Early Trade on the Mississippi

Broadhorns!

Early Trade on the Mississippi

Players: 2-5

Ages:10+

Playing Time: 90 min.

Game Rules

Contents

1 game board

15 broadhorn boat cards (3 of each color)

5 broadhorn game pieces (1 of each color)

5 score markers (1 of each color)

25 connections markers (5 of each color)

15 loan tokens

54 Crew Cards (crew back)

54 Bonus Cards (cargo back)

81 Travel Cards (trees back)

50 resource barrels (10 white, 10 red, 10 green, 10 brown, 10 yellow)

1 draw bag

Introduction

In Broadhorns! Early trade on the Mississippi you play the role of an entrepreneur based in St. Louis financing cargo trips down the Mississippi during the early part of the 19th century. During the game the players will finance a number of trips and with each one he will need to obtain a boat(known as a broadhorn or flatboat), hire a crew and purchase cargo.

Object

The object of the game is to be the most successful entrepreneur and have the most gold at the end of the game.

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table. Shuffle the travel cards, bonus cards, and crew cards and place them next to the board. Place all the cargo barrels in the draw bag. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding 3 broadhorn boat cards, 5 connections markers, 1 broadhorn game piece and 1 score maker. All players place their broadhorn game pieces in the water space adjacent to St. Louis. All players begin the game with 4 gold and place their score marker on the “4” space on the score track. Youngest player goes first.

Playing the Game

A player may be in one of 3 states on his turn: Preparing for a new expedition in St. Louis, In Route on an expedition or In port of a town with established connections(see page 7). All players begin the game in St. Louis preparing for a new expedition.

A. Preparing for a new expedition (St. Louis)

At the beginning of the game and whenever an expedition is completed or

Terminated, the player’s broadhorn game piece is placed adjacent to St. Louis and the player prepares for a new expedition. The player may spend as many turns as desired obtaining crew and cargo.

Loans

If the player returns to St. Louis with less than 3 gold he may take a loan. If they player chooses to take a loan, he moves his score marker 3 spaces and takes a loan token. The loan token will be paid back at the end, see paying back loans.Loans are only available to players that return to St. Louis with less than 3 gold.

1. Choose your broadhorn

At the beginning of the first turn after the player’s broadhorn is placed in St. Louis, the player must choose which size broadhorn he will use for the next expedition. The player moves his score marker back along the score track the indicated cost for the broadhorn. The smallest broadhorn has 0 cost, indicating that it is being constructed from available lumber. The player places the corresponding broadhorn boat card in front of him.

The characteristics of each broadhorn are printed on the boat card:

Cost: the purchase cost of the broadhorn

Occupants: combined total of crew and travelers the boat may hold

Speed: the number of spaces the boat may move per turn

Resale: the value received when the boat is sold for scrap wood at the end of an expedition.

In addition, each broad horn boat cards has a number of boxes indicating the amount of cargo the boat may hold.

Note: Players will need to reserve some gold to hire crew and purchase cargo.

2. Hire crew

The player draws 3 crew cards and may hire any number of them. Each crew cost 1 gold to hire and the player’s score marker is moved back along the score track. The player will hire new crew for each expedition. On the first expedition of the game the player must hire 2 crew. Each type of crew has a special benefit:

/ Expert Pilot:
Adds 1 to all movement.
/ Navigator:
Avoids snags, running aground and eddies.
/ Gunman:
Provides protection from river pirates.
/ Hired Hand:
Allows the player to draw an additional 3 resources and choose 1 (see Purchase Cargo, page 4). The player receives this bonus only on the turn the hired hand is obtained. The hired hand also allows the player to draw resource at towns with established connections (see below).

Crew cards that are not selected are placed on the crew card discard pile to be reshuffled when the crew cards run out.

The player may have multiple of the same type of crew but the ability is only given once.

3. Purchase Cargo

The following cargos are in the game:

The player draws 3 cargo resources from the draw bag and may purchase up to 3. If the player obtained a hired hand this turn he will draw an additional 3 resources and may purchase 1 additional. In this case, the player would draw 6 resources and may purchase 4. All resources cost 1gold and the score marker is moved back on the score track accordingly.

