Road to Enlightenment Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
  • 1. Map and Supply
  • 2. Player Nations
  • 3. Favorite Luminaries
  • 4. Lesser Luminaries
  • 5. Initial Alliances
  • 6. Short vs. Long Game
• Flow of the Game / Flow of a Turn
• Phase 1: Action Slot Assignment
• Phase 2: First and Second Action Slots
• Action: Attacking and Combat
  • What Cities are Connected?
  • Who is the Defender?
  • Negotiation
• Action: Diplomacy and Alliances
  • Forge New Alliance
  • Exchange Gifts with Ally
  • Diplomacy with Uncontrolled Nations
• Action: Reorganize
• Phase 2c: Resolving a Cultural Census
  • Science Census
  • Art Census
  • Religious Census
• Phase 3: Resolve Third Action Slot
  • 3a. Income
  • 3b. Upkeep
  • 3c. Treasury Limits
  • 3d. Turn Order
• Phase 4: Cleanup
  • 4a. Scoring
  • 4b. End Game
  • 4c. Turn Marker
• Phase 5: Recruit Luminaries
  • 5a. Luminary Draft
  • 5b. Refresh Luminaries
  • 5c. Refill Hand
• Special Rules of Note: Track Advancement
  • Track Bumping
  • Track Wrapping
  • Medallions
• Special Rules of Note: Key Terminology
  • Exhaust vs. Remove
  • Exhausting a Stat
  • Wealth vs. Coins
  • Colonial Powers
  • Action vs. Enhancement vs. Response
• City Iconography
• Errata & Clarifications
  • Nations
  • Favorites
  • Lesser Luminaries
• Rule/Icon Summary

Setup

1. Map and Supply

Place the map in the center of the table. Place the dice, red cubes, and coins into the supply – a pile within easy reach of all the players.

Side Note: In general, components are not limited by the physical materials provided; if they run out, use suitable replacements.

Place the 4 medallions on the art and science tracks, at the indicated locations.

Place the black cylinder on the '1' spot on the 1-15 track, indicating that it is (about to be) turn 1.

2. Player Nations

Assign nation cards to players. If players can't agree, assign them randomly. The set of nation cards in use is determined by the number of players in the game.

Players	Nations in Use (and the starting turn order)
2	France, England
3	France, England, Spain
4	France, England, Sweden, Poland
5	France, England, Sweden, Poland, Holy Roman Empire*
6	France, England, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire*
7	France, England, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Holy Roman Empire*, Spain

(*Holy Roman Empire = Austria)

Each player's color is determined by the nation they control. The color can be seen in the silhouette of the nations; board in the background image on the nation mat. Each player takes the 4 matching color blocks and 8 matching color discs. Set aside your 8 cardboard discs for now – you'll use them later if you conquer new cities. Use the wooden blocks of your color as follows:

1. 1 to track score; starts at 5. The left side of the 1-15 track is used for tracking prestige scores. (The right side will be used to track the special event for each of the 9 turns of the game.)
2. 1 to track science track; starts at 0 (off the track)
3. 1 to track art track; starts as 0 (off the track)
4. 1 to track turn order, in the top right-hand corner of the board, starting turn order is given in the table above

Put away the unused nation cards and the matching disks and blocks; they will not be used.

Each player takes coins equal to half their treasury limit (shown in the lower right hand corner of their nation mat). Apply any of the nation's special powers that apply now, as listed on the nation mats. E.g. Spain starts with more coins and France starts a little higher on the art and science tracks.

3. Favorite Luminaries

Separate out the favorites from the rest of the luminaries. Favorites have a gold star icon in the top left corner. All other luminaries are called 'lesser luminaries'.

Shuffle the favorites into 6 separate decks, organized by color (red, blue, purple, pink, green, orange). Each player is dealt 1 random pink (if their nation mat indicates that they are Anti-Catholic) or 1 purple favorite (if their nation mat indicates that they are Catholic). In general, anti-catholic players will never get purple luminaries of any kind, and catholic players will never get pink luminaires of any kind.

