Carthago: Merchants & Guilds
Carthago: Merchants & Guilds Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Summary and Goal
Over the course of 3 decades of 5 actions each, players load goods, finance warships, and gain influence in the Traders Guild to become the most renowned merchant in Carthage. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner.
Game Components
6 Main Boards
- Actions — a round board with the action spaces: the MARKET action, the TRADING DOCK action, the RESIDENCE action, the HARBOUR DELIVERY action and the WARSHIP DOCK action.
- Trading Harbour — with the draw pile for ships, the space for ships outside the harbour, and the docks for ship cards for 2 / 3 / 4 players (= 3 / 4 / 5 docks).
- Decades — with the decade indicator (I-III) and the achievement tile display (Decade I, II, III).
- Market — with the market display.
- Warship Harbour — with the anchor symbol and 2 docks.
- Guild Hall — with the guild seats, the costs for guild seats (6 to 11 coins) and the guild forum (12 coins).
75 Trade Cards
Each trade card shows an action, a good and a coin value.
Goods (15 of each):
| Good | Colour |
|---|---|
| Jewelry | White |
| Glass | Blue |
| Cedar | Green |
| Oils | Brown |
| Dyes | Violet |
30 Ship Cards
(6 each showing 5 different goods)
Each ship card shows:
- The good type needed at the trading harbour (= goods symbol).
- The danger value (strength needed at the warship harbour).
- The ship effect.
- The coin value.
Game Components for Each Player
(in red, black, yellow, and blue)
- 7 base cards in each colour with action effects
- 11 influence discs in each colour
- 1 action disc in each colour
- 1 Residence board in each colour, showing the individual costs for removing influence discs — left column: bonus guild seats; middle column: strength (starting value 1); right column: influence discs
Further Components
- 2 GOLDEN GUILD MARKERS
- 2 SILVER MARKERS for Decade and Round tracks
- 9 ACHIEVEMENT TILES (with I, II, III on their reverse sides)
- 1 START PLAYER TILE (with round indicator (1-5))
- 1 SUMMARY CARD with summary of gameplay, actions, and final scoring
- GAME RULES
Game Setup
- Put the six main boards into the middle of the play area.
- Shuffle all trade cards and place them in a face-down draw pile.
- Draw 5 trade cards from the pile and place them, face-up, next to the market spaces.
- Shuffle the ship cards and place them in a face-down draw pile.
- Depending on player count, put the trading harbour together (by matching the indicated symbols). Then draw 3 (2 players), 4 (3 players) or 5 (4 players) ship cards from the pile and place them, face-up, next to the docks in the trading harbour.
- Draw two additional ships and place them outside the trading harbour.
- Place the decade and round indicators onto their respective 1 spaces.
- Choose two different action spaces at random and place the two guild markers onto those spaces. To do this, draw cards from the trade card pile until two different actions have been drawn and place the markers onto those two actions. Add all of the drawn cards to a face-up discard pile.
- Separate the achievement tiles according to the numbers on their reverse sides (I, II, or III) and shuffle each group separately. Then draw two from each group and place them, face-up, next to their respective decades. The remaining achievement tiles are not used in the game and can be returned to the game box.
- Give each player all of the components of their colour. Each player then:
- a. Places influence discs onto the 7 circular spaces in their residence, along with a second disc on the bottom right-hand space,
- b. places the remaining 3 influence discs as available discs next to their residence,
- c. takes the 7 base cards in hand,
- d. draws 3 trade cards from the draw pile, adding them to their hand (income for the first decade).
- The player who most recently visited a harbour is the start player and receives the start player card. If you prefer, randomly choose a start player.
- In reverse turn order, starting with the last player, each player now may choose one influence disc on their residence, adding it to an empty dock in the trading or warship harbour.
Special Setup with Fewer Than 4 Players
With fewer than 4 players, take unused (neutral) player colour action discs and add them to two action spaces in the same manner as in number 8 above (drawing cards). For 3 or 2 player games, there are one or two neutral colours, respectively.
Additionally, cover one of each of the 6 and 7 coin value guild seats in the guild hall (the seats next to the guild forum) with neutral colour disc in a 3 player game.
In a 2 player game, cover all four of the 6 and 7 coin value guild seats in the guild hall with neutral colour discs.
Gameplay
The game is played over 3 decades. Each decade consists of the following phases:
-
- Setup Phase (before the second and third decades)
- 1.-5. Action Phases (5 rounds with each player taking 1 action)
Setup Phase
At the start of the game, before the first decade, complete the setup as described in "Game Setup" above.
