Orléans Stories
Orléans: Stories Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
5 double-sided Beneficial Deeds: Alchemy / Alchemy, Wine Press / Weaving Loom, Barter / Knights' Alliance, Feeding of the Poor / Constructing of the Orphanage, Three-field Crop Rotation / Right of Succession
1 large gameboard 1 Marketplace board 29 double-sided Area tiles: Terrains / Villages — 5x Forest, 4x Hills, 4x Meadow, 6x Field, 6x Lake, 4x Village 1 starting player token 12 Churches 126 Follower tiles (18 per type): Farmer, Fisherman, Craftsman, Trader, Knight, Scholar, Monk 18 Technology tiles 24 Place tiles 64 coins 184 Goods tiles: 40x Wood, 36x Grain, 30x Cheese, 24x Fish, 20x Wine, 12x Bread, 12x Wool, 10x Brocade 1 storage box 4 cloth bags
For each player (in his color):
- 1 player board
- 12 Settlers
- 5 Fortresses
- 6 base Place tiles
Additional components for the story "The First Kingdom": 1 Control board 1 Era board 1 "Hunger eliminated" tile 1 "Plague eliminated" tile 10 Narration cards 1 double-sided Beneficial Deed: Food Depot / Medicine 1 Task pad
For each player: 3 marking cubes in his color, 2 Prohibition tiles in his color, 1 story booklet "The First Kingdom", 1 pencil
Additional components for the story "The King's Favor": 13 Fame tiles 4 Season cards
For each player: 1 story booklet "The King's Favor", 2 Favorite tiles in his color
About the Structure of the Rules
Orléans Stories provides new stories set in the medieval world of Orléans. If you already know the game of Orléans, you'll recognize many rules; however, Orléans Stories is a new, stand-alone game with new rules. Furthermore, each story has its own objectives and rules.
In order for you to learn the game quickly and completely without having to read anything twice, the instructions are subdivided into 4 sections:
1. The Orléans bag-building system: If you are unfamiliar with Orléans, first read this section (pp. 4-5). It familiarizes you with the rules of the Orléans bag-building system. If you know Orléans already, you can skip this section or read only the comments tagged with a marker.
Note: Even though most terms and rules of the bag-building system are identical in Orléans and Orléans Stories, there are differences at some points that we have made because of thematic plausibility or have altered for the sake of the new game mechanisms. This is tagged with a marker.
2. The basic rules for all stories: In the "Stories" section (pp. 6-13), you find the basic rules for the stories. The rules and the basic actions explained there apply to all stories.
3. The story rules: Each story has additional special rules that are explained in the section for that story. This is where you find also the additional components needed for the story and the set-up. This rulebook includes the rules for the two stories "The First Kingdom" (pp. 14-18) and "The King's Favor" (pp. 19-22).
4. The story booklet: The story booklet helps you to keep track during the game. Here you find everything you need for a game: the special conditions of an era, plus overviews, e.g., regarding the Place tiles available and the bonuses on the Fame track. Sometimes, you need the story booklet also for sending out goods or followers.
Orléans Bag-building System
The Orléans bag-building system requires predetermined combinations of Follower tiles in order to trigger actions.
This happens in four phases:
- Drawing followers
- Planning
- Carrying out actions
- Changing the starting player
Note: Before a game begins, you always need to determine a starting player; he gets the starting player token.
Drawing Followers
You always start with a predetermined number and combination of Follower tiles that you put in your cloth bag and mix well. Later on, more followers might be added.
In the first phase, you draw tiles out of the Followers bag and place them on the village green (in Orléans, this area is called "Market"). Each player draws as many tiles out of his Followers bag as he is allowed to (this is regulated differently depending on the current game or story) – but no more than the number of tiles it takes to completely fill the green.
Note: Since followers that have not been placed are allowed to stay on the village green, it can happen that you have fewer free spaces left than you may draw followers.
Planning
All players start planning simultaneously. To this end, you place followers from the green on the Action spaces of the places where you want to carry out actions. You may leave Follower tiles on your green and place them in a subsequent round. Once done, each player declares he has finished his planning; from then on, he may no longer make any changes. In case of doubt, this is done clockwise in turn, beginning with the starting player.
Followers always have to be placed on the corresponding Action spaces. As soon as all Action spaces of a place are occupied, the action is considered activated and can be carried out in the Action phase. It is not mandatory to completely fill all Action spaces of a place during the Planning phase; but in this case, the respective actions are not yet activated. In order to activate them, you can occupy the still-vacant Action spaces in a subsequent round.
Carrying out Actions
Actions can be carried out in all activated places – that means in places where all Action spaces are occupied. Beginning with the starting player, players, clockwise in turn, carry out one action or pass. If you pass, you can't carry out any more actions in the current round. After you have carried out an action, you immediately put the followers used for it back into your Followers bag. Any followers you gain are also immediately put into your bag, whereas you add goods, coins or Technology tiles to your personal supply.
Note: Technology tiles remain on the Action space until the end of the game.
You may carry out your actions in any order. An action in an activated place does not necessarily have to be carried out. You may pass anytime, even if you could carry out more actions. The Action phase goes on until all players have passed. Once somebody passes, the Action phase ends for him and cannot be resumed. After the Action phase, all followers that have not been used for an action stay in place.
Changing the Starting Player
The current starting player passes the starting player token to his left neighbor.
