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Bronze Game Rules


Components

  • Game Board
  • 120 Settlement Markers
  • 70 Technology Cards
  • 50 City Cards
  • 21 Trade Route Tokens
  • 12 Province Tokens
  • First player token
  • Instructions

Game Elements

Game Board

The board is made up of several tiles: the starting tile (marked with terrain symbols) and land tiles (14 pieces). The starting tile identifies the type of terrain (mountains, woods, grasslands, savannas, deserts, jungles, and the shore), each given a color and a symbol.

Settlement spots are divided into three types: for farmers , herders and hunters . Various technologies allow various types of settlers to occupy various terrains.



Settlement Markers

(30 markers in each of four colors)

Players mark the spots settled by their people by placing settlement markers of their color on the board.



Technology Cards

10 cards of each type: Domestication, Pottery, Masonry, Authority, Religion, Wheel, and Irrigation. All cards have Bronze Casting on the backside.


Technology Card ( face)

Technology cards carry the following information:

  1. Technology name

  2. Types of terrain where you can set up a settlement using this technology

  3. Types of settlements you can set up using this technology

  4. Number of players required to use this card.


Technology Card (back)

Bronze Casting is a 'wild card' that allows you to set up any settlement on any terrain.


Masonry allows herders or farmers to settle in the woods, grasslands or jungles.



Setup

  1. Place the starting tile in the middle of the table and add random land tiles depending on the num- ber of players (7 land tiles for two players, 9 lands for three players and 11 lands for four players), placing them face down. Put the remaining land tiles back into the box, without looking at them: you will not need them for this game.

  2. In a two-player game, flip one land tile closest to the starting tile; in a three or four player game, flip two land tiles closest to the starting tile.

  3. Each player chooses a color and gets 30 settlement markers of the respective color.

  4. For a two or three player game, return the city and te- chnology cards that are not used with this number of players to the box. In a two-player game only cards with two pawns are used; in a three-player game cards with three pawns are added, and in a four-player game all cards must be used.

  5. Shuffle technology cards, divide them into five stacks as equally as possible and place them face down (so that the players cannot see which card goes where). Choose four of the stacks as your game pool and turn the top cards of these stacks face up. The fifth stack is a reserve stack.

  6. Place trade route tokens to the left of the start- ing tile: 10 point tokens must be next to it, followed by 6 point tokens and 3 point tokens on the far side.

  7. Place one random province token face up above each land tile. You will not need the remaining prov- ince tokens.

  8. Choose the first player at random and give them the first player token.

  9. Shuffle the city card deck and place it next to the game board.



Game Play

Gameplay proceeds clockwise. Players take turns, which consist of four consecutive phases:

  1. the player draws the top technology card from the pool and places it in front of them;
  2. the player activates their technology cards;
  3. the player places settlements on the board and gets new city cards;
  4. the player gets trade route and province tokens.

The game ends when one of the following occurs:

  1. a player runs out of settlement markers;
  2. the second stack of technology cards runs empty;
  3. the last land tile is fully occupied with the players' settlements.

When the game ends, the players count the victory points they gain for their city cards, province tokens and trade route tokens. The player with the highest number of victory points wins.


Game Turn

1. Choosing and Playing a Technology Card

Choose the top technology card from any stack in the game pool and decide whether to play it face up or face down (as Bronze Casting).

Once you have taken the top card from the stack, you must turn the next card in this stack face up so that all players can see the technology on it.

Note: You may not peek at the next card and decide not to take the current card.

You play cards by placing them in front of yourself into four vertical columns, creating a technology ma- trix for your people. You build each column from top to bottom, without any blanks. There can be any number of any technology cards in a column.



Example: The player has three technology cards in their matrix. The player may add the fourth card to one of the existing columns or place it at the top row to the right or to the left of their existing columns.

When you play the technology card you may either place it into your existing column or start a new one to the right or to the left from your column on the table, starting from the top position.

You cannot have more than four columns. You are not allowed to change the allocation of cards you have already played.



2. Activation of the Available Technology Cards

When you place a technology card on the table, you activate it, i.e. gain an opportunity to set up one settlement using this technology. At the same time some other cards in the technology matrix become active as well, namely:

  1. cards to the left and to the right of the new card (the cards next to it in the same row);
  2. cards with the same technology as the new card that are in the same column.


Example: The player plays a Pottery card, which activates this card and the neighboring Masonry and Wheel cards. This gives the player the right to set up three settlements, one for each of said technologies



Example: The player plays a Domestication card and activates all Domestication cards in that column, as well as the Masonry card to the right. This gives the player the right to set up three settlements, two for the two Domestication cards, and one for the Masonry card.

Exception: Bronze Casting (the technology on the back side of the technology cards) does not activate other Bronze Casting cards in the same column.

