Monumental Duel: Exploration
Monumental Duel: Exploration Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
148 Cards:
- 66 Starting Civilization cards (14 Buildings, 1 Knowledge, 5 Cultural Policies, 1 Scout & 1 Warlord for each of the three civilizations)
- 12 Era I Development cards
- 12 Era II Development cards
- 6 Era III Development cards
- 20 Basic Building cards (5 each of Workshop, Laboratory, Archery Range and Barricade)
- 24 Exploration cards (9 Era I, 8 Era II and 7 Era III)
- 3 Era Separation cards
- 4 Helper cards (2 VP reminder, 2 actions list)
- 1 Advantage card
70 Resource tokens:
- 15 Production tokens
- 15 Science tokens
- 15 Military tokens
- 10 Culture tokens
- 15 Gold tokens
13 Action tokens
3 Wonder construction counters
1 First player marker
Civilization Starting Cards
Each of the three civilizations (China, Denmark, Egypt) has its own set of starting cards: 14 Building & 1 Knowledge cards, 5 Cultural Policy cards, 1 Warlord card, and 1 Scout card.
Tokens, Counters and Markers
- Science token
- Military token
- Production token
- Action token
- Culture token
- Wonder construction counter
- Gold token
- First player marker
Card Anatomies
Each card carries a Name/Type and, where relevant, its Era and Civilization (shown by the civilization's symbol — China, Denmark, or Egypt). Other elements found on cards, depending on type:
- Effect when using the card: the text describing what happens when the card is used.
- Bonus effect: an additional effect, shown separately from the main effect.
- Acquisition cost: shown in the card's bottom left corner.
- Resources gained when activated: shown in the card's top right corner.
- Province type: Coastal, Mountain, or Agricultural.
- Added Province defense value: extra Military required to conquer the Province.
- Box symbol: identifies which box (module) the card belongs to — for this box, Exploration.
Knowledge Cards show their Name/Type, their effect when activated, their acquisition cost, and the resources gained when activated.
Building Cards show their Name/Type, their acquisition cost, the resources gained when activated, and any added Province defense value they grant.
Wonder Cards show their Name/Type, their effect (resolved when built) and bonus effect, and their two costs (to acquire and to complete).
Unit Cards (Warlord and Scout) show their Name/Type and their effect when used.
Cultural Policy Cards show their Name/Type, their effect, their cost, and the bonus effect gained when the Policy is developed.
Province Cards show their Name/Type, their bonus effect (gained on conquest), their cost in Military, and their Province type.
Exploration Cards show their Name/Type, their effect, and their cost.
Goal of the Game
In Monumental Duel, each player leads a civilization. Develop your civilization by erecting new Buildings and Wonders in your city, improve your scientific Knowledge and Cultural development, and use your military power to conquer new Provinces.
Manage your city carefully by expanding its capabilities, maintaining its current structures and removing outdated components.
At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.
Setup
Development Cards
Sort the Development cards by Era (I, II, III) and shuffle each pile separately, with the Era Separation cards (I, II, III) on top of each matching pile. Then stack these 3 piles into a face-down Development deck: Put the Modern Era cards (III) on the bottom, the Medieval Era cards (II) in the middle, and the Classical Era cards (I) on top.
Place the Development deck beside the play area. Draw the top 6 cards of the Development deck. Put them face up in a row to the right of the deck to create the Development display.
Reserve a space for Development card discard pile next to the deck.
Basic Building Cards
Sort the Basic Building cards by type (Workshops, Laboratories, Archery Ranges, Barricades).
Place these 4 separate piles in a row face up below the Development deck.
Exploration Cards
Sort the Exploration cards by Era. For each Era, shuffle its cards and then place them as a face down deck above the Basic building cards. Place the three separate decks in order from left to right: Era I, Era II and Era III.
Reserve a separate discard pile for each Exploration era cards below their respective deck.
City Setup
Each player chooses one of the available civilizations. Return the cards of remaining unused Civilization to the box.
