Living Rules • December 2013

RULE BOOK

1. Introduction ................................................................... 2 2. Preparing for First Play ................................................. 2 3. Key Terms and Concepts ............................................... 2 4. Brief Summary of Game Play........................................ 4 5. Player Houses ................................................................ 4 6. Victory Conditions ........................................................ 4 7. Game Board................................................................... 5 8. Wooden Pieces .............................................................. 9 9. Counters and Markers.................................................. 11 10. Cards ........................................................................... 12 11. Outline of Sequence of Play ........................................ 19 12. Draw Phase .................................................................. 19 13. Operations Phase ......................................................... 20 14. Event Text Cards ........................................................ 21 15. Operations/OPS Points ................................................ 2416. Land Movement ........................................................... 25

Table of Contents17. Sea Movement ............................................................. 28 18. Mustering .................................................................... 29 19. Political Influence ........................................................ 29 20. Combat ........................................................................ 28 21. Post-Operations Phase Actions .................................... 37 22. Attrition ....................................................................... 3723. Influence Phase ............................................................ 38 24. King Phase (Including Affairs of State) ....................... 3925. Victory Check Phase .................................................... 41 26. Office Phase ................................................................. 41 27. Wintering Phase ........................................................... 43 28. Clean-Up Phase ........................................................... 44 29. Glossary ....................................................................... 4530. Card Errata .................................................................. 46 Credits ............................................................................... 47 Shire and Home Estate Locations ...................................... 48

GMT Games, LLC • P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308www.GMTGames.com

This is the “Living Rules” document for the game. It includes errata and clarifications to the original rules. To aid readability, errata is indicated in blue text.

Living Rules • December 2013

Dedication: To my very patient wife, Tammy, with all my heart.

Crown of roses Rule Book2

© 2013 GMT Games, LLC

1.0 Introduction Crown of Roses is a multi-player strategy game for two to

four players set in the Wars of the Roses period of 15thCentury England (1455-1485). Each player represents one of the rival royal houses vying for control of the throne of England. They use their noble retainers to bring the enemy to battle, influence nobles to vote their way in Parliament, and wield their influence to gain the support of the landed gentry.

A full campaign game and several shorter scenarios are in-cluded. See the Play Book for details.

These rules are laid out as follows. First a brief description of how to prepare for your first game of Crown of Roses is provided, followed by some key terms, a brief description of game play, and a detailed description of the Victory Conditions needed to win the game. We then describe in detail the various interactions of the game components (map board, blocks, cards, etc.), before providing a detailed walk through of the various Phases of the Sequence of Play.

2.0 Preparing for First Play Your copy of Crown of Roses should include the following:

� Three small black cylinders � 24 small colored cylinders (six each of red, white, yellow and blue)

� 54 neutral colored large blocks � One sheet of 54 die-cut labels to be peeled and affixed to the neutral colored large blocks

� 225 ¾” die-cut counters on two counter sheets � One deck of 110 Crown of Roses cards � Eight 4¼” x 5½” Parliament cards � One Rule Book (this book) � One Play Book � One map board � 15 six-sided dice (five each of green, blue and red) � Two Player Aid Cards � Four 5½” x 8” Player Mats (one each of red, white, yel-low and blue)

If any of these components are damaged or missing, please write to the following address:

GMT Games P.O. Box 1308 Hanford, CA 93232-1308 www.GMTGames.com Before playing for the first time, apply the stickers to the blocks. Only one sticker is applied to each block (i.e., one face of each block is left “blank”). Lightly position the label, make sure that it is straight, and then press firmly to adhere to the block surface.

3.0 Key Terms and Concepts Attrition (22.0): The gradual wearing down of the combat ef-fectiveness of a Block as represented by Step Losses. Attrition occurs when you exceed the Stacking Limits (7.2.9), Force March (16.3), use special Fens (16.2.2) or Wash movement (16.2.3), or do an Adjacent Sea Zone Sea Move (17.0).

Battles Sequence/Terminology (20.0): A Battle is an overall combat between two or more Players in a Shire. Each Battle involves one or more Engagements, each of which lasts one or more Combat Rounds.

Block States (8.2): Blocks can be In-Play (currently controlled by a Player and on the map); Undeclared (controlled by a Player, but off-map); Inactive (not controlled by a Player, but still in the game/scenario); Unavailable (not controlled by a Player and not available until next Turn); and Out of Play (no longer available at all).

Block Values and Indicators (8.3): In addition to their name and heraldry, Blocks have up to four important pieces of in-formation on them.

� Their Combat Strength, which generally refers to the number of dice icons on a Block’s top edge, but is also reflected by the color (red > blue > green).

� Their Command Rating/Limit, which is the number of other Blocks a Noble can lead in Movement (16.1) or in Combat (20.4.4), is located in a circle at the lower-left of the Block.

� Their Noble Rank, which only appears on Noble Blocks and is located in a square in the lower-right of the block. It determines which Block can lead for Movement (16.1) and Combat (20.4.4), and also plays a part in determining the number of votes a Player receives in the King Phase (24.2.2).

� Potential Heirs (8.3.2) have a Crown icon in their upper right corner. A Noble Block only becomes an active Heir when their Heir Card (10.3) is played. Each Player can have no more than two active Heirs at any time. The Heir with the lowest Heir number on its Card is the Senior Heir for the Player, while the higher numbered Heir is the Junior Heir.

Exile Boxes (7.3.1): The playable areas outside of England proper where a Noble can hide out and lick his wounds. Only one Player’s Blocks may occupy any given Exile Box; Blocks may enter only during the Operations Phase (16.2.4) and may exit in either the Operations Phase or the Wintering Phase (27.0). Entering and “wintering over” in an Exile Box costs a Player 1 point of Popular Support (28.3.1). Margaret (10.3.4) and some Officers have special abilities that mitigate some of the negative effects of Exile Boxes (7.3.2 & 7.3.3).

Crown of roses Rule Book 3


Heir (8.3.2): Only Heir Blocks (those with a small crown on their Block label) can be crowned King; if your opponents’ Heirs are eliminated, you win a Military Victory (6.1). Heir Blocks either start the game on-map as an “at start Heir” or enter later when their Heir Card (10.3) is played. Others are transformed from a regular on-map Noble Block to an Heir Block when their Heir Card is played. All Heirs are Nobles, but not all Nobles are Heirs.

Host (8.3.3 & 20.4.3): A Block that has at least one other Block attached to it. A Host and its attached Block(s) move as one, but fight separately. An attached Block may take damage assigned to a Host Block in the same Main Force (20.5.3).

Influence Points (IPs): A “commodity” in the game generally representing a Player’s economic and political influence. They are gained by control of Shires, Offices and certain Events (23.0). A Player’s IPs are usually located in one of three spots: their Unclaimed Pool (IPs not yet earned); their Stock (those IPs available to be used by the Player); or on a Noble’s Box on the Roll of Parliament (attempting to win that Noble to the Player’s side).

Leader: For all movement types, a Block designated to move either alone, or with additional Blocks up to their Command Rating (16.1). For combat, a Block designated to fight a Combat Round either alone, or with additional Blocks up to their Command Rating (20.4.1). The Leader may change each Combat Round.

Noble (8.3.1): A Block with a Noble Rank is a Noble. All potential Heirs are Nobles, but not all Nobles are Heirs. A potential Heir only changes from a mere Noble to a full Heir when a Player plays the appropriate Heir Card from his hand.

Main Force: The forces of the Attacking and Defending Player that are fighting each other in a Combat Round (20.4). This is distinguished from the initial two forces that arrived in the contested Shire (Starting Forces) and from Blocks in the Combat, but not currently fighting (Reserves). All other Blocks that arrived into the Combat after the Starting Forces are Reinforcements (20.3.1). Movement Points (MPs) (16.1): The amount of movement each stack can perform when activated. Generally equal to four (4) MPs, though this can be increased by Force March (16.3).

Operations Phase (13.0): The heart of each Game Turn is the Operations Phase—where all Players conduct movement with their Blocks, influence Nobles and play Events on themselves or their opponents. Each Operations Phase is composed of a number of Impulses equal to the smallest starting hand size, and each Impulse has a number of Action Steps (13.2) equal to the number of Players.

Player Houses (5.0): The four competing factions involved in the War of the Roses (White = York; Red = Lancaster; Yellow = Buckingham; and Blue = Warwick).

Reinforcements (20.3.1): Blocks that came to a Battle after the Main Force. Reinforcements enter starting on the second Combat Round, at a rate of one (1) Leader and appropriately led Blocks per Combat Round.

Reserves (20.3.2): Blocks involved in a Battle in a Shire that are not currently fighting in a Combat Round (i.e., not part of the Main Force); either due to Player decision or due to having a Leader with an insufficient Command Rating to lead all the Blocks in the Battle.

Retainer Strength (8.3): The weakest Combat Strength of a Block before it is removed from the map; i.e., the last combat step of a Block.

Shires (7.2): A playable area of the map that Players vie for control of in order to gain Influence Points and to achieve Military Victory. Shires can be Friendly, Enemy, Neutral or Contested (7.2.8). Each Shire has a Shire Value (SV, the number in the box in each Shire) (7.2.1) and a Shire Loyalty (SL, the color of box in each Shire: Black = none; White = York; Red = Lancaster; Yellow = Buckingham; and Blue = Warwick) (7.2.2).

Stacking Limit (7.2.9): The number of Blocks of each player that may occupy a Shire. All Shires have a Stacking Limit of the Shire Value plus 1. Exceeding the Stacking Limit at the end of all Battle resolutions will result in Attrition (22.0).

Starting Force (20.4.1): The first group of Blocks that fight in an Engagement. Includes a Leader and may include additional Blocks up to the Leader’s Command Rating. The Starting Force is the group of Blocks that determined the Engagement order.

Tie Breaker (10.5.1): The Player controlling the King Office Card almost always decides ties. In the case where there is no King (perhaps the King was eliminated in combat), the Player controlling the next-highest Ranking Officer decides the tie break, i.e., Chancellor if no King, then Treasurer, and so on. In the rare case no Offices are held, the Player with the highest IPs gained during the previous Influence Phase (as indicated on the track bordering the map) decides ties. If multiple Players have the highest IPs gained, roll a die to determine the Player who will be the tie-breaker. If the tie-breaking Player is established by IP Value (including die roll), then that Player will continue to decide tie breaks as needed until the end of the current Turn.

Note: For a complete listing of definitions of terms, see the Glossary at the end of this Rule Book.



4.0 Brief Summary of Game Play In Crown of Roses, two to four Players will vie for control of England (represented by the map on the game board) using both military and political means. All actions are governed by the following rules, which are laid out by first describing the components available to the Players, then how the Players can use those components to achieve victory.

Game play revolves around a series of Turns, which are broken up into separate Phases. All Turns begin with a Draw Phase, where Players draw new Cards and determine the number of Impulses in the Operations Phase. In the Operations Phase— the heart of Crown of Roses—Players decide how to use their limited Operations (OPs) Points; either to move Blocks, muster Reinforcements, or to influence Nobles in Parliament using In-fluence Points (IPs). They must also use their Blocks to control Shires in England and/or to attack the opposing Players’ Blocks, including those Players’ Royal Heirs.

At the conclusion of the Operations Phase, new IP Markers are usually collected, followed by Parliament Phases, including the King Phase, where the King is voted into Office. Once the King is elected, Players use their collected IPs to bid on the other Offices, but note that these same IPs are also needed to influence Nobles during the next Operations Phase! During the Parliament Phases of the game, almost all Blocks are removed from the map. After all Offices are voted on, Players take turns returning their Blocks to the map in the Home Estates for each Block. Once all Blocks are placed, a new Game Turn is ready to start.

5.0 Player Houses Each player in the game controls a Player House. There are four Player Houses: York, Lancaster, Buckingham, and Warwick. Each Player House is comprised of the Nobles it controls along with its Royal Heirs. In a two-player game, players control Lancaster and York; three-player games add Buckingham; and four-player games add Warwick.

Each Player House is assigned a color:

Player House Color

York White

Lancaster Red

Buckingham Yellow

Warwick Blue

Various game components match these colors and generally are for the sole use of the corresponding player. Note, however, that while some Block labels are in Player House colors, this only indicates historical allegiances of noble families, and aids in game setup. During game play, except for a few certain cases, any Player House may control Blocks of any color.

“Friendly” in these rules are a Player’s own game pieces, cards, etc. “Enemy” means those pieces, cards, etc. belonging to an opposing Player.

Throughout the rules the term “Player” and “Player House” are used interchangeably, but have the same meaning. Likewise, the terms “Heir” and “Royal Heir”, and “Strength” and “Combat Strength”, have the same meanings, respectively.

6.0 Victory Conditions There are three paths to victory listed in every scenario: Military Victory, Political Victory and Economic Victory. Typically, victory is checked in the above order—first checking for Mili-tary Victory, then Political if no Military Victory is achieved; and finally Economic Victory (also at the end of the scenario). Some scenarios may modify this order, however.

6.1 Military Victory In order to win a Military Victory, ONE of the following condi-tions must be met.

� In a single Turn, during the King Phase (24.1.1), control a set number of non-Devastated Enemy-loyal Shires and retain control of a set number of your own non-Devastated Shires, as noted below:

No. of Players Enemy Friendly 2 5 4 3 8 4 4 12 3

� In a single Turn, during the King Phase, keep all enemy Heirs from attending Parliament AND send your Senior Heir to Parliament.

� In a single Turn, during the Victory Check Phase, have at least one In-Play Heir and all enemy In-Play Heirs are killed or driven into Exile. Heirs that have not yet entered play are not counted as Heirs for this rule. Any player with an Heir currently in Exile may consider that Heir as In-Play IF they have a Popular Support that is at least one higher than all other Players AFTER accounting for the loss from the Exile itself.

Example: It is the Victory Check Phase of Turn 4 in a 2-player game. Lancaster has an In-Play Heir and the York Player has lost the York, March, and Clarence Blocks while they were all Heirs (removing their Blocks and Cards from the game). Rutland is currently in Exile in Scotland and York’s Popular Support is only three while the Lancaster Popular Support is five. As such, York has no Heirs In-Play (Gloucester is not able to be played until Turn 5 and Rutland does not count as he is in Exile and York’s Popular Support is not at least one higher than Lancaster’s Support value); therefore, Lancaster wins a Military Victory. Had York been able to keep his Popular Support higher, he would have prevented Lancaster from achieving a Military Victory as Rutland would have counted as an In-Play Heir.



6.2 Political Victory In order to win a Political Victory, ONE of the following condi-tions must be met during the Victory Check Phase.

� Hold the Office of the King for a specified number of Turns (as indicated in the Scenario instructions). Holding the Chancellor’s Office, but not the King, counts as one-half of a Turn for this condition (and would be considered consecutive for scenarios requiring such).

� Must control at least 3/4ths (75%) of all the Nobles attending Parliament on a given Turn, EXCLUDING Heirs and Margaret (rounded up). Note that it is the number of Nobles; not the number of actual votes; that matters for this Political Victory type.

Example: On Turn 5, fourteen Nobles attend Parliament. Three of them are Heirs and one of the “Nobles” is Margaret. If any one Player controls at least 3/4ths of the ten remaining Nobles (or 7.5, rounded up to eight), that Player achieves a Political Victory.

6.3 Economic Victory (Optional Rule)A Player wins an Economic Victory by accumulating the most Victory Points total, collected from various sources during the game. Points are awarded as they are earned. Players receive points as follows:

Pts Awarded For Event 1 Enemy Heir Killed by You in a Battle 1 Elected Chancellor, but not King 2 Chosen as King –1 Popular Support at 1 during Parliament Phase –1* Your Junior Heir Killed –2* Your King Killed

* If a Player does not have enough VP to fill a loss requirement, subtract any excess from Popular Support instead. Popular Support cannot drop below one. Death from Events and Attrition do not result in a VP penalty. Automatic Victory occurs during any Victory Check Phase if a Player has the following:

No. of Players Economic VPs for Automatic Victory 2 14 3 12 4 10

6.4 Scenario Specific Victory Each scenario may establish additional Victory conditions. Make sure to check the scenario to see if any additional condi-tions apply.

7.0 Game Board The game board depicts England and the seas bordering it, as well as parts of the neighboring countries Ireland, Scotland, and France. This is where the players will fight for the throne of England!

7.1 Tracks and Tables Several tracks and tables used to record and monitor each Play-er’s progress towards victory are also found on the game board.

7.1.1 Influence Track The Influence Track, on the

perimeter of the board, is used to record the amount of Influence Points each Player collected during a Game Turn. Small wooden cylinders of each Player House color are used to track these amounts.

7.1.2 Popular Support Track The Popular Support Track records the sup-port a Player has earned for keeping England

safe and stable. Reminders for the effects of each Popular Sup-port Value are printed on this track. Small wooden cylinders of each Player House color are used to track these amounts. The maximum Support Value is nine (9). Increases beyond this value are ignored; likewise decreases below a value of one (1) are also ignored. The zero (0) box on the Track is used as a staging area for Player pieces.

Most additions/subtractions to Popular Support are done in-stantly. However, in the odd occasion where a Player needs to adjust his Popular Support both positively and negatively at the same time, always apply the negative adjustment first.

Each Player tracks his own Popular Support value, which grants him such things as extra votes in Parliament, extra Influence at court, and extra resources (Card draws) from the countryside. Additionally, actions such as responding to Raids (14.2.1), win-ning a Battle against an opposing Heir (20.7.1), or holding an important Office of government (10.5) will increase a Player’s Support Value while losing Offices or hiding in Exile (7.3.1 & 28.3.1) will lower a Player’s Support Value.

7.1.3 Turns as King Track The Turns as King Track records the number of Game Turns that a Player has been voted King in Parliament (24.0); these can be non-consecutive. This is tracked using a small wooden cylinder of the Player’s House color.

7.1.4 Other Tracks There is also a Turn Track, a Sequence of Play Track, and an Impulse Track to help Players with the flow of the game. These three tracks all use a small black cylinder.



7.1.5 Roll of Parliament The map has a Roll of Parliament (RoP) where Players place Influence Markers to attempt to gain control of Nobles (19.0). Note that only Nobles that can be Influenced have a RoP Box; some Nobles, like York or Lan-

caster only become In-Play as Heirs not subject to Influence. This is also where markers are placed to indicate which, if any, Noble holds an Office of Parliament (10.5) and when a Noble becomes an Heir (10.3).

Note that Clarence has special rules associated with him (10.3.5).

The large number in the box indicates the minimum amount of Influence Points (IP) needed to win control of that Noble, and the colored Rose icons (Tendency Bonus) indicate the strength of that Noble’s allegiance to the Player House of that color. These are used in the King Phase (24.0).

7.1.6 Charts Included on the game board are several charts to aid in game play, such as a Terrain Effects Chart (TEC) and a chart listing the Draw bonuses.

7.2 Shires Shires correspond roughly to the historical county borders at the time. Note that the Isle of Man, the Pale of Ireland and the Pale of Calais (henceforth “Calais”) are treated as Shires.

Name of Shire

Home Estateheraldry in Shire

Shire Value (the number) and

Shire Loyalty (color of box)

Each Shire has a numbered box. The number in the box is the “Shire Value”. The color of the box indicates the “Shire Loy-alty”. Each Shire is identified by its Shire name and usually one or more heraldic shields or squares.

7.2.1 Shire Value (SV) The Shire Value, or SV, specifies:

� the number of Influence Points earned by the Controlling House during the Influence Phase (23.0);

� the number of troop steps the Shire can raise in a Muster action (18.0);

� the number of dice rolled for a Planned Uprising (14.2.1); � the losses caused by a Plague Event (14.1.2); � and (with a +1 modifier) the Stacking Limit for that Shire (7.2.9).

7.2.2 Shire Loyalty (SL) When the numbered box in the Shire is the color of a Player House (blue, white, yellow or red, see 5.0), that Shire is said to be loyal to that Player House. Shires with black boxes are not loyal to any Player House. Shires loyal to a House that

does not have an active Player (e.g. Warwick or Buckingham in a 2-player game) are treated as having black boxes for their Shire Loyalty for all purposes.

Shire Loyalty (SL) gives benefits to that Player House in the Muster action (18.0), during Planned Uprisings (14.2.1), and for Shire Control (7.2.8). Also, Players may earn a Military Victory by controlling Shires that are loyal to an active enemy Player House (24.1.1).

Note that the “Merchants of the Staple” Ally Card (Card 12) replaces the Warwick SL in Calais for as long as the Ally re-mains In-Play.

7.2.3 Home Estates Most Shires contain at least one heral-dic shield icon (“shield”). These shields indicate the locations of the major estates held by the family rep-resented by that shield, within the time

frame of the game. Each Noble and Heir Block (8.1) has a shield on their label as well. Blocks with the same shield belong to the same Noble family. The exceptions are Margaret and Henry VI, who have portraits on their Blocks (see 7.2.6 as to which Shires they may use as Home Estates).

A shield in a Shire that matches a family shield is said to be a Home Estate for that family. Each family has at least one Home Estate. A Shire may be a Home Estate for more than one family.

Example: Northumberland in the North Marches has three shield icons, one corresponding to the Noble Block “Nor-thumberland” (see RoP and the Northumberland Block), one corresponding to the Lord Warden of the North Marches Office, and the Red Rose shield corresponding to House Lancaster (see the Lancaster Block). The Northumberland Block, the Lancaster Block and the Block holding the Lord Warden Office could all consider Northumberland one of their Home Estates.

7.2.4 Crown Estates A Crown symbol in a Shire indicates the Shire holds a Crown Estate. These are lands held by the King and Parliament (e.g., State

houses and such). Any friendly Heir (10.3) [treat Margaret as an Heir for the purpose of this rule] of the current King’s Player House may treat these Shires as additional Home Estates, in all respects and for all game purposes.

7.2.5 Office Estates Some icons match the heraldry shield of the Blocks associated with Offices (10.5). When a Noble holds an Office, it may treat Shires containing those icons as Home Estates, in all respects and for all game purposes.

Example: Carnafon is considered a Home Estate for the Noble holding the Chancellor Office (which matches the red & white heraldry shown in the Figure above).



7.2.6 Shared Estates Nobles/Heirs with identical shield icons treat all Home Estates with that shield icon as if it were their own Home Estate for all game purposes (e.g., Pembroke’s and Richmond’s Home Estates are the same, and Clarence’s and all other York Noble’s Home Estates are the same).

Margaret and Henry VI: In addition, note that Henry VI and Margaret (and their associated Host Block(s), if any) may use a Lancaster Estate (Red Rose heraldry) as their Home Estate. Margaret may also use the France Exile Box as a Home Estate.

However, each particular Estate may only be utilized by one Player during the Wintering Phase (27.0). Specifically, if an Enemy-controlled Noble with an identical shield icon as your Noble already occupies a Shire containing a Shared Estate, you may only place your Noble in that Shire if there is a second, legal Estate at which your Noble may enter.

Example: If Clarence is controlled by a Player other than York and starts in West Riding, York would normally be prevented from placing a York Noble there as well, since the York Estate in that Shire is “occupied” by Clarence. However, note that if York is the current King, York could place York Nobles in West Riding by using the Crown Estate and not the York Estate “occupied” by Clarence—since the Crown Estate would be a second, legal Estate in this situation.

7.2.7 Shire Borders Shire borders are either solid, indicating difficult terrain with few (if any) usable roads; or broken, indicating easier terrain or more (and more usable) roads. Movement costs (16.2) depend on the type of border.

Shires are considered to be adjacent to one another whenever they share a common border, regardless of its type.

The Shire borders marked with a skull near the region labeled “The Fens” and “The Wash” are a reminder of special move-ment rules along those borders (16.2.2).

7.2.8 Shire Control A Shire is in one of three states of control at any given time:

Controlled: The Shire a) has Blocks of only one Player present; OR b) has no Blocks present, but has a SL (7.2.2) in the color of a Player House. Such a Shire is said to be “Controlled” by that Player House. The Shire is “Friendly-Controlled” for the Player that controls it and “Enemy-Controlled” for all other Players.

Contested: The Shire is occupied by Blocks of two (2) or more Players. Note: After all Combat is resolved, there will be no Contested Shires, until possibly during the next Wintering or Operations Phases (when Blocks move into the same Shire).

Neutral: The Shire a) has no Blocks present; AND b) has a black SL.

Control of a Shire is determined immediately when a Player places a Block into it or removes a Block from it. Thus, as forces move around the board, control states will continually change.

