Rome: Fate of an Empire
Rome: Fate of an Empire Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 60 Attribute Cards
- 59 Development Cards
- 25 Territory Cards
- 20 Strife & Loan Cards
- 10 Edict Cards
- 35 Tokens
- 18 Cubes
- 1 Pawn
- 3 Double Sided Leader Cards
- 4 Track Cards
Market Area Setup
- Place the Market and Round Tracker Boards in the center of the table. Put one cube on the "0" space of the Glory Point track on the Market Board, and one on each of the leftmost spaces of the Round Tracker Board (one for tracking turns, and one for tracking rounds).
- Separate the Level I & Level II Development cards, and shuffle them into separate Level I and Level II draw piles. Then place each of these piles face down below its respective tab of the Round Tracker Board.
- Deal out 5 Level I Developments below the Market Board.
- Shuffle the Advanced Attribute Cards (indicated by the Advanced icon) together, and place them in a face down draw pile above the tab of the Round Tracker Board.
- Deal 5 Advanced Attribute Cards above the market board.
Empire Setup
-
Choose a Leader and place their Leader Board in your player area. Place 1 cube on the leftmost space of each of the 5 Bonus Tracks on your Leader Board. The area just below your Leader Board (currently empty) is referred to as your Projects Area — Development Cards will go here later.
-
Gather all the Starting Attribute Cards (marked with a Starting icon), and the 2 Leader Attribute Cards with the icon matching the one shown in the top left corner of your Leader Board. These special Leader Attribute cards replace 2 of the Starting Attribute Cards, marked with a matching icon. Return the 2 removed Starting Attribute Cards and all unused Leader Attribute Cards (those not belonging to your Leader) to the game box.
You should now have a Starting Deck of 16 Attribute Cards. Shuffle this deck and place it next to your Leader Board.
-
Place the Resource Board next to your Leader Board, and place 1 cube on the "0" space of each Resource Track except Gold. Place a cube on the "3" space of the Gold track.
-
Collect 4 Movement Tokens, a number of Influence Tokens indicated by the Influence bonus on your Wisdom track, and a number of Trade Tokens indicated by the bonus on your Stability track.
-
Place the Capital card on the table in front of you, above your Leader Board. Then shuffle the Territory cards and deal them out randomly onto the table to create a face-up 5x5 Empire Grid, with your Capital in the center. Place your Leader Pawn on your Capital.
-
Create separate face up stacks of 10 Strife cards and 10 Loan cards next to the Empire Grid.
-
Shuffle the Enemy Tokens and draw 11 face down at random. Then place one Enemy Token on each of the spaces shown in the diagram below.
-
Use the Game Settings on the following page to select your Edict cards for the game. For your first game, we recommend you try a Short & Normal Difficulty game.
-
Draw a starting hand of 5 cards from your Starting Deck. Be sure to leave some space in front of you to play cards into your Play Area.
Game Settings
After choosing a Game Length and Difficulty Level from those shown below, shuffle all Edict Cards together and draw as many as are required for your game +1. Select which Edicts you would like to use for this game, and choose one of these Edict Cards to remove from the game.
Short Game (3 Rounds, 60 min)
In a short game of any difficulty level, the sum of both Glory Point (GP) values shown on your chosen Edict cards will be your GP goal (except in a Casual game, where you only use one Edict Card).
- Casual: 1 Full Edict. Start with 7 gold instead of 3.
- Easy: 2 Partial Edicts. Start with 7 gold instead of 3.
- Normal: 2 Partial Edicts.
- Hard: 1 Partial Edict and 1 Full Edict.
- Expert: 2 Full Edicts.
Standard Game (4 Rounds, 90 min)
- Casual: 2 Partial Edicts and 1 Full Edict. Use the sum of the two highest GP values on the Edict Cards as your GP goal.
- Easy: 1 Partial Edict and 2 Full Edicts. Use the sum of the two lowest GPs as your GP goal.
- Normal: 3 Full Edicts. Use only the two highest GPs.
- Hard: 3 Partial Edicts and 1 Full Edict. Use the total of all GPs.
- Expert: 2 Partial Edicts and 2 Full Edicts. Use only the two highest GPs.
Edict Card Overview
A. Edict name
B. Edict Requirements: These are the goals you must accomplish to satisfy the Edict. If a requirement has multiple spaces, as the bottom one does here, you must complete the requirements of each space in order, keeping track of your progress using a cube.
