# Military Cards

Military cards represent ways in which your civilization affects global history and interacts with other nations.

Cards with a crown symbol in the upper left corner are played as political actions during your Politics Phase. They are:

- Events and Territories
- Pacts
- Aggressions
- Wars

The other military cards are:

- Tactics
- Military Bonus Cards

## Military Decks

Each age has its own deck of military cards. In a two-player game the decks do not have pacts, but otherwise the cards are the same in every game.

The current deck is displayed in the upper right corner just below the card row. Tapping on this will take you to the deck screen, which gives you an overview of every card that might be available during the age.

The military deck always corresponds to the current age. The military deck changes to a new age only when the civil deck runs out. If the military deck is out of cards when a player needs to draw from it, discarded military cards from the current age will be reshuffled to make a new deck.

## Hand of Military Cards

Your hand of military cards is depicted beside your civil cards. On other players' screens, their hands are depicted face down. You know how many military cards they have, but you don't know which ones, because military cards are drawn secretly.

Tapping a card in your hand will tell you what it is used for and when you can play it.

### Military Cards Hand Limit

The number of military cards you can keep in your hand is limited by the total number of military actions you have. At the start of your End-of-Turn Sequence, you must discard any military cards over this limit. The game will give you the option to choose which ones to discard.

### Drawing military cards

At the end of your End-of-Turn Sequence, you automatically draw one military card for each military action you have left, up to a maximum of 3 new cards. If you aren't getting any new cards at the end of your turn, that is because you have no unused military actions.

When you draw military cards, you may exceed your hand limit. The game will not check your hand limit until your next End-of-Turn Sequence, so you may have opportunities to use the excess cards instead of being forced to discard them.

Note: It is also possible to draw military cards as a result of certain events.

### Military Discard Pile

If the military deck is empty when a player needs to draw from it, the cards in the military discard pile are reshuffled to make a new deck. The discard pile consists of the following military cards from the current age:

- All military cards that players have discarded at the end of turn.
- Aggressions and military bonus cards that have been played.
- Wars and pacts that have been played and then removed from play.
- Any other military cards that have been discarded from players' hands for any reason.

## Events

Events represent your ability to predict and influence world affairs. You can play an event card during your Politics Phase, but it will not resolve until some time in the distant future. You can see all possible event cards on the deck screen.

### Events Through the Ages

#### Age A Events

The Age A events are chosen randomly at the start of the game. All these events are beneficial, although there are two that you can only take advantage of if you have an idle worker available. It is very likely that at least one of those two events will occur during the early stages of the game, so it is wise to finish your turn with at least one idle worker.

#### Age I and Age II Events

Events from the Middle Ages and the Age of Exploration are prepared by the players. If you prepare an event, you will know about it ahead of time. But there will also be many events prepared by your opponents. Some of these events harm all civilizations. Some of these events benefit everyone, although players who are better prepared can benefit more. Many events reward players with a strong military or punish those who are weak, so it is a good idea to keep pace with the military buildup. A few events punish civilizations for having discontent workers, so it is also a good idea to keep everyone happy.

Among these events are special event cards called territories. You can recognize them because they have the word “territory” in their names. When a new territory is discovered, everyone has a chance to colonize it.

#### Age III Events

Age III events are special scoring opportunities prepared by the players. They reward the various aspects of your civilization. Obviously, you want to prepare events that will give you lots of points and not play events that will give more points to other players.

Once an Age III event is prepared, it is guaranteed to occur: Those that are not resolved during play will be evaluated during the end-of-game scoring.

### Event Decks

The event decks simulate the imperfect ability to predict the future. You can see all possible events in the deck screen, but you don't know which ones are actually in the event decks. Even if you do know an event is in the deck because you put it there, you still don't know when it will come up.

The event decks are depicted in the upper left corner of your player screen. The graphic shows how many events are in the future events deck (on the left) and how many remain in the current events deck (on the right).

If you tap on the graphic, you can get more detailed information, such as who prepared the events in each deck and which events have already been evaluated (the past events pile). You will also be able to see the location of any events you have prepared, although you will not know exactly when they will be coming up.

