Interregnum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Card Layout
• Game Setup
• Course of the Game
  • PHASE 1 – Drawing Cards
  • PHASE 2 – Performing Actions
    • 1. DEVELOPMENT (once per turn)
      • a. Playing a Subject card
      • EFFECTS ON SUBJECT CARDS
      • b. Playing an Ally card
      • c. Collecting Tribute
    • 2. REQUEST FOR A SERVICE (any number of times)
    • 3. ISSUING AN ORDER (once per turn)
      • TYPES OF ORDERS
  • PHASE 3 – Discarding Cards
• End of the Game
• Table Rules
• 2-Player Game
• Team Mode
• Effect Symbols

Components

110 cards, including:

• 94 Subject cards (12 Kinds)
• 10 Service cards
• 6 Ally cards

Also:

• 1 double-sided Main Board
• 4 double-sided Player Boards
• 16 Silver Coin tokens
• 8 Gold Coin tokens (worth 3 Silver Coins each)
• 1 Round Marker
• 39 Order markers (12 in each of 3 colors + 3 spare)
• 1 First Player (Regent) marker
• 4 double-sided Player Aid cards

Card Layout

• Card type (here: Subject).
• Card Kind (name).
• Number of such cards in the game (e.g. 9).
• Marking of the Effect Type and the moment of its activation.
• Card Effect.
• Card Effects (the player chooses one of two Effects).
• Prestige Points (for 1 / 2 / 3 Subjects in the Fief respectively), e.g. 2 / 4 / 6.

(Example card: Bandit — 9 copies. First Effect, activated with 2 cards: a "steal a Coin"-type Effect. Second Effect, activated with 3 cards: "2 x [attack icon] / [attack icon] + [Subject icon]" — the player chooses one of the two Effects. Prestige 2 / 4 / 6.)

Game Setup

1. Place the Main Board in the middle of the table. In the first game, for the players taking part, we recommend using the side with the emerald in the lower right corner.
2. Shuffle all cards together and place them as a face-down pile on the space with the door image on the left side of the board.
3. Draw the top 5 cards of the deck and lay them face up in a row (so that the Card Kinds are visible) under the Main Board. They form the beginning of the open Discard Pile.
4. Leave the space with the burning doors empty. It is intended for destroyed cards during play. Cards should be placed here face up (open), and the players may freely look through them.
5. Place the Round Marker on the space for round I.
6. Place the Gold and Silver Coins on the Main Board. They form the Treasury.
7. Each player receives a Player Board and decides which side to play. The emerald side (in the middle) is recommended for new players. Experienced players should choose the other, harder side.
8. Players place 9 Order markers on their Boards, three of each type, according to their color.
9. Deal each player 6 cards from the deck. They form the player's "hand". Players do not reveal their cards.
10. Each starting player takes 1 Silver Coin. Experienced players start the game without Coins.

Course of the Game

The game consists of 12 rounds. In each round the players take only one turn each, in order, always starting from the Regent. The player order stays the same throughout the whole game.

The turn of each player consists of 3 Phases:

1. Drawing Cards
2. Performing Actions
3. Discarding Cards

PHASE 1 – Drawing Cards

The player draws 2 cards from the top of the deck or from the top of the Discard Pile (in any combination). The player may draw a card from the deck, then decide whether to take the second card from the deck or from the Discard Pile. If there are no cards left in the deck and the player is to draw a card, the Discard Pile must be reshuffled to form a new deck.

PHASE 2 – Performing Actions

In this phase the player may perform the following actions in any order:

1. DEVELOPMENT (once per turn)
2. REQUEST FOR A SERVICE (any number of times)
3. ISSUING AN ORDER (once per turn)

1. DEVELOPMENT (once per turn)

As part of this Action the player may perform one of these options:

• a. Play a Subject card — OR
• b. Play an Ally card — OR
• c. Collect Tribute

a. Playing a Subject card

At the bottom of the Player Board there are 5 slots symbolizing the player's Fiefs. The player plays 1 face-up Subject card from their hand to a Fief of their choice. Only Subjects of the same Kind may be in one Fief. Cards in Fiefs should be laid in a fan so that their names and number are visible — as in the illustration on page 10.

