Celtae Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Set-Up
• Game Round
• Player Turn
  • 1. Moving the Action Marker (Mandatory)
  • 2. Swapping a Worker (Optional)
  • 3. Performing the Action (Mandatory)
    • Farm
    • Build
    • Battle
    • Recruit
• Progress
• End of the Game
• Final Scoring
• SOLITAIRIX Solo Mode
  • Set-Up
  • Game Round
  • Solitairix's Actions
  • Progress and End of the Game
  • Final Scoring
• Leaders
  • Leader Backstories
• Progress Cards
• Bonus Tiles
• Credits

Components

• 60 Player cards
• 8 Leader cards
• 1 Game board
• 26 Progress cards
• 4 Player boards
• 10 Roman Army tiles
• 10 Druid tiles
• 36 Wooden discs (9 of each colour)
• 66 Workers — 8 Nobles, 10 Druids, 16 Farmers, 16 Builders, 16 Soldiers
• 20 Wooden cubes (5 of each colour)
• 16 Progress markers
• 1 Action marker
• 1 Solo tile
• 1 Teutates tile
• 8 Bonus tiles
• 10 Bonus tokens (double-sided)
• 1 Score pad
• 1 Cloth bag

Set-Up

1. Place the game board in the centre of the table.
2. Place the action marker on the action marker space on the south east edge of the central area of the board.
3. Each player chooses a colour and takes the corresponding player board, 9 wooden discs and 5 wooden cubes, placing the discs in the holes in the centre of their player board and then 4 cubes along the right edge in their garrison, and the final cube in space 0 of the strength level on the bottom edge.
4. In a 2-player game, place discs of an unused colour in all spaces on the citadels with the icons North and South. In a 3-player game, place discs of an unused colour in all spaces on the citadels with the icon South.
5. Place progress markers on the progress track. In a 2-player game, do not place progress markers on the spaces with the icons North and South. In a 3-player game, do not place progress markers on the spaces with the icon South. Place progress markers on the indicated spaces next to the Roman Army tiles and Druid tiles.
6. Place 1 druid on each space of the druid tracks; then return to the game box any remaining druids. In a 2-player game, do not place druids on the spaces with the icons North and South. In a 3-player game, do not place druids on the spaces with the icon South.
7. Give each player 1 farmer, 1 builder and 1 soldier; then return to the game box 1 farmer, 1 builder and 1 soldier for each player not present in the game.
8. Place workers on the action spaces around the central area of the board matching the types depicted (farmers, builders, soldiers, nobles) including on the central area of the board. Place all the rest of the workers in the bag; then randomly draw and place workers on the remaining empty spaces. Leave the bag next to the game board.
9. Sort the Roman Army tiles by value. Shuffle separately all "1 point tiles" and all "2 point tiles" into 2 face-down stacks. Keeping the tiles face-down and without further shuffling, form 2 different stacks. Flip both stacks face-up so that the "1 point tiles" are on top. Place one stack on the Northern region and the other stack on the Southern region on the appropriate spaces. Return any remaining tiles to the game box.
10. Sort the Druid tiles by value. Follow the same procedure described above for the Roman Army tiles and place one stack on the Northern region and the other stack on the Southern region on the appropriate spaces. Return any remaining tiles to the game box.
11. Sort the bonus tiles per region (depicted on the back of each tile), shuffle them and randomly place 1 on each of the 8 bonus spaces on the board.
12. Give each player 1 double-sided bonus token and place the remaining tokens next to the board.
13. Shuffle all player cards and create a face-down deck.
14. Draw 6 cards from the deck and place them face-up above the board in the Northern region market. Do the same for the Southern region market.
15. Sort the progress cards by value. Shuffle separately all "2 point cards" and all "3 point cards" into 2 face-down decks. Randomly place a certain number of "2 point cards" and "3 point cards" on the appropriate spaces on the right side of the board, according to the number of players.
16. With less than 4 players, place cubes of an unused colour on all garrison spaces indicated with the icon in a 3-player game, or on the garrison spaces indicated with the icons in a 2-player game.
17. Choose a starting player and give them the Teutates tile.
18. Shuffle all leader cards and place on the table a number equal to the player count plus 1 (3 in a 2-player game, 4 in a 3-player game, and so on). Each player draws 5 player cards from the deck. Starting with the last player and going in a counter-clockwise direction, each player chooses a leader and places it to the left side of their player board with the A side face-up, then discards 2 player cards from their hand into the discard pile.

Game Round

Each round players will perform 1 action each starting from the first player and proceeding clockwise. Every time the action marker crosses the river on the right side of the board, meaning that the action marker has returned to, or passed by, its original starting position, the player holding the Teutates tile places a progress marker on any progress card and passes the Teutates tile to the player on the left. When the last progress marker is removed from the board, the players finish the current round and then a final round is played where each player will perform 2 actions back-to-back. After that, the players proceed to final scoring.

