Lorenzo il Magnifico: Houses of Renaissance — How to Play

Objective of the Game

In Lorenzo il Magnifico: Houses of Renaissance, players are trying to become the most influential family in Renaissance Italy. You'll be acquiring various Development cards, managing resources, and navigating the political landscape, including the Church. The player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the game wins.

Preparation (Setup)

1. Separate the Development cards by color, then arrange them in ascending order (I on top, III on bottom).
2. Choose an Excommunication tile for each age (indicated by the number on the back) and place them on the designated Church spaces.
3. Resources are unlimited. Use big pieces to represent 5 units of a resource. Cover certain action areas based on the player count.
4. Each player takes:
   • 1 player board.
   • 1 personal tile (refer to page 12 for determining which side to use).
   • 3 colored and 1 neutral family members.
   • 3 cubes of their chosen color.
   • 2 wood, 2 stone, and 3 servants.
   • 4 markers to be placed on "0" of the Score, Military, and Faith tracks, and for setting Turn Order.
5. Choose the start player, who receives 5 coins. The second player receives 6 coins, the third player 7 coins, and the fourth player 8 coins.
6. House of Renaissance Expansion Setup:
   • Place the new Special Tower board to the right of the main board, aligning it with the other towers.
   • Place the new Council/Turn Order tile overlay on top of the board. This allows for 5 players and adds the Special token.
   • Take the Special Development cards and sort them by I, II, III. Draw 8 cards for each period, and return the rest to the box. Create a deck with I, then II, then III.
   • Add the 3 new Excommunication tiles to the existing ones (this only needs to be done once).
   • Mix the Special Tokens face down.
   • Take the Adaptation Tile (a modified skinny tower) and randomly place it on one of the four base game towers. For 2-4 players, the values on the tile are higher; for 5 players, the values are lower.
   • Take your starting pieces as normal, but do not take any starting resources. Return all starting resources to the supply.
   • To balance the start player advantage, players take coins based on player order: 1st player gets 0 coins, 2nd gets 1, 3rd gets 2, 4th gets 3, and 5th gets 4.
   • Family Tiles Setup:
     • Randomly take 1 Family Tile and 1 Auction Tile per player.
     • Pair up each Family Tile with 1 Auction Tile (place the Auction Tile below the Family Tile). Place them in a line for all to see.
     • Going in turn order, each player places 1 of their Family Members (any color) on 1 of the available spots on an Auction Tile under a Family Tile they wish to claim (and gain its special ability for the entire game).
       • If the tile is empty, place on any space.
       • If the tile is occupied, you must place your Family Member higher (closer to the Crest), causing the other player to immediately place their Family Member again following the same rules.
     • Once all players' Family Members are on DIFFERENT Auction Tiles, take that Family's Crest and the resources shown next to your Family Member pawn.
   • Leader Card Expansion Setup:
     • Deal everyone 4 Leader cards. Draft until you have 4 Leader cards.

Game Flow

The game progresses through rounds, each with distinct phases:

1. Round Set-Up

Draw the top 4 Development cards for each tower and place them on the correct spaces. Roll dice and place them on the board.

2. Actions

Starting with the First player, in turn order, each player places 1 family member on an action space and carries out the given action. Each family member has a dice symbol (except the neutral one), and the dice rolled determines its value.

• All action spaces show a dice value that must be reached or surpassed to place a family member.
• Any family member may be "boosted" by spending servants to add 1 to its value for each servant spent.
• Neutral family members (colorless) have a value of "0" and will need servants to boost their value.

Tower Section

• If family members are already present in a certain tower, you must pay 3 coins to the supply to place there.
• You cannot have 2 family members of the same color in the same tower. Neutral members are colorless.
• Some cards in the tower have a cost (upper part) that must be paid when obtaining it. If you cannot pay, you cannot take the card.
• The flash symbol on a card indicates an immediate reward.
• The bottom of the card grants long-term bonuses.
• Green cards go on the bottom of your player board. After space 2, your military must be a certain value to place them. You do not have to spend the military. These cards have no cost to obtain. The Military track has a reference for this.
• Yellow cards go up top on your player board. Their long-term benefits are activated during a production action.
• Blue cards go to the right of the board in a line and provide VP at the end of the game. Some offer bonus actions.
• Purple cards go to the right of the board in a line and their effects are used at the end of the game. Their cost often offers choices.

