Castle Risk Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Equipment
• Object
• The Game Board
• Setup
• The Cards
  • Reinforcements
  • Spy
  • General
  • Admiral
  • Marshall
  • Diplomat
• The Attack
  • Attacking
  • Deciding the Battle
  • Capturing a Territory
  • Capturing a Castle
• Hidden Armies
• Spoils
• Winning
• Verbal Negotiations
• Strategy Hints
• Reference Guide
  • The Cards
  • Spoils
  • Playing

Equipment

• A game board
• 5 dice: 2 red, 3 white
• 6 castles
• 6 empire banners
• 6 sets of armies: each a different color
• A deck of 48 cards: 8 Marshalls, 7 Diplomats, 8 Generals, 6 Admirals, 7 Spies, 12 Reinforcements
• An Admiral's ship

Empire Banners. Carefully twist each banner off of the plastic runner.

Armies. There are 6 sets of armies. Each set contains single-army pieces and 10-army pieces. When choosing an army color, be sure to take those armies of the same color group.

Example: red single-army pieces and pink 10-army pieces belong together.

Illustrations in the rulebook show the 10-army piece and the single-army pieces.

Object

To capture each enemy castle on the game board, thereby being the last player to remain in the game.

The Game Board

Empires. As you can see, the game board is a map of 6 European empires. They are the: British, French, Ottoman, German, Russian, and Austrian empires.

Territories. Each color-coded empire is divided into several territories marked by solid-colored borders.

Example: The territories that comprise the British Empire are: Yorkshire, Ireland, Wales, London, and Scotland.

Independent Territories. There are also 11 color-coded Independent territories. These are, as their name states, completely independent and do not make up an empire. The Independent territories are: Norway, Madrid, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Venice, Finland, Barcelona, Rome, Denmark, and Naples.

Dotted Lines. You will notice that there are certain territories separated by water, but connected by dotted lines. The dotted lines indicate that army movement between these territories is possible without the use of the Admiral ship.

The Black Sea. Note that the Black Sea is the only major body of water on the board that's completely land-locked. Therefore, when using the Admiral's ship on the Black Sea, you can only carry armies to and from territories that border directly on it. You cannot use the Admiral's ship to carry armies from a territory on the Black Sea to a territory that borders on another body of water, or vice versa.

Setup

1. Get a pencil and a sheet of paper.

2. Choose an army color and separate out the appropriate number of starting armies, using single-army pieces: 2 players: 40 each, 3 players: 35 each, 4 players: 30 each, 5 players: 25 each, 6 players: 20 each.

3. Roll a die to see who will place armies first. High roller draws an empire's banner, sight unseen, inserts it into a castle, and places that castle on any territory within the empire represented by the initial on the banner. Then, he or she places 1 army piece next to the castle. THIS IS THE CASTLE THAT PLAYER MUST DEFEND. Starting from that player's left, everybody, in turn, draws an empire banner, places a castle and 1 army in the same manner.

   HINT: It's best to place your castle next to the sea.

4. Starting with the same first player, everybody, in turn, places a single-army piece on any unoccupied territory in any empire. Continue taking turns until each territory is occupied by a single army.

   HINT: Occupy an entire empire if you can.

   Now, each player, in turn, places 5 armies at the same time, divided up in any way, on any territories that he or she already occupies. Do so until all starting armies have been placed.

   HINT: Strongly fortify your castle with armies.

   • There is no limit to the number of armies you can place on any one territory.
   • At any time, substitute 10 single-army pieces for one 10-army piece on a territory, or vice versa.

5. In secret, choose a territory where you will place your "Hidden Armies" (see HIDDEN ARMIES, p. 10). It may be any territory except one occupied by a castle. Write down the name on a piece of paper and slip it under the game board.

6. Shuffle the cards and deal 3 face down to each player (who looks at them in secret). Place the remaining cards to form a draw pile.

FIRST, READ THE RULES CAREFULLY. THEN BEGIN THE GAME.

BATTLE and ATTACK. Refer to the following definitions of the words, BATTLE and ATTACK to be sure players have a clear understanding of their meanings in this game:

• BATTLE: is a single "fight" between two enemy armies (one roll of the dice).
• ATTACK: is made up of one or more battles.

PLAYING. On your turn, do the following in order:

1. If you have less than 3 cards, bring your hand up to 3.
2. Draw 1 card.
3. Play cards if you wish. (Some cards will be played out of this order.)
4. Attack if you wish.
5. Collect spoils. This indicates the end of your turn.

