BoardGamesBot

Imperium
Horizons
A Game by
Nigel Buckle
and D
vid Turczi
Illustrated by
Mihajlo ‘the Mico’ Dimitrievski
Rulebook

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Game Design: Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi
Game Development: Neo Teng Whay and Anthony Howgego
Rules editing: Dávid Turczi and Simon Strange
Testing engineer: Mark Hutchinson
Lead testers: Mark Hutchinson, Noralie Lubbers, Joshua Potter, Jace Ravensburg,
Simon Strange, Neo Teng Whay
Additional testing: Laurens van der Beek, Rafael Bertolini, Fiona Buckle, Martin
Butcher, Chuck Case, Rob Frasca, Kacper Frydrykiewicz, Duy Huynh, Frank de Jong,
Calpurnio Pison, Moritz Schönherr, Luis Serrano, Marco Teti, Pieter Jan Tiersma, Lars
Toft, Ádám Turczi, István Turczi, Andrew Wilkins, Timothy Wilkins, Trix Wilkins,
Abigail Wilkins, Bryson Yuzyk, Carl Zee
Blind testing: Ammon Anderson, Hendri Adriaens, Daren Baldock,
Bonnie Beyea, Devlin Hutchins
Historical and Cultural Consultants: Zain Alam, Christienne L. Hinz
Ph.D., Jason Perez, Liam Stevens, Jonathan Truitt Ph.D., Philip Wood, Zsombor Zeöld
First published in Great Britain in 2024 by OSPREY GAMES
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9PH, UK
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA
OSPREY GAMES is a trademark of Osprey Publishing Ltd
© Nigel Buckle and Dávid Turczi, 2024. This edition © 2024 Osprey Publishing Ltd
All rights reserved.
www.ospreygames.co.uk
For more information or replacement parts, email info@ospreygames.co.uk
24  25  26  27 28   10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

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Contents
Introduction............ 4
Using this Rulebook.5
FOR OWNERS OF IMPERIUM: CLASSICS
AND
IMPERIUM: LEGENDS........................5
REPLACEMENT CARDS.............................. 5
Core Concepts.......... 6
CONCEPT 1: DECK CYCLING. ....................6
CONCEPT 2: RESOURCES. ........................6
CONCEPT 3: ACTIONS AND EXHAUSTS.... 6
CONCEPT 4: GAINING NEW CARDS.......... 6
CONCEPT 5: FAME AND GLORY................6
Components.............. 7
CARD ELEMENT BREAKDOWN. .................9
Setup.......................10
PLAYER SETUP........................................10
COMMONS SETUP...................................12
Flow of Play............14
THE ‘ACTIVATE’ TURN............................. 14
TAKING ACTIONS.............................. 14
RESOLVING AND
INTERPRETING CARD TEXT..............14
USING EXHAUST ABILITIES............... 15
THE ‘INNOVATE’ TURN............................ 15
THE ‘REVOLT’ TURN................................ 15
CLEAN-UP ...............................................15
RESHUFFLING YOUR DRAW DECK..........16
SOLSTICE................................................ 16
Game End................. 17
SCORING................................................. 17
COLLAPSE............................................... 17
THE FAME DECK......................................17
Example Turn........... 18
Optional Rules &
Gameplay Variants.. 24
PRACTICE MODE (SOLO). ........................24
LOWERED AGGRESSION VARIANT..........24
QUICK SETUP VARIANT...........................24
PRECIOUS CARDS VARIANT....................24
SHORT VARIANT......................................25
TRADE ROUTES EXPANSION. ..................26
Solo Ruleset..........28
SETUP......................................................29
HOW TO PLAY..........................................29
CHANGES TO GAMEPLAY
DURING SOLO PLAY................................30
GAME END............................................... 32
DIFFICULTY LEVELS................................ 32
CAMPAIGN MODE.................................... 33
EXAMPLE BOT TURN............................... 34
Keywords................ 36
CARD-SPECIFIC NOTES.......................... 40
Nation
Descriptions........... 41
Rules to remember. 49
Campaign Logs........ 50
Solo Mode Trade
Route Tables.......... 52

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4
Introduction
Formidable adversaries are arrayed against you.
Opportunities waiting to be uncovered.
Your people stand ready. History beckons.
Welcome to Imperium: Horizons. In your hands lies the destiny of one of the
most storied peoples of history. As new opportunities open up, you must explore
new lands, preside over dramatic scientific and cultural advances, and lead your
people to become a cultural force. Expand too rapidly and unrest will bring your
civilisation to its knees; build up too slowly and you might find yourself a mere
footnote in the annals of history.
historical note
Imperium is a game that is based heavily in the history of peoples
from all across the world in the time period 3000 BCE – 1000
CE. Historical accuracy has been a core value throughout
development of this game, but the very mechanic of deck-building
is inherently abstract, and the notion of a linear and inexorable
rise of nations into empires is a knowing misrepresentation of
actual events. 
The original Imperium (Classics and Legends) games
used identical Barbarian/Empire State cards for all nations.
In Horizons, we introduce a number of new nations who, for a
variety of thematic and historical reasons, fit even less into that
overly simplistic paradigm than the ones before. However, in
order to maintain mechanical and rules compatibility between all
versions of the game, we have continued to use the original blue
and red symbols, even when the words ‘Empire’ and ‘Barbarian’
would not correspond to the historical context depicted.
It is our hope that all versions of Imperium help to spark
interest in the ancient world, and the peoples who lived in it.
It is mechanically useful for a card game to make sweeping
generalisations with words like ‘Barbarian’, ‘Civilised’, ‘Nation’
or ‘Advance’ – but real history is much more nuanced and
complicated, and our game terms are most certainly never
meant to pass judgement on others. Where possible we have
used names, places, people, and thematic elements lifted directly
from historical records – but every deck in this game falls well
short of capturing the richness and complexity of real people
and real history. So, if the themes and references in Imperium
interest you, we highly encourage you to pursue that interest in
other forms outside of the game!
Theme & Mechanics
Playing Imperium is meant to parallel the way in which leaders – despite being
powerful and in charge – are constantly forced to deal with shifting challenges
and opportunities. You can’t simply harvest when it’s convenient – you need
to wait for the proper season. You can’t simply invent something on demand –
you must wait until your thinkers have the idea. You can’t meet new people or
explore new lands until those opportunities arise – and you might be competing
with other nations for them. These themes are represented both by the effects
of the cards and by where they are played.
In Imperium, the cards available to you in your nation’s deck represent your
current civilisation state. Your nation’s higher-powered cards, which you slowly
unlock through the game, represent your potential in the future.
The internal disorder in your civilisation and opposition to the current
leadership are represented by Unrest
cards that have no function and clog
up your deck during the game. One way they are added to your deck is through
adding new cards from the Market, as change and new ideas always result
in some resistance which you must deal with. In other cases, Unrest might
represent general malcontents or troublemakers sent by your opponent.
The cards in your Play area in front of you are the focus of your current
leaders or government. The most prominent part of your Play area is usually
the Regions in which your civilisation has settled. When a Region goes
from your deck to your Play area, it becomes something that is in active use, as
opposed to Regions still in your deck or hand, which are yours to claim but you
have yet to develop.
Abandoning or Recalling a region doesn’t remove it from your civilisation – it
just means that it is no longer available to tax or improve. When you play the
Glory card, which requires you to Abandon three Regions in play, it represents
your government focusing on some new (glorious) activity – such as building
statues or hosting celebrations – as opposed to productive governance. Hence
your regional infrastructure suffers from lack of attention and Resources.
Regions can also have cards Garrisoned in them by tucking cards
underneath. That doesn’t constitute a military defence – it represents your
civilisation pushing something (a problem, or something you can’t yet use) out
into the provinces and leaving it to be addressed later (if at all). History is
like a permanent Garrison under your Power card. With very few exceptions,
cards in History can never be used again, though they are still counted during
Scoring. Most civilisations place cards into History to thin their decks, and cards
with powerful effects are often limited to a single use by putting themselves in
History once they’ve been played – thematically representing a great leader
who achieved a lot in one lifetime but, compared to the length of a civilisation,
vanished rather quickly.
Of course, it is very possible to play Imperium without considering how the
mechanical actions of the game might be interpreted as a historical sandbox. But
we think it’s a good deal more fun that way. And if you notice the parallels between
theme and effects on cards, you might find it easier to conceptualise a strategy too.

they are still counted during Scoring Most civilisations place cards into History to thin their decks and cards with powerful effects are often limited to a single use by putting themselves in History once they ve been played thematically representing a great leader who achieved a lot in one lifetime but compared to the length of a civilisation vanished rather quickly Of course it is very possible to play Imperium without considering how the mechanical actions of the game might be interpreted as a historical sandbox But we think it s a good deal more fun that way And if you notice the parallels between theme and effects on cards you might find it easier to conceptualise a strategy too

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5
Using this Rulebook
Imperium is a game meant to be played many times. It has a large number of
possible game combinations available in each box (especially Horizons) and it
can be daunting to learn the rules while also choosing between so many options
and reading so many exceptions to the rules.
The best way to learn to play is to select a simpler civilisation deck which
interests you (see their Complexity rating: the lower, the simpler). With that
deck selected, go through the Player setup sequence, and then do the Commons
setup. Next read the How to Play section – including Clean-up and Scoring
– and finally the Core Concepts section. You might need to refer back to the
Clean-up and Reshuffling sections a few times, and certain unique civilisation
elements might seem confusing at first, but it’s always better to press on through
to get a sense of the game start-to-finish. If you teach the game to new players,
we suggest you let them read the Core Concepts first (or walk them through the
concepts yourself), and then guide them through a few turns with open hands, to
understand their options.You might also enjoy playing along with the Example
Turn, to get a sense of the strategic considerations.
Once you understand the basics, the Keywords section is designed to be the
chapter of this book that you turn to for specific rules questions and clarifications.
Words that are underlined, bold, and in italics are always Keywords, and we
encourage you to look them up when encountering them for the first time. Even
something as simple as
Look (see page 38) or Take (see page 40) can have
rule clarifications attached. All players should be able to refer to the Keywords
section during play.
If you’re learning the game solo, we recommend you try the Practice Mode
variant to start (see page 24). This is a solo game variant with a streamlined
opponent. The full Solo Mode (see page 28) has opponent-specific rules that add
a lot of flavour and unique challenges once you understand the mechanics. The
Practice Mode can also be used later, to familiarise yourself with a civilisation
you have never played before.
The Classics and Legends boxes each come with a set of Commons cards.
Horizons has its own set of new Commons cards, some of which have
or
icons. The icon indicates which cards should be removed for a Lowered
Aggression game (see page 24). Keeping them in play preserves the distribution
of cards found in Classics and Legends. The cards are “trade friendly”
alternative cards, allowing players to create different sorts of games. When
using the Commons cards from Horizons, include either the cards marked
or the cards marked but not both! For your first game you should use ,
as the cards rely on new rules and concepts introduced as part of the Trade
Routes expansion.
The Trade Routes expansion, included in Horizons (see page 26), introduces
even more ways for players to interact and gain Resources.
Some of the
new civilisations require that Trade Routes be used
, but any civilisation
(even those from Classics & Legends)
may use Trade Routes. We think you’ll
eventually want to use the expansion more often than not.
Rules pertaining only to the Trade Routes expansion are
highlighted with a blue background throughout these rules.
Rules pertaining to the solo mode are highlighted with a pink
background throughout these rules.
For owners of imperium:
Classics
and Legends
Welcome back. Imperium: Horizons is the same Imperium game
you learned before. The rulebook has been rewritten for clarity,
so you might want to give it a read, but our intention is that no
rules have fundamentally changed – there is nothing you have to
unlearn. We have however added some REMINDERS for those
rules that players tend to miss or forget.
A new Resource, Goods
, has been added; the restrictions
on when you can
Develop your
cards have been adjusted
to fit the new civilisations; a new keyword ‘
End of Solstice’
appears on a few cards; and for solo players a new keyword
‘
Resolve’ appears on some Bot State cards, but we are confident
you will pick these up in no time. Once you have had a chance
to familiarise yourself with the new Commons deck, check out
the new
Trade Routes expansion included in this box, which
will introduce a lot of new mechanisms and is compatible with
everything that came before. 
You can use all Classics and Legends civilisations with the
Horizons Commons deck. You can use all Horizons civilisations
with the Classics and Legends Commons decks, but some may
require the Trade Routes expansion (see page 26).
If you should find minor contradictions between this rulebook
and (especially earlier printings of) the Classics/Legends
rulebook, this rulebook reflects our current intentions and should
be used going forward.
Replacement cards
Important! Before you play for the first time, identify all the 49 replacement
cards included in Horizons. Their card numbers start with 1 or 2 (since they’re
meant to replace cards in Classics and Legends) and are identical to the
reference number of the card they are meant to replace (even if the card’s
name might have changed) except with an extra ‘X’ in their code. For example,
2REG3X/14 Peak is meant to replace 2REG3/14 Mountain in the Legends
box, while 1CAR2X/23 City of Carthage is meant to replace the card of the
same name in the Carthaginians deck in the Classics box.
• If you do not own Classics and/or Legends, keep these cards in the
box, as you do not need them (for now).
• If you do own Classics and/or Legends, replace the matching cards
with these, permanently. (You can throw away the originals if you
want; you will never need them again.)
Most of these cards serve to integrate new icons and strategies introduced in
Horizons to the Commons decks of Classics and Legends, while some cards are
meant to adjust the balance of certain nations or strategies both in isolation and
when mixed with Horizons.

1CAR2X 23 City of Carthage is meant to replace the card of the same name in the Carthaginians deck in the Classics box If you do not own Classics and or Legends keep these cards in the box as you do not need them for now If you do own Classics and or Legends replace the matching cards with these permanently You can throw away the originals if you want you will never need them again Most of these cards serve to integrate new icons and strategies introduced in Horizons to the Commons decks of Classics and Legends while some cards are meant to adjust the balance of certain nations or strategies both in isolation and when mixed with Horizons

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6
Core ConceptS
Imperium is a complex game, but it is built up from a collection of less complex
core concepts. Understanding these core concepts will not only help you learn
and teach the game, but it also will provide you with a solid foundation for
understanding how the more complex civilisations break or adjust these
expectations. Take all text on cards literally, and don’t assume things not
mentioned on the cards (or explicitly mentioned in these rules). When in doubt,
refer to the keywords section.
Concept One:
Deck Cycling
Imperium is a deck-building game, which means that each nation begins with
the same, roughly ten cards every game. Over time you add or remove cards
from your deck, reshuffling your Discard pile when your deck is empty so that
you can always
Draw a new hand of cards at the end of each turn.
Imperium gives most civilisations a deck of Nation
cards, the bottom card
of which is their Accession card. Usually when you are about to reshuffle your
Discard pile to form a new deck, you put the top card of your
Nation deck into
your Discard pile first – effectively increasing your deck size by one each time
you shuffle (see ‘Reshuffling Your Draw Deck’, page 16).
Contrasting with the Nation deck is your stack of Development
cards.
Once your Nation deck is empty and you need to reshuffle again, you have
the opportunity to
Pay the Development cost on any of the cards in your
Development area, and add it to your Discard pile. These are often big point
cards or strategy-defining advantages, so adding the right Development card to
your deck at the right moment (and being able to Pay its Development cost!) is
a big deal, strategically.
Most civilisations are desperate to get some or all of their
and cards,
so cycling through your deck as fast as possible is often an important focus
of the game. However, each civilisation in Imperium is unique, and all of the
guidelines here are bent and/or broken in at least a few cases.
Concept Two:
Resources
The game has four Resources: Materials
, Population ,
Progress , and Goods . In most cases, Region cards are the source
of Resources, either directly or through card effects as with the card Prosperity.
The various icons on cards thematically representing the properties of lands
you hold are frequently tied to Resource generation effects.
Resources may be located in the Supply shared by all players, a player’s
Resource pool, or on cards in the players’ areas. Resources may be moved
around in a number of ways through the keywords
Gain (see page 38), Place
(see page 39), and Pay (see page 39). Resources on cards (whether yours or
the Market’s) are not available to be paid or moved, and do not count as yours
during Scoring (unless explicitly noted otherwise).
Resource tokens are not meant to be limited. You may use the higher
denomination tokens (5s and 10s) to make change any time as convenient.
When resolving the Pay keyword, some Resources may be converted for others
(see page 36). This is however not true for the Move keyword, or any other time
that is not explicitly permitted by an effect.
Concept Three:
Actions and Exhausts
During most of your turns, you will take a number of Actions and Exhaust abilities
depending on the number of
and tokens you have. This will normally be 3
tokens and 5 tokens but can vary.
Your 3 tokens are used to track Actions as you take them. The most common
Action is simply playing a card from your hand. Putting a into play, using an Attack
card (see page 36), and
Returning an Unrest
card are all examples of Actions.
tokens are used to track Exhaust effects that trigger only once per turn, found on
cards that stay in play in front of you (see In-play cards on page 38). Exhaust effects often
generate Resources, interact with icons, or Draw cards. Some civilisations change the
default number of tokens you use during play.
tokens are also used to mark if you add a new card to your deck during a reshuffle
– this prevents players from repeating the effect and thus adding multiple cards to their
deck in a single turn. But remember that it also ties up one of your tokens, thus
reducing your available tokens for the rest of your turn. At the end of your turn you
remove all tokens before Drawing a new hand of cards – so there is always a full set
of tokens available during your end-of-turn Draw/Reshuffle, when it is most common
to add a new Nation or Development card to your deck. (See ‘Reshuffling Your Draw
Deck’ on page 16.)
Concept Four:
Gaining new cards
In Imperium, new cards almost always go directly into your hand. It is very common
to spend an Action adding a new card into your hand, and then spend your next Action
playing that card! There are four ways to gain cards.
The most common method is using the
Acquire effect (see page 36) to gain a card
from the face-up Market row of five cards. Some Acquire effects specify that only certain
suits may be Acquired, and others might allow you to Acquire any of the five cards. In all
cases, when you Acquire a Market card you also
Take any
underneath it and any
Resource tokens on it. All Market cards except cards will have a underneath
them. Cards Acquired from the Market are immediately replaced, such that there are
always five available.
The second most common (and more powerful) method to gain cards is via a
Break through effect. This can be used in two distinct ways:
1. Gain a card and any Resources from the Market row (just like Acquire), but any
is put back on the Unrest pile instead of taking it into your hand.
2. Dig into one of the face-down Small decks and take the first card of the appropriate
suit you find.
Take and
Find (see page 38) are effects which directly move cards into your hand (or
elsewhere, as specified).
Concept Five:
Fame and Glory
Many cards give victory points, but the largest gains come from cards in the
Fame deck
. Deciding how often you want to access that deck for points is a core
decision for all players of Imperium. Some cards are worth ten victory points or more,
but taking them often comes at a heavy cost, which can set you back several turns.
The most common way to gain cards is with the card Glory, which requires that
you
Abandon (place in your Discard pile, see page 36) three
cards in play. Those lost
regions require Actions to be put in play again, thicken your deck and make it take longer
to cycle in new Nation/Development cards, and do not provide you Resources while they
are out of play. Weighing up when to play Glory is then a tough choice to make.

