Merchants of Medieval Europe

Introduction Gamble your family’s coin in search of emerging riches! Buy and sell goods at the whim of a wild market that will keep you guessing and laughing with wonder! Will you make your fortune on one big deal or diversify your goods and strike smartly? Carry silk, wine, spice, and more on your wagon throughout medieval Europe. Borrow funds from the Merchant Bank and accept contracts from wealthy nobles to afford and deliver these prized crates for extra rewards. By the end of the year, will you return home as a wealthy winner or a penniless peasant? Merchants of Medieval Europe is a 3-6 player game designed for casual gamers and families.​

Winning the Game At the end of the last round, the player with the most coin wins. Subtract from scores if players have uncompleted contracts and/or debt.

Length of Game The standard game lasts 12 rounds. Exhaust the Market Deck once for one standard game. Lengthen the game in 12 round increments if you prefer a longer experience.

Setup

1. Place the market good tracker discs on the numbers located around the board’s Perimeter Market matching the Initial Value chart above.
2. Shuffle the contract cards and make the contract deck. Shuffle the market cards and create the Market deck by drawing 12 cards. Place the remaining market cards back in the game box.
3. Separate the 8 colored good cards and create the Resource Supply by placing all of them next to the board along with all the coin and Banknotes. This is the Merchant Bank of Europe.
4. Each player takes 1 horse mat (one horse side face up), one color matching pawn, and 15 coin.
5. Each player draws 4 Contract cards, chooses 1, and places their pawn on the Contract’s delivery location. Return the Contract cards to the deck and shuffle the deck.
6. The player who traveled the farthest away in the last week is the first player. Play continues clockwise from the first player.

Gameplay

1. Market Phase

    i. The first player flips a market card and places it on top of a market discard deck.
    ii. Players adjust the Perimeter Market good trackers to their new values dictated by the drawn market card.
   

2. Accounting Phase

    i. Players can upgrade their wagon to two horses.
    ii. Players can take 1 debt banknote.
    iii. Players can pay back any amount of debt banknotes.
   

3. Action Phase

    i. The first player begins their turn and takes up to 4 actions.
    
    a. End their turn by adjusting the Perimeter Market based on their buys/sells, +1 for buys and -1 for sells.
   
   
   
    ii. The Action Phase continues clockwise until every player takes up to 4 actions and ends their turn.
   

4. Round Ends

Action Phase Take up to 4 actions per turn in any order and you can repeat any particular action any number of times until you run out of actions. A. Move- Earn movement points from your wagon and move your pawn. 1 movement point allows movement from one region into an adjacent region. B. Buy- Buy as many goods as you can afford from the resources stockpile, so long as you are in a region that sells the desired good, the good is in stock, and you have room in your wagon. C. Trade- Buy, sell, or trade goods with another player in the same colored territory as your pawn. D. Sell- From any region, you can sell any number of goods back to the stockpile for the current market value as dictated by the Perimeter Market. E. Contracts- Accept a contract by drawing 4 contract cards, choosing 1, and discarding the remaining cards. Alternatively, complete a contract at the written destination with the required goods.