After the Flood Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Starting the Game
• The Board
• Playing the Game
  • Phase One: Collect Resources and Workers
  • Phase Two: Decline
  • Phase Three: Player Actions
    • Action: Build City
    • Action: Place Workers
    • Action: Trade
    • Action: Start Empire
    • Action: Expand Empire
    • Action: Pass
  • Phase Four: Order of Play
  • Phase Five: Victory Points
  • Phase Six: End of Turn
• Ending the Game
• Special City Rules
• Designer Notes
• Credits
• Quick Reference Guide
  • Turn sequence
  • Player actions
  • Resources
  • Easy to forget rules

Overview

You do not represent any one city or group of people in 'After the Flood' but wear a number of 'hats'. You have a role as a Sumerian, where you have to maintain an economy by trading grain and wheat for wood, metal, and other resources. The more successful you are the grander your cities will be. You also are allowed to take control of the various empires that rose and declined over this period.

'After the Flood' plays over five turns, each one representing the passing of about three hundred and fifty years. Each turn consists of six phases. At the end of the game the player with the most victory points is the winner. You score victory points by controlling areas and expanding cities.

First phase: Collect Resources and Workers. You collect grain and textile resource cubes according to the number of workers you have in the Irrigation and Weaving Production boxes. You will also receive up to eight workers, plus an additional two in the first turn.

Second phase: Decline. You skip this phase in the first, third, and fifth turns. When this phase is in effect it will result in workers being removed from the map.

Third phase: Player actions. This is the core of the game. There will be an indeterminate number of rounds of play. In each round of play each player will perform one action. This phase will end when all players have chosen to pass.

The actions that you will be able to perform are:

• Build city – you can establish a new city.
• Place workers – by expending one resource you can place a number of workers. They can be placed in a non-Sumer area or a Workers box.
• Trade – you can trade in each area that you have merchants.
• Start empire – you can assume control of one of the three empires that are available each turn. When you start an empire you will take a number of armies and you will also have to decide how well you wish to equip your armies.
• Expand empire – you get to invade lands with your armies.
• Pass – once you pass you cannot perform any more actions. However, the remaining players must pay an opportunity cost if they wish to perform more actions.

Fourth phase: Order of play. The order of play for the following turn is determined by the value of resources that players expend when they passed.

Fifth phase: Victory points. You will now score victory points for each area that you control. You can also score points for expanding cities, which requires wood and luxury resources.

Sixth phase: End of turn. You must now remove all of your armies from the board. Advance the turn marker and you are now ready to start a new turn.

There is no money in 'After the Flood' as coinage did not exist in the form that we understand it at this point in time. Instead there are eight different resources and each has a value, as shown on the table below. During the game these resources will be used to trade, to buy additional armies, to place workers, to determine the quality of armies, and to bid for turn order.

Components

• City base piece – 4 per player
• City expansion piece – 4 per player
• Worker piece – 25 per player
• Army piece – 20 per player
• Player game marker – 5 per player
• 1 turn marker
• 2 dice

Resource cubes and discs:

• 22 grain cubes
• 12 wood cubes
• 12 tool discs
• 7 oil discs
• 15 textile cubes
• 12 metal cubes
• 7 gold discs
• 7 lapis lazuli

Starting the Game

You should select a set of pieces, which will consist of four city base pieces, four city expansion pieces, and five player markers, all of the same colour.

Each player starts with one worker in the Irrigation box and one in the Weaving box. These should be taken from the unavailable stock.

Place one of your game markers on the zero space of the Victory Point track.

Each player starts with one wood cube, one metal cube, one tool disc, one oil disc, and one gold disc, and two of their own worker pieces. The remaining resource cubes and discs should be placed by the side of the board to form a stock.

Randomly determine the order of play and mark it with player markers on the Order of Play display.

Place the turn marker on the 1st space of the Turn Track.

Your three remaining player markers will be used to show which empire you have started, how well equipped it is, and when you have passed. It's a good idea to place one marker close to the Empire display and another on your space on the Army Equipment display. The final one should be retained and used when you pass.

Your armies and workers should be placed to one side to form an unavailable stock. You will draw workers and armies from this stock during certain points in each turn.

The Board

The board shows the Victory points track, Army equipment ratings, Resource values, and the Trade table along the top edge, and the Turn track and Empires display, the Victory Points track, and the Order of Play display along the bottom edge.

