BoardGamesBot

As the 19
th
century draws to a close, the monarchies of Europe struggle to stay
relevant in this rapidly changing age. Whether it’s the court of King Frederik in
Saxony or the court of the aging Queen Victoria of the British Empire trying to
maintain rule over the faraway riches of Australia, they must all contend with
the rising political forces clamoring to secure their piece of the pie in the nuclear
revolution. As ideologies clash in parliaments, entrepreneurs like yourself must
do their best to make sure they have plenty of friends in the halls of power.
COMPONENTS
1 COURT SIDE BOARD
4 ALTERNATIVE STARTING
ACTION TILES (ONE EACH
FOR EXPERIMENT A-D)
3 EXPERIMENT F
CHAINING TILES
4 PARTY AGENDA TILES
(DOUBLE-SIDED)
2 NEW EXPERIMENT BOARDS (E AND F)
2 TURBINE EFFECT TILES
2 EXPERIMENT
PLAYER AIDS
4 COURT PLAYER
AIDS
1 KING
MARKER
4 NEUTRAL POLITICIANS
8 WORKER MEEPLES
(2 IN EACH PLAYER COLOR)
4 NEW CONTRACT TILES
2 SPECIAL SHIPPING TILES
(TO USE WITH THE NUCLEUM:
AUSTRALIA EXPANSION)
12 NEW ACTION TILES
5 STARTING ACTION TILES
FOR EXPERIMENT E
5 STARTING ACTION TILES
FOR EXPERIMENT F
4 SIDE BOARD OVERLAYS
1 STARTING ACTION TILE
(COMPATIBLE WITH THE BASE
GAME FOR EXPERIMENT F)
*
16 NEW TECHNOLOGY TILES
NOTE: Experiment F is playable with the base game without the
rest of this expansion. In this case: 1) leave the Experiment F
Alternative Starting Action tile depicting the Court action in the
box, and 2) use the one marked with “
*
“ instead. No additional
special setup is required. The rest of these rules assume you are
using the complete expansion. Experiment E can only be played
with this expansion. The new Experiments are also compatible
with Nucleum: Australia.

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2
1. 1. Before performing the setup from the base game,
remove 7 Action tiles depicted on the right, in the
frame titled “Tiles to replace”. Replace them with the
12 new Action tiles showing the Court action .
Additionally, remove the Starting Action tile showing
from each Experiment, and in its place, add the
corresponding Alternative Starting Action tile showing
the Court action .
2. 2. Add the 2 new Silver, 1 new Gold, and 1 new Purple
Contracts to the respective stacks before shuffling.
3. 3. Perform the main board setup as described in the base game
rules.
4. 4. Place the VP Flag token under the “90” spot on the VP track
(instead of “70”). If you are using the Nucleum: Australia
expansion and thus playing on the Australia map, place it
under the “95” spot instead.
5. 5. Place the Court side board to the side of the main board,
opposite of the base game’s side board.
6. 6. Randomly select a side of each of the four Agenda tiles, and
place them on the dedicated spots of the Court side board.
7. 7. Reveal one of the unused Setup cards, and use its reference
number to determine which Party’s seats receive 2 Neutral
Politicians, one marked with an arrow, one numbered 2,
and the King marker.
• 1-3: Capitalist Party .
• 4-6: Free Thinker Party .
• 7-9: Communist Party .
• 10-12: Royalist Party .
• 13: Ignore this and draw another card.
8. 8. Twice more, reveal another unused Setup card and use the
same values as described in the previous step to determine
where to place the Neutral Politician numbered 3 and 4. If
the selected Party is not empty, select the next one instead.
(Top to bottom: Capitalist -> Free Thinker -> Communist
-> Royalist -> Capitalist…).
9. 9. In every Party with Neutral Politicians, move a numbered
Neutral Politician into the Party Leader space.
10. 10. After performing player setup, every player adds the 2 new
Worker meeples of their color into a reserve (increasing
their number to 18).
