Lords of Heaven Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Components
• 2. Game Setup
  • Board Setup
  • Player Setup
• 3. How to Win the Game
  • Gaining VPs
• 4. Core Game Concepts
  • Action Cards
  • Location Cards
  • Round Cards
  • Faction Affiliation
  • Buildings
    • Church and Mosque
    • Fortress
    • Citadel
  • Units
  • Control of a City
  • Presence
    • Influence
    • Support
• 5. Gameplay
  • Draft
  • End of the 1st Crusade
  • End of the 2nd Crusade
• 6. Actions
  • Development
  • Presence
  • Movement
  • Income
• 7. Conflicts
  • Battle
  • Siege
• 8. 2-3 Player Game

1. Components

• 4 Player boards
• 54 Action cards (+4 Bluff cards)
• 8 Round cards
• 9 Location cards
• 12 Fortress markers (3 per player)
• 6 Mosque markers (3 Caliphate and 3 Seljuk)
• 12 Citadel markers
• 6 Church markers (3 Crusaders and 3 Byzantines)
• 9 City Control markers
• 26 Gold markers (16x1 value, 6x2 value, 4x5 value)
• 1 double-sided Last Conflict marker
• 40 double-sided Presence markers (10 per player)
• 30 double-sided Footman markers
• 10 double-sided Siege Tower markers
• 10 double-sided Knight markers
• 20 double-sided Faith markers
• 1 Game board, 4 screens (1 per player), 10 6-sided custom dice, 4 wooden VP discs (1 per player), 12 wooden Upgrade markers (3 per player) and this rulebook.

2. Game Setup

Board Setup

1. Place the board in the middle of the table.
2. Place the Location cards according to their names on the designated spaces on the board. Place Aleppo and Damascus cards next to the board.
3. On each Location card place 1 City control marker on the designated space.
4. Shuffle Round X, Round Y, and Last Round cards and place them on the board. Create a deck of the rest Round cards with the Round 1 card on the top and the Round 5 card on the bottom, and place it on the previously shuffled Round cards.
5. Shuffle the Action cards and place the deck on the board.
6. Place each player's VP marker on the '0' position on the Victory track.
7. Place the Faith, Gold, Units, Last Conflict markers and Dice near the board.
8. Place the Presence markers on the board:
   • Byzantines - 1 Influence in the left column in each: Iconium, Edessa, and Jerusalem + 1 Support in Antiocheia.
   • Crusaders - 1 Influence in the middle column in Iconium + 3 Support in Iconium.
   • Seljuk - 1 Influence in the middle column in Edessa and Tyrus + 1 Support in Edessa and Antiocheia.
   • Caliphate - 1 Influence in the left column in Ascalon and 1 Influence in the middle column in Jerusalem + 2 Support in Jerusalem.

Player Setup

There are 4 factions in the game. Each has its own assigned colour:

• Byzantines - Purple
• Caliphate - Yellow
• Crusaders - Red
• Seljuk - Green

Choose a faction and take all the markers, player board, and screen in that colour.

1. Place the player board in the chosen colour in front of you, and the screen next to it.
2. Place Building markers in designated places on the player board.
3. Place the Upgrade wooden markers in the left space on each of the three rows.
4. Place the Bluff Action card next to your player board.
5. Each faction has a different starting mix of markers. Place the Gold and Faith behind your player screen, and the Presence and Units in front of it:

BYZANTINES: 6 Presence, 5 Footmen, 2 Faith, 8 Gold.

CALIPHATE: 6 Presence, 3 Footmen, 1 Knight, 1 Siege Tower, 1 Faith, 6 Gold.

CRUSADERS: 6 Presence, 3 Footmen, 1 Knight, 1 Siege Tower, 3 Faith, 4 Gold.

SELJUK: 6 Presence, 7 Footmen, 3 Faith, 5 Gold.

You are now ready to play the game!

3. How to Win the Game

The player with the most VPs is declared the winner when the game ends.

