Elector Counts
Elector Counts Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview of the Game
In The Elector Counts card game, two to four players take on the roles of competing Elector Counts embroiled in a bitter civil war to seize the throne of mankind's greatest empire. But stealing the crown is no easy task. The Elector Counts will need to raise their myriad armies, lay siege to opposing Counts lands and defend their own in fierce conflicts to emerge victorious.
Types of Card
There are four types of card in the game:
- Defenders - Martial champions and units dedicated to protecting their territory.
- Attackers - Aggressive warriors seeking to seize territories.
- Support - Individuals or circumstances that can benefit you or hinder your rivals.
- Locations - Places of strategic importance that the Elector Counts vie to control.
On Your Turn
During the game players will take it in turns to perform Actions. These Actions will largely revolve around managing and playing cards in your hand. You can never have less than three cards in your hand. Once you have finished your Actions on your turn, you must pass three cards to the player to your right.
The number of Actions you can perform in your turn depends on how many cards you are able to play. This can vary as you can retain cards from earlier turns in your reserve and you can buy extra cards with Schillings. Play continues in this manner until the end of the game.
Components
- 28 Siege Tokens, seven per player
- 28 Fortification Tokens, seven per player
- 30 Schilling Tokens, the coin of the realm!
- This very rulebook!
- 35 Attacker cards
- 30 Defender cards
- 20 Support cards
- 22 Location Cards
- Four Starting Location Cards
- One End of Game card
- Ten spare Shillings. These should be put to one side unless you happen to loose or damage any of your game tokens!
The Playing Area
During the course of the game you will play a number of cards in front of your position. Most of these will be face-up Location cards that you have played. Behind your line of Location cards you can also keep up to two cards in Reserve, which are played face-down. Certain Support cards are played here too, face-up.
Other players can play Attacker cards face-down onto your Location cards. You can play Defender cards on your own Locations, either to defend them or to repel an Attacker.
The End of the Game
The game ends immediately if you have five of your Fortification or five of your Siege tokens in play at the start of your turn. Otherwise, the game ends when you have any eight of your tokens in play at the start of your turn. Finally, the game may ends if the End of the Game card has been revealed and a player can no longer take their turn.
Winning the Game
At the end of the game you score Victory Points for Locations that you have protected and Locations that you have conquered. The player with the most points wins the game.
Starting the Game
Each player should choose a colour and take the matching sets of tokens.
Find the four Starting Location cards - easily identified by looking at the back of the cards for those labeled "Starting Location" - and the End of the Game card then put them to one side. Shuffle the Starting Locations cards and deal one to each player. Remove any unclaimed cards from the game. All of the players reveal their Location card and place it directly in front of them in the playing area. Each player gains 3 schillings. The player with the highest value Starting Location, as shown by the number over the location's name, becomes the first player.
Shuffle the remaining cards and deal each player their starting hand, except the player sitting to the right of the first player, who receives 3 cards fewer. The starting hand sizes for 2, 3 and 4 player games are shown below:
| 4 Player | 3 Player | 2 Player | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Hand Size | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Deal 20 cards, face-down, into a stack and place them in the centre of the table. Place the End of Game card face-up on top of this stack, then add the remaining cards on top to create a central draw deck. During the course of the game, any time a player discards a card, place it to the side of this deck to form a discard pile. You are now ready to go to war!
Golden Rules
There are a couple of golden rules that you should always keep in mind when playing Elector Counts:
- Card rules always trump the rulebook. If rules text on a card indicates that you perform an action that is outside the standard rules, the card takes precedent.
- If a card has more than one effect, they always trigger in order. If something interrupts this order and removes the card, like a card being COUNTERED, any remaining effects do not trigger.
- Schillings must come from somewhere. If for any reason you should gain Schilling tokens, but the Schilling Supply is exhausted, you must take Schilling tokens from other players. You can choose who to take the tokens from and can split this across multiple players.
Playing the Game
Play starts with the first player taking their turn. When it is your turn you can perform as many actions as you want. However, at the end of your turn you must have three cards to pass to the player on your right. You may retain up to two additional cards if you wish, placing them in your Reserve.
Drawing Reinforcements
Once your turn is complete you may then draw new cards from the deck. This is known as Drawing Reinforcements, and the number of cards to draw is shown below:
| 4 Player | 3 Player | 2 Player | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reinforcements | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Once you have drawn reinforcements, the player to your left then starts their turn.
