Europa Universalis: The Price of Power
Europa Universalis: The Price of Power Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Game Overview
- 3. Game Setup
- 4. Sequence of Play
- 5. Basic Actions
- 6. Action Cards
- 7. Governing a PR
- 8. Ideas
- 9. Warfare
- 10. Peace Resolution
- 11. Diplomatic Relations
- 12. Trade
- 13. Non-Player Realms (NPRs)
- 14. Rebels
- 15. Religion & Faith
- 16. Events
- 17. Victory & Prestige
- 18. The Holy Roman Empire (HRE)
- 19. The Papal Curia
- 20. 2-Player Games
- 21. PR Elimination
- Game Components (Standard Ed. / Deluxe Ed.)
- Credits
1. Introduction
Europa Universalis: The Price of Power is a board game that carries on the great legacy of the Europa Universalis video game series by Paradox Interactive. Those of you familiar with any of the video games that have come out during the series' more than 20-year-long history will likely instantly recognize several of the concepts in this board game. That said, knowledge of the video games is not required to play or enjoy this game.
The starting point of the first Age of Europa Universalis: The Price of Power is the year 1444, in the aftermath of the Battle of Varna, where the Ottomans won a decisive victory against the combined Christian crusader forces. Europe is about to leave the Middle Ages behind and enter the Early Modern Era. The world is about to undergo changes like it never has before. No longer will civilizations in different parts of the globe exist in separate spheres with limited or no contact with the outside world. The lives of people across the whole planet are about to be irreversibly tangled together in a complex global web of power politics, imperialist expansion, colonization, trade, and cultural exchange, as well as wars and epidemics with disastrous consequences.
At the same time, science, political philosophy, and technology are starting to make progress at a rate never before seen in the history of mankind. This will impact warfare, forms of government, and religious institutions, as well as the daily lives of ordinary people, in ways that no one could have foreseen as it all began to happen.
While some states will flourish in this environment, and even grow into positions of global dominance, other civilizations will suffer and disappear almost completely.
A lot of what the colonial and imperialist powers of that era did in their struggle for glory and riches is of course highly problematic when viewed through modern eyes. Knowledge of the many key events and developments of that time period is nonetheless crucial to understanding how we have come to be where we are in the world of today.
The game views the world through the eyes of the European powers of that day and age, not because we endorse what they did, but because it is a way to help us understand some of the choices they made. Perhaps we can then see more clearly how or why parts of history unfolded in the way that they did, while also giving players the freedom to explore somewhat realistic "what if" scenarios in the setting of this time period.
This is a lot of ground for a board game to cover, and we have no pretensions of getting anywhere near a simulation of it all. Still, this game allows the players to immerse themselves in this highly interesting time period, and guide their chosen realms through a great chunk of history. Faced with challenges based on real historical events of the time, they will often need to make tough choices and negotiate with their opponents in order for their realms to thrive and grow.
We hope that this game will inspire people to dig deeper into this subject matter.
2. Game Overview
Europa Universalis: The Price of Power is a board game of empire building, conquest, diplomacy, and exploration in the early modern era. Each player will lead one of Europe's great nations to its glory or demise, depending on their ability to make timely choices and their skill in managing the resources available to them.
During the game, players will use Monarch Power and Ducats to perform Actions, such as building up military forces, fighting battles, forging diplomatic relations, and developing aspects of their societies' internal machinery. Managing diplomatic relations with the other players is also an important aspect of the game.
This booklet covers the multiplayer rules. Solo rules are covered in a separate booklet.
Set your game up by following the instructions in chapter 3 and your chosen scenario. We recommend that you focus on learning the rules in chapters 4–8 initially. The other sections of the rules will be referenced as they are needed.
For your first game, we advise you to skip all rules marked as "Advanced Rules".
2.1 Winning the Game
The winner will be the player who finishes the game with the most Prestige. There are many potential paths to victory and you will score Prestige in different ways (see p. 42), depending on how you focus your efforts.
Scoring Prestige during the game. Players will score Prestige during the game for completing Missions and Milestones, researching Ideas, winning Wars, etc. This will all be recorded on the Prestige Track.
Final Scoring. Final Scoring is initiated when the final round has been completed, or when certain scenario-specific conditions have been met.
At this stage all players will score Prestige for their Towns and Vassals, Diplomatic relations, controlling the Papal Curia, Imperial Authority, and current Stability value, among other things (see p. 11).
2.2 General Notes
Rounding up. When halving numbers, always round up unless specifically stated otherwise.
Token Limits. Generally, if you run out of a certain type of token, you have to remove a token from somewhere else to be able to place a new one. You may choose where to take this token from, but this may only be done if there are no tokens of that type left in the Supply. Exceptions to this are detailed below:
Tokens that may not be (re)moved:
- Towns and Vassal tokens
- Alliance and Royal Marriage tokens
- Crusade/Excommunicated token
- Mercenary Units
- Black Units in use as Allied Units
- Deployed and Exhausted Military Units
- "Unlimited" tokens
Cubes (Monarch Power, Influence etc.). Each player has 30 cubes available to use for Monarch Power, Influence, charging up uses on Display Cards, and several more things.
When short on cubes, players may freely take one of their cubes from anywhere, except:
- the Roma Cardinal slot
- the Changed National Focus slot
- the income slots on Town/Vassal Tracks
"Unlimited" tokens. Some tokens are considered unlimited. If they should run out, find another way of indicating their meaning. These include:
- Ducat coins
- War/Truce tokens
- Occupied/Battleground tokens
- +1 Manpower tokens
- Ill Health/Interest tokens
- Negative Prestige tokens
- Tag chits
- Tokens used to indicate State Religion
Text formatting. Game terms are written with Capitalized First Letters. Actions and Action Cards are always written in Bold Italics. Area names are written in Small Caps. Realm names and adjectives referencing Realms are written in a distinct style, e.g., France and French, Austria and Austrian, etc. Ideas in the game are always in italics, enclosed by quotation marks, e.g., "Tolerance".
Iconography & Abbreviations
The rulebook uses a set of pictogram icons for its core resources and tokens. This transcription spells these out as words wherever the original uses an icon. The icon glossary is reproduced below for reference:
- Ducats
- Monarch Power (cube)
- Administrative Power (cube)
- Diplomatic Power (cube)
- Military Power (cube)
- Town
- Vassal token
- Alliance token
- Active Ally token (Alliance token, reverse side)
- Royal Marriage token
- Disputed Succession token (Royal Marriage token, reverse side)
- Influence (cube)
- Claim token
- Core token
- Colonist (cube)
- Cardinal (cube)
- Cube (generic)
- Prestige (also numbered pips: 1, 2, 3, etc.)
- Stability
- Manpower
- Trade Power
- Trade Node
- Imperial Authority
- Not HRE
- Ill Health token
- Interest token
- DNPR token
- Revolutionary token
- Protestant/Counter-Reformed token
- Battleground Area
- Rebel Unit
- Rebel Town
- Unrest
- Bot Power (cube)
Action/Card type icons:
- Administrative Action Card
- Diplomatic Action Card
- Military Action Card
- Reaction
- Battle Action
- Display Card
- Covert Action
Text abbreviations used throughout the rules:
- CB — Casus Belli
- DoW — Declaration of War
- CtA — Call to Arms
- MC — Military Capacity
- NC — Naval Capacity
- PR — Player Realm
- NPR — Non-Player Realm
- DNPR — Dynamic NPR
- HRE — Holy Roman Empire
Game Concepts
Some of the game's core concepts are described here for quick reference.
Prestige: Prestige is equivalent to victory points, and gaining Prestige is how you win the game. Completing Missions and Milestones is an effective way of gaining Prestige. (See pp. 11 and 42.)
Monarch Power: The game's core resource. In essence, these cubes are action points that players may spend on various Actions. There are three types of Monarch Power: Administrative, Diplomatic, and Military Power. A player cannot keep more than 10 Monarch Power of any one type on their Player Mat. (See p. 19.)
Ducats: The monetary currency of the game and a measure of a Realm's wealth. Ducats are useful for building up your armed forces and many other things. (See 'Economy', p. 20.)
Realm: A Realm consists of all Provinces that have the same flag, Town, or DNPR token. An Area is considered part of a Realm if it contains any Provinces Owned by that Realm.
A Distant Realm is one whose Capital is on a Distant Continent (see p. 36).
Occupied Provinces are neither considered part of the Occupant's Realm nor the Lawful Owner's Realm (see p. 28).
PR: Each player governs a Player Realm (PR). (See p. 19.)
NPR: Non-Player Realms include all independent Realms that are not controlled by human players or bot players. A DNPR is an NPR whose Provinces are marked with DNPR tokens. (See p. 35.)
Province: Provinces are one of the main sources of income and Manpower for PRs. (See Small and Large Provinces, below.)
Town: Towns are placed on the board to signify Ownership or Control of Provinces. (See p. 21.)
Vassal: Vassal Realms are subordinated to an Overlord Realm. They are not independent, and thus not considered NPRs, but are not considered part of their Overlord's Realm either. PRs cannot be Vassals. Players place Vassal tokens on all of their Vassals' Provinces. (See p. 33.)
Core Province: A Realm's Core Provinces are those whose shield is marked with their flag. Core tokens and DNPR tokens supersede flags. A Core token signifies that all Provinces in its Area are Core Provinces of the Core token's owner. If a PR's Province is not their Core Province, it can be Liberated. (See pp. 21 and 37.)
Influence: Players can spread their Influence around the board, to pave the way for Alliances, Royal Marriages, Subjugation, and more. (See p. 32.)
Alliance: Alliances can be very useful when the danger of War threatens. Alliances can be formed with both NPRs and other PRs. (See p. 32.)
Royal Marriages: Royal Marriages strengthen bonds and provide interesting diplomatic opportunities. (See p. 32.)
War: It is likely that players will fight Wars against NPRs or other PRs. They are complex affairs but can be effective tools if well-planned. (See pp. 22 and 36.)
Declaration of War (DoW): To start a War, you must Declare War on another Realm. Before doing this, you may want to have a Claim or other Casus Belli ("justification for war"). (See p. 22.)
Military Units: Land Units are usually Recruited from your Available Manpower, and are used most efficiently when organized into Armies. You can spend Military Power to move your Armies around, fight Land Battles, and Siege Provinces. Ships can be used to fight Naval Battles, Protect Trade, transport Land Units, and more. (See p. 24.)
Military and Naval Capacity (MC/NC): These are measures for how many Units or Ships a Realm can muster in one specific Area or Sea Zone. A Realm's MC in an Area is equal to the combined Tax Value of all their Provinces in and adjacent to that Area, while NC is equal to the number of Ports that a Realm Owns facing a particular Sea Zone. (See p. 22.)
Trade: If actively pursued, Trade can provide great wealth even for smaller Realms. Trade Income is collected through Merchants in the Trade Nodes spread around the board (see p. 4). (See pp. 15 and 34.)
Actions and Action Cards: There are a number of Basic Actions that the players may perform. There are also Action Cards (one deck for each type of Monarch Power), which may be played as Actions. Most Actions have a Monarch Power cost. Actions are named in Bold Italics. (See 'Basic Actions', p. 12, and 'Action Cards', p. 18.)
Leaders and Advisors: Each Action Card, and most Realm-specific Events, feature a character at the bottom of the card. Advisors (square portrait) can be appointed for Monarch Power bonuses, and Leaders (round portrait) can serve as Generals, Admirals, or Rulers. (See p. 19.)
Events: There is one deck of Event Cards for each Age of the game. These are the Ages of Discovery (I), Reformation (II), Absolutism (III), and Revolutions (IV, Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires exp. only).
In each Round a certain number of Events will be played and take effect. The Event deck dictates the flow of time, and it often determines when the game will end. (See p. 39.)
Ideas: Ideas represent improvements in technology that have effects on what you can do in the game. (See p. 21.)
Stability: All PRs have a Stability value, which ranges from -3 to +3. Stability affects Income, Unrest, and Monarch Power Income. Stability may also impact certain Event effects. (See p. 20.)
Unrest: Unrest in your Provinces may cause loss of Ducats, Manpower, or Monarch Power, or cause these Provinces to be captured by Rebels. (See p. 37.)
Holy Roman Empire (HRE): The HRE is a confederation that includes a great number of German and North Italian states. While largely autonomous, they are nominally all subjects of one Emperor. Being the Emperor comes with certain benefits and responsibilities. As a measure of the Emperor's power over the member states, the Emperor has an Imperial Authority value. (See p. 43.)
Papal Curia: Catholic PRs may compete to control the most Cardinals in the Papal Curia in order to gain certain bonuses. (See p. 45.)
Important Terms
Adjacency: A Province, Unit, or token is considered adjacent to the Area in which it is located and all Areas that share a border with that Area. It is also considered adjacent to all Provinces in each of these Areas.
A Coastal Province (Port) is also considered adjacent to all other Ports facing the same Sea Zone(s), to all Areas with such Ports, and to all the Sea Zones it faces.
Areas/Sea Zones are considered adjacent to all other Areas and Sea Zones with which they share a border. Coastal Areas with Ports facing the same Sea Zone are adjacent to each other.
A Realm is adjacent to anything that its Provinces are adjacent to. Vassals do not provide adjacency for their Overlord.
Own: When the rules refer to Ownership of Provinces, they mean Provinces where you have a Town, and where there is no Vassal token, Rebel Town, Enemy Town, or Occupied token on the same Province. Ownership of Provinces with no Town is indicated by their printed flag or DNPR token.
Control/Occupy: Provinces are Controlled by their Lawful Owners, unless they are Occupied by Rebels or Enemies, in which case they are Controlled by the Occupant (see p. 28).
Friendly, Neutral, and Hostile: Armies, Units, Provinces, or Ports Controlled by you, your Vassal, or your Ally are referred to as Friendly. Friendly Areas are those that contain any Friendly Provinces.
Hostile refers to things Controlled by Rebels (Hostile to all PRs), or by Realms at War with you (including their Vassals and Active Allies). Hostile Realms, and their Units, are also called Enemies.
An Area containing any Hostile Units or Provinces is considered a Hostile Area (and thus not a Friendly Area). A Sea Zone is considered Hostile if it contains any Hostile Ships, or if it faces any Hostile NPR Ports whose Naval Capacity is not blocked.
Neutral refers to things that are neither Friendly nor Hostile.
Opponent: This term refers to the other players in the game: humans and bots.
Deployed: Military Units and Ships on the board, or in an Army or Fleet, are considered to be Deployed.
You: Use of the word "you" in the rules always refers to the Active Player when used in the context of Actions and Events.
The Map Board
The map board is the centerpiece of the game, and where the bulk of the action takes place. The large Main Map is divided into Areas and Sea Zones, while the Distant Continents look a bit different. The Distant Continents Board also holds the Prestige Track.
Areas on the Main Map are separated from other Areas by a white border, and from Sea Zones by a dark blue coast line.
Mountain borders are indicated with a pattern of black triangles on them. Some Areas include islands and have their borders shown as blue dashed lines where they overlap Sea Zones.
Areas are, amongst other things, where you keep and move your Military Units (see 'Movement', p. 25).
The Religion of an Area is shown on its Religion slot. Some slots apply to more than one Area. The Religion of an Area may change during the game.
Sea Zones are sections of oceans and seas which only Ships may occupy. Land Units can only cross Sea Zones using Naval Transport. See more about Naval Movement on p. 25.
Area and Sea Zone names are always written in small caps, e.g., Saxony, Jutland, or Baltic Sea, etc.
An Area may contain a number of different Provinces belonging to one or more Realms. Small Provinces and Large Provinces have a Tax Value of 1 and 2, respectively. Each Province is depicted as a shield with their Realm's flag. The names of Capitals are underlined.
The Provinces of Vassal Realms display a small version of their Overlord's flag at the bottom of their own flag.
Coastal Provinces are referred to as Ports. Ports also act as spaces that can be entered by Friendly Ships. Large Ports count as 2 Ports for all purposes.
Island Provinces have blue Port symbols and can only be Sieged if you have any Ships in an adjacent Sea Zone.
The Provinces of the Major Powers (listed in the scenario booklets) in the game have golden frames and flags in saturated colors, while the remaining Realms have paler flags in silver frames.
Most Sea Zones are adjacent to 1–2 Maritime Trade Nodes and contain 2–3 Trade Protection slots. Areas may contain Inland Trade Nodes. Gold Provinces marked with a Gold icon interact with certain Events, as well as appearing on Gold Trade Cards. (See more under 'Trade' on p. 34.)
The Distant Continents are shown in separate boxes, in a smaller scale than the Main Map board.
Provinces on the Distant Continents are called Distant Provinces; each of these is also a separate Area, connected to adjacent Areas by white lines.
Some sparsely populated Areas on the Distant Continents contain no Province. These Areas instead show a circled number, and are called Territories. Territories can be Colonized (see p. 14).
Coastal Provinces also have Ports on the Distant Continents but a number of these are grayed out and designated as Inactive Ports until populated by a Town/Vassal token/DNPR token.
All Sea Zones on Distant Continents are connected via matching letters to one or more Sea Zones on the Main Map or on other Distant Continents.
Overland connections to other maps all name the Area to which they connect.
The Areas/Sea Zones on either side of such a connection are considered adjacent.
On the left edge of the Western Europe Board lies the Colonist Pool, used for placing Colonists.
In the heart of Europe lies the Holy Roman Empire (HRE), with its numerous member states. What lies on the yellow side of the dotted HRE border is inside of the HRE; what lies on the red side of the border is outside of it. Some Areas within the HRE are designated as Elector Areas and are marked with Imperial eagles.
Map Oddities
- The unnamed "Areas" on the bottom edge of the Main Map are impassable deserts.
- The East African Coast Sea Zone is adjacent to the Indian Ocean.
- Adal and Upper Egypt, on the Africa map, are facing the Indian Ocean Sea Zone on the India & Arabia map.
- Hudson Bay, on the America map, faces the Northwestern Atlantic.
- For Ships to cross one of the connections, in any direction, between the America and Far East maps, you must pay an extra Monarch Power of your choice.
- Perm is not considered adjacent to Pomorye. Vologda separates them.
- The Mamluks have a Province on the Africa map, and a Vassal on the India & Arabia map.
- Kazan has one Province in the Kazan Area and one on the Northern & Central Asia map.
- The Maghreb and Aleppo are located in the impassable deserts on the map. A Trade Node is considered adjacent to all named Areas that share a border with the desert it is in.
- The Dutch Core Provinces (p. 3) are marked with the flag of the Netherlands "behind" the main Province flag.
- Roma is flanked by a Cardinal's biretta that indicates that you gain a Cardinal in the Roma slot of the Papal Curia (p. 46) by Controlling Roma or having an Alliance with the Papal States. The crucifix is a reminder that the State Religion of the Papal States will always remain Catholic.
3. Game Setup
At the start of the game, determine Player Realms and setup by selecting a scenario from the Scenario Booklet.
Place the map boards in a central location and put Player Mats around the board in the order described in your chosen scenario. The setup pictured in the manual is for a Deluxe Edition 6-player, 1444 scenario.
Shuffle each of the Action Card decks separately and place them at the side of the board; leave space for each deck to have a discard pile.
Sort the Trade Deck according to the chosen scenario, then shuffle it and place it by the edge of the board.
Set up the Event Deck as described in the chosen scenario. Draw Event Cards equal to 1 more than the number of players (unless the scenario states otherwise). Place these in a display with the first 3 cards face-up, and the remaining cards face-down.
Shuffle the Milestones for the first Age that will be played and place 1 card from each deck on display.
Place the 3 Basic Ideas (green background) side-by-side on display. Set aside all Ideas marked with an Age number higher than the first Age of your chosen scenario. Shuffle the remaining Ideas by type. Draw 2 cards from each deck and place them next to the Basic Ideas to form a 3 x 3 grid.
Position the Status Mat next to the boards and place Cardinals and the Imperial Authority token according to the scenario setup. Place all players' Round Status markers in the Event not Taken space.
The resource tray containing Ducat coins, Rebel dice, Rebel Units, and Mercenary Units, etc., is referred to as the General Supply; place this next to the board.
Give each player the tray with all units and tokens matching their player color, and put their Prestige Markers by the Prestige Track.
Each player should place their Stability Marker at 0 on their Stability Track, and place 20 Small Towns and 8 Large Towns in the slots (1 in each slot) of their Town Track.
Then, each player should place 1 Vassal token on the first spot of their Vassal Track, and 2 Vassal tokens in every other spot of that track.
Unless otherwise stated in the scenario, each player now puts 3 Monarch Power in each of their Monarch Power pools, and places 15 Ducats in their Treasury.
Provide each player with their Realm's Setup Card, or scenario setup notes, listing their starting Provinces (Large Provinces are marked with an "L") and starting Ruler.
Players should then set their Realms up according to this setup, taking Towns from the Town Track of their Player Mats, and adding Small and Large Towns, as well as Vassal tokens as indicated. Towns and Vassal tokens are always taken from the lowest-numbered slots (from left to right). Then, each player adds a number of Units to their Available Manpower equal to the total Manpower shown on their Town and Vassal Tracks (plus Imperial Authority value for the Emperor).
From Available Manpower, allocate Units to the starting Armies listed in their setup. Place the miniatures for the starting Armies and Fleets in the starting Areas, and unused Armies and Fleets on their corresponding mats. Place starting Ships on Trade Protection slots in the Sea Zones listed, or on the Fleet Mat.
Players should also add Influence, Merchants, Alliance tokens, and Royal Marriage tokens to the map board as specified, and place the appropriate Religion token in the State Religion slot on the Player Mat.
Once this setup is complete, players should slide their starting Rulers underneath the Ruler slots of their Player Mats, making sure that the appropriate Ruler is face-up.
Component overview: The board setup includes the Main Map Board, the Distant Continents Board, each Player Mat (with General slots, Stability Track, Monarch Power pools, Advisor slots, Ruler slot, Treasury, Manpower Reserve, State Religion slot, Changed National Focus slot, Town Track showing Base Tax, and Vassal Track), the Player Tray/Supply, the Army/Fleet Mat, Battle Dice, the Status Mat (with Cardinals, Imperial Authority, and Round Status Markers), the General Supply (with Ducat coins, Rebel Dice, and the Exploration Die), and the Event Display with the Event Deck. Each player's Setup Card lists their starting Ruler and Provinces, and Advisors are appointed from drawn cards. (Deluxe Edition components pictured in the manual.)
This step of setup replaces the Draw Cards Phase of the first Round. Each player, in Turn order, draws 1 card from each of the Action Card decks, plus another 3 Action Cards of their choice.
Players may then Appoint any Advisors and Leaders from these cards, paying the hiring costs shown in their lower-right corners.
Following this, each player may, at no cost, hold up to 4 Action Cards in their hand, discarding as necessary. (Note: hand size limit at the end of Phase 5 is 5 Action Cards.)
Finally, distribute Mission Cards according to the scenario's setup instructions. The default method is for each player to secretly select 2 of the green Starting Missions from their Mission Deck to keep in their hand, and set the rest aside for later.
4. Sequence of Play
The game is divided into Ages, each of which consists of 4 Rounds. Each Round is broken down into 5 Phases:
- Draw Cards Phase
- A. Reveal Events
- B. Draw Action Cards
- C. Pay to keep Action Cards
- D. Pick/Replace Missions
- Action Phase — Players take Turns performing 1 Action at a time, until all players have Passed.
- Peace & Rebels Phase
- A. Remove Casus Belli and Truces
- B. NPR Invasions
- C. Rebels Siege or Move
- D. Peace Resolution
- E. Prestige Penalties
- F. Interregnum
- G. Religious Dissent
- H. Gain/Remove Unrest
- I. Roll Rebel Dice
- Income & Upkeep Phase
- A. Cut Costs
- B. Collect Income minus Costs
- C. Corruption
- D. Collect Monarch Power
- E. Score Prestige
- Cleanup Phase
- A. Update & Refresh
- B. Board and Status Mat cleanup
- C. Discard down to a hand size of 5 cards
- D. End of Age Routine
4.1 Phase 1: Draw Cards
A. Reveal Events. Draw Event Cards according to the chosen scenario (normally equal to the number of players plus 1) from the top of the Event Deck, and place them in a face-down display next to the Event Deck. Then, flip the first 3 of these cards face-up.
B. Draw Action Cards. Going in Turn order, each player then draws 3 Action Cards, in any combination, from any of the 3 Action Card decks (Administrative, Diplomatic, or Military). Players may draw cards one by one, and should keep these cards secret from their Opponents.
C. Pay to keep Action Cards. Players must pay 2 Ducats for each drawn card that they wish to keep. Any drawn cards not paid for must be discarded.
D. Pick/Replace Missions. During this step, any player who has fewer than 2 Missions in their hand may pick new Missions (max. 2 in hand). All Players may also replace any of their currently held Missions.
4.2 Phase 2: Actions
In this phase players take Turns in clockwise order, starting with the player who has the First Player token (normally the first player to Pass in the previous Round). The scenario setup will identify the starting First Player.
Taking a Turn. On their Turn, the Active Player may choose to perform either a Basic Action or play an Action Card from their hand. Most Actions have Monarch Power costs that must be paid with Monarch Power of the appropriate type. Basic Actions are listed below and on the Player Aids, and explained in detail in the chapter on Basic Actions (p. 12).
There are 5 Minor Actions that may be performed without using a Turn. These may be performed in addition to any other Action, or sometimes even during another player's Turn. A player cannot perform a Minor Action alone on their Turn, they must also perform another Action.
Taking an Event. Each player must take the Event Action exactly once during the Action Phase, but they may choose when to do this; a player cannot Pass if they have not taken this Action.
When a player takes their Event Action, they must move their Round Status marker to the Event Taken space on the Status Mat.
Unpicked Event. After all players have taken an Event, the bottom row of symbols on any unpicked Event will be resolved, but the Event text itself will not take effect (see p. 40).
Passing. The first player to Pass immediately collects 5 Ducats from the General Supply and places their Round Status marker on the Has Passed – 1st space on the Status Mat. They will also receive the First Player token at the end of the Round. If the current First Player is the first to Pass, the First Player token instead goes to the second player to Pass. Depending on the total number of players, the second, third, and fourth players to Pass may also be eligible to collect Ducats; see the table below.
Passing takes a Turn. A player may take Minor Actions in the same Turn in which they Pass (any Ducats earned by Passing can be spent).
A player that has Passed may not take any further Actions in that Round.
No one may Declare War on a player who has Passed, or their NPR Allies.
| No. of players | 3 | 4–5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st to Pass | 5 D | 5 D | 5 D |
| 2nd to Pass | 2 D | 3 D | 3 D |
| 3rd to Pass | – | 2 D | 2 D |
| 4th to Pass | – | – | 1 D |
Triggering End of Action Phase. When there are no more players eligible to receive Ducats for Passing, each remaining player gets one more Turn with an Action of their choice. For each player who has taken an Event at this point, this is their final Turn.
After this, if any players have still not taken an Event this Round, those players must take one final Turn to perform their Event Action.
Once a player has taken their final Turn, they are considered to have Passed.
Basic Actions (cost)
Generic Actions
- Event – mandatory
- Player-to-Player Diplomacy
- Research Idea (Cost stated on Idea card)
- Change State Religion
- Change National Focus
- Explore (1 Diplomatic Power + 1 Military Power)
Minor Actions – do not take a Turn
- Take/Repay Loan – Reaction
- Appoint Advisor/Leader – Reaction
- Call to Arms (0–2 Influence per Alliance) – Reaction
- Replenish Manpower (1 Military Power per 3 Manpower)
- Cut Ties
Administrative Actions
- Increase Stability (5 Administrative Power +/– current Stability)
- Convert Area (2 Administrative Power + 3 Ducats)
- Colonize (4 Administrative Power or 1 Colonist)
Diplomatic Actions
- Influence (1 Diplomatic Power or 3 Ducats per Influence)
- Forge Alliance (1–3 Diplomatic Power)
- Fabricate Claims (2 Diplomatic Power per Claim) – Covert Action
- Trade (1 Diplomatic Power)
Military Actions
- Declare War (1 Military Power)
- Activate Units (1 Military Power)
- Recruit (1 Military Power + X Ducats)
- Suppress Unrest (1 Military Power per Province)
4.3 Phase 3: Peace & Rebels
Once all players have Passed, the Peace & Rebels Phase begins. Follow the steps below, in sequence:
A. Remove Casus Belli and Truces. Remove all Truces and CB tokens from the board. A player removing a CB token loses 2 Prestige if not at War with the Realm it was valid for.
B. NPR Invasions. If an NPR which is not an Active Ally is at War with any PR(s), and none of the Areas where that NPR currently Controls Provinces contain Units Hostile to the NPR, the PR(s) may now face an Invasion from that NPR. Resolve this according to the steps described on page 36.
