Dark Ages: Holy Roman Empire
Dark Ages: Holy Roman Empire Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Setup
- General Concepts
- On Your Turn
- Description of Actions and Reactions
- Passing
- Battles
- Ending the Game
- Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo Play
- Module 2 — The Great Domain
- Module 3 — Grand Buildings
- Module 4 — Alchemists
- Module 5 — Alliances
- Module 6 — Commanders
- Module 7 — Skirmishers
- Module 8 — The Wyrd
- Module 9 — The Ages of War
- Module 10 — Distant Campaigns
- Module 11 — Tribute
- Module 12A — The Pope
- Module 13A — Travels of Benjamin
- Module 14A — Crusades
- Module 15A — Rise of Poland
Components
Common components
- Main board, with the Victory Point (VP) track around it
- Culture board, with the Culture track and card offer, the action spaces, and the Church track
- 5 Action cards
- 248 Culture and Module cards
- 7 Ruler cards
- 6 Title cards
- 6 Barbarian Military unit cards
- For each player, in 4 colours:
- 1 Player board
- 5 Cavalry miniatures
- 6 Archer miniatures
- 7 Infantry miniatures
- 12 Farm miniatures
- 6 Noble discs
- 1 large (VP) and 2 small (Warehouse and Culture) markers
- +100 / +200 VP token
- 14 Player markers
- 25 Barbarian tokens (with blue symbols)
- 100 resource tokens
- 25 Wood
- 25 Leather
- 25 Stone
- 25 Iron
- 25 Gold tokens
- 15 City miniatures
- 30 Keep miniatures
- 88 Production building miniatures
- 10 Church miniatures
- 19 Dice
- 25 Transient units
- 5 Cavalry miniatures
- 10 Archer miniatures
- 10 Infantry miniatures
Module specific components
- Lordlings and Raiders module cards (numbered CS01–CS36).
- Grand Buildings module cards (numbered C049–C054 and the cards for Rulers Marozia and Henry the Fowler).
- Alchemists module cards (numbered CT01–CT04).
- Alliances module cards (numbered CA01–CA08).
- Commanders module cards (numbered CG01–CG05) and large Commander Miniatures.
- 25 Skirmisher Barbarian tokens (with red symbols).
- The Pope module card (numbered CP01).
- Wyrd module cards (numbered CY01–CY12).
- Travels of Benjamin module cards (numbered CB01–CB12).
- Ages of War module cards (numbered CW01–CW21) and 12 War tokens.
- Crusades module cards (numbered CC01–CC12).
- Rise of Poland module cards (numbered CR01–CR20).
- Distant Campaigns module cards (numbered CM01–CM15).
Before your first game
Before performing setup for the first time, carefully punch out all cardboard components, sort all tokens and tiles, as well as cards (the numbers on cards will help you identify all module cards and set them aside for your first game).
Setup
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Place the Main board in the middle of the gaming area. Place the Culture board next to it.
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Shuffle all Action cards and place one card face up onto each of the five spaces in the centre of the Culture board.
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Give each player a Player board, and all components of their chosen player colour.
Note: The game comes with player markers of every colour. In the base game they may be used to mark wounds sustained by your units or Barbarians. However, some of the modules will instruct you to use a number of them.
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Remove every Culture card, Ruler card, and Title card showing a player count higher than the current number of players, returning them to the game box — leaving the cards marked 2 players, 3 players, and 4 players respectively for your player count.
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Place all Rulers with their 2 matching starting cards on the board.
Note: Marozia and Henry the Fowler require Module 3 — Grand Buildings. If playing without this Module, remove these Rulers and their starting cards from play.
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Randomly determine a starting player. Starting with the player on the right of the starting player, proceeding counter-clockwise, each player chooses a Ruler, adding its two starting cards to their hand. Remove any remaining Rulers and their starting cards from play.
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Place 11/13/15 Cities into the supply for a game with 2/3/4 players. Return any unused Cities to the game box.
- A. From the supply, each player takes a City and places it in the Province depicted on their Ruler card (becoming their Capital), along with a Farm of their player colour onto the first Farm space of the Capital's Province.
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Place a Church on each space of the Church track of the Culture board.
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Mix all Barbarian tokens together, and place one token, with a random side facing up, in each Province with the following exceptions: Provinces showing a player count higher than the current number of players, and Provinces that are player Capitals.
- A. Place Player markers of an unused colour into Provinces with no Capital and no Barbarian token. These Provinces are blocked off, and out of play.
- B. Remove any unused Barbarian tokens from the game, returning them to the game box.
- C. Place one of each (Infantry, Archer, Cavalry) Barbarian Military cards with its regular side up (full illustration) next to the main board. Return the other three cards to the box.
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In each Province, place a Production building matching its depicted resource. Production buildings placed in Capital Provinces are placed so that they occupy one of the three building spaces of the City.
Wood, Leather, Stone, Iron.
Note: each straight wall of a City provides a single space for exactly one building: one of the coloured Production buildings or a grey Church.
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Each player places their VP marker on the 0 space of the VP track around the Main board.
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Each player places their Culture marker on the first (leftmost) space of the Culture track on the Culture board.
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Each player places their Warehouse marker on the topmost space of the Warehouse track on their Player board.
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Each player places all their remaining Farms onto the Farm track on their Player board, covering all spaces except the leftmost one.
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Shuffle the common Culture cards together to form the draw deck, and place it on the Culture board. Deal one face up Culture card into each space on the Culture board, forming the Culture card offer.
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Each player receives 1 Gold and 1 of each basic resource (Wood, Leather, Stone, Iron).
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Each player keeps 6/5/4 Noble discs (with 2/3/4 players) in their personal supply, removing the remaining Noble discs from the game, returning them to the game box.
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Beginning with the starting player and going clockwise, the first 1/1/2 players (in case of a 2/3/4-player game) places one of their Noble discs in the Exhausted Nobles area of the Culture board.
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Each player places 2 of their Infantry units in their Capital.
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The starting player takes the first turn of the game.
General Concepts
The goal of the game is to score the most Victory Points (VP). Whenever you gain VP, advance your marker along the track. If you exceed 100 or 200 VP, place the corresponding token underneath your scoring marker.
The Main board
The Main board is divided into Provinces. Most Provinces are grouped into Regions (sharing matching background colours). Provinces with white backgrounds count as Regions with a single Province. Each Province depicts which resource it can produce (if the appropriate buildings are built in it), its name, and two Farm spaces. There are 4 basic resources: Wood, Leather, Stone, and Iron. You can gain them (taking them from the supply) and spend them (returning them to supply) through various effects. Some Provinces also have small red hexagons with numbers in them. These hexagons are only used during solo play and have no meaning in multiplayer games.
A Province is considered to be neighbouring another Province if they share a border or if they are connected by a water link.
Example: Marca Geronis and Bohemia share a border. They are neighbouring. Croatia and Benevento are connected by a water link. They are also neighbouring.
Provinces can be either controlled or uncontrolled. A Province is controlled if a player has at least one miniature of their colour (a Unit or a Farm) in that Province. Otherwise a Province is uncontrolled. Production buildings, Cities, etc. are not player coloured, therefore they do not count towards the controlled status of Provinces! Uncontrolled Provinces can be occupied by a Barbarian token, or unoccupied. All controlled Provinces are occupied (by their controlling player, obviously).
Your starting Province is your Capital, shown on your Ruler card. You can never lose control of your Capital.
Gold and Culture Points
Another very important asset in a game of Dark Ages is Gold. Gold is not considered a resource, but whenever you need to spend any resource (Wood, Leather, Stone, or Iron) you may spend a Gold instead. Gold is also required for several crucial effects, most notably Researching.
Besides VP, resources, and Gold, keep an eye on your Culture Points. They are measured on the track in the centre of the Culture board. Whenever you gain a Culture Point, move your marker one space to the right.
The first player to reach a new red space on the Culture track immediately receives one Gold. Each red space you have reached gives you access to an additional Culture card from the offer. The more Culture Points you have, the more options you can select from. For a detailed explanation of the Culture card offer, see the Development of Culture action.
The Player board
Each player has their own player board. You will tuck Common Technologies (maximum 4 of them) under the top side of this board. The higher the level of a Technology, the more the card will be visible from underneath your board. The board itself also acts as a player aid for all things you can build (see Build action), and shows your Farm and Warehouse tracks. On the bottom half of your player board, you can see your available Unit types (Infantry, Archer, Cavalry) and their combat stats in battle. These spaces will be covered by your Military Technologies. To their right, you collect trophies of Barbarians defeated in battle.
Units
Player units
A unit is a single Infantry, Archer or Cavalry miniature. The game comes with a supply of unit miniatures in four player colours.
Units stay in your supply until they are recruited onto the board. Killed or spent units are returned to your supply, available to be recruited later. You may not recruit more units of a given type than what's available in your supply. The characteristics of your units are defined by the Military Technologies on your player board.
Transient units
Some game effects will grant you Transient units. These do not count against your supply. Use the neutral coloured (grey) miniatures to represent them in battle if necessary. They will immediately return to the supply at the end of the battle. Neutral miniatures are considered to be unlimited. In the unlikely case of them running out, use any proxy as desired.
Barbarians
Barbarian tokens start on the Main board: some of them show their reward, some of them show the enemy you will be facing if you attack them. For the exact procedure of attacking, see the Manoeuvre action and Battle resolution.
Note: There are two types of neutral enemies: Barbarians and Skirmishers. Barbarians (recommended for your first play) have blue unit symbols. Skirmishers (added by Module 7 — Skirmishers) have red unit symbols.
