Lancaster
Lancaster Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Object of the Game
- Game Components and Set-up
- Sequence of Play
- End of the Game and Final Scoring
- Rules for a 2-player-game
- Summary of Laws
- Summary of Game (Set-up)
- Summary of Rewards
- Lancaster: The New Laws
- Henry V – The Power of the King
- Queenie 1: Reward Tiles
Object of the Game
The players want to proceed from simply being a Lord to the most powerful ally of the king. They may achieve this by developing their own knighthood as well as by clever deployment of individual knights in the counties of England, at their own castle and to conflicts with France. In parliament, they try to push laws from which they will benefit themselves most. The player with the most power points at the end of the game is the winner.
Game Components and Set-up
Place the game board, parliament board and the 2 supply boards in the center of the playing area. Disperse all voting markers, gold and squires equally to both supply boards. Each player selects their player color and places their player marker on space "0" of the power point track and their 7 knights on the corresponding reserve area.
Common components:
- 1 Game board
- 2 Supply boards
- 37 Squires
- 37 Gold
- 37 Voting markers
- 36 Nobleman tiles
- 1 Start player marker
- 12 Conflict cards (plus 2 spare cards)
- 6 Tiles "king's favor"
- 1 Parliament board
- 18 Law cards
- 1 Rules booklet plus this extra sheet
Individual components of the players (in 5 colors):
- 5 Player markers
- 35 Knights
- 5 Castle boards
- 30 Extension tiles
- 5 Screens (each screen to be assembled of 3 parts)
- 10 Voting tiles (5 x "yes" & 5 x "no")
- 1 Sticker sheet (incl. spare stickers)
Special components for the 2-player-game:
- 4 Ally boards
Before your first game, please fix the stickers to the wooden game pieces as follows: 1 (3x), 2 (2x), 3 (1x), 4 (1x). Please repeat this procedure for the other 4 colors.
Give each player...
...in their player color:
- 1 castle board
- 6 extension tiles
- 1 screen
- 2 knights (strength 1 & strength 2) (taken from reserve)
...from general supply:
- 1 voting marker
- 2 gold
- 2 squires
- 2 voting tiles (yes & no)
Sequence of Play
Randomly determine a start player, give them the start player marker. The players take their turns in clockwise direction.
The game is played over five game rounds. Each round consists of 3 Phases:
- Place knights
- Parliament
- Rewards
Please note: There are special rules for a 2-player-game, please see the "Rules for a 2-player-game" section.
Phase 1: Place knights
The active player takes one of their own knights from their court and places him on a knight's space. Then, the next player does likewise, etc., until the players have placed all their knights. If a player has no more knights at their court, their turn is skipped. If only one player remains with knights at their court, they place them successively one after another.
There are possible 3 locations for placing knights:
- County
- Castle
- Conflict
Please note: The knights gain various kinds of rewards for their players, either immediately or later during phase 3.
County
In counties, a knight can be placed on an empty or an occupied space. In both cases, the knight himself must match or exceed the demanded minimum strength.
Additionally, the player may place as many squires as they wish along with their knight.
Each squire adds 1 strength point, which does not count against the demanded minimum strength.
In case the space is occupied by another player's knight, that knight can be expelled if the strength of the active player's knight or the combined strength of the knight and his squires exceeds the former occupant's strength. A player can never expel their own knight.
The expelled knight goes back to the court of his owner and is placed again on the board in turn order; put any accompanying squires back to the general supply.
Please note: A knight and his squires must be placed at the same time, later reinforcements are not allowed.
Example: Empty knight's space — Blue places a knight with strength 2 at Stafford.
Example: Occupied knight's space — The blue knight (2) is expelled by Yellow's knight with strength 1, supported by two squires (3:2). Blue takes his knight back to his court.
Castle
The player places their knight on an empty knight's space in their own castle. Each space can hold only one knight.
Conflict
A player may engage in as many conflicts as they wish. The player selects a conflict and places their knight on the topmost empty knight's space. Each player may occupy only one of the three spaces of each single conflict.
A player already engaged in a certain conflict may reinforce their strength by stacking their knights.
There are spaces for 3 knights on each conflict card.
Please note: Knights may be stacked upon each other only at a conflict. No squires are used in a conflict.
Example: Green places a knight with strength 1. He must place him on the empty space below the blue knight. Then, he chooses a favor tile and receives the reward immediately, a nobleman tile in this case.
If Green wants to reinforce his knight later, he stacks the new knight on top of his existing one. Neither blue nor green knights may be placed on the lowest space.
Immediate reward:
The first 6 knights earn the "king's favor" for their players. The player selects one favor tile from the open display and receives the shown reward. Next, reverse the tile; it cannot be selected during this round again.
Please see the "Summary of Rewards" section for a detailed summary of rewards.
Phase 2: Parliament
After the last knight has been placed, the English Parliament is gathering. The players must vote on the 3 new laws, one after the other. They begin with the law of space 1, bottom row left.
Voting procedure
All players vote simultaneously and secretly. They decide for or against the law and place the appropriate voting tile face down in front of themselves.
