Barony: Royal Edition
Barony: Royal Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Each player must conquer territories by building and protecting villages, strongholds, and cities. When at least one player becomes a Duke (or Duchess), the player with the most victory points is crowned King (or Queen) and wins the game!
Game Contents
- 50 terrain tiles
- 1 scoreboard
- 100 resource tokens
- 1 first player token
- 5 player reference sheets (1 per player)
- 35 knights (7 per player)
- 70 villages (14 per player)
- 10 strongholds (2 per player)
- 25 cities (5 per player)
- 5 scoring counters (1 per player)
- 9 spell tiles *
- 24 hero cards *
- 30 magic tokens *
- 25 control tokens * (5 per player)
Note: Items marked with an asterisk () are only needed for the expansion modules, which are explained at the end of these rules. Leave them in the box for your first game. Five of the terrain tiles (depicting purple Mysterious Locations) should also be left in the box for your first game, and are explained later in the rules.*
Important Game Concepts
The Terrain Tiles
The terrain tiles are used to build the game board (see Game Setup, below). Every game will feel a little different because this board can be set up differently each time you play. The terrain tiles are made up of 3 independent hexagons. Each hexagon represents one space of the board and contains one of the five types of terrain: mountains, forests, plains, fields, or lakes. (Mysterious locations are only used when playing with the Sorcery expansion. They are explained in detail later in the rulebook.) Each terrain type, except the lake, is associated with one type of matching resource token (see Resource Tokens, below).
- Mountains — If a player has a piece of any type on a mountain space, no other player's pieces may enter or move through the space.
- Forests — No city can be placed or built on a forest space.
- Plains & Fields — These are the most prosperous territories. The resources players can collect from plains and fields make it easier to gain a rank when you take Action F: Noble Title.
- Lakes — A lake space can never be moved through or occupied by player pieces of any type during the game. It is effectively a barrier.
The Player Pieces
Every player starts the game with 3 cities and 2 knights on the board (as explained in Game Setup, below). All other pieces begin the game off the board, in each player's personal supply. Each piece is constructed/recruited differently and has different abilities and effects as outlined below. (This is a summary for easy reference — the actions and effects listed here are explained later in the rules.)
Knights
- Recruitment — Knights are recruited in a city. See Action A: Recruit.
- Action - Movement — Knights move from one space to another to claim territory, attack opponents, or defend. See Action B: Move.
- Construction — One knight can be replaced with a village or a stronghold. See Action C: Construct.
- Defence — One knight can be destroyed by two opposing pieces of the same colour.
Strongholds
- Construction — A player can replace one of their knights on the board with a new stronghold. See Action C: Construct.
- Defence — A space occupied by a stronghold is inaccessible to opposing knights.
Villages
- Construction — A player can replace one of their knights on the board with a new village. See Action C: Construct.
- Action - New city — A village can be converted into a city. See Action D: New City.
- Defence — One village can be destroyed by two opposing knights of the same colour.
Cities
- Construction — A village can become a new city. Each new city earns a player 10 victory points. See Action D: New City.
- Defence — A space occupied by a city is inaccessible to opposing knights.
- Action - Recruitment — Knights are recruited in cities. See Action A: Recruit.
Game Setup
- Take 9 random terrain tiles per player and place them randomly to build a game board. Any unused tiles, and the tiles depicting purple mysterious locations, should be kept in the box. The layout of the game board is up to the players. Different shapes are allowed, but for your first game, create a board that is approximately as wide as it is tall.
- Place all of the resource tokens next to the game board. This is a general supply for all players.
- Each player chooses one colour and places in front of themselves the corresponding pieces: 5 cities, 2 strongholds, 7 knights, and 14 villages, and also a Player Reference sheet.
- Place the player's scoring counters on the 0 space of the scoreboard.
- The youngest player chooses who will go first (they can choose themself to go first). The starting player takes the first player token. Turn order will proceed clockwise around the table, starting with this player.
- Before play begins, each player will place 3 of their cities and 3 of their knights on the board.
Placement of the First Cities & Knights
After taking a moment to examine the board, the starting player places one city and one knight in a single space of their choosing. Then, in clockwise order, each other player does the same, except for the last player who places three cities and knights instead of one (on three different spaces). Then, proceeding anti-clockwise, each other player then places two cities and knights on two different spaces of their choosing. Therefore, the game will begin with each player having three spaces on the board with one of their cities and knights on them.
The remaining player pieces are kept off the board in each player's personal reserve.
When choosing a space to place a city (and knight), remember the following limitations:
- No cities (or knights) are ever allowed on lake spaces.
- No cities are allowed on forest spaces.
