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MedioevoUniversalisAlpha Rulebook

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Dear reader, this is a first rulebook in its alpha ver-sion. We hope it might be useful to giveyou an idea of the game Medioevo Universalis, even if it lacks the final graphics and theadvanced rules. We apologize for any eventual mi-stake or typo. Good reading!

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13th century: the vastest empires and the most powerful kingdoms are competing for absolute supremacy. It is a time of strong divisions and great contradictions: the will to unify Europe and the whole Mediterranean area, the wish to restore a great universal power, now a memory of an ancient past though such will still survives in the Sacred Roman Empire of the west, and in the Roman Empire of the east. But these great empires now have powerful contenders in both war and politics, as the south, the east and central Europe are home to glorious cultures and infinite energies.

This time the conflict is of different level, one of a higher delicacy, importance and more difficult to achieve: the winner’s dominance is not limited to mere lands, seas, cities, strongholds and strategic positions; nor will their control be confined to only wealth, commerce and political power. This time the winner will have absolute supremacy on every single soul of this world.

It is a time of fights and conflicts that transcend the human finiteness, of Sacred empires, religious schisms, Holy Lands to reconquer, wars to declare, Popes and Antipopes, where absolute power is needed to subjugate others and raise to the role of undisputed ruler. Who will be the winner?

In Medioevo Universalis players will develop their kingdoms on a commercial, diplomatic and military field while facing catastrophic events, wars and betrayals. He who will obtain the highest number of Honor Points (HP) at the end of the game is declared the winner.

DURATION OF THE GAME

There are 3 ways to modify the duration of the game and adapt it to one’s needs:

Time Limit: a maximum time limit for the game is set. When the time runs out, the present turn is completed and the game ends: the player with the highest number of HP wins the game.

Turn Limit: a maximum number of turns to play is set, and at the end of the last turn the player with the highest number of HP wins the game.

Honor Point (HP) limit: a number of HP needed to reach the end of game is decided. This can happen in two ways:1. When a player reaches or surpasses this limit, consid-

introduction

ering the points he already has and the ones he will obtain at the end of the turn, he can declare his victo-ry and the game ends at the end of the present turn. Note: if it turns out to be an incorrect declaration, the game continues normally.

2. When a player at the end of the turn reaches this limit considering only the points he already has.

It is possible to play with all of these rules altogether, or choosing only one or two.

The HP collected during the game are registered on the board.

Example: players decide to play with a Limit of 30 HP. During the game, the Blue has already collected 28 Points. After a successful attack, he realizes he accomplished his Objective card worth 3 more HP. He immediately declares his victory to end the game at the end of the present turn.

Example: players decide to end the game with a time limit of 3 hours and 10 turns. If the 10 turns are completed before the 3 hours, the game ends. On the contrary, regardless of the numbers of completed turns, the game ends after 3 hours .

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Separate the cards into the 4 different decks (Empires, Calamities, Events, Treasure). Shuffle and place the decks face down near the game board.Every player chooses a game color (random choice is also allowed) and its relative Kingdom among those avail-able: the Byzantine Empire, Mamluk Sultanate, Kingdom of Hungary, Holy Roman Empire or the Golden Horde Khanate. The player then receives its player equipment:

Money for a total amount of 1000 FlorinsMerchant Ship (miniature) 1Caravan (miniature) 1Galley (miniature) 1Cathedral (miniature) 1Captain (miniature) 1

Catapult (tile) 1War wagon (miniature) 1Player sheet 1Player screen 1Dice 3

1. If there is a least one Christian player, a Pope is randomly assigned amongst the players who have a Christian Kingdom (Sacred Roman Empire and Hun-garian Kingdom).

2. Place on every Inhabited Area (X icon) on the map a Village tile and a Tower tile. On one territory place a City miniature instead of the Village (this is the Capital of the Kingdom). Note: for Constantinople you must place a Fort instead of a Tower, and on Kiev you must not place buildings of any kind.

3. Place the Cathedral on any territory of one’s own kingdom.

4. Players place 1 Heavy Infantryman on every territory they own. The Pope player places 1 additional Heavy Infantryman on the Papal States since he owns them.

set up

Note: This is not the final board, but the prototype one. We show it to give you an idea of how it will be.

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Note: the Papal States are the yellow territories around the city of Rome.

5. Players then place the Caravan, the War Wagon, the Captain and the Catapult in the Villages/Cities of their kingdom of their choice. The Galleys and Mer-chant Ships are placed in the Villages with a Harbor (X icon). Note: players who start the game without Villages that have a Harbor (X icon) may place their Merchant Ships and/or Galleys in any territory with a Harbor in a Kingdom adjacent to their own.

6. Each player in turn then places his Armies as he wants, for a total of 35 points (40 points for the Pope player) of Force Value (FV): keep in mind that the In-fantryman is worth 1 FV, the Archer 3 FV, the Heavy Infantryman 5 FV, the Knight 10 FV. He can place them in his territories with Villages (maximum 10 FV of armies) or where the Capital City is (maximum 40 FV of armies). The territory with the Cathedral has its maximum limit increase by 10 FV. It is also possible to place Armies in one’s own Galley and/or War Wag-on (maximum 20 FV per vehicle). For example, the blue player adds 3 Heavy Archers

(5+5+5= 15 FV) in the territory where his Capital is. Here there already was a Heavy Infantryman (5 FV), so the total amount is 20 FV and is lower than the Capital limit, which is 40. He then adds 2 Archers and 4 Infantrymen (3+3+1+1+1+1=10 FV) in the territory where he has the Cathedral and 1 Knight (10 FV) on his War Wagon. See the chapter “Overpopulation” for placement limits.

7. Each player takes the Objective Cards relative to his own Kingdom, he shuffles them and draws one ran-domly. The cards of his Kingdom are easily recogniz-able from their back. The remaining cards are removed from the game.

8. Finally each player places his own 5 Technology to-kens on the level 0 of the corresponding tables on the board and his score tracker on the 0 on the HP table.

The set up is now completed, and the game may begin.

The Force Values according to the type of army:

Type VFInfantryman 1Archer 3Heavy Infantryman 5Knight 10

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The side columns of this rulebook serve to explain the concepts illustrated in the central columns. When you see a red word, this will be clarified here in these columns.

These are the 10 game Phases:

1. Turn order 6. Reinforcements2. Empire Cards 7. Events3. Diplomacy 8. Placement4. Purchase 9. Fight5. Taxes 10. Commerce

Florins: money used to trade goods, collect taxes, construct buildings, buying mercenary armies and technologies, bargain diplomatic pacts and betrayals. They come in 4 sizes: 1, 5, 10 and 100.

Example: in a game of 4 players the blue player, the last in the previous turn, bids as first in the auction offering 10 florins; the yellow players, second last in the previous turn, follows him and bids 15 florins, and then the green one 20 florins. The red player passes, so he takes the tile for last player (4th player in this case). The blue player continues the bidding and offers 25 florins, the yellow one passes (becoming 3rd player), while the green one bids 40 florins. The blue player passes and becomes the 2nd player, so the first player is the green one: he places his 40 florins in the game reserve.

Empire cards: they represent specific characters, each specialized in one or more fields like combat, spying, taxes, diplomacy, commerce. The available combos with technologies exalt and increase their characteristics.

Technological Level (LT) influences many aspects of the game and depends on the number of technolo-gies acquired by each player: less than 8 equals a TL 1, 8-15 is a TL 2, more than 16 technologies is a TL 3. Acquiring a technology means the progress and development in a certain field and has many conse-quences: for example it can increase some character’s skills or reduce the effects of some calamities.

