Rome & Roll Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Credits
• Components
• Setup
• Terminology
  • Blueprint Cards
  • The Map of Rome
  • The Character Sheets
  • Gaining, Storing, and Spending
• Gameplay
  • Dice Draft Phase
  • Action Phase
  • Round End
• Actions
  • Construct
  • Raise Legions
  • Conquer
  • Expand
  • Tax
  • Trade
• Free Actions
  • Store
  • Bribe Advisor
• Advisors
• Senators
• Gods' Favours
• Nero cards
• Game End
• Final Scoring
• FAQ
  • General
  • Advisors
  • Buildings
  • Gods' Favours
• Solo Rules
  • Extra Components
  • Goal
  • Setup Changes
  • Gameplay
  • End Game
  • Altering Difficulty
  • FAQ specific to Solo Play
• 2 Player Variant
  • Setup changes
  • Gameplay changes
• Icon Reference

Credits

Game design: Dávid Turczi & Nick Shaw

Artist: Andreas Resch

Additional development and editing: Paul Grogan

Rulebook and box design: Kalissa Fitzgerald

Game production: Dan Mersey

Executive producer: Will Townshend

Special Thanks to John Hobkinson for sense-checking the Latin naming.

© 2020 Dávid Turczi, Nick Shaw & The Plastic Soldier Company Ltd.

Contact us: PSC Games, Units 13-15 Henfield Business Park, Shoreham Road, Henfield, West Sussex, BN5 9SL, United Kingdom

www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk

www.pscgames.co.uk

SKU: ROM001

Components

• 1 dry-erase shared Map Board (double-sided: for 1-2 players, and 3-4 players)
• 4 dry-erase Character Sheets (one per character)
• 4 Overseer meeple (one per player colour)
• 4 Foreman meeple (one per player colour)
• 4 dry-erase pens (one per player colour)
• 9 dice in 3 colours/types (2 red, 3 yellow, 4 blue)
• 33 cards
  • 21 Blueprint cards (in 5 types)
  • 7 Gods' Favours cards
  • 1 Pro-Consul start-player card
  • 4 Nero's Bonus cards

These rules cover the 2-4 player game. For the solo game rules, see the Solo Rules section below.

Setup

1. Place the map board in the middle of the play area, with the side facing up appropriate to the player count.

2. Give each player a different Character sheet. This can be done at random, or each player can choose a character. Each player's character sheet has a unique starting setup, and a unique set of Advisors.

3. Give each player a pen, an Overseer, and a Foreman, in the same colour.

4. Take a number of each type of dice, according to the number of players in the game:

   Player Count	Blue	Yellow	Red
   2-players	2	2	1
   3-players	3	2	2
   4-players	4	3	2

5. Separate the Blueprint cards by type into decks (Army, Leisure, Manufacturing, Religious, Urban). Remove any cards not applicable to the player count (depicted in the bottom-right of the card; the example on the right shows that the card in question is for 3 or 4 player games only). Then shuffle all decks separately and deal out two Army, one Leisure, two Manufacturing, one Religious, and two Urban, placing them face up near the map. Return the remaining cards to the box.

6. If any player has an Advisor who may allow them to claim Saturn's Favour, place the Saturn Gods' Favour card face up next to the Blueprint cards. Otherwise return it to the box.

7. Select 3 Gods' Favour cards: Shuffle all Gods' Favours cards (except Saturn) and randomly select three of them, placing them face up near the map. Return any un-selected Gods' Favour cards to the box.

8. Randomly determine the start player. Give that player the Pro-Consul card.

9. The player to the right of the Pro-Consul (i.e. the player last in turn order) places their Foreman on the Religious Blueprint card. All other players keep their Foreman near to their character sheet for now.

10. Take the Nero cards, and stack them face up in descending value (highest VP value on top). Place the stack near the other cards. If playing with 2 or 3 players, return the Nero card marked as 1 or 4 players to the box.

11. Each player places their Overseer into the Forum (Forum Romanum) building on the map.

12. If a player is playing as the Præfectus, they gain a starting bonus that requires them to claim a settlement in Hispania on the map – do this now (put a cross in one of the two "2" strength settlements in Hispania). Note: Claiming a settlement normally requires establishing a Garrison and earns Glory. The Præfectus's initial settlement does not cost a Garrison, and the Glory is already marked on the sheet.

13. In a 4-player game, the 4th player gains 1 Fish by writing an "F" into an empty box in their Storage Yard on their Character sheet.

Recommended setup for your first game:

Blueprints:

• Army: Training Ground, Engineering Post
• Leisure: Plaza
• Manufacturing: Brickmaker, Jeweller
• Religious: Shrine
• Urban: Villa, Market

Gods' Favours: Jupiter, Mars, and Mercury

Terminology

Blueprint Cards

Blueprint cards come in 5 types: Army (A), Leisure (L), Manufacturing (M), Religious (R), Urban (U), and show a number of details about how a building can be built, and what it does: the building's initials to write in the building drawn on the map, the building's required shape when drawn on the map, the Building Name, the Building Type, any map placement restriction, the Production ability, End-game points and any scoring conditions, a bonus gained when constructed, and the Raise Legion ability.

The cards' details will be more fully explained in the Actions section.

The Map of Rome

The central area of the map is a much simplified and abstracted layout of the city of Rome, containing:

1. The city itself (the main area of the map, containing all the small square cells)
2. The 7 hills of Rome within the city's boundaries: Capitolinus, Palatinus, Aventinus, Caelius, Esquilinus, Viminalis, and Qurinalis (note: Quirinalis is not shown on the 1-2 player map)
3. The Servian Wall surrounding the inner city (shown as a solid red line)
4. The Tiber River (to the left of the map) flowing through the outskirts of the city
5. 2 bridges across the Tiber River (next to the Capitolinus and Aventinus hills)
6. The Forum Romanum, also known as the Forum, a special pre-built building where all players' Overseers start the game
7. On the 3-4 player map, some squares have resources depicted on them (these are gained if a building is constructed on them)
8. Outside of the city (shown below the map of the city), are paths to other regions surrounding the current borders of Rome: Hispania, Gallia, Aegyptus, and Asia Minor. The paths at the top of each region lead directly to Rome. There are settlements connected to the paths which players will want to conquer during the game and renovate Roman roads to allow easy transport of produced resources from the regions into the city.

