Age of Civilization Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Symbols
• Key Concepts
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • Your First Turn (in 1st round)
    • 1. Rise a Civilization (in 1st round)
    • 2A. Takes Actions
    • 2B. Rest
    • 3. Resolve Your Workers
• Round End (in 1st - 6th round)
• Following Turns (in 2nd - 6th round)
  • 1A) Rise a Civilization (in 2nd - 6th round)
  • 1B) Annex a Civilization (in 2nd - 6th round)
  • 1C) Skip this Step (in 2nd - 6th round)
• Game End
• Details
• Actions
  • Wonder
  • Research
  • Enslave
  • Culture
  • Build
  • Conquest
  • Hunt
  • Fish
  • Trade
  • Farm
  • Plague
• Technologies
• Civilizations
• Drafting Game
• Solo Game
• Achievements
• Credits

Components

• 4 Technology cards
• 2 Score track cards
• 1 Permanent action card
• 8 Action cards
• 34 Civilization cards
• 10 Wonder cards
• 20 Worker tokens (5 Black, 5 Brown, 5 Yellow, 5 White)
• 1 Starter token
• 50 Coin tokens
• 20 Technology tokens

Symbols

• Score (star)
• Coin
• Technology (diamond)
• Wonder (triangle)
• Military Strength (shield)
• Worker
• Action Slot (1 worker)
• Action Slot (2 workers)
• Action Slot (sacrifice 1 worker)
• War (sword)

Key Concepts

Players should familiarize themselves with the following terms to understand common abilities:

• + Score: You gain 1 score for each star, update your score by moving your worker on the Score track. There is no limit of scores.
• + Coin: You gain 1 coin for each coin symbol, take the coin(s) from the supply. There is no limit on the amount of coins you own.
• Gain a Technology: Choose 1 technology on your technology card, and place a technology token from supply onto the square next to your chosen tech. These unlock the technology's ability for you. Some techs have pre-requisites (indicated by the arrows between technologies). You must at least have one of the pre-requisite techs before you gain them.
• Gain a Wonder: Take a wonder card in wonder market of your choice. If there is no card in wonder market, ignore this effect.
• [Action] + Score / + Coin: When you perform the named action, you will gain extra score / coin.
• [Action] − $X: When you perform the named action, you pay X coin less.
• Every turn end: The ability will activate whenever you end YOUR turn, including the turn in the last round.
• Game end: The ability will activate when the game ends. This kind of ability is always about gaining scores.

Setup

Each player choose a player color (Black/Brown/Yellow/White).

1. Score track is formed by 2 Score track cards. Each player place 1 worker token on it.
2. Shuffle wonder card deck and reveal as many of them as "3 + number of players" to form the wonder market. Put aside the other wonder cards, they will not be used in this game.
3. Shuffle civilization card deck and reveal 5 cards to form the civilization market, place the remaining deck near the market, they will be drawn when a civilization is picked from the market.
4. Shuffle action card deck and use all 8 cards to form a time track in random order, then place the permanent action card at the upper left of the time track.
5. Place all the coin tokens, technology tokens and the remaining worker tokens in piles to form the supply, granting easy access to all players. (There are no limit for technology token and coin token in the game. If they are running out, please use other things to substitute them.)
6. Each player takes a technology card and 3 coin tokens from the supply. (Across the game, players are not allowed to hide any information from others, including the number of coins they have.)
7. The player who is the best with world history will be the starting player. He or she takes the starter token and will be the first player to begin his or her turn.

The public region consists of the Score Track, Wonder Market, Civ. Market, and Time Track. The permanent action card (Wonder, Research, Enslave) sits at the left of the time track, followed by the 8 action cards: Hunt, Build, Fish, Conquest, Plague, Culture, Trade, Farm — shuffled into random order for the time track.

Each player's own region holds their technology card (Science, Engineering, Gunpowder / Education, Mathematics, Iron Working / Writing, Sailing, Mining) and their coin tokens.

Playing the Game

Age of Civilization is played over 6 rounds. In each round, the starting player takes the first turn, and players continue to take turns in clockwise order until the round ends. When the 6th round ends, the player with the highest score would win the game.

