Hansa Teutonica: The Definitive Guide to Dominating Trade Routes!

Hey there, future masters of the Hanseatic League! Get ready to dive into one of the most strategic and rewarding board games out there: Hansa Teutonica. Forget bureaucracy and boring meetings; here, we're going to build trade empires, expand our influence, and, of course, accumulate lots of Prestige Points (PP). I'm the senior editor at BoardGameBot, and I'm here to guide you through every step of this mercantile journey. Let's go!

Game Objective: Conquer the Hansa and Prestige!

In Hansa Teutonica, you are ambitious merchants in the powerful Hanseatic League. The main objective is simple, but the journey is full of tactical decisions: increase your standing as merchants in the Hanseatic League, earning prestige points. How do you do that? By establishing a network of offices in new "Hansa Cities," improving your trading skills, or even being a little "aggressive" with other merchants! Ultimately, the player who accumulates the most Prestige Points (PP) will be the grand winner and the most influential merchant in the Hansa!

Setup: Building Your Trade Empire

Let's set up the table and prepare the ground for the commercial battle! Follow these steps for the setup:

1. Game Board: Place the double-sided board in the center of the table. Use the front side for 4-5 players and the back side for 2-3 players.
2. Initial Bonus Tokens: Take the 3 initial Bonus Tokens (shown on the left side of the manual) and randomly place one on each of the 3 tavern spaces on the board. Make sure the token's arrow points to the corresponding trade route.
3. Bonus Token Reserve: Shuffle the remaining Bonus Tokens and create a face-down pile, forming the reserve.
4. Player Components: Each player chooses a color and takes all Merchants (wooden cubes) and Traders (wooden discs) of that color.
5. Personal Boards (Offices): Each player takes a desk-shaped board and fills the 5 skill tracks with their markers, as illustrated on page 3 of the manual. Remember: Traders (discs) go in the book spaces, and Merchants (squares) in the other spaces. The leftmost space of each track should remain uncovered, indicating your starting level.
6. Score Marker: Each player places 1 merchant marker on the '0' space of the Score Track.
7. Initial Personal Supply:
   • The starting player takes 5 Merchants and 1 Trader from their General Stock, forming their personal supply reserve.
   • The second player (clockwise) takes 6 Merchants and 1 Trader.
   • The next player takes 7 Merchants and 1 Trader, and so on.

   The remaining pieces of each player form their General Stock, which can only be accessed with specific actions.

8. Completed Cities Marker: Place the "Completed Cities" Marker (black cube) on the Completed City Track.
9. 2-Player Setup: If playing with 2 players, add the 4 cardboard Soldiers to divide the board into provinces and place the wooden Pawn in any province, after the starting player has been chosen.

The Game Turn: Your Actions in the Hansa

Players take turns clockwise, performing the number of actions indicated on their Action Track (initially 2). You can perform any action, in any order, and repeat actions as many times as you wish, as long as you have actions available. Each action must be completed before the next. If you don't want to use all your actions, you can end your turn.

The 5 Available Actions:

1. Receive Income:
   • Take Merchants and/or Traders from your General Stock and add them to your personal supply reserve.
   • The quantity of pieces you receive is determined by your level in the Money Bags skill (initially 3, potentially reaching "C" for the entire stock!).
2. Place 1 Merchant or Trader on a Route:
   • Take 1 Merchant or Trader from your personal supply reserve and place it in an empty space along a trade route.
   • You do not need to complete an entire route in a single turn.
   • Remember: pieces are placed in the route spaces, not in the city offices.
3. Displace Another Player:
   • To displace a MERCHANT: Remove another player's Merchant from a space on a trade route and replace it with one of your own Merchants or Traders. You must pay a penalty of 1 Merchant or Trader from your personal supply back to your General Stock.
   • To displace a TRADER: The penalty is 2 Merchants and/or Traders from your supply to your General Stock.
   • If you cannot pay the full penalty, you cannot perform this action.
   • The displaced player moves their displaced marker and receives additional markers from their General Stock (1 for Merchant, 2 for Trader) to place on adjacent routes (or further away if adjacent ones are full).
4. Move Your Own Markers on the Board:
   • Move your own Merchants and/or Traders that are in the trade route spaces (not in the city offices).
   • The number of markers you can move is determined by your level in the Book of Wisdom (Liber Sophiae) skill (initially 2).
   • You can move markers to any route.
5. Claim a Route:
   • Restriction: All spaces on the trade route must be occupied by your own Merchants or Traders.
   • This action is not automatic and requires an action to be performed.
   • When claiming a route, your markers are removed from the route and returned to your General Stock (except the one used to found an office or Coellen bonus).
   • Benefits of Claiming a Route:
     1. Prestige Points for City Controllers: Each player who controls a city adjacent to the claimed route receives 1 Prestige Point. You control a city if you have the majority of offices in it, or the rightmost office in case of a tie.
     2. Bonus Tokens: If there is a Bonus Token attached to the route, you gain it. Bonus Tokens can be used at any time (except in the same action they were acquired) and are free actions, in addition to your normal actions. At the end of your turn, you take a new Bonus Token from the reserve (face down) and place it on an empty route, adjacent to a city with at least 1 empty office.
     3. Special Benefits (Choose one):
        1. Found an Office: Take one of your markers from the claimed route and place it in an empty office space in an adjacent city. You must occupy the spaces from left to right and respect the colors unlocked by your Privileges skill. A Trader must go in round spaces and a Merchant in square ones. If the office has a gold coin, you immediately gain 1 Prestige Point. If you fill the last office space of a city, the "Completed Cities" marker advances.
        2. Improve a Skill: If one of the cities adjacent to the claimed route is associated with a skill Figure (Yellow Cities), you can choose to improve that skill on your personal board instead of founding an office. Remove the leftmost marker from the skill track and place it in your personal supply. The improved skill is immediately available.
        3. Coellen-Warburg Bonus Points: If the route is between Coellen and Warburg, you can found an office or move a Trader from the route to an empty bonus space above that route, respecting the colors unlocked by the Privilegium. This will yield Prestige Points at the end of the game.