11. 11. If any player chose Experiment F, give them the 3 Special
Action tiles to stack face down below the Experiment
board. Otherwise, return these tiles to the box.
12. 12. Place all side board overlays over the respective parts of the
side board.
CHANGES IN SETUP
SETUP - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION
5
6
6
6
6S4 S8 S5 S4 S8 S5
7
8
8
9
9
9
1
TILES TO REPLACE
+

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3
Nucleum: Court of Progress introduces several
new concepts and rule changes that can be
added to the base game and/or Nucleum:
Australia. All the new tiles requiring this
expansion to be used can be distinguished by the
icon shown on the left.
The Court side board depicts 4 Political Parties, from top
to bottom: the Capitalist Party, the Free Thinker Party,
the Communist Party, and the Royalist Party. Players
place their Worker meeples into Parties for immediate
benefits and a chance to score additional points during
King’s Day Scoring. From now on, every Worker meeple
that is on the Court side board is called a Politician.
A player is a Member of a Party if they have at least 1
Politician in that Party. The player whose Politician is in the Party
Leader space is the Leader of that Party. Each player can be a
Member and even the Leader of multiple Parties at the same time.
The Party with the King marker is called the Dominant
Party.
This expansion introduces a new action: the Court
action. This action allows you to place Worker
meeples into Parties on the Court side board. Take
one of your available Worker meeples, and place
it into one of the four Parties—from now on it is
referred to as a Politician. If you do not have an available Worker
meeple and cannot get one by converting 1 Uranium, you must
forfeit this action. Then:
• Receive the depicted benefit of the selected Party:
Capitalists: Gain 2 Thaler and 1 Thaler income step.
Free Thinkers: Take any Action tile from the market, paying
no cost.
Communists: Gain 2 VP and 1 Worker income step.
Royalists: Gain 2 Achievement tokens and 1 VP income step.
PARTIES
COURT ACTION
NEW CONCEPTS
• Check for Party leadership: If you have
more Politicians in the selected Party than
the current Leader (either another player
or a Neutral Politician), move one of your
Politicians to the Leader space, and move the
previous Leader out of that space (back into
the Party). If there is no Leader, move just
placed Politician to the Leader space.
• Check for Dominance: If there are now more total Politicians
(Neutral and belonging to players) in the selected Party than in
the current Dominant Party, move the King marker to the
selected Party.
A King’s Day Scoring is triggered the same way as described in
the base game rules: whenever a Milestone space becomes empty.
Perform it according to normal rules, then score Party Agendas
(from top to bottom) as follows:
1. Each Leader of a Party (if one exists and it is not a Neutral
Politician) scores their own Party’s Agenda:
• Gain as many VP as the Agenda dictates (for details about
each Agenda, refer to the Appendix on page 6).
2. Each Member of the Dominant Party scores that Party’s
Agenda (therefore, the Leader of the Dominant Party
effectively scores the Dominant Party’s Agenda twice):
• Gain as many VP as the Agenda dictates.
3. Remove Politicians from the Court:
• Each Leader of a Party (if one exists and it is not a Neutral
Politician) returns 1 Politician from that Party to the
reserve. If they only have 1 Politician in that Party, return
the Politician from the Party Leader space. Do not go
through the procedure to assign a new Party Leader, and do
not move the King marker.
• Return exactly 1 Politician (if still present) belonging to
each player from the Dominant Party to the reserve.
4. Remove the highest-numbered Neutral Politician from the
Court side board and return it to the game box, then move the
Neutral Politician marked with an arrow to the Party below
its current Party (or if it is already a Member of the Royalists,
move it to the Capitalists). Then, assign Leaders and the new
Dominant Party as follows:
NOTE: Your Special Directive tile allows you to take the
Court action (however, the 1-Thaler discount is lost as this
action has no associated Thaler cost).
