Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write
Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 4 Custom dice (3 Resource dice and 1 Worker die)
- 48 Village sheets - COMPETITION MODE (2 - 4 players) (Each sheet contains the same set of 6 Buildings)
- 48 Village sheets - ADVENTURE MODE (1 player) (Each sheet contains a unique set of 6 Buildings)
- 96 Empire sheets - All game modes (1-4 players) (Each sheet contains Fields and Constructions)
- 5 Favor tokens (Special actions to choose from, provided to players at the start of each round)
- 4 Pencils
- 1 Rulebook
Each game round consists of the following phases:
- ROLL DICE
- CHOOSE A FAVOR TOKEN
- EXPAND YOUR EMPIRE
- ROUND END
Game Setup
For your first game, we recommend playing using the basic rules and Competition mode sheets.
Adventure mode is designed for solo play and uses the advanced rules. Every Adventure sheet is different, so players will need to adjust their strategy during each game while trying to beat their high score.
Preparing the Game
- Each player takes a single Empire sheet, placing it in front of them.
- Each player takes a single Village sheet, placing it in front of them.
- Each player takes a pencil.
- Shuffle all Favor tokens and draw at random the number of tokens equal to the number of players +1. Return unused tokens to the box. (3 Favor tokens in a 2-player game)
- Choose the Active Player randomly.
You are ready to start the game!
Game Round
1. Roll Dice
At the beginning of each Round, the Active Player rolls all dice and places them in the middle of the game area so that every player can see the result of the dice roll.
Game Dice
There are two types of dice: the Resource die and Worker Die:
RESOURCE DICE - These dice provide the rolled type of Resource to all players. Each player has their own 'virtual' Resource pool.
There are 3 different Resources: Stone, Wood, Food.
Gold is a wild resource. Players may use it in place of any other Resource (Stone/Wood/Food).
WORKER DIE - This die determines how many actions each player has available during the current round. The result of this die affects all players. Each player has their own 'virtual' Workers pool.
Basically, the die shows how many spaces you may cross off in a Round.
Important Game Terms
GAIN - Each Round gained Resources are added to your 'virtual' pool and the other gained effects may be used. If you gain Victory Points, note them on your Empire sheet.
SPEND - Use the required good, to enable the effect described afterward.
TRADE - Exchange one good for another in the ratio described.
Our house rules: Write them down here so no one can say 'That's not in the rulebook!'
2. Choose a Favor Token
Starting with the Active Player and continuing in a clockwise order, players choose and take a single Favor token (more about Favor tokens below).
3. Expand Your Empire
Basically, any time you cross out a box that constitutes as 1 action.
In this phase, all players take actions simultaneously. Players spend the Resources gained from the rolled Resource dice, as well as the Resources gained from various Buildings and Fields. Every Resource (provided by a die, a Building, or a Harvest action) can be used only once. During the Round End phase all remaining Resources are lost.
There are two main actions that a player can take in this phase: Harvest and Build. Some Buildings and Favor tokens may provide additional actions.
a. Harvest
A player spends one of their actions to cross off a single Harvest space from their Field and gain the Resources shown inside that space. Players must have access to the chosen Field in their Empire first. At the beginning of the game, all Fields are locked.
Example: A Field with 3 spaces to Harvest.
You need to Build Bridges to gain access to new Fields.
b. Build
A player spends one of their actions to cross off a single Build space on either their Empire or Village sheet.
Build Spaces Requirements
A Build space can either be empty or have Resources shown inside. To cross off a Build space, a player needs to spend the Resources shown from their pool in addition to spending an action.
- This Build space requires spending a single Stone for it to be crossed off.
- This Build space requires spending two Wood for it to be crossed off.
- This Build space requires spending a single Stone and a single Wood for it to be crossed off.
- This Build space doesn't require spending any Resource for it to be crossed off, but the player still needs to spend a single action to do it.
Village and Buildings
Each Village has 6 different Buildings. Each Building provides a different ability to a player once it's finished and built. A Building is considered to be finished once all Build spaces are crossed off.
Build spaces of Buildings may be crossed off in any order.
Once built, an ability is available to the player starting from the next Round unless it is a Building with the Imperial symbol in their name, in which case the ability is triggered only during Final Scoring and provides additional Victory Points no matter when it is built.
