Minos: Dawn of Faith Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Changes in Setup
• New Concepts
  • Tributes
  • Black Dice
• Gods and Offerings
• Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Gameplay Changes
• Appendix
  • New Symbols
  • Special Ability Tiles
  • God Tiles

Game Components

• 4 God tiles
• 4 God Action tiles
• 4 Solo God Action tiles
• 17 Age I Decree cards
• 17 Age II Decree cards
• 5 Blue Trade Bonus tiles
• 5 Red Trade Bonus tiles
• 2 Level I Sea Peoples tiles
• 1 Action Bonus tile
• 2 City Foundation tiles
• 2 Special Ability tiles
• 4 black dice
• 16 Warriors (4 per player color)
• 1 Prepare board overlay

Changes in Setup

1. Depending on player count: a. Cover with the Prepare overlay the leftmost Prepare area. b. Take the following dice and place them next to the Main board:

Players	Black	Gray	Red	Yellow	Blue
2	3	3	2	2	2
3	4	3	3	3	3
4	4	4	3	3	3

2. Shuffle the new cards and tiles into the appropriate decks and stacks:

   • Trade Bonus tiles
   • City Foundation tile
   • Level I Sea Peoples
   • Decree cards
   • Action Bonus tile
   • Special Ability tiles

3. After placing the Trade Bonus tiles next to the Trade Routes, do not return the remaining ones to the box. Instead place them in two face-down stacks, separated by color.

4. For your first game with this expansion: Instead of using a random Action Bonus tile, use the one provided in this expansion. For future games: Shuffle all Action Bonus tiles together, including the one provided in this expansion, and choose one randomly.

5. After completing the base game setup, place all the God tiles next to the Main board, and then randomly assign 1 God Action tile to each of them. The assigned God Action tiles indicate which Action affects which God.

6. Each player places 4 of their new Warriors into the supply.

New Concepts

Tributes

To resolve the Offering for the Gods, you must spend Tributes. Tributes are an alternate way to use Decree cards: both face up Decrees in your area (excluding Palace) as well as face down Decrees that you can now gain using the basket effect (see New Symbols: draw a card from the deck and place it face down in your play area). Each time you resolve the basket effect, place the top Decree card from the current Age deck face down into your play area.

Black Dice

Black dice are not a regular D6, as their faces only have the values 2, 4, and 6.

During the Advance on Progress Tracks step you cannot use black dice to advance on the Progress tracks (unless you have the dedicated Special Ability).

Some of the new Decree cards trigger when you retrieve a black die.

Historical Note: The Minoan script has never been fully deciphered so it is difficult to know exactly which gods were worshipped in the Minoan culture. The Snake Goddess is thought to have represented a Great Mother Goddess, and many other religiously depicted figures support the belief that Minoan life was matriarchal. The male god Potidas is another figure that seems to balance the Great Mother Goddess as he ruled over the sky.

And though without written evidence, there seems to have been early versions of later Greek or Mycenaean deities including the Wine God, Dionysus and Goddess of Fertility, Demeter. Talos was another possible deity, as his name is the Minoan word for "sun" so he could have possibly been an early version of the Greek Helios.

The Minoan's religious practices spread to mainland Greece, with future tales being told of Zeus being born and raised in the land of Crete, so there is no doubt Greek myth wouldn't have existed without Minoan culture. But then there's also evidence that Minoan rituals themselves may have spread from Egyptian cults and practices, so who really knows how far back it goes?

Gods and Offerings

Gods provide new effects that you may trigger by the Offering effect or during a turn in which you activate a black die (before, between, or after actions).

When you resolve the Offering effect, you may choose 1 of the 3 options available on the chosen God tile and spend the indicated number of Tributes (if applicable), discarding the Decree cards from your play area to the discard pile. You may spend Tributes in any combination of face-up and/or face-down Decree cards.

If you take a black die from any of the Prepare, Develop, Build or Expand actions (the four God Action icons), you resolve an Offering of the God with the matching God Action tile by spending Tributes as described above.

If you resolve the Offering effect, or activate a die from a Wild action, you may make an Offering to any of the Gods.

Example: The Green player takes the black die from the Main board. The die occupied the Wild action, thus allowing the Green player to resolve an Offering to any God. They choose the middle option, spending 2 cards from their player area (1 face up, and 1 face down), to add a Warrior to their reserves, and then place it onto the main board.

Solo Mode

Your offerings to the gods are indeed considerable, but Rhadamanthus boasts a lineage that stretches back farther than you might imagine. He claims this divine heritage makes him the rightful ruler of Crete, and while you offer prayers, he plots to seize the throne. Prepare your faith to be tested, for the gods can be capricious, and their favor is not always earned by piety alone.

