Interregnum Boardgame Core Game Rules

Daniel Newby 2014

Page 20 of 20Interregnum Boardgame Core Game Rules

Daniel Newby 2014

Page 20 of 20

Interregnum

A board game about taking power by any means necessary.

Core Game Rules Version 2.1, June 2014 ( Daniel Newby)

Interregnum1

Introduction (In Times Before)2

Chapter 1: Setting Up3

What you should have3

Set-up Order3

Placing Tiles and Capitals4

Games with Fewer Players5

Chapter 2: Game Objectives6

Guilds6

Economical Power (Resources)7

Cultural Power8

Victory by Guild Support8

Victory by Conquest8

Chapter 3: The Game Board9

Territories9

Settlements10

Units12

Chapter 4: Structure of Play13

Game Phases13

Initiative14

Combat and Battle Order14

Chapter 5: Core Game Facets16

Exhaustion16

Alliances16

Voting17

Event Cards18

Trading18

Recycling18

Guild Support19

Volleys19

Sieges20

Introduction (In Times Before)

For a full century the kingdoms of the land, although each unique and solitary, were counselled by a diplomatically elected group composed of the most learned scholars, wisest clergy and peaceful elders elected by the smallfolk and overseen by a triad of royal houses, the family Primitus, the house Secundus and the clan Tertia.

It wasn't without it's problems but for the most part peace reigned amongst all the great houses, procured through a precarious balance of the three royal families that they plead allegiance to. No one house or guild could become too powerful, as they were all subject to the same governance and regulation as each other. Drive was the price to pay for this serene time and the smallfolk paid it gladly they were without any other understanding of life, without need to compete, and their lives were decidedly content.

The royal lines were all but squashed on what should have been an uneventful June day.

The patriarch of the Primitus family was found dead in his wash room, poisoned; his lineage destroyed by a calculated and purposeful campaign of assassination over that single day.

The queen of the Secundus house committed suicide amidst her gardens, after taking the lives of her young children and servants.

The chief and heirs of the Tertia clan mysteriously vanished, without trace.

Although an effort was made to link the litany of crimes, it was futile in the end. All three royal lines were seemingly extinguished by unrelated tragedy and little could be definitively proven otherwise.

In the year since, things have dramatically shifted, unlike anyone would have previously thought possible. Now that the life of the people is less controlled it has become increasingly more chaotic prone to bouts of both fortune and ill luck at a moments notice. The proletariat, the smallfolk and the voiceless are now without stewardship except their own but decades of organisation under a kinder regime softened what would have otherwise been a hell upon the land. Factionalism, under guilds of nearly all pursuit, is now as common as family loyalty once was.

They look for leaders. Where once stood mighty heroes instead stands selfish officials. Hardly a comparison can be made between the two generations but the people, the guilds and the lesser houses still look for guidance.

Pirates have begun marauding along the coasts, tribesmen of the higher peaks have descended, powerful houses have started to gather support and corrupt merchants and diplomats struggle to assert their force. Amidst secret societies, riled ex-royals, ignominious augurs and renowned outlaws the voices of reason continue to grow ever slighter. The lands are entering a period of turmoil unlike any seen in the past century and the last hope for any preservation of culture is for immediate unification, under any banner the banner of whoever can accrue the greatest support of the kingdoms.

Now is a time for the powerful those of unparalleled political, military and economical might to stand up, to bring order and rule the once-lawful lands that have sunk into pandemonium during this interregnum.

Chapter 1: Setting Up

What you should have

56 guild cards, 50 settlement cards, 50 event cards, 10 hero cards, 6 initiative cards64 territory tiles (split: 18 plain, 20 ocean, 16 forest, 10 mountain)6 capital tokens (1 in each colour) and 86 settlement pieces/tokens (21 in each colour) 600 counters, 100 in each colour (split: 30 resource, 25 soldier, 25 fake units, 15 archer, 5 builder) In each colour: 10 cavalry pieces, 5 siege weapon, 5 ship pieces, 1 hero unit standA cloth bag containing 50 folded settlement names30x Heavy unit movement and 30x volley declaration tokens (5 in each colour of both)6x Unit reference, 1x Phase order reference, 1x Battle order reference

Set-up Order

1. Assemble draw areas: Players should place all the resources into a 'resource bank'. This resource bank should be within reasonable reach of every player. Players place all their individual unit tokens and pieces into an area known as their 'reserve unit area'.

2. Adjust for players: Consult the table in the section 'games with fewer players' at the end of this chapter if less than six people are involved in the game. Remove the appropriate amount of guild cards and territory tiles listed in the table and place them aside.

3. Shuffle cards: Separate the assigned guild cards from the drawn guild cards (assigned guild cards have a hero symbol on the reverse instead of the Interregnum logo). Place all cards (guild, settlement, event, hero, initiative) into individual decks and shuffle them. Place all card decks in to an area that is within reasonable reach of every player. Additionally you may take this opportunity to shuffle territory tiles and place them aside for now.

