Mega Empires: The West Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Scenarios and Playing Time
• Design and Development Story
• Game Components
• General Rules and Definitions
  • The Playing Pieces
  • The Player Mats
  • Stock
  • Treasury
  • Units
  • The Barbarians
  • Map Board Definitions
  • Civilization Advances
  • Trade Cards
  • Archeological Succession Table (A.S.T.)
• Set Up the Game
  • Determine the Game Limits
  • Select the Map Board
  • Civilizations
  • Census and City Count
  • Credit Tokens
  • Civilization Advances
  • Select Trade Cards
  • Prepare the Stacks of Trade Cards
• Map Board Setups
  • Region Divisions
• Sequence of Play
  • 1. Tax Collection
  • 2. Population Expansion
  • 3. Movement
  • 4. Conflict
  • 5. City Construction
  • 6. Trade Cards Acquisition
  • 7. Trade
  • 8. Calamity Selection
  • 9. Calamity Resolution
  • 10. Special Abilities
  • 11. Surplus Population & City Support
  • 12. Civilization Advances Acquisition
  • 13. A.S.T.-Alteration
• Player Elimination/Leaving the Game
  • Player Elimination
  • Leaving the Game
• Card-Specific Rules - Calamities
  • Minor Calamities
  • Major Calamities
• Card-Specific Rules - Civilization Advances
• The Expert Game
• The Short Game
  • Set Up The Short Game
  • Playing The Short Game
  • The Short Game (Expert)
• Division of Trade Cards
• Combining Editions
• Sequence of Play Summary

Scenarios and Playing Time

• The First Game is a tutorial scenario for 5 players, which is recommended for new players to learn the game's basic rules and principles. The scenario takes about 90-120 minutes to complete but does not include all details of the full game.
• The Basic Game with 5-9 players takes about 8-12 hours to complete, depending on the number of players and their level of experience.
• The Short Game is a scenario for a shorter game due to an advanced starting position of all players in the game. This scenario decreases playing time by 2-3 hours.
• The Expert Game is a scenario for 3-18 players for a more challenging variant of The Basic Game, which increases playing time by 1-2 hours.

Design and Development Story

At the start of this century John Rodriguez, Flo de Haan and Gerart de Haan decided to team up to work on their dream project: creating the biggest board game ever. Initially this was a tribute and expansion to Advanced Civilization, which in turn was based on Francis Tresham's classic game from 1980. This expansion turned out to be a game on its own with new development cards, trading systems, game mechanics and new ways of interacting with other players. Development took years and years with the help of lots of testing players.

Michael Bruinsma enthusiastically decided to publish this game in 2015 as a numbered limited edition collector's item. Delivered in a wooden chest with a total weight of 11 kilos, a map board stretching over 2 meters, more than 2000 tokens and 1500 playing cards, and designed to be played by up to 18 players, Mega Civilization was the new colossus in the board gaming world!

After this success, the team started to work on follow-up products. The game was re-released in two parts: Western Empires (2019) and Eastern Empires (2021). Both games are playable on a stand-alone basis and compatible to be combined for up to 18 players. Also limited edition mini-expansions, The Special Buildings, were released for either game.

In 2024 the team, now consisting of Flo and Gerart, takes new steps with the game. The initial releases, MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST and THE EAST are revised reprints of Western Empires and Eastern Empires. Prepare for future editions that go beyond THE WEST & THE EAST!

Game Components

2 Rulebooks

• Basic
• The First Game (Tutorial)

1080 Tokens — 9 civilizations, each consisting of:

• 9 Cities
• 4 A.S.T. / Census-markers
• 55 Population tokens
• 1 Spare Population token
• 4 Ships

Credit tokens — in 5 types: Science, Religion, Civic, Art, Craft, each type consisting of 18, 18, 18, 9 and 3 tokens.

Out of Play markers and Turn-markers — 27 Out of Play, 5 Out of Turn, 4 Turn-markers.

The Barbarians

• 9 Pirate cities
• 27 Barbarian tokens

219 Trade cards

• 195 Commodity cards
• 24 Calamities

6 Trade card holders

1 double-sided A.S.T. — 9 players Basic side / Expert side

1 Census Track board / A.S.T. 18 players — The census track is used for MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST. The back side, the A.S.T. for 18 players Basic, is only used in combination with MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST.

460 Large cards

• 9 x 51 Civilization Advances
• 1 Bonus VP card

1 double-sided City Count board — Portrait layout / Landscape layout

5 double-sided Player aids — Front: Calamity Resolution Quick Chart 5-18 players / Back: Strategy Explorer

2 Map board panels

9 Priority tokens

9 'The Short Game' scenario tokens

9 double-sided Player mats — Front / Back

General Rules and Definitions

The Playing Pieces

The rulebook illustrates the player mat and the map-board with an annotated photo, showing tokens moving between the stock, treasury and board areas of a player mat, and labelling three example situations on the map: a Conflict Situation, an area Not Exceeding Population Limit, an area Exceeding Population Limit, and two Coexist situations where units of different civilizations share an area peacefully.

The Player Mats

Players use a player mat to store their playing pieces. The player mat is divided into two sections: treasury and stock, divided by the Sequence of Play section. During the game it is important to keep the tokens in these two areas separate. A player has 55 population tokens, 9 cities and 4 ships. The 55 tokens are two-sided: one side serves as population, while the other serves as treasury. So each of the 55 tokens is either on the board, in stock or in treasury. Ships and cities are either on the board or in stock, but never in treasury. Place the nine cities on the numbers 1-9, and the four ships on their four slots on the right side of the player mat.

Stock

By default, each player's playing pieces are placed in the stock section with the colored side up and are considered to be in stock. If a playing piece is destroyed or removed from the board, it is returned to stock. Tokens that are placed on the board are always taken from stock and, unless specified otherwise, placed with the colored side up. The 9 cities and 4 ships are considered to be in stock.

Treasury

Some rules force or allow players to transfer tokens to the treasury section. These tokens are then referred to as treasury tokens or in treasury. Any tokens in treasury must be flipped to show the white side. The amphorae are the symbol for a player's treasury. Tokens in treasury are not considered to be population tokens. When a player pays treasury, the treasury tokens are turned over and moved back to stock.

Units

Population tokens and cities are further referred to as units. A population token counts as 1 unit point. A city counts as 5 unit points (or 5 units). Ships do not count as units.

The Barbarians

In the course of the game, barbarian tokens and pirate cities appear on the board that will interfere with some player's units. These are collectively referred to as The Barbarians.

Map Board Definitions

Adjacent Areas. An adjacent area generally means sharing a border:

A. Areas adjacent by land; share at least one land border. B. Areas adjacent by water; share at least one water border.

Markings in Areas

C. Population limit; a circle containing a number from 0 to 4. This defines the limit of population tokens allowed in an area during specific moments in a game turn. D. Open sea area; an area that contains only water and has no population limit. E. Coastal area; an area that contains land and water (indirectly) connected to an open sea area. Areas containing inland seas such as Lut (Map board panel 1) are not considered to be coastal areas. F. Area name; if an area has no name, it is considered to be Out of Play. G. Starting location; an area containing a Civilization's name and symbol. H. City site; a black or white archway symbol in an area. I. Volcano; a volcano symbol in an area or on the border of 2 areas. A volcano on the border of 2 areas is considered to be in both areas. J. Flood plain; a dark green stretch of land extending over parts of 1 or more areas. All areas fully or partly covered by a single flood plain are considered to be on the flood plain. City sites on a flood plain show a white color. Black city sites in an area with a flood plain are not on that flood plain.

Additional Notes

• Open sea areas are considered to be always in play, even though their area name is printed on a different map board piece.
• The areas Sinai and Eastern Desert are considered coastal areas only when combined with MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST.
• The areas Chalcis and Athens are not considered adjacent. The same applies to Boeotia and Eretria.

Civilization Advances

Groups / Colors. The cards are divided into 5 groups represented by colors as well as symbols: Science (green star), Arts (blue harp), Crafts (orange vase), Civics (red temple) and Religion (yellow tribal). Some Civilization Advances belong to 2 groups rather than just 1.

Victory Points. The top right side of each card shows either 1, 3 or 6 Victory Points in a banner symbol. These points will be scored at the end of the game.

Attributes. Most Civilization Advances show one or more attributes that apply to the holder of the card exclusively. These attributes typically provide calamity protection or benefits in play, however, sometimes they might aggravate certain calamity effects in addition to these benefits. Special abilities can be used once a turn during the Special Abilities phase.

Credits and Credit Symbols. Once players acquire a Civilization Advance, they receive the credit tokens printed on the left side of the card. These credits give a bonus when purchasing other Civilization Advances of the same group. Some Civilization Advances provide additional credit tokens marked with a symbol; these credits are then mentioned in the attributes. Most of the Civilization Advances provide additional credits to a specific card.

Trade Cards

The trade cards are divided into 2 groups: Commodities and Calamities.

• Commodities show trading goods with a face value of 0-9.
• Calamities show an illustration and either the indication Minor Calamity, Major Calamity or Major Calamity (Non Tradeable).

Trade cards have either a West or East marking in the top left corner. When combining this game with MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST, these markings are used for a different division of trade cards. These markings can be ignored when playing this game with 5-9 players.

A Civilization Advance card also carries an edition symbol: a black sun in the top right corner indicates that a card belongs to this edition. A "15-18" or similar number range printed on a card indicates the number of players it is used for; such numbers are ignored in a 5-9 player game and are only used in a game with 12 or more players.

Archeological Succession Table (A.S.T.)

The Archeological Succession Table (from now on A.S.T.) shows a timeline on which each civilization's progress in the game is tracked. The A.S.T. has two sides: one side shows the Basic A.S.T., the other side is the Expert A.S.T. for experienced players. The A.S.T. is divided into 6 eras: Stone Age, Early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age and Late Iron Age.

Players start by placing their succession marker covering the arrow on the left and after each turn, if players meet the requirements specified on the top of the A.S.T., they move their succession marker 1 space to the right. These rows differ for each civilization, and each player must stick to their own requirements per step on the A.S.T.

A.S.T.-Ranking / A.S.T.-Progress

• A.S.T.-Ranking means the vertical position on the list of civilizations as printed on the A.S.T., from the top to the bottom (Civilization #), irrespective of the horizontal position of succession markers. Lower Civilization numbers take priority over higher Civilization numbers.
• A.S.T.-Progress means the horizontal position of the actual succession markers. The marker furthest to the right is considered to be highest in progress order. A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties.

At any time, if a tie occurs between players' activities and it is not specified how to break the tie, it is broken by A.S.T.-Ranking.

A turn-marker is used to show the number of game turns played.

Set Up the Game

If this is your first game, it is recommended that you play the scenario The First Game which is designed to explain the rules to any new group of preferably 5 players. The First Game takes 90-120 minutes to complete.

Depending on the number of players there are slight adjustments to the setups. Follow the adjustments where they are mentioned.

