Tips & Variations
Upgrade events
If the events in "Orléans" are too harmless for you, you can play the following variant:
3 sets are formed from the 18 hourglass tiles. Each set consists of 1 pilgrimage, harvest, taxes, revenue, trading day and plague (i.e. each event occurs once per set).
The sets are shuffled face down. The set with the starting card "Pilgrimage" is shuffled without this card. The starting card is then placed on top. The sets are then placed face down next to the game board.
Now take the first stack with the "Pilgrimage" starting card and place it on the hourglass space. Once the event cards in the first pile have been used up after 6 rounds, place the next pile on the hourglass space. Finally, the third stack follows after the 12th round.
The following rules apply:
Plague and Pilgrimage always have the same effects. The other events apply to rounds 1-6 (first stack):
- Harvest: Give 1 food (or pay 5 coins).
- Taxes: Pay 1 coin per good.
- Income: You receive 3 coins per level of development reached.
- Trading day: You receive 3 coins per trading station.
The following applies to rounds 7-12 (second stack):
- Harvest: Give 2 food (or pay 10 coins).
- Taxes: Pay 1 coin per 2 goods.
- Income: You receive 2 coins per level of development reached.
- Trading day: You receive 2 coins per trading station.
The following applies for rounds 13-18 (third stack):
- Harvest: Give 3 food (or pay 15 coins).
- Taxes: Pay 1 coin per 3 goods.
- Income: You receive 1 coin per development level reached.
- Trading day: You receive 1 coin per trading station.
Additional Place Tiles
The "Orléans Invasion" and "Orléans Trade & Intrigue" expansions or place tile sets can be used to add additional place tiles to the game. The place tiles and the added place tiles are divided into two stacks according to their backs (I and II). Both piles are then shuffled face down and 13 of each are randomly selected, which are then available in the game. If there are fewer than 13 category II place tiles, the game is played with the available ones.
Tip: People with 2 sides
As followers once placed on action spaces may no longer be moved, but followers are moved back and forth during the planning phase, the question arose as to how to solve the problem of distinguishing followers already placed in previous rounds from those currently being placed.
If you have the wooden meeples, you now have various options. Firstly, the stickers are slightly different on the front and back, but this is probably not enough for a quick overview. You can also stick stickers on one side of the meeples so that the other side is without stickers. The actions are then planned with the stickerless side and once the figures have been placed, they are turned to the sticker side.
If you don't want to do without the stickers, you can also place the figures "standing" during the planning phase and lie them down as soon as the planning has been completed - or vice versa.