### Flow of Event Cards

At the beginning of the game, the current events deck is seeded with a certain number of randomly chosen Age A events. (The number of Age A events equals the number of players plus 2.)

The future events deck starts out empty. Whenever a player prepares an event, it goes into the future events deck and a new card from the current events deck is revealed and evaluated. Resolved events go into the past events pile, which is essentially just a discard pile. They will not enter the game again.

When the current events deck runs out of cards, the future events deck is shuffled and it becomes the new current events deck. This usually happens several times during the game.

After the shuffling, you won't know the order of the events in the current events deck. However, cards from older ages are stacked on top, so they will appear before cards from newer ages.

At the end of the game, any Age III events that remain in either the current or future events decks will be resolved.

### Preparing an Event

During your Politics Phase, you can prepare an event as your political action:

- Drag the card out of your hand toward the events decks.
- This has 3 effects:

- You score a number of culture points equal to the level of the event card.
- Your event card goes into the future events deck.
- The top event card from the current events deck is revealed and evaluated.

### Evaluating a Current Event

When you prepare an event card, the topmost card of the current events deck is evaluated immediately. This can have unforseen impacts on the rest of your turn.

Under tabletop rules, certain events require a reaction from other players before your turn can continue. Under the digital rules, these events have been modified so that the other players don't have to deal with them until the Event Evaluation Phase of their turn.

If the event is the discovery of a new territory, then all players will get a chance to try to colonize it. You will be able to continue your turn after colonization is resolved.

#### Tiebreaker Rules

Many events refer to “the strongest” or “the weakest” civilization. If two civilizations have the same strength rating , the player who more recently finished a turn is considered weaker. This is because that player had an opportunity to exceed the other player's strength rating and chose not to do so. If an event is revealed on your turn, you will win all ties because you have gone the longest without a chance to improve your strength.

This also applies to events evaluated at the end of the game. The player who took the final turn will lose all ties, and the player who started the game will win all ties.

The same tiebreaker rules are sometimes applied to other aspects of a civilization. However, if an event says it applies to “all civilizations” with the most or least of something, then any ties remain unbroken.

### Colonization

When a territory is revealed as the current event, all players may compete to see who colonizes it. The winner takes the territory as his or her new colony.

#### Bidding

Players bid to see who is willing to send the strongest colonization force. Under the tabletop rules, players take turns bidding or passing until only one player is left. Under the digital rules, players bid simultaneously and secretly.

If no one bids, then the card is discarded to the past events deck. If there is bidding, then the winner must send a colonization force that matches or exceeds the winning bid. Players who do not win the bidding pay nothing.

#### Auctioning with Digital rules

The colonization window appears. You can drag units and cards to the upper part of the window to see how each possible play would affect your strength rating and colonization force. The number in the lower left corner indicates your bid. Arrows beside the number will allow you to adjust this amount. The game will not let you bid more than you can pay. When you are satisfied with your bid, tap the bid button. Or if you don't want to bid, you can tap Pass.

All players bid simultaneously and secretly. When everyone is done, the game compares the bids and awards the territory to the highest bidder. Ties are broken in play order, starting with the current player.

If you win, you might not have to pay as much as you bid. The game will calculate the lowest bid required for you to win and will display that as your winning bid. In other words, your colonization force just needs to be strong enough to beat everyone else's bids (or, in some cases, tie with their bids if you win the tiebreaker).

#### Auctioning with Tabletop rules

Bidding begins with the player who is currently resolving his or her Politics Phase and proceeds according to play order. Each player must either make a bid higher than any previous bid or pass and drop out of the bidding. This process might be repeated for several rounds until all but one player has dropped out.

#### Sending a Colonization Force

If you win the auction, you have to send one or more military units to colonize the territory. This is done by dragging units to the upper part of the colonization window. You can also add military bonus cards to improve your colonization force.

Your colonization force is the sum of the following:

- The strength of all military units you have sent.
- The tactical strength of any armies you can form from those units.
- Your colonization modifier , as depicted in the civilization overview panel.
- The values depicted on the lower part of any military bonus cards you play.

Effects that modify your civilization's strength rating do not apply to your colonization force, but effects that modify your units' strengths do apply. You cannot colonize with modifiers and bonuses alone; you must send at least one unit.

