4 KINGDOMS
An ideological war has broken out between four kingdoms and you are a mercenary who is not afraid to switch allegiances.
Work with or against your fellow mercenaries to make sure that by the war's end, you are pledged to a kingdom that completes their win condition!
Game type: Hidden loyalty, Collusion
Game difficulty: ***
Players: 3-10. Best: 4-6
Set up:
3-5 players: short deck (remove cards below 6).
5-6 players: Normal deck
7-8 players: 2 short decks
9-10 players: 2 normal decks.
At the start of every round all players are dealt two cards face down. Players select one as their “pledge” card and one as their “storage” card.
Aim of the game: To keep your pledge card “alive” and complete its win condition by the end of the round. The round ends when the draw deck is depleted and every player has had their last turn.
The 4 Kingdoms:
The 4 kingdoms are represented by the different suits, each having their own associated ability and win condition. Abilities are played on a card. Win conditions are resolved when a round ends.
Gameplay:
Turns take place in a clockwise direction.
A player's turn starts with them drawing a card from the deck. They can then:
Play a card: Use this card's ability on their own card OR an opponent’s card.
Swap a card: Swap this card for either their personal card, OR their storage card.
Discard a card: Bin this card in the discard pile without using it.
When you swap a card, you can then use the card you replaced!
In the video example above, the player draws a spade (sword), swaps it for their pledge card (which is a club) and then applies this shield on their pledge card (which is now a sword) to defend it!
Here is another example of a valid move:
This player draws a diamond (reveal) from the deck, and swaps it for their storage card (a shield). They then swap this shield with their pledge card (a heart), and play the heart on an opponent's shield to destroy it, putting both cards into the discard pile.
NOTE: Players can only draw from the deck, not the discard pile.
Once a shield or sword have been applied to a card, they cannot be moved to another card later, only discarded by a card ability.
On your turn you can additionally play your storage card, as you don't need to have a card in storage.
The next player takes their turn, and play continues like this until the deck has been depleted. When this occurs, players have an additional turn to use their storage card (only if they have a storage card that isn't killed by a spade).
After the last player has acted, winners are determined based on pledge cards.
Here is an example of a completed game. Try work out for yourself which players won! (Answers below image)
Player 1 is pledged to the heart kingdom, but because player 3 has a dead pledge card, they lose.
Player 2 is pledged to the reveal kingdom, and as the 3 live pledge cards are face up, they win!
Player 3 is also pledged to the reveal kingdom, but because their pledge card is dead, they lose.
Player 4 is pledged to the shield kingdom, and as all 3 live pledge cards have shields, they win!
As you can see it is possible for multiple kingdoms to win, or none at all.
You will also notice that there is no limit to the number of shields or swords that can be applied to a card: player 2 has double shields, while player 3 has been stabbed twice!
In this game when the deck depleted player 1 and player 2 got to use their storage cards, but because player 3 and player 4 had dead storage cards, the game ended without them getting an additional turn.
BONUS KINGDOM!
Add 2 jokers to the deck for the Jester kingdom!
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