Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo il Magnifico – The Card Game
Masters of Renaissance: Lorenzo il Magnifico – The Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Personal Boards
- 48 Development Cards (4 types divided in 3 levels)
- 16 Leader Cards
- 1 Market Tray
- 1 Market Board
- 13 Market Marbles (4 white, 2 blue, 2 grey, 2 yellow, 2 purple, 1 red)
- 7 Solo Action tokens
- 12 Pope's Favor tiles
- 1 Resource Supply
- 64 Resources (16 coins, 16 stones, 16 servants and 16 shields)
- 4 Faith Markers
- 6 "3x" Tiles
- 1 Black Cross Token
- 1 Inkwell
Game Design: Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangone Illustrations and Graphics: Klemens Franz, atelier198 Rules Editing: Andrea Kattnig, atelier198 Editor: Giuliano Acquati
Setup
- Place the Resource Supply on the table. Divide the Resources and put each type in a separated slot of the supply. Place the "x3" tiles next to the Resource Supply.
- Divide the Development Cards according to their back so as to create 12 separate decks of 4 cards each. Shuffle each deck separately and place them face-up on the table so as to create a grid of four columns. Each column must correspond to each type of card (Green, Blue, Yellow, Purple). Place the level I cards on the bottom and the level III cards on the top.
- Place the Market Board on the table and place the Market Tray in the corresponding empty space inside the board, as illustrated below. Randomly place 12 Market Marbles on the Market Tray and the remaining Marble on the top right corner of the slide, as illustrated below.
- Shuffle the Leader Cards and create a deck. Place it face-down on the table.
Put the Solo Action tokens and the Black Cross token back in the box: they will be used only in the Solo game (see Solo Mode).
Players Setup
Each player takes:
- 1 Personal Board and places it in front of them.
- 3 Pope's Favor tiles and places them on the corresponding spaces of the Faith Track, showing the "non active" side (the side with a red X) up.
- 1 Faith Marker and places it on the "0" space of the Faith Track.
The Personal Board shows: the Faith Track (with its Vatican Report sections, Pope spaces, and Pope's Favor tiles) and Faith Marker; the Warehouse depots; the Strongbox; the basic production power; and slots for Development Cards.
WARNING! The following "Additional Setup Rules" require you to make some important decisions. Please carefully read the entire rulebook in order to better understand how the game works.
Additional Setup Rules
- Each player draws 4 Leader Cards from the deck and chooses 2 of them to keep, while discarding the others. Keep the cards in your hand, without showing them to the other players. You can put all the other Leader Cards back in the box.
- Choose randomly the first player. The first player receives the Inkwell.
- Following the turn order, all the other players take an initial number of Resources of their choosing, and receive a number of Faith Points, according to the following scheme:
| Player | Resources of your choosing | Faith Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd | 1 | 0 |
| 3rd | 1 | 1 |
| 4th | 2 | 1 |
Put the Resources you choose in your Warehouse depots and record the Faith Points on your Faith Track, following the next section's rules.
How to Play
Players play in turns, one after the other in clockwise direction, starting from the first player.
During your turn, you must choose and perform one of the following actions:
- Take Resources from the Market
- Buy one Development Card
- Activate the Production
Your turn is over when the action is completed.
Taking Resources from the Market
Choose a column or a row of Marbles in the Market and take all the Resources displayed in the chosen column or row.
Each Market Marble indicates a Resource, as illustrated by this reference scheme:
- grey marble = stone
- purple marble = servant
- red marble = faith point
- blue marble = shield
- yellow marble = coin
- white marble = nothing (produces no resource by itself)
The Market is made of three rows and four columns and one single Marble on the slide.
After taking the Resources, you must take the Marble from the slide on the top right corner of the Market and insert it in the column/row you chose, following the arrows. By doing so, you will push the column/row in order to make the opposite Marble go in the slide of the Market.
Example: You chose the highlighted row, so you take 1 stone for the grey Marble and 2 coins for the yellow Marbles; you won't take anything for the white Marble. Then, you must use the blue Marble on the slide and push it in the chosen row. The white Marble goes on the slide of the Market.
Faith Points: Faith is a special resource. When you receive a Faith Point move your Faith Marker by 1 space on the Faith Track of your Personal Board.
Depots Rules
You must place the Resources taken from the Market in the Warehouse on your Personal Board (with the exception of Faith Points, which are registered on the Faith Track). The Warehouse is divided in three depots of 1, 2 or 3 slots each.
You can place only one type of Resource in a single depot. You can't place the same type of Resource in two different depots. In other words each depot must have the same Resource and all depots must have different Resources.
You can move Resources in your depots in any way during your turn (following the depots rules).
