How to Play War Chest: Nobility

Game Objective

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Preparation (Setup)

To set up the game, follow these steps:

1. Shuffle the 7 Royal Decree Cards and deal 3 of them face up, visible to both players or teams. The remaining 4 cards are returned to the box. These are the 3 Decrees that will be available to both sides during the game. The Decrees are dealt before the units used in the game.
2. Give each side the 3 Proclamation Seals that match their faction.
3. Add the 4 new Unit Cards to the existing 16, then shuffle the 20 Unit Cards and deal 8 Unit Cards face up on the table (12 Unit Cards for 4 players).
4. Each player selects their armies (refer to pages 12-13 of the War Chest base manual for reference).

Gameplay Flow

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions and How to Play

The Nobility expansion introduces a new type of action, adding a fourth option to the three existing types in the base game. This new action is:

4. Discard the Face-Up Royal Coin to Proclaim (use a Royal Decree card)

Using a Royal Decree card is called proclaiming. You may discard the face-up Royal Coin to proclaim. To proclaim, follow these steps:

• Play the face-up Royal Coin from your hand to your discard pile.
• Choose one of the three face-up Royal Decree cards and place one of your Seals on it. You may not choose a Decree that already has one of your Seals. However, you may choose a Decree that has an opponent’s Seal. Each Decree, therefore, can only be used once by each faction.
• Execute the ability indicated on the chosen Royal Decree card. You may not choose a Decree if you cannot fully execute its ability.
• Bolded terms that appear on Decrees — such as move, attack, deploy, etc. — are considered normal actions and, therefore, can interact with units’ tactics, attributes, or restrictions.
• In a four-player game, each team shares the three Seals they are given. Players on the same team need to decide among themselves how and when to use the available Seals and Decrees.

Ability and Decree Interactions:

• If a unit can move more than one space, it cannot move through a hex occupied by another unit, even if the destination hex is empty. Each part of a multi-hex move must be to an empty hex.
• The attributes of the Warrior Priest, Berserker, and Swordsman are activated if they are granted an attack by the Sacrifice Decree or Guard Decree, provided they still have a coin on the board after using the decree. These are normal attacks.
• The attribute of the Pikeman is activated if it is targeted by one of these attacks. However, the Pikeman’s attribute would not prevent a unit with only one coin from attacking them; it would simply mean there would not be a second target for the second coin loss effect.
• You cannot use the Sacrifice Decree or Guard Decree on the Archer or the Lancer, as these units can only attack using their tactics.
• You may use the Sacrifice Decree on a unit with only one coin. The unit attacks normally, and then its coin is removed from the game. The unit is destroyed and must be redeployed to be used again.
• The attribute of the Mercenary is activated if it is recruited using the Enlist Decree.
• The attribute of the Earl is activated if it is deployed using the Redeploy decree.
• If an opponent moves your unit, with the Bannerman’s attribute, your unit is not considered to be maneuvering. However, all normal movement rules apply.
• The attribute of the Herald is activated after the Earl uses its tactic, as the Earl’s tactic generates a proclaim action.
• When the Herald uses its tactic, the coin is taken from the chosen unit, not from the Herald. You cannot strengthen a unit in this way if it no longer has coins in its supply.
• The Herald cannot strengthen itself, as a unit is never adjacent to itself, only to other units in adjacent hexes.
• If multiple attribute effects are activated by a single event, the active player chooses the order in which they are resolved. However, each separate action must be fully resolved before the player can move on to the next. You cannot interrupt one action with another.

End of Game and Scoring

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• The Earl’s tactic generates a proclaim action, which can be useful for activating the Herald’s attribute and getting a free maneuver.
• In four-player games, communication and coordination between team members are crucial for deciding how and when to use the shared Seals and Decrees.