Solo and Two Players: the Crown

Playing John Company alone or with two: the Crown as an automated family, setup, the Player Button, difficulty levels, AI cards and the Crown's climate, favors and promise cubes, and how the Crown acts in each phase.

The Crown

With one or two players you play against the Crown, an automated family that runs on the Crown Handbook and a deck of 10 AI cards. Sometimes it wants the Company to thrive, sometimes to fail. You bargain with it through favors, paid in Crown promise cubes. All normal rules apply, with these changes.

Setup

Set up any scenario (1710 is best for a first game against the Crown). Before dealing setup cards:

1. The Crown uses the family board titled The Crown.
2. It gets the family members of two families (36 pieces). It uses up one colour before the other.
3. Split the 12 red promise cubes evenly between the Crown and the players: 6 each solo, 4 each with two.
4. The Crown sits last in order after the starting Chairman — or, if it is Chairman, just before the next office in order.

Solo setup cards. Shuffle the 12 setup cards of the scenario. Draw 3, keep 1 and give 2 to the Crown; do this 4 times (you end with 4, the Crown with 8). Variant: deal 4 to you and 8 to the Crown at random.

Two players. Set up as for three, with the Crown as one family. Each player draws 3, keeps 2 and gives 1 to the Crown; do this twice. Everyone ends with 4.

The Player Button

With two players, give a spare piece — the Player Button — to the player on the Crown’s right or left, as the finger on the current AI card points. Whenever the Crown must choose between you, or you both want the same favor at once, the holder gets it and passes the Button on. The Button can be traded in a deal.

Difficulty

Before play, shuffle the AI cards face down, turn the top one face up beside the deck, and set the climate marker (a spare opportunity marker) on the Crown’s board to the animal that card gives.

AI cards

The face-up AI card sets the Crown’s climate, its mood, and the deck also breaks its ties:

1. Presidency — use the one named on the back of the top face-down card by the black arrow; if unsuitable, the white arrow’s; then the third.
2. Direction — the way the finger points (clockwise or counter-clockwise).
3. One card of three (the London Season Display, laws) — the shaded position at the top; if gone, the next to the right, wrapping round.
4. New climate — the card’s table checks one fact about the game (Company Expectations, Debt, Crown treasury…) and gives the climate for it. Nobody may change the game before it is set.
5. Region — the priority list at the bottom, left to right.

In the Handbook, “most” means more than or equal to everyone else, and at least 1; “fewest” includes ties and zero. If the Handbook leaves the Crown a free choice, you (or the Button holder) make it.

The five climates

The Crown’s board has a climate track, left to right: Bull, Stag, Lion, Bear, Peacock. Almost every Handbook table has one column per climate — the tables on this page copy them. Roughly, the bull milks the Company (no reserve, cheap trade, buys shares), the peacock props it up (big reserve, workshops and luxuries, more caution at sea and in war), and the others sit in between.

Setting the climate. Flip a new AI card and set the climate from its table each Chairman turn: before the Crown acts if it is Chairman, after you finish acting if you are.

Climate shift. Each Prime Minister turn, after the law is chosen and before voting, roll 6 dice against Company Standing (0–7, where Company Failure is 0):

1. Successes ≥ Standing: shift the climate one space right (towards the peacock), if able.
2. Successes > Standing: shift it one more space right, if able.
3. Failures plus catastrophic failures ≤ Standing: shift it one space left (towards the bull), if able.
4. Failures plus catastrophic failures < Standing: shift it one more space left, if able.

If the Crown is Prime Minister, it does the climate shift first, then draws laws.

Favors and promise cubes

Promise cubes move between you and the Crown through favors, listed phase by phase in the Handbook and on the Crown’s board. Below, pay N means you give N cubes to the Crown and get N means the Crown gives N to you.

• Red-box favors (pay) — you pay cubes to the Crown to change what it does (make it fit your ship, hire you, vote, allocate money to your office…).
• Blue-box favors (get) — the Crown pays you cubes for helping it (fitting its ships, consenting to its nepotism…).
• Dark, bold-outlined favors are mandatory whenever their condition is met.

A favor works only in its own phase or step (those on the Crown’s board, at any time in the window they show). Repeat favors as often as you like, but never one you can’t fully pay; you may take one that gives you fewer cubes than it lists if the Crown has run short. With two players, cubes can be traded between you.

