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Hamlet can seem daunting at first glance (especially for people relatively new to board gaming) but is actually a fairly easy game to play once you’ve had a go at it once or twice. In Hamlet, players turn a simple little hamlet to a fully functional and much larger village. Players work together to build the village whilst scoring points individually in order to be the ultimate builder. I promise you, Hamlet isn’t anywhere near as complicated as it looks (and reads), but here’s the lowdown, and if you want a really brief overview, skip to the end for the need-to-know essentials).
P.S. I highly recommend you play a practice game or two with the rulebook as your guide before playing competitively. Playing and reading as you go is by far the best way to learn this game.
Objective (and Other Basic Concepts)
Hamlet’s objective is simple: Build the church. Once the church is complete, the game ends, points are tallied up, and the winner of the game is the person with the most points. Players gain points throughout the game, with extra points scored at the end too.
Hamlet is very much a “worker placement” game with aspects of “tile placement” thrown in, which means for the most part, you will be assigning actions to your villagers by placing them around the village. You will also be expanding your village by purchasing and later placing new tiles that match up to your existing village features.
It’s important to recognise that Hamlet can be played as a single player solo game, but setup, play, and scoring are a little different to that of a multiplayer game, so there’s a little section with a brief overview of the single player variant later in case that’s your thing.
Game Unboxing and Setup (2-4 Players)
Don’t fret, Hamlet looks complex, but it really isn’t, I promise. Hamlet comes with lots of different shaped small pieces in 4 different colours (red, yellow, blue and green), 3 colours of small cubes which represent your basic resources (wood, stone, and wheat), some gold coins, lots of building tiles of various shapes and sizes, a scoreboard, some award tiles, some market tiles, and the church pieces. You’ll need a reasonable sized flat surface to play on, the average dining table works well.
Give each player all the pieces of one colour and place the large Church tile in the middle of the table. The church tile is double sided so you need to make sure the side facing up is correct for the number of players (there’s a little bit in the yellow box that says either 1-2 or 3-4). Each player then takes one villager and one donkey of their colour and places them on the church, these are the starting pawns each player has available to them in the beginning. If you are playing a solo or 2 player game, you may wish to also place two of the church building parts onto the church tile (this is because in a 1-2 player game there is less actions needed to complete the church than in a 3-4 player game).
Next, you’ll need to find the other starting tiles, these are the woodcutter, the quarry, the farm, the market, and the town hall. Like the church, the market tile is double sided and needs to be placed with the correct side facing up depending on the number of players. These starting tiles then need to be connected to the church tile using the roads on them. It doesn’t matter where they go, but all of the tiles should be connected to the church directly with their roads.
Next, you’re going to want to place 2 wood cubes on the woodcutter, 2 stone cubes on the quarry, and 2 wheat cubes on the farm. These are your resources which are available to all players to use. You will be able to use and make more of these during gameplay. You will also need to separate all the remaining tiles into piles. The remaining tiles all have symbols on the back of them to represent milk, timber/planks, bricks, flour, and the bag, and they should be separated accordingly, with the bag symbol tiles being placed into the drawstring bag and the others left in their respective piles for later on.
You’re almost ready to play, just a few more easy steps. You need to place the scoreboard where all players can see it, and place a coloured player marker (the circle) beside the scoreboard for each player, and then draw 4 tiles at random from the bag to place above the scoreboard where the 0, 1, 2, and 3 symbols are. These are the tiles you will be able to purchase during the game and how much they cost to do so. Each player then receives 3 gold (be aware that some of the gold coins are worth 1 and some are worth 5), with the last player getting an extra gold (or the last two players in a 4 player game).
Finally, you need to organise the small market tiles according to the rulebook (which is different depending on the exact number of players) to create the market sales draw pile, and place three of them face up on the market, and then make sure the award and milestone tokens are placed where all players can see them. Then you’re ready to begin.
Playing the Game (2-4 Players)
Players take turns going clockwise around the board. In a player’s turn they do two things: Move their donkeys and activate their villagers, in that order.
Donkeys - Donkeys are used to move resources around the village. Whenever you need to use a resource (wood, stone, wheat, milk, flour, bricks, and timber) for a particular task the resource needs to be transported from it’s production building to the right location with the donkeys. (If you need to get a particular resource from A to B in order to use it, there must be a road to connect A to B, and each tile in between A and B on that road needs to have a donkey in the player’s colour).
