DrakeStorm
03-09-2005, 06:41 PM
I just found these message boards, and not sure if anyone even plays Age of Renaissance these days, but figured I would post some alternate rules for the game.
Our play group has used these alternate rules to make the game more balanced and hopefully more interesting than the original game. The rules have been changed/tweaked pretty much every few weeks for 2 years so some rules have been play tested a lot longer than others (Note: I haven't used these exact rules in over 6 months because I have created even newer and hopefully better rules since, but I don't have them typed out yet). Most changes I haven’t worried about staying within the historical context though. A few of the changes also came from some Euro-Alternate a friend got from the internet awhile back. Sorry if the formatting is all messed up.
AGE OF RENAISSANCE (version 2.02)
SET UP CHANGES:
1.) The War card is a 2nd Epoch card (optional: move 1 Timber or Grain card to the 1st Epoch to keep card count even).
2.) There are 3 new leaders for each Epoch. To keep the number of cards the same, at the beginning of each Epoch, that Epoch’s leaders are shuffled together and 3 are randomly removed, then the remaining leaders are shuffled with the rest of the cards.
a.) The removed leaders can either never be revealed, have one revealed each turn, have them all revealed at the beginning of the first turn after the new Epoch starts, or immediately when they are removed. (leaning towards the last, because we always forget about them once we continue playing).
b.) New Leaders are:
Epoch 1 = 20 Windmill (Don Quixote),
20 Heavens (Leif Ericsson),
10 Urban Ascendancy and 10 Caravan.
Epoch 2 = 20 Seaworthy,
20 Human Body and 20 Improved Agriculture,
20 Nationalism and 20 Proselytism (Joan of Arc).
Epoch 3 = 20 Laws of Matter and 20 New World,
20 Holy Indulgence and 20 Cathedral,
20 Master Art and 20 Middle Class (Shakespeare).
c.) Obviously you cannot play with this change unless you have a way to add new cards (i.e. we use opaque card sleeves on all cards, so easy to add in cards).
3.) Remove Silk, Spice, and Crusades, then deal 3 cards to each player. Each player keeps 2 cards, and all other Epoch 1 cards are returned, shuffled and placed on the Draw Pile.
a.) Players return 1 of their 3 cards as the last action during setup (i.e. after capital placement, etc.).
4.) The winner of the Capital Bid may choose his Capital first or pass. If he passes, the choice goes to the next player with the highest Capital Bid. Once a player chooses a Capital the choice reverts back to the player with the highest Capital Bid who once again may choose a Capital or pass. This repeats till all Capitals have been chosen.
5.) Capitals can be placed anywhere in the starting regions (i.e. not V, VI, or VIII). This is usually used in conjunction with the “Knock Out” version below, but not necessary).
a.) In bid order players can pay $5 to move their capital after all the capitals have been placed.
b.) If you do not own any provinces that touch a sea area, you cannot use boats, Heavens, Seaworthy, etc. till you do.
c.) Cannot place Capital in a “support” province. Must be an actual province with a commodity in it.
d.) Whatever region you start in is considered your home area for Nationalism. Potentially everyone could have same region.
6.) The first draw card phase is skipped.
7.) Misery starts at 60.
KNOCK OUT REGION Version:
1.) The entire game board is in play.
2.) In a 6 player game no regions are removed from the game. For each less player, 1 region is removed from the game (i.e. 3 Player game = 3 regions removed). The players with the highest capital bid get to chose the regions (i.e. in a 4 player game the top 2 remove regions). Any region may be removed from play except region VIII. This is done before picking a Capital or returning 1 of the 3 initial cards to deck.
3.) Crusades is used in the Overland East(V) area if the Eastern Med(VI) area is out of game. If the Eastern Med(VI) area is out of the game too, then you can play Crusades for $10 (as long as it is not an unplayable misery burden due to Mongrel Armies).
4.) If Overland East(V) area is out of the game, you need the Overland East advance to get into the Eastern Med(VI). If both regions are out of the game, then Overland East has no effect except for credits and tiers for misery relief.
BUY ADVANCES Version:
1.) After regions are removed (if playing that version) and capitals are picked, each player secretly “buys” advances.
2.) Each player starts on the Misery Index equal to the total of their advances “bought”. For example, if you start the game with Caravan (20) and Seaworthy Vessels (80) you would start on the 100 misery box.
3.) You do not get to use the Credits or Misery Relief, but you do use any special ability (i.e. Misery slides up or down or Discard a card with Master Art if using that card’s alternate rules).