Determine the Game Limits

The A.S.T. for 9 players is used for a game of THE WEST for 5-9 players. Choose between playing with the Basic or the Expert side of the A.S.T. It is highly recommended to play your first game(s) with the Basic side; the Expert side is aimed for experienced players who appreciate a long and challenging game. The Expert scenario typically adds 1 or 2 game turns to The Basic Game, resulting in 1 to 2 additional hours of playing time. The rules for The Expert Game are explained in chapter 10, The Expert Game (page 39). There are also rules for a Short Game scenario of 5-6 hours playing time (page 40).

The Census track board has an 18-player A.S.T. on the back side. This is only used when combining this game with MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST and playing with 10 or more players.

You may consider setting your own time limit. If no specific game limit is set, by default the game ends if the succession marker of 1 or more players has entered the Late Iron Age era on the A.S.T. A full game will take approximately 8-12 hours to complete, depending on the number of players and their experience and playing style. Consider the additional time needed for taking breaks during the game.

Select the Map Board

Depending on the number of players, use the setup instructions shown in chapter 5, Map Board Setups (page 12-13).

Civilizations

Take the playing pieces for only the civilizations mentioned in this setup and leave the others in the box. Also take the set of black Barbarian tokens and Pirate cities, which are used later in the game.

Randomly deal the Priority tokens after which, in order, each player may choose a civilization to play (use the large numbers printed on the tokens). Each player receives a player mat and places all 55 population tokens (thus excluding the spare token), 9 cities, and 4 ships on the stock section of their player mat (colored side up). Each player takes 1 token from stock and places it on the corresponding starting location on the map board.

Each civilization is associated with a region; a group of areas which are most commonly occupied by that civilization. However, this does not mean that players should not try to occupy areas assigned to another civilization's region. In fact, to win the game, players will have to expand their boundaries. The regions are specified in the Region Divisions (page 14-15).

Census and City Count

Take the City Count board. You can choose which side, either portrait or landscape orientation, depending on how it fits best on your table. For each civilization, place one of the A.S.T.-markers in the 0-section.

For each player, place a census marker on the Census track (in the area above the box marked 1-12) and a succession marker covering the arrow on the A.S.T.

Place a turn-marker on turn 1 on the A.S.T.

Credit Tokens

Sort the Credit tokens by color and place them aside. They do not need to be in direct reach of the players.

5 Players. All players collect credit tokens worth 10 of each color.

6 Players. All players collect credit tokens worth 5 of each color.

In a game with 7-9 players no credit tokens are collected at the start of the game.

Civilization Advances

Each player receives a full set of 51 different Advances, which they can purchase throughout the game.

Select Trade Cards

For each number of players a specific selection of trade cards is used. For example, when playing with 7 players, the only cards used are the ones that say 5-18 at the top of the card. Leave all other trade cards (that say 9-11, 15-18) in the box. Any mentions of more than 9 players refer to the combination with THE EAST. Water commodity cards are always available.

A card marked "9-11" and "15-18" at the top is used in a game with 9-11 players and in a game with 15-18 players. A card marked "5-18" at the top is used in a game with 5-18 players.

Prepare the Stacks of Trade Cards

At the start of the game, the trade card stacks are prepared in a specific way. To do this, follow the instructions below, depending on the number of players. All Water commodities are placed in a separate stack face-up. It may happen that the Water cards are not used; this strongly depends on how the game evolves.

5-8 Players

Sort all selected trade cards into 9 stacks by stack number. Each stack contains 2 different sets of commodities and 2 different calamities (Minor Calamities are not used, stack 1 does not contain calamities).

For each of the 9 stacks, the cards are divided into 3 batches: A, B and C. For each stack, take all of the following steps in turn (with the cards face down):

1. Set aside the Non Tradeable Calamity. This is batch C.
2. Take both sets of commodities without the Tradeable Major Calamity and shuffle them. From this pile, set aside a number of cards equal to the number of players, which is batch A.
3. Take the remaining cards and the Tradeable Major Calamity and shuffle them. This is batch B.
4. Pile up the stack by putting batch A on top of B, on top of C.

For each stack: A: Shuffled — X commodities, where X is the number of players. B: Shuffled — commodities + Tradeable Major Calamity. C: Non Tradeable Calamity.

Place all 9 stacks in their trade card holders and use the same number of holders for discard piles.

9 Players

Sort all selected trade cards into 9 stacks by stack number. Each stack contains 3 different sets of commodities and 3 different calamities (Stack 1 does not contain calamities).

Only when setting up the game, for each single stack one complete set of commodities must first be separated from the other commodities. These sets, referred to as the additional sets of commodities, are:

Bone (1) - Wax (2) - Ceramics (3) - Grain (4) - Glass (5) - Lead (6) - Herbs (7) - Obsidian (8) - Amber (9)

For each of the 9 stacks, the cards are divided into 3 batches: A, B and C. For each stack, take all of the following steps in turn (with the cards face down):

1. Set aside the Non Tradeable Calamity. This is batch C.
2. Take the additional set of commodities and the Tradeable Major Calamity and shuffle these. This is batch B.
3. Shuffle the Minor Calamity and the remaining commodities. This is batch A.
4. Pile up the stack by putting batch A on top of B, on top of C.

For each stack: A: Shuffled — Minor Calamity + 2 sets of regular commodities. B: Shuffled — additional set of commodities + Tradeable Major Calamity. C: Non Tradeable Calamity.

Place all 9 stacks in their trade card holders and use the same number of holders for discard piles.

Map Board Setups

Only the colored areas of the map and the civilizations mentioned in them are used for the game. Place Out of Play markers on the population limit of each area that is grayed out in the map board setup.

The rulebook provides one full-color map-board illustration for each supported player count — 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 players — showing exactly which areas are colored (in play) and which civilizations occupy which starting locations. Refer to the physical map-board panels and the printed setup illustrations (rulebook pages 12-13) for the precise area layouts; alternative setups can be used, but the rulebook notes these may not be sufficiently balanced.

Region Divisions

The rulebook illustrates, on a full map spread, which group of areas forms each civilization's "region" — the area cluster most commonly occupied by that civilization at setup. Refer to the physical map-board panels and the printed illustration (rulebook pages 14-15) for the precise region boundaries; as noted above, players are not restricted to their own region and are expected to expand beyond it over the course of the game.

Sequence of Play

The game is played in turns, which are divided into phases. Some phases are further divided into steps. The activities during each phase or step are either played simultaneously or in a determined order. At the end of each turn all players check whether they have achieved their goals for that turn before starting a new turn. The game phases, also shown on the player mats, are the following:

1. Tax Collection
2. Population Expansion
3. Movement
4. Conflict
5. City Construction
6. Trade Cards Acquisition
7. Trade
8. Calamity Selection
9. Calamity Resolution
10. Special Abilities
11. Surplus Population & City Support
12. Civilization Advances Acquisition
13. A.S.T.-Alteration

1. Tax Collection

1a. Tax Collection. This phase is played simultaneously by all players. All players must transfer a number of population tokens from stock to treasury equal to the tax rate for each of their cities on the board. The default tax rate is 2 tokens per city.

Example: John has 5 cities on the board. He must transfer 10 tokens from stock to treasury.

Players cannot choose to refrain from collecting tax. If any player has insufficient tokens in stock to fully collect their taxes, proceed with step 1b; otherwise move on with phase 2 (Population Expansion).

1b. Tax Revolts. If a player has insufficient tokens in stock to collect their tax, one or more of their cities revolt and are annexed by a different player.

In the case of a tax revolt the following steps are taken:

• The player who cannot fully collect their tax moves all their tokens in stock to treasury while all other players finish their tax collection in the usual way.
• Determine the number of revolting cities. This is equal to the number of cities for which tax was not fully collected.
• Determine the beneficiary of the tax revolt. This is the player (not being victim of a tax revolt this turn) with the most cities in stock. Ties are first broken by the highest number of tokens in stock and ultimately by A.S.T.-Ranking.
• The beneficiary selects the number of revolting cities from the victim's cities on the board and replaces them with their own. The beneficiary does not collect tax for these cities this turn.

Example: Judith has 5 cities on the board. She has to transfer 10 tokens from stock to treasury, but only has 7 tokens in stock. This means that 2 of her cities will revolt. She transfers all 7 tokens to her treasury and announces the tax revolt. Frank has the most cities in stock and becomes the beneficiary. He chooses 2 of Judith's cities and replaces them with cities from his own stock.

If the beneficiary has insufficient cities in stock, any remaining revolting cities are replaced with pirate cities.

If more than one player is the victim of a tax revolt, the tax revolts are resolved in A.S.T.-Ranking order.

2. Population Expansion

This phase is played simultaneously by all players. However, players may insist that A.S.T.-Ranking order is respected if this could impact their decisions.

2a. Population Expansion. All players place population tokens from stock in each area containing their tokens:

• 1 token in each area with 1 of their tokens;
• 2 tokens in each area with 2 or more of their tokens.

This means that an area with 3 or 4 tokens from the same player does not expand with more than 2 tokens.

Any new tokens added to the board are placed with their white side facing up to distinguish them from tokens that were already on the board. After all players have completed their population expansion, flip all tokens to their colored side.

Players with insufficient tokens in stock to complete their population expansion may choose where to add their available tokens. This may include redistributing their tokens previously placed this turn. Players are not allowed to expand fewer tokens than possible.

It is common that population expansion results in the number of tokens exceeding the population limit of an area. Areas that contain tokens from more than 1 player are expanded as usual for each player involved.

Barbarian tokens on the board do not expand.

2b. Census. Each player counts their number of tokens on the board and places their Census-markers on the corresponding number on the Census Track board (cities and ships are not counted). Since all players have 55 tokens in total, it is often easier to count the total number of tokens in stock and treasury and subtract this number from 55. The smaller number in the lower right corner of the boxes supports this approach.

The Census Track board is illustrated with Census-markers placed alongside the numbers (rather than on top of them), oriented using the numbers printed on the markers to indicate mutual A.S.T.-Ranking order, pointing away from the track. The inside of the track is used for players holding the Military Civilization Advance, whose mutual order is again defined by A.S.T.-Ranking, indicated by the numbers on the Census-markers.

3. Movement

During this phase all players may move their tokens and ships on the board. Once tokens or ships have moved (or deliberately not moved), flip them to their white side to indicate that these tokens will not further move this turn.

Movement Order. This phase is resolved in Census order as shown on the Census Track board. This means that the player with the highest census is the first to move their tokens on board, followed by the player with the second highest census, and so on, with A.S.T.-Ranking breaking ties.

To speed up the game it is highly recommended that players take their movement actions simultaneously where possible.

Players may decide to (partially) take their movement actions before their turn based on Census order. However, players may insist that Census order is respected if this could impact their decisions. While executing their moves, players may revert any of their moves until they have declared their movement to be completed.

Token Movement. Tokens may either move 1 step to an area adjacent by land or embark on a ship located in the same area as the token. Tokens can be moved into any area adjacent by land, regardless of the population limit of the area or the presence of (other player's) tokens, cities or ships.

