Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition
Pax Renaissance: 2nd Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
A. Summary
A1. Introduction
- Terms. Capitalized terms (e.g., Prestige) or terms in all-caps (e.g. See PRESTIGE) are defined in the glossary. Bold indicates the term is being defined. Italics indicate the term is defined elsewhere, usually in the referenced section.
- Time Scale. Each turn represents two years in the time period from 1460 to 1530.
- Rules Layout. The rules are divided into two parts: sequential processes and alphabetical terms. The sequential rules describe processes arranged in the order you meet them in a typical game: setup (C), sequence of play (D), actions (E), operations (F), trade fairs (G), One-shots (H - K), and victory (L). Although useful for learning to play, the processes are not comprehensive without the game terms. These terms and other details are listed alphabetically in the glossary, where they serve as an easily-found reference during a game and do not bog the sequential rules with unnecessary minutiae.
- Golden Rule. If the text on a card contradicts these rules, the card has precedence. If text on a play aid contradicts these rules, the rules have precedence.
A2. Flow of Play Overview
Each player takes a turn in a clockwise fashion. On your turn, choose two actions (E1 - E6) and then perform a market refresh (D2).
- Actions. You may purchase a faceup Market Card to add to your Hand, play a card from your Hand into the row of faceup cards in front of you (your TABLEAU), sell a card for cash, enable the operations (Ops) of your cards in either the East or West side of your Tableau, Discard a facedown Market Card to stimulate the economy with a trade fair, or declare victory. You must take at least one of your two actions.
- Play Card. Upon card play, you may place the Agents depicted according to the Location listed. If you place an Agent on a City or Border, this must replace any Token already present there (E2.2).
- One-Shots. If playing a card with the bomb icon, you may perform its One-shot, which places an Agent and can realign trade, or weaken and seize an Empire. For details, see coronations (I), conspiracies (J1), peasant revolts (J2), Religious Wars (K1), apostasy (K3), or trade shift (H1).
- Trade Fair. Convening a trade fair will Discard the facedown card in either the East or West Market. This starts a trade fair voyage (G2) which distributes profits (G3) and raises Levies (G4) as it follows the East or West Trade Route. If there is not much profit, the voyage will be short (G5).
A3. Objective of the Game
There will be two Comet cards, functionally identical, placed towards the end of each of the two draw decks. If you purchase one from the Market, you immediately choose one of the four Victory Squares (holy, imperial, globalization, or Renaissance) to become active.
- Activation. Once a Victory Square is active, any player may spend an action on his turn to declare victory if he has met the listed conditions of that particular Victory Square. See Part L.
A4. Changes from 1st Edition
- New Components include wooden tokens for Pirate ships, Pawns for Concessions and Serfs, placards for Player Boards, and squares for Victory & Empires.
- Extra Map Cards. These allow the mounted gameboard to be left behind for small game portability.
- Player's Guide (Book II). This adds the solitaire game, "Push-Start" playthrough, Strategy and Frequently-Asked Questions.
- Expanded rules include Dalmatians, Cryptography, Condottieri, apostasy, and the solitaire game.
- New Emporium & Trade Route. This adds a white Trade Route to the Red Sea.
- Thrones. These allow storage of Queens, Bishops, and Repressed Tokens even if the King is not in any Tableau.
- 4 States have been added to each Empire, making possible a Medieval Papal States, Catholic England, Orthodox Greece, or other possibilities not possible in the 1st edition.
B. Components
B1. Game Contents
- Rulebook (You are reading it).
- Player's Guide.
- 188 Cards; 168 Tableau & 20 Map.
- 14 Tiles; 10 Empire Squares & 4 Victory Squares.
- 1 Mapboard.
- 4 Player Boards (on punchout board).
- 13 Pirate Ships (6 gold galleys, 4 green galleys, 3 red round ships).
- 40 Pawns; 10 in each of four player colors (yellow, purple, green, blue).
- 15 Bishops; Chess Bishops (5 gold, 5 green, and 5 red) representing inquisitors.
- 24 Rooks; Chess Castles (10 gold, 7 green, and 7 red) representing nobles.
- 24 Knights; Chess Knights (10 gold, 7 green, and 7 red) representing heavy cavalry.
- 37 Florin Disks; 33 yellow disks worth 1 Florin each, and 4 red disks worth 5 Florins each.
- 4 Busted Disks; 2 white and 2 black disks, representing busted Emporia.
B2. Gameboard Anatomy
- Empires (10). These slots store a Map Card (B6) if a Theocracy is formed.
- Medieval vs. Theocracy. The Papal States and Mamluk start Theocratic, shown by the Catholic crucifix and the Islamic crescent. The remaining Empires, with no religious icons, start Medieval.
- Borders (13) are the 10mm of space between each Empire. They are used to place Concessions (including a player's start Concession indicated by his heraldic escutcheon) or Pirates.
- Thrones (10). An Empire Square stored in a gameboard slot is not in the Tableau of any player.
- Draw Deck Slots & Market Slots. Two rows, one East and one West.
- Victory Slots (4). The four Victory Squares are stored here.
- China. Florins not controlled by players are stored here. See CHINA.
- Emporia (6). All but two of the six are always busted. See EMPORIUM.
B3. Player Boards
You start with one of the four Player Boards (C2) in your Tableau.
B4. Empire Squares
The ten two-sided Empire Squares start in the Throne (B2d) next to their Location. While here, they remain uninfluenced by any player. Whenever you acquire an Empire Square, whether through a One-shot (E2), vote (F6) or campaign (F9), place it into your Tableau (East or West) with its King side (gold frame) faceup. If it becomes a Republic, turn its pillar-frame side faceup. While in your Tableau, treat both Kings and Republics as tableau cards.
- Op and Prestige Icons. If present, these are as described in Part F and B5c,d.
B5. Tableau Cards
The East and West tableau cards represent personalities who inhabited Europe from 1460 to 1530. The following card features are listed:
- Ops Column. A banner containing the icons, Ops, and Abilities available while the card is in your Tableau. A black banner indicates an Eastern philosophy, while a white banner indicates the West.
- Location. Agents are placed in the Location indicated, either set on one of its Cities (Knights or Rooks), one of its Borders (Pawns or Pirates), or on a Tableau Card with the listed Location (Bishops). See E2.2 for placement. See LOCATION.
- Prestige. Some cards have a Prestige Icon, with a gold diamond backdrop, relevant for victory.
- Ops. Operations (F) that can be done if activated by an action E4.
- One-Shot. A bomb icon indicates that the play of this card can trigger a One-shot, either trade shift, coronation, Civil War, or Religious War as indicated. Bomb icons for trade shifts are black or white, and Religious Wars are in religious colors (jihad is shown).
- Abilities. Some cards have an Ability listed in a scroll frame. Abilities are active if in your Tableau, and, unlike Ops, are activated even if the East or West Ops are not run.
- Agents. This depicts a number of Agent Tokens, and their religious color (gold = Catholic, green = Islamic, red = Reformist). You decide if an Agent is placed when you play the card into your Tableau (E2). If the Agent icon is a gray Pawn, this indicates that you deploy a Pawn in your player color.
B6. Map Cards
There are 20 Map Cards, two per Empire, which are used to modify the map of Europe and the Mediterranean. Each is double-sided, with each side showing a possible THEOCRACY or medieval state of the Empire. They start the game in a stack and are placed in an Empire if a Theocracy is formed (K2a).
- Cities. A CITY is a Knight or Rook icon enclosed by a circle on the map. Each is of a color indicating its Religion. If its name is in all capital letters, it is the capital.
- Trade Routes. The white and black lines are Trade Routes, running from a start Emporium (marked by a nine-pointed star) to its end (marked by an arrowhead).
- Concessions. These are Pawns placed in BORDERS, the gap between two Empires. Each player starts with a Concession placed in the Border marked with their bank escutcheon (in Lisbon, Florence, Augsburg, and Alexandria).
- Emporia. A City surrounded by a nine-pointed star is called an EMPORIUM. They are Trebizond, Spice Islands, and Red Sea (white), and Tana, Novgorod, and Timbuktu (black).
B7. Comet Cards & Victory Squares
- Comets. These 4 cards are mixed into the last 12 cards of both draw decks during setup (C5).
- Victory Squares. These 4 tiles start inactive (facedown) in the four slots provided on the gameboard. One is flipped to its active side each time someone buys a Comet. Thereafter, if any player spends a victory action (E6) and has met the conditions listed on an active Victory Square, the game ends with that player as the winner.
