Merlin: Morgana Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Gold coins and mistletoe
  • Components and changes in setup
  • Changes in game play
    • Gold coins
    • Mistletoe
    • Action rondel
• Module: The Market
  • Components and changes in setup
  • Changes in game play
• Module: The City of Caerleon
  • Components and changes in setup
  • Changes in game play
    • The actions of the action rondel
    • Influence spaces (4x)
• Module: Morgana
  • Components and changes in setup
  • Changes in game play
    • Poisoned apple
    • Drinking horn
    • Witch's cauldron

Gold coins and mistletoe

Gold coins and mistletoe allow new actions during the game and are used with each of these three new modules, granting various special actions. They may be used with the base game and any expansions, or by themselves with no other expansions.

Components and changes in setup

• 30 Gold coins
• 11 Mistletoe pieces
• 1 Action rondel (double-sided)

The action rondel has a front side, used without the "Arthur" expansion, and a reverse side, used with the "Arthur" expansion.

1. Cover the action rondel printed on the board with the new action rondel (aligning it properly). If playing with the "Arthur" expansion, use the side with the Arthur track, otherwise use the opposite side.

2. Place all gold coins in a common supply next to the game board; stack the mistletoe pieces next to the apples.

3. At the start of the game, give 2 gold coins to each player and 1 mistletoe. The players place their mistletoe next to their apple on their castle board.

Changes in game play

Gold coins

By spending one gold coin, a player may increase or decrease the value of one of their dice (Knight, Merlin, or Arthur) by one. A player may spend as many gold coins on their turn as they like in order to change the value of one die several times and/or change the value of several dice. A value of 6 cannot be changed to 1 or vice versa.

At the end of the game, players will score 3 points for every 2 gold coins they still own.

Mistletoe

By spending one mistletoe a player may ignore any one requirement when resolving a mission card, making it easier to resolve the more demanding missions. A player may spend more than one mistletoe when resolving a single mission card.

Example: The yellow player is able to fulfill two of the three requirements of the mission card. By spending a mistletoe they may ignore the third requirement and complete the mission. They discard the card and advance their scoring marker three spaces.

Action rondel

The action rondel introduces two new action spaces, each of which is featured twice on the rondel.

• Apple/mistletoe: The player takes one apple or one mistletoe from the supply, if available.
• Gold coin: The player takes one gold coin from the supply, if available.

Module: The Market

Players may visit the market to purchase valuable resources for one gold each.

Components and changes in setup

• 1 Market board
• 6 Shield tiles
• 6 Construction material tiles
• 6 Plus tokens
• 4 Apple/mistletoe tiles
• 6 Day laborers

1. Place the market board next to the game board.

2. Put the shield tiles, construction material tiles, day laborers, plus tokens, and apple/mistletoe tiles on their corresponding spaces of the market board.

Changes in game play

Once during their turn a player may go to the market in order to buy any one resource by spending one gold coin. A player may go to the market only if they don't resolve a mission card during this turn.

After spending one gold coin, the player may take any one of the available resources from the market board. The effects of the various resources are explained below:

• Shield tile: The shield tile is just like a standard shield and may be used when repelling a traitor or resolving a mission card. If it is used against a traitor, put it back on the market board.

• Construction material tile: The construction material tile is just like a usual construction material and may be used when constructing a manor in the environs or resolving a mission card. If it is used for construction, put it back on the market board.

• Plus token: Plus tokens are stored next to the player's castle board. When a player places an influence marker in a principality, they may also place a plus token underneath it. This influence marker counts as two for the next influence scoring. After scoring it is returned to the market board.

  Example: Because of the plus marker the green player has the influence majority in the principality, and will earn 6 points during scoring.

• Day laborer: When you hire a day laborer, place him on the knight's space of your castle board. You may return him instead of using one of your other dice in order to move your knight as many spaces as shown by the die and then perform the corresponding action. This allows the player to take an additional action at the end of the round. Gold and apples may not be used to modify the movement from a day laborer. Return the day laborer to the market board after use.

• Apple/mistletoe tile: The apple/mistletoe tile may be used by the player as an apple or as a mistletoe. Once used, place it back on the market board.

  Example 1: The player can utilize their apple-mistletoe marker to change the outcome of one of their dice to any number of their choice.

  Example 2: While using the apple-mistletoe marker as a mistletoe the player may ignore one requirement on a mission card and still resolve that mission card.

Module: The City of Caerleon

The City of Caerleon changes the base rules of the game by substituting the 6 principalities for 6 urban districts. In contrast to the principalities, each urban district (here on "district") has its own, specific rules, which will require new strategies in order to win.