Places
Each place represents a specific action. The player boards already contain the key places for each player. More Place tiles with actions might be added over the course of the game. Actions can be carried out once they have been activated (i.e., all Action spaces of that place are occupied). When an action is carried out, all Follower tiles required for this (not the Technology tiles!) are immediately removed and put back into the player's Followers bag.
Technology
Depending on the game or the story, players can obtain Technology tiles in a number of ways. A Technology tile may be placed on any Action space, permanently taking the place of a follower there. The Technology tile stays there until the end of the game and is not put into the Followers bag after an action has been carried out.
The following rules apply:
- When you obtain a Technology tile, you first deposit it on or next to your player board. You may place it on an Action space only when all players have passed.
- You may keep a Technology tile as long as you like – i.e., "park" it on your player board – before you place it.
- It may be placed on an Action space anytime, but never during the Action phase.
- A Technology tile may never substitute for a Monk.
- You may place no more than one Technology tile in each place.
- You may never place Technology tiles in places with only one Action space.
- After being placed, Technology tiles may not be relocated anymore.
(Unlike in the game of Orléans, the first Technology tile a player obtains does not have to be used solely for substituting for a farmer.)
Permitted/Prohibited
You may check your own followers anytime; that means looking into your Followers bag and counting how many tiles of each type are in there. (After this check, mix the contents of the bag with your hand so that you don't give the impression that you have looked at the contents in order to draw certain tiles deliberately.)
Placed followers: May you relocate followers once you have placed them? No, but you can – in the "Drawing followers" phase – put previously-placed followers back onto the village green if you reduce the number of Follower tiles that you draw out of the bag accordingly. (Example: Steven may draw 6 followers; he puts 2 followers from Action spaces back onto the green. Now he may draw another 4 followers out of his bag.)
Beneficial Deeds
Beneficial Deeds are common tasks. Each player can send followers and/or goods, coins or Technology tiles there and receives a certain bonus in return. The types of followers required for the Beneficial Deeds can never be substituted by others (e.g., by monks). You always have to place exactly the followers indicated on a space. The sent-out followers remain on the Beneficial Deed they were placed on until the end of the game.
Monks
Monks take on a kind of joker function. A monk can substitute for any other character. (The inverse does not hold: A monk can never be substituted by a different character or by a Technology tile.)
Orléans Stories
Orléans Stories is a game based on the Orléans bag-building system. It contains various stories.
Certain general rules, described in the following, apply to all stories. These rules are supplemented by the special rules for the respective story you find in the section for this story.
What's unusual about Orléans Stories is that parameters can change during the course of the game. Depending on the era you are in, some parameters can be different – e.g., differing Fame points for Building actions or varying numbers of followers you are allowed to draw.
Each story comes with a story booklet that lists the special parameters of the eras. While you are playing, put the story booklet near you so that you can look up things anytime and thus have some understanding about the current era. Additionally, the story booklet serves to inform you about the upcoming eras, so that you are able to prepare your strategy for them.
General Set-up
Note: Whenever you are going to play a story, proceed as follows: To begin with, set everything up as described here in the "General Set-up." After that, go to the story page and complement the set-up as described there.
- Lay out the large gameboard.
- Depending on the number of players, pick out the following Area tiles:
- 2 players: 2x hills (wine), 2x meadow (cheese), 3x forest (wood), 3x lake (fish), 3x field (grain), 2x village
- 3 players: 3x hills (wine), 3x meadow (cheese), 4x forest (wood), 5x lake (fish), 5x field (grain), 3x village
- 4 players: 4x hills (wine), 4x meadow (cheese), 5x forest (wood), 6x lake (fish), 6x field (grain), 4x village
Note: The front side of most Area tiles shows a terrain, the back, a village. Four Area tiles show a village on both sides. In the 4-player game, use these tiles to mark your starting villages.
- First distribute the villages onto the areas that are marked according to the applicable number of players; these are your starting villages. Now turn over the chosen Area tiles with the terrains so that the village side of each is facing up, and mix them thoroughly. Then distribute the mixed tiles onto the gameboard areas reserved for the applicable number of players and turn them over so that now the terrain side is facing up.
- With 2 players, occupy only the light areas in the middle.
- With 3 players, occupy the light and the medium brown areas in the bottom and the middle.
- With 4 players, occupy all areas.
- Lay out the Marketplace board. This is where the available goods, followers, and Technology tiles will be placed later on. How many, depends on the story; you'll learn about it in the story rules.
- Take the storage box with the tiles out of the game box.
Note: Before the first game, fill the compartments with Goods tiles, Follower tiles, and Technology tiles, so that each kind has its own compartment.
The tiles in the storage box serve as the common supply for the game. These tiles cannot be obtained through actions. Only the tiles that are lying on the Marketplace board are available during the game.
- Put the Place tiles, sorted by categories I, II, and III, next to the gameboard.
- Lay the Beneficial Deeds Wine Press, Three-field Crop Rotation, Feeding of the Poor, Barter, and Alchemy (each with their A-side facing up) on the table.
Note: Depending on the story, it can happen that a few Place tiles or Beneficial Deeds have to be removed.
- Put the coins and the churches as supplies on the table, easily accessible to everybody. (Coins can also be kept in any free compartments of the storage box.)
- Give one cloth bag to each player, plus, in the chosen color: 1 player board, 12 settlers, 5 fortresses, 6 base Place tiles.