There are 6 technological trees: Military, Sci-ence-Commerce, Religion, Agriculture-Craft, Politics, University-Medicine. A specific token on the board marks the progress in every branch for each player.

In this rulebook, every time a technology is men-tioned it will be written in CAPITAL LETTERS.

A complete game turn is divided into 10 Phases. All Phases may be carried out altogether by all players, except for Combat and Diplomacy.

1. TURN ORDER PHASE

The turn order is decided. An auction is held to decide who will be the first player. The first to bid is the last play-er of the previous turn, and the order is opposite to the previous turn order.Players can bid any number of Florins, but the number must be at least 5 Florins more than the bidding of the pre-vious player, otherwise he must pass. The players who pass-es takes the tile with the highest number still available. If no one bids, the turn order remains the same as the previous turn. During the first game turn the auction starts from the youngest player and continues clockwise (if no one wagers the order remains clockwise starting from the youngest player). Note: only who wins the auction (the first player) pays effectively the Florins offered in the auction, placing them in the reserve. If he made a mistake and doesn’t have enough money he loses 1 HP and becomes the last in turn as if he had been the first to pass.

2. EMPIRE CARD PHASE

Following the turn order, players draw 1 Empire card each. It is possible to draw 1 or more cards at 100, 200 or 300 Florins each respectively if you have a Technological Level (TL) of 1, 2 or 3 (1 extra card at TL1, 2 extra cards at TL 2, etc.)

3. DIPLOMACY PHASE

Following the turn order each player carries out a maxi-mum number of diplomatic actions equal to his Techno-logical Level. Diplomatic actions can be:

• Declaration of war. Declaring war to a player of a different religion costs 1 HP; to a player of the same religion 2 HP. Note: carrying out a surprise attack in the Combat Phase without a prior declaration of war in the Diplomatic Phase costs instantly 4 HP.

• Ratify peace to cancel a previous state of belligerence. If peace is arranged nothing happens. If peace is not arranged, the player who asked for peace loses 2 HP and the other player gains 1 HP.

• Play the Diplomatic Card that imposes a truce to another player.

• Draw up a Diplomatic Pact. A diplomatic pact is

GAME PHASES

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Here are some examples of Diplomatic Pact:

“I am allowed to pass through your territories by any means of transportation. This pact lasts for 1 game turn.”

“I can commerce with your cities. I will give you 50 florins for every goods loading. This pact lasts for 3 game turns.”

“You lend me 500 Florins, at the end of the Pact I will return you 600. This pact lasts for 2 turns.”

“In case I am attacked, you commit to intervene in my help with at least 30 armies. These armies will follow my orders during your turn. This pact lasts 4 turns.”

Buildings are divided into settlements (Village, Hamlet, City) commerce buildings (Mine, Farm, Market), military buildings (Tower, Fort, Castle) and religious (Cathedral). Settlements can be built only on Inhabited Areas (“X” icon on the map), commer-cial buildings only on settlements. All other build-ings, military and religious, can be built anywhere.

Means of transportation are by land and by sea. They can be specialized in commerce (Merchant Ship and Caravan) or they can transport armies and siege engines (War Wagon and Galley); they can evolve increasing their capacity of cargo, movement and combat.

The Player Screen records important information for the game and must be placed on the table in front of the player.

The Inhabited Area is represented by an icon on the map – the “X” icon. It indicates the possibility to build a settlement that will make commerce and reinforces placement possible.

Example: you can convert a Village into a City paying 100 florins (150-50=100) or a Tower into a Fort paying 200 florins (300-100=200).

any agreement between two or more players. The agreement may be commercial, military, of defense or attack; anything is fine. The agreement must be put into writing and can be secret. The duration of the agreement must always be specified (it can also be in-definite). The rupture of a pact happens when one of the factions breaks or doesn’t respect the agreement. Breaking or not respecting diplomatic pacts unilat-erally costs 1 HP, regardless of the player’s religion. If there are any doubts whether a pact has been respect-ed or not, the pact will be made public and all of the players will publicly vote stating “respect” or “rup-ture”. With a tie vote nothing happens.

4. PURCHASE PHASE

Players can buy Technologies, Buildings and Means of transportation, or they can improve Buildings and Means of transportation that already exist. They can also buy Captains.

Technology can be purchased paying the given amount in Florins, according to the chosen technology, as indi-cated on the player board. To purchase a technology on a certain branch you must own all of the previous technolo-gies. You then move your token on the technology table to indicate the progress obtained. It is possible to purchase a maximum of 3 technologies per turn.

Buildings are purchased paying the given amount indi-cated on the player screen; you then can take the corre-spondent tile or miniature from the game reserve.

Type Cost PrerequisiteVillage 50 florins Inhabitated Area->Hamlet 100 florins ARCHITECTURE, Inhabitated

Area, LT II->City 150 florins ARCHITECTURE, Inhabitated

Area, LT IIITower 100 florins ----->Fort 300 florins ENGINEERING and LT II->Castle 700 florins ENGINEERING and LT IIICathedral 1000 florins ARCHITECTURE (no small

Kingdoms)Farm 300 florins SettlementMine 300 florins SettlementMarket 300 florins Settlement

As indicated in the table, Hamlet and Cites are improve-ments of the Village, just as Fort and Castle are of the Tower. It is thus possible to convert a base building in one of its improvements, by paying the difference. Otherwise you can build immediately a certain Building if you pos-sess the necessary prerequisites, by paying the entire cost indicated.

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Means of transportation: you can purchase a means of transportation paying the sum indicated in the table (and in the player screen), according to the type of means and its level. All means have as prerequisite a minimum player TL, equal to the level of the purchased means. It is not possible to have a number of means of the same type surpassing one’s own TL.

means cost means costMerchant Ship I 200 Galley I 250Merchant Ship II 250 Galley II 300Merchant Ship III 300 Galley III 350Caravan I 100 War wagon I 50Caravan II 150 War wagon II 100Caravan III 200 War wagon III 150

Captains. Captains cost 100, 200 or 300 florins accord-ing to the level you want to purchase. The MILITARY SCHOOL technology bypasses this prerequisite. It is not possible to have more captains than one’s own TL.

5. TAX PHASE

• +5 Florins from each possessed territory.• + 50 Florins for each Cathedral.• The player who owns the territory of the Khanate of

the Golden Horde receives also +5 Florins from each Russian principality (Kiev, Turov, Cernignov, Poloto-sk, Smelensk, Murom/Ryazan’, Vladimir) until they are occupied by armies of other players.

There are then the following modifiers for the Empire Cards and for technologies:• Tax Collector card: if you have MATHEMATICS,

double the florins obtained from the territories. Does not stack.

• Merchant card: if you have at least MATHEMAT-ICS, you collect florins according to the technologies you possess (MATHEMATICS, COINAGE, BANKS, GUILDS). Does stack.

• If you possess BANKS, you receive a 10% interests on all Florins that you had before the Tax Phase.

• MILL: if you have MATHEMATICS you gain 5 Flo-rins for each Valley you possess, 10 Florins if you have the Tax Collector card.

• VASSALAGE: you gain 10 Florins for each Inhabited Area you possess.

• SIGNORIA: you gain 50 Florins for every City you possess.

The table present on the Player Sheet helps to monitor and calculate taxes.

Example: to purchase a Galley of 2nd level (Galley 2) the player must have a TL 2.

A player with a TL 2 cannot have more than 2 Galleys and more than 2 War wagons regardless of their level, but he can have 2 Galleys, 1 War wagon and 1 Merchant Ship.

Example: a TL 2 player cannot have more than 2 captains.

