Vampire Lords Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Components
• 3.0 Key Concepts
  • 3.1 Map
  • 3.2 Town and Village Markers
  • 3.3 Armies
  • 3.4 Vampires
  • 3.5 Resources
  • 3.6 Cards
• 4.0 Game Setup
  • 2 Players Map Setup
  • 3 Players Map Setup
  • 4 Players Map Setup
• 5.0 Course of the Game
  • 5.1 Diplomacy Phase
  • 5.2 Action Phase
    • Army Activation
    • Battle
    • Vampires Activation
    • Unrests and Uprisings
  • 5.3 Market Phase
  • 5.4 Harvest and Upkeep Phase
  • 5.5 Dawn Phase
• 6.0 Vampire Lords Introduction
  • Emine Hatun
  • Elizabeth Báthory
  • Mircea the Elder
  • Vlad Dracula
• 7.0 Strategy Guide
• 8.0 Variants
  • The Long Night
  • The Planner
  • Cutthroats
  • All in
  • Crypt Keepers
  • Fearful Peasants
  • Foresighted Vampires
• 9.0 FAQ
• Symbols & Icons
• Rules Shorthand

1.0 Introduction

Vampire Lords is a strategic board game that combines area control and deck-building mechanics. Take on the role of Vampire Lord vying for control. Lead armies, forge powerful alliances, scheme, and develop your vampiric powers. Fight to the last drop of blood!

The goal of the game is to seize and hold five Towns by the end of the round, or eight Towns in alliance with another player.

Each game lasts a maximum of 4 rounds. Each round is divided into 5 phases:

• Diplomacy — changing alliances (4 players only) and developing Lord abilities.
• Action — the heart of the game, where players play cards to command armies and send Vampires on missions.
• Market — buying cards from the market.
• Harvest and Upkeep — players take resources from the Locales they control and pay out to their armies.
• Dawn — players check victory conditions, and brace for peasant revolts.

2.0 Components

• Game Board — the map depicts the lands of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia, the heartlands of Vampire kind.
• 6 Lord Boards — each player chooses a Lord and begins the game with their board and starting cards.
• 24 Lords Ability Cards (4 per Vampire Lord)
• 88 Action Cards
• 4 Player Aids
• 4 Vampire Lords & 8 Vampire Spawns — Vampires roam the wild regions of Transylvania. They can support their armies in battles, hunt for blood, subjugate entire Villages, and travel to foreign Courts.
• 24 Army Markers — used to mark players' armies.
• 2 Dice — the result of the dice roll determines the course of the battle.
• 30 Undead Units & 30 Living Units — players muster forces from the realms of both life and death. Undead can be more resilient than the living, but also harder to maintain.
• 20 Neutral Living Units — Neutral Units represent the folk of the land, standing defiant against the armies of the undead Lords.
• 45 Gold & 45 Blood — 15 (5 gold and 5 blood) and 30 (1 gold and 1 blood). Blood and gold are the two resources in the world of Vampires. They are used for paying army wages or purchasing new action cards. Resources can be useful for bribing another player or concluding a bloody agreement.
• 2 Ascension Markers — used to mark a Vampire Lord that has performed the ritual of scension (place the marker under the Lord's meeple).
• First Player Marker
• 4 Ancestral Castles (1 per player) — Sanctum of each Vampire Lord, a place of safety where no other player may trespass.
• 24 Town Markers & 48 Village Markers (6 and 12 per player) — these tokens mark the Locales under the player's dominion.
• 18 Unrest Markers (double-sided) — the unrest reflects the suspicions of the common folk towards their new rulers.
• Round Marker — a lone cloud wandering the borders of the map marks the current round (moon phase).

3.0 Key Concepts

3.1 Map

The map represents the territories of modern Romania, Moldova, and southern Ukraine as they were in the 15th century. The names of Locales are contemporary for easier navigation. It includes the historical regions of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia.

