A Vote for the King of the Romans — Rules of Play

Rules of play in the standard GMT format, based on Rules v0.27.4 and Prototype Values v0.5.1 (the card tweaks and the Crécy timing of 27 October 2026, the counter wording of VLA-61, one shared card-play track). Where this book and a card disagree, the card wins.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 The game. A Vote for the King of the Romans is a two-player game of deckbuilding and area control set in the Holy Roman Empire between 1322 and 1346. One player leads the House of Luxembourg under Charles IV; the other leads the House of Wittelsbach under the reigning emperor, Louis IV "the Bavarian". Over up to nine rounds, both houses buy the support of princes, prelates, captains and cities, court the seven Prince-Electors and fight for the battlegrounds that feed them. The game ends with the election of 1346.

1.2 Object of the game. Win more of the seven electors than your opponent at the final vote (12.3). Each elector is won with elector votes, earned mostly by holding the majority of influence in that elector's country at the end of a round.

1.3 How it plays. Each round, both sides draw a hand and take turns playing one card at a time. Every card brings currency, then is used either for its Numbers (political influence or military strength) or for its Deed (a special effect). Currency buys new cards from a shared market. At the end of the round, majorities in the elector countries earn votes and held battlegrounds give bonuses for the next round. The Battle of Crécy, hidden near the bottom of the market deck, may end the game early.

1.4 Key terms.

1.5 Rules format. Rules are numbered by section (1.0), rule (1.1) and case (1.11). Design notes explain why a rule exists; Examples show it in play; Play notes give advice. When a card contradicts these rules, the card wins.

Design note: the game is a "what if". Either house may court any figure in the market, so Louis may win over the pope's favourites and Charles may hire Louis's captains. The playbook tells the real story behind every card.

2.0 Components

2.1 Inventory.

All cards share one common back, so a card in a hand, on a draw pile or in the market deck can't be identified.

2.2 The board. The map shows the Empire in the 1340s. Panels linked to their places on the map hold the elector boxes, the tracks, the two Courts and the Papal Curia.

• 2.21 Elector countries (7.0): Mainz, Trier and Cologne (ecclesiastical); Bohemia, the Palatinate, Saxony and Brandenburg (secular). Each shows its stability value (7.5).
• 2.22 Battlegrounds (8.0): Lombardy, the Low Countries, Silesia / Lusatia, Tyrol and Lower Bavaria. Each shows its control bonus and the elector country its supply line feeds (8.4).
• 2.23 Elector boxes: one per elector, holding that elector's votes (7.3).
• 2.24 Treasuries: each side keeps its currency cubes in its own treasury. Luxembourg sits at the bottom edge of the board and Wittelsbach at the top edge; each treasury is at its owner's edge (the Treasury of Louis is printed upside down, facing Wittelsbach).
• 2.25 Round track and card-play track: the round marker shows the current round and phase; each round box also shows that round's card plays and hand size ("4–5": 4 plays, hand 5). The card-play track is shared: after each play, put the card-play marker on that play's number with the face of the side that just played up (flip it when the other side plays the same number). The dashed +1 and +2 spaces are for extra plays (Tyrol, Lower Bavaria).
• 2.26 Courts and Papal Curia: the Court of Charles (Prague, Luxembourg), the Court of Louis (Munich, Wittelsbach) and the Papal Curia (Avignon), split into a Luxembourg half and a Wittelsbach half. Shield markers go here (11.0).
• 2.27 John's loyalty track: five spaces, Ludwig 2 – Ludwig 1 – Neutral – Charles 1 – Charles 2 (10.0).

