Fief: France Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• A. Game Setup
• B. Game Components
• C. Game Overview
• D. The Titles
  • D.1. The 8 Fief titles
    • D.1.1. Fief title transmission
  • D.2. The 10 Ecclesiastical titles
    • D.2.1. The 5 Bishop titles
    • D.2.2. The 4 Cardinal titles
    • D.2.3. The Pope title
      • D.2.3.1. Excommunication
  • D.3. The Political titles
    • D.3.1. The King title
    • D.3.2. The Queen title
    • D.3.3. The Crown Prince title
    • D.3.4. The D'Arc title
  • D.4. Titled lord elimination
    • D.4.2. Fief titles outcome
• E. Game Play
• 1. «Hear Ye, Hear Ye!» Phase
  • 1.1. A. Announce marriages
    • 1.1.2. Effects of a marriage
    • 1.1.3. End of a marriage
  • 1.2. Elections and Ballots
  • 1.3. B. Bishop elections
    • 1.3.1. Candidates
    • 1.3.2. Votes
  • 1.4. C. The Pope's election
    • 1.4.1. Candidates
    • 1.1.1. Votes
    • 1.1.2. Election results
  • 1.5. D. The King's election
    • 1.5.1. Candidates
    • 1.5.2. Votes
    • 1.5.3. Election results
    • 1.5.4. The queen
  • 1.5.5. The Royal guard
    • 1.5.5.1. The king's retinue knights
    • 1.5.5.2. The queen's retinue sergeants
• 2. Cards Phase
  • 2.1. A. Discard cards
  • 2.2. B. Draw cards
  • 2.3. B. Events pile
  • 2.4. Depleted pile
  • 2.5. C. Resolving disasters
  • 2.6. D. Playing cards
    • 2.6.1. Presence of several Fortune cards
• 3. Income Phase
• 4. Purchase Phase
  • 4.1. Ransom
  • 4.2. Buildings
  • 4.3. Units
  • 4.4. Fief titles
  • 4.5. Cardinal title
• 5. Movement Phase
  • 5.1. Troops and armies
    • 5.1.1. Moving a lord
  • 5.2. Land move
    • 5.2.1. Land move steps
    • 5.2.2. Controlling a town
    • 5.2.3. Crossing and safe passage
      • 5.2.3.1. Requesting a safe passage
      • 5.2.3.2. Forcing the passage
    • 5.2.4. The cavalcade
  • 5.3. Naval move
    • 5.3.1. Offshore area
    • 5.3.2. Harbor towns
• 6. Battle Phase
  • 6.1. Coalitions
  • 6.2. Solving a battle
    • 6.2.1. Scorched earth
    • 6.2.2. Archer shooting
    • 6.2.3. The battle round
      • 6.2.3.1. CP calculation
      • 6.2.3.2. Applying the Fortress penalty
      • 6.2.3.3. Canceling the Fortress penalty
      • 6.2.3.4. Applying the losses
      • 6.2.3.5. End of a battle round and end of a battle
  • 6.3. Captive lords
  • 6.4. Siege and siege engines
    • 6.4.1. Declaring a siege
    • 6.4.2. Effects of a siege
    • 6.4.3. Siege engine effects
    • 6.4.4. Archer shooting and Fortress penalty
  • 6.5. Plunder
• 7. End of Round Phase
  • 7.1. Lone victory
  • 7.2. Alliance victory
  • 7.3. Tiebreaker
• F. Diplomacy
• G. The Cards
  • G.1. Lord cards
    • G.1.1. The crown prince
    • G.1.2. Coming into play
  • G.2. Disaster cards
    • G.2.1. Plague card (2 cards)
      • G.2.1.1. Effect on lords
      • G.2.1.2. Effect on troops
      • G.2.1.3. Entering a plagued bishopric
    • G.2.2. Bad weather cards (4 cards)
    • G.2.3. Famine cards (4 cards)
  • G.3. Fortune cards
    • G.3.1. Good weather cards (5 cards)
    • G.3.2. Good harvest cards (5 cards)
    • G.3.3. Tax cards (5 cards)
      • G.3.3.1. Tallage
      • G.3.3.2. Tithe
  • G.4. Surprise cards
    • G.4.1. Surprise character cards
      • G.4.1.1. D'Arc card (1 card)
      • G.4.1.2. Cardinal cards (3 cards)
    • G.4.2. Surprise fortune cards
      • G.4.2.1. Uprising cards (4 cards)
      • G.4.2.2. Underground cards (3 cards)
      • G.4.2.3. Assassination card (1 card)
      • G.4.2.4. Justice card (1 card)
      • G.4.2.5. Ambush card (1 card)
• H. Managing Effects
  • H.1. Target of an effect
  • H.2. Effects priority
  • H.3. Order of resolution
• I. Optional Rules
  • I.1. Adjusted shooting
  • I.2. Fog of war
  • I.3. Public diplomacy
  • I.4. Mandatory placement

A. Game Setup

Place the board in the middle of the table. It represents a map of France inspired by French medieval history. Towns are symbolized by building icons within a square. They are connected by roads which allow lords and their armies to move.

• Each of the 24 towns are present within one of the 8 colored territorial areas that represent fiefs.
• Each town also belongs to one of 5 bishoprics. Each bishopric is identified by thick border lines of a respective color, and by a number from 1 to 5. The bishopric number is indicated on the miter icon of the corresponding color on the edge of the board.
• Thus, each town is separately part of both 1 fief, and 1 bishopric. The 5 towns with banners in larger print are the bishopric chief towns.
• The area above the top of the map is called the frieze: stored there are the various card piles, markers, tiles, and illustrated pawns; also included are reminders such as the round track, as well as the disasters track.

1. Each player chooses a color, then places in front of them the corresponding family board and places the pawns and markers constituting their pool over it:

• 13 man-at-arms pawns,
• 4 archer pawns,
• 8 knight pawns,
• 1 bombard pawn,
• 2 siege engine markers,
• 3 diplomacy pawns,
• 1 marriage pawn,
• 2 vote pawns.

2, 3. Place the fief title card piles (pile ① with cards A, B, C, D and pile ② with its card) onto their marked spaces on the frieze, next to the offshore area.

6. Each player receives 5 deniers and places them beside their family board: this information remains public during the whole game. Deniers may be freely given of exchanged between players at any time.

7. Place the 8 fief titles and the 5 bishop titles on their respective space around the board.

• Bishopric number: the miter icon on the board edge showing the bishopric's identifying number.
• Fiefs are the colored areas which may extend to many bishoprics.
• Place of the bishop title of the bishopric of Toulouse (n°1).
• Place of the fief title of Aquitaine.

8. Place the following tiles and markers over their location on the frieze:

• King, Queen, Crown Prince, Pope and Excommunicated.

Then, place the following pawns:

• King's Retinue Knight (x2) and Queen's Retinue Sergeant (x2).

Lastly, place the following tiles:

• Cardinal (x3),
• Cardinal (offshore),
• D'Arc.

2. Shuffle the character cards (brown back) to form the characters pile, place it on the frieze, then each player draws 1 character card.

If you drew a Cardinal or D'Arc card, discard it and draw a new card. When you get a Lord card, place it on your family board and take the corresponding the Lord pawn.

Once each player has picked their first lord, shuffle the draw pile with the potential discarded cards to form the definitive characters pile.

3. Shuffle all the fortune (gray back) and disaster (black back) cards to form the events pile and place it on its space on the frieze.

4. Sort and place next to the board:

• The Lord pawns,
• The stronghold/city tiles,
• The mill tiles,
• The assassin markers,
• The captive markers,
• The cardinal tithe markers,
• The regent queen tile,
• The battle dices and the D6,
• The deniers.

5. Determine the first player with any method of your choice. They take the first card and choose their starting town, in which they place:

• 1 stronghold tile,
• 1 knight pawn,
• 3 man-at-arms pawns,
• their Lord pawn.

The others players then do the same, in clockwise order. They may choose any empty town.

Enguérand is the first player and chooses to establish in Tours. He places his stronghold tile in this town, as well as the Lord pawn he drew, 1 knight pawn, and 3 man-at-arm pawns.

A bishopric chief town is written in larger print. Bishoprics borders are marked on the map by thick colored border lines.

B. Game Components

• Man-at-arms: 78 pawns (13 per player)
• Archer: 24 pawns (4 per player)
• Knight: 48 pawns (8 per player)
• Bombard: 6 pawns (1 per player)
• Marriage: 6 pawns (1 per player)
• Vote: 12 markers (2 per player)
• Diplomacy: 18 pawns (3 per player)
• Siege engine: 12 markers (2 per player)
• Lord: 18 pawns (6 women & 12 men)
• King's Retinue Knight: 2 pawns
• Queen's Retinue Sergeant: 2 pawns
• Mill: 15 tiles
• Assassin: 2 markers
• Captive: 6 markers
• Excommunicated: 1 marker
• Family board: 6
• Player aid: 6
• Rulebook
• Character cards: 22
• Fortune cards: 25
• Disaster cards: 10
• First player card: 1
• Deniers (money): values 1, 2, 5
• D'Arc: 1 tile
• Battle dice: 8 (4 white & 4 black)
• D6: 1
• Stronghold/City: 12 tiles
• Cardinal: 3 tiles, plus 1 offshore-variant tile
• Bishop: 5 tiles
• Fief: 8 tiles
• Cardinal tithe: 4 markers
• King, Queen, Regent, Pope, Crown Prince: 1 of each tile

Green boxes are examples depicting the rules.

Blue boxes provide advises, historical informations, or explanatory notes about the mechanics of the game.

