Fields of Arle

Welcome to East Frisia

Arle is a small village in East Frisia. Today, only the size of its village church implies its former importance.

In the past centuries, the area around Arle stood out due to its excellent farmland. It was said the best flax of all North Germany grew in Arle. As the demand for this versatile resource grew, the local farmers quickly became rich. The people of Arle had a considerably better life than the residents of any other place in East Frisia. In this game, you can share the fortune of living in Arle with the flax farmers of that time. You can decide whether you want to participate in farming flax yourself or, as a consequence of the increasing wealth in Arle, meet the demand in other areas. You can grow grain, breed animals, cut peat, colonize the moor, or build dikes. You can cultivate forests, run a vehicle fleet, or build workshops and inns. Your biggest task is to build prestigious buildings like the previously mentioned village church.

A game of “Fields of Arle” is played over nine half years – alternating between summer and winter. In summer, you can carry out different actions than in winter. At the end of each half year, there is a season-specific Inventorying. Finally, a single scoring at the end of the game will determine which player made the most out of the four and a half years he had in Arle.

For those who come from the sea,
East Frisia is not at the end of the world,
but rather at its very beginning.
— Ewald Christophers

In Order to Get Started

In this game, you build a village and take care of the area around it. The following illustration shows the goals you try to accomplish. The wind roses indicate the number of Victory Points you get for the depicted actions. Yellow wind roses stand for Victory Points.

While reading this rule book, you can come back to this page every now and then to get a better view of the context. This section has no relevance for understanding the rules. Any information found on this page is also explained elsewhere in this rule book.

• Dike the Tidal Flat Area: Dike the Tidal Flat Area on your Home Board to get access to more Fields, Pastures and building land. (If you do not finish this process by the end of the game, you will lose points.)
• Build Buildings: They have a fixed number of Victory Points.
• Breed Animals: You can breed Animals in Stalls and Stables. (At the end of the game, Stalls and Stables will be worth 2 and 6 Victory Points, respectively. Animals are also worth Victory Points.) Animals can live in Stalls and Stables or graze outdoors. Try to have about the same number of Animals of each type at the end of the game, so that your Animals will be effectively worth 1 Victory Point per Animal. Empty Land Spaces (also called Pastures) can hold 2, Stalls 3 and Stables 6 Animals of the same type. Parks can hold 2 Animals of any type and each of your 5 Dikes can hold 1 Animal of any type.
• Travel Experience Track: The more villages and towns you provide with goods, the more points you will get.
• Dehydrate the Moor: Dehydrate the Moor so that you can cut peat. As soon as you remove the last Peat Token from a Moor Tile, you can cultivate that Moor Section by removing the Moor Tile from your Home Board. (Until then, you lose points for it.)
• Goods Track: At the end of the game, you will get Victory Points for each type of good that you have a certain number of (indicated by the wind rose symbols on the Goods Track). You can double these points by turning one of your Stalls into a Depot. Some goods are represented by tiles, but most of the goods are represented by Goods Indicators and tracked on your Goods Track. Food, Grain, Hides, Flax, and Wool are indicated on the Goods Track. You can have at most 15 pieces of each of these types of goods due to the limitation imposed by the Goods Track. Only exception: Food is represented by 2 Goods Indicators (light blue), so you can have up to 30 Food.
• Equipment & Barn: You can build Plows, Peat Boats, and various Vehicles. These pieces of Equipment are stored in your Barn. (They are worth Victory Points at the end of the game.) You only have so much space in your Barn.
• Clothing: Linen, Woolen and Leather are made out of the corresponding resources. (Each of these upgraded goods is worth 1 Victory Point.) You can use them to craft Clothing to double their value.
• Building Materials: Wood, Timber, Clay and Bricks are represented by cardboard tokens. (The upgraded goods, Timber and Bricks, are worth Victory Points.) Peat is represented by wooden tokens.
• Plow Fields: Plow Fields to increase your income of Grain and Flax.
• Forests & Parks: Forests (worth 2 Victory Points) provide additional Wood. Later, you can upgrade them to valuable Parks (worth 6 Victory Points).
• Tools: The Game Board indicates how many Tools of each type you have. (They are also worth Victory Points.)

Components

Game Boards

• 1 large Game Board
• 1 Supply Board (for tiles)
• 2 Home Boards (with tracks on the sides)
• 2 “Travel Destinations and Barn” Storage Boards

Tiles

• 9× travel destinations per player (18 total)
• Building Material Tiles: 24× “Clay/Brick”, 24× “Wood/Timber”
• Clothing Tiles: 24× “Linen/Summer Wear”, 23× “Leather/Leather Wear”, 23× “Woolen/Winter Wear”
• Landscape and Equipment Tiles:
  • 5× “Forest/Park”
  • 3× “Stable/Double Stall”
  • 3× “Cart/Horse Cart”
  • 2× “Handcart/Wagon”
  • 10× “Dike”
  • 6× “Moor/Dehydrated Moor”
  • 7× “Stall/Depot”
  • 14× “Grain Field/Flax Field”
  • 3× “Carriage/Droshky”
  • 6× “Peat Boat/Plow”
  • 2× “Small Boardwalk”
  • 31× “Building”
• Replacement Tiles: 1× “5 Linen”, 1× “5 Wool”, 1× “5 Leather”

Wooden Tokens

• 2×4 Workers (in the player colors)
• 40× “Peat”
• 20× “Sheep”
• 20× “Cattle”
• 20× “Horse”
• 1 orange Half Year Counter
• 1 Starting Player Marker

Wooden Indicators

• 2×10 round Tool Indicators (in the player colors)
• 2× “Grain” Goods Indicators
• 2× “Flax” Goods Indicators
• 2× “Hide” Goods Indicators
• 2× “Wool” Goods Indicators
• 4× “Food” Goods Indicators

Additional Material

• 1 Scoring Pad
• 2 Overview Sheets
• 1 Sticker Sheet

Before Your First Play

Attach the stickers to the 12 Goods Indicators and the 8 Workers. You can attach the spot stickers to the white Cattle tokens to make them “black pied” (as they used to call it in East Frisia).

Setup

1. Place the Supply Board: Place the Supply Board between you. Place the depicted tiles on the appropriate spaces as indicated on the Supply Board. (The Supply Board also shows a small illustration of the reverse side of each tile.) There are Fields*, Plows and Peat Boats, Vehicles, Clothing*, Stalls and Depots, Stables and Double Stalls, as well as Forests and Parks.
   * There are a lot of Field and Clothing Tiles. You only need to place some of them on the Supply Board. You can add the rest later, if need be. (If your gaming table is not big enough to accommodate all the components, you do not need to use the Supply Board at all: instead, place the stacks of tiles wherever you can.)
   During the course of the game, the tiles in the top row can be acquired with either side facing up. The tiles in the bottom row can only be acquired with their front side facing up. Their reverse sides show upgrades to their front sides.
2. Set up the Game Board: Place the large Game Board next to the Supply Board. Then place the orange Half Year Counter on space 1 of the Half Year Track.
3. Tool Indicators: Choose a player color. Take the round Tool Indicators of that color and place one each on each of the 10 Tool Tracks of the Game Board (Fish Traps, Fleshing Beams, etc.). Place them on the leftmost space of each track. The Tool Indicators keep track of the number of Tools you have. During the course of the game, you can increase that number.
4. Building Costs: Familiarize yourselves with the costs of the Buildings. They are printed on the Game Board.
5. Starting Player and Workers: Randomly determine the Starting Player. This player receives the Starting Player Marker. Place 1 Worker of each color on each of the spaces “July” to “October” on the Game Board, so that the Starting Player’s tokens are on top.
6. Distribute Buildings: Distribute the Buildings on the spaces of matching color on the Game Board. In 3 of the 5 building colors, there are 3 more Buildings than there are matching spaces on the Game Board. In these cases, randomly determine which Buildings to place on the Game Board and which ones to remove from the game.
   There are two types of green Buildings. For your first play, use the 4 light green ones. When you are more experienced with the game, use 4 of the 7 dark green Buildings instead.
7. Home Boards: Take a Home Board each and place it (on your side of the table) below the Supply Board. Place the depicted components on the Home Board as indicated on it: certain tiles, 1 Horse, 4 Peat Tokens and 6 Goods Indicators.
   On the left side of the Home Board, there is the Travel Experience Track. In the middle, there are the Landscape Spaces, and on the right side, there is the Goods Track.
8. Storage Boards and Resources: Aside from your Home Board, you each receive a “Travel Destinations and Barn” Storage Board as well as a set of “Travel Destinations” in your player color. Place the Travel Destinations on the appropriate spaces of your Storage Board. (Your Barn appears below the Travel Destinations, and it starts empty.)
   • You each receive an Overview Sheet showing the various actions of the game.
   • You each take 4 Wood, 4 Clay and 3 Peat and place them next to your Home Board in your personal supply. (An illustration on the Overview Sheet reminds you of these values.)
   • Sort the remaining Building Materials, the “Wood/Timber” and the “Clay/Brick” tiles, as well as the wooden “Animal” and “Peat” tokens and place them handily on the side.
   • You (probably) will not need the Scoring Pad until the end of the game.

