How to Play

Imperium: Classics

1-4 players 40-160 min 7.7 Board Game Geek Rating

Lead one of eight unique ancient civilizations through expansion, scientific advancement, and cultural development while under constant threat. Balance growth carefully—expand too quickly and face internal unrest, too slowly and risk historical irrelevance. Use asymmetric faction abilities to outmaneuver opponents and become history's most dominant empire in this strategic civilization game.

Published 2021

Get Ready

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

Prepare State card

Place State card with Barbarian or Empire side face up as appropriate for your nation

Place action tokens

Put 3 Action ("●") tokens on your State card

Place exhaustion tokens

Put 5 Exhaustion ("x") tokens on your State card

Draw starting hand

Draw up to 5 cards from your draw pile

Prepare Nation deck

Set up your Nation deck separately from your draw pile

Set up Market

Arrange Market cards from Region (yellow), Uncivilised (green), Civilised (gray), and Tributary (blue) decks

Prepare Unrest pile

Place Unrest deck near the Market

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Round structure

Each round consists of player turns taken one at a time, followed by all players simultaneously resolving Solstice effects

Use Actions

Spend 0-3 Action tokens by removing from State card, then play a card from Hand to Play area, resolve and discard

Use Exhaustion

Spend 0-5 Exhaustion tokens (max 1 per effect) by placing on ability to resolve it

Abandon pinned cards

Place pinned card with any Garrisons into discard pile

Acquire cards

Take designated Market card to Hand including any resources and Unrest cards

Break through for cards

Draw cards one at a time until revealing nominated Suit, take that card to Hand, reshuffle others into Main Deck

Replace Market cards

Refill from matching deck; if empty use Main Deck; non-Region stacks receive Unrest card

Develop cards

Pay Development cost for any card with "+" bottom left, place in Discard

Draw cards

Take specified number per cleanup rules; "Draw if Able" means only from deck without reshuffle

Exile cards

Place card in Exile pile next to Unrest deck

Free Play

Play a card without expending an action

Gain resources

Receive specific number with no upper limit

Garrison cards

Tuck card from Hand under Garrison card; if Garrison moves, tucked cards move with it

History cards

Place under Power card, out of play, used only for VP

Passive abilities

Always in effect while card is in play

Pay costs

Return resources to supply; may convert 1 Progress to 1 Population or 2 Material

Recall pinned cards

Return pinned card with any Garrisons to Hand

Return Unrest

Place Unrest cards from Hand back to Unrest pile

Steal resources

Targeted enemies lose resources, current player gains them; resolve as much as possible if unable to complete fully

Take Unrest

Add Unrest cards to Hand

Perform Innovate action

Discard entire Hand, then Breakthrough for one Tributary/Uncivilised/Civilised/Region Market card

Return Unrest cards

Return any number of Unrest cards from Hand to Market's Unrest pile

Place Progress token

Put 1 Progress from Supply onto any Market card; next player may begin their turn

Remove tokens

Clear all Action and Exhaustion tokens from State, Power cards, cards in play, nation, and development deck

Replenish tokens

Place 3 Action and 5 Exhaustion tokens on State card

Discard voluntarily

Discard any number of cards to speed access to stronger cards

Draw back to five

Draw up to 5 cards; if already at 5 or more, draw none

Handle empty deck as Barbarian

Skip if Exhaustion on Nation deck or 5 Exhaustion tokens exist; place top Nation card to Discard, place Exhaustion from State to Nation deck; if Accession card present flip State to Empire; shuffle discard to draw pile; draw remaining cards

Handle empty deck as Empire

Skip if Exhaustion on Nation deck or 5 Exhaustion tokens exist; may Develop once; shuffle discard to draw pile; draw remaining cards