Overview

Citadels - Duel is a head-to-head tactical tile-placement and role-drafting game. Two players compete to build and control districts within a shared 4x4 city grid.

Game Flow

The game is played over multiple rounds, each divided into three phases:

1. Draft Phase

• Each player receives 4 character cards from the deck of 9 characters (1 card is discarded automatically).
• Players choose 2 characters to keep and pass the other 2 to their opponent.
• From the 4 characters now in hand, each player discards 1 face-down, leaving exactly 3 active characters per player.

2. Resolve Phase

Characters activate in numerical order (1 to 9). When your character is called, you may resolve their abilities:

• 1. Assassin: Name a character. If your opponent has it, that character is discarded and skipped this round.
• 2. Thief: Name a character. If your opponent has it, steal a total of 3 gold from their supply and/or unprotected districts.
• 3. King: Gain 1 council seat (plus 1 per Noble district you control). Move the King's Guard to protect a district and its neighbors, and optionally place 1 gold on it.
• 4. Abbot: If you have less gold than your opponent, they must give you 1 gold. Build 1 district with a discount of 1 gold per Religious district you control.
• 5. Merchant: Gain 3 gold, then place 1 gold from the supply on up to 2 of your Commercial districts.
• 6. Architect: Build up to 2 districts; one of them receives a 1 gold discount.
• 7. Diplomat: Choose one: Spend council seats equal to a district's value to take control of it (flip to your color), OR gain 2 council seats.
• 8. Warlord: Choose one: Pay a district's value (reduced by 1 per Military district you control) to take control of it, OR move the King's Guard.
• 9. Queen: Gain 1 council seat for each different district color you currently control (Noble, Religious, Commercial, Military, Unique).

3. Expansion Phase

• The player with the most council seats gains 3 gold and builds a district.
• The other player then chooses to either gain 2 gold OR build a district.

Key Actions

Building Districts

• Pay the gold cost to place a district tile from the row or your unique hand into the city.
• Tiles must be placed adjacent (not diagonally) to an existing tile and must fit within the strict 4x4 grid.
• Build Bonus: Gain 1 gold on top of the built tile for each adjacent district that matches its color (regardless of who controls it).
• Control: You control districts facing your color side (black or white).

The King's Guard & Protection

• The King's Guard protects its current district and all adjacent districts.
• Protected districts are safe and cannot be targeted by the Thief, Diplomat, or Warlord.

Unique Districts

Instead of the central row, you can build from your 2 private unique districts:

• Armory: Move the King's Guard here when built.
• Capitol: Gain 2 council seats when built.
• Imperial Treasury: Place 2 gold on this tile when built.
• Ivory Tower: Cannot be targeted by the Thief, Diplomat, or Warlord.
• Library: When building a district, gain 2 gold instead of 1 for build bonuses.
• Public House: Players with fewer than 3 gold gain 2 gold when built.
• School of Magic: Counts as any color when resolving character abilities.
• Statue: Costs 0 to build if adjacent to an owned 4-cost district.
• Thieves' Den: Take any gold from 1 unprotected district to your personal supply when built.
• Wishing Well: Pay 1 gold to build another district immediately after built.

Game End & Scoring

The game ends instantly when the 4x4 grid is completely filled (16 tiles). The system automatically calculates your final score:

• District Costs: Points equal to the printed cost of all districts you control.
• Gold on Districts: 1 point for each gold coin sitting on top of your controlled districts.
• Council Seats: 1 point for every 2 council seats of your color.

The player with the most points wins. Ties are broken by total gold coins, then by total council seats.