The Home Board

At the beginning of the game, you have access to 2 empty Land Spaces on your Home Board. (The other Land Spaces were covered by tiles during setup.) On these spaces, you can build Fields, Stalls, Buildings, and Forests. Directly above your Land Spaces is your Dike Line (this is what we call 3 Dike tiles lying in a row next to each other) and beyond that the Tidal Flat Area. You cannot build there, because this area is flooded by the tide. However, during the course of the game, you can dike the Tidal Flat Spaces to reclaim land and get access to more Land Spaces. To do so, you will move the Dike tiles upwards one by one. This will eventually move your Dike Line (i.e. the border between the Tidal Flat Area and the Mainland) upwards as well.

Another way to get access to more Land Spaces is to cut peat. Peat is cut in the Moor that is located below your developed Land Spaces. During the course of the game, you can flip the Moor Tiles over to show they were dehydrated. Then you can cut peat there until you have removed all of the peat from the tile. It will immediately become cultivated and the Moor Tile will be removed from your Home Board. From then on, you will have access to (1 or) 2 new Land Spaces.

The Mainland

At the beginning of the game, you have 2 Land Spaces that you can build on by placing tiles of appropriate size on them, like Fields, Forests, Stalls, and Buildings. 4 Land Spaces are already covered by tiles.

Dike Building

At the beginning of the game, there are 9 potential Land Spaces in the Tidal Flat Area. The Dike Line indicates the border between this area and the Mainland. You have 5 Dike tiles. Each such tile is lying in the gap between 2 vertically adjacent spaces. Whenever you use a “+1 Dike” action, you move one of the bottom Dikes up into the next gap between two spaces.

Whenever you create a new Dike Line above your old one, i.e. when there is a new horizontal line consisting of 3 adjacent Dike tiles, you immediately gain 3 new Land Spaces (also known as “polder spaces”).

A row consisting of one or two Dike tiles is irrelevant to the distinction between the Tidal Flat Area and the Mainland.

Cutting Peat in the Moor Area

At the bottom of your Home Board, there are 3 Moor Tiles. Use a “Dehydrate a Moor Section” or “Warden” action to dehydrate one of these Moor Sections so that you can cut peat there: turn the Moor Tile to its reverse side and immediately place 4 Peat Tokens on it. Afterwards, you can use “Cut Peat” actions to take the Peat Tokens off the Moor Tile and place them in your personal supply. (The Peat Cutter Action Space lets you do multiple consecutive “Cut Peat” actions depending on how many Spades you have.) As soon as you remove the last Peat Token from a Moor Tile, immediately remove that Moor Tile from play. This way you gain more Land Spaces on your Home Board to build on.

At the beginning of the game, you already have a dehydrated Moor Section with 4 Peat waiting to be cut. Dehydrate the other Moor Sections to get access to even more Peat.

Animal Husbandry Rules

There are 3 types of Animals in this game: Sheep, Cattle, and Horses. You can get these Animals via various actions during the Work Phase and as newborns at the end of each Winter Half Year. You can only keep your newly gained Animals if you can accommodate them on your Home Board. You can return Animals to the general supply (without substitution) at any time. During the Work Phase, you can rearrange the Animals on your Home Board at any time according to the following rules:

1. Each of your Dikes can hold 1 Animal of any type.
2. Each empty Land Space of your Home Board can hold up to 2 Animals of the same type.
3. Each Stall can hold up to 3 Animals of the same type. (Do not forget to get a pair of Animals into each of your Stalls before the end of Winter to get a newborn Animal during the Inventorying in May.)
4. Double Stalls (reverse side of Stables) are considered two separate Stalls. (You can get them via the “Warden” and “Dike Warden” actions.)
5. Each Stable can hold up to 6 Animals of the same type. (As with Stalls, try to have pairs of Animals in your Stables before Winter ends to maximize the number of newborn Animals you get. You can get Stables via the “Carpenter” action in Winter.)
6. Each Park (reverse side of a Forest) can hold up to 2 Animals of the same or of different types. (You can get Parks via the “Warden” and “Dike Warden” actions.)

The Goods Track

Indicate the amounts of Food, Grain, Hides, Flax, and Wool you have with the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track. The Goods Indicators cannot go above 15 or below 0. You may move one of the Food Goods Indicators down on the track to move the other Food Goods Indicator up by the same number of spaces (i.e. you may distribute the total amount of Food you have between the two Food Goods Indicators any way you like). You may want to do this at the end of the game to maximize the number of points you get for goods.

Moving Components on Your Home Board

Animals can be moved at any time during the Work Phase of a Half Year, but they must always be accommodated on your Home Board. Dike tiles can only be moved as a result of specific actions. All the other tiles on your Home Board (including Fields) can only be placed, turned, or removed via certain actions. (The tiles on your Home Board cannot change their position, except Dikes.) As the space in your Barn is limited, you can return Equipment to the Supply Board at any time (without substitution).

Limited Components

The Animals, Building Materials, Clothing, and Peat Tokens are considered to be an unlimited supply. Please improvise or use the Replacement Tiles if you run out of any of these goods. Every other type of tile is limited by the provided supply. (If it runs out, you cannot get more. This is especially true for Grain/Flax Fields, Stalls, Stables, Peat Boats/Plows, and all the Vehicles.) Of course, when a player returns one of these tiles to the supply, it becomes available again.

The Vehicles

Vehicles play a special role in this game and are available for purchase on the Supply Board. Once you own them, you can put them to work once per Half Year – outside the normal course of play. (The game is played over a total of 9 Half Years.) You will need Vehicles to get access to Timber, Bricks, and Clothing, as well as to sell goods at certain Travel Destinations.

Space is Limited in the Barn

During the course of the game, you can build one or more Vehicles. There are 4 Parking Spaces in your Barn designated for Small Vehicles and other pieces of Equipment (like Plows and Peat Boats), and 3 spaces for Large Vehicles. (Alternatively, the bottommost Parking Space can be used for a small piece of Equipment instead of a Large Vehicle.) You can have multiple copies of the same piece of Equipment.

There are 6 types of Vehicles with different costs and uses. The costs are some amount of Wood and Horses. (You do lose the Horses that you pay this cost with. Thematically, this means the Horse is no longer used for breeding but for pulling the Vehicle.)

