Throne of Allegoria Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Idea of the Game
• Components
  • Main Game Board
  • Territories
  • Town Boards
  • Lord Cards
  • Royal Decree Cards
  • Travelling Merchant Cards
  • Claim Cards
  • Workforce Cards
  • Guild Cards
  • Player Components
  • Wooden Components
  • Tokens & Score Pad
• Set Up
• Sequence of Play
  • A. Reset Phase
  • B. Planning Phase
  • C. Actions Phase
  • I. In Game Claims Action Space
  • II. Workforce Action Space
  • III. - VII. Soldier, Spy, Merchant, Banker, and Scholar Action Spaces
    • Deploy Actions
    • Task Actions
    • Anarchy
    • Supplementing Action Points
  • III. Soldier Action Space
    • Deploy Actions
• End Game Scoring
• Symbols, Guild Cards and Alms Bonus Tokens

Idea of the Game

In Throne of Allegoria, players take on the role of the Lords and Ladies of Allegoria, all vying to become the next monarch, and prove their worthiness to succeed the throne. They are supported by the realm's four most powerful houses: Roselie, the House of Roses; Culver-Lux, the House of Feathers; Antares, the House of Storms; Umbral, the House of Shadows.

Over the course of 6 weeks (rounds), players will need to make the best use of the local workforce, stake their claims, and win decisive battles, in a tale of secrecy and supremacy.

At the end of the sixth round, players will add up the Influence they have acquired throughout the game. The player with the most Influence will claim the throne, and win the game.

Components

Each copy of Throne of Allegoria contains:

• 1 two-part Main Game Board
• 4 Town Boards
• 1 Crown marker
• 1 First Player marker
• 37 Influence Point tokens (25x 1 Point, 12x 5 Points)
• 24 Anarchy markers
• 4 Alms Bonus tokens
• +1 Action Point token
• 72 Workforce cards
• 72 Claims cards (24 End of Game Claims, 48 In Game Claims)
• 16 Lord cards (8 English/8 German)
• 12 Travelling Merchant cards
• 24 Royal Decree cards (12 English/12 German)
• 4 Castle markers (1 each in four player colors)
• 40 Worker pawns (10 each in four player colors)
• 28 Track markers (7 each in four player colors)
• 4 Dice (1 each in four player colors)
• 24 Bidding markers (6 each in four player colors)
• 20 Guild cards (5 each in four player colors)
• 1 Score Pad
• 4 Action Overview sheets
• 2 Rule booklets (1 English/1 German)

Main Game Board

The Main Game Board consists of two parts, the small Side board and the large Map board.

The Side board contains the spaces for the Round Track, the Royal Decree cards space, the In Game Claim action space (I.), and the Workforce action space (II.). The two action spaces each have 4 Bid spaces. The unmarked spaces are used for two to four players, the space with the three-player mark is used for three and four players, and the space with the four-player mark is used only for four players.

The Map board contains the areas for the Soldier, Spy, Merchant, Banker, and Scholar action spaces (III.) to (VII.), which also have 4 Bid spaces used for the different player numbers, the associated Actions overview table, the Anarchy track, the Alms track, the Diplomacy track, and the Travelling Merchant cards space. The Map board also shows the map of Allegoria, and the Territories therein.

Territories

The Territories represent locations within the Realm of Allegoria. There are Home Territories, controlled by each player and a central Territory, shared by all players. Players place their Castle marker on their Home Territory so that it is easily identifiable. Each Home Territory also contains a Battlefield, a Market, and a Tavern. These belong to the player whose Castle marker is located there. The Central Territory also contains a Battlefield, a Market, and a Tavern. The Central Territory is considered neutral, and does not belong to any player. Each Home Territory is considered adjacent to the Central Territory only. The Central Territory is adjacent to each Home Territory.

Some Claim cards require players to have workers 'in Territories', which means on the map of Allegoria, in those areas.

Town Boards

Each player has a Town Board. The bottom left of the Town Board has space to place Workers. This is the player's Supply. The bottom of the Town Board has spaces for 2 Guild cards, they can be assigned here during the game. The bottom right of the Town Board has a space for storing Anarchy markers. The majority of the Town Board is made up of the 5 Town Tracks, which are related to the five Workforce groups, representing Strength (Soldiers), Intrigue (Spies), Trade (Merchants), Wealth (Bankers), and Knowledge (Scholars). Each Town Track is broken into areas that indicate a number of Influence Points at game end, and a secondary value used when taking certain deploy actions during the game. Each of these areas are divided by vertical black lines denoting Thresholds.

Players will move the 5 markers up and down the Town Tracks throughout the game. To increase a track, the marker is moved to the right. To decrease a track, the marker is moved to the left. A Town Track can never be moved lower than 0 or higher than 12.

A player should place their Lord card to the left of their Town Board. Combined they show the name and herald of that player.

Lord Cards

Each player will play the game as a Lady or Lord of the Realm. Each Lord card has slightly different starting statistics, as indicated on the corresponding track, or represented by a Worker in their Home Territory.

Royal Decree Cards

The Queen may be dying, but on a weekly basis she continues to impose her rule of law across the land. Each Reset Phase, the court magistrates and guilds will bring news from the royal palace to the Realm in the form of a Royal Decree.

Except for the card "The Queen Is Dead", each Royal Decree card shows two events. If Queen Gwendoline is still alive, the top most event is read aloud. If Queen Gwendoline is dead, the bottom most event is read aloud.

Travelling Merchant Cards

There are 12 Travelling Merchant cards in the game. The players can exchange Wealth for Trade or Influence, alternatively, they can exchange Trade for Wealth or Influence.