Next, all players may enforce their decision secretly by using as many voting markers as they like.
After all players have taken their enforcements in their hand, they simultaneously put the markers on the table and reveal their voting tiles.
- Voting tile: Yes, I approve the new law.
- Voting tile: No, I reject the new law.
Voting result
The players now tally all votes for and against the law. Each voting tile and each voting marker counts as 1 vote. The majority wins. In case of a draw, the law is approved.
Put all used voting markers back to the general supply.
The new law is approved
Remove the former law (top left, upper row) from the Parliament display. Then, slide both other laws one position from left to right and place the new law on the empty space to the right.
The voting result is 3:3. That is sufficient for the new law to be approved. The former law, top left, is removed from the game. The new law is placed on the rightmost space.
The new law is rejected
Remove the rejected law from the game and leave the former laws unchanged.
The voting result is 2:3. The new law is rejected and removed from the game.
Use the same procedure for voting on the 2nd and 3rd new law.
Players still holding voting markers after the completion of all three votes return them to the general supply.
Implementation of the 3 applicable laws
After all voting has been done, there are always three applicable laws. They are applied from left to right and the players gain rewards.
Each law card shows a precondition for a reward and the reward itself.
Please see the "Summary of Laws" section for a detailed summary of laws.
Phase 3: Rewards
Please see the "Summary of Rewards" section for a detailed summary of rewards.
Counties, castles and conflicts are evaluated in this order.
Counties
All 9 counties yield their rewards from A to I, in this order. The concerned player always must choose one of three options:
- Take one nobleman tile from that county.
- Take the other shown reward of that county.
- Pay 3 gold (into the general supply) and take both – first the nobleman tile, then the other reward shown.
Example: Yellow scores Stafford and pays 3 gold in order to receive both rewards.
1. She places the nobleman tile on the first empty seat at her company at table.
2. She upgrades one of her knights, who is not part of her reserve, by one level of strength.
After the player has collected their reward, they take their knight back to their court. If the knight was supported by squires, put them back to the general supply. (Squires go back to the general supply. The knight goes back to his court.)
Special in Surrey (I): Determine the start player
In Surrey, the player additionally determines the start player, besides collecting their reward. They may determine any player, including themselves. The start player takes the start player marker (or retains it) and the new (or former) player order is effective immediately. If no knight was placed in Surrey, the current start player retains the marker.
Example: Red scores Surrey and assigns the new start player. As his reward, he chooses 2 squires and 2 gold.
Castles
First, the start player scores their complete castle, followed by the other players in clockwise direction.
Each player receives the shown rewards for
- Knights placed in their castle
- Existing extensions
- Company at table
The player decides about the order to evaluate their knights and extensions any way they like.
After scoring a knight, the player takes the knight back to their court, scored extension tiles remain at the castle.
Example: Blue scores a knight and an extension tile in his castle:
He recruits two squires for his knight.
He recruits a new knight with strength 1 because of his extension tile, but must return 3 squires to the general supply.
Next, the player scores their company at table. For each present nobleman, including themselves, the player receives 1 voting marker. Voting markers are placed on the player's castle tableau visible for all players. The players do not receive voting markers in the fifth, final game round.
Example: Blue scores the company of table, which earns him 5 voting markers: 4 for the nobleman tiles, 1 for the Lord of the Castle (himself).
Please note: The nobleman tiles are worth additional power points during final scoring.
Conflicts
Finally, the conflicts in France are resolved one after the other and the players gain power points.
Please note: If there are any conflict cards in the lower row these should be scored first, followed by the conflict cards in the upper row.
Resolving a conflict is done in 2 steps:
1. Winner of conflict: England or France
Add the strength of all knights involved in this conflict. If their combined strength is equal to or exceeds the strength of France, the winner is England. If their combined strength is less than the strength of France, the winner is France.
2. Each player's contribution: Determine a player ranking by totaling the strength of each player's knights involved in this conflict. In case of a draw, that player who entered the conflict later ranks higher, i. e. the player whose knights are at a lower position of the 3 knight's spaces.
The front of each conflict card shows the power points for rank 1, 2 & 3 and the strength of France.
Assigning power points:
- England wins the conflict: The three power point scores are awarded to the players. The highest-ranking player receives the highest score, the second highest-ranking player receives the next score and the lowest ranking player receives the lowest score. Remove the conflict card and the players take their knights back to their courts.
Please note: If no player occupies rank 2 or 3, nobody gains the corresponding power points.
Example 1: Blue: Knight with strength 2. Green: Knight with strength 1. Red: Knight with strength 2.
The winner of this conflict is England (5:5).
The raking of the involved players is as follows:
Rank 1: Red, total strength 2 — Red ranks first, because he entered the conflict later.
Rank 2: Blue, total strength 2
Rank 3: Green, total strength 1
Red gains 4 power points, Blue gains 2 and Green gains 1 power point.
- France wins the conflict: Even if France wins the conflict, the players score power points. The highest score is not awarded; the second score is awarded for rank 1 and the lowest score for rank 2. All knights remain on their spaces. This conflict lingers on and there will be a second battle. Move the conflict card and the associated knights down to the lower row, without changing the order of the knights.