C. Glory Point (GP) Value: Depending on your Game Settings, this value may be used to determine your GP goal.
D. Edict Number (not used for gameplay)
E. Partial Edict or Full Edict
Winning the Game
In order to win Rome: Fate of an Empire, you must satisfy two conditions by the end of your allotted number of rounds:
- Fulfill all the stated requirements on your chosen Edict Cards.
- Attain the Glory Point (GP) goal, as determined by your Game Settings.
If you fail to satisfy either of these conditions by the end of your last game round, you lose. It is also possible to lose the game if your Empire ends in Collapse: If you take the last Loan or Strife card from its respective deck, the game ends immediately in Collapse.
Gameplay
Rome: Fate of an Empire is played over a set number of rounds as determined by your Game Settings, each of which will consist of multiple turns. Each round ends when either your deck is depleted, or you reach the end of the turn track for that round.
Each of your turns is made up of three phases:
- Active Projects Phase
- Action Phase
- Cleanup Phase
1: Active Project Phase
At the start of your turn, check to see if you have any Development Cards in the Active Projects area below your Leader Board (see Buy a Card on page 19). For every Active Project, you must either:
- Pay 1 Gold OR
- Gain 1 Strife
Then, check to see if you have any trade agreements that give you resources or gold (see Trade Agreements on page 14). If so, gain these now. Then, proceed to the action phase.
2: Action Phase
During the Actions Phase you may carry out as many or as few actions as you choose (or are able to). Most of the time you will be taking actions that will directly or indirectly help you build more Developments in your Empire. Actions may be taken in any order, and may be repeated, as long as you are able to satisfy any conditions required to take the action.
The actions you may take during the Action Phase, which will each be covered in detail individually, are as follows:
Leader Actions (require the use of your Leader Pawn)
- Move Leader
- Influence
- Make a Trade Agreement
- Conquer an Enemy
- Development Action: Resting Leader
General Actions (can be done at any time, regardless of your Leader Pawn's location)
- Play Attribute Cards
- Market Actions: Buying/Cycling Attribute or Development Cards
- Build a Development
- Development Actions:
- When Developed
- When Influenced
- While Influenced
- When Spent
- Ongoing
- Produce
- Return Strife
- Pay off Loans
- Exchange
Resources, Attribute Points & GP
Gaining/Spending Resources (Water, Food, Iron, Stone)
When you gain resources of a given type, move the cube on the Resource Board for that resource up accordingly. When spending a resource, move the cube on its track down. You may never have more than 10 of a given resource, and never less than 0. You may never take any action requiring you to spend more of a resource than you have.
Note: When boosting Attribute Cards, Gold may always be used in place of any other basic resource. Gold is not considered a resource even though it is tracked on the Resource Board.
Gaining/Spending Attribute Points (AP) (Military, Technology, Culture, Industry)
Whenever you gain AP from Attribute Cards or other game effects, they immediately become available to you, and are only available during the turn they are gained (they are not tracked over multiple turns like resources). When spending AP of any type, subtract the amount being spent from the amount you currently have available. You can always retrace your steps by looking at which effects you've gained AP from, and what you've spent them on during a given turn. At the end of a turn, any unspent AP are lost.
Gaining Glory Points (GP)
Whenever you gain GP, move the GP cube along its track on the Market Board accordingly. At the end of the game, you may also have to subtract GP from your total, moving the cube back down.
Leaders & Leader Actions
Each Leader that can be selected has a variety of different characteristics, including even some detriments, as no leader is perfect after all. In addition to the 2 Leader Attribute Cards shuffled into your Starting Deck at the beginning of the game, Leaders all have different abilities, restrictions, and bonuses that come from their Bonus Tracks.
Leader Board Overview
A. Leader Icon
B. Leader Name & Abilities: If a leader ability offers some benefit at some cost, it is optional to use on your turn. If the ability only states a negative effect, it is required and you must abide by it even if you don't want to.
C. Bonus Tracks (Stability, Power, Wisdom, Capacity, Population): Moving the cubes on these tracks up will improve the benefit you get from each individual track. For example, increasing your Stability Bonus Track will give you access to more Trade Agreement Tokens. Some game effects will also refer to the number you have reached on a given track.
D. Bonus Effects:
- Trade Agreement Tokens (Stability): This is the number of Trade Agreement Tokens you have access to. At the beginning of the game, Hadrian only has 2 tokens on hand.
