Krone & Schwert

Krone & Schwert Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

5 board sections showing plains, forests and mountains on square and octagonal spaces
140 coats of arms (28 in each colour) marking the owner of a space
5 screens with an overview of actions, for hiding victory points
66 playing cards representing basic game actions and events
10 voting cards showing which side a player joins in a revolt (rebel vs. king)
10 cathedrals
26 castles
28 small and 10 large cities
66 coins of four different values, representing victory points
22 people cards, which show the mood of the rabble during the game
1 royal seal marking the reigning king
1 brown seal with an overview of victory points
1 sheet with an overview of the playing cards and instructions for preparing the game

Goal of the Game

Each player tries to collect as many victory points as he can. There are several ways to do so.

As king, a player receives victory points for every castle he owns. The other players receive victory points for the yields of cities (their number is decisive) or for taking part in the fight with or against the king (here the number of cathedrals is decisive). At the end of the game, the player with the largest territory, the reigning king, and every building all earn victory points (each building brings its owner one victory point).

Preparation

Assembling the board

Each player takes one board section. The sections are put together in any way to form one large board (it is recommended to make it as compact as possible). Overlapping is not allowed. Take care that the sections fit together and that all adjacent edges touch. The outer edges bound the playing area.

[The board is made of as many sections as there are players.]

Preparing the cards and victory points

The people cards are shuffled and placed face down. The coins representing victory points are placed within reach. From the playing cards remove the "game end" ("Spielende") card, which comes into play later. Shuffle the remaining 65 cards and place them face down next to the board.

Players take their game materials

Each player is dealt 4 playing cards. If one of them is an event card (red), he shows it and receives another in its place. That card is shuffled back into the deck.

Each player also receives

the coats of arms of his colour
the screen of his colour
2 large voting cards (one with a crown and one with a sword)

Determining the starting position

A starting player is chosen. He places one of his coats of arms on any space. Clockwise, all the other players do the same. At the start of the game, coats of arms may not be placed on spaces adjacent to spaces where a coat of arms already lies. Spaces that share a border are adjacent. After all players have placed their coat of arms, the whole process is repeated once more. Each player thus starts with two occupied spaces. Two or more adjacent spaces of one player form a territory.

Course of the Game

In every turn each player has 3 action points (AP) available. In addition, the reigning king may at the start of his turn perform the special action "collecting taxes".

[A necessary condition for the first king and for all following kings is owning one city and one castle.]

At the start of the game there is no king. When the first player has built both a city and a castle, he becomes the first king. The other players can become king only later, by means of a revolt.

At the moment the first player becomes king, the deck of used and unused playing cards is shuffled together.

The first king receives the seal as a symbol of his majesty and immediately performs the royal action "collecting taxes".

Royal action "collecting taxes"

The king receives one victory point (VP) for each of his castles. Then he turns over the top card of the people deck. If it shows a crown, it is simply discarded. If it shows a sword, it is placed face up beside the deck. It stays there until the next revolt. All further sword cards turned over later are placed next to it.

If the people deck is used up, no further people cards are turned over.

As the game progresses, the current king must consider whether it is more advantageous for him not to collect taxes in a given turn and lose the victory points, or to collect taxes but thereby have to turn over a people card.

Actions of all players

At the start of his turn each player receives 3 AP, which he may use in any order for the following actions:

build a building
play "incite revolt" or "visit of the Pope"
take a playing card
expand his territory
seize an unoccupied space
attack another player's territory
revolt against the king

After a player finishes his actions (uses 3 AP), the next player plays.

[Action points cannot be saved for later use. A player has exactly 3 AP each turn. A player need not use all his AP, but in most cases there is no reason not to. Taking another playing card is almost always an advantage...]

Building a building (costs 2 AP)

If a player wants to build a building (castle, small city, large city, cathedral), he must play the corresponding card. The space on which he builds must belong to him (a coat of arms of his colour must lie on it) and must be unoccupied (the exception is the cathedral).

Note! A large city needs 2 adjacent spaces (a square and an octagonal one).

Castles may be built only on mountain spaces, cities only on plains, and cathedrals only in large cities where no cathedral stands yet. When building, the player places the building on the given space and the corresponding played card on the discard pile.