In case of a draw, the player who controls Jerusalem is the winner.

Gaining VPs

1. On players' turns:
   • Each player gains 1 VP for participating in a Battle or a Siege.
   • The Ally of the winner in a Battle gains +1 extra VP.
   • The winner of a Battle gains +2 extra VP.
   • 1 VP for each of the 3 different Upgrades marked with the laurel icon.
2. At the end of each Crusade:
   • 1 VP for each controlled City.
3. At the end of the game:
   • 1 VP for 3 Churches/Mosques on the board.
   • 1 VP for 3 Fortresses on the board.
   • 1 VP for 3 Garrisons on the board.

(The draft rulebook says "Garrisons" here; the End of the 2nd Crusade section lists "3 of their Citadels on the board". Transcribed as printed.)

4. Core Game Concepts

Action Cards

Action cards have two uses. One use is to play on your turn to perform an action, and the other is to play a card during the Conflicts.

1. Faction Affiliation.
2. Benefit when played for Movement and Income actions.
3. Artwork.
4. The name of the card.
5. The effect of the card when played for an action.
6. The effect of the card when played for a Conflict.
7. The Strength of a card (on Conflict).
8. The Cost when played for Development and Presence actions.
9. The number of a card.

Location Cards

On the Location cards players place their Presence markers. The Location is divided into two areas: the City and the Region. In the Cities, players can place their Influence, and Cities can be besieged. In the Regions, players place their Support, and will conduct Battles.

1. The City (indicated with the Siege icon).
2. The Region (indicated with the crossed-swords icon).
3. The amount of Gold you gain when you ransack (flame icon) the City.
4. The Cost of placing Influence.
5. The spaces for placing Influence.
6. The income of the City.
7. The space for the Citadel.
8. The space for the City Control marker.
9. The name of the City.
10. The space for Church or Mosque markers.
11. The space for placing Support.

Round Cards

The Round cards determine how long the Crusade will last. At the start of each round, the first player draws the top card from the deck and places it next to it. All except the Last Round card have no effect.

When the Last Round card is drawn, the round is played to completion and the current Crusade ends.

Faction Affiliation

In the game, we have four factions. Each of these factions has its own colour and unique symbol (Byzantines, Caliphate, Crusaders, Seljuk).

Many of the game effects use these symbols (especially Action cards). In addition to these four symbols, effects may use combined symbols for Christians and Muslims. In that case, the effect may be resolved by any of these two faction:

• Christians - Crusaders and Byzantines
• Muslims - Seljuk and Caliphate

In addition to that, on the Action cards, there is a symbol (multi-coloured). It means that any faction can resolve the effect of this card.

Buildings

Church and Mosque

Mechanically the Churches and Mosques work the same. The difference is purely aesthetic. Churches are placed by Christians and Mosques by Muslims.

• During the Development action, you may place the Church or the Mosque in a Region where you have at least 1 Support.
• During the Income action, each of these buildings provides you extra income depending on your level of Upgrade of this type of building. At the start of the game, each Church and Mosque provides 1 Faith.
• For each of these buildings you have on board you can reroll 1 Dice. You can reroll the same Dice multiple times. Rerolls are always performed by the Attacker first.

Fortress

• During the Development action, you may place the Fortress in any adjacent Location where you have Support or Influence.
• During the Battle each Fortress adjacent to the Region where the Battle is conducted provides you a number of Strength equal to the level of Upgrade of this type of building. At the start of the game, each Fortress provides 1 Strength.
• During the Movement each of your Fortresses on the game board provides you 1 Recruitment point. You can take Units from the general supply immediately and place them in front of your player board. The Costs are equal to the Strength of Units, e.g. 1 Footman Costs 1 Recruitment point.