to access that deck for points is a core decision for all players of Imperium Some cards are worth ten victory points or more but taking them often comes at a heavy cost which can set you back several turns The most common way to gain cards is with the card Glory which requires that you Abandon place in your Discard pile see page 36 three cards in play Those lost regions require Actions to be put in play again thicken your deck and make it take longer to cycle in new Nation Development cards and do not provide you Resources while they are out of play Weighing up when to play Glory is then a tough choice to make

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261 Tokens
Additional cards
Commons cards 14 new civilisation decks
14 Trade route
expansion cards
BARBARIAN
POLYNESIANS
trigger Effect
Return this card to the unrest pile.
Play this
and trigger it.
ExplorersGain 1 . Put this card on the bottom of the bot deck.
Wa k a
Hourua
Gain 1 . Reshuffle bot discard and this card (Waka Hourua) into the bot
deck. Flip this state card.
Waka TauaAbandon a
to acquire a
; if unable, acquire a
; if still unable, gain 1
.
Resolve the top card of the bot deck.
Play this
. Exile a card from the market. Gain 1
and 1
.Spend 1
to gain 1
and put this card into history; if unable, gain 2
.Discard the top 2 cards of the bot deck. Return a
from bot discard. Put this
card into history.
Other
Spend 1
to acquire a
/ and put this card into history; if unable, discard
the top 2 cards of the bot deck and gain 1
.
When
is gained, do not flip this state card.
S
Martians
3MRT1A/29
Setup: gain 25
.
Passive: when you gain from a
or
market acquisition, you MAY discard a
card to gain 1 fewer
. You MAY ignore
gain effects from other sources.
1 VP per
3
Guptas
3GUP1A/24
Passive: when you would place 1
on
a card in the market, instead place 1 .
Exhaust: take a to choose: free play
a from your discard pile OR trade.
Polynesians
3POL1A/29
Passive: when a card would be put into your
history, instead discard it and take a
.
Exhaust: if
, pay 2
to
gain 1 mana.
1 VP
per 10
Wagadou
3WAG1A/23
Passive: when you would place 1 on
a card in the market, instead place 1 .
Solstice: gain 2 . For each you
have in play, gain 1 additional .
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2
and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
1 VP per
7 cards
Abbasids
3ABB1A/23
Exhaust: If , spend
an action to aquire a with .
If
, spend an action to acquire
a with .
1 VP per
2
in
play

Merchant Empire
3MERC1B/4
Exhaust: choose: trade OR pay 3
to
acquire a
/
OR if there is no card
garrisoned here, pay 5
and garrison
a
from your hand here to take
the top
card.
1 VP per
3
Utopians
2UTO1BX/21
Passive: when you reshuffle your discard
pile into a new draw deck, take a
.
Solstice: you MAY return a . If you
do, each other player gains 2
.
Jungle
1REG2X/14
Gain 1
. Exile a card from the
market. You MAY garrison a card.1
1 VP
per
Notorious
1FAM3X/9
Free play. You MAY draw a card.
Steal 1 from each other player.
Anyone unable to pay takes a
.

City of Carthage
1CAR2X/23
Solstice: choose: gain 1

OR pay 1
to draw a card per

you have in play (max 3).
EMPIRE
4 State cards 32 Bot State cards 2 Quick Reference cards49 Updated cards for replacing cards in Classics and Legends
1 Market board in three parts 4 Player organisers in two parts 4 King of Kings tokens 1 Solstice token 20 Cultist tokens
21 Exhaustion tokens
18 Action tokens
6 Slot markers
9 Fame cards , including King of Kings
18 Civilised cards (3 , 3 )
25 Uncivilised cards (4 , 3 )
14 Region cards (1 )
13 Tributary cards (2 , 1 )
12 Unrest cards
23 Abbasids cards
23 Aksumites cards
29 Cultists cards
24 Gupta cards
25 Inuit cards
24 Japan cards
27 Magyars cards
29 Martians cards
28 Mayans cards
29 Polynesians cards
24 Sassanids cards
24 Taino cards
27 Tang cards
23 Wagadou cards
1 Fame card (Welcoming)
4 Merchant/Merchant Empire cards
9 Trade Route cards
48 Materials tokens
48 Population tokens
48 Progress tokens
36 Goods tokens 4 5 6
Board 2 - Side A
1 Six-sided die
Development Area

Accession and Nation

State
Power card

tokens
Draw deck
Discard

7
Components

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Chaos
3CUL25/30-3
Pay 1 to return
this card to the chaos pile.
IMPORTANT: If the chaos pile is empty
when Collapse is triggered, the Cultist player
AUTOMATICALLY WINS.
3+

Harbour City
3CIV8/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR pay 1
to draw a card per you have
in play (max 3).2
1 VP
per

Rarotonga
3POL7/29
Exile a card from the market.
Solstice: gain 1 .
Development cost: Discard 2 mana
2 VP
per
River Raiders
3UNC14/25
Draw a card. Steal 1 from each other
player. Anyone unable to pay takes a
and gains 1 .You MAY garrison this
card under a with you have in play
to gain 1 action.
3
12
10
1: Classics
2: Legends
3: Horizons
4
Taxation
3CIV1/18
Free play. Gain 1 per player with
equal or more / in play than you.2
CIV: Civilised cards
FAM: Fame cards
MERC: Merchant cards
REG: Region cards
TRI: Tributary cards
TRO: Trade route cards
UNC: Uncivilised cards
UNR: Unrest cards
ABB: Abbasids
AKS: Aksumites
ART: Arthurians
ATL: Atlanteans
CAR: Carthaginians
CEL: Celts
CUL: Cultists
EGY: Egyptians
GRE: Greeks
GUP: Guptas
INU: Inuits
JPN: Japan
MAC: Macedonians
MAG: Magyar
MAU: Mauryans
MAY: Mayans
MIN: Minoans
MRT: Martians
OLM: Olmecs
PER: Persians
POL: Polynesians
QIN: Qin
ROM: Romans
SAS: Sassanids
SCY: Scythians
TAI: Taino
TAN: Tang
UTO: Utopians
VIK: Vikings
WAG: Wagadou
#/#: card reference
14
4
112
1
6
5
7
13
8
9
8

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9
Card Element Breakdown
1. Card name: the name of the card.
2.
Suit icon: most cards have a suit icon. These are essential when you gain
new cards from the Market and are frequently referenced by other cards.
3.
Banner: the colour of the banner behind the card’s name matches the
card’s suit. These are particularly important during setup. Cards without
a suit have a grey banner. Cards with multiple suits use the banner colour
appropriate for setup.
4.
Header icon:
and cards remain in play. cards affect other
players. Power cards have an and a side.
5.
State symbol(s): many cards have a state symbol such as
or . The
Polynesians and Cultists have their own unique symbols. You cannot play
a card that has a state symbol unless your current State card matches (at
least one of) the symbol(s) shown on the card. Some cards show two state
symbols, meaning your current State cards must match at least one of
the symbols shown.
6.
Card type icon: some cards have card type icons that have no innate
effect but may be referenced by other cards. For example, the card River
Raiders, grants 2 VP for each
icon in your possession at the game’s end.
7. Effect text: details what the card does and when it is activated. See page
14 for how to read this text.
8.
Development cost:
cards have a Development cost, usually a
quantity of , , and/or tokens that you have to spend to Develop it.
9.
Nation colour: the colour of this corner indicates that the card is part of
a specific Nation’s deck. Cards without a coloured corner are part of the
“Commons” cards used in every game. (This is useful for sorting your
cards after each game.)
10.
Starting location: the symbol on the nation colour indicates where the
card starts during setup:
11.
Player count: cards with a
3+ aren’t used in a solo or two-player game.
Cards with a 4 aren’t used in a solo, two-, or three-player game.
12.
Expansion: cards with a
are only used when playing with the
Trade Routes expansion (see page 26). Cards with a and symbol
cannot be used in the same Commons deck (see step 3 of the Commons
setup on page 13).
13.
Card number: a number reference for the card. If the first digit of the
reference is a 1, the card is from the Classics box. If it’s a 2, it is from the
Legends box. Cards from the Horizons box begin with a 3.
14.
Victory points: how many victory points the card is worth at the end
of the game, if any. Cards with a V
P
icon are worth X points. Cards
with a V
P or V
P icon are worth a variable number of victory points, as
specified on the card. Cards with a V
P - icon are worth negative X points.
Note that if this is your first-time learning Imperium, don’t be
intimidated by references to more complicated civilisations, or
civilisations that are not even in this box! Just ignore them, along
with any mention of the Trade Routes expansion, as it is intended
for experienced players.
Card Type Icons
City
Fertile
Hunt
Knight
Mask
Merchant
Metropolis
Miracle
Ocean
Production
River
Scroll
Starting Locations
In play: in your Player area
Nation: in the Nation deck
Accession: at the bottom of the Nation deck
Development: in the Development area
Supply: in the Unrest pile
Chaos: a deck of special havoc for
the Cultist player
Suit Icons
Region: areas under your na tion’s control.
Uncivilised: traditional cultural
technologies and customs.
Civilised: highly structured or centralised
technologies and customs.
Tributary: peoples who have pledged loyalty
to your nation.
Fame: memorable deeds of your nation. 
Unrest: internal strife and disorder in your nation.
Gadget: dangerous items of curious origins, brought
by the Martian civilisation.
Power: the fundamental rules of the nation you are
playing. Side A is Advanced, side B is Basic.
Trade Routes: hubs of commerce allowing trade
between nations.

---

144
1 VP
per
Magyars
3MAG1B/27
BARBARIAN
Saint Stephen I
3MAG3/274
Cannot be played unless Arpad is in your history.
Put up to 3 cards from your hand and/or discard
pile into your history. Take the top card.
Put this card into your history.
Development cost: x5
1 VP
per
in play
Conversion to Christianity
3MAG2/27
Free play. Choose up to 3 times:
return a OR take a to gain 1 action.
Put this card into your history.
9
10
5
3
13
15
7
6
Accession Card
draw deck
chaos pilenation-specific cards
state card
merchant power card
power card
discard pile
player organiser
play area
development area
Resource pool
Nation Deck
8
2
11
10
Player Setup
Each player takes the following steps:
1. Choose a nation and take all the associated cards, as indicated by the
colour in the bottom left corner. Before choosing a nation, you should look
at the ‘Nations’ chapter for an overview of the different decks.
If you are not playing with Trade Routes, you may not choose
one of the 6 nations with the icon.
2. Take a
Player organiser, slot the pieces together and lay them
in front of you.
3. Place your single
card in front of you, underneath your Player
organiser. You can place it either side up, but you cannot change this later
in the game. This is your
Power card. For new players, we recommend
playing with the B side up (B for Basic, A for Advanced).
4. Place any other
cards below your Power card, if you have any.
Only the Arthurians, the Cultists, the Polynesians, and the Utopians
have additional cards.
If you’re playing as the Arthurians, place King Arthur’s Court
face up below your Power card.
If you’re playing as the Cultists, put Research the Ceremony on
top of Ceremonial Gathering and place them below your Power
card. The top card in this pile is your ceremony card.
If you’re playing as the Polynesians, place Mana face up below
your Power card.
If you’re playing as the Utopians, put Visions of Shangri-La on
top of Gates of Shangri-La and place them below your Power
card. The top card in this pile is your journey card.
Setup

---

11
5. Place a State card with the side up underneath your Player organiser.
If you’re playing as the Atlanteans, instead place your State
card with the side up.
If you’re playing as the Cultists, place your State card with
the side up, on top of your custom State card that has the
Corrupted side up.
If you’re playing as the Inuit, use their custom State card with
the Summer side up.
If you’re playing as the Martians, use their custom State card
with the Alien side up.
If you’re playing as the Polynesians, use their custom State card
with the Isle-bound side up.
If you’re playing as the Taino, use their custom Free Tribes
State card (it’s identical on both sides).
If you’re playing with the Inuit, the Martians, the Polynesians,
or the Taino, return your regular (
Barbarian/Empire) State
card to the box.
6. Take 3
tokens, and 5 tokens (unless your card indicates
otherwise). Place these tokens on your State card.
If you’re playing as the Cultists, Inuit, Polynesians, Taino,
or Utopians, use a base of 3 tokens instead of 5 , as
indicated on their card. 
If playing with Trade Routes, give each player an
additional token.
7. If playing with Trade Routes, take a Merchants card (they are
identical) and place it face-up (with the Merchants side showing)
below your State card.
8. Place all the cards face up above the Player organiser. This is
your
Development area. For most nations, the
cards are your
Development cards
.
For the Arthurians, these are your
Quest cards. When quest
cards are in the Development area, they are considered to be
impending quests for your
Quest area.
The Cultists, Vikings and Utopians do not have any
Development cards.
9. Place the
card face up above your Player organiser. For most nations,
the card is your Accession card .
The Atlanteans, the Cultists, the Inuit, and the Utopians don’t
have a   card.
10. Shuffle the cards into a face-down deck and place it perpendicular
across the top of the card. This is your Nation deck.
The Atlanteans, the Cultists, the Inuit, and the Utopians do not
have a Nation deck.
11. Take a King of Kings token, 3 , 2 , and 1 . The , , and
tokens form your initial Resource pool ( tokens may also be added
here). The King of Kings token should be placed next to your Resource
pool with the lighter side facing up.
If there is a Martian player, give them an
additional 20 or 25
, as indicated on their card.
If playing with Trade Routes, give each player 1
instead of the 1 .
12. Put aside any cards. They will be used in step 6 of the Commons setup.
Only include 3+ and 4 cards if playing with that many players or
more, otherwise return them to the box. All cards are cards.
The Arthurians, Celts, Cultists, Guptas, Inuit, Magyars,
Martians, Mayans, Olmecs, Polynesians, Qin, Tang, Utopians,
and Vikings have cards.
13. Shuffle all remaining cards (the cards from your civilisation which have
no icons in the lower left corner) into a face-down deck and place it below
your Player organiser. This is your
Draw deck.
14. If you’re playing as the Cultists, place all Chaos cards below your
Draw deck to form the
Chaos pile. Only include
3+ and 4
cards if playing with that many players or more, otherwise return
them to the box.
15. Leave a space next to your Draw deck for a face-up
Discard pile, and
a larger area to the right for your
Play area where your In-play cards
will be placed.
16.
Draw (see page 37) five cards from your Draw deck to form
your starting hand.

---

Unrest
3UNR5/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR3/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
King of Kings
3FAM10A/10
When you would gain this card,
instead resolve it. Then flip this card.
THIS TRIGGERS GAME END.
If , gain 6 .
If , gain 3 and develop for free.
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2

Mangrove
3REG2/14
Gain 1 . Exile a card from the
market. You MAY garrison a card.
Trade Caravans
3UNC4/25
Exhaust: choose: move 2 of your to
2 different cards in the market to gain
1 OR if , pay 2 and discard
a card to acquire a card in the market
with on it.1
1 VP
per
Market Stalls
3CIV12/18
Exhaust: each other player
MAY draw a card.
Choose: pay 1 to gain 2
OR pay 1 to gain 2 .
3 VP if
in play
Volcano
3REG1/14
Gain 1 . Exile a card from the
market. You MAY garrison a card.?
Carolingian Kingdom
3TRI8/13
You MAY free play a . You MAY
garrison this card in a to trigger that
card’s play effect.3
1
2
14
12 11 10
7
8
15
16
1
17
18
6
12

---

13
Commons Setup
1. Place the remaining , , , , , and tokens on the table,
easily accessible to all players. This is the
Supply.
2. Place the
Market board in the middle of the table, easily accessible
to all players. For a normal game, place it so that the side without
icons is showing.
If you are playing with Trade Routes, place the Market board so
that the side with the icon is showing.
3. Select a set of
Commons cards (all cards without a Nation colour). You
may use the cards from Classics, Legend s, or Horizons.
If you are playing with Trade Routes, you must use the cards
with the
icon in the Horizons Commons deck. To do so, you
must remove all cards with the icon from the deck.
4. Sort all the Commons cards by the colour of their banner. In most cases a
card’s banner colour corresponds to the suit icon at the bottom: , ,
, , , , , and . Some cards use multiple suit icons, and
during the game they count as cards of both suits. During setup however,
the banner colour takes precedence.
If using nations and commons cards from different boxes,
check if any of the cards have the same name as one of
the players’ chosen nations. For each card that does, replace it
with a random card from a different set of commons cards.
If the new card shows a 3+ or a 4 and you’re playing with
fewer than the indicated number of players, or if it has the same
name as one of the players’ chosen nations, draw a different
replacement card instead.
5. If you are playing with three players, remove all 4 Commons cards from
the game. If you are playing with two players, remove all 3+ and 4
Commons cards with from the game.
6. Place all the cards face up, below the icon on the Market board.
This is the
Unrest pile . Include any
cards put aside by the players
during step 10 of their player setup. These can be in any order. Leave
space to the right of the Unrest pile for the
Exile pile.
7. Place the
card King of Kings with the side showing, above the
icon on the Market board.
8. Shuffle the remaining Fame cards into a face-down deck and place it on
top of the King of Kings card, perpendicular to it. This is the
Fame deck.
If playing with Trade Routes, shuffle the Welcoming
card
into the Fame deck. (The Trade Routes expansion increases the
size of the Fame deck by one card!)
9. Remove cards from the top of the Fame deck and return them to the
box unseen until the deck has the indicated number of face-down cards
(excluding King of Kings), appropriate for the player count, as listed below.
If playing without Trade Routes:
2 players – 6 cards | 3 players – 7 cards | 4 players – 8 cards
If playing with Trade Routes, increase the final deck size by 1.
When creating the deck, deck, and deck
(steps 10–12), the number of cards in each depends on the
number of players:
2 players – 6 cards | 3 players – 7 cards | 4 players – 8 cards
10. Shuffle the cards. Place the appropriate number of cards in a face-
down Small deck above the icon on the Market board. This is the
Region deck. Set aside the other cards for now.
11. Shuffle the cards. Place the appropriate number of cards in a face-
down Small deck above the icon on the Market board. This is the
Uncivilised deck. Set aside the other cards for now.
12. Shuffle the cards. Place the appropriate number of cards in a face-
down Small deck above the icon on the Market board. This is the
Civilised deck. Set aside the other cards for now.
13. Shuffle the cards. Place one card face up on the bottom of
each of the Small decks (Region, Uncivilised, and Civilised, created
in steps 10–12). Then, if playing with 3 players, remove one of the
remaining cards (without looking at it) from the game. If playing
with 2 players, remove two. Set aside the remaining cards
for now.
14. Shuffle all the remaining , , , and all the cards to form the
Main deck. Place the Main deck face down to the left of the Civilised
deck, above the on the Market board. Placing the deck
horizontally helps to make it distinct from the other decks.
If playing with Trade Routes, shuffle the remaining cards
into the Main Deck.
15. Draw one card from each of the Region, Uncivilised, and Civilised
decks and place each card face up, below the Market board opposite its
respective deck. Draw two cards from the Main deck and place them
face up side-by-side below the Market board opposite the deck. Together,
these five cards form the
Market.
16. Place a
card from the Unrest pile underneath each card in the Market
that is not a .
17. Add a token on each card in the Market with a white banner.
18. Decide which player will go first. Play passes to the left. Place the
Solstice token as if it were a player between the last player and the
first. The position of the Solstice token acts as a reminder that everyone
simultaneously resolves their
Solstice effects (see page 16) after the last
player’s turn, but before the first player begins a new round.