• Small Vehicles: Handcart (0 VP, 2 Wood), Wagon (1 VP, 4 Wood)
• Large Vehicles: Cart (1 VP, 5 Wood, 1 Horse), Horse Cart (2 VP, 7 Wood, 1 Horse), Carriage (4 VP, 4 Wood, 2 Horses), Droshky (5 VP, 6 Wood, 2 Horses)

At any time during the Work Phase, you can load your Vehicles (even right after you got them). This is not considered an action – you can do this on top of your actions. Please note, the tiles you put on your Vehicles will only be removed from there at the end of the Work Phase. You can load your Vehicles with:

• Building Materials: Wood and Clay, to upgrade them (to Timber/Bricks)
• Fabrics: Linen, Woolen and Leather, to upgrade them (to Summer/Winter/Leather Wear)
• Travel Destination Tiles: of your color to receive Food at the given destination

The Single Spaces on Vehicles

Single Spaces can be loaded with Wood and Clay tiles. When placing Wood or Clay on a Vehicle, immediately turn them to their reverse side, “Timber” or “Bricks” respectively. When placing Clay on a Vehicle, you must also pay 1 Peat (as indicated on the Clay Tile).

Alternatively, you can load Single Spaces with the Travel Destinations Hage, Dornum and Beemoor, which are of the smallest available size.

On the Large Vehicles, you can consider multiple adjacent spaces as one large space to place the bigger tiles on them – this way, you can fit tiles of sizes 2, 3 and 4 on your Large Vehicles. Combining spaces on Large Vehicles does not only make sense to fit big Travel Destination Tiles, but also to upgrade Fabrics (Linen, Woolen and Leather): this is how you make Summer, Winter and Leather Wear.

The Double Spaces on Vehicles

Double Spaces on Vehicles limit your options. You may not place Timber, Bricks, or small Travel Destinations on them. They can only be used for bigger Travel Destinations and Clothing Tiles. You may, however, combine Double Spaces with adjacent Single Spaces to fit even bigger tiles.

You cannot load a Droshky with two Summer Ware Tiles, since you cannot split the Double Space in the middle to use it for two tiles.

Using Travel Destinations on Vehicles

When you place a Travel Destination Tile on a Vehicle, you must use it immediately: sell at least one of the depicted items and receive the given amount of Food. Each item can only be sold once per Travel Destination.

When you sell goods, return the tokens to the general supply or adjust the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track. Then adjust the Food Goods Indicator(s) on your Goods Track according to your proceeds.

When you are done selling, turn the Travel Destination Tile to its reverse side and leave it on your Vehicle. It remains there and blocks the spaces of the Vehicle until the end of the current Work Phase. Only then can you place it on your Travel Experience Track. (Consequently, you can only use a Travel Destination once. You cannot return to it later to sell more goods.)

When placed on a Vehicle, the basic Building Materials (Wood and Clay) as well as the Fabrics (Linen, Woolen, and Leather) are placed with their upgraded side facing up (i.e. Timber/Brick and Summer/Winter/Leather Wear, respectively). However, you cannot access them until after the end of the current Work Phase, when you empty your Vehicles.

It is not allowed to make a piece of Clothing with one Vehicle and then sell it for Food via another Vehicle during the same Work Phase.

Details on Vehicles

• You cannot combine the Single Spaces of the Wagon to fit bigger tiles.
• At the Travel Destinations, you can only sell goods that you have in your supply – including the goods indicated by your Goods Track. In a few special cases, you can sell a Plow or Peat Boat from your Barn, or a Field or Moor Tile from your Home Board. (Again, you cannot sell goods from your Vehicles.)
• “Bremen” can only be accessed by Horse Cart or Droshky due to its size of 4. It requires 4 Single Spaces, or 2 Single Spaces and 1 Double Space.
• Plows and Peat Boats are not considered Vehicles, although – like Vehicles – they must be kept in the Barn.

Course of the Game

A game of “Fields of Arle” is played over 9 Half Years – alternating between Summer and Winter. Each Half Year consists of 3 Phases:

• Phase 1: Preparations: In June (during Summer) and in December (during Winter), you place your Workers for the subsequent Work Phase.
• Phase 2: Work Phase: Over the following few months, you place your 4 Workers on the Game Board.
• Phase 3: Inventorying: At the end of each Half Year, i.e. in November and May, you take stock of your belongings.

Phase 1: Preparations

During setup, you have already placed your Workers for the first Half Year. At the beginning of each Half Year, place Workers on each of the 4 Month Spaces, with the Starting Player’s Workers on top of his opponents. (The Starting Player Marker can change hands via the “Special Action,” an action that can only be taken once per Half Year.)

Phase 2: Work Phase

Take turns placing your Workers on empty Action Spaces of the current Half Year. Take your Workers from left to right off the Month Spaces. In each Month, the player with the Starting Player Marker goes first.

The Summer Action Spaces are only available in odd-numbered Half Years, the Winter Action spaces only in even-numbered ones. In each Half Year, there are 15 different Action Spaces to choose from. After placing your Worker on an Action Space, immediately carry out the corresponding action. Each Action Space can only be occupied by a single Worker – an occupied Action Space is blocked until the end of the current Work Phase. (Placing a Worker on an Action Space is not mandatory. You can, instead, remove him from the Month Space and do nothing on your turn.)

When placing your Workers, remember the “Laborer” Action Space. This space allows you to use an already occupied Action Space again. (This space must still belong to the current Half Year.)

Special Action and Starting Player

In Summer, 1 of the 8 Workers may use a Winter Action Space (instead of a Summer one). Similarly, in Winter, 1 Worker may use a Summer Action Space (instead of a Winter one). When a player makes use of this Special Action, his opponent receives the Starting Player Marker for the subsequent Half Year. If none of the 8 Workers makes use of the Special Action, the Starting Player Marker changes hands automatically at the end of the Half Year.

Costs

Spaces with a white/blue Frisian pattern on the Game Board indicate costs. You have to pay the depicted goods in order to:

• get the Building below that space (see the “1 Building” action), or
• move one of your Tool Indicators one space to the right, or
• use the action on that Action Space.

Please note: regardless of the action you take, you can always pay Timber instead of Wood and Brick instead of Clay.

Anytime Actions

• At any time during the Work Phase (in addition to your actions), you can load your Vehicles. You decide when to end your Work Phase – so, even after you have placed all of your Workers, you can still load goods on the remaining free spaces of your Vehicles.
• Also at any time during the Work Phase, you can rearrange the Animals on your Home Board (according to the “Animal Husbandry” rules).
• If you own a Peat Boat, you can exchange Peat for goods of the Goods Track at a 1:1 ratio – at any time during the game and any number of times. Adjust the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track accordingly.
• Please keep in mind that, at any time during the Work Phase, you may visit a Travel Destination to get Food that you may use immediately (e.g. for a “Building” action). (You do not have to wait until you empty your Vehicles; you get the Food immediately.)

Phase 3: Inventorying

The Work Phase ends after all of the 8 Workers were used and both players declared the end of the Work Phase. In November (at the end of a Summer/Fall Half Year) and in May (at the end of a Winter/Spring Half Year), the players take stock of their belongings. Go through the following sub-phases one by one in the given order. On your “Travel Destinations and Barn” Storage Board, there is an overview of the significant values of the Inventorying.

