Bronze Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview of Components
  • The Board and Tokens
  • Technology Cards
  • City Cards
• Overview of Play
  • Example of Setup for Three Players
• Setup
• Turn Structure
  • 1. Playing a Technology Card
  • 2. Activating Technology Cards
  • 3. Placing Settlements
  • 4. Trade Routes and Provinces
• Game End and Scoring
• Example of End-of-Game Scoring
• City Cards
• Credits

Components

• 14 land tiles for the game board
• 1 starting board section
• 70 technology cards
• 50 city cards
• 1 first-player token
• 120 settlement cubes (30 of each of 4 colors)
• 21 trade-route tokens
• 12 province tokens
• Rules of play

Overview of Components

The Board and Tokens

The game board is made of vertical strips: the starting section, and lands that are attached to it on the right. The board is divided into seven horizontal landscapes: mountains, forest, steppe, savanna, desert, jungle, and coast. The symbols for these landscapes are shown on the front of the starting section, and also on the back of the land tiles.

On the front of each land tile, in each landscape, 1 to 3 symbols are shown. They mark the settlement spots that players will occupy with their cubes during the game. There are three kinds of symbols: settlements of farmers, herders, and hunters.

Province tokens are laid out above the lands. They go to whichever players founded the most settlements in those lands, and are worth 4, 5, or 6 victory points depending on their value.

Trade-route tokens are attached to the left of each vertical section. Each landscape has three matching tokens, valued 3, 5, and 7. These tokens go to whichever players build an unbroken chain of their own settlements within a landscape, and are worth 3, 6, and 10 victory points respectively.

Technology Cards

Players play technology cards in order to found settlements — occupying settlement spots on the board with cubes of their own color. Each technology allows settlements of certain kinds to be founded in certain landscapes. There are seven ordinary technologies in the game: State, Irrigation, Pottery, Wheel, Domestication, Religion, Construction. On the back of every technology card is the universal technology — Bronze Casting.

Bronze Casting is a "joker" that allows a settlement of any kind to be founded in any landscape.

A technology card shows:

1. The name of the technology
2. The landscapes in which this technology allows a settlement to be founded
3. The kinds of settlements that this technology allows to be founded
4. The minimum number of players at which this card is used

City Cards

Players receive city cards throughout the game. At the end of the game these cards give victory points if certain conditions are met. A detailed description of the cities can be found at the end of the rules.

A city card shows:

1. The name of the city
2. The points the card gives, and the conditions under which this happens
3. The minimum number of players at which this card is used

Overview of Play

On their turn, a player adds one technology card to their technology matrix. By doing so they activate one or more technologies, each of which lets them found one settlement on the board. Players found settlements moving from left to right, from land to land. In doing so, they receive city cards, province tokens, and trade-route tokens.

The game ends when one of three things happens:

• a player runs out of cubes;
• there are no more settlement spots left in the last land;
• both stacks of technology cards are exhausted.

The round is played out to the last player, then the rivals tally up the points they have earned, and whoever has more wins.

Example of Setup for Three Players

(A worked setup diagram in the rulebook shows: 1 — starting section; 2 — attached lands; 3-of-a-kind trade-route tokens (3/5/7) run down the left side of each landscape row; 5 — the play pool of technology cards; 6 — a row of settlement-spot symbols per landscape; 7 — province tokens above each land, valued 4/5/6; 8 — the city-card deck; 9 — the mammoth first-player token; plus starting cube supplies of 3 red, 3 blue, and 3 yellow/tan cubes shown at the side.)

Setup

1. Lay the starting board section in the middle of the table and attach random land tiles to its right, face down, according to the number of players (7 lands for two, 9 for three, and 11 for four). Put the remaining lands back in the box without looking at them — you will not need them in this game.

2. With two players, turn face-up one land closest to the starting section; with three or four players, turn face-up two lands.

3. Each player chooses a color and takes 30 settlement cubes of that color.

4. With two or three players, remove from the box the technology cards not used for that number of players.

With two players, only cards with two little figures are used; with three players, cards with three little figures are added to those; with four players, all cards are used.

5. Shuffle the technology cards and deal them face down (Bronze Casting side up) into five stacks, as evenly as possible. Players must not see which cards go into which stacks. Any four of these stacks become the play pool. Place these stacks next to the board and turn their top cards face up. The fifth stack is the reserve — set it aside. When any stack in the play pool runs out, put the reserve stack in its place and reveal its top card.

6. Lay out the trade-route tokens to the left of the starting section in the matching landscapes: the 10-point tokens next to the starting section, the 6-point tokens further out, and the 3-point tokens furthest to the left.

7. Lay one random province token face up above each land. The rest of the province tokens are not used in this game — put them back in the box.

8. With two or three players, remove from the box the city cards not used for that number of players (they are marked with little figures the same way the technology cards are). Shuffle the city deck and place it face down next to the board.

9. Randomly determine the first player. They take the mammoth token and keep it until the end of the game.

The first player takes their turn, then the turn passes clockwise.

Turn Structure

A player's turn consists of four phases.

