game design - shem phillips & s j macdonald

illustration - mihajlo dimitrievski

graphic design & layouts - shem phillips
copyright 2018 garphill games
www.garphill.com
introduction
Architects of the West Kingdom is set at the end of the Carolingian Empire, circa 850 AD. As royal architects,
players compete to impress their king and maintain their noble status by constructing various landmarks
throughout his newly appointed domain. Players will need to collect raw materials, hire apprentices and keep a
watchful eye on their workforce. These are treacherous times. Rival architects will stop at nothing to slow your
progress. Will you remain virtuous, or be found in the company of thieves and black marketeers?

aim of the game

The aim of Architects of the West Kingdom is to be the player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the game’s
end. Points are gained by constructing various Buildings and advancing work on the Cathedral. Throughout
the game, players will need to make a lot of moral decisions. However, only at the game’s end will their Virtue
be judged. A few underhanded deals here and there might not seem like much, but fall too far and you will be
punished. The game ends once a set number of constructions have been completed.

components
“Small” “Large” “Unpaid” “Paid”
35 Clay 25 Gold

40 Wood 30 Marble

40 Stone 10 Player 10 Black Market Cards 22 Debt Cards

Markers
(In 5 Colours)
50 Silver
100 Workers
(In 5 Colours)
2 11 Reward Cards 6 Multiplier Cards
components
Side 1: Standard

Side 2: Variable

5 Double-sided
Player Boards
1 Main Board

40 Apprentice Cards 40 Building Cards

3
setup
Follow these steps to set up Architects of the West Kingdom:

1. Place the Main Board in the centre of the playing area.

2. Shuffle all Black Market Cards and place them in a pile on the
left Black Market space, “Small Market” side faceup.

3. Shuffle all Reward Cards and place a number of cards in a

facedown pile to the right of the Cathedral. This number should
be equal to 2 per player, plus 1. For example, 9 cards in a 4
player game. Return any unused cards to the box.

4. Place all Debt Cards in a pile near the Guardhouse, “unpaid”

side faceup.

5. Place all Multiplier Cards in a pile near the board.

6. Shuffle all Apprentice Cards and place them in a facedown

pile to the right of the board. From the top of the pile,
reveal and place 1 Apprentice Cards faceup in each of the
8 spaces to the right of the Workshop.

7. Shuffle all Building Cards and place them in a

facedown pile to the left of the Workshop.

8. Place all Clay, Wood, Stone, Gold, Marble and Silver

in a Supply near the board.
The Main Supply
All the following items are considered to be
unlimited: Debts, Clay, Wood, Stone, Gold, Marble
= 20 Silver and and Silver. Players should use the Multiplier Cards
10 Clay if any of the above items run out.
4
 9. From the Supply, place 4 Silver in the space above the Tax Stand.

10. Each player takes 1 Player Board (side 1 faceup, unless using
the Variable Setup rules) and 20 Workers in their chosen
colour.

11. Each player places 1 of their coloured Player Markers

underneath the Cathedral and the other on number 7
of the Virtue Track.

12. From the pile of Building Cards, deal 4 to

each player. From their hand, each player
chooses 1 card to keep, placing it facedown
in front of them. All players then pass their
remaining cards to the player on their left.
Players then choose 1 of these cards to keep
and pass on the remaining cards again. Of the
last 2 cards they receive, players must choose
1 to keep and place the remaining card
facedown under the Building Card pile.
Players can now pick up their chosen 3 cards
to form their starting hand of Building Cards.
Note that players are not permitted to know
Variable Setup what Building Cards their opponents hold in
their hands throughout the game.
For a more variable game, all players should
use side 2 of their Player Boards
(randomly 13. Randomly choose a starting player. They receive 3
dealt or chosen). This gives each
player a Silver from the Supply. The 2nd player receives 4 Silver.
unique ability throughout the game.
It also If there is a 3rd player, they receive 5 Silver, the 4th
determines how much Silver, Virtue
and player receives 6 Silver, and so on.
other items they begin with. Refer to the
Appendix for more information. Refer to the Appendix for more details on
Variable Setup and Solo Play. 5
first time players
When playing for the first time or teaching others, there are 3 key concepts to understand:

1. Worker Investment - Each player has 20 Workers. Each turn they will place just 1 of these onto the Main Board.
As a general rule, the more times a player visits the same location, the more they benefit from it.
For example, placing their first Worker in the Forest will reward players 1 Wood. Placing their second Worker
will reward 2 Wood. Their third will reward 3 Wood, and so on.

