Citadels Duel Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • The 9 Character Cards
• Setup
• Key Concepts
  • Character Abilities
  • Gaining Gold Coins
  • Building Districts in the City
  • The King's Guard
  • Gaining Council Seats
• Round Flow
  • 1. Draft Phase
  • 2. Resolve Phase
  • 3. Expansion Phase
• Game End
• Character Abilities
  • The Assassin (1)
  • The Thief (2)
  • The King (3)
  • The Abbot (4)
  • The Merchant (5)
  • The Architect (6)
  • The Diplomat (7)
  • The Warlord (8)
  • The Queen (9)
• Unique Districts

Components

• 16 Basic district tiles (4 Military, 4 Religious, 4 Commercial, 4 Noble)
• 10 Unique district tiles (all in Unique)
• 4 Starting district tiles (1 Military, 1 Religious, 1 Commercial, 1 Noble)
• 25 Gold coins
• 2 Unique district stands
• 1 Council board
• 9 Council seat tokens
• 9 Character cards
• 2 Player reference cards
• 1 King's Guard miniature
• 2 District storage bags (Basic district tiles bag and Unique district tiles bag)
• 1 Starting district storage envelope

The 9 Character Cards

1. Assassin – Attempt to assassinate a character in your opponent's hand.
2. Thief – Attempt to steal gold from your opponent and/or from unprotected districts.
3. King – Gain council seats. Move the King's Guard and place 1 gold on the district.
4. Abbot – The opponent gives you gold if you have less. Build a district at a discount.
5. Merchant – Gain gold and place gold on districts.
6. Architect – Build 2 districts, reducing one's cost by 1 gold.
7. Diplomat – Gain control of a district or gain council seats.
8. Warlord – Gain control of a district or move the King's Guard.
9. Queen – Gain council seats based on the color of districts you own.

Call a character. If your opponent has it in their hand, they discard it.

Setup

1. Choose Player Color: Each player takes a player reference card and a unique district stand. The color (black or white) indicates the player color. Each player places their unique district stand in front of them.

   NOTE: If this is your first time playing, assemble the two unique district stands by folding their sides back and securing them with the crossbar. Then, slot in the ledge to create a platform to place your tiles.

2. Set Up the Starting Districts: Shuffle the 4 starting district tiles using the black storage bag and randomly place 2 of them beside each other in the center of the table. Return the other 2 to the game box. The starting district closest to the white player should be on its white side. This denotes that the white player currently controls this district. The starting district closest to the black player should be black side up, giving control of the district to the black player.

3. Draw Unique District Tiles (see Unique Districts): Place all the unique district tiles into the unique district bag. Each player randomly draws 3 unique district tiles from the bag. Each player secretly places 2 unique district tiles on their stand, returning the other to the bag. If this is your first time playing, each player may simply draw 2 unique district tiles.

4. Create the Basic District Row: Shuffle all the basic district tiles together. Create 4 stacks of 4 basic district tiles each to create the district row. Place the district row to one side.

5. Set Up the Council Board: Place the council board on the opposite side of the play area from the district row and place the King's Guard in its center. Place 8 of the 9 council seat tokens around the King's Guard — 4 black side up and 4 white side up. Flip the remaining council seat token to randomly determine its color and place it in the remaining spot.

6. Create the General Supply: Place all the gold coin tokens aside in a pile beside the council board.

7. Distribute Starting Gold Coins: The player who has 5 council seats of their color on the council board takes 2 gold coins from the general supply, creating a personal supply. The player with 4 council seats adds 4 gold coins to their personal supply.

8. Place Character Cards: Place the 9 character cards in a facedown deck beside the council board.

Key Concepts

Character Abilities

Each character has abilities that allow players to gain gold, build or take control of districts, and gain council seats when they are played. Some abilities become more powerful based on the number of districts of a certain color you control: Noble, Religious, Commercial, Military, and Unique.

Some character abilities are separated by an "or" or "and." If separated by an "or," only one ability may be selected when played. If separated by an "and," those abilities are resolved from top to bottom. All abilities are optional to use, meaning you may skip 1 or 2 of the character's abilities.

Some character abilities such as those of the Abbot, the Architect, and the Warlord reduce the cost of districts. Costs can be reduced to 0 using these abilities.

Gaining Gold Coins

When an ability lets you gain or spend gold coins, take them from or return them to the general supply. In the rare case that the supply is empty, you cannot gain any gold coins.

Building Districts in the City

At the start of the game, each player controls 1 district in the city, denoted by the color on its border. Whenever a player builds a district, they choose a district tile from the district row or from their unique district stand and pay its cost in gold coins.

They then place the tile so it touches any district tile already in the city (including an opponent's district tile) with their player color side up. (Tiles diagonal from each other do not count as touching.)

Build Bonus – When you build a district, place a gold coin from the supply on top of the tile for each touching district that matches its color, including opponent-controlled districts.

District Grid – When you build districts, the tiles must fit within a 4x4 grid. You can place new district tiles in any direction from the starting district tiles.

Unique Districts – Any time you build a district, you may build either of your 2 unique districts instead of building a district from the district row. Each unique district has a special ability. Some abilities activate when you build the district, while others score additional points at the end of the game.

