Heart of Crown Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Outline
• Back Up Your Princess
• Get Succession Points
• Box Contents
• Rules
• Understanding the Cards
  • Princess Cards
  • Common Cards
  • Basic Cards
  • Rare Cards
• Card Types
• Symbols and Special Terms
• Preparing to Play
• Turn Procedure
  • 1. Main Phase
  • 2. Second Phase
  • 3. Cleanup Phase
  • 4. Draw Phase
  • 5. Market Refresh Phase
• Victory Conditions
  • Overtime
  • Judgment
• Using Defense Cards
• Other Rules
• FAQ
• FAQ by Topic
• Variant Rules
• Recommended Card Sets
• Credits

Outline

Heart of Crown is a deck building card game. Each player starts with the same deck, but over the course of the game you will build up your deck with the aim of achieving ultimate victory: getting your princess on the throne.

Each player starts with a deck containing 7 Farming Villages as their only territory, and 3 unreliable Apprentice Maids as their only followers. Use the tax revenue (Coins) from your Farming Villages to buy cards that fit your particular strategy and add them to your deck.

Back Up Your Princess

Your goal is to get the princess you've chosen onto the throne. Start by getting City and Large City cards to get more Coins as tax revenue, so that you can get a Princess Card.

There are 6 Princess Cards to choose from: five princesses, and one pair of twins. Each has a special ability that can help you, but it's first-come first-serve. Be the first to get the princess that best suits your strategy.

Get Succession Points

In order to get your princess onto the throne, you will need to earn her the support of influencial people, as well as the common folk. This is represented by "Succession Points."

Your princess can be crowned when your Domain reaches 20 Succession Points. On a turn when you declare a coronation ceremony, if you have at least 20 Succession Points in your Domain and none of your rivals can declare a coronation ceremony, you win the game!

Box Contents

• 300 Cards
  • 6 Princess Cards (6 Types), 1 of Each
  • 2 Rare Cards (2 Types), 1 of Each
  • 150 Common Cards (30 Types), 5 of Each
  • 48 Basic Succession Cards (4 Types), 12 of Each
  • 28 Farming Village Cards
  • 30 City Cards
  • 20 Large City Cards
  • 16 Calamity Cards (Curse)
• 30 Randomizer Cards
• 41 Dividers
• 75 Counters
  • 4 Twin Counters
  • 36 Succession Point +1 Counters
  • 12 Succession Point +5 Counters
  • 13 Debt counters
  • 10 Ore Counters (For use with the Far East Territory expansion)
• 1 Rulebook
• Room for 2 Expansions

Rules

1. The objective of the game is to back a princess and be the first to hold a coronation ceremony.
2. Each player starts with a deck containing 7 Farming Village cards and 3 Apprentice Maid cards. Each player shuffles their deck and places it in front of them as a draw pile.
3. Players take turns, proceeding clockwise around the table.
4. Each player has a hand of 5 cards. At the start of the game you draw your hand of 5 from your draw pile. When your turn ends, discard both the card you've used and any cards remaining in your hand, and draw a hand of 5 cards. If your draw pile runs out, shuffle your discard pile into a new draw pile.
5. Pay Coins to buy cards from the market and add them to your discard pile, thereby strengthening your deck.
6. In order to back a princess, you need to pay a number of Coins equal to the princess card's backing cost.
7. Once you back a princess, place the card in front of you without adding it to your deck. The area where you place this princess card is called your Domain. On the turn when you back a princess, you must move 3 Territory cards that you've played (or as many as you've played if it was less than 3) to your Domain, in descending order of cost.
8. You can place Succession Cards in your Domain to increase your Succession Point total.
9. If you have not backed a princess, you cannot play Succession Cards in your Domain.
10. You cannot both play Succession Cards in your Domain and buy cards from the Market in the same turn.
11. To win the game, you must have at least 20 Succession Points worth of cards placed in your Domain and declare a coronation ceremony. You obtain Succession Cards by buying them from the Market.
12. Once you declare a coronation ceremony, if every other player takes a turn without declaring one themselves, you win the game.
13. When multiple players declare coronation ceremonies, the game goes into sudden death overtime.

Understanding the Cards

Broadly speaking, there are Princess Cards (6), Common Cards (5 each of 30 types), Basic Cards (8 types), and Rare Cards (2 types).

Princess Cards

1. Card Name: The princess' name.
2. Backing Cost: The number of Coins you must pay to back this Princess.
3. Card Type: In this case, it is "Princess."
4. Princess Support Ability: The special support ability you get from backing this princess.
5. Illustration

Common Cards

1. Card Name
2. Cost: The number of Coins you must pay to buy this card from the market.
3. Card Type: This will be Territory, Action, Attack, Defense, or Succession.
4. Ability: This is the ability you get when you play the card.
5. Link Symbol: Explained later.
6. Illustration
7. Card Frame: The color indicates the Card Type.

