Cities & Knights rules

Cities & Knights is the expansion that turns a race into a defence. Your cities start producing commodities as well as resources; those commodities buy city improvements along three tracks; the tracks hand you progress cards, permanent abilities and eventually a metropolis worth two victory points. Meanwhile a barbarian ship advances one step every time the event die says so, and when it lands it sacks a city belonging to whoever contributed least to the island’s defence. The target is 13 victory points rather than 10.

It is all playable free on New Shores, in the browser, with no account. Start a game →

Commodities

A settlement always pays one resource, exactly as in the base game. A city is where it changes:

• City on forest — 1 lumber and 1 paper.
• City on pasture — 1 wool and 1 cloth.
• City on mountains — 1 ore and 1 coin.
• City on hills or fields — 2 of that resource, as normal. Desert pays nothing.

Commodities are cards like any other: they count toward the seven-card discard limit, the robber can steal them, and you can trade them with other players. You may also trade them with the bank at 4:1, or 3:1 through a generic port — but never at a 2:1 port, because a 2:1 port names a resource.

City improvements and metropolises

Three tracks, each bought with its own commodity: science with paper, trade with cloth, politics with coin. Level N costs N of that commodity, you may not skip a level, and you need at least one city on the board to improve at all.

• Levels 1 and 2 widen the range of red-die rolls that draw you a progress card.
• Level 3 grants a permanent ability — the Aqueduct on science (a roll that pays you nothing lets you take any one resource), the Merchant Guild on trade (two identical commodities buy any one resource or commodity), and the Fortress on politics (knights can be promoted to mighty).
• Level 4 founds a metropolis on one of your cities if you are first there — 2 victory points, and that city can never be sacked. Level 5 makes it permanent, so nobody can take it from you.

Knights

Knights stand on intersections and ignore the distance rule, but must connect to one of your roads. They block opponents’ roads exactly as a building does, and they break an opponent’s Longest Trade Route.

• Recruit — 1 ore + 1 wool. A new knight arrives inactive.
• Activate — 1 grain. Only an active knight defends or acts.
• Promote — 1 ore + 1 wool, one promotion per knight per turn. Basic to strong is free of prerequisites; strong to mighty needs the Fortress.

An active knight can do one of three things on your turn: move along your own routes to an empty intersection, displace a weaker enemy knight, or chase away the robber. Any action deactivates it, and a knight may not act on the turn it was built or activated.

The barbarians

The event die is rolled with the two production dice. A barbarian face moves the ship one step along a seven-step track; when it arrives, the invasion resolves:

• Their strength is the number of cities on the board, metropolises included.
• Your side’s strength is the sum of every active knight’s level, across all players.
• Defence equal or greater and the island holds — the single largest contributor takes a victory point. If several tie for largest, nobody takes the point and each of them draws a progress card instead.
• Defence lower and the barbarians win — every player tied for the fewest active knight levels loses a city, reduced back to a settlement, and any city wall on it is destroyed. A metropolis can never be sacked.
• Either way, the ship resets and every knight on the board lies down inactive.

One thing that surprises new players: the robber does not exist until the first barbarian attack. Until then a seven still forces discards, but nothing moves and nothing is stolen.

City walls

Two brick builds a wall under one of your cities, raising your discard limit by two — so three walls let you hold thirteen cards through a seven. You may have three at a time, one per city, and a wall is lost with the city if the barbarians sack it.

Progress cards

Fifty-four cards in three decks of eighteen. When the event die shows a discipline’s gate, every player whose level in that discipline covers the red die draws one. You may hold four; a fifth must be shed before your turn ends. Victory-point cards are played immediately and never sit in hand.

They range from the small — take two wheat for every field hex you touch — to the disruptive: force everyone with more points than you to hand over two cards, look at a rival’s progress hand and take one, or swap two number tokens on the board.

Common questions

What do commodities do in Cities & Knights?

A city on forest, pasture or mountains pays one resource plus one commodity — paper, cloth or coin — instead of two resources. Commodities buy city improvements, and they count toward your hand limit when a seven is rolled.

How does the barbarian attack work?

The barbarians' strength is the number of cities on the board. The defenders' strength is the total level of every active knight. If the defenders match or beat them the island holds and the largest single contributor takes a victory point; if not, every player tied for the fewest active knight levels loses a city, which is reduced back to a settlement.

What is a metropolis?

The first player to reach level 4 on an improvement track founds a metropolis on one of their cities, worth 2 extra victory points. Level 5 makes it permanent. A metropolis can never be sacked by the barbarians.

How many progress cards are there?

Fifty-four, split evenly across three decks — science, trade and politics. You draw one when the event die shows your discipline's gate and the red die is within your level's range. You may hold four.

Play Cities & Knights freeThe core rules →

New Shores is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to any game publisher. These rules describe how this implementation plays.