Castellan
Castellan Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
88 gray pieces:
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26 Long Walls
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30 Short Walls
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32 Towers
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10 Blue Keeps
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10 Red Keeps
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28 cards: 14 for each player
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Game box for storage
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These rules
Walls and Towers
The gray walls and towers are used to build the castle. They fit together as shown below. Walls cannot connect to walls, or towers to towers. No wall may be placed in a way that does not allow a tower to be added at its other end, or blocks one end of another wall. All corners must be at right angles.
Legal Connection: a diagram shows a wall correctly meeting a tower at each end, at right angles.
The short wall below is illegally placed, because there is no room to add a tower on the other end.
The colored Keeps are used to indicate who owns each courtyard. They do not link to the gray walls and towers.
Cards
Each player has 14 cards. The two sets are identical except for color.
Each player's cards are divided into two decks of 7 cards each. The Wall deck has a picture of a wall on the back; the Tower deck has a picture of a tower.
The card faces show castle pieces: towers, long walls, and short walls. Playing a card will let the player draw those pieces to build. Some cards also have a card image, which means "Draw another card." The symbols are repeated, in miniature, on the corners.
If a card has a Tower back, it will grant at least one tower (often more). If it has a Wall back, it will grant at least one wall (almost always more). But most cards have at least one wall and at least one tower.
Example card contents:
- Red Player's Tower Card: Two Towers and One Extra Card
- Blue Player's Wall Card: One Tower, Two Long Walls, One Short Wall
Setup
You'll need a play area at least 16 by 16 inches. (If the castle grows too long in one direction, you can drag it around to re-orient it. The connections will hold together.)
Each player picks a color and takes the cards and Keeps of that color. The gray pieces are placed to the side.
Each player divides his cards into Wall and Tower decks, and shuffles each deck.
Each player then draws two cards from each of his decks, for a starting hand of four cards.
Playing the Game
Determine the first player randomly, and alternate turns. On your turn:
(1) Play cards. Each turn, you may play as many of your cards as you like. You must play at least one card. You cannot pass!
Lay out your chosen cards face-up. Collect all the pieces shown on those cards before you start building.
(2) Build. You must now add all those pieces to the castle. (On the first turn, the starting player must connect all pieces he plays, so he must play at least one tower.)
You may not play pieces inside a courtyard already claimed by your opponent.
You may not start a separate castle. All pieces must connect.
If there is truly nowhere to connect a piece, hand it to your opponent to use on his next turn!
(3) Claim courtyards. When you add a piece that completely encloses an area, you have created a "courtyard." Place a Keep of your color in each courtyard that you finish. If you divide your own existing courtyard into two or more separate enclosures, each newly created courtyard gets its own Keep.
Courtyards may be any shape, as long as all corners are right angles.
The exact location of the Keep within its courtyard is not significant. You may move it out of the way if you build inside the courtyard.
Double Keep. Once per game, when you first claim a courtyard, you may claim it by stacking two Keeps there (side view: one Keep on top of the other). This "Double Keep" makes its courtyard count double. Once you have claimed a courtyard by placing a Keep, you may not later decide to go back and double it.
You should not run out of Keeps, but if one color does run out, use any convenient tokens for extra Keeps.
(4) Draw. Regardless of the number of cards you played, you draw only one card at the end of your turn . . . unless you played a card or cards with the "extra card" symbol. In that case, draw one extra card for each symbol.
You may draw your card(s) from either deck, but if you are drawing more than one card, you must draw them all before looking at any of them.
(5) Discard used cards. Place the cards you just used in a discard pile, or return them to the box. You will not use them again in this game.
Trial Fitting
By setting towers at a 45-degree angle, the geometry of a build can be maintained without actually linking pieces. This "trial fitting using the 45-degree trick" lets a player check where pieces will go before committing them.
See House Rules, below, for whether trial fitting is allowed in your game.
