Age of Mythology: Rules

Designed and Created by Glenn Drover
Inspired by the computer game Age of Mythology by Microsoft and Ensemble Studios
Licensed from Microsoft and Ensemble Studios

©2003 Eagle Games, Inc.
Age of Mythology, Ensemble Studios, and the Microsoft Game Studios logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft.

I. GAME CONTENTS
The Age of Mythology: The Boardgame contains the following components:
~ 1 rules manual
~ 6 player boards (2 Egyptian, 2 Greek, 2 Norse)
~ 6 plastic runners containing pieces (2 Egyptian, 2 Greek, 2 Norse)
~ 1 zip-lock bag containing 150 wooden cubes (30 of each: green, brown, yellow, blue, and red)
~ 3 decks of cards (each deck containing battle cards, permanent action cards, and random action cards for one culture)
~ 4 victory cards
~ 1 sheet of cardboard tiles (buildings and resource producing)
~ 8 dice
~ 1 reference card

II. RULES INDEX
I. Game Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
II. Rules Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
III. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
IV. Game Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
V. Gameplay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
VI. Setting Up the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
VII. The Turns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
VIII. The Action Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
IX. Battles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
X. Ending The Game and Winning . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
XI. Sample Game Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
XII. Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

III. INTRODUCTION
The Pharaoh of All Egypt sat heavily astride his bejeweled, golden throne, the weight of Egyptian matters of state pressing down on his shoulders in the manner of Atlas holding the world.

This mental reference to the Greek Atlas disturbed him, however. He didn’t care much for Greeks, as the Zeus-loving zealots had been pressing in on his glorious kingdom for some time now; stealing resources here, destroying buildings there. Agamemnon, the Greek hero, was proving to be as troublesome as his army, always showing up on the battlefield at the right place at the right time. He sighed, turning his gaze upwards. The light of the new day reflected brilliantly through the airy archways high above the floor of his throne room, where his council of governors sat prostrating themselves before his noble visage.

“Noble Pharaoh,” said one, “We seek your guidance for this day.” Gathering his thoughts and turning from the golden rafters above, Pharaoh turned to them. “Any news from the others?”

“No, Pharaoh. The Greeks seem to be waiting for us to make a move, as do the Norse.”

So we must act first, he thought. Excellent. “We need someone to destroy the most foul Hero of the Greeks, Agamemnon,” he growled.

His Governor of War cleared his throat. “Pharaoh, we have not the resources yet to advance our learning. When we do we will be able to recruit a Priest of Ra. He and a few Mummies will give the Greek hero a lesson in humility.”

“Now that would be a change,” Pharaoh said caustically. The council avoided his gaze, looking to the highly polished marble floor below. He continued, “We need to gather the resources to appease the gods. I command that we gather the needed materials.”

The Governor of Resources replied immediately, “At once, Pharaoh.” He disappeared into the cavernous depths of the palace, emerging again after a few moments. “Consider it done, Pharaoh. Our glorious harvest has brought us gold from our mines, wood from the oasis in the West, favor from the gods, and food from the bountiful Nile. This would bring our wealth to be enough for an Age offering, but our gold is somewhat…short.”

“Not enough?!” said Pharaoh. Without the needed sacrifice, they could not advance into a more glorious Age. “Perchance we can break the whip across the villager’s backs to make them work harder?

The Governor of Resources cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Actually, Pharaoh, we need more villagers in the workforce. Perhaps we should build housing?”

“Hmmm,” mumbled Pharaoh. He pondered his Villagers’ lack of dedication a moment longer, his face clouding with each passing second as he mulled over his remaining choices. A runner came in and reported that the Greeks had, for once, raided the Norse instead of Egypt and had managed to grab a significant supply of northern Gold. The Norse, in turn, counter-attacked, but failed to break Agamemnon and his army. The Governors looked to Pharaoh expectantly. Finally, he  spoke. “Our army is not yet ready for a raid on the Greeks. The Norse are vulnerable, but now have no Gold. Very well, send our scouts into the desert to search for another gold mine.”

The Governor of Resources replied in a gracious manner, pedaling away quickly. Soon, he returned, tripping and sliding across the smooth marble floors. Composing himself, he stammered, “I-it is done, my Pharaoh. Our scouts have discovered desert lands previously unrecorded that are rich in gold – it should put us over our requirement if we act now!”

“Do you presume to give me commands?” thundered Pharaoh. Before the Governor could reply, he waved a hand. “Claim it, fool, and be quick about it!”

Soon, the deed was done. The Greeks then attacked the Norse once again, but this time without Agamemnon, and the drive stalled against a stalwart defense of Frost Giants and Jarls. The Norse ignored this Greek attack and decided to gather resources when their time came. They chose to gather from the hill terrain, so quickly each of the three powers scrambled to cull what they could from the slopes of their own lands. The Egyptians had but one area that fell into this category, but it was enough – it held the barest amount of gold in it.

Pharaoh smiled. It was time. “The gods shall smile on me…I mean, the Egyptian people. Governor of Resources, take the raw materials needed and see to it they are offered up to those on high, so that we may gain a new Age of enlightenment.”