2.3 The cards. Every playable card shares one layout.

• 2.31 Political value (parchment scroll with a red seal): influence placed with Numbers (5.2).
• 2.32 Military value (steel shield): military placed with Numbers (5.2).
• 2.33 Currency yield (coins on the left of the coin row, under the art): the currency gained every time the card is played. The yield also sets the card type (5.5).
• 2.34 Cost (coins on the right of the coin row, market cards only): what it costs to buy the card (6.1). Starter cards have no cost.
• 2.35 Name and art: the name sits at the top between the two values; the art (3:2, the whole image always visible) fills the width under it, with the name bar and the text box as see-through panels over its top and bottom edges, and the card's own shield in its lower left corner if it places one (11.1). The name has no rules effect except where a card names another card.
• 2.36 Card text, in this order: the Deed, its name in bold (5.3); a paid boost line marked ⊕ (5.7); a Counter line (5.6) or Peter of Zittau's Writing History line (6.46), both used from your hand; a line beginning When acquired: that places the card's shield (11.1); the passive the shield gives, beginning "If [shield] is in …" (11.4). A card shows only the lines it has. The bottom strip shows the deck (starter or market) and the card number.
• 2.37 Retinues have 0 political, 0 military and no text: they are played for their currency only.
• 2.38 John of Luxembourg is two cards, a Wittelsbach card and a Luxembourg card, each with its own values and Deed (10.0). Only one of them is in play at a time.
• 2.39 Event cards show a year and an effect, resolved when revealed (6.4).

2.4 Currency. There are four currencies: Church, German, Western and Eastern. Take currency cubes from the common supply when you gain currency and return them when you pay. A wallet never goes below 0. The supply is not a limit: if a colour runs out, use a substitute.

Design note: Wittelsbach leans German and Luxembourg leans Church and Western. The four currencies are the four worlds both houses had to win over: the Church, the German princes and cities, the West of France and England, and the East of Bohemia, Poland and Hungary.

3.0 Setup

3.1 Choose sides. One player takes the House of Luxembourg (red), the other the House of Wittelsbach (blue). Each sits on the side of the board nearer its own Court.

3.2 Board.

• 3.21 Place the round marker on round 1.
• 3.22 Place John's loyalty marker on Ludwig 1.
• 3.23 All elector boxes, elector countries and battlegrounds start empty. Both treasuries start at 0.
• 3.24 Put the shield markers, reminder tokens, counters, vote markers and currency cubes in a supply beside the board.

3.3 Starter decks.

• 3.31 Luxembourg shuffles its 11 starter cards: Charles IV, Blanche de Valois, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Pierre de Rosières, Baldwin of Trier, Raimondino Lupi, John Henry of Luxembourg and 4 Royal Retinues.
• 3.32 Wittelsbach shuffles its 11 starter cards with John of Luxembourg (the Wittelsbach card), 12 cards in all: Louis IV, Margaret of Holland, Louis V of Brandenburg, Marsilius of Padua, William of Ockham, the Teutonic Order, Frederick IV of Nuremberg and 4 Ducal Retinues. Set the Luxembourg John card aside.
• 3.33 Each side places its deck face down as its draw pile.

3.4 Market.

• 3.41 Set aside Gerlach of Nassau (he enters with Clement VI Elected, 6.42) and Arnošt of Pardubice (late entry, 3.44).
• 3.42 Shuffle the other 42 market cards and deal 5 face up as the market row. The opening row never contains an event.
• 3.43 Shuffle the remaining 37 market cards with the 8 historical events (6 aligned, 2 neutral) and the 5 battle events.
• 3.44 Shuffle Arnošt of Pardubice into the bottom half of this deck.
• 3.45 Shuffle the Battle of Crécy into the bottom 6 cards. The market deck now holds 52 cards.

3.5 Opening hands. Each side draws 5 cards (4.2). Wittelsbach plays first in round 1 (4.1).

Each house sits on the side of its own Court; the market and the supply sit beside the board.

Design note: Wittelsbach starts with John in its deck and the first play, because Louis held the throne and John's loyalty at the start of the conflict.

4.0 Sequence of Play

The game lasts up to nine rounds. Each round has four steps:

1. Initiative (4.1)
2. Draw (4.2)
3. Card plays, alternating (4.3)
4. Round end (9.0)

4.1 Initiative. At the start of each round, the side controlling fewer electors (7.3) chooses who plays first this round. Empty elector boxes count for nobody.

