Richard I Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Components
• Setup
  • Optional rule for expert players: Crusade events
  • The Crusade deck
• Turn Structure
  • 1 - The Crusade event is revealed
  • 2 - Influencing the characters
  • 3 - Carrying out the actions of the influenced characters
    • Exciseman (Gabelliere)
    • Inquisitor (Inquisitore)
    • Merchant (Mercante)
    • Spy (Spia)
    • Master at arms (Maestro d'armi)
    • Regent (Reggente)
    • Chancellor (Cancelliere)
    • Bandit (Brigante)
• End of the Game

Introduction

The players take on the roles of characters who remained in England when King Richard I left for the Crusade. They will have to decide which side to take, without knowing whether Richard I will return home victorious and laden with glory and money, or whether he will not return at all (many intermediate outcomes are possible).

During the game they take turns influencing the various available characters, trying to accumulate Prestige Points (PP) for themselves, but also to use their power to influence the course of the Crusade from afar. Someone might even decide to betray their own side if worrying news arrives from the East.

At the end of the game the outcome of the Crusade grants an increase in prestige to the players who sided with the party that reached its objective, but there will be only one winner: the player who has accumulated the most PP, regardless of the faction they belong to!

Components

• A board, used to influence the characters and to keep track of PP, of the Crusader military strength and of Saladin's, of the royal treasury and of the time remaining until Richard I's return home
• 16 pawns, two for each color
• 4 scoring markers: 1 red, 1 green, 1 white and 1 yellow
• 165 influence cards, divided as follows:
  • 24 influence cards for each of the following colors: blue (commerce), yellow (wealth), purple (time), white (alliances)
  • 33 red influence cards (Crusader military strength)
  • 36 green influence cards (Saladin's military strength)
• 8 loyalty cards, 4 for the players aligned with Richard I and 4 for the players aligned with John
• 14 Richard I counselor cards
• 14 John counselor cards
• 18 Crusade event cards
• 1 first player card
• A placeholder sheet, supplied with this rulebook, for the reserve of influence cards and the Crusade events

Board areas: supply deck (rifornimenti), time counter, royal treasury, Saladin military strength, Crusader military strength, Prestige Points track, Start space, Crusade deck, John counselor cards, Richard I counselor cards. Each character on the board has a Role space (with the character's name) and an exit Role space ("Role in uscita"), and shows the character's Actions.

Placeholder sheet areas: Crusade event cards, already-turned Crusade event cards.

Setup

The starting player is decided by any method the players choose, and receives the first player card. Each player chooses a color and places one pawn of their color on space 0 of the PP track, keeping the other pawn in front of them.

Form the supply deck by shuffling 12 influence cards of each color and place it in its space on the board. The remaining influence cards, divided by color, are placed on the placeholder sheet to form the reserve. Deal at random from the supply deck 6 cards to each player (7 cards with 5-8 players).

Note: at any time during the game, if the supply deck runs out, take 5 influence cards of each color from the reserve and shuffle them to form a new one.

Shuffle the Richard I counselor cards and the John counselor cards separately and place the two piles, face down, in their spaces on the board.

Take the loyalty cards (with 3-4 players: 2 cards loyal to Richard I and 2 loyal to John; with 5-6 players: 3 cards loyal to Richard I and 3 loyal to John; with 7-8 players: all of them). Starting from the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses their own loyalty (to Richard I or John) by taking the corresponding loyalty card. The last players to choose may find themselves with a forced choice. Each player draws one counselor card from the deck of their own faction.

On the board, place the white scoring marker on space 12 of the time counter (identified by the white spaces), the red scoring marker on space 10 of the Crusader military strength (identified by the red spaces), the green scoring marker on space 10 of Saladin's military strength (identified by the green spaces) and the yellow scoring marker on space 8 of the royal treasury (identified by the yellow spaces).

Important note: any rounding during the game is always done upwards.

Optional rule for expert players: Crusade events

The Crusade event cards are shuffled to form a face-down deck, placed in the appropriate space of the placeholder sheet.

We recommend playing this variant if you are expert players or if you have already practiced with the game.

Historical note: if you wish to follow the historical course of Richard I's crusade, instead of shuffling the Crusade event cards, select those with Roman numerals from I to XII and put them in order (with number I on top and XII at the bottom). Shuffle the six remaining cards and put them under the other 12 to form the Crusade event deck.