Example 2: Blue: Knight with strength 2. Green: Knight with strength 1.
The winner of this conflict is France (3:5). No player gains 4 power points. The raking of the involved players is as follows:
Rank 1: Blue, total strength 2 = 2 power points
Rank 2: Green, total strength 1 = 1 power point
All knights continue their engagement in this conflict and a second battle will follow.
Please note: If no knights were deployed to a conflict, this conflict is lost for England and the card is moved down to the lower row.
-
England wins the second battle: The same rules apply as for the first battle.
-
France wins the second battle: Again, power points are awarded as for the first battle, but the involved knights are being captured. The players may ransom their knights by paying 1 gold per strength level; this is done in given player order. If a player pays for their knights, they return home to their court, otherwise they are placed on the corresponding reserve area of the game board. Remove the conflict card from the game.
Preparing the next game round
Prepare the next game round after scoring of all conflicts is complete.
Conflict: Reveal two new conflict cards and place them in the upper row. All face down tiles "king's favor" are flipped face open.
Parliament: Reveal 3 new laws from the top of the draw pile, one after the other, and place them on the 3 spaces for new laws, from left to right.
End of the Game and Final Scoring
A final scoring takes place after the fifth game round. Power points are awarded as follows:
- 8 power points for the player with the highest strength total of their knighthood. The runner-up gains 4 power points. In case of a draw the player with more squires wins the power points.
- 8 power points for the player with the most extension tiles in their castle. The runner-up gains 4 power points. In case of a draw the player with more gold wins the power points.
- Power points are awarded to all players with more than 1 nobleman tile attending their company of table.
The game ends now. The player with the most power points is the winner of the game.
In case of a draw, the concerned players share the victory.
Please note: Knights in the reserve area do not belong to the knighthood.
Hint: If a there is still a draw for the first position after considering the number of squires, divide the 12 power points (8 + 4) by the number of tied players and award them accordingly.
If 1 player holds the first position and several players tie for second position, divide the 4 power points by the number of tied players and award them accordingly. Any indivisible points are lost.
| Noblemen | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power points | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 28 | 36 |
Rules for a 2-player-game
Use the rules for 4 players, with following amendments:
Both players have an ally. The allies have a small castle of their own, which cannot be extended. Each player takes the decisions for their ally and places their knights.
They do not receive power points, voting markers, gold, or squires. Special rules concerning other rewards are explained below. The players may not use their gold or their squires for their ally's knights.
Set-up
Leave the screens in the box, they are not used. A player's gold and squires are visible for their opponent.
Place 2 nobleman tiles in each county.
Each player selects the color of their ally and receives additionally:
- 2 ally boards (1 x front "castle" / 1 x back court)
- 7 knights of their ally. Place 1 knight with strength 2 at the court, the 6 remaining knights go to the reserve.
Example: Blue has selected Yellow as his ally.
The ally's castle: • A new knight with strength 1 • Upgrade of a knight's level
The ally's court.
Sequence of play
Phase 1: Place knights
The active player places either one of their own knights or one of their ally's knight.
The players may deploy their ally's knights to all counties, all conflicts and to the ally's own castle.
County: The ally's knights cannot be supported by squires. A player may not expel any knights of their own or of their ally.
Castle: A player may not place their own knights in the castle of their ally and vice versa.
Conflict: A player may place their own knights and those of their ally on the same conflict card, but they may not share the same knight's space.
If an ally gains the king's favor, the reward is handled as follows:
- Gold/squires: The reward is obsolete.
- Upgrade: Upgrade the level of one ally's knight by 1.
- Nobleman tile: Any nobleman tile of the player's choice is removed from the game.
Phase 2: Parliament
Allies are not allowed to vote. Regarding the laws, the ally's knights are not considered the player's own knights. Allies do not receive any rewards from laws.
Phase 3: Rewards
County: An ally may make use of the following rewards:
- A new knight with strength 1 for themselves
- Upgrade one of their own knights
- Nobleman tile – remove from the game
- Passage to France
Any other rewards are obsolete.
Special Surrey: If an ally is placed in Surrey, the allied player determines the start player.
The ally's castle: No squires must be expended for new knights and upgrades.
Conflict: When checking the contribution of each player, the allies are considered players of their own. According to their strength, each player and ally has their own rank. Forfeit any power points for an ally. An ally's captured knights cannot be ransomed, place them in the reserve.
End of the game for 2 players
The allies are not considered during the final scoring. Only the 8 power points for the first position are awarded when evaluating the strength of the knighthood and the amount of extensions.
Summary of Laws
Group "0"
- The player owning the most gold may upgrade one of their own deployed knights. In case of a tie, all tied players are granted this reward.
- The player employing the most squires recruits a new knight with strength 1 from the reserve for their own supply. In case of a tie, all tied players are granted this reward.
- All players gain 3 power points for every 2 counties occupied by their own knight.
Group "1"
- Players may buy 1 voting marker for 1 gold each. In player order and beginning with the start player, each player decides how many voting markers they want to buy.