C. Game Overview

In Fief, every player heads a family in the medieval kingdom of France, comprised of individual lords (men and women), who strive in order to obtain nobility and ecclesiastical titles. These titles not only give wealth and power, but also give the right to vote for whom will become the next King of France or the Pope!

The board represents towns of France, connected by roads that allow the lords and their troops to travel; these towns are allocated in 8 different colored fiefs and in 5 bishoprics outlined by colored borders. Each town is both part of a fief and a bishopric. Some towns, identified on the board with a vessel icon are harbor towns and are connected with each other through the offshore area.

A player who controls every town in a fief and in which there is a stronghold may buy the corresponding fief title and assign it to a lord from their family. Each fief title is 1 Victory Point (VP) worth.

A male lord may also obtain a bishop title, to head a bishopric. Then, he may become a cardinal and vote to elect the pope. Each titled lord gives 1 vote to elect the king. The king and pope titles both are 1 VP worth.

A player wins on their own if their family scores 3 VP at the end of a round. However, 2 players may become allies through a marriage to win in alliance when their 2 families score 4 VP together at the end of a round.

Each round, players may draw a character card which may be added to their family board and on the game board through its pawn. They may also draw fortune cards that give some bonuses or allow to start uprisings, to assassinate, and other villainies. But they may also draw disaster cards.

Players collect income from the towns and mills they control. Bishops and cardinals may increase that income by collecting the tithe. Tilted lords may levy the tallage on their fiefs.

You may spend your income to buy new unit pawns, mills, strongholds, and fief titles. You may also use it to bribe or help other players.

Players control towns with their troops, which are headed by their lords. If troops belonging to several players are in a same town, a battle may occur.

Expanding your family dominion will provide you with more income and influence, and will allow you to obtain fief titles, bishop titles, cardinal titles, the king title, or the pope title, which are the signs of an authentic power and the basics of a new French dynasty!

D. The Titles

In Fief, a lord may obtain fief, ecclesiastical, or political titles. A lord is said titled if they own at least 1 title. They keep their titles even if they obtain new ones.

Every title with a fleur-de-lis is worth 1VP.

Every lord may own at most:

• 2 fief titles,
• 1 bishop title,
• 1 cardinal title,
• 1 pope title,
• 1 political title.

D.1. The 8 Fief titles

The 8 fief titles may be bought during the Purchase Phase. To be able to buy a fief title, a player must control every town of the concerned fief and own at least one stronghold in it, which then becomes a city.

• Duchy of Bourgogne title,
• Duchy of Aquitaine title,
• County of Normandie title,
• County of Poitou title,
• County of Flandres and Paris title,
• County of Languedoc title,
• Barony of Dauphiné title,
• Barony of Bretagne title.

D.1.1. Fief title transmission

When a lord owns 2 fief titles and receives a new one, they transfer the less prestigious among the 3 to another lord of their family.

Decreasing order of prestige: duchy > county > barony.

A fief title that cannot be transmitted remains vacant: place that fief tile on its location on the board. That title will be recovered at no cost by their family if a new lord enters the game and if their family still controls that fief's city. Meanwhile, that vacant title may also be recovered by another family, if this one takes control of that fief's city.

D.2. The 10 Ecclesiastical titles

The bishop, cardinal, and pope titles are dedicated to unmarried male lords.

D.2.1. The 5 Bishop titles

A bishop is elected, he governs his bishopric.

• He cannot get married,
• He may become a cardinal and a pope,
• He gives 2 votes to elect other bishops,
• He gives 1 vote to elect the king,
• He may collect the tithe on his own bishopric by playing a tax card (2.6, p9),
• If he is not captive, he may attempt to calm down uprisings triggered in his own bishopric, even if he is not in there himself (G.4.2.1, p21).

The bishop titles are:

• Bishopric of Toulouse (n°1),
• Bishopric of Lisieux (n°2),
• Bishopric of Calais (n°3),
• Bishopric of Reims (n°4),
• Bishopric of Avignon (n°5).

D.2.2. The 4 Cardinal titles

Unlike the bishop and pope titles, the cardinal titles are not assigned by election. There are two ways to obtain a cardinal title:

• by playing a cardinal card (G.4.1.2, p20),
• by purchasing the single title available, during the Purchase Phase (4.5, p10).

If the pope is in play, he may reject the promotion and prevent a player from playing their cardinal card or from purchasing the cardinal title.

A cardinal:

• must be a bishop,
• gives 3 votes to elect the bishops (instead of 2),
• gives 1 vote to elect the pope,
• gives 1 vote to elect the king,
• may collect a tithe on any governed bishopric by playing a tax card: the first cardinal to do so has priority on the pope and other cardinals, but the bishop who governs that bishopric has priority on him (2.6, p9),
• if he's not captive, he may attempt to calm down uprisings triggered in any bishopric, even if he is not in there himself, by paying 3 deniers per attempt.

If a cardinal cannot, or does not want to spend 3 deniers, he may still attempt to calm down an uprising in his own bishopric as a bishop (G.4.2.1, p21).

D.2.3. The Pope title

The pope is elected for life.

• He must be a bishop,
• He is 1 VP worth if he is not offshore,
• He gives 3 votes to elect bishops (instead of 2),
• He gives 1 vote to elect the king,
• He may reject the promotion of new cardinals (D.2.2, p4),
• He may annul a marriage if requested by one of the spouses, except if a crown prince of this couple (even eliminated since) came into play (G.1.1, p18),
• He may collect the papal tithe on every governed bishopric by playing a tax card, but the tax cards played by bishops and cardinals take precedence (2.6, p9),
• He is immune to the justice card (G.4.2.4, p22),
• When he gets his pope title, he may excommunicate a lord, this is a surprise effect,
• At the beginning of the Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Phase, he may simultaneously lift any excommunication and excommunicate 1 lord, at his discretion.

D.2.3.1. Excommunication

An excommunicated lord loses any of their ecclesiastical titles and gains the excommunicated marker on top of their lord card. They cannot vote nor stand as a candidate for any election.

The excommunication is immediately lifted if the excommunicated lord is eliminated, if the pope is eliminated, or if the pope decides to lift it at the beginning of the Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Phase; if this is the case, the excommunicated marker is placed back on the frieze. A lord whose excommunication has been lifted may obtain ecclesiastical titles and vote once more.

D.3. The Political titles

They are 4: King, Queen, Crown Prince, and D'Arc.

D.3.1. The King title

The king is elected for life by titled lords.

• He is VP worth if he is not offshore,
• He benefits from a royal guard (1.5.5, p7),
• He may offer an ungoverned fief title when a player wants to purchase it (4.4, p10),
• He may collect the royal tallage on any ungoverned fief by playing a tax card (2.6, p9),
• He is immune to the justice card (G.4.2.4, p22).

D.3.2. The Queen title

• She is the king's spouse,
• She gains 2 deniers during the Income Phase,
• She benefits from a royal guard (1.5.5, p7),
• She may give birth to the crown prince, if the king is in play and if she is not captive,
• She is immune to the justice card (G.4.2.4, p22).

D.3.3. The Crown Prince title

• He is a male lord put into play by the queen's family, if the king is in play but the crown prince not already,
• He loses that title if he gets a bishop title,
• He obtains the king title when the king is eliminated,
• If the queen is eliminated, he keeps his title,
• He is immune to the justice card (G.4.2.4, p22).

D.3.4. The D'Arc title

The D'Arc title is obtained by playing the D'Arc card (G.4.1.1, p20).

D.4. Titled lord elimination

When a lord is eliminated, solve all the cases below

D.4.2. Fief titles outcome

When a lord is eliminated, their fief titles are immediately transmitted to other lords of their family, men or women (D.1.1, p4).

If they were the last living lord of their family, there can be 2 situations:

• If they were married, their fief titles go to their spouse, by following the transmission rules (D.1.1, p4), any non-transmitted titles remain vacant. Any troop in the fief city which title has been transmitted is replaced by the corresponding unit pawns of the new owning family (those which cannot be replaced are removed from the board),
• If they were unmarried, the title remains vacant.

E. Game Play

A game of Fief is played over a number of rounds until a player, or an alliance of two players, have scored enough Victory Points (VP) at the end of a round to win the game.

Each round consists of 7 Phases:

1. Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Phase (ignored on 1st round),
2. Cards Phase,
3. Income Phase,
4. Purchase Phase,
5. Movement Phase,
6. Battle Phase,
7. End of Round Phase.

1. «Hear Ye, Hear Ye!» Phase

This Phase is broken down into 4 steps:

• A. Announce marriages,
• B. Bishop elections,
• C. Pope election,
• D. King election.

1.1. A. Announce marriages

Before announcing the marriages, the pope may resolve once each of the following effects:

• If the excommunicated marker is available on the frieze, the pope may excommunicate a lord (D.2.3.1, p5),
• If there is an excommunicated lord in play, the pope may lift its excommunication.

1.1.2. Effects of a marriage

• Every player may have only one pending marriage, and thus a single formal alliance, at the same time.
• If one of the spouses is the king, his spouse becomes the queen (D.3.2, p5).
• If one of the spouses is the regent queen, her new spouse does not become the king through this marriage.
• To visualize the marriage, each family places its marriage pawn on top of the other spouse's lord card.
• A player allied by marriage cannot win on their own, they may only win as part of this alliance.
• An Alliance victory only apply in games 4+ player games (7.2, p17).

The Alliance victory condition does not apply in a 3-player game, but players may still marry, for example to obtain a queen in their family.