- Put your player board in front of you. Lay settlers and fortresses next to your board. To begin with, place the 6 base Place tiles face down next to your board. They cannot be used in the beginning; only later, as the game progresses, will you be allowed to reveal and use them. Exactly when this will be is written in the story booklet.
- The youngest player becomes the starting player; he gets the starting player token. Now each player chooses one village on the gameboard where he wants to start – in reverse order: The player who will be the last to go in the first round is the first to pick a village and place one of his settlers there. And so on, counter-clockwise, back to the starting player, who is the last to determine and occupy his starting village.
The Basic Actions on the Player Board
Each player board shows the village green at the bottom, where you place followers you have drawn, plus nine places with basic actions that are explained in the following:
Territory: Here you can expand, i.e., enhance your territory. To this end, you place a settler from your supply on an unoccupied Area tile that is adjacent to an area you control (i.e., an area that already has one of your settlers). In order to expand, you need two farmers and one fisherman. Alternatively, you can also place knights.
If you want to expand but don't have any settlers left in your supply, you have to take one of your already-placed settlers.
You can also use this action for conquering areas that are controlled by other settlers. In this case, you have to place knights, though. The detailed rules regarding expansion and conquest are described under "Expansion Rules" below.
Village: You use this action to build a village. The prerequisite is that you control at least one terrain. If you control several terrain areas, you can choose where to build the village. Then you turn over the Area tile on the chosen area so that the village side of the tile is facing up. Now the terrain side is facing down so you can no longer generate any goods on this area. The settler stays on this area.
In order to build a village, you have to place a farmer and a craftsman and also a Wood tile on the corresponding Action spaces. When you carry out the action, you remove the wood and put it back into the storage box.
Note: Wood tiles are needed for all Building actions; see also the specific rules under "Building Actions."
Terrain: Here you generate goods. For each terrain you control, you obtain 1 Goods tile of the applicable kind.
Example: Julia has 4 settlers on areas with the terrains "Hills," "Forest," and, twice, "Lake." With the "Terrain" action, she obtains 1 wine, 1 wood, and 2 fish.
The goods are taken from the marketplace. If a good you would get through this action is currently unavailable, you can't get this good. The "Terrain" action can also be carried out if it doesn't give you any good.
Building yard: At the building yard, you can extend your possibilities for action. You may pick a Place tile. There are Place tiles in the categories I, II, and III; which of them are currently available is written in the story rules.
Mill: At the mill, you can recruit either a farmer or a trader. You take the chosen character from the marketplace and immediately put him – along with the followers for the activation – into your cloth bag. If there is neither a trader nor a farmer available at the marketplace, you cannot carry out this action.
Cottage: At the cottage, you can recruit either a fisherman or a craftsman. You take the chosen character from the marketplace and immediately put him – along with the followers for the activation – into your cloth bag. If there is neither a fisherman nor a craftsman available at the marketplace, you cannot carry out this action.
Market: When you activate the market, you can trade. You can either sell one of your goods or buy a good that is available at the marketplace. The price for the good is printed on the Marketplace board. If you sell, you receive the appropriate price in coins; if you buy, you pay the appropriate price in coins.
The number of goods that can be traded per action depends on the number of villages you control.
Note: At the beginning, each player controls 1 village (his starting village) and thus can trade a maximum of 1 good.
If you control 4 villages, for example, you can trade up to 4 goods per action; the order, type, and number of each kind as well as the purchase and sale can be combined in any way. You could, for instance, first sell 1 wool for 4 coins, then buy 1 wood for 2 coins, and finally sell 2 fish for 1 coin each. You are also allowed to trade less than the permitted maximum number of goods.
Ropery: The ropery gives you 1 coin; put it into your supply.
Portal: The portal is not activated by certain followers, but you use it to send followers, goods, money or Technology tiles to Beneficial Deeds or to your own tasks. Take followers from the village green, goods, money and Technology tiles from your own supply and put them on the spaces of the portal during the Planning phase (you cannot place Technology tiles on Action spaces at this time). Each space may hold only 1 tile.
Note: Money is considered one tile when it is sent to a space (of a Beneficial Deed or a task). To simplify matters, you may put money on a space of the portal in any denomination (e.g., five "1"-coins instead of one "5"-coin).
In order for you to carry out the Sending action, at least one space of the portal must be occupied; it is not obligatory to occupy both spaces.
If both spaces are occupied, the tiles cannot be sent out together. The sending process is always done in two different actions – in the same or in different rounds.
If you want to take followers back from the portal, you put these back onto the village green during the "Drawing followers" phase and draw accordingly fewer followers out of the bag. At the end of a round, you may always put goods, money or Technology tiles back into your supply.
The Base Place Tiles
Players get the following six additional base Place tiles during the course of the game:
University: At the university, you can recruit a scholar. You take the scholar from the marketplace and immediately put him – along with the followers for the activation – into your cloth bag. If there is no scholar available at the marketplace, you cannot carry out this action.
Castle: At the castle, you can recruit a knight. You take the knight from the marketplace and immediately put him – along with the followers for the activation – into your cloth bag. If there is no knight available at the marketplace, you cannot carry out this action.
Monastery: At the monastery, you can recruit a monk. You take the monk from the marketplace and immediately put him – along with the followers for the activation – into your cloth bag. If there is no monk available at the marketplace, you cannot carry out this action.
