DUELING NOBLES

Welcome to Dueling Nobles, a thrilling card game that will test your strategic skills and determination. This exciting two-player game is easy to learn and only requires a standard deck of cards, a set of dice, and some point chips. Get ready to build your own Courtyard, train powerful Nobles, and engage in epic battles!

Your objective in Dueling Nobles is to destroy all the Nobles in your opponent’s court. It’s a challenging task that requires ruthless tactics and careful planning. Do you have what it takes to emerge victorious?

SETUP

Let’s get started with the setup. Divide the deck into two equal stacks. One stack will consist of the Jacks, Queens, and Kings, which will form the Noble deck. The other stack will contain all the remaining cards and will serve as the Support card deck. Sit facing your opponent across the table.

Alright, let’s get this game started! First, you and the other players will roll the dice to determine who the first dealer is. Once that’s settled, we can begin. Just make sure to keep the counters in the middle where everyone can easily reach them. Ready? Let’s go!

GAMEPLAY

The dealer will start the game by dealing six cards to each player from the Nobles deck. Take a look at your cards and choose three to place face-up in front of you. This is your Courtyard. Any leftover Nobles will be shuffled and set aside.

Next, each player will be given six cards from the Support deck. You’ll also receive counters to keep track of your Stamina and Gold. The fun part begins now! Starting with the player who isn’t the dealer, we’ll take turns. Each turn has four phases, and they must be played in order. Let’s dive in!

When playing the game, you get to decide which actions to take during each phase. You don’t have to do everything. If the support card pile is empty, you can shuffle it and create a new one. But once the noble draw pile is empty, you can’t hire any more nobles.

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If you finish a duel and realize that you don’t have any nobles left in your courtyard, then you lose the game.

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Types of Nobles

Jacks have a base strength of 11 and a stamina of 2. They allow you to play two support cards instead of just one.

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Queens have a base strength of 12 and a stamina of 2. For every noble in your courtyard, they add three points to their base strength.

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When it comes to kings, they have a starting strength of 13 and a stamina of 3. As a king, I can roll two dice during a duel to determine my strength modifier. Also, I have the option to be taxed during the Income phase.

The Different Phases

During Phase 1, we have the Income phase. This is when players can earn Resource tokens. At the start of the Income phase, each player earns one Resource token. There are also other ways to obtain more Resources. For example, if I have three Support cards of the same suit, I can earn three Resource tokens when I discard them. Another way is by taxing me, the King, in your Courtyard. By doing so, you will earn one Resource token and I’ll lose one stamina.

In Phase 2, I get to reinforce my position. This means I can replace any Nobles that were destroyed earlier or draw new Support cards. To do this, I spend five Resource tokens and draw a card from the top of the Noble stack, adding it to my Courtyard. I can also use my Resource tokens to buy up to three Support cards.

In Phase 3, I get ready for the big duel in the Command phase. This is where I prepare my Nobles for battle. I have the option to equip my Nobles with Weapons. To do this, I can add a Support card with a rank of two or three to a Noble, boosting their strength. But remember, I can only attach one Weapon per Noble and play only one Weapon card per turn.

If I want to, I can also move Weapons between my Nobles during this phase. I can switch them around as much as I like!

Hey there! Let’s talk about some fun options you have in the game. You can choose to play with Suit Abilities. What’s cool about these cards is that their effect doesn’t depend on the number, but rather on the suit. After using a Suit card, it is immediately discarded.

Now, let’s go through each suit and see what it can do for you. Hearts can really come in handy because they can restore one stamina point to one of your noble characters. Diamonds, on the other hand, give you the opportunity to draw three Support cards from the stack. If you’re looking for a way to get ahead, Clubs allow you to take one card from the exposed Support pile. And finally, Spades give you the power to peek into your opponent’s hand and see all of their cards. How cool is that?

Alright, let’s move on to phase four of the game, which is the Dueling phase. This phase gives your Nobles the chance to go head-to-head with each other. To start a Duel, you just need to choose one Noble from each player’s Courtyard. But wait, there’s a twist! Your opponent has the option to change their chosen Noble for two Resource tokens. So, make sure you strategize and choose wisely!

When you play the game, you need to calculate how strong your Noble is. After that, you’ll roll a die and add the number you roll to the strength of your Noble. If you’re the one who starts the Duel, you can add Support cards to your Noble before the other player gets a chance.

If you play a Support card that matches the suit of your Noble, you get a bonus of two points added to your strength. And if you play an Ace Support card, you automatically win the Duel.

To figure out who wins the Duel, you add up the total strength for each Noble. The Noble with the highest total strength wins! The winner gets a Resource token. But the Noble who loses the Duel loses one stamina point. If all stamina points are lost, that Noble goes in the discard pile, away from the Courtyard.

END OF THE GAME

The game ends when there are no more Nobles left in your Courtyard. Then, your opponent is declared the winner!