The Age of Atlantis Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to Learn
• Components
  • Wooden Components
  • Other Components
• Global Setup
• Player Setup
• Game Principles
• Phases of Play
  • 1. Take Turns
    • How to Take a Turn
  • 2. Atlantean Charity
  • 3. Morale Status
  • 4. Achievement Pause
  • 5. Rest Workers
  • 6. Military Advance
  • 7. Poseidon's Fury
  • 8. Change Blessing
  • 9. Place New Cards
  • 10. Change First Player
• End Game
• Example Turn
• Myths
• FAQ
• Credits

How to Learn

The easiest way to learn is following these steps:

1. Read "Game Principles" inside of this rulebook.
2. View Player Board diagram on the Reference Guide.
3. Setup a Game. We suggest using the Express variant (in Scenario Book) for your first game.
4. Read through each phase in the Phases of Play section as you get to that phase.

Designer Tip: As you play your first game, you may want to take a strategy guide to help during your first game.

Components

Wooden Components

4 Colors - Red has extras due to their special ability

• 6 Town Halls
• 6 Outposts
• 6 Temples
• 6 Mills
• 1 Monument
• 1 Tavern
• 1 Capitol
• 1 Factory
• 28 Workers
• 4 Wood Trackers
• 4 Ore Trackers
• 4 Fish Trackers
• 130 cubes (5 Colors)
• Age Tracker
• 8 House Trackers

Other Components

• 1 Board
• Poseidon's Statue
• First Player Pin
• 4 Myth Boards
• 3 Pegasus Myths
• 10 Contract Cards
• 4 Player Boards
• 3 Minotaur Myths
• 4 Fury Cards
• 3 Dice
• 3 Cerberus Myths
• 40 Plato Cards
• 5 Strategy Guides
• 100 Age Cards
• 3 Centaur Myths
• 80 Water Gems (in linen bag)

Global Setup

1. BOARD: Place the board in the middle of the table.

2. CARDS: Separate the Age and Fury cards by their backs into three stacks, one for each Age and one for Fury. Shuffle each stack and place them face down on top of their spaces on the board.

3. POSEIDON: Roll a die and place the Poseidon statue in the center of the map pointing in the direction of the roll's result (arrow on base of Statue).

4. IF PLAYING WITH 3 PLAYERS: Roll a die. Place three Age 1 tiles face-up onto the resulting territory's outer-ring spaces.

   IF PLAYING WITH 4 PLAYERS: Roll two dice. Place three Age 1 tiles face-up onto the resulting territories' outer-ring spaces (six total cards).

5. FIRST PLAYER: Randomly select a player and give them the first player pin.

6. TRACKERS: Place the Age Tracker on the Age 1 Achievement space. Place the larger white cube (Phase Tracker) in the top space of the phases of play.

7. NEW PLAYERS? If you choose to, give each new player a random Strategy Guide to help them with an example strategy during their first playthrough. The back has a cheatsheet of buildings and actions.

Player Setup

1. NOBLE HOUSE: Claim a random player board and set it in front of you. Take the wooden pieces of your House's color. Place your buildings near your player board. House Altes: Choose a contract card and place it on your player board (these cards acts like an extension/changing part of your player board), and place a cube on the '0' of its track. Place the remaining contracts face-up next to your player board.
2. TRACKERS: Place one of your House trackers on the '5' space of the Favor track. Place the other House tracker on the '0' space of the Political Power track. Place three Resource trackers (wood, ore, and fish) on '8' of the resource track of your player board.
3. MYTHS: Randomly take a Myth board and place it off the left side of your player board. Take the three Myth miniatures that match your artwork and place them in the top squares of the Myth board. Place 3 wooden cubes on the left-most squares of your Myth's attributes. Pegasus Myth: To fit your Myths on the board, place the center mini facing towards yourself and the two outside minis facing away from yourself.
4. WORKERS: Take all seven of your Workers and set them to 1 Morale (one smiling-face without a sword). Place four Workers on the spaces to the left of the resource tracker, on the bottom-left of your player board, and the remaining three workers in the center of your Myth board.

Game Principles

Ages: Throughout the game, you will advance through three Ages by completing achievements. Each Age will give access to new technologies to research and actions to use (shown on your player board). Each new Age will also increase the number and strength of the enemies attacking the city. The game will end when you have completed all three Ages.

