Overthrone
Overthrone Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Card Deck
The deck consists of:
Possession cards
- 21 Provinces
- 19 Gold cards, valued 1 to 3
Person cards
- 19 Musketeers, valued 1 to 7
- 21 Courtiers, valued 4 to 6
- 8 Officials (Amtsträger)
Special cards
- 19 Event cards
- 6 Nobles
- 1 King
- 6 double-sided quick-reference cards
Note: the King and the Nobles are not person cards.
The Game in Overview
What Is the Game About? (The Object of the Game)
In this game you try to gather a group of important people and provinces around you, so that you become the most powerful person at court. Your influence and power are represented in the game by points that you can collect.
During the game you receive points essentially only for Provinces that you control during a Rebellion (that is, Provinces you have lying in front of you as cards). Otherwise, only Officials and Events can earn you points during the game. At the end of the game there is a final scoring, in which all persons and all land you control are counted. The winner is the player who has collected the most points in all the scorings together by the end of the game.
The Game in Brief
You start the game with one Noble on your side. You do not need a Noble to win, but one makes things much easier: during scorings, for example, a Noble doubles the points of the Provinces bearing its coat of arms.
In each round every player plays one face-up card. It can be a card he hopes to receive himself at the end of the round, or a card with whose help he hopes to receive other cards.
Besides this, every player may also act against other players: by bribing persons with Gold, attacking Provinces with Musketeers, or challenging another Noble to a duel with one of his own Nobles.
Of course, each player may try to defend himself against the attacks of the others: by putting his own Gold against the bribe amount, by throwing his own Musketeers against the attacker, and by hoping that his Noble fights better in the duel.
Above all, the aim is to gain as much control over the King as possible. For whoever controls the King, controls the game. One may count himself lucky when the King lends him an ear; another does not wait for that and, with the help of rebels, takes the King prisoner. But now others already vie for the King's favour by trying to free him.
Game Setup
A piece of paper and a pencil are laid out, and one player is chosen to write down the points.
From the card deck, one Province of each coat of arms, the six Nobles and the King are taken out. The Nobles are shuffled and each player draws one. Then the seven Provinces are shuffled and each player draws one. Each player now places his Noble and his Province face up in front of him. These cards form the basis of his power structure.
The King is placed next to the Noble of the highest rank (6 is the highest). All remaining Nobles and Provinces are shuffled back into the card deck.
Seven cards are dealt face down to each player. These cards the players take into their hand. The remaining card deck is placed in the middle of the table and forms the draw pile (Talon).
Playing the Game
The course of play is divided into four phases:
Phase 1 – The Move Round (Zugrunde)
Each move round (including the first) begins with the player to the left of the King and continues clockwise. Each player makes his move as follows:
A. He draws the top card of the draw pile and takes it into his hand.
B. He chooses one of the following options:
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Challenge another Noble to a duel. The challenger chooses an opponent and declares his intention by placing face down in front of himself a card from his hand (all cards are allowed except Event cards). The challenged player must now likewise lay down a card bearing a number. When both have laid down their cards, they turn them over simultaneously. The Noble with the higher value has won. In case of a tie, the opponents may lay down a new card, or call off the duel. If the challenged player has no number card, the challenger takes his card back into his hand. The loser of a duel (the dead Noble) goes to the discard pile, together with the number cards used in the duel.
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Attack a Province. The attacker chooses a face-up Province of another player that he wants to attack. Then he plays from his hand one or more Musketeer cards with which he carries out the attack. If Musketeers are assigned to the attacked Province card, the attacking Musketeers must have a higher value than the Musketeers defending the Province. The defender may now (if he wishes) bring in additional Musketeers from his hand or from his lying-out power structure. Now the attacker may (if he wishes and if he still has any) add further Musketeers from his hand, and so on. The side with the higher total value of Musketeers wins the fight. In case of a tie, the defender has won. If the attacker wins, he takes the Province and incorporates it into his power structure. Except for the Musketeers played last (the card or cards which were added last by the winner), all Musketeers involved in a fight are placed on the discard pile. The last-played cards, however, remain with the Province.
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Bribe a person. A player wishes to persuade a face-up person (not Nobles!) of another player to defect from that opponent's structure to his own. He chooses the card that is to defect. Then he plays from his hand one or more Gold cards with which he wants to bribe the person. If Gold is assigned to the bribed person card, the offered amount of Gold must have a higher value than the Gold that the person possesses. The opponent may now (if he wishes) offer Gold of his own, from his hand or from his lying-out power structure if it is not assigned to any person, to keep the person in his structure. Both players may continue to raise their offers. Whoever can finally offer more Gold for the person is the winner of this bribe. In case of a tie, the person stays where he is. If the challenger wins, he takes the person and incorporates him into his structure. Officials who are newly placed in a power structure are activated, i.e. the instructions on the card are carried out. Except for the last bribe money played (the card or cards which were added last by the winner), all money that took part in a bribe (including the person's earlier possession) is placed on the discard pile. The last-played cards, however, remain with the person.
