During setup, you have already placed your Workers for the first Half Year. At the beginning of each Half Year, place Workers on each of the 4 Month Spaces, with the Starting Players’s Workers on top of his opponents. (The Starting Player Marker can change hands via the “Special Action”, an action that can only be taken once per Half Year. You can find more details on this at the bottom of the page.)

Take turns placing your Workers on empty Action Spaces of the current Half Year. Take your Workers from left to right off the Month Spaces. In each Month, the player with the Starting Player Marker goes first.

The Summer Action Spaces are only available in odd-numbered Half Years, the Winter Action spaces only in even-numbered ones. In each Half Year, there are 15 different Action Spaces to choose from. After placing your Worker on an Action Space, immediately carry out the corresponding action. (See here for details on the various Action Spaces.) Each Action Space can only be occupied by a single Worker – an occupied Action Space is blocked until the end of the current Work Phase. (Placing a Worker on an Action Space is not mandatory. You can, instead, remove him from the Month Space and do nothing on your turn.)

When placing your Workers, remember the “Laborer” Action Space. This space allows you to use an already occupied Action Space again. (This space must still belong to the current Half Year.)

Spaces with a white/blue Frisian pattern on the Game Board indicate costs. You have to pay the depicted goods in order to

• get the Building below that space (see the “1 Building” action), or
• move one of your Tool Indicators one space to the right, or
• use the action on that Action Space.

Please note: regardless of the action you take, you can always pay Timber instead of Wood and Brick instead of Clay.

In Summer, 1 of the 8 Workers may use a Winter Action Space (instead of a Summer ones). Similarly, in Winter, 1 Worker may use a Summer Action Space (instead of a Winter one). When a player makes use of this Special Action, his opponent receives the Starting Player Marker for the subsequent Half Year. If none of the 8 Workers makes use of the Special Action, the Starting Player Marker changes hands automatically at the end of the Half Year.

The Work Phase ends after all of the 8 Workers were used and both players declared the end of the Work Phase. In November (at the end of a Summer/Fall Half Year) and in May (at the end of a Winter/Spring Half Year), the players take stock of their belongings. Go through the following sub-phases one by one in the given order. (When reading the rules for the first time, you can skip this section and come back to it later.) On your “Travel Destinations and Barn” Storage Board, there is an overview of the significant values of the Inventorying.

1. Empty Vehicles:
Place the Timber, Bricks, and Clothing from your Vehicles into your personal supply. Place the Travel Destination Tiles from your Vehicles on your Travel Experience Track.

2. Milking:
You receive 1/2/3 Food for 2/5/8 Sheep and 1/2/3 Food for 1/3/5 Cattle on your Home Board. (You cannot get more than 6 Food this way.) Indicate the Food on your Goods Track.

3. Harvest:
You receive 1 Grain per Grain Field and 1 Flax per Flax Field on your Home Board. Indicate the Grain and Flax on your Goods Track. You also receive 1 Wood per Forest on your Home Board. (You do not receive Wood for your Parks.)

4. Sustenance
Pay 3 Food and 2 Peat (as fuel for the upcoming Winter).

• For each missing Food, pay 1 Grain instead. If you run out of Grain, pay 1 Animal per missing Food instead.
• For each missing Peat, pay 1 Wood (or Timber) instead.
• If you are still missing Food (because you ran out of Food, Grain, and Animals) or Fuel (because you ran out of Peat, Wood, and Timber), you lose 2 Victory Points per missing item. Keep track of the Victory Point losses in the “Supply Bottlenecks” category of the Scoring Pad.

You can only eat Grain if you run out of Food. (The same applies to Animals.) Also, you can only burn Wood if you run out of Peat.

1. Empty Vehicles:
Place the Timber, Bricks, and Clothing from your Vehicles into your personal supply. Place the Travel Destination Tiles from your Vehicles on your Travel Experience Track.

2. Baby Animals:
In each of your Stalls with exactly 2 Animals of the same type, you receive a third Animal of that type (from the general supply). In each of your Stables with 2, 3 or 5 Animals of the same type, you also receive another Animal of that type. In Stables with exactly 4 Animals of the same type, you receive 2 Animals of that type (instead of 1). Double Stalls (upgrades to Stables) are considered two separate Stalls. Place the newborn Animals with their parents. (Animals outside of your Stalls and Stables, e.g. those in your Parks, do not breed.)

3. Sheering:
You receive 1/2/3 Wool for 1/4/6 Sheep on your Home Board. Indicate the Wool on your Goods Track. (You cannot get more than 3 Wool this way. Your newborn Sheep can be shorn right away, i.e. they count towards those numbers.)

4. Sustenance:
Pay 3 Food.

• For each missing Food, pay 1 Grain instead. If you run out of Grain, pay 1 Animal per missing Food instead.
• If you are still missing Food, you lose 2 Victory Points per missing Food. Keep track of the Victory Point losses in the “Supply Bottlenecks” category of the Scoring Pad.