Shuffle the red and blue favorite decks together. Deal each player 1 random favorite from that deck. Shuffle the orange and green favorite decks together. Deal each player 1 random favorite from that deck. Each player will how have 3 favorites – they go into players' starting hands. The remaining favorites go back to the game box; they will not be used this game.

4. Lesser Luminaries

Shuffle the lesser luminaries (those without the gold star icon in the top left corner) into 6 decks, organized by color (red, blue, purple, pink, green, orange). Place the lesser luminary decks alongside the left side of the map, next to the matching color labels. Flip up the top 2 cards of each of the lesser luminary decks and place them next to that deck. Those luminaries will be available to be gained by players at the end of the first turn.

Each player draws 5 lesser luminaries – one from each deck, apart from the opposite religion deck. As always, Catholics never draw pink cards and Anti-Catholics never draw purple cards. All 8 luminaries (5 lessers and 3 favorites) go into your starting hand.

Side Note: You will normally only have 7 luminaries in your hand, but you start the game at 8. There is no hand limit, and it is possible to have more than 7 cards in hand. However, you normally fill your hand to 7 at the end of each turn, so it is rare to have more than 7 cards in hand after the first turn.

5. Initial Alliances

Place blue alliance cubes on the diplomacy track (top left corner of the map) between the following 10 pairs of nations:

• Austria – England
• Austria – Sweden
• England – Poland
• England – Russia
• France – Poland
• France – Russia
• France – Sweden
• Poland – Spain
• Russia – Spain
• Spain – Sweden

(The source prints these pairs as a grid with nations abbreviated to single letters: A = Austria, E = England, F = France, O = Ottoman, P = Poland, R = Russia, S = Spain, W = Sweden. The pairs above are read from that grid.)

Add all 10 alliance cubes, even if some of the involved nations are not being used this game!

These alliance represent nations that are at peace initially, since they have no common boarder and thus their international tensions are low. They don't necessarily like each other, but they are currently on good terms. This may change as the game proceeds!

Note that red/blue cubes are not a limiting resource; there can be more than that many declarations of war/alliances.

6. Short vs. Long Game

Decide if you want to play the short game (60-90 minutes) or long game (2-3 hours). If at least half the players are new to the game, then you should play the short game. Otherwise play either, at your preference.

Short Game: Place a "none" event chit on turn 1. Place the "final turn" event chit on turn 5. Shuffle together the early game art/science/religion event chits and then place them face up onto turns 2, 3, and 4. All 5 turns will now have event chits on them. Turns 6-15 are not used in the short game, although since the turn track doubles as the score track they may play a role for recording scores.

Long Game: Place a "none" event chit on turn 1 and another on turn 5. Place the "final turn" event chit on turn 9. Shuffle together the early game art/science/religion event chits and then place them face up onto turns 2, 3, and 4. Shuffle together the later game art/science/religion event chits and then place them face-up onto turns 6, 7, and 8. All 9 turns will now have event chits on them. Turns 10-15 are not used in the long game, although since the turn track doubles as the score track they may play a role for recording scores.

Flow of the Game / Flow of a Turn

A game either has exactly 5 turns (short game) or exactly 9 turns (long game). Use the right hand side of the 1-15 track to mark the current turn. Move the black cylinder up the track each turn to remind players what cultural census will occur at the end of that turn. Scoring always occurs after turn 5 concludes. In the short game, that's it – the game is over. In the long game, scoring happens again after turn 9 concludes. Both scoring phases work the same way, as described later.

Each of the turns follows 5 phases. All players perform each phase together, all at the same time, except where indicated otherwise (steps 2a, 2b, and 5a).

