• 👥Players: 2–4 (solo vs. Historical Market automa included)
• ⏱Time: 90–130 min per era · 5-era campaign across 5 separate sessions
• 🎯Weight: Medium-heavy — comparable depth to Viticulture, A Feast for Odin
• 📜History: Real ice harvesting from 500 BCE Persia to 1950 decline. Every mechanic traces to a documented event.
• ❄What makes it different: No hand of cards. No network building. The game engine is weather + crew deployment + a spatial icehouse puzzle.

• 🔵Lake Zones (inland, blue): Where your Cutter works. Ice forms here when accumulation is high enough. You build Frozen Ponds here to increase yield.
• 🟡Town Zones (mid-board, yellow): Where you build Icehouses, Sawmills, Stables. The central hub "Harrowfield" has the most channel connections.
• 🟠Market Zones (board edges, orange): Where your Hauler delivers ice to fulfill Customer Orders. Ice must reach here via channels before you can ship it.
• 〰Channels (printed on board): Fixed paths between zones. Ice flows along open channels automatically each round. Your Floater opens and closes Sluice Gates on these channels.

Unlike a Brass-style game, you don't build the network — the channels exist. You control the flow through them. A channel is useless without an open gate; a gate without ice upstream does nothing.

• ❄Below −12°C: Thick ice. Your Cutter can harvest Crystal blocks. Best yield per cut.
• ❄−12°C to −5°C: Normal ice. Standard blocks only. Reliable harvest.
• 🌊−5°C to 0°C: Thin ice. Standard blocks but fragile — they decay 1 step faster than normal in transit. Can still harvest.
• ☀Above 0°C: No harvest. Ice decays: 0–10°C = 1 state per 2 rounds; above 10°C = 1 state per round.
• 💡The key: temperature rises AND falls. A warm spell doesn't end winter permanently. Watch the trend cards.

A secondary track counting consecutive days the temperature has stayed below −5°C. This is how ice thickness builds. Higher accumulation = better ice.

• 📉Each warm day above 0°C: accumulation drops by 3. One week of warm weather can erase two weeks of cold.
• 🎯The key decision: commit your Cutter now at Standard, or wait for Crystal? Every warm Weather Card threatens your accumulation. The Factor can read the upcoming Weather Card before you decide.
• ⚡Wenham Window: the first round accumulation crosses Day 14 each year, the player with the most ponds gets 1 free Crystal block. Named for Wenham Lake, Massachusetts — the world's finest natural ice.

• ❄Below −5°C: ice doesn't decay at all, even unprotected.
• 🌡0°C to +10°C: decay 1 state per 2 rounds unprotected; icehouse edge cells: 1 per 3 rounds; icehouse center cells: 1 per 2 rounds.
• ☀Above +10°C: decay 1 state per round unprotected. Spring Thaw is the crisis.
• 🏥Customer minimums: Hospital = Crystal only. Export Wharf = Standard+. Fishmonger = any. Mismatch = rejected order.

Each round: draw 1 Trend Card (long-range: +2 or −3°C over the coming rounds) and 1 Event Card (short-range: this round only). Apply both to the temperature marker.

• 📚Deck shape: like Viticulture's visitor cards — a Trend Deck (8 cards) and an Event Deck (10 cards) drawn from separately. Reshuffled independently. The two decks create compound effects you learn to read.
• 🎓The Factor's power: the Factor specialist can look at the top card of either deck before the crew is deployed. This is the most powerful information advantage in the game.
• ☠Ice Famine: only 1 in the Event Deck per era. But when it fires, the Cold Accumulation Track resets to 0. Everything you built up is gone. See Chunk 20.

• 🔄Simultaneous deployment: all players secretly assign crew, then reveal together. You don't know where rivals placed their Factor until reveal.
• 💡The core decision every round: which stage is your bottleneck? Double it with the Factor. Today it might be delivery (Hauler+Factor for more blocks shipped). Tomorrow it's harvest (Cutter+Factor to bank ice before the thaw).
• 🚶Moving workers: reassigning a worker more than 1 stage from last round costs 1 Sawdust (they have to walk there). Moving the Factor across the whole pipeline = 2 Sawdust.
• ⬆Skipping stages is valid: no Floater means ice doesn't flow through channels — it stays at the lake. No Builder means arriving ice packs randomly into the worst available grid cells.

