Orléans
During the medieval goings-on around Orléans, you must assemble a following of farmers, merchants, knights, monks, etc. to gain supremacy through trade, construction and science in medieval France.
In Orléans, you will recruit followers and put them to work to make use of their abilities. Farmers and Boatmen supply you with money and goods; Knights expand your scope of action and secure your mercantile expeditions; Craftsmen build trading stations and tools to facilitate work; Scholars make progress in science; Traders open up new locations for you to use your followers; and last but not least, it cannot hurt to get active in monasteries since with Monks on your side you are much less likely to fall prey to fate.
You will always want to take more actions than possible, and there are many paths to victory. The challenge is to combine all elements as best as possible with regard to your strategy.
Number of players: 2 - 5
Game duration: 83 mn
Complexity: 3 / 5
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Play Orléans and 934 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Phases of a Turn
A round of Orleans consists of 7 phases, performed in this order:
- Phase 1: Hourglass. The top event card is revealed. This event will be executed at the end of the round. There are six different events in the game, each appearing three times.
- Phase 2: Census. The player who is furthest ahead on the Farm House (white) track receives 1 coin. The player who is furthest behind on this track loses 1 coin (except in a two player game). In both cases, this needs to be an outright majority - if there's a tie, neither player gets or loses anything.
- Phase 3: Followers. Each player draws a number of followers from their bag according to their Knights (red) track. At no point can you have more than 8 followers to be placed this way (which is possible if you have followers left unplaced from a previous round).
- Phase 4: Planning. Each player assigns their followers to their action board. Note that monks (gold) are wild and can be used in place of any follower.
- Phase 5: Actions. Starting with the first player and proceeding in player order, each player takes an action in which all required followers are assigned. Continue doing this until all players have no further actions they can perform (or choose to ignore).
- Phase 6: Event. Resolve the event that was revealed in the Hourglass phase.
- Phase 7: End. Pass the starting player token to the next player.
Actions
These are the actions to be prepared for in the Planning phase and taken during the Action phase. Note that these are off limits if the player is already at the end of a track, or if it involves collecting a follower that is no longer in the supply.
Farm House
Collect 1 farmer. Advance on the Farm (white) track. Gain a good based on your position on the track. These are worth points at the end of the game.
Village
The village is a choice between 3 different options:
- Collect 1 sailor. Advance on the Boat (blue) track. Gain money based on your position on the track.
- Collect 1 carpenter. Advance on the Technology (brown) track. Gain a gear. This can be used to automate an action space, making it always filled. Your first gear must be placed on a farmer space, and you may not place more than one gear on the same action or completely automate a single action.
- Collect 1 trader. Advance on the Trade (black) track. Gain an action tile, which provides a private action space or a persistent special ability. The rules for these action spaces generally work the same way as the ones printed on the board.
University
Collect 1 scholar. Advance on the Scholar (gray) track. Advance on the Development track based on our position on the Scholar track. These can award money, as well as increase the point value of guilds and nobles at the end of the game.
Castle
Collect 1 knight. Advance on the Castle (red) track. This increases the number of followers you'll draw at the beginning of each round.
Monastery
Collect 1 monk. Monks are considered wild and can take the place of any other follower.
Ship and Wagon
Move your merchant token one space, collecting 1 good that you pass along the way. These two actions work the same, except that Ship only works across rivers and Wagon only across roads.
Guildhall
Place one guild at your location on the map. Each player may have a guild on Orleans, but all other spaces may only have one guild total. These are worth points at the end of the game, with their value determined by the development track.
Scriptorium
Advance one space along the development track.
Town Hall
Exile one or two of your characters to the Beneficial Deeds board and gain the bonus for that deed (usually money).
End of the Game
The game ends after 18 rounds. Points are awarded as follows:
- Coins: 1 point
- Wheat: 1 point
- Cheese: 2 points
- Wine: 3 points
- Wool: 4 points
- Brocade: 5 points
- Guilds: Points equal to your highest passed value on the Development track
- Nobles: Points equal to your highest passed value on the Development track
The player with the most points wins!