4. Draw hero cards: Players take it in turns, beginning with the oldest player and moving left, to take the top hero card from the pile. After drawing a hero card players may choose their army colour.

5. Ready starting pieces: Players take a appropriate number of units (as listed under 'starting units' on their hero card) from their reserve unit area, as well as locating their assigned guild card/s (the guild card listed under 'starting guild support' on their hero card). Players then take one of each resource type from the resource bank, and any additional resources listed on their hero card (under 'starting economy'). Finally each player should take their capital token (one), heavy unit movement tokens (five), volley tokens (five) and settlement pieces (twenty-one), putting all aside until needed.

6. Draw initiative: The first round initiative is drawn instead of rolled as with every other round. Players take it in turns, beginning with the youngest player and moving left, to draw an initiative card. The player with the highest number initiative card (ordered from 1 to 6) acts first, then the player with the next highest and so on.

7. Placement: Players draw and take it in turns (in order of initiative) to place territory tiles to create the game board and roll for placement of their initial settlement, as detailed in the 'placing' section of this chapter.

8. Begin play: The first round begins in the logistics phase instead of the cultural phase.

Placing Tiles and Capitals

Placing the Board

Take the shuffled territory tiles and deal them, one a time, to every player until all tiles have been dealt. Some players may have an extra tile.

In order of initiative players take it in turns to place tiles as territories and form the game board.

The first 4 tiles placed should be the corners of the game board and the following 24 tiles should be either placed adjacent to these corners, or a previously placed tile, to form the far layer (as detailed in the image below). Afterwards players should place 20 tiles inside this outer central layer, adjacent to the already placed tiles, to form the central layer. The next 12 tiles placed should be placed adjacent to and inside these tiles, forming the inner central layer. The last 4 tiles should form the core of the board, a 4x4 square in the middle of all other tiles. Once all tiles have been placed you may move on to placing initial settlements.

Shape of the Game Board

The diagram to the left shows the placement of layers when laying tiles to form the game board. The largest red layer is the 'far layer'. The second largest blue layer is the 'outer central layer'. The second smallest green layer is the 'inner central layer'. The smallest 4x4 cyan layer is the 'core'.When the game has fewer than six players some of these layers are ignored during tile placement.

Placing Initial Settlements and Forces

After the board is formed players must place their initial settlement and forces to the board. Beginning with the player with the highest initiative card, players take it in turn to roll longitude and latitude to determine the starting location of their settlement.

Roll a d10 die twice. If either die result is higher than the number of tiles the board is long or tall (e.g. a result of 9 or 10 for the standard 8x8 board) then reroll it. Take the first result (longitude) and count (from the bottom-left corner tile relative to where you are sitting) horizontally across until you reach the tile that equals the result. Take the second result (latitude) and count from this tile vertically until you reach the territory that equals the result.

You may choose to place your initial settlement upon this territory or any territory adjacent to it as long as the following conditions are met:

1) The territory is not a forest or ocean territory.

2) The territory is not adjacent to a territory occupied by the initial settlement and forces of another player.

If you meet both then draw a name from the settlement name bag, place it underneath the token and claim the appropriate settlement card. Place all your starting units (including your hero unit) on to this territory.

If the territory and all adjacent territories can not meet both conditions then you may reroll longitude and latitude, continuing to do so until you get a result where the territory or one of the adjacent territories is valid.

Games with Fewer Players

Cards and Tiles to Remove

Number of PlayersCards and Tiles to Remove

2Remove 8 mountain tiles, 12 forest tiles, 14 plain tiles and 14 ocean tiles.10 of the tiles removed should be resource tiles.

You should have 2 mountain tiles, 4 forest tiles, 4 plain tiles and 6 ocean tiles remaining. 4 of the mountain/plain tiles should be resource tiles.Remove 24 cards from the guild card deck

3Remove 4 mountain tiles and 8 tiles of the plain, ocean and forest types (for a total of 28 tiles removed). 6 of the tiles removed should be resource tiles.

You should have 6 mountain tiles, 8 forest tiles, 10 plain tiles and 12 ocean tiles remaining. 8 of the mountain/plain tiles should be resource tiles.Remove 15 cards from the guild card deck

4Remove 4 mountain tiles and 8 tiles of the plain, ocean and forest types (for a total of 28 tiles removed). 6 of the tiles removed should be resource tiles.

You should have 6 mountain tiles, 8 forest tiles, 10 plain tiles and 12 ocean tiles remaining. 8 of the mountain/plain tiles should be resource tiles.Remove 8 cards from the guild card deck

5Do not remove any territory tiles.

Remove 3 cards from the guild card deck

Shape of the Board

For 3-player and 4-player games begin placing tiles in the outer central layer do not place the far layer when placing the game board.

For 2-player games begin placing tiles in the inner central layer do not place either the far layer or the outer central layer when placing the game board.

Other Considerations

Some key game rules (such as the maximum number of settlements each player may have, or the maximum number of new guild cards drawn per round) are adjusted by the number of players in the game.

Chapter 2: Game Objectives

Guilds

Claiming the support of the various guilds is key to winning the game. After all guild cards have been drawn the player with the most guild cards is declared the victor.

