City of Iron: Second Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What Will You Be Doing in This Game?
• Components
• Setup
• The Game
  • Overview
  • A Round of Play
    • Spring Phase
    • Summer Phase
    • Autumn Phase
    • Winter Phase
• Game End
• Buildings
• Towns
• Other Rules
• Nations
• Sample Round
• Card Abilities / Building Clarifications
• Citizen Cards
• Military Cards
• Variants
• Credits

What Will You Be Doing in This Game?

In City of Iron, each player leads one of four nations in a struggle to become the most powerful and influential in the world. The goal of the game is to earn more INFLUENCE than any player. Influence is a representation of a nation's power, prestige, and sway in the world of Arzium. The main way to earn influence is to control the most of various goods. Players gain control of goods by purchasing BUILDING CARDS from a community pool and placing them in their cities. Players can also gain control of goods by conquering and controlling TOWN CARDS.

Each player also has a deck of EXPERT CARDS that can be used to complete special actions. There are two types of expert cards: citizen and military (one deck for each type). Players start with a few cards in each deck, and throughout the game can purchase new cards to add to their decks, which can be reused over and over again. If you have played a "deck-building" game, this will feel similar, except that instead of just one deck, you will be building and customizing two. Expert cards let you settle new cities, conquer town cards, or complete myriad other special actions.

After seven rounds, the game ends. The player with the most influence is the winner.

Components

• Game Board
• Coins (30 ones, 6 fives, 3 tens)
• Brown Wooden Discs (2)
• Nation Boards (4)
• Districts (4 Capital/Imperial, 8 Trade/Industry, 6 Military/Slum)
• Science tokens (15)
• Steambots (12) — Note: the opposite side is used only in the "Point Salad" variant.
• Buy Pool Cards (4)
• Player Aid Cards (4)
• Action Tokens (3)
• 20 Wooden Cubes (4 sets in different colors)
• Lands (12)
• Town Cards (15)
• "A" Building Cards (27)
• "B" Building Cards (23)
• "C" Building Cards (19)
• Expert Cards: City-State of Arc (28)
• Expert Cards: Toads of Om (28)
• Expert Cards: Hog Republic (28)
• Expert Cards: Cresaria (28)
• Goods: Turnip, Srika, Glow Moss, Ore, Lecker Tentacle, Salt, Machine Part, Bottled Demon, Silk, Magic Crystal

Setup

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table. Place the coins and science tokens off to the side of the board. This is the supply.

2. Each player chooses a nation and places the corresponding nation board in front of them. Each player also takes the following components and sets them up as shown:

   A. Land — that matches the picture on the nation board.

   B. Capital District — placed on the land, Imperial side down. A land with at least one district is known as a city — this is a starting city.

   C. 7 Coins

   D. Other Districts — 2 Trade/Industry Districts, 1 Military/Slum District. Keep these districts off to the side for later use.

   E. Expert Cards — Each player takes their expert cards. The nation symbol on the back of the cards matches the symbol on the nation board. Each player makes their starting citizen and military decks. The cards are placed face down on the nation board as shown above. The player chooses the order of the cards. Citizen cards have a blue-green sky and military cards have a yellow sky.

   The starting citizen deck comprises: Scholar, Cartographer (and Fixer, for the Toad player). The starting military deck comprises: Soldier, Captain (the Gunslinger replaces the Captain for the Hog player).

   F. Wooden Cubes — these match the color of the nation symbol.

   G. Buy Pool Card — placed to the left of the nation board.

3. Each player places their own remaining, unused expert cards face down onto their buy pool card. This is the player's expert deck, and consists of cards the player may purchase and add to their citizen or military decks throughout the game. Each player has their own expert deck—the decks are not shared. A player may look through the cards in his buy pool at any time, and the cards need not be in any specific order.

4. Line up the remaining lands either above or to the side of the game board in the center of the table so that all are showing (put any extra, unused starting lands in the box — starting lands have zero distance).

   If playing with two players, also put the Isle of Wyrms and Balian Dunes in the box.

5. Create the building deck. Separate the building cards into three piles according to type (A, B and C). Card type is indicated on the back of each card.

   If playing with three players, remove all cards that have four dots. Place these cards in the box.

   If playing with two players, remove all cards that have three or four dots. Place these cards in the box.

   Shuffle each deck separately. Place the finished building decks next to the game board.