C. Rebels Siege or Move. Perform the steps below in order if there are any Rebel Units on the board. Within each step, resolve Areas in order of most Rebel Units to fewest Rebel Units (break ties alphabetically).
- For Areas with both Rebel Units and Unrest: The Rebel Units in each such Area now Siege any Town/Vassal with Unrest that they can. Each Rebel Unit has a Siege Strength of 1 (see p. 37). The Rebel Units will Siege Large Provinces first when possible (then pick alphabetically).
- Core Provinces: Place a Rebel Town on top of the Owner's Town, and cover the rightmost vacant slot on their Town Track with a Cube.
- Non-Core Provinces are Liberated (see p. 37): Owners must return Town/Vassal tokens to their Player Mat and place a CB token on the new Province Owner.
- For each Area with Rebel Units and no Unrest:
- a. Move all but 1 Rebel Unit to an Area with Unrest which is adjacent by Land, if any (prefer the Area with most Unrest, then most PR Towns, then alphabetically). Rebel Units cannot move to an Area in which they are outnumbered by PR Land Units.
- b. Resolve Battle immediately if there are any PR Land Units in this Area, following the normal Rules for Rebels (see p. 37). Rebels do not fight other Rebel Units.
- c. If there were no eligible adjacent Areas to move to, remove 1 Rebel Unit.
D. Peace Resolution. This step only occurs if there are any ongoing Wars, and all Wars are then resolved according to the sequence described in section 10.1 (see p. 29), and summarized here:
- In Turn order, resolve all Wars where Automatic White Peace requirements have been met.
- In Turn order, resolve all Wars where a Total Victory has been achieved by a PR.
- Then, handle all remaining Wars in Turn order. Each player must resolve all the Wars that they wish to (and can) resolve, before moving on to the next player.
- Finally, handle the Aftermath, returning any Land Units in Neutral Areas to their Owners' Realms, flipping all Active Ally tokens back to their Alliance side, and discarding all Allied Units, for all PRs that are now at Peace.
E. Prestige Penalties
- Disputed Succession: Flip over all Royal Marriage tokens that still display their Disputed Succession side. Each player loses 3 Prestige for each of their Royal Marriage tokens getting flipped. A player may avoid this penalty if they are the only PR to have an Alliance or Vassal on the Capital of the Realm with the Disputed Succession token on it, and also have the most Influence (min. 2 Influence) in that Realm if it is an NPR.
- Occupied Towns: Players who now have Towns that are Occupied by Enemies or Rebels lose Prestige equal to their Tax Value (max. 5).
F. Interregnum. Players with an Interregnum (no Ruler) lose 1 Stability, and must flip Royal Marriage tokens on their Realm to reveal the Disputed Succession side.
G. Religious Dissent
- Players who have Religious Dissent (a Religion other than their State Religion) in any of their Areas must add Unrest to 1 of their Towns (flip disc to reveal Unrest) in each affected Area.
- Players who have Vassals in any Areas with a Religion other than their State Religion, must, in 1 affected Area, either remove 1 Influence, or add Unrest to 1 of their Vassals there.
H. Gain/Remove Unrest
- Players still at War must add Unrest to 2 of their Towns.
- Players with -2 Stability or lower must add Unrest to 1 of their Towns.
- Players with +2 Stability or higher may remove Unrest from 1 of their Provinces (flip disc to reveal shield).
I. Roll Rebel Dice. Each player must roll a Rebel Die for each of their Towns or Vassals with Unrest.
Rebel Dice are rolled on a per-Area basis. The possible outcomes of these dice rolls are described on page 37.
Example: During the Action Phase, Castile was not able to deal with the Rebels in Leon. In the Peace & Rebels Phase, Step C, the 2 Rebel Units now Siege the 2 Provinces with Unrest (Galicia and Badajoz). Since both are Castilian Core Provinces, Rebel Towns are placed on top of the Castilian Towns while Castile must cover 2 spaces on their Town Track with Cubes. In Step E, Castile will lose 2 Prestige because 2 of their Towns are Occupied by Rebels.
Next Round, if those Provinces are still Occupied by Rebels, since there will then be no more Provinces with Unrest in the Area, the Rebel Units will move to an adjacent Area with Unrest, if any, or else 1 of the Rebel Units will be removed.
Example: The Diverse Faiths token in Andalucia means that Castile must, in Step G, add Unrest to 1 of their Provinces. Castile selects Córdoba and goes on to roll 1 Rebel Die, in Step I, for the Unrest there. They roll a result that costs Monarch Power, meaning they lose 1 Monarch Power. Castile chooses to lose 1 Administrative Power. The Rebel Towns and Units in Leon do not force Castile to roll additional Rebel Dice.
4.4 Phase 4: Income & Upkeep
In this phase, players pay Costs, collect Tax Income and Monarch Power, and score Prestige. All players perform this Phase simultaneously.
During this phase, players are allowed to take (but not repay) Loans, as described in the Take/Repay Loans Minor Action.
A. Cut Costs. To reduce their expenses, players may (and must, if necessary to avoid Bankruptcy in Step B):
- Fire any Advisors they like, by discarding those Advisors' cards.
- Disband any of their Military Units. Return any disbanded Regular Units to Available Manpower, Ships to Supply, and Mercenary Units to the General Supply.
- Recall Ships at sea. Ships may return to any Friendly Port within reach of their normal Movement, via non-Hostile Sea Zones, at no Military Power cost.
B. Collect Income minus Costs
| Source | Income/Cost |
|---|---|
| + Base Tax Income | Income indicated on Town Tracks (Small Town and Large Town Track combined) |
| + Vassal Tax Income | Income indicated on Vassal Track |
| – Advisor Upkeep | As stated on the cards (1–4 Ducats per Advisor). Papal Controller: Pay 1 Ducat fewer per Advisor |
| – Military Maintenance (for Deployed Units) | 1 Ducat per Regular Unit; 2 Ducats per Mercenary; ½ Ducat for every Ship remaining at sea |
| – Interest on Loans | 1 Ducat per Interest token |
| – Plague Effects | ½ Ducat is lost per 1 Ducat of Tax Income from Areas with an Ill Health token |
| +/– Stability Modifier | +2 Ducats for positive Stability, -2 Ducats for negative Stability |
| + Emperor's Imperial Authority | Equal to Imperial Authority value |
| + Income for Ideas | See "Bureaucracy" Idea |
C. Corruption. Cost to keep Ducats in your Treasury (you may decide not to keep all of your Ducats):
- 0–49 Ducats: no cost
- 50–59 Ducats: pay 1 Administrative Power or gain 1 Interest token
- 60–69 Ducats: pay 2 Administrative Power; gain 1 Interest token per unpaid Administrative Power
- 70–79 Ducats: pay 3 Administrative Power; gain 1 Interest token per unpaid Administrative Power
- Etc.
D. Collect Monarch Power. Players then collect Monarch Power, calculated as follows:
- For each type of Monarch Power, add the Ruler's Skill of the associated type to that of the appropriate Advisor. (A PR in Interregnum is considered to have a base Skill of 1 in each Monarch Power field.)
- Players with +3 Stability receive 2 Monarch Power more, of any types chosen by the player.
- Players with -3 Stability receive 1 Monarch Power fewer, of any type chosen by the player.
- The Papal Controller receives +1 Diplomatic Power.
- The Emperor of the HRE may receive additional Monarch Power depending on their Imperial Authority.
- Players with certain Government Form Ideas may receive additional Monarch Power.
E. Score Prestige
- A player who is uncontested Papal Controller scores Prestige equal to the number of Catholic PRs minus 1 (max. 3).
- If Imperial Authority is at 6, the Emperor scores 1 Prestige.
- Players with the "Absolute Monarchy" Idea and positive Stability score 1 Prestige.
- Score any active Crusade (see p. 46) and/or Power Struggle (see p. 43), and remove the Crusade/Excommunicated token and all Battleground Area tokens.
4.5 Phase 5: Cleanup
A. Update and refresh. All players must:
- Disband all Allied Units from their Armies, placing them in Available Manpower.
- Update Manpower Reserve to reflect new Manpower totals, if they have changed (from Towns/Vassals gained or lost, etc.) this Round. Count Deployed Regular Units as part of this total. Increase Manpower by adding Units from Supply to Available Manpower. Reduce Manpower by choosing Units to return to Supply.
- Refresh Exhausted Manpower and repair Heavy Ships in Ports. Move ½ of Exhausted Manpower (min. 3, max. 6) to Available Manpower.
- Refresh all Merchants by returning them to their upright position.
- Add Colonists to the Colonist Pool equal to their number of Colonial Claims on the board (each PR may add max. 4 Colonists).
- Remove any Cube from their Changed National Focus slot and return it to their Supply.
Example: Deciding not to fire any Advisors or disband any Military Units, the yellow player (Castile) first collects an income of 14 Ducats (Small Towns + Large Towns + Stability bonus) minus 8 Ducats of expenses for a total of 6 Ducats. The expenses consist of an upkeep of 2 Ducats for two Deployed Military Units (not pictured) and 6 Ducats for 2 Advisors (costing 4 Ducats and 2 Ducats respectively).
Having paid their Advisors, Castile will profit from their bonuses when collecting Monarch Power. Adding up the matching skills of their Ruler and Advisors, Castile receives 1 Administrative Power, 4 Diplomatic Power, and 4 Military Power. During the Cleanup Phase, Step A3, Castile refreshes their 2 Exhausted Units (players may always refresh at least 3) by moving them to Available Manpower.
B. Board and Status Mat Cleanup
- Remove Alliance tokens from Bots, and from DNPRs that have a Base Tax of 10+ Ducats.
- Remove all Ill Health tokens from the map boards.
- Adjust Imperial Influence to match Imperial Authority. The Emperor may (re)distribute Imperial Influence in any HRE Areas with space.
- Remove any Defending the HRE tag and Imperial Units if the Emperor is at Peace with all external Aggressors.
- Remove any Tag chits from Committed to Crusade.
- Pass the First Player token to the player whose Round Status marker is in the Has Passed – 1st space (or the 2nd space if the first to pass is the current First Player).
- Reset all Round Status markers to the Event not Taken space.
Example: A group of players have completed Steps A, B, C, and D of Phase 4, Income & Upkeep, and it is now time to perform Step E, followed by Phase 5, Cleanup.
With 3 Cardinals, including the Roma Cardinal (due to an Alliance with the Papal States), France has uncontested control of the Papal Curia. Earlier in the game, England converted to Protestantism, but France, Castile, and Austria still remain Catholic. France thus scores (3 – 1) 2 Prestige. Austria, as the Emperor, has +4 Imperial Authority and scores no additional Prestige for this, but they have researched "Absolute Monarchy", and with +1 Stability they score 1 Prestige. The markers on the Prestige Track are moved accordingly. With no Active Power Struggles this Round, this completes Step E.
Each player disbands Allied Units, updates and refreshes their Manpower, and returns their Merchants to their upright positions. Castile has 5 Colonial Claims and gains the maximum of 4 Colonists, while England and France both have 2 Colonial Claims and gain 2 Colonists each. Austria gains no Colonists.
In Phase 5, Step B1, Castile must remove their Alliance with Portugal, since Portugal, which is a DNPR, has expanded and thus increased their Tax Income from 9 Ducats to 10 Ducats, during the preceding Action Phase.
Now any Ill Health tokens are removed from the board.
With +4 Imperial Authority Austria gets to place a total of 4 Imperial Influence in HRE Areas. Imperial Authority has gone up 1 step since the previous Round, and Austria may therefore place 1 Imperial Influence in addition to those already on the board. They may also redistribute the 3 Imperial Influence they already have on the board, if they so wish. If any Imperial Influence had come off the board (e.g., to pay for a Call to Arms Action) during the current Round, Austria would have placed these back onto the board during this step as well.
Finally, the First Player token is given to the player who Passed first in Phase 2, and all Round Status markers are reset.
C. Discard down to 5 Action Cards. All players must discard down to a maximum hand size of 5 Action Cards. Players may choose which card(s) to discard.
Display Cards that are in play do not count towards the 5-card limit.
D. End of Age Routine. If it is the end of an Age, perform the End of Age Routine described below.
4.6 End of Age Routine
When all players have completed Phase 5, and there are no more Events left in the deck for the current Age, perform the following steps in order:
-
Prepare and place the Event Deck for the next Age.
Note: If there is no next Age, move on to Final Scoring instead (see section 4.7).
-
Remove all Milestones from the previous Age from the game, and replace them with 4 Milestones drawn from the deck belonging to the next Age.
-
Add any Ideas that become eligible with the next Age to their Idea decks, then replace any unresearched non-Basic Ideas on display with random Ideas of the same type.
-
The player with least Prestige on the Prestige Track may choose to replace 1 new Idea or Milestone on display with a card of their choice, chosen from the matching deck. If there is a tie for least Prestige, skip this step.
-
Players who have at least 1 Royal Marriage token in play score 1 Prestige, and must then (in updated Turn order) remove 1 of their Royal Marriage tokens from the board (from an NPR if possible), or pay 2 Diplomatic Power to avoid this.
If a player removes their Royal Marriage token from your Realm (forcing you to do the same from their Realm), you must still remove another Royal Marriage token (if you have one), or pay 2 Diplomatic Power.
Example: During Final Scoring, Castile's board situation looks like this (in this example we'll assume that they have no tokens elsewhere on the board).
Castile scores 14 Prestige from Base Tax and Vassal Tax (12 Prestige from Towns and 2 from 4 Vassals). As there is no Tax Income to be gained from Galicia, Navarra, or Barcelona, which are Occupied by Rebels or Enemies, these Provinces provide no Prestige.
They also score 1 Prestige for the Royal Marriage and 2 Prestige for the Alliance with Portugal, and 1 Prestige for the Core token in Andalucia.
For Galicia and Navarra, they must subtract 2 Prestige, as these Towns are Occupied by Enemies. But Barcelona, as a Vassal Province, does not incur any loss of Prestige.
Although not seen in the image, Castile has -2 Stability, and must deduct a further 4 Prestige for this, but as Papal Controller (also not seen), they score 3 Prestige.
Castile will also be able to complete the La Reconquista Mission that they have in their hand for 2 Prestige, but may not take advantage of its Effects at this stage, and thus cannot Research "Tercios/Janissaries" to score extra Prestige.
This means they may add 17 Prestige in all to their score of 43 Prestige from the Prestige Track, finishing on a total of 60 Prestige.
4.7 Final Scoring
Final Scoring is initiated at the end of the final Round. Unless otherwise specified in the scenario's Victory Conditions, this happens after completing Phase 5, when any of these three conditions apply:
- There are no more Event Cards remaining in the decks for the chosen scenario at the end of a Round.
- A player has 100+ Prestige on the Prestige Track, and is at least 20 Prestige ahead of all other players.
- A player has all their Towns (Large and Small) and Vassals on the board at the end of Phase 5.
Prestige is scored according to the list below, unless the Victory Conditions for the chosen scenario state otherwise.
- Players may reveal and score any Missions in their hands whose requirements have been met (ignore any Mission Effects)
- Prestige equal to current Base Tax + Vassal Tax
- 1 Prestige per Core token in play
- 1 Prestige per Royal Marriage in play
- 2 Prestige per Alliance in play
- Prestige equal to the number of Catholic PRs for being Papal Controller
- Prestige equal to Imperial Authority for the Emperor of the HRE
- Prestige equal to 2 x current Stability (note that negative Stability provides negative Prestige)
- Subtract 1 Prestige per Tax Value of Towns Occupied by Rebels or Enemies
- Subtract 1 Prestige per Interest token in Treasury
The player with the most Prestige wins. In the event of a tie, victory goes to the player with the most Monarch Power. Break further ties in favor of the player with the most Ducats in their Treasury. If there is still a tie after this, the tied players share the victory.
5. Basic Actions
During the Action Phase you can take Basic Actions and play Action Cards by paying their costs, which are divided among the three types of Monarch Power.
You may always take a Basic Action on your Turn, as long as you can pay its Monarch Power cost. Some Basic Actions do not have an associated Monarch Power cost. The Basic Actions are described below:
5.1 Generic Actions
Generic Actions are not linked to a particular type of Monarch Power, and don't necessarily cost Monarch Points to perform. They do however take up a whole player Turn.
Event (mandatory). During each Action Phase, each player must take this Action once, and only once, before they can Pass.
When taking this Action, do as follows:
-
Select a face-up Event from the Event Display, collect any Ducats that are on it, and move your Round Status marker to the Event Taken space.
-
Place 2 Ducats from the General Supply on any remaining face-up Events.
-
Play the Event and resolve its effects. If the Event offers a choice of effects (such as A or B), choose only 1 to resolve.
-
Resolve any symbols at the bottom of the Event from left to right (see p. 41).
-
If the Event is associated with your own Realm, you must replace your current Ruler with any Ruler on this card.
If the Event is associated with another Realm, that player must choose whether or not to appoint the Ruler on this card.
-
If you are the last player to take the Event Action this Round and there is still an unpicked Event remaining, resolve the bottom row of symbols on that Event using the auto-resolution rules (p. 41).
The Event text itself on the unpicked Event does not take effect. However, if it has a historical Ruler on it, the player associated with that Event may pay 2 Administrative Power to appoint the Ruler on the card.
-
Turn over a face-down Event, if any remain.
Whenever an effect on an Event says "you," that effect applies to the Active Player or to the player required to make an A/B-choice.
Example: France takes their Event Action and selects Wars of the Roses, moving their Round Status marker to the Event Taken space on the Status Mat. They place 2 Ducats from the General Supply on each of the other two face-up Events. The top section of the Wars of the Roses Event text takes effect no matter what, but France must decide which option to execute. They pick option B, and receive 1 Diplomatic Power. England must take the Stability and Prestige losses, and see the Rebels appear in the north as Unrest spreads. If England wishes to take Edward IV as their new king, he will now become England's new Ruler. Then, the face-down Event on the right is revealed.
Player-to-Player Diplomacy. This Action lets you make an agreement with another player, to conduct various transactions.
You may only have diplomatic exchanges with 1 PR each time you take this Action. You may not perform 'Monetary Support' and 'Buy/Sell Provinces' in the same Turn, but all other combinations are possible. If either Realm is at War, 'Monetary Support' is the only transaction that may take place.
Alliances and Marriages: Entering into an Alliance or Royal Marriage with another PR each costs 1 Diplomatic Power for the Active Player. Both players must place an Alliance/Royal Marriage token on the other PR's Capital as appropriate.
When entering into a Marriage, both players may draw an Action Card of a type chosen by the Active Player.
Monetary Support: Give or receive Ducats. The Active Player must pay 1 Diplomatic Power for every 10 Ducats (rounded up) that changes hands, whether they are giving or receiving Ducats.
Buy/Sell Provinces: To buy Provinces from another player, the buyer must have a Claim in all Areas where those Provinces are located. The minimum price per Province sold is 3 Ducats, and the maximum is 15 Ducats.
Both buyer and seller must also pay 1 Administrative Power to take part in such a transaction. A player selling any of their Core Provinces loses Prestige equal to twice those Provinces' Tax Value. A PR can only sell Provinces that they Own.
Optional Rule 1: Secret Negotiations. By spending 1 additional Diplomatic Power you may have a private, 3-minute conference with another player. All other in-game communication must take place openly.
Explore (1 Diplomatic Power + 1 Military Power). Requires "Quest for the New World" ("QftNW") Idea to use Ships for Exploring.
When taking this Action, follow the steps below in sequence:
-
If you have "QftNW", you may move 1 Light Ship (using rules for Naval Movement, p. 25) into a Sea Zone on one of the Distant Continents. The Ship may not enter a Hostile Sea Zone.
-
Roll the Exploration Die, then either use the result (as described below) or pay 1 Diplomatic Power to re-roll:
- Result without the hazard icon: Discover a Territory matching the number rolled, or a Distant Area with an NPR Province (incl. DNPR), a Town, or a Vassal.
- Result with the hazard icon: Pay 1 Diplomatic Power to Discover a vacant Territory (no Town, Vassal or DNPR) matching the number rolled, or: fail Exploration and remove 1 of your Ships on a Distant Continent.
Any Discovery made must be adjacent to your Realm or, if you have "QftNW", 1 of your Ships. Place a Claim on the Discovered Area. Claims located on vacant Territories are called Colonial Claims.
You may pay to re-roll a maximum of 2 times; you must use the result of the last roll you make.
-
When the first Area on a Distant Continent is Discovered (a Claim has been placed), add all unused Trade Cards matching the number for this continent (see p. 35), and reshuffle the deck.
Example: England, having previously Researched the "Quest for the New World" Idea and discovered the Antilles, decides to Explore. They already have a Light Ship in the Caribbean Sea but use their optional move to bring a Light Ship from the Port in Lancashire to the Northwestern Atlantic (2 spaces, via a marked connection) to increase their odds of making a discovery.
They roll a plain result, and may choose to discover Florida, Mississippi, New Granada, Guyana, or Canada. England chooses Canada, and places 1 of their Claims there. If England had a Town in Virginia, they would have also been able to discover the adjacent Territory, Great Lakes. [In a variant of this example, a hazard-icon result would mean that England must also pay 1 Diplomatic Power. If England had not been able to pay this cost, the Explore Action would have failed, and they would have had to lose 1 of their Ships on the Distant Continents board. A hazard-icon result also means that England cannot discover Mexico or Central America on this Turn, since these Distant Areas contain NPR Provinces.]
Research Idea (X Monarch Power). To claim bonuses from an Idea card, pay its Monarch Power cost and place one of your Tag chits on the Idea Card.
Apply any immediate effects in the Idea's description.
Researching an Idea will earn you 2 Prestige. If 2 or fewer players have already Researched the same Idea, each of those players will receive 1 Prestige as well. If 3 or more players have already Researched the Idea, only you earn Prestige from this Research Action.
Change National Focus. When taking this Action you must perform one or both of the options below, in order. You may only take this Action once per Round. Place a Cube in the Changed Nat. Focus slot on your Player Mat to indicate that you have done so.
-
Increase one type of Monarch Power by up to 2 Monarch Power by moving a maximum 1 Monarch Power from each of the other two Monarch Power pools on your Player Mat.
-
Discard up to 3 Action Cards from your hand (add them to the discard pile after completing this Action). Then draw 1 card fewer than you discarded, from any of the Action Decks.
You may pay 1 Monarch Power and 2 Ducats to pick 1 of the new cards from the top 5 discards of the deck matching the paid Monarch Power type.
Change State Religion. Starting with Age II, this Action allows a Realm to change its State Religion from Catholic to Protestant (or from Protestant to Catholic). Otherwise, changing State Religion can only happen through an Event, or if Conversion is forced upon you (p. 31).
This Action has no Monarch Power cost, but you must instead face the following consequences:
- Lose 2 Prestige and 1 Stability
- Remove 1 Royal Marriage and 5 Influence (in total) from any Area(s) that belong to the Religion that you are abandoning.
- Place the removed Influence into Areas with the same faith as your new State Religion.
- Gain 1 Unrest in each of your Areas of the Religion you abandoned. Then roll Rebel Dice (see p. 37) for these Areas.
Alternatively, if there is at least 1 Counter-Reformed token on the board (e.g., following the Council of Trent Event), Catholic PRs may pay 3 Administrative Power to adopt Counter-Reformed Catholicism as their State Religion and place a Counter-Reformed token in their Capital Area, ignoring all the effects listed above.
5.2 Minor Actions
Minor Actions do not complete your Turn but may be performed in addition to your normal Turn Action. Minor Actions may be taken on the Turn that you Pass, but you may not take them again in this Round once you have Passed unless as a Reaction.
Appoint Advisor/Leader – Reaction. Take this Action to hire Advisors (square portrait) and Leaders (round portrait) on cards in your hand, and/or fire active ones.
Appoint Advisor: Pay the Ducat cost shown in the card's lower-right corner, then tuck that card under its matching Advisor slot on your Player Mat.
Appoint General/Admiral: Pay the Military Power cost stated in the card's lower-right corner to employ a Leader as a General or an Admiral (see p. 23). Tuck that card under one of your Army/Fleet Mats. You may also use this Action to freely reassign a General from one of your Armies to another. If someone attacks one of your Armies located within your Realm, you may, as a Reaction, Appoint or reassign a General to this Army.
Appoint New Ruler: If you currently have no Ruler (or if the Ruler is named "Interregnum"), you may take a Leader from your hand and appoint them as your new Ruler for free. Appointing a new Ruler may be performed as a Reaction if the current Ruler is discarded without any replacement.
Call to Arms (0–2 Influence per Alliance) – Reaction. This Action may only be taken in conjunction with your own DoW or as a Reaction in response to a DoW on you or your NPR Ally.
When you are the Aggressor in a War, your Calls to Arms are considered to be Offensive CtAs. For Offensive CtAs, you must discard 2 Influence from the Areas of each NPR Ally you wish to call.
When War has been Declared upon you, you may send Defensive CtAs. For Defensive CtAs, you must discard 1 Influence from the Areas of each NPR Ally you wish to call.
You may also send Defensive CtAs when accepting a CtA from an NPR Ally, but only to call your other NPR Allies (not PR Allies).
Calling your PR Allies to War has no cost, but they may refuse (see rules for 'Receiving a CtA', p. 32). If a PR is Allied both to the Aggressor and the defender, they may only be Called to Arms by the defender.
NPR Allies can only be Called to Arms if:
- They are at Peace.
- They are adjacent either to your Realm, or to a new Enemy.
For each NPR Ally Called to Arms:
- Flip the Alliance token to the Active Ally side
- Add a number of NPR Units to your own Available Manpower equal to ½ of the Tax Value of all Provinces Owned by that NPR Ally and their Vassals (max. 5 Units).
- Gain 1 Military Power if the NPR Ally is adjacent to a new Enemy.
Reactions. Some Minor Actions may, under certain circumstances, be performed as Reactions. It is possible to play a Reaction on another player's Turn, after you have Passed, or even outside of the Action Phase.
These Actions are marked with the Reaction icon, and the conditions under which these may be performed as Reactions are stated in each Action's description.
Action Cards may also be labeled as Reactions.
Take/Repay Loan – Reaction. You may take Loans, as long as you do not already have 5 or more Interest tokens in your Treasury. Taking a Loan may be done as a Reaction if you must cover a cost and lack the funds to do so. When you take a Loan, take an Interest token and 5 Ducats from the General Supply and add them to your Treasury.
To repay a Loan, pay 6 Ducats from your Treasury and return the Interest token to the General Supply. You may immediately use Ducats gained for Passing for this purpose.
Replenish Manpower (1 Military Power per 3 Units). You may Refresh Exhausted Units in your Manpower Reserve at a cost of 1 Military Power for every 3 Units. Move these Units from the Exhausted Manpower area to the Available Manpower area; they are now ready to be recruited.
Cut Ties. Return any number of your Influence or Claims from the board to your Supply, and/or end any number of Alliances. If you end any Alliances, suffer the penalties described under the 'Ending an Alliance' section, on page 33.
5.3 Administrative Actions
Increase Stability (5 Administrative Power +/– current Stability). You may spend 5 Administrative Power, modified by your current Stability value, to increase your Stability by 1 step (e.g., increasing Stability from -3 to -2 costs (5 – 3 =) 2 Administrative Power, while increasing Stability from +1 to +2 costs (5 + 1 =) 6 Administrative Power).
Convert Area (2 Administrative Power + 3 Ducats). You may convert the Religion of a given Area to your State Religion if you Own every Province in the Area(s) governed by its Religion slot, or if you Own at least 1 of these Provinces and all the remaining ones are Owned by Realms of the same State Religion as yours.
Place the appropriate Religion token on the Area's Religion slot (or remove the current token to reveal the printed symbol), add Unrest to 1 of your affected Towns, and roll Rebel Dice for all your Unrest in the affected Area(s).
Colonize (4 Administrative Power or 1 Colonist). To take a Colonize Action, spend 4 Administrative Power or 4 of your Colonists from the Colonist Pool (or any combination of those totaling 4), then replace 1 of your Claims on a vacant Territory with a Small Town. This Colonial Claim must be connected to your Capital Area through a continuous chain of intermediate Areas and Sea Zones with your Towns and/or Light Ships.
Example: England (red player), has discovered the Antilles, Canada, Pernambuco, and the Gold Coast. They have Ships in the Northwestern Atlantic, Southeastern Atlantic, and Northeastern Atlantic, and now they want to Colonize. They have 2 Colonists in the Colonist Pool, and spend 2 Administrative Power to reach the total of 4 required to complete the Colonize Action. They may now convert 1 of their Colonial Claims into a Town.
