Kings of Serbia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Content
• Personal Deck and Action Cards
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Exploring a Territory
• Conquering
• Production
• Trading
  • Resource value calculation for 4 players
  • Resource value calculation for 3 players
  • Resource value calculation for 2 players
• Buying
• End of the Round
• Endgame
• Scoring
  • Bonuses
• Character and Territory Card Effect Explanation
• Historical Background

Content

• 4 sets of 5 Action cards (Exploring, Conquering, Grain Production, Wood Production, Metal Production)
• 1 First player marker
• 4 sets of 10 Starting cards in the player's color: green, yellow, red, blue. Each set contains 1x Explorer card, 2x Soldier cards and 7x Worker cards.
• Territory cards (36): 12x of each of three types
• Character cards (82)
• 1 Bonus explanation card
• Score table
• 3 Market cards and 3 Resource markers, one marker for each resource
• Resource cards (54): 18x of each of three types
• 4 Exploring markers, in the players' colors

Personal Deck and Action Cards

Each player begins with a Personal deck of cards and 5 Action cards.

Personal deck: At the beginning of the game, Personal decks contain 10 Starting cards: 1x Explorer card, 2x Soldier cards, 7x Worker cards. Each Starting card carries a stamp in the player's color.

Action cards: Exploring, Conquering, Grain Production, Wood Production, Metal Production.

Setup

1. At the beginning of the game players place 9 blank cards on the table in the middle of the playing area, in a 3x3 grid. Next, they take the Territory cards, shuffle them, and place 4 cards face down on each blank card, so they cannot see which card has been placed.
2. Players then take their Exploring markers and place them in the corners of the previously placed Territory map.
3. Next, each player places their 5 Action cards in front of them, face up, following the given order: Exploring, Conquering, Grain Production, Wood Production and Metal Production.
4. Each player takes their Personal deck, shuffles it (10 Starting cards with a stamp in the player's color), and places it, face down on the right next to their Action cards. That becomes their Playing deck, while the cards that are used during the game, are placed face up on the Personal deck's right, becoming the Discard pile.
5. After that, everyone draws 5 cards to play with for that round.
6. Then, they shuffle the Character cards, shuffle them and place them face down next to the Territory cards. From the Character deck draw 6 cards and place them next to each other face up.
7. Take the Bandit deck, and place it face up, next to the Territory cards.
8. Place the Resource cards, Market card, Resource markers and Bonus explanation card near the main playing area.

Who plays first is determined using the method of the players' choosing.

(The setup diagram on page 5 of the printed rules shows the layout of these components; it contains no additional rules.)

Gameplay

Players play the game in rounds, starting with the first player, that received the First player marker, moving clockwise to the next player. Each round has 8 phases.

Phase 1. Each player draws 5 cards from their Personal deck (this step is skipped in the first round because it was already done during the game setup). If you do not have any cards in your Personal deck, shuffle the Discard pile, and draw the number of missing cards.

Phase 2. Starting with the first player, one after another, players place 1 card from their hand, face down on 1 of their Action cards. This is repeated until players have placed all of their cards.

Phase 3. Players simultaneously turn over the cards placed on the Action cards so they are facing up.

Phase 4 (Exploring). With the first player, begins the Exploring phase of the game. Players, in turns, count the value they have obtained by placing the Character cards on the Exploring event card. Each card placed on this Action card has a value of 1.

If a player placed a card with a compass symbol, the amount of Exploring value is increased by the number shown on the compass symbol.

Example: The blue player has an Exploring value of 4 (3 cards + 1 compass symbol on the Explorer card).

After each player has counted their Exploring value, they can use the obtained value for across-the-board movement and exploring, starting from their starting position.

NOTE: At the beginning of each Exploring phase players start at their starting positions regardless of their movement in the previous Exploring phase.

Moving across the board and exploring can be done multiple times in the order of the player's choosing until the obtained Action value is used up or until the player decides to stop, in which case the remaining value is lost. Each movement costs 1 Exploring value. When a player reaches his desired territory with an Exploring marker they can spend 1 value for exploring the territory.

Example: The blue player used 3 Exploring values (1-3) for movement, and 1 Exploring value to turn a card over (4) giving him 2 Wood.

Exploring a Territory

When players decide to explore a territory they turn that Territory card face up and receive the value shown in the card's top left. The card's value can be resources or the ability to remove one card from the game.

Card removal is important because it allows players to get rid of weaker cards, thus giving them a greater chance of drawing better cards that were previously bought and placed onto their Personal deck.

A player can remove only from their Personal deck or Discard pile. If a player decides to discard from their Personal deck, the player removes it, shuffles the remaining cards in the deck, and returns it face down on the right side next to their Action cards.

