Arena: Roma II Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Components
• Setting Up
• Sequence of Play
  • Phase 1: Evaluate vacant spaces
  • Phase 2: Roll action dice
  • Phase 3: Perform actions
  • Battle
• End of the Game
• Variants
• Card Summary
  • Character Cards (yellow, 26 cards)
  • Building Cards (green, 29 cards)

Object of the Game

The revolt in Rome will not end for a long time to come! Join the action and find out who is the most powerful ruler by skillfully playing your cards. No matter if you strengthen your own position with strong cards like Arena or Ballista or if you augment your victory points with Templarius and Triremis - you will be the winner if you use your characters and buildings with wits. You may also combine "Roma II - Arena" with "Roma" and discover even more options.

Game Components

• 55 Cards – 26 character cards and 29 building cards.
  • Each card shows, in its top corner, a number over another number: the top number is the cost for playing the card (in Sestertii); the bottom number is the defense value — if, during battle, the defense value is matched or beat, the card must be discarded.
  • Below the cost/defense numbers is the name of the card, and below that, card text describing the effect of the card.
  • Character cards are yellow. Building cards are green.
  • Each card also carries a small die-icon in its corner showing how many action dice are needed to activate it:
    • A single die icon means you need 1 die in order to activate the card.
    • An "X" icon means you don't need a die for this card — it is active as long as it is face up on the table.
    • Two die icons means you need two dice for this card: 1 die to activate it, 1 die to find out how many victory points you will gain from it.
• 1 Icon bar – composed of 5 parts, which have to be assembled before playing the game. It shows all possible die results from 1 to 6 plus the icons for "bribery", "money" and "cards".
• 36 Victory points – available as 1 VP and 2 VP pieces.
• Money – the Sestertii, in various denominations, are used for paying the cost for playing cards.
• 3 Action dice for each player in their own color – these dice are used to activate cards, collect money or draw cards.
• 1 White battle die – used for battle.
• 1 Rules leaflet

Setting Up

Assemble the icon bar and place it in the middle of the playing area. This is where one player plays their cards, and the other side of the bar is where the other player plays their cards. One card may be played next to each die icon on either side.

Both players take 10 victory points each (referred to as VP hereafter) as their personal supply and the 3 action dice of the color of their choice.

All the money, the remaining 16 VP and the battle die are placed within easy reach of both players.

Shuffle the cards, deal 5 cards to each player. The players take these cards into their hand and give 2 cards face down to their opponent. The remaining cards are placed face down on the table as draw pile. All cards discarded during the game are placed on a common discard pile.

The players start the game with 10 victory points each.

The youngest player is the start player. They play all their hand cards face up on their side of the icon bar. The cards can be played next to any die number (die icon) from 1 to 6 and next to the bribery icon. The player chooses the icons they play their cards next to. A player may play only 1 card next to any icon on their side of the icon bar.

Each card played must clearly be assigned to one die icon. The spaces next to the icons "cards" and "money" always remain vacant.

Then the other player plays their cards the same way on their side of the icon bar, again it's their choice next to which icons (1 to 6, bribery) they play their cards.

Please note that "Arena - Roma II" is a complete game but can also be played in combination with the cards from "Roma". Please see the Variants section for details.

Please note: If you play "Arena" for the first time and have not played "Roma" so far, you may try the following rules for beginners: Turn over the part of the icon bar containing the "bribery" icon so that it is concealed and use only the icons which are visible now. Deal only 4 cards to each player at the beginning of the game instead of 5.

Sequence of Play

Starting with the start player both players alternatingly perform their complete turn. Each turn consists of 3 phases, which have to be performed in the following order.

• Phase 1: Evaluate vacant spaces
• Phase 2: Roll action dice
• Phase 3: Perform actions

Phase 1: Evaluate vacant spaces

If not all spaces on their side of the icon bar are occupied, the active player has to forfeit 1 VP of their personal supply for each vacant space on their side. Put the VP back to the general supply.

Note: The icons "Money" and "Cards" are not considered for this, as no cards can ever be played there.

During their first turn, the start player has to forfeit 2 VP. They start with 5 cards only, therefore there are 2 vacant spaces.

Phase 2: Roll action dice

The active player rolls their 3 action dice. In case all three dice are showing the same result the player may repeat the complete roll.

Note: Depending on the current situation it may even be profitable for the player to accept a roll of three identical results.

Phase 3: Perform actions

There are four possible actions the players may choose from. It's up to the player how often and in which order they perform which actions.

The action

• Play card(s)

does not require any dice. Instead the player has to pay money, depending on the card(s) played.