Claim Cards

Throughout the game, players can stake their claim to the Throne, by taking and completing Claim cards.

There are two types of Claim cards: In Game Claims, taken and fulfilled throughout the game, as indicated by the blue Influence seals and End of Game Claims, dealt out at the beginning of the game but only fulfilled at the end of the game, as indicated by the red Influence seals.

Workforce Cards

Workforce cards are used to gain the help of the population of the Realm.

There are 6 types of Workforce cards: Soldier, Spy, Merchant, Banker, Scholar, and Joker. Joker cards represent any of the other 5 types of Workforce.

Each Workforce card also has a value of 1, 2, or 3. This represents the power of this card.

Guild Cards

Each player has access to 5 Guild cards. When placed below their Town Board, these Guilds offer the player different advantages to boost their actions during the game.

Player Components

Besides the Town Boards and Guild cards, each player gets their own Castle marker, 10 Worker pawns, 7 Track markers, a Die with values of 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 Bidding markers with values of 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, *.

Wooden Components

The Crown marker marks the 6 rounds of the game, and if Queen Gwendoline is alive or dead. During the game, the first player gets the First Player marker. Players take the 24 Anarchy markers to boost certain actions.

Tokens & Score Pad

During the game, players can gain Influence tokens. When players are asked to take 1 Influence, they must take an Influence token of value "1" from the pool. The Influence tokens of value "5" are used for changing up.

When moving forward on the Alms Track, players can gain bonuses from the Alms Bonus tokens.

If the Royal Decree card "Hard Times" is in play, the players use the +1 Action Point token as a reminder of that effect.

To determine the winner, Influence is recorded on the Score Pad at the end of the game.

Set Up

1. Place the two parts of the Main Game Board next to each other in the middle of the table, so that the Map board and the Side board are easily accessible for as many players as possible.

2. Each player takes one set of the following components in the color of their choice, and places them in the following places: a. 1 Town Board in front of them; b. 5 Guild cards to one side, within reach; c. 1 Castle marker on the Castle space of their choice of Home Territory on the Map board; d. 7 Track markers, one each on the first space of each of the 5 Town Track spaces, on the "x0" space of the Diplomacy Track on the Map board, and on the "-3" space of the Alms Track on the Map board; e. 1 Die to one side, within reach; f. 6 Bidding markers to one side, within reach; g. 10 Worker pawns on the Supply space on their Town Board; h. 1 Action Overview sheet to one side, within reach.

3. Shuffle the End of Game Claims cards and deal 5 cards to each player. Players should keep these cards secret from their opponents. Each player should study their 5 End of Game Claims cards, and select 3 cards to keep, which they want to fulfill at the end of the game. The 2 cards they do not keep are returned to the box without revealing them, together with any extra End of Game Claim cards, as they will not be used anymore.

4. Shuffle the Lord cards and deal 2 cards to each player. They select 1 to keep, and return the other card to the box without revealing it, together with any extra Lord cards, as they will not be used anymore. The players place the selected role card face up to the left of their Town Board to form a complete role name and herald.

5. Each player should adjust the relevant Town Tracks on their Town Board, moving the corresponding town track marker to the right the indicated number of spaces, and adding any workers to the corresponding space of their Home Territory, according to the starting setup on their Lord card.

   Example: Marion chooses to be the Patron of House Roselie. She moves the Trade Track marker 4 spaces, and the Wealth and Knowledge Track markers each 2 spaces to the right. Additionally, she adds a Worker from her Supply as a Merchant to the Market on her Home Territory.

6. Shuffle the Workforce cards. Deal 3 Workforce cards to each player. Place the remaining cards face down on the Workforce Draw Deck space on the Side board.

Sequence of Play

Throne of Allegoria will be played over 6 rounds. Each round represents one week. At the end of the 6th week, there will be a scoring phase to determine the winner of the game.

Each round is broken down into 4 phases. The phases must be completed in order:

• A. Reset Phase: where the players reset the game state.
• B. Planning Phase: where the players will use their Bidding markers to bid for actions on the 7 available Action spaces.
• C. Actions Phase: where the players will carry out the actions they have bid on.
• D. Clean Up Phase: where the players clean up the game state.

When a player discards a card, place it off the Main Game Board, creating a discard pile for that deck. Claims cards are always discarded face down. All other cards are discarded face up.

There are three types of Influence, indicated by a wax seal showing different values:

• The value in a red wax seal will be scored at the end of the game.
• The value in a blue wax seal can be scored during the game.
• The value in a black wax seal will be scored at the end of the game, but it is a negative value.

Influence scored during the game is open information, and must not be kept secret.

A. Reset Phase

The first player should complete each of the steps below in order:

a. Move the Crown marker one position to the right on the Round track. b. Turn the top card of the Travelling Merchant deck face up. c. Draw 5 Workforce cards from the top of the Workforce Draw Deck and fan them out, face up on the Available Workers space. d. Turn the top card of the Royal Decree Deck face up, and read out loud the text of the corresponding section of the Royal Decree card depending on whether Queen Gwendoline is alive or dead. (At the start of the game, Queen Gwendoline is alive). This text will inform the players of actions available to them either immediately or during the current round. The actions can only be carried out when stipulated on the card. Actions can only be carried out where applicable. Compulsory actions are indicated by the word must. Voluntary actions are indicated by the word may.

Note: There are 12 Royal Decree cards in total but each game will only use 7 cards. Of these 7, one is the "The Queen Is Dead" card that informs players that Queen Gwendoline has died. As there are only 6 rounds of the game, it is possible that Queen Gwendoline may not die during the game, instead she dies immediately after the game ends.

When Queen Gwendoline dies, lay the Crown marker flat on the round track as a reminder. Then immediately reveal the next Royal Decree card and read the event on the bottom half of the card.

