Fantasy Flight Games

Holidays in Cadwallon

Published 22 November 2011 | Arcana Revised Edition

Holidays in Cadwallon

Introduce holiday intrigues and bribery with Arcana Revised Edition

Enowen raced through the light snow, her breath steaming in the winter air. “Guard? Sir? Can you help me?” The guard captain hesitated for a moment, but Enowen sniffled and moved swiftly to place a few coins in the palm of his hand. She lowered her voice and said, “Be wary of the Guild of Architects, sir. They’re trying to run this district into the ground.” The captain looked about and bit on the coin. True gold. He looked at the waifish girl and nodded. “We wouldn’t want that to happen,” he said. “You’ll have our full support.”

The city of Cadwallon is known for its intrigues and power struggles. In Arcana Revised Edition, six different guilds compete for control of the city, and two to four players try to win the favor of notable personalities, fortify key locations, and bribe their way to victory with precious relics.

Filled with power struggles, espionage, thievery, treachery, backstabbing, and bribery, Arcana Revised Edition is the perfect way to fill your holidays with all the action and drama you crave, but without any accompanying headaches!

A classic bid for power

Each guild in Arcana Revised Edition has its unique strengths and weaknesses. As they try to influence notable personalities, occupy key locations, and acquire valuable relics, the guilds send agents to the game’s different districts. You can send agents face-down to your friendly districts, shielding your plans from your opponents, but to win personalities and locations in your opponents’ districts, your agents must risk exposure, playing face-up.

Each round, players compete for the face-up Stake cards in the districts, trying to match or exceed each Stake’s “main arcanum,” its primary cost. Exceed the main arcanum while bidding more than your opponents, and you win the card. You can also bribe personalities by offering them relics. If the value of your bribe and agent’s arcanum are enough to influence the personality, you win the bid immediately, and your opponent’s agents are sent back to his discard pile, empty-handed.

Each Stake can help you win future bids, and each has a point value to add to your point total at the end of the game. When the Ducal Jubilee begins, and the game concludes, the player with the highest total point value wins the game, seizing primary control of Cadwallon… at least for a little while.

New tactics

The Revised Edition of Arcana introduces several optional rules to enhance and streamline your games. You can customize your guild for greater control over your strategies, cutting out cards in order to excel in a single arcanum or to balance your agents’ abilities. Objectives allow you to score additional points by winning related Stakes. Guild Masters provide you with additional guild strategies, including some powerful abilities that you can trigger once each turn. Gorsna, a Guild Master from the Guild of Thieves, can force your opponent to move one of his agents out of the district in which he was played.

Other optional rules allow you to discard Stake cards to recruit members of the Militia, introduces random events, or make tactical discards in order to keep your guild deck small and focused on winning the myriad struggles that form your strategy for greater power.

Plots and schemes for the whole holiday season

The guilds of Cadwallon never truly rest. When the air turns cold and fragrant with the scents of burning wood and spiced meats, Cadwallon may sound quiet, but the experienced ear may catch the sound of padded feet scuffling across stone stairs, or the clink of coin in a sellsword’s pocket.

With its rich themes and lavish art, Arcana Revised Edition provides you an excellent way to lie, cheat, bully, and buy your way to dominance this holiday season… all in good fun!

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The copyrightable portions of Arcana Revised Edition are © 2009 Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Cadwallon is TM and © Rackham Entertainment. Fantasy Flight Supply is a trademark of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

Arcana Revised Edition Is Now on Sale

Published 3 October 2011 | Arcana Revised Edition

Arcana Revised Edition Is Now on Sale

Seize control of Cadwallon in this card game of intrigues and influence

The city of Cadwallon is infamous for its intrigues and power struggles. It is a city of hidden power and arcane relics, in which the most exclusive circles of influence are occupied by numerous merchant corporations, known as guilds. They compete for control of the city, sending their agents to secure key locations, bribe notable personalities, and acquire valuable relics. Can you maneuver past the other guilds? Will you claim control of Cadwallon?

The revised edition of Arcana is now on sale at your local retailer and on our webstore! This vibrant card game of intrigue, bribery, and coercion for 2-4 players steeps you in Cadwallon’s ages-old struggle for power and dominance. With new guilds and optional rules, the revised edition of Arcana retains the original game’s rich setting and elegant card play while enhancing the game’s strategic options.

In this standalone card game of influence and intrigues, you lead one of six unique guilds, initiates of an exclusive arcanum (area) of power in Cadwallon, vying for domination of the city’s districts. Each turn, you send agents to different districts to secure the aid of influential citizens and gain precious relics to aid your bid for ultimate authority. The guild with the most victory points wins!

New guilds

The revised edition of Arcana introduces two new guilds as they prepare their bids for power. The Guild of Fortune-tellers have foreseen that Cadwallon is about to become ripe for the taking, and their agents move through its districts, gathering influence through sorcery. Meanwhile, the Guild of Architects work with everyone who has literally built the city from the ground up. No longer content to stand aside while the other guilds vie for the reins, no one knows more hidden sites of power than the Guild of Architects.

