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The Ludarium · Teach sheet

Teach The Castles of Burgundy in ten minutes

1 to 4 players · 90 to 120 minutes · Ages 12 and up

The goal: Score the most victory points by filling your duchy, completing regions, raising livestock, and selling goods.

The Castles of Burgundy setup for four players. The game board shows face-down goods stacks on phases A to E, six numbered depots around the black depot, the bridge with every turn piece stacked on space 1, the bonus tiles, and every score marker on 0. Beside it are the supply of silver coins, workers, and the white die, and face-down hex tile piles sorted by color. Below are two player areas, each with a duchy board, a castle on the center space, 3 goods, 1 silver, 2 dice, workers, tile storage, and an overview board.

On your turn

  1. Each phase: clear leftover hex tiles, refill the depots, lay out 5 goods.
  2. Everyone rolls. The start player rolls white and puts a goods tile on that depot.
  3. In bridge order, each player uses each die for one action.
  4. Take a tile from the depot matching the die, into a storage space.
  5. Place a stored tile on an empty space of its color and number, touching your tiles.
  6. Or sell all goods of the type the die shows, or take 2 workers with any die.
  7. Workers change a die by 1 each. 1 and 6 wrap around.
  8. Once per turn: buy one black depot tile for 2 silver.

Three tips for your first game

  1. Keep a worker or two in hand so no roll is ever wasted.
  2. Close small regions early. The phase bonus shrinks every phase.
  3. Ships pay twice: goods to sell, and an earlier turn next round.

Setup

  1. Board in the middle. Silver, workers, white die, and hex piles sorted by back color beside it.
  2. Shuffle the goods: 5 face-down stacks of 5 on phases A to E.
  3. Bonus tiles on their spaces, large on top of small.
  4. Everyone uses the same duchy number. Castle on the center dark green space.
  5. Each player: 3 random goods, 1 silver, 2 dice, an overview board, score marker on 0.
  6. Roll for start player. Workers go 1, 2, 3, 4 in clockwise order.
  7. Turn pieces on bridge space 1, start player on top. Start player takes the white die.

Scoring

  • Livestock: points for its animals, plus same-type animals on that pasture.
  • Completed region by size: 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, or 36.
  • Plus a phase bonus per region: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 in phases A to E.
  • First to fill a color: large bonus tile. Second: small bonus tile.
  • Selling goods: 1 silver, plus 2, 3, or 4 points per tile by player count.
  • Watchtower: 4 points. Some monasteries score at the end.
  • End: 1 point per unsold good and per silver, 1 per 2 workers.

Game end: The game ends after phase E, 25 rounds in all. Most points wins; a tie goes to the most empty duchy spaces.

Free course: theludarium.com/academy/castles-of-burgundy/

Unofficial. Not affiliated with Ravensburger or alea. The Castles of Burgundy is a trademark of Ravensburger. Rules as of the The Castles of Burgundy rulebook, Ravensburger and alea reissue with expansions (item 26925, the 2019 anniversary edition), English rules dated 2020.

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