Paper Tales : Édition intégrale
Paper Tales : Édition intégrale Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Material
- About This Edition
- Base Game Setup
- Fundamental Cards and Concepts
- Goal of the Game
- Game Flow
- 1. Recruitment
- 2. Deployment
- 3. Wars
- 4. Revenue
- 5. Construction
- 6. Age
- End of Turn
- End of Game
- Advanced Rules for 2 Players
- Strategic Tips
- Tips for Integrating the Expansions' Additional Content
- Expansion 1 — Beyond the Gates
- Expansion 2 — What Forges Legends
- General Clarifications and Reminders
- Card Clarifications
Game Material
Base Game Contents
- 1 Score track
- 81 Unit cards
- 35 Building cards (5 per Monarch)
- 7 Game Aid cards
- 1 Time token
- 60 Age tokens
- 59 Gold tokens (50 of value 1, 9 of value 5)
- 7 score markers
Solo Mode Contents (see separate booklet)
20 Necropolis cards, 4 Lich King cards, and 1 Solo mode Aid card. This content is identified by the solo-mode icon.
Additional Content
- Additional content from the expansion Beyond the Gates (p.9): 62 Unit and Building cards, identified by the gate icon.
- Additional content from the expansion What Forges Legends (p.10): 65 Unit, Building and Artifact cards, identified by the crossed-swords icon.
- 10 Building tiles, used for the random setup of the Buildings introduced by the Beyond the Gates expansion.
About This Edition
This edition gathers into a single box the entirety of the content released around Paper Tales:
- The base game
- Its first expansion: Beyond the Gates
- Its second expansion: What Forges Legends
For practicality, this edition offers a slightly modified breakdown of the contents, notably to handle the solo mode separately, since it can be played with or without the legendary Units, Buildings and Artifacts added by the two expansions.
Base Game Setup
Place the score track at the center of the table (a). Place the Time token on the first space of the turn counter (b).
Form 2 reserves with the Gold and Age tokens (c).
Each Monarch takes 3 Gold (d) from the reserve. Monarchs' Gold is never hidden.
Each Monarch chooses a color and takes the corresponding Game Aid card (e) and score marker. Score markers are placed on the starting space of the score track (f).
Each Monarch takes a set of the 5 base game Building cards (g) (City, Tavern, Mine, Temple and Barracks). These are the Buildings that can be built during the game.
Shuffle the base game Unit cards into a face-down draw pile (h).
Set aside a bit of space to form the discard pile. Cards discarded during the game will always be placed there, face down.
Fundamental Cards and Concepts
Anatomy of a Unit Card
- Unit name
- Number of copies of the card in the game
- Deployment cost
- Unit strength
- Card effect
- Effect activation phase
- Resource(s) produced
Anatomy of a Building Card
Buildings have 2 levels: level 1 (front) and level 2 (back). Level 2 Buildings grant more Legend points and have an additional effect.
- Building name
- Building level: 1 or 2
- Legend points granted at end of game
- Level 1 construction cost
- Level 2 construction cost
- Building effects
A level 1 Building has 1 effect, shown in the brown box. A level 2 Building has 2 effects, shown in the 2 grey boxes.
Your Kingdom
Your Kingdom is made up of the Units and Buildings you have in play, in front of you.
You have 4 virtual slots to put your Units into play: 2 at the Front and 2 at the Back.
Buildings you construct during the game are placed near your Units. Keep your other available Buildings off to the side. You may consult them at any time.
Resources
Some Buildings and Units produce resources, shown by icons on a scroll. These resources are not represented by tokens: they are counted as long as the cards that produce them are in play. Resources are needed to construct Buildings and are taken into account when resolving the effects of certain cards.
Goal of the Game
Each Monarch develops their Kingdom by deploying Units and constructing Buildings. You earn Legend points through wars, constructions, and the effects of your cards. The Monarch with the most Legend points at the end of the 4 game turns wins the game.
Game Flow
A game is played over 4 turns of 6 successive phases. During each phase, Monarchs play simultaneously, before all moving together to the next phase. The 6 phases of a turn are:
- Recruitment
- Deployment
- Wars
- Revenue
- Construction
- Age
The game turn ends after the Age phase.
