Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game

…And finally there evolved a species known as man.
And there appeared the first faint glimmers of intelligence.
The fruits of intelligence were many:
Fire, tools, and weapons,
The hunt, farming, and the sharing of food,
The family, the village, and the tribe.
Now it required but one more ingredient:
A great leader to unite the quarreling tribes,
To harness the power of the land,
To build a legacy that would stand the test of time:
The civilization.

Overview

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game is a game for two to four players, with four players being recommended. Each player takes charge of a different civilization and attempts to lead their people to greatness.

Starting with a civilization composed of a single, humble city lacking even the most rudimentary of inventions, each player tries to advance their people by building new cities and improving them, researching new technologies, increasing their civilization’s culture, and harvesting valuable resources.

As the players create new cities and explore the world around them, they come into contact with smaller civilizations, some peaceful, some warlike. Players can absorb these minor civilizations into their own, garnering rewards for doing so.

Ultimately, however, the players’ most difficult challenge is facing each other, as one ascendant civilization collides with another. Players may wage war on the battlefield, broker sly deals in the shadows, or race to be the first to build the majestic wonders in order to become the dominant civilization on Earth.

The Golden Rule

Many of the abilities and cards in this game allow the players to break the rules in a variety of ways. In the event that an ability or card conflicts with these rules, the ability or card takes priority.

“Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”
–Abraham Lincoln

Each player can win Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game in one of four ways:

• A Culture Victory: Achieved by devoting cities to the arts and spending the culture points gained as a result to advance up the culture track to its end (“Culture Victory” space).
• A Tech Victory: Accomplished by researching the Space Flight tech (Level 5 tech). Doing so requires the player to build up their tech pyramid high enough to allow them to research a level 5 tech.
• An Economic Victory: Completed by accumulating 15 coins on the economy dial. Coins are a measure of economic power, and gaining them makes a civilization more efficient.
• A Military Victory: Achieved by conquering one other player’s capital city.

Component Inventory

• This Rulebook
• Market Board
• 6 Civilization Sheets
• 6 Trade Dials
• 6 Economy Dials
• 6 Plastic Connectors (for the trade and economy dials)
• 6 Home Map Tiles (1 for each civilization)
• 14 Neutral Map Tiles
• 12 City Markers (3 per player)
• 24 Plastic Army Figures (6 per player)
• 8 Plastic Scout Figures (2 per player)
• 1 Plastic White Russian Army Figure
• 55 Square Combat Cards, including:
  • 15 Artillery Unit Cards
  • 15 Infantry Unit Cards
  • 15 Mounted Unit Cards
  • 8 Aircraft Unit Cards
  • 2 Combat Bonus Cards
• 224 Small Cards, including:
  • 4 Setup Cards (1 per player)
  • 16 Government Cards (4 per player)
  • 144 Tech Cards (36 per player)
  • 1 Space Flight Tech Card
  • 47 Culture Event Cards
  • 12 Wonder Cards
• 12 Wonder Markers (4 Ancient, 4 Medieval, 4 Modern)
• 6 Culture Level Markers (1 per civilization)
• 18 Great Person Markers
• 28 Military Tech Markers (7 per player)
• 49 Building Markers, including:
  • 10 Harbor Markers
  • 6 Trading Post Markers
  • 6 Workshop/Iron Mine Markers
  • 6 Library/University Markers
  • 6 Granary/Aqueduct Markers
  • 5 Market/Bank Markers
  • 5 Temple/Cathedral Markers
  • 5 Barracks/Academy Markers
• 20 Hut Markers
• 10 Village Markers
• 12 Disaster Markers
• 1 First Player Marker
• 16 Market Resource Tokens
• 90 Culture Tokens
• 28 Wound Tokens
• 75 Coin Tokens
• 4 Reference Sheets (1 per player)

Component Descriptions

Market Board

The market board consists of two main areas – the market and the culture area. The market, at the top, is where wonders, buildings, and units are placed for the players to purchase. The culture area, at the bottom, contains the culture track – which tracks the players’ progress towards a culture victory – and provides a place to keep the culture event cards during play.