Ship Construction. Players may choose to build ships at any time during their movement. This can be done before, during, or after moving any tokens. Players can only build ships in coastal areas and cannot build more than 4 ships per turn.

Players can build ships in 3 different ways:

• By paying 2 treasury tokens. When paid this way, the ship can be placed in any area on the board that contains at least 1 or more units of the ship's owner.
• By paying 1 treasury token and returning 1 token from the board to stock. The ship is placed in the area where the token was taken from.
• By returning 2 tokens from the board to stock. The ship can be placed in an area where 1 of the tokens was taken from.

Ships can be used immediately after being built.

Ship Maintenance. Ships built in a previous turn have to be maintained as soon as they are used. To maintain a ship, the player must either pay 1 treasury token or return 1 token from anywhere on the board to stock. This can be done at any time during movement but has to be done before the ship is used. For each ship this may be done at any time during movement. It is allowed to maintain a ship and not use it.

Ship Movement. Ships may move up to 4 steps by sea. By default, ships are not allowed to move through open sea areas.

At any time during movement, tokens may embark or disembark ships. Ships can carry up to 5 tokens at a time. Once a ship has taken its last step, any tokens it carries disembark in the same area (i.e. tokens cannot stay on ships after movement). Tokens can move either by land or by ship, but never both in the same turn.

Ships may move through areas containing an Out of Play marker but cannot end movement there; neither can tokens disembark in such areas. The same is true for open sea areas when using Astronavigation.

Preparing for City Construction. Cities are built during the City Construction phase but preparations are taken during the Movement phase. To build a city, a player must have at least 6 tokens in an area with a city site at the start of the City Construction phase. Players can also build wilderness cities in areas without a city site. To build a wilderness city, the player must have at least 12 tokens in the area. Wilderness cities can never be built in areas with a population limit of '0' as printed on the board.

Causing Conflict. Tokens from different players can share an area without conflict as long as the population limit is not exceeded. However, when a player moves a token into an area that contains 1 or more tokens belonging to a different player or The Barbarians and the population limit of the area is exceeded, the tokens are in a conflict situation. The action of moving a first token into an area this way is considered causing conflict.

Placing population tokens in an area during the Population Expansion phase is not considered causing conflict, even though this may result in a conflict situation.

A conflict situation can be voided if other player(s) involved decide to move their token(s) from the area afterward. If a player decides to take their movement actions before their turn based on Census order and causes a conflict situation, this move cannot be reverted for the token(s) involved, even if the conflict situation is later voided by the other player.

Ships can never cause conflict, but tokens disembarking a ship can.

Conflicts are only resolved during phase 4 (Conflict).

City Attack. When a player moves a token into an area that contains a different player's city, this is considered a city attack. However, to successfully attack a city, a player must have at least 7 tokens in the area during phase 4 (Conflict).

It is not possible for 2 or more players to team up in a city attack as their tokens will first get in conflict with each other before the city attack is resolved.

City Defense. Players can defend their cities by moving tokens into the city area, which will first get into conflict with the tokens attacking the city. Cities can be defended before or after the (expected) city attack occurs; the defending player should carefully consider the order of movement when planning this.

End of Movement. Once players have completed their movement, they announce this and flip their marker on the Census Track board to the white side to show this. Also they return any of their ships that were built in a previous turn and not maintained this turn to stock.

The Movement phase ends when all players have completed their movement. All tokens and Census-markers are then flipped back to their colored side.

4. Conflict

There are 2 types of conflict:

• Token conflict is a conflict between tokens of different players, or between a player and The Barbarians.
• City attack is a conflict between tokens of a single player (or The Barbarians) and a city of a different player (or The Barbarians).

Token conflicts are resolved before any city attacks.

4a. Token Conflicts. Token conflicts are resolved in rounds of token removal. During each of these rounds the player with the minority in tokens in the area first removes 1 of their tokens, followed by the other player(s) in token minority order. This process is repeated with new rounds of token removal until either the population limit is no longer exceeded or only a single player has tokens left in the area (even if the population limit is exceeded). A conflict can end before a full round of token removal has been completed. All tokens removed during token conflict are returned to stock.

If players start the conflict with an equal number of tokens, they simultaneously remove 1 of their tokens. It may happen that by removing tokens this way the area ends up depopulated or occupied by fewer tokens than the population limit.

If a token conflict occurs in an area with a city this conflict ends when only a single player (or The Barbarians) has tokens left in the area. Any remaining tokens that do not belong to the city's owner attack the city in the next step.

Ships are never involved in conflict, except for when a player holds Naval Warfare (page 36).

Conflict with The Barbarians. Conflicts with barbarian tokens are resolved in the same way as token conflicts between players. Barbarians do not benefit from any Civilization Advances.

4b. City Attacks. A city attack is only successful if the attacking player has at least 7 tokens in the area with the city (after a possible token conflict). If there are insufficient tokens to successfully attack the city, no conflict occurs and the city is unaffected. These tokens are considered surplus population and remain in the area until phase 5b (Remove Surplus Population).

Successful city attacks are resolved, one at the time, in the following way:

1. The defending player replaces their city with 6 tokens from stock. If the player has insufficient tokens in stock, the city is replaced with whatever tokens are left in stock (this may be zero). Only if a defending player that has insufficient tokens to replace their cities with, is also attacking a city at the same time, they may (once per turn) decide to wait for the other city attack to be resolved first to gain tokens in stock.
2. A token conflict is resolved between the attacking tokens and the newly placed tokens, applying the rules from step 4a.
3. The attacking player may draw a trade card from the defending player's hand at random. If the defending player does not hold any trade cards this is not applicable.
4. The attacking player may choose to gain up to 3 treasury tokens from stock. The defending player's treasury is unaffected.

If a single player attacks more than 1 city belonging to different players these are resolved in defending player A.S.T.-Ranking order. If more than 1 city belonging to the same player is being attacked by different players, these are resolved in attacking player A.S.T.-Ranking order. If more than 1 city belonging to the same player is being attacked by the same player, the defending player may choose in which order these are resolved.

Conflict with The Barbarians. If a pirate city is attacked successfully, the city is replaced with 6 barbarian tokens. The attacking player cannot draw a trade card but may gain up to 3 treasury tokens from stock.

5. City Construction

This phase is divided into 3 steps, as described below.

• City Construction
• Remove Surplus Population
• Check for City Support

All players take these actions simultaneously. However, players may insist that A.S.T.-Ranking order is respected if this could impact their decisions.

5a. City Construction. Players may choose to build any number of cities per turn. To build a city the following requirements have to be met:

• At least 6 tokens in an area with a city site.
• At least 12 tokens in an area without a city site to build a wilderness city. Cities cannot be built in an area with a population limit of '0' as printed on the board this way.

To build a city, the player removes all tokens from the area (irrespective of ownership) and replaces them with a city from stock. All removed tokens are returned to stock. Areas cannot contain more than 1 city. The number of cities a player can have on the board is limited to 9.

The board contains white and black city sites. These are treated the same for the purpose of city construction.

5b. Remove Surplus Population. After city construction, all players must remove their surplus population, which means any tokens on the board that are in excess of population limits. Areas that contain a city cannot support any more population, so any tokens in an area with a city are also removed as surplus population.

Ships are not impacted during this step.

5c. Check for City Support. After players have removed their surplus population, they must do a check for city support. The required support rate is 2 tokens per city, which means that each player should have at least 2 tokens on the board for each of their cities on the board.

If a player has insufficient city support, the player has to reduce a city. This means that the player removes 1 of their cities from the board and replaces it with a number of tokens from stock equal to the population limit of that area. Cities that were built this turn have to be selected first during this step.

After city reduction another check for city support is made, with the newly added tokens immediately contributing towards the player's city support. If the player still has insufficient support on the board, another city has to be reduced. This process is repeated until the player has sufficient support for their cities.

6. Trade Cards Acquisition

If all players still have zero cities continue with phase 13 (A.S.T.-Alteration). In the first turn that trade cards are dealt, make sure that the stacks of trade cards are set up as described under Prepare the Stacks of Trade Cards (page 11). For any later game turns, first check whether all cards discarded or turned in during the previous turn have been shuffled and placed underneath the stacks.

6a. Deal Trade Cards. Each player counts their number of cities on the board and moves their A.S.T.-markers on the City Count board accordingly, placing them in A.S.T.-Ranking order for each number. The numbers on the tokens represent their vertical position on the A.S.T.

Each player with 1 or more cities on the board is dealt trade cards equal to their number of cities on the board in the order shown on the City Count board (from low to high). Each player is dealt 1 trade card per stack of trade cards, in ascending order and starting with stack #1, until the stack number is reached that equals their number of cities on the board. If at any point a stack is empty, a substitute Water card is dealt instead of the missing trade card.

It is recommended that a single player is appointed for dealing trade cards to all players.

Example: John (Minoa) has 3 cities, so he receives trade cards first. Judith (Hellas) and Tony (Egypt) both have 5 cities, but Hellas (#15) is higher on the A.S.T. than Egypt (#17), so Judith receives cards before Tony. Tony would be dealt cards from stack 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, but stack 2 is empty, so he receives from stack 1, a Water card, and cards from stack 3, 4 and 5.

6b. Additional Purchases. After all players have received their regular trade cards, in the same order as the trade cards were dealt, each player may decide to purchase additional trade cards at their discretion or pass.

By default, players can only purchase trade cards from stack 9 for 15 treasury tokens per card. The treasury tokens have to be moved to stock before receiving the card. After purchasing a card, a player may look at that card before deciding to purchase another card or pass.

If a player decides to purchase a card from a stack that is empty, a Water card is received after the purchase costs are paid.

It is not allowed for anybody to count the number of remaining cards in a particular stack. It is also not allowed for players to conceal the number of trade cards they hold.

7. Trade

The objective of the Trade phase is to gather sets of identical trade cards by trading cards with other players. This may substantially increase the total value of the trade cards held by a player.

Value of Trade Cards. A single commodity is only worth its face value, which is the large number in the center of the card. This value is also shown in the first box at the bottom of the card. Two cards of the same commodity are worth the value shown in the second box at the bottom of the card, three cards are worth the value shown in the third box, and so on. The combined value of 2 or more identical commodities is their set value. Depending on the commodity type, the value of a complete set can exceed 200 points.

The set value of identical commodity cards is always equal to the square of the number of commodities of the set, multiplied by their face value.

Different commodities can never form a set. The total value of these commodities is equal to the sum of their face values.

Trading. Determine a time limit for the trading phase (e.g. 10 minutes), using a timer with an alarm that is visible for all players.

Trading is done simultaneously. Each player may negotiate trades with any other player. During each trade 2 players bilaterally negotiate on the exchange of a number of cards from their hands. A trade must include at least 3 trade cards per player but may be more. The number of trade cards exchanged does not need to be equal.

Before making a transaction both players must truthfully inform each other on the identity of 2 commodity cards and the total number of cards involved in their offer. If not mentioned, this number is 3 cards by default. Both players may mention the names of the other commodities offered but this additional information does not need to be true. If more than 2 commodities are mentioned only the first 2 mentioned must be true.