Units sent as part of a colonization force go back to being yellow tokens in your yellow bank. Military bonus cards are discarded.

#### Colonies

After you send a colonization force to a territory, it becomes your colony, represented by an island depicted in the upper part of your player screen. Tapping on the island shows you the details of the territory card.

The bonus depicted under the territory's name is a one-time bonus that you get as soon as you colonize it. The symbols at the bottom of the card depict its permanent effects.

Note: These permanent effects can be lost if you lose the colony. If a card allows you to annex a colony from another player, you will get the permanent effects, but not the one-time bonus.

## Pacts

Pacts represent agreements you can negotiate with other civilizations. They can be friendly, coercive, or submissive, depending on the pact and who is making the offer.

In your play area, any pact you are a party to is represented by a two-colored seal, to remind you which player you have a pact with. If you were the one who offered the pact, the ribbon on the seal will be in your color.

If a pact you offered is currently in play, it will be automatically canceled if any player accepts a new pact that you offer. Pacts can also be canceled in other ways.

Note: It is possible to have pacts with multiple players, as long as only one of the pacts (or none of them) is one that you offered. It is also possible for two players to have two pacts with each other – one offered by one player and the other offered by the other.

Pacts are only available in games of three or more players.

### Offering a pact

As your political action during your Politics Phase, you can offer a pact:

- Drag a pact card from your hand and confirm it.
- The pact window appears.
- Select a player to offer the pact to.
- If the pact is asymmetric, you will have an A/B arrow to let you choose side A or side B.
- Tap the Confirm button.

Your fellow player then decides whether to accept the offer.

If the other player refuses the offer, the pact returns to your hand. However, this still uses up your political action for the turn.

If the other player accepts the offer, the pact enters play in your play area:

- If you already have a pact in play, it is canceled. (But a pact in the other player's play area will not be affected.)
- The new pact applies immediately.

Note: A pact that prevents war declarations does not cancel wars that have already been declared.

### Canceling a Pact

As your political action during your Politics Phase, you can cancel any pact to which you are a party.

- Tap the pact's seal on your player screen.
- The pact window appears.
- Tap the Cancel Pact button.

The pact is removed from play. It ceases to affect you and your fellow player.

There are certain circumstances under which a pact is automatically canceled:

- A pact you put into play will be automatically canceled if any player accpets your offer of a new pact.
- Some pacts, but not all, are automatically canceled if one player attacks another.
- A pact is automatically canceled at the end of an age if it is older than the age that is ending.

## Aggressions

Aggressions are quick attacks in which you attempt to use your military superiority to seize something from another civilization. Your rival has an opportunity to defend, and the attack is resolved immediately.

The crown icon indicates that you can play an aggression only during your Politics Phase. This counts as your political action. The red icons indicate that the aggression also costs you a certain number of military actions.

### Playing an Aggression:

As your political action during your Politics Phase, you can play an aggression:

- Drag an aggression card from your hand to the center of the screen.
- The aggression window appears with an overview of your opponents’ strength ratings and military cards.
- Select an opponent to attack. You can only attack civilizations weaker than yours.
- Tap Confirm.
- This costs you the number of military actions depicted in the upper left corner of the card.

The attacked player then responds. If the attack is successful, you will get the rewards and your opponent will face the penalties described by the card. If the opponent defends, then the aggressions fails – you get nothing, but at least you forced your opponent to discard some military cards.

Once an aggression card is used, it goes to the military card discard pile.

### Responding to an Aggression

If someone plays an aggression against you, the defense window will open up showing you the aggression card and your hand of military cards. You may be able to use your cards to defend yourself.

To defend yourself against an aggression:

- Drag military cards from your hand to the slots above.

- A military bonus card card will add its defense bonus (the upper number) to your combat strength.
- Any other military card will add +1 to your combat strength.

- When your combat strength equals or exceeds your opponent's, you will be able to tap the Defend button, and the aggression will fail.
- All cards spent this way will go to the military card discard pile.

Note: The number of cards you can spend is limited by your military action total.

Sometimes you can't spend enough to defend. Or you might choose to save your cards and not defend. In those cases, you concede by tapping the Concede button, and the aggression takes effect.

