How to Play Russian Railroads: German Railroads

Objective of the Game

In Russian Railroads: German Railroads, players are aiming to build the most impressive railway network and industrial infrastructure. The game is played over a set number of rounds, with scoring occurring after each round. The ultimate goal is to accumulate the most Victory Points by the end of the game, which will determine the winner.

Preparation (Setup)

Setting up Russian Railroads: German Railroads involves several steps, depending on whether you are using the base game or the German Railroads expansion modules.

Base Game Setup

• Place the game board according to the number of players.
• Lay out the “?” cards with their associated pieces.
• Shuffle the 10 end-game bonus cards and remove 2 face-down to the box.
• Sort the Locomotives by number and lay them out in stacks from 1-9. Remove 1/2 from each stack in a 3/2-player game.
• Sort the Engineers by A/B. Place 4 “B” engineers onto spaces 3-6 (3 in a 2/3 player game). Place 3 “A” engineers onto spaces 1, 2, and the space with the scoring stars. The tiles should be oriented based on horizontal or vertical.
• Each player takes:
  • A Player board
  • 7 workers (8 in a 2/3 player game)
  • 1 coin (2 with 2 players)
  • A #1 Locomotive tile to be placed in the upper left of their player board
  • 3 black rails to be placed in space 1 of all 3 tracks
  • 1 industry marker placed on the “0” at the bottom of the board
  • 7 different “?” tokens
  • 1 pawn to be placed on the “100” space of the score track, and 1 pawn to go randomly on the turn order track
  • 1 Kiev medal
  • 1 revolution token
• Of the workers you took, use 5 (6 with 2/3 players) to start the game. Keep others nearby in a general supply.
• Pass out turn order cards based on turn order. Lay out the 4 starting bonus cards. The 4th player picks 1 and takes the reward, then the 3rd, then the 2nd. The 1st player gets NOTHING.
• The game begins.

German Railroads Expansion Setup Changes

This expansion comes with 2 modules – Germany Boards and Coal. You can include either or both with the base game. The new engineers, factory, cards, and “?” token can be combined with the base game.

Germany Boards Module

• Lay out all 18 railroad extension tiles for all to see (these tiles fill in the missing tracks).
• Lay out all 8 oval Income markers face-up (the back has a circular arrow).
• Instead of using the base game boards, each player will use a German board of their color, and their starting Locomotive goes on the Munchin rail.

Coal Module

• Use the “Coal board” with 3 action spaces face-up (use the other side for 2 players). Place the tile under turn order track 3/4.
• Shuffle the Foundry tiles face-down (+1 showing). Make a stack, and turn 2 face-up next to it.
• Place 1 blockade marker on the 6 engineer space. Use 3 A and 3 B engineers this game. Only 6 rounds.
• With 2/3 players, use a blockade tile on the 5 space as well, using 2 A and 3 B engineers. Only 5 rounds.
• In addition to the normal set-up, each player gets 1 Coal and an additional coin.

Game Flow

The game is played over 7 rounds (6 in a 2/3 player game) with scoring after each round.

In turn order, on a player's turn, they will take 1 action, placing the appropriate number of workers/coins on an unoccupied action space (or Engineer in front of them) and carrying out the given action.

When a player passes, they are done placing for the round, but they flip over their turn order card and score the star points shown. The round will end when all players have passed.

Coins can be used as workers, but workers can’t be used as coins! Yes, coins and workers can be combined!

Ações e Como Jogar

Players take actions by placing workers and/or coins on available action spaces. Here's a breakdown of the different types of actions and how they work:

Track Extensions

The 3 rail lines on the player board work independently. There are 5 different tracks in 5 colors, and each line will have a track of each in a particular order (except Natural and White which aren’t on all 3 lines). You move your tracks right along the track by using different actions (mainly on the left side of the board). You can split movement between the 3 different lines. The bottom left action space is the only space that can be used infinitely.

When different color tracks reach certain points on the lines, they will unlock certain abilities and other tracks. When the Black track reaches space 2, 6, 10, and 15 on the top line, new colored tracks will be unlocked for all lines. You will place 1 track of the matching color in front of each line just off the board to the left. When you would go to move the tracks, this is when that color could move onto the board.

All 5 tracks must stay in the same order: Black-Grey-Brown-Natural-White. No tracks can be on the same space or pass the one in front of it. Natural gets only 2 tracks! White only goes on the top line!

On the Germany Player Board, when the black track comes to the split on the Munchin track, simply pick a direction. The other direction is ignored and will not be used. A track may never “reverse course.” When a black track reaches a station in a dashed outline area (Hannover, Wurzburg, Frankfurt), choose an appropriate railroad extension tile to fill in the space. Continue turn/movement/bonus as necessary.

Players still may only use 2 natural colored tracks, but now they can choose to add them to any of the 3 tracks.

Locomotives

As you move your tracks, they only score points at the end of each round if you can “reach” them with locomotives. You upgrade your locomotives using the 3 spaces on the main board in the upper middle.

• When placing workers in the 1st or 2nd action space, choose the lowest remaining locomotive from the stacks near the board, or flip that same tile from the lowest locomotive stack to use it as a factory at the bottom of your player board (always filling left to right). Sometimes there might be factories laying face up next to the locomotive stacks, you can choose from these as well. Either way, take 1 tile.
• When placing 3 workers on the 3rd action space, take both, a locomotive and a factory, in any order.

