Byzantium
Byzantium Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
An Overview of Byzantium
'Byzantium' can be played by two, three, or four players. Players represent the heads of wealthy and influential families in Asia Minor and the Middle East. They use their resources, which are money and cubes, to control both the Arab and Byzantine forces for their own personal benefit. These are the two opposing sides in this period, with the Arabs represented by the colour white, and the Byzantines by the colour purple. At the start of the game the Persian Empire is also represented, (grey locations), but these will quickly tumble to the Arab or Byzantine armies.
Each player has an Army Display which shows the profile of each of his two armies – Arab, (white), and Byzantine, (purple). There are four boxes for each army, Elite, Main Army, Levy, and Move. The first two are part of the field army. Levies can defend any city controlled by that player. When a Field Army moves a cube must be expended from the Move box. The Display also has each sides Treasury marked on it. The fighting ability of an army is determined by how many cubes are present in each of the boxes. There is also a Cube Pool where spare cubes are held. These cubes can be used to benefit either side.
Each player has two Field Army pawns, one for the Byzantines and one for the Arabs. The pawns are the same colour, so which side they belong to is determined by the location in which they are sited, i.e. a pawn in an Arab location is an Arab Field Army. Neither pawns start on the map. The Arab pawn is placed the first time the owing player makes an attack with the Arabs.
The Byzantine pawn is placed the first time the owning player takes control of a Byzantine city.
The game will normally last three turns, although it can be cut short by the fall of Constantinople. Each turn consists of an unknown number of rounds. In each round each player will perform one action. Rounds are repeated until all but one player have passed. The last player has one final action, which then moves the turn on to the Income and Maintenance phase.
A player can perform one of a number of actions during a round. He can take control of an uncontrolled city by simply placing one of his cubes on top of it. He immediately scores victory points for doing so. He can add up to three cubes to his Army Display. He can tax to raise additional money. He can select one of the Special Actions by placing one of his cubes in one of the boxes of the Special Action Display. He can choose to spend money to build a church or mosque to honour his religion.
He can choose to move and/or fight with one of his two field armies. Finally, he can choose to pass. However, once a player has passed he can perform no more actions in the present turn. Note that all of the actions will require the expenditure of one or more cubes. A player generally passes when he has no more cubes to use or money to buy them with.
Money will be counted in Bezants. This was the European term for gold coins, which were normally produced in the Byzantine and Arab empires, the name being derived from the word Byzantium. The large silver counters represent five Bezants, while the smaller copper coins represent one Bezant.
Cubes play a major role in this game, and one could think of it as a cube management game. Players start with a number of cubes on their Army Display. Those in the cube pool are available for use at no cost. They can be used to benefit both Arabs and Byzantines. A player can also buy cubes from either his Casualty Pool or those that are part of an Army. These always cost three Bezants and must be used to benefit the side that paid for them.
Combat has been kept as simple as possible. Most of the fighting during the game will involve a Field Army attacking a city. The defending player rolls a number of dice equal to the number of City tokens in the city to determine how many attacking cubes are eliminated. In all combat situations a roll of 4 or more results in the elimination of a cube. If the attacker ends up stronger than the city then he takes control of the city. If two armies meet then each side rolls a number of dice, determined by their strength, to see how many opposing cubes they eliminate. The army that ends the battle with the most cubes wins, with the loser retreating. If the attacker won he would then have to attack the city, which means possible suffering more losses. Levies can play a part by inflicting additional casualties on an attacking army.
When cities change hands due to combat they are reduced in strength, i.e. they end up with one less City token on them. The only exception to this is when they only have one token on them, in which case no victory points or plunder are gained.
Victory points are scored during the game when a player takes control of a city, when he successfully attacks a city, when he becomes either the Emperor or Caliph, or when he builds a mosque or church. There is also a final round of scoring at the end of the game. Note that there are two victory point tracks and players must be careful to add the points to the right track. At the end of the game players will add together their victory point scores for each side, unless one side has less than half the points of the other, in which case they only count the higher score. Thus players need to balance scoring points in both sides, unless they think they can go for a knock-out victory by having the most Arab victory points and capturing Constantinople.