Basic Cards

There are eight kinds of Basic Cards: Farming Village, City, Large City, Apprentice Maid, Royal Maid, Senator, Duke, and Curse.

1. Card Name
2. Cost: The number of Coins you must pay to buy this card from the market.
3. Card Type: This will be Territory, Action, Attack, Defense, Succession, or Calamity.
4. Ability: This is the ability you get when you play the card.
5. Link Symbol: Explained later.
6. Illustration
7. Card Frame: The color indicates the Card Type.

Rare Cards

1. Card Name
2. Cost: The number of Coins you must pay to buy this card from the market.
3. Card Type
4. Ability: This is the ability you get when you play the card.
5. Illustration

Card Types

The card's type is written in the lower left. There are both Main Types and Sub-Types. Sub-Types will be in parentheses.

Main Type: The seven main types of cards in this basic set are Princess, Territory, Action, Attack, Defense, Succession, and Calamity. (Future expansions will add other card types, such as Support.) Each card will be of at least one of these types. There are also some cards with multiple main types, such as "Attack/Defense."

• Princess Cards: These important cards represent princesses who stand to inherit the throne. They are handled differently from other cards, and are not added to your deck.
• Action Cards: These are cards that you use on your own turn.
• Attack Cards: These are cards that you use on your own turn. These are always also Action Cards.
• Defense Cards: These are cards that you can use when another player uses an Attack Card against you. Use them during an opponent's turn.
• Territory Cards: These are cards that you use on your own turn. You mainly use them to collect taxes (Coins).
• Succession Cards: These cards give you the Succession Points that you need to win the game. Once you have backed a Princess, you can place Succession cards in your Domain.
• Calamity Cards: A Calamity card represents some kind of event such as a curse, misfortune, etc. (In this Base Set, Curse cards are the only type of Calamity available).

Sub-Type: Some cards also have a sub-type, which will be written below the Main Type in parentheses. Sub-Types include Military, Magic, Maid, etc.

Example: Infantry Battalion is an Action card (Main), an Attack card (Main), and a Military card (sub).

Symbols and Special Terms

• Succession Symbol: The number on this symbol is a quantity of Succession Points. In this case it means "6 Succession Points." The objective of the game is to get 20 or more Succession Points in your Domain.
• Coin Symbol: The number on this symbol is a quantity of Coins. In this case it means "3 Coins." When this symbol appears in a card's ability text, you receive that many Coins when you play it.
• Draw Symbol: This symbol means you draw the indicated number of cards from your draw pile. The number of cards you draw appears both in the card text below and as a number on the symbol.

Deck: A player's overall collection of cards.

Field: The location where you place cards that you've played is called the "field."

Draw Pile: This is the pile of cards you have after shuffling your cards and placing them face-down. At the start of the game, it is the same as your deck, but unlike deck, the content of your Draw Pile will change continuously over the course of the game.

Discard: When a card ability or similar calls for you to discard a card, you move the card to your discard pile, face up. Discarded cards are common knowledge, and both you and other players can look at them at any time. Also, the order of cards in the discard pile does not matter. You may place them in the discard pile in any order.

Banishment and the Outskirts: When a card ability or similar calls for you to "Banish" a card, you move it to the "Outskirts." The Outskirts is an area shared by all players where banished cards go.

Acquire: When a card ability or similar lets you acquire a card, you move the newly acquired card to your discard pile.

Domain: This is the area where, once you have backed a princess, you can play cards that give you Succession Points.

Opponent: Any player other than yourself.

Buy: Buying a card from the market lets you acquire it by paying its cost in Coins.

Preparing to Play

1. 2-4 players sit down to play. Turns always proceed clockwise around the table. Figure out seating however you wish.
2. Set Out the Princess Cards. Set all of the Princess Cards (6 in the basic set) out face-up on the table.
3. Set Out the Curse Cards. Set up a pile of Curse Cards, with a number of cards equal to 4 times the number of players. (For 2 players 8 cards, for 3 players 12 cards, and for 4 players 16 cards.)
4. Starting Decks. Each player begins with a starting deck of 10 cards: 7 Farming Villages and 3 Apprentice Maids. Each player shuffles their deck and places it face-down in front of themselves as their draw pile.
5. Set Up a Basic Market. Set up piles of City (30) and Large City (20) cards, and 12 each of Royal Maid, Senator, and Duke. We call these the Basic Market.
6. Set Up the Supply Pile. Select 10 of the 30 types of Common Cards included in the game. (See the Recommended Card Sets section for some recommended combinations of cards.) If you want to decide this randomly, shuffle the 30 Randomizer Cards and draw 10 of them. Take five of each of the selected 10 types of Common Cards, plus the two Rare Cards (Imperial Capital and Imperial Crown), shuffle them altogether, and place them face down. We call this the "Supply Pile."
7. Replenish the Random Market. Draw cards from the Supply Pile one at a time, until you have eight different cards. If you draw more than one of the same card, stack them together; we call this a "stack." We call the set of 8 types of cards the "Random Market." Taken together, the Basic Market and Random Market are the "Market."
8. Determine First Player. Decide which player will take their turn first. Use dice, rock paper scissors, or whatever you like. Players take turns proceeding clockwise around the table.
9. Draw Cards. Each player draws a hand of 5 cards from their draw pile. You're now ready to play.

