Boże Igrzysko Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Board
• How to Read These Rules
• Setup
• Course of Play
• Managing Estates
  • Phase One: Estate Income
  • Phase Two: Noble Clientele
• Politics
  • Phase Three: Granting the Mace
  • Phase Five: Events
  • Phase Four: Royal Army
  • Phase Six: Deputies to the Sejm
• Magnate Actions
  • Phase Seven: New Estates
  • Phase Eight: Special Actions
  • Steward
  • Gdańsk
  • Diplomacy
  • Moving Player Dice
  • Liberum Veto
  • Confederation
  • Colleges
  • Build a Town
  • Phase Nine: Private Armies
• Wars
  • Phase Ten: Magnate Campaigns
  • Phase Eleven: Enemy Invasions
    • Increasing the Strength of the Neighboring Powers
    • Enemy Invasions
    • The Habsburg Empire
    • The Ottoman Empire
    • The Teutonic Order, Sweden, Prussia
  • Phase Twelve: Relief of the Royal Army
    • Relief of Vienna
  • Phase Thirteen: Enemy Expansion
    • Expansion of Habsburg Influence Markers
    • Expansion of the Ottoman Empire from the Habsburg Empire Enemy Field
• Administration
  • Phase Fourteen: Plundering the Country
    • Undefended Provinces
    • Defended Provinces
    • Provinces at Peace
    • Habsburg Influence
  • Phase Fifteen: Prestige Points
    • Glory of War
    • Political Advantage
    • Luxury Expenses
  • Phase Sixteen: End of Turn
• End of Game
  • Victory
• Four-Player Variant
  • Initial Setup
  • Enemy Invasions
• Optional Rules (Historical)
  • Restrictions on Concluding Treaties
  • Greater Durability of Treaties
  • Private Duchies
• Author's Comment
• Comment on the Polish Edition
• Credits

Components

• 32 private army tokens — 4 sets of 8 tokens (4 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 artillery) in white, red, blue and yellow
• 9 royal army tokens (4 infantry, 4 cavalry, 1 artillery) in gold
• 2 Cossack army tokens (2 cavalry) in light brown
• 48 influence tokens — 4 sets of 12 tokens in white, red, blue and yellow
• 80 player dice — 4 sets of 20 dice in white, red, blue and yellow
• 12 king dice in gold
• 125 enemy dice — 25 black, 25 green, 25 brown, 30 orange, 20 purple
• 4 six-sided dice for play (abbreviated: d6)
• 64 player discs — 4 sets of 16 discs in white, red, blue and yellow
• 10 Habsburg influence markers in purple
• 8 steward discs in gray
• 2 large city discs in gray
• 5 large estate-wealth discs in black
• 1 large treaty disc in gold
• 29 gold tokens of value 1
• 31 gold tokens of value 5
• 2 pawns in black
• Hetman's mace (Buława hetmańska)
• 4 player aid cards
• Rulebook

Game Board

• Enemy field I — the Teutonic Order in the first turn, Sweden in the second and third turns, Prussia in the fourth turn of the game.
• Enemy field II — Muscovy.
• Enemy field III — the Tatars.
• Enemy field IV — the Ottoman Empire.
• Enemy field V — the Habsburg Empire.
• Province track of wealth.
• Commonwealth track — represents the four consecutive turns of the game.
• Province fields — Poland is divided into 5 provinces: Prussia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Little Poland (Małopolska), Great Poland (Wielkopolska).
• Prestige points track.
• Coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Both Nations — place the gold king dice and the royal army tokens on it.
• Sejm field — a table listing the special actions and their cost.
• Table listing the order of stages and phases in a turn.
• Gdańsk.
• Royal Court field.
• Royal Army field — place the royal army on it at its current strength for the given turn.
• Table of prices and characteristics of military units.
• Royal Army strength table.
• Stewards field — place 8 steward discs and 2 city discs on it.
• Cossacks field — place 2 Cossack tokens on it.
• Estate (latyfundia) fields. Each province has one estate track. It is printed with fields marked with numbers, whose value increases the closer they are to the borders of the Commonwealth. They represent estates and their value in prestige points — the estates worth the most are the ones located closest to the borders and most exposed to enemy invasion.

An example enemy field shows: the enemy's strength in each of the 4 consecutive turns in a 3-player game; the enemy's strength in each of the 4 consecutive turns in a 4-player game; the prestige points to be gained for a raid on the enemy; and a space for the treaty disc.

How to Read These Rules

The basic rules of the game are printed in black and are marked with a chapter and sub-chapter number, to help players find the rule they are interested in at any given moment. The layout of the rules follows the order of the phases; additional rules, the author's commentary, and the publisher's notes are placed at the end of the rulebook.

Example: throughout the rulebook you will find examples printed in this color (in red in the original). An example always immediately follows the rule point it directly relates to, unless it concerns several related rules. To better absorb the rules of the game we recommend studying the examples with the game's components laid out as shown in the diagrams in the rulebook.

Note: all examples included in the game are based on the values of the game's fields and the rules for three players.

Author's note: throughout the rulebook you will find the author's notes printed in this color (in blue in the original). These notes explain the author's design decisions regarding the mechanics used, and give historical background for these particular choices rather than others. You may of course ignore them, but sometimes the answer to the question "Why does this rule work this way?" makes it easier to remember.

Setup

A player disc placed on an estate track must always be placed on the free field with the lowest value (as close as possible to the start of the track) — so the first disc placed will go on the first field of the track. If another disc is placed on that track, it goes on the next free field with the lowest value, and so on.

Each player chooses one set of dice, tokens and discs in a given color for themselves. Each such set (the so-called player's pool of markers) consists of: 20 player dice, 16 player discs, 12 influence tokens, 4 infantry tokens, 3 cavalry tokens, 1 artillery token.

Estate wealth discs must be placed, one each, on every province wealth track, on the field of value 3 (marked with a dot).

Once every player has placed one disc on the board, the Hetman's mace is passed to the next player (clockwise) and the whole procedure is repeated. When that is finished, the Hetman's mace is again passed to the next player (clockwise) and the whole procedure is repeated once more. Every player will thus have three of their own discs on the map. Player discs may be placed on estate tracks in different provinces.

Roll a die to choose the first player. That player receives the Hetman's mace — the symbol of the first player. Starting from that player, and going clockwise, players each place one of their own player discs on the board, on one of the estate tracks.

Place the (gold) king dice and the (gold) royal army tokens on the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Both Nations.

Note: in a four-player game, Rule 11.1 applies.

Each player receives 10 gold (zł). The remaining money tokens are placed next to the board; they will serve as the "treasury".

Place one pawn on the first field of the Commonwealth track, marking the Jagiellonian dynasty. Place the second pawn on the first field of the Stages-of-Play track, marking the Estate Income phase.

Place the steward and city discs on the Stewards field.

Place the enemy dice representing the troops of the neighboring states, and the Habsburg influence markers, next to the board.

Each player places one of their own player discs in front of the prestige points track. These discs will be used to mark the current prestige values earned by the players.

Place the two Cossack tokens on the Cossacks field.

Once the above steps have been completed, the game may begin.

Course of Play

Boże Igrzysko lasts four turns, each corresponding to one of the periods in the history of the Commonwealth of Both Nations. The first turn corresponds to the period of the reign of the Jagiellonian dynasty on the Polish throne. The second turn is the period of the first elected kings and the Vasa dynasty. The third turn is the period of the reign of the "Piasts" — Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki and Jan III Sobieski. The fourth turn is the period of the reign of the last elected kings, up to the end of Polish statehood.

Each turn consists of 5 stages, which in turn consist of a varying number of phases. Stages and phases are played in order — to begin the next phase, the previous phase must be finished.

The stages and phases are played in the following order:

Stage I — Managing Estates

1. Estate Income
2. Noble Clientele

Stage II — Politics 3. Granting the Mace 4. Royal Army 5. Events 6. Deputies to the Sejm

Stage III — Magnate Actions 7. New Estates 8. Special Actions 9. Private Armies

Stage IV — Wars 10. Magnate Campaigns 11. Enemy Invasions 12. Relief of the Royal Army 13. Enemy Expansion

Stage V — Administration 14. Plundering the Country 15. Prestige Points 16. End of Turn

Managing Estates

Phase One: Estate Income

In this phase, players collect income from their estates; cash is taken from the treasury. The amount of cash a player receives is equal to the sum of the value of his estates plus the work of the stewards he has employed.

