Fortune & Famine
Fortune & Famine Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
- 1 Hire Board
- 6 Kingdom Boards
- 6 Starting Farmer Cards
- 6 Unique Ruler Cards
- 84 Hire Cards
- 1 Round Leader Card with stand
- 6 Player Tokens
- 6 Ruler Tokens
- 6 Storage Shields
- 6 Tokens for Exclusive Ruler set
- 96 Grain Tokens
- 48 Silver Tokens
- 6 Storage Bags (DELUXE version only)
Setting Up the Decks
Shuffle the Ruler Cards and deal one to each player, along with the corresponding player and Ruler tokens. Separate the Hire Cards into three decks as shown on the backs of the cards. These decks represent the "Years" of play. Sort through each deck and remove any cards that show a number on the bottom right corner that is higher than the number of people playing (for example, in a 4 player game, any cards that have a 5 or 6 are discarded). When you are done, there will be enough cards for 4 rounds of play, called Seasons, in each Year.
Example: In a 4 player game, these cards would be discarded.
Setting Up Kingdom Boards
In addition to a Ruler, players start the game with 1 Kingdom Board, 1 Storage Shield, 1 Common Farmer (double sided), 3 silver tokens and 1 grain token each, as shown. Make sure the Hire Board, grain stocks and silver stocks are in the middle of the playing area, within easy reach of all players. Select a player to go first by any method agreed upon and give that player the Round Leader Token.
Your Storage Shield or Bag is placed beside or behind your Kingdom Board.
Phase order and corresponding symbols are shown on the Kingdom Board.
The Hire Phase
Round Leader first discards the top card of the current Year Deck face down (without looking at it!). This is referred to as "burning" a card and is done at the start of every HIRE Phase. Next, Round Leader draws the same number of cards as there are players, and places them face up on the Hire Board.
If any Famine cards are flipped up, they take immediate effect! Players follow the directions on the card (see page 4 for more details). The Year numbers on the backs of each deck correspond with the number of Famine cards in each Year. However, it is important to note that because a card is "burned" each Season, it is possible that some Famine cards could be out of play for the game.
Famine!
Famine cards affect every player immediately when revealed and are left on the Hire Board until the end of the HIRE Phase, at which time they are discarded face down along with any Workers and Wizards not taken. If multiple Famine cards are revealed in the same HIRE Phase, they take effect one after the other.
However, it is important to note that Famine only affects grain on your Kingdom Board; any grain behind your Storage Shield is safe from Famine.
4 Player Example: Two Famine are flipped up in the same HIRE Phase. Player A had 5 grain tokens at the start of the round, so he immediately loses 3 grain to the first Famine (half of 5 rounded up). He then immediately loses 1 more grain (half of his remaining 2) due to the second Famine.
Famine card text (both cards): "All players immediately lose half of their unstored grain, rounded up! (i.e. if you have only 1 grain on your Kingdom Board, you lose it!)"
Next, beginning with the Round Leader, each player will get an opportunity to perform one of the following actions:
- Bid silver for a Worker. You are allowed up to two of the same Worker in your Kingdom, but may only take one card each HIRE Phase (see pages 9-10 for details on Workers, Worker types, and Kingdom limitations).
- Take a Wizard if available. You do not bid on a Wizard. He does not cost anything, and may be immediately taken into your Kingdom on your turn in the HIRE Phase. If you take a Wizard you may not also bid on a Worker in this Season.
- Outbid an opponent for a Worker. You may choose to bid more silver than an opponent did on a Worker. If you do so, your opponent receives their silver back (see page 5 for more details on bidding).
- Pass. You may choose to pass, skipping your turn for the HIRE Phase. Once you have decided to pass, you may not enter back into the bidding this Season.
Discards are always face down.
5 Player Example: The numbers on the board indicate how many cards are flipped during the HIRE Phase for the number of players. This space is empty because there are only 5 players.
Bidding on a Worker
To bid on a Worker, you must place 1 or more silver on the Worker card, along with your player token to signify whose bid it is.
