Spotlight on Games > War Games > Print and Play > Republic of Carthage
Republic of Carthage
Rules of Play Version 1.8 February 8, 2007
Copyright (C) 1994-2007 Richard M. Heli
Contents:
  1. Introduction
  2. Components
  3. Sequence of Play
  4. Prepare to Play
  5. Mortality Phase
  6. Revenue Phase
  7. Trade Phase
  8. Forum Phase
  9. Senate Phase
  10. Exploration and Combat Phase.
  11. Revolution Phase
  12. Victory Conditions
  13. Charts and Tables
  14. Optional Assassination Rule Variant
Appendices:
  1. Component Descriptions
  2. Combining this game with Republic of Rome
  3. Designer's Notes
  4. Timeline of Carthaginian History
  5. Bibliography

1. Introduction
Republic of Carthage reflects the events of approximately 350 years in the life of the Carthaginan Republic.
All rules from Republic of Rome are intact except where specifically modified by these rules.

2. Components

3. Sequence of Play

4. Prepare to Play

  1. Shuffle the Senators in the First Deck and deal 3 to each player.
  2. Shuffle the Early Republic Deck red cards and deal 3 to each player, face down.
  3. Each faction receives one trader, the owning player deciding which Senator receives it.
  4. Each player should designate one senator as Faction Leader.
  5. The Senator with the lowest ID# is the Temporary Home Suffete.
    The Senator with the next to lowest ID# becomes Governor of Coastal Spain.
    The Senator with the third lowest ID# after that becomes Governor of Sardinia-Corsica.
    The owning players may decide the length of terms remaining.
  6. Shuffle the 5 Committee Memberships and randomly deal one to each player to be assigned to a senator in the respective factions. Any Committee Memberships not assigned should be placed in the Forum. If there are 6 players, deal a Committee Membership to each faction except for the one receiving the Temporary Home Suffete. Each is assigned a remaining term length as follows:
    • State Treasurer: 1 turn remaining
    • Supervisor of Public Buildings: 1 turn remaining
    • Harbor Master: 2 turns remaining
    • Overseer of the Agora: 2 turns remaining
    • Censor of Morals: 3 turns remaining
  7. The Conquest of Tunisia War Card is present in the Forum and Inactive.
  8. The State Treasury has 100 talents.
  9. The Tax Rate level is set at 10%.
  10. Two Carthaginian legions are placed in the Active Forces box.
  11. Two Balearic Slingers, 4 Celtiberians, 3 Campanian Swordsmen and all Fleets are placed off board and form the starting Force Pool.
  12. The Trade Goods cards are arranged by number into nine stacks. Remove (randomly) the following cards from what is available in the following stacks:
    • From 1's stack: 1 card
    • From 2's stack: 1 card
    • From 3's stack: 2 cards
    • From 4's stack: 4 cards
    • From 6's stack: 3 cards
    • From 8's stack: 2 cards
    • From 9's stack: 3 cards

5. Mortality Phase
5.1 Note that in addition to losing other markers, Senators who die also lose any Traders, Warehouses and Committee Membership. Exception: faction leaders whose family cards remain in play retain all Warehouses.

6. Revenue Phase
6.1 As there are no Knights, there is no income from Knights.
6.2 Each active war costs the the state 20T per turn. In addition to other maintenance fees, the State Treasury must pay 1T per every 5 trade fleets or fraction thereof and 1T per every 5 caravans or fraction thereof.
6.3 Each member of the Committee of Five may roll 1 die during the Revenue Phase and collect that number of talents from the State Treasury. As this is an prosecutable offense, flip over the Term marker on the office as a reminder for later in the turn.

7. Trade Phase
Note: some of these rules may yet be a bit rough. Feel free to ask questions. For those who know the game, the acquisition and trade of cards is quite similar to that of Civilization.

