Pax Renaissance
Pax Renaissance is a board game where you play as bankers in Europe, 1460-1530. As a Renaissance banker, you will finance kings or republics, sponsor voyages of discovery, join secret cabals, or unleash jihads and inquisitions. Your choices determine if Europe is elevated into the bright modern era or remains festering in dark feudalism. Become the most influential banker and pull the strings that decide Europe's future.
Number of players: 2 - 4
Game duration: 29 mn
Complexity: 5 / 5
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Play Pax Renaissance and 1249 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Pax Renaissance – Quick Rules Summary
In Pax Renaissance, players take on the roles of powerful bankers during the European Renaissance. You control the flow of capital, influence monarchs, and trigger religious or political upheavals to shape the world.
Goal of the Game
The game ends when one of the four Victory Conditions (Victoria) is met or the market deck is exhausted. Four paths to victory must be activated by purchasing Comet cards from the market (2 in East & 2 in West):
- Renaissance Victory (End of Feudalism): Having the most Republics and 2+ more Law prestige.
- Globalization Victory (Age of Discovery): Having the most Discovery prestige and 2+ more concessions (pawns).
- Imperial Victory (Holy Roman Emperor): Controlling 2+ (3+ in 2p) more Kingdoms.
- Holy Victory (Religious Domination): Your religion is dominant, and you have the most prestige in that religion.
Game Flow
Players take turns in clockwise order. A turn consists of 2 actions (can be the same or different).
The 8 Possible Actions
- Buy Card (Market): Place florin on a card to the left of the desired card in the Market (East or West) to take it into your hand.
- Sell Card (Hand/Tableau): Remove a card from your tableau or hand and gain florins.
- Play Card (Tableau): Place a card from your hand into your Tableau (West or East side). Many cards trigger one-shot effects when played (e.g., placing pieces, Inquisitors, or Pirates).
- East/West Operations (Tableau): Activate all symbols on the cards of one side of your tableau (either all West cards or all East cards). Each card can only be activated once per turn.
- East/West Trade Fair: Gold is distributed along the selected East/West route. Bankers controlling the route by holding concessions there earn Florin. Discard the left most card in the respective market after passing the turn. Can't do 2 trade fairs on the same trade route per turn.
- Declare Victory: Declare an activated victory if conditions are fulfilled.
Operations & Symbols
When choosing the Operations action, you execute the symbols on your cards:
- Campaign: Each king offers the symbol allowing you to attack neighboring empires.
- Tax: Levy a knight/rook and force a concession in the empire to pay florin for it.
- Repress: "Jail" an illustrated token and move it to the empire card.
- Siege: Kill a knight/rook/pirate in the empire.
- Corsair: Move a pirate in the empire.
- East/West Vote: Host a vote in an East/West empire to overthrow the current regime.
- Behead: Kill a tableau card located in the same empire location and discard it.
- East/West Commerce: Gain a florin from the East/West market, if available.
- Inquisitor: Move a bishop of indicated religion.
Key Concepts for Decisions
- Prestige: There are four types (Law, Discovery, Religious, Patron). Prestige is essential for meeting victory conditions.
- Empire Cards: An empire has two sides: the Kingdom side allows you to campaign, while the Republics side is a modernized state potentially providing Law prestige and Vote/Commerce operations.
- Theocracy: If an empire is theocratic, it can be Catholic, Islamic, or Reformed. This dictates which units (Knights/Rooks) are active and contributes to the military strength of a religion. Most of the time, however, an empire is medieval (not theocratic).
- Bishops: Unlike other tokens, bishops are not on the map but on tableaus or empire cards. They contribute to the theocratic strength of their religion and silence cards they land on.
End of Game (Empty Market)
If none of the four victory conditions is met before the market runs out, the player with the most Patron prestige wins Patron Victory. Tie-breaker is the number of florins, and if still tied, players share the victory.