Age of Craft Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Overview
• Game Setup (The First Game)
• Game Play
  • 1. Income Phase
  • 2. Acquisition Phase
  • 3. Negotiation Phase
  • 4. Building Phase
• The Game's End
• Regarding the Random Supply
• Game Strategy
• Regarding Negotiation
• Regarding Card Effects
• Card Details

Contents

• Basic Cards (B): 52 ("Residence" x12, others x8)
• Random Cards: 116 (29 kinds x4)
  • Attack (A): 4 kinds
  • Conversion (C): 4 kinds
  • Large Point Value (L): 4 kinds
  • Negotiation (N): 4 kinds
  • Defense (D): 4 kinds
  • Other (O): 9 kinds
• Start Card (S): "Deserted Village" x4
• Dice: 50
• Rulebook: 1

Game Overview

In this world, there are 6 resources, and they are represented by the faces of the dice.

1. Unemployed laborers, people who have not yet become prosperous. Whether they become dissidents or a solid source of labor is up to your guidance.
2. Food such as wheat. It's a resource that is necessary to obtain bountiful production.
3. Livestock such as horses and camels. You will likely have them aid you in trading and mining activities.
4. Lumber. Starting with the Marketplace, construct buildings that convert resources.
5. Ore such as copper and iron. Use it to protect your wealth from enemies.
6. Gold and gems. Buildings filled with treasure will bring you great fame.

Game Setup (The First Game)

• Place cards in the center of the table in the following manner to create the "Supply."
  • Divide the Basic Cards into their various types and lay out 6 piles consisting of "Wheat Field," "Stock Farm," "Lumber Mill," "Mine," "Mercantile House," and "Residence" in a row. This is called the "Basic Supply."
  • From the Random Cards, take out "Land of Thieves," "Guest House," "Marketplace," "Warehouse," "Great Rampart," "Trading Post," and "Library" (4 cards each), and line them up in 7 piles. This is called the "Random Supply."
  • For those who are playing for the first time, we recommend using the above 7 kinds of cards. The remaining Random Cards will not be used in this game.
• Leave the dice in the center of the table. This is called the "Stock."
• Turn the game lid upside down, or use a commercially available dice tray, to create a place for rolling the dice. This is called the "Dice Tray."
• Each player receives 1 "Deserted Village" and places it in front of him in his "play area." When playing with 3 or fewer people, the excess "Deserted Village" cards are removed from the game.
• Each player receives 3 dice and rolls them, then places them in front of him in his "dice area." The person with the highest total becomes the Start Player. (In the case of a tie, please re-roll.)
• Beginning with the Start Player and proceeding clockwise around one time, please take one of the following two actions, A or B.
  • A: Exchange your own dice in front of you with the dice of another player.
  • B: Pass.

This concludes the setup.

Game Play

Beginning with the Start Player and proceeding clockwise, continuing until the end of the game, each player takes a turn.

Each turn is composed of the following 4 phases, which are completed in order.

1. Income Phase

First, the active player takes 3 dice from the Stock and rolls them in the Dice Tray. At this time, perform the "Bust Check." Each player checks to see whether the total number of dice in his dice area is larger than the total value of the rolled dice. If it is larger, that player will carry out the Bust procedure.

Be sure to check the number of dice in the dice area (not the value).

Bust procedure: Take half of the dice in your dice area (rounded down) and place them in the Dice Tray. When doing so, you must start with the dice that have the highest value and work down.

2. Acquisition Phase

Starting with the active player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes 1 die from the Dice Tray and places it in his own dice area. This action repeats until the Dice Tray is empty.

When there are 4 players, unless a Bust occurs, only 3 people will gain dice.

3. Negotiation Phase

The active player may use the dice in his dice area to negotiate, attempting to exchange them with other players. In this event, the numbers of dice exchanged do not have to be equal. For example, the player may say, "I will give you a 3 and a 4, will you give me a 6?" If the negotiation is successful, hand each other the dice.

4. Building Phase

The active player may pay the dice in his dice area to "build" a card from the Supply.

If the player pays sufficient dice, he may build as many cards as possible at the same time.

With some exceptions, the built cards cannot use their abilities on the same turn. (Any victory points are applied immediately.)

When all building has been completed, the player's turn ends, and play proceeds to the left.

The Game's End

When concluding a turn, if either A or B below has occurred, the game ends.

• A: The total points in a player's play area has reached 20 or more.
• B: Every "Mercantile House" in the Basic Supply is gone.

At that point, the player with the highest total points is the winner. In the case of a tie, please share the victory.

Regarding the Random Supply

When you have become familiar with the game, you can enjoy putting together different combinations of Random Cards, so that the Supply changes every time you play.