- Hand Limit (Power): This is the number of cards you draw up to at the beginning of each turn to form your hand. Hadrian starts with a hand limit of 5, and may increase it up to 7.
- Influence Tokens (Wisdom): This is how many Influence Tokens you have access to.
- Movement (Capacity): This is how many movement points (for your Leader Pawn) you gain when taking the Move action.
Regardless of which leader you are using, you will always have one Leader Pawn, who starts on the Capital space in the center of the Empire grid. Any action that requires you to move your Leader Pawn or requires it to be in a specific location in your Empire is considered a Leader Action. Each Leader Action is described below.
Move Leader
To move your Leader Pawn, you must use up an Attribute Card to gain movement points, sacrificing its printed effects to use the card for movement.
To use an Attribute Card for movement, place it on the table, and then place a Movement Token on it, as shown below. Your Capacity Bonus determines the number of movement points you get from each card played this way. Rotate the movement token so that the number of movement points granted by your Capacity Bonus is pointed upwards. This token is then rotated to count your movement points down every time you move your leader. Each movement point spent allows your leader to move 1 space orthogonally within the Empire grid. You may move freely anytime between other actions as long as you have movement points to spend.
Example: This player's Capacity Bonus provides them with 3 movement per Attribute Card. At the beginning of their turn, they choose to use one Attribute Card for movement, playing it face up in front of them, and placing a movement token on top of it, set to "3." This indicates the card has been used for movement points.
When your leader moves into a territory adjacent to a territory with a face down enemy token, reveal the enemy token by flipping it face up.
Influence a Development
At any time during your turn, you may place an Influence token on a Development your Leader Pawn is currently on. You may not place an Influence token if there is already a Ready or Spent Influence token on the Development.
If a Development you Influence has a "When Influenced" action on it, it may (or in some cases must) be resolved immediately. Some actions also require you to spend an influence token to resolve them. Spending an influence token means flipping it from its Ready side to its Spent side (see all other Development actions on page 21).
Make a Trade Agreement
Some territories have Trade Agreements available on them. If your Leader Pawn is on such a territory, you can spend the amount of Technology required by an Agreement in order to activate it, gaining the Agreement's benefit (for example, a territory card might offer "Spend 3 Technology OR Spend 6 Technology" for two different agreements). Mark this by placing a Trade token face up in the appropriate space (A).
There are two types of Trade Agreements:
Short Agreements
These are generally cheaper and typically provide a one-time or short term benefit, after which you will immediately End the Agreement.
Lasting Agreements
Once activated, these last until the end of the following round (e.g., if you activate a lasting agreement in round 1, it lasts until the end of round 2). When you activate a Lasting Agreement, gain its benefit immediately AND during the Active Projects Phase of every turn while it is active. Trade tokens on Lasting Agreements must be flipped to their Ended side at the end of the round the agreement was activated. If a Lasting Agreement already has an Ended token on it at the end of a round, End the Agreement.
Ending an Agreement
When an Agreement is Ended, place the corresponding Trade token on its Ended side on the Trade Agreement's Ended space (marked with an "X") (B).
These tokens must stay on their agreement's Ended space until the end of the game, or until that territory is developed. If the territory is developed, you get the Trade token back to your supply, face up. It can then be used again. (Remember: you can gain additional trade tokens by upgrading your Stability bonus track).
Each territory may only have one active Trade Agreement in effect at any given time. If there is already a Trade token on a territory, whether face up or face down, you cannot activate another Agreement there.
Conquer an Enemy
Enemy tokens impede your civilization's progress:
- You cannot use a territory's abilities if it has an enemy on it.
- You cannot develop a territory that contains an enemy.
Enemy Token Overview
- Defense: You must use at least this amount of Military strength in order to break an Enemy's defense and conquer them.
- Attack: This value is added to an Enemy's defense value to determine whether or not you take damage from them.
- GP Reward: Gain this amount of GP after conquering an enemy.
- Gold Reward: Gain this amount of gold after conquering an enemy.
In order to remove an Enemy token, you must first have your Leader Pawn on the enemy's territory card, and then use the Conquer action:
- Spend Military equal to or greater than the Enemy's Defense value. If you do not have enough Military to overcome their Defense, you cannot Conquer that Enemy.
- Add the Enemy's Attack and Defense values together to determine whether or not you take damage.
