Era of Kingdoms Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Objective of Era of Kingdoms
• Setup
• Anatomy of a Card
  • Playing a card
• Card Types and Where to Play Them
• Resources
• Course of the Game
  • Player Turn
  • I. Action Phase
  • Land Stacks
  • Removing Cards
• Kingdom Attack and Defense
  • Using a Riches Card
  • II. Discard Phase
  • III. Upgrade Phase
  • IV. Draw Check Phase
  • Maximum Hand Size
  • Discard Piles
• End of Game
• Card Lexicon
  • Event Cards
  • Crude Attack, Attack and Great Attack
    • Combat
  • Plague
  • Religious Sacrifice
  • Market and Trader
  • Play Immediately Cards — Help for the… / Festival of…
  • Victory Cards
• Trade Route Mini-expansion
  • Set up
  • Terms used
  • Game Play
    • Action phase
    • Draw Phase
  • Special End Conditions
  • Trade Route Cards
• Card adjustments for 2 and 3 players
• Solo Mode — Race Against the Shadow Kingdom
  • Setup
  • Course of the Game
  • Event Cards in Solo Mode
  • Scoring (Solo Mode)

Game Components

• 1 Rule Codex
• 4 Kingdom mats
• 142 Basic cards (6 from Trade Route)
• 51 Intermediate cards
• 22 Advanced cards
• 4 Center Land cards
• 12 Riches cards
• 4 Player Turn Guide cards
• 4 Icon Legend cards
• 1 Trade Route board

Objective of Era of Kingdoms

Use 3 actions per turn to collect resources and victory points. Progress to better decks by playing level 2 and level 3 cards. When the "Age of Enlightenment" card is drawn from the Advanced deck, each player has 1 final turn to collect as many Victory Points (VP) as possible. Whoever has the most VPs wins.

Setup

1. The Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced decks are shuffled and placed in the center of the table with room for a separate discard pile for each deck.

2. The 'Age of Enlightenment' card is found and removed from the Advanced Deck.

3. After the Advanced deck is shuffled, the 'Age of Enlightenment' card is placed back in the deck at the following location:

• 2 Players: 9 cards from the top.
• 3 Players: 11 cards from the top.
• 4 Players: 13 cards from the top.

4. Each player sets a kingdom board in front of them and places the following cards to the right of their board:

• 3 Riches Cards
• 1 Town Center card
• 1 Player Turn Guide card
• 1 Icon Legend card

5. Each player is dealt 5 basic cards.

6. Each player can then choose to discard any number of cards in their hand (0-5) and redraw new cards from the basic deck until their hand size is 5. Each player can do this once before the game starts.

7. Turn order is determined with the youngest player going first and turns moving clock-wise.

Anatomy of a Card

1. Name: Name of the card
2. Type: Land, Person, Action, Victory
3. Card Level: The level of the card: 1, 2, 3 or 4. Used for upgrading decks
4. Requirements: The threshold of resources you need in play in order to play the card
5. Stack Icon: If this is present, this card requires a lower level card of the same type already in play. This card will be placed on top of that card.
6. Victory Points: The number of victory points the card gives at the end of the game. Only the top card in the stack gives you victory points.
7. Resources Provided: The amount of resources this card gives

Playing a card

To play a card, a player must meet the resource requirements shown in the upper left (4). If a card has no requirements in the top left, it may be played if the player has an available action. Once a card is in play, it gives the player the resources listed on the card immediately (7). Cards are placed on the board depending on what type of card it is. The card type is listed in the top right (2).

Card Types and Where to Play Them

• Center Land – Reserved for the center land card.
• Land – Placed on the eight outer land tiles. The center tile is reserved for the Center Land card.
• Person – Placed on the right 3-person tiles.
• Victory and Play Immediately – These will go to the side of a player's board and will give them victory points at the end of the game. Note: There is no limit to the amount of these cards a player may play.
• Event – These cards will be placed in the appropriate discard pile after use.

Resources

There are 4 resource types: Food, Metal, Population, and Wood.