4.) Round up the Misery (i.e. if you have 160 in purchases, you would start on the 175 Misery Box).
5.) Boats start at 6. A player can “buy” 8 Boats for $10.
6.) Remove Gold/Ivory instead of Crusades from initial cards, or don’t remove any. [Untested]
MAP CHANGES:
1.) Central Mediterranean Sea borders Libya while Barca no longer borders Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Note: can make as many or as few map changes as desired if you play where you get to place your capital anywhere since any disadvantages from your starting capital is purely your own fault for placing it in a poor location.
CARD CHANGES:
1.) Crusades is played as an open circle if played in the first epoch (i.e. can’t expand from it).
2.) When you play the War card you pick the 2 players that will War (you do not have to participate).
CREDIT CHANGES:
1.) Written Record: 20
2.) Printed Word: 20
3.) Master Art: 20
PREREQUISITE CHANGES:
1.) Cathedral: Proselytism instead of Holy Indulgence.
2.) Institutional Research: Must have at least 1 tier first (however can buy Institutional Research to complete the tier.)
3.) Holy Indulgence: Patronage
4.) Printed Word, Master Art, Windmill/Watermill, Improved Agriculture: None
5.) Interest and Profit: Caravan AND Windmill AND Improved Ag.
6.) Renaissance: Written Record AND Printed Word AND Master Art.
Note: 3-6 were added mainly for the “Buy Advances” Version.
CHANGES IN ADVANCES:
1.) Human Body: In addition to its normal ability, you may add back up to 3 units to a Black Death area. Any circles formed this way are considered open till the beginning of expansion when it is then closed – i.e. doesn’t count for future payoffs or for largest expansion that turn, but can expand from it.
a.) Actual mechanics – first you remove all tokens from the area and put them in stock, then remove all circles from the area – adding back 1 token per circled area (optional) from stock (and then from expansion if necessary). Then add 3 tokens from stock (or expansion if none are in reserve) to re-create circles.
2.) Laws of Matter: In addition to its normal ability, if you go last in the turn order, you may add or remove one shortage or surplus marker (You can play a Surplus on anything, but a Shortage can only be placed on the commodities from Stone to Fur). This occurs between the first player buying off the Shortage/Surplus and drawing cards.
3.) Holy Indulgence: Non-owners may chose to give two dollar rather than a token (i.e. $4, $2 and 1 Token, or 2 Tokens).
4.) Proselytism: No misery slide.
5.) Wind/Watermill: You may spend 2 tokens from Expansion per card you have to protect yourself from Windmill/Watermill attempts. If you do so, you cannot Windmill anyone that turn. Also you must protect All or None of your cards. If you have 0 cards you can pay 2 to protect a card you may get during the expansion phase.
6.) Master Art: You may discard a card immediately when you buy the advance.
7.) Renaissance: Voids Civil War. The turn you purchase the advance and only that turn, you can use your misery relief as if you had 4 tiers (you don’t get 4 slides up automatically, you need to actually have the misery relief).
8.) Urban Ascendancy: Buying an extra card costs $10 during Epoch 1, $15 during Epoch 2, and $20 during Epoch 3.
9.) Middle Class: Stabilization costs is half rounded down. Income is $15.
RULES CLARIFICATIONS:
1.) Renaissance: If multiple players have the advance, at the beginning of each phase, in turn order, the players decide if they are going to use the ability. If a player passes, he cannot use the ability till the beginning of the next phase. The change in turn order, at the beginning of the Expansion Phase due to Civil War happens before the Renaissance ability.
2.) Holy Indulgence: If a player receives tokens from a non-owning player, but doesn’t have enough tokens in stock that player gets the cash equivalent from the bank instead.
3.) An Epoch ends when there are no more cards in the Epoch pile (not when the next card is/would be drawn). The game ends (i.e. finish the current turn and go to the final play cards phase) when the last card is drawn.
4.) The light blue sea space above the Baltic Sea is not in play.
5.) If for some reason you have a card that is not from the correct Epoch (i.e. 3rd Epoch Card and its only 2nd Epoch!), return the card unseen to the correct Epoch pile, then immediately draw another card.
Enjoy,
If you have any questions or wonder why certain changes were made just ask. Can e-mail me at DrakeStorm@aol.com. I just finished a 2 Epic version of the game to cut the play time down. I have new cards/new payoffs/new advances, I have a version you "draft" the cards", I have an "Advanced" AoR version. Basically I have all sorts of changes, and all of them are fairly well balanced and play tested.
