Verona

Verona Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

110 Florin tokens (39x 1 Florin, 28x 5 Florins, 31x 10 Florins and 12x 20 Florins)
45 Action Tokens (5 sets of 9 tokens)
Game Board (map of Verona)
Cards
- 27 Building Cards (set of 9 in 3 languages)
- 20 Mission Cards
- 15 Intrigue Cards (5 sets of 3 cards)
5 player screens
First Player Token
80 Ally Tokens (5 sets of 16 tokens)
30 Mercenaries (game pieces)
3 eight-sided dice
Rulebook

Game Dice

Verona uses eight-sided dice. Any time during the game you roll the number 8 on a die, roll again and add results together. If you are favored by fortune, it's possible to get a high result and surprise your opponents.

Example: Two dice have been rolled. One die was a 4, the other an 8. We re-rolled the die with the 8 and rolled another 8. We roll for the third time and got a 1. The final sum is 4 + 8 + 8 + 1 = 21.

Streets

The rules sometimes use the word "street" as a game term. That word includes both streets and markets. Therefore city squares and markets are considered "streets". Streets are organized into 5 districts. Names of the streets in one district begin with the same letter: eastern (C), western (P), northern (S), southern (R) and central (M).

Streets are also organized by colours and symbols, which show the authority under which the street belongs: Church (blue; cross), Prince (red; crown), Guild (yellow; scales), and without authority (green; shoe).

Streets are considered neighbouring if they are not separated by walls, buildings or a river. Bridges and gates also connect streets (i.e. Via Rosa and Via Montani, Via Stella and Viale Mazzini, etc).

Game Setup

The Game Board

Center the Game Board on the table, place the Florins and Mercenaries to the Common Reserve located beside the Game Board. Select a set of Building Cards that do not have texts in your language; those will not be played with. Shuffle the deck of Building Cards and put them face down.

Every Player

Every player chooses a color and receives:

a set of Action Tokens
16 Ally Tokens
a player screen
a total of 20 Florins
Mission Cards – deal them out equally among the players according to the following table. Place remaining Mission Cards back into the box.

Number of Mission Cards for each player:

2 players – 7 Mission Cards
3 players – 6 Mission Cards
4 players – 5 Mission Cards
5 players – 4 Mission Cards

Keep in mind, that the missions are secret. Don't let the other players see your Mission Cards. Carefully read the missions you have been dealt and try to prepare a strategy to fulfill them. To win, it is crucial that you accomplish at least some of the missions.

The player who is the last to read a piece of work by William Shakespeare receives the First Player Token and begins the game.

Preparatory Round

Before you begin to play, you have to place all the allies of the quarreling noble houses who are already inside the city. The first player places one Ally Token on any street or market square on the Game Board. Then the player to his left places one and then the rest of the players. They continue to take turns until they place 3 Ally Tokens each. A player may only place his ally on an unoccupied street. In this round you may not place your allies on the central district.

To conclude the preparatory round, turn the Building Card deck face up.

Course of the Game

Each game round has 4 phases:

A. Building proposal – Reveal a new Building Card.
B. Action planning – Players take turns placing Action Tokens for the actions they want to make this round.
C. Action resolution – Actions are resolved street by street. In each street:
1. Schemers against all – all participating players are trying to prevent the Intrigue by guessing which type of Intrigue the player is trying to use.
2. Attackers auction using money [Corruption] or mercenaries [Violence] to determine who is the strongest.
3. Defenders defeat the strongest attacker by a die roll.
4. Carrying out the successful action
  - Corruption adds one ally to the street.
  - Violence kills one of the opponent's allies.
  - Intrigue – Move one of your allies and carry out additional action displayed on the Intrigue Card.
5. Accomplishing missions – The action displayed on the Mission card is taken if the mission is accomplished.
D. End of a round
- Occupying buildings – The player who meets the condition on the Building Card takes the Card. In case of a draw the Card is left for the next round.
- Profit: the player receives +5 Florins for every building or street, where he has his allies (min. 20 Florins).
- Arming: players hire mercenaries.
- Changing the first player: the starting symbol gets moved to the left.