Important: The Action spaces of the monastery may never be occupied with a Technology tile.
Laboratory: With the help of the laboratory, you can generate a Technology tile. You take the Technology tile from the marketplace and put it in your supply for the time being. If there is no Technology tile available at the marketplace, you cannot carry out this action.
After the Action phase (i.e., after all players have passed), you may place the Technology tile on an Action space. You may also place it anytime later, but not during the Action phase. For this, the general rules for Technology tiles apply (see "Technology" above).
Important: The Action spaces of the laboratory may never be occupied with a Technology tile.
Fortress: With this action, you build a fortress. You take one fortress in your color and place it on an area that you alone control, i.e., this area may contain only one of your own settlers and not another player's settler (see also "Expansion Rules" below).
In this context, whether the area is a terrain or a village doesn't play a role. A terrain with a fortress may still be administered. Areas with a fortress may not be controlled by other settlers anymore. But a fortress alone doesn't yet control the area; it is controlled only when a settler is on it.
If a settler leaves an area with a fortress, this area is without control, but it cannot be taken over by another settler. Only the player who has built the fortress may resume control of that area later on by moving one of his settlers there.
To build a fortress, besides having a knight there, you have to put a Wood tile on the corresponding Action space. When carrying out the action, you remove the wood and put it back into the storage box.
Note: Wood tiles are needed for all Building actions; see also the specific rules under "Building Actions."
Church: With this action, you build a church. To do so, you take one church from the common supply and place it on a village you control.
Note: Churches can be built in a village only; they are placed on the space for the church.
Each village may contain only one church. If an area is controlled by several settlers, each of these has the possibility to build the church there.
To build a church, besides having followers there, you have to put a Wood tile on the corresponding Action space. When carrying out the action, you remove the wood and put it back into the storage box.
Note: Wood tiles are needed for all Building actions; see also the specific rules under "Building Actions."
Building Actions
All Building actions require wood. To this end, you put a Wood tile from your own supply on the corresponding space. When carrying out the action, you put the Follower tiles back into the bag and remove the Wood tile from the game (back into the storage box).
Building actions always give you immediate Fame points that you record on the Fame track. The Fame points for Building actions can differ depending on the era.
A Technology tile may never be used instead of wood.
Goods, Followers, Technology Tiles, and Coins
Once they have been used up or sold, all goods – wood, brocade, wool, wine, bread, cheese, grain, and fish – are always removed from the game, i.e., put back into the storage box.
Goods, Technology tiles, and followers that are sent out to Beneficial Deeds remain there until the Beneficial Deed has been filled. After that, they are removed from the game.
Coins used for payment are put back into the common supply. Coins on Beneficial Deeds stay put until the Beneficial Deed has been filled; after that, they are put back into the common supply. The number of coins is not limited; if there are no coins left, you can make do with other items for replacement.
The Eras
The eras are the core of the stories. Each era has specific rules and conditions. The applicable story booklet gives you an overview of the conditions in an era.
The following conditions can change from one era to the next:
- Number of followers you may draw: Keep in mind that the number of followers you are allowed to draw each round can change from one era to the next.
- Available Place tiles: The more advanced an era is (higher number), the more (and more valuable) Place tiles may be acquired. Initially, you have access only to Place tiles of category I. Later on, there are also Place tiles of categories II and III; but of course, you may also acquire Place tiles of a lower category.
- Activated actions: In some eras, new base Place tiles (put aside at the beginning) are activated. Lay them out face up.
- Forbidden actions: In some eras, certain actions cannot be carried out. Then put a Prohibition tile as a marker on the applicable place. You may still place followers on the Action spaces of forbidden actions (for instance, in order to use them as soon as the prohibition is lifted when you advance to a higher era), but you may not carry out the action in the current era.
- Fame points for Building actions: Right after building, you always get immediate Fame points; these points can differ in each era.
- Bonus / Malus for the round: Once all players have passed, you receive a bonus for the round (e.g., 1 coin per village). In some cases, you have to pay a malus (penalty).
Important: After all players have passed, a bonus is awarded for the round. Any Fame points are recorded on the Fame track and thus might trigger bonuses. Only after that does the starting player change and the round end.
- Condition for advancement: In most cases, there is a prerequisite in order to advance to a higher era. It either has to be fulfilled beforehand or must be fulfilled at the moment of advancement. Sometimes you even have to fulfill several conditions.
Any further special rules and conditions are explained in the story rules or in the story booklet.
Beneficial Deeds
Beneficial Deeds are common tasks. You can send out goods, money, Technology tiles or followers through the Portal (see also "Portal") in order to receive an immediate bonus, e.g., coins or Fame points.
When a Beneficial Deed is completed, the tiles placed on it are immediately removed (and put back into the storage box) and it is turned over to its B-side, so that another Beneficial Deed is available. Once a Beneficial Deed (side B) has been completed, it is removed from the game for good.
Special Beneficial Deeds are: Barter, Knights' Alliance, and Alchemy.
Barter: If you send a tile to the Barter, you may, as a bonus, swap any one of your own goods for any good of another player. Your good and the other good may not be placed on an Action space.
Knights' Alliance: If you send a tile to the Knights' Alliance, you may, as a bonus, remove a follower placed on another player's Action space. That player has to put the follower back into his bag. This makes any activated action inactive so that it cannot be carried out.
