Corona de Hierro

Corona de Hierro Rulebook

Table of Contents

Objective

"Let the prince therefore dedicate himself to overcoming difficulties and to keeping his state. If he succeeds wisely in his aim, the means he uses will always be considered honourable." (Machiavelli, 1513)

The goal of the game is to become the most powerful noble, that is, the player with the most victory points at the end of the game. The player who becomes King does not necessarily win.

Components

Board
10 castle tiles
40 banners (8 yellow, 8 blue, 8 black, 8 red, 8 green)
50 pawns (10 yellow, 10 blue, 10 black, 10 red, 10 green)
20 emissaries (4 yellow, 4 blue, 4 black, 4 red, 4 green)
3 dice (1 yellow, 1 red, 1 green)
15 experience shields
29 political initiative cards
29 military initiative cards
6 loyalty cards

Component Descriptions

1. Board. The board consists mainly of a map. On it there are two kinds of castles:

Grey castles are the players' starting castles. They can only be conquered using armies.
Brown castles belong to the neutral nobles. They can be conquered using armies or emissaries. The only exception is the castle of Pavia, which is not a starting castle but, as the King's castle, can only be conquered using armies.

Each castle has two banners:

The banner on the left shows the number that must be rolled on the die to conquer the castle with an army.
The banner on the right shows the number that must be rolled on the die to conquer the castle with an emissary.

In addition, each castle has a shield representing a noble family. Each of the five shields is held by three castles: one starting castle and two neutral castles. At the end of the game, the more castles bearing the same shield you control, the more victory points you score.

On the map, the cities that armies can move through are marked with grey and red dots (a red dot where there is a castle).

The other areas of the board are:

Legitimacy Track: shows how much right a noble has to become King. Depending on the area a player is in, it determines which die emissaries must use when trying to conquer castles and how many armies can be recruited from those castles. The first player to reach the crown becomes King and the game ends immediately.
Rome: where the emissaries that open negotiations with the Pope are placed.
Barbarian Peoples: where the emissaries that open negotiations with the Saracens and/or the Magyars are placed.
Alliance Zone: where alliances between players are proposed and accepted.
Victory Point Counter: shows the victory points accumulated by each player.

2. Castle tiles. These are identical to the brown castles on the map and allow the initial position of those castles to be changed.

3. Banners. Used to mark which player a castle belongs to and whether that player has already recruited troops from it.

4. Pawns. Each pawn represents an army. In addition, one pawn is used to mark victory points and another to indicate the level of the player's legitimacy claim.

5. Emissaries. They represent the diplomatic arm of the nobles. They are used to establish relations with the nobles of other castles, the Pope, and the barbarians (Saracens and Magyars).

6. Dice. Used to conquer castles and to fight battles with other players. Each die has the following faces: 1 through 6 (pip faces, shown on the printed component page).

7. Experience shields. Whenever a player loses a castle or a battle against another army, that player receives an experience shield. Shields allow a die to be rolled again without it counting as an action. If a player gathers 3, they may take 5 military or political initiative cards and choose one to take into hand.

8. Political initiative cards. Give players advantages related to actions taken by emissaries and to possessing castles with specific shields. Running out of political initiative cards is one of the conditions for ending the game.

9. Military initiative cards. Give players advantages related to actions taken by armies. Running out of military initiative cards is one of the conditions for ending the game.

10. Loyalty cards. Each player's secret objective. They indicate which player we need to see crowned King in order to score the victory points shown on the card.

Setup

Place the board in the centre of the table.
Give 2 experience shields to each player and place the rest in a common supply pile within everyone's reach.
Each player chooses a colour and takes the pawns, emissaries, and banners of that colour.
Place one pawn of each player on 0 of the Victory Point Counter and another on level 2 of the Legitimacy Track.
Starting with the youngest player and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses one of the grey castles as their main castle and places one of their banners on the right side of it, with the pawn picture facing up. They also place one of their army pawns in the city under the name of that castle (red dot). Lucca is only eligible when 5 players are playing.
Take the loyalty cards and remove those belonging to colours not in use. If playing with 3 players, also remove the card that reads "I declare myself the sole legitimate King of Italy." Shuffle and deal one card face down to each player (these objectives are secret).
Shuffle the political initiative cards, deal one face down to each player, and leave the rest within everyone's reach.
Shuffle the military initiative cards, deal one face down to each player, and leave the rest within everyone's reach.

