OVERVIEW

In the 1400's, what we now call Spain was divided into several warring kingdoms. In this area-control game, you will place your Caballeros (knights) to gain majority control of the contested regions, enjoy a special action each round, and try to earn bonus points from the King and your Grande (duke). But watch out - sabotage and intrigue abound, and the Castillo (tower) holds a last-minute surprise!

With its unique turn-bidding, secret votes, multi-purpose cards, veto powers and more, El Grande is a must-play!

Played over 9 rounds, with scoring every 3 rounds.

SET-UP / COMPONENTS

MAP ~

Everyone is randomly assigned a starting kingdom. Your Grande (duke) and 2 Caballeros (knights) are placed on that region of the map.

Regions are not all worth the same amount of points, and there may be ways to change their values, for better or worse, during the course of the game.

CABALLEROS (knights) ~

These are the only tokens that determine who has majority control over a region.

GRANDE (duke) ~

Each player has 1 token that is slightly larger than the others. This is the Grande.

He is never counted when determining area majority but grants a bonus during the scoring round if you control your own Grande's region.

KING ~

During scoring rounds, the King grants extra points to whoever controls the region he's in, but during the game, he locks down the region - no one can move pieces in or out of his region.

CASTILLO (tower) ~

Players can tuck Caballeros in the castillo instead of on the map, then secretly decide where to place them during the scoring rounds.

The Castillo is also worth points during the scoring rounds!

POWER CARDS ~

Everyone has a set of cards numbered 1-13 that also show 0-6 cubes. These determine turn order AND how many Caballeros you can move into your supply of available knights.

PROVINCE / COURT (supply) ~

Everyone has 15 Caballeros, but they are not immediately available to use.

~ Province: UN-available Caballeros who have not yet been summoned to aid you in your cause

~ Court: AVAILABLE Caballeros

ACTION CARDS ~

These grant a special privilege AND show how many caballeros you can place during your turn. Each round a fresh set of special action cards are revealed!

GAMEPLAY

Each round consists of:

1. Revealing new action cards

2. Choosing and revealing power cards to determine player order

3. Players take their turn

4. Scoring at the end of rounds 3, 6 and 9.

Reveal action cards ~

5 action cards are available each round. All cards that were not selected last round are flushed for new ones, except the card that allows you to move the King. That card is available every round.

Choose power cards ~

Round 1 only - A randomly-chosen player will begin the bid for Start Player by selecting a power card. Moving in clockwise order, everyone else selects a power card.

Subsequent rounds - Whoever played the LOWEST-numbered card starts the bid.

~ Highest-numbered card becomes the Start Player. Turns are taken from highest to lowest during the round: Highest valued card goes first, 2nd highest card goes 2nd, etc.

~ Each number can only be used ONCE during the game.

Player turn ~

1. More Caballeros are made available.

The number of cubes on your power card is the number of Caballeros automatically moved from your provence (UNavailable supply) to your court (available supply). Only Caballeros in the court can be placed.

~ If you don't have enough Caballeros in your province to move into the court, you MAY pull caballeros from the board and return them to the court to make up the difference. They may not be pulled from the King's region or castillo.

~ You may also choose to move fewer Caballeros than you are permitted.

2. Choose 1 Action Card.

You don't have to use the action, but you do have to take a card. The card must be used during the turn it's taken (except for the veto card, which you may retain until later).

~ However many cubes are shown on the Action Card are the number of Caballeros you can place this turn.

3. Decide which you would like to do first ~ Place your Caballeros or use the Action Card.

4. Place Caballeros

You may divvy up Caballeros between any number of regions, as long as they are all placed into a region adjacent to the King (but never in the King's region itself).

You may also place any number of Caballeros into the castillo. Once inside, they stay in there until the next scoring round.

~ If you are permitted to place more Caballeros than are available in your court, you forfeit the difference.

Scoring phase ~

1. Everyone secretly chooses a region on the map - other than the King's region - where you want ALL of your Caballeros that are in the castillo to go. This is your last chance to sway the outcome!

2. Before secret regions are revealed, the castillo is scored. Only players with pieces in the castillo score:

5 pts ~ Whoever had the most Caballeros in the castillo

3 pts ~ 2nd most Caballeros

1 pt ~ 3rd most Caballeros

Ties ~ Tied players EACH score for the NEXT LOWER scoring position, pushing whoever would have scored there also one rung lower

3. Secret regions are revealed and everyone's Caballeros from the castillo are placed into the player's chosen region.

4. Each region is scored by counting the number of Caballeros in it. Just as with the castillo, whoever had the most Caballeros in a region scores the highest points for it. Whoever had 2nd most receives 2nd highest points. Etc.

~ Add 2 bonus points if you had the majority in your Grande's region. (no bonus for ties!)

~ Add 2 bonus points if you had the majority in the Kings's region. (no bonus for ties!)

NOTE:

2-Player game ~ only the 1st place points are awarded.

3-Player game ~ only 1st and 2nd place points are awarded.

ACTION CARD CLARIFICATION

Info to be added soon!

Movement ~ Some action cards let you move Caballeros that are already on the map. In this case, they can be moved ANYWHERE on the map, except the King's region.