- No city may be placed on the same space as another city, or on a space adjacent to another city.
Playing the Game
The game is a succession of turns played in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player.
On their turn, a player can take one and only one of the following six actions:
- A - Recruit
- B - Move
- C - Construct
- D - New City
- E - Expedition
- F - Noble Title
A - Recruit
The player chooses one of their cities on the board and places up to 2 knights taken from their personal supply onto the same space as the city. If the city's space is adjacent to one or more lake(s), the player can place up to 3 knights instead.
There is no limit to the number of knights of one colour that are allowed on a space with a city owned by the same player.
If a player has no knights in their supply, they cannot take the Recruit action.
Example: The red city is adjacent to a lake. Thus, the red player recruits 3 knights.
B - Move
The player moves 1 or 2 of their knights to adjacent spaces. The two movements are completely independent (the starting and destination spaces of the knights can be different). However, the same knight cannot be moved twice.
There is no limit to the number of knights of the same colour that can be present in the same space.
The following movement rules must be followed whenever knights are moved (these points are also summarised on the reference sheets).
A knight cannot move to the following spaces:
- A lake space.
- A mountain space with an opponent's piece in it.
- A space containing at least 2 of the other pieces belonging to the same opponent (2 knights, or 1 knight & 1 village).
- A space with an opponent's city or stronghold.
Example: The green knight can only move to one of two spaces as shown by the arrows.
Co-existence and conflict:
- In a single space, knights of different players can co-exist as long as a player doesn't have more than one knight and/or village on the space.
- If a player who already has a knight and/or village present in a space moves a knight into the space (so they now have either 2 knights or 1 knight and 1 village in the space), all opposing knights and villages in that space are defeated and removed from the board. Defeated knights and villages are returned to their owners' supplies.
Important: When a player defeats an opponent's village, they take a resource token (see Resource Tokens, below) from the attacked player's supply, placing it in their own supply. The attacking player chooses the resource token to take.
If the attacked player has no resource tokens, the attacker takes nothing (no resource token is earned when a player destroys an opponent's knight).
Example: a) The yellow player moves a knight into a space that already contains a yellow knight, a red knight and a blue village. b) The 2 yellow knights defeat the opposing knight and village. The yellow player takes a resource token from the blue player (whose village was defeated).
C - Construct
The player replaces any (or all!) of their knights on the game board with a village or stronghold from their personal supply. Knights replaced in this way are returned to the player's supply.
For each construction, the player immediately earns 1 resource token corresponding to the terrain type of the space that the village or stronghold was constructed on.
The following construction rules must be followed whenever this action is taken (these points are also summarised on the reference sheets).
Example: There are only two spaces where the red player can construct strongholds or villages.
You cannot construct...
- If there is already a building on the space (village, stronghold, or city) regardless of who the owner is.
- If an opponent's knight is present on the space.
Notes: If 2 knights of the same colour are in the same space, only one of them will be replaced.
Buildings are limited to the quantity in players' supplies. If a player has no strongholds or villages left, they cannot construct more.
You cannot remove a previously constructed building from the board simply to rebuild it elsewhere.
Example: Red replaces one knight with a stronghold and the other with a village, then takes 1 mountain and 1 plains resource token.
Resource tokens:
Mountains, forests, plains and fields all provide players with a corresponding resource token after performing Action C: Construct. Each of the 4 different tokens are worth points which can be used during Action E: Noble Title (the gold number), or kept and added to the player's score at the end of the game (the silver number).
D - New City
The player replaces one of their villages on the board with a city from their supply, returning the replaced village to their supply.
When a player builds a new city, they immediately earn 10 victory points and must move their scoring counter down one space on the scoreboard.
Note: If a player has no cities remaining in their supply they cannot perform this action.
The following construction rules must be followed whenever a new city is built (these points are also summarised on the reference tiles).
Example: In this situation, only two blue villages can be replaced with cities.
A city cannot be built...
- If the village is in a forest space.
- If the village is in a space adjacent to a space containing a city (regardless of who owns the city).
- If an opponent's knight is present on the space.
Example: After replacing a village with a city, blue moves their score token down one space, having earned 10 victory points.
E - Expedition
The player takes two knights from their supply. One of them is permanently removed from the game (put back in the game box), and the other is placed on an empty space of the player's choice on the edge of the game board.
During the Expedition action, the knight cannot be placed…
- On a lake space.
- On a space that is not on the edge of the board.
- On a space containing another piece of any type, regardless of its owner. The space must be empty.
Example: The green player removes 1 knight from their supply out of the game and then places another on an empty space on the edge of the game board.
