15 Dias: The Spanish Golden Age Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Contents
• Content Overview
• Game Setting
• Game Sequence
  • 1. Drawing Hands
  • 2. Election of Powers
  • 3. Family Confrontation
  • 4. Individual Confrontation
  • 5. Characters Management
  • 6. Victory Check
• The Player Turn in Detail
  • 1. Special Action
    • 1.1. Play a New Main Character (mandatory)
    • 1.2. Play a "Covered" Character
    • 1.3. Manage the Estate
    • 1.4. Hiring a Conspirator (Optional Variant)
      • 1.4.1. Play from Hand
      • 1.4.2. Plot
  • 2. Common Action
    • 2.1. Playing a Court Ability
  • 2.2. Playing an Administrative Ability
• Two Player's Game

Goal of the Game

15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age is a game for 4 or more players (always an even number of players; a 2 players variant is included on page 16) with the aim of recreating a confrontation between two family factions within the Spanish Court as a backdrop, but with each individual player's aspirations to become the new Prime Minister or the King's Favourite ("Valido") at play.

For a round sequence, players will have to prove their skills in managing their influence in three power areas: Government, Society and Clerical, both working together as a family and playing alone (against the other players). At the end of the game, the winner will be the player who scores more "Affection Points" from the young king, thus gaining the right to proclaim the famous quote from the Count-Duke of Olivares in the XVII century: "Everything is mine now!".

Contents

A box of 15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age includes:

• 77 Court cards, split into 65 Characters and 12 Special Situations.
• 8 Prince cards.
• 3 Power cards.
• 1 Administrative Ability Control card.
• 20 Conspirator cards.
• 8 Family tokens.
• 28 Ducats.

Content Overview

1. Character card: it shows an archetypical character in the court of Madrid in 1621. Each Character card includes the following features:

   • 1.1. Name of the Character: Name of the rank or position.
   • 1.2. Initiative: It determines when the player who uses this card must play.
   • 1.3. Powers: These numbers show how influential the Character is in each of the three main areas of 15 Días (Government, Society and Clerical).
   • 1.4. Influence Range: It shows which Power level from other Characters can be influenced by this Character (i.e. Constable of Castile could influence a Character who has 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 as Clerical power level since the range of this power is 3-7).
   • 1.5. Court Ability: It affects other players' Characters.
   • 1.6. Administrative Ability: it grants a bonus for mostly drawing and discarding cards.

2. Special Situation card: This card is added to a Character at play (called Main Character), empowering or weakening him or her. This card may even affect the capacity to play some cards by the opponent.

3. Prince card: It shows the Affection Points a player or family can gain in a Family or Individual Confrontation. At the end of the game, the player with most Affection Points, adding up the points achieved by his family and those on his player's area, will be the winner. This card has two sides: the back side shows the Affection Points a family can gain (they are always the same: 5) and the front of the card shows the Affection Points a single player can gain (they could vary). Furthermore, certain Bell icons may be found on the front side of the card, which could determine the end of the game. When the third Bell icon is drawn, the game ends (page 8).

Game Setting

1. Determining Families: Players are split up in two groups or Families with an equal number of members. To know which Family a player belongs to, a number of Lerma and Olivares Family tokens equal to the number of players must be drawn and dealt, giving one token to each player. The token shows which family each player is attached to. Finally, players sit down around the table so each one has a member from his Family next to him. The Family token is placed face-up (showing its "active" side) in front of the player.

2. Building the Deck and Bank: Stack the Court and Affections decks.

   • A) Court Deck: All the Character and Special Situation cards are shuffled creating a single deck placed in the middle of the table.
   • B) Affection Deck: All the Prince cards are shuffled creating a deck placed near the Court Deck, with the side showing 5 Affection Points facing up.
   • All 28 Ducats are placed within a hand's reach of all players.

3. Placing the Power and Administrative Ability Control cards: The 3 Power cards are placed next to the Court and Affection decks. The Administrative Ability Control card is placed near the decks face-up (i.e. playing Administrative Abilities is free).

4. Placing the Conspirators (Optional): All the Conspirator cards are shuffled and 4 Character cards are drawn. They are placed face-up in the middle of the table. The other Conspirator cards are returned to the box, since they will not be used in the game. (The Conspirator icon with end game cost shows a -3.)

5. Drawing the Starting Hand and Ducats: Finally, each player, beginning with the youngest player and going clockwise, draws 7 cards from the Court deck and 2 Ducats. If a player draws more than 2 Special Situation cards, he must show his hand, and then discard it and draw a new hand until he has 2 or less Special Situation cards. The Olivares Family will be the first to play.