Citadel

• During the Development action, you may place the Citadel in a City that you control.
• When you are besieged, the Citadel provides you a number of Strength equal to the level of Upgrade of this type of building. At the start of the game, the Citadel provides 1 Strength.
• When you are besieged, for each Citadel that is not on your player board you may play 1 extra Unit in step 8 of a Siege. At the start of the game, your Influence allows you to play only 1 Unit when you are besieged.

Units

Units provide you Strength during Battles and Sieges. Each Unit has its Strength depicted on the back of the marker and a Cost in Gold or Recruitment points that is equal to the Unit's Strength.

The Units are colour-coded to indicate in what type of Conflict you can use them.

There are three types of Units in the game:

1. FOOTMAN
   • Strength = 1
   • Cost = 1 Gold / 1 Recruitment point
   • Footmen can be used in Battles and Sieges.
2. SIEGE TOWER
   • Strength = 2
   • Cost = 2 Gold / 2 Recruitment points
   • Siege Towers can be used only in Sieges.
3. KNIGHT
   • Strength = 3
   • Cost = 3 Gold / 3 Recruitment points
   • Knights can be used only in Battles.

Control of a City

If you have Influence on the rightmost level of a City, you control this City. You gain a City control marker and at the end of each Crusade, you gain 1 extra VP for each City you control.

When you control a City and play the Development action you may place a Citadel on its designated space.

Presence

Presence shows your involvement in certain areas. The Presence marker is double-sided, on one side you have Influence, and on the other side, you have Support. The number of these markers is limited, each player has 10 of them.

Influence

Shows your political involvement in the Cities. Some of the effects tell you to place Influence on the lowest spot, which means to place Influence on the leftmost space in the City. In Conflicts, you can play up to 1 Unit when you are besieged (you can increase this number by placing Citadels).

Support

Shows your military involvement in the Regions. In Conflicts, you can play up to 2 Units for each Support you have in Conflict.

Faith

A Faith token is a resource that can be used as 1 Gold at any time, or 1 Strength in a Conflict (Faith tokens do not count towards the unit limit).

5. Gameplay

The game is divided into 2 Crusades. Each Crusade is divided into 6 to 8 rounds.

Each round starts with revealing the top Round card from the round deck. The cards have no effects except the Last Round card. When the Last Round card is revealed, the round is played to its completion, and the current Crusade ends.

In each round, starting with the first player, each player in the direction of play takes 1 action. To take an action you must either play a card to a specific place on the board or discard a card. At the end of your turn, you draw up to 4 action cards (3 action cards and 1 bluff action card).

Draft

At the start of the game, before the first round, perform a draft. Draw 5 Action cards. Now, perform the first round of the card draft: simultaneously, you each pick one card from your hand, set it aside to keep, and pass the remaining cards to the player on the left.

After the first round of the card draft, continue additional drafting rounds: simultaneously, you each pick one card from your hand (which you received from the player to your right) and set it aside to keep, then pass the remaining cards to the left.

This continues until you each have three cards in your hand: this is the last round of the draft. You each pick one card to keep and place the other two cards on the bottom of the draw deck. The draft is now over, and you each take the cards you set aside into your hand.

Note: The draft is performed only at the beginning of the game; after the 1st Crusade you simply draw cards from the deck.

At the end of the draft add the Bluff Action card to your hand. Now you have 4 Action cards in your hand. Note: The bluff card is always in your hand, i.e. you never play it for an action and you cannot discard it.

End of the 1st Crusade

When the 1st Crusade ends, perform the following steps:

1. Players gain 1 VP for each City Control marker they have (do not discard them).
2. Remove all played Action cards from action columns and place them in the discard pile.
3. Place 2 new Locations on the board: Damascus and Aleppo with City Control markers on them.
4. Each player draws 2 Action cards and then places the other 2 Action cards on the bottom of the draw deck.

End of the 2nd Crusade

When the 2nd Crusade ends, the game ends. Perform the following steps:

1. Players gain 1 VP for each City Control marker they have.
2. Players gain 1 VP for 3 of their Churches/Mosques on the board.
3. Players gain 1 VP for 3 of their Fortresses on the board.
4. Players gain 1 VP for 3 of their Citadels on the board.