Example: Northumberland is empty of all Blocks and is con-sidered “Controlled” by (i.e., “Friendly to”) Lancaster given its red SL. If a York Block moves into Northumberland, it now becomes Controlled by York. If a Lancaster controlled Block then moves into the Shire and the York Block does not Evade out, the Shire is considered “Contested” until after the combat resolution (when, necessarily, at most one of the two Houses will remain in the Shire).

7.2.9 Shire Stacking LimitsEach Shire has a limit to the number of Blocks that each Player may put into it without suffering Attrition effects (22.0). This is known as the Stacking Limit. The limit for each Player is equal to the SV plus one (1). Therefore, in a four-player game, each layer can put five (5) Blocks in London for a total of 20 Blocks.

Design Note: Players may voluntarily exceed the Stack-ing Limit, especially if involved in a Combat in a Shire, as Stacking Limits are only checked after all Battles are resolved (21.1); and the Victor in a Battle is usually given the oppor-tunity to move overstacked Blocks (20.7.2).

7.3 RegionsBroadly speaking, there are two geographic areas represented on the map: “England”, which includes England proper, Wales, Ireland and the Pale of Calais, and “Exile Boxes”, which rep-resent areas outside the map in Scotland, France and Ireland. Within “England” there are five special regions marked with thick colored borders on the map. They are: London (gray); North Marches (purple); Pale of Calais (blue); Pale of Ireland (green); and Wales & the Welsh Marches (red).

Some Cards refer to these regions in the Event text or the Card’s ability.

Design Note: The area labeled “London” could have been called Middlesex instead. However, in play testing that ver-sion of the map we found players often asking “where is London?” For that reason we decided to err on the side of familiarity in this case.

7.3.1 Foreign Nations and Exile Boxes The areas of the Pale of Ireland and Calais are considered the same as regular Shires for all purposes.

The Foreign Nation of Scotland cannot be entered, except to go into the Exile Box. Note that the Pale of Ireland and Calais are considered part of England for all game purposes (i.e., everything on the map except the Exile Boxes are considered part of “England” for the purposes of these rules and Card play, unless otherwise noted).

Exile Boxes represent locations inside nearby Foreign Nations, outside of the map area, where a Noble might flee to lick his wounds and build up his strength (though at a cost in losing Popular Support). There are Exile Boxes associated with each Foreign Nation. These Nobles are still “In-Play” for the purpose



of having at most two (2) active Heirs at any one time (10.3.2), but may be considered eliminated for the purposes of determin-ing a Military Victory (6.1) for your opponents.

Immediately upon entering an Exile Box, a Player will suffer a –1 in Popular Support (16.2.4), and any Player with one or more Nobles in an Exile Box during the Clean-Up Phase (28.3.1) will suffer a loss in Popular Support for every Turn that they remain in Exile.

Restrictions on entering and exiting an Exile Box are explained in the Movement rules (16.2.4).

IMPORTANT: As noted above, an Heir is still treated as In-Play and so still counts toward the maximum of two (2) ac-tive Heirs at a time while in an Exile Box; but may also count as eliminated for Military Victory.

7.3.2 Scotland Scotland is a Foreign Nation that is not playable, except for the Exile Box.

Any Block that moves to the Scot-land Exile Box (by land or sea) must immediately reduce its Com-bat Strength to Retainer Strength (8.3). The following are exception to this rule and may retain their current strength:

� Queen Margaret (10.3.4) and her Host Block (8.3.3) mov-ing into the Exile Box

� The Lord Warden of the North Marches (10.5.8) moving into the Scotland Exile Box (as well as any Blocks he leads)

7.3.3 Ireland & Calais As noted above, the non-Exile portions of Ireland and Calais are treated as regular Shires for all purposes.

Any Block that moves into the Exile Box of either of them (by land or sea) must immediately reduce its Combat Strength to Retainer Strength (8.3). The

following are exceptions to this rule and retain their strength:

� Queen Margaret (10.3.4) and her Host Block (8.3.3) mov-ing into the Exile Box

� The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Pale (10.5.7) moving into the Ireland Exile Box (as well as any Blocks he leads)

� The Lord Captain of Calais and the Pale (10.5.6) moving into the France Exile Box (as well as any Blocks he leads)

7.4 Seas & Coastal ShiresThere are three “Seas”: the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. A solid line on the map indicates the border between Adjacent Seas (near Suffolk and near Cornwall).

The English Channel and the North Sea are Adjacent Seas, as are the English Channel and the Irish Sea. Seas can never be controlled. Blocks may move across the seas during play via Sea Movement (17.0), but they may never end their move in a sea.

A Shire that is adjacent to a sea is called a “Coastal Shire”. Most Coastal Shires are adjacent to only one sea. There are two exceptions:

� Cornwall is a Coastal Shire for both the Irish Sea and the English Channel

� Suffolk is a Coastal Shire for both the North Sea and the English Channel.

London is a Coastal Shire. However, the Burgundian and French Mercenary Blocks (Cards #49 and #52) may not enter play there. The English (especially at that time) were not about to let the French, for example, simply sail up the Thames and land at what is now Festival Pier (or anywhere else for that matter )– it would have been considered an invasion.

7.4.1 Estuaries There are three estuaries on the map. Land Movement is not allowed be-tween Shires separated by them.

On the West side of the map, the Severn Estuary separates Glamorgan

in Wales from Somerset. Note, however, Gloucester and Glam-organ are adjacent and movement is allowed between them.

On the East side, the Thames Estuary separates Essex from Kent and the Humber Estuary (just north of The Wash) separates East Riding from Lincoln. Note that the map contains reminders for these last two.

7.5 Map Addendum7.5.1 Unplayable Islands

The Isle of Anglesey and The Isle of Wight are not playable areas.

7.5.2 Terrain features As noted previously, the map includes a Terrain Effects Chart which lists the various Shire terrain features discussed above. In addition, note that swamps, rivers and cities are decorative only—they have no effect on movement or combat in the game.

7.5.3 Office Holding Box In the Roll of Parliament section of the map there is a rectangular box for placing any Office mark-ers not currently held by a Noble.

7.5.4 Combat Holding Boxes At the bottom of the map there is a series of three squares to hold Blocks for any single Battle in a Shire, should Players feel necessary. The squares are ordered to indicate which are the first, second and third Attackers/Defenders, based on the order



of entrance into the Shire. It is suggested to leave the original holder of the Shire in the Shire, and place the Blocks that first entered after them in the square marked “1stin”; then the Blocks that entered next go in the “2ndin” square; and the Blocks that entered third go in the “3rdin” square.

When resolving the Battle (20.0), the Blocks in the “3rdin” square will be the “1stout”; the “2ndin” will be the “2ndout”; and the “1stin” will be the “3rdout”.

8.0 Wooden Pieces Six small wooden cylinders in each Player House color are included for use on the Influence, Turns as King, and Popular Support tracks; as well as marking on map locations where a Planned Uprising (14.2.1) is taking place. Three small black cylinders are included for use on the Turn, Sequence of Play, and Impulse tracks.

The fifty-four (54) large wooden blocks represent the various noble families, as well as political and mercenary forces of the day. Depending on the scenario being played, some of the Blocks may not be available for the game; or are available only on certain turns of the game.

8.1 Block, Noble, and HeirThe distinction between Blocks, Nobles, and Heirs is very important.

Block: Any large wooden block with a label attached. Blocks include Nobles, Heirs, Offices, and Mercenaries.

Offices: The “King” Block and the other purple-tinted Blocks that have only a Noble Rank Value (a number in a square in the lower-right corner) of its label. The +1 on the King’s Block (in the circle

in the lower-left corner) increases the Command Rating of the Host Block by 1

Mercenaries: The Burgundians, French, Scots and Welsh Blocks (see also 24.1.2). These Blocks have no Noble Rank Value or Command Rating on their label.

Noble: Any Block that has both a Noble Rank Value (a number in a square in the lower-right corner) and a Command Rating (a number in a circle in the lower-left corner) of its label (excep-

tion: the King Block is an Office Block, not a Noble Block).

Heir: Any Noble that has a Royal Heir Indicator (a Crown icon in the upper-right corner) on its label is a potential Heir. Once its corresponding Heir Card (10.3) is played for the Event text, the Noble then becomes an active Heir.

Remember: All Heirs are Nobles, but not all Nobles can be Heirs!

Each Block has between two and four levels of Combat Strength

(8.3), depending on the number of sides of its label that have dice icons. To maintain a “fog of war”, Blocks are usually placed so that the controller can see them, but his opponent(s) cannot, with the current Combat Strength of the Block being indicated by the icons on the top edge of the Block.

When the Block is revealed to the opponent(s), the Block is tipped forward and placed flat, with the edge farthest from its controller being the current Combat Strength.

As an alternative to standing the Blocks upright, Players may keep their Blocks face down by tipping the top of the upright Block towards the controller, so that the current Combat

Strength is the edge closest to its controller. When revealed, flip the Block so that the edge of the Block closest to the controller becomes the edge farthest from him.

8.2 Block StatesEach Block can exist in one of five states:

In-Play: The Block is controlled by a Player and occupies a Shire or Exile Box.

Undeclared: The Block is controlled by a Player, but placed off-board in the Player’s Undeclared Pool. Undeclared Nobles can be summoned by an Event Card (and become In-Play), but they cannot have a Writ (10.5.1) played on them or use a Writ of their own. Undeclared Nobles will still be available to attend Parliament (24.2).

Inactive: The Block is not controlled by any Player and is kept next to the game board until a Player gains control through play of Influence on the RoP or by play of an Heir Card (10.3). Potential Heirs without a box in the RoP, as well as the York Heir Clarence, are Inactive until their corresponding Heir Cards bring their Block In-Play.

Unavailable: The Block is not controlled by any Player and may not be used by any Player temporarily due to Scenario Special Rules or game effects. An Unavailable Block is placed face up in its corresponding RoP Box. Unavailable Blocks become Inactive during the Clean-Up Phase of the Turn (28.1).

Design Note: Effectively, an Unavailable Block loses out on the rest of the Turn, including any chance of attending Par-liament, but is then available to be Influenced the following Turn.

Out of Play: The Block has been removed by Scenario Special Rules or game effects and will not be used for the remainder of the game. Place these Blocks face down on their space on the RoP or back in the game box if they do not have such a space.



Example: Some Nobles will start each scenario In-Play and controlled by a respective Player House. If the Noble is not an Heir and is Eliminated in a Battle, that Noble rolls on the Elimination Chart (20.6.1) to determine what happens to the Block. Blocks that “Escape” damage, remain controlled by their Player House and are placed off the map in the Player’s Undeclared Pool. They will re-enter the map either via play of certain Event Cards, or during the Wintering Phase (27.0)— after they also attend Parliament. If Killed, the Noble status reverts to Unavailable, losing out on the rest of the Turn and then becoming Inactive the fol-lowing Turn—no longer controlled by the Player’s House. A similar status change happens if the Block is Wounded—the Noble immediately becomes Inactive, reverting out of that Player’s House’s control. Inactive (resulting from either a Wounded or Killed Noble, per above) and Undeclared Blocks return In-Play during the Gather Supporters portion of Parliament (24.2.1). Influence Points played on each Noble’s RoP Box during a Game Turn (19.0) are compared to see who gains control of the Noble; if a Player has successfully influenced the Noble (note that Undeclared Nobles are “influenced” by their controlling Player until another Player successfully influences them via IP play—which is different than Inactive Nobles who are controlled by no-one until a Player successfully influences them). In-Play Nobles may also switch control, remaining In-Play but now controlled by the new Player’s House. Heirs never become Inactive or Unavailable; instead they suf-fer permanent elimination and end up Out of Play. An Heir may end up Undeclared, in which case it returns In-Play to its controlling Player during the Gather Supporters portion of Parliament, unless forced to return In-Play earlier (13.3).

8.3 Block LayoutA Block’s Title/Name and Heraldic Shield, Banner, or Image is used for identification.

Heraldry

Full Combat Strength (always at top edge of Block)

Command Rating

Royal Heir indicator

Noble Rank

Special rule applies (square around crown)

Name

Retainer Strength (always the last/lowest set of dice on Block)

Combat Strength: A Block’s Combat Strength is the number and color of dice icons along the edges of the Block. This is the number and color of dice the Block rolls in combat.

Each Block has between two and four levels of Combat Strength, depending on the number of sides of its label that have dice icons. The current Combat Strength of the Block is

indicated by the icons on the top edge of the Block (or the edge farthest from its controller, if the Block is face-up and lying flat).

Retainer Strength: The lowest Combat Strength for that Block, usually only one die. Can be on any of the non-top sides of the Block.

Steps and Step Losses: Each side of the Block is called a Step. Whenever a Block takes damage (20.5.3), it takes a “Step Loss”. For each Step Loss suffered, it is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise, thereby reducing its Combat Strength. When a Block is reduced below Retainer Strength, it is said to have been “eliminated” (and “eliminated” is used hereafter to mean “reduced below Retainer Strength”). For non-Noble Blocks, this means they are removed from the map. For Noble (and Heir) Blocks, they will make a final roll on the Elimination Chart to determine their ultimate fate (20.6.1).

Adding Steps: To add a Step to a Block, rotate it 90 degrees clockwise. A Block at its maximum strength cannot have any steps added to it. Steps are added via Mustering (18.0) or via some Event Cards.

Combat Value: The number shown on the individual dice icons. Die color is also used as an indicator of Combat Value, with red (hits on a 4-6) being better than blue (hits on a 5-6), and blue being better than green (hits on a 6).

8.3.1 Nobles Nobles are Blocks with additional attributes:

Command Rating. A Noble’s Command Rating, or CR, is the number of other Blocks that the

Noble can lead during Movement (16.1) or can command in Combat (20.4.4). This is the circled value in the Noble Block’s lower left corner.

Example: Herbert, shown above, can only command one (1) additional Block.

Noble Rank & Influence. The value in a Noble’s lower right corner is his Rank. A Noble’s Rank determines which Block will command in combat (20.4.1) as well as how many votes that Noble has in the King Phase (24.2.2). Rank “1” is the lowest, and “4” is the highest.

Note that a Noble cannot be commanded or led in movement or combat by a Noble with a lower Rank (16.1 & 24.2.2), except that Heirs always outrank non-Heirs, regardless of the actual Rank Value. Less senior Heirs are outranked by more senior Heirs. The King outranks all others (10.5.1).

Example: Warwick, Noble Rank of 4, is the highest ranking Noble in the game and would command over any other non- Heir Nobles. However, if he is not an Heir himself, then he could not lead even the lowest rank Heir. For example, Clarence (Noble Rank of 2) would command over Warwick if Clarence were an Heir and Warwick were not. (This particular situation, by the way, is impossible in a four Player game, but could occur in two or three player games.)

Nobles may hold Offices won in the Office Phase (26.0).



8.3.2 Heirs Each Noble Block that can become an Heir has a Crown icon in its upper right corner. George of Clarence’s Crown is contained in a box as a re-minder of his special rules (10.3.5).

Once a Noble becomes an Heir, Players may not place Influence on its RoP Box. Place an Heir marker on the box as a reminder of this status. Clarence is an exception to this as noted below (10.3.5). A Noble becomes an active Heir when its associated Heir Card (10.3) is played for the Event text.

Each Player can have at most two (2) active Heirs, with one Heir being the Senior Heir, and the other being the Junior Heir (10.3).

Remember: A Noble with a Crown icon is not an Heir unless the appropriate Heir Card is In-Play.

8.3.3 Attached Blocks At certain times Blocks will be indicated as being “attached” to another Block (usually a Noble) the latter referred to as the “Host” Block. Attached Blocks move as one with the Host Block and, in most circumstances, count for command and Stacking Limits (exceptions are the Henry VI and Queen Mar-garet Blocks (10.3.3 & 10.3.4)). In order for a Block to function as a Host, it must possess a Command Rating of 1 or higher. Blocks with no command rating (e.g., Queen Margaret, Henry VI, Burgundians, etc.) cannot Host other Blocks.

In the case that a Host Block is removed from the map due to a change in state (8.2) or responds to an Embassy Event (14.1.1), but the Attached Block is/does not, the status of the Attached Block depends on whether it is an Office Block (10.5) or a non-Office Block (10.3.3, 10.3.4 & 24.1.2). An Office Block remains with the Host Block, whereas a non-Office Block may immediately attach to a new Host in the same Shire meeting the requirements for attachment (exception: Henry VI—if his Host Block suffers a “killed” result on the Elimination Chart due to combat (10.3.3) and Henry VI and Margaret alone in a Shire). If no such new Host exists, place the now Host-less Block in the Player’s Undeclared Pool.

Note that other than Henry VI and Margaret, no Attached Blocks may ever be left without a Host (i.e., Office Blocks and Mercenary Blocks (24.1.2) may never be voluntarily detached/ left behind, and if a Mercenary Block has its Host killed, a new Host must immediately be adopted).

Attached Blocks may absorb combat losses from their Host Block (and vice versa). If Eliminated for any reason, they are removed from the map, returning at full strength as follows: Office Blocks return with the new Officer in the Parliament Phase; Mercenaries the next time their Card is played; Henry VI and Margaret per the Elimination Chart result and their special rules (10.3.3 and 10.3.4).

A Host Block may have Attached at most:

� one Mercenary Block (24.1.2), � both of Henry VI and Margaret, � and Office Blocks subject to the restrictions in 26.3.

9.0 Counters and Markers 9.1 Influence Markers

Influence Points (IP) represent political and economic factors, favorable contracts, lucrative trading terms, and the like. Each Player has a set of Influence Markers in their House color and in several denominations, including zero (0). The

zero value IP Markers are useful for bluff and misdirection during the hidden bidding parts of the game. Each House starts the game with 4 zero, 12 one, 10 two, 6 three, 6 five and 2 ten value IP Markers, for a maximum IP Stock of 100 IPs.

IP Markers will usually be in one of three locations: in an Un-claimed Pool for the Player; in the Player’s available Stock; or on a Noble’s Box in the Roll of Parliament. In all cases, IP Markers are placed face down and can only be inspected by the owning Player. A Player can freely make change for any IP Marker in their Stock with the available IP Markers in their Unclaimed Pool.

To do so, the Player simply reveals the Stock IP Marker(s) and equivalent non-zero (0) value IP Marker(s) in the Unclaimed Pool, swapping and then re-inverting to their hidden side. Zero (0) value IP Markers can only be added to a Player’s Stock during the Influence Phase (23.0), but the Player may add any number of them from the Unclaimed Pool up to the maximum number available.

9.2 Support and Office MarkersSupport markers are used when casting votes for King (24.2.3) and for attempting to influence who receives an Office (26.0). These are ex-plained more in the corresponding sections.

9.3 Shire Status MarkersAll Shires are considered to have a normal status, unless marked with a Shire Status marker. A non-normal Shire status is denoted by placing one of four status markers: Plague, Devastated, Depleted or Plundered.

Plague markers are placed to note which Shire is suffering the Plague. Once the Plague is re-solved (14.1.2), the marker is flipped to the Devastated side.

Devastated markers are replaced with Depleted markers at the end of the Turn and impact which Shires can grant replacements through Mustering (18.0), gain IP’s (23.1.1), or count for Military Victory (6.1 and 24.1.1).Depleted markers are placed as above, or when a Player musters two (2) or more steps from a Shire in a single Impulse (18.0). Depleted Shires prevent Mustering (18.0).



Plundered markers are usually placed when a Shire is subject to a Planned Uprising, Revolt or Raid (14.2.1). Plundered Shires prevent Muster-ing (18.0) or gaining of IP’s (23.1.1).

9.4 Heir/Senior Heir MarkersHeir and Senior Heir markers are placed on the Roll of Parliament to denote when a particular Noble has become immune to outside political influence (10.3.2).

9.5 Miscellaneous MarkersIncluded in the game are markers for denoting each Player’s Total Economic Victory Points (6.3 & 25.0), the Total Votes they can cast for King (24.2.2), Attack and Defend markers for helping to identify who is the attacker or defender in each Contested Shire (20.0), Charge markers to denote when an Heir has conducted a Battle Charge in combat (20.5.1) and a Combat Round marker to aid in determining when Reinforcements are available to each side (20.3.1).

9.6 London GarrisonThe London Garrison counter functions like a Block, except it is always face-up and is perma-nently stationed in London. It cannot move under any circumstance (including Retreats—it simply reverts to the new controller of London). It does

not count against any Command Limits or Stacking Limits and is never affected by any Attrition or Events (e.g., Plague, Raids, etc).

The first Player to have a Block or Blocks enter London, either via Movement (16.0, 17.0), Interception (16.5), or Wintering (27.0), attaches the Tower Garrison to one Block of his choice by placing it directly under the Block (whether the Blocks are placed face-down (8.1) or standing up-right). This Block is the Host Block for the Tower Garrison, which is considered Attached (8.3.3) to this Block for combat purposes only, but does not count against any Leader Command Limit (20.4.4). When the Host Block enters combat, the Tower Garrison al-ways has the same status (e.g. in Reserve, in the Main Force, a Reinforcement, etc.) as the Host Block. See 20.2 for some combat examples using the London Block.

If the Host Block is eliminated in combat or leaves London for any reason, the owning Player must immediately attach it to another friendly-controlled Block in London at its current Combat Strength. If unable to do so, the London Garrison counter is set aside until after the Combat Step of the current Impulse (i.e. it won’t be available to any Player for the rest of the Impulse). At that point, if a Player controls London, they may attach the London Garrison to any one Block, as above. If no Player controls London, set the Tower Garrison counter in London as a reminder that the first Player entering London gains control of the counter. Finally, reset the Tower Garrison to its maximum strength by placing it so that its current strength is the side facing north (toward the top of the map).

10.0 CardsCrown of Roses is a card-driven game. As such, the Cards play an integral role in the mechanics of how the game is played.

There are three types of Cards. Two types, House Cards and Operations Cards, are similar and can be used fairly inter-changeably by Players to perform almost all the actions they wish during the game. Parliament Cards are the larger Cards and play a more administrative role.

In-Play Cards: While most Cards are discarded after being played from a Player’s hand, some Cards (e.g., Allies & Heirs) are placed face-up in front of their controlling Player. These face-up Cards are considered “In-Play”. Any Card that remains In-Play for a length of time is a Persistent Card (10.4).

10.1 Common Characteristics

Operations Value

Card Type Card ID

Title

Descriptive text of event

Special text

Plague location

All non-Parliament Cards share several common characteristics. In the upper left corner is the Operations Value (OPS Value), ranging from 1 to 3 in value (exceptions: at-start Heirs and Af-fairs of States). House Cards have their OPS Value in a Rose of the House color (Yellow for Buckingham, Red for Lancaster, etc). In the upper middle, below the Card ID, is a descriptor giving the type of Card: Royal Heir, Event, Mandatory Event, Ally or Surprise. Next to this in the upper right is a Plague location, used to determine which Shire is subject to a Plague should that Mandatory Event be played (14.1.2).

The center of the Card includes the title of the Card and, for Royal Heir Cards, an Heir Number (H-#). Under the title there is descriptive text describing what occurs should the Card be played for its Event. Finally, at the bottom of the Card is any special text for unusual characteristics of the Card.

Cards that recite the special text (in red) “Remove after ...” are removed from the game (i.e. permanently Out of Play) after that condition is met. This applies only to House Event/Surprise Cards (10.2.1) and the Ally Card #21: Francesco Dei Coppini. The Mercenary Block Cards (Card #s’: 49, 52, 55 and 56), the Embassy Cards (Card #’s: 58 and 59), and the Assist with



Command Card (#72) should recite “Discard”, not “Remove” (see Card Errata).

10.2 House Cards

The front of each House Card has a colored Rose icon in the

upper left corner.

Each Player controls a unique set of Cards known as their “House Cards”. House Cards consist of Heir Cards and Event and Surprise Cards that match historical figures and events related to each par-ticular royal house, respec-tively.

Except where noted on the Cards or in these rules, House Cards are consid-ered part of a Player’s hand of Cards (except they do not count against hand size limits) and can be used just like Operations Cards for Event text or OPS Points (13.0). They are not counted towards the Desperate Times Event.

The front of each House Card has a colored Rose icon to indicate which Player controls the Cards (5.0). Players may only control, and use, their own House’s Cards (exception: Henry VI starts one scenario “captured” by the York Player, though the York Player may not use his Block or House Card for any purpose).

House Cards never go into the discard pile, and therefore can only be used once per game, although some stay In-Play until their effect ends.