Every player begins with at least one guild card (listed on their hero card) and during the cultural phase they may gain others, in one of the following ways:

1) Claim the support of new guild cards (drawn at the conclusion of the previous round's resolution phase)

2) Steal the support of a guild card from a player

To do either a player must take part in a 'vote' (described in chapter 5, 'core game facets') and become the player with the most cultural power pledged to their victory. Regardless of what players are involved in a vote, all players may pledge cultural power to help their allies or hinder the efforts of their enemies.

If a drawn guild card is not claimed by a player it is shuffled back in to the deck. A player must spend at least a single point of cultural power to claim a guild card.

Players may only attempt to steal one guild per round total. This is regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Drawing Guild Cards and Ending the Game

New guild cards are drawn at the conclusion of each resolution phase. If fewer guild cards then the total to be drawn are left in the deck, all are drawn.

A number of guild cards are drawn equal to half the current round (rounded up) plus one.

Guild Cards to Draw

RoundGuild Cards DrawnRoundGuild Cards Drawn

1296

22106

33116*

43126*

54136*

64146*

75156*

85166*

* At no point may you draw more guild cards per round than the total number of players. If you have less than 6 players in the game adjust this table appropriately (e.g. 4 players may not draw more than 4 cards per round so from round 5 onwards they would draw 4 cards in all rounds).

Guild Abilities

Guilds are more than a method to achieve victory. Each guild is capable of a 'guild ability', a service they provide the player whom they have pledged support to, in exchange for the player spending economical or cultural power. These abilities are far-ranging and varied but all provide the player a benefit that they likely would not have had access to normally.

To activate a guild ability a player must 'exhaust' the guild in question. Exhausted guilds may not activate their ability again, until they are refreshed at the conclusion of the round.

Guild abilities can only be activated during the phase or action listed on their card and have either an instant effect, or their effect lasts until the end of round.

Economical Power (Resources)

Resources are economical power. They are spent to produce units, activate guild abilities or traded away in exchange for favours from players or other types of resource. Spent resources are returned to the communal resource bank.

There are four types of resource; food, wood, stone and gold.

Food is used to produce soldier, archer and builder units.

Wood is used to produce or repair ship and siege weapon units.

Stone is used to increase settlement fortification.

Gold is used to produce cavalry units and trade with the resource bank.

Additionally, to found a settlement requires the player spend one of every resource type.

Starting and Maximum Resources

Every player begins with one of each resource type, and some begin with additional resources (as listed on their hero card). At no time may you hold more than fifteen resources total, or more than five of any individual resource type. If you exceed either limit you must immediately discard the excess resources.

Economy Phase

During the economy phase a player can gain new resources. Each player gains one resource (of their own choice) at the beginning of the phase, and may exhaust their settlements to gain the resources listed on the settlement card. Settlements may be exhausted for resources or for cultural power, but not both.

Exhausted settlements are refreshed at the conclusion of the resolution phase.

Cultural Power

Cultural power is a measure of how influential your kingdom is and it can be gained from your hero unit, your settlements or the completion of event tasks. It is used to take part in votes (by betting or bidding on the vote at hand) or to activate the abilities of certain guilds.

You may spend the cultural power of your hero or your settlements by exhausting them although exhausted heroes may not move, attack or use their ability during the round and exhausted settlements may not produce resources during the round.

Settlements may be exhausted for cultural power or resources, but not both.

You may additionally gain temporary cultural power through 'bonus cultural points'. A number of these points (as listed on the card) for the completion of tasks listed on 'event cards' (drawn at the beginning of the cultural phase). These bonus cultural points are gained at the conclusion of the round (if you accomplished any task listed on one of the three drawn event cards) and last until the conclusion of the following round.

You cannot spent 'part' of a hero, settlement or bonus cultural point. Each is worth the listed amount and any in excess of the amount required, or the amount that you wish to spend, is lost.

Victory by Guild Support

If no guild cards are left when it is time to draw new guilds then the game ends and the player with the most guild cards is declared the victor. If multiple players have an equal number of guild cards then tally up each player's cultural power (add together the values of their hero unit and settlement but not any bonus cultural points they may have), economical power (the value of all their remaining resources plus the economical power of each of their settlements) and military power (their total number of units, counting undamaged ships or siege weapons as two units and soldiers as half a unit). The winner in this scenario is whoever has the greatest combined power.

Victory by Conquest

Players may also achieve victory by defeating every other player. A player is considered defeated when their hero unit is dead and all of their settlements (including their capital settlement) have been destroyed.

If you deal the last blow (e.g. you destroy their last settlement, or defeat their hero unit if they have no settlements remaining) you gain all the resources and bonus cultural points that the player had remaining. Defeated players should remove all their units from the game board.

Hero units return at the conclusion of a round as long as a player's capital settlement remains, and a player may reassign their capital settlement at the conclusion of a round, so defeating a player permanently is a difficult undertaking; let alone defeating every player.