Components
- 1 map board
- 1 set of rules
- 4 Army Displays
- 60 purple Byzantine City tokens
- 60 white Arab City tokens
- 8 orange Bulgar City tokens
- 11 orange Bulgar cubes
- 1 Emperor's Guard – purple cube
- 1 Arab Guard Cavalry – white cube
- 30 silver counters
- 40 copper counters
- 1 turn marker
- 6 dice
- 42 cubes per player (red, yellow, blue and green)
- 4 tokens per player (red, yellow, blue and green)
- 2 Field Army pawns per player (red, yellow, blue and green)
Starting the Game
Place a number of City tokens of the correct colour on each city, equal to the value in the circle. No tokens are placed in the grey Persian cities or Constantinople. (Byzantine cities show a purple City token pile; Arab cities show a white City token pile; Persian cities show a grey strength value.)
Place seven orange cubes in the Bulgar box. Place the purple cube in the Emperor box of the Special Action Display. Place the white cube in the Caliph box of the Special Action Display.
Randomly determine the first player using the dice. The order of play will go clockwise from the 1st player. Each player should select a set of cubes, tokens, Army pawns, and an Army Display. Players then place their starting forces on their display. The values in the grey squares show how many cubes start in each box. The remaining cubes should be placed to one side. This is the player's Casualty Pool. All Field Army pawns remain off the map at the start of the game.
The Bezants should be placed in a general bank. Each silver coin represents five Bezants. Each copper coin represents one Bezant. Each player starts with fifteen Bezants in the Byzantine treasury and five Bezants in the Arab treasury.
Place the Turn marker on the 1st space of the Turn Track. Each player starts with ten victory points on each of the two Victory Point tracks, (players should use one of their four tokens to record points on each track).
Playing the Game
The game will last three turns. Each turn consists of the following phases:
- Player Actions
- Income and Maintenance
- New Turn
1. Player Actions
The order of play will go clockwise from the first player. This will already have been determined in the first turn randomly. In the second and third turns the first player is determined by who was first to pass in the previous turn. The Player Action Phase consists of an unlimited number of rounds. In each round each player must perform one action, which may be the Pass action. Once a player has passed he cannot perform any more actions in the present turn.
A player must perform one of the following actions:
- A. Take Control of a City
- B. Increase Army
- C. Special Action
- D. Tax
- E. Build Church/Mosque
- F. Move and/or Attack
- G. Pass
Unless stated otherwise by the following rules an action can be selected more than once in a turn.
A Note on Cubes
Each player has a set of cubes, which represents their ability to perform actions. When a player wishes to place a cube he can take it from one of the following places:
Cube Pool – These cost nothing to use. They can be used to benefit either the Arabs or the Byzantines.
Army Display/Casualty Pool – A player can take one cube from any box of his Army Display or his off-map Casualty Pool if he pays three Bezants. The coins must be paid for from the treasury of the side that benefits from the use of the cube. A player cannot pay for a cube and then place it in his Cube Pool, it must be placed to benefit one side or the other. A player can pay for more than one cube if he wished to place cubes on his Army Display. He can mix the source of cubes as he wishes. All Bezants that are spent are placed in the general bank.
A. Take Control of a City
A player can place one cube on top of an uncontrolled stack of Arab or Byzantine City tokens. He now has control of that city. He immediately scores a number of victory points equal to the number of tokens in the stack. These victory points will be scored on the track that matches the side of the city, i.e. taking control of a Byzantine city will score a player points on the Byzantine Victory Point Track. A player cannot take control of Constantinople. The first time a player places a cube on a Byzantine city he must also place his Byzantine Field Army pawn there.