Note: When the players read out the Royal Decree "Hard Times!", place the +1 Action Point token as a reminder next to the Soldier action space (III.). During the Actions Phase, after resolving the Soldier action space, move the marker to the Spy action space and so on, so the players are always reminded of that effect.

B. Planning Phase

Starting with the first player, and going around the table in clockwise order, each player places one of their Bidding markers on one of the 7 Action spaces on the two boards that are not occupied by another player.

The following placement rules must be adhered to:

• Each player only places one Bidding marker at a time.
• The number on the Bidding marker must be kept secret.
• The Bidding marker must be placed in the left most available Bid space.
• 3 Bidding markers may be placed on a single Bid space, but the player must place the second and third markers in the same space as their first Bidding marker, by stacking the second and third markers on top of the first.
• This phase continues until all players have placed all their Bidding markers.
• Once a player has placed a Bidding marker, it may not be moved.
• A "0" Bidding marker is used to bluff players or to "reserve" a Bid space.
• A final bid of 0 will not result in the player being allowed to take that action.
• A player may always look at their own placed Bidding markers to check the values.
• A player may not look at the hidden value of another player's Bidding markers.

The number on a Bidding marker is not the number of actions the player will be allowed to take, but is a bid to take the action. In each area, the player who bids the most (or in case of a tie, whose Bidding markers are in the left most position), will get the most Actions, as indicated on the charts shown on the Map board and Side board, relative to the number of players.

Example: Marion, playing for House Roselie, wants to place her "2" Bidding marker on the Soldier action space. Nicole, playing for House Umbral, and Angelika, playing for House Culver-Lux, already have a Bidding marker on the Soldier action space. House Roselie must place their Bidding marker face down in the next available empty space. House Culver-Lux then wishes to place an additional Bidding marker on the Soldier action space. As they already have one marker placed here, they must place their Bidding marker face down on top of the marker they placed in an earlier round.

Note: If House Culver-Lux had already placed 3 Bidding markers here, they would not be allowed to place a fourth marker.

C. Actions Phase

In order, starting with the action space marked I., and working down to VII., the players will resolve the bids of each action space and then resolve the actions for that space in the following order:

• I. IN GAME CLAIMS ACTION SPACE
• II. WORKFORCE ACTION SPACE
• III. SOLDIER ACTION SPACE
• IV. SPY ACTION SPACE
• V. MERCHANT ACTION SPACE
• VI. BANKER ACTION SPACE
• VII. SCHOLAR ACTION SPACE

Once all the Scholar Actions have been resolved, proceed to the Clean Up Phase.

Throughout the game, compulsory actions are indicated by the word must. Voluntary actions are indicated by the word may.

The In Game Claims action space and the Workforce action space are resolved differently from the Soldier, Spy, Merchant, Banker, and Scholar action spaces. All these actions are explained in more detail in the following sections.

In each action space, players who have placed Bidding markers, reveal each marker they placed, adding together the values of the markers placed on the same space. This combined value is the player's Bid Points for that action.

At this point it may help players to rearrange their Bidding markers in order from highest to lowest bid to assist tracking which players get which, and how many, Action Points.

If a player reveals a * bid, they must immediately choose if the Bidding marker has a value of 2, or a value of 1. If they select a value of 1, they may immediately activate any 1 Guild card that they have assigned beneath their Town Board. Players must declare and resolve * bids in order from left to right of the current action space.

Afterward, the player who placed the highest sum value of Bid Points will take the most actions, then continue through each other player in decreasing Bid Points value. The type and number of actions allowed are indicated on the two boards.

In the event of a tied value, the player who placed furthest left of the tied players wins the tie.

If a player places a total of 0 Bid Points, or no Bidding markers at all, they do not get to take any actions.

Once an action space has been resolved, players retrieve all Bidding markers from that space, and the players resolve the next action space.

I. In Game Claims Action Space

The In Game Claims action space is where players gain new In Game Claims cards. It is also the space where the First Player marker can exchange hands.

Beginning with the player who played the most Bid Points (or in the case of a tie, the tied player furthest to the left) and continuing in decreasing value of Bid Points each player now draws the number of In Game Claim cards indicated on the table shown on the Side board next to the action space. From the drawn cards, they may keep up to 1 card, discarding the other drawn cards face down to the In Game Claims discard pile. They do not have to keep a card. The number of cards they can draw is based on the number of players and in decreasing order of Bid Points.

The player who played the lowest value greater than 0 (and in the case of a tie, the tied player furthest right) additionally takes the First Player marker. From that point, they are the first player.

General rules for Claim cards:

• Claim cards must be kept secret until they are scored. Players may have any number of Claim cards in their hand.
• If players are ever required to draw In Game Claim cards, and the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile and make a new draw deck.
• In Game Claims must be completed during the game, and must be revealed by the player on their turn as soon as they meet the criteria on the card. The player places the completed card face up to one side of their Town Board.
• At the end of the game, End of Game Claims must meet the criteria on the card for the player to score the Influence.
• Any Claim cards whose criteria have not been met at the end of the game will result in a -3 Influence penalty for that player.
• Moving along the Diplomacy Track will provide players with a bonus for the total number of In Game Claim cards that they have completed.

Example: House Roselie played a "2" Bidding marker. House Umbral played two "1" Bidding markers. House Culver-Lux played a "0" Bidding marker. House Roselie wins the Bid, having placed their Bidding marker to the Bid Space before House Umbral. House Roselie gets to draw 3 In Game Claims cards, and keeps at most 1 card. House Umbral gets to draw 3 In Game Claim cards, too, and keeps at most 1 card. They also get the First Player marker. House Culver-Lux does not get to draw any In Game Claims cards and they do not get the First Player marker, as they played a "0" Bidding marker.

