The Old King's Crown FAQ
316 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Components and Setup
- Can the solo Simulacrum AI be added to a 2- or 3-player game?
- How is the Kingdom deck built during setup?
- Does the Simulacrum always play a Gold card in Round 1?
- Are the Clash Markers placed face-up or hidden during setup?
- Is there a limit on Faction Markers, Influence or Lore, and what do I do if I run out?
- Does the solo bot draw its principal Threat card at the start of the first round?
- What does the small white mountain icon on some Kingdom Cards mean?
- In Advanced Setup with the Wild Kingdom cards, what is the order of setup?
Core Concepts
- Is there any dice or chance in the game's Clashes?
- What happens when your draw deck runs out?
- Can an Action such as Smuggler's Pass be used once per Day window, or only once per Round?
- Can a player reuse an Action after the card leaves play and comes back to them in the same Round?
- If Kingdom's Favour is taken away after Regal Guard was activated, does Regal Guard still apply for the rest of the Round?
- Do Night effects such as Deadly and Follower elimination resolve at the same time in a Clash?
- Can a card that Flanks out of a Region before the Night step avoid being eliminated there?
- Where can an action on a card be played from, and what does it mean to control an action?
- Where does the influence token placed by Engineer's Workshop come from?
- What happens when every card in a Clash is eliminated and the total Strength is tied?
- Can Kingdom's Favour be used more than once per Round, or in more than one Region?
- Where does an influence token go when it is removed from a card?
- Do you have to discard an occupied Kingdom Card to place another Kingdom Card in your Supply or on the Map?
- What happens when you Occupy or Steal a Kingdom Card and both of your Kingdom Card spaces are full?
- Do Kingdom Cards with bold instructions take one of your two Kingdom Card spaces, and can you acquire one when your spaces are full?
- Can a 0-Strength card win a Clash, for example a Shield card left as the last card?
- Can you win a Clash with no Active cards on the board, if your total Strength is highest?
- Does a new solo threat card replace the active threat, or is it added to it?
- Do you need to remember the number cards opponents have played?
- Where does the Faction Card occupying a Kingdom Card go when that Kingdom Card is discarded?
- What ways are there to get cards back from the Lost Pile?
- Is the Site of Power card you buy with Lore public information?
- Can you hold more cards than your Hand Size, such as after a theft or after acquiring a card?
- If an opponent has no influence, what happens when you steal influence from them?
- When a Location has four or more of your Faction Markers, what happens?
- Can you discard your own occupied Kingdom Card at will to get its Faction Card back in hand?
- When can you use a Kingdom Card's ability, such as Ruined Citadel's?
- Does School of the Streets trigger when your Follower eliminates an opponent's Agent?
- When Guerrilla Fighters is eliminated in a Clash, does it count as eliminating itself?
Component Overview
- What does the archetype symbol on a Faction card, such as the Follower symbol, mean?
- When does a Tactic such as School of the Stones become Exhausted, and does its effect still resolve?
- Does School of the Stones' +1 Strength on Supporters last beyond the Round it is activated?
- How many Simulacrum faction cards should be in the solo deck?
- Are all parts of a Kingdom's Favour text mandatory?
- Why does the Kingdom's Favour dial tick down every time it is used?
- Do other players know which card is a neutral Ally or City card when it is played?
- Does Ritual of the Tooth copy the burned card's Strength and Archetype?
- When Uprising's Partisans treats other cards as blank, what exactly is blanked?
Sequence of Play
- Can you bid a zero-value card to acquire a Kingdom card?
- How does Royal Seal interact with Emboldened Brigands when stealing?
- When is the Royal Seal activated during bidding?
- Do you draw cards only at the start of the Round, or whenever your hand empties?
- Can attrition happen more than once during a single draw?
- What happens if you must draw but your Deck and Discard Pile are both empty?
- What is the order of steps in a Clash, including when Summer and Daytime actions happen?
- How is turn order set when three or more players tie for Influence?
- Which way does the Order Track run: is position 1 acted on first?
- How do you show that a Kingdom Card's Action has been used this Round?
Spring
- What do Heralds and Supporters do in Spring and during bidding?