Our play group has used these alternate rules to make the game more balanced and hopefully more interesting than the original game. The rules have been changed/tweaked pretty much every few weeks for 2 years so some rules have been play tested a lot longer than others (Note: I haven't used these exact rules in over 6 months because I have created even newer and hopefully better rules since, but I don't have them typed out yet). Most changes I haven’t worried about staying within the historical context though. A few of the changes also came from some Euro-Alternate a friend got from the internet awhile back. Sorry if the formatting is all messed up.
AGE OF RENAISSANCE (version 2.02)
SET UP CHANGES:
1.) The War card is a 2nd Epoch card (optional: move 1 Timber or Grain card to the 1st Epoch to keep card count even).
2.) There are 3 new leaders for each Epoch. To keep the number of cards the same, at the beginning of each Epoch, that Epoch’s leaders are shuffled together and 3 are randomly removed, then the remaining leaders are shuffled with the rest of the cards.
a.) The removed leaders can either never be revealed, have one revealed each turn, have them all revealed at the beginning of the first turn after the new Epoch starts, or immediately when they are removed. (leaning towards the last, because we always forget about them once we continue playing).
b.) New Leaders are:
Epoch 1 = 20 Windmill (Don Quixote),
20 Heavens (Leif Ericsson),
10 Urban Ascendancy and 10 Caravan.
Epoch 2 = 20 Seaworthy,
20 Human Body and 20 Improved Agriculture,
20 Nationalism and 20 Proselytism (Joan of Arc).
Epoch 3 = 20 Laws of Matter and 20 New World,
20 Holy Indulgence and 20 Cathedral,
20 Master Art and 20 Middle Class (Shakespeare).
c.) Obviously you cannot play with this change unless you have a way to add new cards (i.e. we use opaque card sleeves on all cards, so easy to add in cards).
3.) Remove Silk, Spice, and Crusades, then deal 3 cards to each player. Each player keeps 2 cards, and all other Epoch 1 cards are returned, shuffled and placed on the Draw Pile.
a.) Players return 1 of their 3 cards as the last action during setup (i.e. after capital placement, etc.).
4.) The winner of the Capital Bid may choose his Capital first or pass. If he passes, the choice goes to the next player with the highest Capital Bid. Once a player chooses a Capital the choice reverts back to the player with the highest Capital Bid who once again may choose a Capital or pass. This repeats till all Capitals have been chosen.
5.) Capitals can be placed anywhere in the starting regions (i.e. not V, VI, or VIII). This is usually used in conjunction with the “Knock Out” version below, but not necessary).
a.) In bid order players can pay $5 to move their capital after all the capitals have been placed.
b.) If you do not own any provinces that touch a sea area, you cannot use boats, Heavens, Seaworthy, etc. till you do.
c.) Cannot place Capital in a “support” province. Must be an actual province with a commodity in it.
d.) Whatever region you start in is considered your home area for Nationalism. Potentially everyone could have same region.
6.) The first draw card phase is skipped.
7.) Misery starts at 60.
KNOCK OUT REGION Version:
1.) The entire game board is in play.
2.) In a 6 player game no regions are removed from the game. For each less player, 1 region is removed from the game (i.e. 3 Player game = 3 regions removed). The players with the highest capital bid get to chose the regions (i.e. in a 4 player game the top 2 remove regions). Any region may be removed from play except region VIII. This is done before picking a Capital or returning 1 of the 3 initial cards to deck.
3.) Crusades is used in the Overland East(V) area if the Eastern Med(VI) area is out of game. If the Eastern Med(VI) area is out of the game too, then you can play Crusades for $10 (as long as it is not an unplayable misery burden due to Mongrel Armies).
4.) If Overland East(V) area is out of the game, you need the Overland East advance to get into the Eastern Med(VI). If both regions are out of the game, then Overland East has no effect except for credits and tiers for misery relief.
BUY ADVANCES Version:
1.) After regions are removed (if playing that version) and capitals are picked, each player secretly “buys” advances.
2.) Each player starts on the Misery Index equal to the total of their advances “bought”. For example, if you start the game with Caravan (20) and Seaworthy Vessels (80) you would start on the 100 misery box.
3.) You do not get to use the Credits or Misery Relief, but you do use any special ability (i.e. Misery slides up or down or Discard a card with Master Art if using that card’s alternate rules).
