Estate: Raise the Realm Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Game Components
• Legend
• Game Setup
  • Realm Board Setup
  • Player Setup
• Leader Special Ability and Setup Overview
• How to Play
• Worker Actions: Produce
• Worker Actions: Draw
• Worker Actions: Gather
• Worker Actions: Expand
• Win Conditions
• Solo Mode
• Appendix - FAQ
  • General Game Mechanics
  • Workers
  • Estate Leader Mat - Tableau Tracks and Worker Actions
  • Leader Special Abilities
  • Realm Board Action Spaces
  • Estate Cards

Game Overview

In Estate: Raise the Realm, you take on the role of a noble Leader working to rebuild your Estate and earn the most Victory Points.

The game takes place over 5 Eras. At the start of each Era, an Era Event is revealed, introducing an effect (either positive or negative) and an objective for which players compete.

During the Era, you take turns deploying workers within your Estate and the Realm. Workers can take one of four possible actions:

• Produce on Estate cards to activate their effects
• Draw Estate cards into your hand
• Take a Gather action on the shared Realm board
• Expand your Estate by playing an Estate card

As Estate cards are played, your Estate's tableau tracks progress, making the other worker actions more powerful.

Once all workers in all Estates have taken an action, the Era ends. The Era Objective is scored, and players reset for the next Era.

After 5 Eras, the game ends. The player with the most Victory Points in their Estate wins.

Game Components

• 8 Estate Leader mats
• Iron tokens
• Stone tokens
• Wood tokens
• Grain tokens
• Gold tokens
• 8 Leader Crest tokens
• 156 Estate cards
• 10 Family Secret cards
• 5 Player Aids and 1 Solo Mode Aid
• 12 Era Event cards
• 10 Solo Era Event cards
• Scorepad
• Starting Player Token
• Realm board
• 30 Workers (6 per player)
• 130 Cubes (26 per player)
• 9 Advanced Gather action tiles
• Castle Tower

Legend

• Noble (impacts Draw action)
• Production (impacts Produce action)
• Gather (impacts Gather action)
• Citizen
• Solo Mode effect
• Victory Points
• Construction
• Interactive Deck

Game Setup

Realm Board Setup

1. Place the Realm board on the table. Place the Castle Tower on the stone foundation pictured at the top of the board (note: assemble once and store in the box assembled).
2. Separate the positive and negative Era Event cards and shuffle each deck separately. Draw and place 1 negative card face down underneath Era 1 at the bottom of the board. Then, shuffle together 2 positive and 2 negative Era Event cards and distribute them face down under Eras 2 through 5.
3. Shuffle the Level 1 Advanced Gather action tiles and place 1 face up on the "Level 1 Gather" space in the center of the board. Place tiles for levels 2–4 in the same manner and set the remaining Gather tiles aside.
4. Place 1 resource of each type on the "accumulating" action spaces on the left side of the board. Give each player 1 of each resource (Iron, Stone, Wood, and Grain). Then, shuffle the Estate card deck and place 4 face up in the Market.

Player Setup

5. Give each player a Player Aid as well as an Estate Leader mat and the associated Leader Crest. Do not use Leader mats with a player count number (in the upper right) that exceeds the number of players in your game.
6. Each player chooses a color and starts with 4 workers and all (26) cubes of that color. Each player places their extra 2 workers on top of the Castle Tower. For each tableau track on their Leader mat, each player adds a cube to each of the 7 indented spaces (21 cubes total). Extra cubes are placed at the bottom of the game board for Era scoring.
7. From the Estate deck, find each player's starting Estate cards according to the "Starting Build" noted on their Leader mat. The starting cards begin the game face up in the player's tableau in front of them. Each player removes the leftmost cube from the relevant tableau track(s) on their mat, per their starting cards (see Leader Special Ability and Setup Overview below).
8. Any player with a Leader with extra setup steps, excluding the Warden, such as the Sorcerer, Pious One, or Druid Lord should take their additional setup steps now (see Leader Special Ability and Setup Overview below).
9. Shuffle the Family Secret cards and deal 2 to each player.
10. Deal five Estate cards to each player, then place the Estate deck beneath the arch of the Castle Tower.
11. Simultaneously, each player selects 1 of their five cards to keep, and passes the remaining cards to the player on their left. They then repeat this process with the cards they have just received. This is repeated until each player has drafted 4 cards. The last undrafted card from each player is placed into the discard pile face up (players may review the discard pile to their liking). During the Draft, the Warden's extra set up will take place.
12. Each player discards 1 Family Secret card.
13. Decide on a First Player and give them the First Player token. The First Player reveals the first Era Event, which has an effect and the Era Objective. Most effects will last the duration of the Era, but some will have a one-time effect at Era start. After its reveal, the First Player may begin the game by taking the first worker action.

