The King Is Dead Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Object of the Game
• Playing the Game
  • Setup
  • Power Struggles
  • Taking Actions
  • Partial Actions
  • 4-Player Games
• Winning the Game
  • Control
  • Invasion
• The Mordred Variant
• The Action Cards
  • The Crown
  • Garrison
  • Ambassador
  • Settlers (2 per player)
  • Scots
  • Welsh / Romano-British
• Credits

Game Components

1. Map of Britain
2. Bag
3. 4 sets of Action Cards, each made up of 8 cards
4. 8 Region Cards
5. 54 Follower cubes in 3 colors
6. 24 Control Tokens (8 for each faction)
7. 4 Saxon Control Tokens
8. 4 Crown Tokens
9. 9 black Follower cubes (used only in the Mordred Variant)

Faction and token key: Scots, Romano-British, Welsh, Saxons, Crown Token, Loyalist Follower.

Object of the Game

In The King is Dead, players do not represent the Scottish, Welsh, or Romano-British factions. Instead, they play powerful members of the court of the late King Arthur, competing to become the ruler of all three groups.

The game consists of 8 power struggles, one in each of the kingdom's 8 regions. Players use their limited power by playing Action Cards to determine which factions gain control of which regions. Each time they do so, they gain influence within a faction by "summoning a Follower to court": they remove a Follower from a region and place it in front of themselves. Each faction's power in a region is represented by the number of their Followers within it.

The game ends at the conclusion of the last power struggle or when the Saxons succeed in invading. The winner is the player with the most Followers of the faction that controls the greatest number of regions. In the case of an invasion, the winner is determined slightly differently (see "Winning the Game").

Playing the Game

Setup

If playing with 2, before setup remove 2 Followers of each faction from the game.

Each faction has a home region containing its faction symbol: Caledonia for the Scots, Caerleon for the Welsh, and Londinium for the Romano-British. Place 2 Followers of the matching color in each home region and put the rest in the bag.

Each player receives a set of 8 Action Cards and 1 Crown Token, then draws 2 Followers from the bag to form their court. Note: a player may have 2 Followers of the same color. However, if 2 or more players all draw Followers of the same color (for example, if 2 players each draw 2 red Followers), both must draw again.

Randomly draw Followers to place on the board until each region contains 4, including the initial Followers in the home regions. Place the remaining Followers on the board to form the common supply.

Shuffle the Region Cards and lay them face up next to the board in positions 1 through 8. Whoever set up the game goes first.

Power Struggles

The order of the power struggles is determined by the Region Cards — starting with the card in position 1 — unless interrupted by a Saxon invasion. On their turn, players may play 1 Action Card or choose to hold their cards and pass. Play then continues clockwise.

A player's pass applies only to that turn, not to the entire power struggle: if a player passes and another player acts, when their turn comes around again in that power struggle the first player may choose to play.

The power struggle continues until all players pass consecutively: at that point it ends immediately. The Region Card in the highest position is turned face down, and whichever faction has the most Followers in that region gains control of it. Place a Control Token of that faction in the region, remove all Followers from that region, and return them to the common supply. If there is a tie between factions, or no factions are present, the region falls to the invaders: place a Saxon Control Token in that region.

The next power struggle then begins, and the next player clockwise takes their turn.

Example of a Power Struggle: Phil, Jo, and Laura are playing. Phil passes, then Jo passes. If Laura were to pass, the power struggle would end immediately, even though no cards have been played. Instead, Laura plays, and the power struggle continues. Phil passes again, Jo plays, and Laura passes. Phil passes for the third time, Jo passes, and the power struggle ends immediately. The next power struggle will begin with Laura's turn.

Taking Actions

Each Action Card is explained in detail on the back of this booklet.

Once an Action Card has been played, it is placed face up in front of that player and can no longer be used for the rest of the game. This means each player may take only 8 actions over the course of the entire game. The next Action Card a player uses is placed directly on top of the previous one. The top card must always be visible, but players may not look at the others: it is up to them to remember which actions have been taken.

