Neptun Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Set-up — for 4 Players
• Object of the Game
• Sequence of the Game
  • 1st Phase: Acquire Contracts
    • Loading a Contract
    • End of a Turn
  • 2nd Phase: Fulfill Contracts
    • Additional Turns (5 I and 5 II)
  • 3rd Phase: Score
  • End of a Game Round
• End of the Game and Winner

Game Components

• 1 Game board — a map of cities and sea routes around the Mediterranean, showing the forecast wind scale, the current wind scale, sea link spaces, deep sea link spaces, the oar power scale, the player order scale, temples, the city scale, and the starting space for boats.
• 30 City cards — City cards show a city's name, the color of the region to which that city belongs, and the profit gained (with gold on left; temple points on right) for delivering specific goods to this city.
• 30 Goods cards — grapes, olives, honey, grain, salt.
• 50 Oar cards — Oar cards show a wind modification number in their upper section and the quality of the crew's oaring power in the lower section.
• 19 Distance markers: 15 for sea links (valued 3 - 8), 4 for deep sea links (valued 11 - 13).
• 36 Point tiles: Front shows the number of points; back shows the region and game round.
• Gold (55 Coins).
• 15 Bonus tiles.
• Wind marker for the current game round.
• Wind marker for the next game round.
• 5 Contract charts — 1 of each player color.
• 5 Boats — 1 of each player color.
• 5 Player order markers — 1 of each player color.
• 25 Temple tokens — 5 of each player color.

Set-up — for 4 Players

1. Unfold the game board in the center of the playing area.

2. Sort the point tiles by their back sides, first by region (i.e. color), then by game round: 1 each for A, 2 each for B and 3 each for C. Place the tiles for game round A face up on the temple of each corresponding region. Keep the remaining tiles handy next to the game board. Put the bonus tiles and gold coins within easy reach for all players; this is the general supply.

3. Sort the distance markers by sea links and deep sea links. Mix the deep sea link markers, place one marker face down on each deep sea link space, then reveal these markers. Repeat this procedure with the sea link markers, placing them on the sea link spaces. Thus, the distances between the cities are defined in nautical miles.

4. Shuffle the city cards, goods cards, and oar cards separately and place them as draw piles in the order shown at right; that is, with the city cards at the top of the column, the goods cards in the middle, and the oar cards at the bottom. Leave space to the right of this column to reveal cards during play.

5. The wind force at the start of the game is 5, so place the wind marker for the current game round on position 5. Keep the wind marker for the following game round next to the game board for the time being.

6. The players pick up their individual components by player color:

   • 1 Contract chart
   • 2 Starting oar cards
   • 5 Gold coins
   • 5 Temple tokens
   • 1 Boat
   • 1 Player order marker

   Place one temple token of each color on the zero space of each temple. Place each boat in Crete. Determine the initial player order randomly and mark it with the player order markers on the player order scale.

The players keep their contract chart and gold in front of them and take their oar cards in hand, keeping them secret from the other players.

Object of the Game

As Roman merchants, players sail the Mediterranean Sea trying to fulfill the contracts they've acquired. In doing this, the merchants gain both gold and favor from the gods.

The merchant that has delivered the greatest number of donations to the temples gains the most favor and wins the game.

Sequence of the Game

The game is played over three game rounds. Each game round is composed of 3 phases:

• 1st Phase: Acquire contracts. This phase consists of 5 turns.
• 2nd Phase: Fulfill contracts. This phase consists of 5 regular turns and up to 2 extra turns.
• 3rd Phase: Score.

1st Phase: Acquire Contracts

First, lay out the contracts available during this turn. Draw cards from the piles of the city cards, goods cards and oar cards, one after the other, and place them in a row face down next to that pile. Draw as many cards from each pile as the number of players plus one.

Note: This example shows the layout of contracts in a four-player game.

Each column of 1 city card, 1 goods card and 1 oar card forms a set, and each set is considered a contract to transport a certain kind of good to a specific city.

The goods box of the city card indicates the profit — either gold or temple points — to be gained from a contract.