10.2.1 House Event & House Surprise Cards These House Cards operate the same as Operation Cards of the same type (10.4.1 & 10.4.4), except they are always removed from the game instead of being placed in the discard pile once their effect ends.

Note: No replacement Card is drawn for play of a House Sur-prise Card Event (10.4.4).

10.3 Royal Heir CardsCrown with H-# gives Heir order (10.3.2)

Heir name and title

Royal Heir Card

Corresponding Heir Block

shown on card and in

card text

Royal Heir Cards are similar to Events, in that when played, the Player implements the Card text. Heir Cards with an OPS Value may be used for OPS Points during the Operations Phase, just like an Operations Card; but doing so has significant con-sequences noted below.

Each Heir Card designates its corresponding Heir Block (in the descriptive text, and shown in the graphic on the Card). If played for the Card text, the Heir Card is kept face up in front of the owning Player until the Heir Block is killed in Battle (20.6.1) or by some other game effect. The Heir Card is then removed from the game.

Prior to play of their Heir Card, all potential Heirs with a RoP Box are treated as regular Nobles (exception: Clarence – see 10.3.5). This means that they may be Inactive, In-Play, Un-declared or Unavailable, just like any other Noble. Clarence and Heirs without a RoP Box are Inactive until their Heir Card brings them In-Play. When an Heir Card is played for the Event, consult the list below:

� If the Heir is Inactive when the Heir Card is played, the Block enters in any of the Heir’s Home Estates at full Combat Strength.

� If the Heir is friendly-controlled and Undeclared when the Heir Card is played, the Block enters in any of the Heir’s Home Estates at full Combat Strength.

� If the Heir is friendly-controlled and Unavailable, the Block enters as above, but at Retainer Strength only.

� If the Heir is friendly-controlled and In-Play, simply leave the Heir Block where it is at its current Combat Strength.

� If the Heir Block is currently enemy-controlled, see 10.3.1.If played for OPS, the Card is removed from the game once the Player completes all of their actions and the Event text is not implemented. The associated Noble Block immediately becomes Out of Play (i.e. pick the Block up and remove it from the game) and is considered eliminated for the purposes of determining Military Victory (6.1). And remember, if all of a Player’s Heir Cards and Blocks are removed from the game, the Player is eliminated!



10.3.1 Playing an Heir Card when Noble is, or was, under Enemy Control If an Heir Card enters play when an opponent has (or had) control of the Heir Block (8.3.2), control of the Noble switches to the Card player and the Noble becomes an Heir as normal. Wherever the Noble is at the time, it is given to its new con-troller to place In-Play in any of the Noble’s Home Estates. If the Noble was Unavailable at the time, it is placed at Retainer Strength. If the Noble was In-Play, any Combat Strength pos-sessed by the Noble is maintained when ownership is trans-ferred. Otherwise, place the Noble at full Combat Strength; e.g., if the Noble was Undeclared (8.2). For George of Clarence (10.3.5), this transfer of control happens only when he becomes the Senior Heir (10.3.2).

10.3.2 Senior and Junior Heir Each House’s Heir Card has an Heir number indication (e.g., Heir #1, Heir #2, and so on). The In-Play Heir Card with the lowest Heir number indicates the Senior Heir for that House. The In-Play Heir Card with the next lowest Heir

number indicates the Junior Heir. Any time an Heir is elimi-nated or an Heir Card is played, the assignment of Senior and Junior Heirs is reevaluated. Only the Senior Heir can be King; and, if a more senior Heir is played which would make the King a Junior Heir, then the new Senior Heir becomes King, instead. This transfer of the Office of the King happens immediately. NOTE: Players may have a maximum of two (2) active Heirs at any one time (including in an Exile Box).

Important: If all of a Player’s Heir Cards have been removed from the game, the Player is eliminated from the game (6.1). Also, there are times when a Player may be required to play an Heir Card (13.3). Obviously, the Player is not required to do so if he has no Heir Cards which can be played due to Game Turn restrictions on the Card(s). Heir Cards do not need to be played in Heir order, the only restriction on play is the Game Turn requirement.

The following Heir Cards merit further explanation:

10.3.3 Henry VI – Lancaster The Henry VI Block cannot be a Leader for move-ment or combat (it has no Command Rating), and may be led in movement or combat only by a Noble with a Rank of two (2) or higher.

The Henry VI Block does not count against Command Limits for Battle, but does count against the Command Limits for Movement.

Henry VI can control a Shire if dropped off via Movement (16.1) in a Shire, but cannot move on his own once dropped off (given that he cannot be a Leader for movement).

His Block may not conduct a Battle Charge.

Historical Note: Henry VI was a terrible warrior; he him-self will never be in the actual battle even if his Block is. He will be in his tent, “contemplating”.

During the Wintering Phase (27.4), Henry VI’s Block must be Attached (8.3.3) to a Noble that the Lancaster Player controls. This may be a different Noble each Wintering Phase. If there are no Lancaster-controlled Nobles, the Henry VI Block must be kept in the Undeclared Pool.

If Henry VI is currently in an Exile Box, he may only be At-tached to a Noble in the same Exile Box, or to a Noble not in Exile (which removes Henry VI from Exile, as well).

If Henry VI is Senior Heir when the Lancaster Player is voted King (24.2.3), the Henry VI Block does not attach the King Office Block and the Lancaster Player may not use the King’s once per Turn ability of utilizing another Office’s ability (10.5.1 & 24.2.3) (he still gains the bonus support, votes and IPs listed on the King Card, however).

If the Henry VI Block is eliminated in combat (i.e., reduced below Retainer Strength) or his Host Noble suffers a combat result of “Killed” on the Elimination Chart (20.6.1), Henry is assumed to have been captured in his tent and executed by the Victor. If this occurs, remove Henry’s Card and Block from the game.

Design Note: Yes, Henry VI is removed from the game be-fore any roll is made on the Elimination Chart for his Block, if either his Block is reduced below Retainer Strength as a result of combat, or if his Host Noble is killed as a result of a roll on the Elimination Chart.

10.3.4 Margaret of Anjou – Lancaster While technically not an “Heir”, as the Queen can never become King, the Margaret Block behaves in many ways like any other Royal Heir Block. The Queen’s Block does not count against Command

Limits for Battle, and unlike Henry VI, also does not count against Command Limits for Movement either.

Her Block cannot be a Leader for movement or combat (it has no Command Rating).

Margaret can control a Shire if dropped off via Movement (16.1) in a Shire, but cannot move on her own once dropped off (given that she cannot be a Leader for movement).

Her Block may not conduct a Battle Charge.

Historical Note: Henry VI’s implacable Queen, Margaret, was perhaps the strongest leader of the Lancastrian faction (leading in her husband’s name). She herself will never be in battle, even if the Block is.

If her Block enters any Exile Box, adjust her Combat Strength to its maximum amount (Margaret was very good at gaining support from abroad).

During the Wintering Phase (27.4), Margaret’s Block must be Attached (8.3.3) to a Noble that the Lancaster Player controls with a Rank of two (2) or higher. This may be a different Noble each Wintering Phase. If there are no Lancaster-controlled Nobles, the Queen’s Block must be kept in the Undeclared Pool.



If the Queen’s Block is currently in an Exile Box, she may only be Attached to a Noble in the same Exile Box or to a Noble not in Exile (which removes Margaret from Exile, as well). If the Queen’s Block is eliminated during combat, she will return during the next Wintering Phase. If both Henry VI and Prince Edward (the Lancaster Block) are Out of Play, the Queen goes into permanent exile in France. Immediately remove the Margaret Card from the game and place the Margaret Block Out of Play. As noted on the Queen Margaret Card, the Lancaster Player has the opportunity to gain one (1) OPS with any CC, whether the CC is played for the Event or the OPS. However, it cannot be used if the Lancaster Player Passes (13.1) that Impulse.

10.3.5 George of Clarence – York Clarence is a Royal Heir for the York Player, but he has two unique qualities:

� No Influence can be played on his RoP Box until his Heir Card is played (Turn 4 or after).

� Influence can be played on his RoP Box when he is an Heir, but not after he becomes a Senior Heir (place the “Senior Heir” counter on his RoP Box as a reminder).

As a reminder there is a box around his Royal Heir indicator on his RoP Box, and on his Block label.

Clarence can be the target of the Treachery Surprise Card just like any other Noble. However, if Clarence becomes the Senior Heir while controlled by a non-York Player, see Heirs under Enemy Control (10.3.1).

Example: George of Clarence has been successfully influ-enced by Lancaster and is currently at full strength controlling Sussex for the Lancaster Player. The York Player—having no active Heirs—plays the Clarence Heir Card (becoming the Senior York Heir). Clarence immediately becomes controlled by the York Player, who picks him up and decides to places him in Chester at his current Combat Strength. Had Clarence been Unavailable at this time, he would have been placed only at his Retainer Strength.

10.4 Operations CardsOperations Cards are the Cards that make up the draw deck and will be dealt to all Players. Each Card has a type specified at the top: Event, Mandatory, Ally, or Surprise. The Card type determines how and when it can be played. All Operations Cards (ex-cept Affairs of State) have an OPS Value listed in the upper left corner, which is used to determine Player order during the Operations Phase (13.2). In addition,

with a caveat for Mandatory Cards (14.1), this value is also the number of OPS Points a Player may use when he chooses to use the Card for Operations (15.0), instead of for the Event (14.0). The text below the picture on each Card is gener-ally referred to as the “Event text”, and Players can choose to implement the effects of this text instead of using the Card for its OPS Points when they play the Card (exception: Mandatory Cards must always be played as an Event, but the Player then utilizes the OPS after implementing the Event).

To repeat, for non-Mandatory Cards, a Player must choose whether to implement the Event text—or—use the Card for OPS Points. He cannot do both.

After most Operations Cards are played from a hand, or an Ally Card has its discard ability implemented (14.2.2), the Card is “discarded”, i.e., placed face up on top of the discard pile next to the draw deck. Some Operations Cards have a persistent game effect (e.g., Manpower Shortage), in which case leave the Operations Card face-up where all Players can see it until its game effect ends; at which point discard the card as above.

Operations Cards with per-sistent game effects are de-noted by having a rectangu-lar color-coded bar under the Card type and red text at the bottom indicating when the Card effects end.

Example of an Operations Cardwith persistent game effects.

Example: In a two player game, York plays first and plays a Royal Heir Card, placing the corresponding Block on the map and the Royal Heir Card in front of him. Lancaster goes second and plays Manpower Shortage for the Event. The Event is left face-up on the table for the remainder of the Operations Phase, as noted on the Card. Had Lancaster played it for OPS, it would have simply been discarded as normal.

10.4.1 Event Cards Events give Players a special ability, or create a game effect, as noted on the Card. Some bring new Blocks into play, oth-ers allow a Player to bend or break the standard game rules. Text on Cards always supersedes these game rules. See Action Steps (13.2) for details on how Event Cards are played during the Game Turn.



10.4.2 Mandatory Cards

Mandatory Event Card

Mandatory Event Cards have a black background behind the Card type. A Mandatory Event Card must be played during the current Turn. It may not be voluntarily held for a future Turn. The choice of when to play it is at the discretion of the Player holding the Card, but it must be one of the Cards that are played that Turn. However, if the Player is prevented from playing it on the cur-rent Turn due to the Turn ending early from a game Event, he must hold it until next Turn; even if not other-wise allowed to hold Cards.

In this case it will count as a Held Card (12.2).

Note: A Player loses Popular Support for each Held Manda-tory Card (28.3.2)!

Mandatory Event Cards cannot be used solely for OPS and can never be voluntarily discarded. See Action Steps (13.2) for de-tails on how Mandatory Cards are played during the Game Turn.

10.4.3 Ally Cards

Ally Card

Ally Cards have a green persistent rectangle behind their Card type, as all Ally Cards are persistent Cards. Like Event Cards, Ally Cards can be played for their Event text or for their OPS Value. They represent influ-ential individuals who can provide support to a Player House. See Action Steps (13.2) for details on how Ally Cards are played dur-ing the Game Turn.

10.4.4 Surprise Cards

Surprise Card

Surprise Cards have a red background behind their Card type. These Cards can be played at any time dur-ing an Operations Phase (unless the Card text says otherwise) to implement their Event text, even dur-ing another Player’s Turn. When played this way, they do not count as a Card played for an Impulse (13.1).

Once the Surprise Event has been resolved, the Player draws a replacement Card from the draw deck. If the draw deck has been de-

pleted, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck and then draw the replacement Card.

Alternatively, Surprise Cards may be played as a Command Card for OPS during the Operations Phase. When played in this latter way, a replacement Card is not drawn.

Example: At the start of the Operations Phase, York plays “Secret Plots” to take control of one of Lancaster’s Allies. This does not count as York’s Card play, so they draw a replacement Card and select a new Card to play for their Operation Phase play—which could be the newly drawn Card, or another one from their hand.

10.5 Parliament Cards & OfficesTitle of Office

Bonuses to Influence

gained, Votes for King,

and Popular Support

Listing of Special

Abilities

Office Heraldry

Office Ranking

Offices—represented by Parliament (or “Office”) Cards and Blocks—are awarded to Nobles in the Parliament Phases (24.0 & 26.0). Each Office Card lists one or more special abilities (and their restrictions) usable during the Operations Phase by the Player controlling the Noble that holds the Office (the Card will say “you” may do such-and-such). That Player may use the ability at any time during the Operations Phase, subject to the restrictions listed on the Card.

Note: The terms “Parliament Card” and “Office Card” are syn-onymous and are used interchangeably throughout these rules.



Some Cards may also give special abilities to the Noble Block which holds the Office (the Card will say “he” gets such-and-such ability or bonus). For example, the Noble that holds the Lord Captain Office does not lose any troop strength when in Exile in France (7.3.3). For abilities that may only be used once per Game Turn, when the ability is used we recommend either rotating the Parliament Card 90 degrees, or turning it upside down as a reminder that it cannot be used again until next Game Turn. Note that even when so turned, the Parliament Card still provides all the additional benefits associated with the Office Card.

Note: The special abilities granted by the Parliament Card are available to the Noble Block holding the Office, even if the Of-fice Block has been eliminated. It is the Parliament Card which conveys the special abilities, not the Block itself (exception: the King Block grants the +1 Command Rating (10.5.1); which, if eliminated, is no longer gained by the current King).

Players receive certain bonuses, specified on the Office Card when a Noble they control gains the Office. However, should the Noble be eliminated, the Player returns the Office Card and marker to the Unclaimed Pool and immediately loses any benefits of the Office. This also applies should another Player gain control of the Noble, or gains control of the Office for one of their Nobles. The other Player immediately gains the Office Card and its bonuses.

All Parliament Cards provide a bonus to Influence gained dur-ing the Influence Phase, votes for choosing King and Support Track adjustments (remember to adjust the track back down when a Player loses the Card for any reason). Influence and vote gains are handled in the King Phase (24.0) and after, in the Office Phase (26.0). As noted above, Player Support is ad-justed upwards when they gain the Office Card and downward when they lose it.

Each Office provides an additional Block to be placed into play by the owning Player. It must be Attached to the Noble who holds the corresponding Office (8.3.3) and may never be voluntarily detached from the Noble for movement (it may detach for combat; see 20.4.3).

Office Blocks always count against Command Limits for both combat and movement.

Note that the Noble Rank on the Block associated with an Of-fice is simply a mnemonic to remember the Votes contributed by holding the Office Card and does not also contribute to Votes in Parliament; e.g., the Lord Chancellor gains a total of +3 Votes in Parliament only, and the Block can be Attached to (and led by) any Noble winning the Office, regardless of the Noble’s own Rank.

10.5.1 His Majesty the King of England During the Parliament Phase (24.0) of each Turn, one Senior Heir is chosen to be King for the next Turn. The King’s Office and its controlling Player are then entitled to certain privileges and have certain responsibilities. In addition, the King’s Office Block conveys an increase of +1 to the Host Noble’s Com-mand Rating as long as the King’s Office Block is attached (or

participating in the same Combat Round) as the current King. Note that Henry VI does not attach the King’s Office Block if he is King (10.3.3).

The King Office (or Henry VI if King): � May use Crown Estates as Home Estates (7.2.4). � Responds to Embassy Events (14.1.1). � Cannot be subject to a Writ (see below). � Is always the highest Ranking Noble/Heir (27.3).

The Player controlling the King Office (or Henry VI if King): � Gains a Support Bonus of three (3). � Can use Writs (see below) against a Planned Uprising. � Gains a bonus Card Draw during the Draw Phase (12.3). � May assign troops raised in a Mustering action (18.0) to any Block in England, regardless of location.

� Shuffles and flips the Office Cards during the Parliament Phase (26.0).

� Decides all tie breakers (see below).

If the King is held by any Noble other than Henry VI, the King may:

� Attach the King Block to the Noble holding the King Office.

� Gain a +1 to his Command Rating (as long as the King Block remains Attached).

� Once per Game Turn, use any one of the other Officers “once per Turn” abilities, as listed on the back of the King’s Office Card. If the King and the other Officer both want to use their ability at the same time, or are involved in the same Engagement, the King decides whether to use his ability after the other Officer decides and the King decides whether the other Officer must implement his ability first or second.



Writ: Similar to a Surprise Card (i.e., can be played at any time) any three (3) Value OPS Card may be discarded to select a valid In-Play Noble (Friendly or Enemy) as a substitute for a Friendly Noble or Office that could be the Responding Noble to a Planned Uprising or Raid Event (14.2.1). The King may always use a Writ to send someone as a Responding Noble and, in addition, the King may use a Writ to send a valid In-Play Noble (Friendly or Enemy) as a substitute for the King in response to an Embassy Event (14.1.1). Though note that once a Noble becomes the Responding Noble, no Writ may be played by anyone, King included. The Uprising/Raid or Embassy Event is then resolved with the substitute as the Responding Noble or King, respectively. Only a Player who controls the King, an Officer of Parlia-ment, or Queen Margaret (when in England) may perform a Writ. The Player does not draw a replacement for the Card used for the Writ. If multiple Players want to play a Writ in response to an Event Card, use the tie break rule (see below) to determine who may play it. An In-Play Block cannot be subject to a Writ more than once in response to an Event Card and none of the follow may be subject to a Writ:

� An In-Play Heir � A Block in a Contested Shire � The current King � Blocks in Exile in a Foreign Nation � Prince Edward (i.e., the “Lancaster” Block) by anyone other than the Lancaster Player

� Henry VI or Queen Margaret and their Host Block(s) by anyone other than the Lancaster Player

All other Noble Blocks are valid targets of a Writ and must respond if selected.

Tie Breaker: In most cases during the game when a situation requires a tie-break to be decided (e.g., Impulse Order, Voting for Offices, etc.) it is the Player controlling the King Office Card who makes the decision. In the case where there is no King (perhaps the King was eliminated in combat), the Player controlling the next-highest Ranking Officer (27.3) decides the tie break, i.e., Chancellor if no King, then Treasurer, and so on. In the rare case no Offices are held, the Player with the highest IPs gained during the previous Influence Phase (23.0) decides ties. If multiple Players have the highest IPs gained, roll a die to determine the Player who will be the tie-breaker. If the tie-breaking Player is established by IP Value (including die roll), then that Player will continue to decide tie breaks as needed until the end of the current Turn.

10.5.2 The Lord Chancellor of England Once per Turn, during one of his Impulses his controller may exchange one IP stack in Parlia-ment with another without examining their values (the stacks need not have the same num-ber of IP Markers in them). This does not cost

any OPS and can be done even if the Command Card (13.1) is played as an Event (14.0). If there is no King, The Lord Chan-cellor decides how ties are broken and gets a bonus of +5 votes instead of his normal +3.

10.5.3 The Lord Treasurer of the Exchequer Once per Turn, when his controller uses all the OPS of a Card for Political Influence actions (19.0), that Player may Influence one additional Noble (so playing a 1 OPS Card for a Political Influence action would allow the influencing of

two (2) Nobles using this ability).

10.5.4 The Lord Earl Marshal of England Once per Turn in an Engagement including the Lord Marshall (or King, if using this ability), his controller may force one Noble (Friendly or Enemy) [exception: not Margaret or Henry VI] and any attached Office(s) to re-roll all their

Combat Round dice. If he is the Leader during an Engagement (20.4.1), his controller always forms his Main Force and con-duct Replacements after the Enemy has done so, even if he is the defender, unless the King is the Leader of the Enemy force and chooses to use this Lord Marshall ability.

10.5.5 The Lord High Admiral of England Once per Turn his controller may use two (2) OPS Points to use Sea Movement (17.0) with him as the Leader. Pirate Raids (14.2.1) roll only one die when he is the Responding Noble.

10.5.6 The Lord Captain of Calais and the Pale French Raids (14.2.1) roll only two dice when he is the Responding Noble. Neither he, nor Blocks that he leads, lose any steps when moving to the France Exile Box (7.3.3).

10.5.7 The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Pale Neither he, nor Blocks that he leads, lose any steps when moving to the Ireland Exile Box (7.3.3).

10.5.8 The Lord Warden of the North Marches Scots Raids (14.2.1) roll only one die when he is the Responding Noble. Neither he, nor Blocks that he leads, lose any steps when moving to the Scotland Exile Box (7.3.2).

10.6 Player Aid CardsAlso included in the game are two identical Player Aid Cards (PACs) and four Player Aid House Mats. The PACs contain various charts and rule references for ease of reference. The House Mats provide each Player a detailed map showing Home Estates for each Heir Block, a location to place their Senior and Junior Heirs, their Stock and Unclaimed IP Pools, their Undeclared Pool and a location to place held Offices and available Ally Cards.



11.0 Outline of Sequence of Play Each Turn of the game has the following Phases, which must be completed in the order listed:

Draw Phase (12.0): Players draw Operations Cards to fill their hands and determine the num-ber of Impulses for the Turn.

Operations Phase (13.0): Players choose and play a Command Card from their hand. The OPS value of the Card determines Player Turn order. When a Player is allowed to act, they must decide how to use the Card (Mandatory Cards force behavior)—as an Event, or as Operations Points (OPS). Once all actions have taken place, any Combats are resolved, and Players check for Attrition in over-stacked areas.The Operations Phase will repeat based on the number of such phases determined in the Draw Phase. Note: the play of the “Affairs of State” Card may shorten the number of Impulses in a Turn.

Influence Phase (23.0): In the Influence Phase new IP Markers are collected from Friendly-Controlled Shires, as well as bonuses from con-trolled Offices or the Popular Support Track, held Home Estates, and any discarded Ally Cards.

Note: This Phase is skipped in the same turn that the “Affairs of State” card is played.

King Phase (24.0): In the King Phase, Players will check for Military Victory by controlling Shires, and all rebel and Mercenary Blocks are removed. Following this, the Players will determine the loyalty of all Nobles with IP Markers on their RoP Boxes. They then total their Votes from all of their Nobles, Offices, the Popular Support Track, and any discarded Ally Cards. Finally, the new King is chosen with these Votes.

Victory Check Phase (25.0): During this brief Phase, the Players check to see if any of the other victory conditions have been achieved.

Office Phase (26.0): In this Phase, all Office cards and Blocks are returned to Parliament, and Players bid on all Offices in a random order, using IP Markers from their Stock.

Wintering Phase (27.0): In this Phase, the Players will return all, some, or none of their Blocks to the map, one at a time. Blocks are returned in a specific order: Non-Officers first in Player order from highest to lowest Votes, followed by Officers in rank order from 8 down to 1 (King places last). Finally, any special Blocks (Henry VI and Margaret) are placed with Hosts. Blocks which are not placed (for whatever reason), go into the Player’s Undeclared Pool.

Clean-Up Phase (28.0): In the Clean Up Phase, markers tracking game status are changed or removed, Players decide on any Cards they wish to hold (if they are allowed to do this) and discard the remainder (Mandatory Cards must be held with a penalty) and the Popular Support Track is adjusted as appropriate for each Player.

After completing a full Turn, the Turn marker is advanced by one and the next Turn is played as above, until the last Game Turn of the the chosen scenario is reached.

12.0 Draw Phase Each Player draws a number of Operations Cards equal to the Base Hand Size less the number of Held Cards (12.2) from the previous Turn, if any, plus any Bonus Draws (12.3) to which they are eligible. House Cards are not included in the calcula-tion of the number of Cards to draw.

Each Player, in descending Influence Point order (ties broken according to 10.5.1), draws all their Cards before the next Player draws theirs. If the draw deck is depleted, the discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new draw deck, and Players continue drawing their Cards.

