Q: I'm confused on how to score points for my secondary prophecy card? Is each one I get correct worth 2 or 5 points?

A: If the first token locked matches that shown on the top of a player’s secondary prophecy card, they receive 2 points. If the last token to move into a color prior to the end of the game matches that shown on the bottom of a player’s secondary prophecy card, they receive 2 points. Only if they match both in the correct order (i.e. you don’t get points if the guy you wanted last gets locked first) does the player get the extra bonus point- for a total of 5 possible points for the card.

Q: What’s the point of playing on the underground? Aren’t my efforts best used to obtain and spend influence?

A: Unlike many other games, turn order is crucial to your success in COF. There are times when it will be imperative to go first, and times when you want nothing more than to go last. Going first allows you to dominate the successor track even if your opponents have more influence tokens than you.

Going last allows you to determine how much influence is in play at each location, as well as allowing you to play the last card of the round (no one else will be able to play a power that thwarts this card). Neglecting the underground is a surefire way of losing.

Q: I don’t seem to have enough tokens to influence everything the way I want to. Am I doing something wrong?

A: Pick your battles carefully. In COF the other players will not always be your enemies. In some cases they will be working for the same single goal (i.e. moving the archbishop toward pious) even though their overall goals are different. Watch how and where they play. When possible try and get other people to do the work for you, allowing you to focus on other areas.

Q: When using William Westcott’s power to exchange himself with any of the sorcerers’ discarded powers, does the exchanged card come in face down or face up?

A: Since only one card may be flipped and only one power used for each card played, the exchanged card must be placed face down. It can be flipped and its power used in a subsequent play.

Q: If two successors are locked on a single turn, how do you determine which one counts first for purposes of the secondary prophecy cards?

A: Whichever stones were placed on the track first will determine which successor counts as the first to be locked. If a player sacrifices their highest card to lock a successor already on the colored square, that successor will supersede the order determined by the stones since the pawn is immediately moved.

Q: If the game ends with more than one successor moving into a colored square on the last turn, how do you determine which one counts as the last one for purposes of fulfilling the secondary prophecy card?

A: Whichever tokens were laid on the board last determine this. Remember, if a successor pawn is already on a colored square at the beginning of the turn, it doesn’t count in this determination.

Q: When a player destroys his/her highest card to lock a successor, this causes only two cards to go into their discard pile at the end of the turn while three cards are returned to their hand. Won’t this cause problems down the road?

A: No. It is true that at the start of the subsequent turn the player will have four cards in their hand and only two cards in the discard. However, after this transitional turn the player will end up with three cards in their discard pile and three cards in their hand for the rest of the game.

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