Empire Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
  • Example Setup
• Phases of a Turn
  • Phase 1. Set the Market
  • Phase 2. Take Your Actions
    • Anatomy of a Building Card
    • Recording Profit
    • A. Sell Resources and/or Capital for Profit
    • B. Hire and/or Move Workers
    • C. Build a Building/Trigger Event
      • Placing Building cards next to each other
      • Events
    • D. Produce Resources and/or Capital
  • Managers
  • Phase 3. Upkeep/Record Time Passed
• Game End
• Resources
• Actions (summary)

Components

• 1 Central Factory Card
• 6 Building Cards
• 1 Market Card
• 1 Years/Profit Card
• 7 dice to track workers (Worker Dice)
• 1 die to track The Market (Market Die)
• 1 die to track Managers (Managers Die)
• 9 cubes as tracking markers

Goal of the Game

Create a solo manufacturing empire in 30 years (15 turns) by building factories, producing Capital, Materials, Commodities, and Goods, and earn as much Profit as you can.

Setup

1. Place the Central Factory card in front of you and the Years/Profit and Market (Side A for Basic Game, Side B for Advanced Game) cards to one side. Leave room around the Central Factory cards to place other Building cards during the game.
2. Place 1 marker each on the (2) spaces on the 3 Resource tracks of the Central Factory, 1 marker on the (4) space on the Capital track, 1 Worker die showing a 6 on the center of the card and the Managers die on the Managers space, also showing a 6.
3. Place 1 marker on the (0) space of the Years in Business track and 1 marker near the Profit track.
4. Place a die near the Market card as the Market die.
5. Shuffle the 6 Building cards then flip half of them over. Deal the cards out in a Building Row to one side. The row of building cards should have at least 1 of each of these Resource tracks in the game - Materials, Commodities and Goods. If the row does not, beginning from the leftmost card, flip a card over to its other side and check the new Resource track (keeping the original side face up if the track on the card is already one of those displayed) to see if all 3 Resource tracks are now displayed at least once each, among the 6 Building cards. These cards must stay in the order dealt.
6. Place the remaining 3 markers and 6 Worker dice near the line of Building cards.

Example Setup

• Central Factory card with 1 marker on the (2) space of the 3 Resource tracks and 1 marker on the (4) space of the Capital track. A Worker die is placed in the center of the card, and another in the Managers space, both showing 6.
• Years/Profit card and Market card to one side.
• Building Row: 6 Building cards, each with a Worker die adjacent to it (with a current Worker value of 0), and the remaining 3 markers.
• All three types of resources (Materials, Commodities and Goods) are shown on the six cards in the Building Row.

Phases of a Turn

Each turn consists of three phases:

1. Set the Market
2. Take Your Actions
3. Upkeep/Record Time Passed

Phase 1. Set the Market

Roll the Market die and place it next to the Market. Reference the Market die's face against the Resource numbers listed in the resource circles in the matching row; they will show the amount you will gain in Capital or Profit for each matching resource unit sold during Phase 2. This row shows the amounts you will gain in Capital or Profit for each resource unit sold during this turn in Phase 2.

Example Market card rows (as printed; the first number is the Market die value, followed by the three resource values):

Die	Values
3	2 2 1
4	1 2 2
5	3 1 1
6	2 1 2

In this example, if a 3 is rolled on the Market die: for every 2 units of Commodities or Materials sold, you would gain 1 unit of Capital (or Profit). For every 1 unit of Goods sold you would gain 1 unit of Capital (or Profit).

If using the B side of the Market card you may sell units of Capital to gain units of Profit.

Phase 2. Take Your Actions

You may now take up to 4 actions, once each, in the order listed below, though you may skip any action in the series (ex. - A, (skip B), C, D): Sell Resources and/or Capital for Profit; Hire and/or Move Workers; Build a Building/Trigger Events; Produce Resources and/or Capital.

