Actions and Trade Routes
The five actions, contested routes, ability development and bonus markers.
Your five actions
You begin with two actions per turn. Develop Actions to raise the allowance through 3, 4 and 5. Actions may be taken in any order and repeated.
| Action | Procedure |
|---|---|
| Income | Move the number of traders shown by Bank from general stock to your personal supply. At the final Bank space, take all your traders from stock. |
| Place | Put one trader or merchant from personal supply on an empty route connection point. |
| Displace | Replace an opponent’s trader by paying one additional trader to stock, or replace a merchant by paying two. The displaced player takes the replaced piece plus the same number of extra traders from stock and places them on adjacent routes. |
| Move | Move the number of your pieces shown by Book of Knowledge from route to route, respecting the route’s open connection spaces. |
| Create a Trade Route | Claim a fully occupied route whose pieces are all yours. Resolve it as below. |
Claim a route
Resolve the route in this order:
- Score one prestige point for each endpoint city controlled by any player. Control means most offices; ties go to the player with the office furthest right.
- Take the adjacent bonus marker, if any. Take a replacement marker into your desk’s storage; at the end of your turn, place it on an empty eligible route.
- Choose no more than one reward: build an office, develop an ability, or use Coellen’s special scoring space. You may skip the reward, but then return all route pieces to general stock.
Build an office
Return all but one of your route pieces to general stock. Use the final piece on the leftmost vacant office in either endpoint city. A cube belongs on a square office and a disc on a round office. You need the matching Privilege color for the space; never skip a vacant space.
Some cities award one immediate point for their first office. Completing a city advances the track. On the base board, the tenth completed city ends the game. Completing the red-banner chain immediately awards the East–West connection bonus.
Develop an ability
If an endpoint shows an ability symbol, return every route piece to stock and remove the leftmost piece from that ability on your desk. Return it to your personal supply. The improved value applies immediately, including an added action if you improved Actions during this route claim.
| Ability | What it improves |
|---|---|
| Actions | Number of actions each turn: 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5 |
| Book of Knowledge | Pieces moved with Move: 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Bank | Pieces taken with Income: 3, 4, 7, or all |
| Privilege | Office colors you may fill: white, orange, pink, black |
| City Keys | Endgame network multiplier: 1, 2, 2, 3, 4 |
Coellen and Warburg
On the Coellen–Warburg route, you may instead place a merchant from the route on one vacant Coellen scoring space. You may choose any vacant space, but its privilege color must be unlocked. The printed value scores at game end.
Bonus markers
Claiming a marker gives its one-time effect; it remains in your collection whether used or unused for endgame scoring. Replacement markers stay on the silver plate until turn end, after any bonus actions. Place each beside an empty route with no pieces and at least one open office in an endpoint city.
The standard set includes Exchange Trading Posts, Additional Trading Post, Develop 1 Ability, Move 3 Tradesmen, +3 Actions, and +4 Actions. Blank markers are house-rule pieces. See Cards & Components and the optional marker promo.