The Curse of Candelabria Game Guide
Topics covered
The Curse of Candelabria Game Guide
Topics covered
Index
Introduction 2
Objective 2
Components 3
Start to Play 4
General Area 4
Player Area 6
Turn Order and Starting Pieces 8
How to Play 9
1 - Mist Season 9
Discard Subphase 9
Curse Subphase 9
Curse elements: Cards and Models 9
Houses Sub-Phase 10
Upgrade Tiles and Temple Levels 11
2- Kindling Season 12
Deploy 12
Candle Cards 13
Maneuver 13
Territory Actions 13
Moving Candles 14
Moving Wandering Castles 15
Melt a Candle 15
Extinguished Land Flames 15
Death of a Candle 15
End of the Kindling Season 15
3 - War Season 16
Prepare your House for the war 16
War Board 16
Tactics Card 16
Deploy the Curses 16
Combat Power 17
Resolve the conflicts. 17
Lack of Opponents 18
End of the War Phase 18
End of the Game 18
Icons 19
1
Introduction
Number of Players: 2-5
Recommended Age: 14+
Average Duration: 30 min per player
The Curse of Candelabria is a game set in a realm where humans have been turned into candles by a
terrible curse. The kingdom is in chaos and each player will play a House who will have to defend
themselves from the effects of the curse and defeat their enemies at the same time. The one who survives
will break the curse and become the new king of Candelabria.
Candelabria is an area control game with strong interaction with the game map and other players. The
game aims to be as deterministic as possible, leaving a small window to chance only when it could
enhance the strategic aspects of the game. The game also aims to be completely independent from
language: the few numbers and words that can be seen on the demo are in the process of being removed
without changing the rules behind them.
Objective
In The Curse of Candelabria, each player takes control of one of five powerful Houses and competes with
the others for ultimate victory.
Over the course of the three Years into which the game is divided, each player will have to accumulate
Victory Points (VP) by developing his/her House, expanding his/her influence and military power, fighting
or bending the Curse, and all while avoiding being destroyed by the other Houses.
At the end of the game, the player with the most Victory Points will sit on the Throne of Candelabria and
hold the power to lift the Curse and reign supreme.
2
GAME COMPONENTS
5x House Boards 5x War Boards 1x Upgrade/Temple Board 25x House Candle Cards
50x Advanced Candle Cards 9x Curse Cards 15x House Tactic Small Cards 50x Tactic Small Cards
5x Wandering Castles 125x Land Flames 60x Candle Flames 50x Gold and 50x wax Resources
18x Temple Levels 9x Curse standees 21x Upgrade Tiles 10x Dark flame tokens
9x stand holders
3
Start to Play
General Area
Most of the action takes place on the Game Board map using a series of components that are made
available to all players. To prepare these components:
Take the Game Board and unfold it in the center of the table.
Construct the Curse Board. Take the 9 Curse Cards, shuffle them and divide them into 3 piles of three
cards. Then place the three stacks each on one of the three spaces on the Curse board. Then place the
Curse miniatures (or standees) and the dark flames next to the Curse board.
4
Construct the Tactics Board. Take the 63 Tactics mini Cards, shuffle them, and place 6 face up on the
Tactics Board. Place the remaining Tactics Cards next to them face down to form the tactics deck.
Construct the Upgrade Board. Take the 21 Upgrade Tiles, shuffle them and divide them into 9 piles of 3
tiles each. Place them on the Upgrade Board in the appropriate spaces.
Place the temple board near the upgrade board and place onto it the 18 temple levels, divided by color.
5
Take the 50 advanced Candle Cards (you and recognise them because they don’t have the House logo on
the top right), shuffle them and place them in a pile next to the Game Board.
Take the Resources (Gold and Wax), divide them by colour (Wax is white; Gold is gold) into 2 piles and
place them next to the Game Board in a place accessible to all to form the Reserve. From here, resources
will be taken and deposited during the game.