Turn Structure

The youngest player begins. On their turn, each player must carry out two actions, which may be the same or different. The possible actions are:

Move an army
Recruit an army
Attack an enemy army
Attack a castle by military means
Request support from a castle by diplomatic means
Send an emissary to Rome
Send an emissary to intercede with the Saracens or Magyars
Request an alliance with another player
Accept an alliance
Retrieve an emissary
Take or discard an initiative card
Execute an initiative card

Each time an action is carried out, check whether any of the conditions that end the game are met. If the game does not end after the first action, the second action is carried out. If the game does not end after the second action, the turn passes to the player on the left (the round moves clockwise).

1. Move an Army

An army is small if it consists of 1 pawn, medium if it consists of 2, and large if it consists of 3 or more pawns. Regardless of the army's size, a single action moves it from one city to another (as long as the two are connected by a road).

All of a player's pawns in the same city must be stacked, since they are considered to belong to the same army. However, it is possible to split an army by sending some of its units to another city and keeping the rest in the city of origin. This counts as an action. The same applies in reverse: if you move units into an adjacent city where you already have an army, they all become part of that same army, and the movement counts as an action.

When an army arrives in a city where an enemy army is present, neither of the two may continue on its way without the permission of the other player.

2. Recruit an Army

"Many lords of Italy became vassals of the Emperor of the East when the power of the Carolingians fell." (Philippe-Paul, Comte de Ségur, 1832)

Besides the army in front of our castle, each of us starts with an army inside it, represented by the pawn icon drawn on the banner.

On our turn, we may take the army that is inside a castle. To do this, we turn our banner over to show that the army is no longer inside the castle, and we place a pawn on the point in front of it. If we already have a pawn there, we stack them, forming a larger army.

It is possible to recruit armies even if enemy armies are in the city in front of the castle.

It is not possible to put an army inside a castle. To have more armies, it is essential to win more castles.

The size of the army we recruit depends on the level of our legitimacy claim:

If it is yellow or red, we recruit a small army.
If it is green, we recruit a medium army.

3. Attack an Enemy Army

"A great multitude gathered on the wide plains of Brescia, and Berengar made war on Guido. Because a tremendous slaughter took place there, Berengar fled." (Liutprand of Cremona, 943)

If the armies of different players meet in the same city, they may fight.

Attacking an enemy army is an independent action from moving the army.

In battles, what matters most is the number of weapons and the men who wield them. Therefore, the die each player uses in combat depends on the size of their army: a player with a small army (1 pawn) rolls the red die, a player with a medium army (2 pawns) rolls the yellow die, and a player with a large army (3 or more pawns) rolls the green die.

The attacker rolls first. If they are not satisfied with the result, they may use experience shields to roll again (spending one shield per roll, and they may re-roll as many times as they have shields).

Then the defender rolls their die and, if not satisfied with the result, may use experience shields to roll again.

Example (printed on page 7): The green player has an army in Friuli and wants to attack the red player. They may use both of their actions to move their army to Trento, but then they will have no actions left to attack. If the green army were in Belluno, it could move one space (first action) and then attack (second action).

Whoever rolls the higher number wins. In case of a tie, the attacker wins.

The loser reduces the size of their army by one, removing one pawn, and, if applicable, changes the die they will use in the new battle. The process is repeated until one of the armies loses its last pawn.

The winner gains one level of legitimacy, and the loser loses one level of legitimacy and gains one experience shield.

Example (printed on page 8): The red player attacks the green player in Trento. Both have large armies and therefore roll the green die. On the first roll they tie at 3, and the red player wins because they are the attacker. The green player loses one pawn. They roll again, but now the green player uses the yellow die. The red player wins 2 to 1. The green player loses another pawn and they roll again. Now the green player uses the red die. On the last roll they tie at 1, but the red player wins because they are the attacker. At the end of the battle, only the red player's army remains in Trento.

Important: If two armies are at the gate of a castle, neither may attack that castle while the enemy troops belong to it.

Example (printed on page 9): The red player uses both of their actions to reach the castle of Romagna, which belongs to the green player. On their turn, the green player takes an army out of the castle (using an action) and attacks the red army (using their second action).

4. Attack a Castle by Military Means

"Break down the gates of that castle!"

To conquer a castle by military means, first move an army to the city where that castle is located. Once there, we may attack it by rolling the die. The castle's resistance is represented by the number on the banner to the left of it.

As in battles, the die the attacker uses depends on the size of their army: with a small army (1 pawn) they roll the red die, with a medium army (2 pawns) they roll the yellow die, and with a large army (3 or more pawns) they roll the green die.

If, after rolling, the player is not satisfied with the result, they may use experience shields to roll again without spending actions (spending one shield per roll, and they may re-roll as many times as they have shields).

