Introduction

BECOME A RULER OF A MEDIEVAL BARONY AND MAKE YOUR WAY

INTO THE MEDIEVAL CHRONICLES. BUILD CITIES, CONSTRUCT FAMOUS
LANDMARKS, DEVELOP TECHNOLOGIES, AND RAISE ARMIES. DRAW LORDS
TO YOUR BANNER AS YOU GROW IN POWER. CONQUER NEW LANDS
AND SECURE VICTORY BY STRENGTH OF ARMS OR BY TECHNOLOGICAL
AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. YOUR HISTORY BEGINS NOW!

These rules concern playing Dark Ages without the use of additional modules,
for 2– 4 players. For 5–8 player rules, see the “Great Domain” module on page 31.
For 1-player rules, see the “Lordlings and Raiders” module on page 26.

credits

Dark Ages – Holy Roman Empire Board&Dice:

Game Design: Adam Kwapiński and Andrei Novac
Game Development: Błażej Kubacki, Andrei Novac,
Dávid Turczi
Solo and Cooperative Mode design: Dávid Turczi
Solo and Cooperative Mode development: Xavi Bordes
Illustrations: Joel Holzman, Aleksander Zawada,
Zbigniew Umgelter
Graphic Design: Zbigniew Umgelter
Rulebook: Błażej Kubacki, Dávid Turczi
Rulebook editing: Weronika Rędziniak, Rainer Åhlfors
Rulebook DTP: Katarzyna Fiebiger
Primary Testers: Kamil Lazarowicz, Jarek Chmiel,
Joanna Gleń, Marcin Gleń, Rafał Gleń, Mateusz
Gospodarczyk, Martyna Machnica, Maciej „mat_eyo”
Matejko, Michał Sieńko.
The designers and developers would like to thank all
Kickstarter backers and fans who helped to improve and
test the game – and helped make this game a reality!
Executive Manager: Andrei Novac
Operations Manager: Aleksandra Menio
Head of Marketing: Filip Głowacz
Head of Sales: Ireneusz Huszcza
Art Direction: Kuba Polkowski
Head of Development: Błażej Kubacki
Although we take a lot of care to make sure that your
game is complete, manufacturing mistakes can still leave
you with a missing or damaged component. If that hap-
pens, please contact us to receive replacements swiftly,
and with our sincere apologies.
Customer support:
https://boardanddice.com/customer-support/
© 2021 Board&Dice. All rights reserved.
For more information about Dark Ages please visit
WWW.BOARDANDDICE.COM

2 Introduction – CREDITS
 Components

COMMON COMPONENTS

• Main board, with the Victory Point (VP) track around it • 7 Ruler cards

• 6 Title cards

• Culture board, with the Culture track and card offer,

the action spaces, and the Church track
• 6 Barbarian Military unit cards

• For each player, in 4 colours:

• 5 Action cards ◦ 1 Player board

• 248 Culture and Module cards

◦ 5 Cavalry miniatures

4 Components
◦ 6 Archer miniatures • 25 Barbarian tokens (with blue symbols)

• 100 resource tokens

◦ 7 Infantry miniatures
◦ 25 Wood

◦ 25 Leather
◦ 12 Farm miniatures

◦ 25 Stone

◦ 6 Noble discs

◦ 25 Iron

◦ 1 large (VP) and 2 small (Warehouse and Culture) markers • 25 Gold tokens

• 15 City miniatures
◦ +100 / +200 VP token

◦ 14 Player markers
• 30 Keep miniatures

Components 5
• 88 Production building miniatures
MODULE SPECIFIC COMPONENTS

• Lordlings and Raiders module cards (numbered CS01–CS36).

• 10 Church miniatures

• Grand Buildings module cards (numbered C049–C054 and

the cards for Rulers Marozia and Henry the Fowler).

• 19 Dice

• Alchemists module cards (numbered CT01–CT04).

• 25 Transient units
◦ 5 Cavalry miniatures

• Alliances module cards (numbered CA01–CA08).

◦ 10 Archer miniatures

• Commanders module cards (numbered CG01–CG05) and

large Commander Miniatures.

◦ 10 Infantry miniatures

6 Components
• 25 Skirmisher Barbarian tokens (with red symbols). • The Pope module card (numbered CP01).

• Wyrd module cards (numbered CY01–CY12).

• Travels of Benjamin module cards (numbered CB01–CB12).

• Ages of War module cards (numbered CW01–CW21) and

12 War tokens. • Crusades module cards (numbered CC01–CC12).

• Rise of Poland module cards (numbered CR01–CR20).

• Distant Campaigns module cards (numbered CM01–CM15).

BEFORE YOUR FIRST GAME

Before performing setup for the first time, carefully punch out
all cardboard components, sort all tokens and tiles, as well as
cards (the numbers on cards will help you identify all module
cards and set them aside for your first game).

Components 7
 setup

Place the Main board in the middle of the gaming area. Remove every Culture card, Ruler card, and Title card
Place the Culture board next to it. showing a player count higher than the current number
of players, returning them to the game box — leaving the
Shuffle all Action cards and place one card face up onto
each of the five spaces in the centre of the Culture board. 2 players: , 3 players: , 4 players: .

Give each player a Player board, and all components of Place all Rulers with their 2 matching starting cards on
their chosen player colour. the board.

Note: The game comes with player markers of every co- Note: Marozia and Henry
lour. In the base game they may be used to mark wounds the Fowler require Module
sustained by your units or Barbarians. However, some 3 — Grand Buildings.
of the modules will instruct you to use a number of them. If playing without this Mod-
ule, remove these Rulers and
their starting cards from play.

8 BASIC GAME – Setup

Randomly determine a starting player. Starting with the
player on the right of the starting player, proceeding
counter-clockwise, each player chooses a Ruler, adding its
two starting cards to their hand. Remove any remaining
Rulers and their starting cards from play.
Place 11/13/15 Cities into the supply for a game with
2/3/4 players. Return any unused Cities to the game box.
From the supply, each player takes a City and places it
in the Province depicted on their Ruler card (becoming
their Capital), along with a Farm of their player colour
onto the first Farm space of the Capital’s Province.
Place a Church on each space of the Church track of the
Culture board.
Mix all Barbarian tokens together, and place one token,
with a random side facing up, in each Province with the
following exceptions: Provinces showing a player count
higher than the current number of players, and Provinces
that are player Capitals.
Place Player markers of an unused colour into Prov-
inces with no Capital and no Barbarian token. These
Provinces are blocked off, and out of play.
Remove any unused Barbarian tokens from the game,
returning them to the game box.
Place one of each (Infantry, Archer, Cavalry) Barbar-
ian Military cards with its regular side up (full illustra-
tion) next to the main board. Return the other three
cards to the box.
In each Province, place a Production building matching its
depicted resource. Production buildings placed in Capital
Provinces are placed so that they occupy one of the three
building spaces of the City.
BASIC GAME – Setup
Note: each straight wall of a City provides
a single space for exactly one building:
one of the coloured Production buildings
or a grey Church.
Each player places their VP marker on the 0 space of the
VP track around the Main board.
Each player places their Culture marker on the first (left-
most) space of the Culture track on the Culture board.
Each player places their Warehouse marker on the top-
most space of the Warehouse track on their Player board.
Each player places all their remaining Farms onto the
Farm track on their Player board, covering all spaces ex-
cept the leftmost one.
Shuffle the common Culture cards together to form the
draw deck, and place it on the Culture board. Deal one
face up Culture card into each space on the Culture board,
forming the Culture card offer.
Each player receives 1 Gold and 1 of each basic resource
(Wood, Leather, Stone, Iron).
Each player keeps 6/5/4 Noble discs (with 2/3/4 players)
in their personal supply, removing the remaining Noble
discs from the game, returning them to the game box.
Beginning with the starting player and going clockwise, the
first 1/1/2 players (in case of a 2/3/4-player game) places
one of their Noble discs in the Exhausted Nobles area of
the Culture board.
Each player places 2 of their Infantry units in their Capital.
The starting player takes the first turn of the game.
9
 General Concepts
The goal of the game is to score the most Victory Points (VP).
Whenever you gain VP, advance your marker along the track.
If you exceed 100 or 200 VP, place the corresponding token
underneath your scoring marker.
THE MAIN BOARD
The Main board is divided into Provinces. Most Provinces are
grouped into Regions (sharing matching background colours).
Provinces with white backgrounds count as Regions with a sin-
gle Province. Each Province depicts which resource it can pro-
duce (if the appropriate buildings are built in it), its name, and
two Farm spaces. There are 4 basic resources: Wood, Leather,
Stone, and Iron. You can gain them (taking them from the sup-
ply) and spend them (returning them to supply) through vari-
ous effects. Some Provinces also have small red hexagons with
numbers in them. These hexagons are only used during solo
play and have no meaning in multiplayer games.
A Province is considered to be neighbouring another Province
if they share a border or if they are connected by a water link.
10 BASIC GAME – general concepts
Example: Marca Geronis and Bohemia share a border. They are
neighbouring. Croatia and Benevento are connected by a water link.
They are also neighbouring.
Neighbouring Provinces Neighbouring Provinces
via border : Marca Geronis via water link: Croatia
and Bohemia and Benevento
Provinces can be either controlled or uncontrolled. A Prov-
ince is controlled if a player has at least one miniature of their
colour (a Unit or a Farm) in that Province. Otherwise a Prov-
ince is uncontrolled. Production buildings, Cities, etc. are not
player coloured, therefore they do not count towards the con-
trolled status of Provinces! Uncontrolled Provinces can be oc-
cupied by a Barbarian token, or unoccupied. All controlled
Provinces are occupied (by their controlling player, obviously).
Your starting Province is your Capital, shown on your Ruler
card. You can never lose control of your Capital.
GOLD AND CULTURE POINTS
Another very important asset in a game of Dark Ages is Gold.
Gold is not considered a resource, but whenever you need to
spend any resource (Wood, Leather, Stone, or Iron) you may
spend a Gold instead. Gold is also required for several crucial
effects, most notably Researching.
Besides VP, resources, and Gold, keep an eye on your Culture
Points. They are measured on the track in the centre of the
Culture board. Whenever you gain a Culture Point, move your
marker one space to the right.
The first player to reach a new red space on the Culture
track immediately receives one Gold. Each red space you have
reached gives you access to an additional Culture card from UNITS
the offer. The more Culture Points you have, the more options
you can select from. For a detailed explanation of the Culture card
offer, see the Development of Culture action on page 16.
PLAYER UNITS
A unit is a single Infantry, Archer or Cavalry miniature.
THE PLAYER BOARD The game comes with a supply of unit miniatures in four play-
er colours:

Each player has their own player board. You will tuck Com-
mon Technologies (maximum 4 of them) under the top side
of this board . The higher the level of a Technology, the
more the card will be visible from underneath your board. The
board itself also acts as a player aid for all things you can build
(see Build action on page 15), and shows your Farm and
Warehouse tracks . On the bottom half of your player
board, you can see your available Unit types (Infantry, Archer, Yellow unit miniatures (left to right): Infantry, Archers and Cavalry.
Cavalry) and their combat stats in battle . These spaces will Units stay in your supply until they are recruited onto the
be covered by your Military Technologies. To their right, you board. Killed or spent units are returned to your supply, avail-
collect trophies of Barbarians defeated in battle . able to be recruited later. You may not recruit more units of
a given type than what’s available in your supply. The charac-
teristics of your units are defined by the Military Technologies
on your player board.