How to Gain Political Power (VP): The player with the most Political Power at the end of the game wins. You gain VP throughout the game in many different ways. Anytime you use a technology or action with a VP icon (star) on your player board, you gain that many VPs. You also gain a (potentially large) VP bonus at the end of the game depending on where you end on the Favor track.

Game Board: The game board is a map of the city and outskirts of Atlantis. The map is broken into eight territories (North, South, East, etc…). Each territory is broken into multiple spaces (a space is the land between roadways, waterways and walls). There are two types of spaces - city (has white buildings) and outskirts (does not have white buildings). There are three different districts that produce the three resources of the game: The Fishing District (E, SE, S) produces Fish. The Mining District (N, NE) produces Orichalcum. The Wood District (SE, SW, W) produces wood.

Favor: The Favor track measures how much Poseidon approves of your House. Your Favor status may rise and fall throughout the game, and its final position will determine your End Game VP bonus. The best way to gain Favor is making offerings to Poseidon. If your Favor drops below one, it moves onto Poseidon's Fury space.

Workers & Morale: The wooden cubes with smiles on them are your workers in the game. You use them to perform actions, build buildings, and more. Throughout the game, your workers' Morale level will fluctuate from 0-2 (worker icon: 0, 1, 2). You have to accomplish your goals while balancing the happiness of your people. The more actions a worker takes, the more sad he will become. Sad workers will lower your Favor with Poseidon.

Peasants vs Atlanteans: There are two levels of workers in the game. They are represented by the same wooden cubes: A worker that DOES NOT have a sword on its top-face is a peasant. A worker that DOES have a sword on its top-face is an Atlantean. All workers begin as Peasants, which can only be placed on spaces inside of the city (spaces with white buildings). Once a worker is upgraded to an Atlantean (using the action on Poseidon's Statue), they may be placed in ANY space on the board. Because of this positioning, Atlanteans (strength 2) are the only ones that can operate Myths or Attack enemies.

Poseidon's Statue: Poseidon's Statue stands in the center of the city and points to one territory per year (round of play). That territory is blessed by Poseidon: every worker you place in a blessed territory's space gets 2 free actions instead of the normal 1 free action. The octagonal area where Poseidon's Statue stands is also a space on the board. This space does not produce resources and cannot be blessed. Workers may visit this space to take special actions (actions shown on the main board). There is no limit to the amount of workers in Poseidon's Statue space.

Technologies: If your worker is on a space with a building, you may research technologies from that building. Once you research a technology, you gain its effect for the remainder of the game, even if you are not at that building or that building is flooded.

Enemy Cards: The city will be attacked by enemies throughout the game. The number pointing towards the center of the city shows the enemy's current hit points. There are some boss enemy cards (black border) with special abilities; these are described on those specific cards and on the reference sheet. When you attack and do damage to an enemy, you turn it counter-clockwise to do damage to it and lower its hit points (see diagram). The enemy is defeated when it is turned below 1 hit point. Place enemies that you defeat near your player board to be used later in the game.

Attacking Enemy Card: Diagram — a Persian Army card with 3 hit points is turned counter-clockwise twice, reducing it to 1 hit point.

Action Cards: Some Age cards will provide additional actions while they are on the board. Any worker placed on top of one of these cards may take the action specified on the card in addition to their normal actions. Action cards remain on the board until they move into a space with a building or a city wall, at which time they are discarded.

Phases of Play

The game is played in rounds called "Years". Each Year progresses through 10 phases that must be completed in order. Continue repeating Years until the End Game. The End Game is triggered at the conclusion of the third Age.

The first phase is the heart of the game, with players taking actions in turn order. The remaining phases are for upkeep. Below are detailed descriptions of each phase:

The 10 Phases of Each Year:

1. Take Turns
2. Atlantean Charity
3. Morale Status
4. Achievement Pause
5. Rest Workers
6. Military Advance
7. Poseidon's Fury
8. Change Blessing
9. Place New Cards
10. Change First Player

1. Take Turns

Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes a turn placing a worker and taking actions, as described below. This phase continues until all players have finished placing the workers that they'd like to place.

Players may choose to pass on their turn, and not place a worker. However, once a player has passed, they may not place any more workers onto the board this Year.

2-Player Example: Player 1 places their first worker and takes 2 actions based on the space they placed their worker. Then, Player 2 places their first worker and takes 1 action. Then, Player 1 places their next worker and takes 1 action. This continues until both players have placed and taken actions with all their workers.

