16. Events #

Event Cards give a sense of the flow of history, and dictate events that are largely outside players’ control.

The cards include specific historical events, as well as more generic events that could have happened at any time and place, such as epidemics, piracy, dynastic crises, revolts, and more.

Four Ages – four Event Decks #

The Event Deck is divided into 4 Ages: Age of Discovery (I), Age of Reformation (II), Age of Absolutism (III), and Age of Revolutions (IV, Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires exp. only). The Ages in the Event Deck enter play in chronological order. First you go through all the Events in Age I, then Age II, etc. At the end of a Round, when there are no Events of the current Age remaining in the deck, prepare the deck for the next Age so that it is ready for the start of the next Round.

Many scenarios span a fixed number of Ages and only use Events from these Ages.

Preparing Event Decks #

Select all Event Cards for the Age you are about to start, as listed in the chosen Scenario Setup. In the setups, the listed Events will be divided into 2 halves for each Age. These halves should be shuffled separately, before the first half is placed on top of the second, to form the deck.

How to create Event Decks for custom scenarios is described in Scenario Booklet I.

Optional Rule 6: Randomizing X-Events #

Within each Age, Event Cards are marked with either (1), (2), or (X), in a circle in the card’s top-left corner. The cards marked (1) must always go in the first half, while cards marked (2) must go into the second half. Cards marked with an (X) can go into either half, but suggestions are given in the scenario setups for which half to place each of these cards in. For a bit more randomness and less predictability, you can instead use the following method:

Separate all cards according to these markings, then shuffle the (X) cards before distributing them among the (1) and (2) stacks, ensuring that each stack has the same number of cards. Shuffle the (1) stack to form the top half of the Event Deck for that Age, and shuffle the (2) stack to form the bottom half of the deck.

16.1 Event Types and ID Numbers #

The Event ID number in the top-right corner contains some information about what type of Event this is. The first digit of the ID number identifies in which Age it belongs.

A-Events have an A in the ID (e.g., 11A-1). These cards make the engine tick, and control the mortality of Characters (as described on p. 41). All scenarios must include 8 A-Events per Age.

B-Events have a B in the ID (e.g., 354B). The scenarios list which B-Events should be used, but it is possible to replace these Events with other B-Events to provide variation between games.

Realm-specific Events have a flag in their lower-right corner and no letter in their ID number (e.g., 202-2).

There are 2 Realm-specific Events per Age for each of the Major Powers and featured Realms. The Event Deck will always include all Events associated with the PRs that are in play in the chosen scenario, and no other Realm-specific Events.

Most of these Events have a historical Ruler (see p. 19) in the bottom section of the card, associated with the Realm that this Event belongs to.

16.2 The Event Display #

At the start of each Round, in the Draw Cards Phase, a number of Events equal to the number of players plus 1 (e.g., 5 Events in a 4-player game), are drawn from the top of the deck and placed on display in a row. The first 3 Events (from the left) are placed face-up for everyone to see, while the remaining Events are placed face-down. The face-down Events get revealed later, as players take the mandatory Event Action.

Optional Rule 7: Revealing More #

If you want a game with less hidden information in games with 6 players, reveal the first 4 Events instead of 3. This will result in more D amassing on the Events.

16.3 Event Guidelines #

General Event guidelines #

• In comma-separated lists (e.g., of Areas), we use the word “or” in an inclusive sense; you may pick any, or even several, of those items.
• Some Event effects only apply if certain listed conditions are met. Ignore any effects whose conditions are not met.
• When required to make a choice between an A) and a B) option in an Event, if you cannot meet the requirements or pay the costs of one of the two options, you must pick the other option. If not able to pay for either option, pick either one of them.
• If the Event has effects or choices that concern more than 1 player, these effects are resolved player by player, in clockwise order, starting with the Active player unless stated otherwise.
• The PR that “gains/loses” makes the choice.
• NPRs say “yes”, e.g., when offered an Alliance or when they “may” do something.
• The word “you” always refers to the Active Player or to the player required to make an A/B-choice.

Standard Event effects #

Certain effects are repeated on several Events. These effects must adhere to the following guidelines, unless the card specifically states otherwise.

Use of the word “you” in these guidelines refer to the beneficiary/victim of the effect.

Gain/place Influence #

If an Event says that you gain, or are allowed to place, a number of I in certain Areas, this means that you can place this I as long as there is at least 1 Province in the Area that is Owned by an NPR or by a Vassal Realm. If you are unable to place all of this I due to the 5 I per Area limit, you may discard Opponent I as required in order to make space for your own I.

Gain Alliance or Royal Marriage #

To gain an Alliance with a Realm, the target Realm must be an Independent Realm which is currently at Peace. Realms that have been Vassalized, Annexed, or are at War are ineligible targets, and this effect will be ignored for such Realms.

If the named target is an NPR Ally of an Opponent, you may only replace their A with your A if you have at least as many I as your Opponent in the target’s Areas.