- Can you Burn a bidding card to acquire a Kingdom Card from the discard pile outside the Bidding step?
- If White Watchtowers is stolen during bidding, does the bidding order change?
- Why are Commands listed in the Spring Action Step box if most Commands are not used in Spring?
- When two bids tie in Spring, who resolves first?
- After bidding, which Kingdom Card is discarded from the Great Road when repopulating it?
- Can Moonlit Foragers' Kingdom Card give you a third Kingdom Card space, or must you replace an existing card?
- Do Companies (now called Supporters) deploy during Spring or during Summer?
- Does School of the Stones' Winter effect apply every Winter once the Tactic is face-up?
- When Old Enchantress claims Great Road cards that say to discard your bidding card, do you discard a card from hand?
- Does Martial Law block cards that Flank into the Region, or cards moved in before its first Clash?
- Does Martial Law need a deployed or Active card in the Region, and must it be face-up?
- Does Martial Law stop Ritual of the Tooth from adding Strength to a clash?
- During Spring bidding, must you take a Kingdom Card if you bid?
- If a player has too few cards to place one in each Region in Spring, what happens?
- When is a Kingdom Card with the effect 'Discard your bidding card' resolved?
- Can the same Kingdom Card be stolen more than once in a single round of bidding?
- When the Simulacrum must draw cards and its deck is empty, does it reshuffle before placing?
- Does Royal Seal's zero-strength effect also zero the Strength of cards guarding Kingdom Cards?
- Can you steal Kingdom Cards from the Simulacrum during Spring bidding if you resolve your bid after it?
- During the Spring Herald step, are Herald and Legendary Creature placed in a fixed order?
Summer
- Can an opponent take your Kingdom Card, and how does the card occupying it protect it?
- How is the Great Road resolved, since it has no win or lose outcome?
- After a tied Clash starts a new Clash in the same Region, do the cards, Supporters and effects from the earlier Clash still count?
- Can a Clash be tied more than once, and how does it end?
- If every tied player is at 0 Strength, for example after Deadly cards eliminate every card, does a new Clash start, and can a player at 0 join it?
- When the Simulacrum's Ruse! places a face-down card during a Clash, is that card part of the current Clash?
- How does the Necropolis reward draw cards from the discard pile?
- If Necropolis would draw cards past your hand size, what happens, and can you discard afterward?
- Does the Necropolis reward draw from the discard pile or from the deck?
- Can opponents see which cards I draw with the Necropolis reward?
- When Guerrilla Fighters is removed by Night Effects, does Raid and Raze's Deadly still eliminate my opponent's card?
- Is the Assassin's Guild elimination of my Heir at Night optional?
- If two Heirs are Eliminated at the same time, can both return to my hand?
- Are all Clashes in one Region resolved before moving to the next Region?
- What does 'current' mean on Prophet of the Waves?
- When is the Clash marker placed if School of the Storms is used during the Spring Action phase?
- What happens to cards that lose a Clash in Summer?
- How often can Kingdom's Favour be activated when you also have Splendid Guard?
- To steal influence through Herald rewards, must both Heralds be on the chosen Location?
- Can committed Supporters be held back in case of a tie?
Autumn
- If Bringer of the Word leaves a Council, do the Faction Markers it placed still count as votes?
- How many times can you Govern and Journey in Autumn, and can you Journey more than one card?
- Can The High Court's Autumn Council trigger let one card trigger both Council of Oaths and Council of Secrets in the same Round?
- Do you need to Govern, meaning place a card, to use a Council's Autumn action?
- Can Moonshine Cove's Autumn action acquire a Kingdom Card that does not occupy a slot, and can the action be used more than once per Round?
- Can Moonshine Cove's Autumn action acquire a Kingdom Card whose text says to discard your bidding card, and where does the bidding card go?
- What does Moonshine Cove's 'may only be Occupied on this space' mean?
- Where do Advanced Faction Cards go after you buy them from your Site of Power?
- Do The Syndicate and Bringer of the Word count markers belonging to other players for their +1 votes?
- Can you Rally when your hand is at its maximum in Autumn, and where do rallied cards go?
- Can Gilded Wall receive a second Influence, and can a Faction Marker be used instead of Influence to mark it?