How to Take a Turn

1. PLACE A WORKER: Take a worker off of your Myth board (making sure to keep the same face up) and place it onto a space of the map. You cannot place a worker onto a space that already has a worker on it. If you place your worker on a space in the territory that Poseidon is pointing to, you will take 2 free actions instead of the normal 1.

If your worker is a Peasant (no sword on top face), it may only be placed in city space (has white buildings).

If your worker is an Atlantean (sword on top face), it may be placed on any space on the map.

2. TAKE A FREE ACTION: The worker that you placed can now take one free action (or two actions, if you placed your worker in a blessed territory). The actions your worker can take are listed below:

• Gather Resources: Increase your Resource tracker (of the resource district the worker is in) by 2.
• Attack: Atlanteans (strength 2) on a space with an enemy card may attack that enemy. Reduce the enemy hit points by the strength of the attacking worker and if the hit points fall below 1, remove the card from the board.
• Build a Building: Spend your chosen building's cost, and place it onto your worker's space on the map. Whenever you build a building, you gain 5 VPs. Buildings cannot be built on an outer-most space or on a space with an enemy or action card. There can only be one building on each space.
• Research Technology: If your worker is on a space with a building (even if it is not your own building), you can research technologies that are available within that building. Spend the resources required (same as the cost of the building). Place or move a research cube next to your chosen technology. You may now use this passive effect for the rest of the game, even if you do not have a worker at the building or the building is removed.
• Use Building Action: If your worker is on a space with a building, you may use that building's actions. You may use another House's building's actions. However, each House has a special building; you cannot use another House's special building's actions.
• Use Myth Action: If your worker is placed onto a space with your Myth, you may perform a Myth action. See the Myth section of the rulebook for details on those specific actions.

3. TAKE ADDITIONAL ACTIONS: You may choose to lower the worker's morale by one and take an additional action from the list above. These additional actions can be the same action or a different one. You may continue to spend morale for additional actions until the worker's morale is down to zero.

2. Atlantean Charity

Players move all of their workers on the map to their Myth board (keep the same face up). All players take note of their position on the Political Power track. If you are not in first place on the Political Power track, you may immediately increase the morale of one of your workers by 1.

Example: You are in third place. You immediately gain 1 morale. You turn one Atlantean from a 0 to a 1 morale.

3. Morale Status

All players check the morale levels of each of their created workers. Each zero-morale worker reduces that player's Favor level by 1.

4. Achievement Pause

Check to see if any player has completed one or more achievements of your current Age (even if it was completed in a previous year). All players that have completed that achievement can place a cube on it. Then, gain VPs equal to the VPs stated in each achievement's space.

Example: You are currently in Age 2. Check to see if any players have completed the "Have 5 Total Workers" achievement. Any players who do, each place a cube on that milestone's space to mark it as complete, gaining 3 VPs.

After checking achievements and marking them as completed, see if your group has enough completed achievements to move onto the next Age. Two cubes on the same achievement only count as one achievement completed. If you have completed the number of achievements needed to move to the next Age, move the Age Tracker to the next Age. If you have moved beyond the Third Age, the End Game has been initiated. See the END GAME section.

Example: You are currently in Age 1. Your group of three players completed 2 new achievements this year, totaling 5 completed achievement in Age 1. You have completed enough achievements to move to the next Age! You move the Age Tracker to "Age 2".

Completed Achievements required to move to next Age:

1 Player	2 Players	3 Players	4 Players
3+	3+	4+	5+

5. Rest Workers

Increase each in-play worker's morale by 1 (morale cannot increase above the maximum of 2).

6. Military Advance

Move all cards inward one space towards the center of the map. Cards do not move inward if a Myth is on or directly in front of them and cards cannot be placed on top of other cards. For the cards that have reached a city space (space with white buildings): discard all Special Action Cards and place all Enemy cards into one stack onto the city space. If a Special Action card moves onto a space with a building on an outskirt space, it is discarded.

If any ENEMY cards are on a city space, or on a space with a building, all players immediately lose 3 Favor and that territory floods. Even if multiple territories are flooded in the same year, each player only loses a total of 3 Favor. They do NOT lose 3 Favor per flooded territory.

Flooding a Territory: All buildings, tax stations, and Myths on that territory are returned to the players and may be built again next year. Players do not lose any researched technologies if the corresponding building in removed from the map. All cards (enemy or action) on the territory are discarded.