The Crown’s board — at any time from the start of the Firms phase to the end of Revenue:

How the Crown plays

Read the Handbook phase by phase as you reach it, without looking ahead. The tables below are its climate tables in text.

Vote to Deregulate

The Crown never calls the vote as Prime Minister unless it must. It votes last and against, and once may spend up to this much if that moves the Votes marker to failing:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Spends up to	£6	£5	£4	£3	£2

London Season

• Retirements — one pensioner at a time, each to the highest-VP prize costing no more than half (rounded up) of its remaining treasury; the £2 prize only if it wins a card. Hard/Expert: at Final Retirement it spends as much as it can on pensioners. Under Deregulation it takes the single highest-VP special retirement it can afford.
• Prestige cards — the card in the AI card’s shaded position (if gone, the next to the right, wrapping round). It ignores spouse text but keeps their discounts and points, keeps blackmail face down, plays enterprise cards face up, never does what a card says it “may” do, and never gives permission or consent a card asks for.
• Favors: pay 2 — before retirements, take £1 from the Crown’s treasury. Pay 1 — after them, take £1. Pay 5 — take an enterprise prestige card from the Crown. Pay 4 — take a blackmail card from the Crown (no peeking).

Family

First, free writers: with 4+ vacant offices the Crown enlists a writer as a free action; then a free writer into any Presidency with a vacancy and no Crown writer. Then it takes two family actions (one with two players), trying the chart left to right and skipping any it can’t do or afford:

Climate	Family actions, in order
Bull	share · shipyard · writer · writer · officer
Stag	share · writer · shipyard · writer · officer
Lion	shipyard · officer · writer · officer
Bear	officer · luxury · workshop · officer · writer
Peacock	workshop · luxury · officer · officer · writer

• Extra action. If the latest extra action is one it picks from the chart, it counts as the extra action (so the Crown may take three solo). Afterwards it tries the latest extra action, unless done.
• Seeking shares — the cheapest space (the rightmost £3 space if £3 is cheapest).
• Enlisting writers — first a vacant Presidency with no Crown writers, then the Crown Presidency with the fewest Crown writers, then the Presidency with the fewest Crown writers, then the AI card.

Firms (Deregulation)

The Crown never creates a private firm and always consents to dissolving and merging. If you form a private firm you must pay 3 (all you have, if fewer). Pay 2 — it consents to fit a Crown ship; pay 2 — it consents to the Company buying back a Crown-owned ship.

Investing. Only once all players have finished investing, and only if the Crown holds the majority of Company shares: it invests with Company shares (unless weak), then workshops, and never so as to get the majority of a firm’s shares.

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
The Crown	Won’t invest	Won’t invest	Seeks one investment	Seeks one investment	Seeks one investment
Favor	Pay 2: it invests once in your firm	Pay 2: it invests once in your firm	Solo: pay X (firm’s value) to deny it	Solo: pay X	Solo: pay X

Two players: it starts each investment by the Player Button, switching after each; pay X (its firm shares) for its consent to a hostile takeover by the Button holder.

Hiring

Once New Company Shares is done, you may get 1 by giving £1 from your treasury to the Crown if it holds the majority of Company shares, and trade shares with it:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Take a share from the Crown	pay 6	pay 4	pay 4	pay 3	pay 3
Give a share to the Crown	get 2	pay 3	pay 3	pay 4	pay 4

• Chairman election — with the majority of shares (or a tie and it was Chairman) it elects itself. Pay 3 (12 under Deregulation) to bribe it to elect you. Two players: without its majority, pay X (the Crown shares backing you) for its support. Get 3 (6 under Deregulation) if you hold the majority (or a tie as former Chairman) and vote it in.
• When you hire — pay 2 for its consent to nepotism; get 1 for hiring a Crown family member over any non-Crown one.
• When the Crown hires — it always hires its own family if able. Solo, mandatory: get 2 — you must consent to its nepotism when asked if it has 2+ promise cubes (otherwise optional). Two players: get 1 when both players are candidates and both consent. For Director of Trade / Governor General it hires the first eligible officeholder along the ribbon from the Chairman, in the AI card’s direction; among candidates it prefers writers, then officers, then Governors (AI card for ties). Pay 3 — you make one hiring decision for it.

Chairman

If you are Chairman — pay 1, mandatory whenever you can. When you seek debt, Crown shares consent to the first advance above 3 Debt for: bull pay 1, stag pay 2, lion pay 3, bear pay 4, peacock pay 6; each further advance, pay 1. When you allocate the Balance, get 1 for giving a Crown office £3 (bull), £4 (stag, lion, bear) or £5 (peacock).

