INTRODUCTORY NOTE
In these rules, some words are underlined.
These words are listed in the glossary, with additional information.

AIM OF THE GAME
Each player is a Baron, in the England of 1265.
To obtain the manor of Evesham from King Henry III he/she must show the greatest bravery by beating the enemy and conquering the towns in the area.
By beating the enemy and conquering towns each player can obtain the victory points required to win the game.

PREPARING TO PLAY
The map
Bring the 4 square cardboard pieces together at random, in any direction, so as to form a single large square that will represent the map of the manor. On the map are 5 types of territories:

hill	wood	mountains	villagge	city

The Plague and the Convent
Place the blue plague pawn on the village closest to the town of Evesham. On the hill at the centre of the map, place the white pawn, with the drawing of the Convent and the 4 cardinal points.

The coats-of-arms
Each player chooses the colour with which to play, takes the corresponding 5 coats-of-arms and places one on box 0 of the Victory Chart.

The coats-of-arms of the 4 Barons

The Castles, the pawns and the playing cards
Take the players’ coat-of-arms, shuffle and pick them up, one at a time, randomly, to fix a sequence among the players.
In the established order each player places 1 coat-of-arms on a hill on the border of the map.
This represents his/her Castle, meaning the territory from where his/herpawn will enter the map during the game.
The coat-of-arms of the Castle cannot be placed in the corners and in the edges where another Castle has already been placed.

Each player sits behind his/her Castle and arranges his/her 10 pawns.
The pawns must be positioned with the red number side up.
The number printed on each pawn shows movement capacity, strength and value in victory points when eliminated.
On some of the pawns, 1 or 2 small coats-of-arms are depicted.
The purpose is to identify them easier.
Each player takes the 10 army cards corresponding to his/her pawns, and 5 trading cards: one worth 4 shillings, one worth 2 shillings and three without shillings.

army card		trading card
front	back		front	back

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DURATION OF GAME
A basic game lasts 10 turns. To play a basic game, shuffle the 20 blue plague cards and prepare a pack of 10 cards, eliminating the others. For other types of game, see the optional rules.

GAME TURN
1) Diplomacy
The player with the least number of victory points establishes who is to move and attack first, second and, if necessary, third and fourth.With several players in last position, a coat-of-arms is picked to establish which player will decide the order of the play.
In the first turn only, the player who decides the order of play is the one who has placed his/her Castle last.

2) Strategy
Each player chooses from among his/her cards, 3 army cards and 1 trading card, without showing them to the other players.
These 4 cards must be held in the hand, while the other cards must be set aside, covered up.
The 4 chosen cards will be shown, meaning played, when moving (point 4).

3) Plague
Pick 1 plague card. At this point, and only at this point, some pawns can catch the plague, depending on what is written on the plague card.
When a pawn is hit by the plague it becomes plague stricken and the pawn must be turned round showing the side with the black number, worth less than the red number.
The Baron is the only pawn to remain plague stricken only 1 turn.
The turn after being plague stricken, the Baron recovers and his pawn must be turned around, again showing the side with the red number. His recovery occurs before the plague card of the turn is picked.
The other types of pawns, when they are plague stricken, can recover (meaning return to full strength) only if they manage to reach the Convent (see point 4).
A pawn which is hit by the plague when it is still plague stricken is eliminated.
A pawn in its Castle, in one of its towns or in the Convent is safe and cannot catch the plague.

4) Movement

General rules about moving pawns
To move a pawn, an army card must be played or, by means of the trading card, shillings must be spent for moving (see sequence of movements).
Each pawn can cross, at most, a number of territories equal to the number (red or black) printed on the pawn, excepting any changes due to fog, if indicated by the plague card of the turn (see glossary).
A pawn can never pass over: the blue plague pawn, the mountains, the central hill with the Convent pawn, the towns that are still free, as well as the Castles, the pawns and the towns of the other players.
A pawn can pass over its own pawns, but at the end of its movement in each territory there must only be 1 pawn.
A player can have 2 pawns (maximum) in the same territory only if one of the 2 pawns is the Baron or the Milady.
Remember that:

• the First Knight must always be alone
• only the Baron, the Mercenaries and the Infantrymen can pass over or stay on villages and their towns
• only 1 pawn can remain in each wood
• any pawn that enters a wood must stop

The central hill and the Convent
Only the plague stricken pawns can enter the central hill, to recover in the Convent, that is returning to full strength in the game.
As soon as a plague stricken pawn enter the central hill, it must be positioned underneath the Convent pawn.
At the start of each turn, all the pawns inside the Convent are considered recovered and are turned round, again showing the side with the red number.
When inside the Convent, a pawn cannot attack and cannot be attacked, it is safe from the plague and can remain in the Convent for as long as it wants, including in the company of other pawns, friend and foe, whatever the number.
A pawn can move from the Convent in any direction.