6. Fill the building card spaces on the game board by drawing from the "A" building deck. Place buildings from left to right either below the bottom edge of the game board or over the top of the landscape on the game board (you can place buildings on the board instead of below it to save space, if you prefer). If playing with two players, leave empty any card spaces with three dots or four dots. If playing with three players, leave empty any card spaces with four dots. If playing with four players, fill all 12 card spaces. (There are 12 building card spaces along the bottom of the board.)

7. Separate the three types of town cards into three piles (one, two, and three stars — indicated next to the title).

   If playing with three players, put Estra and Rabren in the box. You will not need them.

   If playing with two players, put Lylark, Estra, and Rabren in the box. You will not need them.

   Organize the cards so that the "Unconquered" sides are face up. Shuffle each pile (while closing your eyes or looking away). Place each pile next to the game board, with the "Unconquered" side face up.

8. Each player places one of their wooden cubes on the "2" space on their income track at the top of their nation board. Base income is always 2 (as indicated to the right of the income track).

9. Place one brown, round disc on the round track on the game board in the first space (the space has an "A"). Place another brown round disc on the action track on the game board, on the space marked "1".

10. In City of Iron players bid for turn order. Use a random method to decide which order players will bid for the first turn's bid order. Take one cube from each player and place the cubes in bid order from left to right on the bid track on the board.

    If playing with four players, the left-most space on the turn order track may be used (indicated by four dots). If playing with fewer than four, this space may not be used.

11. Each player draws one citizen card from the top of their citizen deck and places it into their hand.

You are now ready to play.

Note: You do not need the steambots or action tokens unless using their game variants, detailed under Variants.

The Game

Overview

In City of Iron, players take on the role of the leader of a growing nation in a strange, fantasy world. Each nation starts out with a single city with five population — the city can hold five building cards (each building requires one population). Deciding which building cards to put in your city is key to winning the game. Buildings give access to various goods. Each round, the player with the most goods of each type receives a coin bonus. At each score phase, players will also score influence for having the most of each type of good. Players will find they must expand their starting city or settle new cities in faraway lands to be able to build more buildings. Some of these lands will require ships or airships to reach, but they also hold rare and powerful goods. Players also use cards from their military and citizen decks that will grant special actions, let players conquer towns, or settle new cities. After seven rounds, the player with the most influence is the winner.

A Round of Play

Spring Phase

Return Cubes to Bid Order Track

If the players' cubes are on the turn order track, slide them down to the bid order track, keeping them in the same order.

Turn Order Bid

At the start of each round, players bid for turn order. Players bid in order from left to right on the bid order track. When a player bids, they remove their cube from the bid order track and place it on any open spot on the turn order track (just above the bid order track). Each player may only bid once. As soon as a player places their cube, they pay the indicated amount in coins (or gain one coin, if so indicated by the space).

When all players have bid, start the round. Turn order is opposite of bid order, right to left (as indicated by the green arrows on the game board).

For an example of how this works, please see the second paragraph of the section "Sample Round of Play" below.

Summer Phase

3 Actions

In turn order, players take actions one at a time. Each player takes three actions per round, but may only use one each turn. The first player in turn order should adjust the disc on the action track on the game board each time they take an action, to keep track of how many actions have been taken in the round. An action may be performed more than once in the round. Players may choose from the following actions:

Build: A player may buy a building card from the available building cards on the board (or a building card they have stored in their personal buy pool).

Once a player selects a card, they must pay the cost in coins and science. They must also have an available population in one of their cities (a land with at least one district on it is known as a city) — each building takes one population. A starting city has five population, so it can hold five building cards. Also, the city must have the correct land type required by the building (for example, if the building requires desert, the city must have the desert land type). When a player buys the card, they place it just below their city. If the new building card produces goods, the player marks the numbers and types of goods the card produces on the game board with their cubes (for example, if the card produces two turnips, the player should increase their total number of turnips on the circular turnip track on the game board by two). Also, if the building card increases a player's income, the player marks the increase on the income track on their player board.

IMPORTANT: A player only needs to pay science once per building type as long as they own it. For example, if a player owns "Demon Traders", the next "Demon Traders" card they build costs 0 science.

A player may destroy a building to open up a population for a new one.

The build action is further described in the "Buildings" section below.

Store: If a player wants to save a building card to purchase for later, they may take one of the available building cards from the game board and put it in their buy pool (not in one of their cities). There is no limit to the number of cards a player can store in their buy pool. The player does not need to pay the cost of the card until they build it.

