Battue: Storm of the Horse Lords
Battue: Storm of the Horse Lords Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What is Battue?
Battue is a tactical board game in which two to four players control a horde of powerful warriors, each seeking to capture the most valuable and prestigious sections of the city. Players maneuver their hordes, capturing sections of the city and acquiring loot, each trying to prove their right to be the Horse Lords' Khan of Khans and rule the Golden Horde.
Contents
- Rulebook
- 1 Game Board
- 52 City Tiles
- 60 Warrior tokens
- 60 Flag tokens
- 60 Loot cards
- 20 Event cards
- 2 dice
Object of the Game
The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner. You gain victory points by controlling city sections (represented by tiles) and gaining loot. The game ends when the Palace, Templum Jupiter, and Universitas city tiles are all controlled by players (but not necessarily the same player) or if all but one player has been eliminated (they have no Warrior tokens on the board). The Horse Lords live a nomadic life, so only the tiles you control and the cards in your war chest at the end of the game count.
Card and Tile Anatomy
- City tile: City Tile Name; Defence Value; Loot Cards (see Winning the Battle, pg 10); Warrior (see Winning the Battle, pg 10); Victory Points; Event Card icon (see Event Cards, pg 10).
- Loot card: Card Type; Card Title; Turn Order (when can be played, see Loot Cards, pg 10); Card Text; Victory Points.
- Event card: Card Title; Card Text; Victory Points.
Game Setup
Pull out the Palace, Templum Jupiter, Templum Minerva, Universitas, and Schola city tiles and place them next to the board.
Mix up the remaining tiles face-down and leave them that way so no player knows what tile is in a given location once it is on the board. Note that the tiles should be placed inside the city walls, not on the gate, wall, or tower locations.
Randomly determine who the first player is. Play begins with the first player and passes to the left. Each player places one tile face-down on the board when it is their turn. Set up the board as follows:
- The first player places the Palace tile face-down in the center of the board in the space labeled Palace.
- Take the Templum Jupiter, Templum Minerva, Universitas, and Schola tiles, mix them up face-down and place them anywhere on the board.
- Take the remaining pieces and place them on the board. Start placing the larger tiles and work your way down to the smaller tiles. Tiles must fit in the location selected.
You will end up with unused tiles. This is okay; just set them aside as they won't be used this time.
Hint: Remember, the goal of the game is to capture the city, not build it, so don't take too much time assembling it!
Once all the city tiles are placed, the board is complete and you can start playing. During the game you'll flip the city tiles face-up, so leave them face-down for now.
Shuffle and place the Loot cards into a stack, called the Loot Pile, near the board so everyone can reach it.
Shuffle and place the Event cards into a stack, called the Event Deck, near the board so everyone can reach it.
Beginning with the first player, each player selects six warrior tokens of a single color to start their horde. Place all six pieces next to the board, adjacent to a single gate, wall, or tower along the board edge. You may choose to place your warriors next to any board edge however only one player is allowed to start on each edge.
Each player's additional warriors are placed in reserve, next to that player. Those warriors may only enter play later through card effects or as reinforcements. Warriors that are defeated or removed from the board for any reason return to that player's reserve.
Playing Battue
Play begins with the first player, who takes his or her turn, then play passes to the left.
During your turn, you do the following phases in order:
- Start of Turn: Play Cards; Call Reinforcements
- Main Turn: Move Hordes; Resolve Battles
- End of Turn: Play Cards
Start of Turn
Play Cards: At the Start of Turn you may play any Loot cards that have the (Start of Turn) icon (see Loot Cards, pg 10).
Call Reinforcements: You may call for reinforcements from your reserve. You may not move or attack with a horde in the same turn in which it has called for reinforcements. To call for reinforcements, roll the die: on 1-2, add one warrior to the horde; on 3-4, add two warriors to the horde; on 5-6, add three warriors to the horde.
- You may call for reinforcements with multiple hordes.
- The maximum size for any one horde is eight warriors.
- No matter what, you may not have more than 15 warriors on the board at one time.
- If you have no warriors on the board, you are out of the game.
Main Turn
Move Hordes: During your main turn, you may move your warriors, one horde at a time, onto any city tile adjacent to the tile they currently occupy. Do not reveal any face down tiles until all of your hordes are where you want them.