- Players may expend 1 squire and 1 gold for 3 power points each. In player order, beginning with the start player, each player decides how many gold/squires they want to expend.
- Players may take 1 extension tile and place it at their castle for every 2 conflicts they are involved in with their own knights.
- Players recruit 1 squire from the general supply for each of their own deployed knights with strength 2.
Group "2"
- Players receive 1 squire, 1 voting marker, and 1 gold from the general supply for every 2 conflicts to which they have deployed at least 1 of their own knights.
- Players who have no deployed knight with strength 2 may upgrade 1 of their knights.
- All players who have deployed their knight with strength 3 may swap him against their knight with strength 4, if still available from the reserve.
- Players gain 5 power points for every 3 extension tiles in their castle.
Group "3"
- Players gain 3 power points for each conflict to which they have deployed at least 1 of their own knights.
- Players gain 8 power points for every 3 counties in which they have deployed at least 1 of their own knights.
- Players who currently have deployed all their 3 knights with strength 1 gain 5 power points.
- Players recruit 1 new knight from the reserve to their court for every 3 nobleman tiles at their company at table.
Group "4"
- Players may buy 1 power point for 1 gold each. In player order and beginning with the start player, each player decides how many power points they want to buy.
- Players may expend 1 squire for 1 power point each. In player order, beginning with the start player, each player decides how many squires they want to expend.
- Players who currently have deployed knights of all four strength levels gain 6 power points.
Summary of Game (Set-up)
Summary of game round:
- Place knights
- Parliament
- Reward Counties
- Reward Castle
- Reward Conflicts
County
Sort the nobleman tiles by the letters on their back and randomly place each pile face open in one of the counties. The exact number of tiles depends on the number of players.
| Number of players | Nobleman tiles per county |
|---|---|
| 2 & 3 | 2 tiles |
| 4 | 3 tiles |
| 5 | 4 tiles |
Castle
Place voting markers always on the castle board, visible for all players.
Place the two knights at the court.
Each player selects one of their extension tiles and places it on their castle, covering the space showing the same reward.
The 5 remaining tiles form the player's personal supply.
Keep gold and squires always hidden behind the screen.
The castle board shows the company at table, the castle itself and the court. Each player also receives their two voting tiles.
Conflict
Place the 6 tiles "king's favor" face open on the game board.
Remove 2 of the 12 conflict cards. Shuffle the remaining cards and put the pile on its designated space, face down. Draw the top 2 cards and place them face open in the upper row.
Remove the tile "Upgrade" from the game in a 3-player-game. Only 5 favor tiles are used.
Remove the following conflict cards from the game, depending on the number of players:
| Number of players | Strength of conflict cards |
|---|---|
| 2 & 4 | "2" & "10" |
| 3 | "9" & "10" |
| 5 | "2" & 1 x "3" |
Parliament
Sort the law cards by the numbers on their back.
- Shuffle the 3 "0" laws and place them from left to right in the upper row, face open. These are the current laws.
- Form the draw pile in the center. First, shuffle the 3 "4" laws and place them face down in the center space. Repeat this procedure with laws "3", "2", and "1", placing the cards always on top of the others.
- Finally, draw the top 3 cards and place them, from left to right, in the lower row, face open.
Summary of Rewards
Voting markers
The player receives a number of voting markers from the general supply as shown and puts them openly on their castle board. (York (C), Gloucester (D))
Company at table: The player receives 1 voting marker for each nobleman at their table plus 1 voting marker for the Lord of the Castle himself.
Gold and squires
The player receives a number of gold and squires from the general supply as shown, putting it behind their screen. (Surrey (I))
Extension tiles
The player selects an extension tile from their personal supply and places it on their castle, covering the space showing the same reward and covering the knight's space as well. No more knights can be placed there, but the player receives this reward each time they score their castle. (Northumberland (A) & Bedford (E))
Note: If a knight is present on the covered space, the player moves him to their court immediately without scoring.
New knight with strength 1
The player takes one knight with strength 1 form the reserve area on the game board and places him on the court of their castle board. Forfeit this reward, of there is no such knight available in the reserve. (York (C), Suffolk (F))
County: In York, the player receives 2 voting markers additionally, which they place openly on their castle board. If there is no knight with strength 1 available, the player still receives the voting markers.
Castle: The player must expend 3 (back to general supply) squires for their knight with strength 1.
Upgrade a knight
The player may upgrade any one of their knights by one level. They swap the knight with one knight from their reserve with exactly 1 more strength. Forfeit this reward, if there is no such knight available in the reserve. (Stafford (B), Gloucester (D))
County: In Gloucester, the player receives 2 voting markers additionally, which they place openly on their castle board. If there is no eligible knight available, the player still receives the voting markers.
Castle: The player must expend 2 (back to general supply) squires for the upgrade of their knight.
Conflict: The player receives the reward immediately after placing their knight.
Passage to France
The player moves their knight from Dorset to a conflict in France. They do not win a "king's favor" in this case. (Dorset (H))
Note: Put any supporting squires from Dorset back to the general supply.
Power points
The player advances their player marker on the power point track according to the shown number of power points. (Somerset (G))
Conflict: Players gain power points for their knights deployed to a conflict.
