Yucata - Rules for the game 'Transatlantic'

Overview of the Game

Start

The setup is described in detail on above.

Each player receives 1 random Sailing Ship. The owner of the oldest ship becomes the starting player and takes the Start Player card. Players take their turns in clockwise order.

Before starting to play, each player purchases a steamship from the ship market in anti-clockwise order and deploys it.

Players keep their action cards hidden in their hands.

Game Flow

A player’s turn consists of playing one card and executing the related action/s. Played cards are stacked in front of a player in such a way that the last card played is always visible to others. When their Director card is played, players return their stack of played cards to their hands. In the course of the game players acquire additional cards.

Ships are purchased from the ship market and deployed in sea regions. They are the most important source of cash, especially when transporting. In combination with personal markers on the player sheet and neutral ships in the docks, they also are the main source of Victory Points (VPs). VPs are already gained during the game, for instance when older ships are scrapped, as well as in the final scoring round. In combination with Trade Houses, ships may also gain VPs when transporting.

Game End

The game ends after the last steamship is purchased from the ship market. The current round is completed, and one additional round is played.

Game Components

Game Boards

5 Sea Regions

5 Player Boards for 2-4 players

1 Scoreboard

1 Ship Market Board, Double-sided (3 pieces)

108

Wooden Pieces

10 captains and 7 houses in 4 player colors

40 coal cubes

110

Cards

1 start player card

8 player action cards per player color

22 extention action cards (2 identical sets of 11)

55

Ships and Building

Scotia

4 sailing ships

45 steam ships

5 HQ buildings

Miscellaneous Cardboard

1 director in 4 player colors

2 victory point markers in 4 player colors

2 final scoring overview tokens

67

Markers

12 blue ribands

16 coal bunkers

13 freight

13 mail

13 passengers

32

Contracts (values 1 and 3)

80

Banknotes (values 10, 20, 50 and 100 thousand pounds)

1

Game Rules

1

Quick Intro

1

Booklet "Age of Steam Ships"

The Ships

The Ship Market

When purchasing a ship from the ship market the cost is paid to the bank. Its total price consists of the basic price depicted in the red field on the ship itself plus the additional cost depicted under its current position on the ship market. Finally the market is restored: The ship in the leftmost position is placed inside the docks, the remaining ships move left, and the empty positions are refilled from the stack.

Deploying Ships

Playing a corresponding action card, players deploy new ships at the top of the sea regions.

As younger ships (by year of construction) are always located above older ones, a region can only be entered if the new ship is the youngest inside that region. As an exception from that general rule, a new ship may be deployed in a position in between other ships, according to their age, if that region still has free spaces left and there is no other region where it could enter at the top.

If a new ship enters a region, all older ships move down one position to accommodate it. If a region cannot contain more ships, the oldest ship is pushed out and has to be redeployed immediately if that is possible (applying the deployment rules from above, the ship’s owner decides). If no redeployment is possible, the ship is scrapped instead. In that case, it may bid farewell by transporting a last time (see: Transporting with Ships, the owner collects the ship’s income and, if appropriate, VPs from Trade Houses). Finally, the scrapped ship is scored in the usual way (see: Ship’s score). The scrapped ship is now out of the game and does not enter the docks.

Special case: Newly purchased ships which cannot enter a region remain with their owner and only score during the final scoring round. If a newly deployed ship is the fastest in the North Atlantic region (or New York), it wins a Blue Riband, and its owner places a respective marker inside his player sheet.

Transporting with Ships

The action cards TRANSPORT, REGION, BLUE RIBAND, GLOBAL, CARGO, and CRUISE (= cards marked with a small anchor) allow ships to transport and thus collect income. This is done as follows:
1. Each transporting steamship loses 1 coal unit. Steamships without coal cannot transport. Sailing Ships never need coal.
2. When transporting, the owner collects the ship’s income (on green background) from the bank (Important: the income is calculated in a different way when playing CARGO or CRUISE).
3. With Trade Houses, the owner receives 1 VP per ship multiplied by number of own Trade Houses in that region.

Action Cards

Shipyard

1. The player may purchase 1 or 2 ships from the ship market. Each ship is equipped with a captain and loads 1 unit of coal.
2. The player must deploy 1 of the newly purchased ships immediately. The other ship remains on the table near his player sheet.

Shipyard (Extension Card)

Like the usual SHIPYARD card, but the player may load 1 of the newly purchased ships with 1 additional unit of coal.

Transport

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player transports with up to 2 of his own ships.

Transport (Extension Card)

Like the usual TRANSPORT card, but the player may transport with up to 3 of his own ships.

Region

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player chooses a region where all ships transport (other player’s ships as well). As a bonus, he collects the income of the oldest transporting foreign ship from the bank. All other players collect their income as well. (example 1)

Cargo

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player transports with 1 of his ships and collects an income of up to £300, depending on the ship’s tonnage. (example 2)

Cruise

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player transports with 1 of his ships and collects an income of £10 per 100 passenger capacity (example 3)

Global

1. One ship must be deployed if possible. 2. The player makes a choice: a) he either transports with 1 of his ships per different region, or b) he transports with 1 of his steamships per different flag. (example 1)

Fleet

The player receives 2 victory points per steamship with a different flag (example 2). Purchased ships still waiting for deployment are included.