2. Capturing Workers - While at the Town Centre, players can recruit locals to capture groups of Workers. This
might be because they believe that a player’s Workers are being greedy, or involved in shady dealings. Captured
Workers are placed onto the capturing player’s Board. On a later turn they can throw them in Prison, earning 1
Silver per Worker for their troubles. However, the targeted opponent can later visit the Guardhouse to release
them at no cost. This is the primary way of returning Workers during the game.

3. Virtue - A lot of choices will alter players’ positions on the Virtue Track. Ending the game with a lot of Virtue
will award Victory Points, while low Virtue will cause players to lose them. However, being devious isn’t all
bad. Sitting low on the Virtue Track allows players to skimp on their Taxes during the game.

playing the game

Proceeding clockwise from the starting player, each player takes their turn in full. On their turn, players must place
1 of their Workers from their Player Board to a chosen location on the Main Board. Players continue taking turns
until a set number of constructions have been completed. Once this happens, all players take 1 last turn before the
game ends.

The number of constructions required to trigger the end game is determined by the Worker spaces in the Guildhall.
Note that some spaces are only used at higher player counts, as shown by the 3+, 4+ and 5+ icons.

Special Rule: If a player starts their turn with no Workers on their Player Board, their entire turn is spent returning
any 1 Worker from the Main Board to their Player Board. They do not get to place this Worker until
their next turn. The chosen Worker cannot be taken from the Guildhall, Black Market, Prison, or an
6 opposing player’s Board.
placing workers
There are 3 different location types where players can place Workers.

Most locations show a large open circle. There are no restrictions for how many
players may use the same location, or how many Workers they can have at a single
location.
Players may use the Town Centre action to capture from any of these locations.

The Black Market is the only location with smaller open circles. Only 1 Worker may be placed
at each of these spaces. The only way these Workers are removed is during a Black Market Reset
(explained on page 17). Players cannot use the Town Centre action to capture Workers from the
Black Market.

The Guildhall contains several locations with the outline of a Worker. When placing Workers here,
always fill from left to right, top to bottom. Workers placed here should be laid down on their side.
Once placed, a Worker will remain there for the rest of the game. Players cannot use the Town
Centre action to capture Workers from the Guildhall.

The Prison is another location where Workers can be placed.

However, players cannot freely place Workers into the Prison
on their turn. Workers can only be placed here using the top
Guardhouse action, during Black Market Reset or by various
card actions. Players cannot use the Town Centre action to
capture Workers from the Prison.

A note to new players:

Always be mindful of how many Workers you have in Prison.
Having too many there during the Black Market Reset may
result in you losing Virtue or gaining a Debt Card.

7
Board locations
Quarry, Forest, Mines and Silversmith
These are the 4 main resource gathering locations. When placing Workers at 1 of these
locations, players will gain the indicated resource. How much they gain is determined
by the number of their own Workers present, after placing 1 there.

For example, on their previous turn, Yellow placed their second Worker at the Quarry,
gaining 2 Stone. If they decide to place a third Worker at the Quarry on a later turn,
they would gain 3 more Stone.

Note that opposing Workers do not affect how many resources a player will receive (at any location).
The Mines offer a choice of Clay or Gold when placing Workers there. Players cannot split their workforce to
collect some of each. They must either gain Clay (1, plus 1 per Worker) or Gold (1 for every 2 Workers).
For example, if a player placed their fifth Worker at the Mines, they could gain either 6 Clay or 2 Gold.
Note that a player’s first Worker can only gain 2 Clay, as at least 2 Workers are required to gain Gold.