Components and changes in setup

• 6 Urban districts (double-sided)

The front side has colored roofs; the reverse side has brown roofs. The districts are Mint, Market, Orchard, Smith, Quarry, and Tailor.

1. Cover the 6 principalities with the 6 corresponding districts, matching the color of the roof below the action banner.

2. Sort the shields, construction materials, and flags by color, then put them on the Smith, Quarry, and Tailor. Put the coins on the Mint and the apples and mistletoe tiles on the Orchard.

Set-up variant: The six districts can be placed randomly on top of the principalities using the backside (same roof color) of the districts. Each district is associated with the adjacent principality space on the action rondel and is considered that space's color for the rest of the game.

Changes in game play

Important: In all cases where the base rules and other expansions mention "principality," this must be substituted for "district" when playing with this module.

The actions of the action rondel

District spaces (6x): When a player performs the action of one of the 6 district (previously principality) spaces they place one of their vassals from their castle board or from any one of the other 5 districts on the corresponding district.

In the districts, only the Lady-in-waiting has a dedicated space. If that space is occupied by another player's Lady-in-waiting, the owner returns her to their castle board.

The other two spaces may be taken by any of the three other vassals. If a vassal is placed in a district, and that type of vassal is present already, the new vassal replaces the former, who is returned to its owner. If both spaces are occupied and the type of vassal is not already present, the player chooses one of the two existing vassals to return to its owner.

When placing their Lady-in-waiting, the player takes one of their influence markers from their castle board, if available, and places it on that district, next to any other influence markers.

Example: The blue player places their lady-in-waiting in the district, removing the lady-in-waiting of the green player. Next, they place an influence marker on the roof.

The actions of the 3 other vassals depend on the type of district. This is explained in the following:

• Quarry: Builder: The player takes 2 construction materials of their choice. Shield-bearer & Flag-bearer: The player takes 1 construction material of their choice.

• Smith: Shield-bearer: The player takes 2 shields of their choice. Builder & Flag-bearer: The player takes 1 shield of their choice.

• Tailor: Flag-bearer: The player takes 2 flags of their choice. Builder & Shield-bearer: The player takes 1 flag of their choice.

• Mint: Builder, Shield-bearer & Flag-bearer: The player takes two gold coins from the supply, if available.

• Orchard: Builder, Shield-bearer & Flag-bearer: The player takes any combination of 2 apples and mistletoe from the supply.

• Market: Builder, Shield-bearer & Flag-bearer: The player may perform up to 4 exchanges. As an exchange, the player replaces one flag, one shield, one construction material, or one gold coin with one flag, one shield, or one construction material of their choice. The exchanged materials do not have to be of the same type (e.g. a flag may be exchanged for a shield). They may also swap one flag, one shield or one construction material for one gold coin. The player places the returned resources on the correct districts.

  Example: The player discards two blue shields, one gold coin, and an orange construction material, choosing to gain three black flags and one brown construction material.

Influence spaces (4x)

• Flag, shield & construction material: The player takes one flag, one shield, or one construction material of a color that matches the roof color (or the principality color) of any district where they have at least one influence marker.

  Example: The yellow player has influence in the purple district and can therefore choose to gain a purple construction material from the quarry.

• Vassal: The player may deploy one vassal from their castle board or from one of the other 5 districts to a district where they have at least one influence marker.

  Example: The yellow player may place the shield-bearer in the blacksmith since they have an influence marker in that district.

Module: Morgana

It is bubbling in the witch's kitchen! Morgana is brewing all sorts of potions in her magical cauldrons, and the players can use these to gain an advantage for themselves or to impede their competitors. All players have one additional action each round when playing with Morgana!

Components and changes in setup

• 1 Witch's kitchen board
• 1 Morgana figure
• 4 Pentagram markers
• 4 Morgana dice
• 11 Poisoned apples
• 1 Drinking horn
• 5 Cauldron tokens
• 7 Witch's huts
• 6 Morgana influence markers

1. Place the witch's kitchen board next to the game board.

2. Place the poisoned apples on the top left of the kitchen board and the 4 pentagram markers on their dedicated spaces at the top right. Roll the 4 Morgana dice and place one on each of the pentagram markers without changing the result. If you roll a three or four of a kind, repeat the rolls until there are at least 3 unique numbers. Place the drinking horn at the top of the board's center section.

3. Shuffle the 5 cauldron tokens and randomly place them on the 5 cauldron spaces, one after the other from left to right. It does not matter which side is shown.

4. Place the 7 witch's huts next to the environs. Keep the Morgana figure and the 6 Morgana influence markers next to the board.