TRANSIENT
UNITS
Some game effects will grant you
Transient units. These do not
count against your supply. Use the
neutral coloured (grey) miniatures
to represent them in battle if
necessary. They will immediately
return to the supply at the end
of the battle. Neutral miniatures
are considered to be unlimited.
In the unlikely case of them
running out, use any proxy
as desired.

BASIC GAME – general concepts 11

 BARBARIANS
Barbarian tokens start on the Main board: some of them show
their reward, some of them show the enemy you will be facing
if you attack them. For the exact procedure of attacking, see
page 18 for the Manoeuvre action and page 23 for Bat-
tle resolution.
Note: There are two types of neutral enemies: Bar-
barians and Skirmishers. Barbarians (recommended
for your first play) have blue unit symbols. Skirmish-
ers (added by Module 7 — Skirmishers) have red
unit symbols.
Barbarians Skirmishers
12 BASIC GAME – general concepts
CULTURE CARDS
When gained (usually via the Development of Culture action,
or the Cultural Exchange reaction — see pages 16 and 19,
respectively), Culture cards go into your hand. From there, they
can be played either during a Research action (see page 17)
or when triggered by specific circumstances, depending on the
card type. You have a hand limit of 10 Culture cards (shared
between all types). If you exceed this at the end of your turn,
discard cards until you have 10 cards left in your hand. Title
cards and your Ruler card are not Culture cards and do not
count towards the limit, nor do Technology cards you already
played onto your player board. In the base game, the types of
Culture cards are: Common Technology, Military Technology,
Relic, and Cognomen. Modules add various new types such as
Grand Buildings, or Raiders.
Discarded Culture cards are placed into a discard pile next to
the Culture card offer. They are never shuffled back into the
draw deck.
 On your turn
There are no rounds or phases in Dark Ages. Instead, the game
is played over the course of an undetermined number of turns,
clockwise from one player to the next. Each turn, there is one
active player. These rules will refer to “you” as the active player,
unless explicitly noted otherwise.
On your turn, you must either perform a Noble action, or Pass.
Note: Some modules introduce additional options,
prefaced by “instead of placing a Noble”.
To perform a Noble action, take a Noble disc from your per-
sonal supply, and place it on one of the action cards. There
may already be other Noble discs on the card, including your
own. Stack your disc on top of any existing Noble discs on
the same action card, creating a clear hierarchy to show whose
Noble was placed first. Then, resolve the selected action. A de-
tailed description of each action starts on page 15.
When you Pass (instead of placing a Noble disc), you retrieve
all of your Noble discs, check your resource limits, and pro-
duce. For details on Passing, see page 20.
USING TITLES
Immediately after finalizing your Noble action (but before any
reaction, see below), you may exhaust a ready Title card you
own to perform the same Noble action again (without having
to place another Noble disc). Exhausting means rotating the
card sideways, and a non-rotated card is considered ready.
Some Technologies allow you to do something “whenever you
resolve” a particular action; when you use a Title, the addition-
al action is resolved as a completely separate action, therefore
abilities like these can be used again. “One use” abilities (most-
ly found in modules) giving discounts or secondary effects for
BASIC GAME – on your turn
one particular action only affect one of your two actions —
not both — since the additional action is a completely sepa-
rate action.
Some abilities in the game grant you an action “without using
a Noble”. You may NOT repeat such actions using Title cards;
only Noble actions may be repeated using Title cards.
Important Restriction: You may use a Title
to repeat a Manoeuvre action if you did not
initiate a battle (not even against Barbar-
ians!) on your original action.
SETTLING
Before or after your Noble action(s), as a free action, you may
settle one or more Provinces that you control. You may only
settle a Province that has no Farms at all. When settling:
• Determine the settlement cost of
that Province.
◦ For Provinces neighbouring your
Capital and in the same Region
as your Capital: use the first (left-
most) value on your Ruler card.
◦ For Provinces neighbouring
your Capital (but not in the same
Region) or in the same Region as your Capital (but not
neighbouring it): use the second value on your Ruler card.
◦ For every other Province: use the third value on your
Ruler card.
• Return units from that Province equal to the
settlement cost of this Province to supply.
Level II units count as two units for settling
purposes, level III units count as three. For
more on unit levels, see Research action (page 17) and
Battle Result (page 23).
• Place the leftmost Farm from your Farm track onto the first
Farm space of this Province.
Farms increase your Army Upkeep limit (see Manoeuvre ac-
tion, page 18), and since they are in your colour, they al-
low you to maintain control of a Province without keeping
units stationed there. When defending a Province, each Farm
13
generates one Transient Infantry unit (page 11). If your
Army Upkeep limit is 7 or higher at the end of the game, you
will also score VP (see page 24).
If an ability instructs you to remove a Farm from your player
board, remove the leftmost Farm still on your player board
from the game, returning it to the game box. The only effect
of this is to permanently increase your Army Upkeep limit.
COGNOMEN CARDS
Another free action available to you on your turn is to play
a Cognomen card from your hand. Each Cognomen card has
a scoring condition: evaluate it, score VP, then place it in the
common discard pile. You may not keep Cognomen cards in
your hand during Passing, so you must play all Cognomen
cards in your hand when you Pass. For details, see page 20.
14 BASIC GAME – on your turn
REACTIONS
After performing your action(s) and any free actions, check the
Action cards. If there are 3 discs stacked on top of each other,
move the bottom one out. The owner of that disc — that may
be you or another player — must select one of the two adja-
cent reactions to perform.
The reacting player performs the effect of the reaction imme-
diately, and then their Noble disc is placed in the Exhausted
Nobles area, to the right of the Action cards.
After a player turn finishes (and a possible reaction has been
resolved), check if the end of the game has been triggered
(see conditions on page 24), then the next player clockwise
becomes the new active player and begins their turn.
Example: The white player places their disc on top two discs already
stacked on the Research action: yellow disc on top, white on the bot-
tom. After performing the Research action, the white player slides the
bottom disc out, allowing them to perform one of two reactions.
 Description of actions
and reactions
In the rules below, “you” refers to the player executing the
action (active player) or reaction (the player whose Noble
disc has been pushed out). Recruit exists as both an action
and a reaction, while all options marked with blue are ac-
tions, and all options marked with red are reactions.
B UILD
When you take the Build action, select one of the follow-
ing options:
• Build a City in a Province you control without a City.
• Build a Production building in a City you control.
• Build a Church in a City you control.
• Build a Keep in a City you control.
• Build a second Farm in a Province you control.
• Build a Warehouse on your player board.
CITY
The cost of a City is a and a . Each Province can
only have one City. When you build a City, immediately gain
2 Culture Points, and move the Production building already
present in that Province to occupy one of the three slots
around the City.
BASIC GAME – description of actions and reactions
The City will enable you to collect Production when you Pass
(page 20), recruit units (page 18), build more buildings,
and score points at the end of the game (page 24). When
defending a Province, a City generates one Transient Archer
unit (page 11).
The supply of Cities is limited. This supply running out is
an endgame condition.
PRODUCTION
BUILDING
A Production building costs if it matches the re-
source depicted in that Province. If it matches the resource
of a neighbouring Province, it costs instead. You
are not allowed to build a Production building of a resource
that is not depicted in that Province or a neighbouring one.
You may only build a Production building in a Province you
control that has a City with at least one free slot remaining.
Each Production building and each Church uses a slot.
The more Production buildings of the same type you have
in a City, the more resources of that type you will gain when
Passing. You can find a detailed description of Passing and
production on page 20.
CH URCH
A Church costs . You may
not build a Church in a Province that al-
ready contains a Church. You can only
build a Church in a Province you con-
trol that has a City with at least one free
slot remaining. Production buildings and
Churches take up a slot each. You must
build the first available Church from the Culture board’s
Church track. Building the last Church is an endgame trig-
ger. If there are no Churches left on the Church track, you
may not build one.
When you build a Church, score 5 VP, then 1 VP if there is
no Church in the Region you have just built in, and another
1 VP for each Region with at least one neighbouring Prov-
ince and no Churches.
15
Example: The yellow player Builds a Church in Carinthia. They
receive 5 VP, and then another 1 VP because this is the first Church
built in the Region Carinthia belongs to. Another 1 VP is scored for
the yellow Region, since there is no Church in any of its Provinces.
There is already a Church in Swabia, so the yellow player does not
receive the 1VP from the orange Region. Thus, the yellow player
receives a total of 7 VP.
Farms increase your Army limit (see Manoeuvre action,
page 18), can score VP during final scoring (page 24),
and allow you to control a Province without having units
present. When defending a Province, each Farm generates
one Transient Infantry unit (page 11).
WAREHOUSE
Warehouses are not built on the main board. When you
build a Warehouse, advance your marker on the Warehouse
track one space down. The cost of this Build action is de-
picted on the space you are moving onto.
Note: The first two Warehouses cost or ,
not both.
Example: The yellow player builds their second Warehouse. They
pay 1 to slide their Warehouse marker down 1 space on the
Warehouse track.

When you build a Church, you may immediately play a Relic

card from your hand. Unless specifically stated otherwise
on the Relic card, its effect is evaluated before you have to
pay the Church’s cost and may result in the reduction of
the cost of that Church. Discard the played Relic after the
Church is built.
The number of Warehouses you have built matters when
you Pass (see page 20), to hold or sell your goods. If
you build three or more Warehouses, you will also score VP
during final scoring (page 24).

KEEP
The cost of the Keep depends on the level of the Keep. The DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURE
first (bottommost) level of a Keep costs , the second
level costs , the third (topmost) level costs .
You can only build a Keep in a City you control, and no City
When you take the Development of Culture action, select
may have more than 3 levels of a Keep. With a Build action,
one accessible card from the Culture card offer to add to
you may only build one level. Some special effects will allow
your hand.
you to place multiple levels of a Keep at the same time.
A card on the Culture card offer is accessible if it is below
The Keep and its levels are useful during battle, both de-
or to the left of your Culture marker. You gain access to
fensively and offensively in its own, as well as in neighbour-
new cards from the Culture track when your Culture Marker
ing Provinces (see page 23), and during final scoring (see
enters a new red space on the Culture track.
page 24).
Example: The yellow player has access to the first, second and third
FARM card in the offer, but not to the fourth and any subsequent cards.