Player Turn

On your turn, you must move the action marker in a clockwise direction. Then, you must choose one action from among the available actions adjacent to the marker and you may swap one of your active workers with a worker on that action area. Finally, you must perform the chosen action.

1. Moving the Action Marker (Mandatory)

You must move the action marker from 1 to 3 spaces in a clockwise direction. If you only move 1 space on the rondel, you gain 1 strength point. If you move all 3 spaces, you have to spend 3 strength points. By moving 2 spaces, you don't gain or lose strength points. As a reminder, this icon is depicted on the board.

Example: It's Joana's turn and she must move the action marker. As she wants to perform an action on the Northern region of the board, Joana moves the action marker 2 spaces clockwise, therefore not gaining or losing any strength points. Joana is then able to perform one of the actions adjacent to the action marker, being either the Recruit action or the Farming/Building action.

2. Swapping a Worker (Optional)

You must choose one of the actions adjacent to the action marker and you may swap one of your active workers with one worker on the action space you have chosen. Before doing the optional swap, you may spend 1 strength point to return all 3 workers from that action space to the bag, then refilling those spaces with the 3 workers from the centre of the board. If you do so, refill the centre of the board with 3 workers from the bag. As a reminder, this icon is depicted on the board.

Example: It's Joana's turn and she wants to perform the Recruit action, but there are no noble workers there, only 2 farmers and 1 soldier. She decides to spend 1 strength point to return all 3 workers to the bag. Then, Joana moves the 3 workers in the center of the board to the Recruit action space. Joana is then able to swap the soldier in her active workers pool with the noble from the Recruit action space.

Active workers vs. workers in your tribe: Your pool of active workers always consists of 3 workers, no more, no less. However, you can recruit extra workers into your tribe to boost your actions. This will be detailed further under the Recruit action.

3. Performing the Action (Mandatory)

You must perform the chosen action. There are 4 different actions: Farm, Build, Battle and Recruit.

Each action space is connected to one or both regions: North and/or South. You perform the action either on the Northern side of the board or on the Southern side depending on where the action marker is. Taking as an example the image below: if you wanted to Recruit and the action marker was on the space A, you would perform the Recruit action on the North side of the board but if the action marker was on the space B, you would perform the Recruit action on the South side instead.

Note: The Farm and Build actions share the same 2 action spaces, so each time you choose an action space with Farm/Build you must announce to the other players which action you are going to perform.

Example: It's Inês' turn and she moves the action marker 1 space, being able to perform either the Farm/Build action or the Battle action. She decides to perform the Farm action and swaps a soldier from her active workers with a farmer from the action space. Then she performs the action, starting by taking the leftmost card from that region's market which is always free. Inês has 2 farmers (2 in her active workers + 0 in her tribe), so she can either take 2 cards from the second, third and fourth cards since each of them requires only 1 farmer, or she can take only 1 of the 2 rightmost cards since each one of them requires 2 farmers. Inês decides for the cheaper cards, taking the second and the third leftmost cards into her hand.

Note: The types of workers depicted on the action regions of the board are just for set-up purposes. During the game, those spaces can contain any type of worker without restriction (farmers, builders, soldiers and nobles).

Farm

When you perform the Farm action, you immediately draw the leftmost card from the market of the region where you are performing the action for free. Then, depending on how many farmers you have in your pool of active workers and/or in your tribe, you can draw extra cards. The required number of farmers to draw a specific card is depicted on the board next to each card. A farmer cannot be used to draw multiple cards. There is no limit for the number of cards in your hand.

After you draw all the cards that you wish and can afford, the remaining cards slide to the left occupying any empty spaces and the market is refilled from left to right.

Build

In order to perform the Build action, you must discard from your hand a certain number of cards of the colour of the citadel where you wish to build. This is determined by the number indicated underneath the player's leftmost available disc on their player board.

Example: To build her leftmost available disc into a citadel, Inês must spend 5 cards of the colour of a chosen citadel.

From the quantity of cards you should discard, you discard 1 less card for each builder you have in your pool of active workers and/or in your tribe. However, you must discard 1 card as the minimum cost to determine the colour of the citadel, even if you were able to reduce the cost to 0. After discarding, take the leftmost available disc and place it on the chosen citadel of the region where you are performing the Build action and that contains an available space for your disc. Then, you gain the bonus associated with that citadel (see the Bonus Tiles section for the description of all bonuses).

Important: Only 1 disc can be built when performing this action.

Example: Inês places her disc on the pink citadel of the North region and gains the bonus associated with that citadel: she may draw 2 cards for free from the market of the North region (where she is performing her action).