Once a card is played on a player's kingdom board, the resources that card provides will be in play for their kingdom immediately. Resources are not consumed when used to play a card. The total resources in for a player's kingdom must be equal or higher to the requirement of a card to play it. For example, if a player has two cards that requires 2 Food, if the player has 2 Field cards in play that each give 1 Food, they may play both cards during that turn.

Note: Person type cards do not count towards the Population resource unless they contain the Population Resource icon in their "Resources Provided" section.

Course of the Game

Player Turn

Each player's turn consists of 4 phases:

1. Action Phase
2. Discard Phase
3. Upgrade Check Phase
4. Draw Phase

I. Action Phase

Each player has 3 actions per turn. An action is playing a card from their hand or drawing a card from the Basic deck.

Actions:

• Playing a card from their hand
• Drawing a card from the Basic Deck

Note: A player may also do the following for no action cost:

• Remove cards from their board (Except Plague cards)
• Use a Riches card to borrow 1 resource from a player. (Once per turn)

Land Stacks

If a Land Card has the Stacking icon in the top right, it must be placed on a Base land of the same resource type. It cannot be played on an empty tile. A level 2 food card (Farm) must be played on a level 1 base food card (Field or Stream). A level 3 card must be played on either a level 1 or a level 2 card of the same resource family. If a card does not have a stacking icon it must be played on an empty tile or replace the exsiting card on a tile. Person cards will never stack; only Level 2 and Level 3 Resource Land cards.

• Base Icon: This card is a base and will be required for higher levels of the same resource type to be played upon.
• Stacking Icon: This card requires a base of the same resource type.

A level 2 stack card must be played on a base card of the same resource family.

A level 3 stack card can be played on a base card or stack card of the same resource family. Level 2 or 3 may be stacked in any consecutive order, provided the name is different.

Stack cards may not be played on an empty tile or land cards that are not of the same resource family.

If a card does not have a stacking icon it must be played on an empty tile or replace the exsiting card on a tile.

Removing Cards

A player may remove cards from their kingdom during their turn. This does not consume an Action. When a card is being removed, the card's resources can be used for the next immediate action. For example, if a Miner is being removed from a kingdom to be replaced by a different Person card, the Miner's Metal resource is available to use towards the requirements of the next card played. Plague cards cannot be removed. (see Removing Plagues)

Kingdom Attack and Defense

Person cards and Walls will provide a player's kingdom with Attack and Defense. These icons will appear in the bottom left of the card. These icons are used for Attacks (see Crude Attack, Attack and Great Attack).

Using a Riches Card

Once per turn, a player may use a Riches card to borrow a resource from another player. The active player gives their Riches card to a target player to borrow that 1 resource for the duration of their turn. The target player must have the desired resource in play on their kingdom board. The target player cannot decline or prevent this. This does not consume an Action.

II. Discard Phase

Each player can choose to discard any number of cards from their hand in the appropriate discard pile (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced). They will redraw back to their maximum hand size during the final phase of their turn.

Strategy Tip: If a player has cards they cannot play next turn, it is advised to discard those cards to increase the chances of drawing a card they can play.

III. Upgrade Phase

Each player checks to see if they can upgrade their kingdom based on the level of cards they have in play. Once a player has met the requirements, they can upgrade their kingdom and Center Land. They will be able to draw according to their upgraded Kingdom Level in the next phase.

Intermediate Upgrade: If a player has THREE level 2 or higher cards in play on their board, these can be Land or Person cards, they may upgrade their Center Land to a Town Hall. Their Kingdom is now considered an Intermediate Kingdom.

Advanced Upgrade: If a player has THREE level 3 or higher cards in play on their board, they may upgrade their Center Land to a Castle. Their Kingdom is now considered an Advanced Kingdom.

IV. Draw Check Phase

At the end of a player's turn, they draw cards back to their maximum hand size. The maximum hand size by default is 5, but it can be expanded by certain cards.

