Fief (1984) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Equipment
• Regions and Bishoprics
• Rules of the Game
  • The Beginning of the Game
  • The Game Turn
• Phase 1: The Playing of the Cards
• Phase 2: Collection of Revenues
• Phase 3: Purchases
• Phase 4: The Movement of Counters
• Phase 5: The Combat
  • Combat Results Table
  • Dice Throws Table
• Phase 6: Negotiations

Goal of the Game

The player who has the most "fiefs" at the end of the game is declared the winner. The possession of a fief corresponds to the occupation of all the villages of a region by a lord who has attained the status of nobility (that of baron, count or duke.) There are six regions on the game board. A region may have three, four or five villages. There are only six regions, and consequently there will never be any more fiefs.

To understand the spirit of the game, before even entering into the detail of the rules, you must know that to extend their dominion each player has different forces:

• a military force (soldiers);
• an economic force ("crowns" and income from taxes, mills and presses);
• a political force (the right to negotiate alliances with his adversaries and votes during the election of the king).

Although luck is not excluded from the game, the winner is most often the player who knows how to use these three forces together.

Equipment

• A game board representing a kingdom in medieval times;
• 30 counters - "soldier" per player (180 in total)
• 15 "Lords", each bearing an initial;
• 12 counters - "castle";
• 12 counters - "mill";
• 12 counters - "press";
• 68 special playing cards;
• 36 banknotes representing the currency, in denominations of 100 and 500;
• 3 dice

It should be noted that each player does not embody a lord, but a family of characters with varying powers, including in varying amounts: lords, bishops, cardinals, sometimes the king and a large number of soldiers.

Regions and Bishoprics

The regions are distinguished from each other by hatched lines. The bishoprics are delimited by dotted lines. If there are six regions, but only four bishoprics, whose names appear on the edges of the game board (Bourg, Tournus, Blaye and Sagy). The names of the villages that depend on each of them are listed next to the name of the bishopric. The bishoprics are the territories subject to the authority of the Bishops; they become important in the game when tax is levied and during the tithe.

Rules of the Game

The game is divided into turns. A game turn breaks down into a succession of "phases" (for example: phase of movement, phase of combat, &c.).

The different phases of a game turn always follow the same chronological order (see the paragraph "game turn"). To facilitate your reading of the rules, the following convention has been adopted: every time you read the words "soldier", "lord", "castle", "mill" and "press", it refers to the corresponding counters.

The Beginning of the Game

1. • Place the different elements that make up the game board on a flat surface. To play comfortably it is preferable to arrange the board 10 or 15 centimetres from the edges of the table on which one plays;
2. • Before definitively taking places around the game board, each player throws two dice. The player who scored the highest score first chooses a region of the game board. The one who made the second best score then chooses a region and so on. Whoever has achieved the lowest score chooses last;
3. • Re-roll any ties;
4. • To begin the game, each player must seat themselves in front of the region they have chosen;
5. • Duration of the game: you can adapt the duration of the game to the time you have. There are several ways to choose the length of a game, but you can not start until the players have agreed on this.

   a) The game in limited time: a player will be declared winner if they have the most fiefs at the end of one hour, two hours or three hours of game, even more. Beginners will preferably choose two hours of play. At the end of the time period selected, the current round of play will be completed. We advise you to use an alarm, so that the term of the game is not open to discussion.

   b) The number of fiefs: the winner is the player who is the first to have 2, 3 or 4 fiefs. Begin with 2 fiefs if you are beginners.

   Any draws are decided by the number of possessed fiefs; then by the number of soldiers on the ground and if they are still tied, by the quantity of money possessed.

6. • The player who first chose his region plays the role of the banker throughout the game. He must place beside him the counters, cards and banknotes which he has the task of distributing to the players in the course of the game;

The Game Turn

Each game turn is divided into six phases:

1. The playing of the cards
2. Revenue collection
3. Purchases
4. Moving the pieces
5. Combat
6. Negotiations

When one phase is over, players move on to the next; when all phases have been played, the next turn may begin. Each of these phases corresponds to a complete round in which each player makes decisions.

The participants take turns playing in a clockwise direction. In the first round, the banker plays first in each phase of the turn. In the next round, the banker's right-hand neighbour plays the first of each phase of the turn. In all subsequent rounds, the first player to play each phase is the right-hand neighbour of the one who was first in the previous round.