At the beginning of the game, you have 2 Land Spaces that you can build on by placing tiles of appropriate size on them, like Fields, Forests, Stalls, Stables and Buildings. 4 Land Spaces are already covered by tiles.

At the beginning of the game, there are 9 potential Land Spaces in the Tidal Flat Area. The Dike Line indicates the border between this area and the Mainland. You have 5 Dike tiles. Each such tile is lying in the gap between 2 vertically adjacent spaces. Whenever you use a „+1 “ action, you move one of the bottom Dikes up into the next gap between two spaces (see the illustrations below). (Some actions allow you to move more than one tile. See the “Dike Builder” action for details.)

Whenever you create a new Dike Line above your old one, i.e. when there is a new horizontal line consisting of 3 adjacent Dike tiles, you immediately gain 3 new Land Spaces (also known as “polder spaces”). The following illustrations should shed some more light on this process:

This is how your Dike tiles are laid out at the beginning of the game.	The 1st Dike you build in the game already provides 3 new Land Spaces.	The 2nd Dike initiates the next step of the land reclamation process. The 3rd Dike still does not result in more Land Spaces.
Only the 4th Dike provides access to 3 more Land Spaces.	The 5th Dike prevents the loss of a Victory Point.	The 6th and 7th Dike also prevent the loss of Victory Points. Additionally, the 7th Dike unlocks the remaining 3 Land Spaces.

A row consisting of one or two Dike tiles is irrelevant to the distinction between the Tidal Flat Area and the Mainland.

At the bottom of your Home Board, there are 3 Moor Tiles. Use a “Dehydrate a Moor Section” or “Warden” action to dehydrate one of these Moor Sections so that you can cut peat there: turn the Moor Tile to its reverse side and immediately place 4 Peat Tokens on it. Afterwards, you can use “Cut Peat” actions to take the Peat Tokens off the Moor Tile and place them in your personal supply. (The Peat Cutter Action Space lets you do multiple consecutive “Cut Peat” actions depending on how many Spades you have.) As soon as you remove the last Peat Token from a Moor Tile, immediately remove that Moor Tile from play. This way you gain more Land Spaces on your Home Board to build on.

There are 3 types of Animals in this game: Sheep, Cattle, and Horses. You can get these Animals via various actions during the Work Phase and as newborns at the end of each Winter Half Year. You can only keep your newly gained Animals if you can accommodate them on your Home Board. You can return Animals to the general supply (without substitution) at any time. During the Work Phase, you can rearrange the Animals on your Home Board at any time according to the following rules:

1. Each of your Dikes can hold 1 Animal of any type.
2. Each empty Land Space of your Home Board can hold up to 2 Animals of the same type.
3. Each Stall can hold up to 3 Animals of the same type. (Do not forget to get a pair of Animals into each of your Stalls before the end of Winter to get a newborn Animal during the Inventorying in May;)
4. Double Stalls (reverse side of Stables) are considered two separate Stalls. (You can get them via the “Warden” and “Dike Warden” actions.)
5. Each Stable can hold up to 6 Animals of the same type. (As with Stalls, try to have pairs of Animals in your Stables before Winter ends to maximize the number of newborn Animals you get. You can get Stables via the “Carpenter” action in Winter.)
6. Each Park (reverse side of a Forest) can hold up to 2 Animals of the same or of different types. (You can get Parks via the “Warden” and “Dike Warden” actions)

Indicate the amounts of Food, Grain, Hides, Flax, and Wool you have with the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track. The Goods Indicators cannot go above 15 or below 0.

You may move one of the Food Goods Indicators down on the track to move the other Food Goods Indicator up by the same number of spaces (i.e. you may distribute the total amount of Food you have between the two Food Goods Indicators any way you like). You may want to do this at the end of the game to maximize the number of points you get for goods.

The Animals, Building Materials, Clothing, and Peat Tokens are considered to be an unlimited supply. Please improvise or use the Replacement Tiles if you run out of any of these goods. Every other type of tile is limited by the provided supply. (If it runs out, you cannot get more. This is especially true for Grain/Flax Fields, Stalls, Stables, Peat Boats/Plows, and all the Vehicles.) Of course, when a player returns one of these tiles to the supply, it becomes available again.

During the course of the game, you can build one or more Vehicles. There are 4 Parking Spaces in your Barn designated for Small Vehicles and other pieces of Equipment (like Plows and Peat Boats), and 3 spaces for Large Vehicles. (Alternatively, the bottommost Parking Space can be used for a small piece of Equipment instead of a Large Vehicle.) You can have multiple copies of the same piece of Equipment.

There are 6 types of Vehicles with different costs and uses. The costs are some amount of Wood and Horses. (You do lose the Horses that you pay this cost with. Thematically, this means the Horse is no longer used for breeding but for pulling the Vehicle.)

At any time during the Work Phase, you can load your Vehicles (even right after you got them). This is not considered an action – you can do this on top of your actions. Please note, the tiles you put on your Vehicles will only be removed from there at the end of the Work Phase.