A Player aid on the board also lists the Passed display, and the Grain and Textile Production table:

• Workers in Irrigation count for grain production.
• Workers in Weaving count for textile production.
• Workers in Scribes allow you to move other workers.
• Workers in Tool Makers allow you to convert metal cubes into tool discs.

The main map is divided into the Non-Sumer Area and the Sumer Area. Each non-Sumer area on the board shows: the empire that will start here; the number of armies in that empire, and the turn the empire can be started in; the resources that can be traded for; and its VP value at end of game. Each Sumer area shows any special rule that applies to whoever has a city in that area.

Playing the Game

The game is divided into five turns. In each turn you must complete the following phases:

1. Collect resources and workers
2. Decline
3. Player actions
4. Order of play
5. Victory points
6. End of turn

Phase One: Collect Resources and Workers

Sumer produced grain and textiles, made from wool. The production of grain depended on the maintenance of irrigation canals, the main sources of water being the Tigris and Euphrates. The women of Sumer would spend much of their time spinning and weaving.

The amount of grain and textiles cubes that each player takes depends on the relative number of workers they have in the Irrigation and Weaving boxes respectively. To calculate how much grain each player receives work out an order between players according to the number of workers they have in the Irrigation box. Read across from the row that matches the player order to the Grain display. This will tell you how many grain cubes each player should take from the stock. Repeat this procedure for textiles by comparing the number of workers in the Weaving box.

Example. The player order for grain is 1st, 2nd, 2nd, where red is first, and green and purple are second. Red takes six grain cubes, while green and purple take four grain cubes each.

The player order for textiles is 1st, 1st, 2nd, where purple and green are first and red is second. Purple and green take three textiles cubes each, while red takes two textile cubes.

You must have at least one worker in a Production box to be able to take resources, i.e. if you did not have a worker in the Weaving box then you would collect no textile cubes.

Each player also takes eight worker pieces from their unavailable stock and places them in front of their position, where they form their available stock. This means that in the first turn each player will have a total of ten workers available to place, and eight workers in each subsequent turn. The number of worker pieces supplied in the game is an upper limit so if you do not have enough in your unavailable stock you cannot take your full allocation. You cannot make up any shortfall in workers due to you later in the turn. Make sure at this point that all worker pieces in the Scribes and Tool Makers boxes are moved to the left-hand boxes, so that they are available to be used.

Phase Two: Decline

'After the Flood' covers a period of fifteen hundred years. The course of the Tigris and Euphrates would change continually resulting in the decline of cities and civilisations.

The Decline phase is only carried out in the second and fourth turns, as shown on the Turn Track. During the decline the following occurs:

• All workers are removed from the Dilmun area.
• Each player removes one worker of his own from each non-Sumer area.
• The player, or players, with the most workers in the Irrigation box removes all but two workers. The remaining players must now remove the same number of workers, which may result in all of their workers being removed. Repeat the same procedure for the Weaving box.

Example. The red player has the most workers in the Irrigation box. He reduces his number down to two workers, which means he has removed two workers. Purple and green must also remove two workers. Green only has one worker so loses that one. In the Weaving box purple and green have the most workers. As they only have two workers each they do not remove any, which means red does not remove any.

• Each player removes one worker from the Scribes box.
• Each player removes one worker from the Tool Makers box.

All workers removed in the above steps are placed back in each player's unavailable stock.

Phase Three: Player Actions

This is the longest and most important phase of each turn. Each player will have the opportunity to build cities, place workers, trade, establish empires, and expand empires.

Going in player order, as shown on the Order of Play display, each player must perform one action. Repeat this process until all players have passed. There is no set number of rounds of play and a player can perform as many actions as he likes, as long as he only performs one in each round of play.

The actions available to each player are:

• Build City
• Place Workers
• Trade
• Start Empire
• Expand Empire
• Pass

The action you choose in one round has no direct impact on the actions you can choose in later rounds, i.e. you can repeat actions. You must choose one of the above actions when it comes to your turn. This phase ends when all players have passed.

When one player has passed the remaining two players must pay 'something' to be able to perform an action, unless they pass themselves. The 'something' they pay can be a worker, an army, or any resource cube/disc. The rules on the Pass action give more details.

Action: Build City

It is impossible to know exactly when and how the first cities came into being. What we do know is that they probably first appeared in Sumer, possibly as a result of the organisation required to dig and maintain the irrigation canals.

As an action you can place one of your city base pieces in one Sumer area of your choice. You can only place your city base piece in an empty Sumer area or one that only contains your own army pieces. An area can never have more than one city base piece in it. You cannot build in an area containing another player's army piece. You can never build a city in a non-Sumer area.

