Council of 4 Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Phases of Play
- Playing the Game
Main Actions
Quick Actions
The Nobility Track
Setting Up a Two-Player Game
End of the Game
Credits

Components

24 Councilor Miniatures – 4 each in 6 colours
4 Big Merchant Miniatures – 1 each in 4 colours
44 Small Merchant Miniatures – 11 each in 4 colours
30 Servant Tokens – 21 Single Servant tokens, 9 Triple Servant tokens
14 City Tokens
1 Main Board (a map divided into 3 regions: Coast, Hills, Mountains) – double-sided
1 Track Board
8 Marker Tokens – 2 each in 4 colours
4 Player-aid Cards
90 Politics Cards – 13 each in 6 colours, 12 Jokers
45 Business Permit Tiles (divided in 3 areas)
7 General Reward Tiles
5 Queen's Reward Tiles

The Main Board is laid out with the Bonus Tiles, City Tokens, Business Permit Tiles, and the Council Line around its edges. The Track Board holds the Queen's Reward Tiles, the Queen track, and the Servants supply.

Setup

1. Game Boards

Place the Main Board and the Track Board, side by side, in the centre of the table. The map is double-sided – you may choose either side when starting to play.

NOTE: Each region contains 5 cities with their names in alphabetical order: from A-E on the coast, from F-H in the hills, and from K-O in the mountains.

2. City Tokens

Shuffle the 14 City Tokens. Place 1 token faceup on the corresponding space of each city. The grey city (Juvelar or Graden, according to the chosen size) does not receive a City Token.

3. Business Permit Tiles

Divide the Business Permit Tiles into 3 decks based on the region printed on their back (Coast, Hills, Mountains). Shuffle the 3 decks separately and place them facedown on their corresponding spaces on the Board. Draw two tiles per region and place them faceup at the designated spaces.

4. The Queen

Place the Queen Miniature in the grey city (Juvelar or Graden, according to the chosen size).

5. Queen's Reward Tiles

Place the Queen's Reward Tiles on the Track Board in a pile in numerical order (with the first tile on top and the fifth on the bottom) on the corresponding space close to the tracks.

6. Bonus Tiles

Place the 3 Region Reward Tiles on their corresponding spaces on the Regions on the Main Board (Coast, Hills, Mountains).
Place the remaining 4 General Reward Tiles on their specific spaces on the center of the Track Board.

7. Council Line

Insert 4 Councilors at random in each Council Line (one for each region on the Main Board, and the Queen line on the Track Board). Place the 8 remaining Councilors to the side of the board.

8. Politics Cards

Shuffle the Politics Cards and place the deck facedown to the side of the board.

9. Servants

Place the Servant Tokens in a pile to the side of the board.

10. Player Setup

Take the 1 Big Merchant Miniature of one colour and place them in front of you, to serve as your reference colour.
Take the 10 Small Merchant Miniatures of your colour and place them in front of you.
Take the 1 Small Merchant Miniatures of your colour and place it on the "0" space of the Scoring Track.
Take the 2 Marker Tokens of your colour. Place a Marker Token on the "0" space of the Nobility Track.
Randomly determine the first player.
The first player places their final Marker Token on the "10" space of the Coins Track and receives 1 Servant Token; proceeding clockwise around the table, the second player places their Marker Token on the "11" space and receives 2 Servant Tokens; the third player places their Marker Token on the "12" space and receives 3 Servants Tokens, and the fourth player places their Marker Token on the "13" space and receives 4 Servant Tokens.
Take an Overview Card.
Draw 6 Politics Cards from the deck without showing the other players.

Phases of Play

Playing the Game

The game is played in turns, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise. Your turn is composed of two phases, performed as follows:

Phase 1: Draw a Card

"Coins are always useful, but often influence is a more valuable currency. Gather political favors as you carefully watch for the right moment to cash them in."

Draw a Politics Card from the card deck and add it to your hand. If the deck finishes at any point during the game, reshuffle the discarded cards to form a new deck.

