Rex Britannorum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Content
• Setup
• Key Game Terms
  • Areas, Regions and Fiefs
  • Roads, Cities and Connections
  • Stakes and Objectives
  • Scoring Board
  • Troops, Mercenaries and Reinforcements
• Sequence of Play
  • Determining the Turn Order
  • Determining the Locations to Be Conquered
  • Recruitment
  • Planning
  • Resolution
  • Powers of the Troops Cards
  • Allocation of the Gains
  • Request Help From Rome
  • Evaluation of the Stakes
  • End of Turn
• End of Game and Victory
  • Stake Track Max
  • Objectives
  • Scoring
• Solo and 2-Player Game
  • Setup (Solo and 2-Player)
  • Turn Order (Solo and 2-Player)
  • Recruitment and Planning (Solo and 2-Player)
  • Resolution (Solo and 2-Player)
  • Allocation of the Gains (Solo and 2-Player)
  • Evaluation of the Stakes (Solo and 2-Player)
  • End of Game (Solo and 2-Player)
  • NPK Behaviors
    • Regnenses: Cogidubnus the Impetuous
    • Iceni: Prasutagos the Greedy
    • Brigantes: Cartimandua the Foresighted
• 2-Player Variant
  • Setup (2-Player Variant)
  • Determining the Locations to Be Conquered (2-Player Variant)
• History
  • Regnenses: Tibère Claudius Cogidubnus
  • Iceni: Prasutagos
  • Brigantes: Cartimandua
• Rules Summary

Game Content

• 1 gameboard.
• 1 rulebook.
• 42 Troops cards, 14 per kingdom.
• 3 cards-holders, 1 per kingdom.
• 18 Objectives cards.
• 6 Reinforcements cards (black borders).
• 3 scoring boards, 1 per kingdom. The back sides of each board give specific instructions to play it as a Non-Player Kingdom.
• 9 Deployment mini-cards, 3 per kingdom.
• 1 cloth bag.
• 1 Turn marker.
• 9 Scoring markers, 3 per kingdom.
• 105 Control cubes, 35 per kingdom.
• 30 Oppidum markers, 10 per kingdom.
• 49 Location tokens (Roads and Cities).

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the table. The map of Britannia is divided into 3 colored areas: North (N), Center (C), South (S).
2. Place the Turn marker on the numbered 1 space of the Turn track.
3. Place face-up the 6 Reinforcements cards (black borders) in the dedicated space of the game board.
4. Each player chooses a kingdom and:
   • 4a. Places their Scoring board in front of them, close to the game board.
   • 4b. Takes their deck of 14 Troops cards of their kingdom color, then:
     • Shuffles their deck and sets it face-down on the left side of their Scoring board.
     • Draws 3 cards and sets them face-up under their Scoring board to create their recruitment queue.
     • Draws 3 cards to constitute their starting hand.
   • 4c. Takes their 3 Deployment mini-cards.
   • 4d. Takes their cards-holder, Control cubes and Oppidum markers.
   • 4e. Places a Control cube on the Road location of their starting Fief on the game board.
   • 4f. Places their Scoring markers on the 3 Stake tracks located on the upper-left corner of the game board:
     • On the 1 space for Road and Regions tracks.
     • On the 0 space for Cities track.
5. Create 3 decks of Objectives cards by grouping them by type: Fief, Cities and Link. Shuffle each deck separately and distribute, hidden, 1 Objectives card of each type. Each player chooses 2 of these cards, and discards, face-down, the remaining one. Discarded and not used Objectives cards are set back in the game box hidden.
6. Place the 49 Location tokens in the cloth bag.

Key Game Terms

In order to understand key game concepts, players will need to be familiar with the following terms and definitions.

Areas, Regions and Fiefs

The game board is divided in 3 colored Areas: North (N) in red, Center (C) in blue and South (S) in green.

Each area is split in 4 (North and Center) or 5 (South) named Regions. One of these Regions is also the Fief of one of the 3 kingdoms, identified by its coat-of-arms and its name written in gold.

