Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

Backstory

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots is a set-collection, take that, card game set in 16th Century Scotland after the sudden death of King James V. It’s a time of religious upheaval, military conflict, and high politics. As factions converge to seize power, who will gain fame and fortune by controlling the young Queen, her Royal Court, Scotland’s estates and its resources? A complex woman, ruler, and her time are portrayed in this enthralling game.

Object of the Game

In Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, each player assumes the role of a mighty and influential Scottish faction. You'll make decisions that determine the fate of a young Queen, establish loyalties of those closest to Mary within the Royal Court, and make your faction the most influential in Scotland. Players assemble a faction of Scottish estates and foreign alliances, create wealth from their resources, and attend the Royal Court to direct matters of state, influence the political power players from that era, and shape the events from Mary’s life. To advance, you must implement plays that inflence the right people to cause events that benefit your faction and catch your opponents by surprise.

The game is played in one or two scoring rounds called Acts. Each Act has its own cast of state actors, strategies, and events from Mary's life that guide gameplay. An Act begins with players building their realm of estates and alliances. It progresses to the Royal Court where players use their faction's wealth and influence to engage each other in political power struggles.

As the game advances, players have more resources and the game's competitive nature becomes more fierce. Players must keenly compete for estates and their resources; for influencing and controlling character’s from Mary’s life; and, for being the first to complete (or prevent) key events from Mary's life and Scotland's past.

Goal

The goal is to have the most points at the end of the game. You accumulate points during gameplay by being the first to complete any of an Act’s 4 events, but most of your power lies in your estates, their resources, and in your ability to influence and control the characters of the Royal Court. You need wealth in the form of Power Tokens to attend the Royal Court and you need estates to create wealth. Thus, it is a balancing act of managing estates, being influential within the Royal Court, and being ready to respond to the surprising plays and devious tactics of your rival factions.

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Free Downloads

Download the informative Quick Start Guide you can print for hosting a game night party and the Rules version 1.5.

Inspiration!

This game was inspired by the captivating book about Mary's life. It is a highly recommended primmer to the game: Award Winning Mary Stuart Book

Updates

December, 2022 - We upgraded the power tokens for easy pick up, stacking, and play. We also improved the gamebox, lowered the overall cost of the game, and updated the rules to 5.1.3