Your First Turn (in 1st round)

During your first turn of the game, you carry out ALL 3 steps of the followings:

1. Rise a civilization
2. Take actions OR Rest
3. Resolve your workers

1. Rise a Civilization (in 1st round)

Select 1 civilization from the 5 civilization cards in the market. Take it and place it in front of you, near your technology card. Picks a number of worker tokens with your color from supply, to the population value indicated on the civilization card. If the newly picked card contains some bonus coins (will be explained shortly), you take these coins at the same time.

After that, place 1 coin from supply on each civilization card remaining in the market. These coins are called bonus coins which will be taken by the player who pick the card afterwards. Finally, draw a new civilization card from the deck and place it into the market.

Now the picked civilization is your main civilization. Each civilization have at least 2 ability which will help you in different ways. The upper ability is the main ability. It will be effective ONLY when the civilization is your main civilization. On the other hand, the lower ability is the legacy ability. It will be effective for the whole game, even the civilization is already declined.

For detail explanation of the abilities, see Civilizations.

Example: Picking Egypt as your main civilization when its population value is 4 means you pick 4 worker tokens. Egypt's upper (green-bordered) region is its main ability, active only while Egypt is your main civilization; its lower (black-bordered) region is its legacy ability, which stays active for the whole game even after Egypt has declined.

2A. Takes Actions

You may take actions by assigning your worker tokens to the action slots.

There are 10 kinds of action in the game, but (without special ability) there are only 6 kinds of them available in each round normally. The 3 actions on the permanent action card: Wonder, Research and Enslave are available in each round. While the action cards underneath the permanent action card are the other 3 actions available in current round. The rest of the action cards are NOT available for assigning workers currently.

Example: In the 1st round, the 6 available actions are Wonder, Research, Enslave, Hunt, Build and Fish.

For each action, the requirement is indicated in the lower part. It represents how many workers and cost are required to perform the action. To perform the action, place the worker(s) required on the action slot. If the slot has a Cost on it (e.g. Wonder, Culture), you MUST pay that number of coins to the supply. After that, activate the effect, which is indicated in the upper part. (Each action slot can only be used once in a turn)

Example: On the Culture action card, the upper (orange) region is the effect of the action (+2 scores); the lower (blue) region is the requirement of the action (an action slot costing $4). To perform Culture: place 1 worker on the action slot, pay 4 coins to the supply as there is a cost of "$4" printed in the slot, then gain 2 scores.

Therefore, number of workers (and coins) you have would highly affect the number of actions you could perform in a turn.

You are not required to assign all your worker to action slot.

For detail explanation of each action, see Actions.

IMPORTANT RULES: There are couple of action modifying ability brought by civilization and technology. When you are taking an action, pay attention if you have according effects which may enhance the action's value. For detail, see Technologies and Civilizations.

2B. Rest

If you choose to rest, you take NO action this turn. All of your workers are not assigned.

You gain 2 coins and gain 1 worker token immediately.

3. Resolve Your Workers

Each of your workers may resolve differently at the end of your turn. Workers assigned to WHITE action slots, or not assigned in this turn, will all return to you, and they can be assigned again next turn.

Workers assigned to RED action slots are sacrificed: return them to the supply, and you will have less worker next turn.

Turn End

When you finish all the above steps, activate all your "Every turn end" abilities in any order of your choice. Then the next player start his or her turn.

Round End (in 1st - 6th round)

When all players have finished their turn, the current round ends. Carry out the followings in order:

1. The starting player pass the starter token to the next player in counter-clockwise direction. The player receives the starter token will be the starting player of the next round.
2. Move the permanent action card to the right by 1 card slot. As a result, 1 action card of the previous round will become unavailable, and 1 new action card will be available for the next round.
3. Observe the upper left corner of the NEW action card.
   • If there is a War symbol: Compare Military strength of all players. The player with the least Military strength must sacrifice 1 worker. If there are more than 1 player with the least Military strength, all of these players sacrifice 1 worker.
     • Your value of military strength is the amount of Military Strength (shield) symbols on your civilizations and technologies.
   • If there is a Sacrifice symbol: All players must sacrifice 1 worker.

Example: If a War symbol appears on the new action card revealed for the 2nd round, the player(s) with the least Military strength must sacrifice 1 worker. The 6 available actions in the 2nd round in this example are Wonder, Research, Enslave, Build, Fish and Conquest.

Hence, proceed to next round with the new starting player's turn.

