Two Crowns Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Preparation
• Course of the game
  • Attacking Player
  • Attacking
  • Defending
  • Battle ensues!
  • Attacking Player wins
  • Defending Player wins
  • Recruiting a new army (Drawing new cards)
  • End of turn
  • Rest state
• Special cards
  • Vassal
  • Bishop
  • Catapult
  • Feint
  • Gold Coins
• Extra rule: the Dice of Destiny
• End of the war

Components

• 106 playing cards
• 2 reference cards
• 2 crown cards
• 2 castle dice (20-sided)

Preparation

Both players receive a deck consisting of the following cards:

• 5x green Knight cards showing three swords (3 attack points)
• 8x green Knight cards showing two swords (2 attack points)
• 20x green Knight cards showing one sword (1 attack point)
• 5x blue Feint cards
• 3x yellow Gold Coin cards showing two stacked coins
• 4x yellow Gold Coin cards showing a single coin
• 3x orange Vassal cards
• 3x purple Bishop cards
• 2x red Catapult cards

Each deck contains cards with different angled borders to tell them apart.

Each player takes a Reference card. Set the Crown cards aside to keep score of your victories when playing in a best-out-of-three format. The decks are then shuffled and placed face down on the table. Each player draws 7 cards from their deck. Both players now roll their Castle die (the 20-sided die) to determine who takes the first turn.

Set both Castle dice to 20 at the start of the game. This represents the starting point value of each Castle. You lose the game when your Castle die reaches 0.

Place your deck next to you. Reserve a place next to your deck for your discard pile. This is where your cards go when they are used up in battle, or would otherwise not return to the game.

Course of the game

Players take turns after each other. During your turn, you are considered the attacking player.

Attacking Player

During your turn you have one of two options:

1. Attack and lay siege to your opponent's Castle.
2. Recruit a new army by drawing cards.

Attacking

To attack your opponent's Castle, you must send your Knights out on the field of battle. Knights are represented by the green Knight cards, having either 1, 2 or 3 attack points. To attack, choose up to four cards from your hand and lay them face down in front of you.

Defending

The defending player may then choose to defend his Castle from your attack. He may select and place up to four cards from his hand face down in front of him.

Battle ensues!

First the attacking player flips his face down cards face up, followed by the defending player. The player who has the most combined attack points wins. In case of a draw, the defending player wins. The losing player's Knight cards are vanquished and placed on his discard pile.

Attacking Player wins

The attacking player damages his opponent's Castle. Determine the amount of damage by deducting the combined attack power of the defender's army from the combined attack power of the attacking army. The resulting number is the amount of damage that is deducted from the losing player's Castle die.

After battle, the attacker's Knight cards have a long journey home ahead of them. To represent this, the attacker's Knight cards are placed in a Rest state (see below).

Defending Player wins

The defending player takes his Knight cards back into his hand.

Recruiting a new army (Drawing new cards)

Instead of attacking during your turn, you can choose to recruit new units. This is done in one of two ways:

Large draw

If you have less than seven cards in hand, you may draw cards from your deck until you have seven cards in hand again.

Precise draw

If you have seven cards or less in hand:

Place one card from your hand on the discard pile. Draw two new cards from your deck and select one to take in hand. Place the other card on the discard pile.

End of turn

Your turn ends after either attacking or drawing new cards. Your opponent then becomes the attacking player.

Rest state

After attacking or when suffering from a Feint card, a Knight card is forced into a Rest state. This means that the card won't return to your hand until the end of the next turn (your own, or that of your opponent). During this time, it can't be used in the attack or defense of the following turn. Cards in a Rest state still count towards the maximum hand size of seven.

Special cards

Both the attacking and defending player can use special cards to turn the tide of battle. Most of these cards cost gold to use in battle. When using these special cards, you may never exceed a combined total of four cards per attack or defense action.

The Vassal, the Bishop and the Catapult cards must be played in combination with at least one Knight card. Special cards take effect in the following order, but before calculating your combined Knight card attack point total: Catapult, Bishop, Feint, Vassal.

Vassal

A full belly increases the morale of your Knights. Double the combined attack points of your Knight cards.

Cost: 2 gold pieces

Bishop

Convert your opponent with divine reasoning. Take your opponent's strongest Knight card into your hand.

Cost: 3 gold pieces

Catapult

Hurl massive boulders through the air. Deal 10 points of damage to your opponent's Castle die.

Cost: 4 gold pieces

Feint

Deceive your opponent with tactical maneuvers. Remove the strongest opposing Knight card. Put it in the Rest state. A feint only works if your opponent fights with the same number of cards (or more). Otherwise, cancel its effect and place it on the discard pile.

Gold Coins

Whenever you flip a special card such as the Vassal, Bishop or Catapult, pay for them by placing the required number of gold coin cards from your hand in the discard pile. Gold coin cards come in 1 and 2 gold coin cards.

If a player can't (or won't) pay the gold cost of a special card after flipping it face up, cancel its effect and place it in the discard pile. Regardless of outcome, all special cards and the gold coin cards required to play them, are placed in the discard pile after playing them.

Extra rule: the Dice of Destiny

This mechanic can only be used by the first player who decides to take his chances on a roll of the dice... Once per game, one player may decide to roll his Castle die. The resulting number is this player's new Castle die point value, regardless of his previous point value. Obviously, this option can be used defensively, offensively or as an interesting bluffing tactic.

End of the war

The game ends when one of the players loses by not having any remaining points on his Castle die OR when a player loses by running out of cards to draw and is unable to attack. For maximum fun and enjoyment, we recommend playing in a best-out-of-three format to determine the true lord of Two Crowns.