You can chose to move any of the donkeys you currently have in play on the board, or not if you don’t want to move them. Donkeys can move one space to any adjacent tile as long as the two tiles are directly connected by a road.
Villagers - Villagers are then assigned to one action each by placing them on the relevant tile. Villages can go anywhere in the village as long as the tile is accessible by road. Here’s a bit about what your villagers can do:
Produce materials - In order to produce materials (wood, wheat, and stone) there needs to be at least one empty production space on the building. Place your villager on the tile you want to produce materials for, fill up all the empty slots on the tile, and take 2 gold (you take 2 gold no matter whether you produce 1, 2, or 3 materials).
Refine materials - You will need to build the refinery buildings before you can use them but these buildings convert wood, wheat, and stone into milk, flour, bricks, and timber, and there must be an empty production slot on the tile before you can take this action. The raw material needs to be transported to the refinery via your donkeys (as explained above) and you need to place your villager on the refinery tile. You may then transport the required resource to the refinery and convert it into the refined material by removing the original material from the board and placing your own coloured marker (the hexagonal pieces) of the right material on the production space. Each player has two of each token for refined materials and can not have more than two on the board at any one time. When producing, if you have the milestone marker for the material you are making, you place your marker white side up (to indicate high quality). Otherwise, place the marker black side up (to indicate low quality). You get rewards when this material is used, not when it is produced.
Purchasing - By placing a villager on town hall you can complete two purchase actions if you wish. Firstly, you can purchase one blueprint, these are the four tiles above the scoreboard, and each one costs the number of gold on the board underneath it. If you spend gold on a blueprint, you need to place that gold one on each of the preceding tiles (which is added to a player’s gold pile if they then purchase that tile). Then slide all the remaining tiles to the left to fill in any gaps and draw a new tile from the bag and place it at the end on the right. You may also hire new villagers or donkeys at the town hall. Donkeys cost 3 gold each and villagers cost 5, 7, and 9 gold each. New donkeys can be placed on any tile connected to the church by a road and they can be used to transport materials in the same turn. New villagers are placed on the church and can be given an action next turn.
Market sales - Place a villager at the market to sell resources. Each market tile will show you what you can sell, and what you will get for selling it. You will need to be able to transport all resources you will sell to the market via donkeys, and when you complete a sale, remove the market tile, place it in front of you, gain the rewards on the tile, and replace the tile with a new market sale tile if possible.
Build the church - The church tile has several parts to complete. Each part has a delivery cost and a delivery reward, and as with other actions, the right materials need to be transported to the church by donkeys before they can be used. To construct part of the church, place your villager there, transport the materials, and place your player marker (the round ones) on the correct slot for which delivery you made and gain the reward, removing the materials from the board. You can then place a piece of the church onto the church tile to show the progress of construction. If all the church deliveries have been made the game will end.
Begging - If the farm, the woodcutter, and the quarry are all full and no more materials are able to be made there, you can place your villager on the church tile to beg for gold.
Building a road - Some tiles have no roads on them and some won’t be connected to the rest of the village via their roads. You can construct new roads to connect two tiles that are adjacent that aren’t already connected. Where there are two tiles touching and both are connected with mountains, two wood will need to be consumed. Where two tiles are touching and both are connected with forest, two stone will need to be consumed. You will need to place your villager on the tile that is connected to the village, transport the materials via donkeys, and place your own coloured bridge token to connect the tiles. This creates a road linking the tiles. The first person to do this gains the planner milestone token, and a player may not build more roads than they have bridges in their colour.
Building a new tile - Similar to building a road, the villager needs to be placed on the tile connected to the village which the new tile will be built next to. Each new tile tells you it’s construction cost. You will need to transport required materials via donkeys to your villager before you can place your new tile. Once built, you may gain any rewards shown on the tile, which may be points or milestone tiles, or nothing. If a milestone tile has already been claimed by a player you can not claim it yourself. Building the first refinery of each type (flour, milk, brick, and timber) also requires you to take the pile of corresponding village tiles and add them to the bag, this will give you new options for constructing tiles in the game. If the new building tile is a landmark, there probably won’t be an immediate reward as these are scored at the end of the game, place one of your coloured flag pieces on the building.
Your turn ends when all of your villagers in play have completed one action each.
Ending the Game and Scoring (2-4 Players)
Hamlet ends once the church is complete. You should complete the round so that every player has had the same number of turns. Players will then be able to calculate end of game points using the rulebook as a guide. The winner is the person with the most points after the final scoring has been completed.
