Era of Tribes
Era of Tribes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 Game Board
- 15 Boundary Markers
- 1 Battleboard with 3 Battlemarkers
- 35 Luxury Goods tokens (LG): 4x Beer, 4x Ivory, 3x Spices, 3x Cloths, 3x Diamonds, 5x Furs, 6x Gold, 7x Wine
- 7 tokens for Military Goods: 4x Horses, 3x Ore
- 15 Influence Cards
- Coins (1, 5 and 10 Thalers)
- 2 Combat dice
- 1 Standard die (d6)
- 8 grey Leaders
- 8 Barbarians / Militia (small cubes)
- Food tokens (1 and 3), with 1 having Hunger on the backside
- 5 Roman Legions (small cubes)
- 1 Barbarian Marker
- 40 Barbarian Hamlets (green tokens)
- 10 Tribal Action Boards, with Game Turn Overview in English on the back
- Game Turn Overview in several languages
- 48 markers for Trade and Bread & Circuses
- 54 markers for Historical Battlefields and Treaties
- 1 Turn Order Marker and 1 Influence Marker (big cubes), for each player in the colors red, black, blue and yellow
- 8 markers (round discs)
- 36 Vassals (small cubes)
- 8 Cities
- 4 Leaders
- 1 Victory Parade
0. Setup
0.1. Determine Game Length
Determine first whether you want to play a normal game (ca. 30 min. per player), a long game (ca. 45 min. per player) or an epic game, which will take 1 hour or more per player. The different game end conditions you will find on page 21 (see End of Game below).
0.2. Determine Starting Player
Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding game pieces. Then determine the player turn order at random and place the markers on the turn order. Place the influence markers in reversed order on field "1" of the influence track. This IP is for the first Improvement, that you will receive during 0.7.
Example: The randomly determined turn order for the game start is "Red", "Blue", "Black" and "Yellow". This order is repeated in reverse on the first field of the influence track.
0.3. Set Up Game Board
A) Standard Setup
Choose - depending on the number of players - one of the predefined game area variants. Mark your world with the included boundary markers to show its size. Use the full map with 5 or more players. The "Faraway Countries" depicted on the borders are only available if they can be reached via adjacent areas. The board offers 2-Player Variants, 3-Player Variants and 4-Player Variants.
B) Introduction or Peaceful Game (w/o illustration)
For a calmer game without conflicts or when introducing players to the game you can use the whole game area or a variant for an additional player.
0.4. Distribute Food, Luxury and Military Goods
Place one corresponding token on each land or sea province that shows a food, luxury, or military goods symbol. Place the tokens on the corresponding symbols.
0.5. Choose Influence Card and Tribe
Shuffle the influence cards and place them face-down as a draw pile beside the game board.
Beginning with the starting player and in turn order you all take 2 face-down cards from the pile and keep 1 which you do not reveal to the others. Choose a tribe that fits the card best (and is available in the chosen variant) and take the corresponding tribal action board. The remaining cards will be placed face-down under the draw pile.
The other players do the same in turn order.
After that you shuffle the influence card pile again. Draw the two topmost cards and place them face-up on the game board on the two areas marked with a crown.
Example: After all players have chosen their influence card and tribe the draw pile is shuffled again and the two topmost cards are placed face-up on the game board.
0.6. Distribute Game Components
Each player takes and places his game pieces as follows:
0.6.1. Thalers
Each player gets 5 Thalers.
Example: 5x 1 Thaler.
0.6.2. Leaders
Each player gets 3 (or 4) leaders in his color. 2 of them he places beside his tribal action board. 1 is placed on the era field "Bronze Age" (always) and 1 on "Ancient Age" (only when playing a long or epic game) on the corresponding placement rings.
Example for 4 players: On the era "Bronze Age" (and for a long game also on "Ancient Age") one leader of each player is placed on the placement ring.
0.6.3. Cities and Vassals
All players place the 8 cities and the 3 vassals for each on the corresponding fields of their tribal action board. 12 vassals are placed on the field "Free Vassals"; this is your pool. The vassals you now place on the home provinces of your tribe (1 per province) are taken from this pool. These provinces are identified by the corresponding crests on the game board and the tribal action board.
Luxury goods located on the home provinces are taken and placed beside your tribal action board and next to your leaders. Food is placed on the plate on your tribal action board. This amount of food should always be up to date.
"Ore" and "Horses" are placed on the field "Regular Army".
Example for player Yellow: "Yellow" has chosen the Egyptians as his tribe. He takes the corresponding tribal action board and places his vassals and cities on it. Then he places 3 of the 12 vassals from his pool on the home provinces of the Egyptians. They are marked with the Egyptian symbol. The food collected this way he places on the plate of his tribal action board.
0.6.4. Marker
Place the round markers of your color on:
- the first era ("Neolithic").
- on the field "Startbox" of the morale track.
- one on each outer field of the improvement tree.
0.6.5. Victory Parade
Place the victory parade markers - depending on the number of players - on the corresponding field of the influence track.
0.7. Choose an Improvement
Each player can now choose in turn order one improvement of the first level for free and place the corresponding marker on the inward-facing field (IP at 0.2. already achieved). All advantages of the improvement are immediately enabled (see 1.3.E.).
Example: "Black" decides to improve in the area "Agriculture". "Black" takes 2 additional food tokens out of the pool and places them on his plate.
0.8. Distribute Barbarian Tokens
The barbarian tokens are shuffled and placed randomly on the home provinces of the tribes not participating and on the game area border. The barbarian marker is placed on the first field of the barbarian chart.
Example: Greece has three home provinces. Accordingly, three barbarian hamlets are placed on the home provinces of the Greek.
0.9. Battleboard
Place the battleboard, the militias (Roman Legions, if necessary), the battlemarkers and the dice beside the game board. Of the grey leaders X (X = number of players x2 -1) are placed beside the game board. They can be hired at 1.3.D. and then used like your own leaders.
Example: For 4 players 7 (4x2 -1) grey leaders are put aside the board.
1. Game Phases
Each round of "Era of Tribes" follows the same pattern:
First the morale of all players is changed according to their era and number of cities (1.1.). Then the new turn order is determined (1.2.). Now the actions are planned and the leaders are placed accordingly (1.3. A.-G.). Then the autoexpansion of those players who did not expand this round follows (1.4.). Afterwards the tribal action boards are cleaned up (1.5.). If a player fulfills during this round the requirements (1.6.) for the end of the game (2.) the scoring follows. If not, the next round of the game begins (back to 1.1.).
1.1. Adjust Morale
The last city built on your tribal action board indicates how much your morale (MO) decreases. As long as you are in the neolithic era your morale decreases by one additional field per round. For each hunger token - even for those removed and placed beside your tableau - your morale decreases by an additional field.
If morale decreases below the lowest field the player loses 1 IP for each field that cannot be tracked on the track. If morale increases above the highest field the player wins 1 Thaler for each field that cannot be tracked on the track.
Example: "Blue" has 4 cities and thus loses 4 morale. But he can only decrease by 2 fields. He hits the end of the track 2 times and thus loses 2 influence points. He better should have avoided this!
1.2. Determine Turn Order
The player with the lowest IP begins the round and the other players follow in increasing IP order. In case of a draw the player who reached this influence field later (his marker lies behind the marker of his fellow player) goes first in the turn order. It's easy to see, since you place your influence marker on the foremost spot of an influence track field. The following players place their markers behind it and thus a quick look will reveal the turn order.
Example: The turn order on the influence track is directly transferred to the player turn order. So, the player with the lowest influence points goes first in a round. "Black" has reached 10 IP before "Blue" and therefore "Blue" goes first in the turn order.
1.3. Plan and Execute Actions
The starting player chooses the field on his tribal action board that he wants to activate next. Therefore he places one (or more) leaders and - if necessary - luxury goods in this area. The actions are executed immediately. Then the next player in the turn order can activate one of the areas of his tribal action board and so on.
Example: "Red" has already activated the field "Trade" with a leader and expanded in the meantime. "Red" got two luxury goods out of this and wants to use "Trade" a second time. But this is not possible, since the field has already been activated.
Once a player has activated a field during this round, he cannot activate it a second time!
If a player has no more leaders left, he must wait until all other players have placed their leaders.
1.3.A. Expansion
This field allows you to expand your empire, increase your military might, found cities and free provinces that should belong to your empire.
This field is activated automatically after the action phase without a leader being placed (1.4.). You may keep LG to increase the expansion with one vassal each during that autoexpansion.
This field is not activated a second time if it already has been activated with a leader!
You can also activate the field before the autoexpansion with one of your leaders. Each LG you place here increases your expansion by 1 vassal. Each leader you place here increases your expansion by 2 vassals.