Following Turns (in 2nd - 6th round)

In following turns, you:

1. Rise a new civilization OR Annex a civilization OR Skip this step
2. Take actions OR Rest (see Takes Actions & Rest)
3. Resolve your workers (see Resolve Your Workers)

1A) Rise a Civilization (in 2nd - 6th round)

Like in the 1st round, select one civilization from the 5 civilization cards in the market. Take it and place it on top of your main civilization, but keeps all the legacy abilities of your civilizations cards revealed.

Your previous civilization is considered to be declined, its main ability will never be effective in the game. Instead, you receive a new main ability from the new civilization, and also ALL the legacy abilities of your civilization cards.

Discard all your worker tokens to the supply, and again picks a number of worker tokens to the population value indicated on the new civilization card. If the newly picked card contains some bonus coins, you take these coins at the same time.

After that, place 1 coin from supply on each civilization card remaining in the market as bonus coins. Finally, draw a new civilization card from the deck and place it into the market.

1B) Annex a Civilization (in 2nd - 6th round)

Select one civilization from the 5 civilization cards in the market. Take it and place it below your main civilization, but keeps all the legacy effect(s) of your civilizations card(s) revealed.

Example: For a player ruling Egypt, and annexing Arabia — the player's civilization stack shows Egypt on top (unchanged main civilization) with Arabia placed below it, its legacy ability (Trade + coin) now active.

In this case, your main civilization (and main ability) doesn't change. You receive the legacy ability of the annexed civilization.

You will NOT renew your population by annex a civilization, but you could gain 1 worker token if you have less than 4. In some situation, your worker amount may exceed the original population value of your main civilization after the annexation.

If the newly picked card contains some bonus coins, you take these coins at the same time, just like you rise the civilization.

After that, place 1 coin from supply on each civilization card remaining in the market as bonus coins. Finally, draw a new civilization card from the deck and place it into the market.

IMPORTANT RULES: In a game, each player may own 3 civilization cards AT MOST. If you have 3 civilization cards (stacking in a row) in front of you, you could not rise or annex another civilization, and you could only skip the 1st step in your turn.

1C) Skip this Step (in 2nd - 6th round)

Do nothing to the civilization market. You simply skip this step and proceed to step 2 "Take actions".

Game End

When the 6th round ends (the permanent action card should be at the right end of the time track), each players activate their "Game end" abilities. After that, the player with the highest score wins. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most workers wins. If still tie, the tied player with the most coins wins. If still tie, the tied players share victory!

Details

This section (Actions, Technologies, Civilizations below) clarifies requirements and effects of the game's actions, technologies, and civilizations.

Actions

This section clarifies requirements and effects of all 10 actions.

Wonder

Requirement: 1 worker (will be sacrificed) and 7 coins.

Effect: gain 3 scores and gain a wonder.

Research

Requirement: 1 worker and 4 coins.

(There are 2 action slots of Research, which means players may perform this action twice in a turn, with 2 workers and 8 coins.)

Effect: gain 1 score and gain a technology.

Enslave

Requirement: 1 worker (will be sacrificed).

Effect: gain 2 coins.

Culture

Requirement: 1 worker and 4 coins.

Effect: gain 2 scores.

Build

Requirement: 2 workers and 2 coins.

Effect: gain 2 scores.

Conquest

Requirement: 1 worker (will be sacrificed).

Effect: If you have the most Military strength, gain 2 scores. If there are more than 1 player with the most Military strength, all of these players are considered as having the most Military strength.

(Players are allowed to perform "Conquest" even though they are not having the most Military strength. With some modifiers, the action could still generate some benefits in this case.)

Hunt

Requirement: 1 worker.

(There are 2 action slots of Hunt, which means players may perform this action twice in a turn, with 2 workers.)

Effect: gain 1 coin. And if you have no technology, gain 1 score, too.

Fish

Requirement: 1 worker.

Effect: gain 1 coin.

Trade

Requirement: 1 worker.

Effect: gain 2 coins. All other players gain 1 coin.

Farm

Requirement: 2 worker.

Effect: gain 3 coins.

Plague

Plague is NOT an action. This card has no action slot and will sacrifice 1 worker of all players when it comes into the round as a new card.