Phase 2: Perform Actions (Perform one Main Action and, if you wish, one Quick Action.)

"Money and influence are worthless without action. Guide your servants, and spend your coins and influence wisely, as you expand your mercantile empire."

You must perform a single Main Action and may, if you wish, perform a Quick Action. You choose the order to perform these actions.

Main Actions

The player must choose one of these four main actions:

Action 1: Elect a Councilor
Action 2: Acquire a Business Permit Tile
Action 3: Place a Merchant Using a Permit Tile
Action 4: Place a Merchant with the Help of the Queen

Main Action 1: Elect a Councilor

"Nobles often require support to get elected and are only too happy to reward canny merchants who help them ascend to power."

Choose one of the available Councilors Miniatures to the side of the board. In the Council Line of your choice, insert the Councilor to the side closest to the printed arrow, pushing the Councilors present in that Line until the last one is out of the line. Remove the excluded Councilor and place them with the other Councilors to the side of the board. Receive 4 Coins. (Mark this by moving your marker on the Coin Track.)

Main Action 2: Acquire a Business Permit Tile

"Expanding your mercantile empire can be quite expensive if you don't have enough political favors to cash in."

Choose and satisfy the council of a region by discarding 1-4 Politics Cards corresponding to the Councilors present in that Balcony. The Joker (multi-coloured card) can be any colour.

Pay Coins, marking this by moving your marker on the Coin Track, depending on the number of Councilors satisfied:

Cards played	Coins paid
1 card	10 coins
2 cards	7 coins
3 cards	4 coins
4 cards	0 coins

NOTE: For each multi-coloured card played, pay 1 additional coin.

Choose one of the two faceup Business Permit Tiles across the board of the Council Line you have satisfied, then take it and place it face up in front of you. Immediately obtain the bonuses indicated at the tile. Replace the tile with the top tile of the corresponding deck.

Main Action 3: Place a Merchant Using a Permit Tile

"Set up shop and start reaping the benefits of your well-placed influence."

Choose one of the faceup Business Permit Tiles in front of you. Place one of your small Merchant miniatures on the corresponding space in the city whose letter is indicated on the tile. If the tile indicates more than one city, you may choose which city to build in. Turn the used tile facedown to indicate that you can no longer use it to send another Merchant.

Main Action 4: Place a Merchant with the Help of the Queen

"The Queen is amenable to donations to the royal coffers and is willing to reward Her financial supporters."

You must satisfy the Queen's Council Balcony following the same rules of "Acquire a Business Permit Tile."

Move the Queen to the city of your choice. The Queen must use uninterrupted roads to make the journey. Pay 2 Coins for each road traveled. The Queen may also be left in the same city; in this case, pay no Coins. Immediately place a small Merchant Miniature in the city where the Queen is located at the end of the journey.

Rules for Placing a Merchant

You may only place 1 Merchant per city.
Each time you place a Merchant in a city, whether using a Business Permit Tile or with the help of the Queen, you must return 1 Servant to the pool for each Merchant already placed by other players in that city. If the city is empty, you do not need to return anything.
Each time you place a Merchant in a city, immediately obtain the bonus indicated by that City's token. In addition, if the city in which you place a Merchant is connected directly (via road) to another city or cities – or to a group of already connected cities – in which your Merchants are already present, immediately obtain the bonus indicated by the City's Token from all connected cities.

General and Queen's Reward Tiles

If you are the first player to possess a Merchant in all cities of one colour or of one region, you receive the corresponding Reward Tile. In addition, you receive the topmost Queen's Reward Tile. If the Queen's Reward Tiles have all been claimed, you only receive the General Reward Tile.

NOTE: There are seven different Reward Tiles: gold cities, silver cities, bronze cities, iron cities, seaside cities, hillside cities, mountain cities.

Example: the pink player was the first one that managed to position his merchants in all 4 purple cities, therefore gaining the special purple token.