Each player disc on an estate field gives him as much gold as the current wealth of that province, read from the province wealth track.

A steward adds two gold to the value of the estate on which he is employed.

The minimum amount of money a player receives in the income phase is 10 gold. If a player would receive less money from his estates, he draws enough to bring the total up to ten gold.

Example: In Lithuania, the province wealth is 3 points. Sapieha (red) will therefore receive eight gold from this province (six for two estates and two for one steward), while Radziwiłł (white) and Potocki (blue) each receive 3 gold (they each have one estate).

During the game the wealth of provinces will change. When a province enjoys peace, its wealth will grow. If a province falls victim to an invasion that is repelled, its wealth does not change. If, however, an invasion of the province cannot be repelled and it comes under enemy occupation, its wealth falls.

Once all players have laid their influence tokens on the map, turn them value-side up. The number on the token indicates how many player dice that player places in the province. Players have twenty player dice each in their pools, so it is possible for a player to run out. If a player no longer has enough dice to place on the board, he decides for himself in which provinces to place his remaining free dice. If several players are in a similar situation, the order of moves decides the order in which they place their dice in the provinces.

Phase Two: Noble Clientele

Players, as befits the heads of great magnate families, command throngs of noble clients. About ten percent of the population of the Commonwealth of Both Nations claimed the right to noble status, even though many of these "nobles" were no wealthier than peasants.

Noble clientele is represented in the game by player dice. During the Noble Clientele phase, players decide how many of their clients they want to place in given provinces. The number of actions a player will be able to take in a given province depends on the number of his own nobles there.

Note: During the game, players will discard/remove their player dice from provinces (for various reasons). These dice always return to their pools of markers.

The numbers on the tokens placed in the Royal Court field will decide which player has the greatest influence over the King and takes the office of Hetman. Player dice are not placed in the Royal Court field.

In the first turn, each player has twelve influence tokens available (2 tokens each of value 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The player places six of these tokens on the board in the first turn. In the second turn, players will have the remaining six influence tokens available. In the third turn, players may again choose from among all twelve influence tokens, placing six of them on the board. In the fourth turn, players may use the six remaining influence tokens not used in the third turn.

The Commonwealth is divided into five notional regions (provinces): Prussia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Little Poland (Małopolska) and Great Poland (Wielkopolska). During the Noble Clientele phase, each player places one of his own influence tokens in each province. A player may not place more than one influence token in a given province. Each player also places one influence token in the Royal Court field. Each player therefore uses six influence tokens per turn in total. All tokens must be placed on the map with their numeric value face down, so that other players see only the coats of arms shown on the tokens, and not their values!

Players lay down their influence tokens simultaneously. Each player will therefore know the values of the tokens he lays down himself, but will not know the values of the tokens his opponents place.

Example: The players placed their influence tokens in Lithuania. After turning them face up, it turned out that Sapieha (red) had placed a token of value "4", Potocki (blue) — of value "2", and Leszczyński (yellow) — of value "0". The players remove the influence tokens from the province and in their place put down the corresponding number of player dice — four red and two blue.

Politics

Phase Three: Granting the Mace

In the Commonwealth of Both Nations, one of the most important officials was the (Grand) Hetman, who held almost unlimited power over the army. The symbol of his authority was the Hetman's mace. Each player has placed one influence token in the Royal Court field. The player whose token has the highest value has the greatest influence over the King's decisions. That player receives the title of Hetman and the mace, and will be the "first player" during this turn. If there is a tie between the values of the influence tokens used by the players, the tied players must resolve the tie by bidding — offering money for the office. Each tied player takes a chosen amount of gold into a closed hand (secret from the other players); a player may also leave his hand empty. Then the players simultaneously open their hands, revealing the amount of money offered for the office. The player who bids the highest amount takes the mace and becomes Hetman.

All the money, both from the winning player and from those who lost the bidding, goes to the treasury. If there is a tie in the amounts offered, the tied players repeat the whole bidding procedure until a winner is chosen (again paying all the bid sums into the treasury). If none of the tied players is able to bid any amount, the mace and the office of Hetman remain with the player who held them previously.

This form of bidding reflects an attempt to bribe the King's advisors so that they would influence his decision. As is well known — bribes are not returned.

Phase Five: Events

Because of its location in Central Europe, Poland was always surrounded by potential enemies. Over the centuries, the Poles fought wars with neighboring states and peoples — the Teutonic Order from Prussia, Sweden, the Tatars, the Ottoman Empire and Muscovy.

Each province of the Commonwealth corresponds to one "enemy" field. The strength of the enemies will change over the successive turns of the game. The base strength of the enemies can grow in the Events phase.

In the Events phase, roll the four dice once. Compare the rolled values with the numbers of the enemy fields. Each die result matching the number of a given enemy field results in that enemy's strength increasing by one point. Place one enemy die (in the color proper to that enemy) in the enemy field for each point by which its strength increases. Rolled results of "6" are ignored.

Phase Four: Royal Army

The Royal Army consisted of standing (komputowe) and supplementary (suplementowe) troops.

The standing number of troops is shown in the field of the current turn on the Commonwealth track. In the first turn this is two infantry and two cavalry, in the second turn one infantry and one cavalry, in the third turn two infantry and two cavalry, and in the fourth turn — no standing troops. Place troops in the number determined this way in the Royal Army field.

The supplementary number of troops results from the sum of points from the influence tokens that players placed in the Royal Court field during the contest for the office of Hetman.

Compare the summed number of points from the influence tokens of all players placed at the Royal Court with the Royal Army Strength table — the sum of points indicates one of the columns of the table. Place the number of troops specified in the relevant column in the Royal Army field, next to the standing troops.

Note: In the first turn, an artillery token may not be included in the Royal Army.

Note: The token limit determines the maximum size of the Royal Army.

Example: The result of the roll in the Events phase is: "2", "2", "4" and "6". This means that two green enemy dice must be placed on the Muscovy enemy field, and one orange enemy die must be placed on the Ottoman Empire enemy field. The rolled "6" is ignored.

Exception: If in the fourth turn of the game the Habsburg Empire enemy field is controlled by the Ottoman Empire (i.e. it contains orange enemy dice), every "5" rolled on the dice results in an orange enemy die (belonging to the Ottoman Empire) appearing on that field.

Example: Sapieha (red) and Potocki (blue) placed influence tokens of value "3" on the Royal Court field, and Radziwiłł (white) placed one of value "2". Through a money bid, Sapieha (red) won the office of Hetman and the mace, becoming the first player.

The total value of the influence tokens at the Royal Court is eight points. The Royal Army Strength table shows that eight points gives troops in the amount of two infantry and one cavalry — these tokens are placed in the Royal Army field. Since it is the first turn, the troops designated by the first field of the Commonwealth track must also be added to this field — two infantry and two cavalry. No artillery token goes into the Royal Army field, because this is the first turn of the game.

Phase Six: Deputies to the Sejm

The political system of the Commonwealth of Both Nations — the "noble democracy" — was unique in the Europe of its time. Nobles from individual provinces gathered at local sejmiks (land assemblies), among other things, to elect their representatives to the Sejm.

Starting with Prussia, and going clockwise, players resolve the elections in the sejmiks of each of the five provinces. The player who has the most player dice in a given province wins the election. He discards one of his own dice from that province and places his player disc in the corresponding field in the Sejm.

If there is a tie in the (highest) number of dice held by players in a province, no election takes place. No player removes dice from such a province or places a disc in the Sejm.

Note: The player who won the election must discard his die from the province and place a disc in the Sejm, even if he does not want to.

Example: The elections have already been resolved in Prussia, where Radziwiłł (white) won. Now it is Lithuania's turn, where Sapieha (red) wins. He discards one of his dice and places his disc in the Sejm field corresponding to Lithuania.

