CrunchyColeslaw: Initial rules page

2026-08-27T11:23:51Z

Initial rules page

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== Overview ==

Iberian Gauge is a cube-rails stock game for 3–5 players set on the Iberian Peninsula. You are an investor, not a railroad: you buy Shares in 5 Railroad companies with your personal money, and the Railroads — funded by their own Treasuries — build the track. Each Share you own lets you extend that Railroad by one hex during Build rounds. Dividends pay you per Share, and a Railroad that fails to reach a new city loses Share Value.

All 5 Railroads are always in play, regardless of player count. Ties are possible (shared victory).

At the start of the game, the 5 Railroads are placed in a '''random initiative order''' that never changes, each player receives '''₱40''', and a random player receives the '''Priority Deal token''' (the right to act first in Stock rounds).

Each Railroad has a fixed number of Shares — '''Red 6, Light Blue 5, Orange 5, Purple 4, Yellow 4''' (24 total) — and a supply of '''22 Locomotives''' (track markers) for the whole game.

== Round Structure ==

The game lasts exactly '''10 rounds''' in a fixed order:

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #a2a9b1; background:#f8f9fa; text-align:center; width:auto;"
|- style="background:#eaecf0;"
! Round !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10
|-
! Type
| Stock || Build || Stock || Build || Build || Stock || Build || Build || Stock || Build
|}

The game ends after round 10, followed by final scoring.

== Stock Round ==

Starting with the Priority Deal holder and going clockwise, each player in turn either '''buys one Share''' or '''passes'''.

* Passing does '''not''' lock you out — if the round comes back to you, you may still buy.
* The round ends when '''all players have consecutively passed'''. The player who ''started'' the final all-pass streak takes (or keeps) the Priority Deal token and will open the next Stock round.
* You may buy at most '''one Share per Railroad per Stock round''' (buying from several different Railroads in the same round is fine).
* You cannot buy into a Railroad with no Share spaces left; if all 24 Shares are ever sold out, the round ends immediately.
* Shares can '''never be sold'''.

If you cannot afford anything on your turn, you are passed automatically (noted in the log). This counts as a real pass — it can make you the first passer who takes the Priority Deal token.

=== Starting a Railroad (buying its first Share) ===

Buying a Railroad's first Share floats it. You:

# Choose its starting Share Value — anywhere from '''₱12 to ₱36''' — and pay that amount from your cash '''into the Railroad's Treasury'''.
# Place its first Locomotive in a '''Major City''' that contains no other Railroad (if all 7 Major Cities are occupied, any Major City).

Its Dividend level starts at '''space 1''' of the Dividends Track.

=== Buying into a started Railroad ===

Pay its '''current Share Value''' from your cash into its Treasury; you take its next Share space in order. (Share Value does not change from purchases — it only moves during Build rounds.)

== Build Round ==

Railroads act in '''initiative order'''. Within each Railroad, its Shares act in the order they were bought. Railroads with no purchased Shares are skipped entirely — no build, no penalty, no dividends.

Each active Railroad's turn has four steps:

=== 1. Track Building ===

Each Share, in purchase order, lets '''its owner''' optionally place one of the Railroad's Locomotives on the map — so if you own several Shares in a Railroad, you get several separate builds. Building is never mandatory.

A build is legal only if all of the following hold:

* The Railroad has a Locomotive left (22 for the whole game).
* The target hex has room: '''Easy/Difficult''' hexes hold one Locomotive ''total''; '''Urban/Major City''' hexes hold one ''per Railroad'' (all 5 can coexist).
* The hex is '''adjacent to the Railroad's existing track''', or reachable by '''leasing''' (below).
* The Treasury can pay the full cost (build cost plus any lease fees). Costs always come from the '''Railroad's Treasury''', never from players.

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #a2a9b1; background:#f8f9fa; text-align:center; width:auto;"
|- style="background:#eaecf0;"
! Hex type !! Build cost (to bank) !! Lease cost (to owner) !! Occupancy
|-
| Easy (light green) || ₱4 || ₱2 || 1 Locomotive total
|-
| Difficult (dark green) || ₱8 || ₱4 || 1 Locomotive total
|-
| Urban (blue, named) || ₱4 || cannot be leased || 1 per Railroad
|-
| Major City (orange border, named) || ₱4 || cannot be leased || 1 per Railroad
|}

If your build must be skipped — the Railroad is out of Locomotives, can't afford anything, or has nowhere left to build — the game skips it automatically and says why in the log.