Example: a player that has 10 territories and 500 Florins, the technology BANKS, 1 Cathedral collects: 50 (5 x 10) + 50 (10% of 500) + 50 (50 x 1) = 150 Florins.

One player with 12 territories, the Tax Collector card and MATHEMATICS collects 12 x 5 x 2 = 120 Florins from his territories. If he has also 4 Inhabited Areas and VASSALAGE he collects 10 x 4 = 40 Florins. If he has also 2 Cities and SIGNORIA he collects 2 x 50 = 100 Florins. Total: 120 + 40 + 100 = 260 Florins.

The Player Sheet is to take notes on important game information and help to calculate some elements like taxes or the reinforcements.

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6. REINFORCEMENTS PHASE

Possessed Kingdoms, Empire Cards and Technolo-gies grant reinforcement Armies. In this phase you can exchange prisoners with other players or agree upon a ransom to free them.

Kingdoms: you receive armies for a total of 1 FV (Force Value) for each territory of your starting Kingdom, plus 1 FV for each Small Kingdom that you possess wholly, plus 2 FV for each Minor Kingdom, plus 3 FV for each Great Kingdom and plus 4 FV for each Major Kingdom exclud-ing your starting Kingdom. The following modifiers also apply:

• Mercenary card: show it to other players and pur-chase 5 armies, paying them 10, 20 or 30 Florins according to your TL (1, 2 or 3). You can purchase +5 armies if you have COINAGE, plus 5 more if you have FORGE and +5 if you have BANKS (they stack).

• ZEALOTRY: you gain 1 bonus Army, which become 5 if you take part in a Crusade.

• INVESTITURE: you can gain 1 extra Army paying 10, 20 or 30 Florins according to your TL (1, 2 or 3).

• FEUDALISM: you gain 1 bonus Army for each For-tress you possess.

• The player who owns the territory of the Khanate of the Golden Horde receives also 1 Army out of each 3 Russian principalities (Kiev, Turov, Cernignov, Polo-tosk, Smelensk, Murom/Ryazan’, Vladimir) until they are occupied by armies of other players.

In this phase you can exchange an equal number of Pris-oners in your possess with your prisoners possessed by other players, or agree upon a sum of Florins to free them and have them back in your own game reserve.

7. EVENT PHASE

This phase is divided into 4 sub-phases listed here in order:

Events. The first player in the turn draws 1 Event cart from the bottom of the deck. First, he checks the back of the card that shows the possible effect areas: he rolls 1d6 and controls where the Event takes place. He then reads the effects of the card to the other players and starts applying them.

Calamities. Starting from the 2nd game turn, the first player rolls 2d6; a double 1 triggers the calamity, which must be drawn from the bottom of the deck and applies to everyone. If the result is not a double 1, from the follow-ing turn the results that will trigger the calamity will be a double 1 and a double 2. For each turn where a calamity is not triggered the valid results will progressively increase (all of the doubles up to 3, then all of the doubles up to 4,

Armies are represented by the miniatures of the Infantrymen (1 FV), the Archers (3 FV), the Heavy Infantrymen (5 FV) and the Knights (10 FV). When armies value or simply armies is mentioned, we refer to their total Force Value (FV).

Example: “You receive 10 armies” means that you receive a number of armies equal to a FV of 10: it’s up to the player which and how many.

Example: a player that controls all of his starting Kingdom, 2 Small Kingdoms and has ZEALOTRY receives 10 reinforcement armies.

Prisoners represent the 10% of the losses suffered in battle and can be ransomed with Florins or with an exchange at par. See the “Combat” section.

Example: the first player in turn draws an Event card, determines that it applies on the Black Sea and then reads it: “A storm unleashes. All players with ships in the area lose half of their cargo (be them Armies or goods). If by the end of the turn they do not leave the area (or seek shelter in a friendly or neutral harbor) the involved ships will be destroyed and removed”.

Example: during the second turn a double 1 is rolled. The first player draws a Calamity card, determines that it applies to the Hungarian King and reads: “Heresy. Remove 1 Religious Building from the victim’s properties and 1 Religious Building of every player present in the Kingdom and in the Kingdoms adjacent to his properties. Where you removed the Cathedrals, 1d6 of the players’ armies become heretics: replace

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then all of the doubles up to 5, then all of the doubles up to 6); once you reach all of the doubles up to 6 the combi-nations do not increase anymore.After the resolution of the Calamity the combinations reset. The following turn you do not roll for calamities, but from the next one you start over again with the valid result of a double 1, and so on.If you get a valid result you proceed like for the Events: draw a card from the bottom of the Calamity deck and check the back of the card to determine the area (or tar-get) of the Calamity.

Rebellions and Barbarian Captain. If there are territories with less than 5 Armies, they are at risk of Rebellion. Roll a d4: the result +1 is the number of Armies necessary for the territories to avoid the rebellion.The technology LAW gives a +1 to this dice roll. On the contrary, SIGNORIA and FEUDALISM give a -1 to the dice roll.If a rebellion occurs in the territory, the player’s armies must be removed and replaced by 1d6 of Barbarian Armies plus 1 Barbarian Warlord of 1st level, if still avail-able from the game reserve.

The Barbarian Captains enlist armies, according to their level, 1, 2 or 3 armies in their territories; moreover, the Kingdoms partially occupied by Barbarian Armies enlist 1 Army in each territory occupied by another player’s armies.

Barbarians Combats. All of the combats involving Bar-barians follow their engagement rules (see the “Barbar-ians” section).

8. PLACEMENT PHASE

The player places all of the miniatures purchased and/or obtained during the previous phases in the territories on the game map. He can place them in the territories or on the military means of transportation.

If he has LOGISTICS he can place the 10% rounded down of his new Reinforcements behind his own Screen. During the Combat Phase he may place them in any territory that has a settlement, but only a maximum of 5, 10 or 15 Armies according to his TL (1, 2 or 3).If he has ROUTES he may place them on any territory he possesses which is near to one with a settlement (no islands).

9. COMBAT PHASE

The current player can load and unload his Armies on his war transports, move them and/or attack. He can carry out these actions in the preferred order, and it is possible to repeat them more than once.

them with Barbarian Armies.”

Example: the blue player has a territory with 3 Armies and another with 2. At the dice roll with a result of 2, the second territory rebels, while the first doesn’t.

Example: one territory contains 1 Barbarian Archer and 1 Barbarian Captain of 2nd level. This territory belongs to a Kingdom occupied by the blue player. In the Event phase 3 more Barbarian Armies must be added to the territory.

Example: it is possible to load Armies, move, Attack, move and Attack again.

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LOAD, UNLOADLoading and unloading Armies and means of transpor-tation costs 0 MP if there is settlement (Village/Hamlet/City) in the territory, or a Captain; in all other cases it costs 1 Movement Point (MP).The War wagon must be in the same territory as the Armies to load/unload. The Galley must be in a sea area adjacent to the land territory where it has to load/unload Armies.

MOVEMENTMoving from 1 territory (or sea area) to another normally costs 1 MP.There are different modifiers of the land movement as for example crossing a river costs 1 more MP or mountain territory 3 MP.

These modifiers are summarized on the tables on the right and on the Player Screen.

Only war transports can move, not Armies. War trans-ports need to load at least 1 Army of its own color to be able to move.

There is the possibility that a means of transportation remains without Armies, in which case it won’t be able to move. If it won’t be occupied by the end of the next turn by the Armies of its color or by enemy Armies, it will be removed and will return to the player’s reserve. If it is occupied by an enemy the miniature must be replaced by the one of the new player.