1. Action Slot Assignment
2. Resolve First and Second Action Slots a. Resolve action 1 (in turn order) b. Resolve action 2 (in turn order) c. Cultural census, if applicable (turns 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8).
3. Resolve Third Slot a. Gain income b. Pay upkeeps c. Enforce treasury limits. d. Update turn order.
4. Cleanup a. Scoring, if applicable (turns 5 and 9). b. End the game if this was turn 9 (or turn 5, in the short game). c. Advance turn marker.
5. Recruit Luminaries a. Luminary draft (in turn order) b. Refresh face-up luminaries for next turn's draft c. Refill hand to 7 (or more, with medallions) by taking favorites and/or drawing lessers.

Each of these phases is detailed below.

Phase 1: Action Slot Assignment

During phase 1 of the turn, players place luminaries face down into their 3 action slots. Any number of luminaries can go into the same stack, and stacks may be left empty. The order of the luminaries in a stack does not matter.

During this phase player may freely discuss with each other what they plan to do, and they may lie as much as they like. You may not actually reveal the luminaries in your hand or in any stack, but you can make whatever claims you want. Deals made during this phase are not binding!

Phase 2: First and Second Action Slots

In turn order, resolve the first action slot. Then, in turn order, resolve the second action slot. As a player resolves an action slot, they reveal the luminary stack there (if any) and announce what type of action they are taking.

1. Attack – attempt to take over a city
2. Diplomacy – collaborate with other players
3. Reorganize – search through your luminary deck a little bit faster
4. Luminary-Granted Action – do whatever the acting luminary card says
5. Cultural Census – participate in this turn's census, if any. Can only be declared when revealing the 2nd action slot.

You can always declare Attack, Diplomacy, or Reorganize. You choose to instead use the action stated on one of the luminaries in the stack. For the second slot only, you may also declare that you are supporting the cultural census instead of taking an action.

As you announce an action, you also apply enhancements. If any of the luminaries in that stack have an enhancement power on them, then you may choose to apply ONE of the enhancements.

After the action concludes, all luminaries in the stack are exhausted, unless otherwise stated by a power or effect. Exhausted favorites go face up onto your nation playmat and exhausted lesser luminaries go to your personal luminary discard pile. Note that you can add luminaries to a stack even if they don't help, just to get them out of your hand!

Side Note: You announce your selected action as you take the action. You can change your mind up until the moment when you reveal and declare, although that's usually a mistake. You can repeat actions within a turn; it is possible to attack twice or do diplomacy twice in one turn.

Action: Attacking and Combat

Attacking is an option that is always available to you; you don't need a luminary with a special action in order to announce an attack action. Attacks are the most complicated part of the game, but they are fairly intuitive once you get use to them. When you announce an attack action, obey the following procedure:

1. Declare the Attack. a. Announce that you are making an attack with your luminary stack, and reveal the stack. The attacker may pay any number of coins now to support the attack, placing them on the luminary stack. b. Choose a target city that is adjacent (by land) to one of your cities or on the same ocean as one of your cities. If both options are viable, declare if it is by land or by sea. The defending city must have a colored arc in its boundary of your color, or you cannot attack it. c. Identify who the defender is (see below). If you are already at war or if the city is neutral, you are ready to attack. Otherwise, you need to declare war by exhausting 5 [politics] from the attacking luminary stack. Put a red cube on the corresponding spot on the diplomacy chart at the top left hand side of the map, replacing any blue cube already there.
2. Declare Defense and Support. a. If the defender is another player, then the defender creates a defending stack of luminaries from hand. Placing those luminaries face up on the table. The defender may pay any number of coins now to support the defense, placing them on the defending luminary stack. Each coin adds 1 to the defense. b. Each other player, in turn order from the attacker, may exhaust luminaries from hand and/or pay coins to support either side, if they have an alliance with the defender or if the city is neutral. Coins paid are placed on top of the stack being supported. This is a once-around opportunity to support the conflict. c. If a player is allied with both sides of a conflict, they may help only one. Furthermore, if they help one side, the alliance is immediately broken with the other side. Remove the corresponding blue cube from the diplomacy chart in the top left corner of the map.
3. Compute the Attack and Defense Strengths. a. [military] of luminaries in the participating stack b. [military] of luminaries exhausted by allies in support c. coins on top of the participating stack d. each nation's army/navy strength, depending on the attacker's declaration of land/sea. If the defender is not a player, the defense value is 5 on both land and sea.
4. Roll Defense Dice. a. Set aside dice equal to the number in the city arc that corresponds to the attacker's color. If the attacker matches the bottom arc (meaning it is one of their own starting cities) then 0 dice are used. Roll the dice, and add their sum to the defender's combat power. b. If the attacker or defender has higher total ideas in their participating luminary stack, then they may reroll one of the dice. They must use the new result. If there is a tie, then no rerolls occur. IF the defender is not a player, then they are considered to have 0 [ideas]. Luminaries exhausted by allies do not contribute ideas and have no effect on which side gets to reroll.