When you build the last disc on a citadel, after gaining the bonus, flip the bonus tile face-down and place it beside your player board. This side depicts 1 point you will gain for completing the construction of the citadel. At the end of the game, every player with a disc on that citadel, will score 1 point for each disc they have there.

Example: Joana builds the last disc on the same pink citadel. She gains the corresponding bonus and takes that bonus tile, flipping it face-down, showing 1 point. At the end of the game, as indicated on the board, each disc on that citadel will score 1 point to its owner.

Example: It's Afonso's turn and he moves the action marker 1 space, so he can either perform a Farm/Build action or a Recruit action. Afonso decides to build and swaps a farmer from his active workers with a builder from the action space to have several builders. In order to build his next disc, Afonso should discard 4 cards but since he has 2 builders in his active workers + 1 builder in his tribe, Afonso has a discount of 3. Therefore, instead of discarding 4 cards, he only needs to discard 1 card. Afonso wants to build on an orange citadel, so the colour of the discarded card must be orange. After discarding the card and placing his disc on the citadel, Afonso gains the citadel bonus, which allows him to gain a double-sided bonus token from the supply that he places next to his workers. In a future turn he can discard that token to perform an action anywhere on the board instead of where the action marker is or to perform an action as if he had 1 extra worker of his choice. For completing the citadel, Afonso takes the bonus tile and flips it face-down showing he will gain 1 point at the end of the game.

Battle

When you perform the Battle action, you may discard from your hand a certain number of cards with the same military icon. There are 3 types of military icons: Warriors, Traps, Fortresses.

Depending how many soldiers you have in your pool of active workers and/or in your tribe you gain strength points per discarded card.

This icon means that if you have 1 soldier total, for each discarded card with the same icon you gain 1 strength point. If you have 2 soldiers, for each card you gain 2 strength points, if you have 3 soldiers, for each card you gain 3 strength points, and if you have 4 or more soldiers, for each card you gain 4 strength points. You cannot gain more than 4 strength points per card.

After discarding, you may battle against the Roman Army on top of the stack of Roman Army tiles of the region where you are performing the action. To battle, you must spend strength points equal to the strength depicted on the Roman Army tile. Each time you spend strength points, you slide your cube on the strength track the number of spaces to the left equal to the quantity of spent strength. Then, you take the Roman Army tile and flip it face-down beside your player board. This side depicts 1 or 2 points gained for game end scoring by defeating the army.

Important: You are not forced to discard cards in order to perform this action. If you have enough strength to defeat the Roman Army, you can do so without discarding any cards.

If you successfully defeated a Roman Army, you may place the topmost garrison cube from your player board into the garrison area of the region where you are performing the action. To do so, you must discard a card from your hand with a military icon matching the icon of the space where you wish to place your cube. Garrison cubes may award extra points at the end of the game. However, if you cannot or do not wish to discard a card, you cannot place a garrison cube.

When you battle the last Roman Army of the stack, move the progress marker next to it on to any progress card.

Important: Only 1 Roman tile can be defeated by performing this action.

Example: It's Afonso's turn and he moves the action marker 1 space (gaining 1 strength point), so he can either perform a Farm/Build action or a Battle action. Afonso decides to Battle and does not swap any workers, since he has 2 soldiers and there are no more soldiers on the Battle action space. He may discard cards from his hand with the same military icon to gain strength points. He currently has 2 soldiers in his active workers + 0 soldiers in his tribe, so each card he discards grants him 2 strength points. Afonso discards 3 cards with the Warrior icon to gain 6 strength points, giving him a total of 10 strength points. He may battle the Roman Army on the North region where he is performing the action. That Roman Army has a strength of 10, so Afonso spends all his strength to battle that army, then takes that army tile and flips it face-down to show 2 points. Afonso can also place a garrison cube from his board into the garrison space of that region, discarding from his hand a card with a Warrior or with a Fortress icon. He discards a card with a Fortress icon to place his topmost garrison cube from his player board on to the garrison space of the region.

Recruit

When you perform the Recruit action, you immediately recruit 1 of your active workers into your tribe, taking that worker from your active workers' pool and placing it on the leftmost empty space of your tribe along the top edge of your player board.

Then, for each noble you have in your pool of active workers and/or in your tribe you may recruit 1 extra worker from your active workers' pool into your tribe. You cannot recruit more than 3 workers during a Recruit action as all recruited workers must come from your active workers' pool and you may never have more than 3 active workers. While recruiting you may have more than 8 workers in your tribe but, at the end of the Recruit action, you must discard down to a maximum of 8, the choice is yours.

Example: Joana has to make her pool of active workers back up to 3. First, she picks up a soldier from the centre of the board, and then refills the supply with a builder. She then takes that builder to have 3 active workers available again.

