Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Flow
• Setup
  • Game Boards
  • Deck Setup
  • Player Components
  • In the Box
  • Preparing the Event Deck
  • Starting Player
  • Initial Actions
  • Preparing the Card Row
• Your Turn — Course of the Turn
  • First Turn
• Start-of-Turn Sequence
  • Replenish the Card Row
  • End of an Age
  • Resolve a War
  • Make Tactics Available
• Politics Phase
  • Prepare an Event
  • Play an Aggression
  • Declare a War
  • Offer a Pact
  • Cancel a Pact
  • Resign
• Action Phase
  • Take a Non-Wonder Card from the Card Row
  • Take a Wonder from the Card Row
  • Increase Population
  • Build a Farm, Mine, or Urban Building
  • Upgrade a Farm, Mine, or Urban Building
  • Destroy a Farm, Mine, or Urban Building
  • Develop a Technology
  • Declare a Revolution
  • Play an Action Card
  • Play a Leader
  • Build a Stage of a Wonder
  • Build a Military Unit
  • Upgrade a Military Unit
  • Disband a Military Unit
  • Play a Tactic
  • Copy a Tactic
• End-of-Turn Sequence
  • Discard Excess Military Cards
  • Check for an Uprising
  • Production Phase
  • Draw Military Cards
  • Reset Your Actions
• Current Events
  • Evaluating an Event
  • Colonization
• Your Cards
  • Level of a Card
  • Your Hand
  • Cards in Play
  • Discard or Remove from Play
• Technology Cards in Play
• Other Civil Cards in Play
• Military Cards in Play
• Tactics Cards
• Pacts and Wars
• Your Statistics
  • Ratings
  • Colonization Modifier
  • Civil and Military Actions
  • Blue and Yellow Tokens
  • Workers and Population
  • Discontent Workers
• Food and Resources
• Science and Culture Points
• Appendix — Card Clarifications
  • Leaders
  • Wonders
  • Events

Game Flow

• Set up the game.
• Players take turns, beginning with the starting player and continuing clockwise.
• Turns are organized into rounds. Each round begins with the starting player's turn.
  • The first round is different from the others (see First Turn).
  • Note: Most of the time, nothing special happens at the beginning or end of a round.
• During the game, the current age gradually changes through Ages A, I, II, III, and finally IV.
  • If Age III ends during the starting player's turn, that is the last round.
  • If Age III ends during any other player's turn, then the following round is the last round.
• The game ends when the last round is over. Every player will have had an equal number of turns. Then it is time for the final scoring:
  • All Age III events in the current and next events decks are evaluated in any order.
  • Any end-of-game bonuses are scored (the Bill Gates card).
  • The player with the most culture points is the winner. If there is a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Setup

Game Boards

Place the game boards in the center of the table, in any suitable configuration.

Deck Setup

Ages A, I, II, and III each have their own civil and military decks. So there are 8 separate decks, each with a different back.

In a 2- or 3-player game, you must remove certain cards. These cards will not be used.

• Before a 3-player game: Civil decks I, II, and III each have three cards with the 4-player marking. Remove these cards from these decks.
• Before a 2-player game: Civil decks I, II and III each have nine cards with the 3+/4 markings. Remove these cards from these decks. Military deck I has two pact cards, and military decks II and III each have four. Remove all pact cards from these decks.

Player Components

Each player chooses a color and takes the components in that color:

Player Board. The player board depicts 6 initial technologies: Warriors, Agriculture, Bronze, Philosophy, Religion, and Despotism. These count as technology cards.

• Put a blue token on each of the 16 squares in the blue bank.
• Put a yellow token on each of the 18 squares in the yellow bank, on each of the 6 squares on the technology cards, and on the square in the worker pool.
• Your initial government card, Despotism, depicts 4 civil actions and 2 military actions. Place 4 white tokens and 2 red tokens next to the card (but not on it).

Rating Markers. You have 4 rating markers in your color.

• Place your science rating marker on space 1 of the science rating indicator.
• Place your culture rating marker on space 0 of the culture rating indicator.
• Place your strength rating marker on space 1 of the strength rating indicator.
• Place your happiness rating marker on space 0 of the happiness rating indicator on your player board.

(Note: These settings are determined by the workers on your initial technology cards.)

Points Counters. Place your science points counter on space 0 of the science points track. Place your culture points counter on space 0 of the culture points track.

Tactics Standard. Place your tactics standard in the common tactics area of the military board. This indicates that you have no current tactic.

In the Box

Some blue, yellow, red, and white tokens will be left over after setup. They will be needed during the game, but only rarely. They are said to be "in the box".

Preparing the Event Deck

Shuffle the Age A military deck. Take a number of cards equal to the number of players plus 2. Place these face down on the military board as the current events deck. Return the rest of the cards to the box without looking at them.

Starting Player

Choose the starting player however you like. The starting player will not change during the game. You may mark this by sliding one of the unused Age A military cards face down under the starting player's board.

Initial Actions

The starting player will have 1 unspent civil action on his or her first turn. Indicate this by placing one of the starting player's white tokens on his or her Despotism card. In clockwise order, each player begins with one more civil action than the previous player. They indicate this with 2, 3, or 4 white tokens on their Despotism cards. Players have no military actions on their first turn. All red tokens remain beside the player boards.

Preparing the Card Row

Shuffle the Age A civil deck. Deal 13 cards face up to the spaces of the card row. Put the rest of the deck on the light half of the current age board. Keep the other decks nearby, but out of the way.