After a player has played a card and carried out its action, they must summon someone to court by removing 1 Follower from a region and placing it in front of themselves. This is how players gain influence within the factions. The player is completely free to choose which Follower to take and from which region, including Followers they have just placed or moved as a result of their Action Card. Followers cannot be taken from the common supply or from another player.

Action Cards can be used to influence any region that has not yet been resolved. This means players can ignore the region where the power struggle is currently taking place in order to influence different areas of the board. Regions that have already been resolved cannot be altered: it is never possible to place Followers in a region that has a Control Token. Note that home regions are normal regions and are not controlled until their power struggle is resolved. The home region symbols on the board apply only to initial placement and to the Scottish, Welsh, and Romano-British Action Cards.

If playing with 3, the last Action Card of the game may only be played if the player holding it can use it to win the game immediately.

Partial Actions

Sometimes the actions associated with a card cannot be completed in full. In these cases, the actions described on the card must be followed as far as possible. Players may play an Action Card that will have no effect other than gaining a Follower or preventing a power struggle from ending, although this is a risky strategy.

Examples of Partial Actions:

• Jo plays a Settlers card, but there are no more blue Followers in the common supply. Jo still takes a red Follower and a yellow one, places them accordingly, and summons a Follower to court.
• Laura plays a Welsh card, but no regions are controlled by the Welsh, and the Scots have taken Caerleon. The card is still played even though the action cannot be carried out, and Laura summons a Follower to court.
• Only 3 power struggles remain to be resolved when Phil plays an Ambassador card. One of the regions is empty, and Phil would like to place a Follower there by exchanging it with nothing. This is allowed, unless the third region has an eligible Follower. In that case Phil must carry out the action and instead use the Ambassador card to exchange the available Followers between the two regions that are not empty. He then summons a Follower, which may be one of the cubes he just exchanged.
• It is the last power struggle, and Alysa plays the Crown card. Since there are no other Region Cards to swap with the current one, Alysa plays the card, carries out no action, and summons a Follower.

4-Player Games

4-player games use the same rules, but the 2 players sitting across from each other work together. Players are not allowed to discuss tactics or strategy during the game, nor to show each other their remaining Action Cards. Each player still gathers their own individual Followers, and a single ruler is determined according to the rules above. That player's teammate shares in their victory, as the power behind the throne.

If, and only if, the game ends early due to an invasion, then the players on each team pool their Followers together. The team with the most complete sets of Followers wins.

Winning the Game

Control

The game ends at the conclusion of the last power struggle. The faction that controls the greatest number of regions is in power, and the player with the most Followers of that faction is crowned King or Queen. If there is a tie in the number of regions, the tied faction that most recently won a power struggle is considered to be in control.

If there is a tie in the number of Followers, the faction with the second-highest number of regions becomes relevant, and the tied player with the most Followers of that faction becomes the ruler. If there is still a tie, the tied player who played an Action Card last loses: indecision is a poor trait in a leader.

Invasion

If, at any point, there are four Saxon Control Tokens on the board, the game ends immediately. The Saxons have invaded and seized the throne. The winner is the player with the most complete sets of Followers. A set consists of one Follower of each faction. This player rallies the resistance and vows to drive out the Saxon hordes. In case of a tie, the tied player who played an Action Card last wins: the resistance needs a leader who is decisive.

Example of a Game's Ending: The rulebook illustrates this example with a diagram of Laura's and Phil's Followers at the end of the game.

If the Scots control the board, then Phil has won, since he has more blue (Scottish) Followers.

If the Welsh control the board, then whichever of the Scots and Romano-British controls more regions determines the winner: if it is the Scots, Phil wins, since he has more blue Followers; if it is the Romano-British, Laura wins, since she has more yellow (Romano-British) Followers.

If the game ended due to a Saxon invasion, then Laura has won, since she has more matching sets: three against Phil's two.