1.1.3. End of a marriage

There a 2 ways to break up a marriage:

• If one of the spouses is eliminated,
• a spouse gets an annulment by the pope (D.2.3, p4).

Each player then takes back their marriage pawn.

1.2. Elections and Ballots

The bishop, pope and king titles are attributed by election, always in that specific order.

A captive, or excommunicated lord may never be a candidate or vote.

Each election follows the same procedure:

1. In turn order, each player announces if they nominate a candidate among their eligible lords. This candidate may be anywhere on the board. Eligibility conditions depend on the title.
2. The ballot begins. Each player has 2 vote markers: 1 for (white ball on the front side), 1 decoy (black ball on the front side). In turn order, every player able to vote places none, one, or both of their vote markers, face down, on the candidates of their choice.
3. Once all players have voted, reveal the vote markers: from now on, nothing may change this ballot. Any for

Use your decoy marker carefully, because it may mislead your voting for a candidate. That may be a way to lead into ties in order to defer the ballot until next round.

1.3. B. Bishop elections

The board is split into 5 bishoprics, numbered from 1 to 5. Each of these numbers is printed in the matching miter on the edge of the board and the bishopric is outlined with a border of the same color.

If every town of the bishopric is controlled and its bishop title is unassigned, a ballot occurs.

If more than one bishop title are available, ballots are resolved one after another in bishopric ascending order.

If a bishopric title becomes available during a round and if every town of the bishopric is still controlled, a new ballot will occur during the next Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Phase.

1.3.1. Candidates

Any male lord who is unmarried, not king and not already a bishop may be a candidate.

1.3.2. Votes

Each player gets the following votes:

• 2 votes if they control the bishopric's chief town,
• 1 vote for each other town of this bishopric they control,
• 2 votes for each of their bishops which have been elected during previous rounds,
• 3 votes for each of their cardinals,
• 3 vote for the pope.

For every lord, only the votes from his most prestigious ecclesiastical title is taken into account.

In the bishopric of Lisieux (n°2), Enguérand controls Lisieux, the chief town, Rennes, Nantes, and Tours. He gives 5 votes to elect that bishop, on top of any other vote he may obtain with his ecclesiastical titled lords.

Players are voting for the bishop of Avignon (n°5), of which bishopric is made of 4 towns, its chief town being Avignon. Maximilien, controlling Lyon and Avignon gives 3 votes. Marie, controlling Pau and Montpellier gives 2 votes. Enguérand, having the bishop of Reims in his family, gives 2 votes. Marie and Enguérand both vote for François, Marie's candidate, giving him 4 votes. Maximilien gives his 3 votes to another candidate. François has a majority and is elected bishop of Avignon. The bishop of Avignon's staff is placed next to his lord card.

1.4. C. The Pope's election

If the pope title is available, and if at least 2 non-captive cardinals are in play, and at least 1 candidate is nominated, a ballot occurs.

1.4.1. Candidates

Any bishop or cardinal may be a candidate.

Elections occur in a specific order, bishops before the pope. A bishop newly elected may stand as a candidate to the pope election and, although he is not allowed to vote, he may be elected pope during the same round.

1.1.1. Votes

Each cardinal gives 1 vote.

1.1.2. Election results

A candidate is elected if he obtains a majority: place the pope tile next to his lord card. He may immediately excommunicate a lord, this is a surprise effect.

The pope is elected for life. If he is eliminated, a new pope may be elected during the next Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Phase, if conditions are met.

François, bishop of Avignon has been elected pope. The pope tile is placed above the bishop tile.

1.5. D. The King's election

If the king title is available, and if there are at least 3 titled lords and at least 1 nominated candidate, a ballot occurs.

1.5.1. Candidates

Any male lord with at least one fief title and without an ecclesiastical title may be a candidate.

1.5.2. Votes

Every lord, men and women, with at least 1 fief or bishop title, gives 1 vote.

1.5.3. Election results

A candidate is elected if he obtains a majority and at least 3 votes, of which at least:

• the votes of 2 bishops, or
• the vote of 1 cardinal, or
• the vote of the pope.

When a lord is elected king, place the king tile next to his lord card. If there is a regent queen, she loses her queen title and is not regent anymore, she retains any other of her titles.

The king immediately gets a royal guard composed of king's retinue knight pawns (1.5.5.1, p7).

The first of July 987, the count of Paris, Hugues Capet, is elected king of Francs and named Hugues the 1st. He is crowned by the bishop of Reims two days later.

1.5.4. The queen

If the king is married during his election or get married later on, his spouse immediately obtains the queen title: place the queen tile next to her lord card.

The queen immediately gets a royal guard composed of queen's retinue sergeant pawns (1.5.5.2, p8).

1.5.5. The Royal guard

There are 2 different types of royal guard unit pawns. They cannot be purchased nor leave the army of their lord.

1.5.5.1. The king's retinue knights

When a lord becomes the king, immediately replace for free up to 2 knight pawns in his army with the same number of king's retinue knight pawns. Return any pawns replaced this way to the pool of his family.

Each king's retinue knight pawn is 3 Combat Points (CP) worth, and needs 3 Hit to be eliminated. It adds 1 Hit for its side at each battle round.

When the king is eliminated or made captive, replace the king's retinue knight pawns in his army with the same number of knight pawns from the pool of his family, if able.

1.5.5.2. The queen's retinue sergeants

When the king's spouse becomes queen, immediately replace for free up to 2 man-at-arms pawns in her army with the same number of queen's retinue sergeant pawns. Return any pawns replaced this way to the pool of her family.

Each queen's retinue sergeant pawn is 1 Combat Point (CP) worth, and needs 1 Hit to be eliminated. It adds 1 Hit for its side at each battle round.

When the queen is eliminated or made captive, replace the queen's retinue sergeant pawns in her army with the same number of man-at-arms pawns from the pool of her family, if able.

2. Cards Phase

This Phase is broken down into 4 steps.

• A. In turn order, each player may discard any cards from their hand.
• B. In turn order, each player may draw up to 2 cards, respecting the 3-cards hand limitation.
• C. The first player solves the disasters.
• D. In turn order, each player may play their cards.

2.1. A. Discard cards

Announce to the other players which cards you discard and place them in the respective discard pile, face up. Discard piles cannot be checked. Only the top card remains apparent.

2.2. B. Draw cards

Draw up to 2 cards in the characters (brown back) or events (gray or black back) piles, of which 1 character card maximum, without exceeding the 3-card hand limitation.

If you consider to draw 2 cards, you may draw and look at the first one before deciding to draw a second one.

You are not required to draw if you do not want to.

Enguérand has 2 cards in hand: he decides to discard 1 card to be able to draw 2 cards.

Once each player has decided if they wish to discard, Enguérand draws 1 character card, obtains a Cardinal card and, if he decides to draw a second card, he must draw 1 card in the events pile. The top card of the events pile is a disaster card: he draws it and places it, without looking at it, on the disasters track.

The next card is also a disaster card, which he places again on the disasters track. The next card is finally a fortune card, which he adds to his hand.

Then, in clockwise order, the other players decide if they draw cards.

2.3. B. Events pile

The events pile contains fortune cards, and disaster cards.

If you wish to draw an fortune card, while the top card is a disaster card, you must draw that card without adding it to your hand: place it face down without looking at it on the disasters track on the leftmost empty space. If each of the 3 spaces are already occupied, discard the disaster card face down.

Disaster cards are not taken into account in the number of cards you can draw: you may keep drawing disaster cards until you get a fortune card.

2.4. Depleted pile

When a player wishes to draw a card but the pile is empty, reshuffle the corresponding discard pile.

Discarded lord cards (eliminated characters) coming back into play this way represent another lord with the same name.

2.5. C. Resolving disasters

When players are done with discarding and drawing cards, flip the disaster cards on the disasters track face up and solve them one by one, from left to right.

If some players are beginners, on the 1st round we advise you to ignore and discard disaster cards.

If there is a dice icon on a disaster card, the first player rolls the D6 to determine which bishopric is affected by this disaster.

• A 6 means a false alarm, the card is discarded without effect.
• On 1-5 results, place the disaster card on the edge of the board, next to the affected bishopric number.

If there is no dice icon on the disaster card, this means the card affects the offshore area.

A same bishopric or the offshore area cannot be affected by more than 1 disaster of the same type. If this happens, discard the card. On the opposite, 1 disaster of each type may affect simultaneously the same bishopric.

A disaster affects all the lords and all the troops of every player located in the bishopric or the offshore area.

Disaster cards remain in play and active until the end of the round (7, p17), the plague card must be resolved as soon as it is revealed (G.2.1, p18). See the disaster card effects (G.3, p18).

2.6. D. Playing cards

Once all disasters have been solved, each player, in turn order, may play any of their cards with the icon or which are lord cards.

Cards cannot be given or exchanged between players, except by playing an diplomacy pawn (F, p17).

The lord cards and the cards with the icon may only be played during this step.

A card with the icon is a surprise card. It may be played anytime, except during Cards Phase step B, as shown by the icon.

Cards effects are described further (G, p18).

2.6.1. Presence of several Fortune cards

Several fortune cards may be played on the same bishopric, but the bonus of several copies of the same card apply only once.