Example: Joana may recruit 2 workers during her Recruit action: one for free and the other because she has a noble in her tribe, so she recruits a farmer and a soldier.

In addition, you may send workers from your tribe into the Druid Order to have one of them trained as druid. You must return to the bag from your tribe, not from your active workers, the quantity and type of workers indicated on the top tile of the druid stack of the region where you are performing the action. Slide any remaining workers in your tribe to the left to occupy any empty spaces. Then, refill your pool of active workers back to 3, taking 1 worker at a time from the centre of the board and refilling the centre immediately before taking the next worker. There will always be 3 workers in the centre to choose from.

Then, you take the Druid tile and flip it face-down beside your player board. This side depicts 1 or 2 points gained for end game scoring by sending tribe members to the Druid Order.

When you take the last Druid tile of the stack, move the progress marker next to it on to any progress card.

Finally, take a druid worker from the supply of that region and place it in your tribe. For each Druid you now have in your tribe, including the one just recruited, you must discard 1 card from your hand, your choice. This means that your first druid costs you 1 card, the second druid 2 cards, and so on. However, if you cannot or do not wish to discard cards from your hand, you cannot take a druid worker.

Important: Only 1 Druid tile and 1 Druid worker can be gained by performing this action.

Druid workers count as farmers, builders or soldiers to boost your actions when performing the Farm, Build and Battle actions respectively.

Example: It's Inês' turn and she moves the action marker 1 space (gaining 1 strength point) to perform a Recruit action. She starts by swapping her active soldier with the noble. She recruits a farmer for free into her tribe and because she has 1 noble in her active workers, Inês may recruit 1 extra worker, deciding to recruit the noble. The Druid tile of that region requires a farmer and a noble to be fulfilled, so Inês discards the previously recruited farmer and noble, returning them to the bag. She takes that Druid tile and flips it face-down to show 1 point and can also gain a druid worker by discarding 1 card from her hand — since Inês has no druids in her tribe, the first one costs only 1 card. Finally, she refills her pool of active workers back to 3 by taking them, one at a time, from the centre of the board.

Note — Last tile of a stack: When a player takes the last Roman Army tile or the last Druid tile from a region, apart from gaining the depicted points at the end of the game, that player also moves the progress marker next to the stack onto any progress card.

Progress

During the game, every time a player moves the action marker from the Northern region into the Southern region, meaning that the river was crossed on the right side of the board and the action marker returned to, or passed by, its starting position, progress is triggered and the Celts will advance their civilization in pursuit of more interesting endeavors.

The player holding the Teutates tile places the topmost progress marker from the progress track onto any progress card next to the board. Each progress card has spaces for a maximum of 2 or 3 progress markers, as indicated on each card. The number of progress markers on each card at the end of the game determine how many points will be scored: 1, 2 or 3 points for 1, 2 or 3 markers. All players will score every card that has at least 1 progress marker on it provided they meet the card's requirements.

Once there are only 3 progress markers remaining on the progress track players have to immediately decide whether they want to flip their leader card from side A to side B (see the Leaders section for full details of each leader). The icon on the progress track is a reminder to do this during the game.

When the last progress marker is taken from the progress track, the end of the game is triggered (see "End of the Game" below). Finally, the player holding the Teutates tile passes it to the player on their left.

Example: It's Joana's turn and she moves the action marker 1 space going from the Northern region to the Southern region which triggers progress. Afonso, currently holding the Teutates tile, must place the topmost progress marker from the progress track into any progress card. He decides to place the progress marker onto a card that scores points to the player who has the majority of recruited workers (workers in their tribe) as he is currently the player with more workers in his tribe. Then, Afonso passes the Teutates tile to Joana who will be the next player to place a progress marker when the action marker crosses the river again.

Example: Joana defeats the last army of the stack of the Southern region but since she has no more cards in hand, she cannot place a garrison cube. However, she collects the Roman Army tile and places the corresponding progress marker onto a progress card of her choosing.

End of the Game

When the last progress marker from the progress track is placed on a progress card, the end of the game is triggered. The Teutates tile will have arrived back with the start player and remaining players complete the current round.

Finally, in player order, each player takes a double turn, so each player moves the action marker and performs an action, then moves the action marker again and performs another action before the next player takes their final double turn.

After all players have performed their final turn proceed to Final Scoring.

Example: Afonso moves the action marker from the Northern region to the Southern region, triggering progress. Inês places the last progress marker from the progress track onto any progress card, triggering the end of the game. As Afonso was the start player Inês and Joana take their turns to finish the round. Then all players perform a final double turn comprised of 2 actions.

Final Scoring

To calculate your final score, you add together points for:

• A — All the completed citadels on the game board: 1 point for each of your discs.
• B — All the bonus tiles you collected.
• C — All the Druid tiles you gathered: 1 or 2 points per tile.
• D — All the Roman Army tiles you defeated: 1 or 2 points per tile.
• E — Each region where you have the most, or are tied for the most, garrison cubes: gain 1 point for each of your cubes.