Everything is now set to play 15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age!

Game Sequence

15 Días can be played in up to 4 game rounds. Each game round consists of 6 phases. In these two phases, Family and Individual Confrontations, players play their turns.

1. Drawing Hands.
2. Election of Powers.
3. Family Confrontation.
4. Individual Confrontation.
5. Characters Management.
6. Victory Check.

1. Drawing Hands

Reshuffle the Court discard pile and the Court deck (except during the first round). Then, each player, beginning with the youngest player, replenishes his hand up to 7 cards. The same rule is applied as in "Drawing the Starting Hand and Ducats" above: if a player draws more than 2 Special Situation cards, he shall discard the entire hand and draw a new hand until he has 2 or less Special Situation cards. Subsequently, if necessary, the Administrative Control card is refreshed face-up, showing that playing Administrative Abilities comes free again.

Attention! If at any time during the round the Court deck runs out, the Court discard pile is reshuffled to build another Court deck.

2. Election of Powers

Families decide in this phase which Power (Government, Society or Clerical) will be at stake during the Family Confrontation.

The Starting Family (the Olivares Family in the first round; in next rounds, the losing side of the Family Confrontation in the previous round) will assign a Power card to the Opposing Family. Then, the Opposing Family must choose one of the remaining 2 Power cards and hand it to the Starting Family. If there is no agreement between the players of a Family, the card must be assigned randomly.

As explained in the "Contents Overview" section, each Power card shows the reference power upon which each Family has to play in every aspect of the game (Court Abilities game and determining the winner of the Confrontations). For example: if the Olivares Family has been assigned the Clerical Power card (from the Lerma Family), this means that to determine the winner of the Family Confrontation phase, the Olivares Family must keep in mind the Clerical values from his Characters, and also, when Olivares players play Court Abilities against the Lerma Family, they must keep in mind the Clerical power level from their opponents' Characters.

The remaining Power card must be put aside. As in the Family Confrontation phase, this card will be the reference power for all the players in the Individual Confrontation phase.

3. Family Confrontation

Families compete against each other in this phase in order to win the affection of the young king. The winner will be the Family which, after adding up all power levels from all its Characters on the table, gets the higher score.

At the beginning of this phase all the players secretly choose a Character card from their hands and place it facedown on the table. Once all the players have played a Character card facedown, they reveal them at the same time.

From now on, players have to play their turns (for more details, turns are explained on page 9), beginning with the player whose Character has the highest Initiative. Then, the player whose Character has the next higher Initiative will play, and so on. In case of a tie, the first player to play will be the one with the highest level power at stake; if the tie persists, the player whose Character has the highest Power levels added will play first. After all players have played their turns, a new round of turns begins, beginning with the highest Initiative.

In the case that a player has lost his Main Character (consequence of playing Court Abilities by an opponent), the player would have Initiative 0 and must play another Character card (as a Main Character) on the table, unless he has only 3 cards in hand and/or has left the round, which will mean that he cannot play a new Character card.

This process will be repeated until all players have only 3 cards in hand and/or they have left the round. At this moment, the Power reference levels of each Character are added up and the Family with the highest result wins the Family Confrontation: a player from this Family draws a Prince card and lays it showing the family side (the side showing the people icon; that is, all the players from this Family have scored 5 Affection Points).

In case of a tie, neither side wins. A Prince card is discarded facedown (the family side up).

Next, players have to move their Special Situations played on the table to the discard pile, and the Characters played on the table are returned to their respective hands.

Example: Gonzo, Paco, Nacho, Rosa, Marian and Óscar are playing a 15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age game. Gonzo, Marian and Óscar play the Olivares Family and Nacho, Paco and Rosa play the Lerma Family. The Family Confrontation phase is on at the moment. The Olivares Family has as reference Power the Clerical Power and Lerma Family the Society Power. This means that Olivares Family must keep in mind the Clerical Power levels from its Main Characters to be the winner in this phase. Besides, every time their members play Court Abilities against the opponent Family, they have to use the Clerical Influence Range from the Characters that have been discarded in order to play the Court Ability.

The phase ends, and the Olivares Family has as Main Characters (played on the table): Cardinal (8 Clerical Power), Visionary Nun (6) and Succesful Playwright (4). Adding up these values, The Olivares' total Power is 18. The Lerma Family has as Main Characters: The King's Grand Huntsman (1 Society power), The King's Grand Master of the Hunt (6) and English Ambassador (0). The total Power is 7. Therefore, the Olivares Family wins this phase easily and draws a Prince card which is placed with its family side face-up. All the Main Characters are returned to hands, the Clerical and Society Power cards are set aside and now the reference Power is Government. The Individual Confrontation begins...