However, England may only convert a Claim that is connected through a chain of English Ships and/or Towns to their Capital Area. There is no Ship in the Caribbean Sea or Southwestern Atlantic, so the Antilles and Pernambuco Claims cannot be converted into Towns at this time. Neither can the Claim on the Gold Coast Territory. Even though there is a Ship in the Southeastern Atlantic, this chain is not complete as there are no Ships in the Sea Zones between the Southeastern Atlantic and other Sea Zones with English Ships.
England may however choose to place their Town in Canada, as shown by the yellow lines. With a Ship in the Caribbean Sea they would be able to place a Town in the Antilles or Gold Coast as well, since the Caribbean Sea is adjacent to both the Northwestern Atlantic and the Southeastern Atlantic (marked connection).
Example: France (blue player) wants to use an Influence Action to increase their diplomatic power in Italy. They decide to place 2 more Influence in Lombardy, where they already have 1 Influence. This means that there is now a total of 5 Influence in Lombardy; no more Influence may be placed here without first removing tokens. Central Italy and Corsica & Sardinia are adjacent both to the first French Influence in Lombardy and the French Influence and Town in Languedoc, so France decides to put 1 Influence in each of these Areas too. France spends 2 Diplomatic Power and 6 Ducats to pay for these Influence. No Influence may be placed in Naples or Dalmatia, since these Areas are outside France's reach.
5.4 Diplomatic Actions
Influence (1 Diplomatic Power or 3 Ducats per Influence). Pay 1 Diplomatic Power for the first Influence you place, and then either 1 Diplomatic Power or 3 Ducats for each subsequent Influence.
You may place Influence in Areas adjacent to any of your Towns, Vassals, Alliances, Royal Marriages, or Influence that were there at the start of your Turn.
You may place as many Influence as you like, but no more than 2 Influence in each Area during a single Turn.
Note: There can be no more than 5 Influence in any Area. To place Influence in an Area that is "full," use the relevant Covert Actions.
No Influence may be placed on any Distant Continent.
Forge Alliance (1–3 Diplomatic Power). To ally yourself with an NPR, pay Diplomatic Power equal to half the target NPR's Base Tax (but max. 3 Diplomatic Power), then take an available Alliance token from your Supply and place it on the target's Capital, along with 1 Influence in their Capital Area, if there is space.
For more details on the benefits and obligations of Alliances, see page 32.
- In order to take this Action, both you and the target NPR must be at Peace.
- You must have a total of at least 2 Influence in any Area(s) belonging to the target NPR.
- If the target NPR is Allied to an Opponent, you must have more total Influence than that Opponent in the target NPR's Areas in order to replace their Alliance token with yours.
- To Forge an Alliance with a Distant NPR, you must have a Claim on 1+ of their Areas.
Fabricate Claims (2 Diplomatic Power per Claim) – Covert Action. Pay 2 Diplomatic Power per Claim to place Claims in Areas adjacent to your Realm. A Claim provides a Conquest CB against all Realms that Own Provinces in the Area in which the Claim is placed.
- You cannot place Claims in Areas where you have Claims or you Own all the Provinces.
- You must be at Peace to Fabricate Claims.
- To Fabricate a Claim on a Distant Area, it must be adjacent to your Realm by Land, and contain an NPR Province, Vassal, or Town.
Trade (1 Diplomatic Power). If you have an available Merchant, you may pay 1 Diplomatic Power to do the following in sequence:
- Reveal 3 Trade Cards (reshuffle the discard pile if the Trade Deck is empty).
- If you cannot or do not wish to make use of any of these cards, discard them all, collect 2 Ducats, and skip the remaining steps.
- Optionally move 1 of your Light Ships (using 'Naval Movement' rules, p. 25) to a Sea Zone adjacent to the node where you intend to Trade, or to establish a connection to that node. You may place this Ship on a Trade Protection slot (displacing any Opponent's Ship if all slots are occupied), but it may not enter a Hostile Sea Zone.
- On one of the revealed cards, select a Trade Node where you are eligible to Trade (see below). If a Ship was moved, the chosen node must be connected to your Capital Area via a chain that includes this Ship.
- Select an available (upright) Merchant and, if not already there, move it to the Trade Node you chose. Activate this Merchant by laying it down on its side.
- Calculate Trade Power (see p. 35) for yourself and any Opponents with a valid connection and a Merchant (activated or not) in the selected node, and determine which of the Trade Card's income rows each player should collect income from.
- Discard all Trade Cards drawn.
Eligibility: A PR may only collect Trade Income in nodes that are connected to that PR's Capital Area through a continuous chain of intermediate Areas and/or Sea Zones containing their Towns, Vassals, Influence, or Light Ships.
Example: England (red player) takes a Trade Action. They draw 3 Trade Cards and consider their options. They would normally be able to trade Livestock in the North Sea Trade Node, but since their Merchant there has already been activated, they won't be able to do so again this Round. The North America Trade Node is currently cut off from London since there are no Ships in any of the Caribbean Sea, Northwestern Atlantic, Eastern Atlantic, or Northeastern Atlantic Sea Zones.
That leaves the player with the Cloth card, and England can trade in both the Champagne Trade Node and the English Channel Trade Node (connections to the English Capital Area indicated with yellow arrows). To trade in Champagne they would need to move their Merchant there (from the English Channel), but since they don't own any of the listed Key Provinces for Champagne, they would only have a Trade Power of 1 in that node (from the Merchant), yielding an income of 5 Ducats.
In the English Channel however, they can achieve a Trade Power of 6 (Merchant + 3 Ships + 2 Key Provinces) by moving their Ship from the Norwegian Sea to e.g., Doggerbank. The Expanded Trade token enables them to collect the income in the red column, for an impressive 14 Ducats. France has a Merchant and an adjacent Ship there as well and will collect 6 Ducats.
Covert Actions. Some Diplomatic Actions and Action Cards are labeled as Covert Actions. These are Actions that target other Realms for devious purposes, and they can be countered by the Counterespionage card.
These are the Covert Actions available:
- Fabricate Claims (Basic Action)
- Support Rebels (Spy Network)
- Sow Discontent (Spy Network)
- Sabotage Reputation (Spy Network)
- New Alliance (Action Card)
- Study Technology (Action Card)
- Counterespionage (Action Card)
5.5 Military Actions
Declare War (1 Military Power). You may Declare War on any number of Realms during this Action. By doing so, you enter into a War with the target Realm(s).
Note: Check DoW restrictions (p. 22). You normally cannot Declare War on (a) your Allies, (b) Realms you have a Truce with, (c) PRs who have Passed, (d) NPR Allies of PRs who meet b or c, (e) HRE Members at Peace with the Emperor if the Emperor meets a, b, or c, (f) Distant Realms you have no valid CB for, or (g) during an Interregnum.
Pay the Action cost, and then execute the following steps in sequence:
- Determine Realm(s) to be targeted by your DoW and place a War token on the Capital of each Realm.
- Lose 2 Stability for each target Realm for which you have no valid CB (see p. 22) and 1 Stability for each target Realm where you have a Royal Marriage (unless the Disputed Succession side is face-up).
- Calls to Arms (in listed order):
- a. You may send Offensive CtAs, using the Call to Arms Action (see p. 13).*
- b. If a target is an HRE Member, and you are not, the Emperor receives a Defensive CtA and may Defend the HRE (see p. 44).*
- c. Targeted NPRs automatically send a Defensive CtA to their Ally (if any).*
- d. Targeted PRs may send Defensive CtAs, using the Call to Arms Action (see p. 13).*
- Targeted PRs, and PRs accepting any Defensive CtAs from NPRs (unless that PR is already at War with the Aggressor), gain 1 Military Power.
- Remove all of your Influence in each of the target Realm(s)'s Areas.
- If any Ships on either side of this War are now located in Hostile Sea Zones, Naval Battles will take place (see p. 28).**
- If any Land Units on opposing sides of this War are now located in the same Area, or if PR Units now find themselves in Areas with Hostile NPR Provinces, Land Battles will take place (see p. 27).**
- If no Battles were triggered, you may immediately either take an Activate Units or Recruit Units Action at no Military Power cost.
* PRs that are Called to Arms must respond to this as explained under 'Receiving a CtA' on p. 32.
** No Battle is triggered with an NPR if there were Units/Ships Hostile to that NPR present in the Area/Sea Zone prior to the current Turn.
Example: Castile (yellow player) has a Claim in Andalucia and uses it to Declare War on Granada, placing a War token on their Capital. They pay 1 Military Power for the Declare War Action, and 1 Military Power to Appoint a General for their Army (Minor Action).
Their Army is located in Castile, and with no Ships at Sea no Battles are triggered by the DoW, so they get to take a free Activate Units Action, which they use to move their Army via Leon and into Andalucia. This way they bypass the Mountain border between Castile and Andalucia, which would have required them to spend an additional Military Power if they crossed it.
As soon as the Castilian Army enters the Hostile Area of Andalucia, Granada will muster a force to defend their lands. They have 2 Small Provinces, and thus defend with 2 Units (black).
Activate Units (1 Military Power). You may spend 1 Military Power to take a Land Activation or a Naval Activation. Both Land and Naval Movement may include Naval Transport as part of this Action. Detailed rules for Movement, Sieges, and Battles are described in the Warfare chapter (pp. 25–28).
Land Activation: Pick an Area with at least 1 of your Armies or Regular Units, and perform one of the two options below:
-
Land Movement (see p. 25): Move 1 of your Armies or a single Unit in this Area up to 2 spaces. It must end its movement if entering a Hostile or Neutral Area. To enter a Neutral Area, you must first obtain Military Access.
When Units enter an Area containing Hostile Units or Enemy NPR Provinces, a Battle takes place immediately (p. 27).**
-
Siege (see p. 28): If the selected Area has Hostile Provinces, you may activate Units to Siege instead of moving.
The Action cost pays for a single Sieging Unit. Pay 1 Military Power for each additional Unit that takes part in the Siege. Calculate Siege Strength and pick target Provinces.
Naval Activation: A Naval Activation lets you perform one of the two options below:
-
Naval Movement (see p. 25): Choose a single destination (Sea Zone or Friendly Port), and Move any number of Ships within range to this destination. Fleets and Ships may move up to 2 spaces.
You may choose a Hostile destination Sea Zone (containing Enemy Ships or facing Enemy NPR Ports), in which case a Naval Battle (see p. 28) will take place there.** Ships en route may not pass through Hostile Sea Zones.
-
Undock: Move any number of your Ships from Ports and into adjacent non-Hostile Sea Zones.
Naval Transport (see p. 26): Land Units may during Land Movement cross any number of Sea Zones via an existing bridge of Friendly Ships as if the Areas on either side of the bridge were adjacent by land.
Following Naval Movement (and after any Naval Battle), a number of Land Units can be transported via such a bridge of Ships as long as they pass through the destination Sea Zone for the Ships that were moved.
Each Ship in a Naval Bridge enables up to 3 Land Units to cross the Sea Zone that the Ship is in.
Note: When moving on any of the Distant Continents, movement always ends in the first space (Area or Sea Zone) you enter.
Optional Rule 2: Available Mercenaries. When taking an Activate Units Action to activate an Army and perform a Land Movement that originates in any of your own Areas, you may first recruit up to 3 Mercenary Units (at normal Ducat cost); they must move with the activated Army.
Example: Austria (white) has Declared War on France's Ally, Naples (independent here after Castile Annexed Aragon earlier). France (blue) has answered the CtA from their Ally, and when their Turn comes, they want to send some forces to help defend Naples.
France decides to take a Naval Activation (paying 1 Military Power), and moves 1 of their 3 Ships in the Gulf of Lion and the one in the Western Mediterranean to the Central Mediterranean. The Ships now form a Naval Bridge able to carry up to 6 Land Units (2 Ships in each Sea Zone) across the Sea. France's Army in Languedoc holds 4 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Unit, and being adjacent to the recently created Naval Bridge, they will be able to move across this bridge and disembark in Naples as part of the Naval Activation. Even though France has not used the whole transport capacity of the bridge, they cannot transport the Unit from Lombardy since Units may only be transported from a single location to another.
Example: England (red) is at War with Desmond (Owner of Mhumhain) and France (blue), and pays 1 Military Power to Recruit Units in 2 Areas, Ireland and Northumbria.
They want to take advantage of their entire MC for Ireland (Provinces marked with green halo) when recruiting there, including the 2 adjacent Ports, Wales and Lancashire – the MC from the adjacent Port of Wessex is blocked since it faces the same Sea Zone as the Hostile Port of Mhumhain. This lets them take 3 Units from their Available Manpower to place in this Area. They choose to get 2 Infantry Units and 1 Artillery Unit, paying 10 Ducats, creating Army 2 in Ireland to hold these Units, and placing the Units onto the Army Mat. This will trigger a Battle with Desmond, who will defend with 1 Unit, but the Battle will be handled once all recruitment is done.
Now England also wants to recruit Units into their Army 1 located in Northumbria. Normally their MC for this Area would be 11 (counting all adjacent Provinces, including the Port of Pale) but since the MC provided by 3 of these Provinces has already been used for the Recruitment in Ireland, the MC available for use in Northumbria this Turn is 8 (Provinces with blue halo). England however only has 4 remaining Units in Available Manpower, and adds 2 Infantry Units, 1 Cavalry Unit, and 1 Artillery Unit to the already existing Infantry Unit in Army 1, paying the cost of 15 Ducats. Since they have a MC of 4 remaining for Northumbria, they also recruit the 4 Allied Units provided by their Active Ally, Burgundy, as Infantry for free.
On top of this, they could have recruited Mercenary Units, which do not count towards MC, but England feels that they are capable of conquering Scotland (France's Active Ally) in their next Turn with what they now have.
They go on to resolve the Battle in Ireland before ending their Turn.
Recruit Units (1 Military Power + X Ducats). Pay 1 Military Power and the requisite amount of Ducats to Recruit as many Military Units from your Available Manpower and build as many Ships as you like (and can afford). Units may be placed directly on the board (Regular Infantry Units only) or into your Armies. New Armies may be created to hold Units that you Recruit.
If you Recruit Units in Areas containing Hostile Units or Hostile NPR Provinces,** Battles (see p. 27) will commence there once all Recruitment is done.
Regular Units can be Recruited in 1+ of your own or your Vassals' Areas, up to your MC (see p. 22) in each of these Areas.
A Province cannot be counted for MC more than once per Turn, and may thus only contribute to Recruitment in a single Area.
Mercenary Units are taken from the General Supply and do not count towards MC. They must be Recruited in your or your Vassals' Areas, and you can Recruit a maximum of 3 Mercenary Units per Turn.
Allied Units in your Manpower Reserve (see p. 32) may be Recruited for free as Infantry, or optionally as Cavalry at 3 Ducats each. Allied Units may be Recruited in your own Areas within your MC limits. Alternatively you may instead Recruit a number of Allied Units in Areas belonging to your Active Allies, up to their MC.
Ships must be taken from your Supply and can be built at a maximum rate of 1 Ship in each Port you Own. Ships may be placed on a Port, or in a non-Hostile Sea Zone next to it (optionally on vacant Trade Protection slots).
Cost to Recruit/build
| Type | Regular | Mercenary | Allied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infantry | 2 D | 4 D | free |
| Cavalry | 5 D | 7 D | 3 D |
| Artillery† | 6 D | 8 D | – |
| Light Ship | 4 D | – | – |
| Heavy Ship | 10 D | – | – |
| Galley | 2 D | – | – |
† To Recruit Artillery Units you must have researched the "Cannons" Idea.
Suppress Unrest (1 Military Power per Province). Pay 1 Military Power for each of your Towns/Vassals from which you wish to remove Unrest. Flip these tokens shield side face-up.
You cannot Suppress Unrest in:
- Provinces whose Area contains any Enemy Units or Rebel Units
- Provinces that you Occupy
- Provinces Occupied by an Enemy
6. Action Cards
Action Cards work very much like Basic Actions. Playing an Action Card takes up a whole Turn (unless otherwise specified), not counting Minor Actions.
The Monarch Power cost of playing an Action Card is indicated in the card's top left corner, and is always of the type associated with the deck that the card belongs to. Some cards also have a Ducat cost that must be paid. The cost of playing an Action Card (or Action on a Display Card) can never go below 0; that is to say, you may never gain Monarch Power by playing an Action Card.
When playing a card for its Action, resolve its effect right away and then discard that card (unless it is a Display Card).
All Action Cards are dual-purpose. You may play the card to take its Action, or to Appoint the character in its bottom section.
Characters (Leaders & Advisors). Each Action Card depicts a character, either a Leader (round portrait) or an Advisor (square portrait). Take the Appoint Advisor/Leader Action (see p. 13) to make use of them. See more in section 7.2.
Cards in Hand. Cards in hand should be kept secret from other players until they are played.
The hand size limit for Action Cards is 5, but this is only checked in Phase 5, Step C.
Decks and Discard Piles. The Action Card decks are placed next to each other at the side of the board as shown in the setup. Discard piles are created as needed, placing discarded cards face-up. The discard piles are public information.
If a deck is empty when you need to draw a card, shuffle its discard pile to form a new deck, but leave out the top 5 discards and let them remain as a discard pile. If the discard pile has 5 or fewer cards when the deck is empty, shuffle the whole discard pile.
The Anatomy of an Action Card
Each Action Card is split into an Action section and a Character section.
The Action section shows: the Monarch Power cost of the Action (in the type matching the deck — Administrative, Diplomatic, or Military); a Ducat cost, if any; the card type (e.g., Display Card or Covert Action); the Action type (e.g., Reaction or Battle Action); an illustration; the Action description; the card's ID; and its title.
The Character section shows: the character's name; a symbol relating to the character's mortality; whether the character is a Leader (round-frame portrait) or an Advisor (square-frame portrait); an Advisor's Monarch Power skill bonus, or a Leader's skill values in each type of Monarch Power; the cost in Ducats to Appoint or maintain the character; the cost in Military Power to Appoint the character as a General; and, if applicable, the Battle Dice the character provides if employed as a General.
When a card is a Display Card, its Action section also lists the Actions that are made available to the player while the card is on display.
6.1 The Three Decks
Administrative Deck. The Administrative Deck is in many ways the most varied Action Deck; these cards will help you develop your Realm, increase your Stability, improve your economy, reduce Religious Dissent, and facilitate Research.
Diplomatic Deck. Cards in the Diplomatic Deck will be useful when you need to put pressure on your Opponents through less costly and more subtle means than War. They are also necessary if you wish to expand your Realm peacefully. Many cards require a minimum of Influence.
Military Deck. Unsurprisingly, the Military Deck contains cards that will give you an edge in the event of War. They can give increased mobility to your forces or provide direct bonuses in Battles, such as additional Battle Dice.
6.2 Special Cards
Display Cards. Display Cards are marked with a Display Card icon in the top right corner. They act differently from other Action Cards in that they are placed face-up on display when played, and charged up with a number of your Cubes from your Supply matching the squares depicted on the card. They rarely have any other effect on the Turn in which they are played.
In subsequent Turns, when on display, a Display Card makes the Actions listed on the card available to the player who played it. These Actions work just like any other Actions in the game, have a Monarch Power cost, and normally take a Turn to perform. However, some of them are marked as Battle Actions or Reactions, and are treated as such.
Each time you take one of the Actions on a Display Card, remove a Cube (or more if the text says so) from the available uses on that card.
Once the last Cube on a Display Card has been spent, discard the card.
Note: You can have a maximum of 2 Display Cards, and never 2 of the same card, in play at any given time. If you play a Display Card when you already have 2 in play, discard 1 of the cards in play.
Battle Actions. Battle Actions are cards (and Actions on Action Cards) meant to be played during Battles in the "Play Battle Actions" step. These Actions are marked with a Battle Action icon and can be used in any Battle in which you are involved, even if it is not your Turn.
In each Round of Battle, each side may only benefit from one use of any particular Battle Action.
Battle Dice gained from Battle Actions remain in your dice pool for the duration of the Battle. For each Battle Die icon depicted (see icons on p. 27) on a Battle Action, you may add one additional die of that type to your dice pool. A die icon with a "wild" marker on it allows you to add 1 Battle Die of any type.
Reactions. Action Cards that are marked as Reactions are used to interrupt play just like other Reactions (see p. 13).
Covert Actions. The Diplomatic Deck has a number of Action Cards (and Actions on the Spy Network Display Card) that are marked as Covert Actions. Just like other Covert Actions (see p. 15), these can be countered by a Counterespionage card.
If a card is countered, it is discarded and its cost must still be paid. If a Covert Action on a Display Card is prevented, the indicated number of uses (Cubes) is still spent.
Example: France has the Covert Action card New Alliance in their hand and would like to play it as their Action.
Castile has 2 Influence in Aragon, and picking the NPR Aragon as a target would allow France to remove the Castilian Influence, and add 2 of their own Influence there instead. This would cause France to have the most Influence in the Aragonese Realm, and thus grant France an Alliance with Aragon. France finds this very tempting, and pays the 4 Diplomatic Power and 2 Ducats to play the card.
Castile wants none of it though, and as France is about to pick the Castilian Influence off the map, Castile plays the Counterespionage card from their hand, paying its cost of 2 Diplomatic Power. Both cards are discarded, and the New Alliance card has no effect. France still loses the resources spent to pay for the cost of playing the card, and with this, France's Turn is complete.
Example: Austria decides to play a Central Authority card, and pays the cost of 2 Administrative Power and 2 Ducats to place it on display. They fill up the 3 uses on the card with Cubes from their Supply, thus completing their Turn.
By the time it is Austria's Turn again, France has Declared War on them. Austria has 8 Regular Units Deployed. To get some more funds in their Treasury, Austria decides to exhaust 2 uses on the Central Authority card and pay 1 Administrative Power in order to perform the War Taxes Action and gain 8 Ducats. The Action also makes them gain 1 Unrest, and they must add this to one of their Towns or Vassals.
7. Governing a PR
Each player governs a Player Realm, which is represented on the map by Towns and tokens, while the internal machinations of government, for the most part, are handled on the Player Mat.
7.1 Monarch Power
Monarch Power is one of your primary resources. There are three types of Monarch Power: Administrative Power, Diplomatic Power, and Military Power, each of which is used to perform different types of Actions.
Your Realm's Total Skill Level for each type of Monarch Power is determined by adding the appropriate Ruler Skill to that of the matching Advisor (if any). In each Round, you will gain that much Monarch Power of the appropriate type. Certain Ideas may modify a Realm's Skill Level.
You can store a maximum of 10 Monarch Power of each type on your Player Mat; immediately discard any surplus.
7.2 Characters (Leaders & Advisors)
All Action Cards, and many Events, depict a Character at the bottom. These are either Leaders or Advisors. Characters will serve your Realm for a while before they die or move on; Character mortality is determined by Events (p. 41).
Leaders (round portrait). Leaders can be Appointed as Rulers, Generals, or Admirals. At the beginning of the game, all PRs get a starting Ruler designated in the scenario setup instructions.
Historical Rulers. Historical Rulers (identified by purple name banners) appear on certain Event Cards, and belong to the Realm that shares their flag (coat of arms). Historical Rulers normally replace the current Ruler in their Realm as soon as their card's Event has been resolved.
Some historical Rulers have an Ill Health icon printed on their name banner, indicating that they start off with one Ill Health token.
Leaders as Rulers. During an Interregnum, you may Appoint a Leader to rule your Realm; tuck its card underneath your Player Mat's Ruler Slot. Rulers add their Skill values to their respective Realms' Monarch Power incomes. Appointing a Leader as a Ruler costs nothing.
Rulers stay in their positions until they die, unless replaced by an Event.
Using the Appoint Advisor/Leader Minor Action, a Ruler may also be assigned, for free, to command an Army. In this case, place the Ruler General token on your Army Mat.
A Realm may never have more than 1 Ruler at a time.
Leaders as Generals and Admirals. Generals and Admirals may be Appointed at a cost of 1 or 2 Military Power each (stated in the lower right corner of the card). They are collectively referred to as Military Leaders, and provide a number of additional dice in Battle as indicated on the right sides of their name banners.
A Military Leader must be tucked underneath an Army or Fleet Mat. They may be replaced, and a General moved to another Army (even one without any Units), using the Appoint Advisor/Leader Minor Action. Generals that are replaced without any available Army Mat to relocate to must be discarded.
Advisors (square portrait). There are three types of Advisors, one for each type of Monarch Power: Administrative, Diplomatic, and Military. You may only have 1 Advisor of each type in play at a time.
Advisors are found in their respective Action Card decks. An Advisor's skill in its Monarch Power category is added to that of its Ruler to provide a Realm's Total Skill Level of a given type.
Advisors have costs (indicated on the coin in the bottom right corner of their cards) that must be paid as soon as you appoint them, and again during the Income & Upkeep Phase of each Round.
If you cannot or do not want to pay the upkeep for an Advisor, it must be discarded.
Example: England is holding the Development card, which features the +2 Administrative Advisor, Maximilien. They decide to employ him as an Advisor by taking the Appoint Advisor/Leader Minor Action, paying 2 Ducats, and tucking the card in place.
The Deaths of Leaders and Advisors. Every time an appropriate symbol on an Event Card is resolved, each Character in play with a matching icon next to its portrait receives an Ill Health token. When a Character receives their second Ill Health token, they die. Military Leaders may also receive Ill Health tokens (and die) in Battle.
Dead characters are discarded. With Military Leaders or Advisors this has no further consequences, except that you may no longer benefit from their bonuses.
Ruler Death – Interregnum. When your Ruler dies (is discarded), you should try to replace them right away.
If the discarded Ruler was the Emperor of the HRE, see section 18.9, 'Imperial Elections' (p. 45).
Important: You may immediately replace a discarded Ruler by taking the Appoint Advisor/Leader Minor Action as a Reaction (if you have an Action Card with a Leader).
If you cannot (or choose not to) do this, your Realm enters an Interregnum – a regency council with a Skill of 1 in each Monarch Power field will rule until it is replaced. Indicate this state by placing the Interregnum token on your Ruler slot.
During an Interregnum, you may appoint a new Ruler by taking the Appoint Advisor/Leader Minor Action.
During an Interregnum you cannot enter into new Royal Marriages, and may not Declare War on anyone (except on Marriage partners experiencing a Disputed Succession, or by accepting a Defensive CtA).
A PR that has no Ruler at Phase 3, Step F, loses 1 Stability, and any Marriage tokens on this Realm will be flipped to the Disputed Succession side.
7.3 Stability
Every PR has a Stability value, ranging from -3 to +3, and in most scenarios players will begin with a Stability of 0. A Realm's Stability value gives a clear indication of that Realm's ability to handle internal struggles like Unrest, but also how efficiently the current government will be able to pursue its goals. A Stability of 0 has no effect on your Realm.
When increasing your Stability (through an Action Card or a Basic Action), modify that Action's cost according to your current Stability (e.g., to increase Stability from +2 to +3, using the Increase Stability Basic Action, you must pay (5 + 2 =) 7 Administrative Power).
Positive Stability. PRs with positive Stability receive benefits each Round. These are illustrated on the Stability track of each Player Mat.
- +1 Stability or higher: Receive an additional 2 Ducats in Phase 4, Step B.
- +2 Stability or higher: You may remove Unrest from 1 of your Provinces in Phase 3, Step H.
- +3 Stability: Receive a bonus of any 2 Monarch Power of your choice in Phase 4, Step D.
Negative Stability. PRs with negative Stability suffer penalties each Round. These are illustrated on the Stability track of each Player Mat.
- -1 Stability or lower: Receive 2 Ducats fewer in Phase 4, Step B.
- -2 Stability or lower: Add Unrest to 1 of your Provinces in Phase 3, Step H.
- -3 Stability: Receive 1 Monarch Power fewer (of your choice) in Phase 4, Step D.
- A negative Stability may also trigger a number of negative Event effects.
Stability Beyond +3 or -3. It is not possible to go above +3 Stability, or below -3 Stability.
- If you gain Stability when at +3 Stability, you instead gain 2 Administrative Power per step.
- If you lose Stability when at -3 Stability, you instead lose 2 Administrative Power per step. If you do not have enough Administrative Power to lose, you must lose 1 Monarch Power of another type for each missing Administrative Power. If you have no Monarch Power at all, ignore this penalty.
Player Mat layout. The Stability track is where you keep track of your current Stability. In your Manpower Reserve, you keep all Manpower that is currently not Deployed – both Exhausted Manpower and Available Manpower.
The Town Track is where you keep your unused Towns. By adding together the highest uncovered numbers from the slots for Small and Large Towns, and Vassals, you get your Tax Income and Manpower.
