Goal of the Game

In Merlin, players take on the roles of Knights of the Round Table, competing to become King Arthur's successor. The objective is to accumulate the highest number of victory points over six rounds. Points are earned through various actions, such as building manors in the outskirts, increasing influence in the principalities, banishing traitors, completing quests, and strategically positioning assistants. The game ends after the sixth round, and the player with the most points is declared the winner.

Setup

To prepare the game, follow these steps:

1. Place the board in the center of the play area.
2. Position the round marker on the first space of the round sequence.
3. Place Merlin on the Dragon Principality space (black).
4. Position the Grail and Excalibur in their designated locations.
5. Separate and organize the shields, flags, and building materials in the corresponding principalities.
6. Place the apples in the designated place.
7. Shuffle the quest cards and reveal the first three, placing them next to the board.
8. Mix the traitor pieces and place them in three face-down piles on the indicated spaces.
9. Build the outskirts by mixing the terrain pieces and organizing them into rows of six face-up pieces.
10. Each player chooses a color and receives the corresponding components, including a castle board, knight, assistants, influence markers, Merlin's staffs, manors, score marker, and personal dice.
11. Each player places their knight on the designated principality space on the action medallion and receives the starting principality components.
12. Each player takes 3 traitors and forms a hand of 4 quest cards.
13. Finally, all players roll their 4 dice and place them on the castle board.

Game Flow

The game is played in 6 rounds. Each round consists of turns, where players, in clockwise order, choose one of their dice and move their knight or Merlin on the action medallion. After moving, the player performs the action of the space where the movement ended. Each player has 4 turns per round, using all of their dice. After the second, fourth, and sixth rounds, scoring occurs. The game ends after the sixth round, and the player with the most victory points wins.

Actions and How to Play

During their turn, the player chooses a die and performs one of the following actions:

• Move the Knight: Advance the knight on the action medallion clockwise, according to the die number.
• Move Merlin: Advance Merlin on the action medallion clockwise or counter-clockwise, according to the die number.

After moving, the player performs the action of the space where the movement ended. Actions include:

• Principality Spaces: Place an assistant in the principality and perform its function.
• Victory Point Spaces: Gain points based on shields, flags, or building materials.
• Influence Spaces: Gain influence markers or send assistants to principalities.
• Exchange Spaces: Exchange components between the castle and the principalities.
• Quest Spaces: Discard and draw new quest cards.
• Excalibur: Banish a traitor.
• Grail: Gain an apple.

The player can also use Merlin's staffs to repeat an action or apples to change a die result.

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after the sixth round. The final score is calculated based on four categories:

1. Traitors: Banishing traitors grants points, while unbanished traitors penalize the player.
2. Outskirts: Points are awarded to the player with the most manors in each territory.
3. Influence: Points are awarded to the player with the most influence markers in each principality.
4. Assistants: Each assistant positioned in a principality grants points.

The player with the most victory points is declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the players share the victory.

Tips for Winning

• Banish the traitors: Keep a close eye on the traitors in your castle and banish them as quickly as possible to avoid penalties.
• Build manors strategically: Prioritize building manors in territories that offer more victory points.
• Complete quests: Quest cards are a valuable source of victory points. Plan your actions to meet the quest requirements.

Consult the manual for details on this section.