Phase 1: The Playing of the Cards

The cards:

There are in all 68 in the game;

a) 10 of these cards have a red back. They are removed from the rest of the pack by the banker. He places them next to himself and will not distribute them until the players can acquire them. There are the 6 "Nobility" cards (duke, count, baron). The person who creates a fief will receive the card corresponding to the importance of his fief; 3 "cardinal" cards, the use of which will be specified later, and the "king" card.

b) 58 cards with blue back, among which it is necessary to distinguish:

• 15 green "lord" cards, each bearing the name of a lord;

• 12 red attack cards, including:

  • 4 "revolt" cards
  • 3 "bad weather"
  • 2 "plague"
  • 2 "famine"
  • 1 "assassination"

• 13 yellow "parry" cards to parry attacks, comprising:

  • 6 "good harvest"
  • 6 "sun"
  • 1 "Justice" card (represented by a hangman)

• 14 white "taxes" cards, comprising:

  • 5 "lord's tithe" cards
  • 5 "royal tithe" cards
  • 4 "bishopric tithe" cards (carrying a bishop's crook)
  • 4 Bishop cards

These 58 cards are shuffled by the banker and distributed from turn to turn using the following procedure:

1. • Distribution of cards

At the beginning of Phase 1, the banker distributes new cards to the players. He distributes to each player the necessary number of cards so that each of them has three in their hands. In the first round, each player will receive three cards. In subsequent rounds and depending on the number of cards each player has discarded or laid, each player will receive the necessary complement to have three cards. If a player does not have a card, he will receive three; if he has one, he will receive two; if he has two, one and if he still has three, none.

The cards are dealt face down so that only the recipient will see them.

USE OF CARDS:

The cards that make up the "hand" of each player make it possible: to attack a particular opponent or an entire region (attack cards); to counter the attack of an adversary ("parry" cards); to acquire a status ("lord" or "bishop") or to levy taxes ("tithe").

It is permissible to return one card to the banker for the purpose of receiving another, but only in a turn when no card is played, neither attack, nor defence, nor tithe.

a) Attacks:

When it's his turn to play, a player who has an attack card in hand can, if he wishes, attack a region or an opponent. For that, it is enough to place in front of him an attack card (and in some cases two). Be sure to check that there are possible attacks and their consequences if the player who suffers them is unable to parry them:

• BAD WEATHER: throughout the area under attack, soldiers can no longer move and no combat is possible during the turn;

• FAMINE: throughout the region under attack, there is no harvest: the mills and presses do not bring anything during the turn;

• ASSASSINATION: the player who places this card kills an opposing lord of his choice; he removes the game counter;

• REVOLT: it must be played at the same time as a FAMINE card. The attacker therefore plays two cards. Hungry villagers revolt against their lord. The attacker rolls a die to evaluate the intensity of the revolt. The consequences corresponding to the result of the die roll are the following:

  1 - the revolt subsides by itself (no consequence); 2 - the villagers attack the castle: a new die roll indicates how many soldiers are killed (and immediately removed from the game); 3 - the villagers destroy a mill or a press (it is the attacker who chooses); 4 - destruction of all the mills and presses; 5 - destruction of all mills and presses in the area, followed by the attack on the castle (roll 1 dice to find out how many soldiers are killed during the attack). The killed soldiers are immediately removed from the game; 6 - the consequences are identical to the previous case, but the attacker rolls two dice instead of one.

• PLAGUE: in the entire region under attack, one third of the soldiers die. Count the soldiers and each time you count "three" remove one (1, 2, 3 remove a piece, 1, 2, 3 remove a piece, etc.). For each lord present in the attacked area, roll a die after announcing his first name. On a lower result than three, the Lord dies.

b) The parries:

The consequences of an attack are not applied if the player who is attacked is able to parry it with the appropriate card (or, in one case, with a payment of money). Specifically, the attacking player places the parry card on the attack card(s) and all are discarded. The discarded cards are given to the banker, who puts them in pile. Let's see the appropriate parries for each type of attack:

• against the "bad weather" attack: a "sun" card;
• against the attack "famine": a "good harvests" card;
• against the attack "revolt + famine": a "good harvests" card or a payment of money to the banker. The payment corresponds to 300 times the result of the evaluation die of the intensity of the revolt (2 requires the deposit of 600 crowns, 3 needs 900 crowns, &c.). This procedure simulates the purchase of food by the Lord to put an end to the revolt of the hungry villagers;
• against the "plague": no parry;
• against assassination: a "Justice" card. The player who presents the justice card holds the opposing lord responsible for the attack condemned and executed (the lord or one of the lords of the attacker is removed from play by the player who plays the parry).