Your Treasury is used to store your Ducats, and is also where Interest tokens are kept. Each Monarch Power Pool can hold up to 10 Monarch Power. The Changed National Focus slot is tagged with a Cube when that Action is taken. Your Realm's State Religion is indicated by placing the appropriate Religion token in the State Religion slot. Your Ruler's card is tucked under the Ruler slot, while cards with Advisors are tucked underneath their respective Advisor slots.
7.4 Economy
Ducats. All monetary costs and gains in the game are measured in a currency called Ducats. There are three denominations of Ducat coins in the game: 1-Ducat coins, 5-Ducat coins, and 10-Ducat coins.
Ducats are not meant to be limited by component availability, so on the rare occasion that you run out of coins, make a note of any additional funds in your Treasury. Players should exchange large stacks of 1-Ducat coins for 5- or 10-Ducat coins when possible, to make sure that change is always available in the General Supply.
Tax Income and Upkeep Costs. Tax Income and Upkeep Costs are calculated simultaneously, by adding together all income sources and deducting all costs, as listed under Phase 4, Step B (p. 10).
Unpaid Upkeep Costs. Advisors must be paid before they provide their Monarch Power bonuses (the cost is indicated in the lower right corner of an Advisor's card). Unpaid Advisors leave immediately, without providing bonuses.
Disband unpaid Land Units and return them to Available Manpower or the Supply.
Ships that have not been returned to Friendly Ports when you cannot cover the cost of keeping them at Sea are disbanded.
If you cannot cover the Interest on your Loans, you must either take another Loan (if able) or go Bankrupt.
Loans and Interest. A player can take a Loan as a Minor Action, or they may be forced to do so in order to cover their expenses.
When a player takes a Loan, they take 5 Ducats from the Supply and add an Interest token to their Treasury – these tokens indicate how much Interest that player must pay each Round. This is a mandatory Cost. A player who has 5 or more Interest tokens in their Treasury is not allowed to take another Loan.
A Loan can be repaid as a Minor Action, at a cost of 6 Ducats. When a player repays a Loan, they also remove an Interest token from their Treasury. Money earned for passing can be used to repay Loans during the Turn when the player passes.
Bankruptcy. If a PR has 5 or more Interest tokens in their Treasury and cannot pay a mandatory Cost (such as Interest on Loans, Rebel Die results, etc.), that Realm immediately goes Bankrupt (remember that paying for Advisors and Military Units is not mandatory).
A Player Realm going Bankrupt:
- pays as many Ducats as they can, then
- loses 3 Stability
- loses 5 Prestige
- discards 3 Interest tokens from their Treasury
- disbands all Mercenaries
- fires all Advisors
- loses half of their Monarch Power of each type (max. 3 Monarch Power of a single type).
7.5 Towns
The Towns are used to signify Control of Provinces on the map board. They provide Manpower and are the source of your Base Tax Income, as shown on the Town Track.
As your Realm grows, you will take Towns from the Town Track on your Player Mat and place them on new Provinces on the map. Towns are always taken from their lowest-numbered slots (from left to right), and as you do this you uncover slots on the track, with higher levels of income and Manpower.
Each Small Town provides Tax Income of 1 Ducat, and each Large Town provides an income of 2 Ducats. Every Vassal provides ½ Ducat.
If you run out of Large Towns, you may instead put 2 Small Towns on a Large Province. If all 20 of your Small Towns on the Player Mat have been placed on the map board, take a +20 Ducat Income tile and place the remaining 20 Towns from your Supply onto your Player Mat's Town Track. The +20 Ducat Income tile must be returned to the Supply if you later fall below 20 Small Towns again. If you run out of all 40 Small Towns, place a Vassal token instead of a Town whenever a new Small Town is required.
7.6 Core Provinces
All Provinces on the map board that have a Realm's flag on it are considered Core Provinces (Cores) of that Realm. This applies no matter who currently Owns that Province, but is superseded by any DNPR token on the Province or Core token placed in its Area (see below).
A Province which is a Core Province of its Owner cannot be Liberated (see p. 37) to form or join another Realm. Any Rebellion assigned to a Province which is not its Owner's Core Province, will cause it to join the Realm whose Core Province it is.
Core tokens. To place a Core token, a PR needs to Own all the Provinces in the target Area and use the Integrate Area Action on a Development card. Doing so displaces any DNPR token or other Core token that are already in the same Area. A Core token cannot be placed in an Area where all Provinces are already the PR's Core Provinces. Sometimes a Core token may be placed via a Mission reward.
All Provinces in an Area where a PR has placed a Core token are considered Core Provinces of that PR (and no other Realm).
Each Core token in play counts as a Claim in its Area, and is worth 1 Prestige during Final Scoring.
8. Ideas
The progress of technology and philosophy is represented by Idea Cards. These can be claimed by taking the Research Idea Action (see p. 12), also simply called Research, and spending Monarch Points matching that Idea's type. Some Ideas have prerequisites that must be satisfied before they can be Researched, and some Ideas will not be added to the Idea deck until the game reaches a certain Age.
Upon Researching an Idea, a player scores 2 Prestige and marks that Idea with a Tag chit. If they are the second or third player to Research an Idea, any player(s) that have already Researched that Idea score another 1 Prestige each. Once 3 players have gotten the Idea, only the player Researching that Idea scores Prestige for the Research Action.
The Anatomy of an Idea Card
Each Idea Card shows: the Monarch Power type and cost to Research this Idea; the Idea's name; the Age when it first becomes eligible; the bonus gained from having this Idea; the Prestige gained when Researching this Idea; any bonus gained instantly upon Researching this Idea; and, for Basic Ideas, a green background and frame. Idea Cards that represent a Government Form carry a label stating so.
Available Ideas and adding Ideas. At the start of the game there are normally 3 Ideas of each type available to Research, with 1 of each type being a Basic Idea (green background). These are laid out in a 3 x 3 grid, with 1 column for each Monarch Power type. More Ideas will be added through Events as the game progresses, creating additional rows in the grid.
If an Event or a Mission lets you Research an Idea not on display, you may still do so by taking 1 unresearched, non-Basic Idea of matching type from the display and shuffling it back into the deck. Then, place your Researched Idea into the display grid. If there are no unresearched Ideas of the same type on display, make space for a new row of Ideas and add the new Idea there.
Government Forms. Some Ideas are labeled as Government Forms. You may only ever have 1 of these Ideas Researched at any given time.
If you Research a Government Form when you already have one, you lose the earlier one. Remove your Tag chit from the Idea you lost. Score Prestige as normal for the new Idea; you do not lose Prestige for the lost Idea.
9. Warfare
When Diplomacy won't satisfy your ambitions, Warfare might be your next step. By gaining Claims, forging Alliances, and recruiting military forces at the right time, you can set yourself up for a successful campaign of conquest. Sometimes, you may also have to defend against foreign or domestic attackers.
Warfare against NPRs is described in a separate section in the chapter on Non-Player Realms (page 36).
9.1 Declarations of War (DoW)
You may enter into a War in one of four ways:
- By taking a Declare War Action (p. 16)
- By having War Declared against you
- Through an Event (p. 40)
- By accepting a Call to Arms (p. 32)
The first two, obviously, involve a DoW. The third will tell you who is Declaring War, and on whom.
Accepting a CtA always comes as a direct response to another DoW.
Restrictions on DoW. You may not Declare War:
- a. on an Ally
- b. on a Realm with whom you have a Truce
- c. on a PR that has Passed
- d. on an NPR Ally of a PR (b) with whom you have a Truce, or (c) who has Passed
- e. on an HRE Member at Peace with the Emperor if the Emperor (a) is your Ally, (b) has a Truce with you, or (c) has Passed
- f. on Distant Realms that you have no CB for
- g. during an Interregnum
Exceptions to the above restrictions:
- If you have a Marriage with the DoW target that shows the Disputed Succession side, the Disputed Succession CB (see below) lets you Declare War even if the target is your Ally, or during an Interregnum (or both).
- You may ignore all restrictions if you are answering a Defensive CtA.
- If the War is triggered by an Event, any exceptions are mentioned on the Event.
Casus Belli (CB). To avoid a -2 Stability penalty when Declaring War, you must have a Casus Belli (see below).
CtAs and Events that trigger Wars constitute CBs in themselves.
Royal Marriage with DoW target. When Declaring War on a Realm with whom you have a Royal Marriage, you get a -1 Stability penalty unless you use the Disputed Succession CB or Event CB (see below).
DoW triggering Battles. A DoW will trigger an immediate Land Battle if you have Military Units located in an Area with Enemy Units, or an Area with Enemy NPR Provinces. A Naval Battle will be triggered upon DoW if you have Ships in a Hostile Sea Zone.
If multiple Battles are triggered, all Naval Battles must be resolved before Land Battles, but other than that the Active Player decides the order in which they will be resolved.
Free Activate or Recruit Action. When performing the Declare War Action (and only then), you may take a free Activate Units or Recruit Units Action if the DoW did not trigger any Battles (see p. 16).
Casus Belli (CB)
A Casus Belli ("justification for war") enables you to Declare War without receiving a -2 Stability penalty. The following CBs can be obtained.
Conquest (Claim). Having a Claim on an Area provides a CB against all Lawful Owners and Controllers of Provinces in that Area.
Call to Arms. A CtA (see p. 32) in itself constitutes a CB on your Ally's new Enemy. This CB is lost immediately if the CtA is refused.
A Defensive CtA lets you ignore all DoW restrictions (like Truces, conflicting Alliances, etc.) when accepting the Call.
General CB (CB token). Some situations will provide you with a temporary CB, indicated with a CB token on the target's Capital.
You get a CB against any Ally that refuses to honor your CtA. You may also get such a CB from an Event.
CB tokens are removed from the board in Phase 3, Step A (see p. 9).
Event. An Event that lets you Declare War on another Realm is always a CB in itself.
This CB also negates the -1 Stability penalty for a DoW on a Marriage partner.
Disputed Succession. A Royal Marriage token which is displaying its "Disputed Succession" side provides a CB for all PRs against the Realm on which the token is placed.
This CB also negates the -1 Stability penalty for Declaring War on a Marriage partner. Furthermore, if you have a Marriage with the target, this CB lets you Declare War even during an Interregnum or if the target is your Ally (or both). If used to Declare War on an Ally, the Alliance ends.
Additionally, a Disputed Succession token provides a CB on all PRs at War with the target Realm.
Excommunication. If your Realm is Catholic, and the Curia controller has Excommunicated the Ruler of another Realm, you have a CB against that Realm for as long as the Excommunicated token is in play (see p. 46). This token is removed during Phase 4, Step E.
Holy War (Crusade). With the "Deus Vult" Idea, you have this CB against all adjacent Realms with a different State Religion than yours, including any Distant Realm, with the notable exception that PRs with a Christian State Religion cannot use it against other Christian Realms.
If your Realm is Catholic, you get this CB against Realms that are currently the target of a Crusade (see p. 46). When using this CB to Declare War on a Crusade target, place one of your Tag chits on the Committed to Crusade slot on the Status Mat. The Crusade token is removed in Phase 4, Step E.
Imperial Liberation (HRE only). The Emperor has a permanent CB against any Realm with their Capital located outside the HRE that Controls Provinces or has Vassals located inside the HRE.
9.2 War Capacities
Military Capacity (MC). Military Capacity is the measure of how many Units a Realm can muster in an Area.
A Realm's MC for any given Area is equal to the combined Tax Value of that Realm's own Provinces and their Vassal Provinces in and adjacent to that Area (including Ports facing the same non-Hostile Sea Zone as this Area).
This value is used to determine how many Regular and Allied Units a PR can place into an Area during a Recruit Units Action (Mercenaries are not limited by MC).
Equally important, MC is used to determine how many Units an NPR will use to defend an Area when under attack.
Blocking MC. Occupied Provinces never contribute to MC.
Provinces in Areas containing Hostile Units only contribute to MC in their own Area, and not to MC in other adjacent Areas, whether calculating NPR defense (see p. 36) or PR Recruitment capacity.
Ports in Areas that are adjacent only by Sea (and not by Land) to the Area for which you are calculating MC do not contribute to the MC for that Area if all Sea Zones separating the Areas are considered Hostile.
Naval Capacity (NC). Naval Capacity is the measure of how many Ships a Realm can muster in a Sea Zone.
A Realm's NC for any given Sea Zone is equal to the Tax Value of the Ports that they Own that face that particular Sea Zone. NPRs also count their Vassals' Ports for NC.
This value is used to determine (1) how many Ships a PR can place into a Sea Zone during a Recruit Units Action, and (2) how many Ships an NPR will use to defend a Sea Zone when under attack.
Inactive Ports (see p. 5) do not contribute to the NC of their NPR Owners.
Blocking NC. Occupied Provinces never contribute to NC.
NC provided by Ports facing a Sea Zone containing Enemy Ships can never be used to Recruit Ships into that Sea Zone, since you are not allowed to trigger a Naval Battle during a Recruit Units Action. Military Units in the Area where the Port is located do not affect NC at all.
NPR Ports that are blocked at the start of a Turn do not contribute to the NPR's NC.
MC/NC only counts once per Turn. A Province can only contribute to MC once per Turn, and to NC once per Turn (but it may be used for both MC and NC).
This means that if you Recruit Units in two (or more) locations that have overlapping MC/NC, you must decide in which one of those locations you wish to utilize the capacity provided by each Province (see the Recruit Units example on p. 17).
Similarly, if 2 or more Battles are triggered against the same NPR on a single Turn, that NPR only gets to take advantage of the MC/NC provided by each Province for 1 Land Battle and 1 Naval Battle. How this is worked out is described in detail in chapter 13.4 (p. 36).
9.3 Manpower
Manpower is the maximum number of Regular Units that you may have Deployed – this number is equal to the total of the highest number revealed on each of the Town Tracks and the Vassal Track on your Player Mat (½ Manpower per Province Tax Value). The combined total of Regular Units Deployed and in the Manpower Reserve (Available Manpower and Exhausted Manpower) must equal this number. To field Land Units exceeding your Manpower value, you must use Mercenaries or Allied troops.
Manpower values may be modified (e.g., by Ideas or from Increase Manpower on the Military Reforms card); this is indicated by placing +1 Manpower tokens in the Manpower Reserve.
Player Mats have Manpower Reserves that hold Available and Exhausted Units. When Manpower increases, add more Units from your Supply to the Available Manpower area. When Manpower decreases, move Units back to your Supply (from Exhausted Manpower, Available Manpower, or Deployed Units).
Changes to Manpower are applied during Phase 5, Step A2.
Manpower can never rise above 20.
Exhausted Manpower. Casualties (see p. 27) are returned to the Exhausted Manpower area of the Manpower Reserve and are not available until Refreshed.
Example: Austria (white) uses the CB provided by their Claim in Venetia to Declare War on Venice (an NPR). Venice is an Ally of France (blue). Austria sends an Offensive CtA to their own Ally, Genoa (NPR), discarding 2 Influence from Lombardy to gain 1 Military Power and add 2 Allied Units to their Available Manpower (½ of Genoa's Tax Income of 4). France gets a Defensive CtA from Venice and decides to accept the CtA, thus gaining 1 Military Power. France decides not to make Venice an Active Ally, since Venice will then defend at full strength, but it also means that France does not get to add any Venetian Units to their Available Manpower. Austria must now remove all their Influence in Lombardy and Dalmatia (where Venice has Provinces), but since they already spent the 2 Influence in Lombardy on the CtA they sent to Genoa, they only need to remove the 1 Influence in Dalmatia.
The DoW triggers multiple Battles. First, the Naval Battles need to be resolved. Austria has 1 Light Ship in the Adriatic Sea which is faced by 5 Venetian Ports (Venezia counts double), and so they face 5 Ships here. In the Gulf of Lion, the 2 French Light Ships will be facing 3 Genoese Ships. In both Naval Battles, the NPR Ships sink the PR Ships before being removed.
Then, Land Battles will commence in both Venetia and Lombardy since Austria has Armies in both Areas, and France has an Army in Lombardy as well. Austria, as the Active Player, decides to resolve the Battle in Venetia first. When calculating Venice's MC for Venetia, they would normally include all Provinces in the adjacent Areas as well, but since there is an Enemy Army in Lombardy, Venice may not count Brescia. They will however count Zara in Dalmatia, along with Verona, Treviso, and Venezia (x 2) for a total MC of 5, and so will defend with 5 Units.
In Lombardy, Venice will only defend with 1 Unit (MC from Brescia) since they already spent their remaining MC in the Battle of Venetia. The French Army will, however, be joining them in the fight against the Austrians here. On the other hand, Genoa will join the Austrian side. However, since they are an Active Ally of Austria, they will defend their Area with only 2 Units – half of their normal MC (3 divided by 2, rounded up). Had the French Ships beaten the Genoese at Sea, Corsica would have been blocked from contributing to the Genoese defense. The participating Venetian and Genoese Units will not be added to their PR Allies' Army Mats, and will all be removed after Battle as usual, no matter who wins.
Finally, Austria does not get a free Activate or Recruit Units Action, since Battles were triggered.
9.4 Military Leaders
Armies and Fleets may be assigned Leaders from Action Cards (or your current Ruler), using the Appoint Advisor/Leader Action. An Army Leader is called a General, and a Fleet Leader is called an Admiral. Slide these cards underneath the associated Army and Fleet Mats, so that only the Leader (and not the card's Action) shows.
Appointing a Leader costs 1 or 2 Military Power, as indicated in the card's bottom right corner.
Military Units, Armies, and Fleets
There are several different types of Military Units that can be Deployed. Each player has 20 Regular Units and 3 Army miniatures, plus 15 Ships and a Fleet at their disposal. There are also Mercenary Units and NPR/Rebel Units.
Regular Units. These Land Units normally make up the bulk of your armed forces on land, and are deployed through the Recruit Units Action as Infantry, Cavalry, or Artillery. Your available Units are kept in your Manpower Reserve, and the rest are set aside in your Supply. During the Income & Upkeep Phase you must pay 1 Ducat for each Deployed Regular Unit you want to keep in service; any Units not paid for will return to your Available Manpower.
Infantry — Hits on: shaded or outlined Infantry symbol. Siege Strength: 1. Recruitment Cost: 2 Ducats.
Infantry may be deployed directly onto the board as single Units, or in any of your Armies by placing them onto the Infantry area on your chosen Army Mat.
The Military Power cost of moving a Single Unit is the same as moving an entire Army.
With the Ideas "Tercios/Janissaries" and "Line Infantry", the outlined Infantry icon counts as a second Infantry result. Each Unit may still only score 1 hit.
Cavalry — Hits on: Cavalry symbol. Siege Strength: ½ (rounded down). Recruitment Cost: 5 Ducats.
Cavalry must be deployed in Armies. Place the Unit tokens onto the Cavalry area of your chosen Army Mat to signify that they are deployed as Cavalry.
Artillery (requires "Cannons" Idea) — Hits on: Artillery symbol. Siege Strength: 2. Recruitment Cost: 6 Ducats.
Artillery must be deployed in Armies. Place the Unit tokens onto the Artillery area on your chosen Army Mat.
Artillery Units have a Siege Strength of 2; they may Siege 2 Small Provinces or 1 Large Province at the cost of just 1 Military Power.
Armies that have more Artillery than Cavalry Units cannot be used with the Action Cards Forced March or One Step Ahead.
Armies. All players have 3 Army miniatures, each with a corresponding Army Mat.
To Deploy an Army you must assign at least 1 of your Land Units to it, either from the Area in which the Army is placed (during a Land Activation), or from Manpower (during a Recruit Action). If all Units in an Army are removed from its mat, remove its miniature from the board.
Units in an Army are placed on their corresponding Army Mat; each Army may contain as many Regular Units, Mercenary Units, and Allied NPR Units as you like. All Units in an Army move as one, and are represented on the board by the Army miniature depicted on the Army Mat.
It takes only a single Land Activation to Move an entire Army, with all its Units.
During a Land Activation, an Army may pick up or drop off Units in its Area at any point during Movement, for free.
Units (Regular, Mercenary, and Allied) are placed on your Army Mat in the Infantry, Cavalry, or Artillery areas, depending on what types of Units you have recruited.
An Army may also be assigned a General – a Leader who provides extra Battle Dice.
Ships. Ship Units are deployed through the Recruit Action, as Light Ships, Heavy Ships, or Galleys. When you build a Ship, it comes from your Supply – it does not affect Manpower. You can only build 1 Ship per Port (2 per Large Port), per Recruit Action.
During Phase 4 you must pay ½ Ducat for every Ship that you want to keep at sea. Any ships not paid for must return to a Friendly Port within reach (2 spaces). Any ships at sea that are not paid for and unable to return to a Friendly Port must be disbanded.
Light Ships — Hits on: Artillery symbol. Build Cost: 4 Ducats.
A Light Ship costs 4 Ducats to build. A Light Ship may be deployed directly onto the board as a Single Ship, or you may place it onto your Fleet Mat.
Light Ships may be used to occupy Trade Protection Slots in a Sea Zone, and will then each provide a Trade Power of 1 in all Trade Nodes adjacent to that Sea Zone. Read more about Trade Power in section 11.5 (p. 35).
Heavy Ships — Hits on: Artillery symbol + 1 automatic hit. Build Cost: 10 Ducats.
A Heavy Ship can only be deployed onto the Fleet Mat, as part of your Fleet.
Each Heavy Ship involved in a Naval Battle inflicts an automatic hit on the Enemy whenever its controller rolls the Battle Dice (in addition to any hits rolled on the dice). When counting hits on the dice, Heavy Ships are counted in the same way as other Ships.
Heavy Ships can take 2 hits before being removed as Casualties. Indicate that a Heavy Ship has been damaged by laying the Ship on its side (or position it vertically for Standard Ed.). If it does not take another hit, it will immediately be repaired if its Fleet ends a Turn or Round in a Friendly Port.
Captured Heavy Ships are always considered to be damaged.
Galleys — Hits on: Artillery symbol. Build Cost: 2 Ducats.
A Galley can only be deployed onto a Fleet Mat, as part of a Fleet.
Galleys can only sail in Sea Zones marked with special coastal markers. If a Fleet containing Galleys moves from one of those and into a Sea Zone without such a marker, all Galleys in that Fleet are immediately disbanded and returned to the Supply.
Fleets. All players have a Fleet miniature and a corresponding Fleet Mat.
To deploy your Fleet, you must assign it at least 1 Ship, from the Sea Zone or Port where you deploy the Fleet Unit (during a Naval Activation), or from your Supply (during a Recruit Action). If all Units in the Fleet are removed from its mat, remove its miniature from the board.
Ships in your Fleet are placed on your Fleet Mat; your Fleet may contain as many Ships as you like. All Ships in your Fleet move as one, and are represented on the board by your Fleet miniature. You may never have more than 1 active Fleet.
During a Naval Activation, the Fleet may pick up or drop off Light Ships in its starting and destination Sea Zone or Port, for free.
Ships are placed on your Fleet Mat in the areas corresponding to the types of Ships you have built.
Your Fleet may also be assigned an Admiral – a Leader who provides extra Battle Dice.
Mercenaries. Mercenary Units come from the General Supply, and are available to all players. They are expensive, but do not count against your Manpower or MC. Mercenaries can only be deployed in Armies, and are Recruited as Infantry, Cavalry, or Artillery with the Recruit Units Action. You may Recruit a maximum of 3 Mercenary Units during a Recruit Units Action.
Each Mercenary Unit costs 2 Ducats more to recruit than a Regular Unit of the same type. During the Income & Upkeep Phase you must either pay 2 Ducats for each Mercenary Unit you want to keep in service, or else return them to the General Supply.
NPR Units, Rebels, & Pirates. Black Units come from the General Supply and are by default treated as either Infantry or Light Ships. They are used to represent Rebels and NPR forces at War with PRs, or as Allied Units in a PR's Army.
Rebel Units: All black Land Units on the board (including invading NPR Units that stay in an Area after a Battle) are considered to be Rebel Units (see p. 37). Rebel Units always fight to the last man, and will try to Siege any Town/Vassal with Unrest in their Area in Phase 3, Step C (see p. 9).
NPR Units: These are used to represent the defending or invading forces of NPRs (see p. 36). Defending NPR Units are removed after Battle, while invading Units stay on as Rebel Units.
Allied Units: When a PR sends or accepts a CtA to/from an NPR Ally (see p. 32) and turns it into an Active Ally, the PR will add a number of black Units to their Available Manpower. These Units are referred to as Allied Units, and may be deployed in any of that PR's Armies, using the Recruit Units Action.
Pirates: Pirates are always placed on Trade Nodes, and reduce the Trade Power of all PRs in that node (see p. 35). Pirates can be attacked by Ships located in a Sea Zone adjacent to the node in question; to do so, a player must take a Naval Activation. The Ships used to attack must all be in a single Sea Zone.
Generals and Admirals in Battle. Leaders add Battle Dice to any Battles in which they are involved (Leaders' Battle Dice are indicated on their name banners).
Only 1 Leader on each side may add dice to the Battle; if a player has more than 1 Leader in a Battle, they decide which one to use. If there are Armies/Fleets from 2 or more players fighting on the same side, see the 'Fighting multiple Enemies' section on page 27 for how to determine which Leader will provide their Battle Dice.
For every 2 outlined Infantry symbols your Enemy rolls in a single roll of Battle Dice (land or naval) your Leader receives an Ill Health token.
Rulers in Command. You may use your Ruler as a General (but not as an Admiral) without having to pay any Military Power, but you risk him being killed in Battle. Use an Appoint Advisor/Leader Action to assign your Ruler to (or remove him from) an Army. Place the "Ruler General" token next to that Army's General slot when your Ruler is in command.
9.5 Movement
All Military Unit movement is performed during the Action Phase, except for Retreats during Phase 3, Step C, relocating Units in Neutral Areas during Phase 3, Step D4 (see p. 29), and returning Ships to Port during Phase 4, Step A.
Armies, Fleets, and single Units are moved by using the Activate Units Military Action, or by playing certain Military Cards (e.g., Forced March or Naval Maneuver). The Explore and Trade Actions also let you move 1 Ship (with some restrictions).
Land Movement. A Land Activation may be used to activate and move a single Army or Regular Unit. An Army/Unit may move up to 2 spaces (Areas), but must end its movement if it enters a Hostile, Neutral, or Distant Area.
When entering an Area containing Enemy Units, a Battle takes place immediately.
Land Units may cross Sea Zones containing Friendly Ships, as described in the 'Naval Transport of Land Units' section below.
Mountain Borders. A Land Activation lets you move up to 3 Units across a Mountain border into a Hostile or Neutral Area. For every additional Military Power spent, you may move 3 more Units across the Mountain border. Movement into Friendly Areas is not restricted.
Action Terminology: An Activate Units Action is sometimes more colloquially referred to as an Activation. When this chapter speaks of a Land Activation or a Naval Activation it means an Activate Units Action taken for its Land or Naval Activation option (see 'Military Actions', p. 16).
Similarly, a Recruit Units Action is sometimes just called a Recruit Action.
Military Access. You can always move Units into Areas with at least 1 Province whose Lawful Owner or Controller is either Friendly or your Enemy.
To move your troops into Areas where there are only Neutral Provinces, you must be at War, and either remove 1 Influence from the Area in question or pay 3 Ducats.
Military Access is not available in Neutral Areas in which you have a Claim.
If Opponents Own every Province in a Neutral Area, you may not move troops into that Area without verbal permission from one of those Opponents.
Reorganizing Armies. During a Land Activation, an Army can pick up or drop off Units at any point during its Movement, and it may be split up or merged with another of your Armies.
Only Regular Infantry Units may be dropped off in an Area, but other Land Units may be shifted between different Armies.
Naval Movement. A Naval Activation has two options: you may Undock to move any number of Ships out of Port to their adjacent Sea Zones, or you may perform a Naval Movement to move any number of Ships to a single destination (Sea Zone or Port) within those Ships' range. A Ship may move up to 2 spaces (Sea Zones or Ports), but must end its movement if it enters a Hostile or Distant Sea Zone.
Activated Ships may only enter a Hostile Sea Zone if that Sea Zone is the end destination of all Ships being moved. Moving into a Hostile Sea Zone immediately triggers a Naval Battle.
Occupying Trade Protection Slots: Light Ships that end their Movement in a non-Hostile Sea Zone may be used to occupy any vacant Trade Protection Slots in that Sea Zone.
Reorganizing Fleets. During a Naval Activation, a Fleet can pick up or drop off Units at the start and/or end points of its Movement. Only Light Ships may be dropped off in a Sea Zone or Port.
Naval Movement during other Actions. During a Trade or Explore Action, you may move 1 of your Light Ships to a non-Hostile Sea Zone, using otherwise normal Movement Rules, with these exceptions:
- During a Trade Action, the Ship that was moved may be used to displace an Opponent's Ship from a Trade Protection Slot in its destination Sea Zone if no free slots.
