How to Play K2: Broad Peak

Game Objective

K2: Broad Peak is an expansion for the base game K2, offering two new scenarios inspired by historical achievements of Polish climbers. The overall objective is to climb the peaks and survive, accumulating the maximum number of victory points. The scenarios recreate real expeditions: "Race to the Top" focuses on conquering 8000 meters in alpine style, and "Broad Peak Traverse" simulates the traverse of three peaks of the massif.

Setup

Setup is identical to the K2 base game, with the following exceptions:

• Select the board with the indicated icon.
• Weather tiles: One weather tile must be removed from the selected set. If playing in summer, remove the specific tile shown. If playing in winter, remove a tile randomly without revealing it. Only 5 weather tiles are used in the scenario. Shuffle and display the weather tiles as in base K2.
• Snow cave markers are placed near the board within reach of all players.
• Each player chooses their pieces and cards by color, but the following cards are excluded and not used in this scenario:
  • The card with 3 acclimatization, one card with 2 acclimatization, one card with 1 movement, and the rescue card.
  • Both tents.
• For the Broad Peak Traverse scenario:
  • Place the board with the icon visible.
  • Each player chooses their pieces according to the colors, but discards one tent.
  • On each of the three peaks (marked with Roman numerals), place the appropriate victory point tokens, according to the number of players, with the highest denomination on top of each stack. 5 players use all victory point tokens.
  • Place the 2 traverse tokens per climber near the board.
• Before the first game, punch out the tiles.

Game Flow

The game unfolds according to the K2 base rules with the following modifications:

Scenario 1: Race to the Top

• The game has 3 fewer turns (days) than base K2.
• Climbers do not have tents for shelter, but can build snow caves.
• When the weather marker is advanced to the next day on the weather tile:
  • Remove all face-down caves from the board.
  • Flip all face-up caves face-down.

Scenario 2: Broad Peak Traverse

• Each player has only one tent. At the start of the game, the player chooses one tent, placing it next to their board; the other tent is not used.
• The rules for pitching a tent are the same as K2, except that only one climber has a tent.
• After a player's tent is pitched, any of that player's climbers in the tent space can spend 1 movement to dismantle it and carry it further. The player places the tent on the climber's drawing on their board. This climber will be able to re-pitch the tent according to K2 rules. The tent can be pitched/dismantled any number of times.
• If the climber carrying the tent dies, the tent is lost.

Actions and How to Play

Building Snow Caves (Scenario 1: Race to the Top)

• Cost: 1 movement point below 7000 meters; 2 movement points above 7000 meters. The movement cost to enter the space does not affect the cost to build a cave.
• When a climber builds a cave, they place a face-up cave marker (Climber digging with a shovel) on the space.
• A cave provides 1 acclimatization point for the climber in it, just like the K2 tent.
• Every climber can occupy an unoccupied cave, but each cave holds only one climber at a time.
• Duration: Caves last only 2 days.
• A climber can repair their cave during their turn, spending the same movement cost they used to build it. The repaired snow cave is then flipped face-up.
• Snow caves remain in their original space until they disappear due to time.
• A space can have any number of snow caves.

Movement and Traverse (Scenario 2: Broad Peak Traverse)

• Upon leaving base camp, each climber has the option to ascend via the left route and then traverse to the right side, or ascend via the right and traverse to the left.
• When a climber enters the first or last traverse space (Space with icon), they take the traverse token for the climber and place it on the drawing on their board.
• On the North face (left side of the board) there are 2 spaces where traverse tokens can be placed.

Reaching Peaks (Scenario 2: Broad Peak Traverse)

• The moment a climber reaches a peak, they receive the token that is highest on the peak's stack and place it next to that climber's traverse token.
• A climber can only receive one token from each peak.
• Each climber receives separate point tokens according to their arrival order for each peak.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends exactly like base K2. Remember that "Race to the Top" has 3 fewer turns (days) than base K2. The winner is determined in the same way as base K2.

Each player adds points for their climbers. Each player scores as follows:

• Up to 10 points according to the altitude reached (as in base K2).
• Victory points for all victory point tokens collected.
• 2 points for each traverse token if the climber has both tokens.

Climbers who die receive only 1 point as in base K2; Their victory points and traverse are lost.

In case of a tie, the player who first reached peak (I) wins.

Solo Game Scoring (Scenario 1: Race to the Top)

The solo game rules are the same as the base K2 game, with one exception. When playing with winter weather, discard the tile shown. Compare your victory points achieved with the table below to find out the victory level achieved:

• 20 VPs: Himalayan Mountaineer
• 17 - 20 VPs: Alpinist
• 15 - 16 VPs: Hiker
• 11 - 15 VPs: Tourist
• 10 - 14 VPs: (Not specified)
• < 11 VPs: (Not specified)
• < 10 VPs: (Not specified)

Tips for Winning

• In the "Race to the Top" scenario, as climbers do not have tents, building and repairing snow caves is crucial for acclimatization and survival. Manage your movement points to build and maintain these caves.
• In the "Broad Peak Traverse" scenario, plan your climbers' route to collect the traverse tokens. Remember that having both traverse tokens at the end of the game grants 4 additional victory points.
• Prioritize reaching the peaks to collect the highest value victory point tokens, as they are taken in descending order of value.