Your Turn — Course of the Turn

Your turn consists of these phases and steps:

Start-of-Turn Sequence:

• Replenish the card row.
• Resolve a war, if necessary.
• Make exclusive tactics available, if necessary.

Politics Phase

Action Phase

End-of-Turn Sequence:

• Discard excess military cards.
• Production Phase. (Skip during an uprising.)
• Draw military cards.
• Reset civil and military actions.

First Turn

Your first turn is different:

• You begin with a limited number of civil actions.
• You skip the Start-of-Turn Sequence and the Politics Phase.
• During your Action Phase you are not allowed to do anything except: Take a non-wonder from the card row, or take a wonder from the card row and put it into play as an unfinished wonder.

Start-of-Turn Sequence

Replenish the Card Row

Note: The card row is not replenished during the first round. You begin your turn by replenishing the card row:

• Discard any cards remaining in the leftmost spaces:
  • The first three spaces if there are 2 players in the game.
  • The first two spaces if there are 3 players in the game.
  • Only the leftmost space if there are 4 players in the game.
  • If someone has resigned, count only those players remaining in the game, not the initial number of players.
• Shift all remaining cards to the far left, leaving no empty spaces between them.
• Deal cards from the current age civil deck into the empty spaces, from left to right. (Skip this in Age IV, which has no deck.)

End of an Age

Replenishing the card row sometimes triggers the end of an age.

Age A ends when the card row is replenished for the first time (on the starting player's second turn). After dealing Age A civil cards to the empty spaces, remove the rest of the Age A deck from the game. Shuffle the Age I civil and military decks and place them on the current age board. They are now the current civil and military decks. If all the Age A civil cards were dealt and there are still empty spaces in the card row, continue filling the row from the Age I civil deck.

Ages I, II, and III end when the last card of the current civil deck is dealt to the card row. The next age begins immediately:

• Cards from ages older than the one that just ended (but not cards from the age that just ended) become antiquated:
  • Players discard all antiquated cards from their hands.
  • All antiquated leaders are removed from play.
  • All antiquated unfinished wonders are removed from play. (Blue tokens on them are returned to the players' blue banks.)
  • All antiquated pacts are removed from play.
  • Note: Other cards in play (technologies, colonies, completed wonders, exclusive and common tactics, declared wars) remain in play even if they are antiquated.
• Each player loses 2 yellow tokens.
• Shuffle the civil deck for the age that has begun. Place it on the current age board. It is now the current civil deck. Continue filling the card row if there are still empty spaces. (If Age IV has begun, there is no new civil deck and the empty spaces will remain empty.)
• Remove the military deck from the previous age. Shuffle the new age's military deck and place it on the current age board. (If Age IV has begun, there is no new military deck; drawing military cards is not possible in Age IV.)
• Age IV is the game-ending age. If Age IV starts, determine which round will be the last: This round is the last if Age IV begins during the starting player's turn. The next round will be the last if Age IV begins during any other player's turn.

Resolve a War

If you have no war in play, skip this step. But if you have a war card in your play area, you must resolve the war at this time.

Compare your strength with the strength of the opponent on whom you declared war. If a card in play gives you a bonus when you attack this opponent, include that bonus.

If one player has a higher strength than the other, that player is the victor and the other player is the defeated civilization. The difference between their strengths is the strength advantage. Follow the text on the card.

• If the victor steals a special technology, the victor takes the card from the defeated civilization's play area and puts it into his or her own play area.
• A player cannot steal a special technology that is the same as one he or she already has in play or in hand.
• If you steal a special technology of the same type as one that you have in play, you keep the higher level card in play and discard the other.

If the players have the same strength, the war resolves with no effect. Either way, discard the war card. (Note: Neither side can use military bonus cards to augment their strength in a war.)

Make Tactics Available

If you have an exclusive tactics card in play, you must make it available at this time. Move your tactics card to the common tactics area of the military board.

• There is no limit to the number of cards that can be in the common tactics area.
• If the same card is already in the common tactics area, you may merge the cards by putting one under the other or by removing one from the game. However, do not discard it to the discard pile.
• Note: Your tactics standard remains on the card and it continues to be your current tactic.

Politics Phase

During your Politics Phase, you may perform at most one political action, if you wish:

• Prepare an Event
• Play an Aggression
• Declare a War (not during the last round)
• Offer a Pact (not in a 2-player game)
• Cancel a Pact (not in a 2-player game)
• Resign (not in Age IV)

Prepare an Event

An event is a green military card marked with the event symbol in the upper right corner. To prepare an event:

• Put your event card face down on top of the future events deck (or on the space, if it is empty).
• Score culture equal to the level of the card.
• Reveal the top card from the current events deck and resolve its effect. If it is a territory, resolve colonization.
• If this was the last card in the current events deck: Shuffle the future events deck. Sort it face down, so that cards from earlier ages are above cards from later ages. Place it on the current events space. It is now the current events deck.

Note: An event you prepare now will be revealed and resolved on a later turn.

Play an Aggression

An aggression is a brown military card. It has the word "Aggression:" in its name. To play one:

• Reveal the card.
• Pay the military action cost depicted next to the crown symbol.
• Declare which player you are attacking. That player is your rival.
  • You cannot attack a player if the two of you have a pact that says you cannot attack.
  • You cannot attack a player whose strength equals or exceeds yours.
  • Remember to include any bonuses that trigger when you attack the other player. Do not include bonuses from pacts that end if you attack.
• If you and your rival have a pact that says it ends if you attack, remove that pact from play.