Note that the player who has one or more attack cards is not required to use them: he may discard them at the end of each turn. The attack card(s) then join the banker's discard pile. When the stack of cards is exhausted, the discard is mixed and in turn becomes the new stack.

c) Status Cards

There are two types of status cards in the deck: the cards "Lord" & "Bishop".

THE LORD CARD: it is of great importance in the game. Indeed, it is not possible to move soldiers if they are not accompanied by a lord. It is not possible to acquire a fief without a lord. It is always in the interest of the players, at least up to the middle of the game, to retain the Lord cards received during the card distribution phase. When a player receives a lord card he can place it in front of his area, sliding it slightly under the game board. Immediately the banker gives him the corresponding counter, on which the lord's initial appears. For example, a player receives the Lord card bearing the first name Henry; the banker gives the player the counter-marker marked with an H. The player immediately places the lord in his castle or, if he does not have any more, in a free village in his region or in any free village.

THE "BISHOP" CARD: it is useful only if one already has a lord; if so, the player may make one of his lords a bishop. The bishop card is placed under the lord. Note that it is not recommended to turn the only lord available into a bishop, because then soldiers could not move. On the other hand, when one has several lords it can be financially useful to make one of them bishop.

The player who possesses a Bishop can claim a "bishopric tithe" (see "tithe" card). He has one extra vote in the king's election (see phase 6). The Bishop can become a cardinal (see cardinal card). Attention: each lord can only be associated with a single evoked card (the lord cannot be made a bishop twice). A Bishop cannot be elected King. A Bishop may move but is never accompanied by soldiers. Except for this, he retains all the powers of a lord (control of villages, fighting, &c.).

d) Tax cards

The use of these cards is discussed in the paragraph devoted to income collection.

THE CARDINAL CARD: Only a bishop can become a cardinal. This card is worth a vote in the election of the king. But in return the cardinal cannot take the tithe. The player obtains the cardinal card by asking the banker when he already has a bishop.

Example: A player has just received three new cards. He has a lord bearing the name of Roland, a "bad weather" card and a "Bishop" card. He decided to keep the "Lord" card and put it in front of his area, face up. Immediately the banker gives him the counter bearing the letter R.

The player places the counter in a village in his area.

The "bad weather" card is an attack card that can slow the development of an opposing region. The player could keep the card in hand for use in another round, but decides to play it immediately to attack a nearby area. The player places the card on the edge of the game board, where the colour of the region he is attacking appears. The player with the most lords in this area must put the appropriate parry card if he does not want the region to suffer the attack. The "Bishop" card does not seem useful to the player, he gives it to the banker. On the next turn this player will receive three new cards.

Phase 2: Collection of Revenues

Each player has two possible sources of income: he can make money by taking taxes (he gets money from the banker in exchange for tax cards) or by producing consumer goods. These revenues depend on the number of mills and presses at his disposal.

a) Income from production:

• each village owned earns 100 crowns per turn;
• each press pays 100 crowns per turn;
• each mill pays 200 crowns per turn;

b) Income from taxes: (each player may only play one of each type of tithe per turn)

• THE BISHOPRIC TITHE:

When a player can give the bishopric's tithe card to the banker AND he has a bishop, he receives in exchange all the revenues of the villages belonging to the bishopric (the name of the bishop is written on the "bishop" card).

For example, you acquired the Lord bearing Henry's first name. A little later, you pulled the card carrying a crook and the name "Blaye". You decide to turn your lord into a bishop: Henry becomes Bishop of Blaye. On the edge of the game board is the title "Evéché de Blaye" and below, the names of six villages. Even if YOU do not control this area with your soldiers, you can take the tithe there by giving the tithe card to the banker.

The player who built mills and presses on these villages does not win anything during a round. It is you who derive all the benefits.

