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Official Monumental Rules

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Monumental is a strategic civilization-building board game. The game combines deck-building mechanics with a modular board and resource management to guide your civilization from antiquity to modern times. Below are the core rules for the Monumental game.

Objective:

The goal of the game is to build a prosperous civilization, score points through various achievements, and have the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game.

Setup:

  1. Choose a Civilization: Each player chooses a civilization with unique abilities. The available civilizations include Egypt, China, Greece, Japan, and others, depending on the edition.

  2. City Layout: Each player has a personal "City" grid made up of a 3x3 arrangement of cards. This represents the key areas of their civilization: Science, Culture, and Military. These cards are drawn from their civilization’s deck.

  3. Place the Modular Map: Arrange the modular map tiles to form the game board, which players will explore and conquer.

  4. Starting Resources: Players start with basic resources: gold, science, culture, and military power, represented by tokens.

  5. Military Units: Players receive military units to move and conquer territories on the map.

Game Turn Overview:

The game is played over several rounds, with each round consisting of player turns. On your turn, you will activate cards from your City grid, gather resources, use those resources to expand your civilization, and explore or conquer the map.

1. Activate Your City:

  • Choose one row and one column of your 3x3 City grid to activate (you’ll activate 5 cards in total).

  • Collect the resources and abilities from the cards in those positions.

2. Perform Actions:

  • With the resources collected from your City activation, you can take the following actions:

A. Expand Your Deck: Buy new Development Cards (buildings, military units, leaders) to improve your civilization. These are added to your deck for future rounds.

B. Conquer Territories: Use military units to conquer regions on the map. Each conquered territory gives you a special bonus or additional resources.

C. Develop Technologies: Spend Science to advance your civilization by developing new technologies. These provide lasting bonuses and victory points.

D. Construct Wonders: Some powerful structures called Wonders are available to build. These are special cards that provide significant advantages and points.

E. Play Culture Cards: Spend Culture to activate cultural actions or score extra points.

3. End of Turn:

  • Discard the cards you activated. Draw new cards from your deck to replace them.

  • Military units stay on the map, but resources are reset for the next turn.

Special Game Features:

  1. Map Control: Conquering territories on the modular map provides ongoing bonuses and resources, making map control an important aspect of the game.

  2. Deck-Building: As you develop new technologies, construct buildings, and add cultural or military cards, you improve your deck. Deck-building helps optimize future turns.

  3. Wonders: Building Wonders gives significant bonuses and VP but requires careful planning and resource management.

Victory Conditions:

  • The game ends after a predetermined number of rounds or when a specific Wonder is built, depending on the game mode.

  • Players tally their victory points (VP) from:

    • Territories controlled on the map

    • Developed technologies

    • Wonders built

    • Special achievements or objectives completed during the game

The player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins.

Tips for Strategy:

  • Optimize City Activations: Since you can only activate one row and one column per turn, try to balance your City grid to ensure you get a mix of resources and actions every turn.

  • Map Control: Conquering regions early can give a resource advantage and help you control important areas of the board.

  • Deck-Building: Keep your deck streamlined. Buying too many cards can dilute your deck, so focus on powerful cards that fit your strategy.

  • Wonders: While Wonders provide great bonuses, they are resource-intensive, so be sure you’re ready before committing to building one.

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