Colonial 1700-1800 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Victory Condition
• Determining Sides
• Setup
• Battle Card Anatomy
• Colony Card Anatomy
• Secret Objective Card Anatomy
• Goods in the Game
• Start of the Game
  • 1. Draw a Tactic Card from the Deck
  • 2. Actions in Colonies
  • 3. Political Objective Roll
  • 4. Purchases
  • 5. Movement
  • 6. Battles
  • 7. Support
  • 8. Income
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
• Solo Mode: The Pirate Republic
  • Components
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • End of the Game (Solo Mode)
• Optional Rules
  • 1. Path to Freedom
  • 2. Historical Accuracy
  • 3. Sideshow Bob
  • 4. Neutral Battle Deck
  • 5. Alternate Game Length
• Historical Timeline

Game Components

General

• 1 Political board
• 32 coins
• Colony deck (Tarot 70x120, 30 cards)
• Tactic deck (Standard 63.5x88, 69 neutral, 4 loyal)
• Good deck (mini Euro 45x68, 142 cards)
• Secret Objective deck (mini Euro 45x68, 44 cards)
• Political Battle deck (mini Euro 45x68, 12 cards)
• 2 Declared War cards (Standard 63.5x88)
• 1 High Seas card (Tarot 70x120)
• 1 Round marker

Per faction

• 1 player board
• 16 Control tokens
• 1 Battle deck (mini Euro 45x68, 22 cards)
• 4 dice

Victory Condition

Players alternate taking turns until each player has taken 5 turns. At the end of the 5th round, the game ends. The player with the most victory points (hereinafter, VP) at the end of the game is the winner.

Determining Sides

Players can choose the competing factions freely. Once the factions have been chosen, players must place as many Declared War cards as there are players in the game on the Political board, covering the portraits and instructions of the Political Objectives of the chosen factions. These Political Objectives will not be available in the game since their faction is controlled by a physical player.

Setup

A) Place the Political board on the table.

B) Place the Round marker on position 1 on the Political board: the game ends at the end of turn 5 in a standard game.

C) Creation of the card market: place the neutral Tactic cards (without a faction symbol) forming a deck on the corresponding space on the Political board. Reveal 4 cards and place them on the corresponding spaces on the board, creating the card market.

D) Player components: each player takes their faction's Battle deck, player board, Control tokens and dice and places them in their player area. Each player takes their faction's 2 loyal Tactic cards in their hand (they show the corresponding coat of arms under the card title) and draws Tactic cards from the Tactic deck until they have 5 in total. These 5 cards make up their starting hand and must not be visible to their opponents. Each player takes 3 gold coins and places them in their Treasury (on the player board).

E) Colony display

1. In the game there can be up to 6 Regions: North America, Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The Regions and number of Colonies per Region vary depending on the number of players in the game:

Players	Regions	Colonies per Region	Total Colonies
2	4	3	12
3	4	4	16
4	5	4	20
5	6	4	24

Once the number of Regions is determined using the table above, players may choose which specific Region to use for the game. Colonies must be placed in their respective Region according to their order of appearance.

2. Shuffle the Colony deck and reveal cards until 3 Colonies have been revealed for each Region (4 Colonies in a game with 3 or more players). Place the Colonies in each Region in a row, following the order in which they have been revealed. Subsequently, due to card effects, new Colonies may come into play: they are simply placed in their respective Region, adjacent to the last Colony placed there. They are never placed between two previously existing Colonies. In each Region, Colony cards adjacent to each other are considered 1 movement space apart. Colonies located in different Region are never adjacent.

3. Place the High Seas card between the Regions. All Colonies on the table are considered separated by 1 High Seas movement space and vice versa. Units can move directly from a Colony to the High Seas or from the High Seas to a Colony.

F) Secret Objectives: once all Colonies have been revealed, shuffle the Secret Objective deck and deal 2 cards to each player, who must select one to keep and discard the other. Secret Objectives are cards that grant VP at the end of the game and can only be fulfilled (and scored) once. If the card's condition needs to be verified before the end of the game, when its owner meets it, they must show the Objective card to the rest of the players and leave it permanently face up in their playing area, as a reminder for the final scoring. Once each player has their Secret Objective card, place the rest of the Objective deck near the Political board.

G) Deciding initial control: Control tokens are used during the game for claiming control of Colonies.

1. Each Colony controlled by a player at the end of the game grants 1 VP.
2. When a player gains control of a Colony, they immediately take control of the Good produced in the Colony. The icons on the Colony cards indicate the Good that is produced there.
3. Players can only place units in Colonies they control or on the High Seas. There are particular units (such as Native allies or Hessians) that can be placed in uncontrolled Colonies or in Colonies controlled by an opponent. When all Colonies have been revealed, players roll a die. The player with the highest result is the first player. The player with the lowest result places a Control token of their faction on a Colony of their choice. Players then keep doing this in clockwise order until all players control 3 Colonies. Then, they take the Goods produced by those Colonies (1 Good card for each controlled Colony, or 2 Good cards if the Colony provides Slaves).

You are now ready to start the game. Place the deck with the unused Colonies near the Political board. Before starting the game, let's take a look at the anatomy of every card type and the list of available Goods.

Battle Card Anatomy

The anatomy of a Battle card shows: the card cost; the card art; the loyalty symbol; the card type; the card name; and the rules and abilities.