• 💎Crystal bonus: if accumulation ≥ Day 14 AND temperature below −12°C, all blocks cut this round are Crystal. Otherwise Standard at best.
• ⚡Factor boost: Cutter + Factor = double the blocks cut this round. The most common Factor placement in early winter.
• 🔬Expert Cutter (Level 3): can choose to cut only the top layer (fewer blocks but guaranteed Crystal when conditions are borderline). Junior Cutter cannot distinguish — they cut whatever is there.

• 🌊Automatic flow: once a gate is open, it stays open until your Floater closes it (or reassigns). You don't need to keep your Floater there — just open it once. This lets the Floater manage multiple gates over several rounds.
• 🤝Shared channels: if two players' ice is in the same channel zone, opening the gate benefits both. A shared channel is a shared interest — and a potential conflict over priority.
• ⚡Factor boost: Floater + Factor = open 2 gates this round. Can daisy-chain a long path in one turn.
• ❌No Floater: ice stays where it was cut. It decays based on its position. On warm days, un-flowed ice at an open lake zone decays fast.

Your icehouse isn't a number — it's a grid. Ice blocks are stacked as physical tiles. The Builder's job is to pack them optimally.

• 🔑The Factor is the hardest decision each round. There's always one stage that could use doubling more than the others. Reading the situation correctly is the skill.
• 🏢Ledari company bonus: their Factor can also serve as a substitute for any missing worker (acts as a wildcard at one stage with half output instead of full). No other company has this.

• ❄No Hauler = no delivery. You can draft an order but if your Hauler isn't deployed at a Market Zone, nothing ships. The order expires next round.
• ⚡Hauler + Factor = fulfill 2 orders this round (draw 2 orders instead of 1 during the draft phase, fulfill both).
• 🔔Ice Man's Bell: once per season, the Hauler can ring the Bell — place your Bell Token on a Market Zone. No other Hauler can deliver there this round. Historically: icemen announced their routes with a distinctive bell, first come first served.

• 🔐Private drafting = strategic uncertainty. You see the same 3 orders but don't know which rival took what until reveal. Did they take the Hospital order (Crystal needed — hard to fill) or the Fishmonger (easy but low VP)?
• ⚡Urgent orders: expire at end of this round. Miss them and they're gone. Forces your Hauler this round even if inconvenient.
• 💎Quality premiums: most orders reward exceeding the minimum. Delivering Crystal to a Standard-minimum Brewery earns +1VP per block. Crystal ice always scores better than required.
• 📉Unfulfilled orders: if you can't fulfill your drafted order this round, it carries to next round but loses its quality premium. Two rounds of non-fulfillment = order lost entirely, −1VP penalty.

Every Order belongs to one of three suits. Fulfill 3 orders of the same suit in a single season and earn the suit's bonus at season end.

• 🎯Suit strategy: if you see two Quality orders in a row and you can fulfill them, aggressively chase the third. A Quality run bonus is worth 3-5 extra VP.
• 🤔Tension: the highest-VP individual order might break your suit run. Is 14VP on the Export Wharf (no suit) worth more than 8VP on a Brewery order that completes your Volume run? Usually yes, but not always.

The era ends when the Weather Deck runs out (~16 rounds). Score: VP already earned from fulfilled orders + building VP at season's final summer + link VP (if playing with channel ownership rules).

Each round that temperature is above 0°C, a Thaw Marker advances 1 step from the southern board edge (market zone) toward the lake zones. When it reaches a zone, ice at that zone cannot be cut or stored there next round.