Your rival may defend against the aggression by adding temporary strength bonuses to match or exceed your strength:

• Your rival can play one or more military bonus cards. The defense value in the upper half of the card is added to his or her strength. (These cards are discarded after their bonus is counted.)
• Your rival can gain a +1 strength bonus for each military card discarded face down.
• Limitation: The total number of cards your rival plays or discards for bonuses cannot exceed his or her military action total.

If your rival matches or exceeds your strength, the aggression is unsuccessful. Discard it with no effect. If your rival cannot or does not wish to match or exceed your strength, the aggression is successful: Resolve the effect stated on the card. (If the effect refers to the cost of a card, use the cost printed on the card, ignoring any modifiers.) Discard the aggression card.

Declare a War

A war is a gray military card with the words "War over" in its title. To declare a war:

• Reveal the card.
• Pay the military action cost depicted next to the crown symbol.
• Declare which player you are attacking. That player is your rival. (If a card says you cannot attack a player, you cannot declare war against that player.)
• If you and your rival have a pact that says it ends if you attack, remove that pact from play.
• Place the war in your play area, with the top of the card toward your rival.

The war will be resolved at the beginning of your next turn. Limitation: You cannot declare a war during the last round.

Offer a Pact

A pact is a blue military card with a shaking-hands symbol above its name. Two-player games do not have pacts. To offer a pact:

• Reveal the card.
• Declare which player you are offering the pact to. If the pact has sides labeled A and B, declare whether you are taking the role of side A or side B.

Then, your fellow player decides whether to accept the offer or not. If your fellow player refuses the offer, return the pact to your hand. It still uses up your political action for this turn. If your fellow player accepts the offer, the pact enters play:

• Any other pact in your play area ends, whether it was with this player or a different player. Remove the old pact from play. (Note: You may still be a party to pacts in other players' play areas.)
• Place the newly accepted pact in your play area rotated so that the corresponding side (A, B, or either side if they are not labeled) faces your opponent.
• The new pact applies immediately. (Note: A pact that prevents attacks or declaring a war does not cancel wars that were already declared.)

Cancel a Pact

This action allows you to cancel a pact to which you are a party. Choose a pact in play to which you are a party. It does not have to be a pact in your play area. Remove the pact from play. It ceases to affect you and your fellow player.

Resign

You may use your political action to resign. Your civilization immediately leaves play. You have lost.

• Discard your hand and remove all cards in your play area from play. If you are party to any pact in someone else's play area, remove that pact from play.
• If there are any wars declared against you, the players who declared them remove their war cards from play and score 7 culture points.
• If there is only one player left in the game, the game ends and that player wins.
• If there are still two or more players, they continue without you: They do not change the current decks. Before switching to Age II or Age III, they adjust the decks for the new ages as if setting up the game for the new number of players. If only two players are left, they use rules for two players when evaluating events.
• Exception: You cannot resign in Age IV.

Action Phase

During the Action Phase, you may spend your civil and military actions to perform any combination of the actions described in this section in any order.

• On your first turn, you are not allowed to do anything except take cards from the card row. (If you take a wonder, you do put it into play.)
• You cannot perform an action unless you are able to perform all the required steps and pay all the required costs.
• You may choose to end your Action Phase even if you have available civil or military actions.

Some of the actions may also be performed as effects of certain cards. If the action is an effect of a card: The action costs you no civil or military actions unless the card says so (exception: Declare a Revolution). The action may have other costs (usually food, resources, or science points) which you must pay unless the card says you perform the action for free.

Take a Non-Wonder Card from the Card Row

• Choose any card in the card row that is not a wonder.
• Pay 1, 2, or 3 civil actions, as depicted at the bottom of that space of the card row.
• Add the card to your hand.

Limitations:

• You cannot take any non-wonder card if the number of civil cards in your hand is equal to or greater than your civil action total.
• You cannot take a technology card if you already have a card with the same name in your hand or in play.
• If you have taken a leader, you cannot take another leader from that age. This applies even if the leader you took has already left play.

Take a Wonder from the Card Row

A wonder is a purple card with a row of numbers at the bottom of the illustration depicting the cost of building each stage of the wonder. It enters play when you take it:

• Choose a wonder in the card row.
• Pay civil actions equal to the number of civil actions depicted under that space plus one extra civil action for each wonder you have completed. (This includes wonders that have crumbled to ruins due to effects such as Ravages of Time.)
• Put the wonder in play, rotated by 90 degrees to indicate that it is your unfinished wonder.
• Limitation: You cannot take a wonder if you currently have an unfinished wonder in play.
• Note: You can take a wonder even if your hand is full. The wonder's effects do not apply while it is unfinished.

Increase Population

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Pay food equal to the white number depicted under the rightmost occupied section of your yellow bank.
• Take the rightmost yellow token from your yellow bank and add it to your worker pool. (It becomes an unused worker.)

Note: You cannot increase your population if there is no yellow token left in your yellow bank.

Build a Farm, Mine, or Urban Building

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Choose one of your farm, mine, or urban building technology cards in play.
• Pay the resource cost depicted on the card. (Note: The construction special technologies reduce the cost of urban buildings only.)
• Move one of your unused workers to the card.
• Update your ratings, if necessary.