IMPORTANT: Each box of Monumental Duel brings new civilizations. They can all be played one against another (see more on Combining Boxes).
Take the components matching your civilization:
- 15 Civilization cards
- 5 Cultural Policy cards
- 1 Scout card
- 1 Warlord card
Shuffle your 15 Civilization cards, and deal out a grid of 9 face-up cards in 3 rows of 3 cards: This is your CITY. Deal the cards one by one, from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner, left to right and top to bottom.
If you deal out a Knowledge card, deal the next card on top of it (offset the cards so that the effect of the Knowledge card remains visible).
Place your undealt Civilization cards face down beside your City: This is your City deck. Leave an empty space beside it for a discard pile.
Place your Warlord and Scout cards face up beside your City.
Reserve a space next to your scout for your Province stack.
Place your Cultural Policy cards face down beside your City: This is your Culture deck. You may look at the cards in your Culture deck at any time.
Place the resource and action tokens in the general stock the middle of the table within easy reach of both players.
Take 2 Gold and put them in a supply beside your City.
Place the Advantage card in the middle of the table, the arrow pointing in a direction towards neither of the two players.
The player who most recently visited a foreign country becomes the First player and takes the First Player token.
Combining Boxes
The Monumental Duel game is made of multiple boxes, each featuring new civilizations and gameplay modules.
If you already know how to play one module, you can skip all the common rules and focus on the specific elements highlighted by the vertical red line in other rulebooks.
Any civilization can be played with any boxes: Exploration, Trade, Espionage or any combination of the three boxes.
To go further, you can also mix the Development Card Decks of two or three boxes. To do so, separate the Development cards from each box by Era and by type (Knowledge, Building, Wonder and Province). To keep the game balanced, we recommend using a specific set of cards. Scan the QR code in the rulebook to see configurations proposed.
You can also create your own Development Card Deck by using the following table.
| Type / Era | Era I | Era II | Era III |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Wonder | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Province | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Building | 3 | 3 | 0 |
When mixing boxes, add all the corresponding scout modules. For each box you use, set up its matching Scout module as normal (Exploration, Trade and Espionage). So in games where you use 2 or 3 boxes you will have 2 or 3 modules in play.
Whenever you use your Scout, you choose which action it will take — whether that is to Explore, Trade or Spy. Your Scout only takes one of these actions each round.
Resources
Basic Resources
To achieve your goal, you'll be using three different Basic resources: Production, Science, and Military.
PRODUCTION is used to build Buildings and Wonders.
SCIENCE is used to acquire new Knowledge cards and make SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS.
MILITARY is used to conquer Province cards from the development display and your opponent stack.
During the game, for each Basic resource (Production, Science or Military) you generate, take that many counters of the appropriate type in the general stock and place them next to your City, beside your personal supply.
THESE BASIC RESOURCES CANNOT BE SAVED FOR LATER ROUNDS. You must use them during this round. At the end of the round, you lose all of your unspent basic resources, putting them back in the general stock.
NOTE: Basic resources are meant to be unlimited. If by any chance, you are already using them all, you can replace it by any appropriate tokens you see fit (i.e.: marbles, coins…).
Additional Resources
There are two additional (non-Basic) resources: Culture and Gold.
CULTURE is used for developing Cultural Policies.
GOLD can replace any Basic resource (Production, Science, or Military), but cannot replace Culture.
When you gain Gold or Culture, take the matching tokens from the general stock and put them in your personal supply.
Unlike unused Basic resources, these are never lost at the end of the round. You may spend them at any time during the current or any later round.
How to Play
Phases
The game is played over a series of rounds. Each round consists of the following phases:
- CITY ACTIVATION
- TAKE ACTIONS
- END THE ROUND
Each phase is carried out completely before moving to the next phase. When all phases are completed the next round begins.
City Activation
The First player activates their City first, followed by their opponent.
When you activate your City, choose ONE ROW and ONE COLUMN of cards to use this round, and rotate each card.
If you activate a card attached to a Knowledge card, you activate both the Knowledge card and the card dealt on top of it.
