Overview

A Few Acres of Snow is a two-player deck-building war game about the struggle between Britain and France for control of North America in the 17th-18th centuries. Players use cards representing locations and empire resources to settle new territories, wage sieges, raid opponents, and trade for money. Cards cycle through draw deck, hand, and discard pile. The game ends through conquest of key locations, exhaustion of settlement pieces, or accumulated territorial control.

Components

• 1 game board (map of North America)
• 12 British town discs, 9 French town discs
• 18 British village cubes, 18 French village cubes
• 2 siege location markers, 2 siege strength markers
• 12 fortification discs
• 110 cards (British, French, and neutral empire cards)
• Money: 15 silver (1 each), 15 gold (5 each)
• 2 player aid cards

Setup

1. Each player takes: initial draw deck (dark border), available location cards (light border), available empire cards (light border), wooden pieces.
2. Place pieces on starting locations (red squares = British villages, red circles = British towns; blue = French).
3. British starts with 12 money; French starts with 5 money.
4. Each player shuffles initial draw deck, draws 5 cards.
5. Neutral empire cards placed face-up beside the board.
6. British player takes the first turn (1 action only on first turn; 2 actions thereafter).

Turn Structure

1. Check siege victory (if applicable).
2. Perform 2 actions (1 on first turn). Same action may be taken twice. Free actions do not count.
3. Draw up to 5 cards from draw deck. When draw deck is empty, shuffle discard pile to form new deck. You may have more than 5 cards (no discard required).

Actions

Expansion Actions

| Action | Requirements | |——–|————-| | Settle a location | Play: connecting location card + transport card (bateaux/ship/wagon) + settler card (if location requires). Place village cube. Take that location card from available pile. | | Develop a location | Play: location card for a village you control + settler card + 1 money. Replace village cube with town disc. | | Fortify a location | Play: location card + money cost. Place fortification disc. |

Military Actions

| Action | Requirements | |——–|————-| | Besiege a location | Play: connecting location card + transport card + military cards. Place siege marker. | | Reinforce a siege | Play additional military cards to an ongoing siege. | | Raid | Play: Native American card + location card connecting to enemy location. Remove 1 enemy cube. | | Ambush | Play: Native American card. Counter an enemy card that has the ambush-vulnerable symbol. | | Priest/Indian leader | Special card effects for managing Native Americans. |

Economic Actions

| Action | Requirements | |——–|————-| | Take money | Take 1 money from the bank (free action in some cases). | | Merchant | Play: merchant card. Earn money based on card. | | Trader | Play: trader card + fur cards. Earn 2 money per fur card. | | Piracy | French only. Earn money by raiding British trade. |

Card Management Actions

| Action | Requirements | |——–|————-| | Draft empire card | Take 1 card from available empire cards or neutral cards (pay cost if any). Goes to discard pile. | | Discard cards | Remove cards from hand to discard pile (thinning). | | Place in reserve | Set 1 card aside (retrieve later as free action). | | Governor | Special card: remove cards from your deck permanently. | | Intendant | Special card: search through draw deck for a specific card. | | Home Support | Free action: play home support card for its effect. | | Withdraw from siege | Free action: abandon a siege. | | Pass | Do nothing with an action. |

Siege Resolution

• Attacker and defender compare total military strength.
• Defender wins ties. Fortification adds to defense.
• Defender checks siege at start of their turn.
• Location defense modifier adjusts starting siege strength.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Instant Victory

• British: Capture Quebec (or Louisbourg in some scenarios).
• French: Capture certain British key locations.

End Game Triggers

• One player places all their village cubes or town discs on the board.
• One player captures enough enemy cubes/discs.

Point Scoring

When the game ends without instant victory, count victory points:

• Each controlled location is worth its printed VP value.
• Towns double the VP of their location.
• Subtract VP for locations lost.
• Highest total wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• British and French have asymmetric location cards with different connections and symbols.
• Native American cards can be drafted by either player.
• Indian trails can only be used for raids, not settling or attacking.
• Ship symbols connect all sea locations to each other.
• Cards played to a siege go to the siege card space, not the discard pile.
• Cards vulnerable to ambush are marked with the ambush symbol.
• Reserve allows saving one card between turns.

Player Reference

Symbol	Meaning
Bateaux	River/lake travel
Wagon	Road travel
Ship	Sea travel (also siege at coastal locations)
Settler	Required for settling marked locations
Fur	Worth 2 money when played with Trader
Military	1 strength per symbol in siege
Ambush	Card vulnerable to enemy ambush action

Starting Resources	British	French
Money	12	5
Actions per turn	2 (1 on first turn)	2 (1 on first turn)
Hand size	5	5