Imhotep: A New Dynasty
Imhotep: A New Dynasty Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
- 5 two-sided site boards
- 4 chariot figures (black, white, gray, brown)
- 1 Imhotep figure
- 14 market cards
- 7 prophecies of the gods cards
- 4 obelisk cards (black, white, gray, brown)
- 24 tomb tokens
- 15 obelisk tokens
- 8 coin tokens
- 8 scarab tokens (2 each in black, white, gray, brown)
- 5 scaffold tokens
What's New
This expansion introduces five new double-sided site boards to the game. Now, for each board type (Market, Pyramid, Temple, Burial Chamber, Obelisks) there are four different sides (A, B, C, and D).
Before each game, you can decide which side of each board type to use, and you can also mix them however you like. Example: D) Market + A) Pyramid + C) Temple + B) Burial Chamber + D) Obelisks
In addition, there are 14 new market cards, which you can simply mix into the market card pile from the base game.
The seven prophecies of the gods cards constitute an optional expansion module. In other words, you can either play with them or without them.
Unless otherwise specified, the rules of the base game remain unchanged!
Rule Change: Retain the Red, Immediately Used Market Cards
Now, you will no longer place the red, immediately used market cards on the discard pile. Instead, hold onto them and place them face up in front of you. This will be important when it comes time to play the "Amun" prophecies of the gods card.
Rule Change: Two Stone Colors per Player in a Two-Person Game
If there are not enough of your stones in the stone quarry in a two-person game, you can continue playing with a second, as-yet unused, color. Then, just treat these two stone colors as a single color.
Example: On the A burial chamber site board, connected stones of these two colors will count as one continuous area.
Explanations of the C Sides of the Site Boards
C) Market — Luxury Market
When you play with this site board, each player starts the game with two coin tokens. If there are fewer than four players, any unused coins are returned to the game box.
For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone can immediately take one market card from the stack just as usual. However, twice during the game, each player can now take two neighboring market cards at one time from the stack if he or she pays one of the coins by returning it to the box.
It may therefore happen that the market spaces will be empty when a stone is unloaded from the boat and the player would want to take a card. In that case, the player takes a face-down card from the draw pile.
At the end of the game, any unused coins will have no value.
Example (illustration in the booklet): the Raft, Stone ornament and Statue market cards are shown on this board. Their printed texts are given under "Explanations of the Market Cards" below.
C) Pyramid — Scaffold
When you play with this site board, you will need the five scaffold tokens. Shuffle the five scaffold tokens face down, choose one at random, and return it to the game box face up. Place the four remaining tokens on the draw space of the site board. Then turn over the top scaffold token and place it face up on the space above.
For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone immediately gets points, stones from the stone quarry, and/or one market card from the draw pile. Place the stone on the next free space of the face-up scaffold token. Stones are placed starting from the left until the current scaffold token is full.
Then there is an interim assessment: the player with the most stones on the current scaffold token gets three points. If two or more players tie for the most stones, each of them gets one point.
Then, turn over the next scaffold token from the draw pile and place it on the four stones. That way, several layers of stone and scaffold tokens will take shape.
Once all four scaffold tokens have been used in the construction, each additional stone delivered here will yield one point. Place these stones at the right edge of the pyramid board.
Example: The current scaffold token is completely filled with stones. Now you perform the interim assessment, with the black player getting three points for having the greatest number of stones on this scaffold token. Then, the next scaffold token from the draw pile is turned over and placed on the stones.
C) Temple — Temple of Ra
The C side works just like the A side, except for the following difference:
At the end of every round, there are different bonuses for each stone visible from above — depending on which temple space the stone is lying on. The bonuses are:
- You get two points, or you may immediately take four stones from the stone quarry and place them on your supply token.
- You draw the top three market cards from the draw pile, look at them, and keep one. Place the other two cards in the discard pile.
C) Burial Chamber — Burial Mound
For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone gets points at the end of the game. Place your stone on a space on the lowest level or centered on two neighboring stones (whether or not they are your own). In this way, a pyramid-shaped tomb will gradually take shape.
At the end of the game, points are assessed: Each area consisting of connected stones in your color yields points in accordance with the number of stones and the number of levels across which the stones are distributed.
The points are then calculated as follows: "number of stones" x "number of levels"
Important:
- Each player can get points for more than one area of connected stones. So you don't just assess the largest one of your areas!
- You can get a maximum of four points per stone — even if you have connected stones on all five levels! This prevents the burial mound from becoming too powerful.
Once the burial mound is completely built, each additional stone delivered here gets one point. Place this stone to the right of the burial chamber board.
