BASIC INFO

REQUIREMENTS

• 1 - 4 players. (See the end for player layouts and storylines.)
• A normal deck of 52 playing cards with 1 joker.
• A token for protection - usually a small stone.

BASIC IDEA

The Four Musketeers - Athos (♤J), Porthos (♦J), Aramis (♥J) and d'Artagnan (♧J) - are trapped in a repeating limbo fighting against the villains (and sometimes each other) surrounding the King of France.

• The layout consists of the (3 or) 4 Musketeers and the chosen main villain (one of the black A, K or Q's).
• The game proceeds by sword fights played by the Musketeers, and after each fight the loser loses a lifeline, unless he was protected - in which case the main villain loses a lifeline instead. (The details depend on the chosen storyline and its villain, see further below.)
• The round ends when the villain is defeated (good ending) or when two musketeers have been defeated (bad ending).
• The game setup is modular, and so you can be play the game in many forms and with different storylines:
  • TEAM SOLITAIRE: As a unified team against the Cardinal Richelieu (♤A) or Comte de Wardes (♤K).
  • SURVIVAL GAME: As a survival game between the musketeers set by Comte de Rochefort (♧A) or Monsieur Bonacieux (♧K).
  • ROLE GAME: As a competition where each musketeer follows his own ambitions, manipulated by Milady (♤Q) alone or through Madame Bonacieux (♧Q).

START UP

Each character is given a role card and a couple of lifelines (face up) above it as protection:

• ROLES: The chosen villain is placed face up, and each player is dealt a Musketeer role face down (♦J, ♥J, ♤J, ♧J).
• LAST LIFELINES: The 2nd layer of cards consists of two 2's and the joker dealt face up (the joker being a trap).
• LIFELINES: The top layers are extra protection, consisting of the face cards and the 3 aces, and are dealt face up.
  • In the solitaire storylines, each player gets just 1 extra lifeline (= 2 cards above the role), while the villain gets the remaining lifelines.
  • In the competitive games, each is dealt 2 cards as extra protection (= 3 over role), while the villain gets 3 layers of extra protection (= 4 in total).
• PROTECTION STONE: The villain starts as the protected one: the protection stone is moved above his lifelines.
• SWORD STRIKES (32 cards): The rest of the deck (cards 3 - 10) are meant for sword fights.
  • Each player is dealt 4 hand cards (in the Three Musketeers layout) or 6 hand cards (for Four Musketeers).
  • In addition, a deck of 8 cards is reserved for optional shadow strikes. (With Four Musketeers it's simply the remaining deck.)
• Typically one player handles the sword deck, the player on his left deals the life cards (roles, lifelines and stone), and the next one starts the 1st fight.

PLAYING

SWORD FIGHTS

In a sword fight, each player plays one hand card face up in clockwise order.

• LOWEST STRIKE: The player who played the lowest number loses the fight, unless the lowest number was blocked by another strike.
• BLOCKED STRIKE: Strikes can be blocked by playing the same number: The new card blocks the previous of the same number and both are ignored.
  • So, 2 + 2 or 4 cards of the same number amount to nothing. With 3 of the same, the last one blocks the 2nd one and itself, so the 1st one applies again.
  • For example, if cards ♥5, ♧5, ♤8 and ♧7 were played, the 4th player loses as the two first block each other. But if the last player had played, say, ♦5 then the 2nd and 4th card would be out and the 1st one would lose again. (As is obvious, the later your turn the more control you have and safer you are.)
• NEXT & REPLAY: The loser starts the next fight. In a draw (with 2 + 2 or 4 same number), it's as if nothing happened and the same player starts (= replay).

SPECIAL STRIKES

As long as there are cards in the random deck, the players are allowed to use shadow strikes:

• SHADOW STRIKE: One of the hand cards is discarded (put away face down - without showing it), and the topmost card of the random deck is played instead.

The last of the (4 or 6) successive sword fights is always a special cyclical strike, where the musketeers come together to play for each other.