The Mordred Variant

This tough variant is recommended only for experienced players of The King is Dead.

Mad King Mordred has been slain, but his Followers remain to plague the land. The black Followers represent Mordred's Loyalists, who shatter the hard-won peace and sow discord in Aquae Sulis and Din Eidyn. The usual rules apply, but there are additional aspects to take into account.

During setup, Aquae Sulis and Din Eidyn each start with 1 black Follower cube. As a result, only 3 random Followers are placed in these regions.

Each Region Card has a banner along its border, colored to match either Aquae Sulis or Din Eidyn. Each time a power struggle is resolved, an additional Loyalist Follower is placed in the region matching the color of the banner on the border of the Region Card. Resolving Caledonia, Din Eidyn, Ratae, or Deva adds a black Follower to Aquae Sulis, while Caerleon, Eboracum, Londinium, or Aquae Sulis adds a black Follower to Din Eidyn. If the corresponding region has already been resolved, no Loyalist Follower is placed.

Loyalist Followers do not behave like "normal" Followers. They can never be taken to a player's court, nor can a player add them to the board. However, they can be exchanged via the Garrison and Ambassador Action Cards. Loyalist Followers count toward determining control of a region. They can take control of it or trigger a Saxon invasion, just like Followers of the normal factions.

If the Loyalists win a power struggle, the very fabric of society is threatened and the game ends immediately. The controlling faction and the winning player are determined the same way as in a Control ending, with the following exceptions:

• If, due to a shortage of power struggles, there is no winning faction (or one to settle the tiebreak), then the factions unite against the threat: the player with the greatest total number of Followers at court wins.
• If there is still a tie, the player who played an Action Card last wins, for their decisive leadership.

The Action Cards

The Crown

In respect for the dead king, the player changes the order of the power struggles. The player swaps the position of any two face-up Region Cards, including the one currently being contested if they wish, and places their Crown Token on one of them. A card with a Crown Token on it cannot be swapped. It would be poor form to contest a region that meant so much to Arthur, so soon after his passing.

Garrison

The player exchanges 2 Followers from 1 region with 1 Follower from a bordering region. These Followers may belong to the same faction, if the player wishes. The player cannot use this action to immediately undo a swap made by the previous player. A player may undo a previous swap only if at least one different Action Card has been played since then, or if a power struggle has been resolved.

Ambassador

1 Follower from 1 region is exchanged with 1 Follower from any other region. These Followers may belong to the same faction, if the player wishes. The player cannot use this action to immediately undo a swap made by the previous player. A player may undo a previous swap only if at least one different Action Card has been played since then, or if a power struggle has been resolved.

Settlers (2 per player)

The player moves 1 Follower of each faction from the common supply to the board. Each Follower can be placed in any unresolved region, and multiple Followers can be placed in the same region, if the player wishes. If there are no Followers of a given faction in the common supply, the player does not receive an extra Follower of another faction instead.

Scots

The player places 2 blue Followers from the common supply in regions adjacent to a region controlled by the Scots. The 2 Followers may be placed in the same region or in different regions, or even in regions bordering different Scottish-controlled regions, as long as the requirements are met. If there is only 1 blue Follower left in the supply, the player places that Follower.

If no region meets these requirements, or if there are no more blue Followers in the common supply, then the player places no Follower. If the power struggle for the Scottish home region has not yet been resolved, it counts as controlled by the Scots for the purposes of this card. Note that this card can be used to place Followers in regions bordering the home region; however, it can only be used to place Followers directly in the home region if that region borders another Scottish-controlled region.

Welsh / Romano-British

These cards are identical to the Scots card, but apply respectively to the named factions and to the yellow/red cubes.

Credits

Game Design by Peer Sylvester World Design by Osprey Games Cover and Control Token Illustrations by Peter Dennis Map and Card Illustrations by Steven Meyer-Rassow

© 2015 Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK All rights reserved

www.ospreygames.co.uk