Game Objective

In Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Kahn, you are competing against an Automa (an automated opponent) to establish your influence. The goal is to travel, complete contracts, and obtain guild seals to accumulate the most victory points. The winner is the player who achieves the highest score on the score track.

Preparation (Setup)

Main Board Setup

• Place the city bonus markers, outpost bonus tiles, and city cards.
• Place contracts in their dedicated cities.
• Shuffle offer tiles, remove one of each type, and place the first of each type on the corresponding market.
• Create 4 stacks of guild seals.
• Place 4 black dice on the board.
• Place one neutral die (value 5) on one of the two gold market spaces.
• Place a neutral die on each of the three special cities.
• Place two neutral dice (value 1) on the first two spaces of the Kahn's favor.
• Each player places a figure in Beijing and a figure on space 50 of the score track.
• Randomly select the first player.

Automa Setup

• The Automa receives 5 dice, 11 trading posts, 1 Smart Mat, and 1 randomly chosen trip slide (placed under the playmat with "BEIJING" and "READY TO START" visible).
• Place 1 coin (value 10) on spaces A-B-C-D of the Smart Mat.
• Place 1 starting contract face up on space E of the Smart Mat.
• Shuffle 8 automa cards and place them in the dedicated space.
• Choose a character and difficulty level (L1/L2/L3) for the Automa, then place the corresponding Skill card on the Smart Mat.
• Take the Trading Post card corresponding to the Skill card and place the 11 trading posts in the appropriate slots.

Player Setup

• Each player receives: 1 player board, 5 dice, 11 trading posts, 1 starting contract, 3 camels, and 8 coins.
• Draw 3 goal cards and keep one.
• Draw 3 character tiles and choose one (cannot be the same character as the Automa).

Game Flow

The game is played over 5 rounds. At the beginning of each round, all automa cards must be reshuffled.

On the Automa's turn, draw a card and follow these steps in order:

1. Bonus Action: Perform the action if possible, then proceed to Main Actions.
2. Main Actions: Perform the FIRST valid main action. An action is valid if the Automa owns the required number of dice (value does not matter). The Automa uses its own color dice first, using black dice only if required.

If the automa deck runs out before all dice are used, the Automa ends its round prematurely.

Actions and How to Play

Automa Bonus Actions

• Take 1 Black Die: The Automa takes 1 black die from the board if available.
• Complete 1 Guild Seal or 1 Contract: The Automa completes a seal (turns it face down, no bonus) or a contract (takes the top contract from space E, receives bonuses like VPs, black dice, map advancements, or new contracts) following priority A/B/C/D/E.

Automa Main Actions

• Travel: The Automa moves to the next city on the trip slide. It uses the 1-die action space for 1 move, or the 2-dice space for 2-3 moves. It places a trading post, discards the outpost bonus tile, and takes the contract with the most VPs. The trip slide is then shifted. If a red letter appears, the corresponding coin is removed from the Smart Mat.
  • Special Case: If forced to use the 3-dice space, the Automa reaches the target city AND the following city, placing trading posts on both.
• Books: Places a die in a Books action space (Pepper, Silk, or Gold) based on a die roll. If the space is occupied and no black dice are available, it moves to the first valid space from the right (Gold → Silk → Pepper).
  • Books "LEV 0": Only places a die in a space with no other dice.
• Kahn's Favor: Places a die in the leftmost free space (via die roll) or a value 6 die if only one space is free. No benefit is received.
• City Card Action: Rolls a die to select a city where it has a trading post and performs the action indicated on the Skill Card.
• External City Action: Rolls a die to place a die on one of the two city cards outside the map and performs the Skill Card action.
• Guild Seal +1: Removes the coin from space D, places 2 dice on the guild seals action space, and takes the Farmer's guild seal (placed on space D).
• Action Space A/B/C/D/E:
  • A-B-C-D: Places 2 dice on the guild seals action space and takes the required seal to cover the space.
  • E: Places 1 die on the "take contracts" space and takes the two contracts with the most VPs from cities where it has a trading post.

End Game and Scoring

The game ends after 5 rounds. The Automa calculates its final score as follows:

• Contracts: 8 VPs if it completed a number of contracts equal to or greater than the player.
• Guild Seals: VPs based on the number of completed guild seals (as per Trading Post Card rules). Specifically, VPs are scored for each completed seal placed above areas A, B, and C.
• Shields: VPs based on the amount of different shields obtained.
  • The Automa gets +1 shield if it completed the Farmer's guild seal.
  • Additional shields are calculated by taking completed contracts, returning a number equal to the icon value on the Trading Post Card, and using the remaining contracts to cover "+1" spaces. Remaining uncovered "+1" symbols are added to the total shields.

Tips for Winning

• Monitor the Automa's Path: The Automa always chooses the shortest route to its next city, but it must own the correct seal to cross rivers, which may force it to take a longer path.
• Manage the Action Spaces: The Automa must respect dice color restrictions and will use its own color first before spending black dice.
• Watch the Smart Mat: The Automa's ability to perform certain actions (like Action Space A/B/C/D/E) depends on whether those spaces are uncovered on the Smart Mat.