1994 Puesto n.º 1782 en BGG

Cosmolancer

2–4 jugadores 45 min A partir de 9 años 1.9/5 de complejidad 6.3/10 de valoración

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Auf Heller und Pfennig takes participants to a medieval marketplace. Each turn, players place tiles onto the grid board that modify (either positively or negatively) the amount of money to be made by the shops that share that tile's row or column. Three times the board is filled with tiles and shop money is earned, after which the player with the most money wins. In Kingdoms, the first English-language version of Auf Heller und Pfennig, players try to collect the most gold by establishing castles in the richest regions of the realm while avoiding hazards like dragons, swamps, and trolls. The 2011 edition includes detailed plastic castles, a streamlined rulebook, and the addition of a wizard tile — one that increases the rank of adjacent castles, multiplying their scores — previously available only at game conventions. As of 2024, Cosmolancer is the newest version of this design, with players taking the role of freelance photographers in space! As in the other versions, the game lasts three rounds, and to start a round, each player draws a random tile and keeps it secret. On a turn, you either: • Draw a tile and place it in an empty space on the 6x5 grid. • Place the tile in your hand. • Place one of your tokens, which are numbered 1-4, in an empty space. When all of the spaces are filled, you score each of your tokens, multiplying the number on the token by the sum of the tiles in its row and column, with some special tiles nullifying positive values or splitting a row into two segments. You retrieve all of your 1 tokens, but the others are now out of play. After three rounds, whoever has the highest score wins.

Qué sensaciones ofrece

Tile Placement Abstract Strategy Fantasy Medieval

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Preparación

1. Each player chooses a color and takes all rank 2, 3, and 4 castles of their color, plus a number of rank 1 castles based on player count: 2 players = 4 rank-1 castles each; 3 players = 3 rank-1 castles each; 4 players = 2 rank-1 castles each. All castles are placed face-up in front of their owner.\n2. Sort gold counters by denomination and place them beside the board to form the bank.\n3. Give each player 50 gold as starting capital.\n4. Shuffle all tiles and spread them face-down beside the board.\n5. Each player draws one tile, looks at it secretly, and places it face-down in front of themselves.\n6. Place the epoch counter on the Epoch 1 space on the board.

Flujo del turno

Play rotates clockwise, starting with a randomly chosen first player. On your turn, you must take exactly one of three actions:\n\n1. Place a Castle: Place one of your castles face-up onto any empty space on the board.\n2. Draw and Place a Tile: Draw one face-down tile from the table, look at it, then place it face-up onto any empty space on the board.\n3. Place Your Tile: Take the tile you drew secretly during setup (or at the start of the current round) and place it face-up onto any empty space on the board.\n\nYou may only pass if you are completely unable to take any of these three actions. Once a castle or tile is placed on the board, it cannot be moved or replaced for the rest of the round.\n\nThe round ends when there are no more empty spaces on the board. All rows and columns are then scored.

Puntuación y victoria

Most gold after three rounds wins. Each round, every row and column of the board is scored: net tile value (resources minus hazards) multiplied by each player's total castle rank in that row/column. Players receive or lose the resulting gold. Players can go into debt. Fuentes de puntuación: Resource tiles (+1 to +6) in the same row or column as your castles, Hazard tiles (-1 to -6) in the same row or column as your castles (negative income), Gold Mine tile doubling all tile values in its row and column, Each tile and castle scores twice — once for its row, once for its column

Fuente: Rulebook

Reglas que debes conocer

Las reglas más útiles para jugar bien la primera partida.

Setup

The board is a 6-row by 5-column grid; every space belongs to exactly one row and one column.

The game board is divided into six rows and five columns. Every space on the board sits at the intersection of one row and one column. Castles and tiles placed on a space are considered to be in that row AND that column simultaneously, and will be scored once for each.

Setup

Each player starts with 50 gold.

At the beginning of the game, each player receives 50 gold from the bank as their starting capital. Gold is tracked using the provided gold counters.

Setup

Players receive all rank 2/3/4 castles and a number of rank 1 castles based on player count.

Each player takes all castles of rank 2, 3, and 4 in their chosen color. The number of rank 1 castles received depends on the number of players: 2 players → 4 rank-1 castles each; 3 players → 3 rank-1 castles each; 4 players → 2 rank-1 castles each. All castles are placed face-up in front of their respective owners at the start.

Setup

Each player secretly draws one tile at the start of each round and holds it face-down.

During setup (step 5) and at the beginning of each subsequent round, every player draws one tile from the face-down supply, looks at it privately, and keeps it face-down in front of them. This tile can be placed on the board later as one of the three turn actions.

Turn structure

On your turn, you must perform exactly one of three actions: place a castle, draw-and-place a tile, or place your held tile.

Each turn, the active player must take exactly one of the following actions: 1. Place a Castle: Place one of your unused castles onto any empty board space. 2. Draw and Place a Tile: Draw any one face-down tile from the supply, look at it, and immediately place it face-up on any empty board space. 3. Place Your Tile: Take the tile you drew secretly at the beginning of the round and place it face-up on any empty board space. You may pass only if you are completely unable to perform any of these three actions.

Restriction

Once placed, castles and tiles cannot be moved or removed for the rest of the round.

Once a castle or tile has been placed onto the board, it may not be moved, replaced, or removed for the remainder of that round. This restriction applies to all players and all piece types.

Restriction

You may only pass if you cannot perform any of the three turn actions.

