Wars of Religion, France 1562-1598
Wars of Religion, France 1562-1598 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- 1 Components
- 2 Game Board
- 3 Counters
- 4 Character Cards
- 5 Event Cards
- 6 Faction Player Aid
- 7 Cubes
- 8 Dice
- 9 Glossary
- 10 Player Repartition and Special Rules
- 11 Game Turn
- 12 Initial Phase
- 13 Event Phase
- 14 Court Phase
- 15 War Phase
- 16 End Phase
- 17 Victory Conditions
- 18 Special Rules
- 19 Event Cards Effects
- 20 Event Chits Effects
1 Components
The game includes the following components:
- 1 board
- 1 counter sheet
- 3 player aids
- This rulebook
- 1 scenario and historical notes book
- 74 Character Cards
- 46 Event Cards
- 3 six-sided dice
- 88 colored cubes
2 Game Board
The game board represents France and surrounding countries, according to the vision of a 16th Century cartographer. France is divided into provinces, which include cities whose control forms the key element of the game. Colored wooden cubes are used to mark faction control.
The turn track on the bottom-left of the map is divided into six turns, each representing one of the six major wars. The numbers inside the boxes of turn 2, 3 and 4 indicate the dice rolls required to trigger the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
The general-purpose track at the bottom-right of the map is to record royal taxes, money, war points and treaties points for each faction.
2.1 Map Symbols
- Border between two French provinces, or between France and a foreign country.
- Name of a French province or a foreign country.
- Major city in a French province.
- Minor city in a French province.
- City whose name is underlined is located on the Loire or one of its tributaries.
3 Counters
All components show one or more of three colors: blue for Royalist, black for Huguenot and red for League.
3.1 Game Markers
These are used on the general-purpose track.
- Treaties points. There is one treaty points counter for each faction. Each time a leader succeeds in a "Write a treaty" action, this marker is moved up by one level on the track for his faction.
- Money. This marker records the current funds (money) of each faction.
- Royal Taxes. Records the level of the Royal Taxes. Each time a royal leader succeeds in a "Tax collection" action, this marker is moved up by one level on the track.
3.2 Army and Revolt Markers
Each faction has five army markers that can be deployed on the map, and each army has its own track on the corresponding faction's player aid. Revolt markers represent a neutral army which can appear as a result of certain Event Chits.
3.3 Event Chits
During the Wars of Religion period, other countries were living through their own domestic and foreign struggles. What happened outside of France and the repercussions in the kingdom is managed through chit pull. Depending on the turn number, chits are added to a cup and one is drawn randomly each turn.
3.4 Leader Counters
During the War Phase, armies are commanded by leaders. These are identified by their color (indicating their faction), a numerical value showing their combat effectiveness, a star that characterizes their ability to assist another leader, plus a letter to show their rank.
The back of each Leader counter shows their turn of entry and sometimes also of their death, except for those who enter through events.
4 Character Cards
Each faction includes Character Cards featuring important individuals of the period. The character's allegiance to one or more factions is identified by colored horizontal bars: blue for Royalist, black for Huguenot and red for League. When there is more than one allegiance, the top bar indicates the original faction and the bottom bar indicates the faction that can recruit the character for its own benefit.
The number at the top left of the card shows its Combat Value and the number at the top right shows its Intrigue Value. The text below the character portrait shows the turn in which it enters the game and the turn in which it must be removed (due to natural death). Characters may need to be removed early, due to death in battle, assassination or due to being disgraced.
Priests have a cross on their cards; it has no effect in game except for the play of specific cards or ability (assassination-vengeance/flying squadrons).
Several Character Cards include the name of one or more provinces. These are regions of influence where the corresponding character(s) can carry out a surprise attack. Faction Leaders (see glossary) maintain national influence, so they can carry out surprise attacks in any province.
Finally, most characters have abilities. These are described in the "Court Phase" chapter.
5 Event Cards
There are four Event Card decks: one Event Deck for each player (Huguenot, Royalist and League) and one common War deck. Each turn, players draw from their faction's Event deck. The War Deck is used during the War Phase.
The title of the card appears above a picture representing a person or location. Text at the bottom of each card shows its turn of entry into the game, together with the phase in which it can be played. If the title is red, the card must be played on the turn it is drawn; if followed by a star, the card must be removed from the game after play. A box at the top-right contains a letter indicating which deck the cards belong to (H for Huguenot, R for Royalist, L for League, W for War Deck). The effects of each card are described at the bottom of the card.
6 Faction Player Aid
Each of the three factions has its own Player Aid containing necessary tables and record-keeping tracks for the game, a summary of that faction's automatic victory conditions, and tracks to record the current strength of the faction's five armies.