Limitation: The lower right corner of your government card depicts your urban building limit. If you already have that many or more urban buildings of a particular type, you cannot build a new urban building of that type.

Upgrade a Farm, Mine, or Urban Building

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Choose one of your farms, mines, or urban buildings (as represented by a worker on the corresponding technology card).
• Choose another technology card you have in play of the same type and higher level.
• Pay resources equal to the difference between the resource costs depicted on these two cards. (If the cost of one or both cards is modified, apply the modifiers before calculating the difference.)
• Move the worker to the higher level card.
• Update your ratings, if necessary.

Destroy a Farm, Mine, or Urban Building

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Choose one of your farms, mines, or urban buildings (as represented by a worker on the corresponding technology card).
• Move the worker from the card to your worker pool. (It becomes an unused worker.)
• Update your ratings, if necessary.

Develop a Technology

The technology cards in your hand are distinguished by a science point cost in the upper left corner.

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Choose a technology card from your hand.
• Pay the science cost depicted on the card. (For government technologies, you pay the higher depicted cost.)
• Put the technology card into play.
  • If the card is a special (blue) technology of the same type as one you already have in play, only the higher-level card stays in play. Usually, the older card is replaced by the new one. In rare cases, the one you just played is removed. This still counts as playing a technology for purposes of other cards (such as Einstein).
  • If the technology is a government, the previous government is replaced. Remove the old one from the game or put the new one on top of it.

Effects of special technologies and governments apply immediately. Update your statistics, if necessary.

Declare a Revolution

Declaring a revolution is a special way of developing a government technology.

• Choose a government technology card from your hand.
• Pay civil actions equal to your civil action total. (This usually means you can't declare a revolution unless all your civil actions are available.)
  • If an event (Development of Civilization) allows you to develop a technology, you may declare a revolution by paying this full civil action cost.
  • If an action card (Breakthrough) allows you to develop a technology, you may declare a revolution by paying this cost instead of the action card's cost.
• Pay the lower science cost depicted on the government card.
• Put the government into play. Replace your previous government by removing it from the game or covering it with the new card.
• Apply all effects of the new government. Update your statistics. But if you increased your civil action total, move the new white tokens off the card so that you still have no civil actions available.

Effects that trigger when you develop a technology (Da Vinci, Newton, Einstein) are resolved at this time. (So in the case of Newton, you will end up with 1 available civil action.)

Play an Action Card

An action card is a yellow civil card.

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Choose an action card from your hand, but not one that you took during this Action Phase.
• Reveal the card and resolve its effect:
  • If the effect of the card orders you to perform another action, you follow the usual rules for that action, except you do not pay any civil or military actions for it.
    • If the card reduces a cost below 0, then that cost is 0.
    • If the card says "develop a technology" you may declare a revolution. Instead of paying 1 civil action to use the card, you will pay the cost of the revolution.
    • If the card says "build one stage of a wonder" you can only build one stage, even if other cards in play allow you to build multiple stages "for 1 civil action".
  • If you cannot perform the action the card specifies, the card cannot be played.
  • If the card gives you something "for this turn", then that bonus does not count toward your statistics and it is not represented by a physical game component. (Note: An extra military action can be used to draw a military card at the end of your turn.)
• Discard the card after playing.

Play a Leader

A leader is a green civil card with a portrait of a famous historical figure in the upper right corner.

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Choose a leader from your hand.
• Put the leader in play.

If you already have a leader in play, it is replaced: Discard the old leader. Get one civil action back. The leader's effects apply immediately. Update your statistics.

Build a Stage of a Wonder

You can do this only if you already have an unfinished wonder in play.

• Pay 1 civil action.
• Pay resources indicated by the leftmost uncovered cost depicted on the wonder.
• Cover that cost with a blue token from your blue bank. (If there are no tokens in your blue bank, use one from your technology cards.)

If all costs on the wonder are now covered, the wonder becomes completed: Return all blue tokens from the wonder to your blue bank. Turn the card so that its name is right side up. The wonder's effects now apply.

If a card allows you to build multiple stages of a wonder as a single action, the procedure is the same. You add up all the costs for all the stages you plan to build, you pay all those costs at once, and then you cover the costs with blue tokens.

Build a Military Unit

• Pay 1 military action.
• Choose one of your military unit technology cards in play.
• Pay the resource cost depicted on the card.
• Move one of your unused workers to the card.
• Update your ratings.

Upgrade a Military Unit

• Pay 1 military action.
• Choose one of your military units (as represented by a worker on a military unit technology card).
• Choose one of your military unit technologies of the same type and higher level.
• Pay resources equal to the difference between the resource costs depicted on these two cards. (If the cost of one or both cards is modified, apply the modifiers before calculating the difference.)
• Move the worker to the higher level card.
• Update your ratings.

Disband a Military Unit

• Choose one of your military units (as represented by a worker on a military unit technology card).
• Pay 1 military action.
• Move the worker to your worker pool. (It becomes an unused worker.)
• Update your ratings.

Play a Tactic

A tactic is a red military card with icons of military units in the bottom half.

• Pay 1 military action.
• Choose a tactics card in your hand.
• Put it into play in your area as your exclusive tactics card.
• Place your tactics standard on it. It is now your current tactic.
• Update your strength rating.

Limitation: You can play or copy a tactic only once per turn.

Copy a Tactic

• Choose a common tactics card on the military board.
• Pay 2 military actions.
• Place your tactics standard on it. It is now your current tactic.
• Update your strength rating.