As the Governor scurried off, trying not to trip and fall this time, Pharaoh smiled to himself. With the coming expenditure, the Egyptians were going to become enthroned upon a new classical age. He could feel the power course through the land as he sat upon his sparkling throne. Chuckling, he planned his next moves – gathering more resources, recruiting a Priest and perhaps raise some dreaded Mummies… or better yet, a thunderous Phoenix. Yes, Agamemnon and his wily Greeks had finally met their match…

IV. GAMEPLAY
Age of Mythology: The Boardgame allows players to do many of the same things that they do while playing the PC game:
~ Explore the world and claim resource producing sites (like gold mines, farms, lumber camps, and temples);
~ Gather resources from them (Gold, Food, Wood, and Favor);
~ Spend the resources to recruit a powerful army of mortal warriors, mighty heroes, and mythic creatures;
~ Spend the resources to build new buildings in their city that can give them advantages over the other players;
~ Attack other players to destroy their buildings and armies, and to take their resources;
~ Trade resources to supplement or fill gaps in their production;
~ Advance their culture into the next age to gain access to better heroes and more options (starting from the Archaic Age):
    ~ Archaic
    ~ Classical
    ~ Heroic
    ~ Mythic

The players perform these actions (as well as gain access to powerful god powers) with “Action Cards”. As players take turns playing these cards, they attempt to build a more powerful economy, army, and city than the other players. Meanwhile, they must balance their own growth with defense and well-timed attacks to undermine their opponents’ efforts. The player that can guide his culture most successfully will gather the most victory points and win the game.

V. GAME COMPONENTS
THE PLAYER BOARDS
Each player has a Player Board that represents his holdings (land). There are three types of Player Boards, one for each culture in the game (Greek, Egyptian, and Norse).  

The player boards are divided into three areas: The Production Area, the City Area, and the Holding Area:

is the area where players place their Resource Production Tiles (acquired when Exploring).

The area on the bottom right is called the City Area. This is the area where players place their Building Tiles (acquired when Building).

The area on the top is called the Holding Area. This is the area where players place their units, their resource cubes, and their victory point cubes.

THE PLASTIC PIECES
The plastic pieces that are included in the game represent Military Units (referred to as “units”) and Villagers. 

- Military Units
The military units are the pieces that are recruited by each player to fight battles, and are easily identified by type:  

MORTAL UNITS                    MYTH CREATURES                            HERO UNITS
(Round or rounded bases)       (Square or rectangular bases)               (Triangular bases)

- Villagers
The villagers are pieces that can be placed on production tiles to add to their productivity. One villager is created for each house (building) that a player builds and places on their city area. The number of villagers and houses that a player owns must always be equal. If a house is eliminated, a villager must be eliminated as well (chosen by the owning player). When a new villager is “created” by the building of a new house, it is placed in the player’s Holding Area, and may only be placed on a resource production tile when that player plays a Gather card (see below).  

THE WOODEN CUBES
There are five different colors of cubes included with the game. Four of them (Green, Blue, Light Brown, and Yellow) are used to represent “Resources”, and one of them (red) is used to represent “Victory Points”.  

- Resource Cubes
Resources are the basic currency of Age of Mythology. They are collected when a player plays the “Gather” card, and are spent to purchase buildings, units, god powers, etc. The four colors represent:
FOOD (green), FAVOR (blue, the goodwill of the gods), WOOD (brown), GOLD (yellow)  

Victory Point Cubes
Victory Points are used to determine the winner of the game. The player with the most Victory Point cubes when the game ends, wins the game.  

THE CARDS
There are four types of cards:
Victory Point Cards :
There are four Victory Point Cards: The Largest Army, The Most Buildings, Won the Last Battle, and The Wonder. These cards are placed face up on the table and are used to hold Victory Point cubes during the game. Players place Victory Point cubes on them at the beginning of each new turn. The Victory Point cubes are taken off and awarded to a player depending on circumstances (see “Ending the Game and Winning,” below).  

Battle Cards :
Each player has one deck of Battle Cards (one card for each unit that he may recruit). Each card shows:
This Battle Card shows:
A) The name of the unit
B) The type(s) of that unit
C) A picture of the unit
D) The battle dice that it normally rolls
E) The bonus dice that unit gets when it encounters a particular “type” of opponent
F) Any special powers that the unit may have
G) The cost to recruit the unit  

Permanent Action Cards :
Each player has one deck of seven (7) Permanent Action Cards (one card for each type of action available to the player: Explore, Gather, Recruit, Build, Trade, Attack, and Next Age – see below for full descriptions). These cards represent the player’s permanent list of options. They are not as powerful as the cards in the random action deck, but are always available to the player when selecting new cards for the turn (i.e. you may look at all seven cards and choose those that you want).
This Permanent Action Card shows:
A) The name of the action (Build)
B) How many buildings may be built when this card is played (1)  

Random Action Cards :
There are three decks of Random Action Cards (one for each culture: Egyptian, Greek, and Norse). Each deck includes a selection of powerful Action cards that can significantly enhance a player’s hand. Some cards have the same actions that the Permanent Action deck has, but with higher numbers that allow more to be done. Others have valuable god powers that may be purchased with Favor cubes (see below). Each Random Action card deck is shuffled at the beginning of the game. Players may then draw Random Action cards randomly (without looking at the face of the card while drawing) to augment the Permanent Action cards in their hand. The total number of Action cards (both types combined) that a player may draw at the beginning of their turn is determined by the “Age” that they are in (see below).
This Random Action card shows:
A) The name of the action (Attack)
B)  The maximum number of units on each side (5)

