Rio Grande Games 80 User Manual

CONTENTS

• Game board

• 5 Grandes (the large cubes) in 5 colors

• 155 Caballeros (the small cubes) in 5 colors (31 per color)

• 1 King (large black pawn)

• 1 Round marker (small black cube)

• 65 Power cards in 5 colors (numbered 1-13 in each color)

• 45 Action cards

• 9 Region cards (with rule summary on the backs)

• 5 Secret disks with pointers

• 1 Castle (Castillo)

• 2 Mobile scoreboards with the values “8/4/0“ and “4/0/0“

• 1 Sample game sheet

• 1 game rules

H

ISTORICALBACKGROUND

The game is based on Spain in the 15th Century. There are twelve kingdoms,
one county, one principality, and the Basque provinces. The country is made up
of five ethnic groups: Spaniards, Basques, Galiciens, Catalans, and Mauren. 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).

O

BJECT OF THE GAME

In El Grande, each player is the Grande in one region. He is allied with 30
Caballeros. Each Grande attempts, to the benefit of Spain and for his own
benefit, to extend his influence across the whole of Spain. To accomplish this, he
must control the majority of Caballeros in as many regions as possible. The
Grande who succeeds in this is on the path to success and winning the game.

- 1 -

A SUBTLE STRATEGY GAME

FOR

2-5

PLAYERS AGED

12

AND UP

FROM

WOLFGANG

KRAMER

& RICHARD

ULRICH

THE GAME BOARD

The board shows the 9 regions of Spain, 1 space to hold the Castillo, the success
track along the edge of the board, and a round track with 9 game rounds and 3
horizontal scoring tracks. In each region, there is a scoreboard with 3 symbols,
which show the values of the region, when it is scored. The player with the
most Caballeros in a region scores the highest value, whoever has the second
most scores the second value, etc.

G

AME LENGTH

The game may be played in 9 or 6 rounds. The game takes around 2 hours for
9 rounds and around 1 hour for 6 rounds. If you want to play the shorter game,
you should skip rounds 1, 4, and 7 on the round track.

PREPARATION

• Castillo: Place the castle on the appropriate space on the game board.

• Region cards: Shuffle the nine region cards. Turn up the top card and

place the King in this region. Then, each player takes a card to determine his
home region.

• Grande: Each player chooses a color and takes the Grande (the large cube)
in his color and places it in his home region.

• Caballeros: Each player takes 10 Caballeros in his color. All remaining
Caballeros are kept in a reserve on the table. 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 player takes a secret disk. It shows each region on the
board with exception of the Castillo.

• Power cards: Each player takes the set of 13 power cards in his color. The
value (1-13) of the power card is shown on the top and bottom of the card
and the middle pictures a number of Caballeros (0-6).

• Action cards: These are marked on the back with between 1 and 5
Caballeros. All 11 cards with 1 Caballero form the 1 stack, all 11 cards with
2 Caballeros form the 2 stack, and so on. The 5 stack is made up of just 1
card (the King card). Shuffle each stack separately and place it face down
beside the board.

• Mobile scoreboards: Place the two mobile scoreboards beside the board.

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Region

Round track

Scoring track

Success track

scoreboard

Castillo-space

Castillo

Region card

Grande

Caballeros

Secret disk

Power card

Action card

Mobile scoreboard

Special Scoring:
All 5 regions are
scored.

Basque Country

Catalonia

Old Castile

New Castile

Seville

PLAYING THE GAME

A game round consists of the following actions:

• Move the round marker forward on the round track

• Turn cover the top action card in each stack

• Play the power cards

• Each player takes his turn (turn sequence is determined by the value of the

power cards played)

Round marker (small black cube)

At the start of the game, the round marker is placed on the 1 space of the round
track (in the short game, the round marker begins on space 2). Each round after
the first, the counter is moved one space further along the track. General scoring
occurs at the end of the 3rd, 6th, and 9th rounds (when the round marker is
moved along the scoring track).

Turn over the action cards

The top card in each stack is turned face up.

The players should read and consider which of the actions they would like
to see executed and which they would gladly prevent.

Play the power cards

In the first round, the players choose a player to begin. In subsequent rounds,
the player who played last in the previous round begins. The remaining players
follow clockwise around the table. The power cards are played face up. Once a
particular value has been played, later players may not play this card in this
round. All power cards played must have different values! Once played, the
player leaves the cards face 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 power card takes his turn first. A turn is
made up of the following actions in the given order:

1. Move Caballeros from the provinces to the court.

The player moves at most the number of Caballeros shown on the power
card from the provinces to his court. If there are not enough of this player's
Caballeros in the provinces, the player may remove Caballeros from the
board to make up the difference.

2. Choose an action card

Select an action card from those displayed face up. Each action card allows
two actions:

• The stated number of Caballeros may be moved from the player's court to
the board.

• Execute or prevent the action described by the picture and text.
I

MPORTANT:EACH PLAYER MAY D ECID E WHETHER TO PLACE HIS

C

ABALLE ROS ON THE BOARD BEFOR E OR AFTE R EXECUTING OR NOT

EXECUTING THE SPECIAL ACTION.

- 3 -

m

Round marker goes
on the Round track

Action cards

This power card

allows a player to

take 3 Caballeros

into his court.

You can prevent
one special action
during this round
or the next round.

Special
Scoring:
All 4 regions
are scored.

Intrigue:
Move all of
your own
Caballeros

3. Move Caballeros from the court to the game board.

Note: this may be executed as Step 4 instead, if the player so chooses. The
maximum number of Caballeros that may be moved from the player's court
to the game board is shown along the bottom of the action card. These
Caballeros may be placed in any region adjacent to the current location of
the King and/or into the Castillo. The player may divide the Caballeros
between the adjacent regions and the Castillo in any way he sees fit.
Example 1: the King is in Galicia. A player can only move Caballeros to
Old Castile, to Basque Country, and/or into the Castillo.
Example 2: the King is in New Castile. A player can only move Caballeros
to Old Castile, Seville, Granada, Valencia, Aragon, and/or into the Castillo.