• CYCLICAL STRIKES: The 1st player decides the direction: left or right, and plays the card to the neighbour on that side, who then plays for his neighbour and so on - in one big movement.
  • Effectively, one of your hand cards belongs to a neighbour musketeer - of course, you can also use a shadow strike as the last strike (if any left).
  • Note that the villain cannot be targeted directly, but can only be damaged by hitting the protected musketeer. Except when there's a Shadow Musketeer (see Storylines below), who is then always part of the sword fight layout.

NEXT FIGHTS

After the last fight, each player is dealt new hand cards.

• In Four Musketeers layout, the sword deck is reshuffled form the played cards, each player dealt 6 hand cards and the remaining cards are put on the bottom of the random deck (filling it up to 8 shadow strikes again).
• With Three Musketeers, the remaining sword deck (12 cards) is dealt (4 for each), while the random deck is shared between the two sets of 4 fights. After the 2nd set, all strikes (including the remaining random cards) are shuffled, a random deck (of 8 cards) is separated and each player dealt 4 hand cards.

POPPING LIFELINES

PROTECTION

One of the characters is always protected - indicated by having the protection stone above its lifelines - while the others are vulnerable.

• VULNERABLE HIT: If the loser of the sword fight was vulnerable (= not protected), the musketeer loses a lifeline and gains protection.
• PROTECTED HIT: If the loser was protected, the villain loses a lifeline instead and gains protection - this is the only way to attack him/her.
  • With certain villains (♤K and ♧K), a Shadow Musketeer joins the fights and attacking him (when unprotected) is the only way to damage the villain.
• The victim's topmost life card is put (face up) into the line of story, and the protection stone is moved above his lifelines.

LAST LIFELINES

When the last lifeline is lost, the role card is the only one left:

• If the last lifeline is a 2, the role card is left face down (for the villain, it's turned down), and on next hit it's turned face up. (Losing a 2 implies 2 more hits to go.)
• With a joker (= trap by Milady) the role is turned face up immediately, and the next unprotected hit means defeat.
  • Note. In the Palace of Mirrors (♤Q), Milady has mirrored the meanings of the 2's and joker as last lifelines.

DEFEATED

If a Musketeer is defeated, his role card goes to the line of story, and he becomes a Dazed Musketeer for the remaining round:

• DAZED: The leftover hand cards are shuffled, stacked into a clean pile, turned face up, and the topmost one always played (instantly revealing the next one). If a Dazed Musketeer starts a cyclical strike, he always plays to the left.
• GHOST: Alternatively, when playing with roles or in teams, the defeated can become a Ghost Musketeer and continue to be controlled normally.

STORYLINES BY VILLAINS

For each game a storyline is picked, and then it's played for a few rounds (until someone / team wins). In total, there are 6 storylines of 3 different types: solitaire, survival (+ team mode) and role based (+ team mode) - the team modes are highly recommended. Organized to fit learning curve:

Each For Each: ♧A - DEFEAT COUNT (survival)

The Duke of Rochefort (♧A) has managed to scheme the musketeers to fight each other turning their regular practice into a survival match.

• PLAYING: No spices - just about using your sword skills. Played until 3 defeats - the loser(s) hitting the limit. (The winners have least defeats.)
• TEAMS (optional): Alternatively, the musketeers are divided in two rival teams (typically 2 against 2, teammates facing each other).
  • Each player gets as many defeats as their team lost musketeers (eg. if both died, each gets 2 defeats). The game is played until 5 defeats.

All For One: ♤A - SHADY PROTECTOR (solitaire)

The Cardinal Richelieu's (♤A) plot requires the musketeers to sacrifice themselves, while he manipulates the protected musketeer's strikes.

• LAYOUT: See the Solitaire layout below.
• PLAYING: Exceptionally, the card played for the protected musketeer (when one of them is protected) must always be a shadow strike (= random card) - unless the random deck has run out, in which case a hand card is played.
  • So, the protected player must play random during normal strikes, and during the cyclical ones the neighbour who plays for him.