This field is split up into 4 areas which are executed one after the other:
1.) Place Vassals
First, place new vassals from your pool ("Free Vassals") on already existing vassals or cities (Max. one each! No expansion on fleets!) depending on your expansion (amount of food [+1 each] or hunger [-1 each] on your plate), your LG placed here (+1 each), your leaders (+2 each) and your morale (+ or -).
If the resulting sum is positive you place vassals; if it is negative you remove vassals of your choice from the game board and put them back to your "Free Vassals". If you get rid of hunger thanks to new food the hunger token stays beside your action board and continues to decrease your morale during each round (1.1)!
For every 3 expansions you give up you increase your morale by one field.
At the beginning of the game you do have 12 vassals in your pool.
Each city you found (1.3.A.3.) gives you 3 additional vassals. But you can also take vassals from the cities on your tribal action board (right to left) ahead of time. These vassals you can't rule over anymore and your morale sinks by 2 for each vassal acquired this way. Vassals you "payed for" this way won't return to the city (e.g. after losing a battle) but will always return to your "Free Vassals".
- Surplus expansion (3 each) increases your Morale by 1!
- Bad Morale leads to an exodus of your vassals!
Example: "Blue" wants to expand. He has 9 grain provinces (9), "Agriculture I" (+2) and 2 cities (-4). Therefore his plate holds 7 food, since the food for cities is directly discarded and the food for improvements directly taken. Since he has a morale of "-1", he is allowed to place 6 vassals. "Blue" has no more vassals in his pool. If he wants to use his full expansion, he needs to take 6 vassals from unbuilt cities. He chooses only three expansions. He then takes 3 vassals from the cities (morale -6) and does not use the remaining 3 expansions (that gives him morale +1). His morale sinks by 5 fields in the end. The 3 vassals he places on 3 of his own provinces.
2.) Move Vassals and Fleets
a) Turn Vassals into Fleets
Move one of your new vassals onto an adjacent water province. Pay the bank as many Thalers as your "Navigation" improvement instructs you to (e.g. 2T for "Navigation I"). You can build as many fleets from new vassals as you want.
b) Turn Vassals into Armies
Move one of your new vassals from the game board to the field "Regular Army" on your tribal action board. Pay the bank as many Thalers as your "Mechanics" improvement instructs you to (e.g. 1T for "Mechanics I"). This vassal is now part of your regular army and you can use it for attacks everywhere. You can add as many vassals as you want to your "Regular Army".
Example: "Blue" pays 1 Thaler ("Mechanics I") and places 1 vassal in his regular army and he pays 2 Thalers ("Navigation I") to create a fleet. The third vassal moves along on land.
c) Build a Trade Post
If you did research "Commerce II" you can place a new vassal on a city of your choice, which belongs to a player who is adjacent to you via a fleet, a vassal or a city.
You give that player 1 Thaler or 1 treaty token. Your morale increases by 2 fields and your trade increases by 1 (take 1 Trade +1 Marker from the bank and place it on the field "Trade"; you now always get 1 additional Thaler for trading 1.3.B.).
The vassal now is a trading post, stays on the city and you can't use it anymore, except you attack that player (or the other way around): He then can expel all your traders and they return to your pool; each expelled trader decreases your morale by 2 fields (and the trade bonus is also gone)! If a city with a trade post is attacked by other players the trade post is not removed. Each city can only have one trade post.
- Traders get you trading revenues and additional Influence Points at the end!
Example: Player "Black" wants to build a trade post in the province of "Red". He moves any newly placed vassal onto one red city. "Black" gives "Red" 1 Thaler (or "Treaty"). "Black" gets 1 Trade +1 Marker from the bank which he puts as a permanent bonus in his "Trade" field and his morale increases by 2 fields.
d) Moving Vassals and Fleets
ALL vassals can move according to the improvement "Mechanics" (at the beginning of the game they already have (without any progress) 1 Movement Point (MP)). If you do have the resource "Horse" in your "Regular Army" one vassal can move 2 additional provinces (+2 MP) for each "Horse". Put the horse after usage next to your tableau and at 1.5. back to your "Regular Army".
If one or more of your once connected land provinces become separated from your other land provinces (no shared land border anymore), by movement or a battle, one or more Colonies are created. Cities and vassals connect your land provinces, fleets do not. Each colony decreases your morale by 2 fields once; a later reintegration of them does NOT reraise morale.
Example: "Black" moves one placed vassal by two provinces ("MECHANICS II") to secure the beer (he can use this LG later in this round). Since the province is not adjacent to any other province of "Black" he founds a colony and his morale decreases by 2 fields. "Black" could avoid this by moving with other vassals accordingly, but there are other priorities on his list and he accepts the decrease of his morale.
You do have the following opportunities:
-
Settle: Move Vassals to empty Provinces. This province is now settled. If LG or MG are on this province you can use them already during this round (if you did activate "Expansion" with a leader). Food is moved to the plate. Only provinces marked with a colored dot can be settled!
-
Liberate: Move Vassals to occupied Provinces. Move as many vassals as you like from one or more provinces to one province (occupied by vassals or a city) of another player or barbarians to liberate it. If you attack via sea the defender gets an additional militia, since it is a "landfall battle".
- During 4.) you execute battles.
Example: "Black" wants to attack the city of "Blue". He moves 3 vassals to the city province to attack it during 4.). From further back he moves a vassal to the province with the beer, so he does not lose it.
-
Found city: Three Vassals converge in one Province. Move your vassals in a way that at the end of 2.) 3 vassals are on one province.
- During 3.) you found a city.
- You need the improvement Architecture for this!
Example: "Red" wants to found a city in Scotland and moves 1 additional vassal into the province.
-
Transport: Move Vassals via Fleets. You also can move vassals via sea bridges. For this you need a continuous line of fleets from the starting province to the target province. This transport costs the vassal 1 MP and each fleet also 1 MP.
- Transport via fleets saves Thalers.
Example: "Yellow" wants to move over water with a vassal. He uses two fleets to cross two water provinces. Both fleets and the vassal now have 1 MP less. "Yellow" has gotten 1 luxury good but also founded a colony and thus his morale decreases by 2 fields.
Fleets have each MP, depending on the progress of your "Navigation"-improvement. 1 MP each is needed for moving over 1 sea province, the transport of a vassal or the landfall for settling or attacking. The order of actions of each fleet is up to you. A fleet can e.g. move, transport a vassal and move again, as long as it has enough MP.
Your options are as follows:
-
Move fleets on empty sea provinces. You now rule over it. If there are fish, you put food on your plate. You can only move to sea areas marked with a blue dot!
Example: "Yellow" moves one fleet to an area with fish and takes one food token.
-
Move fleets to a sea province controlled by another player. This leads to a battle during 4.) if one of them wants a battle. If there is no battle the player who entered it first controls it. He also controls the fish found there, if there are any. To show this the fleet of the dominating player is placed on top of the fleet of the other player.
Example: "Yellow" moves one fleet to an area with fish controlled by "Black". He does not want to coexist peacefully, because (according to him) the area belongs to him by tradition. During D.) "Yellow" will attack.
-
Move fleets to empty land provinces ... and settle them with vassals (Remember: unconnected provinces are colonies!).
- Settling destroys the ships of the fleet!
-
Fleets liberate provinces. Move as many fleets as you wish to one province of another player or to barbarians and liberate it.
- Battles are executed during 4.) in the order of your choice.
- "Landfall Battles" are more difficult since the defender gets an additional militia.
- No disadvantage when attacking from land and sea.
- The ships of the fleet are destroyed during the attack!
Example: "Black" landfalls a fleet and founds a colony (Morale -2).
-
Fleets cross sea border with feet. The crossing of this sea border costs the indicated MP.
- Greenland and South America can only be reached with fleets!
Example: "Black" wants to take "Furs" from "Blue". For this he combines a fleet with a vassal to increase the chances of his attack.
The order of the movements is up to you. No unit can use more MP than it has. Be aware that during 1.5. all surplus vassals on land provinces return to your pool! But you can leave additional vassals on the provinces if you want. This protects you during the rest of the round from attacks.
3.) Found Cities
If you converge 3 vassals in one province (and if you possess the necessary "Architecture" improvement!) you can found a city. Take the 3 vassals from the game board and place the rightmost city of your tribal action board on the province. The 3 vassals of the province and the vassals that still might have been beside the city on your tribal action board now go to your pool (Field "Free Vassals").
Return 2 food to the general pool (if you do not have enough food you must take the red hunger tokens for each missing food).
- A city gets you instantly 1 IP!
- Each city decreases your food immediately by 2!
- Cities increase your taxes (1.3.C.)!
