The Barracks Emperors Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 2.0 Components
  • Card Anatomy
• 3.0 Victory Conditions
• 4.0 Game Setup
• 5.0 Sequence of Play
• 6.0 Play a Card
  • 6.1 Influence Card
  • 6.2 Barbarians
  • 6.3 Negotiation
• 7.0 Resolve Emperors
• 8.0 Select a New Card
• 9.0 Clarifications
• 10.0 Special Abilities
• 11.0 Two Player Rules
• 12.0 Three Player Rules
• 13.0 Four Player Partnership Rules
• 14.0 Variations
• 15.0 Solo Rules
  • 15.1 Setup
  • 15.2 Game Play
    • 15.2.1 Roma Card
    • 15.2.2 Drawing a Barbarian
    • 15.2.3 Placing a Barbarian
    • 15.2.4 Player Turn
    • 15.2.5 Rival Turn
    • 15.2.6 Resolving Emperors
    • 15.2.7 Game Round End
  • 15.3 Victory Check
• Extended Example of Play
• Index
• Credits

2.0 Components

• 1 rule book
• 1 game board
• 45 Emperor cards:
  • 13 Military (Red)
  • 13 Senate (Blue)
  • 19 Populace (Yellow)
• 42 Influence cards:
  • 14 Military (Red)
  • 14 Senate (Blue)
  • 14 Populace (Yellow)
• 18 Barbarian cards
• 4 Player Aid cards
• 7 cards for the solo variant:
  • 1 Roma/Fortified Roma card (double-sided)
  • 6 Influence cards with SOLO in the lower right-hand corner:
    • 2 Castra
    • 2 Tribute
    • 2 Demagogue
• 6 counters (a +1/+3 and +2/+3 in Red, Blue and Yellow)

Card Anatomy

Influence Card: shows a suit (color), a value, a card ID number, and special ability text. A gold border indicates an ongoing effect.

Barbarian Card: shows a suit (gray), a value (0), a special ability text, and a card ID number.

Emperor Card: shows the Emperor's name, bust, and historical information, a trump suit (color), faction icons (reminders for which side each player can play on), and a card ID number.

3.0 Victory Conditions

The player with the most legacy points after three rounds wins the game.

To score, each player adds up the total number of cards they have captured – each Emperor card and each Barbarian card counts as 1 legacy point.

Then, for each set of 3 differently-colored Emperors (1 Red, 1 Blue, and 1 Yellow), gain an additional bonus of 3 legacy points.

Example: a player has captured two Barbarians (2 points), four Blue Emperors, three Red Emperors, and two Yellow Emperors. The Emperors alone are worth 9 points, plus a 3-Bonus for one full set of three differently-colored Emperors, plus another 3-Bonus for a second full set — for a total of 17 points.

The highest total score wins. Any ties are broken in the following order:

• Most Emperors won;
• Most Military (Red) Emperors won;
• Most Senate (Blue) Emperors won;
• Most Populace (Yellow) Emperors won;
• Most Barbarians won;

If still tied, the tied players share the victory.

4.0 Game Setup

Remove any 6 random Populace Emperors from the Emperor deck and place them in the Pretenders box on the board.

For the first round, shuffle the remaining 39 Emperor cards together and deal the top 13 cards from this deck face-up on the board, placing one in each space containing a wreath. Place all of the Emperors so that the symbols on the edge of the card line up with the respective factions (Eagle faction, Sword faction, Pillar Faction, Wreath faction). Place the remaining Emperors in the Emperors box on the board.

These 13 cards form the playing grid for the first round. For the second and third rounds, take any unclaimed Emperors on the board and shuffle them back into the Emperor Deck—do not add the set-aside Populace Emperors. Then deal out 13 cards.

Place one Barbarian card in the center Barbarian homeland space on each side of the grid and place the remaining 14 barbarians in the Barbarians box on the board.

All Influence cards played by the players will be placed in the spaces surrounding the Emperor cards. Players may play Influence cards in the barbarian homeland spaces.

Each player sits at one edge of the table taking the player aid card matching the symbol facing them on all of the Emperor cards. For example, the player sitting on the Forum end of the board is the Wreath player.

Place the seven cards for the solo game back in the box.

For each round, gather and shuffle all of the Influence cards and 10 Barbarian cards together, then deal out 4 cards to each player. For the second and third rounds, replace any barbarians that were placed in players' scoring areas with the same number of set-aside barbarians so that 10 barbarians are still shuffled into the deck.

Deal four cards face-up in the spaces of the Forum row on the board.

The setup layout places 13 Emperor Cards on the board (6 Populace Emperors set aside in the Pretenders box, the remaining 26 Emperor cards in reserve), 4 Barbarian cards (one per barbarian homeland space, remaining barbarians in reserve), and 4 Influence cards (dealt to the Forum, remaining Influence cards in reserve).

Sort the cards in ascending order of value, so that the lowest-value card is farthest from the Draw Deck space, and the highest-value card is closest to the Draw Deck space. If multiple cards with the same value are dealt at this time, place them so the earliest drawn card is farthest from the Draw Deck space. Then place the remainder of the deck face-down in the Draw Deck space to form the draw deck.