The Silversmith rewards 1 Silver, plus 1 additional Silver for each Worker placed there.
For example, if a player placed their fourth Worker at the Silversmith, they would gain 5 Silver.

King’s Storehouse
This location allows players to take up to 1 action for each Worker they have there.
The available actions are to trade any 2 pictured resources (Clay, Wood or Stone)
for 1 Virtue, or any 3 pictured resources (Wood or Stone) for 1 Marble. There are
also several Apprentices who will allow their owner to take further actions here.

Players may take the same action multiple times if they choose.
For example, Yellow just placed their fifth Worker at the King’s Storehouse, they
decided to trade 2 Clay for 1 Virtue (1st action), then 1 Wood and 2 Stone for 1
Marble (2nd action). They also used their Merchant Apprentice twice to pay a total
of 4 Silver for 2 Gold (3rd and 4th action) and their Trader Apprentice
to exchange 3 Clay for 1 Marble (5th action).
8
Workshop
The Workshop allows players to either hire 1 Apprentice or work on new Building Plans.

Hired Apprentices gain players additional actions or abilities. To hire an Apprentice, players must first pay
a total of 4 Silver. 2 of these are Tax (red coins). Tax is always placed directly into the space above the Tax
Stand. All other Silver is placed back into the Supply.

When placing their first Worker in the Workshop, players can only hire an Apprentice from the left-most
column. If placing their second Worker, they could hire from the first or second column. Therefore, if they
place their fourth Worker, they can hire any of the available Apprentices. Players are reminded of this
restriction by the Worker icons seen between the 2 Apprentice Card rows.

There is way to hire Apprentices with fewer Workers than required. Players may place 1 Silver on an
Apprentice Card to skip it. Any Silver placed must always be placed on the left-most card of a row, followed
by the next card in the row if skipping more than 1 card.

For example, Blue has placed their second Worker in the Workshop. They want the Pickpocket, but
can only choose from the first two columns. They place 1 Silver on the Woodcutter, allowing them
to hire from the first 3 columns in the bottom row. They then place another Silver on the Swindler,
allowing them to hire the Pickpocket. 9
Board locations
After hiring an Apprentice, players should place them faceup in front of them. The empty space on the Main
Board should then be filled. First, shift to the left any Apprentice Cards (along with any coins on them)
currently sitting to the right of the empty space. Then fill the right-most space by revealing the top card from
the Apprentice Card Pile.

There are a few rules to observe when hiring an Apprentice:

- The 2 rows of Apprentices are independent of each other, but act the same way.
- Players cannot hire more than 5 Apprentices. However, they may discard Apprentices at any time to free up
space for new ones. Discarded Apprentices should be placed facedown under the Apprentice Card Pile.
- Some Apprentices have an immediate Virtue effect shown on the right of their card. Any Virtue gained or
lost takes effect when hiring the Apprentice. Discarding an Apprentice does not reverse this effect.
- Any Silver placed on an Apprentice is collected by the player hiring them in a later turn.
- Multiple Silver coins may be placed on the same Apprentice Card if skipped multiple times by players.
- Players are allowed to hire more than 1 of the same Apprentice.

Refer to the Appendix for information on each Apprentice’s ability.

The second action available at the Workshop is to work on new

Building Plans. When choosing this action, the current player
gains Building Cards from the top of the Building Card Pile. The
number of Building Cards they gain is always 1, plus 1 additional
card for every 2 Workers they have at the Workshop.

For example, Blue would draw a total of 2 cards to their hand.

The maximum hand limit for Building Cards is 6. If a player has

more than 6 at the end of their turn, they must choose to discard
cards until they have no more than 6. Discarded Buildings should
be placed facedown under the Building Card Pile.

Refer to the Appendix for information on each

10 Building’s effects.
Town Centre
The Town Centre allows players to recruit locals to capture Workers from any of the “large open circle” locations
on the Main Board. For each Worker a player has at the Town Centre, they may spend 1 Silver to capture 1 group
of Workers (of a single colour) from 1 location (up to 2 locations for 2-3 player and solo games). Note that the
Silver from the first capture is Taxed (remember to always place Tax in the space above the Tax Stand).

