Colonization

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In Colonization, two teams discover a map that grows during play and conquer its poleis. It plays with 2, 3 or 4 players, ages 14+.

At the table: The rulebook holds the basic rules. This page lists only the rule changes for Colonization games. Each scenario page lists only its changes from this page.

Contents

Coming from the Sandbox game

The big changes

1 · Teams

Sandbox gameThe goal: be the player with the most victory points (VP) when the game ends.
Colonization4 players: two teams of two. 3 players: a team of two against a single player. 2 players: one against one. Each team adds the VP of its two players. The team with the higher sum wins. With 3 players, the single player’s VP count double against the team’s sum.
Watch out: The game ends the moment a team reaches 30 VP after a scoring step (both players’ VP added; with 3 players, the single player reaches 30 with double VP, so at 15).
Details: Players & teams
  • 4 players: Form the teams freely before the game.
  • 3 players: The single player plays one faction and takes two turns per season: one after each player of the team. The single player’s VP count double, at the end of the game and for the 30 VP end.
  • 2 players: one against one, each player plays one faction. None of the team rules on this page apply: bonuses in a team, team transaction, talking in the team and moving with your teammate. “For your team” on an event means “for you”.
  • With 2 or 3 players, some starting places stay empty. Each scenario shows which ones.
Details: Scoring & winning
  • Rankings: Each player is ranked on their own (3 / 2 / 1 / 0 VP). Ties share the better rank. Each player commits their own fist in the Coin and Mint rankings.
  • End of game: Each scenario defines when the game ends. As in the Sandbox game, the game also ends the moment a team reaches 30 VP after a scoring step.
  • Instant Mission Card: If an Instant Mission Card brings a team to 30 VP or more in spring, summer or fall (with 3 players, the single player’s VP count double), the game ends immediately. The team with the higher sum wins.
  • Tie: If both teams have the same sum, both teams win.
  • 2 players: 3 / 2 VP, ties share the better rank.

Basic rule: rulebook › Scoring

2 · Start in the west

Sandbox game4 players: a 5 × 5 board — Native Poleis in the four corners. At the start, only the Native Poleis are on the table.
ColonizationEach faction starts with a number of units which is defined in the scenario. All players start in the west. The maximum width of the map is 8 polis or water tiles. There is no restriction in length. No tile is discovered outside this width.

3 · Mission Cards per team

Sandbox gameGive each player 7 Mission Cards. Keep 3, return 4.
ColonizationIn Colonization games there are no private Mission Cards. Instead each team receives 1 Mission Card at the beginning of the game. A single player counts as a team. Events can give further Mission Cards.

4 · Discover: water or polis

Sandbox gamePlace a new Polis tile on an empty space next to a Polis you control. Name the space first, then take the tile.
ColonizationName the space first, then roll a die: 1–2: place a water tile there. 3–6: discover a polis tile as in the Sandbox game. A water tile is a polis tile from the deck, placed face down (blue back up). You may place the new tile next to a polis you control, or next to a tile with your units.

Basic rule: rulebook › Discover

5 · Movement on water

Sandbox gameCost: count all the units you move, then divide by 4 (round up) and multiply by the distance to the farthest destination — that many Fleet Points (FP).
ColonizationFor water tiles the rules of movement and combat of the Sandbox game apply, with one change: 1 FP moves your units 2 water tiles, regardless of the number of units.

Example: 12 units move 3 water tiles. Cost: 2 FP (1 FP per 2 water tiles, rounded up). The same move over 3 land tiles costs 9 FP (12 ÷ 4 = 3, × 3).

Details: On water
  • Land and water in one move: Add both costs. Land: as in the Sandbox game (all units ÷ 4, rounded up, × farthest distance). Water: 1 FP per 2 water tiles to the farthest destination, rounded up.
  • Navigator: Each Navigator in the moving force reduces the total FP cost by 1. Apply this reduction last. The cost cannot go below 0.

Basic rules: Move & combat · Combat · Forms of government

6 · Events

Sandbox gameThe box also holds 12 Greek Letter tokens. They belong to the Campaign mode and are not used in the Sandbox game.
ColonizationDiscovery events trigger in order. Token events have a Greek Letter token. The token lies on a map tile (water or polis), on the timeline or on a number of the Path to Victory track.
Details: Events

There are no event dice. Each scenario has two kinds of events:

  • Discovery events: “Water tile 1” triggers when the first water tile is discovered, “Water tile 2” with the second, and so on.
  • Token events (A, B, C …): The event triggers when a player enters that tile, when that season is reached, or when a player reaches that number of VP. Several tokens may lie on the same place.

“You” on an event is the player who triggers it.