Sequence of movements
All the players must have 3 army cards and 1 trading card, chosen during the previous stage of the strategy.
Following the order of play established during the diplomacy stage, all the players show 1 army card, then they all show a second army card, then they all show their third army card, and finally they all show their trading card.
Every time an army card is shown, the corresponding pawn can either be moved or not.
When the army card of a Mercenary is shown and that Mercenary moves, during the same turn a 4 or 2 shilling trading card must also be shown, because every Mercenary that moves has to be paid 1 shilling during the same turn.
After paying any Mercenary moves, each further shilling on the trading card permits the additional movement of 1 territory (a sort of forced march, which is paid for).
Each player can use this additional movement as he/she wishes: if, for instance, the player still has 3 shillings to spend, he/she can move a pawn by 2 territories and another by 1 territory, or else pay just one pawn and move it by 3 territories.
The Milady is the only pawn that cannot make additional movements with shillings.

Consequently, when a 4 or 2 shilling trading card is shown, the Mercenaries that have moved in the turn must first of all be paid, and then, with the remaining shillings, any pawn (except the Milady) can be moved, 1 territory for each shilling, that has either previously moved or not during the turn.
When, on the other hand, a trading card is selected without shillings, the Mercenaries cannot be moved (because there are no shillings to pay them) and when the trading card without shillings is shown, no pawn is moved.
When a pawn is eliminated, the corresponding army card must be thrown away, at the end of the turn.

Discarding the trading card
After all the movements are finished, the players regain possession of the 3 shown army cards, to be chosen perhaps in the next turns. The trading card shown on the other hand must be discarded (covered) and will not therefore be available for the next turns. So as not to confuse them with the others, we suggest placing them underneath the map.
Consequently, while during the 1st turn the players have all 5 trading cards at disposal from which to choose the one to be played, in the 2nd turn, they only have 4, in the 3rd turn only 3, in the 4th turn only 2 and in the 5th turn only 1.
After the 5th turn, all the trading cards will have been played and set aside.
At the beginning of the 6th turn, each player again takes possession of all 5 trading cards and the same procedure starts again: one card is chosen, and after this has been played, it is discarded.
The next turn, the same procedure, and so on until the tenth and last turn.

5) Attack

General rules for attacking
After movements have been completed, the attacks are made.
The first to attack is the player who moved first, then the player who moved second and so on.
To attack the player must be next to the target, but attacking is optional, not obligatory.
When a player is next to several targets, the one to be attacked can be selected.
Several pawns of the same player can attack the same next target, joining forces, but each pawn can only complete 1 attack every turn.
To win an attack, it is necessary and enough to have a greater force than that of the target.
The force of each pawn is indicated by the number (red or black) printed on it.
The Milady is the only pawn that does not attack and cannot be attacked.
One pawn and its Baron on the same territory are considered as a single entity: when they attack or defend themselves, they do so together and their force is the total of their forces.
There are two types of attack: battle in open field and town attack.

Battle in open field
To win, it is necessary to overcome the force to be attacked taking into account that the defendant has a force increased by 5 when in a wood and by 3 when in a village(these modifiers are only valid in defence). The First Knight and the Knights cannot cross the villages, but they can attack the pawns above the villages.