- During an Explore Action, the Ship has to end its Movement in a Sea Zone on a Distant Continent.
Ships in Port. A Port is a space that can be entered just like a Sea Zone, but by Friendly Ships only. Ships in a Port cannot be attacked by Enemy Ships.
A Port may normally hold up to 2 Ships. The Port of a Large Province/Town (a Large Port) counts as 2 Ports, but may hold up to 6 Ships, if they are part of the same Fleet.
Damaged Heavy Ships are automatically repaired if they end a Turn or Round in a Port.
Ships in Ports that cease to be Friendly by any other means than Sieges must immediately move to any non-Hostile adjacent Sea Zone if possible, or else be disbanded.
Naval Transport of Land Units. Ships at sea form a Naval Bridge across the Sea Zones they occupy. A Naval Bridge may extend across any number of Sea Zones as long as the chain of Ships is unbroken.
Each Sea Zone in a Naval Bridge may be crossed by up to 3 Land Units for each Friendly Ship present in that Sea Zone.
Land Units may cross any number of Sea Zones as long as a Naval Bridge connects the Areas where they embark and disembark.
A player may use Ships belonging to their PR Allies, but only if there are no Enemy Ships in any of the Sea Zones in question.
Land Units may disembark in Hostile Areas; this may result in an immediate Land Battle. To disembark in a Hostile Area when using Allied Ships for Naval Transport, those Allies also need to be at War with one of the Enemies present in that Hostile Area.
During Land Movement: When Naval Transport is performed while moving Land Units (as part of a Land Activation, a Retreat, or an Action Card's effect), treat the Areas on either side of the Naval Bridge as adjacent during movement. The bridge itself does not count as a space while moving, but movement must always end in the Area in which the Units disembark.
During Naval Movement: During a Naval Activation, following Naval Movement (after any Naval Battles have been resolved), you may transport an Army/Unit across a Naval Bridge that includes any of the just-moved ships. This requires that the Army/Unit to be transported be located in an Area adjacent to the Naval Bridge.
Movement on Distant Continents. On the Distant Continents, Land Units move between Areas along the white lines connecting them on the map.
Land Movement on the Distant Continents is only allowed in Friendly Areas, Areas containing an Enemy Province, and vacant Territories containing your own or any Enemy's Claim. Movement into Neutral Areas on the Distant Continents is not allowed.
When an Army, Fleet, or Military Unit moves into any Area or Sea Zone on a Distant Continent, its movement ends immediately. This is regardless of whether movement started on or off a Distant Continent.
If you have no Claim, Town, or Vassal adjacent to a Sea Zone on a Distant Continent, you must take an Explore Action to enter that Sea Zone.
Entering or Leaving a Distant Continent. Fleets and Ships may enter, leave, and move between the Distant Continents via Sea Zones marked with matching letters.
When moving Ships between the Far East and the America maps, you must spend an additional Monarch Power of any type.
Some Areas on the Distant Continents are connected to Areas on the main map, as indicated by the lines marked with the names of those connected Areas.
Example: Continuing on from the Declare War example on page 16, Castile uses no Battle Cards, but the General (Francisco) provides them with 2 (orange) Cavalry Dice in addition to the standard 3 (white) Infantry Dice. They roll a shaded Infantry symbol, an outlined Infantry symbol, a Cavalry symbol, an Artillery symbol, and a blank, for 2 hits with their Infantry Units, and 1 hit with their Cavalry Unit. The defenders roll 3 Infantry Dice, getting an outlined Infantry symbol, a Cavalry symbol, and a blank, for 1 hit, since NPRs only count the fully shaded Infantry icons.
Castile must remove 1 Unit as a Casualty. They pick an Infantry Unit, which they return to the Exhausted Manpower area on their Player Mat. Both defenders are removed from the board. Castile then, as the Active Player, collects 1 Military Power for winning the Battle.
On a later Turn, Castile may spend 2 Military Power to Siege the Provinces of Granada and Gibraltar. Note that, in order to Siege Gibraltar Castile will need to have a Ship in an adjacent Sea Zone.
9.6 Battle Sequence
For each Round of Battle (Land or Naval), perform the steps below in order.
The attacker is always the Active Player's side or, in the case of DoWs out of Turn, the side of the Realm that Declares War.
- Battle Preparations (only 1st Round). Determine Main Defender if needed. Appoint Generals. Military Idea effects.
- Play Battle Actions. Attacker first, then defender.
- Roll Battle Dice. Both sides simultaneously.
- Assign Casualties
- Wounded Leaders & Captured Ships
- Retreat (or continue fighting). Attacker decides first, then defender. Go back to Step 2 if Battle continues.
- Proclaim a Winner. Active Player may once per Turn gain 1 Military Power for a Battle won in the Action Phase.
Repeat the sequence (skipping Step 1) if both sides decide to continue fighting.
If a player decides to Retreat, they lose 1 additional Unit/Ship as a Casualty.
NPRs Retreat after any Round of Battle if they are weaker (have fewer Units) than their opponent, unless defending their Capital Area, last remaining Area, or a Sea Zone adjacent to their Capital Area (see p. 36).
The effects of a Battle Action last for the duration of a Battle, unless otherwise stated.
9.7 Land Battles
At any point during the Action Phase or Peace & Rebels Phase, a Land Battle will commence if any of these situations occur:
- Units Hostile to each other end up in the same Area (Rebels are Hostile to all PRs).
- Units move into, or are Recruited in, an Area containing one or more Enemy NPR Provinces (see p. 36).*
- PR Units are located in an Area where, upon a DoW, one or more NPR Provinces become Hostile to the PR (p. 36).*
* No Battle is triggered with an NPR if Units Hostile to that NPR were in that Area prior to the current Turn.
If multiple Battles are triggered on the same Turn, e.g., upon DoW, during Recruiting, or using Logistics Master, the Active Player decides the order in which to resolve them.
1. Battle Preparations. At the start of the Battle, the attacker has a final chance to take the Appoint Leader Minor Action to assign a General to their Army. Then, the defender may do the same as a Reaction, if they are defending one of the Areas of their Realm. Each side may only use 1 General per Battle. If there are multiple defenders, a Main Defender must be determined (as described in the 'Fighting multiple Enemies' section).
The Appoint Leader Action may not be taken again during the same Battle.
Any Military Ideas that take effect at the start of a Battle must now be accounted for (e.g., "Military Drill" or "Noble Knights").
2. Play Battle Actions. The attacker must play all the Battle Actions they wish to use, before the defender does so.
3. Roll Battle Dice. Each side rolls 3 Infantry Dice (white), adding any dice from Generals, who provide the Battle Dice shown on their name banners.
Add additional Battle Dice for any Battle Actions that were played (such as Superior Tactics or Inspired Leadership).
Both sides involved in Battle roll their dice simultaneously, and hits are counted against Units that match the icons rolled on the dice. Infantry hit on a shaded or outlined Infantry symbol, Cavalry hit on a Cavalry symbol, and Artillery hit on an Artillery symbol. You match icons with Units, regardless of the color of the dice.
The outlined Infantry icon may be counted as an additional Infantry hit only if you have the "Tercios/Janissaries" or "Line Infantry" Military Ideas.
There are three types of Battle Dice: Infantry Die, Cavalry Die, and Artillery Die.
4. Assign Casualties. You inflict Casualties on your Enemy equal to the number of icons rolled that match your Units in that battle. Each Unit can only inflict 1 Casualty per roll.
If a player taking Casualties has a combination of Mercenary, Regular, and/or Allied Units, they must alternate applying Casualties to Units in each category, one at a time and in that order. If there are multiple Unit types (Infantry, Cavalry, or Artillery) within a category, the player chooses which type to remove.
Regular Units are placed on the Play Mat's Exhausted Manpower area. Mercenaries and Allied Units are returned to the General Supply.
5. Wounded Generals. For each pair of outlined Infantry symbols that a player rolls, any Enemy General in use in this Battle gets 1 Ill Health token, provided that the Enemy also suffered at least 1 Casualty. A General receiving his second Ill Health token dies. If a dead General is a Realm's Ruler, see Ruler Death (p. 20).
6. Retreat. If Units remain on both sides after rolling the dice and removing Casualties, another Round of Battle may occur. Before this can happen, each side has the option to Retreat. The attacker chooses first, followed by the defender. If both sides decide to continue fighting, repeat the Battle sequence starting with Step 2, as described above.
If a player chooses to Retreat from a Battle, they lose 1 additional Unit as a Casualty.
Any Units that moved into the Area this Turn must Retreat to the Area(s) from which they attacked. Units attacking via Naval Transport must Retreat back across the Sea to the Area from which they embarked.
Units that were located in the Area prior to Battle may Retreat to any adjacent Area where no Battle would be triggered (Military Access and Naval Transport rules apply). All Units from the same PR must Retreat to a single Area. If no eligible Area exists, they may not Retreat.
7. Proclaim a Winner. The winner of a Battle is the side who has Units remaining in the Area after all Casualties and Retreats have been resolved. If no Units remain at all, the Battle has no winner.
If the Active Player is victorious in a Battle, they earn 1 Military Power. This applies to Battles that take place in the Action Phase only, and not to Battles versus Rebel Units in the Peace & Rebels Phase. If multiple Battles (Land or Naval) are triggered on a Turn, only 1 Military Power may be earned.
Fighting multiple Enemies. If a Battle is triggered in an Area where multiple Realms face a common Enemy, these Units fight as one united force for the duration of the Battle, whether they are Allied or not, and roll just 1 set of Battle Dice.
NPR Units defending their own Area are not added to the Army Mat of a PR fighting on the NPR's side, and they will be removed from the map at the end of Battle as normal.
If there are 2+ PRs defending together, the PR with the most Units will be named as the Main Defender. If tied, the player who last took a Turn (among the defenders) may decide who will be the Main Defender.
Only the Active Player and the Main Defender may use a General in the Battle, play Battle Actions, and roll the Battle Dice.
Retreats are resolved separately for each PR, even if they fought on the same side.
Assigning Casualties to multiple factions. When there are multiple factions fighting on the same side of a Battle, assign Casualties by alternating between these, going from the largest to the smallest faction (number of Units), with the Active Player deciding ties.
Example: Having played Military Reforms on a previous Turn, France now Activates one of their Armies and moves it into the neighboring Area where their Enemies, England and Castile, each have an Army. France also Appoints a +2 Cavalry Dice General to their Army.
England, with 6 Units present (Castile has 4 Units), will be the Main Defender, and their +2 Infantry Dice General takes charge. Castile's Military Idea "Tercios/Janissaries" thus does not count, while England's Idea "Military Drill" will take effect; England decides that France must remove 1 of the Cavalry Dice provided by their General.
France has the "Noble Knights" Idea and 3 Cavalry Units in their Army, and gets to roll 3 Cavalry Dice before the first Battle Round, inflicting a Casualty for each of the 2 Cavalry symbols that they roll. England and Castile must remove 1 Unit each.
In the Play Battle Actions step, France goes first and uses the Innovatory Tactics Battle Action on their Military Reforms card, spending 1 Military Power as well as discarding 1 of the Cubes marking available uses on the card. They decide to add 2 Cavalry Dice and 2 Artillery Dice to their pool of dice for this Battle.
France will thus roll the basic 3 Infantry Dice, as well as 3 Cavalry Dice and 2 Artillery Dice, in each Battle Round of this Battle.
9.8 Sieges & Occupation
To initiate a Siege, a Land Activation must be taken for the Siege option. Sieging is required to Occupy and gain Control of Enemy Provinces.
Perform the following steps in order once you have paid the Action cost of 1 Military Power:
-
Pick an Area with 1+ Enemy Controlled Provinces, but no Enemy Units, where you have 1+ Land Units
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Calculate the total Siege Strength for the Units you wish to use for the Siege, and pay an additional Military Power for each Unit taking part beyond the first.
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The Enemy Provinces you wish to Siege must have a total Tax Value equal to or lower than your Siege Strength.
If you wish to Siege an Island Province (blue Port), you need to have 1+ Ships in a Sea Zone that the Port is facing.
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Resolve effects of "Defensive Mentality", if any of the Province Owners has it.
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When Sieging:
- a Rebel Occupied Province, simply remove the Rebel Town. Also remove any Unrest from this Province.
- an NPR Province, place an Occupied token on that Province, and then 1 of your own Towns, of matching size, with the Unrest side facing up, on top of it.
- a Hostile PR's Province, place your own Town, with the Unrest side facing up, on top of their Town or Vassal token. That player must then cover up a corresponding slot on the Town Track or Vassal Track of their Player Mat with a Cube, to signify that this Province provides no Tax Income.
- an Enemy Occupied Province, whose Lawful Owner is Neutral or Friendly (including you), simply return the Occupier's Town to their Town Track.
- a Rebel/Enemy Occupied Province whose Lawful Owner is also your Enemy, replace Occupier's Town/Rebel Town with your Town (Unrest side facing up).
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Ships in the Port of a Sieged Province must immediately be moved into an adjacent Sea Zone – if this is a Hostile Sea Zone, a Naval Battle will immediately take place.
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Players who regain Control of any of their Provinces that have been Occupied, may remove a matching number of Cubes from the corresponding slots of their Town Track or Vassal Track.
Occupied Provinces. Provinces Sieged from a Realm you are at War with are referred to as Occupied. The Occupied token is used to mark NPR Provinces that are currently Occupied, and thus Controlled, by a PR. As the Town or Vassal token of the Lawful Owner stays in place underneath the Occupier's Town when a player's Province is Occupied, the use of the Occupied token is not needed in these cases.
An Occupied Province has both a de jure "owner" (the Lawful Owner) and a de facto "owner" (the Occupant) and is therefore considered to have disputed Ownership. In game terms, this means that such Provinces are not considered to be included in the terms Own or Realm. When determining if a Province is Owned by someone, and thus part of their Realm, that Province has to be both Lawfully Owned and Controlled by the same Realm.
9.9 Naval Battles
At any point during the Action Phase or Peace & Rebels Phase, a Naval Battle will commence if any of these situations occur:
- Ships Hostile to each other end up in the same Sea Zone.
- A PR wishes to fight the Pirates in a Trade Node adjacent to where their Activated Ships ended a Naval Activation.
- Ships move into a Sea Zone facing one or more Enemy NPR Ports (see p. 36).*
- PR Ships are located in a Sea Zone where, upon a DoW, one or more NPR Ports become Hostile to the PR (see p. 36).*
* No Battle is triggered with an NPR if Ships Hostile to that NPR were already there prior to the current Turn.
If multiple Naval Battles are triggered upon a DoW, the Active Player decides the order in which to resolve them.
Ships may not transport any Land Units until the Naval Battle has been resolved.
Ships in Trade Protection slots must vacate these slots if they fight a Naval Battle.
1. Battle Preparations. Defenders may not Appoint Admirals at the start of a Naval Battle. Otherwise, this step works in the same way as in a Land Battle.
2. Play Battle Actions. Works the same way as in a Land Battle.
3. Roll Naval Battle Dice. Dice rolling in Naval Battles works similarly to Land Battles, except that you roll 3 Artillery Dice (blue) as a base instead of 3 Infantry Dice, with each Ship inflicting a Casualty on the Enemy if it can be matched with an Artillery symbol result.
Additionally, each Heavy Ship also inflicts 1 automatic hit on the Enemy.
4. Assign Casualties. Players taking Casualties choose which Ships to remove from Battle; these are returned to the player's Supply.
Heavy Ships can take 2 hits before being removed as Casualties. Lay a Heavy Ship on its side (or position it vertically for Standard Ed.) if it has been damaged. A damaged Heavy Ship is repaired if it ends a Turn or Round in a Friendly Port.
5A. Wounded Admirals. For each pair of outlined Artillery symbols that a player rolls, any Enemy Admiral in use in this Battle gets 1 Ill Health token, provided that the Enemy also suffered at least 1 Casualty. An Admiral receiving his second Ill Health token dies.
5B. Captured Enemy Ships. After assigning all Casualties and wounds, you may Capture Enemy Ships if you have Ships remaining and you have eliminated all of the Enemy's Ships.
For each outlined Artillery symbol result you rolled in the final Round of Battle, convert 1 Enemy Casualty from that Round into a captured Ship.
Your Enemy decides which of their Ships are captured and which are sunk, and return those Ships to their Supply. From your own Supply, you may take as many Ships as you Captured and place them into the Sea Zone where the Battle occurred, or on the appropriate section of your Fleet Mat (provided that the Fleet is present or available to be deployed there).
6. Retreat. Retreats at sea work much like Retreats on land, except that Ships must retreat into adjacent Sea Zones or Ports.
Ships may only Retreat to an adjacent non-Hostile Sea Zone, or into an adjacent Friendly Port, otherwise they cannot Retreat. All retreating Ships belonging to the same Realm must Retreat to a single destination.
A player who decides to Retreat must lose 1 Ship of their choice as a Casualty.
7. Proclaim a Winner. The winner of a Naval Battle is the side who has Ships remaining in the Sea Zone once all Casualties and Retreats have been resolved. If there are no Ships remaining from either side, the Naval Battle has no winner.
If the Active Player is victorious in a Naval Battle, they earn 1 Military Power. Even if multiple Battles (Land or Naval) are triggered on a Turn, only 1 Military Power may be earned.
Fighting multiple Enemies. Works in the same way as in a Land Battle.
10. Peace Resolution
Peace Resolution is exclusively handled in Step D of the Peace & Rebels Phase.
Players resolve Peace for one Enemy at a time. However, a PR with Active Allies normally resolves Peace on behalf of their Active Allies as well.
Vassals are treated as part of their Overlord's Realm for Peace Resolution purposes.
10.1 Peace Resolution Sequence
During Phase 3, Step D: Peace Resolution, follow the sequence below in order to resolve any ongoing Wars. You may also use the Peace Resolution flow chart (separate sheet) to guide you through the process.
1. Automatic White Peace. If any ongoing Wars meet the Automatic White Peace requirements, these Wars all end immediately. Add/remove Truce/War tokens where relevant (see section 10.4).
When checking for Automatic White Peace, count an Enemy's Active Allies as part of that Enemy's Realm. Such a Peace cannot be concluded separately with an Active Ally. If you conclude a White Peace with a PR with Active Allies, you are now at Peace with all of their Active Allies too.
2. Total Victory. If any player meets the Total Victory requirements for any of their Wars at this stage, resolve these Wars in Turn order (one player resolves all their Total Victories before moving on to the next player, in clockwise order).
Victory/Peace Conditions
| Condition | Requirements | Peace Terms Allowed | Separate Peace w/ Active Allies? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic White Peace | Neither side in the War Occupy any of their Enemy's Provinces (including Provinces of any of their Enemy's Vassals or Active Allies). | White Peace | No |
| Total Victory | A PR Occupies all of a single Enemy's de jure Provinces, and this Enemy has no Deployed Land Units remaining. (When resolving Total Victories, any Active Allies of a PR Enemy are treated separately from that PR.) | All terms are allowed (as long as any term-specific additional requirements are met) | No (except when enforcing the Secure Desired Succession Peace Term) |
| Partial Victory | Human player Enemy: PR's Deployed Land Units outnumber the Deployed Land Units of their Enemy 2:1,* or the Enemy Surrenders. NPR or Bot Enemy: PR's Deployed Land Units outnumber the total number of Rebel Units in their Areas, plus any Deployed Enemy Land Units.* | Apart from Full Annexation, all Peace Terms are allowed (as long as any term-specific additional requirements are met) | Yes |
| Inconclusive Result | None of the above requirements are met. | — | No |
* Units located on Distant Continents where the other Realm has no Town do not count towards these calculations.
When determining if a player has met Total Victory requirements versus any Realm, or when resolving the Peace Terms of Total Victories, treat a PR Enemy's Active Allies separately from that Enemy.
All Wars where Total Victory has been achieved must be resolved before moving on. The Victor must enforce Peace Terms of their choosing unless a Negotiated Peace is agreed with the Loser. When Peace has been resolved with another PR's Active Ally, remove that PR's Alliance token from that NPR.
Add/remove Truce/War tokens where relevant (see section 10.4).
3. Remaining Wars. Beginning with the first player and going clockwise, each player then resolves (or decides not to resolve) all of their remaining Wars. A player must resolve all of the Wars that they wish to end, in any order they like, before the next player may do the same.
During this step of Peace Resolution PRs resolve Peace on behalf of their Active Allies (see section 10.3). Otherwise, Peace is resolved with one Enemy Realm at a time.
Where a player has met the Partial Victory requirements, they may choose to enforce or negotiate (for human player Enemies) Peace Terms.
In a War where no side is Victorious, an NPR Enemy will (and a Bot might) accept a White Peace, while Peace Terms must be negotiated for a human player Enemy.
Add/remove Truce/War tokens where relevant (see section 10.4).
4. Aftermath. After Peace Resolution, any PR which is now at Peace must immediately:
- Relocate their Units in Neutral Areas to the nearest Friendly Area (counting each Area or Sea Zone as a distance of 1 space). If several Friendly Areas are equally close, the player may choose in which of these Areas to put their Units. This does not cost any Military Power.
- Flip all their Active Ally tokens back to the Alliance side, and return all Allied Units in their Armies and Manpower Reserve to the General Supply.
10.2 Victory or Defeat
If you meet the requirements for Partial or Total Victory (as per the table above), including if your Enemy Surrenders, you are considered to be the Victor of that War.
Note: An NPR is always considered to have 0 Land Units Deployed.
A player may end up as the Victor of a War where the only terms they are capable of enforcing are really unfavorable (notably if the Enemy has achieved bigger territorial gains than they have). In such cases the Victor may prefer (if the Loser does not Surrender) to continue the War or try to agree to a Negotiated Peace with their Enemy.
Neither Side is Victorious. Some Wars will end with an Automatic White Peace or Inconclusive Result, and thus have no Victor or Loser.
With an Automatic White Peace, the Peace Terms are fixed. However, with an Inconclusive Result, neither side can enforce their preferred Peace Terms unless a player wishes to Surrender.
An NPR will always accept a White Peace if one is offered. A Bot will, in the case of an Inconclusive Result, accept a White Peace offer if their Enemy has captured (Occupies) Provinces of a greater Tax Value from the Bot, than the Bot has captured (Occupies) from their Enemy.
Surrendering. A player may voluntarily Surrender, even if the Enemy has not met the requirements for Total or Partial Victory, and thereby name their Enemy as the Victor of that War.
By Surrendering, you immediately lose 2 Prestige, and your Enemy gains 2 Prestige.
If you Surrender, your Enemy is allowed to enforce Peace as if they had achieved a Partial Victory. They must, however, end the War this Round, either by enforcing one of the applicable Peace Terms or by agreeing to a Negotiated Peace with you.
Enforcing Peace Terms. Being Victorious means that you may enforce the Peace Terms that match the Victory Conditions that have been met.
10.3 Peace and Allies
If you win a War against an Alliance of two PRs, Victory Conditions and Peace Terms are resolved individually for each PR Enemy.
PRs must resolve Peace on behalf of their Active NPR Allies – that is, those that have had their Alliance token flipped to the Active Ally side.
Peace Rules for Active Allies
Automatic White Peace. When determining if Automatic White Peace requirements have been met, count Active Allies as part of their PR Ally's Realm. If requirements are met, you enter a White Peace with both the PR and their Active Allies.
Total Victory. When determining and resolving Total Victories against Active Allies, treat them as any other NPR. Once Peace has been resolved for such an Active Ally, the PR Allied to that NPR must discard Allied Units equal to ½ of that NPR's pre-War NPR Strength. The Alliance token is then removed from the board.
Partial Victory. Unless you have achieved a Partial Victory against your PR Enemy, you have not achieved this against their Active Allies either. If you have achieved a Partial Victory against a PR Enemy, on the other hand, that also applies to all Active Allies of that PR.
In this case Peace is enforced or negotiated simultaneously for the PR as well as their Active Allies. Only a single Peace Term may be selected for all the Realms involved in a Peace Resolution (PRs as well as their Active Allies), which is resolved as detailed below.
Peace Terms. White Peace works exactly the same as normal, while Full Annexation is only possible with Total Victories being resolved individually for Active Allies.
Humiliation only grants Prestige for Provinces returned to PR Enemies directly. Any Provinces Lawfully Owned by their Active Allies must be returned without any Prestige reward.
With the Keep Current Board State Peace Term, treat Provinces Lawfully Owned by your Enemies' Active Allies mostly like any other Provinces you Occupy. You may keep them as normal (except for Capitals), or return them to get Ducats in return. It is not, however, possible to Liberate the Provinces of an Enemy's Active Allies in order to gain Prestige.
For the Vassalization and Force Conversion Terms, only apply the Peace Term effects to the Realms involved, for which the Victor can also satisfy all the additional requirements. For the remaining Realms, treat this as a White Peace between the parties (with no Prestige loss), with Occupied Provinces being returned to their Lawful Owners.
The Secure Desired Succession Peace Term can be enforced separately on an NPR regardless of their Active Ally status.
10.4 Truces
Once a Peace has been concluded, whether enforced or negotiated, the parties involved enter a Truce that lasts until Phase 3 of the next Round.
Flip any War tokens to the Truce side for each Realm with whom you now have a Truce. Truces are not placed on the Active Allies of former Enemies, and never on Vassal Realms. Remove any War/Truce tokens from Realms that have been Vassalized.
You are not allowed to Declare War upon a Realm with whom you have a Truce, but may still join a War against them by accepting a Defensive CtA (see p. 32).
Peace Terms
When resolving Peace, only 1 Peace Term may be chosen per War/Enemy. Any Influence gained can be placed in Areas that are full – displace other Influence as necessary.
The requirements for each Peace Term are listed as bullet points below.
White Peace
- Total Victory to Enforce
This is a return to the pre-War conditions with no compensation being paid by either party. Any PRs involved lose 1 Prestige each.
All Occupied Provinces must be returned to their Lawful Owners.
Keep Current Board State
- Partial or Total Victory to Enforce
Occupied Capitals must be returned to their Lawful Owners, who must pay a ransom of 10 Ducats to the Occupier.
By default, each side keeps all other Provinces that they currently Occupy, leaving only their Town on those Provinces and returning any other PR's Town/Vassal token to their Player Mats.
However, the Victor (and only the Victor), may instead:
- Exchange any Provinces they Occupy for any Provinces of equal Tax Value that the Loser currently Occupies.
- Return any Provinces they Occupy and demand that the Loser pays them 3 Ducats per Tax Value of Provinces returned.
- Liberate (see p. 37) any Provinces they Occupy that are not Core Provinces of the Loser, and score 1 Prestige per Tax Value Liberated. The Victor may also gain an Alliance with 1 Liberated NPR and place 2 Influence in that NPR's Areas.
The Victor may mix and match the options listed above.
Note: The total Ducats that can be demanded from the return of a Realm's Capital and other Provinces is capped at 2 x Tax Income of the Loser (as calculated after the return of these Provinces).
PRs may, by discarding a Claim from any Area(s) where they have gained Provinces, also remove 2 Unrest from the same Area(s).
PRs that have lost any of their Provinces or Vassal Provinces as a consequence of this War may place a Claim in each Area where they have lost at least 1 Province (if they want).
Humiliation
- Partial or Total Victory to Enforce
- Loser must be a PR
- Victor must Occupy Loser's Capital or Loser must have Surrendered
All Occupied Provinces must be returned to their Lawful Owners.
The Victor scores Prestige equal to 2 x Tax Value of the Provinces returned to the Loser (max. 10 Prestige). The Loser loses the same amount of Prestige. No Prestige is scored from Provinces returned to the Loser's Active Allies.
Full Annexation
- Total Victory to Enforce
- Loser must be an NPR or Bot
The Loser's de jure Provinces are fully incorporated into the Victor's Realm. Remove all Alliance, Royal Marriage, War tokens, and Occupied tokens from the Annexed Provinces.
If the Loser was an Active Ally of a PR, that PR loses 2 Prestige.
The Victor may, by discarding a Claim from any Area(s) where they Annexed Provinces, also remove 2 Unrest from the same Area(s).
Secure Desired Succession
- Partial or Total Victory to Enforce
- Loser's Capital must have a Disputed Succession token
- Victor must Occupy Loser's Capital
- Ignore Loser's Active Ally status
All Occupied Provinces must be returned to their Lawful Owners. If the Loser is an NPR, all their other Wars end on White Peace terms.
Remove all Royal Marriage/Disputed Succession and Alliance/Active Ally tokens from the Loser's Capital other than the Victor's. The Victor scores 3 Prestige per Royal Marriage/Disputed Succession token removed, and the token owners lose 3 Prestige each.
