- If playing with 2-3 players:
- If playing with 3 players, Hispania will not be in play.
- If playing with 2 players, Hispania and Gaul will not be in play.
- Regions that are not in play do not have trade goods or
cache tokens on them.
- Nothing may be built in these regions.
- Military units cannot move into these regions.
- They are not scored during empire scoring.
- Give each player a player board.
- Each player starts with 5 population.
- Place the main board on the table.
- Place the 10 "fish" tiles face up, 1 on each port hex (hexes with boats on them).
- Randomize the cache tiles face down and then place 1 on each hex with the matching symbol on the back of the tiles.
- Randomize the trade goods tiles face down and then place 1 on
each open hex on the board.
- After placing them, turn them all face up.
- Remove any "X" tiles from the game.
- Technologies:
- Separate the starting tech cards ("S" in the upper left corner), shuffle them, and deal 5 to each player.
- Shuffle the remaining starting tech cards in with the rest of the technologies deck.
- Split the deck into 3 equal-ish parts and shuffle the
scoring card for the deck into:
- (4-6 players) the bottom 3rd of the deck
- (2-3 players) the middle 3rd of the deck
- Draw the top 5 cards from the deck and place them in the designated spaces.
- Shuffle the build deck and split it in half. Shuffle the scoring card into the bottom half of the deck. Draw the top 5 cards from the deck and place them in their designated spaces.
- Shuffle all of the population cards (except the scoring card)
and create a deck based on player count. Cut the newly sized
deck in half and shuffle the scoring card in theo the bottom
half. Draw the top 2 cards from the deck and place them in their
designated spaces.
- (2-3 players): 10 cards
- (4-5 players): 12 cards
- (6 players): 14 cards
- Shuffle all the tax & tariff cards (except the scoring card) and
create a deck based on player count. Cut the newly sized
deck in half and shuffle the scoring card in theo the bottom
half. Draw the top 2 cards from the deck and place them in their
designated spaces.
- (2-3 players): 10 cards
- (4-5 players): 12 cards
- (6 players): 14 cards
- Place the 9 wonder tiles, with their matching hex tokens, near the board.
- Place the 9 golden age tiles near the board.
- Place the 6 government tiles on their space on the board.
- Shuffle the civilization achievement tiles and randomly select 9 of them, placing them near the game board. The remaining are returned to the box.
- Select a starting player and give them the starting player token.
- Starting with the player to the right of the starting player, select 1 of the available leaders, then pass them to the right until everyone has selected a leader.
- Draft the starting technology cards by selecting 1 card from the 5 dealt, then passing the rest to the left. Continue doing this until all 5 cards have been drafted.
- Beginning with the start player and proceeding clockwise, each
player places 1 of their cities on a hex on the board.
- If there is a cache tile on that space, they receive the benefit on the tile.
- If there is a trade good on the space, they add that to their player board in the trade goods area.
- All players take the starting benefits for your selected leader.
- All players take the benefits from any starting tech cards they are able to play.
- If playing with 2-3 players:
The game takes place over a number of rounds with each person taking 1 of the actions outlined below until 1 of the following 2 things occur:
- The 3rd Empire Scoring Card is revealed OR
- 2 of 3 of the following tiles have all been taken by the players:
- Wonders
- Civilization Achievements
- Golden Ages
When either of these happens, perform Empire Scoring and finish the round (equal turns). Then play 1 final round.
Important: Money can be used in place of any currency (food, ideas, or stone) at a 2:1 rate (e.g. 2 money instead of 1 stone).
- Work
- Produce 1 of the 3 non-money currencies in the game (ideas,
food, or stone).
- Add your population to your production of that currency shown on your player board to determine the number of resources to take.
- Produce 1 of the 3 non-money currencies in the game (ideas,
food, or stone).
- Population
- Select 1 of the 2 population cards available and pay the number of food shown on the card. Increase your population on your player board by the amount shown on the card.
