Guide to A Column of Fire
SET-UP
- Separate the goods tiles by type and place them near the game
board.
- Separate the religion stones by color – Catholic, Protestant, and
Neutral.
- Each player chooses a color of player pieces and takes its 4
trading houses, victory point (VP) disk, religion card, and summary
card.
- Each player is given one of the Loch Leven cards at random, the
back of which specifies which religion the player will be at the
start of the game. Players then place their religion cards with the
corresponding side face up in their play area.
- Each player also gets 1 protection tile and 1 goods tile as shown.
Additionally, players place their action disk on the action track
space with the colored ship as shown.
- Each player then flips their Loch Leven card to the Loch Leven
side face up in their play area.
- Each player places their VP disk on the 2 space of the VP track.
- Each player takes their own set of 6 differently-colored dice.
Four of the dice are associated with the four countries in the
game – England, France, The Netherlands, Spain. The purple die
is a wild and can be used in ANY of the four countries. As long as
these five dice are not on character cards, they are considered
FREE DICE.
- The black die is the religion die (numbered 1-5, two 3s). Each
player rolls their religion die and places the result on their religion
card. The number shown on the die indicates the number of
rounds that the player will belong to that religion.
- The character cards have colored backs associated with each of
the countries. Separate them by their backs, shuffle separately,
and place around the board near their respective countries,
turning the top cards over and placing them on top of their decks.
If you flip over an EVENT card at the start of play, discard it from
the game WITHOUT the event occurring. Flip over the next card
from each deck until an open character card lies on top of all four
decks.
- Place a corresponding religion stone on top of each character
card. The religion stone that each character brings into the game
is shown near their name.
- Shuffle the advantage tiles and place them in two covered stacks
on the upper left-hand side of the board.
- Place the protection tiles in two stacks on Kingsbridge Cathedral.
- Place the torches near the game board.
- The player that was most recently in a church will be given the
starting player marker and will begin the game. The starting
player DOES NOT change. The games ends after the last turn of
the player to the right of the starting player.
THE GAME BOARD
Two specific types of goods can be sold for different VP in each
country, depicted in each country’s goods box.
In order to sell in a country, you MUST have a trading house on
one of the six sites in that country.
During the game, religion stones will be placed on a country’s
religion spaces until they are all covered, triggering a religious
conflict.
The action track is at the lower right. Players will move their
action disks around this track.
The VP track runs along the left and top of the board.
GAMEPLAY
Each player has 6 dice – the black to determine how long they will
belong to a given religion and the remaining dice to draw a
character card every round.
Each character permits one action that the player can execute
ONCE per round. The number of rounds that the character will
remain available to a player is determined by the number on the
die rolled for that card. As long as a die sits on a character card, it
CANNOT be used for other purposes.
When a player draws a character card, they open a trading house
in the corresponding country, which will allow that player to
potentially sell goods for VP.
The selected character card comes with a religion stone, which is
placed in that character’s country. If there are 4 religion stones in
a country, a religious conflict will occur.
Players will check to see which religion has the MOST stones in
the country. Each player that adheres to the major religion with a
trading house in that country scores VP equal to the number of
their trading house site. Players belonging to the minority religion
LOSE their trading house, also losing the ability to sell goods in
that country until they place another one there.
Players will also influence gameplay by utilizing their character
cards and moving around the action track. To move around the
track, they use one of their available free dice.
COURSE OF THE GAME
The game is played in rounds (years) and each year consists of
two parts (half-years).
The starting player will execute ALL of their actions for the first
half of the year, then the other players will follow in clockwise
order.
Once all players have played the first half of the year, the starting
player continues by executing all of his actions for the second half
of the year, with the other players again following in clockwise
order.
Once all players have completed the round, the starting player
begins with the first half of the next year.
The game ends after the year in which a player reaches 50 or
more VP, with every player completing their second half of the
year.
COURSE OF ONE GAME YEAR
First Half of the Year
Each player decreases the value of the dice on their cards by 1,
signifying the passing year. At the start of the game, this is only a
player’s religion die. Players MAY execute the actions of
character cards when they rotate dice.
If a die indicates a 1, you do not rotate it.
 If it is the player’s religion die, the player IMMEDIATELY
rerolls the die and then MUST decide to remain Catholic
or Protestant. If a player changes their religion, they flip
their religion card. Either way, the player places the die
back on top of their religion card.
 If the dies is on a character card, the card is removed
from the game and the die goes to the player’s pool of
free dice to be available for the second half of the year.
If a player is the ONLY one of a particular religion, they score 1 VP
as shown on the religion card.
Second Half of the Year
Each player flips their summary card to the 2nd half of the year
side.
The second half of the year consists of two parts:
 Players use a free die to select a character card and add
it to their play area, CARRYING OUT ALL ACTIONS
ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHARACTER.
 Players move their action disk along the action track. A
player MAY then carry out the action selected.
Rolling Dice and Choosing a Character
The player rolls ALL of their free dice.
The player then selects one of those dice and takes the character
card from the deck corresponding to the die color. A player MAY
choose to lose 1 VP to NOT draw a character card, but may NOT
voluntarily go below 0 VP.
IMPORTANT – If a player uses their wild purple die, they can
take a character card from ANY country.
When taking a character, the player moves the religion stone on
that character to a free religion space in that character’s country.
IMPORTANT – If ALL the religion spaces in a country are filled, a
religious conflict will occur at the END of the half of the year of
the CURRENT PLAYER’S TURN. Place a torch next to the religion
spaces as a reminder.
The player then places one of their trading houses in the
character’s country on the number shown on the die. If the site is
already occupied, the trading house there is bumped down one
number. You do NOT lose the trading house even when the
character is discarded.
