[Note: I recently realized there was an error in the translation of the Inspektion card -- this has now been corrected. Sorry about that.]
Auf Achse
(On the Move)
Designed by Wolfgang Kramer
Published by F.X. Schmid
[Translation by Rick Heli. All editorial additions in square brackets. Wed Jul 16 14:15:21 PDT 2003 ]

Components

The game is intended for 2-6 players, ages 12-99. A simplified version is also playable by children of 8+ years.
Duration: 1-2 hours

Goal

Have the most money at the end of the game.

Setup

Each player chooses a truck and places it in on a space on the mapboard, which isn't a city. Two trucks are not allowed to share the same space at the beginning of the game. Trucks must be placed before the contract cards are dealt.

Place the goods pieces, the Stau and Road construction markers onto the gray storage area on the mapboard.

Each player receives 5000 DM.

Shuffle the contract cards and deal each player 3 cards. These are the players' private contracts. Each player may inspect his cards and sort them in the order he wants to fulfill them. They keep their private contracts secret until loaded.

Public contracts are placed in a deck next to the gameboard according to the following table:

Number of PlayersNumber of Public Contracts
212
316
420
5-624

From this deck, deal off the top 4 cards onto the blue spaces provided. Place the other contracts nearby (they may have to be drawn from due to an event card).

The event cards are shuffled and placed face down in the respective area of the gameboard showing a red and white triangle.

The Game

Decide randomly which player is to play first. The other players follow in clockwise order. A player begins his turn by rolling the die. If the number rolled is a 1 to 5, these are his movement points for this turn. He must move his truck one space for each movement point he rolled. Each space may only be occupied by one truck. Following trucks must stop short if they would otherwise reach a space which is already occupied. However, it is allowed to pass another player's truck in either direction. A player has to move his whole number of movement points. The only exceptions to this rule are that he may forfeit movement points if he reaches a start or destination city of one of his contracts or if he reaches the Stau or Road Construction marker.

If a player rolls a 6 he may move 1 to 6 spaces. It is possible in this way to reach a city in order to auction off a public contract.

Event Spaces

Spaces with a red and white triangle symbol are event spaces. A player who ends his movement on an event space draws an event card immediately and performs the action described on the card. After he does this, he discards the card under the event deck.

Private Contracts

Each contract card shows a start and a destination city. When a player reaches a city, which is the start of one of his contracts (surplus movement points may be forfeited), he may reveal this card and load the number of goods (Waren) from the storage on the board onto his truck, as written on the contract card. The player may move in the direction of the destination in his next turn, or move to another start of one of his contracts to load more goods. Note that a truck without trailer can carry only Six goods. You can't load a contract, if you don't have enough room on the truck for the whole load.
[Editor's note: Per personal e-mail from the inventor, the total number of goods is not meant to be limited. If your game runs out, introduce cubes or pennies to make up the difference. Wed Jul 16 14:17:52 PDT 2003]

When you reach a destination of one of the contracts you loaded (again surplus movement points may be forfeited), you unload the goods to the storage on the board and receive the revenue as stated on the card (Frachterlos). You then discard the contract card. You may move again in your next turn.

Trailers

You may buy any number of trailers during your turn. The game includes 4 large trailers with a capacity of 6 goods, which cost 3000 DM each and 4 small trailers with capacity of 4 goods at 2000 DM each. Once you buy a trailer, you lay it out on the table. You can load goods into the respective spaces on the trailer card. You keep a trailer until the end of the game. A trailer isn't worth anything at the end. When you reach a destination, trailers are always unloaded first.

Public Contracts

Each player may acquire additional contracts, by bidding on the public contracts in an auction. The player making the highest bid, will get the auctioned contract. This takes place as follows:

When a player's truck, loaded or empty, reaches a city exactly by spending all of his movement points, he may declare his interest in one of the four revealed public contracts. He does not have to do this!

If a player declares interest in one of the contracts, the auction starts: All players may now place bids on the contract in any order, like in a real auction. To simplify bidding, the possible bids are labeled 1 to 5 on the contracts, with a table showing the costs (Kosten) and the resulting net revenues (Erlos). It is not allowed to bid amounts, which are not written on the card.

If nobody else except the player who declared interest wants the contract, this player gets the contract for free.

The player who declared interest has an advantage over the others: he will still get the contract, if he matches the other players' bids.

If a player gets a contract by announcing the highest bid, he immediately pays the bid price to the bank. He must pay the full price immediately, no money will be loaned. He adds the contract to his other unrevealed cards on his hand. He may fulfill this contract at any time during the game. If the player who bought a contract is already on the start city, he may load the contract immediately, if he has sufficient capacity on his truck. (Note that a player will still get the full revenue for delivering the contract. The revenue written in the bidding table is simply the result of: revenue minus bid).

After a public contract is sold, a new one is revealed and placed with the remaining ones.

The number of public contracts limits the length of a game. If the players prefer a longer game, they should choose more contracts than listed in the table in the setup section. If they prefer a shorter game, they can simply remove some of the contracts.

Loans

Usually loans are not allowed during the game. The only exceptions are event cards. If a player is unable to pay the money demanded by an event card, the card is placed in front of this player until he can pay twice the amount demanded.

Road Construction

If a player rolls a "1", he moves his truck one space and then must move the road construction marker. The marker blocks the road entirely and forces trucks to take detours or to wait. It is not allowed to place the marker onto a city, occupied spaces or the spaces between Hamburg and Flensburg (in the north of the board).
[Editor's note: the idea that the marker must be moved and may not be left where it is is not in the original German, but comes from personal e-mail from the inventor. I think it a very good idea, otherwise play can become very irritating for a particular player who is never able to get anywhere. --Rick Heli]

Stau (Traffic Jam)

The Stau marker is only valid for one complete round, and is brought into the game by event cards. The space it stands on may not be passed until the placing player's next turn. If a truck is already on the space, it may still leave the space in any direction. (A player may still deliver loads in the Stau space.)

End of the game

Two conditions have to be met to bring the game to an immediate end:
  1. There are no public contracts available, AND
  2. One player has delivered his last contract (his hand is empty).

Winner is the player,

who by the end of the game has earned the most money. Not or partially realized Contracts do not yield any proceeds.

Tip

The game's length is determined by the number of private and public Contracts. If a longer game is desired, increase the number of public Contracts; if shorter, reduce them.

Simplified Version for children, 8+ years

 There are three changes:
  1. No trailers!
  2. Don't auction off public contracts. If a player wants one, he may simply take it, when he reaches a city exactly by spending all of his movement points for this turn.
  3. Initial money is reduced to 2000 DM.

Auf Achse cards

Trailer cards:

Example of a Transport contract card:

TRANSPORT ORDER
FRANKFURT
V
FLENSBURG
2 Goods      Revenue
[][]               1600.--
OfferCost Revenue
1200,--1400,--
2400,--1200,--
3600,--1000,--
4800,--800,--
51000,--600,--

Event Cards

Copyright 2003 Richard M. Heli
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