Actions
The actions you can choose from are:
- Play a Location Card from your hand
- Commit one of more Defender cards on one of your Location cards
- Commit one of more Attacker cards on another player's Location card.
- Play a Support card
- Buy additional cards with Schillings.
- Discard one or two cards in exchange for Schillings.
Each action is discrete and can be performed more than once during your turn. Normally you must complete one action before performing your next action, although some Support cards can be played during an action.
Action: Play a Location Card
Location cards are key to Victory in Elector Counts. You begin the game with one Starting Location in front of you.
When you play a Location card, place it in front of you. Then take a number of Schillings equal to the number printed on the top left of the card. If you control the Location at the end of the game, you will score a number of Victory Points equal to the number of skulls in the top right of the card.
Action: Commit Defender Cards
As an Action you can commit one or more Defender cards on one of your Location cards. This is essential to securing your holdings from your bitter rivals. No location can ever have more than one Garrison card. Additionally, no Location can ever have two or more Defender cards which share the same name.
If you commit the Defender card or cards on a Location that is not under attack, then you place them face-down. You can commit Defenders to a Location card that already has Defenders on it, as long as could normally have played those cards together. You can always peek at your own face-down Defender cards to make sure this is the case. You can also commit Defender cards to a Location card that has a Fortification Token on it. Once committed, you cannot withdraw Defender cards from a Location.
If you commit Defender cards to a Location that has one or more Attacker cards on it, you resolve the conflict immediately. Note that you must declare all of the Defender cards you wish to commit before revealing any Attacker cards. Rules for how to resolve a conflict are on page 9.
Action: Commit Attacker Cards
As an Action you can commit one or more Attacker cards to attack a Location belonging to another player. Unlike Defenders, all Attacker cards committed to an attack must share the same name or ALLY type - see page 8 for details.
If you commit your cards against a Location that is not defended, you place them face-down. You then take one of your Siege tokens and place it on top of your cards to show that you control that attack. You can commit additional Attacker cards to a location as a later action as long as the card or cards you play could normally be committed - remember that you may peek at your face-down attackers to ensure this is the case.
You cannot attack a Location that is already under attack from another player, nor can you join with another player's attack. You cannot attack your own Locations. Once cards have been committed to an attack, you cannot withdraw them. If you play your Attacker cards against a Location that is defended by one or more Defender cards then you must resolve the conflict immediately (see page 9).
If you commit Attacker cards against a Location that has a Fortification Token, then you immediately discard all Attackers you commited and return the Fortification Token to the owning player. Any Defender cards on the Location card remain face-down.
When playing Attackers or Defenders, be sure not to cover the Victory Point total of the Location Card beneath. It is important that everyone can see at a glance what Locations are worth.
Gameplay Tip: Don't waste your elite Attackers on fortifications! Play a weak weak Attacker first to remove the Fortification Token. Their sacrifice will be remembered!
Action: Play a Support Card
Support cards have a wide range of different effects, which are described by the effect text on each card. The majority of Support cards are played as Actions - you just follow the text on the card. Some Support cards remain in play after use, whilst some are discarded after use.
Action: Place Cards in your Reserve
You can keep a maximum of two cards in your Reserve. A card played into your Reserve should be placed face-down to one side of your play area. Make sure it is clear which cards are in your Reserve so they are not mistaken for face-down Defenders.
Any card in your Reserve remains there for use in subsequent turns, and can be added to your hand at any point during your turn. Taking a card from your Reserve does not count as an action.
Action: Purchase Cards with Schillings
As an Action you can purchase one or more cards from the Draw Deck by paying 4 Schillings per card, drawing them from the top of the deck and adding them to your hand. Return Schillings spent this way to the Schilling Supply.
Action: Discard Cards for Schillings
As an Action you can discard one or two cards, placing them on the Discard Pile beside the Draw Deck. You take two Schilling tokens for each card you discard. You can repeat this action on your turn, discarding one or two cards each time.
Card Keywords
Cards in Elector Counts may feature a number of Keywords, the effects of which are described below. Where an action requires that multiple keywords are resolved, you should resolve them in the order given below.
- COUNTER - If this card is placed into a conflict with its counter, both cards are removed and their values are not counted towards the conflict.
- ASSASSINATE - If this card is placed into a Conflict with its Assassinate target, the target is removed from the Conflict immediately.
- EARN - Gain Schilling tokens equal to the value when revealed.
- STEAL - Steal Schilling tokens from the defender equal to the value.
- RETREAT - If this card is already on a location and then defeated you return them to your hand.
