Richard I

About this board game

Richard I is a 60-minute board game for 3–8 players, set in England during the Plantagenet succession struggle between Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland.

King Richard I has left for the Crusades, and the players take the roles of influential characters who remain in England. Each must decide which side to support without knowing whether Richard will return victorious with glory and riches, suffer an intermediate fate, or never come home.

On their turns, players influence the available characters to gain Prestige Points (PPs). These characters also provide powers that can affect the distant Crusade, allowing players to send resources and shape events from England.

• Choose an alliance between Richard’s and John’s factions.
• Influence characters to earn Prestige Points.
• Send resources to affect the Crusade from afar.
• Consider betrayal when news from the East changes the situation.

As the game develops, loyalties are not necessarily permanent. A player may even betray their own faction if the Crusade brings worrying news, creating difficult choices between personal advantage and allegiance.

At the end of Richard I, the outcome of the Crusade determines which faction has achieved its goal. Players deployed by the successful faction receive additional Prestige Points, but victory belongs to only one player: whoever has accumulated the most points, regardless of faction.

With uncertain outcomes, shifting alliances, character influence, and a final contest for prestige, Richard I asks players to make wise choices about whom to support and when to change course. The object is simple to state but challenging to achieve: amass the most Prestige Points while navigating the struggle for the English throne.