Roads, Cities and Connections

There are two kinds of locations on the game board, Roads and Cities, linked by Connections.

One of the goals of the game is to take control of these locations by using:

• Control cubes for Road locations.
• Oppidum markers for City locations.

It is possible for Control cubes or Oppidum markers of different colors to be present on the same location. In this case, they are said to cohabit.

In each Fief, there is an isolated City location with a black background. This city is controlled by Rome and represents the allegiance of the kingdom to the Empire. It is possible, under certain circumstances, to take control of this location and place an Oppidum marker on it.

Stakes and Objectives

There are two main ways to earn Victory Points.

1. By moving up along the 3 Stake tracks (Road, Cities and Regions) during the game.
2. By achieving the conditions listed on the Objectives cards revealed at the end of the game. There are 3 conditions to achieve on each Objectives card and 3 types of Objectives: Fief, City and Link.

The following terms are used on the Objectives cards.

• Being present in a Region / Link. Have at least one Control cube or one Oppidum marker placed on a location (Road or City) of a given Region / Link.
• Control a Region. To control a Region, a player must occupy more than half of the City and Road locations of this Region.
• Control a Link. To control a Link, a player must occupy more than half of the City and Road locations of this Link. A Link is made of the start and end City locations and of all the Roads locations connecting them.
• Control the Cities of an area (North, Center or South). To control the Cities of a given area, a player must occupy more than half of the City locations in this area.

Examples:

• To control the Cities of the North area, you need to occupy 3 out of the 5 City locations of this area.
• To control the Link C05 - C10, you need to occupy 4 out of the 6 City and Road locations of this link.

Scoring Board

Each player owns a Scoring board allowing them to record their Achievements all along the game.

Each Scoring board is split in 3 lines matching the Stakes (Road, Cities and Regions) and 3 columns matching the Achievements symbolized by icons.

Achievements are:

• First. Won by the first players reaching the First icon on one of the Stake tracks.
• Threshold. Won by a player as soon as they reach the Threshold icon on one of the Stake tracks. There are 3 thresholds reachable for each Stake track.
• Max. Won at the end of the game by the players who reached the highest value on a Stake track.

To record an Achievement place a Control cube on the relevant space of your Scoring board.

Remark: The back of each Scoring board is used when you play solo or with only 2 players (see page 20). It reminds you the behavior of the associated Non-Player Kingdom (NPK).

Troops, Mercenaries and Reinforcements

Troops cards will be used to win battles. Each Troops card has a value ranging from 1 and 7 and, for some of them, an icon indicates they possess a power used during battles resolution.

Reinforcements cards (with black borders) are similar to Troops cards but they are "neutrals" at the beginning of the game and they enter play under certain circumstances.

Lastly, an opponent Troops card can be recruited by a player. It becomes a Mercenaries card that could be played under certain circumstances.

Combat value colors on the cards:

• Red: Brigantes
• Blue: Iceni
• Green: Regnenses
• Black: Roman reinforcements

Power icons appear on some of the cards.

Sequence of Play

In Rex Britannorum, 3 kingdoms will fight for the domination over Britannia under the watchful eye of Rome. Each kingdom can either be played by a player or controlled by the game. The following rules describe a 3-players game, followed by the rules for managing the "non-player" kingdom(s) in a 2-players or solo game.

For the first game, or with young players, we recommend not to use the Objectives cards.

Each turn is divided in 8 phases:

1. Determining the turn order
2. Determining the locations to be conquered
3. Recruitment
4. Planning
5. Resolution
6. Allocation of the gains
7. Evaluation of the stakes
8. End of the turn

Determining the Turn Order

At the beginning of each turn, the turn order, that will be used to resolve certain phases, must be determined. To do this, each player adds up the values they have reached on the 3 Stake tracks (Road, Cities and Regions). The player with the highest total will play first, the second highest is second and the player with the lowest total will play last.

In the event of a tie, randomly determine the Turn order between the tied players. In the first turn of the game, the turn order is therefore always determined randomly.

To remember the turn order, each player places one of his Control cubes on their position on the dedicated spaces of the game board.

