Components

• 1 Map Board
• 1 Set of Rules
• 21 Location Tiles
• 8 Special Tiles
• 60 military counters
• 36 Influence Tiles
• 150 influence cubes
• 45 Leader/statue Counters
• 15 Defeat Counters
• 4 Dice
• 4 Battle Tokens
• Instructions

Overview

In ' Perikles' each player represents a Greek family with political influence spread across the six main cities of Greece. Players will use their influence to gain control of these cities, which in turn allows them to use their military forces to win glory on the battlefield.

The game can be played by three, four or five players. There are three turns in all, with each turn consisting of four main phases.

In the first phase, players select Influence tiles that will allow them to place influence on the map. Influence is represented by wooden cubes. With three or four players each player will select five Influence tiles.

If there are five players then each player takes four tiles. Certain tiles also allow players to propose candidates for leadership, or an assassination to reduce another player's standing.

In the second phase players propose candidates for the remaining vacant candidacies. Once this is done players determine which of the two candidates in each city will become the leader, this depends on the amount of influence behind each candidate.

As we know, though, any group in power always becomes unpopular, so the winning player loses an amount of influence equal to that of the opposing player.

The second half of the game is devoted to the fighting of the war. Each player takes control of the military forces for the cities he is leader of. Players will fight over seven Location tiles. The order in which players commit forces to these locations depends on the Influence tiles they selected earlier, (and which should be retained for this purpose).

Normally a player can send up to two units but he can send more if he is prepared to use up an Influence cube. Each Location tile reflects a historical location that was fought over during the actual war. The tile will indicate which city originally controls it.

Some locations start with intrinsic defenders. Others have rebels ready to rise up if aided by another city. The battle for a location normally consists of two rounds, land combat involving hoplites, and sea combat involving triremes.

The order in which these two rounds are fought is shown on the tile. Winning the first round of combat gives an advantage in the second round. The winner of the second round of combat takes the tile, thus earning victory points.

At the end of each turn all the leaders die. The grateful citizens then erect statues of them to commemorate their wise leadership in such dark times. A new turn begins. The game normally ends after three turns, although this could be less if Sparta or Athens are knocked out of the war.

Players count up their victory points, which are earned from having influence on the map, for winning Location tiles, and for statues. The value of a statue depends on how well its city did in the war.

Setup

Each player should select a set of Influence cubes and Leader counters.

Shuffle the Influence tiles and place in a pile face down by the side of the board. Draw ten tiles and place one face up each in each one of the Influence tile boxes on the board.

Shuffle the Location tiles and place in a pile face down by the side of the board. Draw seven tiles and place once face up in each one of the Location tile boxes on the board.

Location tile

Place all of the Military counters for each city in the Military Forces box of their respective cities.

Place the Persian Military counters in the on the Persian shield.

Shuffle the Special tiles and give one to each player. The remaining tiles should be placed back in the box without being examined. Players may look at their own Special tile but should keep it secret from other players.

It is strongly recommended that players look at the detailed explanations in the rules book to see the exact effect of their tile and when it can be played.

Use the dice to randomly determine who will become the first player. Each player places two Influence cubes in each city. The cubes should be placed in the main part of the temple, not the candidate spaces.

It is a good idea to arrange the cubes in columns to help show clearly how many belong to each player. Now, going clockwise from the first player, each player places one more Influence cube in a city of their choice. Repeat this again, so that players end up placing an additional two cubes.

Leave the Defeat counters by the side of the board, ready to use when a city suffers a defeat.

Game Play

Each turn consists of the following phases:

1. Draw Location and Influence Tiles
2. Take Influence Tiles
3. Propose Candidates
4. Hold Elections
5. Commit Military Forces
6. Resolve Battles
7. End off Turn

1. Location And Influence Tiles

Skip this phase in the first turn as you already have tiles on display. In subsequent turns you need to draw a new set of seven Location tiles. You also must shuffle all of the Influence tiles together to make a new pile, and then draw and place ten on display.

2. Take Influence Tiles

In this phase players will take Influence tiles, allowing them to place more Influence cubes on the board.

In the first turn, the first player will already have been determined randomly. In the second and third turns the player who was the last leader of Athens becomes the first player.

The first player selects one Influence tile from the ten on display. He immediately places a number of Influence cubes equal to the number of pottery shards on the tile in the city of the same color as the tile.