If the Victor has a Disputed Succession token on the Loser's Capital, they must flip it over and score Prestige equal to the Loser's Tax Income (max. 5).
The Victor may, if the Loser is an NPR, add 4 Influence to the Loser's Capital Area or, if the Loser is a PR, replace the Loser's Ruler with a Leader from any discard pile. The Victor may then gain an Alliance with the Loser.
Vassalization
- Partial or Total Victory to Enforce
- Loser must be an NPR
- Victor must Occupy Loser's Capital and at least 1 of Loser's de jure Provinces in another Area (if any)
The Loser becomes a Vassal (see p. 33) of the Victor. The Victor places their Vassal tokens on all of the Loser's de jure Provinces (except any Provinces Occupied by other PRs), and returns all of their Towns from these Provinces to the Town Track on their Player Mat.
The Victor may place 2 Influence in the Loser's Realm. Add Unrest to all Vassal tokens gained in Areas where the Victor Occupied no Provinces. Remove all Alliance/Royal Marriage tokens from the Loser's Realm.
The Victor may, by discarding a Claim from any Area(s) where they have just gained Vassal tokens, also remove 2 Unrest from the same Area(s).
Force Conversion
- Partial or Total Victory to Enforce
- Victor must Control all Provinces in Loser's Capital Area
- Victor's Religion differs from Loser's
All Occupied Provinces must be returned to their Lawful Owners.
The Loser must change their State Religion and the Religion of their Capital Area to match the State Religion of the Victor.
The Victor gains 3 Prestige, and may add 2 Influence in the Loser's Capital Area. The Loser loses 5 Prestige and must remove 4 Influence from the board.
Negotiated Peace
- Not Enforceable
- Both parties must be human players
Regardless of whether or not conditions for Victory have been met, players may negotiate Peace Terms between themselves. The players may also agree on who will be named as the Victor or Loser, if anyone.
Players may agree on any of the other Peace Terms listed here, except Vassalization and Full Annexation, as long as their corresponding additional requirements are met.
Keep in mind that Peace Terms are generally unilateral, e.g., both parties cannot Humiliate each other, Force Conversion upon each other, or Secure Desired Succession on each other.
If agreeing to Keep Current Board State terms, either of the parties may exchange Occupied Provinces for Ducats, and both sides may agree to Liberate Provinces if they give up all Prestige gains from Liberation.
As normal, only 1 Peace Term may be selected per War.
Optionally, in addition to picking one of the other listed Peace terms, the players may agree on one of them taking an immediate Cut Ties and/or Player-to-Player Diplomacy Action (paying for the Action as normal), disregarding the restrictions for being at War, as part of the Peace Resolution. The terms for this Action and the Peace Terms are settled as one agreement, and not separately.
Note: alongside these entries, the manual includes a "Peace Term Eligibility" summary grid cross-referencing Enemy type (Human/Bot/NPR), whether the Victor must Occupy the Loser's Capital, and any additional requirements against each Peace Term; its content matches the individual requirements listed above for each term.
Optional Rule 3: No Surrender! Surrendering is not allowed. All Wars continue until terms can be enforced or the belligerents can agree on a Negotiated Peace.
Note: For Peace Resolutions involving the Emperor of the HRE, when the Emperor is Defending the HRE, see page 44.
11. Diplomatic Relations
11.1 Influence
Influence signifies political power and good relations with NPRs in Areas that you do not directly control. Certain Diplomatic Actions, like Forge Alliance or the Subjugate Action Card, require you to have a certain amount of Influence in the target Realm.
No Area can hold more than 5 Influence, and it is possible to fill an Area with Influence in order to prevent other players from taking the Influence Action to place Influence there.
Influence gained via Events, Mission rewards, or Peace Terms can be placed in Areas that are full – remove other Influence as necessary.
Any PR's Influence can be sabotaged by the Spy Networks of their Opponents.
If you do not have Cubes remaining in your Supply, you may freely remove your Influence from the board to use them where needed.
Influence and Player Realms. Influence cannot be used to affect other PRs, and may not be placed in Areas where all Provinces are owned by PRs.
Once all the Provinces in an Area are Owned by PRs, all Influence here are removed and returned to their owners' Supply.
Influence on Distant Continents. No Influence can be placed in Distant Areas, but Colonists in the Colonist Pool, for Forge Alliance and Call to Arms purposes, count as Influence in any Distant Area.
11.2 Marriages
Royal Marriages in the game represent close dynastic ties between Realms and can be gained by using the Royal Marriage Action Card. In these rules, the terms "Royal Marriage" and simply "Marriage" are used interchangeably.
You can have a maximum of 3 Royal Marriages (the "Cabinet" Idea allows for 1 more).
Key features of Royal Marriages
- For all purposes, a Royal Marriage counts as an Influence, but Royal Marriages cannot be removed and do not count toward an Area's 5 Influence limit.
- Whenever you take an Action (or play an Action Card) that requires you to remove Influence from an Area, remove 1 fewer Influence than normal if you have 1+ Royal Marriage in that Area.
- A Marriage makes it possible to Subjugate an NPR that has Base Tax higher than ½ of your own Base Tax Income, or an NPR that has Vassals of its own.
- Royal Marriages are triggers for a number of Events (e.g., Disputed Succession).
- You receive a -1 Stability penalty if you attack a Realm to which you are Married (in addition to any loss of Stability that may occur as a result of lacking a Casus Belli).
Eligible Marriage Partners. Several PRs can be Married to the same NPR.
You may Marry your own Vassals, but not those of other Realms. If an NPR to whom you are Married becomes another Realm's Vassal, you must remove your Royal Marriage from it.
You may enter a Marriage with an Opponent Realm (see Player-to-Player Diplomacy), in which case both will gain an Action Card of a type chosen by the Active Player.
Eligible Marriage partners based on State Religion:
- Christian PRs: other Christian Realms
- Muslim PRs: other Muslim Realms
- Revolutionary PRs: no other Realms
Disputed Succession. Having a Royal Marriage with another Realm also comes with the risk of dragging you into a conflict over a Disputed Succession. A Disputed Succession may be triggered by the Event of the same name, as well as certain other Events or by an Interregnum (see p. 20).
When a Disputed Succession is triggered for a Realm, flip all the Marriage tokens in that Realm to their "Disputed Succession" side. A flipped Marriage token provides a CB for all players (p. 22). The token's owner risks suffering a Prestige loss if taking no action, as described on page 9.
11.3 Alliances
An Alliance is a pact between Realms to support each other in the event of War.
You can have a maximum of 3 Alliances (the "Cabinet" Idea allows for 1 more).
Key features of Alliances
- Treat your Ally's Units, Areas, and Ports as Friendly.
- Allies may normally not Declare War on each other (see DoW restrictions, p. 22).
- You may send and receive Calls to Arms.
- You may play the Subjugate Action Card to Vassalize an Ally (see section 11.4).
- An NPR can only be Allied to 1 PR.
- It is not possible to Forge Alliances (p. 15) while you are at War, or with Realms that are at War (incl. Active Allies).
Call to Arms (CtA)
- When you Declare War, or someone Declares War on you or your NPR Ally, you may send a Call to Arms (p. 13).
- You may receive a CtA when someone Declares War on your Ally, or your Ally Declares War on another Realm.
Sending a CtA. One of the main benefits of Alliances is that you may use the Call to Arms Minor Action (p. 13) to call for support in times of War.
Receiving a CtA. An Ally may send you an Offensive CtA when they Declare War on another Realm, or a Defensive CtA when they are the target of a DoW – NPRs automatically always do so at once when targeted by a DoW.
You must immediately respond to a CtA, after determining if you can accept it:
- If this is a Defensive CtA you can always accept (no DoW restrictions apply).
- If this is an Offensive CtA you must adhere to DoW restrictions (p. 22). If a CtA cannot be accepted, it must be refused.
Accepting a CtA. When you accept a CtA, you immediately join your Ally's side in the War.
- If accepting an Offensive CtA, place War tokens on your Ally's Enemies. If accepting a Defensive CtA, place Enemy PRs' War tokens on your own Capital.
- If accepting a Defensive CtA from an NPR Ally, you may send Defensive CtAs to your other NPR Allies using the Call to Arms Action (p. 13).
- If you accept a Defensive CtA when you are also Allied to a PR on the opposing side, your Alliance with that PR is terminated.
- If accepting a CtA from an NPR, decide whether you wish to make them an Active Ally or not.
- Return to the appropriate step of the Declare War Action sequence (p. 16).
Note: Joining a War by accepting a CtA does not trigger any new opportunity for your Enemies to send CtAs.
Refusing a CtA. When you refuse a CtA, the Alliance with the sender is terminated.
- Remove your Alliance token from the Ally sending the CtA.
- If this was an Active Ally, you lose a number of Allied Units from your Available Manpower or Armies equal to ½ of the NPR's pre-War NPR Strength. Your Enemy must place a War token on your former Active Ally. This is now a separate War.
- If this is a Defensive CtA, you lose 2 Prestige and must remove 5 Influence from your former Ally's Areas.
- If this is a Defensive CtA and your former Ally is a PR, they may place a CB token on your Capital.
- If your former Ally is an NPR, or a PR that has no CB token on your Capital, you must place a Truce token on their Capital (and if a PR, they must on yours).
- Return to the appropriate step of the Declare War Action sequence (p. 16).
Ignore steps 3 and 4 above if any of the following statements are true:
- You have Passed
- You are already involved in another War
Alliances between Player Realms. PRs are allowed to enter into Alliances with other PRs, but such Alliances are not created through the Forge Alliance Action – it is instead agreed upon as part of a Player-to-Player Diplomacy Action (see p. 12).
Players must respond to CtAs according to the 'Receiving a CtA' section.
Conflicting Alliances. PRs that have Alliances with other PRs may sometimes face situations where they are Allied to Realms on both sides of a War.
If you are Allied to a Realm that has Declared War on another of your Allies, you can only get a CtA from the defender.
Active Allies. When you Activate an NPR Ally due to a CtA, flip the Alliance token to the "Active Ally" side, and immediately add a number of Allied Units equal to ½ of your Ally's NPR Strength to your Available Manpower area (but max. 5 Units). When accepting a CtA from an NPR Ally, you may choose whether or not to Activate that Ally.
The NPR Units in your Manpower Reserve may be recruited during a Recruit Units Action, as described on page 17.
Your Active Allies are considered part of every War that you are currently involved in (or enter into while they are active). These NPRs can be attacked by your Enemies.
Active NPR Allies defend their own Areas with only half MC, since they have provided their PR Ally with part of their forces.
You are allowed to Recruit a number of Allied Units in Areas of your Active Allies, up to their MC for the chosen Area.
Resolving Peace on behalf of Active Allies. You will be able to settle Peace Terms on behalf of all your Active Allies, except for Active Allies that your Enemy has achieved a Total Victory against (see p. 30).
Alliances with Distant NPRs. When sending a CtA to a Distant NPR Ally, discard Colonists instead of Influence. While Distant Realms have double MC for defense, this does not apply when calculating how many Allied Units they contribute.
Ending an Alliance. Alliances can be ended in any of these ways:
- By refusing a CtA, with consequences as described under 'Refusing a CtA'
- By accepting a Defensive CtA from one Ally against another of your Allies, as described under 'Accepting a CtA'
- By using the Disputed Succession CB to Declare War on your Ally (see p. 22)
- Through an Event that either lets you (or forces you to) terminate an Alliance, or that makes a player gain an Alliance with another PR's Ally, or when they have no available Alliance token left (p. 40)
- Through the Forge Alliance Action or the New Alliance Action Card, when one player's Alliance token replaces another player's Alliance token
- If an Enemy achieves a Total Victory against your NPR Ally (p. 29)
- By taking the Cut Ties Minor Action, discarding 5 Influence from Areas belonging to your former Ally, and then placing a Truce token on their Capital.
Ending an Alliance with an Ally at War: In addition to relevant effects listed above, lose 2 Stability and all Influence from Areas of your former Ally. If this was an Active Ally, you lose a number of Allied Units from your Manpower Reserve or Armies equal to ½ of the NPR's pre-War NPR Strength. Your Enemy must place a War token on your former Active Ally. This is now a separate War.
11.4 Vassals
Vassals are subordinate Realms. Vassals of PRs pay Vassal Tax to their Overlord and add to their Overlord's Manpower, as indicated by the Vassal Track.
It is possible to Vassalize an NPR via Peace Resolution or diplomatic Subjugation.
A Vassal can only have Marriage ties with their Overlord, and no other PRs.
Vassals do not count as part of their Overlord's Realm, nor are they considered to be NPRs. As such, Vassal Realms are a separate category of Realm. Vassal Provinces with different flags count as separate Vassals.
Subjugate – Vassalize and Annex. You may use the Subjugate Action Card to diplomatically Vassalize an NPR. This NPR must first be your Ally. When you Vassalize this NPR, remove your Alliance token from their Realm and place Vassal tokens on each of their Provinces (2 Vassal tokens on Large Provinces). All other PRs must remove any Royal Marriage they had on this Realm.
A Vassal may be Annexed and fully integrated into its Overlord's Realm by using another Subjugate card. Replace all your Vassal tokens on the Vassal's Provinces with your Towns, and remove any Royal Marriage there.
You can directly Annex a 1-Tax Ally (Base Tax of 1) without Vassalizing it first.
To play the Subjugate card on your NPR Ally or Vassal, your Base Tax Income must be at least twice that of the target. If you have a Marriage with the target, your Base Tax must simply exceed that of the target Realm.
You must also discard Influence from any of the target's Areas equal to their Base Tax Income plus any Opponent Influence in the target's Areas. Each +1 Manpower token on an NPR's Provinces provides them with 1 extra Base Tax Income.
Subjugating an NPR with Vassals. A Marriage is also required to Vassalize an NPR that has its own Vassals. When playing the Subjugate card, an NPR's Vassals will only become your Vassals if you also discard Influence from their Areas equal to their Base Tax. Otherwise, they are released as NPRs (see p. 35), but you may place an Alliance token on their Capital or a Claim in 1 of their Areas.
NPRs on Distant Continents. A PR cannot Subjugate a Distant Realm.
The Papal States and the Emperor. The Papal States and the Emperor of the HRE can never be Vassalized.
Vassals in Wars. Vassal Realms do not act independently in Wars or Peace Resolution. You must Declare War on, and resolve Peace with, their Overlord instead. A Claim on a Vassal's Area counts as a Conquest CB (see p. 22) against the Vassal Realm's Overlord.
Vassals of PRs do not defend themselves and simply provide Manpower for their Overlord, as shown on the Vassal Track.
A PR's Vassal Provinces contribute to their Overlord's MC, but not to NC (see section 9.2) during Recruit Units (p. 17).
For Vassals of NPRs, see section 13.2.
12. Trade
Apart from Tax Income, Trade is the most common source of Ducat income in the game. The Trade Action is described on page 15.
12.1 Trade Cards
Each Trade Card depicts a trade good and lists 2 or 3 Trade Nodes where that good can be traded. For each Trade Node on the card there are also up to 4 Key Provinces listed. When listed on Trade Cards, the names of Maritime Trade Nodes are followed by a Maritime Trade Node icon.
The top right corner of each Trade Card has a table that lists the Trade Income it provides, according to your Trade Power in the selected node (see section 12.5).
Some Trade Cards have a secondary Trade Node listed in parentheses below one or more of the primary Trade Nodes, and you can read how these work in section 12.5.
Some cards have a special marker next to the trade good name, and one or more numbers in colored boxes on the left. These cards are often not included in the starting Trade Deck (see the various scenario setups), but will enter the game as Distant Continents are discovered (see section 12.6).
Note: Trade Nodes and Key Provinces that are located on the Eastern Europe map board (Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires Exp. only) are listed in light gray text. When playing the Standard Edition of this game, these nodes and Provinces are not in play.
Additional Requirements. Some Trade Cards list Trade Nodes that have additional requirements that must be met in order to collect Trade Income from those nodes. In some cases, there simply has to be a Town, Vassal, or DNPR token on 1 of the Key Provinces. In other cases, you need to Own 1 of the Key Provinces in order to collect Trade Income.
The Anatomy of a Trade Card
Each Trade Card shows: the Card ID; the trade good name and illustration; any linked Distant Continents; the available Trade Node options and any secondary Trade Nodes; the Key Provinces that provide additional Trade Power in each Trade Node (Key Provinces marked with "+" provide one additional Trade Power per "+"); any additional requirements; the Trade Power column; and the Trade Income columns for the Regular node (green) and Expanded node (red).
Gold and Inflation. An economy that becomes too reliant on gold will suffer from inflation and corruption. To represent this, whenever you Trade with a Gold card and your Trade Income from that trade exceeds ½ of your Base Tax Income, you must either pay 1 Administrative Power or take 1 Interest token and add it to your Treasury. Such Interest tokens can be removed as normal, via the Take/Repay Loan Minor Action.
Note: Receiving an Interest token in this way can take you above 5 Interest tokens without causing Bankruptcy. If you go above 5 Interest tokens in this manner, it will prevent you from taking any further Loans, and will cause Bankruptcy if you later cannot cover a mandatory cost.
Slaves. Regrettably, the slave trade was commonplace in many parts of the world during most of the era in which the game takes place. However, with time, it increasingly came to be seen as inhumane.
If you decide to use a Slaves card during your Trade Action in Age III or IV, you will lose 1 Prestige.
12.2 Trade Nodes
Trade Nodes are represented on the board by circular spaces in which players may place their Merchants. These are the key locations through which the world's trade goods are exchanged and transported.
Maritime Trade Nodes are colored blue on the map board, while Inland Trade Nodes are colored light brown.
Eligible Trade Nodes. For a Trade Node to be eligible for selection during a Trade Action, you must have a valid connection to it – that is a continuous chain of Areas and/or Sea Zones between the Trade Node and your Capital Area, where you have Towns, Vassals, Influence, or Light Ships (the actual Area where an Inland Node is located is exempt from this requirement). All Towns and Vassals on Occupied Provinces also count.
12.3 Protecting Trade
Light Ships may be placed in available Trade Protection slots when entering a Sea Zone. When doing so, lay the Ship on its side on the slot (Standard Ed.: flip it over to display the Ship with the Trade Power icon).
Each Light Ship in a Trade Protection slot provides 1 Trade Power to Maritime Trade Nodes adjacent to its Sea Zone.
The number of Trade Protection slots limits the number of Ships that can Protect Trade in each Sea Zone. To replace an Opponent's Ship on a Trade Protection slot you need to take a Trade Action (see p. 15).
12.4 Merchants
Each PR begins the game with 2 Merchants (unless otherwise noted in the scenario setup). PRs can acquire new Merchants by Researching certain Ideas or completing certain Missions.
Each Merchant Pawn provides a Trade Power of 1, and is used to indicate a Realm's presence in a Trade Node. At the beginning of the game, Merchants are placed in Trade Nodes according to the scenario setup. During the game, you may move or place new Merchants by using the Trade Action.
A Merchant is considered available when in an upright position on the board. When a Merchant is activated as a part of a Trade Action, it must be laid on its side; it may not be activated again that Round.
Merchant Limit in Trade Nodes. A Trade Node may contain any number of Merchants, but each player may only have 1 Merchant in a given node. Importantly, only 3 players can collect Trade Income from the same Trade Node during a single Trade Action, since each Income row can only be claimed by 1 player (see below).
12.5 Trade Power & Trade Income
To collect Trade Income from a Trade Node, a PR must have a Merchant there and a valid connection to it.
To determine a PR's Trade Power in an eligible Trade Node during a Trade Action, count:
- 1 Trade Power for your Merchant
- 1 Trade Power for each Key Province you Own that matches the Trade Card's activated node.
- 1 Trade Power for each Light Ship you have in a Trade Protection slot in adjacent Sea Zones (for Maritime Trade Nodes only).
- Key Provinces highlighted with "+" signs provide an additional Trade Power per "+" sign.
- Key Provinces only count for the primary Trade Nodes, and never for the secondary nodes.
Regular and Expanded Nodes. Collect Ducats as indicated by Trade Power on the Trade Card. Read the green column for all nodes that have not been Expanded, and the red column for nodes that have been Expanded with the Commercial Growth Action Card or through a Mission or an Event.
Only one PR per Income Row. Only 1 player may collect the Trade Income in each row. If 2 or more players qualify for Trade Income from the same row, the player with the highest Trade Power pushes the other player(s) down to the Trade Income row(s) below. The Active Player may break any ties as they please.
Example: England takes a Trade Action in the Bordeaux Trade Node. They have 5 Trade Power in this node. Both France and Castile have Merchants here as well, and they both have 3 Trade Power.
No player qualifies for the top Trade Income row, but all 3 qualify for the second row. Since England has the highest Trade Power, they push both of the other players down. Only 1 player may occupy the third row however, and England, as the Active Player, decides to break the tie in favor of Castile. France therefore receives no Trade Income.
Pirates. For each Pirate Ship present in a Trade Node, all players collect Trade Income from 1 row lower in that node than they normally would.
If you only qualify for the bottom row before taking Pirates into account, you will not collect any Trade Income from that node. This effectively limits the number of players that can collect income during a Trade Action by 1 for each Pirate present in that node.
Secondary Trade Nodes. Some Trade Cards have secondary Trade Nodes listed in parentheses below one or more of the primary Trade Nodes.
If the Active Player has a Trade Power (excluding Key Provinces) not exceeded by any other player in an eligible secondary node, they may select that node and collect Trade Income from the lowest Income row on the Trade Card. No other player gets any income from the secondary node.
Selecting a secondary node also triggers Trade Income from the associated primary node for all players, other than the Active Player, that are able to collect Income there.
If there is a Pirate in a secondary Trade Node, it may not be selected.
12.6 Distant Trade
Whenever the first Claim or DNPR token is placed on an Area of a Distant Continent, shuffle all unused Trade Cards marked with that Continent's number into the Trade Deck, along with the discard pile.
You can find the Continent numbers along the edge of the Trade Card, to the left of the trade good illustration. For the cards that are normally in the deck from the start of the game, these numbers are shown in semi-transparent boxes.
The corresponding numbers on the Distant Continents board are found in the top right corner of each Distant Continent.
Example: Castile has taken a Trade Action but drew no Trade Cards with eligible primary Trade Nodes. However, on the Cloth card (T02-3) they drew, Genoa is listed as a secondary node. France has 4 Trade Power and Castile has 3 Trade Power in Genoa, but Castile can move a Merchant there to reach 4 Trade Power as well. Even if Castile now has 4 Trade Power in this node, they may only collect the Trade Income from the lowest row (5 Ducats) since it is only a secondary node. France gets nothing.
13. Non-Player Realms (NPRs)
Non-Player Realms (NPRs) are the various independent states, nations, tribes, and principalities that are not part of any PR.
Each NPR has its own flag and Owns all Provinces bearing its flag (except those with Town or DNPR tokens on them). An NPR's Base Tax equals the total Tax Value of its Provinces.
Liberated NPR Provinces. NPR Provinces that have been Annexed by PRs may sometimes be Liberated via Rebel activity (see p. 37) or Peace Resolutions (see p. 30). Such Provinces will once again belong to the NPR indicated by their flag. If their natural Capital is still Owned by another Realm, alphabetically determine a Capital for this NPR (prioritizing Large Provinces first).
Released Vassals become NPRs. If a Vassal Realm's Overlord currently does not exist, or if the Overlord was a PR whose Vassal tokens have somehow been removed from their Vassal's Provinces, the former Vassal Realm is then considered an independent NPR.
13.1 NPR Relations
See 'Diplomatic Relations' (p. 32).
13.2 NPRs with Vassals
Some NPRs have Vassals. Vassal Provinces display a small version of their Overlord's flag next to their own flag.
An NPR's Vassal Provinces count as part of their Overlord's Realm for all purposes during War and Peace Resolution – when calculating MC, NC and NPR Strength. Vassal Provinces may also be ceded in Peace Resolutions.
Subjugation of NPRs with Vassals requires a Marriage with the NPR (see p. 33).
13.3 DNPRs
In some scenario setups, certain NPRs are designated as Dynamic NPRs (DNPRs). Events may also cause DNPRs to emerge.
All Provinces Owned by the same DNPR are marked with DNPR tokens of matching color. The DNPR token with a capital C on it is used to mark the DNPR's Capital.
When a DNPR's Province is Annexed or Vassalized by a PR, keep the DNPR token underneath the player's Town/Vassal token, in case it gets Liberated.
A DNPR token can never be placed on a PR's Core.
DNPRs expand when an Event with a matching symbol is resolved (see p. 41).
13.4 Warfare vs. NPRs
NPRs defending Areas. Each time a PR moves any of their Military Units into an Area containing Provinces Owned by an Enemy NPR, or when they have Units in such an Area when War is Declared, a Land Battle immediately takes place.
The NPR will always defend their Areas with a number of Infantry Units equal to their MC for this Area (see p. 22). These Units all appear in the Area under attack.
If there are Units Hostile to your NPR Enemy already located in the Area that you are moving into (or when War is Declared), no Battle is triggered.
If an NPR is the Active Ally of a PR, they defend with only half their MC.
NPRs defending Sea Zones. Each time a PR moves any of their Ships into a Sea Zone adjacent to an Enemy NPR, they will engage you in a Naval Battle with a number of Light Ships equal to their NC for that Sea Zone (see p. 23). A Naval Battle will also be triggered if you have Ships in such a Sea Zone when you Declare War.
If there are Ships Hostile to your NPR Enemy already located in the Sea Zone that you are moving into (or when War is Declared), no Battle is triggered.
No more NPR Units in Supply. NPRs always defend at their normal strength even if there aren't enough available NPR Units/Ships to represent them. Just keep count of losses for the duration of the Battle.
Triggering multiple Battles. If 2+ Battles are triggered against the same NPR on a single Turn, an NPR will use as much of its MC/NC as possible to defend its own Capital Area and any Sea Zone next to its Capital. After that, an NPR will prioritize defending against the largest Enemy force, and in case there is a tie, the NPR prioritizes the first Battle to be resolved.
Fighting Several NPRs in one Area. If an Area that you attack contains Provinces belonging to 2 or more NPR Enemies, all defending Units from the combined MC of these NPRs will face you in a single Battle. NPR NC is similarly combined when triggering a Naval Battle.
NPRs with Extra Manpower. In some scenarios, +1 Manpower tokens are used to compensate or boost the strength of certain NPRs for various reasons. The tokens are placed on Provinces listed in the scenario.
Provinces with a +1 Manpower token provide 1 additional MC for their NPR Owners in the Area in question, and adjacent Areas.
Each +1 Manpower token also counts as 1 extra Tax Value for the Province for the purpose of calculating Base Tax and NPR Strength. Sieges are not affected by these tokens.
Such a token is simply removed if the Province is Annexed or Vassalized by a PR.
NPRs on Distant Continents. When calculating the MC or NC contribution of a Distant Province for NPR defense purposes, double its Tax Value (i.e. each Small Province contributes 2 Units, while each Large Province contributes 4 Units) except if it has an Ill Health token on it.
There are however some Ports that are considered Inactive as long as that Province does not hold a DNPR token, Town, or Vassal token. Inactive Ports have a light gray symbol, and do not provide any NC for their NPR Owners.
NPR behavior in Battle. NPR Units always act as Infantry in Land Battles and as Light Ships in Naval Battles.
If one side consists of NPRs only, and they have a total of 3+ Units, draw a card from the top of the Military Deck at the start of the Battle. If the card has an Advisor on it, that NPR force has no Leader; if the card has a Leader on it, add his Battle Dice as you would with any other General/Admiral – discard the card at the end of the Battle.
Battle Dice are then rolled as normal for both sides. The player to the right of the Active Player should roll the NPR's dice.
Optional Rule 4: Lend a Helping Hand. All players may back NPRs in Battles by playing Battle Actions (in clockwise order, starting with the Active Player).
Beyond the first Round of Battle. NPRs always Retreat if they have fewer Units than their Enemy after any Round of Battle, unless the Area they are currently defending is their Capital Area, or the last Area where they still control any Provinces. If the NPR Retreats, simply remove all of their Units from the board.
If the Battle takes place in their Capital Area or the last Area in which the NPR still Controls Provinces, or if they fight alongside Rebel Units, they will always fight to the last Unit, and never give up.
NPR Ships will fight to the last Ship if the Sea Zone is next to their Capital Area.
Aftermath of Battles. Once a player has won a Battle against one or more NPRs, they may Siege any Hostile Provinces inside that Area as normal on their next Turn. If the PR's forces leave the Area without Sieging or leaving any Units behind, the NPR will defend it in the same manner the next time a Hostile force enters the Area.
