The Scarlet Pimpernel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Objective
• Game Play
  • Take an Action
    • Place a Cube
    • Move Your Pawn
    • Location Icon Actions
  • Pass
  • Use a Rest Cube
• Special Favors
• End of the Round - Completing a Mission
  • 1. Resolve the Five Mission Spaces
  • 2. Score Mission Completion Area Cubes
  • 3. Move the Scarlet Pimpernel
  • 4. Resolve Incomplete Mission Area
• Preparing for the Next Mission
  • 1. Replace Current Mission Cards
  • 2. Replace Next Mission Cards
  • 3. Resume Play
• Game End
• Shorter Game

Game Components

• 1 Game Board
• 24 Location Cards — placed on locations on the board
• 6 Special Favor Tiles — awarded to players having a majority of cubes in planning areas
• 20 Special Favor Cards — placed on special favor tiles
• 8 Mission Markers — shows next mission location
• 1 Scarlet Pimpernel Pawn — moves location when a mission is complete
• 18 Mission Cards — determine the location and needed supporters and resources for each mission
• 7 Building Hex Tiles — provide rest and resources
• 1 Player Tile, 1 pawn, 1 score marker and 25 cubes in six colors — one set given to each player at the start of the game
• 1 First-Player Marker — randomly given to a player at the start of the game
• 1 Incomplete Mission Tile — used only for the Chauvelin variant
• 1 Chauvelin Pawn — used only for the Chauvelin variant

Game Setup

1. Place the board in the center of the table.
2. Shuffle the location cards and randomly place one face up on each location on the board (except for "House of Justice" and "Temple Prison"). Place the remaining location cards back in the box, they will not be used for the rest of the game.
3. Place the six special favor tiles off the top of the board. Shuffle the special favor cards and randomly place one card on each of the special favor tiles in the provided area. For the first game use the six special favor cards with a green star at the bottom. Place the remaining special favor cards back in the game box, they will not be used for the rest of the game.
4. Remove the "Vienna" mission card from the mission cards and place it on the empty card area to the right of the Vienna location on the board. Shuffle the remaining mission cards and place them off the right side of the board to form the mission card draw deck.
5. Draw one card from the mission card draw deck and place it in the current mission card area. Draw a second card and place it on top of the first card so the supporters and resources section at the bottom are visible on both cards. These two cards constitute the first "current mission". Place the "1" mission marker red-side up on the location on the board that corresponds to the top current mission card.
6. Draw two more cards from the mission card draw deck and place them in the next mission card area so both entire cards are visible. These two cards constitute the "next mission".
7. Draw one mission card from the mission card draw deck, this will be the starting location for the Scarlet Pimpernel. Place the "Start" mission marker white-side up on the corresponding location on the board, then place the drawn card in a discard pile below the mission card draw deck. Place the white Scarlet Pimpernel pawn on top of the placed "Start" mission marker.
8. Place the "7" mission marker red-side up on top of the Vienna mission card (placed in step 4). Place the "2" through "6" mission markers red-side up on the corresponding mission marker areas.
9. Shuffle the seven building hex tiles and randomly place them face up on the seven empty building hex areas on the game board.
10. Each player selects a color and takes the pawn, cubes (see table below), score marker and player tile in that color. Players place their score marker on the "0" space of the score track and their cubes on the cube supply area on their player tile. The number of cubes each player has is public information throughout the game.

# of Players	2	3	4	5	6
Cubes/player	25	20	15	12	10

11. All players place their pawns in the same colored region as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Pawns do not need to be placed in a specific spot, just in an empty place in the same colored region (England, France, or Paris).
12. Randomly select a player to receive the first-player marker.

Objective

Each round one of the Scarlet Pimpernel's missions is revealed as the "current mission". Each mission has a location and required number of supporters and resources. The location of the mission is shown on the top current mission card. The required supporters and resources are calculated by adding the numbers on both cards.

As a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel you help carry out missions by securing the route and location, obtaining the required number of supporters and resources (horses, carts, papers and disguises), and filling the five mission spaces. This is done by placing your cubes in various locations on the board to score points. Although players work together to accomplish missions, only the player with the highest score at the end of the game will become the Scarlet Pimpernel's most trusted advisor.

For example: if the current mission location requires 3 supporters, 5 horse resources, 1 cart resource, 2 papers resources, and no disguise resources, players work together to gather those supporters and resources before the mission is completed.

Cubes are used to represent many things. For example, when placed on a route or location space the cube represents your time and efforts in securing the route or location so the Scarlet Pimpernel may accomplish his mission. When placed in a supporter or resource planning area the cube represents a supporter, horse, cart, papers or disguise needed to fulfill the mission.

Game Play

Game play starts with the player who has the first-player marker and proceeds clockwise. On your turn you must either take an action or pass. You may additionally use a rest cube. Each of these is explained in more detail below. The round ends when each of the five mission spaces has a cube on it OR all players have passed in succession. You then move on to completing the mission (see "End of the Round - Completing a Mission" below).