Culture Cards
When gained (usually via the Development of Culture action, or the Cultural Exchange reaction), Culture cards go into your hand. From there, they can be played either during a Research action or when triggered by specific circumstances, depending on the card type. You have a hand limit of 10 Culture cards (shared between all types). If you exceed this at the end of your turn, discard cards until you have 10 cards left in your hand. Title cards and your Ruler card are not Culture cards and do not count towards the limit, nor do Technology cards you already played onto your player board. In the base game, the types of Culture cards are: Common Technology, Military Technology, Relic, and Cognomen. Modules add various new types such as Grand Buildings, or Raiders.
Discarded Culture cards are placed into a discard pile next to the Culture card offer. They are never shuffled back into the draw deck.
On Your Turn
There are no rounds or phases in Dark Ages. Instead, the game is played over the course of an undetermined number of turns, clockwise from one player to the next. Each turn, there is one active player. These rules will refer to "you" as the active player, unless explicitly noted otherwise.
On your turn, you must either perform a Noble action, or Pass.
Note: Some modules introduce additional options, prefaced by "instead of placing a Noble".
To perform a Noble action, take a Noble disc from your personal supply, and place it on one of the action cards. There may already be other Noble discs on the card, including your own. Stack your disc on top of any existing Noble discs on the same action card, creating a clear hierarchy to show whose Noble was placed first. Then, resolve the selected action. A detailed description of each action starts below.
When you Pass (instead of placing a Noble disc), you retrieve all of your Noble discs, check your resource limits, and produce. For details on Passing, see the Passing section.
Using Titles
Immediately after finalizing your Noble action (but before any reaction, see below), you may exhaust a ready Title card you own to perform the same Noble action again (without having to place another Noble disc). Exhausting means rotating the card sideways, and a non-rotated card is considered ready.
Some Technologies allow you to do something "whenever you resolve" a particular action; when you use a Title, the additional action is resolved as a completely separate action, therefore abilities like these can be used again. "One use" abilities (mostly found in modules) giving discounts or secondary effects for one particular action only affect one of your two actions — not both — since the additional action is a completely separate action.
Some abilities in the game grant you an action "without using a Noble". You may NOT repeat such actions using Title cards; only Noble actions may be repeated using Title cards.
Important Restriction: You may use a Title to repeat a Manoeuvre action if you did not initiate a battle (not even against Barbarians!) on your original action.
Settling
Before or after your Noble action(s), as a free action, you may settle one or more Provinces that you control. You may only settle a Province that has no Farms at all. When settling:
- Determine the settlement cost of that Province.
- For Provinces neighbouring your Capital and in the same Region as your Capital: use the first (leftmost) value on your Ruler card.
- For Provinces neighbouring your Capital (but not in the same Region) or in the same Region as your Capital (but not neighbouring it): use the second value on your Ruler card.
- For every other Province: use the third value on your Ruler card.
- Return units from that Province equal to the settlement cost of this Province to supply. Level II units count as two units for settling purposes, level III units count as three. For more on unit levels, see Research action and Battle Result.
- Place the leftmost Farm from your Farm track onto the first Farm space of this Province.
Farms increase your Army Upkeep limit (see Manoeuvre action), and since they are in your colour, they allow you to maintain control of a Province without keeping units stationed there. When defending a Province, each Farm generates one Transient Infantry unit. If your Army Upkeep limit is 7 or higher at the end of the game, you will also score VP.
If an ability instructs you to remove a Farm from your player board, remove the leftmost Farm still on your player board from the game, returning it to the game box. The only effect of this is to permanently increase your Army Upkeep limit.
Cognomen Cards
Another free action available to you on your turn is to play a Cognomen card from your hand. Each Cognomen card has a scoring condition: evaluate it, score VP, then place it in the common discard pile. You may not keep Cognomen cards in your hand during Passing, so you must play all Cognomen cards in your hand when you Pass. For details, see the Passing section.
Reactions
After performing your action(s) and any free actions, check the Action cards. If there are 3 discs stacked on top of each other, move the bottom one out. The owner of that disc — that may be you or another player — must select one of the two adjacent reactions to perform.
The reacting player performs the effect of the reaction immediately, and then their Noble disc is placed in the Exhausted Nobles area, to the right of the Action cards.
After a player turn finishes (and a possible reaction has been resolved), check if the end of the game has been triggered (see conditions below), then the next player clockwise becomes the new active player and begins their turn.
Example: The white player places their disc on top two discs already stacked on the Research action: yellow disc on top, white on the bottom. After performing the Research action, the white player slides the bottom disc out, allowing them to perform one of two reactions.
Description of Actions and Reactions
In the rules below, "you" refers to the player executing the action (active player) or reaction (the player whose Noble disc has been pushed out). Recruit exists as both an action and a reaction, while all options marked with blue are actions, and all options marked with red are reactions.
Build
When you take the Build action, select one of the following options:
- Build a City in a Province you control without a City.
- Build a Production building in a City you control.
- Build a Church in a City you control.
- Build a Keep in a City you control.
- Build a second Farm in a Province you control.
- Build a Warehouse on your player board.
City
The cost of a City is a Wood and a Stone. Each Province can only have one City. When you build a City, immediately gain 2 Culture Points, and move the Production building already present in that Province to occupy one of the three slots around the City.
The City will enable you to collect Production when you Pass, recruit units, build more buildings, and score points at the end of the game. When defending a Province, a City generates one Transient Archer unit.
The supply of Cities is limited. This supply running out is an endgame condition.
Production Building
A Production building costs Wood and Stone if it matches the resource depicted in that Province. If it matches the resource of a neighbouring Province, it costs Wood, Stone, and Stone instead. You are not allowed to build a Production building of a resource that is not depicted in that Province or a neighbouring one. You may only build a Production building in a Province you control that has a City with at least one free slot remaining. Each Production building and each Church uses a slot.
The more Production buildings of the same type you have in a City, the more resources of that type you will gain when Passing. You can find a detailed description of Passing and production in the Passing section.
Church
A Church costs Wood, Wood, and Stone. You may not build a Church in a Province that already contains a Church. You can only build a Church in a Province you control that has a City with at least one free slot remaining. Production buildings and Churches take up a slot each. You must build the first available Church from the Culture board's Church track. Building the last Church is an endgame trigger. If there are no Churches left on the Church track, you may not build one.
When you build a Church, score 5 VP, then 1 VP if there is no Church in the Region you have just built in, and another 1 VP for each Region with at least one neighbouring Province and no Churches.
Example: The yellow player Builds a Church in Carinthia. They receive 5 VP, and then another 1 VP because this is the first Church built in the Region Carinthia belongs to. Another 1 VP is scored for the yellow Region, since there is no Church in any of its Provinces. There is already a Church in Swabia, so the yellow player does not receive the 1VP from the orange Region. Thus, the yellow player receives a total of 7 VP.
When you build a Church, you may immediately play a Relic card from your hand. Unless specifically stated otherwise on the Relic card, its effect is evaluated before you have to pay the Church's cost and may result in the reduction of the cost of that Church. Discard the played Relic after the Church is built.
Keep
The cost of the Keep depends on the level of the Keep. The first (bottommost) level of a Keep costs Stone, the second level costs Stone and Wood, the third (topmost) level costs Stone and Iron. You can only build a Keep in a City you control, and no City may have more than 3 levels of a Keep. With a Build action, you may only build one level. Some special effects will allow you to place multiple levels of a Keep at the same time.
The Keep and its levels are useful during battle, both defensively and offensively in its own, as well as in neighbouring Provinces (see Battle Result), and during final scoring.
Farm
The first Farm of each Province has to be placed via a Settle free action. Each Province can hold two Farms, and the second can be built using a Build action at a cost of Wood and Wood. When building a Farm, take the leftmost available miniature from your Farm track and place it in a Province you control that already has a Farm.
Farms increase your Army limit (see Manoeuvre action), can score VP during final scoring, and allow you to control a Province without having units present. When defending a Province, each Farm generates one Transient Infantry unit.
Warehouse
Warehouses are not built on the main board. When you build a Warehouse, advance your marker on the Warehouse track one space down. The cost of this Build action is depicted on the space you are moving onto.
Note: The first two Warehouses cost Stone or Wood, not both.
Example: The yellow player builds their second Warehouse. They pay 1 Wood to slide their Warehouse marker down 1 space on the Warehouse track.
The number of Warehouses you have built matters when you Pass, to hold or sell your goods. If you build three or more Warehouses, you will also score VP during final scoring.
Development of Culture
When you take the Development of Culture action, select one accessible card from the Culture card offer to add to your hand.
A card on the Culture card offer is accessible if it is below or to the left of your Culture marker. You gain access to new cards from the Culture track when your Culture Marker enters a new red space on the Culture track.
Example: The yellow player has access to the first, second and third card in the offer, but not to the fourth and any subsequent cards.
Various card types can appear in the offer: Common and Military Technologies (see Research action below), Relics (see building Churches), and Cognomen cards (see Cognomen Cards above). Modules introduce additional card types: Special Buildings, Raiders, and many more.
After picking a card, slide every card in the offer to the left (to fill the gap), then draw a new card and put it on the rightmost space of the offer. If you repeat this action using a Title card, refill after each pick.
Research
When you take the Research action, select one of three options:
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Play a Common Technology from your hand into one of the empty slots at the top of your player board. Place the card so that only the first level is visible.
Note: You may not remove previously researched Technologies.
- If the first level of the played Technology is marked "Immediate!", resolve its effect. "Immediate!" effects are one-time use only.
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Pay a Gold to increase the level of one of your Common Technologies: slide it further out from underneath your board to see its next level's effect. Each Technology has three levels, so this option can be chosen at most twice per card.
- All visible levels are in effect unless one explicitly replaces an earlier level.
- If the newly revealed level of the played Technology is marked "Immediate!", resolve its effect.