- Hordes may be moved in any order, but each warrior may only be moved once during your turn.
- You may split your horde to go to different city tiles. Note: until you capture your first city tile (this also includes walls, gates, and towers) you may not split your horde.
- You may move warriors into a single city tile from multiple hordes; if you do, the resulting horde may not have more than eight warriors.
- You may move to an adjacent city tile that you control or is controlled by an opposing player.
Resolve Battles: Once your hordes are where you want them, select one city tile battle to resolve. You may resolve city tile battles in any order. You must completely resolve a city tile battle before moving to the next.
- If your horde is on a face down tile, pick up your horde, reveal the tile, and place your horde on the now face-up tile. If the revealed tile has an (Event card) icon, draw an Event card (see Event Cards, pg 10) immediately and resolve the effect before continuing. Next, battle for control of that tile (see Battles, pg 8).
- If your horde is on a face up tile that you do not control, battle for control of that tile (see Battles, pg 8).
End of Turn
Play Cards: At the End of Turn, you may play any Loot cards that state that they may only be played at the end of turn (see Loot Cards, pg 10) and finally, conduct any actions that state they must be done at the end of turn.
Battles
Battles are used to determine whether or not the attacker is successful in his or her bid to control a city tile. Battles are conducted differently depending on whether or not you are attacking a city tile on which no warriors are present, called empty, or a city tile with warriors present, called occupied.
Attacking Empty City Tiles
The attacker is the player whose turn it is and the defender is the player to the attacker's left if the tile is uncontrolled. If the tile is controlled, the controlling player is the defender.
Battle Steps for Empty Tiles: Play Cards; Determine Attack Value; Determine Defense Value; Battle Resolution.
Play Cards: First, the attacker may play as many cards with the (Attacker) icon from his or her hand as desired. Cards must be played before dice are rolled unless a card states otherwise. Then, the defender may play as many cards with the (Defender) icon from his or her hand as desired. Cards must be played before dice are rolled unless a card states otherwise.
Determine Attack Value: The attacker determines his or her attack value by adding the total number of warriors plus any card effects to the roll of one die.
Determine Defense Value: The defender determines the defense value by adding the Defense value of the city section in the (defense) icon plus any card effects to the roll of one die.
Battle Resolution: Compare Attack Value to Defense Value.
- If the attack value is higher, the attacker wins the battle and takes control of that city tile (see Winning the Battle, pg 10).
- If the attack value is equal to or lower than the defense value, the attacker loses. Remove one warrior from the attacker's horde and return it to the attacker's reserve. If this is the attacker's last warrior on that city tile, the attacker lost the fight and the battle for that city tile ends. If the attacker still has horde tokens on that city tile, he or she may continue the battle by repeating the above steps until there is a winner or the attacker ends the battle by retreating to an adjacent city tile that he or she controls.
Attacking Occupied City Tiles
The attacker is the player whose turn it is and the defender is the player who currently controls the occupied tile.
Battle Steps for Occupied Tiles: Play Cards; Determine Attack Value; Determine Defense Value; Battle Resolution.
Play Cards: First, the attacker may play as many cards with the (Attacker) icon from his or her hand as desired. Cards must be played before dice are rolled unless a card states otherwise. Then, the defender may play as many cards with the (Defender) icon from his or her hand as desired. Cards must be played before dice are rolled unless a card states otherwise.
Determine Attack Value: The attacker determines his or her attack value by adding the total number of warriors plus any card effects to the roll of one die.
Determine Defense Value: The defender determines the defense value by adding the Defense value of the city section in the (defense) icon plus any defending warriors, plus any card effects to the roll of one die.
Battle Resolution: Compare Attack Value to Defense Value.
- If the attack value is higher, the attacker wins. Remove one warrior from the defender's horde and return it to the defender's reserve. If that was the defender's last warrior on that city tile, the attacker is now the controller of that city tile (see Winning the Battle, pg 10). If there are still enemy warriors on that city tile, the attacker or defender may retreat by moving his or her entire horde to an adjacent city tile he or she controls (as long as the total number of warriors on a city tile remains eight or fewer). If warriors from both hordes remain on the contested city tile, the attacker may continue the battle by repeating the above steps.