Chapter 3: The Game Board

Territories

A territory is a single tile of the game board. Territories are where players place their units and settlements, and where combat occurs. Territories are considered adjacent if any part of them touch, even diagonally, so at most a territory can be surrounded by eight other territories and at minimum it will be adjacent to three.

Occupation, Contention and Settlement

The rules governing unit movement, besieging and retreat are affected by the placement of units and settlements upon territories.

A territory with units placed upon it is considered occupied. It is considered occupied by whatever player has units within that territory. Conversely a territory without units placed upon it is considered unoccupied.

If a territory contains the units of at least two players who do not have a standing alliance it is considered contested. At the end of the campaign phase combat is resolved between units within a contested territory. When moving units out of a contested territory you may only move them to an adjacent unoccupied territory or an adjacent territory occupied by only your own and/or allied units, even if their move would normally allow them to travel further. Moving your units into/through a territory occupied by enemy units (i.e. causing a territory to become contested) ends their move immediately, even if their move would normally allow them to travel further. Forest tiles and any empty territory or territory shared by only allied units is considered uncontested. Combat does not resolve on any tile considered uncontested.

If a territory contains the settlement of any player it is considered settled. Territories not containing a settlement are considered unsettled. A territory may only contain a single settlement at any time. Settlements do not affect whether a territory is contested or uncontested.

Territory Tile Types

The tiles that comprise territories are made up of four distinct types; plain, forest, mountain and ocean. Some of these types affect play, i.e. affecting which units may cross them or the size of settlements built on them.

Additionally plain tiles and mountain tiles may contain a specific type of resource. If a settlement is built upon a tile associated with a resource that settlement gains that extra resource each time it is exhausted as part of a round's economy phase.

Plain: Plain territory tiles are exactly that; plain. They provide no special benefit or penalty to units, except that ship units are incapable of crossing them (unless a port settlement has been built upon a plain tile adjacent to an ocean tile). Settlements may be built upon plain territory tiles, and plain territory tiles may be associated with a resource and benefit settlements.

Ocean: No unit other than a ship unit may enter an ocean territory tile, except when carried by a ship unit. Players may not found settlements on ocean tiles.

Forest: Forest territory tiles are governed by special rules. Whenever your units move into a forest tile you may add any number of 'fake units' (described in chapter 6, 'types of unit') to the tile. You may then, whilst your units remain on forest tiles, move these fake units as if they were real units. If you move any units from a forest tile to a non-forest tile all units from that tile are reversed and the fake units upon it are removed from play. Your units cannot identify other units inside forest tiles, so they are never considered contested; even if two hostile players both have units on the same forest tile. Players may not found settlements on forest tiles and only infantry units may enter forest tiles (i.e. cavalry units or heavy units may not enter a forest tile).

Mountain: Mountain territory tiles affect both units and settlements. Cavalry units and heavy units may not cross mountain tiles. Any unit stepping on to or off a mountain tile ends their move immediately, even if their move would normally allow them to travel further. Archers may not declare volley attacks against mountain tiles. Settlements may be built upon mountain territory tiles, but they may only be fortified up to forts (second level settlements), and mountain territory tiles may be associated with a resource and benefit settlements.

Settlements

Settlements are the cities, towns and villages protected by watch towers, fortresses and mighty castles of the player. Players require settlements to produce units and to gain resources and/or cultural power.

Settlements may be one of three levels, which determine the maximum number of units it may produce per round and how many rounds enemy players will require to besiege and destroy it.

Outposts: Outposts are first-level settlements. A single outpost may produce a single unit during a round's economy phase.

Forts: Forts are second-level settlements. A single fort may produce up to two units during a round's economy phase. Settlements built upon mountain tiles may only be fortified up to second-level at most.

Castles: Castles are third-level settlements. A single castle may produce up to three units during a round's economy phase. Settlements built upon mountain tiles may not be fortified to third-level.

A player may 'fortify' a settlement, as long as they have a builder within the same territory and the territory is uncontested, during the economy phase. If the settlement's territory remains uncontested by the time the resolution phase begins the settlement's level is increased. A settlement may never be higher than third level or lower than first level. A siege or an ability that would cause a settlement's level to be reduced below first level instead destroys the settlement. Destroyed settlements have their associated name returned to the settlement name bag and associated card returned to the settlement card deck.

Economical and Cultural Power

Settlements have varying degrees of economical or cultural power, as determined by their settlement card. A settlement may be exhausted as part of a vote or when activating a guild ability to expend it's cultural power toward the bid or cost, or it may be exhausted as part of an economy phase to gain the resources listed upon the card. Settlement cards, like hero and guild cards, are refreshed during the resolution phase.

Producing Units

Settlements can produce units during the economy phase. For a settlement to be capable of producing units your hero unit must be within the same territory as, or a territory adjacent to , the settlement. A settlement may only produce as many units per round as it's level.

For the purposes of determining the maximum number of units produced soldiers count as half a unit, i.e. two soldiers are produced at once and together they equal a whole unit.

