Concordia: Balearica (Board Game) Quiz

Answer: Rondel

A rondel is a series of available actions arrayed in a circle, with a player token moving around the circle. Players need to plan a few turns ahead based on what actions are next available in the rondel. Mac Gerdts is known as one of the few designers to make extensive use of the rondel, making it a primary feature of both his "Antike" and "Imperial" series of board games.

Answer: Prefect

The resource tiles assigned to each province are replaced with the new fish tokens. When using a Prefect to produce in a province players still receive resources for any houses they have in cities in the province, but instead of getting the bonus resource, they instead add a fish token to their storehouse. Four of the ten actions in the fish market are to exchange a fish for a resource, so if players need a particular resource, they can still easily get it.

Answer: Two fish can be stored in a single space in the storehouse

Fish tokens have two sides, one with one fish, and the other with two. Fish, like money, can be consolidated or split up as needed to pay for fish market actions.

Any fish left unclaimed on the board when a player collects the cash bonus during a Prefect action get flipped to their double fish side, encouraging players to produce in otherwise neglected provinces.

Answer: Diplomat

The Architect action provides only one movement point, and allows only one house to be built. The Mercator action provides only two bonus sestertii and lets the player buy or sell only one type of good instead of two. The Colonist action lets players build a new colonist for either a food or tools (instead of both), but it must be placed in the capital city. Lastly, the Senator action lets players buy only one new card instead of two.

If playing with both the fish market module and the forum tiles from "Concordia: Salsa" (2015), then any forum tiles that modify personality cards will also modify the matching fish market spaces.

Answer: The Senator action

Buying new cards is the strongest action in the game, which is why the mini Senator action (which can be used as a free action before playing a card) is more expensive than the others. The Magister card (added in the "Venus" expansion) lets players copy their previously played card unless it is a Senator, because that would be too powerful.

Answer: Leave a sestertius on the skipped action

On a player's turn they may move to a new fish market stall (or stalls), but they must use and pay fish for any stalls they stop on. If the next desired action is not the immediate next one, players can place one sestertius on each space they wish to skip.

The next player to land on a space with the coins gets to collect them, encouraging players to not neglect the less popular spots. Multiple player tokens can be on the same spot, so there is no blocking or skipping because a space is already occupied.

Answer: There are two stalls per location

There are ten spaces/stalls on the fish market. On the coastal side of the board, they are arrayed in a simple circle. On the mountain side there are the same ten stalls, but only five spaces, with two stalls at each space. On the coastal side, players can move and use as many stalls as they want, as long as they have the fish to pay for them, and they do not pass the space they started their turn on. On the mountain side, players may only stop on one space on their turn, but can use either or both of the stalls on that space.

Answer: There is no capital city

Usually the Tribune only allows players to place new colonists in the capital city, but the Balearica map does not have a capital city, so the colonist placement rules for the Tribune are upgraded to match the Colonist card: players may place new colonists in any city in which they have a house.

Answer: Players start with two sea colonists

The Balearica map depicts the three main Balearic Islands, with two special locations between the islands. Each player starts with one sea colonist in each of the spaces, and no land colonists. Because of this unique start, Balearica is one of the few maps on which players have the potential to build three houses with an opening Architect action.

Answer: Land colonists can move across sea lanes occupied by friendly sea colonists

Land colonists can treat sea lanes occupied by the same colour sea colonist as bridges. It still costs them one move point to cross, and they cannot end their move on a sea route.

Similar land routes have been used in earlier maps (without requiring sea colonists), letting land colonists cross straits. On the Gallia map (2016) there is a land route across the English Channel, and on the Ionium map (in the "Concordia: Venus" expansion, 2018) there is a land route across the Strait of Otranto.