Imperial Miners Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Anatomy of a Mine Card
• Gameplay
  • Event Phase
  • Mine Phase
• Effects in Detail
  • Machines
  • Collapses
  • Carts
  • Special Activations
  • Drawing Cards
  • Faction Draw
• Advance
• End of the Game
• Solo Mode
• Faction Overview
  • Scots: Spending Coins
  • Egyptians: Advancing on the Progress Boards
  • Atlanteans: Placing Machines
  • Barbarians: Aggressive Mining and Placing Collapses
  • Japanese: Strength in Diversity
  • Romans: Placement Matters
• Credits

Goal of the Game

Your goal is to be the best Imperial Miner in the land, and to do so you need to gain the most Victory Points. The game plays out over 10 rounds, after which, the player with the most Victory Points wins.

Components

• 136 Mine cards (36 Level 1 cards, 43 Level 2 cards, 43 Level 3 cards, 14 Level 4 cards)
• 5 Surface boards
• 60 coin tokens (42 Silver, worth 1; 18 Gold, worth 5)
• 60 victory point tokens (25 blue, worth 1 Victory Point; 20 green, worth 5 Victory Points; 15 red, worth 10 Victory Points)
• 18 Event cards
• 3 double-sided Progress boards
• 44 machine tokens
• 24 collapse tokens
• 40 cart markers (and 40 stickers)
• 5 progress markers
• This rulebook

Setup

1. Place the Progress boards with a random side face up in the center of the play area.

2. Shuffle each deck of Mine cards separately and place them near to the Progress boards (the Level 4 cards are all identical, so there is no need to shuffle them). Leave space for a discard pile for each deck.

3. Shuffle the Event cards and draw 10 to create an Event deck. Return the rest of them to the box, they won't be used during the game. Place the Event deck next to the Mine cards.

4. Place the Victory Point, Coin, Collapse, and Machine tokens, as well as the Cart markers next to the Progress boards. This is the general supply.

   Note: Components in the general supply are considered unlimited. If you ever run out of them, use a suitable replacement. If a deck runs out of cards, reshuffle the corresponding discard pile.

5. Each player chooses a color and takes the corresponding Progress marker, and Surface board.

   • Progress markers are placed below the Progress boards.
   • Surface boards are placed horizontally in front of each player.

6. Each player draws 8 Mine cards (2 of Level 1, 3 of Level 2, and 3 of Level 3), and then chooses 4 of them to keep, discarding the others.*

   *During your first game, ignore this step and draw 2 of Level 1, 2 of Level 2, and 2 of Level 3 and keep all 6 cards.

You are ready to dig!

Anatomy of a Mine Card

1. Name and Cost Level 1 cards are free. Level 2 cards cost 2 coins. Level 3 cards cost 0-13 coins. Level 4 cards are free. Some effects may decrease these costs, but never below 0 coins.

2. Faction Most cards belong to one or two Factions. If a card has two Faction icons, it counts as both Factions simultaneously. Cards without a Faction icon do not belong to any Faction.

3. Half Carts Each completed cart is worth 1 Victory Point at the end of the game.

4. Effects Most cards have 2 available effects. Every time you activate a card, you must choose which of the 2 effects to resolve. Some cards have only 1 effect, and in this case only have 1 possible choice.

5. Level Indicates where the card must be played.

Gameplay

The game plays out over 10 rounds, each of which is made up of 2 phases: the Event phase and the Mine phase. During the Event phase, all players are challenged by an Event, while during the Mine phase, all players simultaneously play Mine cards and resolve effects.

Event Phase

One of the players draws 1 card from the Event deck. Each player at the table must resolve its effect. After that the phase ends.

There are 3 types of Event card effects:

• Immediate: When revealed, all players must immediately resolve the effects depicted on the card.
• Features: These cards modify effects resolved by players during the Mine phase.
• End of Round: At the end of the Mine phase, all players must resolve the effects on the card.

Event card effects must be fully resolved (unless otherwise indicated). If a player cannot resolve the entire effect, they must resolve it as much as possible.

Mine Phase

During the Mine phase, players add cards to their Mines and activate them. The Mine phase plays out as follows, and each individual step is resolved simultaneously by all players:

1. Each player reveals a card from their hand and pays the cost shown near the card's left side. If a player cannot play a card, they must draw and play the top card from the Level 1 deck. (Since players do not start with any coins, they will have to play a Level 1 card during the first round of the game.)