3. Income Phase

In turn order, each player calculates and announces their total income:

• 1 denier per non-besieged town they control, +2 deniers per town located in a fief in which they played a tax card (G.3.3, p19) to collect a tallage, even if it is controlled by another player or besieged.
• 2 deniers per mill located in a non-besieged town they control and of which the bishopric is not affected by a tax card to collect a tithe, +1 denier per mill located in a bishopric affected by a good weather card, +1 denier if the mill is located in a bishopric affected by a good harvest card.
• The income of each mill located in a non-besieged town of a bishopric in which they played a tax card to collect a tithe, instead of their owners (2.6, p9), +1 denier if the mill is located in a bishopric affected by a good weather card, +1 denier if the mill is located in a bishopric affected by a good harvest card.
• 2 deniers for the queen or regent queen title if she is in their family.

Reminder: your wealth is public.

Once all players have received their income, discard all good weather, good harvest and tax from the board. Disaster cards remain in play until the end of round.

4. Purchase Phase

In turn order, each player pays their ransoms, then may purchase.

4.1. Ransom

Every player must pay the ransoms to free their captive lords, if they have enough deniers! The ransom value of a lord is 2 deniers, plus 2 deniers per title they own. The jailer is forced to accept the ransom and to release the captive lord immediately.

A freed lord is placed as if they came into play (G.1.2, p18).

It is possible to offer a lower ransom value than the due one, but in this case the jailer may refuse. That negotiation does not require an diplomacy pawn.

If a player does not have enough deniers to release all of their captive lords, they must pay what they can, starting with the ransom with the highest value. If they have not enough deniers to pay a ransom, they will be able to use their deniers to purchase.

Baudoin, one of Enguérand's lords, who is a bishop and a baron, is captive. His ransom value is 6 deniers worth. Enguérand has 10 deniers. He may negotiate a lower ransom, but if the jailer refuses, he will be forced to spend 6 deniers to release Baudoin.

Cédric holds 2 captives belonging to Olivier: Arthur, bishop of Toulouse and a cardinal, and the queen Aliénor. Arthur's ransom is 6 deniers worth, the Aliénor's one is 4 deniers worth. Cédric has only 8 deniers, then he may release Arthur only. He is offering 8 deniers to Oliver to free the 2 captives. Olivier accepts, the 2 captives are then freed.

Placing Purchased Units: Cédric controls Tours with his lord Éric, 4 men-at-arms et 3 knights. He wishes to reinforce this army: he purchases 3 man-at-arms pawns and 2 knight pawns for a total of 9 deniers. He may place only 4 of his pawns in Tours. He decides to place in there 2 knights and 2 men-at-arms. He will have to place the last man-at-arms in another town. His army is now composed of 6 men-at-arms and 5 knights.

4.2. Buildings

The stronghold is a fortress type that costs 10 deniers and may be placed in a town you control, if there is no fortress yet.

The city is another type of fortress, which cannot be purchased: it is tied to a fief title purchase.

A stronghold may only be destroyed by an uprising (G.4.2.1, p21).

A mill costs 3 deniers and is placed in a town you control.

There may be 2 mills per town at most.

A mill may be destroyed by an uprising, by scorched earth strategy or by plunder.

4.3. Units

There are 4 types of unit pawns.

• 1 man-at-arms pawn costs 1 denier, is 1 Combat Point (CP) worth, and needs 1 Hit to be eliminated.
• 1 archer pawn costs 2 deniers, is 1 CP worth, and needs 1 Hit to be eliminated. An archer allows to perform an archery shooting at the beginning of a battle (6.2.2, p14).
• 1 knight pawn costs 3 deniers, is 3 CP worth, and needs 3 Hit to be eliminated.
• 1 bombard pawn costs 4 deniers, is 0 CP worth, and is eliminated if not accompanied with at least 1 unit pawn or lord of its family. A bombard decreases the Fortress penalty if there is one, if not it allows to re-roll 1 battle dice in each battle round, when attacking or defending.

Purchased unit pawns are immediately placed in towns where there are non-captive lords of their family, including besieging armies (6.4.2, p16), or forces controlling a non-besieged fortress.

There is no limit to the number of unit pawns in an army or a troop, nor a limit to their type. However, during the Purchase Phase, each player may place 4 new unit pawns in a same town at most.

Knights were mounted noble warriors. Men-at-arms were infantry serving a lord, a bishop or a city. Neglected by nobles, the archer role was granted to the common people.

4.4. Fief titles

A player may purchase a fief title if they control every town of that fief and if there is at least one stronghold in it. Controlling every town of the fief is only required when purchasing the fief title: losing the control of one or more towns does not cause to lose that fief title.

The cost of a fief title is 2 deniers per town in the fief. A 4-town fief is a duchy which title costs 8 deniers, a 3-town fief is a county which title costs 6 deniers, a 2-town fief is a barony which title costs 4 deniers.

If the king is in play, and he has not already offered a fief title during that round, he may offer this title. If he does so, flip the king title to its 'privilege used' side up. The regent queen title operates the same way.

The king is free to negotiate about that offer, but he may only offer 1 fief title per round to a player able to purchase it.

Fief Title Purchase: The barony of Bretagne comprises 2 towns: Rennes and Nantes. It costs 2 x 2 = 4 deniers.

When you purchase a fief title, take it from the edge of the board and place it above a lord card, on your family board. The fief is now governed. If that lord already owns 2 fief titles, it triggers a fief titles transmission (D.1.1, p4).

Flip one of the stronghold tiles located in that fief to its city side. This town is now the capital of that fief, it contains the sole city of that fief.

4.5. Cardinal title

Only one cardinal title is available for sale; the corresponding tile shows a 5 deniers coin.

When a player wishes to purchase this title, they follow the same rules as for the cardinal card (G.4.1.2, p20).

5. Movement Phase

In turn order, each player may move each of their non-captive lords, then on to the next player. At the end of this Phase, place all forces that are on roads in the town they were moving to.

5.1. Troops and armies

In Fief, there are different military groupings:

• The troop: it is formed of a same family unit pawns located in a town, without a lord. A troop cannot move.
• The army: it is formed of a troop and at least 1 lord, it may move. Lords alone do not count as an army.
• The forces: it may be a troop, an army or a lord, all from the same family in the same town. A town may host forces from every family.

5.1.1. Moving a lord

The movement of a lord is split into steps. It stops immediately if the lord is eliminated.

At the beginning of a step, the lord and their army are on the road and no more in the town they started from.

Every lord may move up to 2 steps per round, 3 steps if the lord owns the D'Arc title (G.4.1.1, p20).

A lord may bring other forces with them, forming an army; they may retrieve or leave some forces in a town or on a road during their movement.

Every unit pawn may move up to 2 steps per round, even if it is moved through different lords. A D'Arc lord may move her forces up to 3 steps: each force joining her during at least 1 step may move up to 3 steps during that round.

5.2. Land move

A land move step is done between 2 adjacent towns, by using the road connecting them.

It is possible to do a back and forth move by spending 2 steps.

5.2.1. Land move steps

During their first step, a lord leaves the town they occupy to move towards an adjacent town. They do not cross any other families present in their starting town (5.2.3, p12), except if they are besieged, (6.4.2, p16), in which case they must cross all the besieging families.

During any subsequent steps, if they wish to continue to move, they must pass through the town they reached and cross any non-besieged family present in that town.

In every case, the lord must cross all the families present on the road they use.

When they reach an empty town (with no troop or lord) or a town controlled by their family, they are placed on the town space and takes control of it, if appropriate.

When they reach a town controlled and occupied by another family, they stay on the road they came by and they are not considered to be in the town for now.

Marc moves his lord Éric, 2 men-at-arms and 1 archer from La Rochelle to Poitiers. He leaves his archer in Poitiers then moves Éric with his 2 men-at-arms to Limoges.

As an uprising card may only be played in a town, it must be played before a lord starts their movement, thus the uprising rolling player always suffer the Fortress penalty.

5.2.2. Controlling a town

A town is always in one of the following situations:

• Controlled by one family,
• Control free.

At the beginning of the game, every town not chosen by players to be their starting town is empty. Once a fief is governed, any empty towns of that fief are considered controlled by the family governing that fief.

A town is controlled as long as a family occupies it with at least 1 lord or 1 troop, or if it is empty and located in a governed fief which fief title is not vacant.

Every family may have forces in a same town (on top of the town space or next to the town space), but the first to arrive in a town takes control of it. To show this, the first to arrive places their forces on the town space. Any other families' forces arriving beyond that are placed on the road they came by, then next to the town space at the end of the Movement Phase, to show they are now in that town.

A family controlling a town:

• may at any time transfer its control to any other present family, except during the resolution of a battle, this is played as a surprise effect (G.4, p20),
• must choose, when they leave, to which present family they give control of it,
• is the sole family to get benefits from the buildings in that town,
• takes the corresponding fief title if that town is a city, which may lead to a fief titles transmission (D.1.1, p4).

A family transferring the control of a town places their current forces next to the town space, the forces of the new controller are all placed on top of the town space.

Transferring the control of a town is a way to leave a fief title to another family, in order to give it more votes during an election and thus to swing a ballot until the last second!

5.2.3. Crossing and safe passage

Each time a move involves to cross other families, to pass through you have to either obtain a safe passage from each of the concerned families, or force the passage.

5.2.3.1. Requesting a safe passage

To continue to move, the player requests a safe passage to each crossed family:

• if they obtain a safe passage from each of those families, they may continue to move,
• if they do not obtain a safe passage from at least one of those families, they may:
  • make their lord go back spending 1 step, they cannot leave any force there, but they may retrieve some forces of their family that are in that town,
  • stop on the road they came by and possibly declare a battle during the Battle Phase,
  • force the passage.

5.2.3.2. Forcing the passage

• Pass through by playing an underground card (G.4.2.2, p21),
• attempt to pass through by doing a cavalcade (5.2.4, p12):
  • against forces on the road they move by,
  • against forces in a town without a fortress, to pass through it,
  • if being the besieged, against 1 besieging army to leave the besieged town.

