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Mare Nostrum: Empires

#174785BGG ↗

2016 · 3-5 players · 120min · weight 2.99 · 4,409 ratings

v2 v3

BGG raw

ID
174785
Name
Mare Nostrum: Empires
Year
2016
Rank
411
Min players
3
Max players
5
Playing time
120
Min playtime
90
Max playtime
120
Avg weight
2.9864
Num weights
147
Bayes avg
6.77781
Average
7.51674
Users rated
4409
Num owned
6534
Wanting
174
Wishing
1237
Num comments
1009
Fetched at
Sat Apr 25 2026 16:15:52 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (5)
Area MovementDice RollingSet CollectionTradingVariable Player Powers
Categories (5)
AncientCivilizationEconomicMythologyWargame
Description (1650 chars)

The ancient Romans called the Mediterranean Sea "mare nostrum", which is Latin for "our sea". Mare Nostrum is an empire-building game in which 3-5 players [or 2-6 with the 'Atlas' expansion] lead their individual ancient empires to dominion of Mare Nostrum. You grow the fame and glory of your empire by expanding your influence into new Provinces, then extending your Trade Caravans, building Markets, and founding new Cities and Temples. You can recruit Heroes and create Wonders to help your cause. But beware of your "friends" because they may look upon your gains with envy and greed... Mare Nostrum is a re-introduction by Academy Games and Asyncron of the original 2003 release with updated rules, counters, and map board. This edition includes many new components and multiple new ways to win! In more detail, you choose an empire to lead, which begins with three Provinces. You can lead with Caesar of Rome and its powerful Legions, or with Pericles, the prominent Greek statesman and orator, with the great Babylonian lawgiver and healer King Hammurabi, or with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, whose engineers led in the development of grain storage and irrigation, or with Hannibal, leader of the Carthaginians, whose merchants thrived on trade and commerce. Now you decide how you will grow your empire. You can do this by: Expanding your Trade and creating Wonders. Concentrating on Culture and building the great Pyramids. Developing a strong and powerful Military to occupy the Provinces of other empires, or Exerting Political Leadership by claiming the titles of Trade Leader, Cultural Leader, and Military Leader.

LLM v2 (wide)

Core verb
build cities, trade, conquer
Decision shape
mixed:combinatorial+social
Reward schedule
engine_compounding
Aesthetics
["Challenge", "Fellowship"]
Core loop pitch
Expand caravans and legions across the Mediterranean, then trade goods openly with rivals to fund heroes and wonders.
Translation difficulty
Hard
Difficulty reason
Open trading phase and multiple win paths need rich negotiation UI; the asymmetric factions and 2-hour arc resist phone sessions.
Direct digital port
Port kind
Closest loop translation
none yet
Primitive tags
["multi_track_advancement", "open_trade_phase", "leader_role_perk", "wonder_race_endgame", "asymmetric_civ_kits"]
Confidence
0.55
Extracted at
Mon Apr 27 2026 11:40:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Raw v2 JSON (898 chars)
{
  "game_id": 174785,
  "name": "Mare Nostrum: Empires",
  "core_verb": "build cities, trade, conquer",
  "decision_shape": "mixed:combinatorial+social",
  "reward_schedule": "engine_compounding",
  "aesthetics": [
    "Challenge",
    "Fellowship"
  ],
  "core_loop_pitch": "Expand caravans and legions across the Mediterranean, then trade goods openly with rivals to fund heroes and wonders.",
  "mobile_translation_difficulty": "Hard",
  "translation_difficulty_reason": "Open trading phase and multiple win paths need rich negotiation UI; the asymmetric factions and 2-hour arc resist phone sessions.",
  "direct_digital_port": null,
  "direct_digital_port_kind": null,
  "closest_loop_translation": "none yet",
  "primitive_tags": [
    "multi_track_advancement",
    "open_trade_phase",
    "leader_role_perk",
    "wonder_race_endgame",
    "asymmetric_civ_kits"
  ],
  "confidence": 0.55
}

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).