BATTALIA: The Creation Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
  • Crowdfunding Bonus Components
• The World of Battalia
• Card Types
  • Card Anatomy
• Units
• Supply
• Roads
• Artefacts
  • The Ruins
• Great Artefacts
• Other Game Components
  • Game Board
  • Sun Oracle
• Cities
  • City Level Tokens
• Reference Sheets
• Player Dashboards
• Heroes
• Bonus Strength and Time Markers
• Game Setup
• Game Play
• Personal Play Area
• A Player's Turn
  • 1. Announcing Cohort or Mulligan
  • 2. Raise the Ambush Cards
  • 3. Perform Actions
• Add New Cards to a Player's Deck
  • Hire Units
  • Create Artefacts
• Acquiring Great Artefacts
• Build Roads and Cities on the Map
  • Build and Upgrade Cities
  • Build Roads
• Building Rules
• Limited Resources
• Use Artefacts
• Use of the Great Artefacts
• Hire a Hero
• Move a Hero
• Rules for Hero Movement
• Deploying Cards in Ambush
• Conducting a Battle
• Strength in Battle
• Combat Rules
• Heroes Involved in Battle
• Playing Artefacts During Battle
• Attack on a Neutral City
• Attack on the Ruins Guards
• 4. Discard All Cards
• 5. Draw New Hand
• Game End
• Additional Game Rules
  • The Sun Oracle
• Game Scenarios
  • Advanced Game
  • The Unbound
  • Two and Three Player Game
    • 3 Player Game
    • 2 Player Game
  • Alternative Game Scenarios
    • The Bleeding Horn of Destiny
  • Optional Game Modes
  • Online Support

Game Components

• 80 Unit Cards (forming 4 decks, divided per type, not per faction)
• 80 Supply Cards (forming 1 deck - the number is always = to the unit cards in play)
• 84 Artefact Cards (forming 7 decks, divided per type, not per faction)
• 5 Great Artefact Cards (1 card for every ancient object)
• 28 City Cards (forming 5 decks, divided per road connections, not per terrain type)
• 48 Road Cards (forming 4 decks, divided per road connections, not per terrain type)
• 1 Ruins Card (neutral terrain type - placed in the center of the board)
• 1 Game Board
• 1 Sun Oracle (shortly called "ORAC")
• 8 Hero Figures (2 per player/faction - male and female with equal skills)
• 79 City Level Tokens (16 for each player and 8 neutral + 7 universal)
• 4 Reference Sheets (1 for each player - useful player aid for important rules)
• 1 Die (six sided - comes in play only together with the amulets)

Crowdfunding Bonus Components

• 8 Additional Unit Cards (The Unbound, 5th universal faction for custom games only)
• 9 Volcano Cards (Bonus terrain cards for custom scenarios only)
• 5 Extra Great Artefact Cards (1 card for every ancient object)
• 1 Extra Ruins Card (for optional custom games only)
• 4 Player Dashboards + 4 Victory points marker cards (1 for each player)
• 4 Battle Bonus Cards (mark the bonus strength in battle)
• 12 Ring Markers (3 for each player, to use with dashboards or battle bonus cards)
• 4 Time Markers (1 for each player)
• 1 Almanac (story and art book)
• 3 Special Cards - 1 Volcano ruler card, 1 Unbound Buff master card (usable only with the Unbound Buff figure - sold separately) and 1 bonus Ruin Guards artwork card (for alternative scenarios).

The Unbound and the Volcano cards are explained in the Alternative game scenarios setup.

The World of Battalia

Four factions co-exist in the world of Battalia. Each of them has their own typical homeland, and their special bond with nature. Although they all have the same hierarchical structure and their artefacts have the same abilities, their implements differ in style and origin. The leading concept in the game is that the four factions can freely collaborate with each other, but many units from the same faction, using their own artefacts, are much stronger together. In Battalia TC every player starts with the same set of 10 cards, but with a random mixture of factions. In terms of the game play the different factions are equal and don't have unique abilities... but it is strongly recommended for the players to strive to build up their decks out of cards from the same faction, because this will give them important advantages (some flavor text about this universe in almanac). The 4 factions are:

• The Bärfolk - GREEN - Natural folk of the earth and forest.
• The Emberians - RED - Passionate folk of the dust and fire.
• The Islanders - BLUE - Amphibian folk of the depths and water.
• The Cloudborn - GOLD - Sublime folk of the heights and air.

Card Types

There are two major kinds of cards in the game:

• Creation cards (active; gold backs) - they are used to hire new units, to acquire supplies and artefacts and for all actions in play - These cards build up the players' decks;
• Terrain cards (passive; silver backs) - used for construction of the map (roads, cities, ruins, etc.).

Each card in the game belongs to one of the four factions, except for the Great Artefacts and the Unbound (they are universal) and the Supply cards, the Ruins and the Volcano (which are neutral). Cards belonging to the separate factions differ in their artwork, frame design and color.

Card Anatomy

• A. Card's symbol: identifies the card's type.
• B. Strength in battle: this value is added to a player's total battle strength during combat. Only cards with battle strength higher than 0 can participate in a combat. Regarding units - Strength in battle = Rank
• C. Card's cost: shows the combination of cards a player needs to play to add this card to his deck.

Units

Units are the heart of any player's deck. There are four types/ranks of units, displayed through the following symbols in the upper left corner of a card:

• FRIMEN - rank 1
• CHIEFS - rank 2
• PRIESTS - rank 3
• LORDS - rank 4

These cards are used in special combinations (in some cases in addition to the supply cards) for creating new artefacts, building roads or cities (or to upgrade them) and of course for conducting battles. The unit's rank is equal to their strength in battle and is displayed in the upper right corner of a card.

Supply

Every hero, unit or army needs significant amount of supplies to exist. This card represents the provisions and equipment for the units. It is used for hiring new units and heroes, for creating some artefacts, building roads and travelling.

One unit card always comes with one supply card in player's deck.

For easier visual distinction between city and road cards and for quicker sorting of the decks, the city cards are marked with a symbol, indicating the number of city exits. Unlike cities, road cards have no symbol.

Roads

Roads are cards which connect the cities with one another and make it possible for heroes to travel on the game board between them. Each road is also considered to be built on one of the four terrain types. (Terrains are relevant only in the advanced game.)

Artefacts

The artefacts are different objects, each of them with their own special function. The players use them for faster development, to upgrade their units, to transform their factions, to travel on the game board, etc. - essentially giving you flexibility. There are seven artefact types:

• TOOL
• WEAPON
• AMULET
• TITLE
• MAGICAL SCROLL
• TENT
• HORSE

The Ruins

In the basic game the ruins are a neutral place where players can acquire a Great Artefact, challenging the guards. Normally only one ruin card come into play. The second card is only for alternative game scenarios. In different scenarios the ruins can have variable function.

Great Artefacts

The Great Artefacts are powerful objects crafted in ancient times. Every one of them has its own unique ability and provides big advantages to the player who earned it. They can only be won in the ruins, but never created by a player!

• The hammer of Strato
• The sword of Elemag
• The shield of Britos
• The wings of Aviena
• The horn of Baldur
• The book of Crea
• The crown of Titus
• The hand of Luut
• The staff of Terra
• The pavilion of Eyla

Other Game Components

Game Board

This is the foundation on which are built city and road cards. There is a 7x7 squares grid depicted on it, to mark the spaces for the road and city cards. Empty squares of the game board are considered to be unexplored territory. On the other hand built roads and cities are considered discovered land where heroes may travel.

Sun Oracle

The Sun Oracle is an ancient monument with divine powers that affects significantly the artefacts. It is built, indestructible, for all eternity from 2 stone wheels with 7 vanes each, representing a magical calendar. One of the seven artefacts is depicted on each of its vanes. During the game, as the inner circle rotates clockwise, ORAC changes the power of one artefact type for one day and provides an opportunity to the players to choose the faction of another artefact type for the same day. 1 day in a Battalia universe is considered one full playing round (1 week is a complete rotation of the wheel).