If it is ever the case that a player does not control any of their starting cities, they immediately lose the game and are eliminated. Controlling foreign cities is not enough – a player must control at least one starting city to stay in the game. Remove all their markers from all parts of the game board. Elimination is a rare event, but it is possible.

What Cities are Connected?

Cities are connected by land if there is a dotted line between them. Cities are connected by sea if they share the same letter in the bottom arc – A for Atlantic, M for Mediterranean, and B for Baltic. Many cities are connected by both land and sea; in that case, the attacker choose whichever route gives them a stronger combat advantage.

Who is the Defender?

If a city is occupied (marked with a player disk), then the defender is the current controller (and its religion is as marked on their player mat). If the city is vacant, the controller is based on the color of the bottom arc of the city circle (and the religion is as marked on the board). Vacant home territories of a player have the religion marked on the board – on rare occasion, this differs from the nation's religion.

A nation that are not being controlled by a human player is generally treated just the same as any other. You must declare war on them to attack (marking the diplomacy board with a red cube), and you can only support them in defense if you already have an alliance. They are always assumed to have 5 [military], 5 [politics], and 0 [ideas] in combat/negotiation – completely ignore the playmats of uncontrolled nations. For example, the Ottoman Empire is always an uncontrolled nation. Russia is sometimes an uncontrolled nation, depending on the number of players in the game.

Uncontrolled nations are not to be confused with neutral nations (the tan region in the middle of the map). Neutral cities can be attacked without declaring war and supported in defense without having an alliance. They are also assumed to have 5 [military], 5 [politics], and 0 [ideas]. For example, Switzerland is always a neutral city.

Negotiation

If the battle turns into a negotiation, then it will be evaluated differently. Allies are ignored (but the luminaries they contributed are still exhausted), and coins spent thus far are ignored (but they are still spent). Just the attacking and defending luminary stacks are examined. Note that there is no opportunity to add more luminaries; only the ones already present will be considered during the negotiation.

Sum the [politics] on each side. If the players are the same religion, then also add the matching religious stats ([Catholicism] or [Anti-Catholicism]). A luminary of the opposite religion can still contribute [politics], but its non-matching religious stat will be ignored. The higher side is considered to have won the battle, with ties being determined by turn order. Proceed to combat resolution (step 6 in the combat sequence), exactly as if that side had won the battle via force of arms.

[Combat example – placeholder in the draft; the example itself was not included.]

Action: Diplomacy and Alliances

Diplomacy is an option that is always available to you; you don't need a luminary with a special action in order to announce a diplomacy action. Declare that you are taking a diplomacy action. You may then do one or both of the following:

1. Create one new alliance.
2. Exchange gifts with an ally.

Forge New Alliance

You may exhaust 5 diplomacy from the luminary stack to forge a new alliance. If you were previously at war with that nation, the alliance replaces the war. Mark it on the grid at the top left-hand side of the board.

Exchange Gifts with Ally

Exhaust 5 [ideas] AND 5 [art] AND spend 5 coins from your treasury. You and an ally of your choice each gain 1 prestige point – mark the gain on the score track now! You may then agree to exchange luminaries – if you do, you each offer the other player one lesser luminary from your exhausted pile. If you both agree, you each take the luminary your ally offers to you from their discard directly to your hand. If either disagrees, both luminaries stay where they are.

