For 4-8 players
These are rules for postal 7 Wonders incorporating Leaders, Cities, Babel and Great Projects expansions. See also:
F2F rules for Babel and Great Projects
These rules describe a game using all four expansions, but you can use any combination. You can omit Babel and/or Great Projects simply by skipping their actions. To play without Leaders, players start with 3 coins instead of 6, and the leader actions are skipped. Without Cities there are no debt tokens and there are less age cards which means you cannot play with 8 players and there are 6 not 7 rounds per age.
The GM should decide in advance which wonders will be used in the game. When players sign up for the game, they are sent details of chosen wonders and asked to supply a preference list (of up to 8) to the GM. All the choices must be different wonders - players can state a preference for the A or B version, which applies if they get that wonder. Players not submitting a preference get a random wonder.
Each player is assigned a wonder card as follows: The players who specified a preference are ordered randomly and each player assigned his highest choice wonder that has not been already assigned to another player. Players taking pot luck are then assigned a random wonder from the remainder.
Seating positions are determined randomly, and published in the zine along with details of the wonders assigned.
The Great Project for Age 1 is also revealed and loaded with 1 participation token per player -1 (with 8 players 6 tokens, not 7 are used). The Babel board is empty.
(4-7 players) Each player receives (by email) 4 leader cards, 3 Babel tiles and
8 turn 1 age cards.
(8 players) Each player receives (by email) 4 leader cards and 3 Babel tiles but
does not get any age cards yet.
The game consists 3 ages each comprising a leader phase followed by 7 rounds of age cards (6 for 8 player game). This takes place over 12 postal turns, as shown in the action table overleaf.
Leader phases:
Leaders can only be played in the first postal turn of each age, before any
age cards are played.
Age cards:
On the postal turns where two age cards are played, for the second card players
should give a first and second choice of card. Conditional orders are not allowed.
Great Projects:
Players must order the purchase of participation tokens as an additional action
following the construction of an age card. Players will know how many tokens are left
at the start of each postal turn. If the stock is exhausted after the first of two
age rounds within a postal turn then token purchase for the second age round will fail.
Babel Tiles:
Players may burn an age card (or a leader card at the start of ages 2 and 3)
to lay a Babel Tile. The Babel board is updated at the end of each postal turn (so
tiles purchased on either of the two age rounds are processed together). The board
holds 4 tiles, unless there are less than 5 players when it has 3 tiles.
New tiles are added to the board in ascending numerical order the oldest tile dropping
off when he board is full.
NMR rules:
Leader selection: random.
Leader playing: burn random leader for 3 coins.
Age card selection: burn random card for 3 coins.
| AGE 1 | Postal Turn 1 | Postal Turn 2 | Postal Turn 3 | Postal Turn 4 |
|
Leaders: Choose 2 leaders, pass 1 left and 1 right. One of the 2 kept leaders may be played*. | Round 2 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. | Round 4 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. | Round 6 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. |
| Babel: Choose 1 tile to keep, pass 1 left and 1 right. | ||||
| Round 1 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. Skip this with 8 players (or without Cities). | Round 3 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference, pass to the left. | Round 5 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference, pass to the left. | Round 7 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference. | |
| AGE 2 | Postal Turn 5 | Postal Turn 6 | Postal Turn 7 | Postal Turn 8 |
|
Leaders: Play* a leader, or do nothing. | Round 2 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the right. | Round 4 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the right. | Round 6 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the right. |
| Round 1 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the right. Skip this with 8 players (or without Cities). | Round 3 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference, pass to the right. | Round 5 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference, pass to the right. | Round 7 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference. | |
| AGE 3 | Postal Turn 9 | Postal Turn 10 | Postal Turn 11 | Postal Turn 12 |
|
Leaders: Play* a leader, or do nothing. | Round 2 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. | Round 4 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. | Round 6 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. |
| Round 1 Age Card: Pick one, pass the rest to the left. Skip this with 8 players (or without Cities). | Round 3 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference, pass to the left. | Round 5 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference, pass to the left. | Round 7 Age Card: Pick two in order of preference. |
Age 1:
For turns 2-4, each player receives (by email) two sets of age 1 cards.
Each set is marked with a round number. Each player's higher numbered deck is the
previous player's lower numbered deck.
End of Age 1: The Great Project for Age 1 is resolved (rewards and penalties)
and the new project for Age 2 revealed. Battles are resolved and any peace tokens
removed afterwards. Unless it's an 8-player game each player receives (by email)
one set of age 2 cards.
Age 2:
For turns 6-8, each player receives (by email) two sets of age 2 cards.
Each set is marked with a round number. Each player's higher numbered deck is the
previous player's lower numbered deck.
End of Age 2: The Great Project for Age 2 is resolved (rewards and penalties)
and the new project for Age 3 revealed. Battles are resolved and any peace tokens
removed afterwards. Unless it's an 8-player game each player receives (by email)
one set of age 3 cards.
Leader and Babel Stock:
Players are reminded of their unused leaders and Babel tiles as part of the age cards email. At the start of the second postal turn these will include 2 newly passed leaders and 2 newly passed Babel tiles (these cannot be conditionally played in postal turn 1, only the kept leaders and Babel tile can be used).
Age 3:
For turns 10-12, each player receives (by email) two sets of age 3 cards.
Each set is marked with a round number. Each player's higher numbered deck is the
previous player's lower numbered deck.
End of Game:
The Great Project for Age 3 is resolved (rewards and penalties).
Battles are resolved. Scores tallied and the winner declared.
Debts:
Cities introduces "debt tokens" (-1VP) to the game and these are acquired when
a player is unable or unwilling to pay coins forfeit as a result of black card being played.
Players should state their policy in their orders:
Default: Always pay coins if possible
Option: Retain x coins (for example if you needed 3 coins for the second round of a postal turn)
Option: Always take debt tokens
Buying Resources:
It is possible during either round of the postal turn that new resources will have become available from neighbours. In the F2F game you can take advantage of these straight away. To simulate this there are three options that players should choose one of:
Default: Buy resources from the cheapest source (random if equal, roll separately for each)
Option: Buy resources from the cheapest source, but favour left / right player if equal
Option: Buy resources from left / right player in preference regardless of cost
Action:
For both rounds within a postal turn you have to choose a card and say whether it will be built, burned or used for wonder construction in your orders. The difference with the later round is that you have to supply a second choice in case your first choice card is taken by the player on your left. For both choices you need to stipulate the action as well as the card.
If for any reason the chosen action cannot be completed, the card is burned for coins.
e.g. Round 3:
1st choice - build Aqueduct (buy 1 stone from Roma for 2 coins)
2nd choice - use Dispensary to construct second wonder stage (all own resources)
Conditional Orders:
In the interests of simplicity conditional orders such as "if Babylon builds
a military card in Round 2, my first choice is to build the Barracks" are not accepted.