How To Play: Albion
Learn Albion’s two turn choices, building levels, Pict resolution and the three-settlement victory condition.
Albion is Klaus-Jürgen Wrede’s game of Roman settlement in Britain. Build your economy, move settlers into useful regions and develop three settlements to level IV. One of those settlements must be in a region marked with a laurel.
Setup
Use the rulebook’s setup diagram: starting buildings, resources and Pict tokens depend on player count. Put your settlers and legionnaires in their starting area and keep the building pieces and resources accessible.
Your turn: move and build, or take resources
- Move and build: share your movement-point allowance among your settlers and legionnaires. Then each settler may build or improve one building at its location.
- Take resources: collect what your production buildings provide. You do not move or build on that turn.
Those alternatives create the rhythm of the game. Collecting resources funds future construction, but it also gives opponents a turn to reach desirable regions. Before choosing movement, check what you can afford to build when your settlers arrive.
Building and defending your settlements
Building levels require different resources: one type for level I, two for level II, three for level III and four for level IV. Construction may require tribute to higher buildings. Return the builder to the starting area, reveal a hidden Pict if present, resolve any attack, then activate a successful building.
Check tribute, defence and each building’s effects in the rulebook. During a first teaching game, work through one construction example together, including the builder’s return and any Pict attack, before moving on.
Winning
Completing three level-IV settlements, including one in a laurel-marked region, triggers the end. Finish the round. If multiple players qualify, compare hostile Picts in their settlement regions, then resources in the rulebook’s order.
First-game tips
Plan backwards from the three required settlements. Keep an eye on the laurel region rather than leaving it until last. When planning construction, consider the resources, movement and defence it will need together; reaching a region is only part of completing a settlement.
Rules and further reading
Read our Albion review for a closer look at the game.