Player Area
In The Curse of Candelabria, each player must choose a House to lead. Each House has a unique colour,
powers and abilities that differentiate it from the others. The Houses are:
6
Once each player has chosen a House (or has been randomly assigned one by whichever method they
prefer), they take:
● 1 House Board
● 1 House War Board
● 1 Wandering Castle of the correct colour
● 3 Candle miniatures (1 explorer, 1 pilgrim, 1 warrior)
● 12 Candle Flames of the correct colour
● 25 Land Flames of the correct colour
● 5 House Candle Cards
● 3 House Tactics Cards
7
Turn order and starting pieces
The Game Board is where most of the action takes place. This is divided into:
● Map of the Regions, numbered from 1 to 10. Each Region is characterised by a colour and a
number, and each Region is in turn divided into three Territories, each characterised by an action
icon. Each Region is separated from the others by a continuous line, and is considered adjacent to
the neighbouring ones or to those connected by bridges. The territories in the same region are
divided by a dashed line.
● Score track, numbered from 0 to 100.
● Turn Order track, indicated by the initiative icon (green flag) numbered from the first position to
the last.
Depending on which House you have, place your Wandering Castle on the Game Board in the correct
Region, as well as the indicated number of Flames. Place a Flame in the Turn Order space as specified by
the table below:
HOUSE STARTING REGION STARTING PIECES
TURN ORDER
Cinis Clan 1 8 place the Flames in each Territory and the Wandering
Castle in any Territory of the Region
The Rota Aurea Guild 2 2 place the Flames in each Territory and the Wandering
Castle in any Territory of the Region
Satores Order 3 3 place the Flames in each Territory and the Wandering
Castle in any Territory of the Region
Nova Vita Coven 4 4 place the Flames in the 2 Territories without the portal and
the Wandering Castle in any Territory of the Region except
the one with the portal
Luminis Knights 5 9 place the Flames in the 2 Territories without the portal and
the Wandering Castle in any Territory of the Region except
the one with the portal
8
How to Play
The game takes place over three Years, and each Year is divided into three Seasons, which follow one
another in order. At the end of the third Year, the players calculate the Victory Points to determine the
winner. The seasons are:
1. The Mist Season: In which the curses are revealed and the effects of the Year are activated.
2. The Kindling Season: In which players perform their actions.
3. The War Season: In which conflicts are resolved and the Candles end their life.
1 - Mist Season
Discard sub-phase
Each player has to discard all of the Candle Cards they have previously deployed. All Candles thus
discarded are placed at the bottom of the Candle Card pile. Additionally, any Cursed Cards that have
already been revealed are automatically discarded and returned to the game box, the Curse models are
removed as well as the dark flame tokens. In the immediately following phase the new ones will be
revealed and/or placed (see next sub-phase).
Curse sub-phase
In this phase the players assign the areas in which they will fight in the current round and discover which
aspects of the Curse they will be able to bend under their control.
The three Curse cards in front of the Curse board are revealed. Each curse card indicates a region where
the curse strengthens. These regions are to be considered overflowed with the Curse, i.e. there will be no
fighting in these regions. The central Region (number 6) can never be affected by this, but all other
Regions will be affected at least once during the game. To represent this, place the dark flame tokens on
the numbers of the indicated Regions.
Curse cards represent the essences of the curse that are haunting the
Houses, and that some of those are attempting to bend to their will.
A Curse Card is composed by the following key elements:
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While a Card simply instructs about the effect that a course bears, the curse standee (or miniature)
incarnate the physical prowess manifested of the Course, the embodiment of terror and pain that it brings
on the inhabitants of Candelabria. While the Course is despised, many Nobles and Houses have decided to
close an eye on that for the sake of gaining even a slim better chance to conquer the throne.
The curse standee (or miniature) is an undying model with 3 combat power, the control and deployment
of which are decided at the beginning of the War Season. For more detail about it, see the appropriate
section of the rulebook.
Houses sub-phase
In this phase the players activate the effects of their House (by default or in the obtained upgrades)
related to the current year. Effects are resolved in Initiative Order, starting with the first player and
continuing to the last player in that order. Each effect must resolve from start to finish, without
interruptions.
