FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 1 Turn 1 Yellow player FOR THE CROWN Sample Play To begin the game, Yellow player Draws 2 Peons and 3 Guards into his Hand. Order Phase: For his first Order Phase, he cannot Deploy any units because he has none in his Barracks, and therefore playing a Guard card as an Order would have no effect. Thus, his only options are to March his King o r to forfeit his Order; he chooses to March the King diagonally forward from e1 to d2. Advancing your King early makes it harder to defend, but gives him more mobility and lets you Deploy pieces to advanced positions with a Guard. Action Phase: For his Action Phase, Yellow plays a Guard for its Training Action, Trashing it to acquire a Pawn, which goes into his Barracks. Buy Phase: During his Buy Phase, he plays both of his Peons, each of which gives him one Gold. With those two Gold, he chooses to Buy a Champion, which goes into his Discard Pile. Housekeeping Phase: During his Housekeeping Phase, Yellow Discards the two Peons he played, and also the two Guards still in his Hand (the Guard that he used for Training is Trashed, and will never be used again in the current game). Then, he Draws 5 new cards, which in this case is all the remaining cards in his Deck, consisting of 4 Peons and 1 Guard. Though his Deck is empty, Yellow does not shuffle yet, because he does not yet need to Draw any more cards. Turn 1 Blue player Blue Draws 3 Peons and 2 Guards into his Hand. Order Phase: On his turn, he chooses not to use his Order, leaving his King on e8. Action Phase: He uses a Guard to Train a Pawn, like Yellow. Buy Phase: He plays his 3 Peons for 1 Gold each. With his 3 Gold, he Buys a Clergy. Note: The board has been rotated in the second illustration.
Turn 2 Yellow player Order Phase: Yellow now has a Pawn in his Barracks. He could play the Guard card in his Hand to Deploy it in any empty square next to his King, but Yellow would like to use the Guard card for Training later on this turn, so instead he just performs a normal Deployment without playing a card. Because the Pawn is a Foot unit, it can Deploy to any empty square on Yellow s first or second Rank (instead of only his first Rank, like other units). He puts it on c2, next to his King. Action Phase: Yellow Trashes his Guard to Train a new Pawn. Buy Phase: He plays his 4 Peons, giving him enough Gold to Buy a Legend. Housekeeping Phase: During this Phase, his Deck is now empty, so he shuffles his Discard Pile (which now contains a Champion, a Legend, 2 Guards, and 6 Peons) before Drawing 5 cards to form his new Hand. Turn 2 Blue player Order Phase: Blue has 2 Guards in Hand, so he could play one for its Order and still have another to Train, but the only spaces next to his King are spaces where his Pawn could Deploy anyway. He Deploys his Pawn to d7. Action Phase: He uses a Guard for Training a Pawn Buy Phase: Plays 3 Peons to purchase another Clergy. FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 2
Turn 3 Yellow player Yellow has 2 Guards and 3 Peons in Hand. Order Phase: He plays a Guard to Deploy his second Pawn to d3, in front of his King this is outside the normal Deployment area, but is allowed because of the card. Action Phase: Uses his other Guard to Train his third Pawn Buy Phase: Uses his three Peons to Buy a Clergy. Turn 3 Blue player Blue has 2 Guards, 2 Peons, and a Clergy in Hand. Order Phase: Instead of Deploying again, he chooses to March his Pawn that s already on the board. Pawns can normally only March 1 square forward, but while on the owner s first or second Rank have the special ability to March 2 forward (if nothing s in the way), so Blue chooses to move the Pawn from d7 to d5. Action Phase: Blue then plays a Guard to Train a Pawn. Buy Phase: Plays his 2 Peons and a Clergy for a total of 4 Gold, which he uses to Buy a Refiner. FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 3