For the first round, randomly choose the start player. The player with the lowest current score will start the second and third rounds, breaking ties as described under Victory Conditions above.

5.0 Sequence of Play

Beginning with the start player, players take turns, one at a time, proceeding clockwise around the table.

During each player's turn, they perform the following actions in order:

1. The player must either play a card (6.0) from their hand to the board or discard a Barbarian card to move an active barbarian, if able. If neither option is possible, the player must reveal his hand (to confirm card play is impossible) and the round ends immediately.
2. Resolve Emperors (7.0), if any have been surrounded. If more than one Emperor has been surrounded, the active player chooses the order in which they are resolved.
3. To end his turn, the player must select a new card (8.0).

When the round ends, if all three rounds have been played, calculate scores and determine the winner. Otherwise, remove any cards remaining on the board and set up the next round, as described under Game Setup (4.0).

6.0 Play a Card

6.1 Influence Card

When playing an Influence card to the board, a player must place an Influence card from their hand into an empty Influence card space in the grid on the side of an Emperor Card matching the active player's Faction Icon. The Influence card may be adjacent to more than one Emperor card, if it is in the player's correct position for one of them.

Example: the section of board shown highlights nine interlocking spaces for Influence cards surrounding four Emperor cards. A card played in space X will act as the Pillar Faction's card for Emperor #2 and the Eagle Faction's card for Emperor #1, due to its position relative to those Emperors. A card played in space Y will act for all four factions on different Emperors, no matter who played it there. A card played in space Z will act as the Sword Faction's card for Emperor #4.

Note: See Clarifications (9.0) and Special Abilities (10.0) sections for more clarifications on terminology and how specific cards may be used.

Use a Special Ability

A few Influence cards (Quaestor, Ambitus, Castra, and Cavalry) give special abilities that have an ongoing effect while in play – these effects are not optional. Otherwise, a player may choose whether to invoke the special action that is printed on the Influence card that was just played. If used, the special ability must be completed before any Emperors are resolved.

The special ability printed on a Barbarian card is not optional – one of the two given choices must be performed. If neither choice is possible given the board configuration, the Barbarian card cannot be played.

Modifiers

The value 1 and 2 Influence cards allow a player to place a +1 or +2 counter on any other Influence card of the matching suit. The +1 and +2 counters may be played on the same card increasing its value by three.

If a modified card is flipped or discarded, any counters on it are removed. If a modified card is moved, all counters move with it.

6.2 Barbarians

A Barbarian card may be played in one of two ways. 1) Place it in any barbarian homeland space that does not already contain a Barbarian card. 2) Discard it to move any active barbarian to another space that is diagonally-adjacent to itself that does not already contain a Barbarian card. In both cases, the Barbarian card must be placed in or moved to a space that still borders on at least one remaining Emperor card. The Barbarian card may be placed in or moved to a space even if that space already contains an Influence card, but not if it contains another Barbarian card.

Any Influence card, and its counters, in the barbarian's newly-occupied space is ignored for all purposes while covered. If the Barbarian card is later moved, the revealed Influence card, and its counters, is back in play.

6.3 Negotiation

Table talk and negotiation is generally permitted during the game. Because of the way one card play can affect multiple players, sometimes it may be beneficial to negotiate the "trade" of one Emperor for another with another player. However, deals are never binding. All negotiations should be kept at the table and negotiation time should be limited to only a few seconds per play, simply to keep the game moving rapidly. Players may agree to limit table talk as they wish.

Example diagrams illustrate legal and invalid Influence-card placements for the Pillar faction, based on which side of an Emperor card is being played to, and note that a legal play may sometimes leave another faction with no legal plays of their own, which can cause the round to end on that faction's turn.

Example: late in a round after several Emperors have been captured and removed, there are five Emperor cards remaining. There are five positions where the Pillar faction could possibly place an Influence card, one for each remaining Emperor. Since one of these spaces is already filled with an Influence card, the Pillar faction has four valid choices.

7.0 Resolve Emperors

Any Emperor that is surrounded by four cards must be resolved. If more than one Emperor can be resolved, the active player chooses the order in which they are resolved. In some cases, resolving one Emperor may cause another Emperor to no longer be surrounded, and thus not resolved.

To resolve an Emperor, follow these steps:

