Oath of the Brotherhood Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Before the First Game
• Game Setup
• Object of the Game
• Round Overview
  • Phase 1: Replenishment
  • Phase 2: Actions
  • Phase 3: End of Round
• Game End
• Player Mat
• Locations
• Characters - Pirates (Alphabetical)
• Quick Reference
  • Board Locations
  • Exploration Cards
  • Followers
  • Player Mat Items

Contents

• 1 Board
• 5 Player Mats
• 132 Cardboard tokens:
  • 25 Equipment tokens
  • 25 Ally tokens
  • 25 Supply tokens
  • 25 Single Doubloon Coins
  • 15 Five Doubloon Coins
  • 1 First Player token
  • 1 Round token
  • 5 Toughness tokens in different colors (1 per player)
  • 10 Flag tokens in different colors (2 per player)
• 20 Cardboard Pawns:
  • 5 Pirates (1 per player)
  • 15 Mates in 5 different colors (3 per player)
• 21 Plastic Stands (for the Pirates, the Mates and the Round Token)
• 100 Cards:
  • 20 Black Market cards
  • 33 Mission cards
  • 22 Action cards
  • 15 Tavern cards
  • 10 Exploration cards

Before the First Game

Before your first game, fit each of the Pirates, the Mates and the Round token on a plastic base.

Game Setup

1. Place the board on the table. Separate the cards by category, shuffle them and place them in 5 piles by the board. Then draw a number of cards from each pile and place them face-up on the board at the appropriate places:

   • 3 Black Market cards on the Black Market
   • 3 Mission cards on the Brotherhood
   • 1 Tavern card on the Tavern

2. Place the Round token on the first space of the Round track.

3. Place the tokens (Equipment/Ally and Supply) and Doubloons in piles next to the board.

4. Each player chooses a color and gets:

   • 1 Player Mat (either at random or by choice) and the matching Pirate Pawn
   • Mates of the chosen color and Doubloons according to the number of players:

   Number of Players	Mates	Initial Doubloons
   2-3	3	3
   4-5	2	4

   • 2 Flag tokens of the chosen color, placing one in front of them and one on square 0 of the Victory Point track.

In a 5 player game, draw the first 2 Exploration cards and place them face up on the board, on their corresponding spaces (see "Watchtower" section on page 8).

Object of the Game

In Oath of the Brotherhood, the players are pirates who want to join the Brotherhood. In order to prove their worth, they take on Missions from the Brotherhood which, when fulfilled, grant them Victory Points (VP). After a few rounds, the player with the most VP is the winner.

Round Overview

The game is played in a series of rounds depending on the number of players.

Number of Players	Rounds
2-3	7
4-5	10

Each round consists of 3 phases:

1. Replenishment
2. Actions
3. End of Round

Phase 1: Replenishment

Skip this phase during the 1st round.

In the Replenishment phase of every round perform the following:

• Advance the Round token by one space on the Round track.
• Discard the available Mission cards in the Brotherhood and draw 3 new ones to replace them.
• Discard the Tavern card from the previous Round (if it is still on the board) and draw a new one to replace it.
• If there is a card in the single-Doubloon space on the Black Market, discard it. Then slide each remaining card to the right-most available space. Draw new cards from the Black Market pile to fill the empty spaces.
• Restore all Followers to their upright position.

Abilities that occur at the beginning of a round (for example "Royal" Morgan's and "Skillful" Ben's abilities) also take effect during this Phase.

Phase 2: Actions

The player with the First Player token takes one of his pawns (either a Pirate or a Mate) and places it on a location on the board, in one of the circular spaces. He then performs the ability listed on that location (see Locations on page 6). When he is done, it is the turn of the player on his left to play. Similarly, he takes one of his own pawns, places it on an available space at a location on the board and performs its ability.

When a player puts one of his pawns on a location where there is already another player's pawn, he has to "fight" him to get a chance to perform the ability. As a result he loses 1 Toughness (see Player Mat on page 6). When a player has 0 Toughness, he can't place one of his pawns on a location with another player.

If there are no available spaces at a location on the board, a player cannot place one of his pawns there.