The map features Towns and Villages connected by roads. Depending on the number of players, some Towns will be converted into Villages.

Locale is a term used collectively for Towns, Villages, and Ancestral Castles. Locales connected by a road are adjacent to each other.

Wilderness refers to the areas encompassed by roads and Locales. Vampires move between wilderness areas, and exert influence over adjacent Locales.

Map elements: Ancestral Castle; neutral Town; occupied Town (Towns are required for victory and are the main source of gold income); neutral Village; occupied Village (Villages act as buffer between Towns and provide blood); Wilderness; road; Court; moon.

The Ancestral Castle, located in the Wilderness, is the player's starting place. It is a special Locale that represents a safe haven for each player:

• enemy armies cannot enter it,
• Unrest markers can't be added there,
• for its owner, the Ancestral Castle is considered connected by roads to all Locales along its border.

In each of the four corners of the map resides a Court, of the great power that can be visited by Vampires to earn their support.

The moons at the edges of the map mark the rounds and indicate how many cards players will draw at the beginning of each round.

3.2 Town and Village Markers

Each time players take control over a Village or Town, they place a marker in their color on that Locale.

3.3 Armies

An army consists of all units stationed in one Locale. Armies move along roads between Locales. There are two types of units in the game:

• Living Units – represented by beige discs with the symbol of the living,
• Undead Units – represented by black discs with the symbol of the undead.

Each player's army has an army marker in the player's color on top of it. Each player can have a maximum of 6 armies.

Neutral Living Units appear when a neutral Locale is attacked. They represent the local population (like peasants and local militia) resisting the terrifying invaders. These units are represented by small beige discs with the symbol of the living.

3.4 Vampires

Each player starts the game with a Vampire Lord. In the second and fourth rounds, players will get one Vampire Spawn. Vampire is a collective term that refers to both the Vampire Lord and the Vampire Spawn.

Vampires move between the Wilderness areas and exert influence over Locales adjacent to the wilderness area they occupy. They can also travel to Courts in the corners of the map.

3.5 Resources

There are two resources in Vampire Lords: gold and blood, in denominations of 1 and 5. They are used to pay armies, buy cards and activate certain effects.

3.6 Cards

There are 2 main types of cards in the game: action cards and Lord's ability cards.

• Universal starting action cards: the starting cards are marked with a cost of "0".
• Lord's starting action cards: they are assigned to a specific Lord and also have a cost of "0".
• Lord's ability cards: each Lord has 4 unique ability cards.

4.0 Game Setup

1. Lay out the game board, then resources, tokens, units and battle dice next to the game board.

2. Separate starting action cards (with a cost of "0") from the rest of action cards.

3. Separate the action cards with battle effects and create two separate decks. Shuffle those decks.

   Set up the market cards as follows:

   • Reveal 3 action cards.
   • Reveal 2 battle cards.
   • Place the Sultan's Support cards deck face up.

4. Move the top card from the action deck to the graveyard.

5. Choose, or randomly draw your Lords and take:

   • their board,
   • 4 ability cards,
   • starting deck composed of:
     • 2 Lord's starting action cards,
     • 4 starting action cards: Raid, Bypass, Crypt Keeper and Bats Swarm.

6. Shuffle your deck (all starting action cards).

7. Take your starting resources: 3 gold and 3 blood.

8. Choose your player colors and take the corresponding pieces:

   • Ancestral Castle
   • 6 Town markers

2 Players Map Setup

Place Village replacement markers on these Towns: Bistrița, București, Timișoara, Cetatea Albă, Chilia, Cluj Napoca, Craiova, Iași, Oradea, Silistra, Suceava.

Purple player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Oradea and Alba Julia.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Alba Julia.

Green player:

1. Put Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to București and Târgoviște.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Târgoviște.

3 Players Map Setup

Place Village replacement markers on these Towns: Cetatea Albă, Chilia, Cluj Napoca, Craiova, Sibiu, Silistra, Suceava, Timișoara.