1. If the Emperor card is surrounded by four Barbarian cards, he has died in battle. Remove that Emperor card from the game; no one captures the Emperor. Skip to step 7 below.
2. Examine the values of the cards surrounding the Emperor card. Any cards that have matching values, regardless of suit, cancel each other out. These cards cannot win the Emperor, but keep them in place. In the case where all of the cards surrounding the Emperor would be ignored in this way, no one wins the Emperor and all cards remain in place. Note that a future card play may cause a card to be moved, discarded, or changed in value, which might allow this Emperor to be won. Skip to step 9 below.
3. The strongest remaining card captures the Emperor. Note that each Emperor card shows a trump suit color. The winning card will be the highest-ranked card of the trump suit. If there are no cards of the trump suit adjacent to the Emperor or all trump suit cards have been canceled in step 2, then the highest ranked uncanceled card of any suit will win.
4. If the winning card was a Barbarian, which can only happen if all adjacent Influence cards were canceled in step 2, the Emperor has died in battle. Remove the Emperor card from the game; no one captures the Emperor. Skip to step 7 below.
5. If the winning card was an Influence card, the player whose faction symbol on the resolved Emperor that is adjacent to the winning card takes the Emperor card and places it in their scoring area. This means that the player who captures the Emperor might not be the player who played the winning card.
6. Remove the winning Influence card from the table and place it on the discard pile.
7. After the Emperor card has been removed, any Influence or Barbarian cards no longer orthogonally adjacent to at least one other Emperor card are removed and placed in the discard pile.
8. Any cards not removed in the above steps remain in place.
9. If there is still at least one surrounded Emperor remaining at this point, the active player must choose the next one to resolve. Return to step 1 for that Emperor.

Emperor Resolution Example: the Pillar player has just played the Red 5 (Flanking Maneuver) card. This causes the tricks for Numerian and Maximinus Thrax to be completed, since both of those Emperor cards are now surrounded by cards.

The Pillar player decides to resolve Numerian first. Looking at the four Influence cards surrounding Numerian, ordinarily the Yellow 3 (Quaestor) would win the trick. However, Quaestor says that when resolving the trick, the trump suit of the Emperor card is ignored. Therefore, the highest ranked card of any suit wins, and Pillar captures Numerian with the Blue 7 on his side of the Emperor. Pillar places Numerian in his scoring area and the Blue 7 is discarded because it won the trick. The Yellow 3 is also discarded because it is now no longer orthogonally adjacent to an Emperor card.

Now Thrax must be resolved since he is still surrounded by Influence cards. Red is trump for this trick. Here, the Red 6 would win the trick for the Eagle player, but the Blue 5 has had its value increased by 1 (due to a prior play of Influence Peddling), making it a 6. The Red 6 and the Blue 5 thus cancel each other because they have the same effective value. The Yellow 4 (Ambitus) is treated as if it were Red because of its special ability, but Pillar captures Thrax with the Red 5 as the highest uncanceled trump card in the trick. Pillar places Thrax in his scoring area and the Red 5 is discarded. All other cards remain in place. A great turn for Pillar!

If Pillar had chosen to resolve Thrax first, he would have captured Thrax in the same way. But then after the Red 5 has been discarded for winning the trick, Numerian is no longer complete and thus will not be resolved this turn.

8.0 Select a New Card

A player must always end his turn by selecting a new card from the Forum to replace the one he played. Depending on the card that was played, the player is given access to a different subset of the cards in the Forum, as follows:

• If the player played a card of value 0-2, he may choose to select any card.
• If the player played a card of value 3-4, he may choose to select any one of the 3 LEFTMOST cards.
• If the player played a card of value 5-6, he may choose to select either of the 2 LEFTMOST cards.
• If the player played a card of value 7-8, he must select the LEFTMOST card.

Example: if the four cards above are in the Forum, then the player may select from the following cards:

Value of played card	Cards available to select from
0, 1, or 2	Any of the 4 cards
3 or 4	Any of the 3 leftmost cards
5 or 6	Either of the 2 leftmost cards
7 or 8	The leftmost card only

After selecting a card, the top card of the draw deck is revealed and placed in the Forum, re-ordering cards as needed so that all of the cards are still in ascending numerical order. In the event of a tie, place the newly drawn card closest to the draw deck.

If the draw deck is now empty (i.e. the last card from the draw deck has just been placed into the Forum), immediately move the 4 cards from the Forum to the discard pile. From this point on, all players skip selecting a new card at the end of their turn. Players continue playing the round until a player is unable to play.

9.0 Clarifications

• The number of cards remaining in the draw deck is public knowledge.
• Any Influence card covered by a Barbarian card may be examined by players.
• Players may not examine the contents of the discard pile. You should keep the discard pile neat so only the top card is visible.
• When an Influence card refers to "a legal space", it means a space into which the active player could normally play an Influence card. That is, a space on the active player's side of an Emperor card in play. See the diagram under Play a Card (6.0) for examples.
• For all purposes, spaces on the board that are no longer orthogonally adjacent to a remaining Emperor card should be considered out of play for the remainder of the round.
• When the rules or an Influence card refers to "an active Barbarian", it means a Barbarian card that is in play, occupying a space on the board. Barbarian cards in the Forum, a player's hand, or in the draw deck or discard pile are not active.

10.0 Special Abilities

Red 1-2 Reinforcements: You may place a +1 or +2 counter (as indicated) on any other Military Influence card already located anywhere on the board at the start of your turn. Therefore, you may not place the counter on the card used to generate the counter.

Red 3-4 Castra: This card, while it is in play, cannot be covered by a barbarian nor moved, flipped, removed, or modified by any special ability. However, it is still removed as required while resolving an Emperor or during end of round cleanup. In solo play only, if a barbarian would be placed on top of this card for any reason, discard the Castra and place the Barbarian card back in their holding box on the board.