There are a few rules to observe when capturing Workers:

- Players may capture from up to 2 locations in a single turn with 2-3 players (and solo play), but only from
1 location with 4 or more players.
- Each capture requires 1 Worker and 1 Silver (the first Silver is Taxed).
- Players may choose to make fewer captures than they have Workers available at the Town Centre.
- Players may capture from the Town Centre, including capturing the Worker they just placed.
- Players can never capture from the Guildhall, Black Market, inside the Prison, or from another player’s Board.

Example 1: Yellow just placed their 2nd Worker at the Town Centre.
They pay 1 Tax to capture all 3 Red Workers from the Forest. They
then pay 1 more Silver to make a second capture. If this was a 2-3
player game, they could capture from the same, or different location.
Since there are at least 4 players in this example, they must capture
again from the Forest. They decide to capture both Green Workers
from the Forest.

Example 2: Red has placed their 3rd Worker at the Town Centre.
They pay 1 Tax and 2 additional Silver to the Supply to make 3
captures. They capture all 3 groups of Workers from the Silversmith,
including their own.

After capturing opposing Workers, players should place them on the

top left section of their Player Board. On a later turn, they can send
them to Prison to gain 1 Silver per Worker. When a player captures
their own Workers, they are placed back into their own supply.
11
Board locations
Tax Stand
This location allows players to take all the Silver from above the Tax Stand and
place it into their own supply. However, this will cause them to lose 2 Virtue.
Players are not allowed to place a Worker here if there is no Tax to steal.

For example, if Red placed a Worker in the Tax Stand, they would take all 11
Silver and lose 2 Virtue.
Reminder: Red coins indicate Tax. When paid, these must be placed
into the space above the Tax Stand.

Black Market
While some believe in honourable, hard work, others will gladly take a shortcut to get ahead. The Black
Market has 3 spaces for players to place a Worker. Each space is paired with an action below it. Once a
Worker is placed on a space, no other Workers may be placed there.

For example, the current options available would be:

1. Pay 1 Silver and lose 1 Virtue to gain 1 Marble and 1 Stone.

2. Pay 2 Silver and lose 1 Virtue to either:
- Hire any faceup Apprentice (and also gain any Silver on
the hired card), or
- Draw 5 Building Cards, keeping 1 and discarding the other
4 to the bottom of the Building Card Pile.
3. Pay 3 Silver and lose 1 Virtue to gain 1 Gold, 1 Stone and 2
Wood.

Note: Players do not collect or affect the Black Market Cards

in any way when gaining the printed resources. They will be
refreshed during a Black Market Reset (explained on page 17).

12
Guardhouse
This location allows players to take 1 action for each Worker they have there.
The available actions players can take are:

1. Send all captured Workers from their Player Board to the Prison, gaining
1 Silver for each.
2. Release all their own Workers from Prison, placing them back onto
their Player Board.
3. Pay 5 Silver (2 Tax), or take 1 Debt and lose 1 Virtue to release all their own
Workers from other players’ Boards, placing them back onto their Player
Board. Note: Minimum of 1 captured Worker is required to take this action.
4. Pay 6 Silver (3 Tax) to pay off 1 Debt.

For example, Red could take up to 3 actions at the Guardhouse. They send 3 When paying off a Debt,
Yellow and 2 Green captured Workers from their Player Board to the Prison, players should flip the Debt
gaining a total of 5 Silver. For their second action they release their 2 Workers Card, keeping it in front of
from Prison, placing them back onto their Player Board. They decide to do them. This immediately gains
nothing for their third action. them 1 Virtue, plus additional
benefits from any Debt-related
Players may take actions in any order they choose and may pay off multiple Apprentices the have.
Debts in the same turn (Resolve each Debt action separately).

Guildhall
The Guildhall is where players place Workers to construct either a Building
from their hand, or advance work on the Cathedral . When placing Workers
here, lay them flat and always place from left to right, top to bottom. When
playing with less than 5 players, not all columns are used. Note that the right-
most column is not used in this 4 player example. Therefore, the next Worker to
be placed would be on the second row, to the right of the Blue Worker.