Each For Whom: ♧K - INTRODUCING THE SHADOW (survival)

Monsieur Bonacieux (♧K) has let a Shadow Musketeer (Bernajoux, sent by the Cardinal) into d'Artagnan's apartment. When the musketeers arrive, Bonacieux bars the door from outside, the shadow attacks inside and a survival game follows in the dark room.

• PLAYING: See the Shadow Musketeer concept below. As a survival game, played until someone has 3 defeats.
• TEAMS (optional): Alternatively, the musketeers are divided in two rival teams - each gets as many defeats as their team lost musketeers (see above).

All For Whom: ♤K - RETURN OF THE SHADOW (solitaire)

The musketeers play against the Shadow Musketeer who is Comte de Wardes (♤K) in disguise, and he takes part in the sword fights.

• LAYOUT: See the Solitaire layout below.
• PLAYING: See the Shadow Musketeer concept below.

All Against One: ♧Q - INHERENT IMBALANCE (roles)

Milady has manipulated the 3 musketeers to attack Madame Bonacieux (♧Q) whom d'Artagnan tries to protect.

• ROLES:
  • d'Artagnan (♧J): If Mme. Bonacieux stays alive, the player gets 1 point, and 1 point extra if d'Artagnan also stays alive (to live with her - no points if lives alone).
  • 3 Musketeers (♥J, ♦J, ♤J): Otherwise the "villain" is defeated, and the other players get 1 point each, if their role stayed alive.
    • Note. In the Three Musketeers layout, the game can also be played without d'Artagnan, but it's recommended to include him.
• WINNING: The game is played until someone reaches 5 win points.
• PLAYING (optional): You can optionally include a Shadow Musketeer into the game (recommended for 3 players in Three Musketeers layout).
• TEAMS (optional): You can also play in two teams - called the Coloured Conflict (All Against Them).
  • The teams are determined by the colour of the musketeers (black and red) - without revealing who is where. The teammates get equal points per round, but they are counted for each player (as teams get shuffled each round).
  • Black musketeers (♧J, ♤J): Are pledged to protect Madame Bonacieux. If she stays alive they get 1 point each, and 1 extra point if all 3 stay alive.
  • Red musketeers (♥J, ♦J): Are convinced Bonacieux is a villain. If she's defeated, the teammates get 1 point, and 1 extra if both stay alive to witness it.
  • If playing teams including Servant Musketeers, the teams are pre-decided (teammates sitting opposite) and musketeers dealt accordingly (reds vs. blacks).
  • If playing teams in the Three Musketeers layout (not typically recommended), there's no extra points for staying alive and the game is played until 3 points.

Each His Own: ♤Q - PALACE OF MIRRORS (roles)

Milady de Winter has designed the Palace of Mirrors to exploit the personal ambitions of the musketeers (this is the original full game).

• LAST LIFELINES: Milady has mirrored the meaning of the last lifelines (blessing the joker while turning 2's to double-crosses):
  • The role cards behind the 2's are revealed immediately after losing the last lifeline, wheras the role behind the joker remains face down (= needs 2 more hits).
• ROLES:
  • ♦J - Porthos: Stay alive, and pop the 4 diamonds: ♦A, ♦K, ♦Q and ♦2 (= ultimate luxury).
    • The ambition is fulfilled if the 4 cards are found in the line of story while ♦J is not there when the round ends.
  • ♥J - Aramis: Stay alive, and pop the 4 hearts: ♥A, ♥K, ♥Q and ♥2 (= perfect love). The ambition is fulfilled likewise.
  • ♤J - Athos: Find and destroy the roots of evil ♤2 and double crossing ♧2, while staying alive.
  • ♧J - d'Artagnan: Rescue the helpless joker (= a trap set by Milady) and then protect the character behind it - with your life if needed (= d'Artagnan can die).
    • When the joker is popped (= rescued), the other musketeers often start attacking the victim behind (to prevent d'Artagnan's spirit from getting a win point). 1/5 times Milady has the joker and so d'Artagnan ends up protecting her, and 1/5 times d'Artagnan holds the joker himself and thus must not die.
• WINNING: The game is played until someone reaches 3 win points.
• PLAYING (optional): You can optionally include a Shadow Musketeer into the game (recommended for 3 players in Three Musketeers layout).
• TEAMS (optional): You can also play in teams using Paired Ambitions (Each Their Own):
  • The team only gets a point if both of their ambitions are fulfilled. However, only one of the musketeers needs to survive (doesn't matter which one).
  • The teammates sit opposite to each other, and after checking their roles, they swap the role cards with each other (so both know each other's role).

