Les 7 Blasons Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Aim of the Game
• Setup
• Playing the Game
• Scoring
  • Example of Scoring at the End of a Round (3 Players)
• Character Powers
  • Notes on the Malandrin
• The 4 Variants of the Game
  • Variant 1: "The Bourgeois Consult"
  • Variant 2: "The Bourgeois Help Themselves"
  • Variant 3: "The Bourgeois Are Curious"
  • Variant 4: The Religieux "Is Active for His Parish"

Components

• 56 playing cards. Each player has 8 cards, each illustrated with a character: malandrin, manant, ménétrier, magistrat, religieux, intendant, bourgeoise and bourgeois. Some characters have a power. The card values run from * to 7.
  • Malandrin: value *
  • Manant: value 1
  • Ménétrier: value 2
  • Magistrat: value 3
  • Religieux: value 4
  • Intendant: value 5
  • Bourgeoise: value 6
  • Bourgeois: value 7
• The playing cards show the character's power and value. The malandrin card is the example illustration for the labels "Pouvoir" (power) and "Valeur" (value).
• 7 player cards. Each one identifies a player and bears one of these names: Aubigny, Bellay, Contades, Grandbois, Guilloux, La Ferté or Rochebrune. A player card also serves as a memo of the powers of the playing cards, and as the place where the player's blason tokens are placed.
• 28 blason tokens (shields): 4 per player.
• 11 extra cards for the variants:
  • 4 bourgeoisie cards: small, medium, large and high.
  • 7 further playing cards for the religieux with power, used only in variant 4.

Aim of the Game

Score the most points over 3 rounds. A round consists of tricks (a trick is the set of cards played during one table turn) and of collecting the blason tokens of the other players.

Points come from the value of the cards in the tricks a player has won, combined with the blason tokens placed in front of that player. Only blason tokens that are face up and that are of a colour other than your own count.

Setup

Each player chooses a player card (or draws one at random). Each player keeps their player card face up in front of them, so that everyone can identify them. To decide who starts, draw at random among the assigned player cards. Play proceeds clockwise.

Each player takes the 8 playing cards matching their colour. (The religieux to take is the one without a power; the other is used only in variant 4, described under "The 4 Variants of the Game" below. The source refers to it as "page 15".)

All blason tokens of the participating players are placed face down in the draw pile in the centre of the table, and then shuffled.

Then each player:

• With 3 or 4 players, takes 3 blason tokens and places them in front of them: 2 face down, without looking at them, and 1 face up.
• With 5, 6 or 7 players, takes 2 blason tokens and places them in front of them: 1 face down, without looking at it, and 1 face up.

Playing the Game

On their turn, each player places the card of their choice face up in front of them. Then every player uses the power of the card they played (see "Character Powers" below).

A player is not obliged to play a card of higher value than those already played. The player who played the card with the highest face value wins the trick and leads the next trick. The player who leads is the first to play a card in a table turn.

If the highest cards have equal value, they cancel each other out. The card with the next lower value then wins the trick. If the tie persists, the trick is not awarded.

Before collecting the trick, the player who won it must perform one of the following two actions:

• either turn face up one of the blason tokens placed in front of any player or in front of themselves,
• or take one blason token from the draw pile, as it is (face up or face down).

This is a "free" action, in a way.

Play continues in this way, table turn after table turn, until the last trick.

Each player may look at their own tricks at any time during play.

At the start of the next round, the player who won the last trick of the previous round leads. All blason tokens are shuffled again and redealt.

Scoring

Points are counted at the end of each round. Points from the rounds are added together. One extra round is played to break ties.

Each player's points are calculated from the tricks they have won and the blason tokens placed in front of them. Remember:

Only blason tokens that are face up and that are not your own count!

The calculation multiplies the number of blason tokens of a given colour by the sum of the values of the cards in the tricks corresponding to that blason.

Only the points obtained with the colour of blason for which you have the most points are scored.

The player who has the highest total after the 3 rounds wins the game.

Example of Scoring at the End of a Round (3 Players)

In this example, three players used the blasons Grandbois (green), Guilloux (purple) and Bellay (yellow).

The printed figures for each player are read as follows. Each line gives the points of a group of tricks (the card values added together), multiplied by the blason token it is matched with.

Grandbois (green) has 3 blason tokens (yellow, purple, and one face down) and 4 tricks as printed. The face-down blason token is not counted in the calculation.

• 17 points × no counted blason: 0 points.
• 13 points × the yellow blason: 13 points.
• 12 points × the purple blason: 12 points.

Total: 13 points (the colour with the most points is counted).

Guilloux (purple) has 4 blason tokens (two yellow, two purple) and 2 tricks as printed.

• 6 points × no counted blason: 0 points.
• 8 points × the two yellow blasons: 16 points.
• 3 points × the purple blason (Guilloux's own colour): 0 points.

Total: 16 points.

Bellay (yellow) has 4 blason tokens (three green, one yellow) and 2 tricks as printed.

• 5 points × the three green blasons: 15 points.
• 7 points × the yellow blason (Bellay's own colour): 0 points.
• 13 points × no counted blason: 0 points.

Total: 15 points.

The player "Guilloux" (purple) wins this round.

Note on the example: the source prints "4 plis" for Grandbois and "2 plis" for Guilloux and Bellay, while the figure shows three card groups for each of them. The figures are transcribed as printed.

Character Powers

Of the 8 characters on the cards, 5 require their power to be used (6 when variant 4, "the religieux is active", is played):

• The intendant (card value 5) exchanges a blason token of a player's game, or of your own game, with that of another player or with the draw pile.
• Variant 4: The religieux (card value 4) moves a blason token from the game of a player, or from your own game, to the game of a player or to your own game.
• The magistrat (card value 3) removes a blason token from a player's game and puts it in the draw pile.
• The ménétrier (card value 2) turns a blason token face up, whether that blason belongs to a player's game, to your own game, or is in the draw pile.
• The manant (card value 1) takes a blason token from the draw pile and puts it into your own game.
• The malandrin (card value *) chooses a card from among all those played in the table turn; by doing so he takes on either that card's value OR its character's power.