Each region generates its own resource for settlements connected to Rome by a renovated road: Hispania generates Fish, Gallia generates Wood, Aegyptus generates Brick, and Asia Minor generates Stone.

The Character Sheets

Each player's Character sheet has some unique starting features and Advisors, but they are all laid out in a similar fashion. Any filled-boxes are unique player starting resources/abilities.

1. The name of your character, and a short description.
2. A list of actions you can take on your turn.
3. Tracks to record how many Soldiers and Senators you have.
4. The Storage Yard, where you will store all your acquired resources. Note that you start the game with some resources as marked on the sheet.
5. A scoring table to help calculate your score at the end of the game.
6. The three Advisors you may bribe during the game to give you a unique combination of abilities. Each Advisor has 5 loyalty boxes.
7. Four victory point tracks to record: a. Coins you have collected b. Buildings you have constructed c. Legacy you have earned d. Glory you have amassed

Gaining, Storing, and Spending

You use your Character sheet to record things that you gain, and also track things that you spend.

Gaining

Whenever you gain a Coin, Legacy, or Glory, or construct a Building, draw a line in the box with the lowest number on the corresponding track that doesn't already have a line drawn under it. Note: You cannot gain more than the highest value shown on a specific track.

The highest number with a line under it is how many of that item you have.

For example: You currently have 3 Coins, as this is the highest number with a line drawn under it. If you gain 1 Coin, draw a line under the "4" box. The new highest number with a line under is now 4, meaning you have 4 Coins.

For example: Legatus starts the game with 1 Soldier. He then gains 3 more from a Raise Legions action. Later, he takes a Conquer action and conquers 2 settlements in one go, which requires him to garrison 2 Soldiers (one per settlement conquered). He now has 2 remaining Soldiers to use for later Conquer actions.

Whenever you gain a Soldier or Senator, draw a line in the box with the lowest number on the corresponding track that doesn't already have a line drawn under it. Whenever you Garrison a Soldier or Deploy a Senator, put a cross through any box that is underlined (but not already crossed out) to indicate it has been used.

The number of underlined boxes that are not crossed out represents how many Soldiers / Senators you have available to use. Note: You cannot gain more Soldiers or Senators than the highest values shown on their respective tracks.

Storing

When you store a resource (see Free Actions below), write a letter inside an empty box of your Storage Yard to indicate the resource type:

• W for Wood
• B for Brick
• S for Stone
• F for Fish
• J for Jewellery

The Basket icon represents any resource of your choice, except Jewellery, but it cannot be stored like this; you must choose which resource it is when you store it.

Note: You are not limited by the boxes in your Storage Yard, if you need more, just write letters on your Character sheet nearby.

Spending

Resources can be spent from your Storage Yard, and/or directly from a die.

To spend resources from your Storage Yard, put a cross in the box to show that the resource is spent. You can spend resources directly from a die that you choose; each resource can only be spent on one action (either a main action or a free action). Resources may also be generated via other ways (including during other players' turns). When generated, they may be immediately Stored, or used to Bribe an Advisor.

If an ability grants a second action using the same die, any resource icons already used are still considered used, and do not replenish.

Auxiliary icons are spent as part of a Conquest action. In this regard, they work like resources, but they can never be stored. Each Auxiliary icon can only be used once, and only on the turn it was generated.

Worker icons (Legionary, Builder, Architect, Merchant, or Any worker) are never "spent". Some die faces have multiple workers. If an ability grants a second action using the same die, the same or a different icon may be chosen.

Soldiers and Senators are "spent" when Garrisoned or Deployed respectively. Once spent in this way, they cannot be re-used or regenerated.

Gameplay

The game is played in rounds. Each round consists of 2 phases. Each phase has a number of steps which are carried out in order.

Dice Draft Phase

1. The Pro-Consul rolls all the dice, and places them within easy reach of all players into a dice pool.
2. In turn order (Pro-Consul first and then all other players clockwise), each player chooses 1 die from the pool and places it in front of them. Double-Draft: Immediately after taking their first die, a player may deploy (cross-out) 1 Senator from their character sheet, to take a second die from the pool.
3. Once all players have at least 1 die, starting from the player to the right of the Pro-Consul and then in counter-clockwise order, each player who hasn't yet taken a second die, takes a second die. One die will remain unclaimed.

Action Phase

1. In clockwise order, starting from the Pro-Consul, each player takes a turn by discarding any one of their dice. They may then perform 1 action and any number of free actions.
2. Continuing in clockwise order, again starting from the Pro-Consul, each player takes a second turn by discarding their remaining die and performing 1 action and any number of free actions.

Note: some abilities may grant additional actions. These are resolved immediately, even if it happens in the middle of a player's turn. If multiple players gain an additional action at the same time, they are resolved in clockwise order, beginning with the Pro-Consul.

Actions are described in detail below.

Round End

1. Pass the Pro-Consul card to the player clockwise of the current Pro-Consul.
2. Check for game end (see Game End below). If the end of the game has been triggered, the next round is the last round of the game.

Actions

There are 6 possible main actions you can perform. Each main action requires you to choose and then discard 1 die, using some or all of the icons on that die. Some actions require you to choose a die with a specific icon, other actions can be taken with any die.

You must still discard a die to take an action, even if you do not use the icons on that die for your chosen action.

You may not use icons on any other die you have, only that of the die you are using to take the action.

After choosing your die, but before performing your action, you may deploy (cross-out) a Senator from your character sheet to treat your chosen die as if it had an extra Builder, Legionary, or Merchant worker icon for use during that turn. See Senators section for more details.

The Any-worker icon can be used as if it was any other worker icon (i.e. Legionary / Builder / Architect / Merchant).

You may perform the same action on both of your turns during a round. There are also 2 free actions that all players can perform during any player's turn (see Free Actions below).

Construct

Requires a die showing either Builder or Architect.

Moving your Overseer

The first thing you may do is to move your Overseer. It may move to an adjacent building (belonging to any player), then to another adjacent building, and so on. Each time you take the Construct action, the first Overseer movement is free, but each subsequent building moved to costs 1 Fish.