Example: The player plays a Bronze Casting card, which activates this card and the neighboring Pottery card. Other Bronze Casting cards in that column are not activated.



Bronze Casting becomes active when another technology card is played next to it as per the usual rules.



Example: The player plays a Domestication card, which ac- tivates this card and the Bronze Casting card on its right.

Note: Technology cards have arrows to help denote other technologies that can be activated when these cards are played.

Make sure to activate the new technology card you have added.



3. Settlement Placement

Each card activated during your turn gives you an opportunity to place one settlement marker on an unoccupied spot on the game board. The type of the spot and the terrain must meet the conditions set by the activated card.

If you activate several cards during your turn, you may set up the settlements in any order (you do not need to start from the newest card). You may also choose not to place settlements for any activated cards.



You may put settlement cubes on any open land tiles; however, once you occupy a spot on the next land tile, you may no longer set up settlements on the previous land tiles. Any future settlements must be put on that land tile or the new ones.

Example: Irrigation all- ows the player to place their marker as a herder settlement or a farmer settlement in the mountains, savannas, or deserts.

As there are no spots on the first land tile available for such a settlement, the player may set up their settlement on the second land tile.

However, in this case the player will no longer be able to set up settlements on the first land tile.



If you set up a settlement on a land tile that is followed by a facedown land tile, open the facedown tile. After that you can either put the remaining settlements on the same land tile or move forward to the tile you've just opened.

If you set up a settlement on a land tile that has no other settlements yet (except for the first land tile), you must im- mediately draw cards from the city deck.

The number of cards equals to the number of players plus one: 3 cards in a two-player game, 4 cards in a three-player game, 5 cards in a four-player game. Place these cards face up below the respective land tile, then take one of these cards and place it face up in front of you.

If you set up a settlement on a land tile where you have no settlements yet but other players do (except for the first land tile), take one of the city cards available next to this land tile and place it face up in front of you. Each player may gain only one city card per land tile. The last remaining city card (that no one picked up) is discarded.



4. Getting Trade Route Tokens and Province Tokens

If you have a continuous line of three your settlements on one type of terrain, you immediately get the respective trade route token lying to the left of the starting tile: the one with a number 3, which is worth 3 victory points. You don't get the token if a player already has it.

In the same way, you get tokens marked with a 5 (6 VP) and a 7 (10 VP) if you have built a continuous line of 5 and 7 settlements, respectively. You can't take tokens from other players.

When you get a token of a higher value, you must return the token of a lower value for the same terrain, if you have one. You don't get a lower value token if you already have a higher value token for the same terrain.

Note: A continuous line is a line that is not interrupted by other players' settlements. Unoccupied spots do no interrupt the line. If such a line is later interrupted by another player, you do not need to return your token.



Example: Blue player can't build a trade route due to yellow player's interruption.

Yellow player has built a 3-settlement trade route, which is worth 3 points. Unoccupied spots don't interrupt the trade route.

Blue player has built a 5-settlement trade route, which is worth 6 points. Unoccupied spots don't interrupt the trade route.

Red player has built a 3-settlement trade route, which is worth 3 points.

As soon as you gain the supremacy on a land tile (i.e. you have more settlements there than any other player), you take the province token placed next to this land tile. This card gives you victory points as indicated on the token.

Generally, the supremacy on a land tile becomes clear when all players have moved past that land tile and can no longer set up their settlements there.

However, you may take the province token earlier if your supremacy is absolutely certain (e.g. you have occupied the majority of the spots for settlements or there are clearly not enough unoccupied spots to catch up with you).

You can take the province token even out of your turn (e.g. when your last rival gave up and moved to the next land tile).

If there is a draw in the number of settlements, no one takes the province token.



End of the Game

The game can end in three ways:

  1. When one of the four stacks of technology cards runs out, the fifth one (the reserve stack set aside in the begin- ning of the game) is moved to the game pool. As soon as one more stack runs out, the round is played until the last player and after their turn the game ends.

  2. When one of the players runs out of settlement mark- ers, the round is played until the last player and after their turn the game ends.

  3. When all the settlement spots at the last land tile are occupied with markers, the round is played until the last player and after their turn the game ends.

Note: The VPs are scored after the last player (i.e. the player to the right of the first player) ends their turn. Each player should have an equal number of turns.

Victory points are awarded for:

  1. Province Tokens: Each player gains the number of points indicated on each province token that player has (4, 5 or 6 points).

  2. Trade Route Tokens: Each player gains the number of points indicated on each trade route token that player has (3, 6 or 10 points).

  3. City Cards: For each city card the player has, that player gains the indicated number of points if that player fulfills the condition of that card.

The player with the highest sum of victory points wins the game. If there is a draw, the players consecutively compare the numbers of victory points awarded for city cards, trade route tokens, and provinces.

The first player to have an advantage in any of these categories is the winner. If there is an absolute draw, share the victory.


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