Antiquity

Game Overview

Antiquity is a strategy game for 2-4 players set in an environment loosely modeled by Italy in the late Middle Ages. Players build up their economy, expand into the countryside, and choose their own victory condition by selecting a patron saint upon building a cathedral. As the game progresses, the land around cities is slowly depleted through pollution, forcing players to travel further for raw materials until no land remains to farm. The game takes 2-3 hours to play.

Core Mechanisms: Zone of Control expansion, manning buildings with workers, resource production and management, pollution and famine pressure, and variable victory conditions based on patron saints.

1. Game Components

2. Game Setup

1. Take 2 map tiles per player and place them in the appropriate configuration based on player count.
2. Take exploration counters and sort out 1 of each type (olive, sheep, wine, grain) per player. The rest are not used. Shuffle the markers face down and place one on each exploration hex marked on the map tiles.
3. Each player chooses a colour and takes the men, cities, and inns of that colour, plus a player aid, a set of city buildings, and 6 wood.
4. Each player places the player aid containing the large city map in front of them; other maps are set aside.
5. Place houses on the 'Cost of Housing' chart on your player aid and put one man on top of each house.
6. Take one man of each player and randomly draw to determine starting order of play. Place the first man drawn on field 1 of the order track, the second on field 2, etc.
7. Put the famine level indicator on field 0.
8. Players choose starting positions in REVERSE order (last player on turn order track chooses first). The starting city must be FULLY on one of the starting map tiles indicated. Each starting map tile can contain only one starting city.
9. The starting city (and only the starting city) may be built over any type of area, even sea. If built over an exploration marker, the marker is set aside unseen.
10. Once all players have placed starting cities, the game begins.

3. Game Flow

Each game turn consists of 10 phases:

1. Phase 1: All Rise - Take men off city buildings; men in the countryside remain.
2. Phase 2: City Building - Secret phase where players build city buildings and man them.
3. Phase 3: Order of Play - Determine turn order based on men on Cart Shops and Explorers.
4. Phase 4: Countryside Building - Build countryside buildings and cities within zone of control.
5. Phase 5: Store Goods - Discard or store any remaining goods.
6. Phase 6: Harvest - Countryside buildings produce goods.
7. Phase 7: Explore - Turn over exploration counters (played sequentially).
8. Phase 8: Famine - Resolve graves based on Famine Level and food.
9. Phase 9: Pollution - Each player places pollution in their zone of control.
10. Phase 10: Check Victory - All players check if they have won (simultaneous).

Within most phases, players play simultaneously unless a player demands sequential play using the order of play track.

4. Player Actions

Manning Buildings

• Cost: One man per building
• Effect: Most buildings do not function unless manned. Only one man can be placed on any building. Once placed, a man cannot be removed until the next All Rise phase. Buildings not manned at the end of Phase 2 will not function for a full round.
• Exceptions: Cathedrals, Breweries, Fountains, and Granaries function without a man and cannot be manned. Houses and graves cannot be manned.

Building City Structures

• Cost: Pay required goods (listed on player aid); most buildings cost 1 wood or 1 stone. Fountains and Hospitals cost 1 luxury good. Stables cost 2 different luxury goods. Houses have variable costs (first four are free).
• Effect: Place the building on any of your city maps. Buildings function as if present in all of the player's cities. Most buildings may be built only once per player (exceptions: Stores, Cart Shops, Fountains, Houses). Goods used for building are discarded.

Building Countryside Buildings

• Cost: Requires one manned Cart Shop per countryside building, plus the required goods (1 wood for woodcutters, mines, fisheries; 1 seed for farms; 1 food for inns).
• Effect: Build within zone of control (normally 2 steps from any city or inn, excluding sea unless manned Harbour). The man from the Cart Shop is used to operate the new building (if it requires a man) or returned to the player (for cities and inns).

