# Carthago: Merchants & Guilds – Support of the Guilds

## General Info
- **Year Published**: 2018
- **BGG Rating**: 7.2
- **BGG Rank**: —
- **Players**: 2-4 (Best with: 4)
- **Duration**: 60-90 min
- **Weight**: 2.00 / 5
- **Designers**: Bernd Eisenstein, Ralph Bienert
- **Artists**: Christian Opperer, Odysseas Stamoglou
- **Publishers**: Frosted Games, Irongames
- **Categories**: Ancient, Card Game, Economic, Expansion for Base-game
- **Mechanics**: Action Points, Deck, Bag, and Pool Building, Hand Management, Pick-up and Deliver, Set Collection, Trading, Worker Placement

## Verdict
A perfect strategic upgrade for those who have mastered Carthago's routes and crave more scoring options.New strategic layersValuable extra turnsSeamless base game integrationQuick to learnRequires base gameSmall content footprintFOR GENRE FANS

## Description
If you're already a seasoned merchant in Carthago, get ready to level up with 'Support of the Guilds'. This isn't just any expansion; it's a promotional mini-expansion straight from the 2018 Advent Calendar, designed to add a spicy layer to your commercial strategy. The core idea is simple yet impactful: the guilds now have a direct say in your trading empire.

The expansion introduces 6 new tiles that can be mixed and matched with the Achievement Tiles from the base game. How does this change the gameplay? Well, you gain new ways to score victory points at the end of the game, but the real magic lies in the risk-versus-reward balance. You can opt for paths that secure extra end-game points, or, if you're feeling more aggressive and dynamic, you can leverage these tiles to gain additional turns during the game. In a resource management game driven by action points, an extra turn is like finding a gold mine!

These new components allow for even deeper customization of your winning strategy. Want to focus on accumulating wealth for a massive end-game score? Go for it. Prefer to move faster than your rivals and dominate the market before anyone else? The new guild support tiles can provide that much-needed agility. It's the kind of content that doesn't rewrite the core rules but significantly expands the strategic horizon, making every session of Carthago a bit more unpredictable and tactical. Just a heads-up: this is an expansion, so you'll definitely need the base game to put these new abilities to use!

## FAQ
### Can I play this standalone?
No, this is an expansion and requires the Carthago base game to play.

### What exactly is included?
It's a mini-expansion containing 6 new tiles to expand your gameplay options.

### Is it hard to learn?
Not at all! It's designed to integrate seamlessly into the original game's flow.

### Does it add much playtime?
The playtime remains largely the same, but the strategic depth increases.

### Who is this for?
For players who already know the base game and want to keep the experience fresh.

### Do the new tiles change the game significantly?
They don't change the rules, but they offer new paths to victory, which changes your decision-making.