Quick Actions

Quick Actions are not obligatory and can be performed before or after the main action. The player may choose one of these four quick actions:

Action 1: Engage a Servant
Action 2: Change building permit tiles
Action 3: Send a Servant to elect a councilor
Action 4: Perform an additional main action

Quick Action 1: Engage a Servant

"Good help is essential for a profitable business, so remember to invest in the labor pool."

Pay 3 Coins and take 1 Servant from the pool. If you are unable to move back 3 spaces on the Coin Track, you cannot perform this action.

Quick Action 2: Change Building Permit Tiles

"When you don't care for the options presented to you, change them."

Return 1 Servant to the pool. Then return the two faceup Business Permit Tiles in a region to the bottom of their corresponding deck and draw two new tiles from the top of the deck.

Quick Action 3: Send a Servant to Elect a Councilor

"A discrete servant with a signed letter often leads to a change in perspective."

Return 1 Servant to the pool. Then take a Councilor and insert it in a Line, exactly as with the Main Action "Elect a Councilor." You do not earn any Coins by performing this action.

Quick Action 4: Perform an Additional Main Action

"When you have a really good idea, sometimes it behooves you to stick with it."

Return 3 Servants to the pool and perform two Main Actions instead of one this turn. (You may perform the same action twice.)

The Nobility Track

"While a strong mercantile empire provides money and influence, nobility has privileges all its own. A noble reputation is a great boon to any merchant aspiring to great renown."

There are two ways to move forward on this track: as an instant bonus from an acquired Business Permit Tile, OR by gaining the bonus from a City's Tokens.

When you reach a square on the Nobility Track marked with a bonus symbol, immediately receive that bonus:

Space	Bonus
1	You earn 2 victory points and 2 coins
3	You obtain the bonus of a reward token from a city in which you have a merchant. You cannot choose one of the tokens which advance you along the nobility track.
6	You can perform an additional main action
8	You earn 3 victory points and draw a politics card from the deck
10	You can take a face-up building permit tile without paying the cost
12	You earn 5 victory points and receive a servant
14	You receive the bonus of one of the permit tiles which you previously bought (also a face-down tile)
16	You obtain the bonus of two different reward tokens from two cities in which you have a merchant. You cannot choose one of the tokens which advance you along the nobility track.
18	You earn 8 victory points
19	You earn 2 victory points
20	You earn 3 victory points

Setting Up a Two-Player Game

For a two-player game, first set up the game as normal, then randomly draw 1 Business Permit Tile per region and position 1 Merchant (of one of the colours not chosen by the players) in each city appearing on the drawn tiles. Shuffle the tiles back into their starting decks.

NOTE: There will be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 9 Merchants present on the map at the beginning of the game.

End of the Game

"Business requires speed as much as it requires planning. Spend and do what you must to move your merchants into the cities of the Empire as efficiently as you can, and reap the rich rewards from the Three Kingdoms and the Queen."

The first player to place their 10th Merchant immediately earns 3 Victory Points (VPs). All other players take one last turn, then the game ends. Score the following:

Each player earns the VPs marked on their Reward Tiles.
The player furthest ahead on the Nobility Track earns 5 VPs, while the player in second place earns 2 VPs. If more than one player is tied for first place, they all earn 5 VPs each; no VPs are awarded for second place. If multiple players are tied for second place, they all earn 2 VPs.
The player with the most Business Permit Tiles receives 3 VPs.

The player with the most VPs is the winner. In the event of a tie, the player with the most Servants and Politics cards wins.

Credits

Game Design: Simone Luciani & Daniele Tascini Artwork: Giovanna Guimarães Lead Graphic Designer: Mathieu Harlaut Graphic Design: Marc Brouillon & Louise Combal Publisher: David Preti Production: Thiago Aranha, Thiago Gonçalves, Guilherme Goulart, Isadora Leite, Sergio Roma & Renato Sasdelli Proofreading: Jared Miller, Jason Koepp, & Colin Young

Special thanks to all the playtesters.