7 Cubes
Colored cubes are used to track current ownership (control) of the various cities on the map: blue for Royalist, black for Huguenot and red for League. The cubes are also used to track money, War Points and Troop Points in each army by placing them on the army tracks on the faction sheets. There are 34 blue, 27 red and 27 black cubes.
8 Dice
The game uses six-sided dice to resolve success or failure of key actions. Between one and eight are rolled, depending on the situation.
9 Glossary
- Attrition: when an army suffers attrition, it loses one Troop Point.
- City: there are two types: major and minor.
- Convert: choose any city/town currently controlled by another faction and replace its cube with one of your own.
- Faction: each player controls a faction. Factions are Royalist, Huguenot and League.
- Faction leader: the leading character of a faction. He may change during the game when a character dies. Potential faction leaders have a specific note on their card. The highest ranking potential faction leader of a faction becomes the actual faction leader.
- Neighboring country: any country listed in a diplomacy chart on the player aid.
- Rank: a letter rating from "A" (highest) to "D" (lowest) to define the ranking order within a faction.
- Remove: the chosen leader is removed from the game, together with its game marker (if any).
- Resolving actions: in this game, each time a player attempts to perform an action with a character card (see Actions, p.9) or attempts a military action such as an escape or intercept, he must roll two dice and obtain a modified result of seven or more to succeed.
- Side: there are two sides in the game, the Huguenot and the League. The Royalists will be on one side or the other and may switch sides during the game. It is critical in this game to differentiate between "side" and "faction". There are always two factions allied on one side versus one faction alone on the other side. Huguenot and League may never be on the same side.
10 Player Repartition and Special Rules
The Wars of Religion is a three player game. It's not a free for all game however. Two factions (each played by a player), will be allied as a side against a third faction (played by the last player) which will be the other side. The two allied factions are called Cooperating Factions. They can mix their armies and leaders and lend money points to each other. At the beginning of the game, the Royalist and League factions are cooperating on the same side, while the Huguenot faction is on the other side. After the trigger of "Call to Arms", the Royalist switch sides and cooperate with the Huguenot faction while the League faction stands alone.
Saint Bartholomew: this special event can occur once per game. During the court phase of the second, third and fourth turn, the Royalist player makes a roll to see if the Saint Bartholomew event occurs. This event triggers the removal of some Huguenot leaders and cities that the Huguenot gained at the end of a war in which they were victorious. See full effect in the special rules section.
Call to Arms: this situation occurs once per game. It triggers the last turn of the game, the end of which a victorious faction will be determined. See full effect in the special rules section.
King's rule: in any case of a tie, the King (aka the Royalist player) decides how to break it.
11 Game Turn
Every game comprises six turns, each divided into five phases:
- Initial phase
- Event phase
- Court phase
- War phase
- End phase
12 Initial Phase
This phase comprises the following actions:
- Build the Character Deck for each faction by adding new characters and removing any who have died naturally (according to the number at the bottom-right of their Character Card).
- Build the faction Event Decks for each faction by adding the appropriate cards for the current turn. Reshuffle cards from the discard pile into the deck.
- Repeat the process for the War Deck.
- Add current turn chits to the Event Chits pool.
13 Event Phase
At the start of each Event Phase, a random player must draw one chit from the Event Chits pool and resolve its effects. Omit this step for the first game turn. Each player then draws one card from the top of their faction's Event Deck. There is no limit to the size of each player's hand, and they may play any number of cards (of any type) within subsequent game phases.
When an Event Card with a star following the event's name is played, it is removed from the game. Other cards are placed in the discard pile of their deck.
During the Court Phase, Event Cards may be played either before or after a Character Card.
Cards with a title in red must be played in the turn they are drawn, and each player must play red cards before any other cards from his hand during the Court Phase.
Cards triggering the "Call to Arms" must be played at the start of the Court Phase, before building Court Hand.
14 Court Phase
During the Court Phase, each player's characters can be used to carry out various actions.
14.1 Character Cards and Character Decks
Military and Intrigue values range from zero (poor) to three (excellent), and are used as modifiers to influence the dice roll for certain actions.
Provinces listed on a Character Card allow the character to perform a surprise attack in that province. As described above, all Faction Leaders can perform a surprise attack in any province.
Character Cards deck building: There is one Character Cards deck per faction (the "Character Deck"). Initial decks are built with all of the Character Cards of the same faction color who are in play for this turn. Character Cards must always be added to the relevant player's Character Deck at the start of the turn specified on the card, and must be removed from the game at the end of the turn of their natural death, unless killed or otherwise removed due to other actions.