Civilization Sheets

Each player receives a civilization sheet that explains the special properties of their civilization.

Trade Dial, Economy Dial, and Plastic Connectors

The trade and economy dials are attached to each player’s civilization sheet using the plastic connectors and are used to track their civilization’s current trade and number of coins.

Map Tiles

These tiles include both home and neutral map tiles, and are used to construct the map board. Each map tile is composed of 16 squares of terrain.

Home Map Tiles

Each of these six map tiles belongs to a specific civilization, as indicated by the picture of the civilization’s leader on the back of its home tile. At the start of the game, each player’s home tile is where their civilization begins on the map board.

Neutral Map Tiles

These 14 map tiles do not belong to any specific civilization. Instead, they are shuffled up and laid out facedown at random to construct the rest of the map board during setup.

City Markers

Cities are indicated on the map by city markers. Each player receives three city markers – one capital and two normal cities. City markers have a walled version on their back.

Plastic Army and Scout Figures

These plastic figures represent the players’ armies and scouts. The plastic flags are armies and represent the players’ military forces. The plastic wagons are scouts and represent the players’ non-military forces.

Note: The white army figure is for the Russian player’s use.

Unit Cards

Each unit card represents either an artillery, infantry, mounted, or aircraft unit. Each unit card (except for aircraft) has four different versions of the unit depicted around its four edges. Each player uses the most powerful version of the unit that their civilization’s tech pyramid allows.

Combat Bonus Cards

These cards are used at the start of combat to record any strength advantages one player has over the other in the battle.

Setup Cards

The setup cards list all of the items that the players start the game with. On the other side of these cards, all items that can be built at the start of the game are shown, as well as the starting values of any important civilization traits, such as travel speed.

Government Cards

These cards are used to indicate what type of government a player’s civilization is currently ruled by. Each card is double-sided, with a different type of government on each side. A player’s civilization sheet shows what type of government their civilization begins the game with.

Tech Cards

Tech cards represent various technologies or discoveries that a civilization can research to give them access to buildings, units, governments, or other abilities. Each player receives an identical deck of tech cards with which to track their civilization’s scientific progress.

Note: Space Flight is a special level 5 tech card that ends the game when researched. As such, only one copy of it is included with the game.

Culture Event Cards

Culture event cards are divided into three decks – ancient (one column), medieval (two columns), and modern (three columns). These cards are gained as players move up the culture track.

Culture events have a variety of effects designed to either help the player who plays the culture event or to hurt that player’s opponents.

Wonder Cards and Markers

Wonders are awe-inspiring monuments or accomplishments that secure a civilization’s place in human history. Each wonder has a card and a marker corresponding to it. The card explains the wonder’s cost and ability, while the marker indicates its position on the map.

Culture Level Markers

These markers are used to record the player’s progress on the culture track.

Great Person Markers

Great person markers represent famous or important people who appear in a civilization. There are six different kinds of great people: Artist, Builder, General, Humanitarian, Industrialist, Scientist.

Great people provide useful resources to the city they are placed in and are usually gained by a civilization’s advancing up the culture track.

Military Tech Markers

These markers are used to track the players’ military technology.

Building Markers

Building markers are used to indicate city improvements that a player has built in a city’s outskirts. Typically, these markers increase the amount of trade, production, or culture a city produces each turn, but they may indicate other bonuses as well.

Hut and Village Markers

As players explore the map, they may encounter minor civilizations. A hut indicates a peaceful civilization that may be easily absorbed, while a village indicates a warlike civilization that must be subjugated through force of arms.

Disaster Markers

The disaster markers (which show grassland on one side and desert on the other) are used to mark the effects of Deforestation and Drought culture event cards.