Example: For this contract, Becca must deliver olives to Sanguntum. If she does, she gains 3 temple points in Hispania.

In player order, each player picks one contract and loads it. Depending on the situation a player chooses a contract like this:

a) All contracts are face-down

The player reveals the leftmost contract, then decides whether to acquire this contract or reject it once and for all.

If the player rejects it, he reveals the next contract to the right, again having the choice to acquire it or reject it once and for all.

The player can continue to reveal (and reject) contracts up to the rightmost one. He must take this contract.

Example: Becca (red) reveals the first contract but decides to reject it. The second contract she reveals looks better, so she acquires it.

b) Contracts are both face-up and face-down

First, the player decides whether to acquire one of the face-up contracts or to reveal the leftmost face-down contract.

If he reveals the leftmost face-down contract, then he proceeds as explained above (a).

Please note: If a player rejects a contract, he cannot acquire this contract later — even if he likes the subsequently revealed contracts even less!

Example: Jenny (green) decides to acquire the first face-up contract. She has to bring olives to Sanguntum.

c) All contracts are face-up

The player must acquire one of the face-up contracts.

Loading a Contract

As soon as a player has acquired a contract, he must load it — that is, he must assign the contract's city card and goods card to any unoccupied slot on his contract chart.

Note: Be thoughtful as to where you place your acquired contracts as you must fulfill them in order from left to right. The more contracts you can fulfill, the more points you eventually earn.

Example: Becca (red) decides to place her just acquired contract in the fourth space of her contract chart. She cannot later change the position of this contract.

The player then moves his player order marker from the player order scale to the location on the oar scale that corresponds to the oar number on his contract's oar card. If that position is occupied, he places his marker on top of the existing marker(s). He then adds the oar card to his hand.

Now the next player (in player order) performs his turn.

Note: After you place your contract on the contract chart, the oar card is independent of the contract.

End of a Turn

Once each player has acquired one contract, the players determine the new player order.

To do this, move the player order marker in the lowest position on the oar scale to position 1 of the player order scale, the player order marker on the next highest position to position 2 of the player order scale, etc. If more than one marker occupies the same position on the oar scale, relocate them from top to bottom.

Example: Jenny (green) is in first place, Peter (yellow) in second place and Ani (purple) in third place. Becca (red) will be the last person to perform her turn in the next round.

Move the cards in the remaining contract to the left, next to each appropriate draw pile. If these cards are face-up, place one gold coin on the city card; if not, turn them face up but without placing any gold. The player who acquires this contract receives this gold.

Example: The second turn begins with the unacquired contract from the previous turn in the leftmost column with one gold coin on it.

The players complete four more rounds in this manner until each player has acquired five contracts.

2nd Phase: Fulfill Contracts

If players want to fulfill their contracts, they must land their boat at the designated cities. This phase consists of 5 turns.

Example: Jenny (green) first needs to deliver salt to Leptis Magna, then honey to Carthago, etc.

At the beginning of each turn, each player chooses one of his oar cards and places it face down in front of him. After all players have played a card, they reveal their cards simultaneously.

Next, adjust the forecast wind scale. Add the numbers in the upper section of all played oar cards, then place the wind marker on the appropriate position of the forecast wind scale. This number will determine the wind force for the next turn.

Now the players sail their boats in player order.

The active player calculates the range of his boat in nautical miles during the current turn by adding the oar power (the lower section number) of his played oar card and the current wind force.

Example: The displayed oar cards have been played this turn. After adding them up, place the wind marker for the next round on the +2 field.

Example: Jenny (green) can sail up to 10 nautical miles this round.

The distance tile between two cities indicates the distance in nautical miles that a boat must cover when sailing from one city to the other.

Example: To sail from Tyros to Alexandria a player has to spend 3 nautical miles.

A player can choose to not move his boat and remain in his current city.

Please note: Even if a player plans to stay in a city and not move, he must play an oar card.

A player can continue to move his boat from city to city as long as he has enough nautical miles. For 1 gold each, a player may increase his range that turn by 1 nautical mile. A city can hold any number of boats.

