FAQ

If I raze an opponent's location, it may have resources on it (for example, an action card that the opponent has activated earlier in the round, and left his resource on the card). What happens to the resource laying on the card when you raze it ?

All resources on cards are treated as spent and are returned to the supply.

When taking a multiple action, do you have to take them all at once ? Or do you resolve them one at a time and finish when you choose to finish ? Example: I have a Castle. I place a worker on the Castle in order to draw 1 common card. I want to draw another card as well. Can I look at the Common card I just drew before placing another worker on the Castle ?

You must decide initially to place either 1 or 2 workers. You cannot place 1 worker (as your action) and then decide that maybe you want to place 2 instead.

What happens when your faction deck is completely empty ?

You shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck. If you have no cards in the discard pile, you can't draw any more faction cards.

Quick question about making a deal. Does it work like a production building where you get the good immediately and then it produces each round or is it simply a one-time benefit ?

It works just like a production building. It is not a one-time-only benefit.

I know that on every production phase you receive a Defense Token. What I don't quite understand is the timing to use it. The Rule book just says on page 7: "During an Action phase, at any moment in his turn, a player may place the Defense token on one of his Empire to protect it". So, if I understand correctly, if I am last in turn order that round (in a 4-player game), I could theoretically have up to three of my buildings razed by enemies before I can even think about putting my defense token on a location during my turn. Is this right or am I missing something ?

Placing a defense token does not take up your action. You just need to have the token in your supply. Also, it is highly unlikely that you will have 3 razed buildings before you get a turn.

You can only play the defense token on your turn during the action phase, right ? Essentially the person going first can attack any building they want before you place, right ?

Correct. Every player produces 1 defense token per round. You can use it if you wish; it's entirely optional. During the clean up phase, it goes back to the pool so there is no way you can have more then 1 defense token in a location. Is there anything special about starting ? I realize there is a setup but do you just start from phase 1 normally ? I thought I read something where you don't do something on the first turn.

There is nothing special to do on the first turn.

To build some of the faction locations, it is required to discard a location. As I understand it, you can discard any location in the empire regardless of the faction location you are building. But instead of discarding a location, a foundation can be discarded instead. The rules state: "A foundation card can only be used to build a new location where the razed one once stood." Since only Common Locations can be razed and turned into Foundations (except for the Japanese), and since it is only faction locations that require a location to be discarded, how can I build the location where the razed one stood ? Faction locations and common locations aren't built in the same place in the empire.

It is only flavor text. You can move cards around your tableau (i.e., your empire) any way you wish. When you use a foundation, just discard the card and slide other cards in the row to fill its place.

Can you discard a face-up location (non-foundations) from your area to pay a "house icon" cost ?

You will discard face up cards often, even within the same turn that you built it. Also note, you can use any building you want as a foundation. This includes any face up card (including your faction cards).

Do foundations count for end-game scoring ?

Foundations have no stars on the card (its the back side of the card). So they do not give you any points when scoring.

Do I receive 1 wood from a foundation only when the original location is razed, or do I continue to receive 1 wood during each subsequent Production phase ?

You only receive the wood when the location is razed.

Can you clarify how the advanced draft works for 4 players ?

Draw 5 common cards and lay them face-up.
Player 1 selects 1 card from the 5 face-up common cards, leaving 4.
Player 2 selects 1 card from the 4 remaining cards, leaving 3.
Another common card is drawn and placed face-up, and Player 3 selects 1 card from the 4 face-up cards, leaving 3.
Another common card is drawn and placed face-up, and Player 4 selects 1 card from the 4 face-up cards, leaving 3.
Player 1 selects 1 card from the 3 remaining face-up cards. leaving 2.
Another common card is drawn and placed face-up, and Player 2 selects 1 card from the 3 face-up cards, leaving 2.
Another common card is drawn and placed face-up, and Player 3 selects 1 card from the 3 face-up cards, leaving 2.
Player 4 selects 1 card from the 2 remaining face-up cards.
The 1 remaining card that no one chose is discarded.

Cartes communes

Ruins

This location has no building cost so you can build it for free, but it still requires that you spend your turn taking the Build location action. The Ruins card has no type (color) and cannot be razed.

Settlers

When you activate its action, you immediately build a faction location. You still have to pay the building cost of the location, except that you do not discard a location from your empire if it's required.

