Bogmoor beginner strategy guide

Bogmoor is our featured trading game: an island of hex tiles, settlements on the corners, roads along the edges, and a lot of bargaining. It is easy to learn and takes a few games to get good at. This guide covers the rules in brief, then the strategy that turns a beginner into a regular winner.

The rules in one minute

• Goal: be first to the points target on your own turn. A Classic game is played to 10. Settlements are 1 point, cities 2, and Longest Trail and Biggest Militia are 2 each. Victory Point cards count too.
• Opening: everyone places a settlement and a road, then a second pair in reverse order. Your second settlement pays one card of each resource around it.
• A turn: roll the dice. Every tile showing that number pays its neighbors, 1 card per settlement and 2 per city. Then trade and build in any order, and end your turn.
• Costs: a road is wood and brick. A settlement is wood, brick, sheep and wheat. A city upgrades a settlement for 2 wheat and 3 ore. A development card is sheep, wheat and ore.
• Rolling a 7: nobody collects, anyone holding more than 7 cards discards half, and the roller moves the robber to block a tile and steal a card.

The in-game guide has every rule and a live Advisor with tips, and the tutorial walks you through your first placements. If you have never played, start a quick game with bots before inviting friends.

1. Read the dots before you place

Each number token has dots under it showing how often it rolls. 6 and 8 have five dots and come up most; 2 and 12 have one dot and hardly ever do. Add up the dots around a corner to compare spots. A total of 10 or more is a strong opening spot. Two corners that look equal on the map can differ by half their income once you count.

Do not stack your openings on the same numbers. If both settlements depend on 8, a run of other rolls leaves you with nothing. Spread across several numbers so something pays on most turns.

2. Diversify your resources

Wood and brick build roads and settlements, the expansion game. Wheat and ore build cities and development cards, the growth game. An opening that touches four or five different resources keeps you from begging for trades in the first rounds. If you must leave one out, sheep is usually the easiest to get later.

Your second settlement pays one of each resource around it, so place it where you need a head start. If your first spot is all wheat and ore, a second spot with wood and brick gets you building roads on turn one.

3. Harbors are engines

The bank trades 4 of one kind for 1 of anything. A settlement on a harbor improves that: a 3:1 harbor takes any set of 3 matching cards, and a 2:1 harbor takes 2 of its own resource. If you produce a lot of one resource, the matching 2:1 harbor turns that surplus into whatever you need. Plan a road toward it early, before someone else builds there.

4. Trade often, and trade smart

Trading is where games are won. Trades happen after the active player rolls, and every trade involves the active player. You can offer a deal to everyone or to chosen players, propose a deal on someone else's turn, counter an offer, or open a trade with Who has...? and take the best offer.

• Trade with players who are behind. Helping the person in last place costs you little.
• Trade less with the leader. Every card you give them is a step toward their win.
• Ask for 2-for-1 when you hold the scarce resource. Brick and ore are often short; price them like it.
• Use the bank or a harbor when no one will deal. A fair bank trade beats a gift to a rival.

5. Mind the 7

A 7 comes up about once every six rolls, and anyone holding more than 7 cards loses half. Before ending your turn, spend or trade down if you are sitting on 8 or more. Cards in your hand are not points; buildings on the board are.

When you roll the 7, put the robber on the leader's best tile, ideally one that pays them on a 6 or 8, and steal from them. In immersive mode you choose one of their face-down cards rather than taking one at random.

6. Cities beat sprawl

A city doubles a spot's output without needing new space. Early on, a couple of new settlements give you more variety; after that, upgrading your best spots is usually the fastest way to points. Late in the game, cities and development cards often beat a long road to a poor corner.

7. Development cards

• Knight: move the robber and steal. Play three or more and have the most of anyone to earn Biggest Militia, worth 2 points.
• Road Crew: two free roads. Great for grabbing a contested corner or Longest Trail.
• Good Harvest: take any 2 resources from the bank.
• Corner the Market: name a resource and everyone hands you every card of it. Best right after a big roll of that resource.
• Victory Point cards: keep them hidden until they win you the game.

You can play one card per turn, and never on the turn you bought it. Buying cards is a strong use of spare wheat, sheep and ore, especially on an island where the good corners are taken.

8. Longest Trail

The first unbroken road of 5 or more earns Longest Trail, and someone must beat it outright to take it. Do not chase it for its own sake; build roads that lead somewhere useful, and it often comes along. Watch out: an opponent's settlement in the middle of your road cuts it.

9. Watch the leader

Count everyone's visible points each turn, and remember that hidden Victory Point cards might be waiting. When someone is two points from winning, stop trading with them and point every robber at their tiles. In a game with three or more players, the table working together against the leader is how close games stay close.

Common beginner mistakes

• Opening on pretty tiles with bad numbers. Count the dots.
• Ignoring brick and wood, then being stuck with nowhere to build.
• Holding a big hand through a 7.
• Building roads toward corners someone else can reach first.
• Forgetting harbors until the late game.

Modes to try next

Once the Classic game feels comfortable, try the quick games against bots. Boomtown gives everyone three opening settlements and doubles every payout. Bog Bandits sends the robber out on doubles as well as a 7. Storm Season adds a Bayou event on every roll and lets everyone trade 2:1 with the bank. There is also a five-and-six-player board, and expansions with ships and gold fields (High Water), knights and barbarians (Towns & Wardens), fishing, rivers and traders (Peddlers & Raiders), and exploring a sea of fog (Scouts & Smugglers).

Bogmoor plays with two to six people, live or with computer players in the empty seats (even alone), and on a TV with hands on phones. If you enjoy it, look at Tile Towns, Riverboat Routes and Tumbletown next, all in Free board games online, with no download. For a different kind of strategy, try Banner Realms beginner guide, water maps included.