- Cities decrease improvement costs by 1 T each (1.3.E.)!
- Cities have an improved defense (+1 militia)!
- Cities decrease your morale during 1.1.!
Example: "Red" wants to found a city and already has converged three vassals on a province. He replaces them with the rightmost city from his tribal action board. The vassals return to the pool and also the vassals "freed" by the founding of the city. "Red" immediately receives 1 IP and reduces his food by 2.
4.) Fight Battles
How does battle work?
Era of Tribes has a novel combat system. The attacker and the defender each get one die. The novelty is that the dice faces are distributed anew for each combat. The faces "Mechanics" (each 1x), "Strength" (each 1x) and "Morale" (each 1x) are awarded to the player who got more of them or the higher value (that player places the corresponding "battlemarkers" on his side of the battleboard. This way you can check easily what happens during each dice throw). Only the faces "Sword" (2x on the attacker and 1x on the defender die) and "Shield" (2x on the defender and 1x on the attacker die) on the "Attacker" and "Defender" side are fixed.
During each battle round both players throw "their" combat die. Then you check which player gets one damage. This can even be a damage on your side and represents fortune, tactical errors, external influences and everything else that makes the outcome of a battle unpredictable. This way you can try to influence the chances of a battle in your favor, but you never can be a hundred percent sure.
Battle Sequence
The attacker declares his attacks and deals with them in any order that pleases him. Each battle follows the sequence on the "Battleboard":
1. The Defender calculates his "Strength" counting:
- vassals or city present on the province.
- invested "Ore" (and maybe "Wine" and "Ivory").
- invested vassals from the "Regular Army".
- militia (mountain province, landfall, city attack; +1 militia each).
- historical battlefield (+1 or +2 militia).
- invested mercenaries (all barbarian hamlets conquered by him that have not been used yet can be mercenaries; place the barbarian hamlet as a unit).
- Allies (1.3.D.) can send units (only "Vassals"!) from their "Regular Army" as support. The defender can bid Thalers for this.
- minus (!) 1 unit when he is experiencing a revolution.
The defender places all these tokens or markers on the field "Defender".
Example: "Black" wants to attack the city on the mountain province of "Blue". "Blue" places his city, an additional militia because of the city, another militia because he defends a mountain province, 2 units from his "Regular Army" and a barbarian hamlet on his "Defender" area, which adds up to 6 units being placed.
2. The Attacker calculates his "Strength" counting:
- invading vassals/fleets.
- invested "Ore" (and if necessary "Wine" and "Ivory").
- invested vassals from the "Regular Army".
- invested mercenaries (see above).
- Allies (see above).
The attacker places all these tokens or markers on the field "Attacker".
Example: "Black" places his 3 attacking vassals, one "Ore" and 2 vassals from his "Regular Army" in his "Attacker" area. "Red" is the ally of "Black" and offers him to send 1 vassal from his "Regular Army" for 2 Thalers and "Black" accepts. "Black" now has 7 units.
3. The Battlemarkers are distributed:
The markers for the attacker ("Sword") and the defender ("Shield") are fixed and the others are distributed and do not change side during the battle!
- A: Landbattle: The "Battlemarkers" for "Strength", "Mechanics" and "Morale" gets the player with the higher value (morale: the higher field when value is the same); the defender gets it when there is a draw. A "Strength" draw is decided by the bigger "Regular Army"; if there still is a draw the defender gets the "Battlemarker".
- B: Barbarians: The player to the left of the attacker determines the values of the barbarians with the help of the barbarian chart (on the game board). The left column shows how many additional militia the barbarian gets for his defence. The "Morale" is always on the "starting field" at "0". "Mechanics" is determined by the right value. Again, when there is a draw then the "Battlemarker" is given to the defender (the barbarian).
- C: Sea battle: If there is a draw the attacker gets the "Battlemarker".
Example: Since this is a land battle the player with the corresponding higher value gets the "Battlemarkers" for "Morale", "Strength" and "Mechanics". "Black" has one unit more and gets the "Strength" marker. "Blue" gets the "Mechanics" marker since both have "Mechanics II" and in the case of a draw the defender gets the marker. "Black" has a higher morale than "Blue" and hence gets the "Morale" marker.
4. Execution of a Battle Round:
Both sides roll dice (attacker: red, defender: green) and execute the results immediately (the player to the left rolls for the barbarians). The battlemarkers on your side show you which dice faces will hit your enemy.
For each roll, one of the players suffers a hit and must remove a unit (cube, token or marker) from his side. This means that each side must remove 0-2 units during each battle round.
Militia, mercenaries, "Ore" ("Wine", "Ivory") and allies are always removed first, then follow the vassals.
Anytime (!) during a battle the attacker and defender can use unused barbarian markers as mercenaries and get help from their allies (for Thalers or for free). Adding vassals from your "Regular Army" later during a battle is not possible.
Example: Now the dice are thrown: In the first battle round both dice show "Mechanics". "Black" must remove 2 units since "Blue" has the "Mechanics" marker. He first chooses the vassal of his ally and then his "Ore" (those units are removed from the battleboard: "Ore" is placed next to his Action Board and the ally vassal on the ally's "Free Vassals"). Next the dice show "Strength" and "Shield". Now both need to remove one unit. "Black" has only vassals left and hence removes one of them. "Blue" removes one of his militia. In the third round the dice show two "Strength" and "Blue" removes 1 militia and the mercenary. "Blue" has only 3 units left: the city and 2 vassals. "Black" has 4 vassals left. In the fourth battle round the dice show "Shield" and "Sword" and both must remove another unit. "Blue" knows that he is going to lose the battle if he gets two hits in the next battle rounds. He asks his ally "Yellow" for reinforcements. "Yellow" offers him one unit for 5 Thalers. "Blue" cannot pay this and refuses. In the next round "Black" must remove 2 units and in turn asks "Red" for help. The asked for 5 Thalers he does not want to pay and rather trusts his abilities. Quite rightly. "Sword" and "Morale" win the battle for "Black".
5. End of Battle:
If the attacker wins he conquers the province. If he conquers a province with vassal(s) he loses 1 morale. If he conquers a province with a city he loses 3 morale, no matter if he can/will replace it with an own city or only 1 vassal.
The winner of the battle will advance his victory parade 1 field counterclockwise. The loser moves his victory parade 1 field back (clockwise).
After a battle the surviving vassals are not added to your "Regular Army". They stay in the province and if necessary are removed from the game board during 1.5.. Militia are always removed completely after a battle. Invested "Ore" or "Ivory" and "Wine" are placed beside your tribal action board, they can't be used again this round. Allies go to the "Free Vassals" of your ally.
Example: "Blue" places his lost city on the empty city field of his last built city on his tribal action board. The barbarian token he places face-up beside his tribal action board. It is used up and cannot be scored or used! The invested armies are returned to the field "Free Vassals". "Blue" also loses 1 IP for losing the city, but he gets 2 food from the pool, which he places on his plate since the city does not need food anymore. Since the city did connect several provinces and some are no longer connected a colony is created. Thus "Blue" also loses 2 morale. Finally "Blue" moves his victory parade back by 1 field. Since he leaves a white field nothing happens. "Black" places his next to build city in the won province (2 remaining vassals from the city go to his "Free Vassals"), receives 1 IP, loses 2 food and also loses 3 morale for conquering the city because the nasty citizens still long for their former lord. The lost vassals are returned to the "Free Vassals", the surviving vassals he places on the province beside the city until 1.5.. "Black" advances his victory parade 1 field. Since he moves onto a red field his morale increases by 3 fields.
The following lists the various ways of attacking in detail:
Attack Province:
After a victory the attacker takes the province. The vassals of the defender return to his "Free Vassals" and both players must check whether a colony is created. If necessary LG, MG or food must be handed over. This can lead to hunger if no food can be handed over. The attacker then takes a food out of the pool and the loser takes a hunger token.
The morale of the attacker decreases by 1 field.
When a barbarian province is conquered, the player takes the barbarian token. The token may be used immediately or anytime later during a battle as a "mercenary". The morale does not decrease! Once a barbarian has been used (as bonus or mercenary) he is placed face-up and can't be used anymore, except for the influence card "Liberators".
Attack City:
After a victory the attacker takes the city. The markers are exchanged (the city of the defender is returned to the city field of the last built city on his tribal action board). Both players must check for colonies and if necessary hand over LG, MG or food and adjust their food (+2 for the loser, -2 for the winner). The attacker wins 1 IP, the defender loses 1 IP.
The attacker also loses 3 morale, even if he only replaces the city with a vassal (if he does not want or cannot build the city); in this case, he does not lose 2 food and does not gain 1 IP.