Details: Terms on events
  • “1 polis is discovered”: Draw a polis tile from the deck and place it, whatever kind it is.
  • “1 Common Polis is discovered”: Draw from the deck until a Common Polis comes up and place it. Shuffle the skipped Wealthy Poleis back into the deck.
  • “1 Wealthy Polis is discovered”: Draw from the deck until a Wealthy Polis comes up and place it. Shuffle the skipped poleis back into the deck.
  • Water tile from an event: It does not trigger a water tile event.
  • “Double scoring for the Poleis ranking”: In the next scoring, the Poleis ranking gives double VP, for everyone.
  • Heroes from events: With “Recruit 2 Heroes” you choose the type of Hero. The Navigator event gives a Navigator. Outside Aristocracy, they count as regular Phalanxes. They become Heroes as soon as you change to Aristocracy, also later in the game.

Also new

Player order: There is no draw-bag. Play goes clockwise. Each season, the starting player moves one seat clockwise.

Teams sit alternately (team A, team B, team A, team B).

With 3 players, the order is: team player 1 → single player → team player 2 → single player.

Basic rule: rulebook › How the game works

Team transaction: Teammates may exchange FP, AP and coins only this way: it costs one action of one of the two teammates. The free transactions of the Sandbox game do not apply between teammates.

Poleis and units cannot be exchanged. A team transaction is not a trade and gives no Unminted Coin for Democracy.

With your teammate: Units of your teammate can move with your units if your teammate agrees.

Combat is then fought with the combined force.

  • Cost: It is your action. You pay all FP.
  • Dice: At most 4 dice per combat round, as in the Sandbox game. The active player (on defense: the owner of the polis) splits the dice between the units of both players and rolls them in two passes. Both passes together are one combat round roll.
  • Losses: On attack, the active player chooses the losses. On defense, the owner of the polis chooses.
  • Conquest: The active player conquers. The polis and its Unminted Coins go to the active player.
Blocking: You may not move through a land tile with units of the other team, unless their owner allows it. On water tiles you may move past them.
Bonuses: A bonus follows the unit. Each bonus works only for the units of the player who owns it. Bonuses that belong to a place or to the moving force (Fortification, Navigator) work for all units.
  • Athens: +2 Phalanxes only if Athens itself conquers the polis.
  • Sparta: Spartan dice only for Sparta’s own units. Only Sparta’s own losses go onto the EUNOMIA token.
  • Corinth: A Fortification protects all defenders of its polis.
  • Thebes: The Oblique Order applies only in combats with Theban units.
  • Monarchy: The King’s hits on 2–6 apply only to the King’s own Phalanxes.
  • Aristocracy, Fighter: The first combat round of a combat counts as the first combat round for every unit in it. The Fighter’s +2 dice go into its owner’s pass.
  • Aristocracy, Navigator: Each Navigator in the moving force reduces the cost, also your teammate’s Navigators. The active player pays the rest.
  • Aristocracy, Assassin: Each Assassin kills one enemy Phalanx before the battle. The limit of 4 applies per player, so two teammates in one combat can use up to 8.
  • Catch-Up in winter: Your teammate is never a rival. Your teammate’s Phalanxes next to your Native Polis do not trigger it.

Basic rules: The four factions · Forms of government · Catch-Up

Talking in the team: Agree on one way before the game.
  • Standard: Before the game starts, each team talks once in secret. After that, teammates talk only openly at the table.
  • Open only: Teammates talk only openly at the table. The other team listens. The game runs faster.
  • Secret each year: Each year, after the winter scoring and before spring, each team talks in secret for about 2 minutes, away from the other team. The game runs longer.
Trade link: To establish relations with your Native Polis, place the trade link between the new polis and the water tile. You can connect poleis without adjacent water tiles as in the Sandbox game.

Example: You discover a polis next to a water tile. Place the trade link between the new polis and that water tile. The new polis now has a trade link to your Native Polis.

Trading with your teammate follows the same rules as trading with yourself.

Democracy: A trade with your teammate’s polis counts as a player trade. Each Democracy player taking part receives 1 Unminted Coin.

Basic rules: Build trade link · Trade

Monopolies: Count the symbols (FP / AP / Mint / Coin) of team A, team B and the neutral poleis. A monopoly needs a majority.

On a tie, there is no monopoly.

2 players: For a monopoly you need more than the neutral poleis and your rival together.

Unchanged from the Sandbox game

  • Discover: The same costs and options, with Choice and the discard pile.
  • Land movement: All units ÷ 4, rounded up, × farthest distance. You may still move to up to 3 destinations.
  • Combat: At most 4 dice per combat round.
  • Navigator: Each Navigator in the moving force reduces the total FP cost by 1.
  • Rankings: Each player is ranked on their own.
  • 2 players: Scoring as in the Sandbox game for 2 players.
  • Everything else: See the rulebook.

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Scenarios

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