Tempus Imperium
Tempus Imperium Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Sheet Sections
The Actions section shows the 4 types of action available and the numbers associated with each of them.
The Final Scoring section reminds you how many VP each element of the game gives you at the end of the game, and lets you calculate your final score.
The Turn Track has white squares that you shade in at each turn, and a Raid space that is resolved at the end of each of the 5 rounds of the game.
The 10 x 10 grid represents the territory in which you draw roads, buildings and lakes. The Treasury to the right of the grid is where you keep track of your Gold. You start the game with 10 Gold.
The Legend shows the symbols used on the sheet: Forest, Quarry, Lake and Enemy.
Setup
Above and to the left of the 10 x 10 grid you can see circles containing the letters:
YYMMDDHHMM
These are the spaces where you write, in order: the last two digits of the year, the digits of the month, the digits of the day, the digits of the hour and the digits of the minutes of the current time for the setup.
Example: If the date is 6 June 2018 and the time is 19:35, you write:
1 8 0 6 0 6 1 9 3 5
N.B.: Remember that midnight corresponds to 00:00.
Once you have filled in the circles with the date and time, use these numbers to perform the setup. Below the circles you have just filled in there are squares with symbols. These symbols represent lakes, forests, quarries, farms and markets. For each column of the grid, you draw the symbol shown in the top square of that column in the position indicated by the digit in the corresponding circle above it. N.B.: "0" corresponds to the last square.
Example: Referring to the previous example, you get the setup symbols placed as shown on the sheet's example grid.
Once you have drawn the symbols in all 10 columns, do the same with the 10 rows of the grid, based on the symbols and digits shown at the side. If you find yourself having to draw a symbol in a square that already contains one, draw it in the square to the right. If the occupied square is the last one in the row, draw the new symbol in the first square of that row.
Once this is done, you are ready to play!
Adjacent and Connected
Two squares are adjacent if they share a side.
Example: The 4 orange squares are adjacent to the central Lake.
Two or more squares are connected if there is a road running along at least one side of each square.
Example: The 6 orange squares are connected.
Game Flow
The game is divided into 5 rounds. In each round you take 10 turns. In each turn you may perform one action, which depends on the digit associated with that turn during setup.
The first turn of each round is associated with the first digit of the year you wrote at the start, the second turn with the second digit of the year, the third turn with the first digit of the month, and so on.
At the start of each turn, shade one of the 5 white squares above the digit you are considering, so that you keep track of the current round.
In each turn you must choose ONLY ONE of the following options:
- Do nothing.
- Perform the action associated with the digit of the turn.
- Pay 2 Gold from your Treasury and perform any one of the 4 available actions. In this case you must still pay any cost required by the action you choose.
The 4 Available Actions
1-2: Road
Draw 1 segment of Road between two adjacent squares.
3-4: Dig 1 Lake
Draw 1 Lake in an empty square adjacent to an existing Lake.
5-9: Build
Pay the resources and Gold shown under the name of the building you want to build. The resources you pay must be in a square connected to the square where you want to build the building. To pay resources, cross them out with a diagonal line; to pay Gold, cross out the old amount and write the new amount.
After doing this, draw the building in the chosen square.
The buildings and their costs are:
- Farm: 1 Forest.
- Market: 2 Forest and 2 Gold.
- Fort: 1 Forest, 1 Quarry and 2 Gold.
- Castle: 2 Quarry and 2 Gold.
0: Use
Use the ability of one of the buildings you have built. The ability of each building is shown under the building in the Actions section of the sheet. Each building can be used only once per round. When you use the ability of a building on the grid, write the number of the round in which you are using it on that building.
Example: A building marked "3 4" has been used in rounds 3 and 4.
Building Abilities
- Farm: Add 1 Gold to the Treasury. The Farm does not need to be connected to a specific building or resource in order to be used.
- Market: Gain 1 Gold for each connected Farm.
- Fort: Destroy 1 connected Enemy and gain 1 Gold. Erase the destroyed Enemy. It will not be considered during the Raid and will not deduct VP at the end of the game.
- Castle: Gain 2 Gold for each connected Fort or Market.
Note: The printed rules do not say how Enemies are placed on the grid at setup, and the setup symbol strips do not include an Enemy symbol. The example grids show Enemies already on the board, drawn as pink squares with a diamond. This is transcribed as printed; no placement rule has been added.
End of Round and Raid Phase
After 10 turns the round ends and the Raid phase is carried out. In this phase you lose 1 Gold from the Treasury for each Enemy adjacent to one of your buildings. If an Enemy is adjacent to more than 1 building, it is still counted only once. Your Treasury can never drop below zero.
After the Raid phase, a new round begins. After the Raid phase of the 5th round, the game ends.
Scoring
At the end of the game you score VP based on your buildings, your longest Road, your Lakes and the Gold remaining in your Treasury. You also lose VP for each Enemy remaining on the grid. Specifically:
- Castles give 10 VP each.
- Markets and Forts give 5 VP each.
- Farms give 2 VP each.
- Your longest Road gives 1 VP for each segment it is made of. The longest Road is measured by considering a continuous path, without counting double segments. This path may, however, cross itself or other Roads.
Example: The red Road is the longest Road. Its 15 segments give 15 VP.
- All adjacent squares containing Lakes form a single Lake. A Lake formed in this way gives a number of VP equal to the product of the number of adjacent squares that make it up and the number of buildings adjacent to them.
Example: The Lake shown is made up of 6 Lake squares in total and is adjacent to 4 buildings, so it gives 24 VP.
- Gain 1 VP for every 5 Gold remaining in the Treasury.
- Finally, subtract 10 VP for each Enemy that was not destroyed.
Your total VP is your final score.
Additional Notes
- Roads do not divide Lakes.
- Lakes can be dug across Roads.
- Roads can cross Lakes.