If all of your city base pieces are already on the board then you can voluntarily remove one city base piece, along with any city expansion marker on it. You must then place this city base piece in a different area. The city expansion marker is not placed, this remains in your possession.

Seven of the nine Sumer areas have special rules applying to them. It is recommended that you study these special rules and use them to guide your decision about where you build. These special rules are described in detail under Special city rules.

Example. Red wishes to build a city. Of the three areas available he can only build in Ur. He cannot build in Eridu as green already has a city there. He cannot build in Lagash as purple has an army there. Purple is the only player who can presently build in Lagash.

Action: Place Workers

Only when the land can produce surplus food can people diversify into different occupations.

You start each turn with a certain number of workers available to place, (ten in the first turn, up to eight in the following turns). As an action you can expend one resource cube or disc and place a number of workers up to the value of that resource. Each resource cube/disc has a value, as shown on the Resource Values table.

You can place workers in any non-Sumer area or one of the four Worker boxes. When you expend a resource to place workers you must place all of the workers in the same area/box. You can place fewer workers than the number allowed by the resource you have expended.

There is no upper limit to the number of workers than can be placed in a non-Sumer area. More than one player can have workers in the same non-Sumer area.

Each player can have a maximum of two workers in the Scribes box, including workers in the Used Scribes box.

There is no upper limit to the number of workers that can be placed in the Irrigation, Weaving, and Tool Makers boxes.

Workers are never placed in a Sumer area.

Scribes – As part of your Place Workers action you can utilise any workers you have in the Scribes box to place/move further worker pieces. For each worker you move from the left to the right in the Scribes box you can move or place one worker. Thus each worker in the Scribes box allows you to move/place one other worker each turn.

Moving a worker means picking one of your own workers up from any box or area and placing it in any other box or area that a worker can legally be placed in. Alternatively you could place it back in your available stock.

Placing a worker means taking a worker from your available stock and placing it in a box or area that a worker can legally be placed in.

If you use scribes to move or place more than one worker in the same action then they do not have to go into the same area or box, you can place them in different areas/boxes. You do not have to use all of your workers in the Scribes box in the same action. If you choose to Place Workers you can choose not to use a resource to place workers and just utilise your workers in the Scribes box. This still counts as a Place Workers action.

Example. Red has two workers in the Scribes box. He decides to use both of them to allow him to place two more workers from his available stock. He moves the workers over to the right hand side to show they have been used. At the start of the next turn they will be moved back over to the left hand side.

Note that a worker in the Scribes box can be used to move itself to another area/box. You could also use scribes to move/place workers in the available Tool Makers box, even moving workers from the Used Tool Makers box.

You cannot use a scribe in the same action that you place him in the box.

Action: Trade

Sumer itself had very few resources, aside from fertile land, (and only then when irrigated). Trade was crucial to acquire wood, fragrant oils, and metals. The ancient Sumerians became the most renowned metal workers of their time, creating tools that were highly sought after. These in turn could be traded for gold and lapis lazuli, (an intense blue, semi-precious stone much prized by the Sumerians).

As one action you can carry out trades in every non-Sumer area that you have workers in. It helps to think of these workers as being merchants. When you trade you always exchange one resource you have for one resource that is produced in the area you are trading in. What resources can be exchanged is shown on the Trade table.

Within a single non-Sumer area the number of trades you can make is limited by the number of workers you have and the range of resources on offer. Each worker allows you to trade for one resource. Only one resource of each type on offer can be traded for in a single action. The total number of resource pieces available is also a limit on trading, i.e. if the resource piece is not available then you cannot trade for it.

You cannot trade in an area containing an army belonging to another player. An army piece acts like a worker piece for the purposes of trading. If you had an army in the same area with some of your workers then you would have to use your army to trade. Your workers would not be able to trade.

Example 1. Red has one worker in the area which means he can only trade for one resource. He decides to exchange a grain for a wood.

Example 2. Red has two workers in the area which means he can trade for one wood and one oil. He exchanges a grain for a wood and a textile for an oil. Red could not trade for two wood or two oil, he can only trade for one of each.

Example 3. Red cannot trade in this area as purple has an army in the area. Purple can trade. His army acts in the same way as one worker, so he could make one trade, which could be for a wood or an oil.

Example 4. In a single action red can trade in as many areas as he has workers in. He could potentially trade for two metal and one wood.