Draw: A player may draw one card from either their citizen deck or military deck and put it in their hand. There is no hand limit. If there are no remaining cards in a draw pile and a player wants to draw from it, they should pick up the cards in the associated discard pile (do not change the order) and place them face down in the draw pile. If there are no cards in the citizen or military discard or draw piles, the player may not draw.

Research: A player may gain one Science token by paying four coins.

Expert Action: A player may play one of the citizen or military cards in their hand to perform an expert action listed on the card. When a card is played to perform a listed action, sometimes additional cards need to be played to pay for that action with skill symbols. Some expert actions require you to pay coins or other resources. The expert action is described in the area at the top of the card. The payment required (if any) is listed in a box to the left of the action description (followed by a white arrow pointing to the expert action).

When the action is played, all used cards should be placed on the table, face up, in front of the player. At the end of the player's turn, all used cards should be discarded face up in their appropriate discard piles (citizen or military). The player may choose the order of the cards discarded at. Once cards have been placed in the discard piles, they cannot be rearranged or shuffled.

All citizen and military cards have one or more skill symbols in hanging banners near the upper left corner of the card that can be used to pay for other cards' actions. There are three types of skills: distance (the compass symbol), hammer (the hammer symbol), and guns (the gun symbol).

A card that is played for its expert action may not also be used for its skill symbols. Citizen and military cards can be either used for the expert action or one type of skill symbol.

Using an expert action takes one action, unless the expert action is a "free action". A player may play any number of "free actions", on their turn before the player takes their normal Action. A "free action" may not be played on another player's turn or after a normal action. If a card is played for its "free action", it may not be used for its skill symbols. Do not discard cards separately for each free action/action — keep all played cards face up on the table until the end the turn, at which time all used cards are discarded together.

Expert Actions — reading the card

If the expert action displays an action symbol ("Build" for example), perform that action, with any alterations listed. If this card were played, for example, the player would build an available building card at a cost of -2 coins. Because this expert action lists no skill cost, the player would not need to discard additional citizen or military cards to pay for the action.

Note: the coin and science costs at the bottom of the card are not paid when performing the expert action — they are only paid once, when a player purchases the card to add to their hand and citizen or military deck.

This expert action can be performed up to two times. The player could pay two coins and gain one science, or pay four coins and gain two science.

This expert action requires the player to pay two coins to the supply.

If this card is used for its green banner distance in an attack action, it gains two green banner distance, for a total of four distance.

This expert action requires a player to discard other citizen or military cards whose total green banner distance is equal to the unclaimed land that the player wishes to claim to make a new city.

This symbol means the ability in the box is not an expert action, but a special ability that applies when specified. This is called a "Reaction".

This expert action allows a player to store a building card, but from the pile of discarded building cards.

This expert action requires that a player discard another citizen or military card with a hammer on a blue banner.

If there is a hand symbol, it means "gain". This expert action allows a player to gain one coin from the supply.

This expert action is a free action. (Two examples on the reference page illustrate this.)

Expert Action Example 1: Mary plays the Mayor card so that she can use his expert action. She places the card face up in front of her (not on her nation board). She also plays the Captain, a military card, for his blue banner hammer, to pay for the action. She then adds a slum district to her only city, placing the district next to the capital district. As a final step, she discards the Mayor and the Captain cards, placing them face up in the appropriate discard areas on her nation board.

Expert Action Example 2: Sarah plays the Strategist card so she can use his expert action. She places the card face up in front of her. The expert action on the Strategist requires no skill symbol payment, so she does not need to discard more cards. The action allows her to draw two military cards. There are no military cards in her military draw pile, but there is one military card in her military discard pile. She takes this card, flips it face down, and places it on the military card draw area on her nation board. She then draws the card. Because there are no more military cards available on her nation board, she cannot draw another card. She then places the Strategist in the citizen discard pile, face up.

Reactions: Some citizen and military cards have a reaction instead of an expert action. A player may play the card to use the reaction ability at a time or situation that is specified on the card. This does not take an action and may even sometimes be played on another player's turn (if specified in the action description). Some reactions give benefits when used as part of another specified action.

Tax: The player gains one coin from the supply.

