Concordia: Salsa — How to Play

Objective of the Game

In Concordia: Salsa, players compete to expand their trade networks across the Roman Empire by building houses, producing goods, and playing strategic personality cards. The game introduces three new elements: salt (a wildcard resource), forum cards (offering unique abilities), and two new scenarios (BYZANTIUM and HISPANIA). The winner is the player with the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game, earned through card abilities, controlled cities, and provinces.

Preparation (Setup)

Setup follows the base Concordia rules with these additions:

• Place the forum tableau and shuffle the 27 forum cards (13 blue patricians, 14 green citizens). Display 4 face-up.
• Add salt city tokens to the board (A, B, C, D) and give each player a salt player aid.
• Replace the start city: Byzantium for BYZANTIUM or Saguntum for HISPANIA (instead of Roma).
• Each player starts with one blue patrician forum card (assigned randomly or via auction).

Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre esta seção.

Flow of the Game

Players take turns performing actions by playing personality cards from their hand. Key phases:

1. Play a card: Execute its action (e.g., Prefect to produce goods, Architect to move/build).
2. Use forum cards: Combine abilities with played cards (if applicable).
3. Discard used citizens: Green forum cards are discarded after use; blue patricians remain.

The game ends when a player plays their last personality card or builds their 15th house. Trigger final scoring.

Actions and How to Play

Salt Mechanics

• Salt is a wildcard: Exchange 1 salt for any good (but cannot buy/sell salt for sestertii).
• Building salt cities: Costs 1 tool + 1 wine + 5 sestertii (+5 more per existing house in the city).

Forum Cards

• Acquired by playing the Tribune: Choose a card based on the number of played personality cards (e.g., 4–5 cards = 1st card only).
• Patricians (blue): Permanent abilities. Citizens (green): One-time use.
• Examples: MARCUS lets you build in a salt city for 1 tool; AUGUSTUS exchanges goods for salt.

Personality Cards

Base game actions apply, with these adjustments:

• Tribune: Now lets you take a forum card.
• Colonist: Replace "Roma" with the scenario’s start city.

End of Game and Scoring

Final scoring is based on:

• JUPITER (temples): Count all cities with your houses, including salt cities.
• SATURNUS (provinces): Count provinces with your houses, including salt cities.
• MINERVA (specialists): Salt cities count as one type of good (chosen per card).
• MERCURIUS (goods): Salt cities do not count toward goods diversity.

Tips to Win

1. Prioritize salt cities: Their wildcard flexibility helps fulfill building costs and card bonuses.
2. Time forum cards: Combine patricians with personality cards for powerful combos (e.g., MAMILIUS + Architect to build without bricks).
3. Balance expansion: Spread houses across provinces for SATURNUS points, but focus on key goods for MINERVA.