Technologies

Writing, Sailing and Mining are the only three available technologies in the beginning, as they have no prerequisite. Following is the 3 unlocking path of the other technologies:

• Writing — Culture: +1 score — unlocks →
  • Education — Every turn end: you may "Culture" for free (no worker required) — unlocks →
    • Science — When you gain this, +1 score per future action (you immediately gain a number of scores equal to the number of upcoming action cards remaining on the time track)
  • Education also unlocks →
    • Engineering — Game end: +1 score per Wonder you own; and Build: +1 score
• Sailing — gain 1 Military Strength; Fish: +1 coin; Trade: +1 coin — unlocks →
  • Mathematics — Research: −$ (reduced cost) — unlocks →
    • Science (also reachable from Education, see above)
  • Mathematics also unlocks →
    • Engineering (also reachable from Education, see above)
• Mining — gain 2 Military Strength; Build: −$ (reduced cost) — unlocks →
  • Iron Working — gain 3 Military Strength — unlocks →
    • Engineering (also reachable from Mathematics, see above)
    • Gunpowder — gain 3 Military Strength; Conquest: +1 score

Remarks: This is not necessary to gain all the technologies on the same path. For example, you gain a new technology while you have Writing and Education, you may choose from Science, Engineering, Sailing and Mining.

Following section clarifies some special effects of technologies.

Education: Every turn end: you may "Culture"

Whenever YOUR turn end, you may perform "Culture" action for ONCE. This action does not require worker assignment, but it is necessary to pay the cost ($4). All your abilities which can modify "Culture" action are effective, just like you perform the action normally.

Science: When you gain this, +1 score per future round

When you gain this technology, you immediately gain a number of scores, to the number of upcoming action cards in the time track. For example, if you gain it in 4th round, you gain 2 extra scores as there are 2 upcoming action cards.

Sailing, Mining, Engineering and Gunpowder:

These technologies have 2 abilities. BOTH of the 2 abilities are effective.

Civilizations

This section provide examples for clarifying effects of civilizations.

China's main ability: Whenever you perform "Farm" action, you gain 1 worker token from the supply if you have less than 4. This worker is ready for assignment immediately. Be aware that workers assigned to red action slot will be sacrificed (go to the supply) while worker resolving, so it is not possible to gain the assigned worker back by China's ability in the same turn.

India's main ability: You have an extra action slot of "Culture" which can be used by you only. There are lots of similar effects on other civilizations, such as Aztecs, Celts and Indonesia. These actions are exactly the same as the corresponding action in the time track, and all your action modifying abilities are effective normally.

Rome's main ability: For every 2 technologies you have, you have 1 extra Military Strength.

Arabia's main ability: Whenever YOUR turn end, for every technology you have, you gain 1 coin. Maximum for 3 coins every time.

Mongolia's main ability: Whenever you perform "Conquest" action, ALL other players must sacrifice 1 worker of him/her. (It is not necessarily to have the most Military Strength to perform "Conquest" action.)

Vikings' main ability: ALL other players cannot perform "Trade" action, including the "Trade" action provided by abilities.

Hittites' main ability: When you perform "Research" action and you are going to gain Iron Working, the action cost is reduced to $0. Worker assignment to the "Research" action slot is still necessary.

Carthage's main ability: When you rise Carthage as your new civilization, the bonus coins on the card of Carthage are tripled.

Aztecs' main ability: Whenever you perform "Wonder" action, you pay 5 less coins, but you MUST place 1 more worker to the action slot, which will also be sacrificed while worker resolving.

Babylon's main ability: Whenever YOUR turn end, you gain an available technology. Be aware that you won't earn the 1 score point from "Research" as you are not performing "Research" action.

Japan's main ability: Whenever you perform "Culture" action, you pay X coins less, while X = your value of Military strength.

Polynesia's main ability: It has two main abilities. BOTH are effective. The upper ability: You will never sacrifice worker by effect of war. The lower ability: Whenever you perform "Fish" action, you gain 1 extra coin.

Maya's main ability: It has two main abilities. BOTH are effective. The upper ability: You may perform actions on the upcoming action cards (the actions not yet available in the game). The lower ability: Whenever you perform "Farm" action, you gain 1 extra coin.

Kongo's main ability: Whenever your workers are sacrificed (by any reason), you gain 2 coins. Be aware that workers assigned to red action slot will be sacrificed while worker resolving, hence the 2 coins caused by this sacrifice are earned while worker resolving, too. When you rise another civilization, Kongo's worker are not regarded as sacrificed.

