Lancelot Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Aim of the Game
• Components
• Set Up
• Game Turn
  • 1. Movement
• Sites
  • Joust and Stronghold
  • Distant Lands
  • Merlin
  • The Lake
  • Percival
  • Galahad
  • The Dragon
  • Morgana
  • The Grail
• End of Turn
• End of the Game
• The Round Table
• The Virtues

Aim of the Game

To be the player with the highest number of Virtue Points (VP), by obtaining the Virtues themselves, through the quest for the Grail, the completion of the deeds, and the possession of weapons and spells. The player who has the most Virtue Points at the end of the game is the winner.

Components

• 1 Game board
• 1 Virtues board
• 16 deed tiles
• 1 Excalibur counter
• 1 cardboard Excalibur Sword
• 4 Morgana counters (one in each player color)
• 24 Squire counters
• 20 Merlin's magic counters
• 4 red, green, yellow, and blue Knights (one for each player)
• 20 Allied Knights cards (green)
• 20 Ladies cards (pink)
• 20 Enemies cards (red)
• 25 Plots cards (white)
• 20 Sword counters
• 15 Mace counters
• 12 Lance counters
• 1 Black Cylinder to indicate the game turns
• 52 red, green, yellow, and blue wooden discs (13 for each player)
• 16 round stickers (8 day/night stickers, 4 Shield stickers, 4 Grail stickers)
• 1 Rules booklet

Set Up

1. Place the game board in the middle of the table, and place the Virtues board beside it.
2. The game board has 8 spaces for the turn track, and the tracks for VP and Grail.
3. Place the 4 decks of cards (Ladies, Allied Knights, Enemies and Plots) face up beside the game board.
4. Shuffle the deed tiles and place 3 of them face up in the appointed spaces on the game board on the Dragon site.
5. The sum of the Lake's whirlpools - eventually present on the deed tiles - indicates the point in which the Excalibur counter will be placed along the route of the Lake, from right to left. This will be the place where Excalibur can be found!
6. Place the counters of the Squire, Merlin's magic, and the weapons (Sword, Mace, and Lance), along with the Excalibur Sword, next to the game board, separated by type: this will form the reserve.
7. Place the Black Cylinder on the first spot of the turn track to indicate the first turn of the game.
8. Each player chooses a color and takes 13 Discs, and 1 Knight of their color. Everyone applies the Shield sticker on a disc's face of their own color, the same with the Grail sticker. They place these discs on the first space of the VP track, and on the first space of the Grail track, as marked on the track along the game board. They then place the rest of the discs in front of themselves.
9. Each player applies the day (sun) sticker on one side of their own Knight, and the night (moon) side on the other side.

Randomly choose the first player: starting with that player and continuing in a clockwise order, each player chooses one of the eight seats around the Round Table from which they wish to begin. They place their Knight and immediately gain this special advantage (see The Round Table). It is never permitted for 2 or more players to choose the same place at the Table!

You are now ready to begin playing the game.

Attention: The Knights must all be shown with the same side face up! At the start of the game, all Knights show the day side.

Game Turn

A game of Lancelot lasts 8 turns. Each turn is divided into 2 phases:

1. Movement
2. End of Turn

The game board shows 11 sites, the first is the Round Table. The others, proceeding clockwise are: the Joust, the Stronghold, the Distant Lands, Merlin, the Lake, Percival, Galahad, the Dragon, Morgana, and the Grail. Each site has its own spaces where players put their knights.

1. Movement

In each turn, the players move to the various sites performing the corresponding actions. A turn always begins with the players starting off from the Round Table.

The players' order of movement is determined by the positions around the Round Table, starting with Arthur and proceeding clockwise to Guinevere.

• The players can move to any space with only one restriction: it must always be clockwise! Therefore, it is not possible to move backwards during the same game turn.
• Every time a player moves, they flip their Knight.
• When all of the Knights are flipped (all of the players have moved), a new round of movement begins, at the end of which all the Knights will be flipped again. This continues until the end of the Movement Phase. The players must move; it is not allowed to remain on the same space!
• The player who moves their Knight in a space already occupied by another Knight places their Knight on top of the adversary. Exceptions: The Round Table, The Lake, and The Dragon.
• At the beginning of the Movement Phase, the turn order is determined by the Round Table.
• But in the following rounds of movement, the order depends on the position of the Knights along the route: the player whose Knight is farthest ahead on the path moves first. In the event that there is more than one Knight on the same space, the Knight who is on the bottom moves first.
• In the Stronghold site there are three different tracks; in the event that there is more than one Knight in more than one track, the Knight who is in the rightmost track moves first.
• Actions can be performed in every space, but it is not mandatory to do so. Exceptions: The Round Table, The Lake, and the Dragon.
• If a player moves to the Round Table and all of the other players are on the Grail, all players have to move to the Round Table!
• The Movement Phase finishes when all of the Knights have returned to the Round Table. After the End of Turn phase, another game turn can begin.

