Introduction

A GAME OF CITY PLANNING AND BUILDING FOR TWO, THREE OR FOUR PLAYERS. e are in Barcelona in the late 19th century. The old city walls have just been torn down, finally freeing the city’s growth outward towards the old villages that surround it. Based on the plans by Cerdà, the W construction of Barcelona’s famous Eixample (Catalan for “expansion”) has begun. It is a period of great prosperity in which the burgeoning upper middle class families found their fortunes and use their wealth to demonstrate their power by building unique buildings and supporting initiatives for the city’s inhabitants. However, not everything is so pleasant in the city. Its prosperity is drawing more and more people to work in the big city, and revolutionary movements are taking hold among the city’s unemployed workers. Poor living conditions and low quality housing stoke the revolution among the masses and the emerging upper middle class end up paying for their greed. INTRODUCTION In Barcelona, The Rose of Fire two to four players play against each other to become the most prosperous and influential upper middle class family. The game is set in the period between 1854 and the start of the 20th century, in those few decades when Barcelona went from a normal city to one of Europe’s great metropolises. COMPONENTS THE BOARD In the center of the lower part of the board is 7 Raval 1 , one of 5 the poorest neigh- borhoods in Bar- 5B celona. It is char- 5A acterized by blocks of apartment build- 8 ings that make it the most densely popu- lated neighborhood in the city’s historic center, and it is here that players put strik- 5C ing workers when 6 2 constructing a new building. 1 To the left of Raval is the space for the bar- 3 ricades 2 , where striking workers go 4 when there are too many in Raval. They represent the insur- gents who carry out small acts of urban protest, such as rebel- lions or the construction of barricades. ferent color. These colors correspond Along the right edge of the board Below them is the Castle of Montjuïc to the three different kinds of city tiles. there are the victory points (VP) 3 . This castle sits atop the summit of In the lower left corner of the board track 8 , that is used to display the Montjuïc mountain and houses the city’s is the Auca of Prestige 6 .The Auca players’ score during the game. Each military garrison. At the start of the is a typically Catalan form of comic and player keeps track of the total VP he or game, place sixteen black soldiers there. in the game it is used by the players to she has achieved using their VP marker. As the game plays out take the soldiers keep track of the level of prestige they These points are obtained primarily by you need from there and put them in have obtained. At the beginning of the constructing buildings on the board and Raval to represent suppression by the game, the prestige markers are placed in by getting influence cards. If a player’s army. frame “1” of the Auca (which is framed score exceeds 40 VP, their VP marker Below Raval, there is the social con- in green). goes back to the start of the track with flict track 4 . During the game the Once a player reaches frame “15”, the “+40” side up, and then the player “Bomb” marker moves along this track. then each time the prestige marker continues moving up the track as more The top and right quadrants of the should move forward, instead the play- points are obtained. board consist of a grid made up of 118 er gets 1 victory point added his or her squares that represent the Eixample 5 , score. Likewise, if the marker reaches the city planning design by Ildefons Cerdà the “-5” frame, the player’s score will be for the expansion of the city beyond its reduced by one victory point for each medieval city walls. The Eixample is di- beyond that point the player should vided into three districts: Left 5A , Right have moved back. 5B and Sant Martí 5C . The three dis- In the top left of the board is the turn tricts are empty at the start of the game, track 7 . At the beginning of each but as the game moves along the players’ turn a (randomly selected) immigration actions will make the Eixample grow as counter is placed in the first empty box city tiles and buildings are placed in the of this track. The number of counters grid boxes. Each district has three start- present on the turn track shows the ing points that indicate the development players what turn is currently in play. zones in which players can place their Finally, the track also shows when one first city tiles. Within the same district, part of the game ends and the next be- each of the three starting points is a dif- gins (see page 5). 2 82 ACTION CARDS Each turn the players play action cards in order to carry out actions. There are four different kinds of actions (these can be distinguished by the illustrations on the TEN OBELISK COUNTERS front and back of the cards). The cards in Every time a block, made up of four city the player’s hand are determined in each tiles (2X2), is completed on the board, an end of phase procedure. The action cards obelisk is placed in the center of this block. can be one of the following types: FOUR FAMILY CARD BOARDS Each player receives a family card at the start of the game. These cards represent One “Labor strike” card some of the richest, most influential Cata- This card has a negative value lan families, whose philanthropy and pa- and is assigned to a player during each end of phase proce- tronage drove the development of the city 80 STRIKING WORKERS into the modern era. dure. These wooden counters in four different colors represent the striking workers and Six prestige cards have-nots leading the protests express- During each end of phase pro- ing the discontent of Barcelona’s growing cedure, just one player will re- population. ceive a prestige card. 39 popularity cards 5 6 These cards allow players to Front 4 place a city tile and construct Back a building on the board. They SEVEN IMMIGRATION COUNTERS also provide them with special The immigration counters represent the opportunities in the game. 90 CITY TILES large numbers of immigrants dreaming of These square cardboard tiles come in three the “Catalan paradise” who came to the 36 city cards different colors (with 30 tiles in each color). city to seek a better life. The players must The city cards allow players to The front of the tiles shows an octagonal take this amount into consideration when place a city tile and construct a city block of houses typical of Barcelona’s building their buildings. building on the board. Eixample. The players place their city tiles on squares of the Eixample grid to build the city. When they complete a square (2x2) block, first an obelisk is placed then OTHER COMPONENTS the block is scored. After that the tiles are 36 INFLUENCE COUNTERS There are also other markers and items turned over to show the other “completed” including: side with leafy trees around the edges and Each of these counters bears one of the a colored point in the center. three influence symbols representing the Four prestige support the players provide to a specific markers, one for cause or important individual: support for each player. These the Spanish Crown, interests in the colonies are placed on the Auca. and prestigious personalities. Four VP markers, one for each player. These are placed on the VP track. 80 BUILDING COUNTERS Each player has a group of 20 building One “Bomb” marker counters in the color of their family. These to be placed on the social include five upper class buildings, five conflict track. middle class buildings, five working class NINE INFLUENCE CARDS buildings and five low cost buildings. One first player These nine cards are organized into three marker groups according to their influence symbol. There are three bearing the crown, three for the colonies and three for personalities. Two cloth bags, Each of these can be obtained by trading in one red bag and one SIXTEEN SOLDIERS (BLACK) the required number of influence counters black bag. These are These black wooden counters represent (as indicated on the card) and each grants a used to hold the reserves the soldiers from the Spanish army that certain number of VP (indicated in the up- of influence markers and make up the garrison of Barcelona. per right corner of the card). strikers during the game. 3 buildings on the board. The more im- GOAL pressive the buildings players build are, the SETTING UP G more VP they earn, but at the same time S the level of social conflict in the city THE GAME You are charged with managing the also rises, as more striking workers are wealth of some of the richest upper class placed in Raval. families of Barcelona. Your objective is Phase after phase, the players decide how • Each player gets a family card and to obtain power and wealth (in the they want to play the cards and must try takes the elements of the corre- form of VP). To do so, you will have to to foresee and plan out the composition of sponding color, namely, the building compete with other influential families their hand in the next phase.

Load more