12.1 Hand Size The Base Hand Size is five (5) Operations Cards. The maxi-mum Hand Size is nine (9) Operations Cards. If Players gain more than four (4) Bonus Draws (12.3) in one turn, they only draw four (4) extra Cards when filling out their Hand (the extra Bonus Draws are lost).

12.2 Held Cards Operations Cards may be held in a Player’s hand from a prior Turn due to Heir bonus abilities or by Card Events. Each Held Card causes the Player to draw one Card less during the Draw Phase.

12.3 Bonus Draws A Player may gain bonus Cards based upon his current Popular Support level (see Popular Support Track on the map).

In addition, a Player draws an extra Card for each of the fol-lowing:

� Control of London. � Control of Calais. � Control of the Office of King. � Control of the Warwick Block in two-player and three-player games only.

Bonus draws for control of London and/or Calais are gained regardless of the Shire status (Depleted, Plundered, etc).

12.4 House Cards Remember, House Cards never count in determining the num-ber of Cards in a Player’s hand, and therefore do not affect the number of Operations Cards drawn at the start of a Turn.



13.0 Operations Phase Once Players have drawn their Cards, play moves to the Op-erations Phase where each Player will have an opportunity to execute their plans for victory.

The Operations Phase is composed of multiple Impulses, played one after another. Each Impulse is composed of a Command (Card-play) Step and one or more Action Steps for each Player, followed by a Combat step for all Contested Shires.

At the start of the Operations Phase, determine the number of Impulses for the Turn by counting the number of non-House Cards in each Player’s hand. The smallest number is the number of Impulses this Turn. Place the “Final Impulse”

counter on the Impulse track at the appropriate number of impulses determined above and place a small black cylinder on Impulse track “1”—indicating the first impulse to be re-solved.

Example: After the Draw Phase in a two-player game, York has six Operations Cards in his hand, but Lancaster only has five. There will be five Impulses this Turn, with each Impulse having two (2) Action Steps (for a total of 10 Actions Steps in the entire Operations Phase). The players place the “Final Impulse” counter on the “5” space of the Impulse track and begin thinking about their first Command Card play.

13.1 Command StepDuring the Command Step of every Impulse, each Player in descending Influence Point order (ties broken according to 10.5.1) selects one Card from their hand and places it face-down in front of them. This can be a House Card or Operations Card, and is the Player’s “Command Card” (CC). Once placed face-down, the CC may not be changed. If a Player wishes to pass (see below), they must place a House Card face-down in front of them as their psuedo-CC. Once all Players have selected a CC, they are revealed simultaneously.

Immediately upon revealing a House Card as a CC, if a Player has only House Cards in their hand, they may choose to pass instead of utilizing their pseudo-CC (they must reveal their hand at this time to show that they only have House Cards remaining). A Player may not pass if they have any non-House Cards in their hand and must utilize the played CC. A Player that passes does not conduct any Action Steps that Impulse. If a Player passes on one Impulse it does not prevent them from playing a Card on a subsequent Impulse.

Design Note: This may occur when a Player uses his 3 OPS Cards for Writs (10.5.1) or Pursuit/Retreat prevention (20.5.4), which may result in him having less Non-House Cards than the originally determined number of Impulses in the Opera-tions Phase.

Players may generally choose any Card from their hand to play with the following restrictions, in priority order:

� If a Player has no In-Play Heir Blocks, see 13.3.

� If a Player holds any Mandatory Cards, he must play to guarantee that all held Mandatory Cards will be played in the current Operations Phase (exception: see Affairs of State, below).

� Affairs of State (14.1.3) may not be played on the first Impulse of a Turn, but otherwise may be played even if the Player holds other Mandatory Cards.

Example: York holds six (6) Cards, including the Affairs of State (AoS) Card and one additional Mandatory Card. As-suming York had no active Heirs, his first impulse Command Card (CC) must be an Heir Card. York’s second impulse CC can be any Card including AoS. It does not have to be a Mandatory Card, since there are still greater than 2 impulses remaining. However, assuming the total impulses were five (5), if York has not played either Mandatory Card by Impulse 4 (i.e., second to last impulse), then he must play one of the Mandatory Cards. Note that if he plays AoS before playing the other Mandatory Card, York will be forced to hold the other Mandatory Card for next Turn (though would suffer no loss in Popular Support per 28.3.2).

13.2 Action Steps Players then take turns executing their Action Steps in descend-ing order of the OPS Value of the Command Card played (ties broken per 10.5.1).

Example: York plays “Rutland”, a 2 OPS Heir Card and Lancaster plays “Desertions”, a 2 OPS Operations Card. Assuming that York is the current King, he would have to decide whether to let Lancaster go first before knowing whether Lancaster intended to use his revealed Card for the OPS Value or the Event. He decides to let Lancaster go first so that he can’t play the Event against his incoming Heir.

This Turn order is known as the “Impulse Order”. The Player conducting his Action Step is called the “Acting Player”. All other Players are “Enemy Players”.

If the Acting Player’s Command Card is a Mandatory Card, it must be played as an Event. If it is a Surprise Card, it must be used for OPS and no replacement Card is drawn (because the Event did not occur). Otherwise, when the Player is required to conduct their Action Step he must choose whether he will use his Command Card as an Event or for its OPS.

When the last Player of the Impulse has finished conducting his Action Step(s), conduct all combats in the Combat Step (20.0) discard all CC’s without on-going persistent effects (14.0), and then move the small black cylinder on the Impulse track to the next higher numbered space (i.e., “1” to “2” to “3”, etc). When this cylinder is on the same space as the “Final Impulse” counter, it is the last Impulse of the current OPS Round. Once that last Impulse is complete (including combat), slide the cylinder off the track and proceed to the Influence Phase (23.0) (or King Phase (24.0), if the Turn ends due to play of the Af-fairs of State Card).



13.3 Required Heirs If a Player has no In-Play Heir Blocks, he must either play an Heir Card as his CC (subject to the limit of only two active Heirs and the Game Turn restrictions on his remaining Heir Cards) or return an Undeclared Heir to In-Play status (remem-ber, Margaret is not an Heir). Returning an Heir to In-Play status can be accomplished by either playing a CC that has an Event that allows him to return an Undeclared Noble to In-Play status (he must select an Heir) or by playing a CC for OPS and spending the first OPS Point to return an Undeclared Heir to In-Play status (15.1). In the latter case, the Heir returns at Retainer Strength, only. A Mandatory Card may be played, as they generate OPS Points—the first of which would be required to be spent returning the Heir to In-Play status. No other CC plays are allowed and if a CC is revealed that cannot return an Undeclared Noble to In-Play status via the Event text, it must be played for OPS per above.

Example: York has a Senior Heir (only), but its Block is in his Undeclared Pool at the start of an Impulse—leaving him with no In-Play Heir Blocks. He may either active a Junior Heir by playing the appropriate Heir Card, or return his Se-nior Heir to In-Play from his Undeclared Pool (and he may be forced to do the latter if he has no valid Junior Heirs to play due to Game Turn restrictions). York chooses to play a regular OPS Card and spends the first OPS Point to return his Senior Heir to the map at Retainer Strength.

14.0 Event Text Cards If the Player chooses to use his Command Card as an Event, Mandatory Event, Ally, or Heir, conduct the steps below based on the type of Card. If the Event, Mandatory or Ally Card’s text grants the Player any OPS Points, the Acting Player may also conduct actions just as if he had played a Card for that number of OPS Points, after any other Event text is implemented. Un-less explicitly stated otherwise, the Event effects only apply to the Player who played the Event.

Some Event Cards have a lasting, persistent, effect—in those cases, do not place the Event Card in the discard pile until the game effect has ended (this will be indicated in the red text at the bottom of the Card). Keep the Card visible by the edge of the board so that all Players can see the active game effect (e.g., Card #34 “Manpower Shortage” prohibits Mustering ac-tions for the rest of the Operations Phase; so once played, this Card would be kept face-up by the game board until the end of the current OPS Phase). All persistent effect Cards have a rectangular box behind their Card type to indicate that they are not immediately discarded.

If an Event requires the deck to be reshuffled, this is done after the Impulse is complete by combining the discard pile and draw deck into one, and then reshuffling.

14.1 Mandatory Event Cards Similar to regular Events that grant OPS Points, implement the Event text first, then utilize the listed OPS Points, and discard the Card.

Important: As noted above, a Player must make every attempt to play a held Mandatory Card during the current Operations Phase. If a Player fails to play a Mandatory Card and must hold it until next Turn, that Player loses Popular Support equal to the OPS Value of the held Mandatory Card(s) (28.3.2). The only exception to this is if the Turn ended due to play of the Affairs of State Card, in which case unplayed Mandatory Cards must still be held to the next Turn, but do not result in any lost Popular Support.

There are three kinds of Mandatory Event Cards. Details on their effects are below:

14.1.1 Embassy

Embassy Card

A foreign emissary has come to England to treat with the King. Roll a die and con-sult the Card to determine where the meeting shall take place. The only Blocks that attend are the current King (or representative via a Writ), a n y A t t a c h e d O f f i c e Block(s), and the Host of Henry VI—if Henry VI is the current King. Move the appropriate Block(s) imme-diately to the designated Shire (simply pick up the Block(s) and move them to the indi-cated Shire). The King or representative may not leave this Shire for the

duration of this Impulse and, in keeping the King’s peace, no Enemy Blocks may enter that location on this Impulse. This includes Enemy Blocks that Retreat or Evade combat. Further-more, combat cannot take place in that Shire.

If one or more Enemy Blocks are already in that Shire, they must immediately Retreat to an adjacent Shire, if able. If un-able to Retreat, the Enemy Block(s) are placed in their owner’s Undeclared Pool. Place the King’s Office Block (or the sent representative) flat on the map in the Shire (current Strength farthest from the controller) to serve as a reminder that no Enemy Blocks may enter this Shire for the rest of the Impulse.

If there is currently no King, this Event has no effect (i.e. do not implement any of the Card text). On the off chance that multiple Embassy Events occur in the same Impulse, the King decides the order that they are resolved (including forcing Blocks to Retreat and no combat in those Shires—use any available marker to help remember the Shires that cannot have combat).



Example: In a three-player game, Buckingham goes second with a played Embassy Mandatory Event, ending up with the King going to Devon. York—the current King—moves his Senior Heir King Block and the King’s Office Block to Devon; which is currently occupied by a Lancaster Noble. The Lancaster Noble must Retreat to an adjacent Shire per the Retreat rules, but all are occupied by Enemy players. As such, the Lancaster Noble is pulled off the map and placed in the Lancaster Undeclared Pool and the York Player flips up the King’s Office Block to remind everyone that they cannot enter Devon the rest of this Impulse.

14.1.2 Plague

Plague Card

When it is the time in the Impulse to resolve the Plague Event, the controller draws an additional Card from the draw deck and notes the revealed Plague location (listed at the top right of the new Card). Place a Plague marker there and discard the additional Card.

Each Player distributes a number of Step Losses equal to the affected Shire’s Value (SV) to their stack of Blocks in the Shire. The controller of the stack decides which Blocks receive Step Losses one at a time, but no Block

may receive more losses once they have been reduced below Retainer Strength. Blocks reduced below Retainer Strength are moved to their controller’s Undeclared Pool. Ignore any Step Losses which cannot be applied.

According to the same procedure as above, stacks of Blocks in each Shire adjacent to the affected Shire take Step Losses as well. The number of Step Losses for each Player’s stack is equal to the adjacent Shire’s SV –1, minimum of one (1) (exception: London always loses steps equal to its SV, even if the Plague originates in an adjacent Shire).

Once all Step Losses have been distributed, flip the Plague marker to its “Devastated” side.

Example: A Plague Card has been revealed. When the time comes for it to activate in the Impulse, the top Card of the draw deck is discarded, revealing Lincoln as the Plague lo-cation. All Players with stacks in Lincoln must lose two (2) steps. All Players with stacks in Cambridge or West Riding must lose one (1) step (SV = 2, so SV – 1 = 1). Players with stacks in Nottingham, Leicester, Rutland and Huntingdon also suffer one (1) step loss even though 1 – 1 = 0, since the minimum is one (1) step loss per Shire. East Riding and Norfolk—not being adjacent to Lincoln—suffer zero (0) step losses.

14.1.3 Affairs of State

Affairs of State Card

When this Card is first re-vealed its controller takes the top Card of the draw deck and shows it to all Players. Treat the Card drawn as if the Player had played it as his Command Card (including determin-ing Impulse order). It must be played for OPS unless it is a Mandatory Event (Em-bassy or Plague), in which case it must be played for the Event text.

Once the current Impulse is complete, end the Op-erations Phase regardless of whether any additional

Impulses remain. Resolve all combats (20.0) and then skip the Influence Phase (23.0) and continue play of this Turn with the King Phase (24.0).

Note that Affairs of State can not be played on the first Impulse of the Operations Phase.

14.2 Non-Mandatory Event Cards Implement the Event text, and then a) Operations Cards are discarded (exception: if having persistent game effects); b) House Cards are removed from the game. See Cards (10.0) for an overview of House Event Cards and Operations Event Cards.

If an Event Card designates a Shire and there are more than one enemy Player present (e.g. Desertions), select one enemy Player to be affected by the Event. Most other Cards should be self-explanatory, but the following Events warrant some explanation:

14.2.1 Planned Uprisings & Raids Some Cards allow a Player, the “Controlling Player”, to cause a Planned Uprising (representing a peasant revolt) or a Pirate, French or Scots Raid in a Shire.

In Impulse order, each Player who has an In-Play Officer Noble with a Home Estate in the Shire in Revolt (or subject to the Raid) declares whether he will respond to the Event, and with which Officer (if he has more than one). If no Officer volunteers, again in Impulse order Players can choose to send a non-Officer Noble with a Home Estate in the targeted Shire. Regardless, only the first Player to elect to send a Block may respond and remember that any Home Estate, including Shared Estates, Office Estates, etc., can be used.



Planned Uprising Card

A Player capable of using a Writ (10.5.1) may command any Officer to respond at any time in the above pro-cess, or if all Players have declined at this point. If this results in two potential Re-sponding Nobles, resolve ties as usual. Only one Writ may be played—if multiple Players desire to play a Writ, use the tie breaker rules (10.5.1) to determine who may play it. If no Player has responded voluntarily or by a Writ, the Player with the most Blocks currently in the Shire (if any) must respond, with ties resolved as usual.

If none, see below for what happens when there is no Respond-ing Noble.

For Planned Uprisings only, if the Responding Noble is con-trolled by the Controlling Player, the Responding Noble im-mediately gains two Steps (up to its maximum) [the peasants favor that Player’s House, so join his army as new recruits!].

In all other situations (e.g., if the Responding Noble is not controlled by the Controlling Player of a Planned Uprising or when anyone is responding to a Raid), make a single Line Combat Roll (20.5.2) against the Responding Noble (and any attached Blocks) according to the Card played (and roll im-mediately on the Elimination Chart for any Blocks that are reduced below Retainer Strength. For Responding Nobles with attached Blocks, any hits may be distributed to either Block per the normal damage allocation rules (20.5.3).

� Planned Uprising: Roll a number of Green Dice (hits on a 6) equal to the Shire Value. Roll an additional die if the Shire in revolt is loyal to a House other than the Respond-ing Noble’s controller (e.g., a Buckingham-controlled Noble responding to a Planned Uprising in Stafford would roll two (2) dice, but any other non-Buckingham-controlled Responding Noble would roll three (3)).

� Pirate Raid: Roll two Green Dice (hits on a 6) � French Raid: Roll three Blue Dice (hits on a 5) � Scots Raid: Roll two Blue Dice (hits on a 5)

After resolution—and regardless of whether the Responding Noble survived—increase the Popular Support of the Respond-ing Noble’s House by one (1). This increase in Popular Support is gained even for Planned Uprisings where the Responding Noble is controlled by the Controlling Player.

If no Noble responds to a Planned Uprising, place a small cyl-inder of the color of the Controlling Player’s House in the Shire in revolt to represent the rebels (Raids do not deploy rebels).

The Shire is considered Controlled by the Controlling Player for all purposes as long as the small colored cylinder (hereafter “rebels”) remains. When any Enemy stack moves into a Shire containing rebels, the rebels make their Line Combat Roll against the stack, as above. When a Friendly stack enters a Shire with rebels, they gain two Steps distributed as the Controlling Player wishes, with no Block exceeding its maximum. In either case, the rebel cylinder is then removed. If they still remain, the rebels are removed at the beginning of the upcoming King Phase (24.1.2).

Finally, for any Raid or Planned Uprising where a Line Combat roll was required—or—for any Raid where there was no Responding Noble, place a Plundered marker in the Shire.

Design Note: On the off chance that there are already 10 Plundered/Depleted markers on the map when an 11th is needed to be placed, the Player who needs to place the marker must remove one from any Shire with the lowest SV among those that are Depleted, selecting from Shires that do not contain any of that Player’s Blocks, if able.

Jack Cade’s Rebellion: Players will note that this Event Card does not list London as an illegal Shire for conducting the Planned Uprising, while all others do (e.g., Robyn of Holderness). This is by design.

Example: In a three-player game, Buckingham (the current King’s House), plays their 1 OPS Value House Card “Buck-ingham’s Rebellion” as his Command Card. Both York and Lancaster play 2 OPS Cards and take their Action Rounds first in the Impulse. When Buckingham’s Action Round comes, he places a small yellow cylinder in Stafford (a 2 SV pro-Buckingham Shire) with the thought of having his Buck-ingham Block (currently down to Retainer Strength) respond in order to gain two (2) steps by “recruiting” the rebels into his army. However, York—who went before Buckingham in the Impulse—has control over Shrewsbury, who also has a Home Estate in Stafford and is currently the Lord Admiral. Since York doesn’t want Buckingham to gain the two (2) steps—and has first choice in sending a Responding Noble due to Impulse order—he sends Shrewsbury and the Lord Admiral Block to Stafford as the “Responding Noble”. Three dice are rolled against him: ‘3’ , ‘6’ and ‘6’. The York player grimaces as he applies one hit to Shrewsbury and one hit to the Admiral Block. He then increases his Popular Support Value by one (1) and places a Plundered marker in the Shire, hoping his gamble pays off and that he or Lancaster can kill Buckingham while he is still at Retainer Strength.



14.2.2 Ally Cards Place the Ally Card In-Play in front of the owning Player. The Player may use the discard ability of the Card at any time, including immediately after being placed In-Play.

All Ally Cards have a “Discard this Card (choose one)” ability that becomes available once the Card is In-Play. The controlling Player may choose to activate this ability any time he wishes (exceptions: bonus combat dice only in Combat involving that Player; Parliament Phase, Gather Supporters—see 24.2.1, step 2 for last opportunity; bonus Votes—see 24.2.3 for last opportunity). To do so, he announces his intent, choose one of the powers to invoke, and discards the Ally Card.

Should more than one Player want to use their Ally powers at the same time, the King (per tie breaker rules; see 10.5.1) decides the order the Players will resolve their powers. Play-ers are not required to specify the power they are going to use until the order of play is determined, and may even choose a different power than first specified if they wish. However, once declared that they are using an Ally power, they must use one of the Ally powers when it is their time to act.

Most Ally abilities are self-explanatory, but several require a bit more explanation:

Add “X” Ally Influence: A Player may use this discard ability to place X (i.e., one, two, etc.) IP Point(s) (not Markers!) from his Stock onto one Noble’s RoP Box (subject to the restrictions of the Political Influence action in 19.0).

Example: York discards Ally Card #16 (Sir Robert Ratcliffe) while controlling Lovel. He may place a single 1 IP Marker on two different Nobles, or a 2 IP Marker on a single Noble. Regardless, York can only add two additional IPs (in total) to Nobles by use of this ability.

Assist with Command: A Player may use this discard ability to increase the Command Rating of one Friendly Leader by one (+1) point until the end of his current Impulse, or until the end of a Battle (20.0) in a Shire. Note that the Event of the Surprise Card “Leadership” (Card #72) functions in the same manner as above.

Gain control of an Office Block: A Player that gains control of a uncontrolled Office or Mercenary Block Attaches the Block per the language on the Card; but, if an Office, does not gain any of the benefits conveyed to being the corresponding Officer (unless, of course, the Host Noble happens to be that Officer already!). “Uncontrolled Blocks” are any Block that is either Inactive or Unavailable.

Activate an Undeclared Noble: A Player may use this discard ability to place one (1) friendly Undeclared Noble onto the map at full Combat Strength in any Shire containing a Home Estate for that Noble. The Noble may enter into an Enemy controlled or a contested Shire this way.

Respond to a Raid, Revolt or a Writ: A Player may use this discard ability to send Lord Stourton as the Re-sponding Noble to any Raid or Revolt, or in place of a Block that has been Writ (for any reason). The Player still gains the +1 Popular Sup-port and no dice are rolled against Lord Stourton (who is discarded after respond-ing).

14.2.3 Heir Cards Play of an Heir Card as an Event to activate the Heir is restricted to certain turns as indicated in the Card text. The Card cannot be played as an Event in a Turn earlier than specified. Also, remember that no Player may have more than two (2) active Heirs at once.

If the restrictions are met, place the Card face up in front of the controlling Player; if the corresponding Heir Block is not already In-Play, put it In-Play in a Home Estate at full Combat Strength. If the Heir Block is controlled by another Player, see Heirs under Enemy Control (10.3.1).

Once the Heir Card is played, the corresponding Block is now considered an Heir for the remainder of the game. For Heirs other than George of Clarence, place an “Heir” counter on the Roll of Parliament (“RoP”) Box (if the Heir has one) as a reminder that Influence Markers can no longer be played there (move any IP Markers there to their respective Unclaimed Pools). When Clarence becomes Senior Heir, place the “Senior Heir” counter on his RoP Box (10.3.5) for the same effect.

15.0 Operations/OPS PointsIf the Acting Player’s Command Card (“CC”) is a Surprise Card (10.4.4), or the Player chooses to use his Card for OPS instead of for the Event, the Player will have a number of points (OPS Points) to spend on actions equal to the OPS Value of the Card (e.g., playing “Hidden Schemes” for OPS will give the Player two (2) OPS Points to spend). Note that some Cards give OPS Points as part of the Event text …these points are spent as if received by playing a CC for OPS, but only after implement-ing the Event text. A Player with OPS to spend may perform as many actions as they wish subject only to the costs of those actions— from zero up to the OPS value of the CC played.

Important: Remember that a Surprise Card used for a Command Card must be used for OPS; it cannot be used for its Event text.



Operations Points may be spent on multiple uses of the same action or on different actions, as desired. A Player does not have to spend all of his OPS, but OPS cannot be saved for future use—any not used are lost.

Once the Player has conducted all the actions they are willing or able to perform, the Card is discarded. None of the Event text is implemented when the CC is played for OPS. Obviously this does not apply for Cards where the Event text grants the Player OPS Points to spend.

The following actions can be performed by spending the speci-fied amount of OPS Points:

� Return an Undeclared Heir (only) to In-Play Status (15.1) _ 1 OPS/Heir

� Land Movement (16.0) _ 1 OPS/stack � Sea Movement (17.0) _ 3 OPS/stack [exception: once per Turn, 2 OPS for a stack led by the Lord Admiral]

� Mustering (18.0) _ 1 OPS/Step � Political Influence (19.0) _ 1 OPS/ Noble to be influenced Details on these actions are given below.

15.1 Returning an Undeclared Heir to In-Play Status A Player may (and occasionally must) return an Undeclared Heir to In-Play status by spending 1 OPS Point. Heirs returned via this method return to any valid Home Estate (Friendly, Enemy-controlled or Contested) at Retainer Strength. They may not move during the Action Step that they returned In-Play, but may be the target of a Mustering action (18.0).

16.0 Land Movement 16.1 Basics of Movement It costs one (1) OPS to move a “stack” (“stack” being one or more Blocks) from one location to another. Hereafter, “Stack”/”stack” will always refer to one or more Blocks moving together. To designate a stack for movement, the Acting Player designates a single Block with a positive (non-zero) Command Rating as a Leader for movement (exception: the King Office Block cannot lead movement—the +1 only increases the Com-mand Rating of its Host Block).

Important: Remember that a Leader always has to be the highest Ranking Noble (or tied) in a Stack, that Heirs always outrank non-Heirs, and that a Leader can only lead a number of Blocks equal to its Command Rating!

The Moving Stack may consist of the Leader alone or the Leader and additional Blocks in the same Shire or Exile Box. The maximum number of additional Blocks is limited to the Leader’s Command Rating (8.3.1), also called the Leader’s “Command Limit”. Likewise, the stack may not contain any Noble Block that has a higher Rank than the Leader.

