Hi~❤️ Hi~❤️ Again!

Now it’s time to teach you how to actually play Royal Four-Ces! I can tell how excited you are~❤️ Hey…hello? HEY! WAKE UP! This will be an important lesson, so ya better pay attention! In fact, I’ll be taking this one very seriously too. As proof of my seriousness…

HEY! This is dressing properly cuz it’s really hot today, or maybe it’s cuz of me~❤️ Oh right, “serious,” *cough cough* so no more sexy accents anymore from here on out.

So buckle up, and let’s dive right in on How to Play! Who knows, maybe if you’re not busy staring at my nice ❤️round❤️ ass the whole time, you’ll be treated to some pretty pictures!

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After setting up your War Grid, each player is to remove all their Royal Rank cards from their decks and begin to shuffle.

When done shuffling, each player is to draw eight cards. Each player then declares an alignment by choosing a Coat of Arms: Heart, Spade, Club (Clover), or Diamond. Note: Players cannot choose the same Coat of Arms. They must be different. For instance, two players cannot both choose to be Hearts.

After choosing their allegiance, each player takes the four Royal Rank cards that match their declared Coat of Arms and add it to the other eight cards drawn before. They are then to give their opponent the four Royal Rank cards that match the opponent’s declared Coat of Arms. These will then be set off to the left-hand side of the War Grid for later Stat Tracking purposes.

Example: If Player A chooses Heart and Player B chooses Spade. Player A keeps their four Royal Rank Heart cards but gives Player B their four Royal Rank Spade cards. Player B does the same, respectively. Note: These “traded cards” are kept to the left-hand side of the War Grid to only keep track of battle stats. When the game is over, you MUST return the traded cards.

The leftover Royal Rank cards are shuffled back into the players' decks.

Example: Player A chose Hearts, so their leftover Diamond and Club Royal Rank cards should be the only ones left over. As Player A should have given up their Spades to Player B for Stat Tracking.

With the eight cards each player dealt out to themselves earlier, the players combine it with their chosen Coat of Arm’s four Royal Rank cards (so twelve cards in total), then start lining them up with each open Symbol Mark on their side of the War Grid. Each player should have twelve Symbol Marks that match their Coat of Arms. Each card will need a stand to hold itself up. The backs of the cards should be facing your opponent to hide your arrangement. Arrange your cards in any order, one card for each Symbol Mark.

The Stat Tracking cards provided by your opponent for your chosen Coat of Arms are to be set up as follows:

Place a single marker on your 10-stat card. Two markers for the Jack stat card. Three markers for the Queen stat card. Four markers for the King stat card. When a Royal Rank card receives any relevant battle damage from a Field Clash or Range Strike, you remove a marker(s) to reflect that. When a stat card has zero markers, that Royal Rank card has fallen in battle! The stat card is then flipped over.

(HEY! As a friendly reminder, assuming you set up the War Grid correctly, the playing area should look like this…⬇️)

(⬆️...feel free to jump back to Set It Up if you need to!)

Each player draws four cards for their opening hand. Then decide the turn order.

Always draw 1 card when your turn starts. The maximum hand limit is 5. When your turn is over, you need 5 or fewer cards. Any extras must be discarded if not.

Roll the Field Dice (the six-sided dice, numbered 1-6)

You get that many “Field Actions” for that turn based on the amount rolled.

What qualifies as a “Field Action”? Moving a card on the War Grid any number of spaces. Adding a new Reserve Rank card to any of your open/unoccupied Symbol Marks on the War Grid. IMPORTANT NOTE: Any additional 10, Jacks, Queens, and Kings can NEVER be added to the War Grid. The only 10, Jack, Queen, and King cards that can occupy the War Grid for each player are the ones that match their Coat of Arms chosen at the beginning of play.

You can combine/split Field Actions as long as it matches what you rolled on the dice. As an example, Player A rolled a 6 on the Field Dice. They could choose to:

Move a single card 4 spaces and another card 2 spaces. Move a single card 6 spaces. Add one card to the War Grid on an open Symbol Mark, then move another card 5 spaces.

