Welcome to the Le Havre Game Rules

In this guide, I’m going to explain the rules of the game Le Havre and how to play it. So if you’re curious about Le Havre and want to learn how to play, you’ve come to the right place!

What is Le Havre?

Le Havre is a board game that takes you back in time to the 19th century, where you become a harbor master in the French city of Le Havre. Your goal is to manage resources, build buildings, and trade goods to make your harbor the most successful.

Setting Up the Game

Before starting, you need to set up the game. Each player gets a harbor board, 7 franc coins, 12 food resources, and 1 ship token. Shuffle the building cards and lay out a number of them based on the number of players. Place the special buildings and resources in their respective spots, and you’re ready to play!

Playing Le Havre

The game is played in turns, with each player taking actions to improve their harbor. On your turn, you can choose from several actions such as taking resources, building buildings, or playing special cards. You can also take loans if you need extra money, but be careful, as loans have interest!

Your main goal is to accumulate goods and trade them for victory points. You can trade goods with other players, purchase buildings, or ship goods off to distant lands for profit. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner!

End of the Game

The game ends after a set number of rounds, based on the number of players. After the final round, players tally up their victory points, including any bonuses from buildings or goods. The player with the highest score is declared the winner and becomes the ultimate harbor master of Le Havre!

Now It’s Your Turn!

Now that you know the rules of Le Havre, it’s time to gather your friends and start playing. Explore the world of 19th century harbor management, make strategic decisions, and become the master of Le Havre. Have fun and may the best harbor master win!

• 1 Rules appendix: Buildings overview
• 3 Game boards
• 5 Person discs (1 in each player color)
• 5 Ship markers (1 in each player color)
• 7 large, round supply tiles
• 16 large, round Food production tokens
• 1 large, round starting player tile
• A total of 420 tokens (coins, grain, iron, clay, wood, ..).
• 5 “Game turn” overview cards
• 33 Standard building cards
• 36 Special building cards
• 20 Round cards with “Ship” on the reverse
• 11 “Loan” cards
• 5 “Round overview” cards

Setup

I can give you a quick rundown of what’s included in the game. You’ll find these valuable assets in the box:

– 1 Rules appendix: Buildings overview

– 3 Game boards

– 5 Person discs (1 in each player color)

– 5 Ship markers (1 in each player color)

For your convenience, we have also provided the following items:

– 7 large, round supply tiles

– 16 large, round Food production tokens

– 1 large, round starting player tile

– A total of 420 tokens (coins, grain, iron, clay, wood, ..)

Additionally, you’ll find the following cards:

– 5 “Game turn” overview cards

– 33 Standard building cards

– 36 Special building cards

– 20 Round cards with “Ship” on the reverse

– 11 “Loan” cards

– 5 “Round overview” cards

Now, let’s get started with the setup!

Le Havre can be played in either a long or short version. The short version has some rule changes, which I’ll explain later. Let me show you a table that shows how many rounds are played based on the number of players:

Number of Players	1	2	3	4	5*
Number of Rounds (long version)	7	14	18	20	20
Duration in minutes (long version)	60	120	180	200	210
Number of Rounds (short version)	4	8	12	12	15
Duration in minutes (short version)	20	45	120	130	150

*Please note that the 5-player game is recommended only for experienced “Le Havre” players.*

Now, let me explain the rules for the shortened version…

Alright, here’s what we need to do to set up and play the game. First, we need to arrange the game boards. Place the three game boards next to each other in the middle of the playing area. The boards are numbered in the top left corner. The board with the Treasury is on the left, the board with the Building Proposals is in the center, and the board with the Ship spaces is on the right.

Next, we need to get our playing pieces. Each player will need a Person disc, a Ship marker, and a Game turn overview card in their chosen color. You can choose to flip the Game turn overview card over to show the Buttery.

Finally, we need to shuffle the 7 Supply tiles and place them face down on the round spaces on the game boards. Put the Ship markers next to the first game board, close to the first Supply tile.

Now that everything is set up, we can start playing the game. Let the fun begin!

Hey there! Let me break it down for you. When we reach the Round stage, we go through a set number of rounds, which can change depending on how many players we have. Each round has 7 turns for each player, and after that, we resolve the Round card. It spices things up!

Now, when we enter the Final stage, each player gets to do one final action. Then, it’s time to count our wealth and see who’s the big winner. The player with the most money takes the crown!

Speaking of players, the Starting Player is the one who lives closest to water. They get a fancy Starting player tile. After their turn, we take turns going clockwise around the table. It keeps things fair and square.

A Turn in the Game

When it’s my turn to play, there are a couple of things I need to do. First, I have to do a Supply action and then a Main action. I also have the choice to do some extra actions, like Buying and Selling, whenever I want during my turn.

