Age Of Heroes (c) 2003 Legend Games Rules Version 1.2 December 15, 2003 Setting Up The Game Separate the Cards into a Resource Deck, an Item Deck and a Battle Deck, according to the design printed on the back of each card. There are six Tribe Cards which can be folded in the middle and used as a Standup Card during play. The Tribe Card for each player should be placed on the table in front of that player. The Resource Deck and Battle Deck should each be thoroughly shuffled. The Item Deck contains numerous objects which can be built or purchased during play, and should be sorted into piles and placed face-up in the play area. To determine the order of play, each player draws one Card from the Battle Deck. The holder of the highest Card (the largest number of sword-and-shield combinations) goes first. In case of a tie, draw again among the tying players until one player has the highest number. Return the Battle Cards to the Deck and reshuffle. Each Player then selects a Tribe. Players may select Tribes in any way that is mutually agreeable. If no method of selection can be agreed upon by all players, then players select randomly by drawing Tribe Cards, with the first player taking the first Tribe pick. Unused Tribes are set aside. Special Resource Cards associated with those Tribes remain in the Resource Deck, but have no use in play. Each player takes one City and one Army Card from the Item Deck and displays them face-up in front of his Tribe Card; these are each Tribe's beginning items. Item Cards are always displayed face-up. The first player then deals three Cards from the Resource Deck to each player. Resource Cards are always held in the hand until used or played. Any disaster Cards drawn as part of the starting hand (Famine, Barbarians, Earthquake, or Volcano) is discarded, but not replaced. Beneficial special event Cards which must be played immediately (Population Boom) are played immediately before the game begins. Once all players have discarded any disaster Cards or played any special event Cards, a Market Day is held. (See the section on Market Day for details on how Market Day is played.) During this first Market Day, as with the initial Cards drawn, any disaster-type special event Cards are discarded, not played. After this initial Market Day, each player takes a turn, beginning with the first player, and proceeding around the table in a clockwise direction. There is an additional Market Day every time the sequence of play goes completely around the table (i.e, immediately before the turn of the first player.) The Turn A player's turn is composed of five parts or phases. The player draws a free Resource Card, conducts an action, plays any Special Resource Cards for his monument, discards any Cards in his hand in excess of five, and retrieves or removes any Cards which have changed status in the course of the turn. Draw a Resource Card The player draws one Card. If the Card must be played immediately, then the player must do so before conducting any further actions. Players do not get to draw another Card if the free Card they draw is a disaster or special event. If the Resource Deck runs out of Cards, thoroughly re-shuffle the discard pile and use it as the Resource Deck. Conduct An Action The player can conduct one, and only one, action. There are three possible actions to take. Collecting Taxes - The player may draw one additional Resource Card for each City that he possesses. If a player has no Cities, then he may TRADE a Resource Card by discarding one Resource Card from his hand and drawing a new Resource Card from the Deck. Building - The player may build items by trading in Resource Cards. The player may build as many items as they can afford. Items built are pulled from the Item Deck. If there are no more available Item Cards of a particular type, then no more of those items can be built until the appropriate Card is returned to the Deck in some fashion. (For example, if 12 Cities have been built, then it is not possible for anyone build another City until a City is destroyed by a Volcano and the appropriate Item Card returned to the Deck.) War - The player may send some or all of his Armies to attack one other player. (See the Battle section for details on battles.) If a player does not wish to take an action on his turn, he is not required to. Play a Special Resource Each player has a special resource which they are trying to collect in order to build his Tribe's cultural monument (which is one way of winning the game.) The resource each Tribe needs is listed on the special Standup Card. This phase of the turn is the ONLY time when players can place Special Resource Cards on the table and bring their monument closer to completion. Players can place as many Special Resource Cards as they wish on their monument during this phase. Special resource Cards must be placed face-up. Only the correct type of Special Resource Card can be played; i.e., the Egyptian player cannot place a Concrete Card. Discard At the end of his turn, a player cannot hold more than five Cards in his hand. Only on the player's turn, and only at the end of the turn, is this rule enforced. (For example, a player can conduct a skillful trading session during Market Day, or plunder another player's hand in combat, and have more than five Cards in his hand.) Remove/Retrieve Cards During this phase, any Cards which need to be retrieved or removed are moved appropriately. Armies sent out on a previous turn return home. Earthquake Cards disabling the player's Armies are removed. Once the player has completed his turn, play proceeds clockwise. When each player has had a turn, a complete round has been played, and a Market Day is held. Market Day At the very beginning of the game, and once each round of play (once each player has had one turn), there is a Market Day. On Market Day, players can trade Cards from the Resource Deck among themselves. At the beginning of Market Day, each player draws additional Cards from the Resource Deck (beginning with the player who began the game, and proceeding clockwise). Players always get to draw at least one Card. If a player's Tribe is connected by Roads to other Tribes, that player gets to draw additional Cards for each Tribe he is connected to. (A connection is an unbroken Road link through any number of other Tribes - if a player is connected by Road to five other Tribes, then he gets to draw five additional Cards.) If the Resource Deck runs out of Cards, thoroughly re-shuffle the discard pile and use it as the Resource Deck. After each player draws his additional Cards, any Cards which must be played immediately are played, beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise. If a Barbarian attack occurs, then that battle is resolved before proceeding with Market Day. Once all special event Cards have been resolved, trading begins. Players can have more than five Cards in their hands during Market Day. There are two kinds of trades on Market Day - Card trades, and other kinds of deals. Card trades are enforced - if a player offers to trade a Stone Card for an Iron Card, they must deliver. If they don't, they are out of the game. (Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the uninvolved players for cases of honest error.) Deal trades are for any other kind of transaction. If a player offers to give a Gold Card in exchange for not being attacked on the next turn, the two players can make that deal. However, if one side breaks its word and attacks anyway, then there is no consequence within the game. (However, there will certainly be a consequence in how much other players will trust the deal-breaker in future games!) To avoid misunderstandings, the suggested format for announcing willingness to trade is "I have an Iron Card that I would like to trade for a Wood Card", or "I need a Marble Card...does anyone have a Marble Card?" Players can trade any Card from the Resource Deck (Resources, Special Resources, non-immediate special events such as Mighty Heroes or Olympic Games), but cannot trade Cards from the Item Deck (Cities, Armies, Citadels, Generals, etc.) Battles When a player decides to attack another Tribe, he decides which Armies and/or Generals to send into battle. Once committed to the battle, these Armies are sent off - they cannot be recalled, and they cannot be reinforced if the defender suddenly plays a Mighty Hero Card or an Olympic Games Card. Any Mighty Hero Cards that the attacking player wishes to play must be sent with this initial attack, and the attacking player must decide whether the Hero is to be used as an Army or a General. (If the attacking player has no Armies which are not covered by a General, then he cannot play a Mighty Hero as a General.) Players can only attack one Tribe - they cannot send multiple Armies against multiple targets. When a player attacks another Tribe, he must declare the objective of the attack. There are three possible objectives. An attack for CONQUEST is an attempt to seize one or more Cities by force. An attack for PLUNDER is an attempt to take the Resource Cards in the defending Tribe's hand. An attack for RAZING is an attempt to damage the defending Tribe's cultural monument. (When Barbarian Armies attack, they are always attacking for PLUNDER.) The defending player must then decide what, if any, special Cards to play. An Olympic Games Card will send the enemy Armies back home, while a Mighty Hero will add to the defending forces. A Luck Card can send Barbarians away, but is of no use against an attack by another player. Defending Armies which are under an Earthquake Card do not participate in the battle, of course. The attacking player draws one Battle Card for each attacking Army he has in the battle. The defending play...
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