• 4.11 If both sides control the same number of electors, the first player switches from the previous round.
• 4.12 In round 1, Wittelsbach plays first.

4.2 Draw. Each side draws up to its hand size for the current phase, plus 1 card for each draw battleground it controls (8.3). A card kept from the last round (9.6) counts toward the hand.

4.3 Card plays. Starting with the first player, the sides alternate single card plays. Each side has the number of plays for the phase, plus 1 for each play battleground it controls (8.3).

• 4.31 A play is described in 5.0. After each of its own plays, a side may buy one market card (6.1).

Play note: the side with more plays gets the last word in the round. Holding a play battleground (Tyrol or Lower Bavaria) is how a politics-heavy deck is kept honest.

5.0 Playing Cards

5.1 Making a play. Put the card face up in your play area (5.4) and gain its currency yield. Then choose how to use it: Numbers (5.2) or its Deed (5.3). A card without a Deed is always used for Numbers.

5.2 Numbers. Use one of the card's two values:

• 5.21 Political: place influence equal to the political value, split freely among any elector countries (7.1), or remove opponent influence instead, point for point.
• 5.22 Military: place military equal to the military value in one battleground (8.1).
• 5.23 A card with 0 political cannot make a political Numbers play, and a card with 0 military cannot make a military one. Bonuses to Numbers (5.8) never apply to such a play.
• 5.24 Stability can double the cost of political Numbers (7.5).

5.3 Deeds. Resolve the Deed text instead of the Numbers.

• 5.31 A Deed that can't be resolved in the current situation can't be chosen. Example: Pierre de Rosières while the Clement VI shield is not in the Papal Curia; the Kutná Hora Silver Mines with no Retinue in your hand or discard pile; Henry of Lipá while you lead in Bohemia. The card can still be used for Numbers.
• 5.32 A Deed that ends with "draw 1 card" can always be chosen; if the rest does nothing, you still draw.
• 5.33 Deeds ignore stability (7.5).

5.4 The play area. Cards you play stay face up in front of you until round end, then go to your discard pile (9.6).

• 5.41 A card is in your play area from the moment you play it, so "cards in your play area" includes the card being played unless the text says "other".
• 5.42 Cards in your play area are not in your discard pile and are never shuffled into your draw pile.
• 5.43 An effect that lasts for the rest of the round is marked with a reminder token on its card. Remove all reminder tokens at round end.

5.5 Card types. A card's type is the currency it yields, as printed: a Church, German, Western or Eastern card. A card that yields two currencies has both types.

• 5.51 Cards that yield "any" currency (Charles IV, Louis IV), Retinues and John of Luxembourg have no type.
• 5.52 A card's type never changes, even if an effect changes its yield. Example: Heinrich of Virneburg stays a Church card while the Clement VI shield stops his Church yield.
• 5.53 A bonus naming two types ("Church or Western cards") applies once to a card of either or both types.

5.6 Counters. Four cards carry a Counter besides their Deed. Cancelling a Deed (or, with Writing History, an event, 6.46) this way is called countering it, and every card and rule says "counter" for it. A card or event that can't be countered says so on itself.

• 5.61 When your opponent announces a matching Deed and its choices, you may discard the Counter card from your hand before the Deed resolves. This does not use a play.
• 5.62 The countered player keeps the card's currency and uses the card for its Numbers instead; bonuses to Numbers apply. The card stays in their play area and keeps its type.
• 5.63 A countered Deed resolves none of its text, including a "draw 1 card".
• 5.64 At most one Counter per play. A Counter cannot be countered.
• 5.65 While a side holds the John IV of Dražice shield, the Deeds of that side's Church cards can't be countered (11.5).

5.7 Paid boosts. Some Deeds carry one optional boost, printed ⊕ cost: effect.

• 5.71 A boost either adds to the Deed ("also place 2 influence in Cologne") or replaces it ("split the removal between two elector countries"). One boost per Deed, never stacked.
• 5.72 Announce the boost with the Deed. You may announce only a boost you can pay, counting the currency the card just yielded.
• 5.73 Pay when the Deed resolves, after the Counter window. A countered Deed takes no payment.
• 5.74 Only market cards and the kings carry boosts.