If the Crown is Chairman — it sets the climate first, then:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Seeks 1 Debt for each…	Presidency with an open home port	Presidency with an open home port	sea zone with fewer than 2 ships	Presidency where it is Commander or holds a majority of all Army box pieces	— (no debt)
One more Debt	pay 1	pay 1	pay 2	pay 2	pay 3
One less Debt	pay 2	pay 2	pay 2	pay 1	—

Allocating the Balance, in priority order, giving as much as possible to a step it can’t fill; any remainder goes to the Manager of Shipping. Pay 1 before any step to have up to £3 sent to an office you name.

Climate	Priority
Bull	£4 to each Presidency with an open home port; £5 to Director of Trade / Governor General
Stag	£4 to each Crown Presidency with an open home port; £1 to each Presidency with a Crown writer; £3 to Director of Trade / Governor General
Lion	£5 to Manager of Shipping for each Presidency whose sea zone has fewer than 2 ships; £4 to the Crown Presidency with most ships; £3 to Director of Trade / Governor General; £1 to each Presidency with a Crown writer
Bear	£4 to each Presidency where the Crown has a majority of Army box pieces; £2 to each Presidency with a Crown Governor; £4 to a Crown Governor General; £2 to each Presidency with a Crown writer
Peacock	£5 to each Presidency where the Crown is Commander or has a majority of officers; £2 to each Presidency with a Crown Governor; £5 to a Crown Governor General

Director of Trade / Governor General

If you are Director of Trade (Special Envoy; opening China uses the hiring rules):

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Open an order in the home region of a Crown Presidency with a Crown writer	get 1	get 1	get 1	—	—
After the office acts, no Presidency has 2+ more ships or writers than another	get 1	get 1	get 1	—	—

If the Crown is Director of Trade — Special Envoy with exactly £3 at a time, on the northernmost closed order of the AI card’s first region not held by the Company, repeating while £3+ remains. Make it spend more or less (any amount, even zero, and optionally skip later Envoys): bull or stag pay 2, others pay 1. Pay 1 — target a specific order. Pay 3 — open trade with China.

Transfers — two, from this list, skipping any it can’t do (AI arrows break ties between Presidencies; ships: Company, then unfatigued, then Crown, then player). Pay 1 to prevent one; pay 2 to move one writer or ship where you choose (each counts as one of its two; no undoing an earlier one).

Climate	Transfer priority
Bull	Crown writer from the Presidency with the shortest trade route to the longest; ship, same; player writer from the longest to the shortest
Stag	Ship from the shortest trade route to the longest; Crown writer from the Presidency with fewest ships to the one with most; player writer from the longest route to the shortest
Lion	Ship from the Presidency with fewest Crown writers to the most; Crown writer from fewest ships to most; ship from fewest Crown writers to China; ship from most player writers to fewest
Bear	Ship from a player Presidency to a Crown Presidency; Crown writer from fewest ships to most; Crown writer from a player Presidency to a Crown Presidency
Peacock	Crown writer from a player Presidency to a Crown Presidency; ship from fewest Crown writers to most (twice in the list); player writer from a player Presidency to a Crown Presidency

If you are Governor General — get 1 each to add money to a Crown office, place a regiment in a Crown Presidency’s Army, or place a Company ship in a Crown Presidency’s sea zone.

If the Crown is Governor General — it Governs while it can roll at least:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Dice needed	5	3	3	3	2
On success	Tax (evenly to Crown Presidencies, rest to the Balance)	Tax	Build a Company ship	Commission a regiment	Commission a regiment

Pay 1 — one die more or fewer. Pay 2 — choose a different result.

Manager of Shipping

If you are Manager — get 1 to fit a Crown ship; get 1 to place a ship in a Crown Presidency or with a Crown Superintendent of China.

If the Crown is Manager — it fits all its ships it can, then players’ (Player Button breaks ties). Pay 1 to fit a ship you name (mandatory before it picks the sea zone if it fits one of yours).

