The Builders: Antiquity
The Builders: Antiquity Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
37 rectangular cards (including 18 Workers, 6 Slaves, 4 Tools, 4 Loans, 4 Universities, and 1 First player)
40 coins, including 23 silver coins and 17 gold coins. The silver coins are worth 1 Sesterce and the gold coins, 5 Sesterces.
33 Building cards (including 4 machines).
Example of Worker card: Reminder of the Sesterces and Resources cost of the Worker. Number of Sesterces that the player must pay to Send this Worker to a site. Resources (stone, wood, architecture, and decoration) produced by this Worker.
Example of Building card: Number of Sesterces that the player will earn once the Building is finished. Number of victory points that the player will earn once the Building is finished. Resources required (stone, wood, architecture, and decoration) to construct the Building. (Shown as a Finished Building and a Building under Construction.)
Setup
- Shuffle the Building cards and place the deck with the construction side up at one end of the table. Place the top five cards in a line next to the deck.
- Separate the "Apprentice" Workers from the rest of the Worker cards. Deal one "Apprentice" randomly to each player. Shuffle any remaining "Apprentices" back into the Worker deck.
- Shuffle the Workers deck and place it next to the Building deck. Turn over the top five cards and place them in a line, below the line of buildings.
- Above the Buildings line, the Investment line is made up of 4 stacks: the six Slaves, the four Tools, the four Loans, and, finally, the four Universities.
- Place the coins in the middle of the table to form a Bank.
- Each player gets 10 Sesterces (5 silver coins and 1 gold coin).
- Randomly choose a first player. That player takes the First Player card and places it in front of him or herself.
Playing the Game
On their turn, a player has 3 free actions, and they may pay for one or more additional actions. Each extra action costs 5 Sesterces. With any of their actions, a player can:
- Start Construction
- Recruit a Worker
- Make an Investment
- Send a Worker to a site
- Take Sesterces
Start Construction
Starting Construction costs one action. Choose one Building from the five Building cards in the line and place it in front of you. Then, immediately fill that space in the line with the top card from the Building deck. You may have multiple buildings under construction at the same time. You may repeat this action during your turn as many times as you wish (as long as you have actions).
Recruit a Worker
Recruiting a Worker costs one action. Choose one Worker form the five worker cards in the line and place it in front of you. Then, immediately fill that space in the line with the top card from the Worker deck. You may repeat this action during your turn as many times as you wish (as long as you have actions).
Make an Investment
Once per turn, you can choose to take one of the cards from the Investment line. In addition to the required action to take the card, most investments also have a fixed cost in Sesterces represented by the coin symbol.
Purchase a slave...
For a fixed cost of 7 Sesterces, you can choose one Slave from among those still available. That slave is added to your team of Workers who are still available. They are treated just like any Worker from then on, but you will not have to pay any Sesterces to Send them to work. At the end of the final score tally, each Slave (which has not been freed) costs their owner 1 victory point. Also, as long as they have not been freed, a Slave cannot be educated or equipped with a Tool.
The Slave card shows: Resources produced by the Slave. Number of Sesterces that the player must pay to purchase the Slave. Number of victory points the player will lose if they do not free the Slave.
...and free them (-1 action)
At any point during their turn or during the final score tally, you can free one or more Slaves, at the cost of one action for each Slave freed. During the final score tally, each Slave freed thus costs 5 Sesterces. Only an available Slave can be freed. You then turn the card over to the "Freed" side. The character is then considered to be a Worker who must therefore be paid each time they are sent to a building under construction. Moreover, it can now be educated and/or equipped with a Tool.
The Freed Slave card shows: Resources produced by this Freed Slave. Number of Sesterces that the player must pay each time to Send this Freed Slave to work on a building under construction.
Buy a Tool
For a fixed cost of 2 Sesterces, you can choose one of the Tool cards still available and places it in front of you. From now on, when you send a Worker to Work, you can equip them with that Tool without paying either an action or extra Sesterces for the Tool. The Tools' resource is then added to that of the Worker wielding it.
The Tool card shows: Resources produced by this Tool. Number of Sesterces that the player must pay to Buy this Tool.
Example: Sending this "companion" Worker with the "Mallet" tool to work on the "Alexandria Lighthouse" building costs 1 action and 4 Sesterces. The player had previously spent 2 Sesterces to purchase the mallet.
Be Careful:
- Only a Worker or a Freed Slave can be equipped with a Tool. A Slave cannot be equipped with a Tool.
- A Worker or a Freed Slave can only be equipped with one Tool at a time.
Once the Building is complete, the Tool, like its wielder, will return to your pool of available Workers. The Tool can once again be equipped by any Worker or Freed Slave when sent to their next building under Construction.