Nobleman tiles
The player takes a nobleman tile and places the nobleman on the first empty seat of their company at table. Each player may invite each nobleman only once.
County: The player may take the nobleman only from that county where they deployed their knight.
Conflict: The player takes a nobleman tile from any county of their choice immediately after placing their knight.
Lancaster: The New Laws
New Laws – that is what the Country needs!
Now there are 18 new Laws for the Players to vote on.
Replace the Laws of the basic Game or diversify your Game of Lancaster with an interesting Combination of old and new Laws.
Game components
- 18 new law cards
Please see the detailed description of the new laws on the back of this rules sheet.
Changes during set-up
Parliament
The new laws may enter the game in 2 different ways:
1st option "The game with the new laws"
Replace all law cards of the basic game with the new law cards. Leave the old laws in the box, they are not used for this game.
2nd option "The game with variable combinations"
You may combine the old and new laws. When using this option, replace the "old" cards with the new cards step-by-step.
Sort the old and new law cards separately by their numbers on the back. For each group from 0 to 4 use either the old or the new law cards to build the draw pile. Put all remaining law cards back into the game box.
If the players want a random combination they use the following method:
For each group (0 to 4) and one after the other, put one old and one new card in the linen bag.
Then, draw one of the two cards. This card indicates if old or new cards are used for that group.
Again, put all remaining cards back into the game box.
Set-up of the parliament board and the sequence of play remain unchanged.
Summary of the new law cards
Group "0"
- Players gain 1 voting marker for each conflict they are involved in with at least 1 of their own knights.
- The player owning the most squires behind their screen gains 1 gold and 1 voting marker. In case of a tie for the most squires all tied players receive this reward.
- The player owning the most gold gains 1 squire and 1 voting marker. In case of a tie for the most gold all tied players receive this reward.
Group "1"
- Each player not owning any nobleman tile receives 1 gold, 1 squire, and 1 voting marker.
- Players may deploy 1 squire from their personal supply to 1 conflict for each conflict to which they have deployed at least 1 of their own knights. The squire joins the player's knight, thus increasing their strenght by 1. Players entitled to deploy several squires place them all at once at conflicts in which they are involved, allocating them as they wish. This is done in player order, beginning with the start player. After scoring, these squires return to the general supply – even if France is the winner.
- Players receive 1 squire from the general supply for each of their own deployed knights of strength 1.
- Players may buy 1 extension tile for 4 gold and add it to their castle. Players may buy more than 1 extension tile. Put the gold in the general supply
Group "2"
- Players gain 3 power points for each knight deployed at their own castle.
- The player retaining the most voting markers after the 3rd scoring may upgrade one of their knights. In case of a tie for the most voting markers all tied players may do so. All retained voting markers are put back to the general supply only after the 3 current laws have been applied. Any voting markers obtained during this round by current law are not considered and kept for the next game round.
- Players gain 3 power points if they have deployed both their knights of strength 2.
- Players must pay 1 gold for each county to which they have deployed 1 of their knights. Players simply take back to their court any single knight for which they do not want to pay or cannot do so. Players decide in player order, beginning with the start player.
Group "3"
- Players gain 5 power points for every 2 counties to which they have deployed their own knights.
- Players must return 1 squire to the general supply for each existing extension of their castle. Players have to flip each extension for which they do not want to pay this charge or cannot do so. Players decide in player order, beginning with the start player. These extensions are flipped back after scoring all castles.
- Players may exchange gold for squires or squires for gold as many times as they wish at an exchange ratio of 2:1.
- Players gain 3 power points for every 2 squires supporting their own knights in one or more counties.
Group "4"
- Players gain 3 power points for each county without any nobleman tile to which they have deployed 1 of their own knights.
- Players may expend a batch of 1 gold, 1 squire and 1 voting marker for 3 power points as many times as they wish. Players may use only any voting markers retained after voting has taken place. Players decide in player order, beginning with the start player. Voting markers obtained by current law during this round may not be used.
- The player who has deployed the most knights to conflicts gains 5 power points. In case of a tie for the most knights all tied players receive this reward.
Henry V – The Power of the King
You can play "Henry V – The Power of the King" only in combination with the "Lancaster" basic game. "At the King's Court" and "The King's Resentment" can be played separately as well as in combination with each other. In addition, 8 new laws can be used when playing with both expansions.
This rules booklet explains all modifications of the basic rules. All other basic rules remain unchanged.
At the King's Court
New offices are to be filled!
The Lords apply for the most favored offices of the country – in search of power and privileges.
New components and set-up modifications
Before your first game, you must affix the stickers of the archers and the Tudor knights to 3 each of the 6 brown wooden discs. In addition, you must affix one bishop sticker to each of the 9 black wooden discs, and one lord sticker of the player colors to each of the remaining 5 discs.
- Regal board – place this board below the Parliament board.
- 8 privileges – place the privileges (2 shields, 3 archers and 3 Tudor knights) on their supply spaces of the regal board.
- 24 regal seals – place them on their designated supply space.
- 3 office cards – place them next to the regal board.