C. Setup
C1. Populating the 1460 Map
The Map and Throne slots indicate ten EMPIRES: England, France, Holy Roman Empire (HRE), Hungary, and Byzantium to the north, and Portugal, Aragon, Papal States, Ottoman, and Mamluk to the south.
- Busted Emporia. Place a black disk over both Timbuktu and Novgorod, and a white disk over both the Spice Islands and the Red Sea. An Emporium (B6d) is not in play and can hold no Tokens until and unless the disk covering it is moved to another Emporium through a trade shift One-shot (H1).
- No Map. If (for space reasons) you do not use the gameboard, for the starting Map arrange the 10 starting Map Cards (the ones that depict a small "◊" after the Empire name) into a 2 x 5 matrix. Arrange the other components next to this Map.
- 1550 Map Variant. This variant occurs after Reformation has started to sweep Europe. Use the regular setup, except place a Reformist England Map Card on England, and a Reformist Holy Roman Empire Map Card on the HRE.
C2. Players & Starting Concessions
Each player randomly receives a Player Board, which indicates their player color and escutcheon (heraldic shield). Up to four players can play. Each player places a Pawn of his color in the Border specified (indicated on the map with the bank's escutcheon):
- Fugger Bank Start Concession. Place a blue Pawn in Augsburg (Border between France/Holy Roman Empire).
- Medici Bank Start Concession. Place a yellow Pawn in Florence (Aragon/Papal States Border).
- Cœur Bank Start Concession. Place a purple Pawn in Alexandria (Ottoman/Mamluk Border).
- Marchionni Bank Start Concession. Place a green Pawn in Lisbon (England/Portugal Border).
C3. Player Tableaux
To start his Tableau, each player places his Player Board in front of him. He will play East Tableau cards to the right of his Player Board, and West Tableau cards to the left.
- Pawns. Each player places the 9 remaining Pawns of his color into his Reserves near his Player Board.
C4. Starting Ruling Class
Place one Token of the shape and color indicated in the capital of each Empire. The capital has the name of the City all in capital letters (e.g. PARIS). Other Cities start empty.
- Constantinople starts with three Tokens (two green Knights and a green Rook).
C5. Preparing the East & West Draw Decks
Separate the tableau cards into two piles, one East and the other West.
- East Draw Deck. Take 12 random facedown East cards and shuffle the two East Comet cards into them. To the top of this 14-card deck add 4 additional random East cards for each player in the game (e.g. for a three-player game add 12 cards, so 26 in total).
- West Draw Deck. Do the same for a draw deck containing the West cards plus the two West Comet cards, placed just above the East draw deck.
- Astrology Variant (optional). As part of Setup and Market Refresh, turn the top card of each Draw Deck faceup, visible but not available for purchase. This option allows players to "see into the future".
C6. The Market, Thrones, & Victory Squares
- Market. Deal 6 cards from the East draw deck to form a row of six faceup cards where indicated on the gameboard, and then flip facedown the leftmost one (furthest from the draw deck). Do the same for the West draw deck. These two facedown cards represent the East and West trade fairs (Part G).
- Fill Thrones. The ten Empire Squares are placed King side up in the slots next to their respective Empires.
- Victory Squares. The four Victory Squares are placed on the gameboard where indicated, with the inactive side faceup.
C7. Starting Florins
Randomly determine a first player. If the Fugger Bank (blue) is in the game, this player is always the first player. The first player receives 3 Florins (3 yellow disks), the second player (clockwise) = 4 Florins, the third player (if any) = 5 Florins, and the fourth player (if any) = 6 Florins.
- China. Place the remaining Florin disks onto the gameboard in the region called China.
- The First Player now takes his turn.
D. Sequence of Play
D1. Action Phase
On your turn, you must perform either 1 or 2 actions (Part E), chosen from the list below. They can be performed in any order. You cannot choose an action unless it changes the game state in some way (e.g., if you choose to run Ops, there must be at least one Op with a valid target). The first three can be performed twice in one player turn, and the others once:
(Max twice per turn)
- Purchase Market Card (E1). By paying Florins to the Market, take a faceup card into your Hand.
- Play Hand Card (E2). This plays a card from your Hand into your Tableau, and optionally introduces Agent Tokens (Bishops, Knights, Rooks, Pawns, or Pirates) onto the Map or Tableau.
- Bomb Icon. If the card has the One-shot (bomb) icon and you decide to trigger it, Agent placement is mandatory; see Parts H, I, J, K. If Victorious, this moves the Empire Square into your Tableau, adds a Concession of yours, and optionally emancipates the repressed. See REGIME CHANGE.
- Sell Card (E3). Discard one card from your Hand or Tableau to receive 2 Florins from China.
(Max once per turn) 4. Activate Eastern Ops (E4). Each card in your Eastern Tableau can perform one of its depicted Ops on each player turn. This action can be performed only once per player turn. 5. Activate Western Ops (E4). As above but in your Western Tableau. 6. Convene an Eastern Trade Fair (E5). By Discarding the facedown card in the East Market, you embark on a voyage following the black Trade Route. Along the way, the owners of Concessions get paid, and Empires raise Levies. This action can be performed only once per player turn. See Part G. 7. Convene a Western Trade Fair (E5). Same as Eastern, except the voyage follows the white Trade Route. 8. Victory Action (E6). This action wins the game if you meet the requirements per Part L.
D2. Refresh Market Phase
If there are gaps in the Market after you perform your actions, starting with the leftmost card, move each card in the Market (along with any Florins on it) to the leftmost empty position in its market row. Then draw new cards to fill any remaining empty market positions so there are again 6 cards in each row. To do this, draw cards from the respective East or West draw deck and fill the rows from the leftmost empty slot. If either of the cards in the leftmost column are faceup, flip them to their facedown (trade fair) side.
- Facedown Cards may no longer be purchased (their historical protagonists are deemed to have withered into obscurity without financial backing).
- Deck Exhaustion. If one deck (East or West) runs out, start drawing from the other instead. This will put West cards into the East market or vice versa. See Patron victory (L2a) if both decks run out.
- Round Robin. Continue play clockwise with the next player and his action phase.
Easily Missed: If you run out of Tokens, you can take them from any Repressed Tokens, or (if this is not possible) from any position. [D1]
Important: Certain card Abilities allow you to perform East Ops or West Ops without expending one of your 2 actions. Nevertheless, East Ops and West Ops can still only be performed once each per turn per D1. [D1.4, D1.5]
Easily Missed: If the West deck runs out of cards, draw cards into the West row from the East deck, and vice-versa. The game ends per L2a if a market refresh is attempted and there are no more cards to draw. [D2b]
E. Actions
E1. Purchase Market Card
Purchase a faceup card from the Market into your Hand.
- Hand Size. You are limited to two cards in your Hand. If you wish to purchase a third card you must first play (E2) or sell (E3) one already in your Hand.
- Cost. The purchase price of a card depends on its current column in the Market. The first faceup Market card costs 1 Florin, the next 2 Florins, then 3 Florins, etc. Pay this cost by placing 1 Florin on each card in the same row to the left of the card you are purchasing. To purchase the facedown (leftmost) card, thus commencing a trade fair, see action E5.
- Market Gap. If a market spot is vacant, pay the card in this spot in the other market row. (This might occur if you purchase two cards in one turn, or if you convene a trade fair in your first action.)
- Speculation Profits. Take any Florins on the card you purchase (but you can't use them toward that purchase).
- Usury Laws. If you place a Florin on a Market Card for any reason, you may not purchase that card this turn (but you can commence a trade fair per E5).
- Comet. If you purchase a Comet, it is played immediately per L1, without Hand size limits.
Important: If you take a facedown card (to start a trade fair per E5) or purchase a comet card, Discard it rather than put it into your Hand. [E1]
E2. Play Hand Card & Place Agents
Place an East card from your Hand to the furthest right side of your Tableau (next to existing cards), or a West card to the furthest left side. If the played card has a bomb icon, you must first decide and announce if the listed One-shot (1) occurs, or (2) doesn't occur/there is none.
