Bomarzo Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• The Game
• Production Phase
• Action Phase
  • Actions on the Harvest Areas
  • Actions on the Divinities
  • Minimum Tribute
  • Wine and Dormant Divinities
  • Copy an Action
  • Resource Conversion
• Development Cards
  • A Development card played on its 1st level grants to the player the following
  • Upgrade a Card
  • A Development card played on its 2nd level grants to the player the following
• Status Phase
• End of the Game
  • Divinity Order
  • Victory Points from Divinities
  • Victory Points from Development Cards
• Appendix: Divinity Powers
• Promo Expansions
  • Seasons
  • Worship

Components

• 1 Game board
• 1 Season pawn
• 4 Village boards
• 20 action pawns in 4 colors, 5 each
• 20 worker indicators in 4 colors, 5 each
• 20 player's markers in 4 colors, 5 each
• 45 Development cards
• 4 Cover cards
• 8 Divinity cards
• 1 First Player card (Vicino)
• 76 resources cubes (30 food-yellow, 30 coins-gray, 16 wine-violet)

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table. Place the Season pawn on the space designated as "1" on the board, and put all of the game tokens in the box: this will be the game token "reserve." Randomly determine who will be the first player, and give him or her the First Player card. The other players will take their turns in clockwise order after the first player.

2. Each player chooses a color, and takes from the reserve the following tokens in that color: 2 Action pawns for a 4-player game or 3 Action pawns for a 2-3 player game; 5 worker indicators (cubes); 5 player markers (discs). In addition, each player receives 2 resources (1 Coin and 1 Food) and a Cover card. In a 4-player game, the last player receives 1 extra Coin or Food.

3. Each player receives one Village board and places it in front of him. He then takes the worker indicators, and places one on each of the 5 tracks on the Village board (on the starting slot of each track). Each player then puts his resource cubes and action pawns on the picture of the village on his board.

4. Shuffle the Divinity cards and randomly place them, face up (the non-moss covered side), around the game board in the positions shown below.

5. Shuffle the Development cards and randomly deal 4 cards to each player. Each player then chooses 1 card to keep "in his hand." In-hand cards must be kept on the table under the player's Cover card to avoid any confusion between played cards and in-hand cards. Each player discards the other 3 cards to the discard pile.

6. Place the Development deck (yellow side up) near the game board, and next to it place the discard pile (blue side up). When the Development deck is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile and create a new deck with those cards.

7. Each player then either moves 2 worker indicators up 1 step each on two tracks of his Village board; or moves 1 worker indicator up 2 steps on a single track. If a worker indicator reaches or passes a symbol on the track, the particular item is activated, i.e., additional resources/cards are gained during each Production Phase, or additional action pawns are immediately acquired. Should any player request it, this procedure can be carried out in player order.

Note: If during the game, the order of play is important with respect to performing an action, it will always follow the current player order.

You are ready to start!

The Game

Bomarzo is played over a consecutive number of game seasons, with each season consisting of the following phases in this order:

1. Production Phase
2. Action Phase
3. Status Phase

The game ends at the end of the 8th season.

Production Phase

In this phase every player collects income from 1) his Village board and 2) his Development cards in play.

1. Income from the Village board:

   A) For every Food, Coin, Wine symbol that is activated, you gain respectively 1 Food, 1 Coin, 1 Wine resource from the reserve.

   B) For every Card symbol activated you can take 1 card from the Development deck.

2. Income from Development cards:

   Each player takes income from the Development cards already played on the table, as indicated on the cards:

   A) collect 1 Food / 1 Coin / 1 Wine.

   B) draw 1 card from the Development deck.

Important: you can collect income from played Development cards and/or the Village board in any order you choose.

Wine can be used as Food or Coin.

If you have, in play, a Development card with the vision power then, when you draw cards from the Development deck, you may take 2 additional cards. Choose which cards to keep, and discard those cards in excess of the number of cards you would have been permitted to draw had you not used the vision power. The vision power can only be used once per season, so after you use the power, rotate the Development card 90 degrees to remind you that the power cannot be used again that season.

Action Phase

This phase is played in turns, starting with the first player, and continuing in a clockwise order until all Action pawns have been played. On their turn, each player places 1 Action pawn from his Village board on either a Divinity card or on the Harvest Area of the Game board in order to perform an action. After placing the Action pawn, the action is resolved immediately. Players continue taking turns placing their Action pawns and performing actions in this manner, until they run out of Action pawns. When a player runs out of Action pawns, he has to pass.

