Concordia Venus Card Display Area

Game Setup Line

smith

Produce tools
in all your

br icks
tools
Lines connect
1. Distribute city tokens all cities: brown
lines for land
1. The 30 city tokens are shuffled well and displayed on the game
colonists, and

diplom at
board with their alphabetical characters face up. (As HELLAS

discard pile .
personality
top face Up

card in his
opponent 's
Use an
blue lines for

tools
does not contain cities with the character “D”, that city tokens
sea colonists.
are taken out of the game.)
Each line can be
2. The city tokens are randomly assigned to the cities on the board occupied by only

MERCATOR
according to their characters.

2 TYPES OF GOODS.
AND TRADE UP TO
TAKE 5 SESTERTII
one colonist at a

W INE
3. The tokens are flipped so that their type of goods becomes time.
visible.
Provinces

fa r m e r

Produce food
in all your
2. Assign bonus markers

br icks
food
Cyclades is one
For every province the most valuable type of goods is identified. of 10 provinces.
The value of cloth is 7 sestertii, of wine 6, of tools 5, of food 4, and Each province
has 2 or 3 cities.

COLONIST
of bricks 3. A bonus marker of that type is assigned to the respective

5 SESTERTII PLUS
1 PER COLONIST.
COLONISTS IN
YOUR CITIES ,
BUILD NEW
(Other boards

OR, TAKE

FOOD
province inside the bonus marker section (small map in the corner

EACH FOR :
of the game board). contain up to 12
provinces)
In this example the provinces of Euboea and Sporades already have

ArcHitect
face up city tokens. As the most valuable good in Euboea is tools,

pr efec t

PrefeCt or
A rChiteCt.
Choose

w ine
and in Sporades cloth, both provinces receive the appropriate bonus Game Flow
marker of those two types. The other provinces are treated in the
A player’s turn
same manner as well.
consists of
ARCHITECT

