During the reign of Louis XIII, Queen Anne d’Autriche maintained a reckless relationship with the Duke of Buckingham. As a token of her affection, she gave him several diamond pendants that were a gift from the King. Cardinal Richelieu, who had been seeking an opportunity to discredit her in the eyes of the French monarch, learned of the affair and charged his most formidable agent, Milady, with the task of stealing the pendants from Buckingham in England. He then waited for the grand ball in the Queen’s honour in order to confound her. But in secret, the Queen has entrusted D’Artagnan and his brave companions with the mission of bringing the pendants back to her before the opening of the ball at the royal palace of the Louvre… The honour of the Queen is in your hands! Presentation and object of the game: Material: The game is intended for 2 to 5 players. Each player takes either A game board representing the rooms of the Louvre palace, le the role of a Musketeer (D’Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos), Quai du Louvre (the street outside the palace), the locations of the or that of the Cardinal and his Henchmen: Milady, Rochefort and the chests (with the Musketeers’ coat of arms), the entrances where the Cardinal’s Guards. Henchmen appear (with the Cardinal’s coat of arms), the Queen’s chamber, and the Queen’s track within the Ballroom (with squares The Musketeers’ goal is to cross the Louvre in order to arrive at the numbered 1 to 15). Ballroom and return the Queen’s pendants before she reaches the square within the Ballroom where the King is waiting for her. The Cardinal’s Henchmen appear 1 grey Queen fi gurine. in the rooms of the palace and try to 1 red Rochefort fi gurine (holding a pistol), 1 red Milady discover which of the Musketeers is fi gurine (offering a goblet) and 14 identical red Cardinal’s carrying the pendants. In order to win Guards fi gurines. the game, their objective is either to 1 blue d’Artagnan fi gurine, 1 orange Porthos fi gurine, 1 delay him or stun him in order to steal green Athos fi gurine and 1 yellow Aramis fi gurine. the pendants from him. 1 Musketeers’ Door token, 1 Cardinal’s Portcullis token and their bases. The Musketeers must therefore help one 37 Equipment (blue/30) and Traps tokens (red/7). another and outwit the Cardinal as long as 4 red dice for the Cardinal and 4 blue dice for the possible so that he does not guess which Musketeers. one of them is the pendants carrier. 12 Round of Play cards. On each round of play, one of the players turns 3 Cardinal’s Henchmen cards: Rochefort, Milady, the over a Round of Play card and reads aloud the Guards and 14 Special Cardinal cards. names that are listed upon it: this determines the 1 Cardinal Joker card: “The Cardinal’s Call”. order in which each player takes his or her turn. 4 Musketeers cards and 13 Musketeer “Heart” tokens The Musketeers and the Cardinal’s Henchmen can representing life points. move around and fi ght duels when they encounter 4 Pendants tokens, the real pendants in colour and the an opponent in a room. The outcome of duels is three decoys in shading. determined by a roll of dice. The Musketeers are better 1 Musketeers Joker card “All for one, one for all!” fi ghters but are often outnumbered by the Henchmen. When the Henchmen are eliminated they return to the Cardinal’s Reserve from which they can reappear Supplementary tokens at entrances in the rooms bearing the Cardinal’s (that can be used with the optional rules): coat of arms. The Musketeers can be stunned if they receive 6 Equipment tokens (golden corner) two many hits during duels (a Musketeer can 2 Chest tokens and 2 Cardinal’s Coat of Arms tokens never die or be removed from the game). The Musketeers can fi nd Equipment in the 4 Carpet tokens chests located in certain rooms. As for 12 Portrait of the Queen tokens the Cardinal, he can play Special cards that provide him with reinforcements or permit him to perform specifi c actions. Getting Started : Unfold the game board. One of the players takes the role of Cardinal Richelieu. He controls his Henchmen: Milady, Rochefort and the Guards, and moves them in the best way to intercept the Musketeers. 4 The other players choose among the four Musketeers the character whose they wish to play. They place the character card of their Musketeer(s) in front of them and take the corresponding fi gurines. All of the Musketeers must take part in each game. At the start of the game, determine which square is the one where the Queen will meet the King: when the Queen arrives on this square, the game will be over and lost by the Musketeers. To begin with, we recommend choosing square 15. For more 6 exciting games, you can increase the diffi culty for the Musketeers by setting the limit at squares 14, 13, or even 12 for the most intrepid players. 1 Shuffl e the 12 Round of Play cards and place them face down next to the game board 2. If the game is not over after 12 rounds, shuffl e the cards to form a new draw pile and continue play. 3 5 Musketeers : • The Musketeers place the “All for one, one for all” card With two players, all of the Musketeers will and the Musketeers’ Door token in front of them. be played by the Cardinal’s single opponent. With three players, each Musketeer player controls two Musketeers. With four players, one of the Musketeer players controls two Musketeers, or each Musketeer players takes turns playing the “shared” Musketeer. With fi ve players, each Musketeer player moves a single Musketeer. The Musketeers use the four blue dice. The Musketeers take the 37 Each Musketeer places upon his Equipment tokens (blue and red corners) character card a number of “Heart” tokens and turn them face down. Next, each equal to the life points indicated: three or Musketeer takes one of these tokens at four. random: this constitutes his starting Equipment. If the token has a red corner, The Musketeers must the player replaces it in the pile and draws determine which of them will carry the real another (repeating this until he has drawn an Equipment pendants at the start of the game. Take the token with a blue corner). The Cardinal is not allowed to four Pendants tokens (that representing look at the Equipment tokens of the Musketeers. 5 the real pendants and the three decoys). You can place them face down, mix them The 33 remaining Equipment tokens are placed up and then deal them randomly, or you face down in piles of the three on the eleven chests can confer secretly on who should be the located in the rooms of the palace (bearing the real carrier. In both cases, each Musketeer Musketeers’ coat of arms). 6 character must possess one and only one Pendants token 3. The Musketeers can communicate at any time amongst themselves, show one another their Equipment Each Musketeer is placed on the “Quai du Louvre” 4 tokens and their Pendants token, even if their fi gurines are outside the palace. He will enter the palace by one of the six not present in the same room. gates of his choice that open unto the street. 0 9 The Round of Play: 1.Turn over the Round of Play card at the top of the pile. It gives the order in which the different characters will act: these are 8 the Phases of Play, by name (a Round is thus divided into several 1 Phases). Each Musketeer can only take part in a single Phase of a Round of Play, while the Cardinal can play in several. 2. One of the Musketeers or the Cardinal announces out loud the order from top to bottom in which the names are inscribed on the card. Each player will intervene in this order. When his name is read, the player is considered to be the “active player”: his Phase of Play begins. When there is a white number on the card, it is the Cardinal who plays. This number corresponds to the number of action points he disposes of 2 7 during his Phase of Play. If the number is associated with a card symbol, this means that the Cardinal player may also draw TheCardinal : a Special card. The Cardinal player places in front of him the three characters cards (Milady, Rochefort and Guards), as well as the “Cardinal’s Call” card and the Cardinal’s Portcullis token. The Cardinal uses the four red dice. 3. A player’s Phase of Play ends in He shuffl es his 14 Special Cardinal cards face down most cases when a Duel is engaged. This and places them, still face down, next to the game board. He means in particular that the Cardinal must fi rst draws the fi rst card and reads it. He does not reveal it to the move all his Henchmen before engaging in one Musketeers. 7 or more Duels. These Duels will be resolved in the order chosen by the Cardinal. The Cardinal places a Guard at each spot marked with his coat of arms within the rooms of the 4.The number mentioned next to the portrait of palace (there are eight in all) 8.