To outbid an opponent for a Worker, you must place at least 1 more silver on the Worker than your opponent did; ties do not count. If a player is outbid, their silver is immediately returned to them and the new bid stays on the Worker. The outbid player will have an opportunity to perform another HIRE Phase action once play comes back around to their turn (see example scenario below).
5 Player Example:
- Red Player bids 2 silver on the Common Jester, to make it more difficult for opponents to outbid him.
- Orange Player wants Chysarion, so she immediately takes him & places him in her Kingdom, no bid necessary.
- Green Player bids 1 silver on the Common Merchant.
- Blue Player bids 2 silver on the Common Merchant, outbidding Green Player. Green Player immediately takes their silver back, but must wait until play comes around to them again.
- Pink Player does not have any silver, and the Wizard has already been taken, so he must pass.
- Play has come back around to Green Player, who may now decide whether to bid on a Common Trader, outbid one of his opponents, or pass. He decides to pass.
- Players Red and Blue take the Workers they won, discard the silver that was bid, and place the Workers on their Kingdom Boards. Since the Traders were not bid on, they are discarded and play moves to the next Phase.
Once every player has either taken a Wizard, won a bid on a Worker, or passed, players who got a card must place the new card in their Kingdom. If the player's Kingdom is full, that player must discard a Worker or Wizard from their Kingdom Board to make room for the new card. You may NOT discard a Worker or Wizard taken from the current HIRE Phase!
Any cards still remaining on the Hire Board are discarded.
The Attack Phase
The ATTACK Phase will only come into play in Years 2 & 3. This Phase is done one player at a time, beginning with the Round Leader. If a player has multiple attacking characters, they may choose to use as many as they would like. The ONLY way to block an attack from Evrathor is to have a Seer in your Kingdom. See pages 10-11 for more details on attacking characters.
The Payment Phase
This Phase is done one player at a time. In the PAYMENT Phase, each player will get the opportunity to pay silver or grain tokens to Workers. The payment tokens are placed on the Worker(s) being paid, and will be discarded in the REWARD Phase. You may only pay each Worker 1 payment (unless you have a Philosopher; see page 10), but you may pay as many Workers as you wish and are able to. If you have a Trader and would like to utilize him in this Phase, it is important to note that trades are immediate, and the tokens received in the exchange may be used to pay Workers.
Example: This player only has 2 grain and no silver at the start of the PAYMENT Phase. She uses her Trader to exchange a grain token for silver, then uses the silver to pay her Farmer on the same turn.
The Reward Phase
This is the only Phase in which all players take their turns simultaneously. In the REWARD Phase, players collect all rewards stated on cards that have the REWARD symbol. If the Worker requires payment, a player may only collect rewards from that Worker if the Worker was paid in the previous PAYMENT Phase. Any payments that were made to Workers are discarded. If you have a Wizard with the REWARD symbol on it, you may use his ability now, or save him for a future Season. Wizards are powerful, but are single use, so once you reap the benefits you will discard the Wizard (see page 11 for more details on Wizards).
The Decision Phase
In this Phase, one at a time beginning with the Round Leader, players will choose one of the following:
- Receive 1 resource. You may choose to take either 1 grain or 1 silver token from the stock.
- Place grain into storage. You may pay 1 silver to place as many grain as you would like behind your Storage Shield or in your Storage Bag.
(The two options are separated by "OR" on the printed page.)
Once grain is placed into storage you may not remove it, but placing food in Storage is important for two reasons; ONLY grain in Storage will count towards your game winning score (except in the case of a tie), and grain that is stored is protected from Famine.
At the end of this Phase, remember to pass the Round Leader Token to the next player clockwise before starting the next Season of play.
Winning the Game
When the last of Year 3's cards have been flipped, it is the final Season of the game. Finish out all Phases as normal, and at the end of the DECISION Phase the game ends. Players reveal and count all grain from behind their Storage Shield (any grain remaining on your Kingdom Board is not counted, unless there is a tie). The player with the most stored grain wins!