Basic Kingdom

• Draw Basic cards until they reach their maximum hand size

Intermediate Kingdom

• Draw up to 1 Intermediate card
• Draw Basic cards until they reach their maximum hand size

Advanced Kingdom

• Draw up to 1 Advanced card
• Draw up to 2 Intermediate cards
• Draw Basic cards until they reach their maximum hand size.

Once the first player has reached an Advanced Kingdom, all other players can draw up to 2 Intermediate cards during their draw phase regardless of their kingdom's progress.

Maximum Hand Size

If the current number of cards a player holds is greater than or equal to their maximum hand size, they do not need to discard down, but they will be unable to draw any new cards during this phase until they have fewer cards than their maximum hand size.

Discard Piles

If a deck runs out, reshuffle the specific deck discard pile (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced) to create a new draw pile for that deck. Once a deck has been reshuffled, any cards that allow players to search through the discard pile, can now search through the reshuffled draw pile.

End of Game

There is an "Age of Enlightenment" card within the Advanced deck. When this card is drawn, each player will play one final turn. The player who draws this card does not get to draw another Advanced card but may finish their Draw Phase. After all turns are played, each player will count their current Victory Points (VP). Only the top card of a stack counts towards end of game totals. The player with the most VPs wins!

In the event of a Victory Point tie, the following tie breakers will be used:

• Player with the most Riches wins.
• If still tied, Player with the most Attack.
• If still tied, Player with the most Defense.
• If still tied, Player with the most total resources.

Note: Players should still draw on their final turn incase they draw a Play Immediately card which can provide some last second Victory Points.

Card Lexicon

Event Cards

Survival Tactics — Survival tactics has two options: Draw 2 Basic cards, +1 action or prevent a negative event played on them and draw a Basic card. This card may be played at any time to prevent a negative event, even when it is not the player's turn.

Survival Tactics can prevent: Steal, Religious Sacrifice, Swindler, Crude Attack, Attack, Great Attack, and any Plague Card.

Steal — Steal allows the user to steal a Riches card from an opponent of their choice or take a random Basic card from their hand. The player stealing cannot look at the target's hand.

High Yield — High yield can be played on any Land card that gives a resource. It gives +1 of that resource type. It may be played on Market to give +2 of a chosen resource type. It may not be played on any Land card that does not give resources (Walls, store house, ect.)

Swindler — A player may use the swindler card to swap stacks of the same resource type up to 1 level higher with an enemy player. All cards in the stack get moved including the plague and high yield cards.

Crude Attack, Attack and Great Attack

When a player plays an attack card, they will attack all other players individually. The attacking player's total attack value plus any additional added by the card is compared against the defending players' defense. If the attacker has a higher value, they receive a Riches card from that defender. If a defender has a higher value, or has no riches card no penalties occur for the attacker or defender. Defenders win on ties.

Combat

When an attack card is played, the player attacks all other players.

Using the attack value on the card and the atackers total attack characteristic value and comparing this to each individual defenders total defense value.

Example — Attackers Strength: the attack card value (4) plus the attacker's Person cards (2 and 1) totals 7.

• Defender one: Defense 2 + 1 = 3. Attacker wins — Defender gives a Riches card.
• Defender two: Defense 4 + 3 = 7. Defender wins.

Defenders win on a tie or higher. If the attacker has the higher attack value they are the victor, the defeated player must surrender one riches card.

Plague

The plague card is placed under a target player's Land card of the same resource type of the plague. A food plague will go under a food producing Land card stack. Plagues give -1 Attack, -1 Defense, -2 Victory Points and -1 resource.

Removing Plagues:

Plagues can be removed from a board by using the following methods:

• Religious Sacrifice card: This card requires the player to remove a top land card from a stack from their board, all other players must remove their top land card from the same tile location. This card also removes any plague cards from the tile location.
• Remove 2 Person cards: A player may discard 2 Person cards that are currently in play on their kingdom board in the same turn to get rid of all plagues in their kingdom. If 2 Person cards are removed in the same turn, even if they are replaced by new Person cards, this will still remove all Plague cards from their kingdom board.