Note: if a player has more Action pawns than another player, he will perform more actions than the other player. It's also possible to copy a previous player's action on a Divinity card without having to spend an Action pawn. See "Copy an Action" below.

Actions on the Harvest Areas

An Action pawn placed in the Harvest Area of the game board allows a player to collect resource cubes as follows:

1. The 1st player to place 1 Action pawn on the Fields, gains 3 Food. The 2nd player gains 2 Food. The 3rd and 4th player gain 1 Food.

2. The 1st player to place 1 Action pawn on the Caves, gains 3 Coins. The 2nd player, gains 2 Coins. The 3rd and 4th player gain 1 Coin.

3. The 1st player to place 1 Action pawn on the Vineyard, gains 2 Wines. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th player gain 1 Wine.

A player can't harvest the same resource more than once during the same season.

Actions on the Divinities

Divinity cards have two Statuses: Active and Moss-Covered.

1. An Active Divinity requires a tribute of Food and/or Coins from the first player who wants to use it. The amount of the tribute that must be paid is shown on the Divinity card by icons to the left of the red arrow. In order to use the Divinity card's power, the player places his Action pawn on the Divinity card, along with the required resource cubes as tribute. He then immediately performs the action allowed by the card.

For example, Michael places his Action pawn on the Dea (Goddess) Divinity card. He places 1 Coin and 1 Food resource cube on the card as tribute and activates the card. He then performs the Dea (Goddess) power, and moves one of his worker indicators up 2 steps on one of the tracks on his Village board.

Any players who want to use that same Divinity card after the first player, must pay additional tribute, which is calculated based upon the resource cubes presently on the card. (see "Minimum Tribute").

See the Appendix (at the end of this rulebook) for a detailed list of Divinity powers.

2. A Moss-covered Divinity (see "Moss" in the Status Phase section below) requires less tribute from the first player who wants to use it, and in some cases no tribute is necessary. Any players who want to use that same Divinity after the first player, must pay additional tribute, which is calculated based upon the resource cubes presently on the card. (see "Minimum Tribute").

You cannot place more than 1 Action pawn on the same Divinity card during the same season. However, if you have played a Development card that has the repetition power, you can put 1 additional Action pawn on the same Divinity card. Rotate the Development card 90 degrees to remind you that the power has been used, and cannot be used again that season.

Minimum Tribute

When a player wants to use a Divinity card that has already been used by another player, the player must pay tribute by matching the exact resource cubes already present on the card +1 additional resource of any type (minimum tribute). When there are no resource cubes on a card, the next player must place 1 resource cube of any kind. If there is Wine on the card, a player can use any resource to match it.

Important note: you can always exceed the required tribute, or add resources as tribute when no tribute is required, for the purpose of increasing the minimum tribute that must be paid by the next player.

Example: David is the 1st player to invoke Tartaruga (Turtle). The tribute is 1 Food, but he chooses to pay 2 Food.

Chiara is the 2nd to invoke the Tartaruga (Turtle). The minimum tribute is 2 Food + any 1 additional resource, and she pays it.

A 3rd player invokes Tartaruga (Turtle). He has to pay at least 4 Food + any 1 additional resource for the wine + any 1 additional resource.

If you have played a Development card that has the raising power, and you put an Action pawn on a Divinity card, you can add 3 additional resources to the card by taking them from the reserve (Coins or Food in any combination). This will make the card more expensive for other players. Rotate the Development card 90 degrees to remind you that the power has been used, and cannot be used again that season.

Wine and Dormant Divinities

As soon as a Divinity card has 2 Wine resource cubes on it, it becomes dormant and can't be invoked again until next season. This applies to both playing Action pawns, and copied actions.

Example: David is the 1st player to invoke Orco (Ogre) and pays 1 Wine (as 1 Food). Then Jessica invokes Orco (Ogre) and pays 1 Food and 1 Wine (as 1 Food). After Jessica uses his power, Orco (Ogre) becomes dormant. No player can copy Jessica's action, and no other player can invoke Orco, for the rest of the season.

Copy an Action

Immediately after a player performs an action on a Divinity card, another player can copy it without using an Action pawn. The copying player has to pay the identical resources of the previous player plus 2 Wine resources. Those spent resources go directly into the reserve, and are NOT placed on the Divinity card.

Note: the resources used to copy an action must be identical to the resources paid by the previous player. So if the previous player pays, for example, 1 Food, 1 Coin and 1 Wine, the copying player must pay 1 Food, 1 Coin and 3 Wine.

