The Old King's Crown · Board game rules
What happens when you need to draw but the deck and discard are empty?
Quick answer
You incur Attrition: shuffle your Discard Pile (even if empty) to form a new Deck, reduce your Hand Size by 1 (but not below 3), and attempt to draw to reach your new Hand Size. If no cards are available, your Hand Size is reduced (if possible), and you proceed with your current hand.
Details
When a player must draw a card but their Deck is empty, they incur Attrition [p.16 — Attrition]. The process is as follows:
- Shuffle Discard Pile: Combine your Discard Pile with any existing Deck cards (if applicable) and shuffle to form a new face-down Deck. If the Discard Pile is empty, the new Deck remains empty.
- Reduce Hand Size: Rotate your Hand Size Marker clockwise by one position, lowering your Hand Size by 1. This cannot drop below the minimum of 3 [p.47 — Hand Size]. If already at 3, this step is skipped.
- Draw Cards: Draw from your (now potentially empty) Deck until your Hand reaches the new Hand Size. If the Deck is empty, no cards are drawn, and your Hand remains as-is. If your Hand exceeds the new size after reduction, discard down to the limit [p.47 — Exceeding Hand Size].
Watch out: If your Hand Size is reduced but you cannot draw (due to an empty Deck), you retain your current cards but must discard excess ones if your Hand exceeds the new size. For example, if your Hand Size drops from 4 to 3 and you hold 4 cards, discard 1. If you hold 2 cards, you keep them despite the Hand Size being 3.