The first Farm of each Province has to be placed via a Settle

free action (see page 13). Each Province can hold two
Farms, and the second can be built using a Build action at
a cost of . When building a Farm, take the leftmost
available miniature from your Farm track and place it in
a Province you control that already has a Farm.

16 BASIC GAME – description of actions and reactions

Various card types can appear in the offer: Common and
Military Technologies (see Research action below), Rel-
ics (see building Churches on page 15), and Cognomen
cards (see on page 14). Modules introduce additional card
types: Special Buildings, Raiders, and many more.
After picking a card, slide every card in the offer to the
left (to fill the gap), then draw a new card and put it on the
rightmost space of the offer. If you repeat this action using
a Title card, refill after each pick.
RESEARCH
When you take the Research action, select one of three options:
• Play a Common Technology from your hand into one of
the empty slots at the top of your player board. Place the
card so that only the first level is visible.
Note: You may not remove previously researched
Technologies.
◦ If the first level of the played Technology is marked
“Immediate!”, resolve its effect. “Immediate!” effects
are one-time use only.
• Pay a Gold to increase the level of one of your Common
Technologies: slide it further out from underneath your
board to see its next level’s effect. Each Technology has
three levels, so this option can be chosen at most twice
per card.
◦ All visible levels are in effect unless one explicitly
replaces an earlier level.
◦ If the newly revealed level of the played Technology
is marked “Immediate!”, resolve its effect.
BASIC GAME – description of actions and reactions
• Pay a Gold to play a Military Technology onto the corre-
sponding unit type of your player board.
◦ A Military Technology of a higher level replaces the
corresponding one of a lower level (including the
pre-printed, first level). Infantry can only be replaced
by Infantry, Archers can only be replaced by Archers,
and Cavalry can only be replaced by Cavalry.
◦ Military Technologies can only be played to replace an-
other of the same type, exactly one level lower. Level
II Technologies can only replace the pre-printed ones,
level III Technologies can only replace level II ones.
◦ Most Military Technology cards show two different
unit types (a level II and a level III one). You may play
it as either of them. Orient the chosen unit type up-
wards when placing it on your player board.
◦ When you play a Military Technology, its values imme-
diately affect all your units in play, whereas the new unit
costs only affect future Recruit actions (see below).
◦ The level of the Technology is also relevant as the
unit’s level during Battle Result (page 23) and Set-
tling (page 13).
Example: The white player is playing a card that can be played as
Level 2 Archer or Level 3 Infantry (C074). Since all their Mili-
tary technologies are on Level 1 (pre-printed on the player board),
the white player is only allowed to play the card as a Level 2 Archer.
17
 RECRUIT
When you take the Recruit action or reaction, select a unit
type, and place a matching miniature from your supply into
a Province you control with a City. Your supply is limited: if
all miniatures of that type are already in play, you may not
recruit more.
The price of the Recruit action or reaction depends on the
unit type and its corresponding Technology. See the cost on
the player board’s matching unit slot, or the topmost Mili-
tary Technology card covering it.
Example: As part of a Recruit action, the yellow player pays
1 and 1 and places an Archer unit in Lombardy.
Abilities triggered by the Recruit action (for example Lev-
ied Archers Technology) also get triggered by the Recruit
reaction, but do not get triggered when other effects allow
you to place units on the board (for example Revanchism,
page 23).
18 BASIC GAME – description of actions and reactions
MANOEUVRE
The Manoeuvre action allows you to move one group of
units from one Province to a neighbouring Province. How-
ever, before you do that, you must check your Army limit:
if the total number of units in play (even the ones not in-
volved in the movement) is larger than the rightmost visi-
ble value on your Farm track, you must either:
• Return one or more of your units to your supply until
this is no longer the case; or
• Pay one Gold for each excess unit.
You may choose to have some of the units in excess of your
Army limit return to the supply and pay Gold for others.
Example: The yellow player has 3 Archers in Verona and 3 In-
fantry units in Lombardy, and an Army limit of 4. After se-
lecting the Manoeuvre action (but before moving any units), the
yellow player chooses to pay 1 Gold and return 1 Infantry unit
to the supply.
If you move your units this way into an occupied Prov-
ince — whether controlled by an enemy or occupied by
a Barbarian unit — a battle starts. See page 22 for details.
 REGROUP RECEIVE RESOURCES

The Regroup reaction allows you to move one group of
units from one Province to one neighbouring Province,
but unlike Manoeuvre, it does not involve an Army limit
check. However, when performing Regroup, you may NOT
move your units into an opponent-controlled or Barbarian
occupied Province. In other words: unit movements during
a Regroup may not result in battles.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
There are two reactions that involve gaining a resource:
“Wood or Stone” and “Wood or Leather”. Simply select one
of the available options, and immediately take the chosen
resource from the supply.
SELL GOODS
EXCHANGE IRON FOR GOLD

When you take this reaction, select one of two options:

When you take the Cultural Exchange reaction, select one
of two options: • Spend 1 Iron to gain 1 Gold; or
• Sell any 1 resource to gain Culture Points according
• Discard a Culture card (of any type, including any Tech- to its Trade Value:
nology you started the game with) from your hand to ◦ 1 Culture Point for one Wood or one Leather
gain 1 Gold; ◦ 2 Culture Points for one Stone
• Spend 1 Gold to take any Culture card from the offer, ◦ 3 Culture Points for one Iron
ignoring the position of your Culture marker.
◦ After picking a card, slide every card in the offer to the
left (to fill the gap), then draw a new card and put it on
the rightmost space of the offer.

BASIC GAME – description of actions and reactions 19

 Passing

When you Pass, do not place a Noble disc. If, at the start of
your turn, you have no Noble discs left in your personal supply Important: A Title once gained is not lost
(nor any other “instead of placing a Noble” option to select), automatically, even if its holder does not
you must Pass. However, you may decide to Pass earlier even control enough Provinces. A Title card is
if you have Noble discs left. You may not Pass, however, if all only lost if an opponent takes it away.
of your Noble discs are available. When you Pass, resolve the
steps below in the following order: 3. Take all your Noble discs (from any boards and cards) and
return them to your pool of available discs.
1. Discard the leftmost card of the Culture card offer, and
• Do not change the order of remaining discs after re-
slide every card in the offer to the left (to fill the gap), then
moving your own.
draw a new card and put it on the rightmost space of the
offer. 4. Check your Warehouse track: you may sell as many re-
sources as indicated by the “sell” value of your current
2. If you are eligible to claim a Title, you may claim 1 now.
position.
• To be eligible to claim a Title, you must control half of the
• For each resource sold, gain Culture Points according
Provinces of a Region — rounded up if necessary (2 out of 3,
to its Trade Value:
2 out of 4, 3 out of 6, etc.), and have one unused Noble
◦ 1 Culture Points for each Wood or Leather
disc in your personal supply for each Province you do
◦ 2 Culture Points for each Stone
not control.
◦ 3 Culture Points for each Iron
• If you claim a Title from another player, simply take it
from them. If you are the first to claim a Title, score the 5. Check your Warehouse track: if you now have more
depicted VP for establishing it. resources than indicated by the “hold” value of your
current position, discard resources until you equal your
Example: The yellow player controls Lombardy and Verona. As they
“hold” value.
Pass with one available Noble disc, they can claim the Kingdom of Italy
Title. Since the Title card is claimed for the first time, the yellow player
receives 7 VP for establishing the Title. Important: Gold does not count towards
your resource limit!

6. Receive 1 Gold, and resolve any Technology effect that

triggers “immediately after passing”.
7. If you hold any Cognomen cards in your hand, you
must resolve them immediately and then discard them.
If you resolve multiple Cognomen cards, you may choose
their order.

20 BASIC GAME – passing

 8. For each Province that you control, receive resources:
the first Production building of each type in a Province
produces 1 matching resource, the second and the third
produces 2 matching resources each (having more than
one production building in a Province requires the pres-
ence of a City).
9. Refresh all of your Title cards: rotate them straight up,
ready to be used again.
Example: Having Passed, the yellow player (who controls Carin-
thia, Bavaria and Verona) produces resources.

The City in Bavaria has 1 Production building and 1

Production building , so it produces 1 and 1 .

The City in Verona has a single Production building and

2 Production buildings, so it produces 1 and 3 .

Thus, the yellow player receives in total:

2 , 1  ,3 ,5 .

The City in Carinthia has 3 Production buildings,

so it produces 5  .