Calamities may be traded to other players, with the exception of Non Tradeable calamities. It is not allowed for players to mention any calamities when making a trade offer. Offering a calamity free trade or a peace treaty on the board is allowed, but such promises are not binding. Transfer of units on the board, treasury, or Civilization Advances cannot be part of a trade offer.

After both players agree on a transaction, the cards involved are exchanged simultaneously. If a player receives a different number of cards than offered, does not receive the first 2 commodities agreed upon, or receives a Non Tradeable Calamity, the transaction is reverted. All cards involved are returned to their initial owners and the players may start new negotiations. Otherwise, transactions cannot be reverted after the exchange has been made.

End of Trading. The Trade phase ends when all players declare to have finished trading or if the time limit is reached. When the alarm rings, any deals under negotiation may be finalized but no new negotiations can be started.

8. Calamity Selection

Each player must reveal the number of calamities they hold by placing the calamities face down in front of them. The identity of the calamities is not revealed until the next phase. If no player holds any calamities this phase can be skipped.

Players who hold more calamities than the calamity limit must discard calamities, one by one at random, until the limit is no longer exceeded. After discarding the calamities are placed on the discard piles, one for each number shown on the card. The calamity limit is dependent on the number of players in the game as described below.

5-8 Players. In a game with 5-8 players the limit per player is 2 calamities (Tradeable or Non Tradeable).

Example: Angela holds 3 calamities in an 8-player game: Famine, Treachery and Barbarian Hordes. She has to discard 1 of these cards to get within the calamity limit. She shuffles them face down and her neighbor picks one. This calamity is discarded and turns out to be Treachery. Angela will be the victim of the remaining calamities in the next phase.

9 Players. In a game with 9 players, there are Minor Calamities in addition to the Major Calamities. In this situation players are not allowed to hold more than 3 calamities, no more than 2 of which may be Major Calamities (Tradeable or Non Tradeable).

Example: Jack holds 4 calamities in a 9-player game: Superstition and Tyranny (both Major Calamities) and Squandered Wealth and Coastal Migration (both Minor Calamities). He discards 1 card at random. This could possibly be Tyranny, the one he wishes to get rid of most, but also the considerably less harmful Squandered Wealth.

9. Calamity Resolution

This phase is divided into 2 steps. In the first step all Minor Calamities are resolved simultaneously and in the second step all Major Calamities in a fixed order.

Detailed rules and definitions for resolving the calamities are provided in chapter 8, Card-Specific Rules - Calamities (page 27-32).

The Calamity Resolution Quick Chart serves as a guide during calamity resolution. However, it does not include the full level of detail (e.g. descriptions of tiebreakers and extraordinary situations) as this rulebook.

9a. Minor Calamities. Simultaneously, all players reveal any Minor Calamities they hold and resolve them. Any player who holds more than 1 Minor Calamity resolves the calamities in ascending stack number order. Players may wait for others with a higher A.S.T.-Ranking to resolve their Minor Calamities before resolving their own. Civilization Advances have no (direct) impact on Minor Calamities.

9b. Major Calamities. One player names all calamities, one at a time, in ascending stack number order. All stacks contain 2 Major Calamities. The Non Tradeable calamity is always named before the Tradeable calamity. Since stack 1 does not contain any calamities, this process always starts with the Non Tradeable calamity of stack 2 (Volcanic Eruption).

When a calamity is named, the player holding that calamity reveals and resolves it. Afterward the next calamity is named and resolved, and so on.

A primary victim of a calamity that requires the selection of any secondary victims must first select these players before resolving the calamity for themselves. All victims of the same calamity resolve this simultaneously, but players may insist on waiting for their turn in A.S.T.-Ranking order. This may result in a secondary victim resolving their part of the calamity before the primary victim.

A large number of Civilization Advances have reduction or aggravation effects on calamities that should be taken into account during the resolution. Unless a card states "you may choose to", all attributes are always applied.

After all calamities held by the players have been resolved the calamity cards are placed on separate discard piles, one for each number shown on the card.

No checks for conflict, surplus population or city support are made during this phase.

10. Special Abilities

During this phase each player who holds Civilization Advances with Special Abilities may use these abilities. This phase is always carried out in A.S.T.-Progress order. Each special ability can be used at the player's discretion but should be carried out in its entirety or not at all. Players who hold more than 1 Civilization Advance with a special ability may use these abilities in any desired order.

There are 7 different Civilization Advances with special abilities (Diaspora, Fundamentalism, Monotheism, Politics, Provincial Empire, Trade Routes, and Universal Doctrine). Detailed rules for these abilities are described in chapter 9, Card-Specific Rules - Civilization Advances (page 32-38).

Placing, destroying or annexing units by means of special abilities is not considered causing conflict. No checks for conflict, surplus population or city support are made during this phase.

11. Surplus Population & City Support

If there is a conflict situation on the board at this point it is resolved in accordance with the rules described for phase 4 (Conflict).

If there is no (more) conflict situation on the board, all players simultaneously remove any surplus population on the board and subsequently do a check for city support. Any unsupported cities must be reduced in accordance with the rules described for phase 5c (Check for City Support).

12. Civilization Advances Acquisition

12a. Civilization Advances Acquisition. During this phase each player may purchase Civilization Advances. This phase is carried out in A.S.T.-Progress order.

To speed up the game players often acquire Civilization Advances simultaneously. It is recommended to follow A.S.T.-Progress order when a player's choice on which Advance(s) to acquire depends on other players' choices.

Civilization Advances are paid for by handing in (sets of) trade cards. The value of a set of trade cards turned in is explained on page 21. Treasury tokens may be spent for a value of 1 each.

The cost of a Civilization Advance is shown at the top left of the card. In the course of the game players will receive discounts through:

• Permanent credits received in previous turns.
• Special credits to Civilization Advances provided by Civilization Advances bought in previous turns, as shown at the bottom of the cards.

When players purchase one or more Civilization Advances, they receive credit tokens as shown on the lower left corner of the cards. These credit tokens are permanent and provide discounts to other Civilization Advances purchased by the player in later turns.

Some Civilization Advances belong to 2 groups/colors. For these cards only the credits from the one color that provides the highest discount is applied. The discount from the two colors is never combined.

Civilization Advances are considered to be acquired in a single transaction. Any permanent credits held by a player that were obtained in previous turns apply to each Civilization Advance of the same color/group acquired.

Example 1: John has bought Pottery (60 - Craft) and Masonry (60 - Craft) in the previous turn. He now holds credit tokens worth 20 to Crafts, 5 to Sciences, and 5 to Arts. Agriculture (120 - Craft) now costs 90 for him due to the 20 credits to Crafts and the special credit of 10 provided by Pottery (120 - 20 - 10 = 90).

Example 2: Judith has bought Agriculture (120 - Craft) in the previous turn and does not hold any credits towards Civics. Democracy (220 - Civic) now costs 200, due to the special credit of 20 provided by Agriculture (220 - 20 = 200).

Example 3: Angela has bought Music (80 - Arts) in the previous turn. She now holds credit tokens worth 10 to Arts and 5 to Religions. Mysticism (50 - dual Arts/Religion) now costs 40 due to the credits to Arts. Even though Mysticism is both Art and Religion the credits to both groups are not combined.

As the value of credit tokens held by players builds up during the game, at some point players may be able to get one or more Civilization Advances for free. The cost for any card can never be lower than zero.

There are no prerequisites for purchasing any Civilization Advances. Players can purchase any card they want, provided that they have sufficient value from trade cards and/or treasury to spend.

If the value from trade cards turned in exceeds the total cost of the Civilization Advances, the excess value is lost. A player cannot spend more treasury tokens than necessary when paying for Civilization Advances.

The Strategy Explorer can be used when planning the acquisition of Civilization Advances. It shows all 51 cards in 3 groups of 17 cards each. All cards in the left column (cost <100) provide a credit of 10 to a specific card in the middle column (cost >100), which in turn provide a credit of 20 to a specific card in the right column (cost >200).

Attributes from newly acquired Civilization Advances go into effect immediately and effects from the cards are cumulative. Full descriptions and detailed rules for all Civilization Advances are provided in chapter 9, Card-Specific Rules - Civilization Advances (page 32-38).

Civilization Advances and credit tokens held by players cannot be lost or exchanged, and are open for all other players to see.

12b. Discard Excess Trade Cards. Players have a hand limit of 8 commodity cards. Any player who holds more commodity cards at this point must choose and discard commodity cards until the limit is met.

All commodity cards turned in or discarded during this phase are placed on separate discard piles, one for each large number shown on the card.

13. A.S.T.-Alteration

13a. Move Succession Markers. In A.S.T.-Ranking order, each player checks whether they meet the requirements for moving to the next space on their A.S.T. track. Each era has different requirements as shown at the top of the A.S.T. Board. The requirements apply for entering and moving through an era.

Players who meet the requirements move their succession marker 1 space to the right. The succession marker of players who do not meet the requirements is not moved this turn.

If the succession marker of 1 or more players enters the final (colored) space of the A.S.T. the game ends immediately. When this happens, continue with phase 13c (Determine Victory).

13b. Return Trade Cards to Stacks. All trade cards turned in or discarded this turn are returned to their stacks. The cards are not shuffled into the stacks with remaining cards, but placed underneath the stacks with remaining trade cards of the same number in the following way:

• Collect all cards with the same number from the discard piles. If this includes the Non Tradeable calamity, set it aside.
• Shuffle the discarded cards excluding the Non Tradeable calamity and place them underneath the stack of undrawn cards.
• Place the Non Tradeable calamity at the bottom of the stack of undrawn cards (which now includes the freshly shuffled cards).

Start a new game turn after returning the trade cards to the stacks.

13c. Determine Victory. Only if the end of game is triggered, all players count their number of Victory Points. The total score of Victory Points is determined in the following way:

• 1 Victory Point for the number of cities on the board.
• 1 Victory Point for each Civilization Advance owned with a cost of less than 100.
• 3 Victory Points for each Civilization Advance owned with a cost between 100 and 200.
• 6 Victory Points for each Civilization Advance owned with a cost of more than 200.
• 5 Victory Points for every step taken on the A.S.T. These values are printed at the bottom of the A.S.T.
• 5 Bonus Victory Points are awarded if a single player has moved their succession marker into the Late Iron Age era. If more than 1 player did so, this bonus is not granted.

The player with the highest number of Victory Points is the winner!

If two or more players have the same number of Victory Points, ties are broken in the following way:

1. The progress of their succession marker on the A.S.T. If this is equal, A.S.T.-Ranking does not break ties at this point.
2. The single largest number of Civilization Advances (in order) held by the players: worth 6 Victory Points, then worth 3 Victory Points.
3. The cumulative cost of all Civilization Advances held by the players.
4. The highest total value of credit tokens of a single color held by the players.
5. The highest total value of all of the credit tokens held by the players.
6. The number of cities the players have on the board.
7. The number of tokens the players have on the board.
8. A.S.T.-Ranking.