If you attempt to move one of your cards into a spot occupied by an opponent’s card. This is called a “Field Clash”!

(HEY! For more information about the card types, please refer to the handy dandy Card Types Appendix at the very end that I made just for you~❤️)

In a “Field Clash,” both players reveal the cards that are about to come into contact! The higher number survives! The lower number dies! Equal numbers mean both cards die!

Example: Player A moves a LV. 9 card into Player B’s revealed LV. 2 card…

…The LV. 2 card dies, and the LV. 9 card now occupies that open space! Tsk-tsk, mice should stick to munching on cheese~🧀

But …if the situation were reversed, Player A’s attack would fail. Even if an attack fails, that still counts as 1 action in relation to the Field Dice!

What happens if a “Field Clash” involves a Royal Rank card?

Example: Player A moves their King card into the occupied space of Player B’s LV. 7 card. The LV. 7 would die because a King (LV. 13) is higher than a 7. Remember, the higher level always wins.

What happens if two Royal Rank cards “Field Clash” with each other?

Example: The King “Field Clashes” with a Queen (that has 3 HP). The Queen takes -1 damage and now has 2 HP left. RP is not a factor in Field Clashes. This means all cards, including those of a Royal Rank, can only deal a single point worth of damage during Field Clashes. But…What if Player A’s Queen Card moved into Player B’s Queen Card for a Field Clash? Well, since they have the same Attack Value, both would lose -1 point of battle damage and stay on the War Grid (assuming they have more than 1 HP, if not, then both would die just like a battle between equal Attack Value Reserve Rank cards).

Range Strikes

When it comes to Range Strikes using the Range Dice (the ten-sided dice), it applies to Royal Rank cards only. Reserve Rank cards are unable to perform Range Strikes. To call out a Range Strike, you must have a sum (addition +) or difference (minus -) of cards in your hand or on the War Grid that match the total of the Royal Ranked Card you wish to call for an attack. A single card that matches the total is also acceptable, like giving up the King of Diamonds to call a King of Hearts attack. After declaring your total, discard the card or (cards) used.

Note: You cannot combine both cards on the War Grid and your hand for a total in a Range Strike. Cards used for these totals must either be all from your hand or all from the War Grid.

Here are the totals needed when combining cards from your hand or on the War Grid:

10 = 10 total Jack = 11 total Queen = 12 total King = 13 total Note: Attack Value does not matter during Range Strikes. In fact, it’s the only way Royal Rank cards of a lower rank can damage Royal Rank cards of a higher rank. So, for example, a Jack can’t damage a Queen in a Field Clash but can during a Range Strike!

If a Range Dice roll is successful for the Player that rolled it, that Range Strike can strike anywhere on the War Grid. Also, if a Royal Rank card has more than 1 Range Point (1 RP), they can choose to split up strikes across multiple spaces or focus all of the Attack Power on a single space! If a strike is determined to be split across multiple spaces, the spaces must be next to each other in a straight line to the front/back or to the sides, never diagonally.

Example: assuming a King has 4 Range (4 RP), it can do the following: 1 strike across 4 spaces in a line. 2 strikes on 2 spaces. 3 strikes on 1 space and 1 strike on the space next to it. Go for a big hit and strike with all 4 Range power on a single space!

Each Royal Rank card can only do a Range Strike ONCE per turn, but more than one Royal Rank card can attack if you have the resources necessary in your hand or War Grid.

Example: I give up two 6 cards from my hand to = 12, which means I can now call a Queen’s (12) Strike! From here, I get to roll the Range Dice. If it lands on 0, the attack instantly fails. 1-8, successful attack. 9, perfect attack. CRITICAL STRIKE, BABY! It cannot be countered, which means…

…Bye-bye bitches~❤️

Countering

Depending on what you roll for the Range Dice, your opponent has an opportunity to counter-roll! To do this, they must give up a card from their hand that is HIGHER than what was rolled on the Range Dice.

