Reign of Witches Rulebook

Table of Contents

Set-Up
Suits, Ranks, Powers
On Your Go
Buy
Play
Use
Tricolor Cards
End of Game
Results
Miscellany
Card Reference
Tricolor Card Reference

Set-Up

Set aside cards 20-23. Shuffle the rest, dealing 2 cards face-down to each player. Deal 4 face-up on the table to form a Display. Shuffle cards 20-22 into the face-down deck. Place card 23 at the bottom of the deck. Adams has the first turn.

Suits, Ranks, Powers

Cards 1-19 have a Suit: diamonds (political), hearts (opinion), spades/clubs (military). When played, cards provide Points in that suit equal to their rank. Spades (navy) are doubled when played by Adams, clubs (army) when played by Hamilton. Cards have special powers which are triggered by Using a card you have already played. Some of these powers provide additional Points in a Suit.

On Your Go

You may do ONE of the following: Buy a card from the Display, Play a card from your Hand, or Use a card previously played. Then it is the other player's go.

Buy

Leftmost card is free, the second costs 1 coin, the third 2, the fourth 3. One spent coin is placed on each card to the left of the chosen card. After paying, take the card into your hand, plus any coins on that card. Your hand size is 3; if you are at your limit, you cannot Buy (exception Tricolors). Draw a new card from the deck, placing it face-up on right end of Display.

Play

Play card from hand face-up in front of you. If "Discard" symbol in upper right, you must discard another card from your hand to play it. Hamilton ignores Discards for Diamonds. When a Tricolor is in effect, certain Suits are Forbidden and cannot be played.

Use

Place a coin on one of your played cards without a coin. Resolve or note its power. Used cards are Protected: immune to Powers that Discard cards.

Tricolor Cards

When you Buy a Tricolor, instantly resolve the event, then set it aside. If a Tricolor is the leftmost card in Display at the start of your turn and you do not buy it, it is resolved at the end of your turn without use of an action; any coins on it are added to the supply. The Tricolor remains in effect until the next Tricolor is resolved. All resolved Tricolors contribute their Rank toward Jefferson's score.

End of Game

When card 23 is resolved, or when there are no cards left in the deck, the game ends. Players compare their scores in three categories: Hearts, Diamonds, and Spades/Clubs (combined). If you have the high total in at least two of these, and your combined score for all three categories is higher than Jefferson's, you win.

Results

If Jefferson's score is higher, or if neither player is dominant in at least two categories, Jefferson wins (historical result, and the most likely one). An Adams victory represents his re-election; a Hamilton victory, the election of his preferred candidate Pinckney. No scenario allows for a Burr victory, so he never quite gets into the room where it happens.

Miscellany

Card Reference

Each of the 19 numbered Suit cards shows a Suit and Rank in the upper-left corner, and, where present, a Discard symbol in the upper-right corner (a Discard symbol means you must discard another hand card to play it; Hamilton ignores Discard symbols for Diamonds). The lower box on each card gives its Power, triggered by Using the card. A bare suit symbol in a Power (for example "+ diamond") means the card grants 1 additional Point in that suit; a numeral inside or beside the symbol (for example "+2 hearts") gives that exact amount instead.

1. Timothy Pickering

Diamond, Rank 3. Discard.

Adams retained Washington's cabinet, all High Federalists (Hamiltonians) who largely despised him and actively sought to undermine his policies and governance. Pickering was Secretary of State.

Power: +1 Club.

2. James McHenry

Club, Rank 2. Discard.

Secretary of War McHenry, like Pickering, secretly fed intel to Hamilton, and urged Washington — once more the head of the army — to defy orders from President Adams.

Power: Ignore Discard requirements to play Clubs. +1 Diamond.

3. Oliver Wolcott Jr.

Diamond, Rank 2. Discard.

Secretary of Treasury. While Pickering and McHenry would eventually get canned, Wolcott managed to win Adams's trust, and would remain in his post until after the 1800 election.

Power: Take Coins from any one card in the Display. At game end, if you have more Coins, then: +1 Diamond.

4. Benjamin Stoddert

Spade, Rank 2. Discard.

Adams pushed hard for the establishment and primacy of the Navy during the Quasi-War, selecting Stoddert to serve as the new department's first Secretary.

Power: Ignore Discard requirements to play Spades. +1 Diamond.

5. Toussaint Louverture

Diamond, Rank 1.

Horrifying the South, Adams provided support for the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue (future Haiti), which would give American ships safe harbor in the Caribbean in return.

Power: At the end of the game, +2 points to the area in which you have the least points (choose if tied).

6. Abigail Adams

Diamond, Rank 1.

John's dearest friend and wisest advisor; she spent much of his presidency at Peacefield, and he felt lost without her. "I must go to you or you must come to me," he pleaded. "I cannot live without you."

Power: Adams's hand-size increased by one. Adams gains 1 Coin from the supply if available. If played by Adams: +1 Diamond.

7. Aaron Burr

Diamond, Rank 1. Discard.

In 1800, Jefferson and Burr both earned 73 votes to Adams's 65. Hamilton was so horrified by a prospect of a Burr presidency that he convinced Federalists to switch their votes to Jefferson as the lesser of three evils.

Power: Give this card to your opponent, with your coin on it. At game end, if they have more Diamonds than you, their Diamonds are halved.