Limitation: You can play or copy a tactic only once per turn.

End-of-Turn Sequence

Once you declare the end of your Action Phase, follow the End-of-Turn Sequence in order. Only the first step requires a player decision. Once you have chosen military cards to discard, the rest is automatic.

Discard Excess Military Cards

If the number of military cards in your hand exceeds your military action total, discard any excess cards, face down.

Check for an Uprising

If your discontent workers outnumber your unused workers, you face an uprising and skip the Production Phase.

Production Phase

If you are not facing an uprising, perform these steps in order.

Score Science and Culture. Score science points equal to your science rating. Score culture points equal to your culture rating.

Corruption. The leftmost square in each section of your blue bank is marked with a negative number. If all these numbers are covered by blue tokens, you have no corruption. Otherwise, the leftmost uncovered negative number is your corruption. Lose resources equal to your corruption. If you lost all your resources but not enough to account for the entire amount of corruption, lose food to cover the difference.

Food Production. For each worker on your farm technology cards, move one blue token from the blue bank to that card. If there are not enough tokens, move all that you can to the farm technology cards, beginning with those of the highest level.

Food Consumption. The leftmost square in each section of your yellow bank is marked with a negative number. If all these numbers are covered by yellow tokens, you have no consumption. Otherwise, the leftmost uncovered negative number is your consumption. Lose food equal to your consumption. If you lost all your food, but not enough to account for the entire consumption, lose 4 culture points for each unit of food necessary to cover the difference.

Resource Production. For each worker on your mine technology cards, move one blue token from the blue bank to that card. If there are not enough tokens, move all that you can to the mine technology cards, beginning with those of the highest level.

Draw Military Cards

For every available military action you have left, draw one military card from the current age military deck.

• Limitation: You may draw at most 3 cards this way.
• In Age IV, there is no military deck and you draw no cards.
• Note: On the first round, players have no available military actions and thus draw no cards.

If you draw the last military card, shuffle the current age's military card discard pile and place it on the current age board. It is now the military deck. Continue drawing from the new deck if you have not yet drawn all the cards you are entitled to.

Reset Your Actions

Move the red and white tokens back to your government card. All your military and civil actions are available again. Some events may require you to spend some of them before your next turn.

Current Events

When a player puts an event in the future events deck as his or her political action, the top card of the current events deck is revealed and evaluated. Some events represent the discovery of new territories (they have the word "Territory" in their name). Other events have an effect that is written out on the card.

• If the current event has a written effect, evaluate it as written.
• If it is the discovery of a new territory, then players may attempt to colonize it.

Evaluating an Event

Follow the text on the card.

• If multiple players must make a decision, they decide in clockwise order, beginning with the player who revealed the event.
• If the card requires players to compare a statistic, ties are resolved this way: The current player, or the player who is closer to the current player in clockwise order, is considered to have the higher value. (Note: In some cases, such as Terrorism or Barbarians, this may be a disadvantage.) If an event is evaluated at the end of the game, the starting player is considered to be the current player when breaking ties. But if the card applies to "all civilizations" with the most or least of something (as in Immigration) then any ties remain unbroken.
• For a two player game: whenever a card says it applies to 2 civilizations with the most or least of something, it should actually be applied to only one. (For example, "The two strongest civilizations" should be read as "The strongest civilization".)
• If the effect enables a player to perform an action that can be chosen during the Action Phase, the player follows the usual rules for that action, except that he or she does not pay any civil or military actions unless the card says otherwise. Exception: If the card says "develop a technology" a player may declare a revolution, but the revolution will still use up all civil actions.

Once the card's effect has been resolved, place it in the past events pile. It does not go to the military cards discard pile and cannot be drawn again.

Colonization

If a territory is discovered as the current event, all players have a chance to colonize it. Players bid to see who is willing to send the largest colonization force.

• A bid is always a whole number higher than zero and higher than the previous bid (if any). No player may bid with more colonization force than he or she can actually send.
• Players bid in turn, clockwise around the table, beginning with the player who revealed the territory. On his or her turn, a player may bid or pass. A player who passes drops out of the auction.
• If no one bids, the territory event card is placed on the past events pile and colonization comes to an end.
• If someone bids on the territory, bidding continues until all but one player has dropped out. That player must colonize the territory.

The winner must form a colonization force equal to or greater than the bid:

• The player must send one or more military units. Their strength is summed to get a base value for the colonization force.
• The units sent may be grouped into armies according to the player's current tactic. The armies' tactical strength is added to the colonization force.
• The civilization's colonization modifier is applied to the colonization force.
• The player may play any number of military bonus cards and add the colonization value in the lower half of each card to the colonization force.
• Note: It is not possible to form a colonization force with just bonuses and modifiers. The player must send at least one military unit. Effects that modify a civilization's strength, such as those provided by Napoleon or Alexander, do not apply to the colonization force.

Once the player announces the composition of the colonization force:

• The units sent are sacrificed. Their yellow tokens go to the player's yellow bank.
• Any military bonus cards used are discarded.
• The player takes the card and puts it into his or her play area. It is now that player's colony. The player updates his or her statistics, especially the permanent effects on the bottom of the new colony and the new strength rating.
• Then, the player resolves the immediate effect depicted in the middle of the card: Gain the number of resources depicted. Gain the amount of food depicted. Score the indicated number of science points. Score the indicated number of culture points. Gain population once for each population symbol. Draw the indicated number of military cards from the current age military deck (ignore any limits; draw nothing in Age IV).
• Note: Order is important. The permanent effect may give the player yellow or blue tokens that enable the player to perform the immediate effect.

