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Preparation:

After the selection of the players’ and the King’s starting regions is complete, using
the rules from the basic game, each player uses their secret disk to choose a region.
These are revealed simultaneously and each player places one of his Caballeros in the
region he specified. If the King’s region is specified, the Caballero remains in the
player’s court.

The King’s card and the intrigue card are placed next to the board. Use the Caballero
summary card to determine which of the five Caballero cards will be used. This is
determined by the number of players. Place the indicated Caballero cards next to the
board.

Next each player chooses 13 action cards from his 31 to be used in the game. After
making their selections, the players put their unused cards face down in the box. They
will not be used in this game. You may want to limit the possible cards to just the 18
that are evenly divisible by 10 for the first few games.

The action cards:

The value determines player turn order.

The maximum number of Caballeros the
player may move from the provinces to
his court.

The card’s special action.

The Caballero card:

The maximum number of Caballeros the
player may move from his court to the board.

Playing the game:

As in the original game,

Intrigue & the King

is played over nine rounds with general

scoring after the 3rd, 6th, and 9th rounds. Each round consists of the following:

• Move the round marker forward on the round track.
• Players play action cards. In the first round, the players choose a starting player. In
subsequent rounds, the starting player is the player who played the lowest valued
card in the previous round. Cards are played face-up in clockwise order and no player
may play a card that duplicates a card played this round.

Move 1 Caballero
from your court to
a region adjacent
to the King or into
the Castillo.

Intrigue

Execute the intrigue
action.

Setup

El Grande

as described in the rules for

El Grande

, making the following

changes:

• Grandissimo adds two stacks 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 remaining cards and place them next to the
King's card; these are the 6th stack of action cards. Place the card for the 7th stack
(the queen and court jester card) face-up next to the 6th stack.

• Place the Portugal scoreboard on the game board in the place
provided in Portugal on the map.

• Place the prison, Queen, court jester, Grand Inquisitor, and 2 ship tokens next to the
board. Place the ship in any empty ocean area on the board.

• Draw a region card and place the two black Caballeros in the region indicated.

Playing the game

The game sequence in Grandissimo is the same as in the base game, except that there
are two extra action stacks for players to choose from. As in the basic game, at the
end of each round the unused action cards are discarded and new ones are drawn
from each stack. The King and the Queen/jester cards return each round.

The ship and jail symbols

Ship and jail symbols are printed on some cards in the 6th stack. When a player
selects such a card, he may execute the action described for that symbol in addition to
the other two actions allowed for the card.

Ship: When a player selects a card with the ship symbol, he may take one of the ship
tokens and place it in his court. He may not take a second if he already has one. If
both ship tokens are in other players' courts, the player decides which one to take.
When a player has a ship token in his court on his turn, he may place Caballeros on
the ship on the board instead of the normal regions they would be placed in. The
position of the King is not relevant to the placing of Caballeros on the ship. When a
player has Caballeros on the ship at the beginning of his turn, he may move them to
any coastal region, including Portugal, as long is the King is not in that region.
Players do not score for Caballeros on the ship.

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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