Setup

Shuffle the solo God Action tiles and place them in a face down stack in bot's play area.

Gameplay Changes

You play as per the normal rules with a small change in the Draft phase description below.

The bot does not draft black dice and it does not collect nor spend Tributes. It ignores the basket effect the same as all other Goods icons.

• Draft phase: In each round, at the beginning of the Draft phase, draw the top solo God Action tile from the stack and place it face up next to it. For the rest of this round, you cannot by any means make Offerings to the God assigned to the action indicated by the God Action tile.

• Scoring phase: Before proceeding with the regular scoring, the bot resolves the following:

  1. Shuffle all the solo God Action tiles and randomly draw 1 (If you want a more challenging bot, draw 2 tiles instead).
  2. Score the topmost condition of the God tile assigned to the action depicted on the solo God Action tile you drew (according to the table below).
  3. Return the drawn solo God Action tile back to the stack and reshuffle them. Then, place them in a face down stack in the bot's play area.

Bot scoring table (each row shows the condition as icons, followed by what the bot gains):

• Tribute icon with red number 2, bull-head icon with 1, and the Trade Route icon: The bot gains 2 VP for each step its Ships took on the Trade Routes.
• Tribute icon with red number 3, bull-head icon with a question mark, and the Farm icon: The bot gains VP for built Farms in the same way you do during Scoring.
• Tribute icon with red number 3, bull-head icon with 2, and the Population track icon (arrow up): The bot gains 2VP for every step they have advanced onto on the Population track.
• Tribute icon with red number 3, bull-head icon with 2, and the Level I / Level II Sea Peoples tile icon: The bot gains 2 VP for each Level I Sea Peoples tile and 4 VP for each Level II Sea Peoples tile in its supply.

Appendix

New Symbols

• Basket symbol: Draw a card from the deck, and place it face down in your play area.
• Offering symbol: Resolve an Offering to any God.
• Blue wave symbol: Advance on the Trade Route (paying the costs as normal).
• Symbol of a Decree card with a red "no" sign and arrow: Add a Decree card from your hand to your play area, without resolving any effects or paying.
• Blue Trade Bonus tiles symbol: Take a random Blue Trade Bonus tile from the general supply.
• Red Trade Bonus tiles symbol: Take a random Red Trade Bonus tile from the general supply.

Special Ability Tiles

The printed sheet does not name these tiles. Each tile's three options are listed in printed order, with the dice tile first and the Income tile second.

Dice tile:

• During the Advance on Progress Tracks step, black dice of value 2, 4, and 6 count as any other color to advance on the Progress track. At the beginning of the round, gain 2 Tributes.
• During the Advance on Progress Tracks step, black dice of value 2 and 4 count as any other color to advance on the Progress track. At the beginning of the round, gain 2 Tributes.
• During the Advance on Progress Tracks step, black dice of value 2 count as any other color to advance on the Progress track. At the beginning of the round, gain 1 Tribute.

Income tile:

• At the beginning of the Income step, advance on 2 different Trade Routes without paying any costs.
• At the beginning of the Income step, advance by 1 on a Trade Route without paying any costs.
• At the beginning of the Income step, advance by 1 on a Trade Route paying all applicable costs.

You must have a Ship available to advance, otherwise it has no effect.

God Tiles

Each God tile offers 3 options. When you resolve the Offering effect, choose 1 of them (see Gods and Offerings).

The printed sheet does not name the God tiles. They are listed below in the order of the sheet: top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right.

God tile, top left:

• Spend 2 Tributes to gain 1 VP for each Trade Bonus tile in your supply (regardless of if it has been used or not).
• Spend 1 Tribute to take a random Blue Trade Bonus tile from the general supply.
• Gain 2 Temporary Herb tiles.

God tile, bottom left:

• Spend 3 Tributes to gain VP for built Farms in the same way you do during Scoring.
• Spend 1 Tribute to take a chosen Goods tile.
• Gain 1 Temporary Grain tile.

God tile, top right:

• Spend 3 Tributes to gain 2 VP for each step you have taken on the Progress track on which you are the highest.
• Spend 2 Tributes to place 1 card into your Palace without spending any VP.
• Advance 1 space on your lowest Progress track (the track on which your marker is lower than your other markers). If there is a tie, you may choose between the tied tracks.

God tile, bottom right:

• Spend 3 Tributes to gain 2 VP for each Sea Peoples tile in your supply.
• Spend 2 Tributes to gain 1 Warrior (to your Reserves) and place 1 Warrior (from your Reserves).
• Gain 2 Weaponry.