Your first action is free, the 2nd action will cost 1 Capital unit, the 3rd action will cost 2 Capital units and the 4th action will cost 4 Capital units. Record this on your Capital track as you pay.

Anatomy of a Building Card

• Event when building.
• Profit award at game end if building is built and fully staffed.
• Railway track showing direction. Railways are used to move workers from one building to another along the one-way paths.
• Resource track.
• Number of workers needed to staff building and produce resources (Staffing Requirement die icon).
• Name of building and cost to build in Resources and Capital.

Recording Profit

When recording Profit above a value of 40 units, place the Market card adjacent to Years/Profit, with the arrow and multiple of 40 pointing towards the card. You may record a value up to 200 units this way. (Examples: the Market card placed to show a value of 40, 80, 120 or 160.)

A. Sell Resources and/or Capital for Profit

Referencing the Market die value, rolled at the beginning of your turn, you may sell Resources at the market values shown in the row for Profit. If using the B side of the Market card you may also sell units of Capital to gain units of Profit.

In the example above, if a 3 is rolled on the Market die: for every 2 units of Commodities or Materials sold, you would gain 1 unit of Capital (or Profit). For every 1 unit of Goods sold you would gain 1 unit of Capital (or Profit). If using the B side of the Market card you may sell units of Capital to gain units of Profit.

You may sell as many units as you wish to. For each unit sold, record this on the Capital/Resource tracks on your Buildings by moving the markers down accordingly. If you sell all of your units on a given track, move the marker to the black circle shown adjacent to the track. If a market value is "-" (Side B of the Market card) then this Resource is not desired during this turn and you may not sell any of this type. Record all Capital or Profit gained on their respective tracks.

Capital functions in two ways in the game, it is a Resource like Materials, Commodities, and Goods, but it can also be sold or turned into Profit. You may never use Profit to build Buildings, so you must decide during this action if you will record any gains as Capital or Profit.

B. Hire and/or Move Workers

Rotate a Worker die on 1 Building up by 1, showing you have hired a new worker. The die may never show more than 6 workers. And/or additionally, you may also subtract any amount on one die and add it to an adjacent Building card's Worker die if the one-way railway path connects those two cards.

C. Build a Building/Trigger Event

Pay the cost as shown in Resources and Capital on 1 of the Building cards available in the Building Row, and place this card adjacent to an existing building in your Play area. The cost should be tracked among your other building cards in your play area, subtracting the units from any Resource and Capital tracks.

Note: temporarily leave the gap in the Building Row to reference the Event text at the end of this action.

When built, a Building card must always be placed adjacent to one or more previously built Building cards, following the one-way railway path indicated on the cards. You may not place a card if the adjoining path(s) do not go in the same direction, or if a path is not shown on the card on that side. The card may not be rotated when placed.

Place a Worker die on the center of the card with the 1 facing upwards. This denotes opening the building and hiring the first worker. The die value on the card is the number of workers needed to fully staff the factory and begin production. Production (see action D.) may not be tracked on this card until fully staffed.

Place a marker on the black circle on the Resource track of this card. This marker will track production in this building once it is fully staffed. Note there are fewer markers than the possible number of tracks your buildings may have in the game. If you build a building and do not have another marker to place on the card, you must take a marker from a track on the Central Factory card. Note: A track on the Central Factory card without a marker will no longer count for action D. Produce Resources and/or Capital. You may not move the marker back to the Central Factory on a later turn.

Placing Building cards next to each other

When built, a Building card must always be placed adjacent to a previously built Building card following the one-way railway path indicated on the card. You may not place a card if the adjoining paths do not go in the same direction, or if a path is not shown on the card on that edge.

Events

After the building is built, reference the Event text shown on the card to the right of the one removed from the Building row. (If you are building the last card in the row reference the first card in the row. If only one card is left there will not be an Event.)

If the year range on the Event text matches the currently marked year on the Years in Business track, this Event now occurs. Events are marked (Once) - meaning they only occur once as a building is built, during the year range shown. Some events note the Event action will take place during the next turn.

