❄ THE ICE KING — Map, Player Mat & Balance
Design Iterations 14–20 · Board layout · Player mat · Season deck revision · Rules fixes
🗺 Board Map — "The Northern Territory" Round 14

Fictional region inspired by New England, Scandinavia, and Czech Bohemia. 16 locations: 6 lake zones (inland), 6 town zones (mid-board), 4 customer zones (board edges). Routes carry seasonal restrictions and melt costs.

Northern Ice Country Central Trade Zone Southern Markets ❄ only ❄ only ❄ Crystal ❄ far Birch Tarn Remote ❄❄ Crystal+ Forest Mere Sheltered 🏅🏅🏅 Wenham Lake PREMIUM 💎 Crystal source Hartwell Pond 🏅🏅 River Bends High volume 🏅🏅🏅 Std only Silver Lake Shallow 🏅 Era1-2 only Coldbrook 🏅 Gateway north Northwick 🏅🏅 Ironport 🏅🏅 Sawmill hub HARROWFIELD Central Hub 🏅🏅🏅🏅 Most routes Harbormouth 🏅🏅🏅 Port access The Station 🏅🏅 Rail hub 🍺 BREWERY QTR Std+ · 2VP/block Income +1 🐟 FISHMARKET Any state · 1VP/block Income +2 (volume) ⚓ EXPORT WHARF Std+ · 3VP/block 3+ links required 🏥 HOSPITAL Crystal only · 3VP Income +2 🏛 PALACE GATE Crystal only · 4VP Unlocks Era 3 🍦 ICE CREAM Std+ · 1VP + volume Draw 2 keep 1 (beer) N ↑ 🐎 Melt 1 🐎 Melt 1 🐎 Melt 1
Lake Zone — Frozen Pond sites only
Premium Lake — Crystal ice in Deep Freeze
Town Zone — Ice Houses, Sawmills, Stables
Hub Town — Most connected, highest VP
Customer Zone — Demand tiles at board edge
Remote Lake — Hard to reach, Crystal potential
Ice Road — Winter only, zero melt cost
Gravel Road — All seasons, melt cost 1
Railroad — All seasons, zero melt cost (Era 3+)
🏅
VP Icons — Links score 1VP per adjacent icon
Round 14 — Map Design Rationale
  • Harrowfield (central hub) — like Birmingham in Brass; most connected; highest VP; every player routes through it eventually
  • Wenham Lake (premium, northeast) — premium lake far from most customers; long route = melt risk; reward for reaching it
  • Birch Tarn + Forest Mere (remote north) — accessible only via Ice Roads (winter) or long Gravel detour; high Crystal potential; risk-reward
  • Export Wharf requires 3+ links — forces players to build infrastructure; highest VP per block; Tudor Gamble territory
  • Hospital (northeast) + Export Wharf (east) — both premium, same direction from Harrowfield; competition for Ironport/Harbormouth infrastructure
  • Ice Cream Parlor (west) — low VP/block but volume bonus; different strategy from Hospital
  • Silver Lake (central-south) — shallowest; freezes late; only viable Era 1-2; removed from map in Era 3
  • River Bends (central) — high volume but river ice = Standard maximum; feeds Fishmarket efficiently
📋 Player Mat — "The Pond Baron" Example Round 15

Each player has a mat showing their building supply, income track, specialist slots, and company ability. Mat is double-sided (company A on front, company B on back — but players choose their company at game start).