Alchemy: You may send out any followers. You get a bonus of either 2 Fame points or 3 coins (your choice). In addition, you may immediately draw a new Follower tile out of your bag and place it on an Action space or on the village green. If this activates actions, these actions can still be carried out in the current round. (This way, it is possible that actions can be activated and carried out even multiple times in a round.)
Fame Track
The Fame track serves to record Fame points that you get in different ways, e.g., through the bonus for a round in an era, for a delivery (see below) or for Building actions. Every time you enter or cross a marked space on the Fame track, you receive a bonus. You'll find an overview of the Fame track bonuses in the current story booklet.
Delivery
Delivery means that you can give up goods and receive Fame points in return. The maximum number of Goods tiles depends on the number of villages that you can supply – which villages and what goods, you can learn from the current story booklet.
Expansion Rules
The "Territory" on your player board enables you to carry out the actions "Expansion" and "Conquest." The latter is a special kind of expansion. Beyond this, there is another special kind of expansion that becomes possible only after a peace agreement.
Expansion: You can always expand to an area that is adjacent to an area you control. An area is considered controlled if a Settler figure is standing there. You can principally expand only into unoccupied areas, and only one settler is allowed in each area, except following a peace agreement (see below). If an area is already controlled by another settler, you cannot expand into this area.
Conquest: Once you have knights, you can also conquer areas, i.e., expand into areas that are controlled by other settlers, and oust them. If you place only 1 knight, you can conquer terrains only, i.e., areas with an Area tile whose terrain side is facing up. If you place at least 2 knights, you can conquer a terrain as well as another player's village.
In this case, the other player's Settler figure is taken away from the applicable area and given back to its owner who puts it back into his supply. (Later on, he can place it again, using the "Territory" action.) The player who has conquered the area places his own settler there.
Important: In a conquest, you are required to place knights; other followers with a joker function (e.g., monks) cannot take their place. Technology tiles are not considered as knights either, of course.
Note: When placing knights in the "Territory," you don't necessarily have to stage a conquest, of course; you may also simply expand into an as yet unoccupied area.
Protection through fortresses: You can protect an area by building a fortress. This area may no longer be controlled by other settlers.
Peace agreement: "Peace agreement" is a special rule according to which you allow another player to expand into areas controlled by your own settlers. If, in such a case, the other player expands into an area controlled by your settler, your settler is not removed, and the new settler joins yours in that area. From then on, the area is controlled by both settlers.
This way, areas can be controlled by several or even all players. But what still applies is that a player can have only 1 settler in an area. However, this is different for areas with a fortress; these areas can always be controlled only by the player who has built the fortress.
If an area is controlled by several settlers, the area counts for all who control it. Villages and churches that are located in areas under joint control also count for all those who control it. But if the "Terrain" action is carried out, only the player who carries out this action gets the yields for the areas controlled by him, even if there are also other settlers there.
Players still may (but don't have to) place knights for expansions, but this doesn't entail an expulsion of other settlers.
For players who haven't made any peace agreement, the rules for the normal expansion or conquests remain in force.
Note: Similarities to historic incidents are not really accidental but are by no means intended. With regard to a well-rounded and novel playing experience, to game mechanisms and dramaturgy, we very deliberately invoke the tradition of artistic license – that means the liberty of diverging from reality.
The First Kingdom
2-4 players; playing time: 90 to 180 minutes
Set-up
First set everything up as described under "General Set-up" (pp. 6-7); then complement the set-up as follows:
- Lay out the Era board and the Control board next to the gameboard.
- Lay out the Beneficial Deed "Food Depot" next to the other Beneficial Deeds.
- Put the Narration cards I to VIII in order (with I on top) next to the Era board.
- Put the "Medicine" and "Food Depot" Narration cards next to the Beneficial Deed "Food Depot."
- Keep the tiles "Hunger eliminated" and "Plague eliminated" handy next to the Beneficial Deed "Food Depot."
- Give each player one story booklet "The First Kingdom," one Task sheet from the Task pad, and one pencil.
- In addition, each player takes the 2 Prohibition tiles of his color and adds them to his supply, plus the 3 marking cubes of his color that he places below each of the columns on the Control board.
- Place one of your settlers on space 1 of the Fame track and another one on "Era I" of the Era board.
- Put 5 of your settlers back on the table for the time being; initially, they are not yet at your disposal. Add the remaining 4 settlers to your supply; they will be available to you for expansions in Era I.
- For the 2-player game, remove the double-sided Beneficial Deed Feeding of the Poor / Constructing of the Orphanage.
- Depending on the number of players, put the following Follower tiles and Goods tiles on the marketplace (see the marketplace tables on the Marketplace board / story booklet for the exact quantities per player count).
The Story
In "The First Kingdom," you will experience a thrilling story as settlers in the region of the Loire river. You will expand your realm, conquer other territories, cultivate and produce, establish villages and build fortresses and churches. You will go through times of wealth and success, but also periods full of privation, and have to withstand hunger and plague. You will fight for your country and might have to conquer foreign areas in order to secure your settlers' lives. In the end, however, you can make peace and administer areas and villages together, which helps you achieve further growth quickly. In all this, you must never lose sight of the big picture. The first one to accomplish the given goals will be crowned the first king in Orléans.