The Cards

Reinforcements

Used to recruit additional armies to place in one or more of the territories you occupy.

• Play one or more before starting the FIRST attack of your turn. (You cannot play reinforcement cards on your turn once you've made your first attack.)
• Place the card(s) under the numbered edge of the game board, one card to each number, in numerical order. The sum of the numbers above the cards you have just played is the number of armies you get.

Spy

Used to look at a player's hand in order to eliminate a card from it, OR to defend against another Spy card.

• Play one or more at any time during your turn.
• Let everybody see the card you've chosen, then discard it face up. Then, discard your Spy card.
• Can also be used defensively against an opponent's Spy card. Both Spy cards are discarded and no looking is allowed.

General

Used offensively to add 1 point to your high die roll.

• Play at any time during an attack just before rolling the dice.
• Once committed to an attack, you cannot withdraw the General.
• If you attack again on that turn, you must continue to use the General. At the end of your turn, return the General to your hand, if he has survived.
• Your high die roll, plus 1, must beat your opponent's high die roll to keep using the General. The General card is eliminated as soon as your opponent rolls a number higher than your high die roll, plus 1. You must discard the General card. Then, you can:
  • Play another General card if you wish
  • Continue the attack without a General
  • End the attack.

Admiral

Used to move your armies via the Admiral's ship from a territory on the sea to attack an enemy's territory on the sea.

• Play at any time during your turn to attack only.
• NEVER USE SIMPLY TO RELOCATE ARMIES.
• Once committed to the attack, you cannot withdraw the Admiral. You must continue the attack to the end.
• If you lose all the armies in the ship, you lose the attack and the Admiral card. Discard it.
• If you win the attack, move all your armies from the ship into the defeated territory, and return the Admiral card to your hand.
• You may use an Admiral card as many times as you wish on a turn as long as you keep winning each attack.

Marshall

Used defensively to add 1 point to your high die roll.

• Play when you're attacked by another player.
• Once committed to the attack, you cannot withdraw the Marshall.
• If you lose the high die roll (plus 1), discard the Marshall card.
• If the Marshall survives the attack, return it to your hand.

Diplomat

Used to force a truce with another player.

• Play a Diplomat on one or more players before starting the FIRST attack of your turn. (You cannot play a Diplomat card on your turn once you've made your first attack.)
• You cannot attack the player(s) with whom you have a truce on this turn, nor can that player attack you on his or her next turn.

THE TRUCE IS IN EFFECT FOR ONE COMPLETE ROUND OF PLAY.

• Discard the Diplomat at the end of the round.
• Do not use Diplomats in a 2-player game. When the number of players in a game reaches 2, discard all the Diplomat cards from your hand and replace them by drawing new cards. Whenever you draw Diplomat cards from the draw pile, discard them and draw again.

The Attack

An attack is one or more battles fought with the dice. The object is to capture a territory by defeating all the enemy armies on it.

• You may only attack from one of your territories to an adjacent (next to) enemy territory. (Territories connected by a dotted line are also considered adjacent.)
• You must always have at least 2 armies in the territory from which you are attacking.

Attacking

Announce the territory you're attacking and the one you're attacking from.

• You, the attacker, may roll 1, 2, or 3 white dice for each battle, but you must have at least 1 more army in your territory than the number of dice you roll. The more dice you roll, the better your chances of winning, yet the more armies you stand to lose.

EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE: When you attack a castle, you can never use more than 2 dice.

• The defender may roll 1 or 2 red dice for each battle. To roll 2 dice, however, the defender must have at least 2 armies on the territory under attack. By rolling 2 dice, the defender has a better chance of winning, but also stands to lose more armies.

Deciding the Battle

Compare the highest die that each of you has rolled. (The high die roll.)

• If the attacker's die is higher, the defender removes 1 army.
• If the defender's die is higher, the attacker removes 1 army.
• A tie goes to the defender and the attacker removes 1 army.
• If you both rolled more than 1 die, compare the next highest pair. (See example 2 and 3.)
• Both attacker and defender can never lose more than 2 armies on a single roll.
• The attacker may end the attack between any of the battles fought with the dice (except when using an Admiral.)

The rulebook illustrates four examples with dice diagrams (pip values are not reproduced here). Each example's labels and result are given below.