Moving your Overseer is optional, but must be done at the start of the Construct action, before constructing a building.

Bridges: Overseers do not move onto (or stop on) bridges, but they may move from a building on one side of a bridge to a building on the other side for one movement, as the buildings on each side of a bridge are considered adjacent.

Servian Wall: Overseers can move from one building to another through the wall.

Forum: The Forum is considered to be a building, so Overseers can move to or through it just like any other building.

Important: Overseers may move through other Overseers, but cannot end their movement in a building with another Overseer in it, except for the Forum which may have any number of Overseers in it.

You must then construct a building by spending the required resources to draw a new building onto the map, using your coloured pen.

Selecting a building Blueprint

• If the chosen die depicts a Builder, you may choose an available Blueprint (one that does not have any player's Foreman on it already, including your own). A Blueprint card with a Foreman on it is "unavailable".
• If your chosen die depicts an Architect, you may choose an available Blueprint (as above), or an unavailable Blueprint (one with a Foreman already on it).
• You must be able to pay the cost of the chosen building, shown in the top-left of the Blueprint card, by spending resources from your Storage Yard and/or from the chosen die.
  • If you chose an available Blueprint but your chosen die depicts an Architect, you pay 1 less resource (of your choice).

Constructing a building

1. The building must be drawn adjacent to the building your Overseer is currently in (which may be the Forum).
2. The building must be drawn in the shape shown on the Blueprint card, but may be flipped, reflected, or rotated as desired.
3. The building must obey any placement restrictions noted on the Blueprint card itself (indicated by a restriction icon on the card).
4. Buildings can be built entirely on marshlands (any area not marked as a hill), entirely on a hill, or straddling one hill and some adjacent marshlands (unless the Blueprint card says otherwise). They cannot straddle multiple hills.
5. Nothing can be built on the Tiber River or a bridge. Note that bridges are not buildings, but the two squares on either end of a bridge are considered adjacent to each other.
6. Nothing can be built on the Forum.
7. Nothing can be built straddling the Servian Wall. Note, however, that two squares with the Servian Wall in between (one inside the wall, and one outside) are considered adjacent.
8. All squares of the building must be drawn on squares of the map, not overhanging the edge of the map.

Adjacency

Two buildings are considered adjacent if they share a straight edge (orthogonally adjacent). Touching on a corner is not enough. Also, two buildings on either side of a bridge that share a straight edge with that bridge are considered to be adjacent to each other.

Note: It is recommended that you double check the place you wish to draw your building is legal (per the restrictions on the card, and constraints above), before you draw it in place. Confirm with another player that you have it correct.

Once drawn, perform these steps:

1. Write the building name inside the shape drawn, so you know which type of building it is (abbreviate if easier, using the abbreviation shown on the top-left of the Blueprint card, e.g. for Brickmaker you could write "BM").
2. If you drew a building over a square with a resource symbol showing, gain that resource immediately. For example, if the blue player just drew the Plaza over a square with a resource symbol, they would immediately gain 1 Stone and 1 Fish.
3. Move your Overseer onto the new building.
4. Draw a line under the leftmost box of the Buildings track, without a line already under it, on your Character sheet.
5. Move your Foreman onto the Blueprint card for the building you just constructed.
6. If any other player's Foreman is on the Blueprint card, return it to them (they place it next to their player sheet).
7. If you constructed from a Blueprint card that has a bonus icon, resolve that ability now.
8. All buildings that are adjacent to the new building, regardless of who owns them, perform their Produce ability for their owner. Note: not all buildings have Produce abilities.
9. If you constructed a building adjacent to one or more opponent's buildings, you gain 1 Senator. You can only gain 1 Senator per Construction action, even if you place your building next to multiple opponent's buildings.

Forum (Forum Romanum)

The Forum is a special building, pre-printed on the Central map, and is where all players' Overseers start. The first player to construct a building onto the map will always have to build that building adjacent to the Forum.

Raise Legions

Requires a die showing Legionary.

Choose up to 3 different Army buildings on the map (regardless of owner) and activate the Legion ability shown on each of those buildings' Blueprint cards. You gain the benefit of the ability from each activated building. Any opponents' buildings that were activated gain the owner(s) 1 coin (per building used).

Conquer

Any die can be discarded to perform this action; it does not require a specific icon on the die.

To conquer one or more new settlements, you must have enough Army Strength. Your Army Strength is calculated as follows: The number of non-garrisoned (not crossed out) Soldiers you have, plus the number of Auxiliaries on the chosen die (normally 0 or 1, but some Advisors might increase this).

For Example: You have 5 Soldiers in total, but 2 of them have been garrisoned. Including the Auxiliary icon from your chosen die, you have an Army Strength of 4.

The Army Strength required to conquer a settlement is shown by the number inside the settlement's circle.

You may conquer one or multiple settlements using a single action, with the following restrictions:

• Your Army Strength must meet or exceed the total costs of all targeted settlements.
• The settlements must be in the same region.
• Each settlement you conquer must either be:
  • Directly connected to Rome via an unrenovated road, or
  • Connected to a settlement that was already conquered (by any player), even in the same action.
• You must have at least 1 non-garrisoned Soldier (not Auxiliary) for each settlement you conquer.

Mark all conquered settlements by crossing them out on the map using your pen.

You must then establish a Garrison at each newly-conquered settlement: Put a cross in one non-garrisoned Soldier box on your Character sheet for each settlement conquered.

Example: Gallia has one settlement that had been conquered by the orange player in a previous turn. You, as the blue player, have 6 non-garrisoned Soldiers and use a die with an Auxiliary icon on it to give you an Army Strength of 7. You are able to conquer both the settlements shown in one action: the first one requiring 3 Army Strength, and the second (which is now connected to Rome via the one you just conquered) requiring 4 Army Strength. You then establish a Garrison in each conquered settlement, by crossing out 2 non-garrisoned Soldiers from your Character sheet. You also score 5 Glory (2 for the first settlement conquered, and 3 for the second).

After conquering, fill in a number of boxes on your Glory track, according to the number of banners hanging down inside the settlements conquered (1-3 per settlement).

1 Glory, 2 Glory, 3 Glory (shown by the number of banners on each settlement).

Note: Each settlement may only be conquered once during the game, by a single player.