Example: During the determining the turn order phase, each player's total on the Stake tracks is: Red = 1 + 3 + 3 = 7; Green = 2 + 1 + 2 = 5; Blue = 3 + 1 + 1 = 5. Red will play first. We determine randomly whether Blue or Green goes second. The final turn order is: Red, Green, Blue.

Determining the Locations to Be Conquered

The first player in the turn order draws 7 Location tokens from the bag then places them on the game board in the corresponding numbered locations. There is only one token per location on the game board. A given token therefore corresponds to one Road or City location. For each area, there is also a Joker unnumbered token. If it is drawn, it is placed on the area symbol (N, C or S).

Recruitment

In the turn order, each player selects 2 Troops cards and adds them to their hand:

• Either from the face-up cards in front of them, in their recruitment queue.
• Or by drawing Troops cards from their deck.

It is possible to do one and/or the other. The cards drawn are not revealed to the other players.

Note: It is possible that a player has no choice if their deck of Troops cards is empty.

At the end of this phase, when everyone has completed their recruitment, all players draw, if necessary, from their deck of Troops cards, until they have 3 face-up cards in their respective recruitment queues.

Example: During their recruitment phase, the red player: (1) draws a Troops card from their deck without revealing it; (2) takes the value 6 face-up Troops card from their recruitment queue; (3) then, at the end of the phase, draws a new card to replace the value 6 card they recruited.

Planning

In the turn order, each player secretly combines 2 Troops cards from their hand to 2 Deployment mini-cards associated to one of the areas on the gameboard (North, Center or South). Each pair of cards (1 Troops card and 1 Deployment mini-card) is placed in one of the spaces of the cards-holder.

Note: You need to choose the way you place your Deployment mini-card to select the desired Deployment area.

If a player has a Reinforcements or Mercenaries card in their hand, they can place it in the free space of their cards-holder with their last Deployment mini-card.

Note: It will not be possible to associate 3 Troops cards to the same area as each area letter (N / C / S) is available only on 2 Deployment mini-cards.

Reminder: Only one Mercenaries or Reinforcements card can be played per turn.

Once the players have finished, they simultaneously reveal their cards-holders and move on to the Resolution phase.

Example: During the Planning phase the Red player assigns a value 5 Troops card to area S and a value 3 Troops card to area N. They have no Reinforcements or Mercenaries card to assign to the last space of their cards-holder.

Resolution

Battles are resolved in a set order: area N (red), C (blue) then S (green). Follow the steps below for each area:

1. Apply the effect of any value 1 Troops cards played (see Powers of the Troops cards, page 14).
2. Add up the values of the Troops cards played in a given area to determine the combat value for each player.
3. The player with the highest combat value is the Winner. The other players who have assigned Troops cards to the area are Vassals.
4. Allocate gains (see Allocation of the gains, page 15).
5. Resolve the effects of the powers of value 2, 3 and 4 cards (see Powers of the Troops cards, page 14).

Important:

• In the event of a tie in combat values, there may be several Winners.
• If no Troops cards are assigned to an area, there are no Winners, nor Vassals, and the locations are allocated to Rome during the Allocation of the gains phase.
• If only one player assigned Troops cards to an area, there is one Winner and there are no Vassals.

Example: The Red and Green players allocate their cards in area C and N. The Blue player owns a Reinforcements card because in the previous turn they did not win any location. They use it so they can allocate 3 cards this turn. They play 2 cards in area N and 1 card in area C.

Powers of the Troops Cards

• Value 1 cards: In a battle in an area, if a card with a value 7 is played by a kingdom, the cards with a value 1 of the other kingdoms have a combat value of 7.

• Value 2 cards: At the end of a battle, if a Vassal has played a value 2 card, they can recruit a Mercenaries card. They choose one of the Troops, Reinforcements or Mercenaries cards played by the Winner(s) and add it to their hand. If two Vassals played a value 2 card, the first one in the turn order chooses one of the Winner cards then the second, one of the remaining cards if there is one. Otherwise, they choose a Reinforcements card instead.