Take out a Loan...
You can take a Loan card, from among those still available, and place in front of you. You then takes 10 Sesterces from the Bank.
The Loan card shows: Number of victory points the player will lose if their Loan isn't paid back. Number of Sesterces that the player takes from the Bank when they take out a Loan. Number of Sesterces that the player must pay to the Bank if they choose to pay back their Loan.
...and pay it back
During the final score tally, you must pay back 15 Sesterces for each Loan taken out, otherwise 2 victory points will be deducted for each unpaid Loan. Repaying a Loan is not an action.
Educate a Worker
For a fixed cost of 7 Sesterces, you can educate one of your available Workers (meaning one who is not Working at a building under construction). To do this, choose one of the University cards still available and immediately place it on your Worker. The new Resource level replaces the old one, without increasing the cost of the Worker being increased. The University card remains on the Worker until the end of the game.
Example: After having educated this "companion" Worker for one action and a fixed cost of 7 Sesterces, sending it work on the "Alexandria Lighthouse" Building costs the player 1 action and 4 Sesterces.
Be Careful:
- Only a Worker or a Freed Slave can be educated. A Slave cannot be educated.
- A given Worker or Freed Slave can only be educated once.
Sending a Worker to Work
Sending a Worker to Work has a variable cost (see Cost, below). Place one of your Workers next to one of your Buildings under construction, so the Resources produced by the Worker line up with the requirements of the Building. When you place a Worker, you must pay the number of Sesterces in the upper right corner of the Worker card (to the bank). Once you send a Worker to work on a Building, that Worker cannot move until the Building is complete. Each time you add a new Worker to a Building, place it so its Resources line up with the other Workers there.
Example: Sending this "companion" Worker to work on the "Alexandria Lighthouse" Building costs the player 1 action and 4 Sesterces.
Cost:
- During a game turn, sending one Worker to a building, no matter the number of Workers already at that Site, costs only one action.
- However, sending a second Worker to a given building during the same turn costs 2 more actions!
- Sending a third Worker to a building during the same turn costs 3 more actions, and so on. To send three Workers to the same building during the same turn, a player must spend six actions!
- However, sending Workers to two different buildings during a given turn only costs 2 actions, one per Worker.
Take Sesterces
Taking Sesterces has a variable cost. You may spend your actions to take Sesterces from the Bank:
- For 1 action, you can take 1 Sesterce,
- For 2 actions, you can take 3 Sesterces,
- For 3 actions, you can take 6 Sesterces.
When a player has performed all of their actions, play proceeds to the next player, and so on…
Finishing a Building
Finishing a Building is not an action. When the sum of the various Resources of all of the Workers placed on a building equals or exceeds the requirements of the Building in each Resource, the Building is complete.
The Workers who were on the Site and any Tools they may have had then rejoin your team of Workers. You take from the Bank the number of Sesterces indicated on the Building. Then, turn over the Building and set it aside with the rest of your finished Buildings, if any. This makes it easy to total up your victory points.
Example: By sending this "laborer" Worker for 3 Sesterces to the "Alexandria Lighthouse" building, the player completes the requirements of the Building. The Alexandria lighthouse requires 2 stones, 4 wood, 1 architecture, and 3 decorations. The last Worker added brings 1 wood and 2 decorations which were missing. The Alexandria lighthouse is therefore finished.
The player gains 14 Sesterces as indicated on the card, then flips it over to score 5 victory points.
The Machines
Machines are a special type of Building you can build. When you finish building a Machine, it is treated like a Worker that does not require any payment for its work (the cost in Sesterces to send a Machine to work is zero). A Machine is built exactly like a normal Building, and is worth victory points when it is completed. But, instead of setting the Machine to the side (with your other completed Buildings), it remains in play after you flip it over and joins your team of Workers.
End of the Game
If you have 17 or more victory points at the end of your turn (counting only Buildings and Machines, but not Sesterces, Slaves, or Loans), the game will end. Any players who have not yet had a turn in the last round each take a final turn (so all players will have an equal number of turns—the last player to take a turn will be the player to the right of the First Player). So, if the First Player earns a total 17 victory points on his turn, all of the other players still get to play their last turn. On the other hand, if it's the last player who triggers the end of the game, the game ends immediately at the end of his turn!
Play then proceeds to the final score tally:
- Each player can, if they haven't already done so, choose to free their Slaves and pay back their Loans. Each unfreed Slave will penalize them one victory point, and each unpaid Loan will penalize them two victory points (see "Freeing a Slave").
- Each player then adds the victory points from finished Buildings and Machines, to which they add a tenth of a point (0.1 point) per Sesterce still in their possession. The player with the highest final score is declared winner. In case of a tie, all players tied for the lead are declared winners.