The Crusade deck

Now the Crusade deck must be created. To create it, take from the reserve 1 yellow, 1 purple, 1 blue and 1 white influence card and add:

• 2 red influence cards for each player who chose to be loyal to John
• 2 green influence cards for each player who chose to be loyal to Richard I

Shuffle the Crusade deck thus formed and place it face down in the corresponding space on the board.

Important note: if you are playing with the optional Crusade events rule, do not confuse this deck with the Crusade event deck!

Turn Structure

Richard I is a game organized in turns. Each turn is made up of several separate phases:

• The Crusade event for this turn is revealed (only if playing with the optional Crusade events rule)
• The players compete to influence the characters of the kingdom
• The actions related to the influenced characters are carried out
• The players contribute to the outcome of the Crusade
• The outcome of the Crusade for the current turn is determined
• The consequences of this turn's Crusade event are resolved (only if you are playing with the optional Crusade events rule)
• At the end of the turn, if none of the end game conditions has occurred, the first player card is passed to the next player clockwise, who will be the new first player for the following turn

Let us see the phases of the turn in detail.

1 - The Crusade event is revealed

The first player turns the top card of the Crusade event deck and reads it aloud.

2 - Influencing the characters

Clockwise, starting with the first player, each player places the pawn of their color on a free Role space of the board, provided that it relates to a character different from the one influenced in the previous turn (in other words: it is not possible to choose to place your pawn on the same character influenced in the previous turn).

The last player to place their pawn also takes from the reserve 1 green influence card and 1 influence card of a color of their choice.

The phase ends when all players have placed their pawn.

3 - Carrying out the actions of the influenced characters

Again starting from the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses one of the two possible actions related to the character influenced in the current turn and carries it out.

Afterwards, move your pawn from the Role space to the exit Role space.

Let us see in detail the actions related to the influenced characters.

Exciseman (Gabelliere)

• Take 2 yellow influence cards from the reserve and 1 random card from the top of the supply deck.

or

• Declare a tax collection request: starting from the player to the left of the one resolving the action and proceeding clockwise, each may declare that they offer no, one or more yellow influence cards (to do so, they must prove they own them by showing them to the other players). The player who offers the most cards will obtain 3 PP; the second player will obtain 1 PP; the remaining players will obtain no PP. All the offered cards, even those of whoever does not obtain PP, are discarded and put back in the reserve. In case of a tie, all the players who offer the same number of influence cards will obtain the same number of PP.

Note: if not even one card is offered, no PP can be obtained.

Inquisitor (Inquisitore)

• Take 1 green card and 1 purple card from the reserve, then name a player. That player must show you their hand of cards and you obtain as many PP as the number of green influence cards that player holds.

or

• Give the reserve 2 green cards, obtain 1 PP and draw 3 random influence cards from the top of the supply deck.

Merchant (Mercante)

• Take 2 blue influence cards from the reserve and 1 random one from the top of the supply deck.

or

• Give the reserve 2 blue cards and 2 white cards. Obtain 3 PP and draw 2 random influence cards from the supply deck.

Spy (Spia)

• Take from the reserve 1 purple influence card, 1 green one and 1 random one from the supply deck.

or

• Give the reserve 2 purple cards, then name a player and a color. The named player must show you their hand of cards. Obtain as many PP as the number of cards of that color that player holds, and draw 1 random influence card from the supply deck.

Master at arms (Maestro d'armi)

• Take 2 red influence cards from the reserve and 1 random one from the top of the supply deck.

or

• Call a chivalric tournament: each player secretly offers as many red influence cards as they wish (the cards are not shown, but held with one hand under the table); the offers are revealed simultaneously. The player who offered the most cards will obtain 3 PP; the second player will obtain 1 PP; the remaining players will obtain no PP. All the offered cards, even those of whoever does not obtain PP, are discarded and put back in the reserve. Any ties are resolved in favor of the player who called the chivalric tournament and then clockwise starting from them. If the player who called the chivalric tournament is not the winner of the tournament itself, they obtain 1 PP.

Regent (Reggente)

• Take 2 white influence cards from the reserve and 1 random one from the supply deck.

or

• Give the reserve 6 cards of different colors and obtain 5 PP. Draw 4 random influence cards from the supply deck.

