Bauernschlau

About this board game

Bauernschlau is a 2–6 player board game from 1991, played in about 45 minutes, about building sheep farms from the center of a shared hex board. Each player’s farm begins without defined boundaries, and fences gradually determine which spaces belong to which farm.

Every sheep is placed on a thick cardboard disk with a value from 5 down to -3, and only one sheep fits on each hex. Some spaces are clearly associated with particular farms, while others become contested as players compete to claim—or avoid—them. Symmetrically placed multiplier spaces can make the sheep occupying them even more important.

• Place a sheep face-down after secretly looking at it.
• Reveal a face-down sheep, freezing it for the rest of the game.
• Use the wooden sheepdog to blindly herd a hidden sheep to another hex, where it is revealed and frozen.
• Lay a fence on either side of your farm to define its boundaries.

To complete a farm, the fences on both sides must reach the outer edge of the board before the game ends. The game ends when one completed farm is filled with pieces, including face-up or face-down sheep and the dog. Only completed farms can win, and victory goes to the player with the most points from face-up sheep in their farm after applying multipliers.

With hidden information, secret values, memory, and bluffing, Bauernschlau makes every placement meaningful. The sheep supply includes 9 tiles each worth 1, 2, 3, or 5 points, along with 16 tiles worth -3, creating plenty of uncertainty as players shape their farms and contest the board.