6. Actions

When you play an Action card for the action, you must place it in one of the four columns. Depending on the action you want to perform you must first pay the Cost for the action or gain a Benefit.

The COST is on the bottom right corner of the card and it must be paid on Development and Presence actions.

The BENEFIT is on the top right corner of the card and it may be gained on Movement and Income actions. Take from the general supply everything that is on all visible markers.

When you play a card on Movement or Income you do not resolve an effect of the card.

When you play a card on Development or Presence, and the Faction Affiliation matches your faction, you may resolve an effect of the card in addition to the action. The effect and action may be resolved in any order, but one must be resolved before resolving the other.

Development

Play a card by placing it above the action icon. If there are already any cards there, play them on top of the rest so that the Cost bar is visible. Pay the total Cost of all red Gold icons on all the cards on this action icon.

Perform the Development. Remove one of your available buildings from your player board and place it on the game board. Each building type has placing restriction:

1. Each building may be placed only in the designated place:
   • Churches and Mosques in the Regions.
   • Fortresses between Locations.
   • Citadels in the Cities.
2. Each building may be placed if you meet the following conditions:
   • Churches and Mosques can be placed only if you have a Support in a Region.
   • Fortresses can be placed only if you have a Support or Influence in a Location adjacent to the designated place for a Fortress.
   • Citadels can be placed only if you control a City.

EXAMPLE: Robert (the Crusader) plays "Holy Zeal" for Development (1). He pays 3 Gold to do so (2). He takes the Fortress from his player board and places it next to the Iconium (3). Next, he Upgrades his Fortresses (4). As the Holy Zeal card has Christian Faction Affiliation, he resolves the effect of the card which provides him 2 Faith (5).

("Holy Zeal": Gain 1 Faith. Gain 1 extra Faith for each of your Buildings on the board.)

Presence

Play a card in the same manner as for the Development action.

Perform the Presence action by placing Support and Influence in Locations. When performing this action, follow these rules:

1. INFLUENCE

   • You may place Influence in any City level adjacent to a Location that already had your Influence at the start of your turn. Pay the amount of Gold indicated in the level you place Influence. You may place Influence on any level you want.
   • You may increase the level of your Influence in a City that already had your Influence at the start of your turn. Pay the difference between the amount of Gold indicated in the level your Influence is and the amount of Gold indicated in the level you want to increase to.
   • If on the level you want to place or increase Influence is an Influence of any opponent decrease that opponent's Influence by one level (move it to the left). All other player's Influence are decreased one level down.
   • If any player's Influence is decreased under the first level of a City, that Influence is removed from the board to that player's supply.
   • If you place Influence on the rightmost level (indicated with the laurel icon) take the City Control marker and place it next to your player board. If this marker was in the possession of another player, take it from that player.
   • If you do not have any Influence on the board, you may place it in any City. You don't pay for the action but you must pay the amount of Gold indicated in the level you place Influence.
   • There can be only 1 Influence of each player in a City.
   • There can be only 1 Influence on each level of a City.

   If a player controls a City and has a Citadel there, it is impossible to decrease their Influence with the Presence action.

2. SUPPORT

   • You may place Support in any Region where you have an Influence in a City in the same Location. Pay 1 Gold for each Support you placed.
   • You may place any number of Support in a Region.

EXAMPLE: Beatrice (the Byzantines) plays "Betrayal of the Emirs" for Presence (1). She pays 3 Gold to do so (2). First, she pays 1 Faith to resolve the effect of the card (3) and she decreases Influence of Seljuk in Edessa, and Caliphate in Jerusalem (4). Thanks to that, her Influence increased in these Cities. Next, she pays a total of 6 Gold (5) and increases her Influence in Edessa and Jerusalem to the rightmost spaces, which gives her control over these two Cities, so she takes 2 City Control markers (6).