House Board
The House Boards are each player's main board. They are divided into:
1. Seal slots. Candle Cards must be placed above these during a deployment action. Each card slot
corresponds to a candle role: explorer, pilgrim or warrior, that gives to deployed candles a unique
power (see section: Candle cards). See the legend of the icons to see all the possible effects.
2. Warehouse to put gold and wax resources (1 for each of the 10 slots).
3. Castle upgrades area. Each House has 3 unique powers and 6 free slots for upgrades. Upgrade
Tiles are inserted here (1 for each of the 6 slots). See the legend of the icons to see all the possible
effects. Each of these effects and powers has an activation time, which is indicated by the year
icon represented on the upgrade tile.
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Upgrade tiles and temple levels
● Of the wandering castle: these take the form of tiles to be placed in the appropriate spaces on the
Player Board, and are in fact permanent or temporary effects that support the House. In addition
to the effect, these have (like the Candle Cards) an indicator of the year in which the effect of the
upgrade takes place.
● Of the regions of the map: these take the form of temple levels to be placed on the identification
numbers of the Regions. The effect of this type of upgrades alters how the Combat structures in
the area, providing unique benefits based on the color of the last temple level placed there (see
the 'War Season' section for more explanations).
To acquire an upgrade, you have to use the respective action on the map, and pay the right cost in gold.
This depends on the number of upgrade tiles the player has already bought (including the one they're
currently buying) or, in case of a temple level, the number of already placed temple levels of the same
kind (including the one they're currently buying). The costs are as follows:
To clarify, when buying an Upgrade Tile the player has to fill one of the six spots available on the House
Board. If no spots are available, the Upgrade Tile is not acquired. When buying a Temple level, instead, it
has to be placed on the round area that indicates the number of the Region the player wants to build the
Temple. The region needs to have at least one of its pieces present. If there’s already another Temple
Level, the one bought will stand on top of the other and in practice nullify the effect of the Temple Level
below (see Resolve the Conflicts).
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2-Kindling Season
During this Season, players take actions in preparation for future conflicts. This Season is divided into
rounds following the Initiative Order, starting with the player placed in first position and continuing to the
last, then resuming from first again, until the end of the phase.
When indicated by the Turn Order, a player will choose whether to either Deploy or Maneuver. A player
cannot decide to pass their turn (i.e. not to perform one of the two actions indicated above) until they
have run out of Candle Cards in their possession.
Deploy
A player may choose to place a new Candle on the battlefield and activate its effects. To do so:
● Choose one of the Candles in your hand and decide which role to give to it, placing the card on the
respective slot of the House board. There are three roles available (Explorer, Pilgrim and Warrior),
which determine the number of flames the Candle has and his unique ability (. In detail:
○ The Explorer role allows you to create a Candle with two Flames
○ The Pilgrim role allows you to create a Candle with three Flames
○ The Warrior role allows you to create a Candle with four Flames
● Pay the cost in wax by drawing them from your Warehouse and returning them to the supply.
○ The Explorer role has no additional cost.
○ The Pilgrim role costs one additional wax.
○ The Warrior role costs two additional wax.
● Take the miniature of the chosen role and place the flames of your colour on top.
● Place this newly formed figure in the Territory on the Game Board where the Wandering castle
resides.
● Perform the effects printed on the deployed Candle Card if available;
● Draw a new Candle Card from the Advanced Candle Card deck.
12
Candle Cards
Candle Cards play a key role in the Curse of Candelabria. These depict
the loyal agents and expert fighters who will fight for the glory of the
Houses and ultimate victory.
Depending on the role they are deployed in, candles gain an additional ability linked to their movement
and always applied whenever they activate (see the legend of the icons to see all the possible effects).
Maneuver
A player may move their forces on the battlefield, spread their influence and activate the effects of the
territories. To do so:
● Discard a Candle Card from your hand and place it face up on the discard area at the left of the
House board.
● Make up to two moves by taking one of your Candles or your Wandering Castle from the Territory
in which they are currently located and placing them in an adjacent Territory. The same figure can
be moved both times, or two different figures can be moved once each. Note that you cannot
enter with your Wandering Castle where there are other Wandering Castles.
● If there is not one already, place a Land Flame in the Territory where you have moved the Candle
or Wandering Castle and resolve the action of the Territory (see “Territory Actions”).