4. Individual Confrontation

Like in the previous phase, players strive to win the affection of the young king, but not as a family any more, but individually. In this phase, as in the Family Confrontation, the reference will be the remaining Power card and the winner will be the player whose Main Character has the highest Power level.

This phase is very similar to the previous one. Players will play turns following the previous structure (i.e. playing a Character card facedown, playing turns beginning with the Character who has the highest Initiative and so on). This phase ends when all the players have no cards in hand and/or have left the phase. Then, the player whose Character has the highest reference Power will be the winner. The player draws an Affection card and places it face-up (family side facedown) on his play area. This card MAY show Bell icons, used to mark the end of the game. If three Bell icons are drawn, the game ends (see below, "Victory Check"). In the case of a tie, nobody wins, so the first Prince card is drawn and it is discarded face-up. In this case, the Bell icon is taken into account to determine the end of the game.

Last, the Character cards played on the table are returned to their respective hands and the Special Situation cards are discarded to the Court discard pile.

5. Characters Management

In this phase, all the Characters under the Family token or "Estate" are returned to the respective player hands. The "Estate" or "Hacienda" are to be understood as Characters "managing" the player's lands. For this reason, each card returned to the hand must be considered as a Ducat (up to 2 Ducats). For further details about the "Estate" go to page 11.

6. Victory Check

The game will finish in two cases:

1. The 4th round is over.
2. When, after drawing or discarding a Prince card in the Individual Confrontation, the 3rd Bell icon is shown (this represents the death of Philip III of Spain).

In both cases, all the Affection points are added up (won both in Family and Individual phases). Ducats are exchanged for Affection points (1 point for each 2 Ducats [printed as "lot discarded"; the sense is presumably "not discarded", as the Ducats are kept, not spent]). Affection points are subtracted for every Conspirator that the player holds (if you chose to play with this variant). The player who has scored the most Affection points is the winner and becomes the new King's Favourite.

In case of a tie, the players with an even score lose their chances to become the King's favourite, being the winner the next one down with the most Affection points. If all players are tied, nobody wins and disgrace befalls both families...

If the game is not over, a new round begins, beginning with the "Drawing Hands" phase.

End of game possibilities (diagram on page 9, captioned as printed): 2+1=3; 1+1+1=3; 0+1+2=3; 2+2>3.

The Player Turn in Detail

The player's turns are the core of 15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age. As explained above, the turn is played in two phases of the round: Family and Individual Confrontations.

In a turn, a player can undertake two actions (special and common). It is compulsory to play at least one common action. The turn must be played in the following order:

1. Special Actions:
   • 1.1. Play a new Main Character (mandatory).
   • 1.2. Play a "covered" Character.
   • 1.3. Manage the Estate.
   • 1.4. Hire and Play a Conspirator.
2. Common Actions (mandatory):
   • 2.1. Play a Court Ability.
   • 2.2. Play an Administrative Ability.
   • 2.3. Play a Special Situation.
   • 2.4. Manage the Estate.
   • 2.5. Pass.
   • 2.6. Leave the phase.

1. Special Action

1.1. Play a New Main Character (mandatory)

It may be the case that a Main Character has been discarded as a consequence of playing Court Abilities (Cancel or Attract) by an opponent. In this case, the player whose Character has been discarded must play a new Main Character.

Besides, as explained in the Family Confrontation phase, if a Main Character is discarded, the player must play in the next turn with a 0 Initiative level for his Main Character (therefore the last one to play) and must play this action firstly. It may be the case that several players do not have a Main Character in the same round of turns, in which case, the last player with a Main Character on the table (after playing the turn) will choose which player without Main Character would play next. When a player without a Main Character plays his turn (remember, players have to play this action), he chooses which player without a Main Character will play next and so on.

Example: It is the Family Confrontation phase in a 6 players' game. Gonzo, Nacho and Paco have played their Main Characters but they have been cancelled and, therefore, discarded from their game areas. A new round of turns begins. Gonzo, Nacho and Paco will be the last players (0 Initiative). The rest of players play their respective turns taking into account their Main Character Initiatives. Rosa played Grand Upholder (15 Initiative); Marian, Grand Chaplain (7) and Óscar, Constable of Castile (1). They will play following this turn order. Then, when Óscar ends his turn, he chooses which player will be next (Gonzo, Nacho or Paco). He chooses Paco who must play a new Main Character as Special Action. When Paco's turn ends, he chooses which player will be the next (Nacho or Gonzo) and so on.