If the tile is marked Any City' then he can place the cube in any city of his choice.

If the tile has a 'Candidate' symbol on it then the player immediately proposes one candidate in any city. This does not have to be the same city as the tile he selected. See the rules on proposing candidates for more details.

If the tile has an 'Assassin' symbol on it then the player immediately removes one cube of any color he wishes from any city on the board. This does not have to be removed from the same city as the tile he selected.

The cube is returned to the owing player. A player can assassinate a cube of his own color. A player can remove a cube from a candidate space.

If there were already two candidates proposed and the assassinated cube was taken from the 'a' space then the cube in the other candidate space should be moved across to the vacant space.

The player places the Influence tile in front of his position. It will be retained for use in a later phase. A new tile should be drawn and placed in the vacant Influence tile box. The next player now selects a tile.

Continue this process in a clockwise order until all players have selected five tiles. If there are five players then each player selects four tiles in all. Once players have selected their full complement of tiles play proceeds to the next phase.

A player cannot select an Influence tile if he has already selected one of the same color in a previous round. This includes the brown 'Any City' tile. The only exception to this is if it is impossible for a player to select a tile without breaking this rule.

In this case, the player can select any tile on display. Note that this situation is very rare.

A player cannot choose to pass, he must select a tile. A player must place the number of cubes indicated on the tile. A player must carry out any action indicated on the tile.

3. Propose Candidates

In this phase players will propose candidates for leadership in each of the cities.

The order of play starts with the player who started the Take Influence Tiles phase. The first player selects one Influence cube in a city and moves it up to a vacant candidate space. Each city has two candidate spaces, marked 'α' and 'β'.

The first cube moved up must be moved to the 'a' space. The second cube will be moved to the 'β' space. There can only be one cube in each space. A player must have at least one cube of his own color in a city to be able to propose a candidate.

A player does not have to propose a candidate of his own color, he can move a cube belonging to any player. There can never be two candidates of the same color in a city.

After the first player has proposed a candidate the next player, going clockwise proposes a candidate, then the next player. Repeat this process until all twelve candidate spaces contain a cube. A player must propose a candidate if he can, otherwise he passes.

4. Hold Elections

In this phase, the leadership of each city is resolved.

You may resolve the elections in each city in any order you wish. The candidate that has the most Influence cubes in the city will become the leader. The two candidate cubes are removed from the city and returned to their owning players.

The winning player also removes a number of cubes equal to the cubes held by his opponent in that city. The winner then places one of his Leader counters in the Leader box of the city.

If there is a tie then the player in the 'a' space wins the contest. If a player is not opposed in a city then he will lose his candidate cube but no more from his remaining cubes.

When the leadership of all six cities has been resolved play progresses to the next phase.

5. Commit Military Forces

In this phase, players will send forces under their control to contest the seven locations.

There should be seven Location tiles on display. The color of the tile shows which city presently controls that location.

Each player takes the Military counters from each city that he is leader of. Note that only the counters on the board can be taken, not those that are off-board.

If a player failed to become leader of any city then he takes control of the Persian forces.

The first player is chosen by the player who took control of Sparta. Going clockwise from the first player each player must recover Military counters from the 'dead' pile.

They must recover one counter belonging to each city they control. They can choose whether they recover a hoplite or trireme. They must take the lowest value counter of the type selected.

The order in which players may commit forces to a location is determined by the Influence tiles they selected earlier. Players will use these tiles to allow them to send forces to defend and attack locations.

The key rule is that all '2' shard tiles are used first, then '1' shard tiles. The first player will already have been selected by the Spartan leader. If this player has a '2' shard tile then he must hand it in and then has the option to move one or two counters to one or two locations.

Play then moves on to the next player, going clockwise, who has a '2' shard tile. This player must use such a tile and then can move counters. If a player had only '1' shard tiles then play would pass him by until all the remaining player had used all of their '2' shard tiles.

Play continues with the player to the left of the last player to use a '2' shard tile. That player must use a '1' shard tile. Play continues until all players have used all of their tiles.

When a player uses a tile it is placed on the discard pile. That player now has the opportunity to send between zero and two military counters to one or two locations. If he sends two counters then they may be sent to different locations.

They can also be drawn from different cities, (note that some players will control the military forces of more than one city). The color on the Influence tile has no impact on what forces can be sent. The number of shards on the tile has no impact on the number of counters that can be sent, it only affects the order in which they are sent.