Green player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Silistra and București.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in București.
4. Place Village marker in Slobozia.

Purple player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Timișoara and Oradea.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Oradea.
4. Place Village marker in Brad.

Blue player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Suceava and Iași.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Iași.
4. Place Village marker in Tărgu Neamt.

4 Players Map Setup

Place Village replacement markers on these Towns: Bacău, Cetatea Albă, Cluj Napoca, Sibiu, Silistra, Timișoara.

Place neutral Living Units in these Villages: Severin, Făgăraș, Crăciuna, Galați.

Green player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Sibiu and Argeș.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Argeș.
4. Place Village marker in Unisala.

Blue player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Cluj Napoca and Bistrița.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Bistrița.
4. Place Village marker in Rahova.

Purple player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Silistra and București.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in București.
4. Place Village marker in Arbore.

Orange player:

1. Place Ancestral Castle in Wilderness adjacent to Cetatea Albă and Iași.
2. Place 3 gold and 3 blood in your Ancestral Castle.
3. Place Town marker in Iași.
4. Place Village marker in Jula.

5.0 Course of the Game

The goal of the game is to control at the end of the game: 5 Towns on your own or 8 Towns together with an Ally.

The game lasts 4 rounds, each round consists of the following phases:

• Diplomacy:
  • Forming alliances — 4 players game only
  • Evolving abilities
  • Vampire movement
• Action:
  • Drawing cards
  • Playing cards
• Market:
  • Passing the first player marker
  • Buying cards from the market
• Harvest & Upkeep:
  • Harvest
  • Upkeep
• Dawn:
  • Unrest escalation
  • Checking victory conditions

5.1 Diplomacy Phase

Forming alliances — 4 players games only

Each player may form and/or dissolve an alliance with another player. Players who form an alliance must exchange one Lord ability card with each other and mark the alliance on their player board.

Alliances are a maximum of two players and can win only together by controlling at least 8 Towns.

In alliance:

• Allied players cannot attack each other or place Unrest in each other's Locales.
• Players may not end their movement in an Ally's Locales, but they may move through them.
• A Vampire may support an Ally's army in battle.

Negotiations and transfer of resources. You can make deals and exchange gold and blood with other players during your turn in Action phase or Market phase. The agreements sealed by the transfer of resources are binding.

Evolving abilities

Each player activates one Lord ability card. If players formed an alliance this round, they must activate the ability received from their Ally.

Each Lord can have up to 3 ability cards active at the same time. When activating a new ability, a player may replace one of their currently active abilities.

Example: Veronica has formed an alliance in Round 4 and must exchange one of her Lord's active abilities for the one received from her Ally.

Lord's ability cards

Each player has 4 ability cards specific to their Lord. Each card shows the name of the ability, the Lord's name (which Lord the card belongs to), the moment of activation, and the description of the ability.

Vampire movement

In clockwise order starting from the first player, move your Vampires to any Wilderness. Vampires must return from the Courts to the main map.

Player's area: Lord's board, deck, player's hand, discard (with played cards), active Lord's ability card.

5.2 Action Phase

Drawing cards

Each player draws cards from their deck up to hand limit, which depends on the round:

• Round I (new moon): the hand limit is 4.
• Round II (half-moon): the hand limit is 5.
• Round III (full moon): the hand limit is 6.
• Round IV (half-moon): the hand limit is 5.

If the player's deck runs out of cards, the player shuffles their discard pile to form a new deck and draws cards from it.

Playing cards

Players take turns playing one action card each, starting with the first player and then clockwise. Each action card can be played as its symbol (from the top left corner), or as the text in the red box of the card. Played cards are placed on each player's own discard pile.

Players may also pass, which ends their participation in playing cards for that round. When passing, the player decides whether to discard the cards remaining in their hand. Players continue taking turns until everyone has passed. The player who passed first, excluding the first player, becomes the new first player and will start buying cards first in the Market phase.