November at the End of a Summer/Fall Half Year

1. Empty Vehicles: Place the Timber, Bricks, and Clothing from your Vehicles into your personal supply. Place the Travel Destination Tiles from your Vehicles on your Travel Experience Track.
2. Milking: You receive 1/2/3 Food for 2/5/8 Sheep and 1/2/3 Food for 1/3/5 Cattle on your Home Board. (You cannot get more than 6 Food this way.) Indicate the Food on your Goods Track.
3. Harvest: You receive 1 Grain per Grain Field and 1 Flax per Flax Field on your Home Board. Indicate the Grain and Flax on your Goods Track. You also receive 1 Wood per Forest on your Home Board. (You do not receive Wood for your Parks.)
4. Sustenance:
   • Pay 3 Food and 2 Peat (as fuel for the upcoming Winter).
   • For each missing Food, pay 1 Grain instead. If you run out of Grain, pay 1 Animal per missing Food instead.
   • For each missing Peat, pay 1 Wood (or Timber) instead.
   • If you are still missing Food (because you ran out of Food, Grain, and Animals) or Fuel (because you ran out of Peat, Wood, and Timber), you lose 2 Victory Points per missing item. Keep track of the Victory Point losses in the “Supply Bottlenecks” category of the Scoring Pad.

May at the End of a Winter/Spring Half Year

1. Empty Vehicles: Place the Timber, Bricks, and Clothing from your Vehicles into your personal supply. Place the Travel Destination Tiles from your Vehicles on your Travel Experience Track.
2. Baby Animals: In each of your Stalls with exactly 2 Animals of the same type, you receive a third Animal of that type (from the general supply). In each of your Stables with 2, 3 or 5 Animals of the same type, you also receive another Animal of that type. In Stables with exactly 4 Animals of the same type, you receive 2 Animals of that type (instead of 1). Double Stalls (upgrades to Stables) are considered two separate Stalls. Place the newborn Animals with their parents. (Animals outside of your Stalls and Stables, e.g. those in your Parks, do not breed.)
3. Sheering: You receive 1/2/3 Wool for 1/4/6 Sheep on your Home Board. Indicate the Wool on your Goods Track. (You cannot get more than 3 Wool this way. Your newborn Sheep can be shorn right away, i.e. they count towards those numbers.)
4. Sustenance: Pay 3 Food.
   • For each missing Food, pay 1 Grain instead. If you run out of Grain, pay 1 Animal per missing Food instead.
   • If you are still missing Food, you lose 2 Victory Points per missing Food. Keep track of the Victory Point losses in the “Supply Bottlenecks” category of the Scoring Pad.

Travel Experience

Whenever you empty your Vehicles, place the used Travel Destination Tiles face down on the Travel Experience Track on the left side of your Home Board. The first such tile is placed at the bottom of the track so that the depicted coastal path is running from bottom to top. Every subsequent Travel Destination Tile is placed above the previous ones. (The first empty space above those tiles indicates the number of Victory Points you will get for your Travel Experience at the end of the game.)

Half Year End

At the end of each Half Year, move the orange Half Year Counter one space forward onto the next Half Year and start that Half Year. The game ends after a total of 9 Half Years.

Symbols and Conventions on Action Spaces

• Whenever you may take something, take it from the general supply or move the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track up (unless stated otherwise).
• Whenever you have to pay something, return it to the general supply or move the Goods Indicators on your Goods Track down (unless stated otherwise).
• stands for 1 Animal of any type.
• stands for Sheep, stands for Cattle, and stands for Horses.
• An expression like “Take 1 Cattle/Horse” indicates that you may choose whether to take 1 Cattle or 1 Horse.
• An expression like “Pay 1 Grain (Flax)” indicates that you have to pay 1 Grain. Only when you have no Grain may you pay 1 Flax instead.
• In expressions with “per” (like in “1 Clay per Shovel” at the Clay Worker), you do not lose whatever is written after “per”. (For instance, at the Clay Worker you get Clay, but you keep your Shovels.)
• An expression like “Action A and/or Action B” indicates that you may carry out both actions or just one of them. A single “or” (without “and”) indicates that you must choose one action or the other – you may not use both. If there is no conjunction between the actions, assume there is an “and/or” (like at the Colonist or Farmer).
• Some Action Spaces show two actions separated by a long brown line (like at the Fisher). This line is supposed to increase the readability and should be treated as “and/or.”
• To “Cut Peat” means that you take a number of Peat Tokens off your Moor Tiles. (Reminder: immediately remove a Moor tile from your Home Board as soon as you remove the last Peat Token from it.) To “Take Peat” (like in “+3 Peat” at the Peat Boatman), on the other hand, means you get the Peat from the general supply.
• A “Land Space” is any space on your Home Board below the Dike Line (including the Moor Spaces). The spaces above the Dike Line are called “Tidal Flat Spaces” and cannot be used.

Conversion Arrows

• Brown arrows (like in “1 Hide → 1 Leather”): indicate that you may carry out the depicted conversion immediately a number of times equal to the number of appropriate Tools you have. (For instance, if you have 3 Fleshing Beams, you can convert up to 3 Hides to 3 Leather, at a rate of 1 Leather per Hide.)
• Grey arrows (like in “Field → Forest”): also indicate that you may carry out the depicted conversion immediately, but the number of times you may do so is not limited by Tools. This type of conversion can be found on the Game Board (Carpenter) and on Buildings (like the Farmer’s Inn).
• Yellow arrows (like in “1 Grain + 1 Peat → 3 Food”): indicate that you may carry out the depicted conversion at any time and any number of times. This type of conversion can only be found on buildings (like the Schnapps Distillery).

The Action Spaces of the Summer/Fall Half Year

• Fisherman: Take 1 Sheep. Also, move your Fish Trap Tool Indicator one space to the right. Then take 1 Food per Fish Trap you have (i.e. up to 6 Food).
• Grocer: Take one of the following goods: Timber, Brick, Sheep, Cattle, or Horse. Additionally, take 1 Grain and 1 Leather.
• Woolen Weaver: Per Weaving Loom you have (i.e. up to 2, 3, 4, or 5 times), you may convert 1 Wool to 1 Woolen.
• Colonist: Take 1 Horse and/or dehydrate a Moor Section by flipping over one of your Moor Tiles to show the Boardwalk illustration is visible at the top of the tile. Then place exactly 4 Peat Tokens from the general supply on it.
• Peat Cutter: Per Spade you have (i.e. up to 3, 5, or 7 times), you may take 1 Peat Token off one of your Moor Tiles. (You may take the Peat from different Moor Tiles, but not from the general supply.)
• Dike Builder: Take 1 Sheep or 1 Cattle. Additionally or alternatively, carry out a “Dike Building” action: for each Pair of Shovels you have, move 1 Dike (i.e. 1/2/2/3 Dikes with 3/4/5/6 Shovels).
• Clay Worker: Take 1 Clay per Shovel you have (i.e. 3, 4, 5, or 6 Clay).
• Farmer: Build a Plow and place it in your Barn. Additionally or alternatively, you may plow 1 Field per Plow you have. (You may plow fewer fields than Plows owned.) For each new Field, decide which side to display on your Home Board (Flax or Grain).
• Forester: Pay 1 Food and either take a Forest, or build a Building by paying the costs depicted on the Game Board. In either case, place the tile on an empty Land Space of your Home Board.
• Woodcutter: Take 1 Wood per Axe you have (i.e. 3, 4, 5, or 6 Wood). (The number of Forests you have does not matter here.)
• Master: Per Workbench you have (i.e. up to 2, 3, or 4 times), you may move one of your Tool Indicators on the Game Board 1 space to the right. You cannot move a Tool Indicator more than once – you may only move different ones. The costs are depicted on the Game Board.
• Carpenter: Either build a Building by paying the costs depicted on the Game Board, or build a Stall for 2 Clay and 1 Grain. In either case, place the tile on an empty Land Space of your Home Board.
• Builder: Build a Building by paying the costs depicted on the Game Board. Place the new tile on an empty Land Space of your Home Board.
• Warden: Flip over a tile with the arrow Symbol for free.
• Laborer: Pay 2 Food and either build a Vehicle by paying its costs, or imitate an occupied Summer Action Space (regardless of who occupies it). (You cannot imitate an occupied Winter Action Space.)

