Components

• 50 Roman Cards:
• 50 Egyptian Cards
• 6 influence bonus cards
• 21 patrician cards (5 groups)
• 8 vote of confidence cards
• Instructions

Object of the Game

Caesar and Cleopatra are locked in a struggle to determine the amount of independence Egypt will have. The decision lies in the hands of the powerful patricians. The players, as Caesar and Cleopatra, use their influence and special actions to win patricians to their side.

When a vote of confidence is called, the player with the larger influence wins the voice of a patrician.Eachvoicebringsonepoint of victory. There are additional points of victory for the majority in a patrician group, for the influence of a whole group and for a secret influence bonus.

Whoever earns the most victory points, chooses the fate of Egypt and wins the game.

Setup

1. The secret influence bonus

   There are 6 cards: 2 Senators, 2 Praetors, and 2 Quaestors. To earn the influence bonus of 2 victory points, a player must win at least 3 cards from the group on her influence bonus card.

   Shuffle the 6 influence bonus cards, give one face-down to each player, who looks at it and keeps it secret from his opponent. Place the 4 unused cards face-down in the box.

2. Set up the patrician cards

   Place the 21 patrician cards on the table between the two players, sorted by group in five rows next to each other as shown. The order of the cards within each row has no bearing on the game.

   • 5 Senator
   • 5 Praetor
   • 5 Quaestor
   • 3 Censor
   • 3 Aedilis

3. Shuffle the vote of confidence cards

   Shuffle the eight vote of confidence cards and place them face-down on the table next to the patrician cards as shown.

   The cards should look like this:

   
   
   

4. Set up the player decks

   Each player takes a set of 50 cards. The player with the Roman cards is Caesar; the player with the Egyptian cards is Cleopatra. The sets have equivalent cards of two types: influence cards (with the numbers 1-5 or letter "P" in the top corners) and action cards (with the letter "A" on the backs).

   • Each player searches through her 37 influence cards and sets aside two each of the numbers 1 through 5.

   • Each player shuffles her remaining influence cards and places them face-down on the table. This is her influence deck.

   • Each player arranges her 13 action cards in the order she wishes to draw them. She then places her action cards in a stack face-down; this is her action deck.

   • Neither deck may be examined by the players during the game.

   For beginners: As most players learn how to use action cards by playing them, you may want to play a few games with randomly-shuffled action card decks.

5. Placing the first influence cards

   Each player takes the 10 influence cards she set aside:

   • Each player places 5 of the cards (valued 1 through 5) face-down on her side of the patrician groups, one card to each group.

   • Each player takes her remaining 5 cards (valued 1 through 5) as her starting hand for the game.

   The table with the first 5 influence cards placed:

   
   
   

Game Play

The players alternate turns placing influence cards on one or two patrician groups. When a patrician group is selected for a vote of confidence, the player with the most influence on the group will win the voice one of the patricians (their card) from that group.

The Cleopatra player begins. On her turn, she may choose to be active or passive:

A. The player chooses active

When a player chooses to be active, her turn consists of the following actions:

1. Play one action card (Optional)

   The player may play one action card any time during her turn (before, between, or after playing influence cards), but prior to drawing cards to replace those used in the turn. Once played, the action card is placed on the player's discard pile.

2. Play 1 or 2 influence cards (Required)

   The player must play 1 or 2 influence cards on her side of the patrician groups:

   • 1 influence card face-down on the patrician group of her choice or
   • 2 influence cards face-up on 1 or 2 groups of her choice.

   Note:

   
   

   • A player may look at her face-down influence cards at any time.

   • A player may have a maximum of 5 influence cards on her side of a patrician group.

   • Added together, the players may have a maximum of 8 influence cards on both sides of a patrician group.

3. Refill hand (Required)

   When a player has finished playing cards, she refills her hand to 5 cards by drawing cards from either her influence deck or her action deck. The player may decide with each card drawn which deck she draws from. When a player has no more cards to draw, she skips this action.

4. Draw a vote of confidence card (Required)

   Finally, the player draws a vote of confidence card. Normally the card directs a group of patricians to voice their current preference for either Caesar or Cleopatra, but there may be an orgy (see below) instead.

   The card is then placed face up beside the deck. The deck is reshuffled when a special orgy card so directs.

B. The Player Chooses Passive

When a player chooses passive (often for lack of suitable cards to play), she discards (face-up) up to 5 cards from her hand. She then refills her hand to 5 cards by drawing cards from either her influence deck or her action deck.

The player may decide with each card drawn which deck she draws from. This is the player's entire turn; she does not draw a vote of confidence card.

When the Cleopatra player has completed the active or passive actions, her turn ends. It is now the Caesar player's turn. He has the same options as she had. The player's alternate turns, each choosing to be active or passive on each turn until the game ends.

Special Rules

I. The vote of confidence

A vote of confidence can be called in two ways:

1. Draw a vote of confidence card

   When a player draws a card with one of the patrician groups named, a vote of confidence is called for the named group.