Unless stated otherwise, players take turns clockwise beginning by the first player.

Resolving One Street's Actions

The player, whose turn it is, chooses a street and turns all Action Tokens in that street face up. Of all the actions only one can be successful. The aim is to determine which one it will be. It is also possible that none of the actions will be successful in the end.

First of all remove all Bluffing Tokens and establish who will have which role, from the following, in this resolution:

schemers – a player who planned an Intrigue in this street is a schemer, if he has an ally in any neighboring street, and he doesn't have an ally in the street being resolved.
attackers – all players who planned Corruption are attackers. Players who planned Violence are also attackers if they have an ally in the street to be resolved and there is also at least one opponent's ally in the same street.
defenders – all those remaining players who have an ally in the street.

Any other players are not part of the resolution in this street, i.e. those who had their Bluffing Token taken away and don't have any allies in this street. A player cannot forsake his role in the resolution even if it is disadvantageous for him or if he has been dragged into this against his will.

Note that every player has only one role. For example a player who has an ally in a street and planned a Corruption is only an attacker, not a defender. On the other hand a player who planned Intrigue but has an ally in the target street (so he cannot be a schemer) is considered a defender. Note also that you can plan an action that cannot be played, so you don't take part in the resolution. For example, if you accidentally (or on purpose) plan Violence in a street where you don't have an ally, you don't partake in the resolution (you cannot be an attacker or defender). It's also possible that you planned something but the situation on the Game Board changed and you are stuck in quite a different role than you had planned. That's fate.

Next determine which action will be successful. Resolution progresses in three steps (1-3), the last step (4) is completing the successful action:

Schemers against all [by guessing] – all participating players (both attacking and defending players) are trying to prevent the Intrigue by guessing which type of Intrigue the player is trying to use. If the Intrigue isn't stopped, it's successful and steps 2 and 3 are skipped.
Attackers against each other [auction for the strongest one] – attackers partake in an auction using money [Corruption] or mercenaries [Violence] to determine who is the strongest. Only that one has a chance that his action will be successful.
Defenders defeat the strongest attacker [by die roll] – defenders roll dice and if they manage to roll a sum at least equal to the attacker's strength, they prevent him from succeeding in his action.
Carrying out the successful action – carry out the successful action. If no action is successful, nothing happens.

The resolution is really simple in most cases. Most of the time only one or two actions convene together. But once in a while several actions clash together and then it can become very thrilling and interesting.

A. Building Proposal

Once in a while a noble house gets a chance to lure some of the most powerful citizens of Verona to its service – the councilors greedy for money or watchmen from the Tollgate eager to fight in the streets ... One way or the other, the one who claims their favor profits till the end.

The first player takes the top card and places it to the side of the deck – this is the card you will fight for this round. You can also see the next card on the top of the deck, so you can plan your strategy for the next round.

Note: Even if a Building Card remains unclaimed from the previous round, a new Building Card is drawn at the beginning of each round.

B. Action Planning

As the noble houses continue to scheme, it becomes more and more evident that something wicked will take place in the streets of Verona. Rumors of where the next feud will take place spread through the city. The representatives of the noble houses can foresee the machinations of their rivals and plan their own accordingly.

Players place Action Tokens on a street on the Game Board. Each player has 9 Action Tokens – three for Corruption, two for Violence, one for Intrigue and three for bluffing (no action). So each player can choose up to 9 streets, but he can also choose just one or none at all. A player can place only one Action Token per street. Players place Action Tokens simultaneously.

Tournament rules: Starting with the first player, players take turns placing Action Tokens on the streets of the Game Board. Each player gets two options in his turn:

placing an Action Token to the street where he hasn't placed one already
withdrawing from placing any more Action Tokens in that round.

When everyone has placed their Action Tokens, continue to the next phase – Action resolution.

C. Action Resolution in the Streets

As plans become action, it becomes clear who is up to what. When the plans of several houses cross things get quite nasty and complicated. But in reality everything is relatively simple.

Actions are resolved street by street. Starting with the first player, each player, in turn, selects any street with Action Tokens to be resolved until all streets are resolved.

