Palmyra
Palmyra Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Aim of the Game
By placing new land tiles and moving your legion and censor, you earn new tiles and coins for the Roman Empire. The most important thing is to not be too greedy when collecting taxes, otherwise future income may become sparse. Additionally you must be careful not to be cut off by tiles placed by your opponents, which will force you to lose valuable time. When all of the 120 coins are collected, the game ends, and whoever collected the most wins.
Material
- 45 small square land tiles
- 48 large octagonal land tiles
- 10 starting tiles (6 small and 4 large)
- Figures: 5 x censor*, 5 x legion
- 54 coins with values 1, 3 and 5 for a total value of 120
- 5 color chips
- Caesar tile and overview tile
Preparation
The starting tiles show the houses of the oasis city of Palmyra on different landscape types. Depending on the number of players, you use some or all of these to form the starting tiles in the middle of the table (fig. 2; separate layouts are shown for 2, 3, 4 and 5 players). This is referred to as the city center! Put unneeded starting tiles back into the game box.
Mix the small and large land tiles separately and place each in a face down stack.
Sort the coins according to their values (1, 3 and 5) and place them nearby as a reserve.
Each player chooses a color, places the corresponding color chip in front of him and puts his two figures (legion and censor) in the city center. Other color chips and figures are not needed and remain in the game box.
Whoever lives the furthest South is the starting player and draws one large and one small land tile and places both face up in front of him.
The next player clockwise draws one large and one small land tile that she places face up in front of her and also takes 2 coins, which she places in a stack in front of her.
The third player clockwise draws two large and one small land tile and places them face up in front of him.
The fourth player clockwise draws two large and one small land tile that she places face up in front of her and also takes 2 coins, which she places in a stack in front of her.
The fifth player clockwise takes 2 large and 2 small land tiles, which he places face up in front of him.
The Caesar tile is only required for the expert game. Otherwise, it remains in the game box. The overview tile is placed at the table (fig. 3). The starting player begins the game.
The Land Tiles
The land tiles show one of three different landscapes (desert, hills or mountains). Additionally, some of them show one of three features (watch tower, lake or caravan).
The small land tiles are square and are always placed adjacent to the long edges of the large land tiles.
The large land tiles are always placed adjacent to each other on the short edges, or their long edges are placed adjacent to small land tiles.
Small land tiles can therefore never touch each other (fig. 4+5)!
The City Center
At the beginning of the game, all figures are in the city center. The city center is regarded as a coherent and unoccupied space. This is the only place where any number of figures can stand. Otherwise, each land tile can hold a maximum of one figure at a time.
Gameplay
On your turn you take one of these three actions:
- Conquer, 2. Revenue or 3. Reorganize
If the end of the game has not yet been triggered, the next player in a clockwise direction takes his turn.
1. Conquer
Gain new tiles by placing land tiles and moving your Legion figure:
You always place the next land tile so that it is adjacent to a tile where your legion is currently located. Then you move your legion to the newly placed tile. You may then place additional tiles in the same way and continue to move your legion again.
Tile Placement
The number of land tiles you are allowed to place during your turn depends on whether you want to place a tile that has a feature on it:
- If you only place tiles without features, you may place up to four (fig. 6).
- If you choose to place a tile with a feature, you may place no more than two tiles, and only one of them can have a feature. Note that if you place two tiles, you may place them in the order of your choice (fig. 7).
The legion always moves from one tile to the newly placed tile, so every new tile must be adjacent to the last one placed. When you place new tiles and move your legion, you receive new land tiles.
The legion expands the land area. For each match in landscape type between a newly placed tile and all adjacent tiles, you receive one new land tile. For each match of features, you receive 2 new tiles (fig. 8). However, adjacent tiles that are occupied by another figure, whether yours or an opponent's, do not count as a match!
You receive all of your newly-earned tiles at the end of your turn, after your figure has made all of its moves.
Draw the new tiles from the two stacks and place them face up in front of you. Small and large land tiles must always be taken as evenly as possible from the two stacks. With an odd number of tile income, you have the choice of which size you take more of.
Examples (fig. 8): Income = 2 new tiles for same feature. Income = 3 new tiles: 2 for same feature (A) + 1 for same landscape (B).
Leave the City Center
From the city center you move a figure to a land tile placed adjacent to any city center tile. If all of the edges of the city center are covered with adjacent tiles, you need to reorganize in order to move your figure out of the city center (fig. 9).
2. Revenue
Gain coins by placing land tiles and moving your censor figure:
Place land tiles exactly in the same way as in the "Conquer" action, but now you move your censor.
