Barrage: The Colorado Connection — How to Play

Objective of the Game

In Barrage: The Colorado Connection, players take on the role of industrialists competing to harness the power of the Colorado River by constructing dams, bridges, and activating Productive Settlements. The goal is to generate the most Victory Points (VPs) by strategically managing resources, building infrastructure, and fulfilling contracts. The game ends after a set number of rounds, and the player with the highest VP total wins.

Preparation (Setup)

To set up the game with The Colorado Connection expansion:

• Replace the base game map with the new Colorado Map.
• Shuffle the 3 new Private Contracts into the corresponding pile.
• Add the new Bonus tile to the base game tiles, then randomly select 5 to use.
• Add the new Objective tile to the base game tiles before randomly selecting one for the current game.
• Separate the 24 Productive Settlement tiles (A, B, C) and place them randomly on the designated map spaces.
• Randomly place the 10 Bridge tiles on the Construction Site spaces (4 in Mountains, 3 in Hills, 3 in Plains).

If combining with The Leeghwater Project expansion, follow additional setup steps for Private Buildings and External Work tiles.

Game Flow

The game follows the same structure as the base Barrage, with these additions:

• New Action: Building a Bridge – Players can construct bridges over their dams to connect regions and gain bonuses.
• New Action: Activating a Productive Settlement – Players pay credits to activate settlements, with costs varying based on bridge placement.

Each round consists of the Action Phase, where players take turns performing actions, followed by the Production Phase and Maintenance Phase (base game rules apply).

Actions and How to Play

Building a Bridge

1. Place 1 Engineer on a Construction Site action space (non-exclusive).
2. Pay credits: 1 base cost + 2 per bridge already built in that site.
3. Place a Bridge tile on one of your dams in the same area (cannot be on neutral/opponent dams or where a bridge already exists).
4. Immediately gain the bonus shown on the bridge tile.

Note: Dams with bridges cannot be elevated further.

Activating a Productive Settlement

1. Place 1–2 Engineers on the settlement’s action space.
2. Pay credits for each basin crossed to reach the settlement:
   • 0 if you have a bridge in the basin.
   • 3 to the bank if no bridge exists.
   • 1–4 to another player if they own the bridge (they also gain 1 VP).
3. Gain the bonus shown on the settlement tile.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends as per the base Barrage rules. Final scoring includes:

• Victory Points from built Bridges, fulfilled Contracts, and Energy Track progress.
• Bonuses from Objective tiles and other scoring conditions.

The player with the highest VP total wins. Tiebreakers are not specified in the provided context.

Tips for Winning

• Plan bridge placement early: Bridges reduce activation costs for Productive Settlements but lock your dam’s elevation potential.
• Prioritize high-value settlements: Type C tiles offer powerful bonuses like extra Water Drops or Victory Points.
• Leverage opponent bridges: If another player builds a bridge, you can pay them to cross basins—but they’ll score VPs.