Dorfromantik

01Discover the game

Dorfromantik is a cooperative game of landscapes. In turn, players add a tile to the same territory to achieve objectives, develop railways and rivers, and then value some closed areas. We discuss together, but the person whose turn it is finally decides to pose. In solo, we follow exactly the same principle of placement.

This chapter concerns Dorfromantik – The board game, Pegasus cooperative edition, from one to six people, about 30 to 60 minutes. It does not describe the video game nor Dorfromantik Duel. Its overall difficulty is Medium: the placement requires to prepare the space and to monitor exact sizes. We explain the initial part and the general operation of the campaign without revealing the contents of the five secret boxes.

02Equipment

The initial part uses 73 hexagonal tiles: 48 Landscape and 25 Lens. It also requires 25 Objective markers, divided into five types: forest, field, village, river and railway. Each type has a marker 4, two markers 5 and two markers 6. The symbol accompanies the colour to distinguish the categories.

Adds the 50-sheet score block, the 20-sheet campaign block, a pencil and the rule. The five boxes contain elements of progression: they remain closed until a campaign instruction. Their components are neither added in the first game nor detailed here to preserve the discovery. A large surface is necessary: the landscape can spread in several directions and is not contained in a printed frame.

03The goal

Gathering the best collective score possible. A successful task is worth the number of its marker. The longest rivers and tracks bring their length into tiles, and a flag earns points only if its domain is closed. No player personally has a forest or task.

The first part does not impose a single score to be achieved in order to have the right to continue. The result makes it possible to progress on a Campaign sheet and unlock new elements. So we try to beat a common record and improve the next parts, instead of eliminating an opponent.

04Prepare batteries

Separates the 25 Objective tiles from the 48 Landscapes by spotting you at their back. Mixes each group face hidden. Remove three Landscapes at random without looking them and put them back in the box. There are 45 Landscapes left to play; the Objective tiles are a separate reserve. Form several piles if this facilitates access.

Mix the markers face hidden in five reserves, one per type. Provide a different space to store the successful goals. Keep the blocks close, without opening the campaign boxes. Decide who starts; the suite is played in the clockwise direction. No one gets a hand of tiles or personal reserve.

The first tile is the freely placed starting point. During each of the first three laps, one must reveal an Objective tile and associate it with a marker of the right type before choosing its position. One does not start with three Landscapes simply to get a large starting area.

05Reveal, connect and resolve tasks

Choosing the right stack

After the first three laps, counts the markers still active on the landscape. If there are less than three, reveals an Objective tile, then a marker of its type. If there are three, reveals a Landscape. It is not a strategic choice between two picks: this number imposes the type of tile. If the Objectives are exhausted, continue only with the Landscapes.

Put down the revealed tile this turn; one does not constitute a hand to choose later. The group can propose locations and rotations, but the final decision is up to the active person. A tile already laid does not move.

Mandatory and optional connections

Any new tile must touch the landscape by at least one side and keep a single map connected. Contact from a corner is not enough. A river must meet a river on the connected side, a railway track a railway. It is forbidden to send the end of a river directly against a side without a river, or to connect a rail to a river.

On the other hand, forests, fields, villages and neutral meadows do not need to correspond to all the neighbouring sides, so a field can run along a forest. This does not merge them into the same domain. Only the same type of field connections make their parts continuous. A track or river on another free side can remain open for a future connection.

Reaching the exact size

A marker 5 asks exactly five tiles in the field, river or track concerned. The Objective tile itself counts. As soon as the exact size is reached, remove the marker and place it among the successes. The tile remains on the map; the group can then continue to grow without cancelling this success.

One placement can succeed several tasks, including several markers present in the same group. Remove each marker made. At the beginning of the next rounds, it may be necessary to reveal several successive Objectives in order to return to three active tasks.

Unable Tasks

You cannot place a new Objective tile in a way that would immediately make its own task impossible: domain already larger than its number, or closed domain while it remains too small. Turn it or look for another connection. It is allowed to connect it to a group that already has other tasks.

A Landscape can, however, push the size of an old lens, or close an old domain too soon. The marker concerned is then put back in the box as a failure, not among the successes. This possibility avoids treating a bad pose as an irreparable blockage, but causes the points of this task to lose.

Flags and lengths

A green flag concerns its forest, a yellow its field and a red its village. At the end, a flag is worth the number of tiles of its domain only if no side of this domain remains open. Several flags in the same closed domain each count its size. Close is therefore not always desirable immediately: you must first compare the objectives and the space available.

The longest rivers and railways give points even if they remain open. Count the tiles of each continuous segment, not all the scattered rails. A tile crossed by a rail and a river can participate in the calculation of each network, according to its respective connections.

06A task and an example score

A forest contains four tiles and carries a goal 5. You put up a fifth tile whose forest joins this group: the goal is successful, and its marker joins the wins. If you then add a sixth forest, the five points already won remain earned. Conversely, directly exceed an old goal without having realized to remove this marker without scoring it.

In another situation, you reveal an Objective 6 tile. It would be forbidden to place it so as to close its own forest to four tiles. A rotation that leaves a forest edge free can make the laying allowed. This control relates to the new lens at the time of its arrival; the old markers have their own treatment of failure.

Example of the end of the initial game: your successful markers total 31 points. A closed forest of six tiles carries a flag, that is six points; an open field with flag is zero. Your longest track has nine tiles and your longest river seven. The total is 31 + 6 + 9 + 7 = 53. You do not count the tasks still active or all the small tracks in addition to the longest.

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07End of game and campaign progression

The game ends when you have to reveal a Landscape and its stack is empty. Laying the last Landscape does not always stop the game immediately: if this pose has succeeded or cancelled a task, you will still have to reveal Objectives as long as there are fewer than three active ones. The end comes to the next need for Landscape impossible to satisfy.

Adds the successful markers, the eligible flags and the two maximum lengths. At the beginning of the campaign, ignores the score lines of the elements still enclosed. Report the result to the Campaign sheet, in the band corresponding to the score rounded down according to his table. This table indicates the number of white circles to check on the path of progress.

Check the circles in order, following an adjacent path. Green hexagons trigger the indicated openings; they do not consume an additional circle. At the plugs, choose an authorized branch. When a box or card is unlocked, read first its instructions and integrate the new elements into the following parts. Do not randomly mix all secret components.

One campaign can be set aside to start another. The sheet and the component cards allow to find what belongs to each. The new rules remain linked to the elements actually unlocked; this chapter does not reveal their precise objectives or surprises.

08Frequent errors

• Choose the stack that arranges instead of counting the three active tasks.
• Require a perfect connection of all fields and forests as in Carcassonne.
• Connect a river or rail to an incompatible side.
• Count the edges or drawings instead of the tiles of the group.
• Remove points from an already successful task because its domain is growing.
• Mark a flag on a still open domain.
• Stop automatically after laying the last Landscape.

09Tips for starting

Before laying, look at the exact sizes and edges still available. An almost finished domain deserves an easy entry for its last tile. Avoids locking a task behind rails that are impossible to connect.

Don't try to close everything: a long and open river already marks its length, while a flag asks for a closure. Discuss two reasonable locations rather than ten hypotheses at each turn. The active person slices; the cooperation works better if each player keeps a real chance to decide.