Sea Battle:
If necessary, food is handed over, if the fight is about a sea province with fish.
Draw:
If all units are eliminated the province stays empty. Even barbarian hamlets are then returned to the game box unchecked. No victory parade is moved.
After the victory in a battle your victory parade advances 1 field counterclockwise. Each black field gives you 1 IP and each red field increases your morale by 3 fields. But if you lose, your victory parade is moved back (clockwise) by 1 field. You lose IP and morale correspondingly if you leave a black or red field (!).
If 5 or more units took part in the battle, a "Historical Battlefield" marker with +1 is placed on the province. If 10 or more units took part a marker with +2 is placed. For the rest of the game these markers give a bonus of +1 or +2 militia each time the province is attacked.
Lost vassals are placed on the "Free Vassals" of the corresponding player, invested militia and Roman Legions are returned to the pool. Invested "Ore", "Wine" and "Ivory" remain beside your tribal action board until 1.5..
1.3.B. Trade
If you activate this field you get 1 Thaler for each leader and LG you place. For your trade markers you also get Thalers.
Trade markers on this field stay there and are not removed after the activation of this field or the end of the round.
Example: "Red" activates the field with two leaders. On the field there are 4 trade markers (Boni due to "Commerce II" and a trade post). Additionally "Red" places 3 LG. He then gets 2+4+3 = 9 Thalers.
1.3.C. Taxes
The more leader you place the more taxes you get and the more your morale decreases.
On the field of your most recently built city on your tribal action board you can see the decrease of morale and the gain due to taxes (on "Free Vassals" you can see the taxes without cities - 6 Thaler; morale only decreases for leaders).
For your tax yield you multiply the indicated tax gain with the number of your placed leaders.
Reduce your morale by 3 for each leader and by 1 for each city (+1 for Greeks, -1 for Egyptians).
- The placing of multiple Leaders multiplies your income and raises your decrease of Morale!
Example: "Yellow" has 5 cities and activates "Taxes" with 2 leaders. He then gets 2x16 = 32 Thalers. His morale decreases by 4 (4 for 5 cities [since "Yellow" is the Egyptian and loses 1 morale less]) +6 (2 leaders), i.e. 10 fields.
1.3.D. Diplomacy
There are several options for diplomatic activities. For this you place one or more leaders on the field "diplomacy".
Each action can only be executed once during a round by each player (c) even only by one player during a round). You will get - as long as they are available - 1 treaty token per action, which you later can exchange.
a) Hire an additional leader (grey leader from the pool): You spend 3 vassals from "Free Vassals" and return them to the box and also pay 3 Thalers to the bank. This permanent additional leader can be used already during this round, so you don't lose an action.
Example: "Yellow" wants to hire a leader. He pays 3 Thalers and transfers 3 of his vassals from his "Free Vassals" to the pool. The new leader he can already use during this round.
b) Bringer of Peace: All players attacking you during this round after you have chosen this action lose 5 morale (YOU can attack whomever you want without penalty!).
c) Increase Influence (+1 IP) and change Turn Order: You get 1 IP and in the next round you can determine the turn order. This can only be done by one player and only once during each round. This player places his leader on the placement ring for "Turn Order"! This leader stays there until the first action of its player in the next round. After this action the leader is taken back and the action can be chosen by a different player.
Example: In addition "Yellow" wants 1 IP and to be the starting player in the next round. For this he uses another leader, which is placed on the placement ring "Turn Order" after he gets the IP. At the beginning of the next round he changes the turn order according to his wishes. After his first action in this new round he takes the leader back and the action is available again. After these two actions "Yellow" gets 2 treaty tokens (1 for each action).
Further actions (1 for each leader placed during a)-c)):
For a province acquisition or an alliance you need to be adjacent to that player (at least one of your cities, vassals or fleet must be adjacent to one of the cities, vassals or fleets of the other player). If you hand over 3 treaties to the bank you can enforce an acquisition or alliance if the other player refuses your offer!
A) You can buy one province from one player. A province costs 5T. LG and/or a city each cost 5T extra. There is a limit of ONE acquisition per leader and you must check for colonies. This acquisition can include agreements (see below).
Example: "Black" is interested in a province which "Blue" has settled this round, but does not want to attack him. "Black" offers "Blue" 10 Thalers for the province (on the province there is still a LG, which increases the value from 5 to 10 Thalers). "Blue" accepts. "Black" gives "Blue" 10 Thalers and replaces the blue vassal on the desired province with one of his own. The blue vassal returns to the pool of "Blue". "Blue" also gives "Black" the luxury good located there and "Black" can use it from the next round on.
B) You can forge an alliance with one adjacent player. For this you simply exchange one of your leaders for one of the leaders of the other player. You can use him on your tribal action board like one of your leaders during the game. Both players get 1 IP and 2 morale and can send each other reinforcements during a battle (1.3.A.4.). If both players end the alliance mutually, both players lose the IP and the 2 morale.
If an alliance is ended by only one side (which can only happen via an attack and not via a broken agreement), both players lose 1 IP and the "Attacker" 5 morale, the other only 2 morale.
If you do have an alliance you are considered adjacent even you are no longer adjacent on the board.
Basically, agreements can be made anytime and be of any kind. But they do not need to be kept.
1.3.E. Improvement
"Era of Tribes" does know six areas of improvement. For each leader placed here you earn one improvement. Your improvement markers stay within their area and they are moved towards the center when you achieve a new improvement. This gets more expensive the closer to the center the improvement is. The basic costs you can see on the improvement pioneer track (4, 8, 16 and 32 Thalers). The "discount" for stragglers (3, 6, 12 and 24 Thalers) is on the right.
- Each improvement is based on one of the two branches below it (overlapping improvement fields). If this improvement has not been achieved the costs increase by 2, 5 or 10 Thalers (listed with "Navigation"). If e.g. for an improvement of level IV both branches are missing it increases by 20 Thalers.
- For each city built the costs for each improvement project decrease by 1 Thaler.
- If you research an improvement as the first one you get 1 IP. All subsequent players don't get this IP but only pay the discounted price.
- Each progress costs always at least 1 Thaler.
Agriculture: Increases the yield of farmers and fishers. If you reach a new improvement you get 1 to 3 new food tokens from the pool which you immediately place on your plate. From "Agriculture II" on 2 vassals can stay permanently on each province and the second doesn't need to be removed during 1.5..
Culture: You invest Thalers in cultural institutions and thereby you increase your influence. From "Culture II" on you can place a +1 marker on the field "Bread & Circuses" which always gets you a bonus when you activate the field. From "Culture III" on you even get a total bonus of +3.
Navigation: You need at least "Navigation I" to build fleets at all. The better your improvement the faster - and more expensive - your fleets are. As soon as you reach a new progress in the area "Navigation" you immediately place 1 fleet for free from your "Free Vassals" on a sea province of your choice which is adjacent to one of your land provinces (if there are no more vassals on "Free Vassals" you may take one from the next city, but your morale then decreases by 2 fields). The movement points (MP) and costs of your fleets increase with each improvement.
Example: "Black" wants to improve his "Navigation" from "Navigation II" to "Navigation III". This costs 16 Thalers plus 5 Thalers, because "Culture II" is missing ("Navigation III" overlaps with "Culture II"; that means, you need "Culture II" to avoid additional costs). "Black" has 4 cities which decreases costs by 4 Thalers. "Black" needs to pay 16+5-4 = 17 Thalers and gets 1 IP.
Commerce: Here you increase your trading revenue. You mark it with trade tokens (from +1 to +11) on the trade field on your tribal action board. These tokens stay for the rest of the game there and are neither removed when you activate trade nor during the Clean up (1.5.). From "Commerce II" on you can build trade posts on provinces of players adjacent to you (1.3.A.1.).
Example: In the second example "Yellow" already has researched "Culture II". The research is now 2 Thalers cheaper for "Black" since he's a straggler and has to pay 6 Thalers instead of 8 and another 4 Thalers cheaper because he has 4 cities. He only pays 8-2-4 = 2 Thalers. But he does not get IP since "Yellow" has already researched this improvement before him.
Mechanics: New weapons, siege engines, the wheel... all this improves your combat power, but also increases the costs of reinforcements for your regular army. Improvement also allows you to move your vassals further. As soon as you research a new improvement in the area "Mechanics" you immediately get a vassal for free from "Free Vassals" and transfer him to your regular army (if you do not have any vassals left, you may take one from the next city, but your morale then decreases by 2 fields). At the beginning of the game your vassals have 1MP. If you improve "Mechanics" your MP will increase.
Architecture: Allows you to build up to 8 cities. You can't build any city until you have researched at least "Architecture I".