Note: Some characters have two colors. They begin with the faction of the top color stripe. They may switch factions later in the game (see the recruit a Character action).
Example: It's turn 5. Due to war losses and natural death, the League Character deck is lacking characters. The League player looks at his game aid and sees that François d'O may switch sides; this is shown on his card by a double color bar. François d'O begins the game in the Royal Character deck (top bar in blue) and can join the League faction (lower bar in red).
14.2 Abilities
Some Character Cards have abilities:
- Faction leader: ranked from A to D, those characters can become faction leader.
- Diplomat: add a +1 bonus to the dice roll for any Diplomatic Action.
- Writer: can perform the "Write a treaty" Action with a bonus of +1 to the dice roll.
- Administrator: +1 to the dice roll for the "Tax collection" action. This ability is restricted to the Royalist faction.
- Call to arms: the character enters play when "Call to Arms" is triggered or the "Jesuit's Plot" card is played.
- Flying Squadron: when a male character from another faction who is not a priest (no cross on the card) tries to perform an action, you may discard the Flying Squadron character card to apply a two-point penalty to that action.
14.3 Building Court Hands
This defines the sequence of building each player's Court Hand, which consists of Character Cards that will be used in the upcoming Court Phase at the beginning of the turn.
a) Select one faction leader for each player. Each player must select its faction leader from among the characters with the faction leader ability. The available character card with the highest rank must be the current faction leader. So you must first look at A then move to B, then to C, and so on. If all faction leaders (characters with a rank letter) are dead for one faction, the player may select any Character Card of his faction as the current faction leader.
b) Special rule for Royalists. The Royalist player must immediately add Catherine de Medici to his Court Hand if she is still alive and has not been removed from the game.
c) Choose card(s). The Royalist player and the player who is currently allied with the Royalist faction then each select a character of his choice from those available in their respective deck. The player controlling the opposing faction then selects two characters of his choice from those available to him. In all cases, card selections are made without showing the opposing player, but allied players may (secretly) discuss their card choices before committing to them.
d) Final character cards draw. Each player then hands his deck of remaining available Character Cards to the player seated to his right (regardless of allegiance), who then picks four cards at random and chooses two cards to give back to the original player, returning the other two to the original player's deck. This sequence is then repeated by each player giving his remaining deck to the player seated to his left. In total, four cards will be distributed to each player in this way.
The Royalist player will then have a "Court Hand" of seven cards (six if Catherine de Medici died), his current ally will have six, and the opposing player will have seven. If any faction does not have enough Character Cards remaining in its deck to build a full hand Court Hand, it must perform remaining actions with "phantom" cards to complete his hand as if using a zero-value character with no special abilities.
14.4 Number of Court Phase Actions
The two current cooperating/allied players may each take up to five actions during the Court Phase, while the opposing player may take up to six. When all players have exhausted their maximum number of actions, the Court Phase ends.
14.5 Court Phase Turn Order
At the beginning of the game, the Court Phase turn order is: Royalist, League, Huguenot. After "Call to Arms" is triggered, the order is changed to: Royalist, Huguenot, League.
14.6 Resolving Actions in the Court Phase
Starting with the first faction in turn order, players select one of the Character Cards in their hand and announce the action they wish to perform with that character. They then roll two dice to determine whether the action is successful. A successful action requires a modified roll of 7 or more. On a modified 6 or less, nothing occurs.
An unmodified roll of 2 is an automatic failure and causes the death of the character who attempted the action. Henri de Bourbon, Huguenot Assembly and François d'Alençon are however immune to this effect.
Regardless of success or failure, the next player seated selects a character to perform an action. Players alternate turns until all have attempted their chosen number of actions, up to the maximum permissible (5 for each cooperating player, 6 for the one in opposition). Each player must play a card during his turn (you cannot pass).
14.7 Types of Court Phase Actions
- Surprise Attack: a character may attempt to take control of a city in a province that is listed on that character's card. It is not possible to take over Paris or La Rochelle with a surprise attack. The dice roll is modified by the military value shown on the Character Card, and suffers a -1 penalty when targeting a major city. If successful (see Resolving Action, glossary), the faction that attempted the attack takes control of the city by replacing the opponent's cubes with one of his own. Example: a League player allied to the Royalists who succeeds in a surprise attack against a Huguenot city changes its control from Huguenot to League.
- Gaining Influence in Court: only cooperating faction's characters may attempt this action. If it succeeds, the player chooses one of his current ally's cities and replaces the opponent's cube with one of his own faction's color. The dice roll is modified by the Intrigue Value, with a -1 penalty if it is a major city.