After the first and second decades, carry out a setup phase consisting of the following steps:
- a. Move the decade indicator one space forward to the current decade.
- b. Return the round indicator to space 1.
- c. Discard all trade cards from the market and replace them with 5 new, face-up, trade cards drawn from the pile.
- d. The achievement tiles associated with the current decade are now usable.
- e. Remove the front-most ship from the trading harbour, adding it to the bottom of ship draw pile. Move all remaining ships one space forward, filling the last available space with the first ship outside the harbour. Add a new ship outside the harbour from the top of the draw pile.
- f. The player with the most available influence discs next to their residence becomes the start player. If there is a tie, then the tied player who is next in turn order becomes the new start player.
- g. All players take their base and trade cards back into their hands.
- h. At the start of the second decade, give each player 2 new trade cards from the pile. At the start of the third decade, give each player 1 new trade card from the pile.
- i. Place the players' action discs next to the actions board.
Action Phases
In turn order, starting with the start player, each player takes one action per round. The decade ends after five rounds. The game ends after the end of the third decade.
On your turn, you must either take an action or pass. Make sure the start player remembers to move the round indicator one space forward at the start of each round.
A. Take an Action
To take an action, put your action disc onto the action space that matches the action you want to take. This can be the same action space your disc is already on.
Then play a trade or base card that matches this action, placing it to the left of your residence. The number of cards to the left of your residence makes it easy to tell how many actions you have carried out this round.
For each other action disc already on the chosen space, you must play an additional trade or base card of your choice, placing them to the right of your residence.
2-3 players: If there is a neutral action disc on the chosen space (in a 2 or 3 player game), then move it, at the end of your turn, to the next action space in clockwise direction which doesn't already have a neutral action disc on it.
If there is a guild marker on the chosen space, then you may additionally take a guild action after your main action. If you take a guild action, then move the guild marker, at the end of your turn, to the next action space in clockwise direction which doesn't already have a guild marker on it. If you choose to pass on the guild action, then the guild marker doesn't move.
You are allowed to pass on your regular action, taking only the guild action instead. In this case you still have to pay for the action space in the same manner as usual.
If you can't or don't want to play all of the required cards, then you must pass instead.
B. Passing
When you pass, leave your action disc where it is. You take no actions (including guild actions), and get to keep the cards you have in hand. Draw 1 trade card from the pile.
Note: When you pass, you don't play any cards. To make it easier to keep track of how many actions you've taken in the current decade, instead move a card from the right side of your residence to the left.
Base Cards / Trade Cards / Ship Cards / Achievement Tiles
Note: Base cards don't show any goods or coins. This means that they can only be used to take actions. When you use them, place them next to your residence (left or right as needed). You get to keep your base cards over the course of the game.
In many cases, the cost of taking an action includes permanently discarding one or more cards (removing an influence disc from your residence, deliveries to the trading or warship harbour, adding influence discs to the guild hall or achievement tiles, trading in the market). Cards that you permanently discard must be trade cards.
Trade cards are approximately equally split between goods, coins (values 2 to 6), and actions.
Should the trade card draw pile ever run out, shuffle the discard pile and use it to create a new draw pile.
In the unlikely case that the ship pile runs out, ships no longer move forward in the trading harbour. If a player placed an influence disc at a trading harbour dock that is now left without a ship to move into it, then that player returns the disc next to their residence.
Since this also means that no more warships can be added, any influence discs in the warship harbour are also returned to their owners.
During your turn (before, during, or after your main action), you can use as many ship effects from your own, face-up (active), ships as you like. Once used, turn those ships face-down (inactive).
The composition of all ship cards is slightly different in terms of which goods they require, their coin values (5 to 9), their danger value (1 to 6), and their effects.
Ship card and achievement tile effects are described at the end of the rules.
MARKET Action
The trader negotiates for the goods she needs for her business, gaining some additional favours along the way.
Choose ONE trade card from the market, and exchange ONE more. Choose one of your inactive ship cards and turn it face-up again.
(1) Choose one trade card and add it to your hand. You may choose either one of the available cards in the market, or the topmost card from the draw pile. If you chose a card from the market, immediately draw and add a new card to the market as replacement.
(2) You may then choose any one of the trade cards (but not base cards) you have in hand, and exchange it with any one of the available cards in the market. You are allowed to trade the card you just received from (1).
(3) Finally, choose one of your face-down (inactive) ship cards and turn it face-up (active). That ship's effect is now available to you again.
