Lotta Rome: The Merchants
Lotta Rome: The Merchants Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components of the Expansion
- 25 double lands
- 5 additional lands: 1 olive grove, 1 vineyard, 1 field, 1 town quarter, 1 quarry
- 5 bonus lands: 1 olive grove, 1 vineyard, 1 field, 1 town quarter, 1 quarry
- 62 contract cards, numbered from 1 to 62
- 5 buildings: 1 oil mill, 1 winery, 1 mill, 1 antique theater, 1 workshop
- 4 forts. The fort functions as any other building (an oil mill, a winery, a mill, an antique theater or a workshop) at the player's choice.
- 25 elephants with tents. An elephant with tent is not a building.
- 4 gems
- 1 booklet with contract cards description
- 1 round setup reminder
Set Up
First, set up the game following steps 1 – 4 of the base game (see p. 2 in the rules of the base game). After that perform the following steps:
- Take the 5 additional lands from this expansion (1 olive grove, 1 vineyard, 1 field, 1 town quarter and 1 quarry). Shuffle them face down and give one random land to each player. Each player places the received land in front of him face up — this is the initial land to which the player will add new acquired lands during the game. Put any remaining lands in the box.
- Put the elephants with tents in the common stock in the center of the table. Then each player takes 1 elephant with tent and places it on his starting land.
- Prepare the market area:
- Place the round setup reminder in the center of the table to form the market.
- Shuffle the 25 double lands and 5 bonus lands facedown separately to form the respective stacks.
- Take 4 forts, 4 gems, the stack of 25 double lands, the stack of 5 bonus lands and 5 different buildings (from this expansion) and place them on their respective slots of the setup reminder.
- Shuffle all the contract cards face down and give 3 cards to each player. Each player chooses one of the received cards and keeps it for himself — this is his starting contract. Shuffle the contracts that the players have not chosen, face down together with the remaining cards and place the resulting deck in the center of the table.
You are ready to play!
Setup example for a 3-player game (diagram on page 2 of the rulebook).
Description and Aim of the Game
The aim of the game remains the same — you have to build up your domain from the pieces of the Roman Empire, sharing them with other players. However, now the travelling trade caravans are added to the game. The merchants, moving through your domain, will leave their elephants with trading tents on your lands. For their placement you will receive contract cards.
Each round, players will decide which contracts to keep and get points for at the end of the game, and which ones to spend in a trade auction to purchase a lot — a double land and a bonus attached to it. At the end of the game, you, as before, will receive points for buildings on the corresponding lands, gems in your personal stock and completed contracts.
How to Play
The game lasts four rounds. Before the start of each round, prepare the market area according to the reminder.
Reveal the top 5 lands from the stack of double lands (on slot 3) and place them in a row face up. Moving from left to right, lay out bonuses next to each land:
- A double land from the top of the stack, with a fort placed next to it.
- A double land from the top of the stack, with a gem placed next to it.
- A double land from the top of the stack, with another double land from the top of the stack placed next to it.
- A double land from the top of the stack, with a bonus land from the top of the stack placed next to it.
- A double land from the top of the stack, with a base building of the same type as the bonus land laid out in the previous step placed next to it.
Example of lots preparation on the market (diagram on page 3 of the rulebook). The printed legend labels only positions 3, 4 and 5; positions 1 and 2 are shown by their icons (a fort and a gem), which match the 4 forts and 4 gems set out in setup step 7.
Then complete the EXPLORATION, DIVISION, SELECTION and ADDITION phases, following the rules of the base game.
After the completion of the ADDITION phase, new phases are added:
Phase 5. Placing an Elephant with Tent
This phase occurs after all the players have added the received lands to their domains.
Each player places a new elephant with tent on any free land (without buildings and other elephants) in his domain.
- If the elephant with tent is placed in an area of lands without other elephants, then the player takes one contract card for each land that this area consists of.
- If the elephant with tent is placed in an area of lands with other elephants, then the player takes only one contract card from the deck.
For example, the starting land in Sam's domain is a field. Sam cannot place an elephant with tent in the area of fields or quarries, since there are no free lands there. Sam decides to place the new elephant on a free land with an olive grove. Since the area consists of three lands, Sam takes three contract cards from the deck.