- Diplomacy: a diplomatic mission to a neighboring country provides troops and money if successful. Each faction has its own diplomatic table printed on its player aid. Each faction may only attempt Diplomacy once per country and per turn. The dice roll is modified by the Intrigue Value. If the Player Aid indicates that troops are raised, an army marker must be placed on the board in the territory of that country (this may leave the player some options as for example Spain has three territories). Armies raised in German States are placed on the Saint Empire. Associated Troop Points are recorded on the owning player's display. Money Points earned are recorded on the track.
- Recruit a Character: any character from another faction who is marked with two allegiance bars may be convinced to switch sides. Each faction has a list of the characters it can recruit on its Player Aid. It is only possible to recruit a character that has already entered the game and has not yet been removed. Each faction may only attempt this action once per turn for each character. The name of the targeted character must be announced before rolling the dice, and the dice roll is modified by the Intrigue Value. If the action is successful, that Character Card will be transferred to the card deck belonging to the faction that successfully performed the recruit action at the end the current Court Phase. A recruited military leader counter becomes immediately available to the recruiting faction for the upcoming War Phase of the current turn. Any character who has already switched sides cannot switch again for the remainder of the game. Henri de Montmorency Damville may not be recruited during the first turn, and Henri de Navarre cannot be recruited until François d'Alençon is removed.
15 War Phase
During the War Phase, each faction tries to capture enemy cities while protecting its own. The War Phase continues until all factions decline to take further rounds, at which point the war for the current turn ends and the winner of the war is determined.
War phase sequence:
a) Draw War cards b) Armies deployment c) Army leaders placement d) War rounds e) Determine War Winner
15.1 War Cards
At the beginning of each War Phase, each player draws a War Card from the top of the face-down War Deck. This card can then be played at the beginning of a move, a battle or a siege, friendly or enemy. The active faction (the one that is currently moving during the War Round) must play their cards before the reactive one. There is no limit to the hand size, and War Cards can be kept from one turn to another and several may be played in the same turn.
15.2 Army Counters
Each player has five generic army counters, with matching tracks on his player aid. As armies are deployed during the game, their counters are placed on the map. Each army's corresponding Troop Points are recorded only on their player aid. Each army must have a strength between one and nine Troop Points. You may not have Troop Points without an army counter.
Note that some army counters might have been placed during the Court Phase through the Diplomacy action.
Each player aid should be arranged on the play area so that others can clearly see the strength of the other players' armies.
15.3 Recruitment and Deployment
The recruitment of troops (represented by Troop Points) into armies is different for each faction:
- Royalist: First, the Royalist player may spend Royal Tax levels to recruit armies. The first level spent provides (8) eight Troop Points and (5) five Money Points. Each extra level provides (2) two Troop Points and (2) two Money Points. The largest Royalist army must always be located in Paris. If Paris is controlled by an opposing faction, the Royalists must place their largest army in another city under their control. Other armies may be placed in any province with a controlled Royalist city.
- Huguenot: The Huguenot player may then raise (1) one Troop Point and receive (1) one Money Point per (3) three Huguenot cities rounded up (thus receiving one point for three cities; two for four, five or six; three for seven; and so on). Armies may be placed anywhere in provinces containing at least one Huguenot-controlled city.
- League: Lastly, the League player receives (5) five Money Points while allied to the Royalist (Troop Points and supplement of Money Points are received only through Diplomacy for the League faction). After the "Call to Arms", the League receives (1) one Money Point and (1) one Troop Point per city under its control. Armies may be placed anywhere in provinces containing at least one League-controlled city.
You cannot place an army counter where there is already one of your side except outside the French Kingdom. Troop Points may be added by an allied faction.
15.4 Leader Counters Placement
Each Leader Counter shows the allegiance color(s) corresponding to its Character Card, together with a portrait, its rank, tactical value, and in some cases its support ability.
- Leaders are divided into four grades of Seniority: A, B, C and D (A being the highest ranked, D the lowest).
- Tactical Value ranges from zero (worst) to three (best).
- Support Ability is represented by a star.
Note: this may lead for example to a League controlled army with an A leader taking over a "friendly" Royalist army with a lower ranking leader.
15.5 Assign a Leader to Each Army Deployed
First the Royalist's side places all of its leaders, followed by the opposing side. There are several restrictions when assigning a leader to an army:
- The highest ranked leader of each SIDE has to be assigned to the largest army in Troop Points in descending order.
- In case of tie, the Royalist player chooses which army gets the highest ranking leader for each faction.
Each side must change the assignment of Leaders at the start of its respective rounds to ensure that all of the above criteria are met.