Attack Town: A player may attack and claim an unconquered town card or a conquered town card (owned by another player). The player must play one or more citizen or military cards from their hand that have a combined guns skill that equals the defense value of the town card they are attacking (the red gun symbol), along with sufficient cards with a combined distance skill that equals the distance of the town. A citizen or military card cannot be used for its red banner guns skill and its green banner distance skill — the player must declare which skill they are using for each card.

The player then takes the town card, gaining any appropriate goods and marking them on the game board. Town cards do not take up a population and are not placed in one of the player's cities (they are placed to the side of the cities). The player should then increase their income on their nation board by one if the town gives income (displayed in the top right corner). Make sure the card is flipped so that the "Conquered" side is face up when you own it. Conquered towns have a higher defense value.

If the town card claimed was "Unconquered", discard the first available building card on the building track on the game board (starting from left to right).

When the player plays cards, they should be placed face up in front of them. The cards should not be discarded until everything related to the attack action is complete, at the very end of the turn.

Players cannot attack a town if they are unable to fully discard the required guns/distance skills.

Note: A player can play extra cards when attacking to use their reaction abilities, even if it means that the player will have excess guns skill or distance skill. Each card's skill use must still be declared.

Autumn Phase

When all players have taken all their actions, the Autumn Phase begins.

1. Discard Old Buildings: Discard the first four remaining building cards on the board (from left to right). Place these cards in a building discard pile. Slide the remaining buildings to the left so that there are no empty slots between cards or any empty slots to the left of the cards.

If playing with three players, leave any card slots with four dots empty.

If playing with two players, leave any card slots with three or four dots empty.

The four left-most cards are discarded. The remaining cards slide all the way to the left. After this, new building cards are drawn, filling up the empty slots to the right.

2. Draw New Buildings: Draw new building cards, filling up slots from left to right. In rounds one, two, and three, draw from deck A. In rounds four and five, draw from deck B. In rounds six and seven, draw from deck C. If a deck of building cards runs out, draw from the next available deck (for example, if deck A runs out, draw from deck B). If deck C runs out, shuffle all discarded buildings together and draw from this pile (after which, turn the pile face up on the table — it is still the discard pile).

If playing with three players, leave any card slots with four dots empty.

If playing with two players, leave any card slots with three or four dots empty.

3. Score: If this is the third, fifth, or seventh round, all players gain influence (a reminder of this is indicated just left the round track space on the game board). Consult the game board to see how much influence each player scores. Each good type gives influence to the player who has the most of that good (the higher number in the influence shield icon next to the good), and to the player who has the second-most of that good (the lower number in the influence shield icon next to the good). If players are tied for having the most of a good, they both score the higher number. If players are tied for having the second-most of a good, they both score the lower number. Also, if a player has an amount of goods equal to or above where the small, numberless influence shield is located on the amount track, that player receives +1 influence (they need not have 1st or 2nd place). Also include influence for owning buildings that give extra influence. Mark influence with player cubes on the influence track at the top of the game board (above the circular goods tracks). If this is the seventh round, the game ends.

After all players have scored, each player gains one science. Players only gain this science token on the third and fifth rounds, as indicated on the round track.

Use a cube to track influence. If you reach the end of the track, use a second cube.

4. Collect Coins/Science: All players collect coins equal to their income. Each player has a base income of 2 coins. Most building cards increase this number by one, as indicated in the top right corner of the building card. Most town cards also increase income by one as well. Players also receive coins for having the most goods of each type, as indicated on the game board at the bottom of each goods track. If players are tied for first place on a good, both collect the bonus coins. Some good types give one coin for having the most, while others give two coins for having the most. Example: Tom has more turnips than any other player, so he gains one extra coin when collecting coins.

Note: The easiest way to keep track of income is to use the income track on your nation board. Each time you gain a card that increases your income (town or building), indicate it on the income track. Then, when it's time to collect income, you only need to add the amount indicated on the track to any goods majority bonuses without having to count cards each time. Just remember to decrease income if a town is conquered or you destroy a building.

Each player also collects an amount of science tokens equal to those shown on Academy buildings they owns.

5. Draw Military and Citizen Cards: All players draw citizen and military cards from the two decks on their nation boards and put the cards in their hands. The amount of cards drawn is equal to the number of citizen and military card draw icons on districts and building cards they own. (The starting city, with a Capital district, gives 1 citizen card draw). If there are no cards remaining in the draw pile of a deck and a player needs to draw, they should pick up their discard pile for that deck (without shuffling or changing the order of cards), turn it face down and place it in the draw pile location, then draw. If there are no remaining cards, a player cannot draw.