EXAMPLE: It's Simon's turn to take an action. He decides to take a cube from his Casualty Pool and place it on Damascus. He must pay three Bezants from his Byzantine treasury. He scores three victory points on the Byzantine Victory Point Track, bringing his total to thirteen points. He must also place one of his Field Army pawns in Damascus, which now becomes his Byzantine Field Army.
B. Increase Army
A player can take up to three cubes, from any legal source, and place them in any of the Army boxes on his Army Display. There is no upper limit to the number of cubes that can be placed in a box. However, only one cube can be placed in an Elite box in a single action. Cubes could be placed in both Byzantine and Arab Army boxes in the same action.
EXAMPLE: Andy takes two cubes from his Cube Pool and one cube from the Arab Move box. He places one cube in the Byzantine Elite box, one cube in the Byzantine Main Army box, and one cube in the Byzantine Levy box. He must pay three Bezants from his Byzantine treasury for the cube removed from the Arab Move box.
C. Special Actions
A player can perform a Special Action by placing one cube in one of the boxes of the Special Action Display on the map. A Special Action Box can only be selected once per turn, so once there is a player's cube in the box it cannot be selected again until the next turn. The colour of the Special Action box determines which side it can be used for. Thus there are two actions that can be used by either side, Bulgars and Fortifications, when selected. The remaining actions are coloured to show which side they can be used for.
The following Special Actions are available:
Civil War
Selecting this action means the active player must make an attack against a city of the same colour as his field army, i.e. he could use his Byzantine Field Army to attack a Byzantine city controlled by another player. The player can select the action after moving but before declaring an attack. Note that this is the only Special Action that can be selected while performing a Move/Attack action. A player could attack a city he is already in. If he loses he must retreat. See below for retreat rules. Constantinople can never be attacked by a Byzantine Army.
EXAMPLE: Jerry pays one Move cube to move his Byzantine Field Army from Antioch to Damascus, which happens to be controlled by Simon. Jerry then takes a cube from his Cube Pool and places it in the Byzantine Civil War box. He must now make an attack against Simon. As Simon does not have his Field Army there he can choose to defend with his Levy. He chooses not to and Jerry besieges the city.
Improve City
Player must add one City token to a city of the same colour. There can never be more than three City tokens in a city. A player can add the token to a city that he does not control.
EXAMPLE: Andy already has control of Mecca. He takes a cube from his Cube Pool and places it in one of the Arab Improve City boxes. He takes a white City token and adds it to the two tokens already in Mecca, bringing it up to the maximum limit of three tokens. He does not score any victory points for doing so.
Bulgar Attack
Player must make an attack with the Bulgar forces or increase their strength. The player starts by adding two Bulgar cubes to the Bulgar box. The Bulgar army can then attack a city with an orange arrow pointing at it or a city connected to a Bulgar controlled city. Standard combat rules apply, as described later in these rules. Each Bulgar cube is regarding as being part of the Main Army, which means the Bulgars will never roll more than three dice in an attack. If the attack succeeds then use the orange Bulgar tokens to show that the Bulgars control that city. The player does not place a cube on the city, nor does he collect any Bezants. He does score the same victory points for the attack as if he had attacked with his own army. The victory points are added to the side that was not attacked by the Bulgars, e.g. if the Bulgars attack a Byzantine city then the player adds the victory points to his Arab total. If the player had to pay coins to place the cube to initiate the action then the money must be paid from the treasury that stands to gain victory points if the attack succeeds. Instead of making an attack with the Bulgars a player could add an extra two cubes to the army strength, making a total of four cubes added, (but only if two cubes are available). If there are not enough cubes to add an addition two then the Bulgars must attack. If the player had to pay for a cube in this case then he can pay from either treasury.
A maximum of eleven Bulgar cubes can be placed in its box. The Bulgars can never attack along a sea-lane. The Bulgars can attack Constantinople, in which case the game will end immediately.