Side Note: Note that you can forge a new alliance with one player, and then exchange gifts with a different player. However, you cannot exchange luminaries with a player unless you do the full gift exchange with that player, thereby giving them 1 prestige.

Diplomacy with Uncontrolled Nations

You can create an alliance with an uncontrolled nation, although it is seldom worthwhile. You cannot exchange gifts with an uncontrolled nation. They refuse your audience. No diplomacy of any kind is permitted with Neutral cities.

[Diplomacy example – placeholder in the draft; the example itself was not included.]

Action: Reorganize

Reorganizing is an option that is always available to you; you don't need a luminary with a special action in order to announce a reorganize action.

View up to 5 cards from the top of your personal luminary draw deck. You may put one into your hand, then put the rest back onto the bottom of your deck in a random order.

Side Note: You can declare a reorganize action on an empty stack. In fact any luminaries in the acting stack will be exhausted for no effect (although that might be helpful, if you just wanted to get them out of your hand).

Phase 2c: Resolving a Cultural Census

When you reveal a luminary stack in the second slot, you may immediately declare that they are supporting this turn's cultural census (if any), rather than taking an action. The census will be resolved after all players have revealed the second slot. Of course, you do not have to support the census, and you can always opt to use the second slot for a normal action.

Side Note: Supporting the cultural census is not technically taking an action. Luminary enhancements that trigger "when you take an action that increases X" do not apply to supporting a census that might increase X.

Science Census

Your contribution is the lower of the [science] and [ideas] contributed by your luminary stack. In turn order, each player advances on the science track some amount:

• The winner goes up 4 steps, plus 1 more step per 5 points of support they had.
• The second place. Second place goes up 2 steps, plus 1 more step per 5 points of support.
• Each other player goes up 1 step per 5 points of support they had.

Recall that ties are always broken by turn order. See also track wrapping and track bumping rules described below.

Art Census

Your contribution is the lower of the [art] and [wealth] contributed by your luminary stack. In turn order, each player advances on the art track some amount:

• The winner goes up 4 steps, plus 1 more step per 5 points of support they had.
• The second place. Second place goes up 2 steps, plus 1 more step per 5 points of support.
• Each other player goes up 1 step per 5 points of support they had.

Recall that ties are always broken by turn order. See also track wrapping and track bumping rules described below.

Religious Census

A religion census is not an individual contest, but rather a struggle between religions. All Anti-Catholic nations pool their support together against all the Catholic nations to determine the outcome.

Your nation's contribution is the lower of the [politics] and the [Catholic]/[Anti-Catholic] contributed by your luminary stack. Luminaries that have a religious stat that does not match your national religion will not participate in a religious census at all, even for their politics. Add your contribution to the contributions of all nations of the same religion. Then compare the total support of both religions:

• If there is an imbalance between the number of Catholic and Anti-Catholic players, then the minority side adds 3d6 to its contribution – roll after all players have revealed.
• The winning side shifts in the white marker 3 steps along the religion track in their direction, plus another 1 step per 5 points by which their side won.
• On a tie, no movement occurs.

See also track wrapping rules described below.

[Census example – placeholder in the draft; the example itself was not included.]

Phase 3: Resolve Third Action Slot

3a. Income

Gain coins (adding them to your treasury) equal to the lower of the [wealth] and [politics] of luminaries in the stack. If you are a Catholic, then count all the [Catholicism] contributed either all as [wealth] or all as [politics] (but not some of each). Historically, the Catholics had a large infrastructure for gathering tithes, so they had access to deep coffers.

3b. Upkeep

You must pay coins equal to your nation's base upkeep (listed in the lower right hand corner of your nation mat), plus 1 more per foreign city you control. It is expensive to maintain an empire.

