Rome: Rise to Power Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Rise to Power System
• Components
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
• Phase 1. Roll Power Dice and Determine Turn Order
• Phase 2. Placement of Power Dice
  • Senate Cards
  • Senate & Province Card Breakdown
• Phase 3. Resolution of Power Dice
  • Military Resolution
  • Senate Resolution
  • Black Market Resolution
• Phase 4. Scoring
  • Forum Scoring
  • Arena Scoring
    • Show Ranking
• Phase 5. Clean Up
• Game End
  • Senate Cards
  • Region Control
• Customized Senate Deck
• Errata
• 2-Player Rules
• Senate Card Breakdown
  • Era I
  • Era II
  • Era III (scoring)
  • Intrigue cards

Rise to Power System

At GEG, we have designed an innovative dice placement system that enhances player decisions while reducing the luck factor. The system uses a combination of special action cards that break the rules of play. By choosing these cards to build your unique deck, you will create a personalized gaming experience that will ever evolve with you and your gaming group.

Components

• 2 Rulebooks (English & German)
• Game board
• 3 'Source of Power' dice tracks
• 20 Province cards
• 25 Senate cards
• 31 Arena cards
• 32 Arch tokens: 8 in each of four colors (Purple, Yellow, Red, and Blue)
• 20 Player tokens: 5 in each of four colors (Purple, Yellow, Red, and Blue)
• 16 Power Dice: 4 in each of four colors (Purple, Yellow, Red, and Blue)
• Game Round marker
• 1st player marker (Sword/Gladius)

Game Setup

This is the setup for 3-4 Players. For the 2-Player game, see the extra rules on page 7 (2-Player Rules below).

Place the game board in the middle of the table. Place the three dice tracks next to the board in the following order: Military, Senate, Black Market (A). Place the Round marker on the first space of the Round track (B).

Divide the Province deck into the 3 Eras, as indicated by the roman numerals on the front of the cards. Shuffle each Era separately and stack them face down bottom to top, with Era III on the bottom. Draw 4 cards from the top of this deck and place them face up below the Military dice track (C).

For your first game, remove all Intrigue cards from the Senate deck (ones marked with the Intrigue symbol). Place them back in the box. See page 7 for the rules on using Intrigue cards in your later games (Customized Senate Deck below).

Divide the Senate deck into the 3 Eras indicated on each card. Shuffle each Era separately and stack them face down bottom to top, with Era III on the bottom. Draw 4 cards from the top of this deck and place them face up below the Senate dice track (D).

Shuffle the deck of Arena cards and place it face down near the Black Market track. Draw 5 cards and place them face up below the Black Market dice track (E).

Each player chooses a player color and takes the matching Power Dice, Player Tokens and Arches (F). Each player places one of their Player Tokens on the '0' space of the Victory Points (VP) track, one on the space of each Forum track (Olives, Wine and Jewelry), and one near the Turn order track (G).

Gameplay

Rome is played over 5 rounds, each round comprising of the following 5 phases:

1. Roll Power Dice and Determine turn order
2. Placement of Power Dice
3. Resolution of Power Dice
4. Scoring
5. Clean up

Phase 4 (Scoring) is only performed in rounds 3 and 5.

Phase 1. Roll Power Dice and Determine Turn Order

Players roll their 4 Power Dice and place them in front of themselves, without changing the results, so everyone can see.

Each player declares the sum of their Power Dice, as this is used to determine turn order. The player with the lowest sum will be the first player, the second lowest will be second, and so forth.

If two or more players share the same sum, the order for those tied players does not change. If two or more players tie on the first round of the game, randomly decide the order between tied players.

Players mark the new turn order by placing their player token in the corresponding space on the turn order track. Give the 1st player marker to the first player.

Phase 2. Placement of Power Dice

In turn order, starting with the first player, each player places one of their Power Dice onto one of the dice tracks. Once all players have placed one die, the first player places their second die, and so on, until all players have placed all of their Power Dice. If a player cannot place their last die, they must pass their turn and not place their final die.

Each dice track is divided into four sections. Power Dice should be placed in accordance with these rules:

• Dice must be placed in the leftmost available section.
• Each section may only contain Power Dice belonging to one player.

Example: Red plays first and places a die in the leftmost section of the senate track. Blue is next and also decides to place a die on the senate track; it is placed in the second section.

• If the first die placed in a section is of a lower value to the leftmost die in another section of the same track, move the newly placed die into the section of the higher value dice, and move all other groups of Power Dice one section to the right.