Marie wishes to take control of La Rochelle. She moves her lord Guenièvre accompanied by 2 knights, from Tours to Poitiers, controlled by Marc, and asks him a safe passage to go to La Rochelle.

Marc refuses: Guenièvre may stay there and could declare a battle later on, or she may go back to Tours (step 2B) but she cannot leave any forces there.

If Marc had accepted, Guenièvre would have been forced to end her movement in La Rochelle (step 2A), but she would have been able to leave some knight pawns in Poitiers.

5.2.4. The cavalcade

A lord moving 1 step accompanied by an army made up of knight pawns and lords exclusively, and with at least 1 step left each, may force the passage by triggering a battle to be solved immediately against 1 of the families they have to cross: this is called a cavalcade.

This battle is solved by following the battle rules (6, p13), with the following exceptions:

• only the defender may request for a coalition (6.1, p13), and confederates cannot switch sides during this battle,
• the defensive side benefits from a +1 Hit per battle dice they roll (6.2, p14),
• if the army doing the cavalcade wins the battle and if at least one lord is still leading it, they may continue to move,
• any other result of the battle make the army doing the cavalcade stop to move: any forces in it cannot do any additional movement during that round.

A cavalcade may be used, among others, to leave a besieged fortress, or to eliminate forces that try to block a road.

Because Marc refused to give her a safe passage, Marie decides to force the passage: she does a cavalcade with her 2 knights to eliminate Marc's archer who in return eliminates one of the 2 knights.

Marie leaves her knight pawn there and continues her movement with Guenièvre to La Rochelle.

5.3. Naval move

A naval move step is done between a harbor town and the offshore area, and vice versa.

Naval moves are not subject to crossing rules:

• an army moving from a harbor town to the offshore area does not prevent to move from the offshore area to that harbor town, and vice versa,
• no safe passage from the families present in the harbor town is needed.

During a naval move, ignore the bad weather card effect affecting a harbor town's bishopric.

The movement of an army ends as soon as it enters the offshore area.

An army that just made a cavalcade cannot do a naval move step and vice versa.

Every lord and their armies cannot stay in the offshore area during 2 consecutive rounds: forces that are in the offshore area at the beginning of the Movement Phase must be relocated in harbor towns by their owner during their turn.

If a player owns more than one lord and unit pawns in the offshore area, they may split them in a way to have each unit pawn being in a lord's army.

A player without a lord with their offshore troop moves it in 1 harbor town of their choice anyway.

5.3.1. Offshore area

The offshore area represents the Channel, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea.

It is considered as a single zone in which all forces traveling by sea are placed.

It is not bound to any fief or bishopric. It is considered connected to every harbor town.

No battle may occur in the offshore area.

Lords in the offshore area may participate to elections, collect taxes or marry. Though, king and pope titles owned by lords in that area are 0 VP worth.

The king and the pope cannot remain safe on the sea in a hope to win that way. People expect from them to be on the field!

5.3.2. Harbor towns

A harbor town is recognizable on the board thanks to its vessel icon.

There are 6 of them, from north to south: Calais, Cherbourg, Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, and Montpellier.

William disembarks Charles and his army of 2 knights, who were offshore, at La Rochelle. William cannot make Charles do a cavalcade: he asks Marie a safe passage, to go to Poitiers, and she agrees. A battle may then occur during the Battle phase in Poitiers between William and Marie.

6. Battle Phase

In turn order, each player may declare 1 battle against another family, allied or not, in each town where they have an army.

When a battle is declared, it is fully solved before declaring another one. The control of this town cannot be transfered to another family during the whole resolution.

A troop cannot declare a battle, however it defends itself when attacked.

A lord without an army being attacked may immediately be captured (6.3, p15).

The active player is the offensive leader, and the attacked player is the defensive leader:

• they cannot leave their side and they remain leaders of their side until the end of the battle, even if they have no more lords or unit pawns in this battle,
• they choose to accept or not when a family asks to join their side,
• they decide on the losses distribution,
• they decide on the full surrender of their side,
• in case of victory, they decide on who will take control of the town and who will detain possible captives.

6.1. Coalitions

Families present in the town may form a coalition against other families by regrouping all their present forces in that town, before the beginning of the battle. A family who did not join a coalition will not be able to do it later during the battle.

In case of siege:

• the besieging side combines its siege engine markers effects until the end of the battle,
• if one of the besieged confederates switches sides, the besieger side does not suffer the Fortress penalty (6.2.3.2, p14) anymore until the end of this battle.

Be careful to who you put your trust in! An ally may betray you and open your fortress gates by switching sides...

6.2. Solving a battle

A battle is a succession of battle rounds. A side may decide to surrender now to stop the battle (6.2.3.5, p15); if not, solve the following steps in order.

6.2.1. Scorched earth

If not besieged and controlling the town, the defender may destroy 1 mill in the town to gain 1 denier.

6.2.2. Archer shooting

If archer pawns take part in the battle, they make an archer shooting, both sides simultaneously, before the first battle round. A fortress affects the attacking side's archer shooting (6.4.4, p16).

The first archer pawn allows to roll 1 battle dice and each additional archer pawn adds a +1 Hit to the dice result. A confederate side gathers its archers and cumulate their bonuses.

Losses are immediately applied (6.2.3.4, p14).

If the last attacking lord is eliminated during that step, the battle stops immediately, no further step will occur. If not, the battle goes on.

Enguérand and Olivier formed a coalition regrouping 5 archers. Enguérand rolls 1 battle dice and adds +4 Hit to result, which will lead to a total between 4 and 7 Hits.

6.2.3. The battle round

Battle rounds succeed until the battle stops.

6.2.3.1. CP calculation

The players from each side add their Combat Points (CP):

• 1 CP per man-at-arms pawn,
• 1 CP per archer pawn,
• 3 CP per knight pawn,
• 1 CP per male lord,
• 1 CP per title female lord.

The CP total of a side determines how many battle dice they will roll, before applying any Fortress penalty:

• 1 to 6 CP: 1 battle die,
• 7 to 12 CP: 2 battle dice,
• 13+ CP: 3 battle dice.

A D'Arc lord (G.4.1.1, p20) adds +1 battle die. This is the sole case where a side may roll 4 battle dice, if they have at least 13 CP.

6.2.3.2. Applying the Fortress penalty

• -1 battle die for the attacking side, if the defensive side controls a stronghold,
• -2 battle dice for the attacking side, if the defensive side controls a city.

The Fortress penalty does not apply when the family controlling the fortress is on the attacking side (6.4.2, p16).

6.2.3.3. Canceling the Fortress penalty

The Fortress penalty may be decreased, or canceled:

• each siege engine (6.4.3, p16) cancels the amount of the Fortress penalty noted on its marker,
• each bombard cancels 1 battle die of the Fortress penalty if any remains after the siege weapons deduction,
• an underground card (G.4.2.2, p21) cancels up to 2 battle dice of the Fortress penalty.

Olivier controls a city. He's attacked by Philippe who has 15 CP = 3 battle dice. The city provides a protection against 2 battle dice, but Philippe has a bombard, and thus may roll 2 battle dice.

6.2.3.4. Applying the losses

Each side rolls its battle dice and apply simultaneously the incurred losses.

Each battle dice is made of 1 face with no hit symbol, 2 faces with 1 hit symbol, 2 faces with 2 hit symbols and 1 face with 3 hit symbols. Each hit symbol represents 1 Hit.

Each side may re-roll 1 battle dice per bombard it owns which did not cancel a Fortress penalty.

Each side adds 1 Hit per king's retinue knight pawn and 1 Hit per queen's retinue sergeant pawn they own.

You need:

• 1 Hit to eliminate a man-at-arms pawn,
• 1 Hit to eliminate an archer pawn,
• 3 Hit to eliminate a knight pawn, if it suffers less, it has no effect,
• 1 Hit to eliminate a lord.

Each leader chooses which pawns from their side they eliminate, ensuring to lose as much CP as possible to match the amount of Hit received. They may choose a mix of man-at-arms, archer and knight pawns to eliminate.

A bombard pawn without any unit pawn or lord of its family to accompany it is eliminated.

Lords are eliminated only if all unit pawns other than bombards on their side have been eliminated. Thus, if there are not enough Hit to eliminate the last knight pawn, lords are not affected.

Enguérand and Olivier are allied by their respective lords Arthur and Aliénor's marriage, who are both in Toulouse with their troops. Marie brings an army to Toulouse to attack Olivier. She convinces Enguérand to form a coalition with her and they win the battle. Aliénor is eliminated during the battle, which leads this marriage to an end. Enguérand and Olivier are then not allied anymore!

Applying losses: Philippe has a 15 CP worth army with a bombard when he attacks Olivier's city, which grants him 2 battle dice. Olivier has 11 CP with his 2 men-at-arms and 3 knights, which grants him 2 battle dice.

Philippe rolls his 2 battle dice and gets 1 hit and 3 hits = 4 Hit. Olivier has no choice and must remove 1 man-at-arms and 1 knight pawns to eliminate the corresponding CP to match the 4 Hit as much as possible. But Olivier has also rolled his battle dice before suffering losses. He gets 3 hits and 2 hits = 5 Hit. Philippe looses 2 man-at-arms and 1 knight pawns.

There are still unit pawns on both sides and Philippe does not want to stop the battle, so a new round is resolved.