If a Leader has a star on its counter, it may be placed together with another leader to provide a bonus in combat. The supporting leader must strictly be of inferior rank (A–D) and of better Tactical Value (0–3). Only one leader per army may provide its support ability. This allows a player to allocate two leaders to one army.
If an army becomes leaderless, assign a leader from the leader pool to it. If your leader pool is empty (which is rare), the army is considered to be commanded by a leader of Grade D and zero tactical value.
An army is controlled by the faction of its commanding leader. (Example: a Royalist created army led by a League leader is controlled and moved by the League player.)
15.6 Stacking
A province may only contain one army from the same side (this means that two allied factions cannot have one army in the same province). If two armies of the same side end their movement in the same province, they must merge. The highest ranking leader takes command of the merged army. If there were more than nine Troop Points present, remove the excess. The other leader is put in the leader pool of his faction.
15.7 War Rounds
Once armies are in place and Leaders have been assigned, each side alternates rounds until all factions of both sides decide to pass (generally due to lack of Troop Points or Money Points). Before the "Call to Arms", the Huguenot plays first. After "Call to Arms", the League plays first. The side that is currently moving is called the Active side.
15.7.1 Movement and Attrition
The current number of Troop Points in an army determines its Movement Points, Activation Cost and possible attrition. Movement Points represent the number of provinces that the army can travel through in a single round. The number of Movement Points available to each type of army is shown on the player aids.
- A small army (1-3 Troop Points) has 3 Movement Points.
- A medium army (4-6 Troop Points) has 2 Movement Points.
- A large army (7-9 Troop Points) has 1 Movement Point.
15.7.2 War Round Procedure
A round is a succession of province activations. To begin each War Round, one of the active side's players must first announce the province it wishes to activate (e.g. Poitou). That side then moves any armies they wish into that province, provided they have enough movement points to reach it from their current position. It is possible to split an existing army into two parts, provided that the conditions of command are met. A Leader is assigned to the remaining army that stays behind.
Armies must be moved in decreasing order of their leader's rank among the activated armies. Cooperating factions rules: armies are moved, in order based on the rank of their leaders (from A to D), by the leader's owner, not by the army's owner.
A leader may decline to move but may not move after for this round.
If several armies from one side are moved simultaneously, they must respect the rules above. You may move an A and a C leader together but if you move a B leader first, you may not go back to an A leader.
The printed diagram gives the move order by leader grade:
- Montmorency (0, A) with Army I: must move or decline first.
- Antoine de Bourbon (1, B) with Army II: must move second, third or with royalist Army 1.
- Montpensier (1, B) with Army III: must move second, third or with royalist Army 1.
- Artus Cossé Brissac (1, C): must move last or with one of the above.
Note: the diagram's fourth army is labelled "Army III" in the printed rulebook (the same label as the third blue army); the example below calls it League army I, which is the reading followed here.
Example: Royalist and League are on the same side. They have four armies available. Royalist army I is under a League A leader, Royalist army II is under a Royalist B leader, Royalist army III is under a League B leader and League army I is under a Royalist C leader. The League player has the first choice for a move, because its leader is the highest-ranked. He decides to move the Royalist army I and the Royalist army III in a province. His move is legal because the two highest ranked leaders have moved first. He could not have elected to move the Royalist army III without moving Royalist Army I before or at the same time before the others. Once these two armies have moved, this side may choose to move the Royalist army II, with or without the League army and Royalist army III, but if moved alone, it must be the first to move.
At the end of the movements for the round, the active side must pay Money Points based on the Troop Points inside the activated province (see aids). The cost may be shared between allied factions if they agree to. The movement is not possible if a side is unable or unwilling to pay the complete cost.
Movement Attrition is resolved immediately after the above. The total Troop Points of the active side in the province is summed, and the attrition corresponding to that number is applied. Suffering attrition means that the army loses one Troop Point.
- A small army (1-3 Troop Points) cannot suffer attrition (except with an event card).
- A medium army (4-6 Troop Points) suffers an attrition if 7 or more is rolled with 2 dice.
- A large army (7-9 Troop Points) automatically suffers attrition.
Then, all necessary actions in that province are immediately resolved. The action order is: Interception, Evasion, Battle and Siege.
Once activation of the province is complete, the active side may designate a new province to be activated, and so on.
It is not possible to activate an army that has already been activated in a province this round, or to re-activate a province that has already been activated this round.
Once the active side declines to activate, the opposite side takes over and becomes active. Both sides will then alternate rounds until both sides decline to activate. At this point, the War Phase ends and the winner of the war is determined.
It is possible that one side may play successive activations while the other, without armies or money, cannot activate.