• THE LORD'S TITHE:

The player who owns a fief receives 200 crowns at each turn per village belonging to the fief. It is the banker who provides this sum. The card "Lord's tithe" is of no interest to you if you do not have a fief.

• THE ROYAL TITHE:

Only the player of whom one of the lords has been elected King can claim the royal tithe. The banker gives 1,500 crowns to the player who fulfills these conditions. The "royal tithe" card is given to the banker.

Phase 3: Purchases

The course of this phase is as simple as it is quick: take turns with each player - if they wish - pay money to the banker to buy soldiers, mills, presses or castles.

Here are the current rates:

• a soldier costs 100 crowns;
• a press costs 200 crowns;
• a mill costs 300 crowns;
• a castle costs 2000 crowns;

Each counter bought is placed on a village controlled by the player, that is to say a village where the player has at least left one of his pieces. It is forbidden to put more than three mills or three presses per village, or any combination of these means of production exceeding the number of three.

Phase 4: The Movement of Counters

In turn, each player is invited to move his pieces. The rules governing travel are as follows:

• only soldiers and lords can be moved;
• movement is not compulsory;
• a movement always takes place between two villages connected by a road;
• a lord, alone or accompanied by a soldier, has the right to make two trips per turn;
• soldiers cannot move without lord;
• soldiers are not forced to follow a lord in his movements.

A metaphor allows a clear understanding of the movement: the lord may be likened to a 'locomotive' and the soldiers to 'wagons'. The "locomotive" can move alone or with "wagons"; they never move alone!

Example of movement:

A lord is at Tournus with eight soldiers. The player controlling these pieces decides to leave two soldiers in Tournus and to move the lord and six soldiers to St. Andromy. This village is unoccupied. The lord and the soldiers enter the village. The Lord made only one trip. He has the right to do another. The player moves his lord and five soldiers to St. Medard, leaving a piece in St. Andromy. St. Medard is occupied. The Lord has moved twice, he cannot be moved until the next turn. The player has three villages: Tournus, St. Andromy and St. Medard. They will earn the player 3 x 100 crowns during the revenue collection phase.

When, as a result of a movement, a lord arrives (alone or with soldiers) at a village, several cases may arise:

1. the village is not occupied. In this case, the newcomer enters the village and appropriates it without a fight. This is valid even if there is a castle counter on the village. To own the village (and possibly the castle that is there), it is enough for the player to leave there at least a soldier or a lord;

2. The village belongs to an opponent (one or more of his soldiers or lords are there). The newcomer does not enter the village. The pieces stay on the road by which they came. If the newcomer decides to attack, he must apply the rules described in the combat phase, at the time of this phase of the game. Whatever the outcome of the battle, the mills and presses will be destroyed. The counters that represent them will be given to the banker. An already besieged village cannot be attacked;

3. The village belongs to an opponent, but the newcomer decides not to attack. As in the previous case, he stays at the entrance to the village without entering and two things can happen:

   a) The newcomer asks the players who own the village for a "right of way" (simple crossing of the village without a fight). If this right is granted, the player who requested it will continue on his way through the next phase of travel.

   b) If the right of way is refused, there will inevitably be a fight (see combat phase).

4. The village belongs to an opponent and the newcomer decides to make it a siege. The attacking pieces stay in front of the village. There is no fight or consequence on mills and presses. On the other hand, the pieces that are inside the village can no longer move without fighting (see combat phase). The previous rules are slightly modified when a village belongs to a fiefdom and no longer only to a region (see phase 6 - point 2).

Phase 5: The Combat

To more easily describe how to resolve fighting, we will call the newcomer the attacker and the one who is in the attacked village, the defender. There is one exception: in the case of a village siege, where the attacker is assaulting him while he is trying to escape.

a) The attacker and the defender each total their counters. All the counters present at the place of combat are worth 1 point, soldiers like lords;

b) Each player consults the dice throws table. This is a table that indicates how many dice the players are allowed to roll based on the number of pieces they have for a fight. From 1 to 6 counters an attacker or defender can roll one; from 7 to 12 pieces, two of them and 13 pieces or more, three of them;

c) the combat proceeds until the elimination of one or other of the forces present. At the end of the fight, the attacker or the defender will have been destroyed;

d) the attacker and the defender roll the dice to which they are entitled. Each consults the table of results of the combats;

e) This table indicates, according to the sum of the points gained by the players, the losses suffered by the opponent, that is to say the number of counters he loses. It should be noted that the defender - who always plays second - counts the number of his forces which are present before the elimination of these counters;

f) Before reading the result of the fight, one must take into account a very important element: to know if the one who has undergone the attack is or is not in a castle. It is obvious that one would defend oneself behind the fortifications.