- How many Supporters must you return when activating Council of Oaths?
- Do cards played to a Council stay there for the rest of the game, and how do they leave?
- Can you place more than one card on the same Council tile?
- Can a card with no printed gavel icon Govern if another effect gives it Votes?
- Can cards with no Votes be placed into a Council?
- Can a War Machine with Deploy be deployed while it is occupying a Kingdom Card?
Winter
- What do the influence tokens placed by Deploy do during Winter cleanup, and do they count toward my score?
- Where do my surviving Active cards go during Winter cleanup?
- What happens to Active cards with influence tokens during Winter cleanup?
- Does a Kingdom Card with a Winter discard instruction leave in Winter if you never activated it?
- Do a Tactic's mandatory Winter effects apply if I never activate the Tactic that Round?
- Can you discard unused cards from your hand during Winter?
- If a Winter tactic keeps my Supporters on the map while The Wyrm burns Supporters, which effect applies?
- What happens to Supporters left on the map at Winter, and can The Old King's Lantern save them?
Winning the Game
A Fractured Kingdom's Factions
- Where do the differences between factions come from, if the starting decks are nearly identical?
- When Prototype Simulacrum lets you use an opponent's Kingdom's Favour, who gets the benefit?
- What happens if Prototype Simulacrum is used to activate the Simulacrum's own Kingdom's Favour?
- How does Strongholds of Smoke work for the Simulacrum when it has no cards with Rally, and must it be swapped out?
- Do Tactic tiles stay exhausted for the rest of the game or only for the current Round?
- Can an Invulnerable Simulacrum card with the Crown archetype and a Blade Forge card always win its Region?
- What does the Simulacrum's Necropolis location reward do?
- When the Simulacrum reshuffles its discard pile into a new Deck, must a Gold card be on top?
- Can the Simulacrum play more than three Supporters in a round?
- Can Prophet of the Waves move opponents' Supporters?
- Does Ritual of the Eye let you eliminate other players' Captains?
- How does Book of True Names work against the Simulacrum?
- Are Simulacrum cards removed from its Region when an opponent Eliminates them, and where do they go?
- Can you sacrifice Supporters in the current Region for School of the Stars during a re-clash?
- What counts as a 'Supporter card' on the Simulacrum's Shifting Smoke fog card?
- Do the Ritual of the Eye tactics stay flipped after the Ritual is completed, and can their effects be used repeatedly?
- If you swap an Active card into the current Clash with Out Beyond the Lights, does its effect trigger?
- Does the Simulacrum activate its Council Autumn actions twice, once in the first step and again after Governing?
- Can Out Beyond the Lights swap in a card from an earlier Clash in the same Region after a tie?
- Can you flank into or out of a Region under Martial Law, and which effects does Martial Law stop?
- Can you use School of the Stones again in Winter by reactivating it with Curious Ring?
- Must your Herald move when you use Prophet of the Waves' Day action?
- Does Ritual Sacrifice count as a Journey, or only as a Move?
- Can you still buy a card from your Site of Power after using Ritual Sacrifice?
- Must the Supporters moved by New Havens Harbour all go to the same Region?
- Can Wandering Embassy be activated once per Clash, or only once per Round?
- Can cards removed from a Council be moved to your hand after claiming Council of Relics or the Herald reward?
- Can the second Splendid Guard activation of Prophet of the Waves be saved for a later Clash?
- Does the Ambush granted by Door in the Night last for more than one Clash?
- Does Ritual of the Tooth gain the Votes and Lore of the card it burns?
- Can Ritual of Sacrifice move a card from the Lost Pile to your Site of Power?
Commands
- How does a Deadly command resolve when Follower cards, or an Agent with Deadly and an Invulnerable Follower, are in the same Clash?
- Does a Faction card with a Deadly command and a second Night text count as two Night effects?
- What does Deadly eliminate, does it hit every opponent's cards in a Region in 3- and 4-player games, and what do Invulnerable and Resilient do against it?
- Does a card that gains Deadly from a Tactic or Kingdom card lose to Followers, and does an Agent without printed Deadly have that weakness?
- When several Deadly cards are in one Clash, who gets credit for an elimination?
- What happens when two revealed cards with Eliminate face each other in a Clash?