6. Advance Round Counter: Move the round counter one space down. Return the action counter to the "1" space.

Winter Phase

Hire

When all players have finished collecting, the Winter Phase begins. In this phase, players may buy new citizen and military cards to use for the rest of the game.

1. Purchase Military & Citizen Cards: Players may now purchase new military and citizen cards from their respective buy pools.

A player may look through the cards in their buy pool at any time, but may only buy the citizen and military cards during the Winter Phase. (Building cards from the buy pool can only be built during the Summer Phase).

During the Winter Phase, players should place any cards they had in their hands to the side, face down on the table, so as not to confuse them with the cards from the buy pool.

Players may purchase as many cards from their buy pools as they can pay for. Players select the cards they want to buy in secret, placing them face down in front of them. When all players declare they are finished selecting cards, players reveal all new cards and pay the total coin and science cost indicated on the cards. When everyone has finished paying, each player places the new cards directly into their hand.

The unpurchased cards from the buy pool go back to the buy pool.

Once a citizen or military card has been purchased, the player never needs to pay the coin or science cost again. The card will cycle through the player's military or citizen deck and can be used over and over again.

At the end of Winter Phase, return to Spring Phase.

Game End

The game is over after players score in round seven. During final scoring, players also receive influence for completing goals listed on lands that they own.

• Most City Distance: The player must have more combined distance on all of their lands than any other player.
• Most Coins: The player must have more coins than any other player.
• Most Expert Cards: The player must have more citizen and military cards in their hand and on their nation board than any other player.
• Most of 1 Good: The player must have more of any one good type than any other player.
• 7+ Good Types: The player must have at least seven different types of goods (from all of their cities and towns).
• Most Owned Towns: The player must have more conquered towns than any other player.
• 4+ Buildings Here: The player must have at least four buildings on this city.
• All Land Types: The player must have all seven land types (counting all of his cities).
• 2+ Academies Here: The player must have at least two Academy buildings in this city.
• Most Science: The player must have more unused science tokens than any other player.

If the goal states that the player must have the most, they only gain the extra influence if they have more of the specified requirement than any other player.

After all influence has been counted, the player with the most is the winner. If players are tied, the player with the most coins is the winner. If players are still tied, the player with the most total goods is the winner.

Buildings

Building cards give a range of benefits. Some give special bonuses or increase your income, some give you science, and some produce goods. When a player builds a building card, they must put it in a city that has an available population. Each building takes one population, and a city's total population is listed on its district tokens. If a city has no free population, but a player wants to build a new building card, they must either add another district, settle a new city, or discard one of the previously-purchased building cards to make room for the new one.

District Tokens: Each player has one starting district, the Capital district, and three extra district tokens. The Capital district can be upgraded to an Imperial district (by using the Regent expert action and flipping the Capital district to the opposite side). Each district gives some population, and also gives a citizen or military card draw during the Autumn Phase.

Expand a City with a District: If a player wants to expand a city by adding a district, they must use the Mayor citizen card. When expanding the city, place the specified district token next to the other district tokens on the land. Depending on which district is chosen, a player will have 1 or 2 additional population for buildings, as well as a citizen or military card draw for the autumn phase. Cities may have multiple districts.

Land types: Grassland, Forest, Mountain, Coast, Desert, Jungle, Flying Island.

Settling a New City: If a player wants to settle a new city, they must use the Explorer citizen card. When playing the Explorer, additional cards must also be played that have a combined distance skill that equals the distance of the new, unused land which the player would like to claim. Some lands also require the use of an airship card or ship card. An airship card or ship card can be used for both its distance skill and airship/ship status. When the player settles a new city, they take the new land and place it next to their starting land. The player then places a district on it (the district type is specified on the Explorer card). Depending on the district chosen, the player will have two or three additional population for buildings, as well as a citizen or military draw for the autumn phase.

Note: some lands require a ship card when claiming it to settle a new city.

Land Requirements: Buildings that produce goods have land type requirements, which means that to build the building card in a city, that city must have the required land type. The land type requirement is specified on the building card, above the coin and science cost. Multiple buildings can use the same land symbol in the same city.

Science Cost of Buildings: Some building cards cost one or more science tokens in addition to coins. When building the card, a player must also pay the science cost. However, if that player already owns a building card of the same name in one of their cities, then they do not have to pay the science cost again; in this case, the science cost is now zero.