First Player Marker

The first player marker indicates which player goes first in each phase on a given turn.

Market Resource Tokens

Certain special resources appear on the map and may be harvested by the players and later used to activate resource abilities on their tech cards. The four main resources available are: Wheat, Silk, Incense, Iron.

In addition, there are two resources that cannot be harvested from the map:

• Spy: Spies are never found on the map for harvesting, but spies can be gained from huts and villages.
• Uranium: Can only be found in villages – and only very rarely at that.

Culture Tokens

These tokens are used by players to keep track of unspent culture until it is spent to advance their culture level markers up the culture track. Culture is normally gained by devoting a city to the arts.

Wound Tokens

Wound tokens are used to keep track of damage inflicted to units during battle.

Coin Tokens

Coin tokens are used to record coins gained from certain tech cards such as Democracy. After a coin is gained through the use of a tech, a coin token is placed on that tech and the player’s economy dial is advanced by one.

Reference Sheets

The reference sheets contain a turn sequence breakdown on one side and a summary of item costs and some other important rules on the other.

Civilization Sheet Breakdown

Each civilization sheet contains:

• (A) Civilization’s name
• (B) Leader
• (C) Special abilities
• (D) Starting government
• (E) Starting tech
• (F) Two dials: A civilization’s current trade () is tracked on the large outer dial, while the civilization’s total coins () are tracked on the small inner dial.

Map Tiles, Terrain, and Icons

Each map tile is composed of 16 squares of terrain. Each square may contain one or more icons and/or resources that the square can provide to players.

Terrain Types

There are five types of terrain that can be found on map tiles: Mountain, Forest, Grassland, Desert, Water.

Natural Wonders

There are also natural wonders, which are squares that provide culture () in addition to their terrain type’s normal icons.

Map Icons

The icons a square might contain include:

• Trade
• Production
• Culture
• Coin

Resources

Resources that a square might contain include: Wheat, Silk, Incense, Iron.

Other Map Symbols

• Hut (Peaceful)
• Village (Aggressive)
• Map Tile Entry Side
• Recommended Capital Space for Beginners

Preparing for the First Game

“The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is or has been is but the twilight of the dawn.”
–H. G. Wells

Before playing Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game for the first time, carefully punch out the cardboard components. Then, take the civilization sheets, trade dials, economy dials, and plastic connectors and assemble them.

First Game Learning Rules

For the first game, it is recommended that new players play a simplified learning game:

1. Return Egypt, Rome, and the wonders (both cards and markers) to the box, and ignore the rules for wonders for that game.
2. Play as normal until a player builds their third city.
3. At that point, end the game and start a new game after adding Egypt, Rome, and the wonders back in. There are no winners or losers in the learning game.

General Setup

1. Choose Civilizations and Colors: Each player draws a civilization sheet at random and places it faceup in front of them (optionally, players may select them by agreement). Return unused sheets to the box. Each player then chooses a player color.
2. Distribute Player Components: Each player takes in their player color:
   • 8 plastic figures (6 armies and 2 scouts)
   • 3 city markers (1 capital and 2 cities)
   • 4 military tech markers
   • 1 deck of 36 tech cards
   • 1 reference sheet
   • 1 setup card
   • 1 deck of government cards (4 cards)
3. Set Up Market Board: Place the market board at one end of the table. On it, place:
   • A. Unit Cards: Sort by type (artillery, infantry, mounted, aircraft). Shuffle each deck and place on marked space. Give each player one artillery, one infantry, and one mounted unit, placed facedown in their standing forces pile.
   • B. Military Tech Markers: Place the lower ranked (one stripe) markers for artillery, infantry, and mounted units below the unit decks with one stripe faceup. Place the aircraft marker below its deck with the star facedown. Set the other markers aside.
   • C. Building Markers: Sort by type on indicated spaces. Upgraded buildings (marked with an arrow) are on the back of un-upgraded tiles.
   • D. Wonder Cards (not in learning game): Build the wonder deck by shuffling ancient, medieval, and modern separately. Place modern facedown at the bottom, medieval facedown on top of them, and 4 ancient faceup below the deck.
     Exception: If Egypt is playing, Egypt receives one ancient wonder at random first. Draw one medieval wonder to replace it in the market.

