Gameplay

Revision as of 02:02, 13 November 2012

Set up

To set up the game, first prepare the cards which constitute the Supply. The Supply nominally consists of the 7 basic supply piles: Curse, Copper, Silver, Gold, Estate, Duchy, Province, and 10 Kingdom cards. Curse is set out even if no Kingdom card specifically references it. The 10 Kingdom cards are chosen by whatever method is agreed upon. A common method is to select randomly from the randomizer deck. Certain Kingdom cards will require additional stacks to be used. Additional piles which may be included are

• If Young Witch is selected as a Kingdom card, an 11th Kingdom card costing from to is set out to act as the bane card.
• Potion is used whenever any Kingdom card has Potion in its cost.
• Colony and Platinum are used in proportion to the number of Kingdom cards from Prosperity. See additional rules for more information.
• Ruins are used whenever a card with the type Looter is included in the Kingdom. Specifically, Cultist, Death Cart, and Marauder constitute the Looters.
• Spoils are included whenever one of Bandit Camp, Marauder, or Pillage is in the Kingdom.
• Prizes are used with Tournament, Madman is used with Hermit, and Mercenary is used with Urchin. These additional cards are not considered part of the supply and thus do not count towards the game ending condition.
• A Black Market deck is used when playing the the promotional card Black Market.

Each non-Victory supply stack nominally contains 10 cards. The only exception is Rats, which contains 20 cards. Each Victory card stack contains 8 cards for a two player game and 12 cards for a game with 3 or more players. Additionally, the Province pile contains 15 cards and 18 cards for a 5 and 6 player game, respectively. A Kingdom card which is both a Victory card and another type still counts as a Victory card. The number of cards in the Curse and Ruins piles is 10 for each player after the first.

Finally, each player is given a starting deck consisting of 7 Coppers and 3 Estates. If playing with Dark Ages, each players starting Estates may be replaced with Shelter cards. See additional rules for more information.

Phases

Action Phase

In the Action phase, the player may play one Action card. Action cards are the Kingdom cards that say “Action” at the bottom of the card. Since players do not start the game with any Action cards in their initial Decks of 10 cards, a player will not have any Actions to play during his first 2 turns. Normally, a player may play only one Action card, but this number may be modified by the Action cards that the player plays. To play an Action, the player takes an Action card from his hand and lays it face-up in his play area. He announces which card he is playing and follows the instructions written on that card from top to bottom. The player may still play an Action card even if he is not able to do everything the Action card tells him to do; but the player must do as much as he can. Furthermore, the player must fully resolve an Action card before playing another one (if he is able to play another Action card). Detailed information about card abilities can be found in the card descriptions at the end of these rules. Any Action cards played remain in the player’s play area until the Clean-up phase of the turn unless otherwise indicated on the card. The Action phase ends when the player cannot or chooses not to play any more Action cards. Generally, a player can only play Action cards during the Action phase of his turn. However, Reaction cards are an exception to this rule as they can be used at other times.

Buy Phase

In the Buy phase, the player can gain one card from the Supply by paying its cost. Any card that is in the Supply may be purchased (Treasure, Victory, Kingdom, and even Curse cards). The player may not purchase cards from the Trash pile or non-Supply piles. Normally, a player may buy only one card, but he may buy more if he played certain cards which grant +buy either in the Action phase or at the beginning of the Buy phase.

The cost of a card is in its lower left corner. The player may play some or all of the Treasure cards from his hand in any order to his play area and add to their value the coins provided by Action cards played this turn. The player may then gain any card in the Supply of equal or lesser value. If the player has multiple Buys, he combines Treasure cards and any coins available from Action cards to pay for all of the purchases. He takes the purchased cards from its Supply pile and places it face-up on his Discard pile. He my not use the ability of the card when it is gained. Players do not have to use any or all of their Buys.

Clean Up Phase

All cards gained this turn should already be in the player’s Discard pile. The player places any cards that are in his play area (Action cards that have been played in the Action phase as well as Treasure cards that have been played in the Buy phase) and any cards remaining in his hand onto his Discard pile. Although the player need not show the cards remaining in his hand to his opponents, since he places the cards in the Discard pile face-up, his opponents will always be able to see the top-most card of his Discard pile.

Then, the player draws a new hand of 5 cards from his Deck. If there are not enough cards in his Deck, he draws as many as he can, shuffles his Discard pile to form a new face-down Deck, and then draws the rest of his new hand. Once the player has drawn a new hand of 5 cards, the next player starts his turn. To speed play, players may begin their turns while previous players are completing their Clean-up phases. When someone plays an Attack card, the players must complete their Clean-up phases in order to properly resolve the Attack.

Certain cards have rules which supersede the rules presented here. Specifically, Duration cards remain in play until the turn when they stop doing something. Other cards, such as Treasury, Scheme, and Herbalist allow you to place cards on top of your deck before you discard them from play.

Ending Conditions

The game ends at the end of any player’s turn when either:

• the Supply pile of Province cards is empty or
• any 3 Supply piles are empty.
• the Supply pile of Colonly cards (if using them) is empty

Scoring

Each player puts all of his cards into his Deck and counts the victory points on all the cards he has. The player with the most victory points wins. If the highest scores are tied at the end of the game, the tied player who has had the fewest turns wins the game. If the tied players have had the same number of turns, they rejoice in their shared victory.

Additional Rules

Colonies and Platinums

Shelters