On each side of the Location tile there are boxes, two for the main attacker, two for allied attackers, two for the main defender, and two for allied defenders.

The first player to place on one side of a Location becomes the main attacker/defender. Military units placed by other players on that side will be placed in the Allied Attackers/Defenders boxes. Only the main attacker/defender has the opportunity to win the Location tile.

There are boxes marked for hoplites and triremes. When a player places units he must make sure they are placed in the box that matches the type of unit being placed. Counters can be stacked in a box.

Counters should be placed face down so that other players are not sure of their strength. A player can examine his own counters at any time, but not those of other players. Any number of counters can be placed in an allied box, and they can be a mix of counters from different eligible cities.

There are certain restrictions on where counters can be sent.

• A player can never attack a location controlled by a city that he is leader of, even if he has military forces belonging to another city under his control.

• If a player wishes to become the main or allied defender of a location that he does not have control of then he must ask the player who does have control of that location if he has permission to do so, (e.g. if the Theban player wished to defend an Athenian location then he would have to ask the Athenian leader for permission to do so).

• Once a city's forces have attacked a location they are at war with the city that controls that location. This means that they could not ally with that city, either by defending another of that city's locations or placing their units on the same side as that city's forces, (e.g. if Corinthian forces attacked a Spartan location then they could not defend another Spartan location, nor could they ever join forces with any Spartan military forces during this turn).

• If a player is leader of more than one city then although he cannot use any of the forces under his control to attack a city he is leader of it is possible for the forces of one city to be allied to another city while another set of forces under his control are enemies of the same city.
  
  However, a player can never have forces under his control on both side of a Location tile, i.e. the forces under a player's control can never attack each other.
  
  (Example: Simon is leader of Thebes and Argos. He attacks an Athenian location with his Theban forces. It is still possible for his Argives to help defend other Athenian locations, but not the one being attacked by his Theban forces).

• The first counters sent to a location must go in one of the two main boxes, not the allied boxes. Counters can only be sent to allied boxes when there is a main attacker/defender on the same side.

Sending Additional Forces

After a player has sent one or more counters to a location he has the option to expend an Influence cube to send up to two more counters. The cube must be expended from the city that the forces are being sent from.

If two counters are being sent they must be from the same city, although they do not have to go to the same location. (E.g. Andy has just sent two Spartan counters to a location.

He decides that he also wants to send two more counters from Megara, which he is also leader of. He removes one of his cubes from Megara and can then send up to two Megaran counters. He could send them to different locations).

6. Resolve Battles

In this phase, players will fight battles for control of the seven Location tiles. They should be fought in order from the top tile to the bottom tile.

A battle will normally consist of two separate rounds. One will be trireme combat, the other will be hoplite combat. The order in which these two rounds occur is indicated on the Location tile, going from left to right.

The second round of combat will determine which side wins the tile.The winner of the first round of combat will start the second rounds with an advantage. If the Location tile only has a hoplite symbol on it then only one round of combat occurs, which is hoplite combat.

Trireme and hoplite combat are handled in exactly the same way. Place the four Battle tokens in the Battle Token box.

Each side reveals their counters and adds up their strength points.

The Location tile may also add strength points to a side. A grey hoplite symbol adds one to the defender's hoplite strength, A grey trireme would add one to their trireme strength. Violet symbols represent rebels and are added in the same way but count for the attacker.

If a tile is not defended by a player then any intrinsic defenders will fight. If a tile is not attacked and it has rebel symbols on it then those rebels will not attack.

Compare the attackers strength to the defender's strength to determine which column will be used on the Combat Table. This column shows the total a player has to make or exceed to move a battle token to their side.

Players roll two dice each, simultaneously. They add the numbers on their dice together. If a player's total is egual to or more than the number shown in the relevant column then he moves a token to his side of the display. The first side to win two tokens wins the combat. If both sides reach two tokens at the same time then they continue to roll until one side fails to make its roll while the other does so.

The losing side of a battle must lose one counter as a casualty. The counter must belong to the main force if possible. The lowest value counter should be removed and placed off-board. If there is no counter of the right type in the main force then the lowest value counter belonging to an allied force should be eliminated.

If only one side has forces of the right type in a round of combat then they automatically win that round.

The winner of the first round of combat starts the second combat with a battle token already on their side, which means they only need to win one more token. The winner of the second combat wins the battle.