- Place the used population card out of play and draw a new card to replace it.
- When all cards have been used up, all future population actions gain 2 population costing 15 food.
- Build
- Select 1 of the 5 build cards, pay the cost, place the
card in front of you, and gain the benefits shown.
- If this is a farm or manufactory town, there is no cost.
- Note that the pillars of civilization shown on the card are now usable.
- Replace the card with a new one from the deck.
- Building a city:
- Cost: 4 stone and 2 population
- Place a city on any available hex anywhere on the board.
- Gain any trade good or cache on that space.
- Place 5 money from the supply into the holding area on the board.
- Building a port city:
- Cost: 4 stone and 2 population
- Gain 10 money
- Place a port on any available port hex (with a ship on it).
- Take the fish tile and add 3 to your food production.
- Regular cities/towns may not be built in port spaces.
- These act just like any other city for scoring purposes.
- Place 10 money from the supply into the holding area on the board.
- Building a town:
- There are 2 kinds of towns: farm towns and manufactory towns.
- Cost: none
- Place the matching type of town on any available hex
next to 1 of your cities.
- Gain any trade good or cache on that space.
- Gain the benefit shown on the town card.
- You will score 5 points for each manufactory town if you have all the indicated trade goods on it.
- Build project:
- Cost: 5 stone and 5 ideas
- Score points at the end of the game based on what is shown on the card.
Cache Tiles
Immediately take the benefit shown on the tile and return the tile to the box.
Trade Goods Tiles
Place your trade goods tile on your player board. If you end up with a duplicate, place it on top of the matching tile.
- When playing a tariff card, part of the calculation for money earned is the number of unique trade goods you have.
- Stone and grain tiles have a "+2" on them. Add +2 to your production of stone or food when taken.
- Fish tiles have a "+3" on them. Add +3 to your food production when you take this tile.
- Select 1 of the 5 build cards, pay the cost, place the
card in front of you, and gain the benefits shown.
- Wonder
- Cost: 20 stone and 5 food
- The cost for every wonder after the first is increased by 5 stone and 5 food. e.g. your 3rd wonder would cost 30 stone and 15 food.
- Select 1 of the available wonder tiles and its matching hex tile.
- Pay the cost and place the wonder tile in front of you -- there will be points for this at the end of the game.
- Place the hex token on any available hex in a region in which you have at least 1 city.
- Note that some wonders have placement restrictions. See
the wonders section of the quick reference for
details.
- If those restrictions cannot be met, the wonder cannot be built.
- Cost: 20 stone and 5 food
- Technology
- Cost: 5 ideas
- Take 1 of the 5 available tech cards from the board and place
it in front of you.
- If you already have the required pillars of civilization, you may place it face up and gain the benefits.
- If you do not own the required prerequisites, you place the card face down in front of you.
- For any face down tech card in front of you:
- This can be played (flipped over) on any of your turns. This does not count as your turn action.
- You must have all the required pillars of civilization to play the card.
- "1x" means that this event occurs 1 time, when the card is played.
- You are not able to use the pillars of civilization on the card until the card is played.
- Once played, the card remains face up.
- Tax & Tariff
- Select 1 of the 2 tax & tariff cards available and place it in front of you.
- Gain the amount of money shown on the card + the money in the holding area from city builds.
- These cards will increase unrest. Unrest will result in
negative points at the end of the game.
- Unrest can be negated by abilities from wonders, leaders, and some tech cards.
- When all the cards from the deck have been used:
- All future tax actions generate 2 money/population + government symbol + your tax production.
- All future tariff actions generate 2 money/unique trade good + your cities + your tariff production.
- Money can be used in place of any currency (food, stone, ideas) at a 2:1 rate. e.g. you can spend 2 money instead of 1 stone.
- Military
A military action consists of recruiting new units and/or moving units on the board.
- You can recruit new units by paying 5 money for each unit.
- The units you recruit can be placed in any region containing 1 of your cities.
