Strada Romana Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Board Parts
• Game Setup
  • Starting Coins
• Playing the Game
  • a) Moving the Wagons
  • The Wagons
  • Wagon's Position and "Ware" Tiles
  • Taking "Ware" Tiles
  • Taking Cubes
  • Colours of the Cubes
  • Contracts
  • Special Moves
  • Traffic Jam
  • b) Choose a "Wagon Tile"
  • c) Pass
• Game End
• Score
  • Victory Points
  • Wagon Tiles
  • Contracts
  • Total Score
  • Example

Components

• 1 game board
• 10 wagons
• 36 cubes
• 36 "ware" tiles
• 10 wagon tiles
• 20 coins (yellow)
• 20 victory points (black)
• 1 bag

Game Board Parts

The board has Areas I-II (Ager Romanus and Ostia-Portus), Areas III-IV (Rome's entrance/exit) and Areas V-VI (Imperial Rome), with Start-Finish squares at Ostia-Portus and at Rome.

• Starting or Finishing Squares in Ostia-Portus and in Rome.
• Road: the black and grey squares represent the road where trade occurs.
• Squares for Goods Cubes (Market-places): they represent the market-places and forums where trade occurs.
• Square for "ware" tiles (Area): they represent the demand for goods in that zone.

Game Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table.
2. Place the 10 wagons at random on the starting squares: 5 on the "Portus" side and 5 on the "Roma" side. The wagons must be turned towards the road.
3. Place 6 "ware" tiles (one of each colour) at random on the dedicated area squares. The "ware" tiles represent the demand of that area.
4. Place one cube at random on each market-place along the Roman road. The cubes represent the traded goods.
5. All the remaining "ware" tiles and cubes are kept in the bag.
6. Shuffle the 10 "wagon tiles". Remove one of them and put it back into the box without looking at it. Keep the other nine face-down in a deck near the board.
7. Choose the starting player at random, and then proceed clockwise. All players receive coins at the beginning of the game (no coins are given to the starting player). See table.

Starting Coins

Player	Coins
1st player	0 coins
2nd player	1 coin
3rd player	2 coins
4th player	3 coins
5th player	3 coins

Playing the Game

The aim of the game is to score more points than the others and become the best Mercator of Rome.

During their turn, players can choose among three options:

a) To move the wagons (possibly collecting cubes and/or "ware" tiles); b) To pick a "wagon tile" (only three times in a game); c) To Pass and take a coin.

a) Moving the Wagons

Players move by 3 squares, splitting the moves as they like. For example, they can: move one wagon by 3 squares, move one wagon by 2 squares towards Rome and another wagon by 1 square towards Ostia-Portus, or move three wagons by 1 square.

Players must always move by 3 squares, unless traffic blocks their way. In this case, they can buy a Special Move (see "Special Moves", below).

The Wagons

Strada Romana is played moving the wagons from one end of the board to the other (either towards Rome or Ostia-Portus). The rules for their use are the following:

• The wagons move a square at a time, without changing direction.
• There can never be more than one wagon on a square.
• The wagons cannot usually pass through an occupied square. Therefore, a wagon is blocked when it finds another wagon on the square in front of him (regardless of its direction); it can only move if it is entitled to avail of a Special Move.

Each wagon has a name and a coloured outline; the coloured corner indicates the wagon's direction.

Wagon's stand

• The wagons do not belong to any one player. During their turn, players can move any wagon they like.
• Wagons can only move straight ahead or diagonally (with the exception of the Special Moves) on the squares that link up.

Note: the first move from the start can be performed by any wagon on any of the first squares (3 on the side of Portus and 2 on the side of Rome).

Wagons' movements: The short lines that link up the squares show the wagons' allowed moves. Wagons cannot go backwards. Wagons cannot go sideways unless of Special Moves.

Wagon's Position and "Ware" Tiles

The three parts of the route. The route is divided into three big parts (black-gray-black squares) with 2 areas each (example: Areas I and II are in Part A). The parts are Part A, Part B and Part C.

Players can take a "ware" tile only from the area in the part on which the wagon ends its move.

Top, bottom and middle squares. According to their position, there are top, bottom and middle squares along the road.

• If on a top square, the player can only take a top "ware" tile.
• If on a middle square, the player can choose a top or a bottom "ware" tile.
• If on a bottom square, the player can only take a bottom "ware" tile.

Taking "Ware" Tiles

Each of the six areas on the map has its own "ware" tile, representing the demand for goods in that area, at that moment of the game.

Only when a wagon ends its move on a square can the player immediately take the "ware" tile of the area bordering the route square (see "Wagon's position and ware tile").

If the square is adjacent to 2 areas, the player can choose which "ware" tile to take (for example, the green or the yellow one).

A new "ware" tile is drawn at random from the bag to replace the one taken.

As soon as a "ware" tile is collected, the player takes one coin for each cube of the same colour currently on the board.

Taking Cubes

Only when a wagon ends its move on a square connected to a market can the player immediately take the cube placed on the market.