1. If One-Shot Occurs. You must deploy the card's Agent(s):
- Battle. If the One-shot is a Civil or Religious War, the Agent is a Rook, Knight, Pawn, or Pirate that can function as an attacker(s) in a Battle per Part J (conspiracies and peasant revolts) or Part K (crusades, reformations, and jihads). If some survive, they are Victorious and cause a REGIME CHANGE. Bishop Agents do not participate in the Battle but must be placed after the Battle per E2.2a below.
- No Battle. If the One-shot is a trade shift or coronation, there is no Battle and its Agent(s) must be deployed. See E2.2 below for placement details.
2. If No One-Shot. The placement of Agent Tokens is optional. You may place all, some, or none of them. If so, place the number and color indicated on the Map or Tableau per the following bullets.
- Place Bishop Agent. Place it directly on the Tableau card played. Alternatively, you may place it on any Tableau card (even in an opponent's Tableau) or Throne that has the same Location as the Tableau card being played. (See LOCATION.) If you place it on a card with a Token, apply the Diet of Worms rule (F1a) or the pacification rule (F1b).
- Place Rook & Knight Agents. Place these into your choice of Cities on the Empire specified. If you choose a City occupied by a Token, you must Repress it, and pay 1 Florin to China for each Token repressed. A placed Agent can even Repress a Token of the same type and color in this manner.
- Place Pirate Agents. Take a pirate ship of the specified color and place it as a Pirate into one of the Sea Borders surrounding the Empire specified. A Sea Border is one that is crossed by an active or inactive Trade Route. If there is already a Token there (Concession or Pirate), it is Killed for no cost.
- Place Pawn Agents. Place one Pawn of your color into a Border of your choice of the Empire specified. If there is already a Concession there, you must pay 1 Florin (to China) to REPRESS it. You cannot place a Pawn into a Border occupied by a Pirate. You can place a Pawn into a non-Sea Border.
- If You're out of Tokens, see TOKEN MANAGEMENT.
- Strawman is your play of a One-shot or an Op against your own cards or Tokens. This play is sometimes useful to gain enough Repressed Tokens to perform a Victorious Civil War, or to overthrow your own King to create a Republic. However, you cannot use campaign for Strawman.
Important: The City icon (Rook or Knight) and color are irrelevant when placing a Token due to card play! [E2.2b]
E3. Sell Card
Discard a card or Empire Square to receive 2 Florins from China. The sold item must come from your Hand, Tableau, or an Old Maid (I2a). Except for Empire Squares, Discard all Tokens on the sold card. See DISCARD.
- Royal Couple. A coronated pair (I1) must be sold as a set for 4 Florins total. This is one action.
- Sold Empires. If you sell an Empire Square, including Vassals, return it (along with all of its Vassals) to its Throne along with its Queen (if any) and all Tokens (Repressed Tokens & Bishops).
- Sales Abilities. A card with an Ability affecting its sale may only use this Ability if sold from Tableau.
E4. Activate Ops (East & West are Separate Actions)
If you choose to activate the East Ops as an action, you may perform one Op in each of the cards in your East Tableau. You must perform at least one Op in total if you take this action, and the Op must have a valid target. This is the same in the West. Each card can be used once, for only one of its Op icons (even if the card has more than one icon). See Part F for a list of the Ops.
- Order. You may perform your Ops in any order. You may perform Ops on cards acquired as a result of Ops (e.g. campaigns), as long as it is in the proper (East or West) Tableau.
- Target of the Op. You may use an Op only against the targets depicted in the Op icon. The target may be a Florin in the Market (commerce op), a Tableau card (behead or vote ops), a Token on a Tableau Card (inquisitor op), or a Token on the Map (repress, tax, or any of the three military ops).
- "The East" or "The West" Locations. See LOCATION.
- Target Location. For the Repress, tax, corsair, and siege ops, the target must be Token(s) on the Empire matching the acting card's Location. (Remember: the Location of a Concession or Pirate is both Empires that it borders.) For the campaign op, the target must be Adjacent to the acting card's Location. For the behead op, the target must be a card with a Location matching the acting card's Location. For the inquisitor, commerce, and vote ops, the acting card's Location does not matter.
- Strawman Target. You may target your own Tableau cards or Tokens (e.g. Repress one's own Pawn to gain a Florin, avoid taxes, and/or fuel a future Civil War). If Victorious, a Strawman vote (F6) against your own King creates a Republic (and vice versa). You may use an Op listed on the new Republic (as long as the card hasn't already been used for an Op).
Easily Missed: Once played, cards and their Agents are independent of each other. If you target a card already in a Tableau, the Agent Tokens placed when the card was put in the Tableau are unaffected. If you target Agent Tokens, the card that originally generated the Agents is unaffected. You do not keep track of which cards deployed which Tokens. [E4a-e]
Easily Missed: You can perform an action on a newly obtained card (e.g. campaign or vote). But you cannot activate the same card more than once per turn. [E4]
E5. Perform Trade Fair (East & West are Separate Actions)
Use this action to Discard the facedown card in the East or West Market, which convenes the corresponding trade fair per Part G. Remember that you do not claim the Florins on the card, which instead go towards general profits (G1a).
E6. Victory Action
Use this action to declare victory per L2.
F. Tableau Ops
Ops (short for "Operations") are activated by action E4. There are 4 colors of Ops:
- Religious Op. This Op icon (inquisitor) is light blue and moves a Bishop of the indicated Religion. This is the only Op not silenced by the presence of a Bishop (F1f).
- Economic Op. This Op icon (commerce) is light orange and targets Florins in the Market, either lying in the East or the West as indicated (F2).
- Political Ops. These Op icons are purple and behead (F3), tax (F4), repress (F5), or elect (F6) their targets.
- Military Ops. These Op icons are dark red and target Ruling Class or Pirate Tokens. They can be used to Kill Tokens, see corsair (F7), siege (F8), and campaign (F9).
F1. Inquisitor (Religious Op)
Use this Op to move a Bishop Token of the indicated religious color from one tableau card to an Adjacent card in the same Tableau, or to another card (in any Tableau or Throne) that has the same Location as the one it currently sits on.
- Diet Of Worms Rule. If the destination card contains a Bishop (of any color), both Bishops are Killed in an exchange.
- Pacification Rule. If the destination card has no Bishops but has Repressed Tokens, you may choose one Token (of any type and color) to Kill at no cost.
- Move Restrictions. You cannot move a Bishop onto a Player Board. This often means that it cannot cross between East and West in a Tableau (because the East and West are separated by a Player Board in each Tableau). You may not move a Bishop on a Throne directly to another Throne.
- Moves within a Suzerainty. A Bishop on a Suzerain may move to any of its Vassals. A Bishop on a Vassal may move to its Suzerain or one of the Suzerain's other Vassals (if any). Lateral moves to a Suzerainty can go either to the Suzerain or any of its Vassals.
- The East/West. If a Bishop starts on a card with a Location listed as "The East", it may move to any card with a printed Location in Hungary, Ottoman, Byzantium, Mamluk, "The East", or vice versa. Correspondingly for "The West".
- Silenced Ops. The presence of any Bishop on a card or royal couple prevents some of its Ops from being used. Only its light blue (religious) Ops can be used.
- Silenced Abilities. A Bishop also silences any listed Ability, e.g. ransom or Stadtwechsel. However, Prestige and Abilities granting immunity to silencing are never silenced.
F2. Commerce (Economic Op)
Use this Op to take one Florin from any card (including trade fair cards) in either the East or the West Market card row as specified in the commerce icon.
F3. Behead (Political Op)
Use this Op to Discard one card in any Tableau. The Location of the beheaded card must share that of the acting card. However, a card cannot behead itself.
- Assassin. If used to Discard an Empire Square, the card used to behead is also Killed.
F4. Tax (Political Op)
Use this Op to target one Concession bordering the Location of the card used to tax. The target's owner must choose to either (1) pay a Florin to China or (2) Repress his Concession. In either case, the Concession owner must place a Levy within the taxing Empire (represents that the tax monies were used to start an army).
- Tax Prerequisites. The tax location must not be Saturated (i.e. must have at least one empty City) and must have a Concession in its Borders as the target of taxation.
- The East/The West. These cards are considered to be in all of the Empires of the East or West, so that the taxing player specifies which Location/Empire is being levied.
3 Easily Missed Tax Rules: 1. The owner of the Concession chooses the Levy to place when targeted by tax - not the taxing player. 2. A Levy must be the color and shape indicated on an unoccupied City. 3. You may tax your own Concession. [F4a]
F5. Repress (Political Op)
Use this Op to remove one Map Token (Knight, Rook, and/or Pawn, of any color, as depicted on the repress op icon) in the acting card's Location and place it as a Repressed Token on its corresponding Empire Square.