Combat Results Table

Result of roll of dice (1 to 9):

Result of roll of dice	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Losses suffered in open ground (counters)	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5
Losses suffered in a castle (counters)	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3

Result of roll of dice (10 to 18):

Result of roll of dice	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Losses suffered in open ground (counters)	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9
Losses suffered in a castle (counters)	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	6

Dice Throws Table

Number of counters in attack or defence	Number of dice to roll
1 - 6	1
7 - 12	2
13 +	3

Let's take an example.

The Lord Henri, at the head of 6 soldiers, attacks the village of Bourg, wherein are holed-up inside a castle, the lord Roland and 4 soldiers. Henri, the attacker, is worth 7 in force (6 soldiers + 1 lord).

The player who is attacking consults the dice throws table and reads that he can throw two of them; Roland can only throw one. Henri rolls and makes 5 (3 + 2). He consults the combat result table and notes that at the intersection of column 5 and the row "losses suffered in a castle" is the number 2. Roland loses two counters accordingly. It is the player who controls the counters of Lord Roland who removes the pieces. In turn, he rolls the die to which he is entitled and gets the same result: 5; but the consequences are different, for the lord Henry, who has been subject to this insult, is not in a castle. At the junction of column 5 (the result of the die) and the row "losses suffered in open ground", the player handling Roland can read 3. Henry loses three soldiers. The player who controls the Lord Henry himself removes the lost counters.

The fight is not over since there are still some attacking and defending pieces in this fight. The players repeat identically the combat sequence previously described. This fight stops for lack of a fighter, that is to say when one of the two players has lost all his pieces in this fight. Note that it is forbidden to break the fight. So, a lord can be killed in action.

Special cases:

It may happen that several lords make their way to the same village, by different ways. In no case should there be more than two opposing forces converging on the same village. As two different forces converge to the same village, there is necessarily fight.

• If the converging forces belong to the same player, the combat is resolved as in the previously described combat phase. It is quite different if the two converging forces do not belong to the same player.

Let's take an example:

Player A is in a village. By a road he sees the soldiers of Player B arrive and, in the same turn and by another road, those of Player C. In this case, players B and C can combine their forces against those of Player A.

A does not have the right to associate his forces with those of another player.

This coalition of B and C is not an obligation. It is the player B - the first who has made his way to the village - who can - if he wishes - request coalition with player C.

a) If there is no coalition: the players B and C fight, then A fights with the survivor, either B or C.

b) If there is a rejection by C, in response to B's coalition request, players A and B fight. One of them disappears and C is forced to fight the survivor.

c) Player C responds positively to the coalition request proposed by Player B. In this case, B and C are alternately attackers of A. B attack first, then C, then B again, and so on.

• If the forces of the player A are beaten, B and C will have to agree to know which of the two lords will occupy the village. The procedure to use is as follows:

• each player prepares a sum of money and hides it in his hand. Together, the players show what they have in their hands. Whoever has bet the highest sum acquires the village and gives the sum of money to the other player. The person who has to leave the premises automatically obtains a right of way. He will move on the next turn. If both players bet the same amount, each of them can bid (increase the sum) to own the village. If the players have each opened an empty hand, there is a fight.

Phase 6: Negotiations

After the troubled period of fighting, politics and diplomacy take over. Phase 6 of the turn is devoted to the election of the king and the negotiation between players.

1. • The election of the king

   a) Each player counts their votes. Each card "lord", "bishop", "cardinal" or title of nobility is worth 1 point. The total points of a player is his number of votes.

   b) Each player votes for one lord and says how many votes he gives him. A player may well vote for one of his lords, which is the most common case; but this is in no way an obligation.

   c) The Lord who receives the greatest number of votes is elected King. If two lords share the same number of votes, the throne remains vacant until the elections of the next round. The election is done in a single round, without possibility of a player modifying his choice after having stated it.