If you activate a card with effect starting with "When this card is activated", apply the effect and put an Action token on it to mark this action as done.
If you have activated cards or active Cultural Policy with effect starting with "During City Activation", apply the effect and put an Action token on it to mark this action as done.
You gain the resources that are shown in the top-right corner of each activated card.
EXAMPLE: The Danish player activates the center column and the top row of their city. They activate 2 Work Camps, 2 Forts and 1 Library. This generates 2 Production, 2 Military and 1 Science which are directly going into their personal supply.
The Knowledge card present behind the second Work Camp doesn't provide resources but will be usable as an action in the next phase.
Take Actions
Each round is composed of multiple players' turns. Beginning with the first player, each player chooses a single action to perform during their turn.
When a player completes an action, it ends their turn and the opponent's turn begins. Alternate between players' turns until both players have completed all their actions.
These actions are:
- Acquire a Development or Basic Building card
- Complete a Wonder
- Develop a Cultural Policy
- Use your active Cultural Policy
- Conquer an Opponent's Province
- Use the effect of an activated card in your City
- Make Scientific Progress
- Take the Advantage
- Use your Warlord
- Use your Scout
- Pass
Most of the cards are restricted to only be used once per round. When you use it, place an Action token on the corresponding card to remind you that its effect has already been used this round — you cannot use it again on a future action in the same round.
Some actions can trigger automatic effects on cards (Cards with text starting with "Whenever" for example), these effects are not considered as an action and have to be executed fully before ending the player's turn.
Once you take the Pass action, you take no further actions this round. Your opponent can take as many actions as they wish until they also pass, at which point this phase ends and you move to the end of the Round phase.
REMEMBER: You may use 1 Gold in place of any 1 Basic resource (Production, Science, or Military), but not in place of Culture, which does not count as a Basic resource.
Acquire a Development or Basic Building Card
In order to develop your City, you can acquire new Building, Knowledge, Province or Wonder cards, either from the Development display or from the Basic Building piles.
The cost to acquire a card is shown in its bottom left corner (see Card Anatomies).
Building Card
When you acquire a Building card (whether from the Development display or the Basic Building piles), pay the cost in Production shown on the card. Then take the card, and place it face down, on top of your City deck.
The exception to these are Barricades, which are placed in your Province stack (see Province Card below).
If a Basic Building pile runs out of cards, you can no longer acquire Buildings of that type.
Knowledge Card
When you acquire a Knowledge card from the Development display, pay the cost in Science shown on the card. Then take the card and place it face down, on top of your City deck.
Province Card
When you acquire a Province card from the Development display, pay the cost in Military shown on the card to conquer it. Then take the card and place it face up on the top of your Province stack next to your City. You immediately gain the bonus effect as described on the card.
Whenever you acquire subsequent Provinces or Barricades, they are placed on top of your existing Province stack, but offset slightly so you can see the lower parts of the cards in the whole stack. The order of cards is important and cannot be changed during the game.
Provinces also have one of three types: Coastal, Mountain or Agricultural. Other cards refer to these types, giving you bonuses if you control certain Provinces. These cards always refer to all the Provinces you control in your stack, not just the topmost one.
Wonder Card
Wonders are built in two steps: First you acquire it and then complete it at a later turn (see below).
When you acquire a Wonder card from the Development display, pay the cost in Production shown in the leftmost circle on the card. Then place the card face up beside your City, and place a Wonder Construction token on the leftmost circle. You have built the first section of your Wonder.
IMPORTANT: You can only build one Wonder at a time. If you build another, you must choose which one to keep. Discard the other to the Development card discard pile.
Complete a Wonder
You may complete a Wonder you have previously begun constructing by paying the cost shown in the rightmost circle at the bottom left corner of the card.
When you Complete a Wonder, immediately gain the bonus shown on the card. If you gain any basic resources, take them from the general supply. Place the Wonder card FACE DOWN ON TOP OF YOUR DECK. Return the Wonder Construction counter to the general stock.