Locomotives are placed off the player board to the left of a rail line. Kiev and St. Petersburg can only have 1 locomotive, but the Trans Siberian line can have 2 (add the numbers together for the total value!). You can replace a locomotive only if the new train number is higher than the one it is displacing. The locomotive being replaced is not lost and can replace another one of your locomotives on a different line! You have 4 total slots for locomotives so always keep your highest 4! If you end up with a locomotive that isn’t going to be used anymore, flip it over to the factory side and place it near the locomotives stacks that players pick from. It can now be taken as a factory.

Factories/Industry Marker

Factories are found on the back of Locomotives and are used at the bottom of your player board, being placed left to right in the next available space. If all 5 spaces are full, replace 1 and put the old factory next to the locomotive stacks, keeping the factory side face-up. You can’t replace factories until all 5 are full.

When you take the action that grants Locomotives/Factories, you can use the back (vertical) side of the locomotive from the lowest numbered stack next to the board or you can take an existing factory that is sitting next to the locomotive stacks instead of flipping the lowest locomotive.

These factories not only allow you to get special abilities when you land on them with your purple industry marker, but they allow your purple marker to keep moving along the path to maximize points.

To move your purple marker, use the next 3 actions spaces on the main board that are next to the Locomotive/Factory spaces. If a factory doesn’t exist in a gap, the marker can’t advance past this gap until a factory is built.

As your purple industry marker advances, it will score more points at the end of the round, just look at the last star number it reached.

If unlocking the 2nd (or 3rd) industry marker, you can’t add another marker if there is one already on the starting space.

The Coal Factory: when the Industry marker lands here, you can earn up to 8 movements on your black tracks. You earn 2 immediately, then you choose to spend 0-3 coal, each spent giving you +2 black track movements.

Auxiliary Actions

These are the extra actions in the upper right of the main board.

• Double: Lets you add a “x2” tile in the next space of your Trans-Siberian line. Must go left to right.
• Earn 2 coins: Easy, you get 2 coins.
• Temp worker space: Lets you use the 2 turquoise workers the rest of the round.

Engineers

At the bottom of the board is a “time clock” of sorts using Engineers. 1 engineer per round will be up for hire!

The 1 engineer at the far right is available for hire by paying a coin, take the engineer and place him horizontal in front of you, ready to be used as an action space ONLY FOR YOU! You can use your own engineers even if you can’t carry out all of the actions.

The 2 engineers that are horizontal on the main board are extra action spaces for the current round!

At the end of each round, the engineers slide down 1 space, the last number revealed is how many rounds are left! If an engineer wasn’t purchased, he is discarded.

Turn Order

Workers can be placed under the 1st and 2nd turn order spaces in order to jump up in turn order for the next round. Unless playing with 2 players, a player cannot place a worker under their own position.

When every player has passed, the order is changed based on the new claimed spaces. Move the 2 turn order pawns to match their claimed 1st or 2nd space. Move the other 2 down without changing the order.

If the 1st player claims the 2nd position (remember, they can’t claim 1st with a worker), but no one claims 1st, the order will not change!

After the changes have been made, the workers that claimed a turn order positions will be placed again. Starting with the 2nd place worker, take an available action with their 1 worker, then the player who took 1st places their 1 worker. You must put these on spaces that need only 1 worker. You can’t combine them with left over workers or coins.

Player Board Abilities

Spaces that don’t need to be reached with a Locomotive

• Reaching spaces 2, 6, 10, and 15 of the Trans-Siberian line with your Black track will unlock other colored track pieces. Immediately place the new tracks to the left of your player board by the 3 different lines.
• When you reach the last space of any line with the Black track, score 10 points immediately.
• Reach space 7 of the Kiev line with your Black track grants you a permanent extra worker immediately.

Spaces that DO need to be reached with a Locomotive

• Reach space 3 of the Trans-Siberian line with your Brown track + Locomotive grants a permanent extra worker immediately.
• Reaching space 7 of the St. Petersburg line with the Grey track + Locomotive will cause all spaces in that line to double in value during scoring periods.
• Reaching space 1-4 or 8 of the Kiev line with your Black track + Locomotive will cause the spaces to increase in value during the scoring periods.
• Reaching space 13 of the Trans-Siberian line, or space 4 or 6 of the St. Petersburg line with the Black track + Locomotive will allow you to pick any of the 7 “?” tokens for an immediate bonus. Place the token on the board to show it was used. (There is also a “?” spot on the industry track at the bottom for when your purple marker reaches that space).

Coal Usage (Coal Module)

Coal is the black wagon icon. Coal can be used to activate certain spaces that show coal as a cost. Unused Coal action spaces can be activated in addition to your main placement (before or after your turn). You can use several on 1 turn! Place the coal on the space, but you can’t do this if you are passing/passed, relocating, or during scoring. Coal on action spaces goes into the general supply at the end of the round.

The Boilerman (Coal Module)

• When taking the action that grants a Boilerman, take the top tile from the Foundry stack, keep it +1 side up, and add it next to either a Locomotive (increasing the power +1) or next to a Factory on the Industrial track.
• Each Locomotive/Factory can only have 1 Boilerman, and if they are returned, the Boilerman goes to the box.
• If a Locomotive is shifted around, the Boilerman goes with it. The Locomotive is considered +1 from now on so if any advantages or bonus trigger when the Boilerman is added, do them immediately.
• A Boilerman next to a Factory grants certain abilities when the Industry marker arrives.

The Foundry (Coal Module)

• Earn a Foundry tile from the 2 face-up when using the new “Coal Board.” Refill after taking. In a 2p game, the combined action space works like this: either use 1 worker for 1 coal, or use 1 coin for 1 foundry and 1 coal.
• You may use any of your Foundries once per round. Spend 2 coal to activate each.
• You can’t use the 2 face-up Foundry tiles next to the stack for their actions in a round!
• After using a Foundry, you may immediately