EXAMPLE: Simon takes a cube from his Casualty Pool. He places it in one of the Bulgar Action boxes. The Bulgars already control Thessalonica. Simon adds two orange cubes to the Bulgar box. He then decides to make them attack Athens. As this is controlled by Byzantium he must pay the three Bezants for the cube he took from his Casualty Pool from his Arab treasury. The Bulgars take Athens, replacing the two purple City tokens with one orange City token. Simon scores one Arab victory point. Instead of attacking Simon could have chosen to add another two orange cubes to the Bulgar box.
Note that if there had been a Field Army in Athens then the player controlling that army would've had the opportunity to fight a battle. This would've followed all the standard combat rules described later.
Emperor
Player takes the role of the Emperor. This gives him control of the Emperor's Guard. He takes the purple cube from the Special Action box and places it in the Elite box of his Byzantine army. He does not pay maintenance for this unit. This cube must be returned when the player loses the position of Emperor, which will be at the end of the turn. This cube cannot be used to satisfy casualties unless it is the last cube available, in which case it goes back to the Emperor box. The player also scores two Byzantine victory points immediately.
Caliph
Player takes the role of the Caliph. This gives him control of the Caliph's Guard Cavalry. He takes the white cube from the Special Action box and places it in the Elite box of his Arab army. He does not pay maintenance for this unit. This cube must be returned when the player loses the position of Caliph, which will be at the end of the turn. It cannot be used to satisfy casualties unless it is the last cube available, in which case it goes back in the Caliph box. The player also scores two Arab victory points immediately.
Byzantine Fleet
Player takes control of the Byzantine fleet. This allows him to double the costs for an Arab army to use sea movement. In addition the player has the option of rolling a number of dice equal to the number of cubes expended by the Arab Field Army in movement. Each roll of four or more eliminates an Arab cube from the Field Army moving by sea, (remove from Elite, Main Army, or Move boxes). Note that it is up to the player who has control of the Byzantine whether he wishes to activate the powers associated with it, he is not forced to impose them.
Arab Fleet
Player takes control of the Arab fleet. This means that the cost in Move cubes for Sea movement for his Field Army is halved.
Fortify
This action can be used to benefit either side. It allows the player to take one of his two spare tokens and replace a control cube of his own colour in a city. This counts as an extra token towards siege combat. The replaced cube goes into the player's Casualty Pool. This token does not count towards the maximum stacking limit of three tokens, nor does it count for income or victory point. Only one fortification token can be placed in a city.
D. Tax
The active player moves as many cubes as he wishes from his Cube Pool to the Tax Box. For each cube moved the player receives two Bezants. The money can be paid into either treasury or it can be split between the two. Each player can perform this action once during the turn, so once a player has placed one or more cubes in the box in a previous round of play he is unable to select the action again in the present turn. There is no limit to the number of cubes that can be placed in this box.
E. Build Church/Mosque
A player can place a cube in either the Church or the Mosque box. The player immediately scores two victory points for that side. This costs six Bezants, which must be paid for from the treasury of the side that scores the victory points. The cube remains in the box until the end of the game. There is no limit to the number of cubes that can be placed in either box.
F. Move and/or Attack
Each player can have up to two Field Armies on the map, one Byzantine Field Army and one Arab Field Army. The side that an army belongs to is indicated by the colour of the city it is placed in.
A player's Byzantine Field Army must be placed in the first city that he takes control of. If a player does not have his Arab Field Army on the map then he can place it on any city controlled by the Arab side, (does not matter if another player controls it) and then make a normal move from that to a connected city. The move still costs one Move cube. A player could choose not to move his Arab Field Army, which would mean no Move cube would need to be expended.
EXAMPLE: In a previous action round Jerry had attacked and taken control of Hira. Andy has not yet placed his Arab Field Army pawn. He decides to place it at Hira and then pays a Move cube to move to Baghdad. This is still controlled by the Persians, which means Andy has to besiege it to take control of it.