- If your spent Military is equal to or greater than this total, you Conquer the enemy without taking any damage. Place the defeated Enemy token face up in your player area and gain its rewards.
- If your spent Military is less than this total, you still Conquer the Enemy, take the token, and gain its rewards, but must now take damage equal to the difference between the Military you spent and the Enemy's attack/defense total. For each damage taken, take 1 Strife from the Strife pile and place it into your discard pile.
Resting Leader Actions
Resting Leader actions are available on some Territories and Developments once built, and are resolved during the Cleanup Phase. A Resting Leader action is only resolved if your Leader Pawn is on a Territory or Development with a Resting Leader icon at the end of your Action Phase.
Note: You may not resolve a Resting Leader action on a development or territory if it has an enemy token on it.
General Actions
Any action that does not involve the use of your Leader Pawn is considered a General Action. These actions can all be taken at any time during your turn, regardless of your Leader Pawn's location, so long as you meet any requirements the action may have.
Play an Attribute Card
In addition to using an Attribute Card for Movement Points, each may be used in one of 3 other ways:
- For its Basic Action (top half)
- For its Boosted Action (bottom half)
- To gain 1 of any Attribute Point (played face down)
Note: Some Leader Attribute Cards have their own special rules that make them work differently (see next page), but generally speaking an Attribute Card can only be used for one of these 3 options, meaning that you can never use the top half of a card for its Basic Action AND the bottom half for its Boosted Action on the same turn.
Boosted Attribute Card Actions
Each Attribute Card has a different colored banner that indicates which resource type must be spent to take its Boosted Action:
- Green banner = Spend Food
- Blue banner = Spend Water
- Gray banner = Spend Stone
- Brown banner = Spend Iron
Regardless of which type of resource must be spent, it always costs 1 resource to use a card for its Boosted Action. Remember that you can use Gold in place of any of the other 4 basic resources to boost cards!
When playing an Attribute Card for its Boosted Action, first pay the required resource cost, then play the card face up into your play area tilted, as a reminder that you have boosted the card (boosting will often change the AP you get from the card and need to keep track of).
Example: You choose to play Tanned Leather for its Boosted Action. You pay 1 Food, play the card in front of you, tilted, and then choose to take 5 Culture. Much better than the 2 Culture you would get from its Basic Action!
Leader Attribute Cards
One of each Leader's two special Attribute Cards is a more powerful version of the Starting Card it replaces, and the other is some form of drawback that the Leader must deal with. These cards may be required to play differently than other Attribute Cards, or in some way conflict with the general rules of the game. In these cases, always follow what the text on the card says. For example, a Leader Attribute Card may:
- Force you to put it into play immediately
- Use both the top and bottom action effects
- Not allow you to discard the card
In general, Leader Attribute Cards may not be trashed unless otherwise stated on the card, and you must always resolve negative effects on them, even when using them for movement or gaining 1 of any AP.
Market Actions
Attribute Card Cost: Attribute Cards are always in the row above the Market Board, and the Gold cost of each is shown below them.
Development Card Cost: Development Cards are always in the row below the Market Board, and the Gold cost of each is shown just above them.
Buy a Card
On your turn you may buy any number of Development Cards or Advanced Attributes Cards. To buy one of these cards, pay the appropriate amount of Gold based on the card's position in the market:
Market positions further to the left of the Market Board are usually occupied by cards that are "fresher on the market," and therefore cost more.
When buying Attribute Card, it is immediately placed on top of your Deck.
When buying a Development Card, it may go in one of three places immediately after buying it:
- Add it to your Projects Area. This is the area just below your Leader Board. A Development stored in this area can be built at any time (see next page), but as long as it is there it counts as an Active Project, and costs you 1 Gold during the Active Projects Phase of each turn. A Development Card in your hand may be added to your Projects Area anytime.
- Add it to your Hand. Development Cards can always be kept in hand just like Attribute Cards, and can be built directly from your hand as well. However, they count towards your hand limit when drawing a new hand.
- Add it to your Discard. You may discard a Development Card that is in your hand OR Projects Area at any time. If you do so, it will not be available for you to build until drawn again on the following round.
Cycle a Card
To Cycle a card from the Market Board, you must spend Industry AP based on the position of the card in the market:
Cycle Cost
Both the Attribute and Development card in a given Market column share the same Cycle Cost.
Note: Paying this cost only allows you to Cycle one of the two cards in the column at a time, not both. As with any AP cost, Industry AP used to pay Cycle Costs may come from anywhere, not just Attribute Cards.