Turn Procedure

Players' turns go as described below. Each turn is divided into 5 phases.

1. Main Phase

You can select one Action or Territory Card to play. When you play a card, put it face-up in your play area. We call the place where you put the cards you've played the "Field." When you play a card, effects written on the card's ability space activate, in order from top to bottom. (For example, if you play a Farming Village card, you get 1 Coin.) Once you've resolved all of its effects, you are done playing the card.

If you play a linkable card (one that has the link symbol arrow on the right or bottom) you can play yet another card from your hand. If the next card you play is a linkable, you can play yet another card after that. If a card has two link symbols, you can then play two additional cards, but regardless each link symbol only lets you play one additional card.

You can keep playing cards like this until you run out of either linkable cards or cards in your hand. If you can't play any more cards, or you choose not to, declare that your Main Phase is done.

Example: You have 2 Farming Villages, 2 Infantry Battalions, and 1 Apprentice Maid in your hand. You start by playing a Farming Village. The Farming Village's ability gives you 1 Coin. Since the Farming Village card has a link symbol on the right, you can play another card from your hand. You then play another Farming Village, and then an Infantry Battalion. Since the Infantry Battalion does not have a link symbol, you cannot play another card after it. Also, since the Apprentice Maid is not an Action or Territory card, you cannot play it now.

Example: You have 2 Farming Villages, 2 Infantry Battalions, and 1 Apprentice Maid in your hand. Since the Infantry Battalion isn't linkable, you can only play one of these at a time, but you have a Post Horse card you've kept on your City cards, and it has 2 link symbols on it. This means you can recall the Post Horse cards to your hand, and play it and then the two Infantry Battalion cards.

Special Actions Available During the Main Phase

Once you have a princess you've backed in your Domain, you can also take the following special actions in addition to playing a card during your Main Phase.

• Keep a Card: Take an Action Card from your hand and place it on top of a Territory Card in your Domain. We call this "keeping a card." When you keep a card, it does not go into your discard during the Cleanup Phase, and you can keep it for future turns. You can only keep Action Cards, and you can only keep one Action Card per Territory Card, and the cost of the card you keep cannot be greater than the cost of the Territory Card it is going on.
• Recall a Card: Take a card that you have kept and return it to your hand. We call this "recalling a card." You can keep and recall cards at any time during your Main Phase, but not during other player's turns.

Example: You can take the Infantry Battalion (Cost 4) and keep it on your Large City (Cost 6), but you cannot keep it on a City (Cost 3) or Farming Village (Cost 1).

2. Second Phase

During your Second Phase, you can take one of the actions listed below. You cannot do more than one of them in a turn.

Buy Cards from the Market

You can use Coins gained in the Main Phase to buy cards from the Market. Each card has a specific cost in Coins that you must pay. Coins that you spend are of course lost, but so long as you have enough Coins left, you can buy as many cards as you wish. Newly bought cards go from the Market directly to your discard pile.

Example: You currently have 5 Coins. You spend 3 Coins to buy a City card, and 2 Coins to buy a Contribution card. The newly bought City and Contribution cards go from the Market to your discard pile.

Back a Princess

If you have not yet backed a princess, you can use Coins gained during your Main Phase to pay the cost of a Princess Card (6 Coins) to back a princess. Take a Princess Card of your choice from the middle of the table and put it in your own play area. The area where this Princess Card and other cards next to it go is called your Domain. Then take 3 Territory Cards from those you played this turn with the highest costs and move them to your Domain. You do not move any other cards this way.

Example: During your Main Phase you play a Large City, a City, and 2 Farming Villages, gaining a total of 7 Coins. Rather than buying cards, you back South Sea Princess Klam-Klam. Establish your Domain in your play area, and then take South Sea Princess Klam-Klam card and put it there. Then take the 3 Territory Cards that you played during your Main Phase with the highest costs (a Large City, a City, and a Farming Village) and move them to your Domain. Since you only moved 3 cards this way, you have 1 Farming Village that you don't move.

Play Succession Cards in Your Domain

If you have backed a princess, you can play Succession Cards in your Domain. Succession Cards that you play this way do not get discarded, and remain in your Domain, counting towards your point total. You can play as many Succession Cards as you have in your hand.

Example: You have a Duke and an Apprentice Maid in your hand. Since you want to play a Duke card, on this turn you skip buying any cards, and decide to play the Succession Card instead. You play the Duke card, and thus get 6 Succession Points. Since the Apprentice Maid is -2 Succession Points, you do not play it here.