[The shape of the spaces on the board has no influence on building. For example, a small city may be built on a square or an octagonal plains space. The same holds for castles and mountain spaces. No building may stand in a forest.]

Playing "incite revolt" or "visit of the Pope"

Playing "incite revolt" costs 1 AP. After it is played, the 3 top cards of the people deck are turned over. Crowns are discarded, swords are collected face up beside the board.

Playing "visit of the Pope" costs 1 AP. The card is placed face up in front of the player who played it. This player's territory cannot be attacked. If this player is the king, a revolt cannot be raised against him. At the start of that player's next turn, the "visit of the Pope" is discarded.

[Nobody can revolt against a player with a "visit of the Pope" during the whole following round. In addition, that player's territory may not be attacked.]

Taking a card (1 AP)

For 1 AP a player may draw 1 playing card. A player may hold as many cards as he wishes, but on request must state their number.

If an event card is drawn, it is immediately revealed and carried out. After the instructions are carried out, it is put on the discard pile.

Exception: until the first king is established, all event cards are discarded without being carried out.

The player who drew the card takes another one in its place after carrying out the event.

If the playing card deck runs out, the discard pile is shuffled and a new deck is formed.

Expanding territory (1 AP)

When expanding territory, the player plays one card from his hand. The card shows by how many spaces the player may expand his territory (1 or 2). Each space costs him 1 AP. New spaces must be adjacent to those the player already owns. If the card played entitles the player to expand by two spaces, it suffices that the second space adjoins the first one onto which the player expanded by playing this card. A player cannot expand onto spaces that someone already owns.

Each of the player's spaces, built on or not, must be marked with a coat of arms. After finishing the expansion the player puts the played card on the discard pile.

[Each black shield on the card entitles the player to expand by 1 space at the cost of 1 AP.]

[Expansion is allowed only onto adjacent unoccupied spaces.]

Seizing an unoccupied space (3 AP)

No card is needed for this action. On the other hand, because of its high cost no other action can be played in that turn.

The player may place his coat of arms on any unoccupied space on the board.

Attacking another player's territory (1 AP)

During the first round of the game attacks are not allowed.

A player may attack only spaces adjacent to those he owns and that are not yet built on.

The attacker must lay out so many cards that their total combat value exceeds the number of the defender's castles.

The defender may respond by playing "truce" or "ambush".

In the case of "truce" the attack is stopped, the attacker did not succeed and may take his attack cards back into his hand.

In the case of "ambush" the strongest card played by the attacker is not counted. If the reduced attack strength is still sufficient to take the territory, the attacker wins. Otherwise the space remains with the defender.

If the attack is successful, the attacker replaces the defender's coat of arms with his own.

After the fight, all cards used in it are discarded (except in the case of "truce", when the attacker keeps his cards).

Each player may attack only once per turn.

[The attack strength of a card is shown by the number in the coat of arms.]

Revolt against the king (1 AP)

A revolt against the king proceeds in several steps:

The player who raises the revolt places the voting card with the sword face up in front of himself and announces a revolt against the king. He becomes the rebel. The king places the voting card with the crown face up in front of himself.

All players (including the king and the rebel) secretly and simultaneously make these decisions:

All the other players decide whom they will support and place the corresponding voting card face down in front of themselves.

All players may place any number of playing cards under their voting card. These cards count in the vote for as much as their combat strength, or use their special ability.

[The only special cards usable in a revolt are truce and ambush. It follows that these cards must be played together with the other cards under the voting card. They cannot be played only after the distribution of forces is revealed, as in the case of an attack.]

All cards are then turned over at once and the result of the revolt is evaluated. In addition, for each voting card supporting the rebel (with a sword), two cards are turned over from the people deck. Then the total combat strength of both sides (royal and rebel) is counted.

[Each player has 2 voting cards - the sword means the player supports the rebel, the crown means the player supports the king.]

[For each voting card with a sword, two cards are turned over from the people deck.]

[For each voting card with a crown, the royal side receives 2 points of strength.]

[Each player, including the king and the rebel, may place under his voting card as many cards from his hand as he wants, and thereby influence the result of the fight.]

[All cards played during the fight are discarded after it ends. (The exception is the playing of the "truce" card, when all other cards return to hand.)]

[In a revolt, each turned-over people card with a sword counts as 1 point of combat strength for the rebel side.]