Note: art pieces in Mini Euro cards (45x68 mm) do not include credits due to a lack of space. In the case of Standard cards (63.5x88 mm), all art pieces include artist credits.

There are 7 different types of Battle cards: Leader, Infantry, Natives, Cavalry, Artillery, Naval and Building.

Battle cards have different rules and abilities. Only cards with a printed die fight in a Battle (player may roll a die for them). Rules of Battle cards are summarised as follows:

• Die symbol (die / die ±x): cards that fight during a Battle. They roll the number of printed dice and then add any shown modifiers.
• Fortress modifier (♖ ±x): fortresses in this Colony get the shown modifier.
• Uncontrolled Colonies: may come into play in uncontrolled Colonies.
• Any Colony: may come into play in any Colony (even enemy Colonies).
• Instant placement: place instantly into play (do not place in Support area), next to a Leader already in play, or in any Colony.
• Regional restriction: may only come into play in the shown Region and cannot leave it.
• Conquest effects: if a player conquers the Colony, discard this card; if a player conquers the Colony, flip over this card; or if a player conquers the Colony, they may pay 1 gold to destroy this card.
• End of turn: at the end of the turn, discard this card.
• Unique: limited to 1 card with this name in the Colony.
• Non-capturing unit: this unit cannot take control of Colonies. It can fight and destroy enemy units, but the Control token on the Colony card will not change.
• Looting: if this unit moves to an enemy Colony and remains there at the end of the turn, transfer the gold amount from the enemy Treasury to yours. This ability cannot be triggered by units which do not move or already were in an enemy Colony from a previous turn.

Colony Card Anatomy

A Colony card shows: the Good it produces; the Region; the Colony name; the benefit; and a historical description.

Some Colonies provide an action that its controller can trigger if they have a Leader there, and other Colonies provide a permanent benefit. The benefits provided by a Colony action are summarized below.

Actions available if the player has a Leader in the Colony:

• Die 5+: With 5+ place 1 free Fortress here.
• Die 5+: With 5+ place 1 free Plantation here.
• Die 5+: With 5+ place 1 free Native allies here.
• Die 5+: With 5+ draw 1 Tactic card.
• Die 5+: With 5+ you get +1 on your Political Objective roll this turn.
• Die 5+: With 5+ place 1 free Privateers here.
• Die 4+: With 4+ choose an opponent who loses 1 gold.
• Die 4+: With 4+ you get 1 gold.

Permanent benefits provided by Colonies:

• Fortress +1: Fortresses in this Colony roll +1 during Battles.
• +1: Native allies in this Colony roll +1 during Battles.
• +1: Naval units in this Colony roll +1 during Battles.
• -1: Naval units in this Colony roll -1 during Battles.
• Movement benefit: If you move units from this Colony to an adjacent Colony, you can move one additional space. This second move can't be towards the High Seas.
• Victory point benefit: This Colony grants its controller 1 extra VP at the end of the game.

Secret Objective Card Anatomy

A Secret Objective card shows: the card name; the verification; the rules; and the Victory Points.

The Secret Objective cards can have two types of conditions: end-of-game verification or instant verification (in which case the card is flipped over and shown to all players the moment the condition is met, remaining visible until the end of the game).

• End-of-game verification: verified at the end of the game.
• Instant verification: flip the card over and show it to the rest of the players when the condition is met.

Additionally, Secret Objective cards can include two types of majority icons: simple majority of Goods in the Warehouse and simple majority of controlled Colonies.

• Simple majority of Goods in the Warehouse: the player meets the condition if they have more Goods of the shown type than each of their opponents.
• Simple majority of controlled Colonies: the player meets the condition if they control more Colonies in the shown Region than each of their opponents.

Goods in the Game

Each Colony produces one type of Good, so when a player takes control of a Colony (by bringing units there if the Colony is free, by defeating an enemy if the Colony is occupied, or through Tactic card effects), they will immediately take a card of the Good produced by the Colony and place it in their Warehouse.

The different types of Goods are: Amber, Cattle, Campeachy tree, Cocoa, Coffee, Cotton, Diamonds, Fish, Furs, Indigo, Ivory, Mahogany, Porcelain, Precious metals, Silk, Spices, Sugar, Timber, Tobacco, Whales and Wine.

Most of these are common Goods produced by Colonies, but two of them are special Goods that can only be obtained through political manoeuvring: Amber and Wine. In both cases, players will have to seek support on the Political board to achieve them. In the case of Amber, players need the support of the King of Sweden, while to get Wine players will have to go to Joseph I of Portugal.

Note: if one of the players in the game plays the Portuguese faction, Joseph I will not be available on the Political board, since that faction is being controlled by a physical player.

Players need Goods to produce gold in their turn and to get VP at the end of the game:

• A player gets 1 gold for each set of 3 different Goods they have in their Warehouse at the end of their turn.
• At the end of the game, each set of 3 different Goods awards 1 VP.

Start of the Game

Golden rule: if the text of a card totally or partially contradicts this rulebook, the text of the card takes priority.

Sequence of play: players alternate taking turns until the end of the game. Each player's turn is made up of the following steps, which are performed in this order:

1. Draw a Tactic card from the deck.
2. Carry out actions in Colonies.
3. Political Objective roll.
4. Purchases.
5. Movement.
6. Battles.
7. Support.
8. Income.

