The Red Cathedral: Contractors — How to Play

Game Objective

In The Red Cathedral: Contractors, players take on the role of contractors hiring specialists to assist in the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. The goal is to increase your reputation as an architect by completing cathedral sections, hiring specialists, and fulfilling contracts. The game ends when a player completes their sixth cathedral card, and the winner is the one with the most prestige points at the end.

Setup

Prepare the base game as usual, but with these changes:

• Add the specialist die (black die) to the other 5 dice.
• Replace some workshop pieces with those that grant 1 license or activate the specialist die.
• Place the 24 specialist pieces in the bag and draw 5, placing them face-up on the Grand Duchy of Moscow board.
• Each player receives 1 license, a contractor board extension, and 6 contractor pawns.
• Place a city piece on top of each cathedral tower and the remaining ones face-down in their corresponding cities.

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Game Flow

The game follows the structure of the base game, with the addition of the Hire action as a fourth option. Players take turns performing one of the four available actions:

1. Claim a Cathedral Section
2. Build Cathedral Sections
3. Acquire Resources
4. Hire Specialists (new expansion action)

When a tower is completed, players earn recognition points based on the contractors placed in the corresponding city.

Actions and How to Play

Hire Specialists

To hire a specialist:

• Move the leftmost contractor from your board to an available city.
• Pay licenses equal to the number of contractors in the city (including yours).
• Pay 2 rubles to choose one of the two available specialists or discard one without paying.
• Place the specialist piece on your board (replacing a previous one if necessary).

Specialists in Moscow allow you to choose any of the 5 available ones.

Specialist Pieces

Each specialist piece has a unique ability, which can be used once by activating the black die during the Acquire Resources action. At the end of the game, groups of different tools grant prestige points.

New Guilds

The expansion includes 10 new guilds, such as Goldsmiths, Artisans, Foremen, and Archivists, each with specific abilities. Refer to the manual for details on each.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when a player completes their sixth cathedral card. Points are calculated as follows:

• City points: Earned by completing towers, multiplying banners on the tower by the number of contractors in the city.
• Specialist pieces: 1/2/4/7/11/16 points for groups of different tools.
• Licenses, rubles, and materials: Counted as points at the end.
• Contract cards: Additional points based on the card objectives.

The player with the most prestige points wins.

Tips to Win

• Prioritize hiring specialists in cities with fewer contractors to save licenses.
• Use diamonds (from the Goldsmiths guild) to replace missing materials during construction.
• Monitor contract cards (from the Archivists guild) to plan your scoring strategy.