C. One card is placed face up from the hand into the middle of the table. This may be a card that the player wants to receive at the end of the round, or an Event.
After all players have taken their turns and one card has been placed in the middle of the table by each of them, Phase 2 begins.
Phase 2 – Distributing the Cards
After each move round, the cards lying in the middle of the table are distributed and built into the players' power structures.
They are divided according to the following rules:
A. The Events are evaluated in the order in which they were played. If cards still lie in the middle of the table afterwards, continue with B.
B. Now the following cards are divided: 1. Provinces, 2. Gold, 3. Musketeers and 4. Courtiers. From each group, a player receives all face-up cards of the group if he played the card with the highest value. If there is a tie between several players, the one who has the most influential Courtiers (sum of the number values), following the coat of arms of his Noble, in his power structure receives the cards. If there is still a tie, every player who played a card in the relevant group may take it and insert it into his power structure.
C. If still present, each player now takes the Noble or Official that he played. The cards are taken in the order in which they were played and inserted into the power structure. The actions of the Officials that are now activated (because they are newly placed in a power structure) are carried out according to the instructions on the card. The action of an Official is always carried out before the next Official in the row of a power structure is attached.
Phase 3 – Scoring
If one or more Rebellion cards were played in Phase 2, a Province scoring is now carried out. After a scoring, each player refills his hand to seven cards. This is done by drawing one card in turn, until all players have seven cards in hand.
At the end of the game a special final scoring is also carried out. Otherwise, Phase 4 follows.
Phase 4 – Determining the New Starting Player
If the King is free, he moves clockwise to the next player. If he is captured (see the explanation of Rebellion), he remains where he is.
The left-hand neighbour of the player holding the King is the starting player of the next round.
End of the Game
When the draw pile is empty, the last round begins. It does not matter whether each player was able to draw a card or not. Players who have no cards left and receive none will drop out of this last round. After the last round has been played, the game is over and the final scoring is carried out. The player with the highest total of points wins the game.
Explanations of the Game
Building the Power Structure
Cards that a player receives during the game are, unless stated otherwise (which is only the case when cards are acquired through the abilities of Officials), immediately incorporated into the power structure, i.e. laid on the table in front of him.
Provinces, Nobles, Officials and the King always have a place of their own. Money may be placed as freely available treasure on a pile, or be assigned to a person card. Courtiers are placed on a pile, provided no money is assigned to them. Musketeers may stand freely available in the barracks, i.e. lie on a pile, or be assigned to a Province. A Musketeer to which money is assigned lies free if it is not assigned to a Province.
The rulebook's diagram of the table labels the draw pile (Talon), the discard pile (Ablagestapel) and the power structure (Machtstruktur).
Piles are always formed so that the cards are slightly offset from each other, so that every player can see the values and coats of arms (on the Courtiers) at any time.
Assignments are made clear by placing the assigned card partly under the card to which it is assigned.
If a card is removed by an Event or an action of an Official, and other cards were assigned to it, the cards that are now free again may be assigned to other cards or placed on free piles.
Decrees
Decrees are actions that a player may carry out at any time, but only once, during his move.
The Church Decree A player who owns a Cardinal or a Bishop may order that the King be set free when he is held captive. If the player frees the King, he moves on as soon as possible, according to the normal rules of play (that is, at the end of the round, if there is no Rebellion), clockwise. If the player refuses to free the King, he loses 15 points immediately. If the player who is holding the King captive owns a Bishop or Cardinal himself, he may ignore the decree without penalty. If the decree fails, then only another player with a Cardinal or Bishop may issue the decree again. If the King has been freed and has been captured again, a player may attempt the Church Decree again.
The Noble Decree A player without a Noble may, during his move, have his highest-valued Courtier declared a Noble. For this, the King must be present with him (captive or visiting). The Courtier card is exchanged, at the player's choice, with a Noble card from the discard pile.
Scoring
Province Scorings A precondition for a Province scoring is that at least one Rebellion card was played in the round (it is irrelevant whether a Rebellion took place) and that it is not the last round. Each player totals the points of his Provinces. A player who has Provinces bearing the coat of arms of his Nobles (or Queen) may double the value of the corresponding Provinces. The points determined are added to the current score.
The Final Scoring and Determining the Winner After the last round has been played, the game is over and the final scoring is carried out.
- All cards in hand are placed on the discard pile.
- From the power structure, all Gold cards and Event cards with a red hexagon are placed on the discard pile.
- All points of the remaining cards in the power structure are added up (Province values with the coats of arms of the Nobles are doubled where applicable).
- The player who controls the King receives 10 points.
- The points of the final scoring are added to the current score of the preceding scorings.
- The player with the highest total score wins.
