Lewis & Clark: The Expedition – Your Ultimate Guide to Conquering the Wild West!

Hey there, adventurer! Ready to embark on one of history's greatest journeys? In Lewis & Clark: The Expedition, you're not just a player, but the leader of one of several expeditions sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Forget the comforts of home, for the Wild West awaits, full of challenges, resources to manage, and, of course, the glory of being the first to reach the Pacific Ocean!

This definitive guide from BoardGameBot will prepare you to lead your Corps of Discovery with mastery. Let's dive into the rules, unravel strategies, and ensure your expedition goes down in history!

Game Objective: The Race to the Pacific!

In Lewis & Clark: The Expedition, your objective is simple yet challenging: be the first player to cross North America and reach the Pacific Ocean. But it's not enough just to arrive! For your expedition to go down in history and for you to be declared the winner, you need to set up camp at the Fort Clatsop space (or beyond it) and have fewer Time tokens than the value indicated by your Scout's position on the board. In other words, it's a race against time and your opponents, where efficiency and management are crucial!

It's an exciting race of hand and resource management, where every decision can mean the difference between glory and oblivion!

Setup: Assembling Your Expedition

Let's set up the table and prepare everything for the great journey. Follow these steps:

1. Main Board: Open the Main board in the middle of the table.
2. Resource Supplies: Place the Resource Hexagons on the indicated spaces on the main board, forming your supplies.
   • Primary Resources: 20 Wood, 20 Furs, 15 Food, 15 Equipment.
   • Converted Resources: 15 Canoes, 15 Horses.

   Remember: resources never run out! If a supply runs dry, use the Resource Multipliers (place a multiplier on a resource hexagon, and it will be worth three units).

3. Time Tokens: Place all Time Tokens on the board, just below Fort Clatsop.
4. Indians: Take the number of Indians indicated for the number of players and place them next to the main board, forming a supply. The rest go back into the box.
   • 1 player: 6 Indians
   • 2 players: 9 Indians
   • 3 players: 12 Indians
   • 4 players: 15 Indians
   • 5 players: 18 Indians
5. New Arrival Indian: Take 1 Indian from the supply and place it in the New Arrival area of the main board.
6. Boat Pieces: Divide the 10 Boat pieces into two stacks of 5 and place them on the board, on top of Gulf of Mexico.
7. Players' Starting Hands: Each player chooses a color and takes the 6 Starting Character Cards of that color. These are your historical personalities! Unused cards (if there are fewer than 5 players) go back into the box.
8. Encountered Characters Purchase Pile: Shuffle the 54 Encountered Character Cards and place them face down at the top of the Encounter Register, on the main board.
9. Encounter Register: Reveal the first 5 cards from the purchase pile and distribute them in the Encounter Register, arranging them in descending order of Strength (the number in the upper left corner of the card). The card with the lowest Strength goes at the bottom of the Register (near the Gulf of Mexico) and the one with the highest Strength at the top. If they have the same Strength, the order of revelation prevails.
10. Expedition Mini-boards: Each player takes their colored Expedition mini-board and places it in front of them.
11. Starting Indian on Expedition: Each player takes 1 Indian from the supply and places it in the fourth Boat of their Expedition mini-board.
12. Starting Resources (Variant): For a different experience, take 4 primary resources of each type from the supplies. Randomly give 3 of them to each player, who will place them in the first Boat of their Expedition. The remaining ones return to the supplies.

    Alternatively, for a standard game: Each player takes 1 Fur, 1 Food, and 1 Equipment from the supplies and places them in the first Boat of their Expedition.

13. First Player: Randomly choose the first player.
14. Scouts: Each player places their colored Scout on the starting space of the Itinerary (Saint Louis).

Done! Your expedition is assembled and ready for adventure!

The Game Turn: Your Actions in the Wild West

On your turn, you have one mandatory Action and two optional phases: Recruitment and Camping. The optional phases can occur before or after the mandatory Action, but never during it.

Action (Mandatory Phase)

You are required to perform an Action. There are two types:

• Character Card Actions: To activate a Character Card from your hand, you need to play it to the table (your Play Area) and give it Strength from another source. The card's own Strength is not used to activate it!
  • (A) Another Character Card: Choose another card from your hand and place it face down under the card you want to activate. The Strength of the face-down card is unavailable until the next Camp.
  • (B) Indians: Take 1, 2, or 3 Indians from your Expedition mini-board and place them on the card you wish to activate. These Indians still belong to your Expedition.
  • (C) Combination: Choose a card from your hand (face down) and 1 or 2 Indians (placed on the card you wish to activate). The total Strength cannot exceed 3. The face-down card becomes unavailable.

  The Action will be performed as many times as the Strength points used to activate it (1 Indian = 1 Strength, Character cards have 1 to 3 Strength). You can use only part of the Strength received or the benefits generated by the Action, if desired.