Philippe has only 10 CP left (15 - 5 losses), so he rolls nevertheless 1 battle dice thanks to his bombard (2-2 Fortress penalty for the city +1 bombard). Olivier has 7 CP left (11 - 4 losses), so he rolls 2 battle dice.

6.2.3.5. End of a battle round and end of a battle

In case of a coalition: in turn order, each player who is neither the offensive nor the defensive leader tells if they wish to continue or stop to fight or to switch sides. They may only switch side if the leader of the opposite side accepts their joining.

If they stop to fight, their surviving forces remain in town.

Then, the battle stops if one of the following cases is true:

• One of the sides surrenders. All the unit pawns on that side are eliminated, and its lords may be taken captive.
• Both sides agree to stop the battle. Surviving forces remain in this town. Town control does not change.
  • If the besieged player is on the defensive side, the attacker unilaterally decides if they stop the battle.
  • If the defensive side has no lord left, the attacker unilaterally decides if they stop the battle.
• 3 consecutive battle rounds occurred with no loss on both sides. Surviving forces remain in town. Town control does not change.
• One of the sides has only lords left. They may be taken captives.
• One side has no more unit pawns nor lords left.
• Both sides have no more unit pawns nor lords left. Town control is decided by control rules (5.2.2, p11).
• They are only lords left on both sides. These lords remain in town. Town control does not change.
• The attacking side has no lord left. Town control does not change.

In every case where a player stops to fight, their forces remain in this town.

A lord who is not taken captive remains in town.

If the battle did not stop, start a new battle round (6.2.3, p14).

6.3. Captive lords

When a lord is taken captive, flip their pawn side 'captive' up, and place a captive marker on their lord card. They still count towards the 4-lord limitation per family.

A captive lord keeps their titles and related VP, but they cannot vote or be a candidate to any election. Taxes related to their titles may still be collected. They may also marry.

If the queen is captive, the crown prince tile cannot be put into play (G.1.1, p18).

The captive lord is now controlled by the family who detains them, their jailer. The jailer may move the captive lord as a unit pawn of the army of one of their lords. A captive lord stays so as long as they stay with their jailer's forces. A captive lord cannot be eliminated, except with an assassination card (G.4.2.3, p22), or in case of an uprising.

A captive lord may be transfered by their jailer to another family as long as that family has any forces in the town where the captive lord stands.

A captive lord is released:

• if they escape thanks to an underground card (G.4.2.2, p21) (even played by another player),
• if a ransom is paid (4.1, p9),
• if their jailer decides so,
• if the forces that hold them captive are eliminated, even if another family is present.

A released captive lord is placed as if they are coming into play (G.1.2, p18).

Olivier is under attack. His army includes 2 lords, Gauvain and Blanche, 1 man-at-arms, 1 knight and 1 bombard.

Depending on his opponent's battle dice roll:

2 Hit: 1 Hit eliminates the man-at-arms pawn. The other Hit is ignored, as 3 Hit are needed to eliminate the knight pawn and lords are only affected once all unit pawns have been eliminated,

3 Hit: the knight pawn is eliminated, thus it is the only way to match the 3 Hit suffered (if there were 3 men-at-arms and 1 knight, Olivier could have decided to eliminate the 3 men-at-arms instead). He still has 1 man-at-arms, 1 bombard and his lords are not hit,

4 Hit: all the unit pawns are eliminated, and the lords may be taken captive,

5 Hit: all the unit pawns are eliminated, one lord is eliminated and the other may be taken captive,

6+ Hit: all the unit pawns and all the Olivier's lords are eliminated.

The King François 1er was exchanged with his two sons held hostage instead of him. Lords are not killed on the battlefield like soldiers, but reclaimed to exchange them in coin of the realm.

6.4. Siege and siege engines

6.4.1. Declaring a siege

At the end of the Battle Phase, for each town with a fortress controlled by another family and where you own at least 1 lord, you may:

• declare a siege: place 1 siege engine marker with the '1 battle dice' side up next to your forces, you are now a besieger of that town,
• continue the siege if you were already a besieger: flip the marker to its '2 battle dice'.

Every player has only 2 siege engine markers, thus they may besiege only 2 towns simultaneously.

If several players decide to besiege the same town, each of them place 1 siege engine marker, this will increase their efficiency, this makes coalitions very useful.

A besieger who has no more lord left in a town they are besieging has to remove their siege engine marker; if there is an ongoing battle, they wait for it to stop before removing siege engine marker. A besieger may also end their siege at any time by removing their siege engine marker.

Example 1: Enguérand attacks a stronghold, but after 1 battle round, he assesses his chances of success to be too low. He decides to stop the battle and besiege the stronghold. He places a siege engine marker with the '1 battle dice' side up next to his forces.

Example 2: Marie brought her lord Éric and 1 knight to Limoges, where 1 man-at-arms belonging to Philippe is holding a stronghold. Marie cannot attack as she does not have any available battle dice because of the stronghold. She decides to besiege it and place a siege engine marker with the '1 battle dice' side up next to her forces.

6.4.2. Effects of a siege

A town with at least 1 siege engine marker is said besieged.

• Its controller is called the besieged family.
• It remains under the control of the besieged family.
• The besieged family does not collect any income from that town and its mills.
• The besieged family may place new lords in that town, during the Cards Phase.
• The besieged family cannot place new unit pawns in that town, during the Purchase Phase.
• During the Movement Phase, the besieged army cannot move without the authorization of every besieger, except by playing an underground card (G.4.2.2, p21) or by doing a cavalcade (5.2.4, p12).
• During the Battle Phase, the besieged family may only declare a battle by leaving the fortress protection, the defensive side will then suffer no Fortress penalty during that battle.
• The besieger may plunder the mills from that town, during the Plunder step (6.5, p16).
• When the last siege engine marker is removed, the siege is lifted and that town is no more besieged.

6.4.3. Siege engine effects

Each battle dice shown on a siege engine marker cancels 1 point of Fortress penalty: an army with 1 siege engine marker '1 battle dice' suffers no penalty if it attacks a stronghold, and a -1 battle dice penalty if it attacks a city. A siege engine marker '2 battle dice' cancels all the Fortress penalty, even against a city (6.2.3.2, p14).

Siege engines are not unit pawns, they do not increase an army's CP and do not take any Hit during a battle.

Siege (continuation) — Example 2 continuation: Marie is besieging Limoges from the previous round. She decides to attack, with her lord Éric and his knight. She suffers no Fortress penalty thanks to her siege engine marker which cancels the -1 battle dice Fortress penalty due to the stronghold.

If, instead of attacking, Marie had decided to wait for one more round by maintaining her siege, she would have flipped her siege engine marker to its '2 battle dice' face side. When attacking on the next round, she would not benefit any extra bonus, because siege engine markers are only used to cancel the Fortress penalty.

6.4.4. Archer shooting and Fortress penalty

The Fortress penalty applies to the archer shooting, and it may also be canceled (6.2.3.3, p14).

Each -1 battle die prevents 1 archer pawn to be used during the archer shooting.

Archer shooting against a fortress: On the previous round, Raphaël started the siege of Orléans, which contains a city, by placing 1 siege engine marker. He now forms a coalition with Philippe to attack Orléans. They both have 1 archer pawn among their forces. The Fortress penalty being decreased by 1 thanks to the siege engine marker, the remaining penalty prevents 1 archer pawn to participate to the archer shooting. The attacking side performs their archer shooting by rolling 1 battle dice, with no bonus.

6.5. Plunder

Once all battles have been resolved, every player in turn order may plunder the mills that are:

• in the non-besieged towns they control,
• in the towns they besiege.

Each plundered mill gives 2 deniers to the player who plunders it, then return it to the common pool, it will be available for sale once more.

A player may plunder the mills of a town he besieges to reduce the opponent's income, if this one manages to break the siege after all. He may also decide to plunder their own mills in a scorched earth strategy, if they think the enemy is able to seize them!

7. End of Round Phase

Discard the disaster cards from the board (2.3, p8).

Flip the king or regent queen title on its 'privilege available' side if that lord offered a fief title during that round.

Check the victory conditions for each player:

• 1 VP per fief title in their family (D.1, p4),
• 1 VP for the king title (D.3.1, p5) except if he is offshore,
• 1 VP for the pope title, except if he is offshore.

A player may win on their own, or in an alliance with another player.

If there is no winner, the first player gives the first player card to the player on their left, and a new round begins.

7.1. Lone victory

A player wins on their own if they score at least 3 VP at the end of a round.

Beware! It is not possible to get a Lone victory when being married, except in the specific case of a 3-player game, see below.

A player may win at the end of a round if they score in his family 3 fief titles, or 2 fief titles and the king or pope title, or also only 1 fief title with the king title and the pope title.

7.2. Alliance victory

An alliance of 2 players (through a marriage) wins if they sum up together at least 4 VP at the end of a round. An Alliance victory is only possible 4+ player games.

In a 3-player game, it is possible create an alliance, but only the Lone victory condition apply. Thus, either a player is allied or not, they must score 3 VP by themselves.

7.3. Tiebreaker

A Lone victory always prevails on an Alliance victory.

If there is still a tie, the winner is the player or the alliance who owns: the king title, else the pope title, else the regent queen title, else the most fief titles, else the most bishop titles, else the one who is controlling the most towns.

Example 1: At the end of a round, no player is married. Enguérand owns 3 fief titles, Marc 1 fief title, Olivier 1 fief title and Marie 2 fief titles and the king title. Enguérand and Marie each own 3 PV. Marie wins, following the tiebreaker, as she owns the king title.

