Monarch
Monarch Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Components
74 cards, 12 land boards, 150 tokens, 4 reminder cards, 5 banners
74 Market Deck Cards
- 6 Unwanted Guests
- 38 Court Cards
- 8 Moons
- 22 Land Improvements
12 Land Boards
Small Village boards and Simple Farm boards.
5 Banners
Banner of Might, Banner of Wisdom, Banner of Bounty, Banner of Balance, Banner of Culture.
4 Reminder Cards
Summarize the once-per-turn and unlimited-times-per-turn actions.
Food and Gold Tokens
150 tokens total, in denominations of 5 and 1, showing an apple (food) or a coin (gold).
Setup
Shuffle the Land Boards. Deal out 9 to create a 3x3 grid in the center of the table to form the board. Place the other 3 in the box; they will not be used in this game.
Shuffle the market deck and place it next to the board. Reveal the top 5 cards to form the market row. (If you reveal any Moons, ignore, discard, and replace them with another card from the market deck.)
Place the 5 Banners above the market row. If this is your first game, however, consider playing without the Banners.
Each sister starts with 5 food and 5 gold.
The youngest sister plays first, and play continues clockwise.
Goal
Each sister aims to collect Court Cards to add to her court of wise advisors, exotic beasts, and symbolic garments. Court Cards provide Crowns (see Parts of a Court Card). The sister whose Court Cards provide the most Crowns at the end of the game will win the throne and become the next Queen.
Game End
At the end of the round in which any sister's court becomes filled with 7 Court Cards, the game is over. Players cannot have more than 7 Court Cards but they may upgrade cards during the endgame. To determine the winner, each sister adds up the Crown values of all of the Court Cards in her court, and the sister with the most Crowns wins (see How to Score on your Reminder Card).
Example: Kayla went first, Jordan went second, and Xavier went third. At the end of Xavier's turn, if any player has 7 Court Cards, the game is over and the player with the most Crowns wins.
Parts of a Court Card
Path (or Suit) — Most Court Cards are associated with a style of ruling. The Pure White Stag's path is Bounty.
Crown Value — The Crowns provided at the end of the game. All Court Cards provide Crowns.
Emblem — Special kinds of Court Cards, like beasts and garments, have emblems to help identify them.
Cost — Pay the cost (the amount of gold and food shown in the upper right corner) to acquire this card and add it to your court. Most Court Cards cost an amount of gold, but Bounty cards, like the Pure White Stag, cost both food and gold.
Ability — A card's ability often changes the number of Crowns it provides, making it more or less valuable.
Your Court
Each sister keeps her collected Court Cards in front of her, visible to the other sisters. Unwanted Guests hover annoyingly near your court, but do not count as part of the 7 court spaces. Sisters may host any number of Unwanted Guests.
Game Play
On each of your turns, you may take the following actions in any order:
- "Harvest" (gain food) OR "Tax" (gain gold)
- Acquire cards from the market row
- Sweep the market row by paying 3 gold
Example: On her turn, Hannah might acquire a Village Improvement from the market row, tax the villages, sweep the market, and then acquire two Court Cards from the market row.
Once Per Turn
Harvest or Tax — once per turn, you can either gain food by harvesting the farms or gain gold by taxing the villages on the board. You cannot do both actions during the same turn.
Harvest — If you harvest, you collect food from all of the Farms. The amount produced by each farm is the number inside the large red apple.
OR
Tax — In order to tax, you must first feed all of the Villages 1 food each. The amount of gold received from each village is the number inside the gold coin.
At the start of the game, each farm provides one food, and each village provides one gold. As they are improved, they can provide more (see Types of Cards in the Market Deck). Note that each village only ever requires 1 food to be taxed, regardless of improvements.
Without Limit
You may do either or both of these two actions as many times as you can afford.
Acquire Cards — Buy from the market row by paying a card's cost, shown in the top right corner. Add it to your court (Court Card), place it on a Land Board (Land Improvement), or send it to a sister (Unwanted Guest). Fill the empty spot in the market row by drawing a new card from the deck.
Sweep the Market — Pay 3 gold to discard all of the cards in the market row and fill their spots with 5 new cards from the market deck. This is a great option if the cards in the market row are not to your liking.
When you are done with the actions you wish to take, the next sister takes her turn.
Moons
If a Moon is revealed while filling a spot in the market row, read the Moon aloud. Resolve it immediately before doing anything else, return it to the box, fill the empty spot in the market row, and continue your turn.
Discard Pile
Discarded Unwanted Guests and swept cards are placed in the discard pile. If the market deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and use it as the market deck. Resolved Moons are returned to the box, not discarded (so they are not put in the market deck a second time).
Banners
Once per game, during her turn, a sister may choose to fly one Banner to represent her commitment to one of the 5 paths of leadership (suits): Might, Culture, Wisdom, Bounty, or Balance.
Each Banner earns its bearer bonus Crowns at the end of the game and gives her a special power to aid her attempts to become Queen.
To fly a Banner, a sister must meet the requirements described on the top of the card. She places the Banner in front of her, and it is hers for the rest of the game. It cannot be taken from her, nor can it be exchanged.