Example: "Yellow" wants to research "Architecture III". "Yellow" has 4 cities and as Egyptian pays only half the basic costs for "Architecture". Instead of 16 Thalers he only has to pay 8 Thalers. His 4 cities decrease cost by another 4 Thalers. "Yellow" now gets "Architecture III" for only 4 Thalers. Quite a steal!
1.3.F. Bread & Circuses
For each leader and each LG you have placed on this field your morale increases by 1 field.
If you did research "Culture II" you will get a bonus of +1. For "Culture III" you get a total bonus of +3.
Example: "Yellow" activates the field with two leaders and additionally places 4 luxury goods. The morale of "Yellow" then increases by 6 fields. Since "Yellow" is already on the second field of the morale track he only moves one field forward and hits the top 5 times which gets him 5 Thalers.
1.3.G. Revolution
The progress to a new era has varying requirements. As soon as you fulfill 2 of the 3 requirements for the eras from Bronze Age to Middle Ages (all 3 for the High Middle Age) you can start a revolution. You rise immediately to the next era and you move your era marker accordingly. The changes take place immediately (more leaders, modification of morale, expansion or trade, expansion +1 and trade +2 only apply for the era in question!). Bonuses from the last era (except for leaders and morale) are removed!
When the first player reaches a new era:
- He gets 2 IP, all subsequent players 1 IP.
- The barbarian marker is moved forwards on the barbarian chart.
- Only HE activates the scoring of an influence card (he HAS to do so). He chooses one of the two face-up cards and scores it: The 1st place of the face-up influence card gets you 3 IP. The player(s) on the 2nd place get(s) 1 IP. If several players share the 1st place, then all those players get 2 IP and the player(s) on the 2nd place get(s) nothing. The scored influence card is then taken out of the game and a new card from the draw pile is revealed.
A revolution ends the round for you immediately. Leaders and luxury goods not used until then, cannot be used after this. The autoexpansion is omitted.
If you are attacked, you get for defense one unit less for every battle!
Example: "Red" reaches the "Iron Age" first. Since he can't fulfill any of the two influence cards right now he decides to go for the one that gets the straggling "Black" IP. "Black" receives 3 IP and then draws a new influence card from the draw pile.
| Era | Requirement (2 of 3) | Effect (only for this era) |
|---|---|---|
| Neolithic | - | 2 Leaders; MO -1, see 1.1. |
| Bronze Age | 3 LG, 1 City, 4 Improvements | 3 Leaders |
| Iron Age | 4 LG, 3 Cities, 8 Improvements | 3 Leaders; Expansion +1; MO +3 |
| Ancient Times | 5 LG, 5 Cities, 12 Improvements | 4 Leaders; Trade +2; MO +5 — End of normal Game |
| Early Middle Ages | 6 LG, 6 Cities, 18 Improvements | 4 Leaders; MO +6 |
| High Middle Ages (3/3) | 6 LG, 8 Cities, 20 Improvements | 4 Leaders — End of long Game |
1.4. Autoexpansion
After the placement of the last leader all players activate the field "Expansion" in turn order if they did not already activate it with a leader.
The autoexpansion works like the normal expansion mentioned in 1.3.A. and you still can use LG you did not use during this round (the only way to do this without a leader).
Example: "Blue", "Red" and "Black" use the autoexpansion. "Red" has saved 2 LG and uses them to increase his expansion by 2, which allows him to place two additional vassals. "Yellow" already did expand to attack "Black" and thus has no autoexpansion left.
1.5. Clean Up
The players now remove all leaders and LG from their tribal action boards in preparation for the next round.
"Ore" used for a battle is returned to the field "Regular Army".
On each land province there is only one vassal allowed. If - after a battle or for other reasons - there is more than one vassal (or a city with additional vassals), all except for one vassal or city are removed and transferred to "Free Vassals". If you do have the progress "Agriculture II" 2 vassals can stay in each province.
The number of fleets on sea provinces is not limited.
Carthaginians and Gauls need to decide how they want to use their LG "Ivory" or "Wine" in the next round. If they want to use them for battles they are placed with the "regular army". If they want to use them as LG they are placed beside the tribal action board.
Example: "Blue" cleans up his board. All used LG and leaders are removed. The bonus marker on "Trade" stays where it is. "Yellow" does not have "Agriculture II", so he must remove the two vassals which remained with the city after a battle. They are placed with the "Free Vassals".
1.6. End a Round
Check now whether one of the players fulfills the requirements for the End of Game (2.1.). If this is the case the scoring follows (2.2.). Else you start a new round with 1.1..
2. End of Game
2.1. Game End Conditions
There are several possible ways of ending "Era of Tribes". As soon as a player fulfills one of the following requirements he immediately gets 3 IP. If other players do also fulfill one of the victory conditions in the same round they get 2 IP. There are no additional points for one player if several requirements are met.
| Victory | Normal Game | Long Game |
|---|---|---|
| Glorious Victory | 1 player 27 IP / 2 players 25 IP / 3 players 23 IP / 4 players 21 IP | 1 player 49 IP / 2 players 44 IP / 3 players 40 IP / 4 players 37 IP |
| Technological Victory | 15 Improvements | 22 Improvements |
| Dominating Victory | 25 land provinces | 35 land provinces |
| Cultural Victory | Reaching Ancient Times | Reaching High Middle Ages |
| Military Victory | conquering all home provinces of another player | conquering all home provinces of all players |
| Triumphant Victory | the victory parade marker and the IP marker of a player meet each other | the victory parade marker and the IP marker of a player meet each other |
The epic game demands achieving at least 4 goals of the long game by one player. The player who starts the end of the game gets 5 IP (the others 3 IP). The influence cards are scored as normal.
The round is played to its end after any of the victory conditions is fulfilled by any of the players. Then the scoring starts. If the tribe of a player is completely swept from the game board the game ends in every game mode with the end of the round it happened. The player in question loses all his influence.
2.2. Scoring
Personal Influence Card: Starting with the player with the fewest influence points all players reveal their influence cards. If a player completed his task - and only then - he gets 3 influence points. If the player shares the completion of the task with other players (if he and other players have the most of something) he gets 2 IP. He can't get 1 IP for the 2nd place. Only the revealing player can get IP for his influence card.
Face-Up Influence Cards: Then both face-up influence cards are scored. The 1st place on the face-up influence cards gets you 3 IP, the player(s) on the 2nd place get 1 IP. If several players share the 1st place they all get 2 IP, the player(s) on the 2nd place does not get any IP. If several players share the 2nd place they all get 1 IP.
Morale: Add or subtract your morale from your influence points.
Red Barbarian Hamlets: Some of the red barbarian hamlets score additional points (see The Barbarians, below).
The player who has the most influence points wins the game.
3. The Influence Cards
There are 15 different influence cards. At the beginning of the game each player chooses one influence card (see 0.5.) before he chooses a tribe that fits his card. Each of the influence cards provides you with a special (and secret) task that needs to be fulfilled.
Beside this personal influence card - which can only be fulfilled by its owner - there are also face-up influence cards which can be fulfilled by all players.
Only one of these has to be scored when the first player - and only the first player - reaches the next era via a revolution (see 1.3.G.) but both cards at the end of the game (see 2.2.).
The importance of these face-up cards should not be underestimated. Especially the cards for the intermediate scoring - after the first player moves into a new era - can be very effective and earn many points.
- Admiralty: Own the most fleets.
- Colonists: Control the most colonies.
- Emperor: Your victory parade must be the leading one.
- Fishermen: Control the most provinces with fish.
- Liberators: Free the most barbarian provinces.
- Loggers: Control the most forest provinces.
- Merchants: Own the most luxury goods.
- Miners: Own the most mountain provinces.
- Nobility: Own the most land provinces.
- Partisans: Control the most historical battlefields.
- Peasants: Control the most grain fields.
- Scholars: Own the most improvements.
- Shepherds: Own the most hill provinces.
- Townsmen: Own the most cities.
- The Rich: Be the wealthiest player.
4. The Tribes
In "Era of Tribes" there are ten different tribes. Each tribe has different abilities which you can use to reach your goal. It is quite important to match the tribe with your personal influence card to get the most out of it.
Egyptians: From early on the Egyptians founded cities. The "Architecture" improvement costs them only half the basic costs (not the discounted costs!). Their cities were quite structured and controlled, hence you only need to give away one food for each city and the moral decrease for cities at the beginning of a round (1.1.) or due to taxes (1.3.C.) is 1 less.
Greeks: The Greeks were known for philosophers, scholars and a powerful fleet. Each improvement (level I improvements, too) is two Thalers cheaper. If you buy fleets you get two fleets for the price of one. But it is harder for you to control your cities and hence you have a higher morale decrease at the beginning of a round (1.1.) or due to taxes (1.3.C.); even without a city!
