From Academy Games:
‘Mare Nostrum – Empires’ is a French language board game classic designed by Serge Laget that is being re-introduced by Academy Games and Asyncron. This expanded title includes updated rules, counters, and map board, many new components, and multiple new ways to win!
You lead an Empire, which begins with three Provinces.
- You can lead with Caesar of Rome and its powerful Legions, or
- Pericles, the principled Greek statesman and orator, or
- Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, whose engineers led in the development of grain storage and irrigation, or
- Hannibal, leader of the Carthaginians, whose merchants thrived on trade and commerce, or
- the great Babylonian healer and law maker King Hammurabi.
Each Province has different resources available for development. There are 13 different resources available throughout the map.
You can use your collected Resources to build:
Markets that double the Goods Resources collected by your Caravans,
Cities that earn you Tax Resources during the game,
Temples that double your city’s Tax Resources,
Legendary Cities that give you Legendary Goods Resources!
For each new Building, Military unit, Hero, or Wonder you wish to create, you need to spend your Resources. Each item you create will cost you a set of resources. These Resources can be:
- a set of all Tax Resources, or
- a set of different Goods Resources.
The more valuable an item, the more Resources are required. Example: To build a new Caravan costs 3 Resources. Either 3 different Goods Resources like 1 Wine, 1 Iron, and 1 Oil or 3 Tax Resources.
If your provinces do not produce enough different Resources, you will either need to expand and develop your Provinces, trade for what you need with other players, or occupy another player’s Province to ‘liberate’ the required Resources.
To expand and develop adjacent Provinces, you must first gain and place your Influence markers in them. After you have placed your Influence, you may then build Military units, buildings, caravans, and more.
If you do not wish to go through the trouble and expense to develop your own Influence in adjacent Provinces, you may instead decide to move your Legions into these Provinces to ‘bestow upon them the benefits of your enlightened leadership’. In other words, you can attempt to pillage, occupy, or convert this Province to your cause.
As you grow your empire and/or acquire new Heroes and Wonders, you will be moving your Empire’s track marker up the Trade, Culture and Military tracks. The leader in each track gains additional powers and benefits.
Mare Nostrum is a deep game of resource development, trade, and strategy.
Backers will be able to choose an English, French, German, Italian, Polish, or Spanish language edition on the Kickstarter survey at the end of this campaign.