- 9 bishops – place a certain number of bishops on the regal board according to the number of players:
- 2/3 players — 5 bishops
- 4 players — 7 bishops
- 5 players — 9 bishops
- 5 lord tokens – give each player 1 lord token of their player color. Each player places their lord token on the coat of arms icon of their castle board.
The regal board holds the treasury, the lord spaces for the offices and the supplies of privileges, regal seals and bishops. The office cards are: Lord High Chancellor, Lord High Constable, Lord Great Chamberlain.
Unlike the basic game, each player receives 2 voting markers to start.
Sequence of play modifications
"At the King's Court" affects the game play of phases 1 and 3. During phase 1, the players apply for the new offices of the country. During phase 3, the offices and privileges are distributed, which the players can use during the next game round.
Phase 1: Place knights or the lord
The active player places one of his own knights or his own lord. Then the next player performs his turn, until all players have placed all their knights and lords.
The lord must be placed at the king's court. There are two options: The lord may apply for an office or he may enter the treasury.
The lord applies for an office
Three different offices are at the players' disposal. Each applicant must pay a specific tribute.
| Office | Tribute |
|---|---|
| Lord High Chancellor | 1 voting marker |
| Lord High Constable | 1 squire |
| Lord Great Chamberlain | 1 gold |
The player places his lord token on the lord space of his choice and pays the corresponding tribute into the treasury. He may support his lord with as many knights and bishops as he wants.
Example: Yellow applies for the office of the Lord High Chancellor. He places his lord token on the regal board and pays 1 voting marker as tribute into the treasury.
Note: Players can obtain bishops during phase 3.
The player must stack all of his tokens on the lord space, with the lord himself on top. The lord and all bishops have strength 1 each, while the knights contribute their individual strengths. A player may not boost his application later.
An applying lord may be expelled from the lord space by a more powerful applicant (higher stack).
The expelled player takes his lord token and all supporting tokens back to his court, to be placed again later in player order. The tribute paid remains in the treasury.
The expelling player stacks his tokens on that lord space and pays the demanded tribute into the treasury.
Example: Blue applies for the office of the Lord High Chancellor as well. He supports his lord with a knight with strength 2 and places both tokens on the regal board. In addition, he pays 1 voting marker as tribute into the treasury.
Yellow takes his lord back to his court. He does not regain his voting marker; it remains in the treasury.
The lord enters the treasury
When a lord enters the treasury, he may immediately claim all voting markers, all squires, or all gold currently available in the treasury.
Lords inside the treasury cannot be expelled and thus do not need any support.
Example: Red enters the treasury and immediately claims the two voting markers from the treasury.
Phase 3: Rewards
The offices are filled before the counties, castles and conflicts are evaluated.
The players whose lords occupy the lord spaces receive the matching office cards, the privilege (1x) and regal seals, if granted. Each privilege can be used only during the next game round and requires one of that player's own knights to use.
The players keep any regal seals hidden behind their screen – these are worth power points at the end of the game. If there was no applicant for a certain office, the former office holder keeps that office card, receiving the privilege and seals again, if granted. After the offices have been filled, these players take their lord token and any supporting bishops and knights back to their court. Supporting Tudor knights go back to the general supply.
Example: Blue has been appointed to the office of the Lord High Chancellor. He receives 2 seals, 1 shield and that office card. He takes his lord and his knight back to his court and keeps the seals behind his screen. He places the shield and the office card before him. Red takes her lord back to her court.
Note: If a player does not use his privilege during the next game round, he returns it unused to the supply at the end of that game round.
A summary of offices and the associated privileges
Lord High Chancellor receives 2 seals, 1 shield
The player places the shield in a county together with his knight. This knight cannot be expelled. Once the evaluation is done, return the shield to the regal board.
Example: Blue places his shield in Stafford together with his knight with strength 2. This knight cannot be expelled from Stafford during this game round.
During the 5th game round the Lord High Chancellor receives 2 seals, but no shield.
Lord High Constable receives 1 seal, 1 archer
The player deploys his archer to a conflict with France together with his knight. The knight is placed on the topmost empty knight's space, as usual, and the archer must be placed on the free knight's space immediately below. If the knight is placed on the lowest knight's space, the player cannot deploy his archer to this conflict. The archer's strength is 2 and he cannot be reinforced.
Example 1: Green deploys his knight with strength 1 together with his archer to the conflict.
Example 2: Green deploys only his knight with strength 1. He cannot deploy his archer because there is no free space below his knight's space.
When resolving the conflicts the archer is assigned his own rank. The player who had placed the archer gains the power points for this rank.
- England wins the conflict: Return the archer to the archer's supply space.
- France wins the conflict …
- … with the first battle: Move the archer, the conflict card and the involved knights down to the lower row, as usual. The archer still belongs to this player during the next game round, even if the player loses this office.
- … with the second battle: Return the archer to the archer's supply space.
Example: England is defeated. The archer is moved to the row below together with the conflict card and the knights.
During the 5th game round the Lord High Constable receives 1 seal, but no archer.
