History of the Ancient Seas 3 - MARE NOSTRUM

From Sound of Drums:

The Mediterranean Sea in ancient times. Images of magnificent coasts to be explored and legendary civilizations that rose to power come to mind.

The game series “History of the Ancient Seas” is the ultimate journey through these exciting times. Build new fleets in your city to explore unknown lands, conquer islands and build a great empire.

“History of the Ancient Seas” is a series of three independent games that share the same rules mechanics. They are played in highly interactive micro-impulses.

Your goal is to become the leading empire in the known world. To achieve this, you will need to build armies and fleets to increase your military might, expand trade routes, conquer islands and provinces, develop your military skills, economic efficiency and culture, while always keeping an eye on the wealth, happiness and stability of your people. The game is played in highly interactive micro-impulses. The heart of the game system is the action cycle: here the players choose one of the eight possible actions. Actions chosen by a player can’t be chosen subsequently by the next player. The number of possible actions is limited each turn.

War or peace: That is your decision! You can expand your empire by leading your people to war! But war is costly and the outcome is uncertain. You can lead your empire to the golden age of civilization by keeping the peace and bringing stability and wealth to your people without following the path of war. Offer terms to aggressive enemies to distract or delay them, but always be prepared to defend your empire.

In MARE NOSTRUM, the third and final installment in the “History of the Ancient Seas”game series, you will lead one of the great Empires: The Roman Empire, the Mighty Seafarers of Carthage, the Greek City States, Egypt or Persia.

MARE NOSTRUM is by default a five player game but there is an optional rule for 4 players, the “Archimedes” Solitaire bot and the “The King is dead” static empires feature, which allow you to reduce the player count if needed.

You will move your wooden meeples (representing legions, ships, armies and fleets) across a huge, beautiful illustrated map from the Iberic half island in the west to the Anatolian mountains in the east and Gallia in the north to the Nile Delta in the south.

The game is played in highly interactive micro-impulses. The heart of the game is the “action cycle”. An action chosen by a player can’t be chosen by the other player in his upcoming segment. And each action can only be chosen a limited number of times each turn. There is always more you need to do than you can actually do.

Game Contents:                               

large 122 x 84 cm mounted Map board

478 wooden Playing Pieces

38 Playing Cards

148 printed Talent Coins

5 Player Sheets for tracking troops & income

2 Play Tracks for Development & Ressource tracking + 1 Play Aid

2 Play Aids with Ressource Icons, Cost Table and Stability Status

“Archimedes” solo mode Rules and Cards

Game Rulebook

Game Credits:

Game Designer: Karl Hausser

Art Director: Marc von Martial