7. Poseidon's Fury

If there are any House trackers in the Poseidon's Fury space, those players must lose 10 VPs, take a Fury card, and reset their House tracker to "1" Favor. They hold this card until the next Poseidon's Fury phase. Each player holding a Fury card cannot place a worker onto a blessed territory. If a player is still holding a Fury card from last year, and does not have their House tracker in the Poseidon's Fury space, return the card back to the board.

8. Change Blessing

Roll a directional die, and point Poseidon's statue towards the resulting territory. If the roll results in the same territory that Poseidon is currently pointing towards, roll again. Dislike luck in games? See the low-luck variant in the Scenario booklet.

9. Place New Cards

AGE 1: Roll a directional die. Place three Age 1 cards face-up onto the resulting territory's outer-most spaces with the highest hit points pointed towards the center. If there is a Myth or card already on a space, do not place a new card on that space. If you run out of cards in a stack, do not add any more cards.

AGE 2: Roll two directional dice. If you roll duplicates, roll those again. Place three Age 2 cards face-up onto the resulting territories' outer-most spaces. (six total cards) Place the cards one by one in a clockwise direction starting from the North territory. If there is a Myth or card already on a space, do not place a new card on that space.

AGE 3: Roll three directional dice (If you roll duplicates, roll those again). Place three Age 3 cards face-up onto the resulting territories' outer-most spaces. (nine total cards) If there is a Myth or card already on a space, do not place a new card on that space.

10. Change First Player

The First Player token is passed clockwise to the next player, and a new Year begins.

End Game

Once players have moved beyond the Third Age, the End Game has been initiated. All players now calculate and add an End Game bonus to their Political Power. See the chart to calculate your end game bonus. Your Favor tracker's current position determines which equation to use for your End Game Bonus.

After all players have added this bonus to their Political Power, the player with the highest Political Power is the winner. If tied, the player with the most Favor wins. If still tied, the player with the most resources wins. If still tied, play again.

House Bonuses are described in detail on the reference sheet.

Favor	End Game Bonus
0-6	Achievement Cubes + House Bonus
7-14	Achievement Cubes + House Bonus + Defeated Enemy + Research Cube
15-20	(Achievement Cubes + House Bonus + Defeated Enemy + Research Cube) x 2

Example: House Creon ends the game with 16 Favor, so he chooses that highest equation for his End Game bonus. Throughout the game, he placed 7 Achievement Cubes and 5 Research Cubes. He ends the game with 5 active workers (House Bonus) and 6 defeated enemy cards. He adds those numbers together (23), and then multiplies that by two (see equation) for an End Game bonus of 46.

Example Turn

This is a large turn near the end of the game.

House Biston places her (morale 2) worker onto her Pegasus Myth. Because this territory is blessed this round, this worker has two free actions instead of one. On previous turns she had researched the following two technologies:

• Cybernetics: Every time you attack an enemy, you gain 1 VP for each damage dealt.
• Mysticism: Every time you perform a Myth action, you gain 3 VP.

1. For her first free action, she uses the Myth's "Gather" action. Her Pegasus' Gather attribute is 4, so she moves the wood resource tracker up by 4. She gains +3 VPs (due to Mysticism tech).
2. For her second free action, she uses the Myth's "Move" action. Her Pegasus' Move attribute is 8, so she could move up to 8 spaces, but she only wants to move 3 right now. See diagram to see how she moves. She gains +3 VPs (from Mysticism).
3. For her third action, she uses the Myth's "Attack" action. She turns the worker's morale down by one (now morale 1). Her Pegasus' Attack attribute is 3, so she turns the card counter-clockwise 3 times, defeating that enemy card. She takes the card off the map and places it near her player board. She gains: +3 VPs (from Mysticism) and +3 VPs (from Cybernetics).
4. For her fourth action, she uses Pegasus' specialty "Shuttle" action. She turns the Pegasus' worker's morale down by one (now morale 0) and places a new worker onto an occupied space with a temple. After this current turn, she may use that worker's actions. She gains 3 VPs (from Mysticism). She gained a total of 15 VPs this turn.

Myths

Myths are large machines that help protect the military and economic well-being of the city. When you create a Myth, it becomes a space that your workers can be placed on and take Myth actions from. You cannot use another House's Myth. When you place a worker onto a Myth, you can only take Myth Actions with that worker.

