A Column of Fire Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Materials
• Game Preparation
• The Game Board
• Overview of Gameplay
• Course of the Game
• Course of One Game Year
  • 1st Half of the Year: Rotating the dice and using the character cards
  • 2nd Half of the Year: Rolling free dice, selecting a character card, erecting a trading house, and moving forward on the action track
    • Rolling free dice, selecting a character card, and erecting a trading house
    • Drawing a new character card and following the instructions on an event card when it appears
    • Moving an action disk on the action track and executing an action
• The End of a Year
• Game End and Winner
• Other Rules
  • Trading houses and the sale of goods
  • Religious conflicts
  • Event cards and protection tiles
  • Victory points as compensation for the religious minority
  • Using victory points
  • Ending the game early
• Special rules for games with two or three players
• Background information on the novel A Column of Fire
• Overview of the Action Symbols
  • Symbols Appearing Only on the Action Track
• Credits

Object of the Game

The object of the game is to earn as many victory points as possible. The game ends as soon as a player reaches 50 victory points on the victory point track. The player who is furthest ahead on the track by the end of the game wins the game. Players gain victory points primarily by selling goods and being a member of the winning religion in times of religious conflict.

Game Materials

• 80 Playing cards:
  • 52 Character cards
  • 16 Event cards
  • Back of cards
• 56 Goods tiles: 14 x Book, 14 x Ore, 14 x Cloth, 14 x Wine
• 28 Advantage tiles
• 1 Game board
• 4 Summary cards
• 4 Religion cards
• 4 Loch Leven cards
• 16 Protection tiles
• 2 Torches (each assembled from 2 pieces)
• 4 Action disks in player colors (1 x yellow, light blue, green, and red)
• 4 Victory point disks in player colors (1 x yellow, light blue, green, and red)
• 16 Trading houses in player colors (4 x yellow, light blue, green, and red)
• 4 Cross tokens
• 30 Religion stones (wooden) (10 x purple, gray, and natural)
• 24 Dice (4 x black, white, blue, brown, orange, and purple)
• 1 Starting player marker

Game Preparation

• Before beginning the first game, carefully punch out all of the tiles from the cardboard holders. Assemble the torches by connecting their two pieces.
• The game now will be explained for four players. The specific features of games with two or three players are explained in "Rules for Two and Three Players" and do not need to be read yet.
• Place the game board in the middle of the table. The board shows four countries: England, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, symbolized by major cities in the novel. Separate the goods tiles according to type (book, ore, cloth, and wine) and place them next to the game board.
• Separate the religion stones into piles according to their three respective colors: Purple = Catholic, Gray = Protestant, Natural color = Neutral.
• Each player chooses a color and receives four trading houses, one victory point disk, one action disk, one religion card, and one summary card in this color.
• Each player places his or her summary card with the "1st half of the year" side facing up in front of himself or herself.
• Every player is given one of the four Loch Leven cards at random. The back of the card specifies the religion the player starts out with. Players then place their religion cards with the corresponding side facing up on the table to the right, next to their summary card. Each player is also given one protection tile and one goods tile of the type of goods pictured. In addition, the back side of each player's Loch Leven card depicts the player's starting space on the action track (lower right on the game board). Each player places his or her action disk on this space.
  • Example: The blue player starts off as a Protestant. That player is given one protection tile and one ore. The player places his action disk on the action track on the space with the white ship.
• Next, the player places his or her Loch Leven card with the "Loch Leven" side facing up to the left of his or her summary card.
• Each player places his or her victory point disk on space two of the victory point track.
• Each player is given his or her own set of dice in six different colors. Four of these colors represent the four countries (with their respective cities) for which they can be rolled:
  • White = England (Kingsbridge)
  • Blue = France (Paris)
  • Orange = The Netherlands (Antwerp)
  • Brown = Spain (Seville)
• The purple die is a wild-card die and can be used in any of the four countries. As long as these five dice do not lie on character cards, they are called "free dice," which each player places in front of himself or herself.
• The black die is the religion die. Unlike the other dice, it features the numbers one through five. Instead of a six, it has a second three.
• Each player rolls his or her religion die and places it on his or her religion card. The number shown on the die indicates how many rounds the player will belong to this religion.
• The character cards and event cards feature backsides with four different colors, each corresponding to the colors of the four countries. All cards are separated into four decks according to the four backside colors. Each deck is shuffled. These four card decks are stacked around the game board so that their colors match the respective countries they lie next to.
• The top card from each deck is turned over and placed back on the top of the deck. If you flip over an event card at the start of play, remove this card from the game without the event occurring. Then flip over the next card from each deck until an open character card lies on top of all four decks.
• Place a corresponding religion stone on top of each character card. The religion stone (Catholic, Protestant, or neutral) that each character brings to the game is depicted next to the name of each character.
• Shuffle the advantage tiles and place them in two covered decks on the upper left-hand side of the game board.
• Place the protection tiles in two decks on Kingsbridge Cathedral.
• Place the torches next to the game board.
• The player who was most recently in a church will be given the starting player marker and begins the game.
• The starting player does not change during the game. To ensure that all players get their equal turn, the game will end after the last turn of the player sitting to the right of the starting player.