Founding a settlement

A settlement may only be founded on an uncontested plain or mountain territory on which your hero is located, during the economy phase. If the territory remains uncontested by the time the resolution phase begins the settlement is founded. Newly founded settlements are founded as outposts (except in the case of certain hero units). You may not found a settlement within a territory that is already settled (i.e. contains a settlement already), regardless of the ownership of that settlement.

Founding a settlement requires you pay one of each resource type (one food resource, one wood resource, one stone resource and one gold resource). Return these resources to the resource bank.

After founding a settlement a player draws a name from the settlement name bag, places it underneath the settlement token and takes the appropriate settlement card. The settlement card denotes what resources the settlement is worth if you choose to exhaust it during the economy phase, or how much cultural power it is worth if you choose to exhaust it for a vote or to activate a guild ability.

If you have no settlements remaining you may exhaust your hero unit to found a settlement in lieu of paying the normal resource cost.

Ports

A settlement becomes a port if it is founded upon a plains tile adjacent to at least one ocean tile. Ship units may treat port settlements as ocean tiles and move on to them, and builder units may construct or repair ship units at a port settlement.

Capital Settlements

Your initial settlement is designated your 'capital settlement'. Capital settlements are denoted by a special token within the same territory as the settlement. If your capital settlement is ever destroyed or recycled you may assign a new capital settlement during the campaign phase. You may not assign a settlement as a capital settlement if it is within a contested territory.

If you do not have a capital settlement you may not use your hero unit's ability, take part in votes or exhaust a hero unit or settlement for their cultural power.

Settlement Limits

You may not found a new settlement if you already have as many (or more) settlements than the total number of players or the total number of guild cards you possess. Your capital settlement does not count toward this limit.

Units

Units are the game pieces (other than your settlement pieces and declaration tokens) that you place on the game board. They can move (during the logistics phase) around the game board and most (although not all) can take part in combat.

Types and Designations

Every unit belongs to one of the following seven types; hero, soldier, archer, cavalry, builder, ship or siege weapon.

Furthermore some units are categorised into 'military units', 'infantry units' and 'heavy units'.

Military Units: Hero, soldier, archer and cavalry units.

Infantry Units: Hero, soldier, archer and builder units.

Heavy Units: Ship and siege weapon units.

The purposes of these descriptors are described in chapter 6, 'types of unit'.

Attack and Movement

All units except for builder units have an attack value. This is the target result needed on a d10 die for the unit to deal a wound (described in chapter 4, 'structure of play') during combat, i.e. a unit with an attack of 8 would require a result of 8 on a d10 die to deal a wound. Some things can modify (increase or decrease) this die result and make it more or less likely for a unit to deal a wound. Regardless of negative modifiers a unit is never incapable of dealing a wound if it has an attack value on a roll of 10 it will always deal a wound. Some units may make two or three attacks at once and deal more than one wound per round, detailed in their attack entry as a multiplier in parenthesis, e.g. (x2) or (x3).

All units have a move value. This is the number of movements a unit may make during the logistics phase. A single movement consists of the unit moving from one tile to an adjacent tile. Regardless of the number of movements a unit may make if it moves on to, or off, either a contested territory or mountain territory it may no longer make any other movements during the round.

Fake Units

When using the hero 'Ormus the Loremaster' or moving units onto a forest tile you may add fake units to the game board. Fake units appear to be regular units when facing upward but are denoted as fake (by an 'F') on the reverse/base.

You may move fake units as normal but on exiting a forest tile (if playing as any hero other than Ormus the Loremaster) you must remove all fake units from the tile the movement began upon. If fake units are present on a contested tile at the beginning of combat they are automatically removed before any dice are rolled.

Maximum Units

At no point may you have more units than the unit pieces provided with the game. You may not use fake units as additional real units during combat.

Chapter 4: Structure of Play

Game Phases

Phases are the different segments of the game in which actions may be taken and played out. Actions are usually exclusive to the different phases you may not (for example) initiate a trade during the campaign phase, or attack an enemy unit during the logistics phase. Every player advances to the next phase at the same time; at no point will two players be operating in different game phases.

The five phases are:

The Cultural Phase: Every round bar the first round of the game begins in the cultural phase. This is the phase in which guild support is claimed, event cards are drawn, trades are brokered and alignments are altered. The structure of this phase is detailed explicitly in 'Chapter 9: The Cultural Phase'.

The Logistics Phase: In the first round game play begins in this phase. During it you may declare the loading or unloading of units from ship units, the volley attack your archer units or the movement intentions of a heavy unit; as well as the normal movements of your units. The logistics phase is explained in 'Chapter 10: The Logistics Phase'.

The Economy Phase: The third phase is the phase in which you receive resources (by exhausting settlements) and produce units from settlements. You may also found or fortify settlements and declare the repair of heavy units during this phase. Further detail can be found in 'Chapter 11: The Economy Phase'.

The Campaign Phase: The fourth phase is primarily for combat, i.e. units fighting in contested territories and archers completing volley attacks. Of note is that this is the phase in which heroes return if previously defeated, or that you might reassign your capital settlement. This phase is detailed in 'Chapter 12: The Campaign Phase'.

