Overview

Elasund: The First City is a city-building game set in the Catan universe. Players compete to develop the coastal city of Elasund by placing building permits, constructing buildings, building city walls, and contributing to the church. A trade ship moves along the coast, determining which row of the city produces resources each turn. Players earn victory points by building structures and advancing on the trade track. The first player to place all 10 of their Victory Point Cubes wins.

Components

• 1 game board (city grid with rows numbered for the trade ship)
• Buildings (player-colored and neutral)
• Building Permits (numbered, in player colors)
• City Wall tiles
• Church tiles (9 pieces)
• Victory Point Cubes (10 per player)
• Gold Cards
• Influence Cards (3 colors: blue, green, yellow)
• Trade Ship
• 2 dice

Setup

1. Place the game board. Set the available city space based on player count (marked by City Gates).
2. Each player takes their colored buildings, Building Permits, and 10 Victory Point Cubes.
3. Each player places their two starter buildings (Workers’ Huts) on the board.
4. Place the Trade Ship on a starting sea space.
5. Shuffle Gold and Influence Card decks.
6. Place Church tiles in a stack. Place City Wall tiles for each player.
7. Place a player disc on the Trade Point track at the starting position.

Turn Structure

Each turn has 4 phases in order:

1. Roll Dice and Collect Cards

• Roll both dice and add them together.
• Move the Trade Ship to the matching row number.
• If the result matches the current Trade Ship position, move the ship exactly 2 spaces up or down instead.
• All buildings at least partially in the Trade Ship’s row produce: gold icon = 1 Gold Card; influence icon = 1 Influence Card for that building’s owner.
• Rolling a 7: The Trade Ship becomes a pirate ship (special pirate rules apply).

2. Build 1 or 2 Buildings

Choose up to 2 building projects from: your own building, a neutral building, a City Wall tile, or a Church tile.

3. Place 1 Building Permit or Take 2 Gold

Either take 2 Gold Cards from the bank, or place 1 of your Building Permits in an empty space in the Trade Ship’s current row (paying the permit’s number in Gold). If that row is full, place in an adjacent row. If those are also full, you must spend Influence Cards to place elsewhere.

4. Take 1 Special Action

Use Influence Cards for various special actions (place additional permits, move permits, or remove same-sized buildings).

Actions

Building

• Need the correct number of Building Permits covering the building area. Building sizes: 1, 2, 4, or 6 squares.
• The player with the highest total permit value in an area has the right to build there.
• Pay the building cost in Gold Cards.
• Remove all permits in the area (return yours to your supply, compensate other players 1 Gold per permit number).
• Place the building tile on the board with the arrow pointing north.
• Neutral buildings: mark with your Victory Point Cubes on the flag spaces.

Building Over Smaller Buildings

• Larger buildings can displace smaller ones. Removed buildings return to their owner’s supply; Victory Point Cubes are returned.
• Workers’ Huts (starter buildings): if displaced, may immediately be rebuilt on any empty space for free (not on Trade Fields or other players’ permits).

Building Over Same-Sized Buildings

• Requires discarding 3 matching Influence Cards (3 blue, 3 green, or 3 yellow).

Building the City Wall

• Take the top tile from your City Wall stack and place it adjacent to a City Gate or existing City Wall tile.
• Cost: 2 Gold (building in one direction) or 4 Gold (building in the other direction).
• Some City Wall tiles grant Influence Cards or have tower spaces for Victory Point Cubes.

Building the Church

• Pay 7 Gold to the bank and draw the top Church tile.
• The first Church tile builder draws 2 tiles, chooses one, returns the other to the bottom unseen.
• The first Church tile determines the 9-space building area. Subsequent tiles must match the layout.
• Church tiles can displace any existing buildings (regardless of size).
• Church tiles can never be built over or displaced.

Trade Fields

• Spaces marked with windmills are Trade Fields. Building there earns 1 or 2 Trade Points.
• Each Trade Point advances your disc on the Trade Point track. At positions 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, place a Victory Point Cube if the flag space is empty.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Victory Points come from:

• Neutral buildings (flag spaces for Victory Point Cubes)
• City Wall towers
• Trade Point track milestones
• Church tiles (first builder marks with a cube)

The first player to place all 10 Victory Point Cubes on the board wins immediately.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• If the bank runs out of Gold or Influence Cards for production, no one receives that card type. All players discard half their hand (rounded down) of that type, which are reshuffled.
• Ties in permit value: no player may build in that area.
• The Trade Ship location does not affect where you may build; building is based on permits.
• You may build over your own starter buildings (they can be rebuilt elsewhere for free).
• If two players’ starter buildings are displaced simultaneously, the active player rebuilds first, then others in clockwise order.
• Players must finish rebuilding all displaced starter buildings before continuing their turn.

Player Reference

Turn phases: 1) Roll & collect > 2) Build (up to 2) > 3) Place permit or take 2 Gold > 4) Special action

Building rights: Highest total permit value in an area

Larger buildings displace smaller: Owner gets building back, receives Gold compensation per permit

Church: 7 Gold per tile; cannot be built over; first builder gets advantage

Win condition: First to place all 10 Victory Point Cubes