💎 The Pond Baron
Player Mat · Inspired by Wenham Lake Ice Co., Massachusetts
Special: Your Frozen Ponds always produce Crystal ice in Deep Freeze.
Other players pay you £1 to CUT from your ponds.
Weakness: Gravel Roads cost +£1.
FROZEN PONDS — Lake Zones only · Flips when ice is cut out
Pond L1 £3 3 blocks · 2VP
Pond L1 £3 3 blocks · 2VP
Pond L2 £6 + Sawdust 5 blocks · 4VP
Pond L2 £6 + Sawdust 5 blocks · 4VP
Pond L3 ★ £10 + 2 Sawdust 7 blocks + Crystal · 6VP
ICE HOUSES — Town Zones only · Shared storage (opponents pay £1/block)
Ice House L1 £4 4 blocks · 2×slow · 3VP
Ice House L2 £7 + Sawdust 8 blocks · 3×slow · 5VP
Ice House L2 £7 + Sawdust 8 blocks · 3×slow · 5VP
Ice House L3 ★ £12 + 2 Sawdust 12 blocks · NO decay · 8VP
SAWMILLS — Town Zones only · Sawdust usable by all (no connection needed)
Sawmill L1 £5 3 Sawdust · 3VP
Sawmill L2 £8 + Sawdust 5 Sawdust · £1/use · 5VP
STABLES / STEAM ENGINE — Enables route building
Stable L1 £3 2 Horse Teams · 2VP
Stable L2 £6 + Horse Team 4 Horse Teams · 4VP
Steam Engine ★ £10 + Horse Team 3 Steam Tokens · 5VP · Era 3+
SPECIALIST SLOTS
👤 Slot 1 — (empty) Recruit from Tier 1 tray: Ice Cutter or Pike Man
🔒 Slot 2 — Unlocked at Reputation Level 3
INCOME & REPUTATION TRACK
-3
-£3
-2
-£2
-1
-£1
0
£0
1
£1
2
£1
3
£2
4
£2
5
£3
6
£3
7
£4
8
£4
9
£5
10
£6
11
£6
12
£7
13
£8
14
£9
15
£10
16
£11
17
£12
18+
£14
Income advances when buildings flip. Reputation (same track) governs Specialist tier access: 0-4=Tier1, 5-9=Tier2, 10-13=Tier3, 14+=Tier4/5
£17
Starting money
8
Hand size
0
Starting income level
🃏 Season Deck — 12-Card Revision Round 16 — Balance

Why 12 Cards?

With 18 cards the era ran 18 rounds (too long for 90-120 min target). At 4 players × 8 actions per round × 18 rounds ≈ 5-6 hours. The era must end when the Season Deck runs out — just like Brass ends when hands deplete.

12 cards = 12 rounds per era. At 4 players × 8 min per round = ~96 min. ✓

The wheel advances roughly 13-15 steps across 12 cards (most cards +1, two cards +2). A full rotation = 6 positions. So players experience approximately 2-2.5 full seasonal cycles per era. That means 2 winters + 2 summers with a thaw in between. Feels right.

The Bimodal Split

Cards 1-7 (Early Season): Mostly good/calm. Players can plan ahead.

Cards 8-12 (Late Season): Danger zone. Thaws and famines cluster here.

Players count played cards. After card 7 is drawn, the Late Season begins. Every CUT action from card 8 onward is a gamble.

Deck Composition

CardCountWheelEffect
❄❄ Cold Snap2+0No melt this round; +1 block per CUT
↔ Long Winter1+0No wheel advance; players may CUT again
✓ Good Winter4+1Standard; no modifier
~ Warm Spell2+1All unprotected ice: −1 extra state
↑↑ Early Thaw2+2Advance 2; all non-IceHouse ice −1 state
☠ Ice Famine1+1No CUT this round; Crisis Pool activates

Total advance potential: 2(0) + 1(0) + 4(1) + 2(1) + 2(2) + 1(1) = 0+0+4+2+4+1 = 11 steps. Range 9-13 steps across 12 rounds. Full rotation = 6 steps. ≈2 full cycles. ✓

Visual Deck (in play order — Early Season left, Late Season right)

1❄❄Cold Snap+0
2✓Good Winter+1
3↔Long Winter+0
4✓Good Winter+1
5❄❄Cold Snap+0
6✓Good Winter+1
7✓Good Winter+1
LATE SEASON →
8~Warm Spell+1 ⚠
9↑↑Early Thaw+2!
10~Warm Spell+1 ⚠
11☠Ice Famine+1 ☠
12↑↑Early Thaw+2!
← ERA ENDS
🔧 Rules Fix: 2-Link Action Round 17
Problem Found
The previous design stated "building 2 rail links in one action costs 1 Beer." But Breweries in The Ice King are Customer tiles (board edge destinations), not player-buildable buildings. There is no player Brewery building. So "beer" as a resource for the 2-link action doesn't exist. This is a logic error inherited from copying Brass's structure.
Fix Applied

New rule: Building 2 links in one OPEN ROUTE action requires spending 1 additional Horse Team (Era 1-2) or 1 additional Steam Token (Era 3+).