Gauls: The Gauls are famous for their druids and magic potions. As a Gaul you pay only half the basic costs for a "Culture" improvement (not the discounted costs!). At the end of any round (during 1.5.) you may place any amount of the luxury good "Wine" on your "Regular Army". You can use it in the next round instead of "Ore".
Iberians: The Iberians can improve their ships quite fast. Each "Navigation" improvement only cost half the basic costs (not the discounted costs!). Also their expansion is 1 higher which is quite an advantage at the beginning of the game.
Germanics: All along the Germanic people were traders but also known for their hard-hitting army. Leaders get you a bonus of 2 on the "Trade" field. If you get a "Mechanics" improvement you may take 3 vassals for free (instead of one) from your "Free Vassals" and add them to your "Regular Army". If you need to take vassals from your cities for it, your morale does not decrease.
Britons: They are a rather tough tribe and their unshakable morale often helps them to turn a battle in their favor. Leaders you place on the field "Bread & Circuses" increase your morale by 2 fields each. The Britons know how to make good use of rich fishing grounds, hence for each fish province they get 1 additional food token.
Romans: The "Mechanics" improvements cost the Romans only half the basic costs (not the discounted costs!) At the beginning of the game the Roman places his 5 additional legions (orange) in the general pool. Every round during expansion (1.3.C.1.) you can take one of these legions and put it into your "Regular Army". You can use them for battles where they are either defeated or go into retirement afterwards. In both cases they return to the general pool and can later be recruited again.
Norsemen: Also known as "Vikings". All their fleets can move two additional areas, but they still need to research "Navigation" first. Each fleet of the Norsemen can once per round plunder 1 adjacent land province of the other players. Vassals you plunder during 1.3.A.4.) on a roll of 1-5 and they get you 1 Thaler. Cities you plunder on a roll of 1-2 and they get you 3 Thalers from the enemy. On a "6" your Vikings go to Valhalla - back to your "Free Vassals". If you lose a fleet due to a botched plundering or battle your morale increases by 1 field. If the players plundered can't pay their morale decreases per Thaler they cannot pay by 1 field and you get the Thalers from the bank.
Carthaginians: The Carthaginians early on had a strong navy and also used the feared war elephants. For any "Navigation" improvement you may take 3 vassals from your pool and place them as fleets (even on different water provinces; but morale might decrease if taken from unbuilt cities). At the end of each round (1.5.) you may place any amount of the luxury good "Ivory" on your "Regular Army". You can use it in the next round instead of "Ore".
Slavs: The Slavs have the advantage of a near endless hinterland and their leaders have the full support of their people. Your expansion is increased by 2 and it is much easier for you to hire new leaders, since you need to pay only 2 vassals and 2 Thalers for a new leader on the field "Diplomacy".
The Symbols: For the symbols we mainly consulted historical sources. Sadly some of the symbols are these days used by right-wing groups. We absolutely dissociate us from such groups, but we don't want to leave sovereignty of interpretation to them: Irminsul, the world tree, the symbol of the Germanic people, connects earth and heaven and gets its name from the war god "Irmin". It is also connected to Yggdrasil from the Nordic mythology. Ladinez, the symbol of the Slavs, stands for love, harmony and luck within the family. It averts the evil eye and brings fertility to the house protected by it.
5. The Barbarians
If you free the barbarian provinces (printed-on barbarian symbols and all the home provinces of the tribes that take not part in the game) you get the corresponding barbarian tokens.
The tokens with a green back you can keep secret (place them face-down in front of you; you can use them anytime later and then turn them face-up) or use them immediately (place them simply face-up in front of you after using).
The tokens with a red back get you additional points at the end of the game (you definitely should keep this secret) or provide you with powerful immediate actions you should use as soon as possible.
Unused tokens can be used anytime during a battle as reinforcements (mercenaries), they are considered normal units then. After a battle the used tokens are placed face-up beside your tribal action board. They are now used and no longer available to you.
Green Barbarian Hamlets (additional points, 2 each):
- Morale (6x): Increases morale immediately or later by 2 or 3 fields.
- Influence (3x): You immediately get 1 IP.
- Strength (3x): Add immediately or later 2 militia to your regular army. They must be used first in the upcoming battles.
- Thalers (8x): You receive immediately or later 2, 3 or 5 Thalers.
Red Barbarian Hamlets (special actions, 2 each):
- Improvement: You can immediately or later get one improvement for half its basic costs.
- Leader: You can immediately or later get a grey leader for free.
Additional Points (Red Barbarian Hamlets), scored by thresholds:
| Category | Thresholds | IP |
|---|---|---|
| Improvements | 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 17+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Dissimilar Luxury Goods (DLG) | 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Similar Luxury Goods (SLG) | 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Areas with at least 1 vassal or city | 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Trade Posts | 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Leaders | 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Thalers | 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
| Treaties | 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 10+ | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 |
6. One-Player Game
If you want to play "Era of Tribes" alone you will play it mainly according to the normal rules. You prepare a game area for 2 players, you do a normal setup and you choose a tribe and color. You do not play with a personal influence card but with 2 grey leaders.
Your goal is it to withstand the attacks of the barbarians for 10 rounds and to get as much influence as possible. This mode is much more battle-focused than the multiplayer game.
At the beginning of the game you put away the following cards: Nobility, Peasants, Merchants, Loggers, Shepherds, Colonists, Partisans and Miners. Place the shuffled draw pile face-up beside the game board and put the two topmost cards on the influence card fields. If you reach a new era you score one of the cards and then a new card is placed on the empty field. You need to have more than each of the barbarian tribes, else scoring is handled as usual.
The abilities of the tribes do not change, but the Northmen are now allowed to plunder the barbarian tribes.
Place your turn order marker on field 40 of the influence track. This is now the turn marker.
Place the vassals of other colors beside the game board and assign each barbarian tribe one of these colours. Place on each home province - in addition to the barbarian hamlets - one vassal of the corresponding color. Then you put the round discs of each barbarian tribe in the cloth bag (6 discs each for 2 barbarian tribes and 5 discs for 3 barbarian tribes).
You try to reach the end of the game quite fast. Each round you end the game before the 10th round gets you an additional bonus of 5 points.
Since the interaction of the various tribes is at the heart of "Era of Tribes" the asymmetrical starting conditions are optimized for several players. You will find out that in the single player mode some of the tribes are "easier" to play than others.
Example: "Red" wants to play the Romans in the single player game. He marks the game area and places the needed components. The barbarian tribes of the Carthaginians (yellow), Greek (blue) and Egyptians (black) put 5 discs each into the cloth bag.
1. Game Phases (Solo)
1.1. Adjust Morale
You not only adjust the morale but you also advance the round marker 1 field.
1.2. Determine Turn Order
Not required.
Example: At the end of round "Red" draws a yellow disc. The Carthaginians expand onto every adjacent province. Some rounds later the Carthaginians can't grow on land and grow across the sea. All provinces are settled in such a way that the provinces closest to one or more existing provinces are settled. Here 4 provinces are 1 field away from (2) existing provinces. All 4 provinces will be settled.
1.3. Plan and Execute Actions
Rules do not change.
1.4. Autoexpansion
After your round ends (including your autoexpansion) the barbarians expand.
Draw a disc from the cloth bag and place it on the influence track field with the turn order marker (don't put the disc back into the cloth bag since it serves as a reminder).
Each land province that is adjacent to one of the provinces of that tribe is going to be settled. Place on each adjacent province one vassal.
If the province of another barbarian tribe would be settled this way, nothing happens. Normal barbarian hamlets (tokens without vassals) are simply "settled over" and then have 2 units (barbarian hamlet and vassal).
If no land province can be settled, the next province(s) that is closest via sea will be settled. If several provinces are equally close all of them will be settled (or attacked). A barbarian tribe will always expand into at least one new province.
If the barbarians thus settle in one of your provinces they attack. For each attack the barbarians get additional militia according to their value on the barbarian chart.
If the barbarians are left with only the battlemarker "Sword" on their side during one of those battles all of their remaining vassals - those who would still attack - are added to this battle. The remaining battles do not happen! If there is still only the sword on their side they do not attack! The victory parade is not moved.
A well-planned use of the "Regular Army" can thus lead to the abortion of several attacks.
The attacks are always executed in the order of the provinces; i.e. left to right and top to bottom.