1. Recruitment
The Monarchs select their Units.
Each Monarch receives 5 Unit cards from the draw pile. They keep one of their choice and pass the remaining 4 to their left neighbor. Among these 4 received cards, each Monarch again chooses a card and passes the rest to their left neighbor. Continue this way until each Monarch has built a hand of 5 cards.
Example: Marie receives 5 cards at the start of the phase. She decides to keep the Relic of Wisdom, then passes the 4 remaining cards to her left neighbor. At the same time, she receives 4 cards from her right neighbor. She selects one, which she adds to her hand, before passing the 3 remaining to her left neighbor. And so on.
Card kept from the previous turn Starting from turn 2, at the end of the recruitment phase, you also add to your new hand the card you were allowed to keep on the previous turn.
Exhausting the draw pile At any moment during the initial card distribution, if the draw pile is exhausted, immediately shuffle all the discard pile cards to form a new draw pile, then continue the distribution until each Monarch has received 5 cards.
Direction cards circulate The direction in which cards circulate between Monarchs during the recruitment phase changes on each of the 4 game turns, as shown on the turn counter of the score track: to the left on turns 1 and 3; to the right on turns 2 and 4.
2. Deployment
The Monarchs put Units from their hand into play in their Kingdom.
Number of available slots You have a total of 4 slots in front of you to put your Units into play: 2 at the Front and 2 at the Back. This is the maximum number of Units you can have in your Kingdom at the start of the game. Later, you may unlock a 5th slot, at the Front (see Construction phase).
Choose which Units from your hand you wish to put into play in your Kingdom.
Place these Units face down on available slots in your Kingdom. If you lack available slots, you may freely discard Units already in play and/or rearrange the position of the others.
Once all Monarchs have prepared their deployment face down, they simultaneously reveal the new Units they have just played and pay their cost in Gold.
Any newly played Unit whose Gold cost you cannot pay must be immediately discarded. You never pay again for Units that were already in play at the start of the phase.
Keeping a card Among the cards you do not wish to put into play during this phase, you may keep only one and must discard all the others. Keep it on your Game Aid card, for the next deployment phase.
During this phase, Monarchs apply the effects indicated by the Deployment-phase icon on the Units and Buildings in their Kingdom. The icon that accompanies most of these effects designates an effect that applies only once, at the moment the card is revealed.
3. Wars
Kingdoms clash to win Legend points.
Calculate your Kingdom's strength by adding up the strengths of your Units placed at the Front. If there is an asterisk (*) next to a value, it means the Unit's strength can be modified by one of its effects.
Example: with the Demon and the Woodcutter at the Front of her Kingdom, Marie totals a strength of 9. The strengths of her Units placed at the Back are not counted.
Each Monarch then compares their Kingdom's strength with that of their two neighbors, left and right. If your strength is greater than or equal to your neighbor's, you win your War against them. You therefore fight 2 Wars during this phase (one per direct neighbor) and each War won earns you 3 Legend Points (LP). In case of a tie, both Monarchs win the War and earn 3 Legend Points.
Example: Sebastien and Denis each have strength 6, Marie has strength 9, Fred has strength 3. Marie wins 2 Wars, against Sebastien and Fred. Denis also wins 2 Wars, against Sebastien and Fred. Sebastien wins a single War, against Denis, and Fred wins none. Marie and Denis each score 6 LP, Sebastien scores 3 LP and Fred scores no Legend points during this War phase.
During this phase, Monarchs apply the effects indicated by the Wars-phase icon on the Units and Buildings in their Kingdom.
4. Revenue
Kingdoms produce their income in Gold.
You earn 2 Gold from the reserve, plus all the Gold granted by your revenue effects, indicated by the Revenue-phase icon on the Units and Buildings of your Kingdom.
Example: with his Kingdom, Julien earns 5 Gold: 2 base, 1 for the Blacksmith, 2 for his Temple.
During this phase, Monarchs apply the effects indicated by the Revenue-phase icon on the Units and Buildings in their Kingdom.
5. Construction
Monarchs may use their resources to put Buildings into play.