- If the attack value is equal to or lower than the defense value, the attacker loses. Remove one warrior from the attacker's horde and return it to the attacker's reserve. If that was the attacker's last warrior on that city tile, the attacker lost the fight and the battle for that city tile ends and the defender maintains control of it. If there are still enemy warriors on that city tile, the attacker or defender may retreat by moving his or her entire horde to an adjacent city tile he or she controls (as long as the total number of warriors on a city tile remains eight or fewer). If warriors from both hordes remain on the contested city tile, the attacker continues the battle by repeating the above steps.
Winning the Battle
When you win control of a city tile place one of your flags on the city tile to indicate you control that section of the city. If you run out of flags, you must give up control of an unoccupied city tile and use that flag to mark control of the new tile. Only tiles you control at the end of the game count toward your victory point total.
Looting
If the city section was previously uncontrolled, you get to loot it; draw the number of Loot cards indicated on the city tile with the icon. These cards may be played immediately if appropriate (see Loot Cards below). However, if the section already belonged to another player, the city section has already been looted and you don't get to draw any Loot cards.
Gaining Warriors
Some city tiles give you an additional warrior. When you take control of an uncontrolled city tile that has the icon on it, you add a warrior to that horde. (Remember, hordes must have 8 or fewer members.)
Event Cards
When a city tile has the icon on it, immediately draw an Event card. Event cards must be resolved before continuing with a battle.
Follow all instructions on the card. When resolved, the card is placed in the discard pile. If the conditions of the card can not be met the card has no effect. Event cards that add Victory Points are put in that player's war chest. Event cards are never part of a player's hand of cards.
If a card calls for more warriors than a player currently has in reserve, any warriors over the number in that player's reserve are not gained.
During play, if the Event Deck is empty, there are no more events.
Loot Cards
Loot cards are gained for capturing sections of the city. When you take control of an uncontrolled city tile, draw Loot cards equal to the number of icons on it. Loot cards may only be played at certain times, as indicated on each card as "Start of Turn" with its icon, "Attacker" with its icon, "Defender" with its icon, or "End of Turn" with its icon. You may have a hand of up to six Loot cards at the end of your turn; if you have more than six cards in your hand, you must play or discard down to six cards before the end of your turn. After a Loot card has been played and its effect has been resolved, place it into the discard pile, unless it says otherwise or adds to your Victory Point total.
Loot cards that add Victory Points are put in front of the player and form a war chest. Cards in the war chest are no longer part of the player's hand of cards.
If a card calls for more warriors than a player currently has in reserve, any warriors over the number in that player's reserve are not gained.
During play, if the Loot Pile is empty, shuffle the discarded Loot cards to form a new Loot Pile.
Ending and Winning the Game
The game ends at the end of a turn when the Palace, Templum Jupiter, and Universitas tiles are all controlled by players (but not necessarily the same player).
The winner of the game is the player with the highest Victory Point Total. Determine your total by combining the victory point value of all cards in your war chest plus the victory point value of all city tiles you control at the end of the game. Players who have been eliminated (they have no warriors on the board) still count their victory point total. In case of a tie, the player with the most victory points from city tiles wins.
The game also ends immediately if at any time there is only one player left in the game. If all other players have been eliminated, then the remaining player wins regardless of victory point total.
The winner is declared Khan of the Golden Horde!
Important Terms
- Attack value – the total value of an attacking horde's size (each horde warrior has a value of 1) plus any card effects, plus the roll of one die.
- Attacker – the player who initiates an attack on a city section. The attacker is always the person whose turn it is.
- Battle(s) – the actions an attacker and defender make to determine success or failure in an attempt to gain control of a city tile.
- City tile – a tile that contains one section of the city (this includes walls, gates, and towers).
- Contested – a city tile that is controlled by one player and is being attacked by another player.
- Control – a city tile owned or won through battle or card effect. A player marks a controlled city tile with a flag token.
- Controller – the player whose flag token indicates ownership of the city tile.
- Defender – the player who is defending the city section being attacked.
- Defense value – the defense number of a city tile plus any additional defending warriors, plus card effects, plus the roll of one die.
- Empty city tile – a city tile that has no warrior tokens on it.
- Enemy Warrior(s) – a warrior or warriors controlled by another player.