Tournament rules: Keep repeating this process, until all streets (and actions) are resolved.

C1. Schemers Against All (by Guessing)

Intrigues surprise but they are also risky. Nobody can guarantee their success, but when they do succeed, they can change the fate of the entire city. You will be sending one of your allies into a dangerous situation. If he fails, he will be caught, sentenced and put to jail; but if he succeeds he will help your cause greatly. Plan your Intrigues carefully and don't be surprised if they don't succeed the first time around.

Skip this step if there are no schemers. If there are more schemers in a single street, no guessing takes place and all Intrigues are automatically unsuccessful (Intrigues cancel each other).

The schemer tries to succeed in his Intrigue. He cannot abandon his Intrigue now. First he has to select one of his allies in neighboring streets which will try to accomplish the Intrigue. Then he chooses one of his three Intrigue Cards and puts it face down on the table.

All other participating players (attackers and defenders) are trying to stop the Intrigue. Each player selects from their own Intrigue Cards the one they think the schemer used, and places it on the table face down. Players are not allowed to advise each other.

Finally all cards are revealed and the result is determined:

The Intrigue is unsuccessful if one of the participants guessed correctly the schemer's card. In this case the ally which has been previously selected by the schemer is removed from the Game Board and returned to the schemer's supply of tokens. The resolution then continues with step 2.
The Intrigue is successful, if nobody placed the same card as the schemer on the table. In this case steps 2 and 3 of the resolution are skipped. Intrigue is a good way to disrupt the plans of other players.

C2. Attackers Against Each Other (Auction to Determine the Strongest)

Street brawls and bribing indecisive townsfolk tend to happen in the same shady environments. After all, blood-thirsty mercenaries can be swayed by a purse full of shiny coins. On the other hand, wealthy merchants better step aside before somebody breaks their legs. In the end it's up to the highest bidder to come out on the top.

If there are no attackers, skip this step.

Only attackers partake in this phase. By a secret auction they determine the strongest one of them. Attackers who have planned Corruption will bid money, those who want to use Violence will bid mercenaries and the result of a die roll. Everything that was invested into the auction is lost after the bid. A lot of the time there is only one attacker, but even then he must bid at least something if he wants to be "the strongest one".

The auction is resolved in the following manner: First every attacker decides how much he is willing to bid. Then he secretly takes a number of Florins (Corruption), or mercenaries (Violence), in his hand.

Then all players show their hands and reveal how much they invested and count their strength in this way:

Corruption – the sum of the value of invested Florins.
Violence – 5 for every invested mercenary. Furthermore every attacker who uses Violence rolls 2 dice and adds the result to the strength of invested mercenaries. The rule of re-rolling the number 8 applies here as well.

The one with the highest strength wins. All attackers return money and the mercenaries they bid to the Common Reserve. If several players tie with the highest strength, or if there is only one attacker and he didn't bid anything, nobody is successful.

C3. Defenders Against the Strongest Attacker (Die Roll)

Even though the vassals of the house don't receive any orders, they will defend themselves against evil intruders. They won't have the entire power of the noble house at their disposal, but they might foil enemy plans nonetheless.

Once the strongest attacker has been determined, defenders can try to stop him by rolling the dice in the following way. The number of dice depends on whether the defenders protect themselves against Corruption or Violence.

Against Corruption every defender rolls 1 die for every ally in the street.
Against Violence every defender rolls 2 dice without regard to the number of tokens.

If any of the defenders rolls a total equal to or greater than the attacker's strength he successfully stops the attacker. If the defenders won't be able to stop the attacker, his action is successful. Note that if there are several defenders their rolls cannot be combined. The rule of re-rolling the number 8 applies here as well.

C4. Carrying Out the Successful Action

When no action is successful (all Intrigues are blocked, all attacks are defended) skip this step.

