Taiga – Battle Boreal, Game Rules
It is 1909 in southern Alberta. Join the cutthroat lumber industry as it grows into virgin territory. Start as a humble surveyor with designs to be rich lumber baron, controlling your own lumber camps, lumber trucks, and forests waiting to be logged.
The main goal is to build forests that have the potential to pay big money to which ever player logs that forest. In order to do this, a player must to create a connection from their logging camp (marked with their color meeple) along a network of logging roads accessible with a lumber truck, to completed forests they have surveyed (marked with your color meeple) and where they have positioned a lumberjack to harvest the timber.
On each turn a player takes a tile from the top of the pile and places it such a way that it fits in the terrain board already created, matching forest to forest, road to road or grassland to grassland. If a tile will not fit anywhere it is placed on the side of the board face up. It is considered removed from the game and not available for selection.
Placing a Surveyor: A player places a forested tile into the terrain and places a colored meeple on it to indicate they are surveying this forest. No other player may survey the same forest as it grows. Once the forest is completed by any player placing a forested tile that completes the forest, the player with the surveyor in place has two options. They can either:
1.
Receive 1$ for each forest tile in the
completed forest. Note: it is possible that a forest may ultimately contain two
surveyors because two separate forests grew together. In that case you round up
to the next even number and divide the points. Surveyors are removed when
forests are completed.
2.
Place a Lumberjack with the intention of
logging the forest for greater reward. Pay $2 to place a lumberjack in that
forest indicating that they intend to log it. If two surveyors were competing
for the same forest, the one who places the last tile is the one who may choose
to log the forest. Before the forest is logged and money given to the player
who controls it, the forest must be successfully connected to a logging camp by
a logging road. Note, roads continue through the forests they service, but not
through an opponent’s lumber camp. A logging truck must also be placed along
the network of logging roads in order for logging points to be recorded. Logging
trucks cost $5. A logging truck may be placed on a previously placed
terrain piece. This is the only piece that can be played in this way. Meeples
and lumberjacks must be placed on the last forest piece put in
place. After a forest has been logged (meaning it has been connected
to the player’s logging camp with a logging truck in en route) the lumberjack
and surveyor are1` removed from the board to be hired again.
Note: There are some tiles that are completely
forested and also have a species image on it as well. When these are placed
into the growing terrain the species token that matches the image on the tile
should be put on that piece. If that forest is successfully logged, the species
token is also taken into the position of the player. These tokens are worth
extra money at the end of the game.
Manning a logging camp. At some point, one of six logging camp tiles will become available. To claim a logging camp for their operation, a player must place a colored meeple on that camp when the tile is put into place.
Scoring a logged forest with a lumberjack. Softwood forests (dark green) count as $2 per tile piece plus any values indicted on any tiles. Hardwood forests (light green) also count for $2 per tile, but may also include a Maple, Birch, Ash or Oak “full forest” tile that registers more points. Each of these “full forest” tiles includes a circular symbol for the species of tree. A player who successfully logs a hardwood forest containing one of these symbols retrieves that same color token to their hand. At the end of the game a player in possession of one token counts 2 extra dollars. However, if a player two species tokens they both are valued at $4. If three are owned, they are all valued at $6, and if all four are owned, each is worth $8.
End of the Game. The game ends when the final tile is placed in the terrain. Final scoring: Any uncompleted forests with a lumberjack in place score another $1/ forest tile if that forest is connected to the players logging camp by a road and a logging truck. Then, each player traces the logging roads leading out from their logging camps and counts the number of forests serviced by their camp. Routes passing through incomplete forests count, but you may not pass through an opponent’s logging camp to reach a completed forest. Logging trucks do not count at this point. By the end of the game different players may find that their camps service the same forests. That is fine. Each forest serviced by a player’s logging camp scores another $3.
The winner is the player with the most money earned after all sources of money are counted.
On each turn a player takes a tile from the sides of the board and places it such a way that it fits in the terrain board
already created, matching forest to forest, road to road or grassland to
grassland. If a tile will not fit anywhere it is placed face up in a discard pile next
to the main pile. A player may use one of these tiles instead of choosing
one from the main pile if the opportunity arises. 