A Field Army can move from its present city to any city that is directly connected to it by some link, usually a road. To do this one cube must be removed from the Move Box of the Field Army. The cube is placed in the player's Casualty Pool. Normally a Field Army can move one link in a Move/Attack action. However, the active player can move along a second connection if they pay the cost of the move plus one additional cube. Thus to move along two links would cost three Move cubes. An Arab army moving along one land connection and then a sea connection would have to expend four Move cubes under normal circumstances.
Only Arab armies can move along desert connections.
A Byzantine Field Army can move along one sea connection at a cost of one Move cube.
A Byzantine Field Army in Constantinople can use sea movement to move to any city that touches either the Mediterranean or the Black Sea. Note that this includes cities that do not have sea routes leading to them. This costs one Move cube. Note that field armies cannot move back to Constantinople in the same way.
An Arab fleet can move along one sea connection at a cost of two Move cubes. The cost of moving from Nicaea to Constantinople is doubled, so normally would be four cubes. This would be doubled to eight if another player had control of the Byzantine fleet and chose to impose its powers.
EXAMPLE: Alexandria has fallen to the Arabs and is now controlled by Andy. Andy's Field Army wishes to move from Alexandria to Candia. This would normally cost two Move cubes. However, Andy has control of the Arab Fleet, which means he only pays one cube. If another player had control of the Byzantine Fleet they could force Andy to pay double this amount, bringing the cost up to two Move cubes. They could also then roll two dice to see if they cause any damage to the moving Field Army.
If the army reaches a city that is not the same colour as the city it moved from then it must attack that city. Note that a player can move his Field Army to a city that is the same colour as the city he moved from and that is controlled by another player, or that is not yet controlled.
A player cannot move his Arab Field Army to a Byzantine City that he controls, nor can he move his Byzantine Field Army to an Arab city that he controls, i.e. a player can never attack himself.
Combat
If a Field Army moves to a city that is not controlled by the same side then it must attack it immediately. Also, if a player selects the Civil War action then he must attack the city that he moves to or is already present in. Follow these steps to resolve the conflict.
Retreating an Army
If there is one or more Field Armies in the city being attacked then the players controlling those armies have the option to retreat before any battle is resolved. If there is more than one army then the players decide in order, going clockwise from the active player, whether they wish to retreat.
A Field Army can retreat to any directly connected city. This movement does not require the expenditure of a Move cube. If the city retreated to is friendly, i.e. the same side as the retreating army, then the army stops retreating. If the city is unfriendly then the retreating army suffers one casualty, (remove one cube from any of the three non-levy boxes in that army), and then must retreat again. The army keeps retreating in this manner until it reaches a friendly city or it is destroyed, (no more cubes in any of the non-levy Army boxes). A player must retreat along a path that will cause him the least additional casualties. If there is more than one such path then he can select which to follow. A player cannot deliberately retreat along a path simply to destroy his army. An army can retreat through a location that contains an enemy army.
EXAMPLE: Simon's Arab Field Army in Tarsus is defeated and must retreat. The two closest Arab controlled cities are Palmyra and Damascus. Simon chooses to retreat to Palmyra. He must pass through Antioch, which forces him to remove a cube from his Arab Field Army. He decides to remove a Move cube.
A Byzantine army can always retreat by sea with no additional penalty. An Arab can only retreat by sea if either no other player has control of the Byzantine fleet or the player who does control it chooses not to use its powers. If an Arab army cannot retreat then it is destroyed, which means all cubes are removed from its Elite, Main Army, and Move boxes.
Levies
If there is no Field Army remaining in the city being attacked then the player who controls the city can choose to use his Levy strength to defend it. Note that a player can never combine his Levies with his Field Army, nor can he fight with his Levies first and then with his Field Army immediately after. If Constantinople is attacked then only the player who took the Emperor action has the option to use his Levies. A battle between a Levy force and a Field Army is resolved in the almost the same way as a battle between two Field Armies. The main difference is that any casualties inflicted on the Levies can only be satisfied by removing cubes from the Levy box.