COMMON STORY COMPONENTS

Competitive layout (with ♧A, ♧K, ♧Q and ♤Q)

When the game is about competition between the players (= survival or role based):

• LAYOUT: Each player is dealt 3 lifelines over the role, while the villain gets 4 lifelines.
• WINNING: After the round, the players are punished or rewarded based on the game purpose (counting defeats vs. fulfilled ambitions).

Solitaire layout (with ♤A and ♤K)

The solitaire games are about team play against a common villain with settings for difficulty:

• LAYOUT: Each player is dealt 2 lifelines above the role card, while the villain (♤A or ♤K) gets the remaining lifelines.
  • With Four Musketeers the villain gets up to 8 lifelines above the role, and with Three Musketeers he gets up to 7 lifelines.
  • The players shouldn't talk much, especially about numbers or playing low vs. high. (However, it's okay to plan about timing or the things already known / visible.)
• WINNING: The game ends in victory if the villain is defeated, and badly if 2 musketeers are defeated - typically played until the musketeers win.
• 1 REPLAY: If the fight outcome does not satisfy the musketeers, its effect can be neglected and the fight replayed with new cards (only once per round).
• DIFFICULTY: The difficulty level can be decreased (before the round, or shamefully during it) by:
  • Pre-playing some lifelines into the line of story, by default 1 card is pre-played away. (With none, the Three Musketeers layout requires a perfect play 4/5 times.)
  • Pre-placing the joker to the villain instead of dealing the last lifelines randomly.
  • Giving the protection stone to a musketeer (that starts the round).
  • Granting yourselves some more free replays. (It feels less shameful, if you do it beforehands.)
  • Allowing the game to continue until all musketeers are defeated, or alternatively (with fewer players) until the last human player has dropped out.

Shadow Musketeer (with ♤K and ♧K)

When the game features a Shadow Musketeer, the sword fights and protection works a bit differently:

• The Shadow Musketeer is positioned in front of the villain and uses the shadow strikes (from the random deck) as his weapon.
  • He starts the round, and he's always present in the sword fights (at least positionally), but his strikes will be empty if there are no more shadow strikes left.
  • The shadow can be targeted during the cyclical strikes even if the random deck has run out. During his turn, he will just play an empty strike for the player who he's supposed to play for - leaving him out of the fight instead.
  • When the shadow starts a cyclical strike, he always chooses to play to the left. When he starts a normal fight but has no cards, it's another empty strike.
• The villain's lifelines belong to the Shadow Musketeer, and the only way to beat the villain is by hitting the shadow while he's unprotected.
  • Exceptionally, whenever the protected musketeer is hit, nothing happens: the stone stays and no one is hurt - so, it's a free replay.
• Note. You can also use a Shadow Musketeer with ♤Q and ♧Q (especially in Three Musketeers layout to bring the 4th musketeer into the sword fights).

PLAYER LAYOUTS & MECHANISMS

The player layouts can be freely combined with the dazed / servant mechanisms to fit the number of players.

Layout: FOUR MUSKETEERS (for 2 - 4 players)

With 4 players, the layout always consists of the Four Musketeers (♥J, ♦J, ♤J and ♧J) and the villain (♤A, ♤K or ♤Q).

• Each player is dealt 6 hand cards with 8 common random cards. After the 6 fights, the played cards are shuffled and random deck filled (from bottom).
• This layout also works with fewer players (with Dazed Musketeers or Servants), but Three Musketeers is recommended (unless playing the team modes).