The purchased cargos are place on the boxes on the player’s broadhorn boat card. The player may not purchase more cargos than available spaces on the boat card.

With the larger broadhorns, it will be necessary to spend multiple turns in order to fill the boat to capacity. The player in not required to fill the boat completely and may decide to start the expedition with spaces empty. Once the player is satisfied with his crew and cargo he will start his expedition the following turn.

B. In Route on an expedition

Once a player begins an expedition he is considered In Route on an expedition and will

take the following 2 actions in order:

1. Draw a travel card

There are 3 types of travel cards in the game: deliver cards, traveler cards and event cards:

/ Delivery cards have a brown background. When a player draws a delivery card he does not reveal it to the other players and places it face down on the card space next to the indicated town. Delivery cards represent demand for each cargo and will be worth a 2 gold bonus when that cargo is delivered.
/

Traveler cards have a blue background. When a player draws a traveler cards he does not reveal it to the other players and places face down on the card space next to the indicated town. During the game the players will be able to pick up the travelers and take them to their destination and receive the indicated gold.

/ Event cards have a purple background. When a player draws an event cards he reveals it to the other players and performs the action on the card.
The event card is then placed on the travel card discard pile.

Loss of last crew

There are 2 events in the travel cards that may cause death to a crew member, Death and River Pirates. In the event that the last crew member dies the expedition is terminated. When an expedition is terminated, all cargo is return to the draw bag and the player’s broadhorn is placed on the water space adjacent to St. Louis to prepare for a new expedition the following turn. Any travelers that were aboard are placed on the travel discard pile.

1. Move the broadhorn

The player moves his broadhorn the indicated speed on the broadhorn boat card plus any modifications from an Expert Pilotand/or an event card. The player moves the indicated number of spaces on the alternating light blue and dark blues spaces on the river. The player does not have to move the full movement amount but must move at least 1 space.

1. Porting at a town

If the player lands on a dock space for a town he may chose to port and ends his movement. The dock space water space that contains the dock, see illustration 1. The player may then look at the cards that have been placed at the town. More than one player may port at the same town.

1. Selling Cargo

If a player ports at a town he has the option to sell any number of cargo if he has the required cargo on his broad horn. Only 1 cargo for each free cargo space may be sold (exception: bonus card case, see below). The player receives the indicated value for the cargo; if there is a delivery card for that resource he receives 2 additional gold. Once a delivery card is collected it is removed from the game.

Special bonus card case

If a cargo had been delivered before the delivery card for that resource was placed at the town then there will be a delivery card but no free resource space. In this case the player may deliver the cargo and collect the delivery card bonus, the cargo is returned to the draw bag instead of being placed on the board.

Filling up a town

When a player fills the last cargo space for a town the player receives the additional Town Bonus printed on the board next to the town name. If a player can delivery all the resources a town requires he may fill it up in a single turn. When a player fills up a town he also receives a bonus card. The bonus cards are collected throughout the game and added to the players score at the end of the game. Once a town is full, the town resets and all the cargos are removed and returned to the draw bag. In addition, when a player fills up a town he has the option to Establish Connections at that town.

Establishing Connections

If a player fills up a town’s cargo he may choose to Establish Connections at the town. If the player decides to Establish Connections he places one of his 5 connections markers on the square space next to the town. Any number of players may place their connections markers at the same town. The player will then be able to hire a crew and/or draw a resource when he stops at the town,See In Port at a town with established connections,page 8).

1. Travelers

When a player lands on town with a traveler card he may choose to pick up it up provided he has room on his broadhorn. The total of crew and travelers may not be more than the number of occupants listed on the broadhorn boat card. If the play decides to pick up a traveler he places it face up next to his broad card. When the player stops at the traveler’s destination town the player receive the indicated gold. The player then turns the travel card over and sets it aside. The player who collects the most travelers will receive a bonus at the end of the game (see Traveler Bonus, page 8).

1. Ending an expedition and selling the broadhorn

A player may make as many stops on an expedition as desired. To end an expeditions the player must be on a port space of a town. When a player decides to end the expedition, usually the same turn that he has sold his last cargo, he receives the resale value for the broadhorn (sold for scrap wood).He then places his broadhorn back in St. Louis to prepare for a new expedition the following turn.If the player had picked up any travelers and did not reach their destination town then the travelers are placed face down at the current town. Crew cards are placed on the crew discard pile.