Town attack
At the start of the game, all the towns are “free” and can be conquered by the players. Any combination of pawns can attack a town.
The First Knight and the Knights cannot cross the town, but can attack the pawns on the town.
But to attack a town, it is indispensable to have at least 1 Mercenary or 1 Infantryman among the attackers.
No town can be attacked without at least one of these two pawns.
Exception: when a player has no more Mercenaries nor Infantrymen, he/she can attack a town if his/her Baron takes part in the attack.
To conquer a town without pawns (free or enemy) simply attack it from an adjacent territory with a force of at least 8, thereby overcoming only the walls of the town defence, which counts 7. To conquer an enemy town with pawns inside, the attacking forces must always be greater than the defending forces, equivalent to the force of the pawns inside the town + the force of 7 provided by the walls of the town. For example, a town containing 1 Infantryman can be conquered by attacking with a force of at least 10.
The victorious player can place his/her coat-of-arms over a conquered town to symbolise dominion.
In both types of attack consequently, the greater force attacks and wins, while the lower force pawns are immediately eliminated from the game, before the outcome of other attacks.
Every time a Baron is eliminated, it is his men who are really eliminated, not the Baron in person, who is only wounded and manages to escape.
In this case, his pawn must be removed from the map and he cannot be moved the next turn (he is recovering from his wounds).
The turn after that, the Baron can be moved, starting from his Castle.
The elimination of enemies and the conquering or loss of towns results in a change to victory points (see glossary).

6) Advance
After terminating their attacks, the winning players can move ahead, free of charge, over the territory left free by the enemy defeated in battle or in the conquered town, with 1 of the attacking pawns having survived or 2 if there is also the Baron. Only 1 pawn moves forward in a wood.
In a town or village, only the pawns of the Baron, Mercenary and Infantryman can move forward.
Forward movements are made according to the order of play and are optional.

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THE FORCE OF THE DISPERATION
As soon as a player has less than 4 fighting pawns, the red number and black number on the pawn of his/her Baron become 6 and 3 respectively. In this case therefore, the Baron can cross more territories and attack with greater strength.
The fighting pawns are all the types of pawns except the Milady.

THE KING AND THE COWARDS
As soon as one of the players reaches or exceeds 12 victory points, the King intervenes (virtually) in the dispute: immediately, for each fighting pawn still inside the Castle at that time, the players lose as many victory points as is the value of the forces of all of these pawns.
The fighting pawns still in the Castle when the King arrives are considered cowards: their dishonour is a loss of prestige, and consequently of victory points. This loss of points is only applied once during the game, on that occasion and for all the players.

THE KING'S HELP
From that time, until the end of the game, the King, to prevent a Baron becoming too strong, helps the weakest Baron, meaning the player with the least victory points: when the player with the least victory points, even if he/she has the same points as other players, shows a trading cardwith 4 or 2 shillings, he/she is considered to be playing with 2 additional shillings, given to him/her by the King, and therefore with 6 or 4 shillings.
This help from the King often permits a player who is behind in victory points to regain ground and often even to win.
When the player with the least victory points shows a trading card without shillings, he/she cannot receive any help from the King.

VICTORY
After the last turn, the King declares the end of hostilities and assigns the manor to the strongest Baron.
The player with most victory points wins the game. In case of a draw:

• the pack of trading cards is put together again. At the start of each turneach player takes 1 trading card which he/she shows after playing his/her3 army cards

• the game continues until only one player remains in the lead, at the end of the turn, on the Victory Chart
• in this appendix to the game, the plague card is not picked, and the blue pawn of the plague is taken off the mapì

OPTIONAL RULES
Longer game
In this scenario, instead of the 10 turns of the “basic game”, 15 or 20 turns are played, as preferred, and a pack of 15 or 20 plague cards is prepared.
At the start of the 11th and 16th turn, all the players regain possession of their 5 trading cards, to play them in the next turns according to the same rules as the “basic game”.
To make the events less predictable, at the end of the 10th turn all the plague cards are shuffled again and a pack of plague cards is prepared for the remaining turns (5 or 10). The extra cards are discarded.
This scenario is suitable for more expert players.
Virulent plague
In this scenario, as soon as a pawn is hit by the plague is immediately eliminated, except the Baron. The pawn of a Baron hit by the plague is turned round, for that turn. At the start of the next turn, his pawn is turned back round, again showing the side with the red number.
This scenario is played without the pawn and the Convent rules and the vocation event is ignored.
Only strategy and tactics
In this scenario, the game is played without the pawn and the rules of the Convent, without the plague pawn and without picking the plague cards.
The plague cards are only used to count the turns the players have decided to play.
In all the scenarios of the optional rules, the same winning conditions apply as in the “basic game”.

