Welcome to the World of Lords of Scotland

Do you ever wonder what life was like in medieval Scotland? Join me on a journey to a world full of history and adventure. In the game Lords of Scotland, you will step into the shoes of a noble Lord or Lady, ready to conquer and rule the land with cunning and strategy.

Now, let me walk you through the game rules. Each player starts with a hand of nine clan cards. These cards represent different clans in Scotland, each with their unique abilities. Your goal is to win rounds by playing clan cards with higher total values than your opponents. The player with the highest total value wins the round and gains control of the castle.

Planning your moves is crucial in Lords of Scotland. Each round, you have three options: play a clan card, activate a special ability, or pass. When playing a clan card, you’ll need to consider its value, ability, and the potential reaction from your opponents. Some abilities can help you gain an advantage, while others can disrupt your opponents’ strategies.

Keep in mind that the game has a limited number of rounds, and players will need to manage their resources wisely. You don’t want to exhaust your clan cards too quickly or waste your special abilities on insignificant moves. Timing and strategy are the keys to victory.

In the end, the player who controls the most castles will be crowned as the ruler of Scotland. But be warned, the path to victory is treacherous, and your opponents will stop at nothing to claim the title for themselves. Will you rise to the challenge and prove your worth as a true Lord or Lady of Scotland?

So, gather your wits and prepare for an epic battle of wits and strategy. It’s time to write your own chapter in the history of Scotland. Are you ready to become a legend?

Scotland’s throne is up for grabs, and the clans are waging a fierce battle to seize it.

As a Lord of Scotland, you have the task of earning the loyalty of these clans. To achieve this, you must showcase your skill and strength in combat. Gain enough support from the clans, and the throne will be yours to claim. You will then be crowned as the rightful king of Scotland.

I’ve got something really cool for you! Check out this amazing game called “Clans of Caledonia”. It’s a board game that comes with 98 cards, 9 Clan tokens, and 1 Victor’s Initiative token.

Let’s dive into the cards themselves. Each card belongs to one of the eight normal Clans or the royal Clan Bruce. On every card, you’ll find the name of the Clan, a portrait of its chief, its Clan tartan, and badge. It’s really cool to see all the different designs!

Now, let’s talk about the ranks. Each card has a unique rank displayed in the upper right corner. This rank is used to break ties when needed. The higher the number, the better the rank. So, keep an eye on those ranks to gain an advantage in the game.

With all these awesome features, “Clans of Caledonia” is a game you won’t want to miss out on. Get ready to dive into the world of clans and show off your strategic skills. Are you excited? Because I know I am! Let’s get started!

Hey there, let’s talk about the important stuff in this cool card game! First up is the Strength of a card. You can find its strength in the upper left corner. At the end of each round, the army with the highest total strength gets to be the first Supporter.

Strength is not just about winning rounds, it also determines whether or not you can use the Clan’s power. And when you claim a card as a Supporter, its strength adds to your victory.

Now let’s move on to Power. In this game, there are nine different powers, one for each of the eight normal Clans and the royal Clan Bruce.

Each card in the game can have one of three functions:

• Recruit – A card that you can add to your hand.
• Follower – A card that you play from your hand into your army.
• Supporter – A card that you keep as points in your victory pile.

Setup

• Hey there! Let’s get started with the game. First, I’m going to give the Victor’s Initiative token to the oldest player.
• Next, I’ll set aside the two Clan Bruce cards. Don’t worry, we can add them back in later for more challenging play.
• Now, it’s time to shuffle all the remaining cards together.
• I’ll deal out five cards to each player to get us started.
• After that, I’ll create a draw pile with the rest of the cards.
• Let’s take the top five cards from the draw pile and place them face-down side by side to the right of the draw pile. We’ll call these cards the Recruits.
• Now, I’ll take a number of cards from the top of the draw pile equal to the number of players. These cards will be placed face-up side by side to the left of the draw pile. We’ll call these cards the Supporters.
• Lastly, I’ll make a space for a discard pile on one of the other sides of the draw pile.

Let me explain how to go first in a game. The player who has the Victor’s Initiative token gets to take the first turn. It’s a special token that determines the order of play. So, if you have this token, you get to make the first move. It’s like having the power to set the pace of the game. It’s an advantage that can give you an edge. Just remember, the player with the Victor’s Initiative token goes first.