Tool Makers – As part of your Trade action you can convert metal cubes into tool discs. You can convert one cube for each worker that you have in the Tool Makers box. When you have used a worker to produce a tool disc you move him to the right hand box.

Example. Red has gained two metal cubes from trades and decides to convert them immediately to tool discs. He has one worker left that he can use to convert metal to tools this turn.

You do not have to make a trade to be able to use your workers in the Tool Makers box, although you are still regarded as having chosen the Trade action if you do.

You can convert any metal cubes you hold to tools, not just ones you have gained in the present Trade action.

You are allowed to use any resources gained during a Trade action to exchange for other resources in the same action. E.g. if you gained a metal cube from one area you could convert it to a tool disc and then use it to exchange for a good in another area, such as gold or lapis lazuli.

Action: Start Empire

With the growth of the first cities it was not long before history saw the rise of the first empires. The rich lands of Sumer were repeatedly invaded over the millenia.

In each turn there are three potential empires that can be started. Each player is allowed to start one empire each during a single turn. The Empire table shows you which empires can be started each turn.

In the first turn it is possible to start the Akkadian empire or the Gutian empire. It is also possible to start an empire within Sumer. The number under each name tells you how many armies that empire starts with. Only empires on the same row as the present turn can be started. You cannot start an empire from a previous turn or a future one.

An empire will start in the area which is marked with its name. If you wish to start a particular empire then you must have the same or more workers in that area than any other single player, (and at least one worker). If you meet this condition then you can start the empire for that area.

Example. The red and green player are both eligible to start the Gutian empire.

There are a number of steps that you must complete when starting an empire.

Step one – take the correct number of armies for the empire. These armies are taken from your unavailable stock and placed in your available stock. This number is shown on the Empire table and also in the army figure in the area.

Step two – decide if you wish to buy additional armies. Each grain cube you expend allows you to take one extra army. Each metal cube you expend allows you to take up to two extra army pieces. Each tool disc you expend allows you to take up to three extra army pieces. The Resource Values table has army symbols marked on it to remind you which resources can be used to purchase more armies. The maximum number of armies you can take is twenty.

Step three – you may equip your army. This determines how well your army will fight. You decide how many resources you wish to expend on equipping your army. The amount each empire spends will create a relative rating between them. As empires are started their relative positions on the Army Equipment Ratings display will change. The empire with the highest value equipment will be rated 'A', the next highest will be rated 'B', while the lowest value empire will be rated 'C'. If you equip your empire with the same value of resources as an already existing empire then your empire will be inferior to the other empire.

Step four – you remove all of your workers from the area in which the empire starts. You then place one or two of your army pieces from your available stock in that area. All workers belonging to other players remain in the area.

Example. Red decides to start the Gutian empire, which is allowed as he has the joint highest number of workers in the area. He first takes eight armies from his pool, which is the number allocated to the Gutian empire. He then decides to buy an extra two armies by expending one metal cube. Red decides to expend no resources in equipping his army. As he is the first player to start an empire this makes him the highest rated army. He places one of his markers in the 'A' space of the Army Equipment display. As the last step when Red started the Gutian empire he removes his worker from the area and places one of the army pieces from his available stock.

In a later round green starts an empire and equips it with a textile cube, which has a value of two. This is higher than red so the green army is assigned the 'A' rating and red drops to 'B'.

Finally purple starts an empire. He equips it with a grain cube, which has a value of one. This is higher than red but lower than green, which places purple in the 'B' box and moves red down to the 'C' box. If purple had chosen not to expend any resources in equipping his army then he would've ended up in the 'C' box, after red.

It may be the case that the area in which your empire is meant to start already contains an army belonging to another empire. You must always start your empire in the designated area, which means you must immediately fight the occupying army. See the Expand Empire action for rules on fighting. You would continue attacking the occupying armies until either all of your armies had been eliminated or you had defeated the other armies.

You may also be in the position that your empire is very quickly wiped out and you have no armies on the board. This situation is handled in the same manner as if you were starting an empire in an area already occupied by an enemy empire, i.e. you must fight your way into the home area of your empire first. If you started a 'Sumer' empire then you can re-start that empire in any area of Sumer that you wish.

During the game two empires will appear in Sumer. You do not need to have any workers in Sumer to start a Sumer empire. You declare that you are starting the Sumer empire and follow the steps outlined above. You place one or two armies in any single area within Sumer. You can place in an area already containing army pieces belonging to another player, in which case you must fight those armies. This is handled in the same way as an empire having to start with enemy armies occupying its home area. You can also place in an area containing another player's city.