4. Execute the special action

Note: this may be executed as Step 3 instead, if the player so chooses. The
player must now decide whether or not to execute the special action depicted
in the picture and text of the chosen action card.

5. Lay aside the chosen action card.

After the player has completed his turn, he lays aside the card to show that
it may not be chosen by a later player. Now, the player with the second
highest power card takes his turn.

Next Round

After all of the players have finished their turns, discard any remaining face-up
action cards. Begin the next round by moving the round marker forward 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.

THEK

ING AND THEKING’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 Region and into
the Castillo! Special actions allow Caballeros to be moved to any region.

b) The King’s Region is taboo! No changes are allowed here! No Caballeros,

no Grande, and no mobile scoreboard may be moved into or taken out of
the King’s Region. The only exceptions are actions, which move the King!

c) King’s Bonus: The player with the most Caballeros in the King's Region

receives an additional 2 points whenever that region is scored. If there are
several players with the same number of Caballeros tied for the most, then
the King's Bonus is not awarded!

THE CASTILLO

The Castillo is a special location with the following special properties:

• Caballeros may be placed in the Castillo any time one adds or moves
Caballeros, no matter where the King stands. When adding Caballeros to
the Castillo, players should clearly call out the number. It is advantageous to
keep track of who has Caballeros in the Castillo and how many. Otherwise,
the Caballeros the Castillo hides can surprise you at the next scoring.

- 4 -

The above action

card allows a player

to place 3

Caballeros on the

board.

King

Castillo

Special Scoring:
All 5 regions are
scored.

Old Castile

New Castile

• During each general scoring (after game rounds 3, 6 and 9), the Castillo is
completely emptied. The Caballeros are moved to other regions of the board
(see the following rule) and may change the majority there!

SCORING

General scorings occur three times during the game; they occur after the 3rd,
6th, and 9th rounds. During a general scoring, the round marker is first placed
on the space with the picture of the secret disk and then moves on to the other
spaces to the right.
A general scoring is made up of the following actions:

• Select a region with the secret disk

• Score the Castillo

• Move the Caballeros from the Castillo to the selected regions

• Score the regions in the order shown on the scoring track

Select a region with the secret disk

Each player chooses the region he wants to move his Caballeros into from the
Castillo and secretly records this using the pointer on the disk. Any region can
be chosen except the King's region. After choosing, each player should place
his disk face down on the table.
IMPORTANT: ALL OF A PLAYER'S CABALLEROS IN THE CASTILLO MUST BE

MOVED TO A SING LE REGION-THE ONE SHOWN ON H IS DISK

!

Score the Castillo

Once all of the players have placed their secret disks face down on the table,
score the Castillo. Lift off the Castillo and count the Caballeros inside. Scores
are awarded as in other regions (see the section, 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
right along the scoring track. The scoreboards in the regions show how many
points are awarded to the players that have the most, the second most, and
third most Caballeros in that region. The Grandes serve only to identify the
home region and are not counted when determining the majority in a region.
Move the pieces along the success track to record the points scored.

Example: “5/3/1“: Whoever has the most Caballeros in this region moves 5
spaces forward, whoever has the second most moves 3, and whoever has the
third most moves forward 1 space.

When playing with 2 players, only the first number of the scoreboard is
scored. Only the player with the most Caballeros gets points.
When playing with 3 players, the first two numbers are used. Only the
players with the most and second most Caballeros in a region get points.

If several players have the same number of Caballeros and tie for a rank,
these players get the points of the next rank on the scoreboard.

- 5 -

The Round marker

moves to the right

from space to space.

Set the

secret disk

Move Caballeros

from the Castillo to

the chosen Region

scoreboard on the

game board

Catalonia

Example 1: in a region with the values "5/3/1", red, blue, and yellow have 4
Caballeros each, and green has 3 Caballeros.
Scoring: red, blue, and yellow get 3 points for the 2nd rank. Green takes the
third rank and scores 1 point.

Example 2: in a region with the values "6/4/2", red has 4 Caballeros, blue 3,
and yellow and green have 2 Caballeros each.
Scoring: red gets 6 points and blue 4 points. Yellow and green have the same
number of Caballeros, slide back one place in the ranking, and get no points
in 4th place.

King’s Bonus

Every time the King's region is scored (even special scorings due to action
cards), the player with the most Caballeros in that region receives an
additional 2 points. The King's Bonus is lost if no player possesses a majority
(i.e. if there is a tie for first).

Home region bonus

If a player possesses the majority in the region where his Grande stands when
that region is scored, he receives an additional 2 points. The bonus is lost if
there is a tie for first 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.

G

AME 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".

English translation and editing by Jay Tummelson

For their help in testing, and their many comments and suggestions, the author and the publisher thank
Barbara and Dieter Hornung, Gunthart von Chiari, Alexander Martel, Andreas Trieb, Karl-Heinz
Schmiel, Joe Weigand, Hannes Wildner, “Spanish expert“ Birgit Irgang, Christoph Wittkowski, Clemens
Deimann, Martin Restle, Jürgen P. K. Grunau, Horst-Rainer Rösner, Juliane and Rolf Krüsemann, the
Stuttgart Kronisten, Sergio Baluci, and the Pöppel Company in Ludwigsburg.

© 1996 Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this game, please write:

Rio Grande Games

P O Box 45715

Rio Rancho, NM 87174-5715

or

[e-mail]

You may also want to visit our web site at www.riograndegames.com.

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Mobile scoreboard