Assaultous Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the game
• Setup
  • Setup summary
• Sequence of play
  • 1. Roll a die and gain resources
    • Tile conditions and timing
    • Terrain tiles
  • 2. Perform actions
    • Moving Pieces
    • Purchasing/Placing piece(s) and/or Barracks
    • Purchasing a Tactics card
    • Playing a Tactics card
    • Using the Port
• Combat
  • 1. Solving the Tower
  • 2. Comparing the Strength
  • 3. End of the Combat
• Tactics Cards

Components

• 24 Terrain Tiles (11 types): 1 Capital (blue), 1 Capital (red), 2 Cities, 2 Arsenals, 2 Trade Routes, 2 Ports, 2 Watch Towers, 4 Villages, 4 Mines, 2 Planes, 2 Lakes
• 44 pieces (4 types and 2 colors each): 2 Commanders, 12 Workers, 24 Army units, 6 Towers
• 16 Tactics Cards (6 types)
• 2 Quick Reference Cards
• 32 Resource Counters (2 types): 12 Gold cubes, 12 Iron cubes
• 6 Barracks Chips
• 1 Die

Object of the game

A player who achieves one of the following will win the game.

• Remove opponent's Commander.
• Take control of opponent's Capital.

Setup

1. Each player chooses a color and takes all the pieces of that color.
2. Shuffle the terrain tiles except "Capital", "City", "Arsenal", "Trade Route" and "Port". Place all the terrain tiles as indicated in the Setup summary.
3. Each player places the Commander, 2 Workers and an Army unit on their Capital tile.
4. Each player separates the 3 Towers and places them next to the tiles.
5. Shuffle the Tactics cards well and place them next to the tiles.
6. Place the Barracks next to the tiles.

Setup summary

Place the City, Trade Route, Arsenal, Port and Capital tiles as shown in the Setup summary diagram. Place the remaining terrain tiles randomly in the middle (marked "Place Randomly").

Sequence of play

Both players roll a die. The one who has the higher number goes first.

A turn goes as below.

1. Roll a die and gain resources. (Except the first turn for each player.)
2. Perform actions. Optionally do the following action(s) in any order you like:
   • Move piece(s) (up to twice a turn)
   • Purchase/Place piece(s) and/or Barracks
   • Purchase a Tactics card
   • Play a Tactics card
   • Use the Port

1. Roll a die and gain resources

Except if this is your first turn in the game, roll a die at the beginning of your turn.

Both players check the tiles on which their pieces are placed, and gain a resource cube if they meet the conditions written on the tiles.

You can gain only one resource cube per tile. Even if you placed more than one Worker on a tile, it still gives you only one resource.

Some tiles give you a chance to gain resources only during your turn. This is indicated by a symbol written next to the tile name.

The Watch Tower tile gives a chance to gain an extra movement instead of a resource cube.

Resource gain example: During the blue player's turn, the player rolls the die. Both players check the tiles which their pieces are placed on.

1. The blue player gains one Gold cube from the City (even though two Workers are placed on the City, still he can gain only one), and also gains one extra move from the Watch Tower, since the tile needs any piece (not necessarily a Worker). However, the player cannot gain resources from the Trade Route, because two Workers are needed on that tile to meet the resource gain condition.
2. The red player gains one Gold cube from the Village.

Tile conditions and timing

Condition to use the ability:

• At least one Worker is placed.
• At least two Workers are placed.
• Any piece is placed (or no condition symbol is shown).

Timing of the effect:

• Symbol of two players: gain effect each player's turn.
• Symbol of one player with a cross: gain effect only on your turn.
• No symbol is mentioned: gain effect only on your turn.

Each tile shows a Tile Capacity (the number in the hexagon at the top of the tile), which is the maximum number of pieces that may be placed on it, and a Bonus Strength (the number in the shield at the bottom of the tile), which is added to the Defender's Strength in Combat.

Condition and Cost on a tile:

• Corresponding face of the die rolled (the die faces are listed on the tile).
• Pay two Gold cubes.
• Pay two Iron cubes.