During this phase, you may perform a single construction action among the following two choices:
A. Build a New Building
You may put into play 1 Building of your choice among the 5 you received at the start of the game that you have not yet built. You may build it on its level 1 face or directly at level 2. In both cases, you must pay the terrain cost AND the resource cost of that Building.
Terrain cost: to build a new Building, you must pay 2 Gold for each Building you already own in your Kingdom.
Resource cost: your Kingdom must produce the resources required for the Building's construction cost, through the cards (Units and Buildings) you already have in play.
To build the Building at level 1, you must have the resources indicated by the level-1 icon.
To build the Building directly at level 2, you must have the resources indicated by the level-1 icon, PLUS those indicated by the level-2 icon.
Example: Jean-Baptiste wants to build the Tavern. He already has 2 Buildings in his Kingdom and must therefore pay 4 Gold as terrain cost. His Units produce meat, meat, and jars, which lets him pay the level-1 and level-2 costs to place the Building directly at level 2.
B. Upgrade a Building
If you already have one or more level-1 Buildings in your Kingdom, you may use your construction action to transform one of them into level 2. To do this, you only need to pay the level-2 resource cost, since you already paid both the terrain cost and the level-1 resource cost at the time of its initial construction. Simply flip this Building to its level-2 face.
Example: Denis wants to upgrade his City. The Spirit of the Forests produces enough jars to pay the cost indicated by the level-2 icon.
During this phase, Monarchs apply the effects indicated by the Construction-phase icon on the Units and Buildings in their Kingdom.
Important reminder about resources: resources of the jar, meat, or gem type that are required for building or upgrading a Building are never physically spent. For you to count them, it is enough that they are produced by the Unit and Building cards in your Kingdom.
Extra Unit Slot
A Monarch who owns at least one level-2 Building now has a 5th Unit slot, at the Front, during deployment phases. This is the maximum possible. A small icon reminds you of this, next to the name of each level-2 Building.
Example: thanks to the level-2 Tavern he has just built, Jean-Baptiste will be able to have 5 Units in his Kingdom starting next turn.
6. Age
Aged Units die and the others grow older.
Units that already have one or more Age tokens die: they are discarded, along with all the Age tokens on them.
Then add an Age token to each Unit still in play.
Example: the Colossus and the Farmer each have an Age token. They die and are discarded. Only 2 Units remain in Denis's Kingdom. He adds an Age token to each of them.
During this phase, Monarchs apply the effects indicated by the Age-phase icon on the Units and Buildings in their Kingdom.
End of Turn
Once the Age phase is finished, advance the Time token one space. A new turn begins, with the Recruitment phase.
End of Game
At the end of turn 4, the game ends. Monarchs add to their score the Legend points shown on the Buildings they have built. The Monarch with the most Legend points is declared the winner. In case of a tie between several Monarchs, whoever has the most Gold remaining wins. If the tie persists, victory is shared.
Advanced Rules for 2 Players
Except to discover the game or introduce it to someone, we recommend using the following rule adjustments for your 2-player games:
Recruitment The two Monarchs receive 9 Unit cards from the draw pile, instead of 5. Each time you keep a card, you must then discard another of your choice, before passing the remaining cards to your opponent.
Wars If your strength is greater than or equal to your opponent's, you win one War, as in the normal rules. But if your strength is at least double your opponent's, you win 2 Wars!
Strategic Tips
Paper Tales is a fairly technical game, with a fairly steep learning curve. Here are a few tips to get started:
- On turn 1, aim either to win wars, or to build a level-2 Building. In any case, (almost) always build a Building, if you can.
- That said, building Buildings is not an end in itself. Apart from the imperative of having a level-2 Building at some point, you will find winning strategies with 1 Building as much as with 4.
- War is the most obvious source of points, but certain combinations of Units and Buildings can let you build even more lucrative sources of points.
Tips for Integrating the Expansions' Additional Content
- After a few games of the base game, start by adding the Unit cards from Beyond the Gates.
- Wait until players are comfortable with the 5 base game Buildings before adding the Buildings from Beyond the Gates. This is an important step up in complexity (and richness) strategically.