- Persistent Repression. An Empire Square accepts repressed Tokens regardless if it is still in its Throne (B2d), or if it is in a player's Tableau (including Suzerains and Vassals). If the Empire Square ever moves, its repressed Tokens travel with it.
- Gains. Using this Op to remove a Token from the Map gains you 1 Florin from China.
F6. Vote (Political Op)
Use this Op to cause a REGIME CHANGE in an Empire. Its Empire Square can be in any Tableau, but must be in an East or West Tableau as specified on the icon. It cannot be a Vassal or in its Throne.
- Cost. Pay to China a number of Florins equal to the Empire's Repressed Tokens (Serfs, Knights, Rooks). Repressed Tokens can then be Emancipated as a result of the Regime Change.
- Majority Rule. To perform this Op, you must have more Concessions than any other player on the Empire's Borders.
- Democratic Effects. See REGIME CHANGE. You will gain a Concession. If the Empire Square is in an opponent's Tableau, you gain it as a King. If it is in your Tableau, flip it to its other side (King or Republic).
- Golden Liberty. If the Empire is a Theocracy, you can add, subtract, or flip its Map Card to create a Medieval (non-theocratic) state (B2b).
Tip: A successful vote against your own King flips it into a Republic. Conversely, a successful vote against your own Republic turns it into a King (useful for placing new Concessions). [F6]
F7. Corsair (Military Op)
Use this Op to move a Pirate in a Sea Border of the card's Location to another Sea Border either in the card's Location or an Adjacent Location sharing a Sea Border. This Pirate must be of the color specified by the icon's religious symbol and cannot move to a Border occupied by a Pirate of the same color.
- Naval Attack. Moving automatically Kills any Concession or Pirate in the Border moved to. There is no Battle, and there is no cost.
FAQ Corsair: The corsair op moves a Pirate on the Map in a similar way that the inquisitor op moves a Bishop in a Tableau. In both cases, only one Token is allowed at the destination. But there is a difference. The corsair op can only be used in the Location printed on its card, while the inquisitor op can be used to move a Bishop regardless of where it is positioned in a Tableau. [F7]
F8. Siege (Military Op)
Use this Op to Kill one Rook, Knight, or Pirate of any color in the acting card's Location. There is no Battle, and there is no cost.
FAQ Siege: Sieges against Tokens in an Empire you already control can be useful! Preemptively removing Heretics prevents Religious Wars. Killing off Ruling Class weakens the Empire so that a Strawman Attack can form a Republic. [F8]
F9. Campaign (Military Op)
This Op is found only on Empire Squares on their King side. Use it to create a Battle in a defending Empire Adjacent to the King's Location (adjacency includes diagonals).
- No Strawman. All campaigns are against an Empire in its Throne or an enemy Tableau. You are not allowed to campaign against an Empire in your own Tableau.
- Attackers. All Knights (of every color) in the King's Location are the attackers.
- Cost. Pay to China 1 Florin for each attacker. To make a campaign, all Knights must attack and all must be paid for.
- Defenders. All Ruling Class Tokens in the defending Empire are the defenders.
- Repressed. Repressed Tokens in either Empire do not participate in the Battle.
- Resolution. A BATTLE is fought (see battle table on player aid). If Victorious, the defending Empire suffers a REGIME CHANGE and is claimed as a VASSAL (next bullet) of the attacking Empire.
- Claiming Vassals. Place the defeated Empire Square on its King side below the Victorious Empire Square in your Tableau, to show his vassalage to your King (now called a Suzerain). All Repressed Tokens remain repressed on the Vassal, unless you choose to Emancipate them in the REGIME CHANGE.
- Queens & Bishops. If the defending Empire is in its Throne, any Queens or Bishops come with it if it becomes a Vassal. But if it comes from an opponent's Tableau, Discard any Queens or Bishops.
- Movement. This Op moves no Tokens between Empires. Thus a newly conquered Vassal Empire contains only Emancipated Tokens (if any) and its Pirates and Concessions (if any).
- Campaigns by Vassals. If a Vassal wins a campaign, the conquered Empire ends up as a Vassal under the same Suzerain. Per F9a, however, Vassals and Suzerains cannot campaign each other.
Easily Missed: In all Battles, all eligible attackers must be sent in the attack. This means you must pay for all eligible Knights in a campaign. [F9c]
Tip: Tokens never move out of their Empire as a result of a Battle (even Adjacent Knights used in campaigns or Religious Wars return home after the fight). Tokens can't move, except for Bishops using the inquisitor op and Pirates using the corsair op.
G. Trade Fair
If as an action (E5) you Discard the facedown card at the left end of the East or West Market, you convene an East (black) or West (white) trade fair, respectively. This creates profits and Discards a card (G1), traces a voyage (G2) along the black (East) or white (West) Trade Route, disperses profits (G3) to yourself (the initiator) plus to all those owning Concessions along the route (until profits run out), and finally raises Levies (G4) along the route.
G1. Profits & Discard
- Profits. Take 1 Florin (if 1- or 2-player game) or 2 Florins (if 3- or 4-player game) from China, and add them to the market Florins lying on either the East or West facedown card, as appropriate. Together, these Florins are called profits.
- Discard the facedown card out of the game, leaving the profits on the empty gap.
G2. Subsidy
To determine how profits and Levies are dispersed, trace a voyage starting from either the black Emporium and following the black route (if East) or from the white Emporium following the white route (if West).
- Embarkation. The starting Emporium must be the one that is not busted (C1a).
- Emporium Subsidy. The player who convened the trade fair receives 1 Florin out of profits. If this takes the only profit, the voyage ends before it begins and G3/G4 do not occur.
G3. Voyage Profit Dispersal
The voyage proceeds from one Empire to the next, following the Trade Route. If while crossing a Border a Concession or Pirate takes the last profit (G1a), the voyage ends at that Border (see G5).
- Concession. If any player has a Concession in the Sea Border between two Empires, he receives 1 Florin out of profits as the voyage passes.
- Piracy. If a Pirate (of any color) sits in the Sea Border between two Empires, China receives 1 Florin out of profits as the voyage passes.
FAQ Trade Fair: What if you initiate a trade fair but there is no money in the pot? It ends before it begins. The initiating player takes their 1 Florin from the bank, but no Levies are raised (only possible in a 1- or 2-player game). [G1]
FAQ Trade Fair: What if you initiate a trade fair but there are no concessions along the route? You take 1 Florin for initiating the trade fair, then raise Levies along the entire route. [G3]
G4. Levies
Each Empire the voyage enters, starting with the one containing the Emporium, receives one Token, called a Levy. A Levy is placed upon one of the unoccupied Cities on the Empire and must be the color and shape indicated. The player who convened the trade fair chooses which City gets the Levy.
- Constantinople. The City of Constantinople is considered unoccupied if it holds fewer than three Tokens.
- Saturation. If all its Cities are occupied, that Empire is Saturated and can accept no more Levies.
- Venetian Condottieri. Certain card Abilities (e.g. Duchy of Ferrara, Wolf of Rimini, Gonfalonier) allow the City of Venice to hold two gold Tokens instead of one. As soon as one or more of these cards is set into play and the knight icon in Venice is gold (Catholic), Venice is considered unoccupied if it holds fewer than two Tokens. If this Ability is sold, beheaded, or silenced, or the Papal States becomes a non-Catholic Theocracy, Discard down to a single Knight or Rook in Venice.
G5. Voyage End
The voyage ends when it reaches its arrowhead, either in the Holy Roman Empire if white or Mamluk if black. However, if the profits run out before this, the last Concession or Pirate to take a profit marks the end of the voyage, and no Levies are raised beyond this point.
- Leftover Profits. If Florins are leftover, they remain in the empty space left by the trade fair card and will be placed on the new trade fair card during the refresh market phase (D2).
G6. Bankruptcy Variant (Optional)
If you convene a trade fair, you do not receive 1 Florin out of profits, contrary to G2. As a consequence, it is possible for you to run out of Florins, cards, and Concessions during a game. If so, you are eliminated from the game, simulating that banks can and did fail.