For example, in the next round, Sam has to place another elephant. New lands were added to his possessions: one quarry and one olive grove. If Sam places an elephant with tent in the olive grove area, he will receive only one contract card. Sam decides to place an elephant on a new quarry and get two contract cards for it.
In rare cases, it may happen that a player does not have a free land in his domain. In this case, he does not place a new elephant with tent, but still receives one contract card from the deck.
If there are no more contract cards in the deck, shuffle the discard pile and form a new deck.
Phase 6. Auction and Purchase of a Lot from the Market
Each player chooses one of the contract cards received in phase 5. The players place the chosen card face down in front of them, and the remaining cards that the players did not choose are placed across the selected one. When all the players have laid out the cards, they open only the chosen card at the same time.
Then the players take lots from the market in the descending order of their bids. The amount of the player's bid is the number of coins on the chosen card + one coin for each card which the player has not chosen.
When it is the player's turn, he can choose any of the remaining lots. If several players have the same bid, these players take lots in the descending order of the numbers on their chosen cards.
The players add the lands they receive to their possessions according to the usual rules, and add the bonus gem to their personal stock. The players who have chosen the lands with buildings decide for themselves which half of the double land they place this building on.
After that, the players put the chosen cards in front of them next to their building card, and all the unselected cards are discarded.
See the separate booklet with the description of the contract cards.
Example of taking lots in a 3-player game: the players have placed elephants with tents in their domains and received the contract cards. Anna and Sam have received 2 cards each and Lena has got 3 cards. The players open their chosen cards at the same time to determine the order in which they will take lots from the market. The cards the players haven't chosen remain unrevealed.
Anna (she chose card 59) and Lena (she chose card 48) have 6 coins each, and Sam has only 3 coins (he chose card 28). As Anna and Lena are tied, they look whose card has the highest number — Anna's card is higher, so she will choose first. Lena will be the second to choose and Sam will choose last.
End of the Round
Put all the unselected lots in the box.
Prepare for a new round.
End of the Game
The game ends after the fourth round.
Scoring Victory Points
At the end of the game, in addition to points for domains and gems, the players also get points for each of the five contract cards they have received.
Most of the double lands consist of two different halves. Half of the double land is considered to be one land when scoring points. If the corresponding building stands on such a land or is adjacent to the corresponding half, it then brings 1 victory point, as usual.
Doubled lands are considered two lands of the same type. If the corresponding building stands or is adjacent to such a land, it earns 2 points.
When scoring points, the player chooses once which type of building the fort will be. The fort earns victory points as a regular building of the selected type.
Sum up all the points you get to determine your score.
Determining the Winner
The player with the most victory points becomes the winner.
If several players have scored the same number of victory points, the one with the most lands in his domain wins.
Scoring Example
First of all, Anna counts the points for her buildings and gems as usual. She decides that one of the forts (in the left part of her domain) will be the vinery (printed as "vinery"; the building is the winery) and the other one (in the right part of her domain) will be the antique theater.
Then she checks how many points she gets for the contract cards:
- Contract No. 21 — 3 points for each area of fields. Anna has only one field area, so this contract earns her only 3 points.
- Contract No. 27 — Each building, including the fort, in the largest group of buildings earns 2 points. Buildings standing on adjacent lands are considered to be a group. At the same time, buildings can be located on different types of lands. Anna managed to build a sequence of 7 buildings. Anna gets 14 points for this contract.
- Contract No. 49 — Each elephant with tent next to a building earns 2 points. All the elephants in Anna's domain are located next to the buildings, so she gets 10 points for them.
- Contract No. 53 — Each area in the domain earns 1 point. Anna has 11 areas in her domain. This card earns Anna 11 points.
- Contract No. 54 — Each land (including lands on double lands), surrounded on all sides by other lands, earns 1 point. There are 9 such lands in Anna's domain. Anna gets 9 points for this contract.
Tip: Take a piece of paper to write down your points for the contract cards or note them on the back side of the score sheet.
In total, Anna gets 47 points for the contract cards. Together with the points for her buildings and gems, Anna's score is 113 points.