BASIC GAME – passing 21

 Battles
If a Manoeuvre action leads your units into a Province con-
trolled by an opponent or occupied by Barbarians, a bat-
tle commences.
BATTLE AGAINST BARBARIANS
1. Take the Barbarian token present in the Province you in-
vaded. If it is showing the reward side, flip it to the unit
side.
2. Take Transient unit miniatures to represent the Barbarian
army. If this is not your first battle against Barbarians, you
may have to also add another Transient unit as depicted on
your Player board.
When fighting your first Barbarians, there are no Transient units
or extra rewards . When fighting Barbarians after beating
1 Barbarian token, add 1 Transient Infantry, and receive 2 VP
when you win  . When fighting Barbarians after beating
2 Barbarian tokens, add 1 Transient Archer, and receive 3 VP
when you win the battle . When fighting Barbarians after
beating 3 or more Barbarian tokens, add 1 Transient Cavalry,
and receive 4 VP when you win .
22 BASIC GAME – battles
3. Resolve the Battle Sequence as detailed on page 23. Bar-
barians use battle values printed on the Barbarian cards,
whereas your units use the topmost visible values on your
player board or Military Technologies.
Barbarian units in multiplayer will always have the above character-
istics. Player unit characteristics depend on the top Military Technol-
ogy card on each unit type on their Player board.
4. If your Battle Result (see below) is higher than the Bar-
barian’s (even if Barbarian units survived the battle), you
are victorious. Place the Barbarian token on the topmost
empty trophy space on your player board (or stack on the
bottom one if they’re all full), receiving the VP shown to
the left of it. Additionally, immediately receive the benefit
shown on the reward side of the token.
• If it is “Take another turn”, that means that after the
resolution of your turn, it is your turn again to take
a Noble action, or Pass (or do any one ability that would
normally take up your turn).
5. If your Battle Result is tied or lower than the Barbarian’s,
you lost the battle. Retreat your surviving (non-Transient)
units to the Province where you moved from.
6. Regardless of the battle’s outcome, return all Transient
units from the Province to supply.
 BATTLE AGAINST AN OPPONENT
1. Add 1 Transient Infantry to the defender’s army for each
Farm present in the Province. Add a Transient Archer to
the defender’s army if there is a City present.
2. Resolve the Battle Sequence as detailed in the next section.
Both sides use the topmost visible values on their respec-
tive player boards or Military Technologies.
3. If your Battle Result is higher than your opponent’s, you
are victorious.
• If this is not the opponent’s Capital:
◦ Your opponent must retreat their surviving
(non-Transient) units to a neighbouring Province they
control. If no such Province exists, all of their units
are killed, and therefore returned to the supply.
◦ Return each opponent-owned Farm to the rightmost
empty space of their Farm track. For each returned
Farm, the opponent triggers Revanchism: they may
place an Infantry unit for free in their Capital.
◦ Do not destroy the City, Production buildings, or the
Church present. They are now under your control.
• If this is your opponent’s Capital:
◦ Steal 1 Gold or a resource of your choice from the
opponent (if they have any).
◦ Score VP equal to their Army limit (the rightmost
visible number on their Farm track).
◦ Retreat your surviving (non-Transient) units to the
Province where you moved from.
4. If your Battle Result is tied or lower than your opponent’s,
you lost the battle. Retreat your surviving (non-Transient)
units to the Province where you moved from.
5. Regardless of the battle’s outcome, return all Transient
units from the Province to supply.
BASIC GAME – battles
BATTLE SEQUENCE
BATTLE RESULT
In each battle phase, both sides roll dice for all of their participat-
ing units simultaneously. Use green dice for Infantry, blue dice for
Archers, and red dice for Cavalry units.
Note: Transient units are considered to be of the same
level as your regular units.
The rolling player distributes damage to the opposing player’s
units. If a unit is dealt equal to or more damage than its Armour
value, it is killed (and returned to its owner’s supply, or to the
common supply if Transient). For units with more than 1 Armour,
you may use player markers in your colour ( ) to
track damage, but that damage is removed at the end of the battle
(i.e. surviving units return to full health). Units may be targeted in
the same phase they rolled, mutual destruction is possible. Units
that are killed before a phase in which they would roll forfeit their
corresponding rolls.
Some Common Technologies add additional dice, increase the
amount of damage a roll deals, or cancel opponent’s damage.
Important: a final value of 1 is always a miss,
regardless of any modifiers applied.
1. Volley phase: Roll for each unit with a Volley skill.
Each roll at or above the unit’s Volley skill value deals
1 damage.
Note: Lower skill values are better.
2. Charge phase: Roll for each unit with a Charge
skill. Each roll at or above the unit’s Charge skill value
deals 1 damage.
3. Melee phase: Roll for each unit. For each level of Keep
the rolling player has in the contested Province or any
neighbouring Province, they may increase the value
of a single die by one. Increases from multiple levels of
Keeps may be distributed freely, adding to a single die or to
multiple dice. by one. Each roll at or above the unit’s Melee
skill value (after increases) deals 1 damage.
4. Calculate Battle Result: Each surviving unit contributes
1 to 3 to the Battle Result, depending on the level of the
corresponding Military Technology / Barbarian Military
card. The defending player adds an additional 0 to 3 to
their Battle Result, depending on the level of the Keep
present in the contested Province. Some Technologies
might allow you to reduce your opponent’s Battle Result.
23
 Ending the Game

TRIGGERING THE END OF THE GAME FINAL SCORING

At the end of each player’s turn, check to see if any of the In addition to VP collected during the game, you score points
following end-game conditions have been met: for the following:
• There are no more City miniatures remaining in the supply. • For each Common Technology, score VP shown on its
(This means 11/13/15 Cities built for a 2/3/4 -player game.) highest visible level. Some Technologies may score addi-
• The Church marked with the current player count on the tional points:
Church track is built. (This means the 7th/8th/9th Church
in a 2/3/4-player game.)
• A player has reached the last space of the Culture track.
• A player has 4 (or more) level 3 Technologies (including
Common and Military ones).
• The last card of the Culture deck is drawn.
When at least one of these conditions is met, trigger the end
of the game. Each player immediately Passes, performing
the entire Passing procedure except the first step: do not cycle • For each City controlled with 1/2/3 buildings (Churches
the Culture card offer at this time. Players with all Noble discs and Production buildings), gain 2/4/7 VP.
available also resolve the Passing procedure, but in step 6 they • Each level of Keep controlled scores 1 VP per neighbour-
receive one additional Gold. ing Province you control (even if controlled without a City).
Then, continue playing with the player next in turn order as
usual. After this point, when a player Passes, they stop after
step 3 (retrieving Noble discs), and finish their game — they
will be taking no more turns. Once all players have finished
their games, the game is over. Proceed to final scoring!

Example: Yellow player has a level 3 Keep in Lombardy and a level

1 Keep in Verona. The Keep in Lombardy scores 3 VP for each of
the following Provinces under the control of the yellow player : Tusca-
ny, Verona, Swabia, and Bavaria, for a total of 12 VP. The Keep
in Verona scores 1 VP for each of the following Provinces controlled
by the yellow player : Bavaria, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Romagna,
for a total of 4 VP.

24 BASIC GAME – ending the game

• Score the highest VP value your marker has reached on the • Score the VP value shown on each Title card you control.
Culture track.

Example: Yellow player scores 4 VP for their position on the Cul-

ture track. Example: Yellow player has 2 Titles at the end of the game: King-
dom of Italy (7 VP) and Kingdom of Benevento (7 VP). Therefore
• Score the highest VP value your marker has reached on the
the yellow player scores a total of 14 VP.
Warehouse track.
• Score 1 VP for each leftover Gold.

Example: Yellow player has 4 Gold left at the end of the game,
scoring 4 VP.
The player with the most VP wins. In case of a tie, players
share victory.

Example: Yellow player scores 7 VP from their Warehouse track.

• Score the highest VP value not covered by a Farm on your
Farm track.

Example: Yellow player scores 20 VP from their Farm Track.

BASIC GAME – ending the game 25

 Module 1 — Lordlings and
Raiders: Solo play

a Lordling Farm in the starting Provinces of each of these

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 3 Lordling Military unit cards
• 3 Raider Military unit cards
• 9 Lordling cards
• 18 Raider cards
• 1 Lordling Farm track card
• 1 Raiding Party card
• 1 Player aid card
• 1 20-sided die
This module uses cards numbered
CS01 – CS36.
These rules will refer to the lone human player as “you”, and
your opponent as “Lordlings” or “they”. Even though the
text refers to them in the plural, they collectively represent
one opponent.
SETUP
Set the game up for 2 players, as described in the core rules,
with the following changes:
1. The Lordlings do not use a player board. Select one player
colour to use for them. They track Culture Points and VP
as one player, the same way you would, but they do not use
a Warehouse track or collect Trophies. They do not collect
or spend Gold or resources.
2. Place all Lordling Farms on the Lordling Farm track card,
which is placed next to the play area. When an effect plac-
es or destroys a Lordling Farm, use this track the same way
a human player would.
3. Use Culture cards showing 2+, but use all Rulers and Ti-
tles (even 3+ and 4 player ones), except the ones marked
with this symbol: .
4. You may select any of the available Rulers, and place your
Capital as usual. Then shuffle the remaining available
Rulers together, and draw 3 randomly. Place a City and
Rulers. Remove all unused Rulers and starting cards from
the game, returning them to the game box. There should
be 7 Cities in the supply at this point.
5. Do not place wooden disks on Provinces showing 3+ and
4 player counts. Instead place disks (of a third colour) into
any Province showing the icon. There should be a ran-
dom Barbarian token on every Province except: your Cap-
ital, the Lordlings’ three starting Cities, and the blocked
off Provinces.
6. Shuffle the 9 Lordling cards to create the Lordlings’ deck.
7. Take 6 Noble discs of one colour and give them to the
Lordlings. Also give the Lordlings 2 Noble discs of a dif-
ferent colour (these are referred to as Preparation tokens).
8. After including any module-related cards in the Culture
deck, but before placing the initial cards on the offer, split
the Culture deck into 5 even piles.
• Shuffle 1 Reinforce card into the first pile.
• Shuffle 1 Reinforce and 1 Raid card into the sec-
ond pile.
• Shuffle 1 Reinforce and 1 Surprise card into the
third pile.
• Shuffle 1 Reinforce, 1 Raid, and 1 Surprise card into
both the fourth and the fifth pile.
• Then stack the piles on top of each other, maintaining
order (first pile on the top, fifth on the bottom).
• Return the unused Raider cards to the game box.
9. Select a third player colour and use their Infantry, Cavalry,
and Archer miniatures for Raider units.
10. Place 1 Warehouse marker (same colour as the Raider
units) on your Ruler card. This disc will be referred to as
the Raiding Target marker.
11. Place the Raiding Party card near the Main board, draw
a Barbarian token and place it on the card with the unit
side up.
12. Place the solo player aid within your sight.
13. Place the 3 Lordling Military unit cards next to the Main
board, and the 3 Barbarian Military unit cards with their
Raider side up next to them. Use player markers of the
Raider’s colour as markers to indicate the Military Tech-
nology of the Lordlings and the Raiders.