Each player must complete all steps of their turn before the next player's turn begins.

1. Draw a Tactic Card from the Deck

In this step, the active player draws a Tactic card from the deck without showing it to their opponents. They may play this card immediately or bring it into their hand to play at any time (the text on some cards may indicate a specific time to be played).

General rules of Tactic cards

• Tactic cards can be played at any time (even during an opponent's turn) unless the card text indicates otherwise.
• There is no hand limit. Players can have as many cards as they are able to purchase.
• There is no limit to the number of Tactic cards that can be played during a turn.
• When played, Tactic cards must be fully resolved unless an opponent plays a Tactic card that cancels yours.
• Multiple Tactic cards can be played (even with the same name) to modify the same element of the game. Example: Diana plays 2 cards during a Battle to increase the effect of her dice. These bonuses or penalties are cumulative.
• If both players simultaneously play a Tactic card, the card played by the active player must be resolved first.
• Tactic cards are generally single-use and must be placed in the Tactic discard pile once played, unless the text on the card indicates otherwise (some cards are units or buildings and remain in play).
• Some Tactic cards can destroy other cards. The target card to be destroyed must be in play and is taken out of the game.
• Tactic cards that have the "Or" condition indicate that their owner must choose one (and only one) of the possible effects, declaring which effect they are going to apply.

2. Actions in Colonies

Leader cards represent important generals from each country in command of colonial forces. Leader cards are distinguished from other Battle cards by the icon of a soldier with a hat.

Many Colonies allow players who control them to roll a die and receive some type of benefit if they have a Leader in the Colony. One die may be rolled per Colony on each turn. If achieved, benefits are applied immediately.

3. Political Objective Roll

The Political board represents the diplomatic efforts of colonial powers to attract allies to their side in the war, or, at the very least, to provoke interventions that thwart the enemy plans. The Political board is made up of the main actors of the time: monarchs and native chiefs. Once per turn, players can attempt to engage one of these actors by rolling a die.

Each player can make a single roll to gain support for a Political Objective on each turn. The active player must choose a Political Objective from the board and communicate their decision to the opponents before rolling the die.

Choosing the target wisely it's important for several reasons:

• Not all politicians offer the same advantages, players must select those that best fit their game strategy (economic, diplomatic, military advantage or combinations of these).
• Politicians have different levels. The higher the difficulty, the greater the benefits if their alliance is achieved (the benefits they grant have a greater impact on the game).

The active player then rolls a die. If the result obtained equals or exceeds the difficulty of the Political Objective, the active player places a Control token on it and immediately gets the benefit associated with that support.

Goods are placed in the Warehouse and units are put into play, as a general rule, in a Colony controlled by the active player or on the High Seas, unless otherwise indicated in the rules of the corresponding Political Objective.

If the result obtained is lower, nothing happens.

Players can play Tactic cards to increase or decrease the value of rolls. Players can also pay up to 2 gold coins to increase their roll (1 gold grants +1 to the roll, 2 gold grants +2 to the roll). Both Tactic cards and gold must be used before the die roll, never afterward. A roll of 1 is always considered a failure, regardless of any modifiers that may be applied.

Counter-diplomacy: a player may attempt to seize the support of a Political Objective from another player who previously controlled it. If you want to do this, you must roll the politician's difficulty +1, which represents that bringing a politician from an opponent's side to your side requires a little extra difficulty. If you succeed, place your Control token on that Politician and give back the previous Control token to its owner.

The chosen factions are covered on the Political board (which represents that those countries are being controlled by physical players) by Declared War cards. Therefore, there will always be at least 2 Declared War cards on the Objectives of the Political board (2-player games), and there may be up to 5 disabled Political Objectives in 5-player games.

The benefits that can be obtained on the Political board are the following:

Difficulty	Political Objective	Benefit
3+	Adolf Frederick I	You get 1 Amber.
4+	Thayendanegea	You get +1 in Battle rolls in North America.
5+	Maria Theresa I	You receive 1 Austrian expedition.
6+	Mahadaji Shinde	Place the Maratha invaders in a Colony of India*.
7+	Charles III	You receive 1 Spanish army and 1 Spanish fleet.
7+	Louis XV	You receive 1 French army, and you get +1 in your political rolls.
4+	Mohamed Ben Osman	You get +1 in Battle rolls in Africa.

Colonies in India are listed here: Arcot, Bombay, Calcutta, Chandernagor, Cossimbazar, Cuddalore, Diu, Goa, Madras, Mahé, Masulipatnam, Pondichéry, Trichinopoli, Vizagapatnam, Wandiwash, Yanaon.

4. Purchases

In this step, the active player can spend gold coins to make the following types of purchases:

• Battle cards: the active player can purchase any number of cards from their Battle deck. Battle cards are distinguished by the faction emblem shown in the center of the card, as well as a cost printed in the upper left corner. Once purchased, cards are placed in the Support area (player board), unless the rule of a card indicates otherwise (Hessians). Cards in the Support area will come into play later, in the Support step.
• Tactic cards: the active player can purchase any number of cards: a) From the card market (revealed cards) at the cost printed at the bottom. The market is replenished at the end of Purchase step, never while the card purchase is in progress. b) From the Tactic deck at the cost of 1 gold coin per card. Cards acquired in this way go directly to the active player's hand, without being shown to their opponents, and can be used immediately.