Religious Sacrifice

This card requires the player to remove a top land card from a stack from their kingdom board, all other players must remove their top land card from the same tile location. The player of this card MUST remove a card for this to take place. The player playing this card cannot block his own action using Survival Tactics, but the victims may be able to do so. This card also removes any plague cards from the tile location. Center Land cards are not valid targets for Religious Sacrifice.

Market and Trader

Market and Trader cards provide one of any resource. Once per turn, a player can choose the resource type of their Market and Trader cards in play. Once they have chosen the resource, it cannot be changed that turn. If a player decides to gain one Wood resource from his market, the market will provide one Wood for the rest of his turn and cannot be changed to provide another resource.

High Yield may be placed under a Market card to provide +2 of a chosen resource.

Play Immediately Cards — Help for the… / Festival of…

These are played as soon as they are drawn. The player who drew the Play Immediately card draws another card to replace this. The winner of the requirement listed on the card gets to keep the Play Immediately card. Wild card resources from Market and Trader do not count in these totals. It is placed to the side of their kingdom board and is worth 1 Victory Point at the end of the game. The following actions are taken to account for ties:

Help for the … (Help for the Starving, Help for the Poor, Help for the Dying, Help for the Homeless)

• Ties go to the player with the least amount of riches
• If riches are tied, this gets placed back in the middle of the intermediate deck

Festival of … (Festival of Food, Festival of Wealth, Festival of Fertility, Festival of Wood)

• Ties go to the player with the MOST amount of riches
• If riches are tied, this gets placed back in the middle of the advanced deck

Note: If a player does not realize they drew this card right away, they must play it whenever they realize. The resource totals used should reflect when this card was drawn, ignoring cards played after this card was drawn.

Victory Cards

If the requirements are met, using an action, Victory cards are played to the side of the player's board. They give the player victory points at the end of the game. These give 1 Victory point for every 2 resource of their type, rounded down. Wild card resources from Market and Trader do not count in these totals. For a food victory card such as, Luxury Goods, 5 total Food would give 2 Victory Points.

Note: Resources provided by Market and Trader cards do not count towards Play Immediately cards or Victory Card resource totals.

Victory cards include: King's Arms, Luxury Goods, Steel Weapons, Marble Statues, Bread and Games, Aristocracy, Religion, Paper, and Great Inventions.

Trade Route Mini-expansion

The Trade Route Mini-Expansion adds the Trade Route center board and a drafting mechanic into Era of Kingdoms.

Set up

Before any player is dealt their initial hand, the Trade Route board is set up next to the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced decks in an area that all players can easily access it.

• 6 Basic cards are played face up in the 6 Basic slots
• 3 Intermediate cards are played face up in the 3 Intermediate slots.
• 1 Advanced card is played face up in the Advanced slot.

Note: If a Play Immediately Card is drawn during setup, it is placed back in the middle of the deck and a new card is drawn to replace it.

Terms used

Draft: This term is used to denote that a player can select a card from the Trade Route board. Unless stated otherwise, a player is limited to which cards they can draft based on their current kingdom progression.

Refresh: This term means that cards should be removed from the Trade Route and replaced with cards from the same deck. The amount of cards refreshed is listed on the card and the active player gets to choose which cards are refreshed.

Game Play

The game with the Trade Route expansion follows the original rules with the following additions:

Action phase

A player may use an action on their turn to draft a Basic card from the Trade Route board. After a card is selected from the Trade Route, another card is drawn and placed face up immediately to replace it. This action is only for the Basic deck and does not upgrade along with a player's kingdom progression.

Draw Phase

When a player is drawing back up to their maximum hand size, players may elect to use the Trade Route board to draft instead of drawing a random card from the corresponding deck. During the draw phase, after a card is removed from the Trade Route, another card is not drawn to replace it until the player has reached his maximum hand size. Once a player is finished with the draw phase, all missing cards from the Trade Route board are replaced from the appropriate deck.