Effect on a tile:

• Gain one Gold cube.
• Gain one Iron cube.
• Gain one Gold or one Iron cube.
• Gain one extra move this turn.

Terrain tiles

The tile details below are read from the printed tiles. Capacity is the number at the top of the tile; Bonus Strength is the number on the shield at the bottom, where one is printed.

• Capital (blue and red, 1 each): Capacity 5. Bonus Strength 3. Condition: any piece placed. Timing: only on your turn (no timing symbol is shown). Purchase options printed on the tile: pay 2 Gold for a Worker, pay 3 Iron for an Army unit, pay 5 Gold for a Tactics card.
• City (2): Capacity 5. Bonus Strength 1. Condition: at least one Worker placed. Die faces 1, 2, 3 and 4 each give one Gold cube. Timing: each player's turn.
• Arsenal (2): Capacity 5. Bonus Strength 1. Condition: at least one Worker placed. Die faces 1, 2, 3 and 4 each give one Iron cube. Timing: each player's turn.
• Trade Route (2): Capacity 4. Condition: at least two Workers placed. Die faces 1 through 6 each give one Gold or one Iron cube. Timing: only on your turn.
• Port (2): Capacity 4. Condition: at least one Worker placed. The Port is used by exchanging resources (see "Using the Port" below). Timing: only on your turn (no timing symbol is shown).
• Watch Tower (2): Capacity 4. Condition: any piece placed. Die faces 1 and 6 give one extra move this turn (instead of a resource cube). Timing: only on your turn (no timing symbol is shown).
• Village (4): Capacity 4. Condition: at least one Worker placed. Die faces 1, 2 and 3 each give one Gold cube. Timing: each player's turn.
• Mine (4): Capacity 4. Condition: at least one Worker placed. Die faces 4, 5 and 6 each give one Iron cube. Timing: each player's turn.
• Plain (2, printed on the box as "2 Planes"): Capacity 5. No resource or ability is printed on the tile.
• (2): Capacity 0. No piece can be placed on or moved to a Lake.

2. Perform actions

You can optionally perform the following actions. Actions don't have any specific order and you can even perform other actions in between. Except for moving pieces, you can perform actions as many times as you like.

E.g. Move Pieces → Purchase and place a piece → Move Pieces.

Moving Pieces

You can move pieces twice a turn.

Moving any number of pieces from one tile to another adjacent tile counts as one move.

You can move any combination of pieces. However, a Tower can't be moved once placed.

Each tile has a certain capacity (maximum number of pieces which can be placed on it). You can't make a move exceeding it, but enemy pieces on the destination tile do not count toward capacity.

You can move all the pieces away from your Capital, leaving it empty. However, in this case, you will not be able to purchase pieces or Tactics cards at the Capital. Hence leaving at least one piece at the Capital is recommended.

If any enemy piece has already been placed on the destination tile, you have to solve the Combat before completing the move.

In a typical Combat scenario, the player having more Army units wins and removes all the pieces from the other player. If both players have the same number of Army units, remove all the pieces from both players on the tile.

A move to a tile on which enemy pieces are placed must be done with at least one Army unit or Commander. You can read the details about Combats in the "Combat" section.

If all the pieces on the tile were removed as the result of a move or combat, remove Barracks (a kind of building you can place on a tile). Also remove the Barracks from the tile if the owner of the pieces on the tile has changed.

Piece move example 1: The blue player moved two Army units to the adjacent Plain tile at a time. This counts as one move since it involves adjacent tiles. Next, the blue player moved two Army units and one Worker to an adjacent Mine tile. However, the Tower cannot be moved, as Towers cannot be moved once placed.

Piece move example 2: The blue player is planning to move two Army units on the Barracks to the adjacent Mine tile. In this case, blue can remove the red piece since blue has more Army units than red. However, because of this move, the Barracks will be removed since no piece is left on it. Instead, if only one Army unit is moved to the Mine, the Barracks will not be removed because there will be one Army unit left. Still, this move makes both blue and red remove an Army unit from the Mine since the Strength is even.