3. Cleanup Phase

Next, move all of the cards you played this turn (other than in your Domain), as well as any cards remaining in your hand, to your discard pile. At this time you also lose any remaining Coins that you gained this turn. Coins do not carry over from one turn to the next. Cards in your Domain do however remain in your play area.

4. Draw Phase

Draw 5 cards from your own draw pile to form a new hand. If your draw pile runs out, shuffle your discard pile into a new draw pile, and then continue drawing until you have a hand of 5 cards.

Example: While you are drawing a new hand during your Draw Phase, your draw pile runs out after you've drawn 3 cards. You shuffle your discard pile into a new draw pile, and then draw 2 more cards to complete your hand of 5.

5. Market Refresh Phase

If the Random Market has less than 8 types of cards, at this point you add cards from the Supply pile until it has 8 as it did at the start of the game. If the Supply pile runs out, the game continues as is. Once the Market Refresh Phase is done, the player's turn is over. The next player sitting clockwise from them takes their turn. This continues until the game ends.

Victory Conditions

If during your turn the total Succession Points from all of the cards in your Domain (including your Princess Card, Territory Cards, etc.) is 20 or more, you can declare a coronation ceremony.

If you have Farming Villages, Apprentice Maids, or other cards that subtract Succession Points in your Domain, they reduce your total by that amount. If, after you declare a coronation ceremony, all of the other players get to take their turns without being able to declare coronation ceremonies themselves, you win the game. If multiple players have declared a coronation ceremony, the game goes into sudden death overtime.

If, during the time when the other players are taking turns your Succession Point total goes below 20, your coronation ceremony is negated, and the game continues.

Example 1: You are backing First Princess Lulunasaika (6 Succession Points), and in your Domain you have 1 Farming Village (-2 Succession Points), 1 Duke (6 Succession Points), and 1 Senator (3 Succession Points). Your current total is 13 Succession Points. You need 7 more Succession Points to hold a coronation ceremony.

Example 2: There are three players, A, B, and C. Player A gets up to 24 Succession Points and declares a coronation ceremony. To his right is Player B, who has 20 points, and also declares a coronation ceremony. Player C has only 12 points, and cannot declare a coronation ceremony. In this case, when Player A takes his next turn, the game goes into overtime with only Players A and B.

Overtime

When multiple players declare coronation ceremonies, the game goes into sudden death overtime. When this happens, players who didn't declare coronation ceremonies are out of the game, and skip their turns. (Eliminated players are not affected by attack cards.) During overtime, the first player to reach 30 or more Succession Points puts their princess on the throne and wins the game.

Once overtime begins, you still continue playing even if the total of Succession Points in your Domain drops below 20.

Judgment

If all of the Duke, Senator, and Royal Maid cards from the Basic Market run out, the game ends immediately, and whoever has the most Succession Points in their Domain wins the game. If two or more players have the same point total, the game is a tie.

Using Defense Cards

When you have Defense Card(s) in your hand or Domain, you can use those when an opponent plays an Attack Card. You must declare that you are using a Defense Card before your opponent's Attack Card is resolved.

When you use a Defense Card, you show the card to your opponent, and the portion of the card's ability following "Defense Effect:" takes effect. You resolve a Defense Card's ability before that of the Attack Card. When you use a Defense Card, you do not have to discard it. Also, when you reveal the card, you do not move it from where it is. A Defense Card in your hand stays in your hand, and one that you are keeping stays kept.

If you have multiple Defense Cards between your hand and Domain, you can use as many of them as you wish. Note that the portion of a Defense Card's ability listed under "Defense Effect:" is only available when you use it to defend. You do not get this ability if you use it as an Action Card.

Example 1: Your opponent attacks with their Infantry Battalion card, and you defend with a Rampart card from your hand. If your opponent's Attack Card makes you discard cards from your hand or reveal cards from your draw pile, this reduces the quantity by one. As a result, you are unaffected by the Infantry Battalion.

Example 2: Your opponent attacks with their Royal Guard card, and you defend with 2 Rampart cards from your hand. If your opponent's Attack Card makes you discard cards from your hand or reveal cards from your draw pile, this reduces the quantity by 2. Royal Guard would normally make you reveal the top 3 cards from your draw pile, but this reduces it by 2, so you only have to reveal 1 card.

Other Rules

Princess Card Abilities

A princess card's ability becomes available as soon as you back that princess. There are three types of Princess Card abilities: those that activate once upon backing the princess, those that are always in effect, and Activation Abilities (you can declare you're activating during your Main Phase). See the card's text and the FAQ for more details.

Activation Abilities

The ability text of some cards includes activation abilities. To use such an ability, declare that you are using it during your Main Phase while you have the card in your Domain. Activation abilities are formatted as "[Activation Ability](Activation Condition): Effect."

Example: You are backing Scholar Princess Bergamotte. This gives you access to her activation type ability, which reads: "(Discard a non-Curse card from your hand): Take an Action Card from your discard pile and put it in your hand. You can use this ability once during the Main Phase of each of your turns." You declare you're using it, which lets you discard an Apprentice Maid card from your hand to take a discarded Alchemist and add it to your hand.