The censor collects taxes. For each match in landscape type between a newly placed tile and all adjacent tiles, you receive one coin. For each match of features, you receive 2 coins. However, adjacent tiles that are occupied by another figure, whether yours or an opponent's, do not count as a match (fig. 10)!
Example (fig. 10): Income = 3 coins: 1 for same landscape (A) + 2 for same feature (B). The tile with the black legion (C) doesn't count, otherwise the income would be 4 coins!
Additionally, you may increase your tribute: flip one of your face-up land tiles that is still in front of you so that the coin side is up. You may choose which of your tiles to flip.
Flipped tiles remain in front of you for the rest of the game. They are never again flipped to the landscape side, nor are they placed or discarded.
Tribute
Whenever you move your censor and collect more coins than the number of flipped tiles in front of you, you receive a tribute. This tribute is equal to the number of flipped tiles (fig. 11).
Example (fig. 11): By moving your censor you collect 4 coins. You have 3 flipped tiles in front of you (tribute), so you will collect 7 coins in total!
Place all the coins you received in a stack in front of you. You never have to reveal the sum of your coins to your opponents. When necessary, exchange your coins with those of equal value in reserve. Players may count the number of coins in the reserve!
3. Reorganize
If you want to reorganize your figures, instead of placing new tiles, you first draw a tile from one of the two stacks and place it face up in front of you.
Then you may place each of your figures onto any unoccupied tile, including the city center (fig. 12). You may also have your figures swap positions, or leave a figure on its current tile.
If there are not enough unoccupied land tiles available (which can happen in the early stages of the game), you may need to move one or both of your figures to the city center.
Game End
As soon as you can no longer draw tiles when collecting tile income, or as soon as the last coin from the reserve has been collected, the game ends immediately (fig. 13).
- You must draw 2 tiles, but there is only one stack left with tiles: the game ends!
- You choose action 3 (Reorganize) and draw one tile. There is exactly one tile left: the game doesn't end!
- By moving your censor you collect 4 coins. There are only 2 coins left in the reserve. You get those 2 coins: the game ends!
Winner
Each player counts the values of the coins stacked in front of him. The player with the highest total wins (fig. 14). In case of a tie, the player who collected more tribute (more flipped tiles) wins.
Example (fig. 14): The blue player collected 32 coins, and the red and yellow players collected 44 coins each. The red player wins the tie, because he has 4 flipped tiles (tribute), and yellow only has 3!
The Expert Game: Caesar
In the expert game, Caesar visits the province of Palmyra and oversees the players' progress in person. For this version, the Caesar tile is needed and each player receives an additional coin from the reserve at the beginning of the game.
When you reorganize during the game, you now have the option of paying a coin back into the reserve in order to take the Caesar tile and place it in front of you.
Just as with the base game, you take a tile from the stack first and may then place each of your figures onto any unoccupied tile (fig. 15).
From now on, however, you may use either figure to take coins or tiles. For example, your legion may now collect coins and your censor may now earn land tiles. Additionally, your censor and legion are so motivated by Caesar's visit that you receive one additional coin when collecting taxes or one additional tile when drawing land tiles (fig. 15). You do not receive this bonus, however, if you reorganize while possessing the Caesar tile!
As soon as another player uses the reorganize action and pays a coin to the reserve, that player takes the Caesar tile from you and receives these benefits instead.
Example (fig. 15): Last round you reorganized your figures, paid one coin and therefore got the Caesar tile. This round you lay the "mountains + watch tower" tile and move your censor. You decide to draw new tiles. Because Caesar is with you, you get one additional new tile = 4 new tiles: same landscape (1) + same feature (2) + Caesar tile (1).
Solo Game
The solo game is a great way to get to know the game and to try to find the most effective moves.
The rules for solo play are similar to those for multiple players. It begins with the setup for two players. Caesar is not used.
After every turn you take (even when you reorganize!), you must take 3 coins from the reserve and place them back into the game box (fig. 16).
Example (fig. 16): You lay a land tile, move your legion onto this tile and therefore you get one new tile. After that you put 3 coins back in the game box.
- The first game is for getting to know the game. Your goal is to earn at least 55 coins by the end of the game.
- In the second game, you start with 2 large and 2 small land tiles. Now you have to earn 60 coins.
- In the third game, you start with 3 large and 3 small land tiles. Now you have to earn 65 coins.
- In the fourth game, you start with 3 large and 3 small land tiles, and you place 1 flipped small land tile (Tribute) in front of you. Now you have to earn 70 coins.
- In the fifth and last game, you start with 3 large and 3 small land tiles, and you place 2 flipped small land tiles (Tribute) in front of you. Now you have to earn 75 coins.
You can also try to improve by earning more coins than ever before, keeping track of your high scores by writing them down.
* Censors: The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.