Any amount of gold not spent during this step is discarded from the player's Treasury, so it is advisable to spend all available gold to optimize the war effort.

5. Movement

During the Movement step, the active player can move their units. All moves must be made before the next step of the turn (Battles). All units can move 1 space per turn. Adjacent Colonies are separated from each other by 1 space, and (unless stated otherwise, for example, in scenario rules) all Colonies on the table are considered adjacent to the High Seas, so units can always move to the High Seas using 1 move.

If a unit moves to an uncontrolled Colony that has no enemy units in it, the player who owns the moving unit immediately takes control of the Colony, placing their control token and receiving the corresponding Good card.

Note: for the Privateers' effect to activate, they must have moved to an enemy Colony during the current turn. If they remain where they were, they do not loot.

Note: Siege Artillery cannot move on its own, it must always move alongside a faction Leader.

Some of the icons shown in Colony cards can alter movement:

• Colonies with waterways: they are adjacent to each other within the same Region.
• Inland Colonies: Naval units cannot access them under any circumstances, nor they are accessible from the High Seas. The only possible access to these Colonies is by land (from an adjacent Colony).
• Movement benefit (second space): if you move units from this Colony to an adjacent Colony, you can move one additional space. This second move can't be towards the High Seas.

Once all moves have been completed, a Battle occurs in all Colonies where there are units from different factions (unless safe passage has been granted by the Colony controller) and may occur on the High Seas if multiple factions have units there. This means that the coincidence of units from different factions in a Colony without safe passage necessarily implies a Battle, while the coincidence of units of various factions on the High Seas only implies a Battle if the active player wishes to declare it (the ocean is very large). Battles may only be declared by the active player during their turn.

Example 1: Johannes Siberg and the British fleet are both on the High Seas, but they do not want to fight each other, so they recognize each other in the distance, and nothing happens. However, if the active player declares a Battle, the Battle occurs.

A player may grant safe passage to another, but there are no binding agreements in this game. If the Colony owner declares the withdrawal of safe passage when the other player's units are already in, a Battle occurs.

Example 2: The French player had granted safe passage to the Spanish player through Martinique. When Blas de Lezo goes in, the French player declares a Battle with their Fortress against the Spanish player.

It would not be the first time that a nervous gunner's shot breaks a truce…

6. Battles

There is a Battle in each Colony that contains units from both the active player and another player, unless safe passage has been granted. Battles are resolved through pairings. The attacking player must assign, if possible, at least one attacking unit to each defending unit, creating pairs. After forming pairs, if a player has unpaired units (i.e., they had more units than the other player), they must add them to other existing pairs of their choosing. In this way, matchups can pit 2 units against 1, 3 units against 1, etc.

For each unit pairing, the corresponding dice (indicated at the bottom of the Battle cards) are rolled, and modifiers are applied. When rolling dice for their units, each player must publicly declare which die is being rolled for each unit, as many units have their own modifiers printed on their card (+1, +2, +3, etc.). If players play Tactic cards during this step, further modifiers can be applied to the dice results, yielding a strength above 6 or below 1. The highest die result of a unit + the modifier is the strength of the unit. Each unit has its own strength.

Even if each pair's dice are rolled consecutively, all dice are considered to be rolled simultaneously for all pairs participating in the Battle. Each unit gets a strength value (die results from different units cannot be combined).

In a matchup, the side with the highest strength (individually on any of its dice rolled) wins the combat and the defeated opponent must destroy one of its units from that matchup. If there is a tie, no unit is destroyed and the combat roll is repeated. Destroyed units are removed from the game (they cannot be recruited again) and defeated Leaders are captured and sent to the winning player's Prison (on their player board). Captured Leaders cannot be recruited again and serve to break ties when determining the winner at the end of the game.

Ransoms: players can exchange prisoners or pay to obtain the release of their generals. The terms of the agreement and the price of the ransoms must be freely decided between the players. They can negotiate with gold and even with Tactic cards in their hands (they can give Tactic cards to another player as a ransom). Once an agreement is reached, the freed prisoners are returned to their owner's Battle deck.

If the defeated player has multiple units in a matchup, they can decide which unit to destroy (usually the cheapest unit or the unit with the least combat power).

After the first combat and the elimination of units, if both sides still have units in the Colony, the Battle continues. New pairs are created again with the surviving units and new battles are fought by rolling the dice again until only units of one faction remain in the Colony (or on the High Seas in the case of a naval Battle). Tactic cards can still be played in each combat step until the end of the Battle.

Example 3: in this Battle, Great Britain and France have 2 units each in Rupert's Land. Great Britain is the active player, so they are the attacker and the one who determines the pairings.

Great Britain has some Native allies and Robert Clive. France has a Fortress and Bertrand Mahé. The British player, who is the attacker, pairs Robert Clive against Bertrand Mahé and the Native allies against the French Fortress.

Resolving the 1st pairing: Robert Clive gets a 3 (modified to 5 after adding +2). Bertrand Mahé gets a 3 (modified to 4 after adding +1). The British player has the greatest strength, so the French player must destroy one unit of this pair. Bertrand Mahé is captured and placed in the British Prison.

