Rules Glossary

Resources & Costs

Draw DN — draw N cards

Put N cards from your deck into your hand. e.g. "Draw D3 cards". N may be variable: Draw D~X/2~.

Yield CN — gain N cost resource

Produce N floating mana for this phase (used to pay card costs). e.g. "Rotate: Yield C1" on a mana-rock Encampment. N may be variable: Yield CX.

Costs C N less — cost reduction

Reduce another card's cost to play. Minimum cost floor is C1 (never free from discounts alone). e.g. "For All Players: Silver cards cost C2 less."

Pay CN — spend mana for an effect

Pay N cost resource to trigger an activated ability. e.g. "Pay C2 to play this card at Tactic speed."

Gain H+N / Distribute HN — Power changes

Gain N Power, or split N across multiple Roman Players. Power at 0 + further loss = discard 1 card per point lost. e.g. "gain H+2"; "Distribute H5 any way among Players."

Gain P+N / P−N — Power changes (Roman theme)

Mirrors Power under the Roman vocabulary.

Transfer Power — move from player to player

e.g. "Transfer 2 Power" = you lose 2, another player gains 2.

Boosts (opt-in paid abilities)

After a card is played, any of its "Boost" abilities may be triggered by paying the listed extra cost. Several boost types exist:

• Any-Boost CN — any player may pay CN to activate it.
• Brotherly-Boost CN — only a different Roman Player may activate, paying CN (co-op emphasis).
• Self-Boost CN — only the card's controller.
• Multi-Any-Boost CN / Multi-Brotherly-Boost CN — the same boost can fire more than once.
• Perm-Any-Boost CN — a permanent (Encampment) whose boost stays available every turn.
• Bounce-Back Boost — triggers in response to an opponent's action and is returned / echoes.

Boost costs still obey the C1 floor after discounts. Example: Evaluation: "Any-Boost C4: Draw DX Cards."

Card Play & Manipulation

Search [zone] for a card

Look through the specified zone(s) — Deck, Discard, Cost Zone, Hand — and retrieve a qualifying card. Usually shuffles the source if the Deck was searched. e.g. "Search your Deck for an Encampment and put it into play for free."

Sacrifice — voluntary removal as cost

Move N of your cards from play/hand/Cost Zone to discard as part of paying an effect. e.g. "Sacrifice up to 3 cards of the same color."

Reveal — show a card to all players

Flip hidden cards face-up (hand / Cost Zone / top-of-deck). Usually feeds an X = number of … count. e.g. "Reveal your Cost Zone and Hand."

Play for free — ignore the cost

Put a card into play without paying its mana cost. e.g. "put it into play (without paying the cost)."

Discard AN — forced discard

Discard N cards (from hand or Cost Zone, as specified). e.g. "Discard A1 Card from Play, Hand or Cost Zone."

Copy an effect

Reproduce another card's effect, usually with freshly-chosen targets. e.g. "Copy Tactic. You may change targets."

Rotate / Unrotate / Face state

Rotate (#rot#) — tap for effect

Turn the card sideways to activate an ability or pay a cost. Rotated cards reset (un-rotate) at the start of your next turn. e.g. "C2 Rotate: Gain H+2."

Un-Rotate (#unr#) — untap a tapped card

Return a rotated card to its ready state mid-turn. e.g. "Un-rotate 2 cards in another Player's Cost Zone."

Flip face-up / face-down

Change a Cost Zone card's visibility. Face-up Cost Zone cards are spent first when paying for a play (so face-down cards stay available for reveal-based effects).

Defense & Conflict

Resist CN — negate a ambush

Block an Ambush whose cost ≤ N. Played during Defense Phase. e.g. "Resist any number of Ambushes whose combined cost is ≤ CX."

Break an Encampment

Destroy a Roman or Hannibal's Encampment in play. e.g. "Break an Encampment"; "Break all Hannibal's Encampments."

Resist or Break

Choice between the two options on the same card. e.g. "Resist or Break an Hannibal's Encampment costing C7 or less."

Timing & Phases

Phase windows

• Check — start of turn; trigger ongoing effects.
• Draw — draw Domination+2 cards.
• Cost Zone — put up to 4 cards face-down in your Cost Zone. Tactics can be played before your first placement.
• Hannibal — co-op hannibal auto-runs; PvP hannibal plays here.
• Defense — defend against each ambush. Only Defense and Tactic cards play.
• Main — play Encampments, Domination, Tokens. Rotate field cards for abilities.
• Discard — reduce hand to the hand limit.