If Sapieha (red) and Potocki (blue) had two dice each in Lithuania, then no one would have won the election and the Lithuania field in the Sejm would remain empty.

Magnate Actions

Phase Seven: New Estates

The base of the magnates' power was enormous landed estates, called latyfundia. These developed mainly in the east and south of the country, in the lands of Ruthenia and Ukraine settled by Poles.

Starting with the Hetman, in clockwise order, each player may place one of his own player discs on a free estate field. As with the initial setup, the field occupied must be the free field closest to the start of the estate track in the given province. For a player to build an estate in a province he must discard one of his own player dice from it.

After every player has had the opportunity to build one estate, the above procedure is repeated, but now to build a new estate in a province a player must remove two of his own player dice from it. This procedure is repeated until all players decline to build further (pass). If a player says "pass" on his turn in the estate-building round, he may not build any more estates for the rest of the turn, even if the turn comes back around to him.

It is permitted to build estates in provinces occupied by enemy troops (dice).

Example: In the first turn of the game, Sapieha (red) won the title of Hetman, so he acts first in the New Estates phase. This player removes a die from Ukraine and places his disc on the first free field of the estate track. Next is Radziwiłł (white), who builds an estate in another province. Potocki (blue) discards a die from Ukraine and places his disc on the next free field of the estate track.

Sapieha (red) and Radziwiłł (white) pass — they do not want to build any more estates. Potocki (blue) wants to keep building, so he discards two of his dice from Ukraine and places another disc on the estate track.

Potocki (blue) could continue building further, sacrificing his last two dice from Ukraine to build a third estate this turn. However, this would be risky, because he would then have no dice left in Ukraine, and so would not be able to field an army there to defend his estates.

Phase Eight: Special Actions

A campaign may not be started against an enemy with whom a treaty was concluded this turn. It is, however, allowed to attack enemy dice that remained in Polish provinces from the previous turn, even if a treaty was just concluded with that enemy.

Treaties may not be concluded with the Ottoman Empire (see also Rule 12.1).

Treaties may not be concluded with the Habsburgs during the first three turns of the game. A treaty with them may be concluded during the fourth turn of the game only if they are not occupied by the Ottoman Empire.

Starting with the Hetman, in clockwise order, each player may perform one of the available special actions (actions). After every player has performed one action, the whole cycle is repeated, again starting with the Hetman and continuing clockwise. In one turn, each player may therefore perform two special actions. The rules restrict the availability of some actions (e.g. diplomacy, building a town). Apart from these exceptions, the action chosen by a player in the first cycle does not affect which action he may choose in the second cycle.

There are eight special actions in the game:

Steward

Magnates employed professional stewards to manage the economy of their estates. They often came from the Jewish communities that readily settled in Poland.

The player performing this action removes one of his player dice from a chosen province and places, under one of his estate discs there, one steward disc (taken from the Stewards field).

If a player has several estates in a given province, he decides for himself under which of his own estate discs to place the steward. One estate may have only one steward. The presence of a steward disc under an estate disc increases the income from that estate by 2 gold.

The number of steward discs is limited; if there are none available, players cannot perform this action.

Gdańsk

Gdańsk was the most important port of the Commonwealth of Both Nations. Most of the grain Poland exported passed through this city.

The player performing this action removes one of his player dice from the province of Prussia and immediately receives an amount of gold equal to twice the current wealth of the province of Prussia (read from the province wealth track). To perform this action, a player does not need to have an estate in Prussia.

Example: A player performs the Gdańsk special action and discards one of his player dice from Prussia. The estate wealth disc in Prussia is on field "3" of the province wealth track, so the player receives 6 gold from the treasury.

Diplomacy

Through diplomatic action, players will be able to try to secure at least one of the Commonwealth's borders against enemy raids. Such a treaty does not, however, give a hundred-percent guarantee of safety.

The player performing this action removes one of his player dice from the province connected by an arrow to the enemy field with which he wants to conclude a treaty, and one of his own discs from the Sejm. He must pay the treasury a sum equal to 2 gold (the fixed cost of the embassy) plus the result of a roll of one six-sided die ("gifts" for the enemy's diplomats).

Only one treaty can be concluded in a given turn, which is why there is only one gold treaty marker in the game. To indicate that a treaty has been concluded with a given enemy, place the treaty marker on the treaty field located on that enemy's field.

Example: During the first turn of the game, Sapieha (red) decides he wants to conclude a treaty with Muscovy. The player removes one of his player dice from Lithuania, and one of his own discs from the Sejm. He then rolls one die and gets a result of "5". The player must therefore pay seven gold to the treasury.

Note that the disc removed by the player from the Sejm does not have to come from the "Lithuania" Sejm field.

A player who has decided to conclude a treaty may not change his mind after the die roll determining its cost. The player must pay the determined amount, and if he is unable to, the treaty is not concluded (the used player die and Sejm disc are not returned to the player, and the player also pays the treasury all the money he has).

A treaty will be broken by the enemy if, during the Enemy Invasions phase, on the dice rolled at that time, the number corresponding to that enemy comes up twice (or more) (see also Rule 12.2).

Example: Returning to the example above: if, in the Enemy Invasions phase, two or more "2"s were rolled while determining the strength of enemies, the treaty with Muscovy would be broken.

A treaty is always dissolved at the end of the turn.

Concluding a treaty requires the player to sacrifice his Sejm disc. This reflects the need to obtain the Sejm's consent to conclude a treaty — this is, after all, high politics. A player who has no disc in the Sejm will not be able to conclude a treaty — so it is worth winning the election in at least one province.

Moving Player Dice

The player performing this action may move one or two of his own player dice between provinces. These dice may be moved from one or from two provinces to any other province (or to any other two provinces). The player performing this action pays no cost in player dice.

Liberum Veto

The Polish political system of the time gave a disproportionate amount of power into the hands of the nobility. One of the key principles of Polish legislation was the requirement that every new law be supported by all deputies. A single dissenting vote could block the passage of a new law or the adoption of a budget. At first, the right of veto was rarely used. Over time, as neighboring powers realized they could use it to paralyze the functioning of the Polish Sejm, corrupted deputies increasingly used the veto and broke up Sejm sessions.

The player performing this action discards one of his player dice from any province, and then discards all player discs from the Sejm (including his own). These discs return to the players' pools of markers.

This is a very powerful action, significantly weakening the Commonwealth. Players should use it carefully, at a moment when their own interest does not align with the interest of the country.

Confederation

The right of a nobleman to use force to resolve a dispute with another nobleman was called the right of confederation. Over time this was extended to the right of the nobility to take up arms against the king, in effect sanctioning anti-royal rebellions (rokosze).

The player performing this action discards two of his player dice from one province, and then removes from the estate track of that province one disc belonging to another player and places his own player disc in its place.

The player who is the target of the confederation must have fewer player dice in the province where it takes place than the player initiating it (before paying the cost of this action).

A player may perform this action only if he holds the fewest prestige points (of all the players) on the prestige points track. If players are tied for last place in prestige points on the prestige points track, none of them may carry out a confederation.

As the target, the player must choose the attacked player's estate with the lowest prestige-point value in the given province. If the seized estate had a steward on it, discard his disc back to the Stewards field.

Note: A player may not target an estate with a town for confederation.

Players may perform this action only in the third and fourth turns of the game.

Example: It is the fourth turn of the game. Potocki (blue) is in last place on the prestige points track. He has five player dice in Lithuania. Sapieha (red) has four dice, and Radziwiłł (white) has six dice. Potocki (blue) removes two of his dice and replaces the lowest-positioned red disc on the estate track with his own blue disc. Potocki (blue) cannot target the white disc, because Radziwiłł (white) has more dice in Lithuania than he does.

If Radziwiłł had fewer dice than Potocki, it would be more advantageous for the blue player to attack Radziwiłł and remove the white estate, since it is worth more prestige than Sapieha's estate.

Colleges

Another feature of the Commonwealth of Both Nations that was extraordinary by European standards was its initial religious tolerance. Until Sigismund III Vasa came to the throne in 1587, the state did not interfere in the religious affairs of its inhabitants. Sigismund, a fanatical Catholic, wanted to change this status quo, with the help of Jesuits brought to Poland.