Passing is not a free choice. A player may pass their turn only if they are completely unable to perform any of the three available actions (place a castle, draw and place a tile, or place their held tile). If any action is possible, the player must take one.

General

Castles have ranks 1–4, which multiply the net tile value of their row/column to determine gold earned or lost.

Each castle has a rank of 1, 2, 3, or 4, representing how much power a player has invested in a region. When a row or column is scored, the total rank of all a player's castles in that row or column is used as a multiplier against the net tile value. Higher ranks earn more gold from positive rows/columns but also lose more gold from negative rows/columns.

Informe estratégico

High-Rank Castle Placement

Rank 4 castles are extremely powerful but carry enormous risk. Because the scoring formula multiplies the entire net row/column value by your castle rank, a rank 4 castle in a row with a net value of -3 costs you 12 gold. Scout for rows/columns with high resource tile density and no hazard tiles, or at least a dragon (which zeroes out resources but also means 0 × 4 = 0 loss). Reserve high-rank castles for secure, high-value positions.

Held Tile as Information Advantage

You privately know what your held tile is before the round begins. Use this to plan your castle placements early. If your held tile is a hazard, consider placing it in a row/column where opponents have high-rank castles — this is one of the only 'take-that' mechanisms in the game. If it's a resource, hold it until you can maximize its position relative to your own castles.

Mountain Tile: Isolation vs. Protection

Mountains cut rows and columns in half. A mountain can protect your castle from a dragon or hazard on the other side of the split, but can also strand your castle in an empty half with no resources. When placing a castle near a mountain, verify which side each resource and hazard tile is on before committing.

Gold Mine Amplification

The gold mine doubles all tile values (both positive and negative) in its row and column. Placing a castle in the gold mine's row or column when resources outweigh hazards can double your income. Conversely, a gold mine in a hazard-heavy line doubles your losses. Prioritize securing good rows/columns that contain the gold mine, and consider placing hazard tiles in the gold mine's line to punish opponents.

Rank 1 Castles as Safe Multi-Round Tools

Rank 1 castles are the only castles returned to players after each round. Ranks 2–4 are permanently eliminated once played. In the later rounds, using rank 1 castles in risky rows/columns limits potential losses, while saving remaining high-rank castles for reliably positive positions.

Dragon Tile as Offensive Weapon

Because the dragon cancels all resource tiles but not hazard tiles, placing the dragon in a row or column where opponents have high-rank castles and many resources can devastate their earnings. If hazard tiles are also in that line, the dragon creates a purely negative row/column that heavily punishes invested opponents while costing you nothing if you have no castle there.

First Player Advantage in Later Rounds

In rounds 2 and 3, the player with the most gold goes first. This can create a snowball effect: wealthier players get first pick of premium board positions each round. Players trailing in gold should aggressively target high-value placements and consider sabotaging leaders' rows/columns with hazard or dragon tiles.

Preguntas frecuentes y casos límite

A dragon and a mountain are both in the same row. On one side of the mountain is the dragon, and on the other side are resource tiles. Are the resource tiles on the far side of the mountain canceled by the dragon?

No. The mountain splits the row into two completely independent halves. The dragon only cancels resource tiles in the same half of the row (and column) that it occupies. Resource tiles on the other side of the mountain are unaffected by the dragon.

A dragon and a gold mine are in the same column. The dragon cancels all resource tiles. Does the gold mine still double the hazard tile values?

Yes. The dragon cancels all resource tiles, leaving only hazard tiles with value. The gold mine then doubles those remaining hazard tile values (since hazard tiles are not canceled by the dragon). The net value before player multiplication is therefore double the sum of all hazard tile values in that column.

A player's castle is on one side of a mountain, but all resource and hazard tiles in that row are on the other side of the mountain. How much does the player score for that row?

The player scores zero gold for that row. The mountain divides the row into two separate scoring halves. The player's castle is in an isolated half with no resource or hazard tiles, so the net value of that half is 0. Multiplying 0 by the castle's rank still equals 0.

A row has a net value of -4 (hazards outweigh resources). A player has a rank 3 castle in that row. How much gold does the player lose?

The player loses 12 gold (−4 net value × 3 rank = −12). Higher-ranked castles amplify losses in negative rows just as they amplify gains in positive rows. The player may go into debt if they have fewer than 12 gold.

A player plays a rank 1 castle and a rank 3 castle in a round. Which do they get back after scoring?

Only the rank 1 castle is returned to the player. The rank 3 castle is permanently removed from the game and placed back in the box. This applies every round, so players progressively lose their higher-ranked castles over the three rounds.

The gold mine is in column 3. Does it double tile values when scoring row 4 (which also passes through column 3)?

The gold mine doubles values in its own row AND its own column separately. When scoring column 3, the gold mine doubles all other tile values in that column. When scoring the gold mine's row, the gold mine doubles all other tile values in that row. The gold mine does NOT affect tiles that happen to be in other rows or columns just because they share a column or row with the gold mine — it only affects tiles in the same row or same column as the gold mine itself.

Can a player draw and place a tile AND also place their secretly held tile in the same round?

Yes, but not on the same turn. Each is a separate turn action. Over the course of a round, a player will eventually use their held tile (as the 'Place Your Tile' action) and may also use 'Draw and Place a Tile' actions on other turns. Each turn allows only one action.

The dragon is in a row with no hazard tiles and only resource tiles. After the dragon cancels the resource tiles, what is the net value?

The net value is 0. The dragon cancels all resource tiles, leaving nothing of value. Any player with a castle in that row (or column) scores 0 gold from it.