Main deck and place them face up side by side below the Market board opposite the deck Together these five cards form the Market 16 Place a card from the Unrest pile underneath each card in the Market that is not a 17 Add a token on each card in the Market with a white banner 18 Decide which player will go first Play passes to the left Place the Solstice token as if it were a player between the last player and the first The position of the Solstice token acts as a reminder that everyone simultaneously resolves their Solstice effects see page 16 after the last player s turn but before the first player begins a new round

---

ACTIVATE INNOVATE REVOLTOR OR
14
Flow of Play
The game is played over an indeterminate number of rounds. Each round starts
with the player to the left of the Solstice token taking the first turn. Turn order
proceeds to the left. Play continues until either Scoring or Collapse is triggered,
which signals the end of the game (see page 17).
In each turn, you will declare what type of turn you are taking:
Once you have finished resolving one of the above turns, you will Clean-up
(see next page).
After you have cleaned up, the player to your left takes their turn. If the
Solstice token is between you and the player to your left, all players resolve all
their
Solstice effects before beginning the next round. Solstice is always the last
thing to happen each round (see page 16).
The ‘Activate’ turn
When you take an Activate turn, you can take Actions (see page 36) and use
Exhaust abilities (see page 37) in any order and in any combination. When you
cannot or no longer want to take Actions or use Exhaust abilities, you will move
on to Clean-up. Players typically Activate on most turns of the game, unless
very specific circumstances make it beneficial to Innovate or Revolt.
Taking Actions
To take an Action, first set aside a
token from your State card. If you have
no tokens on your State card, you may not take an Action. (For the main
exception, see
Free play on page 38.)
The most common type of Action is to play a card from your hand into your
Play area and resolve its effects according to the card text. Any other effect that
costs an Action will be explicitly noted.
If a card has a State symbol such as
or , you can only play it from
your hand if your State card shows the same symbol.
A few cards in the Cultists’ deck show two State symbols;
your State card needs to show one of them to be allowed to
play such a card.
Cards where the first line of text starts with Exhaust,
Passive (see page 39), or
Solstice have no immediate effects when played. These are all
cards.
cards have a Commerce effect, which resolves when you
play the card (see page 37).
When a card is played, resolve all effects as much as possible (see below for
guidance), including resolving any responding triggered effects such as Passive
abilities or deck reshuffling (see ‘Reshuffling Your Draw Deck’ on page 16).
Afterwards, place the card in your Discard pile unless the card indicates that
it should be placed elsewhere. If a card has a it remains in your play area
after you play it.
The cards have the special icon instead of . Like ,
cards with remain in your play area after being played.
However, they are NOT cards, and are not affected by things
which specify .
Many cards have keywords. These are explained in detail in the Keywords
section (see page 36) and are denoted in-text as bold, italics, and underlined.
Resolving and Interpreting Card Text
When resolving card text (whether from a played card, Passive effect, Solstice
effect, or Exhaust effect) there are a few important principles which should help
you make sense of even the most complex cards.
1. Each sentence should be resolved individually, starting with the
first sentence.
2. Each sentence should be resolved as much as possible.
Text immediately
following MAY is always optional, everything else is always mandatory.
3. If no part of a card’s text can be resolved, you cannot play that card.
4. If a card does not explicitly state where it should go after resolving, it goes
to your Discard pile. This does not apply to
cards.
This also does not apply to cards.
5. Anything that comes before “to” is a cost. As in “Do X to gain Y” (X is the
cost, Y is the result). You may
Pay (see page 39) a cost, even if the text’s
effect cannot be resolved or the resolution is uncertain.
6. Anything involving “Pay” or “Move Resources” is a cost, even if not
followed by a “to”.
7. If some or all of the mandatory costs on a card cannot be resolved, you
cannot play that card or trigger that effect.
8. Always fully resolve the cost(s) before beginning to resolve the
rest of the effect.
9. If you Pay a cost (optional or not), you
must resolve the result (as
much as possible).
Some Resources can be substituted for others. See the
keywords section, page 39, for rules on substitutions.

---

15
Using Exhaust Abilities
You can only use an Exhaust ability on your own Activate turn, unless the
card specifies otherwise. You can never use Exhausts during Solstice, or during
Revolt or Innovate turns.
To use an Exhaust ability, choose a card with the Exhaust keyword that does
not have a token on it. This can be an In-play (see page 38) card, or it can
be your Power card. Move a token from your State card onto that card. If
you have no tokens on your State card, you may not use an Exhaust ability.
If a card already has a token on it, you may not use the Exhaust ability
shown on that card.
You may use an Exhaust ability on an In-play card with a state symbol such
as or , regardless of which symbol is showing on your State card.
Once you have placed your token, fully resolve the effect indicated after
the Exhaust keyword. Some Exhaust abilities specify a cost. If you cannot Pay
the specified cost, you may not use that Exhaust ability.
If an Exhaust ability responds to an effect you or another player resolves
(such as “when an opponent Takes …”), the Exhaust ability happens as
soon as the triggering effect is finished. If that effect is triggered by a card with
multiple sentences, the response ability happens after the sentence with the
triggering effect is finished, but before the next sentence begins.
The ‘Innovate’ turn
An Innovate turn allows you to Break through (see page 36) for a card, at the
expense of not doing anything else. During an Innovate turn you take no Actions
and may not use any Exhaust abilities. Instead, do the following:
1. Place all the cards in your hand into your Discard pile.
2. Break through for a
, , or (see page 36).
Note that you may not use the Innovate turn to Break
through for a card.
3. Move on to Clean-up.
Note that cards with Passive abilities will still trigger on an Innovate turn.
The ‘Revolt’ turn
A Revolt turn allows you to permanently remove a number of
cards from
your deck without spending Resources, at the expense of not doing anything
else. During a Revolt turn you may take no Actions and use no Exhaust abilities.
Instead, do the following:
1.
Return (see page 39) any number of
cards from your hand to their
proper pile(s). This will normally be the Unrest pile.
2. Move on to Clean-up.
Note that cards with Passive abilities will still trigger on a Revolt turn.
Clean-Up
At the end of your turn, complete the Clean-up steps in order. Once you’ve
completed step 1, the next player can start their turn while you complete the
rest of your Clean-up.
1. Add 1 from the Supply to any card in the Market. This represents the
natural development of ideas and general progression of time.
If you’re playing as the Carthaginians, Cultists Power B,
Guptas, Qin, Tang or the Wagadou, add the token(s) indicated
on your Power card, instead of 1 .
2. Remove all of your and tokens from all cards in your Play
area, your Nation deck, your Development area, and your Power card.
Then reset your State card to have 3 tokens and 5 tokens on
your State card.
If you’re playing as the Cultists, Inuit, Polynesians, Taino, or
the Utopians, only place 3 tokens.
If you’re playing with the Trade Routes expansion, place an
additional token (6 or 4, depending on the nation).
3. You may
Discard (see page 37) any number of cards from your hand into
your Discard pile.
4.
Draw (see page 37) cards from your Draw deck up to your hand size.
Your default hand size is five, but it can be modified by effects in the
game. If you already hold cards equal to or exceeding your hand size,
don’t Draw any cards. However, you are never forced to Discard down to
your hand size.
As cycling through your deck is your main way of gaining access
to your nation’s  
 , , and cards, it’s often a good idea to
Discard most or all leftover cards at the end of your turn.

---

16
Reshuffling your Draw Deck
If you need to Draw a card and your Draw deck is empty, shuffle your Discard
pile to make a new Draw deck.
Resolve this immediately when triggered,
even on another player’s turn.
Before you reshuffle, determine whether
you should add a new card from your Nation deck or Development area to
your Discard pile.
In order to add new cards to your deck when reshuffling, you must have a

token available and at least one card in your Nation deck or Development area.
The token is used to mark that you have added a card via reshuffle this turn.
If you already have a token on your Nation deck or Development area,
or if you have no tokens left on your State card (because you have already
used them all during your turn), you may
not add a card during reshuffle, and
should begin at step 3 below.
Note that you will always have unused
tokens if the reshuffle happens
during Clean-up, as the second step of Clean-up is to return all your tokens
to your State card. This is when most reshuffles happen.
1.
If you have at least one card (including your
card) in your
Nation deck:
Place the top card of your Nation deck in your Discard pile,
then move a
token from your State card onto your Nation deck (or
into your Development area, if your Nation deck is now empty).
If you placed your
card into your Discard pile: Flip your
State card to its other side. Move on to step 3.
2.
If you have no cards in your Nation deck (not even your
card)
but at least one card in your Development area:
You may Pay the
Development cost shown on any one of your face-up Development cards
to
Develop it (see page 37). Place that card in your Discard pile. If you
do, move a
token from your State card into your Development area.
If you cannot Pay the Development cost of any remaining card, you
cannot Develop.
3. Shuffle your Discard pile to form a new Draw deck.
4. Resolve any “when you reshuffle” effects now – see the Cultist and the
Utopian Power cards
5. Draw cards until you reach your hand limit as normal.
Some cards instruct you to “Draw the top card of the deck
if able”. These
effects never trigger a reshuffle. If your Draw deck is empty when you use an “if
able” effect or it becomes empty during an “if able” effect, do not Draw further
cards and do not reshuffle your deck.
Some civilisations never have a Nation deck (so they never resolve step 1),
or never have a Development area (so they never resolve step 2), or never have
either (so they always go to step 3)!
Solstice
When all players have finished a turn, Solstice begins. The Solstice token sits
between the last player and the first player to remind you of this.
During Solstice, each player must resolve all Solstice effects in their Play
area, their Power card, and possibly their State card. These effects can be
resolved simultaneously by all players.
Note that in those extremely rare situations when the order of resolution
does matter (usually this is possible when the game is nearing a Collapse), the
players resolve their Solstice effects in turn order.
Solstice effects must be resolved as much as possible unless the card
specifies that it is optional.
If you have multiple effects which need to resolve simultaneously, you choose
the order in which to activate or resolve them. This will most frequently happen
with Solstice effects but can happen at other times as well.
If a card has a Solstice effect which allows or forces “each other player” to do
something, each player resolves that effect independently, as part of their own
Solstice phase, in the order of their choice relative to their own effects.
If you have a card marked ‘End of Solstice’, that effect must be resolved last,
after all your other Solstice effects.
Once all players have resolved all their Solstice effects, the next round of
player turns begins.
REMINDER: All players should perform their Solstice effects
simultaneously.
REMINDER: You may never spend Actions or use Exhaust effects
during Solstice.

---

17
Game End
The game ends when either Scoring or Collapse is triggered.
Scoring is triggered if one of the following conditions is met:
1. There are no more cards in the Main deck
2. A player Develops the last card in their Development area or meets the
Scoring condition of their Nation
3. The King of Kings card is flipped face down (see below)
4. A player uses a card effect that “TRIGGERS GAME END”
Collapse is triggered immediately if there are ever
no cards left in the Unrest
pile
, even if Scoring has already been triggered!
Scoring
When Scoring is triggered, complete the current round and Solstice as normal.
Then play one final round,
including resolving the Solstice.
All players add up their victory points.
Leave cards where they were when the game ended as you score, as
some V
P
cards and V
P cards score differently depending on their location.
Score every card in your Hand, Play area, Draw deck, Discard pile and
History (see page 38)/Legends (see page 46)/Flooded (see page 42) pile, as
well as for your Power card. Do not score for un-played cards still in your Nation
deck or your Development area.
If you have multiple cards that score for having certain card types or
Resources, they can all score on the same cards or Resources.
A card with a V
P
or V
P - scores or subtracts victory points
equal to the number indicated.
A card with a V
P scores the number of victory points
indicated if the condition specified has been met. Otherwise, it
scores no points.
A card with a V
P scores a variable number of victory points,
as specified on the card. You can never score more than 10
points from a V
P card. Resources on cards do not count
towards V
P cards such as Moneylenders or Mercenaries.
After checking your cards, count the number of tokens in your Resource
pool. Every in your Resource pool is worth 1 victory point. tokens on
cards are not scored.
The player with the most victory points wins.
In the case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.
REMINDER: V
P
cards are limited to a maximum of 10 victory points
each, even your card.
Collapse
When Collapse is triggered, the game ends immediately, without completing
the current Action. In the rare case of Collapse triggering during an effect where
multiple players receive Unrest, and there is not enough Unrest to be given out,
the player who triggered the effect (active player, or the card’s owner during
Solstice) decides who gets them.
Count the number of in your Hand, Play area, Draw deck, Discard pile,
and History.
The player with the fewest
wins. (Cards still in your Nation
deck, or the Cultist’s Chaos pile do not count.)
Exception: if a Cultist player has an empty Chaos pile at the
time Collapse is triggered, they win immediately.
In the case of a tie,
the tied players calculate their scores as per normal Scoring.
The highest score wins.
The fame deck
When an effect (such as Glory) allows you to manipulate the
deck, King of Kings always remains on the bottom. So
long as there are any cards above King of Kings, Look, Gain,
and Draw effects refer only to those face-down cards and
not King of Kings.
When returning a card to the deck after completing one of
these actions, return it to the top of the deck
without shuffling.
If King of Kings is the
only
card left, then any effect which
would Draw or Gain a card resolves King of Kings instead.
You can never resolve King of Kings un til this point.
King of Kings is always placed Side A up during setup. The
first time it is resolved during a game, it is flipped to the B side.
No player may resolve King of Kings more than once per game.
The player who resolved the A side cannot resolve the B side.
To track this, any player who resolves King of Kings should flip
their King of Kings token as a reminder.

---

Unrest
3JPN8/24-2
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1
. You MAY garrison a card.
Glory
3JPN21/24
This card cannot be garrisoned.
Abandon 3 to look at the top 2 cards
of the deck. Take 1 of those cards,
returning the other to the top of the deck.
Appeal to China
3JPN15/24
Exhaust: pay 1 to choose: draw a
card and exile a card in the market
OR add 1 to a card in the market.
Shinto
3JPN18/24
If , abandon Tendai Buddhism.
Exhaust: when you play a / , exhaust
this card to gain 1 and draw 2 cards.
Kyushu
3JPN17/24
You MAY garrison a card.
Advance
3JPN20/24
Choose: pay 3
to acquire a
/
OR pay 5
to break through
for a / .
Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a
and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring
) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
Development Area Accession and Nation
State Power card
tokens
Draw deck Discard
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2 and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
BARBARIAN
Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
3JPN3/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.
Development cost: x3, x23
Emperor Kanmu
3JPN2/24
Free play. Break through for a .You
MAY abandon a to draw 3 cards
and put a card from your hand into your
history. Put this card into your history.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR6/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2

Rift Valley
3REG5/14
Exile a card from the market.
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: choose: gain 2 and place a
card on the top of your deck
OR abandon this card.
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Goryeo
3TRI3/13
Acquire a . Put this card into
your history.3
Market
Cards in play
Player area
cards in hand
18
Example Turn
You are playing as Japan in a three-player game against a Taino and a Magyar player. At the moment, you are a Barbarian state. It
is the start of your third turn, and you are the last player in the round (before Solstice). You have three Actions to plan out, so let’s
examine your five cards in hand.
Glory is a very strong card, but it requires you to have three Regions in play, and you have only one. You do have a second region
in your hand – Kansai – which you can plan to play this turn. Still, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to use Glory soon.
Prince Shotoku Taishi is a uniquely powerful card which is placed into History after just one use, so let’s make the most of him: he
can Find one of two very strong cards from your Nation deck as well as Return Unrest or allow you to Free play a late-game, Empire-
only card. Looking at the Metropolis in the Market, a plan involving this second option forms…

---

Development Area Accession and Nation
State Power card
tokens
Draw deck Discard
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2 and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
BARBARIAN
Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
3JPN3/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.
Development cost: x3, x23
Emperor Kanmu
3JPN2/24
Free play. Break through for a .You
MAY abandon a to draw 3 cards
and put a card from your hand into your
history. Put this card into your history.
Unrest
3JPN8/24-2
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1
. You MAY garrison a card.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Glory
3JPN21/24
This card cannot be garrisoned.
Abandon 3 to look at the top 2 cards
of the deck. Take 1 of those cards,
returning the other to the top of the deck.
Appeal to China
3JPN15/24
Exhaust: pay 1 to choose: draw a
card and exile a card in the market
OR add 1 to a card in the market.
Shinto
3JPN18/24
If , abandon Tendai Buddhism.
Exhaust: when you play a / , exhaust
this card to gain 1 and draw 2 cards.
Kyushu
3JPN17/24
You MAY garrison a card.
Advance
3JPN20/24
Choose: pay 3
to acquire a
/
OR pay 5
to break through
for a / .
Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a
and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring
) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR6/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2

Rift Valley
3REG5/14
Exile a card from the market.
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: choose: gain 2 and place a
card on the top of your deck
OR abandon this card.
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Goryeo
3TRI3/13
Acquire a . Put this card into
your history.3
2
1
1 VP per
4
Mercenaries
3CIV13/18
Free play. Pay 1 to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
From supply
p ay
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1
OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2
19
You select an ‘Activate’ turn, so that you can play cards and use Exhaust
effects normally.
1 You Exhaust Appeal to China and choose to add 1 token
onto Metropolis.
2 Then you use a token to play Advance , Paying 3 to Acquire
the Metropolis, along with all three tokens currently on it and the
Unrest underneath it. (In the future you could spend this as 2
through substitutions (see page 39) – so in effect the net cost of this
Action was only 1 !)
A new card is placed in the Market – Mercenaries – and a new Unrest
is placed underneath it. This leaves only 1 Unrest in the Unrest pile,
so the game is in danger of Collapse!
Finally, you add Advance to the discard pile.

---

Development Area Accession and Nation
State Power card
tokens
Draw deck Discard
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2 and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
BARBARIAN
Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
3JPN3/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.
Development cost: x3, x23
Emperor Kanmu
3JPN2/24
Free play. Break through for a .You
MAY abandon a to draw 3 cards
and put a card from your hand into your
history. Put this card into your history.
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR6/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Appeal to China
3JPN15/24
Exhaust: pay 1 to choose: draw a
card and exile a card in the market
OR add 1 to a card in the market.
Shinto
3JPN18/24
If , abandon Tendai Buddhism.
Exhaust: when you play a / , exhaust
this card to gain 1 and draw 2 cards.
Kyushu
3JPN17/24
You MAY garrison a card.

Rift Valley
3REG5/14
Exile a card from the market.
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: choose: gain 2 and place a
card on the top of your deck
OR abandon this card.
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Goryeo
3TRI3/13
Acquire a . Put this card into
your history.3
1 VP per
4
Mercenaries
3CIV13/18
Free play. Pay 1 to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3JPN8/24-2
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Unrest
3JPN8/24-2
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
3
Glory
3JPN21/24
This card cannot be garrisoned.
Abandon 3
to look at the top 2 cards
of the deck. Take 1 of those cards,
returning the other to the top of the deck.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1 . You MAY garrison a card.
Glory
3JPN21/24
This card cannot be garrisoned.
Abandon 3 to look at the top 2 cards
of the deck. Take 1 of those cards,
returning the other to the top of the deck.
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1
OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2
Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a
and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring
) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
20
3 You decide to use a token to play one of your Unrest cards, in
order to keep away from Collapse. You can Pay 3 , or 1 , or
discard 2 cards to Pay for its Return. You choose to Discard Glory and
the other Unrest card.