The Game Board

• The game board depicts a stylized view of Europe in the 16th century (from England's perspective) with the countries England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The major cities of each country are depicted: the fictional city of Kingsbridge; Paris; Seville; and Antwerp.
• Two specific types of goods can be sold in each country. The type of goods and for how many victory points each type can be sold are indicated in each country's cost of goods box.
• To be able to sell in a country, a player must have a trading house on one of the six sites for active trading houses.
• During the game, religion stones are placed on the religion spaces until every religion space in a country is covered and a religious conflict arises.
• The action track is on the lower right. Players move around this track with their action disks.
• The victory point track runs across the left and top sides of the game board.

Overview of Gameplay

• Each player has six dice. The black die determines how long a player will belong to a given religion. Each player will use his or her remaining dice to draw a character card in every round. Each character card permits one action that the player can execute once per round. The number of rounds that a character card remains available to a player is determined by the number on the die rolled for that card. As long as the die lies on top of the card, the die cannot be used for other purposes.
• When players draw a character card, they open up a trading house in the corresponding country. A player can gain victory points through the sale of goods only in countries where he or she has a trading house. The trading house site number has no bearing on the sale of goods for victory points.
• The selected character card comes with a religion stone, which is placed in the character's country. If there are four religion stones in one country, a religious conflict will arise in that country. At this point, players check which religion has more religion stones in that country. Then, each player possessing a trading house in that country and adhering to the majority religion receives a number of victory points equal to the number of the site on which his or her active trading house is placed. However, if a player belongs to the minority religion, then that player loses his or her trading house, thereby losing the ability to sell goods in that country.
• With the exception of their selected character cards, players influence gameplay in every round by executing an action on the action track. For this, they use one of the free dice they did not use for their character cards. The more free dice they have available to use, the more choices players have on the action track.

Course of the Game

• The game is played in rounds (= years). Each year consists of two parts (= half-years).
• The starting player begins by executing all of his or her actions for the 1st half of the year. The other players follow in clockwise order.
• Once all of the players have played the 1st half of the year, the starting player continues by executing all of his or her actions for the 2nd half of the year. The other players again follow in clockwise order.
• Once all of the players have played a round in the 2nd half of the year, the starting player begins the next year again with the 1st half of the year.
• The game ends after the year in which a player reaches 50 points or more. Thus, every player plays until the end of the 2nd half of the year.

Course of One Game Year

1st Half of the Year: Rotating the dice and using the character cards

At the start of each year, players use the people with whom they are allied. With some people, alliances are broken. Players may change their religion.

• In the 1st half of each year, each player rotates the dice lying on the cards in his or her respective sets to decrease the face-up number on each of these dice by one. This signifies that one year has passed. At the start of the game (during the 1st half of the 1st year) only the black religion die is lying on the religion card. As the game progresses, a die will lie on each character card a player possesses. Starting in the 1st half of the 2nd year, after the player has rotated his or her religion die to decrease it by one, the player will also rotate the dice on his or her character cards, in order from left to right, decreasing each die by one. Players can execute each action of the associated character cards once.
• If a die indicates the number one, the player will not rotate the die to decrease the number.
  • If this is the player's religion die, then the player immediately rolls it again. The player must decide if he or she wishes to remain Catholic or Protestant. If a player changes his or her religion, the player flips over his or her religion card. The player places the die he or she just rolled back on top of the card.
  • If this is a die on one of the player's character cards, the card is removed from the game. The player cannot use this card's action anymore. The player places the die back with his or her free dice (the dice not lying on top of cards), and it will be available to that player once again in the 2nd half of the year.