  Starting Character Actions:

  • Lumberjacks: Collect Wood. The amount of wood you can take is multiplied by the Strength used in the action and by the sum of the visible wood insignias on your cards and your neighbors' cards.
  • Hunters: Collect Food, similar to Lumberjacks.
  • Blacksmiths: Collect Equipment, similar to Lumberjacks.
  • Fur Traders: Collect Fur, similar to Lumberjacks.
  • Interpreters: Allow you to welcome new Indians into your Expedition. Gather all Indians from the Village (including the New Arrival) in the Pow-wow area, take as many as you want for your Expedition, discard the card from the bottom of the Encounter Register, replenish the Register, and place a new Indian in the New Arrival area. This action is crucial for getting more Indians and refreshing recruitment options!
  • Commanders: Allow your Scout to advance on the Itinerary. For each Strength point used, choose one option:
    • Pay 1 Food to advance 2 River spaces.
    • Pay 1 Canoe to advance 4 River spaces.
    • Pay 1 Horse to advance 2 Mountain spaces.

    Spaces occupied by opponents are ignored. The Scout only advances to the type of space ahead. "River-Mountain" spaces accept any of the three resources, but movement stops if the terrain changes to an unsupported type.

• Indian Village Actions: Activated by Indians placed in their areas on the main board.
  • Unoccupied circles: Place only one Indian from your Expedition.
  • Semicircles: Place 1, 2, or 3 Indians from your Expedition, even if the area is already occupied.

  The Action is performed as many times as the Indians you placed in the area. These Indians no longer belong to your Expedition. Village Actions are available to all players and can be highly contested!

  Village Actions:

  • Hunt: Take 1 Food and 1 Fur.
  • Craft: Take 1 Equipment and 1 Wood.
  • Gift: Take 2 Furs OR 2 Wood.
  • Farewell: Discard 0 to 3 cards from your hand, empty the Encounter Register, and replenish it with 5 new cards. Useful for refreshing recruitment options and reducing cards in hand.
  • Horse Trade: Pay 3 distinct resources to take 1 Horse.
  • Canoe Crafting: Pay 2 Wood to take 1 Canoe.
  • Shamanism: Pay 1 Food to activate the Action of a face-up Character on the table (your Play Area or another player's) only once, ignoring the original Strength.
  • Expedition Improvement: Pay 3 Wood to take a Boat piece (2 resources or 1 Indian) and 2 primary resources OR 1 Indian. Choose the side of the boat carefully, as it cannot be flipped later!

Recruitment (Optional Phase)

You can Recruit a new Character from the Encounter Register once per turn (before or after the mandatory Action).

Recruitment Cost:

• The amount of Furs indicated by the Character's position in the Register.
• An amount of Equipment equal to the Character's Strength.

You can pay part or all of the cost in Equipment by discarding one (and only one) card from your hand. This saves you the amount of Equipment indicated by the Recruitment Discount on the back of the discarded card. The discarded card goes to a face-up discard pile.

The recruited Character is immediately added to your hand. Then, slide the remaining cards in the Register down and reveal a new card from the purchase pile, placing it in the first space (the one closest to the purchase pile). Do not reorganize by Strength!

Camping (Optional Phase)

This phase allows you to retrieve the cards you played to your Play Area, but this can cost Time. You can set up Camp at any point in your turn, before or after the mandatory Action. If you cannot perform any Action at the start of your turn, you are forced to Camp.

When Camping:

1. Return all Indians used to activate your Character cards to the Boats of your Expedition.
2. Calculate the Time you will spend Camping. It is the sum of:
   • The Character cards you still have in your hand.
   • The possible Time costs of your Expedition's Boats (depending on the resources and Indians transported).
     • Boats with up to 3 resources: 0 Time.
     • Boats with 1 Indian: 0 Time.
     • Boats with up to 3 resources (with Time symbol): 1 Time if it has at least one resource.
     • Boats with up to 5 resources (with Time symbol): 1 Time per resource.
     • Boats with unlimited Indians (with Time symbol): 1 Time per Indian present.

   You can reorganize your resources and Indians in the Boats at any time to minimize the Time cost.

3. Take a number of Time Tokens equal to the total calculated time.
4. Return all cards from your Play Area to your hand.

Attention! If your Scout has Time Tokens, they cannot move. Each potential movement to the next visible space will be used to discard a Time token. You only resume moving after discarding all of them.

End of Game and Scoring: The Arrival at the Pacific!

The game ends when a player sets up Camp at the Fort Clatsop space or a space beyond it, and has fewer Time tokens than the value indicated by their Scout's position on the board.

That player wins the game!

• If the Scout is at Fort Clatsop, the player cannot have any Time tokens.
• If the Scout is 2 spaces past Fort Clatsop, the player cannot have more than 1 Time token.
• If the Scout is 3 spaces past, no more than 2 Time tokens, and so on.

The "sudden death" at Fort Clatsop ensures an exciting and balanced ending!

Tips for Winning: Conquering the West Wisely

1. Manage Your Indians with the Interpreter: The Interpreter's action is fundamental! It's the only way to get more Indians for your Expedition, which are essential for activating Characters and Village actions. Furthermore, it refreshes the Encounter Register, providing more recruitment options. Don't underestimate the power of having a good number of Indians at your disposal!
2. Balance between Movement and Time: The game is a race, but not a blind one. The Time cost of Camping is crucial. Reorganize your resources and Indians in the Boats to minimize lost time. Sometimes, spending