Commerce

The player collects £ 50 per own Trade House. (example 3).

Blue Riband

1. One ship must be deployed if possible.
2. The player may transport with as many of his ships as he owns Blue Ribands on his player sheet. (example 4)

Coal

Own steamships are loaded with coal. The player loads as many coal units as he owns Coal Bunkers on his player sheet plus 2. The coal has to be distributed evenly on his active steamships in the regions. At fi rst, ships without coal are loaded, then ships with 1 coal (which may be the same ships) etc. (example 5)
Steamships can carry up to 3 coal units each. Sailing Ships do not need coal.

Coal (Extension Card)

Like COAL, but the amount is number of coal bunkers plus 3. The coal may be distributed as the player wishes. The maximum of 3 coal units per steamship still applies. (example 6)

Ship Agent

The player may copy the action from a card which was last played by another player. The action is executed in a way as if he had played that card himself. Ship Agents from other players cannot be copied.

Invest

The player has 2 options:
1. He builds a Trade House in a region where he has a ship and pays £ 20 - £ 50 (depending on its position). In addition, he takes a marker, either for freight, mail, or passengers, and puts it into the corresponding column on his player sheet. Important: each building site in a region can take only 1 Trade House, and each player can build no more than 2 houses per region. The North Atlantic (or New York) has room for 4 houses, but the other regions only have room for 3 houses each.
2. He purchases a Coal Bunker from the supply, pays £ 50, and puts it into the corresponding column on his player sheet. In addition, he takes 2 coal units and distributes them onto 2 different ships if possible.

Invest (Extension Card)

The player pays £ 100, takes 2 different markers from the supply (coal, freight, mail, or passengers) and puts them into the corresponding columns on his player sheet. In addition, he may either build without further payment 1 Trade House in a region where he has a ship, or, if a Coal Bunker was included, distribute 2 coal units onto 2 different ships if possible.

Director

1. The player takes all his cards back into his hand. Important: He must take back at least 4 cards including the DIRECTOR. Otherwise he cannot take this action.
2. If at least 6 cards are taken back, he receives 1 coal bunker or marker for freight, mail, or passengers for his player sheet. With a minimum of 8 cards taken back, he receives 2 different markers (but never a Blue Riband).
3. The player chooses 1 new action card from the open display, plays that card immediately, and executes the related action.
4. The open display is restored: The card in leftmost position is removed and put aside on a separate stack, the remaining 3 cards move left, and 2 new cards are displayed. There must always be 5 different cards on display; duplicate cards go to the separate stack immediately. If the original stack is empty, the separate stack is shuffl ed and then used.

President

1. The player takes all his cards back into his hand. Important: He must take back at least 5 cards including the PRESIDENT. Otherwise he cannot take this action.
2. For 3 contracts each he may buy 1 Coal Bunker or marker for freight, mail, or passengers for his player sheet. If he has enough contracts, he may buy even more markers, which have to be different (but never a Blue Riband). Leftover contracts are sold for £ 20 each to the bank.
3. and 4. like DIRECTOR.

Further Rules

SCOTIA

The SCOTIA is a neutral ship which starts in the North Atlantic (or New York). She always carries coal.

Director Tokens

With his personal Director Token a player copies a card from the open display, instead of playing a card from his hand. After using the token once it is out of the game. The open display does not change; all cards remain in their position.

Scoring

Ship's Score

The ship’s score is the main way to generate Victory Points (VPs). Depending on the situation on the personal player sheet, VPs are gained for ships (and headquarters) of a certain flag. As shown here, a player receives 7 VPs per ship with a blue flag, 3 VPs per ship with a black flag, and 5 VPs per ship with a green flag.

Additional VPs are gained with the help of ships with a certain flag inside the public docks. As shown here, each blue ship receives 2 VPs extra, each black ship 3 VPs extra, and each green ship receives 1 VP extra. The dock’s VPs are the same for every player.

Scores During the Game

Victory Points (VPs) are tallied with a captain on the Victory Point Chart. While playing the game, VPs may be gained in 3 different ways:
1. If a ship is pushed out of its region and cannot be deployed elsewhere, it is scrapped and scores immediately (see “Ship’s score”). It is taken out of the game and does not enter the docks!
2. If ships transport in a region where their owner has Trade Houses as well (see “Transporting with ships”).
3. With the action card FLEET.

Final Scoring

Players gather their ships, either from the regions or still waiting for deployment, together with their headquarters and score them altogether in the usual way as described above (see “Ship’s score”).
In addition they receive 1 VP per full amount of £ 100 cash. Players receive VPs for complete rows of markers they have acquired on the sheet (not for markers already printed). The fi rst row gives 5 VPs, the second row 10 VPs, the third row 15 VPs, and the fourth row 20 VPs.
In addition, each marker in the uppermost incomplete row scores as follows: 1 VP if it is the first row, 2 VPs if it is the second, etc. The player sheet as depicted would score a total of 21 VPs.
All VPs are tallied with a captain on the Victory Point Chart. Whenever reaching 50 VPs, the player places a respective VP marker at the chart. Winner of the game is the player with most VPs. In case of a tie, the owner of the youngest ship wins that tie.