Layout: THREE MUSKETEERS (for 1 - 3 players)

In this layout one of the Four Musketeers is missing (from the layout), and so there are only Three Musketeers in the sword fights:

• The sword deck is used twice per 2 sets of 4 sword fights - each player is dealt only 4 hand cards (and every 4th strike is cyclical).
• The random deck is separated and contains 8 cards which are shared between the two sets of 4 fights. After the two sets of strikes, the whole sword deck (including the remaining random cards) is reshuffled.

In each variation 4 cards (of the missing musketeer's suit) are pre-played into the line of story. (In the Palace of Mirrors, the life dealer decides the variation.)

• Religious Aramis ♥J is pursuing his true calling (= default variation). His card (♥J) becomes a lifeline, while the other hearts (♥Q, ♥K, ♥A and ♥2) are left out.
• Illusioned Porthos ♦J is indulged in luxuries. Likewise ♦J becomes a lifeline, while the normal lifeline diamonds are pre-played out (♦Q, ♦K, ♦A and ♦2).
• Seduced d'Artagnan ♧J leaves out joker and lifeline clubs (♧Q, ♧K, ♧A and joker). Or with a villain of clubs, d'Artagnan (♧J) is left out instead.
• Disoriented Athos ♤J is wondering in melancholy - leaving out the spades (♤Q, ♤K, ♤A and ♤2). With a spade villain, Athos (♤J) is left out instead.

Mechanism: DAZED MUSKETEER

A Dazed Musketeer is a mechanism for replacing missing human players without changing the layout.

• The Dazed Musketeer is dealt a role card and lifelines as normally. However he has been spellbound by Milady and is auto-controlled.
• His hand cards are collected into one (clean) pile and turned face up. He always plays the topmost card, and in cyclical strikes choose to play left.

Mechanism: MUSKETEER'S SERVANT

A Musketeer's Servant is another mechanism for replacing a human player, but is more layout specific:

• The servant's hand cards are turned face up (overlapping each other) and played by an actual player sitting opposite to him (and teamed together).
• In role based storylines, the master is allowed to check the role of the servant.

PLAYER VARIATIONS

These variations simply showcase combining the layouts and mechanisms above together for varying number of players.

One for All: THREE MUSKETEERS / SERVANT UNDER THE BRIDGE (for 3 players)

For 3 players, the Three Musketeers layout is recommended. For the role based (Q) storylines, also try mixing in a Shadow Musketeer.

Alternatively, you can play in Four Musketeers layout and replace the 4th musketeer by a Musketeer's Servant.

• Often the purpose is to play in two teams (eg. Coloured Conflict, Paired Ambitions or the team survivals) in a Bridge-like layout.

One for Two: LOST & DAZED / PAIRED SERVANTS (for 2 players)

One musketeer is missing, so there are only only Three Musketeers in the game, and one of them has been spellbound by Milady:

• The Dazed Musketeer is handled by either player. In the Inherent Imbalance or Palace of Mirrors, fulfilling his ambition makes no difference.

Alternatively, you can play in the Four Musketeers layout and replace the missing musketeers with 2 Musketeer's Servants.

• The table is divided into the servant side and the player side: The players are positioned next to each other with their servant being in front of them. Typically, the servant side is moved after each round (to balance out the imbalance in playing order).
• In this layout, it's recommended to play with two teams. (For example, in the Palace of Mirrors, combine the master-servant ambitions with Paired Ambitions.)

Two for One: SOLO ADVENTURE / SOLO WITH A SERVANT (for 1 player)

The basic variation works just like Lost & Dazed, except that there are 2 Dazed Musketeers (in the Three Musketeers layout).

• The solo player always decides the direction for the last (4th) strikes regardless of who starts. Optionally, the player can also start the first fight.
• It's recommended to play solitaire or role based storylines (survival is too easy alone) - especially All For One (♤A) is recommended. In the role based, success equals fulfilling your role's ambition - with a "penalty" for each fulfilled ambition of a Dazed Musketeer.
• COUNTER-SHADOWS: To decrease difficulty, you can decide when one (or even both) of the Dazed Musketeers uses a shadow strike (normally never).
• SOLO DUEL: It's common to end the game only when the villain or the solo player is defeated (the other two were dazed anyway).

