Albion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Preparation
• Playing the Game
• A – Moving and Building
  • Movement Rules
  • Legionnaires
• Building Action of the Settler
  • 1) Pay Resources and Place Building Token Face Down
  • Tribute Payment with the Building
  • 2) Return Settler to the Launching Field Place
  • 3) Turn Over a Face-Down Pict
  • Defending an Assault
• 4) Turn Over Building Token and Use Its Abilities
  • Rampart Stage I, II, and III
  • Fortress Stage I and II
  • Fortress Stage III
  • Settlement Stage I and II
  • Settlement Stage III
  • Settlement Level IV
  • Resource Plant Stage I, II and III
• Summary of the Building Rules
• B – Take Resources
• Game End and Victory

Contents

• 84 resources (24 fish, 22 wood, 20 stone, and 18 gold)
• 16 settlers in 4 colors (4 each per color)
• 12 legionnaires in 4 colors (3 each per color)
• 48 settlement stages in 4 colors (3 stage I, 3 stage II, 3 stage III, and 3 stage IV, in each player color)
• 36 fortress stages in 4 colors (3 stage I, 3 stage II, and 3 stage III, in each player color)
• 24 rampart stages in 4 colors (2 stage I, 2 stage II, and 2 stage III in each color)
• 48 resource plant stages of 4 kinds (fishery, lumber mill, quarry, and gold mine) (for each kind: 1 stage I, 1 stage II, and 1 stage III)
• 35 Picts: 17 peace, 18 assault, back side
• 28 movement markers (1 in each player color and 24 neutral)
• 1 game board
• 1 start player marker

Preparation

Setup for 4 players.

• Each player selects a color and takes: 4 settlers, 3 legionnaires, 1 movement marker, and the 12 settlement stages, 12 resource plant stages, 9 fortress stages, and 6 rampart stages in his color, placing them in the space before him on the table (his play area). Return unneeded parts to the box.
• Place the neutral movement markers and the resources beside the game board.
• Remove Picts based on the number of players:
  • With 4 players, all Picts are used.
  • With 3 players, return 3 "peace" Picts and 2 "assault" Picts back into the box.
  • With 2 players, return 7 "peace" Picts and 2 "assault" Picts back into the box.
• Turn over the remaining Picts, shuffle them, and distribute them face down onto the dark-green regions. The 3 stone markers in each region indicate how many Picts are to be placed in each region based on the number of players. There will be 2 unused Picts, which the players return face-down to the box (see also page 2).
• Each player puts his stage I fishery into the fish resource region and his stage I lumber mill into the wood resource region (see also page 2).
• The players choose a starting player in any way they want. He takes the start player marker, which he keeps for the remainder of the game, and also takes 3 fish and 1 wood. The second player in clockwise order takes 3 fish and 2 wood. The third player takes 3 fish and 3 wood. The fourth player takes 3 fish and 4 wood.
• Each player puts one of his stage I ramparts and a settler into the light green launching region at the south end of the island.
• In clockwise order, beginning with the starting player, each player places one stage I fortress into any of the two dark-green regions without imprinted Picts (just above the light green region, see also page 2). Each player also takes a neutral movement marker.

Map notes (from the setup diagram). These regions begin the game with assault Picts. With 2 players, place 4 Picts in this region; with 3 players, 5 Picts; and with 4 players, 6 Picts. Each player must establish at least one of his three settlements in one of the three regions with the laurel wreath.

Playing the Game

The start player begins. The other players follow in clockwise order. On a player's turn, he executes one of the two following actions:

• A – Moving and building, or
• B – Take resources

A – Moving and Building

A player who selects this action first moves all his figures (settlers and legionnaires), which are on the game board, according to the movement rules and using the movement points he has available. Then, he may establish or develop a building with each of his settlers. If the player cannot or chooses not to build, the settler remains in the region and can be moved on a later turn.

Movement Rules

A player has exactly as many movement points available as he has movement markers in his play area. At the beginning of the game, each player has two movement markers. Players earn further movement markers by building fortresses. Players may only move their own settlers and legionnaires. Players may not move either settlers or legionnaires across the sea.

The crossing of a boundary line costs one movement point. The player can divide his available movement points at will among his settlers and legionnaires. So, for example, with 4 movement points, a player may move:

• a settler across 4 boundaries, or
• a settler across 2 boundaries, a second settler across 1 boundary, and a legionnaire across 1 boundary.

A region may hold as many figures as desired. A player need not use all his movement points.

Legionnaires

Legionnaires are military units, which defend the region where they stand against Picts. Players receive legionnaires by building stage I or stage II settlements. Apart from its normal movement, a legionnaire can transport a face-down Pict. A legionnaire can pick up and carry a face-down Pict at the beginning or during the course of its movement, and drop the Pict during or at the end of its movement. The Pict is not turned over as a result of being moved. Face-up Picts may not be carried by legionnaires. The Picts may not be transported to light green or resource regions, but may be moved through them.