Example. Green decides to start the Sumer empire in the first turn. He takes three armies, plus any additional ones he chooses to purchase. He equips his army and then he decides to place one in Uruk, even though red has the city here.

Action: Expand Empire

As one action you can use your available armies to expand your empire. You can do one of the following:

• Invade an area
• Destroy a city
• Reinforce an area

Invade an area – You can invade an area that is adjacent to an area that you already have an army in. You indicate which area you wish to invade. If the area does not contain a defending army then you simply place your army piece in the area, taking it from your available stock.

If the area you wish to invade contains one or two armies belonging to another player then you must fight. To destroy one defending army you roll two dice and add the values together. If your army is superior according to the Army Equipment Rating display then you need to score a total of five or more. If your army is inferior then you need to score a total of seven or more. If you roll the required total then you remove one defending army piece. If there is still a defending army in place then you roll again to see if you destroy that army. If you fail to make your required total then you lose one army piece, placing it back in your unavailable stock. You may continue to attack until all defending armies are destroyed or you choose to call off the attack or if you have no more armies to attack with. If you succeed in defeating all of the defending armies in an area then you place one of your army pieces in the area, taking it from your available stock.

Some areas are connected by arrows. You can only expand in the direction of the arrow. Note that there is no arrow pointing towards Dilmun, which means it can never be occupied by armies. Akkad, Isin, and Larsa are actually areas within Sumer but have been separated out to fit better with the rules concerning starting an empire. Chaldea is a desert, which few people wish to venture into, and Dilmun is a distant trading port, too far away for armies to reach.

Example 1. Red chooses to Expand Empire. His options are to expand into Nippur or Umma. If he chose to expand into Umma then he would simply place an army piece in the area as there is no defending army.

Red decides to expand into Nippur, which is part of the green empire. Red is inferior to green, which means a roll of seven or more is required. Red rolls a total of six, which is a failure. He must place one of his armies back in his unavailable stock. He can continue attacking. He rolls the dice again and rolls a total of eight. The green army is removed and red places an army in the area.

Note that the city is unaffected and plays no part in the battle.

In this example it would be possible for purple to attack along the direction of the arrow into the connected area. It would not be possible for an empire to expand into the Akkad area as it would be going against the direction of the arrow.

Example 2. Purple can only expand into Babylon. As his army is superior he only needs to roll five or more to destroy a red army. He rolls six, which eliminates one red army. However, red has a second army, which means purple must roll again. Purple rolls four, which is not enough. Purple must lose one army from his available pool. He then rolls again, this time scoring seven. He removes the remaining red army and places one of his own in the area.

Red could not expand into Akkad as this would be expanding against the direction of the arrow.

Destroy a city – If you have one or more armies in an area containing a city belonging to another player then as an action you can destroy that city. To do so you must expend two of your armies from your available stock. The other player's city is removed from the board, along with any city expansion piece, and returned to the owning player.

Reinforce an area – As an action you can place one army piece in an area that you already have an army in. You can only ever have a maximum of two armies in an area.

Repeat Action. The Expand Empire action differs from other actions in that you are allowed to perform repeat actions within your turn. To do so you must expend one army piece. You can then take another Expand Empire action, which may take the form of any of the three described above. You can continue to repeat actions as many times as you wish, as long as you expend one army piece before taking each extra action. Note that if you failed your die roll to expand into an area you would still be allowed to continue attacking without having to expend an additional army on top of the one you lost.

Example. Red has expanded into Babylon and decides to expand again immediately. He takes one of his army pieces from his available pool and places it in his unavailable stock. He then expands into Shuruppak.

You can never eliminate workers belonging to other players with your armies. If you expand into an area containing your own workers then they remain in the area.

You can never expand into Dilmun.

Action: Pass

At some point in the turn you will decide that there is nothing more that you wish to do. As you must take an action when it is your turn you may decide to pass. If you do so then you will take no further actions in the present turn.

To show that you have passed you place one of your game markers in the Passed box of your colour. You also decide if you wish to place any resources in the Passed box. The value of resources placed here will determine the order of play in the following turn.

Once one player has passed there is an 'opportunity' cost for the remaining players to perform actions. If a player wishes to perform an action he must pay one of something before he can take his action. This 'something' may be a resource cube/disc or an available army piece or an available worker piece. Once 'something' has been expended the player may perform an action.

This opportunity cost remains the same once two players have passed.

