A Brief History of the World Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setting Up
The Epoch
Organisation and Allocation
Empire Turns
Conclusion
Miscellaneous
Two-player Game
Game Credits

Components

The board shows a map that is divided into lands, dark blue oceans and light blue seas. All lands are colour coded to show which area they belong to, e.g. Libya is coloured brown which shows it is part of the North Africa area. There are also eight barren lands (coloured white).

Each player will use a set of coloured armies, and a coloured disc known as a Gold marker.

Area circles are positioned close to their respective area, and are colour-coded.

Other playing pieces include forts, fleets, monuments and double sided counters showing a capital on the face and a city on the reverse.

A Gold track runs along the edge of the board.

The Epoch chart helps organise the game. Area values, Empire cards, Event cards, and Bonus tokens are placed on this chart.

The Array is used by the player whose empire is currently active.

Area values record the relative importance of each area as the game progresses.

Empire cards provide information about the various empires.

Six Epoch maps are provided as player aids: they give a summary of the empires that will appear in each epoch and the location of their start-lands.

Six dice are used to resolve invasions.

Event cards offer a variety of benefits to players in their turn.

Bonus tokens are awarded to the leading players at the end of each epoch.

Setting Up

Place the board in the centre of the table with the Epoch chart next to it.
Place the capitals, cities, monuments and fleets on the supply space at the North Pole.
Each player takes a set of armies and a Gold marker. Armies are kept off-map until needed and are referred to as the player's 'supply'.
Draw lots to select a player. That player places his Gold marker on the '1' space of the Gold track, the player to his left places his marker on '2', the player to his left on '3', and so on, until every player's marker is on the track.
Each player is given one Leader and one Weaponry card from the Event card deck. The remaining Leader and Weaponry cards are removed from the game.
Set up the Epoch chart:
- Place the Area values face down on the chart in their respective epochs.
- Sort the Empire cards by epoch, and shuffle each set. For each epoch count out cards equal to the number of players and place them face down on the chart. The remaining Empire cards are removed from the game.
- Sort and count out the Event cards in the same way as the Empire cards. Place them face down in their spaces on the chart. The remaining Event cards are removed from the game.
- Turn the Bonus tokens face down, shuffle them and place three in each Bonus tokens space.

Items on the Epoch chart may not be examined until they are brought into play. Cards that were removed may not be examined.

The Epoch

Each epoch is organised into three parts:

Organisation and Allocation - in which Area values are brought into play and cards allocated to players.
Empire turns - in which each player in turn establishes their empire and then expands it; after reorganization, gold is collected. Any number of Event cards may be played.
Conclusion - in which markers on the Gold track may be adjusted and Bonus tokens are awarded.

Organisation and Allocation

At the start of each epoch:

Take the Area values and place them in the appropriate Area circles on the map. Discard any Area value currently in that circle.
The player who is in last place (who has least gold) takes the Empire cards, chooses one and passes the remaining cards to the player who is in next to last place. This process is continued until all players have taken an Empire card.

Simultaneously, the player who is in first place (who has most gold) takes the Event cards, chooses one and passes the remaining cards to the player in second place. This process is also continued until all players have taken an Event card.

Empire cards and Event cards should be passed simultaneously.

e.g. In a four-player game, the fourth player will choose an Empire card while the first player is choosing an Event card. Then, the third player will choose an Empire card while the second player chooses an Event card, and so on.

In a three or five player game, the 'middle' player must choose from one set of cards before looking at the other set.
Empire cards and Event cards may never be shown to other players until they are declared and played.

Empire Turns

Determining the order of play

The seven empires of the epoch are listed at the top of each Empire card. Call out the first empire listed; if any player has received that Empire card, then they must declare it and play that empire's turn. When that empire has been played or if no one has received that Empire card, then the next empire on the list is called out. This continues, with each empire being either played or skipped (if no one has it).

After all seven empires have been called out (and either played or skipped), the epoch ends.

Your empire turn

Each empire turn consists of four steps:

establishing the empire
expanding the empire
reorganising the empire
collecting gold.