The number of available MP for each means of transpor-tation depends by its level, as well as its carrying capacity, as indicated in the next table:

War transport Carrying capacity

MP

I level 20 7II level 40 8III level 60 9

Note: a miniature without a banner is a 1st level, with the small banner is a 2nd level, with the great banner is a 3rd level.

The ROUTES and CARTOGRAPHY Technologies give a +1 to the War wagon movement. CARTOGRAPHY, ASTRONOMY and WEAVING give a +1 to the Galley movement.

War transports (Galley and War Wagon) have their own movement scores and specific carrying capac-ity, which allows them to load a certain number of Armies and siege engines. Only the war transports can load siege engines and Captains.Each Army occupies 1 point of the carrying capac-ity of the means of transportation; Captains do not occupy space; siege engines and transports occupy each 5 points of the carrying capacity of the means of transportation.

Movement Points represent the movement, loading and unloading capacity of the means of transpor-tation (civilian and military). For example, a means that has 6 MP can move for 3 territories, unload, and then move another 2 territories.

Movement table for Caravans and War wagons:Land 1 MPHills or Woods 2 MPMountain 3 MPCrossing Channel 3 MPCrossing river +1 MPDesert for caravan 1 MPDesert for war wagon 3 MP

Movement table for Galleys and Merchant Ships:In/Out Harbor 1 MPCostal Sea 1 MPOpen Sea 2 MP

The means of transportation Level represents its evo-lution in terms of movement and loading capacity, and for Galleys also combat capacity.

For example, a 2nd-level War wagon can load 8 Heavy Infantrymen Armies (5 FV) and make 8 move-ments

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ATTACKThere are different types of battles: the pitched battle, the siege (carried out with the designated siege engines), the assault and the naval battle. Here we will illustrate the pitched battle.

The pitched battle can be fought to conquer one territory and/or to conquer a means of transportation. If the terri-tory is defended and you want to conquer it, the attacking Armies must be in an adjacent territory. If the territory has already been conquered and only the means of trans-portation has to be conquered, the attacking Armies need to be in the same territory as the transport.

An attack is one or more battle fought with Dice. The procedure is the following:1. The attacker announces which Captain will attack and

the targeted territory/transport.2. Play Empire cards.3. Roll the dice.4. Calculate the results.

Important notes:• The attacking Army needs a Captain to lead them to

attack. In case of a Captain absence, the Army can only defend itself.

• A Captain can lead any number of battles against the same or multiple enemies, but a maximum number of conquests per turn equal to its level.

• Armies that want to conquer an adjacent territory need one or more transports able to move them and with enough Movement Points (MP) to occupy the territory in case of victory, otherwise the attack can-not be carried out.

• The defender is obliged to use all of the Armies pres-ent on his territory in defense, both in the territory or loaded on transports.

USE OF EMPIRE CARDSBefore rolling the dice, first the attacker and then the de-fender reveal the Empire cards they intend to play for that battle; the maximum number of Empire cards playable by each player and for each roll is equal to his TL.

The cards can be played in combo with other cards and the technologies acquired by the player. Some cards can be used only during an attack, others only for defense, others in both cases. These restrictions are indicated on the Empire card.

USE OF TECHNOLOGIESSTRATEGY: gives a +1 bonus if the forces ratio is equal or superior to 3:1 or cancel the other player’s effect.LOGISTICS: once per pitched battle (in attack or defense) you can add the reserves gathered around your Screen

Siege engines are medieval siege machines to weaken or destroy the enemy fortifications. They are the Catapult, Trebuchet and Bombard. The last one gives a bonus also in pitched battle.

The dice available in the game are 1d4, 1d6 and 1d8. They are employed during battles and other particu-lar game phases, such as Events and Calamities.

Example: 3 Infantrymen, 2 Archers and 3 Heavy In-fantrymen (24 FV) attack an adjacent territory. They are with a 1st-level War wagon which can carry 20 Armies and has 2 left movements. The attacking play-er can choose to use only 20 Armies during the attack, renouncing to 1 Archer and 1 Infantryman, since they cannot be carried by the War wagon.

Example: the blue player attacks the yellow player. Having a TL 3, he can play up to 3 Empire cards. His adversary has a TL 2 and therefore can respond with a maximum of 2 Empire cards.

For example, the Hired Assassin card allows the player to see the other player’s Empire cards and discard one of his choice.For example, the Heroine card improves the dice to roll in battle: if you rolled 1d6 you now roll 1d8.

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Player to the Armies in battle. Note: the reserves can be of a maximum of 5, 10 or 15 FV according to your TL. This action can be repeated once per pitched battle in attack or in defense. This technology can be used only if the territory of the battle is adjacent with one of the player’s settlements; the population limits cannot be overcome.There are many other technologies the influence directly the combat, such as MYSTICISM AND MONOTHEISM, TACTICS, ATTRITION, MEDICINE, SURGERY, HOS-PITAL, SCIENCE: ENGINEERING, ALCHEMY, which are explained more in detail in the designated section.

DICE ROLLBoth players roll 1d6 (unless there are special modifiers, that we shall see further on). Eventual bonuses given by the Empire cards are added to the result, which becomes the combat total.

RESULTThe difference between the two combat totals (dice + bonuses) determines the losses for the player who had the lowest result, expressed in FV. Loser suffers as many ca-sualties than the difference between modified rolls is, and attacker loses half as many (rounded down). Each player assigns the losses to his forces as he prefers.

The winner cannot inflict more losses to the number of Armies engaged in the battle, even when the difference in the combat totals could allow this. If one of the contend-ers doesn’t have enough Armies to assign the damages to, the losses on both sides need to be recalculated basing on the real number of Armies.

In case of a tie, no one wins and nothing happens

RESULT FOR CARDS AND MINIATURESAfter the combat each player discard all the Empire cards he used except for one, which he keeps in his hand.

90% of destroyed Armies are removed from the map and placed in the game reserve. The remaining 10% (rounded down, minimum 1 Army) goes in the adversary player’s reserve (Prisoners).

RESULT FOR CAPTAINSWhen a Captain wins a battle, he gains 1 level. Add the banner of the correspondent level to the miniature. You can gain no more than 1 experience level per turn and 3 levels for s single Captain.When a Captain leads one or more attacks against a target but does not conquer it he loses a level; if he only had 1 level he is removed from the game and returns to the play-er’s reserve. If more Captains attack the same target at the

Example: the attacker plays a Warlord card with TACTICS obtaining a +2 to his dice roll; he then plays the GENIUS card with ENGINEERING gaining a +4 on the dice roll.

Example 1: attacker and defender do not have bonus-es; they both roll 1d6, the attacker rolls a 2 and the defender a 3. The attacker loses 1 Army, the defender none.

Example 2: the attacker plays the Arbalist card (+1 in attack or in defense), the defender has no bonuses. The attacker rolls a 6, the defender rolls a 2. The difference is 5 (7-2=5): the defender loses 5 Armies, the attacker loses 2 Armies.

Example 3: the attacker plays the Arbalist card (+1 in attack or in defense), the defender plays the GENIUS card and the ENGINEERING technology (which com-bine giving a +2 in attack or in defense). The attacker rolls a 3 (3+1=4) and the defender a 2 (2+2=4): the result is a tie, there are no losses and nothing happens.

Example 4: the attacker plays the Arbalist card (+1 in attack or in defense), the Heroine card (which increas-es the die step by 1), the STRATEGY technology (+1 in attack or defense if the ratio of the forces is at least 3:1) and uses 1 Bombard (+1 in attack or defense); the defender has no bonuses. The attacker rolls 1d8 and has a 5 (5+3=8), the defender rolls 1: the defender los-es 7 Armies, the attacker loses 3. If the defender only has 6 Armies, he will lose all of them and the attacker will only lose 3 (the half).