Red 3-4 Cavalry: When ignoring cards with the same value while resolving an Emperor, do not ignore this card. If another Influence card's value matches this card's value, that other card is still ignored.

Red 5-6 Flanking Maneuver: After playing this card, you may swap it with any diagonally-adjacent Influence card. If no other Influence card is directly diagonally adjacent to this one, it cannot be swapped.

Red 5-6 Force March: You may play this card in any empty Influence card position that is adjacent to an Emperor. This means this card does not need to be played in a legal space for your faction.

Red 7-8 Praetorian Guard: You may play this card into a space that is currently occupied by an Influence card. The space must still be a space to which you can legally play. If you do, discard the already played Influence card.

Red 7-8 Spiculum: You may discard any other Influence card or Barbarian card already played on the Emperor that this card is played on. Simply remove the target card from the board and place it on the discard pile. If the Barbarian card was covering an Influence card, that Influence card is not discarded and remains in place.

Blue 1-2 Influence Peddling: You may place a +1 or +2 counter (as indicated) on any other Senate Influence card already located anywhere on the board at the start of your turn. Therefore, you may not place the counter on the card used to generate the counter.

Blue 3-4 Tribute: You may move a Barbarian card from anywhere on the board to the discard pile. If the Barbarian card was covering an Influence card, that Influence card is not discarded and remains in place. In solo play only, you instead may remove the Barbarian card that is currently placed closest to Roma (if there is one) and shuffle it back into the draw pile.

Blue 3-4 Princeps Senatus: At the end of your current turn, you may choose to draw the top card of the draw deck and add it to your hand and then also select a new card from the Forum according to normal rules. This means that you will play with an additional card in your hand for the remainder of the current round. If there are no cards remaining in the draw deck, the bonus draw is lost.

Blue 5-6 Foederati: You may play this card into a space that is currently occupied by an active Barbarian card. The space must still be a space to which you can legally play. If you do, discard the Barbarian card and any Influence card it was covering.

Blue 5-6 Frumentarii: Instead of selecting a card from the Forum at the end of your turn, you may choose to look at the top 4 cards of the draw deck and secretly select one to add to your hand. Place the cards not selected on the bottom of the draw deck in any order you choose. If there are fewer than 4 cards remaining in the draw deck, draw as many as remain.

Blue 7-8 Damnatio Memoriae: You may choose to remove from the game one Emperor card adjacent to the space in which this card is played. It does not have to be the Emperor on which you played the card. Simply remove the Emperor card from the game; no player captures the Emperor. You may even choose to target an Emperor card that was surrounded and ready to be resolved this turn.

Blue 7-8 Triumph: This card may be played in a space containing a Barbarian card. The space must still be a space to which you can legally play. The Barbarian card is placed in your scoring area. If the Barbarian card was covering an Influence card, that Influence card is discarded.

Yellow 1-2 Popularity: You may place a +1 or +2 counter (as indicated) on any other Populace Influence card already located anywhere on the board at the start of your turn. Therefore, you may not place the counter on the card used to generate the counter.

Yellow 3-4 Quaestor: When resolving any Emperor in which one or more Quaestor cards are involved, the color of the Emperor is ignored. There is no trump suit and therefore the single highest uncanceled card of any suit will capture the Emperor.

Yellow 3-4 Ambitus: When resolving any Emperor in which one or more Ambitus cards are involved, the suit of the Ambitus card is considered to be the same as the color of the Emperor. Therefore, the Ambitus card is always considered to be a trump card during Emperor resolution. If an Ambitus card and a Quaestor card are played on the same Emperor, however, the Ambitus card is still not trump because there is no trump suit.

Yellow 5-6 Mob: Flip any other Influence card played on the same Emperor face down, discarding any counters. That card is now considered to have no suit, no text, and a value of 0. The flipped card is still an Influence card in play. It can still be targeted by Spiculum, but it cannot be targeted by modifiers or Mobile Vulgus—which target cards of a certain suit.

Yellow 5-6 Mobile Vulgus: You may discard another Populace Influence card already played anywhere on the board.

Yellow 7-8 Pretender: You may place one of the set-aside Populace Emperor cards into any unoccupied Emperor space on the board. This Emperor is now available to be won according to the usual rules during the current round. It is possible that a new card could be placed into a space that is already surrounded by 4 cards and thus would be resolved during this same player turn.

Yellow 7-8 Demagogue: For all other players' card plays until the start of your next turn, any special abilities on Influence cards that would trigger when the card is played are ignored. Note that Barbarian cards are not Influence cards and are not affected – the ability on a Barbarian card played must still be used. The abilities on Quaestor, Ambitus, Castra, and Cavalry always still apply, since they are ongoing effects that are only checked when an Emperor is resolved. In solo play only, you may choose where rival claimants' Influence cards are placed (instead of following the normal AI constraints).

11.0 Two Player Rules

Follow all steps/rules for a four-player game with the following changes:

• Players are dealt five cards at the start of each round.
• Player one plays the Sword and Pillar factions. Player two plays the Eagle and Wreath factions.
• Play alternates back and forth, but on a player's turn they may play an Influence card in a legal space for either of their factions.
• Each player has a single scoring area and thus it is not necessary to keep track of which of their factions won the Emperor.