To gain a Royal Marriage with a Realm, the target must be an eligible Marriage partner (see p. 32).

If you have no available A/M, you may take 1 of your A/M from the map, as long as this is not an Active Ally (K) or a Disputed Succession (L). You will suffer no penalties for ending an Alliance in this way.

Gain G #

You can only have 1 G in each Area.

Gain/place t or v #

To gain a t/v on a Province when an Event says to, that Province cannot already be Owned, Vassalized, or Occupied by another PR (no Opponent t/v on it already), unless specifically stated otherwise.

Develop a Small t into a Large t #

Replace 1 of your Small t with a Large t, updating your Player Mat as appropriate. The t must be Owned by you.

Gain Merchant #

You can only gain a third Merchant from an Event, a Mission, or the “Free Trade” Idea if you currently have only 2 Merchants.

Gain Military Unit #

When gaining Military Units via Events, whether they are Land Units or Ships, place these Units in a location where no Battle is triggered. If no such location is eligible for placement, you do not gain these Units. Regular Units must be taken from Available m.

Gain Action #

When you gain an Action from an Event, the Action is clearly indicated in bold italics; you must either take this Action immediately or decline the opportunity. If you are not the Active player, the Active player then gets to finish their Turn before play continues in clockwise order as normal.

Research Idea #

When an Event lets you Research an Idea, you, and any Opponents who have this Idea already, will score 0 as normal (see p. 12). If an Event causes multiple players to Research the same Idea, they all score 0 as normal (Active Player first as usual).

If the Idea named on the Event is currently not on display and you choose to Research it, add this Idea to the appropriate column of the Idea display and choose an unpicked non-Basic Idea of the same type to remove (if any), or if there are no unpicked Ideas of that type, create a new row in the Idea display. Shuffle removed Ideas back into the deck.

Placing DNPR tokens #

When placing DNPR tokens (æ), place the token of that color with a capital C on it on the DNPR’s Capital Province (underlined when listed on an Event).

If there are any t/v on the Provinces listed, simply place the æ underneath the t/v (unless stated otherwise on the card), but never place æ on a PR’s Core Provinces. A t/v with a æ beneath it is considered a Core Province of that DNPR.

Terminate/Remove Alliance #

When an Event requires you to terminate an Alliance, remove the appropriate A from the board.

If this was an Active Ally, you lose a number of Allied Units from your Manpower Reserve or Armies equal to ½ of the NPR’s pre-War Tax Income. Your PR Enemies must place War tokens on your former Active Ally.

Reject Ruler #

Sometimes an option on an Event may let you, or force you to, Reject the historical Ruler on the very same Event.

In these cases, both your current Ruler and the Event Card with the new Ruler on it are discarded once the Event has been resolved.

Area leaves HRE #

When an Area leaves the HRE through an Event, any loss of E is already accounted for in the Event text itself.

Wars triggered by Events #

If a DoW takes place as part of an Event’s effects, and this is not marked as a Declare War Action, only follow steps 3–7 of the Declare War Action sequence (see p. 16). PRs must adhere to all DoW restrictions (see p. 22) unless stated otherwise, and if the target is ineligible, no DoW is made.

A PR that has Passed cannot Declare War via an Event, even if instructed to do so.

If the Aggressor is an NPR, read “you” as “the NPR” in the Declare War Action steps.

If an Event lets you select a target to Declare War on, you must select an eligible target (if possible).

16.4 Unpicked Events #

In most scenarios, after each player has taken the Event Action, there will be an unpicked Event on display.

The remaining Event will not take effect, but if it has a historical Ruler on it, the player associated with that Event may pay 2 a to appoint the Ruler on the card.

Any symbols at the bottom of the card will be auto-resolved immediately after the last player has completed their Event Action, according to the auto-resolution rules listed under each symbol on the next page.

16.5 Secondary Effects #

Some Events have symbols along the bottom edge that impact, among other things, Unrest/Rebels, NPR behavior, and character mortality (Leaders and Advisors).

After resolving the Event’s main text, these symbols’ effects are resolved in order, from left to right, by the Active Player (you).

Auto-resolution rules are used to resolve symbol effects on unpicked Events (and for Events resolved by Bots). Symbols with no special auto-resolution notes are resolved as normal. When resolving unpicked Events, no one is considered to be the Active Player.

Character Mortality #

All characters with a symbol next to their portrait that matches the symbol on the Event played will receive an Ill Health token (H). If a character receives a second H, they die and their card is discarded.

Unrest/Rebellion #

All players must roll a Rebel Die for each of their Provinces with Unrest (u), following the procedure described on page 37.

You roll a maximum of 1 Rebel Die.

Native Uprising #

Each player loses 1 < from the Colonist Pool and gains u in a Distant t.

You may choose to ignore one of the two effects (even if it is the only one that will affect you).

