Among Nobles (2015)

Establish the most powerful and prestigious family dynasty through marriage alliances, warfare and intrigue in feudal Europe.

Among Nobles is a card game where players establish and expand a family dynasty in feudal Europe. Each player starts with a married couple, the ancestral lord and his lady. Throughout the game new family members are added through birth and marriage. Three generational changes occur where the oldest generation perishes due to old age.

The players take turns activating one of their characters or couples. An activation lets you pick a series of actions in a horizonal row on the character. Since a wife’s actions are added to her husband’s, activating couples can be more efficient than activating single characters.

Players advance their influence in the game by waging war, earning gold and expanding their family. As the game progresses, more powerful nobles come into play. Red nobles are commanders: strong on warfare actions. Blue nobles are devout: strong on piety actions. Yellow nobles are tradesmen: strong on commerce actions. Green nobles are negotiators with special abilities or intrigue actions.

Gold is used to buy extra actions, pay for wedding feasts, muster armies and pay for the education and finer upbringing of male heirs. Armies are used to wage war, bringing riches and prestige back from distant provinces. Prestige points are a measure of your influence on society. The player with the most prestige points at the end wins the game.

While most daughters get married off to other families, the sons continue your family’s bloodline. Games can be won and lost because of the right or wrong marriages.