The Resolution Phase: The last phase is primarily for book-keeping and updating the state of the game. Amongst other things; exhausted hero units, settlements and guilds are refreshed, most multi-phase actions are resolved, bonus cultural points are discarded and awarded, guild/event cards are addressed and initiative for the next round is rolled. This is explained in more detail in 'Chapter 13: The Resolution Phase'.

During the cultural or resolution phase players take actions simultaneously as the objective is to get through the phase as quickly as possible. Players must agree to end either of these phases. During the logistics, economy and campaign phase players take it in turns to act, in order of initiative. Once a player declares their turn to be over they may not act again during the phase and the next player in the initiative order may act. Once the last player declares their turn over the next phase begins.

Initiative

Initiative is the order in which the players act during the logistics, economy and campaign phases, as well as during certain actions.

During the first round players determine initiative by drawing cards from the initiative deck, but during every subsequent round players instead roll for initiative. At the end of every resolution phase players return their initiative cards to the deck then roll initiative for the following round; players each roll a d10 die, add any modifiers from hero abilities or guild card abilities and then subtract the value (1-6) of the initiative card they previously held.

The player with the highest result takes the highest numbered initiative card, the player with the second highest result takes the second highest numbered initiative card and so on. If two or more players have a tied result they roll between them to determine who is ahead of the other.

Combat and Battle Order

Units within contested territory enter combat during the campaign phase. Combat is resolved within one territory at a time, starting with the territory that has been contested the longest and ending with the territory that has been contested the least amount of time.

Battle Order

Combat is determined by the 'battle order', an ordered progression of waves in which units attack each other. Every unit part of a wave attacks simultaneously (some units multiple times based on their attack) and damage (wounds) is dealt after all attacks in the wave have been rolled. Each player only ever rolls as many times as their units have attacks. If only one player has units of a particular type then they roll for the wave but the other player doesn't. If neither player has units of the particular wave within the contested territory then the wave progresses.

Builder units may not take part in combat but are still valid targets for receiving wounds and still cause a territory to become contested.

The battle order is as follows:Hero Archer Cavalry Soldier Ship Siege Weapon

E.g. Combat is first resolved between each player's hero units, then between each player's archer units and so on. Player A doesn't have cavalry units but player B does. During the cavalry unit wave player B will roll attacks for all their cavalry units and potentially deal wounds to player A, whilst player A will be unable to do anything for that wave.

Wounds

After wounds are dealt to units players remove any units that received a wound. Heavy units can receive two wounds before being removed from play and are placed on their side in a 'damaged' state once they have received one wound. Most heavy units cannot move or attack once damaged, but can be repaired by a builder unit by paying if one is present in the same territory and it is uncontested. Wounds are always dealt before the battle order wave progresses.

The player whose units received the wounds may choose which units in particular receives each wound, but wounds are dealt in an order of priority. Players must choose units from the same category as follows, unless they no longer have units of that category (e.g. during the archer wave of the battle order the enemy archer units deal wounds but have no archers) then players choose units from the next category for the remaining wounds. If a player has no units remaining in the territory then the remaining wounds dealt to their units.

The wound priority order is as follows:Units of the same type Military designation units Any other units

E.g. During the hero unit wave player A deals two wounds to player B and player B deals one wound. Both players must deal a wound to, and remove from play, their hero unit but then player B (who was dealt an additional wound) much pick any military unit (soldier, archer or cavalry) and remove it from play as a result of the additional wound.

The End of a Cycle

A full progression of the battle order (e.g. from hero units to siege weapon units) is referred to as a 'cycle'. Regardless of the wishes of the players involved at least one battle order cycle always plays out as a result of the units involved attacking before receiving orders. At the conclusion of a cycle one of two things may happen:

1) The territory is no longer contested as a result of units being removed from play.

2) The territory is still contested despite the battle order cycle.

If the second is true each player has three options; to continue to fight, to hold or to retreat.

Fight: Players may select to continue combat with their units, beginning the battle cycle from the 'hero' unit wave again. If at least one player chooses to continue the fight, and others do not, their units may still end up taking part in battles (as detailed below).

Hold: By mutual agreement players may end hostilities within the territory, allowing the territory to remain contested into the next round. If the territory remains contested until the next campaign phase the players may not choose to hold for the first cycle of the battle order (although they may choose to hold again afterwards). If at least one player chooses to fight instead of holding or retreating then every other player must continue to fight or choose to retreat.

Retreat: If a player opts to retreat they may not take part in the following battle order cycle (if all other players choose to retreat or hold then a new battle order cycle doesn't begin), although other players may do so and can deal wounds to the player as they attempt to retreat. The player's units may move to any uncontested adjacent territory, as long as it is both a valid territory for movement (e.g. not an ocean tile if moving soldier units) and is either unoccupied or only occupied by the units of the player or their allies. If more than one player chooses to retreat then players choose territory to retreat to in initiative order. If the territory is not suitable for every unit within the original contested territory (e.g. the player's heavy units may not move on to a mountain tile) then unsuitable units are left in the original territory and are subject to further battle order cycles that happen within it.