  Note: If a kingdom assigns their 2 cards of value 2 to the same battle, the effect only applies once. Moreover, a player cannot recruit a Mercenaries card of their color if the Winner has played one.

• Value 3 cards: At the end of a battle, if a Vassal has played a value 3 card, they can cohabit on a Road location won by the Winner(s). They place one of their Control cubes on the location with the one of a Winner. It is also possible to select a Road location chosen by the Winner thanks to a Joker token.

  Important: It is not possible to cohabit that way on a City location.

  Note: If a kingdom assigns their 2 cards of value 3 to the same battle, the effect only applies once.

• Value 4 cards: This card allows a Winner to cancel the effects of all value 2 and 3 cards played by Vassals. However, if there are two Winners, a card of value 4 played by a Winner does not protect the other Winner.

Allocation of the Gains

The Winner in an area gets a maximum of 3 locations. If there are more, they must choose 3 of them. They place a Control cube of their color on a Road location or an Oppidum marker of their color on a City location.

If there are several Winners, they choose, in the turn order, up to 3 locations. A Winner can choose a location selected previously by another Winner. In this case, they cohabit on the location and each of them places a Control cube or an Oppidum marker on the location.

If there are any locations left, they are allocated to the Vassals, with a maximum of 2 locations per Vassal. If there are 2 Vassals, they choose up to 2 locations in the turn order. They can place a Control cube or an Oppidum marker on the same location and, thus, cohabit.

Location tokens allocated to Winners and Vassals are then placed back in the game box.

At the end of this phase, if some locations are not allocated, they are allocated to Rome.

Locations allocated to Rome: If a location is not won by either a Winner or a Vassal, it is allocated to Rome. In this case, turn over the Location token to its black side. If the Location token is the Joker token, it is returned directly to the game box without effect.

Reminder: In each Fief, a City location, representing allegiance to the Empire, is allocated to Rome from the beginning of the game.

Joker token: The Joker token can be won normally. It allows the Winner (or Winners in the event of a tie) to choose one of the following three options:

1. Place a Control cube on a Road location already occupied by another kingdom and located in the area. In this case, the 2 kingdoms cohabit on this location.
2. Place a Control cube on a Road location allocated to Rome in the area.
3. Place an Oppidum marker on a City location allocated to Rome in the area. It can be the City location allocated to Rome from the beginning of the game in each Fief.

Example: The Red player wins the Joker token of area C. They may: (1) cohabit on an occupied Road location (by Green in this case); (2) place a Control cube on a Road location allocated to Rome; (3) place an Oppidum on a City location allocated to Rome.

Request Help From Rome

If a kingdom has not placed any Control cube or Oppidum marker during a turn, it can request help from Rome. In this case, the player chooses a Reinforcements card that is still available, shows it to the other players and places it in their hand.

Random reinforcement: During setup, shuffle the deck of Reinforcements cards and place them face-down on the dedicated space of the game board. When a player gets a Reinforcements card, they draw the first card of the deck instead of choosing it.

Example: The printed example shows the Location tokens drawn on a diagram of the board (the token numbers are only shown in the diagram). Using the set of cards played (page 13): In the North area, Red player combat value is 5, Blue player one is 9 and Green player one is 3. Blue is the lone Winner, however they can only choose 3 locations out of the 4 available. They decide to place Control cubes in N09 and N14 and an Oppidum marker in N11. Red and Green players are Vassals. They can therefore both place one of their Control cube on the remaining location, in N04. The Green player played a value 3 card, he could therefore place a Control cube on the Road location N09 or N14 of the Winner. Unfortunately, the Blue player played a value 4 card which cancels the powers of value 2 and 3 cards. In the Center area, Red player combat value is 1, Green player one 7 and Blue player one 2. Green should win, but, due to its power, the value 1 card of the Red player is considered a 7 value card as a card of this value has been played by the Green player. This is a tie. Red and Green players place therefore both a Control cube on the Road location C09. They also both win the Joker token. Red player chooses to place one of their Control cubes on the Road location C08, by cohabiting with the Green player so that they can get a road of length 2. The Green player chooses to place one of their Oppidum markers on the City location allocated to Rome at the beginning of the game. Lastly, the Power of the value 2 card of the Blue player allows them to recruit a Troops card played by one of the Winners as a Mercenaries. They choose the value 7 card played by the Green player. In South area, none of the players have placed cards. So location S07 is allocated to Rome.

