Taking on the roles of land-owners in a feudal society, players are charged with running their lands and accruing favor from the bishop by building his cathedral. Each turn, players use their resources to bid for that year's agenda, and some resources have more or less value in the bid depending on what type of agenda is available. Then players use their remaining resources to build their lands, sack others' lands, bribe others' knights away from defense, or help to build the bishop's cathedral. Finally, players harvest new resources for the next turn. After all the pieces of the cathedral have been built, the game is over with the victory going to the player with the most victory points. This game was originally released as Charlemagne by Think Games at Essen 1998, and later slightly shortened as Krieg und Frieden. Re-implements: Charlemagne
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1. Designate a starting King's Adviser. 2. Prepare the cathedral track with sections awarding VP in the sequence 2-2-2-3-3-4. 3. Distribute starting resource cards and privilege markers per the full rulebook. 4. Place all hut pieces in each player's supply. 5. Shuffle the agenda cards and place them face-down as a draw pile.
Each round represents one year divided into four seasons played in order: Winter → Spring → Summer → Fall. Winter: the King's Adviser plays an agenda card. Spring: players bid resource cards to resolve the agenda and claim the King's Adviser role. Summer: the King's Adviser acts first, then all other players in order, each taking any number of available actions (building, promoting, bribing, attacking). Fall: players collect income, potentially invoke the King's Bounty, then discard down to the hand limit.
Most victory points at game end wins. Scoring sources: Winning a privilege-rewarding agenda in Spring (2 VP if privilege from supply, or 1 VP if stolen from opponent), Opponent receiving a stolen privilege gains 1 VP, Building cathedral sections (2/2/2/3/3/4 VP per section), 1 VP per own worker's hut when building a cathedral section, Remaining resource cards at game end converted to VP based on final agenda position (1 VP / ½ VP / 0 VP)
Source: Rulebook
The most useful rules for getting a first game right.
During Winter, the King's Adviser selects and plays one agenda card face-up. Any other player may pay 1 privilege token to play a new agenda card in place of the current one, taking the replaced agenda card. Multiple players may do this in turn, each paying 1 privilege. The agenda in play at the end of Winter is the one that will be resolved in Spring.
During Spring, players bid resource cards to resolve the active agenda. The King's Adviser bids first, then other players may raise the bid in turn. A player who passes receives back their latest raise to their own bid (i.e., the increment they most recently added is returned, not their full cumulative bid). Bidding continues until all players but one have passed. The last remaining bidder wins the auction, pays their bid, and becomes the new King's Adviser for the following year.
When a player chooses to pass during the Spring bidding phase, they retrieve only the most recent increment they added to their bid. Any cards committed in earlier rounds of bidding are not returned. This means passing early minimises losses.
(Variant scoring rule in use.) If the winning agenda rewards privilege: the winner takes 1 privilege token of their choice. If that privilege type is still available in the general supply, the winner also gains 2 VP. If no such privilege is available in the supply, the winner instead gains 1 VP and takes the privilege from an opponent; that opponent gains 1 VP as compensation.
(Variant scoring rule in use.) If the winning agenda rewards a cathedral section: the winner builds the next cathedral section on the cathedral track. VP awarded per section follow the sequence 2-2-2-3-3-4. Additionally, the winner scores 1 bonus VP for each of their own worker's huts currently on the board. All of the winner's worker's huts are then removed from the board and returned to their personal supply.
During Summer, the King's Adviser takes any number of available actions in any order. Only after the King's Adviser has finished all their actions do the other players take their turns, proceeding in the established player order. Each player may take any number of valid actions on their turn.
During Summer, a player may spend 1 barley resource card to place 1 farm hut from their supply onto the board. There is no stated limit to the number of farm huts a player may build (beyond supply limits). Farm huts count toward income and cathedral scoring.
During Summer, a player may spend 1 hammer resource card to upgrade one of their farm huts on the board into a worker's hut. A player's total number of worker's huts can never exceed their total number of farm huts at any time. If this constraint would be violated, the promotion is not permitted.
Spending 1 privilege to replace an unfavorable agenda in Winter can be a strong investment — it lets you pocket the replaced agenda card for later value while steering Spring's reward toward what benefits your position (privilege or cathedral section). However, it costs privilege income for the rest of the game, so only replace if the swing is significant.
Because passing only refunds your latest raise, forcing opponents to raise high before passing is a viable strategy even if you don't intend to win the auction. Every card an opponent commits (minus their last raise) is permanently spent. Use this to drain rivals before a key cathedral round.
Using Bribe a Knight (1 cup) before attacking the same opponent in the same Summer turn strips them of a shield, making the attack uncounterable. This guaranteed hut destruction plus 2 resource card draw reward can swing resource economy significantly — especially if the opponent had only one shield.
Worker's huts score 1 VP each when a cathedral section is built, then are returned to supply. Building many worker's huts just before you expect to win a cathedral section auction maximises this bonus. However, worker's huts require matching farm huts (1:1 ratio), so invest in farm huts first, and be aware attacks can force hut loss.
Farm huts generate +1 card per 2 huts, and privileges generate 1 card of a matching type each Fall. Privilege income is especially powerful because it produces a specific resource type, enabling consistent combos (e.g., a hammer privilege guarantees promotion capability each year). Aim for at least 3 income cards to avoid being eligible for the King's Bounty.
The final year's agenda determines which resource type scores 1 VP per card at game end. Since you can hold up to 10 cards (Tithes rule), consider hoarding the top-agenda resource type in the last year. Bidding to influence which agenda is played in the final Winter can be as important as winning the Spring auction.
Avoid ending Fall with fewer than 5 resource cards AND income under 3 if you have fewer VP than someone — you become a King's Bounty target yourself. Conversely, if you're behind on VP, the King's Bounty lets you drain a leader's resources while they gain only a privilege (potentially from a third player, not you).
Yes. Since a player may take any number of Summer actions in any order, they can first play 1 cup to force the opponent to discard a shield, and then play 1 shield to attack that same opponent — who now has one fewer shield available to counter. Both actions are legal in the same turn.
No. The 2 resource cards drawn from a successful attack cannot be used during the turn on which they were drawn. They become available for use in later turns within the same Summer phase.
No. The attacker draws 2 resource cards only for the first hut destroyed from each specific opponent. Destroying a second (or more) hut from the same opponent in the same Summer yields no additional card draws.
Yes, in this case they must choose a worker's hut. If they burned a farm hut, they would have 1 farm hut and 2 worker's huts, violating the rule that farm huts ≥ worker's huts. Therefore, to maintain the constraint, they must burn a worker's hut (resulting in 2 farm huts and 1 worker's hut).
Yes. The winner scores 1 bonus VP for each of their worker's huts currently on the board at the moment the cathedral section is built, and then all those worker's huts are returned to their supply. The VP are scored before the huts are removed.
The targeted opponent takes a privilege from any other player, but specifically not from the player who invoked the King's Bounty against them.
The player gets back only their most recent raise — the last increment added to their bid (1 card in this example). The earlier commitment (2 cards) is not returned. Passing early in the bidding minimises lost cards.
Resource scoring at game end is determined by the agenda card of the final year. The resource type listed at the top of that agenda scores 1 VP per card, the two middle types score ½ VP per card, and the bottom type scores 0 VP per card.
1 extra card. The farm hut bonus is 1 card per every 2 farm huts (rounded down). With 3 farm huts: 3 ÷ 2 = 1 (rounded down).
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