The Action Spaces of the Winter/Spring Half Year

• Peat Boatman: Take 3 Peat and, additionally, 1 Peat per Peat Boat you have (for a total of 3/4/5/… Peat if you have 0/1/2/… Peat Boats). (You may not take the Peat off your Moor Tiles.)
• Tanner: Per Fleshing Beam you have (i.e. up to 3, 5, or 6 times), you may convert 1 Hide to 1 Leather.
• Linen Weaver: Per Weaving Loom you have (i.e. up to 2, 3, 4, or 5 times), you may convert 1 Flax to 1 Linen.
• Butcher: Per Slaughtering Table you have (i.e. up to 2, 3, or 4 times), you may convert 1 Animal of any type to 3 Food and 2 Hides. You get 1 more Food per Cattle you convert.
• Cattle Trader: Take 2 Grain and 1 Sheep. Additionally, take 1 Cattle or 1 Horse.
• Grocer: Take 1 Peat off one of your Moor Tiles. (You may not take the Peat from the general supply.) Additionally, take 1 Animal of any type, 1 Wood, and 1 Clay.
• Builder’s Merchant: Take 2 Hides. Additionally, take 1 Wood or 1 Clay, and 1 Timber or 1 Brick.
• Potter: Per Pottery Wheel you have (i.e. up to 2, 3, or 4 times), you may convert 1 Clay to 3 Food and 1 Peat. (You may not take the Peat off your Moor Tiles.)
• Baker: Per Oven you have (i.e. up to 1, 2, 3, or 4 times), you may convert 1 Grain and 1 Peat to 6 Food. You may replace Grain with Flax and Peat with Wood if you have no Grain or Peat, respectively.
• Wood Trader: Pay 1 Food and either take 4 Wood, or build a Building by paying the costs depicted on the Game Board. If you cannot pay the Food because you have none left, you may pay 1 Grain instead.
• Master: Per Workbench you have (i.e. up to 2, 3, or 4 times), you may move one of your Tool Indicators on the Game Board 1 space to the right. You cannot move a Tool Indicator more than once – you may only move different ones. The costs are depicted on the Game Board.
• Wainwright: Build a Vehicle by paying its costs. Additionally or alternatively, you may build 1 Peat Boat. (The costs of the Vehicles are printed on the tiles; a Peat Boat costs 1 Wood.) Place the new pieces of Equipment in your Barn.
• Carpenter: Either build a Stall for 2 Clay and 1 Grain, or exchange a Stall for a Stable by paying 2 Bricks. (You cannot build Stables directly.)
• Dike Warden: Flip over a tile with the arrow Symbol for free. Additionally, build 1 Dike.
• Laborer: Pay 2 Food and either build a Building by paying the costs depicted on the Game Board, or imitate an occupied Winter Action Space (regardless of who occupies it). (You cannot imitate an occupied Summer Action Space.)

Further Details on the Action Spaces

• (⇒1) Plows at the Farmer: A Plow costs 1 Wood and either 1 Cattle or 1 Horse. (You do lose the Animal. Thematically, this means the Animal will no longer be used for breeding but for work. If you have no space left in your Barn, you have to get rid of another piece of Equipment before you get the Plow. Return the old piece of Equipment to the Supply Board.)
• (⇒2) Land Space Placements & Buildings: You have to place Fields, Forests, Stalls, and Buildings on empty Land Spaces of your Home Board (i.e. on empty spaces below your Dike Line). (Stalls are not considered Buildings. You can upgrade Stalls to Stables at the Carpenter. Double Stalls, Depots, Parks, and Stables cannot be built directly; they can only be upgraded via either of the Warden actions.) In this game, it does not matter on which particular Land Space you place your tiles. You may build any of the available Buildings on the Game Board. The costs of each Building are depicted there as well: the first four Buildings at the top each cost any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain, the next two Buildings each cost 1 Timber and 1 Brick. The Buildings in the middle have individual costs. Each of the Buildings at the bottom left costs 2 different Building Materials (e.g. 1 Wood and 1 Timber) and 9 Food. Each of the Buildings at the bottom right is considered a Large Building and costs 3 Timber, 3 Bricks, and 15 Food. (As indicated at the Carpenter, each Stall costs 2 Clay and 1 Grain.)
• (⇒3) Vehicles Costs & VP: There are 6 different types of Vehicles. They have different costs (and different Victory Point values – VP):
  • Handcart (0 VP): 2 Wood
  • Wagon (1 VP): 4 Wood
  • Cart (1 VP): 5 Wood, 1 Horse
  • Horse Cart (2 VP): 7 Wood, 1 Horse
  • Carriage (4 VP): 4 Wood, 2 Horses
  • Droshky (5 VP): 6 Wood, 2 Horses

  If you have no space left in your Barn for a new Vehicle or Peat Boat, you must first get rid of another piece of Equipment of equal size. (Return the old piece of Equipment to the Supply Board.) Carts and Horse Carts only have Single Spaces. They are more versatile than Carriages and Droshkies, which also come with Double Spaces. On the other hand, Carriages and Droshkies are worth more points.

• (⇒4) Arrow Symbol Upgrades: See page 2 of the Overview for a list of tiles that have an Arrow Symbol. There is no cost for flipping over these tiles. (For instance, when you upgrade a Cart to a Horse Cart, you do not need to pay any Wood or Horses.)
• (⇒5) Example of a Master Action: Currently, you have 2 Workbenches. The Master action allows you to move 1 Tool Indicator per Workbench you have – including the Workbench Tool Indicator. This costs 2 Clay, but now you have 3 Workbenches. The additional Workbench counts immediately, so you can still move 2 more Tool Indicators (for a total of 3 movements). Alternatively, you can keep your 2 Clay, not move the Workbench Tool Indicator and still move 2 other Tool Indicators (e.g. Axes and Ovens). The costs of each movement are depicted on the Game Board. Moving the Axe Tool Indicator costs 1 Wood; moving the Oven Tool Indicator costs 1 Brick. You pay for the movement (and not for the individual tool) – moving the Spade Tool Indicator increases the number of Spades by 2, but it still only costs 1 Wood per movement. You may not move the same Tool Indicator more than once per Master action.
• (⇒6) Paying Food at the Wood Trader: At the Wood Trader, you may pay Grain instead of Food once you run out of Food. This is not possible on any other Action Space.
• (⇒7) Laborer Imitation: Whenever you use the Laborer Action Space to imitate another Action Space that is occupied by your opponent, use that other Action Space according to your belongings (and not your opponent’s). Two examples: Your opponent has 7 Spades – you only have 3. You imitate the Peat Cutter Action Space occupied by your opponent. You get 3 Peat (not 7). Alternatively, you could imitate one of your own actions: if you occupy the Forester Action Space, you can imitate it to get another Forest for a total of 3 Food (2 Food for the “Imitation” action + 1 Food for the Forest).
• (⇒8) No Additional Costs for Tools: There are no additional costs involved with these types of actions. In particular, you do not have to pay the costs printed in front of the Tool Tracks. (The costs in front of the Tool Tracks are paid when moving the Tool Indicators, but not when using the Tools.)