Tavern

When you activate an action location, you normally place the Goods spent on the location card, but covering the location with another card would be very inconvenient. Therefore, we recommend you discard the card you would normally place on the Tavern card and instead take a worker from the general supply to indicate that the action was executed.

Imperial Messenger

If you're playing the Japanese and you have deals with enemy locations (due to the Trade Route card), you can also choose such a deal when you activate this location's action.

Hanseatic League

If you're playing the Japanese and you have deals with any enemy locations (due to the Trade Route card), you can cancel such a deal instead of discarding a deal from under your faction board when you activate this location's action.

Porters

You can choose either a common or a faction location when you use this location's action. The porters card says the following: "Spend 1 food to choose any production building and gain goods equal to the Goods it provides". Does this include victory points ? What about cards ? The term "Good" refers to everything players can gain through the game including cards, resources, workers, and victory points. So the answer is yes.

Acting Troupe

Spend 1 worker to choose one of your other action locations. Discard Goods spent to activate it. You may activate the location again. When is "again" ? Immediately, or on my next turn ? Also, for cards "you may use this action twice", do you get to discard ALL of the goods and activate it two more times ? Or just the resources used for one activation ? 1. On your next turn. It takes an action to activate it. 2. Clear all goods. So you could activate it twice again. Such a combo is legal yet highly rare as there's only 1 Acting Troupe among 84 common cards and it's also very expensive - you need many workers and many gold. Not to mention that another player can raze the Acting Troupe when he sees what you're up to.

Joiner

"Costs 2 wood to build or raze for 1 victory point and 1 wood. Action: Spend 1 worker and 1 wood to gain 2 points." However, the art has a four-way road, which is for Feature-row cards, whereas Action cards should have a left, right, and upwards road only. Is the art on Joiner therefore a mistake, or is the card text wrong ? Should this card have been a Feature with different text all together ?

It is an Action card. The road design is a mistake.

Les Barbares

Saboteurs

Its action allows you to take 1 resource from an opponent's supply and place it in your own supply. You cannot take a resource the opponent spent to activate a location.

Dark Chapel

When the player wants to raze an enemy location protected by a Samurai or a Defense token, he must use more raze tokens to activate this card's action. Victory points are listed in the rulebook as a type of good. However, I have no idea how I would discard a victory point. If I were to raze a building granting 1 victory point and 1 Stone using Dark Chapel's ability, could I discard the 1 victory point for 2 victory points (netting the usual total of 4) ? Yes, you can.

Pack

When you activate its action, you do not raze an enemy location. You only take from the general supply one of the Goods (of your choice) depicted in the card's raze field. If a star (victory point) is shown in the raze field, you can take a victory point.

Rabble

When you turn a location into a Foundation, you receive 1 wood as normal. The card states, "Action: spend 2 workers to raze one of your common locations." But then the rule book says, in a very contrary manner: The action is not counted as razing a location. When you turn a location into a foundation, receive 1 wood. Is this correct ?

The statement in the rulebook that reads, "The action is not counted as razing a location" is a misprint. Ignore it. The card works like this: Rabble allows you to raze one of your own locations, not from your hand but from your empire (as if it was one of your opponent's buildings, so you get all the benefits from it. You flip the card over to its foundation side and receive 1 wood. It is considered as razing in the event of other cards which provide a benefit for taking a raze action. If Rabble and Gallows are both in my empire, and I use Rabble to raze Gallows, do I get 2 VP from Gallows (1 from the raze to gain and 1 from the Feature, "Each time you raze gain 1 VP) or only 1 (from the raze to gain benefit) because Gallows is gone before its effect can trigger ? You only receive 1 VP. You do not trigger Gallows' effect if Gallows is the location being razed.

Mission

Each card you draw due to this location's action can either be a common or faction card.

Robbers

When you activate its action and choose the player commanding the Japanese who has deals with you or other enemy locations (due to the Trade Route card), you can cancel such a deal instead of discarding a deal from under an enemy faction board.

Raid

Each time you raze, gain 1 victory point. If you raze a card from your hand and you have 3 Raids in play, would you receive 3 victory points for each raze action ? Yes. This would be an excellent play.