4. Set Up Market Resources: Place one of each market resource token per player near the market board. Return extras to the box.
5. Build Map: Each player places their home map tile faceup in front of them, oriented as indicated in the setup diagram for the number of players. Return unused home tiles to the box. Shuffle neutral map tiles and deal them facedown according to the diagram. Return unused tiles without looking at them.
6. Shuffle Random Markers: Place great people markers facedown near the board and mix them up. Repeat separately for hut markers and village markers.
7. Form Token Banks: Place culture, wound, and coin tokens in three separate stockpiles near the board.
8. Place Special Cards and Markers: Place combat bonus cards, Space Flight tech card, and disaster markers faceup near the market board.
9. Select First Player: Choose the player who can trace their family history back the farthest, or select at random. Give them the first player marker.

Player Setup

1. Place Capital: Each player chooses one of the four center squares on their home map tile to place their capital on (beginners should use the square with the starting arrow). Place the capital marker unwalled side up. This square is the city center, and the eight squares adjacent to it are the city outskirts.

2. Gain Civilization Bonuses:
   • America: Gains a random great person placed in the outskirts of their capital (recommended: grassland square).
   • China: Starts with walls in its capital (walled side up).
   • Egypt: Receives a random ancient wonder marker placed in the outskirts of their capital (recommended: grassland square).
   • Germany: Starts with two extra infantry units added to standing forces.
   • Rome: Begins governed by Republic instead of Despotism.
   • Russia: Adds the white Russian army figure to their figures (placed on map in step 3) and begins governed by Communism instead of Despotism.
3. Place Figures: Place one army figure and one scout figure (together or separately) in one or two city outskirts squares of the capital. Figures cannot start in water squares.
4. Learn Starting Tech: Find the starting tech indicated on the civilization sheet and place it faceup in the bottom row of the tech pyramid.

The Tech Pyramid Structure

Tech cards researched are arranged in a pyramid shape. Level I techs form the bottom row (along with the starting tech). Level II techs form the second row, and each must be placed above two level I techs. Each level III tech must be placed above two level II techs, and so on up to level V.

5. Set Starting Governments: Stack government cards with Despotism faceup on top (Rome starts with Republic; Russia starts with Communism).
6. Set Trade Dial: Count all trade symbols () in the eight squares of the capital outskirts and set the large outer dial to that total.
7. Set Economy Dial: Set the small inner dial to “0” (or the number of coins gained during setup).
8. Place Unbuilt Figures: Place one city marker, remaining five army figures, and remaining scout figure next to the civilization sheet. The second city marker is set aside until Irrigation is researched.

Game Turn Overview

Each turn is composed of five phases performed in order. Each phase proceeds clockwise starting with the first player:

1. Start of Turn: Pass first player marker left (except turn 1). Perform start of turn actions (wonders, culture cards), build new cities, and change governments.
2. Trade: Collect trade from all cities, negotiate and trade resources/promises (may be done simultaneously).
3. City Management: Each player takes one action with each city: produce an item, devote to the arts, or harvest a resource.
4. Movement: Move figures up to travel speed (starts at 2). May cause battles and reveal tiles.
5. Research: Each player may learn one new tech by spending trade, placing it in their pyramid (performed simultaneously).

Phase 1: Start of Turn

Building New Cities

During the Start of Turn Phase, if a player has fewer built cities than their maximum (normally 2, or 3 with Irrigation), they may build a new city using a scout figure on the target square. The square must meet all of the following requirements:

• Cannot be a water square.
• Must have eight revealed squares adjacent (cannot be on the map edge or adjacent to a facedown tile).
• Cannot be adjacent to a hut or village token (legal once tokens are removed).
• Cannot be adjacent to an enemy figure (armies or scouts).
• Must be at least three squares away from any other city marker, including diagonals (outskirts must not overlap).