If you cannot pay, you may ask allies to help pay for you. If you can pay, you must pay yourself before asking for help. If allies refuse (or if they do not help enough), then you will suffer penalties for not paying your full upkeep. First, you must lose control of foreign cities to reduce your upkeep. If you still cannot pay after losing all your foreign cities, you lose 1 prestige point for every 2 coins you are short, rounding the loss up! If you would be forced to go below 0 prestige points, then you are eliminated from the game entirely. However, recall that you begin the game with 5 prestige points, so it is unlikely to come to that. Player elimination is rare, but the threat of it is an important pressure.

3c. Treasury Limits

After paying your upkeeps, you lose any coins in your treasury in excess of the limit printed on your nation mat (lower right hand corner). Note that this limit is only enforced after paying upkeeps; if you go above that level during the turn or as a result of income, you keep the excess. Only after paying upkeep at the end of the turn, is the excess lost.

3d. Turn Order

Finally, compute your bid for turn order – the lower of the [military] and [science] of luminaries in the stack. If your nation is Anti-Catholic, count all the [Anti-Catholicism] contributed either all as [military] or all as [science] (but not some of each). Historically, the Anti-Catholics were popular amongst intellectuals, so they attracted some of the greatest luminaries.

Recall that 1 block of each player's color is used to record the current turn order, placed in the top right-hand corner of the board. Turn order does not necessarily go clockwise! At the beginning of the game, turn order is determined by the nations players selected. Thereafter, it is adjusted when the 3rd action slot resolves each turn.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all ties in the game are broken based on turn order, with the player earlier in turn order winning the tie. Such ties include victory for the game, the next turn's turn order, and cultural census results.

Phase 4: Cleanup

4a. Scoring

At the end of scoring turns (turns 5 and 9), prestige points are given out as follows:

• each foreign city you control: +1
• each of your starting cities you do NOT still control: -2
• if your marker is on the first half of the science track: +1
• if your marker is on the second half of the science track: +2
• if your marker is highest on science track: +2
• if your marker is lowest on science track (or tied): -1
• if your marker is on the first half of the art track: +1
• if your marker is on the second half of the art track: +2
• if your marker is highest on art track: +2
• if your marker is lowest on art track (or tied): -1
• if the religion track is on the side matching your nation's religion: +2

Record scores by moving player markers up the left side of the 1-15 track. That track doubles both as a turn tracker (left half) and as a score tracker (right half). If a player exceeds 15 points, take note of this fact (e.g. by turning the player marker up on end) and wrap around; there is no upper limit to a player's score.

Side Note: Players may also earn prestige points outside of scoring rounds via diplomacy gifts (1 each) and track wrapping (3 for religion, 5 for art or science). Points might be lost if a player cannot pay their upkeep, at the rate of 1 point per 2 coins they are short. Recall that players begin the game with 5 points.

[Scoring example – placeholder in the draft; the example itself was not included.]

4b. End Game

If you just finished turn 5 and you are playing a short game, the game ends now. The player with the most prestige wins. Ties are broken by final turn order.

If you just finished turn 9 and you are playing a long game, the game ends now. The player with the most prestige wins. Ties are broken by final turn order.

4c. Turn Marker

If the game is not over, advance the turn marker to the next higher turn. Make sure all players know what cultural census (if any) or scoring (if any) will occur on the coming turn.

Phase 5: Recruit Luminaries

5a. Luminary Draft

There will be 2 luminaries face up next to each of the 6 luminary decks. In turn order (which was just recently updated in phase 3d), each player takes 1 of the face up lesser luminaries and puts it directly into their hand. In a 2-4 player game, each player then takes a second luminary in the same fashion. In a 5-7 player game, each player only gains 1 new luminary.

Then keep going around the table in turn order, but now players can only take luminaries if they removed luminaries during the last turn. Once you have taken enough extra luminaries to equal the number of luminaries you removed during the turn, you drop out. If there are not enough luminaries, then you forego the extra picks. However, you must take luminaries if you can – you can only decline to take a luminary if there are none remaining that you could legally take.

As always, Catholic player cannot draft pink luminaries, and Anti-Catholic players cannot draft purple luminaries. It's ok to draft luminaries with either [Catholic] or [Anti-Catholic] stats – the restriction only apply to the actual background color of the card.