Example: Chiara does the Dea action by paying resources of 1 Food and 1 Coin, and placing them on the card. David copies the action by paying 1 Food, 1 Coin and 2 Wine. David's resources go into the reserve.

Resource Conversion

At any time during the game, a player can discard 1 or more Development cards from his hand and gain 1 virtual Coin or Food resource for each card discarded. These virtual resources cannot be collected and must be spent before the current player's action ends.

Note: when virtual resources are used on a Divinity card, real resources are not substituted for the virtual resources. Thus, virtual resources have no effect on the minimum tribute that must be paid by the next player who wants to activate that Divinity card.

If you have, in play, a development card with the exchanging power, you can spend 1 Food resource as 1 Coin resource and vice-versa. Rotate the card 90 degrees to remind you that the power has been used, and cannot be used again that season.

Development Cards

You can draw Development cards from the deck in the Production Phase, or by activating the Genio (Genius) power. Development cards have 2 levels: The first side with the blue-gray color shows the 1st level benefits. The second side with yellow color shows the 2nd level benefits. When first played, a Development card must be placed on the table with the blue side showing (1st level). It can later be upgraded to the 2nd level as described in "Upgrade a Card" below. When a Development card is upgraded, it is turned over to reveal the yellow side.

You can play a Development card from your hand to the table by performing an action using the following Divinity cards: Gigante (Giant), Elefante (Elephant) or Balena (Whale). However, the Development card must have an icon in its upper-left corner that matches the icon on the Divinity card: Gigante / Giant, Elefante / Elephant, Balena / Whale.

For example, the card shown has the building icon and requires the player to perform an action using the Gigante (Giant) Divinity card.

When you play a Development card, place it on the table near your Village board.

Some Development cards have two icons in the upper-left corner, separated by a line. With those types of cards, the player can use either icon when selecting the appropriate Divinity card on which to perform the action.

For example, the card shown has both the knowledge and building icons, and requires the player to perform an action using either the Elefante (Elephant) or the Gigante (Giant) Divinity card.

The icons located on the bottom-left of a 1st level Development card duplicate those icons located at the top of the reverse side of that card (on its 2nd level side). Thus, there is no need to turn over a Development card in order to know its 2nd level characteristics.

For example, the card on the left depicts the Altar card on its 1st level. The icons at the bottom of that card are the same icons located at the top of the card when it is flipped to its 2nd level side (see the card on the right).

A Development card played on its 1st level grants to the player the following

1. Progress advancements on secondary development fields: Culture, Architecture and/or Science tracks located on the Game board. The icon located in the upper-right corner of the Development card identifies the particular track on which the advancement takes place, and the red number in the icon indicates the amount of the advancement in steps.

For example, this card grants the player a 1 step advancement on the Culture track of the Game board.

Advancements are recorded immediately on the corresponding track of the Game board, starting on the first space of that track (use your player marker to record the advancement). The first player to reach a 1 VP symbol (only the first player) will gain 1 VP. The maximum advancement achievable on the Culture, Architecture and Science tracks is 10 steps for each field.

2. A special Temple symbol in the lower-right corner of the card. These symbols become important at the end of the game in calculating a player's VPs. It's important to collect as many different symbols of these as possible, as the greater variety of symbols a player has, the greater his VPs can be. Note: this symbol is only on the 1st level side of the Development card.

For example, this card grants the moon symbol to the player.

3. The Devotion score (the white number located at the center of the top of a first level Development card). By performing an action using the Drago (Dragon) Divinity card, you can take a card from your hand, and place it under any Divinity card on the table. At the end of the game, you'll determine the Devotion value for each Divinity by adding up the Devotion scores of all the cards placed under the Divinity. The order of placement of the Divinities around the board will be modified by the Divinity's respective Devotion value, with the Divinity having the highest Devotion value being placed in the first position (see End of the Game section). The higher the position of the Divinity, the more VPs it can provide.

For example, this card gives 4 points in Devotion.

If you have, in play, a Development card with the drago power you can place 1 additional card under a Divinity (the same Divinity or another). Rotate the Development card 90 degrees to remind you that the power has been used, and cannot be used again that season.

Upgrade a Card

Development cards can be upgraded to level 2. Upgrade a Development card to its 2nd level by following the same procedure used to play that card to the table, i.e., by performing an action using the appropriate Divinity card: Gigante (Giant), Elefante (Elephant) or Balena (Whale). Once that action has been performed, flip the Development card over to reveal its 2nd level.