God Powers :
Some Random Action cards have god powers in addition to Actions. When one of these cards is played, the player must pay a certain number of Favor cubes (the cost is displayed on the card) if they want to take advantage of the god power. If playing the god power, the player MUST pay the required Favor and determine the results from the power before performing the action specified on the card. If the player does not wish to take advantage of the god power, he may just perform the action on the card (or visa versa).
This Random Action (with a god power) shows:
A The name of the action (Trade)
B The cost of trading (0 Resources)
C The god power name (Loki – “Theft”)
D The effect of the god power (steal any 5 resources)
E The cost to play the god power (2 Favor cubes)  

E X A M P L E
You play the Loki card (above). You decide to pay the 2 blue favor cubes to use the god power, and steal 5 green food cubes from the Egyptian player (to prevent him from building units). You then perform the “Trade” action and trade the green food cubes for 4 blue favor cubes and 1 brown wood cube.  

TILES
Tiles represent the construction of specialty buildings that provide positive benefits to a culture (Building Tiles) and the cultivation and harvesting of precious Resources (Resource Producing Tiles).  

- Building Tiles
When a player plays a “Build” card, he may purchase a number of buildings (which is specified on the Build card) and place the appropriate Building Tile in the City Area on his Player Board (the costs of each building may be found on each player’s Holding Area and on the Reference Chart). Only one Building Tile may be placed in each square in the City Area. If the entire City Area is filled with buildings, then the player may not build any more until one or more buildings are destroyed (a player may NOT destroy his own buildings, except with certain god powers). Each player may build only one of each building type, except “Houses”; each player may build a maximum of ten (10) houses.

Once built and placed on the player’s game board, each building gives the player a special power or ability:

HOUSE : For each House built (up to a maximum of ten per player), the player gains one new Villager. New Villagers are placed in their owner’s Holding Area (see below) and remain there until the player plays a Gather card. If a house is destroyed, one Villager must be removed (by the owner).

WALL : Walls provide a stout layer of defense for a City Area. When a City Area with a wall is chosen as the target for an attack, the defending player (the owner of the wall), adds 2 dice to all encounters during that battle. Walls do not give any advantage to the owning player if another area (production area or holding area) is the target of the attack or if the owning player is attacking rather than defending. The effect of walls can be negated if the attacking player owns the Siege Engine Workshop building or if the attacking player has a unit in the battle with the special power that negates the effect of walls and towers.

The wall tile is not automatically removed from the player’s city area if the defender loses the battle It can only be removed by being chosen as the building that is destroyed if the attacker wins the battle or by use of an appropriate god power.

TOWER : The Tower acts exactly like a Wall, except that it protects a player’s Production Area.

STOREHOUSE : The Storehouse reduces the number of resources eliminated due to “Spoilage” (see “The Turns”, Section VII) by allowing the owning player to store up to 8 resource cubes of each type from turn to turn instead of the usual 5.

MARKET : The Market acts as a means to reduce the costs involved in trading. A player with a Market ignores the resource cost when a Trade card is played (paying 0 for all trades).

ARMORY : The Armory allows the owner one extra unit in each battle (over and above the usual number of units allowed by the Attack card). Their opponent does NOT get this advantage unless they also have an armory.

QUARRY : The Quarry allows the owning player to reduce the building cost of all future buildings by one resource cube (owning player’s choice which resource cube). This effect takes effect starting on the action after the purchase of the quarry.

MONUMENT : The Monument honors the culture’s gods. Having a Monument grants the owning player 2 extra Favor cubes each time he or she performs a Gather action (regardless of what is gathered). There is no benefit when other players perform a Gather action.

GRANARY : The Granary allows for the efficient storage of grain. Having a Granary grants the owning player 2 extra Food cubes each time he or she performs a Gather action (regardless of what is gathered). There is no benefit when other players perform a Gather action.

GOLD MINT : The Gold Mint turns raw gold into valuable coins. Having a Gold Mint grants the owning player 2 extra Gold cubes each time he or she performs a Gather action (regardless of what is gathered). There is no benefit when other players perform a Gather action.

WOOD WORKSHOP : The Wood Workshop turns lumber into valuable wooden items. Having a Wood Workshop grants the owning player 2 extra Wood cubes each time he or she performs a Gather action (regardless of what is gathered). There is no benefit when other players perform a Gather action.

SIEGE ENGINE WORKSHOP : The Siege Engine Workshop is dedicated to the destruction of enemy fortifications and structures. It negates the effect of Walls and Towers when the player who owns a Siege Engine Workshop is attacking. The Siege Engine Workshop also allows the owning player to destroy one extra building when successfully attacking another player’s City Area.

GREAT TEMPLE : The Great Temple is a massive shrine to a culture’s gods that allows the owner to purchase one Victory Point (red) cube for every 8 Favor (blue) cubes. To take advantage of this ability, the player must play a “Trade” action card. The player may purchase as many Victory Point cubes as they can afford if he or she has enough Favor. The Trade action may be used normally to convert resources into any other resources, including Favor, before purchasing Victory Point cubes.

THE WONDER : The Wonder represents the pinnacle of a culture’s technology, advancement, and learning. When a player builds the Wonder, the game ends IMMEDIATELY. The player who built the wonder also gains all the Victory Point (red) cubes that were on “The Wonder” card. A player MUST be in the Mythic Age before he or she can build The Wonder.