Alternatively, you can replace one of the two Dazed Musketeers by a Musketeer's Servant and thus gain more control:

• This layout is good for playing Inherent Imbalance (♧Q) or in two teams (eg. Paired Ambitions) - often until either the villain or the solo player is defeated (= Solo Duel). With Paired Ambitions success means fulfilling both ambitions - minus half if the other team (= the dazed one) also succeeds.

STRATEGY

HAND CARDS & SWORD FIGHTS

• Playing the same number as an already played card is always a safe option. With 4 musketeers, playing a 10 is also a safe option.
  • In the start of each of the sword fights, it's more common to see higher number strikes (9 and 10) in the fight - especially in the Palace of Mirrors.
• Although low number cards (like 3 and 4) mean you're likely to get hit, they can still be useful for a couple of things:
  • When you get hit, you can start with a low card and be hit again with protection, thus damaging the villain.
  • The last of the sword strikes is always played for another player (never self), so you can save one for that.
  • Sometimes you do want to lose a lifeline: if your role wants it popped or it's better than any alternative. (However, this is more common near end of the round.)
  • Remember that as long as there are random cards left, you can play random instead. (With only 8 numbers in the sword deck, the chances are often not that bad.)
• It's also important to know how to play when there's a Dazed Musketeer present (especially utilizing the next revealed card), as well as to know which cards to "waste" (eg. when playing random) and sync it all with the positional play (= how many strikes will be played after you).
• Finally, reading the matrix (of probabilities) while playing to the rhythm of the cyclical strikes is what often separates the true sword masters over time.

STORY GUIDE

PICKING THE STORYLINE (quick guide)

• By suits:
  • CLUBS vs. SPADES: It's easier to learn the Club games (♧) than the more complex Spade games (♤).
• By numbers (in increasing complexity):
  • ACES: The Ace games are the simplest - the villain is only present through the protection mechanism.
  • KINGS: The King games involve a Shadow Musketeer that participates in the sword fights (who becomes the weakpoint of the villain).
  • QUEENS: In the Queen games the musketeers have specific roles - these games feature the most gameplay variance over time (especially in the team modes).
• By gameplay (in increasing complexity):
  • SURVIVAL: With ♧A and ♧K the villains are less involved and the gameplay is about simple combats.
    • The good ending is a mere tool to end the game (in a cowardly way), while defeating the other musketeers is the real goal.
  • SOLITAIRE: With ♤A or ♤K as the villain, the game is a team solitaire against the villain.
    • They feature a special solitaire layout (for the lifelines) with settings to adjust difficulty. Typically played until the musketeers win.
  • ROLE BASED: With ♤Q and ♧Q, each musketeer has his own role, and together the roles compose the dynamics.
    • The queen games turn the musketeers against each other indirectly: player gets a win point if the musketeer's personal ambition / purpose is fulfilled.
    • From the musketeers' point of view, the lifelines represent story events (= encounters with the story characters) some of which are important for the roles.
  • Note. In each storyline (except in the solitaire games), there's a team vs. team mode, which is highly recommended (even with fewer or uneven number of players - see player layouts above). They often make the strategies simpler while providing an extra layer of variance in gameplay dynamics.

♧A: Tips for SURVIVAL

It's all about combat skills (see hand cards above) as well as momentary alliances.

• In this vanilla form, it's common that the sword fights start with very high numbers. Accoridngly, with Four Musketeers there's a lot of draws, whereas in the Three Musketeers layout draws are not possible (so the 1st player is always the easiest target).
• As the gameplay dynamics are simple with little variance (= only the positioning of the joker), this variant is good for learning the game.

♧K: Tips for SURVIVAL WITH THE SHADOW

If the Shadow Musketeer is involved in a survival match, the fights become more complex and involve more randomness and risk taking.

• In addition to the extra target in the sword fights, the protection also works differently providing an extra replay option (by hitting the protected one again).
• This brings a lot of replay opportunities to the Three Musketeers layout: 1. the extra option above, 2. there's a 4th strike (= draws are possible). With Four Musketeers, one replay option is swapped to another: With 5 strikes draws are impossible, but there's an extra option for replays.