Cities

The cities are a major element of Battalia: TC. During the game these cards (along with the roads) construct the map on the board. The players will try to build or conquer as many cities as possible, because the level and the quantity of the cities a player controls at any moment, gives the number of victory points, he owns in Battalia. The different city cards have different road connections to the outer world - 1 to 4 gates with roads - briefly called exits. There are also 4 types of terrain - called woods, lakes, canyons and mountains, which are the home land of each faction - the Bärfolk, the Islanders, the Emberians and the Cloudborn respectively. Each city is considered to be built on one of the four terrain types.

• 1 & 2 EXITS: Verdant Woods (the Bärfolk), Emerald Lakes (the Islanders), Red Canyons (the Emberians), Rocky Mountains (the Cloudborn)
• 3 & 4 EXITS: Verdant Woods, Rocky Mountains, Emerald Lakes, Red Canyons

City Level Tokens

These tokens mark the current level and the owner of the city - through number and color. City level varies from 1 to 4. All tokens are double sided showing different level on each side. Neutral cities (sandy tokens) are level 4 in the basic game or level 6 in optional scenarios. The universal (rainbow) tokens mark different objects on the map and their value varies from 4 to 20 (usable for customization of the game).

Reference Sheets

These are helpful aids that provide players with basic information about the general rules. The sheets describe the abilities of the 7 artefacts and all in game costs, the steps of a player's turn and some quick important rules. In Battalia "costs" are considered people, tools, supply and efforts needed to fulfill a specific task.

Player Dashboards

The player dashboards are explained in the Personal Play Area section.

Heroes

These figures represent the leaders of a player's armies and mark players' presence on the game board. The heroes travel only on built roads and players use them to annex neutral cities, explore the ruins, attack the enemy or defend their domains. There are 4 pairs of figures, with each pair belonging to one of the four factions. In terms of the game play the male and female figure are identical. Read more flavor text in the almanac.

Bonus Strength and Time Markers

The ring markers are used to mark bonus strength in battle or different effects that are going to be available in future expansions. The bonus battle strength is marked either on the left side of the player dashboards or on the battle bonus cards (when the dashboards are not in use or rarely, when the bonus value is more than 7). The time markers are used for marking time effects on the calender (oracle wheel) in optional scenarios.

Game Setup

This is the setup for a typical 4 player game. The setup for 2 or 3 player game is described in the section "Two or three player game" later in this rulebook.

1. Place the board and the other game material on the table, as shown on the 4 player setup diagram. Place the ruins card face-up on the center square of the board and mark it with a universal token level 8. Take four cities with crossroad (4) exits, one of each terrain type, and place them at random on the four corner spaces of the board (marked with small brown squares). Don't put any level tokens on these cities for now. Those will be the 4 starting cities - one for each player. Take another four cities (one of each terrain type) with crossroad exits and place them at random on the spaces, marked with white squares (around the 4 sides of the ruins). Mark these four cities with level 4 neutral markers. Those will be the 4 neutral cities in your first game. See the initial setup example on the next page.
2. Separate the artefact cards according to their symbols (7 decks), no matter which faction they belong to and shuffle each deck. Place the sun oracle near the game board and place the different artefact decks around its vanes. The decks should be arranged in such a way, so that each vane from the outer wheel of the Oracle should point to the same artefact that is depicted on it. At the beginning of the game the inner wheel should be orientated so that the two vanes with the tool symbols match on 12 o'clock.
3. Separate the city cards according to the number and direction of their exits. See city symbol: one, two opposite sides, two perpendicular sides, three or four exits (terrain type is irrelevant). Then shuffle the 5 decks and place them in this order on the left side of ORAC!
4. Separate the road cards according to their road type: straight road, turn, T-junction or crossroad (terrain type is irrelevant). Shuffle the 4 decks and place them in this order separately between ORAC and the game board!
5. Separate the unit cards according to their type/rank (faction is irrelevant) and shuffle the 4 unit decks. Deal to every player at random 3 frimen, 1 chief, 1 priest and 5 supply cards (one supply for every unit). These 10 cards form a player's starting creation deck. The players secretly examine their starting cards to find a color trend (that would be their faction orientation). After that they shuffle their cards and place them face-down on the left side of their playing area, forming a draw deck, known as their nation. Then every player draws the top 6 cards from his nation - this is his starting hand.
6. The rest of the unit and supply cards are placed on 5 separate decks face-up on the right side of ORAC. Place 5 random cards with the Great Artefacts face-up on the marked spots of the game board. Return the rest of the Great Artefacts in the box. All 21 decks placed around the Sun Oracle near the game board form the common card pool.
7. Choose the first player at random. He will be the first player during the entire game. The first player chooses and takes a pair of hero figures along with the corresponding (belonging to the same faction) city level tokens and dashboard, followed by the other players in clockwise order. The last player, who takes the last remaining tokens and heroes, is the first one to choose a starting city. That player takes one of his level 1 tokens and places it on the chosen city. This preference is important mainly in an advanced game scenario, where the terrain type gives movement and combat advantages to the players. Then the other players choose a starting city in counterclockwise order.

Game Play

Starting with the first player and continuing clockwise around the table, every player has the opportunity to use his cards in hand to hire units and heroes, to move them, create artefacts, build cities and roads or attack other players. Only after a player has performed his actions completely, does the turn move onto the next player.

Every player plays the game with his own deck of cards known as his creation deck (this deck includes all cards in the player's draw deck, discard pile, cards in hand). A player's creation deck consists of his 10 starting cards plus all new cards that he will acquire during the game. At the beginning of the game, the starting 10 cards of a player form his draw deck, called nation, from which the player draws his initial hand of 6 cards.

When a player uses cards from his hand he places them face-up on his dashboard, and declares what he is playing the cards for. Players may use as many cards from their hand as they want to. After the player has finished playing cards, he takes all of his used cards from his play area plus any new cards that the player may have acquired during his turn, along with any possible remaining cards in his hand, and put them on a face-up discard pile on the right side of his dashboard. This deck is known as the players shelter. At the end of his turn the player draws 6 new cards from his draw deck on the left side (from his nation).

Important: players shouldn't mix their nation (draw deck) with their shelter (discard pile). All cards discarded in the shelter stay there, as long as the player has any cards left in his nation. When a player must draw new cards from his nation and if there are not enough cards left in this pile (this is the normal situation at the beginning of the game), the player first takes in hand all remaining cards from it. Then he must shuffle all the cards from his shelter and place the reshuffled deck face-down on the left side. This now becomes his new draw deck. After that the player draws the rest of the required cards from the new formed nation. In this manner a player's creation deck is in a constant rotation.

At any time during the game the players are allowed to examine the cards in their shelter or to count the remaining cards in their nation. The players cannot look at the cards in their draw deck for any reason, except when a card's ability allows them to do so.

Personal Play Area

The player dashboards are personal play area organizers and are optional player aid. There is a designated spot on the left side for the player's nation (draw deck), a spot on the right side for his shelter (discard pile) and the space between them is for the played cards. On the upper edge of the dashboard there is a victory points (VP) track. At the beginning of the game the players place their VP marker card underneath the dashboard in such a way that the side, showing the player's sigil is visible and the dagger points at their current amount of VP. If a player passes 20 VP, he rotates the card 180°, showing the 20+ side and slides the card back to the beginning of the track. On the left of the draw deck, there is a place for the players to mark their bonus strength in battle. The six color spots on the right are pre-designed for future game mechanics.

The dashboard layout, left to right: Ring marker and Victory points marker area; Nation (face-down draw deck); action lines / Played cards; New cards; Shelter (face-up discard pile); Player's hand.

A Player's Turn

During his turn a player could perform the following steps in the order.