Expand

Requires a die showing Builder.

You may renovate one or more roads to conquered settlements, in a single region. The road(s) you draw must connect back to Rome, either directly or via previously renovated roads. Each road renovated costs 1 stone. Stone icons on the die discarded for this action can be used towards the cost.

Mark a renovated road by filling in all of the path using your pen.

For each road renovated, also increase your Legacy track by 1 for each renovated road. If you renovated more than 1 road with a single action, score 2 additional Legacy.

Once a road is built, each settlement that is now linked via a renovated road to Rome for the first time generates the region's resource for the player who conquered that settlement.

The resource a region generates is shown in the lower-left of the region. For example, all Gallia's settlements generate Wood.

Example: You, as the blue player, decide to Expand and renovates two roads: One connecting from Rome to the first settlement, then another connecting that settlement to the next conquered settlement. This costs you 2 Stone (one per road), and gains you 5 Legacy (1 for the first road, 2 for the second road, and 2 bonus legacy for renovating two roads in one action). The orange player, who conquered the first settlement, gains 1 wood from that settlement as it is now connected to Rome, as do you, who conquered the second settlement, as that is also now connected to Rome (via the first settlement). Note that you could not have renovated only the second and third road (skipping the first road), as all renovated roads must lead to Rome!

Tax

Any die can be discarded to perform this action; it does not require a specific icon on the die.

Select one region. All of your settlements that are connected to Rome via renovated roads in that region generate the region's resource (add it to your Storage Yard, or use to Bribe).

The resource a region's settlements generate is shown in the lower-left of that region.

If the chosen die shows Merchant, each of your settlements connected to Rome via renovated roads in all regions generate their respective resource.

Example: You, as the blue player, decide to tax Gallia. You have one settlement in Gallia connected to Rome via roads, so you gain 1 Wood into your Storage Yard. If your other settlement had a road connected into Rome too, you would have gained 2 Wood instead. The orange player's settlement doesn't generate a wood, as it is your Tax action, and only your own settlements produce their resource.

Trade

Any die can be discarded to perform this action; it does not require a specific icon on the die.

The Trade action consists of two parts. You must perform part 1 in order for part 2 to occur (for any player).

1. Spend 3 identical resources from your Storage Yard, and/or from the chosen die to gain 3 coins. Jewellery may be used as a wild resource. If the chosen die shows Merchant (or you gained one via a power), gain 1 coin extra for each Jewellery used in the trade (thus selling 3 Jewellery with the Merchant icon on the die would earn you 6 coins).
2. Each player (including you) may then choose one of their own buildings and perform the Produce ability shown on its Blueprint card (earning the rewards for themselves).

Notes:

• The Shrine and most Army buildings do not have a Produce ability.
• The position of the Overseer has no bearing on this action.

Example: You have 1 Wood, 1 Brick, and 1 Jewellery in your Storage Yard. You choose to Trade and use the die shown above for the action, which generates 1 Wood, 1 Brick, and has a Builder icon. You spend the Wood and Jewellery from your Storage Yard (crossing those resources out), and the Wood from the die, for a total of 3 Wood (the Jewellery acting as a wildcard). You gain 3 Coins. The Builder icon is wasted, but you can store the unused Brick from the die in your Storage Yard. Had you used a die with a Merchant icon, you could have gained a bonus Coin for using 1 Jewellery in the trade.

Free Actions

Each player can perform free actions on any player's turn.

Store

On your turn, any resources shown on the chosen die that were not used for your main action can be stored in your Storage Yard: Write them in there following the normal rules for when you gain resources.

Note: If you choose to store a Basket, you must decide which resource it is, and then store that (i.e. you cannot store it as a Basket).

All players, even if it is not their turn, can store any resources they gain into their Storage Yard.

Bribe Advisor

You may bribe an Advisor by using a Fish, Jewellery, or Basket icon from your chosen die or that was gained from buildings, settlements, or other Advisor abilities. You cannot bribe Advisors using resources from your Storage Yard.

If you bribe using a resource icon from your chosen die prior to performing a main action, you may not use that resource icon during the main action (i.e. that resource is now considered spent).

Resources that you gain when it is not your turn can be used to bribe your Advisors, if you choose not to store them in your Storage Yard.

Each icon used allows you to mark the lowest numbered (with Roman numerals I-V) empty loyalty box of any of your Advisors. If you bribe with multiple resources, they can be split over multiple Advisors. Each time you bribe, mark off the lowest numbered empty box of any of your Advisors; you do not need to completely bribe one Advisor before bribing another, nor do you have to bribe the topmost Advisor first.

Designer's Note: Fish is used, in this context, to represent a range of foods, not just fish. We're not sure the Advisors would be able to eat quite as much fish as you may end up bribing them with if it represented just fish!

Advisors

Each character has a unique set of 3 Advisors who give them special abilities, once unlocked. Advisor powers are unlocked by loyalty, which is gained by bribing them (see Bribe Advisor above).

• Once 2 loyalty boxes have been marked, the advisor's basic ability is immediately available to use for the rest of the game.
• Once 4 loyalty boxes have been marked, the advisor's advanced ability is also available.
• Once all 5 loyalty boxes have been marked, you will score extra points at the end of the game, depending on the Advisor.

All abilities gained are cumulative (the basic ability is still available once 4 loyalty boxes are marked for example).

Basic and advanced abilities are unique for each character. See the FAQ section below for extra details about specific advisors' abilities.

Example: You have already bribed Theocles once in a previous turn. Now, you have two fish leftover after performing a main action, and want to use them to bribe advisors again. You choose to bribe Theocles once more (unlocking that advisor's basic ability), then decide to start bribing Vivianus and cross out his first box. Note also that if your main action was to Construct an Army or Urban building, you could Bribe before you construct (as a Free action), and thus gain the 1 Soldier bonus that Theocles' first ability provides, this turn.

See the next section for the benefits of bribing.

If you manage to bribe all levels of an Advisor (to level V, shown on the right of each Advisor), you will gain the depicted VP at the end of the game.

Senators

Senators are gained when you construct a building next to an opponent's building, and sometimes as a result of an Advisor ability. They are stored on your character sheet (see Gaining, Storing, and Spending above).

