A
Peasant must only move exactly one tile.
·
A
knight must move exactly two tiles.
·
A
wizard must move exactly three tiles.
·
A
piece can only move from one tile to another tile adjacent to it if roads are
connecting them, or they have a personal road built connecting them. (And no blockades
are in the way.)
·
A
piece may not pass through nor land on a tile that already has one of that
player’s workers in it.
Between Rounds: In between every round (but not after
the last) is a building period where every player, starting with the starting player
and going clockwise, may build exactly one country tile or one personal
building, and purchase any spells from their hand.
They may build
either a tile or a building, but not both. Players may always purchase as many
spells from their hand as they wish, paying the cost and laying the cards down
into their spell book. Players may pass if they do not wish to build anything.
Stand up all
workers that are laying down (to show they have not moved yet this round). You
are now ready to begin the next round.
Regular Round Gameplay: Starting with the current starting
player and going clockwise, players will move one of their workers to a new
tile, and either performs the action it lands on or does nothing. If they do
nothing, they still must lay down their worker.
Once a worker
has been moved, lay it down flat to show that that action has already been
taken this round, and that that worker has already moved. Each tile’s action
may be taken only once per round, although the tile may still be passed
through. A worker may take an action on a tile where there is another worker
standing up on it. Once all players have moved all of their current workers,
the round ends.
End of Game: Play continues like this until one of
the following occur:
a)
All
country tiles have been built.
b)
A
player builds their sixteenth country tile.
c)
A
player builds their eighth building.
After one of
these conditions is met, the round finishes as normal. Coins are then totaled.
Scoring: Players score coins based on the
following:
1.
The
player’s current coins are totaled.
2.
A
player will score coins per country tile they have built as follows: For each
of their country tiles, if it is touching the City of Camelot, it scores one
coin. Each tile will also score one coin per country tile touching it that
belongs to another player.
3.
The
player with the largest Book of Spells (who has the most spell cards in front
of them, not in their hand) will get 12 coins. The player with the second
largest will get 8; the third largest 4, and the fourth largest 2. In case of a
tie, evenly divide the coins of the respective tiers among the tied players
(rounding down if necessary).
The player with
the most money at the end wins! If tied, the tied player with the most
resources left wins. If still tied, all tied players share the victory.
Building country tiles and personal
buildings: When a
player buys either a country tile or a personal building, they pay the resource
cost found in the upper-left corner, giving those resources from in front of
them back to the supply.
When a player
buys a country tile, it must come from the general supply near the board. It
must be placed so that it touches at least two tiles already in play. Also, at
least one of its road connections must touch another tile’s road connection so
that it’s accessible.
When a country
tile is built, the player places one of their claim markers in the upper-left
circle, covering the cost. That tile is now his for the rest of the game.
Whenever another player’s worker lands on that tile, the player that built it receives
one coin from the bank. Thus it might be a good idea to buy tiles your
opponents would want to use repeatedly, and build them near your opponents’
workers.
Every time you
build a personal building, the building card must come from your hand. When you
build your first building, immediately receive one coin from the bank. When you
build your second, receive two coins. When you build your third, get three coins,
fourth, four coins, and so forth.
Roads and Barricades: A player has exactly six roads. These are
used for both roads and barricades. If a player tries to build another road or
barricade, they must reuse a road or barricade they already have on the board
by picking it up and moving it to its new spot.
Roads are placed
between two tiles perpendicular to the space between them, on the non-road side
of one of those tiles. Thus the road will connect those two tiles for that
player, allowing workers of that player to pass from one tile to the other like
normal.
Barricades are
placed between two tiles parallel to the space between them, usually where the
roads already connect. This barricade prevents movement from one tile to the
next for all players except the player that built it. However, a barricade cannot
be built in a place that would completely block off a section of the current
board from the other via road connections. At least one normal road must exist
somewhere to connect all tiles together. If the barricade is built over a
player’s road that road no longer functions, and no roads may be built over a
barricade.
Spells: A player may only cast spells if they
have at least one wizard. Until a player gets a wizard, they will not be able
to cast any spells they lay down from their hand, although they may still lay
them down to create a spell book. A player may only cast spells from those spells
he has in front of him, not in his hand; they must be first bought in between
rounds.
When you cast a
spell, you must use up the amount of magic crystals required, giving them back
to the supply from in front of you. Resolve all effects of the spell before the
next player goes.