FAQ Trade Routes: Trade Routes always end in the same Empire: Mamluk for black and HRE for white. Only the starting point of a Trade Route is changed by a trade shift. [H1]
H. Trade Shift
H1. Trade Shift One-Shot Effects
If you trigger a trade shift One-shot, move the busted disk (C1a) (if any) covering the specified Emporium to cover (and deactivate) the uncovered Emporium of the same color. This deactivation Represses any Token that may be there, placed into the Empire Square where the Token was located. This reroutes the Trade Route for any future trade fair actions taken of that color.
- Spice Islands Route (white). If the Spice Islands is covered by a white "busted" disk, this trade shift moves it from the Spice Islands to cover the uncovered white Emporium (either Trebizond or the Red Sea).
- Spice Islands Requirement: You must have at least one Discovery Prestige in your Tableau (not counting the card being played) in order to activate the Spice Islands trade shift! This simulates the challenges faced in learning how to circumnavigate Africa.
- Red Sea Emporium (white). If the Red Sea is covered by a white "busted" disk, this trade shift moves it from the Red Sea to cover the uncovered white Emporium (either Trebizond or the Spice Islands).
- Novgorod Emporium (black). If Novgorod is covered by a black "busted" disk, this trade shift moves it from Novgorod to cover the uncovered black Emporium (either Timbuktu or Tana).
- Timbuktu Emporium (black). If Timbuktu is covered by a black "busted" disk, this trade shift moves it from Timbuktu to cover the uncovered black Emporium (either Novgorod or Tana).
I. Coronations
All Queens have the coronation One-shot, which if triggered marries her to a King. The King must be an Empire contained in the Queen's list of suitors, and must be unmarried, either in his Throne (C6b) or in your Tableau. Alternatively, the Queen can be played as an Old Maid.
- Concession Reward. A coronation is a REGIME CHANGE, so you can claim a Concession in that Empire.
I1. Royal Couple
If you decide to perform a coronation One-shot, form a royal couple by placing the King side of the chosen Empire Square on top of the Queen card in your Tableau so that her Ops and Prestige (if any) are visible.
- Location. The royal couple go into your East or West Tableau according to the Imperial Location. A coronated Queen always has a Location in the Empire she is married to.
- Tableau Ops. A coronated King and Queen each run their own Ops during an Ops action (E4).
- Sexism. If the King is returned to his Throne (e.g. sales (E3a) or apostasy (K3)), the Queen goes with him in all instances except for beheading (F3) or REGIME CHANGE. These two exceptions represent the violent overthrow of the monarchs. The Queen is Killed if either the King or Queen is beheaded.
- Regime Change. If you acquire a royal couple from the Throne during a REGIME CHANGE, the marriage is preserved. But if you lose a royal couple during a Regime Change, the Queen is Killed.
- Silencing. If a Bishop lands on either the King or Queen, both are silenced.
Easily Missed: A coronation always produces a King. It cannot produce a Republic, which is only formed from a Strawman (E2.2f) on a King already in your own Tableau. [I1]
I2. Old Maids
If you play a Queen unmarried (i.e. do not trigger her coronation), store her card under your Player Board. She is not part of your Tableau, so you may not perform her Ops or Abilities and ignore her during apostasy.
- Sales. An Old Maid can be sold per E3.
- Endgame Prestige. If she has Prestige, this counts when victory is calculated (L2, L3, L5, L6).
J. Civil Wars
There are two types of Civil War: conspiracies and peasant revolts. If you play a card with a "Conspiracy" or "Peasant Revolt" One-shot, you first specify if there is a Civil War or not.
- No Civil War. If no, there is no BATTLE. You may place the card's Agent Tokens per E2.2.
- Civil War. If yes, there is a BATTLE.
- Succession. If the attackers have at least one survivor, the Civil War is Victorious, causing a REGIME CHANGE. See J1 or J2.
J1. Conspiracy One-shot
If you launch a conspiracy, this creates a BATTLE:
- Attackers. The card's Agents (except Bishops), Bordering Pirates (any color), and repressed ruling class (repressed Knights & Rooks on that Empire Square, of any color) must join the Battle as attackers. Note that repressed Pawns do not participate.
- Defenders. All Ruling Class Tokens (i.e. Tokens in Cities).
J2. Peasant Revolt One-shot
If you launch a peasant revolt, this creates a BATTLE:
- Attackers. The card's Agents (except Bishops), Bordering Concessions (of your color), Bordering Pirates (any color), and Serfs (repressed Pawns on that Empire Square, of any color) must join the Battle as attackers. Note that repressed Knights and Rooks do not participate.
- Defenders. All Ruling Class Tokens (i.e. Tokens in Cities).
Easily Missed: Populate your choice of Cities with Battle survivors. Repress any Tokens if there are not enough Cities. [E2.2]
Easily Missed: Serfs of your own color can be used by anyone in a peasant revolt, even one against your own Empire! (Serfs don't care which leader has which banker in their pocket.) [J2]
FAQ Battle: In a Civil War or campaign, the color of the attackers and defenders is irrelevant! [Jb]
K. Religious Wars & Apostasy
K1. Crusade, Reformation, or Jihad One-shot
There are 3 kinds of Religious Wars: crusade (Catholic), reformation (Protestant), and jihad (Muslim). If you play a card depicting a Religious War One-shot, you can trigger a Religious War in that Location. This creates a Battle between Believers (Tokens of the religious color shown on the card) and Heretics (Tokens of the other two religions).
- Attackers. The card's Agents (except Bishops or Pawns), Bordering Pirates (Believers only), Ruling Class (Knights & Rooks in that Location, Believers only), and Knights in Adjacent Locations (Believers only) must join the Battle as attackers. Note that Adjacency includes diagonals, see ADJACENT.
- Defenders. All non-repressed Heretics in the Location (Ruling Class and bordering Heretic Pirates).
- The Bloody Rule. The Religious War cannot be triggered if there are no Heretics to Kill in the target Location (neither Heretic Ruling Class nor bordering Heretic Pirates).
- Repressed Tokens. Repressed Tokens do not fight in a Religious War (and thus can't be used for the "bloody rule").
FAQ Bloody Rule: Do Heretic Pirates in a Border count for the bloody rule? Yes. For example, a Reformist Pirate bordering England can enable a crusade there. [K1c]
K2. Crusade, Reformation, or Jihad Effects
- Map Card Change. A Victorious crusade/jihad/reformation in an Empire changes it into a Catholic/Islamic/Reformist Theocracy, respectively. Add, remove, flip, or replace its Map Card to indicate this Theocracy, assuming its Map Card must be updated. All Ruling Class remain in the same Cities (attacker's choice in the case of Constantinople).
- Regime Change. A Victorious Religious War causes a REGIME CHANGE.
K3. Apostasy One-shot
If triggered, this One-shot affects the Tableaux of all players, who are put on trial for dealing with Heretics. Each player who has cards with Prestige icons of both indicated Religions in his Tableau must Discard all these cards! There is no Battle.
- Royal Couple. If either the King or Queen is Discarded as a result of apostasy, both are returned to their Throne (with their marital status intact).
- Martyr's Disciples. If the card launching the apostasy is itself Discarded by its own One-shot (e.g. Oratory of Divine Love), it may deploy its Agents (e.g. Bishops) before dying.
- Old Maids (I2) do not count towards apostasy.
Easily Missed: Ruling Class, Bishop Tokens, and Pirate Ships do not "belong" to any player. Any player may use them for a Religious War, holy victory, etc. regardless of who moves them or caused them to be placed.
L. Endgame & Victory
L1. Purchase & Discard the Comet Card
If you buy one of the four Comet cards, you must Discard it immediately and activate (flip over) one of the inactive Victory Squares of your choice to its active side.
- Cometa Aster. If a Comet reaches the leftmost (cheapest) slot of the Market, like any other card it is flipped and no longer available for purchase. It is Discarded out of the game without effect if used to convene a trade fair (G1b).
L2. Endgame
The game ends if a player uses an action (E6) to declare victory in a particular activated Victory Square. He must fill the victory conditions listed in L3-L6 for that Victory Square.
- Patron Victory. The game also ends if the market cannot be refreshed from either the East or West draw decks during market refresh (D2). If so, the player with the most Patron Prestige wins.
- Tiebreaker. As a final tiebreaker, the one with the most Florins wins. Players still tied share their victory.