Then move all cards in the Building Row to the left to fill in the gap. These cards must stay in the order dealt.

• If you choose to build the 2nd card in the row, the 3rd card's Event will take place if the years marked match the current year.
• If you choose to build the 5th card in the row, the 1st card's Event will take place if the years marked match the current year.
• If you choose to build the only card in the row, no Events take place.

D. Produce Resources and/or Capital

If the building is fully staffed (i.e. the die value matches or exceeds the die icon shown on the card), you may produce Resources/Capital and move a marker on any Resource or Capital track, on any/all Building cards. The number of Resources or Capital the marker will move is equal to the total number of tracks of that type among all of your built and fully staffed buildings up to the track's maximum amount.

Example (assuming each building is fully staffed with the die value matching or exceeding the die icon shown on the Building card), you would be able to produce:

• 2 units of Capital on each of your 2 Capital tracks
• 2 units of Goods on each of your 2 Goods tracks
• 2 units of Commodities on each of your 2 Commodities tracks
• 1 unit of Materials on your 1 Materials track

Managers

The Managers die on the Central Factory card may be used at any time during 2. Take Your Actions but does not count as one of the official actions. It can be used only once in each Phase 2 of the game.

To use the die, pay Capital equal to the current value of the Market die. You may then:

• Add a 1 Materials, Commodities or Goods unit to any track OR
• Add 1 Worker to any Building OR
• Build a building if neither of the two adjacent sides of the Building cards (newly built and existing) show a railway path (i.e. no arrow). The building is subject to all cost and event rules per C. Build a Building/Event

Rotate the Managers die down 1 value after using it. If the Managers die is rotated down from 1 to 0, remove it from play.

Phase 3. Upkeep/Record Time Passed

Overstaffing a building can lead to additional costs and to buildings requiring upkeep.

On years 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30 you must pay rising labor costs for any workers represented by a Worker die whose value exceeds the Staffing Requirement die icon for that building (do not count the Central Factory during this phase). For each building with more workers than the staffing requirement (as shown by the die icon) pay Capital equal to 1/2 of the value on the current Market die (rounded down). If you are unable to pay this amount, the Worker die is rotated to 1.

On years 8, 18, and 24 you must pay for Building Upkeep and Maintenance (do not count the Central Factory during this phase). For each building built, pay a cost of any two Resources shown for the original building cost. You may choose which two of these you pay; then reduce the value on a matching Resource track among any one of your buildings. For each unit of the Resource cost you cannot pay, subtract 1 Profit unit. If you cannot subtract a Profit unit, Profit will remain at 0.

At the end of each turn, move the marker on the Years in Business track forward one space. The game ends after your 30th year.

Labor Costs and Building Upkeep

The Years/Profit card has icons indicating Labor Costs to be paid this year and Building Upkeep to be paid this year.

Example: the cost to build this building was 2 Commodities units, 3 Materials units, 1 Capital unit. You may choose any combination of these to pay in Resource units for Building Upkeep.

Game End

The game ends after 30 years (15 turns). Your total score based on your total Profit shown. You may gain bonus Profit for each Building you have built that is fully staffed (where the Worker die value matches/exceeds the Staffing Requirement die icon on the Building). These bonuses are shown in the upper right of the Building cards.

Resources

• Capital: working capital, stocks and investments
• Materials: brick, iron, cloth, paper
• Commodities: coal, timber, ore, production
• Goods: trade goods, grocery stock, luxuries

Actions (summary)

You may take up to 4 actions in the game, once each, in the order listed below, though you may skip any action in the series (ex. - A, (skip B), C, D).

• A. Sell Resources and/or Capital for Profit
• B. Hire and/or Move Workers
• C. Build a Building/Events
• D. Produce Resources and/or Capital

Your first action is free, the 2nd action will cost 1 Capital unit, the 3rd action will cost 2 Capital units and the 4th action will cost 4 Capital units.