Example: In the previous example, Red played a die of value 2 on the senate track. Blue places a die of value 1. Blue moves his die to the leftmost section, and the Red die is moved to the right.

Example: Yellow then decides to play a die on the senate track too and places a die of value 1. This is not lower than the Blue die, but it is lower than the Red die, so the Red die is again moved to the right, and the Yellow die is placed in the second section.

Example: If the Red die was a 4, and the Blue die a 3, and then Yellow played a die of value 2, it would be placed in the leftmost section, and both the Red die and Blue die would be moved one section to the right.

• A player may add a second (or third, or fourth) Power die to the same track. The new die is placed in the same section as any existing dice, to the right of them, forming a group. The new die must be equal to or lower than the rightmost Power die already in that section.

Example: Red wants to place a second die on the military track. She already has a die there of value 4, so the next die she places must be value 4 or lower. If she places a 2, and then later wants to play a third die, it must be value 2 or lower.

• Only the leftmost die in a group counts for the moving of dice between sections.

Example: Blue places a die of value 4 on the military track. Yellow and Red both place a die on other tracks. On Blue's next turn, he places a second die of value 2. Yellow then places a die on the military track of value 4. Even though 4 is less than the total value of Blue's dice, it is only the leftmost die which counts for this, so the sections are not swapped.

If however, Yellow placed a die of value 3, then the Yellow die would be placed in the first section, and the blue dice are moved to the second section.

Senate Cards

Golden Rule: Some Senate card effects will break the base rules of the game. Card effects always take precedence over this rulebook.

During a player's turn, either before or after they place a die, they may activate any number of Senate cards they currently have in play, in any order.

To activate the ability of a Senate card, it must be placed on top of a Province card the player controls, which has the same Province Type symbol in the bottom left. Province Types are Villa, Arena and Army Camp.

Some Senate cards have two symbols and require two provinces with the appropriate Province Type symbols.

Example: A - This Consul card can be placed onto the Province card shown, as they have a matching symbol (Arena).

B - Magister Equitum requires two Province cards with the same symbol (Army Camp) in order to trigger his ability.

Once a Senate card has been placed onto a Province, the Province card is considered "exhausted" and may not have any other Senate card placed on it that round. Senate cards played onto Provinces remain until Phase 5.

Once the ability of the Senate card is triggered, it is also considered "exhausted" and may not be used again this round.

Note: Some Senate cards are activated only during Scoring (Phase 4 - see page 6).

Senate & Province Card Breakdown

A Senate or Province card shows: Era, Title, Ability, Power, Province Type, and Resource (Olives, Wine or Jewelry).

Phase 3. Resolution of Power Dice

The dice tracks are resolved one at a time, starting with the Military dice track, then the Senate, and finishing with the Black Market.

On each dice track, the player in the leftmost section takes their Power Dice and resolves the action as detailed, followed by the player in the next section and so on.

Military Resolution

"Veni, vidi, vici." (I came, I saw, I conquered.) - Gaius Iulius Caesar

The sum of the player's Power Dice on the Military dice track is the strength of that player's Legion.

A player can conquer one or more provinces with a total power value equal to or less than their Legion's strength. The player will take the Province cards and place them face up in their playing area.

Example: Red has 3 Power Dice on the Military dice track totalling 12. She can conquer these two Province cards.

Each Province card shows a Resource in the bottom-right (Olives, Wine, or Jewelry). When a player conquers a Province, they move their token on the corresponding forum track one space forward.

Note: Players cannot move their tokens beyond the end of the forum tracks. For example, if a player has 7 Olives and gains one more, the token stays on the last space.

After taking a Province card, the player places one of their Arches on the corresponding Province on the game board.

Only 4 cards are available each round. Cards are not replenished when one is taken and it is possible that not all players with Player Dice on the Military track will take a card, as there may be none left, or they may not be able to match the power of the remaining cards.

Senate Resolution

"Praesidibus onerandas tributo provincias suadentibus rescripsit boni pastoris esse tondere pecus, non deglubere" (A good shepherd shears his flock; he does not flay them.) - Tiberius Caesar

For each die a player places on the Senate dice track, they can take a Senate card and place it face up in front of them. The value of the die does not matter, they may take one card per die placed. Senate cards may be activated as described on page 4 (Senate Cards above).

Only 4 cards are available each round. Cards are not replenished when one is taken so it is possible that a player with Power Dice on the Senate track may end up not taking a card if there are none left.