RESOURCE PRODUCING TILES
Terrain and Resource Producing Tiles
When the “Explore” action card is played (see the “Explore” action, below), Resource Producing tiles are acquired and placed in the Production Area of the Player Board (the lower left area, showing a grid map of terrain). And when a “Gather” action card is played, Resource Producing tiles generate resource cubes.

Each Resource Producing Tile has a terrain type on it and must be placed on a square with that same terrain type in the player’s Production Area. If a player does not have a matching terrain square, then the tile may not be placed on the player’s board and may not be selected. The mix of Resource Producing tiles is as follows:
FERTILE TILES
FOREST TILES
HILL TILES
MOUNTAIN TILES
DESERT TILES
SWAMP TILES

VI. SETTING UP THE GAME
The Number of Players
The components that come in this box support 2 to 4 players, however, the game may be played by up to 6 players with another set of wooden cubes and tiles (Available from the Eagle Games Webstore at www.eaglegames.net). Games with 7 to 8 players are possible if additional miniatures, cards, and gameboards are purchased from the Eagle Games Webstore. 3 new player colors will be available.  

Which Culture TO CHOOSE?
There are three cultures in Age of Mythology: Greek (green), Norse (blue), and Egyptian (light brown). Before starting, randomly determine which player will play which culture by placing one wood cube in the box top (or cup or other similar handy container) for each player in the game. If there are 3 or fewer players, place one green, one blue, and one light brown cube in the box. Each player chooses one cube without looking and plays the culture represented by that color.

If there are four or more players, have the first three players choose as above, and then repeat the process for the remaining players. Players with the same culture may not sit next to each other at the table (they may not be adjacent). This means that they will not be able to attack each other.

When playing with four players, a good alternate start is to place two cubes from two different cultures in the box, leaving one culture out of the game. This essentially creates two “teams”.  

Starting Player
Determine the “Starting Player” by rolling two dice. The person with the highest roll is designated the “Starting Player.” In the event of a tie for highest roll, the tied players re-roll until someone rolls higher.  

THE PLAYER BOARDS, CARDS, AND PIECES
Each player then receives the following:
- The appropriate player board matching their selected culture
- A deck of seven (7) Permanent Action cards matching their culture (one of each action: Gather, Explore, Trade, Build, Recruit, Attack, and Next Age)
- A deck of Battle Cards matching their culture
- A deck of Random Action Cards matching their culture

NOTE: If there are three or fewer players, then each receives the appropriate culture’s Random Action card deck. If there are four or more players, then those sharing the same culture must share their culture’s Random Action card deck.

- One full set of pieces in their culture’s color

Note: There are two shades of each color. If there are three or fewer players, both shades may be used (for example, the Greek player in a three-player game may use both shades of green to draw units from). However, if there are four or more players, each player may only use ONE shade. The number of units that each player may recruit is limited to those available from this pool.

STARTING RESOURCES IN THE BANK
The “Bank” represents the limited resources available to be gathered during the game. As the number of players increases, so too does the number of resources. Before starting the game, the bank should contain the following number of resource cubes (green, blue, yellow, and light brown):
2 Players: 20 of each color
3 Players: 25 of each color
4 Players: 30 of each color
5 Players: 40 of each color
(Note: games with 5 or more players will require an additional bag of resource cubes and an additional sheet of tiles.)
6 Players: 50 of each color
7 Players: 55 of each color
8 Players: 60 of each color
The extra cubes are placed into the game box and not used during that game.
30 Red victory point cubes are placed in the bank at the beginning of the game regardless of how many players are playing.  

STARTING RESOURCES FOR THE PLAYERS
After allocating the correct number of resources to the bank, give each player 4 of each resource from the bank (Food, Wood, Gold, and Favor).  

STARTING UNITS
Each player takes two of each type of mortal unit except the villager (each culture has three types of mortal units, not counting the villager) and places them in the Holding Area on his or her board.

Example: The Egyptians take 2 Spearmen, 2 Elephants, and 2 Chariot-Archers. The Norse take 2 Jarls, 2 Huskarls, and 2 Throwing Axemen. The Greeks take 2 Toxotes, 2 Hoplites, and 2 Hippokons.

THE TILES
The Building Tiles are placed near the resource bank.

The “pool” of Resource Producing Tiles are placed face down (with the basket showing) in the middle of all players for easy access. The tiles are then shuffled thoroughly.  

STARTING PRODUCTION TILES
The starting player removes 6 Resource Production Tiles for each player in the game from the pool and turns them face up.

Beginning with the “starting player” and proceeding clockwise, each player selects ONE face up tile and places it on their Player Board in a terrain square that matches the terrain type on the tile. When all players have chosen one tile, the player who selected LAST immediately selects a second tile. Going back around the table counterclockwise, the players select ONE tile and place it on their player board in an appropriate terrain square. Players may “pass” when it is their turn to choose if they wish. Repeat this process three times until each player has had SIX  opportunities to choose. Return any unselected tiles face-down to the pool of unowned resource production tiles.  

S T R A T E G Y
You may wish to “pass” if selecting one of the remaining tiles would use up the last of one of the terrain types on your board. Leaving at least one of each terrain type open allows you access to a better tile when “Exploring” later.  