The Barbarian player has passed last on the majority of turns we have played. Being the last player to pass has several advantages: Building with no possibility of interference, razing opponents' buildings is very desirable, especially with production buildings and deals. Doesn't this make the Barbarians overpowered ? Once a player passes in the action phase, he cannot be targeted by the actions of other players. For example, a player who has passed cannot have any of his locations razed.

Romains

Engineers

Its action allows you to completely remove the enemy location by discarding it from another player's empire. It is not treated as razing a location. The Japanese Shrine places resources on it for end game scoring. It is noted in the rules as a building that cannot be razed. The Engineer can seemingly discard the Shrine. In that event, what happens to the resources on the card (these would normally remain there until the end of the game). When the Shrine is discarded by the Engineer do the resources return fully to the Japanese player, return partially to the Japanese player, or end up being fully discarded ? The resources are lost. Therefore, it is advisable for the player to place resources on the Shrine in their last few turns.

Trade Colony

When it's built, this location is treated simultaneously as brown, gray, and red.

Spies

Its action is not treated as making a deal. When you activate its action and want to choose a player commanding the Japanese who has deals with your or other enemy locations (due to the Trade Route card), you cannot take away such a deal

you can only choose a deal from under an enemy faction board.

Warehouses

If you lose this location (e.g. discard it from your empire to build another faction location or if it's razed), the resources it allowed you to store are not immediately lost, but are added to your supply. You may still use them until the cleanup phase of the current round.

Administration

Each time you build a Roman building, gain 1 gold or victory point. This only applies to building a Roman faction building, not a common building.

Architect

See Buddha's Temple.

Golden Bazaar

Action: Spend 1 food to gain 1 gold and 1 victory point. Since you can use gold as food, doesn't it turn into an infinite loop ? It can only be used once per turn.

Headquarters

Do cards with features that read "When you build...", do they activate immediately after they are built ? For instance, the Roman card "Headquarters". Does it generate 1 gold or 1 victory if I build this card ? Or does this feature only occur for Roman builds built after this one ? It counts itself; when you construct Headquarters, it generates your choice of 1 gold or 1 VP.

Égyptiens

Desert

This location has no building cost. You can build it for free, but it still requires you to spend your turn taking the Build location action.

Chariot Builder

Its action allows you to raze any enemy location without spending any more raze tokens (only the one you use to activate the action). You can even raze a location protected by a Samurai or a Defense token. Can you raze faction cards with the Chariot builder. It says "any enemy location" but do the raze rules take precedence here where it says you can only raze common locations (exception Japan) ? Chariot Builder only discounts the cost of the raze action itself. It does not allow you to raze a card that cannot be razed. If a card does not have a raze field on it, it cannot be razed.

Oasis

If an opponent spends multiple pairs of workers at once, you receive 1 worker for each pair spent by him.

Sanctuary

Its action is not treated as razing a location. It allows you to immediately place a card from your hand as a Foundation in your empire. You also receive 1 stone (instead of wood) for turning a location into a Foundation.

Sphinx

Its feature is also active during the Production phase.

Does this trigger when I gain 2 victory points from a card or an action ? Example: I have a Gallows. I use Temple of Ra to steal the Barbarians' Raid. I then raze a card. Do I get 2 points or 3 points ? It has to be 2 victory points, not 1 + 1 victory points.

Temple of Ra

A location taken over cannot be discarded in order to build other locations by any of the players. If you take over an enemy location which was activated by its owner the maximum number of times, you cannot activate it on your own. Temple of Ra uses a special Egyptian token to mark the location take over. Use a worker from the general supply to indicate that the action was executed.

When using Temple of Ra (choose enemy location and treat it as your own for rest of round), if you place the token on a production building, will it produce ? You may pick any building, but production buildings will not produce. If you pick a feature building, you gain its passive effect. Very useful if you have cards of that color to play. Activation limit remains in place—if it was activated, you cannot activate it again. The building cannot be discarded to build a faction building, but it can be razed.

Japonais

The Japanese faction is different from the others found in the base game. Japanese faction cards are unique in that they have raze fields, which can be the target of a raze action. If razed, Japanese faction locations are not turned into a Foundation, but discarded instead. The Japanese player can also use his workers as Samurai to protect his faction locations.

