The first player to achieve 15 victory points (VP) is deemed the winner. See the Victory Point Chart below to see all the ways players can earn victory points.
Landover can be played with 2 - 4 players.
If a hex tile’s edge is adjacent to both land and water, then the player may choose to build a bridge OR a road there. However, you can’t connect a road to a bridge or vice versa.
If a hex tile’s edge is adjacent to two land tiles, then only a road can occupy that edge. If a hex tile’s edge is adjacent to two water tiles, then only a bridge can occupy that edge.
Wool
Wood
Ore
Wheat
Clay
Cloth
Paper
Coin
Sheep
Forest
Mountain
Field
Hills
Gold
Numbers are “randomly” placed on each resource tile for the map chosen. Player order is randomly determined at the start of the game. Each player takes a turn placing 1 village at any starting hex corner and one road connected to that village. Player’s then go in reverse order taking turns placing one city at any starting hex corner and one road connected to that city.
All villages and cities must always be at least 2 corners away from all other villages and cities. Each time a player places a city, they receive one resource for each of the tile types their city is touching.
If a barbarian is rolled on the event dice, move the barbarian on the barbarian tracker. If this triggers a barbarian attack, carry out the attack per the “Barbarians” section below.
For all other rolls, players receive resources and commodities based on the numbers rolled. See production chart below.
If a 7 is rolled, clear all catapult raids from the board. If any players have more cards in their hand then their safe hand size, half their hand is randomly discarded.
Improving culture: All players start with culture levels of 0 for science, commerce, and politics. The cost to improve each is 1 commodity card of that type equal to the level you are improving to.
Building: Players may build additional structures at any time during their turn. See the building chart below.
Trade Resources and Commodities
Buy Military Power
Carry out a raid
The barbarians will advance one square on the tracker each time a barbarian is rolled on the event dice (50% chance). When the Barbarian reaches the end of the tracker, all players are attacked. (Players may choose to delay the start of the barbarians N barbarian rolls in the game creation options.)
If the barbarian strength is greater than the players strength, then the barbarian’s win the attack and the player(s) with a city and the least military power has one random city reduced to a village. Unwalled cities are prioritized over walled cities.
If the player strength is greater than or equal to the barbarian strength, then the barbarians lose the attack and the player with the greatest military power gains a military victory point. If two or more players tie for greatest military power then those players receive a random dev card. As a result of the successful defense, all players lose one military power (can't go below 0.)
All players begin the game with 0 military power. At any time on their turn player’s can choose to upgrade their military by spending 1 wool and 1 wheat. Players may upgrade their military power to a max value of 3. For players whose political culture is level 3 or higher and have a barracks, their max military power is unlimited. Military power serves two main functions: Defending barbarian attacks and carrying out raids on other players.
Defending Barbarian Attacks:
If the barbarian attack is successfully defended, the player with the greatest military power gains a military victory point. If two or more players tie for greatest military power then these players receive a random dev card. If the barbarian attack is successful, the player(s) with a city and the least military power has a random city razed to a village. Each time a barbarian attack is successfully defended, all players military power is reduced by 1.
Players with a military power of 1 or more may carry out one raid each turn. Carrying out a raid reduces your military power by 1. The raiding player chooses a tile adjacent to any opponent’s villages or cities and places their catapult on that tile. If their own catapult was already on another tile, it is moved to the raiding location of the new tile. Players cannot raid a tile that already has a catapult on it.
If there are multiple players on the chosen tile, one random resource is stolen from each player. Only one raid per turn is allowed. Any tiles with catapults on them are “dead” and do not produce resources or commodities. A player can remove a catapult by spending 1 military power. All catapults are removed from the board when a 7 is rolled.
The merchant token is worth 1 VP for the user who controls it. There is only one merchant token in the game and it starts off not in play. A user must play a merchant token dev card to gain control of the merchant token at which point they gain 1 VP (and if there was a player previously in control of the merchant token, that player loses 1 VP).
The player placing the token chooses a resource tile adjacent to any one of their cities or villages to place it on. While in possession of the token, the player may trade resources 2:1 for the resource it is placed on. For example, if John owns the merchant token and has it placed on a wheat tile, he may trade wheat 2:1 for any other resource or commodity.
There are three types of culture in Landover: Science (green/paper), Commerce (yellow/cloth), and Politics (blue/coin). By developing culture, players increase their chance of drawing dev cards. At the start of each turn, if the event dice rolls a green, yellow, or blue key, all players whose culture level for that category is higher than or equal to the number shown on the red dice is given a dev card. Any players already holding 5 dev cards do not receive a dev card. Victory point dev cards do not count towards the max 5.
To improve your culture, you must upgrade it using the associated commodity defined above. The cost to upgrade is always one additional commodity than whatever the current level is. So upgrading science from 0 to 1 costs 1 paper. Upgrading politics from 3 to 4 costs 4 coins. The max culture level for all culture types is 6. For each type of culture, reaching level 3 unlocks a special ability for the rest of the game:
Science Level 3 = Aqueduct:
If a player does not receive any resources for a given roll, they are given one random resource.
Commerce Level 3 = Bank:
Allows players to trade commodities 2:1 with the bank for any resource or commodity.
Politics Level 3 = Barracks:
Allows players to upgrade their military power beyond level 3.
There are 3 total metros (worth +2 VPs each) available in the game, one for each type of culture. The first player to reach level 4 for any given culture is awarded a metro. When a player receives a metro, the player chooses one of their cities to place the metro on. Any city with a metro upgrade cannot be destroyed by a barbarian attack. If a player achieves level 4 after another player has already achieved level 4, they do not receive the metro.
However, if another player achieves level 6 before the other player who already has the metro of that type, then the metro is stolen away from the other player resulting in a transfer of those 2 VPs. The first player to reach level 6 for any given culture type retains the metro for the rest of the game and cannot lose it. The only reason for any other player to continue developing that culture type further would simply be to get the level 3 ability or increase their chances of getting a development card.
Longest Route is awarded to the player with the longest continuous route from end to end of roads and bridges with a count of 5 or more. The route can contain your own villages or cities but not an opponent’s. To take longest route away from another player, you must build a route that is at least one longer than theirs (by building more roads or bridges or interrupting their route with a village). If a route forks, the longest fork is counted. No road or bridge may be counted twice (no circular routes).
Port Authority is awarded to the player with the most harbors (ports) as long as they have a minimum of 3. To take Port Authority away from another player, you must settle on one more harbor than the player who currently has the most. Harbors do not need to be unique (3 wood harbors is ok). The player who is the Port Authority gains an additional +2 Victory Points.
The Gods of Landover have always rooted for the underdogs. Any time a player in solo last place rolls a 7, they are granted a free raid. They may place their catapult anywhere on the board and steal 1 random resource from each player with an attached settlement. Don’t despair when losing, the gods may smile in your favor!
In Landover you can always trade any 3 of the same resources or commodities 3:1 with the bank. To improve your trade ratio, you can build a village on a harbor (also called ports). This will allow you to trade 2 resources of the harbor type for any 1 resource or commodity. You can also place a merchant token which also allows a 2:1 trade which can be obtained via commerce dev cards. Trading with other players is not allowed in Landover.
The table below shows all the various dev cards in the game.
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