Solo: Lacerda

The official Vinhos solitaire game against Lacerda (Reference Book pp. 10–11): setup, his card-driven turns, movement bribes, each of his actions, the Fair, accolades and titles — plus the 2021 draft automa.

The solo game is played with the Special Vintage 2016 rules against Lacerda, a card-driven opponent. Everything works as in a 2-player game — 7 regions, the 2-player Export frame, Fair VP for 1st and 3rd place — except what this page changes.

Solo setup

Set up for 2 players (Setup, choose Solo), then:

• Lacerda’s area — he has no player board. Put all his barrels in his area, plus the top Wine Expert of each of the four decks. He starts with no money: he collects Bagos but never spends any.
• Two decks — shuffle the 9 Action cards (one per Quadrel space) and the 9 Number cards (1–9). The Number deck is a randomiser: unless told otherwise, return drawn Number cards and reshuffle after each action. Redraw a number that does not fit (a region not in play, a tile already taken).
• His initial Vineyard — draw a Number card: discard the top Vineyard of that region and put a Renown cube in its inset.
• His first Magnate Action tile — draw Number cards until you get a 1–6 matching a tile still on the display (the display spaces are numbered 1–6 in the Reference Book’s grid).
• Head start — put 2 of his barrels on the top slots of the two leftmost columns of the 2-player Export frame, and move his score marker 19 VP.

Playing a year

Turns still alternate, but each side takes both of its actions in a row. Advance the Year/Taxation marker after each side’s two actions.

Your two actions are separate turns: each may use one Wine Expert and one Magnate Action tile.

Lacerdas turn

Draw the top Action card and discard it: Lacerda moves to that space and takes his version of the action (below). The discarded Action cards are shuffled back into the deck after each Fair.

Whenever Lacerda “uses Renown cubes”, he takes them from your region with the most cubes (draw Number cards to break ties). They are simply removed — they never add to his wine.

Lacerdas movement

Normal movement rules, with two twists:

• The bank pays for him. Whatever he would owe — distance, tax, or you if your marker is there — is paid by the bank; you still receive your Bago.
• Bribes. When he leaves a space other than the centre, put a Bago from the bank on it if there is none already. When you move onto a space holding a Bago, pay 1 Bago to the bank and return that Bago — on top of any other costs. If you cannot pay, you cannot take that action.

Lacerdas actions

Action card	What Lacerda does
Vineyards	Draw 2 Number cards; discard the top Vineyard of each region and add a Renown cube there for each
Cellars	Draw 2 Number cards and add a cube to each region; discard 2 Cellars (or all that are left)
Wineries	Draw 2 Number cards and add a cube to each region; discard 2 Wineries (or all that are left)
Wine Experts	Take the top Expert of each feature shown on the Vintage tile into his area
Enologists / Farmers	Discard 2 Enologists and 2 Farmers (you may still only hire 2 in total)
Export	Twice: take 2 cubes from your best region, put a barrel on the highest free Export slot (leftmost if tied), score its VP + 1 per cube taken (+2 per Alentejo cube)
Sales	Twice: see below
Pass / Press Release	See below

Sales

For each of his two sales:

1. Take 2 Renown cubes from your best region (or all, if fewer).
2. Draw Number cards until one is higher than 2; his wine’s value is that number plus the cubes taken. Its colour is Anabela’s colour on the current Vintage tile.
3. Put his barrel on the Sales slot of that value and colour. Taken? The other colour, same value. Both taken? Go down to the next lower value, same colour, and so on (the cubes stay spent). No free slot at all? Draw again and repeat.
4. He takes the slot’s Bagos into his area.

Pass and Press Release

He always wants to go first: change the turn order as usual, putting him first. Then:

1. He gains Fair Points equal to Bruno’s minimum value on the current Vintage tile.
2. He takes 2 Renown cubes from your best region.
3. His disc goes to the 3 Fair Points booth (+3 FP); if you have it, to the 3 Bagos booth (the bank pays him).
4. He discards matching Wine Experts by the normal rules — one per feature, the most valuable one.

Maintenance and the Fair

• Maintenance — he takes back his lowest-value barrel from the Sales area (Anabela’s colour if tied).
• Fair — if he has not issued a Press Release, he does so now. VP as in a 2-player game. The Fair’s winner also takes a trophy — a disc of an unused colour.
• Magnate tiles — taking turns with you, draw Number cards until a 1–6 matches a tile still on the display (grid on Reference Book p. 11); if the deck runs out he passes. His Action tiles are discarded; each Multiplier tile he takes goes to his area with one of his barrels on it and is worth 10 VP at the end. With no barrels or cards left he takes no more. Then reshuffle his Action cards.

End of the solo game

Lacerda passes on the final action after the third Fair. Score both sides as usual (his Multipliers 10 VP each), then count your accolades:

[Islands] Lacerda has no rules for the island regions; the other packs do not change how he plays.

Draft automa (2021)

A two-page draft automa from July 2021, unpublished and not part of the printed rules, offers a different opponent. It is a work in progress: use the Lacerda rules above for the official solo game. In outline:

• Set up as for 2 players; turn up the first Vintage tile only after the Magnate Action tiles are chosen. The automa picks its Vineyard and Magnate tile with Number cards (it never takes the Export tile first).
• Action selection — a 6-sided die (faces 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5) chooses one of four number tokens on a loop of Quadrel spaces; the token moves one step along its arrows and the automa takes that action. It pays nobody for movement, and if the same action would come up twice in a turn, the token steps on.
• Priorities — each action has a ranked list: Vineyards and Cellars go where your wine is best (and Anabela’s colour), Wineries and workers where they lift Quality to break even with the weather, Experts give the best Fair bonus. A sale is forced when it has 4 Bagos or fewer.
• Press Release — triggered when two tokens meet and its wine meets at least 2 of the 3 Magnates; barrels come back from Carolina first, then Bruno (8+), then Anabela.
• Scoring — as usual, but each of its Bagos counts 1 VP.

Its icon-only priority sheet is hard to read; if you try it, keep the draft sheet beside you and check each icon against it.