Examples for the 1st half of the year:

1. The red player has a Cloth Merchant and a Count of Feria in his set. The red player rotates his religion die from three to two. This means that he remains Catholic for another two years. The player then rotates the blue die from four to three, executing the action of his cloth merchant and earning one cloth. He then rotates the brown die from two to one and earns one protection tile from the Count of Feria.
2. The yellow player has Father Huus in her set. The yellow player's religion die indicates one. Therefore, she rolls the die again and gets a four. The player decides to change religion and flips her religion card from Catholic to Protestant. She then rotates her orange die from five to four and earns one advantage tile from Father Huus.
3. The green player has Elizabeth I, a Cloth Merchant, and a Wine Merchant in his set. The green player rotates his religion die from two to one. Only in the following year can he roll his religion die again and determine his religious allegiance. The player rotates his white die from five to four and earns two victory points from Elizabeth I. The brown die already indicates the number one. The player removes the die from the cloth merchant and puts it back with his free dice. The card is removed from the game and its action can no longer be executed. The player then rotates the blue die from four to three, earning one wine from the wine merchant.

2nd Half of the Year: Rolling free dice, selecting a character card, erecting a trading house, and moving forward on the action track

In the 2nd half of the year, players create alliances with new people, who provide them advantages. They erect trading houses to enable the sales of goods, and they influence gameplay through their actions.

• After the player sitting to the right of the starting player concludes his or her actions for the 1st half of the year, each player flips over his or her summary card to the "2nd half of the year" side.
• The 2nd half of the year consists always of two parts: In the first part, players use one of their free dice to select a character card and add it to their sets. Next, they carry out all actions associated with that character. In the second part, players move their action disks along the action track and may carry out the actions selected.
• Only when the starting player has completed both parts of the 2nd half of the year do each of the other players take their turns in clockwise order.

Rolling free dice, selecting a character card, and erecting a trading house

• The player whose turn it is rolls all his or her free dice. These are all the dice that are not lying on cards in that player's set.
• Then the player selects one of these dice and draws the character card lying on top of the deck corresponding to the color of the selected die.
  • Example: The green player has cast his free white, blue, and purple dice. The green player selects his white die, which shows the number four, to then draw Francis Walsingham in England.
  • Important: If a player uses his or her purple wild-card die, he or she can draw the top character card from any country.
• As a first action, the player must move the religion stone lying on the selected character card to a free religion space in the character's country. (See "Protection Tiles" for rules on using a protection tile to avoid placing a religion stone.)
  • Example: The gray religion stone (Protestant) is placed on a free religion space in England.
  • Important: If at this time, all of the religion spaces in this country are filled with religion stones, a religious conflict will erupt there at the end of the 2nd half of the year (see "Religious Conflicts" for further details). To ensure players do not forget this, a torch is placed next to the religion spaces on the torch sign as a marker.
• The player then places one of his or her trading houses on the site in the country indicated by the selected die. The number of the site is determined by the number on the selected die. If the site is already occupied, the trading house located there must be moved to the site that is one number lower.
  • Example: In England, the green player can place his trading house on site 4. However, there is already a trading house there that belongs to the red player. Therefore, the red house is moved over to site 3 so that the green player can put his house on site 4. If there had been a trading house belonging to the yellow player on site 3, this would have been pushed over to site 2 by the red trading house.
  • Note: If a house is pushed down from site 1, it must be removed from the game board. Its owner will get it back and can use it again later.
  • Important: Only in countries where a player owns a trading house can that player sell goods for victory points. Each player may own only one trading house in any single country.
• If a player sets up a trading house in a country where they already have one valued at a lower number than the die just rolled for the new house, then the player may increase the value of that trading house. To do so, the player will move the house to the site with the new, higher number. If the new roll of the die is the same or lower, nothing will be changed.
  • Example: In England, the green player can place his trading house on site 4. However, he already has a house on site 2. Therefore, he does not set up a new house. Instead, he moves the existing house over to the site with the higher number, 4.
• Only after setting up a trading house can the player draw the character card from the deck and place it in his or her set to the right of the other cards.
• The player then places the die with which he or she had selected the character card on top of the card, thereby indicating how many years the player will be allied with this character.
  • Example: The green player places the new character card in his set to the right and then places the white die with the number that was rolled, four, on top of the card. Having done so, the player can use Francis Walsingham four times.
• Now the player can immediately execute the action of his or her new character card one time.
  • Example: The green player may employ Francis Walsingham to place or remove one religion stone in a country of his choosing.

