Cities & Knights

Cities & Knights plays to 13 points and replaces development cards with a deeper city game, plus barbarians that attack the whole island.

The guided lesson below sets up a Cities & Knights game and walks you through each new idea in turn: commodities, an improvement, a knight, a wall and a full barbarian attack.

Commodities

A city on forest, pasture or mountains produces one resource and one commodity instead of two resources:

Tile	City produces
Forest	Lumber + Paper
Pasture	Wool + Cloth
Mountains	Ore + Coin

Cities on hills and fields still produce two resources.

City improvements

Commodities buy improvements in three tracks: Science ( paper), Trade ( cloth) and Politics ( coin). Level n costs n commodities. You need a city to improve, and each level unlocks more:

Step by step: improve a city

1. Get a commodity: a city on forest, pasture or mountains produces one when its number rolls.
2. In the Barbarians panel, tap Improve next to the track that matches (paper for Science, cloth for Trade, coin for Politics).
3. Level 1 costs one commodity, level 2 costs two, and so on. The track fills in on your player panel.

• Higher levels let you draw progress cards more often (see below).
• Trade 3 lets you trade commodities 2:1 with the bank.
• Science 3 (aqueduct): when a roll gives you nothing, take one resource of your choice.
• Politics 3 lets you promote your knights to the strongest level.
• Level 4 in a track earns that track's metropolis: one of your cities is worth 2 more points. Someone can take it from you only by reaching level 5 first.

The event die and the barbarians

Every roll adds a third die:

• A ship face moves the barbarian ship one step closer. After 7 steps the barbarians attack.
• A coloured gate (science, trade or politics) gives a progress card in that colour to every player whose level in it is high enough for the red die's number.

When the barbarians attack, their strength is the number of cities on the island; the island's defence is the total strength of active knights:

• Barbarians win: the players with the weakest active knights each lose a city (it becomes a settlement). Metropolises are safe.
• Knights win: the strongest defender becomes Defender of the Realm (+1 point). If several tie, each draws a progress card.

After every attack, all knights turn inactive. The robber stays on the desert until the first attack.

Knights

A knight costs wool + ore and stands on a corner next to your roads. Knights have three strengths ( basic, strong, mighty). Spend to activate one; active knights defend against the barbarians, chase the robber away, or push weaker enemy knights off their corner.

Step by step: get a knight ready

1. Tap Build knight and place it on a free corner touching one of your roads.
2. Tap Activate a knight and pick the knight. It costs one grain and lights up.
3. When the barbarians arrive, every active knight counts. Afterwards they all go back to sleep, so activate them again.

City walls

A city wall costs 2 brick and raises your hand limit by 2 before a 7 makes you discard.

Progress cards

Progress cards replace development cards. Each colour has its own deck: Science (alchemist, inventor, irrigation, mining, medicine…), Trade (merchant, merchant fleet, resource and trade monopoly…) and Politics (bishop, diplomat, spy, warlord, wedding…). You may hold four at most. Two cards are worth a point each and are shown at once.

Tips

• Your first city is more urgent than in the base game: without one you can't improve.
• Keep enough active knights to not be the weakest when the ship arrives. Losing a city costs you two levels of progress.
• Rushing one track to level 4 for the metropolis is a common winning plan.