The anatomy of an action card: the purchase cost of a card (gold / blood); the symbol of a card (Vampires Activation / Army Activation); the red box; the black box with instant effect; the flavour text (or Lord's name).

Instant effects symbols

In addition to the red box, there is also a black box on each card, which indicates immediate effects that are resolved regardless of standard actions. These effects are triggered depending on the symbol shown in the frame:

• Sacrifice symbol: perform the effect when this card is sacrificed or moved to the graveyard.
• Purchase (pouch) symbol: perform the effect when this card is purchased.
• Battle symbol: cards with a battle symbol have a black box with a battle symbol instead of a red box. These cards can be played extra during the battle to perform their effect. Perform the effect when this card is played during a battle.

Activation symbols

There are two symbols on the action cards: Army activation symbol and Vampires activation symbol.

Army Activation

Using the army activation symbol allows to perform one of the following actions:

• Recruitment — add 3 Living Units to Ancestral Castle.
• March — move your army by up to 3 Locales.

During movement the army can leave and take units along the way. You can leave units in empty opponents' Villages to capture them without triggering a battle.

Upon entering a neutral Locale or another player's Locale with their units, the action ends and the battle begins.

When a player's army enters a neutral Locale, 3 Neutral Living Units immediately rally there — place them in that Locale.

Example: Veronica plays an action card and uses the army activation to move her army by 3 Locales (1). She leaves units in one of the Villages she passes and takes units for the activated army in the other Village (2). Entering a neutral Town ends her movement and starts a battle with Neutral Units (3).

Battle

A battle begins when an army enters one of the following:

• a Town controlled by another player,
• a Locale occupied by another player's army,
• a neutral Locale (3 Neutral Units are added there).

Towns have their own garrisons, which are 1 Living Unit that always defends their Town (printed onto map and tokens). That is why entering another player's Town (even without units) interrupts the movement and triggers a battle.

The battle ends the movement of the army!

Battle steps:

1. Playing a battle action card — starting with the attacker, players can play one card each with a battle symbol and execute the card text. Players immediately execute the text of their card.

2. Rolling battle dice — The side with more Undead Units in their army rolls the black dice, while their opponent rolls the beige dice. In case of a tie, the attacker rolls the black dice. Then, each side removes a number of their own units equal to the value rolled by their opponent. Players choose which of their own units to remove.

3. Determining the winner — players calculate the strength of their armies by adding:

   • The number of units they have in the battle.
   • The strength of one Vampire on an adjacent Wilderness space.
     • Vampire Lord: 2 strength
     • Vampire servant: 1 strength
   • When defending in Town: 1 strength.

   The player with greater strength wins the battle and takes over the Locale, while their opponent must retreat the remaining units. In case of a tie defender wins.

   A player must have at least one unit remaining at the end of the battle in order to take control of the Locale.

4. Retreating the army:

   • The defeated army retreats to a neighboring Locale controlled by that player.
   • Neutral Units retreat to a neighboring neutral Locale. Priority:
     • Town
     • Village — the winning player decides which Village they want to withdraw to.

Example of the course of a battle: Veronica's army enters a neutral Village (1), what immediately generates 3 Neutral Living Units — small beige discs (2). This triggers a battle.

Playing a battle card: Veronica plays a battle action card (3) and resolves its effect (4). Battle effect: remove 1 unit from opponent's army. Take 3 gold or 3 blood. Draw a card from your deck.

Rolling battle dice: Veronica has 2 Undead Units, while the neutral defenders are Living Units. Since Veronica has more Undead Units, she rolls the black die, while the defenders roll the beige die:

• Veronica rolls a 1.
• The neutral defenders roll a 0.

As a result, Veronica doesn't remove units from her army, and 1 unit is removed from the neutral army (5).

Determining the winner: Veronica has 1 unit remaining and a Vampire Spawn on an adjacent Wilderness. Total strength: 3 (2 for units + 1 for the Vampire Spawn). The defender has 1 unit left and total strength of 1. Veronica wins the battle.