♧Q: Role dynamics with MADAME BONACIEUX

With Madame Bonacieux the dynamics are all about the imbalance between d'Artagnan and the other 3 musketeers.

• As the other 3 (or 2 in the Three Musketeer layout) musketeers have the opposing goal to d'Artagnan, there's a strong imbalance. However, d'Artagnan can receive double points if he succeeds fully.
• Due to the imbalance, as soon as it becomes clear where d'Artagnan is, the other musketeers start to attack him (in addition to the "villain"). Accordingly, d'Artagnan tries to hide his identity while diverting the damage towards the other musketeers (protecting himself and the villain).
• When playing in teams (Coloured Conflict), there's less imbalance, as both black musketeers try to protect Madame Bonacieux. However, as it's not known where each role stands, obscuring your indentity is still beneficial (though more for the red musketeers, so that the blacks don't know which two to attack).

♤Q: Role dynamics in the PALACE OF MIRRORS

The Palace of Mirrors is a hall of illusions designed by Milady de Winter (♤Q):

• Each musketeer still has an urge to go after the villain (♤Q) - they just want their personal ambition fulfilled first, and then end the game quickly.
  • Note that as the meaning of the last lifelines is mirrored, the characters have less protection (on average) than in the other storylines. When the round ends, it's not uncommon that one character has still one or two layers of protection left (which is important for the role dynamics).
• The red musketeers share the same role mechanics but their goals don't have overlap (unless by chance).
  • The main strategy is simply to try to pop the red cards of your suit and look for the quickest way out, while trying to hinder the progress of others.
• Likewise the goals of the black musketeers are distinct from all others, but their nature is more aggressive.
  • As Athos wants to defeat the black 2's, he will be fighting against at least one of the musketeers (until his last lifeline is cleared out).
  • Typically all musketeers have a slight preference to avoid hitting the character with the joker too much. However, if it looks like the joker will be popped, the dynamics flip and all except d'Artagnan start to viciously attack the character (to prevent d'Artagnan's spirit from gaining a win point). Accordingly, d'Artagnan needs to have a quick way out, once the joker is rescued.

With Paired Ambitions the team strategies and related dynamics depend on the musketeer pairs:

• RED vs. BLACK:
  • The 2 Red Musketeers (♦J Porthos and ♥J Aramis) are teamed and their aim is to pop all the red lifelines before the round ends.
  • The 2 Black Musketeers (♤J Athos and ♧J d'Artagnan) are teamed to pop the two black 2's and the joker while protecting the player behind it.
• COLOUR CROSSED:
  • One of the Red Musketeers is teamed up with a Black Musketeer. In both cases one team wants to pop diamonds (♦) and the other hearts (♥), and one team wants to fight the black 2's while the other wants to defeat joker while protecting the player behind him.

♤K: Fighting against the SHADOW (SPOILER ALERT)

The main tricks to beating the Shadow Musketeer are:

• In terms of hand cards, it's often beneficial to save higher numbers for the moments when you attack the shadow in unison.
• Try to avoid using random cards. You need to have them, so that the shadow appears in the fights and can be targeted.
• When the player on the shadow's right side starts (under protection), it's the easiest time to hurt the shadow (if it fails, it's common to use the 1 replay to try again). When the player on his left starts, the shadow tells nothing and has a lot of control over the fight.
• The cyclical strikes are often a good weapon against the shadow (as long as it's still involved).

♤A: Beating the CARDINAL (SPOILER ALERT)

The main tricks for the solitaire game are:

• To help the team, it's beneficial to keep in hand numbers that other players are likely to have (as well as higher number cards for joint attacks).
• In Three Musketeers layout, try to keep the rhythm of the last strikes (every 4th) off-beat: so that last strikes happen when the Cardinal is protected.
• The best strategy is to over-use the random deck so that it runs out. If there's no random deck, hitting the protected player becomes much easier. (However, playing alone, it's impossible to overflow it, unless allowing some extra powers - making the solo game even more difficult.)