Check your player board and add points for:

• F — All the tribe spaces with a point icon below that has a worker assigned to it.
• G — All the empty disc spaces that have a point icon below.
• H — If you placed all your garrison cubes, gain 1 point.
• I — Sum up your remaining strength points and remaining cards in your hand and for every 5 gain 1 point.

Evaluate the points on the progress cards:

• J — For each card you fulfilled the requirement, gain 1, 2 or 3 points (if it has 1, 2 or 3 progress markers). Progress cards without progress markers never score even if their requirements were fulfilled by any player.

Finally, score points for your Leader (see the Leaders section for details on all Leaders):

• K — 1 point if you fulfilled the condition on its A side and you didn't flip the card, or 3 points if you flipped the card and you have fulfilled the condition on its B side. However, if you flipped the card but didn't fulfill the condition on its B side, your Leader scores you no points.

In the case of a tie, the winner is the tied player with the most combined total of discs on citadels and workers in their tribe. If still tied add together Roman Army and Druid tiles. If still a tie, the player who can name all 8 Leaders the quickest wins!

Example: Afonso is going to calculate his final scoring: He scores 6 points for the completed citadels where he has discs, 1 point per disc. Then, he scores 3 points for the bonus tiles he collected, 1 point per tile. Afonso gathered 2 Druid tiles with a total value of 3 points and defeated 1 Roman Army with a value of 2 points. As he has no majority or is tied for majority of garrisons in any of the regions, Afonso scores 0 points for them. He gains 1 point for having 4 workers in his tribe and 3 points for placing 7 discs on citadels. In addition, Afonso didn't place all his garrison cubes, scoring 0 points for that. Finally, Afonso has 4 strength points remaining and 2 cards in his hand, adding both for a total of 6, which divided by 5 scores 1 point.

Afonso scores the progress cards: he would be able to score the first card for having the majority of bonus tiles, but the card doesn't have any progress marker, so it doesn't score. Afonso scores 2 points for the second card as he is tied with Joana for the majority of recruited workers (both have 4), and he scores 1 point for the third card because he has the majority of discs on citadels in the Northern region. As he has more than 2 discs on orange citadels, Afonso is able to score 2 points for the fifth card, but scores 0 points for the other cards because, despite there being progress markers on the cards, Afonso does not fulfill their conditions.

Finally, Afonso scores his Leader card which is flipped to its heroic side and for which he fulfilled the condition on its B side (having 7 discs on citadels), so he scores 3 points. Afonso's final score is 27 points.

SOLITAIRIX Solo Mode

In the solo mode, you compete against Solitairix, a traitor of the Celtic cause, allied to Julius Cesar. Solitairix does not score points, does not keep a hand of cards and does not recruit workers (let's face it: nobody wants to work for a traitor), but will try to hinder your progress on behalf of Julius Cesar. Depending on the difficulty level you choose, you must score a certain number of points by the end of the game to win. On each Solitairix's turn, you use the solo tile to determine which action Solitairix performs. You always decide where to place the progress markers, but for all progress cards with progress markers where you don't meet the requisites you score negative points at the end of the game.

Set-Up

A) Set-up the game as a 2-player game. Draw 3 Leader cards and keep 1, discard the others. Choose a colour for Solitairix who does not receive a player board but receives:

1. The Solo tile, with a random side face-up.
2. 9 Wooden discs of the chosen colour.
3. 4 Wooden cubes of the chosen colour.
4. 1 Random worker from 1 farmer, 1 builder and 1 soldier, returning the 2 remaining workers to the bag.

B) Leave the Teutates tile in the game box, it won't be needed since you are the one placing all progress markers.

Game Round

You are the first player and you will alternate turns with Solitairix, performing your turn as normally. On Solitairix's turn, do the following:

A) Move the action marker by drawing the top card of the draw deck and placing it next to Solitairix's area:

• If the colour of the drawn card is the same as the colour of the top card of the discard pile, advance the action marker 2 spaces.
• If the colour of the drawn card is different to the colour of the top card of the discard pile, advance the action marker 1 space.

B) Determine how many times you should rotate the solo tile:

• If the military icon of the drawn card is the same as the military icon of the top card of the discard pile, rotate the solo tile twice.
• If the military icon of the drawn card is different to the military icon of the top card of the discard pile, rotate the solo tile once.

C) Solitairix chooses an action to perform: Look at the quarter of the solo tile that is on top (active section). Solitairix tries to perform the leftmost action depicted on the top row of the active section. If it's not possible, Solitairix tries to perform the next depicted action and so on, until being able to perform an action (see Solitairix's Actions below for details).