Step 1: Supply Action

For my first action, I’m going to get some new goods for the harbor. These goods will go on the Offer space.

What I do is I put my Ship marker on the next available Supply tile. The tiles start off face-down at the beginning of the game, and they stay that way until someone puts their marker on them. Once a tile is occupied, it gets flipped over and stays face up for the rest of the game, without moving.

So, here’s how it works: each Supply tile has two tokens on it – one token represents Goods and the other represents Francs. You get to pick one token from each Supply tile and place them face up on the Offer spaces. The goods token has a border that indicates which side is the standard one.

Now, pay attention because this is important: when you place a ship on the seventh Supply tile, it signals that the round is about to end. At the end of that turn, we resolve the current Round card and flip it over. Then, the next round begins with the first player’s Supply action on the very first Supply tile. Got it? Great! Let’s keep playing!

Loan Card Interest: One of the seven Supply tiles has the word “Interest” written on it. When a player places a ship on this tile, everyone who has taken out a loan must immediately pay 1 Franc in interest, regardless of how many loans they have. If a player can’t pay the interest, they must sell a building or ship, or take another loan card and then pay the 1 Franc.

II. Main Action

The Main action is mandatory and comes after the Supply action. The player whose turn it is chooses between two Main actions: Taking goods from an Offer space or using a building action.

Main Action A: Taking goods from an Offer space

The player takes all tokens (Goods or Francs) from one of the seven Offer spaces.

When it comes to personal supplies, there’s no limit to how much you can have. All of your goods and Francs must be placed face up and visible to everyone else – no hiding!

The Building Action – Main Action B

Entering a Building: Many of the building cards offer special actions. They let you build more buildings or convert regular goods into upgraded ones. To use a building’s action, you need to go inside it by moving your Person disc to an unoccupied building.

You can enter any building, whether it’s owned by the town or another player.

You can learn more about the different buildings on page 6 and in the Buildings overview.

Entry Fee: When you want to use someone else’s building, you usually have to pay a fee. You can find the fee at the top right of the Building card, between the building costs and the Sort order number. You must pay the owner of the building before you can enter and use it. The fee can be paid with food or Francs.

If the food and money costs are separated by a slash (“/”), you only have to pay one of the costs – either food or Francs.

You cannot enter a building if you don’t have enough to pay the fee.

When you enter a building, you have to do whatever action is described on the building card.

Keep in mind that in this game, you can always exchange Food for Francs at a 1:1 ratio. However, you cannot exchange Francs for Food.

III. Additional Actions: Buying and Selling

Buying

If you want to add more cards to your hand during your turn, you have a couple of options. One option is to buy Building or Ship cards. You can do this at any point during your turn, even before you take the Supply or Main actions.

Buildings: The town and the Building Proposal piles have a variety of buildings that you can buy. You can buy buildings from the top of the Building Proposal piles or any buildings that are owned by the town. In most cases, the price of a building is the same as its value. However, sometimes the price is different and is indicated separately as ‘Cost’ below the value. You can buy multiple buildings from the same pile in a row.

Ships: You can only buy the top card from each ship pile. The cost of each ship is higher than its value, and you can find the price below the value, just like on the building cards.

Note: You can buy ships even if no one has built a wharf yet. Wharves are only necessary for building ships.

Selling

You can also sell buildings and ships to the town. You can do this even when it’s another player’s turn, but you can’t sell anything while that player is taking an action. Buildings and ships are sold for half of their value. When you sell a building, it goes with the other buildings that belong to the town. When you sell a ship, it goes on top of the pile of cards of that type.

Notes

The colored discs representing people on buildings are always returned to you when you buy or sell a building. The people go back home.

In the game, you can’t sell and then buy buildings within the same turn. That’s just how it works.

Also, you can’t sell buildings or ships to other players. You gotta keep them for yourself.

IV. Buildings

Constructing new buildings

If you want to build a new building, you’ll need the “Construction Firm” and the two “Building Firms”. In the beginning, these buildings belong to the town. When you enter one of these buildings, you can choose from the top buildings in the Building Proposals area and build them by paying the costs shown on the building card.

The required building materials are displayed at the top and bottom of the building card. Just so you don’t forget.

When it comes to creating buildings in the game, you have a few options. You can choose to use clay or brick to construct your buildings, or you can use iron or steel. These materials are important for building various structures in the game.

Now, let’s talk about the building cards. The Buildings overview provides detailed explanations of each building card, so you can better understand how to use them. This overview includes a comprehensive list of all the building cards available.

Creating Ships

Building ships is another aspect of the game that you should consider. By constructing ships, you can explore the vast oceans and expand your reach. Ships are created using different resources and materials, just like buildings. It’s crucial to understand how to build ships properly, as they play a significant role in your gameplay.