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Pay a Gold to play a Military Technology onto the corresponding unit type of your player board.
- A Military Technology of a higher level replaces the corresponding one of a lower level (including the pre-printed, first level). Infantry can only be replaced by Infantry, Archers can only be replaced by Archers, and Cavalry can only be replaced by Cavalry.
- Military Technologies can only be played to replace another of the same type, exactly one level lower. Level II Technologies can only replace the pre-printed ones, level III Technologies can only replace level II ones.
- Most Military Technology cards show two different unit types (a level II and a level III one). You may play it as either of them. Orient the chosen unit type upwards when placing it on your player board.
- When you play a Military Technology, its values immediately affect all your units in play, whereas the new unit costs only affect future Recruit actions (see below).
- The level of the Technology is also relevant as the unit's level during Battle Result and Settling.
Example: The white player is playing a card that can be played as Level 2 Archer or Level 3 Infantry (C074). Since all their Military technologies are on Level 1 (pre-printed on the player board), the white player is only allowed to play the card as a Level 2 Archer.
Recruit
When you take the Recruit action or reaction, select a unit type, and place a matching miniature from your supply into a Province you control with a City. Your supply is limited: if all miniatures of that type are already in play, you may not recruit more.
The price of the Recruit action or reaction depends on the unit type and its corresponding Technology. See the cost on the player board's matching unit slot, or the topmost Military Technology card covering it.
Example: As part of a Recruit action, the yellow player pays 1 Wood and 1 Leather and places an Archer unit in Lombardy.
Abilities triggered by the Recruit action (for example Levied Archers Technology) also get triggered by the Recruit reaction, but do not get triggered when other effects allow you to place units on the board (for example Revanchism, see Battle Result).
Manoeuvre
The Manoeuvre action allows you to move one group of units from one Province to a neighbouring Province. However, before you do that, you must check your Army limit: if the total number of units in play (even the ones not involved in the movement) is larger than the rightmost visible value on your Farm track, you must either:
- Return one or more of your units to your supply until this is no longer the case; or
- Pay one Gold for each excess unit.
You may choose to have some of the units in excess of your Army limit return to the supply and pay Gold for others.
Example: The yellow player has 3 Archers in Verona and 3 Infantry units in Lombardy, and an Army limit of 4. After selecting the Manoeuvre action (but before moving any units), the yellow player chooses to pay 1 Gold and return 1 Infantry unit to the supply.
If you move your units this way into an occupied Province — whether controlled by an enemy or occupied by a Barbarian unit — a battle starts. See Battle resolution for details.
Regroup
The Regroup reaction allows you to move one group of units from one Province to one neighbouring Province, but unlike Manoeuvre, it does not involve an Army limit check. However, when performing Regroup, you may NOT move your units into an opponent-controlled or Barbarian occupied Province. In other words: unit movements during a Regroup may not result in battles.
Cultural Exchange
When you take the Cultural Exchange reaction, select one of two options:
- Discard a Culture card (of any type, including any Technology you started the game with) from your hand to gain 1 Gold;
- Spend 1 Gold to take any Culture card from the offer, ignoring the position of your Culture marker.
- After picking a card, slide every card in the offer to the left (to fill the gap), then draw a new card and put it on the rightmost space of the offer.
Receive Resources
There are two reactions that involve gaining a resource: "Wood or Stone" and "Wood or Leather". Simply select one of the available options, and immediately take the chosen resource from the supply.
Sell Goods / Exchange Iron for Gold
When you take this reaction, select one of two options:
- Spend 1 Iron to gain 1 Gold; or
- Sell any 1 resource to gain Culture Points according to its Trade Value:
- 1 Culture Point for one Wood or one Leather
- 2 Culture Points for one Stone
- 3 Culture Points for one Iron
Passing
When you Pass, do not place a Noble disc. If, at the start of your turn, you have no Noble discs left in your personal supply (nor any other "instead of placing a Noble" option to select), you must Pass. However, you may decide to Pass earlier even if you have Noble discs left. You may not Pass, however, if all of your Noble discs are available. When you Pass, resolve the steps below in the following order:
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Discard the leftmost card of the Culture card offer, and slide every card in the offer to the left (to fill the gap), then draw a new card and put it on the rightmost space of the offer.
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If you are eligible to claim a Title, you may claim 1 now.
- To be eligible to claim a Title, you must control half of the Provinces of a Region — rounded up if necessary (2 out of 3, 2 out of 4, 3 out of 6, etc.), and have one unused Noble disc in your personal supply for each Province you do not control.
- If you claim a Title from another player, simply take it from them. If you are the first to claim a Title, score the depicted VP for establishing it.
Example: The yellow player controls Lombardy and Verona. As they Pass with one available Noble disc, they can claim the Kingdom of Italy Title. Since the Title card is claimed for the first time, the yellow player receives 7 VP for establishing the Title.
Important: A Title once gained is not lost automatically, even if its holder does not control enough Provinces. A Title card is only lost if an opponent takes it away.
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Take all your Noble discs (from any boards and cards) and return them to your pool of available discs.
- Do not change the order of remaining discs after removing your own.
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Check your Warehouse track: you may sell as many resources as indicated by the "sell" value of your current position.
- For each resource sold, gain Culture Points according to its Trade Value:
- 1 Culture Points for each Wood or Leather
- 2 Culture Points for each Stone
- 3 Culture Points for each Iron
- For each resource sold, gain Culture Points according to its Trade Value:
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Check your Warehouse track: if you now have more resources than indicated by the "hold" value of your current position, discard resources until you equal your "hold" value.
Important: Gold does not count towards your resource limit!
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Receive 1 Gold, and resolve any Technology effect that triggers "immediately after passing".
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If you hold any Cognomen cards in your hand, you must resolve them immediately and then discard them. If you resolve multiple Cognomen cards, you may choose their order.
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For each Province that you control, receive resources: the first Production building of each type in a Province produces 1 matching resource, the second and third produce 2 matching resources each (having more than one production building in a Province requires the presence of a City).
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Refresh all of your Title cards: rotate them straight up, ready to be used again.
Example: Having Passed, the yellow player (who controls Carinthia, Bavaria and Verona) produces resources.
The City in Verona has a single Wood Production building and 2 Stone Production buildings, so it produces 1 Wood and 3 Stone.
The City in Carinthia has 3 Iron Production buildings, so it produces 5 Iron.
The City in Bavaria has 1 Wood Production building and 1 Leather Production building, so it produces 1 Wood and 1 Leather.
Thus, the yellow player receives in total: 2 Wood, 1 Leather, 3 Stone, 5 Iron.
Battles
If a Manoeuvre action leads your units into a Province controlled by an opponent or occupied by Barbarians, a battle commences.
Battle Against Barbarians
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Take the Barbarian token present in the Province you invaded. If it is showing the reward side, flip it to the unit side.
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Take Transient unit miniatures to represent the Barbarian army. If this is not your first battle against Barbarians, you may have to also add another Transient unit as depicted on your Player board.
When fighting your first Barbarians, there are no Transient units or extra rewards. When fighting Barbarians after beating 1 Barbarian token, add 1 Transient Infantry, and receive 2 VP when you win. When fighting Barbarians after beating 2 Barbarian tokens, add 1 Transient Archer, and receive 3 VP when you win the battle. When fighting Barbarians after beating 3 or more Barbarian tokens, add 1 Transient Cavalry, and receive 4 VP when you win.
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Resolve the Battle Sequence as detailed below. Barbarians use battle values printed on the Barbarian cards, whereas your units use the topmost visible values on your player board or Military Technologies.
Barbarian units in multiplayer will always have the above characteristics. Player unit characteristics depend on the top Military Technology card on each unit type on their Player board.
- If your Battle Result (see below) is higher than the Barbarian's (even if Barbarian units survived the battle), you are victorious. Place the Barbarian token on the topmost empty trophy space on your player board (or stack on the bottom one if they're all full), receiving the VP shown to the left of it. Additionally, immediately receive the benefit shown on the reward side of the token.
- If it is "Take another turn", that means that after the resolution of your turn, it is your turn again to take a Noble action, or Pass (or do any one ability that would normally take up your turn).
- If your Battle Result is tied or lower than the Barbarian's, you lost the battle. Retreat your surviving (non-Transient) units to the Province where you moved from.
- Regardless of the battle's outcome, return all Transient units from the Province to supply.
Battle Against an Opponent
- Add 1 Transient Infantry to the defender's army for each Farm present in the Province. Add a Transient Archer to the defender's army if there is a City present.
- Resolve the Battle Sequence as detailed in the next section. Both sides use the topmost visible values on their respective player boards or Military Technologies.
- If your Battle Result is higher than your opponent's, you are victorious.
- If this is not the opponent's Capital:
- Your opponent must retreat their surviving (non-Transient) units to a neighbouring Province they control. If no such Province exists, all of their units are killed, and therefore returned to the supply.
- Return each opponent-owned Farm to the rightmost empty space of their Farm track. For each returned Farm, the opponent triggers Revanchism: they may place an Infantry unit for free in their Capital.
- Do not destroy the City, Production buildings, or the Church present. They are now under your control.
- If this is your opponent's Capital:
- Steal 1 Gold or a resource of your choice from the opponent (if they have any).
- Score VP equal to their Army limit (the rightmost visible number on their Farm track).
- Retreat your surviving (non-Transient) units to the Province where you moved from.
- If this is not the opponent's Capital:
- If your Battle Result is tied or lower than your opponent's, you lost the battle. Retreat your surviving (non-Transient) units to the Province where you moved from.
- Regardless of the battle's outcome, return all Transient units from the Province to supply.
Battle Sequence / Battle Result
In each battle phase, both sides roll dice for all of their participating units simultaneously. Use green dice for Infantry, blue dice for Archers, and red dice for Cavalry units.