Once you have paid a card's Cycle Cost, you may remove the card from the Market, placing it on the bottom of its respective supply pile. This can help make other cards cheaper in the future, or get rid of cards you don't want, making room for others. Cards that have been Cycled or Bought are not replaced immediately, but during the Cleanup Phase.
Build a Development
You may only build Developments that are currently in your hand or Projects Area. Each Development Card has a specific AP cost that must be paid before the card can be added to your Empire, and a number of other possible benefits.
Development Card Overview
Example (Farm): This Level 1 Development costs 6 Technology to build. Its Development Actions are "Seasonal Rains — Spend 2 Culture to gain 1 Water" and "Sell Crops — Gain Gold equal to the number of farms adjacent to this one with a ready Influence."
A. Build Cost & Level: Shows the AP type and amount you must spend in order to build the Development, and whether it is a Level I or Level II Development. This Level 1 Development costs 6 Technology.
B. Glory Points: Gain this number of GP immediately upon building the Development.
C. Produce Action: Once built, you may take this Development Action to produce Resources (see page 22).
D. Bonuses: When built, immediately advance the cubes on your Leader Board's Bonus Tracks based on the icons shown here. Some game effects refer to these as the bonuses a Development "provides."
E. Development Name
F. Development Action(s): These various actions can be taken in different ways once the Development is built (see Development Actions below).
After paying a Development Card's AP cost, you may place the card into your Empire grid, following these rules:
- The Development must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing Development or your Capital.
- The Development must be placed in a space currently occupied by a Territory. You may instead pay 1 Gold to build over an existing Development.
- The Territory or Development it replaces must not have an Enemy token on it.
Once built, gain the following immediate benefits:
- Gain GP equal to its depicted value.
- Gain Bonuses by moving your Bonus cubes up on the depicted Bonus Tracks. Note: If you gain Bonuses for any Bonus Track you've already maxed out, gain 1 GP per Bonus of that type instead.
- Take any When Developed actions written on the Territory card the Development was built over.
General Development Actions
Most developments have one or more Development Actions on them. There are several different types of Development Actions that are activated in different ways. You may take as many Development Actions as you are able to on your turn, even multiple actions on the same card.
The different types of Development Actions are:
When Developed
These appear only on Territory cards, and are resolved only once, immediately upon building a Development over the Territory.
While Influenced
These actions are available so long as a Ready Influence token is on the development. If the token is flipped to its Spent side, the action is no longer available.
When Spent
A Ready Influence token must already be on a Development and must be flipped to its Spent side in order to take these actions. Spent tokens remain on the Developments they were spent on until the Cleanup Phase.
Produce
Like When Spent actions, Produce actions require you to spend a Ready Influence token, flipping it to its Spent side. You may not spend an Influence token to activate both the Produce and When Spent actions of a Development at the same time. When you spend an Influence token to Produce, immediately gain any Resources and/or Attributes shown in the Produce space of the card.
Ongoing
Ongoing effects are not considered actions, and are instead always in play, as long as the Development has been built and is still present in your Empire.
Reminder: Developments may also have Resting Leader Actions on them, which are discussed in the Leader Actions on page 16.
The Capital
The Capital is similar to Development Cards in that it has three When Spent actions on it, which are used the same way as those on Developments. However, it cannot be built over like Developments.
Example: The Capital's actions are "Tax — Gain 1 Influence token, then gain 1 Gold for every 1 spent," "Borrow — Gain up to 2 Loan cards, gain 2 Gold for each," and "Festival — Pay 1 Gold to return an Influence token equal to the number spent."
Returning/Trashing Strife Cards
Strife Cards have the following characteristics:
- They are worth -2 GP at the end of the game.
- They count towards your hand limit.
- They may be discarded during your turn.
There are 2 ways to remove Strife Cards once they are in your hand:
- Take a Return Strife Action. Spend 4 Wisdom to take a Strife Card from your hand and return it to the Strife Card supply. Reminder: Running out of Strife Cards in the supply is one of the ways your Empire can end in Collapse, so returning them can be very helpful!
- Trash a Strife Card. Some game effects will allow you to Trash cards. When Trashing a Strife card you may take a Strife Card from your hand and place it in the Trash pile at the top of the Round Board like any other. However, to do this you must also Trash a second Strife Card from the supply. Trashed Strife Cards may never be returned to the supply.