Battle
If there is a battle each side rolls a number of dice, determined as follows. Combat is simultaneous. A Field Army will roll one die per cube in the Main Army box BUT only up to a maximum of three dice. A Levy force will roll one die per cube in the Levy box but, again, only up to a maximum of three dice. A Field Army rolls one extra die for each cube in its Elite box. An Elite force never fights with a Levy force.
Any roll of four or more is a hit. The opposing player must remove one cube actively involved in the battle for each hit scored against him. Thus if he was fighting with his Levy then he would have to remove cubes from his Levy box. If he was fighting with his Field Army then he could remove cubes from either his Elite, Main Army, or Move boxes. These cubes are placed in the owing player's Casualty Pool. The attacker decides which cubes to remove first, then the defender.
After both sides have rolled dice and removed losses the army with highest surviving strength wins. The strength of a Field Army is the total of the number of cubes in its Elite and Main Army boxes. The strength of a Levy Army is the number of cubes in the Levy box.
If the attacker wins then any defending Field Army must retreat. A Levy force is presumed to have run away if defeated. Any remaining cubes in the Levy box are still available to defend other cities. The attacker must then launch a siege against the city.
If the defender wins then the attacker must retreat his Field Army to the city he moved from.
In the case of a tie the defender wins.
EXAMPLE: Jerry moves his Arab army to Ankara. This is a Byzantine city under the control of Andy, so Jerry must attack. Andy's Field Army is also at Ankara. Andy decides not to retreat. Jerry's has nine cubes in his Main Army box and three cubes in his Move box. Andy has one cube in his elite box, six cubes in his Main Army box and one cube in his Move box.
Jerry rolls a total of three dice and rolls 2, 4, and 6. This scores two hits against Andy. Andy rolls four dice, (three for his Main Army and an extra one for the Elite force). He rolls 1, 3, 5, and 5, which also scores two hits. Jerry's decides to remove one cube from his Main Army and one cube from his Move box. His final strength is eight. Andy removes one cube from his Elite box and one cube from his Main Army box. His final strength is five cubes. Jerry wins. Andy must retreat.
Siege
The attacker must now make a siege attack against the city. The defending player rolls a number of dice equal to the number of tokens in the city, including a fortification token. Any rolls of four or more are hits and results in the attacking army losing a cube, either from its Elite, Main Army, or Move boxes.
If after that roll the total number of cubes in the Elite and Main Army boxes is greater than the number of tokens in the defending city then the attacker wins. Otherwise the attacker loses and must retreat.
If Constantinople is attacked it is regarded as having a strength of 5, which is the same as having five tokens in the location. In addition, each hit inflicted by Constantinople kills two of the attacker's cubes.
EXAMPLE: After defeating Andy's Field Army at Ankara Jerry must now besiege Ankara itself. Ankara has three City tokens on it and a Fortification token. Andy rolls four dice, one for each City token and one for the Fortification token. He rolls a 1, 1, 3, 6 which results in one hit. Jerry removes one cube from his Main Army box. His final strength is now seven which is more than the four strength of the city. Jerry's Arab army has captured Ankara.
Successful Attack
If there was a fortification token then this is removed and returned to the owing player. Any cube on the stack is removed and placed in the owning player's casualty pool. The attacker then removes the remaining City tokens. He then places a number of tokens of the opposing colour that is one less than the number of tokens removed. E.g. a city with three Byzantine tokens in it would end up with two Arab tokens. He then scores victory points and collects Bezants, (plunder), equal to the number of new tokens in the city. If the city had just one token on it at the start of the combat then it will end up with one token of the opposing colour placed on it but no victory points or gold are scored/collected, (it goes down to zero and then bounces back to one). The victorious player must then place one of his cubes on the city, to show he controls it. If he does not have a cube available to be placed, i.e. because he does not have enough money to buy one or he does not have one in his Cube Pool, then he must remove two cubes from his army, (Elite, Main Army or Move). One of these should be placed on the city, the other should be placed in his Casualty Pool. A purple or white elite cube can only be used to fulfil this requirement if it is the only cube left.
