Abbatissa

In the southern border of the West Frankish kingdom, Wilfred the Hairy was appointed to govern several counties in 870. To repopulate the abandoned territories of Ausona and connect his Pyrenean and maritime territories, he sponsored the foundation of a monastery in the Sant Joan valley, to which he gave his daughter Emma, who became its first abbess. Abbatissa is a two-player game that simulates the conflicts between Abbess Emma of the Monastery of Sant Joan and her brothers from the houses of Barcelona-Ausona and Cerdanya-Besalú. One player will take the role of the abbess (abbatissa) and the other the role of the nobles (nobilitas). The abbess's goal is to maximize the monastery's properties, thus fulfilling the repopulation objective of its foundation. The objective of the nobilitas is to profit from the expansion of the monastery by obtaining privileges over its lands and influence over its abbess (prestige and control). The engine of the game is a shared deck of cards. At the beginning of each turn, the top card of the deck is activated and whoever has the initiative can choose whether to use its text or value. Activating a card for its value grants a certain number of action points (AP) that can be used to perform one or more actions from among the available ones. Players can repopulate territories, found churches and obtain property rights over different places but also exert influence in the various courts to dispute these rights judicially and ask for favors from the king or the pope. The text of the cards represents important characters and events related to Emma and the conflicts with her brothers. Cards continue to be revealed and activated until the “Death of Emma” card is activated. At this point the game ends and the victory conditions are checked. Cards continue to be revealed and activated until the “Emma’s Death” card is activated. At this point, the game ends and the victory conditions are checked. —description from the publisher