Paying Off/Trashing Loans
Loan Cards have the same basic characteristics as Strife Cards, except that they are worth -3 GP instead of -2 GP. You may Pay Off a Loan by spending 3 Gold to return a Loan Card in your hand to the Loan Card supply. A Loan Card may also be Trashed, following the same rule as Strife Cards, where you must Trash an additional Loan from the supply.
Exchange
To take an Exchange Action, pay 4 of any one type of resource and gain 1 Gold in exchange.
Note: Because this is an Exchange, it is not considered gaining Gold with respect to other game effects that refer to gaining Gold.
3: Cleanup Phase
After you decide you are done taking actions during your turn (or cannot take any more), begin the Cleanup Phase:
-
Resolve any Resting Leader action shown on the Development/Territory your Leader is currently on.
-
Remove any Spent Influence tokens from your Empire grid, and return them to your supply Ready side up.
-
Discard all cards played this turn, returning any Movement tokens on them to the supply.
-
Replenish the Market: Slide all Attribute and Development Cards in the Market to the right, filling empty spaces if there are any. Then draw cards face up from the appropriate supply decks, filling any empty spaces now on the left end of each Market row.
Example: The Attribute Card row has 3 cards remaining in it. The ones still there are slid to the right, filling in the two empty spaces. Then two cards will be drawn to fill the two leftmost spaces these cards were slid from.
Note: Only Level I Development Cards may be drawn to replenish the Development Market at the beginning of the game. Level II Developments are unlocked either when you reach Round 3, or when you have built 5 Developments, whichever comes first. Once they are unlocked, you may choose to draw either Level I or Level II Development Cards for each new card added to the Market. There is a reminder for this above the Level II Development Deck on the Round Board.
-
Draw back up to your hand limit as determined by your Power Bonus Track. If you do not have enough cards in your deck to fill your hand, draw as many as you can (this also means your next turn will be the last turn of the round).
-
Advance the Turn Track cube on the Round Board one space. If it reaches the space depicting the current round's number in it, immediately proceed to end of round.
Example: It is currently round 2, and during the cleanup phase of your turn you advance the Turn Track cube into the "2" space. Before proceeding with your next turn, you must complete the End of Round process.
End of Round
The End of a Round is triggered when either:
- Your deck is depleted during the Cleanup Phase, in which case you take one more turn with whatever cards are left in your hand, and then end the round.
- The Turn Track cube advances to the current round-ending space (see above), in which case the round ends immediately.
At the End of the Round, do the following:
- Shuffle your Discard pile into a new deck for the next round.
- Advance the Round Marker one space and reset the Turn Track cube to leftmost space of the Turn Track (with the Round icon).
- Return all Attribute and Development Cards currently in the Market to the bottom of their respective decks, in any order. Then replenish the Market with new cards. Reminder: Use only Level I Development Cards unless you have Level II unlocked.
End of the Game
The game ends immediately when you reach the end of the relevant round (either round 3 or round 4, depending on your Game Settings).
You Win If: You have fulfilled all of the written requirements on your Edict Cards, and have attained the GP requirement determined by your Game Settings (after subtracting GP for all Strife and Loan Cards in your deck/discard/hand).
You Lose If: You fail to satisfy the above win conditions. Remember that you immediately end the game and lose if your Empire ends in Collapse.
Key Terms & Concepts
Pay/Spend — Many game effects will require you pay/spend some amount of either Resources (Water, Food, Iron, Stone) or Attribute Points (Military, Technology, Culture, Industry). In order to carry out these effects, you must first have the required Resources/AP specified by the effect, and then spend them. Resources are tracked on your Resource Board, and carry over from turn to turn. AP are made available by playing Attribute Cards and using other game effects, and are only ever available for one turn (they are not tracked with any physical component).
Gain — If an effect instructs you to gain something, you may (or in some cases must) add that thing to your player area accordingly. If you gain Gold or Water/Food/Iron/Stone, increase your tracks accordingly. If you gain Strife or Loan Cards, put them in your discard pile, etc.
Trash — If an effect instructs you to trash a card, place it in the Trash pile above the Round Board. Some effects will specify a card type to trash, but otherwise you may trash any card from your hand with this effect. Trashed cards are removed from the game. Leader Attribute Cards may not be trashed unless otherwise stated on the card.