5.8 Bonuses to Numbers and kickers. "+X to its political Numbers" adds X to a later card's political value when it is played for political Numbers this round. It never applies to military Numbers or to a Deed.

• 5.81 "Later" means cards you play after the effect, this round.
• 5.82 A kicker is a bonus for one named card (Philip VI: "if you play Blanche de Valois later this round, she gets +2"). If you don't play that card this round, the kicker is lost.

5.9 Drawing and reshuffling. Whenever you must draw and your draw pile is empty, shuffle your discard pile into a new draw pile and keep drawing. If both are empty, you draw nothing more.

• 5.91 A card drawn by a Deed goes into your hand at once and may be played this round.
• 5.92 Looking at the top X cards of your draw pile: do with them what the card says. Charles I Robert's Congress of Visegrád puts each into your discard pile or back on top, in any order. If a card says nothing more, put each on the top or the bottom of your draw pile, in any order. Looking is not drawing: with fewer than X cards in your draw pile, look at those and don't reshuffle.

6.0 The Market and Events

6.1 Buying. After each of your own card plays, you may buy one card from the market row by paying its cost from your treasury.

• 6.11 A bought card goes to the bottom of your draw pile, so it arrives before your next reshuffle. Late in the game a bought card may never be played.
• 6.12 Currency exchange: when paying any cost, you may spend 3 of one currency to pay 1 of another.
• 6.13 Market cards cost the same for both sides.

6.2 Acquiring. You acquire a card when you buy it or gain it for free (Coronation in Rome). Every acquired card follows the "when acquired" rules: its shield is placed (11.1) and it counts for Court Prestige (12.2).

• 6.21 A card gained for free is not a purchase: it doesn't use up "your next purchase" effects such as Margaret of Holland's Favor.
• 6.22 "Your next purchase" effects add up: Margaret of Holland's Favor (2 less) and the Flemish Cities' Wool Trade (1 less, Western as any type) can both apply to the same purchase, which uses up both.

6.3 Refilling the row. When a card leaves the market row, refill the row at once from the market deck. The row holds 5 cards (6.42).

6.4 Events. An event revealed during a refill resolves at once (unless Peter of Zittau counters it, 6.46), then the row keeps refilling. Each event is used once per game. Events never take a market spot, so they don't shorten the game: only market cards above Crécy do.

• 6.40 Control: "the side controlling" a battleground, in any card or event text, is the side with military there (8.1, 8.2). With no military there, no one controls it.
• 6.41 Aligned historical events come in pairs, one favouring each house: Dream at Terenzo and Coronation in Rome; the Battle of San Felice and the Battle of Mühldorf; Clement VI Elected and the Tyrol Marriage. Two neutral historical events favour no house by name:
  • Declaration of Rhens (1338): each side loses 2 Church (never below 0). Then each side places 2 influence in one of Mainz, Trier or Cologne, first the side that controls fewer electors (on a tie, the side that plays first this round).
  • The Holland Inheritance (1345): the side controlling the Low Countries gains 3 Western; the other side places 2 influence in one elector country other than Bohemia. If no one controls the Low Countries, nothing happens.
  • Influence placed by an event ignores stability (like Deeds, 5.33) and can't be countered. Influence placed in the round-end market rotation (9.5) stays until the next round's scoring.
• 6.42 Gerlach of Nassau: when Clement VI Elected resolves, put Gerlach in the market row on an extra sixth spot. No card is pushed out, and the round-end rotation (9.5) takes the oldest of the other 5 cards. When Gerlach is acquired (bought, or taken with Coronation in Rome), his spot is not refilled and the row goes back to 5 cards.
• 6.43 Battle events: each of the five battle events belongs to one battleground. When it is revealed, the side controlling that battleground gains 1 vote on the linked elector (7.3). If nobody controls it, nothing happens.

