Players play as a faction of the Old World in a not-historically accurate Mediterranean. Each player takes turns gaining population (score) or recruitment value which increases the amount of population a player will gain at a later time as well.
Players draw cards from the top of a deck or play a card that has been discarded with three draw and discard piles to choose from (Recruitment, Espionage, or Diplomacy) At certain intervals a Boom or Doom will be drawn and a player rolls dice dictating which territories are impacted with a benefit or drawback for players located on those territories.
Additionally, events are played as well, with a maximum of two events in play that change some aspects of game play.
Once each player has taken five turns in the Age(round), the Age ends. The game is played over three Ages.
—description from the designer