4.) Round up the Misery (i.e. if you have 160 in purchases, you would start on the 175 Misery Box).
5.) Boats start at 6. A player can “buy” 8 Boats for $10.
6.) Remove Gold/Ivory instead of Crusades from initial cards, or don’t remove any. [Untested]
MAP CHANGES:
1.) Central Mediterranean Sea borders Libya while Barca no longer borders Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Note: can make as many or as few map changes as desired if you play where you get to place your capital anywhere since any disadvantages from your starting capital is purely your own fault for placing it in a poor location.
CARD CHANGES:
1.) Crusades is played as an open circle if played in the first epoch (i.e. can’t expand from it).
2.) When you play the War card you pick the 2 players that will War (you do not have to participate).
CREDIT CHANGES:
1.) Written Record: 20
2.) Printed Word: 20
3.) Master Art: 20
PREREQUISITE CHANGES:
1.) Cathedral: Proselytism instead of Holy Indulgence.
2.) Institutional Research: Must have at least 1 tier first (however can buy Institutional Research to complete the tier.)
3.) Holy Indulgence: Patronage
4.) Printed Word, Master Art, Windmill/Watermill, Improved Agriculture: None
5.) Interest and Profit: Caravan AND Windmill AND Improved Ag.
6.) Renaissance: Written Record AND Printed Word AND Master Art.
Note: 3-6 were added mainly for the “Buy Advances” Version.
CHANGES IN ADVANCES:
1.) Human Body: In addition to its normal ability, you may add back up to 3 units to a Black Death area. Any circles formed this way are considered open till the beginning of expansion when it is then closed – i.e. doesn’t count for future payoffs or for largest expansion that turn, but can expand from it.
a.) Actual mechanics – first you remove all tokens from the area and put them in stock, then remove all circles from the area – adding back 1 token per circled area (optional) from stock (and then from expansion if necessary). Then add 3 tokens from stock (or expansion if none are in reserve) to re-create circles.
2.) Laws of Matter: In addition to its normal ability, if you go last in the turn order, you may add or remove one shortage or surplus marker (You can play a Surplus on anything, but a Shortage can only be placed on the commodities from Stone to Fur). This occurs between the first player buying off the Shortage/Surplus and drawing cards.
3.) Holy Indulgence: Non-owners may chose to give two dollar rather than a token (i.e. $4, $2 and 1 Token, or 2 Tokens).
4.) Proselytism: No misery slide.
5.) Wind/Watermill: You may spend 2 tokens from Expansion per card you have to protect yourself from Windmill/Watermill attempts. If you do so, you cannot Windmill anyone that turn. Also you must protect All or None of your cards. If you have 0 cards you can pay 2 to protect a card you may get during the expansion phase.
6.) Master Art: You may discard a card immediately when you buy the advance.
7.) Renaissance: Voids Civil War. The turn you purchase the advance and only that turn, you can use your misery relief as if you had 4 tiers (you don’t get 4 slides up automatically, you need to actually have the misery relief).
8.) Urban Ascendancy: Buying an extra card costs $10 during Epoch 1, $15 during Epoch 2, and $20 during Epoch 3.
9.) Middle Class: Stabilization costs is half rounded down. Income is $15.
RULES CLARIFICATIONS:
1.) Renaissance: If multiple players have the advance, at the beginning of each phase, in turn order, the players decide if they are going to use the ability. If a player passes, he cannot use the ability till the beginning of the next phase. The change in turn order, at the beginning of the Expansion Phase due to Civil War happens before the Renaissance ability.
2.) Holy Indulgence: If a player receives tokens from a non-owning player, but doesn’t have enough tokens in stock that player gets the cash equivalent from the bank instead.
3.) An Epoch ends when there are no more cards in the Epoch pile (not when the next card is/would be drawn). The game ends (i.e. finish the current turn and go to the final play cards phase) when the last card is drawn.
4.) The light blue sea space above the Baltic Sea is not in play.
5.) If for some reason you have a card that is not from the correct Epoch (i.e. 3rd Epoch Card and its only 2nd Epoch!), return the card unseen to the correct Epoch pile, then immediately draw another card.
Enjoy,
If you have any questions or wonder why certain changes were made just ask. Can e-mail me at DrakeStorm@aol.com. I just finished a 2 Epic version of the game to cut the play time down. I have new cards/new payoffs/new advances, I have a version you "draft" the cards", I have an "Advanced" AoR version. Basically I have all sorts of changes, and all of them are fairly well balanced and play tested.