Deploying Samurai

At any moment during his turn, the Japanese player may deploy any number of his workers in front of faction locations in his empire to protect them. Such workers are called Samurai in terms of card abilities. Any Japanese faction location cannot have more than 1 Samurai. Note: Samurai can protect a faction location which cannot normally be razed (Shrine, Gate). Each Samurai protects the card to which he is assigned and cannot be moved or used for any other purpose. Samurai are not discarded at the end of the round in the cleanup phase. Each Samurai increases by 1 the number of raze tokens required for an enemy to raze the location. When the location is razed the Samurai returns to the general supply. Example: The Japanese player deploys one of his workers as a Samurai to protect a location. The enemy now needs 3 raze tokens to raze it. The enemy decides to raze the location protected by the Samurai, paying 3 raze tokens. The Samurai is then returned to the general supply, and the location is discarded.

Garrison

Its action enables you to discard a location, completely removing it from another player's empire. It is not treated as razing a location.

Gate

If you decide to place any cards under the Gate, you cannot take these cards back into your hand. Do not remove the cards placed under this location in the cleanup phase. These cards stay there until the end of the game. The Gate cannot be razed. If I have resources and choose not to take an action, can I fill Gate and immediately pass ? Or can I only fill Gate during a turn in which I have not passed. While they aren't raze-able, if I can't fill Shrine and then immediately pass, it is a brutal target for Engineers assuming Japan cannot out-stall Rome on the last turn. You can only place resources on the card when it is your turn. Passing would give up your turn. You could fill the location right after you build it though. Passing is technically an action so placing cards on Gate does not count as an action and can be done at anytime during your turn, even if on your turn you decide to pass.

Negotiator

When you activate its action, you immediately take one of your deals (from under your faction board) and build it as a location. You still have to pay the building cost of the location, except that you do not discard a location from your empire, should it be required. You can also build a faction location that does not include a location as its building cost. If you have deals with enemy locations (thanks to the Trade Route card), you cannot choose such a deal when you activate this location's action.

Ninjas

Its bonus provides you with 2 Samurai. If you only have 1 faction location on which you could deploy a Samurai, the other one is lost.

Shrine

Do not remove the resources placed on this location in the cleanup phase. These resources stay there until the end of the game. The Shrine cannot be razed.

If I have resources and choose not to take an action, can I fill Shrine and immediately pass ? Or can I only fill Shrine during a turn in which I have not passed. While they aren't raze-able, if I can't fill Shrine and then immediately pass, it is a brutal target for Engineers assuming Japan cannot out-stall Rome on the last turn.

You can only place resources on the card when it is your turn. Passing would give up your turn. You could fill the location right after you build it though. Passing is technically an action so placing resources on Shrine does not count as an action and can be done at anytime during your turn, even if on your turn you decide to pass.

1. On the card .. "gain: 2/5/10 points for 3/7/12 (wood/stone/food, in any combination)".. So 8 food and 4 stone would gain 10 points.

2. Page 11 in card clarifications.. "At the end of the game each type of resource is counted separately for VPs" .. So 8 food and 4 stone would gain 7 points.

What is correct and how is everyone scoring it ? #1 or #2

#1. If you look at the online rules (the most updated), they do not have this contradicting clarification. Trade Route – If you lose this location (e.g. it's razed by an enemy), the deals it allowed you to make remain in play. You make a deal with an opponent's building. For instance, you could make a deal with an opponent's faction building that has gold in the "make a deal" section. This would give you gold exactly as if you made a deal from your hand. This card is nice because it allows you to make a deal without spending a card from your hand. When you use the card, you use a card from your faction deck to indicate you made the deal. Example: Activate trade route. Draw a faction card from your faction deck. Place the drawn faction card under an opponent faction location. Let's say the faction location has gold in the "make a deal" section of the card. Now because you made a deal, you instantly get the gold resource.

Every turn this deal will generate 1 gold for the rest of the game until the building or the deal are discarded.

Please explain how the Trade Route is supposed to function. The wording seems strange, and I haven't been able to figure it out.

1. Pay 1 apple, placing it on the Trade Route to show that it has been activated.
2. Pick an opponent's Faction building.
3. Place the top card of your (the Japanese) Faction deck underneath that opponent's building to show you are trading with it.
4. Resolve all "make a deal" effects, including points from Dojos and gaining the good you just marked since you just made a deal.
5. That location's Deal banner gives you production every turn, just like a normal deal.
6. If you play solo, this card's ability is useless since the virtual player never has faction buildings, only common buildings.