Steps 2, 4 and 5 are mandatory:

1. Announcing Cohort or Mulligan

At the beginning of this rule book, we gave a hint that every player has to strive to optimize his creation deck to one single faction, although they start with random mixed decks. Cohorts and their effect are the main reason why players should do this...

If at the beginning of a player's turn his hand contains at least 3 cards from the same faction, this means the player has a cohort. Cohorts have to be declared loudly and clearly for everyone at the beginning of a player's turn. If someone forgets to do this on time, he cannot do it later. When a player announces a cohort he must show it to at least one opponent of his choice. If a player declares a cohort, he may draw additional cards from his nation and add them to his hand. Supply cards don't belong to any faction (neutral) and don't count towards cohorts. Unlike supply cards, Great Artefacts are considered to belong to every faction (universal) and always count towards cohorts, no matter the faction. The number of additional cards a player draws depends on the size of the cohort:

• Small cohort is always 3 cards from the same faction on hand. The player may draw 1 additional card. (In some rare cases a player can hold two small cohorts, two factions x 3 cards each. In this case the player draws 1 x each cohort = 2 additional cards.)
• Middle cohort is always 4 cards from the same faction on hand. The player may draw 2 additional cards.
• Big cohort is always 5 cards from the same faction on hand. The player may draw 3 additional cards.
• Great cohort is always 6 cards from the same faction on hand. The player can draw 4 additional cards.

Important: cards in ambush and cards stationed in tents don't count towards cohorts. Cohorts are formed only by the 6 cards from a player's hand.

Any time at the beginning of a player's turn, if someone doesn't like the cards in his hand he can perform a mulligan. The player discards his hand and draws 5 new cards from his nation (one card less than usual - this is the symbolic price for this action). In a single turn a player can do only one mulligan. A cohort and a mulligan cannot be played in the same turn. This means that if a player had announced a cohort, he no longer has the right to play mulligan in the same turn. And if a player had performed a mulligan, he cannot announce a cohort in the same turn, even if he has enough cards from the same faction after he redraws.

2. Raise the Ambush Cards

If a player has deployed any cards in ambush in his previous turn, he must take all of them back in his hand, without revealing. The Ambush is a short-term mechanics to save cards for one turn and to surprise the opponents or insure a future card combination. Cards in ambush are explained in detail in the chapter "Deploying cards in ambush" on page 8.

3. Perform Actions

During their turn players may perform one or more actions in any order or pass. Those actions are based on combinations and transformations of cards in their hands. When a player plays a combination of cards from his hand, he places the cards face-up on his dashboard, forming lines known as action lines (the transformation cards are basically artefacts, so their function is described later in the "Use artefacts" section). For every action a player performs, he must place his cards in a separate line. This separation is needed to give more visual clarity of what exactly the player is doing. He may perform the same action as many times as he wants to, as long as he has the necessary cards in hand. Important: one card can be played in one action line only. Here is a list of all actions:

• Add new cards to a player's deck
• Build roads and cities on the map
• Upgrade cities
• Use artefacts
• Hire heroes
• Move heroes
• Deploy cards in ambush
• Conduct battles

Add New Cards to a Player's Deck

Making a strong creation deck is one of the most important things in this game. One of the options for the players during their turn is to use their cards in hand, in order to acquire new cards from the common pool. Players can acquire a new card by playing certain combination of cards from their hand. The played cards are placed face-up in a line on the player's dashboard. The new card is taken from the corresponding deck of the common card pool and it's placed at the end of the line, so the line is considered closed - nothing more comes in or goes out! The player doesn't choose which card to get, but normally takes the topmost card of the deck.

Different cards are acquired by playing different combinations of unit and/or supply cards. Except for the tool, artefact cards are not used in combinations for getting new cards (their effects are described in detail later in the rulebook). Any card in a player's hand can be used in only one combination, which means it can be played just once during the same turn. On the other hand there is no limit to the number of new cards (normally 1 to 3) a player can add to his creation deck in a single turn, as long as he has the necessary "resources" for combinations in his hand.

A new card, added to a player's deck cannot be played immediately in the same turn when it was acquired. At the end of a player's turn all new cards are discarded onto the player's shelter. The player will have the opportunity to use the new cards only after a rotation - after his nation is depleted and his shelter forms a new reshuffled draw deck.

Hire Units

The unit cards are the spine of any creation deck. During the game they will be the most often acquired cards. Players can hire units by playing a certain number of supply cards. The following chart indicates how many supply cards a player should play in an action line to obtain a certain type of unit card.

Unit	Supply cards required
Friman	2 supply cards
Chief	3 supply cards
Priest	4 supply cards
Lord	5 supply cards

The helpful rule of thumb here is: number of supply cards to hire a unit = unit rank +1

When hiring a unit the player places the necessary number of supply cards on his dashboard, takes the topmost card of the chosen unit deck and puts it at the end of his action line.

IMPORTANT: When acquiring a unit card, the player also takes one supply card from the common card pool and places it next to the hired unit. In other words players always receive one new supply card for every obtained unit card. This is actually the only way for the players to acquire supply cards after game setup, so don't forget it!

Create Artefacts

The artefacts are very powerful instruments for a player's expansion. During the game players can create artefacts by playing unit and supply cards (and other artefacts like tool). Every player starts the game without any artefacts, but soon enough he will be able to create them. The following chart indicates the combination of cards a player has to play to create a certain artefact.

Artefact	Combination required
Tool	3 friman cards
Weapon	1 chief + 2 friman cards
Amulet	1 priest + 2 friman cards
Title	1 lord + 2 friman cards
Magical scroll	1 friman + 1 chief + 1 priest card
Tent	1 chief + 1 friman + 1 supply card
Horse	1 chief + 2 supply cards

Creating an artefact is performed the same way as hiring a unit. The player places the required combination of cards face-up in a line on his dashboard and takes the topmost card of the corresponding artefact deck. When creating an artefact the player doesn't get any supply cards (they are received only with hired units).

Example: The player has 3 supply cards, one friman, one chief and one priest card in his hand. He decides to play the three unit cards to create an artefact. The player places the friman, the chief, and the priest on his dashboard and takes one magic scroll card (marked in red) from the common card pool and places it at the end of the line. After that he plays the remaining three supply cards to hire a chief. The player takes the topmost card of the chiefs deck and one supply card (marked in red) and places them at the end of the line.

Acquiring Great Artefacts

Unlike normal artefacts, Great Artefacts cannot be obtained by playing a combination of cards. In the basic game these artefacts are awarded to the players who successfully defeat the ancient guards of the ruins in the center of the map. This will be explained later in the rulebook. Another special thing about these powerful artefacts is that one player can possess only one Great Artefact.

Build Roads and Cities on the Map

Build and Upgrade Cities

The main goal of the players in Battalia is to control as many higher-level cities as possible, because the value of any city, directly contributes as victory points (VP) in the game. Players can build different level cities directly (placing new city cards on the board and marking them with corresponding tokens) To build a new city of specific level a player must play 3 unit cards of the same rank. The level of the new city is equal to the rank of the units that have built it. Built cities can be upgraded later (turning over or exchanging the city level tokens to a higher level). To upgrade an existing city to a higher level a player has to play 2 unit cards of the same rank. Those 2 units should be ranked one level higher than the current level of the city. For example: to upgrade a first level city to a second level, a player should play 2 chief cards. Players are not allowed to skip city levels (to upgrade a city from level 1 directly to 3 or 4). It is possible to build one city and to upgrade it in the same turn.

The following chart contains the number and type of units a player has to play to build or upgrade a certain level city.

City level	New city	Upgrade
First level city	3 friman cards	-
Second level city	3 chief cards	2 chief cards
Third level city	3 priest cards	2 priest cards
Fourth level city	3 lord cards	2 lord cards

Again, the separate combinations of cards should be placed in separate action lines on the dashboard (for a new city and for an upgrade) to avoid any confusion.