All following three actions

• Collect money
• Draw cards
• Activate a card

require 1 action die each.

The player assigns their die results rolled in phase 2 individually to the actions they want to perform. Each single die result may not be split and they may not assign any die result to several actions.

Please note: During their turn, a player may assign only 1 die to the "bribery" icon. More than 1 die may be assigned to all other icons, which means these actions may be performed more than once during a player's turn.

Example of a complete turn: It's Stefan's turn. After forfeiting 2 VP (because of 2 vacant spaces) he rolls his dice, rolling "3", "4" and "6". He decides to perform the following actions:

1. He uses "3" to draw cards. He keeps one in his hand (a "Taberna" card) and discards the other two.
2. He uses "6" to collect money. He takes 6 Sestertii from the general supply.
3. He plays one card (the "Taberna" which he just acquired) on the vacant place next to the die icon "4". He does not need an action for this. However he has to pay the card's cost and puts 7 Sestertii into the general supply.
4. He uses his last action die "4" to activate the "Taberna" he had just played. He gains 2 VP from the general supply because there are 2 face up characters on his opponent's side.

The actions are now explained in detail:

Play card(s)

Cards are played face up from your hand onto your side of the icon bar. Each card must clearly be assigned to one icon, i.e. played next to one specific item.

Adding cards: If you play a card on a place already occupied by a card, put the original card on the discard pile.

In order to play a card you have to pay into the general supply as many Sestertii as shown by its cost. If you cannot afford the complete amount, you cannot play the card.

Example: It costs 3 Sestertii to play the card "Triremis".

Collect money

You place one of your action dice on the "money" icon of the icon bar and take as many Sestertii from the general supply as shown by the die.

Example: You rolled "6" with one of your action dice. If you place the "6" on the "money" icon, you receive 6 Sestertii from the general supply.

Draw cards

You place one of your action dice on the "cards" icon of the icon bar and draw as many cards from the face down draw pile as shown by the die. You keep 1 of these cards and place the remainder of the cards drawn on the face up discard pile.

When the draw pile is exhausted, the discard pile is shuffled and placed face down as new draw pile.

There is no limit to the number of hand cards a player may hold.

Example: You rolled "4" with one of your action dice. If you place the "4" on the "cards" icon, you draw 4 cards from the draw pile and retain 1 of them.

Activate a card

You place one of your action dice on the die icon of the icon bar showing the same number as the action die or on the "bribery" icon.

The card next to this icon is now activated, which means that the effect as described on the card takes place immediately.

In order to activate the card next to the "bribery" icon the player must additionally pay as many Sestertii into the general supply as shown by the action die used for activating this card.

Example: You activate your card "Aquaeductus" by placing your "3" action die on the "3" die icon and remove 3 VP out of the general supply from the game.

If there is an identical result on several dice, you may activate the same card more than once. Please don't forget the one and only exception to this rule: The players may use the "bribery" icon only once during their turn.

[The effects of all cards are explained in the addendum — see the Card Summary section below.]

Example: The player places their action die "5" on the icon "bribery", paying 5 Sestertii. The card "Bestia" next to it is activated now. The player is attacking their opponent's card with the weakest defense value, a battle starts... The result of the battle die is "4", the opponent's defense value is only "3"; the card is defeated and has to be discarded.

Battle

Some cards allow the players to attack their opponent's cards [for details please check the card texts]. If there is a battle, the active player - always being the attacker - rolls the battle die once, the result is their attack value. If the attack value is higher than or equal to the defense value, the attacker wins and the defeated card is discarded. If the result is lower than the defense value, nothing happens.

Please note: Both attack and defense value may be modified by other face up cards. All modifications are cumulative.

Please note - the following cards may initiate a battle: Arena, Ballista, Bestia, Decurio, Mercennarius.

The cards Aries, Elephantus Militaris, Equitatus and Veneficus also affect the opponent's cards, but in these cases it's not a battle.

After a player's turn has ended, the other player takes their turn. A player's turn ends after they have completed all actions they had wanted to perform.

End of the Game

The game ends immediately if one of these conditions is met:

• The personal supply of VP's of one of the players is exhausted.
• The general supply of VP's is exhausted.

The player with most VP's is the winner of the game.

Please note: In case there are not sufficient VP's in the general supply when a player gains their last VP's, the missing VP's are still counted virtually.

Variants

"Arena - Roma II" and "Roma": "Arena" is a complete game of its own, but it may very well be combined with the cards from "Roma". These are the options:

1. You mix all the cards of both games. There is one large pile to play with.
2. Both players take one set of cards, both players will have their own draw and discard piles.
3. If both players can use the cards of both games, they may compile their own decks of 55 cards each. Again both players will have their own draw and discard piles.