D) Solitairix swaps a worker: After determining which action to perform, check the middle row of Solitairix's active section, then swap Solitairix's worker with the indicated worker on the chosen action space:

• Return all 3 workers from the action space to the bag and refill that action space with the 3 workers from the centre of the board. Then, refill the centre of the board with 3 workers from the bag.
• Swap Solitairix's worker with the leftmost or topmost worker on the action space.
• Swap Solitairix's worker with the middle worker on the action space.
• Swap Solitairix's worker with the rightmost or bottommost worker on the action space.

E) Solitairix performs the chosen action and ends the turn by placing the drawn card on the discard pile.

Example: This is how the solo tile looks after being rotated, with the following information on the active section: Top row: The action that Solitairix will try to perform. First option is to perform a Build action and, if that's not possible, the option is to perform a Farm action (which is always possible). Middle row: The worker from the action space to swap with Solitairix's worker. Bottom row: If Solitairix performs the Farm action, these are the cards to be discarded from the market.

Solitairix's Actions

FARM: Solitairix discards from the market of the region where the action is being performed the cards on the positions indicated on the bottom row of the active section of the solo tile. Then, the market is refilled as per the normal rules. This action can always be performed.

BUILD: Check the colour of the card drawn by Solitairix and place 1 of Solitairix's discs on the citadel of that colour in the region where the action is being performed. Solitairix doesn't get the bonus from the bonus tile. If Solitairix places the last disc on a citadel, the bonus tile is placed in Solitairix's play area (this may be used when scoring certain progress cards). If Solitairix cannot place a disc because the citadel is completed, do not perform the Build action and instead perform the next action indicated on the active section.

BATTLE: Solitairix gains the Roman Army tile on top of the stack from the region where the action is being performed. Place that Roman Army tile in Solitairix's play area (this may be used when scoring certain progress cards). Check the military icon of the drawn card and place a garrison cube from Solitairix in that region on a free garrison space that shows that icon. If that space is already occupied, then Solitairix doesn't place a cube. If Solitairix cannot gain a Roman Army tile because the stack is depleted, do not perform the Battle action and instead perform the next action indicated on the active section.

RECRUIT: Solitairix gains the Druid tile on top of the stack from the region where the action is being performed. Place the Druid tile in Solitairix's play area (this may be used when scoring certain progress cards). Then, place a druid worker from that region on Solitairix's play area (this may be used when scoring certain cards). If Solitairix cannot gain a Druid tile (because the stack is depleted), do not perform the Recruit action and instead perform the next action indicated on the active section.

Example: It's Solitairix's turn. Joana draws the top card of the deck and it's a teal card with a Warrior icon. On top of the discard pile there is a purple card with a Warrior icon, so since the colour is different from the card on the discard pile, the action marker moves only once. However, the military icon is the same, so the solo tile is rotated twice to show this active section. Solitairix tries to perform a Build action but the teal citadel on the Northern region is completed so that action cannot be performed. Instead, Solitairix performs the next action on the active section which is a Farm action, always available to do. First, you swap Solitairix worker with the leftmost worker on that action space and then Solitairix discards from the market on the Northern region the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th cards.

Progress and End of the Game

When the action marker moves from the Northern region into the Southern region, progress is triggered. You always decide onto which card the progress markers are placed. However, when Solitairix depletes a Roman Army stack or a Druid stack and a progress marker must be moved, simply discard it.

The game ends the same way as in the multiplayer game and for the final round you perform 2 actions in a row, followed by Solitairix doing the same.

Final Scoring

Sum up the final scoring as in a multiplayer game with the following exceptions:

• Any progress cards with progress markers for which you did not achieve their requirement, you score the points as negatives.
• For progress cards requiring a majority of workers you must meet the minimum number required as indicated in the bottom left corner of the card, beside the icon.
• For progress cards with all other majority requirements compare what you have with what Solitairix has.

Example: While calculating her final score, Joana checks how many points she scored from the progress cards. The first card scores her 1 point because she has 6 or more workers. The second card loses her 2 points because she only has 2 farmers in her tribe instead of at least 3 farmers. The third card is not scored because it has no progress markers on it. The fourth card scores Joana 2 points because she has more than 2 discs on teal citadels. Finally, the fifth card scores her 3 points because she has at least 3 Roman Army tiles.

You win if you have at least as many points as the target score according to the following difficulty levels:

• Easy Mode: 25 points
• Normal Mode: 30 points
• Hard Mode: 35 points

Leaders

During the setup, each player has chosen a Leader that started on its A side. When a progress marker is placed and there are only 3 progress markers remaining on the progress track (as depicted by this icon), players have to decide whether they want to keep their Leader card on its less heroic side A or if they flip it to its heroic side B.