Evaluation of the Stakes

During this phase, each player evaluates their position on each of the three Stake tracks.

1. Road Stake: Each player determines their longest Road in number of connected Road locations. A Road is made of an uninterrupted path of Road locations on which a kingdom has a Control cube and linked by Connections. A City location never counts and interrupts a Road, as well as unoccupied, occupied alone by another kingdom, or allocated to Rome, Road locations.

   Each player reports their result using their Scoring marker on the Road Stake track.

   Example: The longest road of the Red player is 1, of the Green player 3 and of the Blue player only 2 because City locations are not taken into account when determining a road length.

2. Cities Stake: Each player counts the number of City locations on which they placed an Oppidum marker.

   Each player reports their result using their Scoring marker on the Cities Stake track.

3. Regions Stake: Each player counts the number of Regions in which they own at least one Control cube OR one Oppidum marker.

   Each player reports their result using their Scoring marker on the Regions Stake track.

Victory points: Moving up along the 3 Stake tracks allows to win Victory Points during the game by performing Achievements and placing Control cubes on the Scoring board of each player.

Close to the Stake tracks, you can find two kinds of icons:

• First. During the Evaluation of the stakes phase, the players who reach or exceed this value first on a Stake track place a Control cube on the dedicated space of their Scoring board. Once one or more players have won such a stake in an Evaluation of the stakes phase, other players cannot win it themselves in a subsequent turn. There can be several firsts in the same turn, regardless of the final position of their Scoring markers on the tracks.
• Threshold. During the Evaluation of the stakes phase, when a player reaches or exceeds this value on a Stake track, they place a Control cube on the dedicated space of their Scoring board. Up to 3 Control cubes can be placed that way for each Stake track.

Example: Road Stake track: Red road length goes from 1 to 3, Blue road length from 1 to 2 and Green road length from 2 to 4. Red and Green get the Achievement First, so they add 1 Control cube on their Scoring board (1). Red player also reaches 1 Threshold, so they add 1 Control cube on their Scoring board (2). Finally Green reaches 2 Thresholds, so they add 2 Control cubes on their Scoring board (3).

Example: Cities Stake track: Red moves from 4 to 5 Cities controlled, Blue from 3 to 4 and Green from 1 to 2. Red reaches 1 Threshold, adds 1 Control cube on their Scoring board (4). Blue reaches the Achievement First, but Red had reached it the preceding Turn. So Blue wins nothing (5).

Example: Regions Stake track: All players progress on this Stake track, but nobody gets an Achievement.

End of Turn

Carry out the following steps:

1. Troops and Reinforcements cards played during the turn are placed in the discard pile of their respective owner face-down on the right of the Scoring boards.
2. Any Mercenaries cards played are placed face-down in their owner's discard pile.
3. Each player gets back their Deployment mini-cards.
4. Last, move down the Turn marker.

Note: A player may consult their own discard pile, but not those of other players.

End of Game and Victory

At the end of the 7th turn, the final scores are computed to determine which player wins.

Stake Track Max

The player, or players in the event of a tie, with the highest value on a Stake track gets the Max Achievement. They place a Control cube on the dedicated space of their Scoring board.

Objectives

Each Objectives card lists 3 conditions to achieve in order (from top to bottom). The two Objectives cards of each player are revealed. Place a Control cube on each condition that is true.

Precision: To achieve condition 2 on a card, condition 1 must be true. To achieve condition 3 on a card, condition 1 and 2 must be true.

Variant: To have more control over the conditions you must achieve, depending on how the game unfolds, you can adopt the following variant. At the start of the game, each player keeps their 3 Objectives cards. At the beginning of turn 4, each player discards one of their Objectives cards in the game box. This card will not be considered at the end of the game.