Harvest/Production

• There are 2 spaces for each type (harvest/production). The first space can hold 1 family member and runs the engine at full value. The other space (much bigger) can hold unlimited members but runs at 3 less value.
• You cannot have 2 family members of the same color present for each engine.
• Harvest/Production runs the "engine" of the Green or Yellow cards on your player board from left to right. The value going into the engine must meet or exceed an ability on each card to earn it. You do not have to meet all cards; earn what you can.
• ALL resources used must be on the player board BEFORE engine activation.
• Always start with the "personal bonus tile" and go card by card to see if you can activate based on value.

Market

• Only 1 family member per space in the Market. Any number of colors can be present. Earn what is shown.

Council Palace

• Any number of family members can go in the Palace.
• Earn a privilege and 1 coin.
• Line up markers for turn reorder at the end of the round.

Leader Card Expansion Actions

• During the game, if you meet the criteria for a Leader card (upper part of card), you can play it and use the bonus (bottom part) for the rest of the game. You don't have to "spend" the resources, just have them.
• You may play any number of leaders on a turn. Some abilities are ongoing, some are once per round.
• You can discard any number of leaders on your turn, taking 1 Council Privilege for each discarded.

Special Tokens

• Special Tokens are considered a new resource (like wood, coins, servants, stone). They are worth no points at the end of the game.
• When you take these, keep them hidden until you wish to play. On your turn, play any you wish, discarding them.
• When the pile runs out, shuffle the discards and make a new pile.
• Special Tokens can now be taken as 1 of the Council Privileges (see new turn order/council overlay).

3. Vatican Report

At the end of rounds 2, 4, and 6, players must pay 3, 4, or 5 faith points respectively to the church or be Excommunicated.

• If a player cannot or does not want "to show their support to the church," they place a cube on the current banner and leave their faith track alone. They will deal with the negative banner for the rest of the game.
• If a player wants to "show support," they earn VP where their marker is, then drop to "0" on the faith track.
• During the 6th round, players who cannot meet the faith requirements earn VP based on where their marker is after placing the cube on the last banner.

4. End of Round

• Discard all development cards (cards in the tower) still on the main board.
• Adjust turn order based on the Council Palace. The 1st family member placed becomes the start player, and so forth. Anyone who didn't place there goes to the back of the line, and their order is kept the same respectively.
• Retrieve all family members from the board.
• If this is the end of round 6, the game is over.

Special Tower/Adaptation Tile

• The new tower works just like the others, but there are more cards for it, increasing variability.
• At the beginning of each round, place 4 cards from the correct Period stack (like the base game).
• At the end of each round, when you clear off the towers, move the Adaptation tile to the right 1 tower. The Adaptation tile will never be placed on the Special Tower, and when it moves off the Purple tower, move it to the Green tower.

Actions and How to Play

Consulte o manual para detalhes sobre esta seção.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after the 6th round. Players will then score points based on the following criteria:

• Territories (Green cards) score points based on the number of cards: 1 VP for 3 cards, 4 VP for 4 cards, 10 VP for 5 cards, and 20 VP for 6 cards.
• Characters (Blue cards) score points based on the number of cards: 1 VP for 1 card, 3 VP for 2 cards, 6 VP for 3 cards, 10 VP for 4 cards, 15 VP for 5 cards, and 21 VP for 6 cards.
• Ventures (Purple cards) score the sum of their values.
• Military Strength scores points based on who is furthest on the track: 5 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place. Ties all gain the points.
• Earn 1 VP for every 5 leftover resources.
• The player with the most VP wins! In case of a tie, the player highest in turn order wins.

Tips for Winning

• When playing with the Leader Card Expansion, remember that you don't have to "spend" the resources to meet a Leader card's criteria; you just need to have them.
• With the House of Renaissance Expansion, consider the unique abilities of the Family Tiles you can choose during setup, as they can significantly impact your strategy for the entire game. For example, the Medici family allows you to have up to 8 Blue cards, earning you 28/36 points for 7/8 cards respectively, and grants a Special Token each time you take a Blue card.
• The Adaptation Tile moves each round, changing the values of the base game towers. Pay attention to its position to optimize your Development card acquisitions.