Build Roads

Another option for the players is to construct roads and cities on the game board. Building and upgrading cities (and later defending them) is the main goal of the players, because the city levels are victory points in the game. Cities cannot exist without connections to the outer world, that's why they need roads.

Building roads and cities is also performed by playing combinations of cards from the player's hand. First the player places the required cards from his hand on his dashboard, then he chooses the city or road type he wants to build. As explained earlier, different cities have a different number of exits (roads that lead into or out of them to the different sides of the cards - 5 types in total). The road cards could be a simple road (straight road and turn) or a junction road (T-junction and crossroad) - 4 types in total. Every city or road type is separated in a different deck. After the player has chosen the road or city type, he takes the topmost card of the corresponding deck from the common card pool and places it on a legal square of the game board of his choice.

Roads are the connection between cities and the only way to reach the ruins or your opponent's domain. The four types of road cards are divided in two groups - simple roads and junctions. Simple roads are the straight road and the turn. Junctions are the T-junction and the crossroad. The following chart shows the combination of cards a player has to play to build different roads:

Road type	Combination required
Simple road (straight & turn)	1 friman card and 1 supply card
Junction road (t-junction & crossroad)	2 friman cards and 1 supply card

(Rule of thumb: more complexity, more manpower ... but the same supply)

Example: In this example the red player wants to build a new city. He plays three chief cards and chooses to place a city card with four exits (marked in red). The only legal square for the city would be A. According to the building rules all other squares are not legal, because: B is not connected by road to the other city of that player (bottom right corner). C is next to a side of a card without road. D is not adjacent and not connected to any other card. E is next to another city. The player places the city card on square A and marks it with a second level token. ...If he also had two priest cards in his hand, he could immediately upgrade his new city to level 3.

Building Rules

When building roads and cities the players must comply with the following rules and restrictions:

• Roads and cities can be placed only on empty squares of the game board.
• A new road or city card must be placed in such a way that at least one of its sides touches one of the previously placed cards (it cannot only be connected by a corner).
• Two cities cannot be built next to each other. There should be at least one road card (or empty space) between them. City cards could touch only diagonally each other's corners, because then they are not considered adjacent.
• A city card cannot be built next to the Ruins.
• The road ends, depicted on the cards must be connected correctly with one another. This means that a card with a side depicting a road, must be lined-up with another card depicting a road, in a way that the roads fit to each other. Respectively two cards can be placed next to each other if both of their adjacent sides have no road.
• At the edge of the game board roads can point away from the map center.
• Every new city or road, which a player builds, must have a road connection to the other cities of the same player. The only exception of this rule takes place, when a player loses his last city. In that case the player can freely choose the new city location, complying only with the other building rules.
• There is no limit to the number or the level of the built cities or roads in one turn.

Players may add cards to their decks and construct on the game board during the same turn as far as they have all the required resources (cards).

Limited Resources

In the world of Battalia the human and natural resources are limited. This means that if any type of unit, artefact, road or city card is depleted in the common card pool, the players can no longer acquire or build that type of card, or while a player has his all tokens of particular level on the game board, he cannot build cities of that level.

Use Artefacts

As mentioned earlier, the seven artefacts have different abilities in the game. Some of the cards can be played on their own, some have the function to hold or transform other cards from your deck. The transformation is defined as the temporary or permanent change of the faction, strength, number or type of a card. Normally every card from your creation deck can be played in only one combination and one transformation per turn (for exceptions of that rule see amulets or Illuminated by the ray). This means that during one turn to each card can be applied the effect of only one artefact, but if this effect is a transformation, the card can immediately be included also in one combination. The transforming artefact itself is considered to be outside the action line. Chains of transformations are possible. For example: a magical scroll transforms a title, which transforms a unit card (see the explanations below and example on the next page).

Here the abilities of all artefacts in detail:

Tools - these cards are very useful for building roads and cities and creating other artefacts, or wherever you need frimen. A tool card can be played instead of up to 2 friman cards. For example: if a player wants to create a weapon, he can play 1 chief and 1 tool card instead of 1 chief and 2 friman cards. The two frimen cannot be used for two separate actions. Tools cannot replace frimen in battle.

Weapons - these cards have three very important abilities:

• Players need 1 weapon card (and 2 supply cards as well) to hire a hero.
• Players always need a weapon card to engage a battle. This should be the first card in attackers line, with other words a "must condition" to start any combat.
• Weapons have standard strength +1 in battle - their contribution to the total combat strength. Several weapon cards can be played in a battle line to enhance its strength.

Amulets - these are small magical objects which effect depends on the player's luck, so the card is suitable for the fortunate fellows. This special artefact has the power to multiply or change virtually (only for the current turn) a card, but if the player using it is not lucky enough he could find himself empty-handed. The amulet is considered a transformation card and works the following way:

• First the amulet card is placed on the player's dashboard and above it the player places the card he wants to transform (a bit lower so the players can see the amulet symbol). The effect of the amulet will be applied to the card placed on top of it. The amulet can be placed at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of any action line and the transformed card can be used in a combination with the other cards in the same line, after the effect of the amulet takes place. The amulet card itself is considered outside the combination. If the player decides, the virtually multiplied card can be used in 2 or 3 action lines instead of 1 (this is called the fork effect, see the example). Any type of cards (Great Artefacts excluded) could be transformed by the amulet.
• The player rolls a six-sided die (Hey, soldiers of fortune, here comes the die...!) and according to the result of the die, one of the following happens:
  1. If the player rolls 1 - Nothing happens. The card placed on top of the amulet stays in the action line and could be still combined the way it is.
  2. If the player rolls 2 - The card placed on top of the amulet is virtually doubled for one turn. It is played as if there are two identical cards.
  3. If the player rolls 3 - The card placed on top of the amulet is virtually tripled for one turn. It is played as if there are three identical cards.
  4. If the player rolls 4 - The card placed on top of the amulet is deployed in ambush (see details on page 8). This is a mandatory action, without suspending another card for it. After the end of the amulet's effect, it is placed in the shelter.
  5. If the player rolls 5 - The card placed on top of the amulet is directly discarded (cannot stay in line) and goes to the shelter. This is a mandatory action - rule of the die! After the end of this effect the amulet is also discarded.
  6. If the player rolls 6 - The card placed on top of the amulet can be used as a wild card. It can replace any type of unit, artefact or supply card (but not Great Artefacts or terrain cards). For example: if the transformed card is a friman, the player could play it as a priest, as a title or something else.
• In case the result of the roll is not 4 or 5 the amulet card stays in the line under the transformed card until the end of the turn to remind the players of the transformation of the upper card. It is also a good practice to put the die showing the result on the transformed card to remind of the temporary effect!

Titles - These are another type of transformation card which can upgrade units (they are abstract artefacts and they are represented by "medal and charter" as physical objects on the cards). An upgraded friman becomes a chief, chiefs are upgraded to priests, and priests are upgraded to lords. Lords are superior and cannot be upgraded. The transformation is permanent and works as follows:

• The title card is placed on the dashboard at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of any action line. Then the player places on top of it the unit card he wants to upgrade.
• Then the unit card that is to be upgraded is returned under the corresponding deck of the common card pool (this deck is not reshuffled).
• The player takes one card (from the next rank units deck) that belongs to the same faction as the card he upgrades. For example: if a player upgrades an islander chief (blue), he should take an islander priest. If there are no cards of the required faction left, the player receives the topmost card of the deck no matter which faction it belongs to.
• After the player takes the required card the deck must be shuffled.
• The new higher ranked card is placed on top of the title card (a bit lower so the players can see the title symbol) and still can be used in one combination. The title card itself is considered outside the action line.