The Maneuver is now concluded and the player passes the turn to the next player in the Turn Order.
Territory Actions
When a Candle is deployed or moved to a Territory, check whether or not there is a Land Flame of the
same House in that Territory. If a Land Flame is present, nothing happens. Otherwise, the player must
immediately place a Land Flame in that Territory and perform the action indicated by the Territory icon.
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There are six different actions:
Curse influence: Place a Flame in front of one of the three Curse Cards for each Territory with
this icon on which you have placed a Land Flame.
Battlefield: Draw one Tactics Card from the Tactics Board for each Territory with this icon on
which you have placed a Land Flame.
Forge: You may take one Upgrade Tile or Temple Level for each Territory with this icon on
which you have placed a Land Flame. You must pay the cost specified on the relative board
and you cannot take more Upgrade Tiles than you can afford. The upgrade price depends on
how many upgrades you have already obtained.
Mine: Draw any one resource from the reserve for each Territory with this icon on which you
have placed a Land Flame. Place the resources in your Warehouse. Any resources that you
cannot place are discarded.
Portal: Take one of your miniatures (Candle or Wandering Castle) for each Territory with
this icon on which you have placed a Land Flame and move them to any one or more
Territories on the Game Board. This movement is not considered deployment or
movement, and therefore does not allow you to place a Land Flame and consequently
perform the Action relating to the Territory into which the miniature is repositioned.
Candle: draw an Advanced Candle Card from the respective Deck for each Territory with
this icon on which you have placed a Land Flame. Return as many Candle Cards to the
bottom of the deck as the number of Cards drawn.
Once the action of the Territory has been resolved, the player may continue their turn.
Moving Candles
The deployed candles have roles that influence their movement. In detail:
Explorer: When the Candle with this role moves, it skips 1 Province and lands on the
next one.
Pilgrim: When the Candle with this role moves, it can move from one territory to
another with the same effect.
Warrior: When the Candle with this role moves and enters a territory, 1 enemy
Candle in that territory retreats to an adjacent one.
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Moving Wandering Castles
There may only be one Wandering Castle in a territory at any time. Each time a
Wandering Castle enters a territory, it removes a Flame belonging to an opponent
from the territory.
Melt a Candle
If you decide to Maneuver during your turn, you may decide to remove a Candle Flame (as long as this
does not lead to the loss of the last Flame) from a Candle for it to make an additional movement. This is
resolved exactly like any other movement, thus placing Land Flames to activate actions.
In addition to the Flames added to the Curse Cards area via the Curse influence action or any Candle
powers, any Land Flame extinguished by another player can be placed by a player in the Curse Cards area
instead of being placed in his supply.
Death of a Candle
When a Candle loses its last Flame, it is considered dead. Flip the Candle card without removing it from its
role slot, then place the Candle miniature on it. This operation is meant to symbolise the presence of the
lingering soul of the candle that haunts the House. In game terms, since a player can deploy a candle only
in free slots, this is meant to visually represent the fact that the player is not able to deploy another
candle to replace the previously deployed. The dead candle will be discarded during the next Mist Season.
When all players have no more Candle Cards in their hand, this phase is concluded and play continues to
the War Season.
If a player has run out of Candle Cards (between discards and deployment) but at least another player still
has at least one Candle Card, this phase continues until all players have run out of Candle Cards. The
player who finished early will have to wait for the resolution of the other players' turns, and for the start
of the next phase
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3 - War Season
Conflicts take place in this Season. The Houses stop with their quarrels and begin to sharpen the blades,
while Candelabria plunge into flames, chaos and despair.
War Board
Each House has a war board determined by its logo. This has 2 sides.
● Front. With the logo and a space to put the tactics deck on during the Mist
Season and the Kindling Season.
● Back. During the War Season the board is flipped and it’s used to put the
active tactic cards. This side shows two different effects, of reduced
versions of common tactics cards related to the House (each house has a
different combination of those). These are effects that the House will bring
to combat if the related tactics cards played by the player are countered or
not available (by choice or possibility; whatever the case).