1. The player takes the top technology card from any stack in the pool and places it in front of themselves.
2. The player determines which technology cards have been activated.
3. The player places settlements on the board and receives new city cards.
4. The player receives trade-route tokens and distributes province tokens.

1. Playing a Technology Card

The player chooses the top technology card from any stack in the play pool, takes it for themselves, and decides which side to play it — the front, or the reverse (Bronze Casting).

Having taken the top card from a stack, the player turns the next card in that stack face up, so that every player can see which technology lies there.

Note: a player may not take a card, look at what card lies beneath it, and then change their mind. Once a player has taken a card, it cannot be put back into the stack.

The player plays cards into four vertical columns in front of themselves, thereby building the technology matrix of their people. Cards are laid into a column from top to bottom, with no gaps. A column may hold any number of cards of any technologies.

When laying down a technology card, the player may place it into a column already begun, strictly beneath its bottom card, or start a new column — to the left or right of an existing one — at the top position. A player's technology matrix may have no more than four columns.

A player may not move technology cards that are already lying in the matrix.

Example: a player's matrix has three technology cards. They may lay a fourth card either continuing a column already begun, or in the top row to the left or right of the columns already begun.

2. Activating Technology Cards

By laying down a technology card, the player activates it — gaining the ability to place one settlement on the board using that technology. At the same time, other cards in the player's technology matrix are also activated, namely:

• cards of the same technology in the same column;
• cards of any technologies strictly to the left and right of the card just played (neighboring cards in the same row).

Example: a player plays Pottery and activates it, along with the neighboring Construction and Wheel. In this way they gain the right to place three settlements — one for each activated technology.

Example: a player plays Domestication and activates all the Domestication cards in that column, as well as the Construction card lying to the right. In this way they gain the right to place three settlements — two for the two Domestication cards and one for the Construction card.

Exception: the technology on the reverse of every card — Bronze Casting — does not activate other Bronze Casting cards in the same column. However, Bronze Casting does activate other technologies laid to its right or left according to the normal rules.

Example: having played Bronze Casting, a player activates that card itself and the neighboring Pottery. Other Bronze Casting cards in the same column are not activated.

Example: having played Domestication, a player activates that card itself and the Bronze Casting lying to its right.

Note: the arrows on technology cards show which other technologies get activated when they are played. Don't forget to also activate the technology that was just played.

3. Placing Settlements

For every card activated on this turn, the player may place one of their own settlement cubes on a free spot on the board. The kind of spot and its landscape must match the activated technology. If the player has activated several cards in a turn, they may place the settlements for them in any order (not necessarily starting with the card just played). A player may also decline to place settlements for one or more of the activated cards.

Example: Irrigation lets the player place a cube on a herder or farmer symbol in mountains, savanna, or desert. Since the first land has no available spots of that kind, the player may place settlements in the second land instead. In this case, though, the player will no longer be able to go back and place settlements in the first land.

The player may place settlement cubes in any open lands, but as soon as they occupy at least one spot in the next land (the one lying further to the right), the player may no longer place settlements in the previous lands (the ones lying to the left). All further settlements the player places must go either in this land or in the following ones. Within a land, settlements may be placed in any order.

When a player places a settlement in a land to the right of which lies a closed (face-down) land, they turn that land face up. If the player still has unplaced settlements, they may place them in the newly opened land as well (opening the next one in turn, and so on).

If a player places a settlement in a land where no one has any settlements yet (except in the first land), they immediately draw cards from the city deck: 3 cards in a two-player game, 4 cards in a three-player game, 5 cards in a four-player game. The player lays these cards face up on the table below the corresponding land, then takes one of these city cards of their choice and places it face up in front of themselves.

If a player places a settlement in a land where they have no settlements yet, but other players' settlements are already there (except in the first land), they take one of the already-revealed city cards lying below that land and place it face up in front of themselves. In each land, a player may take only one city. Unclaimed city cards are discarded.

4. Trade Routes and Provinces

If a player has an unbroken row of three settlements of their color in one landscape, they immediately take the matching trade-route token marked with the number 3, worth three victory points. A player does not get the token if another player already holds it.

Note: an unbroken row is a row not interrupted by other players' settlements. Unoccupied settlement spots do not count as interrupting a row. Even if such a row is later broken by a rival, the player does not have to return a token they already received for it.

A player gets the token marked 5 (6 points) and 7 (10 points) if an unbroken row of 5 and 7 settlements, respectively, has appeared for them. When receiving the higher-valued token, the player must return the lower-valued token of the same landscape, if they have one. In future turns, another player who fulfills the condition may take that returned token. A player does not receive a lower-valued token if they already hold a higher-valued token in the same landscape.

Example: the player playing blue does not receive the savanna trade-route token, because their row of settlements is broken by a yellow cube. The player playing yellow has a trade route of three settlements in the desert, worth 3 points, and in the jungle a route of five settlements for the player playing blue, worth 6 points. In both cases unoccupied symbols do not break the route. The player playing red has a route of three settlements on the coast, worth 3 points.