Your Cards

Level of a Card

The level of the card is a numerical value that corresponds to the age of the card: Age A = 0, Age I = 1, Age II = 2, and Age III = 3. The level of a military unit, farm, mine, or urban building is the level of the technology it is on. If a card refers to your best mine, lab, library, etc. it means one with the highest level among all workers of that type.

Your Hand

You may hold both civil and military cards in your hand.

Civil Cards. Civil cards are drawn from the card row. Because civil cards are never drawn secretly, players may decide that civil cards in hand are public at all times. The number of civil cards in your hand is limited by your civil action total. When you are at or above the limit, you may not add another civil card to your hand by any means. However, if you are above the limit for some reason, you do not have to discard excess civil cards.

Military Cards. Military cards are drawn secretly from the current age military deck. Other players do not see them until they are revealed. The number of military cards in your hand is limited by your military action total. You may draw cards to exceed this limit, but you will discard the excess during the designated step of your End-of-Turn Sequence.

Cards in Play

A card in play is face up on the table, either as part of a civilization's play area or as a common tactic on the military board. Other cards (in players' hands, in discard piles, in decks, in the card row) are not in play. Unless stated otherwise, whenever a rule or effect refers to leaders, colonies, wonders, or technologies, it is referring to cards in play.

Discard or Remove from Play

Discard usually means to discard a card from your hand. Remove from play means to discard a card that was in play. Either way, the card goes to the same place. If a civil card is discarded or removed from play, it will not enter the game again. When a military card is discarded or removed from play, it goes to a face down discard pile of the corresponding age. If the current military deck runs out, the discard pile of the current age is shuffled to create a new current military deck. (Note: Events that have been resolved go to the past events pile, which is not the military card discard pile.)

Technology Cards in Play

Most of the cards you have in play are technology cards. They include any civil card that has a science cost in its upper left corner, plus your initial technologies printed on your player board. The type of the technology is depicted in the upper right corner of the card.

Farm or Mine Technologies. These allow you to build farms or mines, and to store food and resources. Each worker on a farm or mine technology card in play represents one farm or mine of the corresponding level. There is no limit to how many farms or mines you can have. Farms and mines have no effect on your ratings. During the Production Phase, each farm or mine produces food or resources. Each blue token on the card is worth the amount of food or resources depicted at the bottom. (A farm or mine technology card can store food or resources even if it has no worker.)

Urban Building Technologies. These allow you to build urban buildings (labs, temples, libraries, theaters, arenas). Each worker on an urban building technology card in play represents an urban building of the corresponding level and type. Your government has an urban building limit that specifies the maximum number of urban buildings you can have of any particular type. Each urban building contributes to your ratings as indicated by the symbols at the bottom of the card.

Military Unit Technologies. These allow you to build military units (infantry, cavalry, artillery, air force). Each worker on a military unit technology card in play represents a military unit of the corresponding level and type. There is no limit to how many military units you can have. Each military unit contributes to your strength rating by the value printed at the bottom of the card. Military units may be grouped into armies according to your current tactic.

Special Technologies. These technologies provide effects without workers (law, warfare, exploration, construction). Each technology's effect is depicted on the card. Limitation: You can never be affected by two special technologies of the same type. If you have two of the same type in your play area, you immediately remove the one with the lower level.

Governments. Governments provide most of your civil and military actions. Workers cannot be placed on a government card. You always have exactly one government in play. You begin the game with Despotism. Each time you put a new government into play, it replaces the old one. The number in the lower right corner defines your urban building limit.

Other Civil Cards in Play

Wonders. Wonders must be built in stages. A wonder enters play turned sideways to indicate that it is unfinished; it will have no effect until it is completed. You can never have more than one unfinished wonder in play. You may have any number of completed wonders. Once a wonder is completed, it is turned right side up and its effects begin to apply. The Age III wonders say "You immediately score" — this is a one-time effect that happens as soon as the wonder is completed. (Exception: The Taj Mahal's text applies when it is in the card row.)

Leaders. A leader gives your civilization a special ability. You can never have more than one leader in play. Taking a leader from the card row prevents you from taking any other leader from that age. When you put a leader in play, the card's effect immediately begins to apply.

Action Cards. Action cards are never put into play. They have a one-time effect, and the card is discarded as soon as the effect is resolved.

Military Cards in Play

Colonies. Some events represent the discovery of a new territory. If you colonize the territory, it enters your play area and becomes your colony. A colony has an immediate effect depicted in the middle (occurs only when first colonized) and a permanent effect depicted at the bottom. The permanent effect transfers with the colony. If you lose your colony, you remove it from play and lose the permanent effect. If another player steals your colony, move the card to his or her play area; you lose the permanent effect and the new owner gains it. The colony's immediate effect is ignored when it is lost or stolen.

Other Military Cards. These are never put into play; they have only a one-time effect.

• Aggressions. Evaluated when played and then discarded.
• Events. Evaluated when they are revealed from the current events deck. Then they go to the past events pile.
• Military Bonus Cards. Played for a one-time bonus when defending against an aggression or colonizing a territory. Then they are discarded.

Tactics Cards

Tactics allow players to form armies. Your current tactic is marked by your tactics marker. It may be an exclusive tactics card (in your play area) or a common tactics card (in the common tactics area of the military board). At the start of the game, you have no current tactic.