Optional rules

The revised edition of Arcana incorporates new optional rules and cards:

Customize Your Guild. The cards for this variant allow players to further specialize their strategies. Will you concentrate on bribing personalities, or will you seize control of numerous locations to gain the edge? From 20 possible guild cards, you’ll select the best 11 to pursue your strategy.
Objectives. Score extra victory points by following through on all your objectives. Objectives require you to take control of specific Stakes, making their pursuit all the more challenging and strategic. Gain the Stakes you need, and they become all the more valuable. Meanwhile, each player has hidden his own concealed objectives, raising the unpredictability and increasing the amount of room for skilled bluffs and misinformation.
Militia. Players utilizing Militia cards can win the Militia’s support for a turn by discarding Stake cards. How will your strategy change when there’s always a Militia you can bribe to serve as your agents for a turn?
Guild Masters. Choose a Guild Master to lead your efforts, and benefit from the Guild Master’s unique ability. Some abilities may be used once a round while others may be used any number of times. With three possible Guild Masters for each Guild, you’ll find dynamic new ways to sway the city to your side.
Random Events. The addition of three random events from 12 possible Event cards changes the challenges you face each round, adding unpredictability and an emphasis on flexible strategies.

The Guilds of Cadwallon have begun to hatch their schemes for control of the city. Can you execute your plan? Will you prove successful and seize Cadwallon? Get your copy of the revised edition of Arcana today from your local retailer or on our webstore.

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Pick of the Cards

Published 15 July 2011 | Arcana Revised Edition

Pick of the Cards

Presenting a preview of Arcana Revised Edition

Beneath the streets of Cadwallon lurk guilds that run the city’s “industries.” The true heart and soul of the infamous Cadwallon lies underground, but their disputes for power often rise to the top.

Arcana Revised Edition is a card game of intrigue, bribery, and coercion for 2-4 players. The revised edition of the game brings potential leaders two new, exciting guilds to rule and new, unique optional rules that enhance the game’s variety. Arcana Revised Edition will be released in the third quarter of 2011.

In Arcana Revised Edition you lead one of six unique guilds, initiates of an exclusive area of power in Cadwallon, vying for domination of the city’s districts. Send your agents to secure the aid of influential citizens and gain precious relics in your quest for ultimate authority. The guild with the most victory points wins!

Last time we discussed the optional variants of Guild Masters and Random Events. Today we will focus on Tactical Discards, Guild Customization, and Objectives.

Optimize your strategy

Is every Agent that calls your guild home an asset? Will every Stake card strengthen your deck? Arcana Revised Edition’s optional variants of Tactical Discards and Guild Customization allow the artful player to have more control over what he puts in his deck or pre-strategize how he will win cards before the game begins.

With the Tactical Discards variant, players are given two options when they successfully lay claim to a Stake card, the Personality, Location, and Relic cards players attempt to win from districts that award them with victory points. You can either add the Stake card to your Discard Pile (as usual) to be used later on in your deck, or place the Stake card under your Guild Crest card. Oftentimes a player will win a powerful Personality that is a boon to add his deck, but sometimes adding a Location or weaker Personality might not be as beneficial.

By choosing to place certain Stake cards under their Guild Crest, players can better control which cards they will draw into their hand. However, once the card is placed under the Guild Crest it cannot be added to a deck at a later time. Nevertheless, this card’s victory point value is still totaled at the end of the game. Can you find the balance between card discard and use? While that Location may not win you a Stake card, it could thwart an opponent’s play later on...or is it better left out of hand?

Guild Customization is another optional variant that players can add to their games. When used in conjunction with Tactical Discards, these variants will increase your game’s critical decision-making experience as they task you with making more choices.

Before the game begins, players take all 20 cards that belong to their chosen guild and create a deck from 11 of the cards available. The additional cards include more Locations and Agents for the player to choose from. By customizing their deck in this manner, players can better take advantage of a particular combination of abilities from Location cards, such as looking at an opponent’s hand, or have a chance to concentrate on one specific Arcanum and choosing the Agents strongest in that area.

How will you chose to build a deck that will bring you victory? Whatever deck you choose to build, this variant will provide you with new cards to experiment with, and an experience playing with a self-customized deck.

Fulfilling new ambitions

Arcana Revised Edition’s optional variants also allow players to add Objective cards to their game; the player that completes his Objective increases his final score. In Arcana Revised Edition an increase in power and prestige is always welcome...especially when it wins you control of the city.

Objective cards task your Agents with further instructions, a unique mission that is carried out within Cadwallon’s districts. At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt four Objective cards facedown, two of which they keep. Every players’ Objectives are secret, including any discarded Objectives. Can you ferret out your opponents’ ambitions and thwart them?

The mission outlined on each Objective card require the guild’s leader to collect a number of Stake cards from a specific fiefdom. These fiefdoms (listed beneath the card’s title) indicate where a Personality, Relic, or Location hails from and can be found in any of Cadwallon’s districts.

At the end of the game players reveal their Objective cards and if they have satisfied the requirements, they can add the Objective cards’ listed victory points to their final score. Should you fail in succeeding in your mission you will not suffer a penalty. With only an additional bonus of victory points at risk, do you concentrate on your own mission or foiling those of your opponents?

