How to Play

Fall of Rome

1-5 players 45-60 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players cooperatively defend the crumbling Roman Empire against barbarian invasions using Pandemic's core mechanics with tactical combat additions. Teams recruit armies, fortify cities, and battle invading tribes while collecting matching cards to forge alliances with different barbarian groups. Victory requires converting enemies into allies rather than simply defending, stopping all incursions through diplomacy and strategic cooperation.

Published 2018

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the board

Put the board in the center of the table with 1 fort in Roma and the other 5 forts near the board along with 3 battle dice

Position supply pieces

Place legions in the circular legion supply space on the board and barbarians/alliance tokens in matching circular barbarian supply spaces

Set tracking markers

Place the Invasion Rate marker and Decline marker in the first spaces of their corresponding tracks

Prepare Roma cards

Take the 5 red-bordered Barbarian cards showing Roma and place them faceup in the Barbarian discard pile space

Set aside gold-bordered cards

Take the 9 gold-bordered Barbarian cards and set them aside temporarily

Create Barbarian deck

Shuffle the remaining Barbarian cards and place them facedown in the Barbarian deck space

Resolve initial invasion

Shuffle the 9 gold-bordered cards, then:

Distribute player components

Give 1 Reference card and 1 random Role card with matching pawn to each player

Separate Player cards

Sort cards by type (City, Event, Revolt) and set aside Revolt cards

Add Event cards

Randomly add Event cards to City cards based on player count (2 players: 4 events, 3 players: 5 events, 4 players: 6 events, 5 players: 8 events)

Deal starting hands

Shuffle City/Event cards and deal faceup to each player (2 players: 4 cards, 3 players: 3 cards, 4-5 players: 2 cards)

Place starting pawns

Each player chooses one City card and places their pawn and 2 legions from supply in the matching city

Select difficulty

Choose 5, 6, or 7 Revolt cards for Introductory, Standard, or Heroic difficulty

Prepare Player deck

Divide remaining Player cards into facedown piles equal to number of Revolt cards chosen, shuffle 1 Revolt card into each pile, then stack piles with smaller piles on bottom

Determine first player

The player with the City card farthest from Roma (highest number of days) takes the first turn

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Turn structure

Each turn consists of 3 steps: Do 4 Actions, Draw 2 Player Cards (resolve Revolts), then Invade Cities

March action

Move your pawn to an adjacent city connected by a single uninterrupted line, taking up to 3 legions with you

Sail action

Discard a City card matching a color of your destination to move from any port city to any other port city, taking up to 3 legions with you

Fortify action

Discard a City card matching your current city to add a fort from supply (or move one from another city) to your city

Recruit Army action

While in a city with a fort, add legions from supply equal to the current recruitment rate shown on the Invasion Rate track

Battle action

Roll up to 1 battle die per legion in your city (maximum 3 dice) when at least 1 barbarian is present

Plot action

When in same city as another player with mutual agreement, either give or take a City card matching that city

Forge Alliance action

While in a city with at least 1 barbarian of a tribe, discard required cards of that tribe's color (Vandals: 5, Visigoths: 5, Huns: 4, Anglo-Saxons/Franks: 4, Ostrogoths: 3) to move alliance token to alliance space

Enlist Barbarians action

Discard a card matching an allied tribe's color to remove all barbarians of that color from your city and add up to that many legions from supply

Draw Player cards

After 4 actions, draw 2 cards from the Player deck and keep faceup

Resolve Revolt cards

When drawn, first move Invasion Rate marker 1 space right, then draw bottom card from Barbarian deck and add 3 matching barbarians to pictured city, finally shuffle Barbarian discard pile and place on top of Barbarian deck

Observe hand limit

If you have more than 7 cards, discard or play Event cards until at 7

Invade Cities step

Flip Barbarian cards equal to current invasion rate, adding 1 barbarian to each pictured city

Check invasion eligibility

A city can only be invaded if it already has barbarians of that tribe OR the previous city on the migration path has matching barbarians

Trace migration path

If pictured city cannot be invaded, follow path backward until finding an eligible city or reaching the supply-adjacent city

Defend with legions

When barbarians would enter a city with legions:

Resolve sacking

When a 4th barbarian of same color would be added, move Decline marker down 1 space, return any fort to supply, then add 1 barbarian of that tribe to each adjacent city (triggering chain reactions if needed)

Play Event cards

Any player may play Event cards at any time (except between drawing and resolving a card) without using an action