Some Buildings have an underlined value (like a resource or Victory Point icon) and a shape pictured in their top right corner. In the basic game, ignore those shapes and treat the underlined numbers as normal. Additionally, ignore the highlighted building Architects entirely. These will come into play in the Advanced game described below.
Each Building ability is optional, and may be used only once per Round unless stated otherwise. Some of those abilities give players additional scoring opportunities. If an ability has a condition required in its description (i.e., Cross off at least 3 Construction sections to gain 2 Victory Points), this condition must be completed within one Round for that ability to be used. If a text of a building contradicts the rules mentioned in the rulebook, the building always takes precedence.
The Empire sheet includes a Construction area, an Imperial Section, spaces for you to count your Victory Points during the Final Scoring, a Round Tracker as a space to note down anything you'd like, a space to note down any extra Victory Points gained during the game in a vertical column, your Final Score, 4 Fields, and a space to write your Empire's name.
CONSTRUCTIONS are the main source of Victory Points. There are 4 different horizontal tracks, each of them representing a different progression of the construction within the Empire. From top to bottom:
- Walls
- Cottages
- Granaries
- Bridges
Each of these tracks is divided into 9 sections. When a player decides to spend an action to Build on a specific track, that player must choose and cross off the first unfinished section of that track starting from the left.
Sections can have more than a single Build space (Granaries) or a single Build space that requires more than one Resource to be spent during a single action.
At the end of the game, each player will gain Victory Points for their progression on each of the Construction tracks. The number of Victory Points that they gain is the value shown on the bottom of the rightmost completed section of each track.
The last section of each track is called an IMPERIAL SECTION and it provides the most Victory Points. Some game effects may refer to those sections.
FIELDS provide Resources that players can Harvest from. But first, a player needs to build Bridges to access those Fields.
BRIDGES provide a low amount of Victory Points, but they grant access to different Fields where players can Harvest Resources.
Once a Bridge is built (when all of its corresponding sections are fully crossed off), a player draws a circle around the unlocked Bridge. The player will be able to Harvest Resources from that Field right away, even during the Round in which they unlocked the Field.
Favor Tokens
There are 5 different Favor tokens that provide special abilities. Players can use the token ability at any time during the Expand Your Empire phase and it doesn't require any actions.
ALLY - The player gains one additional action during the current Round.
BOON - The player chooses one Resource die and gains an additional Resource of the type rolled.
YIELD - The player chooses one Resource die and may Harvest the rolled type from available Fields without spending actions.
EXPORT - The player may Trade a single Resource of each type for a Victory Point, meaning the player may gain a maximum of 3 Victory Points if all three types of Resources are traded (Stone, Wood, and Food).
LUCKY COIN - The player gains an extra Gold during the current Round.
4. Round End
Once all players have used their workers and are ready to continue, they mark the completion of the Round on their Empire sheet. Players return the Favor tokens to the middle of the game area and the next player in clockwise order becomes the Active Player. A new round begins.
Game End
After the end of the 10th Round, players move to Final Scoring and sum up their Victory Points on their Empire sheet:
- The first 4 top-right spaces are there to write down the number of Victory Points from the rightmost completed section of each construction.
- The next space is used only in the Advanced mode, so players should ignore it when playing Standard mode. In Advanced mode, players will write their Victory Points for finished Settlements that provide extra Victory Points.
- The last and largest space is where players should write down Victory Points during the game gained from the Export Favor token and other game effects. Additionally, players should write down any other Victory Points that Buildings provide at the end of the game.
The player with most Victory Points is the winner!
In case of a TIE, the player with more completed Bridge sections wins. If there is still a tie, the player with more Harvested spaces on their Fields wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.
Example: At the end of the game, in this situation, Natalie would score 5 Victory Points for the Walls, 14 for the Cottages, and 4 for the Granaries. If she had crossed off one more food from the 4th section she would have scored 6 Victory Points, but an incomplete section doesn't count. She doesn't get any VP for the Bridges.
Advanced Rules
The Advanced game uses the same rules as the Basic game, with setup and the course of the game also remaining the same. The difference is that the Architect Building comes into play. The shapes on the Buildings, which are called Blueprints, will also be used. There is also one additional phase before the Round End phase called CREATING A SETTLEMENT, where each player may create a single Settlement in their Empire.