2. Each player places the revealed card in their Mine according to the following rules: a. Each card must be placed in the row corresponding to its Level: cards of Level 1 must be placed directly below the Surface board, cards of Level 2 below Level 1 cards, cards of Level 3 below Level 2 cards, etc. b. There is no limit to the number of cards that may be placed in a single row; however, each card must have at least 1 adjacent card above it (or the Surface board). Players may have as many cards of Level 1 as they wish in the first row (even if the Surface board is not physically above the cards).

   Note: Adjacent cards are any cards with borders that are touching each other. A card can have up to 6 cards adjacent to it.

   c. Cards in subsequent Levels are placed halfway offset from the ones above/below them so that each card may have up to 2 cards connected above it and below it.

   Note: Carts on Mine cards don't have to match!

3. Each player activates the card they just placed and resolves one of its effects. The activated card then begins a chain reaction, which will activate the cards above it as follows: a. Any one card directly above the placed card activates as if it were just placed. b. Each activated card continues to activate another card above it until you reach the Surface board. c. The Surface board contains 3 available effects. Once you reach the Surface board, choose one of the 3 available effects and resolve it. d. The player ends their Mine phase.

   Each card's effect must be completely resolved before you activate another card above it. Card effects are not mandatory, but if you decide to resolve an effect, you must resolve it as much as possible.

   Note: Each card may only be activated once per round. Note 2: Even if there are two cards above the activated card, you may only pick one of them to activate.

Once all players finish their Mine phase, resolve the Event card if it has End of Round effects and then proceed to the next round's Event phase.

The number of Event cards left in the Event deck indicate how many rounds you have left and which round you are on. You may freely count them at any time in case you lose track of which round you are on.

Note: There are no effects that refer to or interact with cards in other player's Mines.

Effects in Detail

Machines

As time advances, so does technology! Some effects depend on, or make you place machines on your cards. You may have up to 3 machines on a single card.

Collapses

But of course, all advances in technology come with a bit of trial and error… Some effects make you place collapse tokens on your cards. Whenever you activate a card with a collapse token, discard the token instead of resolving the effect. There may only be 1 collapse token on a card at a time.

Note: After removing Collapse tokens, you still continue activating cards above as normal.

Carts

Is your cart half full or half empty? That's a silly question—fill it to the brim with treasures!

Some effects allow you to place a Cart marker on your Mine cards. You may place a half cart on incomplete Carts, with at least half a Cart on a border between 2 adjacent Mine cards. Once a half cart is placed on the other half cart, it is considered to be a complete Cart for game effects and provides 1 Victory Point at the end of the game. If you must place the cart marker and there are no half carts in your Mine, don't take the cart marker from the supply.

Special Activations

Many effects allow you to activate chosen cards in your Mine. These Special Activations are isolated to a specific card, and do not cause a chain reaction. Remember, each card may be only activated once per round and this includes Special Activations.

If a chain reaction makes you activate a card that was previously activated that round, ignore its effect and continue the chain reaction as usual.

Drawing Cards

When you are instructed to draw cards, draw them one at a time from any Mine deck (except for Level 4) and add them to your hand. You have a hand limit of 8 cards. If, after resolving an effect, you ever have more than 8 cards in your hand, you must immediately discard down to 8. Cards from Level 4 may only be drawn when resolving Progress board effects or Event card effects.

Faction Draw

If an effect instructs you to draw a card of a specific Faction, choose a deck and then reveal cards until you find a card matching the specified Faction. Place the card into your hand and reshuffle the others back into the deck. If there are no cards of that Faction in the chosen deck, reshuffle it and choose a different deck, repeating the same process.

This icon indicates that you may choose any Faction, and then resolve a Faction draw.

Advance

The deeper you go, the more secrets you unlock… which path will you choose, what secrets will you discover?

Some effects instruct you to advance. When you are instructed to advance, advance your Progress marker on the Progress boards. The first time you are instructed to advance, choose any board and advance your Progress marker by the indicated number of spaces. Whenever you advance during subsequent rounds, you must continue on the same board.

When you advance, ignore the effects of any spaces you move through, but resolve the effect of the space on which you end your movement. Most of the effects provide coins, Victory Points, or cards.