The End of the Game and the Winner

The game ends after 9 rounds at the end of the last Summer Half Year, after the November Inventorying. (Your Animals will not breed anymore, because they only do so in May.) Then each player may use his Peat Boat (if he has one) to exchange his remaining Peat for other goods that might provide Victory Points on the Goods Track. Use the Scoring Pad to write down your Victory Points (VP) in the various scoring categories:

• Clothing Tiles and Building Materials: Add up the VP of your goods tiles. Bricks, Linen, Woolen, and Leather are each worth 1 VP. Summer, Winter, and Leather Wear are each worth 2 VP. Each Timber is worth ½ VP. (Do not round the total.)
• Equipment in the Barn: Add up the VP from your Plows, Peat Boats, and Vehicles. Then, subtract 3 VP unless you have at least one Large Vehicle in your Barn.
• Travel Experience: The first empty space (from the bottom) on your Travel Experience Track indicates the number of VP you get for traveling (up to 10 VP).
• Tools: Add up the VP of your Tools on the 10 Tool Tracks on the Game Board. (Ovens alone can be worth up to 7 VP.)
• Goods Track: Each Goods Indicator on space 15 of your Goods Track is worth 3 VP. Each Goods Indicator on one of the spaces 11-14 is worth 2 VP. Each Goods Indicator on one of the spaces 7-10 is worth 1 VP. (You may distribute the total amount of Food you have between your two Food Goods Indicators to optimize the number of VP you get for them.) If you have a Depot, double the total number of VP in this category. (You cannot double them more than once even if you had multiple Depots.)
• VP on Home Board: Add up the VP from your Buildings, Stalls, Stables, Forests, and Parks. Then, subtract 4 VP for each hydrated Moor Section, 1 VP for each dehydrated Moor Section and 1 VP for each Tidal Flat Space (of the top row) left on your Home Board. (Animals have their own scoring category.)
• Animals on Home Board:
  • Each Animal of the type you have the least of is worth 2 VP.
  • Each Animal of the type you have the second least of is worth 1 VP.
  • Animals of the third type are not worth any VP.
  • Examples: 6 Sheep, 5 Horses, and 4 Cattle are worth 0+5+8=13 VP. 5 Horses, 4 Cattle and 0 Sheep are worth 0+4+0=4 VP. 3 Horses, 3 Cattle, and 3 Sheep are worth 0+3+6=9 VP.
  • Horses and Cattle you paid when acquiring Plows and Vehicles are not considered in this category – they are not worth any VP.
• Supply Bottlenecks: This category was used during the course of the game. Here, you kept track of VP losses due to missing Food and Fuel at the end of each Half Year (which should happen rarely, if at all). During scoring, you do not lose any additional VP in this category.

Finally, the player with the most Victory Points wins. In case of a tie, the Starting Player of a hypothetical 10th Half Year breaks the tie (i.e. the player who would be Starting Player if another round were played).

The Solo Game Variant

In the solo game, there is no Special Action. This means you cannot use an Action Space of the other Season. Other than that, simply place your Workers one by one and try to score as many points as you can. We consider 110 Victory Points a remarkable score.

Index of Building Tiles

During setup, place the Small Houses on the four spaces at the top of the Game Board (indicated by their green color). All of the Small Houses have the same building costs and are each worth 1 Victory Point (VP).

For your first play, we recommend you use the light green Starter Houses. If you build more than one of these Houses, you may decide in which order you use them right before the November Inventorying.

Light Green Starter Houses

• Farmer’s House (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: Before November (at the end of each Summer Half Year), you receive 1 Clay. Additionally, you may cut 1 Peat before each November (including the one before final scoring). (You may not take the Peat from the general supply. You must take it off one of your Moor Tiles.)
• Plow Maker’s Workshop (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: Before November (at the end of each Summer Half Year), you may place 1 Field of your choice on an empty Land Space of your Home Board (below your Dike Line). You are not required to place a Field. (If you do not, you cannot do so later, retroactively.)
• Novice’s Hut (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: Before November (at the end of each Summer Half Year), you receive 1 Grain and 1 Dike (i.e. move the bottommost Dike to the next free gap above the Dike Line).
• Workshop (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: Before November (at the end of each Summer Half Year), you receive 1 Wood and 1 “Master” action (i.e. you pay the costs and move exactly one Tool Indicator 1 space to the right).

Dark Green Small Houses

For subsequent plays, choose 4 of the following dark green Small Houses to play with. Each can be used at any time during the game (especially the Work Phase).

• Weaving Parlor (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the game and any number of times, you may pay 3 Flax to receive 1 Linen and to cut 1 Peat (i.e. take 1 Peat off one of your Moor Tiles; you may not take the Peat from the general supply).
• Colonist’s House (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the game (and any number of times), you may pay 2 Woolen to receive 1 Clay and to cut 1 Peat (i.e. take 1 Peat off one of your Moor Tiles; you may not take the Peat from the general supply).
• Carpenter’s Workshop (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the game (and any number of times), you may pay 4 Food and 1 Brick to upgrade one of your Stalls to a Stable. (You do not need to pay the usual 2 Bricks on top of that. Keep in mind, there are only 3 Stables available.)
• Schnapps Distillery (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the game and any number of times (even in-between Harvest and Sustenance), you may exchange 1 Grain plus 1 Peat for 3 Food.
• Loading Station (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the Work Phase, you may place 1 Peat on an empty Single Space (but not Double Space) of one of your Vehicles. You may do so any number of times and for any number of Vehicles. As usual, you only receive the Peat from the Vehicles when emptying them. (The Peat you place on the Vehicles comes from the general supply. You may not take it off your Moor Tiles.)
• Litter Storage (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the game (and any number of times), you may exchange 3 Flax for 1 Horse if you already have at least 2 Horses.
• Wood Trader (Costs: any 1 Building Material and 1 Grain; Worth 1 VP)
  Ability: At any time during the game (and any number of times), you may exchange 1 Timber plus 1 Food for 2 Wood. (This Building provides easy access to Wood provided you have enough Vehicles.)

Minor Craft Buildings (Yellow)

On the Game Board, below the 4 spaces for the Small Houses, there are 2 spaces for the Minor Craft Buildings (yellow). All have the same building costs: 1 Timber and 1 Brick. Determine 2 of them to play with at setup. They provide an immediate one-time reward.

• Turnery (Worth 5 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), per Forest you have, receive 1 Wood and cut 2 Peat. (Keep your Forests. You may not take the Peat from the general supply.)
• Smokehouse (Worth 5 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), cut 1 Peat per Fish Trap you have. (Keep your Fish Traps. You may not take the Peat from the general supply.)
• Smithy (Worth 3 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only when building the Smithy), you may exchange Peat Boats, Handcarts, and Wagons (which are called “small pieces of Equipment”) for Plows. Exchange at a 1:1 ratio and any number of times. (Return the exchanged pieces of Equipment to the Supply Board.)
• Cooperage (Worth 4 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), determine the number of Dairy Animals you have. Dairy Animals are Sheep and Cattle. For 5/10/15 Dairy Animals, you may move each of your six Goods Indicators up by 1/2/3 spaces.
• Bakehouse (Worth 4 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only when building the Bakehouse), per Oven you have, you may exchange 2 Grain and 1 Flax for 8 Food. (Keep the Ovens.)

Major Craft Buildings (Orange)

Each of the Major Craft Buildings has individual costs and is available in every game of “Fields of Arle.”