To create a Settlement, a player needs a number of fully crossed-off sections in their Empire connected in a specific pattern that are not a part of any other settlement. The number and shape of those sections is presented on different Buildings in a player's Village (in the top right corner). This section of a building with a Settlement shape is called a Blueprint.
If a player has crossed-off sections in their Empire that match the shape presented on any Blueprint, that player may choose to create it by outlining sections in the exact same way as it is shown. The outlined shape cannot be rotated in any way. It must be the exact same shape.
Example: Mike was able to complete a requirement for a Settlement. It would affect his farm for the rest of the game. Mike decides to go for it and outlines the sections shown on the Blueprint. Starting next round, he will gain 2 of that resource instead of one. That's the shape!
Once a Settlement is created, it increases the efficiency of the Building with that Blueprint going forward. Buildings with a Blueprint have an underlined value in their ability description. When a Settlement is created, cross off that value, and write down the number increased by one next to it. Moving forward, this ability will be more powerful. Some Buildings have Blueprints that will simply provide extra Victory Points at the end of the game.
Note: A player may create a Settlement even if the Building isn't finished yet. In such cases, the number is still increased, but the ability will be available only once it is finished and Built.
Note: An Empire may have more than one Settlement of the same type and shape. Each additional Settlement affects the Building with this Blueprint, so for example 3 Settlements that affect the Farm would adjust the underlined number by 3 and the player with this Farm would gain 4 every Round.
Adventure Mode (Single Player Mode)
The Adventure mode uses the Advanced rules. To set up a game take an Empire sheet and one of the 48 Village sheets - uniquely designed for Adventure mode. Shuffle and draw at random 3 Favor tokens, each Round you will be able to choose and use one of them. Return the rest to the box.
In this mode, there are Buildings with an ability to reroll dice. At the beginning of the Expand Your Empire phase, you must decide first if you want to use any abilities with rerolls before you perform anything else (use any actions, other Building abilities or Favor token), once you decide to do anything else, you cannot reroll dice anymore.
In this mode you should try to beat your personal high score, but also try to do your best and achieve the highest honors by beating the records from the table below.
Achievement Table
| Score | Rank |
|---|---|
| 0-39 | Commoner |
| 40-44 | Servant |
| 45-49 | Squire |
| 50-54 | Knight |
| 55-59 | Castellan |
| 60-69 | Duke |
| 70-79 | King |
| 80+ | Emperor |
Credits
GAME DESIGN: Ignacy Trzewiczek
DEVELOPMENT TEAM: Asia Kijanka, Matt Dembek
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Rafał Szyma, Aga Jakimiec
ARTWORK: Roman Kucharski, Tomasz Jędruszek, Grzegorz Bobrowski, Denis Martynets, Maria Pekina
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Grzegorz Polewka
PROJECT MANAGER: Rafał Szyma
RULES: Matt Dembek
ENGLISH TEXT EDITORS: Luke & Zara Otfinowski
© 2019 PORTAL GAMES Sp. z o.o., ul. św. Urbana 15, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
All rights reserved. Reprinting and publishing of game rules, game components or illustrations without the permission of Portal Games is prohibited.
Dear Customer, our games are assembled with the greatest care. However, if your copy lacks anything, we apologize. Please, let us know through the Customer Service form on our website: https://portalgames.pl/en/customer-service/
Many thanks to all our playtesters: Marek, Multi, Greg, Limooona, Merry, Nina and everyone who played the game at Portalcon 2019 and gave their feedback. Special thanks to our proofreaders: Tony, Kirdy, Ben, Ken, and Rodney. Mateusz, Iwona - thanks for your graphic designing support!
Send Us Your Ideas!
We encourage you to create your own Adventure sheets! If you feel that you created set of buildings that is interesting, fresh and challenging for players, and you would like to share it with others, please send it to us - [email protected]. We will play it, test it and we will choose the best ones! We'll publish the best as PDF pnp file available for download from our website, and what's more we are going to award the best authors with a $50 certificate to spend in our web store! Join the community and create your own Villages!
Check Out the Online Almanac
Check out the online Almanac at our website: portalgames.pl/en to find there an alphabetical list of all Buildings from the game with detailed explanation of their abilities. The file includes also fan created buildings and all future expansions for the system.
Run Out of Village or Empire Sheets?
Download them as a free pdf from our website and print as many as you need!