Establishing your empire

Take the Array, making sure the Invasion dial is set to '0'. Place your Empire card on its space on the Array and read the card as follows:

Place the number of armies onto the army space at the bottom of the Array.
Transfer one army (standing) from the Array to the start-land.
Any army, capital, city, monument or fort that was already occupying that land is removed.

Place a capital (if indicated) in the start-land.

Place a fleet in each sea or ocean named. Whenever an ocean is listed, the fleet placed there may also be used in each sea adjacent to that ocean.

e.g. If the Atlantic Ocean is listed, then the fleet may also be used in the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

The empire's Feature (if it has one) may be used during expansion.

Expanding your empire

Any army belonging to your current empire is considered to be 'active' and this is shown by armies being placed standing up. All lands containing an active army are part of your empire. You expand your empire by taking one army at a time from the Array and placing it in any land adjacent to either an active army or a fleet.

Each active army may be placed in one of the following:

an empty land.
a land containing an army belonging to another player (known as invading).
a land containing one of your own 'resigned' (lying down) armies (known as surrendering).
An army may never be moved once placed on the map.
No army may be placed in a barren land.
Straits (double-headed arrows) mean that those two lands are considered adjacent.
Only one army may be placed in each land.

Invading

Invading takes place whenever you place an active army into a land containing another player's army. This is the only time two armies can be in the same land.

You roll the dice first, followed by the player (known as the defender) who controls the army already in the land. If the invasion is successful, the defender removes his army, otherwise you remove your army.

e.g. You try to invade a land and roll 4,1, the defender rolls 5. You remove an army from the Array, and add +1 to the Invasion dial. You continue the invasion. This time you roll 6,2 and the defender rolls 6. However, with the +1 from the Invasion dial, this gives you a total of 7: you earn one invasion point.

Number of dice

Usually, you will roll two dice and the defender will roll one dice.

If you have used a fleet to invade, then reduce the number of dice you roll by one.
If there is a fort in the land, the defender rolls two dice.
Some Event cards allow extra dice to be rolled.

The dice roll

The highest single dice you roll is your score; all other dice are ignored. This is also the case for the defender.

e.g. If you roll a '4' and a '3', your score is 4.

If your score is higher than the defender, then you earn a number of invasion points equal to the difference between scores.

e.g. You roll '6' and '2', the defender (whose army is in a fort) rolls '4' and '3'. The difference in scores is two in your favour (your '6' compared to the defender's '4'), thus earning you two invasion points.

Taking control of the land

If the defender's army is occupying clear terrain, then it costs one invasion point to remove that army from the land.

If the defender's army is occupying mountain or forest then it costs two invasion points to remove that army (see Romans example opposite).

If you do not earn enough invasion points to remove the defender's army, you must remove your own army from that land.

Armies are always returned to a player's supply.

Continuing the invasion

If your attempt to invade a land fails, you may choose to continue the invasion. Instead of removing the army from the land, you remove an army from your Array; you may then add +1 to the Invasion dial. This gives a bonus that you add to your next attempt to invade that land.

The invasion bonus increases by +1 (to a maximum of +3) each time you choose to continue the invasion of a land.
If you successfully invade a land, the Invasion dial is reset to '0'.
If you abandon the invasion (that is, you remove the army from the land rather than from the Array), then the Invasion dial is reset to '0'.

Overruns

If you have any unused invasion points after taking control of a land, then you may use those points to take control of other lands (known as overruns).

Simply place an army in the land you wish to overrun, pay the appropriate number of invasion points (one point if the land is clear, two points if the land contains forest or mountain) and remove the defender's army. No dice are rolled.

The land chosen:

must contain an army belonging to the same defending player.
must be adjacent to the land that you have just taken control of (initially the land originally invaded but after that the land just overrun).
may not contain a fort (a fort is a barrier to overruns).
Fleets may not be used during overruns.

Often it will not be possible to use every invasion point; all unused invasion points are lost.

e.g. You are playing the Romans, and place an army in Balkans. You roll 6,5 and, because you have a +2 invasion bonus, score a total of 8. The blue player (the defender) rolls 3. This gives you five invasion points. You must pay two points to remove the defender's army from the Balkans (it contains mountains), and so have three invasion points to use elsewhere.