Resolving the 2nd pairing: The British Native allies get a 4. The French Fortress gets a 2 (modified to 5 after adding +2 because of its own ability and +1 granted by Rupert's Land to Fortresses). The French player has the greater strength, so the British player must destroy one unit of this pair. The Native allies are removed from the game.

After this first combat, with Robert Clive and the French Fortress remaining as survivors, they pair up against each other and resolve a new combat until only one side has units in the Colony.

Example 4: in this battle, Spain has 2 units and Portugal has 1 unit in Rio Grande. It is the turn of the Spanish player, who, being the attacker, pairs one of their units with the Portuguese unit, but, because they have another unpaired unit, they incorporate it into the only existing pair. Spain has some Native allies and some Hessians. Portugal has some Privateers. With 2 units in the pairing, Spain will roll 1 die for each of them, increasing the chances of obtaining the highest individual score.

Resolving the pairing: The Spanish Native allies get a 4. The Spanish Hessians get a 2. The Portuguese Privateers get a 5 (modified to 6 after adding +1 granted by Rio Grande to Naval units). Portugal has the greatest individual strength in this matchup, so the Spanish player must destroy a unit. The Spanish player decides to destroy the Hessians, who are removed from the game.

As both sides continue to have units in the Colony, a new combat is resolved to determine the winner of the Battle.

When a player conquers a Colony, they immediately perform the following steps:

a) Remove the defeated player's Control token and place their own Control token in the Colony. b) Receive the Good produced by the Colony, and the defeated player loses it. If they cannot lose it because they do not have it, the winning player receives it from the Good deck. If the Colony provides Slaves, the defeated player must give 2 Slaves cards to the winning player. c) The defeated player's buildings in the Colony that bear the destruction symbol on their card (Plantation, etc.), as well as Siege Artillery, are destroyed (removed from the game).

Naval Battles

Naval Battles on the High Seas are fought in the same way as land Battles. On the High Seas, both naval units can confront each other, and naval units can confront land units (thematic simplification: land units are considered to travel in transport ships without relevant naval capabilities).

Naval units on the High Seas therefore have an advantage in naval Battles and get +1 to their die roll (shown on the High Seas card as a reminder).

Three-side Battles

Battles in Colonial 1700-1800 are always fought between 2 players. However, if you have other game expansions and are playing a game with 3 or more players, there is a possibility that units from 3 different factions may be present in the same Colony if the following case occurs:

• Dutch player's turn: they recruit some Native allies (African) and in the Support step they place them in Kaapstad, so they control the Colony.
• French player's turn: they request safe passage, and the Dutch player grants it, so Pierre de Vaudreuil enters Kaapstad.
• British player's turn: George Anson invades Kaapstad.

In this example, the British player is the attacker, so they decide who they want to fight the first Battle against. If, for example, they choose to fight the Dutch player and they win the Battle, the surviving units of the British player (in this case, George Anson) must fight the French player, unless there is a Franco-British agreement where the French player avoids the Battle recognizing British control of Kaapstad, and the British player agrees to grant safe passage to the French player for leaving the Colony.

7. Support

In this step, the active player puts their purchases into play. Unless the text on a card indicates otherwise, purchases are put into play from the Support area of the player board:

• On a Colony you control.
• Or on the High Seas (even if an opponent already has units there).

Cards that come into play in the Support step are placed on a Colony controlled by the active player or on the High Seas card. If the active player so wishes, they can leave all or part of their purchases on their Support area (player board) and put them into play on subsequent turns.

Certain Battle cards (mainly Native allies) can only appear in a specific Region, and they cannot leave it. These Regions are printed on cards as follows: North America, Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

Therefore, during the Support step, these cards can only be moved from the Support area (player board) to their corresponding Region.

8. Income

In this step, the active player gets 3 gold, plus 1 additional gold for each set of 3 different Goods they have in their Warehouse. Players can freely reorder their sets of Goods at any time to create the highest possible number of sets of 3 different Goods.

Goods must be different within each set, but may be repeated among sets (for example, there may be 2 sets containing Sugar).

Gold obtained during the Income step is placed in the player's Treasury, where it will be available for use on the following turn.

Note: coins in Colonial 1700-1800 have no value, they show a silver face and a golden face. The difference between both types is only for aesthetic and historical purposes. The value of all coins in the game is 1. To make it simple and regardless of its colour, currency in the game is referred to as "gold" by default, and it is represented in icons by the golden face.

The Spanish dollar, also known as 'piece of eight' (Spanish: real de a ocho), or 'Carolus' (after the Latin name of the Spanish king shown on coins) was widely used as the first international currency during the colonial era because of its uniformity in milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency.

End of the Round

At the end of the round, perform these steps in the following order:

• Discard the leftmost card from the card market (cost 1 gold), move the other three cards one space to the left, reveal 1 new card from the Tactic deck and place it on the market space costing 4 gold.
• Move the round marker to the next position.