Turn 4 Yellow player Yellow has 3 Peons, a Champion, and a Legend in his Hand. Order Phase: He Marches one of his pawns from c2 to c4; this Pawn and Blue s Pawn are now diagonally adjacent to each other, and are close enough to Attack! Action Phase: Plays his Champion for its second effect (+1 Card, +1 Buy, +2 Gold). This is a powerful economic boost, but it takes up his Action, so he won t be able to Train a new piece this turn. He has to Draw a card, but his Deck is empty, so he shuffles his Discard Pile first. The Champion that he just played is not shuffled, since it is still in his play area, not his Discard Pile. After shuffling, he Draws a card, and gets another Peon. Buy Phase: Plays his 4 Peons for 1 Gold each, and then plays a Legend. Legend gives him 1 Gold for each Treasure effect already played on the current turn; since He has played 4 Treasure effects (the 4 Peons), this gives him another 4 Gold (the Legend is his fifth Treasure effect, but it doesn t count itself). So he has 2 Gold from the Champion, 1 each from the 4 Peons, and 4 from the Legend, for a total of 10 Gold. The Champion also gives him +1 Buy, so he can split that Gold between two purchases if he wants. This is a lot of money to get early, and his choice will have a big effect on the rest of the game. He could Buy one of the most expensive cards, like Consort (9) or Bureaucracy (8), which will give a lot of board power but won t help his economy. If he wants to focus on his Buying power, he d be better off with a pair of middle-cost cards, like a Tower (6) and a Refiner (4), or a Patronage (5) and a Quartermaster (5). Yellow decides to get an Armor (7) and another Clergy (3). The Armor card can Train a Warlord piece, which is slow but powerful, and is the only piece in the game that can corner an enemy King unaided, so Blue will be forced to defend against it; the Clergy provides some extra income. Both purchased cards go into his Discard Pile. Housekeeping Phase: Yellow Discards the 6 cards in his play area (this includes the Champion he played; only Training Actions are Trashed when played, not regular Actions). He needs to Draw a new Hand of five, but he only has 4 cards in his Deck, so he Draws those four, then shuffles his Discard and Draws a fifth. Turn 4 Blue player Blue has 4 Peons and a Clergy in Hand. Order Phase: For his Order, he uses his Pawn to Attack Yellow s Pawn, moving into its space (c4) and Capturing it, removing it from play. Action Phase: Blue could Train a Pawn or a Bishop, but he d really like to Buy a Tower this turn, and he won t have enough Gold if he Trains anything, so he skips his Action. Buy Phase: He plays all his cards as Treasure to Buy a Tower. FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 4
FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 5 Turn 5 Yellow player Yellow has 3 Peons, a Guard, and a Clergy in Hand. Order Phase: He uses his Pawn on d3 to Attack the Blue Pawn that just Attacked c4; notice that Blue s Attack brought him into position to be Attacked himself. This is known as a counter-capture, and it s a common tactic in For the Crown. Action Phase: Yellow could use his Guard for Training, but this is his last Guard card, and he d like to keep it around so he can Deploy his Warlord further forward later. So instead, he uses a Peon to Train a Pawn. Buy Phase: He plays his Clergy and his remaining 2 Peons for a total of 4 Gold (the Peon used for Training provides no Gold) and with them he Buys another Legend. Turn 5 Blue player Blue has 3 Peons, a Clergy, and a Refiner in Hand. Order Phase: He Deploys a new Pawn on b7. Action Phase: Blue plays his Refiner card. Since Refiner has two effects that are both usable at the current time, he must declare which of the effects he is using (he can only pick one). He chooses the second effect. The Refiner s second effect gives him +1 Card, so he Draws another card (a Guard) and adds it to his Hand. It also gives him +1 Action, so Blue can play a second Action this turn if he wants, but he needs to finish resolving the Refiner first. He is forced to Trash a card from his Hand (he picks the Guard he just drew), and then Gains a new card of his choice that costs up to 2 more than the Trashed card. The Guard he Trashed costs 1, so he can pick a card that costs up to 3; he chooses to Gain a Clergy, which goes into his Discard Pile. Then, using the +1 Action from the Refiner card, Blue chooses to play a Peon in order to Train another Pawn. Buy Phase: Blue buys a Legend card.