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same time, the attacker will decide at each dice roll which Captain is attacking and which Empire cards to use; if the attack fails all of the Captains lose 1 experience level. If he has TACTICS, only the last attacking Captain loses 1 experience level.

MULTIPLE ATTACKSIn case there are more than one player in defense (or more than one player attacking in case of a Crusade), players attack and defend alternately rolling the dice one by one and using only their own Empire cards. The order of attack or defense is decided with the faction with more players, or in case of parity by the attacking faction.

CONQUEST OF A TERRITORYWhen the attacker destroys the enemy Armies on a terri-tory or on a transport, he has to occupy it with at least the Armies he used during the attack.

In the conquered territory there might be Captains, trans-ports, siege engines, settlements or buildings (military, religious and commercial) that belonged to the defeated: the winner has to decide what to do with them. He can:

• Destroy them: the miniatures and tiles have to be removed and return to the player’s or to the game re-serve. Some elements like the Captain, the Cathedral, Tower, Fort and Castle, give HP if destroyed (see the HP table in the End of Game chapter), but only if they belonged to another player.

• Sack them: for each of the aforementioned elements the winner gains Florins for half of their value. The sacked elements return to the defeated player’s or to the game reserve.

• Conquer them: settlements, siege engines and commercial/religious buildings, if not destroyed or sacked, go to the player who conquered the territory they are in. The same is for transports, but in this case the original miniatures go to the defeated player’s reserve and have to be replaced by the winner’s. You cannot conquer Captains. Players have to consider the normal game restrictions (like the limit given by one’s own TL) regarding transports and siege engines.

It is not mandatory to apply only one of these options. The winner may decide to destroy the Captain and the enemy Caravans, sack the Cathedral and conquer the City.

CONQUEST OF A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATIONWhen the last Army on a transport is defeated, the pro-cess is the same as for the conquest of a territory. Note: you cannot have more transports than those allowed by your TL. Those in excess must be destroyed.

Example: a 1st-level Captain who leads a battle and conquers one territory becomes a 2nd level.

Example: if the blue player is attacking the green and yellow players who are defending together, he will challenge the yellow player first and then the green one.

Example: if the winner has a TL 2 and already has 2 Caravans he will be obliged to destroy or sack them.

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ASSAULT TO A FORTIFICATIONThis kind of attack can happen when the defender has a fortification in his territory (Tower, Fort or Castle).First you must check if some of the defender’s Armies are considered to be out of the fortification, due to the fact that the fortification has a capacity limit: it can contain a maximum of 10 FV if it’s a Tower, 20 FV if it’s a Fort, 30 FV if it’s a Castle. If some Armies do not fit in the given space they are considered to be outside: a pitched battle must be held against these forces on the outside first.If all of the defender’s Armies can fit inside the fortifica-tion, the Assault may take place. There are some differenc-es from the pitched field:

• The attacker starts using 1d4.• The defender uses 1d6+1 for the Tower, 1d6+2 for the

Fort, 1d6+3 for the Castle.• When the defender wins, he does not lose any

Armies.• If the assault is carried from the sea, the defender

can use LOGISTICS, but only if the territory has one defender’s settlement.

SIEGEThis kind of attack can happen when the defender has a fortification in his territory (Tower, Fort or Castle). First, just like the Assault, you must check if some of the defender’s Armies are considered to be out of the fortifi-cation, due to the fact that, as said, the fortification has a capacity limit (it can contain a maximum of 10 FV if it’s a Tower, 20 FV if it’s a Fort, 30 FV if it’s a Castle). If some Armies do not fit in the given space, a pitched battle must be held against these forces first. Once they have been eliminated (or in their absence) the attacker may declare a siege, provided that he has at least one siege engine and a number of Armies superior to the besieged.

Siege engines have an increasing capacity to demolish for-tifications: Catapult 1, Trebuchet 2, Bombard 3. Military buildings have an increasing resistance value: Tower 1, Fort 2, Castle 3. When a fortification is damaged it must be replaced by one of the lesser fortifications: when a Castle suffers 1 damage it becomes a Fort, when it suffers 2 damages it becomes a Tower. If the Tower suffers 1 or more damages it must be removed, just like a Castle that suffers 3 damag-es or a Fort with 2 or more damages.

• If besieged Armies end up out of the fortification because of its destruction, the attacker has to lead a pitch battle against them before he can continue the Siege.

• The attacker can interrupt the Siege when he wants, passing to an Assault or moving.

• If led on land, the Siege impedes to the transports (both civilians and military) to exit/enter in the territory by land, but they can pass by sea. If the Siege

Example: the green player assaults the red player’s Fort. Both choose to not play Empire cards. The blue player rolls 1d4 and scores a 3, while the red player rolls 1d6 and scores a 4, to which he adds a +2 bonus of his own fortification. The blue player removes 3 Armies as his loss, while the red player does not remove any Army.

Example: the blue player attacks a yellow player’s territory where there are 12 Armies and 1 Tower. 10 Armies are considered to be inside the Tower and 2 outside. The blue player resolves the pitched battle against the 2 outside Armies and can then siege the Tower.

Example: the attacker has a Catapult; he can siege a Castle for 2 rounds e then assault the remaining Tower. In this case the defender will only have 1 intact level of the military building, therefore only 10 Armies will be considered inside.

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is from both land and sea, transports cannot move in any way.

At the end of each turn after the first turn of a Siege, Armies from both sides suffer an attrition: 10% of the FV of the Armies (rounded down) go to the player’s reserve. LOGISTICS cancels this effect.

NAVAL BATTLESIn a naval battle, the first thing that happens is that the involved Galleys ram an adversary: roll 1d4 adding the Galley level as a bonus. The result is the losses suffered from the other part. The Armies’ owner chooses their losses and removes them from the board.

After this first clash, if there are still Armies on both sides, the combat continues on a normal pitched battle.

• the player who has ALCHEMY has a stable +1 for each Galley in the first battle, and a stable +1 during the dice rolling in the following pitched battles.

• All of the bonuses of the pitched battle are valid, in-cluded STRATEGY or the +1 bonus for each 3rd level siege engine boarded.

• Galleys do not take part in land battles, neither when Armies disembark from a fleet to a coastal territory.

• Naval battles only happen at open sea. If the attack is led toward a harbor, the initial ramming and relative losses do not occur; the battle continues with the normal combat.

• You are obliged to attack a harbor and the relative settlement to be able to attack the ships docked there, even when the City belongs to Barbarians. If the docked ships DO NOT belong to the player who owns the settlement, and there is a pact that allows this (Crossing Territories), it is possible to attack the player’s ships.

• If the settlement is fortified it is possible to decide if leading a siege from the sea, disembarking to lead a siege from the land or directly assault the fortification.

NAVAL BLOCKS You can use your own Armies to block the adversary ships, taking advantage of the coastal shape. Naval blocks can be of 2 types: passive and active.

Passive: one player that controls both territories overlook-ing a channel he automatically generates a naval block against the other players. If they want to pass they must draw up a Crossing Territories pact, or need to conquer at least 1 of the 2 coastal territories thus breaking the block.

Active: a fleet with at least 1 Galley declares a naval block against another player for the sea area where the fleet is: the adversary fleet can bypass the block only if it has a superior number of Galleys; otherwise it can pass only if it

Example: if Tunis is under siege from the sea, a Cara-van may leave overland while a Merchant Ship would be forced to stay.

Example: at the end of the second turn of the siege the yellow player is leading the siege with 15 Armies and 1 Catapult the green player’s Fort, defended by 10 Armies. Both put 1 Army back in their reserve because of attrition.