The King's Guard

The King's Guard can be moved by the King and the Warlord characters to any district in the city. The King's Guard protects the district it is on as well as any touching districts, regardless of owner. A protected district cannot be targeted by the Thief, the Diplomat, or the Warlord.

Unprotected District – A district not touching the King's Guard's district is considered an unprotected district.

Gaining Council Seats

Some character abilities allow you to gain council seats by flipping a council seat token to your player color. Council seats may give you a bonus at the end of a round and score points at the end of the game.

On character cards, the black/white rose icon means flip a council seat to your color.

Round Flow

Citadels Duel is played over a series of rounds. Each round is divided into 3 phases:

1. Draft Phase
2. Resolve Phase
3. Expansion Phase

1. Draft Phase

a. Shuffle the 9 character cards and deal 4 to each player. Discard the remaining character card facedown near the council board to create the discard pile.

b. Each player selects 2 character cards to keep, passing the remaining 2 cards to their opponent.

c. Each player discards any 1 of the 4 character cards in their hand, facedown.

2. Resolve Phase

In this phase, the number on the top left of each character card is called out in ascending order, starting with 1 (the Assassin), then 2 (the Thief), and so on until 9 (the Queen). When a character's number is called, whoever is holding the card will play it in front of themselves and activate the character's abilities. If neither player has the character card in their hand, it is skipped.

Players continue to call characters, playing or skipping them, until the final number (9, the Queen) has been called.

3. Expansion Phase

During the expansion phase, the player with the most council seats gains 3 gold coins and builds a district. The other player can then gain 2 gold coins or build a district. Players may build a district only if they can afford to. (They won't have help from characters in this phase.) Then, if the city's 4x4 grid still has empty spaces, the players begin a new round.

Game End

Once the city's 4x4 grid is fully built, the game ends instantly. Players gain points for the following:

• Points equal to the total cost of all districts they control
• 1 point for each gold coin on top of all districts they control
• 1 point for every 2 council seats they control

The winner is the player with the highest total points. If there is a tie, the player with the most gold coins wins. If it is still tied, the player with the most council seats wins.

Character Abilities

The Assassin (1)

When you play the Assassin, name a character. If the named character is in your opponent's hand, that character is placed on the table and does not resolve any ability this round.

The Thief (2)

When you play the Thief, name a character. If the named character is in your opponent's hand, you may steal a total of 3 gold coins. This can come from your opponent's personal supply, any unprotected district(s), or a combination of both.

The King (3)

When you play the King, you may resolve both abilities:

1. Gain 1 council seat, then gain another council seat for each Noble district you control.
2. Move the King's Guard to any district; you may place 1 gold coin on top of it. You must move the King's Guard to place the coin.

The Abbot (4)

When you play the Abbot, you may resolve both abilities:

1. If you have fewer gold coins than your opponent, they must give you 1 gold coin.
2. Build 1 district. For each Religious district you control, reduce the cost of the new district by 1 gold coin. A district may become free to build this way.

The Merchant (5)

When you play the Merchant, gain 3 gold coins, then place 1 gold coin from the general supply on up to 2 Commercial districts you control.

The Architect (6)

When you play the Architect, build up to 2 districts. The cost of 1 district is reduced by 1 gold coin. A district may become free to build this way.

The Diplomat (7)

When you play the Diplomat, you may resolve either of 2 abilities:

• Lose council seats equal to the value of a district to gain control of that district, flipping it over to the side showing your player color. Note: The value of a district is the number of gold coins shown on the bottom left of the tile plus any gold coins on top of the district. Any gold coins on top of the district remain on the tile when it's flipped.
• Gain 2 council seats.

The Warlord (8)

When you play the Warlord, you may resolve either of 2 abilities:

• Gain control of a district, flipping it over to the side showing your player color, by paying the value of the district, reduced by 1 per Military district you control. A district may become free to take over this way. Note: The value of a district is the number of gold coins shown on the bottom left of the tile plus any gold coins on top of the district. Any gold coins on top of the district remain on the tile when it's flipped.
• Move the King's Guard to any district.

The Queen (9)

When you play the Queen, gain 1 council seat for each color of district you control (Noble, Religious, Commercial, Military, and Unique).

Unique Districts

Armory – Once built, you may move the King's Guard to this district.

Capitol – Once built, gain 2 council seats.

Imperial Treasury – Once built, place 2 additional gold coins on this district.

Ivory Tower – This district cannot be targeted by the 2 (the Thief), 7 (the Diplomat), and 8 (the Warlord) character cards.

Library – When building a district, add 2 gold coins for a build bonus instead of 1.

Public House – Once built, players with fewer than 3 gold coins gain 2 gold coins from the general supply.

School of Magic – When resolving character abilities, this district can be considered any one color.

Statue – This district costs 0 to build if adjacent to a 4-cost district you control.

Thieves' Den – Once built, take any gold coins from 1 unprotected district and place them in your personal supply.

Wishing Well – Once built, return 1 gold coin from your personal supply to the general supply. If you do, you may build again.