Drafting Game

The drafting game is a variant of the base game. You will need to know the basic rules before reading this. We recommend advanced players to try this variant as it provides more strategic planning, and less randomness.

Key Concept of the drafting game:

In the beginning, each player has a hand of civilization cards by "Card Drafting". And players could Rise or Annex civilization cards from their hand OR from the market.

Variants in SETUP:

After setup the game according to basic rules (see Setup), each player receives a hand of 4 civilization cards, dealt randomly. Each player looks at their hand without showing it to other players and selects a card before placing it face down before them. The remaining cards are placed between their left-hand neighbor and themselves. Once every player has selected his or her card, each player takes the hand of cards handed from his or her neighbor. Then repeat the process.

After Selecting the 3rd card, each player takes the 4th card handed from his or her neighbor. These 4 cards will be the civilization hand of the players throughout the game.

Variants in GAME PLAY:

Play the game according to basic rules (see Playing the Game), but with the following variants:

1. When you Rise or Annex civilization, you may choose a card from your hand OR the civilization market. No matter the origin of the card, DO NOT place bonus coin on civilization card in the market and DO NOT draw a new civilization card from the deck and place it into the market.
2. When you Rise your civilization in the 1st round, you take no bonus coin. When you Rise or Annex civilization, no matter the origin of the card, you take 2 bonus coins.
3. You will never draw new cards to your hand.
4. If all the cards in civilization market were taken, players could only choose civilization from their own hand to Rise or Annex.
5. Across the game, players could not show their hand to others.

Carthage's main ability in the drafting game: When you rise Carthage as your new civilization, you take 6 bonus coins.

Solo Game

The solo game is a variant of the base game. You will need to know the basic rules before reading this.

GOAL of the solo game:

Try to earn high score to unlock achievements (see Achievements).

Variants in SETUP:

Setup the game according to basic rules (see Setup), but with the following variants:

1. Take out the civilization cards Mongolia, Vikings and Germania before shuffling the civilization card deck. They are not suitable for solo game.
2. Number of cards in wonder market should be 4.
3. While preparing the time track, take the Plague out before you shuffle the action cards. Starting from the left, the Plague should be placed at the 5th position. Fill up the other positions by the shuffled action cards randomly. That means, the Plague will always come into the 3rd round.
4. Same as multi-player game, you takes 3 coins from supply but no need to take the starter token.

Variants in GAME PLAY:

Play the game according to basic rules (see Playing the Game), but with the following variants:

1. When you rise or annex civilization, DO NOT place bonus coins on the other civilization cards and DO NOT draw new cards for the market.
2. When a round end (right after your turn end in solo game), place 1 bonus coin on each civilization cards in the market. After that, draw and place 1 new civilization cards into the market. Different from the multi-player game, the amount of civilization cards in market may varies from round to round.

When Military strength comparison is required (e.g. at War, Conquest), you are competed with a single virtual opponent. When a round end, before moving the permanent action card and any War/Sacrifice, take 1 technology token from supply and place it near the time track. The amount of token is the current Military strength of the virtual opponent. For example, if there is a war at the end of 2nd round, there should be 2 technology tokens near the time track, hence the strength of the opponent is 2 Military Strength.

3. When the game end (and after the Game end abilities activated), see if you can achieve the following challenging achievements. Try different strategy to build up enchanting and unique civilizations to achieve all the achievements!

Achievements

Achievements	Requirements
Remarkable Clan	Earn 20 or more scores
Great Kingdom	Earn 25 or more scores
Mighty Empire	Earn 30 or more scores
Eternal Civilization	Earn 35 or more scores
Realm of Technology	Earn 25 or more scores with 9 Technologies
Realm of Primitive	Earn 25 or more scores with no Technology
Super Power	Earn 25 or more scores with 3 or less Technologies, and 9 or more Military Strength
World of Wonders	Earn 25 or more scores with 4 Wonders
Large Unity	Earn 25 or more scores with 2 or more 4-population-civilization
Small but Glorious	Earn 25 or more scores with 2 or more 2-population-civilization

Credits

Game Design: Jeffrey CCH

Producer and Game Development: Jeffrey CCH and Kenneth YWN

Graphic Design: Vincci lala

Cover and Wonder Art: Rubens Ma

2019 ICE Makes Limited. All rights reserved. Made in China.

Website: www.icemakesboardgame.com

Email: [email protected]