Cyclades Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• Components (overview)
• Setup
• The Cycle
  • 1. Mythological Creatures
  • 2. The Gods
  • 3. Revenues
  • 4. Offerings (the Auction)
  • 5. Performing Actions
  • 6. End of the Round
• Battle
• The Metropolises
• Victory
• Two-Player Game

Object

Be the first player to control two metropolises at the end of a cycle. A metropolis can be built through economic or intellectual development, or seized by conquest.

Components (overview)

Player screens, offering markers, territory tokens, fleets and troops in each player's color, gold pieces (GP), the four God tiles (Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Athena) plus Apollo's space, mythological creature cards and figures, priest and philosopher cards, building tiles (port, fortress, temple, university), metropolis tiles, prosperity markers, and two dice.

Setup

1. Each player picks a color and takes a screen, offering marker(s), 3 territory tokens, 8 fleets, 8 troops, and 5 GP hidden behind the screen.
2. Place the isles, and the starting troops and fleets, according to the player count as shown on the board.
3. Shuffle the mythological creature cards face down on their space; set the 5 creature figures by the discard pile. Place the priest and philosopher cards on their spaces.
4. Shuffle the players' offering markers and place them randomly on the first spaces of the game-turn track (this sets playing order). Set the God tiles, buildings, metropolis tiles, dice, prosperity markers, and gold nearby.

The Cycle

The game is a series of cycles, each with these steps.

1. Mythological Creatures

Refresh the creature track so three creatures are visible. Discard the creature on the cheapest (2 GP) space if it went unused, slide the rest toward the cheaper spaces, and draw new cards to fill the empty spaces. The GP printed under each creature is the cost to summon it. Reshuffle the discard into a new draw pile when needed.

2. The Gods

Shuffle the four God tiles onto the spaces above Apollo. How many are available depends on the player count (with 3–4 players some Gods are placed face down and become available in the following cycle). Each God offers a distinct set of actions.

3. Revenues

Each player collects 1 GP for every prosperity marker they control. Gold is kept hidden.

4. Offerings (the Auction)

In playing order, each player places their offering marker on the God whose favor they want, at the value of GP they are willing to pay. A God grants favor only to the highest bidder.

• To bid on an already-contested God you must outbid the current leader; the outbid player takes their marker back and must immediately bid on a different God (possibly outbidding someone else). Resolve all such chains before the next player bids.
• Apollo is always free and unlimited: any number of players may choose him, taking his numbered spaces in order.
• You may never bid GP you cannot pay. When everyone has committed to a God, all pay what they offered (reduced by priests, see below).

5. Performing Actions

Resolve Gods in order (the first God's winner acts first, and so on). Each God grants a free action that must be taken and completed first, after which the player may pay GP to repeat or extend actions. On your turn you may also summon creatures and swap creatures.

• Summon a creature: pay the creature's cost (minimum 1 GP even with temples reducing it) to take the card and apply its effect immediately, then discard it.
• Swap creatures: for 1 GP, discard an available creature and replace it from the draw pile.

The Gods and their actions:

• Poseidon — recruit fleets (one free; extras cost 1/2/3 GP, max 3 extra per turn; max 8 fleets). Build a Port (defensive bonus in adjacent sea battles). Move fleets: for 1 GP move fleets up to 3 sea spaces, ending movement if they enter enemy-occupied spaces (triggering a battle).
• Ares — recruit troops (one free; extras cost 2/3/4 GP, max 3 extra; max 8 troops). Build a Fortress (defensive bonus in land battles). Move troops: for 1 GP move troops along a chain of your fleets to another isle; landing on enemy troops starts a battle, landing on an empty isle claims it.
• Zeus — recruit priests (one free; one extra for 4 GP). Priests reduce the cost of your offerings and creatures. Build a Temple (reduces creature costs). Discarding four priests is not the metropolis path—priests stay in play.
• Athena — recruit philosophers (one free; one extra for 4 GP). Build a University (no special effect). Collecting four philosophers forces you to discard them and build a metropolis (intellectual development).
• Apollo — a way to pass cheaply: gain 1 GP (or 4 GP if you control a single isle) and place a prosperity marker on an isle of your choice. If several players chose Apollo, all gain the GP but only the first gets the prosperity marker.

6. End of the Round

Once all players have acted and moved their offering marker to the turn track, the round ends. If one or more players control two metropolises, the game ends; otherwise a new cycle begins.

Battle

When fleets/troops meet enemies, a battle occurs on that space (an isle is always one space):

• Each combatant rolls 1 die and adds the number of their troops/fleets in the combat zone, plus +1 per port (sea battles adjacent to their ports) or +1 per fortress (land battles on their fortressed isle).
• The lower result loses one unit to reserve (a tie loses one each). The defender may then retreat if able; if not, the attacker may retreat; if neither retreats, another assault is fought.
• Repeat until one side remains, which takes the contested space. Retreating troops must reach a linked friendly isle; retreating fleets must reach an adjacent empty or controlled sea space.
• Moving your last troop off an isle leaves a territory marker—the isle stays yours until an opponent lands there. You may not attack a player's last isle unless doing so would win you the game.

The Metropolises

Each isle has a reserved space for a metropolis. There are three ways to gain one:

1. Economic development — own all four building types (port, fortress, temple, university), even across different isles; discard them to place a metropolis.
2. Intellectual development — gather four philosophers; discard them to place a metropolis.
3. Conquest — capture an isle that already has a metropolis.

If no space is free for a new metropolis, destroy your own buildings to make room. A metropolis has the powers of all four building types.

Victory

The game ends at the end of a cycle in which at least one player controls two metropolises; that player wins. If more than one player reaches two metropolises in the same cycle, the tie goes to the one with the most GP hidden behind their screen.

Two-Player Game

Each player takes the two offering markers of their color. Shuffle all four markers to set the turn order. The auction and action rules otherwise follow the standard game, with each player making two offerings per cycle.