8. Charles C. Pinckney

Diamond, Rank 1. Discard.

Minister to France whose credentials were refused, prompting the war. Pinckney earned the fewest Electoral Votes in 1800, but that didn't stop Hamilton from attempting to convince Electors to switch their votes. Pinckney refused to accept them.

Power: You can play cards even if their Suit is Forbidden.

9. Wooden Walls

Spade, Rank 1. Discard.

Adams called the Navy "the wooden walls of America", and saw it as the young country's best defense in the undeclared naval war with France.

Power: For all your played Spades: +1 Heart.

10. USS Constellation

Spade, Rank 2. Discard.

The most celebrated action of the war was the capture of the French frigate L'Insurgente by the USS Constellation under the command of Thomas Truxtun.

Power: Reverse the order of cards in the display (4th becomes 1st, etc.), keeping Coins on cards. +1 Diamond, +1 Heart.

11. Cincinnatus Attacked

Heart, Rank 1. Discard.

A French warship boarded an American merchant ship, torturing the captain with thumbscrews when he refused to cooperate. Acts like this fanned anti-French sentiment in the popular press.

Power: For all your played Hearts: +1 Spade if played by Hamilton; +1 Club if played by Adams.

12. Washington

Club, Rank 3. Discard.

Appointing Washington Commander-In-Chief of the provisional army seemed at first a masterstroke. But Washington was largely a disengaged figurehead, content to allow Hamilton to run the show.

Power: Hamilton's hand-size increased by one. Hamilton gains 1 Coin from the supply if available. If played by Hamilton: +1 Diamond.

13. Tax Rebellions

Club, Rank 1. Discard.

The Fries Rebellion was the third such armed tax revolt in the young country's history. It was quickly suppressed by federal troops; its leaders were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. They were pardoned by Adams, to Hamilton's dismay.

Power: Tuck a card from your hand under this card. The tucked card is Protected, and is treated as Clubs regardless of its actual Suit.

14. Reynolds Pamphlet

Heart, Rank 2. Discard.

Hamilton defended himself from charges of corruption surrounding mysterious payments to James Reynolds by telling the real story: he slept with Mrs. Reynolds, and was blackmailed.

Power: Hamilton discards all unprotected Diamonds. +2 Hearts if played by Hamilton; +1 Diamond if played by Adams.

15. Porcupine's Gazette

Heart, Rank 2. Discard.

A pro-Federalist, pro-British, and anti-French newspaper published by William Cobbett under the pseudonym "Peter Porcupine".

Power: Ignore Discard requirements to play Hearts. +1 Spade if played by Hamilton; +1 Club if played by Adams.

16. James Callender

Heart, Rank 1. Discard.

Callender wrote gleefully vicious attacks against Hamilton and Adams at Jefferson's urging. Later, feeling snubbed, he would turn on his former patron, publicizing the Sally Hemings scandal.

Power: Choose one of your opponent's played unprotected cards, and Discard it.

17. Philadelphia Aurora

Heart, Rank 1. Discard.

A newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache, which attacked Washington and Adams as venal traitors and closet monarchists.

Power: Choose one of your opponent's played unprotected cards, and Discard it.

18. Alien & Sedition Acts

Heart, Rank 2. Discard.

These controversial acts led to the arrest and persecution of muckrakers like Callender and Bache, and inflamed anti-French sentiment.

Power: Discard any one played, unprotected Hearts card (yours, or your opponent's). If you do: +2 Hearts.

19. Reign of Witches

Heart, Rank 3. Discard.

The Reign of Terror had ended years before, but its cruelty lingered in public memory, making the enemy easy to hate. War fever and Francophobia gripped the capitol in what Jefferson called "the reign of witches".

Power: +2 Diamonds.

Tricolor Card Reference

Tricolor cards (20-23) have no Suit; instead they show a Rank and, on all but the last, a "Forbidden" label naming what they make Forbidden. They are set aside during Set-Up and shuffled back in as described above, then resolve automatically as described under Tricolor Cards.

20. Kentucky Resolutions

Rank 3. Forbidden: Diamonds.

Secretly authored by Vice President Jefferson to provoke a constitutional crisis, the Kentucky Resolutions argued that states had the right to declare any and all federal laws null and void.

Effect: The player with the most Diamonds (do not count card powers) gains 1 Coin from the supply if available. Diamonds are forbidden until next Tricolor. If unable to take a legal action, discard your hand, then take an action.

21. Yellow Fever

Rank 2. Forbidden: Hearts.

Yellow fever epidemics hit Philadelphia three summers in a row, disrupting the business of government and claiming many lives.

Effect: Both players discard their hands; shuffle all discards into the deck. The player with the most Hearts (do not count card powers) gains 1 Coin from the supply if available. Hearts are forbidden until next Tricolor. If unable to take a legal action, discard your hand, then take an action.

22. Battle of the Nile

Rank 4. Forbidden: Spades and Clubs.

Nelson's total victory made the Directory more willing to settle things quickly and amicably with the United States.

Effect: Spades and Clubs are forbidden until next Tricolor. If unable to take a legal action, discard your hand, then take an action.

23. 18 Brumaire

Rank 6.

Bonaparte seized control of France in a bloodless coup. The First Consul accelerated peace talks so that he would be free to pursue his ambitious agenda.

Effect: The game ends.