Turn 6 Yellow player Yellow has a Peon, a Clergy, a Legend, a Champion, and an Armor in Hand. Order Phase: He Deploys a Pawn to e2, on the other side of his King. Action Phase: For his Action, he plays Armor to Train a Warlord, which goes into his Barracks. Now he can t play a Champion, because he s already used up his Action. Buy Phase: In his Buy Phase, Yellow plays his Peon and Clergy, and then his Legend. This time, he only receives 2 Gold from his Legend, since he only played 2 Treasure effects (the Peon and the Clergy), giving him a total of 5 Gold. He Buys a Patronage. Turn 6 Blue player Blue has 3 Peons, a Clergy, and a Tower in Hand. Order Phase: He Deploys a Pawn to e7 (in front of his King). Action Phase: Blue plays a Peon card to Train another Pawn. Buy Phase: Remaining are his 2 Peons, Clergy, and Tower, for a total of 7 Gold. Blue could Buy an Armor, but he decides to focus on his economy, so he Buys another Tower instead, spending only 6 of his 7 Gold (the extra Gold is wasted). FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 6
Turn 7 Yellow player Yellow has 4 Peons and a Legend in Hand. Order Phase: He could Deploy his Warlord now, but only to the first Rank, so he decides to wait until he Draws his remaining Guard, and instead uses his Order to March his Pawn from e2 to e4. Action Phase: He could Train a unit, but he notices he potentially has 8 Gold this turn and would lose at least 2 by Training anything (due to the multiplicative effect of Legend), so he skips his Action. Buy Phase: Buys another Armor card. Turn 7 Blue player Blue has 2 Peons, a Clergy, and 2 Towers in Hand. Order Phase: He Deploys another Pawn, this time to f7. Action Phase: Blue plays a Peon to Train a new Pawn. Buy Phase: Plays the remainder of his cards for a total of 9 Gold, which he uses to Buy a Consort. FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 7
FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 8 Turn 8 Yellow player Yellow has a Guard, 2 Clergies, a Champion, and a Patronage in Hand. Order Phase: For his Order, he plays a Guard to Deploy his Warlord near his King, in e3. Action Phase: Yellow plays Patronage, which lets him Draw another card - a Legend; giving him one Gold and letting him take another Action. If you re counting cards, you ll notice the only card in Yellow s Deck right now is a Peon, so playing Champion will earn him another 4 Gold this turn (2 from Champion, 1 from Peon, and +1 from Legend). However, Yellow is concerned that his Warlord will need some support to break through Blue s Pawn wall, so instead, committing to his blitz strategy, he uses a Clergy to Train a Bishop. Buy Phase: In this Phase, he plays his remaining Clergy and his Legend, giving him only 3 Gold, plus 1 from the Patronage (he would have had 12 and 2 Buys if he d played Champion). He Buys the last Legend from the Supply; neither player will be able to Buy any more Legends this game. Turn 8 Blue player Blue has 2 Peons, 2 Clergies, and a Refiner in Hand. Order Phase: He Marches a Pawn from f7 to f6 (he could move it to f5, but it would be Threatened and undefended, and chances are that Yellow would just Capture it). Action Phase: He plays Refiner for its second effect again, Draws a card (a Legend), Trashes a Peon, and Gains a Versatility card. The Refiner gives him +1 Action, so Blue also decides to use his Legend to Train a Hero. Buy Phase: His remaining cards are worth 5 Gold, so he Buys a Quartermaster.
FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 9 Turn 9 Yellow player Yellow has 2 Peons, a Guard, a Legend, and a Patronage in Hand. Order Phase: With his Warlord finally active, Yellow Marches it to d5. It doesn t directly Threaten Blue s King yet, but it could do so from any of several positions next turn, and it s close enough to Attack any of Blue s Pawns. Action Phase: Yellow begins by playing Patronage, which gives him a card Draw (a Legend), one Gold, and another Action. Now that he s Deployed the Warlord, Yellow isn t too concerned with keeping a Guard around anymore, so he decides to use it to Train another Pawn. Buy Phase: He plays his two Peons for 1 Gold each, then plays a Legend for 2 Gold (1 for each Peon), and then his second Legend for 3 Gold (1 for each Peon and 1 for the first Legend). Together with the Gold from Patronage, Yellow has 8 Gold, and Buys an Heir. Turn 9 Blue player Blue holds a Peon, Clergy, Tower, Quartermaster, and Consort. Order Phase: He remembers that White has an Armor card in his Deck. If Yellow has that card next turn, he could use it to march his Warlord to either d7 or f7 (next to Blue s King) while making it temporarily immune to capture, and Blue would have no way to save his King. Blue could block either d7 or f7 this turn and hope that Yellow doesn t Draw the card, then block the other next turn, but looking at his cards, Blue sees a way to prevent both. First, he Deploys a Pawn to d7. Action Phase: Blue plays Consort, which allows him to move a (non-sovereign) unit next to one of his Regal or Sovereign units; he chooses to move his Pawn on b7 to f7. Now, d7 and f7 are both occupied, so Yellow s Warlord cannot March to them (it could still Attack them, but not using the Armor card). So Blue is safe for the moment. Buy Phase: He plays the rest of his cards as Treasure; he gets 7 Gold, and Quartermaster also gives him +1 Buy, and reduces the cost of all cards by 1 Gold. He decides to Buy a Tower (normal cost 6, now 5) and a Stables (normal cost 3, now 2).
Turn 10 Yellow player Yellow holds 2 Peons, Clergy, Legend, and Armor. Order Phase: He Deploys his Bishop to d1 (behind his King), planning to advance it to help Attack Blue s Pawn wall next turn. Action Phase: For his Action, he could use Armor to Train another Warlord, but then he wouldn t have the threat of using it to make his current Warlord invulnerable, so instead he uses a Peon to Train a Pawn Buy Phase: He Buys a Patronage. Turn 10 Blue player Blue holds 2 Clergies, Peon, Refiner, and Versatility. Order Phase: He feels this Hand is a little underwhelming, so he begins his Order Phase by playing Versatility. He keeps the Peon so he can Train it later, but Discards both Clergies and Refiner so he can Draw 3 more cards. There s only one card in his Deck, so he Draws that, then shuffles his discard (which includes the Clergies and Refiner he just discarded, but not the Versatility he just played) and Draws 2 more. He gets a Tower, Peon, and Stables. Versatility also gives him +1 Order, so he follows up by Deploying the last Pawn from his Barracks to g7. Action Phase: He plays a Stables card, and Draws 2 cards (Tower and Clergy), gets +1 Action and +1 Buy; first, he needs to put a card from his Hand back on top of his Deck. He can only use one Peon for Training this turn, so he puts back one, and then uses his second Action to play the other, replacing the Pawn in his Barracks. Buy Phase: Blue is left with 8 Gold (from 2 Towers and 1 Clergy) and two Buys, but he chooses to spend all of it on a Bureaucracy card. FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 10
FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 11 Turn 11 Yellow player Yellow holds 2 Legends, Peon, Champion, and Armor (the same Armor as last turn; he just shuffled). Order Phase: He Marches his Bishop to a4, where it Threatens Blue s Pawn on d7. That Pawn is now Attacked by both Yellow s Bishop and his Warlord, but defended only by Blue s King, so Yellow can win by Attacking it next turn if Blue doesn t give it additional protection. Action Phase: Yellow plays a Champion card, and Draws a Patronage card. Unfortunately, he can t play Patronage this turn, because he has no more Actions (Patronage gives another Action when played, but you need to already have one to play it in the first place). Buy Phase: Yellow plays his Peon, followed by his Legends, giving him a total of 6 Gold for the turn, and Buys a Tower. Turn 11 Blue player Blue holds Peon, Clergy, Tower, Quartermaster, and Consort. Order Phase: He Deploys a Pawn to c8, where it defends the Pawn on d7. Action Phase: Blue considers using Consort to Train a Queen, but decides that, for now, it s more useful to keep in his Deck; instead, he plays Peon to Train another Pawn. Though Yellow has powerful units in play, Blue has a very strong economic base: he has now Trashed the last of his starting cards, leaving him with a very efficient Deck. Buy Phase: The Clergy, Tower, and Quartermaster give Blue 6 Gold, +1 Buy, and reduce the cost of cards by 1. Blue decides to Buy an Armor (normally 7, now 6).