Example: It is the 2nd round of the game. John has the First Player token so he plays first. He places one of his mates on the Blacksmith in order to take one Equipment token. Mike, the player on his left, plays next. Mike also wants one Equipment token so he places one of his mates on the second space of the Blacksmith. However, since John's pawn is already there, he loses 1 Toughness by moving the Toughness token on his Player Mat one space to the left. Laura, the player after Mike, cannot place one of her pawns at the Blacksmith's location - there are no available spaces - so she has to choose one of the other locations.

Play continues this way until all players have used all of their pawns. The phase is then over and players proceed to the End of Round.

Phase 3: End of Round

During this phase all players take back their pawns from the board and place them next to their Player Mats. After everyone has done so, the round is over and the next round begins.

Game End

At the end of the 7th round (if playing with 2 or 3 players) or the 10th round (if playing with 4 or 5 players) the game ends.

When that happens the players each have one last chance to complete one of their Missions - they discard the required tokens from their Player Mat and gain the amount of Victory Points listed on the card.

Then they check the table below to see if they gain any Bonus Victory Points. Each of these points can go to only one player. If there is a tie, no player gains the bonus.

Condition	Bonus VP
The player who completed the most Missions	1
The player with the most Doubloons	1
The player with the most tokens on his Player Mat	1
The player with the most Followers	1
The player with the highest Toughness	1

The player with the most Victory Points is the winner.

In case of a tie, the winner among those tied is the player who completed the most Missions. If there is still a tie, the winner is the player with the most Doubloons and if there is still a tie, the winner is the player with the most tokens on his Player Mat. In the rare case that 2 or more players are still tied, they all get a shared Victory!

Example: It is the end of the 7th round and John, Mike and Laura just finished their game with 25, 24 and 21 points respectively. However, Laura has one more Mission card in her hand which she can complete. She discards the required tokens and gains 4 more points to put her at 25 VP. They then check the table with the end game Conditions and Bonus Victory Points. John and Mike have completed 5 Missions while Laura completed 6. This gives her another VP getting her to 26. John ended the game with 1 Doubloon while Mike and Laura had 3. Since they are tied for the most Doubloons no one gets that bonus. John ends up getting the bonus for the most tokens on his Player Mat (he has 2 while the other two have just 1) and the bonus for the most Followers (he has 3 while Mike and Laura have 2 and 1 respectively). Finally, Mike gets the bonus for highest Toughness since he finished the game with 3 while John and Laura had only 1. The final score is John 27, Mike 25 and Laura 26. John wins the game and gets to become a member of the Brotherhood of Pirates!

Player Mat

All players have a Player Mat in front of them to help them keep track of their progress.

Player Mat consists of:

1. The pirate's name.
2. The pirate's ability / starting bonus.
3. The Toughness Track. Players use a Toughness token to track their current Toughness. At the beginning of the game all players start with 3 Toughness.
4. The benefits gained by gathering the various resources. There are 3 resources in the game: Equipment, Allies and Supplies. Whenever a player gets one of these resources, its token is placed on one of the 4 corresponding spaces. Depending on where exactly it is placed, the player gains a special benefit. See the last pages of the rules for a detailed explanation of what benefit each item provides.

Each place on the Player Mat can fit just one token. If for example a player has a Sword - having placed an Equipment token on that space - he cannot put another token on top of it. If he gains another Equipment token he will have to place it somewhere else.

The boat: If a player already has 4 tokens of the same resource and he gains another one, he may put it on the boat. That does not grant him any additional benefit, it is just used to store the extra token. The boat can hold at most one token of each resource. That means that a player may never have more than 5 tokens of the same resource in total. If he has 5 tokens and gains one more due to an ability, that token is lost. Also, tokens are never allowed to move between spaces on the Player Mat.

The various resource tokens are also used to complete Missions given by the Brotherhood. When a player wants to complete a Mission (usually when using the ability of the Brotherhood location), he just discards the required tokens from his Player Mat.

When a token is discarded, the player loses the benefit provided with that token.

Locations

There are 10 locations on the board that the players can visit. Each location has an ability that is activated when a pawn is placed there.

Blacksmith, Bazaar, Docks: At each of those locations a player gets a resource token - Supply, Equipment and Ally respectively - which he places on his Player Mat.

Beach: At this location a player gets to draw an Action card.

Action cards are kept secret from the other players. They can be played any time during the player's turn and their effect is applied immediately. There is no limit to how many Action cards a player may have in his hand.

Black Market: At this location a player pays the cost shown on the board above the Black Market card and gains the resource tokens and/or Action cards it provides.