Example 2: Enguérand and Marc are allied. Enguérand owns 3 fief titles, Marc 1 fief title and the king title. Olivier is not allied and he owns 3 fief titles. Enguérand is allied and thus cannot fulfill the Lone victory, even if he owns 3 VP. The Enguérend & Marc's alliance owns 5 VP and thus they fulfill the Alliance victory condition. Olivier owns 3 VP and thus he fulfills the Lone victory condition. Olivier is the winner, as a Lone victory prevails on an Alliance victory.

F. Diplomacy

Fief is a game where diplomacy is the key.

You may discuss around the table, exchange deniers and cards (under certain conditions), plan joint actions and make alliances.

Each player owns 3 diplomacy pawns.

At any time during the game, even during the resolution of a surprise card effect, a player may discard a diplomacy pawn to either:

• exchange one or more cards with another player. Reminder: a player's hand cannot exceed 3 cards!
• generate a private talk with one or more players of their choice. Players isolate and may exchange cards and deniers secretly during that discussion.

Each spent diplomacy pawn gives access to a 3-minute private talk. Additional diplomacy pawns may be played to lengthen the discussion, if needed.

The other players stay around the board and may freely and publicly talk during that time, but they cannot exchange cards. Any amount of deniers exchanged between 2 families who stayed around the board must be communicated to the isolated players when they come back from their private talk.

G. The Cards

G.1. Lord cards

There are 18 lord cards in the characters pile.

Playing a lord card allows you to add a new member to your family.

A family cannot include more than 4 lords simultaneously, but it is possible to keep lord cards in hand. Lord cards may be played during the Cards Phase only.

Place the lord card you played on your family board, this lord comes into play (G.1.2, p18).

G.1.1. The crown prince

When the player controlling the queen's family plays a male lord card, they may make him become the crown prince if the 3 following conditions are met:

• the king is in play,
• the queen is not captive,
• there is no crown prince yet.

Place the crown prince title next to the lord card.

G.1.2. Coming into play

Place your lord pawn by respecting the following priority order, in increasing order:

1. in a fortress you control (4.2, p10), besieged or not,
2. in a town where there is already one of your lords,
3. in a town you control,
4. in an empty town or a town controlled by another player with their agreement.

A lord coming into play is immediately active and may be the target of effects. They receive any vacant fief title of which the city is controlled by their family (D.1.1, p4).

Placing a lord alone in a town make them very vulnerable to uprisings and battles.

G.2. Disaster cards

There are 10 disaster cards in the events pile.

G.2.1. Plague card (2 cards)

Every lord and troop in the affected bishopric are targeted by the plague!

G.2.1.1. Effect on lords

Roll the D6 for each lord:

• On a 4-6 result, they stay in play,
• On a 1-3 result, they are eliminated.

Any lord added in that bishopric during the Cards phase of this round ignores that effect.

G.2.1.2. Effect on troops

In every town of the bishopric, each family loses half the unit pawns of their troop, rounded down. The troop owner decides which unit pawns they lose in that troop.

Any unit pawn added in that bishopric during the Cards Phase of this round are not taken into account.

G.2.1.3. Entering a plagued bishopric

When an army enters a bishopric affected by a plague card:

• solve the effect on lords (G.2.1.1, p18), except those who have already suffered it during that round,
• solve the effect on troops (G.2.1.2, p18), ignoring the unit pawns which have already suffered it during that round.

Lords and troops may then enter again in a bishopric affected by a plague card, the same or another one, without suffering its effect.

Plague effects: Olivier owns an army in a town affected by a plague card. There are 2 man-at-arms pawns, 2 knight pawns and 1 bombard pawn in that army headed by the lord Arthur. For the troop: 2 + 2 + 1 = 5 unit pawns. Divide it by 2 rounded down, which gives 2, Olivier must remove 2 unit pawns and he chooses to remove 2 man-at-arms pawns. For his lord Arthur: he rolls the D6 and obtains a 6, Arthur remains in play.

The concentration of people encourages epidemic outbreaks. Thus, the more the troops are concentrated, the higher the losses.

G.2.2. Bad weather cards (4 cards)

No battle nor land move are allowed in the affected bishopric, including to get in or out of it.

A good weather card may be played to cancel a bad weather card. Both cards are discarded.

A bad weather card placed on a bishopric prevents anyone from playing a good harvest card on it, except to cancel a famine card.

Uprisings (G.4.2.1, p21), moves through an underground card (G.4.2.2, p21) and naval moves are not affected by a bad weather card.

G.2.3. Famine cards (4 cards)

No mill in the bishopric may provide any income during the Income Phase.

A good harvest card may be played to cancel a famine card. Both cards are discarded.

A famine card placed on a bishopric prevents anyone from playing a good weather card on it, except to cancel a bad weather card.

Beware! Famines may lead to uprisings (G.4.2.1, p21).

The Royal Tallage: One of the Marie's lords is the king. Marie plays a tax card to collect the royal tallage on the fief of Aquitaine, which is not governed yet.

Enguérand controls 3 of the 4 towns of this fief and Olivier controls the fourth. During Income Phase, Marie will gain 8 deniers (2 for each town of this fief).

Enguérand and Olivier will gain 1 denier per controlled town, thus 3 deniers for Enguérand and 1 denier for Olivier.

G.3. Fortune cards

There are 15 fortune cards in the events pile.

G.3.1. Good weather cards (5 cards)

A good weather card may be played on:

• any bishopric to cancel a bad weather card, both cards are discarded,
• any bishopric not affected by a famine card, to place it on the board, next to the bishopric number: every mill in the bishopric will provide its owner with 1 additional denier during the Income Phase. Any mill in a non-besieged town of that bishopric benefits from that effect.

G.3.2. Good harvest cards (5 cards)

A good harvest card may be played on:

• any bishopric to cancel a famine card, both cards are discarded,
• any bishopric not affected by a bad weather card, to place it on the board, next to the bishopric number: every mill in the bishopric will provide its owner with 1 additional denier during the Income Phase. Any mill in a non-besieged town of that bishopric benefits from that effect.

G.3.3. Tax cards (5 cards)

You may play a tax card on one of your fiefs, to collect a tallage, or on a bishopric, to collect a tithe.

Beware! Collecting tallage or tithe may lead to uprisings (G.4.2.1, p21).

G.3.3.1. Tallage

During the Income Phase, a tallage allows a player to collect 2 deniers per town in a fief, even if they do not control all of these towns.

Tallage may be collected by:

• a titled lord on one of their fiefs, even a captive lord,
• the king on any ungoverned fief (D.3.1, p5), even if he is captive.

To play a tax card, place it on top of the fief title space on the edge of the board. If the lord requesting tallage is eliminated before the Income Phase or if they lose the related title, tallage may only be collected if this related title remains in the same family. If not, this tallage is canceled.

G.3.3.2. Tithe

During the Income Phase, a tithe allows a player to collect all income related to the mills in the affected bishopric instead of the families controlling the involved towns.

It may be collected by:

• a bishop on his own bishopric,
• a cardinal on any governed bishopric,
• the pope on all the governed bishoprics.

A player requesting a tithe places their tax card on the targeted bishopric number, with the cardinal tithe marker of one of their cardinal if they request a tithe on a bishopric their family is not owning the title, or in case of a papal tithe, on the space 3 of the round track. If the lord requesting a tithe is eliminated before the Income Phase, this tithe is canceled.

If several players played a tax card to collect a tithe on the same bishopric, only one of them will collect it, by decreasing priority order:

the titled bishop ▷ a cardinal (the first in turn order if there are several cardinals) ▷ the pope.

Tallage and Tithe: In the Middle Ages, tallage was a direct tax collected by the lord on his domain servants in exchange for his protection. In 1439, the royal tallage is created and paid to the king to finance his royal army during the Hundred Years' War. The tithe is a tax due to clergy, calculated on agricultural products in order to supply the parishes and their clergy maintenance.

Papal Tithe: The pope plays a tax card to collect a tithe on all the governed bishoprics. The titled bishop of the bishopric of Calais also plays a tax card. He has priority, the pope will collect papal tithe on all the governed bishoprics, except the bishopric of Calais.

Cards Combinations — Example 1: You may play a good weather card to cancel a bad weather card, then play a good harvest card to increase the bishopric's mills income.

Example 2: A good harvest card and a good weather card are played on the same bishopric. Each mill of the bishopric will provide a +2 deniers bonus during the Income Phase, for a total of 4 deniers per mill.

Example 3: A famine strikes the bishopric. It would affect Marc. Fortunately he has 2 good harvest cards in hand. He plays the first one to cancel the famine card, then plays the second one to obtain a +1 denier bonus per mill during the Income Phase. If there were no famine card, Marc could have played only one good harvest card on that bishopric.

G.4. Surprise cards

A card with the surprise icon is a surprise card. It may be played at any time, except during the step B (draw) of the Cards Phase.

A surprise effect stops the ongoing action and is fully resolved before solving another one (H.2, p22).

G.4.1. Surprise character cards

There are 4 surprise cards in the characters pile.

G.4.1.1. D'Arc card (1 card)

The D'Arc card may only be played on an unmarried female lord who is not the regent queen; she may belong to another player, which cannot refuse it. Place the D'Arc title above the targeted lord card, and the D'Arc card on its space on the frieze. A D'Arc lord has the following abilities:

• she may move up to 3 steps instead of 2. The troop, captive lords and other lords who accompany her benefit from that bonus,
• she gives 1 additional battle dice in every battle she is in, it is the sole case where a player may roll 4 battle dice,
• she cannot be married.

D'Arc refers to Jeanne d'Arc.