Example — Banner of Bounty: You must have at least 2 Bounty cards in your court before flying this banner. Special power: collect 2 food any time another sister harvests. Bonus Crowns: worth 1 crown for each Bounty card in your court and Bounty improvement on the board.
Types of Cards in the Market Deck
Court Cards
Court Cards represent the wise advisors, powerful allies, and symbols of strength that sisters acquire for their courts. Court Cards cost gold (or gold AND food for Bounty cards) to acquire, as shown in their upper right corner. They provide Crowns for the sister who buys them and places them in her court. However, the number of Crowns they provide can vary depending on the other cards in her court. Be sure to read Court Cards carefully.
Example: the Astronomer Court Card is usually worth 4 Crowns. If it is in a court with the Fireworks card, however, it is worth no Crowns.
"?" Court Cards
Some Court Cards will have a "?" instead of a number indicating how many Crowns they are worth. The value of these cards depends on the other cards in your court.
Example: the Tiger Pelt Court Card is worth 2 Crowns for each Might card (Court Card with a Might path) in your court and on the board. The Tiger Pelt card itself, other Might Cards in your court, and Might Land Improvements on the board all add to the Tiger Pelt's final Crown value.
Village Improvements
If a sister acquires a Village Improvement, she places it on top of a Village Board (any board that provides gold) of her choice. That village will now provide more gold when any sister taxes, and may also have a path (suit). Village Improvements can be placed atop other Village Improvements, if the gold provided is equal or greater. If any improvement cannot be placed, it can be purchased and sent to the discard pile. Only the top Village Improvement on a Village Board matters. Remember: the cost for taxing will always be 1 food per Village Board, regardless of how much gold they provide.
Farm Improvements
Farm Improvements are just like Village Improvements, except they provide food and must be placed on Farm Boards (any board that provides food). Remember: there is no cost for harvesting from the farms.
Unwanted Guests
Unwanted Guests represent obnoxious boors and frustrating meddlers who interfere with a sister's courtly matters. Unwanted Guests are acquired by a sister and immediately sent to any other sister of her choosing. They do not take up any spaces in the recipient's court, but they subtract from her Crown total at the end of the game. Some Court Cards, when acquired, allow sisters to discard an Unwanted Guest but only at the time they are acquired. Acquiring such a card is the only way sisters can get rid of Unwanted Guests.
Moons
Moons are unexpected events, good and bad, that impact Minervia. When they are revealed from the market deck, they happen immediately and are returned to the box (not discarded). Some Moons give the sisters the option of together paying food or gold. When this happens, the sisters must freely negotiate about how much, if any, they are each willing to pay to address the events set in motion by the Moon. This negotiation is open, not confidential.
Example — Hungry Moon: Each sister loses half of her food. Sisters with an odd amount keep the leftover piece. Play this card immediately and then return it to the box.
Replacing Cards in Your Court
When a sister acquires a new Court Card she may replace one of her existing Court Cards (but not an Unwanted Guest) with the new card and discard the replaced one. Since a court cannot have more than 7 cards, sisters might replace low-valued cards in a full court.
Changes for 2 Players
A few rules change when playing with only 2 players.
Land Improvements
On each of your turns you may acquire one Land Improvement from the market row at no cost. You may (as always) acquire any number of Land Improvements by paying their cost.
Banners
Over the course of the game each sister may fly 2 Banners instead of just 1. To fly a Banner, a sister must still meet the requirements shown under the title.
Banners of Bounty and Wisdom
The Banner of Bounty and the Banner of Wisdom give the sisters who hold them double the amount of food and gold printed on the original Banners.
Credits
A game by Mary Flanagan
Game Design — Mary Flanagan, Max Seidman, Zara Downs
Art — Kate Adams, Sarah Ettinger, Zara Downs, Ed Flanagan
Art Direction — Mary Flanagan
Design — Sarah Ettinger
Game Production Team — Sukie Punjasthitkul, Danielle Taylor, Jenny Yeoh-Wang, Lucas Sanford-Long, Jinny Seo, Savannah Liu, Alannah Linkhorn, Emma Marsano
Research — Geoff Kaufman
Playtesting Thanks — Myriad friends, relatives, and strangers; NYC-Playtest group; Boston Festival of Independent Games attendees; Meaningful Play, IndieCade, and Gen Con attendees
Special Thanks To — Jennifer Estaris, Angela Zhang, Naomi Clark, Farooq Ahmed, The Brown Foundation and Dora Maar House, Richard Garriott and Starr Long, Ryan LaFlamme (The Cardboard Republic), Cyrus Kirby (Fathergeek), Vincent Paone (Dad's Gaming Addiction), Robert Kalajian Jr. (Purple Pawn)
Unwanted Guests — Richard Garriott de Cayeux as the Useless Emissary, Christopher Egert as the Boorish Uncle, David McDonald as the Drunk Juggler, Jonathan Skinner as the Insistent Peddler
And all of our awesome Kickstarter backers.
Monarch and Resonym are trademarks of Mary Flanagan LLC. ©2015 Mary Flanagan LLC. Illustrations ©2015 Kate Adams. For more information visit www.playmonarch.com.