You are now ready to begin playing.

VII. THE TURNS
THE TURN ORDER
The game is played in ‘turns.’ Each turn is comprised of the following phases:
- Placement of Victory Point Cubes
- Action Card Draw
- Three Rounds of Action Card Play
- Resource Spoilage
- Discarding
- Starting Player Rotates  

PLACEMENT OF VICTORY POINT CUBES
At the beginning of each turn, three Victory Point Cubes are placed on the Victory Cards. The “Starting Player” for that turn places the first one, and then moving clockwise around the table the next two players each place one cube (if there are more than three players, the remaining players do not place cubes – but keep in mind the “Starting Player” designation changes from turn to turn). If there are only two players, only two victory point cubes are placed (one by each player).  

Each of the three Victory Point cubes must be placed on one of four Victory Point Cards:
- The Largest Army (the player with the most units not counting villagers at the end of the game)
- The Most Buildings (the player with the most buildings in his or her city area at the end of the game)
- Won the Last Battle (the player that was victorious in the most recent battle gets these when the battle ends)
-  The Wonder (the player who builds “The Wonder” building gets these)  

THE ACTION CARD DRAW
Each player decides which Action Cards that they want in their hand for the turn. They may select a maximum number of cards determined by which “Age” they are in (each player starts the game in the Archaic Age; and will move on to subsequent Ages when they play the “Next Age” Action Card and pay the required number of resources). The maximum cards allowed in a player’s hand at the beginning of each turn is:
ARCHAIC AGE: 4 cards
CLASSICAL AGE: 5 cards
HEROIC AGE: 6 cards
MYTHIC AGE: 7 cards  

A player may select cards from either the Permanent Action Card deck or the Random Action Card deck (or both). When selecting cards to comprise their hand for the current turn, the player must first select the cards that they want from the Permanent Action Card deck before selecting any remaining cards (up to his or her maximum) from the Random Action Card deck. When selecting cards, the player may look at all seven Permanent Action cards, but must draw the Random Action cards from the top of that deck without looking at them first.

S T R A T E G Y
Deciding how many Random Action cards to have in your hand is one of the key decisions in the game. If you have too few in your mix, you run the risk of falling behind players who play more of these powerful cards. Selecting too many Random Action cards can easily lead to disaster when you draw cards that you cannot use effectively.

This is why advancing to later “Ages” is so important. It allows you to select enough Permanent Action cards to ensure that you can always do what you need to, while simultaneously selecting enough Random cards to ensure that you have access to more powerful actions.

THREE ROUNDS OF ACTION CARD PLAY
Beginning with the “Starting Player” and moving clockwise around the table, each player selects one of the Action Cards from their hand and performs the action it specifies (see “Actions” below). When each player has played one Card and performed the action(s), the Round ends.

When three Rounds (with the “Starting Player” as the first to play a card in each Round) have been completed, each player returns the Permanent Action cards that they have played to their Permanent Action card deck and places the Random Action cards played at the bottom of their Random Action card deck face up. If the end of the Random Action card deck is reached and only face-up cards remain, re-shuffle the deck and put it back into play face down.  

SPOILAGE
Once card play is finished, spoilage is determined. Each player may only keep five (5) resource cubes of EACH resource type (wood, food, gold, and favor) from one turn into the next. During the “Spoilage” phase, excess cubes over and above five maximum are taken off of the player’s holding area and returned to the bank.

E X A M P L E
After card play, the Norse player determines he has six Food, three Wood, five Gold, and seven Favor resource cubes. This player would remove one Food and two Favor in order to bring their resources to the limit of five per category. Since Wood and Gold are equal to or under five, none of them are removed.  

This limit of five resource cubes per category can be increased to eight if the player has a Storehouse building in his city area. After building this structure, the player will only need to eliminate resource cubes over and above a maximum of eight instead of five.

DISCARDING
After Spoilage is performed, the players must decide if they want to discard any remaining cards in their hand, or keep them in their hand for the next turn. Players may choose to discard as many remaining cards as they want, keeping in mind any kept cards will count against the maximum allowed in their hand for the next turn.  

E X A M P L E
The Greek player has performed Spoilage removal and is currently in the Heroic Age. Having started with five cards, after three rounds of card playing he is now down to two. They are the “Build – 2” and “Next Age – Hephaestos ‘Volcano’” cards. He plans on advancing to the Mythic Age during the next turn, so keeps the Next Age card and discards the “Build – 2” card. On the Action Card Draw portion of the next turn, this player may only draw four instead of five cards, since he kept one.

S T R A T E G Y
While you can keep cards from your Permanent Action deck in your hand, there is really no reason to do this as you may select them again during your next turn. The best reason for keeping cards is when you have a card from the Random Action Deck that is powerful but did not fit into your plan for the last turn. However, saving cards for later use can be very risky (especially early in the game), as it will use up one of the valuable slots in your hand. On the other hand, if you discard a very powerful card it will probably be unavailable to you for the rest of the game.  

STARTING PLAYER ROTATES
At the end of each turn the designation of “Starting Player” changes hands to the player immediately to the left of the current “Starting Player.” The “Starting Player 1” tile is used to designate the starting player.  

NOTE: In a two-player game the starting player does not rotate.

Play then returns to the first step (Place Victory Point Cubes) and continues from there with a new turn.