Each side must change the assignment of Leaders at the start of its respective rounds to ensure that all of the above criteria are met.
15.7.3 Special Moves
Troops raised in England must spend one movement point to cross the English Channel, unless the Huguenot player controls a city in Normandy, in which case they can be placed directly in a Huguenot army in Normandy or create a new Huguenot army there if one does not already exist.
To cross the Loire River, it is necessary to control a city built on the river or one of its tributaries (Nantes, Saumur, Blois, Orléans, Sancerre and Issoire). These cities are underlined on the game map.
If one army enters a province where its side does not control such a city, the army must stop its move.
Example: an army from the Lyonnais enters into Auvergne. It cannot continue its movement if it does not control Issoire, so the army has to stop in Auvergne for this round.
15.7.4 Interception and Evasion
When an army moves into a province containing an opposing army from the other side, the opposing army may attempt either to intercept or evade. Interception must be attempted first, then Evasion. Interception and Evasion are always inactive side actions.
To resolve an Interception attempt, roll two dice, modified by the Tactical Value of the respective army leaders and the size of the armies. Add the Tactical Value of the intercepting leader and subtract the Tactical Value of the intercepted army leader. The intercepting player receives a +1 modifier if its army is 1-3 in size, and a -1 if 7-9 in size. He also receives a -1 modifier if the intercepted army is 1-3 in size or +1 modifier if it is 7-9 in size.
To resolve an Evasion attempt, roll two dice, modified by the Tactical Value of the respective army leaders and the sizes of their armies. Add the Tactical Value of the evading leader and subtract the Tactical Value of the moving army leader. The Evading player receives a +1 modifier if its army is 1-3 in size, and a -1 if 7-9 in size. He also receives a -1 modifier if the evading army is 1-3 in size or +1 modifier if 7-9 in size.
An intercepted army must engage in battle. An army that successfully evades the battle may either stay in the province without having to fight or move to any adjacent province in which it controls a city. If neither side wishes to intercept nor evade (i.e. they both wish to engage in battle), skip this step and proceed directly to the battle resolution.
Example: The Constable of Montmorency (Tactical Value of (0) zero) enters Orléans as head of the Royal Army, with an army of (8) eight Troop Points, and wishes to subdue the Huguenot army of (4) four Troop Points, commanded by Louis de Bourbon-Condé (Tactical Value of (1) one). The Huguenot player does not wish to intercept and the Royalist player has announced his intention to fight. The Huguenot player does not feel that he is in a position of strength, so he tries to evade: rolling two dice and scoring 5, modified by +1 for the Tactical Value of the Huguenot leader (minus 0 for Montmorency), +1 for the size of the attacking army, reaching a modified total of 7. The Evasion attempt is therefore a success.
15.7.5 Battle
When two armies clash, a number of dice are rolled, according to the size of their army and the value of the leaders in command:
- A small army (1-3 Troop Points) rolls one die.
- A medium-sized army (4-6 Troop Points) rolls two dice.
- A large army (7-9 Troop Points) rolls four dice.
Add one die for each point of Tactical Value of the commanding leader.
Add one die if the army includes a starred supporting leader, provided it is of a higher Tactical Level than the commanding leader.
Example: a (7) seven Troop Point Royalist army commanded by Anne de Montmorency (zero (0) Tactical Value) supported by Tavannes meets a (4) four Troop Point Huguenot army commanded by Louis de Bourbon-Condé. The Royalist's dice count is: 4 (large army) +0 (Montmorency Tactical Value) +1 (support from Tavannes) = 5 dice. The Huguenot's dice count is: 2 (medium-sized army) +1 (Tactical Value of Condé) = 3 dice.
Each die scores a hit on a roll of 5 or 6, and each hit eliminates one enemy Troop Point. The army that inflicts the most hits wins the battle. In the event of a tie, the largest remaining army wins. If both are still tied, the Royalist player chooses.
If defeated, the phasing side's army may no longer move and can choose to retreat into an adjacent province where it controls a city, or to remain in the province where the battle took place. If victorious, the phasing player's army may continue its movement and potentially launch a siege against a city in the target province.
15.7.6 Leader's Fate
Every leader who has participated in a battle must test their fate at the end of it. Two dice are thrown, and on a result of 10 or more the leader either dies or is captured. Roll another two dice: on an even score, the leader is taken prisoner, on an odd result the leader is killed. A leader remaining alone without troops after this roll is removed from the board and will return into play the next turn.
Captured leaders are set aside for the duration of the current War Phase, but are returned to their current faction's available pool at the end of it.
Note: Victory points are awarded for all captured leaders as shown in the section Determine War Winner. It is assumed that captives are freed at the end of the turn.