II. Workforce Action Space

The Workforce action space is where players recruit new workers to their cause. Each round, five new Workforce cards are available.

Before the players choose their workers, the player who played the lowest Bid Points value greater than 0 (and in case of a tie, the tied player furthest to the right) splits all five available Workforce cards into three groups: two groups of two cards, and one group of a single card. Place the groups on the relevant spaces on the bottom of the Side board.

Beginning with the player who played the most Bid Points (or in the case of a tie, the tied player furthest to the left) and continuing in decreasing value of Bid Points each player now selects one of the groups of cards.

If the group of cards contains 2 cards, the player may keep both cards if they played a total of two or more Bid Points. However, if they only played one Bid Point, they must select one of the cards to keep, and discard the other.

If a player takes the single card, they will only get one card regardless of how many Bid Points they played.

In a four-player game, if all four players played at least 1 Bid Point, then the player with the lowest value (the player who split the cards) must draw the top card from the Workforce deck and add it to their hand without revealing it to the other players.

The players may have any number of Workforce cards in their hand. If players are ever required to draw Workforce cards, and the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile, and make a new draw deck.

Once all the Workforce actions have been resolved discard any remaining face up Workforce cards to the discard pile.

Example: House Umbral played a "2" Bidding marker. House Roselie played a "1" Bidding marker. House Culver-Lux did not play any markers here this turn. House Roselie played the lowest bid so they gather all five Workforce cards, and split them into the 3 sections, placing two Workforce cards in the first section, two Workforce cards in the second section, and one Workforce card in the third section. House Umbral played the highest bid, so they get to pick the cards they want first. As they placed at least 2 Bidding Points, they may take either the two cards from the first or second section, or the solitary card from the third section. House Umbral chooses to take the two cards from the second section. House Roselie now gets to pick from the remaining cards. As they only played 1 Bidding Point, they may only take one card, regardless of whether they select from the first or third section, and choose the "2" Spy from the first section. House Culver-Lux did not place a marker here, so they cannot take any Workforce cards. All remaining workforce cards are then discarded.

III. - VII. Soldier, Spy, Merchant, Banker, and Scholar Action Spaces

The available actions of the five Workforce groups offer different Deploy and Task actions, but each space is resolved in the same way.

Beginning with the player who played the most Bid Points (or in the case of a tie, the tied player furthest to the left) and continuing in decreasing value of Bid Points each player now gets a number of Action Points indicated on the table shown on the Map board, that they can use to complete Deploy and Task actions. The value they receive is based on the number of players and in decreasing order of Bid Points.

It always costs 1 Action Point to take an action unless otherwise stated.

In most cases, the players split their Action Points between Deploy actions and Task actions. The player who played the least Bid Points above 0 is restricted to take only Deploy actions.

EXCEPTION: In 4-player-games, the second player cannot split up their Action Points, but instead must use 2 Action Points for Deploy Actions or 1 Action Point for a Task action.

In the event that a player cannot use all their Action Points, excess Action Points are lost, if they cannot be spent. The player cannot save them for a later action space.

Deploy Actions

The players use Deploy actions to add Worker pawns from their Supply as Soldiers, Spies, and Merchants to their Home Territory, and to move them to the central Territory and opponents' Territories.

The players also take the Deploy actions of the Bankers and Scholars, which do not use Workers from their Supply.

When adding Workers to their Home Territory, the players may discard Workforce cards from their hand to increase the values of the corresponding Town Tracks.

The players are each limited to a total of 10 Workers. If a player runs out of Workers in their Supply when deploying, they may not play Workforce cards, and they may not take the Recruit, Infiltrate, or Tradesman Deploy actions.

When a player removes a Worker from the board, they are returned to the Supply space of the matching player color. That Worker can be deployed again.

A player is limited to the boundaries of their Town Tracks. Once in the right-most space, any remaining value played is lost. Payment that would take the marker to the left of the left-most space is not allowed.

Task Actions

The players use Task actions to activate the deployed Workers in the different Territories, attacking with their Soldiers, manipulating with their Spies, or trading with their Merchants. They also use the Task actions of their Bankers and Scholars, which do not depend on Workers.

Anarchy

Throughout the game, players will have the opportunity to make exceptional adjustments to the actions they take. Each of these adjustments however has a cost, as the land of Allegoria falls closer and closer into anarchy.

Any time a player is instructed to take an Anarchy Marker, they must take one Anarchy marker from the lowest (left to right) available spot on the Anarchy track, and add it to their Town Board. This is never optional.

The players will gain Anarchy markers for doing any of the following:

• Using the ATTACK Raid Task action on the central Battlefield.
• Using the ATTACK Battle Task and adding 1 to their die roll.
• Using the SUBTERFUGE Task to adjust an opponent's Town Track an additional space.
• Using the SUBTERFUGE Task in the central Tavern.
• Using the COMMERCE Task to Trade in their own Market.
• Immediately discarding an In Game Claim card drawn through using the GRANT Task.
• Taking a Supplementary Action Point resulting in a Town Track marker crossing a Threshold from right to left.

Any time a player is instructed to return an Anarchy Marker, they may take one marker from their Town Board and place it back on the highest (right to left) available spot on the Anarchy track. This is always optional.

At the end of the game each Anarchy Marker a player has will be worth negative points as indicated by the space furthest right with at least one empty spot on the Anarchy Track.

Supplementing Action Points

Players can supplement their available Action Points for Deploy and Task actions by decreasing the Track that corresponds to the action space they are resolving. These additional Action Points can only be used on actions designated by their Bid Point result.