Example: Player A rolls a 6 on the Range Dice. Player B gives up a 9 card from their hand and counter rolls the Range Dice. Player B rolls an 8. This means Player B has successfully countered Player A’s attack, and the attack from Player A has now failed. But…You can chain together “counters” until a Player stops or runs out of cards. Player A rolled a 5. Player B gives up a 6 card and rolls a 7. Player A now wants to give up a 10 card from their hand and rolls again. This time Player A rolls an 8. The attack from Player A can go through as long as Player B does not try countering again.

Capturing the I-IV zones / I-IV zone mechanics

To capture an opponent’s I, II, III, or IV zone, you just need to move a card on top of it and turn it sideways to “lock the zone.” When a zone is locked, no other cards can occupy or try to move into that locked zone.

Note: When a Player’s card moves into an opponent’s open zone, that card must lock it immediately. Example: Player A moves a card into Player B’s III zone. Player A’s card now locks immediately; they would not be permitted to continue moving to the IV zone or anywhere else with that same card. A different card would have to make its way there. Again, think of your opponent’s I-IV zones as a stopping point that you MUST STOP at and LOCK.

Refreshing your hand

If a Player wants to get rid of any cards from their hand and draw new cards, they can!

Example: Player A has 5 cards in their hand that they do not want. Player A can choose to discard any or all 5 of those cards and draw new ones for each that was discarded. This is called Refreshing. You can only Refresh once per turn. If a Player chooses to Refresh during their turn, they are not allowed to make any Range Strikes with the Range Dice for the rest of their turn!

About “dead cards,” discarding unwanted cards, etc.

When a Reserve Rank or Royal Rank Card die in battle, they are removed from the War Grid and are discarded into a “discard pile.” Same with any cards used up for calling Range Strikes, Joker Runs (UH-OH! Pretend you didn’t see anything about Joker Runs! Faith is gonna kill me…), Countering, and Refreshing.

Each player has one discard pile.

If the game lasts long enough that a player can no longer normally draw from their deck because it has 0 cards left, shuffle the discard pile into a new deck, then continue to play.

Win Conditions

Destroy all four of your opponent’s Royal Rank Cards. Your soul, known as your Soul Four-Ce, is tied to the markers on your stat cards. If your Soul Four-Ce drops to 0 when all four of your Royal Rank cards die…then…well…you do not want to know what happens….

-or-

Lock your opponent’s I, II, III, and IV zones.

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Card Types Appendix

Royal Rank Cards

Any card that is a 10 (LV.10), Jack (LV.11), Queen (LV.12), and King (LV.13) are known as Royal Rank cards. Their Health Points (HP) / Range Points (RP) values are determined by the available markers on each respective players’ Stat Tracking cards. Therefore, their HP / RP goes down with it as they take battle damage during play!

Initial Stats at the beginning of play:

10 (LV.10) = 1 HP / 1 RP Jack (LV.11) = 2 HP / 2 RP Queen (LV.12) = 3 HP / 3 RP King (LV.13) = 4 HP / 4 RP

Reserve Rank Cards

Any card numbered 2-9, including Aces, are called Reserve Rank cards. The number on the poker card signifies the “level (LV.).” So a 2 of Hearts is LV. 2, a 9 of Clubs is Lv. 9, etc. Reserve Rank cards have only 1 HP / 0 RP. It is unnecessary to have stat markers for them because of the 0 Range. The number of the poker card (or, in this case, "LV. ") also determines the Attack Value.

Note about Aces: When an Ace card declares an attack on an opponent during a Field Clash, the Ace's attack value automatically defaults to 14. But…If your Ace is defending against an opponent’s declared attack during a Field Clash, then the Ace's attack value automatically defaults to a 1.

In the context of creating a total to declare a Range Strike, you can decide if the Ace's value is worth a 1 or 14 during the addition or subtraction of that total.

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