L3. Holy Victory (Torquemada)
To win, you must have more Prestige in the Supreme Religion than your opponent with the most Prestige in the Supreme Religion. A Religion achieves supremacy if it has both:
- More Bishop Tokens of its color in Tableaux or Thrones than both other religions combined, and
- More Tokens (Knights, Rooks, and Pirates) of its color in play in its Theocracies than both other religions combined. Count only unrepressed Tokens whose color match the Theocracy they live in.
L4. Imperial Victory (Charles V)
To win, you must have at least two more Empire Squares on their King side (whether Suzerains or Vassals) than each opponent. In a 2-player game, it must be three more.
L5. Globalization Victory (Columbus)
To win, you must have:
- at least two more Concessions than each opponent.
- more Discovery Prestige than each opponent.
L6. Renaissance Victory (Leonardo)
To win, you must have:
- More Republics than each opponent.
- At least two more Law Prestige than each opponent.
Glossary (Capitalized Terms)
ABILITY (B5f) - A special rule listed on a card's scroll (lower corner), active for you as long as the card is unsilenced and in your Tableau. Its effects are cumulative (e.g. Concession payout in spice island trade fairs).
- Red Text. These Abilities apply to all players, and their effects are not cumulative.
- Free Ops. An Ability that lets you run an Op for free still limits you to one "activate Ops" per East or West.
ADJACENT - Two Empires are adjacent if they share a Border, or if they are diagonal to each other on the Map. Two tableau cards are adjacent if they are next to each other in a Tableau. Vassal cards are adjacent to the tableau cards immediately to their right and left, their Suzerain, and other Vassals under that Suzerain.
AGENTS (E2.2) - Chess pieces (Bishops, Knights, Rooks, or Pawns) or Pirates as depicted in the lower corner of a card. These tokens are placed on a single card or Border depending upon the base symbol of the icon: circular (on a City), between 2 cards (Border), or diamond (card).
BATTLE - To resolve a campaign (F9), Civil War (J1, J2), or Religious War (K), each attacking Token Kills one defending Token, but is itself Killed in exchange. The attacking player chooses all casualties. The attacking Tokens are Victorious if they have at least one survivor.
- Optional. Enacting a One-shot is always optional (whether or not it causes a Battle).
- Order Of Battle. (1) Determine attackers and defenders. All eligible Tokens must fight. (2) Eliminate attackers & defenders in the exchange. The Battle is Victorious if any attackers survive. (3) Place surviving Agents into the empty Cities, repressing for free once the Empire is Saturated. (4) If REGIME CHANGE, optional Emancipation if any empty spaces, plus optional Concession for free either at an empty Border or (for a cost of 1 Florin) repressing a previous Concession.
- Agents. These are attackers, except for Bishops which never fight in a Battle.
- Ruling Class. An Empire is defended by the Tokens in its Cities. In a Religious War, however, attackers and defenders are determined by the Token's color (K1a,b).
- Pirates. Ship Tokens are attackers in conspiracies (J1a) and peasant revolts (J2a), and fight according to their color in Religious Wars (K1a,b).
- Pawns (Concessions & Serfs). These Tokens fight (as attackers) only in peasant revolts (J2a), except that Concessions of other players fight only if they have been repressed.
- Adjacent Knights. These Tokens fight (as attackers) only in campaigns (the cost is 1 Florin per Knight per F9c) and Religious Wars (K1a,b).
- Repressed Knights & Rooks. These Tokens fight (as attackers) only in conspiracies (J1a).
- Placement. Any surviving Agents or Repressed Tokens used as attackers in a Battle must be placed in the conquered Empire Square (until it is Saturated). Any remaining Repressed Tokens on the defending Empire may be Emancipated (see REGIME CHANGE). Knights and Rooks go into empty Cities (ignoring the city icon), Pirate ships go into empty Sea Borders, and Pawns (including Serfs) go into empty Borders. If there is not enough room in Cities or Borders because of Saturation, the excess are placed on the Empire Square as Repressed Tokens.
BELIEVER (K1) - A Token with a religious color matching that of a card's Agents. If the card has Agents of multiple colors, it has no believers. See HERETIC.
BISHOP (F1) - This chess piece, in one of the 3 religious colors, represents a religious inquisitor or missionary. Bishops are always located on (and travel among) Tableau cards or Thrones per F1.
- Placement. A Bishop of the specified religion is placed as an Agent on any Tableau card or Throne that shares its Location (E2.2a), and if its One-shot triggers a Battle, its placement is not restricted to the same Location where the One-shot was triggered.
- Silencing. A Bishop entering a card (by placement or movement) Kills any other Bishop there in exchange. It can also Kill one Repressed Token there (pacification, see F1b). The presence of a Bishop silences (i.e. inactivates) all the card's Abilities and its Ops except for religious ops (light blue, see Fa).
- In Play. A Bishop is never found on the Map or fights in Battles, and never becomes Repressed. If a card is moved or removed, its Bishop follows.
- Movement. A Bishop of the specified color is moved using the inquisitor op (F1).
BORDER (B2c) - The gap between two Empires. For instance, England has two Borders, one to the east and one to the south. A Sea Border is a special border that is crossed by an active or inactive Trade Route. For instance, all three of the Ottoman borders are Sea Borders. Each Border can hold either one Concession (Pawn) or (Sea Borders only) one Pirate. A Concession on a Sea Border can receive trade fair profits (G3).
CATHOLIC - Religion that recognizes the pope as the centralized authority. Color = gold. See PRESTIGE.
CHINA (B2g) - A pool where Florins that are out of circulation are stored. Florins enter the game during a trade fair, through repression ops (F5), or by selling (E3), and leave the game if paying for repressions by Agents, campaigns, votes, and taxation. Except when purchasing a card from the Market, all costs go to China, which represents the foreign market.
CITY (B6a) - Circular map icon containing a Levy icon (Knight or Rook). Each City can contain one Knight or Rook, regardless of the City icon. (Constantinople is considered 3 Cities.) Thus the number of Cities in an Empire limits the number of Ruling Class Tokens it can contain. The color and shape of a Levy during Levy placement must match the icon shown in the City icon. But for other placements (Agents, Victorious attackers, or Emancipated Tokens), any shape or color of Token can occupy a city.
CIVIL WAR - Battles caused by conspiracies (J1) and peasant revolts (J2). Repressed Tokens sometimes fight in civil wars.
COMET (B7a) - One of 4 cards that forces you to activate a Victory Square if you purchase it. It reflects both the science and superstition of this age. The four, identical except in name, are Copernicus, Nostradamus, Regiomontanus, and Excommunication of Halley's Comet.
CONCESSION (B2c) - A Pawn in one of the player colors located in the Border between two Empires, with a maximum of one concession per Border. It represents both merchants and the permission to sell at a local port.
- Placement. The gray Pawn icon means that a Pawn of your color is placed as an Agent (E2d).
- In Play. A Concession participates in voting, can join peasant revolts as attackers, and helps in a globalization victory. It can be attacked by taxation, Repression, and piracy.
- Trade Fair. Concessions in the Sea Borders along an activated white or black Trade Route line are paid from the profits.
CRYPTOGRAPHY - The Medici Ciphers Broken Ability allows you to perform during each "perform West Ops", one additional Op using a card from an opponent's West Tableau, exactly as if that card was in your Tableau. The Op must be a political (purple) Op, so you gain a behead, tax, repress, or vote Op. The puppeted card retains all its limitations (e.g. cannot behead itself, Killed if beheads an Empire Square, can be silenced, etc.). The card retains its Location, so the Op occurs in the Location of the card stolen from.
DISCARD - Cards (and any Bishops on them) are discarded as a result of selling cards (E3), beheading (F3), apostasy (K3), trade fairs (G1b), or Comet purchase (L1). Remove discarded cards from the game, and return discarded Tokens to the general pool or player Reserves.
- Empires. Return discarded Empires to their Throne, along with any Vassals. Retain any Repressed Tokens and Bishops but Discard the Queen (if any) if beheaded or REGIME CHANGE.
DISCOVERY - The doctrine of maritime exploration and imperialism. See PRESTIGE.
EAST - Refers to the 4 eastern Empires in the game, and the cards, Trade Routes, and Market Rows exhibiting the philosophic and cultural dispositions associated with these Empires.
EMANCIPATION - See REGIME CHANGE.
EMPIRE (C1) - Either a Map Card or a slot on the Map labeled England, France, Holy Roman Empire (HRE), Hungary, Byzantium, Portugal, Aragon, Papal States, Ottoman Empire, or Mamluk.
