Annotated Games: Version 1.0, 4 players

This game was played during testing of Knights & Damosels. The table lists for each player which chivalry cards his damosel holds (to the left), which cards he holds (to the right). The letters shows the chivalry (Ar=Armor, Hr=Horse, Sw=Sword, Hn=Honor, Lo=Loyalty, Va=Valor, Fa=Farmer, Fi=Fisher, Fo=Forester) and the color the damosel. The number in parentheses shows the knight's worship and the * who plays the Arthur role.

In the first turn, with no event, the players give random cards.

Event phase

In his Merlin role, Launcelot selects The Siege of Carlion (War), to tempt Gawain to take another of his damosel's War cards, and Tristram & Isoud (Quest), for an opportunity to play his Virtue card. Gawain selects the War.

Damosel phase

Besides the Sword from the damosel of Launcelot, another Sword (Gawain's damosel), an Armor (Bors' damosel) and a Farmer (Percival's damosel) are given.

Knight phase

Launcelot plays High Thrust and Percival Low Thrust in the first round, giving the right to the Armor to Launcelot. Next round, both play High Thrust so Launcelot takes the Armor and Percival takes the Sword. No worship is exchanged since none of the knights have any yet.

Service phase

Launcelot offers Armor, Percival Sword and Bors Fisher. Gawain could offer Horse but chooses to challenge Percival for the right to play Sword. Gawain wins and gets to offer not only Sword but also Horse in the 2nd round, since nobody else has Horse (but he gets no worship since Percival has none). Bors also gets to offer a 2nd card, a Farmer.

In the war, Gawain uses his Horse and Sword and Launcelot his Armor, securing a victory with 4 worship to Gawain (+1 for Sword against Carlion) and 2 worship to Launcelot, while Bors gets 2 worship for his 2 Vassalage cards. A good start for Gawain but he also has 2 of Morgan le Fay's cards and needs to be careful.

Event phase

Now it's Gawains turn to play Merlin and he proceeds on the war path by making the Battle of Mount Badon his first selection. Second, he selects the disaster event The Adultery, counting on Bors to reject this since it would strike all players equally. He's counting correct.

Damosel phase

Bors' damosel Guenevere gives a Horse to ensure that either Launcelot or Percival will take a 2nd card from her. Percival's damosel Viviane plays Sword for two reasons: first, with 2 other swords in play, this isn't likely to generate worsip to the opponents, and second, only Bors can take it and he already has one of her cards. Launcelot's damosel Morgan le Fay gives a Farmer, gambling that Gawain will be happy with his 2 War cards and go for a Vassalage card. Finally, Gawain's damosel Nimue gives Valor since this can only be taken by any of the knights who already have her cards.

Knight phase

Bors takes the Sword and Percival the Horse to be able to participate in the war. Launcelot can only take the Valor, leaving the Farmer to Gawain. Launcelot considered jousting for a better card since he won't be able to offer any of his current cards but decided to accept the situation now that Gawain has 3 of his damosel's cards.

Service phase

Gawain, Launcelot and Percival offer Sword, Armor and Horse respectively. Bors challenges Gawain for the right to play Sword and wins both the right and 1 worship. Instead, Gawain offers a Farmer. Bors is also able to play Fisher since nobody else has this chivalry.

In the war, the knights use the same cards that they offered so the war is won and 2 worship each given. Bors gets another 1 worship for Fisher while Gawain gets 1 worship for Farmer.

Event phase

Percival takes the Arthur role and his Merlin (Bors) selects Questing Beast (to tempt him with a Quest card) and Excalibur (to use his Fisher). Bors selects the Quest.

Damosel phase

Bors' damosel plays a Forester aimed for Percival (who needs a Vassalage card to offer after the Virtue card). Percival's damosel gives Valor, Launcelot's damosel Loyalty aimed for Gawain (who has no Virtue card) and Gawain's damosel gives Armor (since this earns no worship this turn).

Knight phase

Against many plans, Percival takes Loyalty and Launcelot Forester. Gawain decides to challenge Percival for the Loyalty and wins, whereupon Percival takes Armor instead while the Valor goes to Bors. Gawain earns 1 worship from Percival but is less amused when he discovers that he now has four of Morgana le Fay's cards.

Service phase

In the Service, Bors offers Valor, Gawain Loyalty and Launcelot Honor. Percival challenges Bors for the right to offer Valor and wins, after which the knights fill the Vassalage positions. In the Quest, Launcelot is the only knight who has 2 Virtue cards but choose to play the card nobody else has (Honor), since he fears Percival would remove him and keep Gawain with the only Loyalty card. The Quest earns them 2 worship each and another 1 worship each is rewarded to the Vassalage cards offered by Launcelot and Bors. Percival also gets 1 worship for Valor against Questing Beast.

Event phase

Percival benefits most from a War (3 Arms cards) and suffers least from a Disaster (least worship) so as Merlin, he select Conquest of Rome and Merlin's Death. With a War card and a Vassalage card and plenty of worship, Launcelot prefers to use his Arthur role to select the War.

Damosel phase

Launcelot's damosel gives Fisher, thinking that Armor would be a too obvious bait for Gawain. Gawain's damosel in turn gives a Valor, since this scores nothing in the War, and Bors' damosel gives Loyalty with similar intentions. None of them have high hopes for a damosel victory. Percival's damosel takes the last chance to snare Bors by giving a Forester.

Knight phase

Launcelot takes the Loyalty, putting Gawain in a difficult position as he knows that one of the two available cards will bring him loss. He challenges Launcelot for the Loyalty but loses and has to take the risk. Fortunately, he takes the Forester but this leaves Bors without any card since he already has Valor and Fisher so he challenges Gawain but loses. Percival takes the Fisher and Gawain's damosel's Valor is returned.

Service phase

Percival and Bors offer Horse and Sword. Gawain challenges Bors for a chance to catch up with Launcelot and wins, getting both the right to play Sword and 1 worship. whereupon Launcelot offers Armor. The war is won in the 1st round (the service card shows Armor, played by Launcelot) and all participating knights get 2 worship each (+1 to Percival for Horse against Rome).

Event phase

Merlin (Launcelot) puts Arthur (Gawain) in a difficult position: Holy Grail, with the risk that Launcelot offers the high-scoring Honor, or Mordred, costing a lot of worship but also giving a chance of losing one of the many cards from Launcelot's damosel. After some hesitation, Gawain goes for victory with the Holy Grail.

Damosel phase

Launcelot's damosel gives Armor, hoping that Gawain will be less suspicious to a War card when the event is a Quest. Gawain's damosel gives Horse, a card that will score nothing for competitors. Bors' damosel takes the last chance to tempt Launcelot with a Farmer while Percival's damosel gives a non-scoring Armor. with

Knight phase

Gawain takes an Armor but is fortunate to take Percival's Armor. Bors picks the other Armor and, since Percival can take none of the remaining cards, Launcelot takes the Fisher while the Horse is returned to Gawain's damosel.

Service phase

Launcelot and Percival offer Honor and Valor. This forces both Bors and Gawain to challenge and both wins the 1st round (Bors against Percival and Gawain against Launcelot). However, by declining the 2nd round, they give up their rights to play cards but keep their worship. For Launcelot, this means that his 3 worship for Honor and 1 worship for Forester, brings him above the victory level of 14 and 1 ahead of Gawain!

The game continues with the Battle of Camlann. Gawain takes the role of Mordred and gets Bors on his side while Percival sides with Launcelot. Launcelot takes Sword and 2 worship for his victory and prepares for the battle. The table shows the cards played in the battle to the right of the knight and bold indicates that the card survived the round.

In the 1st round, all cards are defeated, but in the 2nd, Launcelot's Honor survives the opponents' Swords and puts him in a good position.

In the 3rd round, Bors gets a new chance as his Valor survives Launcelot's and Percival's Armors, and in the following round, both he and Gawain are lucky with their Armors against the opponents' Forester and Fisher.

In round 5, Percival can only play Valor so both Gawain and Bors play Virtues to avoid defeat. Launcelot had expected them to play Vassalage so he plays Sword and all defeat each other.

In the next round, Launcelot has a difficult choice. If he plays Fisher, both the others must play Vassalage so that his Loyalty can defeat their remaining Arms, and if he plays Loyalty, both the others must play Arms so that his Loyalty can survive while the remaining Vassalage defeat each other. He finally chooses the latter but that choice is fatal since both Gawain and Bors play Arms.

The last round is just a formality and Gawain and Bors enter the final worship lottery. With the odds 5 (14-9) to 1 (10-9), Gawain is the favorite and also wins both the lottery and the entire game.

P&P (PDF, A4)

P&P (PDF, US letter)

Annotated games

• v1.3, 4 players
• v1.0, 4 players
• v1.0, 3 players

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