The player performing this action receives one prestige point for each province in which he discards one of his player dice and pays 2 gold — e.g. if a player removes one die from three provinces and pays 6 gold to the bank, he receives three prestige points. However, if a player removes one die from five provinces and pays 10 gold, he receives as many as seven prestige points (five plus two extra, for founding schools throughout the country).

Players mark prestige points earned this way immediately on the prestige points track.

Players may perform this action starting from the second turn of the game.

Build a Town

The magnates of the Commonwealth were so powerful that they could found private towns, e.g. Zamość — founded by Jan Zamoyski, or Stanisławów — founded by Stanisław Rewera Potocki.

The player performing this action discards two of his own player dice from one province and places a city disc there under one of his estates. The presence of a town triples the number of prestige points received for that estate disc at the end of the game.

Players may perform this action starting from the third turn of the game.

Only one town may be built in a given turn. This means that at most two towns may be built during the entire game.

Example: A player has two of his own player dice in Great Poland (Wielkopolska) and his own player disc on the estate track. It is the third turn of the game and no one has yet performed the Build a Town action. The player therefore declares building a town and removes two of his dice from Great Poland, then places a city disc under his estate there.

Phase Nine: Private Armies

Magnate families maintained their own private armies. These protected the magnates' estates, and were sometimes powerful enough to invade the Commonwealth's neighbors (e.g. the Dmitriads against Muscovy).

In the Private Armies phase, players recruit and place army tokens on the board. This phase lasts an indeterminate number of cycles — its length depends on the players themselves. Starting with the Hetman, in clockwise order, each player may recruit and place any number of army tokens in one province. The procedure is repeated in successive cycles until all players have recruited the amount of troops they want. If a player declines (passes) recruitment in a given cycle, he may not buy troops in the next cycle of this phase.

A player recruiting troops in a given province must discard one of his own player dice from it. He then places any number of purchased army tokens in that province.

There are four kinds of army tokens available for recruitment. Players have four infantry tokens each, each costing 2 gold. Players have three cavalry tokens each, each costing 4 gold. Players also have one artillery token each, which can only be recruited starting from the second turn of the game, for 6 gold.

In this phase, up to two Cossack tokens may also be recruited. Recruited Cossacks must be deployed in Ukraine. Cossacks are recruited at the same time as a player's own army tokens, in one cycle of this phase. Each Cossack token costs 2 gold. Each Cossack token placed in Ukraine is available to any player who has troops there. Cossack tokens not recruited by players are placed on the Tatars enemy field. Unpaid Cossacks rise in revolt and will fight against the Commonwealth.

There is no limit to the number of army tokens placed in a given province. The only limits on players are the number of army tokens they own and the amount of money they have.

All army tokens are removed from the board at the end of the turn. They do not carry over to the next turn.

Note: If there are enemy dice in the province where a player is recruiting troops, the cost of recruiting units is halved (this also applies to Cossacks).

Example: Potocki (blue) recruits troops first — he discards one die from Ukraine and deploys one infantry and two cavalry there, paying 10 gold. Next, Radziwiłł (white) also recruits an army in Ukraine — he discards a die from that province and deploys two infantry, one cavalry and two Cossacks for twelve gold. It is now Sapieha's (red) turn. He discards a red die from Little Poland (Małopolska) and deploys three infantry, two cavalry and one artillery there. There is one orange enemy die (Ottoman Empire) in Little Poland, so the red player pays only 10 gold — half the usual cost of recruiting units.

The players have finished the first cycle of the private-army deployment phase. In the next cycle, players may continue to recruit units, paying for each further recruitment with a player die plus the appropriate amount of money.

The Cossacks were famed for their excellent infantry, but for simplicity we depicted a mounted Cossack figure, since in the game they strike just as accurately as cavalry.

Wars

Phase Ten: Magnate Campaigns

In this phase, players have the opportunity to raid the lands of hostile neighboring states. If they strike hard enough, they may manage to hold the enemy back from invading the Commonwealth. And even if they do not stop the enemy's invasion, a successful campaign will bring glory to a player's family, earning it prestige points.

The Magnate Campaigns phase lasts an indeterminate number of cycles — its length depends on the players' own decisions. In each cycle, every player will be able to conduct one campaign against one of the hostile states surrounding the Commonwealth. This phase ends when no player wants to conduct another campaign. If a player declines (passes) conducting a campaign in a given cycle, he may not conduct another campaign in the next cycle of this phase.

Starting with the Hetman, in clockwise order, players may conduct campaigns — such a player must discard one of his own player dice from a province and declare that he is campaigning from it. This province must be connected by an arrow to the enemy field the player wants to invade — e.g. if a player wants to invade Muscovy, he must discard his die from Lithuania.

To resolve the effect of the campaign, the player rolls one die for each infantry token and each cavalry token (as well as Cossacks) that he has in the province from which he is launching the attack. The player counts hits: an infantry unit scores a hit by rolling "5" or higher, a cavalry unit (and Cossacks) scores a hit by rolling "4" or higher. If a player has an artillery unit in the province from which he is attacking, he adds one to each rolled result. For each hit obtained this way, the player places one of his own player dice, taken from his own pool of markers, on the attacked enemy's field.

If a player rolls a "1" for the attack of a given unit, that unit has been destroyed in combat and must be removed from the board. Rolling a "1" destroys the attacking unit even when its combat is supported by artillery standing with it in the province. Eliminated Cossack units are placed on the "Cossacks" field.

If there are Cossack units in the province from which the attack is launched, the player may use them in his attack, provided he himself has at least one of his own infantry or cavalry units in that province. Cossacks benefit from the modifier provided by artillery. Each hit scored by a Cossack unit results in one player die of the campaigning player being placed on the field of the attacked enemy. Cossacks may only attack the Tatars.

A player may also use Royal Army troops in his own campaign. For the Royal Army to join a player's attack, he must discard one of his discs from the Sejm. This is the political cost of convincing the other deputies to agree to send the Royal Army on this expedition. Discarding one disc from the Sejm allows the Royal Army to join only one campaign, not all the campaigns conducted by the player in the turn. The Royal Army fights the same way as players' private armies, but each hit scored by its troops results in a gold king die being placed on the enemy field. The combat effects of the Royal Army are resolved only after the combat effects of the army of the player it joined have been applied.

Players are not allowed to attack the Habsburg Empire in the first three turns of the game. Open war with this Catholic power was unthinkable, even in response to the political machinations of the Viennese court. In the fourth turn of the game, campaigns against the Habsburgs are permitted, since by then the absolutist monarchy has already taken off its "white gloves" and taken up arms against the Commonwealth.

There are two reasons to wage campaigns against hostile neighbors. The player who has the most player dice on an enemy's field will receive prestige points at the end of the turn. Every player (and king) die on an enemy's field reduces that enemy's strength at the moment it attempts to invade the Commonwealth. If the total number of player (and king) dice on an enemy's field is greater than or equal to its current strength, no enemy invasion will occur from that direction at all.

If there are enemy dice in the province from which a campaign is launched, they become the target of attacks first. Each hit results in the removal of one enemy die from that province. If all enemy dice are eliminated from that province, every further hit will result in a player die being placed on the enemy's field (as described above). It is permitted to attack enemy dice located in a Polish province even when a treaty with that enemy was concluded this turn.

Example: Potocki (blue) discards his die from Ukraine and attacks the Tatars. He scores two hits — one with his own unit and one with a Cossack unit — so he places two blue dice on the Tatars enemy field. Radziwiłł (white) also discards a die from Ukraine and attacks the Tatars. He scores a hit with one of his units, missing with the Cossacks. What's more, the result of the attack of one of the Cossack units was a "1", so it is discarded to the Cossacks field.

Sapieha (red) discards a die from Little Poland and attacks the Ottoman Empire. In the province the attack originates from, the player has an artillery unit, so all his units receive a favorable modifier of plus "1" to their hit rolls. The player rolls the dice and scores three hits. The first hit eliminates the orange enemy die standing in Little Poland. The remaining two hits result in two red dice being placed on the Ottoman Empire enemy field. The player rolled one "1" among his infantry attacks, so he loses one infantry unit, despite the modifier from the presence of artillery.