"The First Kingdom" is a game in which you stride together through various eras. At what point you advance from one era to the next is up to you – provided you have fulfilled or are able to fulfill the conditions for this.
Each era has different prerequisites, and to master these challenges, it is important to keep track. Therefore, each of you has a story booklet at hand where you find all relevant information about the eras. So you can not only inform yourself about the era you are currently in but also about what will await you in the future. This is important in order to be safe from surprises and to be able to make plans in time. In one era, for example, it might be convenient to take care of the procurement of goods that will give you Fame points only in a later era. When is the best time to expand your realm? How do you protect yourself best from conquests – or should you, for your part, take terrains and villages away from your opponents? You are on your own answering these and other questions, and you should always act with foresight.
Besides the story booklet, you find the most relevant information about each era on the Era board also. It serves as an overview and shows you at the same time who is currently in what era; this is helpful because it is normal for one player to be in a higher era already while another player is still in a lower one. Since each era has its own advantages and disadvantages, it might make sense to stay a bit longer in one or the other. And it is even possible to win the game without having reached the 8th and final era. All this depends on you and your strategy.
Object of the Game
Your objective is to be the first to fulfill all tasks. You find the tasks on the Task pad.
The following challenges need to be mastered:
- Sink a well
- Erect the baptistery
- Send a delegation of followers to Orléans
- Build a harbor
- Build at least 1 church
- Gather 20 citizens
- Accumulate goods and money with a total value of at least 30
Winner of the Game
As soon as one player has fulfilled all above-mentioned tasks, the game ends. If this player is the only one who has accomplished this, there is no question that he is the right one to unite the country and to be crowned as the first king. But sometimes more than one player has fulfilled all tasks by the end of the same round. In this case, all those who have managed to add up their coins and goods values and the one with the highest total is the lucky winner and is crowned.
How to Achieve Your Goals
For the harbor, well, baptistery, and delegation, you need to send out the required goods, coins, Technology tiles, and followers through your portal. Put the sent-out tile immediately into the storage box (it is removed from the game) and mark the corresponding space on your Task sheet. Once you have fulfilled a task completely, mark the space next to it. This way, you can keep track of what you have done and what you still have to do.
You can get the citizens in different ways:
- By completing a Beneficial Deed: The player who places a token on the last field of a Beneficial Deed, may strike a citizen off the Task sheet.
- By controlling areas, villages, and churches (see under "Control Board").
- By being the first to enter the "Famine" era or the "Plague" era.
- By advancing on the Fame track: Every time you enter or cross a space with the corresponding symbol on the Fame track, a citizen joins you (and you can strike him off your Task sheet).
In addition, you can strike off a citizen or a space of your choice when you enter or cross a space with the corresponding bonus symbol.
You cannot complete the task "Build 1 church" by means of the Bonus space or by just controlling a church (e.g., through conquest or through expansion after a peace agreement). Cross out this task as soon as you build a church.
After having fulfilled all these tasks, you still need to accumulate goods and/or money with a total value of 30. This is always checked after the end of a round. If you then don't have enough goods or money values, another round is played and you check again after the end of that round. This goes on until you have accumulated the values required or another player has preempted you.
Note: Goods and/or money can be combined for this task in any way you want. You don't have to give up goods and money. You cannot strike off this task by means of the Bonus space.
Special Eras
- III Famine: In the "Famine" era, there is a malus for the round, which turns into a bonus for the round once the Food Depot is full (see "Food Depot").
- V Monastery Foundation: In era V, you are protected from conquests. The protection applies as long as you are in era V; other players cannot conquer your areas. However, you, on your part, cannot conquer any area either in era V, since you are forbidden to carry out the "Territory" action in this era.
- VII Plague: In the "Plague" era, there is a malus for the round, which turns into a bonus for the round as soon as the Medicine has been developed (see "Medicine").
- VIII Peace: Once you enter era VIII, you make peace with all your adversaries. This means that you are then allowed to expand into other players' areas without ousting other settlers. The others may now expand into your areas, too – with the exception of areas that are protected by fortresses or under the protection feature of era V (see also "Expansion Rules"). Among the players who have not reached era VIII yet, the rules for expansion and conquest still apply, of course.
Advancement to a New Era
In order to advance to a new era, you not only have to fulfill the applicable conditions but also send out a tile to a Beneficial Deed. In such a case, you don't get the bonus of the Beneficial Deed but, instead, use that space for your advancement and immediately enter the next era. Place your figure on the next space on the Era board and, if applicable, immediately fulfill the condition for the advancement.
The conditions of the new era become effective for you immediately, i.e., still in the current round. And the first player to advance to the new era has to read out the Narration card (see below) for this era.
Important: If all Beneficial Deeds that allow the advancement to the next era are completed, lay out the Beneficial Deed Right of Succession once again.
Important: You may advance only once in a round. Once you have advanced, you can reach the next higher era in the next round at the earliest.
Beneficial Deeds "Food Depot" and "Medicine"
In "The First Kingdom," you additionally have the Beneficial Deeds "Food Depot" and "Medicine" (front or back). You can fill the Food Depot in order to eliminate hunger, thus changing the conditions of the bonus/malus for a round in era III, "Famine." Only if the Food Depot is full can you then jointly complete the Medicine; this has an effect on era VII, "Plague."