F - Noble Title
All players start the game with the title of Baron / Baroness. They can then take this action to gain a higher title, becoming a Viscount / Viscountess > Count / Countess > Marquis / Marchioness and then > Duke / Duchess.
To take this action, the player must discard resource tokens worth a minimum of 15 points (the gold numbers shown on resource tokens), and then move their scoring counter one space to the right on the scoreboard. Discarded resource tokens are returned to the general supply.
Important notes:
- The general supply doesn't give change if more than 15 resource points are spent!
- A player cannot advance by more than one rank at a time, even if they possess enough resource points to do so.
Example: The yellow player spends 16 resource points and moves one space to the right on the scoreboard. Yellow has advanced from Count to Marquis, and now has 45 points.
The End of the Game
When any player becomes a Duke / Duchess (the last column on the scoreboard with the 60, 70, and 80 point values), continue until the end of the round so that each player has played the same number of turns. (If the starting player is the first to become a Duke, for example, every other player will have one more turn. If the player to the right of the starting player is the first to become a Duke, the game will end immediately as all players will have had the same number of turns!)
Each player adds their unspent resource points (silver numbers on the resource tokens they are holding at the end of the game) to the victory points they have earned on the scoreboard. The player with the most total points will rule as the King or Queen of the land and wins the game!
Note: In case of a tie, it is the tied player who is furthest from the starting player in turn order who wins.
Example: The yellow player has 70 points on the scoreboard, and has three resource tokens left with 4 (silver) points on them. Yellow's final score will be 74 points!
Expansion - Sorcery
A magical wind blows over the baronies! The struggle for dominion over these lands has never been so fierce…
The Sorcery expansion adds a new dimension to the game: magic! By casting spells, players will be able to perform spectacular, game changing moves… but only if their opponents give them sufficient time to do so!
Extra Components
These extra components are required to play Barony with the Sorcery expansion included:
- 5 Mysterious Locations — Mysterious locations provide magic tokens to a player when they place knights upon them. Players cannot build villages, strongholds or cities on a mysterious location. Note: Each mysterious location has different artwork but the same effect. They all have purple backgrounds.
- 25 Control Tokens — These tokens indicate that a player has already visited a mysterious location. At the end of the game, each control token placed on a mysterious location is worth 3 victory points to its owner. Each player can only place 1 control token on each mysterious location.
- 30 Magic Tokens — These tokens are used by players to cast spells. They are gained by visiting mysterious locations.
- 9 Spell Tiles — Each spell allows players to perform a special action. Spells are divided into three categories: Movement (cyan cards), Recruitment (brown cards) and Building New Cities (orange cards). The "cost" to perform a spell (in magic tokens) is indicated on the left-hand side of each spell.
Changes to Game Setup
Setup the game as explained at the start of this rulebook, with the following changes:
- As when playing the base game, randomly select and place 9 terrain tiles per player to build the game board. However, ensure that the correct number of terrain tiles depicting Mysterious Locations are included when building the board, as shown in the table below:
| 2 players | 3 players | 4 players | 5 players |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
- Each player takes the 5 control tokens corresponding to their colour.
- Randomly draw 5 spell tiles and place them face up next to the game board. Return the 4 unused spells to the box, they will not be used.
- Place the magic tokens near the board in a general supply.
Placement of the First Cities & Knights: During game setup, in addition to the usual limitations, cities cannot be placed adjacent to a Mysterious Location (this is, however, possible during the course of the game when a player takes Action D: New City).
Changes to Gameplay
Exploring Mysterious Locations
Whenever a knight moves onto a mysterious location, the knight's owner places a control token on the location and receives magic tokens. These can be used to cast spells on a later turn.
The player receives:
- 3 magic tokens if that player is the first to visit this location (i.e. if no control token is already present).
- 2 magic tokens if that player is the second to visit the location.
- 1 magic token if that player is the third player to visit the location.
A mysterious location can only hold a maximum of 3 control tokens. If a knight moves to a mysterious location after this, the player will not add a control token and that location no longer provides magic tokens to players.
Important: Once a player has placed a control token on a mysterious location, they cannot place a second one on the same location and therefore cannot receive magic tokens from the location again. This also means that in 2-player games, each mysterious location can only hold a maximum of 2 control tokens (one per player).
At the end of the game, each control token on a mysterious location rewards 3 victory points to its owner (as denoted on the tokens).
Example: The green player moves their knight onto a Mysterious Location and places a control token on it. They receive 3 magic tokens for being the first player on this space.