You may not take control of:

Rhineland (it belongs to a different player)
Pindus (it contains a fort) or
Crete (it is across a sea)

You may take control of either:

Danubia or
Anatolia

You take control of Anatolia (at a cost of two invasion points because of the mountains), and then use the final point to take control of Levant.

The final point could not be used to take control of Danubia (it is not adjacent to Anatolia).

Surrendering

Surrendering takes place whenever you place an active army into a land containing one of your own resigned armies. Unlike in an invasion, no dice are rolled; the defending army is simply removed from the land.

Reduction

Whenever you take control of a land containing a capital, city or monument, reduction must take place.

if the land contains a capital, it is removed and replaced with a city.
if the land contains a city, it is removed.
if the land contains only a monument it is removed.
If a land contains both a capital or city and a monument, it is the capital or city that is reduced; the monument remains on the map.
A fort is always removed when a change of control takes place in a land.
Reduction also takes place if a player surrenders that land.

Building forts

At any time during your turn, you may build a fort on the map by spending an army from the Array. This fort can be built in any land containing an active army, including one that contains a capital, city or monument.

During a turn any number of armies may be spent to build forts.
A land may never contain more than one fort.
Forts may never be turned back into armies.

Building monuments

Each time your empire takes control of the second of two resource symbols you may immediately build one monument on the map.

A resource symbol in a land controlled by a resigned army (lying down) does not count towards the building of a monument.

A monument must be built in a land controlled by an active army, and in a land containing one of the following (in order of priority):

a capital
a city
a resource symbol.

You may not build a monument if there is no suitable land or a monument is not available. No land may ever contain more than one monument.

Empire Features

During the course of your turn you may use the Feature shown at the bottom of some Empire cards.

Playing Event cards

You may play any number of Event cards during your turn.

Most Event cards require you to pay gold in order to play the Event; the amount of gold is shown at the top of that Event card. Simply reveal the card and move your Gold marker back the appropriate number of spaces.

Only one Event card may be 'in play' at any one time; after each Event card has been used, it is discarded.

e.g. If your empire is using Weaponry, you cannot play another Event card until Weaponry is discarded.

A new Event card may never be played after dice have been rolled during an invasion, nor when using extra invasion points to overrun.

Event cards showing a red epoch number must be played in the epoch indicated. The card must be played at the start of that player's turn, before the empire is established. If it is not played at that time, then it must be discarded.

An Event showing a black epoch number may be played in the epoch indicated or in a subsequent epoch. It may be played at any permissible time during a player's turn.

Armies that are placed as the result of an Event card being played are always taken from the player's supply, never from the player's Array.

Some Event cards allow the Event to be used continuously (for example, Leader and Siege-craft); the rest of the Events may be used just once (for example, Treachery and Black Death).

Reorganising your empire

When you have used all the armies on the Array, reorganisation takes place:

all fleets are removed from the map.
all standing armies are resigned.
the Empire card is discarded.

Collecting your gold

Gold is tallied on the Gold track.

If moving a Gold marker results in two or more markers occupying the same space, place the marker on top of the stack.
If your tally goes over '100', continue round the track; usually players will collect between 100 and 200 gold.

Gold is awarded at the following times:

whenever a reduction occurs during a barbarian empire turn or during the Barbarian Event.
at the end of your empire turn, when totalling gold for the control of capitals, cities and monuments.
at the end of your empire turn, when totalling gold for the control of lands.
at the end of the game, when totalling Bonus tokens.

Barbarian reduction

Any empire that does not receive a capital is barbarian. A barbarian empire collects one gold each time it reduces a capital, city or monument. This gold is added to that player's gold tally immediately.

Some Events result in barbarians becoming available; these also collect one gold for each reduction they cause.

Gold for capitals, cities and monuments

Total the value of all your capitals, cities and monuments and add this to your tally on the Gold track.

You collect:

two gold for each capital you control.
one gold for each city you control.
one gold for each monument you control.
Each such counter shows the appropriate amount of gold.