   The banker is responsible for counting the points as the voting progresses.

   d) It is not enough to be elected to reign! The king must be "sanctified", that is to say, receive the agreement of two bishops or a cardinal. If the player whose lord was elected king also possesses these cards, he crowned his king without problem. On the other hand, if he cannot sanctify his own king, he must convince one or more of his adversaries to consecrate his king. The solicited player(s) must answer immediately (yes or no). If the king is not sanctified, he cannot reign: the throne remains vacant until the new elections of the next turn.

2. • The creation of fiefs

There are two conditions for a region to become a fiefdom:

a) that all villages in an area belong to the same player;

b) that the king (that is, the player who possesses the King's card) agrees to elevate that region to fiefdom.

The player who has the king in the game can, of course, elevate to the rank of fief an area that he controls himself (one is never so well served as by oneself), but he can also do it for one of his opponents (in exchange for a service rendered OR if it annoys an opponent).

When the player who has the King accepts the creation of a fief, he asks the Bank to issue the following notice: "Duchy for five villages, County for 4 villages and Barony for 3 villages". The King gives this card to the lord who holds the new Fief.

Immediate consequences:

• One of the villages of the fief is chosen as capital;

• It is immediately possible to remove 1 soldier from each village of the fief and to put them in the capital. It is no longer necessary to leave one soldier per village to ensure control. In addition, it is very important to strengthen the capital of the fief, because if it falls into the hands of an opponent all the fief is lost.

• The villages of the fief are impregnable: that is, the adversaries may - at their own risk and peril - occupy or cross them, but their presence does not constitute a title deed. The villagers defend themselves. The simulation of villagers' resistance takes place during the combat phase. The owner of the fief rolls a die each time enemy soldiers are in one of his villages. The intruder loses a soldier on a roll of 2 or more.

• The owner of the fief can grant a right of passage, in which case he does not roll dice;

• The owner of the fief can give one or more villages, except the capital, to one of the other players so that his troops may stay there. And this comes at the cost of a defence agreement which players must discuss.

3. A player loses a fief in two cases:

   (a) if the capital of the fief is taken by another player;

   (b) if all his lords are eliminated;

   • The capture of the capital: the player who manages to occupy the capital of a fief becomes the rightful owner of all the fief;

   • the new owner of the fief takes the card "title of nobility" of the former owner and grants it to one of his lords, unless the King opposes; if it is the case, it is the King who keeps the card "title of nobility". It is said that he exercises a "right of custody". It is then the King who receives all the revenues of the fief. The King, if he will, will grant the title of nobility of the fief to the lord of his choice. If, in the meantime, a new king is elected, he will inherit the "right of custody" of the title of nobility; he keeps the corresponding card.

4. The taking of a capital when the power is vacant. When a lord seizes the capital of a fief and there is no king, he becomes king without asking the other players and without election.

If it happens that two players are in the same situation on the same turn, it is the first who has taken a capital that becomes king.

5. Loss of a fief through the loss of a lord: When a player loses his last lord and possesses one or more fiefs, all the titles of Nobility for the fiefs are given to the King, who gives them to the lord(s) of his choice.

   • The new owners of fiefs each receive a soldier counter.

6. If, during the disappearance of the last lord of a fief, there is no king, the player keeps all his titles of nobility until the advent of a new sovereign. If he gains in the meantime a new lord card, he keeps all his titles of nobility and fiefs.

7. Negotiations between players:

After the election of a king, the creation of fiefs or the resolution of the consequences of the disappearance of a fief, players can negotiate alliances. Few games offer a negotiation phase and this practice therefore deserves some explanation.

• "to negotiate" is to discuss with the other players, in public around the table or in private a few meters away so as to not be heard;

• the content of these free discussions between the players is about the possibilities of coalescing against another more powerful player or to make a truce so as not to exhaust one's forces in vain. It is also possible to offer a sum of money to one of your opponents to convince him to behave in this or that way.

It is, however, totally forbidden to exchange cards. The negotiation phase is a time when players can give free rein to their imagination to achieve the goal of the game in a refined way.

Remember that all players are aiming for the same goal and therefore alliances can only be temporary!

Be careful, a player is never obliged to keep his promises!

This phase, whose duration must in no case exceed three minutes, ends the round and a new one begins.