Enguérand plays the D'Arc card on his lord Mireille who becomes Mireille D'Arc!

G.4.1.2. Cardinal cards (3 cards)

A cardinal card may be played on any bishop in play, even if he is captive. He may belong to another family, which cannot refuse it.

However, if the pope is in play, his authorization is requested to let a new cardinal appear. If he refuses, the player cannot play the card or purchase the title (D.2.3, p4).

Place the cardinal card on one of the 3 related spaces on the frieze, take the affiliated cardinal tile and place it above the card of the lord who becomes a cardinal, take also the corresponding cardinal tithe marker.

Do not forget that a 4th cardinal title is available for sale.

Creation of a Cardinal: François just became a cardinal.

The cardinal tile is placed above the lord card.

The played cardinal card is placed below the tile space.

That card will be replaced in the discard pile if this cardinal is eliminated.

Thanks to his lord François, Marie now gives 1 vote to elect the pope.

G.4.2. Surprise fortune cards

There are 10 surprise cards in the events pile.

G.4.2.1. Uprising cards (4 cards)

An uprising card may only be played in a town affected at least by a tax card (G.3.3, p19), or by a famine card (G.2.3, p19).

You may not play an uprising card in a town affected by a tax card you played.

Marc played a tax card on one of his bishoprics. He cannot play an uprising card in any town of that bishopric invoking the tithe, because he played it. However, if a famine card also affects that bishopric, he may play an uprising card, invoking that famine card.

By the time an uprising card is played, every player may play some others to cumulate their effects. The potential Fortress penalty cancels as many uprising cards played as its own value.

For every uprising card played, a bishop or a cardinal may attempt to cancel it, by rolling the D6:

• On a 3-6 result, the uprising card is discarded without effect,
• On a 1-2 result, the uprising card effect is resolved and in the case of a bishop, he is eliminated. If a cardinal, he remains in play if he has spent 3 deniers (D.2.2, p4).

The player who played the first uprising card rolls 1 battle dice per uncanceled uprising card, then adds 1 Hit to the result of each rolled dice. They choose 1 family in this town which applies losses as if it was a battle (6.2.3.4, p14), but only to their troop. If some Hit remain, they now target another present family, until all Hit have been spent.

The bad weather card effect does not affect uprisings.

Any battle dice not rolled because of the Fortress penalty may not apply its +1 Hit bonus; if no battle dice are rolled, the uprising is canceled.

If all troops in the town have been eliminated:

• every lord in the town, including the captive ones, are eliminated,
• every mill and the possible stronghold in the town are destroyed. A city is not affected.

Once the uprising has been resolved, discard the played uprising cards.

3 uprising cards are played on Calais by Olivier, Enguérand and Marc. Olivier rolls 3 battle dice and obtains respectively 1f, 1f, and 2f + 3 x 1 bonus Hit, which gives a total result of 7 Hit.

For example, in a bishopric affected by a famine card, uprising cards may be played at the beginning of a battle to try to weaken one of the sides.

Philippe plays an uprising card on Nantes, which has a stronghold and 2 archers. The attack is 1 battle dice + 1 Hit, but the stronghold's Fortress penalty of -1 battle dice applies, which leads to a 0 battle dice total: the uprising is canceled.

Philippe had previously made an agreement with Enguérand, who also plays an uprising card. The effects of both cards add up, which gives: 2 battle dices - 1 battle dice due to stronghold Fortress penalty = 1 battle dice + 1 Hit: the 2 archer pawns are eliminated and the stronghold is destroyed.

G.4.2.2. Underground cards (3 cards)

An underground card has various effects, according to the moment it is played. Once the effect has been resolved, discard that card.

• At the beginning of a step, an army may simultaneously:

  • leave a besieged fortress without having to cross the besiegers,
  • move to a town affected by a bad weather card or leave it,
  • pass through without fighting (5.2.3, p12).

  That army is directly placed in an adjacent town, this counts as 1 step. It may then resolve subsequent steps by following the movement rules.

• At the beginning of a battle, to allow the attacker to ignore any Fortress penalty during all that battle.

Marie has 5 CP, which is not enough to attack a stronghold because of its -1 battle dice Fortress penalty. Fortunately, she has an underground card she plyas to ignore the Fortress penalty and attack with 1 battle dice.

• At any time to either:
  • make a captive lord escape: that lord is free and may choose to free other captive lords detained in that town by the same jailer. A freed lord is placed as if they were coming into play (G.1.2, p18),
  • ignore any Fortress penalty when resolving an uprising.

G.4.2.3. Assassination card (1 card)

You may play the assassination card anytime to eliminate the lord of your choice, from another family, including the king, the queen, the pope, or even your spouse! However, you must have a lord in play to play that card.

The targeted lord is eliminated: remove their lord pawn from the board and discard their lord card. Then, select 1 of your lords as the assassination sponsor.

Place an assassin marker on their lord card to identify them: they may now be targeted by the justice card (G.4.2.4, p22).

Once the effect has been resolved, discard that card.

A player may in this way eliminate lords of the family he is allied with, but never lords from their own family.

G.4.2.4. Justice card (1 card)

You may play the justice card anytime, but to target a lord with an assassin marker on them only, other than the king, the queen (regent or not), the crown prince, or the pope.

The targeted lord is eliminated: remove their lord pawn from the board and discard their lord card.

Once the effect has been resolved, discard that card.

"Thus human courts acquit the strong, and doom the weak, as therefore wrong." Excerpt from fable The Animals Sick of the Plague, Jean de la Fontaine

G.4.2.5. Ambush card (1 card)

You may play the ambush card during a battle in which at least 1 of your lords is involved.

Choose 1 lord in the battle who becomes immediately the captive of one of your lords involved in that battle. If the troops on the captive lord's side find themselves without any lord, they remain in play, in that town.

Once the effect has been resolved, discard that card.

Lone troops may only defend but not attack, nor make an ambush! You need a lord to lead them.

H. Managing Effects

H.1. Target of an effect

Unless otherwise specified, fortune and surprise cards effects may target another family, which allows possible negotiations between the card holder and the involved player.

H.2. Effects priority

When several players wish to trigger effects or resolve actions at the same time, follow that order of priority:

• playing an diplomacy pawn is primary,
• on playing a surprise card, which is primary,
• on any action following the normal conduct of a game round from Phases 1-7.

Any effect or action on the same priority level is fully resolved before starting to resolve another one.

An effect or action interrupted by an effect is resuming where it has been interrupted and is resolved as extensively as possible. Any played card is discarded, even if its effect cannot be resolved anymore.

H.3. Order of resolution

When an effect or action must be resolved by several players at the same time, involved players resolve it in turn order.

I. Optional Rules

Players may add all or part of the following rules to their games.

I.1. Adjusted shooting

During a battle in a town with a fortress in which the attacking side does not benefit from an underground card (G.4.2.2, p21), if the defensive side has at least 1 archer pawn, they may replace their archer shooting with an adjusted shooting to attempt to eliminate 1 of the attacking lords by targeting them directly.

To solve an adjusted shooting, the defensive leader announces which lord is targeted and rolls the D6 with no bonus, regardless of the number of archers on the defensive side.

On a 6, the targeted lord is eliminated; any other result has no effect.

Richard the Lionheart, king of England, duke of Normandy, duke of Aquitaine, count of Poitiers, count of Maine and count of Anjou, favorite son of Aliénor of Aquitaine, died in 1199 at the age of 42, by a crossbow bolt shot from the castle of Châlus-Chabrol's ramparts he was besieging to bring sanity back to his vassal Aymar V, viscount of Limoges. That person will then be assassinated by a Richard's illegitimate son, Philippe de Cognac, in the same year.

I.2. Fog of war

Every unit pawn is placed face down on the board in order to hide their type (man-at-arms, archer, bombard or knight). Players cannot check the type of the opposing unit pawns before the beginning of a battle.

Players announce and show the unit pawns they purchase during the Purchase Phase. But they place them face down without unveiling which unit pawn is placed and where.

Note: This rule is dedicated to experienced players.

I.3. Public diplomacy

The diplomacy pawns are not used. Players may discuss and exchange cards with no restriction.

Beware! This may significantly increase game time!

I.4. Mandatory placement

This optional rule suggests a more thematic placement. The step 5 of the setup is modified. Players do not choose their starting town, they instead look at the table below, which shows the player's starting town according to the lord they drew.

Lord	Starting town	Fief title
Aliénor	Poitiers	Duché d'Aquitaine
Arthur	Clermont	Dauphiné du Viennois
Beaudouin	Montpellier	Seigneurie de Montpellier
Blanche	Limoges	Vicomté de Rochechouart
Charles	Toulouse	Comté de Toulouse
Eric	Avignon	Comté de Foix
François	Reims	Comté de Champagne
Gauvin	Lyon	Vicomté de Tarentaise
Guenièvre	Dijon	Duché de Bar
Henry	Rouen	Comté d'Aumale
Isabelle	Pau	Vicomté du Béarn
Jeanne	Calais	Comté d'Artois
Lambert	Lisieux	Comté du Perche
Mireille	Liège	Comté du Vermandois
Othon	La Rochelle	Comté de Saintonge
Philippe	Bordeaux	Comté de Gascogne
Quentin	Nantes	Duché de Bretagne
Thierry	Orléans	Comté de Nevers

Maximilien drew Aliénor. His starting town is Poitiers. Enguérand drew Philippe, who starts in Bordeaux.

Note: Being next to another player from the start may be as much a chance as a hassle, everything will depend on subsequent negotiations. This rule is designed for players who are diplomacy specialists!