Buddha's Temple – I played a game with the Japanese today. I had Buddha's Temple built. During production phase, you draw 2 faction cards, pick 1, and shuffle the other back into the deck. However, I also had 3 watchtowers in play (yea 3...my place is very heavily watched!). So the question is, what is the order of drawing cards here ? Can I choose to perform the Buddha's Temple action after I draw my cards from the watchtowers ? (Note: This also occurs with the Architect card from the Roman faction deck.)

I collect left to right, faction production locations, deals, faction board, common production locations. I don't think the order of collection matters, aside from player order. And player order only matters in the case of drawing cards from the common deck.

When playing as the Japanese faction, what do you do with Samurai at the end of the round ? Do they go away like all other commodities you can't store or do they stay in front of the card between rounds ? They remain between rounds.

Once placed, can you reclaim your Samurai to use as a worker or does it need to stay guarding that building until the end of time or until that building is destroyed ?

Once a Samurai is placed, it stays where it is until the end of the game (or until it's destroyed).

Jeu Solo

At the end of the solo game, do you only compare your faction buildings to the virtual player's collection pile or do you compare your faction and common buildings ?

Faction buildings only. How many buildings can the virtual player raze ?

The rules suggest only 1 per turn. The virtual player can raze 2 buildings per turn. The rules say "1 per turn" to indicate that only 1 gets razed per attack. Its worded a little strange. In a solo game, the rules say not to turn the virtual player's building into a foundation. But do you still get the resources when you raze it ?

Yes. I read through the rules and there's no mention on how to use defense tokens when playing solo.

Neither defense tokens nor Samurai can protect your location from the virtual player's attack. But you can still use Samurai to score points with Daimyo's Castle card. How exactly does the virtual player's attack turn work ?

An attack card is revealed before the game begins.

At the end of Round 1, the virtual player will attack twice: First, you draw another attack card. If the icon on that card when paired with the original attack card that you drew before the game began matches the 2 icons in the raze to gain field of one of your common cards, the virtual player steals that common card from you. If two or more common cards match up, you would lose a common action card before losing a common feature or production card. If the choice to lose a card is between a feature and production card, you would lose a common feature card before losing a common production card. The priority is action before feature before production. Whenever the virtual player successfully steals one of your common cards, take the two attack cards used and move them to the back of the stack (behind the first attack card you drew prior to starting the game).

For the second attack, you draw another attack card (this would be the third in total). This time you'll pair the icon on the newly revealed attack card with the icon on the second attack card (the one you revealed during the first attack), and, if there's no match, you'll pair the icon on the newly revealed attack card with the icon on the first attack card (the one revealed before the game started). You do not pair icons on any other card combinations.

The virtual player can steal either 0, 1, or 2 of your common cards per round depending on the outcome of the attacks. At the end of Round 2, draw another attack card (the fourth in total) and pair it with the three attack cards that came before it. For the second attack of Round 2, draw a fifth attack card and pair it with the four attack cards that came before it.

Ricky Royal recommends the following procedure for the solo game draft:

Select your first card from the 4 revealed common cards. Next, you nominate one of the remaining 3 cards as your second card. Number the cards 1 to 3, and then roll a d4 die. The virtual player picks the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Card on a roll of 1-3. On a roll of 4, the virtual player takes the card you nominated. When it's your turn to select your second card, if your nominated card is still available after the die roll, then you must take it as your second card. Otherwise, you choose a new second card from the 2 cards remaining.

Les Cartes

Toutes les cartes qui mentionnaient le nom de leur paquet de faction ont vu celui-ci remplacé par "DE FACTION" pour éviter toute confusion lorsqu'elles sont utilisées par les Égyptiens. (JAP011, JAP021-023, ROM011, ROM012-014, ROM031).

Le nombre de points de victoire que les cartes suivantes peuvent rapporter est désormais limité à 6. (BAR022, COM001, COM003, COM075, COM079, COM081).

La carte égyptienne "Oasis" (EGY005) ne peut être utilisée que 4 fois par round au maximum.

Changement de règles

Si le paquet de faction d'un joueur vient à être épuisé, ne mélangez pas les cartes de faction défaussées pour créer un nouveau paquet.