Game Objective

In Brian Boru: High King of Ireland, you compete to become the High King by unifying Ireland under your rule. This is achieved by controlling cities, forging alliances through marriages, repelling Viking invasions, gaining the support of the Church, and conquering entire regions.

The game ends after three rounds (with 3 players) or four rounds (with 4 or 5 players). The player with the most points wins.

Setup

1. Place the board in the center of the table.
2. Separate the components into supplies near the board: coins, renown tokens, monastery tokens, Viking invasion tokens, and Viking control tokens.
3. Give each player all the wooden discs of one color. Return unused discs to the box.
4. Give each player: three coins and .
5. Each player places:
   • a disc on the first space of the marriage track, and
   • another disc on space 10 of the scoring track.
6. Place all conquest tokens face down on the indicated spaces on the board.
7. Separate the cards by type: action cards, Viking cards, marriage cards, and reference cards.
8. Place the special card Princess of Denmark near the marriage track.
9. Shuffle the remaining marriage cards and place them in a stack on top of the Princess of Denmark:
   • With 3 players: add 2 more cards.
   • With 4 or 5 players: add 3 more cards.

   Discard the remaining cards without looking at them.

10. Shuffle the Viking cards and place them face down in a stack next to the battle area.
11. Give each player a reference card.
12. Randomly determine the starting player and give them the active city marker.
13. Clockwise, starting with the starting player, each player places a disc of their color in an empty city — they cannot place in the same region as another disc already placed.

Game Flow

Each round has four phases, executed in this order:

1. Preparation Phase
2. Card Selection Phase
3. Action Phase
4. Maintenance Phase

At the end of the Maintenance Phase, if there are no more marriage cards in the deck, the game ends. Otherwise, the next round begins.

Preparation Phase

1. Reveal the top card of the Vikings deck.
2. Place in the battle area the number of Viking invader tokens indicated by the card.
3. Discard the revealed Viking card.
4. Reveal the top card of the marriage deck and place it on top of the marriage track.
5. If there are no more marriage cards, this will be the final round of the game.

Card Selection Phase

1. Shuffle all action cards.
2. Deal:
   • 8 cards to each player (3 players)
   • 6 cards to each player (4 players)
   • 5 cards to each player (5 players)

   If 1 card remains with 3 or 4 players, place it face down near the board without looking at it.

3. Select two cards and place them face down in front of you (these will form your hand).
4. Pass the remaining cards to the player on your left.
5. Receive the cards from the player on your right, choose two more, and pass the rest again.
6. Repeat until all cards are in your hand (a stack of face‑down cards).
7. When you receive only 1 or 2 cards, place them directly into your stack.
8. Each player now has a complete hand ready for the Action Phase.

Action Phase

Play a series of tricks until each player has only one card in hand. Then discard that card and proceed to the Maintenance Phase.

Tricks

1. The player with the active city marker places it on an empty city (this is the active city).
2. The player plays a card from their hand:
   • The card must be of the same color as the active city, or
   • A royalty card (white) — acts as a wildcard.
3. Other players play, clockwise, any card (no color or value restriction).
4. The player with the highest value card of the same color as the active city wins the trick. Royalty cards count as the color of the active city.
5. Players perform actions in ascending order of value (from lowest to highest), regardless of whether they won or lost the trick.
6. Each player resolves:
   • Main action if they won the trick.
   • A secondary action if they lost the trick (choose one, if more than one is available).
7. After resolving the action, the player places the card in the shared discard pile.
8. If all players have only one card in hand, the Action Phase ends.

Maintenance Phase

Execute the four steps in order:

1. Marriage Step
2. Battle Step
3. Church Step
4. Region Conquest Step

Actions and How to Play

Each action (main or secondary) may contain one or more symbols. Resolve them from left to right.

Symbols and Actions

• Disc on the active city: take control of the active city and pick up the active city marker.
• Coin: take a coin from the supply (unlimited).
• Reversed coin: return a coin. If you have none, lose two points. If you also have no points, the symbol has no effect.
• Renown: take a renown token from the supply (unlimited).
• Disc in the Church area: place a disc. You may spend 2 coins per extra disc to place more.
• Viking invader: take a Viking invader token from the battle area. You may spend 2 coins per extra token. If there are no tokens, the symbol has no effect.
• Marriage track: move your disc one space up. You may spend 2 coins per extra space. If you land on the same space as another disc, move down to the next empty space (or the first, if necessary).
• Road expansion: spend 5 coins to place a disc in a city connected by road to a city you already control (with no other cities in between).
• Remove Viking control: remove a Viking control token to reveal the colored disc underneath — that city becomes yours.

Special Actions of the Princess of Denmark Card

When you win the card in the Marriage Step, choose one of the options:

• Military support:
  • Viking‑controlled cities count as yours during the Region Conquest Step.
  • At game end, they count as yours for scoring face‑up conquest tokens on the board, but not for region scoring.
• Establish trade:
  • At game end, Viking‑controlled cities count as yours for scoring how many regions you control.
  • Do not count for scoring face‑up conquest tokens on the board.
• Reject it: discard the card and gain 4 points.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends at the end of the Maintenance Phase if there are no more marriage cards in the deck.

Final Score

Each player earns points as follows:

• 1 point for having more coins (no point if tied).
• 1 point for having the active city marker.
• 1 point for each renown token.
• The point value of the conquest token (face up) that is in front of you.
• Half the points (rounded down) of the face‑up conquest token on the board, if you have the most cities in that region.
• Points for number of regions where you control at least one city:

  Regions	1–2	3–4	5	6	7	8
  Points	0	1	3	5	7	10

  If you have the Princess of Denmark card with the establish trade side, Viking‑controlled cities count as yours for this count.

Tiebreaker Criteria

1. Most conquest tokens.
2. Most marriage cards.
3. If still tied, the tied players share the victory.

Tips for Winning

• Control strategic cities to secure turning points for conquest tokens: check the minimum number of cities required per region and use monasteries (each counts as two cities).
• Manage your coins carefully: they are essential for moving up the marriage track, expanding by road, and collecting more Viking invader tokens — but they are also used to avoid losing points when returning coins.
• Monitor the marriage track: being at the top guarantees the marriage card and its immediate benefit. Avoid landing on the same space as others — this forces you to move down.