=== Leasing ===

To build a hex not adjacent to its own track, a Railroad may lease a path through '''other Railroads' track''' in '''Easy/Difficult hexes only''' — never through Urban or Major City hexes, even its own (a path may route ''around'' them). Every hex on the path must already contain another Railroad's Locomotive; you cannot lease empty terrain.

The path must be the '''shortest leasable route''' (fewest leased hexes); when several equally short paths exist, you choose which to use — this decides which Treasuries get paid and can change the total cost. Lease fees (₱2 per Easy hex, ₱4 per Difficult hex) are paid from the building Railroad's Treasury '''to each leased hex's owner'''; the destination hex's build cost is then paid to the bank as normal.

=== 2. Immediate Bonuses ===

* '''Building into an Urban hex:''' Dividend level +1.
* '''Building into a Major City:''' Dividend level +2 and Share Value +1.
* '''Dividend thresholds:''' whenever the Dividend level crosses a share-icon threshold on the track, Share Value rises 1 more space per threshold crossed.
* '''5-cities bonus:''' the moment a Railroad's network includes '''five Major Cities''', a one-time Special Dividend is paid from the bank — each Shareholder receives the Railroad's listed amount '''per Share owned''' (Purple/Yellow ₱15, Light Blue/Orange ₱12, Red ₱10), and the Railroad's Treasury receives the same amount per unsold Share.

=== 3. Share Value Penalty ===

If the Railroad did '''not''' add a '''new''' Urban or Major City hex to its network this turn, its Share Value drops '''one space per player-owned Share''' (unsold Shares don't count). This applies even when the Railroad couldn't build at all. Share Value never goes below ₱4 or above ₱80.

=== 4. Dividends ===

The bank pays the Railroad's dividend at its current Dividend level:

* each player receives the dividend '''× their Shares''' in this Railroad, and
* the Railroad's Treasury receives the dividend '''× its unsold Shares'''.

== Game End and Scoring ==

After round 10, each player scores:

'''Cash in hand + (current Share Value × each Share owned)'''

Railroad Treasuries are worth nothing. The player with the most money wins; ties are shared victories.

== Reference Tables ==

=== Share Value Track ===

20 spaces in steps of 4: ₱4 to ₱80. Starting values when floating a Railroad: '''₱12–₱36'''.

=== Dividends Track ===

19 spaces. Railroads are grouped by Share count:

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #a2a9b1; background:#f8f9fa; text-align:center; width:auto;"
|- style="background:#eaecf0;"
! Level !! Purple / Yellow (4 shares) !! Lt. Blue / Orange (5 shares) !! Red (6 shares)
|-
| 1 || 3 || 2 || 2
|-
| 2 || 4 || 3 || 3
|-
| 3 || 5 || 4 || 4
|-
| 4 || 7 || 5 || 5
|-
| 5 || 8 || 6 || 5
|-
| 6 || 9 || 7 || 6
|-
| 7 || 10 || 8 || 7
|-
| 8 || 12 || 9 || 8
|-
| 9 || 13 || 10 || 9
|-
| 10 || 14 || 11 || 10
|-
| 11 || 15 || 12 || 10
|-
| 12 || 17 || 13 || 11
|-
| 13 || 18 || 14 || 12
|-
| 14 || 19 || 15 || 13
|-
| 15 || 20 || 16 || 14
|-
| 16 || 22 || 17 || 15
|-
| 17 || 23 || 18 || 15
|-
| 18 || 24 || 19 || 16
|-
| 19 || 25 || 20 || 17
|}

'''Share Value thresholds''' sit on the boundaries '''3→4, 6→7, 9→10, 12→13, 14→15, 16→17, and 18→19''' — moving up across one grants +1 Share Value. The Dividend level stops at 19; further increases are lost.

Gamehelpiberiangauge - Revision history

CrunchyColeslaw: Initial rules page