Merlin: Knights of the Round Table
Merlin: Knights of the Round Table Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
12 Allies (with corresponding tiles, to be shown at the sidebar in the following)
- Sir Tristram - 6 Movement tiles
- Sir Lamorak
- Sir Galahad - 6 Wild card tiles
- Sir Bors - 3 Portal tiles
- Sir Gawain - 3 Special movement tiles
- Sir Lancelot - 1 Marshal standee
- Sir Gaheris - 2 Castle tiles
- Sir Percival - 8 Change of color tiles
- Sir Gareth - 6 Defense tiles
- Sir Geraint - 5 Ally tiles
- Sir Bedivere - 6 Swap cards tiles
- Sir Kay - 2 Influence tiles
Changes in Setup
Sort the 12 allies into 2 stacks A and B, as marked on the rear sides.
Give stack A to the first player, and stack B to the last player in player order. Both players choose one ally and keep him face up in front of them. Then, pass stack A to the next player in clockwise direction, and stack B to the next player in counter-clockwise direction. They choose one ally each etc. Continue this procedure until each player has two allies in front of them. The rest of the allies is not needed and is put back into the box.
Variant: For a faster start, give each player one random ally from stack A, and one random ally from stack B. We recommend this variant for your first session in order to become familiar with the different allies.
Each player takes the tiles associated to their allies and places them on the corresponding ally in front of them (see components).
Changes to Game Play
Each ally has a unique ability that the player may use at different times. These abilities are explained below in detail:
Sir Tristram
By discarding one of their movement tiles, the player may change the number of pips of one of their personal dice by 1 or 2. The number of pips can never be more than 6 or less than 1.
Subsequently, put the movement tile back into the game box. Once the player has run out of movement tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Sir Galahad
Each time the player claims one shield, one flag or one piece of construction material from any one principality, they can decide to discard one wild card tile, and claim one shield, one flag or one piece of construction material from any other principality.
Please note: For a shield only a shield can be claimed, for a flag only a flag and for a piece of construction material only a piece of construction material.
Subsequently, put the wild card tile back into the game box. Once the player has run out of wild card tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Sir Lamorak
When the player performs the action of a principality space or of the henchman influence space, they may place the henchman from that principality into that principality again, and then perform that action. This means that the henchman does not have to come from the player's castle or from any of the 5 other principalities. This ability is active during the complete game.
Sir Bors
By discarding one portal tile, the player may ignore their selected personal die. Then, they place their knight on any principality space of their choice and perform that action.
Subsequently, put the portal tile back into the game box. Once the player has run out of portal tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Sir Gawain
By discarding one of their special movement tiles, the player may change the number of pips of their white Merlin die or black Arthur die to any number they want.
Subsequently, put the special movement tile back into the game box. Once the player has run out of special movement tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Sir Gaheris
When the player builds a manor in the environs, they may put one of their castle tiles under that manor. If it is built on a terrain tile with a tower, the player doubles their bonus and may claim 1 shield or 1 flag each from any two different principalities or place 1 of their influence counters there.
When scoring the environs, a castle tile counts as an additional manor.
Once the player has spent their 2 castle tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Changes to Arthur: A manor set on a castle tile can never be removed or replaced by another player. Also, a manor set on a castle tile remains in play, even if after scoring more than 1 manor of that player remains in that territory.
Sir Gareth
After the player has repelled the traitor of a certain shield color for the first time, they put the defense tile of that color on Sir Gareth. Additionally, the player gains 1 VP.
At the end of the game, the player scores additional VPs, depending on the number of different defense tiles on Sir Gareth:
| Number of different colored defense tiles | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPs | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 12 |
Sir Bedivere
During setup, the player draws 2 additional mission cards and may have a hand of 6 mission cards instead of only 4 during the complete game.
By discarding one of their swap cards tiles, the player may swap one mission card from their hand for one from the open display.
Once the player has run out of swap cards tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Sir Lancelot
During setup, the player places the marshal into the initial principality of their knight.
Each time the player deploys one of their henchmen in this principality, they perform the action of that henchman twice in a row. Thus they would gain 2 pieces of construction material, 2 shields, 2 flags or place 2 influence counters.
Sir Percival
When resolving a mission card, the player may discard one change of color tile in order to change the color of one of the requirements. Example: If the mission card requires a purple flag, the player may discard one change of color tile to change the color of the flag to any color they like.
The player may discard only one change of color tile per mission card. Once the player has run out of change of color tiles, they cannot use this ability any more.
Sir Geraint
After the player has scored a certain victory points space for the first time, they put the corresponding ally tile on Sir Geraint. Additionally, the player gains 1 VP.
At the end of the game, the player scores additional VPs depending on the number of ally tiles on Sir Geraint:
| Number of ally tiles | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPs | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
Note: There are only 4 victory points spaces available in the basic game; if playing with the Arthur expansion there are 5 such spaces.
Sir Kay
Each time the player places one of their influence counters in a principality, they may add one of their influence tiles. The player retrieves these tiles only after the next influence scoring.
During influence scoring, each influence tile counts as an additional influence counter of that player. However, they do not count against the total of VPs awarded for that principality. In other words, the tiles help to secure majorities, but do not yield any VPs.