VIII. THE ACTION CARDS
There are seven different “Actions” that a player may perform. Playing the appropriate Permanent or Random Action Card from their hand allows the player to perform that action. Each Action has special rules:  

EXPLORE
When an “Explore” card is played, players have the chance to increase the number of Resource Producing tiles they own. The player who played the card draws the number of resource producing tiles called for on the card from the pool of unowned tiles in the middle of the table. After drawing them, they are flipped face up for all to see. The player who played the card then chooses one of them and places it in his Production Area (being careful to match the terrain on the tile with the same terrain space on their Player Board). Only one tile may be placed per square in the Production Area. The player to his left then chooses a tile and places it, and so on around the table going clockwise until all players have chosen ONE tile or “passed”.  

Players may choose to “pass” and not take a tile if they have no open matching terrain squares on their Player Board, or do not want to select one of the available tiles. Any tiles remaining after all selections have been made are then flipped face down and returned to the pool of unowned production tiles. The pool should then be re-mixed.

NOTE: Once a tile has been placed on a terrain feature, it cannot be removed except through the use of a god power or attack by another player.

S T R A T E G Y
Sometimes it may be a good decision to pass and not take a tile if it would use the last square of a particular terrain type. Keeping at least one blank square of each terrain type gives you more options later.  

GATHER
Before gathering resource cubes, the player who played the Gather card (and ONLY that player) may reposition their Villagers (and any other units that aid in production, such as Dwarves) from their Holding Area to the Resource Producing tiles in the Production Area, or from a resource producing tile to any other resource producing tile. There is no limit to the number of times Villagers or units may be moved during the game; however, each resource producing tile may have only ONE unit or Villager on it.  

Each Villager positioned on a tile gives the player one ADDITIONAL resource cube of the type shown on that tile (if that tile is utilized in the current gather action – see below).

When a “Gather” card is played, all players gather resources, regardless of who played the card.

There are two types of Gather cards:
The first type of Gather card is “Terrain Type or Resource Type”. This card allows the player who played the card to choose one of these two options:  

Gather resources from ONE of the six “terrain types” on his or her board (Fertile, Forest, Desert, Hills, Swamp, or Mountain). Only cubes depicted on the tiles on the chosen terrain are gathered. The terrain chosen by the player who played the card applies to all players. They must all gather resources from that terrain type only.

Gather all of ONE “resource type” (Wood, Food, Gold, or Favor). Only cubes depicted on the tiles of the chosen resource type are gathered. The resource type chosen by the player who played the card applies to all players. They must all gather that resource type only.

The second type of Gather card is the “Gather All” card. This card may only be found in the Random Action card decks and is very powerful. It allows the players to gather the resources depicted on ALL of their resource producing tiles.

To gather, the players count the number of cube graphics on their appropriate resource producing tiles in their Production Area (starting with the player who played the card). The player that played the card gathers from the Bank first. After the player who played the card gathers his or her resource cubes from the bank, the person to their left gathers their resources in the SAME way that the first player did (by Terrain, Resource Type, or All – the players who gather after the card player may not change the decision made by the card player), and so on clockwise around the table until all players have gathered once or all resources are taken.

NOTE: If there are no remaining resource cubes in the bank of a particular type while gathering, then that player does not get the cubes that he or she would have been entitled to. When the bank runs out of resource cubes, all players who attempt to gather that resource are out of luck. No I.O.U.’s or “Bank Loans” are given.

E X A M P L E
The Egyptian player has one Villager in her Holding Area, as well as a large number of Desert squares in her Resource Production Area. Each of her Desert spaces has a Resource Producing Tile on them. The other two players (Greek and Norse) have only one Desert space each. The Egyptian player plays the “Gather” card that she selected from her Permanent Action deck. This card allows her to either gather the resources on one specific terrain type, or the resources of a specific type. To the annoyance of her opponents, she chooses to select resources on a terrain type – the Desert. Furthermore, since she played the card, she can move her Villager from the Holding Area to any terrain type she chooses. She selects a Desert tile with one Gold on it; during this Gather turn, it will produce two Gold cubes for that tile instead of its normal “one”.

S T R A T E G Y
Although all players participate in gathering regardless of who played the card, the player who plays the Gather card gains three advantages: 1) They may choose the type of gather that helps them more than their opponents; 2) They may reposition their villagers; 3)They gather first, and are thus assured of getting scarce resources when the bank is running low (especially valuable with “Gather All” cards).

S T R A T E G Y
If the bank is running low on resource cubes, it is a good idea to play your Gather card before someone else plays theirs. In this manner, you will not only get to choose the best gather option, but are assured of getting the maximum number of resources. Also, it allows you to reposition your villagers (if you have any) to your maximum advantage – the other players will NOT be able to reposition theirs!

If there are plenty of resource cubes, you may want to allow the other players to play gather cards while you play other cards. Timing is especially critical when playing this card.  

BUILD
When a “Build” card is played, the player may build a number of structures equal to or less than the number printed on the card, as long as they have the Resource cubes to spend (costs for all buildings are listed on each player’s Holding Area portion of their Player Board). After paying the cost, the player takes the appropriate building marker from the pile of unowned building tiles and places it in the City Area on their Player Board. This player then gains the advantage

of that building once his Build action is completed (but not during the current action; a new Quarry does not benefit building purchases made during the same Build action in which it is built).

