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Box Description
Empires of the Middle Ages simulates the flow of medieval European history on a continental scale. The period covered in the game
stretches from AD 771, the time of Charlemagne's reign, to 1465, the time of the final collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Empires of
he Middle Ages is a multi-player game in which each player controls a historic kingdom or empire. The game includes a 'Grand Scenario,' which covers the entire time from 771 to 1465, as well as several shorter scenarios, each covering a period of 50 to 100 years. The shorter scenarios may be played by as few as two players or by as many as six. There is also a solitaire scenario.
The Empires of the Middle Ages map is divided into sea areas and land areas. The map has been expanded to two map sheets and converted to area movement. Each land area contains the name and basic characteristics of that area. In essence, the action of the game centers on the maintenance, acquisition and loss of land areas, which players accomplish through various endeavors.
The Empires of the Middle Ages game map shows all of Europe except the northernmost reaches of Scandinavia and the easternmost continental marches. Also shown on the map are Asia Minor, the northern Levant and parts of the African Mediterranean coast. Superimposed over the geographic contours of the map is a system of coloration, which designates the ethnic and geographic regions around which play revolves.
At the beginning of the game, each player is granted an imperial domain of one or more areas. At first your only active piece is his leader counter, which represents the current monarch of his empire's ruling house. The basic goals are to maintain your original empire, improve the social state of the areas you possesses, and increase the number of areas in your empire. You attempt to accomplish those goals by engaging your leader in various endeavors, through which he may strengthen his own areas and attack those of his neighbors. You finances his endeavors primarily through the taxation of his own areas.
Each area has four basic characteristics that influence the outcome of any endeavors involving it. Those characteristics are: religion, language, population and social state level. Of those characteristics, only the social state level will change frequently during the game. The characteristics of each area are marked with counters on the register beneath their names on the map. Finally, one area in each player's empire, designated the player's court area, has special properties.
During the game the social state levels of each player's areas will rise and fall. The social state level of each area may drop as low as negative-three (-3) in the course of play. The social state level of each area may be raised no higher than two levels above each area's respective social state norm.
Empires of the Middle Ages is played in successive game turns. Each game turn, representing 25 years of elapsed time, consists of five rounds. More, at the beginning of each game turn certain special activities are undertaken. A game turn begins directly before the play of a round representing the century, quarter-century, half-century and three-quarter-century marks.
The primary structural unit of the activities in Empires of the Middle Ages is the round. Each round represents the passing of five years. The players begin each round by shuffling the deck of year cards (which includes 108 new event cards) and dealing five of them, face down, to each player. Players may not examine any of their year cards until they turn them face up, one per endeavor, to determine an endeavor's result.
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