Note: A Moving Stack has a movement allowance of four (4) Movement Points, or MPs.

The Moving Stack may pick up, or drop off, any number of non-Leader Blocks at any time during the move [meaning the Leader Block can never be dropped off, nor changed during the move], provided the number of Blocks in the moving stack does not exceed the Leader’s Command Rating at any specific time. Office Blocks cannot be detached; they must stay with their assigned Noble, and remember, they do count against the Command Limit (10.5). Any Block that is part of a Moving Stack (even if dropped off before spending all four (4) MPs) must stop moving for the remainder of that Impulse. It may, however, move in a later Impulse of the same Operations Phase.

Design Note: If a Player plays a 2 OPS CC and uses one (1) OPS to activate a Leader and two (2) Blocks, none of those three (3) Blocks can move (either as a Leader or a “led” Block) with the second of the OPS Points in that Action Round. However, they are available to move in a subsequent Impulse when a new CC is played.

A Moving Stack cannot drop off its Leader. However, the Leader may drop off the rest of the Moving Stack and keep moving.

Example: Non-Heir Exeter—Rank 2 and Command Rat-ing of 2, is picked to move as a Leader, along with Stanley. This is allowed, since they are tied at Rank 2. He spends two (2) of his four (4) MPs moving from Derby to Stafford to Shropshire, where Exeter drops off Stanley and picks up Fau-conberg and Hastings. Note that the owning Player cannot use Fauconberg’s Command Rating of 3 to also keep Stanley, since Fauconberg is not the current Leader—Fauconberg is also only of Noble Rank 1. Exeter, Fauconberg and Hastings move to Powys, spending one (1) MP (safe roads; see below) since friendly controlled Lancaster and Northumberland are currently stacked there. However, since Exeter is not an Heir and does not have a Rank of at least three (3), he cannot pick up either Lancaster (an Heir) or Northumberland (Rank = 3). Instead, he drops Hastings and moves back to Shropshire with Fauconberg (still one (1) MP due to safe roads since Stanley was left in Shropshire!). Note that the Lancaster Player will have to activate Lancaster or Northumberland to avoid ending the Impulse with three (3) Blocks in Powys, or suffer possible Attrition—though neither of these could lead Hastings, since Hastings already moved once this Action Round.

16.2 Movement Costs As noted above, each Moving Stack has a total of four (4) MPs (16.1). Each time a Mov-ing Stack moves across a border between Shires and/or

Foreign Nations, it expends MPs. The amount expended de-pends on the type of border crossed.

Normal Safe Road Border Type MP Cost MP Cost Rough (Solid Black) 2 1Clear (Broken Black) 1 ½Sea Zone (Solid Black) Special N/A



16.2.1 Safe Roads The unmodified cost to cross a land border is one half (½) of the normal MP unmodified cost when the two Shires that share the crossed border are both Friendly Controlled. Note that this does not apply to the special Wash or Fens movement, below (16.2.2 & 16.2.3), or to any movement cost additions via Event text (e.g. “Bad Roads”).

Example: March—a York Heir—is currently in Huntington and moves to Rutland (unoccupied) for one (1) MP, Leicester (unoccupied) for ½ MP, Derby (occupied by a York stack) for ½ MP and ends in Lancaster (two (2) MPs), spending a total of four (4) MPs due to the safe roads in Rutland, Leicester and Derby.

16.2.2 The Fens The water and swamp area near Lincoln and Norfolk, was treacherous to cross, even in the best of circumstances.

These land borders are marked with a Skull icon and indicate a special “Fens” border. A Moving Stack may cross any of the Fens borders with Land Movement at a cost of two (2) MPs, or utilize the special Fens movement noted below.

The cost to move across a Fens border via special Fens move-ment is one (1) MP. This form of movement is only allowed across the indicated borders. This one MP cannot be reduced by safe roads (16.2.1).

Any Block moving via special Fens movement or Retreating across a Fens border must roll for Attrition (22.0). Note that Force Marching (16.3) across a Fens border only incurs a single Attrition check.

Design Note: This is the “two if by land, one if by water” rule …in that it costs two (2) MP to cross these land borders normally with no Attrition, but using the special Fens move-ment to cross costs only one (1) MP. However, there is a risk of losing Steps from the Blocks that make the crossing at the one (1) MP rate, as they must roll Attrition.

6.2.3 The Wash The crossing between Lincoln and Norfolk is referred to as “the Wash”. A Player may move from Lincoln to Nor-folk (or vice versa) via the Wash using a special “Wash” movement.

The cost to move across the Wash using the special Wash move-ment is one (1) MP. This one (1) MP cannot be reduced for safe roads above. In addition, any Block moving across the Wash must roll for Attrition (22.0). Retreating or Evading across the Wash is not permitted.

16.2.4 Exile Boxes An Exile Box (7.3.1) may only be entered during the Operations Phase of a Game Turn, not during Wintering (27.0). A Block may exit an Exile Box during the Operations or Wintering Phases.

Exile Boxes are entered either via special move due to Card play or special cir-

cumstances (in which case the Block is simply picked up and placed in the designated Exile Box), or via regular movement. The MP cost to enter or exit an Exile Box is 2 MPs by Land Movement from an adjacent Shire. A stack must immediately stop its movement for the rest of the Action Step upon entry of an Exile Box.

� The Irish Exile Box is only adjacent to the Pale of Ireland � The France Exile Box is only adjacent to the Pale of Calais � The Scotland Exile Box is adjacent to both Cumberland and Northumberland

Sea Movement (17.0) may also be used to enter Exile Boxes, with the Scotland Exile Box being considered to be on both the Irish Sea and the North Sea.

Immediately upon entering an Exile Box, decrease a Player’s Popular Support by one (1); and, for each Turn that a Player winters at least one Noble over in at least one Exile Box, their Popular Support will decrease by one (1) again in the Clean-up Phase (28.3.1).

Note that only a single Player’s Blocks may be in any given Exile Box. Once a Player has their Block(s) in the Exile Box, no other Player may place his Blocks there until the Exile Box is once again vacant. Note that this means that there can never be combat in an Exile Box!

Upon entry of an Exile Box, Blocks immediately drop to Retainer Strength, unless led by the appropriate Officer or if Hosting Queen Margaret (7.3.2 & 7.3.3).

16.3 Force March After a Moving Stack has expended all of its four (4) MPs, the Acting Player may move the Moving Stack to one adjacent Shire or Exile Box by performing a Force March.

Once the Force March is announced it must be taken. To per-form a Force March, the Acting Player declares which Blocks from the Moving Stack will participate. The Leader always participates, but it may move alone. The Leader and the chosen Blocks must then move to any one adjacent Shire or Foreign Nation (they cannot split up).

Each Block, including the Leader, making the Force March suffers Attrition (22.0).



Force Marches are subject to the following restrictions:

� Not after Sea Movement (17.0). � Not across the Wash (Force Marching across the Fens is allowed at no additional penalty).

� Once per Impulse only (i.e., Blocks can only move to an adjacent Shire once, until a new CC is played and they are again selected for Movement).

� Not after moving into a Shire containing Enemy Blocks, even if those Blocks successfully Evade (16.6).

Example: Warwick has the Capt. of Calais Block attached and moves with Suffolk into Essex with their fourth MP. The controlling Player decides to have Warwick Force March to an adjacent Shire, but leaves Suffolk in Essex. Both Blocks would roll Attrition (22.0), with Warwick adding +1 to its roll for being the Leader Block.

16.4 Pinning When a stack enters a Shire containing Enemy Blocks (and those Blocks do not Evade; see16.6), some of the moving Blocks are required to end their movement in that Shire.

The number of moving Blocks that must end their movement is equal to the number of Enemy Blocks in the Shire. These Blocks are considered “Pinned”. Excess Blocks above the number of Enemy Blocks may continue moving (with the stack Leader). If the number of Enemy Blocks exceeds the number of moving Blocks, all moving Blocks must stop and are all Pinned.

Place Pinned Blocks near the border from which they entered the Shire, since it will be important to know from which Shire these units arrived during combat (20.5.4).

Blocks that start their movement in a Shire with Enemy Blocks are likewise Pinned. The Acting Player may move a stack out of such a Shire, but must leave behind a number of Blocks in the Shire equal to, or exceeding, the number of Enemy Blocks in that Shire. Note: This means that the Blocks that cause the moving force to be pinned will likewise be pinned and will not be able to move if their chance to move comes in a later Action Step.

A Block can be pinned from Wintering placement (27.0), as well as from movement. The effects are the same.

Pinning does not prevent a Block from responding to an Event (e.g., 14.1.1 & 14.2.1), but no Block in a Contested Shire may be subject to a Writ (10.5.1), nor may they conduct Interception into adjacent Shires (16.5).

16.5 Interception Whenever a Moving Stack first enters a Shire that is adjacent to a non-Contested Shire containing Enemy Blocks, the En-emy Player controlling those Blocks may attempt to Intercept the Moving Stack. Players may not Intercept across the Wash (16.2.3), but may Intercept across the Fens (16.2.2).

Enemy Players wishing to intercept must declare their intent. If there are multiple possible Enemy Players wishing to Intercept, the Enemy Player who conducts/conducted their Impulse earli-est in the current Turn gets to make the attempt. Note that a maximum of one (1) Interception attempt can be made for each Shire entered (not one per Enemy Player!). The Enemy Player making the attempt forms an Intercepting Stack with a Leader and additional Blocks, just as a Moving Stack in the Movement rules (16.1). Any Interception attempt must be resolved before any Blocks in the Shire may attempt to Evade (16.6).

Design Note: Remember that negotiations are always allowed in CoR, so Players are free to negotiate who should attempt the Interception, or even whether they can be “talked out” of Intercepting in the first place!

The Intercepting Player then rolls a single die and compares the result with the Leader’s Command Rating. If the die roll is less than or equal to the Leader’s CR, the Intercepting Stack moves into the Shire with the Moving Stack. The Moving Stack immediately stops in the current Shire and may not move any more during this Impulse.

Note: The Intercepted Moving Stack may not use Evasion (16.6) against a successful Interception..

If the die roll is higher than the Leader’s CR, the Intercept-ing Stack remains put. The Moving Stack may stop or may continue moving up to the limits of MPs (16.2) and/or Force Marching (16.3).

For the purpose of determining Engagement order (20.1), a stack that entered the Shire through Interception is treated as if it had moved there just before the Blocks it Intercepted, and will be the Defender against those Blocks.

16.6 Evasion After any Interception (16.5) attempt, if the Moving Stack enters a Shire containing Enemy Blocks, Players controlling those Enemy Blocks may be able to move some of them before they are Pinned (16.4) by conducting an Evasion. Previously Pinned Blocks may not Evade. In the situation where the Shire is already Contested, the Enemy Player with the most Blocks already in the Shire can attempt to Evade with their unpinned Blocks (i.e., any Blocks of their choice exceeding the number of

Enemy Blocks currently occupying the Shire—do not consider the currently moving Blocks).

Each Enemy Player may attempt only one Evasion with one stack of Blocks each time another Player moves his Blocks into a Shire. To attempt an Evasion, the Enemy Player must declare the attempt and form an Evasion Stack with a Leader and ad-ditional Blocks, just like a Moving Stack in the Movement rules (16.1). The Enemy Player then rolls one die.

If the roll is less than or equal to the Leader’s CR, the Leader and its stack may Evade based on the Evasion requirements, below.



Example: Lancaster and Oxford are in Lincoln when the York Player moves Shrewsbury into the Shire. The Lancaster Player, not wanting to be in combat or Pinned, attempts to Evade and fails. Later in that impulse, the Buckingham Player enters Lincoln with a stack including Stafford, Suffolk and the Admiral Block. York controlled Shrewsbury cannot Evade since Lancaster is the “Enemy Player with the most Blocks already in the Shire”. Lancaster, seeing the writing on the wall, attempts to Evade with the Lancaster Block (he can only Evade with one (1) Block, since Shrewsbury Pins the other) and rolls a 2. He waves goodbye to Oxford and Retreats the Lancaster Block to an adjacent Shire.

Evading Blocks must move to an adjacent Shire subject to the following restrictions:

� Cannot Evade to any Shire containing Enemy Blocks (even if the Shire also contains Friendly Blocks).

� Cannot Evade by Sea Movement (17.0) or across the Wash border between Lincoln and Norfolk (16.2.3).

� All Blocks must Evade to the same Shire, and that Shire must be one to which it would be possible to perform legal Land Movement.

� Cannot Evade across any border that Enemy Blocks crossed to enter the Contested Shire.

� Blocks can Evade across a Fens borders (16.2.2), but must suffer Attrition with an additional –1 die roll modifier.

If there is no available Evasion route, the Enemy stack cannot Evade. Evasions do not count as movement.

Blocks moving by Evasion cannot be Intercepted and Inter-ceptions cannot be Evaded. If the Moving Stack still has MPs available, it may continue moving—including following the stack that just Evaded (assuming it has enough MPs). However, note that it can not Force March (16.3).

An Evasion does not create a Victor for purposes of Post-Combat (20.5.5).

Example (continued): Even if Norfolk was empty or Friendly-controlled, Lancaster could not Retreat there since the only way to move to that Shire from Lincoln would be via special Wash movement. Instead, he has to Retreat to any other valid adjacent Shire. If he Retreated to Huntingdon, Rutland or Cambridge, he would suffer Attrition with a net +0 modifier [+1 for Heir/Leader and –1 for Evasion across a Fens border].

17.0 Sea Movement It costs three (3) OPS Points to perform Sea Movement. To conduct the Sea Movement, the Acting Player forms a Sea Movement Stack just like a

Moving Stack in Land Movement (16.1). The exception to this is the Lord Admiral perform Sea Movement using only two (2) OPS Points once per Game Turn (10.5.5).

The Sea Movement Stack then moves to any other Coastal Shire or Exile Box in the same or an Adjacent Sea Zone. If the

Sea Movement Stack moves to a Shire or Exile Box in an Ad-jacent Sea Zone, each Block in the Sea Movement Stack must roll for Attrition (22.0).

Blocks that move by sea must end their movement in the destination Shire; they cannot remain at sea. The Blocks may not conduct additional Land Movement (16.0) before, or after, conducting a Sea Movement (including Force Marching; see 16.3). The destination Shire of a Sea Movement may contain Enemy Blocks.

If a Sea Movement ends in a Shire containing Enemy Blocks, those Blocks may Evade if eligible. Sea Movement may only be Intercepted in the destination Shire—never while “at sea”.

Example: A York-controlled Shrewsbury—the current Lord Admiral—is currently located in Chester (a Coastal Shire on the Irish Sea), stacked with his Office Block and Clifford. York plays a 3 OPS Value CC and chooses to use the Lord Admiral’s once per Turn special ability for two of the three OPS Points. He flips the Lord Admiral Parliament Card upside down to indicate this, and sails Shrewsbury, the Lord Admiral Block and Clifford to a Lancaster-occupied Devon. Since Devon has a coast on the Irish Sea, no Attrition is suf-fered by the Sea Movement Stack. Lancaster, having a stack both in Devon and in adjacent Somerset, attempts to first have the Somerset Blocks Intercept the landing into Devon. This fails when the Lancaster Player rolls a 6. Then the Lancaster Player tries to have his stack in Devon Evade... which also fails when he rolls another 6. He can only hope his string of 6’s continues to the combat portion of the Phase.

18.0 Mustering A Noble in a Friendly Controlled Shire can Muster troops to gain Combat Strength Steps. Mustering costs one (1) OPS Point per step gained.

The maximum number of steps that can be Mus-tered in a Shire is equal to the Shire Value (7.2.1). If the Shire is loyal to the Player House control-ling the Noble, one (1) additional step can be Mustered. Once the Mustering action is com-



pleted, if more than one step in total was Mustered from that Shire in a single Player’s Action Step, place a Depleted mark-er in the Shire.

Design Note: On the off chance that there are already 10 Depleted markers on the map when an 11th is needed to be placed, the Player who needs to place the marker must remove one from any Shire with the lowest SV among those that are Depleted, selecting from Shires that do not contain any of that Player’s Blocks, if able.

All steps gained via Mustering must be added to Blocks located in the Shire where they were Mustered, unless the Block per-forming the Mustering is the King. In that case, the King may assign the steps to any friendly Block(s) not in Exile. Mustering cannot be performed in a Shire that is Depleted, Devastated, or Plundered.

Example: York has a stack of Blocks in Rutland (a pro-York Shire). During the York Action Step, he plays a 3 OPS Card and Musters two (2) steps in Rutland for two OPS Points. He is able to do this since Rutland is pro-York (SV of 1, +1 for pro-York = two (2) maximum steps). He then places a Depleted marker in Rutland, prohibiting any subsequent Mustering in that Shire. Had he only Mustered one (1) step, no Depleted marker would have been placed and Rutland would have still been available for Players to Muster from later in the Turn. Note that a Depleted marker would still have been placed if he Mustered one (1) step with one (1) OPS point, moved a stack with his second OPS point, and then Mustered a second step in Rutland with his third OPS point—as more than one step in total would have been Mus-tered in Rutland during the York Action step.

A Noble that Musters cannot voluntarily move during the rest of the current Action Round, but can Evade (16.6), Intercept (16.5) or participate in Combat (20.0). In addition, the Noble is still permitted to respond to Events (14.1.1 & 14.2.1), and can move if summoned by a Writ (10.5.1). Events that refer to “Mustering” are affected by all the Mus-tering rules above. Events that do not explicitly use the word “Muster” (e.g., Card #W4—“deploy” or Card #46—“gain”) are not affected by any Mustering rules—including those Events that prohibit Mustering, such as Manpower Shortage (Cards #34 and #35).

19.0 Political Influence It costs one (1) OPS Point to increase the amount of Influence applied to a single Noble. This is considered taking a “Political Influence action”.

The Player taking the Political Influ-ence action selects one or more of the IP Markers from his Stock and places them face down, in secret, on one Noble’s RoP Box. This represents the economic benefits

the Noble family has been promised and political clout being brought to bear to recruit them to the Player House’s cause.

Influence Markers may not be placed on a Noble’s RoP Box if:

� There is a scenario restriction in place � The Box contains an Heir or Senior Heir marker (14.2.3) � The Box contains a face-down Block (indicating it is Out of Play) or a face-up Block (indicating it is currently Unavailable).

Any or all the IP Markers a Player has in his Stock, regardless of the values, may be placed on a Noble’s RoP Box in this way. However, at least one IP Marker must be placed. Note: Some IP Markers have a value of zero (0), which can be used to obscure bids and bluff, although a bid of only zero (0) IP Markers will have no effect once revealed in the Parliament Phase (24.2).

IP Markers may be placed on any Noble’s Box, even if there are Friendly or Enemy IP Markers already there, and regardless of which House may be in control of that Noble at the time.

When a Noble with a Box on the RoP becomes an Heir (10.3 & 14.2.3), there will be an “Heir” marker on its corresponding RoP Box as a reminder.

Note: Clarence is an exception to the above rule. He may have Influence Markers played on him while a Junior Heir, but not once he becomes the Senior Heir. He will only have a “Senior Heir” marker placed on his RoP Box once he becomes the York Senior Heir. Until that time, Players may freely place Influence Markers on Clarence subject to the restrictions of 10.3.5.

IP Markers on a Noble that become Unavailable (8.2), Out of Play (8.2) or an Heir/Senior Heir (for Clarence) are immediately removed and placed in the respective Player’s Unclaimed Pool (i.e., they have no impact on the Noble).

20.0 Combat Once all Players have completed their Action Steps (13.2) for the current Impulse, Players resolve all potential combats in a Combat Step. A Battle is conducted in each Shire containing Blocks controlled by two or more Players. Each

Battle will have a number of Engagements equal to the number of Players in the Shire minus one (1) (see below), with each Engagement lasting one or more Combat Rounds.

Design Note: The hierarchy is Combat Round < Engage-ment < Battle, in that one or more Combat Rounds make up an Engagement between two Players, and one or more Engagements make up a Battle in a Shire.

The order that Battles are resolved in is based on Player order in the last Impulse played. The Player that went first picks any Shire in which the initial Engagement of the Battle has him as the first Attacker (see 20.1). After resolving all Engagements in that Shire, the Player continues to pick Shires meeting the



above requirement (i.e., where he is the attacker in the initial Engagement). When the first Player is done with attacks, the next Player gets to initiate Combat where he is the attacker (see the following Design Note for more clarity). When he is done, the third and fourth Players go, respectively. After each Battle is resolved, conduct Post-Battle Events (20.7) before resolving the next.

Design Note: This may seem a bit complicated at first read, but it boils down to the first Player in the previous Impulse gets to determine the order that combat is resolved for any Shire where he is the attacker, then the next Player picks the Shire order for Shires where they are the attacker, etc. Since all Engagements in a Shire are resolved before picking the next Shire, it only matters who is the attacker in the first Engagement to be fought for the purpose of this rule.

Example: York, Lancaster and Warwick all have units in Contested Shires. York went first, so he gets to resolve any Shires that include York Blocks as the initial Attacker (and either or both of Lancaster or Warwick Blocks defending) in an order of his choosing. Warwick went second, so will set the order to resolve any remaining Shires that contain Warwick attackers and Lancaster or York defenders. Finally, Lancaster would resolve any remaining Shires where Lan-caster was the attacker.

20.1 Determine Attacker & Defender Attackers in a Battle are chosen by a last-in, first-out system – even if the “movement” was by responding to/play of an Event or entering from Undeclared. The Player who last moved Blocks into the Shire is the first Attacker (the

last Blocks moved in by that Player establish the Engagement order). The next to last Player to move Blocks in, or was already in the Shire at the beginning of the Turn, is the first Defender (the last Blocks moved in—or only Blocks of that Player if no Blocks moved in—establish the Engagement order). Each such pairing (one Attacker and one Defender) is an “Engagement”. The Blocks that establish the Engagement order for each Player will be the respective Starting Forces, with all other Blocks being Reinforcements (see 20.3.1).

The sole exception to this is for Battles that result from place-ment of Blocks during the Wintering Phase. In such a case, the King decides who will be the “Defender” and who will be the “Attacker” (normal tie breaking rules—see 10.5.1—apply in the case where there is no King at this point).

A stack that entered the Shire through Interception (16.5) is treated as if it had moved there just before the Blocks they intercepted, and will be the Defender against those Blocks.

Example (continued): Note that a Shire that had Lancaster in the Shire first, then York entered, then Warwick entered would be resolved during the Warwick portion of combat resolution, as Warwick—not York—would be the Attacker in the first Engagement (Warwick vs. York).

20.2 Engagements Battles are resolved one Engagement at a time between one Attacker and one Defender. When there are Blocks of three or four Players in a Shire, the Engagement is resolved between the first pair of Attacker and Defender as described above. The winner of that Engagement then becomes the Attacker and a new Engagement is fought with a new Defender. The new Defender is the remaining Player who moved his Blocks most recently into the Shire. Repeat for the fourth Player if necessary.

Note that since Battles are fought between all of a Player’s Blocks in a Shire, this may result in the Player with Blocks originally in the Shire fighting as an Attacker or Defender earlier in the Battle (see Examples, below).

Immediately prior to an Engagement being fought—even be-fore Blocks are revealed—both Players may voluntarily avoid combat, with either side (not both) Retreating. This must be via a negotiated agreement and both Players must agree to avoid combat, otherwise the Engagement must be fought. Remember, agreements and negotiations are encouraged... but are never binding!

Surprise Card sequencing in, or before, an Engagement can be either a free-for-all or via the following sequence, at the choice of the Players (decide before beginning the game). In a free-for-all format, Players may play Surprise Cards at any time based on the timing restrictions on the Card, and if there is a disagreement on who plays when, the King (or see tie-breaker rules (10.5.1) if no King) decides the order of Card play. The same rules apply to declaring Ally abilities during, or before, an Engagement. Should the Players desire a sequenced format, the Houses not involved in the immediate Engagement must decide first, in Impulse order, then the Attacker, and finally the Defender.

Surprise Cards stating “Play before the start of an Engagement” (e.g., Withdraw before Combat or Bad Weather Delays Attacks) must be played before a Player selects his Main Force (20.4.1) using the sequencing described above. Surprise Cards stating “Play before the start of any combat round (round of combat)” must be played after Main Forces are selected, but before the opponents’ Blocks are revealed (note: both sides must give ample time for Players to make the decision on Surprise Card play before revealing their Main Forces). This can be before any round of combat, not just the first. Treachery (Card #76) can be played after forces are revealed, since its target is randomly determined. Likewise, Cards that do not list a specific timing (e.g., England for the English!) can be played at any time, even after Blocks have been revealed. Sequencing of all Card play is per the rules above.