You CANNOT sell goods in a country where you don’t have a
trading house and each player may ONLY have one trading house
per country.
If a player sets up a trading house where they already have a
lower-valued one, they can increase the number of their trading
house, moving it to the higher number. If the new roll is the same
value or lower, nothing will be changed.
ONLY AFTER setting up the trading house will the character card
be taken, with the player placing the die used on top of the card.
A die can still be selected for a character card even if the deck is
depleted so that a trading house can be placed or improved.
Flip a New Character Card
After using the character card, the player flips the top card of that
deck and places it on top face up. The religion stone depicted is
IMMEDIATELY placed on top of the card.
If an event card is drawn, the player reads the text and follows its
instructions. The card is then removed from the game and a new
card is flipped over. If another event is drawn, it is IGNORED. No
more than ONE event can take place during each player’s turn.
Moving Action Disk and Executing Action
The player then uses one of their free dice to move their action
disk on the action track to execute ONE action.
Unlike with character cards, the number of the die used plays no
role on the action track – only the COLOR matters.
The player selects one of their free dice and moves their action
disk clockwise to the next UNOCCUPIED space of the die’s COLOR.
Only ONE action disk is allowed on a single space.
The player MAY IMMEDIATELY execute the action of the space
their disk landed on.
The die used for this move is not “locked up” and will remain free
to be rolled again the following year.
For the cost of 1 VP, a player can SKIP one unoccupied space of
the selected die color and move to the next. A player may even
pay 2 or 3 VP to skip 2 or 3 spaces, respectively. The player
CANNOT move all the way around to end in the space where they
began.
The purple die is NOT wild on the action track as there are
purple spaces.
The End of a Year
Once the player to the right of the starting player concludes their
2nd half of the year, the starting player begins the next year with
the 1st half of the year. All players flip their summary cards over
to the 1st half of the year side.
GAME END
The game ends the year after a player reaches 50 or more VP –
just continue back to the start of the track. The game can ALSO
end early if the card deck of a particular country is depleted. In
this case, the year is fully played out.
All players play through the end of the 2nd half of the year, ending
with the player to the right of the starting player.
If a loss of points lowers the triggering player below 50, the game
still ends at the end of the current year.
Players receive additional VP for the following:
 2 VP for each trading house
 1 VP for each unused protection tile
 1 VP for each 2 unsold goods tiles (round down)
 VP as shown on advantage tiles – these are kept private
until game end
OTHER RULES
In each country, a player may sell ONLY ONE tile of each goods
type depicted there per turn.
Goods are primarily sold via the respective action on the action
track. If a player moves their disk to a space showing a ship (color
indicates the country to sell to), they may sell one goods tile for
EACH type of good that can be sold in that country – AS LONG AS
THEY HAVE A TRADING HOUSE THERE.
The purple die is the ONLY die that allows selling on the action
track, so if you use it on a character, it will be “locked up” until it
goes away.
On an action track space where a specific good is shown, the
player may choose to receive a good of this type OR sell one or
two goods of this type in the cities depicted – AS LONG AS THEY
HAVE A TRADING HOUSE THERE, scoring VP for each tile sold.
Sales can also be made using the Captain character card as long as
the player has a trading house in the country where the chosen
good can be sold.
A player MAY voluntarily remove a die from a character card or
Loch Leven (event card locks it here) during their turn by paying 3
VP, but may NOT voluntarily go below 0.
Religious Conflicts
In the 1st half of the year, a conflict is resolved AFTER the current
player has rotated all of their dice and used their character cards.
In the 2nd half of the year, a conflict is resolved after the current
player has resolved their action track action.
Place a torch next to the country where the conflict is going to
occur.
If there are NO free religion spaces in a country, no more can be
placed there.
When a conflict occurs, check which religion has the MOST stones
in that country. Neutral stones do NOT count. Whichever
religion has the MOST STONES (even if it’s 1 and 3 neutral), wins
the conflict.
Each player with a trading house in the country that belongs to
the winning religion scores VP based on the number where their
trading house is located.
Each player with a trading house in the country that belongs to
the losing religion scores nothing and REMOVES their trading
house from the country, meaning they cannot sell goods there
until they place another trading house there.
If a player does not possess a trading house in the country, they
will be unaffected by the conflict.
If there is NO majority of either religion (0v0, 1v1, 2v2), then the
conflict is avoided. No one scores or loses anything.
After the conflict is resolved or avoided, remove ALL religion
stones and torch from the board.
If more than one conflict is triggered on a player’s turn, that
player decides the order.
If a religion stone is removed from a triggered conflict before it
resolves, the conflict does NOT occur and the torch is removed
from the board.
Event Cards and Protection Tiles
Negative events can be prevented with protection tiles.
A player may ALSO use a protection tile when taking a character
card to discard the religion stone WITHOUT placing it.
ALL players are affected by a drawn event, regardless of country,
unless otherwise specified.
You cannot lose VP below 0.
There is an event that makes you place a die on Loch Leven,
essentially “locking it up”. This can be a free die or one from a
character card. A die on Loch Leven is rotated in the 1st half of
the year like all others. If you use a die from a character card,
that character comes out of the game.
Special Rules for 2p/3p
If a player finishes their move on the action track on a purple
space, they MAY place a neutral religion stone in that country in
addition to selling goods there. This may be done even if the
player does not sell goods.
Special Rules for 2p
Place a cross token on the first religion space in each country at
the start of the game.
Both players MUST start as different religions. If players are of
different religions, they are BOTH technically the minority
religion, so they BOTH score the 1 VP for it.