## Wars

When a civilization grows confident of its strength advantage over a rival, it might wage a more prolonged military conflict by declaring a war.

Wars are more epic in scale than Aggressions. Wars take longer to resolve, and the rewards of victory can be much greater. Also, it's possible to lose, so be careful whom you go to war against.

You declare a war during your Politics Phase, but it doesn't resolve until your next Politics Phase. This gives your opponent a chance to get stronger and possibly defeat you. You have a chance to get stronger, too, during the turn on which you declared the war, but some of your military actions will have already been invested in the war declaration.

### Declaring a War

As your political action during your Politics Phase, you can declare a war against one of your opponents:

- Drag a war card from your hand to the center of the player screen.
- The war window appears, depicting relevant statistics of the other civilizations.
- Choose an opponent to attack. In general, you can declare a war against any opponent.
- This costs you the number of military actions depicted in the upper left corner of the card .

The war will not resolve until your next Politics Phase.

### Resolving a War:

Unlike Aggressions, wars do not require an immediate response. The target of the attack can defend (or not) by increasing his or her strength rating during the normal course of his or her next turn. While the war is in play, an icon in the upper left corner of the combatants' player screens will remind them that they are at war with each other, the sky will turn red, and the music will change.

The war resolves automatically during the next Politics Phase of the player who declared it. The game calculates the strength advantage, which is the difference between the two civilizations' strength ratings . The civilization with the higher strength rating is the victor. The war resolves with the effect shown on the card. In general, the defeated civilization gives up something to the victor. The amount at stake depends on the strength advantage.

Note that military bonus cards do not apply to wars. Note also that the attacked player can be the victor if he or she builds up enough military strength to exceed the attacker's strength rating.

## Tactics

Even when your opponents have stronger military units, you might still defeat them with superior tactics. Tactics cards represent your ability to coordinate your forces for greater effect.

Tactics allow players to form armies. The card depicts the units required for one army, and the number at the bottom of the card shows the tactical strength that the army adds to your strength rating . If you can form multiple armies, each one contributes to your strength rating. The tactical strength also applies to armies you send on a colonization expedition.

Beginning in Age II, tactics cards will show two tactical strengths. The lesser strength applies if any unit in the army is outdated – that is, if any unit is two ages older than the tactics card. Your spear-wielding warriors can fight in a Napoleonic Army, but they won't be as effective as swordsmen or riflemen would be. If you have two possible ways to make an army, one with maximum tactical strength and one with an outdated unit, the game will automatically form your armies in the way that gives you the maximum strength rating possible.

You can have at most one current tactic. If you have one, it will be displayed as a tent near your military units. Tapping this tent will give you a card overview screen showing you the details of your current tactic, as well as all the other tactics that are available to you. You can also tap a military unit to to see available tactics even when you have none yourself.

When you play a tactics card, it immediately becomes your current tactic. It will be exclusively yours until the start of your next turn, at which time it becomes available for any player to copy.

### Playing a Tactics Card

During your Action Phase, you can play one tactics card:

- Drag a tactics card from your hand to the center of the screen.
- This costs you 1 military action , as depicted in the upper left corner of the card.

The card immediately becomes your current tactic.

Note: The game will not let you play a tactics card if you have already changed your tactics this turn.

### Copying a Tactic

Playing a card from your hand is not the only way to choose or change your current tactic. You can also copy any tactic that has become available.

During your Action Phase, you can copy one tactics card:

- Tap anywhere in the area of your military units to enter the military card overview screen.
- Drag your military standard to a card in the pool of available tactics.
- This costs you 2 military actions .

The card immediately becomes your current tactic.

Note: The game will not let you copy a tactics card if you have already changed your tactics this turn.

## Military Bonus Cards

Military bonus cards give you a one-time bonus for defending against an aggression or colonizing a territory. Those are the only situations in which they can be played.

When defending against an aggression, you can discard a military bonus card to add the strength bonus in the upper half to your defense strength. The number of cards that can be used this way is limited by your military action total.

When colonizing a territory, you can discard as many military bonus cards as you like to add the colonization bonus in the lower half of the card to the strength of your colonization force.