Hand Activation Ability

Some cards have abilities that you can activate while in your hand. You can use such abilities during your Main Phase without worrying about link symbols, because such abilities do not require you to actually play the card. Also, in order to use such abilities, you must have them in your hand. You cannot use these abilities after you've played the card in your field.

In this basic set the only card with such an ability is the Curse Witch, but the "Northern Enchantress" expansion will introduce more.

Replenishing Your Draw Pile and Discards

Any time you run out of cards in your draw pile, you shuffle your discard pile into a new draw pile. You also do so when effects from things like Action Cards reference your draw pile and require more cards than are currently in it. If your discard pile is empty and you cannot replenish your draw pile, you continue the game as is.

Example: The Stargazing Witch card's ability lets you look at the top three cards on your draw pile, but you only have two cards left in your draw pile right now. You shuffle your discard pile, put it beneath your current draw pile of two cards, and view the third card.

Shuffling Your Draw Pile

When you are instructed to shuffle your draw pile, turn all of the cards in your draw pile face-down and shuffle them. When you are done, they remain face-down.

Resulting Multiple Effects

When a card's text box has multiple effects, you resolve them in order from top to bottom. When multiple players use cards with ability simultaneously, start with the player whose turn it is, and proceed clockwise around the table.

Example: There are 4 players in the game. You use your Curse Witch card. You start resolving its ability with the player to your left. If during this time the Curse cards run out, the remaining players don't have to take a Curse card.

Buying and Acquiring Cards

"Acquiring a card" refers to any effect getting cards from any place other than your Deck like buying a card from the Market, gaining a card through another card's ability etc. Place acquired cards in your discard pile unless otherwise specified. Abilities that only activate when you buy the card will not activate when you acquire the card through another card's ability, but abilities that activate when you acquire a card will indeed activate when you buy the card.

Counters

Certain cards call for using counters; these are tokens used to track numbers. This set includes counters for use with the base game and the first two expansions. If you need more counters, you can substitute anything suitable, such as glass stones, poker chips, or coins.

Also, some cards require you to place counters in a particular area. When you use those cards, designate a part of your play area for those counters. The 1- and 5-point counters are for use as both Succession and Coin counters, and you can use them for other things as needed. Be sure to keep these in their proper areas to avoid confusion.

Succession Counters

When you put a "Succession Point +1" counter on a card, it counts towards your Succession Point total.

Coin Counters

You can remove 1 Coin Counter from your Coin Area to gain 1 Coin. This is an Activation Ability of the Coin Counter itself, and you can use it at any time during your Main Phase. Cards that use Coin Counters will be added to the game in the first expansion, "Far East Territory."

Revealing Cards

When a card's ability calls for you to reveal a card, you put it in the same location face-up until something changes that. For example, if you were called to reveal a card on top of your draw pile, flip it face-up and place on your draw pile until you draw it or another card makes you discard it.

Effect Misfires

Some situations make it impossible to resolve all of the effects of a card's ability. In this case, you resolve effects from top to bottom, and stop when you cannot resolve an effect. Once you reach an effect that you cannot resolve, you ignore any remaining effects on the card. After that, the game continues as usual.

Example: You play an Alchemist. However, there is only one card in the draw pile, and no cards in the discard pile. You add the remaining single card to your hand, and the Alchemist's effect ends there.

Card Ability Costs

Some cards call for you to pay Coins in their ability text. In order to use the ability, you must pay the indicated number of Coins immediately. Coins spent in this way are of course lost. Also, you need to have the Coins to pay before you play a card whose ability costs Coins. If you are unable to pay the required number of Coins, the card's effects after that are ignored and do not take effect.

Example: You have a City Development card and 2 Farming Village cards. You first play one Farming Village card to get a Coin. After that, you play the City Development and pay a Coin, which lets you banish the remaining Farming Village in your hand to get a City card from the Market.

Banishing Cards

Sometimes a card ability will call for you to "banish" a card. When you banish a card, you move it from the designated location to the Outskirts. The Outskirts is an area shared by all players where banished cards should be placed.

Acquiring Curse Cards

When a card effect says that you acquire Curse cards, you acquire the indicated number of Calamity type Curse cards from the center of the table. Note that Curse cards are not considered to be part of the Market, and you cannot buy them.

Declaring Card Names

Sometimes a card ability will call for you to declare a card name. When this happens, pick one of the cards being used in the game, and declare its name. You cannot declare the name of a card not in use in the current game. (This rule will come into play with cards from the "Northern Enchantress" expansion.)

Card Effects That Contradict the Basic Rules

Some cards have effects that will contradict the game's basic rules. In such cases, the card's effects take precedence.