---

Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a
and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring
) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
Development Area Accession and Nation
State Power card
tokens
Draw deck Discard
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2 and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
BARBARIAN
Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
3JPN3/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.
Development cost: x3, x23
Emperor Kanmu
3JPN2/24
Free play. Break through for a .You
MAY abandon a to draw 3 cards
and put a card from your hand into your
history. Put this card into your history.
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR6/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Kanji
3JPN9/24
Exhaust: put a card from your discard
pile into your history to draw a card.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1
. You MAY garrison a card.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Appeal to China
3JPN15/24
Exhaust: pay 1 to choose: draw a
card and exile a card in the market
OR add 1 to a card in the market.
Shinto
3JPN18/24
If , abandon Tendai Buddhism.
Exhaust: when you play a / , exhaust
this card to gain 1 and draw 2 cards.
Kyushu
3JPN17/24
You MAY garrison a card.

Rift Valley
3REG5/14
Exile a card from the market.
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: choose: gain 2 and place a
card on the top of your deck
OR abandon this card.
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Goryeo
3TRI3/13
Acquire a . Put this card into
your history.3
1 VP per
4
Mercenaries
3CIV13/18
Free play. Pay 1 to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
From supply
Glory
3JPN21/24
This card cannot be garrisoned.
Abandon 3 to look at the top 2 cards
of the deck. Take 1 of those cards,
returning the other to the top of the deck.
Unrest
3JPN8/24-2
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2
Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a
and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring
) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
4
6
5
Unrest
3JPN24/24-2
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Clans
3JPN19/24
Take a
and pay 1
to break
through for a .
21
4 Now you are ready for your big move! You use your third token to
play Prince Shotoku Taishi and choose the second option.
5 You Free play the Metropolis (ignoring its symbol), then find
Kanji out of your Nation deck adding it to your hand and shuffling the
rest of your Nation deck - except your card - afterwards. You place
Prince Shotoku Taishi in your History.
6 As you played Metropolis, a card, you can also Exhaust Shinto to
gain 1 and Draw 2 cards. You Draw Clans and another Unrest.

---

Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring ) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
Development Area Accession and Nation
State Power card
tokens
Draw deck Discard
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2 and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
BARBARIAN
Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
3JPN3/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.
Development cost: x3, x23
Emperor Kanmu
3JPN2/24
Free play. Break through for a .You
MAY abandon a to draw 3 cards
and put a card from your hand into your
history. Put this card into your history.
Kanji
3JPN9/24
Exhaust: put a card from your discard
pile into your history to draw a card.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1
. You MAY garrison a card.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1 . You MAY garrison a card.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR6/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Appeal to China
3JPN15/24
Exhaust: pay 1 to choose: draw a
card and exile a card in the market
OR add 1 to a card in the market.
Shinto
3JPN18/24
If , abandon Tendai Buddhism.
Exhaust: when you play a / , exhaust
this card to gain 1 and draw 2 cards.
Kyushu
3JPN17/24
You MAY garrison a card.

Rift Valley
3REG5/14
Exile a card from the market.
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: choose: gain 2 and place a
card on the top of your deck
OR abandon this card.
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Goryeo
3TRI3/13
Acquire a . Put this card into
your history.3
1 VP per
4
Mercenaries
3CIV13/18
Free play. Pay 1 to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2
8
Unrest
3JPN24/24-2
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Clans
3JPN19/24
Take a
and pay 1
to break
through for a .
Glory
3JPN21/24
This card cannot be garrisoned.
Abandon 3 to look at the top 2 cards
of the deck. Take 1 of those cards,
returning the other to the top of the deck.
Unrest
3JPN8/24-2
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
From supply
From supply
7
Kanji
3JPN9/24
Exhaust: put a card from your discard
pile into your history to draw a card.
p ay
22
7 With so many cards left, it seems reasonable to Exhaust your
card’s ability to Pay 2 and Discard Kanji in order to gain another
Action to use this turn!
8 You could play another Unrest, Discarding your final two cards
to Pay for it, to be on the safe side far from Collapse. Or you
could play Clans, allowing you to grab another . But instead
you opt to use your bonus to play the Region Kansai, gaining
1 and getting you closer to the 3-Region threshold necessary for
a future play of Glory. You have the option to Garrison (see page 38)
Clans or an Unrest, but you choose not to.

---

Prince Shotoku Taishi
3JPN22/24
Choose: return a and find
Tendai Buddhism and add it to your hand
OR free play a (ignoring ) and
find Kanji and add it to your hand.
Put this card into your history.
Development Area Accession and Nation
State Power card
tokens
Draw deck Discard
Japanese
3JPN1A/24
Exhaust: pay 2 and
discard a card to gain 1 action.
BARBARIAN
Heian-kyo (Kyoto)
3JPN3/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.
Development cost: x3, x23
Emperor Kanmu
3JPN2/24
Free play. Break through for a .You
MAY abandon a to draw 3 cards
and put a card from your hand into your
history. Put this card into your history.
Kansai
3JPN16/24
Gain 1 . You MAY garrison a card.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR6/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Appeal to China
3JPN15/24
Exhaust: pay 1 to choose: draw a
card and exile a card in the market
OR add 1 to a card in the market.
Shinto
3JPN18/24
If , abandon Tendai Buddhism.
Exhaust: when you play a / , exhaust
this card to gain 1 and draw 2 cards.
Kyushu
3JPN17/24
You MAY garrison a card.

Rift Valley
3REG5/14
Exile a card from the market.
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: choose: gain 2 and place a
card on the top of your deck
OR abandon this card.
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Goryeo
3TRI3/13
Acquire a . Put this card into
your history.3
1 VP per
4
Mercenaries
3CIV13/18
Free play. Pay 1 to gain 1 action.
Unrest
3UNR1/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2
11
From supply 9 Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Nara
3JPN14/24
Solstice: you MAY discard a card to
choose: gain 1
OR gain 1

OR draw a card.
b
Unrest
3JPN24/24-2
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Clans
3JPN19/24
Take a
and pay 1
to break
through for a .
10
a
C
d
23
9 Your turn is over, so let’s begin Clean-up. First you add a token
into the Market – you decide it should go on the Lagoon, which you
hope to grab next turn via Clans. Then you remove all your tokens
from Shinto, Appeal to China, and your Power card. 5 tokens and
3 tokens are returned to your State card, and the extra token
is returned to the Supply.
10 Next, you need to decide which cards to Discard before Drawing back
up to your hand size of 5. There are 3 cards still left in your deck, so
you opt to Discard Unrest a and keep only Clans in your hand. This
means you need to Draw 4 new cards, but after Drawing the last three
of your Draw deck you need to reshuffle your Discard pile: you place a
token on your Nation deck and flip the top card (Nara) into your
Discard pile b. Then you shuffle the Discard pile and create a new
Draw deck C from which you take your final card d.
11 Since you were the last player of this round, all players now move on
to the Solstice. Your new Metropolis gives the option to gain 1 , 1
, or Draw 1 card. You should probably choose to gain , since
you have only 2 remaining and you are likely to want to spend them
both in the near future to Exhaust your Power card’s ability again!

---

24
Optional Rules & Gameplay Variants
Practice mode (solo)
If you are learning the game, or you wish to familiarise yourself
with a new Nation, Practice mode is the streamlined way to do
that. It is a type of Solo mode (see page 28), but with no Bot to
play against. This allows you to concentrate on understanding
your own play, and not have to worry about possible distractions
(like running the solo opponent). New players should try a
or Nation first – in Horizons the Magyars and the
Japanese are the most suitable for this.
1. Perform your Player setup (see page 10) and the 2-player
Commons setup (see page 13) normally.
2.
Exile (see page 37) the top 15 cards of the Main deck.
3. Put 12
tokens next to the Market.
4. Take your turn normally.
5. During Clean-up, first add a from the pool created in
step 3 on a card in the Market. Then, you may choose to

Exile a card from the Market. (This simulates the ‘Market
churn’ of a second player.)
6. Perform any
Solstice effects (see page 16).
7. Repeat steps 4–6 until you have played 12 turns (when
the special pool of progress tokens runs out),
or you trigger
game end through any normal card effect, such as Collapse.
If you score at least 50 victory points, you understand the rules
and basic strategies enough to play “for real”. If you score at least
90 victory points, you did something really well. If you want, you
can challenge yourself to score even more.
Lowered Aggression Variant
If you want a less aggressive game but do not want to include the added complexity
of the Trade Routes, we recommend this alteration to the Commons setup:
After step 5 (removing cards for lower player counts) add a new step:
5a. Find all the remaining Commons cards with a icon in the bottom corner
and put them aside for now. Proceed with the remaining cards to step 6
(placing the Unrest pile).
After step 15, once the Market is set up, shuffle the cards you put aside into the
Main deck. This way,
Attack cards (see page 36) only enter the Market from
the Main deck, delaying their appearance in the game.
This variant can be combined with the short variant below. This variant can
also be applied to Imperium Classics/Legends, by setting aside all Commons
cards in a similar fashion.
Quick Setup Variant
For experienced players only. Instead of separating Market cards by suit,
simply shuffle all Market cards together, create Small decks of the appropriate
size, and deal an initial Market line-up. This variant can make it very
difficult to find the specific suits that some civilisations rely upon in the early
game (mostly ).
Precious Cards Variant
During your Clean-up, you may not Discard any cards from your hand (see
page 37). This variant changes the dynamics of Unrest management and card
draw in interesting ways and makes increased hand size less beneficial.

---

25
Short Variant
If you want to reduce the playing time of Imperium, then the following variant
will cut the duration of the game by about 15 minutes per player. This is not
suitable for the Utopians nor the Cultists and there are special rules for the
Atlanteans, Arthurians, Inuit, Martians, and the Polynesians.
Setup Changes
1. After setting up the Market, Exile the top 10 cards of the Main deck.
2. Put the top 2 cards from your
Nation deck
into your Discard pile
(except for Atlanteans and Inuit, see below).
Nation specific
setup changes
Atlanteans: choose a
to Develop (you do not have to
Pay the Development cost), then choose one of your cards
to remove from the game.
Arthurians: choose an impending Quest (not the
Graal
), Garrison it under King Arthur’s Court, and add
the top card to your starting deck. This is in addition to the
2 cards from your Nation deck added to your Discard pile
detailed above.
Inuit: remove all your starting Resources
(
, , , ). Choose a Winter ( ) card and a
Summer ( ) card and put both in your Discard pile.
Martians: remove 4 of your starting .
Polynesians: gain one of the cards added to your Discard pile
as mana (choose randomly).
Solo Bot Setup Changes
1. Remove the bottom card of the Dynasty deck (see Solo
mode setup, page 29). This is the card with the lowest
victory point value.
2. Put the top card of the Dynasty deck into the Bot
Discard pile.
3. If playing against the Arthurians, put a random
card
(not the Graal) into the Bot Discard pile.
Gameplay Changes
1. When you add your Accession card to your Discard pile, look through
your Development cards and choose one to remove from the game.
(Skip this if playing with the Arthurians or the Polynesians.)
2. When Scoring is triggered, play the current round, including Solstice
,
then end the game (do not play another round).

---

1 VP
per 10
Wagadou
3WAG1A/23
Passive: when you would place 1
on
a card in the market, instead place 1
.
Solstice: gain 2
. For each
you
have in play, gain 1 additional
.
1 VP per 3
in play,
except
Tang
3TAN1A/27
Passive: when you would place 1
on
a card in the market, instead place 1
.
Exhaust: discard 2 cards to gain 1
.
End of solstice: if the game end has not
been triggered, take a
.
1 VP per
2
in
your history
Sassanids
3SAS1A/24
Exhaust: when triggering the
profit of a
, exhaust this card to
break through for a
.
1 VP per
3
Guptas
3GUP1A/24
Passive: when you would place 1
on
a card in the market, instead place 1
.
Exhaust: take a
to choose: free play
a
from your discard pile OR trade.
1 VP per
7 cards
Abbasids
3ABB1A/23
Exhaust: If
, spend
an action to aquire a
with
.
If
, spend an action to acquire
a
with
.
1 VP per
6
Aksumites
3AKS1A/23
Exhaust: when you acquire or break
through for a card in the market with at
least 2 resources, exhaust this card
to gain 1
.
3 VP if in
history
Eastern Silk Road
3TAN4/27
Commerce: draw a card and acquire
a
(including from exiled cards).
Profit (3
): Break through
for a /
/
/
.
Put this card into your history.
Development cost: x3,
x1?
2 VP
per
Oracle
3UNC9/25
Free play. Draw 2 cards and
discard one of them.
2 VP
per
Catamarans
3UNC11/25
Exhaust: treat 1
as 4
for
the rest of the turn.
26
Trade Routes Expansion
Imperium: Horizons contains an optional expansion, Trade Routes. We
recommend learning and playing the game
without Trade Routes first,
especially if you’re not already familiar with Imperium: Classics/Legends.
Games with Trade Routes will tend to be longer, more complicated games with
higher average scores and more explosive combos.
The Trade Routes expansion makes use of the new Resource, Goods
, as
well as new ways to spend your and tokens during your turn – and an extra
token to spend! You use Trade (see page 39) abilities to manipulate ,
Commerce (see page 37) abilities to exchange for other benefits, and Profit
(see page 39) abilities to Profit from other players trading with you. New Trade
Route cards in the Market can be Acquired or Broken through for in new
ways. All players begin with a powerful Merchants card, which gives access
to many of these interactions.
The Trade Routes expansion may be used with any set of Commons cards.
But remember that the cards are designed around Trade Route interactions,
and thus can only be played when Trade Routes are being used. To play with the
Trade Routes expansion, include the following five elements into your regular
game setup (they are in blue Trade Routes text boxes in the setup sections of
this rulebook):
1. Give each player a Merchants card, which begins Merchants side
face up in the Player area.
2. Give each player an additional token, and 1 instead of the .
3. Add the Welcoming Trade Route to the Fame deck before selecting the
correct number of cards. Note that games with Trade Routes have one
more Fame card.
4. Remove all cards with the icon from the Commons cards used.
5. Shuffle the cards (remember to remove any 3+ or 4 cards if
necessary) and add them to the Main deck and Small decks as described
in Commons setup step 13 (see page 13).
REMEMBER: When using Trade Routes, all players gain an extra
token!
All existing civilisations (from Classics, Legends, and of course Horizons)
support playing with the Trade Routes expansion, including playing solo. Some
Horizons civilisations with on their Power Card are designed around Trade
Route interactions, and thus can only be played if the Trade Routes expansion
is used. These are:
• Abbasids
• Aksumites
• Guptas
• Sassanids
• Tang
• Wagadou

---

27
Merchants
The Merchants card is the primary source of the Trade keyword (see
below). This card may be upgraded to its Merchant Empire side, to provide
icons, a way to Trade for Market cards, and another method of access to
the deck.
Note that while the Merchants card can Exhaust to Acquire Trade Routes, the
Merchant Empire card cannot!
Trade Routes
Some
cards are shuffled into the Main deck during setup, and others
are placed face up under the , , and decks. Some civs even have
their own cards.
Trade Routes cards may be Acquired from the Market with your Merchants
card, or with other cards which specify that you may Acquire or Break
through for . As with all non cards, Acquiring a requires you to Take
a into your hand.
When you play a card from your hand, you may immediately resolve its
Commerce effect. Doing so does
not require a
the way activating Commerce
effects via the Trade keyword does.
Trade & Commerce
When you activate the Trade keyword (usually through placing a
on your
Merchants card) you may do one of the following:
•
Pay 1
to gain 1 .
• Move 1 of your to a card in your Play area with fewer than 3
on it already, and resolve its Commerce effect.
• Add 1 from the Supply on a card in an opponent’s play area
with fewer than 3 on it already, perform its Commerce effect for
yourself, then gain 1 .
Profit
When a card has 3 on it, no player may Trade with it until the Goods
are removed. This is done through the Profit effect, which can be triggered by
the owner of the card as an Action during their Activate turn. When they do,
they spend a token and move the 3 on the card into their Resource pool,
resolve the Profit effect’s text, and then place the card into their Discard
pile unless otherwise specified.
Note that it is not mandatory to trigger Profit when a
card is full with 3
tokens; you may keep it in play holding onto the Goods if you don’t have
the Action to spare, but it will be effectively useless.

---

Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile. 1 2 3
Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Unrest
3UNR8/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile. 4 5 6
Unrest
3UNR3/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
1
River Delta
3REG4/14
You MAY pay 2 to trade.
You MAY garrison a card.2 3
Warfare
3UNC5/25
Pay 3 . Each other player takes a .
Choose: break through for a and gain
1 OR break through for a and each
other player abandons a . 1
1 VP per
3 cards in
history2
Scribes
3CIV5/18
Free play. Choose: put a card from your
hand into your history OR exile 2 cards
from your history to gain 1 action.3

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
1 VP per
4 4
Khmer Empire
3TRI9/13
Break through for a . You MAY
free play a . You MAY return a .
Put this card into your history.5 Board 1 - Side A Board 2 - Side ABoard 1 - Side A Board 1 - Side A6 Board 2 - Side A
1 VP per 2
/
Inuit
3INU1A/25
Passive: when you gain 3 or fewer
,
gain 1 additional .
End of solstice: flip your state card.
INUIT
trigger Effect
Return this card to the unrest pile.
Play this and trigger it.
Gain 1 . Reveal the top 2 cards of the bot deck, discard any cards, and
return the rest to the top of the bot deck in the same order.
Play this . Exile a card from the market. If this card has , discard the top
card of the bot deck and gain 1 .
Reveal the top of the main deck. If a is revealed, resolve it; if the card is not
a , put it into history.
Discard the top card of the bot deck. Gain 1 per / the bot has in play.
Spend 2 to acquire a / (including from exile). You MAY draw a card.
Other
Return a from bot discard; if unable, resolve a from bot discard; if still
unable, gain 1 . Put this card into history.
S
During bot clean-up, place 1 marker on slots 4 and higher (5 and
higher if Sovereign+) instead of cards, then flip this state card.
1
4
6
7
5
6
28
In solo mode, you play your own civilization against an opponent, called the
Bot. The Bot’s turn is substantially different than your own, as it moves through
a series of cards and responses dictated by its oversized State card. It also has
new keywords, and some keywords work differently for the Bot.
If this is your first time playing the game, you need to read the multiplayer rules
first. If you don’t want to bother with running the Bot on your first play, check
out the ‘Practice Mode (Solo)’ under Gameplay variants on page 24.
Solo mode Ruleset
Player and Commons setup is identical to the multiplayer rules.
Use the 2-player setup for the Commons decks. The Bot does
not use
tokens, tokens, or a (regular sized) State card.

