Lords & Ladies

About this board game

Lords & Ladies is a card game for 2 to 5 players, designed for approximately 60 minutes, in which you guide a noble family at the turn of the 20th century.

Build your family across generations by marrying lords and ladies to available suitors, attempting to have children with married couples, and hiring servants. Servants can provide additional status and powers, helping your family advance while creating opportunities to interfere with your rivals.

Each round gives every player one turn. A turn begins with a choice: take two gold or draw a gossip card. You then choose one further action: hire an available servant, marry an available suitor, attempt to have a child with a married couple, or take an additional gold.

• Build generations through marriages and children.
• Hire servants for extra status and special powers.
• Use gossip cards to attack rival families and servants.
• Spend fortune to buy status or bribe players to stop gossip.

Gossip can be played at any point during the round, allowing players to team up against another family. A gossip card becomes confirmed when another player plays the same gossip card or a True card against the targeted player. If it remains unconfirmed, it lasts only one round before being shuffled into the discard pile.

Players may also use their servants’ powers against opposing families, turning their household staff into another source of influence. In Lords & Ladies, reputation, alliances, family growth, and fortune all contribute to the struggle for social standing.

The game ends when the first player finishes a round with 18 status points. Whoever reaches that milestone first brings their noble family to the top of the social order.