Thematic logic: "Driving two expedition routes in one trip requires twice the horsepower / steam capacity." This is self-evident and needs no explanation.

Cost: 2 Gravel Roads = £10 + 2 Horse Teams. 2 Railroads = £18 + 2 Steam Tokens. Single links remain unchanged.

Second link constraint: The second link must also be adjacent to the first link placed (same as Brass). You can't place two disconnected links in one action.

⚖ Balance Review Round 18
MechanicStatusNotes
12-round era length ✓ Good ~90-120 min at 4 players. Shorter eras (5 of them) make campaign manageable.
Ice States (Crystal/Standard/Aged) ✓ Good Simple enough to track, meaningful enough to affect decisions. Three values only.
Shared Ice Houses ✓ Good Creates Brass-style interdependency. Owner earns £1/block. Others benefit from storage. Win-win-win structure.
Season Deck bimodal shape ✓ Good Front 7 safe / back 5 dangerous. Players can count cards. Creates authentic closing-window anxiety.
Era 1 (3-position wheel) ✓ Good Tutorial era. Only Freeze/Summer/Freeze. Simpler 8-card Season Deck. Still teaches all core concepts.
Customer Demand Events ⚠ Complexity risk 5-card Demand Deck per customer = 6 customers × 5 = 30 cards in Era 3+. May be too many to track. Simplify: use Demand Event tiles (flip 1 per round from a shared Demand Tile stack instead of per-customer decks).
Ice Famine Crisis Pool ✓ Good Simple: simultaneous reveal. Max 4 contributors (4 players). Resolves in under 2 minutes. High drama.
4 Asymmetric Companies ✓ Good Each plays differently. Pond Baron = quality specialist. Export King = reach specialist. Ledari = efficiency. Industrialist = disruption. No company dominates across all 5 eras.
Specialists (7 types) ⚠ Check promotion Junior/Senior promotion is great but "offline during flip" needs exact round duration (suggest: offline for 1 round, then returns as Senior). Clarify this.
Era 5 Customer Defection ✓ Good 1-2 customers close per round. With 6 customers, Era 5 lasts ~3-5 rounds before market collapses. This is intentional — Era 5 is the shortest and most urgent.
Tudor Gamble (press-your-luck) ✓ Good Once per era. High stakes. Named. Historical. Adds narrative moment. Balance: 5+ blocks required ensures it's not trivially safe.
Two-link action (Horse Team fix) ✓ Fixed Horse Teams for Era 1-2; Steam Tokens for Era 3+. Thematically obvious. No brewing required.
Campaign total time (5 eras) ⚠ Long 5 × 90-120 min = 7.5-10 hours total. Comparable to Pandemic Legacy. Fine for a dedicated group over multiple sessions. Should be marketed as "5 sessions" not "one sitting."
Silver Lake removed Era 3 ✓ Good Shallowest lake, first to thaw in warming climate. Era 3's map configuration simply doesn't include it. Fits the historical "warming winters" narrative.
📊 Demand Events — Simplified System Round 19 — Fix

Per the balance review, per-customer Demand Decks (30 cards) are too many components. Replacing with a shared Demand Tile stack.

