1. 01 How you score
2. 02 What you start with
3. 03 Only you
4. 04 Your Turn 1 situation
5. 05 Traps
6. 06 What experienced players say
7. 07 Your deep dives

You start on 9 VP. Rule SB p.7 If anyone has 25 VP in the Victory Phase at the end of a turn, the game ends and the highest score wins. From Turn 4 you can also win by being 5 VP clear of everyone. Rule 25.3

• Keys, 9 VP. Keys are the square cities (Lesson 1). You hold 8, so the last open box on your card reads "4 Cards, 9 VP". Gain a key and you move one box right; lose one and you move one box left. Keys also set your cards. Rule 25.2, 6.2
• Valois weddings, 1 VP each. Every time one of the five Valois royals on your card marries, you score 1 VP. Rule 25.2, 21.1
• Paris, 1 VP a turn. In each Victory Phase where you hold Paris (not in unrest), you get 1 bonus VP. On Turns 5 to 7 it's 2 VP while Charles IX or Henry III rules. Rule 25.3
• Bonus VP from piracy, patronage, assassinations and good marriages. Rule 25.2

Religion pays you no VP directly. But if the Protestant spaces track falls to 9 and France and Scotland together have 3 or fewer Protestant spaces left, France wins the game, not Spain. Rule 25.1

You also win on the spot, during the Action Phase, if you hold 10 keys, 2 more than you start with, with none in unrest. That uncovers the Auto Win box on your card. Rule 25.1

• Paris, your capital, with Montmorency and 3 regulars.
• 1 regular each in Orleans, Metz, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Edinburgh.
• 1 galleon at Calais, 1 galley at Brest.
• Keys: Paris, Calais, Rouen, Metz, Lyon, Marseille, La Rochelle and Edinburgh. Rouen and La Rochelle are already Protestant in religion. Rule SB p.6
• Scotland is your ally. Rule SB p.7
• You start with 1 influence with the sleeping Holy Roman Empire, enough to arrange a marriage with one of its royals. Rule SB p.11

On Turn 1 you're dealt 4 cards for your keys and hold your Home card (Lesson 2). Charles IX gives no card bonus. Rule 6.2

Home card: Gouvernante de France (5 CP). Pick one:

• If a French royal is betrothed, add the +2 Wedding Festivities marker to that wedding, then draw a card or take the Grand Tour card from the discard pile.
• If you're at war with the Protestant and hold 3 or fewer cards (counting this one), end that war. Roll a die: the Protestant must hand back the roll plus 2 spaces in France, each one either its control or its religion. No more rebellions in France this turn.

Rule Card #33

From Turn 3 you also get The Black Queen, and each turn you keep only one of the two. Rule 6.1, 10

Every action row on your card is shared with at least one other power. What's only yours is the strip below the table: Valois Marriages to arrange. Your five royals sit there, and each wedding is 1 VP. Rule 25.2, 21.1

Also on your card, shared but working your way:

• Suppress Heresy (2 CP): 5 Catholic conversion attempts in France or Scotland, never both in one action (Lesson 5). Spain and England have this row too, but theirs work elsewhere. Rule 18.3
• Build Galley, Galleon (2 CP): you and Spain are the only powers that can build both kinds of ship. Rule 17.3

Two diplomatic rules shape France: Rule 9.2, 18.4

• You can ally with Spain or the Protestant, but not both in the same turn.
• No rebellion can start in France while you're allied with the Protestant.

• France is at war with England, and that war can't end on Turn 1. Rule SB p.7 England also runs the Ottoman.
• Edinburgh (1 French regular) sits next to Berwick, where England has 2 regulars and a galleon.
• Calais has a galleon but no troops.
• Ottoman corsairs can pirate you even without a war (Lesson 4). Rule 16.4
• Four spaces are Protestant, French controlled and empty: Rouen, La Rochelle, Nantes and Amboise. A Protestant rebellion in any of them succeeds without a roll and puts you at war with the Protestant. Rule 18.5
• War costs: Spain would pay 3 CP to declare war on you, the Ottoman 2 CP, the Protestant 1 CP (nothing if a rebellion starts the war). Rule Diplomatic Status chart
• Elisabeth de Valois (a French princess, not the English queen) is already promised to Philip II of Spain, but neither of you is bound by it. If it's broken off, Spain draws one card less on Turn 2. Rule SB p.7
• No espionage on Turns 1 and 2. Rule 19

• Admin rating 1: you can hardly pass. You can't pass while your Home card or a Mandatory event is unplayed, or while you hold more than 1 card, so you'll play most of your hand (Lesson 2). Rule 11

• Keys in unrest. Unrest is local turmoil (Lesson 3). A key in unrest doesn't count for VP or cards. Recount your open box after every conversion or event that adds unrest, your own included. Rule 12.4, 25.2

• Letting the Protestant grow in France. At the end of each Winter on Turns 3 to 6, the Catholic League forms if the Protestant holds 3 keys in France, and it can also form on a die roll once the Protestant holds more than 5 of your home spaces. Then:

  • Spain takes Reims and 2 more of your unfortified, solid blue home spaces.
  • You lose a third of your regulars and a third of your mercenaries.
  • Spain goes to war with you and the Protestant.

  Rule 20.10

• Paying for war with the wrong card. Home cards and Mandatory events can't pay for a declaration of war. Rule 9.4

Deep dives: Espionage is ready (informants and assassinations, from Turn 3). Coming later: Conversion and Rebellion (you're the Protestant's main target); Marriage and Patronage (Valois weddings and your artists); Sieges and Assaults (Edinburgh and Calais).

If you win over the Holy Roman Empire, read Running Allies.