FAQ

Q. Can I put cards in my Domain before I back a princess? A. No, you cannot.

Q. Is it possible to move territory cards from my field or hand to my Domain other than the moment I back a princess? A. Not normally. However, the Imperial Capital and Imperial Estate are Succession type cards, so you can play them in your Domain during your Second Phase. After that, you can keep Action Cards on the Imperial Capital and Imperial Estate.

Q. Can I back another princess after I've already backed one? A. No, you cannot. Once you back a princess, you cannot back another one, or change to a different one.

Q. Can I still back a princess on a turn when I play less than 3 Territory Cards? A. As long as you can pay the cost, you can back a princess regardless of what cards you've played on your turn. For example, you could use two Cities and a Trading Ship to pay to back a princess, and you would only move the two Cities to your Domain. Also, it is possible to have zero Territory Cards in your domain.

Q. If there are no Territory Cards in my domain, can I still place Succession Cards there? A. Yes, you can. Once you back a princess you have a Domain, regardless of what other cards are or aren't there. This is true even if it has no Territory Cards in it.

Q. What happens if I use a card like a Scout or Royal Guard to reveal a card on a draw pile, and a card has already been revealed? A. The revealed card is revealed again. The effect does not misfire, and you do not skip over cards that have already been revealed.

Q. What happens if you already have 30 Succession Points before you declare a coronation ceremony? A. In that case you win the game without having to wait to cycle through all of the players.

FAQ by Topic

Twin Princesses Lain and Shion

Q. Twin Princesses Lain and Shion's ability lets me take an extra turn; if I declare a coronation ceremony and then use it, does that mean I win the game? A. No, it does not. Winning the game requires not only declaring a coronation ceremony, but having all of the other players take their turns before you take another turn during which you can be counted as the victor.

South Sea Princess Klam-Klam

Q. How many times per turn can I use South Sea Princess Klam-Klam's ability to reduce the buy cost of a card by 1? A. As many times as you want, though only once per card bought. For example, you could buy 3 City Cards during one turn for a total of 6 Coins.

Scholar Princess Bergamotte

Q. What happens if I use Scholar Princess Bergamotte's ability when I don't have any Action Cards in my discard pile? A. You can still use this ability to discard a non-Curse card from your hand, but if there are no Action Cards in your discard pile, her ability has no further benefit.

Second Princess Laolilly

Q. I backed Second Princess Laolilly when there are only 4 or less Royal Maids left in the Market. Does her ability still let me get all of those Royal Maids? A. Yes. Second Princess Laolilly's ability lets you get as many Royal Maids as there are left in the Market, to a maximum of 5. You can also voluntarily choose to take less of them. Naturally, you cannot acquire Royal Maids that are not in the Market.

Princess General Flammaria

Q. What happens to the Farming Villages that are not moved to my Domain? A. They are discarded during your Cleanup Phase as usual.

Farming Village/City/Large City

Q. When backing a princess, can I choose not to move Territory Cards into my Domain? A. You cannot. When you back a princess, you are required to move the 3 highest cost Territory Cards you played during that turn into your Domain.

Curse

Q. Can I buy Curse cards during my Second Phase? A. No, you cannot. Curse cards are not considered to be part of the Market.

Adventurer

Q. When I use an Adventurer's ability to acquire a card, can I then put a Succession Card in my Domain during my Second Phase? A. Yes. Acquiring a card from another card's ability does not count as buying from the Market during your Second Phase. Handle this immediately after playing an Adventurer.

Bank

Q. If I use a Shinobi to copy the ability of a Bank in my discard pile and then play another Bank from my hand, does the Shinobi not count towards the number of Banks I've played that turn? A. That is correct. A Shinobi does not copy a card's name, so it never counts as a Bank even if it has the ability of one.

Bribery

Q. If I use Bribery to buy an opponent's card, can I then play a Succession Card in my Domain during my Second Phase? A. No, you cannot. Bribery only applies to when you buy cards during your own turn, and thus you cannot both use it to buy cards and put a card in your Domain on the same turn.

Q. If I am backing South Sea Princess Klam-Klam, can I use her ability to reduce the cost of cards purchased using Bribery by 1? A. Yes, as long as it doesn't reduce their cost below 1.

Buried Treasure

Q. What happens if there are no cards left in the Supply pile? A. You can still play Buried Treasure, but it has no effect.

City Development

Q. What happens if I use a City Development card to banish a Farming Village card from my hand and there are no City cards left in the market? A. After you banish a Farming Village, the rest of the card's effect does not take place, and you are unable to get a City. The Farming Village is still banished. (The same is true if you banish a City and there are no Large City cards left in the Market.)

Contribution

Q. If I play a Contribution without having a Coin to pay, do I still need to banish a card? A. You can still play the card if you don't pay, but in that case the effect doesn't activate.

Curse Witch

Q. We're playing with 4 players. Player A plays a Curse Witch when there are only 2 Curse cards left. Who winds up getting the Curse cards? A. When card effects apply to multiple players, implement them in turn order. If the turn order goes ABCD, when Player A plays a Curse Witch, it affects Player B, then C and D. If you run out of Curse cards during this process, the remaining players are not affected.