• Mill (Costs: 1 Timber and either 8 Flax or 8 Grain; Worth 6 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 8/10/12 Food if you have 3/5/6 Fields. (Keep the Fields.) Both Grain and Flax Fields count. (If you have 2 or fewer Fields, you do not receive any Food.)
• Weaving Mill (Costs: 2 Bricks and either 10 Flax or 10 Woolen; Worth 7 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 Winter Wear and move your Weaving Loom Tool Indicator (up to) 2 spaces to the right for free.
• Textile House (Costs: 1 Brick and 2 different pieces of Clothing [Summer/Winter/Leather Wear]; Worth 9 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 Linen, 1 Woolen, and 1 Leather.
• Saddlery (Costs: 2 Timber and 3 Leather; Worth 8 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), cut 1 Peat per Horse you have. (Keep the Horses. You may not take the Peat from the general supply.) Afterwards, move your Fleshing Beam Tool Indicator 1 space to the right for free.
• Joinery (Costs: 2 Timber and 5 Grain; Worth 6 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 2 Peat per Peat Boat you have, and 1 Horse per Plow you have. (Keep the Peat Boats and Plows. You must accommodate the Horses on your Home Board immediately. You must take the Peat from the general supply.)
• Waterfront House (Costs: 2 Bricks and 25 Food; Worth 10 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 10 Food (back from the 25 Food you paid), 2 Dikes (i.e. move the 2 bottommost Dikes to the next free gaps above the Dike Line), and move your Fish Trap Tool Indicator (up to) 3 spaces to the right for free.

Inns (Blue)

Determine which 3 of the blue Inn Tiles to play with. All of the Inns have the same building costs: 2 different Building Materials and 9 Food.

• Potter’s Inn (Worth 5 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 Animal of any type per Pottery Wheel you have. (Keep the Pottery Wheels. You may choose the same or different Animals. You must accommodate them on your Home Board immediately.)
• Farmer’s Inn (Worth 3 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), you may replace up to 3 of your Fields with Forests. (Return the Fields to the Supply Board. Keep in mind there is only a limited supply of Forest Tiles.)
• Junk Dealer’s Inn (Worth 4 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), either receive 1 Handcart or 1 Peat Boat for free. (Place the new piece of Equipment in your Barn – make room if needed. If there are no more Handcarts or Peat Boats left on the Supply Board, you do not receive any.) Additionally or alternatively, receive 1 Leather Wear and 1 Woolen.
• Gulf House Inn (Worth 5 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 Timber per Stall you have, and 1 Brick per Stable you have. (You may not take Timber instead of Bricks.) Double Stalls are considered 2 separate Stalls, so you receive 2 Timber per Double Stall.
• Milk House Inn (Worth 5 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 Cattle, and afterwards, 1 “Cut Peat” action per Cattle you have. (Keep the Cattle. You may not take the Peat from the general supply.)
• Sluice Yard Inn (Worth 4 VP)
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), move the Fish Trap Tool Indicator 1 space to the right for free. Then take 1 Wood per Fish Trap you have (i.e. 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 Wood).

Large Buildings (Red)

All of the Large Buildings have the same building costs: 3 Timber, 3 Bricks, and 15 Food, and are each worth 15 VP.

• Village Church
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 (Wedding) Carriage for free and place it in your Barn (provided there is still a Carriage left on the Supply Board).
• Lütetsburg Castle
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), receive 1 Forest Tile and place it on an empty Land Space of your Home Board (if available) and move each of your Tool Indicators for Spades, Pottery Wheels, and Workbenches 1 space to the right for free.
• Berum Castle
  Ability: Immediately (and only once), move each of your Tool Indicators for Ovens and Weaving Looms 1 space to the right for free. Additionally, you receive 1 “Tile Upgrade” action (see the “Warden” action).

Index of Travel Destination Tiles

You may only place a Travel Destination Tile on one of your Vehicles if you immediately sell at least one of the depicted items. Each item on the tile can only be sold once. You cannot sell things that are not depicted on the tile. The proceeds from the sale are always some amount of Food. (You cannot store more than 30 Food.) When removed from a Vehicle, it covers 1-4 spaces on your Travel Experience Track according to its size.

• Hage (size 1): Immediately remove a Field from your Home Board and receive 1 Food.
• Beemoor (size 1): Remove 1 Peat from your supply (but not from your Home Board) and receive 2 Food.
• Dornum (size 1): Return a Plow from your Barn to the Supply Board and receive 8 Food.
• Norden (size 2): Sell 1 to 3 of the depicted items. You receive 4 Food for a Sheep and 7 Food for Winter Wear. Additionally or alternatively, return a Peat Boat from your Barn to the Supply Board and receive 5 Food.
• Aurich (size 2): Sell 1 to 3 of the depicted items. You receive 4 Food for Leather (which you cannot replace with Leather Wear), 5 Food for a Horse, and 4 Food for an Animal of any type (which may be another Horse).
• Esens (size 2): Sell 1 to 3 of the depicted items. You receive 4 Food for 2 Grain (you cannot sell a single Grain), 2 Food for a Hide, and 4 Food for Woolen.
• Emden (size 3): Sell 1 to 4 of the depicted items. You receive 7 Food each for Winter and Leather Wear, and 6 Food for Summer Wear. Additionally or alternatively, you can remove 1 Peat from your supply (but not from your Home Board) and receive 3 Food.
• Leer (size 3): Sell 1 to 4 of the depicted items. You receive 2 Food for Flax, 3 Food for Linen (which you cannot replace with Summer Wear), 5 Food for Cattle, and 6 Food for either Summer, Winter or Leather Wear.
• Bremen (size 4): Sell 1 to 5 of the depicted items. You receive 5 Food for Timber, 9 Food for 2 Animals of the same type, 12 Food for a set of Linen, Woolen and Leather, and 30 Food (any excess Food is lost) for a set of Summer, Winter and Leather Wear. Additionally or alternatively, you may remove a Moor Tile from your Home Board (regardless of which side is facing up and whether there is still Peat left on it or not, including the small Moor Tile that had Peat since the beginning of the game). Remove the tile immediately. The Peat from the tile, if any, is lost. You do not receive any Food for this but, on the other hand, you will not lose points for the tile.

Pieces of Equipment

You keep your pieces of Equipment in your Barn. You have 4 Parking Spaces for small pieces of Equipment (including Small Vehicles) and 3 Parking Spaces for Large Vehicles. (Alternatively, the bottommost Parking Space for Large Vehicles can be used to store a fifth small piece of Equipment.)

• Plow (Small piece of Equipment; Costs: 1 Wood and 1 Horse/Cattle; 3 VP): provides Fields with the “Farmer” action.
• Peat Boat (Small piece of Equipment; Costs: 1 Wood; 1 VP): allows you to exchange 1 Peat for 1 good of the Goods Track at any time.
• Handcart (Small Vehicle; Costs: 2 Wood; 0 VP): 1 Single Space for loading.
• Wagon (Small Vehicle; Costs: 4 Wood; 1 VP): 2 Single Spaces for loading that cannot be combined.
• Cart (Large Vehicle; Costs: 5 Wood and 1 Horse; 1 VP): 3 Single Spaces for loading.
• Horse Cart (Large Vehicle; Costs: 7 Wood and 1 Horse; 2 VP): 4 Single Spaces for loading.
• Carriage (Large Vehicle; Costs: 4 Wood and 2 Horses; 4 VP): 1 Single Space and 1 Double Space for loading.
• Droshky (Large Vehicle; Costs: 6 Wood and 2 Horses; 5 VP): 2 Single Spaces and 1 Double Space for loading.

Tools

The Game Board keeps track of the number of Tools you have on the 10 Tool Tracks.