Note: Transient units are considered to be of the same level as your regular units.
The rolling player distributes damage to the opposing player's units. If a unit is dealt equal to or more damage than its Armour value, it is killed (and returned to its owner's supply, or to the common supply if Transient). For units with more than 1 Armour, you may use player markers in your colour to track damage, but that damage is removed at the end of the battle (i.e. surviving units return to full health). Units may be targeted in the same phase they rolled, mutual destruction is possible. Units that are killed before a phase in which they would roll forfeit their corresponding rolls.
Some Common Technologies add additional dice, increase the amount of damage a roll deals, or cancel opponent's damage.
Important: a final value of 1 is always a miss, regardless of any modifiers applied.
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Volley phase: Roll for each unit with a Volley skill. Each roll at or above the unit's Volley skill value deals 1 damage.
Note: Lower skill values are better.
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Charge phase: Roll for each unit with a Charge skill. Each roll at or above the unit's Charge skill value deals 1 damage.
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Melee phase: Roll for each unit. For each level of Keep the rolling player has in the contested Province or any neighbouring Province, they may increase the value of a single die by one. Increases from multiple levels of Keeps may be distributed freely, adding to a single die or to multiple dice, by one. Each roll at or above the unit's Melee skill value (after increases) deals 1 damage.
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Calculate Battle Result: Each surviving unit contributes 1 to 3 to the Battle Result, depending on the level of the corresponding Military Technology / Barbarian Military card. The defending player adds an additional 0 to 3 to their Battle Result, depending on the level of the Keep present in the contested Province. Some Technologies might allow you to reduce your opponent's Battle Result.
Ending the Game
Triggering the End of the Game
At the end of each player's turn, check to see if any of the following end-game conditions have been met:
- There are no more City miniatures remaining in the supply. (This means 11/13/15 Cities built for a 2/3/4-player game.)
- The Church marked with the current player count on the Church track is built. (This means the 7th/8th/9th Church in a 2/3/4-player game.)
- A player has reached the last space of the Culture track.
- A player has 4 (or more) level 3 Technologies (including Common and Military ones).
- The last card of the Culture deck is drawn.
When at least one of these conditions is met, trigger the end of the game. Each player immediately Passes, performing the entire Passing procedure except the first step: do not cycle the Culture card offer at this time. Players with all Noble discs available also resolve the Passing procedure, but in step 6 they receive one additional Gold.
Then, continue playing with the player next in turn order as usual. After this point, when a player Passes, they stop after step 3 (retrieving Noble discs), and finish their game — they will be taking no more turns. Once all players have finished their games, the game is over. Proceed to final scoring!
Final Scoring
In addition to VP collected during the game, you score points for the following:
- For each Common Technology, score VP shown on its highest visible level. Some Technologies may score additional points.
- For each City controlled with 1/2/3 buildings (Churches and Production buildings), gain 2/4/7 VP.
- Each level of Keep controlled scores 1 VP per neighbouring Province you control (even if controlled without a City).
Example: Yellow player has a level 3 Keep in Lombardy and a level 1 Keep in Verona. The Keep in Lombardy scores 3 VP for each of the following Provinces under the control of the yellow player: Tuscany, Verona, Swabia, and Bavaria, for a total of 12 VP. The Keep in Verona scores 1 VP for each of the following Provinces controlled by the yellow player: Bavaria, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Romagna, for a total of 4 VP.
- Score the highest VP value your marker has reached on the Culture track.
Example: Yellow player scores 4 VP for their position on the Culture track.
- Score the highest VP value your marker has reached on the Warehouse track.
Example: Yellow player scores 7 VP from their Warehouse track.
- Score the highest VP value not covered by a Farm on your Farm track.
Example: Yellow player scores 20 VP from their Farm Track.
- Score the VP value shown on each Title card you control.
Example: Yellow player has 2 Titles at the end of the game: Kingdom of Italy (7 VP) and Kingdom of Benevento (7 VP). Therefore the yellow player scores a total of 14 VP.
- Score 1 VP for each leftover Gold.
Example: Yellow player has 4 Gold left at the end of the game, scoring 4 VP.
The player with the most VP wins. In case of a tie, players share victory.
Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo Play
Additional Components
- 3 Lordling Military unit cards
- 3 Raider Military unit cards
- 9 Lordling cards
- 18 Raider cards
- 1 Lordling Farm track card
- 1 Raiding Party card
- 1 Player aid card
- 1 20-sided die
This module uses cards numbered CS01–CS36.
These rules will refer to the lone human player as "you", and your opponent as "Lordlings" or "they". Even though the text refers to them in the plural, they collectively represent one opponent.
Setup
Set the game up for 2 players, as described in the core rules, with the following changes:
- The Lordlings do not use a player board. Select one player colour to use for them. They track Culture Points and VP the same way you would, but they do not use a Warehouse track or collect Trophies. They do not collect or spend Gold or resources.
- Place all Lordling Farms on the Lordling Farm track card, which is placed next to the play area. When an effect places or destroys a Lordling Farm, use this track the same way a human player would.
- Use Culture cards showing 2+, but use all Rulers and Titles (even 3+ and 4 player ones), except the ones marked with the solo-restriction symbol.
- You may select any of the available Rulers, and place your Capital as usual. Then shuffle the remaining available Rulers together, and draw 3 randomly. Place a City and a Lordling Farm in the starting Provinces of each of these Rulers. Remove all unused Rulers and starting cards from the game, returning them to the game box. There should be 7 Cities in the supply at this point.
- Do not place wooden disks on Provinces showing 3+ and 4 player counts. Instead place disks (of a third colour) into any Province showing the solo-only icon. There should be a random Barbarian token on every Province except: your Capital, the Lordlings' three starting Cities, and the blocked off Provinces.
- Shuffle the 9 Lordling cards to create the Lordlings' deck.
- Take 6 Noble discs of one colour and give them to the Lordlings. Also give the Lordlings 2 Noble discs of a different colour (these are referred to as Preparation tokens).
- After including any module-related cards in the Culture deck, but before placing the initial cards on the offer, split the Culture deck into 5 even piles.
- Shuffle 1 Reinforce card into the first pile.
- Shuffle 1 Reinforce and 1 Raid card into the second pile.
- Shuffle 1 Reinforce and 1 Surprise card into the third pile.
- Shuffle 1 Reinforce, 1 Raid, and 1 Surprise card into both the fourth and the fifth pile.
- Then stack the piles on top of each other, maintaining order (first pile on the top, fifth on the bottom).
- Return the unused Raider cards to the game box.
- Select a third player colour and use their Infantry, Cavalry, and Archer miniatures for Raider units.
- Place 1 Warehouse marker (same colour as the Raider units) on your Ruler card. This disc will be referred to as the Raiding Target marker.
- Place the Raiding Party card near the Main board, draw a Barbarian token and place it on the card with the unit side up.
- Place the solo player aid within your sight.
- Place the 3 Lordling Military unit cards next to the Main board, and the 3 Barbarian Military unit cards with their Raider side up next to them. Use player markers of the Raider's colour as markers to indicate the Military Technology of the Lordlings and the Raiders.
- Play is ready to begin, with the Lordlings taking their first turn.
All Lordling and Barbarian Military unit cards marked to indicate Level 1.
General Rules
You play your turns normally.
If you fight a battle with any opponent (Barbarian, Lordling, Raider), distribute hits rolled in that phase against yourself using the following logic:
- Kill injured units before injuring new units.
- Kill as many units able to roll in the following phases as possible.
- If you cannot kill any units, injure units using the same priority.
- When deciding between multiple units, hit ones with less Armour remaining.
- When deciding between multiple units with the same remaining Armour, hit the ones with higher unit level.
- If still tied: hit Cavalry first, Archers second, and Infantry last.
If one of your units is killed and there are Transient and non-Transient units to select from, kill the non-Transient unit.
If you win a battle against the Lordlings, their remaining units retreat to an adjacent Province they control. If multiple such Provinces exist, they retreat to the one with fewest total units. If still tied, pick randomly. Destroyed Lordling Farms are returned to the leftmost space of their Farm track. Since the Lordlings do not have a Capital, Revanchism allows them to place an Infantry in a Province neighbouring the captured one instead (one with fewer units; if tied, select randomly).
If any effect instructs you to pick randomly, use the 20-sided die. Provinces are numbered to help you quickly select one amongst them.
Some effects will instruct you to find a Province "closest to you". The fewer Manoeuvre actions required to get to a given Province from a Province controlled by you, the closer it is to you.
If the Lordlings reach any red space on the Culture track, nothing happens. You must reach it before them in order to gain Gold.
Upgrading Unit Types
Whenever an effect instructs you to upgrade a Lordling or a Raider unit type, roll the 20-sided die:
- Roll of 1–8: Upgrade the corresponding Infantry
- Roll of 9–15: Upgrade the corresponding Cavalry
- Roll of 16–20: Upgrade the corresponding Archer.
When upgrading a unit type, move the marker on the card showing the matching unit type to the next level.
From left to right: a Level 1, 2, 3, 4 Archer unit.
When battling Lordling or Raider units, always use the values shown in the section with the marker. Each unit type is tracked separately, and Lordling and Raider units of the same type are tracked separately as well.
Barbarian units never upgrade, always use the top row (of either card, they are the same) for their values.
On the Lordlings' Turn
When it is the Lordlings' turn to act, and they have zero available Noble discs, they will Pass. If they have at least one Noble disc, draw the top card of the Lordling deck, and perform the effects described below, depending on which card is drawn. After cards are resolved, they are kept in a face-up discard pile (in order), and they will be reshuffled during Passing.