You can discard any Resource you cannot or don't want to store, but all the other players will receive a Faith Point for each Resource discarded.
Example: With the illustrated situation in your Warehouse, you can only take 1 more coin or 1 more servant (moving the coin in the top depot). You can also take Faith Points. If you take more Resources, all the other players will receive a Faith Point for each Resource you can't store.
Buying One Development Card
You can buy one of the Development Cards displayed on the grid.
The cost of each card is illustrated on the top of the card. The cost can be paid using Resources from any Warehouse depot AND/OR from the Strongbox (see next section). Put the Resources used to pay back in the Resource Supply. Place the card in one of the 3 slots of your Personal Board.
Each Development Card shows: its Cost (top of the card), its Type (color), its Level (number of dots), its Production power (inside the open book), and the Victory Points it is worth at the end of the game.
There are three levels of Development Cards. A level I card can be placed in any of the empty slot of your board. A level II card must be placed over a level I card (no matter the color). A level III must be placed only over a level II card (no matter the color).
Put the level II and III cards slightly staggered so you can see how many cards of each color you have bought.
WARNING! When you buy the last card from one deck, that specific card type and level is no longer available in the game. In other words, don't fill in the empty space in the grid.
Example: In the illustrated situation, you have the Resources to buy the enlightened cards. You could buy the indicated Level I blue card and place it in one of the free slots of your board OR you could buy the indicated Level II green card and place it over your Level I card already on your board. You could not buy the indicated Level III blue card (even if you have the Resources needed), because you don't have a Level II card on your board.
Activating the Production
You can activate the production powers of your choosing from those visible on your Personal Board.
Every Development Card has a production power illustrated in the central part (inside the open book). In addition, every Personal Board has a basic production power illustrated in the smallest slot on the left (inside the scroll).
When you activate the production, you can pay the Resources illustrated on the left to receive the Resources illustrated on the right for each of your visible production powers. Therefore, you need to choose carefully which cards to cover when you buy new cards, since only the visible cards can be activated during the production. The basic production power allows you to pay 2 Resources of any type (even 2 different Resources) to receive 1 Resource of your choosing.
Place the Resources received from the production in the Strongbox on your Personal Board (with the exception of Faith Points, which are registered on the Faith Track). The Strongbox is a special depot with no restrictions: there, you can store any number and type of Resources together.
If the general supply runs out of resources, use the "3x" tiles. If you have 3 resources of the same type in your Strongbox, take a "3x" tile and place it in your Strongbox, put one of those Resources on the tile and put the others back in the Resource Supply.
When you perform this action you can activate each visible production power on your Personal Board only once. The production powers are activated all at once. In fact, you can't use Resources received from a production power to activate another production power. In other words, you must have all the Resources you want to pay before activating all production powers. If you want, you can decide not to activate a production power if you don't want to pay the required Resources. You can pick the Resources to be paid from any of your Warehouse depots or from the Strongbox.
The arrows on your Personal Board remind you of the resources cycle during the production. Take the Resources from your depots and/or from the Strongbox; place them over the cards you want to activate; put them back in the supply and take the Resources produced by the activated cards; place the Resources in the Strongbox.
WARNING! You can never move Resources from your Warehouse depots to your Strongbox and vice-versa. The only way to store Resources in the Strongbox is through a Production action!
Example: In the situation illustrated in image 1, you have the necessary Resources to activate the production power of all your cards (picking them from the Warehouse depots and from the Strongbox). You decide to activate all cards (you could also use the production power on your board to transform the remaining 2 stones you have into a Resource of your choosing). The result of such production is illustrated in image 2. You receive the indicated Resources in your Strongbox and you also move your Faith Marker forward by one space. If needed, you can change 6 stones in your Strongbox: take 2 "3x" tiles, put 1 stone on each tile and place 4 stones back in the Resource Supply.
The Vatican Report
There are three Vatican Report sections on the Faith Track (the spaces within the frame connected to each Pope's Favor tile). At the end of each Vatican Report section, there is a Pope space (the space indicated by the Pope symbol).
When a Faith Marker reaches (or goes beyond) a Pope space, a Vatican Report occurs.
All players simultaneously check their Faith Track. If your Faith Marker is on a space within (or beyond) the active Vatican Report section (the one related to the Pope space just reached), turn the Pope's Favor tile of that section face-up. If your Faith Marker is before the active Vatican Report section, discard the Pope's Favor tile from that section.
Each section is activated only once in the game.
At the end of the game, you will score Victory Points for all your Pope's Favor tiles facing upwards.
Example: Player A reached the first Pope space and activates the first Vatican Report. Player A and B will turn the Pope's Favor tile face-up on their Personal Board. Player C must discard it from their Personal Board.
