Rebirth rules: how to play and how to score

Rebirth quick rules

The goal

Clans rebuild Scotland or Ireland after a series of calamities. Taking turns, everyone places Tiles on the map: Food Farms, Energy Farms and Settlements. Most points are scored during the game, on the Board’s score track; at the end, the Castles you control and the Missions you complete add more.

A game turn

Your turn has three steps: place the Tile from your hand on an unoccupied space, score it by moving your Scoring Counter, then draw a new Tile from your supply and look at it privately. You’ll place it next turn, and play passes to your left.

Where to place a Tile

A Farm goes on a blank space or a space of its own type; if none is left unoccupied, it may go on a space of the other Farm type. A Settlement Tile only goes on a Settlement space. Never on an occupied space, a Castle, a Cathedral or the water.

The Farms

A Farm scores 1 point per Tile in the cluster it creates or adds to, itself included. A cluster is touching Farm Tiles of your color and the same type: Food and Energy Farms never mix, and other players’ Farms don’t add to your cluster.

The Settlements

A Settlement scores once all its spaces are occupied, and every player in it scores by Influence, the number of icons on their Settlement Tiles. Small: the Tile’s Influence. Medium: 5 and 3 points. Large: 8, 5 and 0 points; alone, you take 8 or 13 points. On a tie, the player who completes the Settlement loses, then clockwise order breaks it.

Ports, Cathedrals and Castles

A Tile placed on a Port, a Settlement space marked +1, scores 1 point. The first time you place a Tile next to a Cathedral space, you put a Cathedral on it and draw a secret Mission Card, one per Cathedral. A Castle belongs to whoever occupies the most spaces around it; on a tie, the most adjacent Farms wins, then the player who just placed loses.

The end of the game and scoring

The game ends when everyone has placed all the Tiles from their supply. Settlement Tiles in incomplete Settlements score 1 point per icon, each Castle you control scores 5 points, then everyone reveals their Mission Cards: a tie is enough to meet a card’s condition, and the Cathedral Bonus scores 3 points outright.

Ireland: Settlements, Offshore Farms and Missions

The Ireland side, the Advanced Mode, keeps the Scotland rules. Ports become Offshore Farms, still worth 1 point. Four-space Sprawling Settlements score 12, 8 and 5 points, or 17 and 8 with only two players. Eight Public Mission Cards replace the Mission Cards: the first to complete one scores the higher number, later players the lower one, once each.

Ireland: Round Towers and the end

The first time you’re adjacent to a Round Tower, its bonus may help you, once per player: 3 or 13 points, a second Tile drawn from your four set aside, three Tiles drawn instead of one, a secret Private Mission, or your Doubling Marker on a Public Mission, which will score double. At Final Scoring, incomplete Settlements and Castles score as in Scotland, then a completed Private Mission scores its higher number.

Beginner pitfalls

Move your counter for every Tile: almost all points come during the game. Completing a Settlement also scores for the other players in it, and on a tie in Influence you’re the one who loses. Around a Castle, on a tie in spaces, Farms break the tie. A Mission Card is met even on a tie.

How to score Rebirth

Score track

Your total on the track after the last turn: Farms, Settlements, Ports and, in Ireland, Public Missions and Round Towers. Add 100, 200 or 300 as shown by your Scoring Achievement.

Incomplete Settlements

1 point per Settlement icon on your Tiles in a Settlement that still has an unoccupied space.

Castles controlled

5 points per Castle space holding one of your Castles at the end. No penalty for other players’ Castles.

End-of-game Missions

Scotland: points from your completed Mission Cards, ties included; the Cathedral Bonus scores 3 points outright. Ireland: your completed Private Mission Card scores the card’s higher number.

White Shamrock Castle (tie-breaker)

No points: on a tie, the tied player who controls Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, or Blarney Castle in Ireland, wins. Otherwise, whoever controls Stirling Castle, or occupies the most spaces around the Hill of Tara, wins even if not tied.

Worked example

Emma, in Scotland, ends on 87 points on the track. She has 5 icons in incomplete Settlements (5), controls 3 Castles (15) and completes two 5-point Missions plus a Cathedral Bonus (13): 87 + 5 + 15 + 13 = 120 points.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting to move your counter: almost all points are scored during the game, as you place.
• Subtracting points for opponents’ Castles: a Castle only gives 5 points to the player who controls it.
• Forgetting incomplete Settlements: each Settlement Tile there still scores 1 point per icon.
• Discarding a Mission on a tie: a tie is enough to meet a Mission Card’s condition.
• In Ireland, counting Public Missions twice: they’re already on the track, only the Private Mission is added at the end.

How to set up Rebirth

First pick a side of the Board: Scotland, the base game, or Ireland, the Advanced Mode. Steps for one side say so. The player who last visited Scotland goes first, or Ireland on that side.