Retreating the army: the last Neutral Unit retreats to an adjacent Town.

Vampires Activation

Using the Vampires activation symbol allows each of your Vampires to perform one of the following actions:

• Subdue a Village — place a Vampire in any Wilderness and take over an adjacent neutral Village with no units.
• Hunt — place the Vampire in any Wilderness, gain 2 blood and place Unrest marker in one adjacent Locale.
• Travel to a Court — place the Vampire in an empty Court and perform its effect. Vampire remains in Court until the diplomacy phase.

Each Vampire must take a different action than the others.

Example: Veronica uses the Vampire activation. She has a Vampire Lord and 2 Vampire Spawns, so she performs one different action with each of them: Lord subdues a Village, first Spawn performs hunt and the second Spawn travels to a Court.

Courts

The Courts are located in the four corners of the map. As part of the Vampire activation, a Vampire can travel to an empty Court (not occupied by other Vampires) and activate its effect. The Vampires remain in Courts until the end of the round and can only return during the diplomacy phase.

Courts and their effects:

• Rome: choose another player. If they don't pay you 4 blood, move their Lord to Rome and gain 3 gold.
• Venice: buy card from the market for 2 gold or blood less. Place it on top of your deck.
• Vampire Elders: place 3 Undead Units in the Locale that you control.
• Necromancer: play the symbol and the text in the red box of the top card from the graveyard.

There are Lord's abilities and action cards that allow you to work around the main rules of Courts.

Example: Veronica plays The Grand Ball card and performs the effect of any Court of her choice (even if it is occupied) without using a Vampire.

Unrests and Uprisings

Unrest arises in Locales as a result of player actions or during Unrest escalation (in the Dawn phase). There can be up to 2 Unrests in a Locale; when 3rd Unrest is added, an Uprising breaks out in the Locale. An Unrest added to a neutral Locale converts to 1 Neutral Unit.

During the Harvest and Upkeep, resources cannot be collected from Locales with an Unrest. Unrest markers cannot be added to an Ancestral Castles.

Two-sided Unrest marker: front side of the token = 1 Unrest; back side = 2 Unrests.

Unrest is removed at the end of a player's turn:

• From Towns with at least 2 units.
• From Villages with at least 1 unit.

Immediately after adding 3rd Unrest to the same Locale, an Uprising breaks out.

Course of the Uprising:

1. Remove all units and Unrest markers from the Locale.
2. The Locale becomes neutral.
3. Add one Unrest marker to each adjacent Locale.

If several Uprisings occur simultaneously, they are resolved in order starting with the first player.

Example: Veronica, using the hunt action, adds 3rd Unrest (1) to a Town controlled by Matthew and triggers an Uprising. The Town then becomes neutral and the Unrest spreads to neighboring Locales. A unit of living is added in the neutral Villages and Unrest markers are added in the Villages controlled by Matthew (2).

5.3 Market Phase

Changing first player

The player who passed first during the Action phase, excluding the current first player, becomes the new first player and begins the Market phase by buying cards first. The remaining players buy cards in clockwise order.

Buying cards from the market

On their turn, a player may buy any number of cards and place them on top of their discard pile.

The card market

The market always features:

• 3 action cards
• 2 battle action cards
• Sultan's Support Card

When a card is purchased, it is immediately replaced with the next card from the corresponding deck.

If the purchased card has a pouch symbol in the black box, its effect is executed immediately after purchase.

Each card in the market has a purchase cost in gold or blood, displayed in the top-right corner of the card.

5.4 Harvest and Upkeep Phase

In the Harvest and Upkeep phase, players collect resources from their Locales and pay their units.

Harvest

Collect resources from the Locales you control:

• Ancestral Castle provides 2 gold and 2 blood
• each Town provides 2 gold
• each Village provides 1 blood

Reminder: players don't collect resources from Locales with Unrest markers.

