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When it comes to Taverns Of Tiefenthal’s legendary luminaries, there’s only one name in all the guidebooks: yours. You’re an expert at running the local tavern. The Guests love you! Nobles far and wide flock to huddle around your tables. You’ve got more beer than Oktoberfest flowing out of your cellar. A mountain of Thalers sit hoarded in your safe. It’s like Scrooge McDuck diving into that pool of shiny coins.
The only thing you’re missing is a challenge. Something new; the next step up. Well, lucky for you then that The Taverns of Tiefenthal has not one but four extra modules. And these aren’t part of a separate expansion, costing almost as much as the base game. No! You get all these in the base box. It’s a super-impressive inclusion from Schmidt Spiele.
Don’t Drink On An Empty Stomach: Read This First!
A standard game of Taverns of Tiefenthal is an enjoyable affair, combining dice drafting, dice placement, and deck building. I’m going to assume you know how to play The Taverns of Tiefenthal when discussing these four modules. (If you don’t, no problem! Click and check out my How To Play Guide for the base game, first. Then you’ll have the core context with regards to the rules and components that I’ll mention.)
These four modules each boost you further up the rungs of an increasing, strategical ladder. It’s recommended that you introduce them one at a time, in the order I’ll list below. Each provides an extra dimension to the base game, offering further fascinating directions for you to explore. So finish the dregs of your pint. Settle the tab. It’s time to leave the comfort of the local and venture on a pub crawl around Tiefenthal!
Zum Goldenen Löwen – Schnapps Entertainment
This first module takes the base game and adds in a couple of neat extras. Individual tavern and deck set-up is the same as before. The key difference here is that you flip the Monastery Board to its ‘winter’ side. See the three recesses at the top of this board? In this module, you flip the chits that sit in there, so they show glasses of Schnapps. Place these, left to right, so they feature 2/1/2 Schnapps tumblers.
As you might have guessed, this module features the Schnapps Tokens. There’s 20 of them, so keep them in a pile next to the board. You’ll also need the three types of Entertainer Tiles. The reason for this is the major change here, which are the round-to-round rewards along the Turn Track. Some rewards will appear familiar, such as Counter Guests (in Turns 1, 4, and 7). You can also earn Tavern Cards or an extra die in Turns 6 and 8. But in Turns 2, 3, and 5, you get a new type of bonus: an Entertainer arrives into your tavern!
Entertainers join your Tavern Board. Like a Counter Guest, they’re double-sided and when players claim one, they have to pick which side they wish to use. You keep Entertainers for the entirety of the game. You can use their abilities multiple times, providing, that is, you can afford them! Entertainers keep the mood a vibrant one, but they demand payment in Schnapps. (You earn the stated quota of Schnapps Tokens when the Moon passes over them into the next round.)
Meet The Taverns Of Tiefenthal Talent
In Round 2, you get a Tambourine Player. On one side, you can pay a single Schnapps Token and in return gain two extra Thalers to spend. Or, you could pick the reverse side, where you pay two Schnapps, and earn three beer to spend. Note that the Tambourine Player has an ellipsis on her arrow. This means you can activate her bonus as many times as you can afford or wish to do so. You could, for example, pay in four Schnapps and earn eight (4x2) Thalers in one turn.
In Round 3, you get a Fire Breather enter your tavern. He also has two abilities for you to pick. One costs a whopping five Schnapps, but you can upgrade any section of your Tavern for free. You also get a Noble. (You do this during the phase where you activate your dice.) The other side’s benefit costs two Schnapps, and it lets you thin a current Guest out of your deck. They have to be sat at a table, and not have a die attributed to them. Either side of the Fire Breather shows the ellipsis, meaning you can perform it as many times as you can afford.
In Round 5, everybody gets a Juggler. On one side, you can pay one Schnapps to turn a die over to any face (after drafting, before you place it). This has an ellipsis on it. On the other side, you can pay one Schnapps to pick one of your cards from the round and place it face-down on your draw deck. (You’re guaranteed to see it again next round, then.) This side has a 1x symbol on it, meaning you can only perform this once per round.
At the end of the round, players may not hold more than four Schnapps Tokens. You can’t hoard; you’re better of spending Schnapps in this regard, or you lose them. At the end of the game, you score an extra 1VP per leftover Schnapps Token. Which Entertainer you should spend your Schnapps on, then? And how often…?
Die Blaue Forelle – Bards And Reputation
For this next module, set up the base game, plus the Entertainers and Schnapps as mentioned above. This time, though, revert the Schnapps chits to their blank side along the top of the Monastery Track. Find the 16 Bard Cards and place them alongside the five other Tavern Cards. Place the Bards in a face-up deck next to the Barbacks.
There’s also 10 new Guest Cards. (All have a small white cube symbol on them.) Shuffle these into the main deck of Guest Cards. White cube, you say? This is ‘Reputation’. Give each player their own white Reputation cube marker. Also, it’s time to flip that final part of your Taverns of Tiefenthal Board: the Barkeeper! As you do so, you’ll see 11 squares running around the U-shaped bar. Slot the small cut-out chit into the base of the bar so it is blank. Have everybody place their Reputation marker on their own Barkeeper.
