FAQ for Age of Empires

1.
What happens when a building gets
destroyed? When a building is destroyed, it is placed in
the discard pile. A building card may be snuffed by the cardowner
if they destroy it (see question 12), or during the discard phase.

2.
If villagers are used to initiate attack,
can they be reallocated during the allocation phase? Yes.
All villagers are to be removed from the village and placed in the villager
pool before allocation is performed.

3.
What happens to a unit if it dies? If
a unit dies, it is placed in the discard pile. Any card may be snuffed by the cardowner during the discard phase.

4.
How many tokens must go on a unit card when
it comes into play? There must be at least one token placed on
a unit card when it comes in to play. The resource cost listed on the card is
the cost for each token.

5.
Are villagers considered units? Villagers
are not considered units. They may not retreat, fast respond, move during
movement phase or enter another player’s village. They can defend the
building that they are on if it is being attacked, and attack an enemy unit
that is still on a building that they are on if it is their attack phase.

6.
Can a monk convert a War Elephant? No.
Monks cannot target any card that has the text “one token per card”
for a conversion attempt.

7.
How do walls work with units passing
through them? If a unit is on a wall, the unit may defend the
wall. The unit may not move through the wall to move to another player’s
village without going to an eligible fringe building first. If your whole
fringe is made up of walls, (with no gates,) then you may not move to another
player’s village.

8.
When do event card effects take place? Event
card effects take place immediately, unless otherwise stated.

9.
How many copies of an event may I play in a
turn? You may play as many events or copies of one
event as you want, unless otherwise stated on the card, with the universal
limit of five copies of any one card.

10.  Are
event card effects cumulative? Yes. Most event card effects are
cumulative. See question # 41 for a list of the exceptions.

11.  Are
technologies cumulative, and can I research more than one copy of a technology?
No. Technologies are not cumulative. You may only have one
copy per player of a technology or upgrade in play.

12.  Can
I destroy my own building? Yes. If you destroy your own building to
make room for another one, you have the choice of putting it in the discard
pile or the snuffed pile. Destroying your own building may only be done during
your construction phase.

13.  What
happens to my unit when I destroy a building? If your unit has
just destroyed a building in an enemy village, your unit remains on the space
that the building was in. This “space” is called a null space and is treated as a location
for movement purposes only if the space is surrounded on all sides by
buildings. If the space just makes a gap in the fringe, then the null space
disappears when the unit moves off and is not considered for movement purposes.

14.  Can
I build a building on a space that has an enemy unit on it? If
an enemy unit destroyed one of your buildings and has remained in the
“space”, then you may build on that space.

15.  How
do the symbols in the text area affect the normal statistics of the card? If
a symbol in the text area does not contain a plus sign before the number, it
replaces the symbol already on the card for the circumstance described in the
text area. This symbol is applied per token. If the symbol contains a plus sign
before the number, it modifies the existing symbol. (If a Goth Spearman is
fighting a cavalry unit, the AP goes from the normal 3 AP to 25 AP vs. Cavalry.
This AP change is per token, so five tokens means 125 points of damage per
round. If the Goth Spearman is attacking a building, the normal 3 AP is changed
to 5 AP, due to the +2 AP vs. Buildings.)

16.  When
can I play events? You may play any event on your turn,
before your discard and draw phase, unless otherwise noted. Cards that say
“play anytime” may be played anytime during your turn, before the
discard and draw phase, or anytime during your opponent’s turn, unless
otherwise stated.

17.  What
does “play anytime” mean? “Play
anytime” means that a card may be played anytime during your turn, before
the discard and draw phase, or anytime during your opponent’s turn,
unless otherwise stated.

18.  Can
villagers fast respond? No. Villagers may not fast respond. They
may defend the building they are on, if it is getting attacked.

19.  Can
villagers retreat? No. Villagers may not retreat. If they are
not targeted, they do not have to fight.

20.  Do
players have to allocate their villagers during their allocation phase? Yes.
Players must allocate all of the villagers in their villager pool. Don’t
be scared. We all have to die sometime.

21.  How
does targeting work for villagers and buildings during attack declaration? If
the attacker targets a building instead of villagers on said building, the
villagers have the option to defend. The do not have to fight in this case. If
the villagers are targeted, then they must fight.

22.  What
happens to my second round of combat if I kill a unit or villagers in the first
round? If the attacker’s target dies in the first
round of combat, then the second round of combat damage is dealt to the
building that the target died on. If a building is targeted and destroyed in
the first round of combat, then that combat ends and there is no second round.

23.  What
does it mean if I see a civilization name in the card designator? If
there is a specific civilization listed on the card designator, then that is
the only civilization that can use the card. (A Town
Center that says “Persian Building” in the card designator, may only be played by the Persians.)