G - Cast Spells
On your turn, instead of taking one of the six standard actions, you can choose a new action: Cast Spells. With this special action, you can either cast a single spell or combine different spells of the same category. To cast a single spell, you must first pay its cost by spending the number of magic tokens indicated on the spell tile. Then, use the effect of that spell immediately. To combine spells, you must first pay the cost of all the spells you wish to combine. (All of these spells must be of the same category.) Then, take the corresponding action with the added benefits of each spell you combine.
Notes:
- Players cannot cast the same spell more than once during the same action.
- Spells remain available to all players even after they have been cast.
- Some spells refer to "lone" knights or villages. A player piece is "lone" when it is the only piece on a space.
Examples of combining spells:
- By combining Velocity and Teleport and spending 2 Magic tokens, a player can move one of their knights 2 spaces (not 3) to a Mountain space occupied by an opponent's lone village.
- By combining Abundance, Petrify and Sanctuary and spending 4 magic tokens, a player can build a single city (not 2 or 3) on a forest space with one of their knights, and gain the corresponding resource token.
- By combining Charm and Portal and spending 3 magic tokens, a player can recruit 1 knight in all of their cities and use knights that have been removed from the game to do so.
Recruitment Spells:
- Charm — Cost: 1 magic token. Take Action A - Recruit to recruit up to 1 knight in all your cities.
- Illusion — Cost: 1 magic token. Take Action A - Recruit to recruit in a stronghold as if it were a city. (If combined with the Charm spell, recruit up to 1 knight in your cities and strongholds.)
- Portal — Cost: 2 magic tokens. Take the Action A - Recruit. Any knights that have been removed from the game by Action E - Expedition can be recruited with this action.
Move Spells:
- Velocity — Cost: 1 magic token. Take Action B - Move to move one of your knights 2 spaces.
- Teleport — Cost: 1 magic token. Take Action B - Move to move one of your knights to an adjacent Mountain space already occupied by an opponent's lone village.
- Tornado — Cost: 2 magic tokens. Take Action B - Move. One of your knights can defeat any opponent's lone knight or village in both your starting space and your destination space.
New City Spells:
- Abundance — Cost: 1 magic token. Take Action E - New City and earn 1 resource token corresponding to the terrain the city was built on.
- Petrify — Cost: 1 magic token. Take Action E - New City to build a city on a Forest space and/or adjacent to 1 of your other cities, but not adjacent to an opponent's city.
- Sanctuary — Cost: 2 magic tokens. Take Action E - New City to build a city on a space occupied by 1 of your knights (and no enemy pieces), as if it were a village.
Expansion - Heroes
It's time for the hero within you to stand tall and show what you are made of. Are you ready to lead the land?
Included in your game are 24 hero cards. These can be used with or without the Sorcery expansion. Hero cards give each player a special ability that only they can perform once per game. Once a player has used the ability on a hero card, the card should be removed from the game and cannot be used again.
During setup, players are dealt 4 hero cards, from which they select 2 to keep. Hero cards should be kept secret from the other players until revealed at the time they are put to use. Note that there are two copies of each card in the deck. Players may choose to keep both copies of the same card if they are dealt them.
Glossary of Hero Cards
1 - The Master Recruiter — When performing Action A - Recruit, this player can recruit 2 knights from a village (3 knights if the village is adjacent to a Lake).
2 - The Musterer — When performing Action A - Recruit, this player can recruit 1 knight to all their cities that currently have no knights on their spaces.
3 - The Berserker — When performing Action B - Move, one of this player's knights counts as two to attack an opposing village or knight. Steal a resource token from the attacked player if a village is defeated.
4 - The Sneak — When performing Action B - Move, this player can move a single knight 2 to 3 spaces, without any movement constraints. The move must end on an empty, non-lake space.
5 - The Rebuilder — As a free action during your turn, swap the position of one of your placed villages with one of your placed strongholds. (This cannot be done if it causes an opposing knight to be illegally on the same space as your stronghold.)
6 - The Expansionist — As a free action during your turn, place a village directly on an empty space adjacent to one of your already placed villages. Immediately receive the appropriate resource token.
7 - The Sly One — At the end of any player's turn, as a free action, construct a new city from one of your villages as if you were performing Action D - New City.
8 - The Spy — When performing Action E - Expedition, this player can do so on any empty space on the board (that is not a Lake).
9 - The Influencer — When performing Action F - Noble Title, this player can move up in noble rank for a cost of 12 victory points (instead of 15).
The following hero cards should not be used without the Sorcery expansion:
10 - The Sorcerer — This card is worth 2 magic tokens.
11 - The Vanisher — As a spell, this player can move their knight(s) from one Mysterious Location to another one. (Cost: 2 magic tokens.)
12 - The Conjuror — This player may perform any one of the 1-cost spells for free (even a 1-cost spell not in use in this game). This spell may be combined with other spells.