If our roll equals or exceeds the number on the left banner of the castle, and:

A. It is a neutral castle: we have conquered the castle.
B. It is a castle of another player that had already recruited troops from it: we have conquered the castle.
C. It is a castle of another player that still had its troops inside (banner with the pawn picture facing up): we have eliminated those troops. We must turn the banner over to show that there are no armies inside the castle any longer, and then, with ANOTHER action, attempt to conquer it definitively.

If we obtain a lower result, we do not lose any armies. The castle may be attacked as many times as we like, but each attempt counts as an action.

When we conquer a castle, we place one of our banners on it with the pawn picture facing up, on the right side, covering the banner with the pawn, since this castle can no longer be conquered by diplomatic means.

Whoever conquers a castle gains one level of legitimacy; whoever loses a castle loses one level of legitimacy and gains one experience shield. The exception is Pavia: as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy and of great symbolic and strategic value, when a player gains this castle they rise 3 levels of legitimacy, and they drop 3 levels when they lose it.

5. Request Support from a Castle by Diplomatic Means

"My lord, a delegation approaches bearing the banners of Burgundy." "Well, we shall see how well they get along with the men of Adalbert who arrived last night."

At the start of the game most castles are held by different nobles who are still loyal to King Charles III. We will try to convince them to give us their support and therefore place their army at our disposal. To carry out the negotiations, we send an emissary to them, and the noble who receives it will take into account whether we are a legitimate claimant to the throne before abandoning the dying King.

To obtain a castle's support by diplomatic means, first place an emissary in it (there are no restrictions on distance). On the next turn, we may try to obtain its support by rolling the die. The noble's resistance to giving us support is represented by the number on the banner to the right of the castle.

It is important to note that although we place the emissary in the castle with our first action, we may not use our second action to roll the die. We must necessarily wait for our next turn to do so (negotiations take time).

The die the player uses depends on the level of legitimacy of their right to become King: if they are in the red band they roll the red die, if they are in the yellow band they roll the yellow die, and if they are in the green band they roll the green die.

If our roll equals or exceeds the number on the right banner of the castle, we have obtained the castle's support. We must then place one of our banners on the right side, covering the emissary's banner, since this castle can no longer be conquered by diplomatic means.

Whoever obtains a castle's support by diplomatic means gains one level of legitimacy.

If we obtain a lower result, there is no penalty. The castle may be attacked this way as many times as we like, but each attempt counts as an action.

Each castle may hold up to two emissaries, either of the same player or of different players. These emissaries remain in the castle until the corresponding player decides to withdraw them using an action.

The risk of not withdrawing emissaries from a castle is that if the castle is conquered by another player, that player may take it as a hostage, that is, take the emissary and place it in their play area with the rest of their pieces. This counts as an action, and although it gives no direct benefit, it can be used as a negotiating tool, since the holder is free to return it to its owner or exchange it, even outside their turn, without it counting as an action.

Emissaries are our trusted people, even our close relatives such as brothers or sons. For this reason we will want to protect them and keep them with us: at the end of the game, if none of our emissaries is held hostage by another player, we add one victory point.

Example (printed on page 11): On their turn, the green player places an emissary in the castle. Then it is the red player's turn, and they also place an emissary in that castle. On its next turn, the green player rolls the die and gets a 1, failing the diplomatic roll because they needed 2 or more. Then the red player rolls the die and gets a 3, so they win the castle and place their banner.

Note: Pavia and each player's starting castles cannot receive emissaries (that is why they have no banner drawn on the right). Emissaries also cannot be sent to castles that have been conquered by other players.

6. Send an Emissary to Rome

"And the Pope says I cannot be King? I will choose the next Pope! And it will be very soon!" "God gave it to me, and woe to him who takes it away." (Napoleon's words when he placed the iron crown on his own head in the cathedral of Milan in 1805)

The Pope was a very important political actor during the Middle Ages. For this reason, for each emissary we send to Rome, we raise our legitimacy claim by one level. However, if we remove the emissary from Rome, we automatically lose one level of legitimacy.

Note that the total number of emissaries that may be sent to Rome equals the number of players plus 1. For example, if 3 players are playing, up to 4 emissaries may be sent in total.

Both placing an emissary in Rome and removing one count as actions. A player may have several emissaries (always without exceeding the limit).

7. Send an Emissary to Intercede with the Saracens or Magyars

"They have already sacked dozens of towns along the coasts of the Po." "And how long do you reckon they will take to reach Pavia?" "When Italy was catching its breath from so many calamities, the greatest of all came upon it, which was the invasion of the Magyars." (Philippe-Paul, Comte de Ségur, 1832)

The Saracens and Magyars are barbarian peoples who threaten to invade, plunder, and kill the population. Players may send emissaries with the aim of preventing their raids from causing them to lose legitimacy, because they were unable to defend the people from such calamities.

