El rey planeta. NAC WARGAMES

Philip IV ascended to the throne on March 31, 1621, ruling until his death on September 17, 1665. His reign of 44 years and 170 days was the longest of the House of Austria in Spain. This long reign was marked by an extensive and agonizing decline of the monarchy, mainly caused by continuous external conflicts that drained the Royal Treasury and ruined the country, as well as by multiple internal rebellions, especially from 1640 onward. Politically and administratively, the most notable feature of the reign was his systematic reliance on delegating government duties to a favorite. Like his father Philip III, Philip IV relied on the institution of the valido —a trusted man who assumed the king’s powers in his name and acted as a true head of state, even signing documents under the king’s name.

The beginning of his reign in foreign policy was marked by the monarchy’s participation in the Eighty and Thirty Years’ Wars. From these conflicts, the House of Habsburg emerged weakened with the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, as the global dominance of France and England began to take shape. The war with France continued for ten more years during Philip IV’s reign, until the signing of the Peace of the Pyrenees (1658). The weakened position of the monarchy at that time provoked a period of internal rebellions that threatened to fragment the Hispanic kingdoms. In 1640, Catalonia and Portugal rose up; in 1641, the Duke of Medina Sidonia rebelled in Andalusia; in 1646, it was Sicily’s turn, and the following year, Naples. Considering that the war with France was occurring simultaneously, it’s easy to understand how critical Philip IV’s situation was.

Paradoxically, Philip IV’s reign coincided with the greatest splendor of Spanish arts and literature, the so-called Golden Age. Writers such as Lope de Vega, Quevedo, and Góngora, and artists like Velázquez, Ribera, Zurbarán, and Murillo shone brightly in a Spain full of shadows. Such was the power and extent of his dominions that King Philip IV went down in history as “the Planet King.”

The Planet King is a game for 1 or 2 players in which the player represents King Philip IV (and his Valido in the two-player version). The player must guide the kingdom and its resources while striving to turn the Spanish court into the most enlightened place in the world, thanks to the artistic generation of the Golden Age. Moreover, the king is still a man, seeking to satisfy his own desires and secure the Habsburg dynasty with a male heir. The player’s faction is called Spain or the Hispanic Monarchy (or simply the Monarchy). The player must manage the kingdom’s prestige, the development of the arts (enlightenment), and Philip IV’s happiness. These factors, along with various game events, determine the success or failure of the player’s actions through victory points (VP).

The game is driven by a deck of event cards representing the different happenings of the era, from poor harvests to wars with other powers. The more wars there are, the more unstable the kingdom becomes, and the more challenges the player will face. To better govern the realm, the player can rely on a series of illustrious figures (characters), divided into three categories: nobles (politicians and military leaders), geniuses (artists), and ladies (queens or court ladies). Each turn represents between 3 and 6 years of real time. There are two introductory scenarios, two campaign scenarios of four turns each, and one full campaign scenario of eight turns that covers the entire reign of Philip IV. Each turn takes approximately 1–1.5 hours of gameplay. However, there is always the risk of an Automatic Defeat if the Monarchy’s Prestige or Enlightenment level drops to 1 point or less, or if Philip IV suffers a Sudden Death due to his happiness reaching zero. The game’s economic unit is the ducat, each representing one million ducats of the era —approximately equivalent to 136 million euros today.

Cooperative Game Mode

In the cooperative mode, one player takes on the role of King Philip IV and the other of his Valido. The King earns VP based on the king’s happiness and enlightenment, while the Valido earns VP from the Monarchy’s prestige. The War Only scenario cannot be played in cooperative mode. The King decides the order in which actions are resolved. Each player keeps track of their own VP separately.

Second Edition Notes:

• All errata detected in the first edition (First Edition FAQ) have been corrected.
• An additional page has been added to the player aids.

Game contents of The Planet King

• 1 map (60x44 cm)
• 2 auxiliary boards: the Court and the Council of State
• 74 Notable cards
• 68 Event cards
• 12 Secret Memorial cards
• 108 game tokens
• 20 coins (Ducats)
• 15 wooden cubes in red, blue, yellow, and green
• 1 rulebook
• 1 scenario book
• 2 player aids

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Games and TCG - Board games - Tabletop