1.2. Play a "Covered" Character

Players can play another (but only one) Character card which is played under the Main Character, but showing only its Power levels; this is the reason this Character is "covered". The Main Character acts as a shield or protection of the "covered" Character. To that end, the "covered" Character must have the reference Power value within the Influence Range of the Character "covering" it.

The "covered" Character cannot be targeted by Court Abilities, although they can be targeted by Special Situation cards. Besides, if the Character who "covers" is discarded or drawn to a hand by an opponent, the "covered" Character is no longer "covered", becoming the Main Character, and thus being able to be targeted by Court Abilities as usual.

Last but not least, when reference Power values are added up, the "covered" Characters' reference values are added too. Besides, when the phase is out, the "covered" Characters are returned to their respective hands.

Example: Resuming the previous example hand, we find ourselves at the Individual Confrontation; the reference power is Government and Rosa wants to play a "covered" Character. She has Apostolic Nuncio (6 Government power and "5-9" Influence Range) as the Main Character. She has Lord High Steward in hand (7 Government power). As the Steward power level is in the Nuncio Influence range ("5-9"), she can play the Steward as "covered" Character. She places this card under the Nuncio card (showing its level). If a player wants to attack the Lord High Steward with Cancel or Attract Court Abilities, he has to remove the Nuncio from the Rosa's play area first. Besides, if the Family Confrontation would end at this moment, Rosa would have a 13 power reference, adding up both Government power values (6+7), a good total to stand a chance to win the phase.

1.3. Manage the Estate

Players can place a Character card under their Family tokens. This Character is not taken into account when adding the Power reference levels, nor can it be targeted by Special Situations or Court Abilities. This card remains under the token until the Characters Management phase. At this moment, the Character card is returned to the player's hand and he receives 1 Ducat for each card returned in this way (2 Ducats as maximum).

1.4. Hiring a Conspirator (Optional Variant)

Players can hire one of the four Conspirators which are in the game area. To that end, the player must discard two Character cards in the "Estate" (that is, under the Family token). A player can hire as many Conspirators as he wishes, but can only play one at a time. The rest of hired Conspirators will be facedown next to its Family token, if applicable. Once a Conspirator is hired, and during the first turn of each phase, the player will choose whether the Conspirator is played from his hand or the Conspirator will try to plot.

1.4.1. Play from Hand

In this case, the card works as any other Character card, except for the fact that it has no Administrative Ability. If the Conspirator is discarded (consequence of Cancel Court Ability), he does not go to the Court Discard pile: the owner will place the Conspirator facedown, next to its Family token. A Conspirator can be drawn by an opponent with Replace and Attract Court Abilities, or Spy Administrative Ability, but at the beginning of the following Confrontation phase (Family or Individual), the player who drew the Conspirator must return it to the player who hired it first. Then, the owner of the Conspirator will decide how to play him again (from hand or plotting).

1.4.2. Plot

If a Conspirator plots, this card is not taken into account when checking the winner, nor can it be targeted by Court and/or Administrative Abilities. In this case, only the Conspirator Ability will be played. These Abilities are explained in the 15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age Conspirator Reference card.

Besides, Conspirator card owners should keep in mind that Conspirator cards subtract Affection points at the end of the game.

2. Common Action

2.1. Playing a Court Ability

As explained above, the Court Abilities always target the opponents' Main Characters. In his turn, a player can discard a Character card to play a Court Ability on it and "attacking" an opponent's Main Character. To determine if a Court Ability is effective against its target, taking into account the reference Power in the Confrontation, the "Attacker" Influence range must cover the target Power value. There are 4 Court Abilities:

• 2.1.1. Cancel: sends the target to the Court discard pile.
• 2.1.2. Replace: swaps the Main Characters of both the player who played the Replace Court Ability and the attacked player.
• 2.1.3. Attract: allows the player to draw the targeted Main Character and place him in the attacker's hand. But then the attacker must give another Character from his hand or 1 Ducat in return.
• 2.1.4. Manipulate: allows using the target's Court or Administrative Abilities from another Main Character. The targeted Character cannot play their Abilities against himself (for example, he cannot be cancelled using his own Ability). Besides, it allows to "chain" several Manipulate Abilities from other Main Characters.

Example: It is the Individual Confrontation phase and the reference Power is Government. Gonzo wants to play Replace Court Ability because he has the Grand Commissioner for Oaths as Main Character (5 Government power value, a medium-low value) and he wants to improve this number. Óscar has the English Ambassador as the Main Character (8 Government power), so Gonzo plays and discards Secretary of the Treasury, who has the Replace Ability. His Government Influence range is "4-8", so it can affect the English Ambassador (8). The Main Characters are swapped. Gonzo has the English Ambassador now (8) and Óscar has to keep the Grand Commissioner for Oaths (5)... Óscar has just lost 3 power reference points consequence of Gonzo's play!

