In Blood of a King the object of the game is to wound your opponent's King 3 times. Each player starts with a deck of 12 cards, 10 Warrior cards numbered 0-9, 1 King card numbered 10, and 1 Witch card numbered 11. A round begins by each player dealing out five card onto the play surface from left to right. The cards have a silhouette of an Axe or a Shield along the long edge of the card. When the edges of the cards line up they will either match axes, shields, or have no match. The number of Axes is your attack strength, the number of shields your defense. If you have more Axes than you opponent has Shields, you have wounded their tribe. See what their highest numbered card is. If it is a Warrior, remove the card from play. If it is the King, give them one of your matching wound cards. If it is their Witch, remove their Witch from play, but also remove your lowest Warrior card.
If the initial draw of cards results in a tie, each player plays another card to the right of the last card played. Count Axes and Shields again, and follow the above results.
If your tribe is going to be wounded by your opponent you may CALL UPON THE BERSERKS! When you Call Upon The Berserks you may draw one card and play it to either end of your row of cards. You may do this only once per round and the Berserk card will be removed from play after the round.
Continue playing rounds until one player has received the three wound cards from their opponent.
—from the publisher