Variant: Team vs. Team
Note: You need two version of Crimson Company to play this variant!
In the 2-versus-2 variant of the game, each team controls one side of the board. All cards on the same side are shared between both team members. However, every player still has their own separate amount of coins.
Setup & Goal
Lay out 5 regular castle cards (i.e. lanes) between the two teams.
Shuffle the two decks of character cards together to create one deck of 60 cards.
Combine the coins from both game boxes into one big coin supply.
The offer stays the same as in the regular game: 4 characters are available at a time. The upcoming card is visible on top of the deck.
A team wins by conquering 3 of those castles.
Note: If you want to play a shorter match, simply lay out 3 instead of 5 castles. In this case, the first team to conquer 2 castles wins.
Turn Order & Starting Coins
Randomly determine a starting player and hand them the active player marker. Turns (and the marker) then alternate between both teams (A and B below) and between the players within the teams. This means turn order is as follows:
Player 1 (Team A), Player 1 (Team B), Player 2 (Team A), Player 2 (Team B) etc.
The starting coins are 1, 2, 3 and 4 coins respectively for those players (i.e. the starting player receives one coin before the match starts, the fourth player receives 4 coins).
Phases
The phases (Income, Recruitment, Deployment, Score) generally stay the same as in the regular game. Here are some clarifications:
Players bid on a card individually on their turn (i.e. by only using their own coins).
Both players of the opposing team may match a bid individually (they may not combine their coins).
Income effects on your team's cards in play trigger in every Income phase of your team, i.e. in yours and in your teammate's.
Similarly, Recruitment effects apply for all players of the team owning the card.
Card Clarifications
Beggar: The player playing the card chooses a player from the opposing team as the target of the effect.
Sellsword: The team owning the card chooses one player who may pay coins to strengthen the card during the Score phase.
Siren: Both players of the opposing team decide together which cards to move.
Thief: The player playing the card chooses a player from the opposing team as the target of the effect.
Variant: Free for All (3-6 Players)
Note: You need multiple versions of Crimson Company to play this variant:
A 3-player game requires 2 boxes
A 4-player game requires 3 boxes
A 5-player game requires 4 boxes
A 6-player game requires 4 boxes
In the free-for-all variant of the game, 3-6 players are put into a fierce battle against each other. You will have to fight on multiple fronts and take into account every other player's situation when deciding which cards to auction off to the group.
Setup & Goal
Players sit in a circle around the table. Place a front of two regular castle cards (i.e. lanes) between every two players sitting next to each other. This will result in every player having two lanes to their left and two lanes to their right.
Remove the Bard from all decks you are using. Then shuffle all decks of character cards together to create one deck.
Combine the coins from all game boxes into one big coin supply.
The offer stays the same as in the regular game: 4 characters are available at a time. The upcoming card is visible on top of the deck.
All players start with as many coins as there are players.
A player wins by conquering a total of 2 castles (i.e. one on their left front and one on their right front or two castles of the same front).
Turn Order
Randomly determine a starting player and hand them the active player marker. Players then take turns one after another (in clockwise order) and move the marker around the table accordingly.
Phases
The Income, Deployment and Score phases generally stay the same as in the regular game. The Recruitment phase goes as follows:
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The active player selects a card from the offer and announces it.
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All the other players then bid for the selected card by secretly taking the amount of coins they want to bid into one hand and revealing it simultaneously.
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The highest bid sets the price. In case of a tie, the closest player to the active player in clockwise order (who is tied for the highest bid) is considered the sole highest bidder.
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The active player now decides:
- Match the highest bid by paying the same amount of coins to the highest bidder and take the card. All other players keep their coins.
- Pass. The highest bidder pays their bid to the bank and takes the card. All other players keep their coins.
Clarifications
Movement is not only possible between the two lanes of the same front, but also between both fronts of a player (i.e. from a lane you share with your left neighbor to one you share with your right neighbor).
Card effects are global (i.e. apply to all lanes in play) unless otherwise specified (e.g. via the card text explicitly saying: in this lane). This also means the Wizard, Chaos Mage and Bully can indeed target any card in play (even if the lane they are in neither belongs to your left nor to your right front).
The Fortune Teller allows you to pick the upcoming card on top of the deck when deciding which card is about to be auctioned off.
For cards like the Beggar or the Illusionist that directly refer to an opponent, the player the card is played against (i.e. in a lane of a shared front with that player) is considered the targeted opponent.
While it makes sense to hide all your coins at the start of the bidding process (to prevent your opponents from inferring details about your bid), the amount of coins a player has is generally open information and has to be revealed when asked for it.
Optional: Placements
Optionally, after a player won the game by conquering two castles, you can play for further placements (2nd rank, 3rd rank etc)..
To continue playing, simply remove the winner's cards from the game and merge the two remaining lanes from the winner's left and right front together to form a new set of two lanes between the winner's left and right neighbors. Continue to play until there is another winner and so on.
If there is one remaining lane to the left and one to the right of the winner, these lanes are merged into one, so that the already played cards now stand against each other. The second lane of the new front is empty (example shown below).
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