Imperium: Classics
220 questions players ask about Imperium: Classics. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-06.
Setup and Combining Classics and Legends
- Can I mix common cards from Classics and Legends in one game?
- How do I set up the main, fame and unrest decks when combining Classics and Legends?
- How many Unrest cards are in the common unrest pile at each player count?
- Do I remove tributary cards that share a name with a nation in play?
- Which commons cards are removed in a 2 or 3 player game?
- How many Fame cards are removed from the fame deck at setup?
- What do the arrows on some Unrest cards mean, and where do those cards go?
- Do civilised cards get a progress token each time one enters the market?
- How do cards showing both the civilised and uncivilised icons count?
Turn Structure and Actions
- Can I look through my draw deck or discard pile?
- Can I take actions and use exhaust abilities in any order during Activate?
- How many exhaust abilities can I use in a turn?
- Does using an exhaust ability cost an action?
- Can I use an exhaust ability that is triggered by the card I am playing to pay that card's cost (Longships and Jomsviking)?
- Do extra actions I gain carry over to later turns?
- Can I spend another action to use a pinned card's play effect again?
- After I become an Empire, can I still use or acquire Barbarian cards?
- Can I play an Empire card while my state card shows Barbarian?
- When does a played card go to the discard pile, and can it be affected by its own effect?
Reshuffling, Nation Deck and Development
- What exactly happens when I need to draw and my draw deck is empty?
- How many cards can I add from my nation deck or development area per turn?
- Can I add two nation cards in one turn by emptying my deck twice?
- What does an exhaustion token on the nation deck or development area actually block?
- Where does the exhaustion token go when I take my accession card, and can I develop in the same turn?
- When exactly do I become an Empire?
- If a card lets me take the top nation card, can I take the accession card?
- Is adding the nation card mandatory when I reshuffle, and is developing optional?
- When I develop, can I pick any card in my development area?
Break Through, Acquire and Develop
- What is the difference between acquiring and breaking through?
- When can I search the main deck for a suit when breaking through?
- What happens if my break through finds no card of the suit?
- What refills the market when I take a card and its small deck is empty?
- Can I break through on the main deck after the region deck is depleted?
- What happens if an Acquire has no matching card in the market?
- If a Break Through lists several suits, do I choose the suit first?
- What does Innovate do, and is it the same as a card telling me to break through?
- Can I pay a development cost with progress tokens?
Solstice
- When does Solstice resolve, and in what order do my Solstice effects go?
- Are Solstice effects mandatory?
- With Shrine or Bread and Circuses, can I discard an Unrest and then return that same Unrest from my discard pile?
- Do Solstice and exhaust markers matter for Barbarian cards already in play, or for exhausted cards?
- Can I use the Solstice of two copies of the same card, such as two Cities?
- After discarding cards during Solstice, do I draw back up to five?
- Can I use an exhaust ability during Solstice or another player's turn?
- Is there a Solstice in the final round of the game?
- Can a reshuffle and development happen during Solstice?
- Do Solstice effects that count symbols (such as Grain) count cards in my hand or deck?
Game End, Scoring and Collapse
- Is there a first-player advantage, and does the solstice card change the start player?
- How do I score a card with two counts separated by a slash, such as 1 VP per 3 materials/regions?
- What ends the game, and what happens when it is triggered?
- What happens to market slots when the main deck runs out?
- Does Collapse end the game immediately, even mid-action?
- Which Unrest cards count when Collapse ends the game?
- What happens if there is a tie for Unrest at Collapse?
- If an attack gives everyone Unrest and the pile runs out, who decides the order?
- Which cards score at the end of the game?
- Is there a 10 VP cap on star (variable) victory point cards?
Keywords and Effects
- If I cannot pay what a card asks, do I take an Unrest?
- Can I play the same Free Play card more than once in a turn?
- Does Free Play mean the card is completely free?
- How do I return an Unrest card from my hand, and does it cost an action?
- Can I defend against a solo bot effect that gives me Unrest or steals from me, even without an attack icon?
- In a 2-4 player game, what can I defend against?
- Does a defence card cancel the whole attack or only the harmful part?
- Can I exile a market card that has a token on it, and is exile mandatory?
- How does acquiring or breaking through for a card in the exile pile work?
- What can the Greek Lighthouse swap?
Card-specific Rulings
- What is the icon on Prosperity (the test tube in a grey circle)?
- Can King of Kings be triggered more than once, and what does the bot get?
- Can Glory or a fame effect flip King of Kings while other Fame cards remain?
- What does Glory require, and what if I have fewer than three regions?
- How does the Roman power card (side A) change Glory?
- Can Sacred Pass put my accession card back in the nation deck?
- How does Cataphract work, and can it retrigger a region?
- How do Shaduf and Domestication trigger?
- If Boats recalls a region with several Fertile icons, do I get more than one action?
- How does the Egyptian Tributary work with the nation deck?
Nation-specific Rulings
- How does the Persian ability that places two cards on top of the deck work?
- What does the Persian barbarian breakthrough for a tributary cost?
- How does the Greek Settlers card work?
- How does Direct Democracy change the cost of playing Unrest?
- Does the Greek power card count itself in card totals?
- Which cards lose their barbarian icon under Roman Legion?
- Is the Celts' power card an Attack?
- Do the Celts' (and Egyptians') own Unrest cards go to the common pile?
- How does the Scythian B-side power card score?
- What do "draw", "place" and "return" mean on Olmec cards?
Solo Bot
- Does the solo bot start with materials, population or progress?
- Does the bot use the text on its cards?
- Does the bot score its power card?
- How does the bot score star (*) and question-mark (?) cards?
- How does the bot choose which market card to acquire or break through for?
- Where do cards the bot gains, or is given, go?
- When does the bot reshuffle and draw from the dynasty deck?
- Does the bot pay for developments?
- Does the bot spend progress in place of population or materials?
- What does the bot do when it reveals an Unrest card?