Reminder: In the Family Confrontation phase, the Influence range to play Court Abilities is the Reference power chosen by the Family. For example, if the Olivares Family chose the Society Power, the game of Court Abilities against the Lerma Family will have as a reference the Society Power, nor Clerical nor Government.

2.2. Playing an Administrative Ability

Although they could be similar to Court Abilities, these Abilities do not target Main Characters nor need the current Confrontation reference Power to be played. However, they have their own limitations. The first Administrative Ability played in a Confrontation is played for free, but the next ones have 1 Ducat cost. To show this effect, the Administrative Ability Control card must be flipped (facedown). This card will be flipped again (faceup) at the beginning of each Drawing Hands phase.

Note: Keep in mind that Manipulate Court Ability could target Administrative Abilities, so it has no cost!

• 2.2.1. Reinforce: This Ability allows the player to draw a card from the Court deck.
• 2.2.2. Invest: This Ability allows the player to discard up to 2 cards from hand (not taking into account the card played to Invest), and the player draws the same number of discarded cards from the Court deck. Then, he draws an additional card from the deck.
• 2.2.3. Spy: The player sees another player's hand, then he trades a card from his hand for a card from the opponent's hand, or he gives 1 Ducat. Then, he draws a card from the Court deck.
• 2.2.4. Enhance: The player searches the Court discard pile and he draws a card.

Attention!: Although it is not recommended (in the first rounds of the game especially), players can play Court and/or Administrative Abilities against their own Family members during the Family Confrontation phase.

2.3. Playing a Special Situation

The Special Situation cards are aimed to strengthen or weaken Main Characters. The player plays the Special Situation card on a Main Character and this card remains attached to the Character until he has left the game area: either by discarding (Cancel) or drawn by another player (Attract), or because it is the end of the phase. However, if the Character with a Special Situation is traded for another Main Character (Replace), the Character keeps attached to the Special Situation.

The Main Characters can only have 1 Special Situation at a time, and it must be highlighted that a "covered" Character could have 1 Special Situation.

Special Situation cards:

• 2.3.1. Grandee of Spain: The Character cannot be discarded (it cannot be Cancelled).
• 2.3.2. Loyal to the Cause: The Character can only be discarded (he cannot be Replaced, Attracted or Manipulated, but he can be Cancelled).
• 2.3.3. Bureaucratic Incompetent: Any payment in Ducats a player must do is doubled.
• 2.3.4. Double Agent: If this Character is discarded (Cancelled), he is replaced by another Character from the Court discard pile.
• 2.3.5. Safe in Position: The Power values from the Character are increased by +3 points (but not his Influence range).
• 2.3.6. Charged and Accused: The Power values from the Character are reduced by -3 points (but not his Influence range).

2.4. Manage the Estate

As explained in the Special Action, a Character could be sent to manage the Estate as a common action. The same rules on page 11 apply. It is also valid to send a Character to manage the Estate as a Special Action and do it again as a Common action, sending 2 Characters in the same turn.

2.5. Pass

A player can decide to pass, in which case, he must discard one card from his hand. When a new round of turns begins, the player who passed may play again.

Attention: A player cannot pass in the Family Confrontation phase if he only has 3 cards in hand (in other words, a player can never have fewer than 3 cards in hand in this phase).

2.6. Leave the Phase

A player can choose to leave the phase, in which case, the player cannot play more actions in the current Confrontation. The player discards until he has 4 cards in hand in case of the Family Confrontation, or 4 or less cards in hand in case of the Individual Confrontation. The player leaves his hand of cards face down, and the Initiative from his Main Character is not taken into account. The player's hand of cards cannot be targeted by Court and/or Administrative Abilities. However, his Main Character can be targeted by other players and his reference Power value can be added up to determine winner.

Two Player's Game

Although it is highly recommended to play 15 Días: The Spanish Golden Age with 4 players or more, it is possible to play only with 2 players. The Game Setup and other rules are the same except for:

In the Family Confrontation phase, a card is drawn from the Court Deck and placed in the middle of the table. The drawn card has to be a Character, so, if a Special Situation is drawn, it must be discarded until a Character is drawn. This card will be the player's "Relative" and his Power values will be added up to determine the winner in the Family and Individual Confrontations. Besides, the "Relative" may be stolen or discarded by the opponent, in which case, a new Character card must be drawn from the Court Deck to become the new "Relative".