Senators can be Deployed (i.e. used) for two purposes during the game:

1. To draft two dice at once, during the Drafting Phase;
2. To treat your chosen die as if it had an extra Builder, Raise Legion, or Merchant worker icon for use during your turn.

To mark a Senator as deployed, cross out one of the underlined Senators from your Senators track (note: you cannot re-deploy an already-crossed-out Senator, even if it was used for a different deploy purpose earlier in the game; once it's deployed, a Senator remains in that state for the rest of the game).

Gods' Favours

When you build a Religious Building, you may claim any one of the available Gods' Favour cards. Once claimed, take the card and place it face up in front of you; no other player may claim it as long as you have it. You may then use the power of that card at any time by returning it to the middle of the table.

You may own multiple Gods' Favours cards at once, but you can only use them on your turn, and only one of them per turn.

Nero cards

When you draw a line under a blue box on a track on your Character sheet, take the top Nero card from the Nero deck and place it face up in front of you; it will be worth points at the end of the game. If two players underline a blue box simultaneously, Nero cards are taken in clockwise order, starting with the player who is currently taking a turn.

Once the blue box is underlined, you can continue filling in boxes on that track as normal, up to the limit of the track.

Game End

When the final Nero card is taken from the deck, the end of the game is triggered. Finish the current round, play one final round, then proceed to final scoring.

Final Scoring

Add up your score as follows:

• Points equal to the highest-valued underlined box on your Coins track.
• Points equal to the highest-valued underlined box on your Buildings track.
• Points equal to the highest-valued underlined box on your Legacy track.
• Points equal to the highest-valued underlined box on your Glory track.
• Points shown on any Advisors with all 5 loyalty boxes marked (3 to 5 points, as shown on each Advisor).
• Points for each building you constructed during the game, according to the scoring conditions indicated on each Blueprint card.
• Points from any Nero cards you took during the game.
• Points equal to half (rounded up) the number of Soldiers you have (garrisoned or not).
• Points equal to half (rounded up) the number of Senators you have (deployed or not).

The player with the most points has gained the greatest influence throughout the city, and becomes the right hand man of Nero.

In case of a tie, the player with the most Soldiers (garrisoned or not) wins. If still tied, the players have equal status and start a new Republic of Rome, with their shared vision for the future of the great state, only to be overthrown by the Flavian dynasty a few years later.

FAQ

General

• The Storage Yard is not limited in capacity: If you run out of space to store resources in your Storage Yard, you may erase boxes with used resources to make room for the newly acquired resources, or just write them next to the Storage Yard area.
• A settlement can only be connected to Rome once. When renovating additional roads leading into an already-connected settlement, relevant abilities and resource production does not happen again.
• A blueprint card that says it must be "adjacent to the Tiber river", means at least one square of the building must be adjacent to a part of the river. Squares considered adjacent to the river are shown by images in the rulebook, as dark-grey squares, for both the 3-4 player map and the 1-2 player map.

Advisors

General Note

• When an Advisor's ability is unlocked, it is immediately available to use from that moment on (even if mid-turn or mid-action) for the rest of the game.

Legatus

• Theocles: The ability that gives an additional Auxiliary icon if there is a Legionary or Builder icon on the die: you cannot use an Any-worker icon as a Builder icon to trigger this ability, nor if you deploy a Senator to gain a Builder icon - the Builder icon itself must be printed on the die face.
• Cassian:
  • "When taking a Conquer action, gain the region's resource": If you conquer multiple settlements in a single action, you only gain the region's resource once in total (i.e. it's the action that triggers the bonus, not each conquered settlement).
  • "When your settlement is connected to Rome, gain 1 Coin". Scenario: A player draws two roads in one turn, connecting two of your settlements in Aegypt. You haven't yet unlocked this Legatus advisor power. The connection of the settlements gains you 1 Fish for each; you spend the first Fish to finish unlocking the advisor power (and just store the 2nd Fish for later). Does the new power trigger for both the connections just built? Answer: No, the first connection gave you the fish to unlock the power, so the power is only active for the second settlement's connection. Thus, you only gain 1 Coin.

Mercatrix

• Donatus: "When taking an Expand action, gain the region's resource": If you renovate multiple roads in a single action, you only gain the region's resource once in total (i.e. it's the action that triggers the bonus, not each renovated road). The ability does not trigger when any other player renovates a road.
• Nicodemus: The ability that gains an Any-worker icon if you have Fish on the die does not trigger from a Basket icon on the die - the Fish icon itself must be printed on the die face.

Patricia

• Euphemius: Both abilities give an additional Auxiliary icon if there are Legionary or Builder icons on the die; you cannot use an Any-worker icon as a hammer to trigger this ability, nor if you deploy a Senator to gain a Builder icon - the Builder icon itself must be printed on the die face.
• Palinurus: The ability that gains an Architect icon if you have a Builder icon on the die does not trigger from an Any-worker icon on the die, nor if you deploy a Senator to gain a Builder icon.
• Martialis: When changing a die face, you do not gain the resources from the original die face, only from the face the die is turned to. Changing of a die face must be done immediately before taking a turn during the Actions Phase.

Præfectus

• Bertramus: When changing a die face, you do not gain the resources from the original die face, only from the face the die is turned to. Changing of a die face must be done immediately before taking a turn during the Actions Phase.
• Jovilios: "When taking a Conquer action, gain the region's resource": If you conquer multiple settlements in a single action, you only gain the region's resource once in total (i.e. it's the action that triggers the bonus, not each conquered settlement). The ability does not trigger when any other player conquers settlements.

Buildings

Plaza

• The 3x3 grid it has to be fully part of to qualify for its Victory Points means it has to be entirely within a grid of 3x3 squares which all have parts of buildings on them. The Forum (itself a 3x3 square building) can be part of this grid. For example, the blue player's Plaza in the example image is part of a 3x3 grid, as it includes two squares of the Forum.

Garden

• Adjacent empty spaces do not include areas off the edge of the map (i.e. there must be at least 4 empty squares surrounding the Garden for it to score).

Insula

• The Insula allows you to activate your and/or opponents' buildings; you gain the production benefit. Any opponent whose building you activated gains 1 coin. If you activated two buildings owned by the same opponent, they get 1 coin for each building (i.e. total of 2 coins).

