Joan of Arc

About this board game

Joan of Arc is a multiplayer wargame for 3–6 players, with games lasting about 150 minutes. Set during the conflicts of the Hundred Years’ War, it combines card-driven combat with a political struggle over who will sit on the French throne.

Players represent factions contending for control across France, where rival candidates challenge the rights of the Dauphin. England, France, Navarre, Brittany, Flanders, and Burgundy are represented through the game’s factional forces, while figures such as the Black Prince and Jeanne d’Arc evoke the era’s famous conflicts.

Each game lasts a randomly determined 8 to 10 turns. Controlled provinces provide Pretender Points at the end of each turn, while controlled cities generate revenue. That income can be spent on Battle Cards and fortifications, creating an ongoing choice between preparing for conflict and strengthening territory.

Political decisions shape the course of play. During the Political phase, players vote for War or Peace before collecting cards, purchasing defenses, resolving events, and handling foreign intervention. On their turns, players make expansion moves and can initiate combat when they have at least two yellow cards.

• Yellow Battle Cards: numerical cards used in combat.
• Red Battle Cards: special cards that affect battles.
• Battle resolution: combines cards with Influence, fortifications, and a die roll.
• Endgame: the winner is the player with the most Pretender Points when the game ends.

With its mix of warfare, voting, income, sieges, famine, plague, and marauding Free Companies, Joan of Arc presents a turbulent contest for power. The game was released in 1998 and includes a mounted board, 80 Tarot-sized cards, resin castles and strongholds, coins, and garrisons.