Barrage: The Nile Affair Expansion — How to Play

Objective of the Game

In Barrage: The Nile Affair, players are companies vying for control over the Nile region, driven by an energy crisis that has led to the construction of dams and the modification of river courses. While the need for power is paramount, the expansion introduces a new mechanic: Irrigation. Players will be looking to acquire lands near lakes and rivers, specifically along the Nile, to farm and gain an advantage. The ultimate goal is to earn money and outmaneuver competitors, though the specific victory condition (e.g., highest VP) is not detailed in the provided context.

Preparation (Setup)

To play Barrage: The Nile Affair, you need the base game. This expansion is compatible with 2- to 4-player games and can be played with or without The Leeghwater Project expansion.

Use all the rules for setting up the base game with the following modifications and additions:

• Use the new Nile Map in place of the base standard map.
• Use the special Headstream tiles in place of the base Headstream tiles.
• Shuffle the three new Private Contracts into the corresponding pile.
• Add the new Bonus tile to those of the basic game and then randomly draw the 5 tiles you will use. Put the remaining tiles back in the box.
• Add the new Objective tile to those of the basic game before randomly selecting the one to be used in the current game. Put the remaining tiles back in the box.
• Randomly place four piles of two face-up Irrigation Tiles on each Irrigation area (Mountain Irrigation tiles on the Mountain Irrigation area, and so on).
• Place the five Irrigation Scoring tiles face up, ordered by round number (the number on the back), above the five bonus tiles.

If you are playing with The Leeghwater Project:

• Add the new Private Building tile to those of The Leeghwater Project before drawing the 5 tiles to be used in the current game.
• Add the new External Work tiles to those of The Leeghwater Project. Divide the tiles according to their backs and shuffle the piles separately. Randomly draw one tile from each pile and put these tiles back in the box (this way you will have a different setup of External Work tiles in every game you play).

Flow of the Game

The game flow is the same as the basic game with the following modifications:

Income and Headstreams Phase

After placing Water Drops on the Headstream tiles according to the number indicated on the tile for the current round, add 2 additional Water Drops on the Headstream tile corresponding to the beginning of the Nile river (the second Headstream from the left).

For example, at the beginning of Round I on the second Headstream tile there should be 0+2 Water Drops.

Action Phase

Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre esta seção.

Scoring Phase

After the Scoring Phase as per the base rules, the Irrigation scoring takes place.

Ações e Como Jogar

The Nile map includes two new elements: the Nile itself and the Irrigation areas. The Nile river is fed by a special headstream that provides more water than a standard headstream; therefore, the basins crossed by the Nile will receive a greater amount of water. On the other hand, the power of the available conduits on the Nile basins is lower than an equivalent basin at the same level.

The Irrigation areas are 3 special zones (one for each horizontal area) located in the middle of a pair of basins. Each Irrigation area is directly connected to the basin on its left and the basin on its right. You can interact with the Irrigation areas using the action spaces depicted on the map, moving water from your dam in the adjacent basins and gaining one of the available Irrigation tiles.

Irrigation tiles provide you Irrigation points and various one-shot extra actions that you can combine with your main action during your turn.

New Action: Irrigation

There are six new action spaces depicted on the map (2 action spaces for each Irrigation Area). These action spaces allow you to perform an Irrigation action. To perform an Irrigation action, you must follow these steps:

1. Place an Engineer in the available action space of the Irrigation area you want to irrigate. If you place your Engineer in the red action space, you must pay an additional fee of 3 Credits.
2. Remove 1 Water Drop from a Dam owned by you placed on the basin connected to the Irrigation area chosen; return the Water Drop removed to the general supply. You can't perform this action if you don't have an owned Dam with at least 1 Water Drop on a basin connected to the Irrigation area chosen. (NB: you cannot use a Neutral Dam to perform this action).
3. Choose and take one of the visible Irrigation tiles from the area you irrigated and place the chosen Irrigation tile face up on your personal supply. You can't perform this action in an Irrigation area with no more Irrigation tiles available.

New Bonus Action: Activating an Irrigation tile

In addition to your main action, once per turn, you can also receive a bonus action by activating one of your collected Irrigation tiles. You can activate an Irrigation tile before or after your main standard action (not in between).

Flip on the other side the Irrigation tile you activated and resolve the corresponding effect. An Irrigation tile face down can't be activated again. You can activate only one Irrigation tile per turn.

