Donald X Vaccarino

The world is big and your kingdom small. Small when compared to the world, that is; it's moderate sized when compared to other kingdoms. But in a big world like this one - big when compared to smaller worlds anyway, if such things exist; it's moderate-sized when compared to worlds of roughly the same size, and a little small when compared to worlds just a little larger - well, to make a long story short - short when compared to longer stories anyway - it is time to stretch your borders. You've heard of far-off places - exotic countries, where they have pancakes but not waffles, where the people wear the wrong number of shirts, and don't even have a word for the look two people give each other when they each hope that the other will do something that they both want done but which neither of them wants to do. It is to these lands that you now turn your gaze. 

This is the 6th addition to the game of Dominion. It adds 26 new Kingdom cards to Dominion, including 6 Reactions. The central theme is cards that do something immediately when you gain them. Dominion: Hinterlands cannot be played by itself; to play with it, you need the Basic cards and rulebook (Dominion provides both).  

We hope you enjoy this expanding world of Dominion!  

Contents

300 Cards    consisting of

264 Kingdom cards         

10 each of Berserker, Border Village, Cartographer, Cauldron, Crossroads, Develop, Fool’s Gold, Guard Dog, Haggler, Highway, Inn, Jack of all Trades,       Margrave, Nomads, Oasis, Scheme, Souk, Spice Merchant, Stables,Trader, Trail, Weaver, Wheelwright, Witch’s Hut         

12 each of Farmland, Tunnel   

26 Randomizer cards     

10 blank cards (9 standard back; 1 randomizer back)

1 Plastic organizer tray   

1 Organizing Inlay

1 Rule Booklet 

Preparation

Before the first game, remove the three sets of cards from their wrappings and place them in the card tray. One side of the included inlay suggests a way to organize the cards. The opposite side allows players to create an organization that fits their needs. 

Hinterlands includes 26 randomizer cards (one for each Kingdom card in Hinterlands). Players will need the Treasure cards, Victory cards, Curse cards, and Trash card from either Dominion or Base Cards (or older editions of Intrigue), and the rules from Dominion to play with this expansion. As with previous Dominion games, players must choose 10 sets of Kingdom cards for each game. If players choose the random approach for choosing sets, they should shuffle the randomizer cards from this expansion with those of any other Dominion games they choose to play with. 

When Gained

Many cards in Hinterlands do something "when you gain" that card or another card.

• You can gain a card by gaining it directly, such as with Workshop, or by buying it.

• "When you gain this" happens directly after you gain the card; the card will be in your discard pile already    (or wherever else it was put) when you resolve that ability.

• When playing a card, its "when you gain" ability no longer does anything. 

Examples:

• You buy Border Village, you gain it. Its ability happens; you gain a cheaper card. You choose to gain Souk. Souk's "when you gain this" ability happens, and you may trash up to 2 cards from your hand.

• You play Haggler, then buy Border Village, gaining it. Its ability happens and you gain a Duchy. Haggler's ability also happens, and you choose to gain another Haggler for gaining the Border Village. Haggler doesn't give you another card for gaining the Duchy or the Haggler, since Haggler only cares about you gaining cards that you bought.

• You play Border Village. You get +1 Card and +2 Action. You do not gain a card; that only happens when you gain Border Village, not when you play it. 

When Discarded

Hinterlands has three cards that can do something when discarded: Trail, Tunnel, and Weaver.

• You cannot simply choose to discard these cards; something has to let you or make you discard them, to activate those abilities. The key thing to look for is a card actually telling you to "discard" cards.

• These abilities can happen on your own turn (such as due to Oasis), or on someone else's (such as due to Margrave). They do not happen in Clean-up, when you normally discard all of your played and unplayed cards.

• These abilities work when the card is discarded from anywhere - for example, from your hand (such as due to Oasis) or from your deck (such as due to Cartographer), or from being in Exile (a mat from Dominion: Menagerie).

• If the card would not necessarily be revealed (such as when discarding multiple cards to Cartographer), you have to reveal it to make the ability happen.

• These abilities are optional, even if the card was already revealed for some other reason.

• These abilities do not function if cards are put into your discard pile without being discarded, such as when you gain a card, or when your deck is put into your discard pile (such as with Messenger from Dominion: Adventures).

• These abilities only happen once per time the card is discarded - you can't discard one Tunnel and reveal it twice for two Golds.

• If you discard multiple cards at once (e.g. to Margrave), they are all discarded at once, and then the abilities happen one at a time. This means for example that if you discard two Trails to a Margrave, and playing the first Trail causes you to shuffle, you won't be able to reveal the second Trail (as it's lost in your deck at that point). 

Kingdom Card Notes

Berserker: When you gain a Berserker, if you have an Action card in play you play the Berserker; this means it will go into play, and you'll gain a cheaper card and then the other players will discard down to 3 cards in hand. They can still use cards like Moat then.  If you gain a Berserker with no Actions in play, however, you don't play it. 