The player who has completed the Food Depot immediately reads out the Narration card "Food Depot" and puts the "Hunger eliminated" tile on the space for the bonus for a round in era III. The player who has completed the Medicine immediately reads out the Narration card "Medicine" and puts the "Plague eliminated" tile on the space for the bonus for a round in era VII.
Control Board
On the Control board, you record the number of areas, villages, and churches you control. As soon as, for the first time, you reach a certain number marked on the board, you immediately move your marking cube onto the applicable space and strike off a citizen on your Task sheet. If you fall back below the marked number, nothing happens. So, in order to move ahead, you have to reach a certain number just once.
Example: Andrea, the red player, has conquered an area with a village of the green player. She places a settler on that area. With this, she has 7 areas and 4 villages, so she moves her marking cubes on the Control board accordingly. She may strike off 2 citizens. The marking cubes stay put, even if she loses any areas and/or villages (and even if she has no area at all left in the end). In order to strike off another citizen through area control, she now has to manage to control 8 areas. As for villages, her next goal is to control 6 villages in order for another citizen to join her.
Narration Cards
At the beginning of the game, the Narration card for era I is read aloud by the starting player. Later on, every time a player is the first to advance to a new era, the game is interrupted briefly and this player immediately reads out the Narration card relating to this era.
The Narration cards provide a brief overview of the era and list the kind and number of tiles (goods, technology, followers) that – depending on the number of players – immediately come into play. Take these tiles out of the storage box and immediately put them on the marketplace. With immediate effect, the tiles are available to all players, also to those who are in other eras!
Note: This way, it can happen that goods that had run out, i.e., were no longer available at the marketplace, become available again.
The Narration card is read out only once, that is when the first player enters a new era. After that, the card is removed from the game.
Note: An overview of when to put which tiles on the marketplace is also shown on the tables on the last two pages of the story booklet.
The Narration cards "Food Depot" and "Medicine" are read out when the corresponding Beneficial Deed has been completed.
Era I: COLONIZATION — Bienvenue and welcome to the fertile valley of the Loire river! Look around and explore your surroundings together with your settlers. You will see that there is plenty of fish, grain, bread, and wood available in order to properly provide for the followers who have traveled with you. How long you'll stay here is up to you, of course. Once you control some areas and have provided all settlers with enough food, you can move on anytime. And you could also begin to build suitable accommodation; it certainly won't be to your detriment! Consider, however, that you can no longer generate goods in places where you have built a village – so you need to make a decision.
And if I may, let me give you some advice: Look forward, into the future, to see what will be waiting for you. There will be times full of privation; the imminent drought might lead to famine. And you won't be spared from the plague either unless you take precautions. There is still enough time to jointly avert the impending doom! Show foresight and responsibility for your subjects!
Now the Game Can Begin
Pick up your story booklet, add the goods and coins to your supply listed under "What to start with" and put the followers mentioned there on your village green. Give the Narration card for era I to the starting player. He reads it out aloud. After that, proceed to the Planning phase.
The King's Favor
2-4 players; playing time: 60 to 90 minutes
Remove the Place tiles "Grove" (I), "Trading Ship" (II), and "Parlatory" (III).
Set-up
First set everything up as described under "General Set-up" (pp. 6-7); then complement the set-up as follows:
- Give each player one story booklet "The King's Favor" and one Favorite tile.
- Place one of your settlers on space 1 of the Fame track.
- Take the Fame tiles and first pick out the tiles "Castle" and "Tournament Grounds." Place the "Castle" on the last space of the track and the "Tournament Grounds" on its designated space. Then mix the remaining tiles face down, distribute them at random onto the other Bonus spaces of the Fame track and reveal them.
- Put the Season cards in the order Spring – Summer – Autumn – Winter and form a pile so that the "Spring" card is on top.
- For the 2-player game, remove the double-sided Beneficial Deed Feeding of the Poor / Constructing of the Orphanage.
- Depending on the number of players, put the following tiles on the marketplace (quantities scale by player count, as shown on the marketplace tables): each of the 7 follower types, technology tiles, wood/grain/wine, brocade, and each of cheese/wool/bread/fish. The story booklet will tell you what to start with.
The Story
The First King's power attracts the numerous sycophants among the high aristocrats like a magnet – especially now that the king is about to choose his confidant. For this reason, only you, aristocrats of lower nobility, are invited to the contest. Over a period of five years, you have to fulfill tasks, expand your territory, and build villages, fortresses, and churches, and also must not forget to amass riches. After each year, you are rewarded with a title of nobility and a privilege – provided you have been able to fulfill the tasks assigned by the king. But only if you can keep up until the end and then score with territory size, buildings, goods, and money will you rise high enough to be appointed as the king's favorite.
"The King's Favor" is a highly interactive game in which players stride together through each of the five eras. In each era, you have no more than four rounds to fulfill the given tasks. And these tasks become more and more difficult from one era to the next. So it is possible that the game ends prematurely for some players. But if at least two players fulfill all tasks, the number of victory points decides who will win.
The story booklet tells you exactly what awaits you. It gives you an overview of the rules that apply in the era, of the tasks you have to fulfill (also for interactive usage), and of the narrative background. For preparation, it might help to have a look at the eras that will follow later.
Object of the Game
Your objective in the story "The King's Favor" is to gain the most points and thus become the king's confidant. But beware: The end can come sooner than you think! At the end of each era, you need to have completed certain tasks; but if you fail, you are out and have to watch your competitors vie for the king's favor.