26 Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo play

14. Play is ready to begin, with the Lordlings taking their
first turn.
All Lordling and Barbarian Military unit cards marked to indicate Level 1.
GENERAL RULES
You play your turns normally.
If you fight a battle with any opponent (Barbarian, Lordling,
Raider), distribute hits rolled in that phase against yourself us-
ing the following logic:
• Kill injured units before injuring new units.
• Kill as many units able to roll in the following phases
as possible.
• If you cannot kill any units, injure units using the
same priority.
• When deciding between multiple units, hit ones with less
Armour remaining.
• When deciding between multiple units with the same re-
maining Armour, hit the ones with higher unit level.
• If still tied: hit Cavalry first, Archers second, and Infantry last.
If one of your units is killed and there are Transient and
non-Transient units to select from, kill the non-Transient unit.
If you win a battle against the Lordlings, their remaining units
retreat to an adjacent Province they control. If multiple such
Provinces exist, they retreat to the one with fewest total units.
If still tied, pick randomly. Destroyed Lordling Farms are re-
turned to the leftmost space of their Farm track. Since the
Lordlings do not have a Capital, Revanchism allows them to
place an Infantry in a Province neighbouring the captured one
instead (one with fewer units; if tied, select randomly).
If any effect instructs you to pick randomly, use the 20-sid-
ed die. Provinces are numbered to help you quickly select one
amongst them.
Some effects will instruct you to find a Province “closest to
you”. The fewer Manoeuvre actions required to get to a given
Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo play
27
Province from a Province controlled by you, the closer it is
to you.
If the Lordlings reach any red space on the Culture track,
nothing happens. You must reach it before them in order to
gain Gold.
UPGRADING
UNIT TYPES
Whenever an effect instructs you to upgrade a Lordling or
a Raider unit type, roll the 20-sided die:
• Roll of 1–8: Upgrade the corresponding Infantry
• Roll of 9–15: Upgrade the corresponding Cavalry
• Roll of 16–20: Upgrade the corresponding Archer.
When upgrading a unit type, move the marker on the card
showing the matching unit type to the next level.
From left to right: a Level 1, 2, 3, 4 Archer unit.
When battling Lordling or Raider units, always use the values
shown in the section with the marker. Each unit type is tracked
separately, and Lordling and Raider units of the same type are
tracked separately as well.
Barbarian units never upgrade, always use the top row (of ei-
ther card, they are the same) for their values.
ON THE LORDLINGS’ TURN
When it is the Lordlings’ turn to act, and they have zero avail-
able Noble discs, they will Pass (see page 20). If they have at
least one Noble disc, draw the top card of the Lordling deck,
and perform the effects described below, depending on which
card is drawn. After cards are resolved, they are kept in a face-
up discard pile (in order), and they will be reshuffled during
Passing.
Placing a Lordling Noble disc can trigger a reaction the same way
it would in a multiplayer game. When you gain a reaction, resolve
it normally. For resolving Lordling reactions, see page 28.
LORDLING: RESEARCH
If there is a Preparation token next to the Research Action card,
return it, and place a Lordling Noble disc on the Action card.
Then roll the 20-sided die, and perform one of the following:
• 1–4: They gain 3 Culture Points
• 5–12: Upgrade a Lordling unit
• 13–20: They score 2 VP, plus 1 VP for each Common Tech-
nology they collected.
If there is no Preparation token next to the Research Action card,
simply place one.
Note: Preparation tokens are NOT stacked with Noble
discs, and do not count towards triggering reactions.
LORDLING: RECRUIT
Place a Lordling Noble disc on the Recruit Action card. Then,
place a unit (in the Lordlings’ colour) of the type they have the
fewest into a Province they control. (If tied, pick the unit with
higher level first; if still tied, pick Infantry, then Archer, then Cav-
alry.) Select the Province closest to your Provinces, if multiple op-
tions are available select the one with fewer Lordling units, if still
tied select randomly.
Then, roll the 20-sided die, and if 16 or higher is rolled, imme-
diately upgrade the Lordling unit type corresponding to the one
that was just recruited.
LORDLING: MANOEUVRE
If there is a Preparation token next to the Manoeuvre Action card,
return it, and place a Lordling Noble disc there. Then, randomly
select a Province neighbouring a Lordling controlled one, remove
the Barbarian token, replacing it with a Lordling Infantry (from
the supply).
If there is no Preparation token next to the Manoeuvre Action
card, place one.
Note: Preparation tokens are NOT stacked with Noble
discs, and do not count towards triggering reactions.
LORDLING: DEVELOPMENT
OF CULTURE
Place a Lordling Noble disc on the Development of Culture Ac-
tion card. Then, take the rightmost accessible Culture card. Then,
based on its type, do the following:
• Common Technology: The Lordlings collect Common
Technologies. Keep them face down in a pile next to the Lord-
ling deck. There is no limit to how many they can collect.
• Military Technology: Upgrade a unit type (regardless of
what is on the card), as described at page 27. Then, discard
this card.
• Relic: The Lordlings immediately place a Church in a City they
control, choosing one where it would score the most VP (select
randomly amongst tied options). If no Church can be legally
placed, nothing happens. Then discard this card.
• Cognomen: The Lordlings immediately gain 5 VP. Then, dis-
card this card.
• Raider: Trigger its discard effect (see page 29), then discard
this card.
28 Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo play
LORDLING: BUILD
Place a Lordling Noble disc on the Build Action card. Then, roll
the 20-sided die.
• 1–8: Select a Province the Lordlings control without a City
(closest to you if tied, then select randomly), and place a City
there. The Lordlings gain 2 Culture Points. If no such Province
exists, reroll.
• 9–13: Place one level of a Keep in a Province the Lordlings
control with a City. Select the City (ignoring ones with 3 levels
of a Keep already) with the most adjacent Lordling controlled
Provinces, closest to you if tied, breaking further ties randomly.
If no such City exists, reroll.
• 14 –17: Place the leftmost Farm from the Lordlings’ Farm
track in a Province they control with a Farm already present.
Select the closest to you if tied, then select randomly. If no
such Province exists or all Lordling Farms are in play, reroll.
• 18–20: Place a Church in a City the Lordlings control (without
a Church), choosing the one where it would score the most
(select randomly amongst tied options). If no Church can be
legally placed, reroll.
If an invalid option is selected, keep rolling until you roll a valid
one. In the case that none of the options are valid, the Lordlings
do not place a Noble disc and Pass instead.
LORDLING: SETTLE
Do not place a Lordling Noble disc this turn. Instead, select
a Province the Lordlings control without a Farm (select randomly
if multiple options exist), and place the leftmost Farm from their
Farm track there.
If no such Province exists or all Lordling Farms are in play, draw
another card to resolve, leaving this card in the discard pile.
LORDLING: PERSEVERE
Perform the topmost card of the Lordling discard pile, ignoring
Persevere and Settle cards. If no such card exists, draw another
card to resolve, then shuffle this card into the remaining draw deck.
There are two copies of Persevere in the Lordling deck. If they
are drawn one after another, the previous action will be resolved
a total of three times.
LORDLING: RUSH
If there are 2 or fewer available Lordling Noble discs, the Lord-
lings Pass. The Lordlings are eligible to claim a Title if they control
at least half (rounded up) of the Provinces in the Region.
LORDLING REACTIONS
When given a choice between reactions, they never select reactions
that would give them resources. When given a choice between Re-
group and Recruit, they select Recruit.
• When selecting the Recruit reaction, resolve the procedure de-
scribed on the Lordling: Recruit card.
• When selecting the Sell goods reaction, they simply gain
2 Culture Points.
• When selecting the Cultural Exchange reaction, they take the
rightmost Culture card from the offer (even if not accessible)
and perform the action described on the Lordling: Cultural De-
velopment card.
• When selecting the Regroup reaction, check Manoeuvre and
Research and place a Preparation token on each of those ac-
tions that does not have any Preparation tokens yet.
LORDLING PASSING
When the Lordlings Pass, perform the following:
1. Discard the leftmost card of the Culture card offer, and slide
every card in the offer to the left (to fill the gap), then draw
a new card and put it on the rightmost space of the offer.
2. If the Lordlings are eligible to claim a Title, they claim all the
Titles they can.
• To be eligible to claim a Title, they must control all the
Provinces of a Region (or half rounded up, if Passing due
to a Lordlings: Rush card).
• They score the depicted VP for founding a Kingdom.
Note: The Lordlings do not use the Titles for any in-
game purpose.
3. Take all their Noble discs (from any boards and cards) and re-
turn them to their pool of available discs. Leave Preparation
tokens in place.
4. Collect all Lordling cards (both draw deck and discard pile),
and shuffle them together to form a new draw deck.
5. The Lordlings gain 2 Culture Points.
6. Depending on the number of Provinces the Lordlings con-
trol, they score VP:
Provinces
1–3 4–5 6–7 8 9 or more
controlled
VP 1 3 5 8 12
RAIDER CARDS AND
FIGHTING RAIDERS
Raider cards are a new type of Culture card that appears in solo
play. There are three types: Reinforce, Raid, and Surprise. They
all have an immediate effect when the card is added to the Culture
card offer. Surprise is immediately removed (and its space refilled),
while the other two stay on the offer. You may pick them up via
a Development of Culture action (or any other effect allowing
you to take a card), and add them to your hand, where they count
towards your hand limit of 10 cards. Both Raid and Reinforce
cards have a printed ability that you can use as a one time effect,
then discard the card.
Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo play
29
If you do not take them, and they are discarded from the Culture
card offer (either during your or the Lordlings’ Passing, or if the
Lordlings take them), their discard penalty triggers, causing you
additional trouble.
These cards affect another type of opponent: the Magyar (Hun-
garian) Raiders. They collect units (in the form of Barbarian to-
kens or miniatures of a third colour) on the Raiding Party card,
and then they strike at your Provinces, regardless of your position
on the board.
• Whenever any Raider card is revealed and the Target marker
is on your Ruler card, randomly select a Province you control
(except your Capital) and place the Target marker there.
◦ If you lose control of the Province with the Target marker,
select a new Target.
◦ If you need to select a Target and you only control your
Capital, place the Target marker back on your Ruler card.
• When an effect instructs you to Upgrade a Raider, roll to see
which Raider unit to upgrade, as described on page 27.
• When an effect instructs you to Add a Raider, roll and instead
of upgrading a unit, add a miniature of that type to the Raiding
Party card.
• When an effect tells you the Raiders Attack:
◦ If the Target marker is on your Ruler card, you lose 5 VP
(if able).
◦ Otherwise, roll the 20-sided die:
· On a roll of 1–15, all units on the Raiding Party card at-
tack your Province with the Target marker.
· On a roll of 16–20, they attack a non-Capital Province
you control, adjacent to the Target marker, selecting the
one with fewest units present, if multiple options are pos-
sible. If no such Provinces exist, they attack the Province
with the Target marker.
The “Played from hand” ability of the Reinforce card can be
used by you in any battle, against Raiders, Barbarians, or Lordlings,
to grant you a +1 on any one die, after rolling the dice, in any
phase. The card is then discarded.
The “Played from hand” ability of the Raid card is played on your
turn instead of placing a Noble disc, as a special option. When
you do, perform a special Manoeuvre action:
• Perform an Army limit check, as explained during the Manoeu-
vre action.
• Then select any number of your units in one Province, and
resolve a combat between them and the Raiding Party.
When fighting Raiders (either in offense or defence), exchange the
Barbarian token(s) on the Raiding Party card with the correspond-
ing Transient miniatures.
RAIDERS ATTACK
If the Raiders attack a Province you control, and:
• You win: gain 1 Gold. Then discard all units and tokens from
the Raiding Party.
• You lose: after retreating your surviving units following usu-
al rules, remove all buildings (including Grand Buildings), the
 City, and its Keep from the lost Province, except the starting
Production Building.
◦ Removed components are out of the game and should be
returned to the game box.
◦ Any surviving Raider units are left in the lost Province, then
a random Barbarian token is added to it.
◦ If you attack this Province in the future, you fight Barbar-
ians (not Raiders!), but the extra units are added to the battle.
• Either way: draw two new Barbarian tokens, and add them
with the unit side up to the Raiding Party card.
PLAYER COUNTERATTACK
If you attack the Raiders using the “Play from hand” ability of the
Raid card, and…
• You win: gain 1 Gold for each Raider unit you killed, and place
one of your units matching each surviving Raider unit, for free,
into the Province you started the counterattack from. Then, all
surviving Raiders are discarded from the Raiding Party card,
and one new Barbarian token is drawn and added with the unit
side up to the Raiding Party card. Your surviving units remain
in the Province where you started the counterattack from.
• You lose: Your surviving units remain in the Province where
you started the counterattack from. The surviving Raider units
stay on the Raiding Party card.
END OF THE GAME
The game end is triggered similarly as in the multiplayer game,
with one new possibility:
• There are no more City miniatures remaining in the supply.
• The 7th Church is built.
• You or the Lordlings have reached the last space of the Cul-
ture track.
• You have 4 (or more) level 3 Technologies (including Common
and Military ones).
• The last card of the Culture card draw deck is drawn.
• The number of Common Technologies collected by the Lord-
lings plus the Lordlings’ Military upgrades (unit levels beyond
the first) equal to 9 or more. (The Raiders’ Military upgrades
do not count.)
When this happens, perform a Pass action both for yourself and
the Lordlings (as described in the multiplayer rules), then play until
you and the Lordlings Pass one more time. Once they Pass, do not
draw more cards from the Lordling deck.
During this round (in other words, until the next Pass), do not
trigger any Raider attacks. You may no longer use Raid cards to
counterattack either. Once the game is over, the Raiders automat-
ically attack, as described on page 29.
After resolving this attack, proceed to final scoring.
30 Module 1 — Lordlings and Raiders: Solo play
Your score is calculated exactly the same as in a multiplayer game.
The Lordlings’ score is calculated the following way:
• For each Common Technology they collected, they score 2 VP.
• For each level of Keep they control, they score 1 VP per neigh-
bouring Province they control (even without a City).
• They score the highest VP value their marker has reached on
the Culture Track.
• They score the highest VP value visible on their Farm Track.
• They score the VP value shown on each Title card they control.
If you have more VP than the Lordlings, you win the game. If you
have equal or fewer VP, you lose.
ADJUSTING THE DIFFICULTY
Select any of the following options to customize the solo play’s
difficulty to match your skill level.
DECREASING
THE DIFFICULTY
• When Passing, the Lordlings only score for Provinces they
control with a City.
• At the end of the game, the Lordlings only score 1 VP per
Common Technology they collected.
INCREASING
THE DIFFICULTY
• At setup, use the following distribution of Raider cards instead:
◦ Shuffle 2 Reinforce cards into the first pile.
◦ Shuffle 2 Reinforce and 1 Raid cards into the second pile.
◦ Shuffle 1 Reinforce and 2 Surprise cards into the third pile.
◦ Shuffle 1 Reinforce, 2 Raid, and 2 Surprise cards into
both the fourth and the fifth pile.
• When Passing, the Lordlings also score 2 VP for each Title
they hold.
• When Passing, the Lordlings gain 3 Culture Points instead of 2.
• When Lordlings arrive first to a red space on the Culture track,
they score 2 VP.
• When evaluating Cognomen cards (or other cards that score
points), the Lordlings score 10 VP instead of 5.
• When the end of the game is triggered, the Raiders attack im-
mediately, instead of after the end of the game.
• After collecting two Barbarian Trophies, every future Barbarian
has +1 Infantry (not just the second one). After collecting three
Barbarian Trophies, every future Barbarian has +1 Archer
(not just the third one). This means the fourth (and onwards)
Barbarian has an Infantry, an Archer, and a Cavalry added to
its army.
• When Raiders lose a battle, they immediately upgrade a unit
(using the usual die roll).
 Module 2 — The Great Domain
This module allows 5–8 players to take part in an epic game
of domination over medieval Europe. To play this module you
need both Dark Ages boxes: Heritage of Charlemagne and
Holy Roman Empire.
SETUP CHANGES
All steps of regular setup apply, unless noted otherwise.
1. Flip both Main boards and both Culture boards to their
5–8 player side and combine them together as shown in
the image:
Slide the two boards together to form a single large board.
2. Flip both Culture boards to their 5-8 player side and com-
bine them together as shown in the image:
3. Use only one set of Action cards, returning the other set
to the game box.
4. If playing with 5 or 6 players, remove every component
marked “4 players only” and block off all Provinces
marked with a higher number of players than those at
the table.
5. Players pick Rulers the same way as before. We recom-
mend maintaining a balance between Western and Central
European Rulers.
Module 2 — The Great Domain
6. Shuffle all in play Culture cards together to form one
(large) draw deck, and fill the Culture offer from it. Note
that there are twice as many spaces on the Culture offer.
7. Place 16 Churches on the combined Culture board’s
Church track.
8. Place 18/20/23/25 Cities for 5/6/7/8 players into the
supply before setting up Capitals in the usual way. Return
any unused Cities to the game box.
9. Each player takes 4 Noble discs into their available pool,
removing the remaining discs from the game.
10. Starting from the starting player and going clockwise, the
first 3/4/5/6 players (in case of a 5/6/7/8 players game)
move one of their available Noble discs to the Exhausted
Nobles area of the Culture board. Additionally, the first
1/2/2/3 players (in case of a 5/6/7/8 players game) move
a second of their available Noble discs to the Exhausted
Nobles area.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
In a 5-player game, reactions trigger after 3 Noble discs are
stacked, just as in 1–4 player games. In 6–8 player games, reac-
tions trigger after 4 Noble discs are stacked instead.
While the Culture track’s length is unchanged, each red space
grants access to two Culture cards. When you reach a red
space, the card beneath it and the one right to it both be-
come accessible.
Provinces across the two boards behave the same way in terms
of neighbouring, as if it was one big board.
END OF GAME CHANGES
All end game triggers remain unchanged from the 1–4 play-
er game. Note that the Church end game condition triggers
after 11/12/14/15 Churches built (in a 5/6/7/8 player game),
as indicated on the (longer) Church track.
31
 Module 3 — Grand Buildings
Supported Player Counts: 1– 8
Added Complexity: Minimal
This module adds Grand Buildings
to build using Culture cards. They provide
a localized special effect in
the Province they are built in.
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 2 Additional Rulers and starting cards
• 4 Common Grand Building Culture cards
• 6 Grand Building miniatures
This module uses cards numbered
C049 – C054 and the Rulers Marozia
and Henry the Fowler.
SETUP CHANGES
New Rulers (Marozia and Henry) become available during set-
up. One of their starting cards is a Grand Building which only
they can build using the rules outlined below.
Place the 6 Grand Building miniatures next to the Culture
board to form a supply.
Shuffle the 4 common Grand Buildings’ Culture cards into the
top half of the Culture deck at setup.
32 Module 3 — Grand Buildings
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
Grand Buildings can be taken from the Culture offer using the
regular rules of a Development of Culture action, and while in
hand, they count towards your hand limit.
From your hand, you can play them as an action, instead of
Passing or placing a Noble disc (including when you have
no Noble discs remaining) by paying the resource cost shown
on the card. Take the matching Grand Building miniature and
place it in a Province you control. Each Province can have
a maximum of one Grand Building. Then, place the card face
up next to your player board, and execute its effect, referring to
the Province where you placed the Grand Building itself. Built
Grand Building cards no longer count against your hand limit.
If you lose control of the Province with a Grand Building, put
the Building’s card next to the Title offer. When another player
gains control of that Province, they take the card. They do
not re-execute any immediate effects, but ongoing effects now
benefit them instead of the Grand Building’s original builder.
SOLO SUPPORT
You may take and build Grand Buildings the same way as you
would in a multiplayer game. If the Lordlings take a Grand
Building card, they immediately score 5 VP and then discard
the card (same way as if it was a Cognomen card).
 Module 4 — Alchemists