7.1 Acquire Trade Cards.
7.1.1 During the Trade Phase, each player draws trade cards from as many stacks as he has traders in play.
7.1.2 The player with the fewest traders draws first, followed by the others in ascending order. If there are ties, let the HRAO player go first, followed by the player to his left, and so on.
7.1.3 Trade cards are always collected by the same method. One card is drawn from the top of each stack (progressing from stack one) until the player has drawn from the stack equivalent to the number of his traders. Therefore a player with three traders would draw one card from stacks one, two and three.
7.1.4 If a stack is empty, the player is not entitled to replace the lost card with one from another stack; he must simply forego that particular card.
7.1.5 Extra trade goods are received for ownership of played Trade Concessions. These benefits are described on the Trade Concession cards.
7.2 Trade.
7.2.1 During the simultaneous trade phase, only trade goods may be exchanged. Trade of other items such as Intrigue Cards and Talents may be promised, but these items may not change hands until the Revolution and the Revenue Phases, respectively.
7.2.2 Each player offers a trade of at least three cards, quotes their total point value and names at least one commodity included. This information must be correct. Any other information verbally revealed in an offer, whether volunteered or sought, need not be correct. Trade cards in a player's hand can never be shown to other players.
7.2.3 Any one trading deal may involve two players only.
7.3 Selling Trade Goods.
7.3.1 In Turn Order, players turn in Trade Goods to acquire talents. Each Trade Goods card alone is worth the large number printed on the card. When more than one card of the same commodity is turned in, however, the value is greatly increased. To determine the value, square the number of cards held and multiply the result by the commodity value. For ease of play, the values of sets are given on the cards themselves.
7.3.2 Each player now pays taxes on the revenue received according to the current tax rate. Fractional amounts are rounded up. For example, if the player turned in 21T worth of Trade Goods and the tax rate were 10%, the player would pay 21 x .10 = 2.1 which is rounded up to 3T. Taxes paid increase the State Treasury.
7.3.3 The Senator currently in the position of Overseer of the Agora receives extra income based on the number of Trade Good cards turned in during the current turn. (See the card text for details.) This amount is not subject to tax.
7.3.4 Then all cards which have been turned in are returned to the appropriate trade stacks. When cards are returned to stacks which contain more than one type of commodity, these stacks are immediately re-shuffled.
7.4 Warehouses.
7.4.1 Trade Goods not turned in may be saved up to the limit of the number of traders belonging to that faction. This is known as Warehousing.
7.4.2 Any cards beyond this must be discarded and returned to the appropriate stacks. That is, "1" cards are returned to the "1" stack, "2" cards to the "2" stack, etc.
7.4.3 This limit is applied at the end of the Trade Phase only.
7.4 Distribution.
7.4.1 Players may distribute their Trade income as they see fit among their Senators, but may not re-distribute the Talents allocated during the Revenue Phase.
7.5 Trade Stack Changes.
7.5.1 Various events and cards specify halving and doubling the number of trade cards. When this is required, it should first be determined how many cards of the specified stack are in play. This can be directly calculated by consulting the rules above under Components and subtracting from the number of cards currently not in play.
7.5.2 When dividing by two, the number kept available should be rounded up unless otherwise stated. If there are insufficient cards in the stack to put aside the number required, remove additional cards as they are returned to the stacks. (Players may wish to place a card crosswise on the stack to as a reminder.)
7.5.3 When adding to or doubling cards in a stack, if there are insufficient cards not in play to fully add or double, simply add all the remaining cards.
7.5.4 When War cards specify that cards are removed when the war becomes active, these cards are returned to the stack when the war is over. If the war is lost, it may result in the card going away again, as specified on the War card.

8. Forum Phase
8.1 Senators attract Traders rather than Knights. The procedure is slightly different in that two dice are rolled and the result, which may be modified by gold, must equal 12 or more. There is no limit on the number of traders a Senator may accumulate. Unlike Knights, Traders do not provide extra votes.
8.2 There are no Games.
8.3 In terms of the Barbarian Raids event, the provinces of Tunisia, Sicily and Sardinia are safe from such raids.

9. Senate Phase
Note: the office of Suffete (Home Suffete and Marine Suffete) is similar to that of Consul (Rome Consul and Field Consul). No longer in use are the speech, land bills and concessions. Added are the Committee of Five, Explorations, the Force Pool, Taxation and the deliberate Losing of Wars.