Potocki (blue) and Radziwiłł (white) conduct further campaigns, each discarding another of his own player dice from Ukraine. Potocki scores one hit (but loses one cavalry), Radziwiłł scores two hits. Neither player can launch further campaigns from this province, since neither has any player dice left in Ukraine. Sapieha (red) discards his second die and attacks the Ottoman Empire again. He scores two hits, but loses one infantry and one cavalry.

Potocki and Radziwiłł pass in the third cycle of the campaign phase. Sapieha (red) decides on a third campaign, launched using his last die in Little Poland. He scores one more hit against the Turks.

Note that Polish dice added to the Tatars enemy field do not remove the Tatar die already there (created in the Events phase).

Phase Eleven: Enemy Invasions

The geographic position of the Commonwealth at the center of Europe meant it never lacked potential enemies. In the period depicted by the game, Poland was never able to remain at peace for long — the country was usually fighting at least one of its neighbors.

In the Enemy Invasions phase, a roll of the dice increases the strength of the neighboring powers. The enemies then attempt an attack, whose success will depend on the players' actions.

Increasing the Strength of the Neighboring Powers

At the start of the Enemy Invasions phase, roll the four dice once. Just as in the Events phase, based on the results of this roll, place enemy dice on the appropriate enemy fields. However, in this phase, remember two differences:

a) if two (or more) dice show the same number, and that number indicates an enemy with whom a treaty was concluded in the Diplomacy phase, do not place additional enemy dice on that enemy's field — instead the treaty is broken and that enemy will attempt an invasion under the normal rules (discard the treaty disc from the board);

b) in the second turn of the game, every result of "6" results in the rebellion of one Cossack unit. If possible, remove a mutinous Cossack unit from Ukraine and place it on the Tatars enemy field. If there are no Cossack units in Ukraine, take them from the Cossacks field. If more "6"s are rolled than there are Cossack units, ignore any further "6" results.

Enemy Invasions

Starting from enemy field number 1 through to enemy field number 5, resolve the effects of enemy invasions.

An enemy will not invade if a treaty with it is in effect, or if the number of player dice and king dice is equal to or greater than that enemy's strength.

An enemy will invade if its strength is greater than the number of Polish dice (player dice and king dice) standing on its field. An enemy's strength corresponds to the value printed on the map on the strength track in its field. This track consists of eight values, arranged in two rows. The upper row, marked with three coats of arms, is used in a three-player game. The lower row, marked with four coats of arms, is used in a four-player game. The first number in each row indicates the enemy's strength in the first turn of the game, the second number indicates the enemy's strength in the second turn, and so on.

Example: In the fourth turn of the game, Muscovy's base strength is 11 points in a three-player game, and 15 points in a four-player game.

For every enemy die standing on its field, add one point to its strength (these dice may come from the Events phase and from the start of the Enemy Invasions phase). Every Cossack token standing on the Tatars enemy field increases the Tatars' strength by one point.

The difference between the enemy's total strength and the number of Polish dice on its field determines the number of that enemy's dice to be placed in the Polish province connected to it by an arrow (e.g. the Tatars in Ukraine).

The first effect of placing enemy dice in a province is the removal of any Habsburg influence markers from it.

Next, carry out one attack with all player units standing in the province the enemy has invaded. This attack is carried out automatically; no player pays anything for it. All the combat rules from the Campaigns phase apply. Each hit will result in the removal of one enemy die from the attacked province.

All removed enemy dice and influence markers are discarded off the board.

Note: A player may not decline to make the above roll in defense of the attacked province.

Enemy dice entering a province join the dice of the same enemy already in that province (carried over from the previous turn). As a result of the defensive action of players' troops described above, enemy dice present in the province from an earlier turn may also be removed.

If dice of another enemy are present in the province attacked by the enemy, they destroy each other, one for one. Dice removed this way are discarded from the board. This procedure is carried out only after the defensive action of players' units described earlier. Players' defending troops will therefore first attack the enemy dice entering the province; only hits exceeding the number of enemy dice entering the province are directed against enemy dice already present in that province.

Enemy dice remove each other because these powers did not shy away from fighting one another, including on the territory of the Commonwealth.

Once all enemy invasions have been resolved, proceed to the next phase.

Example (Chmielnicki Uprising): It is the second turn of the game. The Enemy Invasions phase begins. The players roll the four dice once, getting the results "1", "2", "5" and "6". They therefore place one enemy die on the Sweden enemy field, one die on the Muscovy enemy field, and one influence marker on the Habsburgs enemy field. The "6" rolled on the last die results in the rebellion of one Cossack unit, which switches to the Tatars' side. Naturally, the Cossack unit that changes sides is the one standing in Ukraine, not the one destroyed in the Magnate Campaigns phase.

The Tatars' total strength is therefore 9 dice (a base of seven, one die added during the turn, and one Cossack unit). However, there are 6 Polish player dice on this enemy field, so the strength of the Tatar invasion is 3 dice.

As a result, 3 Tatar enemy dice must be placed in Ukraine. The blue and white players each carry out one attack with their units, in their obligatory defensive action against the invasion. The players score one hit, so in the end 2 Tatar enemy dice remain in Ukraine.

The Ottoman Empire does not invade Little Poland, because there are five Polish dice belonging to the red player on the Ottoman Empire enemy field — enough to block a Turkish invasion of strength five.

The Habsburg Empire

For the first three turns of the game, invasions by the Habsburg Empire are resolved differently from invasions by the other enemies. The Habsburgs do not attempt a military conquest, but instead try to weaken the Commonwealth through political penetration.

All the procedures for determining enemy strength apply to the Habsburgs, but they carry out their invasion not with enemy dice, but with influence markers. The number of influence markers on the Habsburg Empire enemy field determines the number of Polish player dice that must be discarded from the province of Great Poland (Wielkopolska). Each Habsburg influence marker results in the discard of one player die (they cancel each other out). The order in which player dice are discarded is the same as the order of players' turns. The Hetman discards the first die, then the player seated to his left (clockwise), and so on, until as many player dice have been discarded as there are influence markers on the Habsburg Empire enemy field.

If there are more influence markers than player dice in Great Poland, once the above procedure has been carried out, place the remaining Habsburg influence markers in that province.

Influence markers are eliminated immediately if they enter a province that already contains enemy dice (e.g. in the case of Swedish occupation of Great Poland). In this situation, no Polish player dice are discarded. Habsburg influence markers represent political action, not military action — in a province consumed by war, emissaries and agents are unable to spin their intrigues.

Example (Double Election — Maximilian of Habsburg and Sigismund Vasa): In the second turn of the game, the Habsburg Empire's strength is four points, so four influence markers are placed on their enemy field. One additional marker was placed there at the start of the Enemy Invasions phase. This means that five player dice must be discarded from Great Poland. The player order this turn is: Potocki (blue) — Radziwiłł (white) — Sapieha (red). In this order, players discard one die each until five player dice have been removed — the number equal to the number of Habsburg influence markers.

With every discarded Polish player die, one Habsburg influence marker is discarded. The Habsburgs fail in their political penetration of Great Poland, because the players had a total of eight player dice there.

The Ottoman Empire

The Commonwealth of Both Nations, the "bulwark of Christianity," repeatedly repelled invasions by the Tatars and the Ottoman Empire. In 1683, Jan III Sobieski marched to the relief of Vienna and shattered the entire Turkish might, halting the Muslim advance toward the heart of Europe.

In the third turn of the game, the Ottoman Empire does not attack the province of Little Poland. If the Ottoman Empire's total strength is greater than the number of Polish dice (player and king dice) on the Ottoman Empire enemy field, place a number of orange enemy dice (belonging to the Ottoman Empire) equal to the difference between these values on the Habsburg Empire enemy field. Players may normally conduct campaigns against the Ottoman Empire enemy field — this will weaken or stop the Ottoman invasion of the Habsburgs. If Ottoman Empire enemy dice enter the Habsburg Empire enemy field, immediately discard any Habsburg influence markers remaining there.