End of the Game

At the end of the last turn of the 5th round, the game ends. Players reveal their Secret Objectives and Victory Points (VP) are granted to players as follows:

• Colony control: 1 VP for each Colony controlled.
• Regional dominance: each Region awards 1 VP to the player who has a simple majority of Colonies (more Colonies than any other player) in it.
• Trade master: 1 VP for each set of 3 different Goods (different Goods within each set, but they can be repeated among sets) in the Warehouse.
• Powerful friends: 1 VP for each player who controls at least 3 Political Objectives.
• Secret Objectives: VP granted by fulfilled Secret Objectives.

The player with the most VP is the winner.

In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most captured prisoners wins. If the tie persists, the tied player with the most controlled Political Objectives wins. If the tie still persists, the tied players share the victory.

Solo Mode: The Pirate Republic

During the War of the Spanish Succession, the governors of Santiago de Cuba (Spain) and Port-au-Prince (France) launched two joint expeditions against the British colony of Nassau, on the island of New Providence (Bahamas) in 1703 and 1706. After the French-Spanish attacks, the island was left in an interregnum, which the nearby pirates took advantage of to take refuge there and establish a lawless republic. According to the British governor of Bermuda, more than 1,000 pirates had settled in Nassau, a colony that at the time had 100 inhabitants. This paradise of free criminals was led by pirates as notorious as Benjamin Hornigold, Henry Jennings and Edward Teach (Blackbeard).

Components

• Colonies needed (11): Nassau, Ocracoke, 3 Colonies on the east coast of North America and 6 random colonies in the Caribbean.
• Pirate Republic Action cards (20): numbered from S01 to S20.
• Pirate Republic Battle cards (17): 15 Pirates + 1 Pirate fortress + 1 Pirate fort.

Setup

• The Secret Objectives deck cannot be used in Solo Mode.
• The Political board can be customized with the Sideshow Bob cards.

The player will choose 1 faction and their job will be to protect their Colonies, their gold and, ultimately, to suppress the Pirate Republic of Nassau. The setup of the game will consist of 4 Regions (1 in North America and 3 in the Caribbean), although one of the Regions is special, since it only contains the Colony of Nassau.

The setup diagram shows San Agustín, Virginia, Philadelphia and Nassau in the top row, with the High Seas card between the North American group and Nassau. Below the North American group there are 3 slots for random Caribbean Colonies, and below Nassau there are 3 more.

Transcription note: the printed text describes the Nassau Region as containing only the Colony of Nassau, while the setup diagram shows 3 random Caribbean Colonies below Nassau; both are transcribed as printed.

If you have the Great Battles expansion, you can use other Colonies in North America, such as Charleston or Savannah, to replace one of the suggested Colonies.

Placing Colonies in the Caribbean Regions follows the same rule as in the Standard Mode, randomly revealing Colonies until 6 Caribbean Colonies have been placed, 3 in each Region.

The Pirate Republic will have 1 Pirate Fortress in Nassau, a deck made up of 15 Pirates (of different difficulty, not all of them will appear in the game) and a deck of 20 Pirate Republic Action cards, which will indicate the actions of the Pirate Republic and its looting expeditions.

Player setup: the player chooses a faction and places 1 Declared War card on its monarch on the Political board. The player chooses 3 Colonies to start, placing a Control token on each of them and taking the Goods associated to said Colonies, which they place in their Warehouse. Additionally, the player takes 3 gold, which they place in their Treasury (same as in the Standard Mode setup).

Pirate Republic setup: Place the Ocracoke Colony and the Pirate fort aside, out of the game. Place the Pirate Fortress in Nassau and 2 face-down Pirates from the Pirate deck under the Nassau Colony (they will act as unknown defending units. If the player attacks Nassau, both will be revealed and will remain revealed until the game ends). The Good produced by Nassau is placed next to its Colony card.

This icon identifies the Tactic cards that can be used when playing the Solo Mode: during the setup of the game in Solo Mode, form the Tactic deck only with the cards that show this icon in the lower right corner, next to the card number.

Gameplay

The player always takes the first turn. The game lasts for 5 rounds unless Nassau is conquered. The player's conquest of Nassau immediately triggers the end of the game.

The player plays their turn according to the normal turn sequence (Draw Tactic card, Actions in Colonies, Political Objective roll, Purchases, Movement, Battles, Support, Income).

The Pirate Republic's turn consists of revealing a card from its Action deck, taking the initial action and resolving it. The Pirate Republic Action deck has 2 types of cards: Pirate Tactic cards and Raid cards.

Pirate Tactic cards are instant events that work with a "surge" mechanic: after resolving them, they are discarded (unless the card indicates otherwise) and the player must continue revealing and resolving cards until a Raid card is revealed. For the most part, these cards benefit the Pirate Republic, although there are some specific cases in which they can benefit the player.

Some Pirate Tactic cards refer to the term "pirate base". Only the Colonies of Nassau and Ocracoke are considered pirate bases (in case Ocracoke has been put into play).

Raid cards contain an initial action and a pirate raid (both must be resolved). The Raid card will force the player to reveal one or more cards from the Pirate Republic Battle deck and send them to the Colonies marked in black at the top of the card (without going through the High Seas), resolving the corresponding Battles.

Following the resolution of a Battle, Leaders captured by Pirates are placed as prisoners in Nassau (or, if not possible, in Ocracoke). Defeated Pirates, even if they are not Leader cards, are sent to the player's Prison.

After resolving a Raid card, the Pirate Republic's turn ends.