Magistrate

• To "steal" a resource from another player's Storage Yard, you choose one resource (of any type) that the player in question has in their Storage Yard; they then cross out that resource from their Storage Yard, and you write that resource into your own Storage Yard.
• The VP condition is based on your own Advisors, not any other player's Advisors.

Market

• The production ability allows you to get 2 resources in any combination of wood, brick, or stone; it does not have to be two resources of the same type.

Villa

• The Forum does count as a building in terms of scoring the Villa, if the Villa is adjacent to it.

Gods' Favours

Bacchus

During a Trade action, you may trade any number of sets of 3 resources. For each set traded, score +1 Coin.

For example, trading 6 Jewellery with Merchant and Bacchus would score you 14 Coins: 3 Coin for each set, +1 Coin for each Jewellery thanks to Merchant, +2 Coin bonus from Bacchus for trading 2 sets.

Juno

When Constructing a (non-Religious) building, you may use the power of Juno to build this building in an L-shaped tromino shape; it can straddle 2 or more hills, it can be built across the Servian wall, and does not need to be adjacent to your Overseer. However, it must still be built adjacent to an existing building, cannot be built on the river, a bridge, or overlapping an existing building.

After constructing the building, you still move your Overseer onto it as normal.

Mark the Buildings track as if you had built two buildings.

Jupiter

Use after performing a main action. Immediately take another, different, main action, re-using the same die you just chose. Action icons may be reused for the new action if appropriate, but any resources on the die that were used may not be used again when taking the second action.

Mars

Either:

• When performing the Conquer action: Worth 2 extra Auxiliary, or
• When performing the Raise Legion action: Gain 2 extra Soldier.

Mercury

Use during a Trade or Tax action. You gain a Merchant icon for your current action. Gain 2 Coin if you have roads and/or settlements in at least 2 regions (if you have 1 road in 1 region and 1 settlement in a different region, that is sufficient to trigger the reward.)

Additionally, if you are using the Tax action, all of your settlements are considered connected to Rome.

Minerva

Immediately before taking a turn during the Actions Phase, change the die you wish to use for the turn to any other face.

When changing the die face, you do not gain any resources or actions shown on the original die face, only from the face the die is turned to.

Saturn

This favour may only be taken by a character who has an Advisor providing this ability (and only after that ability has been unlocked).

As a free action on your turn, spend 3 Fish to immediately construct 2 different buildings (both buildings' Blueprints must be available at the beginning of the free action), at no cost. All rules and restrictions of the Construct action applies except that the buildings do not need to be next to your Overseer. You should not move your Overseer after building. Do not move your Foreman onto either of the Blueprint cards for the buildings built (leave it on whatever building it was already on, if any). These new buildings do not trigger production on adjacent buildings, nor do they gain you a Senator for building adjacent to another player's building. You do, however, mark the buildings on your Buildings track as usual.

Solo Rules

Extra Components

• 18x Seneca solo cards
• 1x standard d6 die

Goal

You are playing against Seneca, a virtual opponent who is meddling in your plans. To win, you must beat Seneca's final score.

Seneca does not take actions like a human player, and does not construct (draw) buildings onto the map, however he does build rubble on the map, can build roads and conquer settlements, makes Blueprint cards unavailable, drafts dice as a player would, and takes Nero cards at certain times. He will occasionally slip up in his cunning plans though, inadvertently triggering production for you.

You can choose from three different difficulty levels, which are described in the Altering Difficulty section near the end of these rules. We recommend starting on Easy for your first game. There are also other adjustments you can make (noted in the same section) to alter the difficulty level more if you so wish.

Setup Changes

1. Set up the game as if playing a 2-player game, except Seneca doesn't get a Character sheet or an Overseer. You will use all 4 Nero bonus cards (including the one marked "1 & 4 players only");
2. Seneca starts with his Foreman on the Religious Blueprint card (i.e. it is unavailable in the first round, as per the multiplayer rules), and takes a random Gods' Favour card from those dealt out at setup (any except Saturn);
3. Construct Seneca's draw deck:
   • Put aside the two Seneca cards which do not have a Wax Seal icon;
   • Shuffle all the other cards together, face-down;
   • Take 8 of the shuffled cards and add the two cards you have set aside. Shuffle these 10 cards together and place face-down near the play area;
   • Place the remaining 8 cards on top. This forms Seneca's draw deck.
4. Place the standard d6 die near Seneca's draw deck;
5. Decide which difficulty level you are going to play at (see Altering Difficulty);
6. You start as the Pro-Consul (start player).

Gameplay

The Pro-Consul card rotates between you and Seneca between rounds, as it would do in a 2-player game.

Round Start

At the start of each round, discard any previously played Seneca cards (arrange these cards so you can still see the wax seal symbols on them all - see Claiming Nero Cards), then take 2 new cards from the top of Seneca's deck, and place them face down nearby.

Drafting Phase

You and Seneca will draft dice in the same order as in a 2-player game (you may still use Senators to modify this).

When it is Seneca's turn to draft his first die each round:

1. Roll the d6 die.
2. On an even roll (2/4/6) pick a die matching the colour on the die image in the top-half of the left hand card-back (blue or yellow). On an odd roll (1/3/5) pick a die matching the colour on the die image in the bottom-half of the left hand card-back (yellow or red).
3. If there are multiple dice of a matching colour available, Seneca picks the die showing the number matching the value rolled on the d6. If that number is not available, pick the die that's value is closest to the rolled number, going up from the rolled number, then wrapping around 6 to 1 (e.g. if 4 is rolled, prioritise picking die numbers: 4 > 5 > 6 > 1 > 2 > 3).
4. If there are no available dice matching the half of the card-back detailed above, instead use the colour on the other half of the card.
5. If no dice in either of the colours is available, Seneca picks from whatever colour is available instead, using the number on the die as detailed above.

When it is time for Seneca to draft his second die, repeat this process, this time checking the right-hand face-down Seneca card instead of the left.

Place Seneca's chosen die by the card he used to select the die. The dice Seneca drafts are not relevant to his actions, so can be discarded during his turn.

Actions Phase

You take your turns as normal.