MODIFIED KING’S DAY SCORING
NEW CONCEPTS - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION

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4
NEW CONCEPTS - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION
• In each Party, if there are no ties for the most Politicians,
the player with the most Politicians must move one to the
Party Leader space (if they do not have the Politician there
yet). The same rule applies to Neutral Politicians if they are
the most present in a party. If there is a tie, no Party Leader
is assigned; instead, you assign a Party Leader following
the rules for the Court action the next time a player adds a
Politician to that Party.
• Place the King marker next to the Party with the most
Politicians. If there is a tie, leave the King marker at its
current Party, even if the current Dominant Party has fewer
Politicians than the tied Parties.
EXAMPLE: After awarding VP for King’s Day Scoring
according to the base game’s rules, players score the Party
Agendas.
The Capitalist Agenda is scored first.
Red (as the Party Leader) has fulfilled 3
Contracts and thus gains 1 VP per
fulfilled Contract for a total of 3 VP.
The Free Thinker Agenda is scored next.
Yellow (as the Party Leader) scores 2 VP
for each of their Residences on the map,
for a total of 4 VP.
The Communist Agenda is scored third.
Blue (as the Party Leader) gains 1 VP for
each city in their largest network. Blue
has only 2 cities connected by a completed
rail line, so they score a total of 2 VP.
The Royalist Agenda is scored last. Blue (as
the Party Leader here as well) gains 2 VP
for each Party in which they have either a
Member or a Leader, for a total of 8 VP.
Every player with at least one Politician in the Dominant
Party (Capitalists) scores that Agenda, receiving Victory
Points for their Contracts. Red again scores 3 VP; Blue
scores 1 VP, as they only fulfilled 1 Contract; Yellow scores
2 VP for 2 fulfilled Contracts; and Teal scores nothing, as
they have not fulfilled any Contracts yet.
Next, Party Leaders
return Politicians
to the reserve: 1 red
Politician from
the Capitalists, 1
yellow Politician
from the Free
Thinkers, 1 blue
Politician from the
Communists, and 1
blue Politician from
the Royalists. Then,
1 Politician of each
color is returned
to the reserve from
the Dominant
Party (Capitalists),
Neutral Politician number 4 is removed from the Court
side board, and Neutral Politician with an arrow is moved
from the Capitalists to the Free Thinkers.
Red remains
the Leader of
the Capitalists,
Yellow remains
the Leader of the
Free Thinkers, Red
becomes the Leader
of the Communists,
and Blue remains
the leader of the
Royalists, even
though there is a tie,
since they still have
their Politician on
the Leader space.
The King marker
is moved to Free
Thinkers as they now have 6 Politicians compared to the
Capitalists who have 5 Politicians.

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5
Experiment F comes with three new
Chaining tiles. Each of these tiles,
unlocked by the Level 3 Technology
of this Experiment, allow you to take
the printed action, then play a non-
Chaining Action tile (see the following
additional rules) immediately on top of
this Chaining tile and resolve it.
ADDITIONAL RULES AND CLARIFICATIONS:
• You cannot place Chaining tiles as a railway.
• You cannot play more than one Chaining tile on the same turn;
this rule includes the Shipping tile from Nucleum: Australia.
• You may play a Special Directive tile on top of the Chaining
tile.
• You must fully perform the action depicted on the Chaining
tile before placing (and performing the actions of) the Action
tile placed on top of it.
• Chaining tiles are treated as Action tiles for purposes of
fulfilling the Contracts, Milestones, and Experiments’ scoring
technologies.
• You may not fulfill an additional Contract in the same turn by
placing Chaining tiles.
Perform Final Scoring following the base game rules with the
following addition:
• Score Party Agendas as described for King’s Day Scoring but
without removing any Politicians from any Party (Leader or
otherwise).