Example: The Greek barbarians attack. The order of the attacks is numbered. During attack No. 4 the barbarian gets only the battlemarker "Sword" since his morale is worse and his strength (he attacks with 2 units and the defender gets one unit as reinforcement for the mountain province) and mechanics (both have "Mechanics I") are equal. He now withdraws the vassal (the militia returns to the pool) from attack No. 5 and thus gets the strength marker. Attack No. 5 does not happen. If "Red" would have placed additional units as defense in advance the barbarian would not get the strength marker and cancel this attack, too. Your victory parade is not moved if an attack is canceled.
1.5. Clean Up
Rules do not change.
1.6. End a Round
If you fulfill the game end conditions or the round marker reaches the field "50" on the influence track the scoring follows, else the next round begins.
2. End of Game (Solo)
2.1. Game End Conditions
The game ends with the end of the 10th round. For the initiation of the game end you get 3 IP. The game end conditions for a normal game apply to this mode, too.
2.2. Scoring
You add your morale to your IP and if necessary the additional points from the red barbarian hamlets. Both face-up influence cards are also scored. If you did cause the game to end before round 10 you will get 5 IP for every round left. (If you e.g. end the game during round 8 you will get 10 IP extra.) If you do not manage to end the game before the end of round 10 you lose 5 IP.
If you want to know how good your game was, you can consult the following chart:
| Score | Rank |
|---|---|
| up to 32 | Commoner |
| 33-37 | Chieftain |
| 38-41 | Warlord |
| 42-45 | Prince |
| 46-47 | King |
| 48-49 | Emperor |
| 50+ | God |
If you do not become a God after your first game… don't be sad and try it again - maybe this time with a different tribe.
7. Modular Game Board
The modular game board turns "Era of Tribes" into a real 4X game. There are several ways of using the tiles.
a) 4X ~ Fixed Deployment, World Concealed
0. Setup
0.1. see standard setup. 0.2. see standard setup. 0.3. not required. 0.4. when revealing the area tiles.
0.5. Decide how much water you want. If you want a lot, then use all tiles. If you want less water then remove up to 6 water tiles. After choosing your influence card and tribe you decide where to start. Choose one of the starting spots pictured in the starting setups (2-6 players). Some starting spots provide you with 1 Thaler since they are adjacent to less area tiles. Place the area tile with the home provinces of your chosen tribe on one of the starting spots. The orientation of the tile is up to you. Then distribute the food, LG and MG tokens according to 0.4.. Now shuffle the remaining area tiles (remember the water tiles) and place them face-down according to the setup for your number of players. Place the border tiles around the area tiles. They cover the provinces you are not allowed to settle.
0.6. see standard setup. 0.7. see standard setup. 0.8. when revealing the area tiles (see standard setup). 0.9. see standard setup.
1. Game Phases
The game phases are identical to the normal game. If you "enter" a concealed tile (1.3.A.2.) the tile is turned over and placed on the game board. Its orientation is up to you.
You then move onto one of the provinces adjacent to the one you started your exploration from. If you are only adjacent to water you can convert the vassal into a fleet, but you need at least "Navigation I" and must pay the required Thalers. Else the vassal stays on the province from which he started (and he might be removed during 1.5.).
Parts of water provinces are considered ONE water province until you have discovered the adjacent areas - which also costs 1 MP - with fleets (the water provinces are thus gradually enlarged).
Place the required tokens on the new area tile (LG, MG, barbarians, food; 0.4. and 0.8.).
2. End of the Game
The game end conditions and the scoring remain unchanged.
b) 4X ~ Wild Deployment, World Concealed
0. Setup
0.1. - 0.4. like a). 0.5. Decide how much water you want. If you want a lot then use all tiles. If you want less water then remove up to 6 water tiles. Then you place the border tiles depending on the number of players (see a)). After choosing your influence card and tribe you place the area tile with your home provinces wherever you want. Its orientation is up to you. The other players do the same. There always must be at least one normal tile between the player tiles. Then distribute the tokens according to 0.4.. Now shuffle the remaining area tiles (remember the water tiles) and place them face-down.
0.6. - 0.9. like a).
1. Game Phases
Like a).
2. End of the Game
The game end conditions and the scoring remain unchanged.
c) Wild Deployment, World Revealed
0.1. - 0.4. like b). After choosing your influence card and tribe you place the area tile with your home provinces wherever you want. Its orientation is up to you. The other players do the same. There always must be at least one normal tile between the player tiles.
After the deployment of the starting tiles the players alternately draw area tiles and place them face-up wherever they want. The orientation is up to them. Thus the world is revealed from the beginning on. From then on the game is played following the normal rules.
d) Free Configuration, World Revealed
Together the players create the world they want. First place the border tiles according to the number of players (see a)). Then you place the area tiles alternately or at the same time on the game board until you are satisfied with the layout. Then the game is played following the normal rules.
Regarding the balancing: A lot of time went into balancing the various tribes of Era of Tribes and many test players sacrificed themselves to improve the game. This was impossible for the modular mode and if you are quite unlucky you might encounter some imbalances. But most of the times you will not encounter them and games with more than 2 players will allow you to better rebalance such situations. We wish you a lot of fun creating new worlds! Please upload your worlds on BGG and show them on the Era of Tribes Facebook page.
8. Glossary
There are quite some terms and abbreviations in the rules that are at first not that easy to understand. We want to explain them to you:
Action: Activating a field with one or more of your leaders is an action. After an action the next player in the turn order acts.
Ancient Time: Ancient Times (lat. Antiquus / old, antique, venerable) marks an era in the Mediterranean from 600 BC until 600 AD. The Ancient Time is different from the eras before and after it, because it has a mutual and consistent cultural tradition. The Roman Empire and Hellenism were defining for this era.
Area: Hexagonal elements of the game board that form the game map (0.3.). Settling as many areas as possible gets you additional points at the end of the game if you have found the right red barbarian hamlet (2.2. and 5.) and during the single player game it determines the order of attacks.
Autoexpansion: Automatic expansion at the end of a round (1.3.A.); except after a revolution.
Barbarians: Barbarians live in the (reachable) border provinces of the game board and in the home provinces of tribes not participating in the game. If you defeat barbarians you get a barbarian token and with it advantages. The abilities of the barbarians are printed on the game board (number of additional units defeating the provinces or attacking in solo mode and mechanical improvement depend on the highest era that has been reached; morale is always "0"). In the single player game the barbarians start expanding their realm from their home provinces.
Basic Costs: The basic costs of the improvements you can find on the cost track between "Mechanics" and "Commerce" and between "Culture" and "Agriculture" for the stragglers (1.3.E.). Tribal boni are deducted from the basic costs!
Battle Round (BR): Each battle consists of several BR. BR follows upon BR until one of the combatants has won or both sides have been destroyed (1.3.A.4.).
Battle Sequence: Preparation and execution of an attack in 5 steps (1.3.A.4.).
Branch: For the research of the improvement levels II to IV you need 1 or 2 branches. If you are lacking them your improvement becomes considerably more expensive (1.3.E.).
Bronze Age: The Bronze Age is the era in the history of mankind during which metal tools were mainly made out of bronze. In Central Europe this era lasted from 1900 BC until 1200 BC. The uneven distribution of ore deposits, and especially the very rare pewter, that was needed for bronze, led to a "global" trade network which not only distributed goods but also ideas. This led to the emergence of an elite that was able to accumulate riches.
City: Cities can be built (1.3.A.3.) if you do have the necessary architecture improvement (1.3.E.). They decrease the costs for future improvements and allow you to control 3 additional vassals. In addition cities provide a militia if they are attacked and they increase your tax revenue considerably. But each city decreases your morale at the beginning of a round (1.1.) and you need to pay 2 food for every city (1.3.A.3.).
Colony: One or more (land) provinces without a link (not adjacent) to one or more own provinces are considered colonies. Always and as soon as at the end of the expansion of a player one or more colonies emerge the morale of the player immediately decreases by 2 fields (1.3.A.2., 4.). This also happens to passive players if they lose provinces due to battles and thus colonies are created.
Diplomacy: Field on your tribal action board where you can hire leaders, receive influence, become starting player and start peace talks. You can also forge alliances of any (!!) kind with adjacent players (1.3.D.).
Influence Points (IP): You need IP to win the game. On the game board you can find an overview of how many IP you get for what.
Early Middle Ages: The Early Middle Ages lasted from 600 AD until 1000 AD. Older views saw this era as "dark" and "backward" but today we have a much more nuanced view. We can see continuity but also change within the political, cultural and social aspects of this era. Here are the beginnings of the division of Europe and the Mediterranean into a Christian and a Muslim half. Several of the realms originating from this era provided the foundations for states that still exist today.
Epic Game: Before the game you decide if you play a normal, a long or an epic game. The game end conditions for the epic game are much harder to fulfill and besides the longer playtime there are also more conflicts.