Tactics Card
Tactics Cards represent the schemes put in place by the House to prevail over their
enemies. Each tactic card has one or more effects, each one represented by an icon. If
an icon appears multiple times, the effect is performed 1 time for each icon.
Remember, the effects of Tactics Cards are always applied in the contested Region in
which a battle is currently taking place (see the legend of the icons to see all the
possible effects).
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Combat Power
Each miniature deployed on the Game Board by the players has a Combat Power value which is added to
the Combat Power value of the other miniatures of the same House to determine the Combat Power of
that House in that Region.
Unless specified otherwise by a Candle Ability or an Upgrade Tile, the Combat Power of each type of
miniatures is:
● 1 for each Flame
● 3 for each Curse miniature
● 4 for the Wandering Castle
(Note: Each Candle has a different fighting strength, based on how many flames remain on it.)
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Once the victor has been determined, proceed to the next battle, or to the end of the Phase if all conflicts
have been resolved.
Lack of Opponents
If there is only one House in a Region, it gains an automatic victory. The player will obtain the appropriate
number of Victory Points, without carrying out any other step of a regular conflict.
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CANDLE ROLES
Each time a Candle is deployed, it takes a role and the relative passive effect.
The effects of a tactic card are always performed in the territory where your are fighting. Instead
the effects of the candles may be performed in any territory of the map.
The effect icons that The effect icons that
The effect icons that
follows this icon are follows this icon are
follows this icon are
performed if you are performed if you are
performed during the
playing the first Year or playing the second Year
third Year.
later. or later.
Destroy Temple: remove
Ignite: this effect allows Advance in turn order:
the top layer of Temple,
you to add a flame to a advance a position in the
and place it back in the
candle, or alternatively Turn Order.
Upgrades area, thus
deploy your own land
removing its effects from
flame.
the board.
Extinguish: this effect Steal Resources: this
Score Victory Points:
allows you to remove a effect allows you to
Score a number of Victory
flame from a candle, or an remove a resource from a
Points, as specified by the
enemy land flame from single opponent and add
strength of the effect.
the board. it to your stock.
The Land Flames cannot Tactic Cards cannot be Wandering Castles do not
be extinguished in countered in the Region provide Combat strength
the Region where it is where it is deployed. in the Region where it is
deployed. deployed.
3
Destroy every Candle in Destroy a Temple in Extinguish 3 Flames in
the Region where it is the Region where it is the Region where it is
deployed. deployed. deployed.
3
Reactivate the effect of Doubles the number of Ignite 3 in the Region
each allied Candle present
in the Region where it is x2 Victory Points earned
by the controller in
where it is deployed.
Battlefield: Draw one Tactics Card from the Forge: You may take one Upgrade Tile for each
Tactics Board for each Territory with this icon on Territory with this icon on which you have placed
which you have placed a Land Flame. a Land Flame.
During the Mist Season of the second Year you must draw a
Cinis Clan Tactic card and a Candle Card. Don’t discard the candle card
later as you usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the third Year, you must draw a
candle card and extinguish 4 flames. Don’t discard the candles
cards later as you usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the second Year you must draw
Satores Order two Candle Cards. Don’t discard the candle card later as you
usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the third Year, you obtain 5 gold
and earn a VP for each wax you have.
During the Mist Season of the second Year you must draw a
Rota Aurea Guild Candle card and destroy a temple. Don’t discard the candle
card later as you usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the third Year, you must draw a
candle card and earn 2 VP for each gold you have. Don’t discard
the candle card later as you usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the second Year you must draw
Luminis Knights two Candle Cards. Don’t discard the candle cards later as you
usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the third Year, you must draw two
tactic cards and extinguish 3 flames.
During the Mist Season of the second Year you must draw a
candle card and earn 3 gold or wax. Don’t discard the candle
Nova Vita Coven
card later as you usually do with the territory action.
During the Mist Season of the third Year, you must draw two
candle cards. Don’t discard the candle cards later as you
usually do with the territory action.
There may only be one Wandering Castle in a territory at
Common to all Houses any time. Each time a Wandering Castle enters a territory,
it removes a Flame belonging to an opponent from the
territory.