Take an Action

On your turn you must take an action or pass. Actions available to you on your turn include the basic action on your player tile OR actions listed on any ONE special favor tile you have collected. The basic action on your player tile allows a choice between two actions ("Move Your Pawn" or "Place a Cube") denoted by the "/" symbol. Special favor tiles give you two actions denoted by the "+" symbol. Each action is described below.

Place a Cube

Place one cube from your cube supply. Cubes may be placed on a route space, location space, building space, or mission space as described below:

Place a Cube on a Route Space — Routes are the paths that connect locations. You may place a cube on an unoccupied route space on a route in the same region as your pawn. Cubes may be placed on a route space that is on the border of two regions or in the water between regions while your pawn is in either adjacent region.

Place a Cube on a Location Space — You may place a cube on an unoccupied location space in a location in the same region as your pawn. If you place a cube on a location space with an icon you may immediately take the corresponding action (as shown on the player tile). Cubes do not have to be placed in any specific order on a location.

Use a Building — You may place a cube on an unoccupied or occupied building space in the same region as your pawn OR if you already have a cube on a building space anywhere on the board you may instead place a cube in the planning area that corresponds with that building tile even if your pawn is no longer in that region. The buildings and their corresponding resources are:

• Inn — corresponds with "rest"
• Stables — corresponds with the "horse" resource
• Market — corresponds with the "cart", "papers", or "disguise" resource. The "market" building in the "To Austria" region is printed on the board and offers one choice between the "cart", "papers" or "disguises" resource. The player whose cube will be moved to the resources planning area decides which of the three resources will be chosen.
• Farm — corresponds with the "cart" resource
• Office — corresponds with the "papers" resource
• Theater — corresponds with the "disguise" resource

You may place a cube on a building space in the same region as your pawn that already contains another player's cube. First, you place the other player's cube in the planning area that corresponds with the icon on the building tile, then place your cube on the building space.

Place a Cube on a Mission Space — You may place a cube on any of the unoccupied mission spaces regardless of what region your pawn is in. The requirements for the mission (as displayed on the mission cards) do not need to be completed before placing a cube on mission spaces (see "End of the Round - Completing a Mission" below for more information on mission spaces).

Move Your Pawn

Move your pawn from one region to an adjacent region. Pawns may only move to adjacent regions connected by routes. The English Channel (water between England and France) is not considered a region, so a pawn may move directly from England to France or from France to England. Paris and To Austria are not considered to be adjacent because they are not connected by a route.

Location Icon Actions

When you place a cube on a location space with an icon, you immediately take the corresponding action:

• Place on a Route — Place a cube on a route space as described under "Place a Cube on a Route Space" above.
• Use a Building — Use a building as described under "Use a Building" above.
• Place a Supporter — Place a cube in the supporter planning area. There are many supporter icons, but each one represents the same "Place a Supporter" action.
• Place a Horse — Place a cube in the horse resource planning area.
• Place a Cart, Papers or Disguise — Place a cube in the cart, papers or disguise resource planning area.
• Place on Rest — Place a cube in the rest planning area. If you do this action you may not use a rest this turn (see "Use a Rest Cube" below).
• Take One Point — Move your score marker one point ahead on the score track.
• Remove a Cube — Remove any one of your cubes currently on the game board and place it in your cube supply area. You may not remove a cube that you placed on the same turn.

Pass

If you are out of cubes or do not want to take an action you may pass. After passing you are not out of the round and may continue to take actions on future turns if you are able.

Use a Rest Cube

Placing a cube in the rest planning area is like resting up for a future turn. Once per turn, after your regular action, you may remove one of your cubes from the rest planning area and use it to "Place a Cube" as described above. A cube may be placed in or removed from the rest planning area on your turn, but not both.

Special Favors

When a cube is first placed in any of the six planning areas the player placing the cube takes the corresponding special favor tile and attached special favor card and places it to the right of his or her player tile. The characters on the tiles you possess grant you "special favors". You may use the actions listed on the attached special favor card (see "Take an Action" above). You can only take the basic action on your player tile OR the two actions listed on any ONE special favor tile you have collected. Actions on the special favor tiles may be taken in any order and players may take just one of the two actions shown instead of both.

You keep special favor tiles until another player establishes a clear majority of cubes (not tied) in the corresponding rest, supporter or resource planning area. The player who establishes clear majority immediately takes the special favor tile and attached special favor card. If cubes are added or removed giving no player a clear majority, the corresponding special favor tile remains with the player who currently possesses it. Players may possess multiple special favor tiles.

End of the Round - Completing a Mission

Play continues until each of the five mission spaces has a cube on it OR all players have passed in succession. When this happens you immediately complete the current mission by following these steps.