Lost at Sea #

You must choose and remove 1 Ship belonging to each Opponent that is -not- adjacent to one of their Friendly Ports.

Auto-resolution: Each player chooses for themselves.

Pirates #

Place a Pirate Ship (see p. 25) into a Maritime Trade Node of your choice. If possible, this must be a node that has at least 1 Merchant in it. Pirates reduce Trade Income in the node where they are located (see p. 35).

Auto-resolution: Place the Pirate Ship into the Trade Node with the most Merchants. First tie breaker: Expanded node; second tie breaker: random.

Cardinal Dies #

You must remove any C, except the Roma C, from the Papal Curia. Slide remaining C to the left, to fill the gap.

Auto-resolution: Remove the rightmost C belonging to the PR with the most C. If 2 or more PRs are tied, remove the rightmost C belonging to 1 of these PRs.

Attrition #

All PRs that are at War, except you, must remove 1 Land Unit as a Casualty for every 4 Deployed Land Units that they have.

Disloyal Vassals #

Affects every PR that has any Areas with v with either no I/M, or with fewer I in the Area than any Opponent.

Of the Areas that qualify, any affected PR must pick an Area with the most of their v, gain u on all their v there, and must then place a number of ? equal to the Tax Value of their v with u in this Area.

You gain u as normal if affected, but do not need to place any ?.

DNPR Expansion #

For each such symbol that matches the color of a DNPR in play (which is not currently an Active Ally), pick a DNPR of that color.

Place a matching æ on a Province adjacent to the DNPR. This may not be a Capital (unless it is the last remaining Province of an NPR), nor can it be Occupied, Owned by the DNPR’s Ally, or the Core Province of a PR.

If a Province of an NPR is selected, this Province is taken over by the DNPR.

If the Province selected has a t/v, place the æ underneath the t/v (thus making it a Core Province of the DNPR) and add u to the t/v.

From Age II onwards, for DNPRs with a Port facing the Atlantic Ocean (any Main Map Sea Zone with no * or †), you may instead place a æ on any vacant Territory.

If a DNPR takes a Province from an NPR Allied to a PR, the player may place a CB token on the DNPR’s Capital.

Auto-resolution: All DNPRs of the same colors as the symbol Annex an adjacent NPR Province. Prioritize Provinces in Areas where the DNPR already Owns Provinces, then Provinces in Areas adjacent to their Realm by Land. They will target the eligible NPR with the lowest Tax Income. If several Realms are tied, use alphabetic order among adjacent Provinces Owned by the tied Realms.

Spread of Religious Ideas #

Determine where there are clusters of Infectious Faiths (see p. 38) in play. A cluster is any body of Areas connected by Land that share the same Religion. A single token/symbol in an Area which is not adjacent by Land to any other Area with the same Religion is considered a separate cluster.

1. Place a Protestant/Counter-Reformed token (Q) in an Area adjacent to a cluster, of the same type as the cluster it is placed next to. Adjacency may here be traced across a Sea Zone. Orthodox or Muslim Areas may not be chosen.

Placing a Q into an Area replaces any token that is already there.

2. If there are more clusters in play, and you have placed less than 4 Q this Turn, place a new Q next to another cluster, following the rules above. Additionally:

• If there is more than 1 Infectious Faith in play and you have already placed 2 Q of one type, you must place a Q of the other type.
• You may not replace another Q placed on the same Turn.

3. If there are no Infectious Faiths clusters on the board, place Diverse Faiths tokens instead in any 2 Catholic Areas not adjacent to Sea Zones marked with a †.

Auto-resolution: Spread Infectious Faiths (alternating between Protestant and Counter-Reformed, starting with Protestant) into adjacent Areas: preference goes to Areas with at least 1t; then to Areas with Provinces of the highest total Tax Value; break ties in alphabetical order, by Area name.

When placing Diverse Faiths tokens, instead go in alphabetical order, ignoring Areas that already have Diverse Faiths.

Spread of the Revolution #

Deluxe Ed. / Fate of Empires expansion only

This symbol only appears on Age IV Events, and it works in the same way as the Spread of Religious Ideas, as described above, except that you only place Revolutionary tokens (^) next to clusters of ^. They may also be placed in Orthodox or Muslim Areas.

If there are no ^ on the board, place ^ in 2 PR Capital Areas. If there is only 1 cluster of ^, also add a ^ in an Area not adjacent to this cluster.

If there are no more available ^, you may remove one from the board to use it.

^ are always placed on top of any existing Religion tokens.

Auto-resolution: As above (spread of Q). If no ^ in play, place in the Capital Areas of 2 PRs with lowest s (decide ties randomly).

Activate Power Struggle #

If Power Struggles are in play, move the Upcoming Power Struggle to the Active Power Struggle area on the Status Mat.

Also, place § tokens in the Battleground Areas (§) named on the activated Power Struggle to highlight the Areas in contention.

The Active Power Struggle will be scored in Phase 4, Step E (see p. 43).