The Castles of Burgundy rules: how to play and how to score

The Castles of Burgundy quick rules

The goal

Each player develops their duchy, a player board of 37 colored hex spaces, by placing tiles of the matching color: castles, mines, monasteries, ships, livestock and buildings. Points are scored throughout the game, on the track around the game board. The game lasts five phases of five rounds, and the player furthest along the track wins.

A round: the dice

At the start of each round, everyone rolls their two dice, and the starting player also rolls the white die. The white die is only used to place a goods tile on the depot with the same number. Then everyone plays in turn order on the bridge and takes two actions, one per die. Each worker you spend changes a die by one, up or down, and you can turn a 6 into a 1 or a 1 into a 6.

The four actions

A die lets you take a hex tile from the depot with its number, onto one of your three storage spaces; place a tile from your storage in your duchy, on a space with that number; sell all your goods of the color matching that number; or take two workers. You may take the same action twice. In addition, once per turn, you may buy a tile from the black depot for two silver coins.

Placing a tile

A tile goes on an empty space of its color, next to a tile you have already placed; a tile taken from the game board always goes to your storage first. A castle gives you an extra action, as if you had a die with any number. A mine earns one silver coin at the end of each phase. A ship grabs all the goods from any depot and moves your piece forward on the bridge. A monastery changes a rule for you or scores points at the end.

Livestock and buildings

A livestock tile scores as many points as the animals it shows, and tiles with the same animal already in that pasture score their points again. Each building gives a benefit once, when it is placed: take a tile, sell goods, gain silver coins or workers, place an extra tile or score 4 points. A town can only hold one building of each type.

Scoring points

A completed area, a region of a single color, scores 1 to 36 points depending on its size, plus a phase bonus: 10 points in phase A, then 8, 6, 4 and 2 in phase E. The first player to cover every space of one color takes the large bonus tile, the second takes the small one. A sale earns one silver coin and 2, 3 or 4 points per tile sold, depending on the number of players.

The end and final scoring

After phase E, each unsold goods tile and each silver coin is worth one point, every two workers are worth one point, and end-game monasteries score what they show. Tiles left in storage are worth nothing. The most points wins; on a tie, the most empty spaces in your duchy wins.

Beginner pitfalls

A full storage forces you to discard a tile: don’t take tiles you can’t place. Complete your areas early, because the phase bonus shrinks fast. Keep workers to fix your dice and two silver coins for the black depot, and check that a town doesn’t already have the building you want to place.

Solo

You play 25 rounds with all three dice, and remove a tile from the depot shown by the white die before your actions. Your points move a counter toward a target marker on space 50: when it gets there, the counter resets, the marker moves down five spaces and you gain an action. You win if you cover all 37 spaces of your duchy within 25 rounds.

How to score The Castles of Burgundy

Victory point track

Your position on the track before final scoring, victory point tile included: livestock, completed areas, bonus tiles, sales, watchtowers.

Unsold goods

1 point per unsold goods tile.

Silver coins left

1 point per silver coin.

Workers left

1 point for every two workers.

End-game monasteries

Points from the monastery tiles placed in your duchy that score at the end. Not those left in storage.

Shields (module in the box)

12, 8 or 4 points per shield still placed at the end, doubled with shield number 13.

Empty spaces (tie-breaker)

No points: on a tie, the most empty spaces wins, then the player furthest behind on the bridge.

Worked example

Emma ends phase E at 182 points on the track. She has 2 goods left (2 points), 3 silver coins (3 points) and 5 workers (2 points), and her monastery number 15 counts 4 goods colors sold (8 points): 182 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 8 = 197 points.

Common mistakes

• Scoring one point per worker: it takes two for one point.
• Scoring tiles left in storage: they are worth nothing, monasteries included.
• Forgetting the victory point tile: once past the start space, your position is worth 100 more, or 200 on the second lap.
• Breaking ties with the fewest empty spaces: the most empty spaces wins.

How to set up The Castles of Burgundy

With several players, follow the first four parts; for solo, replace the player and turn order parts with the last one. Everyone rolls a die: the highest result goes first.