Purchasing/Placing piece(s) and/or Barracks

You can use resources to purchase pieces and/or Barracks. Also each player can place up to 3 Towers throughout a game without cost.

Purchased pieces are immediately placed onto the tile where the purchase is completed (Capital or Barracks).

Barracks can be purchased and placed on any tile where you have a piece. The Barracks override the original properties of the tile.

Tower pieces can be placed onto any tile where you have a piece.

You can't purchase or place a piece exceeding the tile capacity.

Purchase and placement costs, as printed in the table:

Piece	Cost	Where to purchase and place
Tower	None (cannot be purchased)	At any tile which has your piece.
Commander-icon row (see note)	2 Gold cubes	At the Capital.
Army unit (sword)	3 Iron cubes	At the Capital or Barracks.
Barracks	3 Gold cubes	At any tile which has your piece.

Note on the table: the printed row for the 2-Gold purchase shows the flag icon used for the Commander on the component list. The Capital tile prints the same 2-Gold purchase next to the Worker (pickaxe) icon, and the Quick Reference card lists "Worker: can be purchased at Capital with 2 Gold cubes". This transcription follows the Quick Reference card and the Capital tile: the 2-Gold purchase is for a Worker. The printed table has no separate Worker row.

Purchasing example: 1. The red player purchased Barracks and an Army unit at the Barracks at the end of his turn. 2. The blue player has to react to the situation, since he has his Commander on a tile adjacent to the Barracks. Since the blue player doesn't have any Army unit nearby and no tile which would let him place a new Army unit, he decides to solve the situation by placing a Tower rather than moving his Commander.

Purchasing a Tactics card

You can use the resources to purchase a Tactics card. Tactics cards may give you a chance to change the situations dynamically.

Tactics cards can be purchased only at the Capital. When you purchase, draw 2 Tactics cards from the Tactics card pile and choose one to add to your hand. Discard the other one face-down (so that you don't have to show the card that has been discarded).

If there's only one Tactics card left in the pile, add all the discarded cards to the pile and shuffle them.

Cost: 5 Gold cubes, at the Capital.

Playing a Tactics card

Tactics cards can be played according to the timing written on the card.

Generally, you can play a Tactics card during your turn and its effects are immediate. However, some Tactics cards can be used only according to a specific timing and the effect is delayed as written on the card.

Tactics cards are discarded once played.

Playing tactics card example: Because of the +3 Strength bonus, attacking the Capital is not very easy. The red player has only two Army units and it seems impossible to beat down the blue Capital. However, the red player used a Tactics card "Siege Engine", reducing the Capital's Strength bonus to 0. This makes it possible for two Army units to take the Capital by assault.

Using the Port

If you have a Worker on a Port, you can exchange resource cubes. Exchange is done at the Port:

Cost	Receive
2 Iron cubes	1 Gold cube
2 Gold cubes	1 Iron cube

Combat

When moving pieces, if there are any enemy pieces on the destination tile, both players will have to combat before the move is completed. A player who has just moved a piece is called the Attacker, while the player having pieces on the destination tile is called the Defender.

A Combat is solved by comparing the Strength of the Attacker's and Defender's army. In general, the Strength is the number of Army units, and the one having more pieces removes all the other's pieces on that tile. A Commander counts as 2 Army units during a Combat.

Plus, if the Defender's tile has a Bonus Strength shield, the Defender adds the number on the shield to the Strength.

Combat overview:

1. Solving the Tower
2. Comparing the Strength
3. End of the Combat

1. Solving the Tower

If the Defender has a Tower on the destination tile, the Tower has to be solved in advance.

Each Tower removes an Attacker's Army unit as well as the Tower itself.

As the Commander counts as two Army units, solving a Tower to a Commander results in the Commander being counted as only one Army unit until the end of the Combat (if 2 Towers are solved to a Commander, the Commander will be removed, thus ending the game).