A Development card played on its 2nd level grants to the player the following

1. A progress advancement in a primary development field, i.e., the Building OR Knowledge OR Character field, depending on the icon shown in the upper-left corner of the card. Those advancements are calculated at the end of the game, and are not recorded on a track. Note: all of the advancements obtained from the level 1 card are maintained.

Some cards show two icons separated by a line. With those types of cards, the player takes ½ advancement in both fields.

For example: Playing this card, at the end of the game, the player gains ½ advancements in both Character and Building field.

2. Progress advancements in secondary development fields, i.e., Culture, Architecture and/or Science tracks located on the Game board. The icons located in the upper-right corner of the Development card identify the particular tracks on which the advancement takes place, and the red number in the icons, indicates the amount of advancement in steps.

For example: The player advances 1 step on the Culture track and 2 steps on the Architecture track of the Game board. At the end of the game, the player will also gain 1 advancement in Knowledge.

The player must immediately record any advancements in secondary development fields on the corresponding track on the Game board.

3. Income or Power benefits. As previously described in the Production Phase section, a Development card can provide a player with Coins, Food, Wine, or special Powers.

For example, David upgrades one of his played Development cards (see the above card on the right). He immediately records an advancement of 3 steps on the Culture track of the Game board. In addition, at the end of the game, he gains 1 advancement in the Character primary field. Furthermore, David is now able to use the vision power.

Status Phase

After completing the Action phase, the players perform the Status phase. The following actions must be performed for this phase:

1. Moss: if a Divinity card does not have an Action pawn on it, and it is on its Active side, it must be flipped over to its moss-covered side; if a Divinity card has an Action pawn on it, and it is on its moss-covered side, it must be flipped over to its Active side.

2. Reset: collect your Action pawns from the Divinity cards, and the Harvest area of the Game board, and return them to your Village board. Collect all of your resource cubes from the cards, and place them in the reserve. Rotate to an upright position any of your Development cards that have been rotated 90 degrees, so that they can be used again.

3. Time line: advance the Season pawn on the season track.

4. Turnover: move the First Player card clockwise to the next player. That player now becomes the first player for the new season.

End of the Game

At the end of the 8th season the game ends. The winner of the game is the player who has earned the most VPs. In order to calculate a player's VPs, one considers two sources for VPs: VPs from Divinities, and VPs from Development cards.

Divinities award VPs to players based upon which player has the greatest advancement in each of the following field/resource categories: Building, Knowledge, Character, Culture, Architecture, Science, Coins or Food. Each Divinity only awards VPs for one particular field/resource category shown at the upper-right corner of the Divinity card (the icon surrounded by the red laurel). That is the Divinity's scoring category.

Example: Orco (Ogre) scores VPs for the player with the most Food resources. Gigante (Giant) scores VPs for the player that has the most Building icons on second level Development cards that have been played.

However, the amount of VPs to be awarded, depends upon the Divinity's position around the Game board with the Divinity positioned in the bottom-left, being awarded the greatest VPs.

The method for determining the player that has the most advancement in a particular field/resource category is based on the type:

With regard to the secondary fields of Culture, Architecture and/or Science, one looks at which player has the greatest step advancement in each of those fields as shown on the appropriate track on the Game board.

With regard to the primary fields of Building, Knowledge and Character, one looks at the 2nd level Development cards played by each player. Note: for any double field cards, the player will obtain a ½ point for both fields.

For Coin or Food resources, one looks at each player's Village board to see which player has the most of that particular resource.

Divinity Order

Before scoring for each Divinity, reveal any Development cards that have been placed under it, and total the Devotion scores of the Development cards.

This sum represents the Devotion value for that Divinity. Place the Divinity cards in order by their Devotion value, with the highest being placed in the first position around the Game board (the bottom-left position). Continue in a clockwise direction around the board with the second highest in the next position, and so on. In case of a tie between the Devotion values of two or more Divinities, leave them in their previous order.

The order of position of Divinities. In this example the Balena (Whale) holds the first position.

Example: At the end of the game there are 2 Development cards placed under Balena (Whale), 2 under Orco (Ogre), and 1 under the Gigante (Giant) Divinity. Players reveal the cards and add their Devotion scores to get the Devotion values. Those values are, respectively, 9 (4+5), 7 (2+5), 3. The Balena Divinity card is placed in the first position, the Orco in second position, and the Gigante in third position around the Game board.