9.1 Elections: Two Suffete candidates are nominated by the Home Suffete. Eligible candidates for Suffete and any other office in Carthage must be present in Carthage and not holders of any other office (i.e. Suffete, General, Explorer, Committee Member, Governor).
9.11 The Suffetes must decide which will be Home Suffete and which Marine Suffete. If they cannot agree, resolve with DR. The Home Suffete presides over the Senate. The Marine Suffete must be sent to war before the Home Suffete may be sent to war.
9.2 Committee of Five. Any vacancies in the Committee of Five must be filled. The Home Suffete proposes candidates from among Senators currently in Carthage not holding other office which are voted upon by the full Senate. Committee Membership is for 3 turns (exception, see
4. Prepare to Play) and expire during the Senate Phase, just after Suffetes are elected. Each election to the Committee gains 3 Influence for the office holder. Committee Members may accept a new membership in the same turn in which they have previously left office, but Members cannot be compelled to do so.
9.3 Prosecutions: Prosecutions are conducted by the Censor of Public Morals. He may perform one major or two minor prosecutions of a Senator in Carthage each turn. A consenting Senator in Carthage must assume the position of prosecutor just as in Republic of Rome. The only prosecutable major offenses are holding the offices of Home Suffete, Marine Suffete, General or Explorer. The accused must have held the office in the previous turn.
9.3.1 Prosecutable minor offenses are for being a corrupt Governor or corrupt Committee Member at any point during their terms. Unlike Governors, corrupt Committee Members may be prosecuted while still in office. If such a prosecution is successful, the Committee Member loses his post.
9.4 Governors: Following committee appointments, the HRAO proposes Governorships for any provinces which are currently unassigned.
9.5 Other Proposals: Following the election of Governors, the HRAO may make other proposals, including the assignment of any unowned Trade Concessions currently in the Forum.
9.5.1 If the HRAO should leave Carthage, the Senate is automatically adjourned.
9.5.2 There are no landbills or concessions.
9.5.3 Exploration: The Senate may fund and authorize expeditions for exploration. Exploration opportunities are in the form of cards which appear from the Deck. Each Exploration requires an Explorer – a Senator – and a number of caravans or fleets. Appointment as Explorer provides 3 Influence to the Senator. On the Exploration, the number to the left of the slash is the number of Caravans and the number to the right is the number of Trade Fleets. Caravans and Trade Fleets cost 1T each and are subject to cost increase due to Manpower Shortages or No Recruitment. Although the Senate may choose to send multiple expeditions to pursue the same opportunity for Exploration, expeditions may never be reinforced or recalled. When an exploration is successfully completed any other expeditions currently pursuing the same destination which are not Lost are automatically returned to Carthage at the and of Exploration and Combat Phase.
9.5.4 Losing Wars. The Senate may vote to sue for peace with respect to a particular Active War. This has the effect of removing the Active War and will not count as one of four Active Wars which, if they exist at the end of the turn, cause the fall of Carthage. Instead the War is considered Lost. Lost Wars cost 25T to the Treasury each turn. Lost War status is permanent. If at the end of any game turn there are four or more Lost Wars, Carthage falls and the game ends in a loss for all players. Leaders associated with Lost Wars for which there are no currently matching Wars in the Forum become Inactive.
9.5.5 Force Pool. Recruiting of legions is restricted by the Force Pool. The Force Pool is the set of legions currently available for recruiting and is kept offmap. The Force Pool is modified from time to time by the appearance of new wars and victory in certain wars. Legions which desert lose their Veteran status and commander loyalty. Consult the Recruiting Table to determine which legion types are currently available and to find costs of each type. Note in addition that use of the Sikels and Gallic Swordsmen is limited to certain wars.
9.5.6 Taxation. The Senate may vote to change the Tax Rate once per turn. The rate percentage must be a non-negative multiple of 10 less than or equal to 100 and may only be increased or decreased by 10% each turn, e.g. if the current tax rate is 40%, the Senate could vote to increase taxes to 50% or to decrease taxes to 30%. Each proposal to increase the tax rate must name a sponsor and co-sponsor as specified by the proposer. A proposal which succeeds in raising the tax rate gains 3 Popularity for the sponsor and 1 Popularity for the co-sponsor. Each senator voting against a tax rate increase proposal loses 1 Popularity. Each senator voting for a tax rate decrease also loses 1 Popularity. No Senator in Carthage may abstain from a tax rate proposal. If the sponsors of a tax rate increase come from the same faction, both may be subject to a major prosecution on the succeeding Prosecution Phase (in addition to normal prosecutions).
9.5.7 Crisis. If at the start of the Senate Phase, Carthage is in Crisis, two commanders may be elected to jointly prosecute the same war. Both commanders' military ratings are added together when determining the Combat Table result. Prior to the Separation of Powers Law, at least one of the commanders must be a Suffete. The other commander may be any Senator currently in Carthage who is thus elected to the position of General, for which he gains 3 Influence.