Example: Here, black gets 6 x 4 = 24 points at the end of the game for the large connected area to the left. Even though the area extends across all 5 levels, the assessment system restricts the number of levels that count to 4. For the single stone to the right, black will also get another 1 x 1 = 1 point.
C) Obelisk — The Great Obelisk
When you are playing with this site board, each player gets the obelisk card in his or her color at the start of the game. In addition, you will need the 15 obelisk tokens, which you should keep ready next to the board.
Every stone that is delivered here is placed on the next free space on the path. Then, you immediately get the obelisk token depicted on the space, which you may add to your obelisk card.
In this manner, you will try to construct an obelisk with as many rows as possible (with each row consisting of three individual squares).
At the end of the game, you get two points per complete row. Depending on the number of players, there are also bonus points for the player with the most complete rows. In case of a tie, the winner is the one with more incomplete rows. If this is also a tie, add the total points and divide them among the number of players who tied. Every player involved in the tie shares in the divided-up point total rounded to the nearest whole number.
Important: As you add them to your card, new pieces may be turned and rotated. They may not stick out beyond the side edge of the obelisk, and no gaps are permitted. If you cannot add a piece when you get one, you have to return it unused to the box.
If all 15 spaces of the path are occupied, each additional stone delivered here yields one point. Place this stone at the right edge of the obelisk board.
Explanations of the D Sides of the Site Boards
D) Market — Black Market
For each stone delivered here, the owner of the stone may immediately take one market card from the board. Place one card face up on each of the top two spaces. On each of the two lower spaces, place three cards face down.
For a stone delivered to the black market, you can either
- take one of the face-up cards, OR
- take the face-down cards from one space and look at them. Then select one card to keep. Return the remaining cards to the space. The owner of the next stone can take a card from another space or take the remaining cards from this space, which will only have two cards to choose from.
At the end of the round, the face-down cards remain lying on their spaces — they are not cleared away. Each space will also be brought back up to three cards again, if necessary.
Any remaining individual face-up cards on the top two spaces, however, are cleared away and each is replaced with a new card.
D) Pyramid — Corridor
When you are playing with this site board, you will need the Imhotep figure. Place the figure on the top left space of the corridor. (Alternatively, you can have the figure start on any other space if you prefer.)
Every stone delivered here will be placed on the next free space after the Imhotep figure in a clockwise direction. The owner of the stone immediately gets the number of points indicated on the space.
Each time a player takes new stones from the stone quarry as an action, he or she may decide whether to leave the Imhotep figure standing on the current space or to move the figure to the next free space in a clockwise direction.
This additional decision adds an additional tactical layer to the action of retrieving new stones. After all, the movement of the Imhotep figure can result in the stones on the as-yet-unsailed ships suddenly yielding different point values when placed in the pyramid.
If all the spaces in the corridor are occupied, each additional stone delivered here yields one point. Place this stone at the right edge of the pyramid board.
D) Temple — Arena
When you are playing with this site board, each player gets a chariot figure in his or her color. Place your chariot on the board's starting space.
Whenever you deliver a stone here, place the stone on the next free stone space. Then move your chariot by the number of spaces corresponding to the number of arrowheads indicated on the stone space. If your chariot lands on an occupied space, move it forward to the next free space.
At the end of each round, the player whose chariot is in the lead earns two points. The second-place player gets one point (or no points in a two-player game). Note: If more than one chariot is on the finish space, they all count as in the lead. In that case, there is no point allocation for the second-place player.
At the end of the game, each player also earns the number of points indicated on his or her chariot's space.
Special cases:
- If all stone spaces are occupied, each additional stone delivered here moves the chariot one space forward. Place these stones at the right edge of the temple board.
- If you are already on the finish space and you deliver a stone to the arena, you get one point.
D) Burial Chamber — Tomb
When you are playing with this site board, you will need the 24 tomb tokens. Mix them face down and place them face down to the right of the board as a supply. At the start of the round, turn over four tomb tokens and place them on the spaces to the left of the tomb entrance.
When you deliver a stone, select one of these four tomb tokens, return it to the box, and place your stone on the tomb space with the matching number. At the end of the round, return any leftover tomb tokens to the game box.
At the end of the game, you get points for connected stones in your color — just as with the A burial chamber board.
If, on the other hand, you have not delivered any stones to the tomb, you lose four points.
Important: It may happen that there are no more face-up tomb tokens when you unload your stone from the ship. Then, you get one point instead. Place these stones at the right edge of the burial chamber board. They do not count toward the connected spaces, but they will let you avoid the four-point loss.
D) Obelisk — Alley
When you deliver your first stone here, you have to decide which obelisk you want to work on. Select a free space and deposit your stone there. You must place every additional one of your stones on this space until the obelisk has reached the specified height. Only then are you allowed to start working on another obelisk.
