In the year of 1413 - the new King of England, Henry V of Lancaster, pursues ambitious plans: the unification of England and the conquest of the French Crown!

Each player is the leader of their own aspiring noble family. Who will become a true supporter of the young King and thus the most powerful Lord of their time?


Components

  • 1 Game board
  • 2 Supply boards
  • 37 Squires
  • 37 Gold
  • 37 Voting markers
  • 36 Nobleman tiles
  • 1 Start player marker
  • 12 Conflict cards
  • 6 Tiles "king's favor"
  • 1 Parliament board
  • 18 Law cards
  • 1 Rules booklet plus extra sheet

Individual components of the players (in 5 colors):
  • 5 Player markers
  • 35 Knights
  • 5 Castle boards
  • 30 Extension tiles
  • 5 Screens (each screen to be assembled of three parts)
  • 10 Voting tiles
  • 1 Sticker sheet (incl. spare stickers)

Object of the Game

The players want to proceed from simply being a Lord to the most powerful ally of the king. They may achieve this by developing their own knighthood as well as by clever deployment of individual knights in the counties of England, at their own castle and to conflicts with

France. In parliament, they try to push laws from which they will benefit themselves most. The player with the most power points at the end of the game is the winner.


Game Play

Randomly determine a start player, give them the start player marker. The players take their turns in clockwise direction.

The game is played over five game rounds. Each round consists of 3 Phases:

  1. Place knights
  2. Parliament
  3. Rewards

Phase 1: Place Knights

The active player takes one of their own knights from their court and places him on a knight's space. Then, the next player does likewise, etc., until the players have placed all their knights.

If a player has no more knights at their court, their turn is skipped. If only one player remains with knights at their court, they place them successively one after another.

There are possible 3 locations for placing knights:

  • County
  • Castle
  • Conflict

County

In counties, a knight can be placed on an empty or an occupied space. In both cases, the knight himself must match or exceed the demanded minimum strength.

Additionally, the player may place as many squires as they wish along with their knight. Each squire adds 1 strength point, which does not count against the demanded minimum strength.

In case the space is occupied by another player's knight, that knight can be expelled if the strength of the active player's knight or the combined strength of the knight and his squires exceeds the former occupant's strength. A player can never expel their own knight.

The expelled knight goes back to the court of his owner and is placed again on the board in turn order; put any accompanying squires back to the general supply.


Castle

The player places their knight on an empty knight's space in their own castle. Each space can hold only one knight.



Conflict

A player may engage in as many conflicts as they wish. The player selects a conflict and places their knight on the topmost empty knight's space.

Each player may occupy only one of the three spaces of each single conflict. A player already engaged in a certain conflict may reinforce their strength by stacking their knights.



Immediate Reward:

The first 6 knights earn the "king's favor" for their players. The player selects one favor tile from the open display and receives the shown reward.

Next, reverse the tile; it cannot be selected during this round again. Please see the extra sheet for a detailed summary of rewards.


Phase 2: Parliament

After the last knight has been placed, the English Parliament is gathering. The players must vote on the 3 new laws, one after the other. They begin with the law of space 1, bottom row left.

Voting Procedure

All players vote simultaneously and secretly. They decide for or against the law and place the appropriate voting tile face down in front of themselves.

Next, all players may enforce their decision secretly by using as many voting markers as they like. After all players have taken their enforcements in their hand, they simultaneously put the markers on the table and reveal their voting tiles.

Voting Result

The players now tally all votes for and against the law. Each voting tile and each voting marker counts as 1 vote.

The majority wins. In case of a draw, the law is approved. Put all used voting markers back to the general supply.



The new law is approved

Remove the former law (top left, upper row) from the Parliament display. Then, slide both other laws one position from left to right and place the new law on the empty space to the right.

The new law is rejected

Remove the rejected law from the game and leave the former laws unchanged. Use the same procedure for voting on the 2nd and 3rd new law.

Players still holding voting markers after the completion of all three votes return them to the general supply.

Implementation of the 3 applicable laws

After all voting has been done, there are always three applicable laws. They are applied from left to right and the players gain rewards.


Phase 3: Rewards

Counties, castles and conflicts are evaluated in this order.

Counties

All 9 counties yield their rewards from A to I, in this order. The concerned player always must choose one of three options:

  • Take one nobleman tile from that county.
  • Take the other shown reward of that county.
  • Pay 3 gold (into the general supply) and take both - first the nobleman tile, then the other reward shown.