As soon as players can no longer place settlements in some land (because all its spots are occupied or all have been abandoned), advantage in that land is determined. The player whose settlements in that land are strictly greater in number than every rival's takes the province token laid above that land. This token brings them victory points according to its value. In case of a tie in the number of settlements, the province token goes to no one.

Game End and Scoring

The game draws to a close when any of three things happens:

1. In the play pool, two of the four stacks of technology cards have been exhausted. When one of the four stacks of the play pool runs out, the reserve stack set aside at the start of the game is placed in its spot (don't forget to reveal its top card). As soon as one more stack runs out, the game has come to an end.
2. One of the players has placed their last cube on the board.
3. All the settlement spots in the last land are occupied by players' cubes.

Once any of these conditions occurs, the current round is played out to the last player (the one sitting to the right of the holder of the first-player token). Once the last player finishes their turn, the game ends.

Before scoring, advantage is determined in those lands over which province tokens still remain. However, this only happens in lands that every player has reached. If there is at least one settlement belonging to every player in the land itself and/or to the right of it, the matching province token goes to whoever has strictly more settlements in it than every rival. If neither the land itself nor anything to the right of it has a settlement belonging to even one player, the matching province token goes to no one.

Victory points are scored for:

1. Province tokens. Each token brings its holder as many points as are shown on it.
2. Trade-route tokens. Each token brings its holder as many points as are shown on it.
3. City cards. Each city brings its holder as many points as are shown on it, provided the matching conditions are met.

The player with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied players compare, in turn, the points earned from city cards, trade-route tokens, and province tokens. The player whose advantage in one of these categories is found first becomes the winner. In case of an exact tie, share the victory.

Example of End-of-Game Scoring

The player playing yellow collected 8 city cards, 2 province tokens worth 6 and 4 points respectively, and 2 trade-route tokens worth 6 and 3 points respectively.

This player's technology matrix looks as follows: a first column of Construction, Domestication, Bronze Casting; a second column of Pottery, Wheel, Religion; a third column of Religion, Religion; a fourth column of Irrigation, Power.

The player also collected these city cards: Mohenjo-Daro, Hattusa, Nafplion, Thebes, Su-Nuraxi, Ugarit, Phaistos, Limantepe.

For Mohenjo-Daro the player gets 5 points, since they have 6 different technologies in their matrix. Hattusa brings them another 5 points — their matrix has no more than three cards of any one technology. For Nafplion the player gets 2 points — they have only one pair of Bronze Casting and Wheel. Thebes brings them no points — the player's matrix has no column of 6 or more cards. But Su-Nuraxi and Ugarit each bring 6 points for a row of technologies in the matrix — the first for a row with Pottery, Construction, and Religion; the second for a row with Wheel, Religion, and Power. Phaistos brings 2 points for every row of four technologies (4 points total), and Limantepe brings 1 point for every distinct technology in the chosen column (the second one) — that is 3 points. In total, the player has 50 points.

City Cards

City	Effect	Players	Location
Avaris	The player gets 6 points if their technology matrix has strictly more Wheel cards than every rival.	3-4	B2
Akrotiri	When scoring, the player chooses any column in their technology matrix and gets 1 point for every distinct technology card in that column. If a player has several cities with this property, they may choose the same column for all of them.	2-4	B1
Altyn-Depe	The player gets 6 points if their technology matrix has at least one horizontal row with Irrigation, Pottery, and Wheel (the order does not matter, and it does not matter what the fourth technology is).	3-4	B3
Amri	The player gets 6 points if they have at least one cube on a symbol of every kind (hunters, herders, farmers) in the savanna, and at least one cube on a symbol of every kind in the jungle.	3-4	B3
Arkaim	The player gets 6 points if their technology matrix has at least one horizontal row with Domestication, Power, and Pottery (the order does not matter, and it does not matter what the fourth technology is).	2-4	A3
Athens	The player gets 2 points for every pair of Bronze Casting and Religion in their technology matrix. In other words, the player counts how many Bronze Casting cards and how many Religion cards they have, and doubles the smaller of these two numbers.	2-4	A1
Ashur	The player gets 1 point for each of their own province tokens.	2-4	B3
Bactra	When scoring, the player chooses any column in their technology matrix and gets 1 point for every distinct technology card in that column. If a player has several cities with this property, they may choose the same column for all of them.	3-4	B3
Beycesultan	The player gets 2 points for every pair of Bronze Casting and Pottery in their technology matrix. In other words, the player counts how many Bronze Casting cards and how many Pottery cards they have, and doubles the smaller of these two numbers.	3-4	B2
Byblos	The player gets 1 point for each of their own trade-route tokens.	2-4	A2
Biskupin	The player gets 5 points if in the forest they have strictly more settlements than every rival.

(The "Players" column shows the minimum player count at which a city card is used, matching the little-figure icons printed on the card. The "Location" column reproduces the map-grid reference printed with each city on the rulebook's "Cities of the Bronze Age" world map.)

Credits

• Game designer: Konstantin Domashev
• Game development: Pyotr Tyulenev
• Producer: Nikolai Pegasov
• Artists: Anton Kvasovarov, Sergey Dulin
• Publisher: Hobby World LLC

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