For the king:

each voting card with a crown: 2 points of combat strength
each card played from the hand: 1-4 points of combat strength
the effect of the "ambush" card, if played

For the rebel:

each turned-over people card with a sword: 1 point of combat strength
each card played from the hand: 1-4 points of combat strength
the effect of the "ambush" card, if played

The revolt is decided by which side has more points of combat strength. In a tie the king wins.

Consequences of the revolt

Victory of the king

The king receives 2 VP for each of his cathedrals; all who supported him receive 1 VP for each of their cathedrals.
Half (rounded up) of the turned-over people cards with swords remain in play; all other people cards are shuffled and form a new deck.

Victory of the rebel

The rebel immediately receives the royal seal and becomes king; he receives 1 VP for each of his castles and 2 VP for each of his cathedrals; all who supported him receive 1 VP for each of their cathedrals.
The new king must announce to the other players how many victory points he has; if this amount exceeds the set limit, the game enters its final phase (see End of the game).
All people cards are shuffled and a new deck is formed from them, and the top card is revealed.
After evaluating and awarding victory points, all playing cards used are discarded.

End of the Game, Scoring

If the new king's number of VP reaches or exceeds the set limit, the game enters its final phase. This limit depends on the number of players:

2 players ... 10 VP
3 players ... 15 VP
4 players ... 20 VP
5 players ... 25 VP

All playing cards from the decks and the discard pile are shuffled together again. Players keep their cards. The "game end" ("Spielende") card is shuffled in among the last 20 cards of the new deck.

At the moment the "game end" card is drawn, the game ends immediately and final scoring takes place.

For each of his buildings (castle, small city, large city, cathedral) a player receives 1 VP.
The player (or players) with the largest contiguous territory (number of spaces marked with coats of arms) receives 5 VP.
The player (or players) with the second largest contiguous territory receives 2 VP.
One player may gain VP for both the largest and the second largest territory (with a different territory).
The king reigning at the end of the game receives 5 VP.

Special Cases

Another possible ending

If coats of arms occupy all plains and forests on the board, the game ends immediately (at the moment the last free space is occupied).

A player has no territory

If at the start of his turn a player has no territory, he places his two coats of arms on any unoccupied spaces and only then begins his turn.

Special rule for 2 players

At every revolt, three additional people cards are turned over.

Harsher variant

With 4 or 5 players, remove one of the board sections from the game.

Playing Cards

There are three ways to use playing cards (the exception is the "leader" ("Anführer"), which has only two uses):

In a revolt or when attacking another player's space. Here the value 1-4 shown on the shield counts.
To occupy free territories (one territory per black shield).
As the card itself. The cost of use (in action points) is shown on the left edge of the card.

Event cards

When a player draws a playing card with an event, he must immediately read its text and carry out the given action. Then the card is discarded. The player who drew it takes another in its place. If the first king has not yet been established, the card is only discarded and the event is not carried out.

City scoring (Städtewertung) (2x) All players except the king receive one point for each of their cities.

Unrest (Unruhen) (5x) Two people cards are turned over (swords are collected, crowns are discarded).

Game end (Spielende) (1x) At the moment this card is drawn, the game ends immediately. The player who drew it does not finish his turn. Final scoring takes place.

Other cards

Leader (Anführer) (3 or 4 combat points) (5x and 3x) A strong combat card usable when attacking another player or in a revolt.

Incite revolt (Aufwiegeln) (3x) For 1 AP, 3 people cards are turned over (swords stay in play, crowns are discarded). Suitable in preparing a revolt.

Build castle (Burg bauen) (15x) For 2 AP a castle can be built on a mountain space belonging to the player.

Build cathedral (Kathedrale bauen) (10x) For 2 AP a cathedral can be built in a large city where none stands yet.

Build city (Stadt bauen) (15x) For 2 AP a small or large city can be built on plains (cities cannot be joined or removed from the game). [Cities may be adjacent, but they remain separate cities.]

Ambush (Hinterhalt) (2x) Removes the opponent's strongest card played in an attack or revolt.

Truce (Waffenstillstand) (2x) Interrupts an attack or revolt in progress. All cards used except this one return to the players' hands.

Visit of the Pope (Papstbesuch) (3x) For 1 AP the player places this card in front of himself, and for 1 round he cannot be attacked or revolted against (if he is king).