After the player has collected their reward, they take their knight back to their court. If the knight was supported by squires, put them back to the general supply.

Special in Surrey (I): Determine the Start Player

In Surrey, the player additionally determines the start player, besides collecting their reward. They may determine any player, including themselves.

The start player takes the start player marker (or retains it) and the new (or former) player order is effective immediately. If no knight was placed in Surrey, the current start player retains the marker.



Example: Red scores Surrey and assigns the new start player. As his reward, he chooses 2 squires and 2 gold.


Castles

First, the start player scores their complete castle, followed by the other players in clockwise direction.

Each player receives the shown rewards for:

  • Knights placed in their castle
  • Existing extensions
  • Company at table

The player decides about the order to evaluate their knights and extensions any way they like.

After scoring a knight, the player takes the knight back to their court, scored extension tiles remain at the castle.

Next, the player scores their company at table. For each present nobleman, including themselves, the player receives 1 voting marker. Voting markers are placed on the player's castle tableau visible for all players. The players do not receive voting markers in the fifth, final game round.



Example: Blue scores a knight and an extension tile in his castle: He recruits two squires for his knight. He recruits a new knight with strength 1 because of his extension tile, but must return 3 squires to the general supply.


Conflicts

Finally, the conflicts in France are resolved one after the other and the players gain power points.

Resolving a conflict is done in 2 steps:

  1. Winner of conflict: England or France

    Add the strength of all knights involved in this conflict. If their combined strength is equal to or exceeds the strength of France, the winner is England. If their combined strength is less than the strength of France, the winner is France.

  2. Each player's contribution:

    Determine a player ranking by totaling the strength of each player's knights involved in this conflict. In case of a draw, that player who entered the conflict later ranks higher, i. e. the player whose knights are at a lower position of the 3 knight's spaces.



Example 1: The winner of this conflict is England (5:5). The raking of the involved players is as follows:

  • Rank 1: Red, total strength 2
  • Rank 2: Blue, total strength 2
  • Rank 3: Green, total strength 1

Red gains 4 power points, Blue gains 2 and Green gains 1 power point.


Assigning power points:
  • England wins the conflict: The three power point scores are awarded to the players.

    The highest-ranking player receives the highest score, the second highestranking player receives the next score and the lowest ranking player receives the lowest score. Remove the conflict card and the players take their knights back to their courts.

  • France wins the conflict: Even if France wins the conflict, the players score power points. The highest score is not awarded; the second score is awarded for rank 1 and the lowest score for rank 2. All knights remain on their spaces.

    This conflict lingers on and there will be a second battle. Move the conflict card and the associated knights down to the lower row, without changing the order of the knights.



    Example 2: The winner of this conflict is France (3:5). No player gains 4 power points. The raking of the involved players is as follows:

    • Rank 1: Blue, total strength 2 = 2 power points
    • Rank 2: Green, total strength 1 = 1 power point

    All knights continue their engagement in this conflict and a second battle will follow.

  • England wins the second battle: The same rules apply as for the first battle.

  • France wins the second battle: Again, power points are awarded as for the first battle, but the involved knights are being captured. The players may ransom their knights by paying 1 gold per strength level; this is done in given player order.

    If a player pays for their knights, they return home to their court, otherwise they are placed on the corresponding reserve area of the game board. Remove the conflict card from the game.

Preparing The Next Game Round:

Prepare the next game round after scoring of all conflicts is complete.

Conflict

Reveal two new conflict cards and place them in the upper row. All face down tiles "king's favor" are flipped face open.


End of the Game

A final scoring takes place after the fifth game round.

Power points are awarded as follows:

  • 8 power points for the player with the highest strength total of their knighthood. The runner-up gains 4 power points. In case of a draw the player with more squires wins the power points.

  • 8 power points for the player with the most extension tiles in their castle. The runner-up gains 4 power points. In case of a draw the player with more gold wins the power points.

  • Power points are awarded to all players with more than 1 nobleman tile attending their company of table.



The game ends now. The player with the most power points is the winner of the game.

In case of a draw, the concerned players share the victory.



Note: Knights in the reserve area do not belong to the knighthood.

Hint: If a there is still a draw for the first position after considering the number of squires, divide the 12 power points (8 + 4) by the number of tied players and award them accordingly.

If 1 player holds the first position and several players tie for second position, divide the 4 power points by the number of tied players and award them accordingly. Any indivisible points are lost.


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