Placing a Lordling Noble disc can trigger a reaction the same way it would in a multiplayer game. When you gain a reaction, resolve it normally. For resolving Lordling reactions, see below.
Lordling: Research
If there is a Preparation token next to the Research Action card, return it, and place a Lordling Noble disc on the Action card. Then roll the 20-sided die, and perform one of the following:
- 1–4: They gain 3 Culture Points
- 5–12: Upgrade a Lordling unit
- 13–20: They score 2 VP, plus 1 VP for each Common Technology they collected.
If there is no Preparation token next to the Research Action card, simply place one.
Note: Preparation tokens are NOT stacked with Noble discs, and do not count towards triggering reactions.
Lordling: Recruit
Place a Lordling Noble disc on the Recruit Action card. Then, place a unit (in the Lordlings' colour) of the type they have the fewest into a Province they control. (If tied, pick the unit with higher level first; if still tied, pick Infantry, then Archer, then Cavalry.) Select the Province closest to your Provinces, if multiple options are available select the one with fewer Lordling units, if still tied select randomly.
Then, roll the 20-sided die, and if 16 or higher is rolled, immediately upgrade the Lordling unit type corresponding to the one that was just recruited.
Lordling: Manoeuvre
If there is a Preparation token next to the Manoeuvre Action card, return it, and place a Lordling Noble disc there. Then, randomly select a Province neighbouring a Lordling controlled one, remove the Barbarian token, replacing it with a Lordling Infantry (from the supply).
If there is no Preparation token next to the Manoeuvre Action card, place one.
Note: Preparation tokens are NOT stacked with Noble discs, and do not count towards triggering reactions.
Lordling: Development of Culture
Place a Lordling Noble disc on the Development of Culture Action card. Then, take the rightmost accessible Culture card. Then, based on its type, do the following:
- Common Technology: The Lordlings collect Common Technologies. Keep them face down in a pile next to the Lordling deck. There is no limit to how many they can collect.
- Military Technology: Upgrade a unit type (regardless of what is on the card), as described above. Then, discard this card.
- Relic: The Lordlings immediately place a Church in a City they control, choosing one where it would score the most VP (select randomly amongst tied options). If no Church can be legally placed, nothing happens. Then discard this card.
- Cognomen: The Lordlings immediately gain 5 VP. Then, discard this card.
- Raider: Trigger its discard effect (see Raider Cards and Fighting Raiders), then discard this card.
Lordling: Build
Place a Lordling Noble disc on the Build Action card. Then, roll the 20-sided die.
- 1–8: Select a Province the Lordlings control without a City (closest to you if tied, then select randomly), and place a City there. The Lordlings gain 2 Culture Points. If no such Province exists, reroll.
- 9–13: Place one level of a Keep in a Province the Lordlings control with a City. Select the City (ignoring ones with 3 levels of a Keep already) with the most adjacent Lordling controlled Provinces, closest to you if tied, breaking further ties randomly. If no such City exists, reroll.
- 14–17: Place the leftmost Farm from the Lordlings' Farm track in a Province they control with a Farm already present. Select the closest to you if tied, then select randomly. If no such Province exists or all Lordling Farms are in play, reroll.
- 18–20: Place a Church in a City the Lordlings control (without a Church), choosing the one where it would score the most (select randomly amongst tied options). If no Church can be legally placed, reroll.
If an invalid option is selected, keep rolling until you roll a valid one. In the case that none of the options are valid, the Lordlings do not place a Noble disc and Pass instead.
Lordling: Settle
Do not place a Lordling Noble disc this turn. Instead, select a Province the Lordlings control without a Farm (select randomly if multiple options exist), and place the leftmost Farm from their Farm track there.
If no such Province exists or all Lordling Farms are in play, draw another card to resolve, leaving this card in the discard pile.
Lordling: Persevere
Perform the topmost card of the Lordling discard pile, ignoring Persevere and Settle cards. If no such card exists, draw another card to resolve, then shuffle this card into the remaining draw deck.
There are two copies of Persevere in the Lordling deck. If they are drawn one after another, the previous action will be resolved a total of three times.
Lordling: Rush
If there are 2 or fewer available Lordling Noble discs, the Lordlings Pass. The Lordlings are eligible to claim a Title if they control at least half (rounded up) of the Provinces in the Region.
Lordling Reactions
When given a choice between reactions, they never select reactions that would give them resources. When given a choice between Regroup and Recruit, they select Recruit.
- When selecting the Recruit reaction, resolve the procedure described on the Lordling: Recruit card.
- When selecting the Sell goods reaction, they simply gain 2 Culture Points.
- When selecting the Cultural Exchange reaction, they take the rightmost Culture card from the offer (even if not accessible) and perform the action described on the Lordling: Cultural Development card.
- When selecting the Regroup reaction, check Manoeuvre and Research and place a Preparation token on each of those actions that does not have any Preparation tokens yet.
Lordling Passing
When the Lordlings Pass, perform the following:
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Discard the leftmost card of the Culture card offer, and slide every card in the offer to the left (to fill the gap), then draw a new card and put it on the rightmost space of the offer.
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If the Lordlings are eligible to claim a Title, they claim all the Titles they can.
- To be eligible to claim a Title, they must control all the Provinces of a Region (or half rounded up, if Passing due to a Lordlings: Rush card).
- They score the depicted VP for founding a Kingdom.
Note: The Lordlings do not use the Titles for any in-game purpose.
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Take all their Noble discs (from any boards and cards) and return them to their pool of available discs. Leave Preparation tokens in place.
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Collect all Lordling cards (both draw deck and discard pile), and shuffle them together to form a new draw deck.
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The Lordlings gain 2 Culture Points.
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Depending on the number of Provinces the Lordlings control, they score VP:
| Provinces controlled | 1–3 | 4–5 | 6–7 | 8 | 9 or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 |
Raider Cards and Fighting Raiders
Raider cards are a new type of Culture card that appears in solo play. There are three types: Reinforce, Raid, and Surprise. They all have an immediate effect when the card is added to the Culture card offer. Surprise is immediately removed (and its space refilled), while the other two stay on the offer. You may pick them up via a Development of Culture action (or any other effect allowing you to take a card), and add them to your hand, where they count towards your hand limit of 10 cards. Both Raid and Reinforce cards have a printed ability that you can use as a one time effect, then discard the card.
If you do not take them, and they are discarded from the Culture card offer (either during your or the Lordlings' Passing, or if the Lordlings take them), their discard penalty triggers, causing you additional trouble.
These cards affect another type of opponent: the Magyar (Hungarian) Raiders. They collect units (in the form of Barbarian tokens or miniatures of a third colour) on the Raiding Party card, and then they strike at your Provinces, regardless of your position on the board.
- Whenever any Raider card is revealed and the Target marker is on your Ruler card, randomly select a Province you control (except your Capital) and place the Target marker there.
- If you lose control of the Province with the Target marker, select a new Target.
- If you need to select a Target and you only control your Capital, place the Target marker back on your Ruler card.
- When an effect instructs you to Upgrade a Raider, roll to see which Raider unit to upgrade, as described above.
- When an effect instructs you to Add a Raider, roll and instead of upgrading a unit, add a miniature of that type to the Raiding Party card.
- When an effect tells you the Raiders Attack:
- If the Target marker is on your Ruler card, you lose 5 VP (if able).
- Otherwise, roll the 20-sided die:
- On a roll of 1–15, all units on the Raiding Party card attack your Province with the Target marker.
- On a roll of 16–20, they attack a non-Capital Province you control, adjacent to the Target marker, selecting the one with fewest units present, if multiple options are possible. If no such Provinces exist, they attack the Province with the Target marker.
The "Played from hand" ability of the Reinforce card can be used by you in any battle, against Raiders, Barbarians, or Lordlings, to grant you a +1 on any one die, after rolling the dice, in any phase. The card is then discarded.
The "Played from hand" ability of the Raid card is played on your turn instead of placing a Noble disc, as a special option. When you do, perform a special Manoeuvre action:
- Perform an Army limit check, as explained during the Manoeuvre action.
- Then select any number of your units in one Province, and resolve a combat between them and the Raiding Party.
When fighting Raiders (either in offense or defence), exchange the Barbarian token(s) on the Raiding Party card with the corresponding Transient miniatures.
Raiders Attack
If the Raiders attack a Province you control, and:
- You win: gain 1 Gold. Then discard all units and tokens from the Raiding Party.
- You lose: after retreating your surviving units following usual rules, remove all buildings (including Grand Buildings), the City, and its Keep from the lost Province, except the starting Production Building.
- Removed components are out of the game and should be returned to the game box.
- Any surviving Raider units are left in the lost Province, then a random Barbarian token is added to it.
- If you attack this Province in the future, you fight Barbarians (not Raiders!), but the extra units are added to the battle.
- Either way: draw two new Barbarian tokens, and add them with the unit side up to the Raiding Party card.
Player Counterattack
If you attack the Raiders using the "Play from hand" ability of the Raid card, and…
- You win: gain 1 Gold for each Raider unit you killed, and place one of your units matching each surviving Raider unit, for free, into the Province you started the counterattack from. Then, all surviving Raiders are discarded from the Raiding Party card, and one new Barbarian token is drawn and added with the unit side up to the Raiding Party card. Your surviving units remain in the Province where you started the counterattack from.
- You lose: Your surviving units remain in the Province where you started the counterattack from. The surviving Raider units stay on the Raiding Party card.
End of the Game
The game end is triggered similarly as in the multiplayer game, with one new possibility:
- There are no more City miniatures remaining in the supply.
- The 7th Church is built.
- You or the Lordlings have reached the last space of the Culture track.
- You have 4 (or more) level 3 Technologies (including Common and Military ones).
- The last card of the Culture card draw deck is drawn.