Single Player Game Variant (A Brief Overview)
If you decided to play Hamlet single player, you will be going up against the game. The rules are pretty much the same for you in your turn but things will play different when the game takes a turn. When Hamlet goes against you, it takes on the role of a nearby landowner known as Botric.
Set up is very similar to that of a 2 player game and the single player game board is introduced to determine the actions Botric will take against you. These are always attempted in a set order.
You go first and play your turn as you would with a multiplayer game. Once your turn is over, you will assign Botric’s actions.He does not need donkeys and can transport materials from A to B as long as they are connected with roads which creates a challenge for you to go up against. Botric also has other advantages over you such as converting gold into points.
Hamlet still ends when the church is complete and you score your own points as you would in a multiplayer game. Botric then scores in the same way with one exception, the landmark buildings he constructed are all worth 3 points each regardless of their text. If you can score more than the game, you win.
Things to Remember!
1. Hamlet is a worker placement style game with additional tile placement features
2. Hamlet is a competitive game for 1-4 players
3. Setup takes a few minutes but it’s not complex once you get the hang of it
4. New tiles placed cost resources and have to be placed by matching sides to existing tiles
5. Resources are transported around the board with the help of donkeys
6. If you cant get the materials from A to B the turn you need to use them, you can’t move the materials at all
7. Players only begin with one villager and one donkey, buying more is essential!
8. Your village tiles have to be connected to each other with roads before you can use them
9. Producing raw materials gets you rewards immediately, producing refined materials gets you rewards only when those materials are used
10. Being the first to build a refinery of a specific type is advantageous, you will be able to produce better quality materials which means more gold and more points
11. You can purchase materials at the market without it counting as an action as long as you have the gold to buy them and the donkeys to transport them
12. You score points throughout the game but also score points at the end of game so stay aware of what potential points your opponents might rack up at the end
13. Practice makes perfect. Play a trial game to help you remember the possible actions and use the rulebook for guidance.
14. Have fun!
Players take turns going clockwise around the board. In a player’s turn they do two things: Move their donkeys and activate their villagers, in that order.
Donkeys - Donkeys are used to move resources around the village. Whenever you need to use a resource (wood, stone, wheat, milk, flour, bricks, and timber) for a particular task the resource needs to be transported from it’s production building to the right location with the donkeys. (If you need to get a particular resource from A to B in order to use it, there must be a road to connect A to B, and each tile in between A and B on that road needs to have a donkey in the player’s colour).
You can chose to move any of the donkeys you currently have in play on the board, or not if you don’t want to move them. Donkeys can move one space to any adjacent tile as long as the two tiles are directly connected by a road.
Villagers - Villagers are then assigned to one action each by placing them on the relevant tile. Villages can go anywhere in the village as long as the tile is accessible by road. Here’s a bit about what your villagers can do:
Produce materials - In order to produce materials (wood, wheat, and stone) there needs to be at least one empty production space on the building. Place your villager on the tile you want to produce materials for, fill up all the empty slots on the tile, and take 2 gold (you take 2 gold no matter whether you produce 1, 2, or 3 materials).
Refine materials - You will need to build the refinery buildings before you can use them but these buildings convert wood, wheat, and stone into milk, flour, bricks, and timber, and there must be an empty production slot on the tile before you can take this action. The raw material needs to be transported to the refinery via your donkeys (as explained above) and you need to place your villager on the refinery tile. You may then transport the required resource to the refinery and convert it into the refined material by removing the original material from the board and placing your own coloured marker (the hexagonal pieces) of the right material on the production space. Each player has two of each token for refined materials and can not have more than two on the board at any one time. When producing, if you have the milestone marker for the material you are making, you place your marker white side up (to indicate high quality). Otherwise, place the marker black side up (to indicate low quality). You get rewards when this material is used, not when it is produced.
Purchasing - By placing a villager on town hall you can complete two purchase actions if you wish. Firstly, you can purchase one blueprint, these are the four tiles above the scoreboard, and each one costs the number of gold on the board underneath it. If you spend gold on a blueprint, you need to place that gold one on each of the preceding tiles (which is added to a player’s gold pile if they then purchase that tile). Then slide all the remaining tiles to the left to fill in any gaps and draw a new tile from the bag and place it at the end on the right. You may also hire new villagers or donkeys at the town hall. Donkeys cost 3 gold each and villagers cost 5, 7, and 9 gold each. New donkeys can be placed on any tile connected to the church by a road and they can be used to transport materials in the same turn. New villagers are placed on the church and can be given an action next turn.
