Orléans

Here is a general overview of how to set up, play, and end the game.

Setup

• Place the large game board, Beneficial Deeds board, Technology Tiles, and Place Tile stacks on the table (p. 2). Sort neutral Character Tiles onto their appropriate buildings on the board, and place 13 Citizen Tiles on marked spaces (p. 2).
• Shuffle the Goods Tiles and place them face up on Road and Waterway spaces, sorting the remaining goods onto the Goods Market (p. 3).
• Remove the Pilgrimage Tile from the Hour Glass deck, shuffle the remaining tiles, and place them face down with the Pilgrimage Tile on top so the game always starts with that event in round one (p. 2-3).
• Each player takes a Player Board, a Merchant Token placed in Orléans, 10 Trading Stations, 1 Followers Bag, 5 coins, 7 wooden markers placed on the starting spaces of the Character and Development Tracks, and 4 starting Followers of their color (a Farmer, a Boatman, a Craftsman, and a Trader) placed on their Market Spaces (p. 2).

How a Round Works

The game is played over 18 rounds, with each round comprising 7 phases (p. 4). Most phases can be played simultaneously (p. 5).

• Phase 1 - Hour Glass: The Start Player draws and reveals the topmost Hour Glass Tile, which introduces an event for the round (p. 4).
• Phase 2 - Census: The player furthest ahead on the Farmers Track receives 1 coin, while the player furthest behind must pay 1 coin (p. 4). (Note: In a 2-player game, the trailing player does not pay a coin [p. 4].)
• Phase 3 - Followers: Players draw Character Tiles from their Followers Bag and place them on their Market, up to the limit indicated by their marker on the Knights Track (p. 4).
• Phase 4 - Planning: Players use Character Tiles from their Market to activate action spaces in Places on their boards (p. 4). A Place is activated as soon as all of its required Action Spaces have a tile (p. 5).
• Phase 5 - Actions: In clockwise order, players may carry out 1 activated action or pass (p. 5). When you play an action, you remove the used Character Tiles and return them to your bag, though Technology Tiles remain in place (p. 6).
• Phase 6 - Event: Resolve the event shown on the round's Hour Glass Tile, which affects all players (p. 5). Events include things like Income, Harvest, Taxes, Trading Day, Plague, and Pilgrimage (p. 10).
• Phase 7 - Start Player: The Start Player passes the Start Player Token to the player on their left (p. 5).

How the Game Ends

The game ends after 18 rounds, concluding when the 18th and final Hour Glass Tile is drawn (p. 4). Before scoring, the player who has built the most Trading Stations receives the remaining Citizen Tile (in case of a tie, no one receives it) (p. 9).

Players then score victory points (VP) for:

• Coins: 1 VP per coin (p. 9)
• Goods: Brocade (5 VP), Wool (4 VP), Wine (3 VP), Cheese (2 VP), and Grain (1 VP) (p. 9)
• Trading Stations and Citizen Tiles: Each built Trading Station and collected Citizen Tile is worth a number of VP equal to your Development Status (p. 9).

The player with the most VP wins, with ties broken by the position on the Development Track (p. 9).