Territory card key (printed diagram):

• Reward when exploring (top left): the value received when exploring. The example shows a reward of 1 Resource card of the player's choice.
• Value needed for conquering territories (top right).
• Type of terrain (below the value).
• Number of points at the end of the game (bottom right).
• Conquered card description (bottom centre): the card's effect during every round. Effect explanation on pages 14 and 15.

Later on in the game, if a Territory card is already facing up on a certain Territory card location, or all of the Territory cards have been conquered (the card locations are empty), the player must still spend 1 value to move to that location, even though the player can not explore the territory.

Conquering

Phase 5: Conquering the explored territories. Unlike during the Exploring phase, players can conquer any explored territory, regardless of where the territory is located. Each player, in turns, counts the value they have obtained by placing the Character cards on the Conquering Action card. Each placed card is worth 1 value.

If a player places a card with a sword symbol, their Conquering value increases by the number shown on the sword symbol.

Example: The orange player has a total Conquering value of 7 (4 cards +3 on their Hero card).

Once a player counts their total Conquering value they can conquer any number of territories whose total value isn't higher than the player's total Conquering value.

Example: Since the orange player has a total Conquering value of 7, they can conquer 1 territory valued 6 or the 2 territories valued 4 and 3.

If a player does not have enough Conquering sword value needed for conquering a territory, players can use their sword value for defeating bandits, using 1 sword value for each bandit.

The player places the Bandit card, face down, on top of his Personal deck. In the next rounds the Bandit card can be placed on any Action card, increasing the Action card's value by 1.

Each unused Conquering sword value cannot be used in the following rounds.

Bandit card key (printed diagram): Card price (top left, in gold coins). Number of points at the end of the game (top right).

Production

Phase 6: Production phase. For each card placed on a Production field of a certain resource type, the player receives one resource of that type. If a player placed a Production card onto a Production Action card with the same symbol, the player's Production value increases by the number written on the resource symbol.

Example: The player receives 3 Wood (2 cards +1 on the Lumberjack card).

Resource symbols used on the Production Action cards: metal (anvil), wood (log), grain (wheat sheaf).

Trading

Phase 7: Trading phase. Players individually decide how many resources they want to sell when it's their turn. One player can sell as many resource cards as he wants, but a maximum of two different types of resources. Players put all of their resources under the table. In their left hand, they take all of the resources they want to keep, and in their right all of the resources they want to sell. On cue, players simultaneously raise their right hands above the table and show how many resources they are offering. They leave the rest of the cards from their left hand face down next to them. The amount of gold players receive depends on the type of resource they put up for sale and the amount and type of resource other players put up for sale. The value of each resource is noted using the markers on the Market card.

Resource cards: wood, metal, grain.

Market cards with markers are used for calculation once all the players have shown the resources they are putting up for sale, before trading.

• First, we start with wood. We count how many players offered wood (i.e. 4 players offered wood) so we place the wood marker in the first row. This means each wood resource has a value of 1 coin for this round.
• After that we count how much grain was offered (i.e. 2 players offered grain for sale) so we place the grain marker in the third row. This means each grain resource has a value of 3 coins for this round.
• Finally, we count how many players offered metal (i.e. 2 players) so we place the metal marker in the third row. This means each metal resource has a value of 3 coins for this round.

If only one player offered any type of resource then the marker of that resource type would be placed in the fourth row. This means that each resource of that type has a value of 4 coins.

The more players offer a certain resource type, the lower the value of that resource type!

Resource value calculation for 4 players

After revealing all the Resource cards that were offered, we use markers to mark the value of resources on the Market card, following these instructions:

• For a resource type offered by only one player, the player that offered receives 4 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.
• If two players offer the same type of resource, they receive 3 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.
• If three players offer the same type of resource, they receive 2 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.
• And if all four players offer the same type of resource, they receive 1 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.

Example: In this case, each Wood resource card is worth 1 coin, because it was offered by all the players. The Metal resource card is worth 3 coins because it was offered by 2 players and each Grain resource card is worth 4 coins because it was offered by only 1 player. All this needs to be marked using Resource markers on the Market card. This means no.1 receives 8 coins (2 for wood + 6 for metal), player no.2 receives 3 coins (3 wood cards), player no.3 receives 9 coins (1 for wood + 8 for grain) and player no.4 receives 11 coins (2 for wood + 9 for metal).

Resource value calculation for 3 players

After revealing all the Resource cards that were offered, we use markers to mark the value of resources on the Market card, following these instructions:

• If one player offers 1 type of resource, that player receives 3 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.
• If two players offer the same type of resource, they receive 2 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.
• If three players offer the same type of resource, they receive 1 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.