• 6.44 The Battle of Crécy ends the game early (12.1).
• 6.45 Late entry: Arnošt of Pardubice enters the market deck in its bottom half at setup (3.44).
• 6.46 Peter of Zittau's Writing History: when an event is revealed, you may discard Peter of Zittau from your hand to counter it: the event has no effect and is removed from the game, and the row keeps refilling. This doesn't use a play, like a Counter (5.6). Any event qualifies, whichever side it favours, unless its card says "This event cannot be countered." (the Battle of Crécy and Clement VI Elected). Decide before the event resolves. Peter must be in your hand when the event is revealed; an event revealed in the round-end market rotation (9.5) comes before the hand step (9.6), so your unplayed cards are still in hand then. Events looked at with Royal Chronicle (6.5) are not revealed, so they can't be countered.

  Design note: the countered event did happen, but the chronicles don't record it: the victors write the history.

• 6.47 Event rulings.
  • Dream at Terenzo: Luxembourg removes up to 2 cards from the game, from its hand or discard pile (not the draw pile), and gains 2 Church. John can't be removed (10.61).
  • Battle of Mühldorf: if Wittelsbach holds John (the John card is in its deck), it places 5 military in Lower Bavaria. If not (Luxembourg holds him, or he died at Crécy), it places 3 military there and John's marker moves 1 step toward Ludwig. Either way, Luxembourg then places 2 influence in the Palatinate; like all event influence (6.41) it ignores stability and can't be countered. If Lower Bavaria is blocked (8.6), no military is placed, but the rest still happens.

6.5 Looking at the market deck. Peter of Zittau's Royal Chronicle lets you look at the top 3 cards of the market deck.

• 6.51 Only you see them. Events among them are not resolved and can't be bought.
• 6.52 You may buy one of them for its cost minus 2, taken from any currencies in the cost. This is an extra purchase: it follows the normal purchase rules, and you may still buy from the row after the play.
• 6.53 Put the rest back on top of the market deck in any order.

Design note: buying is the heart of the game. A thin, unbought deck can play strongly for a while, but Court Prestige (12.2) rewards the side that builds a court.

7.0 Elector Countries

7.1 Influence. Influence placed in an elector country is additive: both sides' influence stays there side by side. At round end the side with more influence wins that country's vote (9.2). Then all influence is cleared, except footholds (7.6).

7.2 The seven countries.

7.3 Elector votes. Each elector box holds only one side's votes (vote markers) at a time, like military in a battleground (a net pool).

• 7.31 Gaining a vote: first remove one opponent vote from that box if there is one; only when none are left, add one of your own. "Gain 1 vote" always means "move 1 toward you". This applies to every source of votes.
• 7.32 Control: the side whose votes are in a box controls that elector. An empty box is controlled by nobody.

7.4 Ties. If both sides have equal influence above 0 in a country at round end, no vote is awarded (unless the Elizabeth Richeza shield breaks a tie in Bohemia, 11.5).

7.5 Stability. Each country has a stability value. While the leading side's lead there (its influence minus the opponent's) is equal to or higher than the stability value, the opponent pays 2 political for each influence it places or removes there with Numbers.

• 7.51 The cost is checked point by point: once the lead drops below the value, the rest of the play pays 1 per point.
• 7.52 Deeds and supply lines ignore stability: they place and remove at face value. Their influence still counts toward the lead.

Example: Mainz (stability 4). Luxembourg has 5 influence, Wittelsbach 1: the lead is 4. Wittelsbach's first influence there costs 2 political (lead 3); every further point costs 1.

7.6 Footholds. A side whose lead in a country is at or above its stability value when the round ends keeps 1 influence there through the round-end clearing. At most one side can have a foothold in a country.

Design note: stability rewards real investment without locking a country. A big lead makes the other side pay double, but one good answer brings the cost back to normal.

8.0 Battlegrounds

8.1 Displacement. Military placed in a battleground first cancels opponent military there, point for point; only the remainder stays as yours. A battleground therefore holds only one side's military at a time.