- The number of Common Technologies collected by the Lordlings plus the Lordlings' Military upgrades (unit levels beyond the first) equal 9 or more. (The Raiders' Military upgrades do not count.)
When this happens, perform a Pass action both for yourself and the Lordlings (as described in the multiplayer rules), then play until you and the Lordlings Pass one more time. Once they Pass, do not draw more cards from the Lordling deck.
During this round (in other words, until the next Pass), do not trigger any Raider attacks. You may no longer use Raid cards to counterattack either. Once the game is over, the Raiders automatically attack, as described above.
After resolving this attack, proceed to final scoring.
Your score is calculated exactly the same as in a multiplayer game. The Lordlings' score is calculated the following way:
- For each Common Technology they collected, they score 2 VP.
- For each level of Keep they control, they score 1 VP per neighbouring Province they control (even without a City).
- They score the highest VP value their marker has reached on the Culture Track.
- They score the highest VP value visible on their Farm Track.
- They score the VP value shown on each Title card they control.
If you have more VP than the Lordlings, you win the game. If you have equal or fewer VP, you lose.
Adjusting the Difficulty
Select any of the following options to customize the solo play's difficulty to match your skill level.
Decreasing the Difficulty
- When Passing, the Lordlings only score for Provinces they control with a City.
- At the end of the game, the Lordlings only score 1 VP per Common Technology they collected.
Increasing the Difficulty
- At setup, use the following distribution of Raider cards instead:
- Shuffle 2 Reinforce cards into the first pile.
- Shuffle 2 Reinforce and 1 Raid cards into the second pile.
- Shuffle 1 Reinforce and 2 Surprise cards into the third pile.
- Shuffle 1 Reinforce, 2 Raid, and 2 Surprise cards into both the fourth and the fifth pile.
- When Passing, the Lordlings also score 2 VP for each Title they hold.
- When Passing, the Lordlings gain 3 Culture Points instead of 2.
- When Lordlings arrive first to a red space on the Culture track, they score 2 VP.
- When evaluating Cognomen cards (or other cards that score points), the Lordlings score 10 VP instead of 5.
- When the end of the game is triggered, the Raiders attack immediately, instead of after the end of the game.
- After collecting two Barbarian Trophies, every future Barbarian has +1 Infantry (not just the second one). After collecting three Barbarian Trophies, every future Barbarian has +1 Archer (not just the third one). This means the fourth (and onwards) Barbarian has an Infantry, an Archer, and a Cavalry added to its army.
- When Raiders lose a battle, they immediately upgrade a unit (using the usual die roll).
Module 2 — The Great Domain
This module allows 5–8 players to take part in an epic game of domination over medieval Europe. To play this module you need both Dark Ages boxes: Heritage of Charlemagne and Holy Roman Empire.
Setup Changes
All steps of regular setup apply, unless noted otherwise.
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Flip both Main boards and both Culture boards to their 5–8 player side and combine them together as shown in the image.
Slide the two boards together to form a single large board.
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Flip both Culture boards to their 5-8 player side and combine them together as shown in the image.
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Use only one set of Action cards, returning the other set to the game box.
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If playing with 5 or 6 players, remove every component marked "4 players only" and block off all Provinces marked with a higher number of players than those at the table.
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Players pick Rulers the same way as before. We recommend maintaining a balance between Western and Central European Rulers.
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Shuffle all in play Culture cards together to form one (large) draw deck, and fill the Culture offer from it. Note that there are twice as many spaces on the Culture offer.
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Place 16 Churches on the combined Culture board's Church track.
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Place 18/20/23/25 Cities for 5/6/7/8 players into the supply before setting up Capitals. Return any unused Cities to the game box.
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Each player takes 4 Noble discs into their available pool, removing the remaining discs from the game.
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Starting from the starting player and going clockwise, the first 3/4/5/6 players (in case of a 5/6/7/8 players game) move one of their available Noble discs to the Exhausted Nobles area of the Culture board. Additionally, the first 1/2/2/3 players (in case of a 5/6/7/8 players game) move a second of their available Noble discs to the Exhausted Nobles area.
Gameplay Changes
In a 5-player game, reactions trigger after 3 Noble discs are stacked, just as in 1–4 player games. In 6–8 player games, reactions trigger after 4 Noble discs are stacked instead.
While the Culture track's length is unchanged, each red space grants access to two Culture cards. When you reach a red space, the card beneath it and the one right to it both become accessible.
Provinces across the two boards behave the same way in terms of neighbouring, as if it was one big board.
End of Game Changes
All end game triggers remain unchanged from the 1–4 player game. Note that the Church end game condition triggers after 11/12/14/15 Churches built (in a 5/6/7/8 player game), as indicated on the (longer) Church track.
Module 3 — Grand Buildings
Supported Player Counts: 1–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
This module adds Grand Buildings to build using Culture cards. They provide a localized special effect in the Province they are built in.
Additional Components
- 2 Additional Rulers and starting cards
- 4 Common Grand Building Culture cards
- 6 Grand Building miniatures
This module uses cards numbered C049–C054 and the Rulers Marozia and Henry the Fowler.
Setup Changes
New Rulers (Marozia and Henry) become available during setup. One of their starting cards is a Grand Building which only they can build using the rules outlined below.
Place the 6 Grand Building miniatures next to the Culture board to form a supply.
Shuffle the 4 common Grand Buildings' Culture cards into the top half of the Culture deck at setup.
Gameplay Changes
Grand Buildings can be taken from the Culture offer using the regular rules of a Development of Culture action, and while in hand, they count towards your hand limit.
From your hand, you can play them as an action, instead of Passing or placing a Noble disc (including when you have no Noble discs remaining) by paying the resource cost shown on the card. Take the matching Grand Building miniature and place it in a Province you control. Each Province can have a maximum of one Grand Building. Then, place the card face up next to your player board, and execute its effect, referring to the Province where you placed the Grand Building itself. Built Grand Building cards no longer count against your hand limit.
If you lose control of the Province with a Grand Building, put the Building's card next to the Title offer. When another player gains control of that Province, they take the card. They do not re-execute any immediate effects, but ongoing effects now benefit them instead of the Grand Building's original builder.
Solo Support
You may take and build Grand Buildings the same way as you would in a multiplayer game. If the Lordlings take a Grand Building card, they immediately score 5 VP and then discard the card (same way as if it was a Cognomen card).
Module 4 — Alchemists
Supported Player Counts: 1–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
This module adds new ways of using your excess resources besides selling and holding in your Warehouse.
Additional Components
- 4 Alchemist cards (8 in a 5–8 player game)
This module uses cards numbered CT01–CT04.
Setup Changes
Give each player an Alchemist card. They put it in play next to their Ruler card. It does not count towards any hand limits.
Gameplay Changes
When performing a Research action, you may place any number of your resources on the Alchemist card. These resources are no longer considered yours. They cannot be stolen, lost, or retrieved in any way.
Anytime (including during your reactions or Passing) you may discard 3 resources from your Alchemist card (and return them to the supply) to gain 1 Gold.
Each Alchemist card details its functions as a reminder.
Solo Support
You may take an Alchemist and use it as described above. This makes the solo game slightly easier. The Lordlings do not interact with the Alchemist, and they do not receive one.
Module 5 — Alliances
Supported Player Counts: 3–8
Added Complexity: Moderate
Mutually beneficial political alliances stabilize the region, leading to fewer wars between the rival Rulers.
Additional Components
- 8 Alliance cards (16 in a 5–8 player game)
This module uses cards numbered CA01–CA08.
Setup Changes
After setting the game up, shuffle the 8 Alliance cards, and deal 2 to each player. Alliance cards do not count against the hand limit of Culture cards. Give each player two of their own player markers.
Gameplay Changes
Two players may conduct Alliance negotiations as soon as they share a border (control Provinces neighbouring each other) for the first time, if both of them have at least one Alliance card remaining in their hand. This is the only time players may conduct such negotiations. If an action causes you to share borders for the first time with multiple opponents, you may select one or two to negotiate with, in the order of your choosing.
During Alliance negotiations, players may agree to give each other one of their respective Alliance cards. If they agree (knowing which card they receive), they put the other player's chosen Alliance card face up, next to their player board, and place one of the other player's player markers on it. (Agreements are binding, you must give the card you agreed upon.)
Each Alliance in play provides a benefit:
- "When Received" benefits are resolved immediately after the Alliance is established.
- "Pass" benefits are resolved each time you Pass.
If you start a battle with a player who has a player marker on one of your active Alliances, your Alliance is broken. When an Alliance is broken:
- You (the attacking player) lose 5 VP and place all of your unused Noble discs in the Exhausted Nobles area.
- Both you and the other player remove the corresponding Alliance and player marker from play, returning them to the box.
Alliance card in the white player's area. Since it has the purple player marker, it denotes an alliance with the purple player. If white and purple players ever fight a battle, this card will be removed from the game.
Module 6 — Commanders
Supported Player Counts: 1–8
Added Complexity: Significant
Ally with the greatest military minds of the time, adding an extra layer of strategy to your military conquests.
Additional Components
- 5 Commander cards (10 in a 5–8 player game)
- 5 Commander miniatures (10 in a 5–8 player game)
This module uses cards numbered CG01–CG05.
Setup Changes
Randomly select one more Commanders than the number of players in the game. Lay their cards out next to the main board, next to the Title cards. Place the corresponding miniature on them, and return all unused Commander cards and miniatures to the game box.
Gameplay Changes
When you take a Recruit action or reaction, you may pay 2 Gold to select one of the available Commanders. You can do this in addition to the normal Recruit effect, but you may do so even if you do not recruit anything else. Put the selected Commander card next to your Ruler card, and place its miniatures in a Province with a City you control. You may only have 1 Commander during the whole game. You may not exchange, return, lose, or steal a Commander.