Ending the Game
When one player is out of cards (no more in hand or left to draw), the other player(s) draw all their remaining cards and take one last turn. The gray pieces should come out even; there are exactly as many pieces in the set as there are symbols on the cards.
Scoring
The objective is to enclose space. However, the value of a courtyard depends, not on its size, but on the number of towers it has.
Each courtyard is worth points equal to the number of towers around it. The courtyard with the Double Keep is worth double points. Thus, many towers will score for both players, and a single tower may be scored as many as four times.
Count one player's score, and then the other's. Rather than removing Keeps as they are scored, turn each Keep on its side as you tally its points, so you can double-check the scores if necessary.
If the scores are tied, the player with the most Keeps is the winner. If you are still tied, you tied!
Chivalry
The players are honorable rivals. They are battling on the field of strategy and do not deign to take advantage of trivial errors! If a player forgets to claim a courtyard, takes too few pieces, etc., the other player must point out the omission and allow his opponent to correct his play.
House Rules
The players should decide before the game whether "trial fitting" of pieces is allowed, or whether "a piece laid is a piece played." When a new player is learning the game, trial fitting should definitely be allowed.
Playing With 3 or 4 Players
Castellan comes in two editions: one with red and blue Keeps and rules in English only, and the other with yellow and green Keeps and rules in five languages.
By combining the red/blue and the yellow/green sets, you can play Castellan with three or four people. (So if one of your friends already has this game, you should buy the other version!)
There are very few rule changes for multi-player games:
- Determine the starting player randomly. Turns pass to the left.
- If you cannot use a piece, hand it to the player on your left.
- The game changes a great deal (and becomes longer) if the players can negotiate and make deals about where they will build. We recommend against deal-making unless everyone is familiar with the game.
As far as strategy goes: in a multi-player game, it is harder to plan ahead, and even more important to avoid leaving opportunities for the other players. If the previous player leaves you an opening, claiming a large area can be decisive even if it costs you several cards. But if you are ever down to a one-card hand, you may be forced to play in ways that leave openings for the next player.
Strategy
First and foremost: try not to leave almost-finished courtyards that will be easy for your opponent to complete. The more cards he has in his hand, the more dangerous he is!
Beware the temptation to spend your whole hand at once. You only get one new card at the end of each turn. This means that if you use most or all of your cards together to get a super-build turn, your hand will be down to a single card until a "draw extra card" symbol comes up. A single card may not give you good options . . . but you must still play a card every turn.
If you own a courtyard, you can play more pieces inside it (assuming they will fit, of course). This gives you a safe place to get rid of extra pieces. If you add more towers inside a courtyard, its value goes up. If you divide one of your courtyards in two, you will score some of your towers twice!
Placement of the Double Keep is a major decision. It's generally not worth doubling the Keep unless the courtyard has at least five towers, and holding out for more is sometimes smart. But if you build a very large courtyard, you may want to double it when you first enclose it, and then build more inside it.
Subdividing your Double Keep courtyard may increase your final point total, even though only one of the resulting courtyards (your choice) will be doubled.
Credits
Game Design by Beau Beckett
Development: Steve Jackson and Philip Reed
Chief Operating Officer: Philip Reed
Editor: Monica Stephens
Print Buyer: Philip Reed
Piece Design: Ben Williams and Richard Kerr
Production Artist: Ben Williams
Production Manager: Samuel Mitschke
Packaging Design: Samuel Mitschke
Director of Sales: Ross Jepson
Playtesters: Alice Beckett, Garner Beckett, Jim Davies, Quinn Davies, James Droscha, Stephen Glenn, Andrew Hackard, Richard Kerr, Brett Meyers, Phil Reed, Steve Robinson, Will Schoonover, Randy Scheunemann, Jeph Stahl, Monica Stephens, Kevin Varner, Loren Wiseman, Elisabeth Zakes, Attendees at Protospiel 2008, 2009, and 2010
Castellan, the all-seeing pyramid, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are trademarks or registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. Castellan is copyright © 2013 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Rules version 1.0 (June 2013).