Be sure to take note of the distinction between removed and exhausted (elaborated upon below). Only removed luminaries grant you extra picks during the draft.

5b. Refresh Luminaries

Put any luminaries that were not drafted back onto the bottom of their respective decks. Then deal out 2 new luminaries from each of the 6 decks, placing them face up next to their decks. These luminaries will be available during next turn's draft. If there are not enough remaining luminaries, just put out as many as you can.

5c. Refill Hand

Pick up any number of your face-up favorites from your nation mat and add them to your hand, so long as this doesn't take your hand size above 7. Favorites are available for use every turn, if you so desire. Then (if you still have fewer than 7 cards in hand) fill your hand to 7 cards by drawing from your personal lesser luminary draw deck. If your personal deck of lesser luminaries runs out, you must shuffle your personal discard and then keep drawing.

For each medallion that is on your markers on the art and science tracks, your hand size is increased by 1. Thus, your hand size could be as high as 11.

Special Rules of Note: Track Advancement

Track Bumping

When you move your marker on the science or art track, turn it up on its end – it is 'locked' for the turn. If your marker would end on a marker that is not on it's end, bump it back 1 space. If your marker would end on a marker that is already up on its end, you drop back 1 space instead. Either of those situations can cause chain reactions. Being bumped back does not make you get turned up on end. If several players advance at once, go in turn order.

At the end of the round, turn all markers back onto their sides. A marker being turned on its end is just a reminder that it moved earlier that turn, and has no lasting impact.

A marker moving backwards may bump another marker (if not locked) or slide past it (if locked). However, moving backwards does NOT lock the moving marker. Any effect that moves your marker up a track will lock it for the turn. Effects that move a marker down do not lock it.

Of course, effects that would move a marker up a track can affect locked markers just the same. Locking is purely defensive and does not impede further movement. For example, a marker might advance via a luminary action in the first action slot, then advance again during the cultural census later that turn.

Track Wrapping

If a player marker would move past the end of the art or science track, remove their marker (resetting it to 0) and give them 5 points immediately. If there is excess movement, they start again from the bottom of the track.

If the religion marker would go past either end, move it back to the first position on that side of the track and give each player of that religion 3 points immediately. If there is excess movement, continue from the new position.

Medallions

When a player lands on or crosses a medallion space on the art or science track, they take that medallion (either from the board or from the player who has it) and place it on top of their marker. Each medallion increases your hand size by 1 (past the normal 7). It's possible to have both medallions on the same marker, but unlikely. If you wrap, keep any medallions on the marker until someone steals them.

If you land on a medallion space while moving backwards, you do not take the medallion. If you bump a marker that has a medallion on it, steal the medallion.

Special Rules of Note: Key Terminology

Exhaust vs. Remove

When you exhaust a favorite, put it face up onto your mat. When you exhaust a lesser, put it face up into your lesser exhausted pile. Recall that, unless otherwise stated by a special power, all luminaries used in an action stack are exhausted – favorites to your mat and lessers to your luminary personal discard pile.

When a luminary is removed due to its own effect, set it aside as a reminder. Draft 1 extra card that round, at the end of the draft round. After the draft, the luminaries you set aside go back to the game box, and are not used again this game.

If a favorite is ever removed, proceed just as if a lesser luminary had been removed – draft one more lesser luminary that turn. You will have fewer favorites for the rest of the game!

Exhausting a Stat

Sometimes a luminary power will call for you to exhaust a certain amount of a given stat. Such as "exhaust 5 [politics]". That means that you must exhaust one or more luminaries in the acting stat or from hand that collectively have at least that much of the indicated stat. If you are called on to exhaust several different kinds of stats, it's permissible to use a single luminary to meet both requirements (provided that luminary has high enough stats).