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Buys Company ships	None	1 if able	As many as able	1 if able	None
Favor	Pay 1: it buys one	Pay 2: it buys none	Pay 3: it buys as many as you wish	Pay 1: it buys none	Pay 2: it buys one
One more Company ship	pay 1	pay 1	—	pay 2	pay 2
Places its ships in…	the Presidency sea zone with the longest open trade route, a Crown Presidency first	the Presidency sea zone with the longest open trade route, the one with more Crown writers first	a Crown Presidency’s sea zone; if none, the Presidency with most writers	the Presidency sea zone with most Crown writers	China if possible; else the Presidency sea zone with most Crown writers

It leases as many extra ships as its treasury allows (pay 1: it must leave £2 unspent). Pay 1 — it fits one ship into the sea zone (or China) you choose. “Most” here may be zero.

Military Affairs

If you are Military Affairs — get 1, mandatory, whenever you assign the Crown as a Commander (even with no choice).

If the Crown is Military Affairs — two Army transfers (regiments, then Crown officers, then player officers; AI arrows break ties), skipping any that undo an earlier one. Pay 1 to make one transfer yourself or to block all transfers this round (each counts as one of its two).

Climate	Transfer
Bull Stag	A player Presidency’s Army to a Crown Presidency’s Army
Lion	The Army of the Presidency with fewest ships to the one with most ships
Bear Peacock	An Army where a player is Commander to one where the Crown is Commander

Assigning officers — player officers first, then Crown officers, one at a time; go down the list until one Presidency is left (then black arrow, white arrow). Pay 1 to assign one officer yourself.

Climate	Priority
Bull Stag Lion	Crown Presidency → most ships → Crown is Governor → creates a new Crown majority of pieces → creates a Crown tie with the player holding the majority → keeps a Crown majority → Crown is Commander
Bear Peacock	Creates a new Crown majority → creates a Crown tie with the majority player → keeps a Crown majority → Crown is Governor → Crown is Commander → Crown Presidency → most ships

Then it assigns Commanders, choosing its own officer when it can.

Presidencies

Crown Presidents run Governors first (in order of formation), then the Commander, then Trade. Pay 1 — one change to that order.

Governors. If you are Governor — get 1 to add Administer tax money to a Crown Presidency (once a turn per Presidency); get 1 to move a Company ship to a Crown Presidency’s sea zone; get 1 to commission a regiment into a Crown Presidency’s Army (once a turn per Presidency). If the Crown is Governor, it Administers again and again, dropping dice after each roll, while it can roll at least:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Dice needed	3	2	2	2	1
On success	Tax (to Crown Presidency first, rest to the Balance)	Tax	Build a Company ship	Commission a regiment	Commission a regiment

Pay 1 — one die more or fewer. Pay 3 — no Administer actions. Pay 2 — a different result.

Commanders — if you are Commander:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Consent to buy a Local Alliance from a Crown President	pay 2	pay 2	pay 1	pay 0	pay 0
Deploy successfully in a non-Company region with Crown officers	—	—	get 1	get 1	get 1
Deploy successfully in a Company region of a Crown Presidency with a Crown writer	get 1	get 1	get 1	—	—

If the Crown is Commander (Crown Presidents always consent to its Local Alliances):

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Local Alliances	Buys none	Buys none	With Army strength 3+, the cheapest affordable (needs presidential consent)	With strength 2+, the dearest affordable (needs consent)	Same as bear
One more of your choice (you must consent in your Presidency)	pay 2	pay 2	pay 2	pay 1	pay 1
A dearer / cheaper one	—	—	pay 1: dearer	pay 1: cheaper	pay 1: cheaper
None if it holds the Presidency	—	—	pay 1	pay 2	pay 2
Deploys in…	home region with closed orders → Company regions of this Presidency with closed orders → home region if not Company → non-Company regions next to Company regions	same as bull	home region if not Company → non-Company regions next to this Presidency’s Company regions → this Presidency’s Company regions with closed orders	same as lion	same as lion
Dice needed: non-Company region	6	5	4	3	2
Dice needed: Company region	2	3	4	5	6
Deploys again?	No (pay 2: yes)	No (pay 2: yes)	No (pay 1: yes)	Yes (pay 1: no)	Yes (pay 1: no)

Get 1 for consenting to its Local Alliances in your Presidency when you didn’t pay for them. It uses Local Alliances first, then Crown officers, player officers and regiments to match the dice exactly. Pay 2 — choose its region. Pay 1 — one die more or fewer. Pay X — after it picks pieces and before the roll, swap X pieces’ worth of exhausted pieces for others (an alliance of strength X counts X).