Either on side A or B, the players have to fulfill its condition by the end of the game to gain the depicted points. Otherwise, they do not score any points for their Leader.

• VIRIATO — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 1 "1 point" Roman Army tile and 1 "2 points" Roman Army tile by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 2 "1 point" Roman Army tiles and 2 "2 points" Roman Army tiles by the end of the game.
• AVARUS — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 2 garrison cubes on the board by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have your 4 garrison cubes on the board by the end of the game.
• DIVICIACUS — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 1 "1 point" Druid tile and 1 "2 points" Druid tile by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 2 "1 point" Druid tiles and 2 "2 points" Druid tiles by the end of the game.
• AMBIORIX — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 1 "2 points" Roman Army tile by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 3 "2 points" Roman Army tiles by the end of the game.
• VERCINGETORIX — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 1 disc in the Northern region and at least 1 disc in the Southern region by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 3 discs in the Northern region and at least 3 discs in the Southern region by the end of the game.
• CARATACUS — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 3 workers (druids do not count) in your tribe by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 6 workers (druids do not count) in your tribe by the end of the game.
• CARTIMANDUA — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 1 bonus tile by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 3 bonus tiles by the end of the game.
• BOUDICA — A: Gain 1 point if you have at least 3 discs on citadels by the end of the game. B: Gain 3 points if you have at least 7 discs on citadels by the end of the game.

Leader Backstories

Our story begins on the west coast of Europe, where VIRIATO leads a revolt against the invading Roman armies between 147 BC and 139 BC in a region between Portugal and Spain that the Romans called Lusitania. We don't know for certain all the details of his life, some say he was a shepherd, others say he belonged to the warrior class, and as such, was part of the elite. What we know for sure was that he caused several embarrassments to Rome who sent army after army to deal with his revolt. Viriato was described as an excellent strategist and because the Romans were better armed, he organized guerrilla tactics and imaginative ambushes. However, he was eventually betrayed by his own folk and murdered while sleeping leaving being the myth that he had never been defeated on the battlefield.

While we mourn Viriato, the Romans are already laying in siege to Numantia where the final episode of the Numantine war is about to happen. It's one of the final steps in completing their full domination of the Iberian peninsula. AVARUS prepared the city for this battle, bolstering fortifications and hoarding rations. But in 133 BC, as all hope of success was lost, he decided to negotiate with the Romans in order to save the lives of his own people. Upon returning to the city from the Roman camp he was killed by the incredulous populace, who believed Avarus had cut a deal with the Romans to just save himself and his family. Roman texts tell us that he negotiated to protect all of his own people, but as with Viriato, he died at the hands of those he tried to save.

70 years later, a druid known as DIVICIACUS asks for an audience in the Senate inviting Rome to restore some peace on its borders. His own tribe, an old ally of Rome, is having troubles with other Celtic tribes. Caesar uses this as an argument to invade the Gaul region and to confront and defeat Ariovistus as we can read in his Bellum Gallicum (The Gallic War). He starts a military campaign that expands over several years ending in the total subjugation of all Gallic tribes, in what can be considered by modern day standards, as the Celtic Holocaust.

During the following years several Gallic leaders tried to rally their tribes in order to overturn this invasion and one of the most famous ones was AMBIORIX. In 54 BC, facing a grain shortage, Caesar was forced to set up winter camp amongst the rebellious Belgic tribes. Ambiorix managed to engineer a spectacular ambush of Caesar's troops in one of the latter's greatest defeats ever recorded. Caesar swore to destroy all the Belgic tribes after Ambiorix had killed 15 cohorts (around 7.500 soldiers). The Roman campaigns against the Belgae took a few years, but eventually the tribes were slaughtered or driven out of their lands and their fields burned.

While the Gauls were extremely brave they definitely lacked unity. Tribes never fought side by side against the invaders and Caesar ensured he made the most of divide and conquer. Finally, the exception was found, and VERCINGETORIX managed to unite the majority of tribes. And if there was a time and place where Caesar's campaign might have collapsed, it was when he besieged Vercingetorix and his allies in Alesia. This battle was almost the turning point where the Romans could have been expelled from Gaul and where a Gallic front would have proved effective. But the military genius of Caesar was enough to win the battle as he built two walls: one around the besieged citadel and another around his own troops to protect them from the relief Gallic army that arrived to free the besieged Gauls.

Let us leave Gaul for now and go to our final stop: the British Isles: 100 years after the conquest of Gaul. Rome is no longer a Republic but an Empire and Gallic tribes still continue to fight each other as the Romans continue to expand their borders. For almost a decade CARATACUS managed to hold off the Romans who came to rescue some of the tribes Caractacus had previously defeated. He led the defence of the British Isles together with his brother, against 4 powerful Roman Legions, primarily using guerrilla tactics. Only in 50 AD was Caratacus defeated in the battle of Ordovician although he managed to escape to the lands of the Brigantes. However, the Brigantian Queen Cartimandua then handed him over to the Romans in chains.