10. Exploration and Combat Phase
10.1 Explorations: Any Exploration which the Senate has attempted is resolved. The Explorer player makes a TDR, adding his Exploration Rating and subtracting 1 for each 5 fleets or caravans or fraction thereof that his expedition is short of the numbers printed on the Exploration card. He checks the total against the
Exploration Table and applies the results immediately. An exception is if the unmodified TDR matches the Disaster number printed on the Exploration card. In this case, ignore the Table result and instead make a DR and lose this number of fleets/caravans. In addition, the Explorer should draw a Mortality Chit for every 5 fleets/caravans or fraction thereof which are lost. Should the Explorer die, the remaining fleets/caravans are immediately returned to Carthage for later re-use. (Use the State Treasury tracks to indicate the number of fleets or caravans currently allocated to an expedition.)
10.1.1 Losses. Whenever the Exploration Table calls for losses of fleets or caravans, the Explorer should draw a number of Mortality Chits for every 5 fleets/caravans or fraction thereof which are lost. Should the Explorer die, the remaining fleets/caravans are immediately returned to Carthage for later re-use.
10.1.2 Success. A result of Success means that the Explorer and all participating fleets/caravans are immediately returned to Carthage. The successful Explorer receives additional Influence and Popularity equal to the difficulty of the exploration as expressed in fleets/caravans on the Exploration card, divided by ten. The Exploration card indicates which areas are now opened for trade. The trade goods listed on the Trade Goods Chart for those areas placed immediately.
10.1.3 Lost. Expeditions which become lost must roll for losses as indicated on the Exploration Table and make a TDR on the Exploration Table again on the next turn.
10.1.4 Raiders. The Expedition makes a loss roll as indicated on the Exploration Table. It may then continue the expedition or return immediately to Carthage at the discretion of the expedition's Senator.
10.1.5 If there are any unsuccessful expeditions which had their exploration successfully completed by another expedition, return the expedition to Carthage at this time. An exception is an expedition which is Lost – it must consult the Exploration Table again on each turn until it achieves a result other than Lost.
10.2 War. Prosecution of Wars is resolved on the Combat Table. A war's strength is doubled if a matching war is active, tripled if two matching wars are active. One Veteran Legion is created as a result of each Victory, Standoff or Stalemate. The legion which becomes veteran should be chosen by random draw among all eligible legions participating. The allegiance of the veteran legion in the case of two commanders of a single force is to the Senator having the higher Popularity. Resolve ties by DR. Popularity and Influence gained from the war in this case is shared evenly between the Senators (fractions rounded up).

11. Revolution Phase
11.1 Commanders who participated in a War this turn and were not victorious and Commanders who returned to Carthage during the Senate Phase and were not victorious in the previous turn now consult the
Public Reaction Table.
11.2 Play, trade or discard excess Intrigue Cards. Entering Statesmen may be played now.
11.2.1 Statesmen #2A and #2B may both be in play at the same time. If one is a member of a faction, no other faction may play the other. If both are in play, use a DR to determine which is affected by Mortality Chit draws and to determine which statesman receives the family card should it appear in the Forum. If the holder of the family card dies and the other statesman is in play, the family card moves under the still-living statesman, even if the family card is the faction leader.
11.2.2 Statesmen #3A and #3B may not be in play at the same time.
11.3 Returning victorious commanders may rebel. Consult the Legion Allegiance Table. If two commanders were sent with a single force and either or both wish to rebel, the commander with the larger force is the rebel. Each legion joins the commander who bribes the larger amount for that legion. Roll a die to decide ties in each case.

12. Victory Conditions
12.1 Victory conditions are the same as for Republic of Rome.

13. OPTIONAL ASSASSINATION RULE VARIANT
The Republic of Rome assassination rules have the drawback that they are all or nothing, either the assassin gets away with the deed or is caught, rarely is there anything in between. Another difficulty is that the rule whereby the Faction Leader must stand for trial is never used since players simply avoid it by using the Faction Leader as the Assassin. Thus, players may wish to ignore the existing Assassination rules and adopt the following instead.
13.1 A player attempting an assassination rolls one colored and one white die. Both are modified by Evil Omens if any exist. An assassination is successful if the colored dr is 5-6. An assassin is caught if the white dr is 1-3.
13.1.1 Caught assassins are killed. In addition, every senator in the assassin's faction loses 5 Influence and 1 Popularity.
13.1.2 Secret Bodyguard cards subtract 1 from both the colored and white dr's s well as triggering an additional white dr to see whether the assassin is caught.
13.1.3 Assassin cards add 1 to both the colored and white dr's as well as adding 1 to any additional Secret Bodyguard rolls.
13.1.4 There is no special prosecution of the Faction Leader.


spotlightongames.com