Example: Starting on the leftmost section, Yellow picks two Senate cards (as he placed 2 Power Dice). He takes The Legatus and the Censor. Then, Blue takes the two remaining Senate cards as he also had 2 Power Dice. Although Red had a die there, all the cards are gone, so she could not take any card!

Black Market Resolution

"Pecunia non olet" (Money has no smell) - Vespasianus Caesar

The sum of the player's Power Dice on the Black Market track is the amount of coins the player has to purchase Arena cards.

Players can acquire any number of Arena cards from those available with a total cost value equal to or less than the number of coins they have for that round. Any cards taken are placed in the player's hand.

Also, a player can take one or more face-down cards from the top of the Arena deck at a cost of 5 coins each. The other players do not get to see the card that is taken. It is possible that not all players will get an Arena card if they do not have enough coins.

Phase 3 ends after all three dice tracks are resolved and all Power Dice are returned to their players.

Phase 4. Scoring

During rounds 3 and 5, each player scores VP according to the Forum tracks, and their performance in the Arena.

During this phase, the abilities of some Senate cards can be triggered. These cards can only be activated once per Scoring phase. If the ability of a Senate card requires the exhausting of a Province card, place the Senate card on top of the Province card to indicate this (see page 8).

Forum Scoring

"Iure sit gloriatus marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset." (I found Rome built of bricks, I leave her clothed in marble.) - Augustus Caesar

Each of the forum tracks are scored individually.

For each track, a player scores 1 VP for having at least one of the corresponding Resource.

Additionally, a player gains 1 VP for each player token behind him. Other player tokens on the same space do not count as being behind.

Example: Olives track - Blue gains 4 VP (1 for having that resource and 3 players behind him), Purple gains 3 VP, and Red gains 2 VP. Yellow gains 0 VP as he does not have any Olives.

Wine track - Blue and Purple gain 3 VP each (1 for having the Resource and 2 for the players behind them), Yellow gains 2 VP and Red gains 0 VP.

Jewelery track - Purple and Red gain 3 VP each. Blue and Yellow gain 0 VP.

Arena Scoring

"Nos morituri te salutant!" (We, who are about to die, salute you!) - Roman Gladius

Each player earns VP for their contribution to the Great Games.

Each player may prepare a Show by choosing 3 or more Arena cards from their hand and placing them face down in their playing area. This is done simultaneously. Each player can only submit one Show.

After all players have placed cards or chosen not to do so, all players reveal their Shows.

VP are awarded to each player according to the best Rank of their Show (see the Show Ranking table below).

1 extra VP is awarded to the player with the best show. This is determined by the player who had the highest ranked hand (i.e gained the most VP from their show). In the case of a tie, the tied player with the higher total cost value of Arena cards (in coins) is the winner. If still tied - no player earns the extra VP for best show.

All cards used in the Show are removed from the game.

Show Ranking

Show	Requirement	VP
Any 3 cards	Any 3 cards	1
Any 3 different cards	Any 3 different cards	2
1 of a kind	1 Roman + 1 Beast + 1 Barbarian	3
3 Diverse	3 different Beasts or 3 different Barbarians	4
Battle Royal	2 different Barbarians + any 3 Romans	5

Phase 5. Clean Up

Skip this phase if this is the last round of the game.

All cards remaining below the dice tracks are removed from the game.

New cards are then drawn and placed beneath the dice tracks as per initial Game Setup.

Any Senate cards that were placed onto Province cards are removed from the Province cards and placed back in front of their owning player. Province cards stay face-up in front of the players.

Advance the Round marker to the next space on the round track and begin a new round.

Game End

After 5 rounds of play, final scoring takes place and then the game is over.

• Score points for all endgame Senate cards
• Score points for Region Control

Senate Cards

Some Senate cards give additional scoring opportunities instead of abilities during the game (see page 8).

Region Control

There are seven regions, each designated by a different color on the map.

Score each region individually. Each player who has at least one Province in the region totals the power values of the provinces they own. The player with the highest total gains 2VP.

If a player controls all provinces in a region, they get 3VP instead of 2.

In the case of a tie - each player who controls a province in that region will gain 1VP.

Example: In Gallia, Red and Blue both have one province, but the power value of Red's province is 9, compared to Blue's 7. Red scores 2VP.

In Greko, Yellow and Red are tied (7+7 = 5+9), so each player gains 1 VP.