The Goal of the Game

The goal of the game is to reach 40 strength worth of Supporters by the end of a round. The player with the highest strength becomes the ruler and wins the game.

How to Play

The game is played in rounds, with each round representing a skirmish. Each skirmish consists of five turns. During each turn, players take turns to do one of two things: muster a Follower by playing a card from their hand, or recruit by drawing a card from the Recruits.

By mustering, you can strengthen your army, while recruiting allows you to get more cards to play. At the end of each round, each player gets to claim one Supporter. The player with the strongest army gets to choose first, followed by the player with the next strongest army, and so on.

After the round ends, the mustered Followers, Recruits, and any remaining Supporters are discarded, and a new round begins.

Note: If you possess the Victor’s Initiative token, you are required to reveal one of your face-down Recruits at the start of each turn. This allows us to keep track of the current turn being played. When the fifth Recruit is revealed, it signifies that the final turn of the round is taking place.

When it’s my turn in each round, I have two options:

1. Recruit a card – I can draw a card from the Recruits and add it to my hand. Then I replace that card with one from the draw pile. If the card I took was face-up, I replace it with another face-up card. But I can’t recruit if I already have ten cards in my hand.
2. Muster a Follower – I can play a card from my hand in front of me, either face-up or face-down, to add it to my army for the current skirmish. If I play my card face-up and there are no other cards in the skirmish with a lower strength than mine, then I can activate the power described on the card right away.

Once I’ve recruited a card or mustered a Follower (and maybe activated its power), my turn is over, and it’s the next player’s turn (in clockwise order).

The Round Ends

When the round is over, I take a moment to flip over all the face-down Followers in the skirmish and add up the strength of the cards in each player’s army. If there are more than one cards in an army and they all belong to the same Clan, then I double the total strength of that army.

The player with the highest total strength in their army is the winner of the round.

I make sure to collect one of the available Supporters and keep it face-up in my victory pile. This helps me keep track of how many points I have. Then, starting with the player who has the second highest value army and going down to the lowest value army, each player claims a Supporter and adds it to their victory pile.

If a player doesn’t have any Followers, they don’t get to claim a Supporter. In the case of a tie between two or more players, the player who controls the highest ranking Clan (the number in the upper right corner of a card) in the skirmish is the winner of the tie.

Judy triumphed in the battle, scoring 22 points because her entire army consisted of two or more cards from the same Clan, which doubled her score. On the other hand, Roger only had one card, so he couldn’t benefit from the doubling advantage.
Sean had two cards from the same Clan, but his third card didn’t belong to that Clan. If he had the 7:Makgill card from the Scott Clan or an activated Bruce card, his score would’ve been doubled.
Both players had a tie of 12 strength in the skirmish. However, Pierce emerged victorious by breaking the tie with his card that had a rank of 66, surpassing all the other Clans in the battle.
Once all eligible players have claimed their Supporters, any remaining Supporters, as well as all Recruits and Followers, should be discarded.

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the game. After each round, it’s time to bring in some fresh faces. Replace the Supporters and Recruits from the draw pile, just like how you set it up in the beginning. Then, a new round begins, and the player who won the previous round goes first this time. They also get the fancy Victor’s Initiative token.

Here are some important things to keep in mind:

• If the draw pile runs out of cards, don’t panic! Just reshuffle the discard pile and make a fresh draw pile.
• Feel free to peek at the face-down cards in your army whenever you need to.
• At the end of a round, you need to have at least one Follower in your army in order to claim a Supporter. It’s a package deal.
• If, by some unfortunate twist of fate, there are no Supporters left for you to claim when it’s your turn, tough luck – you won’t get any this time.
• If there are any unclaimed Supporters hanging around at the end of a skirmish, discard them and bring in some fresh new faces to take their place.
• If all the Supporters I gather at the beginning of a round have the same strength, I discard them right away and get new ones.
• A Clan’s power only works when I play it on my turn. If it’s already in play or I get it through a swap, its power doesn’t activate. But if an end-of-round power has been activated, it stays active even if I swap it.
• When I copy the power of another Follower, it doesn’t cancel out the power of the original Follower.

End of the Game

I keep playing rounds until I collect 40 or more strength from Supporters.

Once that happens, the player with the most strength from Supporters is the winner.

If there’s a tie between two or more players, the one who ranked higher in the final round is the winner.

Alternative Rules with 4 or 5 Players