Usually a player can place up to 3 Subjects in one Fief. Their number is determined by the scoring at the bottom of the Subject card. For example, the Bandit (see page 3) has scoring for 3 Subjects — respectively 2/4/6 Prestige Points for 1/2/3 Subjects. You cannot place more Subjects in a Fief than the scoring allows, although you can gather another set of the same Subjects in another Fief.

Each Fief has a preferred season — Summer or Winter — marked by a symbol above the slot. On the side of the Player Board with the emerald symbol there is also a Capital, that is, a universal Fief:

• Village – Summer preferred
• Town – Winter preferred
• Capital – universal

At the same time, the rounds of the game are characterized by a particular season. For playing a Subject to a Fief in the preferred season, the player gains 1 Silver Coin. The Coin is received before resolving any Effect on the Subject card (more on that below).

EXILE: It is possible to replace the Subjects in a Fief. Before playing a Subject of a Kind not matching the Subjects already placed in a given Fief, the player must destroy all the cards in that Fief. Then the new Subject is placed in their place. The player receives 1 Silver Coin for each Subject destroyed this way. Fortification cards (see page 9) do not protect against Exile; they are destroyed together with the Subjects, but do not generate Silver. Note! A Service is treated as a Subject matching the Kind of its predecessor, so playing it does not cause Exile.

EFFECTS ON SUBJECT CARDS

The player must perform the Effect shown on the played Subject card if the number at the Effect Type equals the number of Subjects in that Fief, counting the one just played.

In the case of Effects requiring payment of a cost in Coins, the player cannot play such a Subject if they do not have enough Coins to pay for its Effect. Other elements of Effects may be carried out only partially, and in extreme cases not at all (e.g. stealing Coins if none of the opponents has any money).

Moment of Effect activation:

• (Arrow marked 2): An Effect the player must use if the Subject was played as the second one in the Fief.
• (Arrow marked 3): An Effect the player must use if the Subject was played as the third one in the Fief.

The Effect Type is defined by the shape of the arrow in the symbol:

• (Arrow marked 2) Immediate Effect – it should be resolved right after playing the card.
• (Arrow marked 1, curved) Permanent Effect – it works as long as the given Subject is in the game.
• (Arrow marked 3, end-of-game style) End-of-game Effect – it works at the end of the game, if the given Subject is still in the game.

A detailed description of the Effect symbols is on the last page of this rulebook.

b. Playing an Ally card

The player plays 1 face-up Ally card on the table, resolves its Effect, and then moves the card face up to the Destroyed Cards Pile.

c. Collecting Tribute

The player discards 3 cards from their hand to the Discard Pile (in an order of their choice) in order to take 3 Silver Coins from the Treasury (or 1 Gold Coin).

2. REQUEST FOR A SERVICE (any number of times)

The player plays 1 face-up Service card on the table, resolves its Effect, and then moves the card face up to the Destroyed Cards Pile. Service cards differ from Ally cards in that on their turn the player may play any number of Service cards.

3. ISSUING AN ORDER (once per turn)

The player may issue 1 Order of any type. To do so they must pay the cost indicated on the Player Board and remove from it a marker of the appropriate color (put it back into the Treasury). When the player removes the last marker of a given color, they can no longer issue Orders of that type.

The markers are a counter of the available Orders.

TYPES OF ORDERS

• Recruitment (pink): Cost 1 Silver Coin. The player draws 3 cards from the top of the deck on the Main Board (Note! not from the Discard Pile).

• Mobilization (yellow): Cost 4 Silver Coins. The player may perform 1 additional Development Action (play a Subject card / play an Ally card / collect Tribute).

• Fortification (red): Cost 1 Silver Coin. The player places any card face down from their hand on a chosen Fief. All Subjects in that Fief are protected and cannot be destroyed by an opponent.

  The player may add further Subjects to this Fief as long as they fit within the Subject limit (Fortifications are not counted), but they will not be protected. A Fief may be fortified several times. During Exile, Fortifications are destroyed together with the Subjects.