Example: Wittelsbach has 6 military in Lombardy. Luxembourg places 5: five Wittelsbach points are cancelled and Wittelsbach keeps 1. Luxembourg has none there.

8.2 Control. The side with military in a battleground controls it. Battlegrounds cannot tie: equal forces cancel and leave it empty and uncontrolled.

8.3 Control bonuses. Control is checked at round end (9.3); the bonus applies for the next round.

• 8.31 Bonuses stack: holding all three draw battlegrounds gives +3 cards.

8.4 Supply lines. At round end, the side controlling a battleground adds 2 influence to its linked elector country (9.1).

• 8.41 Each elector country is linked to at most one battleground. Saxony has none.
• 8.42 Lombardy's controller chooses Mainz or Trier each time the link is used (each supply line and the Battle of Parabiago). Nothing is declared when control is taken.
• 8.43 Supply-line influence ignores stability and needs no counters: add it to that side's count when scoring.

8.5 Decay. At round end, after control is checked, each side loses 1 military in every battleground (minimum 0). Military always counts for at least one control check before it decays.

8.6 Blocked battleground. Albert II of Austria's Habsburg Neutrality blocks one battleground for the rest of the round: nobody may place military there or move military into it, by Numbers, Deeds or events. Removing military and moving it out are still allowed. Mark it with a reminder token.

Design note: battlegrounds don't win the election on their own. They feed it, through bigger hands, extra plays and supply influence, so neither side can ignore them.

9.0 Round End

When both sides have used all their plays, carry out these steps in order.

9.1 Supply lines. Each side adds 2 influence to the elector country linked to each battleground it controls (8.4). Lombardy's controller chooses Mainz or Trier now.

9.2 Countries. In each elector country, the side with more influence gains 1 vote on that elector (7.3).

• 9.21 A tie gives no vote (7.4). Exception: a tie in Bohemia, with at least 1 influence each, gives the vote to the side holding the Elizabeth Richeza shield.
• 9.22 Mark footholds (7.6), then clear all other influence from the board.

9.3 Battlegrounds. The side with military in each battleground controls it and gains its bonus for the next round (8.3). Then each side loses 1 military in every battleground (8.5).

9.4 John's loyalty. Each side may pay 3 currency of any type to move John's loyalty marker 1 step, at most once per round. If both sides buy a step, the side that played first this round goes first (10.4).

9.5 Market rotation. Remove the oldest card of the regular 5 in the market row from the game (Gerlach keeps his extra spot, 6.42) and refill the row (6.3). Events revealed now resolve as usual, and Peter of Zittau's Writing History can counter them (6.46). If the Battle of Crécy is revealed now, the game ends at once (12.13).

9.6 Hand and play area. The side holding the Charles I Robert shield gains 1 Eastern. Each side may keep 1 unplayed card in hand. All other cards in hand and all cards in the play area go to the discard pile. Remove all reminder tokens. Do not shuffle: draw piles are reshuffled only when they run out (5.9).

9.7 Advance the round marker. The phase changes after rounds 2 and 6 (4.2).

9.8 After the final round. After round 9, or after the round in which Crécy was revealed during play (12.13), carry out only steps 9.1 and 9.2. Then count Court Prestige (12.2) and hold the final vote (12.3). No battlegrounds are scored, no loyalty step is bought, no market rotation is made, and no event can be revealed after the final round.

Play note: the loyalty step comes after decay, so you know which battlegrounds you hold next round before you decide whether to spend on John.

10.0 John of Luxembourg

John the Blind, King of Bohemia, is two cards, one per side, and moves between the two decks. Only one John card is in play at a time; the other is set aside. The side whose deck holds him holds John, whatever his marker shows.

10.1 The two cards. Each John card has its own values and Deed, and no other card copies either Deed.

10.2 Reckless spending. John yields no currency and has no type. Using him, for Numbers or his Deed, costs 3 currency of any type. If you can't pay, you can't play him and he stays in your hand.