RESIDENCE Action
The trader expands and improves his residence, increasing his power and influence.
Remove one influence disc from your residence.
Choose one available influence disc on your residence and pay the necessary cost in trade (not base) cards from your hand. Take the influence disc and place it next to your residence.
Only the topmost disc in any column is available. Columns are only worth the value indicated in the lowest, empty, space.
For the left column, you need to pay 3 goods of one type (dyes, oils, or glass). You gain additional guild seats for final scoring. At the start of the game, you generally have no additional seats.
For the middle column, you need to pay 2 cedar. Your strength increases, which is helpful at the warship harbour. At the start of the game, your strength is generally 1.
For the right column, you need to pay 2 jewelry. You gain the influence disc for the first space, and two influence discs at once for the second space.
Example: Red chooses the residence action. He chooses a card (trade or base) from his hand that shows the residence action, placing it to the left of his residence. He moves his action disc to the residence action space. Since that space already has two other discs on it, he will need to pay some additional cards. He chooses two more cards (trade and/or base), placing them to the right of his residence. He will get all of these cards back at the start of the next decade (not round).
Since Red would like to gain some additional guild seats, he chooses the left column on his residence board. He has done this once already, freeing the 0-value space. Red pays 3 trade cards with dyes on them, adding them to the discard pile. He removes the next-lower influence discs from the column, placing it next to his residence. The newly-freed space shows a value of 2, which means that Red will have 2 additional guild seats at the end of the game.
TRADING DOCK Action
The trader secures a dock in the trading harbour to be able to later deliver goods to a ship there.
Add an influence disc to the trading harbour.
Take an available influence disc next to your residence and place it onto an unoccupied dock in the trading harbour. There can only be one disc at each dock.
You are not allowed to occupy all of the trading harbour docks yourself.
WARSHIP DOCK Action
The trader secures influence at the warship harbour to be able to obtain some of the spoils of a subsequent expedition.
Add an influence disc to the warship harbour.
Take an available influence disc next to your residence and place it onto an unoccupied dock in the warship harbour. There can only be one disc at each dock. You are not allowed to occupy all of the warship harbour docks yourself.
HARBOUR DELIVERY Action
The trader conducts business with both trading partners and the military, hoping for profits and power
Deliver ONE good to each harbour in whichever order you choose.
You can deliver once to the trading harbour as well as once to the warship harbour; you can also deliver once to each. You are not allowed to use this action to deliver twice to the same harbour.
In the trading harbour: Choose a ship next to a dock where you have an influence disc. Pay the good indicated at the stop of the ship card by playing a matching trade card from your hand, adding it to the discard pile. Return your influence disc next to your residence and take the ship, placing it face-up in front of yourself.
Then, draw and reveal trade cards from the draw pile until you meet or exceed the coin value of the ship. Add all of the revealed cards to your hand.
You can now use the claimed ship's effect on your turn, including the current one, whenever you like. Once you have used the effect, turn the ship face-down to show that it is inactive.
Move the remaining ships in the trading harbour one space forward to fill the gap. Fill the now-empty last space in the harbour with the first ship outside the harbour. Add a new ship outside the harbour from the top of the draw pile.
In the warship harbour: Choose a dock where you have an influence disc, turning it to your residence. Pay the trade card (not base card) of your choice, adding it to the discard pile. Draw and reveal the top card in the ship pile.
Compare the danger value of the ship with your strength as indicated by your residence, to see if the expedition was successful or not.
- If your strength is equal to or greater than the ship's danger value: The expedition was a success! Draw and reveal trade cards from the draw pile until you meet or exceed the coin value of the ship. Add all of the revealed cards to your hand. Take the ship, placing it face-down in front of yourself. The ship is inactive and its effect cannot be used (yet).
- If your strength is less than the ship's danger value: The expedition is a failure! Draw a trade card from the draw pile. Add the ship to the bottom of the ship pile.
Note: Regardless of whether your expedition was successful or not, you may immediately take the influence disc you returned from the harbour and place it onto an empty space on an achievement tile. You must pay the cost of the space in coins as indicated.
If a guild marker was on the harbour delivery action space as well, then you can, as usual, also take a guild action (placing in the guild hall or on an achievement tile — see 'guild actions' below).
Example: Yellow chooses the harbour delivery action and places her action disc on the appropriate space, paying the costs in trade / base cards as required (she will get these cards back in hand at the start of the next decade).