Expansion: Here you spread on the map, found cities and free provinces from your enemies (1.3.A.). If you give up 3 expansion your morale increases by 1.
Fish: Fish are "harvested" with your fleets. Each fish gives you 1 food.
Fleet: Your fleets move across water provinces, can attack enemy fleets, "harvest" fish, transport vassals, settle provinces and attack enemy cities/provinces (1.3.A.2., 4.).
Food: Is harvested from fish and grain provinces. Each city uses up 2 food. If you lose the control over a province with a food symbol you also instantly lose the control over the food token. If you have no food token left you will get a hunger token instead. Agriculture Improvements give you additional food.
Forest: Provinces with forests (dark green) get you special points (2.2. and 3.) with the right influence card.
Grain Province: Provinces with grain (orange-yellow with ear) give you food and thus increase your expansion by one field if there are vassals or cities on them. If you lose such a province you also lose this food (1.3.A.).
High Middle Ages: The High Middle Age is the era between 1100 AD and 1500 AD. Science places the beginning of this era in the middle of the 11th century because there was a widespread change in Latin Europe. Economically and culturally there were new developments. This change was driven by a population growth that lasted until the 14th century. New territories had to be exploited and production methods had to be developed to increase yield. This encouraged craftsmanship and trade (including new trade routes) and in turn the monetary economy. A banking system was developed and new markets created which in turn filled the chests of the cities. A social mobility set in, not seen since the Ancient Times and with the economical rise there also came a technological rise.
Hill: Provinces with hills (green) - with the right influence card - get you special points (2.2. and 3.) and often offer LG.
Historical Battlefield (token): After a battle with more than five participating units or tokens a +1 token is placed. The people living in this province are proud of their history and fiercely defend their homeland (1.3.A.4.). After a battle with more than 10 participating units or tokens a +2 token is placed. The tokens are left on the game board until the end of the game.
Home Provinces: Home provinces are the starting areas of tribes. Home provinces of tribes not participating in the game get barbarian tokens (0.8.).
Horse: Horses are part of your "Regular Army" and count to its strength in case of a draw. In each round it can be used once to give one vassal 2 additional MP. Place it beside the tribal action board after that.
Improvement: There are six areas of improvement with five levels each (1.3.E.).
Iron Age: The Iron Age is the last great prehistoric era and in Europe lasted from 1200 BC until 600 BC. This era of human history experienced the replacement of bronze by iron, which more and more was used for the production of weapons and tools. In Central Europe the Iron Age ended with the beginnings of the Roman Empire and gradually turned into the Ancient Age.
Leaders: Leaders are the pieces that allow you to execute actions. Each player has 4 leaders, but depending on the era he can't use all of them. The neutral leaders you can get from the field Diplomacy (1.3.D.) and you will have access to them until the end of the game. The number of the neutral leaders depends on the number of players. Two neutral leaders wait in red barbarian hamlets for their rescue.
Luxurious Good (LG): There are 8 different LG: beer, ivory, cloth, diamonds, spices, wine, furs, gold. LG get you special points (2.2. and 3.) with the right influence card. Especially during the game they are important for Trade (1.3.B.) and Bread & Circuses (1.3.F.), Expansion (1.3.A.1.) and era changes (1.3.G.). There are also red barbarian hamlets which get you additional points for similar or dissimilar LG (2.2. and 5.). If you lose control over a province with a LG (for whatever reason) you immediately lose the control over the LG, too.
Marker: Marker describe the traits of your tribe: Morale, Influence, Era and Improvements. Depending on your influence the turn order marker marks your place in the turn order (1.2.). It is quite important to keep the markers up to date.
Mechanics: The better your improvement in "Mechanics" the further your vassals can move and the more expensive the units for your "Regular Army" will get. Good mechanics improve your chances in a battle considerably.
Mercenary: If you still have some unused barbarian tokens left you can use them anytime during a battle (1.3.A.4.).
Militia: Militia (grey) improves your strength in a battle. The defender gets militia if he defends a mountain province, a city or if he is attacked from sea (1.3.A.4.).
Morale (MO): Your morale influences your expansion and your vassals in a battle. Your morale is positively affected by Bread & Circuses (1.3.F.), some eras (1.1.), cultural improvement (1.3.E.), the building of a trade posts (1.3.A.2.), the moving of the victory parade on a red field of the influence track (1.3.A.4.) and peace treaties (1.3.D.). Your morale is negatively affected by taxes (1.3.C.), cities and hunger tokens at the beginning of a round (1.1.), founding of colonies (1.3.A.2., 4.), vassals not ruled over during an expansion (1.3.A.1.), expulsion of traders (1.3.A.2.), attacks on players having peace talks (1.3.D.) and conquests (1.3.A.4.). If your morale sinks below the last field the player loses 1 IP for each field not moved. If your morale rises above the first field the player gets 1 Thaler for each field not moved.
Mountain: Provinces with mountains (grey-black) get you advantages during defense (1.3.A.4.) and special points (2.2. and 3.) with the right influence card.
Movement Points (MP): Each vassal has as much MP as his "Mechanics" improvement indicates (max. 3 MP). You can get 2 additional MP for one vassal, if you do own (at least) one military good "Horse". The MP of your fleets depend upon your "Navigation" improvement (1.3.A.2.).
Neolithic: The Neolithic is an era of human history that starts in Central and Western Europe around 6000 BC and is defined by the transfer from hunters and gatherers to sedentary peasants with domesticated animals and plants.
Ore: Ore can be used in a battle to reinforce your own troops (1.3.A.4.). The ore can be used only once (!) every round.
Province: Everything surrounded by land or water borders is a province. There are land provinces (mountain, hill, forest, grain and desert) and water provinces. Some provinces offer resources (LG, horses or ore) or produce the food that you need for your expansion (fish or grain). Some provinces are home provinces (see above) and on some there are always barbarians (game area border; 0.8.).
Regular Army: Your "Regular Army" consists of vassals you hired (1.3.A.2.). You can order it to support an attack (afterwards it retires), and thus increase your strength during a battle. In the case of a draw for strength the player with the bigger remaining "Regular Army" wins the battlemarker (ore and horses count too, and - in some cases - wine and ivory).
Round: A full sequence from 1.1. to 1.6..
Strength: The combat dice each display one symbol for strength. Your strength in a battle consists of your vassals, militia and all other things you throw in the battle (1.3.A.4.).
Thaler (T): The currency of Era of Tribes.
Treaties: For each action on the field "Diplomacy" (a) - c)) you get 1 treaty (token). You can use them to build trade posts on the provinces of other players (give the player 1 treaty instead of 1 Thaler) or force an alliance or province acquisition (return 3 treaties to the bank). Some barbarian hamlets provide you with additional points at the end of the game if you own several treaties.
Tribal Action Board: On your tribal action board you will find several fields you can activate during a round.
Vassal: Your vassals settle for you in provinces. At the beginning of the game you have 12 vassals in your supply ("Free Vassals"). If you try to control additional vassals your morale decreases for each vassal by two fields unless you build cities (1.3.A.1., 3.).
Victory Parade: The marker which depicts the victory parade moves counterclockwise towards your influence marker. If they both meet, the end of the game is initiated (1.3.A.4., 2.1.).
Water Province: Fleets can move on water provinces. Some offer food in the form of fish. The player who controls the water province with a fleet gets the food.
Credits
Game Author: Arne Lorenz
Graphical Editing, Design and Layout: Arne Lorenz, Marc Exner
Cover Design: Radosław Jaszczuk
English Rules: André Winter
Copyright © 2019: Black Beacon Games, Arne Lorenz, Deichstraße 32, 27809 Lemwerder
Editing: Anke Lorenz, André Winter, Patrick van Gompel, Andreas Hüttig, Rouven Schürken and some more.
Many, many thanks to all the volunteers who helped translating the game turn overviews: Hans, Rud, Jan, Henderikus, Bryan, Marc, Alejandro, André, Jonathan and Roman.
Special thanks to Jakub Mrówczyński for the awesome 3D-design of the coins.
Also many thanks are owed to the testers (a.k.a. victims), reviewers and all the backers: Marco (BGR), Lee (Geek City USA), Philippe (Les Jeux des Chaps), Dirk (Würfelmagier), Stephan (Boardgame Digger), Tomasz (Gambit TV), Christian (Brett&Pad), Michael (Brettspielen Köln), Dennis, Bettina, Sigrid, Andreas, Simone, Marc, Thorsten, Hanno, André, Tobias, Christian, Jasmin, Torben, Jens, Jörg, Jacek, Stefan, Stephan, Kevin, Uwe, Nico, Peter, Viktor, Michael, Judith, Daniel, Sebastian, Alex, Jamie, and many more.