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Deckard Cole
United States
California
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I consider myself a fairly logical person but I can't make any sense of this game.
 I've read the rules and the forums more than once however...
Is a "battle" one go through of the 10 cards you were dealt and whoever wins get the region? If so it seems you'd all just lay down your full hand at once and compare them, giving the person with the highest total strength the region. So that, clearly, is wrong. A battle for a region is (as described) one card at a time until all pass and someone wins the region. But then what is the strategy of not fighting till the bitter end for every region? If winning just means either 3 adjacent regions or 5 total why not just fully commit to every fight?
As I understand it a new region is not selected until you conclude battle at which point everyone discards (if you omit the stalemate rule introduced in 3rd edition) and gets new cards from a newly shuffled deck thus leveling the playing field every new battle.
I know I must be WAY off the mark here because there are plenty of strategic conversation threads about holding onto cards or passing as a strategic option which makes me think new regions can be attacked within a "round" until everyone is out of cards.
But as I understand this rulebook it goes..
STARTING A BATTLE
1. choose region.
2. play one card per person until all pass or are out of cards.
CONCLUDING A BATTLE
3. compare end result (strength) winner gets the region.
4. choose new unconquered region for next battle.
5. discard battle lines.
6. discard cards from hand unless you still have a mercenary. (which I don't understand why as everyone could attempt to do this but the rules only allow one person to. how can you fairly say "I'm the one who gets to keep my cards this round you have to play yours!" So I'll probably omit this rule so that everyone discards)
7. everyone gets new cards. (omitting the Fantasy Flight possible stalemate rule mentioned above)
That's the Fantasy Flight breakdown of a game round. As you can see it states no new region is chosen until the battle for the current region ends at which point everyone gets new cards. The only way passing and holding onto some of your cards makes sense to me is if new regions were chosen in the midst of rounds. (ie: you know you're losing this battle so back out and wait for a new region hoping to take it before a new round starts and new cards are dealt) But "choose the new battle" is clearly listed under the concluding a battle steps.
Sorry for the long post. I hope someone can smack me straight and point out my obvious major oversight.
Thanks, Spaz.
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Brett Christensen
United States
Dickinson
North Dakota
Bad touch!
Rub the wizard!
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Where you've gone wrong is #6.
*You can only discard your hand at battles end if you are out of mercenary cards. Just because you flushed your hand doesn't necessarily mean the round ends (others may still have cards to battle with).
*Everyone keeps their cards (not played) for the next battle until everyone or all but one person is out of cards at the end of a battle (after possible discards). At that time, if the one person who had cards left wishes he may keep 2 of his cards.
*At that time only are new cards dealt out to all the players.
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Deckard Cole
United States
California
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I appreciate the reply and the clarification on step 6 as I've listed them. However my confusion starts at a much more fundamental level.
I guess what I really need explained is this. Is a battle for a single location played out entirely (until everyone has passed or out of cards) then the location awarded to the winner, then a new location declared, new cards dealt and another battle begins.
OR....
Can a battle for a single location end with several people still holding most (or some) of their deck, location awarded to winner, new location declared, next battle ensues using the cards you still hold...repeat until everyone is out of cards or one person down to one card. Then new cards dealt and a new ROUND begins that might includes battles for several different locations again?
The latter makes sense but it's not explained that way in the Fantasy Flight rulebook. So hopefully I'm being more clear about where I'm lost. If the original example is how it's done it seems you'd fight to the death every battle as holding onto cards would to you no good.
You all must think me an idiot at this point but the rules are just that poorly written. I own approx 90 games many of them very complex but I'm being done in by this tiny filler. 
Thanks again.
EDIT: Bret I think you actually answered this as well with your last sentence. The rulebook gives no definition or differentiation between a battle and a round. I think I understand now.
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Your second interpretation is right. Between two dealings may be a number of battles for different cities until not more battles are possible, that is when only one person has card can not battle to anyone. There is a computer adaption in http://www.gametableonline.com/
happy games!
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Chris Schenck
United States
Dayton
Ohio
GO BUCKS!
Stop touching me!
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Spazwaldo wrote: The rulebook gives no definition or differentiation between a battle and a round.
It definitely does, but not in the section you're quoting with your initial post. Page 4 of the rulebook defines the terms and describes how they fit into the overall game flow. I agree that they should have restated the information in the "Concluding a Battle" section on page 7 to make it clearer.
Condottiere Rulebook (page 4) wrote: The Game Round
A game of CONDOTTIERE is played over many
game rounds. During each game round, one or
more battles will be fought. When all but one
player has played all their last card, new cards will be
drawn and a new game round will begin.
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Sight Reader
United States
Colorado
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A battle ends when everyone passes. You do NOT get new cards after a battle! Instead, a new battle starts immediately: people have to fight this new battle with whatever cards they have left.
You do several battles in a row this way. The only time you don't start a new battle immediately is when there's only one person left with cards. At that point the round has ended and you finally get dealt a new hand.
Spazwaldo wrote: Is a battle for a single location played out entirely (until everyone has passed or out of cards)
Yes, but it behooves you to pass and save your cards, especially if the battle isn't that important and will use up a lot of cards.
If someone is going to play everything on the first battle, then just pass right away and let some other poor sucker fight him for it. On the next battle, they'll be either down to 2 or 3 cards or completely out - no match against your full hand! You might win multiple provinces - maybe even the game - against such helpless opposition.
Of course, they can all work together and go out on you. That will end the round before you can exploit their weakness, allowing them to get fresh cards and even the odds before the next battle. It depends, of course, on them working together...
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