Scoring

Add up the Control cubes on the Scoring boards and Objectives cards of each kingdom. The player with the highest score is crowned Rex Britannorum. In the event of a tie, the title remains vacant and a new game must be played!

Example: At the end of the game Red player determines their final score. They get: 7 victory points on their Scoring board; 3 victory points on their first Objectives card; 1 victory point on their second Objectives card. For a grand total of 11 points.

Solo and 2-Player Game

Rex Britannorum can also be played by two players or solo. In this case, non-played kingdoms are managed by the game system according to the rules described below. These are referred to as Non-Player Kingdom or NPK.

Setup (Solo and 2-Player)

During setup, each player normally chooses a kingdom. Kingdoms not selected by the players become NPKs. The Scoring boards of these kingdoms are flipped to the side describing their Behavior during play. Each board is different, allowing you to play against NPKs acting differently, thus renewing the interest of the game. An NPK's Troops cards are shuffled and placed face-down to constitute their deck. An NPK has neither a hand of cards nor a recruitment queue. Finally, do not draw Objectives cards for NPKs.

Precision: In solo mode, the player keeps the 3 Objectives cards they drew. These are the only changes during setup.

Turn Order (Solo and 2-Player)

It is not necessary to determine the turn order for NPKs. When playing solo, this phase is simply skipped. When having 2 players, determine the turn order normally for the two kingdoms played.

Recruitment and Planning (Solo and 2-Player)

The player(s) carry out their Recruitment and Planning phases as usual. At the end of the Planning phase, play the NPKs according to their Behavior, described later in these rules.

Resolution (Solo and 2-Player)

Battles are resolved normally in each area. However, Powers of value 2 and 3 Troops cards played by an NPK are ignored. Powers of value 1 and 4 cards of an NPK function normally.

Allocation of the Gains (Solo and 2-Player)

Allocation of the gains is made as usual. If an NPK is the Winner and there are more than 3 locations to win, determine randomly which ones are allocated to the NPK. If an NPK is a Vassal and there are more than 2 locations to win, determine randomly which ones are allocated to the NPK.

If an NPK wins a Joker token, it always chooses the City location allocated to Rome at the start of the game in the Fief of the area. An NPK never requests the help from Rome. Never assign it a Reinforcements card.

Evaluation of the Stakes (Solo and 2-Player)

NPKs move up normally on the 3 Stake tracks. However, they do not place Control cubes on their Scoring boards to win Victory Points. Their progress on the Stake tracks will only impede players to win Victory Points by being First on a track and/or by having the highest value, Max, at the end of the game.

End of Game (Solo and 2-Player)

For a 2-players game, Rex Britannorum is normally determined without considering the NPK.

In solo mode, the player's goal is to earn a maximum of the 24 possible Victory Points to obtain the support of the people. The player's performance is evaluated on the following table:

Score	Evaluation
1-10	A junk Rex who will end up devoured by lions in the Colosseum.
11-13	A weak Rex whose reign will be noticeably short.
14-15	A mundane Rex. Could do better.
16-17	A conquering Rex! Long live the King of the Britons!
18-19	A Rex to remember for a long time.
20 or more	More than a Rex, a legend.

NPK Behaviors

Each NPK will behave differently when assigning its Troops cards to different areas of the game board. The specific rules for each NPK are also shown on their Scoring board.

General notes for NPKs:

• If the position of a Deployment mini-card sends Troops to an area with no Location tokens, flip the mini-card over to send them to the other possible area.
• In the rare event that all Location tokens are in the same area, the 2 Troops cards of an NPK are sent to this area.

Regnenses: Cogidubnus the Impetuous

At the end of the player(s) Planning phase, complete the following steps for this NPK.

1. Draw and reveal face-up a first Troops card from this NPK deck. Shuffle the Deployment mini-cards face-down and select randomly one of them. Choose a direction, always face-down, before revealing the mini-card. Combine it with the Troops card you drew previously. The Troops card will be assigned to the top area of the Deployment mini-card.
2. Draw and reveal face-up a second Troops card from this NPK deck and perform the same operation with the 2 remaining Deployment mini-cards.