Building a New City

• Cost: 1 food, 1 wood, 1 stone, and two different luxury goods (need not be different with manned Faculty of Philosophy), plus one manned Cart Shop.
• Effect: Gain an extra 6x6 city map, immediately gain new zone of control for further building, and suffer a higher pollution rate. Cities must be built completely on land, not adjacent to another city, with at least one hex within zone of control. Maximum of 4 cities per player.

Trading (Market)

• Cost: Man the Market building.
• Effect: Trade with other players (any amount of goods; only one player needs a manned Market) or with the board (discard 2 goods to get any 1 good). Buildings cannot be traded. Deals must be announced publicly.

Exploring

• Cost: Man the Explorer building.
• Effect: Turn over one exploration counter in your zone of control, gaining one good of the indicated type. If the counter showed food, the Famine Level is raised by one. An explorer can explore only once per turn.

Storing Goods

• Cost: Manned Store building.
• Effect: Store one good per square (each storage tile holds two goods). San Christofori (or Santa Maria) allows storing any amount in the Cathedral without manning.

5. Scoring and Game End

Players win by fulfilling their patron saint's victory condition, checked in Phase 10:

• San Nicolo: Win with 20 people (city and/or countryside).
• Santa Barbara: Win if you have built each city building at least once.
• San Christofori: Win with at least 3 of each food and 3 of each luxury good.
• San Giorgio: Win if you have enclosed another player's entire zone of control within your own (you can reach every hex they can reach).
• Santa Maria: Win by completing any two of the above victory conditions.

Tiebreaker: If multiple players fulfill their victory condition in the same turn, count unpolluted hexes in each player's zone of control; the player with the most unpolluted hexes wins.

Elimination: If a player cannot place a grave (no empty city spaces and no building can accept one), they lose the game and quit.

Key Rules and Common Questions

Easy-to-miss Rules:

1. Men in countryside buildings stay there until their work runs out; they are not returned during All Rise.
2. Buildings not manned at the end of Phase 2 will not function for a full round.
3. Once a man is placed on a building, he cannot be removed until the next All Rise phase.
4. A building's effect applies across all of the player's cities, but it must physically fit within one city map.
5. Goods used for building are always discarded.
6. The first four houses are free; subsequent houses cost food and possibly luxury goods.
7. A Store can be built at any size for 1 wood, but must be rectangular and made of size-two blocks; it cannot be extended later.
8. Fountains decrease the Famine Level by 1 when built (cannot drop below 0) and decrease pollution by 1 each.
9. Each city generates 3 pollution per turn in Phase 9.
10. Unplaceable pollution results in graves equal to the number of pollution counters that cannot be placed.
11. The Famine Level increases by 1 after each Phase 8.
12. A mountain range produces either stone or gold for the entire game, not both.
13. Fisheries are limited to 12 total; if they run out, you must wait for one to become available.
14. Cart Shops (16), Fountains (16), and Stores (16) are limited in total quantity.
15. A Cathedral containing graves cannot be razed; a Cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria cannot be razed.
16. A player can only raze their cathedral once per turn.
17. Graves cannot be placed on top of houses.
18. A building with a grave on it can no longer function.
19. Inns can be used even if not connected to a city.
20. Zone of control is not city-specific; Cart Shops in one city can operate out of any city or inn of the same player.

FAQ:

Q: Can I build more than one Cathedral?
A: No, each player is limited to one Cathedral. A Cathedral can be rebuilt only if it has been razed by the Faculty of Theology.

Q: Do I need to man my Cathedral to win?
A: No, a Cathedral need not be manned for victory conditions.

Q: Can multiple players choose the same patron saint?
A: Yes, multiple players may choose the same saint.

Q: What happens if I can't place all my pollution?
A: You must put graves in your cities equal to the number of pollution counters you cannot place.

Q: Can I trade buildings with other players?
A: No, buildings (either in the city or in the country) cannot be traded.

Q: What happens when a countryside building runs out of goods?
A: When there are no more goods in adjacent hexes, take the good under the man, and return both the good and the man to the Harvest box. The building is depleted.