Take one of each of the Random Cards and use them as randomizers. Divide them into groups based on the letter in the lower left corner (A, N, C, D, L, O), shuffle each group, and select one from each (2 from O). This way, you have chosen 7 new kinds of cards for a new Random Supply. Add the remaining 3 cards to each Supply pile and begin the game.

As a convenient method, you may also shuffle together 29 randomizers and select 7 cards from among them. However, it cannot be guaranteed that this will result in a balanced game. It is easy for there to be an imbalance in the dice required for building, so it may result in more chaotic developments.

Game Strategy

In order to win, you must construct many buildings. In order to do this, what you need above everything else are dice, which are the resources.

In the beginning of the game, it is probably good to increase the number of your dice. Among the Basic Cards, if you build from the "Wheat Field" to the "Mine," you will be able to gain resources every turn from then on. To accomplish this, you will likely want dice of value 2. It could be said that food is the most valuable resource at the start.

In the event that you are unlucky with your dice and are unable to acquire a production card, please build a Negotiation (N) card or an Attack (A) card.

Most Attack cards do not just hurt your opponent, they are also designed to give you a benefit.

Negotiation cards not only encourage active negotiation, they are set with point values that are high in comparison to their cost.

If you have sufficient dice, you may finally build a large point value card.

It depends on the Supply, but accumulating the "Mercantile House" or the "Residence" are the major strategies. By collecting them, the former increases your building speed, while the latter makes your point total jump higher. At this stage, the most important resources are dice of values 5 and 6.

However, at this time, if you do not have at least one Conversion (C) card, it may be difficult to win. In the endgame, most players will decline to negotiate with you.

Regarding Negotiation

A "successful negotiation" refers to exchanging dice bearing different values with another player. Exchanging dice of the same value is not considered to be a successful negotiation.

With the exception of certain card abilities, you may not donate dice to another player.

You may add promises to the exchange (such as a promise not to attack). You must engage in the dice exchange immediately, but there is no obligation to honor any promises made.

Regarding Card Effects

• If the same card has multiple abilities, you may use as many as it has.
• Effects that begin with "T:..." can be used once per turn.
• Whether you use "T:..." effects is entirely voluntary. It is fine not to use them. Also, as long as there is no phase condition written, you can use them in any order. However, while in the middle of resolving one effect, you cannot insert another card's "T:..." ability.
• Effects that begin with "When built:..." occur immediately when the card is built.
• Effects that begin with "When:..." are abilities triggered by a specific condition, regardless of whose turn it is. However, if "you may" is written on the card, it is okay not to use the effect.
• In the event that the card effects of multiple players occur at the same time, resolve them in order beginning with the active player and continuing around clockwise.
• "Your dice" indicates the dice present in that player's dice area.
• "Discard the card" means to remove the card from the game.
• "Roll dice," "gain dice," and other such phrases, in which the source of the dice is unspecified, indicate that dice should be taken from the Stock.
• "Production card" refers to a card where the ability text contains the word [Production]. This is also indicated by an icon in the center of the card.
• "VP" refers to that card's Victory Points.
• Normally, dice that are located on top of a card cannot be targeted by attacks.

Card Details

• "Deserted Village": The "Leading Player" is the player with the highest total points. Even if the difference in points is 7 or more, you can only roll a maximum of 6 dice.
• "Residence": The number of VP is not per card; for example, if you have 4 cards, the entire set together is 10 points. Also, even if you have 7 or more, the total number of 18 points does not change.
• "Great Rampart": It is "Once per turn," so it activates when you suffer an attack, and after that, in the event that you are attacked by the next player, it also takes effect.
• "Public Works": As long as it is during your turn, you may pay two value 1 dice as many times as you like. This can even be done the same turn it is built.
• "Mounted Bandit" / "Land Shark": To "Exhaust" a card means that, until the player who owns the card's next turn ends, that card's ability cannot be used. Show this by flipping the card over or in some similar fashion.
• "Land Shark": This means, once you use this card's ability, you cannot use it on your next turn.
• "Mounted Bandit": The dice rolled at the end are taken from the Stock and returned to the Stock. If you are fortunate enough not to roll a 6, you may use the card again on your next turn.
• "Castle Gate": When your next turn ends, take the card that was turned sideways and return it to its original orientation.
• "Castle Gate": Since it says "you do not have to suffer the effect of an attack," you may voluntarily suffer an attack. (For example, the "Ninja Village.")
• Because the total number of 6 value dice in your possession is the point value, it is constantly changing. You could lose a large number of points if you Bust, or you could win at the end of another player's turn.