Example of a player's turn movement: The next player is the Green player because she is seated at Bedivere's seat at the Round Table. She goes directly to the first space of Merlin, flipping her Knight on the night side. Now the first player to move is the Green player because her Knight is furthest ahead on the path (Merlin) compared to the other.

Sites

Joust and Stronghold

The Joust and Stronghold sites have different tracks (one for the Joust, three for the Stronghold), each one composed of a certain number of spaces. The players must begin any route from its first space, but they can leave whenever they wish, without finishing the track.

The players move on the track one space at a time, unless they have the corresponding advantage (see The Round Table).

In the Stronghold players can choose only one of the three possible tracks.

The player who reaches the spaces of the Joust with a squire icon (helm) takes a squire counter from the reserve and places it in front of themselves.

The player who reaches the spaces of the Joust and of the Stronghold with a sword icon takes a sword counter from the reserve and places it in front of themselves.

The player who reaches the space of the Stronghold with a mace icon takes a mace counter from the reserve and places it in front of themselves.

The player who reaches the space of the Stronghold with a lance icon takes a lance counter from the reserve and places it in front of themselves.

Example of Movement: The Blue player begins because he is on the space of Arthur at the Round Table. He decides to move his knight to the Stronghold because he needs weapons: he places his Knight in the first space on the track of the Swords, flipping his Knight on the night side, and takes a Sword counter from the reserve.

Distant Lands

In these three spaces of the wharf, the players take the Ladies cards, the Allied cards, the Enemies cards and/or the Plots cards.

The players may place their individual Knights directly in the last wharf space without necessarily having to stop in the two previous spaces. Or they may decide to stop in all three spaces. But they can never go backwards!

• The player that lands on the first space can take a Ladies card and/or a Plot card as indicated by the ship with the pink and white sails.
• The player that lands on the second space can take an Allied card and/or a Plot card as indicated by the ship with the green and white sails.
• The player that lands on the third space can take an Enemies card and/or a Plot card as indicated by the ship with the red and white sails.

Players always place their cards face up in front of them. The cards allow a player to obtain the Knightly Virtues. The Round Table offers an advantage to draw more cards from these decks (see The Round Table).

Warning: each player can have a maximum of 7 cards in front of them at any point in the game! It is not possible to have more than 7 cards. The only way to get rid of one's cards is by using Merlin's magic (see End of the Turn).

Merlin

The players must begin the route from its first space. The player who places his Knight in the second space takes a Merlin's magic counter from the reserve and places it in front of themselves.

The Lake

Every turn, only one player can set out on the track of the Lake and get the Excalibur sword! (As a reminder, there is a one player icon on the scroll of the location). The player who begins this track must complete it; they cannot leave before they have arrived at the space with the Excalibur counter.

The player who reaches the Excalibur counter takes it and places it in front of themselves. At the end of the turn they will get the Excalibur Sword from the reserve or from another player (see End of Turn).

It is possible for a player who already has Excalibur to decide to set out on the track of the Lake to "defend" the sword from the other players.

Percival

The players who visit Percival learn one of the 8 Knightly Virtues, earning VP. There are two requirements:

a. The player must meet the terms that one of the Virtues on the Virtues board requires (see Virtues);

b. A player's own disc must already be present on the Galahad space of the chosen Virtue on the Virtues board.

The player may then move the disc on the Percival space to the right.

The player scores the lowest VP shown on the shield of the Virtue itself and advances their marker along the points track. The player scores the highest number if they have the advantage given by the Round Table (see The Round Table).

A player can only obtain and score each Virtue once per game! Therefore, if one player has one of his discs on the Percival space in that specific Virtue on the Virtues board, they cannot obtain it again.

There can be any number of players present at the Percival space (according to the order of their arrival). Any player can obtain only one Virtue per turn (exception: Morgana).

Example: The Yellow player places his Knight on Percival. He decides to obtain the Virtue of Strength; he is allowed to do so as long as he has one of his discs already present on the Galahad space of the Strength Virtue and meets the requirements of this Virtue: he has exactly 5 Enemies cards and one squire in front of him! Therefore, he moves his scoring marker 4VP further on the VP track (6VP if he has the power given by King Arthur from the Round Table).