Leader Special Ability and Setup Overview

Leader special abilities may be used once per Era, and their use is tracked by flipping over the Leader Crest when used.

Warlord: The Warlord's special ability allows them to collect a resource when they activate an Assassin in their Estate. This special ability only applies to 1 Assassin. They begin the game with the Assassin and the Forge. They remove the first 2 cubes from their Production track.

Druid Lord: The Druid Lord's special ability allows them to double the effects of any Forest card in their Estate. They begin the game with the Forest and the Innkeeper. They remove the first cube from their Production and Gather tracks. They also resolve the When Played effect of the Innkeeper.

Pious One: The Pious One's special ability allows them to receive an extra card when taking the Draw action. They begin the game with the Place of Worship. They remove the first cube from their Noble track. They also resolve the When Played effect of the Place of Worship, which allows them to remove another cube.

Agrarian Lord: The Agrarian Lord's special ability allows them to Produce on one more card beyond their Production track value. They begin the game with the Farm and the Quarry. They remove the first 2 cubes from their Production track.

Trade Queen: The Trade Queen's special ability allows them to use 1 Merchant a second time during Production allowing the player to copy two separate Production cards from other Estates. They begin the game with the Merchant and the Lumberyard. They remove the first cube from their Production and Gather tracks.

Warden: The Warden's special ability lets them take a resource or swap a tucked card with an opponent's tucked card when using the Dungeon. They begin the game with the Dungeon. They remove the first cube from their Production track. During the setup draft, they can draft 2 extra Estate cards, which they tuck under the Dungeon (draw a replacement card for each).

Sorcerer: The Sorcerer's special ability allows them to receive an extra resource when collecting resources from a Gather action. They begin the game with the Mage. They remove the first cube from their Noble track. They also resolve the When Played effect of the Mage, which allows them to remove another cube.

Spy Master: The Spy Master's special ability is to copy the special ability of another player's Leader. This can be a different leader each Era. They begin the game with the Thief and the Royal Consort. They remove the first cube from their Production and Noble tracks.

How to Play

Estate is played over a series of 5 Eras (rounds). Within each Era, players take turns placing and activating one worker at a time, proceeding clockwise until all available workers have been used. The game ends at the end of the fifth Era, and the player with the most Victory Points wins!

Era Start: At Era start, an Era Event is revealed and its effect announced. Era Events have consequences affecting gameplay for the duration of the Era, or an immediate effect (see the Era of Plague, as an example). They also introduce an Era Objective to compete for, see Era End below for details on objective scoring.

During the Era: Use each of your workers to take 1 of 4 actions on your Leader mat:

• Produce: Activate Production cards within your Estate to take their effect and gain resources, cards, and more! The value of your Production track determines the maximum number of cards you may activate.
• Draw: You may draw as many cards as the value of your Noble track. Cards may be drawn from the Estate Deck or the Market (replenished at turn end).
• Gather: Place your worker on the Realm board to perform one available Gather action. The basic, preprinted Gather actions are available by default. The level of Advanced Gather actions (on the tiles) available to you is determined by the value of your Gather track. Access to more powerful Advanced Gather actions (Levels 2–4) is done by expanding your Gather track.
• Expand: Add an Estate card to your tableau by paying the resource cost (in the card's top left corner) and discarding the leftmost cube from the corresponding Estate track—Production, Noble (Draw), or Gather. Expanding makes other worker actions more powerful.

Rule Clarification: The four available actions can be used multiple times each Era.

