Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition FAQ
249 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
GeneralExpansion
- In solo play, is the AI's dominant religion the same as Supremacy?
- In solo mode, are the AI's objective bullet points carried out in priority order?
- Does the solo AI mainly try to win, or to stall until the draw piles run out?
- When the solo AI plays a card with a Bishop icon, where does it place the Bishop?
- Does a solo automa discard a card to kill its Bishop when no Victory Square is active?
- When an automa sells a card in row 7 with an action left, does it get another action?
- Can a solo opponent buy a Comet card to claim victory?
- When the solo opponent buys a card, how does it pay where market cards already hold Florins?
- In solo play, what happens to a Florin the bot cannot place because the market card already has one?
- In solo play, when the bot can remove or acquire an Empire, does it prefer one you own?
- Is the Podesta of Venice a Western card with a Mamluk empire symbol, and is that intentional?
- What does the Vitruvian man icon mean, and are those cards in the base game?
- Is the Age of Reformation promo Suleiman the Magnificent an East or West emperor?
- If you move a Bishop onto a card that raises the hand limit above two, must a player holding more than two cards discard down at once?
- If the Papal States has become Reformed, does Venice's second Gold Knight ability still apply?
Components
Setup
- What are the shield (escutcheon) punch-outs that match a player's bank icon for?
- Which pieces does each capital receive at setup, and must the pieces drawn on the map match?
- Which pieces start in Byzantium (Constantinople) at setup?
- Must Rooks and Knights match the colour and shape shown on the map?
- Does Toledo start with a Knight or a golden Rook at setup?
- With fewer than four players, which starting Concession Pawns are placed?
Sequence of Play
Actions
- If you don't trigger a card's one-shot, must you place its Agents?
- If you trigger a card's one-shot, must you place all of its Agents?
- When a trade shift, coronation or apostasy has no free space, must you repress to place its Agents, and can you still run it?
- After a one-shot battle is won, must surviving Agents pay Florins to repress when there is no room on the map?
- Does placing an Agent without a one-shot onto an occupied City or Border cost a Florin to repress?
- What are the ways to repress a piece, and what does each one cost or gain?
- Can a second Agent from the same card repress the first Agent placed there?
- Can a Pawn Agent be placed on a sea border, or only on land borders?
- Can a Pirate be placed into a Sea Border that already holds a Pirate of the same colour?
- Where can a Bishop Agent from a played card be placed?
- Does a Bishop placed by a one-shot take part in the battle?
- When is an Agent placed relative to its card's one-shot?
- When an apostasy one-shot uses a Bishop Agent, is the Bishop placed before or after the one-shot resolves?
- Does Aztec Gold's 'sell for 4 Florins' (or the similar Ransom and Cem Anti-Hostage text) apply to other cards you sell?
- Does Machiavellianism's Pragmatic Treachery trigger when you sell a card from your hand or from a different tableau?
- Does Pragmatic Treachery let me run a coronation or trade shift when I sell a card?
- When is the Cryptography card's extra West Op triggered?
- Can you sell any card in your tableau, or only the first or most recent one?
- How much do you receive when you sell an Empire with its Queen or Vassals?
- When you sell a King with Vassals, do the Vassals go back to their thrones for extra Florins?
- What happens to a Bishop when you sell the card it sits on?
- Do repressed Knights and Rooks defend in a Peasant Revolt?
- Can you buy a Comet when your hand is already full?
- Can an Op target anywhere on the board, or only in its card's Location?
- When you run East or West Ops, must every card on that side be used, and in what order?
- Can a free East or West Ops ability combine with a card that runs East and West Ops as one action?
- Does a Vassal run Ops on the East or West side of the Tableau it sits in, or on its own Location?
- Must an Agent played from a card match the colour and icon of the City on the map?
- Can you place a Bishop on an Empire card after repressing a token there during a successful Regime Change?
- Can a Bishop be placed on an empty Throne?
- Are cards sold from your hand, or discarded, hidden information?
Tableau Ops
- Can a Theocratic Conspiracy remove a theocracy in 2nd edition?
- How do you overthrow a Theocracy in 2nd edition Pax Renaissance?
- Do repressed tokens in Mamluk count as knights for a campaign with the Circassian Mamluks slave soldiers ability?
- Can repressed Mamluk tokens be used as casualties in a campaign?
- Is a vote free when the Empire has no repressed tokens, and can you vote against your own King?
- If a vote succeeds on an Empire in another player's tableau, does the voter take it, and does it flip?
- Can you vote on an Empire where your own concessions are the only ones on its borders?
- Can you call a vote on a vassal, including one of your own, or on an Empire still on its throne?
- Can you take the Vote action if you cannot pay the florins for the repressed tokens?
- Does the acting card's location limit which Empires a Vote op can target?
- Can a card flipped by a Vote be used again for another op in the same action?
- In a Campaign, must you pay for every knight in the attacking Empire?
- Can you declare a Campaign against an Empire with no defending tokens?
- Does a knight that campaigns into an empty Empire and survives count as a won battle, and does it stay or return home?
- Do knights in adjacent Empires join a campaign attack, as they do in religious wars?
- After a successful campaign against another player's Empire, are the defeated defenders placed on that Empire as repressed tokens?
- Can you run a Campaign against an Empire in your own tableau, including your own Vassal?
- Does a campaign flip the defeated Empire to its King side?
- Where is a vassal won by a campaign kept, and can its suzerain cover it?
- Can a vassal campaign and give its suzerain a new vassal?
- If you take a vassal from an opponent's suzerain, what happens to the suzerain and its other vassals?
- What happens to a Vassal when its Suzerain is beheaded?
- Can an Empire that is a Vassal be sold and then campaigned against?
- Can you run Ops from both a Suzerain and its Vassal in the same turn?
- Can I use a vassal's ops in the same action after I campaign and win it?
- Can I run the ops of an Empire I just gained or flipped by a regime change during the same action?
- When a Vassal wins a campaign, whose Vassal does the conquered Empire become?
- Which tableau side does a Vassal sit on, and can West one-shots target it?
- If an Eastern Empire is a Vassal of a Western Empire, can its campaign be run with West Ops?
- Is a campaign successful if every attacking knight dies but a Rook survives on the defending side?
- Can you take a campaign, Civil War or Religious War on purpose even if it will not succeed?
- Can a Pirate sit on a Concession protected by Dalmatian Merchant Marine, and does that Concession still trade?
- Can an Inquisitor op move a Bishop that sits in another player's tableau, or on a Throne?
- How far does one Inquisitor op move a Bishop, and can it pass through a card with the same Location to go two cards?
- Can a Bishop move directly from one Throne to another Throne?
- Can a bishop move between East and West cards, or from a Holy Roman Empire card to a card of another country?
- Can a bishop move from an Ottoman card to an East card?
- Can a bishop on an Aragon card in the East tableau move to a card with The East as its location?
- Can a Bishop on a Mamluk card move to a West card?
- Can a bishop on a Papal States vassal move to a West card?
- If you move a Bishop onto a card that already holds a Bishop of the same colour, are both removed?
- Can a Bishop kill a repressed token?
- Can an Inquisitor op pacify a repressed token on the card where the Bishop already sits?
- Where may a Bishop placed by a one-shot go when the battle is in a different Empire?
- Does a Bishop silence a card whose text says it cannot be silenced by Bishops?
- If you move a Bishop off a silencing card mid-action, does a free East or West op become free?
- What happens to a Bishop on a card that is beheaded or sold?
- Does Behead on Inquisition Pope need a physical bishop token on a West card?
- Can you behead a King that is not in a player's tableau?
- When an Empire Square is beheaded, is the card that used the Behead also killed?
- Does the Behead op require a vacant city in the Empire?
- Can a Behead or other East or West op target a card whose Location is only The East or The West?
- Can a West-location card placed in my Eastern tableau behead or target West cards?
- Can a Republic be targeted through its Empire's Location, for West or East ops and beheadings?
- When a Republic is beheaded or taken, does it return to its Throne as a King or as a Republic?
- How far can a Corsair op move a pirate?
- Can a Corsair pirate move past another pirate to reach an adjacent Sea Border?
- Is a corsair stuck after it moves onto an adjacent country's border with a Corsair op?
- Can Siege kill a repressed token?
- Does a Repress action remove one Map Token of Knight, Rook or Pawn?
- Which Empire does a repressed Concession go to?
- When a West card taxes a Concession, who chooses the Empire that receives the Levy?
- Can Michelangelo's abilities or vote be used while the card is still in your hand?
- Does Michelangelo's West location change how his ability works?
- Can you use a Civil Engineer's free ops after your second action?
- If I have Civil Engineer and Transylvania Plot in my tableau, can I run both my East and West ops for free?
- Is there a limit on how many cards a tableau can hold?
- How much does a Vote op cost when the Empire has repressed tokens?
- Can Cryptography borrow a married Queen's purple op from an opponent's tableau, including a Behead?
- Which tableau side does an Empire gained through an Eastern one-shot go into?
- Where does a King that enters my tableau go, and does a coronated King sit with its Queen?
- If a vote pulls a married King into another player's tableau, does his Queen come along?
- Does a Republic you take from an opponent's tableau stay a Republic?
Trade Fair
- Where does the coin go when the Podesta lets you buy a card but the market gap has no card left to pay?
- Do two abilities that each double concession payouts in trade fairs stack?
- How many florins does each concession earn in a trade fair when three concession-doubling abilities are in play?
- Can a trade fair levy place a second Knight in Portugal when the card has only one Knight space?
- When can you use Podesta di Venice's free Trade Fair during your turn?
- What does the Condottieri ability do for Venice, and when does Venice need two tokens?
- Who chooses which vacant city receives a Levy during a trade fair?
- When a Levy places a Rook or Knight, can the player choose its type or colour?
- Are excess Levy tokens repressed when an Empire is saturated?
Trade Shift
Coronations
- Can a Coronation target a King already in your own tableau, and does it give you a concession?
- Does coronating a King in your own tableau turn it into a Republic?
- If you coronate your own King with a Bishop on it, does the Bishop stay?
- Does marrying a Queen to a King already in your tableau gain you that Empire?
- When a King and his married Queen are both in your tableau, do they each get an operation?
- Can you marry a Queen to a King who is your own vassal, and does the King leave vassalage?
- When a Queen marries a King from the other side of the map, which tableau side does the royal couple go to, and which location does the Queen take?
- Can you marry your Queen to an unmarried King in an opponent's tableau?
- When you sell a Royal Couple from a coronation, what does the pair sell for?
- When a Coronation or Star Chamber claims a King who is already married, what happens to the former Queen?
- Can Henry VIII's Star Chamber coronation claim a King who is either married or in an opponent's tableau?
- Can a Coronation one-shot claim a King that apostasy has returned to his Throne with his Queen?
Civil Wars
- Do Pawn agents count as attackers in a Conspiracy or Peasant Revolt?
- Can a rival player's repressed Serf be chosen as a casualty in a Peasant Revolt?
- Which repressed tokens fight in a Conspiracy, and which fight in a Peasant Revolt?
- After a won Peasant Revolt or Conspiracy, where do the surviving attackers go?
- Does a civil war against an Empire with no ruling class still cause a regime change?
- Does a Peasant Revolt cause a regime change, and what if it fails?
- Can you start a civil war or one-shot you expect to fail, just to weaken an Empire?
- Does a winning vote or civil war on an Empire you already control flip it to its Republic side?
- When a regime change hits an Empire in your own tableau, does it flip between King and Republic?
- If you conquer an opponent's Republic, does it stay a Republic?
- If you behead a King in your own tableau, does the Empire stay in your tableau as a Republic?
- Who chooses the casualties in a battle, including a Civil War or Religious War?
- What happens when you lose a battle?
- After a failed battle, can the defending tokens be moved or placed as survivors?
- In a Conspiracy, which attackers can be lost, and what happens to survivors that cannot be placed?
- After a battle, are extra surviving attackers repressed for free, and can survivors cover tokens already placed?
- Who decides which surviving attackers are placed and which are repressed?
- Can you place an agent or repress a token first so that it fights in a one-shot battle?
- If a Corsair placed by a Peasant Revolt is lost in the battle, can it be taken as a casualty before it is placed?
- Can a civil war against your own vassal turn it into a Republic, and where does it go?
Religious Wars & Apostasy
- Can a Pawn agent attack in a Religious War?
- Does a victorious Religious War in your own Empire turn its map card to the Theocracy?
- Does a victorious religious war against your own vassal also change its map card to a Theocracy?
- Can you start a Holy War, Jihad or Crusade against an Empire that already has that religion?
- What happens when a religious war's target has no heretic to kill?
- Can an Empire become a Theocracy by any means other than a victorious Religious War?
- Does a Conspiracy that conquers an Empire remove its Theocracy?
- Do adjacent believer Knights count as attackers in a Religious War, and can they decide the outcome?
- After a won religious war or Jihad, do the attacking Knights or Rooks move into the conquered Empire?
- After a won religious war in Constantinople, can the attacker choose which city each piece occupies?
- After a successful religious war, which regime change steps follow?
- When an Apostasy names two religions, who must discard cards?
- Does Apostasy discard Empire squares, and what happens to a King and Queen?
- When an Apostasy discards a Suzerain, where do its Vassals go?
- Does a Bishop silencing a card stop its Prestige icons from counting for Apostasy?
- Can a Bishop placed by a Jihad go on any East card, regardless of its prestige?
- Does a Bishop on a card silence that card's inquisitor action?
- If two Bishops end up on the same card, are both removed?
- Can a Bishop silence a card that grants immunity to silencing?
Endgame & Victory
- Do repressed tokens count toward victory conditions?
- For Holy Victory, are a religion's tokens and Bishops summed across all its theocracies?
- Must the leading religion beat each other religion, or both of them combined?
- How do you win a Holy Victory when opponents also have Prestige in the supreme religion?
- Does a Pirate bordering two same-colour theocracies count for both in Supremacy?
- Does a Catholic Rook in an Islamic theocracy count toward a Catholic Holy Victory?
- Do Reformist Knights in a non-Reformist Theocracy count toward religious supremacy?
- Does a Bishop on a King stop an Imperial Victory?
- Can a Republic count toward or against an Imperial Victory?
- Why can't I claim a Globalization victory when I have more Concessions and more Discovery Prestige?
- If a player declares a victory action without meeting its conditions, does it stand?
- Does the game end as soon as the market cannot be fully refilled?
- Do cards in hand, or a religion with zero Bishops, count toward Holy Victory?
- Does Epicurean Swerve count as a Republic for Renaissance victory?
- Does Circassian Mamluks' extra Patron Prestige bishop count toward any player's Holy Victory?
Glossary (Capitalized Terms)
- When a Suzerain is discarded, beheaded, flipped or taken by a regime change, do its Vassals stay in the tableau?
- Does a Vassal keep its Queen and tokens when it returns to its Throne?
- If a Suzerain undergoes a regime change, what happens to the repressed tokens on its Vassals?
- Can a Behead operation take only the Queen of a Royal Couple?
- Do Bishops and Queens follow their Empire when it leaves its Throne or is taken by a regime change?
- Is the Concession from a regime change mandatory, and what if the borders are full?
- Can a Concession go onto a Border with a Pirate, or replace a surviving Pirate?
- Where does a regime change Concession go, and can it repress a token?
- Can a regime change Concession repress a token that is then emancipated in the same regime change?
- After a regime change, can emancipated tokens repress pieces, or go onto occupied spaces?
- Can a repressed token sit on an Empire square in your own tableau, and can you release it at will?
- When an Empire flips to its Republic side or changes tableau, do its repressed tokens stay on the card?
- If a card that gives an unlimited hand size is silenced or beheaded, what must you discard?
- Is a Dominant religion the same as one with Supremacy?
- What happens when China runs out of Florins?
- Where do surviving pirates go after a battle, and what happens if there is no room?
- What is the 'Bonus Concession' on the player aid battle table?
- Does a card's ability work from your hand, or depend on where the card sits on the board?
- Does an ability printed in black text apply only to the card's owner?
- Do Artistic Geometry and Romantic Realism stack if you own both?
- If you start a war against a Republic you already control and lose, must it flip to its King side?
- If you unsilence an East or West ability in the middle of an op, do you gain it for that op?
- With Leo Africanus, can the East and West ops be interleaved?
- Which borders count as Sea Borders?
- Can a pirate ship be placed on a border with no trade route, such as Mamluk and Byzantium?
- Does a pirate moving through Sea Borders kill the tokens on the borders it passes?
- Can a Concession be placed in an area that touches only one Empire, such as beside Portugal?
- Must victorious attacking pieces match a city's icon when they are placed?
- What does it mean that Constantinople is unoccupied when it holds fewer than three tokens?
- In a regime change using an East card on a West Empire, which tableau does the King go into?
- Do adjacent believer Knights join a Campaign as attackers, or only a Holy War?
- Can an Empire's region change after it becomes a Theocracy or a Vassal?
- Does an Empire becoming a Theocracy gain religious Prestige on its Empire square?
- When you pay to replace an opponent's Concession, where does the removed Concession go?
- Can Cryptography run an op on a card an opponent silenced with a Bishop?
Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition – Age of Reformation Promo CardsExpansion
- Can the East and West deck cards from the Age of Reformation promo be mixed into normal games?
- If the Papal States becomes Muslim or Reformist through an Eastern card, does its Kingdom card move to the East?
- When a Reformation or Black Army changes a Hungarian map card, does the married King change too?
- How does the Age of Byzantine victory card work alongside the other victory conditions?