If valid, sacrifice the scout (return it to the sheet) and place an unwalled city marker. Any other friendly figures in the square move to a legal adjacent square.

Note: The city center generates nothing. Only outskirts squares generate icons and resources.

Changing Governments

When a player unlocks a government via research, they may switch to it freely during the Start of Turn Phase of the immediately following turn. To switch on any subsequent turn, they must first enter Anarchy during the Start of Turn Phase (preventing any action with their capital that turn). During the next Start of Turn Phase, they may switch to any unlocked government.

Phase 2: Trade

Collecting Trade

Tally all trade symbols () in the outskirts of all your cities and advance the trade dial (max 27). Count spaces marked “I”, “II”, “III”, “IV”, “V” normally.

• Scouts: Gather trade symbols from their square (see Scout Gathering).
• Blockades: Enemy figures in outskirts squares prevent that square from producing trade.

Trade vs. Production

Trade ()	Production ()
Pooled from all of a civilization’s cities.	Spent from only one city at a time.
Can be saved from turn to turn on the trade dial.	Cannot be saved; any unspent production is lost.
May be converted to production (3 trade = 1 production).	Cannot be converted to trade.

Negotiating and Trading

Players may negotiate and trade openly during the Trade Phase:

• Non-binding Promises
• Points of Trade
• Unspent Culture Tokens
• Resource Tokens (market or hut/village)
• Culture Event Cards (must discard down if exceeding hand size)

Other items may not be traded unless allowed by a specific ability.

Phase 3: City Management

Each city performs one of three actions per turn:

• A. Produce a Figure, Unit, Building, or Wonder
• B. Devote to the Arts
• C. Harvest a Resource

A. Produce an Item

The city produces one item with cost ≤ the total production symbols () in its outskirts. Multiple cities cannot combine production. Unspent production is lost.

• Rushing Production: Spend 3 trade to add +1 production to a city (can be repeated).
• Producing Figures: Armies cost 4 , Scouts cost 6 . Must have unbuilt figures available. Place in outskirts (respecting stacking limits and water restrictions).
• Producing Units: Check cost based on rank, draw random card from deck into standing forces.
  • Rank 1 unit costs 5
  • Rank 2 unit costs 7
  • Rank 3 unit costs 9
  • Rank 4 unit costs 11
  • Aircraft unit costs 12 (requires Flight)
• Producing Buildings: Must know prerequisite tech. Place in outskirts. Replaces terrain icons. Terrain restrictions apply:

City Walls

Requires Masonry. Flip city marker to walled side. Located in city center (max 1 per city). Provides +4 combat bonus and forces the attacker to play a unit first.

Producing Wonders

Costs listed on wonder card (discounted if prerequisite tech known). One wonder per city; cannot be built on water. Wonders are not buildings.

Replacing Buildings and Wonders

A new building or wonder can replace an existing one. If replaced, a building returns to market; a wonder is removed from the game. Great people return to the player sheet instead of being destroyed.

B. Devote to the Arts

Gain 1 culture token plus 1 additional token per culture icon () in the outskirts.

Spending Culture

During City Management, spend culture tokens (and trade on higher spaces) to advance on the culture track. Pay the cost of the entering space, move marker, and resolve the space:

• Culture Event Space: Draw a culture event card. Discard down to culture hand size (starts at 2).
• Great Person Space: Draw a random great person marker. Place in outskirts or hold in reserve.
• Culture Victory Space: Instantly win the game.

C. Harvest Resources

Take one resource token matching an icon in the outskirts (if available in market). Limit 1 resource harvested per action. Resources power tech abilities.