Q. When do I resolve an ability that banishes a Curse Witch in my hand? A. During your Main Phase. This is a special "Hand Activation Ability" that does not activate when you play the card.

Q. If I don't have another card with a cost of 2 or higher in my hand, can I still play a Curse Witch (causing a misfire)? And if I do, can I find out whether other players will trigger the effect (whether they have cards costing 2 or more) before defending? A. You can play a card knowing it will misfire. The timing for using defense cards is very specific, and applies when you are resolving the attack's effect on your opponent. In this example, they can learn whether the effect will misfire before they defend.

Draft Notice

Q. Can I choose to pay zero Coins? A. Yes. In that case you take zero cards from your discard pile.

Glamour Witch

Q. If I use Glamour Witch's ability to discard multiple cards, does that mean I get to acquire multiple cards? A. No, you do not.

Q. What happens if I use Glamour Witch's ability to discard a card, but there are no more of that card left in the Market? A. In that case you cannot acquire more of that card.

Government Contractor

Q. I bought multiple cards on a turn when I played a Government Contractor. How many cards do I put at the bottom of my draw pile? A. As many as you wish. You can decide how many cards to put on the bottom of your draw pile. Naturally, you can choose to not put any cards on the bottom.

Imperial Estate

Q. When I use an Imperial Estate's ability, can I still buy cards during my Second Phase that turn? A. Yes. Imperial Estate's ability happens during your Main Phase.

Library

Q. Can I use Library's ability to return cards like Imperial Estate (which is also a Territory card) to the bottom of the draw pile? A. No, you cannot. The ability cannot return cards that include the Succession type.

Moneylender

Q. Can I still buy cards or spend Coins on things like the Adventurer card's ability while I have a Debt Counter? A. No, you cannot. When you get Coins, they automatically go towards removing Debt Counters.

Magic Talisman

Q. When opponent plays a military card, such as an Infantry Battalion or Imperial Calvary, can I reveal a Magic Talisman and resolve its ability? A. Yes. You can use any Defense card against any Attack card. When you reveal a Magic Talisman from your hand, since it goes on top of your draw pile, the number of cards you can use Magic Talismans to defend against is limited by the number you have in your hand.

Q. Since a Magic Talisman gets treated as a Curse, can I use abilities such as that of the Adventurer to banish it? A. No, you cannot. You can however use Contribution to banish it.

Q. If I am getting a Curse card from playing a card like Curse Witch or Apprentice Witch, can I take a Magic Talisman from the Market instead? A. No, you cannot. When a card ability says that you acquire Curse cards, you must acquire the indicated number of Curse cards of the Calamity type from the center of the table if you can.

Rampart

Q. If I reveal 2 or more Rampart cards when defending, is their effect cumulative? A. Yes, they are cumulative. For example, if you play 2 Rampart cards to defend against a Royal Guard card, the number of cards revealed from your draw pile is reduced from 3 to 1.

Refuge

Q. When I use Refuge as a Defense card, can I move Refuge itself to the top of my draw pile? A. Yes.

Q. When I use a Refuge as an Action card, can I add a card from my draw pile revealed by another card's ability to my hand? A. Yes. For example, you can add cards revealed by a Draft Notice or Scout card ability to your hand this way.

Q. When I use a Refuge card as an Action card, can I add a card from the bottom of my draw pile that was put there by a Library to my hand? A. No, you cannot. The card refers specifically to groups of cards that have been revealed on the top of the draw pile. It has no effect on revealed cards that are under the cards unrevealed.

Scout

Q. When the top card on a player's draw pile is revealed, is it possible to use a Scout to discard that card? A. Yes. Cards that are already revealed can be revealed again.

Shinobi

Q. If I use Shinobi to get the ability of an Attack card, does my opponent get to use a Defense card? A. Yes. The Shinobi card gains the copied card's type, and thus becomes an Attack that your opponent can defend against.

Q. If I play an Infantry Battalion or Royal Guard to get Coins, can I then play a Shinobi to copy that ability and generate more coins? A. These Coins are part of the card's ability, so the Shinobi copies that as well.

Q. If I use a Shinobi to copy a Supply Unit's ability, can I put the Shinobi on top of my draw pile? A. That is correct. The text lets you put a card other than a Supply Unit to the top of your draw pile, and the Shinobi's ability to copy a card's ability does not change its name.

Slash-and-Burn Farming

Q. If I play 2 Slash-and-Burn Farming cards, can I get 3 Coins from one Farming Village? A. No, you cannot. Slash-and-Burn Farming gives you 2 Coins from a Farming Village; it does not increase the number of Coins by +1.

Q. What happens if there are no Curse cards left when I play Slash-and-Burn Farming? A. In that case it has no effect. You do not get 2 Coins from a Farming Village through Slash-and-Burn Farming.