• 📍You can see it coming. The Thaw Marker is on the board. You know exactly which zone it will reach next warm round. Plan around it.
• ❄Cold snap = thaw retreats. If temperature drops below −5°C, the Thaw Marker steps back 1 zone. The thaw isn't permanent until Era 5.
• ⚡Why it matters: if the thaw reaches your best lake zone (e.g., Wenham Lake), your Cutter can't work there. Every warm-side lake is a clock ticking toward unavailability. Prioritize harvesting lakes the thaw is approaching first.
• 💔Era 5: the thaw no longer retreats. It advances every round regardless. By the end, most lake zones are locked. This is the physical representation of climate change killing the ice trade.

• 🔄Flips when: all ice has been cut from it (Cutter has emptied the pond this season).
• ⚡Wenham Window: L3 Pond at Wenham Lake location only — in any round where accumulation hits Day 14, your Cutter gets 1 free Crystal block from it even without being deployed.
• 🏢Building: use one off-pipeline action (the Factory supervisor can authorize this without a separate turn). See Chunk 25.

• 🤝Shared storage: any player's Hauler can draw ice from your Icehouse Grid during delivery (paying you £1/block). Your insulation level protects their ice too. This is the core player-interaction mechanic — see Chunk 23.
• 💡L3 Icehouse edge cells + Crystal ice = maximum protection. Ice stored there decays so slowly it can survive into summer in good condition. Pack Crystal ice in edge cells deep — it'll be there when the premium Hospital orders come.

• 🪵Sawmill → produces Sawdust. Sawdust is needed to: move workers more than 1 stage (Crew Pipeline), build higher-level structures, and skip building levels via UPGRADE TECHNIQUE. Anyone can use Sawdust from any Sawmill — no channel connection required. Like Iron in Brass: Birmingham.
• 🐎Stable → produces Horse Teams. Horse Teams allow the Hauler to deliver across longer routes (each extra zone beyond 1 costs 1 Horse Team). Essential for Export Wharf orders.
• ⚙Steam Engine (Era 3+) → unlocks Refrigerator Railcars. Ice transported by Railcar doesn't degrade in transit — the delivery equivalent of an Ice Road. Expensive to build, transformative for long routes.
• 🏭Ice Factory (Era 3+) → produces Standard ice regardless of temperature. No Cutter needed, no accumulation needed. Bypasses the whole weather system. Factory ice can never be Crystal. Available to all, especially powerful for Industrialist company.

There is 1 Ice Famine card in the Event Deck per era. When drawn:

• 1Cold Accumulation Track resets to 0. All ice quality potential is lost — next harvest will be thin ice at best until accumulation rebuilds.
• 2All ice NOT in an Icehouse Grid degrades 2 extra states immediately.
• 3Crisis Pool opens: players secretly commit £1–5 each. Reveal simultaneously. Every £1 contributed mitigates 1 state of extra degradation for everyone.
• 4Reward: players who contributed most choose from Emergency Premium orders first — deliveries score double VP for 1 round.
• 💡The dilemma: free-riding saves money but misses the premium. Contributing costs money but earns priority. Nobody knows what others will contribute until reveal.

• 🏠Shared Icehouses: any player's Hauler can draw ice from your Icehouse Grid (paying you £1/block). You protect their ice with your insulation; they pay you passive income. Building a L3 Icehouse makes you valuable to everyone. This is the Brass: Birmingham coal-mine dynamic — rebuilt from scratch without cards.
• 〰Shared channels: when two players' ice is in the same channel zone, your Floater opening a gate benefits both. This creates genuine moments of "should I open this gate for both of us?" — especially during Ice Famines when everyone needs to move ice fast.
• 📋Order drafting tension: you see the same 3 orders as your rivals. Drafting the urgent Hospital order means nobody else can. But you're also revealing your strategy — after you take it, rivals know you need Crystal ice this round.
• ☠Ice Famine Crisis Pool: the prisoners' dilemma. Everyone benefits from contributions. Nobody wants to over-contribute. See Chunk 20.

Each worker has 3 expertise levels (Junior → Experienced → Expert). Advance by spending 1 Sawdust when assigning that worker. Expertise doesn't reset between eras — your crew carries their skills into the next era.

Off-pipeline actions (building, pioneering, upgrading crew) are taken by assigning the Factor to "management mode" instead of a pipeline stage — the Factor doesn't boost any stage that round, but executes the management action instead.