Reminder: When trashing Strife and Loan cards it is important that they go to the Trash pile. Whenever you trash a Strife or Loan card, you are also required to trash another of the same type from the top of the respective supply. Returning Strife and Loan cards is different in that it returns them to their respective supplies.
Must — If an effect says you "must" do something, that effect/action is mandatory, and must be resolved when triggered. For example, some When Influenced actions are mandatory.
Same-type — Some effects will refer to "same-type" resources, which means a group of resources of any one type. For example, if you must "pay 2 same-type resources," you may pay 2 Water, or 2 Stone, etc.
Different-type — This is the opposite of the same-type requirement. Instead of the resources all needing to be the same type, they must all be different types.
Play a Card — This refers to putting an Attribute Card from your hand into your play area, resolving either the basic or boosted action of the played card (see Play an Attribute Card on page 16). Unless their effect says otherwise, played cards are put into your discard pile during the cleanup phase.
Cycle a Card — To Cycle a card is to choose a card from either the Attribute or Development row of the Market, and place it face down at the bottom of its respective supply deck. Cycled cards are replaced only during the Cleanup phase, not when the card is removed from the Market.
Partial Actions — Unless a game effect says otherwise, you can always choose to resolve only part of the benefits of an action. For example, the Chariot Racing Attribute Card says: You may choose to only Ready an Influence token or only gain AP, skipping the other effect of this action.
Ready/Spent Influence — Using the "Influence a Development" action allows you to place an Influence token on the Development your Leader Pawn is currently at, Ready side up (cannot be done if there is a Ready or Spent token already there). If an effect requires you to spend an Influence token, flip the relevant Influence token to its Spent side. If an effect tells you to "Ready an Influence token," flip a Spent Influence token to its Ready side, leaving it where it is.
The Leaders
Augustus
As Rome's remarkable first emperor, Augustus truly has the talent to jump-start your empire with his knack for trade and efficiency in conquest. He is used best when he leans into resource generation early and converts it to a sustainable gold engine later with developments.
Strengths
Additional trade tokens and flexibility with trade agreements give you many good options from the start.
His Princepts Civitatis card allows you to balance critical Capital actions while still moving Augustus around your empire.
Weaknesses
His insistence on creating a City of Marble makes it costly to buy developments. Better set up a good gold engine with haste!
His Civil War card slows your progress, forcing you to either discard cards or take loans.
Fulvia
Fulvia has a dynamic, double-edged-sword relationship with Strife. The player who learns to use it to their advantage rather than their detriment can accomplish much with her.
Strengths
The Fulvii Fortune, her beneficial attribute card, allows for alternative sources of income.
Thanks to a favorable Population track, Fulvia's empire can use taxes to efficiently generate gold.
Weaknesses
That Strife can come back to haunt you thanks to Fulvia's Perusine War ability, which makes Strife more expensive to clear.
Octavian, Fulvia's detrimental attribute card, distracts from actions requiring Military, and can reduce your score at game end if not dealt with properly.
Hadrian
Hadrian is a cultural leader above all else, which plays both to his advantage and disadvantage. He is one of the less complex leaders, but it will still require discipline to play into his strengths.
Strengths
Hadrian's Greek Culture and Graeculus abilities allow him to masterfully manage Strife in his empire.
His Institutions card rewards him for focusing on building Culture-oriented developments, providing alternative means to generate gold.
Weaknesses
The construction of Hadrian's Wall means he is constantly in short supply of stone.
You will need to devote resources to support Hadrian's expensive habit of constantly traveling.
Livia
Livia is perhaps as complex a leader to pilot in this game as she was a real-life character of history. Her empire perhaps performs best when highly leveraged, with a late-game surge to pay down loans at the last possible moment.
Strengths
Livia's Waste Not and Status & Power abilities offer interesting–but risky–opportunities to fund her empire with loans.
Her Copper Mines card can assist with both iron and gold generation if used strategically.
Weaknesses
Obligations as Wife of the Emperor are her greatest weakness. Unlike other leaders, Livia must be physically present to build developments.
Her Conspiracies card inhibits Culture generation as well as her movement – quite a challenge combined with her Wife of the Emperor ability.
Marcus
Perhaps the most flexible of the leaders, Marcus Aurelius excels at getting the most from even a small development engine. But, you must be prepared to deal with the devastating Plague.
Strengths
His Temperance ability and Meditations card allow you to be opportunistic to make the most of what's available to you at the time.