Player Elimination/Leaving the Game

Player Elimination

It is very unlikely that a player's units are fully eliminated from the board. Even if this were to occur the player is still considered to be in the game if that player wants to. During the next occurrence of certain calamities (Civil War, Tyranny) this player will regain a position on the board.

Leaving the Game

It sometimes happens that a player has to leave in the middle of the game. It is recommended to end the game at this point due to the disruptions caused by the player's departure. However, if the remaining players prefer to continue with the game, follow the rules below to deal with this situation. If possible, complete the turn up to phase 12b (Discard Excess Trade Cards) with the leaving player. Otherwise, finish the current phase first.

Playing Pieces of the Leaving Player

• Place Out of Play markers in each area within the region associated with the leaving player. The regions can be found in chapter 5, Map Board Setups (page 14-15). Remove all of the player's playing pieces and any barbarian tokens or pirate cities from these areas. Units belonging to other players remain in these areas for the moment.
• Replace any of the player's remaining tokens and cities on the board outside their associated region with barbarian tokens and pirate cities.
• Remove the player's remaining ships from the board.
• Place all trade cards held by the leaving player on the discard piles.

Playing Pieces of Other Players

There may be other players' tokens or cities in areas that are now marked Out of Play. In A.S.T.-Ranking order, each player involved does the following for these areas only:

• Remove all ships.
• Replace any cities with 5 population tokens each. Players with insufficient tokens in stock place all of their remaining tokens on the board.
• Take all population tokens put on the board this way and place them anywhere else on the board in either areas within their own region or areas outside of their region that contain at least 1 of their tokens or cities. No conflict situations may be caused and population limits may only be exceeded if there is no legal alternative area available for placement.

After all players have done so, all players must remove surplus population, make an additional check for city support, and reduce any unsupported cities.

Card-Specific Rules - Calamities

A player holding a calamity is referred to as the primary victim of this calamity. Unless stated otherwise, the calamity only applies to the primary victim's playing pieces. Ships and Civilization Advances are never impacted by calamities.

A number of calamities force a primary victim to select one or more secondary victims who will also suffer from the calamity. The primary victim cannot choose to refrain from doing so, unless there are insufficient legal targets. Barbarian tokens and pirate cities cannot be selected for any secondary effects of calamities. Neither do they suffer collateral damage from calamities (if applicable).

Civilization Advances that have an impact on calamities only apply to their holder. The effects on calamities are cumulative. This may result in a primary victim being immune to a certain calamity whilst secondary victims still suffer from the effects.

Example: Tony is the victim of Superstition and has to reduce 3 cities. Since he holds Mysticism and Deism which both say "Reduce 1 less city", he only has to reduce 1 city.

If a player has insufficient components (cities, population tokens, treasury tokens, trade cards) to comply with the required calamity effect, they apply whatever they have available. If a player can only comply if they exceed the required amount, they must do so.

Example: Jack has to reduce 3 cities but only has 2 on the board, so he reduces both cities.

No checks for conflict, surplus population or city support are made during this phase.

Taking Damage. To take damage means that the player must select and remove the determined number of their unit points from the board to stock. Tokens are worth 1 unit point and cities are worth 5 unit points when taking damage. Ships do not count as units and cannot be selected for taking damage.

When taking damage, players are allowed to remove a city and replace it with any number of population tokens up to the population limit. The number of damage taken this way is equal to 5 minus the number of tokens placed on the board.

Example: Angela has to take 10 damage. She removes 7 tokens from the board and replaces 1 of her cities in an area with population limit 2 with 2 tokens. This counts for 7 + (5-2) = 10 damage in total.

Destroying Cities or Units. To destroy a city means that the player has to select 1 of their cities and return it to stock. To destroy units means that all cities and tokens in the area(s) are returned to stock.

Reducing Cities. To reduce a city means that the player has to select 1 of their cities and replace it with tokens from stock up to the area's population limit. The city is returned to stock.

Annexation of Units. To annex a number of unit points means that a player replaces a different player's tokens or cities with the same number of their own tokens or cities.

Losing Treasury. To lose treasury means that the player must transfer the indicated number of treasury tokens to stock. If the player has insufficient tokens in treasury, all treasury tokens are moved to stock.

Paying Treasury. To pay treasury means that the player may decide to transfer the indicated number of treasury tokens to stock to prevent a certain calamity effect. If the player has insufficient tokens in treasury the prevention effect cannot be applied.

Discarding Commodity Cards. To discard commodity cards means that the player selects commodity cards from their hand and places them on the discard pile.

Beneficiary. Some calamities require a beneficiary during its resolution. Depending on the calamity, the beneficiary may either annex units from the primary victim, may not be selected as a secondary victim to the calamity, or act as the controller of certain calamity events. The beneficiary is always a different player than the primary victim.

Each time a calamity requires a beneficiary, the beneficiary is determined in the following way:

• The last player to trade the (tradeable) calamity to the primary victim is the beneficiary.
• If the calamity is Non Tradeable, if the (tradeable) calamity was drawn by the primary victim but not traded or if the last player to trade the calamity is untraceable, the player with the most cities in stock is the beneficiary. In case of a tie, from these players, the player with the most tokens in stock becomes the beneficiary. If needed, A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties.

Minor Calamities

Tempest. Take 2 damage in total from coastal areas of your choice and lose 5 treasury tokens.

Squandered Wealth. You lose 10 treasury tokens.

City Riots. Reduce 1 of your cities and lose 5 treasury tokens.

City in Flames. Destroy 1 of your cities. You may choose to pay 10 treasury tokens to prevent this.

Tribal Conflict. Take 5 damage.

Minor Uprising. Destroy 1 of your cities.

Banditry. Discard 2 commodity cards of your choice. For each card you must discard, you may choose to pay 4 treasury tokens to prevent it. Water cards may be used for this purpose.

Coastal Migration. Destroy 1 of your coastal cities and you lose 5 treasury tokens.

Major Calamities

Volcanic Eruption. Only if you have a city on a volcano this calamity is a Volcanic Eruption, otherwise this is an Earthquake.

Volcanic Eruption: Destroy all units (irrespective of ownership) in the area(s) touched by the volcano. If you have cities in more than one area with a volcano, select the one volcano that would affect the most of your unit points.

Earthquake: Select and destroy 1 of your cities and select and reduce 1 city adjacent by land or water (irrespective of ownership).

In the case of an Earthquake, if you hold Engineering, your city is reduced rather than destroyed.

• There are 3 volcanoes on the map board, each of which is located on the border of two areas, which are both affected.
• In case of an Earthquake, if the only option for the second city is one of your own, you must choose that one.

Treachery. The beneficiary selects and annexes 1 of your cities.

If you hold Diplomacy, the beneficiary selects and annexes 1 additional city.

• The beneficiary is the last player that traded the calamity to you. If you drew it yourself, or if it seems to be untraceable, the player with the most cities in stock (in case of a tie the most tokens in stock) is the beneficiary.
• If the beneficiary has insufficient cities in stock they replace the remainder of the selected cities with pirate cities.

Famine. Take 10 damage and assign 5 damage to each of 3 players of your choice.

If you are the primary victim and hold Agriculture, take 5 additional damage.

If you hold Pottery, prevent 5 damage.

If you hold Calendar, prevent 5 damage.

• Even if a primary victim can prevent all of their damage, Famine is not canceled and players that can prevent their damage can still be selected as secondary victims.

Slave Revolt. Immediately perform an additional check for city support, during which your city support rate is increased by 2. Reduce cities until you have sufficient support.

If you hold Mythology, your city support rate is decreased by 1 during the resolution of Slave Revolt.

If you hold Enlightenment, your city support rate is decreased by 1 during the resolution of Slave Revolt.

If you hold Mining, your city support rate is increased by 1 during the resolution of Slave Revolt.

• The default city support rate is 2. Any tokens newly gained by reducing a city this way, may immediately count for your city support.
• If you hold Cultural Ascendancy, your default city support rate is 3, and still is increased by 2 more during the resolution of Slave Revolt.

Flood. Only if you have any units on a flood plain, take 15 damage from the flood plain. If you have any units on more than 1 flood plain, select the flood plain where the most of your units would be affected. All other players with units on the same flood plain take 5 damage from that flood plain as well. Cities built on black city sites are not considered to be on the flood plain. If you have no units on a flood plain, take 5 damage in total from coastal areas of your choice instead.

If you hold Engineering, prevent 5 damage.

• In flood plain areas any wilderness cities, cities on a white city site and tokens are considered to be on this flood plain.

Superstition. Reduce 3 of your cities.

If you hold Mysticism, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Deism, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Enlightenment, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Universal Doctrine, reduce 1 additional city.

Civil War. The beneficiary annexes all your units in excess of 35 unit points. You select the units. Count all unit points that you have on the board and select units in excess of 35. All units selected this way must be in areas adjacent to each other if possible, and in each of these areas all of your units must be selected. If you have 35 unit points or less there is no Civil War.

If you hold Music, select 5 less unit points.

If you hold Drama and Poetry, select 5 less unit points.

If you hold Democracy, select 10 less unit points.

If you hold Philosophy, select 5 additional unit points.

If you hold Military, select 5 additional unit points.

• The beneficiary is the player with the most cities in stock (in case of a tie, the most tokens in stock). This cannot be the primary victim.
• You must count all your unit points, and subtract 35. If you have fewer unit points than required (taking into account any Civilization Advances held) there is no Civil War.
• If the primary victim cannot make the exact selection, the rule may be broken taking into account the following priority: 1. In each area all units belonging to the primary victim must be selected. 2. The areas selected must be adjacent to each other. 3. The selected units must be exactly the number to comply. 4. The beneficiary must be able to annex all units in the combination selected.
• If the beneficiary has insufficient cities or tokens in stock they choose and annex as many as possible and replace the remainder of the selected units with pirate cities and/or barbarian tokens.

Barbarian Hordes. One of your cities is attacked by 15 barbarian tokens, which will continue attacking your units until there are no areas with barbarian tokens in which the population limit is exceeded. Place 15 barbarian tokens in one of your cities selected by the beneficiary (if possible a wilderness city) and resolve a city attack. After this conflict, the beneficiary moves all remaining barbarian tokens in excess of the population limit to an area adjacent by land or water that contains any of your units and conflict is resolved again. The beneficiary may only move barbarian tokens into an area that contains a city if the attack would be successful. This process is repeated until no population limit is exceeded by the barbarian tokens or no new area can be chosen legally. Any barbarian tokens in excess of a population limit are then destroyed.

If you hold Monarchy, 5 less barbarian tokens are used.

If you hold Politics, 5 additional barbarian tokens are used.

If you hold Provincial Empire, 5 additional barbarian tokens are used.