Lord Great Chamberlain receives no seals, 1 Tudor knight
The Tudor knight has strength 2 and is placed together with that player's knight in a county, at a conflict or as reinforcement of the player's lord at the king's court. He accompanies the knight until that knight goes back to the player's court; the Tudor knight then returns to the Tudor knight's supply space. In a county, the Tudor knight adds his strength to the knight's strength in order to meet the required minimum strength. If France wins the first battle of a conflict, move the Tudor knight together with his knight down to the lower row. If France also wins the second battle, return the Tudor knight to the Tudor knight's supply space.
The Tudor knight supports … the lord at the king's court. … the knight in a county. … the knight in a conflict.
Note: From Dorset, the Tudor knight joins his knight in a conflict with France.
During the 5th game round the Lord Great Chamberlain receives the Tudor knight. During final scoring, the Tudor knight adds his strength to the total strength of that player's knighthood.
The bishops
Whenever a player may "upgrade" one of his knights, he may take a bishop instead. This option is not available if all bishops have been taken. A player may not own more than 3 bishops.
Each bishop has strength 1. He can be placed only together with the player's own lord on a lord's space at the king's court.
Final scoring
Bishops and seals are worth power points at the end of the game. Each player multiplies the number of his black tokens (lord + number of bishops) by the number of his own seals.
Example: At the end of the game, Blue owns 2 bishops and 8 seals. These are worth 24 power points:
1 lord + 2 bishops = 3 black tokens
3 x 8 seals = 24 power points
Special rules for a 2 player game
- The players keep their seals visible.
- An ally can hold an office and receives the corresponding privilege – but no seals. The players must keep their own and their ally's offices strictly separate. Always place an office card next to its holder's castle board. Privileges may be used only together with knights or the lord of that office's holder.
- Each player additionally receives the lord of his ally.
- The player's own lord and his ally's lord cannot expel each other when applying for an office.
- The lord of a player's ally does not pay any tribute when applying for an office. The allied knights can support only their allied lord – the player's own knights can support only the player's lord only. If an allied lord enters the treasury, he removes all voting markers or all squires or all gold and returns these to the general supply.
- Each time an ally may upgrade one of his knights, he takes a bishop from the supply and removes him from the game instead.
The King's Resentment
The players feel the king's wrath after each lost conflict. Lack of support results in dishonor, which can be extinguished only with the help of the tower.
New components and set-up modifications
- Regal board – place this board below the Parliament board.
- 38 dishonor markers – place these markers on the dishonor track of the regal board, depending on the number of players as follows:
- 2 players — 2 dishonor markers per space
- 3 players — 3 dishonor markers per space
- 4 & 5 players — 4 dishonor markers per space
- Place all remaining dishonor markers in the appropriate supply box on the regal board.
- 1 tower – place the tower somewhere on the game board within easy reach of all players.
Assemble the 4 pieces of the tower before you start playing.
Depending on the number of players, fill the tower as follows:
- 2 players — 1 knight with strength 4 of a non-player color
- 3 players — 1 knight with strength 3 of a non-player color
- 4 players — 1 knight with strength 2 of a non-player color
- 5 players — no knight
Sequence of play modifications
"The King's Resentment" affects the game play of phases 1 and 3. During phase 1, the players may annihilate dishonor markers; during phase 3 the players receive dishonor markers. In order to stick to the sequence of play, we start with phase 1.
Phase 1: Place knights
As of now, there is one more location where the players can place their knights: The tower.
The tower can contain knights with a total strength of 7.
The active player may drop 1 of his knights inside the tower; then, he disposes of 1 dishonor marker for each strength point of the knight he dropped inside the tower. He returns these markers to their supply box on the regal board.
If the player has fewer markers than the number of strength points of his knight, he returns all of his dishonor markers to the supply box.
A player may drop a knight inside the tower even if he has no dishonor markers at all.
Once the knight tokens are stacked as high as the edge of the tower's walls, no further knight can be dropped inside the tower. A player may not drop a knight inside the tower if the token would protrude over the tower's walls.
The green knight protrudes over the tower's walls.
Note: You may not drop a Tudor knight inside the tower.
Example: Green drops a knight with strength 3 inside the tower and immediately returns 3 dishonor markers to the supply box.
Phase 3: Rewards
Counties
Prior to evaluating the counties, the tower is cleared and the knights go back to their owners' court. The knight of the non-player color remains inside the tower.
Conflicts
For each lost conflict, the players who contributed no knights to that conflict receive dishonor markers.
All affected players receive 1 dishonor marker from the dishonor track of the regal board. Remove the stacks one after the other from left to right. If all stacks have been removed from the track, players receive dishonor markers from the dishonor supply box.
All players keep their dishonor markers hidden behind their screen.
Yellow is not involved in the conflict and receives 1 dishonor marker, which he keeps behind his screen.
If the number of dishonor markers should not be sufficient, record them on a piece of paper. Their number is not limited.
Final scoring
At the end of the final scoring, dishonor markers generate negative power points.
Each player moves his power point marker one space back on the power point track for each of his dishonor markers.