If a player moves his Field Army to a Persian city then siege combat occurs as described above, with another player rolling the dice. The strength of the city is shown inside the city. If defeated then the attacker will place a number of City tokens one less than the original strength of the city.
A Persian city can be attacked by Byzantine or Arab armies.
EXAMPLE: After successfully besieging Ankara Jerry removes the three City tokens and the Fortification token. He replaces them with two white Arab City tokens, (one less than the original number of Byzantine tokens). He adds two victory points to his Arab total and takes two Bezants from the bank and adds it to his Arab treasury. He has no more cubes in his cube pool and only has two Bezants. He is forced to remove two cubes from his army, which will be one from the Main Army and one from the Move box. He places one in his Casualty Pool and places the other on the city. If he had of had three Bezants then he would've been forced to spend these to buy a cube to place on the city.
If a player successfully attacks Constantinople then he adds five victory points to his Arab total and then the game ends immediately. Only Arab victory points are used to determine who has won, Byzantine victory points are worthless. No points are scored for controlling any cities, you simply look at what has been scored so far.
If a player attacks a city using the Civil War action then it will not change sides. It will still be reduced by one City token and victory points and plunder are still collected.
Destroying an Army
If a player's Field Army ends a battle with no cubes in any of the Elite, Main Army and Move boxes then it ceases to exist. The Field Army pawn should be removed from the map. The owning player can place his pawn back on the map in a later action round, if he wishes, in the same way that an Arab Field Army enters play. An army must have at least one cube in its Elite, Main Army, or Move box to be able to be placed on the map. Note that an army that by moving used its last Move cube, thus leaving it with no cubes in any of the necessary boxes, would be destroyed.
Attacking a Bulgar City
If a city occupied by Bulgar tokens is attacked then the Bulgars will automatically defend it with their full army. If defeated the attacker would then still have to win the siege to take control of the city.
Multiple Defenders
If there is more than one Field Army in a defending city then the attacker must attack and defeat each defending army in succession. The attacker decides the order in which he wishes to attack each defending army. If he defeats each defending army then he can continue to besiege the city.
G. Pass
If a player chooses to pass then he takes a cube from his Casualty Pool and places it in the Pass box. This does not cost any Bezants. He cannot perform any more actions in the present turn. If a player does not have any cubes available in his Casualty Pool then he must take one from his Army Display or Cube Pool. The first player to pass places his cube in the smaller box inside the Pass Box. This indicates that he will become the first player in the next turn. When all but one player have passed the turn will draw to a close. The final player will get one more action, which may be to pass. The turn then proceeds to the Income and Maintenance phase. (The first player to pass should place his cube in the smaller box; the remaining players place their cubes in the larger box.)
2. Income and Maintenance
Each player now collects income and pays to maintain his armies. Each City token earns the controlling player two Bezants. Income is collected for the Byzantine and Arab sides and must be kept in their separate treasuries. Each player must then pay to maintain his armies. Each cube on the Army Display will cost the amount indicated in the gold circle, which must be paid for from the treasury of the same side. If a player cannot afford to maintain a cube then it is removed from the game permanently, it does not go into the Casualty Pool. He loses one victory point, from the side of the same colour, for each cube he loses in this manner. A player can never go below zero victory points.
All the players now retrieve all of their cubes from the Special Action Display, the Tax box, and the Pass box and place them back in their Cube Pools. All players also take half the cubes, rounded up, from their Casualty Pool and place them in their Cube Pool.