Border Village: Normally Border Village costs $6, so it comes with a card costing up to $5. If Border Village has a different cost (such as due to Highway) then that affects what you gain with it (though Highway would also affect the other cards). Border Village goes to your discard pile first, then the card you gain with it. 

Cartographer: You draw a card first, then look at the top 4 cards of your deck. If there are fewer than 4 cards left (even after shuffling), just look at as many as you can. Discard any number of the cards you looked at - none, all four, or something in-between - and put the rest back on top of your deck in any order. You do not reveal any of the cards, except whatever ends up on top of your discard pile. 

Cauldron: If you gain three Actions before playing Cauldron that turn, then it won't give out a Curse. It doesn't matter how many non-Action cards you gained; the third time you gain an Action, each other player gains a Curse. This is cumulative if you play multiple Cauldrons. This a Treasure, so you play it in your Buy phase, but also an Attack, so cards like Guard Dog and Moat can be used in response to it. 

Crossroads: First reveal your hand, and draw a card for each Victory card you revealed, if any. The revealed cards all stay in your hand. Then, if this is the first time you played a Crossroads this turn, you get +3 Actions. Subsequent Crossroads this turn will give you cards but not Actions. If you use Throne Room on Crossroads, you will play Crossroads twice, getting +3 Actions the first time but not the second time. 

Develop: First trash a card from your hand, if able. If you trashed a card, gain two cards, one costing exactly $1 more than the trashed card, and one costing exactly $1 less than the trashed card. The gained cards come from the Supply; gain them in either order, resolving any abilities due to gaining them also in that order. If there is no card in the Supply at one of the costs, you still gain the other card if you can. Put the gained cards on top of your deck rather than into your discard pile. If you trash a Copper, which costs $0, you will fail to gain a card costing -$1 (and try to gain a card costing $1).

Farmland: When you gain this, whether by buying it or otherwise gaining it, you trash a card from your hand, and if you did, you gain a card from the Supply costing exactly $2 more than the trashed card, but not another copy of Farmland. If there are no cards left in your hand to trash, you do not trash or gain a card, and if you trashed a card but there are no cards in the Supply costing exactly $2 more than the trashed card, you do not gain a card. Use 8 copies of Farmland for games with 2 players, 12 for games with 3 or more players.  

Fool's Gold: The first Fool's Gold you play in a turn makes +$1, and all further copies make +$4. So if you play three of them, you get  $1 + $4  + $4 , or $9  total. Fool's Gold is also a Reaction. When another player gains a Province, you may trash Fool's Gold from your hand to gain a Gold from the Supply, putting it onto your deck. You cannot use this ability when you gain a Province, only when another player does. 

Guard Dog: When you play this, you draw 2 cards, then count the cards in your hand; if it's 5 or fewer, you draw 2 more cards. When another player plays an Attack card, you may play this before that Attack resolves; then the Attack still happens (unless you stop it another way, such as with a Moat you just drew). So if another player plays Berserker, and you respond with Guard Dog, you'll first draw 2 cards, then discard down to 3 cards in hand. As usual playing it means putting it into play and following its instructions. If you play this during another player's turn, you discard it from play during that turn's Clean-up. 

Haggler: For the rest of the turn, whenever you gain a card that you bought, you gain a card that is cheaper than that card you bought, but not a Victory card. For example, you could buy a Province, gain that Province, and gain a Gold via Haggler. Gaining a card is not optional. The gained card comes from the Supply and is put into your discard pile. Haggler only gives you an extra card when you gain a card you bought, not when you gain a card some other way (such as with Haggler itself). If there is no cheaper card available in the Supply (for example, if you buy Copper), you do not gain a card. The bonus is cumulative; if you play a Haggler, and Throne Room another Haggler, you will gain three cards for each card you buy. 

Highway: This makes all cards $1 cheaper (to a minimum of $0) for the rest of the turn. This applies to cards everywhere - cards in the Supply, cards in hand, cards in Decks, and so on. For example, if you played Highway, then Develop, trashing a Copper, you could gain an Estate, as Estate would cost $1 while Copper would still cost $0. The bonus is cumulative: if you Throne Room a Highway and play another Highway, all cards cost $2 less (to a minimum of $0). 

Inn: When you gain this, you look through your discard pile (something normally not allowed), and shuffle any number of Action cards from it into your deck. You do not have to shuffle any Action cards into your deck. You can shuffle the Inn you just gained into your deck; it is an Action card in your discard pile. You must reveal the Action cards that you choose to shuffle into your deck. It does not matter what order you leave your discard pile in afterwards. 

Jack of All Trades: This card does four separate things, in the order listed; you do all of them (the last one is optional). First, gain a Silver from the Supply, putting it into your discard pile. Second, look at the top card of your deck, and either discard it or put it back on top. If this causes you to shuffle, the Silver will be shuffled in. Third, draw cards until you have at least five cards in hand. If you already have five or more cards in hand, you do not draw any cards. Fourth, you may trash a card from your hand that is not a Treasure card. 