Trigger keywords

When this comes into play… — one-shot, fires immediately. At the end of each turn… — recurring trigger at end-of-turn. Next [Turn/Phase/Card] — delayed effect bound to a future moment. During [Phase] — only playable inside that phase.

Conditional Effects

If [X], then [Y] — classic conditional. e.g. "If you played at least 4 green cards this turn, then H+2."

If you did / If you did or don't — checks whether a prior choice was made. e.g. "If you did or don't, all Defense cards cost 1 less for this turn for all players."

Otherwise — the alternate branch of a conditional. e.g. "If X ≥ 3, let X = 3, otherwise let X = 1."

May — optional; the controller chooses whether to perform the action. Mandatory effects lack "may."

Variables (Let X)

Cards frequently introduce a variable X computed from game state, then reference it in a later clause.

• Let X = the number of cards in the Resisted Pile
• Let X = 3 multiplied by (1 + Domination Level)
• Draw D~2 + X~ — dynamic expression.

Permanents & Card Types

• Encampment — stays in play each turn, offering ongoing / activated abilities. Split into Roman Encampment and Hannibal's Encampment.
• Tactic — instant speed; play any phase except the Cost Zone Phase proper (before first placement is allowed).
• Domination — played in Main phase; each resolved Domination raises your Domination Level by 1 (0→3).
• Defense — played only in Defense Phase to block ambushes.
• Token — created mid-game by effects; does not exist in a deck.
• Permanent — any card in play (field Encampments, attached tokens, etc.). Used by effects like "Rotate a Permanent."

Tokens & Attach

Create [Token]

Generate a new token card under your control. Tokens can carry their own abilities. e.g. "Create 3 Resist-6 Tokens under your Control"; "Create a Sacrifice Token."

Attach — affix to another card

Special Tactic/Token that is placed on an existing card and modifies it. e.g. "Attach to an Hannibal's Encampment. Any Player may pay the cost − C1 to remove it."

Remove from Game

Exile the card — does not go to discard, can't be recovered by shuffle-discard-into-deck. e.g. "the next time it would go to Discard, instead remove it from the game."

Domination-Gated Effects

Several cards condition on the controller's Domination Level:

• If you are at Domination Level Zero or One — fires early-game only.
• Domination Level Two or Above — mid-to-late game.
• Let X = 3 × (1 + Domination Level) — effect scales with your progression.

Rules-Text Shorthand

Designers embed these tokens inside rules text; the renderer expands them into icons / words:

• .rh Roman Encampment · .eh Hannibal's Encampment
• .rp / .rps Roman Player(s) · .t Ambush
• .cz Cost Zone · .fup Face-up
• .unc Tactic · .mat Domination
• #rot# Rotate · #unr# Un-rotate

Unique / One-off Effects

A handful of cards introduce mechanics that don't fit the common patterns. Resolve them literally per their text:

• Highest Lowest — "The player with the highest Power may give up to 3 of his or her Power to someone else."
• It is Written — "All Other Roman Players may play a card from their Hand or Cost Zone for free."
• Unpleasant, but Bears Fruit — "All Roman Players may play the top card of their Discard Pile. The next time it would go to Discard, remove it from the game instead."
• Golden Death nor Life — Reveal a card; search your Deck for a same-name copy, or shuffle & draw if none.
• What Shall Separate Us — Another Player draws 2, un-rotates their entire Cost Zone, and gets an extra Main Phase.
• Tacticize — "During this turn, all Roman Players may play cards at Tactic speed."
• Forbidden Calling — "All Players turn the top card of their Deck face up and may play it at Tactic speed for C2 less."
• Clemency for the Lost — Target a Tactic; when played, discard this card instead.
• Battle Shield — Armor token; multiple armor tokens stack for cost discounts.
• Prioritize — Counts tactics played this turn; triggers when the target count is hit.
• Turn Counter — add 1 per turn; at N counters the effect finally triggers.
• Boost Counter — tracks whether a boost has been paid; gates an alternate rules-text clause.

Based on a survey of the canonical deck. For every card's exact rules text grouped by mechanic, see the 📑 Compiled Rule Texts page.