Sending an emissary to the Saracens or the Magyars gives no immediate benefit, but it prevents the problems that will arise when someone plays certain initiative cards.

Note that the total number of emissaries that may be sent equals the number of players minus two. For example, if 5 players are playing, up to 3 emissaries may be sent. The limit applies separately for each people.

Both placing an emissary and removing an emissary count as actions. A player may have several emissaries (always without exceeding the limit).

8. Request an Alliance with Another Player

"Our houses must unite. The enemy will not make distinctions when the hour comes." "To keep order in his state, a prince is often forced to act against his word." (Machiavelli, 1513)

To form an alliance there must be one player who requests it and another who accepts it. The player requesting the alliance places an emissary of their colour in the Alliance Zone of the board, on the banner of the starting castle of the player with whom they want to ally. This counts as an action.

If the other player is delaying in accepting the alliance, or has directly declared that they will not accept it, the emissary may be retrieved using another action.

An alliance with another player implies a pact of no direct aggression between the two, although initiative cards that affect all players meeting a certain condition may still be executed, that is, cards that do not involve attacking the armies or castles of one particular player.

The player who accepted the alliance rises two levels of legitimacy. This matters because it is one of the simplest ways to make another player become King.

Either of the two involved may attack the other, breaking the alliance, but whoever breaks an alliance immediately loses two levels of legitimacy. In this case, the emissary that was in the Alliance Zone returns to its owner and does NOT count as an action.

Alliances may be formed with all players as long as the necessary emissaries are available.

9. Accept an Alliance

On their turn, a player may use an action to accept an alliance offered to them by moving the emissary of the player who proposed it to the space to the right of the shield.

The player who was asked for an alliance is under no obligation to accept it, nor to accept it immediately.

10. Retrieve an Emissary

Emissaries cannot move directly from one place on the board to another: they can only return to the player's hand.

Retrieving an emissary from a castle, from Rome, from the barbarian peoples, or from the Alliance Zone counts as an action.

Retrieving an emissary that another player had taken as a hostage does not count as an action. This is, of course, provided that the player holding it as a hostage gives us permission to retrieve it.

11. Take or Discard an Initiative Card

"But Father, are we going to sit here and do nothing?" "Our moment will come, and we will have to be ready."

Initiative cards allow us to carry out special actions. It is possible to take a political or military initiative card using one action, or to spend 3 experience shields to take 5 political or 5 military initiative cards, keep one, return the other 4 to the corresponding deck, and then shuffle that deck (this also counts as one action).

The maximum number of initiative cards in hand is five. If we already have five, we must discard one before taking a new one. Discarding a card counts as an action.

12. Execute an Initiative Card

Executing an initiative card is itself the action; it does not modify another main action. Therefore, even if it is executed as the first action, its effect will not extend to the second action of our turn.

Initiative Cards

Military Initiative Cards

"Reason and experience teach us that a man who is armed does not willingly obey one who is unarmed." (Machiavelli, 1513)

Good fortune: If we have an emissary in a neutral castle, or an army at the gate of a castle that does not belong to us, when we play this card we roll the green die instead of the die that would normally apply. If the desired result is not obtained on the die, experience shields may be used to roll the green die again, since this then counts as the same action.
Cavalry charge: We may use this card to attack an enemy army located in the same city as one of our own armies. The advantages of this card are that throughout the whole battle we roll the yellow die, and we also gain 1 victory point if we win the battle. Since executing the card is the action, it cannot be played once a battle has already begun.
Forced march: Allows an army to move faster: if the army is small, it may be moved up to three spaces, and if it is medium, up to two spaces. It cannot be used to move large armies, but we could move a small or medium army by detaching it from a large one.
Resistance: We may use this card on our turn when there is an enemy army at the gate of one of our castles. When played, we remove one pawn from the enemy army. If the enemy army is small, it is eliminated completely, but the player who executed the card does not gain a level of legitimacy, nor does the player who lost the army lose a level, because it is not considered a battle.
Loyal vassal: If we have troops that could be recruited in a castle that bears the same noble shield shown on the card, we may play it to recruit a medium army instead of a small one. When played, we must turn the banner over to show that no troops remain in the castle.

Political Initiative Cards

"My lord, the Bishop wishes to see you. He says it is urgent."