Constructing Buildings and advancing work on the Cathedral will be explained

over the page. 13
constructing buildings and the cathedral
When placing a Worker in the Guildhall, players can either construct a Building from their hand, or advance work
on the Cathedral.

Constructing a Building
When constructing a Building, players should display the card faceup above their Player Board. Each card
has various costs, requirements, rewards and effects:
Some Buildings will require players to have hired Apprentices with certain skills
(Carpentry, Tiling and Masonry). In order to construct a Building displaying 1 or more
of these icons at the top left, players will need to have at least 1 hired Apprentice with a
matching symbol in front of them.
Note: Apprentices used to construct a Building are not discarded.
All Buildings have a resource cost. In order to construct a Building, players must pay the
indicated resources on the left of the card. All spent resources are returned to the Supply.
Some Buildings will show an immediate increase or decrease in Virtue on the right
side of the card. Players must move their Player Marker up or down the Virtue Track to
show this change.
All Buildings will either have an end-game or immediate effect. End-game effects are
triggered right before final scoring takes place. All immediate effects must be triggered
once the Building has been constructed.

The Well does not require any The Keep requires all 3
Apprentice skills to construct. It Apprentice skills, 5 Wood, 2
costs only 2 Wood and 2 Stone. Stone and 2 Gold to construct.

Once built, it will allow the current Once built, it will cause the
player to immediately gain 4 Clay. current player to lose 2 Virtue.
At the game’s end it will score At the game’s end, it will score
3 VP. 12 VP, plus an additional 1 VP
for every 3 captured Workers.
14
Advancing Work on the Cathedral
Rather than pursuing their own endeavours, players may also dedicate some time and resources to
constructing the Cathedral. To do this, players should follow these steps:

1. Pay the indicated resources to the left of the Cathedral, 1 level above where their Player Marker currently
sits (all players start below the lowest level).
2. Discard any 1 Building Card from their hand, facedown to the bottom of the Building Card Pile.
3. Move their Player Marker 1 level up the Cathedral.
4. Reveal the top card from the Reward Card Pile and gain its benefits. Once resolved, Reward Cards are
removed from play.
Note: If there are no Reward Cards left in the pile, players just gain 1 Virtue.

At the game’s end, players will score Victory Points equal to the number shown in the yellow flag to the left
of their current level in the Cathedral.

For example, Yellow currently sits at the bottom

of the Cathedral. To advance to the next level, they
place a Worker in the Guildhall, pay 1 Gold and
discard 1 Building Card. They reveal the top Reward
Card, which gains them 1 Virtue and 1 Gold. If they
remain at this level at the game’s end, they will score
2 VP for their work on the Cathedral.

Important rule:
Players can only advance their work on the Cathedral
if there is an available space. In this example, Green
could not work on the Cathedral until Red or Blue
advance further.

Note: The cost shown here is 4 Stone or Wood, in any combination. Likewise,
( ) 4
the 4th level of the Cathedral is 8 Stone or Wood, in any combination.
15
virtue track
Each player’s Virtue is recorded by their Player Marker on the Virtue Track. Any time players gain Virtue , or
lose Virtue , it is immediately shown by moving their Player Marker up or down the Virtue Track. Depending on
how much Virtue they have at the game’s end, they may gain or lose Victory Points. This is equal to the numbers
shown in the yellow flags next to the upper and lower levels of the Virtue Track.

There are a number of icons along the Virtue Track. Their effects are as follows:
For each Virtue players gain above 14, they may destroy 1 unpaid Debt they hold. Unlike paying
off Debts, this action has no additional effects (no Virtue is gained or any Apprentice abilities
activated). Any destroyed Debts are instead returned to the Debt Card Pile.
For each Virtue players lose below 0, they must take a Debt Card. This is taken from the Debt
Card Pile and placed with the “unpaid” side faceup in front of them.
Once players have 3 or less Virtue, they start skimping on their Taxes. For each “avoid Tax” icon
at their current Virtue level, players may ignore 1 Tax on all future costs.
Once players have 10 or more Virtue, Once players have 4 or less Virtue, they can
they can no longer place Workers in the no longer work on the Cathedral. Should they
Black Market. Should they drop below rise above 4 Virtue, this no longer has any
10 Virtue, this no longer has any effect. effect.