If you complete a Progress board by reaching its topmost space, resolve the indicated effect on the space and then place your Progress marker on the bottommost space of a different Progress board (you may return to a previously completed Progress board). Whenever you complete a Progress board, any remaining movement is lost and you must stop once you place your marker on the bottommost space of the different board.

End of the Game

Once the final Event card is drawn, players complete one final Mine phase. At the end of this final Mine phase, the game is over, and players count up Victory Points for their VP tokens and completed Carts, which are each worth 1 Victory Point.

The player with the most Victory Points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most remaining coins wins, and if the tie remains, the player with the most cards in their Mine wins. If the tie still remains, the tied players share the victory.

Example: Tyler gets 31 Victory Points for the Victory Point tokens he gathered during the game and 8 Victory Points for completed Carts in his Mine. He still has 7 coins, which do not provide any Victory Points, but they break ties.

Solo Mode

The rules of the game do not change when playing Solo. After counting up your final score, compare your Victory Points with the table below to determine how well you did.

Victory Points	Achievement
<35	Digger
35-45	Underground Laborer
46-55	Adept Miner
56-60	Underground Engineer
61-65	Veteran Miner
65<	Underground King

Faction Overview

Scots: Spending Coins

Inhabiting a land rich in drink and camaraderie, the Scots are a glowing example of astute business practices—but moreover, a penchant for robust growth.

Most of the Scottish cards provide strong effects with great costs. As indicated on the cards, the cost of these effects is decreased by 1 coin for each Scottish card in your Mine (including the card you just placed). The minimum cost is 0 coins.

Egyptians: Advancing on the Progress Boards

There are many mysteries, but one of the most gossiped upon are the Egyptians and the blessings from beyond the clouds, which helped them develop so swiftly.

Placing Egyptian cards is the easiest way to advance on the Progress boards. Some Egyptian card effects depend on your positioning or advancing on the Progress boards.

Atlanteans: Placing Machines

When this new trend of going underground sprang up, the Atlanteans simply smirked—they'd already been there, and the secrets were well-known to them.

Most of the Atlantean cards accumulate and grow in strength throughout the game. Each card can have up to a maximum of 3 machines. Some Atlantean cards also allow you to place machines on other cards.

Barbarians: Aggressive Mining and Placing Collapses

You're not sure what they're saying, but as you see them aim their aggression toward the ground, you're reminded that everyone has their own way of doing things…

Effects on Barbarian cards are usually strong, but may make you place collapses on them. Some Barbarian cards let you discard collapses or benefit from the number of collapses in your Mine.

Japanese: Strength in Diversity

The customs of the Japanese have always been admired and well-respected, it's no surprise that others are so interested in their mining techniques.

Effects on Japanese cards add benefits for having large amounts of Japanese cards and for having cards of many different Factions in your Mine.

Romans: Placement Matters

There's a reason why you always end up here—there are no paths otherwise. They built everything toward a single success with precision and planning.

Effects on Roman cards provide benefits for specific placement of the cards in your Mine and having many completed Carts. Some of them allow you to place Carts.

Credits

GAME DESIGN: Tim Armstrong ILLUSTRATIONS: Hanna Kuik GRAPHIC DESIGN: Mateusz Kopacz PROJECT MANAGER: Jan Maurycy PRODUCTION MANAGER: Damian Mazur ENGLISH EDITOR: Tyler Brown SPECIAL THANKS: Jeff Foxwell, Josh Milian, Natalie Milian, Shannon Zambetti, Tim Michaels, Jim Page, Joanna Wareluk, Weronika Spyra, Captain Link, and Paul Marchbanks.

© 2023 PORTAL GAMES Sp. z o.o., ul. H. Sienkiewicza 13, 44-190 Knurów, Poland. All rights reserved. Reprinting and publishing of game rules, game components or illustrations without the permission of Portal Games is prohibited.

We continue to support our games after their initial release. Although our editors and collaborators carefully check and polish the game materials, sometimes—even months or years after their premiere—there is a need to introduce corrections, changes, or improvements. We perform the necessary changes to game materials based on the opinions of the gaming community and the experience of the authors. The most up-to-date manual, and sometimes additional materials (e.g. mini-expansions, promos, FAQ, etc.) can be found on our website: portalgames.pl/en/imperial_miners