Galahad

The players who visit Galahad place one of their discs on one of the four Galahad spaces of the Virtue they have chosen on the Virtue board. From this point on, they can obtain that Virtue by visiting Percival (if they meet the appropriate requirements).

There can be any number of players present at the Galahad space.

Any player can place their disc on only one Virtue per game turn (exception: Morgana).

The Dragon

Only two players per turn can set out on an expedition against the Dragon and gain the relative tile! (As a reminder, there is a two player icon on the scroll of the location). The player who places their knight on the site of the Dragon must complete a deed, choosing one tile from the possible three.

The deeds, in order of completion, require the player to possess and discard weapons (swords, maces, lances) and/or Merlin's magic and/or possess the Excalibur Sword. Every completed deed is worth 1 or 2 VP. The player who does this takes the tile and places it in front of themselves.

Warning: The Excalibur sword is never discarded when a deed is completed! The only way to lose Excalibur is when another player takes it from you.

Example: The Red player chooses the deed tile that shows 3 swords and Excalibur. She discards the 3 sword counters she has in front of her and keeps the Excalibur Sword. She advances 1VP on the VP track and places the tile in front of her. Only one other player can, in this same turn, go to the Dragon.

Morgana

Morgana gives the players a special power which can be used only one time in the entire game. The player who chooses the seat of Mordred at the Round Table places their Morgana counter, eye side up, on one of the four spaces beside Morgana. From this moment on, having placed their knight in the space of Morgana, they can - in any given turn of the game - use this power: take a second tour of the board in the same game turn, without having to stop at the Round Table! So, they can visit all of the sites again, following the usual rules, always moving clockwise and always observing the order of play: the players in sites further to the right are still considered farther than the player just passing the Round Table due to Morgana power. After having used this power, the player flips their Morgana counter to the blank side as a reminder. There can be any number of players present at Morgana space (according to the order of their arrival).

The Grail

The player who arrives at the Grail site places their Knight in one of the four spaces (the first on the right if they are the first to arrive, and so on). They immediately move their disc on the track of the Grail one space if they are ahead (alone or with other players), or 2 spaces if they are not ahead (see example). On following rounds, the player can go to the Round Table (ending their turn), or remain at the Grail: in this case, they flip their Knight and advance on the Grail track according to the rules described above.

Warning: It is never allowed to pass a player who is ahead! The player who would normally pass the player ahead - thanks to the two advancement spaces they are getting - must place their marker on top of the marker of the player who is ahead, and lose their "excess" advancement.

If one player moves to the Round Table and all the others are on the site of the Grail, they must all return to the Round Table on their turn!

Any players present on the site of the Grail must return to the Round Table even if only one player's Knight arrives on Morgana site and chooses to use Morgana's power!

End of Turn

A player finishes their turn when they return to the Round Table. The Round Table is also the place from which a player begins their new turn.

Each time a player arrives at the Round Table, they place their Knight in one of the 8 free seats around the table. When all of the players have returned to the Round Table, the turn is over and the following steps are performed:

1. Replace the deed tiles gained by players with new ones, so that there are three deed tiles face up in the site of the Dragon. If no player gained them, leave the tiles of previous turn.
2. The player (if any) who has the Excalibur counter takes the Excalibur Sword, and places the Excalibur counter on the Lake site, based on the sum of the whirlpools present on the deed tiles. If no player has the counter, simply move the counter according to the sum of the whirlpools. That is how the space on which Excalibur is found is determined.
3. Following the order of the Round Table, each player may use Merlin's magic as many times as they want and in the order they wish. The only limit is on the number of magic counters one player has. Each magic counter can be used in the following ways:
   • a. The player discards a counter to the reserve: they discard any number of cards they have in front of themselves.
   • b. For each counter a player spends, they may exchange a card they have in front of them with any other card from the decks. Example: a player discards two magic counters and can make two exchanges: they give away an Enemies card and a Plots card and get two Ladies cards.
   • c. The player discards a counter to the reserve: they discard any number of squires they have in front of themselves.
4. Finally, the black cylinder is moved to the next space of the turn track: a new turn of the game begins. Before the new turn begins, make sure that all of the Knights are facing the same side up.

End of the Game

At the end of the eighth turn, the game is finished and the VPs are counted.