Example 1: In a four player game, the Warwick Player has a single Block currently in Sussex. The York Player, moving second, moves York and the Lt. of Ireland Block into Sus-sex from Hampshire. Next, the Lancaster Player moves into Sussex from Kent, but with only one Block. Not wanting to be left out, the Buckingham Player—moving last—moves Arundel and Hastings into Sussex, also through Hampshire (now vacant). The Warwick Player decides to intercept this last move with a stack in Surrey, and succeeds in bringing in Warwick and the Capt. of Calais Block. None of the Players desire to exercise their right to attempt an Evasion. After all other Players have resolved Shires where they are the Attacker, Buckingham gets to pick Sussex to resolve. This is because the initial Engagement will be between the Buckingham Player (Attacker) and the Warwick Player (De-fender), due to the successful interception by Warwick—and will include all the Warwick Blocks, including the one that was originally in the Shire before any other Blocks. Warwick wins and then is the Attacker against the lone Lancaster Block. Another Warwick victory sees him the Attacker, again, against the last remaining House—York.

Example 2: If the above occurred in London, note that Warwick—having the single Block in London before any other Players, would have the London Garrison attached. The London Garrison would enter as a Reinforcement with the single Block in the first Engagement between Warwick and Buckingham.

Example 3: Continuing the above, this is slightly different in a two player game. For example, in a two player game, Lancaster has a Block in London and York moves a stack into London to attack it. If Lancaster successfully Intercepts, he will still be the last Defender in London and—since he had a Block in London before York - will gain the benefit of the London Garrison; though it will arrive as a reinforcement. This is be-cause a successful Interception is taken to place those Blocks in the Shire as the Defender against the Intercepted Force (20.1) and the Blocks that Intercepted will be the Blocks that establish the Engagement order.

20.3 Reinforcements and Reserves 20.3.1 Reinforcements When different stacks controlled by the same Player are involved in a combat with Enemy Blocks, the stack that de-termined the En-gagement order is the Starting Force and all others are Reinforce-ments (even if arriving by Interception or if previously in the Shire).

Stacks arriving as Reinforcements (i.e., all stacks except the Starting Force; 20.1) participate in the Engagement in the second and subsequent Combat Rounds (this is on the back of the Combat Round marker to remind you). Starting on the second Combat Round, each player with arriving Reinforce-ments must bring in a single stack of Reinforcements per the normal Movement rules (16.1; noting a single Block leads the movement and can lead up to additional Blocks based on its

CR). The order of bringing in Reinforcements is not otherwise limited (exception: see 20.4.2) and a Player may “mix and match” from various stacks that have arrived from different movements than that of the Starting Force.

Example (continued): In the initial combat between Bucking-ham and Warwick, Warwick and the Capt. of Calais will be the Starting Force since they were the group that established the Engagement order. The single Warwick Block originally in Sussex will enter as a Reinforcement in the second Com-bat Round.

Design Note: Players may want to line up stacks in order of arrival as a way to remember sequencing. Also, spare In-fluence Markers can be used to keep track of the order in which Blocks arrived into the Shire. As each force enters the Shire, place a marker for the controlling House face down in the Shire. Once Engagements start, pull markers off the top of the stack to determine the next Attacker. We’ve also included some “Attack!” and “Defend!” markers which can be used to help remember which stack is the Defender and Attacker (and from which direction they came) for each Contested Shire. These can also be used to differentiate the Starting Force from any Reinforcements.

20.3.2 Reserves Reserves are Blocks that are currently involved in the Engage-ment, but not fighting in the current Combat Round. Reserve Blocks are available to fight, but are not fighting due to Player choice (20.4.1 & 20.4.2), Command Limits (20.4.4), etc., as noted below. This is distinct from Reinforcements as Reinforce-ment Blocks are not available to fight as they have not yet arrived to the Engagement.

20.4 Combat Rounds Each Engagement between the Attacker and Defender is fought in one or more Combat Rounds, according to the sequence below, one after the other until one side is eliminated or voluntarily Retreats.

20.4.1 Force Selections – First Combat Round The Defender forms his force first, then the Attacker according to the following:

The Defender chooses a Leader for the Engagement. This must be the most senior Heir (exception: Henry VI, who cannot lead a force) if any are present in the Starting Force, otherwise, the Defender must choose a Noble with the highest (or tied for the highest) Rank in the Starting Force. Do not reveal this Block yet.

Important: Remember, Rank is the number in the square in the lower right corner of the Block.

The Defender may then choose Blocks, remaining from the Start-ing Force, if any, to fight with the Leader as the defending force up to this Leader’s Command Rating. Blocks not cho-sen are placed upright into the Reserves. The chosen Blocks, in total, will



be referred to as the Defending Player’s “Main Force”, with the non-chosen Blocks making up the Defending Player’s “Reserves”.

The Attacker then chooses his Leader, though for the first Combat Round the Leader of the Attacking Force must be the Noble that led the Attacking Player’s Starting Force into the Shire. The Attacker may then choose Blocks, remaining from the Starting Force, if any, to fight with the Leader as the at-tacking force up to this Leader’s Command Rating. Blocks not chosen are placed upright into the Reserves.

Design Note: We recommend placing an “Attack!” marker on the Leader Block when the first force enters the Defender’s Shire as a reminder for which Block must be the Leader in the first Combat Round.

Note that each Combat Round will always have a Main Force (those Blocks that are fighting) and may have Reserve Blocks (available Blocks, but not fighting in the current Combat Round) and/or Reinforcement Blocks (Blocks not yet arrived at the Battle). The “Starting Force” is simply the group of Blocks for each Player that established the Engagement order.

Example: Continuing the above, the first Combat Round of the first Engagement will be between the Warwick and the Capt. of Calais Blocks as the defenders; and at least Arundel for Buckingham (as Arundel had to have been the Leader given that Hastings could not lead Arundel due to having a lower Rank). The reason is that even though Warwick had a single Block in the Shire first, it was the interception by the Warwick and Capt. of Calais Blocks that established the first Engagement; so those two Blocks are considered the Starting Force. In establishing the Main Forces, for Buckingham, it would be his choice as to whether to include Hastings in the first Combat Round, or leave Hastings as a Reserve. Know-ing that the Warwick Player has a Reinforcement coming in Round 2, Buckingham decides to go “all in” and use both Blocks in the Main Force in the first Combat Round. Like-wise, the Warwick Player could choose to leave the Capt. of Calais Block as a Reserve, but instead keeps him with Warwick in the Main Force.

20.4.2 Force Selections – Second and Subsequent Combat Rounds First, assuming neither Player Retreated at the end of the previ-ous Combat Round (20.5.4), each Player brings in any desired Re-inforcements, should they have Reinforcement Blocks available. A minimum of one (1) Reinforcement Block must be brought in, with the maximum being based on the Command Rating of the Block leading the Reinforcement Movement (20.3.1; 16.1).

After the first Combat Round, the Leader Block for the Main Force must be chosen from among all Noble Blocks in the Shire, including available Reinforcements. This may mean a Player is required to bring in a more Senior Heir or higher Ranking Noble if such a Block was not the Leader in the previous Combat Round. Remember that Heirs always outrank non-Heirs, and a Senior Heir outranks a Junior Heir (exception: Henry VI, who cannot lead a force).

Next, each Player must determine/choose a Leader Block for the next Combat Round, as outlined above. Note that a Player may be required to change Leaders if a more senior Heir or higher Rank Noble joined their force as a Reinforcement (see 20.4.1, above). The Defender selects first, then the Attacker.

Finally, each Player may move any of his Blocks currently involved in the Combat to the Reserves and move Blocks from the Reserves into his Main Force. These latter Blocks are known as “Replacements”. The Defender conducts his Replacements first, followed by the Attacker. Note that Blocks still waiting to arrive as Reinforcements are not “currently involved in the Combat”. Remember to ensure that the Main Force meets the Command Limits of the current Leader Block!

Example (continued): When the additional War-wick Block enters on Combat Round 2 as a Reinforcement, Warwick—an Heir with the highest Rank in the game—must still be chosen as the Leader for the second Combat Round.

Additional Example: Let us instead assume that Warwick and the Capt. of Calais Block enter as Reinforcements on Round 2, and that Warwick had a Starting Force with Fau-conberg (Command Rating 3) and three other Blocks. In the first Combat Round, the Warwick Player could fight with all four Blocks (Fauconberg and the three Blocks he could lead). However, on Combat Round 2, Warwick must be chosen as the Leader for the next Combat Round, reducing the maximum number of Blocks that could participate to three (Warwick plus two other Blocks, given his Command Rating of two). The other Blocks not chosen to fight would be placed in the Reserves, to serve as Replacements later in the Engagement.

Once all force selections are made, both Players reveal any upright Blocks in their Attacking/Defending Force by tipping them forward (to preserve their Combat Strength). Thus the Blocks will have their current Combat Strength indicated by the edge of the Block that is furthest from their controller.

20.4.3 Attached/Host Blocks In general, all Blocks fight individually in Combat, though Attached/Host Blocks (8.3.3) in the Main Force with their Host/Attached Block (e.g., Of-fices, Margaret, Henry VI, etc.) may be allowed to suffer associated losses if their Host/Attached

Block incurs Step Losses (20.5.3), including if those losses are suffered when the Host Block is Charged, but not if the Host Block did any Charging (20.5.1). Note that Office Blocks can-not choose a new Host Block (they are always associated with the Noble holding the Parliament Card of that Office), but other non-Office Attached Blocks may be given a new Host each Combat Round (remember that Margaret and Henry VI always use their special attachment rules; 10.3.3 and 10.3.4).



Place any Attached Block(s) in the Main Force next to their Host Block(s).

Attached Blocks (8.3.3) must be Attached to a Host Block to fight in a Main Force; they cannot fight if they are not Attached to a controlling Host Block. The sole exception is for Henry VI and/or Margaret if they are the only available Block(s) (includ-ing Main Force and Reserves). Office Blocks are immediately set aside with their Host Noble if their Host Noble is Eliminated (reduced below Retainer Strength). Other Attached Blocks must immediately be given a new Host per 8.3.3 (exception: Henry VI if his Host Noble suffers a “Killed” result on the Elimina-tion Chart – see 10.3.3).

If the only available Blocks in the Main Force and Reserves are Mercenary Blocks, that side immediately cedes the field and loses the Combat. The Mercenary Blocks then switch allegiance to the Victor. The Victor takes the associated Mercenary Card and attaches the Mercenary Block (at its current Strength) to a valid Noble in the victorious force. If the Victor has no valid Nobles (either all are eliminated or none may Host), all Mer-cenary Blocks turn rogue and plunder the Shire. All Mercenary Blocks go Inactive (8.2), place a Plundered marker in the Shire, and discard the Mercenary Card.

Design Note: Since most Attached Blocks count against a Leader’s Command Rating (below), there may be times when a controlling Player leaves the Attached Block as a Reserve, even though its original Host Block is in the Main Force.

20.4.4 Command Limits The maximum number of Blocks that can fight with a Leader is equal to the Leader’s Command Rating Value (which is the Leader’s Command Limit, exactly as done for Movement purposes). Office Blocks do count against this limit and can be detached from their Officer Noble if desired (e.g., to be placed in Reserve).

20.5 Combat Resolution 20.5.1 Battle Charges

First, each Player must decide if any of his Blocks are able to conduct a Battle Charge, and wheth-er they wish to do so.

The only Blocks which may conduct a Battle Charge are Heirs in the Attacking or Defending Main Force. A maximum of one Heir per Player may make a Battle Charge. The Attacker decides first, followed by the current Defender.

Note: Neither Henry VI nor Margaret may conduct a Battle Charge. Their Host Blocks cannot Charge either, unless the Host Block is a valid Heir Block.

If the Attacker decides to make a Battle Charge, he designates a single Enemy Block as the target of the Charge [hereafter: the “target Block”]. Then, the Defender—if also Charging—des-ignates a target Block. A Charging Defender can be the target Block of the Attacker’s Charge, and can choose the Attacker’s Charging Heir as his target Block (but does not have to). If both Players Charge, the Charges are considered simultaneous.

Each Charging Heir makes a Charge Attack Roll against its target Block (resolved as per Line Combat in 20.5.2, but with a +1 modifier to each die rolled). Blocks Attached to the Charging Heir (Office or otherwise) are ignored and have no effect on the Battle Charge, nor can they take associated losses (20.4.3).

If the target Block is also Charging, it still conducts its Charge as above. If a Charging Defender picks a Charging Attacker (regardless of which Block is the target Block of the Charging Attacker), the two Charging Heirs will only roll their Charge Attack Rolls.

If a target Block is not also Charging, the target Block (but not any of its Attached Blocks) makes a Charge Defense Roll against the Heir that is Charging it (no +1 modifier applies and resolve as per Line Combat in 20.5.2) All Step Losses are resolved simultaneously. Blocks that are not involved in the Charge (i.e. all Blocks other than the Charging Block and the target Block) do not roll yet. However, Blocks Attached to a Non-Charging TaRgET Block (not to a Charging Heir!) may absorb step losses per 20.4.3, and if Eliminated at this point, will not get to conduct their Line Combat Rolls.

Target Blocks that are reduced below Retainer Strength must immediately roll on the Elimination Chart (20.6.1) with a –2 modifier. Do not wait until the Post-Engagement Actions.

Heirs that conduct a Battle Charge may not attack in subsequent Line Combat, however, target Blocks may if they were not eliminated. Mark any Heir(s) that Charged with a “Charge!” marker as a reminder that they may not attack in

Line Combat (they may still suffer losses in regular Line Com-bat per 20.5.3).

Remember: Noble Blocks are not considered Heirs until their Heir Card is In-Play. Until that time, they will not receive any of the benefits available to Heirs (Battle Charge, +1 on attri-tion rolls, etc.).

Design Note: Deciding when to Charge with your Heir is always a tough decision, as you are opening your Heir up to damage from return fire (that can’t be spread to other Blocks). However, if you have the opportunity to Charge a reduced strength enemy Heir before you think he is going to Retreat, you might reduce him below Retainer Strength and force him to roll on the Elimination Chart with a –2 modifier. And that is a great way to maximize your chance of eliminating him!

Example: Gloucester, a York Heir, charges at (targets) Exeter, a Lancaster Heir, who is also conducting a Battle Charge. However, Exeter targets the York-controlled Warwick Block. Gloucester rolls for his Charge—with a +1 modifier—against Exeter, Exeter rolls for his Charge at Warwick—also with a +1 modifier; and Warwick rolls back at Exeter, with no modi-fier (note: Exeter does not get to roll back at Gloucester since Exeter is Charging himself ). All results are resolved simul-taneously. If Exeter decided to counter-Charge Gloucester instead, they would both roll with a +1 modifier against each other and that is it.



20.5.2 Line Combat Rolls Each Block in the Main Force of both Players, excluding Heirs that conducted a Battle Charge (above), roll a number and type of dice indicated by their current Combat Strength. In-Play Ally Cards may be discarded at this time to provide Line Combat dice before any dice are rolled. Those extra dice are rolled as if they appeared on a Block’s Combat Strength, but only function for the current Combat Round.

The Attacker rolls first, followed by the Defender—but all results are applied simultaneously. Roll for each Block indi-vidually before rolling for the next Block, applying damage only after all Blocks have rolled for both sides. Total all hits scored by each Player and apply damage to the Enemy Force as specified below (20.5.3).

Design Note: In a Battle where the Marshall or a King able to use the Marshall’s once per Turn ability are not present, all combat dice can be rolled together as there are no Events that allow for re-rolling a single Block’s combat dice.

A hit is scored when the die roll is equal to or greater than the number of pips shown on the Block’s Combat Strength.

Example: A full-strength Richmond will roll two blue dice and one green die. Richmond scores a hit for each blue die result of 5 or 6, and for a green die result of a 6—a maximum of three (3) possible hits.

20.5.3 Damage Allocation The Attacker’s hits are applied to the Defender’s Blocks and vice versa. One at a time, apply each hit to the strongest (see below) Enemy Block as one (1) Step Loss. Once that Block has taken its Step Loss, re-evaluate which Block is the strongest, and apply the next hit and so on until all hits are applied.

The strongest Block is the one with the largest strength points, which is the number of dice in its current Combat Strength (the color of the dice is irrelevant). If there is more than one Block tied for strongest, the controlling Player chooses which Block will suffer the Step Loss.

Rotate the Block 90 degrees counter-clockwise for each Step Loss it suffers. Blocks that suffer a Step Loss while at Retainer Strength are eliminated. Move them to the side, for now. Their true fate will be determined in the Post-Engagement Actions (20.6.1).

If a Noble has an Attached Block in the Main Force (i.e., not as a Reserve), hits applied to the Noble or its Attached Block may be taken as a Step Loss by either, according to the controlling Player’s choice.

Example: The Attacker inflicts four hits on the Defender. The Defender has four Blocks in his Main Force. One Block is strength three (3), one is strength two (2), and the other two are strength one (1). The Defender applies the first hit to the “strongest” Block, which is strength three (3), reducing it to strength two (2). The second hit can be applied to either Block that is now strength two (2) (they are both “strongest”), reducing one of them to strength one (1). Now the remaining Block that is strength two (2) is the “strongest”, so it takes the third hit. After this, all Blocks are strength one (1). The Defender may now choose which Block takes the fourth hit since they are all “strongest”. If the strength three (3) Block had the Admiral Office Block Attached and in the Main Force (as one of the strength two (2) Blocks), the owning Player could have applied the first two hits to the three (3) strength Block, but taken the Step Losses on the Attached Admiral Block, eliminating it. The last two Step Losses would then be applied as above.

20.5.4 Retreat Decision After the second and subsequent Combat Rounds, each Player has the option to Retreat from the Battle (i.e., all combats last a minimum of two rounds!), with the Attacker choosing first. Only one Player may Retreat, so only if the Attacker declines does the Defender get a chance to do so. When a Player chooses to retreat, all of their remaining Blocks (even Reinforcements that have not yet entered the combat) must retreat.

Note that Retreats forced by Card Play may occur before, or after, any Combat Round, even before or after the first Combat Round. Cards that require a legal Retreat path (see below) have no effect if played when the Enemy Blocks cannot legally retreat (a retreat across a Fens border is a legal retreat path; albeit one that requires an Attrition roll!).

The Attacker must Retreat back to a Shire from which he entered the Battle if possible; otherwise, he may Retreat to any other valid Shire, subject to the Retreat Path Restrictions below. A Defender may Retreat to any valid Shire. If no valid Retreat path exists for an Attacker (or Defender), all Retreating Blocks are placed in the owner’s Undeclared Pool.

Note: If the Attack is solely as a result of Wintering place-ment, the Attacker cannot Retreat to “the Shire from which he entered the Battle”.



The Lancaster House Card “Queen Margaret Proclaims a Love Day” is unique in that it affects all Battles. Each Battle is determined as outlined above, along with determination of which House is the Attacker in each Engagement fought in each Battle. Resolving one Battle at a time, each and every Attacker must Retreat in order. If no valid Retreat path exists for an Attacker, all attacking Blocks are placed in the owner’s Un-declared Pool.

Example: Going back to the Warwick, York, Lancaster and Buckingham example in Sussex above, if Lancaster played the “Love Day” card before any Engagements were fought, Buckingham would be forced to Retreat first, as he was the first Attacker. However, since Enemy stacks entered the Shire though all three borders (remember, York also entered Sussex via Hampshire), the Buckingham Blocks would be removed from the map and placed in the Buckingham Player’s Unde-clared Pool. Warwick, who entered the Shire next to last with his Intercepting stack, is the next Attacker and Retreats all his Blocks to Surrey. Lancaster, who entered right before Warwick, Retreats his lone Block to Kent, and York breathes a sigh of relief as he is now the controller of Sussex. Note that York also would have been forced to the Undeclared Pool if he had to Retreat, as Buckingham’s entry via Hampshire would likewise keep York from Retreating to that Shire.

If a Player declares a Retreat and his Retreating force includes an Heir, the other Player involved in the combat may discard a 3 OPS Card (including a House Card) from his hand to conduct a Pursuit, which will cancel that Retreat. The Retreating Player then has the option of discarding one of his 3 OPS Cards (if any) to resume the Retreat, and so-on until one Player is unwilling or unable to discard in this way. No replacement Card(s) are drawn for any Cards used for Pursuit or to resume a Retreat.

Retreat Procedure: The owning Player groups all Blocks into stacks of one or more Blocks following the normal movement rules (16.1). Then, one stack at a time, the Player Retreats his stacks per the Retreat requirements (which may result in over-stacking if an Attacker must Retreat all forces into a Shire from which he entered the Battle).

Retreat Path Restrictions: Retreating Blocks must move to an adjacent Shire subject to the following restrictions:

� Cannot Retreat to any Shire containing Enemy Blocks (even if the Shire also contains Friendly Blocks).

� Cannot Retreat by sea or across the Wash (16.2.3). � All Blocks from one stack must Retreat to the same Shire, and that Shire must be one to which it would be possible to perform Legal Land Movement.

� Cannot Retreat across any border that Enemy Blocks crossed to enter the Contested Shire (even if they came across that same border!).

� Blocks can Retreat across a Fens border (16.2.2), but must suffer Attrition with an additional –1 die roll modifier.

A Player may Retreat to a Shire with rebels, but must immedi-ately deal with the rebels per 14.2.1.

If neither side chooses to Retreat, another Combat Round is fought. It is not possible for both sides to Retreat. If either Player chose to Retreat, perform Post-Engagement Actions (20.6) and conduct the next Battle, if any.

Note: Remember that Combat is broken down as follows: each contested Shire has one Battle, which has one or more Engage-ments, with each Engagement having one or more Combat Rounds. After the second Combat Round, both sides have the option to Retreat (Attacker chooses first).

20.5.5 Engagement Victor Determination If, at this point, only one Player has non-Mercenary Blocks in their Main Force and Reserves (of the two Houses that just fought the Engagement), that House is the Victor of the current Engagement. Proceed to “Post-Engagement Actions”, below (20.6). Note that Reinforcements that have not yet entered the Combat do not count for the determination of who is the Vic-tor in an Engagement. See 20.4.3 if one or both Players have only Mercenary Blocks left in their Main Force and Reserves.

Otherwise, increase the Combat Round marker by 1 and con-tinue the Engagement until only one Player (of the two that are currently fighting the Engagement) has Blocks remaining in the Battle.

If there are additional Engagements to be fought and the Vic-tor has Reinforcements to enter, see 20.6.2. If there are no additional Engagements to be fought, the Victor enters all their Reinforcements at this time. The losing side must always Retreat all of their Reinforcements that had not yet entered the Engagement (20.5.4).

Optional “Where do you think you’re going?” Rule: For Players desiring even more blood and chaos during their Battles, the following rule can be used: If a Victor is about to be declared for an Engagement where neither side Retreated, but the losing side has Reinforcements that have not yet entered the Engagement, either Player may choose to prolong the Engagement. If the Engagement is prolonged; a Victor is not declared, and the Player who would have lost does not Retreat their Reinforcing Blocks. Instead, a new Combat Round is fought with the regular determination of new Main Forces and the bringing in of any applicable Re-inforcements (20.3.1).



20.6 Post-Engagement Actions 20.6.1 Block Status Determination Each Noble that was eliminated in an Engagement (20.5.3) must roll one die, apply any applicable modifiers and consult the below Elimination Chart for the appropriate effect. Do not make a check for Blocks that successfully Retreated before be-ing eliminated. Office Blocks and other non-Noble Blocks that are eliminated are automatically Inactive (see Killed Blocks, below) and placed off the board until they are gained back through normal means (e.g., play of the appropriate Card or winning of the appropriate Office). The exceptions are Henry VI, who is considered Killed and Out of Play if his Block is eliminated in an Engagement (20.5.3) or if his Host Block is Killed from a roll on the Elimination Chart (10.3.3); and Mar-garet, who has special rules regarding her elimination (10.3.4).

Elimination Chart (1d6) Die Roll Result Effect

0-3 Killed Noble = Unavailable Heir = Out of Play

4-5 Wounded Noble = Inactive Heir = Undeclared

6+ Escaped All = Undeclared

Elimination Die Roll Modifiers: +2 if Block was eliminated by an Attrition roll +1 if Enemy force Retreated +1 if Block is an Heir*–2 if Block was eliminated by a Battle Charge

* Does not apply if Heir reduced below Retainer Strength in an Engagement.