You can load your Vehicles with…

• Building Materials, i.e. Wood and Clay, to upgrade them (to Timber/Bricks)
• Fabrics, i.e. Linen, Woolen and Leather, to upgrade them (to Summer/Winter/Leather Wear)
• Travel Destination Tiles of your color to receive Food at the given destination

Single Spaces can be loaded with Wood and Clay tiles. When placing Wood or Clay on a Vehicle, immediately turn them to their reverse side, “Timber” or “Bricks” respectively. When placing Clay on a Vehicle, you must also pay 1 Peat (as indicated on the Clay Tile).

Alternatively, you can load Single Spaces with the Travel Destinations Hage, Dornum and Beemoor, which are of the smallest available size. On the Large Vehicles, you can consider multiple adjacent spaces as one large space to place the bigger tiles on them – this way, you can fit tiles of sizes 2, 3 and 4 on your Large Vehicles.

Combining spaces on Large Vehicles does not only make sense to fit big Travel Destination Tiles, but also to upgrade Fabrics (Linen, Woolen and Leather): this is how you make Summer, Winter and Leather Ware.

Double Spaces on Vehicles limit your options. You may not place Timber, Bricks, or small Travel Destinations on them. They can only be used for bigger Travel Destinations and Clothing Tiles.

You may, however, combine Double Spaces with adjacent Single Spaces to fit even bigger tiles.

Here you can see one way to load a Droshky. You cannot load it with two Summer Ware Tiles, since you cannot split the Double Space in the middle to use it for two tiles.

When you place a Travel Destination Tile on a Vehicle, you must use it immediately: sell at least one of the depicted items and receive the given amount of Food. Each item can only be sold once per Travel Destination. (When you sell goods, return the tokens to the general supply or adjust the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track. Then adjust the Food Goods Indicator(s) on your Goods Track according to your proceeds.)

When you are done selling, turn the Travel Destination Tile to its reverse side and leave it on your Vehicle. It remains there and blocks the spaces of the Vehicle until the end of the current Work Phase. Only then can you place it on your Travel Experience Track. (Consequently, you can only use a Travel Destination once. You cannot return to it later to sell more goods.)

When placed on a Vehicle, the basic Building Materials (Wood and Clay) as well as the Fabrics (Linen, Woolen, and Leather) are placed with their upgraded side facing up (i.e. Timber/Brick and Summer/Winter/Leather Wear, respectively). However, you cannot access them until after the end of the current Work Phase, when you empty your Vehicles.

The game ends after 9 rounds at the end of the last Summer Half Year, after the November Inventorying. (Your Animals will not breed anymore, because they only do so in May.) Then each player may use his Peat Boat (if he has one) to exchange his remaining Peat for other goods that might provide Victory Points on the Goods Track (see the “Goods Track” scoring category below).

Use the Scoring Pad to write down your Victory Points (VP) in the various scoring categories.

Clothing Tiles and Building Materials:
Add up the VP of your goods tiles. Bricks, Linen, Woolen, and Leather are each worth 1 VP. Summer, Winter, and Leather Wear are each worth 2 VP. Each Timber is worth ½ VP. (Do not round the total.)

Equipment in the Barn:
Add up the VP from your Plows, Peat Boats, and Vehicles. Then, subtract 3 VP unless you have at least one Large Vehicle in your Barn.

Travel Experience:
The first empty space (from the bottom) on your Travel Experience Track indicates the number of VP you get for traveling. Travel Experience can be worth up to 10 VP.

Tools:
Add up the VP of your Tools on the 10 Tool Tracks on the Game Board.

Goods Track:
Each Goods Indicator on space 15 of your Goods Track is worth 3 VP. Each Goods Indicator on one of the spaces 11-14 is worth 2 VP. Each Goods Indicator on one of the spaces 7-10 is worth 1 VP. (You may distribute the total amount of Food you have between your two Food Goods Indicators to optimize the number of VP you get for them.) If you have a Depot, double the total number of VP in this category. (You cannot double them more than once even if you had multiple Depots.)

VP on Home Board:
Add up the VP from your Buildings, Stalls, Stables, Forests, and Parks. Then, subtract 4 VP for each hydrated Moor Section, 1 VP for each dehydrated Moor Section and 1 VP for each Tidal Flat Space (of the top row) left on your Home Board. (Animals have their own scoring category.)

Animals on Home Board:
Each Animal of the type you have the least of is worth 2 VP (see here for details on Animal Husbandry). Each Animal of the type you have the second least of is worth 1 VP. Animals of the third type are not worth any VP.
Examples:
6 Sheep, 5 Horses, and 4 Cattle are worth 0+5+8=13 VP.
5 Horses, 4 Cattle and 0 Sheep are worth 0+4+0=4 VP.
3 Horses, 3 Cattle, and 3 Sheep are worth 0+3+6=9 VP.
Horses and Cattle you paid when acquiring Plows and Vehicles are not considered in this category – they are not worth any VP.

Supply Bottlenecks:
This category was used during the course of the game. Here, you kept track of VP losses due to missing Food and Fuel at the end of each Half Year (which should happen rarely, if at all). During scoring, you do not lose any additional VP in this category.