Whenever an NPR wins a defensive Battle, the NPR Units are removed from the board afterwards. They will defend in the same way again if a PR sends a new force to attack them.
NPR Strength. NPR Strength is a measure of an NPR's power and is equal to the combined Tax Value of all Provinces Owned by the NPR and its Vassals.
13.5 NPR Invasions (Advanced Rules)
If an NPR is at War with any Player Realm(s) during Phase 3, Step B, the player(s) may face an Invasion from that NPR. Resolve NPRs in alphabetical order.
If all 3 of the criteria below are satisfied, an Invasion will take place:
- The NPR is not an Active Ally of any PR.
- The NPR or any of its Vassals currently Owns Provinces in 1+ Areas that contain no Units Hostile to that NPR.
- There is at least 1 eligible Invasion target Area adjacent to the NPR:
- The target Area must contain a Town/Vassal belonging to a PR Hostile to the NPR (any of NPR's de jure Provinces that are Occupied by an Enemy qualify).
- Areas are ineligible if they are adjacent by Sea (and not by Land) only through Sea Zones that are Hostile to the NPR.
- Areas are ineligible if they contain Units that belong to a PR which is not at War with the NPR.
Each Invasion follows the sequence below:
- If there are 2+ eligible adjacent Areas, pick (in order of priority):
- The NPR's own Capital Area
- The Area with the most of the NPR's Core Provinces
- An Area adjacent by Land to the NPR
- A randomly selected adjacent Area
- In the selected Area, add Unrest to 2 Towns/Vassals belonging to players at War with the NPR (pick Provinces alphabetically).
- Place NPR Units there equal to ½ of the current NPR Strength, ignoring Provinces in Areas with Units Hostile to the NPR.
- Resolve Battle immediately if there are any Military Units in the invaded Area, following the normal rules for NPRs.
- From this point onwards, these NPR Units behave as Rebel Units.
14. Rebels
Realms in the era when the game takes place often had as much trouble facing domestic threats as they had with external ones. Rebellions were commonplace, and they are a central feature of the game's mechanics.
Events and Religious Dissent will cause Unrest to appear in PRs, and Rebel Units will pop up, seeking to Occupy or Liberate Provinces.
14.1 Unrest
When a Province gains Unrest, flip its Town/Vassal token, so that the Unrest symbol is face-up. Unrest in your Towns and Vassals forces you to roll Rebel Dice.
Provinces with Unrest still provide Tax Income and Manpower as normal.
Unrest that is covered by a Rebel Town or Town of a PR Occupant does not count for any purpose.
NPR Provinces can never have Unrest.
14.2 Rebel Dice
During Phase 3, Step I, players must roll Rebel Dice for each of their Towns/Vassals with Unrest. Certain Events will also require Rebel Dice to be rolled.
When doing so, players with Unrest must roll and resolve their Rebel Dice in clockwise order, starting with the Active Player, when caused by an Event, or the First Player, when rolling in the Peace & Rebels Phase.
Roll Rebel Dice Area by Area. Each player rolls Rebel Dice Area by Area, for all Unrest in a given Area (not Province by Province).
Rebel Dice Results
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rebellion | (see below) |
| Lose 1 Monarch Power | Discard 1 Monarch Power from a pool of your choice |
| Exhaust 1 Manpower | Move 1 Regular Unit to Exhausted Manpower |
| Lose 2 Ducats | Pay 2 Ducats to the General Supply |
| Remove 1 Unrest | Remove Unrest from 1 Town/Vassal of your choice |
| No effect | — |
Rebellion. If you have any Military Units in the Area you rolled for, remove 1 of your Units there as a Casualty for each Rebellion result rolled.
If you have no Units to remove, you must assign each Rebellion result to 1 of your Towns/Vassals with Unrest, of your choice, in that Area. Rebels will "Siege" (take control of) the Province you assign the Rebellion to. If you assign it to a Core Province, you must place a Rebel Town on top of your Town/Vassal, and cover the corresponding slot on the Town or Vassal Track on your Player Mat with a Cube. If the chosen Province is one that you Occupy, or it is not one of your Core Provinces, the Province is Liberated as described in section 14.3.
Lose 1 Monarch Power. Discard 1 Monarch Power from a Monarch Power pool of your choice, and return it to your Supply.
Exhaust 1 Manpower. Move 1 Regular Unit from Available Manpower, or from your Deployed Units, to Exhausted Manpower.
Lose 2 Ducats. Pay 2 Ducats to the General Supply.
Remove 1 Unrest. Remove Unrest from 1 Town/Vassal of your choice in the Area you just rolled for.
Inability to pay the Cost of a roll. If you are unable to pay Monarch Power or Exhaust Manpower as required by the Rebel Dice, you must instead pay 2 Ducats for each such result. If you do not have the required Ducats, you must take a Loan. If there are already 5+ Interest tokens in your Treasury, your Realm goes Bankrupt (see p. 21).
14.3 Rebel Units
The same black Units are used to represent NPRs, Allied Units, and Rebel Units. However, NPR Units are always removed after a Battle has been resolved, and Allied Units solely exist in PR Armies. Black Units located in Areas on the map are always considered Rebel Units.
Rebel Units in Battle. Rebel Units will fight just like NPR Units (see 'NPR behavior in Battle', p. 36), except they will always fight to the last man.
Rebel Units Sieging. In Phase 3, Step C (see p. 9), Rebel Units will lay Siege to any Provinces with Unrest that they are able.
Each Rebel Unit has a Siege Strength of 1. The Rebels prefer to Siege Large Provinces, if they have the required Siege Strength. 1 Rebel Unit can Siege 1 Small Province. 2 Rebel Units can siege 1 Large Province or 2 Small Provinces, etc.
If an Area contains several PRs with Provinces in Unrest, the player with the lowest Tax Income in this Area chooses which Province the Rebels will Siege (within the limits of the criteria above). If there is a tie, pick Provinces alphabetically.
Rebel Units are considered Hostile to all PRs.
When Rebel Units Siege a Province that is a Core Province of their Owner, place a Rebel Town on top of the PR's Town, and cover the corresponding slot on the Town Track on the Player Mat with a Cube from the player's Supply.
If the Rebels Siege a Province which is either Occupied or not a Core Province of their Owner, the Province is Liberated.
Liberation. A Province which is assigned a Rebellion result (on a Rebel Dice roll) or Sieged by Rebel Units is immediately Liberated if it is:
a. Occupied by an Enemy of its Lawful Owner, in which case the Occupier's Town is simply returned to their Player Mat. Remove the corresponding Cube from the Lawful Owner's Player Mat. (If a. is true, do not consider b. or c.) b. the Core Province of a Realm other than the PR that Owns or has Vassalized it, in which case the Town/Vassal token on this Province is returned to its PR's Player Mat. The Province is now Controlled by the Realm whose Core Province it is, regardless of whether that Realm still exists or now reemerges as an NPR. If this is the Core Province of a PR, they place a Town there. c. a Territory (no one's Core Province), in which case the PR's Town is replaced with a DNPR token of a color chosen by the Active Player.
A PR whose Province is Liberated by Rebels must place a CB token on the new Province Owner's Capital (any Truce is removed).
Rebel Units moving. If, at the start of Phase 3, Step C, Rebel Units find themselves in an Area with no Unrest, they may move as described on page 9.
14.4 Sieging Rebel Towns
When Sieging a Rebel Town, simply remove the Rebel Town, along with any Unrest, on this Province.
If you are at War with the Owner of this Province, you may place your own Town on top of theirs (in Unrest state) as normal.
Optional Rule 5: Religious Rebels. If an Area is in Religious Dissent, turn/place all Rebel Towns pentagram side face-up.
If Religious Rebels Occupy your Capital and at least 2 more of your Provinces, you may take the Change State Religion Action to adopt the Religion of your Capital Area as your new State Religion. Then, remove all Rebel Units and Rebel Towns from your Areas whose faith matches your new State Religion.
15. Religion & Faith
All Areas and Realms on the Main Board must belong to one of the following faiths:
- Catholic/Counter-Reformed Catholic
- Protestant (from Age II onwards)
- Orthodox
- Muslim
- Diverse Faiths
- Revolutionary (only in Age IV)
The Religions of Realms and Areas on the Distant Continents are outside the scope of the game mechanics of this game.
Catholicism (Christian). At the start of Age I, Catholicism dominates all of Western Europe. In Age II, with the advent of Protestantism, Catholicism will lose some ground; the Council of Trent Event will then enable Catholic PRs to embrace the Counter-Reformation.
Counter-Reformed Realms and Areas are still considered to be Catholic, and are affected by all things that fall under the definition of being Catholic. As an Infectious Faith (see below), the Counter-Reformed version of Catholicism can limit the spread of Protestantism by spreading itself.
Catholic Abilities: Catholic PRs have access to Papal mechanics. Using Man of the Church Action Cards, Catholic PRs may take control of the Papal Curia and thereby gain access to certain bonuses as well as the Papal Actions (see p. 46).
From Age II onwards, PRs with Catholic State Religion may convert to Protestantism.
Protestantism (Christian). In Age II, a number of Events (particularly The Reformation Spreads) will introduce Protestantism to Western and Central Europe.
Protestantism is an Infectious Faith.
Protestant Abilities: Protestant Realms receive a discount of 1 Administrative Power on the Convert Area Action, and the cost of playing the Development Action Card.
PRs with Protestant State Religion may convert to Catholicism.
Orthodoxy (Christian). The Orthodox Christian faith dominates most of Eastern Europe.
Orthodox Ability: Realms with Orthodox State Religion get a discount of 1 Administrative Power when Increasing Stability from -1 to 0, or from 0 to +1.
Islam (Muslim). Islam dominates most of Anatolia, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. Areas with Provinces Owned by Muslim Realms may be targeted by Crusades (see p. 46) in Ages I and II.
Muslim Ability: In any Land Battle, Muslim PRs may replace their basic 3 Infantry Dice with 3 Cavalry Dice.
Diverse Faiths. Sometimes an Area simply has a Diverse Faiths token because none of the other faiths dominate in that Area.
Diverse Faiths cannot be adopted as a State Religion. Areas with Diverse Faiths are always considered to be in a state of Religious Dissent (see below) for all PRs, regardless of their State Religion. Any NPRs in such Areas keep the State Religion they are listed with on the Realm Player Aid.
Revolutionary Ideology (Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires expansion only). In Age IV a new "faith" enters the picture, and springs up across Europe via certain Events. This works like any other Religion, but instead of replacing an Area's existing token, you place the Revolutionary token on top of any Religion token already in that Area. When a Revolutionary token is removed, any revealed Religion will once again be active.
Revolutionary Ideology is considered an Infectious Faith, but its spread is triggered by a separate symbol.
Revolutionary Ideology Ability: If a Revolutionary Realm Researches a Government Form Idea other than "Revolutionary Regime", they remove any Revolutionary token in their Capital Area and then change their State Religion to match the Religion of their Capital Area.
15.1 Infectious Faiths
Protestantism and Counter-Reformed Catholicism are considered Infectious Faiths, and will spread to new Areas when the associated Event symbol is resolved (see p. 41).
Revolutionary Ideology likewise will spread when its associated Event symbol is resolved.
15.2 State Religion
All Realms have a State Religion, which, at the start of the game, is defined by the scenario setup (PRs) or Realm Player Aid (NPRs and Vassal Realms).
A PR's State Religion sets limits on certain Actions, such as Royal Marriages (see p. 32) and gaining Cardinals in the Papal Curia (see p. 45).
Changing State Religion. PRs may convert State Religion from Catholic to Protestant, or the opposite, from Age II onwards by taking the Change State Religion Basic Action (see p. 13).
State Religion may also change as a result of an Event, or as a result of the Force Conversion Peace Term (see p. 31).
NPRs and Vassal Realms adopt the new Religion of their Capital Area if it changes, but the Papal States always remains Catholic.
15.3 Religion of Areas
Religions apply to Areas, rather than Provinces. In other words, a Province belongs to the Religion of its respective Area.
For some peripheral Areas, Religion is governed by the Religion slot of a neighboring Area (with an arrow indicating this).
For visibility, we recommend that players place Religion tokens on each of their Areas not belonging to their State Religion, even if that Religion is printed on the board.
All Areas on the Main Map are considered to belong to one of the listed Religions.
Converting Areas. PRs may convert Areas to their State Religion by performing the Convert Area Action (see p. 14), or by playing the Man of the Church card or the Missionaries Action on the Development card.
Any existing Religion tokens (incl. Revolutionary tokens) in the Area are removed when the Area is converted. The exception is when converting the Area to Revolutionary Ideology (in which case the token is just placed on top of any existing token).
Religious Dissent. When a PR holds Provinces in an Area with a Religion other than that Realm's State Religion, that Area is considered to be in a state of Religious Dissent for that PR.
During Phase 3, Step G (see p. 9), players must add Unrest to 1 of their own Towns in each Area where they face Religious Dissent, and either remove 1 Influence, or add Unrest to 1 of their Vassals in 1 Area with Religious Dissent where they have Vassals.
16. Events
Event Cards give a sense of the flow of history, and dictate events that are largely outside players' control.
The cards include specific historical events, as well as more generic events that could have happened at any time and place, such as epidemics, piracy, dynastic crises, revolts, and more.
Four Ages – four Event Decks. The Event Deck is divided into 4 Ages: Age of Discovery (I), Age of Reformation (II), Age of Absolutism (III), and Age of Revolutions (IV, Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires exp. only). The Ages in the Event Deck enter play in chronological order. First you go through all the Events in Age I, then Age II, etc. At the end of a Round, when there are no Events of the current Age remaining in the deck, prepare the deck for the next Age so that it is ready for the start of the next Round.
Many scenarios span a fixed number of Ages and only use Events from these Ages.
Preparing Event Decks. Select all Event Cards for the Age you are about to start, as listed in the chosen Scenario Setup. In the setups, the listed Events will be divided into 2 halves for each Age. These halves should be shuffled separately, before the first half is placed on top of the second, to form the deck.
How to create Event Decks for custom scenarios is described in Scenario Booklet I.
Optional Rule 6: Randomizing X-Events. Within each Age, Event Cards are marked with either (1), (2), or (X), in a circle in the card's top-left corner. The cards marked (1) must always go in the first half, while cards marked (2) must go into the second half. Cards marked with an (X) can go into either half, but suggestions are given in the scenario setups for which half to place each of these cards in. For a bit more randomness and less predictability, you can instead use the following method:
Separate all cards according to these markings, then shuffle the (X) cards before distributing them among the (1) and (2) stacks, ensuring that each stack has the same number of cards. Shuffle the (1) stack to form the top half of the Event Deck for that Age, and shuffle the (2) stack to form the bottom half of the deck.
The Anatomy of an Event Card
Each Event Card shows: a sort order indicator ((1), (2), or (X)) in the top-left corner, indicating which half of the Age deck it goes in; the Event Card ID number (the first digit reveals the Age; an "A" in the ID indicates an A-Event); the Event's Realm affiliation, if any; the Event illustration and description; the A) and B) options of the Event, if any; symbols relating to character mortality and to secondary effects at the bottom of the card; the card title; and, in the Historical Ruler section of the card, the historical Ruler's name and portrait, along with his skill values in each type of Monarch Power (if serving as your Ruler) and the Battle Dice he provides if employed as a General. Use of the word "you" on the card always refers to the Active Player or to the player required to make an A/B-choice.
16.1 Event Types and ID Numbers
The Event ID number in the top-right corner contains some information about what type of Event this is. The first digit of the ID number identifies in which Age it belongs.
A-Events have an A in the ID (e.g., 11A-1). These cards make the engine tick, and control the mortality of Characters (as described on p. 41). All scenarios must include 8 A-Events per Age.
B-Events have a B in the ID (e.g., 354B). The scenarios list which B-Events should be used, but it is possible to replace these Events with other B-Events to provide variation between games.
Realm-specific Events have a flag in their lower-right corner and no letter in their ID number (e.g., 202-2).
There are 2 Realm-specific Events per Age for each of the Major Powers and featured Realms. The Event Deck will always include all Events associated with the PRs that are in play in the chosen scenario, and no other Realm-specific Events.
Most of these Events have a historical Ruler (see p. 19) in the bottom section of the card, associated with the Realm that this Event belongs to.
16.2 The Event Display
At the start of each Round, in the Draw Cards Phase, a number of Events equal to the number of players plus 1 (e.g., 5 Events in a 4-player game), are drawn from the top of the deck and placed on display in a row. The first 3 Events (from the left) are placed face-up for everyone to see, while the remaining Events are placed face-down. The face-down Events get revealed later, as players take the mandatory Event Action (see p. 12).
Optional Rule 7: Revealing More. If you want a game with less hidden information in games with 6 players, reveal the first 4 Events instead of 3. This will result in more Ducats amassing on the Events.
16.3 Event Guidelines
General Event guidelines
- In comma-separated lists (e.g., of Areas), we use the word "or" in an inclusive sense; you may pick any, or even several, of those items.
- Some Event effects only apply if certain listed conditions are met. Ignore any effects whose conditions are not met.
- When required to make a choice between an A) and a B) option in an Event, if one of the options requires you to pay a cost that you are unable to pay and you are able to pay the cost of the other option, then you must pick the other option.
- If the Event has effects or choices that concern more than 1 player, these effects are resolved player by player, in clockwise order, starting with the Active player unless stated otherwise.
- The PR that "gains/loses" makes the choice.
- NPRs say "yes", e.g., when offered an Alliance or when they "may" do something.
- The word "you" always refers to the Active Player or to the player required to make an A/B-choice.
Standard Event effects. Certain effects are repeated on several Events. These effects must adhere to the following guidelines, unless the card specifically states otherwise.
Use of the word "you" in these guidelines refer to the beneficiary/victim of the effect.
Gain/place Influence: If an Event says that you gain, or are allowed to place, a number of Influence in certain Areas, this means that you can place this Influence as long as there is at least 1 Province in the Area that is Owned by an NPR or by a Vassal Realm. If you are unable to place all of this Influence due to the 5 Influence per Area limit, you may discard Opponent Influence as required in order to make space for your own Influence.
Gain Alliance or Royal Marriage: To gain an Alliance with a Realm, the target Realm must be an Independent Realm which is currently at Peace. Realms that have been Vassalized, Annexed, or are at War are ineligible targets, and this effect will be ignored for such Realms.
If the named target is an NPR Ally of an Opponent, you may only replace their Alliance token with your Alliance token if you have at least as many Influence as your Opponent in the target's Areas.
To gain a Royal Marriage with a Realm, the target must be an eligible Marriage partner (see p. 32).
If you have no available Alliance/Royal Marriage token, you may take 1 of your Alliance/Royal Marriage tokens from the map, as long as this is not an Active Ally or a Disputed Succession. You will suffer no penalties for ending an Alliance in this way.
Gain Claim: You can only have 1 Claim in each Area.
Gain/place Town or Vassal token: To gain a Town/Vassal token on a Province when an Event says to, that Province cannot already be Owned, Vassalized, or Occupied by another PR (no Opponent Town/Vassal token on it already), unless specifically stated otherwise.
Develop a Small Town into a Large Town: Replace 1 of your Small Towns with a Large Town, updating your Player Mat as appropriate. The Town must be Owned by you.
Gain Merchant: You can only gain a third Merchant from an Event, a Mission, or the "Free Trade" Idea if you currently have only 2 Merchants.
Gain Military Unit: When gaining Military Units via Events, whether they are Land Units or Ships, place these Units in a location where no Battle is triggered. If no such location is eligible for placement, you do not gain these Units. Regular Units must be taken from Available Manpower.
Gain Action: When you gain an Action from an Event, the Action is clearly indicated in bold italics; you must either take this Action immediately or decline the opportunity. If you are not the Active player, the Active player then gets to finish their Turn before play continues in clockwise order as normal.
Research Idea: When an Event lets you Research an Idea, you, and any Opponents who have this Idea already, will score Prestige as normal (see p. 12). If an Event causes multiple players to Research the same Idea, they all score Prestige as normal (Active Player first as usual).
If the Idea named on the Event is currently not on display and you choose to Research it, add this Idea to the appropriate column of the Idea display and choose an unpicked non-Basic Idea of the same type to remove (if any), or if there are no unpicked Ideas of that type, create a new row in the Idea display. Shuffle removed Ideas back into the deck.
Placing DNPR tokens: When placing DNPR tokens, place the token of that color with a capital C on it on the DNPR's Capital Province (underlined when listed on an Event).
If there are any Towns/Vassal tokens on the Provinces listed, simply place the DNPR token underneath the Town/Vassal token (unless stated otherwise on the card), but never place a DNPR token on a PR's Core Provinces. A Town/Vassal token with a DNPR token beneath it is considered a Core Province of that DNPR.
Terminate/Remove Alliance: When an Event requires you to terminate an Alliance, remove its Alliance token from the board.
If this was an Active Ally, you lose a number of Allied Units from your Manpower Reserve or Armies equal to ½ of its pre-War NPR Strength. Your PR Enemies must place War tokens on your former Active Ally.
Reject Ruler: Sometimes an option on an Event may let you, or force you to, Reject the historical Ruler on the very same Event.
In these cases, both your current Ruler and the Event Card with the new Ruler on it are discarded once the Event has been resolved.
Area leaves HRE: When an Area leaves the HRE through an Event, any loss of Imperial Authority is already accounted for in the Event text itself.
Wars triggered by Events: For a DoW that is part of an Event's effects (which is not marked as a Declare War Action), place War tokens as appropriate and then follow steps 3–7 of the Declare War Action sequence (see p. 16). Realms must adhere to all DoW restrictions (see p. 22) unless stated otherwise, and if the target is ineligible, no DoW is made.
A PR that has Passed cannot Declare War via an Event, even if instructed to do so.
If an NPR makes a DoW, read "you" as "the NPR" in the Declare War Action steps, and place the targeted PR's War token on the NPR.
If allowed to select a DoW target, you must select an eligible target (if possible).
16.4 Unpicked Events
In most scenarios, after each player has taken the Event Action, there will be an unpicked Event on display.
The remaining Event will not take effect, but if it has a historical Ruler on it, the player associated with that Event may pay 2 Administrative Power to appoint the Ruler on the card.
Any symbols at the bottom of the card will be auto-resolved immediately after the last player has completed their Event Action, according to the auto-resolution rules listed under each symbol on the next page.
16.5 Secondary Effects
Some Events have symbols along the bottom edge that impact, among other things, Unrest/Rebels, NPR behavior, and character mortality (Leaders and Advisors).
After resolving the Event's main text, these symbols' effects are resolved in order, from left to right, by the Active Player (you).
Auto-resolution rules are used to resolve symbol effects on unpicked Events (and for Events resolved by Bots). Symbols with no special auto-resolution notes are resolved as normal. When resolving unpicked Events, no one is considered to be the Active Player.
Character Mortality. All characters with a symbol next to their portrait that matches the symbol on the Event played will receive an Ill Health token. If a character receives a second Ill Health token, they die and their card is discarded.
Unrest/Rebellion. All players must roll a Rebel Die for each of their Towns/Vassals with Unrest, following the procedure described on page 37.
You roll a maximum of 1 Rebel Die.
Native Uprising. Each player loses 1 Colonist from the Colonist Pool and gains Unrest in a Distant Town.
You may choose to ignore one of the two effects (even if it is the only one that will affect you).
Lost at Sea. You must choose and remove 1 Ship belonging to each Opponent that is not adjacent to one of their Friendly Ports.
Auto-resolution: Each player chooses for themselves.
Pirates. Place a Pirate Ship (see p. 25) into a Maritime Trade Node of your choice. If possible, this must be a node that has at least 1 Merchant in it. Pirates reduce Trade Income in the node where they are located (see p. 35).
Auto-resolution: Place the Pirate Ship into the Trade Node with the most Merchants. First tie breaker: Expanded node; second tie breaker: random.
Cardinal Dies. You must remove any Cardinal, except the Roma Cardinal, from the Papal Curia. Slide remaining Cardinals to the left, to fill the gap.
Auto-resolution: Remove the rightmost Cardinal belonging to the PR with the most Cardinals. If 2 or more PRs are tied, remove the rightmost Cardinal belonging to 1 of these PRs.
Attrition. All PRs that are at War, except you, must remove 1 Land Unit as a Casualty for every 4 Deployed Land Units that they have.
Disloyal Vassals. Affects every PR that has any Areas with Vassal tokens with either no Influence/Royal Marriage, or with fewer Influence in the Area than any Opponent.
Of the Areas that qualify, any affected PR must pick an Area with the most of their Vassal tokens, gain Unrest on all their Vassal tokens there, and must then place a number of Rebel Units equal to the Tax Value of their Vassal tokens with Unrest in this Area.
You gain Unrest as normal if affected, but do not need to place any Rebel Units.
DNPR Expansion. For each such symbol that matches the color of a DNPR in play (which is not currently an Active Ally), pick a DNPR of that color.
Place a matching DNPR token on a Province adjacent to the DNPR. This may not be a Capital (unless it is the last remaining Province of an NPR), nor can it be Occupied, Owned by the DNPR's Ally, or the Core Province of a PR.
If a Province of an NPR is selected, this Province is taken over by the DNPR.
If the Province selected has a Town/Vassal token, place the DNPR token underneath the Town/Vassal token (thus making it a Core Province of the DNPR) and add Unrest to the Town/Vassal token.
From Age II onwards, for DNPRs with a Port facing a Main Map Sea Zone with no special coastal marker, you may instead place a DNPR token on any vacant coastal Territory.
If a DNPR takes a Province from an NPR Allied to a PR, the player may place a CB token on the DNPR's Capital.
Auto-resolution: All DNPRs of the same colors as the symbol Annex an adjacent NPR Province. Prioritize Provinces in Areas where the DNPR already Owns Provinces, then Provinces in Areas adjacent to their Realm by Land. They will target the eligible NPR with the lowest NPR Strength. If several Realms are tied, use alphabetic order among adjacent Provinces Owned by the tied Realms.
Spread of Religious Ideas. Determine where there are clusters of Infectious Faiths (see p. 38) in play. A cluster is any body of Areas connected by Land that share the same Religion. A single token/symbol in an Area which is not adjacent by Land to any other Area with the same Religion is considered a separate cluster.
-
Place a Protestant/Counter-Reformed token in an Area adjacent to a cluster, of the same type as the cluster it is placed next to. Adjacency may here be traced across a Sea Zone. Orthodox or Muslim Areas may not be chosen.
Placing a Protestant/Counter-Reformed token into an Area replaces any token that is already there.
-
If there are more clusters in play, and you have placed less than 4 Protestant/Counter-Reformed tokens this Turn, go back and do step 1 again, but this time also adhering to the restrictions below:
- If there is more than 1 Infectious Faith in play and you have already placed 2 tokens of one type, you must place a token of the other type, if possible.
- You may not replace another token placed on the same Turn.
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If there are no Infectious Faiths clusters on the board, place Diverse Faiths tokens instead in any 2 Catholic Areas not adjacent to Sea Zones marked with a special maritime marker.
Auto-resolution: Spread Infectious Faiths (alternating between Protestant and Counter-Reformed, starting with Protestant) into adjacent Areas: preference goes to Areas with at least 1 Town; then to Areas with Provinces of the highest total Tax Value; break ties in alphabetical order, by Area name.
When placing Diverse Faiths tokens, instead go in alphabetical order, ignoring Areas that already have Diverse Faiths.
Spread of the Revolution (Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires expansion only). This symbol only appears on Age IV Events, and it works in the same way as the Spread of Religious Ideas, as described above, except that you only place Revolutionary tokens next to clusters of Revolutionary tokens. They may also be placed in Orthodox or Muslim Areas.
If there are no Revolutionary tokens on the board, place Revolutionary tokens in 2 PR Capital Areas. If there is only 1 cluster of Revolutionary tokens, also add a Revolutionary token in an Area not adjacent to this cluster.
If there are no more available Revolutionary tokens, you may remove one from the board to use it.
Revolutionary tokens are always placed on top of any existing Religion tokens.
Auto-resolution: As above (spread of Protestant/Counter-Reformed). If no Revolutionary tokens in play, place in the Capital Areas of 2 PRs with lowest Stability (decide ties randomly).
Activate Power Struggle. If Power Struggles are in play, move the Upcoming Power Struggle to the Active Power Struggle area on the Status Mat.
Also, place Battleground Area tokens in the Battleground Areas named on the activated Power Struggle to highlight the Areas in contention.
The Active Power Struggle will be scored in Phase 4, Step E (see p. 43).
17. Victory & Prestige
The most common Victory Condition for the various scenarios in the game is to be the player with the most Prestige at the end of the game.
Prestige is scored in several different ways during and at the end of the game.