Magical scrolls - these cards are also transformation cards. Unlike the title, which upgrades units, the magical scroll changes the faction of a card. The magical transformation will help the players to optimize their deck in color and it will be easier for them to get bigger cohorts - this means a stronger draw effect and more flexibility in every turn. The transformation is permanent and works as follows:

• The magical scroll card is placed on the player's dashboard at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of any action line. Then the player places on top of it the unit or artefact he wants to transform.
• The player declares the desired faction he wants to convert to.
• The player returns his card in the corresponding deck and takes another card of the same type (unit/artefact), but in the new desired faction (new color). If there are no cards of the required faction left, the player receives the topmost card of the deck no matter which faction it belongs to.
• After the transformation the deck of the converted card must be shuffled.
• The converted card is placed on top of the magical scroll card (a bit lower so the players can see the scroll symbol) and still can be used in one combination. The scroll card itself is considered outside the action line.

There is one special thing about this artefact. It has the ability to convert itself. In this case the player places only the scroll on his dashboard (outside any line) and declares the faction he wants to change it to. If there is a card from the required faction, the player takes it and shuffles his old card in the magical scrolls deck. Again if there are no cards from the required faction the player gets the topmost card. Normally transformed magical scroll cannot convert also another card during the same turn.

Tents - these cards are very important long-term cardholders. As explained earlier, all unused cards in a player's hand are placed on his discard pile at the end of the turn. Tents provide opportunity to the players to keep cards for future turns. The tents are played in the following way: first the player places one supply card in a single line - the symbolical cost for raising a tent, because a camp always needs provisions (the supply card will be placed in the shelter at the end of the turn). Then he places the tent card on the table and on top of it he puts a card of his choice (a bit lower so the players can see the tent symbol). This is called to station a card. Any card can be stationed in a tent, except for the Great Artefacts. The content of a tent is visible to all and it can stay there, as long as the owner wants to. Later in the game, the player can decide to use the stationed card - then he simply takes that card back in his hand and discards the tent (he can do this while performing actions or if he is under attack).

Horses - unlike our world, where horses are just ordinary animals, in the world of Battalia they are mythical creatures that should be summoned. These creatures have two abilities in the game - they help heroes move faster and could participate in battles. When playing a horse card a player could move a hero figure up to 3 squares following a depicted road. Horses have standard strength +1 in battle and can participate as normal units. Very useful for hero retreat (see page 9)!

Example (transformation chain): In this example the green player had a big cohort, so he drew additional 3 cards and now he has 9 cards in hand. The player first plays a magic scroll card and places a Cloudborn title card on top of it (1), and changes its faction to Bärfolk title (2). Then he places a Bärfolk friman on the title (3) and upgrades it to Bärfolk chief (4). At the end of the same line the player plays two supply cards in combination with the chief and creates a horse artefact (receives the topmost Cloudborn card) (5). In a second action line the player now plays an amulet card and places a friman card on top of it. He is lucky and rolls 3, so now he can use his friman as if there are three copies of this card. He decides to play the card in a forked line (6). He plays one chief in combination with two of the virtual frimen to create a weapon card (7). Then he plays one tool card in combination with the 3rd virtual friman and builds a level 1 city (8).

Use of the Great Artefacts

The Great Artefacts are the legacy of ancient mighty heroes, crafted with magic in unknown times. Unlike normal artefacts these cards cannot be created. Instead players should earn them by defeating the ruins guards. They cannot be transformed or affected by the normal 7 artefacts or the Oracle (see page 10). Great Artefacts are universal cards and belong to every faction, always supporting a cohort building. In the CEdition of the game there are 10 Great Artefacts, with the following powers:

• The Hammer of Strato is an extraordinary tool of creation that could be used as if it is one of the 7 artefacts. His owner decides case by case how to use the hammer, with one important restriction: it cannot be played during battle. The Hammer loses its whole power once a combat has started. This means for example, that it cannot be used as a weapon card or as a title during combat, but it can freely be played as a weapon in combination with 2 supplies to hire a hero in time of peace.
• The Horn of Baldur is used to summon cards from a player's nation. When a player "blows the horn", he takes his nation and looks through it. He can choose up to two cards, reveal them to the other players and add them to his hand. Then he reshuffles his draw deck. Only the draw deck is allowed for searching. If the nation contains just 1 or no cards at the current moment, the player may not summon a 2nd or any card in this particular case.
• The Sword of Elemag - This is a powerful offensive weapon with strength in attack +5 and strength in defense +1. It can be used as any normal weapon for hiring a hero or engaging a battle, just with higher contribution in attack.
• The Shield of Britos - This Great Artefact is a also a very powerful weapon with mighty strength, only this time in defense. It has offensive strength +1, and defensive +5. Player may use it to hire heroes and engage battles, but the real power of this weapon is to protect its owner against enemy attacks.
• The Wings of Aviena - This artefact is used for movement on discovered land. It can move one hero in a single action to any square on the game board, with no limits.
• The Crown of Titus - This artefact upgrades either one unit two ranks, or two units one rank each. It is played pretty similar to the normal title and also can be used for a single upgrade.
• The Hand of Luut - When a player uses this artefact, he steals one card from a chosen opponent. He looks at his opponent's draw deck and picks 1 card from it, then plays it in his turn as one of his own. At the end of the turn he returns the card to its owner, directly to the player's shelter, but not back to his draw deck.
• The Pavilion of Eyla - A player can station up to two cards at once in this magical tent. More than that - the player doesn't need to play a supply card in order to "build the camp".
• The Staff of Terra - This artefact has a terraforming power. The player chooses one built city or road card on the map and replaces it with another card of the same type, but with chosen, different terrain, from the common card pool (optional rule - switch 2 cards from the same type directly on the board).
• The Book of Crea - This artefact is played in the same way like a magical scroll, but it can change the faction of up to three cards at once in one or several action lines.

Hire a Hero

Heroes represent the presence of a player's armies on the game board. These figures are used for attacking neutral or enemy forces or for self-defense. Each player has two hero figures and those are considered the units leaders - the Great Captains of the army.

To hire a hero a player should play 1 weapon and 2 supply cards. Then the player takes one of his figures and places it on one of his own cities of his choice. The player can choose any of his cities (even if this city is already occupied by his own or opponent's figure).

Move a Hero

While performing actions, a player may move one or both of his hero figures. Each card on the game board is considered one square of hero movement. There are two ways to move a hero:

• First option: a player may use supply cards. For each supply card a player places in a traveling line, he can move one of his figures one square. If a player plays two (or more) supply cards, he is free to choose either to move one of his figures two squares or both of his figures one square each.
• The second way to move figures is by playing horse cards. When playing a horse card the player chooses one of his figures and moves it up to 3 squares. Players cannot split horse movement of one card between two heroes, but if a player plays two horse cards he can choose to move each of his heroes up to three squares.

There is no limit to the distance a hero may travel during one turn. Players can move their figures as far away as they want, providing they have the necessary cards in hand.

Rules for Hero Movement

Traveling with a hero one square means the figure can be moved from one card on the game board to the next adjacent card, but ... During movement figures must follow depicted roads. This means that heroes can move from one card to the next only if there is a road that leads directly from the first card to the second.

Heroes can only move on built roads or cities, and may never enter or move through unexplored (empty) or impassable (see page 10) spaces or go out of the game board. Figures may freely move through or end their movement on opponent's cities or squares with enemy heroes. Entering an opponent's square doesn't trigger a battle automatically. To be engaged in a combat a player has to choose willingly to attack. There is no limit to the number of heroes standing on one single card.

Example: In this example the player has a hero on square A. He plays a horse artefact which gives him the right to move the hero up to 3 squares, though his real options are not so plentiful... He could freely move his figure on squares 1 or 2. In this case any unspent movement is lost. Although squares 1 and 4 are adjacent to each other, the hero cannot reach the cards 4 or 5, because squares 1 and 4 are not directly connected by road. The hero cannot be moved also to the ruins (square 3), because the figure cannot travel through empty or impassable spaces.

Deploying Cards in Ambush

Normally, all unused cards are going to the shelter. Deploying cards in ambush is a mechanics that gives the opportunity to players to keep cards for their next round. Cards in ambush are short-term "secret weapons" regarding player's strategy.