("Betrayal of the Emirs": Pay 1 Faith and decrease Influence of two opponents by 1 in any Cities.)

Movement

Play a card by placing it below the action icon. If there are already some cards there, play them on top of the rest so that the Benefit bar is visible. If there are two Benefit icons on the previous card, place your card to cover the lower icon. Gain all the Benefits visible on all played cards in this column.

When performing this action, follow these rules:

• You may move any number of your Support from any location to any other location.
• You must pay 1 Gold for moving any number of your Support from one area to an adjacent area.
• After you end all of your movements you may start Conflicts.

EXAMPLE: George (the Seljuk) plays "Pilgrims" for Movement (1). As a Benefit he gains 2 Gold and 1 Footman (2). He pays 1 Gold and moves 1 Support from Tripoli to Antiocheia (3). He ends his movements and starts the Battle in Antiocheia.

Income

Play the card in the same manner as for the Movement action.

When performing this action, follow these rules:

• Gain a provision of any combination of markers worth 2 Gold.
• Gain the sum of Gold for all of your Influence in all Cities.

EXAMPLE: Yarah (the Caliphate) plays "The Barons' Dispute" for Income (1). As a Benefit she gains 1 Gold, 1 Footman, and 1 Faith (2). Next, she takes 2 Faith as her provision (3). Last, she gains 1 Gold from her Influence in Jerusalem (4).

7. Conflicts

Conflict can be of two types: Battle or Siege. In the 1st Crusade, each player can initiate a Conflict once per their turn (i.e. a player can initiate as many Conflicts as they have turns). In the 2nd Crusade, each player can initiate up to 2 Conflicts per their turn.

Battle

To conduct a Battle, you must have your Support in a Region with at least one of any opponent's Support. The Battle is resolved in the following steps:

1. Move up to 1 of your Support from each adjacent Location.

2. If any opponent has at least one Support in the Region where the Battle is conducted or in any adjacent Locations you may ask that player to be your Ally in this Battle. If that player refuses you may ask another player (if able). You cannot ask the player you attacked to be your Ally.

3. Your Ally moves a maximum of 1 Support from each adjacent Location.

4. The Defender moves a maximum of 1 Support from each adjacent Location.

5. The Defender may ask for an Ally (if able). The Defender cannot ask you to be their Ally.

6. The Defender's Ally moves a maximum of 1 Support from each adjacent Location.

7. You and the Defender play face-down one of your Action cards.

8. All players involved in the Battle secretly choose any amount of their Units (2 Units per 1 Support you have in a Battle) and Faith and place them in a closed hand over the board.

9. When everyone is ready, all players simultaneously reveal their hands and flip the played Action card.

10. All players with at least 1 Support in a Battle roll Dice equal to the number of their Support in a Battle.

11. Each side of the Conflict adds up all the Strength they have, this is their Strength in the Battle. The side with higher strength wins the Battle.

12. All players involved in the Battle gain 1 VP. The Ally of the winner gains 1 extra VP. The winner gains 2 extra VPs.

This ends the Battle. After the Battle, you draw up to 4 Action cards, even if it is not your turn.

EXAMPLE: George started a Battle in Antiocheia against Beatrice (the Byzantines) (1). He asks Robert (the Crusaders) if he wants to be his Ally, but Robert declines, so Beatrice asks Robert if he wants to be her Ally, and he agrees. Thanks to that, Robert pays 1 Gold and moves 1 of his Support from Iconium to Antiocheia (2), and as he has a Fortress next to the Battle he takes 1 Footman to his supply.

George and Beatrice play one of their Action cards face-down and all players involved in the Battle choose how many Units and Faiths they want to spend in this Battle. Units, Faiths, and cards are simultaneously revealed. George played a card with 1 Strength but this card allowes him to play another one from his hand, so he plays a card with 3 Strength, in addition to that he played 4 Footmen and 2 Faith (3). Beatrice played a card with 1 Strength and the effect will be resolved when assigning Wounds, in addition to that she played 2 Footmen (4). Robert, her Ally, played 2 Footmen and 2 Faith (5).