In the case of a tie, use the following criterea to break it:
- The player with the most grain on their Kingdom Board wins.
- If still a tie: The player with the most silver on their Kingdom Board wins.
- If still a tie: The player with the most Workers on their Kingdom Board wins.
- If still a tie, the game ends in a tie.
Alternate Ruler Selection
Dealing out the Rulers at random is recommended for first time players. However, players more familiar with the game may wish to allow everyone to select their preferred Rulers, or to use the following alternate method of dispersing Rulers to players:
After the Round Leader has been chosen, that player will start with the deck of Ruler cards. They may choose to either pay 1 of their starting silver to take the Ruler of their choice, or pass the deck to the next player clockwise.
The next player will have the same choice. Play continues in this manner until the Rulers have been passed to every player once.
After that point, if any Rulers remain, passing will continue clockwise around the circle to the first player who did not yet choose a Ruler. They may then choose their Ruler, without having to pay silver.
In effect, this system allows players to start the game with 1 less silver, for the prize of getting to choose a Ruler they prefer.
The Rulers
Rulers are a powerful advantage your Kingdom starts with. Each Ruler card offers a unique benefit, often allowing you to bend or break certain rules of the game.
King Arup/Queen Avintia: You may not be targeted by Pickpockets or the Evrathor of silver theft.
Queen Besella/King Baroso: These Rulers do not apply to a particular Phase. Instead, they allow you to safeguard 3 resources of your choice at a time, and you may remove or place those resources beside this Ruler anytime it is your turn (you may also safeguard starting resources before the game begins). When Famine strikes, any grain beside this Ruler is not counted. Resources beside this card may not be destroyed by Evrathor. If there is a Pickpocket in play, any silver beside this Ruler is immune, and does not count towards your total silver for the purposes of theft (i.e. if you have 1 silver beside Besella/Baroso and 1 on your Kingdom Board, the Pickpocket may not target you, as if you had only 1 silver). Note that a "5" grain token is considered 5 resources and may NOT be guarded by these Rulers.
King Cotarr/Queen Corace: You may utilize these Rulers whenever you pass on taking anything from the HIRE Board, even if you had initially placed a bid and were outbid. (Card text: Instead of bidding on a Worker or taking a Wizard, you may take 2 silver.)
Queen Divina/King Daznul: You start the game with 3 tokens. Once per Year you may choose to spend one of your tokens if Famine appears to block its effect on your Kingdom. Your tokens only block the effect of one Famine each, so if two Famine appear in the same Season, you will only be able to block the effect of one of them and will be affected by the 2nd.
King Elban/Queen Eltezza: You start the game with 3 tokens. On your turn in the HIRE Phase, you may choose to spend one of your tokens, instead of bidding with silver, to instantly take a Worker from the Hire Board. No one may outbid you when you are using a token to take a Worker. If there was already a bid placed on the Worker, that silver is returned to the bidder.
Queen Felarren/King Fiagro: This Ruler acts as an extra Kingdom space. You may place any Worker or Wizard on this Ruler, allowing you to have one more Worker or Wizard than any other Kingdom.
Card Symbology
- Worker name: shown at the top of the card.
- PAYMENT Phase symbol: if a Worker requires payment to perform their action, the PAYMENT Phase symbol will be shown on the lower left side of the card. Some Workers will not require any payment, and Wizards will never require payment.
- Required payment: the required payment (if applicable) will be shown on the left of the card, beneath the PAYMENT Phase symbol.
- Phase symbol: the Phase in which a Worker or Ruler perform their actions will always be shown on the lower right side of the card. Wizards will show the symbol in the center just above the text.
- Reward: what you will receive in the applicable Phase.
- Bottom right number: the number in the bottom right corner is only for initial game setup (see page 3).
Paying a Worker is optional, but if you choose not to pay a Worker who requires it, you may not receive their reward for that Season of play.
Worker Types
Workers are the primary economic engine of your kingdom. Skilled Workers function the same as their Common counterpart, but offer a bigger reward.
