The empire’s three kingdoms are going through an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity. There’s plenty of money to be made for those that want to go out and get it. Merchants are realizing that this is an opportunity for them to become vastly wealthy. The only problem is that trade in the cities is controlled by the ruling Councils in each kingdom, made up of members of the six noble houses. But Councils can be manipulated and made to serve one’s interests. And, if all else fails, there’s always the Queen that can be reasoned with. After all, money greases a lot of wheels in bureaucracy. But which merchant will control the largest and most profitable trading empire? That’s up to the players to decide in Council of 4, an updated classic being published by CMON.

In Council of 4, players take on the role of wealthy merchants who are looking to expand their business across the empire’s three kingdoms. Acquiring the right to sell in a city requires appeasing the Counselors seated in that kingdom’s Council Balcony. This is done over the course of the game during a player’s turn. Turns are divided into two phases. In the first, players draw a Politics card from the deck, which will show a particular Council member. This means the player has some sway with that Counselor to gain access to trade in a city where they are in the Council Balcony.

After drawing a card, the second phase allows the player to take an Action. There are four different Main Actions a player can take. The first is electing a new Counselor to a kingdom’s Council Balcony. To do this, they take a Counselor of their choice from those available, and place it at the end of a kingdom’s Council Balcony. This will then push all the others along the row, with the Counselor at the far end being knocked off and removed from the Balcony entirely.

The second Action they can take is acquire a Business Permit tile. This is where the cards players have in hand and the Counselors in the Balcony come into play. The more cards discarded from their hand that match the Counselors in the Balcony, the fewer coins the player must pay to appease the Council. The cost in coins is 10 if they discard one card, 7 if they discard two, 4 if they discard thee, or 0 if they discard four.

The third action is to use a Business Permit, letting them place one of their small Merchant figures in the city that the Permit represents.

The final Main Action is to call for help from the Queen. However, the Queen’s time is valuable, and it can be expensive to gain her attention. But if they’re willing to pay the price, the Queen can cut through the middle-management of the Council and let a player place a Merchant figure in the selected city. Placing Merchants in a city gives a bonus specific to each city. Also, if the new Merchant is placed so that they connect to other cities where the player has Merchant figures already, they will receive the bonus from all those other interconnected cities as well.

Along with the Main Actions, there are also Quick Actions that can be performed once per turn. These involve spending the Servant tokens players can collect. Quick Actions include electing a Councilor (just like the Main Action), or changing out one Business Permit for another. If they so choose, a player can spend three Servants in order to take an extra Main Action. Maintaining a ready workforce of Servants to help expand a player’s trading empire is key.

The final round of the game starts when a player has placed their 10th and final Merchant miniature on the board. That player finishes their turn, and then every other player gets one last turn to try and expand their trade empire. Afterward, Victory Points are awarded for various achievements, such as having the most Business Permit tiles, or gaining Victory Points from Bonus tiles they’ve acquired throughout the game. The player with the most Victory Points at the end is the winner. In the case of a tie, the player with the most Servants and Politics cards is the winner.

Council of 4 is all about manipulating the board to play to a player’s advantage. Through controlling the various Councils, and strategic use of the Queen to get what they want, players can build up a large trading network. Adding to it will only grant them further bonuses, allowing them to expand out even faster. The CMON edition of the game includes entirely updated components. The artwork has been redone by Giovanna Guimarães and the game boards were retouched with an easy-to-read layout. Plus, the Merchant and Counselor figures have been upgraded to beautifully sculpted miniatures, with 73 total figures coming in the game. Council of 4 will be available at your FLGS in Q1 of 2018!

Jason "Polar Bear" Koepp is a Content Producer for CMON and Editor in Chief of the Tabletop Gaming News website. He lives in Atlanta where he enjoys baking and sharing the results with the others in the CMON offices.