If an action is successful the player can carry it out thusly:

Corruption – The player adds one Ally Token of his color to the street.
Violence – The player removes one opponent's Ally Token from the street.
Intrigue – the player moves the ally who carried out the Intrigue to the street being resolved. In addition, one of the following additional actions will take place as noted on the card:
- murder – The player removes one Ally Token of any color from the street.
- accusation – All allies in the street being resolved are moved to the street where the ally, who carried out the Intrigue, came from.
- intimidation – The schemer takes all Ally Tokens of one color from the street being resolved and hands them to the owner. The owner must immediately place them in other streets where he has allies.

C5. Accomplishing Missions

Many influential citizens of Verona have their own agendas. But to fulfill their goals they need the power of your noble house. If you manage to appoint your allies in places they want, they will reward you handsomely.

Any player can declare missions accomplished. The player reveals his Mission Card and immediately takes the action displayed. The card will stay revealed until the end of the game, when the player gets points for it. Players can reveal only one Mission Card in each round.

The declaration of "mission accomplished" begins with the player whose action was successful. If no action was successful, start with the first player.

If the conditions on the card are met, you will usually reveal it immediately (if you haven't already revealed another mission). But you might also want to wait for a better opportunity. But then you run the risk that the situation on the Game Board will change, and the condition for accomplishing your mission might no longer be valid. You must have your allies in all the streets listed on the card in order to accomplish a mission. You must also meet conditions, depending on the number of players:

in a game with 2 or 3 players: no allies of any other player must be present on the listed streets (you have to control the streets by yourself).
in a game with 4 or 5 players: there must be no opponent's ally on at least one listed street (in the two other streets there might be some allies of your opponents).

You have to apply the benefit stated on the card immediately after you reveal the card. The benefits printed on Mission Cards are:

+15 – Player gets 15 Florins.
+3 – Player gets 3 mercenaries.
2x – Player can move one of his allies to a neighboring street. It can be done twice either with two different allies, or with the same ally.
– (minus symbol) – This is similar to Violence. Player removes one opponent's ally from a street, where he also has an ally.
- (plus symbol) – Player adds one ally to the street, where he already has an ally.

Action Overview

Corruption
- You can plan Corruption in any street, bribes know no barriers.
- If you succeed, you gain one ally in the street.
Violence
- Violence takes place only where there are bullies and those being bullied. Because of that, plan Violence only in those streets where there are allies of your color and at least one of the opponent's.
- If you succeed, you will remove one opponent's ally from the street.
Intrigue
- You can plan Intrigue only in a street in which you don't have any Ally Tokens, but you must have at least one Ally Token in one of the neighboring streets.
- Be warned! If more than one player plans Intrigue in the same street, all Intrigues fail automatically. Plan the Intrigue carefully!
- Move one of your allies from a neighboring street to the street being resolved and in addition take an action noted on the Intrigue Card.

D. End of a Round

At the end of the round players occupy buildings, gain money from their allies and may hire mercenaries. The first player changes and a new round begins.

Occupying a Building

Verona boasts beautiful and important buildings. The leaders of noble houses are lured to claim them, not just for their beauty, but for the power and prestige of occupying such a landmark.

The player who met the condition noted on the Building Card takes the card and places an ally on the appropriate slot on the Game Board. From that moment on the player can use the benefit noted on the card.

The goal is to have as many allies in certain streets as possible (with the exception of Municipio, see below). Only allies in the streets count, not those in buildings. If there is a tie, nobody gets to occupy the building. In the beginning of the next round another building will be revealed. So it might happen that there are several buildings on offer. In that case the occupation of the buildings is resolved in the order in which they were revealed.

After a player occupies the building, he places one ally on the respective slot on the Game Board (slot with the name of the building). The player can apply the benefit noted on the Building Card until the end of the game in the designated phase (see Building overview), even during this round. Once a player occupies a building, he cannot lose it.

When a player occupies a building, it will remain in his possession until the end of the game, so take every opportunity to occupy as many buildings as you can.

Profit

Every ally and supporter of the noble house must pay a tribute to his masters once in a while. The representatives of the house decide if it's a voluntary gift or extorted ransom. One way or the other it amounts to a lot of money. And if it isn't enough, the members of the family will reach into their coffers and support the common cause.

In this phase players gain Florins. For every occupied building and street, where the player has at least one ally, he receives 5 Florins. Streets in the Central district are more profitable and yield a +5 Florin bonus, but only when no opponent allies are present.

