The Robbers (3rd edition)

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Robbers on the road demand tribute from wayward travelers. When your meeples score points, another player's robber may benefit.

General info and comments

Robber symbol

Expansion symbol

The Robbers (Mini #6) was released by HiG for the third revised edition, known as C3.1 for short, in 2025, bundled as part of  Big Box 8. It includes more detailed graphics, cities with clipped buildings.

It is almost identical to the previous versions. It was released for the second edition, known as C2 for short, in 2017, only available as part of  Big Box 6. A third edition, known as C3 for short, was released in 2021, only available as part of  Big Box 7 and the same graphics as the C3.1 version.

This expansion was originally released for the first edition, known as C1 for short, in 2012.

Contents

• 8 land tiles with a robber symbol (bag)

Tile with robber logo (bag)

• 6 robber figures

Rules

Preparation

Hand each player the robber in ther color. Shuffle the new land tiles into the other land tiles.

Gameplay

1. Placing a tile

If you draw a tile with a bag symbol, before placing it, resolve the following: Each player, starting with the active player and proceeding clockwise, places their robber on the scoreboard, choosing a space that is occupied by at least one other player's score meeple. If you are the active player and your robber is already on the scoreboard, you may choose to move it to a different score meeple. If you are not the active player and your robber is already on the scoreboard, you may not move it. A space on the scoreboard may be occupied by multiple score meeples and robbers at the same time.

Example 1: You draw a tile with a bag symbol. The turn order is you, Blue, Yellow and Green. Yours and Blue's robber are already on the scoreboard, but as you are the active player, only you may choose to move it. You move it onto the space with the blue score meeple.
Then, Yellow places their robber from their supply onto the scoreboard followed by Green.

  Question: If the tile with a bag symbol completes a feature from an opponent, may a player placing (or moving) their robber place it on the same space as the opponent's scoring meeple and steal points from it?

Answer: Yes, there is no limitation in the rules to do this.

2. Placing a meeple

When you place a tile with a bag symbol, you may place a meeple on it according to the usual rules.

Note: The figures in this expansion are not placed on the standard land tiles as part of the game.

3. Scoring a feature

"Stealing" points

When a player were to score points and move their score meeple accordingly, all the robbers on the space with that score meeple are triggered. First, the player scores all their points for this turn as usual. Then, if your robber was triggered, you immediately score half the points of what that player scored this turn (rounded up). Track these points by moving your own score meeple on the scoreboard as usual. Then, return your triggered robber to your supply.

Your robber is not triggered if a score meeple on its space moves because of points scored due to another robber. Instead, move your robber to the same space as the score meeple that was moved.

Example 2: You score 5 points, and the blue robber steals 3 from you. The blue meeple advances 3 spaces, and the blue robber is returned to the blue player's supply.
Because the yellow robber cannot steal points gained from a robber, it will move along with the blue meeple. Later, it has the opportunity to steal from both you and Blue.

Example 3: Blue receives 4 points, and you and green both steal 2 points. Both robbers are returned to their player's supplies.

If multiple score meeples were to trigger your robber at the same time, you must choose one of them.

Additional notes:

• Your robber cannot steal from you.
• A robber cannot be triggered halfway through a scoring. A robber can only be triggered by the first movement of a score meeple during a turn.

  Question: Red scores 6 points for a completed road (landing on space 20 on the scoreboard) and 6 points for a completed city (landing up on space 26 on the scoreboard). If the blue robber is on space 20 (along with another score meeple), does Blue steal 3 or 6 points from Red? The rules indicate that a robber steals from the total points scored by an opponent during the turn, but in this case the robber would be triggered halfway during the scoring.

Answer: The robber cannot be triggered halfway through a scoring. There is only an initial and the final space of the scoring meeple. Only robbers on its initial space are triggered.
So, in this case, the red score meeple moves from space 14 to space 26 (6 + 6 points = 12 points) and no points may be stolen by the blue robber.

Final Scoring

At the end of the game, before the final scoring, if your robber is still on the scoreboard, you score 3 points. Then, return your robber to your supply.

Other expansions

If playing with other expansions, please take the following notes into consideration:

General Comments:

If the robber is on a space with a scoring meeple that moves backwards (such as when scoring negative points), the robber moves backwards with the scoring meeple, but the player who owns the robber does not lose points. This may happen when:

• C2/C3:
  • Scoring with ghosts ( Ghosts, Castles & Cemeteries)
  • Buying back a meeple from a bathhouse ( The Barber-Surgeons)
  • Protecting a meeple from a peasant revolt ( The Peasant Revolts)
• C1/C2:
  • Paying a tower ransom ( Exp. 4 - The Tower)
  • Buying a tile from a bazaar ( Exp. 8 - Bridges, Castles & Bazaars)

(3/2015; updated 3/2026)

The robber can receive points from The Wheel of Fortune or fairy scoring. (5/2013)

Mini #2 - The Messages

The robber can be placed beside either a standard score meeple or a courier. Thus, the robber can get points from either scoring figure, but only from the one on the same space as the robber. (5/2013)

  Question: May you assign your robber to another player's courier? This was allowed in previous editions, but we don't know if this is still a valid option in C3.1.

Answer: Yes, we didn't intend to change anything here. (03/2026)

If you are the active player, and either your courier or your standard score meeple lands on a dark space as a result of your robber stealing points from another player, draw a message tile.
Robbers only consider the points scored during a turn until the end of 3. Scoring a feature. Robbers ignore any points scored as extra actions after this point, such as message points.

  Question: The turn sequence in Big Box 8 indicates that robbers are resolved before any message may be scored. Does this mean that points scored for messages are always ignored by robbers?

Answer: Yes. (4/2026)

Tile distribution

Total tiles: 8

 ×2

(H;–)

 ×1

Village

 ×1

(G)

 ×1

 ×2

 ×1

(W)

Several tiles have a small illustration on them. The letters in brackets show which illustration is on each tile:

 

G | Garden

 

W | Water Tower

 

H | Highwaymen

Footnotes

For Icons explanation and licensing please visit Icons page.