The winner of the battle takes the Location tile. If the defending side lost then place a Defeat counter on the highest numbered Victory Point square under the relevant city.

If a location is not attacked then it is not claimed by the defender. It is placed face up on display by the side of the map. The main defender must now place two of his cubes in the city of the same color as the tile.

All Military counters that were not eliminated are now returned to their cities.

Combat Results Table

At first the Combat Table may look a little confusing, being a mixture of odds and strength difference. The attacker's strength is always compared with the defender's strength. The player with the greater combat strength must use the column that is most favorable to them if more than one column fits the situation.

7. End of Turn

In this phase, leaders will die and have statues erected in their honor.

All Leader counters are flipped to their statue side and are moved to the statue area by the side of the city. They will count for victory points at the end of the game.

All the Influence tiles should be removed from the display and placed on the discard pile. Make sure all un-played Military counters are returned to their home city. It is now time to start a new turn.

The game will end at the end of the third turn or at the end of the present turn if Athens or Sparta have suffered four or more defeats. No record of turns is kept as it will be obvious when the third turn has occurred as there will be no more Location tiles available.

The Persians

If a player fails to become leader of any city then he takes control of the Persian forces. They should be committed in the same manner as Greek city forces, i.e. using the Influence tiles.

A player can use up any one of his cubes to send additional Persian counters. No Persian units are lost if they lose, they are all returned to the Persian shield by the end of the turn.

In the unlikely case that two or more players end up without city leaders then these players share the commitment of the forces, using all of the tiles they own between them. If the Persians take any Location tiles then they should be placed near the Persian shield with leader counters belonging to each of the controlling players on them.

At the end of the game these players will score the same victory points for these tiles. If the Persians defend a location that is not attacked then each Persian player places two cubes in the defending city.

Special Tiles

Each player has one Special tile. These are all one-use tiles and should be discarded after being played. When they can be used depends on the tile, as described below:

• 

  Alkibiades

  Player can take two Influence cubes of any color from any city/cities and move them to any city of their choice.

  These cubes may not be moved from a candidate space, nor may they be moved to one.

  
  
• 

  Brasidas

  This tile can be played by any player just before a hoplite battle is about to be resolved. All Spartan hoplite counters in that battle have their strengths doubled. Intrinsic attackers/defenders are not doubled.

  
  
• 

  Perikles

  Player must place two Influence cubes to Athens. This tile can be played by the player when it is their turn to select an Action tile, either just before or just after taking an Action tile.

  
  
• 

  Persian Fleet

  This tile can be played by any player just before a trireme battle is about to be resolved. That player can decide that one side in that battle starts with one battle token on their side.

  This cannot be played to gain an automatic victory, i.e. it could not be played if that side already had a token due to winning the first round of combat.

  
  
• 

  Phormio

  This tile can be played by any player just before a trireme battle is about to be resolved. All Athenian trireme counters in that battle have their strengths doubled.

  Intrinsic attackers/defenders are not doubled.

  
  
• 

  Plague

  This tile must be played during the owning player's turn during the Influence Tile phase. The player selects one city.

  Each player removes half, rounded down, of his Influence cubes from the city. E.g. a player with five cubes in a city would lose two of them.

  
  
• 

  Slave Revolt

  This can be played by a player when it is their turn to commit forces to a location. They can take one Spartan hoplite counter, either from the board or from the controlling player, and place it back in Sparta.

  That counter cannot be involved in combat in this turn. The player cannot examine the counter he removes.

  The counter will come back into play in the next turn.

  
  
• 

  Thessalanian Allies

  This tile can be played by any player just before a hoplite battle is about to be resolved. That player can decide that one side in that battle starts with one battle token.

  This cannot be played to gain an automatic victory, i.e. it could not be played if that side already had a token due to winning the first round of combat.

  
  

End of the Game

The game will end either at the end of first or second turn if Athens or Sparta have suffered four or more defeats, or when the third turn ends.

Players score victory points as follows:

• Each cube in a city is worth 1 victory point. This is not affected by how well the city did.
• Each Location tile is worth the number of victory points on it.
• Each statue is worth the highest uncovered number on the Victory Point display under the city.

Players total their victory points. The player with the highest total is the winner.

In the case of a tie the tied player who scored the most victory points on Location tiles wins. If there is still a tie then the tied player with the most statues wins.

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