The minimum profit is 20 Florins. A player will always receive at least 20 Florins.

Don't forget to apply the benefits of buildings like Casa delle Corporazione, Postribolo, Roccaforte (see Building overview).

Arming

In this phase every player can hire mercenaries. Arming takes place simultaneously and secretly, similarly to the auction.

One mercenary game piece costs 5 Florins. Every player secretly prepares in his hand an amount of Florins which they want to use to hire mercenaries. When everyone is ready, everybody reveals the amount of Florins they want to invest, puts them into the Common Reserve and places the mercenary game pieces in front of their screen.

Every player who hired at least 2 mercenaries can select to continue the arming in another round. If he does so, all players can continue to hire mercenaries according to the same rules. Theoretically, players can continue indefinitely, but usually it only lasts one or two rounds.

Notice that mercenaries are placed in front of the screen. The purpose of this is that the number of mercenaries in the employ of every player is common knowledge.

If you decide to wait and hire only one mercenary or none, you might find yourself in a dire situation where another player who hired many mercenaries won't call for another round of arming. In that case you have tough luck and have to face your opponent's superiority.

Changing the First Player

The turn order changes at the end of the round. The player who has the First Player Token passes it to the player on his left. This player will start the next round.

D. Ending the Game

The game immediately ends when any player takes control of the fifth building during the occupation phase.

Players then score victory points:

5 victory points for every street where a player has only his allies.
For every street where a player has only some Ally Tokens but other players have some allies there too, he gains a number of victory points equal to the number of his Ally Tokens in that street.
For buildings and completed missions, players get the amount of points indicated in the lower right corner of the respective card.

The victory points add together. The one who has the most victory points becomes the winner and a sovereign ruler of Verona.

Resolution Examples

Simple Resolution Example

It's Tybalt's turn to pick a street to resolve. He has three actions planned. He chooses via Carducci. He announces it aloud. All Action Tokens in this street are revealed. The tokens show that Rosaline was only bluffing, so she will not take part in the resolution. Tybalt planned Corruption. Gregory planned Intrigue. He declares that the Intrigue will be carried out by his ally from Piazza Campagna.

Both players lay out one Intrigue Card on the table. Gregory places "Accusation" face down. Tybalt tries to foil his plans by guessing and places down "Murder". Tybalt guessed wrong, so Gregory succeeds.

Gregory moves his ally from Piazza Campagna to via Carducci. Then he moves Tybalt's ally to Piazza Campagna.

The player clockwise from Tybalt will now take his turn.

Complex Resolution Example

Several rounds later, Rosaline decides to resolve actions in Piazza della Mercede. She planned Violence there. All Action Tokens are revealed. In the same street Tybalt planned Corruption, Laurence and Gregory planned Intrigue. But Laurence made a mistake – he has an ally in this street so he cannot use the Intrigue here. Sampson has one ally in this street so he will also participate.

Intrigue is resolved first. Laurence's Intrigue was planned badly, so Gregory's Intrigue won't be canceled out. Gregory declares that the Intrigue will be carried out by his ally from via Mazzini. All players that may participate put one Intrigue Card face down. They may not advise each other. Gregory chose "Intimidation". Tybalt and Rosaline are planning an action here, so they also participate – both guess "Murder". Sampson has an ally here, so he partakes as well – he chooses "Intimidation" and when the cards are revealed, it is clear that he guessed right.

Gregory's ally failed and is removed from the Game Board.

Corruption and Violence are next. Tybalt's money will put the loyalty of Rosaline's mercenaries to the test. Tybalt secretly puts 20 Florins in his hand. Rosaline takes 2 mercenaries. Both reveal their bid.

Rosaline rolls 2 dice. She manages to roll 6 and 7. So Rosaline's strength is 23 = 6 + 7 (dice results) + 10 (two mercenaries). Tybalt has only 20. Rosaline is the strongest attacker.