Example: Veronica controls an Ancestral Castle, two Towns and three Villages. She collects a total of 6 gold from them (2 gold from the Ancestral Castle and 2 gold from each Town) and 5 blood (2 blood from the Ancestral Castle and 1 blood from each Village).

Upkeep

Each player pays their units to maintain them. If a player cannot or chooses not to pay for some units, they must remove the unpaid units from the board.

Maintenance costs of units:

• 1 gold for each Living Unit
• 1 blood for each Undead Unit

Example: Veronica has 6 Living Units and 2 Undead Units. She discards 4 gold to pay for 4 Living Units, 2 blood to pay for 2 Undead Units and removes 2 Living Units because she didn't have 2 gold to pay for them.

5.5 Dawn Phase

The Dawn phase ends the round. It consists of an escalation of Unrest and a check of victory conditions.

Escalation of Unrest

In each Locale with Unrest marker, another Unrest is added. Unrests are added in order, starting with the Locales belonging to the first player. This may result in Uprisings.

Checking victory conditions

At this moment, it is checked if any player has won. To win, the requirements are:

• For a single player: control of 5 Towns.
• For an alliance: control of 8 Towns.

End of the game

The game ends if the player(s) have fulfilled the victory conditions at the end of the Dawn phase.

If this is the last round and no one has won according to the normal conditions then the alliances are dissolved and the player with the most Towns wins the game.

Tie

If multiple players meet the victory conditions at the same time, or control the same number of Towns at the end of the game the winner is determined as follows:

• The player with the most Villages wins.
• Secondly the player with the most units wins.
• If there is still a tie, all tied players join forces and share the victory.

6.0 Vampire Lords Introduction

Emine Hatun

As a girl, she was taken captive from Greek homeland and sold into the Sultan's harem. Thanks to her strange and secret gifts, she rose to the highest ranks of harem and became the Sultan's wife. Sent on a secret mission, it is unknown whether she will remain loyal to her Sultan or to the bonds of ancient blood.

Lord's Abilities:

• Hot-blooded — during the Action Phase, when playing the first action card, perform both the symbol and the red frame of the card.
• Intrigue — during the Action Phase, when you perform a Vampires Action, you may perform a Hunt action using another player's Vampire Spawn.
• Janissaries — during the Diplomacy Phase, remove two neutral Living Units from selected locations (you can choose from two different) and add two Living Units to your Ancestral Castle.
• Harem — during the Action Phase, always take two gold after playing the Sultan's Support card.

Elizabeth Báthory

A noblewoman with a taste for bathing in the blood of the virgins. Death always walks beside her, and she has grown strangely close to it. The family graveyard is her garden, watched over by the undead guardians.

Lord's Abilities:

• Necromancy — during the Action Phase, add one Undead Unit to your Ancestral Castle for each sacrificed card.
• Garden of Souls — during the Action Phase, this Lord may travel to the occupied Necromancer's Court. Then play one of the top three cards from the graveyard and place the played card at the bottom of the graveyard deck.
• Cold-blooded — after winning a battle involving this Lord, take two blood.
• Bloodbath — at the start of the battle, spend two blood to remove any one unit from your opponent's army.

Mircea the Elder

Once a mighty voivode of Wallachia. Wishing to protect his realm forever, Mircea made a pact with the Spirit of the Moon. In return, he was granted immortality. But the gift came with a curse — a hunger for blood that could never be silenced.

Lord's Abilities:

• Battle-hardened — during battle, when you are required to remove your units, remove one Undead Unit instead of two Undead Units.
• Grave Robber — during the Market Phase, take one of the top three cards from the graveyard and place it on top of your deck.
• Ancient Vampire — during the Action Phase, this Lord may travel to an occupied Vampire Elders Court, then take an additional Undead Unit.
• Great Hunt — during Hunt action carried out by this Lord, additionally take one blood and remove one unit from the Locale where the hunt was carried out.