Example: the green player uses one of his 3rd level Galleys loaded with 40 Armies to attack the blue play-er’s Merchant Ship protected by a 1st level Galley with 25 Armies. They ram into each other and both roll 1d4: the green player scores 2, the blue 3. The green player inflicts 5 losses to his adversary (2 from the die + 3 from the Galley level), while the green inflicts 3.

Example: the red player occupies both Thrace and Mysia (Dardanelles) and imposes a naval block so that no other player can pass from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and vice versa.

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engages battle and ends in numerical advantage. Who cre-ated the block can engage battle even when outnumbered.

PLAYER ELIMINATIONWhen one player loses his last territory/means of trans-portation he is eliminated from the game. The winner takes all of his Empire cards, TECHNOLOGIES (double Technologies do not count) and all of his Florins. For the “Return in game” variation, which allows one defeated player to return in game, see the Advanced Rules.

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10. COMMERCE PHASE

During this phase all the commercial transports can do actions: they can move, sell and buy, but only 2 of these actions are allowed in the same turn.

The player can move his commercial transports as he pre-fers. Civilian transports move with 6/7/8 MP according to their level, as indicated in the following table; terrain modifiers described in the Combat section apply (they are also shown in the Player Screen).

Transport Goods carry-ing capacity PM

I livello 10 6II livello 30 7III livello 50 8

• Loading and unloading costs 1 MP if this action takes place on a settlement, 2 MP on all other territories and on sea areas.

• It is permitted to unload goods on a territory and load them with another commercial transport.

When buying or selling, the player pays an amount of Florins as reported on the commercial table, depending on the goods and where the trading takes place. He then takes the goods cubes from his transport and places them in the game reserve (selling) or on reverse, he takes them from the reserve and places them on the transport (buy-ing).

• Buying and selling do not cost MP for the involved transport.

• You can sell all of the goods on the transport or only part of them.

• You can buy and sell only in territories with settle-ments (Village, Hamlet, City).

• One cannot buy and sell in 2 settlements controlled by the same player, unless he has the technology MARKET.

Example: one Caravan purchases goods, then moves. Right now it cannot purchase again, nor selling.

Example: the Mamluk buys 10 Spices in Damascus and pays 300 Florins for them. He transports them on a 1st level Caravan (movement capacity: 6 MP) to Alexandria. He spends 5 MP and 1 MP to unload the Spices in the City of Alexandria..

Example: with a 1st level Merchant Ship (movement capacity: 7 MP because he has WEAVING), one player loads the Spices in Alexandria spending 1 MP, and then reaches the harbor of Palermo because he has ASTRONOMY and sells the 10 Spices in the same turn (510 Florins).

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THE POPE

At the beginning of the game, among the Christian play-ers it is randomly chosen who will become the Pope. The Pope has one extra territory in addition to his Kingdom territories: the Papal States (the yellow territory which includes Rome).

If the Pope is present, consider the following rules:

• if the Papal States are attacked and then conquered, the Pope dies. The winning player, if Christian (Hun-garian Kingdom or Sacred Roman Empire) becomes the new Pope.

• If the player who conquered the Papal States is not a Christian, the role of Pope is suspended until the Pa-pal States are conquered again by a Christian player.

• If the Pope dies for other causes (for an Event card for example) and there is at least one Christian player in the game, the election for a new Pope among all the Christian players takes place immediately: each Christian player votes openly, and he who gains the majority of votes is the new Pope. In case of a tie, he who offers more Florins in a secret auction becomes Pope.

During the game the Pope plays normally, but he has two more options than the other players: proclaim a Crusade and excommunicate the Christian players.

Crusade: when the Crusade Event card is drawn, the Pope player must proclaim a Crusade. It is possible to do so only if Jerusalem belongs to the Barbarians or to a non-Christian player.

The Crusade will be successful if during the next 4 game turns at least X FV Armies of Christian players will be in Jerusalem at the same time and attack. X is any multipli-er of 15, decided by the Pope. If this happens, all of the participants gain 1 HP for each X multiplier (maximum 5), otherwise they lose a half (rounded down).

Excommunication: the Pope can decide to excommu-nicate Christian players under certain circumstances. To be excommunicated, a Christian player must have attacked the Papal States without achieving to conquer it, or refused to take part in a Crusade. An excommunicated player loses HP, cannot take part in a Crusade nor becom-ing Pope by election or vote during this election. The Pope player may remove the excommunication (lost HP are reinstated and other restrictions are canceled).

Example: the blue player is the Pope. The yellow play-er (Mamluk) attacks and conquers the Papal States. The Pope dies. On the next turn the green player re-conquers the Papal States and becomes the new Pope.

Example: the Crusade card is drawn and the Pope player proclaims a Crusade in Jerusalem for 45 FV of Armies. If in 4 turns the Christian players man-age to have this number of Armies in the territory of Jerusalem they will gain 3 HP, otherwise they will lose 1 HP).

OtHER ELEMEntS

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OVERPOPULATION

Each type of terrain has a maximum FV. Players cannot overcome these limits at will, but it may happen that these limits are overcome because of Events or Calamities. In this case an Overpopulation happened: all items in excess must be removed by the end of the turn and placed in the player’s reserve.

Important note: everything that is with a War wagon does not count for the overpopulation of the territory.

Terrain FV limitPlain 5

AGRICULTURE +5CROP ROTATION +5

Wood 5HUNTING +5

Hill 5FARMING +5

Desert 5Mountain 5

Settlement and buildings give a bonus to terrains:Village +10Hamlet +20City +30Cathedral +10Capital +10Tower +5Fort +10Castle +15

CONTESTED TERRITORIES

A territory where there are Armies of different players in combat against each other is contested. It is therefore not assigned to any player.

A territory where there are Armies of different players at peace with each other belongs to the player who owned it before the arrival of the other player’s Armies. If this situation continues, you can place a player’s tile for the owning player on the board as a memorandum.

When multiple players attack the same territory togeth-er, the territory is assigned by mutual agreement. If an agreement is not reached at the conquering, the territory becomes contested.

Example: in a wooden territory (5) there is a Hamlet (+20) and a Tower (+5). There are 35 Armies in the territory, therefore there is an overpopulation of 5 FV of Armies, which will be eliminated at the end of the turn. The player who owns them chooses how.

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BARBARIANS

Barbarians act during their assigned sub-phase in the Event Phase. It takes place if the Barbarians exceed the population limits in their respective territories: if this happens, the Barbarians in the territory attack a player’s adjacent territory

• If a Barbarian territory can attack the players’ adjacent territories, the attack will be on the territory which allows the conquest of the entire Kingdom. If more territories have this characteristic the one with the lowest FV will be attacked. In case of a tie the unfor-tified one will be attacked, in case of a further tie the one with the smallest settlement, and finally the one with less Captains.

• A player’s means of transport or territory cannot be attacked by Barbarians more than once per turn. If more Barbarian territories can attack the same terri-tory (or transport), the Barbarian territory with the highest FV will attack. In case of 2 or more equivalent FV, the one with the highest-level Captain will attack. If the tie continues, roll a die to decide.

Barbarians continue the battle until the enemy is defeat-ed or they are reduced to a Force Value of 1. In case of victory, they keep military and civilian buildings, but they destroy Cathedrals and commerce buildings.

Note: Barbarians attack even when they have a Force Val-ue higher than a means of transport that passes through or stops in their territory without making battles. In this particular case the battle happens immediately during the turn of the player who is moving the transport.