Market sales - Place a villager at the market to sell resources. Each market tile will show you what you can sell, and what you will get for selling it. You will need to be able to transport all resources you will sell to the market via donkeys, and when you complete a sale, remove the market tile, place it in front of you, gain the rewards on the tile, and replace the tile with a new market sale tile if possible.
Build the church - The church tile has several parts to complete. Each part has a delivery cost and a delivery reward, and as with other actions, the right materials need to be transported to the church by donkeys before they can be used. To construct part of the church, place your villager there, transport the materials, and place your player marker (the round ones) on the correct slot for which delivery you made and gain the reward, removing the materials from the board. You can then place a piece of the church onto the church tile to show the progress of construction. If all the church deliveries have been made the game will end.
Begging - If the farm, the woodcutter, and the quarry are all full and no more materials are able to be made there, you can place your villager on the church tile to beg for gold.
Building a road - Some tiles have no roads on them and some won’t be connected to the rest of the village via their roads. You can construct new roads to connect two tiles that are adjacent that aren’t already connected. Where there are two tiles touching and both are connected with mountains, two wood will need to be consumed. Where two tiles are touching and both are connected with forest, two stone will need to be consumed. You will need to place your villager on the tile that is connected to the village, transport the materials via donkeys, and place your own coloured bridge token to connect the tiles. This creates a road linking the tiles. The first person to do this gains the planner milestone token, and a player may not build more roads than they have bridges in their colour.
Building a new tile - Similar to building a road, the villager needs to be placed on the tile connected to the village which the new tile will be built next to. Each new tile tells you it’s construction cost. You will need to transport required materials via donkeys to your villager before you can place your new tile. Once built, you may gain any rewards shown on the tile, which may be points or milestone tiles, or nothing. If a milestone tile has already been claimed by a player you can not claim it yourself. Building the first refinery of each type (flour, milk, brick, and timber) also requires you to take the pile of corresponding village tiles and add them to the bag, this will give you new options for constructing tiles in the game. If the new building tile is a landmark, there probably won’t be an immediate reward as these are scored at the end of the game, place one of your coloured flag pieces on the building.
Your turn ends when all of your villagers in play have completed one action each.
Ending the Game and Scoring (2-4 Players)
Hamlet ends once the church is complete. You should complete the round so that every player has had the same number of turns. Players will then be able to calculate end of game points using the rulebook as a guide. The winner is the person with the most points after the final scoring has been completed.
Single Player Game Variant (A Brief Overview)
If you decided to play Hamlet single player, you will be going up against the game. The rules are pretty much the same for you in your turn but things will play different when the game takes a turn. When Hamlet goes against you, it takes on the role of a nearby landowner known as Botric.
Set up is very similar to that of a 2 player game and the single player game board is introduced to determine the actions Botric will take against you. These are always attempted in a set order.
You go first and play your turn as you would with a multiplayer game. Once your turn is over, you will assign Botric’s actions.He does not need donkeys and can transport materials from A to B as long as they are connected with roads which creates a challenge for you to go up against. Botric also has other advantages over you such as converting gold into points.
Hamlet still ends when the church is complete and you score your own points as you would in a multiplayer game. Botric then scores in the same way with one exception, the landmark buildings he constructed are all worth 3 points each regardless of their text. If you can score more than the game, you win.
Things to Remember!
1. Hamlet is a worker placement style game with additional tile placement features
2. Hamlet is a competitive game for 1-4 players
3. Setup takes a few minutes but it’s not complex once you get the hang of it
4. New tiles placed cost resources and have to be placed by matching sides to existing tiles
5. Resources are transported around the board with the help of donkeys
6. If you cant get the materials from A to B the turn you need to use them, you can’t move the materials at all
7. Players only begin with one villager and one donkey, buying more is essential!
8. Your village tiles have to be connected to each other with roads before you can use them
9. Producing raw materials gets you rewards immediately, producing refined materials gets you rewards only when those materials are used
10. Being the first to build a refinery of a specific type is advantageous, you will be able to produce better quality materials which means more gold and more points
11. You can purchase materials at the market without it counting as an action as long as you have the gold to buy them and the donkeys to transport them
12. You score points throughout the game but also score points at the end of game so stay aware of what potential points your opponents might rack up at the end
13. Practice makes perfect. Play a trial game to help you remember the possible actions and use the rulebook for guidance.
14. Have fun!
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