Forming armies: Your current tactic depicts a set of types of military units. To make an army, you need that many military units of those types. (Armies are formed virtually. Your worker tokens are not moved.) At the bottom of the card is a number specifying each army's tactical strength. Each army you can make contributes its tactical strength to the strength rating of your civilization. Each army may also have one air force unit — this doubles its tactical strength. (A unit may belong to no more than one army.)

Outdated armies: Age II and Age III tactics also depict a lesser tactical strength value. If any unit in the army is two or more levels lower than the level of the tactics card, the army is considered outdated and has the lesser tactical strength. Outdated armies with air forces have double the lesser tactical strength.

Your armies always form in a way that maximizes your strength rating. You cannot choose to form them differently.

Pacts and Wars

Pacts. Pacts let you cooperate with other civilizations. You may have at most one pact in your play area. However, you may also be affected by pacts in other players' areas.

Wars. When wars are put into play, they have no effect. They have a one-time effect one round later, when they are resolved. Then they are removed from play.

Your Statistics

Your statistics are determined by cards in play and the locations of your tokens. The symbols at the bottom of a card depict how it alters your statistics:

• If the card requires workers, then the symbols at the bottom of the card depict the contribution of each worker on the card. (And the card contributes nothing if it has no workers.)
• If the card does not require workers, then the symbols at the bottom of the card depict the entire contribution of the card.
• Exception: A tactics card depicts the contribution of each army. A wonder does not contribute until it is completed.

Your statistics can also be modified by special abilities written on cards in play.

Ratings

You have four ratings tracked by the positions of your rating markers. This bookkeeping system is just informational; at any given time, your ratings can be calculated from your workers and the cards in play.

Science Rating. This symbol depicts the amount of science produced by the card or by each worker on the card. Add up all the science produced, including any modifiers. This is your science rating. (If the result is negative, your science rating is 0.) There is no limit to how high it can be.

Culture Rating. This symbol depicts the amount of culture produced by the card or by each worker on the card. Add up all the culture produced, including any modifiers. This is your culture rating. It cannot be lower than 0. (Note: An effect that lets you score under certain circumstances does not count toward your rating.)

Strength Rating. On a tactics card, this symbol depicts the tactical strength contributed by each army. On any other card, it depicts the amount of strength contributed by the card or by each worker on the card. Add up all the strength contributions, including any modifiers. This is your civilization's strength rating. It cannot be lower than 0. (A military unit always contributes its strength, even if it is in an army.)

Happiness Rating. Each happy face symbol represents one happy face produced by the card or by each worker on the card. The unhappy symbol represents -1 happy face. Add up all the happy faces (subtract unhappy faces). If the total is between 0 and 8, that is your number of happy faces. If less than 0, you have 0 happy faces. If more than 8, you have 8. The number of happy faces you have is also called your happiness rating.

Colonization Modifier

Cards with the colonization symbol can provide a colonization modifier. If you have no such cards, your colonization modifier is zero. The colonization modifier is relevant only during colonization.

Civil and Military Actions

Action Total. Your civil action total is the number of civil-action symbols you have on your cards in play (government card plus all others). Your military action total is the number of military-action symbols you have on your cards in play.

Spending Actions. You should have white tokens equal to your civil action total and red tokens equal to your military action total. When these tokens are on your government card, they represent available actions. When you spend or pay an action, move the corresponding token off the card. If you are required to pay actions and you do not have enough available, you cannot do that thing. Some effects allow you to gain an action back; move a spent token back onto your government card. If you have no spent actions when you gain one back, nothing happens.

Temporary actions: If an effect gives you an action for a turn, you spend that action the first time it applies. It does not affect your action total.

When Your Action Total Changes. Your action total changes only when a card enters or leaves play. If your action total increases, take the appropriate number of red or white tokens from the box and put them on your government card. If your action total decreases, return the appropriate number of red or white tokens to the box (return spent tokens first; available tokens only if there are not enough spent). If a card leaves play because it is being replaced by a card entering play, update your tokens once the process is complete.

Blue and Yellow Tokens

You start the game with a certain number of blue and yellow tokens on your player board, most of them in your blue and yellow banks. Your banks are always filled from left to right. If all squares are full, additional tokens may be kept in the rightmost section (no limit there). Most operations transfer tokens between your player board and cards in play. The exceptions:

• If a card with a blue/yellow token symbol on the bottom enters your play area, you gain that many blue or yellow tokens. If it leaves your play area, you lose that many tokens.
• Some cards can cause players to gain new tokens, return tokens to the box, or take them from each other.

If you gain blue or yellow tokens, they go to your blue or yellow bank. If you lose blue tokens, return blue tokens from your blue bank to the box; if not enough, also return tokens from mines and farms of your choice. If you lose yellow tokens, return tokens from your yellow bank to the box; if not enough, return all in your yellow bank, but no more. If you take yellow tokens from another player, take them from his or her yellow bank; if not enough, take them all, but no more.

Workers and Population

Any yellow token in your play area that is not in your yellow bank is a worker. An unused worker is one that is not on any card (in your worker pool or marking a missing happy face).

• If an effect tells you to gain 1 population, move one yellow token from your yellow bank to your worker pool. It is now a worker. This does not require food.
• If an effect tells you to increase your population, follow the rules for the action (usually requires food).
• If an effect tells you to lose 1 population, move one unused worker to your yellow bank. If you have no unused worker, you must take one from your cards. (An equivalent term is lose workers.)

