Mercenaries: How to Handle the Hired Help:
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Written by Botherbug
A basic guide to using mercenaries for new players.
-=Mercenaries: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly=-
Your starting hand in VEmpire The Kings of Darkness consists of your King
and 9 Mercenaries. The beauty of this game is that these little fellows can
help you build your empire, but then will bring you to ruin if you show them
any loyalty
Let me explain.
-=The Good=-
You need currency to „buy the Lords, Ladies, Locations, Artifacts and Spells
from the Market Place that will bring you victory, this currency is called
Guldens. Each time you „spend a mercenary you will get one Gulden to help buy
a stronger card for your deck. Each card spent will go to the discard pile and
then to your deck once you run out of cards. So, spending a card does not mean
you lose it, you will see that card again! So, mercenaries dont go away on
their own.
Also, if you dont have enough „spend points in your hand to buy a card, you
can get more mercenaries at no cost to help you make a purchase. These extra
little soldiers will also go to your discard pile and then into your deck.
-=The Bad=-
You need Empire points to hold your opponent at bay. The more cards you can
„Empire the harder it will be for your opponent to reduce you to zero, thus
stealing victory from your greedy grasp! Mercenaries, when placed in your
Empire have no value at all. Thats right, they dont add a single point to
your total! After all theyre just hired help!
-=The Ugly=-
As the game progresses its important to get those high value „spend or
attack cards in your hand. You only get a 5 card hand each round so drawing
„high yield cards is crucial to sealing your opponents fate!
With the mercenaries still hanging around in your deck the chance of being
flooded with „non-essential soldiers can devastate your plans.
-=The Strategy=-
The trick, and the strategy, is knowing when to Empire a mercenary (essentially,
get him off your payroll) so that the cards youve been buying to seal your
victory will show up in your hand more often. You can Empire one mercenary per
round, so if you dont start getting rid of them in the early stages these guys
will be around to haunt you in the late game.
For the most part, the Lords, Ladies, and Locations you buy will give you
more Guldens than a single mercenary would, so one strategy can be to get
rid of a little guy each time you buy a higher value card. However, most
Spells wont help you get Guldens when they show up in your hand, and you
may wish you had a little extra cash to throw around!
In the end its your strategy, and your game style that will determine not
only the fate of the mercenaries you control, but also, the fate of your
Empire. Good Luck to you!