The modifiers for a force Retreating are if the remaining, non-eliminated Blocks Retreated (versus a force being entirely eliminated in the Engagement).

Killed Blocks The Block was either killed in the Battle or captured and executed shortly thereafter. Heir Blocks are placed Out of Play (face down on Parliament or back in the game box). Any Office Block(s) become Inactive. Noble Blocks become Unavailable (place face-up on the RoP Box) (see Block States, 8.2). If the Killed Noble held any Offices, the corresponding Of-fice Block(s) and Card(s) are lost and placed off map. Adjust the Popular Support Track and Influence Track to account for loss of the Office. Remember that if the Office Block itself was eliminated, it is removed from the map as noted above (without rolling on the Elimination Chart). The Player keeps the Office Card and the Noble maintains the Office abilities (exception: the +1 to Command Rating associated with the King Block per 10.5.1). Only the Office Block is lost. The Office Block will be re-attached to the new Officer in the next Office Phase (26.0).

If Henry VI was Attached (8.3.3) to the just Killed Noble at the time that the Noble was eliminated, Henry VI is im-mediately considered to have also been Killed and is placed Out of Play, as noted above.

Wounded Blocks It was only a flesh wound. Noble Blocks become Inactive (and are placed next to the game board) and Heir Blocks become Undeclared (place in the controller’s Undeclared Pool) (see Block States, 8.2). If the wounded Noble held any Offices, the corresponding Office Block(s) and Card(s) are lost and placed off map. Adjust the Popular Support Track and Influence Track to account for loss of the Office. Office Blocks and the Office Card associated with a wounded Heir are kept with the Heir and are not lost.

Escaped/Retreated Blocks If this result was obtained, it looked much worse than it was. The Nobles becomes Undeclared (place in the controller’s Undeclared Pool) (see Block States, 8.2). Office Blocks and Office Cards associated with an escaped/Retreated Noble are kept with the Noble and are not lost.

20.6.2 Check for Subsequent Engagements If the Shire where the Engagement was just fought is still con-tested, return back to Force Selections—First Combat Round (20.4.1), with the Victor of the previous Engagement being the Attacker for the subsequent Engagement. Otherwise, proceed to “Post-Battle Actions”, below (20.7).

If there are additional Engagements to be fought, the current Victor may enter one set of Reinforcements (20.3.1) before resolving the next Engagement. All remaining Reinforcements will be Reinforcements during the next Engagement.

Example: York, Buckingham and Lancaster are fighting over London, with several Blocks between them. The initial Main Force has Lancaster, Command Rating 2, leading himself and two (2) additional Blocks against a single Buckingham Block. Waiting as Lancaster Reinforcements—from stacks that entered prior to Lancaster—are four (4) additional Blocks. Assuming that Lancaster wins on Combat Round 1, the Lancaster Player may enter one set of Reinforce-ments before fighting the first Combat Round against York. Lancaster decides to enter Stanley as Leader, with Ormonde (Stanley has CR = 1, so can only lead 1 additional Block). The remaining two (2) Lancaster Reinforcement Blocks will have to wait until Combat Round 2 in the Engagement against York before they can enter the fight.

20.7 Post-Battle Actions 20.7.1 Battle Victor Determination After the Battle is resolved (i.e., all Engagements are complete in the single Shire), the Player whose Blocks remain in the Shire, if any, is declared the Victor. If no Player has Blocks remaining, then no-one is declared Victor.



If any Heirs were present in any Enemy force fought in the Shire, the Victor receives a +1 increase to his Popular Support Value.

Design Note: Note that the Victor need not have fought an Engagement against the Heir, only that one of the losing Houses had an Heir involved in combat in that Shire!

20.7.2 Post-Battle Movement First, if there are any surviving non-Office attached Blocks (e.g., Welsh, Burgundians, etc), attach them to any valid Block in the Victor’s force (8.3.3). If there are no valid Blocks to Host them (for instance, if the only Block that survived the Battle was one of these Blocks), place these surviving Attached Blocks into the owner’s Undeclared Pool (exception: Margaret and/ or Henry VI, as they can exist in a Shire without a Host Block; see 10.3.3 & 10.3.4).

Important exception: If Henry VI and/or Margaret are the sole surviving Blocks, instead of remaining in the Shire, the Lan-caster Player may immediately place them into any valid Exile Box. If no valid Exile Boxes exist (i.e., they are all occupied by non-Lancaster forces), the Lancaster Player may place them into his Undeclared Pool.

If the Victor’s Blocks violate the Stacking Limit in the Battle Shire, at this time he may move Blocks according to the below restrictions until his remaining Blocks equal the Stacking Limit (he may not reduce below the Stacking Limit, though). Obvi-ously, if there are no valid movement paths the Victor may not move any Blocks from the Shire. The Victor may choose to leave his Blocks in violation of the Stacking Limit by not mov-ing any Blocks out, or only moving some of the excess Blocks.

Post-Battle Movement Restrictions: Blocks may move to an adjacent Shire (only) subject to the following restrictions:

� Cannot move to any Shire containing Enemy Blocks (even if the Shire also contains Friendly Blocks).

� Cannot move by sea or across the Wash (16.2.3). � Blocks can move across a Fens border (16.2.2), and do so without suffering Attrition.

Example: Lancaster gangs up on a York stack in Derby (Stack-ing Limit = 2), bringing in two (2) stacks totaling four (4) Blocks. Assuming Lancaster is the Victor after resolution of all Engagements in Derby, he may reduce his stack size to two (2) Blocks (total), assuming he has a legal movement paths for two (2) Blocks. He may not reduce below two (2), and may choose to leave all four (4) Blocks in the Shire and suffer Attrition.

21.0 Post-Operations Phase Actions 21.1 Stacking Check After all Battles have been completed, Stacking Limits in every Shire are checked (even for those where there were no Battles fought!). Each Player that has a number of Blocks in a Shire exceeding the Stacking Limit (7.2.9, equal to Shire Value +1) must roll for Attrition (22.0) for each of their Blocks in the Shire (i.e., if two Players exceed the Stacking Limit in a Shire, both Players would need to roll for Attrition for all of their Blocks). Note that the only modifier to these Attrition rolls is whether the Block is an Heir (there is no “Leader Block” when the Blocks are not moving or fighting…).

As noted in the Attrition rules, Blocks reduced below Retainer Strength in this way roll on the Elimination Chart with a +2 die roll modifier.

Example: If, after a Battle in Kent, the York Player had five (5) Blocks remaining, he would have to make Attrition rolls for each of his five (5) Blocks. Assuming one of his Blocks was an Heir, that Block would suffer a Step Loss on a roll of a ‘1’ and the other four Blocks would suffer a Step Loss on a roll of a ‘1’ or ‘2’.

21.2 Block Facing Any Blocks in a Shire that are still revealed are returned to their hidden state by tipping the Block backwards towards the Player, such that the current Combat Strength is indicated by the top edge of the Block.

21.3 London Garrison Reset the London Garrison (9.6) to its full Com-bat Strength.

22.0 Attrition In certain circumstances, Players will be forced to suffer po-tential Attrition to their Blocks. Attrition represents the gradual degradation of fighting capabilities—represented in the game by lost Steps on the Blocks. In all cases, a non-Noble Block at Retainer Strength that suffers a Step Loss due to Attrition will be removed from the map and become Inactive. A Noble Block (remember, all Heirs are Nobles) that suffers a Step Loss due to Attrition while at Retainer Strength rolls on the Elimination Chart with a +2 die roll modifier.



For each Block suffering Attrition, roll a single d6.

Attrition Chart (1d6) Die Roll Result

1-2 Lose 1 Step 3+ No Effect

Attrition Die Roll Modifiers: +1 if the Block is an Heir1—or—if the Block is the Leader

Block1, 2 and –1 for any Block Retreating or Evading across a “Fens” bor-

der (remember: neither Retreats nor Evasions can occur between Lincoln and Norfolk, i.e., across the Wash)

Notes: 1 These modifiers are not cumulative—a maximum of one +1 drm may

be obtained even for an Heir who is also a Leader Block. 2 The Leader Block drm does not apply for Attrition suffered due to

Stacking Limit violation (21.1).

Example: March—a York Heir—will only lose a Step due to Attrition on a roll of a 1 (+1 = 2), unless March is forced to Retreat across a Fens border; in which case, March will lose a Step on a roll of a 1 or 2. If reduced below Retainer Strength by this Step Loss, March would roll on the Elimi-nation Chart with a net +3 due to the +1 for being an Heir and +2 for Attrition loss (i.e., an Heir will never be killed for failing an Attrition roll).

23.0 Influence Phase In this Phase, Players will collect Influence Mark-ers for their accomplishments during the Turn, and add them to their Stock. Influence Points (IPs) can be used in two ways: in the Office Phase (26.0) to bid on Offices or during an Operations

Phase to influence Nobles (19.0). Once earned, they can be used im-mediately (i.e., the same Turn) or saved for future use.

Important: this Phase is skipped when the Turn ends by play of the Affairs of State Card.

Each Player calculates the total sum of all IPs earned this Turn (see below) and adjusts his marker (small wooden cylinder of their House color) on the Influence Track to that number. This is their net “IPs gained” for the Turn. Once so marked, Players may freely take a number of IP Markers from their Unclaimed Pool with a total IP value equal to their gained IPs. These are taken face-up and may include any and all 0 value IP Markers in the Unclaimed Pool (remember, Players may also make change at any time). After insuring the proper value of IP Markers have been taken, each Player adds these new IP Markers face-down to their Stock (9.1).

Design Note: Don’t add to the number from last Turn...use the Block to only indicate the current total of IPs gained!

Players earn IPs for the following:

23.1.1 Controlled Shires Occupied: Each Shire occupied by at least one Friendly Block earns the controlling Player a number of IPs equal to the Shire Value (7.2.1). Shires with a Shire Loyalty (7.2.2) in the Player’s color add one to this. Unoccupied: Empty Shires loyal to the Player’s House (7.2.2) earn one (1) IP for the controlling Player.

Enemy-controlled Shires and Shires marked with a Devastated or Plundered marker earn the Player no IPs, even if that Shire is loyal to their House. Note that there will be no Contested Shires (7.2.8) at this point in the game (all Contested Shires were resolved during the previous Combat Step).

23.1.2 Home Estates (Optional Rule)Each Shire occupied by one or more Blocks possessing at least one Home Estate in that Shire (7.2.3-7.2.6) earns its controlling Player one (1) IP.

Example: The Noble holding the Lord Admiral Office gains one (1) IP to the Player if in Dorset, Hampshire or one of the Noble’s own Home Estates.

23.1.3 Offices Each Office Card specifies the number of IPs earned by the Player who’s Noble holds that Office; e.g., The Lord Admiral grants two (2) IPs.

23.1.4 Ally Cards Some In-Play Ally Cards can be discarded at this time to gain IPs, while some Ally Cards provide an IP bonus while In-Play. Each Player should check his In-Play Ally Cards for any bo-nuses granted to him and add to these bonus IPs to his total (if automatic, or if discarded).

23.1.5 Popular Support The Popular Support Track specifies the number of IPs earned by the Player as indicated by the Player’s marker on the track.

Example: At a Popular Support Level of four (4), the Player earns two (2) bonus IPs.



24.0 King Phase (Including Affairs of State) For every Game Turn, the King Phase is conducted at this point. This includes when the Affairs of State Mandatory Card is played during an Operations Phase Impulse (only the Influ-ence Phase is skipped).

24.1 Non-Parliamentary Steps Several steps are conducted in the King Phase, two related to non-Parliament activities and several related to the politics of voting on the current King and obtaining Offices. First, the non-Parliament activities are performed.

24.1.1 Check for Military Victory Each Player counts the number of non-Devastated Shires he controls that are loyal to another Player. Include in this count any Shires that are loyal (i.e., have a Shire Loyalty per 7.2.2) to Players that have been eliminated this Game Turn, but not if they were eliminated in a prior Game Turn. Do not count any Shires loyal to Houses for which there is no active Player in the game (e.g., do not count Shires loyal to Warwick (blue) in three-player games).

Each Player then counts the number of non-Devastated Shires he controls that are loyal to his House. Compare these totals to the Military Victory conditions to see if any Player has achieved a Military Victory (6.1).

24.1.2 Remove Event Items If any rebel markers from Planned Uprisings are still on the map, remove them at this time.

If still In-Play, the following Mercenary Blocks become Inac-tive (8.2):

� Burgundians � French � Scots � Welsh

24.2 Attending Parliament After the above actions, each Player prepares his Nobles to at-tend Parliament, vote on the new King, and bid on all Offices.

Every controlled Noble that is not in Exile must attend Parlia-ment (including those in a Player’s Undeclared Pool). Nobles in Exile may not attend Parliament—leave them where they are for now. Move all attending Nobles and any attached Of-fice Blocks to a place near, but off, the game board, placing them face-up at this time. Take care to remember which Player controls which Block.

Design Note: At this point, there should be no Blocks on the map except those in Exile or still on the RoP. All con-trolled Nobles and Office Blocks should be in front of their corresponding Player face-up, and all other non-Noble Blocks are removed per 24.1.2.

24.2.1 Gather Supporters Players determine, by the procedure below, if they have gained control of any Nobles based on IP bids on the RoP.

For each RoP Box that has IP Markers on it, do the following (in order):

1. Select a Noble The current King (see 10.5.1 if no King) selects any one Noble with IP Markers on its RoP Box. The exact order of selection is up to the King/selecting Player.

2. Compare IP Totals Reveal and total each Player’s Influence Markers on the selected Noble, with each IP Marker being worth the num-ber printed on it. To these totals, add any of the following applicable bonuses to determine each Player’s effective bid:

Tendency Bonus

IP Threshold

Tendency Bonus: Some Parliament Boxes have a number of colored Rose icons, indicating the tendency of a Noble to side with a particular House. If the corresponding Player House placed a non-zero bid on the Noble’s Box, increase their bid by the number of rose icons.

Example: The Lancaster Player placed a 1, 3 and 5 IP Marker on Beaumont. For Beaumont, Lancaster’s effec-tive bid, so far, is eleven (11) because of the two red Rose icons (1 + 3 + 5 = 9; with +2 = 11).

Ally Bonus: At this point, within the order determined by the King (or per 10.5.1, if no King), Players must choose whether they are using any “Add X Ally Influence” discard abilities to place IPs on the indicated Noble.

3. Compare IP to Threshold If there is a tie for the highest effective bid (“bid”, hereafter), there is no change in control of the Noble. Continue checking the remaining bids on other Nobles.

If a single Player has the highest bid, they compare it to the Influence Threshold in the Noble’s Parliament Box (the large number in the lower right corner). If the bid is equal to or higher than the threshold, the Player gains control of the Noble and places it in front of him with his other controlled Nobles (if any). If controlled by another Player at the time, that other Player loses control of the Noble. Any Offices held



by a Noble switching allegiance also switch with the Noble (be sure to adjust the Popular Support Track at this time).

Example: Game Turn 4 s ta r t s with York con-t r o l l i n g Wa r wick, but during the Turn Lan-c a s t e r p l a c e s three hidden IP Markers (total-

ing nine (9) IPs) on Warwick. York, seeing that Lan-caster is making a play at taking control of Warwick, but not know-ing how strongly, places two hidden IP Mark-ers of his own on Warwick (totaling four (4) IPs). York gets a three IP bonus from the white Roses, so feels this should be enough.

During the King Phase they reveal the IP totals on the War-wick Box in the Roll of Parlia-ment. The York Player grimaces as he

sees the nine (9) IPs for Lancaster, knowing that the four (4) IPs he put there are lost… and so is Warwick! The ef-fective bid totals are nine (9) for Lancaster and seven (7) for York. Warwick’s Rank will now count towards Lan-caster’s total of votes for King—an eight (8) vote swing in favor of Lancaster!

Example 2: As above, but let us assume that Lancaster placed only seven (7) IPs on Warwick. When the IP Mark-ers are revealed, Warwick would remain under York control since both effective bids are seven (7). A tie for highest bid leaves control of the Noble as is. If Lancaster had an Ally with a “Add X Ally Influence” discard ability, they could utilize it now, after seeing the revealed IP’s.

Example 3: If Lancaster is the only Player to bid on War-wick, but placed only three (3) IP Points then this is not enough to meet Warwick’s threshold of four. Control of Warwick would remain with York. Note that some Events (and the Chancellor’s once per Turn ability) allow for move-ment of IP Markers on the RoP, so this scenario is definitely possible in a game!

4. Remove IP Whether or not any Player gained control of the Noble, place all IP Markers which were on the Noble’s RoP Box back into their respective Unclaimed Pool.

5. Send to Parliament Players place these newly controlled Nobles with those that are attending Parliament. These Nobles are now In-Play controlled by the respective Player.

6. Select the next Noble If there are still Nobles with IP Markers on their RoP box, return to step 1, above.

24.2.2 Available Votes Each Player calculates the number of votes his House will have in Parliament. This is the sum of:

� …the rank values of the Ranks of all controlled Noble in attendance; plus

� …the sum of all Office Bonus votes (specified on the Office Card) for all controlled Nobles in attendance who hold an Office, plus

� …any bonus Votes from Ally Cards that are discarded at this time; plus

� …any bonus votes from the Popular Support Track. This total is the effective number of votes for the Player for the current Game Turn. Votes cannot be saved from previous Turns, so this value solely represents the current Turn’s votes. Mark this total on the Influence Track by using the “Total Votes” marker.

Important: Don’t add to the number from last Turn… use the marker to only indicate the current total of available votes!

24.2.3 Vote for King Each Player places his set of four (4) “Support” markers face down in front of him: one for each House in the game.

Players should then feel free to converse, debate, and make deals, etc. before deciding how they

will vote. However, no deals are binding by any game rule. Treachery and political backstabbing are allowed and should be expected (and even encouraged!).

All Players vote, but each Player may only vote for a House that has a living, Senior Heir that has attended Parliament.

When a Player is ready to cast his vote, he secretly selects one “Support” marker from those in front of him and places it into his hand and keeps it hidden until all Players have made their choice. This is whom the Player will be voting for as the next King. Players may not abstain from voting and must select a valid Support marker when voting for the King.

Design Note: In a two-player game, this effectively means that the only Support markers that will be used will be “York” and “Lancaster”, as these are the only two Houses that will have In-Play Heirs.

Once all Players have made their choice, the markers are simul-taneously revealed. The number of votes cast for a Player House to be King is the sum total of the effective votes (marked on the track above) from each Player who chose a corresponding “Support” marker for that Player House. Adjust each Player’s “Total Votes” marker to correspond to their sum total (note:



a Player House with no Heir will end on the zero (0) box). The order of these markers will be important for placement of Nobles during the Wintering Phase.

Design Note: Don’t add these new values to the current “Total Votes” marker value, instead, adjust the Total Votes marker to reflect your new vote total for just this Turn.

Players may discard any In-Play Ally Cards they control which provide a vote bonus to increase their vote total at this time. Record this increase on the Influence Track by moving the Player’s marker the appropriate amount. If more than one Player discards Ally Cards at this point, the King may dictate the order that those discard are made in.

If there is a tie between two or more Houses see 10.5.1 for tie-breaking rules, considering there is no King at this point of the game.

Example: In a three-player game, the Buckingham Player has 12 votes based on Noble Ranks, etc., the York Player 10 and the Lancaster Player 15. Only the York and Lancaster Player have their Senior Heir at Parliament, so Buckingham cannot be King. York convinces Buckingham to vote for him, with a promise of helping to clear Lancaster from any one Buckingham Home Estate next Turn, so Buckingham secretly selects the York “Support” marker. When revealed, Lancaster has 15 votes (no surprise there, he voted for himself ) and the York Player has 22 (10 for his votes + 12 from Buckingham). The York Total Votes marker is adjusted to “22”, Lancaster stays at “15”, and Buckingham’s drops to zero (0). Next Turn, York’s Senior Heir will be King and Buckingham can only hope that he keeps his “campaign promises”.

The Player who won the vote takes the King Of-fice Card, places it in front of him, and puts the King marker on his Senior Heir Card. If the Heir is not Henry VI, he attaches the purple-colored Office Block labeled “The King” Block to the Heir

Block at full Combat Strength.

Design Note: What this means is that if Henry VI is the Lancaster Senior Heir and they win the Office of the King, the Lancaster Player does not get all the benefits of being King (see 10.3.3).

Decrease the Popular Support Track value for the previous King’s House by three (3) points. Then the Player with the current King increases his Support Track Value by three (3) points, as indicated on the King Office Card. Of course, if the same Player is King again this Turn, the Support Track Value does not change.

Advance the “Turns as King” marker one space to the right for the Player who now controls the newly elected King.

25.0 Victory Check Phase If no Player has yet achieved a Military Victory (6.1), check to see if any Player has achieved a Political Victory (6.2). If no Player has achieved a Political Victory, check to see if any Player has achieved an Economic Automatic Victory, if playing with this rule (6.3).

If it is the last Game Turn and no Player has won via a Military or Political Victory, then the Player with the most accumulated Economic Victory Points is the winner (6.3), if playing with this rule. If tied, the winner is determined by the following, in order:

� The Player with the most turns as King. � The Player with the most IP Value in his Stock. � The Player currently controlling the King Block. � The Player that last controlled the King Block (if no current King).

26.0 Office Phase After determining the new King and if no Player has just won the game, the Players now determine which, if any, Offices will be held by the various Nobles in attendance at Parliament.

26.1 End of Terms The Officers’ terms have expired. The King gathers and shuffles all the non-King Office Cards (10.5), and places them face down in a stack near the game board (including those from Nobles that did not attend Parliament for whatever reason).

Each Player adjusts his marker on the Support Track based on any Officer bonuses that have been lost (even though this may be temporary). Detach and return any Blocks acquired from Office Cards and return all Office markers to the Vacant Offices holding box on the map.

26.2 Determine New Officers The King then draws the top Office Card and reveals it to all Players. Players who wish to bid on the re-vealed Office secretly select any number of IP Markers (repre-sent- ing pol i t ical votes/influence, as well as economic in-

fluence) from their Stock and place them hidden into their hand—this is their “bid”. They also place one “Support” marker in their hand, as well. This marker indicates for which Player the bid will count.



Example: A Player could place an IP Marker with a value of three (3) in their hand, along with their York Support marker to cast three (3) votes for York to have the revealed Office.

Do not forget the zero-value IP Markers to use for bluffing. Note that a Player may only cast a vote for a Player that has a Noble capable of holding the Office (i.e., one that is attending Parliament and has the capability to hold the Office should it be won; see 26.3). This includes Players voting for themselves or other Players. Players are not required to bid on any Offices—it is solely at their discretion.

Optional Rule: Players may always vote for an Office other than the Chancellor and King, even if they do not have a valid Noble in Parliament to hold the Office. If that Player wins the Office, they may either leave the Office Vacant or bestow it upon any Noble currently in attendance that can hold the Of-fice and accepts it.

Example: Buckingham has had a bad series of events this Turn and finds himself with only one Noble in attendance at Parliament. He wins the Chancellor Office, but when the Treasurer Office comes up for vote he cannot vote for himself. Nor can anyone else vote for Buckingham to win it, since a Noble may only hold one of King, Chancellor or Treasurer; and the lone Buckingham Noble already holds the Chancellor Office.

Players should feel free to negotiate, barter, and make prom-ises in order to secure an Office for themselves. Remember, however, that no agreements are binding.

Once all Players have made their choice, the bids are simulta-neously revealed. The number of votes bid for a Player House is the sum total of all bids (i.e., IP Marker Values) placed in anyone’s hand with the corresponding House “Support” marker. The Player with the highest non-zero bid wins the Office (ties broken according to 10.5.1).

Example: The Office of Lord Admiral is currently up for vote. The York Player places a 1 and 3 IP Marker in his hand with a “Support” Marker having the York shield. The Lancaster Player places a 5 IP Marker in his hand with a “Support” Marker hav-ing the Lancaster shield, and the Buckingham Player places a 2 and a 3 IP Marker with a “Support” Marker having the Buckingham shield. When the votes are revealed, both Lan-caster and Buckingham are tied at five (5) IPs. The current King would get to decide which of Lancaster or Buckingham was willing to make the best “deal” to be named Lord Admiral…

Place the IP Markers used for all Player’s bids back into their Unclaimed Pools. They are considered spent and cannot be used for subsequent bids. Place the Support marker aside for use in the next bid.