All action symbols on the character cards are explained in "Overview of the Symbols." Ideally, all players should familiarize themselves with the symbols together before starting the game. These symbols are on the character cards as well as on the spaces of the action track and on the advantage tiles.

Drawing a new character card and following the instructions on an event card when it appears

• After using his or her new character card, the player flips over the top card on that character's deck and places it back on the deck. The religion stone depicted is immediately placed on top of the new character card.
• If an event card is drawn, the player reads aloud the text and immediately follows its instructions. The card is then removed from the game, and a new card is flipped over. If another event card is drawn, it will be ignored and removed from the game. No more than one event can take place during each player's turn. For this reason, as many cards must be flipped over as necessary until a character card is drawn. The player sets the specified religion stone on top of the new character card.

Moving an action disk on the action track and executing an action

• At the end of his or her turn, the player must use one of his or her free dice to move his or her action disk on the action track and may execute just one action.
• Unlike when selecting character cards, the numbers on the dice play no role at all on the action track. Only the color of the die has any significance here.
• The player selects one of his or her free dice and moves his or her action disk clockwise on the action track to the next unoccupied space that is marked by a die of that same color.
• Only one action disk is allowed on any single space on the action track.
• The player may immediately execute the action of the space to which his or her action disk was moved. If so desired, the player can also refuse to execute the action.
• The die that the player used to make his or her move will not be considered "used" for the action. The die will remain free and can be cast again the following year.
• Tip: To quickly see which action spaces a player can move to, it is helpful if the player places his or her free dice temporarily on the action spaces that come next in clockwise order from the current position of the player's action disk.
  • Example: The yellow player selects her purple die and moves to the next space marked with a purple die. Now the player can sell goods in Spain.
• By exchanging one victory point (moving the victory point disk one space back on the victory point track) a player can skip one unoccupied action space of the selected die color and move to the next. If the player moves back two or three spaces on the victory point track, then he or she may even skip two or three unoccupied spaces of that specific color, respectively.
• However, the player may not move all the way around the track back to the space where he or she began the move.
  • Example: Instead of the purple die, the yellow player could have chosen another of her free dice; e.g., the white die. However, to do so she does not necessarily have to move to the first space marked with a white die (1), but instead she could choose to move to the next unoccupied white space after that (2). The player might earn one or sell up to two cloth tiles on this space. Skipping one white space would cost that player one victory point. The player would have to pay just one victory point, as the second white space is occupied by the green player (X) and would not be counted. The yellow player would not be allowed to move to her starting space, even for two victory points.
• If a player has no free dice available, he or she may not move his or her action disk in this particular turn and may not execute the action of the space where they are already positioned. However, if a player does have a free die, then he or she must move. The player is not allowed to stay on the same action space.

The End of a Year

Once the player sitting to the right of the starting player concludes his or her actions for the 2nd half of the year, the starting player begins the next year with the 1st half of the year. All players then flip their summary cards over to the "1st half of the year" side.

Game End and Winner

• The game ends the year after a player reaches 50 or more victory points. When a player's score exceeds 50 points, his or her score continue to be counted at one on the victory point track. Then, 50 is added to his or her point total at the end.
• All players play through until the end of the 2nd half of the year. The year ends with the player sitting to the right of the starting player.
• If a loss of points causes the score of the player who triggered the end of the game to fall below 50 victory points again, then the game still ends after the current year being played.
• Players will receive additional victory points at the end, and they will advance their disks on the victory point track:
  • a) Two victory points for each trading house a player possesses in any country
  • b) One victory point for each unused protection tile
  • c) One victory point for every two unsold goods tiles (rounded down)
  • d) Victory points depicted on the advantage tiles. There are five one-point tiles, five two-point tiles, and two three-point tiles included in the game.
    • Note: Victory points on advantage tiles may be uncovered only at the end of the game. They may not be used to reach the 50 point mark to trigger the game end earlier.

Whoever is now farthest along the victory point track wins.

