The Action Circle

How a Trajan turn works: sowing action markers round your action circle like mancala, the time marker, Trajan tiles, extra actions and the end of each round.

Overview

The game lasts 4 quarter years of 4 rounds each. A round lasts as long as one lap of the time marker round the time track; players take turns clockwise, and the number of turns in a round varies. Your turn, in order:

1. Rearrange action markers and move the time marker — mandatory.
2. Accomplish a Trajan tile — if you can.
3. Perform one action — optional, plus perhaps an extra action.

The action circle

Your player mat holds a circle of six trays, each tied to one action — clockwise from top left: Seaport, Forum, Military, Senate, Trajan, Construction. Beside each tray is a slot (I–VI) for a Trajan tile. Your 12 action markers — two each of six colours — start two to a tray, as you choose.

Rearrange action markers

1. Choose a tray with at least one marker and take all its markers, saying how many aloud.
2. Sow them one by one into the following trays, clockwise, one per tray — in any colour order you like. With more than six markers, some trays get two.
3. The tray that receives the last marker is your target tray: it decides your action this turn.

Move the time marker

Your right-hand neighbour moves the time marker clockwise as many spaces as markers you took. Big handfuls make the round end sooner; single markers keep it long.

When the marker reaches or passes its start space, the round ends after your turn (End of a round).

Accomplish a Trajan tile

If a Trajan tile lies on the slot beside your target tray and the tray now holds markers of both colours the tile shows (other markers in the tray do not matter, nor how long they have been there), you accomplish it:

1. Take the tile off your mat and score its points.
2. Use its special action if you want (Trajan tiles).
3. Remove the tile from the game — except the demand tiles (bread, games, religion), which you keep on your mat for the rest of the game.

Perform the action

Whether or not you accomplished a Trajan tile, you may now take the action of the target tray. The six actions are on the next page.

Extra action tiles

After your action, you may discard one extra action tile with the same icon to do that action again; with a [+2] marker on that icon, you may do it a third time. The tile leaves the game; the [+2] marker stays. Only one extra action tile per turn — but the bonus action from your first construction tile of a type counts as an action you may repeat this way.

End of a round

When the time marker reaches or crosses its start space, the round ends after the current turn. Reveal a demand tile beside the board. The time marker stays where it is and the next player starts the next round.

When three demand tiles are already out, do not reveal a fourth: the quarter year ends instead.

End of a quarter year

Meeting the people’s demands

Each revealed demand — bread, games, religion — must be met by each player: discard a matching forum tile, or show a Trajan demand tile with that icon (each Trajan tile can meet one demand per quarter and stays on your mat). If you can meet a demand you must. Unmet demands cost:

Your score marker may go behind the start space: each space counts −1.

Balance of power in the senate

Add your votes: your senate track position plus the votes on your senate tiles. The most votes make you consul: take one of the two bonus tiles beside the senate, yellow side up. Second place, the vice consul, takes the other, grey side up. Ties go to the higher senate position, then to the disc higher in the stack.

Then put every disc back on the senate start space, the fewest votes at the bottom and the consul on top.

Remove and refill

1. Remove from the game: forum tiles used for demands, all senate tiles (used or not), and every tile left in the forum, extra action tiles included.
2. Draw 2 new bonus tiles for the senate.
3. Put a new forum tile in every province that has no forum tile, no military leader and no legionnaire.
4. Refill the forum: its forum tile spaces and the 3 extra action spaces.
5. Turn the ship tiles back to their coloured side.
6. Remove the top quarter year tile. After the fourth, the game ends (final scoring).