Any time during his turn a player may place a card from his hand, face-down on a free spot marked at the edge of the board (3 ambush spots per player). In order to do so, the player must suspend a card from play (also from his hand) - this action represents the symbolic price of the creation of an ambush. The price is not always a burden. Sometimes it helps the players to purge their creation decks of excessive cards. Players keep all suspended cards (considered to be out of game) on a common pile called the limbo, somewhere aside from the card pool.

Important: when a player suspends cards, he actually reduces the number of cards in his creation deck. Players are not allowed to have less than 10 cards in their deck at any moment. So, be careful not to drop below this number, when you get rid of cards.

The face-down card that the player placed on a marked spot is considered to be in ambush. This card stays there only until the beginning of the player's next turn. After the beginning of his next turn (after announcing possible cohorts) the player must take all ambush cards back in his hand without showing them to his opponents. Important thing is that any card in ambush extends the hand size of a player above the standard 6 cards. After that the player may normally use the card during his turn or even suspend another card to deploy the same card in ambush again. At any time a player may not have more than 3 cards in ambush simultaneously. If for some reason a player is forced to place a fourth card in ambush (for example after he has played an amulet card), he has to choose one of the three previously deployed cards and discard it in the shelter, in order to free space for the new card.

Conducting a Battle

It is hard to win in Battalia only by building a strong creation deck and a city system. If you are not a conqueror in your soul, you have to be at least a good defender, because ... the others are! Conquering enemy cities provides great tactical advantages to a player - every won city brings you more victory points (VP) and reduces the points of your enemy. Any time during his turn a player may decide to engage a battle. Only two players can participate in any combat.

During battle the two opponents alternate to play cards from their hand, forming battle lines on their play area. Only cards with strength in battle higher than 0 contribute directly to the total strength. At the end of the battle the opponents compare the total battle strength of their forces, and the player with higher total wins the combat with ties going to the defender.

Strength in Battle

Every unit has strength in battle equal to its rank. This value is depicted in the upper right corner of the card. There are two artefacts that also have strength in battle (+1), weapons and horses. Some of the Great Artefacts have specific strength - different in attack and defense.

Normally, heroes don't have their own strength value in battle, but if a player uses only cards of the same faction as his figure in his battle line, the hero receives moral bonus +1 strength in battle. The player marks this bonus with a ring on the left side of his dashboard.

Cities have basic (inherent) defensive strength equal to their level. First level cities have defensive strength 1; second level cities have strength 2 and so on...

All those values - battle strength of participating units and artefacts, hero moral bonus and cities' basic defensive strength contribute to the total battle strength of a player.

Combat Rules

To assault an enemy city or hero, first the attacker must place his own hero figure on the targeted card, occupied by an enemy (hero or city). Players build battle lines from right to left, so the number of the strength should be visible to all. A battle is conducted as follows:

• The attacker must open his battle line with a weapon card, and if needed, he plays also additional unit and/or artefact cards with combined battle strength that is higher than the basic defensive strength of his opponent.
• At this moment the defender can decide whether to fight back, to surrender or to retreat. If the player chooses to fight back, first he must decide whether he wants to raise all his ambush cards back in hand (if any) or not. If he doesn't do this at that moment, he cannot raise his ambush later, during the battle. Unlike ambush cards, any cards stationed in tents can be freely added in the battle at any time, during the combat.
• After he has declared his participation in the battle and has raised ambush cards (or not), the defender must play one or more cards from his hand with combined strength that is at least equal to the strength of the attacker.
• This way the two opponents keep playing cards from their hand one after another, until one of them decides to pass or runs out of cards.
• Every time a player adds new cards to his battle line, he has to recalculate his current total battle strength and announce it to his opponent.
• Every time the attacker adds new cards to his battle line, his combined battle strength must surpass the current battle strength of his opponent (at least with +1).
• Every time the defender adds new cards to his battle line, his combined battle strength must be at least equal to the current battle strength of the attacker.
• When one of the players stops adding cards to the battle, the combat ends. If the attacker has a higher total combat strength - he wins the battle. If there is a tie or the defender has a higher total combat strength, then the attack is successfully repelled.
• The participating heroes of the defeated opponent (if any) are disbanded. Their figures are removed from the game board. Those heroes could be hired again later in the game (or in attackers case even immediately in the current turn).
• If the attacker has successfully conquered a city of his opponent, the defender removes his token from that city card and the winner places there his own token of the same level. If the attacker doesn't have any tokens left of the required level, he places a token with lower level, or nothing at all (if not able to do even this). In this rare case the city becomes neutral and could be annexed from another player without fight on level 1.
• The defender fills his hand up to 6 cards (no matter how many cards used in combat) at the end of his attacker's turn - not earlier and not immediately after the battle!!!

Example: In this example the blue player has a hero figure on the level 3 city, controlled by the red player and he decides to attack it (A). 1. The blue player starts his line with one weapon card and a chief card with a total of 3 battle strength (equal to the basic defense strength 3 of the city). But the blue attacker has only Islander (blue) cards in his battle line, so his hero receives the moral bonus +1 and surpasses the defense of the city 4:3. 2. The red defender plays a friman card, so now his current battle strength 4 is even to the attacker's (3 for the city and 1 for the friman), the result is 4:4 - that's enough for him. 3. The blue player risks everything - 1 friman and 2 chiefs. Their combined strength is +5, but he plays a Cloudborn card in the line, so his hero loses the moral bonus, which makes his current strength 8. New score 8:4. 4. The red player strikes back with one lord, so his combined strength is now also 8. Unfortunately, the blue player has no more battle cards in hand to save the day, so he adds nothing more to his battle line and passes. It's a final tie 8:8. The defender (red) wins the battle and the attacker (blue) must disband his hero. It was a good day for the red city....

Heroes Involved in Battle

There are some special rules regarding heroes and battles. When a player is attacking only a hero, the defender has the opportunity to retreat and save his hero. He must do this immediately after the attacker plays his first cards in his line. If he doesn't retreat at that moment, he cannot do it later during the battle. If the player chooses to retreat, he has to move his figure on the road two or three squares away from the embattled field. In order to do this, the player should play either 2 or 3 supply cards or one horse card. The hero could retreat only on neutral or own squares. This means that the player cannot position his figure on enemy cities or on another square containing the enemy's second figure (as an enemy is considered only the current battle opponent).

A player cannot attack more than one entity at a time - he can attack either a city or one hero. If one square contains the figures of several opponents a player can decide which one to attack. If the attacker has both of his heroes on the same square, then he can decide whether just one or both of them will participate in the battle. In case the defender wants to take advantage of the moral bonus, he has the right to involve additional heroes in his defense, if his figures are positioned on the battlefield. He must declare this immediately after the beginning of the attack. If the defender has 2 heroes on the same square, only one of them would be considered under attack, though after attack, the defender may still decide to involve his second figure in the battle.

When a player is attacking a city and the city card contains a defender's hero, the player under attack may decide whether his hero will participate in the combat or not. If the defender doesn't want to include his hero in the battle, he just leaves the figure on the attacked city card - in this case he is not obliged to retreat and the hero would survive on the field, even if the defender loses the city.

Playing Artefacts During Battle

During a battle players can play artefacts with its own battle strength (weapons and horses) as well as transformation artefacts (amulets, titles and magical scrolls), but they cannot play tools or tent cards. When a player plays transformation artefact, he places the artefact card in the battle line underneath the card he wishes to transform, then applies the effect of the artefact as usual. The artefact itself is considered outside the battle line. When a card is being upgraded with a title, the new higher ranked unit immediately enters the battle with its own strength. Playing a magical scroll is a faction optimization during combat. If a player uses an amulet and succeeds to virtually double or triple the transformed card, that card is played as if its strength is 2 or 3 times higher than normal. If the player rolls 6, usually the card is played as if it is a lord because of his high strength 4. It is a good practice to place the die showing the result of the roll on the card to remind the players for the transformation.