Now players simultaneously roll Dice equal to the number of their Support in the Battle. George rolls 2 Dice with the outcome shown by the dice icons (6). Beatrice and Robert each roll 1 Die with the outcome shown by the dice icons (the dice faces are pictured, not spelled out, in the printed rulebook). The Strength of George is 4 from cards, 4 from Units, 2 from Faith, and 1 from Dice, so the total Strength is 11. The Strength of Beatrice and Robert is 8, but as Robert has a Fortress adjacent to Battle he adds 2 Strength to the Battle (7). Nevertheless, their total Strength is still lower than George's, so they lose this Battle.

George as a winner gains 3 VPs, and Beatrice and Robert each gain 1 VP. The total number of Wounds dealt by Beatrice and Robert is 5, and George must remove all 4 of his Units played in this Battle (8). As this is not enough he must remove 1 of his Support from the Region (9). Beatrice and Robert suffer 2 Wounds and Beatrice, as the leader, decides that each of them removes 1 Footman (10).

All played Faith are forfeited. Beatrice and Robert each have 1 Footman that was not removed, so each can pay 1 Gold to return it to their supply.

("Surprise Attack": Start a Battle or Siege. "In the Name of Allah": Pay 2 Faith and swap any Support from any City with Support from your board. "State of Danger": Place 1 Support in any Region. Another card in the example has the conflict effect "Play another card from your Hand.")

Siege

To conduct a Siege, you must have your Support in a Region with any opponent's Influence in a City in the same Location. You conduct a Siege against a player with the Influence on the highest level among all other Influence in the City.

The Siege is resolved in the same manner as the Battle with the following exceptions:

1. You cannot move Support from adjacent Locations.
2. You can ask for an Ally only if that player has a Support in the Region where the Siege is conducted.
3. Your Ally cannot move Support from adjacent Locations.
4. The Defender cannot move Support from adjacent Locations.
5. The Defender can ask for an Ally only if that player has a Support in the Region where the Siege is conducted.
6. The Defender's Ally cannot move Support from adjacent Locations.

Steps 7 to 11 are the same as in the Battle.

12. All players involved in the Siege gain 1 VP. If the Defender is the winner move their Influence 1 level up, and if they already control the City the Defender gains 1 extra VP. If the Attacker is the winner, the winner chooses one of the following:
    • The Defender removes their Influence from the City (the Citadel is not removed), and the winner places their Influence on the top spot.
    • The winner removes all players' Influence from the City (the Citadel is removed and placed in the general supply) and gains the amount of Gold equal to the number next to the flame icon.

Steps 13 and 14 are the same as in the Battle.

This ends the Siege. After the Siege, you draw up to 4 Action cards, even if it is not your turn.

8. 2-3 Player Game

In games of less than 4 players there will be one or more unused factions. These are called 'non-player factions'.

Setup and gameplay is the same as for 4 players, except:

1. In a 2 and 3 player game use the back of the Location cards (the side with a 2 column Cities).
2. In a 3-player game remove all elements of the non-player faction from the game.
3. In a 2-player game, you always play as Christians versus Muslims.
4. In a 2-player game remove all elements of the non-player factions from the game. Next, place your faction Presence markers on the board, instead of the Presence markers of non-player faction markers of the same Faith in a 4-player game.
   • If in the City your Influence is on a higher level than non-player faction nothing happenes, but if non-player faction Influence is on a higher level, place your Influence on that level. I.e. If you play as Crusaders place Support in Antiocheia, and a Influence in Edessa and Jerusalem. Do not place a Influence in Iconium as you have Influence on higher level there already.
5. Remove all Faction Affiliation cards from the game, but leave cards with the combined symbols.