Example 1: Christian (red) has 4 movement points. He uses 3 movement points to move his legionnaire over three boundaries. First it transports the Pict A over a boundary. Then the legionnaire moves alone over the next boundary to the Pict B, which it transports into the same field, into which it put Pict A. For its fourth movement point, the player moves one of his settlers over one boundary.

Building Action of the Settler

After a player ends his movement, he may establish or develop a building with each of his settlers on the game board. If several of his settlers are in a region, each may establish or develop a building. If his settlers are in different regions, he may determine the order he wants to use them to build or develop buildings. Each player may have only one building in each region. When developing a building, the player puts one stage on top of the previous.

Note: Each player must establish at least one of his three settlements in one of the three regions with a laurel wreath.

A building action is divided into four phases:

1. Pay resources (possibly pay tribute) and place building token face down.
2. Return settler to the launching field place.
3. Turn over a face-down Pict.
4. Turn over building token and use its abilities.

1) Pay Resources and Place Building Token Face Down

Each time a building is established or developed, it costs the following resources regardless of building type:

• A stage I building costs 1 of any resource.
• A stage II building costs 2 different resources.
• A stage III building costs 3 different resources.
• A stage IV building costs 4 different resources (thus exactly 1 fish, 1 wood, 1 stone, and 1 gold).

After paying the resources, the player places the new building token face down in the region. The resources go back into the supply, except any tribute payment with the building.

Tribute Payment with the Building

Tribute must be paid only in the dark-green regions. Those are the regions with Picts at the beginning of the game. Tribute is not paid in the two light green and the four resource regions.

When a player builds in a dark-green region that already has any buildings with a higher stage, the owners of the higher-stage buildings have claim to a part of the resources which are paid. The owner of the building with the highest stage selects first any one of the resources which are paid and places it in his play area. The other players with higher-stage buildings in the region take their claims to the construction costs according to the stages of their buildings. With equal stages, the player selects first who sits closest in clockwise order to the building player. Each player takes at most one resource. All remaining resources go into the supply. It is possible that players receive no resources, even though they have a higher-stage building in the region (when none are left). A building of stage I, which is already in a region, is higher than a building of the stage I which is being built.

Example 2: Sven (black) wants to develop his stage I rampart to stage II. To do so, he pays 1 fish and 1 wood. In the same region, Christian (red) has a stage II settlement and Sebastian (white) has a stage III rampart. Both are higher-stage buildings. Klaus (blue) with his stage I fortress has a building of the same stage. Only Sebastian and Christian receive tribute. Sebastian may select first and takes the wood, and Christian (red) takes the remaining fish.

2) Return Settler to the Launching Field Place

After the resources are paid, the settler who executed the building action is placed back in the light green launching field. It may not do further actions in this round.

3) Turn Over a Face-Down Pict

Each time a building is established or developed in a region, all players who have buildings in this region must check for an assault by the Picts. If there are no face-down Picts in the region, there is no assault. However, if there is at least one face-down Pict in the region, a face-down Pict must be turned over (chosen randomly if there are more than one).

If a "peace" Pict is turned over, all Picts in the region behave peacefully and nothing more occurs. Then, the just turned-over peace Pict is returned to the box. If, however, an "assault" Pict is turned over, the Pict remains in the region and all Picts in the region execute an assault. In the assault, all face-up and pre-printed Picts in this region participate. The total number of assault Picts indicates the attack strength of the Picts. Each player who has a building in this region is affected by the assault and must defend himself. The player's defense value is based on the player's own legionnaires in the assaulted region and of all his ramparts on the game board.

Defending an Assault

Each legionnaire has defense strength 1 and each rampart has a defense strength equal to its stage. A player repels a Pict assault if the total of its defense strength is equal to or higher than the attack strength of the Picts. Players whose defense strength is too low must reduce their highest-stage building by one stage or remove the face-down token they were just building. Players who remove a building token due to the assault return it to their supply. They may also need to return a figure from the board to their play area as a result of the loss of the building token (see also: Turn over building token and use its abilities, below).

Example 3: Sven (black) wants to develop his rampart to level II. He turns over a face-down Pict. The Pict indicates "assault". The assault comes with a strength of 3 as there are now 3 "assault" Picts in the region. Sven has only a stage I rampart in this region as its new stage II is not valid yet. In another region, he has another stage I rampart. Thus, his defense strength is 2, which is weaker than the Picts (3). Therefore, he must take back into his play area the face-down stage II rampart he wanted to build. Sebastian (white) has a stage III rampart in the region and another stage I rampart on the board. Thus, he has a defense strength of 4 and is protected. Christian (red) has a legionnaire in the region with a defense strength of 1. In another region, he has a stage II rampart. Thus, he has a defense strength of 3 and is, likewise, protected. Klaus (blue) does not have defense in the region. In other regions, he has a stage II rampart and one legionnaire. Since a legionnaire counts only in the region of the assault, Klaus has only a defense strength of 2. Therefore, he must reduce his building in the region by 1 stage. He removes his stage I fortress from the region, returning it to his play area and also returns the movement marker which he had received with the stage I fortress to the supply.