Example for the final points: One player possesses three trading houses on the game board (= 6 victory points). That player also has one protection tile (= 1 victory point), three goods tiles (= 1.5, or 1 victory point rounded down), and two advantage tiles, one with one victory point and one with two victory points (= 3 victory points). Thus, the player moves forward 11 spaces on the victory point track.

If there is a tie, the player with the most unsold goods tiles left over wins. If there is still a tie, then the player with the highest number currently showing on his or her religion die wins. If after that there is still no clear winner, then there is simply more than one winner.

Other Rules

Trading houses and the sale of goods

Important rules with no exceptions: A player can only sell goods in a country if the player possesses a trading house on a site in that country.

• A player will keep a trading house in a country even if later on he or she has to give up the character card with which he or she originally set up the trading house.
• The goods a player is entitled to sell in a given country are specified in the cost of goods box next to the sites for trading houses. Only two types of goods can be sold in each country. The player earns four victory points for one type of good, while for the other type, the player earns two victory points.
• In each country, a player may only sell one tile of each goods type depicted there per turn.
• Goods are sold first of all by executing actions on the action track:
  • If a player moves his or her action disk to a space indicating a ship, he or she can, in the country of the associated color, sell one goods tile of each good that can be sold in that country (as long as that player has the goods tile and a trading house there).
    • Example: After moving to this action space, a player can sell one cloth for four victory points and one wine for two victory points in England. That player might also sell just one cloth or just one wine, but no more than one tile of a given good.
    • Important: A player can only move onto this type of action space by using the purple die. If a player uses the purple die as a wild-card die to draw a character card, then as long as the die lies on that character card, the player may not use the die for these purposes on the action track.
  • On a space where a specific type of good is depicted, a player may choose to receive one goods tile of this type or sell one or two goods tiles of this type. The player may sell at most two goods tiles of the type depicted (one in each country where that good can be sold), under the condition that the player possesses trading houses there.
    • Example: A player moving to this action space can sell one wine for four victory points in the Netherlands and one wine for two victory points in England. The player can decide to sell in one or both countries, but only one tile per country.
• In addition, sales of goods can be made using the "Captain" character card. In every country's card deck, one of these cards is present. A player who executes the action of a captain may sell one goods tile of his or her choice for three victory points (as long as that player possesses a trading house in a country where this type of good can be sold). The same action is possible if a player uses a specific advantage tile.

Religious conflicts

• When all of the religion spaces in a country are covered by religion stones, at the end of the player's turn during which the spaces became covered, a religious conflict will occur. It makes no difference if the turn occurs during the 1st or 2nd half of the year. In the 1st half of the year, a conflict will play out after the current player has rotated all his or her dice to decrease them by one, and used his or her character cards. In the 2nd half of the year, a conflict occurs after the current player has executed his or her action on the action track.
• Since a conflict can be played out only at the end of a turn, a torch is placed on the torch symbol next to the religion spaces as a reminder when the conflict is first triggered.
• If there are no more free religion spaces in a country, no more religion stones can be placed there.
• When a conflict occurs, players must check whether there are more Catholic (= purple) or Protestant (= gray) religion stones in that country. Neutral religion stones will be ignored. If there is a majority of either religion, then that religion wins the conflict.
  • Note: It doesn't matter where in the religion spaces a religion stone has been placed.
• Each player who possesses a trading house in the country and belongs to the religion of the majority winner of the religious conflict there earns victory points as a result. Players earn the number of victory points indicated by the numbers on the sites where their trading houses are located.
• Each player who possesses a trading house in the country and belongs to the minority religion during the religious conflict there does not earn any victory points in the conflict. Furthermore, these players must remove their trading houses from that country. Note: Without a trading house, the player is no longer allowed to sell goods in that country. Only later on can the player again set up a trading house by drawing a character card.
• If a player does not possess a trading house in a country, then that player will not be affected by the conflict.
  • Example of a conflict outcome: In England, Protestants have won the conflict. The red and green players are Protestants. They earn victory points in accordance with the positions of their trading houses: red earns four points and green two points. The yellow player is Catholic. That player earns no points and must remove her trading house from the country. The blue player is Protestant, but since she has no trading house in England, she earns no points.
• If there is no majority of either religion, then the conflict is avoided. No players will win victory points or lose their trading houses in that country.
• After a conflict has been triggered and played out (even if it has been avoided), all religion stones are removed from the country and placed back in the pile. The torch is removed from the board.
• If during a player's turn religious conflicts are triggered in more than one country, that player will decide the order in which the conflicts are played out country by country.
• After a conflict is triggered, it is still possible that a religion stone is removed from the country before the end of the player's turn. In that case, a conflict does not yet take place there. The torch is removed from the game board.