Attack on a Neutral City

Players conduct only a symbolic battle to annex a neutral city. If a player wants to establish control over a neutral city he should move a hero on that city and play a weapon card plus additional cards with a total strength higher than the basic defense strength of the city (the city level). In the basic game the defensive strength of neutral cities is 4.

When a player conquers a neutral city he marks it with own level 4 token. Moreover, he not only establishes control over that city, but he also compels the local lord to his subject and respectively receives one lord card and one supply card from the common card pool. The player takes a lord card that belongs to the same faction as the terrain type of the annexed city. If there isn't a card of the required faction left in the common card pool, the player takes the topmost card of the lords' deck. From this point on, that city is no longer considered neutral and if it changes its owner later in the game it won't provide a lord and supply card to its new owner.

Attack on the Ruins Guards

The ruins are remains of an ancient temple deep inside of which the Great Artefacts lay hidden. Undead souls guard the artefacts and anyone who wants to acquire a Great Artefact should enter the ruins and fight them. Moving in or through the ruins card doesn't result automatically in a battle. Every player should decide whether to attack the guards of the ruins or not. To attack the guards, a player must have a hero figure on this field. Attack on the ruins is performed the same way as attack on a neutral city - without leading a "real" battle. The attacking player should play a weapon card plus additional cards with sufficient combined strength that surpasses the ruins' defensive strength. In the basic game the defensive strength of the ruins is 8. No player can take possession of the ruins; this square remains neutral for the entire game. After a successful attack on the ruins' guards the player chooses one of the available Great Artefacts and adds it to his creation deck. During the game a player may possess only one Great Artefact.

4. Discard All Cards

After the player has completed his actions, he takes all of his played cards from his dashboard, all newly acquired cards (if any) and all remaining cards from his hand (if something left) and places them on his discard pile. (Exception: any cards deployed in ambush, or cards stationed in tents are left on the marked spots of the board or in the personal play area.) At the end of this step, the player should be empty handed.

5. Draw New Hand

The player draws 6 new cards from his nation. If there are not enough cards in the draw deck, the player first takes all remaining cards from his nation (if any), then shuffles his discard pile and places it face-down from right to the left of his play area in order to form a new draw deck. Then the player fills up his hand to 6 cards from his newly formed nation.

Game End

BATTALIA: The Creation could end in one of two possible ways:

1. When a player places a terrain card on the last empty square of the game board, the game immediately ends. There is an important rule regarding this game-end condition. During the game, it may happen that for a certain square of the game board, there is not a legal city or road card left in the common supply. In such case this space is considered impassable square. The players could mark it with a backside of a card not in use (suspended card from the limbo or a supply card - this deck practically never runs out). Regarding the end of the game, such square is treated as if it has a card built on it, but heroes cannot move onto or across it.
2. The first player to reach his 5th city level 4 immediately ends the game.

Players compare their victory points (the levels of all their cities) and the player with the highest total wins the game. (It is not necessary the same player that placed the last card or the one with 5 cities level 4.) If there is a tie, the player with most level 4 cities wins. If there is still a tie, players compare the quantity of their level 3 cities (if necessary they compare also their 2 and 1 level cities and finally the presence of heroes on the board).

Additional Game Rules

The Sun Oracle

The sun oracle is powerful relic with big influence over the artefacts. It consists of two wheels each with seven vanes. On each vane is depicted the symbol of one of the seven artefacts. The symbols on the outer and inner circle are arranged in such a way, that as the inner wheel rotates, only one pair of symbols will match at a time.

Also there is an arrow and a shining illustrated on the tool symbol vane of the inner wheel. They represent matching a sunray. When the vane with the sunray points to an symbols artefact symbol from the outer circle, then this artefact is considered to be illuminated by the magical sunray and it receives temporary (for one day) divine powers.

During the game, before the beginning of the first player's turn, a new day starts in the world of Battalia, and the inner wheel of the oracle is rotated one position clockwise (Important: the Oracle doesn't rotate in the first turn of the game). This way a new pair of symbols match and the sunray illuminates next artefact on the outer wheel.

Normally when players create artefacts they have to pick up the topmost card of the corresponding artefact deck. When a pair of symbols on the two wheels matches, players may choose the faction of that artefact. This bonus lasts one entire day (a complete round) so every player has the chance to take advantage of it. When creating an artefact with matching symbols, a player first declares a desired faction, then he searches and takes a card belonging to the chosen faction, from the artefact deck. If there aren't any cards left from that faction, the player receives the topmost card of the deck. Finally that artefact deck must be reshuffled.

When an artefact is illuminated by the sunray, its powers are doubled during that turn. This means that this artefact can be played either two times during that turn or one time with enhanced ability or double strength...

In general, the increased powers of an illuminated artefact are doubled, but for the separate artefacts this rule has a bit different interpretation. Every player can decide, if he uses the doubled effect in a single action line or in two lines, as virtually doubled copy of the card (the fork effect). Here is a list of the most important effects of illuminated artefact:

• Tool - this card can be played either in one action that requires up to 4 frimen (actually in the basic game for one single action could be required no more than 3 frimen, but in this case one will be just extra), or it can be played twice in two separate action lines (called forked line) each of which requires up to 2 frimen.
• Weapon - can be played either in two separate actions in a forked line (for example hiring a hero and engaging a battle), or it can be played once in combat with doubled battle strength. If the weapon is played in 2 separate actions, its strength in battle is not doubled of course.
• Amulet - this card transforms two separate cards, but never the same card twice. The die is rolled separately for each card. The action with the first card on the amulet should be fully completed, before the player rolls the die for the second card. If the first roll is 4 or 5 the illuminated amulet is not placed immediately on the shelter, but the player may roll for the second card before that.
• Title - a player could upgrade either one unit two ranks or two units one rank each in a single or in a forked line. If the transformation is applied on 2 cards in a single line, the title card is placed in the middle under the units cards.
• Magical scroll - the player can change the faction of two cards (in a single or in a forked line). It also could convert itself and one other card.
• Tent - two cards could be stationed simultaneously in a tent, but the player still plays only one supply card for raising it. When decamping a tent players must take all stationed cards back to their hand (also simultaneously). The players cannot station a second card to a tent that is played in previous turns.
• Horse - if it is played for movement - it allows one hero to travel up to 6 squares away or two heroes, up to 3 squares each. If the horse participates in battle - its strength is doubled (as 2 virtual copies of the card).

Example: In this example the amulet (1) is illuminated by the sunray, so it could transform two cards. First the player places a title on top of it and rolls 2 - what a luck! (2). Now he can play his title as if there are two copies of that card. First the player upgrades an Islander chief to an Islander priest (3). Then he upgrades a Bärfolk friman to a Bärfolk chief (4). After that the player places a tool card on the amulet and rolls the die... (5). ... unexpected the result of the die is 4, so he has to place the tool card in ambush, but he doesn't need to suspend any card in order to do that.

Game Scenarios

Advanced Game

Advanced players can make the game even more strategic by including additional game rules. In the advanced game players should take different terrain types into account. In this game mode players take advantage when they travel or fight on home terrain. A homeland (native) terrain is the type of terrain that is native for the player's hero faction. Bonuses that players gain from home terrain are as follows:

• Movement bonus - heroes move for free through or in native terrain. It is considered, that the home terrain provides enough resources for the heroes (and army) to travel through and they don't need other supplies or additional help. Free movement can be combined with movement paid with supply and horse cards. Hero movement provided by a horse card can even be spent in parts if there are home terrain cards in the middle of a hero's route. The Movement bonus cannot be used for retreat.
• Terrain bonus - players receive +1 strength terrain bonus when they conduct a battle on a native terrain. A native terrain for a player is the home terrain of player's heroes. This bonus is added to their starting battle strength. It doesn't matter if the player has a participating hero in the battle or not, nor does it matter if the player is the attacker or defender in a combat.

