Dominance
Dominance Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Theme Sets
Several theme sets are available for Dominance. The Medieval Italy set is included in the base box, but the Inca, Ancient Rome and others are available separately. With multiple sets, you can set up your game in different ways and collect coins and precious miniatures.
Each set contains 39 custom metal coins (13 gold, 13 silver and 13 copper) and 12 new miniatures (1 capital, 2 cities, 4 towns and 5 bridges).
Components
- 9 territories
- 7 markers
- 12 miniatures: 1 capital, 2 cities, 4 towns, 5 bridges
- 39 metal coins: gold (28 mm), silver (24 mm), bronze (26 mm)
- 8 Leader tokens
- 4 screens
- Bag
- Rulebook
Setup
Take the number of territory tiles indicated in the table below according to the number of players, and create the play area as you prefer: you can place the territories on the table forming a line, group them together with several adjacent territories, or anything in between. Remove from the game the territories you will not use.
| Number of players | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Territories | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Coin line | 6 | 9 | 11 |
- Put 3 coins on the table, one of each type, to represent the discard pile. Then each player takes 1 coin of each type and places it behind their screen.
- Put the remaining coins in the bag and, drawing at random, put one coin on each territory.
- Each player secretly picks 1 coin from the bag and places it behind their screen.
- Put the number of coins indicated in the table under Coin line in a line (drawing them randomly from the bag) and place the Banner marker at the end to mark the end of the line.
- Create a supply with the Dispute marker, 1 capital miniature and 2 cities (with two players, 1 capital and 1 city), X towns and X+1 bridges, where X is the number of players. For example, in a 3-player game, use 1 capital, 2 cities, 3 towns and 4 bridges. Remove the rest of the components from the game.
- Choose the first player at random and start playing! Each player plays their turn clockwise, and the game continues this way until the end.
Note: In the rare case that during setup there are 3+X coins (or more) of the same color on the starting territories (where X is the number of players), setup must be repeated. For example, in a 3-player game, if there are 6 coins of the same color on the 8 starting territories, collect all the coins and draw another 8.
Game Turn
On your turn, take the Active Player marker from the previous player and perform 2 actions from the following (they may be the same or different):
- Move coins (some or all) from one colored territory to one adjacent colored territory (only one). Colored means that the colored side is showing, instead of the grey side (see Disputes).
- Reinforce a colored territory by taking 1 coin from the discard pile: the coin must be the same color as the one on the territory. If there are no coins of that color in the discard pile, or the territory has no coins, you may choose the coin to place. This action cannot be performed if there are no coins in the discard pile.
- Take the first coin of the line, but only if you have fewer than 5 coins behind your screen. This action cannot be performed if there are no coins in the line.
- Declare a Dispute on a colored territory by placing the Dispute marker on the territory. Taking this action ends your turn, regardless of whether it is the first action you perform.
A round in a 2-player game: The first player moves coins from territory A to territory B, and then reinforces territory B by adding another coin. Then the second player takes the first coin of the line and, as their second action, declares a Dispute on territory A.
Disputes
All players take zero or more coins from behind their screen and hide them in their hands. Then everyone reveals their coins simultaneously. Taking into account the coins on the territory and those wagered, determine which faction has the most coins. The territory goes to that faction and stays that way until the end of the game. Remove the Dispute marker, flip the territory to its grey side, and place on it 1 of the Dispute coins of the winning faction. The other coins in the Dispute are considered Surplus (explained below). In case of a tie between factions, the active player assigns the territory. In the exceptional case that there are no coins to count (zero on the territory and zero wagered), the Dispute has no effect.
Among those who wagered coins of the winning faction, whoever wagered the most coins is named Leader. If there is a tie (even with 0 coins played), the active player decides who is the Leader among those tied.
Example: Player A declares a Dispute on the selected territory. Players secretly choose coins to wager and reveal them at the same time. Player A wagers 1 gold coin, which together with the one on the territory makes 2. Player B wagers 2 bronze. There is a tie, but player A declared the Dispute, so they decide who wins (the gold faction). The territory is assigned to the gold faction and flipped to its grey side. Player A is the Leader, since they are the only one who wagered gold coins, and leaves one gold coin on top.
Then the Leader performs these two steps:
- Choose which of the Surplus coins go to the discard pile and which go to the end of the coin line, in the order you prefer. However, the Leader must put at least 1 coin at the end of the line.
- Take the first coin of the coin line, and then perform the special action Build on the territory where the Dispute took place or on a territory adjacent to it. Alternatively, the Leader may skip the special action Build and take a second coin from the line.
Special Action: Build
This action can be performed on the territory where the Dispute took place or on an adjacent one, regardless of the territory's color (colored or grey). It consists of placing a town or, if there is already a town, converting it into a city, or converting a city into a capital (the city or town is returned to the game supply). Instead of building or upgrading a building, you may build a bridge between two adjacent territories. There can only be one bridge on each side of the hexagon. It is not possible to build miniatures that are not available in the game supply.
For example, if a Dispute occurs on territory A, the Leader can build on the Dispute territory and the adjacent one. They can build a town or a bridge, or in the case of territory B, a city or a bridge, since a town is already built there.
Bridges are built on the side of the hexagon bordering two territories.
Notes
- Players cannot have more than 5 coins. If a player already has 5 coins, they cannot take another (if you are the Leader and must take a coin, you cannot do so and you lose the action).
- Players may choose not to perform an action.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as all territories but one show their grey side. Then each faction's points are calculated. Each territory is worth 1 point. If it has a town, it is worth 2 points; a city, 3 points; and a capital, 4 points. If 2 territories belonging to the same faction are connected by a bridge, both territories are worth 1 additional point.
The faction with the highest score wins. In case of a tie between two or more factions, the one with the capital wins. If the capital has not been built, the faction with the most cities wins. If still tied, the faction with the most towns wins, and if the tie persists, the faction with the most territories wins. If there is still a tie, all factions win (and therefore all players). If there is no tie between factions, or it is resolved, the player who has the most coins of the winning faction's color wins the game.
In case of a tie between two players, count the coins of the faction that came second, and if the tie persists, those of the faction that came last. If there is still a tie between players, the player with the most coins wins, and if this still doesn't break the tie, it is a shared victory.
Rules for 4 Players
The game is played in teams, two against two, with the players of each team sitting opposite each other, so that the players of both teams alternate turns. The game is played with the usual rules, but for the final scoring the total coins per team are counted. Communication by words or gestures between players of the same team about the coins each one has is not allowed.
Rules for 3 Players
You can play using the normal rules (everyone against everyone) or using the Politician variant. In this case, a random player is the Politician. After setup, they take 4 faction markers, 1 of each type (the 3 coins and the crown symbol): they secretly choose one and place it behind their screen, and remove the rest from the game so that they are not visible to anyone. The game begins and is played with the normal rules. At the end of the game, the Politician can only win if the faction represented by the chosen marker wins, even if that faction wins in a tie with another faction and/or another player has more coins of the Politician's color. If the Politician chooses the crown marker, it means they do not take sides with any faction and the normal end-of-game rules apply. The choice of marker must remain secret until the end of the game.
Leader Tokens
This variant uses the 8 Leader tokens included in the box. They can be used in any game mode. When a player becomes the Leader, they take one of these tokens from the supply and put it behind their screen.
At the end of the game, if there is a tie between 2 or more players because they have the same number of coins of the winning faction, the player with the most Leader tokens wins. If there is still a tie, the normal rules apply: check how many coins each player has of the faction that came second and, if the tie persists, of the third faction. The player with the most coins of these factions wins.