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C

ONTENTS

Game board

5 Grandes (the large cubes) in 5 colors

155 Caballeros (the small cubes) in 5 colors (31 per color)

1 King (large black pawn)

1 Round marker (small black cube)

65 Power cards in 5 colors (numbered 1-13 in each color)

45 Action cards

9 Region cards (with rule summary on the backs)

5 Secret disks with pointers

1 Castle (Castillo)

2 Mobile scoreboards with the values “8/4/0“ and “4/0/0“

1 Sample game sheet

1 game rules

H

ISTORICAL

B

ACKGROUND

The game is based on Spain in the 15th Century. There are twelve kingdoms,
one county, one principality, and the Basque provinces. The country is made up
of five ethnic groups: Spaniards, Basques, Galiciens, Catalans, and Mauren. The
aristocracy, especially the Grandes, the high aristocracy, controlled events in
Spain. However, the average aristocracy, the Caballeros, also enjoyed extensive
powers. All regions wanted to develop their own power and influence. To this
end, the Castles (Castillos) played an important role.

Pronunciation Note

: In Spanish, the “ll“ is pronounced as a “y”;

Castillo = Castiyo; Caballero = Cabayero).

O

BJECT OF THE GAME

In El Grande, each player is the Grande in one region. He is allied with 30
Caballeros. Each Grande attempts, to the benefit of Spain and for his own
benefit, to extend his influence across the whole of Spain. To accomplish this, he
must control the majority of Caballeros in as many regions as possible. The
Grande who succeeds in this is on the path to success and winning the game.

- 1 -

A

SUBTLE STRATEGY GAME

FOR

2-5

PLAYERS AGED

12

AND UP

FROM

W

OLFGANG

K

RAMER

& R

ICHARD

U

LRICH

Summary of Contents for El Grande

Page 1: ...The aristocracy especially the Grandes the high aristocracy controlled events in Spain However the average aristocracy the Caballeros also enjoyed extensive powers All regions wanted to develop their own power and influence To this end the Castles Castillos played an important role Pronunciation Note In Spanish the ll is pronounced as a y Castillo Castiyo Caballero Cabayero OBJECT OF THE GAME In E...

Page 2: ...This reserve is known as the provinces Each player takes 2 of his initial Caballeros and places them next to his Grande in his home region Each player also places another Caballero on the first space of the success track The players put their remaining 7 Caballeros before them on the table These 7 Caballeros form the player s court which will grow and shrink throughout the game Secret disk Each pl...

Page 3: ...ce up on the table in a stack so only the top most is visible They are not returned to a player s hand They determine The turn order the player who played the card with the highest value takes his turn first then the player that played the second highest card etc The number of their Caballeros that they can move from the provinces to their courts Player turns The player who played the highest powe...

Page 4: ...ard and turning 5 new action cards face up The King card is turned face up at the start of each round and is never permanently discarded THE KING AND THE KING S REGION The region where the King stands is called the King s region The King s region has three meanings a Placing of Caballeros It determines which regions may receive Caballeros from the courts namely the regions adjacent to the King s R...

Page 5: ...ection Scoring of the Regions Move the Caballeros from the Castillo to the regions Turn the secret disks face up and move the Caballeros that were in the Castillo to the chosen regions Anyone who has chosen the King s region must return his Caballeros to his court Return the Castillo empty to its space Score the Regions So that no region is forgotten or counted twice move the round marker to the r...

Page 6: ... in this region Some action cards allow players to move their Grandes and thus change their home regions MOBILE SCOREBOARDS The two mobile scoreboards come into play via the action cards and are used to alter the value of a region GAME END The game ends after the third general scoring Whoever has progressed the furthest along the success track is the winner and has earned the title of El Grande En...

Page 7: ...astillo However Caballeros may only be removed from the Castillo during the general scoring D Sequence of Actions each card allows two actions a moving a number of Caballeros onto the game board and b the action described by the picture and text the special action The player decides which of the two actions to execute first An action may not be split Therefore all of one action must be completed b...

Page 8: ...ons except the King s and or into the Castillo Intrigue move any 3 foreign Caballeros on the board You can move up to 3 foreign Caballeros from any regions except the King s to any regions except the King s and or into the Castillo Intrigue move any 3 Caballeros on the board You can move any 3 Caballeros your own and or foreign from any regions except the King s to any regions except the King s an...

Page 9: ...eros in his court to the provinces The King returns Your fellow players each must send 3 Caballeros back to the provinces Each can take them from any regions and or from his court Each player starting with the player to the left of the player who played the special action and continuing clockwise around the table must send 3 of his own Caballeros back to the provinces The players may not take Caba...

Page 10: ...nger a 4 region and is not scored A mobile scoreboard showing 4 0 0 lies in Granada So Granada is now a 4 region and is scored The scoring follows the rules given in the section SCORE THE REGIONS Players also score the home bonuses and King s bonus if they apply Special Scoring all 5 regions are scored 2 cards This is carried out in the manner described above for the 4 regions The 5 regions are Ba...

Page 11: ...on is either executed or prevented The following are the special actions Mobile scoreboard place or move a mobile scoreboard 3 cards You may move a mobile scoreboard either onto the board for the first time or into a different region if it is already on the board A mobile scoreboard may also be placed at the Castillo A mobile scoreboard may not be moved into or out of the King s region The two mob...

Page 12: ...e a region on their secret disks and reveal them simultaneously Score all uniquely chosen regions according to the rules under SCORE THE REGIONS If a region is chosen by multiple players it is not scored ACTION CARDS IN THE 5 STACK The 5 stack has only one card the King card The following applies to the 5 card a player may move a maximum of 5 Caballeros from his court into regions adjacent to the ...

Page 13: ... place it somewhere on the board his choice at the beginning of his next turn Queen When a player has the queen in his court on his turn he may either move another Caballero to a region adjacent to the King from his court or move another Caballero from the provinces to his court Notes for the new special cards for the 6th stack Boycott The player may only select from regions available Some region ...

Page 14: ...are treated in every way as though they were the color of your Caballeros except that they cannot be moved to the provinces Caballeros of the Grand Inquisitor If the Grand Inquisitor is not in any player s court his Caballeros belong to no player If a region is scored in such a situation the Grand Inquisitor s Caballeros count as though they belong to an invisible player For example Valencia is sc...

Page 15: ...cks of action cards to the basic game The 7th stack is much like the 5th stack in that it contains just one card that is reused each round The 6th stack may contain as many as 19 cards or as few as 11 Play with those you prefer or vary the mix to add more spice to the game Remove the card for the 7th stack the Queen and court jester card from the cards provided with this expansion Shuffle the rema...

Page 16: ...s case the player may choose to perform the special action or to bypass it All players including the King and Intrigue players may move as many Caballeros from the provinces to their courts as indicated on their action cards At the end of the round all action cards are discarded from the game The King the Intrigue and the Caballero cards are returned to their positions next to the board The King Y...

Page 17: ... the Castillo 120 This does not include the Castillo 135 You must have exactly 2 Caballeros in the region You may be tied for first 145 You cannot choose the King s region or the Castillo for this special scoring 150 You can choose the Castillo or the King s region as well 170 Players may discuss their choices prior to setting their secret disks but any deals made are not binding To play The King ...

Page 18: ...vinces Scoring Regions o When scoring regions the new regions are scored as well They are scored after Valencia in the order France Ship America and the Mediterranean For example when scoring all 4 regions America and the Mediterranean would be scored in that order o When a player performs the special action Only the first places are counted the additional points for the Viceroy and Captain are no...

Page 19: ...r ra an ne ea an n 10 7 Grand Inquisitor When a player chooses the Grand Inquisitor card he may o Move the Grand Inquisitor to his court o Move up to 3 of his Caballeros from his court to region adjacent to the King s region o Reposition 2 of the Grand Inquisitor s Caballeros not to from the King s region The Grand Inquisitor stays in your court until it is moved by another player using a specific...

Page 20: ...r Wares but may resign to claim Gold as a free action If the Viceroy s space is empty when a player moves Caballeros to America the player may put one on the space The space may be empty while Caballeros are in America Also the Viceroy may leave America using the same rules as for Caballeros Gold and Wares o The cards of the 7th stack show how many Gold and Wares discs are placed in America or the...

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