All Pirates have 2 specific rules:

• Cannot take control of Colonies: when a Pirate manages to defeat the player's units in a Colony, the Pirate remains in it (they get drunk and enjoy the loot). The player loses control of the Colony, but the Pirate Republic does not gain its control, as it does not control any Colonies except Nassau. (Note: the Pirate Republic has its own VP system, it does not get points for controlling Colonies).
• Looting: each Pirate has a printed Looting skill. When the Pirate defeats the player's units in a Colony, they steal 1 or 2 gold from the player's Treasury, placing these coins on the Nassau Colony card. These coins are the VP of the Pirate Republic. If a Raid is performed against an uncontrolled Colony, the Pirates take the coins from the common pool.

The Pirate icons are: Cannot take control of Colonies; Looting (1); and Looting (2).

When a Pirate takes control of a Colony, they obtain the Good produced there (it is shipped and taken to Nassau). If the Colony was controlled by the player, the player moves the Good from their Warehouse to an area next to the Nassau Colony card. If it was not controlled, the Pirate takes the Good from the Good deck.

Note: the Pirate Republic cannot lose looted coins in any way. If the player captures the Pirate and retakes the Colony, they gain the associated Good again, which is removed from Nassau and placed in the player's Warehouse. The player places a Control token on the Colony, which will grant them 1 VP, but they do not regain the stolen gold.

End of the Game (Solo Mode)

The game can end after the 5th round, in which case the player's and the automa's VP are compared, or immediately if Nassau is conquered by the player. If the game ends after the 5th round, VP are counted as follows:

• Player VP: 1 VP for each controlled Colony + 1 VP for each set of 3 different Goods in their Warehouse + 1 VP if the player controls 3 at least Political Objectives.
• Pirate Republic VP: 1 VP for each coin on the Nassau Colony card + 1 VP for each set of different Goods next to Nassau.

Whoever has the most VP is the winner.

Possible endings

• The game ends after the 5th round and the Pirates have more VP than the player. The empire's assets have been looted and the crown is upset with your failure. The Pirate Republic is a success, and European dominance in the Caribbean is weaker than ever. You are immediately recalled to Europe, where your performance will be judged.
• The game ends after the 5th round and the player has more VP than the Pirates. You managed to protect the empire's assets by imprisoning many pirates, but the Republic has not been suppressed. The empire will have to continue coexisting with them for a few more years.
• The game ends after the player conquers Nassau. The empire achieves total victory: the Pirate Republic has been suppressed, its members imprisoned, and military control reestablished in the Caribbean. The King calls you to Europe to offer you a position on his Privy Council.

The dream of the pirate republic would come to an end in 1718. Hurt by general anarchy and disagreement among its leaders (there was a general guideline of attacking only Spanish and French ships, but several pirates did not agree and attacked English ships as well), the arrival of a royal pardon from England in 1718 caused a fatal division: 209 pirates (including Benjamin Hornigold) accepted the royal pardon, but they were less than half of the total criminals in Nassau. The British commissioned Hornigold to hunt down his former friends and colleagues. Although pirates such as Charles Vane and Blackbeard managed to escape, Hornigold took 10 pirates as prisoners and, on the morning of 12th December 1718, 9 of them were executed. This fact reestablished British control in Nassau and ended the pirate republic in the Bahamas.

Optional Rules

1. Path to Freedom

The optional module "Path to freedom" was implemented as a result of the community involvement during the Gamefound campaign. This optional module intends to recreate the fight for the abolition of slavery. The 18th century saw the expansion of slavery, a regrettable episode that was exacerbated by the triangular trade. In this regard, 'Path to freedom' is an exercise in dignity and a tribute to all those people who suffered slavery, an effort to "tell their story" (with the abstraction and simplicity that a board game demands), implementing some mechanics for training and educational purposes to enrich and deepen the gaming experience.

This module is only for training and educational purposes, promoting historical fidelity, dignity and tribute to the African population that suffered it. The creators of Colonial 1700-1800 condemn the enslavement of people throughout the history of humanity, understanding it as a regrettable episode in our history from which to learn.

Components

• Colonies (5): Cape Coast, Elmina, Fort Oranje, Île de Gorée, Luanda.
• Tactic cards (5): numbered from 35 to 39.
• Secret Objectives (5): Detestable slaver x5.
• Slaves cards.

Setup

Shuffle these Colonies with the Colony deck. Shuffle these Tactic cards with the Tactic deck before step C of the game setup (page 5 of this rulebook). Shuffle the 5 Detestable slaver cards with the Secret Objectives deck.

Gameplay

With this module, several of the revealed African Colonies will not produce Goods (Timber, Precious metals, etc.), but instead will provide Slaves with a x2 modifier. This means that, by controlling one of these Colonies, the player directly obtains 2 Slaves cards that are placed in their Warehouse. These cards can also be used to form Good sets and to obtain more gold at the end of the turn and more VP at the end of the game... as long as the Tactic card Abolition of slavery has not been played.

Colonies that provide Slaves will initially enhance the position of the player who wishes to control them. However, the rest of the players are going to have a lot to say about it. Revolts and secessions can only occur in Colonies with plantation crops (Cocoa, Coffee, Cotton, Indigo, Sugar and Tobacco), that is, where the slave population worked. The rest of the territories cannot experience this phenomenon.