Yellow chooses to make a delivery to ships in both the trading and warship harbours. She chooses the trading harbour first, choosing a ship at a dock where she has an influence disc.
The ship has a coin value of 5 and requires glass. She pays a glass trade card, adding it to the discard pile. She then returns the influence disc next to her residence and takes the ship, placing it face-up in front of herself.
Yellow now draws and reveals trade cards from the draw pile. She draws cards with values 2, 2, and 4, at which point she has met or exceeded the ship's coin value. She adds the three trade cards to her hand. The ship's effect (Palette), is available for use immediately, although she chooses to wait since it won't help her much this turn.
The resulting gap in the trading harbour is filled by moving all of the ships behind this space one space forward. Yellow moves one of the two ships outside the harbour into the now-empty last space, and draws a new ship from the pile to replace it.
Yellow would like to now deliver to the warship harbour, where she also has an influence disc on a dock. She chooses the trade card of her choice and pays it, adding it to the discard pile.
She then reveals the topmost ship card in the pile. The revealed card has a danger value of 4, which is higher than the strength of 3 shown by Yellow's residence. The expedition is a failure. Yellow returns the ship card to the bottom of the pile and draws a trade card from the draw pile, adding it to her hand. She returns her influence disc next to her residence.
However, Yellow also has the choice of placing the influence disc on an active achievement tile, and she elects to do this. She chooses an achievement tile from the current decade, where she doesn't have an influence disc yet, and places her disc onto an empty space. The space she chooses must be the highest empty space on the tile. In this case, that happens to also be the last empty space available, which costs 8 coins. She pays the coins with trade cards, adding them to the discard pile.
GUILD Actions
The trader gains greater prestige and increases his standing in the trader's guild, gaining more and more supporters.
If a guild marker is on the action space you choose, then you can take a guild action after your main action.
You need at least one available influence disc next to your residence to be able to take a guild action. You have two choices:
- Take one of your available influence discs and place it on an empty seat in the guild hall. Pay trade cards whose total coin value meets or exceeds the indicated cost of the seat (6 to 12). Once an influence disc has been added to the guild hall, it cannot be moved or removed any more. Only one disc can be present on any of the 'small' guild seats (costs 6 to 11). Multiple discs from multiple players can be present on the 'large' guild seat (cost 12 each).
OR
- Take one of your available influence discs and place it on an empty space on one of the current decade's achievement tiles. Pay trade cards whose total coin value meets or exceeds the indicated cost of the space (2, 5, or 8). You must place your disc on the available space with the lowest cost. Once an influence disc has been added to an achievement tile, it cannot be moved or removed any more. The number of discs that can be added to each achievement tile is limited (2 discs in 2 and 3 player games, 3 discs in 4 player games). You are only allowed to place a disc on each achievement tile once. Achievement tiles are scored at the end of the game. You must have an influence disc on an achievement tile to score any victory points for it.
Game End and Winner
The game ends after the third decade. Players now add up their victory points.
Multiply the number of guild seats you gained by the number of ships (both active and inactive) you have. Then add the victory points you score for each of the achievement tiles.
To add up your guild seats:
- Each influence disc in the guild hall is a seat,
- Freed bonus seats in your residence are worth 0, 2, or 3 seats, and
- Each fully-emptied influence disc column in your residence is worth 1 guild seat.
Then multiply this total with the total number of ships (both face-up and face-down) you have.
Then add the victory points you scored from placing on achievement tiles.
The winner is the player with the most victory points. In the case of a tie, then the tied players share the victory.
Example: Black has 6 ships at the end of the game (3 of which are face-down at game end).
He also has guild seats from the following sources: 2 from removing discs from two left-hand column spaces of his residence, 1 from having completely cleared the right-hand column of his residence, and 4 from the guild hall (3 in 'small' spaces, 1 in a 'large' space). He therefore has a total of 7 seats.
Mutiplying these two values together gives a score of (6x7)=42 victory points.
Black has also added influence discs to two achievement tiles.
One is worth one third, rounded down, of his remaining coin value in victory points, to a maximum of 12. He has 22 coins left in hand, which means he scores another 7 points.
The other achievement tile is worth bonus points for each set of similar and different ships (i.e. different or identical goods symbols on the ship cards). He has 6 ships: 3 dyes, 2 jewelry, and 1 cedar. According to the achievement tile, he scores the following points:
- For 1 set of 3 different goods (dyes, jewelry, cedar) = 3 points
- For 1 set of 2 different goods (dyes, jewelry) = 1 point
- For 1 set of 3 identical goods (3x dyes) = 3 points
- For 1 set of 2 identical goods (2x jewelry) = 1 point
- For 1 cedar = 0 points
For his ships he therefore scores another (3+1+3+1=) 8 victory points, for a total of 15 overall from achievement tiles.