Gold for lands

Each Area value in play shows a value from '1' to '3'. If there is no Area value in an Area circle, then its value is '0'.

There are three levels of gold collection for an area: presence, dominance and mastery. Examine each area in turn, and collect the appropriate amount of gold.

Note: the Area circles are set in a spiral, starting with Northern Europe and ending with South America. Following the spiral is a good way to ensure each area is examined.

Presence

If you have at least one army in an area, you have presence, and collect gold equal to the Area value.

Dominance

If you have at least two armies in an area, and have more armies than any other player, you have dominance. You collect gold equal to two times the Area value.

Mastery

If you have at least three armies in an area and only you have armies in that area, you have mastery. You collect gold equal to three times the Area value.

Area values change from epoch to epoch as the balance of history changes.

Conclusion

Gold track adjustments

At the end of each epoch, when all empires have been played or skipped, the markers on the Gold track may need to be adjusted. Any marker lying on top of another is simply moved forward to the next available space.

If there is more than one space being shared, then resolve the lower numbered space first.

Bonus tokens

Bonus tokens are now awarded. The player with the most gold picks up the three Bonus tokens, selects a token and passes the other two tokens to the player in second place. That player then selects a token, and passes the other to the player in third place.

Bonus tokens are kept face down until the end of the game.

Winning the Game

At the end of Epoch 6 when the last set of Bonus tokens has been awarded, each player reveals their Bonus tokens, and adds the total to their gold tally.

The player with most gold wins the game.

A tie is a tie.

Miscellaneous

Assyrians, Huns, Mongols

These empires share the Feature known as Fear. This provides a bonus after a successful invasion.

Any monument in a land successfully invaded is not reduced. Any monument in the start-land of Gaul is likewise not reduced.

e.g. The Assyrians invade Levant. They roll 6,2; the defender rolls 4, so the invasion is successful. The Fear bonus is +1 so the Assyrians have a total score of three invasion points.

The Assyrians now invade Lower Tigris. They roll 4,2; the defender rolls 4. The invasion has not been successful, so no Fear bonus is awarded.

Vikings Empire card

Only one army may navigate the Atlantic Ocean during the Vikings' turn. No other army may cross the Atlantic, even if an invasion is unsuccessful or if extra overrun points are earned.

When invading from the sea an 'automatic success' needs an actual dice roll of '5' or '6'.

Incas and Aztecs Empire card

This card shows two separate empires. Play the Inca empire first, followed by the Aztec empire.

France Empire card

In a similar way to the Vikings' Feature, no army may expand from either of the two Influence armies (unless the Astronomy Event card is played).

United States Empire card

This is the only Kingdom that can be played in the epoch indicated or in a subsequent epoch. It must still be played at the start of a player's turn, before establishing the empire itself.

Israel Event card

In a Civil war overruns may be used. Monuments may be built.

Terminology

On many Event cards the word 'invade' is used. The player's army must be placed in a land occupied by an army belonging to another player.

'Resign these armies immediately'

This instruction is on the bottom of many Event cards. The armies of the Event are only resigned once the Event is fully completed.

Minor Empires

Each of these Event cards uses the Array in a similar way to other empires: overruns may be used. Monuments and forts may be built.

Kingdoms

Each of these Event cards places a city in the start-land.

Two-player Game

A Brief History of the World has been designed for three to six players. However if you wish to play with just two players, we suggest the following rules:

each player plays two colours, using two sets of armies and two Gold markers.
the player with the highest combined total of gold at game end wins.
a player can choose to surrender an army to an army of his other colour in just the same way as he can surrender one of his own resigned armies.
in all other cases the two colours are played as separate empires.
all other rules remain in place.

Game Credits

Game Design

Steve Kendall, Phil Kendall, Gary Dicken.

Art Work

Box-top illustration by Peter Dennis

Graphic Design and Production

Creative Design Partnership

Design notes

Design notes for A Brief History of the World can be found on the Ragnar Brothers website along with any rule clarifications that may become necessary.

For more information, visit: www.ragnarbrothers.co.uk

A Brief History of the World © Ragnar Brothers 2009