24.  What
order do events resolve? Events are resolved in the order that they
were played.

25.  How
does Double-bit Axe, and card like it work? Double-bit
Axe, and other such cards add 1, 2 or 3 units of a
resource for each location used. In the case of a Double-bit Axe, if you use
three different Lumber Camps to collect wood in one turn, then you will get
three extra wood total. It does not mean that a
Double-bit Axe will cause each villager to collect one more wood than normal,
thus making the total, two wood per villager instead
of one. If you have three villagers and place one on each of your three Lumber
Camps, you will collect six wood. If you put two
villagers on a Lumber Camp and put one on another, thus using two Lumber Camps
total, then you will collect five wood.

26.  If
my house or military building is destroyed and my garrison or villager
population limit is reduced, do I have to kill off villagers or units to
compensate? No. If your House or a
Military building is destroyed, you may keep all villagers or units you
currently have. Your new garrison or villager population limit is for
enlistment purposes, so you may not enlist new villagers or units if it will
exceed your new limits.

27.  Can
two attacking units target the same defending unit? No.
There can be only one unit attacking another unit at a time. Bombardment unit
may attack a unit that has been attacked, if they are close enough, but the
combats are resolved separately.

28.  Can
there be more than two units that can attack the same building, under the
assisted unit attack rule? Yes. There can be up to five units
attacking a building, if all the conditions are met for assisted unit attack.
Each attack is resolved separately, starting with the primary attacking unit.

29.  Can
a villager collect resources and attack in the same turn? No.
Villagers may only do one action per turn. Actions are collecting, building,
attacking, defending or researching.

30.  Do
these pants make my butt look big? I refuse to answer on
the grounds that I might incriminate myself.

31.  Can
Monks be enlisted on a unit that was enlisted the same turn? Yes.
Monks can be placed on a unit that has just been enlisted.

32.  Are
there any corrections in the starter list in the back of the rule book? Yes.
There are corrections to the starter lists in the back of the rule book. They
are all on the Errata sheet.

33.  How
does Fortified Wall work? Fortified Wall is an Upgrade. It goes in
the Technology/ Upgrade area. It affects all Stone Walls. It is the only building
upgrade in the set so far. In the second expansion, there will be more, such as
the Guard Tower,
Keep and Bombard Tower.

34.  What
happens to my unit if it is on a null space that is not connected to a
building? If you are on a null space that is not connected
to a building in the village, you must go to No-Man’s-Land. You may
attack any fringe building from No-Man’s-Land on your next turn. This is
usually a situation that is possible when you have destroyed two buildings in a
column in the same turn.

35.  What
does a Cavalry Archer count as? Cavalry or Archer? A
Cavalry Archer is an Archer unit. They are not affected by Cavalry
technologies, such as Forging or any Barding Armor. They have movement : 2 and are affected by attack bonuses vs Cavalry as well as vs. Archer. For example, Pikeman and Camels do get their attack bonus vs. Cavalry
Archers. They are also affected by event cards that give attack bonuses vs.
Cavalry (Muddy Battlefield).

36.  How
do I determine who won a Surprise Skirmish? You should use the printed
AP value on the unit card. It is not the upgraded AP value. For example, if you
draw a Militia, but have a Man-at-Arms upgrade in play, you still only use the
Militia’s printed AP (4, not 6).

37.  How
does Drought work? Drought is played before any collection of
resources is made. Therefore, it affects the card player the turn it is played.
To calculate the resources produced, take all the food from farms and event cards, add them up and half the total amount, round down.
Food obtained from a Market is unaffected by Drought, because it is traded, not
produced.

38.  When
can a Market’s ability be used? Markets can be used
anytime during your turn, before the discard and draw phase. Resources from the
Market are traded, not “produced”, thus they are not affected by
event cards, unless specified.

39.  How
does Abandoned Mine work? Abandoned Mine is
played at the beginning of the collection phase, before resource collection has
been finished. If the collection has been completed, the card has no affect.
Abandoned Mine does not affect event cards like Gold
Nugget.

40.  Why
was Alchemist in my Age IV deck? Alchemist was an Age IV
card, but it was changed to an Age I card. It is an Age I card.

41.  Which
event card effects are not cumulative? Holy War and Bone Shaft
Arrows are not cumulative. Only one can affect a player at a time.

42.  How
does Typhoid work? Typhoid can only be passed or snuffed on
the affected player’s turn, after they have removed the two villagers.

43.  Can
I get the digits, baby? I don’t think so! Homey don’t
play dat!

44.  Does
a Wall count toward my Age advancement requirement? Yes,
anything that says “Building” counts toward your Age requirement.
The initial Town Center does not, though. If you build an
additional TC, it will count toward you Imperial Age requirement.

45.  How
do turns and phases work? One turn is made up of the eight phases.
Each player takes their turn in an alternating manner (one at a time). When you
have a good grasp on the game, you may (if there are no objections) start to
collect resources while your opponent allocates.

46.  How
do Upgrades work? When an Upgrade says “Must have
…,” it means that to bring the Upgrade in to play, you need to have
the “Must have” in play already. If the Upgrade has a prerequisite
Upgrade, the phrase “Place on …,” will be on the card you are desiring to research. You will just put the new Upgrade
on the existing Upgrade to fulfill the requirement. This means that you must
have the card in play, in order to place the new one on top of it. You must
have Forging in play to put Iron Casting on top of it.