12.0 Three Player Rules

Follow all steps/rules for a four-player game with the following changes:

• The Wreath faction is not played in a three-player game.
• Each player may always play an Influence card in a legal space for their own faction or for the Wreath faction.
• Any Emperors captured by the Wreath faction are discarded.

13.0 Four Player Partnership Rules

Follow all steps/rules for a four-player game with the following changes:

• The Eagle and Wreath factions have a single scoring area as do the Sword and Pillar factions.
• Each partnership is playing to maximize their combined score, so different play strategies to assist your partner may be required.

14.0 Variations

Learning Game

If you would like to play a simpler game for learning the basic rules, follow all steps/rules for a normal game with the following changes:

• When setting up the game, set aside all Barbarian cards. Do not place Barbarian cards on the board and do not shuffle any Barbarian cards into the Influence draw deck.
• Ignore the special ability text on all Influence cards. Players do not have the option to use special abilities and ongoing effects are ignored as well.

Shorter Games

If you would like to play a shorter game, simply decide during game setup to play only 1 or 2 rounds instead of the full 3 round game. End the game and score normally after the desired number of rounds have been played.

15.0 Solo Rules

In the solo game you are attempting to remain Emperor while defending Roma against the invading barbarians and fending off three rivals to your throne. Follow all of the rules for a normal game with the following changes.

15.1 Setup

Place the Emperors as normal except place the Roma card, on its fortified side, in the middle of the board. You may increase the difficulty level of the game by starting the game with the Roma card on its non-fortified side.

Do not place the four starting barbarians. Instead place all 18 barbarians cards in their holding box on the map.

Replace the Castra, Tribute and Demagogue Influence cards with the solo versions of the cards.

Remove all value 1 and 2 Influence cards as they are not used in the solo game.

Shuffle all of the Influence cards and deal yourself a hand of four cards.

Deal out four cards to the Forum. The ordering of the cards does not matter in the solo game.

Select a difficulty level for your game which will determine the number of barbarians added to the draw deck each round.

Level	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
Easy	7	8	9
Normal	9	9	9
Hard	9	10	11

Shuffle the appropriate number of barbarians for the current round and the remaining Influence cards to form the draw deck.

You will play as the Sword faction and will be the start player for all three rounds.

15.2 Game Play

A game round consists of you and then each of your three rivals in clockwise order around the board taking turns until all Emperors are resolved or the draw deck is exhausted. You make all of the decisions for your turn, but the decisions for your rivals follow a simple AI. A round ends when all Emperors have been resolved or the draw deck is exhausted, but not when a faction doesn't have a legal play. At the conclusion of a round, any barbarians in the Forum remain.

15.2.1 Roma Card

While the Roma card has faction icons to allow playing of Influence cards around it, the card is not considered an Emperor. Thus the card has no suit and is not resolved when surrounded.

15.2.2 Drawing a Barbarian

Barbarian cards are no longer held in your hand, but instead are immediately placed on the board when drawn.

When you draw a Barbarian card, place it according to the rules below and then draw a replacement.

When a rival draws a Barbarian card, place it according to the rules below but do not draw a replacement.

15.2.3 Placing a Barbarian

If there are no active barbarians on the map, start an invasion by placing it in the middle barbarian homeland space on the active faction's side of the map. For example, if the Pillar faction draws a Barbarian card and there are no barbarians present it would be placed in space #1.

If there are already active barbarians present on the board, place the new Barbarian card in the lowest numbered space along the current invasion path that does not contain a barbarian. That is, place the new barbarian in space #1 if it does not already contain a barbarian; or space #2 if space #1 contains a barbarian; or space #3 if both spaces #1 and #2 contain barbarians; or finally space #4 if spaces #1, #2, and #3 all contain barbarians.

When placing a barbarian in the 2nd space on the invasion path, select the space that will cover up the highest valued card. If both spaces have the same value card or are empty, you may choose either space.

When placing a barbarian in the 4th space on the invasion path, if Roma is on its fortified side, place the barbarian back in its holding box on the map and flip the Roma card.

Immediately after placing an invading barbarian, you may grant that barbarian citizenship or defeat it (15.2.4) even if you are not the active faction. This will prevent flipping the fortified Roma card or losing the game if Roma was already on its non-fortified side.

15.2.4 Player Turn

You must perform the following steps during your turn:

1. Check for defeat
2. Select One:
   • Play an Influence card to the board
   • Grant Citizenship
   • Defeat a barbarian
3. Resolve any completed Emperors
4. Select a new card from the Forum

Check for Defeat

If you have no cards in your hand then you have lost the game. Your political allies have deserted you in your time of need.

Play an Influence Card

This action is exactly the same as in the multi-player version of the game. However, if you have no legal play, discard an Influence card of your choice from your hand, but do not select a replacement card from the Forum. This does not end the round.

Grant Citizenship

You may discard a Senate Influence card of your choice from the Forum and place the barbarian closest to Roma in the vacated Forum space. You may not replace the last Influence card in the Forum as there must always be at least one card for you to choose from at the end of your turn. This will reduce the number of cards you have to choose from for the rest of the game as your hawkish allies begin to waver in their support as you continue to negotiate with the barbarians rather than defeating them on the field of battle.