---

29
Setup
1. Place Slot markers 1–5 below the cards in the Market, so that each card
has one marker below it. The markers should be placed in ascending
order, from left to right. Slot marker 6 can be returned to the box unless
playing in Supreme Ruler mode (see page 33).
2. Choose a nation for the Bot and take all the associated cards, as indicated
by the colour in the bottom left corner, placing them in a Bot area next
to your Play area. Place the Solstice token inbetween your Player area
and the Bot area.
3. Add any cards to the Commons cards. Return any 3+ and 4
cards to the box.
4. Place the Bot’s card in its play area. The only function of the Bot’s
card is to store the Bot’s History. All symbols and text on the Bot’s
Power card (including Scoring) are ignored.
Note that the Bot always has a History, even if the corresponding
nation has special rules about it, such as the Atlanteans, Inuit,
Polynesians, and Vikings.
5. Create the Bot’s
Dynasty deck:
a) Sort the
cards in victory point order and place them in a
face-down pile near the card, with the higher value cards
at the top. Treat all V
P cards as having a value of 5 and treat
all V
P cards as being worth the highest value. If multiple
cards have the same value, determine their order randomly.
b) Place the card face up on top of the stack of cards.
c) Shuffle the cards and place them in a face-down stack on
top of the card.
6. Shuffle the remaining cards (i.e., the Bot’s unmarked starting cards) and
place one card face down below each Slot marker. The rest forms the
Bot
deck
. Place the Bot deck next to the
card
7. Find the oversized
Bot State card corresponding to the nation you’re
playing against. Place it next to the Bot’s deck with the
S side face up.
8. Depending on Bot difficulty level, it either will or will not get starting
Resources. Check difficulty levels on page 32 for what these are.
If playing with the Trade Routes expansion, place the Merchants
card besides their State card to indicate its Merchant state.
You will also need the Trade Routes table (see back page). All
symbols and text on the Bot’s Merchant Power card (including
Scoring) are ignored.
If you are playing against the Arthurians, Atlanteans, Cultists,
Inuit, Martians, Mayans, Polynesians, Utopians, or Vikings
refer to their nation description for specific changes to
their Bot setup.
How to Play
As with a multiplayer game, the solo game is played in a variable number of
rounds. In each round you take your turn normally, the Bot takes a turn, then
the round ends and you resolve
Solstice (the Bot ignores the Solstice effects).
Bot turns
First, roll the die and place it on top of the face-down Bot card in the
corresponding Slot. You won’t resolve that card this turn. If you roll a number
that does not correspond to a Slot, set the die aside.
Then resolve the remaining face-down Bot cards, moving from the lowest- to
the highest-numbered Slot.
Resolving Bot Cards
To resolve a card, flip it face up and consult the table on the Bot’s State card.
Do not resolve any of the text on the card itself.
When resolving a card, complete the topmost effect in the table that matches
the card. A card matches if the name, type, or suit is the same as the trigger
listed in the table.
Note that every table starts with a row to resolve
,
usually by
Returning it, but some civilisations perform additional effects
while Returning it.
• All the contents of the row are considered part of the same effect.
• Any part of the effect written in
bold refers to you. All other text refers
to the Bot.
• If no part of the effect can be resolved, find the next matching trigger
instead. If some or all of the effect can be resolved, resolve as much of
the effect as possible. If any part (even if just putting the resolved card
into History) is resolved, the effect is considered resolved.
• Unless the effect specifies otherwise, place the card in the Bot’s
Discard pile once an effect has been completed.
• You will only ever resolve one effect for a card, even if it matches
multiple triggers.
• The Bot can resolve
or cards regardless of their current State
card. Simply follow the chart and use the relevant text.
• The Bot
never spends
or in place of or .
Bots and Trading
If playing with the Trade Routes expansion, once all the cards
in the card Slots have been resolved, the Bot resolves the first
applicable effect shown on the bottom of the Trade Routes table.
There are two separate lists depending on whether the Bot
currently has Merchants or Merchant E mpire face up.
• When instructed to “resolve
Profits, where able”, resolve
the effect shown on the right column of the Trade Routes
table for every
the Bot has in play that has 3 tokens
on it. The Bot gains those tokens and the card is put into
the Bot’s History. If multiple cards meet this requirement,
resolve the one that was played most recently first.
• If instructed to
Trade, see the Trade keyword’s resolution
for the Bot on page 31.
• You may Trade with
cards the Bot has in play normally.
You use the
Commerce effect printed on the card (as if it was
in play by a human opponent), instead of the effects in the
Bot’s Trade Routes table.

When instructed to resolve Profits where able resolve the effect shown on the right column of the Trade Routes table for every the Bot has in play that has 3 tokens on it The Bot gains those tokens and the card is put into the Bot s History If multiple cards meet this requirement resolve the one that was played most recently first If instructed to Trade see the Trade keyword s resolution for the Bot on page 31 You may Trade with cards the Bot has in play normally You use the Commerce effect printed on the card as if it was in play by a human opponent instead of the effects in the Bot s Trade Routes table

---

and
30
Bot Clean-Up
1. Once all effects have been resolved, add a to the market card above
the unresolved card. If you rolled a 6, do not add a token.
If you’re playing against the Carthaginian Bot,
add 2 instead.
If you’re playing against the Gupta Bot, add 1 instead.
If you’re playing against the Qin or Tang Bots
add 1 instead.
If you’re playing against the Wagadou Bot, add 1 instead.
2. Move the unresolved card to Slot 1, keeping it face down.
3. Fill the remaining Slots with cards from the Bot deck, face down.
If you’re playing against the Inuit, refer to their nation
description for special Clean-up rules.
4. If the Bot deck is empty and you would normally add a card from the
Bot deck to a Slot, move the top card from the Dynasty deck into the
Bot Discard pile and then shuffle the Bot Discard pile to form a new
Bot deck. Then continue adding cards to Slots as normal. This might
happen multiple times on a turn (typically if both the Bot deck and the
Bot Discard pile are empty).
If you’re playing against the Cultists or Utopians, there are
special rules for resolving their reshuffles. See pages 42 and
48 for details.
5. When the is added to the Bot Discard pile, flip its State card to the
other side (except where noted otherwise – Arthurians, Polynesians,
Taino, Vikings). From this point forward, use the table on the other side
of the State card.
Changes to Gameplay
during Solo Play
All rules in the multiplayer game for taking your turn, end of round, and
resolving cards apply, except for the changes listed in this section.
New keywords
Add 1 Resource to the market card in
the

slot
Take the indicated Resource from the Supply and place it on the card in the
Market in the Slot corresponding to the rolled number. If the slot does not exist,
no Resource is placed.
Play
The Bot only has
cards in play.
When instructed to play such a card, put it in the Bot’s Play area and do not
Discard it at the end of the action’s resolution. The text effect of the card is still
ignored for the Bot’s purposes.
Resolve
When resolving a card, complete the topmost effect in the table on the Bot
State card with a matching trigger, the same way as if the card were revealed in
the Bot’s card row.
Discard the card at the end of the resolution if it does not
instruct you otherwise (by putting the card into play or into History).
If an effect instructs you to resolve the top card of the Bot deck or the Dynasty
deck and the deck in question is empty, do not reshuffle the deck (since the Bot
never reshuffles outside of its Clean-up). Instead, the Bot gains 2
(similarly
to how it would as a result of a “failed”
Break through).
Trigger
When triggering a , the bot resolves the Commerce effect in
the second column of the Trade Routes table (see back page)
rather than the effect printed on the Trade Route card. The
remains in play afterwards.
Changes to Card Effects
If the Bot is forced or permitted to Draw a card by your effects, take the top
card from the Bot deck if able and place it into the Bot Discard pile. However,
unless indicated otherwise by its Bot State card, it is only during its Clean-up
step that the Bot reshuffles its deck or adds cards to its deck or its Discard pile
from the Dynasty deck.
The Bot ignores any of your effects that would make it
Discard a card,
even if the card to be Discarded was given to the Bot as an earlier part of
that same effect.
The Bot ignores any of your effects that would allow it to
Return
cards.
If any of your effects
Gain the Bot Resources, they are Gained normally. If
Resources would be placed on the Bot’s
cards in play, they are immediately
put in the Bot’s Resource pool instead.
Any effect the Bot resolves that
Gives (see page 38) you
, Steals (see
page 39) from you, causes you to Discard cards, or forces you to
Abandon (see
page 36) or
Recall (see page 39) anything, is considered a
, regardless of
any icons on the card. If you have an ability that allows you to cancel or ignore
a , you can use it to stop the negative effect.
If the Bot’s effect requires the top card of its Bot deck to be Discarded when
the deck is empty, that part of the action cannot be resolved, since as mentioned
above, the Bot only reshuffles during Clean-up.

---

31
Changes to
Keywords for Bots
Abandon If the Bot Abandons a card, put one of its cards in play into the Bot
Discard pile. If there are multiple in play, the Bot Abandons the one that
was played most recently.
Acquire and Break through
When the Bot Acquires or Breaks through for a card, it will always choose the
card in the Market that is worth the most points. In the case of a tie, it chooses
the card with the most total tokens (
, , and/or ). If there is still a
tie, it chooses the card in the lowest-numbered Slot.
If the Bot Breaks through and there are no eligible cards in the Market, it
takes the top card from the appropriate deck. If it Breaks through for a card
or a suit for which the appropriate deck is empty, reveal cards from the Main
deck as normal. If there is no card of the appropriate suit in the Main deck, the
Bot instead gains 2 .
Gaining Cards
When the Bot gains cards (including through Acquire, Break through, Taking
or , or as a result of your Attack), add them to the top of the Bot deck
in the order they were gained, with the card gained first at the bottom. If the
Bot Acquires a card and Takes a card as a result, it gains the card first and
the card second.
Exile
If the Bot Exiles a card from the Market, it places the card from the lowest-
numbered Slot in the Market into the Exile pile.
The Bot will never Exile a card with one or more tokens on it. If all cards in
the Market have tokens on them, it does not Exile a card.
Recall
If the Bot Recalls a card, put one of its cards in play on top of the
Bot deck. If there are multiple in play, the Bot Recalls the one that was
played most recently.
Swap (Martian Bot only)
When the Martian Bot Swaps (see page 39) a Gadget with a
matching suited card from the Market, use the tie-breaking
rules from above (‘Acquire and Break through’) to choose
between multiple possible options. The Bot does not Gain
Resources nor Take a
from the Market during the Swap.
The gained card is placed in the Bot’s Discard pile (as explicitly
mentioned in the row’s instructions).
Trade
The Bot selects a to Trade with. It ignores any that
already has 3 on it. If multiple cards are in play (yours or
its own) and available to trade with, it uses the following priority
list to choose:
1. It selects the with more tokens on it.
2. It selects its own over yours.
3. It selects the listed earliest on the Trade Routes table
(see back page).
If it selects one of your cards, add 1 onto the card from
the Supply, the Bot gains 1 and triggers the card.
If it selects one of its own cards, add 1 onto the card from
the Supply, and the Bot triggers the card.
If no is available to Trade with, it spends 1 , if
able, to Gain 1 .
If no is available to Trade with, and it has no ,
nothing happens.
REMINDER: When the Bot triggers a
, it uses the effect in the
Trade Routes table’s middle column, ignoring the card’s text.
Changes to Specific Cards
King of Kings
If the Bot would gain the King of Kings card (regardless of which side is
showing), and is a
state, it instead gains 6 .
If the Bot is a state, it instead gains 3 and Draws the top card from
the Dynasty deck, placing it on top of the Bot deck. This triggers the end of the
game. If the Bot would gain a card after it has already triggered the King
of Kings, nothing happens.
Victory Points
Whenever determining the victory point value of a card from the Bot’s
perspective (which card to Acquire, sorting the Dynasty deck, and final Scoring):
• Cards with fixed V
P
or V
P - values are worth the indicated value
(including possibly negative values).
• Treat all V
P cards as worth 5 victory points.
• Treat all V
P cards as being worth the higher value. For example, a
card noting “8 VP if in History, 3 VP otherwise” scores 8 victory points
for the Bot, regardless of where it is found, while a card noting “-4 VP
unless in History” scores 0 victory points regardless.
• For cards in the Market, treat each on cards as adding one victory
point to the card’s value.

---

32
Game End
The game ends when either Scoring or Collapse is triggered.
You trigger Scoring via the same mechanisms as in the multiplayer game. In
addition, Scoring is triggered if one of the following criteria is met:
1. There are no more cards in the Bot’s Dynasty deck.
2. There are no more cards in the Main deck.
3. The Bot would gain King of Kings .
4. The Cultist Bot successfully triggers the Clean-up step of its
State card.
5. The Utopian Bot successfully triggers the Shangri-La line of
its journey table.
Note that other end game conditions that certain civilisations may have when
played by a human player (for example the Polynesians gaining the last
Development before their
card is gained, the Arthurians playing the Graal,
etc.) are not used when those civilisations are played by a Bot.
Collapse is triggered if there are ever no cards left in the Unrest pile.
Scoring
When Scoring is triggered, complete the current round as normal. Then play
one final round, including resolving Solstice effects.
Add up your victory points in the same way as in the multiplayer game.
Then calculate the Bot’s victory points:
1. Every
is worth 1 victory point for the Bot.
2. Every 10 and in any combination is worth 1 victory point for the
Bot. Each counts as 5 for the purposes of this counting.
Tokens left on the Bot’s cards are not included in this count.
3. Score every card in the Bot’s hand, Play area, Bot deck, Discard pile, and
History (see the previous page for counting victory points). Do not score
for cards in the Bot’s Dynasty deck. Do not score the Bot’s Card(s).
The Cultist Bot scores +1 victory point for each card,
instead of -2 each.
If you scored more points than the Bot, you win.
If you scored equal to or less than the Bot, the Bot wins
.
Collapse
If the game end is triggered by Collapse, you lose – even if the Bot has
more
cards than you.
If
you are playing as the Cultists, and the Chaos pile is empty
when Collapse is triggered, you win as usual.
Difficulty levels
Each Bot can be played against on five separate difficulty levels, listed
below from easiest to hardest. Each difficulty level changes some of the rules
described in this rulebook. We recommend you start with Chieftain level for
your first game.
Chieftain
During the Bot’s setup, do not place the Slot 5 or Slot 6 markers. If the die roll
is 5 or 6, set the die aside.
On Chieftain difficulty, the Bot resolves 3 or 4 effects on each turn.
If playing against the Cultist, the Bot scores 0 victory
points for each
.
Warlord
The same as Chieftain level, but at the end of the Bot’s turn, after refilling the
Slots, place the top card of the Bot deck in the Bot Discard pile.
On Warlord difficulty, the Bot resolves 3 or 4 effects each turn.
Imperator
No change to the normal Bot rules.
On Imperator difficulty, the Bot resolves 4 or 5 effects each turn.
Sovereign
The same as Imperator level, but during setup give the Bot 3
, 2 , and 1 .
If playing with the Trade Routes expansion, give the Bot 1
instead of the .
The Bot scores 1 victory point for every 5 and in any combination,
rather than for every 10.
The Bot scores 1 victory point for every .
If playing against the Inuit, do not place a token under the
number 4 Slot marker at the end of Summer turns.
On Sovereign difficulty, the Bot resolves 4 or 5 effects each turn.

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33
Overlord
The same as Sovereign level, but during Bot setup, add Slot marker 6 to the
right of Slot marker 5. During setup and during the Bot’s turn, place a card face
down below this Slot marker. If you roll a 6 at the start of Bot’s turn, place the
die on the card in Slot 6 as normal, but do not add any tokens to the Market
during the Bot’s Clean-up (see page 30).
If playing against the Cultist, the Bot scores +2 victory
points for each .
On Overlord difficulty, the Bot resolves 5 effects each turn.
Campaign Mode
Campaign mode allows you to play a series of linked solo games against Bots
that increase in difficulty. Your objective in campaign mode is to win five games
before you lose four games.
To start a campaign, choose a nation; you will play as this nation in every
game in the campaign.
Write your name and the name of your nation on an empty campaign
log (see page 50).
Play your first game against a Bot on Chieftain difficulty.
You may not choose to play against a nation you have already won against.
However, you can play multiple campaign games against the same nation until
you win against it.
If you win a campaign game
Record the date and your score in the campaign log. Then, do one of the following:
Select one non-
Commons card in your History, Deck,
Discard pile, or Hand that you gained during this game. Write
the name of the card in the campaign log and add it to your
starting deck for the rest of the campaign.
or
Select one card in your Starting deck. Write the name of the card
in brackets in the campaign log and return it to the box. It will
not be used for the rest of the campaign.
Regardless of your choice, on your next campaign game, play against the Bot at
a difficulty level that is one higher than in the game you just played.
If you win against a Bot on Overlord difficulty (your fifth win), you win
the campaign.
If you lose a campaign game
Record the date and your score in the campaign log and increase your number
of losses by one. On the next campaign game you play, start with twice as many
Resources as normal (6
, 4 , and 2 )
If playing with the Trade Routes expansion, you will start with 2
instead of 2 .
If you win the next game, go back to your normal Resources.
If you lose the next game, do not double this bonus.
If you ever reach 4 losses, you lose the campaign.
Adjusting Campaign difficulty
If you wish for a more challenging campaign, try starting on a difficulty higher
than Chieftain.
Supreme Ruler Mode
If you are regularly winning campaigns and wish for a more challenging mode,
try Supreme Ruler Mode.
Instead of playing against Bots of increasing difficulty, all bots are at the
Supreme Ruler difficulty level.
Supreme Ruler level works in the same way as Overlord level, but every
time the Bot Returns a
it also gains a .
When setting up the game add 2 more to the Commons deck (i.e., 10
Commons cards instead of 8 for the first game of the campaign).
If you win, set aside a card from the Commons deck for the remainder of
the campaign. If you win against the Bot on the Supreme Ruler difficulty five
times, you win a grand campaign!
If you lose, return one set-aside card to the Commons deck if able, then
follow the normal procedure for losing a game.
This difficulty level was considered too hard to be included in
the standard rules.

---

Caracol
3MAY21/28
Exhaust: choose: draw a from your
discard pile OR gain 1 / .
Unrest
3MAY20/28-2
Choose: pay 1
OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
1 VP if in
history
Stone Mask
3MAY12/28
Draw up to 3 cards if able. Then return
a card to the top of your deck.? 1 2 3
Board 1 - Side A 1 2 3
Board 1 - Side A 4 5 6
Board 2 - Side A
34
Example Bot Turn
You are playing against the Mayan Bot on Imperator difficulty. Its play is
controlled by the row of cards and its State card, which gives specific detailed
instructions for resolving each of the 5 face-down cards dealt to the Bot.
At the start of the Bot’s turn, you roll for the Bot: the result is a 2, so you
place the Bot’s die on the card in Slot 2 – that card will be ignored during
resolution. Had you rolled a 6, then all five cards would have been resolved, as
no card would have been covered by the die.
Slot #1 is revealed first: it’s Caracol. The first
row it matches is the / row, so the
Bot gains 1 token, and Caracol is placed
in the Bot’s Discard pile. Slot #2 is covered
by the die, so it is not revealed.
Slot #3 is next: it is an Unrest
card. This is the first row on
every Bot State card, and you’re
instructed to simply
Return it to
the Unrest pile. Easy.
Slot #4 is revealed to be a Stone Mask. This
has its own line near the top of the Bot State
card, instructing you to
Discard the top card
of the Bot deck. However, it just so happens
that the Bot deck is empty at present, and
thus no part of the instructions on this row
can be performed.
It is fine to only resolve part of a line, but
if the
entire line cannot be resolved you
must move down the list to find the next row
which is valid for the card. In this case it is
the very next row, because Stone Mask is
also a
card.
The first sentence of these new instructions tells you to Discard the top 2
cards of the Bot deck – which is still impossible.
The next sentence says to Return a from the Discard pile, if able – but
there is no in the Discard pile!
The third sentence says the Bot gains 1 , and at least that can be done –
so there is no need to move to another row, as you were able to resolve at least
part of the instructions. The Bot gains 1 and the Stone Mask is placed in
the Bot’s Discard pile.