New System: Shared Demand Tile Stack

  • One shared face-down stack of ~20 Demand Tiles per era
  • Each round: flip 1 tile — it applies to a specific customer type this round only
  • Tiles expire at end of round (no carryover) unless marked "Persistent"
  • No per-customer deck management
  • Same event variety, much less component overhead

Demand Tile Types (20 tiles per era)

  • 6× "Premium Prices" (random customer: +1VP/block this round)
  • 4× "Urgent Order" (specific customer: +3VP bonus if fulfilled this round)
  • 3× "Grand Opening" (new customer unlocks first delivery bonus +1VP permanent)
  • 3× "Shortage Panic" (all Crystal deliveries to any customer: +2VP this round)
  • 2× "Supply Disruption" (one customer closes for 1 round — no delivery allowed)
  • 2× "Ice War" (two players bid Horse Teams to claim exclusive delivery rights for 1 round)

Why This Works Better

Same competitive race, same urgency — but only 20 tiles total vs. 30 cards. Tiles are thicker, easier to grab, and a single shared stack is easier to manage than 6 separate decks.

The "Ice War" tile is a new addition: inspired by the Wisconsin Ice Wars of 1900-01 where rival companies deployed a steamship icebreaker to destroy a competitor's supply. Players bid Horse Teams (a physical resource already in play) to control who can deliver to a contested customer for one round. Thematically perfect, mechanically simple.

The Ice War Tile: When flipped, name one Customer. Players simultaneously reveal 1-3 Horse Team tokens from their supply. Highest bidder places their Bell token — only they can SHIP to that customer this round. Loser gets their tokens back; winner's tokens are spent.

Historical: Wisconsin Ice Wars (1900-01) — rival companies deployed a steamship icebreaker to destroy competitors' lake ice supplies worth thousands of dollars.
🎯 Solo Mode Round 20

"Against History" Solo Challenge

One player competes against the Historical Market — an automa driven by a 15-card Automa Deck. The Historical Market represents the industry as it "should have gone" — you're trying to outperform a generic ice company.

Automa turn (every round): Draw 1 Automa Card. It performs one of:

  • CUT from the nearest un-owned lake (takes 3 Standard blocks)
  • SHIP to a random non-Premium customer (takes 2 blocks at Standard state)
  • ESTABLISH a route link on the cheapest available path
  • UPGRADE (removes lowest-level building from the shared Automa mat)

Automa scores VP for deliveries and flipped buildings just like a player. You win if you outscore the Automa by end of era.

Solo Difficulty Settings

DifficultyAutoma modifier
ApprenticeAutoma skips first 3 rounds
JourneymanStandard automa
Ice KingAutoma scores +2VP per delivery
Tudor's FollyAutoma has Wild Lake always; scores ×1.5

Campaign Solo

Play all 5 eras solo. Your cumulative score vs. the Automa's cumulative score determines your Campaign Rating: whether you built a lasting ice empire or were swept away by history.

📝 Quick Reference — One-Page Summary
❄ THE ICE KING — Player Aid Card ❄
ACTIONS (2 per turn, 1 card each)
  • 🪚 CUT — harvest ice from Pond
  • 📦 PACK — store ice in Ice House
  • 🚚 SHIP — deliver to Customer → VP
  • 🛷 OPEN ROUTE — place link tile
  • 🏗 ESTABLISH — build building
  • ⬆ UPGRADE — spend card + Sawdust
  • 🔭 SURVEY — discard 3, explore lakes
  • 💰 BORROW — £30, -3 income levels
ICE STATES
  • 💎 Crystal = 3 VP/block
  • ⬜ Standard = 2 VP/block
  • 🌫 Aged = 1 VP/block
  • 💧 Puddle = lost, 0 VP
LINK MELT COST
  • ❄ Ice Road = 0 (winter only)
  • 🐎 Gravel = 1 (all seasons)
  • 🚂 Railroad = 0 (all seasons)
TURN ORDER

Least operating costs spent this round → goes first next round.

END OF ROUND
  1. Ice decays (by season)
  2. Draw Season Card → advance wheel
  3. Reset turn order
  4. Collect income
  5. Refill hand to 8
SCORE (High Summer)

Flipped buildings + delivered customers (scored on delivery) + link VP (final Summer only)