  EXAMPLE: The player issues a Fortification order to protect two Nuns. The player can still add a third Nun, but to keep it safe they will have to fortify it as well.

Note! On some cards there are Effects that overlap with the action of Orders (e.g. Pursuit). Using them does not use up the Order limit — the player does not remove a marker, and may also play an Order in that same turn.

PHASE 3 – Discarding Cards

At the end of the turn the player may have at most 6 cards in hand. If they have more, they discard the excess cards to the Discard Pile in an order of their choice. The player cannot discard more cards than is required.

Hint: Pay attention to which cards you discard. An opponent may draw a card you discarded and play it to good effect.

End of the Game

The game ends after 12 rounds. Each player then sums up points from two sources:

• Prestige Points from cards in Fiefs
• the number of Coins (1 Silver = 1 point, 1 Gold = 3 points)

The player with the most points becomes king! In case of a tie, the turn order decides — the winner is the player who is closer to the Regent in turn order (the last player loses ties with everyone).

EXAMPLE: A player counts their Prestige Points at the end of the game:

• 8 points for two Minstrels,
• 15 points for four Craftsmen (a Fortification gives no points),
• 15 points for the Nuns on the right (the player, using the Effect of the card, chose to copy the points of the Craftsmen),
• 15 points for the Nuns on the left (the player, using the Effect of the card, chose to copy the points of the Nuns on the right),
• 15 points for the Merchants (1 point per 15 Subjects),
• 4 points for the Coins in the player's pool.

Table Rules

• A player may not show cards that are visible only to them — unless an Effect requires showing a card/cards to an opponent.
• A player may talk about their own cards or opponents' cards (which they have, for example, peeked at as a result of an Effect). They may, however, lie about what they have or what they saw.
• Players may talk, ask and threaten, but may not hold any secret conversations — everyone must hear the same things.

2-Player Game

In a 2-player game all the rules of the basic version apply, plus one additional rule:

Costly Fight – Before the opponent destroys a Subject in the second player's Fief, they must additionally pay 1 Silver Coin to the Treasury. After a Subject in their Fief is destroyed, the attacked player receives 1 Silver Coin from the Treasury.

Team Mode

In a 4-player game the players may form 2 teams of allied houses. Team members sit alternately: the first player will be on a team with the third player at the table, and the second with the fourth. All the rules of the basic version apply, plus these additional rules:

• Costly Fight (see above).
• Players on a team have a Shared Treasury — they may spend Coins earned by the other player. If, as a result of an Effect, every opponent is to lose Coins, the whole team loses them once, not each player separately.
• Players on a team are not "opponents" for each other in the sense of card Effects, so they cannot use any card Effects on each other.
• Players on a team may not share cards. This means they may not show or look at their cards, take them, pass them on or exchange them, even as a result of card Effects (see above).
• Team members may not hold secret conversations. They may, however, discuss their strategy aloud.
• At the end of the game, the players of a team sum up their points counted according to the rules of the basic game, but points for Coins are counted only once, not for each player on the team separately. The team with more points wins. In case of a tie, the Regent's team wins.

Effect Symbols

• Pay 1 Silver Coin (mandatory). You cannot play the card if you are unable to pay the cost of its Effect.
• Take X Silver Coins from the Treasury.
• Each opponent / opposing team gives X Silver Coins to the Treasury.
• Steal X Silver Coins from an opponent / opposing team.
• Steal 1 Silver Coin from each opponent / opposing team. Note! If an opponent has fewer Coins than indicated, take as many as they have. If they have no Coins, take nothing from them.
• Take X random cards from an opponent's hand. In a team game the player decides from which player of the opposing team they want to take the card(s).
• Take 1 random card from the hand of each opponent.
• (Card marked 6) In a Fief containing this card you may place up to 6 Craftsmen.
• Build a Fortification in one of your Fiefs (described on page 9).
• (Fortification marked 0 Coins) As long as this Effect is in the game, you may build Fortifications without paying Coins for them. This applies both to the Order and to card Effects.
• You gain full protection of cards in hand. As long as this Effect is in the game, opponents cannot look at your cards, take them, exchange them or destroy them.