Example: Becca (red) has 11 nautical miles to spend this turn. In order to fulfill her contract she has to deliver grapes to Alexandria. First she sails from Crete to Tyros spending 8 nautical miles. To get from Tyros to Alexandria she is short 1 nautical mile. She spends 1 gold to purchase the missing nautical mile and can now sail to Alexandria to fulfill her contract this turn.

The active player can fulfill a contract in the city where he ends his movement, provided that he has a contract for this city. Depending on that contract's city card and goods card, he earns gold or temple points:

• Gold: The player takes the gold coins from the general supply.
• Temple points: The player advances his temple marker in that region's temple by the indicated number of spaces. If he lands on an occupied space, he places his marker on top of the existing marker(s).

Example: Becca (red) fulfills her contract in Alexandria and gains 2 temple points for it. She advances her temple token 2 spaces on the yellow temple.

Once per fulfilled contract the player may buy an additional temple point in that region for 3 Gold.

If the player has any unfulfilled contracts on his contract chart to the left of the most recently fulfilled contract, he must flip those cards face down as he can no longer fulfill these contracts.

Example: If Becca (red) sails to Pergamum next, her contract to sail to Sanguntum is lost and she must place it face down.

Finally, the player discards the city card and goods card to the corresponding discard piles, keeping the oar card face down in front of him. By doing so, he can easily track the turns/additional turns.

Then, the next player performs his turn.

After each player has had one turn, adjust the wind force for the next turn. Place the wind marker of the current wind scale directly below the forecast wind marker, then remove the forecast wind marker.

Play another four turns in this manner.

Additional Turns (5 I and 5 II)

If one or more players still have any unfulfilled contracts (not flipped), they may now try to deliver them during these optional two turns.

Note: Contracts may be unfulfilled because the player does not want to fulfill them.

The players concerned are asked in player order, one after the other, if they want to play additional turns. Only those players who want to will take actions during these two additional turns.

Note: Each player received two oar cards at the start of the game. Thus, each player can play at most two additional turns during the course of the game.

During these, at most two additional turns, the wind marker remains in the position it was in during the fifth turn.

In player order, the players concerned play an oar card, move their boat and fulfill a contract, if possible. If required, a second additional turn is offered and played. If any contracts remain unfulfilled after that second additional turn, they are lost and the cards are flipped.

3rd Phase: Score

After playing five turns (and possibly two more), players score for this game round.

Bonus points for completely fulfilled contracts

Each player who has fulfilled all five contracts during this game round receives one bonus tile.

Temple points

In the first round, the players check each temple separately to see who has scored the most points in that temple. This player claims the point tile lying inside the temple.

In case of a tie, the tied player whose token is at the bottom of the stack wins.

The points for the gold temple are awarded to the player who owns the most gold; in case of a tie, the tied player who has the lowest number in player order wins.

Example: In the first round, Becca (red) has advanced her temple token the farthest, so she takes the point tile of the Graecia temple.

In the second (third) round, the runner-up (runner-up and second runner-up) at each temple also receives a point tile. The best player at each temple receives the most valuable point tile, the runner-up receives the next most valuable point tile, and the third best player receives the lowest valued point tile.

Example: In the second round, Peter (yellow) has advanced the farthest, so he gains the higher point tile (5). Becca (red) has outplayed Ani (purple) as she reached that space first, so Becca (red) claims the 1 point tile.

End of a Game Round

At the end of a game round, all players retain any unplayed oar cards in their hand. Place any played starting oar cards in the box and all other played oar cards in the oar card discard pile.

Sort all other cards by type and place them in separate discard piles, then shuffle each discard pile with its corresponding draw pile. Place these shuffled decks near the game board in the same order as during set-up.

Draw piles + discard piles = new draw piles

Distribute the point tiles (2nd game round = B, 3rd game round = C) for the next game round to the appropriate temples. The temple tokens remain on their reached spaces. Return all boats to Crete.

Example: For the second round, place the B point tiles in each temple.

End of the Game and Winner

After the players have completed three game rounds, they total the value of their point and bonus tiles.

The player with the most points is the master merchant and declared winner of the game.

In case of a tie for the most points, all tied players share the victory.