Build a Glorious Civilization

The city started as a small village, much of the land untouched. But with time, farmers gathered to the fertile fields, bringing new seeds and hardy herds of livestock. The crops expanded beyond the hills, and soon enough, travelers began to venture along the beaten path. Merchants and skilled craftsmen would wander through, and some would stay and peddle their wares in the flourishing market. As the city grew it began to draw architects and artists of all kinds, transforming into a resplendent center of culture and prosperity.

Hadara is a light civilization building game that utilizes an innovative card selection system. Strategically recruit allies and develop new technologies to grow your civilization’s strength, culture, and prestige to secure a lasting legacy. Grab your copy of Hadara today through our webstore or from your local retailer!

Recruit Artisans to Build Your Civilization

Guide your civilization from its humble beginnings to its greatest heights! Skilled artisans, philosophers, warriors, architects, and more from many different cultures will offer their talents to assist you in your endeavors, but it falls to you to choose the best allies to build your nation. In Hadara, you’ll develop your civilization over the course of three epochs, drafting cards, conquering colonies, and leaving your cultural mark on the world.

As you recruit various artisans, architects, warriors and more, the different types of workers will add to your resources, measured by the tracks for income, military, culture, and food on each player board. In the example below, the player takes a blue card, which increases their culture track by 2 and their food track by 1, in addition to granting them 2 victory points at the end of the game. Blue cards generally add to your culture, but like many of each card type, they can also affect other tracks.

Merchants will provide you with more gold to purchase more cards, while additional warriors will strengthen your military to take more valuable colonies. Farmers will increase your food production, and therefore your capacity for more recruits, while artists will add culture to your civilization to produce more beautiful statues.

Besides increasing the various resources you’ll need, some cards will aid you by multiplying the benefits of others. Plus, for every card you already have of a particular color, you’ll pay one fewer coin for future cards of that color. Balance your strategy to support all parts of your civilization through each epoch!

Making History

As your civilization grows, you’ll be faced with countless choices. Will you bolster your military in the hopes of securing a new colony? Perhaps you’ll recruit a talented musician to enhance your nation’s culture, or employ a farmer to support the rest of your population from age to age. Every epoch, you’ll move through two phases of drafting cards before resolving all the effects of that era’s decisions.

At the beginning of Phase A, one designated player sets the starting orientation of the central wheel on the main board. The five icons on the wheel—the monkey, scarab, pegasus, dragon, and lion—correspond to the five player boards, and each player will draft cards from the deck their icon points to. The wheel’s starting position could affect your selections in each epoch, possibly changing your strategy of who to recruit, so be mindful of where the wheel begins and what opportunities might come your way.

After the wheel has been set, players simultaneously draw two cards from the decks aligned with their respective icons. You’ll then choose one card, either to buy and add to your civilization or to sell for coins instead. The card not selected goes to the discard pile on the board faceup, and the wheel turns one step clockwise. Then, draw two cards from the next pile, select one to buy or sell, and so on, until there are no facedown cards left on the board.

As you pay the costs to add cards to your civilization you may run low on income, eventually forcing you to sell the next card you draft. Selling a card will give you a set amount of coins—2 coins for the first epoch, 3 coins for the second, and 4 coins for the third—and will also remove it from the game. You may simply need the coins for your next draft, but perhaps you'll sell a card just to keep it out of your opponents' hands!

At the end of Phase A, you’ll receive coins for your income track, take a colony if your military is high enough, and possibly carve a statue depending on how you’ve developed your nation’s culture. For instance, the first colony requires a military strength of 3, so a player with 3 or more on their military track can take the colony and choose to plunder or integrate it. Plundering will give you an immediate payout in coins, but it may be worth it to integrate it instead—integrating a colony will cost you, but can reward you with additional bonuses to your tracks.

Similarly, as your civilization’s culture develops, you can choose to build prized statues that will earn you points at the end of the game. As you accumulate resources, you’ll be able to acquire colonies and statues worth progressively more victory points, so they will be key to maximizing your civilization’s potential and securing your place in history.

Once each step has been resolved, play moves to the next phase. You’ll also draft cards in Phase B, but this time, players will take turns selecting a single faceup card from any of the five discard piles on the board. Like in the previous phase, decide whether to pay the cost of the card to add it to your civilization or to sell it. Whether you take the best card for yourself or grab a card an opponent might want just to remove it from play, make the best selection to ensure your civilization outrivals the rest!

A Lasting Legacy

Make careful choices as your civilization grows—any empire can fall if it doesn’t take care of its people. At the end of Phase B, you’ll again receive income, take a colony based on military strength, and potentially carve a statue, but this time you’ll also have to feed your people and sustain your nation through another epoch.

If your food track meets or exceeds your total number of cards, well done! You’ve fed your population and your civilization can proceed boldly into a new era of growth. However, if your food track falls short, you’ll have to discard cards one at a time until you can feed everyone. When you remove a card, you’ll also have to decrease the affected tracks by the value printed on the card. Make sure to feed your people or risk damaging your progress!

What sort of glorious civilization will you create? Recruit the right allies, sustain them, and guide your civilization to greatness in Hadara!