- You may recruit up to 2 new units in 1 turn.
- You can move military units from 1 region to an adjacent
region at a cost of 1 money for each unit.
- You can move any number of military units once per turn.
- Regions that are adjacent:
- Italy and Numidia
- Italy and Greece
- Hispania and Numidia
- Numidia and Egypt
- Greece is not adjacent to Egypt
- Military units do not occupy hexes. They exist in a region, but block nothing in that region.
- Each military unit counts as 1 influence during empire scoring.
- You can recruit new units by paying 5 money for each unit.
- Government
- Select 1 of the available government tiles, pay the cost, and place the tile in front of you.
- You must meet the requirements (pillars of civilization) for the government and spend ideas. See the quick reference for more information on the different governments including costs and requirements.
- You may only have 1 government at a time. If you purchase a new government, return the previous tile to the board.
- If you own a government, you may flip it from the "arrow
side" (upper right of the tile) to clear one set of offer
cards (Build, Population, Technology, or Tax & Tariff) and
replace them from the appropriate deck.
- The cleared cards are placed at the bottom of their respective deck
- This can be used once per game per government tile.
On your turn, if you meet the requirements for one of these tiles, you may claim the tile and place it in front of you.
- This does not count as your action for your turn.
- You may claim any number of Golden Age and/or Civ. Achievements that you qualify for on your turn.
When an Empire Scoring Card is revealed from 1 of the decks, the player who revealed it finishes their action, then scoring takes place.
- Count the influence in each region:
- Each wonder or city you own: 2 influence.
- Each town and military unit you own: 1 influence.
- Note any bonuses from technologies that can change this.
- The player with most influence in the region scores:
- 3 points +
- 1 point per city and wonder in the region, regardless of who owns them
- In case of a tie, all tied players score the above points.
- The player with the 2nd most influence in the region scores 2
points.
- In case of a tie, the tied players score zero points.
- Count the influence in each region:
Symbol Pillar 
Science 
Economy 
Food Production 
Population / Health 
Building 
Culture 
Government 
Military / Empire 
Urbanization
The game takes place over a number of rounds until 1 of the following 2 things occur:
- The 3rd Empire Scoring Card is revealed OR
- 2 of 3 of the following tiles have all been taken by the players:
- Wonders
- Civilization Achievements
- Golden Ages
When either of these happens, perform Empire Scoring and finish the round (equal turns). Then play 1 final round.
Scoring
Total up the following.
- All victory points accumulated during the game.
- Every city you have on the board: 2 VP
- Every town you have on the board: 1 VP
- VP shown on wonder tiles
- VP shown on golden age tiles
- VP shown on civilization achievement tiles
- VP equal to the number of pillars of civilization symbols that you own of the type show on each project card
- VP as shown on the technology cards you have played with
the
icon on the bottom left - Each manufactory town card has 3 trade goods shown on the bottom
of the card. If you have all 3 of those trade goods on your
player board, score 5 VP.
- If you have 2 identical manufactory towns, they will both score.
- Unrest: Subtract the number of net unrest from your
score
- This is generally gained from tax and tariff cards.
- Some wonders, leaders, and tech cards will cancel out unrest.
The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the tied player with the most wonders wins. If there is still a tie, the player with the most money is the winner.
This is all of the information found on the included reference card.