Era End: The Era ends when all workers have been used across all players. Before resetting, any cards with At Era End effects activate. Players then score the Objective, placing their cubes in the relevant Era space on the Realm board and receive awards for 1st (6 Victory Points), 2nd (1 Estate card & 1 resource), and 3rd+ (1 Estate card), the reward changes to Victory Points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the final Era. Victory point rewards will be scored at Game End and are cumulative, but cards and resources are gained immediately. When resolving ties, Victory Point rewards are split (rounded down), so a 2-way tie would result in 3 Victory Points, a 4-way tie in 1, and a 5-way tie in no points. Non-Victory Point rewards are considered 'friendly' (not split).

Scoring Example: In the Final Era, two players tie for first. They would receive 4 Victory Points each, and the third player would receive 1.

Era Reset: Take the following steps to reset for the next Era:

1. Add 1 resource to each of the "accumulating" Gather action spaces.
2. Refresh the Market: remove all cards and replenish.
3. All players return workers to their Estate. Temporary workers go to the Castle Tower.
4. Reset Leader Crest tokens, if used.
5. Rotate the First Player token clockwise, then reveal the next Era Event to begin the next Era.

Worker Actions: Produce

The Produce action allows you to activate Production cards that are played within your Estate. The number of Production cards that activate is determined by the highest value revealed on the Production track. As more track spaces are uncovered (by playing more Production cards), the Produce action becomes more powerful.

Each Production card can only be used once during each Produce action. However, a Production card can be activated again on another Produce action, even in the same Era (unless the card says "once per Era").

Example: The Production track is at 3. This means that when the player takes the Produce action, they can activate up to 3 unique Production cards within their Estate. The player has 4 total Production cards available, so they must choose 3 of the 4. Here, they select the Farm, Quarry, and Day Laborer, leaving 1 card unactivated. Since the Day Laborer is a once per Era card, it cannot be used again in the same Era.

Gameplay Tip: To track once per Era cards, place a cube on the card to denote that it was used this Era.

Sample Production cards:

• Day Laborer — Production (once per Era). Cost: 3 Grain. Receive a temporary Worker for this Era. Victory Points: 0.
• Charcoal Burner — Production. Cost: 1 Grain, 1 Iron. Discard up to 3 Wood. For each discarded, receive 1 Gold. Victory Points: 0.
• Quarry — Production. Cost: 1 Wood, 1 Iron. Receive 1 Stone. Victory Points: 2.
• Farm — Production. Cost: 1 Stone, 1 Wood. Receive 1 Grain. Victory Points: 2.

Worker Actions: Draw

The Draw action allows you to draw cards into your hand. There is no hand limit in Estate! Cards will be played from players' hands to expand their Estates.

Cards can be drawn from the top of the face-down Estate deck and/or the face-up Market on the Realm board. The Market does not refresh until after your turn is over.

The number of cards drawn when taking the Draw action is determined by the highest value displayed on the Noble track of your Leader mat.

Example: The Noble track is at 2. This means when the player takes the Draw action, they can draw 2 cards. If they draw any from the Market, it does not refresh until after their turn is over.

Gameplay Tip: Each Leader mat encourages a strategy. In the case of the Agrarian Lord, a strong Production-based strategy early on will increase the power of its Produce action. While establishing a Production base, it is important to identify complementary high-value cards to draw and play late game.

Sample cards:

• Castle — Construction, Noble track. Cost: 3 Stone, 1 Wood, 1 Iron. When Played: Play a Citizen from your hand for free. Victory Points: 5.
• Guild President — Citizen, Noble track (Solo Mode card). Cost: 3 Grain. When Played: For every 1/3/5/7/9 Production Citizens in all Estates, receive 1/2/4/5/6 Gold and store on the Guild President. Victory Points: 4.

Worker Actions: Gather

The Gather action allows you to move your worker to the Realm board and select an available action space.

Most of the action spaces on the Realm board are exclusive, meaning each may only be used by one worker per Era. The exception to this is the two action spaces at the bottom of the Realm board labeled by the open Worker symbol, which may be used by as many workers as players would like. There are also unique circumstances, described in the Appendix, that might allow you to play an exclusive action multiple times.

The Realm board has more powerful action spaces (on Advanced Gather action tiles) that are only available if a player has expanded their Gather track to the corresponding number by adding Gather cards to their tableau. The Advanced Gather action spaces are also exclusive—once used, they cannot be used again that Era.

