City Builder: Ancient World

About this board game

City Builder: Ancient World is a tile-laying game for 1–4 players that plays in about 60 minutes, with competitive, cooperative, and solo modes.

Players take the roles of magistrates sent to a newly conquered province. Their task is to build cities that can meet the demands of incoming settlers while spreading Roman influence and constructing imposing Monuments to please the emperor.

In competitive play, careful planning is essential. Each Monument provides a unique scoring bonus, but that bonus applies only to the city where the Monument was built. As settlers are claimed, the point values they cover are unlocked, creating another important consideration as players develop their cities.

• Build and expand cities through tile placement.
• Attract incoming settlers and unlock their covered point values.
• Construct Monuments with city-specific scoring bonuses.
• Play competitively, cooperatively, or solo.

At the end of a competitive game, players total their victory points. The player with the highest score wins governorship of the province, and their city becomes its new capital.

The cooperative mode gives the game a different focus. Working together as magistrates, players must improve the efficiency and profit of the emperor’s province while ensuring that it does not displease him. The group must follow the emperor’s Edict, complete his preferred Monuments, and plan carefully to avoid losing their positions—and possibly their heads.

Whether competing for governorship or collaborating to satisfy imperial demands, City Builder: Ancient World centers on thoughtful city growth, settler management, and Monument construction in a Roman setting.