For a longer and more interesting game, point limits of 250 to 300 points may be chosen. Each player then keeps the points of the previous round for the next round. The player who first reaches the point limit has won.
The Meaning of the Cards
A. Possession cards
Provinces: The power of each player is reflected in the number of Provinces he controls. Which Provinces are really controlled by whom becomes especially clear during a Rebellion. Therefore the Provinces are always scored after a Rebellion.
Gold: Gold is needed to carry out bribes or to defend against them.
B. Person cards (Note: all person cards can be bribed.)
Musketeers: They are needed to defend Provinces (against other players) or to attack the Provinces of other players.
Courtiers: These fine people are often useless. Sometimes, however, they can still be important. If there is a tie between two or more players during the distribution of cards in a round, the player who has more Courtiers (by value) bearing the coat of arms of his Noble wins. In addition, a player without a Noble may appoint his highest Courtier as a Noble when the King is present. Finally, they also have a high point value in the final accounting.
Officials: The meaning of the cards is explained on the cards themselves. Usually the special abilities of Officials are activated whenever they are newly taken over by a player (this includes the first placement in a power structure).
The General of the Armies, the Treasurer, the Cartographer, the Captain of the Guard and the Queen allow the players to draw on the cards of others.
The Queen, in addition to her special abilities, also has her own coat of arms. In scorings she is therefore treated like a Noble and doubles the value of the Provinces bearing her coat of arms.
Bishops and Cardinals are needed in order to be able to play certain special Event cards at all. In addition, they allow decrees to be issued (no further card is needed to issue decrees).
C. Special cards
1. Event cards
General: The King's Ear, Excommunication, Base Birth and the Executioner interrupt the game immediately when they are played by a player. They are therefore also marked with an S on a red hexagon. Unlike the other Event cards, they may also be played at special times during the move round, and are then carried out immediately.
The King's Ear, Gossip, Bandits, Poaching, Inheritance, Excommunication and Base Birth are cards that make it possible to score points outside of the scoring. These cards therefore carry a P in a green circle.
Extortion and Unrest explain themselves and are there so that players can annoy each other.
Rebellion initiates a scoring during the game.
Further explanations of special cards:
Rebellion (there are 6 of these cards in the game!) is the attempt to control the King and thus the round. A Rebellion can only occur if only one Rebellion was played in a round and it is not the last round. The player who played the Rebellion receives all cards lying in the middle of the table, with the exception of other Event cards. The actions of Officials that are activated in the process are carried out in any order. If the King is free, the player who played the Rebellion receives the King. He places the King in front of himself with its head facing down. The King is now the player's prisoner and does not move until he is freed. If the King is captive when a Rebellion is played, he is freed by the Rebellion. The player who was holding the King captive must now turn the King the right way round, as a sign that the King continues to move in Phase 3. If two or more Rebellions are played during a round, nothing happens, unless the King is captive. If the King is captive, the only effect of the many uprisings is that the King is freed. The player who controls the King must turn him around. The player or players who free the King each receive 5 points. In addition, every round in which one or more Rebellion cards were played is followed by a scoring round. Exception: after a Rebellion, no scoring is carried out if it is the last round (since the final scoring is carried out after the last round).
The King's Ear Once this card has come into the game, it remains in the game until the end of the game. A player best plays this card onto one of his own Nobles. The card is then assigned to the Noble, and the player of the Noble receives 10 points. If the Noble on which the card was played dies, the King's Ear is placed in the middle of the table. Now every player who has a Noble may lay a number card (that is, any possession or person card) face down from his hand on the table and declare that he is seeking the King's favour. When all players who have a Noble and have shown interest in the King's Ear have laid a card face down, the cards are turned over. The player with the highest number receives the card and the 10 points. In case of a tie, the players must lay number cards again; otherwise the King's Ear stays in the middle of the table. If only one player lays a number card, he inevitably gains the King's favour.
Base Birth and Excommunication These cards may be played by any player who has a Bishop or a Cardinal lying in his power structure. The player who plays the card receives 10 points immediately. The affected player must take the card into his power structure. If the player against whom the card was played owns a Bishop or Cardinal himself, he may immediately play the card against any other player and likewise credit himself with 10 points. However, Base Birth and Excommunication may not be played twice in one round against one and the same player.
Unrest This card incites the population of a player to revolt. Every Province card in the power structure of the affected player that is not protected by a Musketeer is incorporated into the power structure of the player who played the card. To protect the Provinces, Musketeers may be brought in from the hand or from the barracks.
2. The King The King moves from player to player, as long as he is free. The attention of the King is given to the player who is last to play. He thus sees what all players have laid down before, and can match his card to them.
3. Nobles Nobles can duel with other Nobles, and they double the point value of Provinces that bear their coat of arms (very important for scorings). They give Courtiers who bear their coat of arms a value, so that one may receive more cards when cards are distributed.