Discontent Workers

Your yellow bank is divided into subsections, each marked by a number next to a happy face. The number depicted above the leftmost empty subsection specifies how many happy faces your populace requires. If you have fewer happy faces, the shortfall is your number of discontent workers. If you have the required happy faces or more, you have no discontent workers.

If your discontent workers outnumber your unused workers at the end of your turn, you face an uprising and must skip your Production Phase.

(Bookkeeping trick: You should have no empty subsections to the left of your happiness marker. If you do, place an unused worker above each such subsection. If you don't have enough, you will face an uprising unless you correct the problem.)

Note: The game does not track which workers are discontent. Only the number is important for events like Rebellion, Civil Unrest, Emigration, and Impact of Population.

Food and Resources

Your food and resources are represented by blue tokens on the mine and farm technologies you have in play. Each blue token represents the quantity printed at the bottom of the card.

Gaining Food or Resources. Usually, you produce food and resources during your Production Phase, but some cards allow you to gain them as an immediate effect. Move one or more blue tokens from your blue bank to your farm or mine technology cards so the resulting total is exactly the amount you are supposed to gain. If there are not enough blue tokens, you gain the nearest lower value that can be gained. If the blue bank is empty, you cannot gain food or resources.

Losing Food or Resources. When you need to pay or spend food and resources, you have three options: (1) Return a blue token from a farm or mine card to your blue bank, paying the amount depicted on that card. (2) Move a blue token from a farm or mine to a technology of the same type with lower value, paying the difference. (3) Pay as above, then gain some food or resources back (of lesser total value), paying the difference. Perform these operations as many times as needed; the total value must equal the amount you must pay. If the total value of all your tokens is lower than the required amount, the payment cannot be made. In rare cases you may overpay as long as the result leaves your blue bank empty. (You may never move tokens from lower-value technologies to higher.)

Temporary resources: If an effect gives you resources for a turn or purpose, you spend these first. Losing food or resources is the same as paying, except that if you must lose more than you have, you just lose all you have. Taking food or resources from another player means he or she loses them and you gain them (as many as the other player actually lost).

Science and Culture Points

You keep track of your science points and culture points with counters on the tracks. You score points during your Production Phase. Certain cards give a one-time gain. There is no limit.

• Scoring: move the corresponding counter ahead by the specified number of spaces.
• Losing: move your counter back the corresponding number of spaces, but stop at zero. Points can never go below zero.
• Paying science points: the same as losing, except you are not allowed to pay more than you have. If you don't have enough, you cannot perform the action.
• Temporary science points: if an effect gives you science points for one turn or purpose, you spend these first.
• Taking culture or science points from another player: your opponent loses the points and you score them (only as many as he or she has).

Appendix — Card Clarifications

Leaders

• Homer. Treat the wonder with Homer's happy face as though there was one extra happy face printed on it. If the wonder is flipped face down because of Ravages of Time, Homer's happy face is not flipped over; the ruins continue to produce that happy face.
• Genghis Khan. In a two-player game, "one of the two strongest" should be read as "the strongest" (you still win ties). When forming armies, each infantry unit can be either cavalry or infantry (but not both) to maximize strength. The infantry units are still considered infantry for other cards, such as the Great Wall. Genghis Khan's ability does not affect your culture rating.
• Maximilien Robespierre. When Robespierre is your leader, any revolution you declare must be paid for with military actions (equal to your military action total). Any military actions you gain from the change of government become spent. Patriotism's extra military action is not spent on the revolution. If you use a Breakthrough to declare the revolution, you pay all your military actions for the revolution but no civil action for the Breakthrough.
• Isaac Newton. He gives you back a spent civil action even if you develop the technology as an effect of a card such as Breakthrough. Declaring a revolution also counts as developing a technology, so Newton allows you to have one civil action available after a revolution.
• Johann Sebastian Bach. Use the usual rules for upgrading, except the two urban building technologies do not have to be of the same type and may be of the same level. If the building you are upgrading has the same or higher cost than the theater you are upgrading to, the cost of the upgrade is 0 resources. You are not allowed to exceed your urban building limit.
• Bill Gates. Use your labs of Age I or higher the same as mines: Add 1 blue token per worker when mines produce resources. The token is worth resources equal to the level of the lab. If Bill Gates leaves play, your labs do not produce any more, but you may continue to use the resources on the labs until end of the game. The production of labs does not count when evaluating the Impact of Industry event.

Wonders

• St. Peter's Basilica. Treat each of your other cards in play with one or more happy faces as though it had one more happy face printed on it.
• Hollywood. Effects that modify culture production of theaters and libraries (Shakespeare, Bach, Chaplin) apply, too.
• Internet. Effects that modify culture production (Shakespeare, Bach, Chaplin), science production (Newton, Einstein), or both (Meier) of theaters and libraries apply, too.

Events

• Development of Civilization. You pay no civil action, but you pay the other costs, lowered by one. You may also declare a revolution for one science less, but it will use up all your civil actions.
• Ravages of Time. The destroyed wonder counts as a completed wonder of the corresponding age for all purposes.
• International Agreement. The usual rules for taking cards apply. If the current player is the one taking cards, he or she may use any action cards taken this way on the same turn. Replenish the card row according to the usual rules, but do not discard cards from the first slots. If this ends Age III, it triggers end of the game.