- Can a card with Deadly trigger more than once in a Round?
- Does Poppet get eliminated when it clashes with a Simulacrum card, and does its Deadly hit the Simulacrum's cards?
- If I win a Clash without a Deadly card, are the losing cards eliminated?
- Does School of the Streets pay out per Elimination or per Clash?
- Can a Command such as Flank, Ambush or Retreat be used more than once in a Round, and how often per Clash?
- Can a card gain two copies of the same Command, such as Ambush, and use it twice in one Clash?
- Can a Ruse use both Ambush and Retreat in the same Clash?
- If an Ambush card is played in one Region, can it be used in a different Region's Clash?
- After Ambush adds a card to a Clash, what can be activated on it, and can that card Ambush again?
- Can a card that already used Ambush use it again after Shapeshifter's Mirror turns it into a Ruse?
- After a tied Clash, can a card that already used Ambush use it again in the new Clash?
- If a card had Flank in a tied Clash, can it still use Flank in the tie-breaker Clash?
- Can you Retreat cards from a tied Clash to take them into the tie-breaker Clash?
- Can one Retreat move any number of your cards, Supporters and Herald out of a Region, including none of some types?
- How does Rally differ from Retreat?
- How many times can an Action such as Swansong Horn, Sea Lanes, Shapeshifter's Mirror or the Clans Kingdom's Favour be used in a Round?
- Can Night Gate give Ambush more than once in a Clash to a card that an earlier Ambush brought in?
- How many cards can Door in the Night add for Ambush, what does each option cost, and how often can it be used?
- Can you Ambush and then Flank the same card within one Day step using Swansong Horn?
- Can you use an Active card in another Region to Govern during a Clash?
- Can Rally return a card from a Council, the discard pile or the Lost Pile to your hand?
- If Siege Commander is in play, does its granted Deploy (1) apply to every Heir card I hold?
- After Siege Commander is discarded, or after Rally returns an Heir to hand, do my Heirs keep the Deploy (1) it granted?
- Can the Deploy command be activated from a card already in a Region, or only from your hand?
- Can a card with Deploy be played face down into a Clash and still Deploy later?
- If you Deployed a card last Round, does it take your face-down Spring slot in that Region?
- If an Active card gains a Command until the end of the Round and then moves out of play, does it keep the Command?
- How do you keep track of which Actions were already used in a Round?
- Can Book of True Names affect face-down cards played as Ambush?
- Does Old King's Spear give Deadly to the card occupying it?
- What is the difference between an Action and a Command?
Traits
- Do the Authority and Quest keywords depend on which cards are revealed?
- Does a Resilient card still count as Eliminated, for example for Assassin's Guild's VP, when it goes to the discard pile?
- Does Regal Guard's Shield make my Heir immune to effects that would Eliminate it, such as Deadly?
- Does a card with Resilient go to the discard pile when it Journeys?
- After a tied clash, do cards from the first clash count for a Deadly (assassin) command in the new clash?
- Can cards eliminated by Deadly come back from the discard or Lost pile?
- Does Resilient keep an Heir out of the Lost Pile when a non-Elimination effect like Ritual Sacrifice moves it?
- Does Pitch Black Night remove a Resilient card in a Fog Region?
- Do Invulnerable and Resilient protect cards from a fog or Threat effect that moves active cards to the Lost Pile?
- Does Invulnerable protect other active cards in the same Clash?
- What does the follower icon in the Poppet's night effect mean?
Clarifications
- Does 'most' mean more than every other player when players are tied, for example for most Votes, most Supporters, or most Hammers?
- How often can the School of the Storms Tactic be used?
- Does Guerrilla Fighters' blanking stop Commands that were gained, such as an Ambush given by Swansong Horn?
- Can Moonshine Cove's discard ability be used again because the Kingdom Card it acquires takes no slot?
- With Guerrilla Fighters in play, does an Ambushed Night Carnival eliminate every opposing card?
- When The Queen, Long Ago is resolving, can I trigger Council of Secrets midway and add cards to the discard before the Queen's Govern finishes?
- If a Tactic's effect was activated and the Tactic is then burned or unexhausted, does the effect still last for the Round?