Only once in the game can you get protection from being eliminated, since the king has mercy with you only once by allowing you to replace one of the tasks by using your Favorite tile. But once you are not successful with another task, you will fall from the king's grace and become only a spectator.
If nobody is able to successfully complete all tasks, the king will grant his favor to the player who has held up the longest.
Course of the Game
"The King's Favor" comprises five eras of four rounds each that you have to master. Each era represents one year consisting of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Each season stands for one round. At the beginning of the first round, the "Spring" card is read out and turned over; at the beginning of the second round, the "Summer" card, and so on. This way, you keep track of how many rounds have been played. In addition, there is a minor event in each season:
Spring: After long winter months full of privation, the peasants go to the fields to build up new reserves. And they are also busy working in the forest in order to procure more wood. At the beginning of spring, put fresh supplies on the marketplace. (Effect: Put a few goods on the marketplace.)
Summer: The king is impressed by your efforts in accomplishing the assigned tasks, and honors this with a gift of money. (Effect: At the beginning of summer, each of you receives 1 coin.)
Autumn: In autumn, before winter sets in, your subjects' storage cellars need to be filled. (Effect: At the beginning of fall, each of you has to give up 1 food item. A player who is not able to give up any food has to pay a penalty of 3 coins. If he can't pay the penalty, he has to give up 1 Favorite tile. If he is not able to do this either, he is eliminated from the game.)
Winter: Shiverrrrrrrr. The time of the turn of the year draws near. Take care that, by the end of winter, you have fulfilled all the tasks assigned to you by the king. Now, at the latest, you need to send out still-required goods, coins or followers. (Effect: Check whether you have fulfilled all tasks.)
All players who have fulfilled their tasks by the end of winter advance to the next era, where new challenges are already awaiting them.
How to Play
Open the story booklet on the page for era I. There you find all relevant information for the era.
Try to inform yourself also about the other eras (you may do this anytime during the game) so that you know what will await you in the future and so you can plan ahead. You find not only the specific conditions of each era but also the tasks you have to fulfill.
Coins, Goods tiles, Technology tiles, and Follower tiles that you need for fulfilling your tasks need to be sent out through the portal (or via the "Gunpowder Tower"). Put sent-out tiles on the corresponding spaces in the story booklet.
End of the Era
After four rounds (at the end of the "Winter" season), the era ends for all of you. Now you check whether you have fulfilled the assigned tasks. If you have not been able to fulfill one of the tasks (marked with a special symbol), you can simply give up your Favorite tile; in this case, you remain in the game. If, after giving up your Favorite tile, you have failed to fulfill a second task, you are out of the game.
Important: You definitely need to reach the castle by the end of era V. You cannot fulfill this task by giving up a Favorite tile.
Provided you have been able to fulfill all tasks, you advance to the next era.
To this end, put all sent-out tiles back into the storage box (they are removed from the game). Open the next page. Again, put the four Season cards in the right order beginning with spring, and form a pile. Now the next challenge can begin.
Beneficial Deeds
In "The King's Favor," there is no special bonus for the completion of a Beneficial Deed. When a Beneficial Deed is completed, immediately put the tiles from there back into the storage box and turn the board over to its B-side to make a different Beneficial Deed available. When the B-side of a Beneficial Deed is full, it is removed from the game for good.
Fame Track
You have to reach the Fame tile "Tournament Grounds" by the end of era III, and the "Castle" tile by the end of era V.
Once you have reached the respective space, you stay there until the end of the era; any Fame points left go to waste.
You find an explanation of the other Fame tiles in the story booklet.
Victorious Favorite
If, after the end of an era, only one player is left (that means all the others have been eliminated), that player is immediately designated the King's favorite and wins.
If several players have fulfilled all tasks of the current era and consequently are still in the game after the end of era V, the one among them who has scored the most victory points (see "Scoring") wins.
The same procedure applies if all players are eliminated prematurely. In this case, victory points are determined for all those players who were eliminated last (i.e., the ones who have managed to complete the most eras).
The player with the most victory points wins.
Scoring
At the end of the game, players score victory points as follows:
- Goods score points according to their goods value (see table on the marketplace)
- Each coin scores 1 point
- Each area scores 1 point
- Each village scores 2 points
- Each fortress scores 3 points
- Each church scores 4 points
- An unused Favorite tile scores 10 points
Note: When adding up your points, you can make things easier by using the Fame track for counting. In this case, ignore the Fame tiles.
Variant
If you are not very experienced players or play "The King's Favor" for the first time, each player can take 2 Favorite tiles. This way, you have two opportunities to give up a Favorite tile if you haven't fulfilled a task.
Now the Game Can Begin
Pick up your story booklet, add to your supply the goods and coins listed under "What to start with," and put the followers mentioned there into your cloth bag.
After that, proceed to the "Drawing followers" phase.
Credits
Author: Reiner Stockhausen Illustrations: Klemens Franz Graphic design: atelier198 Editing: dlp games English translation: Sybille & Bruce Whitehill, "Word for Wort"
© 2019 dlp games Verlag GmbH, Eurode-Park 86, D-52134 Herzogenrath, Germany. www.dlp-games.de
North American edition: Tasty Minstrel Games LLC, 4883a Old Highway Road, Morgan, UT 84050, USA. www.playtmg.com