THEN BUILD IN CITIES

playing 1 card

ADJACENT TO YOUR
MOVE YOUR

COLONISTS.
COLONISTS

TOOLS
3. Prepare the stack of cards from their hand
and executing
1. Two variants: The individual game the related
(2 to 5 players) requires the 30 actions.
cards marked on their back with a
column, whereas the team play (4
or 6 players) requires the 30 cards 4. Start Player 6. Player Setup hand, which are marked on the
marked on their back by the double Column: Double Circle: The start player is determined randomly. Each player (here: yellow) places back by a column. The start player
circle. individual team play The Praefectus Magnus is assigned to their scoring marker onto the receives 5 sestertii, the 2nd player 6
game the last player in player order. scoring track at Zero and one sestertii etc. as their starting money.
2. The 30 cards for sale are arranged
land and one sea colonist into the If the team play variant is played,
according to
capital city. If the team play variant they take the 7 starting cards
their Roman 5. Only for the team play variant is played, the second partner of marked by the double circle
numeral on the All establish teams of 2 players each and each team places their starting 1 tool. Now 10 of the 12 storage respectively, but put one of them
back (I-V). take their seats opposite to each other. colonists in a city free of choice, spaces are occupied. back to the box so
3. Cards with a The start player receives the orange but not directly adjacent to the that each player 6
They take the 15
numeral bigger than the number of players marker for the turn order. capital city. (In case the chosen city starts only with
wooden houses
are taken out of the game (for instance, In the following example for 6 players, is only connected by land or sea 6 cards: The 1st
of their color into
with 3 players take out cards with IV and players 1 and 4 are the first team, players lines, both starting colonists match partner inside a team
their supply along
V). The other cards are sorted by numeral 2 and 5 the that situation, here displayed for the ditches the Diplomat, and the 2nd
with a player aid.
and shuffled well. Finally the cards form one second 1 2 red player). partner ditches the Architect. Both
complete face down stack: the I cards on team, and partners of the 1st team start with 5
In addition, all players place their sestertii each, both partners of the
top, beneath them the II cards, etc. players 3 If the individual
other 4 colonists each into 4 storage 2nd team start with 6 sestertii each,
and 6 are 6 game variant is
4. The top 7 cards from stack are displayed 3 spaces inside their storehouses as 8 and if there is a 3rd team, those
the third played, they take
face up inside the display area. The well as 6 units of goods: partners start with 7 sestertii each.
team. their 8 starting
remaining stack is put near the card display area, along with 2 food, 1 cloth, 1 wine, 1 brick, and cards into their
the Concordia Card. 5 4
On the development of Concordia Venus Team play and Concordia Salsa / Gallia
The idea of playing Concordia in teams of two partners each Team Play and Concordia Salsa
came originally from Frank Lamprecht after the Essen fair in If the Forum cards from Concordia Salsa are used by teams within a
Example: Both partners take back 5 cards each.
Together they now can spend a sum of up to
2017. Venus, the goddess of love and intimacy, requires that game of Venus, the following is important: 10 to acquire new Forum cards. They now have
you not only think of yourself, but also for the needs of your 1. Forum cards can only be used by their respective owner, not by their 3 options:
partner. In this way Concordia gains a very special depth and partner. a) Both partners take one of the first 2 cards from the
dynamic. During our playtesting sessions it was often the case 2. If one is short of sestertii to use a Forum card properly, the partner’s Forum (spending 4+6=10).
b) Only one partner takes a Forum card. (If the partner
that our partner surprisingly presented new opportunities which cash is available as well.
takes the 3rd or 4th Forum card, spending 8 or 10,
hadn’t been considered so far. The constant interaction between 3. When the Tribune card is played, both partners may take a new Forum the other partner cannot take any Forum card,
card. They sum up the number of cards taken back into both hands,
partners creates joy and emotion. It is very important to pursue because that would require a shared number of more
and then may freely allocate that shared number to both of them. than 10.)
the same ideas, and collective harmony between partners often
The Forum is only replenished after the team has completed its turns. c) Neither player takes a Forum card.
is the key for success. In addition, Venus allows for a 6th player,
keeping downtime within reason because each card played is Team Play and Concordia Gallia
significant for 2 players at the same time. The second partner within each team is the one who chooses their starting city freely, but not directly adjacent to the
capital city. As usual in a game of Gallia, only the land colonist is placed, but the sea colonist has to wait for duty in the
The other variant of Concordia Venus, where each player plays Mediterranean Sea.
individually, offers new opportunities and challenges as well.
The MAGISTER allows for new combinations of turns, whereas Concordia Base game
the goddess VENUS opens up new strategies to follow. New The personality cards of Concordia Venus may also be used to play a game of “Concordia“. The necessary cards are included
geographic scenarios round out the game. It is important to and have to be arranged as follows:
note that IONIUM is a flexible board, which works excellently 1. First, include all the cards marked with a
column.
with 2 or 3 players if its 3 Italian provinces are omitted.
pr efec t PR EFEC T ARCHitECt ARCHITECT pr efec t MERCATOR ARCHitECt ARCHITECT
ArcHitect MERCAtoR Mercator MERCAtoR
TURN OVER ONE ACTIVE MOVE YOUR MOVE YOUR
TAKE 5 SESTERTII

2. Next, replace all 4 cards for sale that feature

PROVINCE TILE TO TAKE
COLONISTS AND TRADE UP TO COLONISTS
Choose
THE PRODUCTION BONUS , Choose Choose Choose
2 TYPES OF GOODS.

Concordia Venus was tested very intensively by, among

AND THEN THE PROVINCE
PrefeCt or PRODUCES .
A rChiteCt or Prefekt or A rChiteCt or
A rChiteCt. MerCAtor. MerCator. MerCAtor.

the goddess “Venus“ by the

OR , REACTIVATE ALL PROVINCE THEN BUILD IN CITIES THEN BUILD IN CITIES
TILES TO TAKE THE COINS AS A ADJACENT TO YOUR ADJACENT TO YOUR
CASH BONUS . COLONISTS. COLONISTS.

others, Stephan Borowski, Thomas Mumm, Rüdiger Kuntze,

w ine W INE tools TOOLS w ine W INE tools TOOLS

cards which do not show

Frank Lamprecht, Claudia Barmbold, and Peter Dörsam. either a column or a double m ason

Other important playtesters were Heike and Michael Lopez, circle. Produce bricks
in all your
Magister

Nick Case from England, and Pietro Cremona from Italy. 3. The Mason is shuffled inside food
Use yoUr own
top face Up
personality card

stack I instead of stack II.

once again

The prototype was also warmly welcomed at the events of

(not senator).