Large Scale Combat

If more than two players have units creating a contested territory then all players roll each wave of the battle order together and players take it in turns (in order of initiative) after each wave to assign wounds they deal to players as they please.

Chapter 5: Core Game Facets

Exhaustion

If a unit, settlement or guild is exhausted it cannot be used again during the round. At the end of the round, during the resolution phase, al exhausted cards are 'refreshed' i.e. they are no longer exhausted. The card of exhausted settlements or guilds are placed face down (exhausted hero units are instead placed on their side), turned face up again after being refreshed.

Hero units become exhausted after redeeming themselves for cultural points (as part of a vote or to activate a guild card ability) or after activating their hero ability. Guild cards become exhausted after activating their guild ability. Settlements become exhausted after they are redeemed for economical power (resources), during the economy phase or cultural power, as part of a vote or to activate a guild card ability.

Alliances

An alliance is a formalised agreement between two or more players. More so than a pact of non-aggression (as is common with neighbours), an alliance is a promise to actively support another player or group of players in their effort to succeed.

An alliance must be agreed upon or broken during a cultural phase. Barring hero or guild abilities they cannot be altered at any other time.

Your units may occupy a territory containing the units of a player belonging to your alliance without causing the territory to become contested. Therefore you may freely move your units through territories occupied by allied units. Your units will never engage in combat with, nor can they deal wounds to (in situations where your units and allied units engage in combat with the units of another player), units of a player belonging to your alliance.

If you do not have an alliance with another player that player is deemed 'hostile' or an 'enemy', regardless of your standing relationship in or out of the game.

Maximum Alliance Size

Alliances may never consist of more than half the players (rounded up) in the game, as shown in the table below;

Number of PlayersMaximum Alliance Size

2N/a

32 Players

42 Players

53 Players

63 Players

Victory as an Alliance

If one member of an alliance wins the game then all members of an alliance are considered to have won the game, but the guild cards (and total power, if appropriate) of each player are counted separately when determining the victor of the game.

Voting

Players take part in votes to utilise their cultural power, cultural power they may expend through exhausting their settlements or hero units, to achieve specific goals or actions. Votes can be called for many reasons, such as hero or guild abilities, but they are most often called as part of claiming or stealing guild support during the cultural phase. Players are not forced into votes, they may willingly choose to abstain (opt not to take part in the vote at all).

Beginning with the player with the highest initiative (and proceeding in initiative order) players take it in turns to bet or 'bid' cultural power on various players in an attempt to sway the outcome of a vote. Once the player with the lowest initiative has taken part or abstained the voting returns to the first player and continues in descending initiative order. A player may declare their bid 'finalised' at any time, but afterwards they may not add any additional cultural power to their bids. Once all players have declared their bids finalised the vote ends and the results are tallied the player with the largest amount of cultural power bid on their victory is declared the winner of the vote and receives the reward (when claiming guild support the reward is the guild card that was bid upon but with hero or guild abilities the reward can vary).

During a vote you do not have to bid your own cultural power on yourself, nor must you exclusively bid it on a single player. You may spread your cultural power between players as you please. You may not however split up the value of, nor hold on to, the additional cultural power of a settlement or hero unit you choose to exhaust. If you exhaust a settlement worth two points of cultural power you must bid those two points on the same player.

Once a vote is finished any settlements or hero unit's exhausted to spend their cultural power remain exhausted until they are refreshed at the end of the round, regardless of the outcome of the vote.

E.g. Player B attempts to steal a guild from player C. Player A exhausts their capital settlement for two points of cultural power. They choose to bid these two points on player C they may not choose to split them up. Player B then exhausts their hero unit and chooses to bid the two points of cultural power gained on themselves and declares their bid finalised. Player C chooses to abstain from the vote. Player A then exhausts their own hero unit and chooses to bid an additional point of cultural power on player C. Player C wins the vote, with three points of cultural power versus player B's two, and retains their guild. The hero units and settlements exhausted as part of this vote remain exhausted until the conclusion of the round, when they would normally be refreshed.

If you do not have a capital settlement you may not take part in any vote.

Event Cards

Three event cards are drawn at the start of the cultural phase and discarded at the conclusion of the resolution phase. An event card is a task that can be relatively minor (e.g. 'cause an uncontested territory to become contested') or a relatively difficult undertaking (e.g. 'destroy another player's settlement') they vary drastically. Any player who completes a task listed on an event card gains the number of 'bonus cultural points' listed on the event card.

Bonus cultural points are a temporary form of cultural power, usable as if cultural power gained from a normal source, which expire at the end of each round; so they must be used during the following round or else they are lost.

Trading

During the cultural phase you may initiate up to one trade with another player, or the resource bank. You may be the recipient of any number of trades but you may only initiate the one.

A trade consists of an offer and a response. You set the parameters for the trade (e.g. I'll give you three food resources for two of your gold resources) then the player you have initiated the trade with either accepts or rejects your offer. You are free to discuss potential trades with other players before making them if you distrust them, but only one formal trade offer is allowed per round. If you are rejected your trade is still counted as your one initiated trade for the round. Players are obliged to adhere to the terms of the trade if it is accepted.