- The Common & Skilled Jesters do not require any payment in order to perform their actions.
- The Workers on the right will require a payment of either silver (the Farmers) or grain (the Merchants) in order to collect the reward stated on the card.
Unique Workers do not come in Common or Skilled varieties.
- Steward: does not require payment, and receives 1 grain in the REWARD Phase. However, the grain he collects goes directly into Storage.
- Pickpocket: steals 2 silver, though they must be split between two opponents (following the rules stated on the card). You may choose to take 1 or both silver from the stock. This ensures that you will always receive 2 silver, even if there are no legal targets at the table. (Card text: Steal 1 silver from 2 opponents! Cannot take an opponent's last silver, or steal from Pickpockets.)
- Philosopher: doesn't require payment for himself, but instead allows you to pay a Common Farmer or Common Merchant an additional payment so that the Worker can collect double rewards! You may only use the Philosopher on 1 Worker per Season. (Card text: You may pay 1 Common Worker double. That Worker will earn double rewards.)
- Seer: a passive Worker; she does not require payment or perform an action, but a player who has a Seer in their kingdom cannot be targeted by ANY Wizard attacks. (Card text: You are protected from the dark wizard Evrathor.)
- Trader: the only Worker who allows you to choose which Phase you'd like him to work in. You may make an immediate trade of 1-3 resources, once per Season on your turn. This offers flexibility for bidding in the HIRE Phase, avoiding theft in ATTACK Phase, paying Workers in the PAYMENT Phase, or paying to store grain! See page 6 for an example of the Trader working in the Payment Phase. (Card text: Once per Season on your turn, you may immediately trade 1-3 of one resource type for the other type.)
Example: Pink is first in the turn order. At the start of the ATTACK Phase, he uses his Trader to trade 2 silver for grain, so that green cannot steal from him with her Evrathor this Season.
Kingdom Limitations
In your Kingdom, you may have up to 2 of the same Common Worker, or 1 Common and 1 Skilled version of a Worker, but you may not have 2 Skilled versions of the same Worker. You may have 3 Skilled Workers in your Kingdom, so long as they are all different (Farmer, Merchant, Jester). You are only allowed 1 of each Unique Worker in your Kingdom.
Examples: Yes: a Common Farmer, a Skilled Farmer, a Pickpocket and a Trader may be in the same Kingdom. No: two Skilled Farmers in the same Kingdom, and two Pickpockets in the same Kingdom.
Wizards
Wizards are powerful, single use cards. The wise Wizard Chysarion can give you many benefits, while the dark Wizard Evrathor may be summoned to attack opponents.
When a Wizard appears in the HIRE Phase, you may choose on your turn to take him for free, rather than bidding on a Worker. The Wizard is placed into your Kingdom, and stays there until you've chosen to use him to perform the action stated on the card, in the applicable Phase. The Wizard is then discarded after use.
Chysarion (the Wizard cards show one of three actions):
- Collect the amount of grain stated on the card and place it onto your Kingdom Board.
- Collect the amount of silver stated on the card and place it onto your Kingdom Board.
- Collect the amount of grain stated on the card and place it directly into Storage.
The dark Wizard Evrathor always has a negative effect on an opponent or opponents of your choice and may be used in the Attack Phase. But remember, if a player has a Seer in their Kingdom, you cannot attack that opponent with Evrathor! You may choose to take some or all of the resources you are stealing directly from the stock, rather than from opponents. This means you will always gain the number of resources stated on the card, regardless of whether there are enough valid targets at the table to steal from.
Evrathor (the Wizard cards show one of three actions; some are marked "Attack may be split" or "Attack must be split"):
- Steal the amount of grain stated on the card, from opponents, the stock or a combination of both, and place it onto your Kingdom Board.
- Steal the amount of silver stated on the card, from opponents, the stock or a combination of both, and place it onto your Kingdom Board.
- Steal the amount of grain stated on the card, directly from an opponent's Storage or from the stock, and place it into your Storage.