• Fish Traps: starts at 2; Costs 1 Wood per increase; Increments: 3, 4, 5, and finally 6 (3 VP).
• Fleshing Beams: starts at 3; Costs 1 Wood per increase; Increments: 5 (1 VP) and finally 6 (3 VP).
• Weaving Looms: starts at 2; Costs 2 Wood per increase; Increments: 3 (1 VP), 4 (3 VP), and finally 5 (4 VP).
• Slaughtering Tables: starts at 2; Costs 1 Clay per increase; Increments: 3 (1 VP) and finally 4 (2 VP).
• Spades: starts at 3; Costs 1 Wood per increase; Increments: 5 and finally 7 (2 VP).
• Shovels: starts at 3; Costs 1 Wood per increase; Increments: 4, 5, and finally 6. Used to determine the number of Pairs of Shovels you have.
• Pottery Wheels: starts at 2; Costs 1 Clay per increase; Increments: 3 and finally 4 (2 VP).
• Ovens: starts at 1; Costs 1 Brick per increase; Increments: 2 (1 VP), 3 (5 VP), and finally 4 (7 VP).
• Axes: starts at 3; Costs 1 Wood per increase; Increments: 4, 5, and finally 6.
• Workbenches: starts at 2; Costs 2 Clay per increase; Increments: 3 (1 VP) and finally 4 (4 VP).

What do I need … for?

Do not read this page before your first game, but consult it if the need arises.

Goods

• Food: to build the Waterfront House, the Inns, and the Large Buildings, as well as for Sustenance each Half Year and for certain actions (like Imitation at the Laborer).
• Flax: to produce Linen, to use the Weaving Parlor, and to build the Weaving Mill and the regular Mill.
• Grain: to use the Schnapps Distillery, for the Baker, sometimes as a replacement for Food, as well as to build the green buildings, the Joinery, and the Mill.
• Wool: to produce Woolen, to build the Weaving Mill, and to use the Colonist’s House.
• Hides: to produce Leather.
• Leather: for processing, for sale in Aurich, and to build the Saddlery.
• Wears: for sale at various Travel Destinations and to build the Textile House.

Animal Husbandry

• A lot of Animals of the same type: for the Butcher and for sale in Bremen.
• A lot of Sheep and Cattle: to receive Food at the end of a Summer Half Year and to use the Cooperage.
• A lot of Sheep: to receive Wool at the end of a Winter Half Year.
• A lot of Cattle: to receive more Food at the Butcher, to build Plows, and to use the Milk House Inn more efficiently.
• A lot of Horses: for Large Vehicles and Plows as well as for the function of the Saddlery.
• Stalls: for animal husbandry and for the function of the Carpenter’s Workshop.
• Stables: for animal husbandry, to use your Land Spaces more efficiently, and as a prerequisite for a Double Stall.
• Stalls and Stables: to use the Gulf House Inn.

Equipment

• At least one Plow: for sale in Dornum.
• Multiple Plows: to plow Fields at the Farmer, to use the Mill more efficiently.
• At least one Peat Boat: to exchange Peat for goods of the Goods Track.
• Multiple Peat Boats: to receive more Peat at the Peat Boatman, to use the Joinery more efficiently, and for sale in Norden.
• Handcarts and Wagons: to produce Timber and Bricks continuously, to sell a Plow for Food in Dornum, and to receive Plows when building the Smithy.
• Large Vehicles: for Timber, Bricks, and Clothing, as well as for all of the large Travel Destinations.
• Horse Carts: to produce two Summer Wear per season and to use the Vehicle Firm more efficiently.
• Horse Carts and Droshkies: for the “Bremen” Travel Destination Tile.

Building Materials and Peat

• Wood: as a building material for Buildings, as a resource for Timber and Equipment.
• Clay: as a building material for Buildings, as a resource for Bricks and Stalls.
• Timber: as a building material for Buildings (the Large Buildings in particular), to use the Wood Trader, and for sale in Bremen.
• Bricks: as a building material for Buildings (the Large Buildings in particular) and to upgrade Stalls to Stables.
• Peat: for sustenance at the end of a Summer Half Year, to produce Bricks, for the Baker, to trade for other goods (if you also have a Peat Boat), as well as to use the Schnapps Distillery.

Landscape Tiles

• Forests: to receive Wood at the end of a Summer Half Year, as a prerequisite for a Park, and to use the Turnery.
• Parks: for additional Victory Points (if you do not need the Wood income anymore towards the end) and to hold two Animals.
• At least three Fields: to use the Mill at all and to use the Farmer’s Inn more efficiently.
• A lot of Fields: to receive Grain and Flax at the end of a Summer Half Year.
• Tidal Flat Spaces: you cannot use the spaces beyond the Dike Line.

Tools

• A few Fish Traps: to get more after building the Waterfront House.
• A lot of Fish Traps: for the Fisherman and to use the Smokehouse and the Sluice Yard Inn more efficiently.
• Exactly five Fleshing Beams: for the Tanner and to get more after building the Saddlery.
• Exactly three Pottery Wheels: to get more after building the Lütetsburg Castle.
• Multiple Pottery Wheels: for the Potter and to use the Potter’s Inn more efficiently.
• At least two Ovens: to gain additional Victory Points when building the Berum Castle.
• Multiple Ovens: for the Baker and to use the Bakehouse more efficiently.
• Exactly three Workbenches: to gain additional Victory Points when building the Lütetsburg Castle.

Credits

“Fields of Arle” is the most autobiographic game designed by Uwe Rosenberg. Its story is set in the village where his father was born and where his parents were married. Today, about 1100 people are living in and around Arle. One of the scattered settlements around Arle, Beemoor, is a travel destination in this game. This is where Rosenberg’s father grew up on a secluded farm. The “Textile House” building in this game is based on the textile house Kanngießer in Aurich, which has been managed by Rosenberg’s mother since 1989; before her, it was managed by his grandfather. Uwe Rosenberg grew up in Aurich; in his earliest years, he was even living in the housing space above the store. The reason why he is not the third generation managing the store is that he likes designing games way more than worrying about textiles. Today, he is well known for games like “Agricola” and “Glass Road”. With his current two-player game “Fields of Arle,” he remains true to his overall agricultural theme.

The family of the editor and publisher Frank Heeren has also lived in East Frisia for many generations. Frank Heeren’s father was born not far away from Arle – in Schweinsdorf – and in his early years, Frank and his father themselves moved out to the moor to cut peat.

In his book “Altes Handwerk” (“Former Handcraft”), Gerhard Canzler writes about the merits of the soil of Arle. This book was the source of Uwe Rosenberg’s inspiration in designing this game. This rule book has been written by Uwe Rosenberg himself. He would like to thank all of his proof-readers: Janina Kleinemenke, Sascha Hendiks, Gabriele Goldschmidt, Thorsten Hanson, Michael Wißner, and Christof Tisch. He would also like to thank his father Reinhold Rosenberg for his help with the accompanying texts in the appendix. This game was realized by Frank Heeren who also grew up in East Frisia, like Uwe Rosenberg. (They both graduated from high school in 1989. In their advanced geography classes, they learned a lot about tidal flat and moor areas. They both would like to send their best regards to their former teacher and tutor, Mr. Freudenberg.)

The publisher would like to thank Dennis Lohausen for the illustrations and his wonderful contributions to the functionality of the components. Many thanks to Grzegorz Kobiela for the English translation. In chronological order, the following people had great influence on the game design: Andreas Odendahl, Sascha Hendriks, Dirk Krause, Hagen Dorgathen, Jessica Hüsker, Benjamin Ehlers, Frank Heeren, Michael Speckmann, Marco Althoff, Andrea Timm, Lorenz Merdian, Thorsten Roth and Frank Hommes. The designer would like to express his great gratitude towards these play-testers. (For instance, travel experience was only introduced after explicit requests by some play-testers. Uwe Rosenberg admits – like a true down-to-earth East Frisian – he would have never thought of rewarding players with points for their exhaustive travels that he would avoid at all costs.)

Z-Man Games would also like to thank Joshua Edwards and Michael Young for their well-trained eyes.