In 3- and 4-player games, the number of conditions that must be
met to trigger the Endgame is increased from 2 to 3, while in
MODIFIED FINAL SCORING
NOTE: Remaining Politicians on the Court side board do
not count as Worker meeples in your personal supply and
thus do not contribute toward scoring your leftover resources.
MODIFIED ENDGAME CONDITIONS
EXPERIMENT F CHAINING TILES
2-player and solo games, the number of conditions remains
unchanged. If you are combining this expansion with Nucleum:
Australia, use the same number of conditions described here (no
further modifications are needed).
Players who are already well acquainted with Nucleum and
Nucleum: Court of Progress are encouraged to try the following
expert variant. Players no longer take Experiments in reverse player
order; instead, in player order, players proceed to an open auction,
using VP to determine their order in choosing an Experiment.
The auction is an open-bidding process: each player can “offer” an
amount of VP to be first to choose—and this amount must be
higher than the previous bid amount—or pass. In a 4-player game,
the player who passes first chooses last, then the next player to pass
must lose the amount of VP equal to their last bid and be third,
and so on. In a 3-player game, only the first and second players to
choose lose their last bid amount of VP, and in a 2-player game,
only the first player to choose loses their last bid amount of VP. All
players must mark down (in any way they choose) the amount
they bid and lose that number of VP at the end of the game, just
before tallying up VP and determining the winner. The expert
variant is not supported by the solo mode.
NOTE: These modified Endgame conditions are identical to
the ones described in Nucleum: Australia.
EXPERT VARIANT
NOTE: This expert variant is identical to the one described in
Nucleum: Australia.
EXAMPLE: Players A, B, C, and D are bidding for priority of
choosing Experiments, as follows: A, “1 VP”; B, “3 VP”; C,
“4 VP”; D, “6 VP”’; A, “7 VP”; B, “Pass.” Being the first to
pass, B will be the last to choose an Experiment and loses no
VP. Bidding continues as follows: C, “8 VP”; D, “10 VP”;
A, “Pass.” So, A will choose third and must lose their last bid
amount of 7 VP. Bidding continues one final time: C, “11
VP”; D “12 VP”; C, “15 VP”; D, “Pass.” Therefore, D loses
their last bid amount of 12 VP and chooses second, while C
loses their last bid amount of 15 VP and chooses first. All
these VP are lost at the end of the game, before determining
the winner
NEW CONCEPTS - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION

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6
APPENDIX
SILVER CONTRACTS
(C64) Be the Party Leader of the Dominant Party.
Gain 1 income step of your choice.
(C65) Have 3 Politicians on the Court side board.
Gain a Level 1 Technology.
GOLD CONTRACTS
(C66) Have 5 Politicians on the Court side board.
Gain 5 VP and 2 income steps of your choice
(same or different).
PURPLE CONTRACTS
(C67) Have 6 Politicians on the Court side board.
Gain 12 VP.
PARTY AGENDAS
Score 1 VP per fulfilled Contract.
Score 1 VP for each Mine (Uranium Mine and
Coal Mine, if using Nucleum: Australia) and
Turbine you have on the map.
Score the highest Milestone tile where you have at
least one marker present using a multiplier of 2.
Score 1 VP per unlocked Technology.
Score 1 VP per city in your largest network.
Score 1 VP for each different city where
you have at least one Urban Building,
Mine (Uranium or Coal, if using Nucleum:
Australia), or Turbine.
Score 2 VP per Party where you are either
a Member or the Leader at the start of Party
Agenda scoring (before any Politicians have
been removed).
Score as many VP as the amount of electricity
required by your highest-energy, non-Government,
energized Urban Building on the map.
TECHNOLOGIES
LEVEL TECHNOLOGY EFFECT APPEARS ON
1 (E1) After placing a Uranium Mine or a Turbine, gain 1 Uranium.
Experiment E
(& Experiment A)
1
(E2, F2) Sites with red borders require an extra cost of only 1
Thaler (instead of the usual 2 Thaler).
