How to Play Hexlands

Hexlands is a turn-based building and trading game played on a map of hexagonal tiles. This page covers every rule of the base game – from your first settlement to your tenth victory point.

Goal of the game

The first player to reach 10 victory points wins. In the Seafarers scenario “Two Islands” you need 12 points. You score mainly with settlements and cities, plus bonus points for the longest road, the largest army and certain cards.

The board

The map is made of terrain tiles, each producing one resource. Every tile except the desert carries a number token from 2 to 12. The board is shuffled for every game, so no two matches look alike.

The standard board has 19 land tiles for up to 4 players. For 5–6 players there is an extended board with 30 tiles.

Setup

1. Round 1: In turn order, each player places one settlement on a corner and one road next to it.
2. Round 2: In reverse order, each player places a second settlement and road. The last player therefore places twice in a row.
3. Your second settlement immediately gives you one resource from each adjacent tile.

Starting positions are the most important decision of the game – see the strategy guide.

A turn

1. Roll: The active player rolls two dice. Every tile showing that number produces: each adjacent settlement earns 1 resource, each city 2 – for all players, not only the one who rolled.
2. Trade: Trade with other players or with the bank.
3. Build: Build roads, settlements, cities or buy development cards – as much as you can afford.
4. End turn: The next player goes.

Building costs

Distance rule

There must always be at least one empty corner between two settlements or cities, no matter who owns them. After setup, every new settlement must also connect to one of your roads.

Trading

• With players: The active player makes an offer, others accept or decline. Any ratio is allowed.
• With the bank: 4 identical resources for 1 of your choice.
• Via harbours: A settlement on a harbour lets you trade 3:1 (generic harbour) or 2:1 (special harbour for one resource).

The robber and the 7

1. Every player holding more than 7 cards discards half of them (rounded down).
2. The active player moves the robber to another land tile. That tile produces nothing while the robber stays there.
3. They steal one random card from a player who has a building on that tile.

Development cards

A card can be played at the earliest on your next turn, and only one per turn (victory point cards excepted).

Victory points at a glance

Bonus cards change hands as soon as someone has a longer road or more knights. On a tie the current holder keeps them.

Expansions

• Knights & Barbarians: city improvements, commodities, knights and barbarian attacks.
• Seafarers: ships, islands and gold fields.