Event cards and protection tiles

• Every card deck includes four event cards: three of these in each deck can have negative consequences for players. However, every affected player can prevent the event's negative consequences by using one of his or her protection tiles and then putting it back in the pile.
• Additionally, every card deck features one event card that earns each player victory points corresponding to the current value on his or her religion die, if, in exchange, that player gives up one protection tile.
• A player may also use a protection tile (and thus return it to the pile) when he or she draws a character card in a country. That player then may remove the religion stone on that card and put it back in the pile instead of placing it in the related country. However, only the player whose turn it is has this option.
• Unless otherwise specified on an event card, all of the players specified are always affected regardless of their countries.
  • Example: For example, if an event card from the England deck says "Each Catholic loses two victory points," all players who belong to the Catholic religion are affected — not just those who have a trading house in England.
• If, because of an event card, a player loses so many victory points that his or her score drops below one, then the player's victory point disk will be removed from the game board. It will be put back on the board later when he or she earns victory points again. However, a player may not drop below 0 intentionally.
• Loch Leven: In each card stack, there is an event among the negative event types that requires players to place one of their dice on their Loch Leven cards. This can be a free die or one that is on a character card. If you select a die that is on a character card, that character card comes out of the game. A die on a Loch Leven card is rotated down one number in the 1st half of the year just like the other dice (even before the religion die) — until it becomes "free" again. As long as a die lies on a Loch Leven card, it cannot be used to draw a character card or move on the action track.

Victory points as compensation for the religious minority

Whenever a player rotates his or her religion die to decrease it by one, or rolls this die again, and is then the only player belonging to a particular religion, that player will earn one victory point.

Using victory points

• A player may choose not to draw a character card. Being unable or unwilling to draw a character card will cost the player one victory point.
• In exchange for three victory points, a player may remove a die of his or her choosing from one of his or her cards during his or her turn. A die removed from a character card or Loch Leven is put back with the free dice. Whenever a die is removed from a character card, this card is then removed from the game. A religion die that has been removed must be rolled again immediately.
• In exchange for victory points, a player may choose to skip or pass over action spaces when moving along the action track (see "Moving an action disk on the action track and executing an action").

Ending the game early

• The game ends early only in rare cases when the card deck for a particular country has been used up.
• However, even in this case the final year must be played out until the end.
• Although no more character cards can be drawn in this country, players may still select the die corresponding to this country's color to set up their trading houses or increase their values.

Special rules for games with two or three players

• The following special rules apply to the action track in games with two or three players:
• If a player finishes his or her move on a space labeled with a purple die, then that player can place a neutral religion stone in that country in addition to selling goods there. The player may also do so even if he or she chooses not to make a sale there.
  • Example: After moving to this action space, the player can place one neutral religion stone on England.
• In a game with only two players, a cross token is placed on the first religion space in each country at the start of the game. Thus, during the entire course of the game, only three religion spaces will be available.
• If both players at the start of a game with two players turn out to belong to the same religion, one player will return his or her Loch Leven card and draw a new one so that both players start with different religions.
• Excess Loch Leven cards are removed from the game.

Background information on the novel A Column of Fire

• Given that Ken Follett's novel plays out largely in England, the game board has been designed from this perspective, which may be unusual for Continental Europeans.
• For technical reasons, Seville has been positioned to the West of Paris. In reality, the city should be further to the East and outside the margins of the board.
• Kingsbridge is a fictional city located in southern England.
• Even if the country is referred to as "the Netherlands" in the game, its proper appellation would be "the Spanish Netherlands" as the territory belonged to the Spanish crown in the 16th century.
• The city of Antwerp belonged to the Netherlands in the 16th century. Today it is situated in the Kingdom of Belgium founded in the 19th century.
• Loch Leven is the historical location in Scotland where Mary Stuart was imprisoned and from where she escaped. Almost 20 years later, she was condemned and executed for conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth I for high treason. Since the event cards are randomly revealed, it is possible in the game that the Mary Stuart character card is revealed after being reported on an event card.
• In the 16th century, Protestants dressed inconspicuously. Gray was their preferred color because, on the one hand, they believed in keeping a modest appearance, and, on the other hand, they were not permitted to practice their religion openly in many places. At the same time, Catholics enjoyed dressing in colorful clothing. For this reason, their religion stones are purple in the game.
• All characters in the game are taken from the novel. Some of them actually lived, but most are fictional. The religion stone that a character card brings into the game does not necessarily reflect that character's religion for technical reasons.