Experiments E & F
1 (F1) Whenever you gain a Contract, gain 1 Achievement token.
Experiment F
(& Experiment D)
1
(E3) (F3) Whenever you use a Turbine belonging to another
player, pay that player 1 Thaler from the bank (instead of your
own supply) and produce +1 electricity.
Note: You may choose to use an opponent’s Turbine to be able
to transport a Uranium even before using the Nucleum’s (free)
allocation.
Experiments E & F
APPENDIX - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION

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7
CREDITS
2 (E4) Immediately gain 4 Achievement tokens and 4 Thaler.Experiment E
2
(E5) Immediately gain 2 Workers, then you may perform a Court
action.
Experiment E
2
(E6) Whenever you gain a Contract, also receive the benefit of one
other contract space (regardless of if that additional contract space
is empty or occupied).
Experiment E
(& Experiment B)
2 (F4) Immediately gain 3 Workers and 3 Thaler.
Experiment F
(& Experiment A)
2
(F5) Immediately perform an Urbanize action, using an additional
discount of 3 Thaler and ignoring any network requirement.
Experiment F
2
(F6) Whenever you fulfill a Contract (but after unlocking this
Technology), gain 1 income step to the lowest of your incomes
(if there is a tie for your lowest income, you may choose between
them).
Experiment F
3
(E7) Whenever you take a Court action, choose one:
• Gain 1 Worker, or
• Receive the depicted benefit of the selected Party one additional
time.
Experiment E
3
(E8) Have 5/7/9 Politicians on the Court side board to score
4/10/21 VP.
Experiment E
3 (F7) Gain the 3 Chaining tiles. Experiment F
3
(F8) Have 12/14/16 Action tiles (available or on top of your
player board), excluding Railway tiles, to score 4/10/21 VP.
Experiment F
TURBINE EFFECTS
After you take an Energize action, gain 1
VP income step.
After you take an Energize action, you
may take the rightmost (cheapest) Action
tile from the market, paying no cost.
APPENDIX - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION
LIVING RULES PLEDGE
We pledge to support every game well after its initial release. Despite rigorous
play testing and multiple rounds of both internal and external proofreading
and editing, occasionally the need for rules corrections or minor game play
adjustments are discovered only several months or years after the game was
manufactured. We promise to produce timely rules updates as necessary,
along with expanded FAQ clarifications if needed, available for download
from our website in digital PDF format.
Missing or damaged components:
Although we take a lot of care to make sure that your game is complete, manufacturing mistakes can
still leave you with a missing or damaged component. If that happens, please contact us to receive
replacements swiftly, and with our sincere apologies.
Customer support: https://boardanddice.com/customer-support/
Game Design: Dávid Turczi & Simone Luciani
Solo Mode Design: Dávid Turczi
Game Development: Andrei Novac, Maciej Górkowski, Michał Cieślikowski, Kacper Frydrykiewicz,
Kuba Polkowski, Borys Bielaś, Joanna Kijanka
Solo Development: Chuck Case, with Kacper Frydrykiewicz and Gary Perrin
Illustrations: Andreas Resch, Piotr Sokołowski
Graphic Design & DTP: Andreas Resch, Zbigniew Umgelter
Rulebook: Dávid Turczi
Rulebook DTP: Zbigniew Umgelter
Rulebook Editing: Emanuela and Robert Pratt, Tyler Brown
Board&Dice would like to thank the following for their invaluable play testing, advice, and feedback:
Akwa Timba, Jan-Fredrik “JF” Wahlin, Charlie Adams, jnordmoe, Steve Fladda, Andrew Cleverley,
Yuriy Ivanov, Przemysław Kapica, Jarosław “Yaro” Pawełczyk, Dario Ghidini, Jordan Thomas,
Łukasz “LukSky” Stadnik, Joanna “Kocia” Szopińska, Jan Skornowicz, Anita Sokołowska,
Frikkie Borman, Adam “Samson” Kamiński, Daniel Dubel, Marta Szpaderska, Wade Bates,
Lori Anné, Tuminure, Krzysztof Widera, Małgorzata Sztokfisz, Piotr Budzichowski, Ola,
Joanna Szopińska, Anna Oksanen, Matthijs Huijzer, Giacomo A. Mallamaci, Marc Gerstein,
Maria Jóźwik, Jan “SoAmazinglyBad” Mikołajczak, Konrad Nowicki, Carl Zee, Pieter Jan Tiersma,
Laurens van der Beek and Jacob Coon.