Phase 5: Research

Spend trade to research 1 tech card into your tech pyramid simultaneously with other players. Techs require minimum trade and a valid pyramid position:

• Level I: 6 trade (marked “I” on dial). Any number allowed.
• Level II: 11 trade (requires two Level I techs below it).
• Level III: 16 trade (requires two Level II techs below it).
• Level IV: 21 trade (requires two Level III techs below it).
• Level V (Space Flight): 26 trade (requires two Level IV techs below it). Wins the game!

Trade Cost Rule: Researching spends all trade, unless the player has coins. Each coin retains 1 trade.

Upgrading Units and Buildings

• Units: Learning an upgrade tech automatically and immediately upgrades all current and future units of that type. Future units cost more production.
• Buildings: Learning an upgrade tech flips existing buildings to upgraded side. Basic version can no longer be produced.

Resource Abilities

Can be used once per turn per tech by spending the required resource tokens.

Phase 4: Movement

Move figures one at a time up to travel speed (starts at 2, cannot move diagonally). Figures may move as a group if starting in the same square.

• Stacking Limit: Max 2 figures per square (increased by techs like Masonry).
• Water: Cannot enter water without techs (Navigation allows crossing; Sailing/Steam Power/Flight allow ending moves).
• Discovering Map Tiles: Spend 1 movement orthogonally adjacent to a facedown tile to flip it faceup (arrow pointing away from moving figure). Populate hut and village icons with facedown tokens.

Exploring Huts and Villages

Scouts cannot enter huts or villages. An army entering ends movement to explore:

• Hut: Peacefully absorbed. Take marker facedown to player sheet as a resource token.
• Village: Battle ensues against barbarians (controlled by player to left, using 1 artillery, 1 infantry, 1 mounted of rank 1). If attacker wins, claim marker (resource or Great Person). If attacker loses, entering figures are killed.

Enemy Figures

• Enemy Scouts Only: Scouts immediately killed; attacker takes loot.
• Enemy Armies: Battle occurs. Any accompanying enemy scouts die if the defender loses.

Cities

Figures can move through friendly city centers, but cannot end there. Scouts cannot enter enemy city centers. Armies entering an enemy city center trigger combat against the city.

Scout Gathering

Each turn (starting the turn after placed), a scout gathers all icons in its square. The player designates during Start of Turn which city receives them.

Blockades

Enemy figures in a city’s outskirts blockade those squares: they generate no trade, production, culture, coins, or resources for the city owner. Wonders in blockaded squares lose their special abilities and culture. New figures/buildings cannot be placed there (except armies, which trigger an attack immediately).

1. Assembling the Battle Force

Both players shuffle their standing forces and draw cards equal to their battle hand size (starts at 3):

• +2 per friendly army figure beyond the first in the battle square.
• +1 if governed by Fundamentalism.
• +3 if defending a city or capital.

2. Calculating Combat Bonuses

The player with higher bonuses receives the Combat Bonus Card set to the difference:

• +2 per Barracks built
• +4 per Academy built
• +4 per Great General on the map
• +6 if defending a non-capital city
• +12 if defending a capital city
• +4 if defending a walled city (stacks with city bonus)

3. Engaging in Battle

Starting with defender (or attacker if attacking a walled city), players alternate playing unit cards faceup:

• Start a New Front: Play a unit without attacking. Only 1 unit per front.
• Attack an Existing Front: Play against an opposing unit. Both units deal damage equal to strength simultaneously. A unit is killed if wounds ≥ strength.

Trumping Units

Rock-paper-scissors dynamic: Infantry trumps Mounted; Mounted trumps Artillery; Artillery trumps Infantry. A trumping unit strikes first and deals damage before the defender can hit back; if killed, the trumped unit deals no damage.

• Aircraft Units: Strength 5–7. Cannot trump or be trumped.

