Vendor: Hans im Glück
Type: Board Games
Price: 64.95

Note: This game is in German, the but game itself is language independent.  English rules can be found here.

In Thurn & Taxis, players build post office routes across Bavaria and the regions around, collecting bonus points in various ways. The board shows a map of all the cities, with roads leading from each one to some of its neighbors. There are various colored regions around the board, most with two or three cities, and a large region with all the Bavarian cities in the center.

Players build postal routes from city to city to city so that each city is adjacent to the next city on the route and there is a road connecting these two cities. Each route must consist of at least three cities. Players may only build one route at a time. Routes are represented by melded city cards arranged in the order of the route.

Players start with a supply of 20 post offices in their color, a carriage house card and a player aid card. The board is populated with bonus tiles, carriage cards and city cards. On a turn a player will draw a card from a display of six, face up, city cards (or the top of the face down deck) and meld one card, either starting a new route or adding to the current one. If after adding to the route, the length of the route is at least three cities, the player may declare it finished and score it. The player may, depending on the length of the route and which cities are in the route, place post offices in the cities, collect bonus tiles, and acquire a higher value carriage. Optionally, the player may receive support from one postal official in the form of: drawing a second card, melding a second card, refreshing the six city card display, or acquiring a higher value carriage than the route length when finishing a route. Once a route is scored the city cards of that route are discarded, and the player begins a new route on his next turn.

When a player exhausts his supply of post offices or acquires a value 7 carriage the end of the game is triggered. Play continues until the player who is last in turn order finishes his turn, and the game ends. Players score points for their highest valued carriage and bonus tiles, and loose points for unplaced post offices. The player with the most points wins.

The fact that you *must* add at least one city to your route each turn or lose the whole route gives the game an enjoyable planning element.

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 23.95

Second expansion for Thurn and Taxis - actually, 2 expansions in one.

"All roads lead to Rome"

1st expansion, "Audience": The players (clerics) try to arrive at the right time to be received in audience by the pope.

2nd expansion, "Offices of Honor": The postal staff still helps you - but now you can draw additional city cards, get victory points or even set a new house.

Contents:

• 1 game board with various roads to Rome
• 5 carriages in the colors of the countries (beige – Baiern; orange – Böhmen/Salzburg; etc.)
• 26 office tiles
• 20 audience tiles with 5 different clerymen in the four player colors
• 4 summary tiles
• 12 victory point chips

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 23.95

Hard-working postal carriers add horses to their carriages to enable them to travel farther and more safely, which will help the separated Preußen provinces to achieve power and glory.

With this expansion, we offer new ways for players to enjoy Thurn and Taxis. The new board opens up new areas for postal routes. To support the new board, we include new bonus tiles and new city cards (with horses on their backs to support the new rules). We hope players will enjoy these changes and the strategic opportunities they offer.

Contents:

• 1 game board
• 4 carriage cards
• 69 city cards (3 each of 23 cities) the backs of the city cards have 1, 2, or 3 horses. The number is also shown on both sides of the cards as horseshoes.
• 39 Bonus tiles (5 x 8 distance, 4 x 7 distance, 3 x 6 distance, 2 x 5 distance, 4 x all provinces, 4 x free cities, 4 x Preussen, 3 x Mecklenburg/Hannover, 3 x Holland/Belgien, 3 x Thüringen/Sachsen, 3x Hessen/Baiern, 1 x game end)
• 1 rider figure
• 1 game rules

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 27.95

In Thurn & Taxis, players build post office routes across Bavaria and the regions around, collecting bonus points in various ways. The board shows a map of all the cities, with roads leading from each one to some of its neighbors. There are various colored regions around the board, most with two or three cities, and a large region with all the Bavarian cities in the center.

Players build postal routes from city to city to city so that each city is adjacent to the next city on the route and there is a road connecting these two cities. Each route must consist of at least three cities. Players may only build one route at a time. Routes are represented by melded city cards arranged in the order of the route.

Players start with a supply of 20 post offices in their color, a carriage house card and a player aid card. The board is populated with bonus tiles, carriage cards and city cards. On a turn a player will draw a card from a display of six, face up, city cards (or the top of the face down deck) and meld one card, either starting a new route or adding to the current one. If after adding to the route, the length of the route is at least three cities, the player may declare it finished and score it. The player may, depending on the length of the route and which cities are in the route, place post offices in the cities, collect bonus tiles, and acquire a higher value carriage. Optionally, the player may receive support from one postal official in the form of: drawing a second card, melding a second card, refreshing the six city card display, or acquiring a higher value carriage than the route length when finishing a route. Once a route is scored the city cards of that route are discarded, and the player begins a new route on his next turn.

When a player exhausts his supply of post offices or acquires a value 7 carriage the end of the game is triggered. Play continues until the player who is last in turn order finishes his turn, and the game ends. Players score points for their highest valued carriage and bonus tiles, and loose points for unplaced post offices. The player with the most points wins.

The fact that you *must* add at least one city to your route each turn or lose the whole route gives the game an enjoyable planning element.