Note: A player may voluntarily remove building tokens from the game board. This can be useful in exceptional cases. To do so, the player moves a settler into this region, and, instead of executing a building action, he takes all building tokens from the region, returning them to his play area and places his settler in the launching field. He pays no tribute and no Pict is turned over.

4) Turn Over Building Token and Use Its Abilities

Now the just established or developed building token is turned over. Its ability can be used immediately.

Rampart Stage I, II, and III

Ramparts give defense strength to the entire board to the player. Each stage of a rampart gives 1 point to defense strength. Both completely developed ramparts of a player have together a defense strength of 6.

Fortress Stage I and II

With the building of a fortress of stage I or II, the player takes a neutral movement marker. With a subsequent assault, the owner of a reduced fortress must put the movement marker received for it back into the supply.

Fortress Stage III

At the beginning of his movement, a player may place one settler on each of his stage III fortresses on the board and begin its movement from there.

Settlement Stage I and II

The player takes a new play figure, which he takes from his play area. If the player selects a settler, he places it into the light green launching field. The settler may be moved only in the next round and execute a building action. If the player selects a legionnaire, he places it into the region of the just built building token. The legionnaire may be moved first only in the next round. Its defense counts immediately. A player can select only figures which he has still in his play area. With a subsequent assault, the owner of a reduced settlement selects any of his legionnaires or settlers on the board and returns this back to his play area.

Settlement Stage III

The player may develop one of his buildings already on the board by one stage. With this additional development, however, no settlement may be developed. For this development, the player does not pay construction costs and he need not have a settler in the region of the additional development. Any settlers in the region of this additional development are not returned to the launching field and may still be used in this round to execute an action. If, however, there are face-down Pict(s) in the region, one is turned over as normal (see also: Turn over a face-down Pict, above).

With a subsequent assault, the owner of a reduced stage III settlement must take another stage II or III building token from the board, but not a settlement. He also loses any effects of this additionally reduced building.

Settlement Level IV

The player needs the stage IV settlement for the game victory. A stage IV settlement is protected from a Pict assault and cannot be reduced.

Resource Plant Stage I, II and III

The stage of a resource plant indicates the number of that resource produced by the plant. The fisheries, lumber mills, quarries, and gold mines produce fish, wood, stone, and gold according to their stage (see also: B – Take resources, below). A resource plant may only be built in the appropriate resource region.

Summary of the Building Rules

The following rules are followed with the building of buildings (resource plants, settlements, fortresses, and ramparts):

• Can be built only in a region with the player's own settler.
• Each player may have only 1 building in each region. In resource regions only matching resource plants may be built.
• A building begins with stage I and can be developed to stage II, then to III and, finally, IV (only settlements).
• The building token is put first face down in the region.
• The building of a stage I costs any one resource, stage II needs 2 different resources, stage III costs 3 different resources, and stage IV costs 4 different resources.
• If there are higher-stage buildings of other players in a dark-green field, these each receive one resource from the resources which are paid. In the two light green fields and in resource fields there is no tribute payment when building.
• After building, the settler is returned into the launching field.
• When building, a face-down Pict must be turned over, if one is still available in the region. With "peace" there is no effect. With "assault", there is a Pict assault.
• Only after a defended assault or with "peace" may the building be finished and its abilities used.
• Each player must establish at least one of his three settlements in the north of the island in one of the three regions with a laurel wreath.

B – Take Resources

When a player chooses "take resources", that is his entire turn. He may not move figures or establish or develop buildings.

The player takes as many resources from the supply as his resource plants give. At the beginning of the game each player can take exactly 1 fish and 1 wood. These quantities can be increased by development.

Example 4: Christian (red) has the stage II fishery, stage III lumber mill, stage II quarry, and stage I gold mine on the board. He selects the take resources action and takes the appropriate quantity of resources from the supply (2 fish, 3 wood, 2 stone, and 1 gold). Then, his turn is over.

In the rare case that there are insufficient resources of a kind the player is allowed to take, each player (including the one taking resources) must return one resource of that type (if he has one) to the supply. This is continued until there are enough in the supply. Then, the player takes his resources.

Game End and Victory

As soon as a player has developed three stage IV settlements – at least one must be in one of the three fields with a laurel wreath – the current round is played to the end. If just one player has 3 stage IV settlements, he is the winner! If more than one player has 3 stage IV settlements, these players count the number of "assault" Picts in the regions of all their settlements. The player with the highest total number of Picts wins. If there is still a tie, the player among them with the most resources (counting the order only gold, then stone, wood, and, last, fish) remaining in his play area is the winner! If there is still a tie, all tied players rejoice in their shared victory.