The Player who won the Office takes the Office Card and places in front of himself. The Player also chooses a Friendly-controlled Noble or Heir in attendance at Parliament to hold the Office.

Place the corresponding Office marker on the Heir Card or on the Noble’s RoP Box if not an Heir. That Noble/Heir is said to be an “Officer”.

Attach (8.3.3) the appropriately labeled purple-colored Office Block at full Combat Strength the Noble Block who is the Officer (e.g., the Trea-surer Block with the Noble selected to be Trea-surer, etc.), subject to the restrictions listed be-

low (26.3).

Adjust the Player’s Popular Support amount if the Office Card indicates a Support Bonus.

Repeat the procedure above until all Office Cards have been flipped over.

26.3 Office Limits Important: A Noble/Heir may hold only one of King, Chancellor or Treasurer (the “big three”). Otherwise, a Noble/Heir may hold a number of Offices equal to his Command Rating. The exceptions to the above are:

� The current King may never hold any additional Offices. � Henry VI may only hold the Office of the King (he may never be awarded a non-King Office)

� Margaret is not allowed to hold any Office (much to her annoyance, we are sure!).

If a Player is found to have won an Office, but does not have a valid Noble to hold the Office, it is immediately awarded to the House with the next highest bid total, if any.

26.4 Vacant Offices Players are not required to bid on any Office, and it may be that no Offices are awarded at all. Any Office that is not presently held by a Noble should have the Office marker flipped to its “Vacant” side and set near the game board where all Players can see.

If no Player wins the Chancellor Office, the Player with the lowest “IPs gained” value on the Influence Track (23.0) and a Noble capable of holding the Chancellor Office is awarded the Of-fice as if he had successfully bid and won this

Office. If the Player with the lowest IPs gained does not have a Noble capable of holding the Chancellor’s Office, then the Office is awarded to the Player having the next lowest value of

IPs gained, and so on, until a Player with a valid Noble capable of holding the Office is found (if any).



27.0 Wintering Phase 27.1 Ally Cards In-Play Ally Cards (14.2.2) are kept In-Play until their benefit is used.

27.2 Place Nobles In order from highest to lowest votes received in vote for King (24.2.3) (ties broken according to 10.5.1), Players first decide if any of their Nobles currently in an Exile Box (7.3.1) wish to remain in their current Exile Box. If a Player chooses to have Blocks come out of Exile, immediately place them with that Player’s Nobles that attended Parliament. Nobles that stay in Exile are simply left on the map in their current Exile Box. These Nobles will be at Retainer Strength unless led by the ap-propriate Officer or if Hosting Queen Margaret (7.3.2 & 7.3.3).

Then, in the same order, Players alternate placing one non-Officer Noble they control (which attended Parliament or left Exile) onto the map at full strength in any Home Estate (7.2.3-7.2.6) for that Noble. This placement is done so that the Block is hidden from your opponents.Henry VI and/or Margaret may be placed along with a Host at this point (using either the Host’s Home Estate(s) or one of their Home Estates), or may wait and be placed later. Even when being placed later, Margaret and/or Henry VI may designate a non-placed Host Noble (Officer or non-Officer) to be placed with their Block according to 27.3 or 27.4.If there is a question on whether a Home Estate is available for placement, the placing Player must reveal his Block, designate a valid Home Estate and only if the already present Block oc-cupies that Home Estate must it be revealed.

Example: At the start of placement of the non-Officer Nobles, Lancaster designates Somerset (holding no Of-fices) as the Host for both Henry VI (the current King) and Margaret. He could place all three (3) Blocks during 27.2 (as Somerset is a non-Officer) or at the end of 27.3 (as the King is Ranking 1 and places last). Had he not designated Somerset as the Host for Margaret, he could have placed her Block separately per 27.4.

A Player having no unplaced non-Officer Heirs may pass instead of placing a Noble; if they do so, the remaining non-Officer Nobles controlled by that Player become Undeclared (8.2) and are moved to that Player’s Undeclared Pool.

Players continue taking turns placing their non-Officer Nobles (or passing) until all Player-controlled, non-Officer Nobles are in Shires, Exile Boxes, or Player Undeclared Pools (as a result of passing).

Design Note: Once all the Offices have been bid on, Players begin returning their Nobles to the map. The first Nobles to return are those without any Office, as this allows the Of-ficer Nobles to see where enemy formations are gathering before returning from Parliament.

27.3 Place Officers In order from lowest (Ranking 8) to highest (Ranking 1) Of-ficer Ranking (shown below), Players take turns placing one Officer Noble with attached Office Block(s) they control onto the map in any Home Estate, corresponding Office Estate or, if appropriate, Crown Estate (7.2.3-7.2.6) for that Noble. The Noble and Office Block are placed at full strength.

Officers must be placed on the map. Players may not pass if they control an Officer. For Nobles holding multiple Offices, place the Noble when it is the time for its highest Ranking (closest to 1) Office. Officers must be placed with their attached Office Blocks at this time. If an unplaced Henry VI is King and he already has a designated Noble as his Host, both Blocks (Henry VI and the Host) are placed per the King’s Ranking. Valid Home Estates are those for either Block, or Crown Estates.

Example: Warwick holds the Office of Treasurer (Ranking 3) and Admiral (Ranking 5). After the Lord Captain (Ranking 6) is placed, players will skip to the Lord Marshall (Rank-ing 4) and then place Warwick with both the Treasurer and Admiral Office Blocks, as the Treasurer with its Ranking of 3 is the highest Ranking Office held by Warwick.

Office Ranking is shown on the Parliament Cards and Offices are listed below in descending Ranking order (i.e., Ranking 1 is the highest Ranking Officer):

1. His Majesty the King of England 2. Lord Chancellor of England 3. Lord Treasurer of the Exchequer 4. Lord Earl Marshal 5. Lord High Admiral 6. Lord Captain of Calais and the Pale 7. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Pale 8. Lord Warden of the North Marches

27.4 Place Other Blocks If not already placed or Out-of-Play (8.2), place Henry VI with a Lancaster-controlled Host Noble of Rank two (2) or more (10.3.3). Note that if Henry VI is currently in Exile, there are limita-tions on his placement (see 10.3.3 – can’t change

Exile Boxes).

Even if Margaret of Anjou was eliminated in Battle, place her with a Lancaster-controlled Host Noble of Rank two (2) or more (10.3.4) if not previously placed. However, if Henry VI and Prince Edward/Lancaster have been removed from

play, she does not return. Note that if Queen Margaret is cur-rently in Exile, there are limitations on her placement (see 10.3.4 – can’t change Exile Boxes).



27.5 Multiple Houses in a ShireIf after placement, Blocks controlled by two or more Houses occupy a single Shire, follow the normal Pinning rules (16.4) during the upcoming Impulse. Combat will be determined after the first Impulse with the King deciding which House is the Defender (20.1), if the order is not changed due to other Blocks entering the Shire during the Impulse.

28.0 Clean-Up Phase 28.1 Marker and Block Adjustment

First remove all the Depleted markers (9.3). Then replace all Plundered and Devastated markers (9.3) with Depleted markers (on the back of the Plundered markers). If, for whatever reason, when replacing a Devastated marker with a

Depleted marker there are none available, simply remove the Devastated marker and return the Shire to good order.

All Unavailable Blocks become Inactive (8.2) (i.e., move face-up Blocks from the Roll of Parliament off of, but next to the game board).

If face-down, flip over the Queen Margaret of Anjou Card (Lan-caster House Card) and any flipped Parliament Cards (10.5).

28.2 Held Cards Some Heir Cards, when In-Play, allow a Player to keep a number of Operation Cards in their hand between turns. These abilities are not cumulative (i.e., having two Heirs with “You may hold up to one Card between turns…” only allows a Play-er to hold one Card between turns). If allowed per above, each Player decides which (if any) non-House Cards to hold for next Game Turn, and discards the rest. Re-member that Mandatory Cards must be held and do

count towards the above limit! House Cards may never be discarded and are always held for free.

28.3 Popular Support Adjustments 28.3.1 Blocks in Exile

Each Player that currently has one or more Blocks in Exile (7.3.1-7.3.3) loses one (1) point of Popular Support (i.e., a maximum of one (1) point per Player, regardless of the number of Blocks that particular Player has in Exile).

28.3.2 Held Mandatory Cards If the Player is forced to hold any Mandatory Cards, reduce that Player’s Popular Support by the OPS Value of any held Mandatory Card(s). Exception: there is no reduction of Popular Support for held Mandatory Cards if the Operations Phase ended due to play of the Affairs of State Card.

28.3.3 No Junior Heir Any Player without an In-Play Junior Heir and who had an Heir Card that was capable of being played during the Operations Phase of the just completed Game Turn reduces his Popular Support by one (1) [Note: a Junior Heir in an Exile Box does count for the purposes of this rule]. “Capable of being played” means that the Player had a valid Heir Card for the current Game Turn and at least one Impulse with no Junior Heir In-Play (i.e., if you lose an Heir in the final combat step of the Operations Phase, you will never lose Popular Support; as you would not have had an opportunity to play a new Heir).

Example: On the last Impulse of the Operations Phase, one of York’s current Heirs gets killed. York will not lose a point of Popular Support this Game Turn, since he did not have a chance to play an Heir Card after his Heir was killed. Next Turn, York intends to play his last Heir Card, but Lancaster plays Affairs of State before York plays his Heir. At the end of the Turn, he loses one (1) point of Popular Support for not having a Junior Heir In-Play, since he had at least one Impulse where he could have played the Heir Card. Not wanting to suffer another loss in Support, York plays his last Heir at the start of the following Turn—only to see the Heir killed off in the very same Impulse. York will no longer be subject to the penalty for not having a Junior Heir since he no longer has any additional Heir cards to play. His last Heir is In-Play as his lone (Senior) Heir.

28.4 Turn Advances Advance the Turn Marker one space to the next Game Turn.



29.0 Glossary Attached Blocks (8.3.3): Blocks that require being Attached to a Host Block to function normally. These include all Office Blocks, all Mercenary Blocks (24.1.2), Henry VI and Margaret. These are the only Blocks that may Attach to a Host Block. Attrition (22.0): The gradual wearing down of the combat ef-fectiveness of a Block as represented by Step Losses. Attrition occurs when you exceed the Stacking Limits (7.2.9), Force March (16.3), use special Fens (16.2.2) or Wash (16.2.3) move-ment, or perform an Adjacent Sea Zone Sea Movement (17.0). Battle (20.0): Overall combat between two or more Players in a Shire. Each Battle involves one or more Engagements (20.2), each of which lasts one or more Combat Rounds (20.4). Battle Charge (20.5.1): A special form of Combat allowed only to Heir Blocks, granting +1 drm to each of their attack dice. Coastal Shire (7.4): A Shire that is adjacent to a Sea. Cornwall is a Coastal Shire for both the Irish Sea and the English Channel and Suffolk is a Coastal Shire for both the North Sea and the English Channel. Sea Movement (17.0) must begin and end in a Coastal Shire. Combat Round (20.4): Part of an Engagement (20.2). Select-ing force compositions, rolling dice, allocating damage (20.5.3) and conducting Retreats (20.5.4). Combat Strength/Strength Points (20.5.3): The number (and occasionally, color) of dice icons on a Block’s top edge. Command Card (CC) (13.1): The single Card that each Player places face down in front of him for play during that Impulse. Command Rating/Command Limit: The number of other Blocks a Noble can lead in Movement (16.1) or in Combat (20.4.4), in a circle at the lower-left of the Block. Contested Shires (7.2.8): A Shire with two or more Player’s Blocks in it. Controlled Shires (7.2.8): A Shire that contains a Player’s Blocks or an SL box of the Player’s color and no Blocks. Controlling Player (14.2.1): The Player that played an OPS card used as a Raid or Planned Uprising Event. The Controlling Player determines which Shire is affected and rolls any Battle dice against the Responding Noble. d6 (or D6): The roll of one six sided die numbered one each of 1 through 6 (no cheating with all 6’s for you!) DRM (Die Roll Modifier): A modifier, either plus or minus, that is applied to a roll of a d6 to get a final, modified result. Engagement (20.2): Part of a Battle. The resolution of combat between two Players. Exile Boxes (7.3.1): The playable areas outside of England proper that represent a Noble hiding out in the countryside. Force March (16.3): A special type of movement that allows a Leader and any led Blocks to move one additional Shire. Foreign Nation (7.3.1): Scotland and the areas represented by Exile Boxes are considered Foreign Nation territory and, except for the Exile Boxes, may not be entered.

Heir (8.3.2): A Noble Block with a played (i.e., face up) Heir Card. All Heirs are Nobles, but not all Nobles are Heirs. Host (8.3.3 & 20.4.3): A Block that has at least one other Block attached to it. Impulse Order (13.2): The final order, after any ties are decided by the King (10.5.1), of players in a single Impulse. Goes from highest OPS Value CC to lowest OPS Value CC. In-Play (8.2): Any Block controlled by a Player that occupies a Shire or Exile Box. Inactive (8.2): Any Block not controlled by any Player and kept off-map. It may come into play via Influence. Influence Points (IPs): A “commodity” in the game generally representing a Player’s House’s economic and political influ-ence. They are gained by control of Shires, Offices and certain Events (23.0). A Player’s IPs are usually located in one of three spots: their Unclaimed Pool (IPs not yet earned); their Stock (those IPs available to be used by the Player); or on a Noble’s box on the Roll of Parliament (attempting to win that Noble to the Player’s side). Junior Heir (10.3.2): When a Player has two active Heirs, the Heir with the higher Heir number on its Card. Leader: For movement, a Block designated to move either alone, or with additional Blocks up to their Command Rating (16.1). For combat, a Block designated to fight a Combat Round either alone, or with additional Blocks up to their Command Rating (20.4.1). The Leader may change each Combat Round. Main Force: The forces of the Attacking and Defending Player that are fighting each other in a Combat Round (20.4). This is distinguishable from those Blocks that are not fighting in that Combat Round, but could have been (i.e., Reserves; see 20.3.2), and from those that have not yet arrived at the Battle (i.e., Reinforcements; see 20.3.1). Mercenary Blocks (24.1.2): The Blocks brought in by play of the French, Burgundian, Welsh and Scots Cards. Movement Points (MPs) (16.1): The amount of movement each stack can do when activated. Generally equal to four (4) MPs, though can be increased by Force March (16.3). Neutral Shires (7.2.8): A Shire with no Blocks and a black SL box. Out of Play (8.2): Any Block face-down on its RoP Box (or put back in the game box). It does not return for the rest of the game. Parliament: A major house of government in England, where Nobles would meet and govern (and scheme and backstab!). For game purposes, it generally is represented by the King Phase (24.0), Victory Check Phase (25.0) and Office Phase (26.0), where the King for the next Game Turn is determined, auto-victory conditions are checked, and the other Offices voted on. Rank (Noble Rank): Only on Noble and Officer Blocks (8.3.1), located in a square at the lower-right of the Block. Used for determining who can lead for Movement (16.1) and Combat (20.4.1), and also plays a part in determining the number of votes in the King Phases (24.2.2).



Ranking (Officer Ranking) (27.3): The order of importance of each Office, starting with the King (Ranking 1, the highest Ranking) and going to the Lord Warden of the North Marches (Ranking 8, the lowest Ranking). Reinforcements (20.3.1): Blocks that came to a Battle after the Main Force. Reinforcements enter starting on Combat Round 2, at a rate of one (1) Leader and appropriately led Blocks per Combat Round. Reserves (20.3.2): Blocks involved in a Battle in a Shire that are not currently fighting in a Combat Round; either due to Player decision or due to having a Leader with insufficient Command Rating to lead all the Blocks in the Battle. Responding Noble (14.2.1): The Noble that responds to a Raid or Planned Uprising Event. Must have a Home Estate in the Shire and Officers have first choice to respond. Retainer Strength (8.3): The weakest Combat Strength of a Block before it is removed from the map; i.e., the last combat step of a Block. Roll of Parliament (RoP) (7.1.5): The portion of the game board showing which Nobles are eligible to be Influenced. Sea Zone (7.4): Used interchangeably with “sea”, there are three Sea Zones that break the water around England into three regions: Irish Sea, North Sea and the English Channel. Senior Heir (10.3.2): Sole Heir, or the Heir with the lower Heir number on its Card. Shire (7.2): A playable land area on the map, generally corre-sponding to separate regions of England during the game period. Shire Loyalty (SL) (7.2.2): The color of box in each Shire: Black = none; White = York; Red = Lancaster; Yellow = Buck-ingham; and Blue = Warwick. Shire Value (SV) (7.2.1): The number in the box in each Shire. Stacking Limit (7.2.9): The number of blocks of each player that may occupy a Shire. All Shires have a Stacking Limit of the Shire Value plus 1. Exceeding the Stacking Limit at the end of all Battle resolutions will result in Attrition (22.0). Starting Force (20.4.1): The first group of Blocks that fight in an Engagement. Includes a Leader and may include additional Blocks up to the Leader’s Command Rating. The Starting Force is the group of Blocks that determined the Engagement order. Stock (9.1): The number of IPs available to a Player to use on various activities; such as influencing Nobles by placement on the RoP (19.0) or attempting to purchase Offices (26.0). Unavailable (8.2): Any Block that is face-up on its RoP Box. It becomes Inactive next Turn. Unclaimed Pool (9.1): The remaining of a Player’s IP Mark-ers that are not currently available to a Player to use by being in his Stock. A Player may always make change between his Stock and Unclaimed Pool, but may only take 0 IP Markers when gathering new IPs during the Influence Phase. Undeclared (8.2): Any Block controlled, but off-map in a Player’s Undeclared Pool. Wintering (27.0): The portion of the game where Blocks are returned to the map after Parliament.

30.0 Card Errata1. Cards, in general: Any reference on the Cards to “IP Tokens” should be taken as “IP Markers”.

2. Card W3: First sentence should read: “Play at the start of any Combat Round before Blocks are revealed. ”

3. Card B3: First sentence should read: “Play at the start of any Combat Round before Blocks are revealed.”

4. Card Y4: First sentence should read: “Play at the start of any Combat Round before Blocks are revealed.”

5. Cards 9, 13, and 15: “Active” should be “Activate”.

6. Card 12: “house” should be capitalized to “House”.

7. Card 41: The second sentence should be ignored and deleted.

8. Cards 49, 52, 55 and 56: Red text at bottom should read: “Card and Block Remain In-Play until Eliminated in Combat or King Phase, whichever comes first” (or just “Discard Card and Block during the King Phase if In-Play”).

9. Card 49: After “English Channel”, it should also read: “(except London)”.

10. Card 52: After “English Channel”, it should also read: “(except London)”.

11. Cards 58 and 59: Red text at bottom should read: “Card Remains In-Play until after Combat Step” (or just “Discard Card after Combat Step”).

12. Card 64:First sentence should read: “Play at the start of an Engagement before Blocks are revealed.”

13. Card 67: First sentence should read: “Play at the start of any Combat Round before Blocks are revealed.”

14. Card 72: Last line of red text at bottom should read: “Re-mains In-Play until end of current Impulse/Battle, per above” (or just “Discard after current Impulse/Battle, per above”).

15. Card 74: First sentence should read: “Play when one of your stacks is Intercepted.”

16. Card 76: First sentence should read: “Play only during an Engagement involving a friendly-controlled Block”.

17. Card 77: First sentence should read: “Play at the start of any Combat Round before Blocks are revealed.”

18. Card 78: The black-print card text should read: “Play at the start of any Combat Round before Blocks are revealed. Select any enemy Block in the battle. If the Block is an Heir, Margaret or Henry VI, nothing happens. Otherwise, roll one die and if greater than the Block’s Rank, that Block (and any Attached Office Blocks) must Retreat. Office Blocks and a Noble un-able to Retreat become Undeclared. Mercenaries automatically become Inactive if selected. See 20.4.3 if a new Host is needed for a non-Office Block.”



Credits Game Design: Stephen A. Cuyler Development: Andrew Young and Kevin Bernatz Art Director, Cover Art & Package Design: Rodger B. MacGowan Map: Knut Grünitz Counters & Stickers: Charles Kibler Manuals, Cards & Player Aid Cards: Charles Kibler Player Mats: Stephen A. Cuyler, Rules Editing: Kevin Bernatz, Nick Drochak, and Wil-liam Place Playtesters: Wendell Albright, Mark Beazer, Steph Bro-chu, Michael Debije, Walter Devore, Michael Drueen, Daniel Harrison, Paul Haseler, Donal Hegarty, Neil Hen-ning, Dan Hyer, Les Kramer, John Lapham, Kenneth Li, Ric Manns, Nate Merchant, Scott Moore, Brian Morris, Michael S. Owens, Kevin Rohrer, and William O’Neal Playtest Artwork: Stephen A. Cuyler, Rodger B. Mac-Gowan, David Rayner, and Nathan Trimmer Proofreaders: Hans Korting, Nick Drochak and Wendell Albright Production Coordination: Tony Curtis Producers: Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Andy Lewis, Gene Billingsley, and Mark Simonitch VASSAL Support: Joel Toppen, Tim McCarron Special Thanks: The Rochester Boardgaming Society, Millennium Games, Neil Randall, Andy Lewis, Mark Godson, Armorial Gold



Noble Home Estate(s) Arundel Flint, Surrey, SussexAudley DerbyBeaumont Lincoln, NorfolkBuckingham (B) East Riding, Stafford, Powys, Buckingham,

Gloucester, KentClarence (Y) Ireland, West Riding, Shropshire, Powys, Hereford,

HertfordClifford Westmorland, Lincolnde Ros North Riding Devon Devon, Dorset Essex Essex Exeter (L) Bedford, Devon Fauconberg (W) North Riding, East Riding Hastings Leicester Herbert Pembroke Kent Flint Lovel Lancaster, Oxford Montague (W) Wiltshire, Somerset Norfolk Lincoln, Suffolk, Glamorgan, Surrey, Sussex Northumberland Northumberland, Cumberland, East Riding Ormonde Ireland, WiltshireOxford Cambridge, EssexPembroke (L) North Riding, PembrokeRichmond (L) North Riding, Pembroke

Noble Home Estate(s) Rivers Northhampton, KentSalisbury (W) Cumberland, North Riding, KentScrope NottinghamShrewsbury Stafford, Shropshire, HerefordSomerset (L) Somerset, Dorset, HampshireSouthwick (B) Wiltshire, SomersetStanley Isle of Man, LancasterSuffolk Buckingham, Suffolk, EssexWarwick (W) Durham, Warwick, Worcester, Hertford, Glouces-

ter, GlamorganWestmorland Durham, LincolnWiltshire (B) Northampton, HuntingdonWorcester Cambridge, Hampshire

Officer Home Estate(s) King/Crown Berkshire, West Riding, Oxford, London, Corn-

wallChancellor CarnarfonTreasurer CarnarfonMarshal Chester, Norfolk, BerkshireAdmiral Dorset, HampshireCapt. of Calais Calais, France Exile BoxLt. of Ireland Ireland, Irish Exile BoxWarden Scotland Exile Box, Cumberland, NorthumberlandOfficers listed in Ranking order

Grid Locations Bedford 7/21 Berkshire 6/22 Buckingham 6/21 Calais 9/23 Cambridge 8/20 Carnarfon 3/18 Chester 4/18 Cornwall 1/24 Cumberland 4/15 Derby 5/18 Devon 3/23 Dorset 5/23 Durham 6/15 East Riding 7/17 Essex 8/21 Flint 3/18 France Exile 9/24 Glamorgan 3/21 Gloucester 4/21 Hampshire 6/22 Hereford 4/20 Hertford 7/21 Huntingdon 7/20 Isle of Man 2/16 Ireland 1/15 Ireland Exile 1/16 Kent 9/22 Lancaster 4/17 Leicester 6/19 Lincoln 7/18 London 7/21 Norfolk 9/19 North Riding 6/16 Northampton 6/20 Northumberland 5/14 Nottingham 6/18 Oxford 6/21 Pembroke 2/20 Powys 3/20 Rutland 7/19 Scotland Exile 4/14 Shropshire 4/19 Somerset 4/22 Stafford 5/19 Suffolk 9/20 Surrey 7/22 Sussex 7/23 Warwick 6/20 West Riding 6/17 Westmorland 4/16 Wiltshire 5/22 Worcester 5/20 * based on the track numbers along

the North and East edges of the mapboard, read as North/East map edge.

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Hanford, CA 93232-1308

Documents

Living Rules • December 2013