Council of 4

• Select a language:
• en

• Setup
  • Main Board
    • • Place the main board and track board side by side (choose either side of the main board when starting)
      • Shuffle the 14 city tokens and place 1 token face up on the corresponding space of each city. The gray city does not receive a token
      • Divide the business permit tiles into 3 decks based on the region (color). Shuffle the 3 decks separately and place them face down on their corresponding spaces. Draw 2 tiles per region and place them face up in their corresponding locations
      • Place the Queen mini in the gray city
      • Place the Queen's reward tiles on the track board in a pile in numerical order with the "1" on top and "5" on the bottom
      • Place the 3 region reward tiles on their corresponding spaces on the regions on the main board
      • Place the remaining 4 general reward tiles on their specific spaces on the center of the track board
      • Insert 4 councilors at random in each council line (1 for each region on the main board, and the Queen line on the track board). Place the 8 remaining councilors next to the board
      • Shuffle the politics cards and place the deck facedown next to the board
      • Place the servant tokens in a pile next to the board
  • Player Setup
    • • Take the 1 big merchant of one color and the 10 small merchants of the same color
      • Place 1 small merchant of your color on the "0" space of the scoring track
      • Take the 2 cardboard marker tokens of your and place one on the 0 space of the nobility track.
      • Determine a start player
      • Now, depending on player order positions, place your remaining cardboard marker token on the coin track and take a number of servants based on the table below:

      Player	Coins	Servants
      1	10	1
      2	11	2
      3	12	3
      4	13	4

      • Take an overview card
      • Draw 6 politics cards
• Gameplay

  • Each turn is composed of 2 phases

  • Phase 1

    • Draw a politics card from the deck. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discarded cards to form a new deck.

  • Phase 2

    • Perform 1 main action and, optionally, 1 quick action. You must perform a single main action. If you choose to perform a quick action, you can do that either before or after your main action.

  • Main Actions
    • Elect a Councilor

      • Choose 1 of the available councilors next to the board. In a council line of your choice, slide the councilor in on the side with the printed arrow. "Push" the councilor at the end of the line out and place it with the other councilors next to the board. Receive 4 coins.

    • Acquire a Business Permit Tile

      • Discard 1-4 politics cards corresponding to the colors of the councilors in a region. You can pay less than 4 politics cards by supplementing with coins per the table below:

        Cards Played	Coins Needed
        1	10
        2	7
        3	4
        4	0

        Choose 1 of the 2 face up business permit tiles in the region you have payed for and place it face up in front of you. Immediately take the bonus(es) on the tile. Replace the tile with the top one of the corresponding deck.

    • Place a Merchant Using a Permit Tile

      • Using 1 of the face up business permit tiles, place a small merchant in the city corresponding to the letter (you choose if more than 1 letter). Turn the used tile face down to show it has been used.

        Rules for placing a merchant:

        • You may only place 1 merchant per city
        • You must return 1 servant for each merchant already in the city.
        • When placing a merchant, immediately obtain the bonus indicated by the city token. Additionally, take the bonus for all cities directly connected by a road in which your merchants are already present.

        Reward Tiles:

        • If you are the first player to have a merchant in all cities of a color or a region, take the corresponding reward tile and the topmost Queen's reward tile (if available).
    • Place a Merchant With the Help of the Queen

      • You must satisfy the requirements in the Queen's "balcony" similar to using a permit tile. Move the Queen to a city of your choice following these rules:

        • The Queen must use uninterrupted roads to move to the new city.
        • Pay 2 coins for each road traveled.
        • The Queen may be left in the same city. If so, pay no coins.

        Then, place a small merchant in the city where the queen ends her movement.

        Rules for placing a merchant:

        • You may only place 1 merchant per city
        • You must return 1 servant for each merchant already in the city.
        • When placing a merchant, immediately obtain the bonus indicated by the city token. Additionally, take the bonus for all cities directly connected by a road in which your merchants are already present.

        Reward Tiles:

        • If you are the first player to have a merchant in all cities of a color or a region, take the corresponding reward tile and the topmost Queen's reward tile (if available).
  • Quick Actions

    • All of these actions are optional. You may take 1 either before or after your main action.

    • Engage a Servant

      • Pay 3 coins and take 1 servant.

    • Change Building Permit Tiles

      • Return 1 servant to the pool and return the 2 face up business permit tiles in a region to the bottom of the corresponding stack. Draw 2 new tiles.

    • Send a Servant to Elect a Councilor

      • Return 1 servant to the pool and take a councilor and insert it in a line, exactly as in the main action Elect a Councilor

    • Perform an Additional Main Action

      • Return 3 servants to the pool and take 2 main actions instead of 1 this turn. You may perform the same action twice.

  • The Nobility Track

    • There 2 ways to move forward on this track:

      • A bonus on a business permit tile
      • A bonus on city's token

      Immediately receive the bonus printed on the nobility track when you reach it.

• End of the Game

  • The 1st player to place their 10th merchant earns 3 points. All other players take 1 more turn, then the game ends.

    Scoring:

    • VPs marked on reward tiles
    • The player furthest on the nobility track receives 5 points. 2nd furthest receives 2 points. If there is a tie for 1st, all tied players receive 5 points and no points are awarded for 2nd. If there is a tie for 2nd, all tied players receive 2 points.
    • The player with the most business permit tiles gets 3 points

    If there is a tie, the player with the most servants and politics cards wins.

• 2 Player Games

  • Setup the game as normal. Then, draw a random business permit tile for each region and add 1 merchant (of an unchosen color) in each city appearing on the drawn tiles. Shuffle the tiles back into their starting decks.

    **NOTE: There will be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 9 merchants present on the map at the beginning of the game

• How to Play Videos 📹