Resource value calculation for 2 players

After revealing all the Resource cards that were offered, we use markers to mark the value of resources on the Market card, following these instructions:

• If one player offers a type of resource, that player receives 2 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.
• If two players offer the same type of resource, they receive 1 times the number of resources they offered for trading, in gold.

Buying

Phase 8: Buying phase for Character cards. Beginning with the first player, players buy Character cards according to the amount of gold earned during the Trading phase. Exception: In a 2-player game, the price of all cards you buy is 1 coin lower. For example, a card with the price of 5 coins is worth 4 coins when you want to buy it. Depending on the amount of gold that player has, players can buy more than 1 Character card. Once a player has completed a purchase, the market is replenished to 6 cards with the cards from the top of the Character deck. All the money that isn't used goes to waste, and all the Resource cards that were put up for sale are returned to the common stash.

During this phase, players that want to buy one or more Bandit cards can do so and add them to their Personal deck.

Every bought card is placed face down on the top of the player's Personal deck.

End of the Round

After all the players finish the Buying phase, we come to the end of a round. Players discard all the cards placed on the Action cards, face up onto the Discard pile, located on the Personal deck's right side. Then the player with the First player marker passes the marker to the player on their left, who is now the first player for the next round.

Endgame

The game ends in two ways:

• A. With the round during which a certain number of Territory piles is used up. That depends on the number of players: 2 players 3 piles, 3 players 4 piles, 4 players 5 territory piles. Or,
• B. By buying the last face up Character card, when there are no more cards to replenish the market.

After finishing the determined number of rounds, the players count their points from their Personal deck and conquered territories and add bonus points gained by fulfilling the Bonus card requirements.

Note: If more players meet the bonuses for the largest number of won territories, they all receive 5 points.

The player with the most points wins. If 2 or more players are tied, they share their victory.

Scoring

1. Players add the points from their Personal deck and enter them into the score table.
2. Players add the points from their Conquered territory cards.
3. The player that conquered the most territories receives 5 points.
4. The player that conquered the most plains receives 5 points.
5. The player that conquered the most hills receives 5 points.
6. The player that conquered the most mountains receives 5 points.
7. The players receive points for owning Character cards with different symbols. The more different symbols players have on the cards in their Personal deck, the more points they will receive.

Check the Bonus card explanation!

Bonuses

Bonus card (printed table):

• The player with the most Territory cards: 5 points.
• The player with the most conquered Territories: plain 5 points, hills 5 points, mountain 5 points.
• The player has 10 different symbols in their Personal deck: 15 points. 9 different symbols: 10 points. 8: 8 points. 7: 6 points. 6: 4 points.

Example: The green player has the following cards at the end of the game:

He receives the following points and bonuses: 11 points for the cards he has in his Personal deck, for the conquered territories he gets 9 points. For 7 different symbols on the Character cards he receives an additional 6 points and for the most conquered plain territories (3 cards) comparing to other players, he receives a bonus of 5 points. At the end of the game, the Green Player collected a total of 31 (11 + 9 + 6 + 5) points.

Character and Territory Card Effect Explanation

Each card carries a card price (top left, in gold coins), a number of points at the end of the game (top right) and a card effect (bottom).

Effects of the conquered territories can be activated once per round, without requiring prior placement on a specific Action card, unlike Character cards.

• +1 or +2 gold coin: Provides players with 1 or 2 extra gold coins during the Buying phase.
• +1, +2 or +3 sword (Conquering value): Provides players with 1, 2, or 3 Conquering value during the Conquering phase if the card is placed on the Conquering Action card.
• +1 compass (Exploring value): Provides players with 1 additional Exploring value if the card is placed on the Exploring Action card.
• +1 grain: Provides players with one extra grain from the common stash only if the Grain Production card is placed on the Grain Production Action card.
• +1 wood: Provides players with one extra wood from the common stash only if the Wood Production card was placed on the Wood Production Action card.
• +1 metal: Provides players with one extra metal from the common stash only if the Metal Production card is placed on the Metal Production Action card.
• +1 infinity symbol: Raises the total value of any Action card by 1.
• Red crossed-out card symbol: Provides players with the possibility of removing from their Discard pile or Personal deck. If a player decides to remove from their Personal deck, the player removes it and then shuffles the rest of the cards and returns them to the right side of their Action cards, face down.
• +1 blank card symbol: On the Action card where the card with this symbol is placed, an additional card is placed on top of it from the player's Personal deck, thus activating the card's effect, if possible. After placing all the cards from the player's hand, and before their reveal, this effect is activated on conquered territories by placing a card from the top of the Personal deck on any Action card without seeing the card.

Historical Background

Printed historical essay on the Serbian medieval dynasties (rule book pages 17-18). It is flavour text with no rules content and is not transcribed here. The credits, acknowledgements, catalogue-in-publication block and promotional footer on the final page are attribution and are omitted.