Supported Player Counts: 1– 8 Anytime (including during your reactions or Passing) you may
discard 3 resources from your Alchemist card (and return them
Added Complexity: Minimal to the supply) to gain 1 Gold.
This module adds new ways of using your excess
resources besides selling and holding
in your Warehouse.

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS

• 4 Alchemist cards (8 in a 5–8 player game)

This module uses cards numbered

CT01–CT04. Each Alchemist card details its functions as a reminder.

SETUP CHANGES SOLO SUPPORT

Give each player an Alchemist card. They put it in play next You may take an Alchemist and use it as described above. This
to their Ruler card. It does not count towards any hand limits. makes the solo game slightly easier. The Lordlings do not inter-
act with the Alchemist, and they do not receive one.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

When performing a Research action, you may place any num-

ber of your resources on the Alchemist card. These resources
are no longer considered yours. They cannot be stolen, lost, or
retrieved in any way.

Module 4 — Alchemists 33
 Module 5 — Alliances

During Alliance negotiations, players may agree to give each

Supported Player Counts: 3–8 other one of their respective Alliance cards. If they agree
(knowing which card they receive), they put the other player’s
Added Complexity: Moderate chosen Alliance card face up, next to their player board, and
place one of the other player’s player markers on it. (Agree-
Mutually beneficial political alliances stabilize ments are binding, you must give the card you agreed upon.)
the region, leading to fewer wars between the
rival Rulers. Each Alliance in play provides a benefit:
• “When Received” benefits are resolved immediately after
the Alliance is established.
• “Pass” benefits are resolved each time you Pass.
If you start a battle with a player who has a player marker on
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS one of your active Alliances, your Alliance is broken. When
an Alliance is broken:
• You (the attacking player) lose 5 VP and place all of your
• 8 Alliance cards (16 in a 5–8 player game) unused Noble discs in the Exhausted Nobles area.
• Both you and the other player remove the corresponding
This module uses cards numbered Alliance and player marker from play, returning them to
CA01–CA08. the box.

SETUP CHANGES

After setting the game up, shuffle the 8 Alliance cards, and
deal 2 to each player. Alliance cards do not count against the
hand limit of Culture cards. Give each player two of their own
player markers.

GAMEPLAY CHANGES
Alliance card in the white player’s area. Since it has the purple
player marker, it denotes an alliance with the purple player. If white
Two players may conduct Alliance negotiations as soon as and purple players ever fight a battle, this card will be removed from
they share a border (control Provinces neighbouring each oth- the game.
er) for the first time, if both of them have at least one Alliance
card remaining in their hand. This is the only time players may
conduct such negotiations. If an action causes you to share
borders for the first time with multiple opponents, you may se-
lect one or two to negotiate with, in the order of your choosing.