Note: Some cards can have effects stating "Build a Wonder section", this means that you can also build the second section of your Wonder if the first step is done, following the card's conditions.
EXAMPLE: The Egyptian player completes the Great Library Wonder. They resolve the bonus effect and immediately gains 2 Science. Then they place the Wonder card on top of their city deck.
Develop a Cultural Policy
You may develop a Cultural Policy card of your choice from your Culture deck, by paying Culture tokens from your personal supply. The amount of Culture needed increases as you develop more policies. Your first Policy costs 1 Culture, the second Policy costs 2 Culture, etc.
When you develop your first Cultural Policy, place the chosen card FACE UP BESIDE YOUR CITY. Immediately gain the bonus effect of the card (shown at the bottom of the card).
Some Cultural Policy provide you with an ongoing effect, which remains active until you develop another Policy. Others have an activated effect which can be used as an action for the turn (see next page).
When you develop another Policy, place the new Cultural Policy card face up on top of the previous Policy card, keeping only the bonus effect of the previous Policy card visible. You also once again trigger the bonus effects on all previously developed Policy cards.
However, only the ongoing effect of the most recently developed Cultural Policy (on top of the stack) is active.
EXAMPLE: The Chinese player develops their second Cultural Policy: Guided Tours. They place it on top the previous policy and gain the bonus effect of both cards.
Use your Active Cultural Policy
If your active Cultural Policy has an activated effect, you can use it as an action for the turn. Place an Action token on it as a reminder.
EXAMPLE: The Warrior Culture card (Danish Policy) states "Pay 2 Military to gain 1 Culture. Gold cannot be used." If this Policy is your active (topmost) Policy, you may use its effect as your action, and only once in the round. If you do so, place an Action token on it.
Conquer an Opponent's Province
You may conquer the topmost Province of your opponent's Province stack. To do so, you must pay Military (to the general supply) equal to its cost.
Once you have paid the cost, take the conquered Province and place it on the top of your Province stack. You do not gain its bonus effect.
If your opponent has one or several Barricades on top of the Province in the stack, it increases the cost of the Province by 2 Military per Barricade. You must be able to pay the full amount, including all Barricades, to conquer the Province. Once you have paid the cost, return any Barricades on top of the conquered Province back to their building pile.
EXAMPLE: The Danish player wants to conquer the Wessex Province controlled by their opponent. They have to pay 3 Military for the Province cost and 2 more Military to overcome the Barricade present on it.
After having paid the 5 (3+2) requested Military, they take control of it and place it on top of their previous province, not gaining the bonus effect.
Use the Effect of an Activated Card in Your City
Choose one card in your City that was activated this round and use its effect. Place an Action token on it as a reminder.
It is never mandatory to use the effect of a card, active or otherwise.
Some cards have effects that are always active or trigger when something else happens. These effects are considered to be active as soon as the card is activated in your City (rotated), or is your active (topmost) Cultural Policy card. They do not require an Action token to be used.
EXAMPLE: The Mine of the Danish player's City has the Scouting Knowledge attached to it. As both have been activated (rotated) during the City activation, they can use the effect of either one of them as their action for the turn.
Make Scientific Progress
Pay 2 SCIENCE to DRAW AND USE the top card of your City deck.
Once you resolve all of its effects, including its action and generating any resources, discard the card in your City discard pile.
EXAMPLE: The Chinese player pays 2 Science to draw the top card of their City deck. They reveal a Palace Guardhouse. They gain 2 Gold and then discard the card to their City's discard pile.
Take the Advantage
At the start of the game, no player has the Advantage. However, having the Advantage allows you to use the action of your Warlord, and also potentially makes the effect of other cards in your City more powerful.
To take the Advantage, you must pay any amount of Basic resources of a single type (you can use Gold as a substitute) and place the matching resource tokens (type and number) on the card. Then, turn the arrow on the card to your side, to indicate you have the Advantage. While the Advantage card is turned to your side, you are considered to have the Advantage.