- Does Assassin's Guild's Night clause eliminate my Nobility Heir or Archetype card even when no opponent's card is in the Clash?
- What happens if The Old King's Lantern moves Supporters to my Supply instead of my Player Board?
- If a Legendary Creature occupying a Kingdom Card is removed by its own Winter effect, what happens to that Kingdom Card?
- Does a Legendary Creature's Winter effect still apply while it is occupying a Kingdom Card?
- Can House Endures add a card from anywhere, including another player's discard pile or the Lost Pile?
- Does Fortify on a card like Ruined Citadel affect the player who owns that card, or every player who goes to that location?
- If a Loyal card is in the Court and another card displaces it, is the Loyal card discarded?
- Can Shapeshifter's Mirror copy a card in another player's Lost Pile?
- What does it mean for a card to become a copy under Shapeshifter's Mirror?
- If School of the Streets gave an Heir Deadly, does Deadly remain after Shapeshifter's Mirror turns the Heir into a copy?
- Can Engineer's Workshop keep a deployed War Machine on the map for many rounds?
- If Gilded Wall ends the clash during Planning, does an opponent's Eliminate card still trigger?
- Do you have to discard cards or markers to claim the extra influence from a Council of Relics vote?
- When an effect discards all the cards in a Council, are faction markers in that Council discarded too?
- Who can use the Midnight Court's ability, and can it be stolen?
- If you have no cards in hand during a re-clash after a tie, what must you do?
- What does Poisoner's Ball do to the cards in its Region?
- Can you activate both Reinforce and Retreat on Scout's Report in one Clash?
- Can vote markers be discarded in the Council of Relics, and can markers be removed from a Council?
- Does Union Members' March's lower-strength effect end when the card is Returned in Winter?
- Can Martial Law stop a card from Flanking into a Region during the first Clash there?
- When the Simulacrum draws a card into a clash through a Day action, is it active in that clash?
- Does Ruined Citadel's halving still apply in a tie-breaker clash?
- Does Book of True Names remove Ritual of the Tooth after the Tooth's burn raised its strength?
- Does a 0-strength Ruse win the Grand Tourney when it is the only card left?
- What happens to the Grand Tourney if the remaining cards tie?
- Does White Watchtowers' +5 apply to clashes or only to bidding and occupying?
- How does Splendid Guard work when you hold the Kingdom's Favour, or when the Kingdom's Favour dial has only one charge left?
- How does the Necropolis location reward work when your hand is nearly full?
- Why do the 11 cards treat the occupying card's strength as 0 when stealing a Kingdom card?
- Can you look at your own face-down cards in a Clash before they are revealed?
- Who gets the Influence from Emboldened Brigands when a Kingdom card is stolen?
- Are Kingdom cards without an Action symbol used as many times as their condition is met?
- When a Kingdom card says to discard your bidding card, is the card occupied and does it hit your player board?
- Does a Kingdom card bonus for faction cards with exactly 1 printed Lore apply to a card with two printed Lore?
- How does Signal Fires work when the Simulacrum has no Rally commands?
- What happens with the Simulacrum Threat Show of Strength if you have no card in the Clash?
- Does The Beacon let you acquire a Site of Power card without paying its Lore cost?
- Does Guerrilla Fighters' ability in a Clash apply only to the current Clash?
- Do Faction Markers placed on the Battlefield location score anything?
- If Ritual of the Eye is eliminated before a Clash result is decided, does the lowest-number rule still apply?
- Does Martial Law apply to a tiebreaker Clash in the same Region?
- Does Martial Law stay in effect if the War Machine that enabled it is returned to hand?
- Is the winning card still in hand when the Grand Tourney winner claims a location reward?
- Do Tin Crowns and the Nobility's Royal Bank stack?
- Must your Herald be in the Region to use Council of Relics?
- Is a River Runners occupy a steal that needs a higher-value card?
- Do Intimidating Presence and Hearts & Minds Falter stack on Simulacrum Herald rewards?
- Can Forged Royal Pardons move more than one card from the discard pile to hand?
- Can Prophet of the Waves move your Herald to another Location in the same Region?
- Can anything remove Bringer of the Word's markers from a Council?