© 2024 Board&Dice. All rights reserved.
For more information about Nucleum please visit:
www.boardanddice.com

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BARON VON AUTOMAT
AND THE LIFE OF POLITICS
The solo rules from the base game remain unchanged. Make sure
the Baron’s relevant starting Action tile has also been replaced
with a new one showing a Court action.
The priority order of the actions is now as follows: (Place a Boat,
if playing with Nucleum: Australia >) Court > Urbanize >
Industrialize > Develop > Contract > Energize > Subsidize.
The Baron places a Worker from the general
supply to one of the Parties. If possible, the Baron
places a Worker in a Party where:
1. It currently has an equal number of Politicians
as the current Leader or there is no Party Leader
(i.e., placing there would allow it to become Party Leader).
2. If there are multiple or no such Parties to target and If it has no
Politicians in the Dominant Party, it places there.
3. Otherwise, it places in the targeted Party where it has the fewest
of its own Politicians (compared to the other Parties).
4. If there are multiple targeted Parties with an equal number of
Politicians, draw a Logic card and use its primary tiebreaker to
select a Party.
Then, depending on which Party it placed into, the Baron receives
a bonus:
• Capitalists: It gains 1 Thaler.
• Free Thinkers: Remove the rightmost Action tile from the
market (and return it to the box).
• Communists: It gains 1 Worker. (if the Baron’s reserve is
empty, it gains 3 VP instead.)
• Royalists: It gains 2 VP.
If there are no Workers in Baron’s general supply, it treats the
Court action as unavailable.
When scoring Parties (during King’s Day and Final Scoring), the
Baron ignores the Agenda tiles and instead scores 4 VP for each
Party Leader it has and an additional 4 VP if it has at least one
Politician in the Dominant Party.
NOTE: Make sure to remember the rule from the base game
that the Baron never gets rid of the last tile depicting a non-
Subsidize action. This now includes the Court action as well!
SCORING THE PARTIES
ADJUSTING THE DIFFICULTY
NOTE: If the end of the game is triggered by the Baron
recharging three times it can trigger a 3rd King’s Day
scoring (immediately if you’ve already recharged 3 times,
or later when you do). Regardless, after you and the Baron
have both taken one more turn, you still score the Court as
part of Final Scoring (potentially a 4th time) as described in
this expansion’s core rules.
NOTE: The Baron’s Politicians are removed from the Parties
after scoring in the same way a human player’s Politicians
would be.
To increase the difficulty, use one or more of the following rule
modifiers:
• After setup, add one of the Baron’s Worker meeples (from
the supply) to the empty Party (the one without Neutral
Politicians). It becomes the Party Leader.
• After setup, add one of the Baron’s Worker meeples (from the
supply) to all the Parties where there is a Neutral Politician
Leader.
• During the second and third King’s Day Scoring and during
Final Scoring, the Baron scores 6 VP for each Party Leader it
has and an additional 6 VP if it has at least one Politician in
the Dominant Party (i.e., it scores 2 VP more per scoring
opportunity than normal).
To decrease the difficulty, after setup, add one of your Worker
meeples (from the supply) to the empty Party (the one without
Neutral Politicians) but without receiving the benefits. This
Politician becomes the Party Leader.
SOLO RULES - COURT OF PROGRESS EXPANSION

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