Section 4: Gameplay
On a turn, the active player completes the following steps in order: draw and place one tile, optionally place one follower, and score any features completed by that tile. After all required scoring is resolved, the next player begins.
1. Draw and Place a Tile
- Draw one face-down landscape tile and show it to the group.
- Rotate the tile as desired.
- Place it beside at least one tile already in the landscape.
- Match the terrain on every touching edge. All city, road, and field portions must continue into the same terrain type.
A tile that touches more than one existing tile must match all of them. Corner-to-corner contact alone is not enough. Players may discuss possible placements, but the active player makes the final choice among legal positions.
If everyone agrees that the drawn tile has no legal placement anywhere, remove it from the game and draw another tile. Repeat until a tile can be legally placed. Players should carefully rotate and test the tile before declaring it unplayable.
2. Optionally Place a Follower
After placing the tile, the active player may place at most one follower from their supply onto a feature on that newly placed tile. The follower may become a knight in a city, a highwayman on a road, a monk on a monastery, or a farmer in a field.
The chosen feature cannot already contain another follower anywhere along its connected length, even if that follower belongs to the active player. Players must trace the entire connected road, city, or field before placing. A follower may still be placed on a separate feature printed on the same tile.
Separate occupied features may later become connected by a newly placed tile. This is legal and may create a shared feature containing several followers. The player who joins the features does not move or remove any existing follower.
A farmer is placed lying flat to distinguish it from other followers. Fields are separated by roads and city walls. A field can wind around features and connect across many tiles, so check its printed boundaries carefully.
Placing a follower is optional. A player without a follower in supply simply skips this step. A follower cannot be moved from one unfinished feature to another.
3. Complete and Score Features
The newly placed tile may complete one or more roads, cities, or monasteries. Score every completed feature before the turn ends. Determine control, award points, move scoring followers, and return followers from those completed features to their owners.
A player may place a follower on a feature completed by the same tile, provided the feature was unoccupied before placement. That feature is then scored immediately, and the follower returns to its owner's supply.
Fields are not scored during ordinary turns. Farmers remain in place until final scoring unless an agreed expansion or house rule specifically removes them.