Chancellor (Cancelliere)

• Draw 2 random influence cards from the supply deck and take 1 influence card of a color of your choice from the reserve.

or

• Draw 1 counselor card from the deck corresponding to your loyalty (to Richard I or to John) and take 1 influence card of a color of your choice from the reserve.

Important note: the effect of counselor cards can be used only once. Revealed counselor cards are not put back in the counselor deck.

Bandit (Brigante)

• Give the reserve 1 influence card of your choice and obtain 1 PP; draw 1 green influence card and 1 white one from the reserve.

or

• Give the reserve 1 influence card of your choice and obtain 1 PP; draw 1 red influence card and 1 yellow one from the reserve.

4 - Contributing to the outcome of the Crusade

Starting from the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses 2 influence cards from their own hand and adds them to the Crusade deck. The color of the influence cards is secret but the contribution is mandatory. If a player does not have enough cards to add, they lose 1 PP for each card they cannot add to the Crusade deck.

Important note: it is possible to have a quantity of PP lower than 0.

5 - Outcome of the Crusade

It is time to find out what is happening to Richard I!

The first player shuffles the Crusade deck and reveals (laying them on the playing table) a number of influence cards equal to twice the number of players (for example: 6 cards with 3 players, 8 with four, 10 with five, up to a maximum of 16 cards with 8 players).

Then carry out the following steps in order:

Compare the number of Crusader military strength and Saladin military strength cards (red and green):

• If among the revealed cards there are more green cards than red, the strength of the Crusader army is reduced by an amount of points equal to the difference: in this case Richard I has lost the battle
• If instead among the revealed cards there are more red cards than green, the strength of Saladin's army is reduced by an amount of points equal to the difference: in this case Richard I has won the battle
• If there is the same number of red and green cards among those revealed, the battle is resolved in a draw and no changes are made to the strength of the armies

The time counter is reduced by 1, getting closer to space 0, which corresponds to Richard I's return to England, then compare the number of time and commerce cards (purple and blue):

• If among the revealed cards there are more purple cards than blue, the time counter is increased by 1: in this case Richard I's return has been slowed down
• If instead among the revealed cards there are more blue cards than purple, the time counter is reduced by 1: in this case Richard I's return has been hastened
• If there is the same number of blue and purple cards among those revealed, nothing happens

Finally compare the number of wealth and alliance cards (yellow and white):

• If among the revealed cards there are more white cards than yellow, Richard I's treasury is reduced by a number of spaces equal to the difference
• If instead among the revealed cards there are more yellow cards than white, Richard I's treasury is increased by a number of spaces equal to the difference
• If there is the same number of yellow and white cards among those revealed, nothing happens

6 - Resolving the consequences of the Crusade event

Note: only if playing with the optional Crusade events rule.

The effect of this turn's Crusade event (the one revealed in phase 1) is applied, on the basis of the outcomes of the Crusade (determined in phase 5). The cards drawn during phase 5 must be put back in the reserve, the first player card is given to the next player clockwise, and the turn ends.

End of the Game

At the end of each game turn it is possible that the game ends. To determine whether the game ends, at the end of each game turn the following end game conditions must be checked:

A. If the Crusader military strength reaches space 0, Richard I has died in battle. The players loyal to John share 8 PP: if there is a single player loyal to John, that player obtains 8 PP, if there are 2 both obtain 4 PP, if there are 3 they each score 3 PP.

Note: this happens because rounding is always done upwards.

B. If the previous condition has not occurred and the Saladin military strength counter reaches space 0, Richard I has triumphantly won the Crusade. The players loyal to Richard I share a number of PP equal to the current value of the royal treasury.

C. If neither of the two previous conditions has occurred, but the time counter has reached space 0, Richard I has returned home early with enough troops to reconquer the throne. The players loyal to Richard I obtain a number of PP equal to half of the royal treasury, divided equally among them.

D. If none of the three previous conditions has occurred but the value of the royal treasury has reached space 0, Richard I has spent all his riches on war and is deposed. The players loyal to John therefore share 4 PP.

If one of these four conditions has occurred, the game ends and each player obtains the PP, if any, provided by their own counselor cards.

The player with the most PP is the winner. In case of a tie, among the players tied on PP the winner is the player (or players) belonging to the faction loyal to John if end game conditions A or D occurred, while the winner is the player (or players) belonging to the faction loyal to Richard I if end game conditions B or C occurred.

If instead at the end of a turn none of the four end game conditions has occurred, begin a new turn.