Turn 12 Yellow player Yellow holds 3 Peons, Patronage, and Heir. Order Phase: Heir allows Yellow to March his King and still perform another Order; he doesn t particularly need to March his King, but figures he might as well, so plays Heir and moves his King to c2, where his Pawn gives it some cover. Then, he advances his Warlord to c7, Threatening the Blue King and also the Pawn defending d7. Action Phase: Then, he plays Patronage, and Draws a Clergy. Yellow is entitled to another Action, but opts to forego it. Buy Phase: Buys a Tower card. Turn 12 Blue player Blue holds 2 Clergies, Tower, Refiner, and Bureaucracy. Order Phase: He begins by playing Bureaucracy to March his Pawn from g7 to g6, and receives another Order. His King is still in danger, so he Deploys his final Pawn to d8, blocking Yellow s Warlord. Action Phase: He plays Refiner for its second Action, Drawing a Tower, Trashing a Clergy, and Gaining a Patronage. He plays the other Clergy to Train a Bishop. Buy Phase: Buys another Tower card. FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 12
FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 13 Turn 13 Yellow player Yellow holds 2 Legends, Clergy, Tower, and Champion. Order Phase: His Warlord is Threatened by Blue s Pawn on d8, and the Attack on Blue s King is blocked, but there is nothing protecting the Pawn on c8, so Yellow Captures it. This leaves the Pawn on d7 once again under-defended. Action Phase: He plays a Tower card to Train a Rook. Buy Phase: Left with only 4 Gold, he Buys a Stables card. Turn 13 Blue player Blue holds Versatility, Stables, Clergy, Quartermaster, and Armor. Order Phase: He begins by playing Versatility, discarding Clergy and Quartermaster and Drawing Tower and Consort. Then, he knows he needs to protect d7, so he Deploys the Hero unit; it could defend d7 from either a8 or g8, but g8 is much more protected, so he puts it there. Action Phase: Blue plays a Stables card, Drawing two more cards: a Tower, and the Quartermaster he discarded earlier (after shuffling). He has to put a card on top of his Deck, and he knows he won t be using Consort this turn, so he puts it back in case it s helpful next turn, then uses his remaining Action to play Armor and Train a Warlord of his own. Buy Phase: Finally, he uses his two Towers and Quartermaster to Buy an Heir.
FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 14 Turn 14 Yellow player Yellow holds 2 Peons, Legend, Tower, and Armor. Order Phase: He ll now lose the exchange if he Attacks d7, so he Deploys his new Rook to d1, bringing even more power to bear on Blue s corner Pawn. Action Phase: He plays a Legend to Train a Hero. Buy Phase: He Buys the last Patronage for 5 Gold. Turn 14 Blue player Blue holds 2 Towers, Patronage, Refiner, and Consort. Order Phase: He has no way to further defend d7, other than by Deploying his Warlord to b8, where Yellow s Warlord will just Capture it next turn. Blue could try to have his King run away, but he d need to sacrifice several units and would be left in a precarious position. Instead, he Marches his Hero to e5, simultaneously Threatening both Yellow s King and Yellow s Warlord! Now, if Yellow fails to move his King, Blue can Capture it and win the game; but if Yellow spends his Order moving his King, Blue can Capture Yellow s Warlord, ending the immediate Threat of defeat and probably buying enough time for Blue s economic advantage to be decisive. Action Phase: Blue follows up by playing Refiner, Drawing his Bureaucracy card, and Trashing a Patronage to Gain an Armor. Then he plays a Tower to Train a Rook. Buy Phase: Blue Buys a Stables card.
Turn 15 Yellow player Order Phase: Unfortunately for Blue, he has forgotten about Yellow s Heir card, which is now in his Hand. By playing Heir, Yellow is able to move his King to safety at c3, then uses his Warlord to Attack at d7. If Blue uses his King to Attack the Warlord, Yellow s Bishop or Rook will counter- Capture and win the game; if not, then even if Blue s King moves away, Yellow s Warlord can still Capture it next turn. Yellow has won the game! FOR THE CROWN Sample Play v1.0 15