Towns

Town cards represent independent, neutral towns in the world of Arzium. Players may conquer these towns to increase their income and goods.

Towns do not take a spot in a city, and there is no limit to the number of towns a player can own.

A player may conquer one of the available neutral, face up towns on one of the three town decks, or, alternatively, they may conquer a town that another player owns. The defense value of a town is greater when another player owns the town (the "conquered" side). If a player conquers a town from another player, the other player loses any income and the goods listed on the card. The new owner gains any income and goods listed on the card.

A player may look through the unconquered town decks at any time (but may not change the order of cards unless allowed by a special ability).

If a player ever owns a town card, the card should have the "conquered" side face up. If the town is uncontrolled, it should have the "unconquered" side face up.

Other Rules

Citizen and Military Decks: Players may look through their draw and discard citizen and military piles at any time (but may not change the order of the cards). Players may not look through other player's citizen and military discard and draw piles.

Citizen and military cards in a player's buy pool and hand are kept secret from other players. When a player buys new cards during the winter phase, they must reveal these new cards to the other players before adding them to their hand.

Nations

There are four nations that players can choose from. Each nation has unique abilities and citizen and military cards.

City-State of Arc: The City-State of Arc's unique cards are the Bridge Builder and Architect. Additionally, Arc's Engineer card costs 2 coins instead of 3.

Scholars of Cresaria: Cresaria's unique cards are the Professor and Genius. Additionally, Cresaria's Scholar card expert action costs no coins to use, instead of the normal one coin.

Hog Republic: The Hog Republic's unique cards are the Forger and Strategist. Additionally, the Gunslinger card replaces the normal Captain card.

Toad Inventors of Om: The Toads' unique cards are the Steam Drill and Fixer. Additionally, the Soldier card has a hammer skill.

Sample Round

Sam, Julia, Mark, and Mary are playing their first game. They have each chosen a nation and completed the setup as described in the rules.

Sam randomly decides starting bid order and places one cube from each player from left to right on the bid track. Players start the Spring Phase. Sam is first, and bids on the 0-cost space the furthest to the right by placing his cube there. Next, Julia gains 1 coin by placing her cube just left of him. Mark bids 0, placing his cube just left of her. Mary bids 1, placing her cube on the "1" space and paying a coin. The turn order for the round will be Mary, Sam, Julia, Mark (on the turn order track from right to left).

The Summer Phase begins. Mary takes her first action and builds an Academy, one of the building cards on the board. She pays 5 coins and places it in her starting city area, below the land. Because she is first in turn order, she checks to make sure the brown disc on the action track is on the space marked "1", so all players know this is their first action.

Next, Sam draws from his citizen card deck. He now has his 2 citizen cards in hand.

Julia takes her turn next. She builds a Srika Pasture from the building cards available on the board, paying the cost. It gives one income so she increases her income to 3 on her income track on her nation board by sliding her income disc right one space. The Srika Pasture also gives her 3 Srikas, so she takes one of her cubes and places it on the third space below the picture of the Srika on the game board.

Mark builds a Turnip Farm, doing just what Julia did on her turn except that he places one of his cubes on the third space below the picture of the Turnip on the board because the building card has three Turnips on it.

It is now Mary's second turn. She builds a Srika Pasture, which gives her two Srikas and one Turnip and increases her income by one. She places cubes on both the Srika and Turnips goods tracks. Mary then slides the brown disc on the action track to the space marked "2", to remind all players that this is their second action in the round.

Sam decides to play his "Scholar" Citizen card as an expert action. It says he can gain one science by paying a coin and using a hammer skill. He discards the Scholar, pays a coin, and also discards the Cartographer, using the Cartographer's hammer skill to pay for the action. He collects a Science token from the pile.

Julia builds an Academy on her turn.

Mark builds a second Turnip Farm on his turn.

On her last turn, Mary decides to Tax. She gains one coin. She slides the brown disc on the action track to the space marked "3".

Sam now builds a Moss Garden. He had been unable to build it until now, because he didn't have a science. He pays the coin and science cost. It gives him two Glow Moss.

On Julia's last turn, she draws a card from her military deck.

Mark decides to store a Mine card. He can't afford it now, so he does not place it in his city, but he is planning to build it later. He places the card in his buy pool.

