Teach the Game

Build Triumphs by moving ships through a mancala-like harbor and trading across four sea routes.

How you win

Earn the most victory points. Your Triumph track sets the value of the ship icons, building icons and Amphoras you collect; Destination tiles, Port effects, Honor cards and complete animal-and-noble sets add more.

The boards

Your Harbor has six segments. Each has a production resource (except Administrate) and an action. Your Asset board shows the ships and Construction discs you have left to build and the icons each exposes. On the main board, four sea routes lead from Ostia through ports and discoveries to Destination tiles.

A turn

1. Select: Choose a Harbor segment containing ships.
2. Produce: Take one resource per ship there, plus one extra per Ponto. Administrate produces none.
3. Act: Pick up those ships and sow them clockwise, one per segment, starting with the next segment. The segment receiving your final ship determines your action. You may Trade during this step as often as you like, paying 3 gold for one resource each time.

The key: produce where you start; act where you stop. Actions are Sail, Build Ships, Deliver, Construct, Purchase and Administrate. Administrate chooses Sail, Build Ships, Deliver or Construct, then sows its ships to create a second action.

How the game ends

Trigger the end by reaching Triumph 12, building your last ship, constructing your last disc, placing your third ship on a Destination, or taking the final Amphora from the supply. Finish the round so players have equal turns; the player to the first player’s right ends the game at the end of their turn.

Ways to score

Triumph multiplies ship/building icons and Amphoras. Add Destination rewards, constructed Port tile effects, 12 points per Public Honor card, 15 for a completed Personal Honor, 12 per full set of Wild Animal + Exotic Animal + Nobleman + Noblewoman, and Patronus endgame effects if used. Most total resources breaks a tie; otherwise share it.

What each resource is for

Permits fund Sail; wood builds ships; wheat fulfills Orders; stone constructs at visited ports; gold buys Port benefits, Honor cards and Trade resources. Each ship produces, but only Corbitas can sail. A Ponto produces an extra resource and stays in your Harbor.

Teaching tips

• Demonstrate the clockwise sowing and last-ship action before listing actions.
• Keep the start segment’s production separate from the ending segment’s action.
• Discoveries are claimed while crossing their link, not by stopping.
• The Mariner edition includes Merchant and Patronus content; Patronus and Personal Honor are optional advanced modules, and solo cannot use either.

Source

• Official Mariner Edition rules, pp. 8–20.