The Skills on Your Personal Board:

• City Keys: Prestige Point bonus at the end of the game for your largest network of connected cities.
• Action Track (Actiones): Determines how many actions you can perform per turn (from 2 to 5). Improving this skill allows more actions immediately.
• Privileges: Allows you to found offices in colored spaces in cities.
• The Book of Wisdom (Liber Sophiae): Increases the number of markers you can move with the "Move Your Own Markers" action. It is also the way to get more Traders for your supply.
• Money Bags: Increases the quantity of Merchants and/or Traders you receive with the "Receive Income" action.

Bonus Tokens (Types):

• Extra Offices: Use when claiming a route to place an additional office to the left of an already existing office in the adjacent city.
• Office Swap: Swap the position of 2 markers within the same city, ignoring colors and space shapes. Useful for city control.
• Extra Actions (+3 or +4): Perform 3 or 4 additional actions on your turn.
• Remove 3 Markers: Remove up to 3 Merchants and/or Traders of other players from trade routes (not from offices). The removed pieces return to the players' personal supply.
• Improve 1 Skill: Improve a skill of your choice, moving the leftmost marker to your personal supply.

End of Game and Scoring: Who Dominates the Hansa?

The game ends immediately when any of the following 3 conditions are met:

1. A player reaches 20 or more Prestige Points (PP) on the score track.
2. There are no more Bonus Tokens to be refilled.
3. A player claims a route and founds an office that completes the 10th city (the "Completed Cities" marker reaches the 10th space).

The game ends at the end of the action of the player who triggered the end of the game. They do not finish their turn if they still have actions available.

Final Scoring (In Addition to PP Gained During the Game):

Players gain additional Prestige Points as follows:

1. Fully Developed Skills: 4 PP for each fully developed skill (except the City Keys skill).
2. Bonus Tokens:
   • 1 Token: 1 PP
   • 2-3 Tokens: 3 PP
   • 4-5 Tokens: 6 PP
   • 6-7 Tokens: 10 PP
   • 8-9 Tokens: 15 PP
   • 10+ Tokens: 21 PP
3. Coellen Table: Players with Traders on the Coellen tracks gain the PP described in the occupied spaces.
4. Controlled Cities: 2 PP for each city you control (having the majority of offices or the rightmost office in case of a tie).
5. Largest City Network: Identify your longest network of connected cities (where you have at least one office). Count the number of offices in that network and multiply by the number of points shown in the rightmost uncovered position on your City Keys Track.

The player with the highest total Prestige Points is the winner!

Tips for Winning: Be the Cleverest Merchant!

Hansa Teutonica is a game of endless possibilities, and each game is a new adventure. But to start on the right foot, here are some valuable tips:

1. Don't Underestimate Skills: All skills are important, but improving them is crucial to unlock more markers and have more game options. The Action Track, in particular, is a motor for your turn, allowing you to do much more in each round. Think about which skills best fit your strategy for the moment.
2. Big Networks, Big Points: Focusing on creating large networks of connected offices is one of the most lucrative ways to earn Prestige Points at the end of the game, especially if you develop the City Keys skill well. However, remember that this can leave you with few resources if you don't develop your income skills.
3. Traders are Versatile: Use your Traders wisely! They are essential for founding offices, especially in round spaces, and can also be allocated in Coellen to guarantee additional Prestige Points at the end of the game. They are more "expensive" to displace, which makes them valuable for holding important routes.

Now that you have all the tools, it's time to put your negotiation skills to the test and dominate the Hansa! Good luck and may your offices multiply!