During "Completing a Mission" cubes are moved out of planning areas and into mission completion areas. Remember, when moving cubes out of a planning area leaves a clear majority of cubes in that planning area (not tied) to any one player, that player immediately takes the corresponding special favor tile and attached special favor card (see "Special Favors" above).

1. Resolve the Five Mission Spaces

Each of the mission spaces is resolved from left to right by the player who placed a cube on the mission space. In the very rare case that "Completing a Mission" is triggered by all players passing or running out of cubes, the player who placed his or her cube last acts as if he or she placed a cube on each of the empty mission spaces (i.e. taking the first-player marker or selecting supporters, resources, route or location).

First-Player Mission Space — The player who placed a cube on the first-player mission space takes the first-player marker.

Supporter Mission Space — The player who placed a cube on the supporter mission space chooses cubes (of any color) corresponding to the needed number of supporters (as shown on the combined mission cards in the current mission card area) from the supporter planning area and moves them to the supporter mission completion area. If there are not enough cubes in the supporters planning area for the mission, move all of the cubes from the supporter planning area to the supporter mission completion area and move the player's placed cube from the supporter mission space to the incomplete mission area below.

Resources Mission Space — The player who placed a cube on the resources mission space chooses cubes (of any color) corresponding to the needed number of each of the four resources (as shown on the combined mission cards in the current mission card area) from the corresponding resource planning areas and moves them to the resources mission completion area. If there are not enough cubes in any of the four resource planning areas for the mission, move all of the cubes from the corresponding resource planning areas to the resources mission completion area and move the player's placed cube from the resources mission space to the incomplete mission area below. Players now check to see if any of the four corresponding special favor tiles need to be moved based on the cubes remaining in the four resource planning areas.

Route Mission Space — The player who placed a cube on the route mission space selects a route between the current location of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the location of the current mission. If exactly one complete route exists (a "complete route" is defined as a cube on each route space on a route between the two locations) then that route must be chosen. If there are no complete routes or more than one complete route, the player who placed the cube on the route mission space may select any route connecting the two locations. The player must select a complete route if one is available and the selected route must not pass through the same route space twice. The player picks up all of the cubes from the route spaces along the selected route (not cubes from any location spaces) and places them in the route mission completion area. Additionally, if there are not enough cubes to form a complete route for the current mission, move the player's placed cube from the route mission space to the incomplete mission area below.

Location Mission Space — The player who placed a cube on the location mission space picks up all of the cubes on location spaces inside the current mission location and places them in the location mission completion area. Additionally, if there were location spaces without cubes in the current mission location, move the player's placed cube from the location mission space to the incomplete mission area below. The player then selects the next mission location from the two mission cards in the next mission area by placing the mission marker with the lowest number available from the mission marker area on top of the selected mission card.

Last Two Rounds — On the last two rounds of the game the player who places a cube on the location mission space will not select the next location. At the end of mission number six the next mission is already selected to Vienna (see "Replace Current Mission Cards" under "Preparing for the Next Mission" below). At the end of mission number seven the game is over and therefore there will not be any more mission locations to select.

2. Score Mission Completion Area Cubes

Gather all of the cubes from the five mission completion areas (including those remaining from the cubes placed on the mission spaces during the round) and award one point on the score track to each player for each of their cubes, then return those cubes to the respective players' cube supply.

3. Move the Scarlet Pimpernel

Turn over the mission marker in the current mission location from red-side up to white-side up and move the white Scarlet Pimpernel pawn on top of it from the previous location.

4. Resolve Incomplete Mission Area

If any cubes have been moved to the incomplete mission area, return these cubes to the respective players' cube supply without awarding any points. All other cubes still on the board remain for the next mission.

Preparing for the Next Mission

Unless you have completed the seventh and final mission, prepare for the next mission by following these steps.

1. Replace Current Mission Cards

Move the cards from the current mission card area to the discard pile. Move the mission cards from the next mission card area to the current mission card area. The mission card with the next mission marker on it (see "Location Mission Space" under "Resolve the Five Mission Spaces" above) is placed on top of the other mission card so the supporters and resources section at the bottom are visible on both cards. Place the mission marker red-side up on the corresponding location on the board. If you are preparing for the seventh and final mission the Vienna mission card will be placed on top of the two mission cards from the next mission area to form the new current mission, consisting of three mission cards with the Vienna mission card on top.

2. Replace Next Mission Cards

Draw two cards from the mission card draw deck and place them in the next mission card area so both entire cards are visible. If this is the seventh and final mission skip this step.

3. Resume Play

Play resumes for the new current mission starting with the player who has the first-player marker.

Game End

When all seven missions have been completed the player with the highest score wins. If there is a tie then the player with the highest score on the final mission is the winner. If there is still a tie then the tied players toast their success in helping the Scarlet Pimpernel save so many innocents from the guillotine!

Shorter Game

For a shorter game simply remove the "1", "2" and "3" mission markers from the game. Start the first current mission with the "4" mission marker and continue as usual.