For example, Yellow currently has 13 Virtue and cannot visit the Black Market. If they
end the game here, they will score 5 VP. On their turn they take an action resulting in a
gain of 3 Virtue, they move their Player Marker 1 space up the Virtue Track. With the
excess 2 Virtue, they destroy 2 Debts from in front of them.

Red currently has 11 Virtue. They decide to steal from the Tax Stand, losing 2 Virtue.
As they now have less than 10 Virtue, they may visit the Black Market on their next
turn.

Green currently has 1 Virtue and cannot work on the Cathedral. If they end the game
here, they will lose 8 VP. On their turn they place a Worker in the Workshop to hire
an Apprentice. Due to their position on the Virtue Track, they ignore both Tax on this
16 action, paying only the 2 Silver to the Supply.
black market reset
While the King may at times seem unaware of all that goes on in his kingdom, he will occasionally order
checks to make sure all workers are held accountable for their actions.

There are 2 ways a Black Market Reset can be triggered:

1. All 3 spaces at the Black Market have Workers placed on them.

2. A Worker is placed in the Guildhall on 1 of the left-most spaces
on the bottom 2 rows.

Regardless of how the Black Market Reset is triggered, the action that
caused it should first be resolved. After doing so, the following steps
should be taken:

1. All Workers currently in the Black Market are moved to the Prison.
2. The top Small Market Card (left) is turned over and placed on top
the Large Market (right).
3. Players with any Black Market Reset based Apprentices may take their actions in any chosen order.
4. All players with 3 or more Workers in Prison lose 1 Virtue.
5. The player, or players with the most Workers in Prison each take 1 Debt Card, placing it “unpaid” side
faceup in front of them.
For example, Red just placed a Worker in the Black Market. As all 3 spaces are
now filled, this will cause a Black Market Reset at the end of their turn. Both
Red Workers and the single Blue Worker are sent to the Prison and the Black
Market Cards are refreshed. Blue uses their Gatekeeper’s ability to release 2 of
their 3 Workers from Prison. No players have 3 Workers in Prison, so no one
loses any Virtue. However, Yellow and Red are now tied for having the most
Workers in Prison (2 each). Therefore, they each receive 1 Debt Card.

Should there ever be no cards left in the Small Market Pile to turn over during
reset, take all the cards from the Large Market Pile and shuffle them to form a
new Small Market Pile.

17
end of the game
The end of the game will be triggered once the last Worker is placed in the
Guildhall. The current player finishes their turn, then each player (including the
current player) has 1 final turn before the game ends (1 final round).

The 2 right columns of the Guildhall are not used in this 3 player example.
Therefore, when Blue placed the last Worker in the Guildhall (bottom right), this
triggered the end of the game. All players, including Blue, will have 1 final turn
before scoring takes place.

It is important to note that in the final round, players may still place Workers in
the Guildhall. These Workers should be placed to the side of the Guildhall.

end-game scoring
Once the game has ended, players should immediately resolve any end-game effects from their constructed
Buildings. Note that all Apprentice abilities and board effects remain active during this time. For example, if a
player was to gain Virtue above the top of the Virtue Track, they could use it to destroy unpaid Debts.

Each player should then add up their score for the following areas:

Gain VP for all constructed Buildings, Lose 2 VP for each unpaid Debt.
including end-game bonuses.
Gain VP for level of work done advancing / Gain 1 VP for each Gold and 1 VP for each
construction on the Cathedral. Marble on their Player Board.
Gain or lose VP for final position on the Gain 1 VP for each set of 10 Silver on their
Virtue Track. Player Board.
Lose 1 VP for every 2 Workers in Prison
(1 Worker on its own has no effect).
18
end-game scoring
The player with the highest total score is declared the winner. In the case of a tie, the player with the highest
Virtue is the winner. If still tied, the tied player with the most remaining Silver is the winner. If still tied, all tied
players share the victory.