Final Scoring happens in Phase 5 of the Round in which the end of the game has been triggered, as described on page 11.
Some scenarios will have different Final Scoring criteria.
17.1 The Prestige Track
Prestige scored during the game is indicated with the Prestige Markers on the Prestige Track, which is located on the Distant Continents board.
The main sources of Prestige during the course of the game are Missions, Milestones, Power Struggles (if used), Ideas, and Events.
Once a player's Prestige exceeds 60, flip their Prestige Marker to the "+60" side, and continue counting additional Prestige from the start of the track. If a player's Prestige falls below 0, place a Negative Prestige token on top of their Prestige Marker, to indicate that its position shows a negative Prestige value.
In some scenarios, the end of the game is triggered when a player passes a certain amount of Prestige on the Prestige Track.
17.2 Missions
Each of the Major Powers of the game has an individual deck of Mission Cards. In addition, there are 2 generic Mission Decks that can be used to compose Mission Decks for other Realms. Each Scenario will specify which Missions are available to each playable Realm at the start of the game.
Some Missions have a green frame and background, indicating them as starting Missions for the regular 1444 setup. For such a game, players will normally pick 2 of these Missions at the start of the game.
Striving towards completing Missions provides clear intermediate goals during the course of the game, and tends to send a Realm down a semi-historical path. They are particularly useful to new players, but certainly add both flavor and dynamism to the game for seasoned gamers, too.
Experienced groups of gamers who prefer a complete sandbox experience can remove Missions from the game entirely, if all players agree to it.
Mission Prerequisites. All Missions have a Mission ID (in the red circle at the bottom of the card). Certain Missions require you to have completed at least 1 of the listed prerequisite Missions (indicated to the left of the Mission ID) before they can be picked. In turn, these may unlock other Missions (indicated to the right of the Mission ID) once completed.
Completing a Mission. Missions can be completed at any time except in Phase 1. To complete a Mission, you must meet its listed requirements and announce this to the other players. Upon doing so, the Mission's listed effects immediately take place. Mission requirements must be met at the time of scoring; having previously met a Mission's requirements does not qualify.
A player who completes a Mission also receives a number of Prestige, as stated in the Mission Card's top right corner.
Mission Rewards. When collecting the Reward from a completed Mission, follow the 'Event Guidelines' rules for all effects (see p. 40).
Selecting New Missions. In the next Draw Cards Phase after you have completed and scored at least 1 Mission in your hand, you may select new, eligible Missions from your deck to replace them so that you once again have 2 Missions in hand.
In the Draw Cards Phase, you may also put any Mission in your hand back in the deck, and select a new, eligible one to replace it with.
The Anatomy of Missions and Milestones
Mission Cards show: the Mission's Realm affiliation; the Prestige provided by the Mission; the Prerequisite Mission(s) (one of which must be completed before this Mission may be selected); the Mission title; the completion requirements; the effect of completing the Mission; the Mission ID; and the Unlocked Mission(s) that are made available for selection by completing this Mission. Starting Missions have a green background.
Milestone Cards show: the Milestone title; the completion requirements; the respective Prestige rewards for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd players to complete this Milestone; and the resource reward for completing the Milestone.
17.3 Milestones
Milestones are similar to Missions, but they are public and may be scored by anyone who meets their completion requirements. The Prestige reward will be higher for those who complete the Milestones earlier, thus providing an arena for competition among players – even between those who do not have directly conflicting interests on the map board.
There are always 4 available Milestones. In each Age, 1 card is randomly drawn from each of the 4 decks (Expansion, Politics, Warfare, and Economics). At the end of each Age, discard all Milestones and draw new ones from each of the next Age's decks. Scenarios may sometimes instruct you to remove certain Milestones from the game before setup, or to display predefined Milestones instead of drawing at random.
Milestones may also be replaced whenever the Comet Sighted Event is played. In this case, draw new Milestones from those remaining for the current Age.
Completing a Milestone. The first player to complete a Milestone scores 5 Prestige, the second player scores 3 Prestige, and the third scores 1 Prestige. Subsequent players completing this Milestone score no Prestige. When you complete a Milestone, mark it with a Tag chit from your Supply.
The tie breaker, if several players complete a Milestone at the same time, is Turn order (starting with the Active Player if in Phase 2, or First Player if in Phases 3 or 4), unless stated otherwise on the Milestone.
Milestones also provide rewards in the form of Monarch Power (Administrative, Diplomatic, or Military Power) or Ducats, as indicated in the lower-right corner of the card. All players completing a Milestone receive this same reward.
17.4 Power Struggles (Advanced Rules)
Whether you want to include Power Struggles or not in your game is up to your gaming group. We recommend that you play without them in your first game.
Power Struggles add increased levels of tension, interaction, and conflict between PRs, since they will be simultaneously competing for the same objectives.
Just below the card's title, above the horizontal line, each Power Struggle lists a number of Battleground Areas where players will compete for Prestige. Below the line there are some additional criteria for gaining or losing Prestige when that card is scored.
Preparing the Power Struggle Deck. Scenario setups have different recommended Power Struggle Deck compositions. Some scenarios will suggest Power Struggles to be sorted in a specific order, while others may suggest a randomized order.
The deck should be placed face-up with the top-most card visible to all players – this card is called the Upcoming Power Struggle.
Claims in Battleground Areas. When taking the Fabricate Claims Action (see p. 15), players only need to pay 1 Diplomatic Power for each Claim placed in any Battleground Area that is listed on either the Active Power Struggle or the Upcoming Power Struggle.
Activating Power Struggles. Power Struggles are activated when the relevant Event symbol is resolved (see section 16.5, p. 41). When the top card of the deck is moved to the Active Power Struggle space on the Status Mat, this will also reveal the new Upcoming Power Struggle, giving players a chance to prepare for what is coming next.
Scoring Power Struggles. Any Active Power Struggle will be scored in the Income & Upkeep Phase, Step E (see p. 10), before being discarded.
When a Power Struggle is scored, all players who satisfy the conditions will score Prestige as described below:
Scoring Battleground Areas. For each Battleground Area, players will score Prestige as follows:
- 1 per Tax Value of Provinces they Control there (Vassals count as half)
- 1 for being the only PR with Towns/Vassals there (for Battleground Areas on the Main Map only)
- 1 for having at least 1 Alliance/Royal Marriage there
Additional Prestige criteria. Players that satisfy listed criteria may score additional Prestige, while players who fail to do so will sometimes lose Prestige. These conditions are often specific to certain Realms.
18. The Holy Roman Empire (HRE)
The Holy Roman Empire is an institution that wields great power, but it is a difficult beast to tame. It is a great responsibility, and its member states won't necessarily always bend to the will of their Emperor.
In the standard 1444 setup, Austria starts as the Holy Roman Emperor.
18.1 Imperial Authority
The Holy Roman Emperor has an Imperial Authority ranging from 0 to +6, with different bonuses according to its level. Reducing Imperial Authority when it is already at 0, or increasing it when it is at +6, has no effect. In a 1444 setup, the Emperor starts with +3 Imperial Authority.
Imperial Authority is capped at 1 + the current number of Elector Areas (see section 18.3).
Increased Manpower and Income. The Holy Roman Emperor's Imperial Authority value is added directly to their Manpower value. If Imperial Authority changes, the Emperor's Manpower Reserve must be adjusted accordingly, in Phase 5, Step A.
During Phase 4, the Imperial Authority value is also added directly to the Emperor's Tax Income. This additional Tax Income is not considered to be part of Base Tax Income, and it is not included when calculating Manpower.
Additional Bonuses. Each Round, during the Income & Upkeep Phase, the Emperor's Monarch Power income (and potentially Prestige) is affected by the Imperial Authority level.
| Current Imperial Authority | Bonus |
|---|---|
| +1 or higher | May use Defending the HRE ability |
| +2 or +3 | +1 Diplomatic Power |
| +4 or +5 | +1 Diplomatic Power and +1 Military Power |
| +6 | +2 Diplomatic Power, +1 Military Power, and +1 Prestige |
Gaining/Losing Imperial Authority. The Emperor can increase their Imperial Authority by 1 step as an Action (by spending Administrative Power equal to 1 plus their current Imperial Authority level), by defeating external attackers, and by reincorporating HRE Areas.
The Emperor can lose Imperial Authority as a consequence of failing in their duty to protect their Subjects and the HRE lands, or by aggressively expanding within the HRE.
| Event/Action | Imperial Authority |
|---|---|
| Spend Administrative Power = 1 + current Imperial Authority | +1 |
| Win War vs. non-HRE Aggressor | +1 |
| Reincorporate HRE Area | +1 |
| If below +3 Imperial Authority upon Election | +1 |
| Refusing CtA from an Imperial Subject following a DoW by a non-HRE Aggressor | -1 |
| An Area leaves the HRE | -1 |
| Lose War vs. non-HRE Aggressor | -1 |
| Emperor Declares War on HRE Member without having a CB | -1 |
| Emperor enforces Full Annexation Peace Term on an HRE Member of the same State Religion | -1 |
| # of Elector Areas falls below current Imperial Authority – 1 | -1 per step |
18.2 Imperial Influence
There are 6 gray Imperial Influence cubes in the game. The Emperor has access to a number of Imperial Influence equal to their Imperial Authority. They place Imperial Influence during setup, per setup instructions, and update the number of Imperial Influence available in Phase 5, Step B, based on the current Imperial Authority.
For most purposes Imperial Influence works just the same way as regular Influence but there are some exceptions:
- Imperial Influence is always placed or redistributed in Phase 5, Step B, and should always match Imperial Authority at that point.
- Imperial Influence must be placed in HRE Areas that contain at least 1 Province Owned by an NPR HRE Member.
- If an HRE Area with Imperial Influence leaves the HRE, that Imperial Influence is immediately removed from the board and returned to the Supply.
- Imperial Influence may not be removed for the purpose of the Subjugate Action.
18.3 HRE Lands
All Provinces and Areas inside the dotted HRE border are considered part of the HRE, unless a "Not HRE" token has been placed in the Area in question (see section 18.6).
For the HRE to retain its integrity and unity, the Emperor must make sure that HRE Provinces are owned by member states and not by external Realms.
HRE Members / Imperial Subjects. All Realms whose Capital is inside the dotted HRE border are considered to be HRE Members unless there is a "Not HRE" token in their Capital Area. Member states that are not the Emperor are considered Imperial Subjects of the Emperor. PRs, NPRs, and Vassal Realms can be HRE Members.
PRs as Imperial Subjects. In some scenarios, PRs may be playing as HRE Member states that do not hold the Emperor title (e.g., Netherlands or Brandenburg). The Emperor might also be a PR or they may be an NPR.
PR HRE Members may only leave the HRE if they have a Mission or Event that allows them to do so. They may not Research Government Ideas if Imperial Authority is +3 or higher.
As an Imperial Subject, every time the Emperor activates Defending the HRE, you must do one of the following:
- Exhaust 2 Manpower (max. ½ of total Manpower)
- Lose 6 Ducats (max. ½ of Tax Income)
- Lose 1 Prestige
- Place a CB token on Aggressor's Capital
Unlawful Province Occupants. If an HRE Province is Occupied, Owned, or Vassalized by an external Realm (one whose Capital is outside the HRE), that Realm is considered to be an Unlawful Occupant.
The Emperor has a permanent Imperial Liberation Casus Belli (see p. 22) against all such Unlawful Occupants. If an Area in its entirety leaves the HRE (as described below), these Provinces are no longer considered part of the HRE and the Emperor loses the Imperial Liberation Casus Belli for all Provinces in that Area.
Unlawful Occupants in the 1444 setup: Burgundy, Venice, and Denmark.
Elector Areas. The 5 Elector Areas are Saxony, Westphalia, Brandenburg, Bohemia, and Rhineland, and all are marked with an Imperial eagle. These Areas are of extra importance to the Emperor.
To count as an Elector Area, the Area must contain the Capital of at least 1 HRE Member. If all such Capitals are Owned by Realms whose Capitals are in different Areas, the Area is not counted as an Elector Area.
18.4 Defending the HRE
When a non-HRE Realm (external Aggressor) Declares War on an Imperial Subject, if Imperial Authority is at +1 or higher, a PR Emperor will automatically receive a Defensive CtA from their Subject unless this Subject is at War with the Emperor.
A PR Emperor may accept such a CtA, as if from an Ally, following the 'Accepting a CtA' procedure (see p. 32), but also tagging the Defending the HRE slot on the Status Mat with a Tag chit. Once the Emperor is at Peace with all external Aggressors, or if a new Emperor is elected mid-War, untag this slot.
If a PR Emperor refuses such a CtA, instead of the normal effects of refusing a CtA, they immediately suffer a -1 Imperial Authority penalty.
If a PR Emperor's own Capital is located inside the HRE, they may also activate the Defending the HRE ability when an external Aggressor Declares War on them directly.
The Imperial Authority track is located on the Status Mat. It is where current Imperial Authority is tracked, along with applicable bonuses, official HRE Religion, Imperial Manpower, and Defending the HRE status.
Imperial Manpower. Upon activating Defending the HRE, a number of NPR Units equal to the Emperor's total Influence in Elector Areas (including Imperial Influence) is added to the Imperial Manpower pool on the Status Mat, up to a maximum of 8 Units.
The Emperor may use Imperial Manpower in every Battle where they participate in HRE Areas, or any Areas of their Realm that are adjacent by Land to an HRE Area. They may, at the start of such Battles, add all of this Manpower as Infantry Units that will fight alongside their Army, except in Battles where the Enemy facing the Emperor only consists of NPR HRE Members.
The Imperial Units work like Allied Units in the Battle, but are kept separate from any other Allied Units in the same Battle. Once the Battle is over, any surviving Imperial Units are returned to the Imperial Manpower pool. These will be available in later Battles.
If the Emperor is not at War with any external Aggressors, in Phase 5, Step B, empty the Imperial Manpower pool by returning any remaining NPR Units to the General Supply.
Military Access in the HRE. While Defending the HRE is tagged, the Emperor, and anyone at War against the Emperor, has free Military Access (see p. 25) through all Areas within the HRE.
Peace Resolution. While the Defending the HRE slot is tagged, external Aggressors may never resolve Peace separately with any NPR Imperial Subjects unless they have achieved Total or Partial Victory over the Emperor (per Victory Conditions on p. 29). Instead, they must resolve Peace with the Emperor, treating any NPR Imperial Subjects at War with Enemies of the Emperor as Active Allies of the Emperor.
If a War against an external Aggressor is won by the Emperor, they gain 1 Imperial Authority if no HRE Provinces are ceded to external Realms.
If a War against an external Aggressor is lost by the Emperor, they lose 1 Imperial Authority. If whole Areas thus leave the HRE, they will lose Imperial Authority due to this as well (see section 18.6).
18.5 Internal Wars
If the Emperor does not have a CB when Declaring War against one of their Imperial Subjects, they will lose 1 Imperial Authority and must remove 3 Influence from HRE Areas (in addition to the regular penalties for having no CB).
If an Imperial Subject Declares War on another HRE Member without a CB, the Emperor must place a CB token on the Capital of the Aggressor.
Full Annexation by Emperor. If the Emperor enforces the Full Annexation Peace Term on an HRE Member of the same State Religion as themselves, they lose 1 Imperial Authority.
18.6 Leaving & Rejoining the HRE
If all the HRE Provinces in an HRE Area are Owned by external Realms (has its Capital located outside the HRE and is not Emperor), that Area will automatically leave the HRE. Place a "Not HRE" token in the Area.
If an Area leaves the HRE, the Emperor loses 1 Imperial Authority. Loss of Imperial Authority for Areas that leave as a direct consequence of an Event is accounted for in the Event effects.
Reincorporating Areas. An Area that has left the HRE will immediately be reincorporated into the HRE (remove the "Not HRE" token) if all of the Provinces in this Area that are located on the inside of the printed HRE border are once again Owned or Vassalized by HRE Members or by the Emperor.
When an Area is reincorporated into the HRE, the Emperor gains 1 Imperial Authority.
18.7 HRE Religion (Advanced Rules)
At the start of the game, the official Religion of the HRE is Catholicism (as seen on the Status Mat). The HRE may only be Catholic or Protestant, or have no official Religion.
Note: The HRE's Religion cannot change until Age III, from which point onwards it is checked at the end of each Round:
- If all Elector Areas are Protestant but the HRE's Religion is not, the HRE turns Protestant (place a Protestant token) and Imperial Authority drops by 1.
- If all the Elector Areas are Catholic, the HRE's Religion stays/becomes Catholic (remove Religion token, if any).
- If there are Elector Areas of multiple Religions, the HRE ceases to have an official Religion (place a Diverse Faiths token).
The Emperor is not allowed to Change State Religion to any other Religion than that which is currently the HRE's official Religion, if the HRE has one.
If the Emperor adopts Revolutionary Ideology as their State Religion, the HRE is permanently dissolved, and ceases to exist.
18.8 NPR Emperor
If the HRE region is in play but the Emperor is controlled by an NPR, the Emperor starts with +3 Imperial Authority as usual, and Imperial Authority is adjusted as normal when Areas leave or rejoin the HRE.
Roll a 6-sided die at the end of the Round to see if Imperial Authority increases or decreases:
| Roll | Effect on Imperial Authority |
|---|---|
| 1 | Decrease Imperial Authority by 1 |
| 2–5 | Decrease Imperial Authority by 1 if roll is 2+ lower than current Imperial Authority. Increase Imperial Authority by 1 if roll is 2+ higher than current Imperial Authority. |
| 6 | Increase Imperial Authority by 1 |
The number of Units that defend an HRE Member in an HRE Area under attack is:
Units defending Areas in NPR HRE = Military Capacity of any defending NPR(s) + 3 x Imperial Authority – 2 x the number of HRE Areas containing non-HRE Units prior to this Turn.
Vassalization and Annexation. An NPR Emperor cannot be Vassalized either by force or diplomatically.
If an NPR Emperor is Fully Annexed during Peace Resolution, the HRE dissolves and ceases to exist for the rest of the game.
18.9 Imperial Elections (Advanced Rules)
If the Emperor has +4 Imperial Authority or less when their current Ruler is replaced or discarded, an Imperial Election must be held.
The PR that receives votes from the most Elector Areas becomes the new Emperor. The PR that has the most Influence (including Imperial Influence) in an Elector Area receives the vote from that Area. Ties for most Influence in an Area, or for highest number of Elector votes, are decided by the current Emperor.
An Elector Area with no NPR Provinces where all Vassal tokens belong to a single PR will automatically vote for that PR, if eligible.
A PR that has its Capital in an Elector Area gets the vote from that Area if eligible. Otherwise, that Elector Area does not vote.
To be eligible for (re)election as Emperor, a Realm must follow the official Religion of the HRE (if there is one). PRs that are not HRE Members, or those with Interregnums, can still be eligible. If no PR is eligible to become Emperor, the Emperor title remains with the current Emperor, but Imperial Authority drops by 2.
If Imperial Authority is below +3 following the election of a new Emperor, Imperial Authority increases by 1.
If a new PR is elected Emperor while the departed Emperor was Defending the HRE, remove the Tag chit from the Defending the HRE slot and empty the Imperial Manpower pool. The newly elected Emperor may place a CB token on any non-HRE Realm at War with NPR HRE Members.
No election is held if the Emperor is controlled by an NPR.
19. The Papal Curia
Only PRs whose State Religion is Catholic may have Cardinals and compete for control of the Papal Curia.
Dominating the Curia to become the Papal Controller provides certain bonuses and gives access to the Papal Actions.
19.1 Cardinals
Cardinals are Cubes that players place on the slots of the Papal Curia track.
If a PR has more Cardinals (with a minimum of 2 Cardinals) than each of the other PRs, this makes them the Uncontested Papal Controller and gives them access to Papal Actions and all the bonuses below.
If 2 or more players are tied for having the most Cardinals, the tied player with the leftmost Cardinal is the Papal Controller, receiving all benefits except for the Prestige bonus.
The number of regular Cardinal slots available on the Papal Curia track at any given time is always 1 more than the number of Catholic PRs currently active in the game. The Roma slot (see below) comes in addition to these. Block off any slots not in play. The starting setup for the Papal Curia is described in each Scenario.
When you gain a Cardinal, it is placed in Cardinal slot number 1 on the Papal Curia track. All Cardinals currently on the track (except any Cardinal in the Roma slot) are then slid 1 space to the right. If there is a Cardinal in the rightmost available slot when a new token is added, this Cardinal is returned to its owner.
The Papal Curia track is located on the Status Mat. The regular Cardinal slots are numbered 1–6. Only slots with a number ≤ the current number of Catholic PRs +1 are in play.
Controlling the Roma Cardinal. To gain, and retain, control of the leftmost slot, labeled "Roma", you need to have either:
- An Alliance with the Papal States, or
- Control the Province of Roma
Capturing Roma. While Controlling (Occupying or Owning) Roma, you automatically gain a Cardinal in the Roma slot on the Papal Curia track, and must place a Cube there. This supersedes any Alliance with the Papal States.
However, this is also the only Cardinal you are allowed to have, and you must immediately discard all your other Cardinals from the Curia.
You are not allowed to gain any further Cardinals (e.g., by playing Man of the Church cards) while you Occupy or Own Roma.
19.2 Papal Controller
The player with the most Cardinals is the Papal Controller. In case of a tie for most Cardinals, having the left-most Cardinal breaks the tie.
The Papal Controller has access to the Papal Actions and receives +1 Diplomatic Power each Round, during Phase 4, Step D.
The Papal Controller also pays 1 Administrative Power fewer for all Actions that Increase Stability, and 1 Ducat less per Advisor during Phase 4, Step B.
Uncontested Papal Controller. If you have Uncontested Control (at least 2 Cardinals, and most Cardinals with no tie) of the Papal Curia during Phase 4, Step E, you receive Prestige equal to the number of Catholic PRs minus 1, but max. 3.
19.3 Papal Actions
In each Round of Ages I and II, the Papal Controller may perform 1 Papal Action. Once the Crusade/Excommunicated token has been placed on the board, no more Papal Actions may be performed for the remainder of that Round.
Excommunicate Ruler (2 Diplomatic Power). Place an Excommunicated token on the targeted Catholic Realm's Capital.
A PR whose Ruler is Excommunicated loses 1 Prestige and 1 Cardinal from the Papal Curia track, and they must discard 4 Influence from Catholic Areas. The Roma Cardinal cannot be removed.
While the Excommunicated token is in play, all Catholic Realms have an Excommunication CB (see p. 22) on that Realm.
The Excommunicated token remains in play until Phase 4, Step E.
Call Crusade (2 Diplomatic Power). Select a target Area that has at least 2 Provinces Owned by Muslim Realms, and place the Crusade token there.
You may immediately take a free Declare War Action targeting any Muslim Realm(s) with Provinces in the target Area to gain 1 Prestige and 2 Mercenary Infantry Units for free (follow 'Gain Military Unit' rules on p. 40). If you do so, tag the Committed to Crusade slot on the Status Mat with a Tag chit.
The Crusade token provides a Holy War CB (see p. 22) for all Catholic Realms against Muslim Realms that Own a Province in that Area. If you use this CB on a valid target when taking a Declare War Action, tag the Committed to Crusade slot on the Status Mat. Multiple PRs may be Committed to Crusade at the same time.
Crusade Scoring. This occurs in Phase 4, Step E, when the Crusade token is on the board. The token is removed once Crusade scoring is done.
- Catholic Realms that are Committed to Crusade each score 2 Prestige if they have any Units in the Crusade's target Area and there are no Provinces Owned by Muslim Realms left there. Otherwise, they each lose 2 Prestige.
- If no Realm is Committed to Crusade at this point, the Papal Controller loses 2 Prestige.
20. 2-Player Games
20.1 2 Players + Bot(s)
The default way to set up a 2-player game is to pick a 3- or 4-player scenario and replace the missing players with bots.
See the Solo & Bot Rules booklet for how to play a game with bots.
20.2 No Bots Variant
In a 2-player game without bots, during setup organize the Event Decks as if there were 4 players but use only the Realm-specific Events for the 2 Player Realms in play, and use B-Events instead of Realm-specific Events for the third and fourth PR.
During play, reveal Events as in a 4-player game. Each player must take 2 Event Actions each Action Phase before they may Pass.
The first player to Pass collects 3 Ducats, then the remaining player may take 2 Turns before they must Pass. If the remaining player still has not taken any of their Event Actions at this stage, they may nonetheless take 1 other Action of their choice in addition to their Event Actions. The second player to Pass collects no Ducats upon Passing.
The First Player is allowed to retain the First Player token by Passing first.
21. PR Elimination
The game by default does not have player elimination, since a player may always Surrender when facing a catastrophic defeat in a War, and PRs always retain their Capital when a Peace is concluded.
If, however, for whatever reason, a player must leave the game before it ends, there are two ways to handle this. In either case, this should be done at the end of a Round, after resolving all of that PR's Wars.
The first (and easiest) solution is to leave all Towns and Vassals belonging to that PR on the map boards, and continue playing as if all of these belonged to an NPR. Remove any Unrest from those Towns/Vassals, and remove all other pieces and tokens of that PR from the game. Terminate all Alliances with that PR. This new NPR cannot be Allied or Vassalized.
Whenever one of that PR's Events are revealed, simply remove it from the Event display. In those Rounds where none of that PR's Events show up, auto-resolve any symbols on the additional Unpicked Event.
The second solution, which requires a bit of custom tweaking, is to replace the human player that leaves with a Bot player (see Solo & Bot Rules, p. 6).
Game Components (Standard Ed. / Deluxe Ed.)
Boards
- Western Europe map board
- Eastern Europe map board (Deluxe Edition only)
- Distant Continents board
Card decks
- Action Cards (108)
- Trade Cards (44)
- Event Cards (110/221)
- Setup Cards (8/17)
- Mission Cards (88/160)
- Milestone Cards (48/64)
- Idea Cards (21/30)
- Power Struggle Cards (3/10)
- Bot Cards (48)
Cardboard mats
- Player/Bot Mats (4/6)
- Army/Fleet Mats (8/12)
- Status Mat (1)
Dice
- Infantry Dice (6)
- Cavalry Dice (3)
- Artillery Dice (3)
- Rebel Dice (3)
- Exploration Die (1)
- Standard die (1)
Common tokens
- Mercenary Units (14/20)
- NPR/Rebel Units (16/25)
- Rebel Towns (10/15)
- NPR/Pirate Ships (7/10)
- Gold 10-Ducat coins (14/21)
- Silver 5-Ducat coins (14/21)
- Copper 1-Ducat coins (24/36)
- First Player token (1)
- Income +20 tokens (4/6)
- Negative Prestige tokens (2)
- Imperial Authority token (1)
- Ill Health/Interest tokens (30)
- Crusade/Excommunicated token (1)
- Protestant/Counter-Reformed tokens (29/32)
- Catholic/Diverse Faiths tokens (7/9)
- Orthodox/Muslim tokens (0/11)
- Revolutionary/+1 Manpower tokens (0/10)
- Not HRE/+1 Manpower tokens (8)
- Expanded Trade/+1 Manpower tokens (6)
- Occupied/Battleground tokens (11)
- Dynamic NPR tokens (31/53)
- Imperial Influence cubes (6)
Player token sets (4 sets in Standard Ed. / 6 sets in Deluxe Ed.)
- Army miniatures (3)
- Fleet miniature (1)
- Merchant pawns (3)
- Monarch Power/Influence cubes (30)
- Stability/Round Status markers (2)
- Land Units (20)
- Naval Units (15)
- Large Towns (8)
- Small Towns (40)
- Claim/Core tokens + Claim/CB tokens (6+2)
- Alliance/Active Ally tokens (4)
- Royal Marriage/Disputed Succession tokens (4)
- Vassal tokens (19)
- Ruler General/Interregnum token (1)
- War/Truce tokens (5)
- Tag chits (12)
- Prestige marker (1)
Credits
Game design & development: Eivind Vetlesen. Solo mode design: Dávid Turczi. Development contributions: Víctor Paiam, Roberto Méndez, Dávid Turczi, Christophe Correia, Kristian Østby, Yngve Bækholt. Editing: Michael Schemaille. Art direction & graphic design: Eivind Vetlesen, Víctor Paiam. Main cover illustration: Tomasz Jedruszek. Card illustrations: Joeri Lefevre, Olly Lawson. Mini portraits & other art: Olly Lawson, Erik Ødegaard, Paradox Interactive. Miniature sculpts: Daniels Kalašņikovs. Coin design: Andrew Forster. Deluxe Edition Tray design: Bryce Cook / Game Trayz.
Europa Universalis: The Price of Power™ Copyright © 2022 Paradox Interactive AB (publ). All rights reserved. Second printing: 2023.