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Chemin Montagneux (Mountainous Path)
A Changing Landscapes game for piecepack by Mitchell AllenVersion 1, January 13,
2003Copyright © 2003 by Mitchell AllenLicense: this game is freely distributable2 to
4 players – 60 to 90 minutes OverviewOnce upon a time, four civil engineers decided
to hike up and down a famous mountainrange in France. Unfortunately, they were
better engineers than they were hikers, sothey tried to make the adventure more
interesting by terra-forming the roughmountainous ground into gently sloping paths.
Using shovels, pickaxes and dynamite,the engineers slowly turned the mountain range
into a beautifully sculpted landscape.Now, you can recapture the glory of those
original engineers as they struggled toconquer the mountains. Object Trail-blaze a
path and be the first to hike your way to the top of your own mountainpeak. In the
basic version of this game, no player can attempt to climb his peak until all peaks
are visible. Players Two to four people may play. With two players, each controls
two pawns and only oneof those has to reach the mountain peak matching its color.
Setup Turn the tiles grid side-up and place four in the center of the playing area.
Distribute theremaining tiles (grid side-up) equally among the players. In the 3-
player game, theplayer who winds up with six tiles instead of seven should take one
of the four tiles fromthe playing area. (See Figure 1.) These tiles form each
player’s stock. Distribute the 24 coins equally among the players. The values and
symbols on the coinsare not relevant in the basic version of this game. Players
decide how to choose their engineer (pawns.) Each pawn has a special
abilityassociated with it:  Green (Crown) It costs Green three coins to lower
terrain, instead of the normal four.Red (Sun) Red can hike up or down two heights,
counting it as one step. Cannot end ona ledge!Black (Moon) Black gets to take all
the loose coins whenever he grades up a moon tile.Blue (Arms) When Blue hikes at
least one step, he can take two extra steps.
 It is up to the player to remember to use his “strong suit” when able. Each player
 selects a pawn in the agreed upon manner and places it in one of the fourinner grid
 squares. In the three-player game, discard the blue pawn.

 Figure 1 – Starting Layout PlayBlack always goes first. Afterwards, play proceeds
 clockwise. A turn consists of rollingall four dice and deciding whether to act on
 the outcome of the roll (trailblazing) orignoring the roll and moving the pawn
 (hiking). At different times during the game, aplayer may find that he is unable to
 do either trailblazing or hiking. In that case, his turnis over. TrailblazingThe
 highest roll on the four dice indicates what you can do to the existing terrain.
 Null islow and Ace is high. If two or more dice are equally high, the player can
 pick any one ofthem. The four trailblazing activities are extending, grading,
 raising and lowering, represented by the Crown, Arms, Sun and Moon, respectively.
 It costs one coin toextend, two coins to grade, three coins to raise and four coins
 to lower. Spent coins areset aside in a common area and may be reclaimed by hiking.
 The location of the pawnsis irrelevant, except that you can’t raise, lower or Grade
 an occupied tile. Here are therules for trailblazing:  Green (Crown) Extend a path
 by aligning one of your tiles edge to edge with anexisting tile, such that no other
 tiles are touched. The tile must be placed facingthe same side-up as it was picked
 up from stock and the edges must be flush(see Figure 2.) The existing tile may have
 zero or more tiles stacked on it.

 Figure 2

Red (Sun) Raise the height of an existing path or mountain by placing one of
yourtiles completely atop it, such that no other tiles are covered. The maximum
heightis four tiles and tile must be placed facing the same side-up as it was picked
upfrom stock. Black (Moon) Lower the height of an existing mountain (by removing the
topmosttile) or a path (by removing any tile along the path) you may remove a tile
so thata gap remains. You may not remove an ace that is face-up on a mountain.Return
the tile value-side-up to your stock. Blue (Arms) Grade an existing rough terrain
tile by exposing its value-side. Theonly eligible tiles are those at the end of a
path, or those at the peak of amountain. Previously graded tiles cannot be degraded.
Once an Ace tile is placed face-up on a mountain (any pile more than one tile high),
itcannot be raised or lowered. The only defense is to make the peak insurmountable
–either surrounding it with gaps, or lowering the terrain to one tile around a 4-
tilemountain. Such defenses are only delaying tactics, since players have to hike
towardtheir own peaks eventually! Hiking

Hiking serves two purposes: first, it brings players closer to their mountain peaks
andsecond, it is the only way to earn coins from the common area. A hike consists of
up tothree steps. A step is grid square (representing rough terrain), one tile whose
value-sideis face-up (representing a smoother path) or one tile height (representing
a mountainledge). The Sun and the Arms have special steps as explained in the Setup
section. Here are the rules for hikers:The number of steps taken plus the number of
coins earned must equal three. Takingthree coins means that the player has chosen to
rest.If the tile is graded (value-side-up), any number of pawns may occupy it
simultaneously.No hiker can pass through an occupied grid square (he must go around
other pawns).No hiker can cross a gap between tiles.No hiker can climb or drop more
than two tile heights. Not even the Sun!No hiker can end his hike hanging on a
mountain ledge. If a mountain is two tiles high,two steps must be taken up or
down.It is possible for all of the coins to be held by the players. When this
occurs, a playerwho is unable to take the full three steps must trailblaze or pass
his turn. Theexception to this rule is that a hike that takes a player to his peak
in one or two stepswins immediately. WinningOnce all four aces are peaks of
mountains, players hike toward their particular peak.During this hike, they may
choose to delay an opponent with trailblazing tactics, usingthe normal dice rolling
rules. The winner is the first player who reaches his peak duringhis hike. The hike
must follow normal rules. In situations where no coins are available,the full three-
step rule does not apply.

VariationsThis game is open-ended enough for you to add your own variations. Here
are someideas: Super EngineersIn this variation, players decide before the game
whether to allow two or three terra-forming activities per turn. The top two or
three values on the rolled dice determinewhich two activities to perform. PyreneesIn
this variation, mountains can be up to six tiles high! All other rules are the same.
Coin CountersIn this variation, the value of the coins is taken into account.
Therefore, during setup,give each player his own six coins. In the two-player game,
each player has two sets ofsix. In the three-player game, discard the blue coins.
During play, the number of coinsinvolved in a transaction is the same as in the
basic variation. However, the player mustcomplete the transaction in such a way as
to ensure that either the lowest value or thehighest value of the coins in the
common area has his suit. If this is not possible, thenthe transaction cannot be
carried out and the player must pass his turn. Super HikersIn this variation, hikers
can cross gaps and jump down from any height. A gap takes twosteps to cross and must
be completed in one turn. Any jump is counted as one step. Peak to PeakIn this
variation, the object is to be the first to place your “flag” atop two peaks.
Hikerscan race toward a peak as soon as it appears. To place a flag, the player must
use oneof his own suit coins from his stock. Consider it a non-recoverable expense!