As The Philosopher, Marcus can double up on Influence tokens, squeezing more value from your developments.
Weaknesses
Invasions make Military actions more challenging to accomplish.
Marcus's Plague card can devastate your Influence token supply and is costly to deal with.
Trajan
Trajan is a military man. He rose up from the ranks and in some respects he never left. You may find he funds his empire quite effectively through conquest, but those Campaigns come at a cost.
Strengths
As the Soldier-Emperor, Trajan has the ability to boost his Military generation on command, if set up properly.
His Expansion card makes him more effective at conquer actions or can allow you to use a powerful card more than once per round.
Weaknesses
Trajan must Feed the Army, which sometimes comes at great cost.
With fewer Influence tokens than other leaders and Aggressive enemies popping up, Trajan needs to be smart about when and how to build developments.
Aggressive Enemies — This refers to Enemy tokens that have been rotated 90 degrees so that they are sideways. Aggressive Enemies function exactly like regular enemies with the exception that you do not gain their rewards when you defeat them (you do still remove them from the map).
Trajan's 'Campaigns' ability instructs you to add Aggressive Enemies, which means taking an Enemy token from the supply and placing it sideways (making it aggressive) on any card in your Empire grid that does not already have an Enemy token on it. In this case, you can also place the Enemies on Developments. As with Territories, you cannot use any abilities or actions of Developments with Enemies on them. If you need to add an Enemy and there are no available locations to place one, take 1 Strife into your discard instead.
Icon Reference
- Influence Token
- Gold
- Water Resource
- Food Resource
- Iron Resource
- Stone Resource
- Strife Card
- Loan Card
- Culture Attribute
- Technology Attribute
- Military Attribute
- Industry Attribute
- Stability Bonus
- Power Bonus
- Capacity Bonus
- Wisdom Bonus
- Population Bonus
- Trade Agreement
- Movement
- Starting Attribute
- Advanced Attribute
- Glory Points (GP)
- Resting Leader
- When Influenced
- While Influenced
- When Spent
- When Developed
- Ongoing
- Hand Limit
- Enemy Attack
- Enemy Defense
- Cycle
Action Reference Guide
Leader Actions
Move Leader: Place movement tokens on Attribute Cards to gain movement points. Rotate movement tokens to count points down as you move your Leader around the Empire Grid.
Influence: Place an Influence token from your supply, Ready side up, onto The Capital or a built Development if your Leader is currently there.
Make a Trade Agreement: Spend Technology to activate either a Short or Lasting Trade Agreement in the Territory your Leader currently occupies, placing a token on the corresponding Trade Agreement space.
Conquer an Enemy: Spend Military to remove an Enemy token from the Territory your Leader currently occupies, gaining the Enemy's rewards. You must spend Military greater than or equal to their Defense value, and take damage if you do not exceed the combined total of their Attack + Defense values.
Resting Leader Actions: These are automatically resolved during the Cleanup Phase if your Leader pawn occupies a Development or Territory with a Resting Leader icon.
General Actions
Play Attribute Cards: Play an Attribute Card for its Basic or Boosted action effects, or to gain 1 of any AP.
Buying Cards: Spend Gold equal to the market value of an Attribute or Development card currently in the Market in order to gain it. Attribute Cards go to the top of your deck. Development Cards go to your Projects Area, hand, or discard pile.
Cycle Cards: Spend Industry equal to the Cycle Cost shown in a card's column of the Market Board to remove it from the Market and place it at the bottom of its respective draw pile. The Market is not replenished until the Cleanup Phase.
Build a Development: Spend a number and type of Attribute Points based on a Development Card's Build Cost to place that Development in a Territory with no Enemies in it, next to an existing Development/The Capital.
Development Actions: When Developed, When Influenced, While Influenced, When Spent, Ongoing, Produce.
Return Strife: Spend 4 Culture to return a Strife Card from your hand to the Strife Card supply. Strife may also be trashed, but at the cost of trashing an additional Strife Card directly from the supply.
Pay off Loan: Spend 3 Gold to return a Loan Card from your hand to the Loan Card Supply. Loans may also be trashed, but at the cost of trashing an additional Loan Card directly from the supply.
Exchange: Spend 4 of any one type of resource (Water, Food, Iron, Stone) to gain 1 Gold. Does not count as "gaining gold."
Credits
Developer: Wyatt Loftesness
Graphic Designer: Drew Corkill
Rule Book Editor: Jeremy Rozenhart