Example 1. The player stops at Vicksburg, all of the cargo spaces are empty. The player looks at the cards and sees an Apple delivery and a Fur delivery card. The player only has 1 Applecargo on his 20ft broadhorn so he sell the Apples and receive 5 gold (3 + 2 for delivery card) and then sells his broadhorn for 1 gold.

Example 2. The player stops at Vicksburg, the Apple cargo is filled. The player looks at the town cards add sees a Fur delivery card. The player

decides to sell Flour, Tobacco and Furs. The player receives 16 gold, 11 for the cargos +2 for the Fur delivery card and +3 for the town bonus. Since the player filled up the town he also receives 1 bonus card. The player also drops off a traveler and receives 2 gold.

1. In Port at a town with Established Connections

When a player begins his turn on the port space of a town with established connections he can decide to use his connections or to just continue In Route.

If the player decides to use his established connections he may take 1 of the

Follow actions that turn:

Hire a crew

The player draws 3 crew cards and may hire 1 for 1 gold. If the player obtains a hired hand he may also use the hired hand’s ability to draw 3 resource cargos and purchase 1 for 1 gold.

Or

Purchase a resource cargo

If the player has a hired hand on his crew he may draw 3 cargos and purchase 1 for 1 gold.

Game End

The game end starts when the last travel card is drawn. The travel card discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the travel card draw pile. Once the end game starts, players may not add crew or cargo or use their established connections. All players may finish their current expedition; some players will finish before others.

Once all players have finished their final expedition, bonuses are added and loans are paid back to determine the final score, the player with the highest score wins.

Bonus Cards

Each player adds the total of coins on the bonus cards they collected during the game.

Traveler Bonus

The player who collected the most traveler cards during the game gets to add the traveler’s gold values to his score. If more than one player is tied for the most travelers then the player with the highest sum of traveler gold values receives the bonus. If there is still a tie then all tied players receive the bonus.

Paying back loans

Each player must subtract 4gold for each loan token they have.

Event Cards

/ Flour Spoils
Your flour cargo has spoiled, discard 1 tobacco cargo.
This card has no effect if you do not have a flour cargo.
/ Apple Spoils
Your apple cargo has spoiled, discard 1 apple cargo.
This card has no effect if you do not have an apple cargo.
/ Tobacco Spoils
Your apple cargo has spoiled, discard 1 tobacco cargo.
This card has no effect if you do not have an tobacco cargo.
/ Snags
You are entangled in snags, do not move this turn.
This card has no effect if the player has a navigator.
/ Run Aground
Your broadhorn has run aground. Do not move this turn or discard 1 cargo and move 3.
This card has no effect if the player has a navigator.
/ Eddies
If you are to pass a town this turn you are drawn in by strong eddies and must stop at the town.
This card has no effect if the player has a navigator.
/ Storm
Discard 1 cargo lost in rough water due to storm. Move a base speed of 4 this turn.
/ Calm Water
Add 1 to your movement this turn.
/ Rough Water
Subtract 1 from your movement this turn
/ River Pirates (Furs)
You are confronted by a band of river pirates who demand a furs cargo. If you do not have a furs cargo then 1 of your crew is killed.
Move a base speed of 3 this turn.
If the player has a gunman then he does not lose a cargo or a crew but still only moves a base speed of 3 this turn.
/ River Pirates (Whiskey)
You are confronted by a band of river pirates who demand a whiskey cargo. If you do not have a whiskey cargo then 1 of your crew is killed.
Move a base speed of 3 this turn.
If the player has a gunman then he does not lose a cargo or a crew but still only moves a base speed of 3 this turn.
/ Native Americans
Native Americans offer you’re a trade. You may trade 1 of your resource cargo for a different resource cargo. If you trade, move a base speed of 4 this turn.
/ Intoxicated Crew
Your crew is incapacitated has may not be used this turn. Only move 4 spaces.
/ Death
One of your crew or a traveler aboard your broadhorn has died. Discard 1 crew or traveler card.

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