Ancient Realm
Ancient Realm Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
25 cards, consisting of:
7 Districts, 7 Wonders, 1 Storage card for Gold, 3 Storage cards for resources (Wheat, Wood & Stone), 1 Overview card.
For the "Misfortunes & Monuments" expansion:
6 Districts from Misfortunes & Monuments.
Card Anatomy
Districts
Every District consists of 3 blocks separated from one another (from now on called "regions"). Each region contains either a mine, a citizen, or a resource source. On the back of a District you will always find its effect.
The three region types are: Resource Source, Citizen, Mine — and on the reverse side, Effect.
Citizens
Citizen is a type of region, and there are Citizens of 2 types: Nobility and Commoners. A group of Citizens describes 1 or more Citizens whose regions lie adjacent to one another and consist of 1 or both Citizen types.
Wonders
Wonders always consist of 2 blocks: 1 region and 1 large Wonder the size of 2 regions. As long as a Wonder lies in your civilization, its effect activates automatically every time it is triggered.
Important: Wonders never trigger their own effect.
Setup
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Decks: Shuffle the Districts and Wonders separately from one another and lay the two face-down decks out: first the Districts on the left (District deck), then leave room for about 4 cards' width, then the Wonders to the right of that (Wonder deck).
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Market: Now draw 2 cards from each of the 2 face-down decks. Turn them face up and lay them out between the decks. The order in which you lay them out in the Market does not matter. Leave room above them for your civilization.
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Storage: Lay the 4 Storage cards out below the Market. Turn (and flip) them so that the following value shows face up on each:
Gold: 3 Wheat: 1 Wood: 1 Stone: 1
The Storage cards each show how much Gold and how many resources are currently available to you. Each Storage card is two-sided and can thereby display any value from 0 to 7. The current value is always the one showing face up.
Should the value of a Storage card ever rise above 7, set it to 7 instead.
Game Turn
Over the course of several turns you place cards into your civilization and thereby expand it turn by turn. On your turn you always carry out the following steps in order:
- Choose a card from the Market (if it is a Wonder: pay its resource cost)
- Place the card in / above your civilization
- Activate the regions being built over (optional)
- Push the card down
- Refill the Market
After that, a new turn begins and you go back to step 1.
1. Choose a Card from the Market
At the start of your turn you must always play a card from the Market into your civilization. If you cannot do so, the game ends immediately.
If you decide on a Wonder, you must first pay its resource cost, shown in its brown area.
2. Place the Card In / Above Your Civilization
You place the 1st card of your civilization simply over the Market: it founds your civilization. Every subsequent card you may either …
A … build directly to the left or right of your civilization
or B … thereby build over 1-3 regions of your civilization.
On A: Build the card to the left or right by placing it adjacent to your civilization so far. It is thereby part of your civilization.
On B: But if you want to build over regions of your civilization, first place the card above your civilization so that it lies exactly over the regions to be built over.
Important: Wonders may never be built over.
3. Activate the Regions Being Built Over
Now you may activate all the regions that lie beneath the new card, in an order of your choice.
Always finish activating one region before you activate the next.
There are 3 kinds of regions you can activate:
- Harvest: Pay 1 Gold to receive the corresponding resource. The "any resource" icon counts as 1 resource of your choice.
- Labor: Pay 1 Gold to use the Citizen's effect.
- Prospect: Receive 2 Gold.
Important: When activating regions, the new (overlying) card is not yet part of your civilization. For example, you get no resources from activating the Queen if the King lies above her.
4. Push the Card Down
After you have activated the regions being covered (and even if you activated only some of them, or none of them), you push the overlying card down so that it completely covers the underlying regions.
Covered regions no longer count as part of your civilization.
5. Refill the Market
Now draw 1 card from a deck of your choice (District deck or Wonder deck) and lay it face up in the Market, so that 4 cards lie here again (if possible).
Free Actions
Shopping
You may, at any time and as often as you like, hand back 2 Gold to receive 1 resource of your choice (Wheat, Wood, or Stone) in exchange. It is not possible to hand back resources to receive Gold.
Use Effect
You may, at any time, use the effect lying on top of the District deck. If it has a condition, the effect naturally activates only if that condition is met. If the District deck is empty, there is no usable District effect.
Forget a Wonder
You may, at any time and as often as you like, return a Wonder outside your civilization (in the Market, or the top card of the Wonder deck) to the box, to receive 2 Gold or 1 resource of your choice in exchange. The next time you refill the Market, fill it back up to 4 cards (if possible).
Game End
You keep taking turns, one after another, until either …
… you can no longer place a card into your civilization, or … the Market is empty.
Then the game ends and you score your game. You receive points for …
… every Mine
Example: here you get 2 points per Wonder that was built adjacent to at least 1 other Wonder.
… every Wonder (if you fulfil its condition)
Example: here you get 10 points and 1 additional point per Commoner in your civilization.
… every 3 Gold
… every 2 resources of any type and combination
| Score | Result |
|---|---|
| 0 – 49 | Everything lies in ruins. |
| 50 – 54 | Well, at least you tried. |
| 55 – 59 | This is a place you can live with. |
| 60 – 64 | Good work. But there's still room for improvement! |
| 65 – 69 | What a truly noble civilization, hear ye, hear ye! |
| 70 + | Master, your land will outlast time itself! |
This sum determines how well you have built up your civilization.
Misfortunes & Monuments Expansion
Every civilization has its dark ages, and every land has gifted artists and great architects. Put them to use, to confront the crises head-on.
Change to Setup
Before setup, remove 3 random Districts and replace them with 3 random Districts from "Misfortunes & Monuments." Put the remaining 3 Districts from "Misfortunes & Monuments" back in the box unseen. They are not used in this game.
Then set up the game as described in the base game.
New Rules
Misfortune
As long as a Misfortune region lies in your civilization, its negative effect applies. You may build over it during the course of the game, which stops the effect. But if you decide to endure the Misfortune, you receive points at game end for every Misfortune in your civilization.
Monuments
Monuments beautify your civilization! If you build over a Monument, you receive 1 resource of your choice for it. But if you keep the Monument, it is worth 2 points at game end.
Credits
Authors: Steven Aramini & Michael Lee Illustrations: Startraphell Talbot German Version / V1.0 Layout: Anna Spies • Editing: Robin Eckert Editorial Direction: Benjamin Schönheiter Editorial Assistance: Marcel Haug
© 2025 Frosted Games Spieleverlag GmbH, Rosestr. 24, 95448 Bayreuth, Germany, frostedgames.de/kontakt, under license from Button Shy. © 2023 Button Shy. All rights reserved. Reprinting or publishing the rulebook, the game components, or the illustrations is only permitted with prior authorization.