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Product Description
RIVER HORSE: NOLI THE BOARD GAME
Outwit your friends to secure the services of local craftsmen, frantically roll dice to win the Regata dei Rioni, catch fish while avoiding pirate raids, and build the tallest tower in Noli!
Note: This game includes instructions in 5 different languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German).
In the Middle Ages, Noli was a flourishing maritime town under the benevolent ‘patronage’ of the powerful republic of Genoa.
This sun-baked fishing community has a rich history of independence, commerce, and competition.
Every September, in order to determine the fishing rights for the following fishing season, the gozzi (typical Ligurian fishing boats) of the four districts of Burgu, Ciassa, Màina, and Portellu run a regatta along a path of 1,600 meters, on fractions of 400 meters between the bouys.
GAME COMPONENTS: 4 PLAYER SETUP
Place the game board in the centre of the table and the six walls onto the wall spaces on the game board.
Shuffle the cards for each Sea Zone and place them facedown on the board on the corresponding Sea Zone.
Each player then does the following:
1) Pick a faction (Màina, Burgu, Portellu or Ciassa) by taking the player sheet and screen in your colour and placing them in front of you with the screen hiding your sheet from other players’ view.
2) Take a number of coins as shown on the back of your player screen (Portellu 10, Burgu 9, Ciassa 8, Maina 7).
3) Take the boats in your colour and place two onto the beach. Place your remaining two boats in front of you.
4) Take the four dice in your colour and place them in front of you.
5) Place the favour pawn in your colour onto the starting space on the favour track also outlined in your colour.
Put all remaining coins, oarsman tokens, and tower floors in a pile within reach of all players. This is ‘the supply’.
WINNING
The two ways to win Noli are by either building the 6th floor of your tower or by having the most tower floors when any player’s favour pawn reaches the end of the favour track.
The Round
Noli is played in rounds, each made of four phases as follows: Investment, Development, Regata dei Rioni, Fishing Season
After all four phases have been completed, a new round begins (starting from the Investment Phase). This pattern continues until a player has won!
Tip: If this is your first game, we suggest you play a practice round as you read through the rules to get a feel for the game.
GAME SPREAD
THE 4 PHASES
Investment
Each player chooses how much they are going to bid for each of the four available assets on their player sheet (these are explained in more detail in the development phase, when their effects take place). The assets are:
1. Courtier 2. Oarsman 3. Shipwright 4. Mason
Place any amount of coins onto each of the assets on your player sheet (hidden behind your player screen) and keep any remaining coins in your hand (or hidden under your player sheet!). These are your bids and the coins in your hand are “the bank”. Once you have made your bids, declare yourself ready. Once all players are ready, remove your player screens and reveal your bids.
After all the bids have been revealed, play continues to development.
Tip: Winning bids is how you improve your position and win the game! Try to outsmart your opponents and bid confidently! The best bid is one that wins by exactly one coin.
Development
Resolve the effect of each asset in the order they appear on the player board:
1. Courtier 2. Oarsman 3. Shipwright 4. Mason
If you have the highest bid for an asset (with the player furthest along the favour track winning any tied bids), pay your bid to the supply and resolve the asset’s effect below.If you have enough coins in your bank, you may spend the same amount again from your bank to repeat the asset’s effect.
Example: In a four player game, Maina has bid 4 on courtier, Portellu 3, Burgu and Ciassa 1. Maina wins the courtier bid and gains the effect (moving up the favour track). Màina now has the choice of spending another 4 coins in order to gain the effect again, moving up the track a second time.
If you do not have the highest bid for an asset, your bid is lost and returned to the coin supply.
Regata dei Rioni
Take your faction dice and place one buoy-side up for each oarsman in front of you. Take the remaining dice into your hand (each player should have four dice in their hand, except the players with oarsman tokens).
The player who is furthest along the favour track makes sure everyone is ready, then says: ‘Ready? Set? Go!’
On ‘go’, it’s time to start rowing (well… rolling)! Roll your dice, then immediately pick up any blank dice and reroll them as fast as possible. Continue rolling until all of your dice show the buoy symbol. When all of your dice show the buoy symbol, stop rolling and immediately shout, ‘Done!’ (or ‘First!’, the name of your faction, or some other celebratory cry), then place all your dice next to the best available fishing zone (starting with 1, then moving on to 2, and so on).
If you are the last player still rolling and everybody else has already finished, you can stop – you are last and must place your dice in the remaining fishing zone.
Once all fishing zones have been claimed, play continues to the fishing season.
Fishing Season
All players send their fishing fleets out for the season, as follows:
If you came first in the Regatta, draw a number of cards from Sea Zone 1 equal to your fishing boats.
Resolve the symbols on each card in any order (see right for details), then place them at the bottom of the deck you drew from.
Then the player in Zone 2 draws their cards and resolves them as above, then Zone 3, and finally Zone 4.
After all players have drawn and resolved their cards, each player that received no coins in this phase gains two coins from the supply and a free fishing boat (Noli’s Archbishop supports the fishermen in times of need) and play continues to the investment phase of the next round.
Coins are not limited in supply. If you run out of tokens, feel free to use dry pasta instead (we suggest ‘trofie’)!
Courtier
Give generous gifts to the city and contribute to the maintenance of its defensive walls, thus gaining favour with the lord and the people.
Move your favour pawn to the next empty light brown space on the favour track (jumping any pawns or starting spaces directly in front of you). If your pawn landed on a wall symbol and there are fewer than six walls, place a wall onto the game board.
If your favour pawn would move but you are on the last brown space (just before Noli’s crest) the game immediately ends and the player with the most tower floors wins the game (the player furthest along the track wins ties).
Oarsman
Hire renowned rowers who will give you an advantage in this season’s Regata.
Take one of the oarsman tokens from the supply and place it in front of you. If there are no oarsman tokens remaining in the supply, take one of the oarsman tokens in front of another player. If you already had three oarsmen, retain them.
Shipwright
Increase the size of your fishing fleet, thus improving your economic might.
If you have fewer than four fishing boats, place one of your fishing boats onto the beach.
If you already had four boats, the next highest bidder wins the bid instead.
Mason
Make your family tower the tallest in town.
Place a tower floor onto your tower space (the square space in your colour on the board).
If your tower reaches six floors, you immediately win the game!
Price effective as of Jul 13, 2024 08:06:09 UTC
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