Black's final score is 42 + 15 = 57 victory points.
Ship Effects
EMBARGO — Can be used before or after an action. Take the front-most ship in the trading harbour and add it to the bottom of the pile. Move all remaining ships forward one space and draw a new ship for outside the harbour.
PALETTE — Can be used before, during, or after an action. Discard all 5 cards in the market, adding them to the discard pile. Draw 5 new cards and replenish the market
OPULENCE — Can be used when taking a residence action. One of the trade cards used to pay for the influence disc doesn't need to match.
LEGACY — Can be used before or after an action. When placing an influence disc on an achievement tile, you are allowed to choose an achievement tile that was active in a previous decade. You must pay for the placement as usual.
LUXURY — Can be used when delivering to the trading harbour. The trade card you use for the delivery doesn't need to match the chosen ship.
COMMANDO — Can be used when using the warship dock action. You can add an influence disc to the harbour even if all regular spaces are filled. Instead, place your influence disc on the anchor symbol. This disc acts like any other influence disc in the warship harbour, and is returned to your residence as normal following a delivery. More than one influence disc can be added to the anchor symbol.
INTRIGUE — Can be used before or after an action. Move one guild marker to a different action space without a guild marker on it. You cannot use this effect to take two guild actions in a single turn.
FAVOUR — Can be used when choosing an action space. The card you use to pay for the action doesn't need to show the chosen action.
ESCORTS — Can be used when delivering to the warship harbour, even after the ship card has been revealed. Increase your strength by 2.
Achievement Tiles
Limit: No player can score more than 12 victory points (VP) per achievement tile.
Decade I
GUILD HALL 1 — For each disc you have in the guild forum, you score 4 VP.
ACHIEVEMENT TILES — For each disc you have on achievement tiles (including this one), you score 2 VP.
Example: If, over the course of the game, you end up placing discs onto 3 achievement tiles, you score 6 VP.
RESIDENCE 1 — For each influence disc you remove from your residence board (i.e. freed spaces), you score 3 VP.
Example: If, at the end of the game, you removed 4 discs from your residence, you score 12 VP.
Decade II
GUILD HALL 2 — For each disc in your largest continuous block (only "small" spaces, not "large"), you score 3 VP. Continuous means orthogonally adjacent, not diagonally.
Example: If, at the end of the game, you have 5 discs in the guild hall — 3 on continuous "small" spaces, 1 on an isolated "small" space, and 1 on a "large" space — you score (3x3)=9 VP.
VICTORY POINTS — For each position on achievement tiles you occupy, you score 7, 6, or 5 VP from top to bottom.
SHIP CARDS — For each set of different or identical ships (goods symbols), you score VP as follows:
- For 0 different / identical: 0 VP
- For 1 different / identical: 0 VP
- For 2 different / identical: 1 VP
- For 3 different / identical: 3 VP
- For 4 different / identical: 6 VP
- For 5+ different / identical: 10 VP
You can use the same ships in sets of both different or identical goods.
Example: If, at the end of the game, you have 2 dyes ships, 2 glass ships, 1 jewelry ship, and 1 cedar ship, you score 6 VP (4 different) plus 2 VP (2 each of 2 identical) = 8 VP.
Decade III
COINS — For your remaining coin value on remaining trade cards in hand, you score one third as VP (rounded down).
Example: If, at the end of the game, you have 10 trade cards left in hand with a combined coin value of 42, you score 14 VP, adjusted down to the maximum allowable of 12 VP.
RESIDENCE 2 — For each influence disc next to your residence, you score 3 VP.
Example: If, at the end of the game, you have 3 influence discs left next to your residence, you score (3x3)=9 VP
GOODS — For each set of different or identical goods on remaining trade cards in hand, you score VP as follows:
- For 0 different / identical: 0 VP
- For 1 different / identical: 0 VP
- For 2 different / identical: 1 VP
- For 3 different / identical: 2 VP
- For 4 different / identical: 4 VP
- For 5 different / identical: 7 VP
You can use the same trade cards in sets of both different and identical goods.
Example: If, at the end of the game, you have 3 dyes, 3 glass, 1 jewelry, and 1 cedar left in hand, you score score 4 VP (4 different) plus 4 VP (2 each of 3 identical) = 8 VP.