Wealth vs. Coins

It is important to not confuse wealth (a stat of luminaries) with coins (stored in a nation's treasury). In the text of luminaries, the symbol [wealth] is used for both wealth and coins, but context will always disambiguate. For example, if a luminary calls for you to exhaust 1 [wealth], then that means exhaust luminaries from the acting stack. In contrast, if it calls for you to steal 5 [wealth] from another nation, then that refers to coins in their treasury.

Colonial Powers

The colonial powers are France, England, and Spain.

Action vs. Enhancement vs. Response

Every luminary power falls into one of those three categories.

• An action can be used when you reveal a luminary stack in an action slot; you can declare that you are using the action on one of the luminaries there instead of declaring one of the standard actions (attack, diplomacy, reorganize).
• An enhancement is a bonus to an action that is already happening. Only one enhancement can be used per action, and an enhancement can only be used if you are already taking an action for some other reason.
• A response can happen out of turn, and it can only be taken by a luminary in your hand. It resolves immediately before the acting player resumes their turn.

City Iconography

Every city on the map indicates 4 key pieces of information:

1. The original owner of the territory is indicated by the shield in the middle and the color of the bottom arc. If it has no shield (and a brown arc), then it is a neutral city, not controlled by any nation.
2. The top small arcs are colored to match other nations. These indicate which other nations are allowed to attack that city, and how many defense dice will be rolled when they do. Of course, to attack the city they also need to be connected to it by land and/or by sea.
3. The icon on the left side of the bottom arc indicates the religion of the city. If the city is unoccupied, that is its religion. If the city is occupied, its religion is that of its current controller.
4. If the city can be attack over water, this is indicated by a letter next an anchor on the bottom arc. The city is connected by sea to all other cities with the same icon, regardless of how far away the look on the map.

[Diagram, as before – placeholder in the draft; the diagram itself was not included.]

Errata & Clarifications

Nations

• Poland: "your dice" –> "the dice". That reroll occurs before any dice are rerolled based on a superior [ideas] rating.
• Russia: "either…add 1" –> "for each…add 1" (during each scoring phase). Using the movement power will 'lock' the marker for the turn, as does any effect that moves your marker up.
• England: If several players are tied for leader, then all of them count as being the leader for the purposes of getting the +3. Thus, at the beginning of the gave everybody is considered to be in the lead.
• Poland: Can only have 1 ally at a time –> Cannot give or receive gifts during diplomacy actions.

Favorites

Favorites always go to your playmat after used. The blue luminaries that "avoid being exhausted" go there just the same; that power is ignored.

Lesser Luminaries

• Oliver Cromwell: "tie" –> "negotiate". A victory of 0-4 counts as a tie for the purposes of this card.
• Francesco Barberini: A cultural census does not count as an action and does not trigger his power.
• Johan van Banchem: The victim does not draw a replacement but instead drafts 1 more luminary at the end of this turn.
• Pieter de Graeff: It is legal to play the action as a non-colonial power; it will have no effect other than to remove him from play.
• Cornelis de Graeff: As a defender, reveal this card before you create your stack. Then, after knowing whether or not his effect was cancelled, play luminaries to defend. Either way, this card is removed before you move on, and he does not further participate in the action.
• Anthony van Diemen: participates before being removed
• Jean Francois Paul de Gondi: the defense rating increase is to the number on the map, so it adds 1 more defense die, to be rolled along with the rest

Rule/Icon Summary

[Draft note: "put this on rule reminder sheets and/or on the back of the rulebook." The summary table below is reproduced from the draft.]

Situation	Relevant Stats
Attack Action	5x [politics] lets you declare war
	[military] plus coins from treasury help you win
	[ideas] help you reroll
	if you don't win by 5 or more, negotiate
	non-player defenders have 5x [military], 5x [politics], 0x [ideas]
Negotiate	[politics] helps you win
	[catholicism] / [anti-catholicism] help you win if you match religion
Diplomacy Action	5x [politics] lets you create a new alliance
	5x [art] plus 5x [ideas] plus 5x coins for gift/luminary exchange with ally
Art Census	[art] and [wealth] together help you advance