CARTIMANDUA had formed a large tribal agglomeration that became loyal to Rome. Having given the Emperor Claudius the greatest exhibit of his triumph by handing him Caratacus, Cartimandua was rewarded with great wealth and she retained the throne thanks to the military support of the Romans. Some would have seen her as a traitor to the Celtic cause, but in reality, her clever approach to the Roman invasion and the inevitability of Roman success probably avoid a lot of unnecessary bloodshed of her people. However in 69 AD, taking advantage of the instability in Rome, her enemies took back power as they once again proclaimed war against Rome. Cartimandua was evacuated and she disappeared from all historic sources.

Finally, we turn our eyes to BOUDICA, the Iceni Queen who led a giant popular revolt against the Romans. When her husband died, she attempted to resist the Romans who had come to seize her property. However, they had her beaten and also assaulted her daughters. Boudica then joined forces with the neighbouring tribe of the Trinovantes to avenge this humiliation. They first set upon Camulodunum destroying the Temple of Claudius and killing all the inhabitants. The Romans sent the IX legion of 4,000 men to confront the rebels but they were ambushed and only those on horseback were able to escape. The rebels then attacked Londinium and Verulamium, burning these Roman cities to the ground. The rebels were finally defeated by Paulinus who chose the perfect battleground and, even though the Romans were massively outnumbered, their superior weaponry and training enabled them to inflict a crushing defeat on the Britons.

Progress Cards

A progress card can only be scored if it has progress markers on it and scores 1 point if it has 1 progress marker, 2 points if it has 2 progress markers or 3 points if it has 3 progress markers. Any player who fulfills the condition on a progress card, scores for that requirement.

• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of discs placed on citadels of the indicated colour.
• Requires 2 or more discs placed on citadels of the indicated colour.
• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of discs placed on citadels in the indicated region (Northern or Southern).
• Requires 2 or more bonus tiles.
• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of recruited workers of the indicated type. Druids do not count for the cards that require a specific type of worker.
• Requires 2 or more recruited Druid workers.
• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of recruited workers. Druids not included.
• Requires 5 or more recruited workers. Druids not included.
• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of gained bonus tiles.
• Requires 3 or more Druid tiles.
• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of gained Druid tiles.
• Requires 3 or more Roman Army tiles.
• Requires the majority, or tied for majority, of gained Roman Army tiles.
• Requires 2 or more garrison cubes in the indicated region (Northern or Southern).

Bonus Tiles

Each time you perform a Build action on the board, either in the Northern region or in the Southern region, you get a bonus tile associated with that action.

• Gain 1 double-sided bonus token.
• When performing an action, you can discard this token to perform the action as if you had 1 extra worker of your choice or to choose any action space on the board as if the action marker was adjacent to it (without moving the action marker).
• Recruit 1 worker from your active pool. Then, refill up to 3 active workers from the centre of the game board.
• Draw, for free, any 2 cards from the market of the region where this tile is placed.
• Gain 3 strength points.

Credits

Game Design: Orlando Sá Illustration: Mihajlo Dimitrievski Graphic Design: André Santos Rules Edition and Translation: Rita Jesus, Hugo Marinho Rules Revision: Neil Horabin Editor: David M Santos-Mendes

Acknowledgements: The designer wants to thank his wife Joana and his kids Afonso and Inês for being who they are — amazing and inspirational. Without them, this game would not be possible. The designer also wants to thank the sensational group of people involved in the development of the game, specifically Costa, Rôla, David Mendes, Rita Jesus, Hugo Marinho, Andreia Domingues, André Santos, Carlos Meinedo, Pedro Dominguez, Emmanuel Tavares, César Maciel, Fernanda Castelo, Diogo Barros, Pedro Santos, Maria Mota, João Pimentel, Tiago Nunes, Sara Guerreiro, Isabel Couto, Rui Couto, Aurora Coelho, João Jotta, Carlos Ramos, Inês Freitas, Marlene Cunha, Luís Moita Flores, Fábio Castro, Sara Moriano, Rui Gonçalves, Joana Bastardo, Kamila Koprowska, Iga Turek, Samuel Cadima, Nuno Rebelo, Luís Romudas, Ana Pimpão, Carlos Sousa, Ricardo Simões, Fernando Oliveira, Pedro Pacheco, Daniel Correia, Carolina Quinaz, Malte Frieg, Humberto Pestana and Flor Romero. Finally, the author wants to thank Pythagoras Games for their support during the whole process (that already started in 2019), for their trust and patience that one day this game would gain shape.

Produced and published by Pythagoras Games, www.pythagoras.pt. © 2023 All rights reserved.