Vlad Dracula

In his youth, he was taken as a hostage to the Ottoman court, where he swore vengeance upon those who had betrayed his family. He returned to Wallachia to claim back the land that was rightfully his and to carry out a bloody revenge. Vlad became known for ruthless cruelty toward his enemies, which earned him the nickname the Impaler.

Lord's Abilities:

• Impaler — during the Market Phase, you may remove any number of your Living Units. For every two Living Units you remove, take three blood.
• Cunning — during the Market Phase, take one card with the battle symbol from the market and place it on top of your deck (don't pay the cost of this card).
• Terrifying — after winning a battle involving this Lord, remove one Living Unit from the enemy army that did not participate in this battle.
• Strategist — during a battle involving this Lord, you may re-roll both battle dice.

7.0 Strategy Guide

The goal of the game is to conquer Towns. If you don't know what to do at the moment, you can always follow this pattern:

• Recruit units
• Take over Villages on the way to the nearest Town
• Attack Towns with your armies

You can devise and incorporate new elements of your strategy in subsequent rounds and games.

Sacrificing cards is extremely important! It allows you to both use additional card effects and adjust your deck to fit your plans. Just remember not to remove too many cards and to have at least 6 cards to draw on the full moon.

Adding Unrest in your opponent's Locales allows you to draw off his armies and resources to suppress rebellions. A second good use of Unrest is to add it in neutral Locales between players, this creates a buffer and discourages expansion in that direction.

Well-controlled peasants can be a rich source of blood. You can cut off their escape route and manipulate them to obtain this blood-rich food.

If you plan to win the game in a given round, it's a good idea to secure Towns by leaving at least 2 units in them, so that you don't lose the Towns due to Unrest when other players realize what's coming. Players with weaker positions can often leave Towns in the rear empty, as they do not pose an immediate threat to other players.

Cards with battle symbols are useful both during battles and to cycle through your deck faster. Playing one in battle always allows you to draw another card immediately.

Vampires can take control of any empty Villages on the map by the subdue action. This can be used to clear the way to the Towns or to take over Villages behind enemy lines. Recruiting units behind enemy lines allows for surprise attacks from unexpected directions.

8.0 Variants

You can mix and match any variants from this section according to your preferences. We suggest playing the first game without any variants to familiarize yourself with the rules and see which variants can improve your gaming experience.

The Long Night

A longer variant of the game for advanced players. Rule changes:

• The game lasts 8 rounds (the moon makes two full cycles around the map).
• Brașov, the central Town on the map, is turned into a Village (cover it with Village replacement marker).

The Planner

For players who are not fond of random battle outcomes. Rule changes:

• The player with the greater number of undead always deals damage from the dice of higher value. In case of a tie in the number of Undead Units, the attacking side deals more damage.

Cutthroats

For exceptionally ruthless players. Rule changes:

• No agreements are binding.
• During player's turn, they can break an alliance by discarding the card instead of playing it.

All in

For players thirsting for Vampire action. Rule changes:

• All players start with both Vampire Spawns active on the main board. Put them on any Wilderness.

Crypt Keepers

For players who like to have control over their deck. Rule changes:

• Each player starts the game with Crypt Keeper in their hand. Draw the remaining 3 cards according to the standard rules.

Fearful Peasants

A variant for players who want more dynamism and negative interaction. Rule changes:

• The peasants are so terrified of Vampires that they do not organize in the Locales your armies pass through.
• Armies can pass through neutral Locales, and the peasants only organize in Locales where armies stop.

Foresighted Vampires

For players who like to plan ahead. Rule changes:

• Draw cards at the beginning of the round, not during the action phase.
• The Treasury ability of Lord Radu and Carmilla's ability Divination take effect at the beginning of the diplomacy phase.