Note: "the game of a player" means the blason tokens placed in front of that player.

Important: using a character's power is compulsory. Each player uses their power after the last card of the table turn has been played, and in the order in which the cards were played.

At certain moments in the game, using a power may be impossible. It is then simply ignored.

Notes on the Malandrin

When the malandrin chooses a card, it allows the player to take on either the value of that card, or the power of the character so stolen from the player holding the targeted card.

The player who played the malandrin always makes their choice on their own turn. If they choose a power, they use it at the moment when the original owner of the targeted card would have used it, and only provided that this power has not already been used.

The malandrin offers more or fewer choices depending on when it is played. For example, if it is played last in the table turn, the player can only take the value of the highest card if they want to win the trick, because all the powers will already have been used by the other players, and each power is used only once per card.

The following example (cards: 3, 2, 5, 1, *; the malandrin is the * card, played last in the table turn) shows the case where the malandrin is played at the end. It allows winning the trick by choosing the third card for its value of 5, but no longer allows using a power, because the other players will already have used theirs by the time the malandrin chooses. Conversely, if a player leads with the malandrin in the first position of the table turn, they have the widest possible choice (cards: *, 3, 2, 5, 1): they can choose among all the powers or win the trick.

Between these two extremes, there are all kinds of intermediate situations in which the malandrin remains effective, as the two following examples show:

• Example A (cards: 1, 2, *, 5, 3, the malandrin is the * card): the choices are either to win the trick with the value of card 5, or to use the power of the characters 5 or 3.
• Example B (cards: 6, *, 1, 2, 5, the malandrin is the * card): the choices are either to win the trick with the value of card 6, or to use the power of the characters 1, 2 or 5.

Note: the source shows the two examples as graphic rows; the pairing of each row with its bullet above is taken from the content of the bullets.

If two malandrins are played in the same table turn, this gives several options. In the example (cards: *, 3, 5, *, 2, where the two malandrins are the first and fourth cards), the following possibilities arise:

• The first malandrin chooses the value of card 5 to win the trick, and the second malandrin makes the same choice. In that case the second malandrin wins the trick. The solution for the first malandrin is therefore to choose the second malandrin, and then, in its place, choose the value of card 5.
• The same confrontation exists if both malandrins want to choose the power of the character of card 2.
• Note that if the first malandrin chooses the second malandrin, it leaves that malandrin with only two choices compared with its original options: either the value of card 5 to win the trick, or the action of the character of card 2. This case "weakens" the first malandrin.
• If the first malandrin chooses card 5 in order to use its power, the second malandrin may choose card 5 to win the trick.

It is therefore not always inadvisable to play a second malandrin in the same table turn, especially if one wants to counter a specific player, but it must be played at the right moment and relies on a temporary alliance!

There is one case in which the malandrin may have to choose itself, in particular to win the trick: a tie for the highest cards. For example (cards: 7, 4, 7, *, 4, where the malandrin is the * card), in this case the symbol "*" is equal to the lowest value of all the cards played.

Another point to note (cards: 6, *, 6, 6, *, where both * cards are malandrins):

With this case, the trick is set aside, whatever choice either malandrin makes, because it is equivalent to the case of a tie for the highest cards. Moreover, note that this situation allows the second malandrin to counter the first so that it cannot win the trick.

The 4 Variants of the Game

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd variants presented below use the four bourgeoisie cards: high, large, medium and small. These cards are only assigned after the first and second rounds, in the order of the ranking; if several players are tied, the card is assigned to the next player. Note that these cards are activated only once per round and before the last table turn. With 3 players, only the bourgeoisie cards small, medium and large are used.

Variant 1: "The Bourgeois Consult"

No trick may be consulted, unless one holds one of the four bourgeoisie cards. The player who activates one of these cards on their turn may, after the table turn, consult 2, 3, 4 or 5 tricks, depending on whether they are a small, medium, large or high bourgeois. The consultation of tricks is done all at once and between the two table turns. The tricks that may be consulted are one's own and/or those of a single other player, up to the total number determined by the card held. On this occasion, the player whose tricks are consulted may also look at the trick(s) being consulted.

Variant 2: "The Bourgeois Help Themselves"

Depending on the bourgeoisie card held, a player may take one of the cards from a trick and put it into their own tricks. The cards that may be taken, if the player has activated their bourgeoisie card on their turn, are:

• A ménétrier if you are a small bourgeois,
• A magistrat if you are a medium bourgeois,
• A religieux if you are a large bourgeois,
• An intendant if you are a high bourgeois.

Variant 3: "The Bourgeois Are Curious"

The bourgeoisie cards allow the player to look at blason tokens that are face down. The player who activates one of these cards on their turn may, after the table turn, consult 2, 3, 4 or 5 blason tokens, depending on whether they are a small, medium, large or high bourgeois.

The consultation of blason tokens is done all at once and between the two table turns. The blason tokens that may be consulted are one's own and/or those of a single other player, up to the total number determined by the card held. The player whose blason tokens are consulted may also look at the blason(s) being consulted.

Variant 4: The Religieux "Is Active for His Parish"

Use the religieux card with its power: this allows a blason token, as it is, to be "moved" from the game of a player or from one's own game to that of another player or to one's own.

N.B.: The variants may be combined. If the 1st, 2nd and 3rd variants are played at the same time, players holding one of the bourgeoisie cards may only perform one of the 3 possible actions.