4. Resolving the Battle

Surviving units heal all wounds. Each player totals surviving strength plus combat bonus. Highest total wins (ties go to defender).

• Winner’s Losses: Loses 1 army figure in the square per 2 units killed in battle (can never lose last army).
• Winner’s Loot:
  • Figures in square: Loser’s figures killed. Winner chooses: up to 3 trade, up to 3 culture tokens, or 1 resource token.
  • Non-capital city: Loser’s city destroyed (buildings returned, wonders/great people removed). Winner chooses: learn 1 known tech from loser for free, steal 1 culture card, or steal up to 2 resource tokens.
  • Capital city: Winner immediately wins with a Military Victory.

Coins and Economic Power

Coins come from map squares, buildings, or tech card tokens (e.g. Code of Laws). Advancing coins moves the economy dial. Reaching 15 coins wins an Economic Victory.

Coins protect trade when researching: retain 1 trade per coin after researching.

Obsoleting Wonders

Certain techs (Monarchy and Gunpowder) obsolete wonders. Turn the wonder card facedown; the wonder’s ability is negated, but its marker still provides culture when devoting to the arts.

Summary of Tech Card Icons and Abilities

• Unlock Building: Build the pictured building for the listed production cost.
• Upgrade Building: Marked with a grey arrow; upgrades existing buildings of that type and enables constructing the upgraded version.
• Unlock Government: Adopt the government for free next turn, or later via Anarchy.
• Upgrade Unit: Upgrades all unit cards of that type to the listed rank.
• Increase Culture Hand Size: Increases culture card hand limit by +1.
• Gain Coin: Gain one coin when learned.
• Constant Ability: Grants a permanent ongoing ability.
• Resource Ability: Spend the indicated resource to trigger the ability once per turn.

Glossary of Terms

• Army: A plastic figure representing a player’s military forces.
• Attacker: In battle, the side that began the combat by moving.
• Barbarians: Uncivilized tribes found in villages. Controlled by the player to the active player’s left, always rank 1.
• Battle Force: Unit cards drawn by a player at the start of a battle.
• Battle Hand Size: The number of unit cards drawn at the start of battle.
• Blockade: When an enemy figure occupies a city’s outskirts square, preventing its use.
• Capital: A player’s starting city.
• City Center: The center square of a city; produces nothing.
• City Outskirts: The eight squares surrounding a city center.
• Coin: Measure of economic prosperity. Preserves trade during research. 15 coins win the game.
• Culture: Measure of artistic progress. Used to advance on the culture track.
• Culture Hand Size: Max culture event cards held in hand (starts at 2).
• Defender: In battle, the side that did not begin the combat.
• Discovering: Spending movement adjacent to a facedown tile to flip it faceup.
• Front: An engagement area within a battle holding one unit per side.
• Government: Ruling body determining civilization bonuses/restrictions.
• Great Person: Powerful historical figures providing bonuses to city outskirts.
• Hut: Peaceful tribe providing a resource when explored.
• Limited Buildings: Marked with a star. Max 1 per city.
• Natural Wonder: Map square providing culture in addition to regular resources.
• Production: Measure of industry. Used to build items, figures, and wonders.
• Research: Spending trade to acquire new techs in the pyramid.
• Resource Abilities: Abilities on tech cards powered by spending resource tokens.
• Scout: Non-military figure used to explore, settle cities, and gather remote square icons.
• Stacking Limit: Max figures permitted in a single square (starts at 2).
• Standing Forces: Total pool of unit cards owned by a player.
• Strength: Value on a unit card measuring its combat power.
• Tech Pyramid: The structural layout of researched techs across 5 levels.
• Travel Speed: Squares a figure can move each turn (starts at 2).
• Trump: Combat advantage allowing a unit to deal damage first.
• Upgrade: Tech ability improving units or buildings.
• Village: Aggressive minor tribe defended by barbarians.
• Wounds: Damage marked on unit cards during battle; heals completely after battle.