Changes in game play

Morgana offers each player one additional action during each round of the game. On their turn, a player may use one of the available Morgana dice from the witch's kitchen board instead of one of their dice (Knight, Merlin, or Arthur). The player takes the pentagram marker from underneath their chosen die, thus indicating they may not take another Morgana die anymore this round. At the end of the round, all pentagram markers are returned to the tableau and the Morgana dice are rolled again and placed on top of the markers. The Morgana die can be used in several ways on the witch's kitchen board. A result of 6 can be used as any result (including a 6 – it is wild).

Poisoned apple

A player may always use a die to gain a poisoned apple, no matter what result it shows. The player puts the die on the top left of the board, takes one poisoned apple, and places it on their castle board.

A player may use the poisoned apple during one of their turns in order to swap the results of any of their dice with another player's. After spending a poisoned apple, the player chooses one of their dice and one opponent's die – these do not have to be of the same type (Merlin, Arthur, Knight, or Morgana). Both players change their die results to match the other players.

Note: The common apple cannot be used to change the result of a Morgana die.

Drinking horn

The drinking horn may only be used with a result of a Morgana die. The player may adjust the result of a Morgana die up to a 7 by discarding gold coins and construction materials to increase the die value by one each. If they do this, the die is placed on the center of the board and the player takes the drinking horn (from another player if necessary), plus 1 poisoned apple and 1 VP. The player keeps the drinking horn next to their castle board. Several players may place their Morgana die here during the same round.

The player keeps the drinking horn until another player takes it from them by using a Morgana die of value 7.

At the end of a round, the current owner of the drinking horn scores as many VPs as the round number.

Witch's cauldron

A player may choose a cauldron matching one of the available Morgana dice. They place the die below the cauldron on the unoccupied space with the corresponding die face, then perform the following actions in this order:

a) Move the Morgana figure

As long as the Morgana figure still rests next to the witch's kitchen board, the player can place the figure on any principality space of the action rondel, no matter if another figure is there or not.

If Morgana is on a principality space already, the player moves her clockwise or counterclockwise a number of principality/district spaces as indicated by the number above the cauldron.

Morgana blocks the principality space she is on completely. Nobody may enter it, and it is simply skipped by other figures and not counted. No resource – shield, flag, or construction material – may be taken from the corresponding principality until Morgana is relocated somewhere else.

Module: The City of Caerleon – Here, Morgana blocks the corresponding district. If, for example, she blocks the Smith, no player may obtain a shield until she is moved away.

b) Resolve the cauldron token

The player performs the action of the cauldron token located on the chosen cauldron. They then turn the cauldron marker to the other side:

• Bewitch: The player may turn one of their dice – Knight, Merlin or Arthur – to any face they like, or turn a knight's die of another player to any face they like.

• Swap figures: The player may swap the positions of Merlin and Arthur or the positions of their own knight and another player's knight.

• Witch's gold: By returning any 2 resources – shield, flag and/or construction material – the player gains 3 gold coins from the supply. By paying 2 gold coins, the player takes 3 resources of their choice – shield, flag and/or construction material – from the principality blocked by Morgana.

  Module: The City of Caerleon – Here, the player takes any 3 resources from the corresponding district. There are no resources at the market.

  Example: The player discards two gold coins and decides to take two flags and one construction material from the principality that Morgana is currently occupying.

• Witch's hut: The player places one witch's hut from the supply (if available) on one of their manors in the environs. That manor counts as two manors when scoring the environs. If the player doesn't have a manor without a witch's hut, they may not perform this action.

  If the player wins an environs section's scoring outright (without having to share points), they gain 1 additional point for each witch's hut on their manors. After scoring, return all manors with a witch's hut to the owner's supply, and all witch's huts to the common supply.

  Arthur expansion: All manors in a territory with a witch's hut (on any player's manor) are returned to the owners' supply after scoring, except manors with a castle tile underneath them (Sir Gaheris ability).

  Example: The red player gains 10 points (6 + 3 + 1) when the environs scoring takes place.

• Dark influence: The player places 2 Morgana influence markers from the supply (if available) in principalities/districts. One of these goes to the principality/district currently blocked by Morgana, and the other one to a principality/district of the player's choice adjacent to this principality. If that player has an influence marker in either of these principalities/districts without a Morgana influence marker on top of it, they place the Morgana influence marker on top of it now, otherwise it is just placed next to any other influence markers. A player's influence marker with a Morgana influence on top of it counts as two for scoring. Any single Morgana influence markers do not count for any player, but rather for Morgana herself. However, she does not gain any points when scoring influence, but may take away points from players. After scoring influence, put all Morgana influence markers back next to the witch's kitchen board, and each influence marker with a Morgana influence on top must be returned to that player's castle board.