- Add all the content of What Forges Legends last.
Expansion 1 — Beyond the Gates
Cards from this expansion are identified by the key icon.
Blinded by their quest for power, Kingdoms progressively unlock, one by one, the seals on forbidden knowledge. In occult and illicit places, necromancers and alchemists dig a little deeper each day toward the Gates of the Otherworld. At the risk of awakening something beyond them...
Presentation
This expansion contains new Units and 6 new Buildings. You may include one and/or the other of these two elements, according to your wishes and preferences.
Material
- 20 Unit cards
- 42 Building cards
Adding the Units
Simply add these 20 new Unit cards to the draw pile when setting up the game.
Randomly Adding the Buildings
At setup, each Monarch starts by taking 4 Building cards: a Mine, a Tavern, a Temple and a City.
Then shuffle face down the 7 Building tiles corresponding to the remaining Buildings (Barracks + the 6 Buildings from this expansion).
If you are also playing with the What Forges Legends expansion, add to these tiles the ones corresponding to the 3 Buildings from that expansion, for a total of 10 tiles instead of 7.
Reveal 3 tiles at random among all those you have placed face down this way: all Monarchs take one copy of the corresponding Building cards, in addition to their 4 base Buildings.
Each Monarch therefore starts with the same 7 Buildings available as their opponents, for the Construction phases.
Expansion 2 — What Forges Legends
Cards from this expansion are identified by the crossed-swords icon.
The centuries roll on, inexorably. And when a new Monarch emerges to write the next chapter of the Saga... they are left these symbols of past power and grandeur, passed down from generation to generation and charged with all the heroic history of the kingdom... these artifacts of immeasurable power, which once forged and will continue to forge its legend.
Presentation
This expansion contains new Units, new Buildings and an entirely new type of card: legendary Artifacts. These cards are shuffled and selected together with the Unit cards, but, unlike them, Artifacts are not affected by the passage of time.
Important: This expansion works as an indivisible block. You must add all of its cards, whether you are playing with the base content alone or with the Beyond the Gates expansion.
Material
- 26 Unit cards
- 18 legendary Artifact cards
- 21 Building cards
Adding the Units and Artifacts
Add the 26 new Unit cards AND the 18 legendary Artifact cards from this expansion to the draw pile, at setup.
Adding the Buildings
- Without the Beyond the Gates expansion, randomly select 2 Buildings among the 3 new ones (Inn, Sawmill and Royal Palace). Each Monarch adds one copy to their 5 base game Buildings.
- With the Beyond the Gates expansion, follow the random-addition rule for Buildings from Beyond the Gates, adding the 3 new Building tiles from What Forges Legends, so that 3 tiles are drawn among 10.
In both cases, each Monarch therefore starts with the same 7 Buildings as their opponents for the Construction phases.
Legendary Artifacts
Anatomy of a Legendary Artifact Card
- Legendary Artifact icon
- Artifact name
- Artifact effect (phase effect or resource production)
- Legend points earned at end of game
- Number of copies
Artifact Recruitment
Legendary Artifact cards are found in the main draw pile and can be selected exactly like Unit cards, during the Recruitment phase.
Artifact Deployment
Legendary Artifacts are not Units, but they are put into play the same way and at the same time as Units, during the Deployment phase.
Slot Place your legendary Artifacts, first face down, then face up once revealed, a bit apart from your Units in your Kingdom. There is no limit to the number of legendary Artifacts you can have in play in your Kingdom, and they do not count toward the limit of 4 (then 5) Unit cards you are allowed to have in play.
Deployment cost Each legendary Artifact you deploy costs you 1 Gold, plus 1 additional Gold for each Artifact previously deployed in your Kingdom. In other words, the 1st Artifact you deploy in the game costs you 1 Gold, the 2nd costs you 2 Gold, the 3rd costs you 3 Gold, etc.
Example: Christine wants to deploy the Bottomless Purse. As it is her 1st Artifact of the game, it costs her only 1 Gold (1 for this card + 0 for her previous Artifacts).
You cannot discard an Artifact you have in play to reduce the cost of a new Artifact.