Example. Green has passed. He has placed one of his markers in the green Passed box. He has also placed a textile cube, which will be used to determine the order of play in the next turn. Red wishes to take another action. He has a number of worker pieces left so decides to expend one of them to take an action. He places one of his workers back in his unavailable pool. He can now take an action.

Phase Four: Order of Play

The order of play for the following turn is determined by the value of the resources each player has placed in their Passed box. The order of play will go from the player who has placed the highest total value of resources to the player who has placed the lowest value. In the case of a tie the previous order of play between the players is maintained.

Example. Green is the only player to place a resource in his Passed box. This is a textile cube with a value of two. Green will become the first player next turn. As red and purple are tied the old order of play will be maintained between them.

You still determine order of play on the last turn as this acts as a tie breaker.

Phase Five: Victory Points

Empires fall and cities crumble to dust. Today archaeologists sift through the sands trying to piece together the stories of these cities and empires. It is those cities that were built on a grand scale, with many fine adornments, that figure most highly in the history books.

You score points based on the size of the empire you have created in the turn and for any cities you have expanded. You are effectively scoring points for leaving behind evidence of your apparent 'greatness'.

You score two victory points for every area which you have one or more armies in. This is the score for your empire.

In player order players can choose to expand their cities. This requires the expenditure of wood and, optionally, luxury resources. To expand one city you must expend two wood cubes. You then decide how many luxury resources you wish to expend. There are four luxury resources, tools, oil, gold, and lapis lazuli. You can only expend one of each on a single city. The number you expend determines how many victory points you score.

When you expand a city you place one of your city expansion pieces on top of it. A city can only be expanded once, which means that each city can only score victory points once during the game. If you had sufficient resources you could expand more than one city in this phase. The presence of an enemy army has no effect on your ability to expand a city in that area.

Example. The Red player decides to score points for Uruk. He has three wood, two tools, one oil, and one gold resource in hand. He must expend two wood, he also decides to expend one tool, one oil, and one gold, which earns him fourteen victory points. Note that he could not use a second tool resource to score twenty points. He places one of his expansion pieces on top of the city. He cannot score for this particular city again, although if at some future point he built a new city in this area he could expand that one.

If you exceed seventy victory points place one of your unavailable worker pieces in the '+70' box on the Victory Point track. Your token can then be moved back along the track to mark points in excess of seventy.

Phase Six: End of Turn

All players remove all of their armies from the board and place them back in their unavailable stock. All unplaced workers and armies are also placed back in their unavailable stock.

Players retain any resources they still hold.

Remove all resources from the Passed boxes and Army Ratings boxes and return them to the resource stock. Remove player markers from the Passed boxes and return them to players.

Move the turn marker one space down the turn track.

You are now ready to start a new turn.

Ending the Game

The game ends after five turns.

Players score extra victory points for workers they have on the board. Certain areas and boxes have a victory point score in them. The player who has the most workers in the area/box scores these victory points. In the case of a tie between players no victory points are scored.

The player with the highest victory point score is the winner. In the case of a tie the tied player who is highest up in the order of play is the winner.

Special City Rules

With the first cities came the first organised religions. Each city was a separate state and had its own god. The gods from different cities became part of the Sumerian pantheon.

Seven of the nine Sumer areas have special rules connected to them. These rules apply to the player who has built a city in the area. Note that you benefit from having a city in an area even if another player has an army in that area. As cities are removed and re-built the benefit of an area may be gained more than once. Cities will remain in an area until voluntarily removed, (to be placed elsewhere), or destroyed by another player.

Eridu – The oldest city in the land of Sumer. It was ruled by the god Enki, the god of knowledge. At the point at which you build a city in this area you immediately take a worker from your unavailable stock and place it in the Tool Makers box. Note that this benefit is gained each time a city is built in this area.

Uruk – The mother of cities, it was ruled by the goddess Inaana/Ishtar. Uruk was known for being the origin of writing and bureaucracy. At the point at which you build a city in this area you immediately take a worker from your unavailable stock and place it in the Scribes box. Note that this benefit is gained each time a city is built in this area.

Shuruppak – Historically this city became the centre of an alliance between Lagash, Umma, and Urak. Within the game it gives you a defensive bonus. If you have a city in this area then if a player wishes to destroy one of your cities, either in this area or another area, he must expend three armies instead of two. You only receive this benefit if you have more than one city on the board, i.e. there has to be another city around to lend support.

Ur – Ur was ruled by the god Nanner/Sin. Ur itself became prosperous from textiles. If you have a city in this area then you take one extra textile cube during the Collect Resources and Workers phase.