A Commander may move alone or with other units as part of a Manoeuvre action or Regroup reaction, but cannot enter an opponent or Barbarian occupied Province by itself. You cannot leave a Commander alone in a non-settled Province, as the Commander is not player coloured and does not offer control. When you participate in a battle with your Commander (and its card is ready), as the first step of the battle you may select to use its effect and then exhaust it (rotate it sideways like a Title card). If both participating players have their Commanders present, the attacker must declare first whether they're using their Commander or not.
A Commander is not considered a unit, cannot be assigned damage, does not contribute to Battle Result and it does not count against your number of units when checking your Army Upkeep limit.
If you lose a battle with your Commander present, it retreats along with your units. If all your units died in the battle, move your Commander to the closest Province you control (your choice if tied).
When you Pass, refresh your Commander card (turning it straight up), at the same time when you would refresh your Title cards.
Solo Support
At setup, randomly draw a Commander (or select one), and put it next to your board, face down. You may recruit it for 2 Gold in the same fashion as in the multiplayer game. Having access to a Commander might make the game easier. To compensate, we suggest drawing an additional (4th) Lordling Ruler card during setup, adding a Lordling Farm and 1 Archer (instead of a City) to its shown starting Province.
Module 7 — Skirmishers
Supported Player Counts: 1–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
Europe can be a dark place in these dark ages. The barbarians got a whole lot scarier, and you will need tougher armies and a bit more luck to get the land away from them!
Additional Components
- 25 Skirmisher tokens (50 in a 5–8 player game)
Regular (blue) Barbarian tokens on the right hand side, and Skirmisher (red) tokens on the left hand side.
Setup Changes
Replace all Barbarian tokens with Skirmisher tokens. All rules governing Barbarian tokens now apply to Skirmishers. We do not recommend mixing the two sets since doing so would create an imbalanced map setup.
Solo Support
You can make the solo game harder by using the Skirmisher tokens on the map at setup. When placing Barbarian tokens on the Raiding Party card for Raiders, still use regular Barbarian tokens!
Module 8 — The Wyrd
Supported Player Counts: 2–8
Added Complexity: Moderate
Do you believe in your Destiny? Are you willing to grab what is your due, even if it brings misfortune and hardship?
Additional Components
- 12 Wyrd cards (24 in a 5–8 player game)
- 12 player markers per player
This module uses cards numbered CY01–CY12.
Setup Changes
Shuffle the 12 Wyrd cards, and create a face down deck of them next to the Culture deck. After laying out the initial Culture offer, take the top Wyrd card without flipping it face up and tuck it underneath the rightmost (least accessible) Culture card. In 5–8 player games, shuffle all 24 Wyrd cards together, and place one beneath each of the two rightmost Culture cards.
Give each player all their player markers.
Gameplay Changes
When a Culture card with a Wyrd card is slid down the offer, slide the Wyrd card along with it as if the two cards were attached. If a Culture card with a Wyrd card is discarded from the offer, move the Wyrd card under the rightmost Culture card (that does not already have a Wyrd card).
A card with a Wyrd card attached is considered accessible for all players, regardless of their position on the Culture track.
If you take a card with a Wyrd card attached, you must make a choice before looking at the Wyrd card:
- Remove it from play, or
- Put it face up in play in front of you (next to your Ruler card) as an active Wyrd, and place as many player markers on it as the number of players. If you select this option, every player (including you) takes one player marker off all of their other, active Wyrd cards. (Do not take a marker off the Wyrd card you just activated.)
Important: If the Culture card was only accessible because of the Wyrd card, you must select the second option!
If a Wyrd card has no player markers remaining on it, the curse is fulfilled: you must select one of the two penalties listed on it to suffer. If one of the penalties cannot be completely fulfilled, you must select the other one. If one of the penalties has no effect, you must select the other one. If both penalties can only be fulfilled partially, you must select the bottom one. Flip the fulfilled Wyrd card face down, but keep it.
After a Wyrd card has been taken from the Culture offer (and the offer is refilled), take the next Wyrd card from the Wyrd deck and attach it (face down) to the current rightmost Culture card in the offer the same way as described above.
If there are no more Wyrd cards, immediately resolve all in-play Wyrd cards (as described above), even if there are player markers remaining on them (which are now removed).
End of Game Changes
At the end of the game, the player with most Wyrd cards (active or fulfilled) score 7 VP.
Module 9 — The Ages of War
Supported Player Counts: 3–8
Added Complexity: Moderate
You wanted all out war? You wanted more attacks?! Then come and taste the blood.
Additional Components
- 8 Common Combat cards
- 6 Title Combat cards
- 7 Ruler Combat cards
- 12 War tokens
Double the amounts when playing with 5–8 players.
This module uses cards numbered CW01–CW21.
Setup Changes
Shuffle all Common Combat cards, and deal 2 to each player. Each player removes one of the two without revealing it to the other players.
Give each player the Ruler Combat card matching their Rulers, remove the unused ones from play.
Attach the Title Combat cards to the core game's Titles.
Create a stack of 12 War tokens next to the Culture board. In 5–6 player games, create a stack of 17 War tokens (returning the rest to the game box). In 7–8 player games, create a stack of 24 War tokens.
From left to right: example Common Combat card, Title Combat card and Ruler Combat card.
Gameplay Changes
When you gain a Title, take the corresponding Combat card and place it either in your hand or in your Combat discard pile.
When using a Manoeuvre action to attack another player, you may select to play a Combat card. It provides two benefits to the attacker (you) printed on the card. After the battle, place the card in your personal Combat discard pile. If you have no Combat cards left in your hand, take every Combat card from your discard pile. Combat cards do not count against your hand limit of 10 Culture cards.
Important: When playing with this module, the attacker wins ties in Battle, as long as at least one of their units survives battle. This is applicable even in battles against Barbarians or if the attacker selects not to play a Combat card.
Attacker Victory
If the attacker wins a battle after a Combat card is played, they receive a War token and 3 VP, and the losing defender receives the Reclaim bonus depicted at the bottom of the played Combat card.
Defender Victory
If the defender wins a battle after a Combat card was played, neither player receives anything.
End of Game Changes
When playing with this module, there is another end game trigger: when the last War token is taken, trigger the end of the game. Combat cards can still be used during the remaining actions, but no more War tokens are given out.
At the end of the game, score based on the relative majority of War tokens held. In case of a tie, tied players score the higher value and the next value is skipped. Players with zero War tokens always score 0 VP.
| Most War Tokens | 2nd most | 3rd most | 4th+ most | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 or more players | 9 VP | 6 VP | 3 VP | 0 VP |
| 3 players | 9 VP | 4 VP | 0 VP | |
| 2 players | 6 VP | 0 VP |
Module 10 — Distant Campaigns
Supported Player Counts: 2–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
Europe is far and wide. Most Rulers only look at their own neighbourhood to conquer and expand. Do you have a better vision, to look at far-away lands and create the greatest Kingdom in Dark Ages?
Additional Components
- 15 Campaign cards (30 in a 5–8 player game)
This module uses cards numbered CM01–CM15.
Setup Changes
Remove all Campaign cards marked with a player count higher than the current number of players (including cards marked with "4" in 5–6 player games). Then, shuffle all remaining Campaign cards together, and deal 3 to each player, removing unused ones without revealing them. Each player removes one of the 3 from play (without revealing them), and keeps the remaining 2 in their hand. (Campaign cards do not count against the hand limit of 10 Culture cards.)
Gameplay Changes
When using a Manoeuvre action (after performing the Army limit check), you may move your units from one Province to one neighbouring Province as usual, OR play one Campaign card from your hand and place it face up next to your Ruler, allowing you to move to the Province shown on the Campaign card, regardless of the distance between your army and the target.
If you are forced to retreat in the ensuing battle, all your surviving units are killed, unless you also control a Province neighbouring the target (in which case, you must retreat into that Province). Then, remove the failed Campaign's card from play.
If you win the ensuing battle, keep the Campaign card in play. It allows you to settle the shown Province at the lowest (leftmost) printed settling cost of your Ruler while the card is in play. (This cost cannot be further discounted.) When you use this benefit OR the next time you Pass, remove your in play Campaign card.
Module 11 — Tribute
Supported Player Counts: 2–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
What greater glory is there than to force an opposing Ruler to pay tribute to your greatness? Ride upon their Capitals and force them into submission!
Setup Changes
Each player places 3 of their player markers on their Ruler card.
Gameplay Changes
If you win a battle in an opponent's Capital, in addition to the rewards explained in the core rules, also place one of your player markers from your Ruler card into the defeated Capital. (If any other player already has a player marker there, return that player marker to their Ruler card.) This marks that the target is now due to pay tribute to you.
The tributary player may free themselves from the tribute in two ways:
- Win a combat in their suzerain's Capital (in which case the roles are reversed), or
- As a Free action pay 2 Gold to their suzerain to pay off their debts.
Either way, return the player marker to their (former) suzerain's Ruler card.
Unless freed using one of the above options, whenever a tributary player Passes, they must give one of their produced resources (of their choice) to their suzerain.
Module 12A — The Pope
Supported Player Counts: 1–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
This module adds another Title to the mix, one that changes ownership more easily than the Kingdom titles.
Additional Components
- 1 Pope Title card
This module uses the card numbered CP01.
Setup Changes
Add the Pope Title to the offer of Title cards.
Gameplay Changes
When you build a Church, you may claim the Pope Title by paying a number of resources (or Gold) to take control of the Papacy. The number of resources required depends on the total number of Churches on the main board, as shown on the Pope card:
| Churches built | 1 | 2–3 | 4–5 | 6–8 | 9+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pope Title Cost | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
When taken, the Pope card is placed next to your player board, and becomes an immediately ready Title card (even if the previous owner exhausted it) that can be exhausted in the same way as the Kingdom Title cards from the core game. However, unlike Kingdom Title cards, do not score any VP when first taking the card.