If a 'Play Immediately' is drawn as the replacement card, this card is resolved when shown. The player that meets the condition listed on the card keeps the 'Play Immediately' card and another card of the same deck is drawn to replace it on the Trade Route board. The type of cards drawn or drafted follows the original rules:

Note: If the Play Immediately card is drawn when replacing a draft card on the Trade Route center board, it is considered "drawn" by the current active player. If it is the Age of Enlightenment card that player gets to keep it and all players get one final turn.

Basic Kingdom

• Draft or draw Basic cards until they reach their maximum hand size

Intermediate Kingdom

• Draft or draw up to 1 Intermediate card
• Draft or draw Basic cards until they reach their maximum hand size

Advanced Kingdom

• Draft or draw up to 1 Advanced card
• Draft or draw up to 2 Intermediate cards
• Draft or draw Basic cards until they reach their maximum hand size.

Special End Conditions

If the Age of Enlightenment card is drawn when replacing a draft card on the Trade Route center board, it is considered "drawn" by the current active player. They get to keep the Age of Enlightenment card and all players get one final turn, including the player who drew the Age of Enlightenment.

Trade Route Cards

Trade Expedition — The Trade Expedition lets players remove and replace up to 4 Basic cards or 1 Intermediate card from the Trade Route board and then draft a Basic or Intermediate card. In order to refresh and draft the Intermediate card, they must already have an Intermediate Kingdom. The card that they draft using Trade Expedition is replaced immediately by a card from the appropriate deck.

Trading Post — While in play on a kingdom board, the Trading Post allows the player to remove and replace up to 3 Basic cards from the draft board during their Action Phase for no action cost. The Trading Post also boosts adjacent cards by +1 of their resource type. This only counts for the 4 resource types and does not boost defense (Walls), or hand-size bonuses (Storehouse). The Trading Post bonus stacks with cards that have High Yield and can also boost a Market card, allowing it to give +2 of a single resource type each time.

Card adjustments for 2 and 3 players

2 player game, remove the following cards from the basic deck:

• 2x Field
• 2x Mountain
• 2x Forest
• 2x Houses
• 2x Farm
• 2x Stone Houses
• 2x Mine
• 2x Lumber Camp
• 2x Steal
• 2x Religious Sacrifice
• 2x Crude Attack
• 1x Market
• 1x Trader

Each player only starts with 2 Riches cards.

3 player game, remove the following cards from the basic deck:

• 1x Field
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Forest
• 1x Houses
• 1x Farm
• 1x Stone Houses
• 1x Mine
• 1x Lumber Camp
• 1x Steal
• 1x Religious Sacrifice
• 1x Crude Attack

Solo Mode — Race Against the Shadow Kingdom

In Solo mode, the game is played with the original rules with the following changes:

Setup

1. The 'Age of Enlightenment' card is found and removed from the Advanced Deck.

2. The Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced decks are shuffled and placed in the center of the table with oom for a separate discard pile for each deck.

After the Advanced deck is shuffled, the Age of Enlightenment card is placed in the following location:

• Normal: 5 cards from the top.
• Difficult: 7 cards from the top.
• Challenge: 9 cards from the top.

3. The solo player sets a kingdom board in front of them and places the following cards to the right of their board:

• 2 Riches Cards
• 1 Town Center card
• 1 Player Turn Guide card
• 1 Icon Legend card

Note: If the Trade Route mini-expansion is being used, the Trade Route center land is set up now. See the Trade Route page for the setup instructions.

4. The solo player is dealt 5 basic cards.

5. The solo player can then choose to discard any number of cards in their hand (0-5) and redraw new cards from the basic deck until their hand size is 5.

6. The Solo player sets out 2 riches cards in the Shadow Kingdom's play area.

Course of the Game

Player Turn: The solo player's turn follows the 2-4 player rule set. See the original game rules section.