The Autumn Phase begins. The first four building cards on the game board are discarded. Sam slides the remaining cards to the left until there are no empty slots between them. Then he draws cards from the "A" building card deck and places them on the board from left to right until all slots are filled.

The four players now check to see if they collect influence. Because it is not the third, fifth, or seventh round, they do not collect influence.

Everyone now draws one citizen card (because no one expanded their city with a district, settled a new city, or built any building cards with citizen or military draw symbols on them). Each player's starting city gives them one citizen draw. No one has any military draws.

Mary slides the round counter one space down.

Everyone now collects coins. Mary collects 3 coins (2 for her base income, +1 for the Srika Farm). She isn't in 1st place on any Goods. Sam collects 5 coins (2 for his base income, +1 for the Moss Garden, +2 for having the most Glow Moss goods because of his Moss Garden). Julia collects 4 (2 for her base income, +1 for the Srika Pasture, +1 for having the most Srikas). Mark collects 5 coins (2 for his base income, +1 each for the two Turnip Farms he built, and +1 for having the most Turnips).

Mary and Julia each collect one science token for the Academies they control.

Now Winter Phase begins. Players simultaneously look through their buy pool cards to see if they want to buy any new citizen or military cards. Sam chooses one military card and keeps it face down in front of him. No one else buys any cards and all declare they are finished choosing. All players return their unpurchased cards to their respective buy pools. Sam reveals the military card and announces he is buying it. He pays for it and places it directly into his hand.

Everyone declares that they are finished and ready for the next round.

Card Abilities / Building Clarifications

Academy (with eye symbol): The eye symbol is "scouting". It allows the player to attack a town card underneath the top card in any town deck. For each "scouting" symbol a player owns, they may skip one town card in a deck to conquer the town beneath it. For example: if the player had two "scouting" symbols, they could attack any of the top three cards in any of the unconquered town decks, instead of only the top card as normal.

C Deck Special Influence Cards: Many cards in the C building deck give extra influence for owning specific goods. The Tailor's Guild, for example, would give the player 1 influence when scoring, plus 1 influence for every three Srikas the player owns.

Orchard: This card gives two influence at the end of the game if the owning player has more coins than any other player. This card also gives one income.

Outpost: This card gives one influence at each scoring phase to the player that owns it. The eye symbol is "scouting". It allows the player to attack a town card underneath the top card in any town deck. For each "scouting" symbol a player owns, they may skip one town card in a deck to conquer the town beneath it. For example: if the player had two "scouting" symbols, they could attack any of the top three cards in any of the unconquered town decks, instead of only the top card as normal.

Ruins: This card gives one science and one influence when built. It does not give science or influence at any other time.

Steam Crane: This discount applies to buildings placed in any and all of your owned cities.

Citizen Cards

• Architect (Arc): Discard a building you own and gain coins equal to the coin cost of the building. Then you may immediately build a new building.
• Arms Dealer: As a free action, pay 1 coin and discard 1 hammer to place a cube on a town you own. That town has +2 defense value. If the town is conquered, remove the cube.
• Bridge Builder (Arc): Build in a city with no available population.
• Cartographer: As a free action, gain one coin.
• Cargo Ship: Build a building at -2 coin cost.
• Cloud Skimmer
• Engineer: As a free action, store one building card.
• Explorer: Claim an unused land and settle a new city. You must discard enough distance equal to the new land.
• Fixer (Om)
• Forger (Hog): When someone gains a type of good that you already own, reveal this card to gain one coin, then put this card back into your hand.
• Genius (Cresaria): As a free action, discard 1 hammer to gain 1 science.
• Junkbot: As a free action, discard 1 hammer to store any building card from the building discard pile.
• Mayor: Discard 1 hammer to add a district to a city you own.
• Merchant: As a free action, discard 1 hammer to gain coins equal to the greatest amount of goods you own of one type.
• Professor (Cresaria): As a free action, discard 1 science to gain 4 coins.
• Regent: Discard 2 hammers to upgrade your Capital district to an Imperial district. You may only do this once per game.
• Scholar: Pay 1 coin and discard 1 hammer to gain 1 science.
• Scientist: Pay two coins to gain one science. You may do this twice.
• Scout Ship: If this card is used for its green-banner distance in an attack, you gain an additional 2 distance, for a total of 4.
• Steam Drill (Om): Build a building. You may discard blue-banner hammers to help pay for the building as if they were coins. Count the blue banner on this card for this purpose.
• Strategist (Hog): As a free action, draw two military cards.
• Tax Collector: Gain four coins.
• Wyvern Ship: If this card's green-banner distance is used as part of the Explorer expert action, gain 1 influence and draw a citizen card.