The only way to destroy Ottoman Empire enemy dice standing on the Habsburg Empire enemy field is to attack them with the Royal Army during the Relief of the Royal Army phase. If the enemy dice survive this attack, they may extend their invasion into Great Poland during the Enemy Expansion phase.

In the fourth turn of the game, the Ottoman Empire's strength will be either 3 or 10 points — depending on whether the Ottoman Empire has its enemy dice on the Habsburg Empire enemy field. If it has no dice there, the Ottoman Empire's strength is 3. If it has dice there, the Ottoman Empire's strength is 10 on the Ottoman Empire enemy field and 10 on the Habsburg Empire enemy field (in addition to up to two further orange dice that remained on the Habsburg Empire enemy field to pacify the Habsburgs — see the description of the Enemy Expansion phase). If, in the fourth turn, Ottoman Empire dice occupy the Habsburg Empire enemy field, they are considered to belong to the Ottoman Empire, and all purple arrows and markings on the map should be treated as if they were orange.

Note: See Rule 11.2 for the above values in a four-player game.

Example (Relief of Vienna): It is the third turn of the game. The Ottoman Empire does not raid Little Poland, but instead invades the Habsburg Empire. Potocki (blue) and Sapieha (red) had conducted campaigns against the Ottoman Empire, and there are five Polish dice on its enemy field, which will affect the strength of the Ottoman invasion of the Habsburgs. The Ottoman Empire will therefore invade the Habsburgs with a strength of eight dice (a base of twelve, plus one die added in the Events phase, minus five Polish player dice).

Continuing the example: the Habsburg influence markers are therefore immediately discarded from the Habsburg Empire enemy field, and eight Ottoman Empire dice are placed there instead.

The Teutonic Order, Sweden, Prussia

The enemy field opposite the province of Prussia is a special field — the enemy attacking from that direction changes its identity over the successive turns of the game. In the first turn the enemy is the Teutonic Order, in the second and third turns — Sweden, and in the last turn — the Kingdom of Prussia. These changes in name do not affect gameplay — it is always the "black" enemy. Black enemy dice, whether belonging to the Teutonic Knights, the Swedes, or the Prussians, should always be treated as belonging to a single enemy (for the purposes of expansion, etc.).

Phase Twelve: Relief of the Royal Army

In times of serious crisis, the burden of fighting off enemy raids fell on the shoulders of the Royal Army, commanded by the Hetman.

In this phase, players will be able to use the Royal Army standing on the Royal Army field to attack enemy dice that broke into a province during the Enemy Invasions phase. Using the Royal Army will, however, require holding influence in the Sejm (except for the first counterattack, carried out by the first player — the Hetman).

The first player, who received the office of Hetman, has the first right to use the Royal Army. This player may indicate one province containing enemy dice and attack it with Royal Army units. Combat is carried out the same way as in the Magnate Campaigns phase. Every hit scored results in one enemy die being removed from the province and discarded from the board. Players must remember that a unit is destroyed if it rolls a "1" during its attack.

After the Hetman's attack (even if he did not carry one out), the other players, in turn order, may use the Royal Army, carrying out cycles of one attack each. A player who wants to use the Royal Army must remove one of his player discs from the Sejm and designate the province in which he intends to attack enemy dice. He then carries out one attack with the Royal Army, following the procedure described above. A player will therefore be able to carry out as many Royal Army attacks as he has player discs in the Sejm, except for the first player, who gets one "free" attack for holding the office of Hetman.

The Royal Army may counterattack a given province more than once. If all the enemy dice are destroyed in an attack, any additional hits are lost. The Royal Army attacks on its own, not jointly with any private armies that may also be present in the province.

This phase ends when players have carried out all the attacks they want, or when they run out of the means to carry them out — i.e. discs in the Sejm or units in the Royal Army. If a player declares in a given cycle that he is not attacking with the Royal Army (passes), he may not attack with it in a later cycle of this phase.

The Royal Army, like private armies, may not attack Habsburg influence markers.

To use the Royal Army, a player must sacrifice one of his own discs from the Sejm. This corresponds to the political cost of convincing the other deputies to agree to this particular deployment of the Royal Army's forces.

Example: Potocki (blue), holding the office of Hetman, decides to use the Royal Army in Ukraine. Unfortunately the crown troops score only one hit, and one Tatar enemy die is removed from Ukraine. Potocki (blue) did not have to spend his disc from the Sejm for the attack, since he is Hetman this turn. Next, Radziwiłł (white) discards one of his discs from the Sejm and carries out another Royal Army attack in Ukraine. He easily destroys the last Tatar die in Ukraine; further hits are lost — they do not result in Polish dice being placed on the Tatars enemy field.

Relief of Vienna

In the third turn, every player may use the Royal Army as described above to attack the Habsburg Empire enemy field, if it contains Ottoman Empire enemy dice.

In this way, players may go to the relief of Vienna, besieged by the Turks in 1683.

All the rules from the enemy invasion phase apply to enemy dice entering a province as a result of expansion (players' private armies carry out defensive actions against them, dice of different enemies standing in the same province cancel each other out one for one, etc.).

Note: An enemy does not expand into a province in which it already has enemy dice.

This phase ends once the expansion of every neighboring power has been resolved.

Example (Swedish Deluge): The first player uses a free Royal Army attack to destroy the Ottoman enemy dice standing on the Habsburg Empire enemy field. In the second cycle of the phase, this player discards his player disc from the Sejm to attack that field again. In total he scored four hits, so four Ottoman Empire enemy dice remain on the Habsburg Empire enemy field.

Phase Thirteen: Enemy Expansion

In this phase, unrepelled enemy invasions will be able to spill over into the provinces of the Commonwealth — just as happened during the Swedish "Deluge" (potop) or the Chmielnicki Uprising.

The order of enemy expansions is resolved according to the numbers of the enemy fields — starting from the enemy dice from the invasion of Prussia, through to the dice (or influence markers) from the invasion of Great Poland.

If the number of enemy dice in a province is greater than the number of player dice remaining in it, the enemy dice will expand into neighboring provinces, indicated by arrows in the colors proper to the given enemies. In the provinces indicated by the relevant arrows, place a number of enemy dice equal to the difference between the enemy dice in the province where the expansion begins and the player dice remaining in it. Enemy dice placed during the Enemy Expansion phase are taken from outside the board, not from among the enemy dice already in the province where the expansion began. Expansion therefore increases the number of enemy dice on the board.

Note: As a rule, the number of enemy dice and influence markers in the game is limited, but dice (markers) already on an enemy field may be used to mark an expansion. If even these run out, the dice (markers) carrying out the expansion should be divided so that each of the two provinces is attacked with equal strength (an odd die, if any, is assigned randomly).

Player dice are not removed as a result of enemy expansions; they remain in place, unless the expansion is carried out by Habsburg influence markers.

Example: The Swedes invaded Prussia in the second turn of the game. The difference between the number of Swedish dice and player dice is four, in Sweden's favor.

In the Enemy Expansion phase, four Swedish enemy dice must be placed in the provinces neighboring Prussia — Lithuania and Great Poland. The blue player's troops standing in Lithuania carry out one defensive action — they manage to score one hit and remove one Swedish die.

Next, further expansions are resolved. Three Tatar enemy dice move from Ukraine into Lithuania. The blue units defend again; one hit results in the removal of one Tatar die. The Swedish and Tatar dice cancel each other out. Both Tatar dice and two Swedish dice must be discarded.

At the end of the phase, one Sweden enemy die remains in Lithuania.

Expansion of Habsburg Influence Markers

Habsburg influence markers also expand. However, they are eliminated immediately if they enter a province that already contains dice of other enemies. In this situation, no Polish player dice are discarded. If there are no other enemy dice in the province into which the expansion is made, it proceeds the same way as the invasion described in point 8.2.3 (first discard the appropriate number of player dice from the province being expanded into, then place any remaining influence markers in the province).

