Pax Feudalis

Pax Feudalis places players in the role of rising Marquises in 13th-century Italy, a land fractured by rival factions, political turmoil, and constant power struggles. Each player builds a personal tableau of characters, constructions, and influences, all represented by cards. The game’s tension comes from balancing your resources, expanding your engine, and reacting to historical pressures such as Wars, Shortages, and shifting faction power. The market steadily advances the timeline, revealing events and investiture cards that mark key moments in the struggle for dominance. On their turn, players rotate cooldowns, resolve income, and then take two actions. Actions include buying cards from the Market Town, playing cards to their tableau by paying resources, bribing cards to gain additional resources, selling cards for money, or activating all actions of a chosen color in their tableau. Resources themselves are tracked through rotating cards that rise and fall throughout play, encouraging timely spending. Cards may produce resources, grant abilities, build structures, or add faction symbols — all of which shape your strategy. Every decision matters because the timing of each action influences not only your own engine but also the opportunities available to opponents. The goal of the game is to earn two of the three Investitures: Papal, Imperial, and Communal Autonomy. Whenever a Signoria Check card appears or is discarded, players compare the relevant faction symbols in their tableaus. The player with the highest influence in that faction gains the corresponding Investiture card. The moment a player earns their second Investiture, they win immediately. If no one wins by the third check, the game moves to tiebreakers based on symbols, cards, and total wealth. Victory comes from clever timing, engine mastery, and outmaneuvering your rivals in a land where power is never secure. —description from the designer