If the Barbarian territory does not border players’ territo-ries, but exceeds the population limit of the territory, see the following list of actions:

1. Place a Tower if available in the game reserve.2. Build a Village, if there’s the icon of Inhabited Area on

the map, there aren’t any settlements and the Village is available in the game reserve.

3. Place a Fort, if there’s already a Tower and the Fort is available in the game reserve. The Tower is removed and placed in the game reserve.

4. Place a Hamlet, if there’s already a Village and the Hamlet is available in the game reserve. The Village is removed and placed in the game reserve.

5. Place a new Barbarian Captain.6. Promote the 1st-level Captain.7. (Only for coastal territories) Place one Barbarian

Galley which will load a maximum of 20 Barbarian Armies from that territory and 1 Barbarian Captain. Note: you have to leave at least 1 FV Barbarians in the starting territory. This ship will cover 1 sea area at the beginning of each Event Phase, moving toward the

Example. In a plain there are 2 Archers and 1 Barbar-ian Infantryman for a total of 7 FV. The population limit of 5 has been exceeded: the Barbarians attack!There are only two territories left to the Barbarian to complete his Kingdom and both are adjacent: one is occupied by the yellow player and the other by the red player. The yellow has 10 FV Armies, the red 5 FV Armies. The Barbarians attack the red player’s territory.

Example. In the Barbarian territory there are a Vil-lage and a Tower. The population limit is exceeded, so the Tower is replaced by a Fort.

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nearest player’s Galley within 3 areas. If there aren’t players’ Galleys within this range it will head toward the nearest player’s territory, where it will unload all its Armies and will attack following the normal Bar-barians’ rules. After the landing the Barbarian Galley has to be removed and returns to the game reserve.

BARBARIAN CAPTAINSEach time the Barbarian Armies conquer a territory or a means of transport the Barbarian Captain is promoted by 1 level, until a maximum of 3. The Barbarian Captains increase respectively by +1, +2 and +3 the dice roll result both in attack and defense. If the Barbarian Army is attacked and defeated, the Captain has to be removed and returns to the game reserve. If the Captain was a 2nd- or 3rd- level the player who defeated him draws 1 Treasure card.

ACTIVATION OF BARBARIANSIf a player conquers a Barbarian territory, he “activates” the Barbarians in the adjacent territories: all Barbarian territories adjacent to the attacked territory and all the Barbarian territories in the same Kingdom of the attacked territory increase by 1 the Barbarian Army; if in these ter-ritories there are Barbarian Captains, the Armies increase respectively by +1, +2 and +3 according to the Captains’ level.

Treasure cards: they represent the “war booty” of the Barbarian Captains. Each card has 3 symbols and the respective quantities: FV Armies, Florins and goods. Roll 1d8 to determine the kind of goods that belonged to the Barbarian Captain. The FV of the Armies counts as bonus in the next reinforcement phase. The Florins are immediately available for the player

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Once the conditions established at the beginning of the game are reached, HP are calculated. Add to the owned HP (positive and negative) the following indicated in the table:

During the game you gain HP for:

Condition HPDestroying a Captain 1Destroying a settlement 1Destroying a Tower 1Destroying a Fort 2Destroying a Castle 3Destroying a Cathedral of another religion/your own religion 1/-2

Reaching TL 2 1Reaching TL 3 2Diplomatic Actions variableBecoming Pope 1Conquering Rome (non-Christian) 3Reconquering Rome (occupied by a non-Christian) 3

Being excommunicated -2Taking part in a Crusade (Christian) variable

At the end of the game the following HP are obtained:

Own a Small Kingdom 1Own a Minor Kingdom 2Own a Great Kingdom 3Objective fulfilled 3Every 1000 Florins 1Owned Cathedral 1Owned religious capital 2Being the Pope 2Owning Jerusalem 3

The player with most HP wins. In case of a tie, the player with more territories wins the game. If there is another tie, the player with more armies wins, and lastly the player with more Florins.

The advanced rules are presented as game modules. It is possible to use only 1 or more modules to one’s liking.

Example: The blue player conquests a City. He chooses to destroy it and to kill the opponent’s Captain left without armies supporting him. He gains 2 HP.

VICtORY

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MODULE 1. COMBAT

This module allows a significant increasing of the combat’s strategic planning. Here are the changes to be considered: Reinforcement phase. Each player gains a FV as in the base game. This value may be expended immediately or collected for the next turn. In the second case the player takes a corresponding value of Army tokens from the game reserve.

• One cannot accumulate more than 10 FV x one’s TL.

The Army tokens may be converted into Armies in any re-inforcement phase by putting them into the game reserve.

All Armies near a settlement can be improved by paying the difference in FV.

Combat phase, Movement. Movement is managed in same way as in the base game. The loading capacity of the means of transport does not depend on the Armies’ FV, but on their type: each Army on foot will occupy 5 spaces of the means’ capacity, the Knights 10.

Combat Phase, Attack. The best way to carry out a battle is to have every type of Army deployed.

1. If both factions have the same type of Army, proceed with combat as in the base game.

2. If there are some differences and some Armies are present only in one of the two factions, they are called uncontested. The “contested” situation needs to be assessed at the beginning of the battle. The effect is summarized in the following chart:

Uncontested Army ResultArcher Preventive attack: roll 1d6 for

each Archer: each 5-6 results deals 1 attack to the enemy. When assaulting a fortification a successful roll is only a 6, while if the Archer is fortified it becomes a 4-5-6.

Knight +1 damage for each Knight to the enemy when in pitched battle, regardless of who wins the combat.

Heavy Infantryman -1 damage for each Heavy Infantryman for its owner, regardless of who wins the combat.

Example. Players may agree to use the 1st Module (Advanced Combat) and the 4th Module (Relics), but not the others.

Example. The blue player receives reinforcements for 20 FV. He decides to take a Knight (10 FV) and 1 Heavy Infantryman (5 FV) and 1 Army token worth 5 FV.

The Army tokens show a number correspond-ing to a Force Value and are specifically for this module.

Example. On the 3rd turn, the blue player gathers 15 FV but decides to not spend them all; he takes 5 Army tokens as a reminder and places them behind his screen. On the next turn he receives again 15 FV of reinforcement. He decides to use 5 FV of his Army tokens, and can therefore take 2 Knights (20 FV).

Example. An Infantryman in a City becomes a Heavy Infantryman by spending 4 FV.

Example. A 1st-level Galley with a loading capacity of 20 might transport 1 Knight (10 spaces), 1 Archer (5 spaces) and 1 Infantryman (5 spaces).

Example. 1 Knight and 1 Archer fight against 2 Knights and 4 Archers. The combat continues with the base game rules.

Example. 1 Knight, 1 Archer and 1 Heavy Infantry-man fight against 2 Knights and 4 Archers. The attack-er will be able to avoid 1 damage from the adversary.

Example. Two factions confront each other thus assembled: the blue player has 1 Archer, 1 Knight, 3 Infantrymen, while the yellow player has 2 Knights, 2 Infantrymen and 1 Heavy Infantryman.The blue player is entitled to make a preventive attack since he has an uncontested Archer: he rolls a 5 deal-ing 1 damage to the enemy. The yellow player decides to remove 1 Infantryman.The battle then proceeds: the blue scores a 6 and the yellow a 3. The yellow suffers 3 damages, which become 2 since the yellow has 1 uncontested Heavy Infantryman. The blue suffers 1 damage.

ADVAnCED RuLES

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Infantryman +1 on the d6 roll for each Infantryman sacrificed by its owner before the dice roll.

Combat phase, Defense. When assigning damage, the Defender decides how to distribute them keeping in mind the following rules:

1. Assign the damages one by one. 2. The Heavy Infantryman who suffers 1 damage is re-

placed by an Infantryman. His Force Value therefore lowers from 5 FV to 3 FV.