3. New Turn
Move the Turn marker on one space. The first player to have passed becomes the new first player. A new turn starts with play progressing from the new first player and going in a clockwise direction.
Ending the Game
The game ends at the end of three complete turns.
Players score one victory point for each city token they control, which will be added to the same Victory Point track as the colour of the city.
If a player's lower score is half or more than the value of his higher score then he adds both scores together to make a final total. If the lower score is less than half that of his higher score then he only scores the higher score. The player with the most victory points wins.
EXAMPLE: Simon's final totals are eighteen Arab victory points and forty Byzantine victory points. His Arab score is less than half that of his Byzantine score, so his final score is forty. Andy has scored fifteen Arab victory points and thirty Byzantine victory points. His lower score is half that of his higher score, so he is able to add them together. His final score is forty five victory points.
In the case of a tie the tied player with the most victory points in total wins, (which would occur if one or more players only scored their higher score).
If there is still a tie then the tied player who controls the most cities in all, (not City tokens), wins. If there is still a tie then the tied player with the most money in their treasuries, (combined), wins.
Play Hints
These are my, the designer's, hints and should not be taken as those of an expert.
The first time player will find himself at a loss as to what to do at the start of the game. Until players know the game it is probably best to play conservatively. This means following a balanced strategy, scoring points for both sides. Players should start by taking control of Byzantine cities. This is an easy way to score victory points and to gain income at the end of the turn. Certain cities are safer than others, Nicaea is not going to be attacked in the first turn, whereas Jerusalem or Thessalonica will almost certainly be attacked. Remember that the first city you take control of determines where your Byzantine Field Army starts. It also helps to remember that you cannot attack your Byzantine cities with your Arabs, so try not to block the future expansion of your Arabs.
Then players should think about scoring Arab points. The Arabs will initially find it easy to attack cities, but will be slowed down by losses. Don't forget cities such as Mecca, which are usually safe from attack. It helps to control enough cities of both sides to be able to pay for your forces at the end of the turn.
The best Special Actions are initially to take the Emperor or the Caliph, as they score victory points. Improve City is also a good action as you can improve a city that you know is easy to defend and so increase your income. It can be helpful to control a small number of three strength cities than a larger number of two and one strength cities.
The first turn is about establishing your empires. Some fighting will obviously take place, but usually against the Persians and outer Byzantine cities. The second and third turns are about scrabbling for points among rapidly declining cities. Don't forget the Church/Mosques. Later in the game these are good ways of scoring points.
If a player has a bad first turn then the 'mad dog' option is usually a good one, which is to go for Constantinople. Players can defend against this by either using their armies to defend or making sure that they have enough points on the Arab side to out-point the guy if he does take it, (remember, it is only worth five victory points).
Losing cubes from your army display is not always a bad thing. Ending the turn with a small army is a good way of saving money and usually means you start with a healthy number of cubes in your Cube Pool.
Paying to use cubes is usually a good thing to do, even if you have cubes in your Cube Pool. The Byzantines start with a lot of money. If you spend this money to get cubes on to the Special Action Display then they will be returned to the Cube Pool at the end of the turn, allowing them to be used for either side in the following turn. This allows a player to indirectly use Byzantine money to support his Arab side.
Attacking Constantinople through the Balkans with the Arabs is not easy. Remember that the Bulgars are just as happy to fight Arabs as Byzantines.
Don't make the mistake of using the first Bulgar attack to attack Adrianople. This will allow the next player to have a go at attacking Constantinople with the second Bulgar attack. This can lead to a very quick game!
Don't forget about the civil war option. Be aware that until used up you are vulnurable to attacks from what seemed to be friendly forces.
Passing first is useful as it makes you the first player in the second turn.
If you were thinking of attacking Constantinople then taking control of the Byzantine fleet as your first action is a good way of making sure they are not around to oppose you.
Once you have played the game once you will realise that the individual rules are quite simple, what is more difficult is developing a strategy to win.