Fall of Rome

Each player selects a role card and a matching pawn. They then draw a city card to determine the starting city for their pawn and two legions. All barbarian tribes (Anglo-Saxons, Goths, Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Huns) are placed in their designated home spaces on the board, following the instructions in the setup guide. Players can adjust the game's difficulty by adding four, five, or six revolt cards to the draw deck; adding a seventh revolt card makes the game legendary.

Players can achieve victory in one of two ways: either by successfully clearing all barbarian tribes from the game board, or by forming alliances with all five barbarian tribes. Forming alliances is generally considered a more achievable goal than completely eliminating all barbarians.

A player's turn is divided into three main phases: first, performing four actions (such as marching, sailing, building a fort, or recruiting legions); second, drawing two cards from the player deck and adding them to their hand (with a hand limit of seven cards); and third, resolving the invasion cities phase, which includes handling any revolt cards drawn and invading new cities with barbarians.

The game's outcome is determined by specific conditions. Players lose the game if the decline marker, which tracks the sacking of Roman cities, reaches the bottom of its track. Conversely, players win the game if they either successfully remove all barbarian tribes from the board or if they manage to form alliances with all five distinct barbarian tribes.

The game concludes when either the Roman Empire falls (players lose) or is saved (players win). The Empire falls if the decline marker reaches its lowest point due to sacked cities. The Empire is saved if players successfully clear all barbarian tribes from the board or if they form alliances with all five barbarian tribes by collecting the required city cards for each tribe.