3. The Knight who suffers 1 damage is replaced by a Heavy Infantryman. His Force Value therefore lowers from 10 FV to 5 FV.

4. The Infantryman who suffers 1 damage is removed from the game.

5. The Archer is always the last Army to which dam-ages are assigned to. When he suffers 1 damage he is removed from the game.

If the Defender doesn’t have Armies available for a re-placement, he proceeds with the next replacement; if this is not possible, the damaged Army is removed.

MODULE 2. RETREAT AND SURRENDER

Surrender proposal: one of the two factions grants the other a surrender with honor. In this case the surrendered loses 1 HP (and 1 level of his attacking Captain), but can take back the 90% of his Armies, while the 10% become prisoners. Th one who didn’t surrender keeps or conquers the territory. If he conquers it he gains also the relative benefits (1 HP and 1 level for his Captain).Truce proposal: one of the factions offers a truce. If accepted, the battle ends immediately without any HP or Captains’ penalty for both parts.

• One part can obviously ask the other to grant him the honor of surrender or a truce in any moment.

Flee. One of the two parts can also try to retreat without a formal proposal from the other part. If this is the case, the player has to announce it before the battle’s dice rolling. In this case the normal battle will take place, and the fleeing player will have a -4 penalty on the dice roll (or -1 if he renounces to deal damage to the adversary for this specif-ic roll). After the battle, the player who has fled can take back all his residual Armies. In this case also, the one who flees loses 1 HP.

• There has to be a possible escape. If one Army is surrounded or there aren’t any possible transits, the

Example. 4 damages need to be assigned among 1 Knight, 1 Archer, 2 Heavy Infantrymen, 1 Infantry-man. The Defender assigns 1 damage to the 2 Heavy Infantrymen (which become Infantrymen) and to the Knight (who becomes a Heavy Infantryman) and 1 damage to the Infantryman. As a result we have: 1 Heavy Infantryman, 2 Infantrymen, 1 Archer.

Example 2. 3 damages need to be assigned between 1 Knight and 2 Heavy Infantrymen. The Defender assigns 1 damage to the Heavy Infantrymen who be-comes an Infantryman, another damage to the Infan-tryman who needs to be removed. He then assigns the third damage to the Heavy Infantryman who becomes an Infantryman. As a result we have 1 Knight and 1 Infantryman.

Example 3. 2 damages are assigned to a Knight: as a result we have 1 Infantryman.

Example 4. 1 damage is assigned to a Knight. The Defender doesn’t have Infantryman or Heavy Infan-tryman Armies in his reserve. The Knight is removed.

Example On the second round of battle the attack-er understands he made a mistake. He declares his escape and his intention to renounce to damage the adversary for this round. The dice are rolled and the attacker eliminates his fallen. The player takes back in his hand his residual Armies, loses 1 HP and his Captain loses 1 level.

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escape is not possible.• The Armies “taken back” may be placed for free

during the next reinforcement turn.

MODULE 3. COMMERCE

On the game board the settlements show some symbols: they are goods offered and requested. According to the settlement there might be more or less of them. These indications are for this game module. When one play-er arrives in a certain settlement he can sell there the requested goods or buy the offered ones by paying the current market prices. Note: the table with the fixed prices of the base game is not used when this module is active.

Market value. At the beginning of the game all the goods are worth 50 Florins.Each time a player sells a given good he places 1 token of the sold good on the board, in the market panel. Always place 1 token regardless of how many goods have been sold.

Market variation. When there are at least X + 1 market tokens on the board (X being the number of players), the market phase takes place at the end of the turn: all the goods without a token increase their value by 10 Florins. All the goods with a market token decrease their price by 10 Florins for each token present.To indicate prices, move the correspondent indicator. You cannot exceed the minimum or maximum value. Once the variation has ended, remove the tokens.

MODULE 4. RELICS

A Relic icon might be present on the cards. In this case, roll 1d8 to determine (looking at the back of the Event card) where the relic has been found. Place 1 Relic token in the chosen territory.The first player that brings a Captain in that place can take it as a free action. The relic is then associated to that Captain and can be transported to a Cathedral.

• The first to take a Relic receives immediately 1 HP. At the end of the game, a Cathedral with a Relic is worth 2 HP instead of 1.

MODULE 5. ALLIANCES

Players form alliances at the beginning of the game, manifest and as they see fit. Alliances last for the whole duration of the game. Allies gain a final game value equal to the sum of the HP they gained singularly.

Example. In a 4-player game during his turn the blue player sells 3 salt goods and 1 leather good in Paris. The salt is worth 30 and the leather 50. He earns 140 Florins. He therefore places one market token on leather and one on salt. Right after, in his turn, the green player sells wine, leather and weaponry. Without examining the details of the transaction, he places one market token on wine, leather and weap-onry. At the end of the turn there are 5 market tokens, and the market can take place: salt, wine and weap-onry decrease their price by 10 Florins, the leather by 20 Florins; all other goods increase their price by 10 Florins.

Example. There are two expert players and two beginner players. It is possible to play a game with 3 factions: two single players and an alliance between

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Thanks to this module it is possible to balance games where there are both expert and beginner players. It is also possible to develop compelling group strategies.

MODULE 6. RETURN TO PLAY

When one player is defeated (he loses his last Army), instead of quitting he can return to play. The player takes control of a Minor Kingdom of his choice which is not controlled by another player.If there isn’t such a Kingdom, he takes control of a Mi-nor Kingdom of his choice controlled by the player who eliminated him.If this doesn’t exist, he chooses up to 4 territories adjacent to the player who eliminated him which are out of his starting Kingdom.

• He cancels every Diplomatic Pact previously drawn up and gives his Florins back to the game reserve.

• He takes 12 FV of Armies per owned territory and distributes them as he prefers. He then takes 1 Cap-tain and the normal beginning equipment of means of transport, siege machines and religious buildings.

• He places 1 Village on every Inhabited Area without settlements.

• He takes 1000 Florins from the game reserve. He keeps the Technologies and the HP he had previously.

Concerning the Diplomatic Pacts, the player in his new Kingdom counts as a new player.

MODULE 7. THE KING

At the beginning of the game each player places under his Captain the King tile, to identify him as such. During the game each player can have only one King.The King gives a +1 to the roll during battle and can move himself and a number of Armies equal to 20 FV x player’s TL for free overland. This movement can also include siege machines and means of transport present in the territory.

If the King Captain is killed in a battle he is considered captured. When this happens the player who owns the captured King will have to state publicly the amount of Florins he possesses, and give half to the player who cap-tured him (or to the game reserve if it’s Barbarians). The player may then place him in his Capital on the next turn. The player who captured the King gains 2 HP, while the player whose King was captured loses 2.

the two beginners.

Example. The yellow player is defeated by the blue player. There aren’t any Minor Kingdoms still free, so he takes control of a blue player’s Minor Kingdom: he removes his Armies and places 48 FV of his own Armies as he prefers.

Example. The King is in a territory with 4 Archers, 3 Heavy Infantrymen and 2 Knights. The player’s TL is 2 so he can perform the King’s free movement for a maximum of 40 FV of Armies: he moves the 2 Knights, 3 Heavy Infantrymen and 1 Archer (for a to-tal of 38 FV) of one territory and leaves the 3 Archers where they are.

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OTHER MODULES

There are other advanced Modules currently under devel-opment. Among these for example there’s the module for solitary game, which allows to play solo against the Bar-barians, the Territorial Combat module, which changes the Armies’ value according to the kind of territory, and the Pirates’ module, which redefines the sea’s management procedure.