Game rules

Viscounts of the West Kingdom rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 16 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Viscounts of the West Kingdom plays 1 to 4 players: everyone moves their Viscount around the Castle with a deck of Townsfolk, to build, transcribe and win the people’s favor. Here are the essential rules, setup and final scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 4 (solo against an AI)
Play time: About 90 minutes
Winner: Most points; on a tie, the most Silver and resources

Viscounts of the West Kingdom quick rules

The goal: Around the year 980, the King’s reign is declining. You travel the kingdom to construct Buildings, place Workers in the Castle, transcribe Manuscripts and acquire Deeds. Your deck of Townsfolk cards gives you the means to act, and the game ends when the kingdom tips into Poverty or Prosperity.
Your turn: Your turn follows six phases, printed on your Player Board: play a card, move your Viscount, take a primary action, recruit a Townsfolk, resolve a Collision if there is one, then draw back up to your hand limit.
Playing a card: The three Townsfolk cards on your board shift one space to the right; the one that drops off goes to your discard pile, with its drop-off effect. Then you place a card from your hand in the left-most space. A Criminal gives you one Corruption per Criminal icon in your line, this one included.
Movement: Your Viscount moves clockwise at least the value of the card you played, plus one space per Silver paid. It follows the arrows, on the outside or inside path, and never goes back. If it stops on another Viscount’s space, that player may rearrange the cards on their board.
The primary action: On the outside path, you can Trade or Construct a Building; on the inside path, Place Workers or Transcribe a Manuscript. You pay with the icons on your board, with Criminals as wilds. You may also dismiss the Townsfolk next to your Viscount by paying its value, to gain its icons and its immediate effect.
Trade and Construct: Trade uses Merchants, plus one Silver per icon: one Silver per Merchant, one resource per two, destroy a card for three, or flip a Debt or Deed for four, depending on your space. Construct uses Builders, plus one Stone per icon: three for a Workshop, five for a Trading Post, seven for a Guildhall, on your Viscount’s side of the river.
Buildings: A constructed Building gives its Building Spot’s effect, and each Link to a Building already placed rewards both owners. It also reveals an ongoing ability on your board, and scores more points the more Buildings of the same type you construct.
The Castle: Place Workers uses Nobles, plus one Gold per icon: one, three, five or eight Nobles for one to four Workers on the first tier. Three Workers in a section send one up a tier, then one Worker slides into each neighboring section. A section with more than three Workers is brought back to three: bumped Workers earn two Silver, or one Virtue and a resource.
The Castle Leader: The first player to move a Worker into the third tier, safe from bumping, takes the Castle Leader card. Another player takes it by having more Workers than the leader on that tier. It is worth 5 points and one extra card in hand.
Manuscripts: Transcribing uses Clerics, plus one Ink Well per icon, to take the Manuscript next to your Viscount, only one per turn. Each Manuscript has a colored ribbon; the first player to gather three ribbons of one color takes that color’s Cleric Bonus card.
Recruit and draw: After your action, you may hire the Townsfolk next to your Viscount by paying its value; it goes to your discard pile. Then you draw up to your hand limit, three cards at the start. When you shuffle your discards, a Criminal on your board costs you one Corruption; otherwise, you gain one Virtue.
Virtue, Corruption and Collisions: Corruption moves right along your track, Virtue left, and they move together once they meet. If they share a space during phase five of your turn, it’s a Collision: you gain what is printed above, often Debts or Deeds, the others what is printed below, then the markers reset to both ends.
Game end: Debts are taken from the Poverty card, Deeds from the Prosperity card. As soon as either card is revealed, the current Round is finished, then one final Round is played: everyone gets the same number of turns.
Beginner traps: A Criminal played can quickly bring a lot of Corruption. A Collision is only resolved in phase five of your turn. And when one of the two piles runs low, the end comes fast: plan your last turns.

How to score Viscounts of the West Kingdom

Workshops constructed: 2 points for 1 Workshop, 5 for 2, 9 for 3.
Trading Posts constructed: 4 points for 1 Trading Post, 9 for 2, 15 for 3.
Guildhalls constructed: 6 points for 1 Guildhall, 13 for 2, 21 for 3.
Workers in the Castle: 1, 2 or 3 points per Worker, depending on its tier.
Ribbon sets: For each set of Manuscripts with different ribbon colors: 1 point for 1 ribbon, 4 for 2, 9 for 3, 16 for 4.
Points on Manuscripts: Points from specific Manuscripts: per Building, per icon, per pair, per flipped card.
Castle Leader: 5 points for the player holding the card at the end.
Cleric Bonus cards: 3 points per card.
Unpaid Debts: −2 points each.
Deeds: 1 point per acquired Deed, 3 per approved Deed.
Poverty and Prosperity cards: If revealed: 12, 8 and 4 points to the players with the most flipped Deeds (Poverty) or Debts (Prosperity), at least one. With fewer than 3 players, only 12 and 4; ties split the points.
AI resources (solo): 1 point per resource the AI has left.
Silver and resources (tie-breaker): No points: on a tie, the most Silver and resources wins.
Outsiders and Building Bonus (Gates of Gold): Points from each Welcomed Outsider and from the Building Bonus cards.
Public Buildings and Chests (Keeper of Keys): Points from Public Buildings, and 2, 5 or 9 points for 1, 2 or 3 Chest Tiles.