Gather actions on the left side of the board accumulate a resource at the end of each Era, becoming more valuable each round they are not used.

Center of the board Gather actions can be unlocked by playing Gather cards into your Estate.

Worker Actions: Expand

The Expand action allows you to play 1 Estate card from your hand into your Estate by paying the resource cost in the upper left corner of the card and removing the leftmost cube from the corresponding tableau track (unless the track is already empty). While there is no hand size limit, there is a card limit of 7 for each tableau track (Production, Noble, Gather), meaning no more than 21 total cards in play in an Estate. Multiples of the same card can be played within an Estate, and they each count toward the 21 total.

Estate cards have the following pieces of information on them:

1. Estate resource cost: The Castle costs 3 Stone, 1 Wood, and 1 Iron to play.
2. Victory Point value: Estate cards are worth Victory Points at the end of the game, denoted by the Victory Point symbol in the bottom left. Some cards may provide additional Victory Points due to stored resources or to tucked cards underneath them.
3. Estate card type: Estate cards are either Constructions or Citizens—this is important to note for Era Events, Family Secret Objectives, and various Estate card effects.
4. Estate tableau track: When you play an Estate card to your tableau, remove the leftmost cube from the tableau track associated with the card symbol in the bottom right. There are three symbols, each of which improves one of three worker actions: Produce, Draw, or Gather.
5. Card effects: There are five types of card effects within the Estate deck:
   • When Played: Activate once immediately when played.
   • Passive Ability: Triggered when something happens in the game by either you or another player.
   • Production cards: Exclusive to the Produce action; the engine building blocks of your Estate.
   • At Era Start/End: Triggered at the start or end of each Era; usually require specific prerequisites to be met in order to activate their effect.
   • At Game End: Some cards only have an effect at the end of the game. These cards always provide additional Victory Points.

Win Conditions

The game ends at the conclusion of Era 5 (the fifth round of worker placement). Use the scorepad to score each player in each category:

1. Victory Points on cards played within their Estate
2. Game End Victory Points from cards played
3. Gold collected (1 point per Gold)
4. Tucked cards (1 point per tucked card)
5. Resources stored on top of cards (1 point per resource—note that resources in a player's personal supply are not worth Victory Points)
6. Era Objective rewards (if tied, divide points across the winners, rounding down.) For Era 5, 4th and 5th place are not awarded Victory Points.
7. Family Secret Victory Points
8. Tableau track(s) that have no cubes remaining (7 points per)

In the event of a tie for 1st place, the tied players with the most 1st place finishes in Era Objectives wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the most Estate cards wins. Otherwise, share the victory.

Game Creator Tip: There is more than one way to get more workers. Workers will give you extra turns and there is a maximum of 6 per Estate.

A Note about Gold: Gold is not a resource, but purely Victory Points, a well timed Thieves Guild or Treasurer can make the difference for victory!

Solo Mode

In Solo Mode, you pursue game mastery by following a set path of Era Events. Failing to meet the requirements of three Era Objectives results in game failure. If your Estate survives the path of time, your score will determine a title that reflects your performance in Estate: Raise the Realm.

To set up Solo Mode, follow the normal setup instructions, with the following exceptions:

Realm Board Setup:

• Remove the Family Secret cards.
• Replace the standard Era Events with Solo Era Events. To set up Solo Era Events:
  1. Separate the cards into their respective Eras (1–5).
  2. Shuffle each set and place 1 card from each along the bottom edge of the Realm board, creating a series of 5 Solo Era Events (1–5).
  3. When revealing these Events, you choose one of two effects provided on the card.

Player Setup:

• Leader Selection: Do not play with the Spy Master, Trade Queen, or Warden.
• Add the Solo Mode Player Aid.
• Remove any Interactive Deck cards, denoted by the Interactive Deck symbol.
• Starting Hand: Draw 10 cards. From those, select 4 cards to form your starting hand and place the remaining 6 cards in the discard pile.

Solo Mode Estate Cards

In Solo Mode, certain Estate cards work differently than normal. These cards are denoted by the Solo Mode symbol and they have an immediate effect (described below) when revealed. Once completed, discard the card. They should not be included in a starting hand (if drawn, shuffle back into the deck).