As with Units, if you cannot pay the cost of an Artifact you placed during deployment this turn, you must discard it. If you are thus short of Gold, you freely choose overall which cards you pay for, in order to put them into play effectively.
Deploying several Artifacts on the same turn Even during the same turn, you must consider that you deploy one Artifact of your choice before the other, to calculate your overall deployment cost.
Example: Christine already has the Bottomless Purse in play in her Kingdom, and she wishes to deploy this turn the Lush Grove and the Cursed Crown that she selected during Recruitment. These two new Artifacts cost her a total of 5 Gold, since they are her 2nd (=2 Gold) and 3rd (=3 Gold) Artifacts.
Keeping an Artifact for later The card you choose to keep at the end of the Deployment phase can be a legendary Artifact card, but you are still only allowed to keep a single card for the next turn, whether it is a Unit or an Artifact.
Artifact Effects
Once deployed in your Kingdom, each legendary Artifact card produces its effects, whether phase effects or resource production, exactly like Unit and Building cards.
Example: during the Wars phase, the Shield of Power grants this Kingdom +2 strength, in addition to the bonuses granted here by the General and the Barracks.
Artifacts and Aging
Legendary Artifact cards do not age. Never add Age tokens to them. Once deployed, they therefore remain in play and produce their effect until the end of the game.
End-of-Game Gains from Artifacts
At the end of the game, add to your score the Legend points shown on each legendary Artifact deployed in your Kingdom.
Example: at the end of the game, these two Artifacts in Christine's Kingdom grant her a total of 3 Legend points (1 + 2), which are added to her score.
General Clarifications and Reminders
A Unit that dies A Unit is said to die only when it is discarded during the Age phase.
Targets of Deployment effects A Deployment-phase effect can target cards you have just deployed during this phase.
Timing of Deployment effects During the Deployment phase, you must resolve your effects so that each one takes into account as many of the game elements present at the end of the phase as possible. For example, if an effect adds Age tokens to all your other Units, it also affects Units that were just deployed.
Simultaneous deployment There is little point in taking opposing deployments into account. In case of an unresolvable disagreement, the Monarch with the highest score plays first. In case of a tie, the Monarch with the most Gold places their cards first. If the tie persists, priority order is drawn at random.
Card Clarifications
Shapeshifter As soon as it is replaced by a new valid Unit, discard the Shapeshifter and any revealed cards that did not match the Shapeshifter's criteria. Don't forget to add an Age token in place of the Shapeshifter, and to apply that Unit's Deployment-phase effects, if any.
Chiromancer / Kraken During the Age phase, apply its effect to every Unit that dies in your Kingdom, including this card itself, if it dies that turn.
Shadow You may choose to reactivate the Deployment-phase effects of a Unit you have just deployed this phase.
Standard-Bearer Check the condition separately for each of the two effects. So, if you have at least one Unit with a cost of 3 or more in your Kingdom, you gain both effects when you deploy the Standard-Bearer.
Grand Architect / Dryad You may pay for any combination of resources this way, at a cost of 1 for 1.
Mystic Add an Age token to the Unit saved by the Mystic this turn, as on the other surviving Units. The Mystic can save itself.
Golem If you have no level-2 Building at the moment you deploy the Golem, you still only have 4 slots to deploy your Units.
Ogre The value of all your income (including the base 2 Gold) from the next Revenue phase is to be added to the Ogre's base strength. It therefore has a minimum strength of 4.
Thieving Monkey / Imp / Devoted Servant You gain the Gold indicated in negative in the Unit's cost. This Gold can be used immediately to pay for the deployment of other Units.
Queen's Jester Discard revealed cards that did not match the Queen's Jester's criteria. The legendary Artifact put into play by the Queen's Jester costs you 0, regardless of the number of Artifacts you have in play.
Titan You pay neither the terrain cost nor the resource cost for the level-2 Building you thus put into play, even if drawn at random among those not yet built.
Temple Each level of the Temple can be paid either by producing the required gems, or by spending the indicated Gold.
Port Example: producing jars earns you Legend points, regardless of the quantity produced.
Abbey Example: if your Kingdom produces 2 jars, 1 meat and 1 gem, the Abbey earns you Legend points.