10.3 The loyalty track. Ludwig 2 – Ludwig 1 – Neutral – Charles 1 – Charles 2. His marker moves:

• 10.31 1 step away from the side that uses him, each time he is used.
• 10.32 By events: the Battle of Mühldorf toward Ludwig (only while Wittelsbach doesn't hold John, 6.47); Clement VI Elected (1 step) and the Tyrol Marriage (2 steps) toward Charles.
• 10.33 By Deeds, whoever plays them: Philip VI and Blanche de Valois toward Charles (Blanche only while Wittelsbach holds John); Margaret "Maultasch" and Pope Benedict XII either way (the player chooses).
• 10.34 By purchase at round end (10.4). A step can no longer be bought after your own plays.

10.4 Buying loyalty. In round-end step 9.4, each side may pay 3 currency of any type to move the marker 1 step, at most once per round. If both sides buy, the side that played first this round goes first. Deeds and events that move the marker are not purchases and don't count against this limit.

10.5 The flip. When the marker reaches the far end (Charles 2 while Wittelsbach holds John, or Ludwig 2 while Luxembourg holds him), John moves to the other side's discard pile: set his current card aside and put the other side's John card into that discard pile.

10.6 Other rules.

• 10.61 John can't be removed from the game, except by the Battle of Crécy (both John cards say so). No card or event that removes cards from the game can take him (Ockham's Razor, Dream at Terenzo).
• 10.62 John needs no shield: his card and the track show who holds him.
• 10.63 At Crécy John dies and leaves the game (12.1).
• 10.64 John's marker breaks an overall tie at the final vote (12.4).

Design note: John is strong because he costs money. His loyalty soaks up spare currency, and every use pushes him toward the other side, so the flip is a decision, not a given.

11.0 Shields and Passives

Every passive card and every lasting event state has its own shield marker: a small shield in its own colour, with a simple charge from the person's coat of arms so it reads without colour too. The shield shape always means "passive or event state".

11.1 Placing shields. A card with a passive carries the line When acquired: place [shield] in your [location]. Place the shield whenever you acquire the card, bought or free (6.2). An event places its shield when it resolves.

11.2 Locations. The Court of Charles (Luxembourg), the Court of Louis (Wittelsbach) and the Papal Curia, split into a Luxembourg half and a Wittelsbach half. "Your Court" and "your half of the Curia" are your side's. "In the Papal Curia" means either half.

11.3 Held. A passive is held by the side whose Court or Curia half has its shield. A shield never changes side on its own.

11.4 Checking. Cards, events and round-end steps affected by a shield say "If [shield] is in [location]: …". The check is always made on the board when that effect resolves, never as a trigger in the middle of a play.

11.5 The six shields.

11.6 Leaving the game. When the card that placed a shield leaves the game, its shield returns to the supply and its passive ends. A card in your deck, hand, discard pile or play area keeps its shield in place; discarding Elizabeth Richeza for her Counter keeps her shield.

11.7 Event shields stay for the rest of the game. The Clement VI shield sits in the Luxembourg half (Clement was Charles's tutor), but its effects are the same for both sides.

11.8 Not shields. John needs no shield (10.62). The Rex Romanorum reminder is a small crown on Charles IV's card.

12.0 Game End and Victory

The game ends after round 9, or earlier if the Battle of Crécy is revealed. Either way, the final round ends with the short round end (9.8), then Court Prestige (12.2), then the final vote (12.3).

12.1 The Battle of Crécy. Crécy lies among the bottom 6 cards of the market deck. When it is revealed, during a round or in the round-end market rotation:

• 12.11 John of Luxembourg dies and leaves the game at once (both John cards). If Luxembourg holds him, Luxembourg gains 1 vote on Bohemia (the inheritance).
• 12.12 If the Edward III shield is in the Wittelsbach Court, Wittelsbach gains 1 vote on an elector of its choice.
• 12.13 The current round is the last. Revealed during a round, both sides play out their remaining plays (a card bought now is never played), then the round ends with the short round end (9.8). Revealed in the round-end market rotation (9.5), the round has already been scored, so the game ends at once: skip 9.6 and 9.7, count Court Prestige (12.2) and hold the final vote (12.3).