Nippur – Nippur was ruled by the god Enlil. If a ruler wished to be crowned king of Sumer then he had to be crowned in Nippur, (the term used was 'King of Kish'). If you have a city in this area then you score one extra victory point for each area within Sumer in which you have an army in during the Victory Points phase.

Sippar – Sippar was ruled by the sun god, Shamash. Its position on the edge of Sumer gave it excellent communications with areas around it, at the expense of being vulnerable to invasion. If you have a city in this area then if you choose the trade action you can perform one extra trade in one area. You must still expend one resource for the resource you take.

Example. You decide to trade. You have two workers in the Mittani area, and one in Egypt. You trade for one gold, one wood and one metal cube. As you have a city in Sippar you can carry out one extra trade in one area for one resource. You decide to trade for an extra gold in Egypt. Note that you do not need additional workers to perform this trade, one worker can be used twice with this benefit.

Babylon – Babylon was ruled by Marduk, the god of war. If you have a city in this area then when you start an empire you take two extra army pieces and add them to your available stock.

Designer Notes

'After the Flood' is the second title to be released in the Treefrog Line, and the first of the three-player only games. It offers a broad sweep overview of Sumerian history. I could bore you with more facts but have decided to concentrate on how to play the game.

This is not an easy game to play the first time as there are seemingly too many options open to you. What follows is an attempt to guide you, until the game clicks in your head.

Your first action in the game should always be to build a city. I would also recommend this as your second and possibly third action. Do not neglect Umma and Lagash. Even though they do not have any special benefits associated with them they are good places to expand cities in. Building cities is the same as grabbing real estate, it's good to have as much as possible. Do not neglect to build cities in future turns, either. It can be painful if at the end of the game you have lots of resources but no city to expand.

Once you have a few cities on the board you can then turn your attention to getting workers on the board. You now need to decide whether you are going to grab Akkad or the Guti, or are you going to focus on getting workers into areas where you can trade. You also have to remember that at the beginning of the next turn there will be a period of decline, where one of your workers will be removed from each area on the board. If you are going to place workers in an area it makes sense to place more than one, which means using your textile cubes to place them.

Trading is an important part of the game as it allows you to increase the value of the resources you have. As you are allowed to trade in each area that you have workers in it's a good idea to set yourself up so that you can do all of your trading in one action. What you do not want to be doing is placing workers in an area, trading, then placing more workers in another area and trading again. Get your workers down in all the areas that you wish to trade in and then trade. However, you need to keep an eye on what the other two players are doing as if the areas you wish to trade in are occupied by enemy armies you will be in trouble.

With empires it's good to take a long-term approach and start a new turn with workers already in place to allow you to claim a strong one. Do not allow one player to monopolize a string of powerful empires, nor is it a good idea to leave Babylon in the control of one player for too long. With empires the decision you need to make is whether you are going to claim one early and expand as quickly as possible before you are opposed, or whether you want to wait so that you can see how well equipped your opponents are.

Scribes are good, which is why there is an upper limit to the number you can have. Very often you will be better placing workers in the Scribes box and then using them to place further workers on the board. You then still have the scribes available in future turns.

You should not ignore the importance of tool makers. Tools have a higher resource value than metal and can be used to trade for lapis lazuli. They are also useful if you want to increase the number of armies your empire starts with.

As grain and textiles are the basis of your economy you do not want to neglect their production. You need to be able to react if another player places extra workers in these production boxes, which is where scribes can be critical.

In essence the game is about optimizing the number of actions you take to achieve your aims. Once you know the game you should be able to pre assign basic resources to different objectives, i.e. know that so many will go into city expansion, so many will be available to place workers, and so many can be used for other purposes. This will speed up your decision making. You need to judge carefully when you will pass. Passing early will inflict a larger opportunity cost on the remaining players but it could leave you vulnerable to changes on the map that you cannot then react to, such as extra workers being placed in the Irrigation box, or your cities being destroyed. It's probably best to aim to pass when the other players are running out of resources and army pieces.

Do not worry too much if one player has a large lead in victory points. This is a long-distance race and it's possible to catch up from quite a way behind.

Martin Wallace

Credits

Game designed by Martin Wallace.

Artwork by Peter Dennis.

Graphics by Solid Colour.

Playtested by Simon Bracegirdle, Andy Ogden, Richard Spilsbury, Chris Boote, Dave Norman, Neil Palfreyman, Anthony Simons, Ian Fleming, Stephen Buonocore, Brian Eggert, Chad Mekash and friends.