Margrave: Drawing a card is not optional for the other players. A player who only has 3 cards or fewer after drawing does not discard. 

Nomads: When you gain or trash this during another player's turn, you still get the +$2, but normally won't be able to use it.  

Oasis: You draw a card, get +1 Action and +$1, and then discard a card. 

Scheme: When you play this, you draw a card, get +1 Action, and set up an effect to happen later in the turn; once, when you discard an Action card from play, you can put it onto your deck. The Action card can be Scheme itself, or any other Action card you have in play, which might have been played before or after you played Scheme. Scheme is cumulative; if you play two Schemes, or Throne Room a Scheme, you will be able to put up to two discarded Action cards onto your deck, and so on. 

Souk: For example, if you play Souk and have 3 other cards left in your hand, you'd get +$7 (and +1 Buy), and then lose $3, for a net gain of +$4. You can't go below $0, but might end up with less $ than you started with. When you gain Souk, trash up to 2 cards from your hand; you don't have to trash any. 

Spice Merchant: You may trash a Treasure card from your hand. This is optional. If you did trash a Treasure card, you choose either to get +2 Cards and +1 Action, or +$2 and +1 Buy.

Stables: You may discard a Treasure card from your hand. This is optional. If you did discard one, you get +3 Cards and +1 Action. You draw after discarding, so if you have to shuffle to get the 3 cards, you will end up shuffling in the card you discarded. 

Trader: When you play this, trash a card from your hand, and if you did, gain a number of Silvers equal to the cost of that card in $. The Silvers come from the Supply and are put into your discard pile. You only gain Silvers if you trashed a card. If you trash a card costing $0, such as Copper, you will gain zero Silvers. You can trash Silver if you want; you will gain three Silvers for it normally. If costs are different, such as due to playing Highway, then Trader will give you a different number of Silvers, based on the current costs. For example if you play Highway and then Trader, trashing an Estate, you will only gain one Silver. If you trash a card with Potion or Debt in its cost, you do not get anything for the Potion or Debt, just for the $ that the card cost.

Trader is also a Reaction. When you gain a card, whether due to buying it or gaining it some other way, you may reveal Trader from your hand to exchange the gained card for a Silver. You return the gained card to its pile (whether in the Supply or not), and take a Silver and put it into your discard pile. You still "gained" the card you gained (and not the Silver), for effects that care about gaining a card; for example you could gain Border Village, use Trader to exchange it for a Silver, then gain a Duchy using Border Village's ability, and use Trader to exchange that for a Silver too. You can only exchange if both cards are available to be exchanged; you have to be able to return the gained card to its pile (only possible if it came from a pile), and you have to be able to take the Silver. 

Trail: When you play this, you simply get +1 Card and +1 Action. When you gain, trash, or discard this, other than in Clean-up, you may play it; see the When Discarded section. As usual playing it means putting it into play and following its instructions. If you play Trail on another player's turn, the +1 Action won't be useful, and you discard Trail from play in that turn's Clean-up. If you trash Trail, playing it means you get the Trail back; it will go into play, and be discarded into your discard pile in that turn's Clean-up. This still counts as trashing it; if you Remodel a Trail you can play it and then gain a Gold from Remodel, and so on. 

Tunnel: Use 8 copies for a 2-player game, 12 for 3 or more players. This is worth 2 VP at the end of the game, and can gain you a Gold each time you discard it. See the When Discarded section. 

Weaver: You either gain 2 Silvers, or a card costing up to $4 (which might be a Silver). You can play this when you discard it; see the When Discarded section. As usual playing it means putting it into play and following its instructions. If you play it on another player's turn, it's discarded in that turn's Clean-up. 

Wheelwright: You may discard any type of card, but can only gain an Action card. If you discard an Action card, you can gain a copy of it. 

Witch's Hut: You reveal the discarded cards even if they aren't both Actions. If they're both Actions - even if they also have other types - each other player gains a Curse.  

Credits

Thanks 

1st Edition Playtesters: Kelly Bailey, Vinay Baliga, Bill Barksdale, Alex Bishop, Josephine Burns, Wei-Hwa Huang,  Zach Kessler, Michael M. Landers, Tom Lehmann, Destry Miller, Anthony Rubbo, Molly Sherwin, John Vogel,  Steve Wampler, Jeff Wolfe, the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society, and the Games Club at Cornell. 

2nd Edition head Playtester: Matthew Engel 2nd Edition Playtesters: Julian Abernethy, Jeff Boschen, Cade Conradson, Dibson T Hoffweiler, David Justiss,  Eli Kaplan, Ben King, Steveie King, Myke Madsen, Billy Martin, Michael McClellan, Kieran Millar, Destry Miller,  Jacob Nails, nasmith99, Carl Romao, Ingo Warnke, and Kevin White.     

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