Players may even freely give away their resources to allies, or in exchange for promises (e.g. I'll vote in your favour during the your next guild claim) - although whilst players must carry out a trade as agreed, they are not beholden to promises made.

A trade with the resource bank is the direct purchasing of food resources, wood resources or stone resources from groups outside the players in the game. To gain a resource from the resource bank you must return at least two gold resources to the resource bank.

There is no limitation to the size of trades between players but you may only gain one resource per round from the resource bank, regardless of how many gold resources you could or may wish to spend.

Recycling

During any phase, as long as it is your turn, you may choose to 'recycle' your units or settlements. Recycled units or settlements are removed from play. You do not gain any portion of the resources involved in their production/construction as a part of this action unless you possess a hero ability or guild ability that explicitly states so.

Guild Support

The main objective of the game is to gain the support of more guilds than the other players. If you have the support of a guild you may take the guild's associated card (from the guild card deck or the previous owner) and activate it's guild ability when appropriate (as listed on the card). Drawn guild cards are always kept face-up but guild cards still within the deck are kept face-down.

During the cultural phase you can attempt to claim the support of newly drawn guilds (drawn at the end of the phase immediately previous, the resolution phase of the prior round) or attempt to steal a guild that supports another player from that player.

Claiming New Guild Support

Players vote on who claims each guild card drawn in turn, the player with the highest total of cultural power bid upon them claiming the card for their own. Guilds are voted upon in order of when they were drawn but each vote is independent of the others and as with any other vote players who bid upon unsuccessful players do not regain the lost cultural power. Players need not bid upon guild cards at all and any guilds left unclaimed are shuffled back into the guild card deck.

Stealing Existing Guild Support

After all new guilds have been claimed or returned to the deck, players may take it turns (in order of initiative, beginning with the player with the highest) to attempt to steal a guild card from another player. Players are under no obligation to do so but they may only attempt to do so once per round. Once a player has declared their intent a vote begins, in which all players make take part if they wish to, except that the only valid players to bid upon are the player attempting to steal support and the player who currently has the support of the guild.

Volleys

During the logistics phase players may declare 'volley' attacks. A volley attack is declared against any territory occupied by enemy units and adjacent to an uncontested territory occupied by archer units that the player controls.

A player may make any number of volley attacks per round but each territory containing archer units may make only one. Volley attacks may not be declared against mountain territories, nor against or from forest territories.

Declaring a Volley

In the campaign phase, immediately before combat is resolved in any territory, volley attacks are resolved if the territory containing the archer units has remained uncontested. If it has since become contested the volley attack does not resolve and the archer units within take part in the battle order of the newly contested territory as normal.

Resolving a Volley

To resolve a volley, roll attacks and count up wounds as if the archer units within the territory making the volley attack were taking part in combat. All archer units within the territory must take part and roll their attacks. Hostile players with units inside the territory then divide up the wounds between their military units, or any other units if they no longer have military units remaining in the territory. If more than one hostile player has units within the target territory you may split the wounds received between the players.

Sieges

Settlements do not take part in combat nor the battle order. To damage and destroy an enemy settlement you must besiege it, either by occupying the territory with your own units after ousting the units of all hostile players (turning it into an uncontested territory) or by bringing siege weapon units to bear. Either way you reduce the fortification (level) of a settlement by one if you are successful, or destroy it if it was a level one settlement (a settlement cannot be lower than level one).

Regardless of the method sieges are resolved at the beginning of the resolution phase. You may reduce a settlement's fortification by a maximum of two per round, once if you are successful besieging it with siege weapon units and once if you are successful besieging it with other units.

Resolving a Siege (besieging with non-siege weapon units)

If you have occupied a territory settled by another player, and the territory is currently uncontested, you may reduce the fortification of the settlement by one step (e.g. reduce a level two settlement to a level one settlement).

Declaring a Siege (siege weapon units)

If you have siege weapon units within a territory settled by another player, regardless of whether that territory is contested or not, you may declare a siege during the campaign phase before combat is resolved for that territory. If you choose to declare a siege your siege weapon units do not take part in any cycle of the battle order within that territory. They may still receive wounds and be destroyed however.

You may declare to siege within one territory but have your siege weapon units take part in combat in another, the decisions are independent.

Resolving a Siege (siege weapon units)

At the start of the resolution phase you may resolve your siege if your siege weapon units are still intact (i.e. were not removed from play during combat resolution).

Roll a d10 die and add 1 to the result for every siege weapon unit within the territory beyond the first (i.e. +3 if you have four siege weapon units in the territory). If the result equals 10 or greater than the settlement's fortification is reduced by one step (i.e. it's settlement level decreases by one, or it is destroyed it was an outpost).

No other modifiers affect this roll and regardless of the number of siege weapon units you have you may only make it once per territory.

EMBED opendocument.CalcDocument.1

_131606144.unknown