Additionally, the player with the most dishonor markers moves his power point marker back on the power point track a number of spaces equal to the larger negative number on the rightmost visible space of the dishonor track. The player with the next most dishonor markers moves his power point marker back on the power point track a number of spaces equal to the smaller negative number on the rightmost visible space of the dishonor track.
Ties are broken by the higher number of voting markers. If this does not break the tie, use the basic rule for ties concerning knighthood.
Example of how to resolve dishonor markers during final scoring:
With 4 dishonor markers at the end of the game, Yellow has the most. He moves his power point marker 10 spaces back (6 dishonor track + 4 dishonor markers).
With 3 dishonor markers at the end of the game, Green has the next most. He moves his power point marker 6 spaces back (3 dishonor track + 3 dishonor markers).
Both Red and Blue have 2 dishonor markers each. They each move their power point markers back 2 spaces.
Special rules for a 2 player game
- The players keep their dishonor markers visible.
- Allies do not receive dishonor markers.
- The players may drop allied knights inside the tower, but cannot annihilate dishonor markers for these knights.
- During final scoring, only the larger negative number of the rightmost visible space is deducted; ignore the smaller negative number on that space.
The Laws of the King
You can play with "Laws of the King" only if you use both "At the King's Court" and "The King's Resentment".
Components
- 8 new law cards – you can play "Laws of the king" only when playing with this entire expansion.
The new cards belong to the "2" group and the "3" group.
Set-up modifications
Parliament
You may combine "Laws of the King" with the laws of the basic game or with the 1st expansion, "The New Laws".
There are 2 options:
1st option – play with "Laws of the King"
Use the laws of the basic game. Remove the laws with numbers 2 or 3 on the back and replace them with "Laws of the King".
2nd option – play with variable combinations of laws
If you own the expansion "The New Laws", you may use the new laws from that expansion as explained in that rulebook. You may combine any groups of laws.
Set-up of the parliament board and the sequence of play remain unchanged.
Summary of the laws of the king
Group "2"
- The player owning the most squires must dispose of 2 squires. The player owning the most gold must dispose of 3 gold. In case of a tie for the most squires, all tied players are affected. The same applies to players tied for the most gold. Only squires and gold behind the players' screens are taken into account.
- The player owning the fewest dishonor markers gains 5 power points. In case of a tie for fewest dishonor markers, all tied players gain 5 power points.
- Each player who does not have any bishops may return one of their dishonor markers to the dishonor marker supply.
- For each seal he disposes of, a player receives 2 squires and 1 gold from the general supply. Beginning with the start player, all players decide in turn order if and how many seals they want to dispose of.
Group "3"
- The player owning the most voting markers after the third voting receives 1 regal seal. In case of a tie for the most voting markers, all tied players receive 1 seal. Players return their voting markers to the general supply only after all 3 current laws have been applied. Any voting markers the players gained during this game round by way of the applicable laws do not count for this law; the players keep these for use during the next game round.
- The player owning the most squires receives 3 power points. The player owning the most gold receives 3 power points. In case of a tie for the most squires, all tied players gain 3 power points. The same applies to players tied for the most gold. Only squires and gold behind the players' screens are taken into account.
- Each player receives 1 dishonor marker for each 2 counties to which he currently has his knights deployed.
- Each player gains 3 power points for each of his knights inside the tower.
Queenie 1: Reward Tiles
Only playable with the basic game: "Lancaster". Except for the following modifications, the basic rules remain unchanged.
New components and set-up
- reward tiles in total – 9 tiles for use with the basic game and 3 exchange tiles for use in combination with the expansion "Henry V – The Power of the King". On the backsides of the tiles the letters A-I are imprinted, in accordance with the counties of the game board. Put the 9 tiles for the basic game into the bag and mix them well.
When playing with the expansion, remove the power point tiles A, D & F and use the seal tiles A, D & F. (Power point tile / Seal tile)
For further set-up, follow all instructions of the basic game.
Sequence of play
Draw 1 reward tile from the bag at the beginning of each game round. The letter on its back matches a county on the game board. Place the tile face up next to the imprinted reward.
Phase 3: Rewards
Counties
Instead of the imprinted basic reward, the concerned player may collect the reward tile. If he pays 3 gold, the player may collect the nobleman tile and the reward tile. A player may never collect both the imprinted reward and the reward tile. If the player chooses the reward tile, he receives this reward, then removes the tile from the game. If the player chooses the imprinted reward, the tile remains in the county until a player claims it in a later round.
Summary of reward tiles
The player receives:
- 3 power points
- 3 squires
- 3 gold
- The player may take a nobleman tile from any county of his choice.
- "New knight" — The player takes 1 new knight with strength 1.
- "Upgrade" — The player may upgrade any 1 of his knights by one level.
- The player may extend his castle with 1 extension tile from his personal supply.
When playing with the expansion "Henry V – The Power of the King": The player keeps the seal tile hidden behind his screen.
Special features in the 2-player game
A player's ally may take a reward tile if one of the player's knights is in that county.
Only the reward tiles "New knight" and "Upgrade" work for an ally, improving that ally's knights as described. Any other reward tile provides no benefit for an ally that claims it, and the tile is removed from the game unused.
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