Example: In this example the gold player has a Cloudborn hero on square A. He plays a horse artefact which gives him 3 squares of hero movement. Although the ruins (5) are 5 squares away from the hero's position, the player could freely reach them, because the route of the figure contains two native rocky mountains cards. While traveling, the player has to only "pay" for passing over squares 1, 3 and 5. He passes through squares 2 and 4 for free, because they are the home terrain of his hero.

Example: In this example the red player attacks the level 2 city (A), controlled by the gold player. The terrain of the city is red canyon, so being the red (Emberian) player, the attacker receives +1 strength terrain bonus. When it comes to the terrain bonus, it doesn't matter who is the owner of the city. Although the Cloudborn player controls that city, the terrain is not his native terrain, so he doesn't receive the terrain bonus. If the red player have attacked the other city of the gold player (B), then the defender would have got the terrain bonus, because the rocky mountains are his home land.

The Unbound

The Unbound are new mercenary faction. The set of Unbound cards contains two copies of each of the four types of units - Friman, Chief, Priest and Lord. The Unbound cards are shuffled in their corresponding decks only after step 5 of the game setup, when the starting cards are dealt to the players. These cards are considered universal units. This means that they always count towards every possible cohort and they also count towards the hero moral bonus. All of them cost the same to be hired as the other units from the corresponding decks. Their standard strength in battle is also the same as usual.

And here is how the Unbound differ from the other factions. When a player hires an Unbound unit, he doesn't get a supply card with it. Other special thing about this mercenaries is that a player can boost their strength during combat, using a symbolic "bribe". An Unbound unit gets +1 battle strength for every supply card that the player adds on top of the mercenary card (those cards are considered outside the battle line). The main disadvantage is that the Unbound cannot be transformed by artefacts like magical scrolls, titles, and amulets, but they can be stationed in tents.

Two and Three Player Game

In a two or three player game players should setup the game in the following way.

3 Player Game

In a three-player game take 4 cities with crossroads, one from each faction, and place at random three of them on the spaces marked with small brown triangles. These will be your starting cities. The fourth remaining city is put aside and won't be used in the game. Then take another 4 cities with crossroads, one from each faction, and place at random three of them on the spaces marked with small white triangles. These will be neutral cities so they are marked with level 4 neutral tokens. Again, the fourth remaining city is put back in the box.

When preparing the Great artefacts, the players should place four Great artefacts at random on their designated area on the game board and return the other 6 cards in the game box. Later, after players have chosen hero figures and corresponding tokens and dashboard, the forth unclaimed set of figures, tokens and dashboard is returned in the box. All other steps from the starting setup of the game remain the same as in a 4 player game.

The game proceeds the standard way with one important exception. The three darker squares at the four corners of the game board (marked with X on the diagram below) are considered impassable terrains, so the players are not allowed to build roads or cities on them, nor these squares count towards game end conditions. In other words these squares should be treated as if they don't exist.

2 Player Game

In a two-player game, before the players start to separate the different game card decks, they must remove all cards (units, artefacts, cities and roads), tokens, dashboard and heroes from one chosen faction. The faction could be chosen randomly or the players may decide which one to exclude. Also players should remove 20 supply cards (as they remove 20 units as well). Then they proceed with the standard setup with the following exceptions:

The players take 3 cities with crossroads, one from each faction, and place at random two of them on the squares, marked with small brown circles. These are going to be their starting cities. The third city card is removed from the game. Then the players take again 3 cities with crossroads, one from each faction, and place at random two of them on the squares marked with small white circles. These cities are neutral cities, so they are marked with 4 level neutral token. The third remaining city is returned into the box.

The players should remove 7 random Great artefacts (and return them in the box) and place the other three Great artefacts on their designated spaces on the game board. Later, after players have chosen and taken hero figures and corresponding tokens and dashboard, the third unclaimed set of figures, tokens and dashboard is returned into the box.

The game proceeds the standard way with one important exception. The squares from the outer rows and columns of the game board (marked with X on the diagram below) are considered impassable terrains, so the players are not allowed to build roads or cities on them, nor these squares count towards game end conditions. In other words these squares should be treated as if they don't exist. Those squares are visually separated by a thicker line.

Alternative Game Scenarios

These are optional game setups that add new opportunities and excitement to the game.

The Bleeding Horn of Destiny

The Bleeding horn of destiny is optional game scenario. The volcano consists of 1 central card (the peak), 4 sanctuaries at the corners (one for each faction) and 4 crossroads. The volcano map is placed on the middle 9 squares of the game board (for easier building of the map, the backs of the cards are marked 1 to 9). In this scenario you don't need the ruins cards. Place 2 random great artefacts face-down under each of the four sanctuaries. Mark the sanctuaries with level 6 neutral tokens, and place a level 20 universal token on the peak.

The heroes move through the volcano cards in the usual way, with the following restriction. To enter or exit from the volcano peak a player should possess an elemental seal, which corresponds to the color of the gate he wants to pass trough. This means that if a player wants to enter the peak from the blue gate, he must have a blue water seal from the Islander sanctuary. Different elemental seals are earned in the 4 different sanctuaries, which are of course bound to the factions (Emberians - fire, Bearfolk - earth, Islanders - water, Cloudborn - air). To earn a seal a player must defeat the sanctuary battle monks (which defensive strength is 6). After a player attacks successfully a sanctuary, he marks it with one of his own level 2 city tokens. This token represents the seal that the player earns. Every earned seal on each sanctuary provides 2 victory points to its owner (and opens the corresponding gate for him). After a player wins the fight in a sanctuary, he can also look at the two Great Artefacts, hidden under the card (without showing them to the other players). The player can take one of them and return the other or he can return both of them under the sanctuary. When a player decides to take a Great Artefact, he has to reveal it. In this game scenario every player can hold up to two Great Artefacts, but they have to be picked up from different sanctuaries. One sanctuary can be marked by the seals of all players.

The Volcano peak brings a lot of victory points to its ruler, but it is guarded by the mighty Keeper - the master of the 4 elements. Normally the Keeper has 20 points defensive strength - 12 points basic power, plus 2 points for each element he wields. Every seal that a player possesses, negates the power of one element and decreases the total strength of the Keeper by 2. This means that if a player has 2 seals, when he attacks the peak, the Keeper's strength is reduced to 16. When a player successfully defeats the Keeper, he becomes the first volcano ruler. The level 20 token is replaced by level 8 universal token, which means that the Bleeding horn conqueror receives 8 victory points and this value is going to be the basic defensive strength of the peak from now on. This player also takes the special Volcano card to indicate that he is the current volcano ruler. From this moment any player who wants to conquer the volcano peak has to fight against the current owner of the top.

The game ends when someone builds his 5th city level 4, or when someone achieves 40 victory points (30 VP in 2 player game). In this scenario the game doesn't end when the map is fully built. The winner is the player with the most victory points. All other game rules remain the same. This scenario is recommended for 3 or 4 players.

Optional Game Modes

If you have any questions about the game, or if you have ideas about your own custom scenarios, please contact us via [email protected]. And here are some practical tips about your own custom games:

• Raise the strength of the neutral cities and the ruins.
• Start the game with more cities.
• Start without neutral or with more than one neutral city per player.
• Start with one or two heroes.
• Play with a fix number of weeks (1 week = one full rotation of ORAC)
• Change the game-end conditions.
• Play up to different amount of VPs

Online Support

For future custom scenarios, FAQ and a complete VIDEO rules of the game please visit: www.battalia.eu

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© 2015 Fantasmagoria Ltd. Geo Milev Str. 30, Sofia, Bulgaria — Game design: Alexandar Guerov. Game Development: Ledha Guerova, Alexandar Guerov. Illustrations: Albena Noveva, Atanas Lozanski, George Pike' Tanev. Graphic design: Alexandar Guerov, Albena Noveva, Atanas Lozanski, Ledha Guerova. 3D modelling: Borislav Barzev, Vasil Hristov.