If your opponent already has the Advantage, you must pay Basic resources matching the type currently on the card for an amount that exceeds the number already there. Remove all resource tokens on the card (place them in the general stock). Place the ones you paid on the card, then turn the arrow to your side.
EXAMPLE: The Danish has the Advantage with 2 Military. The Egyptian player pays 3 Military as their action for the turn to take the Advantage.
The 2 Military present on the card are discarded and replaced by the 3 Military paid by the Egyptian player, then the card is turned toward them.
Use your Warlord
Each Warlord action is unique to its civilization.
If you have the Advantage, your Warlord action becomes available and can be used only once per round. When you use the action of your Warlord, place an Action token on the card as a reminder and resolve its effect.
Use your Scout
Once per Round, you can use your Scout as an action. When you use your Scout, you put an Action token on it to mark it used. The Scout action is linked to the module played during your game.
Scout Action: Explore
This box allows you to send your Scout to explore new landscapes.
Each player may Explore as their Scout action once each round. To Explore you must pay a cost in Military. That cost is equal to the Era Deck you wish to draw from (1, 2 or 3), plus 1 for every card you wish to draw (with a minimum of 1 card). You can only choose to draw from the current Era's deck, or an earlier Era's.
EXAMPLE: The Danish player explores in Era II and wants to draw two cards. The cost is then 2 (Era II deck) + 2 (2 cards) = 4 Military.
Once you have paid this cost, place an Action token on your Scout card and draw the matching number of cards from the chosen Era's Exploration deck. Choose ONE CARD and discard the rest in the corresponding discard pile.
Carry out all of the effects on the card you chose, before discarding it as well. The exception is that some cards say to keep them, either because they want you to fulfil a condition sometime in the future for a powerful effect, or because they are worth extra points at the end of the game. Keep these cards beside your city.
EXAMPLE: The Chinese player draws 3 cards from the Era II exploration deck, paying 5 Military. They choose one card and discard the other 2 in the corresponding discard pile.
If you ever need to draw a card from an Exploration deck and it is empty, first shuffle the corresponding discard pile to reform the deck, and then draw the cards as normal.
If you Explore or gain Exploration cards as the result of another card's effect, this does not count towards your limit of exploring only once as your Scout action each round.
Note: If you combine Monumental Duel boxes, you can choose to do the Scout action linked to the module of your choice.
Pass
On your turn, instead of performing an action, you may choose to Pass.
If you do, you can't take further actions this round, and you discard all your City's activated cards, all Action markers and any basic resource in your supply (while keeping any Gold or Culture tokens).
Once both players have passed, you move to the End of Round phase.
End the Round
At the end of a round, the players need to execute the following steps before starting a new one:
- Replenish the City
- Replenish the Development display
- Decay the Advantage
- Pass the First player marker
Replenish the City
Deal out new cards from your City deck to fill the gaps in your City. Always deal new cards one by one, filling the spaces in your grid from left to right, and from top to bottom.
IF YOU DEAL OUT A KNOWLEDGE CARD, place it in your City and deal a second card on top of it, offsetting it so that the effect of the Knowledge card remains visible (like during the initial setup).
If the second card dealt out is also a Knowledge card, choose one of the cards to keep and discard the other.
If you ever need to deal out a card from your City deck while it is empty, shuffle your discard pile to form a new face-down City deck.
If your discard pile is also empty, simply leave any remaining spaces in your City grid unfilled. This may cause a Knowledge card to have no Building or Wonder card attached to it. In this case — and this case only — the Knowledge card remains in your City and can be activated by itself.
In the rare case that you only have Knowledge cards in your discard pile, do not shuffle them, and leave any remaining spaces in your City grid unfilled.
IMPORTANT: You only ever shuffle your discard pile during the Replenish City phase. If you need to draw a card from your City deck during the Action phase but it is empty, you simply do not draw any cards.
IMPORTANT: Replenishing the display is only done at the end of the round. Do not fill in the gaps as you take cards.