Presidents. If you are President — get X, mandatory, for placing X Crown writers when filling orders. If the Crown is President, it trades only with at least:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Dice to trade	2	3	4	5	6

It aims at the highest-value route (fewer regions only to reach its dice), adds up to £3 more if funds remain, prefers home-region orders, then closest to home, then most southerly, and places its own writers first. Pay 1 — one die more or fewer. Pay 1 — it places your writer instead of another. Two players: the Player Button decides whose writer.

Superintendent of China. If the Crown holds it, it trades in China with as many dice as it can, if it can roll at least:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Dice needed	1	2	2	3	3

Pay 1 — one die more or fewer.

Revenue and Events

As Chairman it pays at least 1 dividend, then more while leaving this in the Balance:

	Bull	Stag	Lion	Bear	Peacock
Keeps in the Balance	£0	£2	£4	£6	£8
One dividend less	pay 2	pay 2	pay 1	pay 1	pay 1
One dividend more	pay 1	pay 1	pay 2	pay 2	pay 2

It discards Royal Protection when there are emergency loans. It never answers a firm’s call for emergency investment; pay 4 and it invests in yours with Company shares (unless weak) then workshops, whatever its share majority (not if it would then hold more firm shares than the manager). Get X (its firm shares, at most 3) when you pay it firm dividends at least equal to any other player’s.

Events in India — if a Crown Commander must defend a Crisis, you choose which pieces are exhausted (two players: the Button holder).

Parliament and Upkeep

It votes first, with every vote from its enterprises, plus bonus votes for its treasury:

As Prime Minister it draws laws by the AI card’s shaded position, stopping at a Dilemma; it may vote against its own law and may be Prime Minister and Opposition Leader at once. Pay 2 — it stops and takes the law just drawn. Pay 2 — it skips that law and draws again (taking the third). For the policy marker it counts player against Crown entities each choice affects (workshops, shipyards, shares, luxuries, windows; ×−1 for tax) and picks the best for itself (AI arrows break ties; a Power policy already top swaps the two bottom markers). Pay 4 — it moves the marker to the other policy.

Royal privilege — if it can’t pay a tax or family expenses, it takes the money from the Company, with emergency loans if needed — which can sink the Company. It always discards Royal Protection if available. Solo, upkeep: get 1 if you have writers in a Crown Presidency but none came back from filling an order there.

The Crown’s voting plan:

Law	For	Against
Army Spending	Bear, Peacock	Bull, Stag, Lion
Board of Control	If it is Prime Minister (and removes a player from office at once)	Otherwise
Calico Acts	If it has most workshops	Otherwise
Company Aids Government	Bear, Peacock	Bull, Stag, Lion
Debt Restructure	Bull, Stag	Lion, Bear, Peacock
Envoy to China	Lion, Bear, Peacock	Bull, Stag
Governor General	If it is Director of Trade	Otherwise
Inclosure Acts	If it has most prizes	Otherwise
Industry Subsidy	Lion, Bear, Peacock	Bull, Stag
Masses Demand Franchise!	Otherwise	If it has most Rotten Boroughs
Military Oversight	If it is Prime Minister (a Crown Military Affairs always demotes a non-Crown Commander when a Crown officer is in that Army)	Otherwise
Old Ideas Made New!	If it is Prime Minister, the law is chosen at random
Public Demands Impeachment!	If it is Prime Minister (it picks the first player office along the ribbon; all Crown: at random)	Otherwise
Relief Demanded for Indian Famine!	Otherwise	If it has most of the given policy
Royal Protection	If it has most luxuries	Otherwise
Sepoy Recruitment	Lion, Bear, Peacock	Bull, Stag
Ship Subsidy	Bull, Stag, Lion	Bear, Peacock
Tenure Limits	Otherwise	If it is Chairman
Trade Regulations	Bear, Peacock	Bull, Stag, Lion
Treasure Reform	Bull, Stag	Lion, Bear, Peacock
War Against France!	If it is Prime Minister (player ships and officers first, then Company ships, then its own)	Otherwise
Window Tax Repeal	Peacock	Bull, Stag, Lion, Bear
Writer Graft Reform	Bull	Stag, Lion, Bear, Peacock
Writer Privileges	If it has most writers on orders	Otherwise
Zamindar Taxes	If it has most Governors	Otherwise

End of the game

Solo, only first place in the power award scores. You win if you beat the Crown. If the Company fails, adjust your score (not the Crown’s) by the turn it failed: