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This evening, the Queen will hold a banquet which will be attended by six noble families. Will they leave a lasting impression and become an esteemed family within the royal court or will they fall from grace?
Courtisans is a wonderful card game where you are influencing the status of the six royal families within the royal court in order to score the most points at the end of the game.
Setup
Courtisans has a really simple setup which is easily outlined within the instructions. Place the play mat in the middle of the table. Deal each player a blue and white secret mission card. The secret mission cards are pretty self-explanatory. They will definitely impact how you will play the game. If you meet your secret mission cards, it will score you points in end of game scoring. Then, shuffle the courtier cards and deal 3 out to each player. You are then ready to start the game.
Gameplay
Courtisans plays in successive turns in a clockwise order. Determine who will be the first player in whatever way you choose. The first player will then look at their 3 cards and determine which card they want to play in the three different areas: Around the Queen’s table, in your domain or in an opponent’s domain.
Cards placed around the Queen’s table are played in the column of the matching family. Players choose whether to place the card above or below the player mat. When the game ends, families that have the most cards above the play mat are seen as esteemed families. Families that have the most cards below the play mat will have fallen from grace.
Cards placed in your domain will determine your end of game scoring. Each card you have in your play area of a family that is esteemed at the end of the game will score 1 point each. Whereas each card in a fallen from grace family will lose you 1 point per card. This will also play a factor into what cards you want to place in your opponent’s domain. For example, if you can see from the
Queen’s table that the Owl family (red cards) have quite a few cards below the table, if you have any red cards you’re going to want to play them in your opponents area in order to have an impact on their scoring.
Once you have decided where your three cards are going, you then draw back up. Play ends once the courtiers’ deck is empty and they players wait for the table turn to end.
Special Cards
Before starting the game, you need to ensure that the players know what the different symbols mean on each card. Some of the courtier cards have a role which is indicated by the item on the artwork in each corner of the card. There are four different roles and they have a special effect.
Noble cards count as two cards at the end of the game whether in a player’s domain or around the Queen’s table.
Spy cards are always played face down instead of face up. No one can look at a played spy. Whenever a spy is played at the Queen’s table, it is placed in the Queen’s column, below or above her seat on the mat as to hide it from its family for now.
Assassin cards may eliminate one other courtier card within the area that it is played. The eliminated card is then removed from the game. If you place an assassin around the Queen’s table, you may eliminate any card in this area regardless of its family or placement. You may even get rid of a spy card in this way! You do not have to use an assassin’s ability if you do not want to.
Guard cards can never be eliminated from the game. Even by an assassin!
Game End and Scoring
Courtisans ends when no one has any cards left and the courtier deck is empty. All spies (face down cards) are now revealed. The spies at the Queen’s table are moved to their families without changing their level. Then, determine each family’s status at the Queen’s table. Families with the most cards above the play mat are esteemed whereas those with the most cards below the play mat have fallen from grace. If there is no majority for a family, they are neutral. Don’t forget that Nobles cards are worth two cards.
Then, you calculate each player’s score. Each courtier in your play area that is from an esteemed family is worth 1 point whereas each courtier in a fallen from grace family loses you 1 point. Families that are neutral score you no points.
Each player then reveals their secret mission cards. If you have met these condition on the cards, you score the points indicated on the card.
The player with the most points wins the game. In case of a tie, tied players share the victory.
Overall Opinions:
I played Courtisans at board game club with some friends and we enjoyed it that much we immediately played a second game! It is so easy to pick up and understand the rules and it’s a nice filler game to play in-between big games.