However, if the Commander and Army units are moved together, you have to solve the Tower by an Army unit.

The Tower cannot be solved using Workers.

The solved Tower is removed from the game and cannot be reused.

Solving Tower example 1: The blue player is planning to move his Commander and Army units from the Watch Tower to an adjacent Mine tile. The Mine tile has an enemy Tower and thus removes one blue Army unit at the beginning of the Combat. 2. The blue player decides to move only the Commander to the Mine instead of moving both the Commander and Army units. With this move, the Tower is solved by a Commander and blue will succeed without losing his piece.

Even if there is no Defender piece left on the tile after solving the Tower, the Strength bonus of the tile is still active until the end of the Combat.

However, a tile with no pieces left after the end of the Combat will have no owner, and hence the next move to the tile will not cause a Combat (even if it's the same turn).

Solving Tower example 2: 1. The red player is planning to move to the Capital with two Army units. The Capital is defended by just one Tower, but also has a +3 Strength bonus. Both red Army units will be removed, since this Strength bonus is active until the end of the Combat even when the Tower has been removed. 2. Instead, red decides to move two Army units separately to the Capital. The first move to the Capital removes both the Tower and the Army units. The Capital is now empty. 3. The second move to the Capital makes the red player win without a Combat, since the Capital has no pieces on it.

2. Comparing the Strength

Both Attacker and Defender calculate their respective Strengths, and the one with higher Strength removes all the other player's pieces from the tile.

The Attacker's Strength is the number of Army units. The Defender's Strength is the number of Army units plus the value of the Bonus Strength shield, if one is printed on the tile. A Commander counts as 2 Army units (except if the Tower has been solved by a Commander).

If both the Attacker and the Defender's Strength are the same, remove all the pieces from both sides.

Workers do not count towards Strength, and if both the Attacker and the Defender have the same Strength, all the Workers are also removed. If only the Defender's Tower and the Attacker's Workers are left at this stage, remove all the Workers.

If both the Commanders are removed at the same time in this phase, the Defender wins the game.

Strength comparison example: 1. The red player moves his Commander and two Army units from the Plain to the Arsenal. The expected Strength is Red 4 (Army 1 × 2 + Commander 2), Blue 3 (Commander 2 + Bonus 1), and the red player seems to be winning the game. 2. However, the blue player uses an "Ambush" Tactics card, placing an Army unit on the destination tile. This makes the Strength reach the same value. Since the Defender wins the game when both Commanders are removed at the same time, blue wins the game.

3. End of the Combat

If the Attacker wins the Combat, move all pieces to the Defender's tile. If the Defender had a Barracks on the tile, remove it immediately.

Tactics Cards

Tactics cards are discarded once played. Each card's Timing and Effect is as printed.

• Assault (quantity 4). Timing: anytime during your turn. Effect: you gain an extra move (Moving piece) this turn.
• Assassination (quantity 2). Timing: anytime during your turn. Effect: remove any piece controlled by your opponent, with the exception of a Commander or a Tower.
• Spy (quantity 2). Timing: anytime during your turn. Effect: you receive all Gold and Iron cubes from your opponent.
• Ambush (quantity 2). Timing: just after your opponent moved his pieces. Effect: place an Army unit onto a tile which your opponent has just moved.
• Diversion (quantity 2). Timing: anytime during your turn. Effect: choose a tile your opponent controls and an adjacent tile. The owner of the tile must move at least one piece to the chosen adjacent tile next turn.
• Siege Engine (quantity 4). Timing: anytime during your turn. Effect: reduce the Bonus Strength shield of a tile which your opponent controls to 0 until the end of the turn. Or remove up to 2 Army units from a tile which your opponent controls. (You can choose which effect to use.)

Note: the printed Assassination card reads "with the exception of [Commander] or [Tower]". The Ambush card reads "Place an [Army unit] piece onto a tile which your opponent has just moved". Card icons are rendered here as words.