A player must use all Action Points gained from their Bid Points first. They may then supplement additional Action Points by moving the corresponding Town Track marker to the left on their Town Track. For each space moved they get 1 Action Point.

If the marker is on the first space of the Town Track, a player cannot supplement their total Action Points.

A player can continue to supplement their Action Points to take additional actions of the corresponding allowed type (Deploy/Task) until the first time their marker crosses a Threshold on the Town Track from right to left. When this happens, they must take one Anarchy marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy track, complete the action, and then they must stop supplementing Action Points for this Action Space this turn.

Example: House Culver-Lux is taking their turn on the Soldier action space. They had the highest bid, and so have 3 Action Points that they may use to spend on any combination of Soldier Deploy and Task Actions. Having spent 2 Action Points to Recruit twice, they then spend their last Action Point to Advance their Soldiers. However it is not enough for them to move their Soldiers where they want them, so House Culver-Lux looks to the Strength track on their Town Board to see if there is anything they can do. Their Strength track is to the right of a black line, marking a Threshold. They could gain the supplementary Action Point they would need to advance again, but at a cost. They decide it is ok to do, moving their Strength marker one space to the left. As their marker has crossed a Threshold on their Strength track, they must now take one Anarchy marker, adding it to their Town Board. House Culver-Lux may not supplement any more Action Points from their Strength track.

Note: If the Strength marker had been two spaces to the right of the black line, House Culver-Lux could have supplemented their Action Point once without taking any Anarchy marker, or twice, and take 1 Anarchy marker.

III. Soldier Action Space

Deploy Actions

RECRUIT

• For each Action Point spent, the player must add a Worker from their Supply as a Soldier to the Battlefield in their Home Territory.
• When adding a Soldier, the player may discard any number of Soldier Workforce cards from their hand. They can always discard Joker Workforce cards, individually or in combination with Soldier Workforce cards. Then, the player increases the corresponding Strength Track on their Town Board by the total value discarded, moving the marker from left to right.
• The player may spend Action Points to deploy Soldiers without discarding a corresponding Soldier or Joker Workforce card, therefore they do not increase the corresponding Strength Track on their Town Boards.

Example: House Umbral has two Soldier Workforce cards in their hand (values "1" and "2") and wishes to take the Deploy action to Recruit them. They spend one of their Action Points and discard the "2" Soldier Workforce card, and places a Worker from their Supply as a Soldier on to their Battlefield. They then move the Strength marker on their Town track two spaces to the right. They spend another Action Point and discard the "1" Soldier Workforce card, and place another Worker from their Supply as a Soldier on to their Battlefield. House Umbral then moves the Strength marker on their Town track one space to the right.

Note: Instead of doing what they did, House Umbral could have spent 1 Action Point and discarded both Workforce cards from their hand at once to move their Strength marker three spaces to the right on their Town track. However they would only be allowed to place one Worker from their Supply as a Soldier on to their Battlefield. If House Umbral had no Soldier Workforce cards in their hand, they could still use the Action Point to take the Deploy action, placing one Worker from their Supply as a Soldier on to their Battlefield. However because they did not discard any Workforce cards, they would not move the Strength marker on their Town track.

ADVANCE

• For each Action Point spent, the player moves Soldiers from one Battlefield to an adjacent Battlefield.
• The number of Soldiers (either 1, 2, or 3) that a player can move is indicated by the position of the Strength Track marker on the player's Town Board. They must move together from the same location to the same new location.
• Each movement to a new location is a new Advance action (so it costs 1 Action Point).
• Soldiers must move from a player's Battlefield in a Home Territory to the central Battlefield. Soldiers may move from the central Battlefield to any other Battlefield.

Task Action

ATTACK

• For each Action Point spent, the player must declare an attack.
• The player is the attacker and must declare the Battlefield where the attack is taking place. The Attack will resolve differently depending on whether an opponent has Soldiers present in the nominated Battlefield:
  • a) If no opponents have Soldiers present, resolve a Raid.
  • b) If at least one opponent has Soldiers present, resolve a Battle.

a) Raid:

• The attacker may never Raid on their own Battlefield.
• An attacker may take one Anarchy marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy track to Raid in the central Battlefield. Raiding in opponents battlefields does not incur an Anarchy marker.
• The attacker must remove one Soldier from the corresponding Territory, returning it to their Supply, and receives one Influence token for initiating the Raid. They may then take one additional Influence token for each additional Soldier they remove from the Battlefield and return to their Supply.

b) Battle:

• The attacker must declare which opponent they are attacking. That opponent must have at least one Soldier on the declared Battlefield. The opponent is the defender.
• Before rolling the dice, the attacker may take one Anarchy Marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy track to add one to their die roll. The defender may not do this.
• Both players must roll their dice, and add the result of their roll to the number of their soldiers on the Battlefield.
• The player with the highest combined total of soldiers and die roll is the winner of the battle.
• Subtract the loser's result from the winner's result. This value is the Spoils of War.
• The attacker and defender must both remove one Soldier from the Battlefield, returning them to their Supply. These are the Casualties of War.
• To resolve the Spoils of War, the winner of the battle must then spend the Spoils of War value on any combination of the following:
  • Remove the opponent's soldiers from the battlefield at a cost of 1 soldier per point, returning them to that player's Supply.
  • Take Influence tokens at a cost of 1 token per point.
• If the combined total of soldiers and die roll is the same for both the attacker and the defender, then neither player has won the battle. The Casualties of War must still be applied with the attacker and defender both removing one Soldier from the Battlefield, returning them to their Supply. Neither player will benefit from the Spoils of War.