Apart from the VPs gained throughout the course of the game - thanks to the Virtues, the deed tiles and the advantage of Guinevere (see The Round Table) - the players gain:

• 2 VPs for every majority one has in swords, maces, lances, Merlin's magic and deed tiles. In the event of a tie, the player who is first according to the order of the Round Table (beginning with Arthur and proceeding clockwise), wins the tie; in the event that one player has more than one tie, each player (in player order) must decide in which category they want to win the tie. This way, there will be only one winner per category.
• 3 VPs for the player who has the Excalibur Sword.
• The player who is ahead on the track of the Grail gains a number of VPs equal to half the distance between themself and the last player on the same track, rounded up. If more than one player is on the same space of the track, the player who is underneath is considered ahead. Exception: if the distance is less than 4 spaces, the player who is ahead gains 2 VPs in any case.

The player who has the most VPs is Lancelot and is the winner! In the event of a tie, the player who is seated closest to Arthur at the Round Table, going clockwise, is the winner!

Example: The Blue player has the most Merlin's magic and sword counters as compared to the other players. She earns 4 VP. The Red and Green players are tied in their lances, maces and deed tiles; the Green player is at the position of Arthur and so he decides which tie he wins: he chooses lances and gets 2VP. Then, it is the Red player's turn, who chooses the deeds; finally, it's the Green player's turn again, who wins in the maces. The Red player is the final owner of Excalibur: he gains 3VPs! Finally, the Grail is calculated; the Blue player is ahead on the track: her marker is 8 spaces ahead compared to the last player. The Blue player earns 4 VPs thanks to the quest of the Grail!

The Round Table

Each seat of the Round Table guarantees a particular advantage which lasts until another player chooses the same advantage - in a later turn.

Bedivere: The player who chooses the advantage of Bedivere places their disc on the space with the "joust lance" symbol under the scroll of the Joust. From that moment on, they can advance up to 2 spaces along the track of the Joust, gathering the counters present. The advantage of the player remains until another player chooses that same advantage. In this case, the new player places their disc on the symbol and gives the other player their disc back.

Gawain: The player who chooses the advantage of Gawain places their disc on the "tower" space under the scroll of the Stronghold. From that moment on, they can advance up to 2 spaces along one of the 3 tracks of the Stronghold, gathering the counters that are present. The advantage of the player remains until another player chooses that same advantage. In this case, the new player places their disc on the symbol and gives the other player their disc back.

Maleagant: The player who chooses the advantage of Maleagant places their disc on the "dragon" space under the scroll of the Dragon. From that moment on, each time they get a deed tile, they can pay with one less weapon than indicated on the tile. The weapons included in the advantage are swords, maces and lances, not Excalibur! The advantage of the player remains until another player chooses that same advantage. In this case, the new player places their disc on the symbol and gives the other player their disc back.

Tristan: The player who chooses the advantage of Tristan places their disc on the space with the "ship" symbol under the scroll of the Distant Lands. From this moment on, they can take up to 2 cards per color in each of the 3 spaces. The advantage of the player remains until another player chooses that same advantage. In this case, the new player places their disc on the symbol and gives the other player their disc back.

Example: The Red player has the Tristan advantage on the first turn; on the second turn, she takes Gawain's advantage but no one else takes Tristan: she now has the advantage of both Tristan and Gawain.

Merlin: The player who chooses the advantage of Merlin immediately gets a Merlin's magic counter from the reserve and places it in front of themselves.

Mordred: The player who chooses the advantage of Mordred places their Morgana counter - eye side - on one of the "eye" spaces of Morgana site. They can - from that moment on - activate the power of Morgana (only once per game, see Morgana).

Arthur: The player who chooses the advantage of Arthur places one of their discs on the "crown" symbol of one of the 8 Virtues. When the player gains that specific Virtue, they gain the higher number of VPs, as specified on the shield near the crown. No other player can choose that Virtue as an advantage for the rest of the game! That player's disc remains in that place until the end of the game.

Guinevere: The player who chooses the advantage of Guinevere immediately gains 1VP and advances one space on the VP track.

The Virtues

• Benevolence: the player must have the least number of weapons (excluding Excalibur), even if tied with one or more players. To obtain this Virtue, it is possible to have zero weapons.
• Dexterity: the player must have the highest number of one type of weapon: sword, mace or lance counters.
• Initiative: the player must have at least one card of every color.
• Kindness: the player must have the majority of Ladies cards.
• Heroism: the player must have exactly 3 Allied cards and no squire counters.
• Strength: the player must have exactly 5 Enemies cards and one squire counter.
• Honor: the player must have exactly 7 Plots cards and the highest number of squire counters, even if tied with one or more players.
• Charisma: the player must have exactly 7 squire counters and the highest number of deed tiles, even if tied with one or more players.