34 Module 5 — Alliances
 Module 6 — Commanders
Supported Player Counts: 1– 8
Added Complexity: Significant
Ally with the greatest military minds
of the time, adding an extra layer of strategy to
your military conquests.
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 5 Commander cards (10 in a 5–8 player game)
• 5 Commander miniatures (10 in a 5–8 player game)
This module uses cards numbered
CG01–CG05.
SETUP CHANGES
Randomly select one more Commanders than the number of
players in the game. Lay their cards out next to the main board,
next to the Title cards. Place the corresponding miniature on
them, and return all unused Commander cards and miniatures
to the game box.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
When you take a Recruit action or reaction, you may pay
2 Gold to select one of the available Commanders. You can
do this in addition to the normal Recruit effect, but you may
do so even if you do not recruit anything else. Put the selected
Commander card next to your Ruler card, and place its minia-
tures in a Province with a City you control. You may only have
1 Commander during the whole game. You may not exchange,
return, lose, or steal a Commander.
Module 6 — Commanders
A Commander may move alone or with other units as part of
a Manoeuvre action or Regroup reaction, but cannot enter an op-
ponent or Barbarian occupied Province by itself. You cannot leave
a Commander alone in a non-settled Province, as the Commander
is not player coloured and does not offer control. When you par-
ticipate in a battle with your Commander (and its card is ready),
as the first step of the battle you may select to use its effect and
then exhaust it (rotate it sideways like a Title card). If both partic-
ipating players have their Commanders present, the attacker must
declare first whether they’re using their Commander or not.
A Commander is not considered a unit, cannot be assigned
damage, does not contribute to Battle Result and it does not
count against your number of units when checking your Army
Upkeep limit.
If you lose a battle with your Commander present, it retreats along
with your units. If all your units died in the battle, move your Com-
mander to the closest Province you control (your choice if tied).
When you Pass, refresh your Commander card (turning it straight
up), at the same time when you would refresh your Title cards.
SOLO SUPPORT
At setup, randomly draw a Commander (or select one), and put
it next to your board, face down. You may recruit it for 2 Gold
in the same fashion as in the multiplayer game. Having access
to a Commander might make the game easier. To compensate,
we suggest drawing an additional (4th) Lordling Ruler card
during setup, adding a Lordling Farm and 1 Archer (instead of
a City) to its shown starting Province.
35
 Module 7 — Skirmishers

Supported Player Counts: 1– 8

SETUP CHANGES
Added Complexity: Minimal

Europe can be a dark place in these dark ages. The

barbarians got a whole lot scarier, and you will Replace all Barbarian tokens with Skirmisher tokens. All rules
need tougher armies and a bit more luck to get the governing Barbarian tokens now apply to Skirmishers. We do
land away from them! not recommend mixing the two sets since doing so would cre-
ate an imbalanced map setup.

SOLO SUPPORT
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS

You can make the solo game harder by using the Skirmisher
• 25 Skirmisher tokens (50 in a 5–8 player game) tokens on the map at setup. When placing Barbarian tokens
on the Raiding Party card for Raiders, still use regular Barbar-
ian tokens!

Regular (blue) Barbarian tokens on the right hand side, and Skir-
misher (red) tokens on the left hand side.

36 Module 7 — Skirmishers
 Module 8 — The Wyrd
Supported Player Counts: 2– 8
Added Complexity: Moderate
Do you believe in your Destiny? Are you willing
to grab what is your due, even if it brings misfor-
tune and hardship?
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 12 Wyrd cards (24 in a 5–8 player game)
• 12 player markers per player
This module uses cards numbered
CY01–CY12.
SETUP CHANGES
Shuffle the 12 Wyrd cards, and create a face down deck of
them next to the Culture deck. After laying out the initial Cul-
ture offer, take the top Wyrd card without flipping it face up
and tuck it underneath the rightmost (least accessible) Culture
card. In 5–8 player games, shuffle all 24 Wyrd cards together,
and place one beneath each of the two rightmost Culture cards.
Give each player all their player markers.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
When a Culture card with a Wyrd card is slid down the offer,
slide the Wyrd card along with it as if the two cards were at-
tached. If a Culture card with a Wyrd card is discarded from
the offer, move the Wyrd card under the rightmost Culture
card (that does not already have a Wyrd card).
Module 8 — The Wyrd
A card with a Wyrd card attached is considered accessible for
all players, regardless of their position on the Culture track.
If you take a card with a Wyrd card attached, you must make
a choice before looking at the Wyrd card:
• Remove it from play, or
• Put it face up in play in front of you (next to your Ruler
card) as an active Wyrd, and place as many player markers
on it as the number of players. If you select this option,
every player (including you) takes one player marker off all
of their other, active Wyrd cards. (Do not take a marker off
the Wyrd card you just activated.)
Important: If the Culture card was only ac-
cessible because of the Wyrd card, you must
select the second option!
If a Wyrd card has no player markers remaining on it, the curse
is fulfilled: you must select one of the two penalties listed on it
to suffer. If one of the penalties cannot be completely fulfilled,
you must select the other one. If one of the penalties has no
effect, you must select the other one. If both penalties can only
be fulfilled partially, you must select the bottom one. Flip the
fulfilled Wyrd card face down, but keep it.
After a Wyrd card has been taken from the Culture offer (and
the offer is refilled), take the next Wyrd card from the Wyrd
deck and attach it (face down) to the current rightmost Culture
card in the offer the same way as described above.
If there are no more Wyrd cards, immediately resolve all in-
play Wyrd cards (as described above), even if there are player
markers remaining on them (which are now removed).
END OF GAME CHANGES
At the end of the game, the
player with most Wyrd cards
(active or fulfilled) score 7 VP.
37
 Module 9 — The Ages of War

Supported Player Counts: 3– 8

Added Complexity: Moderate

You wanted all out war? You wanted more

attacks?! Then come and taste the blood.

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS From left to right: example Common Combat card, Title Combat card
and Ruler Combat card.

• 8 Common Combat cards

• 6 Title Combat cards
• 7 Ruler Combat cards
• 12 War tokens
Double the amounts when playing with 5–8 players.
War tokens.
This module uses cards numbered
CW01–CW21.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES

SETUP CHANGES
Shuffle all Common Combat cards, and deal 2 to each player.
Each player removes one of the two without revealing it to the
other players.
Give each player the Ruler Combat card matching their Rulers,
remove the unused ones from play.
Attach the Title Combat cards to the core game’s Titles.
Create a stack of 12 War tokens next to the Culture board. In
5–6 player games, create a stack of 17 War tokens (returning
the rest to the game box). In 7–8 player games, create a stack
of 24 War tokens.
When you gain a Title, take the corresponding Combat card
and place it either in your hand or in your Combat discard pile.
When using a Manoeuvre action to attack another player, you
may select to play a Combat card. It provides two benefits to
the attacker (you) printed on the card. After the battle, place
the card in your personal Combat discard pile. If you have no
Combat cards left in your hand, take every Combat card from
your discard pile. Combat cards do not count against your
hand limit of 10 Culture cards.
Important: When playing with this module,
the attacker wins ties in Battle, as long as at
least one of their units survives battle. This
is applicable even in battles against Bar-
barians or if the attacker selects not to play
a Combat card.

38 Module 9 — The Ages of War

 ATTACKER VICTORY
If the attacker wins a battle after a Combat card is played, they
receive a War token and 3 VP, and the losing defender
receives the Reclaim bonus depicted at the bottom of the
played Combat card.
DEFENDER VICTORY
If the defender wins a battle after a Combat card was played,
neither player receives anything.
END OF GAME CHANGES
When playing with this module, there is another end game
trigger: when the last War token is taken, trigger the end of
the game. Combat cards can still be used during the remaining
actions, but no more War tokens are given out.
At the end of the game, score based on the relative majority of
War tokens held. In case of a tie, tied players score the higher
value and the next value is skipped. Players with zero War to-
kens always score 0 VP.

Most War 2nd most 3rd most 4th+ most

tokens

4 or more 9 VP 6 VP 3 VP 0 VP
players

3 players 9 VP 4 VP 0 VP
2 players 6 VP 0 VP

Module 9 — The Ages of War 39

 Module 10 — Distant Campaigns

Supported Player Counts: 2– 8

SETUP CHANGES
Added Complexity: Minimal

Europe is far and wide. Most Rulers only look

at their own neighbourhood to conquer and
expand. Do you have a better vision, to look
at far-away lands and create the greatest
Kingdom in Dark Ages?
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 15 Campaign cards (30 in a 5–8 player game)
Remove all Campaign cards marked with a player count higher
than the current number of players (including cards marked
with “4” in 5–6 player games). Then, shuffle all remaining
Campaign cards together, and deal 3 to each player, removing
unused ones without revealing them. Each player removes one
of the 3 from play (without revealing them), and keeps the re-
maining 2 in their hand. (Campaign cards do not count against
the hand limit of 10 Culture cards.)
GAMEPLAY CHANGES

When using a Manoeuvre action (after performing the Army

limit check), you may move your units from one Province to
one neighbouring Province as usual, OR play one Campaign
card from your hand and place it face up next to your Rul-
er, allowing you to move to the Province shown on the Cam-
paign card, regardless of the distance between your army and
the target.
If you are forced to retreat in the ensuing battle, all your sur-
viving units are killed, unless you also control a Province neigh-
bouring the target (in which case, you must retreat into that
Province). Then, remove the failed Campaign’s card from play.
If you win the ensuing battle, keep the Campaign card in play.
This module uses cards numbered It allows you to settle the shown Province at the lowest (left-
CM01–CM15. most) printed settling cost of your Ruler while the card is in
play. (This cost cannot be further discounted.) When you use
this benefit OR the next time you Pass, remove your in play
Campaign card.

40 Module 10 — Distant Campaigns

 Module 11 — Tribute

Supported Player Counts: 2– 8

GAMEPLAY CHANGES
Added Complexity: Minimal

What greater glory is there than to force an

opposing Ruler to pay tribute to your greatness?
Ride upon their Capitals and force them into
submission!
SETUP CHANGES
Each player places 3 of their player markers on their Ruler card.
If you win a battle in an opponent’s Capital, in addition to the
rewards explained in the core rules, also place one of your play-
er markers from your Ruler card into the defeated Capital. (If
any other player already has a player marker there, return that
player marker to their Ruler card.) This marks that the target is
now due to pay tribute to you.
The tributary player may free themselves from the tribute in
two ways:
• Win a combat in their suzerain’s Capital (in which case the
roles are reversed), or
• As a Free action pay 2 Gold to their suzerain to pay off
their debts.
Either way, return the player marker to their (former) suzerain’s
Ruler card.
Unless freed using one of the above options, whenever a trib-
utary player Passes, they must give one of their produced re-
sources (of their choice) to their suzerain.