Military Cards

• Soldier
• Captain
• Inventor: If this card is used for its red-banner gun in an attack, gain 1 science.
• Iron Dragon: You may place this card on a town card you own. The town is immune to attacks from other players while the Iron Dragon card is on it. At the end of the round, you must discard the Iron Dragon.
• Iron Guard: Whenever you gain Machine Parts, you may discard this card instantly to gain 1 influence.
• Iron Soldier
• Machinist: If this card is used for its red-banner guns, draw one military card from your military deck.
• Magician: Whenever you gain Crystals, you may discard this card instantly to gain 1 influence.
• Sharp Shooter
• Spy: If this card is used for its red-banner gun or green-banner distance, draw one citizen card from your citizen deck.
• Warship: As a free action, place the top card of one of the three town decks on the bottom of the deck, then draw 1 citizen card from your citizen deck.

Variants

Steambots: Each round when replenishing building cards on the building card track, place one Steambot token on the left-most, top row card. The first player to purchase, store, or cause this card to be discarded (due to a player attacking a town) gains the Steambot token.

When a player gains a Steambot token, they place it on their nation board. At the start of that player's turn before completing an action, they may choose to place ONE unused Steambot on one building card that they own. The chosen building must produce one or more goods (unless otherwise stated on the building card). For example, a player could not place a Steambot on an "Academy". A building with a Steambot token on it produces one more of its left-most (or main) good, (once the Steambot is placed, mark the additional good on the track on the board). Each building card may only hold one Steambot token, unless otherwise stated on the card. If the player demolishes the building, the Steambot is destroyed. Once placed on a building, a Steambot may not be moved.

Action Tokens: These tokens will be used in future expansions.

City of Happy Flowers and Lambs: In this variant, players cannot attack conquered towns (towns owned by players). Players can only attack unconquered towns.

Point Salad Variant: This variant changes the way influence is scored and is recommended for players that want to have a more sandbox-style, open feel in the game. This variant streamlines the game a little, but removes some of the competitive aspect.

When a player purchases a card that produces goods, the player does not track those goods on the game board. They do not consult the goods tracks to see how much influence the goods are worth, and they do not consult the tracks for bonus coin income each round.

Instead, players use the influence table on the back of the player aid cards. The table shows how much influence a player gains during scoring depending on how many of each good they own. Along the top are the goods types. Along the left side are three threshold amounts: 1-3 goods, 4-6 goods, and 7+ goods. The numbers in the table are the influence amounts. For example, if a player had three turnips, they would score 1 influence. If a player had four turnips, they would score 2 influence.

The table also shows when a player should gain bonus coins when collecting income. For example, if a player had four glow moss, they would collect a bonus two coins when it was time to collect income.

Credits

Game Design: Ryan Laukat Illustration: Ryan Laukat

Special Thanks to... Malorie Laukat, Jakob Nelson, Brandon Laukat, Scott Lewis, Chris D'Andrea, Cory Suter, Keith Leonard, Justin Nordhorn, Spencer Marstiller, Drew Sonnenberg, Mathijs Van Dijk, Brian Bezeredi, Mike Risley, Dallas Peterson, Tom Brown.

Playtesters: Malorie Laukat, Jakob Nelson, Brandon Laukat, T. Alex Davis, Travor Cram, Joshua Butterfield, Jen Hodge, Nick Sauer, Mike Knauer, Brian Palm, Craig Clawson, Christopher Oberst, Peter M. Baysdell, Josette Baysdell, Drew Sonnenberg, Jillian Neumann, Gary Sonnenberg, Karen Sonnenberg, Scott Lewis, Chris D'Andrea, Cory Suter, Keith Leonard, Justin Nordhorn, Ginny Nordhorn, Henry Nordhorn, William Nordhorn, Tim Flynn, David Hitchman, Scott Olson, Adam Sutmiller, Keaton Beaman, Chad W. Rathsack, Spencer Marstiller, Mathijs Van Dijk, Brian Bezeredi, Shawn Mcwha, Daniel Peckham, Mike Risley, Dallas Peterson.

Thank you to everyone else who contributed to the development of City of Iron.

City of Iron 2nd Edition Copyright 2016 Red Raven Games — www.redravengames.com