Each player may have only ONE of each building type in his or her City Area, except Houses, of which each player may have a maximum of ten.  

E X A M P L E
The Greek player decides to play a “Build” card with the number 2 printed on it. He builds a Storehouse structure with one of the builds, and a House with the second. He is limited to two builds, so he cannot buy more structures, even if he had the resources to build them.  

RECRUIT
When a “Recruit” card is played, the player may purchase a number of units equal to or less than the number printed on the card, as long as they have the Resource cubes to spend (costs for all units are listed on the player’s Battle Cards and on the Reference Card). After paying the cost, the recruiting player takes the purchased units and places them in the Holding Area on their Player Board.
Units purchased and placed are immediately ready for battle.  

NOTE: Mortal and Myth units may be recruited any time. Heroes, however, may only be recruited once you have advanced to their “Age” or beyond (There is one new hero available in each new Age for each culture).

NOTE: Villagers may not be “recruited”. They come into play only when a House is built.

E X A M P L E
The Greek player decides to play a “Recruit” card. This particular one has a ‘2’ on it, indicating the player may recruit up to two units of any type, as long as they have the resource cubes to spend. The player decides on a Minotaur (two Food and two Wood resource cubes) as well as one Archer (one Food and one Wood resource cube).  

S T R A T E G Y
When buying more than one unit, buy them one at a time instead of calculating the total cost for all units you wish to purchase. In this manner, you can keep your expenditures straight.

Also, keep in mind the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent’s units. You don’t want to spend a huge amount of resources on Myth units, for example, if you have an opponent with a large compliment of Heroes. Buy units that are effective against your opponent’s units first.

TRADE
When a “Trade” card is played, the player may trade resource cubes of any color from his holding area for an equal number of resource cubes of the color or colors that he wants from the bank (provided that the bank has them). Trade with other players is not allowed. The cost for this transaction is printed on the Trade card, but may be reduced to “0” if the player has a “Market” in his city area.

If a player owns a “Great Temple” building, they may purchase one Victory Point cube for every 8 Favor cubes when he plays the “Trade” action card. The player may perform the normal trade action before taking advantage of this building’s special ability.

NOTE: The cost of Trade must be paid before the player may start trading resource cubes with the bank.

E X A M P L E
The Norse player decides he has too much Wood on hand (eight cubes) but too little Gold (no cubes). He plays the Trade card, and because he owns a Market, he may ignore the cost printed on the card. He trades four Wood cubes for four Gold cubes.  

NEXT AGE
Age of Mythology: The Boardgame spans a period of four Ages. In order of earliest to latest, they are Archaic, Classical, Heroic, and Mythic, with all players beginning a game in the Archaic Age. When a “Next Age” card is played, the player pays the Resource Cube cost printed on the action

card for the new age their culture is entering, and advances to the next age. The advance should be noted in the upper right-hand corner of their Player Board with a cube or unit.  

NOTE: A player may only advance one age in a single action.

Example: The Egyptian player is currently in the Archaic Age. She plays the Next Age card and pays the appropriate cost to advance to the Classical Age (four of EACH Resource Cube – Wood, Gold, Food, and Favor). At the beginning of the next turn, the Egyptian Player may draw five cards instead of four and may now recruit Priest units.

• The advantages of advancing up an age are:
• The ability to recruit the Hero type from that Age. Heroes may not be recruited until the player has advanced to the age printed on the Hero’s card. Once a Hero’s Age has been reached, that hero may be recruited by that player for the rest of the game.  
NOTE: No heroes are available in the Archaic age.
• The ability to draw more Action Cards at the beginning of each turn.
• The Wonder may not be built by a player until they have reached the Mythic Age.  

ATTACK
´When an “Attack” card is played, the player may attack an opponent. The number on the card specifies the number of units that each side may place into the battle (for example, a “4” means the attacker may place up to four units in the battle, and the defender may place up to four units in the battle). The attacking player must make two decisions:

The attacking player selects an opponent to attack. Players may ONLY choose to attack other players who are immediately ADJACENT to them at the table (either to their immediate left or right).

The player then selects (by announcing it out loud) the area of the other player’s board that he is attacking. The three choices are:

City Area: The objective of a City Area attack is to eliminate a Building (or buildings) from the opponent’s city. If the attacker wins the battle, he or she may choose which building is eliminated from the defeated player’s board. Two buildings may be eliminated if the attacking player owns a Siege Engine Workshop building, or has a unit with the special ability “Destroy 2 Buildings” in the battle that survives to the end of the battle. All eliminated building tiles are returned to the pool of unowned building tiles.

NOTE: A player may never eliminate MORE than two buildings as the result of winning one battle.

Production Area: The objective of a Production Area attack is to reduce an opponent’s production by capturing ONE of their resource producing tiles.

If the attacking player wins the battle, he or she may select a Resource Producing tile, remove it from the losing player’s board, and place it in the appropriate space on their own board. If the attacker does not have an appropriate space on his own board, he may choose to eliminate it instead by returning it to the pool of unselected tiles. 

Holding Area: The objective of a Holding Area attack is to capture five of the opponent’s resource cubes.

NOTE: Victory Point cubes may NOT be taken.

