Overview

Le Havre is an economic strategy game set in the French harbor city. Players take turns supplying goods to the harbor and then either collecting goods from offer spaces or using building actions to upgrade goods, sell them, or construct buildings and ships. After every 7 turns, a round ends with a Harvest and players must feed their workers. After a fixed number of rounds, the player with the largest fortune (cash + building values + ship values) wins.

Components

• 3 game boards (Treasury, Building Proposals, Ships)
• 5 Person discs (1 per player colour)
• 5 Ship markers (1 per player colour)
• 7 large round Supply tiles (showing 2 goods each)
• 16 Food production tokens
• 1 Starting player tile
• 420 tokens total:
  • 48 “1 Franc” coins, 30 “5 Franc” coins
  • 60 Cattle/Meat tokens (0/3 Food)
  • 60 Grain/Bread tokens (0/2 Food)
  • 30 Iron/Steel tokens
  • 42 Clay/Brick tokens
  • 48 Wood/Charcoal tokens (1/3 Energy)
  • 42 Fish/Smoked Fish tokens (1/2 Food)
  • 30 Coal/Coke tokens (3/10 Energy)
  • 30 Hide/Leather tokens
• 110 cards:
  • 5 Game turn overview cards (with Buttery on reverse)
  • 33 Standard building cards (including 3 starting buildings)
  • 36 Special building cards
  • 20 Round cards (with Ship on reverse: 7 Wooden, 6 Iron, 4 Steel, 3 Luxury liners)
  • 11 Loan cards
  • 5 Round overview cards

Setup

1. Place 3 game boards side by side (Treasury left, Building Proposals center, Ships right).
2. Each player takes 1 Person disc, 1 Ship marker, 1 Game turn overview card.
3. Shuffle 7 Supply tiles face-down on round spaces. Place Ship markers at the first board.
4. Place goods tokens on Supply spaces.
5. Place starting offers on Offer spaces: 2 Francs, 2 fish, 2 wood, 1 clay (full game).
6. Each player starts with 5 Francs and 1 coal (full game).
7. Shuffle special building cards; place 6 face-down on the Special buildings space.
8. Set up starting buildings (Construction Firm + 2 Building Firms) beside the board.
9. Sort remaining standard buildings by player count, divide into 3 piles sorted by number, fan out from Building Proposals spaces.
10. Sort Round cards by round number for player count; place face-up on Round card space.

Turn Structure

A Player’s Turn (2 mandatory actions + optional actions)

1. Supply Action (mandatory first):

• Place your Ship marker on the next free Supply tile (in arrow direction).
• Take 1 token from each of the 2 Supply spaces shown on that tile and place them on the corresponding Offer spaces (standard side up).
• When a ship is placed on the 7th Supply tile, this is the last turn of the round.
• Interest: One Supply tile says “Interest.” When any player lands on it, ALL players with loans pay exactly 1 Franc.

2. Main Action (mandatory, choose one):

Option A – Take Goods from an Offer Space:

• Take ALL tokens from one of the 7 Offer spaces. No personal supply limit.

Option B – Use a Building Action:

• Move your Person disc to an unoccupied building (town-owned or any player’s).
• Perform the building’s action.
• If entering another player’s building, pay the entry fee to the owner. If entering a town building, pay the fee to the town’s treasury.
• Your own buildings are free to enter.
• A building already occupied by another player cannot be entered.

Optional: Buying and Selling (any time during your turn):

• Buy buildings: Pay the cost shown below the building’s value. The building becomes yours.
• Sell buildings/ships: Sell to the town for half their value (rounded down). Return the card; it becomes a town building.

End of a Round

After the 7th turn in a round:

1. Harvest (if shown on Round card): Each player with at least 1 Grain receives 1 additional Grain; each player with at least 2 Cattle receives 1 additional Cattle.
2. Feeding: Players must pay food equal to the number shown on their Food production token. Food comes from Fish (1), Bread (2), Smoked Fish (2), Meat (3), or Francs (1 Franc = 1 Food). Grain and Cattle provide 0 Food unless upgraded.
3. New Ship: Flip the Round card to reveal a new Ship available for building.
4. Reset Ship markers to the first Supply tile for the next round.

Actions

Building Actions (examples)

• Construction Firm: Build a building by paying its building costs.
• Building Firms: Build standard buildings (cheaper than Construction Firm for some).
• Upgrade goods: Wood to Charcoal, Clay to Brick, Iron to Steel, Grain to Bread, Cattle to Meat, Fish to Smoked Fish, Coal to Coke, Hide to Leather.
• Various buildings allow selling goods, converting resources, or providing special abilities.

Building/Buying Ships

• Ships are built using building actions and resources (Wood, Iron, Steel depending on ship type).
• Ships provide food value (reducing feeding burden) and have monetary value for final scoring.

Loans

• A player may take a Loan card at any time to receive 4 Francs immediately.
• Each loan must be repaid for 5 Francs. Unrepaid loans at game end cost 7 Francs each.
• Players with loans pay 1 Franc interest once per round (when the Interest Supply tile is activated).

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Final Stage: After the last round, each player takes one final Main action.

Final Scoring:

• Add up: Cash (Francs) + Value of all owned buildings + Value of all owned ships.
• Subtract: 7 Francs for each unrepaid Loan.
• The player with the largest fortune wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Goods are double-sided: Standard side and upgraded side. Only standard goods enter through Offer spaces; upgrading requires building actions. Upgraded goods (Steel, Brick, etc.) can also be used as their standard form.
• Energy: Wood = 1 Energy, Charcoal = 3, Coal = 3, Coke = 10. Energy is used to power certain buildings. You cannot make change from energy.
• Food: Fish = 1, Smoked Fish = 2, Bread = 2, Meat = 3. Francs can substitute (1 Franc = 1 Food). You cannot make change from food.
• Occupation: Only one player can occupy a building at a time. Your own buildings are free to enter.
• Shortened version: Uses fewer buildings, different starting resources, and fewer rounds.
• Solo game: Special rules apply for solo play.
• 5-player game: Recommended only for experienced players.
• The Starting player tile does not change during the game.

Player Reference

Goods Upgrade Chart:

Standard	Upgraded	Food	Energy
Wood	Charcoal	–	1 / 3
Clay	Brick	–	–
Iron	Steel	–	–
Fish	Smoked Fish	1 / 2	–
Grain	Bread	0 / 2	–
Cattle	Meat	0 / 3	–
Coal	Coke	–	3 / 10
Hide	Leather	–	–

Rounds by Player Count (Full Game):

Players	Rounds	Turns per Round
1	7+	7
2	10	7
3	7	7
4	5	7
5	4	7

Turn Checklist:

1. Place Ship marker on next Supply tile; add 2 goods to Offer spaces
2. Choose: Take all goods from one Offer space OR Use a building
3. Optional: Buy/sell buildings or ships at any point during turn