Leader Actions
During your turn, in addition to the normal action, you can perform a Leader action.
- Discarding a Leader: you can discard a Leader Card from your hand to receive 1 Faith Point.
- Playing a Leader: If you satisfy the requirement of a Leader Card in your hand, you can play that Leader Card placing it face-up next to your Personal Board. It will give you a special ability for the rest of the game. For a detailed description of all Leaders' special abilities, see below.
You can perform both actions in the same turn, or the same action twice in the same turn.
The Leader requirements are illustrated on the top-left part of the card. They could be a specific number of Development Cards of a certain type or level (the number of dots inside the colored flag) or a specific number of Resources in your supply. To satisfy the requirements, you must simply have the items required: you don't need to pay or discard them.
In order to satisfy the requirements, count all your Development Cards, even the covered ones.
Each Leader Card shows: its requirements (top-left), the Victory Points it is worth at the end of the game, and its special ability.
Leaders Special Abilities
There are 4 different types of special abilities:
- Discount ability: When you buy a Development Card, you can pay its cost with a discount of the indicated Resource (if the card you are buying has that Resource as a cost).
- Extra depot ability: This ability gives you an extra special 2-slot depot. This special depot can only store the indicated Resources. You can also store the same type of Resource in a basic Warehouse depot.
- White marble ability: When you take Resources from the Market, each white Marble in the chosen column/row gives you the indicated Resource. If you play two Leaders with this ability, when you take Resources from the Market, you must choose which Resource to take (from those given by your Leaders) for each of the white Marbles (i.e. you can't take both Resources from a single white Marble).
- Extra production power ability: This ability gives you an additional production power. When you activate the production, you can freely use this power as usual. You will receive a Resource of your choosing and 1 Faith Point.
End of the Game
The game can end in two different ways. When a player reaches the last space of their Faith Track (activating the last Vatican Report) OR when a player buys their 7th Development Card, the end of the game is triggered. Every other player until the player sitting to the right of the first player (the player with the Inkwell) will play their last turn. Then, the game ends and players calculate how many Victory Points (VPs) they score from the following sources:
- Each Development Card you have on your Personal Board, whether it's visible or not, gives you the indicated VPs.
- The Faith Track gives you VPs depending on the final position of your Faith Marker. If your Faith Marker has reached or surpassed a space that gives VPs, you gain that number of VPs.
- The Pope's Favor tiles on your Personal Board gives you the indicated VPs.
- Each Leader Card you have played gives you the indicated VPs.
- Every set of 5 Resources of any type left in your supply (Warehouse, Strongbox, Leader's special depots) gives you 1 VP. (Add up all the Resources you have left and divide the total by 5, rounded down).
The player scoring the most VPs is the winner. In case of a tie between two or more players, the player with the most Resources left in the supply between them is the winner.
Example: With the illustrated situation, you will score 31 VPs for your Development Cards, 5 VPs for your activated Pope's Favor tiles, 9 VPs for your Faith Track status, 5 VPs for your Leader Cards, 2 VPs for your 12 remaining Resources.
Solo Mode
If you want to challenge Lorenzo il Magnifico himself, you can play Masters of Renaissance solo, with the following additional rules.
Setup
- Setup the game as usual. Set yourself as the first player.
- Place the Black Cross token on the first space of your Faith Track (together with your Faith Marker).
- Shuffle the Solo Action tokens, create a stack and place it face-down on the table.
Game Play
After each turn, you must reveal the first Solo Action token of the stack and apply the effect illustrated:
- Discard cards token (four variants, one per card color — green, blue, yellow, purple): Discard 2 Development Cards of the indicated type from the bottom of the grid, from the lowest level to the highest (if there are no more Level I cards, you must discard the Level II cards, and so on).
- Move +2 token: Move the Black Cross token forward by 2 spaces.
- Move +1 and reshuffle token: Move the Black Cross token forward by 1 space. Then, shuffle all the Solo Action tokens and create a new stack.
The Black Cross token represents the Faith Marker of Lorenzo il Magnifico. It can activate a Vatican Report as if it was a standard Faith Marker. During the Vatican Report (no matter if activated by your Faith Marker or by the Black Cross token), follow the standard rules for activating or discarding your Pope's Favor tiles.
End of the Game (Solo Mode)
A solo game can end in three different ways.
- If one type of Development Cards is no longer available in the grid (a complete column of cards has been bought or discarded), the game ends immediately. You lose the game.
- If the Black Cross token reaches the final space of your Faith Track before your Faith Marker, the game ends immediately. You lose the game.
- If your Faith Marker reaches the final space of the Faith Track (after the last Vatican Report) OR if you buy your 7th Development Card, the game ends immediately. You win the game and you can calculate your final score, as usual. What will your best score be?