But it's not over yet. Sampson the defender joins the fray. Sampson rolls 2 dice. He manages to roll 7 and 8. He rolls the eight again and gets a 4. His total is 19 = 7 + 8 + 4. His total is still not enough for Rosaline's 23.

Rosaline managed to succeed with Violence. She decides to remove one of Tybalt's allies.

Rosaline decided which street to resolve, so the player to her left continues with his turn.

Supplement

Building Overview

An overview of the conditions for occupation of buildings and their benefits follows (see table). The benefits of the card can be applied in the respective phase or during some circumstances specified on the card.

Building name	Points	The building is occupied by the player with the most allies in these streets	Benefit of the building (see more in comments)	When you can apply the benefit
Casa delle Corporazione	2	under guild administration	+1 Florin for every street and building	in the profit phase
Convento	2	in the Eastern district	opponent may use a maximum of 4 mercenaries	during Violence
Postribolo	4	in streets without administration	+5 Florins	in the profit phase
Porta Gabella	4	in Western district	+1 mercenary (+2 guild administration)	after successful Violence
Roccaforte

Additional Comments

Casa delle Corporazione – in the income phase the owner gains an additional 1 Florin for every street and building in which he has an ally.
Convento – your opponent may only use a maximum of 4 mercenaries in Violence.
Postribolo – the occupying player gains 5 Florins in the income phase.
Porta Gabella – immediately after every successful Violence the owner of the card gains 1 mercenary. In the case the Violence succeeded in the street under guild administration, he gains 2 mercenaries.
Redentore – immediately after every unsuccessful attempt to use Corruption, the player receives 3 Florins. The player has to bid at least 1 Florin during the auction. If the auction took place in a street under the Church administration, the player gains 5 Florins, not just 3.
Roccaforte – in the income phase the player gains one mercenary.
Santa Susanna – if the owner of this Building Card is a schemer and his attempt is foiled by his opponents guessing the right card, he can repeat the whole Intrigue action. So once again he chooses one of his three Intrigue Cards, and his opponents try to stop him by guessing. If the second attempt fails, the Intrigue action is deemed unsuccessful, and his ally selected for Intrigue is removed from the Game Board.
Sinagoga – immediately after every successful Corruption action the player gains 2 Florins. If the Corruption succeeded in a street without administration, he gains 4 Florins.
Municipio – in the building occupation phase every player participates in a secret auction for this building. The auction follows the same rules as the Corruption action. The building is occupied by the player with the highest bid, which must be at least 25 Florins. Municipio does not confer any benefits during the game, but it has the largest point value of all the buildings.

FAQ

Question: When the building occupation phase is being resolved and the first player has only one street with five Ally Tokens in the given district, while a second player has four streets in the same district with one Ally Token each, will the first player occupy the building?

Answer: Yes. For purposes of occupation of a building the total number of allies is decisive (not the number of occupied streets). So a player with 5 allies in a respective district, although in only one street, will always beat a player with just 4 Ally Tokens in several streets, and will occupy the building.

Question: If I planned the Corruption action and my action has clashed with a successful Intrigue action, do I have to pay anything?

Answer: No. If the Intrigue action succeeds, the Corruption action won't take place.

Question: What if I lose allies in the streets that I needed to complete my mission? Should I return the card?

Answer: No, you keep the card. You have already completed the mission, so you cannot lose the card. You will gain points for it in the end of the game.

Question: When I win in defense against an opponent who used Violence, may I remove his Ally Token from the street?

Answer: No. Defense can stop Violence, it cannot cause Violence.

Question: Where should I put the removed Ally Tokens?

Answer: All removed Ally Tokens are returned to their respective owner and he can reuse them anytime during the game.

Question: What is the role of a player who has planned an action which cannot be performed and who has his allies in the street being resolved?

Answer: Such a player is a defender. Action Tokens of actions which cannot be performed are, in fact, treated as Bluffing Tokens.

Question: What is the role of a player who has planned an Intrigue and which has no ally in any neighbouring streets nor in the street being resolved?

Answer: He cannot be a schemer, because he has no allies in neighboring streets. So this player does not take any role in this street, because Action Tokens of actions which cannot be performed are, in fact, treated as Bluffing Tokens.