Castle Rampage
Castle Rampage Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Castle Rampage is a duel with cards, in which you both aim to destroy your opponent's castle, once and for all. For each card, you will have to decide if you use it to strengthen your defenses or if you will use it to attack the opposing structures.
Components
- 118 Action cards
- 2 Turn Overviews
Setup
Each player take 1 turn overview and places it in front of them.
Shuffle all action cards and place them as a face down draw pile in the center of the playing area. Leave some space next to it for a face up discard pile.
Randomly determine a starting player.
During the game, the playing area will appear as depicted. Each player will form 2 face-down stacks in front of them, called the Gate and the Castle.
(Illustration: each player has a Gate stack, their Turn Overview and a Castle stack in front of them; the draw pile and discard pile are in the middle.)
The Cards
The following examples introduce the major card components:
Each card shows 2 Defense Values in the lower corners: 1 for the Gate (left) and 1 for the Castle (right).
Example: The Dragon has a defense value of 2, when placed at the Gate. Better place it at the Castle, where it has a defense value of 3.
Some cards have costs that need to be paid in order to play them. Most commonly, you have to discard other cards from your hand to do so. In the text box, costs are always stated ahead of the effect (e.g. "Discard 2 cards.")
Many cards allow you to initiate an attack against the opponent's Gate or Castle. This is shown by the attack value, shown in the shield icon in the center. Some of them have additional effects.
Example: The Axe man initiates an attack with a strength of 2. Additionally, you draw 1 card, when playing it.
An asterisk (✱) icon next to the attack value indicates that the card's effect may influence its attack value.
A card that shows a sword, bow or horse-head unit icon, or any combination thereof in the top left corner, is a unit. Cards with multiple symbols (i.e. Giant, Mercenary) can only be used as 1 of the indicated unit types.
An Attack Scheme is a strong card allowing an attack. In order to play it, you have to discard the indicated units from your hand. If you discard a certain additional unit, you may even increase its attack strength.
Example: If you discard 1 Knight and 1 Archer, you may execute the Attack Scheme with an attack strength of 9. If you discard an additional Archer, add +5 to the attack strength.
Flow of Play
Preparation
Deal 5 cards from the draw deck to each player. If any player receives a purple card (i.e. Bomber, Saboteur, Spy, Ogre), discard it and replace it with a new card. Afterwards, shuffle the discarded purple cards back into the draw pile.
Each player places 2 of the 5 cards face down at their Gate. Then, they place 2 of the remaining cards face down at their Castle. Set aside the remaining card. Repeat this process once, so each player's Gate and Castle consists of 4 cards. Both players add the cards set aside to their hand, so each player has a starting hand of 2 cards.
Note: Whenever you add cards to your Castle or Gate, always place them under the other cards at that structure. Neither player may look at the face down cards in any Castle or Gate. However, both player may count the number of cards in each Castle or Gate.
Game turn
Beginning with the starting player, take alternating turns until the game is over. At the start of your turn, draw 2 cards from the common draw deck.
Note: The starting player draws only 1 card on their first turn.
Strengthen your defenses 1x during your turn, you may strengthen your defenses, i.e. use 1 card to defend. To do so, place 1 card from your hand under your Gate or Castle, i.e. on the bottom of the respective stack. Do not execute its effect and do not pay any costs. Exception: You must discard 2 cards in order to place the Ogre to strengthen your defenses, see Ogre.
Play cards On your turn, you may play any number of cards from your hand. To do so, first, pay the associated costs, if any. Most commonly, you will have to discard cards from your hand, to do so.
Then, place the card face up on the table, execute its effect, and then discard it. Cards showing the permanent icon are called permanent cards. They remain in play until they are destroyed.
Play your cards individually and execute their effects or carry out the attack. You may initiate any number of attacks each turn, if your cards allow you to.
Attacks
Whenever you play a card with an attack value, it initiates an attack against your opponent's structures. If there are cards in the opposing Gate, the attack targets the Gate.
If there are no cards in the Gate, the attack targets the Castle, directly.
Note: Several cards, e.g. Digger, may change these rules.
To resolve an attack, reveal the top card of the attacked structure. Compare the Attack Strength to the corresponding Defense Value:
If the Defense Value is higher than the Attack Strength: Destroy the attacking card. Place it into the discard pile (Exception: Veteran). Return the defending card to the top of the structure, face down. The attack has no further effect. Damage is not "remembered".
If the Defense Value is equal to the Attack Strength: Destroy both, the attacking and the defending card. (Place them into the discard pile in any order.) Do not reveal another card from the attacked structure.
If the Defense Value is lower than the Attack Strength: Destroy the defending card. (Place it into the discard pile.) Subtract its Defense Value from the Attack Strength. Then, reveal the next card from the attacked structure and continue the attack with the remaining strength, until the attacking card is destroyed or the game ends (see below). If the last card of the Gate is destroyed in this way, continue with the attack by revealing cards from the Castle.
Note: Purple cards (Bomber, Saboteur, Spy) have a specific effect, when they are destroyed during an attack. Their effect is not triggered if the card is revealed in any other way or when it is discarded.
Example: It's Anton's turn. He plays a card and initiates an Attack with Strength 9 against Beatrix' Gate. She reveals a Defense Value of 4 and discards that card. The remaining Attack Strength is 5 (9-4). As this was the last card at her Gate, Beatrix now reveals a card from the Castle, an Ogre, with a defense value of 6. The remaining Attack Strength is lower and thus the attacking card is destroyed. Then, Beatrix' places her defending Ogre face down back on top of her Castle.
End of the Game
The game ends, as soon as the last card of any Castle is destroyed. The owner of that Castle loses the game (even if they still have cards at their Gate).
Note: The Jester might also cause you to lose the game during your turn. The Summoner might destroy both Castles simultaneously. In this case, the player who played the Summoner loses.