  Design note: Crécy came without warning. From round 7 on, every purchase that refills the row might be the last: the tension is the point.

12.2 Court Prestige. Count once, at game end, after the final round's countries are scored.

• 12.21 Count your non-starting cards: the market cards you own, in your draw pile, hand, discard pile and play area, including cards gained for free and cards bought in the final round. Starter cards, Retinues, John and cards removed from the game don't count.
• 12.22 Events never count.
• 12.23 Earn 1 Prestige vote per 4 counted cards, rounded down.
• 12.24 Place the difference only: the side with more Prestige votes places that many more votes than its opponent, one at a time, on electors of its choice. The other side places nothing. Each vote follows the net pool (7.31).

Example: Luxembourg counts 11 cards (2 Prestige votes), Wittelsbach 5 (1 Prestige vote). Luxembourg places 1 vote on Saxony, where Wittelsbach had 1 vote: the box is now empty and Saxony abstains.

12.3 The final vote. For each elector, the side whose votes are in its box wins that elector. An empty box abstains. The side with more electors than its opponent is elected King of the Romans.

12.4 Overall tie. If both sides win the same number of electors, John's loyalty marker decides: on the Charles side, Luxembourg wins; on the Ludwig side, Wittelsbach wins. On Neutral, Louis keeps the crown as the reigning emperor, and Wittelsbach wins.

Design note: Court Prestige is meant to do nothing in most games: two sides that both build a court cancel out. It exists to punish a side that refuses to buy.

References

Compiled without a library check; confirm editions and publication details before print.

Primary sources

• Charles IV, Vita Caroli Quarti. Edited and translated by Balázs Nagy and Frank Schaer as Autobiography of Emperor Charles IV and His Legend of St Wenceslas. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2001.
• Peter of Zittau, Chronicon Aulae Regiae (the Zbraslav Chronicle). Czech translation: Zbraslavská kronika. Prague: Svoboda, 1976.
• Marsilius of Padua, Defensor Pacis (1324). Translated by Annabel Brett as The Defender of the Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• The Golden Bull of Charles IV (1356).

Histories

• Clauss, Martin. Ludwig IV. – der Bayer: Herzog, König, Kaiser. Regensburg: Pustet, 2014.
• Pauly, Michel, ed. Johann der Blinde, Graf von Luxemburg, König von Böhmen 1296–1346. Luxembourg, 1997.
• Scales, Len. The Shaping of German Identity: Authority and Crisis, 1245–1414. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
• Seibert, Hubertus, ed. Ludwig der Bayer (1314–1347): Reich und Herrschaft im Wandel. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2014.
• Seibt, Ferdinand. Karl IV.: Ein Kaiser in Europa 1346 bis 1378. Munich: Süddeutscher Verlag, 1978.
• Spěváček, Jiří. Jan Lucemburský a jeho doba 1296–1346. Prague: Mladá fronta, 1994.
• Spěváček, Jiří. Karel IV.: Život a dílo (1316–1378). Prague: Svoboda, 1979.
• Sumption, Jonathan. The Hundred Years War I: Trial by Battle. London: Faber and Faber, 1990.
• Thomas, Heinz. Ludwig der Bayer (1282–1347): Kaiser und Ketzer. Regensburg: Pustet, 1993.

Design influences

• Twilight Struggle (Ananda Gupta and Jason Matthews; GMT Games, 2005): cards used for their numbers or their event, and alternating card plays.
• 1960: The Making of the President (Christian Leonhard and Jason Matthews; Z-Man Games, 2007) and Empire of the Sun (Mark Herman; GMT Games, 2005): card layout.
• Dominion (Donald X. Vaccarino; Rio Grande Games, 2008): deckbuilding.
• Pericles: The Peloponnesian Wars (Mark Herman; GMT Games, 2017): board panels linked to places on the map.