The main addition here revolves around that Reputation Track – in a literal sense! There are a few ways to earn Reputation, and each time you do, you’ll move that marker clockwise around your track. It’s numbered 1-8, and listed on the three other spaces are symbols. When your marker lands on or passes beyond these thresholds, you earn the symbol’s reward. (One Schnapps Token; a Schnapps Token or thinning a Guest from your tables; one free Noble Card.) After landing on the Noble symbol, you continue to loop around clockwise, back to the ‘1’ space and so on.
Revolve Round The Reputation Route
There’s a trio of ways to move that cube. One is by purchasing Bard Cards. You buy these, in the same manner, you’d buy other Tavern Cards. They cost one Thaler, and provide 0VP from a deck-scoring point of view. But you don’t buy them for the points. When you draw a Bard from your deck, it sits next to a Barback. Each revealed Bard lets you move your Reputation marker one space around your track.
The second way is by obtaining some of those new Guests. Some of them come with an immediate one-time reward. This could be a free Bard Card, or free Schnapps, or a free Reputation movement. The third method is the largest way in which you earn precious Rep’. This involves a whole new phase in the game. This occurs after placing your dice but before activating them.
Each player checks to see their quota of Thalers that they’re due to earn this round. (Via Guests and/or the Cashbox – not Thalers stored in your Safe.) Then you check the number of beers you’re earning this round. (Via the Brewer, Barback Cards, and the Barrel – not beers stored from previous rounds.) You earn Reputation movement equal to the lower of these two totals.
At the end of the game, you also score Reputation. You score points equal to space where your cube ends on this track. If it ends on a Schnapps/Remove Guest symbol, you score the number on the previous space. If you end on the Noble icon, you score zero. (Hey, don’t feel sad! You did just nab an extra 10VP Noble Card, after all…)
Zum Grünen Klee – Pick Your Own Business Model
Again, you add the following module on top of the previous two. However, this module presents the opportunity for some wonderful asymmetrical starting decks. Give each player their seven Regular Guests in their player colour. Do not give them a Server, Table, and Brewer, though. Instead, bring out the seven blue Start Cards and shuffle them. Draw three and sit them face-up for every player to see.
These show unique starting options. The players choose to begin the game with the options on one of the cards, instead of the default ten-card set-up. Players can pick the same set-up as another if they wish; they’re not first-come, first-served. The seven Starter Cards are:
- Take 1x Server, 1x Table, 1x Brewer (the default starting option).
- Take 1x Bard, 1x Barback, 1x Dishwasher, 1x Brewer.
- Take no starting cards. However, move your Monastery Marker on three spaces (meaning you get a Barback). Then remove two Regular Guests from your deck.
- Take no cards, but do take one Schnapps Token. Then upgrade any one section of your Tavern – but do not claim a free Noble.
- Take 1x Bard and 1x Table. Upgrade your Beer Storage and start the game with your beer marker on 5x beers. Do not claim a Noble.
- Take 1x Server. Also, Upgrade your Server tile, but do not take a free Noble.
- Take 1x Dishwasher. Remove 1x Regular Guest from your deck. Upgrade your Cashbox for free, but do not claim a Noble.
Taverns Of Tiefenthal - Zum Roten Stier – Sign Here, Please
This final module has the set-up with the aforementioned three modules. This time, have each player flip over the tiny cutout at the bottom-middle of their Barkeeper Tile, showing a Signature icon. Also, give each player a Guestbook Tile. Have them keep this next to their Tavern Board. The game comes with forty small Signature Tokens. Keep them within close reach of all players.
In this module, you’ll aim to fill your Guestbook with signatures from Guests. It’s a 4x4 grid of 16 spaces. Some of these have icons on them. You’ll recognise them all, by now. Whenever you cover one of these icons with a Signature, you claim said reward. Four of these icons are Tavern Cards. Two of them are movements along your Reputation Track. One is free Schnapps, and the bottom four are free Noble Cards. If you fill in an entire horizontal row, you earn a free Noble card, too.
There are two ways to earn Signatures. One is whenever you buy a Guest Card. Take a Signature and add it into the corresponding column in your Guestbook. (The four columns have matching beer costs: 3-4 beers/5 beers/6 beers/7-8 beers.) It’s as if the Guest themselves has signed your book. You place the Signature in the correct row, in the top-most vacant space. The second way is by passing over the Signature icon within the Reputation Track. (On the cutout chit that sits between 4 and 5.) When you pass over this, take a Signature and place it in any column of your choice. It still has to sit in the top-most vacant space within this column, though.
The rest of the game plays as per normal according to the earlier modules. Adding all in at once might prove overwhelming to casual or even experienced gamers. Adding them in at a gradual pace feels like a more organic solution. You’ll know your (and your gaming group’s) own comfort zone. That way you can create the perfect game of Taverns of Tiefenthal that matches your table’s happy place!