Worked example

Alex: 3 Workshops (9), 1 Trading Post (4), 2 Guildhalls (13), 4 Workers on the first tier (4), 3 on the second (6), 3 on the third (9), three ribbon sets of 4, 3 and 1 colors (16 + 9 + 1), 15 points from Manuscripts, Castle Leader (5), 1 Cleric Bonus (3), 1 unpaid Debt (−2), 4 acquired Deeds (4), 2 approved (6) and third place for Poverty (4): 26 + 19 + 26 + 15 + 5 + 3 − 2 + 4 + 6 + 4 = 106 points.

Common mistakes

Scoring Buildings one by one: the scale climbs with the number of Buildings of the same type.
Forgetting acquired Deeds: they score 1 point even if not approved.
Awarding the 8 points of Poverty or Prosperity with fewer than 3 players.
Counting a Criminal as another icon for a scoring Manuscript.
Making a single ribbon set: you can have several, each scored separately.

How to set up Viscounts of the West Kingdom

With several players, follow the first three parts; for solo, choose your Player Card as shown in the last part.

The board

Turn the 5 Main Board Segments to the side that matches the number of players.The numbers are printed on the inside edge of each segment.
Shuffle the segments and place them randomly in a circle, then place the Castle in the middle to lock them together.The Castle’s orientation is random.
Shuffle the Neutral Townsfolk cards, split them into 5 roughly equal piles and place one faceup on each indicated space of the board.No one looks below the top card.
Make 5 piles of Manuscripts: one grey-backed Manuscript at the bottom, then 6 shuffled black-backed Manuscripts on top.Flip each pile and place it faceup on its space: the grey-backed Manuscript is now on top.
Put the Silver, Ink Wells, Gold, Stone and Multiplier cards in a general supply, with the 4 Cleric Bonus cards and the Castle Leader card.Silver, resources, Debts and Deeds are unlimited.
Place Debts, unpaid side up, on the Poverty card: 12 Debts solo or with 2, 15 with 3 players, 18 with 4 players.The other Debts go under the Poverty card.
Place Deeds, acquired side up, on the Prosperity card: 12 Deeds solo or with 2, 16 with 3 players, 20 with 4 players.The other Deeds go under the Prosperity card.

Each player

Each player takes a Player Board, their Viscount, their 20 Workers and their 9 Buildings, placed on the board’s spaces.3 Trading Posts, 3 Guildhalls and 3 Workshops.
Each player places their Corruption Marker at the left end of their track and their Virtue Marker at the right end.
Each player takes their 8 Starting Townsfolk cards.The starting icons printed on the board are only available during the first two Rounds.
Choose a random start player: they keep the Start Player Marker for the whole game.

Player Cards

Lay out as many Player Cards as there are players plus one, and place a Hero Townsfolk below each.Each Player Card forms a pair with the Hero below it.
Starting with the player to the right of the start player, each player chooses a pair.The start player chooses last.
Each player places their Viscount on the board space numbered like their Player Card, and gains what it shows.Resources, Silver, Debts and Deeds, then the effects at the bottom of the card.
Each player flips their Player Card and places it at the top left of their board, as a reminder.
Each player shuffles their Hero, 8 Starting cards and any Townsfolk gained into a facedown draw pile, then draws 3 cards.The draw pile goes to the left of the Player Board, the discard pile to the right.

Solo: the AI

Flip a Player Board to one of its four AI sides and place its 9 Buildings on it.The top left of the AI board shows its Primary Goal.
Give the AI its 20 Workers, its Virtue and Corruption Markers, its Viscount and the AI Reference card. Take the Start Player Marker.The AI has no Townsfolk cards.
Remove the Scheme cards shown on the AI board, shuffle the Starting Schemes into a draw pile and keep the Future Schemes apart.For a harder game, shuffle one to three Future Schemes into the Starting draw pile.
Reveal 2 Player Card and Hero pairs: choose yours, then place the AI’s Viscount on the space of the other Player Card.Then return the unchosen pair to the box.
Give the AI the starting items shown on the left of its AI board.

Frequently asked questions

What is the hand limit in Viscounts of the West Kingdom?

Three cards at the start. The limit goes up with your third Workshop and the Castle Leader card.

When does a game of Viscounts of the West Kingdom end?

As soon as the Poverty or Prosperity card is revealed: finish the Round, then play one final Round.

How do Manuscripts score in Viscounts of the West Kingdom?

Each set of different ribbon colors scores 1, 4, 9 or 16 points depending on its size, plus the points of specific Manuscripts.

Ludingo’s Viscounts of the West Kingdom sheet was last reviewed on 16 October 2026, based on: pixiegames.fr, garphill.com 1, garphill.com 2, garphill.com 3, BoardGameGeek.