- ALLY - This Attacking card can be played onto a new or existing Attack with cards that share the same ALLY type.
Resolving Conflicts
Conflict occurs whenever a Location card has both Defender and Attacker cards committed to it. The conflict should be resolved as soon as the active player has declared which card or cards they are committing to the Location. All Defender and Attacker cards at the target Location should be turned face-up. If any cards have effects that activate when the card is revealed, resolve them immediately.
Every Defender and Attacker card has a strength value, as indicated by the number on the top left of the card. Each side of the conflict now combines the total strength value of their cards in the conflict.
If the defender's total strength is equal to or greater than the attacker's total, then the defender wins! All defending and attacking cards are placed on the discard pile. The defending player places one of their Fortification tokens on the Location Card.
If the defender's total strength is less than that of the attacker, then the attacker wins. All the remaining Defender cards are discarded. The attacker need only discard Attacker cards to match as closely as possible the strength of the defender, but without exceeding it. Remaining Attacker cards stay on the Location, face-up. The defending player may oppose them with new Defender cards on their turn, any any Conflict resolved in the same way. The attacking player may also reinforce these cards on their turn.
Note that a Location card is never physically captured or moved by a successful attack during the course of the game. The card stays where it is. It is only at the end of the game that points are awarded for controlling locations, so if you lose to an enemy attack, you can still try to defeat it again in a later turn to reclaim control of it.
Example Conflict (the card diagram is not reproduced): In this example Conflict, the attackers combined strength of 4 overcomes the defenders strength of 2. All Defender cards are discared. The attacker must discard cards that come as close as possible to the defender's strength of 2 without exceeding it, and so only the Strength 1 Attacker, Stirland's Revenge Free Company, is discarded.
Ending Your Turn
Although in theory you can take as many Actions as you wish, in practice you are limited by the number of cards and Schillings you have. You must end your turn by passing on three cards to the player on your right, leaving yourself with none in hand.
Once you have done this, you Draw Reinforcements from the Draw Deck and the player to your left starts their turn. When they have finished their turn, they will hand you three cards, so you will have a full hand by the start of your next turn.
Ending the Game
The game ends immediately if, at the beginning of your turn, you have five of your Fortification tokens, five of your Siege tokens, or a combined total of eight of either token in play. The game is now over - see Who Wins? on page 11.
The game is close to ending if the End of the Game card is revealed from the Draw Deck. If this occurs a special "End Game" period is triggered where players play out their remaining cards. Once complete, Victory Points are counted and a winner declared.
If the End of the Game card is revealed during your turn, as the result of performing actions that require the drawing of cards, then you place the End of the Game card to one side, draw a replacement card, and continue with your turn normally. When you have ended your turn you pass three cards to the player to your right as normal. However, you now draw as many cards as the Starting Hand Size for the number of players in your game instead of Drawing Reinforcements.
If the End of the Game card is revealed at the end of your turn, as a result of Drawing Reinforcements, then you place the End of the Game card to one side and pick up enough cards to bring your hand up to the Starting Hand Size for your game.
The "End Game" period now starts with the player to your left going first.
During the End Game period, when it is your turn you can only perform one Action. Once you have completed your Action, play proceeds to the next player. You do not pass any cards to the player on your right, nor do you refill your hand. You can perform any of the actions described in these rules. You cannot choose to pass and do nothing.
The game only ends when it reaches a player's turn and they cannot perform an Action, which means they have no cards in hand and insufficient Schillings to buy one. If the Deck is exhausted the game continues - shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck.
If, during the End Game period, a players has all five of their Seige or Fortification tokens in play at the beginning of their turn, or a combined total of eight tokens of any kind, then the game ends immediately as normal.
Who Wins?
Players now calculate how many Victory Points they have gained. You add up the Victory Points on each Location card you have that is not under attack, i.e. does not have any Attacker cards committed to it. You also add up the Victory Points on each Location card that you have an uncontested attack against (as marked by your Siege tokens).
The player with the most Victory Points is the winner! There is no tie-breaker, so if two or more players have the same Victory Points totals then they share the precarious honour of winning the game and sharing rulership of the Empire together.
Two-Player Variant
If you would like to play Elector Counts with just two players, you'll need to remove a few cards from the deck to make it work: the Mercenary Commander, Confusing Cartography, and Katarin Bokha cards. You can play the game as normal, using the Starting Hand Size of 7 and drawing 4 Reinforcements, as described on page 4.