- Can any player activate the Fall action on a Kingdom Card placed in a Region?
- What happens when Guerrilla Fighters, an Heir, Night Carnival and Cult of Dreams are all in one Clash?
- Can Shapeshifter's Mirror be used on a card that was ambushed in during the same Day?
- If I acquire White Watchtowers and resolve my bid first, do I gain its influence token right away?
- Does the slash in the City Over the Sea development cost mean 'and' or 'or'?
- What happens when all the faction markers on Door in the Night have been used?
- Does Metamorph Mirror copy of a graveyard card gain that card's printed abilities?
- Must Kingdom Cards be placed into the Islands in the Sky supply slots?
- Does School of the Storms count a card's lore twice if Flanking moves it to another region?
- Are the special character cards bought with Lore shown to the other players?
- When We Are Many makes Simulacrum fog cards gain Follower, do they lose their existing archetype?
- Can Prophet of the Waves move supporters from the previous clash on the Plateau into the new clash on the Plateau?
- Do you get School of the Storms rewards for a tie?
- Can I move a Kingdom Card out of Moonshine Cove into an emptied regular slot to free up the Cove?
- Are cards moved from the Lost Pile into a clash with School of the Stars placed face-up?
- When Bringer of the Word is removed from a council, who decides whether it goes to the Lost Pile?
- Can Prophet of the Waves be used to claim a second Herald Reward in one round?
- When claiming a Location reward through Council of Secrets, do you also gain the Battlefield influence?
- Can Prophet of the Waves move supporters belonging to other factions?
- How does the Simulacrum's 'choose cards from hand' work in a solo game?
- In a solo game, does the Castle reward remove the Simulacrum's influence tokens at the chosen Council?
- When I steal a Kingdom Card from the Simulacrum, what happens to its bidding token?
- If I acquire a Kingdom Card outside Resolve Bids and it says discard your Bidding card, what do I discard?
- Does Simulacrum steal influence if the player has no cards left in the clash after the Night phase?
Glossary
- Who controls a Kingdom Card like Midnight Court after it is placed on the board, and how is its ownership shown?
- What does 'active opponent' mean on the solo bot's Poppet card?
- Does Poisoner's Ball blank the cards of other players in its Region?
- Does Poisoner's Ball cancel Traits or Commands that a card gains from another card, such as the Deadly and Retreat from Assassin's Guild on a Crown card?
- Is Vulnerable a keyword in The Old King's Crown?
- What does 'return a Kingdom Card' mean?
- How can you get cards back from the Lost Pile?
- What are the symbols between the Strength number and the Traits on Faction Cards?
- Is a card that is sent on a Journey considered eliminated?
- Are faction markers limited to ten, and can a replacement be used when all ten are placed?
General
- What does a Kingdom Card like Curious Ring do with a Tactic that has already been used up?
- Does the Simulacrum's gold-card step in its deck setup happen every round, or only in round 1?
- When the Simulacrum has only two cards for its Herald placement, how does it get the third card?
- When the Simulacrum's discard pile is shuffled, do I put a gold card on top of it?
- Can the Wild Kingdom expansion's modules be used in solo play against the Simulacrum?
- How is the Simulacrum's Necropolis reward resolved?
- If the player passes in a clash tied with the Simulacrum, does the Simulacrum win?
- If you cannot discard two cards from Simulacrum's Shrine, what happens?
- Does the Prototype Simulacrum card work against the Simulacrum?
- Does the Simulacrum use the abilities printed on Kingdom Cards it occupies?
- Does visiting the Travelling Town mean you forgo the Location Reward at its location?
- If you Visit a Wild Kingdom location with Council of Secrets, can you still gain from that visit?
- Can you still claim a Location Reward that Sudden Eclipse has blanked, and does Golden Caravan still trigger?
- When does a card the Simulacrum plays face-down become active?
- Can you look at the card back of the next Simulacrum Ambition?
- Does the Necropolis mean you shuffle your discard pile into your Deck?
- Can you play the Simulacrum cooperatively with the first printing?
- Can two players play against the Simulacrum?
- What happens when a Simulacrum council action has no votes on any council?
- Does the Simulacrum gain Influence from every Kingdom card it holds, or only from the card it just gained?