• The Merchant: Activate 1 Production card in your Estate.
• Thief: Discard 1 resource (if available).
• Thieves Guild: Discard 1 stored resource (if available).
• Harbor: You may pay up to 3 resources of your choice to the supply; in exchange, receive 1 gold for each.
• Guild President: Receive 1 gold per Production Citizen you have in play.
• Treasurer: Pay 1 gold to the supply (if available).
• Barn Cat: Receive 1 resource for each Farm in your Estate.

Solo Mode Scoring

If you have completed all 5 Eras and met the Objectives of at least 3 of those Era Events, congratulations! Your Estate has withstood the test of time. Score your Estate to see how you performed this game:

Score	Title
0 - 39	Pauper
40 - 49	Traveling Minstrel
50 - 74	Baron/Baroness
75 - 89	Duke/Duchess
90 - 109	Monarch
110+	Empire Builder

Appendix - FAQ

General Game Mechanics

Is there a resource conversion mechanism? Yes, 3 of any combination of resources can be converted to 1 resource during your turn. There is a card called the Auction House that allows for a 2:1 conversion.

Can I take the same Leader mat action multiple times during an Era? Yes, all Leader mat worker actions (Produce, Draw, Gather, Expand) can be used multiple times.

Can I use the action spaces on the Realm board multiple times / can multiple players use the same Gather action space? Only the two designated "open" actions can be used multiple times by players during an Era. All other Realm board action spaces are exclusive and once used, cannot be used again until the next Era.

Is there a maximum hand size? No, there is no hand limit in Estate.

Is there a maximum number of cards that can be played into an Estate? Yes, there can be up to 21 cards in play in an Estate, with a maximum of 7 of each type (Production, Noble, Progress).

Does the Market get refilled when a player is drawing multiple cards? No, the Market is not refilled until the end of a player's full turn.

How does tucking work? Some cards will allow you to tuck a card. A tucked card is a card played face down underneath another card in your Estate. Each tucked card is worth 1 Victory Point at the end of the game.

What does it mean when cards say "for every A/B/C/D x in play . . . Receive 1/2/3/4 Gold"? Example card: Guild President.

• If there is 1 Production Citizen total in all Estates, the player receives 1 gold.
• If there are 3 Production Citizens total in all Estates, the player receives 2 gold.
• If there are 5 Production Citizens total in all Estates, the player receives 4 gold.
• If there are 7 Production Citizens total in all Estates, the player receives 5 gold.
• If there are 9 Production Citizens total in all Estates, the player receives 6 gold.

Why is there specification around Gold or resources in personal supply versus stored resources/gold? Some cards will specify storing Gold or resources, both Gold and resources stored on top of cards are worth 1 victory point each at game end. In addition, they are protected from the Thief (but not the Thieves Guild). Stored resources, while not considered part of your personal supply, can be used (mostly) as your personal supply when expanding.

How does the Era of Growth work with Once per Era cards? Example Explanation: You cannot use the Merchant twice with the Era of Growth as this would impact the Merchant's 'normal card restriction' of being only used once per Era. Unlike the Merchant, an example card that could be used twice with the Era of Growth is the Royal Wood.

Workers

How many workers can I have in my Estate? Each Estate starts with 4 workers, and can grow to a maximum of 6 workers (including any temporary workers).

Does the Day Laborer temporary worker count toward the maximum worker count of 6? Yes, each Estate can have up to a max of 6 workers; this includes the temporary worker from producing on the Day Laborer. If your Estate already has 6 permanent workers, then you do not get to collect a temporary worker.

If you have 5 permanent workers and 1 temporary worker during an Era (so technically 6), can you add a permanent worker? Yes, because all new permanent workers wait to activate until the next Era, before which the temporary worker will go away.

Estate Leader Mat - Tableau Tracks and Worker Actions

During the Produce action, if I activate a Production card that lets me play another card that increases my Production track, do I get to increase the number of cards I Produce on during the Produce action I'm already taking? No, the number of Production cards that activate is determined at the start of the Production action.

During the same Produce action, can I activate the same card in my Estate multiple times? No, during a Produce action, a Production card can only be used once per turn. If a second Production action is taken during the Era, cards can be reactivated because it is a different Production turn.