Support of the Bishop: If we control at least one castle bearing one of the two noble shields shown on the card, we may play it and immediately rise two levels of legitimacy.
Support of the Pope: The player with the most emissaries in Rome rises 2 levels of legitimacy. In case of a tie, all tied players rise 2 levels of legitimacy. It may be played even if the player who plays it has no emissaries in Rome. This card may only be played as the first action of the turn.
The King is dead: The player with the highest level of legitimacy rises 3 levels of legitimacy. In case of a tie, all tied players increase their legitimacy by 3 levels.
Spy: Allows us to look at all of another player's initiative cards, choose one, and discard it.
Magyar invasion: All players who do not have at least one emissary with the Magyars drop two levels of legitimacy. This card may only be played as the first action of the turn.
Saracen invasion: All players who do not have at least one emissary with the Saracens drop two levels of legitimacy. This card may only be played as the first action of the turn.
Secret pact: We immediately gain 3 victory points if we control at least one castle bearing each of the noble shields indicated on the card.
Hostage: Allows us to remove an emissary of another player that is in a castle, in Rome, or in one of the barbarian peoples, and replace it with one of ours. If the emissary was in Rome, the player who plays the card gains one level of legitimacy and the other player loses one level of legitimacy. It cannot be used to replace an emissary in the Alliance Zone.

The emissary we remove is kept as a hostage, held together with the rest of our pieces. Although this gives no direct benefit, it can be used as a negotiating tool, since any player who at the end of the game does not control all of their emissaries does not gain a victory point. The player who takes an emissary as a hostage is free to return it to its owner or exchange it, even outside their turn, without it counting as an action.

End of the Game

The conditions that determine the end of the game are:

A player reaches the crown at the end of the Legitimacy Track and becomes King;
The last political or military initiative card is drawn;
A player loses their last castle.

If at least one of these conditions is met, the game ends immediately and each player's score is counted. If the end condition occurs after the execution of a player's first action, that player may not carry out their second action.

If the game ends without any player having reached the crown at the end of the Legitimacy Track, the player who ended highest is crowned King. In case of a tie, all players who tied become kings for the purpose of fulfilling their secret objectives (they receive the score corresponding to the area they are actually in).

Final Scoring

"That is why I tell you: Berengar of Friuli is the legitimate King of Italy. The others are usurpers, and they will pay dearly for their betrayal."

At the end of the game, scoring is carried out as follows:

a. Loyalty cards: Players who have fulfilled their secret objective score 4 or 6 victory points, as indicated on the card.

b. Castles: If we control:

1 castle with one type of shield, we score 1 victory point.
2 castles with the same shield, we score 4 victory points.
3 castles with the same shield, we score 9 victory points.

For example, if we control three castles with three different shields, we add 3 victory points in total.

c. Legitimacy Track: Players who have legitimacy in the:

High area (green area) or who have been crowned King, score 6 victory points.
Medium area (yellow area), score 4 victory points.
Low area (red area), score no victory points.

d. Emissaries: If none of our emissaries is held hostage by another player, we add one victory point.

In case of a tie, the winner is the player whose claim to the crown has the higher level of legitimacy. If the tie persists, the winner is the player who controls the greater number of castles.

Advanced Rules

Once each player has chosen their starting castle, the castle tiles are placed at random on top of the brown castles to change their position.
Each player takes 4 political initiative cards and 4 military initiative cards, chooses 2, and returns the rest to their respective decks. Then the decks are shuffled and the game begins.

Quick Reference Card

Printed reference card included with the rulebook, transcribed as printed.

TWO ACTIONS PER TURN:

Move an Army: one space per action
Recruit an army: if the legitimacy level is green, a medium army
Attack an enemy army: 1 pawn (red die); 2 pawns (yellow die); 3 pawns (green die)
Attack a castle by military means: 1 pawn (red die); 2 pawns (yellow die); 3 pawns (green die)
Request support from a castle by diplomatic means: die of the color of the legitimacy level
Send an emissary to Rome
Send an emissary to intercede with the barbarian peoples
Request an alliance with another player
Accept an alliance
Retrieve an emissary
Take hostage an emissary
Take or discard an initiative card
Execute an initiative card
Whoever wins a battle or conquers a castle rises one level of legitimacy.

Maximum initiative cards in hand = 5

Experience shields: They allow a die to be rolled again without it counting as an action. With 3 we may take 5 initiative cards and keep 1.

Translator's notes on the source:

The printed reference card lists "Take hostage an emissary" (Secuestrar un emisario) as a separate action. The main section lists twelve actions and does not include it; taking an emissary hostage is described in the castle-conquest and hostage passages. Both are kept as printed.
The printed reference card spells "Retrieve an emissary" with a typo in the source ("emsario"); it is transcribed here in its corrected form.