After a player gets the resource tokens or Action cards depicted on it, the Black Market card is discarded.

Bridge: At this location a player gains 2 Doubloons.

Brotherhood: At this location a player may complete a Mission from his hand, get a new one from those available or do both.

In order to complete a Mission the player reveals the Mission card, discards from his Player Mat the required resource tokens and pays the amount of Doubloons listed, if any. He then gains the Victory Points depicted on the card (advancing his flag token along the VP track) as well as any additional benefits that may be listed. If he already has one of those benefits, he just ignores it. The Mission card is kept face up, near the player's Player Mat.

In order to get a new Mission, the player chooses one of the available Mission cards on the board and takes it in his hand. The Mission cards remain hidden and no other player may see them. There is no limit to how many Mission cards a player may have in his hand. However, each time he uses the Brotherhood's ability he may only complete 1 Mission and/or get 1 new one and in that exact order - first he completes and then he gets a new one.

Inn: At this location a player gains 2 Toughness. If that would make him go above 5 Toughness, he remains at 5.

Unlike what happens at other locations, the 2nd player to put a pawn at this location does not lose any Toughness.

Tavern: At this location a player pays 1 Doubloon and gains the Follower depicted on the Tavern card.

When a player gains a Follower, he places the card next to his Player Mat. That Follower grants him a specific ability. In most cases, in order to use a Follower's ability, the player must place a pawn at a specific location. For example, Liveaux the "Wasp" may only be used when visiting the Blacksmith, in which case the player will get to use both the Blacksmith's and Liveaux's abilities.

In order to use a Follower, turn the card sideways 90 degrees. A Follower that is turned may not be used again in the same round.

Two of the Followers ("Skillful" Ben and "Royal" Morgan) do not state any location. Their ability is always on.

There is no limit to the Followers a player may have. A list with all the Followers and their abilities can be found at the last pages of this rulebook.

Watchtower: At this location a player gets the First Player token and also draws an Exploration card.

The First Player token will allow the player to play first in the next round. The Exploration cards show new locations on the board, each one with its own ability.

When a player draws an Exploration card, he immediately places it on the board, over the space it shows. The location shown on it becomes available for the players and shall be treated exactly the same as all the existing ones.

A list with the abilities of all the Exploration cards can be found at the end of this rulebook.

Characters - Pirates (Alphabetical)

Edward Mansfield - The "Lord": A Pirate of noble origin. He was born in England to a noble man and an innkeeper's daughter. Noble life was not his style and he decided to sail away with his great fortune. He favours Tortuga and Port Royal.

Ability: Start the game with 2 additional Doubloons. Whenever you complete a Mission, ignore 2 Doubloon symbols from those required.

Marie Le Monde - The "Gunner": A Pirate's daughter. Marie followed in her father's footsteps and secretly plundered commercial ships belonging to her husband. Her unsuspecting husband still gives her access to his shipping manifests. With her French beauty and love of guns, she is as irresistible to men as she is dangerous.

Ability: Start the game with an Ally token. Whenever you complete a Mission, ignore one Ally token from those required.

Nevis Jackson - The "Black Hawk": Originated from the Caribbean island Nevis. Scary at first sight, but fair to his prisoners. He cut off his own hand to escape from prison and had a blacksmith forge a replacement Hawk-like hook for his arm. This gives him great strength and toughness to defeat his opponents.

Ability: Start the game with 2 additional Toughness. Whenever you complete a Mission, you gain 1 more VP.

Rodrigo de Cortez - The "Conquistador": A natural born wanderer and explorer. Born in Spain, he always challenges an enemy Captain to a fencing battle to the death. He constantly travels in order to conquer anything that will bring him fame and gold.

Ability: Start the game with an Equipment token. Whenever you complete a Mission, ignore one Equipment token from those required.

William Mc Graves - The "Red Ale": Scottish Graves wears his traditional kilt all the time. His passion for Red Ale gave him his nickname. Like all his ancestors he is fond of storing supplies and his ship is always full of Rum, Water, Food and Gunpowder. After each battle he always plays his bagpipes.

Ability: Start the game with a Supply token. Whenever you complete a Mission, ignore one Supply token from those required.