Replenish the Development Display
IF THERE ARE 3 OR FEWER CARDS LEFT IN THE DEVELOPMENT DISPLAY, slide the remaining cards to the right and deal new cards from the Development deck to fill the empty slots, from right to left until you have 6 cards.
IF THERE ARE MORE THAN 3 CARDS LEFT IN THE DEVELOPMENT DISPLAY, discard cards to the Development display discard pile, face-up and perpendicularly, until they are only 3 left, starting with the rightmost card. Then slide the remaining cards to the right and deal new cards from the Development deck to fill the empty slots, from right to left.
Do not take Eras into account when replenishing the display; however, remove from play any Era Separation card you draw from the deck.
Decay the Advantage
If a player currently holds the Advantage, remove one Resource token from the Advantage card and return it to the supply.
If there is still any resources on it, this player still holds the Advantage for the next round.
If you remove the last Resource token, rotate the Advantage card to turn the arrow in the direction of none of the two players. None of them hold the Advantage anymore.
Pass the First Player Token
The current First player passes the First player marker to their opponent, who will be the First player for the next round.
Then, start a new round.
End of the Game
If after Replenishing the Development display there are 4 or fewer cards in the Development display, the end of the game is triggered, and you will play one final round.
After the final round is played, each player scores points as follows.
For each controlled PROVINCE: 1 point.
For each acquired KNOWLEDGE: 1 point.
For each completed WONDER: 2 points.
For each developed CULTURAL POLICY: 2 points.
For each EXPLORATION CARD beside your City: 1 point if noted on the card.
Archived cards, Barricades, uncompleted Wonders, Gold and Culture tokens do not yield any points.
Dominance
In addition, award points to the player who has the highest achievement in each of these four categories.
The most PROVINCES controlled: 3 points.
The most KNOWLEDGES owned: 3 points.
The most WONDERS completed: 3 points.
The most CULTURAL POLICIES developed: 3 points.
IMPORTANT: Archived cards and uncompleted Wonders do not count for Dominance.
If the players are tied for Dominance, both players receive the full 3 points of this category.
The player with the most points wins.
If there is a tie, the player currently WITH THE ADVANTAGE wins. If none of the players has the Advantage and there is still a tie, the player with the most remaining Gold wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most remaining Culture wins. If players are still tied after those three checks, they share the victory.
Terminology
ACQUIRE: Take a card by paying its cost, and place it on top of your City deck if it's a Development card. Barricades and Provinces are not put on top of your deck but on top of your Province stack.
ACTIVE CULTURAL POLICY: The topmost Cultural Policy, i.e. the Policy you most recently developed.
ARCHIVE: When you archive a card, remove an inactive card in your City from the game. If you archive a card that has a Knowledge attached, discard the Knowledge card. Tuck your archived cards under your Warlord card.
BASIC BUILDINGS: Workshops, Laboratories, Archery Ranges and Barricades.
BASIC RESOURCE: Production, Science, and Military are Basic resources. Gold and Culture are not Basic resources.
BONUS EFFECT: The effect at the bottom of a Cultural Policy, which is immediately gained when that Policy is developed, and whenever any future Policies are developed.
BUILD A WONDER SECTION: Either you acquire a Wonder from the Development display and build the first section, or complete a Wonder and build the second section. You can't do both during the same action.
CONTROLLED PROVINCE: You control a Province as long as it is in your Province stack next to your City.
COPY: Use the effects of another card, even if that card has already been activated this round. Any resources generated by the card's activation (top right corner) are generated again. You can only copy effects of cards from your City, or from one of your Cultural Policies you have already developed, unless specified otherwise.
DISCARD: Discarding a card means that you take a card and put it in the corresponding discard pile.
When a card from the Development display is discarded, you put it into the Development discard pile next to the Development display, face up and perpendicular to the display.
When a card from your City is discarded, choose any inactive card in your City and put it in your discard pile. Do not confuse this discard pile with the Development display's discard pile.
When a card from an Exploration deck is discarded, you put it into the discard pile linked to its Exploration deck (Era I, II or III)
You may check the cards in your own discard pile at any time.