• The beneficiary is the last player that traded the calamity to you. If you did not trade it after you drew it or if it seems to be untraceable, the player with the most cities in stock (in case of a tie, the most tokens in stock) is the beneficiary.
• If an area also contains tokens belonging to other players, these are involved in the conflict.
• Barbarians may move across sea borders, but not across open sea areas, and they cannot skip an area.
• Barbarians do not benefit from any of the attributes of Civilization Advances held by the beneficiary.
• Barbarian tokens are unaffected by Cultural Ascendancy or Diplomacy.
• No trade cards are drawn as a result of successful city attacks.
• To determine whether a city attack would be successful, potential strategic choices based on Civilization Advances held by the victim should not be considered.
• Barbarian tokens remain on the board until destroyed in conflict or annexed using Universal Doctrine.
• The back sides of pirate cities say "Equals 6 Barbarian tokens". In many cases the resolution of Barbarian Hordes may be sped up by using these substitutes.

Cyclone. The open sea area that has the most of your cities directly adjacent to it becomes the Cyclone area. You select 3 of your cities adjacent to the Cyclone area. All other players with cities directly adjacent to the Cyclone area must select 2 of their cities adjacent to the Cyclone area as well.

If you hold Trade Empire, you must select 1 additional city in an area adjacent to the open sea area. After selecting:

If you hold Masonry, deselect 1 of your selected cities.

If you hold Calendar, deselect 2 of your selected cities.

Reduce all selected cities.

• In case of a tie the primary victim chooses the Cyclone area.
• If, at the moment of resolving Cyclone, the primary victim has no coastal cities directly adjacent to any open sea area (before taking into account any prevention effects) then the calamity is canceled.
• Note that while Masonry and Calendar may prevent reduction, this does not prevent Cyclone from occurring, nor does it cancel the Cyclone for any secondary victims.

Epidemic. Take 15 damage and select 2 other players that must take 10 damage as well. The beneficiary may not be selected as a secondary victim.

If you hold Medicine, prevent 5 damage.

If you are the primary victim and hold Enlightenment, prevent 5 damage.

If you are a secondary victim and hold Anatomy, prevent 5 damage.

If you are the primary victim and hold Roadbuilding, take 5 additional damage.

If you are the primary victim and hold Trade Empire, take 5 additional damage.

Tyranny. The beneficiary selects and annexes 15 of your unit points. All units selected this way must be in areas adjacent to each other if possible, and in each of these areas all of your units must be selected.

If you hold Sculpture, the beneficiary selects and annexes 5 less unit points.

If you hold Law, the beneficiary selects and annexes 5 less unit points.

If you hold Monarchy, the beneficiary selects and annexes 5 additional unit points.

If you hold Provincial Empire, the beneficiary selects and annexes 5 additional unit points.

• The beneficiary is the player with the most cities in stock (in case of a tie, the most tokens in stock). This cannot be the primary victim.
• If the beneficiary cannot make the exact selection, the rule may be broken taking into account the following priority: 1. In each area all units belonging to the primary victim must be selected. 2. The areas selected must be adjacent to each other. 3. The selected units must be exactly the number to comply. 4. The beneficiary must be able to annex all units in the combination selected.
• If the beneficiary has insufficient cities or tokens in stock they choose and annex as many as possible from the selected units, and replace the remainder of the selected units with pirate cities and/or barbarian tokens.

Civil Disorder. Reduce all but 3 of your cities.

If you hold Music, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Drama and Poetry, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Law, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Democracy, reduce 1 less city.

If you hold Advanced Military, reduce 1 additional city.

If you hold Naval Warfare, reduce 1 additional city.

Corruption. Discard commodity cards with a total face value (not set value) of at least 10 points.

If you hold Law, discard 5 less points of face value.

If you hold Coinage, discard 5 additional points of face value.

If you hold Wonder of the World, discard 5 additional points of face value.

Iconoclasm and Heresy. Reduce 4 of your cities and select 2 other players that must reduce 1 of their cities as well. The beneficiary may not be selected as a secondary victim.

If you hold Philosophy, reduce 2 less cities.

If you hold Theology, reduce 3 less cities.

If you hold Monotheism, reduce 1 additional city.

If you hold Theocracy, you may choose to discard 2 commodity cards to prevent the city reduction effect for you.

• If, at the moment of resolving Iconoclasm and Heresy, the primary victim has no cities (before taking into account any prevention effects) then the calamity is canceled.
• Note that while Philosophy, Theology and/or Theocracy may prevent some or all city reduction for the primary victim, this does not cancel the effects for any secondary victims.

Regression. Your succession marker on the A.S.T. is moved 1 step backward.

If you hold Fundamentalism, your marker is moved backward 1 additional step.

If you hold Library, your marker is moved backward 1 less step.

If you hold Enlightenment, for each step backward, you may choose to prevent the effect by destroying 2 of your cities (if possible non-coastal).

• Regression does not prevent you from advancing during the A.S.T.-Alteration phase this turn.

Piracy. The beneficiary selects 2 of your coastal cities, which are replaced by pirate cities. Then you select from 2 other players 1 coastal city each, which are also replaced by pirate cities. The beneficiary may not be selected as a secondary victim.

If you are the primary victim and hold Cartography, the beneficiary selects and replaces 1 additional coastal city.

If you are the primary victim and hold Naval Warfare, the beneficiary selects and replaces 1 less coastal city.

If you hold Naval Warfare, you may not be selected as a secondary victim.

• If, at the moment of resolving Piracy, the primary victim has no coastal cities (before taking into account any prevention effects) then the calamity is canceled.
• Pirate cities remain on the board until destroyed or annexed using Universal Doctrine.

Card-Specific Rules - Civilization Advances

Each Civilization Advance is described below by name, followed by its permanent attribute(s) and any interactions it has with specific calamities or other cards.

Advanced Military. In conflicts, you may choose to remove tokens from areas adjacent by land. After each round of token removal a new check for token majority must be made. You may decide to wait for other token conflicts to be resolved first. You are allowed to cause conflict in areas containing units belonging to players holding Cultural Ascendancy. Civil Disorder: Reduce 1 additional city.

• In conflict the token balance may change after every round of removal as you can remove tokens from different areas instead of the conflict area. A new check for token majority must be made each round.
• A player holding Advanced Military may wait before resolving token conflicts in which they are involved, in order to choose where to remove their tokens (or ships, if they also hold Naval Warfare). If more than 1 player involved holds Advanced Military, the player with the lowest A.S.T.-Ranking (highest Civilization #) order may wait for players with a higher order (lowest Civilization #).
• Players are not allowed to reduce a city in order to provide themselves with more tokens in conflict.
• If you unsuccessfully attack a city, the tokens that are destroyed from the area may not be removed from an adjacent area instead.

Agriculture. The population limit of '0', '1' and '2' areas as printed on the board is increased by 1 for you as long as these areas do not contain any other player's units or barbarian tokens. Famine: If you are the primary victim, take 5 additional damage.

• Agriculture does not allow you to build a city in an area with population limit '0' as printed on the board.
• When reducing a city, you may immediately use the effect and thus place the additional token.
• In conflict, as soon as you are the only player occupying the area (and the conflict ends), you may immediately use the effect and thus keep the additional token if present.
• The effect of Agriculture does not apply to areas containing cities in combination with the effect of Public Works.

Anatomy. Upon purchase, you may choose to acquire 1 science card with an undiscounted cost of less than 100 for free. Epidemic: If you are a secondary victim, prevent 5 damage.

Architecture. Once per turn, when constructing a city, you may choose to pay up to half of the required number of tokens from treasury.

• You are allowed to use the ability when building a wilderness city.

Astronavigation. Your ships are allowed to move through open sea areas.

• Your ships may not end in an open sea area.

Calendar. Famine: Prevent 5 damage. Cyclone: Reduce 2 less selected cities.

• If you are a victim of Cyclone, you must first select the required number of affected cities by flipping the cities (either 1, 2 or 3). If you hold Trade Empire this number is increased by 1. If you have insufficient cities directly adjacent to the affected open sea area, you select all of those cities. Calendar subsequently permits you to deselect up to 2 of your selected cities. Then you must reduce all your remaining selected cities (if any).

Cartography. During the Trade cards acquisition phase, you may acquire additional trade cards from stack 2 for 5 treasury tokens and/or from stack 7 for 13 treasury tokens per card. Piracy: If you are the primary victim, the beneficiary selects and replaces 1 additional coastal city.

Cloth Making. Your ships are allowed to move 5 steps.

Coinage. You may choose to increase or decrease your tax rate by 1. Corruption: Discard 5 additional points of face value.

• You may only set a single tax rate for all of your cities.
• The tax rate effects of Coinage and Monarchy are cumulative.
• If an increase in tax rate would result in a tax revolt, you may still choose to do so.

Cultural Ascendancy. Players are not allowed to cause conflict in areas containing your units, except for areas where a conflict situation already occurs. This does not count for players holding Cultural Ascendancy or Advanced Military. Your units are protected against the effect of Politics. Your default city support rate is increased by 1.

• The Barbarians are unaffected by Cultural Ascendancy.
• Placing tokens during Population Expansion, annexation of units as a consequence of tax revolts, calamities or special abilities, or moving ships in an area without tokens disembarking is not considered attacking or causing conflict.
• An opponent moving a single token in an area that would result in conflict if it stays there is considered causing a conflict, even if in case of a city attack the attack would be unsuccessful.
• Attacking a city is considered causing conflict, even if the attack is performed by a single token.
• If a player holding Advanced Military moves a single token into an area containing your city, this is considered attacking the city. After he moved (and the token stays there), other players may move tokens into this area, even if they don't hold Advanced Military, because at this point a conflict situation already occurs in this area.
• At any moment a check is made for city support (including the resolution of Slave Revolt) you must have an additional token on the map board for each of your cities. When you purchase Cultural Ascendancy there is no check for city support. The first time a check is made is during the next turn's City Construction phase.

Deism. Superstition: Reduce 1 less city.

Democracy. During the Tax Collection phase you collect tax as usual but your cities do not revolt as a result of a shortage in tax collection. Civil War: Select 10 less unit points. Civil Disorder: Reduce 1 less city.

• If an increase in tax rate would result in a tax revolt, you may still choose to do so. If this would happen you can still become the beneficiary of another player's tax revolt that turn.

Diaspora. Special Ability: You may choose to take up to 5 of your tokens from the board and place them anywhere else on the board, providing that no population limits are exceeded.

• Placing a token in an area containing a city is not allowed, except for your own city if you hold Public Works. In areas that only contain your tokens the effect of Agriculture may be used.

Diplomacy. Players are not allowed to move tokens into areas containing your cities, except for areas where a conflict situation already occurs. This does not count for players holding Diplomacy or Military. Treachery: The beneficiary selects and annexes 1 additional city.

• The Barbarians are unaffected by Diplomacy.
• Placing tokens during Population Expansion, annexation of units as a consequence of tax revolts, calamities or special abilities, or moving ships into an area without tokens disembarking is not considered attacking or causing conflict.
• If a player holding Military decides to move before their turn and move one or more tokens into an area containing your city, this is considered attacking the city. Afterward other players may move tokens into this area, even if they don't hold Military, because at this point a conflict situation occurs in this area.

Drama and Poetry. Civil War: Select 5 less unit points. Civil Disorder: Reduce 1 less city.

Empiricism. None.