If the attacker wins, he or she may take ANY five resource cubes from the defeated opponent’s Holding Area and place them in their own Holding Area (representing a successful raid against the enemy.

Once the attacker has specified both their opponent and the Area being attacked, both players then secretly choose their units that will fight in the battle from those that are on their board (in the Holding Area or in the Production Area). They can use the Age of Mythology: The Boardgame reference card or a similar item to hide both players’ selections. After both players have chosen their units, they reveal them simultaneously and place them in the middle of the table to begin fighting the battle (see “Battles” below).

Note: Villagers may NOT be chosen to fight in battles.

BURNING A CARD
A player may choose to “pass” by discarding any card in their hand and announcing they do not wish to perform an action in the current Round.  

IX. BATTLES
When a player plays the Attack card, a battle occurs. Battles are resolved as follows:
A. The attacking player selects both an opponent and the area on their opponent’s Player Board they are targeting (as specified under the “Attack” action rule above).
B. Both sides then secretly select units, and when finished, reveal them simultaneously (as specified under the “Attack” action rule above).
C. Both players then select the Battle Cards that match the types of units that they have in the battle.
D. The battle is then resolved in “ battle rounds.” Each round consists of the following steps:  

STEP 1. Each player secretly selects one Battle Card representing one of the units they have in the battle. This card is placed face down in front of them.

STEP 2. Once both players have selected a Battle Card, they are flipped over to reveal the units involved in this round of battle. Each card specifies the number of dice and/or special abilities that may have an effect on the resolution of the “encounter”:

a. The number in the white square in the upper left-hand corner of the card shows the number of dice that the unit rolls.
b. Determine if either of the selected units have a bonus that applies to the current battle:

1.) A player’s unit gets a bonus if the “plus” number vs. “type” matches one of the “type” designations listed at the top of the other player’s card.
EXAMPLE: If a player’s card shows +4 vs. Flyers and the card opposing them in this encounter is a unit that is a “Flyer” type, then the player will roll four extra dice.
2.) A player’s unit may also get bonus dice if that unit’s Special Ability calls for it.
3.) Bonus dice may also be allowed with certain “god powers”.
4.) The defending player may also get 2 extra dice if he owns a Wall or Tower and the appropriate Area is being attacked. (See Building Tiles above)

STEP 3. After both players determine their total number of dice, they roll. Each player adds up the total number of “6”’s that he or she rolled. The player that rolled more “6”’s wins the encounter and the unit that opposed him in that encounter is eliminated.

If both players rolled the same number of “6”’s or no “6”’s, then they re-roll until a single winner is determined.

STEP 4. If both players wish to continue the combat, they return their current Battle Card to their hand, then select one to participate in the next round of battle (the player may choose to use the same unit Battle Card if they wish). Return to Step 1 and continue the process until one side is eliminated or one side wishes to Retreat.

RETREATING
Before any round of battle (and before the unit cards are revealed), either player may declare that his remaining units are retreating. (This includes the first round of battle.)  

WINNING THE BATTLE
The battle ends when one player retreats or when one player has no units remaining. The player with units remaining in the battle wins.

When the battle ends:
1. All surviving units are returned to their respective player’s Holding Area.
2. The winner gets any Victory Point cubes that are currently on the “Won the Last Battle” victory card.
3. If the winner was the player who played the “Attack” card (the attacker), they can then choose to destroy a building, take a production tile, or take five resources from the defeated player (depending on the target they specified before the battle began).  

BATTLE EXAMPLE
The Egyptian player places an “Attack – 4” card down on the table, and announces that the Greek player (sitting to her left) is the target of this attack. The Egyptian player then declares the goal of this attack is to capture a tile from the Greek Player’s Production Area. Both sides secretly select four units to include in the battle, hiding their selections until both are ready to disclose them. Each side selects a Battle Card for each unit they want to have in the battle, as follows:

Round One
Each Player selects a unit to fight with, by choosing a battle card, placing it face-down in front of them, and revealing it at the same time as their opponent. The Egyptian player selects her scorpion Man, while the Greek player selects his Medusa. Both are revealed, and the Egyptian Player groans – the Medusa is a “Giant Killer,” and gets +4 dice when fighting against a Giant creature – which is what the Scorpion Man is. To add insult to injury, the Medusa’s special power allows her to win all ties, so if both players roll the same number of “6”’s, the Medusa will win the encounter. The Egyptian player needs an outright win!  

Combat is simultaneous, so it does not matter which order they roll in. The Egyptian player can roll five dice for her Scorpion Man, while the Greek can roll nine (five plus four extra for being a Giant Killer fighting a Giant type). The Egyptian player rolls and gets a 1, 3, 4, 4, and 5 – all misses. The Greek player rolls a 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 6, and 6 – three sixes compared to the Egyptian player’s none, so the Scorpion Man is eliminated.

Myth Unit, Giant (five dice) ---- Myth Unit (five dice), Giant Killer (+4 dice) nine dice

Round Two
Both players decide to remain in the battle, so each selects another card. The Egyptian player overturns the Mummy at the same time the Greek shows his Greek Hero. The Hero (+4 vs. Myth Creatures) gains 4 extra dice against the Mummy, so the Mummy will roll five dice versus the Greek Hero’s nine. It looks bad for the Egyptians. However, the Mummy has a special ability that allows him to turn any defeated enemy unit into a new Mummy,