---

Unrest
3UNR4/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Unrest
3UNR5/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2
Chultuns
3MAY26/28
Exhaust: discard a to choose: free play
a OR free play a OR gain 1 .
Unrest
3UNR7/12-2
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.
Unrest
3UNR2/12
Choose: pay 1 OR discard 2 cards
OR pay 3 . If you do, return this card
to the unrest pile.-2

Lagoon
3REG3/14
You MAY put a card from your discard
pile into your history. Exile a card from
the market. You MAY garrison a card.
Elders
3UNC3/25
Choose: acquire a OR break through
for a and all other players gain 1 .1
Metropolis
3CIV6/18
Solstice: choose: gain 1 OR gain 1
OR draw a card.2

Scrubland
3REG8/14
You MAY garrison a card.
Solstice: draw a card, if able. Place a
card on the top of your deck.
2 VP if
in history

Golden Mask
3UNC24/25
Choose: draw a card from your discard
pile OR gain 1 OR trade.? 4 5 6
Board 2 - Side A
35
Slot #5 is revealed to be Chultuns. This card triggers
the row near the bottom of the Bot State card.
This requires a to be returned from the Discard
pile – which is certainly possible. The Stone Mask
that was Discarded earlier is now returned to the
top of the Bot deck – the deck was empty, and now
contains exactly 1 card: the Stone Mask.
Now the Bot must
Acquire a
/ / / .
To do this, you must look at all matching card types
(in this case all cards) in the Market and calculate
their victory point value for the Bot. So, looking at
the Market the options are (once their tokens
are included in the count):
When there is a tie, the first tiebreaker is to favour the card(s) with the most
tokens (of any type) on them. In this case that means that Elders is the
preferred choice, so the Bot Acquires Elders. You move the token to the
Bot’s Resource pool, then place Elders on top of the Bot deck. The Bot also
Takes the Unrest that was beneath it in the Market – placing that Unrest on
top of Elders.
Having finished the Acquire instruction, the final instruction for this line is
“Put this card into
History.” So Chultuns is placed into the Bot’s History, and
a new card is dealt to the Market to replace Elders.
2 victory points 2 victory points 2 victory points 0 victory points1 victory point
Now that all of the Bot’s cards have been resolved, it is time to move on to the
Bot’s Clean-up.
• A token is added onto Scrubland in the Market above Slot #2, as
this is the unresolved card.
• The card in the #2 Slot is slid into the #1 Slot.
• The empty Slots are filled with new cards from the Bot deck. Although
they are dealt face-down, you can know that the #2 Slot will get
Unrest, the #3 Slot will get Elders, and the #4 Slot will get the Stone
Mask card.
• The Bot deck is now empty again, so at this point you add the top card
of the Bot’s Dynasty deck to the Discard pile, shuffle, and form a new
Bot deck to
Draw from. The identity of that #5 card will be unknown
to you until the Bot’s next turn!

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36
Keywords
ALL PLAYERS /
ALL OTHER PLAYERS
Cards that refer to “all players” or “each player”
include you as well.
Cards that refer to “all other players” or “each other
player” do not include you.
ABANDON
Only
cards in play can be Abandoned.
Note that while cards (which have the
symbol) remain in play like cards, they
are not , and thus cannot be Abandoned.
To Abandon a card, place it in your Discard pile.
If the card has a
Garrisoned card underneath it,
that card is also Abandoned. If the card has Resource
tokens on it, move those Resource tokens to your
Resource pool before Abandoning the card. If a card
with a
token is Abandoned, do not move the
token back to your State card.
Some cards let you Abandon a Garrisoned card.
In that case simply place the card in question into
your Discard pile, without Abandoning the card it
was Garrisoned under.
REMINDER: Only
cards may be Recalled or
Abandoned. NOT cards!
ACQUIRE / / /
Select a card from the Market of the indicated suit.
Gain any Resource tokens from that card and add
them to your Resource pool. Add the card to your
hand. If there is a card underneath it, add that
card to your hand as well.
After Acquiring the card, draw the top card from
the appropriate deck (or the Main deck, if you took a
card from the first two slots or if the appropriate Small
deck is empty) to replace it. Unless it’s a card,
place a card from the Unrest pile underneath it.
If a card allows you to Acquire multiple cards,
fully resolve the Acquire effect, including replacing
the card in the Market, for each card you Acquire.
You may Acquire newly drawn cards if they are of
the indicated suit.
Note that face-up
cards above the Market
board are not in the Market. They are moved
into the Market (in lieu of drawing a new
card) when the last card of their respective
Small deck is taken from the Market.
Some cards will allow you to include cards in the
Exile pile when selecting a card to Acquire. If you
Acquire any card except a
from the Exile pile
this way, you must Take a from the Unrest pile.
Some cards will limit your options to only cards in the
Exile pile (e.g. “Acquire an Exiled … ”).
REMINDER: If you Acquire a card from Exile, you
also Take a
card (unless it was a ).
ACTION (GAINING AND SPENDING)
When a card effect lets you Gain an Action, place
a token from the Supply on your State card,
even if that would take you above 3 tokens on
your State card. (During Clean-up, you always reset
to 3 tokens.)
When a card effect requires you to
Spend a
number of Actions, remove that many
tokens
from your State card. If you do not have enough
tokens, you cannot resolve that card effect.
ADD A RESOURCE
Add a resource from the Supply to the target
area or card.
AT TAC K
When you play a card with a symbol, it will
have a detrimental effect on all other players. If you
are unable to resolve this effect in full, resolve it as
much as possible.
Some cards protect players against cards.
They let their owner choose to ignore some or all of
the effects of a card that targets them.
BARBARIAN
You can only play cards if your State card
shows the symbol.
You can have a card in your Play area and
use its
Exhaust ability, even if your State card shows
another symbol, such as
.
You can
Acquire and Break through for
cards,
even if your State card shows another state symbol.
When a card refers to “if ”, that effect can
only be resolved (or that option can only be chosen)
if your State card shows the symbol.
BREAK THROUGH / / /
If more than one suit is listed, first declare the suit you
will
Break through for. Then do one of the following:
Option 1: Select any face-up card of that suit from
the Market and add it to your hand. If you choose
this option, first gain all Resource tokens from that
card into your Resource pool. Next take the card into
your hand and put any
card underneath it back
in the Unrest pile. Then
Draw the top card from
the appropriate deck (or the Main deck, if you took
a card from the first two slots or if the appropriate
Small deck is depleted) to replace the card you
have taken. Place a
card from the Unrest pile
underneath it unless it’s a card.
Note that face-up cards above the Market
board are
not in the Market.
Option 2: If Breaking through for a
, , or ,
take the top face-down card of the respective Small
deck and add it to your hand.
Option 3: If Breaking through for a suit when the
respective Small deck contains no face-down cards,
or for a
(which do not have their own deck),
reveal cards one by one from the top of the Main
deck until you find a card of your declared suit. Take
that card and add it to your hand, then shuffle all the
other revealed cards into the Main deck. If you do
not find a card of the declared suit, gain 2 .

that face up cards above the Market board are not in the Market Option 2 If Breaking through for a or take the top face down card of the respective Small deck and add it to your hand Option 3 If Breaking through for a suit when the respective Small deck contains no face down cards or for a which do not have their own deck reveal cards one by one from the top of the Main deck until you find a card of your declared suit Take that card and add it to your hand then shuffle all the other revealed cards into the Main deck If you do not find a card of the declared suit gain 2

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37
Option 4: If Breaking through for a , and
one or more cards are visible above the
Market board (i.e. they are not covered by
their appropriate decks), take one of these
cards and add it to your hand. If no such
cards are available, search the Main deck as
described in Option 3.
Cards that trigger when you
Acquire them do not
trigger when you Break through, even if you choose
Option 1 from above.
Some cards will allow you to include cards in the
Exile pile in Option 1. Some cards will limit your
options to only cards in the Exile pile (e.g., “Break
through for an Exiled … ”).
REMINDER: If you Break through for a
, ,
or , you may NOT do so from the Main deck
until the corresponding Small deck has run out.
CHOOSE
Resolve one of the options following this keyword.
The options are all listed as part of a single sentence,
separated by capital OR. Any full sentence following
the list of options is resolved regardless of your choice.
commerce
All
cards have a Commerce effect, which
can be triggered in one of two ways:
1. When you play a card from your
hand, trigger the card’s Commerce
effect immediately.
2. When you trigger a
Trade ability, you
may trigger the Commerce effect of a
card that is in play with fewer than
3 tokens on it instead of Paying 1
to gain 1 .
To trigger a Commerce effect of your own
card, move one of your own to that card.
To trigger a Commerce effect on an
opponent’s card, add 1 from the
Supply to the opponent’s card, and gain one
for yourself.
DEVELOP
Pay
the Development cost shown on a chosen

of your choice commerce All cards have a Commerce effect which can be triggered in one of two ways 1 When you play a card from your hand trigger the card s Commerce effect immediately 2 When you trigger a Trade ability you may trigger the Commerce effect of a card that is in play with fewer than 3 tokens on it instead of Paying 1 to gain 1 To trigger a Commerce effect of your own card move one of your own to that card To trigger a Commerce effect on an opponent s card add 1 from the Supply to the opponent s card and gain one for yourself DEVELOP Pay the Development cost shown on a chosen

card in your Development area and put it in your
Discard pile. There is no order to the cards in your
Development area; you may
Look through the cards
there and select any of them.
When this keyword appears as a card effect, you
may resolve it even if there is a
token in your
Development area, and resolving it does not require
you to place a token in your Development area.
The Arthurians, Cultists, Utopians, and
Vikings have no Development area and thus
may never Develop.
DISCARD
Place the card in your Discard pile.
DRAW CARD(S)
Draw the indicated number of cards from your Draw
deck. If you need to Draw more cards than you have
left in your Draw deck, Draw as many as you can,
then reshuffle your Draw deck (see page 16) and
continue Drawing cards.
If the Draw ability specifies a location other than
your Draw deck, all Drawn cards come from that
location instead. Cards Drawn from face-down decks
always come from the top, but when Drawing cards
from a face-up pile (
Exiled cards, Discard, etc), you
can select which of the cards to Draw.
DRAW CARD(S) IF ABLE
When an effect specifies that a player Draws cards
“if able”, that means that the effect does not trigger a
reshuffle. When the Draw deck runs out, you simply
stop Drawing cards and move on to the next effect. If
your Draw deck is empty, you do not Draw any cards.
EMPIRE
You can only play cards if your State card
shows the symbol.
You can have a card in your Play area and use
its
Exhaust ability, even if your State card is showing
another symbol, such as
.
You can
Acquire and Break through for
cards,
even if your State card is showing another symbol.
When a card refers to “if ”, that effect can
only be resolved (or that option can only be chosen)
if your State card shows the symbol.
EXHAUST
You can only use an Exhaust ability on your own
turn, unless the card specifies otherwise. You can
never use Exhaust abilities during
Solstice or during
Revolt or Innovate turns. Putting a card into play
does
not trigger its Exhaust ability.
Note that when playing with the Trade Routes
expansion all players receive an additional
token on their State card during setup.
To use an Exhaust ability, move a token from
your State card onto the card with the Exhaust
keyword. If you have no tokens on your State
card, you may not use an Exhaust ability.
If a card already has a token on it, you may
not use the Exhaust ability shown on that card.
Fully resolve the effect indicated after the Exhaust
keyword. Some Exhaust abilities specify a cost. If
you cannot Pay the specified cost, you may not use
the Exhaust ability.
You may use an Exhaust ability on a card
already in your play area with a state symbol such
as or , regardless of which symbol shows on
your State card.
If an Exhaust ability responds to an effect you or
another player resolves (such as “when gaining
from a ” or “when an opponent Takes a ”)
the Exhaust ability happens as soon as the triggering
effect is finished. If the current effect is on a card with
multiple sentences, the Exhaust ability is resolved
after the current sentence is finished but before the
next sentence begins.
EXILE
Choose an eligible card from those specified by the
effect and place it in the Exile pile, next to the

symbol on the Market Board.
If you Exile a card from the Market, return any
cards underneath it to the Unrest pile. Then
draw a new card from the appropriate Small deck (or
the Main deck, if the appropriate deck is depleted)
to replace it. Place a card from the Unrest pile
underneath it, unless it’s a card.
You may never Exile a card with one or more tokens
on it but such a card may be
Swapped into Exile.
Some cards let you
Acquire or Break
through
for cards in the Exile pile. To do so,
take a card of your choice of the specified type
from the Exile pile. If you Acquire a non-

card in this way, also
Take a
card from the
Unrest pile.

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38
FIND
Search the following areas for the card(s)
specified in this order:
1. Your hand
2. Your Discard pile
3. Your Draw deck
4. Your
Nation deck (excluding your
card).
Some cards may explicitly instruct you to only search
in some of these areas, or to include cards in play
or cards in your
History.
If you do not Find the specified card, nothing
happens. If you Find the specified card, stop
searching and reveal it. The original card will tell you
where you should place it.
If the card indicates a choice (for example, “Find
a
”), you may search all four of the areas listed
above and choose one eligible card to reveal. Return
the other cards to the places where you found them.
Whenever you finish searching your Draw deck
or your Nation deck, you must shuffle it.
When
shuffling your Nation deck, leave the
card at the
bottom of the deck.
FREE PLAY
Do not remove a
token from your State card
to play this card. You can play this card even if you
have no tokens left on your State card. You
cannot Free play the same card more than once
in the same turn.
Cards without the Free play keyword may be
Free played via effects on other cards only once in a
turn, but may be played normally (for an Action cost)
any number of times.
Note that Free play does not make the effect of
the card free, it merely removes the Action cost. For
example, if an effect allows you to Free play a
,
you still have to
Pay 1
or 3 , or Discard 2
cards to
Return said
.
REMINDER: You cannot Free play the same card
more than once in the same turn.
GAINING FROM / IN PLAY
On your turn, you can Exhaust a card with this text
when a / card in play is used to Gain .
This may be through its own or another card’s effect
(even if the / is not relevant to that effect).
This is most likely to trigger when you use
Prosperity, Nomads or similar cards that generate
from cards which may have the indicated
icon. However, it can also be triggered from cards with
the indicated icon in play (e.g. Port, Bohio, Qarmaq),
or cards
Recalling/Abandoning the indicated icon
as a cost (e.g. Boats, Water Mill, Altar) in order to
Gain
, even if the comes from the Market
(Trading Ships, Dredging the Tigris).
When using the Trade Routes expansion,
it may be triggered if
Trading with or
Profiting from a
that has the indicated
icon like Nile Corridor or using Trading Post
to Trade with any as long as these Gain
you a in any way.
GARRISON
Take a card from your hand and place it in your play
area face up underneath the card with the Garrison
keyword. The card underneath is now considered
Garrisoned. Some effects might let you Garrison
a card underneath a third unrelated card that is
already in play.
A card can have multiple cards Garrisoned
underneath it. Some effects might specify the type of
card that can be Garrisoned.
A Garrisoned card is not considered to be in your
Play area, though it is still scored at the end of the
game. You cannot
Discard or play a Garrisoned card,
and you cannot use its
Exhaust or Solstice abilities. 
If a Garrisoned card is underneath a card that is
Abandoned, Recalled, Exiled, put into History,
Sunk, put into Legends, etc, do the same to the
Garrisoned card. However, if the Garrisoned card
itself is specifically targeted by such an effect, the
card under which it was Garrisoned remains in play.
Garrisoned cards are public information.
Some cards explicitly note that they cannot be
Garrisoned under
cards, or at all.
GIVE A CARD
Choose a card in your hand and Give it to an opponent.
The opponent puts the given card into their hand.
HISTORY
All cards underneath your Power card are considered
your History. When an effect instructs you to place
a card into your History, place a card (from your
hand, unless indicated otherwise) underneath
your Power card.
Cards in your History are out of play, and they
cannot be interacted with unless a card effect specifies
otherwise. They still score victory points.
You may always look at the cards in your History,
but other players may not.
The Inuit and the Vikings do not have a History
(representing that these civilisations do not
rely on written records), while the Atlanteans
and the Polynesians have other keywords
acting similarly (but not interchangeably) to
History (see their nation-specific notes for
details). If a card would be placed in their
History, it is
Discarded instead.
IN-PLAY CARDS /
When you play a card, it stays in your Play
area until it is removed by another effect. If a
card is removed from play (
Abandoned, Recalled,
Exiled, put into History) while it has Resources on
it, move those Resources to your Resource pool. If
a
card is removed from play while it has a
token on it, you do not move the token back to
your State card.
All cards have a Signpost icon to
indicate that they stay in play like regular
cards. However, effects referencing, counting,
Abandoning, or Recalling
cards do not
affect cards. The only way cards
leave play is by resolving their
Profit effect.
LOOK
Pick up and examine the indicated card(s)
without showing other players. Unless instructed
otherwise, return the card(s) you Looked at to their
original location.
If you are instructed to Look at multiple cards and
there are fewer eligible cards available to Look at
than specified, Look at as many as possible.
If you Look at multiple cards, return them to their
original deck in any order.
If you Look at
cards, ignore King of Kings
unless it’s the only card in the Fame deck.
If you Look at cards in your
Nation deck,
ignore your
card unless it’s the only card in
your Nation deck.
MOVE A RESOURCE
Move the indicated Resource from the owner’s
Resource Pool to the target area or card. Resources
on cards (whether yours or the Market’s) are not
available to be Moved or used to
Pay with. Note that
unlike when Paying, you cannot substitute Resources
for the purpose of Moving them.
NATION DECK
Your Nation deck is built up of your
cards in a face-
down deck placed perpendicularly on top of your
card. If a card effect lets you manipulate cards in your
Nation deck in any way, your card always remains
on the bottom. Never place a  card underneath your
card or shuffle your card into your Nation deck.
PASSIVE
As long as a card is in your Play area, its Passive
ability is in effect.
The Passive ability of a card is in effect for the
entire game, including Innovate turns, Revolt turns
and
Solstice resolutions, and may affect final Scoring.