Note: Individual game pieces (goods tiles, protection tiles, religion stones, and torches) should be available in sufficient quantities. If for some reason still more are required, you can use any material as temporary replacements.

Overview of the Action Symbols

Important: If there are two symbols divided by a vertical line on a character card, only one of these symbols can be chosen.

• Goods tile symbol: The player receives one tile of the type of good depicted from the pile.
• Advantage tile symbol: The player earns one advantage tile from the pile and places this tile face down. During a move, the player can use as many advantage tiles as desired, even during the same turn in which the player obtained them. The player reveals advantage tiles that show victory points only at the end of the game.
• Protection tile symbol: The player earns one protection tile from the pile. In exchange for one protection tile, the player can neutralize the effect of a negative event for himself or herself. Other players will be affected by the event. Alternatively, during his or her turn a player can preempt the placement of a specific religion stone in a particular country by removing it from a character card (see "Event cards and protection tiles").
• Victory point symbol: The player receives the victory points depicted. The player advances his or her disk along the victory point track upon earning points from character cards or the action track. A player receives the victory points from advantage tiles only at the end of the game.
• Captain symbol: The player can sell exactly one goods tile of his or her choosing for three victory points, as long as the player possesses a trading house in one of the two countries where this type of good can be sold.
• Neutral religion stone symbol: The player may place one neutral religion stone in a country of his or her choosing.
• +1 / -1 die symbol: The player may rotate one die lying on one of his or her cards down or up by one number. This can be a die lying on one of the player's character cards (even on the card with this very symbol), a religion card, or a Loch Leven card. If the player rotates a die lying on a character card, this does not mean the player may execute that character card's action.
• Remove character card symbol: The player may remove a character card from the game. This can be either a character card from the player's own set (even the card with this very symbol) or a card lying face up on a deck. In that case, the next character card is drawn.
• Place/remove religion stone symbol: A player may place or remove one depicted religion stone in a country of his or her choosing. Both symbols are depicted on the character cards; in this case, the player must choose one religion stone to place or remove, not both.
• Action track advance symbol: The player may move to the next unoccupied space on the action track and execute the action.
• Remove die symbol: The player may remove the die from one of his or her cards. If the player removes a die lying on a character card or the Loch Leven card, then the player must place the die back with his or her free dice. If the player removes the die from the religion card, the player rolls it again immediately and selects a religion. Note: Whenever a die is removed from a character card, this card is then removed from the game.

Symbols Appearing Only on the Action Track

• Any goods tile symbol: The player earns one goods tile of his or her choosing from the pile.
• Ship symbol: In the corresponding country (the country corresponding to the color of the ship), the player may sell one goods tile of each kind that is allowed to be sold there, as long as the player possesses a trading house in that country.
  • Example: In France (blue ship), the player may sell one book tile for four and/or one ore tile for two victory points.
• Specific goods symbol: The player earns one goods tile of his or her choosing from the pile. Alternatively, the player may sell one goods tile in each country where that type of good can be sold (the colors of the ships), as long as the player possesses a trading house in each country in which they want to sell.
  • Example for the space with the cloth symbol: The player receives one cloth tile, or the player can sell one cloth tile for four victory points in England and/or for two victory points in Spain.

Credits

Michael Rieneck, born in 1966, lives in northern Germany. A freelance game designer and writer, he passionately works on games of all kinds. Many of his games have already been published by Kosmos. He is equally comfortable developing simple and fun games such as Nichtlustig or Mit List und Tücke (Brutal Kingdom) as he is with his greatest successes, the first two games based on Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series, The Pillars of the Earth and World without End (together with Stefan Stadler). This time it was a special challenge for him: to develop a game at the same time the novel was being written.

The author and the publisher thank all test players and rulebook reviewers.

• Editing: Wolfgang Lüdtke
• Illustration: Michael Menzel
• Graphics: Fiore GmbH
• English Text Editing: Ted McGuire
• Additional Design: Dan Freitas