Defeat a Barbarian

You may discard a Military Influence card from your hand to defeat the barbarian closest to Roma. The value of the card needed to defeat the barbarian depends on how close it is to Roma.

• Being placed in Roma: 2 or less
• Adjacent to Roma: 4 or less
• Adjacent to a barbarian homeland: 6 or less
• In a barbarian homeland: 8 or less

You may call up the Militia to aid you in defeating the barbarians by discarding any number of Populace cards at the same time. Each Populace card subtracts two from the value of the discarded Military card. The text of all discarded cards is ignored and the defeated barbarian is placed back in their holding box on the board.

Design Note: The first iteration of the solo rules did require a higher value card to defeat a barbarian the closer to Roma the invasion got which seems logical. In practice though this just meant the player was always taking the high value Military cards from the Forum which was not that interesting. Needing lower value cards to defeat barbarians means the player is faced with a choice—do you take high value cards to capture tricks thus winning you the game or do you take low value cards to defeat barbarians thus preventing you from losing the game?

Select a New Card

You may not perform this step if you were forced to discard a card due to no legal plays.

You may select any Influence card from the Forum when re-filling your hand; the value of the Influence card you just played does not matter.

The only time you may select a new card from the Forum is during this step and ordinarily you may only select one. However, you may still use the abilities of Frumentarii or Princeps Senatus normally.

15.2.5 Rival Turn

During each rivals' turn perform the following steps:

1. Draw the top card from the draw deck.
2. If it is a Barbarian card, place it per the previous section. If it is an Influence card place it using the selection criteria below. Rivals never perform any optional abilities on played Influence cards, but any ongoing abilities still apply as normal.
3. Resolve any completed Emperors.

Selection Criteria

Continue down this list until a legal space for the active faction is found. If there is no legal space just discard the card. This does not end the round. Whenever the selection criteria, after applying tiebreakers, would force a Rival to play in a space that would immediately allow you, the Sword faction, or another Rival to win an Emperor without the Rival also winning an Emperor, ignore that play and instead advance to the next criteria.

1. A legal space that will immediately win the active faction an Emperor.
2. A legal space where the card's suit matches the Emperor's suit and the card's value is the highest unique value card of that suit played on that Emperor. Thus after playing the card the active faction is currently winning the Emperor played on and the played card matches the trump suit.
3. A legal space where the card's suit does not match the Emperor's suit and there are no other cards played on this Emperor that match his suit AND the card's value is the highest unique value played on the Emperor. Thus after playing the card the active faction is currently winning the Emperor played on, but the played card does not match the trump suit.
4. A legal space where the card's suit matches the Emperor's suit. Thus after playing the card the active faction is not winning the Emperor played on, but at least the card matches the trump suit.
5. Any legal space.

In all cases if there are multiple spaces matching the same criteria, apply the following tie breakers in order until a single space is selected.

1. Placement does not allow you, the Sword faction, to win an Emperor.
2. Placement does not allow another rival to win an Emperor.
3. Emperor with the greatest number of cards played on him—if resolving ties among selection criteria #2 or #3. Since the faction is currently winning the Emperor they want the trick to be as close as possible to being resolved. -OR- Emperor with the least number of cards played on him - if resolving ties among selection criteria #4 or #5. Since the faction is currently losing the Emperor or placing a card at random they want the trick to be as far as possible from being resolved.
4. Fewest adjacent Emperors matching the suit of the played card. In other words, the faction does not want to play a trump card for the other factions if possible.
5. Least number of Emperors to be resolved.
6. Your choice.

Example of Solo Selection: It is early in the first round and the Pillar faction has just drawn a Demagogue (8) card. All of the spaces where the faction could play the Influence card are indicated with a green check mark. To determine which space is selected you must refer to the selection criteria. The first criteria is a space that will win the Pillar faction an Emperor. No placement will allow the Pillar faction to capture an Emperor. The second criteria is a space where the card's suit matches the Emperor's suit and is the highest unique value card played on the Emperor. There are only three spaces where the Pillar faction can play where the Demagogue (Populace) card matches the Emperor's suit. Space #3 is not eligible as the card is not the highest unique value as the Triumph also has a value of 8. Since there are now multiple spaces (#1 and #2) that meet the same criteria, we must go to the next section to break the tie. Neither placement allows you or another rival to win an Emperor so tie breakers #1 and #2 do not help. Both Emperors that can be played on have the same number of cards next to them (one) so tie breaker #3 doesn't help. However tie breaker #4 does break the tie as playing the card on Jotapian (space #1) would also be a trump card on Numerian for the Sword faction (you) so the Pillar faction plays on Volusianus (space #2).

Later in the same round, the Pillar faction draws a Mobile Vulgus (5) card. This time the selection criteria is easy as playing on Maximinus Thrax will cause Volusianus to be surrounded and capture him for the Pillar faction as Demagogue (8) is not only the only trump suited card, but the highest value card as well.