Henri de Navarre cannot be killed, but can be taken prisoner. If he gets a "killed" result, apply the "taken prisoner" result instead.
15.7.7 Sieges
After all movement and battles have been completed, sieges are resolved. A siege is the only way to take control of a city during the War Phase. To besiege a city, an army must begin with at least as many Troop Points as the city garrison. A minor city has (1) one Troop Point, a major city has (2) two Troop Points, and Paris and La Rochelle each have (4) four Troop Points.
An army cannot take refuge in a city.
When resolving a siege, roll one die for every Troop Point of the city, and score one hit against the besieging army for each 5 or 6. The besieging army throws the same number of dice as calculated in a normal battle, scoring a hit on each 5 or 6. Siege rolls are made simultaneously.
To take control of the city, the besieging army must score a number of hits equal to the city's Troop Points. If unsuccessful, the attacker must try again in a subsequent round, at which point the defending forces will have been replenished. If successful, the attacker must spend the number of Troop Points needed to replace the enemy garrison to its original Troop Points value. If the attacker does not have sufficient remaining Troop Points, the siege fails.
At the end of a siege, leaders can be either wounded or killed. Throw two dice, and if the result is 11 or 12, roll again another two dice: on an even result the leader is wounded for the duration of the current War Phase; on an odd result, the leader is killed.
Henri de Navarre cannot be killed, but can be wounded. If he gets a "killed" result, apply the "wounded" result instead.
After a siege, the besieging army must spend (1) one, (2) two, or (4) four Troop Points (depending on the size of the city) to replenish the garrison; if he cannot, the siege fails. Wounded leaders are set aside for the duration of the War Phase, but will be available again at the end of the turn.
Any city taken by the player who cooperates with the Royalists becomes Royalist-controlled.
Note: therefore at the beginning of the game the League's player may only assist the Royalist player to take cities during the War Phase.
Example: a 7 Troop Point Royalist army with Henri de Bourbon Navarre in command tries to besiege Paris, which is actually controlled by the League player. The Royalist player will throw seven dice (4 for a large army and 3 for the tactical value of his leader); the League player will throw 4 dice. Both players decline to play an event/war card. The Royalist player gets the following roll: 6-6-5-5-3-2-2. 4 hits, which is enough to take Paris. The League player also rolls and gets: 6-5-5-5. A lucky roll! 4 hits. Even if the Royalist player inflicted enough hits to take the town, he doesn't have enough Troop Points to put into Paris (he needs 4 points and has only 3 remaining after losses are taken); so the siege fails. The Royalist player now rolls for a possible Henri de Bourbon Navarre wound. He gets an 11. With another leader, he will have to reroll dice to see if it is a death or a wound. But because it's this special leader, it's an automatic wound. The Henri de Bourbon Navarre marker is removed from the board and put in the next turn box.
15.7.8 War Phase End
When both sides decline to take rounds, the current War Phase ends and the war winner is determined.
15.8 Determining the War Winner
The victor of the current War Phase is determined by totaling the War Points for all battles and sieges:
- 1 point for each battle won against a small army
- 2 points for each battle won against a medium army
- 4 points for each battle won against a large army
- 1 point for each Minor city taken
- 2 points for each Major city taken
- 4 points each for taking Paris or La Rochelle
- 1 point for each C-D leader captured
- 2 points for each A-B leader captured
Use one marker from your faction to record the War Points you accumulate during the War Phase.
The faction with the most war points wins. If the Royalist is tied with the Huguenot or League player(s), the Royalist player elects the winner. The Royalist player decides all ties between the Huguenot and League players. The winning faction increases its Treaty marker by (1) one point. If the League wins, it gains control of any one non-Huguenot city.
Once the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre has taken place, the Huguenot faction, if victorious, may take control of two cities currently under Royalist control if he wins a war (except Paris).
16 End Phase
When the current War Phase is complete, all remaining armies and leaders are removed from the board, all money markers are set to 0, and all prisoners or wounded leaders are returned to their factions. Also set the War Points markers to 0. Some Event cards may be played during the End Phase.
17 Victory Conditions
A faction may achieve automatic victory at the end of any game turn if it meets the following conditions:
- Royalist: the number of League cities is less than six and the number of Huguenot cities is less than six.
- League: the League faction controls twice as many cities as the Huguenots.
- Huguenot: the Huguenot faction controls more cities than Royalist and League combined and controls Paris.
If no faction has achieved automatic victory by the end of the final turn, then count the total victory points as below:
- City control: the faction controlling the largest number of cities earns (7) seven points, the faction with the second-largest number earns (5) five points and the faction with the least earns (3) three points.
