Aquileia

About this board game

Aquileia is a strategy game for 3–5 players, lasting about 90 minutes, in which wealthy patricians compete to become the most powerful figure in a prosperous Roman city.

Each player uses a limited supply of henchmen to pursue sports, culture, trading, and building. Every round begins with a placement phase: players assign their henchmen to action spaces and place a tiebreaker disc on the track. Once placement ends, the spaces are resolved in numerical order.

• Mercatus: Buy weapons, arms, and slave cards; collect money through a die roll; claim blue dice for the Arena and Stadium; or exchange one currency for another.
• Arena and Stadium: Compare fighting strength or racing ability using dice and cards, with rewards including coins, slaves, horses, and laurel cards.
• Theatrum: Bid for dual-colored laurel cards using specific currencies.
• Forum: Build villas and private banks, sometimes earning victory points when the correct costs are paid.
• Portus: Activate buildings to gain victory points or money.

Competition at the Arena combines a starting strength, three dice, and played slave and weapon cards. The Stadium works similarly, with horse cards affecting play and the winner choosing between coins and laurel cards. Laurel cards can provide immediate points or multiply the value of matching villas at the end of the game.

After six rounds, players reveal hidden point cards and score their villa values multiplied by matching-color laurel cards. In Aquileia, careful placement, currency management, trading, and well-timed competition all contribute to the final total. The player with the most victory points wins.