Also, earlier in the round, you (the Sword faction) drew the first barbarian starting the invasion path on your side of the board. Then the Eagle faction drew another barbarian which was placed to the left of Licinianus. Later you played a Triumph to place the barbarian that was present in your scoring area. The next barbarian that is drawn will be placed on top of the Triumph card as your side of the board is still the active invasion path due to the barbarian adjacent to Licinianus.

Finally late in the round, the Eagle faction draws a Frumentarii (6) card. There are only three spaces where the Eagle faction can play a card. The first selection criteria does not help as none of the placements will win the Eagle faction an Emperor. The second criteria does not apply as while the Eagle faction can play on an Emperor whose suit matches the card, it is not the highest value card due to the presence of the Triumph. The third criteria does apply as while Jotapian already has a suited card played on him, Maximinus Thrax does not and the value of Frumentarii (6) card is higher than the Mobile Vulgus (5). However, if the Eagle faction plays there this will surround Numerian giving that Emperor to the Pillar faction. Therefore that placement is ignored and we continue down the selection criteria checklist. The next criteria is playing on an Emperor that matches the suit of the card even if the card is not the highest value. Therefore after rejecting it earlier, the Eagle faction will play on Carus to prevent giving an Emperor to another faction.

15.2.6 Resolving Emperors

If multiple Emperors can be resolved by a rival, they will resolve any Emperors they will win first, followed by Emperors other rivals will win and then any Emperors you will win. In addition they will resolve the Emperors in the order that results in the least number of Emperors won by you (the Sword faction) or other rivals.

If during a rival's turn it must choose which of the two other rivals will win an Emperor, you can make that choice for them.

Emperors won by rivals are placed in their scoring area as normal.

After resolving an Emperor, do not discard any Barbarian cards even if they are no longer orthogonally adjacent to an Emperor. The only way to remove Barbarian cards is by making them citizens or defeating them in battle, as described above.

15.2.7 Game Round End

At the conclusion of a round, clean up the board and re-create the draw deck as normal. However, any barbarians in the Forum remain, reducing the number of cards placed in the Forum at the start of the next round.

15.3 Victory Check

If the game ended due to barbarians sacking Roma or you having no cards in your hand at the start of your turn, you have lost.

Otherwise, determine legacy points for all of the four factions as normal. If you have the highest score, then you have successfully defended Roma against threats both internal and external. If you are victorious, determine your level of victory as follows:

• Easy Difficulty: +0 points
• Normal Difficulty: +5 points
• Hard Difficulty: +10 points
• Starting game on the non-fortified Roma side: +5 points
• No barbarians on the map at game end: +5 points
• Each Forum space not containing a barbarian: +2 points
• Each barbarian in your scoring area: +1 point

Final Score	Title
30+	Dominus et Deus—Master and God
25 - 29	Restitutor Orbis—Restorer of the World
20 - 24	Dictator Perpetuo—Dictator in Perpetuity
15 - 19	Princeps Civitatis—First Citizen
10 - 14	Augustus—Majestic
5-9	Imperator—Commander
0-4	Plebeian—Citizen

Extended Example of Play

In this sample game, Wray is playing the Sword faction; Lee, the Pillar faction, Brad, the Wreath faction; and Scott, the Eagle faction.

The game is set up with the initial Emperors randomly dealt as shown. The Influence deck is shuffled with 10 barbarians included, each player is dealt a hand of 4 cards, and the Forum begins with two barbarians, Flanking Maneuver (Red 6), and Praetorian Guard (Red 7). Wray is randomly chosen to play first.

Turn 1

Wray (Sword) plays Tribute (Blue 4) on Carus. The special ability allows him discard a barbarian card of his choice, and he naturally chooses to discard the one that starts on his own side of the board, to get it out of the way. Playing a 4 card allows Wray to draw one of the first three cards in the Forum, and he chooses the Flanking Maneuver (Red 6), which is replaced from the top of the deck with a Mobile Vulgus (Yellow 5).

Scott (Eagle) plays Castra (Red 3) on Philip the Arab. This card has a lasting effect that is automatically always applied to it. Scott also can choose from the first three cards in the Forum, and he draws the Mobile Vulgus (Yellow 5), which is replaced with an Influence Peddling (Blue 1).

Lee (Pillar) plays Ambitus (Yellow 4) on Sabinianus. This card also has a lasting effect that will automatically apply whenever it is involved in an Emperor resolution. Lee draws the Influence Peddling (Blue 1) card from the Forum, which is replaced with a barbarian card.

Brad (Wreath) plays Demagogue (Yellow 8) on Jotapian. Note how it is perfectly acceptable to play in the barbarian homeland spaces just as if they were any other space for Influence cards – the barbarian icon simply shows where it is possible for barbarian cards to be added to the board. And due to Demagogue's special ability, the special abilities of all Influence cards played by other players in the next turn will be ignored. Since Brad played an 8 card, his only option is to draw the first card in the Forum, a barbarian, and it is replaced by Popularity (Yellow 1).

The situation at the end of Turn 1.