GLOSSARY

CHARACTERS IN THE DECK

The jacks are of course the Four Musketeers (or their respective manservants), suits reflecting their nature:

• Athos is of Spades (♤J) reflecting his wisdom, sword skills and melancholy in the background. As a servant ♤J is Grimaud.
• Porthos is of Diamonds (♦J) reflecting his focus on luxury and wealth. As a Musketeer's servant ♦J is Mousqueton.
• Aramis is of Hearts (♥J) reflecting his romantic and religious tendencies. As a manservant ♥J is Bazin.
• d'Artagnan is of Clubs (♧J) reflecting his loyalty and good fortune. As a servant ♧J is Planchet.

The high cards and aces represent different characters in the story:

• Black cards represent antagonistic or two-sided characters:
  • ♤A: Cardinal Richelieu is the main antagonist and the King's most influential advisor (represented by the "Death Card").
  • ♤K: Comte de Wardes is an aristocrat who is one of the main agents of the Cardinal.
  • ♤Q: Milady de Winter is a beautiful, mysterious, devious and evil ally and spy of the Cardinal (in love with Comte de Wardes).
  • ♧A: Comte de Rochefort (= the Duke of Rochefort) is a private agent of the Cardinal.
  • ♧K: Monsieur Bonacieux is d'Artagnan's land lord, but easily persuated to do whatever the Cardinal tells him.
  • ♧Q: Madame Bonacieux (Constance) is the lady-in-waiting for Queen Anne and the wife of Monsieur Bonacieux - d'Artagnan falls in love with her.
• Red cards represent protagonistic characters:
  • ♥A: Monsieur de Treville is the head of the King's Musketeers and a close friend to the king.
  • ♥K: King Louis XIII is the King of France, but not much of a ruler and dominated by his advisors.
  • ♥Q: Queen Anne is the unhappy wife of King Louis XIII. Alternatively (in the Palace of Mirrors) ♥Q is Madame de Chevreuse - the mistress of Aramis.
  • ♦A: Duke of Buckingham is a noble and influential English minister who does anything for Queen Anne (and has an affair with her).
  • ♦K: Lord de Winter is Milady's brother-in-law, but ultimately a helpful character.
  • ♦Q: Madame de Coquenard is Porthos's mistress.
• Joker is Kitty, Milady's maid who ultimately betrays her by falling in love with d'Artagnan.
• Popping the cards to the line of story represents encounters with the characters, while the line tells the story.

In the Palace of Mirrors, the last lifelines (2's and joker) are designed to veil each musketeer behind an illusion of something entirely different:

• The black 2's are reflections of the roots of evil (as ♤2) and double crossing (as ♧2), which Athos is after.
• The red 2's are reflections of ultimate luxury (♦2) and perfect love (♥2) that Porthos and Aramis are spellbound by.
• The joker is a trap (played by Kitty) to appear as a helpless victim to attract d'Artagnan, and once triggered to fool the other musketeers.

CHANGE LOG

v3.0.1 (2023-04-07)

• Refined that cyclical strikes go to left or right (= not ahead), and the turns follow that direction.
• Also added that Shadow Musketeer can also be used in role based storylines (mixing Q and K).

v3.0 (2023-02-03)

• 2023-02-03: Reorganized the roles (and which cards are kept face up and which down) to make the gameplay simpler. Also modified dying related mechanics and player variations, as well as switched Kings with Jacks with a rewrite of the story as Four Musketeers.
• 2023-02-09: Added two gameplay variations (Shadow Musketeer and Solitaire), single player mode and reorganized the explanations to be more modular.
• 2023-02-11: Added three more gameplay variations (= the 3 villains of the clubs suit ♧) and refined a few details.

v2.0 (2016-05)

• The role cards are dealt and kept face up. Consequently some fine adjustments to the roles.

THANKS

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Emmi Viitala, Piia Tamminen, Ville Viitala, Johannes Aho, Akseli Leinonen, Tuuli Vahtero, Tomi Laine, Matti Lehtinen and Ella Salminen.