During the Draw action, where can I draw cards from? Players can draw from the Market or the top of the Estate card deck.

If you discard a card from your Estate, do you add a cube to your Estate track? No, Estate Tracks never have cubes added back in, even if an Estate card is removed from your Estate.

Leader Special Abilities

When using the Pious One's special ability of drawing cards, can I trigger this whenever I'm drawing cards (e.g., when I play a card like the Scout that lets me draw cards)? No, the Pious One's special ability applies only to the worker placement Draw action.

When using the Warden's special ability, can I look at other players' tucked cards? Yes, with that ability, you can look at any other tucked cards within the game.

When using the Trade Queen's special ability to use the Merchant to copy a second card, can they copy the same card again? No, the Merchant must copy different cards (you cannot Produce on the same card twice in one turn).

When using the Trade Queen's special ability, if there is more than 1 Merchant in play within your Estate, do all Merchants activate twice? No, only one Merchant will activate twice.

When using the Druid Lord's special ability, if there is more than 1 Forest in play within your Estate, do they all activate twice during Production? Yes, all Forest cards in the Estate will activate twice.

When using the Druid Lord's special ability, does the Royal Wood count as a Forest card? No, it does not.

When using the special ability of the Warlord or Sorcerer, where does the extra resource come from? Take it from the general game supply.

Realm Board Action Spaces

In the Advanced Gather 4 action "Take 2 worker actions this turn," can you take multiple of the same worker action space? No, this action allows a player to take 2 other actions without needing a worker to move there. Normal worker restrictions would apply within the turn, such that the player could not take the Advanced Gather 3 action space twice, but could take the Advanced Gather 2 and 3 in the same turn, and they would be available in a future turn to take that Era as a result of the worker being on Advanced Gather action 4.

When taking an action that would copy a Production from another Estate resulting in a tucked card, where does the tucked card go? The tucked card would go under the active player's card of choice played in their Estate.

Estate Cards

How many cards are there of each type within the deck? There are 156 total cards in the base deck (55 unique). The deck is 50% Citizen and 50% Construction and split across the three categories with approximately 34% Noble, 37% Production and 29% Gather.

• Actor — 5
• Apprentice Quarters — 3
• Architect — 2
• Assassin — 4
• Auction House — 2
• Barn Cat — 2
• Castle — 3
• Charcoal Burner — 2
• City Watch — 3
• Day Laborer — 3
• Dungeon — 3
• Farm — 10
• Farmer — 3
• Forest — 6
• Forge — 3
• Granary — 3
• Guild Hall — 2
• Guild President — 2
• Harbor — 2
• Innkeeper — 3
• Judge — 2
• Knight — 4
• Larder — 2
• Lumberyard — 3
• Merchant — 3
• Monarch — 2
• Monastery — 2
• Monk — 5
• Mortician — 2
• Necromancer — 2
• Place of Worship — 3
• Plow — 2
• Quarry — 4
• Royal Ambassador — 2
• Royal Consort — 3
• Royal Court — 2
• Royal Wood — 2
• Royal Heir — 2
• Royal Palace — 2
• Scout — 2
• Smelter — 4
• Smugglers Den — 2
• Mage — 3
• Storehouse — 2
• Surveyor — 3
• Sword for Hire — 4
• Theatre — 2
• Thief — 3
• Thieves Guild — 2
• Tower — 2
• Town Square — 3
• Treasurer — 2
• Wood Cart — 2
• Woodcutter — 2
• Royal Guard — 3

Does the Royal Guard include itself? Yes!

If you have two Merchants in your Estate, can you copy the same physical Production card in someone's Estate twice? No, during a Produce action, a Production card can only be used once per turn. Example: There is 1 Day Laborer in play within another player's Estate. It can be activated once by using 1 Merchant, but not by the second Merchant being activated.

Place of Worship: The card played from the Place of Worship must come from one of the three cards drawn. If you cannot play a card with its When Played effect, what do you do? The additional card is discarded (the player would keep 1 card and discard two.)

Does the Surveyor allow a player to play a card if they have played 7 Production cards? No, if there are 7 Production cards in a player's Estate, a successful Surveyor draw results in all 7 cards being discarded.