DRAW X CARD(S): Draw the specified number of cards from the top of your City deck. If you need to draw a card from your City deck during the Action phase but it is empty, you simply do not draw any cards.
DURING CITY ACTIVATION: Effects following this mention are to be applied during the City Activation in the order of your choice. Once this is resolved, put an Action token on the card.
EXPLORE X FOR FREE: means to draw X cards from the corresponding Exploration deck without paying the cost. Choose one and apply its effects.
GAIN CARD: Acquire a card without paying its cost.
IF YOU GAINED: Some effects (such as the Mine's) can only be resolved if you have gained a specific amount of resources this round, either during the city activation or later in the round. These resources are not spent to fulfil the condition — you may still use them after resolving the effect. If you already have spent the resources specified on the card, you can still activate the effect as you effectively gained them before activating this effect.
GAIN THE ADVANTAGE: Take the Advantage without paying the cost of this action. Remove all resource tokens present on the card.
PAY: Some effects require you to pay with resources. These must be taken from your personal supply and returned to the general stock.
REINFORCE: Straighten an activated card from your City and do not discard it at the end of the round. Thus, this card will still be in your City next round. If you reinforce a card that has a Knowledge attached, discard the Knowledge card.
RESERVE: Take the chosen card and place it next to your City. Only you can acquire it later by paying the cost. You can't have more than 2 Reserved cards at the same time.
THE FIRST TIME: Effects following this are automatically applied when the specified condition happen. This don't count as your action for the turn. Once this is resolved, put an Action token on the card.
USE A CARD: When using a card, immediately gain any resources it generates (top right corner). You may also use its effect (if any). Discard the card in the corresponding discard pile afterward.
WHENEVER: Effects following this trigger automatically during players turns and are repeatables.
YOU MAY: Effects starting with "you may" are optional effects you can choose to ignore. These effects are permanent effects and don't count as your action for the turn. You can use these cards several times during a round.
The Civilizations
This box features the following civilizations.
Chinese
China, one of the earliest civilizations, originated in the Yellow River basin, with the Xia dynasty around 2000 BCE. Subsequent dynasties, including Shang and Zhou, marked by civil wars, culminated in the state of Qin, establishing the first unified Chinese state in the third century BCE. King Zheng proclaimed himself First Emperor, leading the short-lived Qin dynasty. The succeeding Han dynasty expanded Chinese territory, followed by the Tang and Song golden age in the 10th century.
Around 1271, Kublai Khan's Mongols invaded, establishing their own dynasty. The Ming dynasty ruled until the Republic of China's founding in 1912. China's global impact includes the Four Great Inventions — paper, gunpowder, the compass, and movable type. Architectural marvels like the Great Wall, Terracotta Army, and the now-gone Porcelain Tower of Nanjing showcase China's rich history.
Egyptians
Around 3000 BCE, King Menes established Egypt's first unified kingdom, starting a three millennia dynasty. Expanding along the Nile and the Mediterranean, Egypt's rulers built wonders like the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx, along with extraordinary cities.
Egypt faced challenges and captures until it became a Roman province after Cleopatra VII's death. Switching from Byzantine to Ottoman hands. Following French and British occupations, Egypt gained its independence after World War I. Egypt's civilization, renowned for art and culture, is evident in museums, statues, and relics showcasing its 5000-year-old legacy, still harboring secrets in monumental tombs.
Danish
Denmark, among the world's oldest kingdoms, comprises Jutland and over 400 islands, part of Scandinavia with Sweden and Norway. The Viking Age, starting in the late 8th century, saw brutal Norsemen exploring Europe for trade, raids, and conquest, establishing a fearsome reputation. Vikings settled in England and France, founding Normandy. By the 10th century, King Harald Bluetooth unified the Danes.
In the Middle Ages, Denmark joined the Kalmar Union under Margaret I, the first female leader. Margaret II, the current Queen, now leads Denmark, an independent parliamentary monarchy within the European Union.