There are eight kinds of Irrigation tile effects:

• Receive 2 Excavators
• Receive 3 Credits
• Rotate your Construction Wheel by 1 segment.
• Perform a production action
• Fulfill one face up Contract in your personal supply requiring 4 Energy Units (or less). You don't need to produce energy to get the reward.
• Perform a construction action without placing Engineers. You can build only a Structure to be placed on the Plains area.
• Move your Energy Marker on the Energy Track by 3 steps. You cannot use this amount of Energy Units to fulfill Contracts.
• Fulfill one face up Contract in your personal supply requiring 6 Energy Units (or less). You don't need to produce energy to get the reward.
• Perform a construction action without placing Engineers. You can build only a Structure to be placed on the Plains or Hills area.
• Move your Energy Marker on the Energy Track by 4 steps. You cannot use this amount of Energy Units to fulfill Contracts.
• Fulfill one face up Contract in your personal supply requiring 8 Energy Units (or less). You don't need to produce energy to get the reward.
• Perform a construction action without placing Engineers. You can build only a Structure to be placed on the Plains, Hills or Mountains area.
• Move your Energy Marker on the Energy Track by 5 steps. You cannot use this amount of Energy Units to fulfill Contracts.
• Rotate your Construction Wheel by 2 segments.
• Perform a production action with a bonus of +1
• Rotate your Construction Wheel by 2 segments.
• Perform a production action with a bonus of +2
• Place 2 Water Drops on one or more Headstream tiles. These drops flow down immediately.
• Receive 1 Excavator and 1 Concrete Mixer
• Receive 4 Credits
• Place 2 Water Drops on one or more Headstream tiles. These drops flow down immediately.
• Receive 2 Concrete Mixers
• Receive 5 Credits
• Place 3 Water Drops on one or more Headstream tiles. These drops flow down immediately.

New Private Building

Activating this building allows you to perform an Irrigation action from any of your Dams (as for the standard action; you don't have to place 1 Engineer in the action space on the map). If you have enough Water Drops on the chosen Dam, you can also perform a second Irrigation action from the same Dam, removing a second Water Drop and taking a second Irrigation tile.

New Bonus Tile

Place up to 2 Water Drops on one or more Headstream: those Water Drops flow immediately. Gain a permanent bonus of +2 on all the Irrigation point counts.

New External Works

There are 3 new External Works (1 per level):

• Flip back up to two used Irrigation tiles and move your Energy Marker on the Energy Track by 4 steps.
• Immediately receive the total current number of visible VPs on the three irrigation areas.

New Contracts

There are 3 new Contracts (1 per level):

• Take a Plains Irrigation tile (without placing the Engineer nor discarding the Water Drop) or receive 3 VP.
• Take a Plains or Hills Irrigation tile (without placing the Engineer nor discarding the Water Drop) or receive 5 VP.
• Take any kind of Irrigation tile (without placing the Engineer nor discarding the Water Drop) or receive 7 VP.

Fim de Jogo e Pontuação

Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre esta seção.

Irrigation Scoring

Each player counts the total value of Irrigation points depicted on the collected Irrigation tiles (no matter if the Irrigation tiles have been activated or not) and previously collected Irrigation Scoring tiles.

• The player with the higher Irrigation points takes the Irrigation Scoring tile corresponding to the current round and receives 3 VP plus the total number of VP currently visible on the three Irrigation areas. In case of a tie, all the involved players get the VP for the second place and the Irrigation Scoring tile is discarded.
• The player(s) with the second higher Irrigation points count receives half (rounded down) the total number of VP currently visible on the three Irrigation areas.
• The player with the lowest count of Irrigation points loses 2 VP (if 2 or more players share the lowest count, all those players lose 2 VP).
• In case all the players have the same Irrigation points, nobody receives VP and the Irrigation Scoring tile is discarded.

The Irrigation Scoring tiles collected provide a malus on the Irrigation point count for the following rounds (-1 for the Irrigation Scoring tiles of the 1st and 2nd round and -2 for the 3rd and 4th round).

New Scoring Tile

Score 2 VP for each Irrigation tile you have taken. All the Bases and Elevations you have built in the basins connected to Irrigation spaces.

Dicas para Vencer

1. Focus on collecting Irrigation tiles early, as they provide both Irrigation points for scoring and valuable one-shot bonus actions that can be combined with your main actions.
2. Strategically activate your collected Irrigation tiles to maximize their effects. Remember you can only activate one per turn, and it can be done before or after your main action.
3. Pay attention to the Irrigation Scoring tiles and their malus for subsequent rounds. While winning the Irrigation scoring provides VP, the penalty for future rounds should be considered in your long-term strategy.