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GLOSSARY

Trading cards
The trading cards represent the income the Barons receive from the wool trade with France.
Sometimes their ships return full of shillings (4 or 2 shilling card) and sometimes not (card without shillings).
The trading cards with shillings are just 2 out of 5, but they are basic to the game. They permit additional and unexpected movements. It may be a good idea to play them straight away, to attack outright, but it is also possible to wait for the others to remain without, before playing one's own cards!
See sequence of movements at point 4.

	Plague cards
	The blue plague pawn moves from the village where it is to another, according to the direction indicated on the plague card, considering the cardinal points indicated on the Convent pawn. Each village is in line, both horizontally and vertically, with another 3 villages. If the blue pawn leaves the map, it re-enters on the opposite side, above the corresponding in-line village,and completes its movement. The plague hits where it stops, not during its movement. Any pawn above the village where the blue pawn stops and all the pawns in the territories next to that village are hit by the plague.
	The blue plague pawn does not move. All the pawns in the hills on the border of the map are hit by the plague.
	The blue plague pawn does not move. All the pawns in the central hills of the map, i.e. the hills that form the cross that starts at the centre of the map and reaches the four edges, are hit by the plague.
	The blue plague pawn does not move. All the pawns above and adjacent to the village where the blue pawn is located are hit by the plague.
	The plague does not hit anyone. During the turn, all the pawns can move, at most, by 1 territory. The Fog 1 event does not affect the movements made with the trading card shillings. All the pawns in the Convent leave the battle and become friars(or nuns). The pawns are eliminated from the game.

Castle
The pawns can cross their Castles, but, once on the map, no pawn, except the Baron, can re-enter.
A Baron can re-enter his Castle only when he’is been wounded in a previous attack.
A pawn in its Castle is safe from the plague and cannot attack or be attacked.

Milady
Her pawn cannot cross or stop on a territory where there is an enemy pawn, unless this is another Milady.
Any pawn on the other hand can cross or stop on a territory where there is only an enemy Milady.

The Milady is a very important pawn. It can in fact stop an entire enemy army, in the following way:

• during movement, the player whose turn it is shows the army card of his/herMilady
• the Milady moves next to someone else’is Baron (or is already next to)
• the Milady declares charming the Baron

In this case, that Baron and all his pawns can no longer move in that turn (but they can still attack). The Milady immediately returns inside her Castle, from where she will be able to move again only after 1 full turn of rest.
The player of the charmed Baron, who no longer moves during the turn, must still show, when it is his/her moment, the prepared trading card, which cannot however be used (in actual fact this is “forfeited).
The Baron is immune to Milady’is charm only when he is in his Castle.
Each Milady can only charm 1 Baron per turn.
A Milady that catches the plague, also becomes plague stricken.
A plague-stricken Milady cannot charm the Barons, nor therefore stop their armies (she does not have the same charm...)
A plague-stricken Milady can damage other types of pawns, in the following way:

• during movement, the player whose turn it is shows the army card of his/her Milady
• the Milady moves next to one or more enemy pawns (or else is already next to)
• the Milady declares infecting the pawns alongside

In this case, all the adjacent enemy pawns are infected by the Milady and become plague-stricken.
The following are always immune from the plague-stricken Milady: the Barons, the Miladies, the already plague-stricken pawns and the pawns in their Castle or in their towns or inside the Convent.

Order of play
The order of play is an important factor during the game.
The player who moves first is at disadvantage because he/she reveals his/her moves before anyone else. The advantage however is that he/she attacks first.
Deciding the order of play is an extra weapon in the hands of the sole player with less victory points.

Victory points
By moving the players’ coats-of-arms on the Victory Chart the situation of the victory points can be kept updated.
For each eliminated fighting enemy pawn, as many victory points are gained as is the number on the eliminated pawn.
When a Baron is wounded, the victory points for eliminating his followers must be counted even if the pawn of the Baron is not eliminated.
Besides, for every town conquered or lost, as many victory points are won or lost as is the territory distance between one’s Castle and the conquered or lost town.
To determine the distance of a town from a Castle the shortest road must be chosen, without taking into account the type of territories.
Victory points can also be lost due to the cowards rule.

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