Module 11 — Tribute 41
 Module 12A — The Pope

Supported Player Counts: 1– 8

GAMEPLAY CHANGES
Added Complexity: Minimal

This module adds another Title to the mix, one

that changes ownership more easily than the When you build a Church, you may claim the Pope Title by
Kingdom titles. paying a number of resources (or Gold) to take control of
the Papacy. The number of resources required depends on
the total number of Churches on the main board, as shown
on the Pope card:

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS

• 1 Pope Title card

When taken, the Pope card is placed next to your player board,
This module uses the card and becomes an immediately ready Title card (even if the pre-
numbered CP01. vious owner exhausted it) that can be exhausted in the same
way as the Kingdom Title cards from the core game. However,
unlike Kingdom Title cards, do not score any VP when first
taking the card.
SETUP CHANGES
During Passing, the Pope Title is refreshed the same way other
Titles are.

Add the Pope Title to the offer of

Title cards. END OF GAME CHANGES

The player who holds the Pope Title at the end of the game
scores 5 VP.

SOLO SUPPORT

Whenever the Lordlings build a Church, if they control equal

or more Churches than you, they immediately take the Pope
card from the offer or you (but you can later purchase it back
using regular rules).

42 Module 12A — The Pope

 Module 13A — Travels
of Benjamin

Supported Player Counts: 1–8

GAMEPLAY CHANGES
Added Complexity: Minimal

Collect the journals of Benjamin of Tudela as he

brings back more and more knowledge of the Medie-
val world..
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 12 Travels of Benjamin cards
This module uses the cards numbered
CB01–CB12.
SETUP CHANGES
When playing with fewer than 4 players, remove any Travels of
Benjamin card showing a player count larger than the current
number of players.
Then, shuffle an equal number of Travels of Benjamin cards
to the corresponding sections of the Culture deck, depending
on the number of players:
• 4 to the top half, 4 to the bottom half in a 2-player game
or when playing solo
• 5 to the top half, 5 to the bottom half in a 3-player game
• 6 to the top half, 6 to the bottom half in a 4-player game
• 5 to the top third, 5 to the middle third in a 5- or
6-player game
• 6 to the top third, 6 to the middle third in a 7- or
8-player game
A Travels of Benjamin card can be taken from the Culture offer
using the regular rules of a Development of Culture action. Once
taken, put it in play face up next to your player board immediately,
stacked together with any other Travels of Benjamin cards you
have collected before. It does not count towards your hand limit,
nor it is a Technology.
When you gain a Travels of Benjamin card, you immediately re-
ceive one of the benefits listed on the card:
• If this is your first Travels of Benja-
min card, receive the first reward.
• If this is your second, receive the
first or the second.
• If this is your third, receive one of the
first three rewards.
• If this is your fourth, receive one of
the first four rewards.
• After that, whenever you receive
a Travels of Benjamin card, you may
receive any one of the five rewards
shown.
All benefits are listed on
Note: The fourth reward can only be the bottom half of each Travels
received once by a player. of Benjamin card.
SOLO SUPPORT
Whenever the Lordlings take a Travels of Benjamin card, they
keep it, and score 1 VP for each Travels of Benjamin card they
have collected, including the newly taken card.
For example, when they collect their 7th Travels of Benjamin card, they
score 7 VP, having already scored 21 VP over the previous 6 cards.
To increase difficulty, include only 3 Travels of Benjamin cards in
the top half and 3 in the bottom half of the deck during setup,
and give the two additional cards to Lordlings (i.e. they start from
3 VP the first time they gain a new Travels of Benjamin card).

Module 13A — Travels of Benjamin 43

 Module 14A — Crusades

Supported Player Counts: 3– 8

Added Complexity: Moderate

Dispatch your troops to fight Crusades and

reap the riches of plunder, but be prepared to
face the shame of defeat!

ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS

• 4 First Crusade cards

• 4 Second Crusade cards GAMEPLAY CHANGES
• 4 Third Crusade cards

This module uses the cards numbered

CC01–CC12.
SETUP CHANGES
Shuffle the three types of Crusade cards separately. Ran-
domly select one card from each of the three piles, and
place them face down next to the Culture board (First
Crusade on the top, Second in the middle, Third on the
bottom). Place a Gold token under the 2nd, 4th, and 6th
Church on the Church track. (For 5–8 player games, place
it under the 2nd, 5th, 8th Church.)
Give each player all their player markers.
CALLIN G A CR U SADE
After a Church with a Gold token underneath is built
(resolve its scoring and any Relic effects fully), return the
Gold to supply and reveal the next Crusade card selected
at setup. This Crusade is now active, and players may
contribute to it. Immediately resolve the previous Cru-
sade according to the rules below (except when starting
the First, of course).
CONTRIBU TIN G
TO A CR U SAD E
You may contribute to a Crusade during a Manoeuvre
action: before checking your Army limit, you may take
any number of your units from the Main board and place
them next to the active Crusade card.
Units on a Crusade do not count towards your Army
limit (during Manoeuvre actions). You cannot take back
units from a Crusade to recruit them elsewhere.

44 Module 14A — Crusades

 RESOLVING A CRUSADE
A Crusade is resolved immediately when the next one is
called, or during final scoring.
1. Resolve the special effect shown on the card, starting
from the current player (last player to Pass if end of
the game) and proceeding in clockwise order.
2. If no player contributed to the Crusade, skip to
step 7.
3. Determine the Crusade’s Defence Value. On most
cards it is pre-printed, on some, a die roll is required.
4. Each player (simultaneously) rolls one die for each of
their contributed units, using their best skill (Volley,
Charge, or Melee). For each hit, they place a player
marker on the Crusade card.
5. If the total number of player markers on the card
equals or exceeds its Defence Value, the Crusade
ends in victory:
• The player with the most player markers receives
the first shown VP value, the player with the
second most player markers receives the second
shown VP value, etc.
Module 14A — Crusades
• In case of a tie, tied players score the higher value
and the next value is skipped.
• Players who contributed with units, but without
player markers score no VP.
• All players who did not contribute with units
lose VP (if able) equal to the Defeat Penalty of
the card.
• If this is not the end of the game, each contrib-
uting player (starting with the current player, pro-
ceeding clockwise) eliminates one of their crusad-
ing units (return it to their supply), and places the
rest of their units back into one or more Provinces
they control.
6. If the total number of player markers on the card
is smaller than its Defence Value, the Crusade ends
in defeat:
• All players who did not contribute with units gain
VP equal to the Defeat Penalty of the card.
• If this is not the end of the game, each contrib-
uting player (starting with the current player, pro-
ceeding clockwise) moves one of their crusading
units back to a Province they control, and elimi-
nates the rest.
7. Return the resolved Crusade card to the box.
45
 Module 15A — Rise of Poland
Supported Player Counts: 2– 4
Added Complexity: Significant
Poland went from barely adopting Christianity to
a major regional power in just a couple of decades.
Now you can interact with this volatile new enti-
ty, as you compete to carve out a bigger influence
in the rising Polish Kingdom.
ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS
• 2 Culture cards (Mieszko I, Bolesław Chrobry)
• 6 Chrobry event cards
• 4 sets of 3 double-sided Poland cards (Veleti/Polish Mili-
tary Alliance, Building Santok/Santok, Polish Church/Jor-
dan’s Bishopric)
This module uses the cards numbered
CR01–CR20.
SETUP CHANGES
Shuffle the Mieszko I Culture card into the top 5 cards of
the Culture deck after dealing out the initial cards of the Cul-
ture offer.
Shuffle the Chrobry event cards, and place them in a face down
event deck next to the Culture board. Place the Chrobry Cul-
ture card on top of them.
Give each player 3 double sided Poland cards, with the follow-
ing sides up: Veleti, Building Santok, Polish Church. Players
place these cards face up, near their Ruler card.
Give each player 3 player markers which they place on the top
of their 3 Poland cards:
46 Module 15A — Rise of Poland
Place each player marker above the top action of the Polish Church,
Veleti and Building of Santok cards.
GAMEPLAY CHANGES
AIDING POLAND
You may aid Poland by fighting the Veleti, contributing to the
Building of Santok, or strengthening the Polish Church. To do
so, perform the action listed immediately below your player
marker on the corresponding card. You must meet any of the
action’s additional requirements but you get to score additional
VP as instructed by the card.
For example, to aid against the Veleti, first you must take a Ma-
noeuvre action, then remove 1 of your units from the board to receive
VP equal to the number of resources that unit costs.
Then, slide your player marker down, to cover the effect you
just performed. To aid Poland again in the same category, you
will have to perform the next action in the list, and so on.
FLIPPING
POLAND CARDS
The last step of all three cards will instruct you to flip the card
itself. This represents the completion of efforts: defeating the
Veleti, the completion of Santok, or the establishment of the
new religious structure of Poland. If you are the first to do
this, you may subject the other players to a Levy. Santok and
the Polish Military Alliance cards describe a Levy: each other
player may select to transfer the instructed Gold/VP to and
flip their matching card OR remove their matching Poland card
from play. Either way, no other player can aid Poland in that
category. The card of Jordan’s Bishopric has no Levy effect
printed; when you flip it, all other players must remove their
Polish Church card from play.
When you flip a Poland card (whether by finishing it, or by
paying a Levy to the player who did) you immediately receive
the benefit printed on each of the three cards: take the leftmost
Farm from your Farm track and permanently place it on the
flipped Poland card.
When you flip or remove a Poland card, return the correspond-
ing player marker to the game box. It will no longer be needed.
When the Chrobry Culture card is revealed, do not place it in
the Culture offer. Instead:
1. Draw the top card of the Chrobry event deck, resolve it
completely, then remove it from play.
2. If there is at least one more Chrobry event card remaining
in the Chrobry event deck, shuffle the Chrobry Culture
card into the top 8 cards of the Culture deck.
3. If there are no Chrobry event cards remaining, remove the
Chrobry Culture card from play.

BENEFITS OF These cards represent the unpredictable nature of the emerg-

A STRONG POLAND ing new Polish leadership, and can sometimes punish, some-
times reward players for interacting with Poland.
After controlling a flipped Poland card, a number of benefits
are available to you, as listed on the card itself. Most of these
effects are tied to a particular Action: you may use them when
you place a Noble disc on the corresponding Action, in addi-
END OF GAME CHANGES
tion to the Action’s effect. When you use a benefit, exhaust
the card. You may not use the benefits of an exhausted Po-
land card. At the end of the game, players score 7 VP for each flipped
When you Pass, refresh all your exhausted Poland cards, just as Poland card in front of them.
you would refresh Title cards.

CHROBRY EVENTS
When the first Poland card is flipped, take the Chrobry Culture
card, and shuffle it into the top 8 cards of the Culture deck.

Module 15A — Rise of Poland 47