Engineering. Other players or barbarians require 8 tokens to successfully attack your cities. Your cities are then replaced with 7 tokens. This does not apply when the attacking player also holds Engineering. You require 6 tokens to successfully attack other player's cities or pirate cities. Their cities are then replaced with 5 tokens. This does not apply when the defending player also holds Engineering. Earthquake: Your city is reduced instead of destroyed. Flood: Prevent 5 damage.

Enlightenment. Superstition: Reduce 1 less city. Slave Revolt: Your city support rate is decreased by 1 during the resolution of Slave Revolt. Epidemic: If you are the primary victim, prevent 5 damage. Regression: For each step backward, you may choose to prevent the effect by destroying 2 of your cities (if possible non-coastal).

Fundamentalism. Special Ability: You may choose to destroy all units in an area adjacent by land to your units. Barbarian tokens, pirate cities and units belonging to players holding Fundamentalism or Philosophy are unaffected. Regression: Your marker is moved backward 1 additional step.

Law. Tyranny: The beneficiary selects and annexes 5 less unit points. Civil Disorder: Reduce 1 less city. Corruption: Discard 5 less points of face value.

Library. You may discount the cost of 1 other Civilization Advance that you purchase in the same turn as Library by 40 points. Regression: Your marker is moved backward 1 step less.

Literacy. None.

Masonry. Cyclone: Reduce 1 less of your selected cities.

• If you are a victim of Cyclone, you must first select the required number of affected cities by flipping the cities (either 1, 2 or 3). If you hold Trade Empire this number is increased by 1. If you have insufficient cities directly adjacent to the affected open sea area, you select all of those cities. Masonry subsequently permits you to deselect 1 of your selected cities. Then you must reduce all your remaining selected cities (if any).

Mathematics. None.

Medicine. Epidemic: Prevent 5 damage.

Metalworking. In conflicts, for each round of token removal all other players not holding Metalworking must remove their token first.

• If more than 1 player holds Metalworking, their mutual order is again the normal minority/majority order.
• The advantage of Metalworking also applies in conflicts with barbarian tokens.

Military. Your movement phase is after all other players not holding Military have moved. You are allowed to move tokens into areas containing cities belonging to players holding Diplomacy. Civil War: Select 5 additional unit points.

• If more than 1 player holds Military, for these players their mutual order is again defined by their census.

Mining. During the Trade cards acquisition phase, you may acquire additional trade cards from stack 6 and/or stack 8 for 13 treasury tokens per card. Treasury tokens are worth 2 points when purchasing Civilization Advances. Slave Revolt: Your city support rate is increased by 1 during the resolution of Slave Revolt.

• When using treasury tokens to purchase Civilization Advances you may exceed the purchase price by exactly 1 this way.

Monarchy. You may choose to increase your tax rate by 1. Barbarian Hordes: 5 less barbarian tokens are used. Tyranny: The beneficiary selects and annexes 5 additional unit points.

• You may only set a single tax rate for all of your cities.
• The tax rate effects of Monarchy and Coinage are cumulative.
• If an increase in tax rate would result in a tax revolt, you may still choose to do so.

Monotheism. Special Ability: You may choose to annex all units in an area adjacent by land to your units. Barbarian tokens, pirate cities and units belonging to players holding Monotheism or Theology are unaffected. Iconoclasm and Heresy: Reduce 1 additional city.

• If you have insufficient units in stock to annex all units in the area to start with, you cannot select this area.
• If you annex an area containing a city and a token (due to Public Works) or more tokens than the population limit allows (due to Agriculture), the extra token must also be annexed, even if you don't also hold any of these advances. In this case it will be destroyed during the next Remove Surplus Population phase.

Monument. Acquire 20 additional points of credit tokens in any combination of colors.

• You gain and choose the color(s) of the additional credit tokens at the time Monument is purchased. Your decision cannot be changed at a later stage.

Music. Civil War: Select 5 less unit points. Civil Disorder: Reduce 1 less city.

Mysticism. Superstition: Reduce 1 less city.

Mythology. Slave Revolt: Your city support rate is decreased by 1 during the resolution of Slave Revolt.

Naval Warfare. Your ships are allowed to carry 6 tokens. In conflicts, you may choose to remove ships from the conflict area instead of tokens. After each round of token removal a new check for token majority must be made. Piracy: If you are the primary victim, the beneficiary selects and replaces 1 less coastal city. You may not be selected as a secondary victim. Civil Disorder: Reduce 1 additional city.

• In conflict, while checking for token majority, your ships are not counted. Because you can remove a ship rather than a token each round, this token balance may change every round of removal. Therefore a new check for majority has to be made each round.
• Even if you hold Naval Warfare, moving your ships into an area (with or without tokens), is not considered to be causing conflict or attacking, while disembarking tokens may actually be. In an area containing only your ship and 1 or more enemy tokens or a city, your ship itself does not cause conflict.
• An enemy token in an area containing only your ship (none of your tokens) is not causing conflict here due to your ship.
• When attacking a city, a ship does not count for the minimum of 7 tokens; you still require sufficient tokens. However, during conflict resolution you may remove your ships as losses if the attack is successful.
• If your city attack is unsuccessful, all of your ships in this area are destroyed as well.
• If you hold both Advanced Military and Naval Warfare, you cannot remove ships from areas adjacent to the conflict area.

Philosophy. Iconoclasm and Heresy: Reduce 2 less cities. Your units are protected against the effect of Fundamentalism. Civil War: Select 5 additional unit points.

Politics. Special Ability: You may choose 1 of 2 options: 1) Gain up to 5 treasury tokens from stock. 2) Annex all units in an area adjacent by land to your units. Pay treasury tokens equal to the number of unit points annexed, or the effect is canceled. Barbarian tokens, pirate cities and units belonging to players holding Politics or Cultural Ascendancy are unaffected. Barbarian Hordes: 5 additional barbarian tokens are used.

• If you have insufficient units in stock or treasury to annex all units in the area to start with, you cannot select this area.
• If you annex an area containing a city and a token (due to Public Works) or more tokens than the population limit allows (due to Agriculture), the extra token must also be annexed (and be paid for), even if you do not also hold any of these advances. In this case it will be destroyed during the next Remove Surplus Population phase.
• The treasury tokens paid are put into your own stock. The treasury of the victim is unaffected.

Pottery. Famine: Prevent 5 damage.

Provincial Empire. Special Ability: You may choose to select up to 5 players that have units adjacent by land or water to your units. These players must choose and give you a commodity card with a face value of at least 2. Players holding Provincial Empire or Public Works may not be selected. Barbarian Hordes: 5 additional barbarian tokens are used. Tyranny: The beneficiary selects and annexes 5 additional unit points.

• The victims may choose whether they give their cards face up or down. You may choose whether you reveal them.

Public Works. Areas containing your cities may also contain 1 of your tokens. You are protected against the effect of Provincial Empire.

• Tokens in areas with a city expand as normal.
• If your city is annexed or destroyed due to a tax revolt or calamity the additional token is destroyed.
• When building a city, only if you use more than the required tokens from the map board, you may leave 1 token in the area.
• If you reduce a city containing the additional token you must immediately count the extra token as population and thus replace the city with 1 token less than normal.
• Agriculture does not allow you to keep more than 1 token in an area containing your city.
• If a special ability mentions destroying or annexing all units in an area containing your city, the additional token must also be annexed or destroyed.

Rhetoric. During the Trade cards acquisition phase, you may acquire additional trade cards from stack 3 for 9 treasury tokens per card.

Roadbuilding. When moving over land, your tokens may move 2 areas. Tokens that are in a conflict situation after 1 step are not allowed to move any further. Your hand limit of trade cards is increased by 1. Epidemic: If you are the primary victim, take 5 additional damage.

• For each of your tokens, if you choose to move 2 steps, you must do so in one go and then flip the token. This second step may not be taken by embarking a ship or after disembarking a ship.
• If a token is in a conflict situation after its first step, you may not move this token a second step. However, after the second step the token may end in a conflict situation.
• Attacking a city is considered causing conflict or being in a conflict situation, even if the attack is performed by a single token.

Sculpture. Tyranny: The beneficiary selects and annexes 5 less unit points.

Theocracy. Iconoclasm and Heresy: You may choose and discard 2 commodity cards to prevent the city reduction effect for you.

• Using this ability prevents your cities from being reduced, but does not cancel the secondary effects of Iconoclasm and Heresy if you are the primary victim.
• Water commodity cards may be used.

Theology. Iconoclasm and Heresy: Reduce 3 less cities. Your units are protected against the effect of Monotheism.

Trade Empire. Once per turn, you may choose to use 1 substitute commodity card of at least the same face value when turning in an incomplete set of commodity cards. Cyclone: Select and reduce 1 additional city adjacent to the open sea area. Epidemic: If you are the primary victim, take 5 additional damage.

Trade Routes. Special Ability: You may choose to discard any number of commodity cards to gain treasury tokens at twice the face value of the commodity cards discarded this way.

• You cannot gain less treasury than exactly twice the face value of a commodity card. If you have insufficient tokens in stock you cannot discard this card.
• The effect only applies to the face value of cards (not set value).

Universal Doctrine. Special Ability: You may choose to annex 1 pirate city or up to 5 barbarian tokens anywhere on the board. Superstition: Reduce 1 additional city.

• The barbarian tokens may be selected from more than 1 area.

Urbanism. Once per turn, when constructing a wilderness city you may choose to use up to 4 tokens from areas adjacent by land.

• In combination with Architecture this means a wilderness city can be built in an area containing 2 tokens, using 4 tokens from adjacent areas and 6 tokens from treasury.

Wonder of the World. During the Trade Cards Acquisition phase, you may acquire 1 additional trade card for free from a stack number that is higher than your number of cities in play. Wonder of the World counts as a city during the A.S.T.-Alteration phase. Corruption: Discard 5 additional points of face value.

• Acquiring this additional card is considered purchasing for 0 treasury tokens during additional purchases.
• Players cannot acquire the additional card while having 9 cities in play.

Written Record. Acquire 10 additional points of credit tokens in any combination of colors.

• You gain and choose the color(s) of the additional credit tokens at the time Written Record is purchased. Your decision cannot be changed at a later stage.

The Expert Game

Playing time: 10-14 hours

The Expert Game is aimed for experienced players who appreciate a long and challenging game. This scenario typically adds 1 or 2 game turns to The Basic Game, resulting in 1 to 2 additional hours of playing time.

The key difference with The Basic Game is that for The Expert Game the Expert Version of the A.S.T. is used, which has more stringent A.S.T. requirements than the Basic Version. An overview of the requirements per era is shown in the table below. The Expert Game can be played with any number of players.

The following rules apply for The Expert Game:

• During A.S.T.-Alteration, if players have no cities on the board, their succession marker is moved 1 space backward. This rule does not apply to the Stone Age, which does not have any A.S.T. requirements.
• After one or more players have first entered the Late Iron Age (i.e. the first of the 2 colored columns), 1 additional game turn is played. After this turn the game ends, regardless of whether or not any players have reached the final column of the A.S.T.
• At Victory Determination, if a single player has moved their A.S.T.-marker into the first of the two Late Iron Age era columns, this player receives the A.S.T. Bonus of 5 Victory Points, regardless of what happens in the final game turn.