On Seneca's turn:

• Flip over the left-hand face-down Seneca card for his first action, or the one remaining face-down card for his second action;
• Check whether Seneca can claim a Nero bonus card (see Claiming Nero Cards);
• Carry out the action(s) shown on the flipped-up Seneca card.

Anatomy of a Seneca card

Each Seneca card shows: the Actions Seneca wants to perform, the Blueprint type to claim, the Rubble location & shape, and a Wax Seal to trigger claiming Nero cards.

Claiming Nero Cards

On 16 of the 18 Seneca cards, there is a small wax seal symbol at the bottom-right of the card. When Seneca flips over a new card on his turn, count the number of wax seals visible on all the discarded Seneca cards from previous rounds, plus the one on the newly flipped-up card (if present).

As soon as Seneca has a certain number of seals visible, he will immediately claim the next available Nero card (if any are left). The number of seals required is dependent on the difficulty level you have selected. In a Normal difficulty game this will be once Seneca has 10 seals, 13 seals, 15 seals and 16 seals (see Altering Difficulty for levels at other difficulties).

Place any Nero cards Seneca claims in a pile next to his draw deck, for end-game scoring.

Taking Actions

Seneca performs the stated action(s), if possible.

The possible actions Seneca will take are:

• Construct + Rubble;
• Conquer;
• Expand;
• Trade.

The actions are explained in detail below.

Actions Detail

Construct

Seneca tries to claim one of the Blueprint building types stated on the drawn card. The Blueprint card he wants to claim will be chosen according to the following additional criteria:

• For the Army, Urban, and Manufacturing building types, there is a choice of two Blueprints to build. Seneca wants to claim the lowest or highest numbered Blueprint of the desired type based on the "L" or "H" next to the building type name on the Seneca card. For example, if Manufacturing (L) is specified, and Manufacturing Blueprints 2 and 5 are in this game, Seneca wants to take Manufacturing Blueprint #2.
• If Seneca can't claim the desired Blueprint because it is unavailable, Seneca claims the other Blueprint of that type, if one is available.
• If the other Blueprint of that type isn't available either, or Seneca wants a Religious or Leisure building that's unavailable, Seneca claims no Blueprint card this turn.

If Seneca managed to claim a Blueprint card this turn, he moves his Foreman onto that card.

If Seneca wanted to build a Religious building, regardless of whether he actually claimed the Blueprint card or not, he claims a new, random god card (shuffle the available god cards - except Saturn (if in this game), and give him one at random), then he returns any existing god card he previously had to the central area. If no god cards are available (you/Seneca have claimed them all), Seneca just keeps his existing god card.

Rubble

Regardless of whether Seneca claimed a Blueprint card or not, he now builds Rubble onto the map (Seneca is moving rubble onto the hills around Rome, trying to block your building opportunities). You must box off an area of squares in the shape shown on Seneca's action card, using Seneca's pen, onto the stated hill. You are free to draw the rubble shape anywhere on the hill, provided it complies with the following placement rules:

• You must draw at least one square of the shape adjacent to one of your buildings, if possible;
• On hills adjacent to the Forum, you must also draw at least one square of the shape adjacent to the Forum, if possible;
• If there isn't space for all 3 squares to be drawn, draw as many squares of the shape as possible. If the hill is completely full already, Seneca skips building any rubble this turn.
• You may draw the shape in any orientation or rotation, but it must be entirely on the stated hill.

If none of the options are available Seneca performs an Action Failure (see below).

Example: Seneca builds rubble in a 3x1 grid, on Capitolinus: It must be adjacent to one of the player's buildings (in this case, the Jeweller), if possible, and adjacent to the Forum, if possible. The shown position & orientation is the only legal place the rubble can go in this scenario. Seneca building rubble next to the Jeweller triggers the Jeweller's production for the player. Later, the player builds a Camp next to the previously-drawn Rubble on Capitolinus. This gains the player a Senator, and converts the Rubble into a Park.

If Seneca draws the Rubble adjacent to any of your own buildings, those buildings will trigger their Production ability for you.

Conquer

Seneca conquers the next available settlement in the region with the fewest settlements currently conquered. If regions are tied, choose in priority order of production type: Fish, Wood, Brick, Stone.

If tied within the region, choose the lowest value settlement first, then the next lowest settlement and so on, and if still tied, choose clockwise from the top-left.

Note: If the action shows *2 after it, repeat the action a second time, if possible (both actions must be taken in the same region, as per multiplayer rules, so sometimes Seneca won't be able to take the second action).

Expand

Seneca renovates the first available road closest to Rome, in the region with fewest roads currently renovated.

If regions are tied, Seneca will connect to his own Settlements rather than yours, if possible.

If regions are still tied, choose in priority order of production type: Fish, Wood, Brick, Stone.

If tied within the region, choose the road with the fewest resource icons. If still tied, Seneca will connect to his own Settlements rather than yours, if possible, and finally if still tied, you may choose which road Seneca renovates.

This action does gain you the region's resource if a road Seneca renovates connects to a settlement you conquered, as per the multiplayer rules.

Note: If the action shows *2 after it, repeat the action a second time, if possible (both actions must be taken in the same region, as per multiplayer rules, so sometimes Seneca won't be able to take the second action).

Trade

Triggers the Production effect of a multiplayer Trade action for you (has no effect for Seneca). See Trade section of the main rules above.

Action Failure

If Seneca ever fails to perform an action (e.g. he wants to Expand but there are no legal roads to renovate), he will instead perform the first action possible from this priority list of fallback actions: Expand → Conquer → Construct.

If Seneca is taking Construct because of a failed action, the priority of claiming is Religious, Army, Urban, Manufacturing, Leisure and then by lowest-numbered building.

• If Seneca can complete even a part of the desired action, it is not considered a failure. For example, if he wants to perform a Construct + Rubble action, and the desired blueprint is unavailable, but he can build Rubble, that is not considered a failure.
• If Seneca can perform the first action of a "*2" action, but not the second, this is not considered a failure.
• If Seneca is completely unable to do a "*2" action (i.e. he can't do the action even once), he performs a fallback action, but only performs that fallback action once (i.e. it is not repeated).

Rubble & Parks

Seneca will sometimes want to draw Rubble onto the map (see the Rubble actions' descriptions in Actions Detail because). You may also sometimes convert Rubble into Parks (see Senators, below).