Inspired by the slave insurrection at St. John 1733-1734 (Virgin Islands); inspired by the Haitian Revolution 1791-1804; inspired by the story of freedmen at Fort Mosé 1738-1763.

Keep in mind that human trafficking always represents a risky option for the player: controlling those Colonies has an opportunity cost (you send troops there that you stop sending to other places), so that, if the abolition of slavery happens, a Warehouse full of sets can be catastrophically decimated by freeing all the slaves and leaving the player with no chance of victory. In addition, the Secret Objective card Detestable slaver (which the player keeps in secret and only reveals at the end of the game) penalizes all players who have chosen that strategy if slavery has not been abolished.

2. Historical Accuracy

If players wish to start the game with the Colonies their factions controlled in the 18th century, they need to make sure during setup that there are at least 3 Colonies in play for each participating empire (4 Colonies at 3 players or more). To do this, Colonies are revealed and placed with a Control token corresponding to the initial loyalty of the table below in such a way that, when a faction already has 3 Colonies on the table, any new revealed Colony of that faction is discarded, and players continue revealing until there are at least 3 Colonies per faction. The loyalty of some Colonies changed in the 18th century. For game purposes, the following initial loyalties are suggested.

Faction	North America	Caribbean	South America	Africa	Asia
Great Britain	Virginia, Rupert's Land, Boston, Philadelphia, Halifax	Belize, Barbados, Jamaica	Georgetown	Anamabou, Fort Gambia, Cape Coast	Bombay, Calcutta, Madras
France	Montréal, Pays-d'en-Haut, Lac Champlain, Québec, Nouv. Orleans	Martinique, Port-au-Prince, Guadeloupe	Cayenne	Île de Gorée, Île de France, Saint Louis	Mahé, Pondichéry, Chandernagor
Spain	San Agustín, Veracruz, San Antonio, Pensacola, San Francisco	La Habana, Puerto Rico, Sto. Domingo, Honduras	Sacramento, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Lima	Tenerife	Manila
Portugal	—

3. Sideshow Bob

The "Sideshow Bob" expansion adds 20 new Politician cards that can be placed on the Political board to customize the game according to player preferences. To do this, players place the Politicians they wish to use covering the Politicians printed on the board, which cannot be used.

There is no restriction regarding the customization of the Political board: players can change the general difficulty of the board at will (increasing or reducing it), as well as adapt the game to their preferences: greater significance of Naval units, less confrontation and a greater focus on Warehouse management, etc.

Players can also decide not to use Declared war cards and instead use Politicians from this expansion, in order to have the maximum number of Politicians available during the game.

The benefits granted by these 20 Politicians are listed below:

Difficulty	Politician	Benefit
3+	Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp	You get +2 in political rolls to attract Russia.
3+	Maria Carolina of Habsburg-Lorraine	You get +2 in political rolls to attract the Holy See.
3+	Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria	Your gold not spent at the end of the round can be used in the next rounds.
4+	Pontiac	Your units in North America can move 2 spaces per turn.
4+	Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel	You can completely discard and replenish the card market 1 time per round.
4+	Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstad	You can exchange the position of two cards in the card market 1 time per round.
4+	Karim Khan Zand	You get +1 in Battle rolls in Asia.

4. Neutral Battle Deck

This optional module brings a new Neutral Battle deck. When incorporated into the game, this deck is placed next to the Political board and is used as a Battle card market available to all players, increasing game strategies and asymmetry.

This deck contains cards with a white flag (including a new unit type: civilians) and cards without a loyalty icon.

Civilian cards have no faction emblem: instead, they have a white flag. Civilian cards are not destroyed after a defeat, but, since they are civilians, they change sides and begin to provide their services to the faction that wins the combat. These are units that, once put into play, never leave the game (they move among the players depending on the results of the Battles).

Neutral units without a loyalty symbol are mercenaries and work like common Battle cards: they are destroyed after suffering a defeat in a Colony.

5. Alternate Game Length

If the players want a longer, more strategic game experience, they can agree to extend the game's duration before the game starts. Seven (7) rounds are recommended for games of extended duration.

Historical Timeline

The rulebook's historical timeline lists the following conflicts, shown as printed:

• 1702–1713: Queen Anne's War. It is usually viewed as the American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession.
• 1727–1729: Anglo-Spanish War. It consisted of a failed Spanish attempt to capture Gibraltar and an unsuccessful British blockade of Porto Bello (Panama).
• 1739–1748: War of Jenkins' Ear. Most of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742.
• 1744–1748: King George's War. It took place in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire (which included Vermont at the time), and Nova Scotia.
• 1744–1763: Carnatic Wars. They took place in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. They involved the French EIC and the British EIC.
• 1754–1763: French and Indian War. It was a theater of the Seven Years' War. The British and French colonies clashed in North America, involving various Native American nations.
• 1762–1763 and 1776–1777: Spanish-Portuguese Wars. They were motivated by the Portuguese advance towards the south and the Spanish defense of Uruguay.
• 1775–1783: American Revolution. American rebels supported by France and Spain defeated Great Britain and achieved independence for the United States.
• 1780–1784: Anglo-Dutch War. The war settled the decline of the Dutch Empire and further cemented Great Britain as the leading commercial power.
• 1791–1804: Haitian Revolution. It was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti.