Crownfell Rules

Designed by Mike Berg • v1.0.1
Art by Strega Wolf van den Berg

2 Players • 20 Minutes • Ages 10+

The monarchy has crumbled. The realm is in chaos… alliances are formed and shattered as the remnants of meagre factions contend for the seat of power.

The goal of Crownfell is to capture all of your opponent’s cards from the board. Capture a card by moving one of your cards into the same space as an enemy card.

First game?

Use the following cards for each player, and skip steps 2 and 3 in setup:

Setup

  1. Pick a colour: Place the crown card so that it hangs slightly off the edge of the table; flick it up into the air. You are the colour matching the side that lands face-up; your opponent is the other colour.
  2. Deal: Shuffle the remaining cards and deal eight in a row. Remove the remaining cards from the game.
  3. Draft: Starting with the white player, alternately take cards from the row until you each have four, flipping them to your colour.
  4. Make the board: Place the crown card in the middle of the table. Picture a 5×5 grid around it. The crown is an “open space”; pieces can move onto it.
  5. Begin: The black player gets the first turn.

On your turn

Each turn, you must take one, and only one, of the following actions:

  • Deploy: Place a card from your hand into an empty space in your home row.
  • Move: Move a card according to its movement diagram. If you move to the same space as an opponent’s card, their card is captured and placed in the shared discard pile. You may not move through other cards, unless the card’s ability or movement diagram allows you to.
  • Activate: Use a named ability on one of your cards in play. These have a bold title.

Rally 

When you enter the crown space or your opponent’s home row, you may immediately take one of three “rally” actions:

  • Deploy: Place a card from your hand into an empty space in your home row.
  • Revive: Take a card from the discard pile into your hand; flip it to your colour. Note: If you capture a piece when rallying, the captured piece goes into the discard pile first, and may then optionally be revived.
  • Command: Passive-move another ally one space in any direction, ignoring their movement restrictions. You may not capture with this move.

Game end 

You win if you remove all your opponent’s cards from the board or all their remaining cards are locked.

Icons

Standard move: Move one space in the direction indicated.
Jump move: Move one or two spaces in the direction indicated; may jump over a card in the first space.
Passive move: Move one space in the direction indicated, to an empty space; you may not capture a card in this space.
When there are two move arrows together, the second move is optional.
Ranged capture: After or instead of moving, capture a card in an indicated space.
Lock: Enemy cards in the indicated space are locked, and may not move or use their ability. They may be moved by another card’s ability.
Protect: Allied cards in the indicated space may not be captured.