Example: The drawn Troops card is sent to area S.

Iceni: Prasutagos the Greedy

At the end of the player(s) Planning phase complete the following steps for this NPK.

1. Draw and reveal face-up a first Troops card from this NPK deck. The card is automatically assigned to the area with the most Location tokens to be won. If two areas have the same number of tokens, break the tie as follows:
   • The area where a Joker token can be won.
   • The area with the most City tokens to be won.
   • In the following order, area N (Red), C (Blue) then S (Green).
2. Draw and reveal face-up a second Troops card from this NPK deck. Shuffle the Deployment mini-cards face-down and select randomly one of them. Choose a direction, always face-down, before revealing the mini-card. Combine it with the Troops card you drew previously. The Troops card will be assigned to the top area of the Deployment mini-card.

Brigantes: Cartimandua the Foresighted

During setup, place randomly the Deployment mini-cards under the 3 dedicated slots of this NPK board so that only one area (North (N), Center (C), South (S)) is visible for each mini-card.

At the end of the Planning phase of the player(s), perform the following steps for this NPK.

1. Draw and reveal face-up a first Troops card from this NPK deck and place it in slot 2.
2. Draw and reveal face-up a second Troops card from this NPK deck and place it in slot:
   • 1 if the value is lower than the one of the first card.
   • 2 if the value is equal to the one of the first card.
   • 3 if the value is higher than the one of the first card.
3. Assign the Troops cards to the areas indicated by the Deployment mini-cards.

Example: The first Troops card drawn value is 6. It is placed under slot 2. The second card value is 4, therefore lower. It is placed on the left of the value 6 card, under slot 1. The 4 value card is then sent to area C and the 6 value card to area N.

Note: Do not consider the Power of value 1 cards to determine whether a value is less than, greater than or equal to.

At the end of each turn, change the position of the Deployment mini-cards in the following way:

• a. Rotate the mini-card in slot 1 and place it under slot 3.
• b. Move the mini-card from slot 3 to slot 2.
• c. Move the mini-card from slot 2 to slot 1.

2-Player Variant

If you wish, you can play with 2 players without adding a Non-Player Kingdom in your quest for power by applying the modifications below.

Setup (2-Player Variant)

At the end of the setup, draw 7 Location tokens in the bag. Place them on their respective locations on the game board, turning them over onto their back side to allocate them to Rome (see page 15, Locations allocated to Rome).

Example: During setup, the 7 tokens drawn are: N04, N11, C08, C10, C12, S09 and S11.

Determining the Locations to Be Conquered (2-Player Variant)

During this phase, the first player draws only 6 Location tokens in the bag and places them normally on the game board.

History

In 55 and 54 BC, Caesar led two military incursions in Britain. As a result of these campaigns, he established the first known bounds with the island's tribes, and in the following century, contacts between Britons and Romans increased. Some of these tribes developed political and commercial relations with Rome. They adopted Roman ways, importing wine, olive oil and other products. Some tribes, on the other hand, remained wary, sometimes hostile, to Rome's influence.

A century later, in 43 AD, the Roman emperor Claudius decided to invade the island, and during the next 45 years, the Roman army gradually extended its control over much of England, present-day Wales and even as far as Scotland, populated at the time by the fearsome Picts. A new Roman province was born: Britannia. This province remained part of the empire until the early 5th century.

During this period of occupation, Rome relied on the allegiance of local tribes and "client kingdoms", friends to Roman power, to maintain control over conquered territories. This strategy allowed Rome to trade and protect the borders of its empire without having to occupy the land directly. In return, the client kings benefited from Roman largesse, the fruits of dynamic trade and, if necessary, Rome's military aid to consolidate their power over their compatriots. In their quest for prestige, these kings adopted Roman names, spoke Latin, and lived in villas inspired by Roman ones.

Regnenses: Tibère Claudius Cogidubnus

The Regnenses were a tribe whose territory lay in south-east Britain, with Noviomagus as their tribal capital. In most writings, the Regnenses appear to have been Atrebates' vassals.