A new one is drawn at random from the bag to replace the one taken.

The player does not receive coins (as for the "ware" tiles).

Number of players

• 2-3 Players: during their turn, players must choose between a cube or a tile.
• 4-5 players: during their turn, players can take a cube and/or a tile.

Colours of the Cubes

The colour of the cubes has significance, as also shown on the game board.

• YELLOW: Corn, bread
• RED: Wine, amphorae
• GREEN: Oil, jars
• BLUE: Metals, jewellery
• BROWN: Skins, textiles
• WHITE: Marble, statues

Contracts

When a player has a "ware" tile and a cube of the same colour, he has stipulated a contract, the main system to score points in Strada Romana. He stacks them as shown.

A contract is stipulated when a cube and a "ware" tile of the same colour are stacked.

Special Moves

At the beginning of their turn, players can use their coins to buy special features to be added to their 3 simple "straight" moves.

Note: each special move includes all the benefits of the cheaper ones, and can be used for all the wagons moved during a single turn.

• Sideways move: A player pays 1 coin. During his turn, he can move the wagons sideways.
• Diagonal move: A player pays 2 coins. During his turn, he can move the wagons diagonally and sideways.
• Extra move: A player pays 3 coins. During his turn, he can move by 4 instead of 3. He can also move the wagons diagonally and sideways.
• Stacking: A player pays 4 coins. A wagon can pass through an occupied square, but at the end of its move only one wagon can stay on each square. During his turn, the player can also move by 4, diagonally and sideways.

Special Moves can be performed in the order preferred and as many times as wished during the turn.

For example, a player who pays 3 coins (extra move) can move: 1 straight, 1 diagonal, another straight and finally the fourth (extra) move diagonal. He would not have used the option to go sideways.

At the end of a Special Move, the player can collect a "ware" tile and/or cube (if the conditions explained in the above rules are met).

Costs and effects of the Special Moves are summarized on the game board.

Traffic Jam

If the wagons are blocked, a traffic jam is formed. A player can buy a special move to solve the jam. If possible, he must make his three moves as usual. If the player cannot or does not want to pay to move, he can choose a wagon tile, or pass, taking a coin. During the next turn, if he wants, he can move by spending his coins.

b) Choose a "Wagon Tile"

Players can score points by guessing which 4 wagons will arrive first at their destination. To do so, players pick the "wagon tiles" deck up and choose one of them; then, the deck is put back into its place.

The "wagon tiles" are always kept face down (the other players may know how many each player owns, but not which ones). Each player can hold a maximum of three "wagon tiles" (which cannot be discarded).

c) Pass

When a player decides to pass, he takes one coin and his turn is finished. If he owns 5 coins, he must change them into 1 Victory Point as usual.

When a player has 5 coins, he must change them into 1 Victory Point (1 victory point = 5 coins).

Game End

The game ends immediately when all the 20 Victory Points are assigned, or when the fourth wagon reaches its destination (place the first 4 arrived wagons on the squares numbered from 1 to 4, regardless of the destination).

Score

Points are calculated on the basis of:

• The Victory Points
• The "wagon tiles" owned by each player
• The Contracts.

The winner of the game is the player with the highest score.

If two or more players tie, the winner is the player with more coins. If there is still a tie, the player that played last loses.

Victory Points

Each player scores 1 point for each Victory Point token held. Coins do not give points.

Wagon Tiles

When the game ends, all players reveal the "wagon tiles" they own.

For each wagon that arrives at its destination (either Portus or Rome; the order of arrival does not matter), the player holding its tile scores 3 points. For each wagon that has not yet arrived, the player holding its tile loses 1 point.

Example: a player has two "wagon tiles". At the end of the game, only one of them has arrived. The player scores 2 points: 3 for the wagon that arrived, and -1 for the one still on the road.

Contracts

A contract is stipulated when a cube and a "ware" tile of the same colour are stacked.

Each player's score equals the number of colours in which he holds contracts multiplied by the greatest number of contracts held of a single colour. However, he loses 1 Point for each cube or "ware" tile owned that does not form part of a contract.

Total Score

1. Count the Victory Points: number of black tokens. Coins do not give points.
2. Count the Wagon Points: winning "wagon tiles" (3 points each) and losing "wagon tiles" (-1 point each).
3. Count the Contract Points: (number of coloured contracts stipulated x number of the more frequent colour) minus single (uncompleted) cubes or tiles = total contract points.
4. Calculate the final score: Victory Points + Wagon Points + Total contract Points = FINAL SCORE.

Example

A player ends the game with:

• Stipulated contracts: 2 yellow contracts, 4 green contracts, 1 red contract, 2 blue contracts, 1 white contract.
• Uncompleted contracts: 1 brown cube, 1 green "ware" tile.

Score: 5 colours (yellow, green, red, blue, white) x maximum number: 4 green contracts = 20. However he loses 2 Points: 1 for the single green "ware" tile and 1 for the single brown cube.

Note: the second yellow contract and the second blue contract do not contribute to the score.

20 - 2 = 18 points