Myth Actions have attributes that change how strong the action is. These attributes can be improved with the "Mythic Forge" action in the Temple. When your worker uses a Myth Action, it works similar to standard actions:

Myth Actions:

1. Gather
2. Attack
3. Move
4. Special Actions

Gather Action: Gain a number of resources equal to its Gather stat from the territory your Myth is on.

Example: Your Cerberus' Gather attribute is 7. You use the gather action, so you increase your wood resource tracker on your player board by 7.

Attack Action: Turn an enemy card on your Myth's space counter-clockwise a number of times equal to your Myth's Attack attribute.

Example: Your Minotaur's attack attribute is 4. You use the Attack action, so you turn the attacking Persian army card up to four times. Since it has 3 hit points, you have defeated it. You remove it from the board and place it near your player board.

Move Action: Move your Myth (with your worker in it) a number of times equal to or less than your Myth's move attribute. You may not move diagonally. You cannot move onto spaces with buildings, workers, other Myths, or city spaces (spaces with white buildings).

Example: Your Pegasus' move attribute is 6. You use the move action, so you pick up the Pegasus and worker and move them 6 spaces onto the attacking card.

Special Actions: Each Myth has a special action. These special actions are described below.

Pegasus - Shuttle: Take a worker from your available workers on your Myth board. Place it onto any non-Myth space within your current territory, including any spaces occupied by another worker. After you finish your actions with the Pegasus worker, use actions as you'd like from that newly-placed worker. This action cannot be taken more than 2 times per year.

Example: You use the shuttle action, and place a new worker from your Myth board onto the Temple's space. After the Pegasus worker has completed their actions, you continue your turn by using actions from the new worker's available actions as you see fit.

Cerberus - Retrieve: Gain 2 Fish, 2 Ore, and 2 Wood.

Minotaur - Rage: Deal 2 damage to each enemy card in your current territory. Territories are the directional wedges of the map (North, South, etc.).

Centaur - Glory: Increase all of your previously placed workers' morale in your current territory by 2. This does not apply to the worker that is in the Myth taking this action.

Example: You use the glory action. All of the workers in your current territory (West) gain 2 morale, so you turn all of those worker cube's morale up by two.

FAQ

Can you use another player's building's actions? Yes, but you cannot use a different player's specialty building's action. You can place your worker on its space and take other actions on that space, just not the specialty building actions.

May I build a building on a space with a card? No. If you defeat an enemy and remove it from the board, then you can build a building there.

Political Power Achievements: I started this phase with 99 VPs, but then I placed a cube for an achievement that gave me 5 more VPs. Can I now say I have completed the "100 VP" achievement? No. You do not actually gain points from achievement cubes until the very end of this phase, after you have already placed all of the cubes.

May I complete and place a cube on achievements from another Age? No.

Blessed Territories & Myth Movement: A worker is not considered blessed if they move into a blessed territory with a Myth. It only matters where they are originally placed on each turn.

Have a question? Email [email protected]

Credits

Game Design: Daniel Aronson & Nick Tompkins

Artist: Justin Spice

Game Development: Joe Aronson, Zac Anunson, Ethan Nordness, Jacob Johannsen, Adam Teece

Playtesters: Cole Tompkins, Fabian Klein, Mateusz, Tamir Aloush, Moises Munoz, Thomas Roesner, Jose Vicente Martinez Mendoza, Nikita Grigorev, Travis Griggs, Ryan Tauer, Mihir Shah, Richard Keene, John Ward, Nikita Grigorev, Daniel Vargas, Christian Leber, Outa Valkama, Joseph Ryan, Gary Tsai, Nolan Willett, Bryan "Brybarian" Scibilia, Aaron Belmer, Rudi v. Pelt, Andrew Corpuz, John Bertolini, Dmitry, Juraj Spusta, Igor Andreola, Josh Breckman, Bryan Kromrey, Ryan Tauer, Matthew Humphriss, Nick Leedy, Adam Teece, Travis Waldo, Josh Wein, Zibus, Dave Rems, Stephanie Soikkeli, Curtis L Comstock, August, Guillaume Rousselet, Dmitry, Vincent Deloso, Russell Dickerson, Reed Fergus, Nejc, Korbi, Outa Valkama, Ryan Tauer, Russell Dickerson, Curtis L Comstock