Quick Reference

Board Locations

• Bazaar: Gain 1 Supply token.
• Beach: Draw an Action card.
• Black Market: Pay a card's cost in Doubloons and gain what is depicted on it. The card's cost is printed on the board, above the space the card sits on.
• Blacksmith: Gain 1 Equipment token.
• Bridge: Gain 2 Doubloons.
• Brotherhood: You may complete and/or draw a Mission.
• Docks: Gain 1 Ally token.
• Inn: Gain 2 Toughness.
• Tavern: Pay 1 Doubloon and gain the current Tavern card as a Follower.
• Watchtower: Gain the First Player token, then draw an Exploration card and place it on the board.

Exploration Cards

• Ancient Temple: Lose 1 Toughness to gain 1 Equipment token and 1 Doubloon.
• Arena: Lose 1 Toughness to gain 3 Doubloons.
• Cave: Lose 3 Toughness to gain 1 Equipment token, 1 Ally token and 1 Supply token.
• Corsair Tower: Gain 1 Ally token or 1 Equipment token.
• Hideout: Gain 1 Equipment token or 1 Supply token.
• Hut: Gain 1 Ally token or 1 Supply token.
• Old Port: Lose 1 Toughness to gain 1 Ally token and 1 Doubloon.
• Shipwreck: Lose 1 Toughness to gain 1 Supply token and 1 Doubloon.
• Thieves Den: Pay 2 Doubloons to gain 2 Equipment tokens, 2 Ally tokens or 2 Supply tokens.
• Witch: Pay 1 Doubloon and gain 3 Toughness.

Followers

• "Anchor" Josh (Docks): Gain 1 Ally token.
• "Boa" Bill (Bazaar): Pay 1 Ally token to gain 1 Supply token and 1 Equipment token.
• "Chatty" Sylvia (Inn): Gain 1 Food or 1 Water.
• Dollar the Accountant (Bazaar): Gain 1 Supply token.
• Emanuel "Goldtooth" (Black Market): You pay 1 Doubloon less at the Black Market.
• James "Tipster" (Docks): Pay 1 Equipment token to gain 1 Ally token and 1 Supply token.
• Liveaux the "Wasp" (Blacksmith): Gain 1 Equipment token.
• Maggie the "Mermaid" (Beach): Draw an Action card.
• Mister Billion (Brotherhood): Whenever you complete a Mission gain 1 additional VP.
• Oliver the "Tree" (Bridge): Gain 2 Doubloons.
• "Openeye" Roy (Blacksmith): Pay 1 Supply token to gain 1 Equipment token and 1 Ally token.
• "Royal" Morgan: At the beginning of every round gain 1 Toughness.
• "Skillful" Ben: At the beginning of every round gain 1 Doubloon.

Player Mat Items

Items that are discarded may only be used once per turn (even if you get another copy of the item in the same turn), before or after you place your pawn.

Equipment

• Sword: When you use your Pirate pawn to enter a location already occupied by another player, you do not lose 1 Toughness (nor a Doubloon if the other player has a Pistol).
• Pistol: When another player enters a location occupied by one of your pawns, you may have that player pay you 1 Doubloon (instead of losing 1 Toughness). If he has no Doubloons then he cannot enter the location and must select a different location to move to.
• Spyglass: Whenever you draw an Exploration card, look at the top 2 cards and choose the one you want. You may place it on the board at the beginning of your next turn. Put the other card at the bottom of the deck.
• Sextant: Whenever you draw an Action card, look at the top 3 cards and choose the one you want. Put the others at the bottom of the deck.

Allies

• Gunner: When another player enters a location occupied by one of your pawns, that player may not use any Followers.
• First Mate: Discard to move your Pirate pawn to an empty location and perform its ability.
• Parrot: Discard to complete a Mission without having to go to the Brotherhood (you still have to fulfill its requirements).
• Monkey: When you place your Pirate pawn on a location already occupied by another player, you may discard this token to steal an Equipment or Supply token from that player (you gain the exact resource that player had).

Supplies

• Gunpowder: Discard to remove all pawns from one location. Their controller(s) lose 1 Toughness for each of their pawns you remove. Leave these pawns on the side of the board - they may not be used again in the same round.
• Rum: You do not pay any Doubloons when using the Tavern.
• Food: Discard to get +2 Toughness.
• Water: Whenever you use one of your Mates, you may have him perform the same action that another one of your Mates performed earlier in the same round (place the new Mate next to the previous one on the board, without using any of the spaces. You do not lose Toughness or a Doubloon if another player's pawn is also there).