Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done

To set up, each player takes a player board, matching colored wedges, troop tokens, building pieces, and a scoring aid. One player shuffles their wedges and randomly arranges them around the action wheel on their board, ensuring the side with a single symbol faces up. Other players arrange their wedges in the same pattern. Troop tokens are flipped face-down and placed in order from lowest to highest value at the top of the board. Building pieces (castles, churches, barns, and banks) are placed on their corresponding spaces on the board. Players choose one of two dealt Knight Order tiles, placing it on their board and returning the other to the box. Knight Order tiles indicate how many action tokens to collect (default 12, distributed two per wedge, with any extra placed as desired) and may grant an immediate wedge upgrade. The double-sided main board is placed in the center, showing the side appropriate for the number of players. Prussian and Slav enemy tokens are placed on their respective strength tracks, and the remaining enemy tokens (including Saracens face-down) are randomly placed on square spaces with flags on the board. Building bonus tiles are randomly placed face-up on matching spaces. Influence tokens are set aside as a supply based on player count, with extras kept separate for later use. Finally, players place their unused knight pieces on empty starting regions (hexes with a knight symbol).

In Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done, players lead orders of knights, aiming to bring the most glory to their order by gaining influence. This is achieved through various activities like conquering enemies, erecting buildings, funding armies, and spreading influence. While players are part of the same army, the competition is indirect, focusing on outperforming rivals in these endeavors to impress the king.

On your turn, you choose one of two options: Resolve an Action or Upgrade a Wedge. To Resolve an Action, you pick a wedge on your action wheel and count the number of action tokens on it. This value, plus any bonuses from removed buildings, determines the starting strength of the action. If the wedge is upgraded, you can split the tokens between its two actions as desired, performing both in any order, but you must assign at least one token to an action to perform it. After performing the action(s), collect all tokens from the chosen wedge and distribute them one at a time, clockwise, to the next wedges around your action wheel, starting with the very next one. To Upgrade a Wedge, you pick a wedge with a single symbol on its face-up side, remove any action tokens from it, flip it to its upgraded side (which reveals a second action symbol), and then place the removed tokens back on it. After upgrading, you may optionally pick any wedge (not necessarily the one just upgraded) and distribute its action tokens clockwise, as described for resolving an action.

At the end of the game, players determine who has the most defeated enemy tokens of each type (Prussian, Slav, Saracen). The player with the most tokens of a specific type claims the 'Most Defeated' award tile (worth 5 influence points), and the player with the second most claims the '2nd Most Defeated' award tile (worth 2 influence points). If there's a tie for first place, the 'Most Defeated' tile is flipped over, and all tied players gain 3 influence points, with no '2nd Most Defeated' tile awarded. If there's no tie for first but a tie for second, the '2nd Most Defeated' tile is flipped, and all tied players gain 1 influence point. Additionally, players gain influence for each fourth-level building space they revealed on their player board: 4 influence for each unique set of enemy tokens collected (from the fourth castle space), 6 influence for building their fourth church, 1 influence for each knight on the board and each mustered troop (from the fourth barn space), and 4 influence for every fourth-level building constructed (from the fourth bank space). The player with the highest total influence points wins. In case of a tie, the tied player who went earlier in the turn order is declared the victor.

The game concludes when the supply of influence tokens runs out. After the last influence token is claimed, play continues until all players have had an equal number of turns. Any influence owed after the supply runs out is taken from the extra influence tokens set aside during setup. If these also run out, a suitable replacement is used.