EMPIRE SQUARE (B4) - The 10 public tiles with a King (gold frame) on one side and a Republic (pillar frame) on the other. Each corresponds to an Empire on the Map. Each Empire Square starts in its Throne (C6b), but can be added to your Tableau by a REGIME CHANGE. If so, place it either in your furthest East or West position, or (during campaigns) as a Vassal.
EMPORIUM (B6d) - A City marked by a nine-pointed star. It can be either white (for commoner luxuries such as spices and silks) or black (for nobility luxuries such as gold and slaves). The black Trade Route starts at a black emporium, and the white Trade Route starts at a white emporium. At any given time only one white and one black emporium are not busted (C1). A busted disk on an Emporium means it is not in play, and so it cannot raise Levies or accept Agents. Novgorod, the Spice Islands, Timbuktu, and the Red Sea start busted.
FLORINS (C7) - Florins, as represented by yellow disks (1 Florin each) or red disks (5 Florins each), will circulate among players during the game. Florins are depicted on cards as gold Florin icons. Florins are added to the game during trade fairs and by selling cards, representing the foreign and domestic markets respectively. They also enter by the repress op, representing the slave trade.
- Spares. The Florins provided in the game are not a hard limit. Use spare disks if required.
- Public. Your number of Florins is public knowledge.
HAND - If you purchase a card from the Market other than a Comet, place it in your Hand, kept hidden from other players. Your Hand size is limited to 2 cards. You cannot purchase a card if you are at this hand size.
- Larger Hand Size Ability. If such an Ability is silenced or lost, immediately Discard down to two cards of your choice.
- Abilities on cards in your Hand are inactive.
HERETIC (K1) - Any Token of a religious color different from the Agent color of the Card used for the Op or Agent placement. See BELIEVER.
ISLAM - Religion that uses the koran as its authority. Color = green. See PRESTIGE.
KILL - For cards: same as Discard (but implies violence). For Tokens: put the Token back into Reserves/pool.
KING - The side of an Empire Square with a gold frame. Each Empire Square has a King on one side, and a Republic on the other.
KNIGHT - This chess piece, in one of the three religious colors, represents armored cavalry. Knights are important in campaigns and Religious Wars.
LAW - A constitution that recognizes rules of nature rather than humans as its authority. See PRESTIGE.
LEVY - A Levy is a Ruling Class Token placed in a City as a result of a tax op (F4) or trade fair (G4). A Levy cannot be placed in a fully occupied City, and must match the Token type and color indicated on the Map.
LOCATION - The top right (for Western) or top left (for Eastern) of each Tableau Card indicates the Empire or Map Card its Agents are placed into and where its Ops take effect. If the Agent is a Concession or Pirate, the Location is in a Border of the indicated Empire or Map Card. Player Boards and Queen cards have no Location.
- Religious Ops. The Location of a card used for the inquisitor op (F1) does not matter.
- "The East" Religious, Political & Military Ops. During your phase, you can consider a card (in any Tableau) with a Location listed as 'The East' to be in any one of the four Eastern Locations (Hungary, Ottoman, Byzantium, Mamluk). Thus each time a 'The East' card is used, e.g. for One-shots (E2.1), Agent placements (E2.2), or targets of political and military ops (these are purple and dark red in color, see Part F), the phasing player chooses one of the four Eastern Locations for it. Example: A behead op in Mamluk can be used against a card with either the printed Location "Mamluk" or the printed Location "The East".
- "The West". Same as 'The East', except it operates in the six Western Locations (England, Portugal, France, Aragon, Holy Roman Empire, and Papal States) for Agents, politics, and military operations, and the Western markets for commerce.
- Concession & Pirate Tokens. These Tokens lie in the Border between two Empires and are considered to be located in both. Pirates are confined to Sea Borders.
- Bishops. The Location listed on a Bishop card indicates which tableau cards or Throne that a Bishop can start in.
MAP (B2a) - The portion of the gameboard that shows 10 slots for the 10 Empires. These slots may contain Map Cards which modify the Map.
MAP CARD (B6) - There are 20 of these, two for each of the ten Empires: England, France, Holy Roman Empire (HRE), Hungary, and Byzantium to the north, and Portugal, Aragon, Papal States, Ottoman, and Mamluk to the south. Because Map Cards are double-sided, each Empire has 4 religious states: 3 Theocracies and 1 Medieval (i.e. non-theocratic) state. Map Cards are laid on the Map (e.g. after a Religious War or golden liberty (F6d)) to indicate which state it becomes.
MARKET (C6a) - The Market has two rows: East and West. Each row has 6 Market Cards. The first card in each row is facedown, and all the rest are faceup. Obtain faceup cards by the purchase action (E1). The East or West trade fair action (E5) Discards the leftmost (facedown) Market Card.
MEDIEVAL (B2b) - A Map Card without a central religious icon, indicating a non-theocratic feudal state.
OLD MAID (I2) - A Queen who you play without a coronation, instead storing her under your Player Board for the rest of the game. Any Prestige on Old Maids counts toward victory.
ONE-SHOT - This special one-time action optionally occurs as a result of the play of a card (E2.1) with the bomb icon. The one-shot must deploy the card's Agents, which can function as attackers in a Battle per Part J (Civil Wars) or Part K (Religious Wars). However, the trade shift (H) and coronation (I) one-shots do not initiate Battles.
OP (F1 - F9) - Most Tableau cards offer Ops which are shown as a column of icons. As an action (E4), you can activate one Op from every card in your East or West Tableau. Each card in your Tableau can only be used for one Op per turn.
- Location of Ops are tied to the acting card's Location, except for: vote (Location is always East or West), commerce (targets the East or West markets), and inquisitor (move any Bishop of the indicated religion, regardless of its Location).
- Victims. Ops normally depict the tokens (chess pieces) they can be used against. The target can be of any color, except for the corsair and inquisitor ops which can be used against only the religious color depicted.
PATRON - A financial sponsor of the artistic Renaissance. See Patron victory (L2a) and PRESTIGE.
PAWN - This chess piece, in one of the four player colors, represents a Concession when in a Border and Serfs if on an Empire Square. A Pawn Agent is depicted as a gray Pawn, but is placed in a player color.
PLAYER BOARD (B3) - Start with one Player Board in your Tableau, representing your merchant-banker. It has no Location and Bishops cannot move onto it.
PIRATE (F7) - A wooden ship Token in a religious color that can only inhabit Sea Borders, see BORDER.
- Placement. A Pirate of the specified religion is placed as an Agent (E2.2c). It must be placed in a Sea Border of its card's Location. This placement Kills any Concession or Pirate already occupying the Sea Border.
- In Play. Each Pirate takes 1 Florin from Trade Route profits (G3) and participates in Civil & Religious Wars (J1, J2, K1). They can never be Repressed, and are Killed either by the siege op (F8) or by Pirates entering their Sea Border, either during placement or by the corsair op.
- Movement. Move a Pirate by the corsair op (F7) of the corresponding religion.
- Arsenal/Dalmatians. If your Concessions cannot be Killed by Pirates due to an Ability, a Pirate placed on your Concession coexists with it, but cannot participate in trade fairs. However, you are still not allowed to place a new Concession into a Border containing a Pirate.
PRESTIGE - There are six kinds of Prestige: Reformist, Catholic, Islamic, Law, Discovery, and Patron. These are depicted with a gold diamond in the banner of certain Tableau Cards, and are important for certain victories (L2a, L3, L5, L6).
QUEEN - A card with a coronation (I) One-shot and a list of suitors. Playing a Queen does not place Agents, but does create either a royal couple (I1) with one of her unwed suitors, or an Old Maid (I2). If the Queen is beheaded the King is unaffected. The Queen is Killed if the King is beheaded or a REGIME CHANGE occurs. The King-Queen pair is preserved if you claim them from the Throne (I1d) in a Regime Change, or return them to the Throne during sales (E3) or apostasy (K3).
REFORMIST - Religion that uses the bible/tanakh rather than the pope as its authority. Color = red. See PRESTIGE.
REGIME CHANGE - This occurs in an Empire during a coronation (I1d) or if you wage a Victorious vote (F6), campaign (F9g), Civil War, or Religious War against that Empire. Move the Empire Square to your Tableau on its King side, in the furthest East or West position as appropriate.