During the invasion of 43 AD, the Romans conquered the Regnenses kingdom under the command of the future Roman governor Aulus Plautius. The Regnenses territory was seized from the Atrebates and reorganized as a pro-Roman kingdom. A military supply center was built at Noviomagus, from which the legions were supplied as far west as the Belgae and Durotriges territories.

After the Roman invasion, the kingdom was ruled by Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (Cogidubnos in Briton). Cogidubnus was the perfect example of a client king: a very loyal ally of Rome who adopted the Roman way of life, and whose palace at Fishbourne is famous for its spectacular mosaics, such as the one depicting Cupid on horseback riding a dolphin.

Iceni: Prasutagos

The Iceni (or Eceni) lived in what is now Norfolk, North-West Suffolk, and East Cambridgeshire. They were related to the Cenimagni tribe, who had sided with Caesar during his invasion in 54 BC, perhaps marking the beginning of the Iceni's pro-Roman policy.

When the Romans invaded in 43 AD, the Iceni saw the arrival of the Romans as a godsend and witnessed the fall of their powerful neighbors, the Catuvellauni. However, in 47, the second Roman governor of Britannia, Publius Ostorius Scapula, attempted to disarm the Iceni and provoked an uprising. This rebellion was brutally quelled by Rome, and the Iceni officially became a client kingdom headed by the pro-Roman Prasutagos.

Prasutagos, as an ally of Rome, gained relative independence and protection for his tribe. In exchange he was forced to name the Roman emperor co-heir to his kingdom, along with his two daughters. Prasutagos lived a long and prosperous life until his death in 59. After his reign, the Romans flouted his loyalty by depriving the nobles of their lands and plundering his kingdom.

Brigantes: Cartimandua

The mighty Brigantes were a tribe living in North England and controlling one of the largest territories in Britain. They seem to come from the amalgamation of several tribes adopting the collective name of the Celtic goddess Brigantia.

At the time of the Roman invasion and conquest, the Brigantes accepted the arrival of the Romans, who were decimating the tribes in the southern parts of the island. Rather than opposing them or supporting distant tribes, they acted as a client kingdom headed by Queen Cartimandua.

Cartimandua was a powerful and influential queen who sought to retain her throne. Like many members of the Celtic aristocracy at the time, she pledged allegiance to Rome and entered into agreements with the Romans. In 51 AD, she surrendered King Caratacus, chief of the Catuvellauni tribe, to Rome. Caratacus had led the Celtic resistance against the invaders, and he and his family had taken refuge with Queen Cartimandua.

Rules Summary

The game lasts 7 turns split in 8 phases.

1. Determining the turn order: Add the values reached by each player on the Stake tracks. The player with the highest total goes first, and so on. Resolve ties randomly.
2. Determining the locations to be conquered: The first player draws 7 Location tokens from the bag and places them on the game board.
3. Recruitment: In the turn order, each player selects 2 Troops cards either in their recruitment queue and/or by drawing from their Troops cards deck, then adds them to their hand.
4. Planning: In the turn order, each player secretly combines 2 Troops cards from their hand to 2 Deployment mini-cards associated to one of the areas on the gameboard. A player can select and play 1 Reinforcements or Mercenaries card if they own one.
5. Resolution: Battles are resolved in a set order: area N (Red), C (Blue) then S (Green).
   • Apply the effect of any value 1 Troops cards played.
   • Add for each player the values of Troops, Mercenaries and Reinforcements cards played in this area.
   • Determine the Winner(s) and Vassals, if any.
   • Allocate gains.
   • Resolve the effects of the powers of value 2, 3 and 4 cards.
6. Allocation of the gains: The Winner(s) get a maximum of 3 Locations. Any Vassals win a maximum of 2 of the remaining locations. Locations not allocated to players are allocated to Rome.
7. Evaluation of the stakes: On each of the Stake (Road, Cities, Regions) tracks, players update their totals and report their Achievements on their Scoring boards.