Victory Points from Divinities

After the Divinity order has been completed, the players must determine the amount of VPs that are awarded by each Divinity. Look at the Divinity's scoring category (as identified above) and determine which player has the most advancement in that particular category using the method described previously. In 3-4 player games, the player with the second-highest advancement in that category must be determined as well. The Divinity will award VPs, shown in the red box, to the player or players based upon the Divinity's position around the Game board. Note: a player who has a 0 score in a category, e.g., no steps on the culture track, cannot score VPs.

Note: the 2nd player points are not scored in 2-player games.

For example Genio (Genius) gives 3 VPs to the 1st in Science and 2 VPs to the 2nd; Elefante (Elephant) gives 2 VPs to the 1st in Knowledge and 1 VP to the 2nd, and so on.

If there is a tie between two or more players, every player scores the full amount of VPs (no sharing). In addition, the next untied player scores VPs as the second player (if applicable).

Example: David and Jessica are both first with respect to a field worth 3 VPs, so both are awarded 3 VPs. Frank, the player with next highest score for that field, is awarded 2 VPs.

Note: At the end of the game the Wine resource is useless: you cannot convert it to Food or Coins (for example, when you score Orco or Tartaruga).

Victory Points from Development Cards

VPs can also be scored from Development cards. Each player receives a VP bonus from Development cards played on the level 1 side. The bonus amount depends on the total number of different Temple symbols the players have on their cards as shown in the following table:

• Development cards with 3 different symbols, 1 VP
• Development cards with 4 different symbols, 2 VP
• Development cards with 5 different symbols, 4 VP

After scoring all the divinities and Development cards, the player with most VPs is the winner. If the players are tied, they share the victory.

If a player goes over 10 points, simply move the marker to the 1 VP space, and use an additional disc marker to record any VPs over 10.

Appendix: Divinity Powers

GENIO (GENIUS) Favor: take 2 Development cards. Tribute: 1 Coin. Scoring: Science

ORCO (OGRE) Favor: take 1 resource (not Wine) from every other Divinity card that has an action pawn on it, OR take all resources of 1 kind from a single Divinity card (not Wine). Tribute: 1 Food. Scoring: Food

DEA (GODDESS) Favor: move 2 worker indicators by 1 step or 1 worker indicator by 2 steps on your Village board: if you activated an Action Pawn symbol, immediately add 1 Action Pawn to your reserve. Tribute: 1 Food and 1 Coin. Scoring: Culture.

GIGANTE (GIANT) Favor: play or upgrade a Development card with the Building icon. Tribute: 2 Food and 1 Coin. Scoring: Architecture.

ELEFANTE (ELEPHANT) Favor: play or upgrade a Development card with the Knowledge icon. Tribute: 1 Food and 2 Coins. Scoring: Knowledge.

TARTARUGA (TORTOISE) Favor: discard 1 Development card from your hand and advance your marker by 1 step in a field on the board, or discard 2 cards to advance 2 steps in the same or different fields on the board. Tribute: 1 Food. Scoring: Building.

BALENA (WHALE) Favor: play or upgrade a Development card with the Character icon. Tribute: 1 Food and 2 Coins. Scoring: Character.

DRAGO (DRAGON) Favor: Take a Development card from your hand and place it under a Divinity card of your choice. Note: do not let other players see the number shown on the level 1 side of the card. Tribute: 1 Coin or 1 Food. Scoring: Coins.

Promo Expansions

These expansions have been made for the launch of the game. If still available, it should be possible to find them in your favorite game shop.

Seasons

Shuffle the 12 Season tokens, then randomly take 1 token and put it on the Game board near the first Season number. Repeat the procedure for each Season number on the board until 8 tokens have been placed. Give to each player a Resume card.

Each season, a modification is applied based on the color of the token for that season:

• White token. No modifications.
• Black token. Villages do not have a Production Phase for this season.
• Green token. A maximum of 2 actions per player are allowed.
• Yellow token. Divinity action copying is not allowed.
• Brown token. Card powers/incomes do not work.

Worship

Shuffle the 8 Worship cards and place the deck near the board. Each card represents a Divinity. During their turn, players can take 1 card from the Worship deck plus 1 additional card for each 2 resources (any type) paid to the reserve. Players can keep only 1 card from those drawn, and the others must be put back (reshuffle the Worship deck). Keep the card hidden from the other players.

At the end of the game, a Worship card is considered accomplished if the player who holds it won his corresponding category. For each accomplished card, a player gains 3 VPs. For each card that is not accomplished he loses 1 VP.