Example: House Roselie has 2 Soldiers in their Battlefield. House Culver-Lux has just Advanced 3 Soldiers into House Roselie's Battlefield. House Culver-Lux has one Action Point remaining, and declares they are going to attack House Roselie. As the Attacker, House Culver-Lux decides to take an Anarchy marker to allow them to add 1 to their dice total. Both players roll their dice. House Roselie rolls a "3", House Culver-Lux rolls a "2", but adds 1 to their die roll because they took the Anarchy marker. As House Roselie only has 2 Soldiers, and House Culver-Lux has 3 Soldiers on the Battlefield, their totals are 5 for House Roselie and 6 for House Culver-Lux. Thus, House Culver-Lux wins the battle. Both players remove one Soldier, returning them to their respective Supplies to pay for the Casualties of War. House Culver-Lux then decides on their Spoils Of War. The value of the Spoils is the difference between the two battle values: 6-5 = 1. House Culver-Lux decides against taking one Influence, and instead removes House Roselie's final Soldier.

Note: If House Culver-Lux had one more Action Point, they could then Raid as House Roselie has no Soldiers remaining in their Battlefield.

IV. Spy Action Space

Deploy Actions

INFILTRATE

• For each Action Point spent, the player must add a Worker from their Supply as a Spy to the Tavern in their Home Territory.
• When adding a Spy, the player may discard any number of Spy Workforce cards from their hand. They can always discard Joker Workforce cards, individually or in combination with Spy Workforce cards. Then, the player increases the corresponding Intrigue Track on their Town Board by the total value discarded, moving the marker from left to right.
• The player may spend Action Points to deploy Spies without discarding a corresponding Spy or Joker Workforce card, therefore they do not increase the corresponding Intrigue Track on their Town Boards.

SNEAK

• For each Action Point spent, the player moves Spies from one Tavern to an adjacent Tavern.
• The number of Spies (either 1, 2, or 3) that a player can move is indicated by the position of the Intrigue Track marker on the player's Town Board. They must move together from the same location to the same new location.
• Each movement to a new location is a new Sneak action (so it costs 1 Action Point).
• Spies must move from a player's Tavern in a Home Territory to the central Tavern. Spies may move from the central Tavern to any other Tavern.

Task Action

SUBTERFUGE

• For each Action Point spent, the player must take a Subterfuge action.
• A player may not take the Subterfuge action in their own Tavern.
• The player may take a Subterfuge action in an opponent's Tavern. If they do:
  • They must remove one of their Spies from that opponent's Tavern and return it to their Supply.
  • They select one of that opponent's Town Tracks (Strength, Intrigue, Trade, Wealth, or Knowledge) that they must reduce by 1 (to a minimum of 0).
  • The player may take one Anarchy marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy track to reduce a second Town Track by 1. The selected Town Track may be the same or a different Town Track, but it must be the same opponent. The player does not need to remove, or have a second Spy, in the Tavern to do this.
• The first time a player takes the Subterfuge action on their turn, they move their marker one space along the Diplomacy Track on the Map board. The Diplomacy Track will provide them with end game bonuses for the number of In Game Claims that they complete.
• The player may take a Subterfuge action in the central Tavern. If they do, they must take one Anarchy marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy track and remove a Spy from the central Tavern. They are not allowed to adjust any player's tracks from the central Tavern, but if it is the first Subterfuge action on their turn, they move their marker one space along the Diplomacy track.

Example: House Roselie gets 3 Action Points for Deploy and Task actions on the Spy action space. They also have "The Impaler", an In Game Claims card. They have two Spies in House Umbral's Tavern, and decide to take the Subterfuge Action. They remove one of their Spies, returning it to their Supply. As this is the first Subterfuge action House Roselie has taken this turn, they move their marker one space forward on the Diplomacy Track. They decide that they will reduce House Umbral's Strength by 1, so House Umbral must move their Strength marker one space to the left on their Town Track. House Roselie then decides to take the Subterfuge Action a second time, and removes their remaining Spy from House Umbral's Tavern, returning it to their Supply. As this is the second Subterfuge action they have taken this turn, they may not adjust their Diplomacy marker. They decide that they will reduce House Umbral's Intrigue by 1, so House Umbral must move their Intrigue marker one space to the left on their Town Track. As House Roselie has used the Subterfuge Action twice in the same turn to decrease an opponent's Strength and Intrigue, they reveal the completed In Game Claim "The Impaler", placing it face up in front of them.

V. Merchant Action Space

Deploy Actions

TRADESMAN

• For each Action Point spent, the player must add a Worker from their Supply as a Merchant to the Market in their Home Territory.
• When adding a Merchant, the player may discard any number of Merchant Workforce cards from their hand. They can always discard Joker Workforce cards, individually or in combination with Merchant Workforce cards. Then, the player increases the corresponding Trade Track on their Town Board by the total value discarded, moving the marker from left to right.
• The player may spend Action Points to deploy Merchants without discarding a corresponding Merchant or Joker Workforce card, therefore they do not increase the corresponding Trade Track on their Town Boards.

CARAVAN

• For each Action Point spent, the player moves Merchants from one Market to an adjacent Market.
• The number of Merchants (either 1, 2, or 3) that a player can move is indicated by the position of the Trade Track marker on the player's Town Board. They must move together from the same location to the same new location.
• Each movement to a new location is a new Caravan action (so it costs 1 Action Point).
• Merchants must move from a player's Market in the Home Territory to the central Market. Merchants may move from the central Market to any other Market.