During Passing, the Pope Title is refreshed the same way other Titles are.
End of Game Changes
The player who holds the Pope Title at the end of the game scores 5 VP.
Solo Support
Whenever the Lordlings build a Church, if they control equal or more Churches than you, they immediately take the Pope card from the offer or you (but you can later purchase it back using regular rules).
Module 13A — Travels of Benjamin
Supported Player Counts: 1–8
Added Complexity: Minimal
Collect the journals of Benjamin of Tudela as he brings back more and more knowledge of the Medieval world.
Additional Components
- 12 Travels of Benjamin cards
This module uses the cards numbered CB01–CB12.
Setup Changes
When playing with fewer than 4 players, remove any Travels of Benjamin card showing a player count larger than the current number of players.
Then, shuffle an equal number of Travels of Benjamin cards to the corresponding sections of the Culture deck, depending on the number of players:
- 4 to the top half, 4 to the bottom half in a 2-player game or when playing solo
- 5 to the top half, 5 to the bottom half in a 3-player game
- 6 to the top half, 6 to the bottom half in a 4-player game
- 5 to the top third, 5 to the middle third in a 5- or 6-player game
- 6 to the top third, 6 to the middle third in a 7- or 8-player game
Gameplay Changes
A Travels of Benjamin card can be taken from the Culture offer using the regular rules of a Development of Culture action. Once taken, put it in play face up next to your player board immediately, stacked together with any other Travels of Benjamin cards you have collected before. It does not count towards your hand limit, nor it is a Technology.
When you gain a Travels of Benjamin card, you immediately receive one of the benefits listed on the card:
-
If this is your first Travels of Benjamin card, receive the first reward.
-
If this is your second, receive the first or the second.
-
If this is your third, receive one of the first three rewards.
-
If this is your fourth, receive one of the first four rewards.
-
After that, whenever you receive a Travels of Benjamin card, you may receive any one of the five rewards shown.
Note: The fourth reward can only be received once by a player.
All benefits are listed on the bottom half of each Travels of Benjamin card:
- Receive 1 Wood or 1 VP.
- Receive 1 Gold or 2 VP.
- Place 1 Farm (in a Province you control) or receive 3 VP.
- From now on, you may build a third Farm in each Province you control.
- Gain 6 VP.
You may always choose from all unlocked options.
Solo Support
Whenever the Lordlings take a Travels of Benjamin card, they keep it, and score 1 VP for each Travels of Benjamin card they have collected, including the newly taken card.
For example, when they collect their 7th Travels of Benjamin card, they score 7 VP, having already scored 21 VP over the previous 6 cards.
To increase difficulty, include only 3 Travels of Benjamin cards in the top half and 3 in the bottom half of the deck during setup, and give the two additional cards to Lordlings (i.e. they start from 3 VP the first time they gain a new Travels of Benjamin card).
Module 14A — Crusades
Supported Player Counts: 3–8
Added Complexity: Moderate
Dispatch your troops to fight Crusades and reap the riches of plunder, but be prepared to face the shame of defeat!
Each Crusade card shows a Defence Value, a Victory reward and Defeat Penalty, and a Special effect.
Additional Components
- 4 First Crusade cards
- 4 Second Crusade cards
- 4 Third Crusade cards
This module uses the cards numbered CC01–CC12.
Setup Changes
Shuffle the three types of Crusade cards separately. Randomly select one card from each of the three piles, and place them face down next to the Culture board (First Crusade on the top, Second in the middle, Third on the bottom). Place a Gold token under the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Church on the Church track. (For 5–8 player games, place it under the 2nd, 5th, 8th Church.)
Give each player all their player markers.
Gameplay Changes
Calling a Crusade
After a Church with a Gold token underneath is built (resolve its scoring and any Relic effects fully), return the Gold to supply and reveal the next Crusade card selected at setup. This Crusade is now active, and players may contribute to it. Immediately resolve the previous Crusade according to the rules below (except when starting the First, of course).
Contributing to a Crusade
You may contribute to a Crusade during a Manoeuvre action: before checking your Army limit, you may take any number of your units from the Main board and place them next to the active Crusade card.
Units on a Crusade do not count towards your Army limit (during Manoeuvre actions). You cannot take back units from a Crusade to recruit them elsewhere.
Resolving a Crusade
A Crusade is resolved immediately when the next one is called, or during final scoring.
- Resolve the special effect shown on the card, starting from the current player (last player to Pass if end of the game) and proceeding in clockwise order.
- If no player contributed to the Crusade, skip to step 7.
- Determine the Crusade's Defence Value. On most cards it is pre-printed, on some, a die roll is required.
- Each player (simultaneously) rolls one die for each of their contributed units, using their best skill (Volley, Charge, or Melee). For each hit, they place a player marker on the Crusade card.
- If the total number of player markers on the card equals or exceeds its Defence Value, the Crusade ends in victory:
- The player with the most player markers receives the first shown VP value, the player with the second most player markers receives the second shown VP value, etc.
- In case of a tie, tied players score the higher value and the next value is skipped.
- Players who contributed with units, but without player markers score no VP.
- All players who did not contribute with units lose VP (if able) equal to the Defeat Penalty of the card.
- If this is not the end of the game, each contributing player (starting with the current player, proceeding clockwise) eliminates one of their crusading units (return it to their supply), and places the rest of their units into one or more Provinces they control.
- If the total number of player markers on the card is smaller than its Defence Value, the Crusade ends in defeat:
- All players who did not contribute with units gain VP equal to the Defeat Penalty of the card.
- If this is not the end of the game, each contributing player (starting with the current player, proceeding clockwise) moves one of their crusading units back to a Province they control, and eliminates the rest.
- Return the resolved Crusade card to the box.
Module 15A — Rise of Poland
Supported Player Counts: 2–4
Added Complexity: Significant
Poland went from barely adopting Christianity to a major regional power in just a couple of decades. Now you can interact with this volatile new entity, as you compete to carve out a bigger influence in the rising Polish Kingdom.
Additional Components
- 2 Culture cards (Mieszko I, Bolesław Chrobry)
- 6 Chrobry event cards
- 4 sets of 3 double-sided Poland cards (Veleti/Polish Military Alliance, Building Santok/Santok, Polish Church/Jordan's Bishopric)
This module uses the cards numbered CR01–CR20.
Setup Changes
Shuffle the Mieszko I Culture card into the top 5 cards of the Culture deck after dealing out the initial cards of the Culture offer.
Shuffle the Chrobry event cards, and place them in a face down event deck next to the Culture board. Place the Chrobry Culture card on top of them.
Give each player 3 double sided Poland cards, with the following sides up: Veleti, Building Santok, Polish Church. Players place these cards face up, near their Ruler card.
Give each player 3 player markers which they place on the top of their 3 Poland cards.
Place each player marker above the top action of the Polish Church, Veleti and Building of Santok cards.
Gameplay Changes
Aiding Poland
You may aid Poland by fighting the Veleti, contributing to the Building of Santok, or strengthening the Polish Church. To do so, perform the action listed immediately below your player marker on the corresponding card. You must meet any of the action's additional requirements but you get to score additional VP as instructed by the card.
For example, to aid against the Veleti, first you must take a Manoeuvre action, then remove 1 of your units from the board to receive VP equal to the number of resources that unit costs.
Then, slide your player marker down, to cover the effect you just performed. To aid Poland again in the same category, you will have to perform the next action in the list, and so on.
Flipping Poland Cards
The last step of all three cards will instruct you to flip the card itself. This represents the completion of efforts: defeating the Veleti, the completion of Santok, or the establishment of the new religious structure of Poland. If you are the first to do this, you may subject the other players to a Levy. Santok and the Polish Military Alliance cards describe a Levy: each other player may select to transfer the instructed Gold/VP to and flip their matching card OR remove their matching Poland card from play. Either way, no other player can aid Poland in that category. The card of Jordan's Bishopric has no Levy effect printed; when you flip it, all other players must remove their Polish Church card from play.
When you flip a Poland card (whether by finishing it, or by paying a Levy to the player who did) you immediately receive the benefit printed on each of the three cards: take the leftmost Farm from your Farm track and permanently place it on the flipped Poland card.
When you flip or remove a Poland card, return the corresponding player marker to the game box. It will no longer be needed.
Benefits of a Strong Poland
After controlling a flipped Poland card, a number of benefits are available to you, as listed on the card itself. Most of these effects are tied to a particular Action: you may use them when you place a Noble disc on the corresponding Action, in addition to the Action's effect. When you use a benefit, exhaust the card. You may not use the benefits of an exhausted Poland card.
When you Pass, refresh all your exhausted Poland cards, just as you would refresh Title cards.
Chrobry Events
When the first Poland card is flipped, take the Chrobry Culture card, and shuffle it into the top 8 cards of the Culture deck.
Mieszko I and Bolesław Chrobry cards (Culture card back).
Chrobry Event card (front and back).
When the Chrobry Culture card is revealed, do not place it in the Culture offer. Instead:
- Draw the top card of the Chrobry event deck, resolve it completely, then remove it from play.
- If there is at least one more Chrobry event card remaining in the Chrobry event deck, shuffle the Chrobry Culture card into the top 8 cards of the Culture deck.
- If there are no Chrobry event cards remaining, remove the Chrobry Culture card from play.
These cards represent the unpredictable nature of the emerging new Polish leadership, and can sometimes punish, sometimes reward players for interacting with Poland.
End of Game Changes
At the end of the game, players score 7 VP for each flipped Poland card in front of them.