Supply Unit

Q. If I play 2 Supply Unit cards, can I use their abilities to return each other to my draw pile? A. No, you cannot. When it says that you must use it on another card, it means a card that is not a Supply Unit.

Q. Can I put an action card from my discard pile to my draw pile? A. No, you cannot. Cards in your discard pile are not considered to be in your play area.

Wishing Well

Q. Can I choose to discard zero cards? A. Yes, though the number of cards you draw will also be zero.

Variant Rules

What follows are several variant rules you can use when playing Heart of Crown. Be sure to discuss whether or not to use them with the other players.

Two-Player Game (Recommended)

Heart of Crown lets 2-4 players play at a time, but when playing with only 2 players you can remove the rare cards from the Supply pile to make the game a bit more dynamic and fun.

Seating Order Rules: Hand Elimination

Normally you determine how you seat players and who goes first any way you want. However, with intermediate and advanced players, you may want to use the rules below to decide those things:

1. First, carry out the usual preparations up through "7. Replenish the Random Market."
2. After that, each player gets their starting deck of 10 cards, and secretly picks 5 cards to be their starting hand, leaving the remaining 5 cards to be their draw pile.
3. All players reveal their hands simultaneously.
4. The player who reveals the most Apprentice Maid cards has the priority to go first, and takes whichever seat they wish.
5. After that, other players take their seats clockwise from the first player in descending order of number of Apprentice Maid cards.
6. If two or more players have the same number of Apprentice Maid cards, use dice, rock-paper-scissors, or similar to break the tie.

Using this rule largely removes the role of luck in the first couple of turns, and makes the game more fully reflect the players' skills.

However, we don't recommend using this rule with players who are beginners or otherwise aren't experienced with this game.

Variant Rule (Guardians)

If you are playing with expansions and using 8+ Princess Cards in the game at once, you can use this optional rule.

When backing a princess, the player can get one additional princess as a "guardian," placing the card face-down in the Domain.

The abilities of a princess card placed in a player's Domain as a guardian are not available, and the player cannot place counters on the card. However, since it moves the princess card from the center of the table, it is no longer available for other players to back.

Recommended Card Sets

First Time Playing

Scout, Wishing Well, Post Horse, Trading Ship, Government Contractor, Supply Unit, Library, City Development, Adventurer, Alchemist

We recommend this set for the first time you play the game.

Primer

Scout, Post Horse, Wishing Well, Rampart, Battering Ram, Trading Ship, City Development, Infantry Battalion, Government Contractor, Alchemist

This set includes all of the core elements of the game.

Primer II

Contribution, Scout, Wishing Well, Rampart, Battering Ram, Slash-and-Burn Farming, City Development, Royal Guard, Adventurer, Alchemist

In addition to the basics, this adds deck compression and Curse cards into the mix.

Intermediate

Scout, Contribution, Magic Talisman, Supply Unit, Library, Stargazing Witch, Evicted Monster, Government Contractor, Imperial Estate, Curse Witch

This set is aimed at people who have a good grasp of the game, and it introduces some higher-level cards.

Intermediate II

Post Horse, Wishing Well, Bribery, Draft Notice, Trading Ship, Refuge, Shinobi, Moneylender, Infantry Battalion, Gossipy Duchess

This set adds some more high-level cards. If you get this far, you should feel free to mix in whatever other cards you wish.

Big Business

Wishing Well, Scout, Bribery, Supply Unit, Trading Ship, Library, City Development, Bank, Moneylender, Alchemist

Rack up lots of Coins!

Grand Warfare

Scout, Post Horse, Rampart, Battering Ram, Trading Ship, Supply Unit, Infantry Battalion, Shinobi, Refuge, Knights of Royal Guard

Military tactics will carry the day. Defense and attack are both very important.

Adventuring

Contribution, Wishing Well, Buried Treasure, Supply Unit, Evicted Monster, Stargazing Witch, Library, Alchemist, Adventurer, Imperial Estate

Think carefully about what might be buried.

Walpurgis Night

Contribution, Scout, Wishing Well, Magic Talisman, Glamour Witch, Library, Stargazing Witch, Evicted Monster, Refuge, Curse Witch

The witches come to hold their festival. Be sure to have magic talismans on hand.

Court Politics

Wishing Well, Bribery, Draft Notice, Magic Talisman, Glamour Witch, Stargazing Witch, Knights of Royal Guard, Alchemist, Imperial Estate, Gossipy Duchess

Gossip in the imperial court might just decide who takes the throne.

Credits

Original Version: Japanime Games

Box Illustration: 高畑ゆき (Yuki Takahata)

Card Illustrations: 大出長介, 高畑ゆき, ととねみぎ, 葉庭, 日向悠二, medilore

Game Design: gingko

Graphic Design: 里村響

Playtesting: Hinafuda Production Committee

Development/Writing: FLIPFLOPs

Executive Producer: Eric Price

Producer: Toni Solberg

Translator: Ewen Cluney

Graphic Design (English Edition): Amanda Khoury