A.S.T. Requirements

Era	Basic Version	Expert Version
Stone Age	No requirements.	No requirements.
Early Bronze Age	At least 2 cities.	At least 3 cities.
Middle Bronze Age	At least 3 cities and 3 Civilization Advances.	At least 3 cities and 5 Victory Points in Civilization Advances.
Late Bronze Age	At least 3 cities and 3 Civilization Advances with a minimal cost price of 100 each.	At least 4 cities and 12 Civilization Advances.
Early Iron Age	At least 4 cities and 2 Civilization Advances with a minimal cost price of 200 each.	At least 5 cities and 10 Civilization Advances with a cost price of less than 100 each, as well as 38 Victory Points in Civilization Advances.
Late Iron Age	At least 5 cities and 3 Civilization Advances with a minimal cost price of 200 each.	At least 6 cities and 17 Civilization Advances with a cost price of less than 100 each, as well as 56 Victory Points in Civilization Advances.

The Short Game

Playing time: 6-8 hours

A regular game of MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST for 5-9 players takes 8-12 hours to complete. This section provides a set of rules for a shorter game in which all players start the game with an advanced position on the A.S.T. and on the map board, and hold a number of Civilization Advances, credit tokens and trade cards. This scenario basically skips the first 10 turns of the game and leaves the players to play the final 5-6 game turns, which are typically the centre of gravity of the game. It is highly recommended to have played at least one regular game of THE WEST before playing this scenario.

Set Up The Short Game

Take the 9 Short Game scenario tokens and select the scenarios as shown below when playing with fewer than 9 players. When playing with 9 players, use all 9 scenario tokens.

Set up the game as described in chapter 4, Set Up the Game (page 10) and take the following actions afterwards:

5 Players	6 Players	7 Players	8 Players
Conquering the Seas	Conquering the Seas	Conquering the Seas	Conquering the Seas
Sacred Constructors	Sacred Constructors	Sacred Constructors	Sacred Constructors
Coin and Commerce	Coin and Commerce	Coin and Commerce	Exploring the Deserts
Exploring the Deserts	Exploring the Deserts	Exploring the Deserts	Early Merchants
Mystical Palaces	Early Merchants	Early Merchants	Spreading Knowledge
	Mystical Palaces	Spreading Knowledge	Emerging Empire
		Mystical Palaces	Mystical Palaces
			Cultural Heights

• Shuffle the selection of scenario tokens and place them face down on the table.
• All players draw one token and may look at it (players may look up the listed Civilization Advances in silence).
• Distribute the civilizations as normal, using the Priority tokens.
• In A.S.T.-Ranking order, all players place 5 cities within their own region. At least 4 of these cities must be placed on a city site. Keep in mind that cities cannot be built in areas with population limit '0'.
• After all players have placed their cities, they simultaneously reveal their scenario tokens and collect the listed Civilization Advances and the corresponding credit tokens. It is recommended that all players in turn inform the group of players what Civilization Advances they have received.
• Some scenario tokens order the destruction of 1 city when revealed. This is done at this point, after which the scenario tokens are returned to the game box.
• All players are dealt trade cards as in the Trade Cards Acquisition phase (4 or 5 cards for each player). First all players with 4 cities receive their cards, followed by all players with 5 cities (A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties). If players draw a calamity, they do not reveal it yet.
• In A.S.T.-Ranking order, all players may distribute up to 14 tokens over their associated region (player's choice). No population limits may be exceeded, but players may use the effect of Agriculture if they hold that card.
• Subsequently all players transfer 10 tokens from stock to treasury.
• Finally, move all A.S.T.-markers to column 11 on the A.S.T. (just before the Late Bronze Age).

At this point, all players should have a set of 4 Civilization Advances with the corresponding credit tokens, 4 or 5 trade cards in hand, 4 or 5 cities on the board, 14 tokens on the board, 31 tokens in stock and 10 tokens in treasury.

In The Short Game for 5 or 6 players, players do not receive additional credit tokens as described in chapter 4, Set Up The Game of the Basic Rulebook.

Playing The Short Game

The game starts as if it were a regular turn with the Tax Collection phase. Players holding Coinage or Monarchy may instantly use the effect of these cards. Any calamities drawn at the start of the game may be traded during the Trade phase and will be resolved during the Calamity Resolution phase (along with any new calamities drawn this turn).

Notes:

• In The Short Game some calamities have a less devastating effect than in the regular game.
• This type of game develops faster than expected. It is more important to score Victory Points by purchasing Civilization Advances than to plan for the long term and stay in place on the A.S.T. for a turn.
• It is most important to advance on the A.S.T. each turn. There are fewer possibilities to catch up than in the regular game.

The Short Game (Expert)

Playing time: 8-10 hours

The Short Game can be combined with the rules for The Expert Game.

The Short Game was designed to be played with the Basic Version of the A.S.T. If players prefer to play The Short Game in combination with the rules for The Expert Game it is recommended that all A.S.T.-markers are put on column number 9 instead of 11. This will probably not result in a shorter game than a regular game with the Basic A.S.T. but provides a different flavor to the game.

Division of Trade Cards

The table below shows, for each stack, the commodity and calamity cards it contains and how many copies of each are used in a 5-8 player game versus a 9 player game. A "-" means that card is not used at that player count.

Stack	Card	5-8 Players	9 Players
0	Water	-	-
1	Ochre	9	9
1	Clay	9	9
1	Bone	-	8
2	Papyri	8	8
2	Iron	8	8
2	Wax	-	8
2	Tempest	-	1
2	Volcanic Eruption	1	1
2	Treachery	1	1
3	Fish	8	8
3	Fruit	9	9
3	Ceramics	-	8
3	Squandered Wealth	-	1
3	Famine	1	1
3	Slave Revolt	1	1
4	Wool	7	7
4	Oil	8	8
4	Grain	-	8
4	City Riots	-	1
4	Flood	1	1
4	Superstition	1	1
5	Wine	6	6
5	Textiles	7	7
5	Glass	-	6
5	City in Flames	-	1
5	Civil War	1	1
5	Barbarian Hordes	1	1
6	Tin	5	5
6	Copper	6	6
6	Lead	-	6
6	Tribal Conflict	-	1
6	Cyclone	1	1
6	Epidemic	1	1
7	Resin	5	5
7	Incense	6	6
7	Herbs	-	6
7	Minor Uprising	-	1
7	Tyranny	1	1
7	Civil Disorder	1	1
8	Marble	4	4
8	Gemstones	5	5
8	Obsidian	-	4
8	Banditry	-	1
8	Corruption	1	1
8	Iconoclasm and Heresy	1	1
9	Ivory	4	4
9	Gold	5	5
9	Amber	-	4
9	Coastal Migration	-	1
9	Regression	1	1
9	Piracy	1	1

Combining Editions

MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST is a standalone game in the Mega Empires series. You can combine it with MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST to play large games (up to 18 players) or smaller variant scenarios with just 3 or 4 players. Follow our website and social media pages to know more about additional accessories, new games and expansions in the Mega Empires series.

Apart from the base game, which is similar to this edition, MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST includes a rulebook with additional scenarios for 3-18 players.

• Combining THE WEST and THE EAST, supporting 10-18 players.
• Additional rules for playing The Expert Game with up to 18 players.
• Additional rules for playing The Short Game with up to 18 players.
• Playing either THE WEST or THE EAST with 3-4 players.

When playing the game with 3-4 players, trading is done differently, making use of the Market board, which is included in THE EAST edition.

Sequence of Play Summary

This summary acts as a reminder for default values and rules. The exact ruling and exceptions are defined elsewhere in this rulebook. This summary only supports MEGA EMPIRES: THE WEST for 5-9 players. It is designed to support up to 18 players in combination with MEGA EMPIRES: THE EAST.

#	Phase	Default Rules/Values	Order
1	Tax Collection	2 tokens per city from stock to treasury.	Simultaneous.
2	Population Expansion	+1 token in areas with 1 token. +2 tokens in areas with 2 or more tokens.	Simultaneous.
3	Movement	Tokens: 1 area by land or into a ship (and disembark later). Ships: up to 4 areas by water. Ships may carry up to 5 tokens at a time. Ships cannot cross open sea areas. New ships cost 2 tokens, or 2 treasury, or 1 token + 1 treasury (if paid with tokens, at least one token must come from the area in which the ship is built). Existing ships cost 1 token or 1 treasury to maintain (the token may come from anywhere on the board).	Simultaneous. Players may insist waiting for other players in Census order (Highest Census # goes first. A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties).
4	Conflict	All token conflicts are resolved before city attacks. In each conflict area the player with the minority of tokens removes a token first. In the case of an equal number, the players involved each remove a token simultaneously. A successful city attack requires at least 7 tokens. If a city attack is successful, the city is replaced with 6 tokens and a token conflict is resolved. If a city attack is successful, the attacker may draw a trade card from the defending player at random and gain up to 3 treasury.	Simultaneous. Defenders of city attacks may insist waiting for other players in A.S.T.-Ranking order.
5	City Construction	6 tokens for a city on a city site. 12 tokens for a wilderness city. Cities can never be built in areas with a population limit of '0' as printed on the board. Check all areas for excess population. City support: 2 tokens for each city on the board.	Simultaneous.
6	Trade Cards Acquisition	Players can buy a card from stack #9 for 15 treasury tokens after all cards are dealt.	City count order (lowest # first); A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties.
7	Trade	A trade involves at least 3 cards from both players. The first 2 cards named in the transaction must be true. Calamities may not be named during trade.	Simultaneous during a time limit.
8	Calamity Selection	Calamity Limit: 3 calamities, no more than 2 of which may be Major calamities.	Simultaneous.
9	Calamity Resolution	For damage, a token counts as 1 unit point, a city as 5 unit points.	Minor: simultaneous. Major: lowest calamity # first, for each # Non Tradeable before Tradeable.
10	Special Abilities	Each player may use all their Special Abilities (in any order they want).	A.S.T.-Progress order; A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties.
11	Surplus Population & City Support	Check all areas for excess population. City support: 2 tokens for each city on the board.	Simultaneous.
12	Civilization Advances Acquisition	5-11 Players: hand limit of 8 trade cards (after acquisition). 12-18 Players: hand limit of 9 trade cards (after acquisition).	Simultaneous, players may insist waiting for other players in A.S.T.-Progress order.
13	A.S.T.-Alteration	Basic A.S.T.: 0 cities = freeze (except Stone Age). Expert A.S.T.: 0 cities = move 1 space backward (except Stone Age).	A.S.T.-Ranking order.

Notes

• A.S.T.-Ranking means the vertical position of the civilizations as printed on the A.S.T. (from top to bottom).
• A.S.T.-Progress means the horizontal position of each civilization's succession markers on the A.S.T. (from right to left). If equal, A.S.T.-Ranking breaks ties.