9.0 FAQ

There is already 1 Neutral Unit in the Locale. Should I add another 3 Neutral Units upon entering the Locale? Yes. One Living Unit represents refugees from neighboring Locales and the degree of preparedness of the local population. When entering neutral Locales, three additional Neutral Living Units are always added, regardless of how many were there before and how many times the Locale has been attacked.

Can my army split up and move to two different Locales? It depends. Army movement consists of moving units along a path between a maximum of 3 Locales connected by roads. You can move your army by 1 Locale, leave some units there, turn back, and move the rest of your army to another Locale. You cannot move your army by 1 Locale and then split it up between 2 other Locales.

I have 3 active Lord abilities, can I activate another ability? Yes, but you must replace it with one of your currently active abilities. Each Lord can have a maximum of 3 active abilities at a time. If you discard another player's ability, return that ability card to them.

I attack another player's empty Town. Will there still be a battle? Yes, battles still take place, and the Town is always treated as a single unit of living that cannot be removed.

Can I take over another player's empty Village with my army without a battle? Yes, battles are not triggered in empty Villages belonging to players. To capture them, it is enough to have units remaining in them at the end of the turn.

Can I use the Rome Court to move a Lord from another Court to Rome? Yes, the moved Lord then frees up that Court for other Vampires.

Do Lords forced to move to Rome block the use of Rome Court? Yes, any Vampires in Rome block its standard use.

Can I target a Lord already in Rome using the Rome Court? No, he's either already been kidnapped or he's an informant for the Vampire hunters, and that's why they're not interested in kidnapping him.

After breaking an alliance, do we return ability cards to our former Allies? No, the Lord has already learned a new ability and does not intend to part with it. We must be careful with whom we share our knowledge.

Can I show my cards to other players or my Ally? All information shared during the game is public; if a card is shown, it must be shown to all players. You can also agree that secret exchanges of information are allowed, but this can significantly prolong the game.

Can I play the card I used to activate my army during battle? No, that card has already been discarded. You must play a different card during battle.

Symbols & Icons

• Action card
• Draw an action card from your deck to your hand
• Sacrifice a card: take chosen card from discard pile and move it to the graveyard
• Perform the effect when this card is sacrificed or moved to the graveyard
• Perform the effect when this card is purchased
• Perform the effect when this card is played in a battle
• Living Unit (including Neutral Units)
• Undead Unit
• Any unit (Living or Undead)
• Gold
• Blood
• Unrest

Rules Shorthand

Each round consists of five phases:

• Diplomacy:
  • Forming alliances (4 players game only) — players may form and/or break alliances.
  • Evolving abilities — players activate a new Lord ability. If they entered an alliance this round, they must activate an ability from their ally. If they already have 3 active Lord abilities, they may replace one with the new one.
  • Vampire movement — players move their Vampires to any Wilderness, starting in turn order from the First Player.
• Action:
  • Drawing cards — players draw cards into their hand. The number of cards depends on the current round (Moon Phase).
  • Playing cards — starting from the First Player, players take turns playing 1 card each, until all have passed.
• Market:
  • Passing the First Player Marker — First Player Marker is passed to the player who passed first (excluding the current First Player).
  • Buying cards from the Market — players may buy any number of cards, starting with the First Player. Purchased cards go to their discard pile (unless stated otherwise by special abilities).
• Harvest & Upkeep:
  • Harvest — players collect income from their Locales.
  • Upkeep — players pay Upkeep for their units. For each Living Unit, pay 1 gold. For each Undead Unit, pay 1 blood. If a player cannot or does not wish to pay, the unit is removed from the map.
• Dawn:
  • Unrest escalation — in turn order, players add Unrest to any Locales that already have an Unrest marker. If necessary, resolve any Uprisings.
  • Checking victory conditions — players check for victory conditions. If met, the game ends and a winner is declared. If not, proceed to the next round.

Publisher's disclaimer: this is a draft of the rulebook for the prototype version of the game, which will be further developed. The rulebook may change after playtesting and prototype reviews.