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire from the Habsburg Empire Enemy Field

If, during the Enemy Expansion phase, Ottoman Empire dice are on the Habsburg Empire enemy field, they carry out an expansion into Great Poland. For the purposes of this phase, the Habsburg Empire enemy field is considered to always contain two Habsburg dice, so the number of enemy dice placed in Great Poland will equal the number of Ottoman dice on the Habsburg Empire enemy field minus two.

Note: To help players remember this rule, two purple dice are drawn on the board on the Habsburg Empire enemy field.

Continuing the example (Relief of Vienna): There are four Turkish enemy dice on the Habsburg Empire enemy field. Two of them are tied down by the two notional Habsburg dice, so the expansion into Great Poland is carried out with a strength of two Ottoman Empire enemy dice.

Administration

Phase Fourteen: Plundering the Country

Players may lose estates in provinces that fell victim to a successful enemy invasion. Fighting taking place in the provinces will also affect their wealth.

A province's wealth may never exceed five or fall below one point. Changes in a province's wealth are marked by moving the estate wealth disc along that province's wealth track.

Undefended Provinces

If, in this phase, there are enemy dice in a province, a certain number of the estates standing there will be destroyed. This number equals the difference between the number of enemy dice in that province and the number of player dice standing there. At least one estate must always be removed — even if there are more player dice than enemy dice in the province.

Estate discs are discarded starting with those of the highest value (closest to the Commonwealth's borders) down to those of the lowest value (closest to the center of the country). Any steward disc and/or city disc located under the discarded estate disc is also discarded.

The wealth of such a province decreases by one.

Defended Provinces

If, during the turn, enemy dice were placed in a province (it fell victim to an invasion or an expansion), but all the enemy dice were eliminated (e.g. thanks to the defensive action of private troops stationed there, or the relief of the Royal Army) and there are no enemy dice in the province during this phase, that province's wealth does not change, and no estates are destroyed.

Provinces at Peace

If a province enjoyed peace, its wealth increases by one. A province at peace is one in which no enemy dice were placed during the turn.

If a province began the turn with enemy dice that were eliminated, and no new enemy dice were added to it, it is also treated as being at peace — its wealth increases and no estates are destroyed.

Habsburg Influence

The rules of this point apply only during the first three turns of the game, and only in a situation where the Habsburg Empire enemy field did not fall victim to an Ottoman Empire invasion (third turn). In other cases, the rules from the points above apply.

Habsburg influence markers have the same effect on the destruction of estates and province wealth as enemy dice — a number of estates equal to the number of influence markers standing in the province during the Plundering the Country phase must be destroyed.

For Great Poland's wealth to increase, there must be at least two player dice there. If, however, there are one or more Habsburg influence markers in that province, its wealth must be decreased by one point. If neither of the above applies (e.g. there is only one player die there), Great Poland's wealth remains unchanged.

Returning to the example (Swedish Deluge): the difference between the number of enemy dice and player dice in Prussia is four points, so all four estates there must be destroyed and their discs discarded from the board. In Lithuania there is one enemy die and three player dice, so one estate must be removed (the most valuable one — the red player's). In Great Poland the difference between the number of dice is one, so one estate must be removed (again the red player's).

The wealth in each of these provinces is decreased by one point. If, in one of these provinces, all the enemy dice had been destroyed (e.g. if Swedish and Tatar dice had wiped each other out in Lithuania), its wealth would not have changed.

Phase Fifteen: Prestige Points

In this phase, players tally up the prestige points earned during the current turn. They receive them for campaigns conducted, for maintaining a political advantage in the Sejm, and for the ability to spend significant sums on luxury goods, which aroused the envy of other magnates.

Prestige points earned are marked on the Prestige Points track using the player discs located there.

Glory of War

The player who has the most of his own player dice on an enemy's field receives the number of prestige points marked on that field. In case of a tie in the number of player dice, the prestige points are divided among them, rounding fractions down. If the largest number of Polish dice on an enemy's field belongs to the king, no player receives prestige points for that field. However, if a player ties with the king in the number of dice, the player receives his share (fractions rounded down), and the king's share is lost.

Example: The red player receives five prestige points for having the most dice on the Ottoman Empire enemy field. The white and blue players each receive one prestige point, tying in the number of dice on the Tatars enemy field.

Note that players receive prestige points even though they did not repel the Tatar invasion.

Political Advantage

A player receives two prestige points for each of his own player discs that he holds in the Sejm during this phase.

Luxury Expenses

A player must discard to the treasury every full five gold he holds. For every five gold discarded this way, the player receives one prestige point. This means a player may carry over no more than four gold from one turn to the next.

Example: A player has 12 gold. He must discard 10 gold to the treasury and receives 2 prestige points. He carries 2 gold over to the next turn.

The goods that magnates once bought to satisfy their vanity are today usually treasures of Polish culture (e.g. the palace at Łańcut).

Prestige points earned by players in this phase are marked immediately on the prestige points track.

Phase Sixteen: End of Turn

Reduce the number of enemy dice in provinces so that their number is not greater than the number of player dice present in those provinces. Habsburg influence markers carry over to the next turn.

Note: Players keep their own player dice located in provinces. They carry over to the next turn of the game.

If this is the end of the second turn, players recover all twelve of their own influence tokens.

Move the pawn to the next field of the Commonwealth track. Players may begin the next turn of the game.

In this phase, carry out a number of housekeeping actions:

• Remove all player dice from enemy fields; they return to the players' pools of markers.
• Remove all player discs from the Sejm; they return to the players' pools of markers.
• Remove all enemy dice from enemy fields — they do not carry over to the next turn of the game.

Exception: If, at the end of the third turn, there are orange enemy dice (Ottoman Empire) on the Habsburg Empire enemy field, at most two orange enemy dice remain on that field (i.e. no more than the two "default" Habsburg Empire enemy dice).

• Remove all of the players' military units from the provinces — they do not carry over to the next turn of the game.
• Remove all Royal Army units from the Royal Army field and place them back on the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Both Nations.
• Remove the treaty marker from the map, if a treaty was concluded during the turn.

Continuing the example (Swedish Deluge): The number of Swedish dice in Prussia is reduced to one, because there is only one Polish player die there. Swedish strength in Great Poland is reduced to three dice; in Lithuania it remains unchanged.

End of Game

The game ends at the end of the fourth turn. At this point, players receive additional prestige points for the estates they hold on the board. For each of their own estates, they receive as many prestige points as the value of the field on which that estate stands. If there is a city disc under an estate disc, triple the number of prestige points received for that estate. Stewards do not affect the number of prestige points earned for an estate.

Points earned this way are marked on the prestige points track.

Example: The estate discs have been moved down so that the values of the fields they stand on are visible. The red player gains nine prestige points in Lithuania for his first estate, because he has a city disc there, plus four points for his second estate — thirteen points in total. The blue player earns ten prestige points in Lithuania, and the white player four prestige points.

Victory

The game is won by the player who has earned the most prestige points. In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player who has the greater number of player dice on the map. If there is still a tie, the winner is the tied player who has more money. If there is still a tie, the game is won by the player closest to first place in player turn order.

Four-Player Variant

In the four-player variant, all the game's rules apply, subject to the two changes below.

Initial Setup

The initial placement of estates in the four-player game is carried out differently than in the three-player game.

Roll a die to determine the first player. Starting from that player, and going clockwise, players each place one of their own player discs on the board, on one of the estate tracks.

Players then carry out the same procedure again, but in reverse order — the player who placed his disc last now does so first, and so on.

This way, each player has two estates on the board at the start of the game.

Enemy Invasions

The enemy invasion procedure is identical to the three-player game, but the enemies' base strength uses the values from the row of enemy field strength values marked with four coats of arms (the lower row).

In the fourth turn of the game, the Ottoman Empire's strength will be either four or thirteen points — depending on whether the Ottoman Empire has its enemy dice on the Habsburg Empire enemy field. If it has no dice there, the Ottoman Empire's strength is 4. If it has dice there, the Ottoman Empire's strength is 13 on the Ottoman Empire enemy field and 13 on the Habsburg Empire enemy field (in addition to up to two further orange dice that remained on the Habsburg Empire enemy field after the Enemy Invasions phase of the third turn).