Have your Agents watch for more previews of Arcana Revised Edition in the coming weeks, and prepare for intrigue and guile when Arcana Revised Edition is released in the third quarter of 2011!

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Ducal Jubilee

Published 15 June 2011 | Arcana Revised Edition

Ducal Jubilee

A preview of the upcoming revised edition of Arcana

The lure of power in Cadwallon draws the most dynamic guilds to a sly competition for complete control. Arcane relics, precious resources, and influential recruits await the guild that can navigate the mysteries of the city’s districts.

Recently, Fantasy Flight Games announced the upcoming release of the revised edition of Arcana, a card game of intrigue, bribery, and coercion for 2-4 players. The revised edition of Arcana offers players new guilds and new optional rules that enhance the game’s strategic options. Today, we’ll examine two of these optional rules that players can incorporate into their Arcana experience: Guild Masters and Random Events.

In Arcana you lead one of six unique guilds, initiates of an exclusive area of power in Cadwallon, vying for domination of the city’s districts. Send your agents to secure the aid of influential citizens and gain precious relics in your quest for ultimate authority. The guild with the most victory points wins!

Electing your leader

Every successful guild is led by a strong leader, someone who can offer them a unique advantage. How will your appointed Guild Master bring you to greatness?

Guild Masters are one of the optional variants that players can add to their games to create new challenges.

If this variant is chosen, each player chooses one of three available masters for his guild before the game begins. Each Guild Master has a unique ability that will offer your guild an advantage. However, as some abilities can greatly influence a player’s turn, the ability of Guild Masters with a red symbol in the bottom left of their card can only be used once each round. If no symbol is shown beside the text, the ability can be used any number of times during a round.

In the Guild of Fortune-Tellers, Noc-Atlalt, the Lord of Winds, will grant you the ability to thwart an opponent’s plan by randomly choosing which card he must play on his next turn. Did you foresee the weakest card to play? Or perhaps you foiled his attempt to bribe a Personality and immediately win the Stake.

Vladar, from the Guild of Architects, is a Guild Master who will allow you to gain an immediate advantage for the next round by taking control of an opponent’s discarded Militia card and assigning him to a district. Militia cards are another optional variant that players can add to their game. A Player can discard a Stake card from his hand to obtain the support of the Militia, a Militia card is drawn and assigned to a district for that round and discarded during the Resolution phase.

Who will you choose to lead?

Unexpected occurrences

In the infamous city of Cadwallon anything can happen, and most often does. Your guild’s Agents must be prepared for any hidden surprises.

The Random Event card variant introduces round-specific rules to your game. The Ducal Jubilee is randomly mixed in with the last three Event cards in this variant, as opposed to the Neutral District in normal games. The Ducal Jubilee announces the end of the game; when it is revealed you have just one last round of play.

At the beginning of each round the top Event card is flipped and placed in the center of the table, and a second card is flipped and placed on the the top of the Event deck. This card’s effect won’t apply until the following round, but allows you to view the upcoming effect and gauge the challenge it presents.

Cards such as Festival of Lanterns change the dynamic of card play for the round. Forcing players to play their cards simultaneously on every turn puts tension on each card reveal and placement. Will your neighbor place a bribe when you are placing another guild member? Other cards such as Festival of Ashes can prove challenging or cards like the Day of Abundance can be simply beneficial, especially if your deck is compiled of strong cards.

Look for more previews for the revised edition of Arcana in the coming weeks, and prepare to fight for control when the revised edition of Arcana is released in the third quarter of 2011!

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Master of the City

Published 11 May 2011 | Arcana Revised Edition

Master of the City

Announcing the revised edition of Arcana, a card game of influence and power

If you cannot win them, bribe them. If you cannot bribe them, win them. If you can do neither...you will never rule Cadwallon.

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the revised edition of Arcana, a card game of intrigue, bribery, and coercion for 2-4 players. Can your guild claim control of the infamous city or will you be left yearning for power? With new guilds and new optional rules, the revised edition of Arcana will enhance the game’s strategic options.

In this intriguing card game you lead one of six unique guilds, initiates of an exclusive arcanum (area) of power in Cadwallon, vying for domination of the city’s districts. Send your agents to secure the aid of influential citizens and gain precious relics in your quest for ultimate authority. The guild with the most victory points wins!

New guild choices and new playing variants

The revised edition of Arcana offers players two new guilds to lead: the Guild of Fortune-tellers and the Guild of Architects. Are your chosen agents clairvoyant experts, gathering influence through sorcery? Or perhaps you call to action passionate craftsmen, engineers who work with stone, metal, and naphtha?

With the addition of guild choices, the revised edition of Arcana offers players a new experience with each pick of the cards. Arcana’s new playing variants also increase its replayability. There are six new rule options for players to choose from, or you can play with them all for a more challenging experience.

Players can customize their guild, fulfill objectives, recruit Militia, invoke the ability of their Guild Masters, affect game play through random events, or optimize tactical strategy through card discards. Which variant will you use in your game?

Visit the Arcana website for more information, and be sure to send your agents to claim control when the revised edition of Arcana is released in the third quarter of 2011!

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