Costs
Action Cost Gain population Food as shown on the population card Build city / port city 4 stone + 2 population Build farm / manufactory town Free Build project 5 stone + 5 ideas Wonder 20 stone + 5 food -- Each increases by 5 for each additional wonder (i.e. your 3rd wonder would cost 30 stone and 15 food) Technology 5 ideas Military unit 5 money Move military unit 1 money/unit Government As shown on the gov't tile Civilization Achievements
Achievement Benefit End game VP Populous 12 population 6 VP Great Builder 5 projects and/or wonders total 6 VP Seafaring 3 port cities 6 VP Imperial (2-3 players) control 4 regions; (4+ players) control 3 regions 6 VP Scholarly 15 idea production 6 VP Urban 5 cities 6 VP Militaristic 6 military units 6 VP Well-governed 12 tax production 6 VP Merchant 7 unique trade goods 6 VP Wealthy 60 money 6 VP Diverse All 9 unique pillar symbols 6 VP Farming 15 food production 6 VP Masonic 15 stone production 6 VP Trading 12 tariff production 6 VP Scientific 15 tech cards 6 VP Golden Ages
Golden age Requirement Benefit Medicine x6 PopulationGain 2 production & 6 VP Architecture x6 Build+3 stone production & 6 VP Art x6 CultureGain 10 of any currency & 6 VP Kings x6 Government+3 tax production & 6 VP Public Games x6 Food+3 food production & 6 VP City States x6 Urbanization1 free city & 6 VP Science x6 Science+3 idea production & 6 VP Trade x6 Economic+3 tariff production & 6 VP Heroes x6 MilitaryGain 2 military units (inf or cav) & 6 VP Wonders
Wonder Benefit Other notes Colosseum of Rome 4 VP/region where you have a majority of influence -4 Unrest Hanging Gardens 3 VP/adjacent city -3 Unrest Stonehenge 1 VP/2 population Colossus of Rhodes 2 VP/city in that region Must be built in a port hex Great Library 5 VP Gain 2 identical pillars of civilization symbols of your choice Lighthouse of Alexandria 1 VP/unique trade good tile Must be built in a port hex Temple of Artemis 1 VP/military unit in that region All players' military units Great Pyramid 12 VP May only be built in a region with 3 or more cities Sphinx 4 VP/wonder in that region Governments
Government Type Required Cost Benefit City State x2 + 15 ideas During empire scoring, you will score 1 VP/city that you own in a single region of your choice Monarchy x2 + 15 ideas As long as you are a monarchy, you gain +5 food and stone production. During empire scoring, score 3 VP/wonder that you own Oligarchy x2 + 15 ideas As long as you are an oligarchy, you gain +5 tax and tariff production. During empire scoring, score (2-3 players) 1 VP/golden age and civ. achievement tile; (4+ players) 2 VP/golden age and civ. achievement tile Republic x3 + 20 ideas Look at the top card in any deck before taking your action. During empire scoring, 1 VP/2 population Theocracy x2 + 15 ideas During empire scoring, 2 VP for each region that contains at least one of your cities Tyranny x25 ideas During empire scoring, (2-3 players) 2 VP/region you control; (4+ players) 3 VP/region you control Leaders
Leader Benefit Starting Bonuses Magistrate +2 food, stone, and tax production; convert 1 population into 20 of any currency (on your turn)(1x) Start: 5 food, 10 stone, +1 population Engineer +5 stone production, +3 idea production; gain +1 stone production each time you build a city, port, or manufactory town Start: 10 stone, 10 money General +10 tax production; may recruit up to 3 military units rather than 2; eliminate 1 military unit in a single region containing your infantry or cavalry before each empire scoring Start: 20 money, 1 infantry unit, +1 population Scribe +5 to any single production bonus; 1 extra action on your 1st turn and 2 extra actions at the end of the game Start: 10 food, 5 ideas Artist +5 idea production; -3 unrest; +10 money whenever a wonder is built by any player; gain +1 VP/ at the end of the gameStart: 15 money, 5 ideas Priestess +6 tax production & +3 food production; -3 unrest; may change ownership of a city owned by an opponent who has 4 or more cities (on your turn)(1x) Start: 15 money, 5 food Philosopher 8 idea production; +3 any other single production Start: 1 free random tech card from the deck, 10 ideas, 10 money Farmer +5 food production; add 1 population to each population card you take Start: 10 food, 10 money, 1 farm town Merchant +5 tariff production; gain 2 money/unique trade good tile when playing a tax card Start: 30 money, 1 manufactory town