Variant

There are 2 variants, which may be applied separately or in combination:

Variant Ship Market

Here the reverse side of the Ship Market is used. There are no additional costs to be paid. But only ships purchased from the fi rst 3 market positions start with coal. The other 3 ships are deployed after purchase without coal.

Variant President

The action card DIRECTOR is replaced by the PRESIDENT card. In addition, contracts enter the game as a new element. They are gained only when deploying a new ship: For each of the 3 characteristics tonnage, speed, and passenger capacity the player gains 1 contract, if his new ship outnumbers all other ships in the region (example). Ships being pushed out cannot gain contracts elsewhere.

Player Sheet

Even if a column is full, more Blue Ribands or other markers can be acquired. They are placed beneath the player sheet and count 1 additional VP for their respective flag.

Headquarters

They appear on the ship market after the last steamships. They count just like ordinary ships in the final scoring round (depending on their flag). They are purchased like a ship with SHIPYARD and have to be paid with the usual additional costs as written on the board. Additionally, the following rules apply:
1. A player may purchase 1 ship plus 1 headquarters, or only 1 headquarters, but never 2 headquarters at once. Important: If only 1 headquarters is purchased, no ship enters the docks (headquarters never enter the docks). The ship market is restored in the usual way as long as possible.
2. A purchased headquarters is marked with a captain and remains on the table near the player sheet.

Hints for handling

General

Card and ship text can be difficult to read, even on larger screens. You can view larger images of most items by clicking on the (magnify icon) present near the different areas of the screen (action card display, ship market, region display, player hand, player marker tableau).

You can click on (info icon) to see more information about the docks and the player marker tableau.

Viewing Opponent Info

To view opponent hands, discards, undeployed ships, marker tableaus, and ship point values, click on the captain marker (located on the bottom right of the screen) for the player you wish to view. The currently selected player will be shown with a white dashed outline around the captain marker. The magnify icons are available to view larger images of opponent info.

About The Screen

There is a lot of information on the screen, so here's a description of everything on the screen, from top-left to bottom-right:

Action Card Display (top left) - Cards available to pick up when you play your Director/President action card, or when you use your Director/President token
Action Card Draw Pile - The cards that will replace cards drawn from the action card display. The top number is the number of action cards remaining in the draw pile; the bottom number is the number of action cards in the discard pile; the letter on the back of the card shows whether the next card is from Deck A or Deck B (not really important for gameplay).
Played Action Cards (top center) - Cards played by opponents and therefore available to be copied with the Ship Agent/Ship Agent Extension card. Note that Ship Agent cards cannot be copied.
Docks (top right) - Top row of numbers shows how many ships of each color are in the docks. The captain token to the left of Ship Point Values shows which player's point values you are viewing. The bottom row of numbers shows the potential point values of each color ship for that player. These are the points that will be scored when ships are scrapped, and also for ships currently owned if the game were to end now.
Ship Market (2nd row left) - Ships/HQs available for purchase. If a coal icon is shown on the ship, then that ship comes with coal when purchased.
Ship Draw Pile (2nd row right) - Ship cards that will replace purchased ships/HQs. The number on the deck represents the 5-year date range for the ships and is not very important for the game. 9 is the highest value for ships. 10 represents HQs.
Region Display (3rd row left) - This shows deployed ships, who owns them, and how much coal they have. Anchors represent spaces where ships can be present. Once all anchors in a column are full, ships deployed to that column with displace the last ship in that column (which will either be scrapped, or redeployed by their owner).
Player Info (middle right) - The black ship icon represents the start player (first to play an action card). The black arrows on the left and right pointing inward represent the player on turn. The hands of cards show cards in hand (black text on white cards) and discards (white text on back cards). The director/president token will have an X if it has already been used. If playing the President variant, you'll see a Contract icon with a number over the top showing the number of contracts you've earned since last playing the President action card. Money is shown in the upper right. Current points (end game points) are shown on the bottom right. Player name is at the bottom.
Player Marker Tableau (right, below player info) - This shows ship and marker counts. The captain token in the upper left signifies which player's information is being viewed. The numbers imposed over the flags show the number of ships owned of that color. The numbers imposed over the markers show how many markers of each type the player has. Everyone starts with 1 marker of each type.
Player Hand/Discards/Undeployed Ships (bottom left) - This shows your current hand and discards (if any). Available cards are shown on the left. Discards are shown on the right and have a purple band at the bottom (which also shows the number of discards). Undeployed ships (if any) are shown on the far right.
Player Captain Markers (bottom right) - This shows captain markers for each player in the game. The currently selected captain marker will have a white dashed outline, meaning this is the player's info that is being shown all over the page. Areas affected by this selection will show a captain token in that player's color.