Ships save you money on food after every round.

Every time the Round card is revealed, a new Ship card is added to the game. You can build these ships at the Wharf, but only one ship per visit.

To build a Ship, you have to pay an entry fee to the Wharf owner, as well as the necessary resources and 3 energy (check the reverse side of the Round cards for more details on building ships). You can generate energy from wood or coal.

Important Rule: If a player is the first to construct a non-Wooden ship at a specific Wharf (either an Iron or Steel ship or a Luxury liner), they must enhance the Wharf by placing a single brick on it. This brick will remain on the Wharf for the duration of the game, indicating that it has been upgraded for all players. Only a player who is currently building a ship can carry out this enhancement. It is not necessary for a player to own a Wharf in order to upgrade it.

Ships are incredibly crucial! In this game, it is of utmost importance to plan ahead in order to fulfill your food requirements. If you neglect to collect enough grain or cattle at the beginning of the game, it is highly recommended to construct or purchase a ship early on; otherwise, you may find yourself struggling to acquire food throughout the entire game. Building ships is a vital long-term strategy for every player, as it is essentially impossible to win the game without them.

Finishing a Round

The Harvest

During the Harvest, I receive grain and cattle. If I have at least 1 grain, I get an extra one. And if I have at least 2 cattle, I get one more. But there are rounds when there is no Harvest, and no grain or cattle is given out.

Feeding Time

Now it’s time to pay for my food. I must check the Cooking pot symbol on the Round card to see how much food I need. Fortunately, I have some ships to help me. Each ship I own reduces the amount of food I have to pay. The ship card table shows me how much each ship reduces the cost. But if I don’t have enough food, I have to make a tough decision. I can either sell some of my buildings or take a Loan card (or cards).

Listen up! Each franc you have counts as one food in this game. So when it’s time to pay up, you can use your francs to cover all or part of your food needs.

Building ships is a big deal, because it means you get food production tokens. These tokens tell you how much food you’ll get each round from your Ship cards.

But here’s the thing: even if your ships give you more food than you need to pay, you can’t take the extra. And if you can’t pay the right amount of food (let’s say you only have a “meat” token to pay with), tough luck – you still can’t take the extra food.

Now let’s talk about building stuff in the town

Some Round cards have symbols like and . These symbols mean you have to add a building or special building card to the town. It’s a cool way to spice things up!

Choosing the right building card: When you need a regular building, you’ll want to pick the card that has the lowest number in the top right corner from the Building Proposals.

Special Building Card: When a Special Building Card is needed, I flip over the top card from the pile of face-down Special Buildings to reveal it.

New Ship Card

Now, I flip over the Round card to reveal the ship on the other side. I place it on top of the stack of Ship cards of that particular type.

Next Round

It’s your turn to start the next round!

Round Overview Card

The Round Overview card is a handy tool that gives you a quick summary of all the Round cards. In the top row of the card, you’ll find a brown circle with the Round number. This helps you keep track of which round you’re on.

Just below the Round number, you’ll see a cooking pot symbol with a number. This number represents the amount of food each player needs to consume at the end of the round. It’s important to make sure you have enough food to feed your people!

The third line on the card tells you if it’s time to build a Standard or Special building, or if there won’t be a Harvest this round. This information is crucial for planning your strategy.

Lastly, the fourth and fifth lines show you which Ship card will come into play when the Round card is flipped over. For example, if it says “2” and “Wood,” it means a Wooden ship with a value of 2 Francs will enter the game.

Once all the Round cards have been resolved, the Round stage comes to an end, and the Final stage begins. It’s an exciting transition that marks the next phase of the game. Are you ready for what’s to come?

Alright, let’s talk about the final phase of the game. This is where things get really interesting. It’s the last turn for each player, and we get to do something called a Final action. Basically, we can do a Main action, but we can’t do any Supply or Buying actions, and we don’t get any Interest.

The player who started the game goes first, and then everyone else takes their turn.

Now, here’s an important thing to note. In this Final stage, we can move our Person discs to buildings that are already occupied by other Person discs. That means we have the chance to visit any building we want during our Final action. The only building we can’t enter is the one our Person disc is already on.

And that’s it, my friend. That’s the end of the game!

When the game comes to a close, that’s when we find out who the winner is – it’s the player with the most money.

To calculate a player’s wealth, we add up a few things:

• The values shown on their buildings and ships (the numbers on the left of the card names).
• The extra value provided by some special buildings (like the Bank) which depend on other buildings the player owns (these are explained on the cards).
• The amount of cash they have.
• We also deduct 7 Francs for any unpaid loans.

Any goods a player has in their supply don’t count towards their wealth (except for the Storehouse). If there’s a tie, then there are multiple winners.