- Political conviction: the faction that has created the most treaties earns (4) four points, the faction with the second-largest number earns (2) two points and the faction with the least earns (1) one point.
The faction with the most victory points wins the game. In case of a tie, the winner is by order of priority: the Royalist faction, then the faction allied with the Royalist.
18 Special Rules
Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre
When all players have built their Court Hand for the current round in turns 2 through 4, the Royalist player rolls two dice and compares the total with the number shown in the current turn box on the board turn track. If the dice roll is less than or equal to this number, the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre is triggered. Otherwise, play continues.
The effects of the massacre are as follows:
- All characters in the Huguenot Court Hand are removed from the game, except Henri de Bourbon, the Viscount Army and Henri de Bourbon Condé, their respective cards going back to the Huguenot Characters Deck. The Huguenot player then adds the Huguenot Assembly card to his deck.
- The Huguenot player then draws seven cards randomly from his Character Deck.
Note: the printed rulebook reads "the Viscount Army" in the list of characters that remain (sic); it is transcribed as printed.
The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre can only happen once, and if it has not been triggered by the fifth turn, it is no longer tested for.
The Royalist player may automatically trigger the massacre with the Entrevue de Bayonne Event Card. It may only be played during the Court Phase, as specified on the card, and must be done before rolling the two dice.
Once the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre has been triggered, the Royalist Tour de France Event Card may no longer be played.
Call to Arms
"Call to Arms" is a special situation that occurs once per game. It triggers the last turn of the game. This last turn is played at the end of which a victorious faction will be determined.
The "Call to Arms" is triggered either by the disappearance of François d'Alençon through the Antwerp Fury Event Chit, his natural disappearance in turn (6) six, or the Royalist "Il n'oserait" (He would not dare) Event Card. In either case, when "Call to Arms" is triggered, the Huguenot faction will immediately join the Royalist side and the League faction becomes the opposing faction. The League player then adds all "Call to Arms" Character Cards to the League's Character Deck.
If "Call to Arms" takes place before turn six, the League player must immediately set aside the Spanish intervention, Savoyard invasion and Death of Mary Stuart Event Cards, then draw one into their hand at random, discarding the other two for the duration of the game.
The game ends at the end of the turn in which "Call to Arms" is triggered. Immediately check whether automatic victory conditions are met, otherwise count victory points.
19 Event Cards Effects
The effects of certain Event Cards are clarified below:
- Treaty of Hampton Court: this card allows the player to increase troops and money to the maximum without having to send a diplomatic mission. The Le Havre counter is located in the province of Normandy, and counts as a small Huguenot city. If Le Havre changes ownership due to a surprise attack or siege, the counter is removed from the game.
- War Weariness: after placement of armies and leaders during the current War Phase, the Royalist faction designates (3) three provinces that contain at least (1) one Huguenot city. As long as no enemy army enters, Huguenot armies may not move outside the province nor initiate siege inside the province. They are frozen.
- Assassination/Vengeance/Disgrace: playing one of these cards allows the player to take from the deck of leader cards of their choice (theirs or opponent's) any (1) one leader and then remove it from the game. The leader general counter, if any, is also removed. Assassination or Vengeance cannot be applied to either a woman or a priest, but Disgrace can be applied to any character.
- La Rochelle: when playing this card, put the marker on the map as a reminder of the increase in income for the Huguenot faction.
20 Event Chits Effects
- Anvers fury: remove François d'Alençon from the game. Triggers the "Call to Arms".
- Colonial Tension: malus of -1 to the dice to Spanish subsidies this turn.
- Council of Trent: bonus of +1 to the dice to a Recruit a Character action against a Huguenot character this turn.
- Governor's Revolt: the revolting army is commanded by a general of (0) zero Tactical Value. When an army from any side enters the province in which the army is located, it attempts an Interception to engage in battle. The cities of the province affected by the revolt are ignored when counting victory points at the end of a war or at the end of the game.
- Peasant Revolt: the revolting army is commanded by a general of (0) zero Tactical Value. When an army from any faction enters the province in which the army is located, it attempts an Interception to engage in battle. The cities of the province affected by the revolt are ignored when counting victory points at the end of a war or at the end of the game.
- Portuguese succession: remove Strozzi (if in play) or a royalist general character (if not) from the game. The Character card and the counter corresponding to Strozzi or the General counter are removed from the game.
- Spanish Armada: malus of -1 to the dice to Spanish subsidies until the end of the game.
- Water Geuzen: bonus of +2 to the dice to United Provinces subsidies this turn.
- Spanish bankruptcy: no subsidies from Spain this turn.