Shadow Kingdoms turn: After each solo player's turn, the Shadow Kingdom draws cards depending on the progression of the game. If event cards are drawn by the Shadow Kingdom, some may take effect immediately. All cards drawn by the Shadow Kingdom are placed face up in their play area, so that all of the Shadow Kingdoms cards are visible. Event Cards drawn by the Shadow Kingdom are also played face up in the Shadow Kingdom instead of being discarded. All of the Shadow Kingdom's cards count towards their resource, attack and defense totals.

The Shadow Kingdom draws based on the solo player's kingdom progression:

• Basic Kingdom — Shadow Kingdom draws 1 basic card and places it face up.
• Intermediate Kingdom — Shadow Kingdom draws 1 basic card and 1 intermediate card and places them face up.
• Advanced Kingdom — Shadow Kingdom draws 1 basic card, 1 intermediate card and 1 advanced card and places them face up.

Event Cards in Solo Mode

Certain event cards will have special effects in solo mode if the player or the shadow kingdom play them.

Steal

If the solo player plays, they steal a riches from the Shadow Kingdom.

If Shadow Kingdom draws this, the Shadow Kingdom steals a riches from the solo player.

Crude Attack, Attack, Great Attack

If the solo player plays, if they have more attack in play than the shadow kingdom's defense, the player may take a riches card from the Shadow Kingdom. The Shadow Kingdom's defense comes from every card face up in the Shadow Kingdom.

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this, if the shadow kingdom has more attack than the player's defense, the shadow kingdom takes a riches card from the player. The Shadow Kingdom's attack comes from every card face up in the Shadow Kingdom.

Swindler

If the solo player plays, they may choose to swap a land card with any land card of the shadow kingdom's of the same resource type up to one level higher.

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this, the player must choose to swap a level 2 land card with a level one of the same resource type from the Shadow Kingdom's cards, if possible. The player gets to choose which land card is swapped unless there are no possible cards to swap, in which case nothing happens.

Religious Sacrifice

If the solo player plays, they may choose any land card for the Shadow Kingdom to discard.

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this, the player must discard a top land card from their board. The player gets to choose which card he discards.

Plague

If the solo player plays, the player may play this on the Shadow Kingdom. The Shadow Kingdom may not get rid of plagues and will incur the penalties listed on the card.

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this, the player must play the plague card under a land card or stack of the same resource type of the plague if possible. The player may remove the plague in the normal manner.

Oracle

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this card, the player draws 3 cards. The card with the highest Victory Point total is chosen to add face up to the Shadow Kingdom. If there is a tie, the player gets to choose which card is selected for the Shadow Kingdom.

Survival Tactics

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this card, this card does not take immediate effect and is played face in the Shadow Kingdom. When the solo player plays a negative event, Survival Tactics blocks that event and is discarded from the Shadow Kingdom.

Forgotten Knowledge

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this card, 2 basic cards are drawn and added to their kingdom. Events are played if drawn.

Lost Artifact

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this card, 2 intermediate cards are drawn and added to their kingdom. Events are played if drawn.

Play Immediately Cards

When these are drawn by the player or Shadow Kingdom, who ever matches the criteria listed keeps this card. In the event of a tie, normal Play Immediately tie-breaker rules are used.

If the Shadow Kingdom draws this card, they do not draw another card to replace it as listed on the card. All of the Shadow Kingdoms cards count towards their resource totals for this (excluding wildcards -- Markets and Traders)

Age of Enlightenment Card

Whoever draws this card gets to keep it for +1 Victory Point. After the Age of Enlightenment is drawn, the player gets to take 1 final turn. The Shadow Kingdom will still draw and play cards after the solo player's final turn is over, so the game always ends on the Shadow Kingdom's turn.

Scoring (Solo Mode)

The player scores his total points just like the 2-4 player rules. The top card in each stack counts toward victory points as well as any Riches, Play Immediately, or Victory cards.

The Shadow Kingdom scores in the following way:

• Each victory point listed on a card is counted towards the shadow kingdom's total.
• Victory cards are tallied as listed on the card. The Shadow Kingdom's resource total comes from all cards in its kingdom.