● the Condottiere chooses the site of the next

Condottiere rules battle and places Condottiere piece there

Set-up
Deal 10 cards to each player and choose who will be
Condottiere. The first battle will then commence.
Battles
The location of each battle is chosen by the
Condottiere, who places the Condottiere piece on
the chosen city. A city that has already been
conquered cannot be chosen. The Condottiere plays
the first card, with other players following in
clockwise order.
On their turn, a player can:
1. play a card face up - A player may continue
to play cards indefinitely, even if they are the
only one doing so.
2. pass - The passing player may not play
further cards in this battle. A player, even the
Condottiere, may pass on their first turn.
Players are never required to reveal how many cards
they have in hand.
The battle continues until all players have passed or
the Surrender or Bishop cards have been played. If
only one player remains (i.e. has not yet passed),
that player may play as many cards as they like
before passing.
When all players have passed, each player counts up
the points on their cards, taking into account any
modifications made by Drum or Winter. The player
with the most points wins the battle.
There is no winner if either:
● no players participated in the battle
● there is a tie for the most points
● a Bishop card is played.
○ if Condottiere does not want to do
this, they must make player on their
left Condottiere instead.
Redrawing cards
New cards will not necessarily be drawn at the end
of a battle - they are drawn only when, at the end of
a battle, just one player has cards in his hand. This
player must discard their last cards without playing
them. All cards are reshuffled and the players receive
10 cards each, plus two extra ones for each city they
control. The next battle now begins.
Game end
● the game ends when a player controls:
○ 4 contiguous regions (2-3 players)
○ 3 contiguous regions (4-6 players)
● if no player achieves this, player with the
most cities (even non-contiguous ones) wins
Older edition rules
The above rules are from the revised second edition
(Eurogames/Descartes).
The first and (unrevised) second editions have the
following differences:
● Battles can be fought over cities that have
already been captured
● the game ends when a player controls:
○ 6 contiguous regions (2 players)
○ 5 contiguous regions (3 players)
○ 4 contiguous regions (4+ players)
See CrayCJ’s Rules Per Version Compilation for more
variants from the various editions, including the very
different FFG third edition

At the end of the battle:

● winner becomes Condottiere, takes
Condottiere piece and places their marker
on the conquered city
○ if there is no winner, the player to
the left of the Condottiere becomes
the new Condottiere
● all played cards are placed in a common
discard pile
● a player may discard all cards from their
hand if they are all non-mercenary
Symbol Count Effect

15 x 1 Mercenary
8 x 2/3/4/5/6/10 Contributes points representing the strength of your army.

15 Scarecrow
You may return one of your Mercenary cards to your hand (but not
any other type of card).

6 Drum
Values of your Mercenary cards are doubled. Multiple Drums have no
additional effect. If you play Drums in Winter your Mercenary cards
have a value of 2.

3 Winter
Reduces all Mercenary cards (including your own) to a value of 1.

3 Heroine
Always worth 10 points. Value is never modified by Drums or Winter,
nor can it be retrieved with a Scarecrow.

3 Surrender
Battle ends immediately, and the player with the strongest army takes
the city.

3 Bishop
Battle ends immediately with no victor.