Thanks to Gordon Sweeney and Rick Soued for simultaneously suggesting the idea of specialised three player games, and JKLM for helping with shipping and stuff. A big thanks to Julia for being so supportive. I would also like to thank John Ellis for providing valuable research material.

The rules and artwork for 'After the Flood' are © Warfrog 2008.

Quick Reference Guide

Turn sequence

1. Collect resources and workers. You will collect grain and textiles, according to how many workers you have in the Irrigation and Weaving boxes. Collect one extra textile for having a city in Ur. Then collect eight workers and place them in your available stock.
2. Decline. (Skip during Turns 1, 3 and 5.) Each player removes one worker each from each non-Sumer area. All workers in Dilmun are removed. The player or players with the most workers in the Irrigation box reduce their number down to two. The remaining players remove a matching number of workers. Do the same for the Weaving box.
3. Player actions. Players take one action at a time in player order. Repeat until all players have passed.
4. Order of play. New order of play determined by resources placed in Passed boxes. In case of tie old relative positions remain the same.
5. Victory points. Score 2VPs for each area in which you have one or two armies, score one extra VP for each Sumer area you have armies in if you have a city in Nippur. Score for each city you expand, according to the City VPs table.
6. End of turn. Remove all resources from the Passed and Equipment boxes. Start a new turn.

Player actions

Build City. Place one of your city pieces in a Sumer area. Cannot place in an area already containing a city or an army belonging to another player.

Place Workers. Expend one resource and place a number of workers up to the value of that resource in one non-Sumer area or one Worker box. Workers must come from your available stock.

Trade. Trade in each area that you have workers/armies in. You always exchange one resource for one other resource. The areas you trade in show which resources can be exchanged for. One worker allows one trade to occur in an area. Only one resource of each type can be traded for within an area, (exception: if you control Sippar you can trade for a duplicate resource).

Start Empire. Consists of four steps that must be completed in order:

a. Claim area. Must have equal or most workers in that area, (minimum of one, exception is if you claim a Sumer empire). b. Take armies according to size of empire and place in your available stock. You may also purchase extra armies using grain, metal, and tools. Take two extra armies if you have a city in Babylon. c. You may equip your army by placing resources in your box on the Army Equipment Ratings display. d. Place one or two army pieces in the area that the empire starts from. Remove all of your workers at the same time, (not those belonging to other players). It may be necessary for you to fight your way into your starting area. A Sumer empire can be started in any Sumer area.

Expand empire. You can choose to perform one of the following:

a. Invade an area adjacent to an area you already have an army in. This will involve combat if the other area contains one or two armies belonging to another player. b. Destroy one city in an area that you already have one or two armies in. You must expend two armies from your available stock to do so. Exception: must expend three armies if opposing player has a city in Shurrupak. You may repeat the Expand Empire action by expending one army from your available stock. You can do so as many times as you wish. c. Place one army in an area you already have an army in. You can have a maximum of two armies in an area.

Pass. When you pass you may place resources in your Passed box in an attempt to change the order of play in the next turn. Once one player has passed the remaining players must expend one worker, or resource, or army to be able to perform an action.

Resources

There are eight different resources. Check the Resource Values table. Resources can be used in the following situations:

a. to place workers b. to equip an army c. to buy extra armies d. to change the order of play e. to pay to have an action once another player has passed

Easy to forget rules

• You must have at least one worker in the Irrigation/Weaving box to claim resources.
• You can use Tool Makers during the same action in which you trade. It is possible to trade the tools that you made in the same action.
• You cannot use Scribes in the same turn that you place them.
• An army in an area stops all other workers from trading there.
• You can trade with armies. One army is the same as one worker, two armies the same as two workers.
• It is possible to start an empire in an area that is occupied by another player's army.
• If you fail to invade an area you can try again immediately, this is not an extra action. Your attempt to invade an area may be continued until you succeed or you decide to end the action.
• You can repeat an Expand Empire action at a cost of one army.
• You can start a Sumer empire in any area in Sumer, even one with another player's city or army in. It does not require you to have a worker in the area.
• If you destroy a city you must expend two army pieces from your available stock, not from the board.
• If you control Shurrupak and one other city then it costs three armies to destroy one of your cities.
• Expanding a city occurs during the Victory Points phase, it cannot be taken as an action.
• When you pass you can make a bid to change the order of play in the following turn.
• After the first player has passed there is an opportunity cost to taking an action, which is one available worker, or one army, or one resource.