• 💡Most VP comes from deliveries, not buildings. Unlike Brass where link scoring matters a lot, here fulfilling orders is the primary path. Build buildings to enable better deliveries, not to score buildings directly.
• 🏆Campaign winner: highest cumulative VP across all 5 eras. Typically 30-50VP separates winner from last place across the campaign.
• 🤝Tiebreaker: most Expert-level workers → most Crystal blocks delivered total → most money remaining.

• 💰You earn what you deliver. No passive income track. Each fulfilled Order pays money printed on the card. Sawmill income: earns £1 each time another player uses your Sawdust. Icehouse rental: £1/block when rivals store in your grid.
• 📉Spending: buildings cost money. Moving workers costs Sawdust (not money). Expertise upgrades cost Sawdust. Horse Teams cost to produce (via Stable building).
• 💸Borrow Against the Harvest: an off-pipeline action (Factor management mode). Take £30, permanently lose 3 income-per-order from your next 10 fulfilled orders (spread across future orders, not one lump). Named for Tudor's debtor's prison years.
• 🏦Starting money: £17 per player per era. Same every era — each campaign game is a fresh financial start.

• 🌡Weather: simplified 3-position track (Freeze/Summer/Freeze). Only 8 Weather Cards total. No accumulation track — just "cold = cut, warm = deliver."
• 👷3-worker crew: Cutter, Builder, Hauler only. No Floater (no channels yet — ice is hand-carried). No Factor (no supervisor — decisions are simpler).
• 🏺Yakhchāl instead of Icehouse: same grid mechanic but smaller (4×3). Uses Clay instead of Sawdust for insulation upgrades. Persian mud-mortar technology.
• 🐪Cart Teams instead of Horse Teams: same mechanic, different historical skin.
• 🏛3 customers: Imperial Palace (Crystal), Monastery (Standard), Grand Merchant (any).
• 🎯Victory goal: most VP from Crystal deliveries to Palace.

• 🌡Full Temperature Track (-20 to +20°C). Cold Accumulation Track live. Crystal ice possible for first time.
• ⚒All 5 crew members active. Factor can read Weather decks. Floater manages channel network.
• 💎Wenham Lake active. Crystal deliveries to Hospital and Palace Gate — the most valuable orders in the game.
• 🎁Pioneer a Market live. Brand loyalty matters — claim customers before rivals, defend with the Smear.
• 🎯3 scoring goals: most Order suits completed · most Crystal VP · most VP from Tudor Gambles.
• 🌍Export Wharf available. Long-route Tudor Gamble territory. 14VP but your ice must survive 3+ channel transits.

• 🌊Permanent Thaw: the Thaw Marker advances every round regardless of temperature. No cold snap retreats it. By round 10, most lake zones are locked. Your Cutter runs out of places to work.
• 📉Customer Defection: each round, flip a Defection Card — 1 Customer type closes permanently. When it closes, remove those Order cards from the deck. Orders become scarcer. The era ends when only 2 customer types remain open.
• 🔀Dual victory path:
  · Last Harvester: score the most VP from the remaining open customers. Race other players to the few surviving orders.
  · Pivot: have your Factor build Mechanical Refrigerators (off-pipeline). First to 3 Refrigerators triggers era end immediately. Score VP from the new market.
• 😢The emotional design: every closed customer order type is a small loss. Customers you've been serving for 4 eras just stop buying ice. The shrinking board and shrinking order deck create compression and urgency. The melancholy is the point.

Between each era (~15 min):

Full design files:

• 🔄redesign.html — The complete new game design with all three core mechanics and comparison to old design
• 📖game_design.html — Original deep-dive (now partially superseded; use for historical flavor reference)
• 🗺game_design_map.html — Board map SVG, Player Mat, Season Deck balance (map layout still valid)
• 👤game_design_specialists.html — Full Specialist roster, Historical Event cards (use for historical figures)
• 📅game_design_campaign.html — Between-era phase, Chronicle Booklet, component list