Task Action

COMMERCE

• For each Action Point spent, the player must take a Commerce action.
• The player may take a Commerce action in the central Market or in an opponent's Market. If they do, they must remove one of their Merchants from that Market and return it to their Supply. If the Merchant was in the central Market, the player may only use the action to increase their Wealth or Trade. If the Merchant was in an opponent's Home Territory Market, the player may use the action to increase their Wealth, or Trade, or to exchange for Influence tokens.
• Taking the Commerce action in the central Market, the player selects one of the two options on the current Travelling Merchant card, either, exchange Trade for Wealth, or Wealth for Trade. Then the player does the following:
  • The player decreases the corresponding track on the Town Board by the number indicated on the left of the card.
  • The player increases the other track by the number indicated on the right of the card.
• Taking the Commerce action in an opponent's Market, the player does the following:
  • The player decreases the chosen track on the Town Board by the number indicated on the left of the card.
  • The opponent increases the corresponding track by the same amount.
  • The player then increases the other track, or, gains Influence tokens, as indicated on the right of the card.
• The player may take a Commerce action in their own Market. If they do, they must take one Anarchy marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy Track. The player may only use the action to increase their Wealth or Trade.
• Crossing a Threshold on their Town Board from right to left, while paying the Commerce costs, does not affect supplementing Action Points. Taking an Anarchy marker as the result of crossing the Threshold is only relevant when supplementing Action Points.

Example: The Travelling Merchant card is in play. House Culver-Lux has 3 Merchants in House Umbral's Market. They have 1 Action Point left for a Task action. Their Wealth is currently at "3" and their Trade is currently at "6". House Culver-Lux takes the Commerce Action, removing their Merchant from House Umbral's Market, and returning it to their Supply. House Culver-Lux announces that they will use Trade to take 3 Influence, which they can do as they are trading in an opponent's Market. House Culver-Lux moves their Trade marker one space to the left on their Town board, crossing the black line. As this was a part of the Commerce payment, House Culver-Lux does not have to take an Anarchy marker for crossing this Threshold. House Umbral moves their Trade marker one space to the right on their Town board while House Culver-Lux takes 3 Influence from the pool.

House Culver-Lux then decides to take an additional Commerce action supplementing an Action Point by moving their Trade marker one more space to the left. It does not cross a Threshold on their Trade track, so House Culver-Lux is not required to take an Anarchy marker. They remove a second Merchant, and this time move one down on the Wealth track, to increase their Trade track by two, while House Umbral increases their marker on the Wealth track by one.

Note: If House Culver-Lux wanted to take a third Commerce action they could because they still have one Merchant, and they have not crossed the Threshold when supplementing an Action Point. However this third time they would have to take an Anarchy marker, as they would cross the Threshold, so this would be the last time they could take the Commerce action this turn. Additionally, even though they would have crossed the Threshold, House Culver-Lux could still reduce their Trade marker in order to pay for Trade in the Commerce action.

VI. Banker Action Space

Deploy Actions

PROFITS

• For each Action Point spent, the player must discard any number of Banker Workforce cards from their hand. They can always discard Joker Workforce cards, individually or in combination with Banker Workforce cards. Then, the player increases the corresponding Wealth Track on their Town Board by the total value discarded, moving the marker from left to right.
• When discarding Banker cards, no Workers are placed in a player's Home Territory.

WAGES

• For each Action Point spent, the player uses the Advance, Sneak, or Caravan Deploy Actions as described above, to move the corresponding type of Worker from a Territory to an adjacent Territory.
• The number of Workers (either 1, 2, or 3) that a player can move is indicated by the position of the Wealth Track marker on the player's Town Board (not Strength, Intrigue, or Trade). They must move together from the same location to the same new location.
• Each movement to a new location is a new Wages action (so it costs 1 Action Point).
• Workers must move from a player's Home Territory to the central Territory. Workers may move from the central Territory to any other Territory.

Task Action

GRANT

• To take the Grant action the player must spend 2 Action Points. Therefore it may be necessary for a player to use supplementary Action Points to pay these costs. This is permitted, and a player may move one or two spaces to the left of the Threshold in order to fully pay for the Grant action, remembering to take an Anarchy token for crossing the line.

• The player must either:

  • Take one of their unassigned Guild cards, and add it to one of the two Guild spaces on their Town Board
  • or take the top card from the Claims deck and add it to their hand.

• If they already have two Guild cards, they may swap out an assigned Guild card for one of the unassigned Guild cards. They return the unwanted Guild card to their deck. (They may reassign it later).

• Assigned Guild cards in each space on the Town Board are worth 2 Influence at the end of the game.

• When the player draws the top card from the In Game Claims deck (instead of adding a Guild card), the player may take one Anarchy marker from the lowest available spot on the Anarchy track to immediately discard the drawn In Game Claim card. If they do not do this, they must keep that Claim card.

• When the player reveals the * Bidding Marker on any of the seven action spaces during the Action Phase, the player may immediately activate the Guild power of any one assigned Guild:

  • Soldier's Guild: The player increases their Strength and Intrigue tracks on their Town Board by 1. If a track is at its maximum, they can still take the action, but only increase the track not already at the maximum.
  • Spy's Guild: The player removes one of their Soldiers, Spies, or Merchants from any Territory placing it back in their Supply. Then they place a Soldier, Spy or Merchant from their Supply in the same Territory. They should not place the same type of Worker as the one they removed.
  • Merchant's Guild: The player increases their Trade and Knowledge Tracks on their Town Board by 1. If a track is at its maximum, they can still take the action, but only increase the track not already at the maximum.

