Chaos is rampant in the city of Centuria and all Towers are offline following the assassination of the city’s leader. The government forces have splintered into rival factions divided across the city’s four sectors: Business, Culture, Industry, and Security.

Chaos brings opportunity, as each faction vies to control the city by capturing sector buildings guarded by weak remnant forces loyal to the former government. These buildings provide production, help bring towers back online, and spread a faction’s influence across the city. But each building captured must be protected against other factions’ greed for power.

Only one can lead Centuria. Will it be you?

City Rising is a strategy board game with set collection, area control, and tile movement mechanics. Players build an economy with four forms of production that are vulnerable to opponent attacks. Action cards and Professionals with special abilities can defend your assets and help you expand. Towers mark your path to victory.

Objective

As a faction leader, you must influence and gain support from the four sectors of Centuria – Culture, Business, Industry, and Security – to win the game.

Without broad influence across all four sectors, a faction will not have the support needed to lead Centuria. Influence in each sector is gained by capturing sector buildings. The first player to capture all eight sector buildings – two buildings from each sector – activates Tower 5 and wins the game.

Core Mechanics

1. Hand Management/ Set Collection

Each sector has its own deck of cards that contains Professionals, Action Cards, and Battle Action cards that relate to the sector’s characteristics.

Each card can be used in one of three ways:

Deploy under its primary function as Professional, Action, or Battle Action
Capture sector buildings
Increase battle performance

It’s up to you to decide when and how to use it.

2. Area Control

The board is divided into many districts that you navigate with operatives and claim with sector buildings and Towers.

An operative is an armed unit that moves around the board to exert your control. They are needed to claim new districts, capture buildings, defend your territory, and threaten opponents.

One operative defending a Security building.

Strategic placement of buildings and Towers is essential to efficiently expand and defend your territory.

3. Grid Movement

Move your operatives around the board to control the districts you determine most valuable to your cause. Use operatives to defend its district or launch attacks on other operatives and sector buildings.

Each operative has a base movement of 2 districts per turn and a strength of 2. Professionals, Actions, and Battle Actions can increase the operative’s base abilities.

Up to 2 operatives may be located in a district at once.

Production

Production is your currency that allows you to take actions in the game.

Once captured, a sector building generates 1 production of its sector type, giving you more power to assign Professionals and use Action cards in that sector.

Production takes place in your Towers. Towers are activated after capturing a certain number of production buildings. The number is shown on the highest level Tower you control.

There is one Tower from each sector at each level. You may construct any Tower that is available at the next highest level.

Towers are also where you assign Professionals.

But be careful in choosing your Tower’s sector. Only Professionals of the Tower’s sector may be assigned to it.

Order of Play

Play proceeds in rounds. Each round is divided into 5 phases. Players complete each phase in clockwise order, starting with the player that started the round.

The round is finished when all players complete the last phase. Play proceeds clockwise and a new player starts the next round.

1. Roll and Produce

Each round starts with the roll of a die. Its impact is resolved and all players produce simultaneously.

2. Deploy Phase

Assemble cards in your Capture District Tracker
Capture Building Districts
Assign Professionals to your Towers
Deploy Operatives to the board.

3. Move

Move Operatives. Each Operative has default movement of 2.
Each District may hold up to 2 Operatives.

4. Conflict

Use Operatives to attack Buildings and Operatives controlled by other players.
It costs 1 production of any type to initiate a conflict.

5. Discard and Purchase Cards

If you are over your hand limit, discard from hand until you are at or under your hand limit.
Purchase Sector cards by paying 1 production of the card’s Sector type.

Winning the Game

The first player to capture 8 Buildings and Activate Tower 5 wins the game when the round ends.