If all the obelisk spaces are occupied, each additional stone delivered here yields one point. Place these stones at the right edge of the obelisk board.
At the end of the game, fully-constructed obelisks yield the indicated number of points. Unfinished obelisks only yield one point per stone.
The board shows the following values (the printed chart on the board is low-resolution in the source scan; the figures below were read from it and should be checked against a physical board):
- Height 2: 4 points
- Height 3: 7 points
- Height 4: 10 points
- Height 5: 14 points
- Height 6: 18 points
Prophecies of the Gods
You can play with or without the prophecies of the gods cards. If you want to use them, mix the seven prophecies of the gods cards face down and draw three of them at random. Turn these three cards over and place them next to the site boards. Return the remaining four cards to the box.
The three prophecies. Each card lists three rounds, with a green value (points gained if the task is fulfilled) and a red value (points lost if it is not):
- Prophecy of Ra — Task: at least 4 ornaments (green). Round 1/2: +7 / -3. Round 3/4: +5 / -2. Round 5/6: +3 / -1.
- Prophecy of Horus — Task: at least 2 stones (four stone icons shown on the card) or 3 stones (two stone icons / three stone icons shown on the card) per site. Round 1/2: +7 / -3. Round 3/4: +5 / -2. Round 5/6: +3 / -1.
- Prophecy of Isis — Task: the most stones in the temple. Round 1/2: +7 / -3. Round 3/4: +5 / -2. Round 5/6: +3 / -1.
Note: the stone-colour icons on the Horus card were not legible enough in the source scan to be decoded into words. Check the printed card for the exact per-site stone patterns.
In addition, each player gets the two scarab tokens in his or her color. Twice during the game, each player can make a prophecy that he or she will have fulfilled the specified task by the end of the game. (Note: When the prophecy calls for the "most stones," a shared majority is sufficient.)
To do that, place one of the scarab tokens on the corresponding space. The number of points that you get at the end of the game after fulfilling the task will depend on the round in which you deposited the token. But you can also have points deducted if you fail to fulfill it.
Each player is allowed to deposit just one scarab token per prophecy. On each one of a prophecy's spaces, however, there is room for one token from every player. Each player is only allowed to make a maximum of one prophecy during rounds 1 and 2; one in rounds 3 and 4; and one in rounds 5 and 6. So you can't place both of your tokens on two "Round 1/2" spaces — even if there are two different spaces available. Unused scarabs are worthless at the end of the game.
Example: the booklet shows scarab tokens placed on the Prophecy of Ra, Prophecy of Horus and Prophecy of Isis spaces (illustration only).
Explanations of the Market Cards
CARGO SLED (2x)
When you get this kind of market card, place it face up in front of you. It gives you room for two extra stones in your supply. If you have one cargo sled card, you can store up to seven stones at one time.
If you have two cargo sled cards, you can store up to nine stones at one time.
PRIVATE STONE QUARRY (2x)
When you get this kind of market card, you immediately get one victory point and (up to) three stones from the stone quarry, which you place on your supply sled(s). Then, place the card in front of you. This applies to all red, immediately used cards from the base game, if you are playing with this expansion.
STONE ORNAMENT (2x)
When you get this kind of market card, it remains face up in front of you until the end of the game. At the end of the game, you get one point per stone on your supply sled token. If you have cargo sled cards, you also get one point for each stone on your cargo sled cards.
STATUE (4x)
These four statue cards remain unchanged from the base game. They are added to the market card stack to maintain the ratio of statue cards to other cards.
At End of Game: Number of statues 1x 2x 3x 4x 5x ... = 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, +2 (points for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 statues, and then +2 for each further statue, as printed on the card).
RAFT (2x)
When you get this kind of market card, place it face up in front of you until you use it. In a later move, you can perform the following action once: Return two stones from your supply sled to the stone quarry. Then place one stone from your supply sled directly on a site — specifically, on the next permitted space.
Note: To be able to use this card at all, you must have at least three stones on your supply sled!
If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get one point for it.
LOADING PLANK (2x)
When you get this kind of market card, place it face up in front of you until you use it. In a later move, you can perform the following action once: Return one stone from your supply sled to the stone quarry. Then sail one ship holding at least one of your stones to a site to which one other ship has already been sailed to in this round.
Note: To be able to use this card at all, you must have at least one stone on your supply sled!
If you have not used the card by the end of the game, you will get one point for it.
Variant: Face-Down Market Cards
If you want to make the game a little less predictable, you can try the following variant: Keep all market cards that you receive face down. Only turn over 1x action cards (blue) when you use them. Do not turn over the remaining market cards until the end of the game.