Both Rubble and Park areas are treated as buildings in terms of you moving your Overseer through them, and can be part of the Plaza building's 3x3 grid scoring requirement.

Senators

If you use a Construct action to place a building adjacent to any areas of Rubble, you convert one adjacent Rubble into a Park, and receive a Senator. When converting Rubble into a Park, mark each square of the rubble area with a "+" (or a tree if you're feeling creative!) to indicate its new status. Constructing a building adjacent to an existing Park does not generate a new Senator for you.

Note: Just as in the multiplayer rules, you can only gain one Senator per Construction action, even if you place your building next to multiple Rubble areas.

End Game

The game will end one round after the last Nero card is claimed, or at the end of the 9th round, whichever occurs first. (The 9th round is the round in which Seneca plays the final 2 cards from his draw deck.)

You calculate your own score as usual.

Seneca scores depending on how many Parks, Rubble areas, Roads, and Settlements he has built during the game (see table below), plus any points from Nero cards he has collected.

Area	Per Area
Parks	1
Rubble	3
Roads	4
Settlements	5

If you manage to beat Seneca's score, you win!

Altering Difficulty

You can set the solo game's difficulty by choosing which one of the difficulty levels to use. This affects how soon Seneca claims Nero cards, as detailed in the table below. It is recommended to play on Easy for your first game:

Difficulty Level	Seneca takes the next Nero card the moment he has:
Easy	11 / 14 / 16 / -
Normal	10 / 13 / 15 / 16
Hard	9 / 12 / 14 / 15

As well as the difficulty levels, you can customise the gameplay difficulty further using the following options. Select any number of them to adjust your experience.

For an easier game:

• Score Seneca's areas as follows:

  Area	Per Area
  Parks	1
  Rubble	3
  Roads	3
  Settlements	5

• You may exchange any two stockyard resources when spending them for any one other resource type, except Jewellery.

• If Seneca fails to perform an action, he does not fall back to one of the other actions instead - he simply does no action that turn.

For a harder game:

• Score Seneca's areas as follows:

  Area	Per Area
  Parks	2
  Rubble	4
  Roads	3
  Settlements	5

• Before the beginning of the game, Seneca conquers the first settlement of Asia Minor, and builds a road to it.

• Before the beginning of the game, Seneca conquers the first settlement of Aegypt, and builds a road to it.

• Do not count Rubble as a building for the sake of moving your Overseer (Parks do still count as buildings). This will mean it is harder to move your overseer to build buildings further away from your starting point; it will result in needing to spend more fish or you could even get stuck if you're not careful!

FAQ specific to Solo Play

Buildings

Jeweller

The Jeweller building's scoring requirement won't ever be met in a solo game (even if, during the game, Seneca chooses to Construct an Urban building then build Rubble next to your Jeweller), as Seneca doesn't actually build the buildings onto the map required to trigger the Jeweller's scoring criteria.

2 Player Variant

In a two player game, the players may use a modified Seneca deck (solo opponent) to make access to blueprints a bit more restrictive.

Setup changes

Set up as a normal 2 player game, except:

• Find all the Seneca solo cards with a Construct action on them. Return any other Seneca cards to the box;
• Put aside one of the cards with Religious specified as the Construct building on it, placing it face-up in a discard pile;
• Shuffle the rest of the cards together to form a draw pile, and place next to the just-discarded card;
• Use a spare player's foreman as Seneca's foreman, and place it on the Religious building blueprint - thus the second player does not place their foreman on the Religious building.

Gameplay changes

From the second round onwards:

• At the start of the Dice Draft Phase (before players have drafted any dice yet), reveal the top card of Seneca's deck;
• Move Seneca's foreman onto the building type* stated on the drawn Seneca card;
• Discard the drawn card to its discard pile;
• If Seneca's deck runs out, take the discard pile and reshuffle to form a new draw deck.

* Seneca's Army, Manufacturing, and Urban cards will also note either L (Low) or H (High). This indicates whether Seneca wants to block the lower-valued or the higher-valued card of its type. For example, if Manufacturing (L) is drawn, then Seneca's foreman is placed on the Manufacturing blueprint with the lowest number (e.g. if blueprints M2 and M5 are in play, Seneca places on blueprint M2).

If the blueprint Seneca wants to place on already has another player's foreman on it, Seneca bumps that foreman off, as if Seneca had used an Architect to access an unavailable building (thus placing that foreman next to player's character board).

Icon Reference

Resources: Wood, Brick, Stone, Fish, Basket (spend/store as any resource except Jewellery, i.e. Wood, Brick, Stone, or Fish), Jewellery.

Workers: Legionary, Builder, Architect, Merchant, Any worker (i.e. Legionary, Builder, Architect, or Merchant).

Other: Auxiliary.

Additional Icons (that may appear in various parts of the game):

• Victory Points (scored at game end).
• Coins (which are equivalent to points for game end scoring, but stored during the game), and also the Coins track on character sheets (where gained coins are marked).
• Soldiers (gained from Army buildings after a Raise Legions action, via some Army buildings' Production ability, or via Advisors powers; used for Conquering), and also the Soldiers track on character sheets (where gained soldiers are marked).
• Senators (gained during a Construct action or via Advisors' powers; used for double drafting or gaining additional worker icons), and also the Senators track on character sheets (where gained Senators are marked).
• The Storage Yard (where gained & stored resources are marked).
• A bonus on blueprint cards gained immediately when that building is constructed.
• A restriction on blueprint cards restricting where a building can be constructed.
• Raise Legion ability on Army blueprint cards (that can be triggered using the Raise Legion action).
• A production ability on blueprint cards (triggers when a building is built adjacent to this building during a Construct action, or as a side-effect of a Trade action).
• Legacy track on character sheets (where Legacy is marked after taking an Expand action).
• Buildings track on character sheets (which is added to after taking a Construct action).
• Glory track on character sheets (where Glory is marked after taking a Conquer action).
• Advisors on character sheets.

Dice Face Distribution: Each of the 3 dice colours (red, yellow, blue) shows a mix of resource and worker icons across its 6 faces, numbered 1-6.

Note: Numbers on the dice are for solo play only, and can be ignored in multiplayer games.