Example: House Roselie has the Merchant's Guild from an earlier Grant action on their Town Board. During the Planning phase, they have placed their * Bidding marker on the first bid space of the Spy action space. House Umbral has placed a "2" Bidding marker to the right on the second bid space. House Roselie now must decide if the * is a "2" in which case they would have the highest bid on the Spy action space, or if they wish to activate their Merchant's Guild. If they activate their Merchant's Guild, the * is only worth 1 Bidding Point, meaning that House Umbral would have the highest bid. However this turn House Roselie only wants to deploy a single Spy, so they are ok not winning the highest bid. They decide to activate their Merchant's Guild. Announcing it to the other players, they then carry out the actions on the Merchant's Guild by increasing the Trade and Knowledge markers by 1 on their Town Tracks. Once House Roselie's Merchant's Guild has been resolved, House Umbral takes their turn using their 3 Spy Action Points. Finally, House Roselie will be able to use their 1 Spy Action Point.

VII. Scholar Action Space

Deploy Actions

EDUCATE

• For each Action Point spent, the player must discard any number of Scholar Workforce cards from their hand. They can always discard Joker Workforce cards, individually or in combination with Scholar Workforce cards. Then, the player increases the corresponding Knowledge Track on their Town Board by the total value discarded, moving the marker from left to right.
• When discarding Scholar cards, no Workers are placed in a player's Home Territory.

APPRENTICESHIP

• For each Action Point spent, the player draws the top Workforce card from the Workforce deck, and adds it to their hand.

Task Action

ALMS

By giving Alms to the poor, the player is showing benevolence towards their people, to win their approval.

• For each Action Point spent, the player must move their Alms marker one space along the Alms Track on the Map board. When they do this, if their Alms marker ends on a space with an Alms Bonus token, they immediately resolve the bonus on the token.
• There are 4 different Alms Bonus tokens:
  • The player draws the top Workforce card from the Workforce deck, and adds it to their hand.
  • The player takes a "1" Influence token.
  • The player moves their marker one space along the Diplomacy Track.
  • The player moves a marker one space along a Town Track of their choice.
• At the end of the game, if they reach the end of the Alms track, they will gain 5 Influence. If a player is still on the starting position of the Alms track at the end of the game, they will be penalized and lose 3 Influence.
• A player can never move beyond the last spot on the Alms track, and they may not take the Alms action when on this last spot.
• Additionally, they may take one Anarchy marker from their Town Board, and return it to the highest empty spot on the Anarchy track.

Example: House Umbral has 1 Action Point left for a Task action on the Scholar Action space. They use it to take the Alms action. House Umbral takes one Anarchy marker from their Town board, and returns it to the highest empty space on the Anarchy track. Then they move their marker forward one space on the Alms track. This puts them onto a space with an Alms Bonus token. The token gives House Umbral 1 Influence, so they take an Influence token from the pool. The Alms Bonus token remains in place for the next player.

D. Clean Up Phase

The first player should complete each of the below steps in order:

a. Discard the Travelling Merchant card. b. Discard the Royal Decree card. c. Discard any face up Workforce cards from the Side board if they have not already been discarded.

If the Crown marker is on the 6th week position, then the game is over, and you must proceed with End Game Scoring.

If the Crown marker is not on the 6th week position, then the game continues with a new week, starting with the Reset Phase.

End Game Scoring

At the end of the 6th week, players will add up their Influence, and the player with the most Influence will claim the Throne of Allegoria, and win the game.

Use the score pad to add up each player's score:

• Guild Cards: Gain 2 Influence for every Guild that a player has currently assigned below their Town Board.
• In Game Claims: Gain Influence as indicated for every completed In Game Claim.
• End of Game Claims: Gain Influence as indicated for every completed End of Game Claim.
• Unfulfilled Claims: Lose 3 Influence for every incomplete Claim card (both In Game and End of Game).
• Diplomacy Track: Gain Influence equal to the current position of their marker on the Diplomacy Track multiplied by the number of In Game Claim cards the player has successfully completed.
• Alms Track: Gain 5 Influence if the player reached the last space on the Alms track. Lose 3 Influence if the player is still on the first space on the Alms track.
• Anarchy Track: Lose X Influence equal to the current highest empty spot on the Anarchy Track multiplied by the number of Anarchy markers the player has on their Town Board.
• Influence Tokens: Gain total Influence for tokens earned during the game.
• Town Influence: Gain or lose Influence indicated by the End of Game seal for the position of the marker on each of the 5 Town Tracks.

Example: House Roselie scores a total of 39 Influence, and wins the game. As the new Lady of the Realm, Marion's title is The Absolutist, The Determined, The Cunning, The Generous, The Suspicious, The Impaler, Patron of House Roselie.

If players are tied, the tied player who completed the most Claim cards (both In Game and End of Game) will be the winner. If players are still tied, the tied player with the highest combined total of Town Track Influence will be the winner. If the game is still a tie then players share the victory.

At the end of the game, the winning player should combine the names of their completed Claims to the throne with the name of their Lord card, to create their epithet - describing their personality as the new monarch of the Realm.

Symbols, Guild Cards and Alms Bonus Tokens

Symbols: Roselie, House of Roses; Culver-Lux, House of Feathers; Antares, House of Storms; Umbral, House of Shadows; Soldier / Strength / Battlefield; Spy / Intrigue / Tavern; Merchant / Trade / Market; Banker / Wealth; Scholar / Knowledge; Deploy Action; Movement of Workers; Task Action; Anarchy; Alms; Diplomacy; End of Game Influence; In Game Influence; Negative End of Game Influence.

The Guild card and Alms Bonus token texts are the same as given under the Grant action (Banker Action Space) and the Alms action (Scholar Action Space) above.

Note: The Action Point tables on the Map board and Side board (how many Action Points, or In Game Claim cards, each player receives by Bid Points rank for each player count) and the Diplomacy, Anarchy and Town Track values are printed graphically and are not given as text in the rulebook.