Pay with Note that unlike when Paying you cannot substitute Resources for the purpose of Moving them NATION DECK Your Nation deck is built up of your cards in a face down deck placed perpendicularly on top of your card If a card effect lets you manipulate cards in your Nation deck in any way your card always remains on the bottom Never place a card underneath your card or shuffle your card into your Nation deck PASSIVE As long as a card is in your Play area its Passive ability is in effect The Passive ability of a card is in effect for the entire game including Innovate turns Revolt turns and Solstice resolutions and may affect final Scoring

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39
P AY / / /
Return the indicated number of tokens of the
specified type to the Supply. If you are unable to do
so, you may not take that
Action or use that Exhaust
ability. If the Action or ability has multiple options,
you must
Choose another option instead. Resources
on cards are not available to be Paid.
When Paying
, you may spend any amount of
and/or as if it were 1 each.
When Paying , you may spend any amount of
and/or as if it were 2 each. No change is
given when you do so.
You cannot spend as if it were , or
vice versa.
You cannot convert Resources into each other,
unless explicitly permitted by an effect.
PLACE CARDS ON YOUR DECK
Place the card face down (from your hand, unless
indicated otherwise) on the top of your Draw deck.
profit
If you have a
card in your play area with
3 tokens on it, you may spend an Action
on your turn to resolve the card’s Profit effect.
Move all the tokens on the card into
your Resource pool and place the card into
your Discard pile (or elsewhere if the effect
explicitly instructs you to).

and or as if it were 2 each No change is given when you do so You cannot spend as if it were or vice versa You cannot convert Resources into each other unless explicitly permitted by an effect PLACE CARDS ON YOUR DECK Place the card face down from your hand unless indicated otherwise on the top of your Draw deck profit If you have a card in your play area with 3 tokens on it you may spend an Action on your turn to resolve the card s Profit effect Move all the tokens on the card into your Resource pool and place the card into your Discard pile or elsewhere if the effect explicitly instructs you to

RECALL
Only
cards can be Recalled.
Note that while cards remain in play like
cards, they cannot be Recalled.
When a card is Recalled, return it to your hand.
If the card has one or more
Garrisoned cards,
the Garrisoned cards are also returned to your hand.
If the card has Resource tokens on it, move those
Resources to your Resource pool.
If a card with a token is Recalled, you do
not move the token back to your State card.
However, if you replay the same card later on the
same turn, you may use another token to resolve
the
Exhaust effect again (since the card does not
“remember” being Exhausted before being Recalled).
REMINDER: Only
cards may be Recalled or
Abandoned, not cards!
REMOVE A RESOURCE
Remove the indicated Resource and return it
to the Supply. Note that, unlike when
Paying
you cannot substitute Resources for the purpose
of Removing them.
RETURN A
Return a card from your hand to the Unrest pile.
This is most often done by playing the card
that you wish to Return from your hand. This requires
spending an
Action, along with Paying Resource
tokens or
Discarding cards, as detailed on the card.
Some card effects on other cards allow you to
“Return a
card” from your hand or Discard pile.
To do so, take the card (from the appropriate
place) and add it to the Unrest pile. The text on the
Unrest card is ignored in this case.
Some cards allow you to “
Free play a
card”.
In this case you can play a from your hand
without spending a . However, you must still Pay
the cost of Returning the card by Paying Resource
tokens or Discarding cards.
RETURN A
Take a token from one of the cards in your Play
area and Return it to your State card. You may
use this token to activate any Exhaust ability
on the same turn.
SOLSTICE
For detailed rules about the Solstice and how to
resolve Solstice effects, see page 16.
STEAL RESOURCES
Take the indicated number of tokens of the specified
type from the specified players’ Resource pools.
If you are unable to resolve this effect in full,
resolve it as much as possible. You may never
substitute Resources when Stealing. Players who
cannot give the full amount, are considered ‘unable
to
Pay’, but must Pay as much as they are able.
SWAP
Some card effects let you Swap cards between the
Market and elsewhere.
To do so, take the card from the Market, setting
aside any tokens on it and returning any beneath.
Then place the card being Swapped into that Market
Slot, returning the set aside tokens to the new card
and placing a new card from the Unrest pile
underneath it unless it’s a card. Finally, put the
card which started in the Market to wherever the
Swapped card came from (Hand, a deck, etc.).
If a card lets you Swap a card in your hand with a
matching-suited card in the Market, the Market card
you choose must have a suit icon ( / / /
/ ) which is also on the Swapping card. If no
such Market card exists, you may not Swap.
TAKE
Take the specified card and add it to your hand. cards are Taken from the Unrest pile and
added to your hand.
trade
When you activate the ability to Trade do
exactly
one of the following:
•
Pay 1
to gain 1 .
•
Move 1 of your
to a card
in your Play area with fewer than
3 on it already and perform its
Commerce ability.
•
Add 1
from the Supply onto
an opponent’s card with fewer
than 3 on it already, perform its
Commerce ability for yourself, and
gain 1 from the Supply.
When playing without the Trade Routes
expansion, you might still find a few cards
that give you the option to Trade. Simply
ignore this option.
TREAT AS
When a card effect instructs you to Treat icon X As
icon(s) Y, you temporarily Treat X As Y until the end
of the current turn. Treat As effects always expire
before
Solstice or Scoring.

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40
Card-specific Notes
ACCLAIMED (2FAM8/9)
When you Break through for a V
P card, follow the normal rules for Breaking
through, but you may either choose a card from the Market or to reveal cards
from the Main deck.
KING OF KINGS
(1FAM9/9, 2FAM9/9, AND 3FAM10/10)
If an effect allows you to manipulate the order of cards in the
deck, King of
Kings always remains on the bottom. So long as there are any face-down cards
in the deck, any effect which allows players to Look, Gain, or Draw cards
refers only to those face-down cards and not King of Kings.
If King of Kings is the
only
card in the deck when an effect instructs you
to Draw or Gain a card, resolve King of Kings instead.
King of Kings is always placed Side A up during setup. The first time each
game that King of Kings is resolved, flip it to side B. Each player can resolve
King of Kings (either side) only once in total per game. When they do so, they
should flip their King of Kings token to remind them that they are unable
to do so again.
Arthurians, Vikings, Utopians and Cultists (except if in or
state) can gain progress from resolving King of Kings if their State card
matches the relevant icon, but they ignore the
Develop keyword as they
have no Development area. A Cultist in
or state receives no
benefit from King of Kings.
REMINDER: Each player may trigger King of Kings only once in a game.
MIYABI (3JPN6/24),
SUMERIANS (1TRI7/11)
These effects return
cards at the end of the game, when Scoring is triggered.
They may return from any area which is scored – including your Hand,
Play area, Discard pile, Draw deck,
History, or nation-specific alternative.
If the game ends in a Collapse (and thus not a Scoring), these effects do not
trigger. If a tie during a Collapse results in Scoring between tied players, then
those players may still trigger these effects if they have them, but returning
those
does not prevent Collapse (nor break their original tie).
If playing against the Cultists, they may be used to return Chaos during
Scoring, but not to prevent a Chaos victory for the Cultist player.
SACRED PASS (1REG14/14)
You may not use this card to add the
card to your deck.
SUPREME (3FAM1/10 AND 3FAM2/10)
This card has no effect when played, but it can still be played as an Action
to just to
Discard it. It can also be Discarded as a cost on Actions, Exhaust
effects,
Solstice effects, etc. Only Discarding it during Clean-up is forbidden.

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41
Nation Descriptions
You don’t have to read this section to learn how to play, but
reading your nation’s entry will give you a sense of the key
cards in your deck.
When you play with a nation for the first time, take a moment before completing
the player setup to look through its pool of cards. Each nation is unique, so it is
worth familiarising yourself with the cards that will come up from your
Nation
deck
, and the Development cards that will become available once you become
an
Empire. You will always have multiple routes to victory, but an awareness
of your nation’s strengths and weaknesses will help you form a strategy and
identify cards in the Market that will help your game plan.
Each nation has a complexity rating, ranging from relatively straightforward
(one star) to very unique and challenging (five stars). This is an indicator of how
easy it is to discover “how this deck should be played”, and can be used as a
guide to the recommended order of trying them out for a new player.
Nations marked with
require the Trade Routes expansion to be played.
While some of them might be of lower complexity, they assume familiarity with
the Trade Routes expansion, and thus are meant for advanced players.
Each nation also has an aggression rating from Peaceful to Ruthless. Higher
aggression means more innate cards, thus playing against them often results
in a feeling of being disrupted. If your playgroup doesn’t enjoy the occasional
negative interaction, we recommend playing with peaceful, or mostly peaceful
civilisations. This is reflected in our Bot designs: more aggressive nations’ bots
tend to disrupt your plans more.

Abbasids
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
Your Power card has one of the strongest Acquiring methods in the game,
and you should be looking to maximise it as much as possible. You have 2
cards in your
Nation deck, so you might try to flip your Merchants card early.
This will allow you to Acquire even more cards and to unlock the full power of
Turkish Mercenaries. You would love a few
or cards to fuel the Great
Mosque of Damascus.
Exile cards liberally to ensure that the Market always
has cards for you to Acquire on your turn.

Aksumites
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
As historically appropriate, your Salt Mines are worth more than gold: Your
Conquer and Advance cards are so cheap to use that you want to use them
as often as possible. Beware of the deck bloat: instead of looking for cards to
play, try to focus on cards that earn you maximum VP in the endgame. You
can
History away cards you can’t use early game using Ge’ez Script and cycle
quickly through your Development cards. Enjoy staying
for a while to make
use of the majority of your direct
Acquisition abilities, or rush to become a

to start minting your own Coinage as soon as able.

Arthurians
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
The Arthurians never even try to become an Empire, instead pursuing quests
and chasing after the legendary Graal. Your knights are vital, granting
powerful boons as they are
Garrisoned. Send them on quests for Myrddin
Wyllt or take a darker path and use Morigena’s powers. Looming over you is
the Battle of Camlann, Gwaith Camlan, which will see your knights
fall and
your kingdom suffer mounting Unrest.
Arthurian Special Rules
As the Arthurians, you never become a
. Your is your nadir card. When it
would be added to your Discard pile from your
Nation deck, (generally during
reshuffle) instead immediately place it into your Play area. Do not flip your
State card when doing so.
In addition, you do not have a Development area and cannot use
Develop
effects. Instead, your
cards are impending quests. By using the Solstice
effect on King Arthur’s Court, one impending quest is Garrisoned and thus
becomes the active quest. You may only have one active quest at a time. By
using Morigena or Myrddin Wyllt , you may
Gain the active quest into either
your hand or your Discard pile. Graal may only become the active quest if there
are no other impending quests. Removing Graal does
not trigger game end.
Instead, it triggers game end when the quest is accomplished and played.
At the end of the game your impending quests and a possible Garrisoned
active quest are not considered owned by you for scoring purposes (i.e. they
function like cards still in the Nation deck or Development area of other nations).
Arthurian Bot
When setting up the Arthurian Bot, replace step 5 with
the following:
5a. Place the
card Graal face up.
5b. Shuffle the remaining cards and place them face down
on top of the Graal card. These are the impending quests.
5c. Place the card face up next to the impending quests.
5d. Shuffle the   cards and place them in a face-down stack on
top of the card. This is the Dynasty deck.
5e. Remove King Arthur’s Court from the game.

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42

Atlanteans
AGGRESSION: RUTHLESS
As the Atlanteans, you begin as an Empire, which means you can use the
powerful cards from the start of the game. However, it also means you have
to ensure a constant Supply of , , and to develop further.
Atlantis is under the constant threat of Floods and Unrest, and you’ll need
to choose between managing your own regions, terrorising the high seas with
your mighty Fleet, or prioritising finding new cards lest you risk your nation
sinking entirely. But with the rising waters come rewards, which if used wisely
will see your nation become the true stuff of Myths and Legends.
Atlantean Special Rules
As the Atlanteans, you begin with your State card on
, and never flip. You
do not have a
Nation deck (and thus no
or cards), and thus can begin
developing the very first time you reshuffle.
Atlanteans do not have a
History – whenever an effect would put a card into
History, you
Discard it instead. Instead, you have a Flooded pile under your
Power card. Cards are added to the Flooded pile through the
Sink keyword.
Cards in your Flooded pile still score victory points, but they are not “in
History” for the purposes of V
P
effects. Flooded cards cannot be interacted
with unless a card effect specifies otherwise. You may always
Look at the cards
in your Flooded pile, but other players may not.
If a player other than the Atlanteans triggers the Sink keyword, the specified
cards are simply Discarded.
atlantean Bot
When setting up the Atlantean Bot, replace step 5
with the following:
5a. Set aside all
cards that are .
5b. Sort the remaining cards in victory point order and
place them in a face-down pile, with the higher value cards
at the top. Treat all V
P cards as having a value of 5.
If multiple cards have the same value, determine their
order randomly.
5c. Shuffle the set-aside cards and place them face down
on top of the pile. This is the Dynasty deck.

Carthaginians
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Carthaginians, your main concern is control of the Market and the
amassing of . Use your unique power alongside your Caravans and Trading
Ships to manipulate the Market in your favour. Once an
Empire, continue your
expansion with your famous Elephants led by Hannibal , or dominate trade using
a Monopoly to export Unrest and other unwanted cards to your opponents. Try
to gain access to oceans, as your ships and your own City of Carthage will both
benefit from them.
Carthaginians Special Rules
During Clean-up, add
onto a card in the Market, instead of .
The number of added depends on the Power Card side used.

Celts
AGGRESSION: RUTHLESS
As the Celts, you will want to adopt an aggressive playstyle, concentrating
on
Acquiring
cards and spreading Unrest through your powerful
Druids. Without the Prosperity available to other nations, you will need to
collect using Cattle Raids and grow your with your Druids and the
Cauldron of Cerridwen.
Spreading Unrest to your opponents can help you win a forced Collapse, but
don’t overlook the more subtle advantages of simply clogging your opponent’s
hand, or forcing them to spend Actions and Resources getting rid of it. As the
Celts, you want games to go long enough to develop all five of your cards,
while slowing your opponents down enough to prevent them from doing the same.
Celts Special Rules
While the effect on the A side of their
card negatively affects other players,
it is not a card, therefore cannot be defended against.

Cultists
AGGRESSION: RUTHLESS
Playing as the Cultists is an experience like no other, with your ceremony cards
taking you on a dark journey to reaching a Corrupted state. Once ,
you gain access to new powerful cards and abilities, including the ability to
instantly end the game by summoning an eldritch horror . But beware:
should you choose to sacrifice everything to do so, this will stop many of your
ways of
Acquiring. Your game will always centre on managing Unrest: get too
many and you risk getting bogged down, get too few and your opponents can
brush the threat of your Chaos victory aside. You can
Break Through for cards
from
Exile using Frozen Waste, and Cursed Library can remove Resources
from the Market to facilitate unexpected Exile opportunities. Your
cards
are very situationally powerful, so make sure to have them in play when they
are useful, and remove them when they become a liability.

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43
Cultists Special Rules
Cultists use only 3 tokens, instead of the normal 5.
The Cultists have a second double-sided State card, with unique symbols.
Some of your initial cards have the state symbol. You may only play those
cards once you have the State card, and not before. Furthermore, your
State card means that you can no longer play any or cards, though you
may continue to use such cards already in your play area.
Additionally, the Cultists have a special, stronger form of called Chaos
that they prefer handing out to other players (especially via their ability once
they reach state). If Collapse is triggered and the Chaos pile is empty, you
win immediately.
Cultists use two double-sided ceremony cards, which begin stacked, with
Research the Ceremony on top. Only the top (visible) ceremony card is
considered to be in play. Your ceremony card functions like an additional Power
card with a potent
Exhaust or Passive ability, as well as a Solstice effect that
will let you progress on to the next step of the ceremony. Your ceremony card
cannot leave play except through its Solstice effect. When a new ceremony
card enters play during Solstice, the newly revealed card’s Solstice effect
is also resolved.
The last two stages of the ceremony show one and two
icons respectively:
this matters for the Scoring of the B side of the Power card (where it scores you
additional points), or in case of a Collapse where you did not win via Chaos
(where it counts against you)!
To trigger the Solstice effect of the final ceremony stage, you need 13 different
icons on cards
Garrisoned under your ceremony card. Possible icons are:
You may use the icon tokens provided with the game to keep track of icons you’ve
already Acquired and/or Garrisoned in whatever way is convenient for you.
Note that
, , , and State symbols like , , or are not
“icons” for the purpose of this victory condition.
cultist Bot
When setting up the Cultist Bot, you don’t construct a Dynasty
deck in step 5. Remove the Ceremony cards (Research the
Ceremony, Ceremonial Gathering ) from the game.
During step 7 of Bot setup, place the
State card on the
bottom and the card (with the S side face up) on top of it.

Egyptians
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Egyptians, you are empire builders. With so many opportunities for
Development, you’ll want to carefully consider the best order in which to
expand your deck. With your infrastructure located around Egypt’s famous
river, the frequent Flood of the Nile can bring new opportunities for growth, and
you’ll want to keep an eye out for key cards in the Market. You become an
Empire sooner than anyone else in written history, but this also means you’ll
often have to find solutions to your problems from within your deck.
Egyptians Special Rules
Egyptians use their Embalming card to help keep their deck trim and
uncluttered.
Passive abilities are always in effect, so Embalming may be used
whenever you
Pay
during an Action, Exhaust ability, Solstice effect, or
while developing! It is not triggered if the cost is entirely paid by spending
or instead.

Greeks
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Greeks, your main advantages are your cities and technology, and you
will want to lean into those strengths. In the early game, your Settlers and Greek
Mercenaries are powerful cards of expansion, while as an
Empire, Science will
enable you to continue to Advance and the Olympic Games will keep your
nation manageable. Your Lighthouse will let you manipulate
Exiled cards, so it
may be worth bearing in mind which cards you Exile during the game.

Guptas
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
The Guptas’ true strength is in the immense flexibility of their Goods-based
economy. Use Ayurveda to balance your Resources, and make sure to
Acquire cards. You can shift smoothly between wealth and strong Market control.
Sri Gupta and your development Chandragupta I both give you a
Break
through
for
, giving you the option to flip to your Merchant Empire as fast
as you can, rather than linger as Merchants waiting to Acquire more that
might appear in the Market. You might want to do this for an earlier card,
seeing as Glory is your Accession card.
Guptas Special Rules
During Clean-up, you add 1
onto a card in the Market, instead of adding 1 .

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44

Inuit
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
At the end of your Summer turns (during which you may play cards),
your hand size is decreased by 2, meaning that at the start of Winter turns you
usually have only 3 cards to play. While you have many ways to gain new cards,
only Advance can earn you new cards during Winter for the upcoming
Summer. Challenges like this will frequently require you to retain a few cards in
your hand turn-to-turn, unlike most other civilisations. As a trade-off for these
challenges, you have access to your (rather cheap) Development cards from the
beginning of the game.
Will you be remembered as a fearsome Harpoon-wielder on the hunt for
fame, or will you use Oral History and Bone Carving to turn the lack of written
history into a great advantage?
Inuit Special Rules
The Inuit use only 3
tokens, instead of the normal 5.
As the Inuit, your unique State card flips at the end of each round. You do not
have a
Nation deck (so no
or cards), and thus can begin developing the
very first time you reshuffle.
The Inuit do not have a
History – whenever an effect would put a card
into History, you simply
Discard it. In Winter you also take a
when
Discarding in this way.
Nunavut has two symbols, and counts as 2 cards for the purposes of
card effects such as Qarmaq, Iglu, the Khmer Empire card (Horizons ), and
the Macedonians card (Legends).
inuit Bot
When setting up the Inuit Bot, replace step 5 with the following:
5a. Collect the cards, setting Imaq and Nunavik aside.
5b. Place Kayaks face down, then alternate placing and
cards on top in ascending victory point order, with a
3-point card on top.
5c. Place Nunavik and Imaq on top of this deck (with Nunavik
on top). This is the Dynasty deck.
When playing against the Inuit Bot, at the end of its Summer
turns, place a token in Slots 4 and higher (5 and higher
if Sovereign+) . Do not place cards into these Slots. Flip the Bot
State card to its Winter side. At the end of its Winter
turns, remove the tokens from Slots 4 & 5, and flip the Bot
State card to its Summer side.

