How to play King's Keep
The aim: be the one sitting on the throne at the end of the game.
Setting up
Twenty Senior Guards (red) fill the inner ring. Ten Apprentice Guards (blue) stand on every other middle space, and ten more on the outer ring on the paths the middle ring leaves open. Each player starts with 10 cards (7 Single Mercenaries, 1 Spy, 2 Miners), 1 wealth and a secret King card. One more King sits face down on the throne. Five cards from the big draw pile form the mercenary group.
Your turn
- Miners dig up wealth, then go to your discard pile.
- Spies: each one either opens a Treasure Chest in your hand, or clears out the whole mercenary group.
- Pick one:
- Attack a mercenary: your fighters' combined strength must beat theirs. The mercenary dies and you take its wealth. Any strength kills a Spy or Miner. Abilities don't count here.
- Bribe a card from the mercenary group: pay its cost and it joins your discard pile.
- Commit a card from your hand to the death pile and take its wealth.
- Attack the kingdom.
- If you hold the Player 1 token, draw a guard movement card and do what it says.
- Discard your hand and draw 5. When everyone has gone, the token passes on and its new holder starts the round.
Attacking the kingdom
Add up your army's strength. Roll the battle die (0–9) and start on either outer space with that number. If a guard stands there you share its space. Every guard on your space, or joined to it by a line, fights you together. Apprentices have 2 strength. Seniors have 4 on an odd roll of the die and 5 on an even roll.
Beat their total and you win: send one of those guards to the bank and take its wealth (1 for an Apprentice, 2 for a Senior), but lose strength equal to the guards' total. Then move to an empty space next to you, sideways or towards the King, never back. On the inner ring you must beat every guard that can see you before the throne opens.
Lose a battle and your army retreats: pay the guards 5 wealth, or leave one of your fighters in the death pile.
Reach the throne and you face the King. The first to get there turns the King over. Beat his strength (less one for each weakness token) and the throne is yours. Fail and the King takes a weakness token, up to 10.
The end game
The new ruler inherits the guards and moves up to 3 of them anywhere, then puts their own King on the throne. Every other player then gets one attack, in turn order. Before attacking they may pay 5 wealth for an extra card, up to 3 times. Each failed attack gives the King 2 weakness. Overthrow the ruler and they're out, and the remaining players each get an attack on you.
The game ends when one ruler survives a full round of challenges, or only one player is left.
The rule book sets out how cards are used. The strengths, costs and abilities of the cards bought from the mercenary group, the treasures, the kings and the guard movement cards are this version's own.