2. Special vote of confidence: group of 8 influence cards

   A special vote of confidence is called for a patrician group if the group has a total of 8 cards from both players when a player has finished playing cards. The vote is called prior to the player refilling her hand.

   In the unlikely event that two groups have 8 cards both votes are called at the same time.

II. Resolving a vote of confidence

When a vote of confidence is called for a patrician group, it is resolved as described below.

• Each player turns over all face-down influence cards for the affected group. All influence cards for both players will now be face-up.

• Each player sums the influence cards on her side of the group.

• The player with the highest influence sum wins the voice of one patrician from that group. She takes one of the patrician cards from that group and places it before her on the table.

• The winning player discards her highest-numbered influence card from that group.

• The losing player discards her lowest-numbered influence card from that group.

• Each player places her discarded cards face up in her discard pile.

• All remaining influence cards for this group are left face-up and the game continues.

• If the players have equal influence sums, neither player wins the vote of confidence. All influence cards on the patrician group remain face-up and the game continues.

• If the vote of confidence was called due to a card being drawn, the card is placed face-up on the discard pile for vote of confidence cards.

When all patrician cards from a group have been taken

• When a player takes the last card from a patrician group, all influence cards on both sides of this group are removed and placed on their respective discard piles.
  
  If the last card was taken as a result of a drawn vote of confidence card, the player removes the vote of confidence card from the game by placing it in the box.

• If a player subsequently draws the vote of confidence card for this group, the player removes it from the game by placing it into the box and draws the next vote of confidence card from the deck.

III. The Orgy Card

The vote of confidence deck contains three Orgy cards. When an Orgy card is drawn, no vote of confidence is called. This does not effect special votes of confidence on the player's turn.

The card is placed face up on the discard pile for vote of confidence cards. When a player draws the Orgy card requesting a reshuffle, the player mixes all vote of confidence cards (except those removed from the game into the box), shuffles them, and places the deck face down on the table.

IV. Philosopher Influence Card ("P")

• The philosopher card is like other influence cards, except it has a value of 0. It may be placed face-up or -down next to a group. Most often it is placed face-down for secrecy and protection.

• When a vote of confidence is called for a group that has a philosopher card on one side or the other, the philosopher "reinterprets" the result. Thus, the player with the smallest sum will win the voice of the patrician and the card representing it.

• The player with the larger influence must, although she lost, discard her highest influence card; the player with the lower influence discards her lowest influence card. The philosopher card is also discarded.

Special Rules when philosopher cards are present

The Action Cards

Each player has 13 action cards. She can play at most one each round. Once played, the action card is discarded to the player's discard pile. There are 6 different action cards:

1. Assassination (4 Each)

   

   Remove one of your opponent's face-up influence cards from the game. Your opponent puts the influence card on her discard pile. This cannot be done if your opponent has no face-up influence cards.

   
   

2. Spy (2 Each)

   

   Search your opponent's hand, select one card and remove it from the game (she places it on her discard pile).

   Your opponent now draws a card from either her influence deck or her action deck to replace the lost card.

   
   

3. Egyptian/roman Castling (2 Each)

   

   Redistribute all influence cards from two of your groups up-side-down. Pick up all the influence cards from both groups. Distribute the cards face-down to the two groups.

   You may distribute the cards as you like, including putting no cards on card maximum for both players. You need not have cards in at least two groups to play the card.

4. Scout (2 Each)

   

   Turn all influence cards from one of your opponent's groups face-up. The cards remain face-up until a subsequent action card changes that (e.g. Castling). Your opponent must have at least one face- down card in the group you select for you to be able to play this card.

5. Wrath of God (1 Each)

   

   Remove all influence cards from one group: both yours and those of your opponent. The cards are placed in the players' respective discard piles.

   There need not be cards on both sides of the group, but there must be at least one card on the group to play the card.

6. Cleopatra's/Caesar's Veto (2 Each)

   

   Prevent the execution of your opponent's action card. When your opponent plays an action card, you may play this card to prevent the action. Discard both cards to the players' respective discard piles.

   You may then draw a card from either your influence deck or your action deck. You may not use a veto card against a veto card.

End of the Game

The game ends in one of the following ways:

1. All patrician cards have been won by the players.
2. Both players have no more influence cards.
3. When neither player can play on any of the groups due to the player and total maximums and the players do not have and cannot draw action cards to change the situation.

If a player cannot add influence cards to any of the groups because the player has no influence cards or because the player and total maximums have been reached in each group (and she does not have an action card to change this), the player must choose to be passive.

When she is passive, she may draw action or influence cards to allow her to be active on her next turn.

If a player has no more influence cards in her hand or influence deck, she may no longer play; her opponent, however, continues to take turns as normal until the game ends.

The player with the most victory points wins.

In the case of a tie, the player who won the most patrician cards wins. Victory points are earned for the following:

• Each patrician card won: 1 victory point
• Majority in a patrician group: 1 victory point
• Win all patricians in a group: 1 victory point
• Achieve the influence bonus: 2 victory points

The requirements for majority or "all" victory points are based on the total for each group not just those won in the game. Patrician cards, which were not won by either player are not counted.

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