Turn 2

Continuing around the table, Wray plays Foederati (Blue 5) on Gordian II and he must choose to draw one of the two barbarian cards, which is replaced with a Cavalry (Red 4). Wray can't use the special ability for placing Foederati, due to the influence of Brad's Demagogue.

Scott plays the Mobile Vulgus (Yellow 5) that he drew last turn on Volusianus. He also cannot use Mobile Vulgus's special ability. He chooses to draw the remaining barbarian card and it is replaced with Damnatio Memoriae (Blue 8).

Lee plays Influence Peddling (Blue 1) on Philip the Arab, and the special ability is again blocked. This card is no help for him to eventually capture Philip, but it doesn't really help any of his neighbors much either and playing the low number allows him to draw the Damnatio Memoriae (Blue 8) from the Forum. The Forum is refilled with Frumentarii (Blue 6).

Brad plays a barbarian in the middle homeland space on Wray's (Sword) side of the board, replacing the one he removed. Remember new barbarians can be placed in any homeland space on the board, regardless of which side you're playing. This is definitely setting up for a capture of Philip the Arab. Brad's hoping for a chance to control when and how that happens, but the other players may have something to say about it. Brad draws the Frumentarii (Blue 6) and it is replaced with Castra (Red 4).

The situation at the end of Turn 2.

Turn 3

Wray responds immediately by discarding a barbarian card from his hand to move the barbarian that Brad just placed up to the space between Philip and Jotapian. (Notice that the barbarian could not have been moved to cover the Castra, due to its special ability.)

Barbarians are fickle and now Wray might have a chance to capture Philip. Since barbarians are value 0, Wray can choose the highest card from the Forum, the Praetorian Guard (Red 7). It is replaced with Flanking Maneuver (Red 5).

Scott (Eagle faction) then sees his chance and plays a barbarian of his own right back into the middle homeland space on Wray's side. Philip the Arab is now surrounded by four cards, and the trick must be resolved. Looking at Philip, we see that Castra (Red 3) applies for Scott (Eagle) in this trick, because it is on his side of the Emperor card. Influence Peddling (Blue 1) applies for Lee (Pillar) because it is on his side of the Emperor card. And there are barbarians (gray 0) on both Brad's (Wreath) and Wray's (Sword) sides of the Emperor card. Philip is Red, so the Castra (Red 3) is the highest trump card involved. There is no memory of who played which card. It so happens that Scott had played the Castra for his own benefit, but regardless of who played it, it wins Philip the Arab for Scott. Scott takes Philip into his scoring area, and places Castra (the winning card) on the discard pile. Finally, since the barbarian card on the Sword side is now no longer adjacent to an Emperor, it is also discarded. The Influence Peddling and the barbarian on the Wreath side stay in place. Scott scores the first point of the game, and he draws the Flanking Maneuver (Red 5) to refill his hand. It is replaced with Quaestor (Yellow 4).

Lee plays his Damnatio Memoriae on Gordian II. This is a great card for him to have a chance to eventually capture Gordian, but it also has another ability—it can discard any neighboring Emperor card from play. Notice that by placing this card, Aureolus would be completed and the trick resolved, but before that can happen, Lee uses Damnatio Memoriae to remove Aureolus from the game. Therefore, there is no trick to resolve any more. The barbarian on the Eagle side of where Aureolus was is also discarded as it is now no longer adjacent to an Emperor. To end his turn, Lee draws Popularity (Yellow 1) and replaces it with Princeps Senatus (Blue 4).

Brad plays Frumentarii (Blue 6) on Quintillus to beat Wray's Influence Peddling on that card, giving him a good chance to win that card in the near future.

We will end the extended example here. Brad has been foiled a couple of times, but it's definitely anyone's game at this point...

Index

Active Barbarian – 9.0; Barbarians – 6.2; Barbarian Homeland – 4.0; Citizenship (Solo game only) – 15.2.4; Emperor Cards – 2.0; Emperor Resolution – 7.0; Factions – 1.0, 6.1; Forum – 4.0, 8.0; Influence cards – 2.0, 6.1; Legal Space – 9.0; Negotiation – 6.3; Roma Card (Solo game only) – 15.2.1; Rounds – 1.0, 5.0; Select a New Card – 8.0; Sequence of Play – 5.0; Solo Rules – 15.0; Special Abilities – 6.1, 10.0; Victory Conditions – 3.0

Credits

Design & Development: Brad Johnson & Wray Ferrell

Playtesters: Bill Dyer, Glenn McMaster, Joe Abrams, John Tammes, Lee Proctor, Mark Ashton, Bill Desmarais, Scott Blanton, Jamey Cribbs, Jed Humphries, Jeremy Maciejewski

Art Director: Rodger B. MacGowan

Graphic Artists: Blackwell Hird and Mark Simonitch

Box Cover Illustration: Matthew Walhead

Proofreading: Scott Blanton, Kai Jensen, Brad Johnson, Wray Ferrell, Jonathan Squibb, and David Wilkinson

Production Coordination: Tony Curtis

Producers: Tony Curtis, Rodger B. MacGowan, Andy Lewis, Gene Billingsley and Mark Simonitch

GMT Games, LLC P.O. Box 1308 Hanford, CA 93232-1308