Card Summary

Each card below is listed with its cost (Sestertii to play it) and its defense value, followed by how many copies are in the deck and the card's full effect text.

Character Cards (yellow, 26 cards)

• Decurio (Cost 5 / Defense 5) — [2x] Attacks a directly or diagonally opposite character. The battle die roll is increased by 1.
• Tuba (Cost 5 / Defense 3) — [1x] Is always active once being played face open. Attack die rolls may be repeated once.
• Veneficus (Cost 5 / Defense 3) — [1x] The opposite character card is placed on the discard pile.
• Elephantus Militaris (Cost 4 / Defense 4) — [2x] If the opposite card's defense value is 4 or less it is discarded.
• Maecenas (Cost 6 / Defense 3) — [2x] Allows to activate one of your other face up cards, the costs of which have to be paid anew.
• Magister (Cost 5 / Defense 3) — [2x] The Magister has no action of his own, instead he copies the action of the opposite character or building card.
• Pictor (Cost 3 / Defense 4) — [2x] Both players gain 1 victory point from the general supply for each of their own face up buildings.
• Philosophus (Cost 5 / Defense 3) — [2x] The player's opponent has one die less to roll with in their next turn.
• Praedator (Cost 2 / Defense 2) — [2x] The player discards one of their face up buildings and gains the equivalence of its defense value as victory points.
• Equitatus (Cost 8 / Defense 4) — [1x] The entire opponent's face up Forum cards are destroyed and put on the discard pile.
• Restaurator (Cost 4 / Defense 3) — [1x] The player may search the discard pile and take one building of their choice on their hand.
• Mercennarius (Cost 5 / Defense 5) — [2x] Attacks the opposite card. Per 3 Sestertii the player pays they may increase their battle die roll by 1.
• Speculator (Cost 3 / Defense 4) — [2x] The player may look at their opponent's hand and add one of these cards to their hand.
• Templarius (Cost 1 / Defense 4) — [2x] The active player rolls the battle die. They gain half of its result (rounded up) as victory points from the general supply.
• Bestia (Cost 3 / Defense 3) — [2x] Attacks the opponent's card with the weakest defense value. If several cards qualify, the active player chooses one.

Building Cards (green, 29 cards)

• Aquaeductus (Cost 1 / Defense 5) — [1x] 3 victory points of the general supply are removed from the game.
• Arena (Cost 6 / Defense 3) — [2x] The player attacks all of their opponent's characters, one after the other (from 1 to 6). After the first one is defeated, their attack is finished.
• Fons Bacchi (Cost 4 / Defense 4) — [1x] At the start of their turn the player may reroll once as many action dice as they want.
• Ballista (Cost 6 / Defense 4) — [2x] Attacks a directly or diagonally opposite building. The battle die roll is increased by 1.
• Fortuna (Cost 0 / Defense 2) — [2x] The player puts all their hand cards on the discard pile and draws an equal number of cards from the draw pile.
• Forum (Cost 5 / Defense 5) — [4x] The player gains as many victory points from the general supply as the result of one of their unused action dice.
• Triremis (Cost 3 / Defense 5) — [2x] The player gains 3 victory points from the general supply if they have more face up characters than their opponent.
• Portus (Cost 3 / Defense 5) — [2x] Allows the player to swap one of their face up cards for one of their own hand cards.
• Castra (Cost 6 / Defense 4) — [2x] The player draws the top card from the draw pile and plays it on any unoccupied space on their side without paying for it.
• Statua Jovis (Cost 9 / Defense 6) — [1x] The player may destroy any 1 of their opponent's face up cards if they pay 10 Sestertii.
• Carrus Bovinus (Cost 5 / Defense 4) — [1x] If the player's personal supply of victory points is less than 5, they fill it up to 5.
• Offertorium (Cost 3 / Defense 2) — [2x] The player discards one of their face up characters and gains the equivalence of its defense value as victory points.
• Aries (Cost 7 / Defense 4) — [1x] The opposite building card is placed on the discard pile.
• Taberna (Cost 7 / Defense 3) — [2x] The player gains 1 victory point from the general supply for each of their opponent's face up characters.
• Via Cassia (Cost 5 / Defense 5) — [2x] Allows the player to perform the action of their adjacent card to the right or to the left.
• Telonium (Cost 4 / Defense 4) — [2x] Is always active once being played face open. Each time the player performs the action "collect money" they receive 2 Sestertii additionally.