- Concession. If you cause a Regime Change, you always have the option to add one Pawn as a CONCESSION. Place this Concession in one of the Borders of the Empire (without Pirates). If the Border chosen is already occupied by a Pawn, you must pay 1 Florin to Repress it.
- Emancipation. If you cause a Regime Change in an Empire that has Repressed Tokens, even if they did not fight in a Battle, you may move any or all of the Repressed Tokens from the Empire Square onto its Map Location (into either empty Cities for Rooks or Knights, or into its empty Borders for Concessions).
- Golden Liberty. If your vote is successful in a Theocracy, you can add, subtract, or flip its Map Card to create a Medieval (non-theocratic) state (B2b).
- Tokens & Queens. If the Empire Square comes from its THRONE, it comes with its Bishop (if any) and Queen (if any). If the Empire Square comes from an enemy Tableau, or if it is flipped in your own Tableau (see STRAWMAN), Bishops and Queens are Discarded and any Vassals returned to their Thrones. In all cases, Repressed Tokens that survived the Battle are retained or optionally Emancipated.
- Vassalage. If the Regime Change is caused by a Victorious campaign (F9g), the winning Empire becomes a Suzerain and the loser becomes its VASSAL. See previous bullet for the handling of Tokens or Queens on the Vassal.
- Suzerain that suffers a Regime Change loses its Vassals.
RELIGION - All Tokens except Pawns are in one of three colors indicating their religion: gold = Catholic, green = Islamic, red = Reformist (or Eastern Orthodox). Light blue Ops with a religious symbol are religious ops (F1).
RELIGIOUS WAR - Collective term for a crusade, reformation, or jihad (K1). These are identical except crusades are Catholic, reformations are Reformist, and jihads are Islamic.
REPRESS - This removes a Ruling Class or Concession Token from the Map, which becomes a Repressed Token that is set on the Empire Square, whether in a Throne or a Tableau.
- Cost. If you repress as a result of Agent placement (E2.2) or a Regime Change, the cost is 1 Florin paid to China.
- Gain. If you repress as the result of the repress op (F5), you gain 1 Florin from China.
- Free. If you repress as a result of the tax op (F4) or trade shift (H1), there is no cost or gain. If there are more Victorious survivors after a Battle than Cities or Borders to house them, repress them for no cost.
- Serfs. The Location of a card used to repress a Concession determines which Empire it enters as a Serf.
REPRESSED TOKEN - A Pawn, Rook, or Knight stored on an Empire Square, including Vassals and Republics, that represents serfs, slaves, and disenfranchised nobility and guildsmen. Each one increases the cost of a vote (F6a) in an Empire by 1 Florin, and are Emancipated by the vote. Each can fight in certain Battles and may be Emancipated. If an Empire Square with Repressed Tokens moves, the Repressed Tokens remain on the tile.
REPUBLIC - The side of an Empire Square with a pillar frame. It is created by flipping a King in your own Tableau by a Strawman Regime Change (either vote (not on a Vassal), Civil War, or Religious War), and is important for a Renaissance Victory (L6).
Easily Missed: A Republic can only be gained through a successful, self-inflicted attack (vote, Civil War, Religious War) on a King that is already in your Tableau. A Republic cannot be formed by coronations or campaigns.
RESERVES - A player's Florins and unused Pawns.
ROOK - This chess piece represents a noble in his castle, in one of 3 religious colors.
RULING CLASS - Any Knight or Rook Token on a City, regardless of color. Such Tokens can be placed as a result of a Levy, Agent, or Victorious Battle.
SATURATION - If all Cities in an Empire are occupied by Ruling Class Tokens, then the Empire is saturated. Similarly, if a Border of an Empire is occupied by either a Concession or a Pirate, then that Border is saturated.
- Levies cannot be added to a saturated Empire (F4, G4b).
- Constantinople is considered unoccupied if it holds fewer than three Tokens.
SEA BORDER - See BORDER.
SERF - Any Pawn, regardless of color, stored as a Repressed Token on an Empire Square. Serfs must join as attackers in peasant revolts (J2).
STRAWMAN REGIME CHANGE - Involves attacking an Empire you already control. This is the only way to create a Republic. Strawman attacks (when a player attacks their own cards or investments to gain its "victim award" advantage), are a common theme in the Pax series. Other Strawman examples: taxing your own Concession (F4) or voting your own Empire (F6).
SUPREMACY (L3) - A Religion achieves supremacy if it has both (1) More Bishop Tokens of its color in play than both other religions combined, and (2) More Tokens (Knights, Rooks, and Pirates) of its color in play in its Theocracies than both other religions combined. Count only unrepressed Tokens whose color match their Theocracies.
SUZERAIN - The overlord of a Vassal, see VASSAL.
TABLEAU (C3) - A row of faceup cards under your control. Your East Tableau is to the right and your West Tableau to the left, separated by your Player Board.
THEOCRACY - Rule by priests or mullahs under a state religion, as indicated by a religious icon in the center of its Map slot or Map Card (B2b). A Theocracy can be either a King or a Republic. The absence of a religious icon indicates it is a non-theocracy in its Medieval state.
- Disestablishment. A Theocracy is changed by adding, subtracting, or flipping a Map Card as a result of a REGIME CHANGE during a Victorious Religious War. An Empire can lose its Theocracy under golden liberty (F6d).
- Holy Victory (L3). Ruling Class in a Theocracy and Pirates Adjacent to a Theocracy count towards religious Supremacy if they are the correct color. If a Pirate is Adjacent to two Theocracies of its color, it is counted twice.
THRONE (B2d, C6b) - An Empire Square stored as a King in one of the 10 square slots on the gameboard. Thrones can also retain Repressed Tokens, Bishops, and/or Queens.
TOKENS - Wooden chess and ship pieces on the Map and Tableau. Bishops = inquisitors, Knights = heavy cavalry, Rooks = nobles, and Pawns = merchants (or serfs/slaves if repressed).
TOKEN MANAGEMENT - Each player has 10 Pawns, and each religion has 5 Bishops. There are 10 gold, 7 green, and 7 red Rooks. There are 10 gold, 7 green, and 7 red Knights. There are 6 gold, 4 green, and 3 red Pirates. Collectively these are called Tokens. If during card play or adding a Levy you wish to place a Token but none remains, you may remove the necessary Tokens from any Repressed Tokens, or (if this is not possible) from any position.
TRADE ROUTE (G2) - Two trade routes are active at any one time: the West (the white line) and the East (black line). Each one starts at a 9-pointed star called an Emporium, and ends at the arrowhead. Although there are three white Emporia (Trebizond, Spice Islands, and Red Sea), one is always covered by a busted disk (C1) so there will always be just one West trade route. Similarly, although there are three black Emporia (Tana, Novgorod, and Timbuktu), two of them are always busted at a given time leaving one unbusted.
VASSAL - If a King conquers another Empire in a campaign (F9g), the losing Empire is called a Vassal. The Vassal Empire Square is placed adjacent and below that of its conqueror to indicate vassalage. A Vassal's Prestige and Ops remain active. Vassals are always on their King side.
- Vassal-Suzerain Combination. The overlord of a Vassal is called a Suzerain. A Vassal and its Suzerain are treated as two separate cards during an Eastern/Western Ops action (E4) and Bishop movement/silencing (F1d,f).
- Tokens. If an Empire Square becomes a Vassal, it retains all Repressed Tokens. Any Queens or Bishops are retained if the Empire Square comes from its Throne, but are Discarded if it comes from an enemy Tableau.
- Targeting Vassals. Vassals can be targeted by Ops or One-shots, except you cannot initiate a vote (F6) against a Vassal.
- Liberation. Return a Vassal to its Throne (retaining its Queen & Tokens if any) if sold (E3) or if its Suzerain suffers a REGIME CHANGE.
VICTORIOUS - If the attackers have at least one survivor remaining after a Battle. See player aid.
VICTORY SQUARES (B7b) - One of 4 public tiles that start inactive (facedown) in the four slots provided on the gameboard. If you buy a Comet, you choose one inactive victory square to activate by flipping it faceup. This flipping represents an old era being replaced by a modern one: (a) The Medieval Age replaced by Renaissance. (b) The Galley Age replaced by globalization. (c) East-West Schism replaced by holy victory. (d) Age of Feudalism replaced by imperialism.
WEST - Refers to the 6 western Empires in the game, and their cards, Trade Routes, and Market Rows. They generally reflect Western philosophy and cultural values.