After awarding all points, the player with the most VP is declared the winner.

If tied, the player with the most Province cards wins.

If still tied, sum up the value of Arena cards left in hand and the one with the highest cost wins.

If there is still a tie, all tied players will share the ruling as Consul and Proconsul!

Customized Senate Deck

After a couple of plays with the regular set of Senate cards, players can explore different and exciting new ways to play Rome.

Some of the Senate cards are marked with an Intrigue symbol in the bottom-right corner of the card. These are Intrigue cards and will add more interactive gameplay that may fit your gaming group.

To design your unique deck, start by switching cards with matching card titles. Also, you may switch cards based on matching Province types. Finally, after a few plays with your created deck, you can continue to tweak the deck of Senate cards to your liking. Experiment with dozens of combinations.

Note: There should always be 20 cards in the senate deck for 3-4 players and 15 for 2 players. Also, you must have 4 (3 for 2 players) Era III scoring cards at the bottom of your senate deck.

Errata

Both Vicarius Senate cards should be Era I and not Era II as printed on the card.

2-Player Rules

• Province cards - remove all Province cards for the Hispania and Asia regions.
• Senate cards - remove Senate cards marked with the 2-player removal icon.
• When setting up each round, only place 3 cards instead of 4 beneath the Military & Senate dice track. Place 5 Arena cards as normal.

Senate Card Breakdown

Each card lists its Province Type requirement (one or two symbols), then its effect. Cards marked Intrigue are only used in customized decks.

Era I

• Legatus (Army Camp): In phase 3, add 1 Power to your dice resolution on the Military track. Note: There are two copies of this card.
• Magistrate (Arena): In phase 3, add 1 coin to your dice resolution on the Black Market track. Note: Has no effect if you have no dice.
• Military Tribune (Army Camp): Re-roll one of your placed dice on the Military track. This does not change your resolution order.
• Censor (Villa): Re-roll any number of your unplaced dice.
• Consul (Arena): Activate this card when placing a die. It may be of a higher value than the die you place it next to.
• Quaestor (Villa): Invert one of your unplaced dice. i.e. a '1' becomes a '6', a '5' becomes a '2' etc.
• Vicarius (Arena): Change the value of one of your unplaced dice by +/- 1. A '1' can become a '6' and vice-versa.
• Tribune (Villa): During Phase 1, you may activate this card to reduce your sum of dice by 3 for the purposes of determining turn order.
• Senator (Villa): Lower the value of one of your already placed dice by 1. If it was a '1' already, move that die to the leftmost section; it counts as '0'.

Era II

• Aedile (two Arena): In phase 3, add 3 coins to your dice resolution on the Black Market track.
• Magister Equitum (two Army Camp): In phase 3, add 3 Power to your dice resolution on the Military track.
• Proconsul (two Villa): Re-roll any number of your unplaced dice. You may then do it again.

Era III (scoring)

• Africanus Maximus (Wine): Scoring: When you score the Wine forum track, place this card on top of a Wine Province (exhausting both cards) to move one space up the Wine track.
• Hispania Maximus (Olives): Scoring: When you score the Olives forum track, place this card on top of an Olives Province (exhausting both cards) to move one space up the Olives track.
• Asianus: Scoring: At the end of the game, score 1 VP for each region in which you have an Arch.
• Ludi Maximus (Arena): Scoring: At the end of the game, score 2 VP for each of your Province cards with an Arena symbol.
• Imperator (Army Camp): Scoring: At the end of the game, score 2 VP for each of your Province cards with an Army Camp symbol.
• Greko Maximus: Scoring: At the end of the game, score 1 VP per paired Senate card and Province card (matching province type symbols).
• Praetor (Villa): Scoring: At the end of the game, score 2 VP for each of your Province cards with a Villa symbol.

Intrigue cards

• Vicarius (Arena): Intrigue: Re-roll one unplaced die belonging to any player.
• Hispania Maximus: Intrigue: Discard one of your Senate cards (including this card) to discard an Era I Province card of any player. Remove the matching Arch token from the board. They lose the Resource.
• Tribune (Villa): Intrigue: In Phase 1, add 3 to the sum of dice from any other player for the purposes of determining turn order.
• Greko Maximus (Arena): Intrigue: Your Shows gain you 1 VP extra and are considered to be 1 rank higher for the purposes of determining 'best show'.
• Africanus Maximus (Army Camp): Intrigue: Steal 1 Jewelery from any player by moving your token one space up and moving their token down one space.