Japanese
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
Japan is perfect if you can be patient, as your cards require a touch of finesse
to create opportunities to thrive on. You’ll want to move smoothly into , so
beware early Glory plays, or increasing your deck size too much in the early
game – if your Clans follow the teachings of Shinto, your deck can speed up while
you can build up your Play area. Combine this with the subtle benefits of
Kanji in keeping your deck-cycling speed at a perfect hum. Once you reach ,
you will learn to live with Shinto and Tendai Buddhism in peace side-by-side,
especially when combined with Jingu-Ji and the fabled Tea Ceremony.

Macedonians
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
The Macedonians, more than any other nation, are focused on expansion.
Grabbing and keeping cards in play is likely to be a central element of your
victory plan. Macedonians can continue to Conquer even after they become an
Empire, thanks to Alexander and his Companion Cavalry. Of course you want
to play Glory early and often, which creates a natural synergy with the powerful
Macedonian Phalanxes. But don’t forget to also acquire a few key cards from
the Market, which you can garrison under your excess regions to keep your
deck small and focused, while still amassing enough victory points to win.

Magyars
AGGRESSION: RUTHLESS
As the Magyars, your strongest cards are your uniquely powerful leaders:
Emese, Álmos, Árpád. While their strict historical sequence gives you guidance,
you’re bound by a Blood Oath that makes both gaining and managing Unrest
cards very desirable. Be on the lookout for regions, and manipulate your
Nation deck to make best use of your long period, as once you hit ,
you’ll be forced to settle down, and your Glory becomes useless to you.
Magyars Special Rules
While the effect on the A side of their
card negatively affects other players,
it is not a card, therefore cannot be defended against.

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45

Martians
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
As the Martians, you have plenty of powerful options, but your foreign attitude
to Earth will pose many challenges on your quest to permanently settle on this
planet and blend into the local populace. Your cards are worth negative
victory points, but can be incredibly powerful when used at the right time. Your
Nation deck is quite large, but burning through it will cause the calamitous
Reactor Explosion, and you won’t survive that radiation for long! Eliminating
all your
can allow you to Go Native , which fixes many of your problems,
but makes many of your starting cards unplayable. The B side of your card
is meant for Martian players who want to eschew the goal of Going Native and
instead preserve their Martian ways, despite the challenges that presents. It’s
not easy being green!
Martians Special Rules
Your
(Reactor Explosion) is your nadir card. When it would be added to
your Discard pile from your Nation deck, (generally during reshuffle) instead
immediately place it into your Play area. Do not flip your State card when doing
so. Reactor Explosion can be removed along with the rest of your Nation deck
at the End of Solstice if you have no tokens, as printed on your Alien State
card. Once in play, the only other way to remove Reactor Explosion from play
is with an effect that puts it into
History.
The Martians use a special State card, with Alien on the starting
side and
Gone Native on the side. Alien Martians score only 1VP for every 3
tokens, instead of for every 1. In addition, you must
Take
for every
token you spend. While some cards in the Martian deck allow you to convert
into , this does not count as spending for this purpose.
Martian cards are your greatest tool. They gain as a mandatory effect,
and penalise you during Scoring if not
Exiled, put into History, or Swapped
into the Market via Sharing Our Secrets. These tools are so removed from
Earth-based technologies that they seem to be dangerous (but enticing!) magic.
Note that the default
Trade Action to gain 1
involves Paying
1 and thus Martians are penalised for that.
martian Bot
When setting up the Martian Bot, include Cryostasis in the
Dynasty deck, as if it was a card, instead of the Bot deck as
part of step 5.

Mauryans
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Mauryans, you will want to open with aggressive tactics as you expand
your nation with and cards, using the mighty Indian Elephants you have
at your disposal. (And yes, it’s deliberate that only one has the symbol!) As
you become an
Empire, you’ll need to choose whether to keep expanding and
seeking Glory with control of the great Grand Trunk Road, or to follow Ashoka
instead and take a peaceful path to victory.
Mauryans Special Rules
Grand Trunk Road has two
symbols, and counts as 2 cards for the
purposes of card effects such as Glory, the Khmer Empire card (Horizons),
the Macedonians card (Legends), or the Mauryans’ own card.

Mayans
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
As their culture is related to the Olmecs’, it is no surprise that the Mayans use
Exhaust abilities extensively, in combination with managing Mask cards.
As great city builders, you have a
Nation deck full of
cards, and cards like
Halach Uinic or the Mayan Traders reward you for gaining more of them. This
will naturally keep your deck small, and cycling quickly. Once you make it to
, the unique Popol Vuh will turn the temptation of Unrest into an avenue
to , but to get there, you’ll have to manage your Headpieces well.
mayan Bot
When setting up the Mayan Bot, set aside all 3 copies of
Headpiece, and do not include them in the Dynasty deck’s
creation. Put them near the Dynasty deck, as the Bot’s effects
will refer to these cards explicitly.

Minoans
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
As the Minoans, you will probably focus on , as you will need it to Develop.
Carefully manage your supply of to create beautiful Pottery but beware
of its symbol – if you Abandon it after you become an Empire, you won’t
be able to play it again. Keep your nation running efficiently with a discerning
eye for important cards, and use your Writing Systems to consign unimportant
cards to
History. Your biggest advantage is how fast you get to your Empire, so
especially be on the lookout for powerful
cards, or cards that allow you to
Acquire for free even during .

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46

Olmecs
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
As the Olmecs, your game will look different from that of many of the other
players. You won’t find any Prosperity, Conquer, Advance, or Glory cards in
your deck; instead, you’ll need to rely on your Stone Masks. Masks are
a tricky resource – they let you
Draw more cards and power your
cards,
but they score you points only when they are in your
History. Managing them
carefully will be key to your success. With your
cards like Ball Games
and Lodestone Compass you’ll be able to
Acquire new cards as often as you
want, but if you succumb to the siren call of the deck bloat, you might never
make it to
Empire!

Persians
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Persians, you will want to subjugate other nations to your will and use
them to your advantage. Conquer as many cards as you can and expand
your territories. Once an
Empire, you have several strategies you could
pursue. You can start striking your opponents with your mighty Battering Ram
and spreading Unrest with your Persian Gold. Alternatively you could take
advantage of your Satrap card for additional
Actions, but you’ll probably want
your Windmills developed to ensure a steady supply of materials.

Polynesians
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
The Polynesians and their incredible feats of exploration across the Pacific
Ocean are very much based in history. The unique way in which their society
expanded, spreading over unfathomable distances with only the stars and
currents to guide them, translates to a very different gameplay experience.
As Polynesians, your challenge is in controlling your own state, between Isle-
bound (filling up the islands you already populate) and Voyaging (sailing the
open waters), and collecting enough Mana to power your strongest moves, such
as Explorers and the Development costs of the islands you need to discover.
Gaining Mana is sometimes a cost (you have to give up a card from your hand,
after all), sometimes a benefit (you need to get a lot of Mana to be able to
explore and
Develop often).
Polynesians Special Rules
Polynesians use only 3
tokens, instead of the normal 5.
Polynesians use a special State card, with unique symbols. It does not flip when
gaining the card.
Polynesians have a special always-in-play card, Mana, which
Garrisons cards
to fuel strong effects. Many cards gain Mana from your hand or Discard pile. (If
not specified, the Mana is gained from hand.) Some effects require you to discard
cards that were Garrisoned as Mana (this is referred to as ‘spending Mana’).
The Polynesians do not have a
History – whenever an effect would put a
card into History, you simply
Discard it and Take a
. Instead, you have
a Legends pile under your Power card. Cards in your Legends pile still score
victory points, but they are not “in History” for the purposes of V
P effects.
Cards in your Legends pile cannot be interacted with unless a card effect
specifies otherwise. You may always
Look at the cards in your Legends pile,
but other players may not.
Whakapapa’s
Passive ability allows you to Pay 3
to Return a whenever
one or more cards are put into Legends. As a Passive, this can be used anytime,
including during
Solstice effects such as Rapa Nui (Easter Island).
If a player other than the Polynesians attempts to put a card into Legends, the
specified card is simply be Discarded.
polynesian Bot
When setting up the Polynesian Bot, replace step 5
with the following:
5a. Place the
card Aotearoa face down.
5b. Shuffle the remaining cards and place them face down
on top of the Aotearoa card. This is the
Discovery deck.
5c. Place the
card face up next to the Discovery deck.
5d. Shuffle the    cards and place them in a face-down stack on
top of the card. This is the Dynasty deck.
5e. Remove the Mana and Overpopulation cards from the game.

Qin
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
Playing as the Qin is a game of challenging decisions. Powerful leaders must
rule with the Mandate of Heaven, but is that leadership worth the burden it
brings? How will you choose between the competing systems of Confucianism
and Legalism? And as an
Empire, will you invest the time needed to construct
Long Walls or focus on other goals? With
being a key to your plans, you
have many ways to build a lasting legacy.
Qin Special Rules
During Clean-up, add 1
onto a card in the Market, instead of 1 .

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47

Romans
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Romans, your path to dominance will likely be through rapid expansion.
Conquer cards and use them to declare your Glory and earn . With your
mighty Legion, your conquest can continue well into your Accession to
Empire.
Do not overlook the City of Rome though; you’ll want this in play and then
upgraded to Rome the Eternal City, and
Acquiring a few more cities along the
way can help your deck cycling or population growth too.

Sassanids
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
When playing this spiritual and thematic descendant of the Persian civilisation,
you will have a host of powerful
Attack cards at all stages of the game. Your first
main challenge will be to manage your Knights
, cards capable of exploiting
the strongest of your cards repeatedly while providing you with access
to cards. Your second challenge will be the religion of Zoroastrianism , to
keep feeding the holy fire of Atar and the purifying waters of Aban. It might be
difficult at times, but if you can keep them going, you will be rewarded plenty.
And finally, thanks to Huzistan and the Shah, you have some special tricks
related to the deck too.

Scythians
AGGRESSION: AGGRESSIVE
As the Scythians, you will want to focus on expanding your territory and
grabbing cards that you can exploit for their . As Nomads (one
and one not…), you’ll be making use of Tents for shelter and Mounted Archers
for protection, but your true Glory won’t be recognised until you become an
Empire. Your deck is one of the thinnest, and extremely fast when raiding and
using your Tamga, but has a low innate Scoring potential, so be on the lookout
for good V
P
cards to capitalise on your .

Taino
AGGRESSION: MOSTLY PEACEFUL
As the Taino, you will be the master of food production: use your Bohio to
collect from all manners of regions, maximise production using Soil Rotation ,
and feed your people with Fishing. You will be
Acquiring cards using
cards
(similar to other Central American civilisations), like Batey and Canoes. Your
first challenge will be to manage allocating your Resources onto your cards,
and your second will be to have enough that playing Migration and Sol de
Jayuya several times becomes possible.
Taino Special Rules
Taino use only 3
tokens, instead of the normal 5.
Unlike all other civilisations, the Taino consider
all Resource tokens on their
cards as Resources in their pool during Scoring. This means that placing (for
example)
tokens on Zemi does not reduce the points you score for cards
like Moneylenders.
Your State card shows Free Tribes on both sides, so there is no need to flip it
when you place your card in your Discard pile.

Tang
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
As the Tang, you will be leading your people through some interesting times:
while you start with no Unrest, you
Take one
each Solstice! Like the Qin
many centuries before the Tang, you will have to manage the double-edged
Mandate of Heaven, the ebb and flow of the population in and out of the Market,
and deal with the philosophies of Taoism and Confucianism. Meanwhile, you
will have access to the largest cities of the world of their time – Chang’an and
Luoyang – to aid you.
Tang Special Rules
During Clean-up, add 1
onto a card in the Market, instead of 1 .

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48

Utopians
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
The Utopians are unlike any other nation – everything about them is different.
You uniquely have to manage the Scrolls , you have no Nation deck and
no Development cards, and you won’t want to go through your deck quickly.
Instead, you will be realising your Visions of Shangri-La and spending your
Resources to Advance towards the fabled city of Shangri-La itself. Study your
cards – and your opponents – carefully, as you’ll need to decide which will
serve you and which will hinder you on your path to Utopia. Will you sacrifice
everything for a speedy journey, or will you learn all forms of warfare known to
man, only to find your inner peace in your Monastery?
Utopian Special Rules
Utopians use only 3
tokens, instead of the normal 5.
Utopians use two double-sided journey cards, which begin stacked, with Visions
of Shangri-La on top. Only the top (visible) journey card is considered to be in
play. Your journey card functions like an additional Power card with a potent
Exhaust or Passive ability, as well as a Solstice effect that will let you progress
on to the next step of your journey. Your journey card cannot leave play except
for through its Solstice effect. When a new journey card enters play during
Solstice, the newly revealed card’s Solstice effect is also resolved.
utopian Bot
When setting up the Utopian Bot, do not construct a Dynasty
deck. Instead, put Visions of Shangri-La on top of Gates
of Shangri-La, both face up. The top card in this pile is the
Bot’s journey card.
During step 7 of Bot setup, find the Utopian Journey table, and
place it next to the State card.

Vikings
AGGRESSION: RUTHLESS
The Vikings never become an Empire and have no History, which confers its
own advantages and challenges. Your
Nation deck will keep providing you with
cards at no cost, but you won’t be able to control the order in which they enter
your deck. Use Gothja and other cards to help you adapt, and make full use
of your ability to keep playing cards that would normally go into your History.
To keep your deck under control, remember to
Garrison cards using your

cards and your Sagas.
Vikings Special Rules
As the Vikings, you never become an Empire. You do not have a Development
area and cannot use
Develop effects. Your
is your zenith card. When this card
is added to your Discard pile from your Nation deck, (generally during reshuffle),
it triggers the end of the game. Do not flip your State card when doing so.
Vikings do not have a History – whenever an effect would put a card into
History, you simply
Discard it.
viking Bot
When setting up the Viking Bot, skip step 5a. The
card is the
bottom of the Viking Dynasty deck.

Wagadou
AGGRESSION: PEACEFUL
As the Wagadou, you will be presiding over the richest gold mines of the known
world, potentially having access to 100 or more during the course of a game.
The price of these riches are the infertile lands on the southern edge of the
Sahara, which is why to raise your head in Pride (your version of Glory), you’ll
need to get your hand on more fertile lands besides a steady stream of ,
possibly via your trade cities of Koumbi Saleh and Aoudaghost. Your other
challenge will be to
Pay the cost of the Pact with Bida, until you can reach
,
and your Adoption of Islam allows you to move past it.
Wagadou Special Rules
During Clean-up, add 1
onto a card in the Market, instead of 1 .

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49
Rules to Remember
1. You may spend 1 to Pay for 1 or 2 of cost.
2. A card may not be
Free played more than once in a turn.
3. Each player may trigger King of Kings only once in a game.
4. You may never spend
Actions or use Exhaust effects during Solstice.
5. V
P
cards are limited to a maximum of 10 victory points each.
Even your card.
6. All players should perform their Solstice effects simultaneously.
7. If you
Break through for
, , or you may NOT do so from the
Main deck until the corresponding Small deck has run out.
8. The Market always contains 5 cards. Slots are filled from Small decks
when possible – then filled from the Main deck. Always refill empty
Slots immediately.
9. When filling from the Main deck, it is entirely acceptable to place any
suit in any Slot.
10. If you
Acquire a card from Exile, you still Take a

unless it was a .
11. When an icon is
Treated as (see page 39) another icon via any effect,
the original icon is no longer present.
12. At the end of your turn, do not forget to add 1
from the Supply (not
one of your own!) on a Market card.
13. You may spend to Pay for 1 or 2 of cost.
14. Only cards may be Recalled or Abandoned, not cards.
15. When using Trade Routes, all players gain an extra token.
16. When activating the
Trade keyword, you can Pay 1
to
gain 1 .

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50
Campaign Logs
Player name player nation
player
score
bot
nation
bot score win/lose card added (removed)
Player name player nation
player
score
bot
nation
bot score win/lose card added (removed)
Player name player nation
player
score
bot
nation
bot score win/lose card added (removed)

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51
Player name player nation
player
score
bot
nation
bot score win/lose card added (removed)
Player name player nation
player
score
bot
nation
bot score win/lose card added (removed)
Player name player nation
player
score
bot
nation
bot score win/lose card added (removed)

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Solo Mode Trade route Tables
trade Route Commerce Effect Profit Effect
Welcoming
(Fame )
Resolve the top card of the dynasty deck. The owner of this
MAY draw a card.
Resolve the top card of the main deck. If it is a 0 VP card, gain 1 .
Andes Highway
Gain 2 and 1 .
Put the top card of the discard pile onto the top of the bot deck. Gain the top
card.
Baltic Amber Road
Return a from discard; if unable, gain 2 . Break through for a and discard it.
Cornwall Tin Road
Acquire a ; if unable, discard the top two cards of the bot deck.Discard the top card of the dynasty deck.
Eastern Silk Road
(Tang)
Discard the top card of the bot deck. Acquire a . Break through for a / / / .
Hopewell Exchange
System
Discard the top card of the bot deck. Discard the top card of the
dynasty deck.
Gain 3 and 2 .
Lapis Lazuli Trade
Acquire a ; if unable, gain 4 . Break through for a .
Maritime Spice Road
(Abbasid/Aksumite)
Acquire a (including from exile); if unable, gain 1 . Resolve the top card of the bot deck.
Philippines Jade Trade Acquire a card in slot #1 or slot #2 of the market. Break through for a and resolve it.
Swahili Coast
Discard the top card of the bot deck and gain 1 . Break through for a .
The Nile Corridor Resolve the top card of the bot deck. Break through for a .
Trans-Saharan Trade
(Wagadou)
Acquire a card in the market with on it; if unable, gain 3
and add 1 to the market card in the slot.
Gain 1 per the bot has in play.
Western Silk Road
(Abbasid/Sassanid)
Return a from discard. Gain 1 . Resolve the top card of the bot deck. Discard the top card of the bot deck.
Merchants merchant empire
End of Turn effect
(resolve first applicable)
Acquire a
, if able. Acquire a , if able.
Pay 5 to gain the top card and
flip to Merchant Empire.
Resolve all profits, where able.
Resolve all profits, where able.
Pay 3 to acquire a / ,
if able.
Trade, if able. Trade, if able.
Bot’s
Trade Priority
1. with most (but fewer than 3).
2. Own .
3. Where tied, first available on the Trade Route
chart above.

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