Optional Rules (Historical)

With the agreement of all players, some or all of the following variants may be used in a game. Decisions about which optional rules to use are made before the game begins (including the initial placement of estates) and may not be changed until it ends.

Restrictions on Concluding Treaties

In the 1st and 2nd turns of the game, players may conclude a treaty with the Ottoman Empire, but may not conclude a treaty with the Tatars. In the 3rd and 4th turns of the game, the normal rules are restored — players may not conclude a treaty with the Ottoman Empire, but may conclude a treaty with the Tatars.

Playing with this rule, players will not be able to avoid the threat arising from the "Chmielnicki Uprising" by means of a treaty.

Greater Durability of Treaties

Players who are bothered by the element of chance in the game may, when concluding a treaty, set the probability of it being broken by the enemy.

At the standard cost of concluding a treaty (2 gold + the number rolled on the die), it is broken by the enemy when its number comes up on two dice during the Enemy Invasions phase.

At a cost increased to 4 gold + the number rolled on the die, the treaty is broken by the enemy only when its number comes up on three dice during the Enemy Invasions phase.

At a cost increased to 6 gold + the number rolled on the die, the treaty is broken by the enemy only when its number comes up on four dice during the Enemy Invasions phase.

The declaration of the increased treaty cost is announced before rolling the die that determines the additional cost of concluding the treaty.

Example: Leszczyński (yellow), who has only 8 gold after founding colleges throughout the country, wants to conclude a treaty with Muscovy. The player removes one of his own player dice from Lithuania and removes one of his own discs from the Sejm. He then declares that he will pay 4 gold for the treaty and rolls a die to determine the additional cost of the treaty, getting a result of "1". The player therefore pays 5 gold in total.

Note that if the roll had been a 5 or 6, the attempt to conclude the treaty would have failed, and the player would have lost his Sejm disc, his player die, and all the money he had.

A treaty paid for this way will only be broken if, during a roll in the Enemy Invasions phase, the number "2" comes up on 3 or 4 dice. Under exceptional circumstances (a roll of 4 identical numbers), even a generously paid treaty (6 + 1d6 gold) will be broken — such, unfortunately, is high politics.

Private Duchies

To further emphasize the ties of individual families to their home provinces, at the end of the game players receive 1 additional prestige point for each of their own estates located in that family's home province.

For the Radziwiłłs (white) and the Sapiehas (red), the home province is Lithuania. Great Poland is the home province of the Leszczyńskis (yellow), and Little Poland is the home province of the Potockis (blue).

Author's Comment

Ideas for new games usually strike me in the pub. It was no different with Boże Igrzysko, whose concept was born during a weekly Tuesday meeting in the pub with friends. Nick Sekunda, interested in the partitions of Poland, asked me if I could come up with a game about Poland. We decided the game might also have marketing potential, given the film "With Fire and Sword" (Ogniem i Mieczem), which was being produced at the time. I began some casual research and came up with a few ideas, but shelved the project when Nick moved to Poland to take up a university position. I also discussed the game idea with a friend from Germany, who assured me that a game on this subject would certainly not sell in Germany. So the idea for a game about Poland lay dormant, until the day I realized it could be a great scenario for a three-player game that I intended to release in the Treefrog line of games. Even if no German bought the game, there should be enough Poles in New York to sell out a print run of around 1,500 copies.

If you've read the rules, you already know this isn't a trivial game. It has much in common with "Republic of Rome" and is the most "experimental" game I have created so far. By this I mean that in Boże Igrzysko, many things happen against the players' will, and they simply have to learn to live with it. I think many players may not like this concept of a game. However, this is how I managed to capture at least a piece of Poland's history in a board game box. If, during the game, you feel that everything is going wrong, and that you're fighting a battle that will be lost anyway, then you are experiencing what Poland itself had to go through at the time.

I took the unusual title of the game from probably the best English-language book on the history of Poland, by Norman Davies. The depiction of Poland as "God's Playground" recurs in Polish literature and can certainly be applied to the pre-partition history of this country. If you want to learn more about the history of Poland, Professor Davies's work is a good title to start with. Of course, don't expect a "happy ending".

My only advice to players will be to suggest that they try to cooperate, at least in the first turn, so that the country's borders remain intact and its economy flourishes. And remember diplomacy — it is not possible to defend all five borders at once.

If you have any questions, visit the game's page on Boardgamegeek (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/57998) or simply write to me: [email protected].

Martin Wallace

Comment on the Polish Edition

First of all, we want to thank you for purchasing the game and for the trust this places in us. Boże Igrzysko is, after all, a special game. Until now, no board game about the history of the First Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had been published in Poland. It is also telling that a game about Poland was designed by a foreigner — perhaps only through his cultural distance was he able to capture the rules of complicated Polish history in an elegant mechanic.

In Boże Igrzysko, players are not obligated to defend the Fatherland. They may do so, but they may also, as happened in history, look after their own interests without regard for the (always rather abstract) common good. However, it is the players' decisions that will determine the fate of the state and its inhabitants, the survival of the Commonwealth, or its downfall.

When we first played the English edition of Boże Igrzysko and faced the emotional dilemmas tied to the course of play, we knew this game deserved a Polish edition. We wouldn't be ourselves, though, if we hadn't introduced a few modifications. This is why the four-player variant was created, which we felt was missing from the English edition, bringing more interaction between players into the game. A few other historical variants are meant to enrich gameplay without introducing excessive changes. We also decided to change the game's graphic design, to better match the atmosphere of the era of the First Commonwealth.

Some players may hold it against the designer that he based the rules for resolving battles and concluding treaties on dice rolls. In our opinion, this is the right decision — dice capture the element of the fortunes (or misfortunes) of war, which played such a great role in our history. How else, in a game of this scale and synthesis, could one convey extraordinary victories like those at Kircholm or Kłuszyn, or shameful defeats like the one at Cecora? The fate of our Fatherland rested many times in the hands of Fortune. A game that ignored this aspect of our history would remain incomplete.

However, fate is only one of many factors that players must take into account during play. Boże Igrzysko perfectly combines elements of political, economic, and military play. The winner is whoever best finds his way among the above variables, and uses his own strengths and the weaknesses of other players to achieve victory. The situation on the board often forces players to cooperate, since the country's enemies are powerful. Play then takes on the character of cooperation, since everyone's interests are threatened equally. Just as often, however, it turns out that players' interests diverge, so they begin a ruthless rivalry, from which only one of them will emerge victorious, often at the cost of bringing disaster upon the Fatherland. It is precisely the fact that the game presents players with such decisions and dilemmas that we consider Boże Igrzysko's greatest strength.

We wish you that this journey through the centuries of Polish history, in the company of family, friends, and acquaintances, brings you much positive experience, satisfaction, and joy. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at the addresses given on the next page.

Jarosław R. Andruszkiewicz, Commandant at Los Diablos Polacos Michał Ozon, President of the Board, PGP sp. z o.o.

Credits

• Game design: Martin Wallace
• Original edition testers: Andy Ogden, Simon Bracegirdle, Richard Spilsbury, Don Oddy, Michael Richardson, Chris Boote, Alan McClennahan, and many other helpful people from the Leiria Con, Stabcon, Sorcon and Baycon conventions.
• Special thanks to: Julia Wallace, James Hamilton and Nick Sekunda.
• Development of the Polish edition and of the 4-player and optional variants: Los Diablos Polacos
• Graphics for the Polish edition: Robert Kraszewski, Grzegorz Bakera
• Polish edition testers: Monika Gumienny, Małgorzata Ochocka, Michał Balawajder, Wojciech Bogucki, Cezary Gajdecki, Radosław Goździelewski, Mirosław Gucwa, Waldemar Gumienny, Jędrzej Mrugała, Michał Ozon, Mirosław Terlecki, Marcin Żełubowski.
• Special thanks to: Krzysztof Klemiński and Grzegorz Bakera
• Editing and translation of the rulebook: Michał "Ozy" Ozon
• Rulebook design and typesetting: Krzysztof "Klema" Klemiński

Published by Phalanx Games Polska, 45-015 Opole, Rynek 23/7. All rights reserved.