For example, Red would score a total of 38 VP for the following:

30 VP 7 VP 3 VP -4 VP / 3 VP 0 VP -1 VP

From their 4 Buildings, Level 3 in the

Cathedral, 12 Virtue, 2 unpaid Debts,
2 Gold, 1 Marble, 6 Silver and 3
Workers in Prison.

( +4 VP )

Blue would score a total of 40 VP for the following:

35 VP 4 VP 0 VP 0 VP / 1 VP 2 VP -2 VP

From their 5 Buildings,

Level 2 in the Cathedral,
6 Virtue, 0 unpaid Debts,
1 Gold, 22 Silver and 4
Workers in Prison.

( +1 VP ) ( +2 VP )
19
quick reminders
Tax
Red coins indicate Tax. When paid, these must be placed into the space above the Tax Stand. All other coins
(non-Tax) get paid to the Supply.

Black Market Reset

This is triggered when a third Worker is placed in the Black Market, or when a Worker is
placed on either of the left-most spaces on the bottom 2 rows of the Guildhall. Remember or
to send all Workers from the Black Market to Prison and refresh the Black Market Cards.
Players with 3 or more Workers in Prison lose 1 Virtue. The player, or players with the most
Workers in Prison each gain 1 Debt Card.

quick standard setup resources/cards per worker

1. Place all Black Market Cards on the left space.
2. Reward Cards = 2 per player, plus 1. ...
3. Place all Debt Cards, Multiplier Cards and Resources
off the Main Board. Silversmith 2 3 4 5 ...
4. Shuffle and reveal 8 Apprentice Cards.
5. Shuffle and place Building Cards by the Workshop.
Mines 2 3 4 5 ...
6. Place 4 Silver above the Tax Stand. Forest 1 2 3 4 ...
7. All players start with 7 Virtue and 20 Workers.
8. Deal 4 Building Cards to each player. All players Quarry 1 2 3 4 ...
choose 1 card to keep and pass the rest to their left.
Repeat this until they have chosen 3 cards each. Workshop 1 2 2 3 ...
9. The starting player recieves 3 Silver. All other players Mines 0 1 1 2 ...
receive 1 more Silver than the player to their right.

Want to add more variability and tension to your 2 player games? Read through
20 the Solo Play Rules in the Appendix, along with the “2P vs Bot” Reference Card.
variable setup
For a more variable game, all players should use side 2
of their Player Boards (randomly dealt or chosen). This
gives each player a unique ability throughout the game.
It also determines how much Silver, Virtue and other
items they begin with. The player with the most Virtue
starts the game, followed by other players in clockwise
order around the table.

For example, Frederick begins the game with no Workers

in Prison, 4 Silver, 7 Virtue and 1 Stone . He also does
not need to discard a Building Card when advancing
work on the Cathedral . Note: Unlike during regular setup, players do not gain
additional Silver based on turn order.

Ada
Begins the game with no Workers in Prison, no Silver, 11 Virtue, 1 Gold and 1 additional Building
Card (after the initial draft). She may also ignore 1 Tax on all actions throughout the game.
Caroline
Begins the game with 8 Workers in Prison, 10 Silver, 3 Virtue, 1 unpaid Debt and 1 Marble. She also
gains 1 Building Card each time she takes an action at the Black Market.
Frederick
Begins the game with no Workers in Prison, 4 Silver, 7 Virtue and 1 Stone. He also does not need to
discard a Building Card when advancing work on the Cathedral
Rudolf
Begins the game with no Workers in Prison, 3 Silver, 9 Virtue and 1 Wood. He also pays 1 less Silver
(not tax) when hiring Apprentices in the Workshop and may hire up to 6 Apprentices.
Therese
Begins the game with 4 Workers in Prison, 5 Silver, 5 Virtue and 1 additional Building Card (after the
initial draft). For all intents and purposes, she treats Marble and Gold as the same resource.