Spielkultur Hamburg, Olafs Spieletreff in Wedel, Hamburger 4. No player uses their Magister card – put it back in the game box.
Fest der Spiele, Hamburger Spieletage, BRETT Hamburg in overview of Venus starting cards
Rahlstedt, Bremer Spieletage, LeiriaCon in Portugal, and
PlayModena in Italy. Mark Bigney readily helped swiftly as Individual Play
ever with English translations. Dominik Mayer illustrated the ARCHITECT diplom at MERCATOR PR EFEC T PR EFEC T SEN ATOR T R IBUNE Magister

cover, and Marina Fahrenbach drew the new game boards.

Use an TURN OVER ONE ACTIVE TURN OVER ONE ACTIVE TAKE BACK ALL YOUR
MOVE YOUR TAKE 3 SESTERTII PERSONALITY CARDS
PROVINCE TILE TO TAKE PROVINCE TILE TO TAKE
COLONISTS opponent 's AND TRADE UP TO THE PRODUCTION BONUS , THE PRODUCTION BONUS , AND GAIN 1 SESTERTIUS Use yoUr own
top face Up 2 TYPES OF GOODS. AND THEN THE PROVINCE AND THEN THE PROVINCE FOR EACH CARD TAKEN top face Up
PRODUCES . PRODUCES . 3. INCLUDE
personality PURCHASE UP TO IN EXCESS OF
THE TRIBUNE IN THE COUNT.
personality card
card in his 2 NEW PERSONALITY once again

Without those many helpers, which cannot be all mentioned,

THEN BUILD IN CITIES OR , REACTIVATE ALL PROVINCE OR , REACTIVATE ALL PROVINCE IN ADDITION YOU CAN BUILD
discard pile . CARDS AND PUT THEM (not senator).
ADJACENT TO YOUR TILES TO TAKE THE COINS AS A TILES TO TAKE THE COINS AS A 1 COLONIST IN THE
COLONISTS. CASH BONUS . CASH BONUS . INTO YOUR HAND. CAPITAL CITY FOR :

Concordia Venus would not have come alive. That was great
team play, thank you all so much for this! 1st partner Team Play 2nd partner
Hamburg, October 2018 ARCHITECT MERCATOR PR EFEC T PR ÆTOR T R IBUNE LEGAT US diplom at MERCATOR PR EFEC T PR ÆTOR T R IBUNE LEGAT US

PURCHASE TAKE BACK ALL YOUR PURCHASE TAKE BACK ALL YOUR

Mac Gerdts
MOVE YOUR TAKE 3 SESTERTII TURN OVER ONE ACTIVE Your partner Use an TAKE 3 SESTERTII TURN OVER ONE ACTIVE Your partner
PROVINCE TILE TO TAKE 1 NEW PERSONALITY CARDS
plaYs a card.
PROVINCE TILE TO TAKE 1 NEW PERSONALITY CARDS
plaYs a card.
COLONISTS AND TRADE UP TO THE PRODUCTION BONUS , AND GAIN 1 SESTERTIUS opponent 's AND TRADE UP TO THE PRODUCTION BONUS , AND GAIN 1 SESTERTIUS
PERSONALITY Before, You can PERSONALITY Before, You can
2 TYPES OF GOODS. AND THEN THE PROVINCE FOR EACH CARD TAKEN top face Up 2 TYPES OF GOODS. AND THEN THE PROVINCE FOR EACH CARD TAKEN
PRODUCES .
CARD AND PUT IT IN EXCESS OF 3. INCLUDE inspect his cards and PRODUCES .
CARD AND PUT IT IN EXCESS OF 3. INCLUDE inspect his cards and
personality
INTO YOUR HAND. THE TRIBUNE IN THE COUNT. recommend one . INTO YOUR HAND. THE TRIBUNE IN THE COUNT. recommend one .
card in his
THEN BUILD IN CITIES OR , REACTIVATE ALL PROVINCE R EPLENISH THE DISPLAY IN ADDITION YOU CAN BUILD OR , REACTIVATE ALL PROVINCE R EPLENISH THE DISPLAY IN ADDITION YOU CAN BUILD
discard pile .
ADJACENT TO YOUR TILES TO TAKE THE COINS AS A ONLY AFTER YOUR 1 COLONIST IN THE TILES TO TAKE THE COINS AS A ONLY AFTER YOUR 1 COLONIST IN THE
COLONISTS. CASH BONUS .
PARTNER’S PURCHASE .
CAPITAL CITY FOR : CASH BONUS .
PARTNER’S PURCHASE .
CAPITAL CITY FOR :