21
apprentice abilities

Acolyte
When advancing work on the Cathedral, also gain the reward shown on the right.

Conspirator
Spend 1 less Silver (not Tax) than required when making captures at the Town Centre.

Debt Collector
When paying off a Debt, also gain the additional resources shown on the right.

Gatekeeper
This player may release 2 of their Workers from Prison everytime there is a Black Market Reset.

Illusionist
Do not lose Virtue when taking actions at the Black Market.

Jeweller
When taking an action to collect Silver at the Silversmith, also gain 1 additional Silver.

Labourer
This Apprentice has all 3 skill types.
Merchant
As an action at the King’s Storehouse, players may spend the Silver on the left to gain the resources
shown on the right.
Miner
When taking an action to collect either Clay or Gold at the Mines, also gain 1 additional Clay.
Patron
As an action at the King’s Storehouse, players may spend the resources on the left to gain the Virtue
shown on the right.

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 Pickpocket
Gain 1 Gold when stealing from the Tax Stand.
Squire
They gain the reward shown on the right, if they have no Workers in Prison during each Black Market
Reset.
Stonecutter
When taking an action to collect Stone at the Quarry, also gain 1 additional Stone.

Swindler
When taking an action at the Black Market, also gain the additional resources shown.

Thief
Lose 1 less Virtue when stealing from the Tax Stand.
Trader
As an action at the King’s Storehouse, players may spend the resources on the left to gain those
shown on the right.
Trickster
Pay 1 less Silver than required when taking actions at the Black Market.

Woodcutter
When taking an action to collect Wood at the Forest, also gain 1 additional Wood.

Hire an Apprentice
Black Market and Building Card effects allow players to hire any faceup Apprentice.
Only the Workshop action is restricted by how many Workers players have placed.

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buildings effects
Gain Resources / Cards
Betting House, Clay Pit, Drafting Room, Factory, Lumber Camp, Smithy, Thieves’ Den, Treasury, Well
The controlling player immediately gains the resources or cards shown.

Capture / Release Workers

Armoury, Barracks, Fortress, Hideout
The controlling player immediately takes the action shown, in the same manner as it would be taken at the Town
Centre or Guardhouse. Note: The Fortress may capture from the same, or 2 different locations.

Other
Church
The controlling player may immediately destroy 1 unpaid Debt they hold.

Library
The controlling player may immediately discard 1 chosen Building Card from their hand to gain 2 Gold.

Monument
All players immediately gain 1 Virtue (Note that the controlling player will gain a total of 2 Virtue).

Palace
The controlling player immediately gains 1 Gold for every 4 Virtue they currently have.

Tavern
The controlling player immediately hires any 1 faceup Apprentice for free.

Watchtower
All players with 3 or more Workers in Prison immediately lose 1 Virtue (including the controlling player).

Resource Markets
Clay Market, Silver Market, Stone Market, Wood Market
The controlling player gains 2 additional VP if they have more of the resource shown on the left than
any other player (ties don’t count).
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Cathedral Contribution
Chapel, Steeple
If the controlling player has advanced work on the Cathedral more than any
other player (ties don’t count), they gain the reward shown on the right.

Virtue Boost
Castle, Gallery, Reservoir, Trading Post
The controlling player gains 1 Virtue (before scoring) for each item or
resource shown on the right, that they hold.

VP Boost
Aquaduct, Keep, Lighthouse, Moneylender
The controlling player gains 1 VP for every 3 Captured Workers, Virtue, paid
Debt, or constructed Buildings shown on the right.

Apprentice Huts
Carpenter’s Hut, Mason’s Hut, Tiler’s Hut
The controlling player scores 1 additional VP for each hired Apprentice they have with the indicated skill.

Other
Dungeon
The controlling player loses 2 Virtue (before scoring, but optionally before or after any Virtue gains).

Fountain
The controlling player loses 1 less VP for each unpaid Debt.

Gambler’s Den
The controlling player loses 1 additional VP for each unpaid Debt (3 total per unpaid Debt).

University
The controlling player gains 2 additional VP if they have no unpaid Debts.
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