• Example 1. Attacker's dice; defender's die. Highest pair compared. Result: Defender loses one army.
• Example 2. Attacker's dice; defender's dice. Highest pair, then next highest pair compared. Result: Defender loses one army and attacker loses one army.
• Example 3. Attacker's dice; defender's dice. Highest pair, then next highest pair compared. Result: Attacker loses two armies.
• Example 4. Attacker's die; defender's dice. Highest pair compared. Result: Defender loses one army.

Note: The attacker can never lose more than two armies on a single roll.

Capturing a Territory

As soon as you defeat the last army on a territory, you must move in at least as many armies (from the territory from which you've attacked) as the number of dice you rolled. You can move in more, but you must always leave at least 1 army behind to occupy the territory from which you've attacked. (If your army is reduced to 1, the battle is over, unless you can continue to attack from another adjacent territory.)

Capturing a Castle

When you defeat the last army on a territory containing a castle, you've captured another player's castle and eliminated him or her from the game.

• Remove the defeated castle from the board. Move its banner to your castle.
• Remove the defeated player's armies from the board.
• Using armies from territories you occupy, (starting with the armies you attacked with) redistribute 1 army to each of the territories left vacant by the defeated player. Any territories you don't wish to occupy (or cannot occupy) must be occupied, in turn, by the other players using their armies from anywhere on the board.
• Take control of the defeated player's cards and add them to your hand.
• Take control of the defeated player's hidden armies if they haven't been used yet.

[Attacking again on a turn: this heading is listed in the Table of Contents on page 2 of the rulebook, but no text for it appears in the scanned pages. Nothing is transcribed for it.]

Hidden Armies

Used, only once, at any time during the game to defend the territory they occupy or to attack from that territory.

• You must occupy the territory before you bring them out.
• Show the other players the paper with the territory name written on it.
• Place on that territory the number of armies equal to the number above the last Reinforcement card played. (The longer hidden armies stay underground, the greater their number may be when you bring them out.)

Spoils

At the end of your turn, collect any spoils you're entitled to and distribute them in any way to territories you already occupy.

• 4 armies for every empire you completely occupy.
• 6 armies for completely occupying the Independents (all 11 territories).
• 8 armies for every banner in your castle.

Winning

The player who captures all the enemy castles on the board and flies all the banners on his or her castle wins the game.

Verbal Negotiations

Verbal negotiations are allowed, but are not enforceable. Negotiations must be conducted openly, never in secret. The terms of the negotiations may be carried out at any time.

Example: card trading.

Strategy Hints

Strategies vary from game to game. Here are some basic strategies which hold true for all or most games:

• Fortify your castle well! Remember: if you lose it, you're out of the game.
• Placing your castle on a territory next to the sea allows you to use the armies that occupy it for naval invasions. (Chances are this territory has a large number of armies to work with. Remember: You can replace them at the end of your turn with spoils.)
• To defeat a castle, odds are you need to attack with double the number of armies that are defending it, because you can only use 2 dice.
• When attacking with your Admiral card, attack a weakly-defended territory first. Then attack your main objective from there, by land. By doing so, you'll have a better chance of keeping your Admiral card, rather than losing it in a tougher battle from the sea.
• When attacking another player's territory, consider stopping the attack when the player is down to 1 army, especially if that player's territory acts as a buffer between you and another threatening territory. Remember, the player cannot attack with 1 army, and cannot move armies through territories he or she occupies.

Reference Guide

The back sheet of the rulebook.

The Cards

• Reinforcements: Receive armies equal to the sum of the numbers on the board under which you've placed cards on that turn. Play before the first attack of your turn.
• Spy: Eliminate a card of your choice from an opponent's hand, or play to stop a Spy card played on you.
• General: Play offensively to add 1 point to your high die roll. Must beat defender to remain in attack.
• Marshall: Play defensively to add 1 point to your high die roll. Must tie or beat attacker to remain in attack.
• Admiral: Use to transport armies from a territory on the sea to attack an enemy territory on the sea. Cannot withdraw Admiral once committed.
• Diplomat: Play before the first attack of your turn to form a truce with another player. You cannot attack that player, nor can he or she attack you for one round of play.

Spoils

• 4 armies for every empire you completely occupy.
• 6 armies for occupying all Independents.
• 8 armies for every banner you have in your castle.

Playing

On your turn, do the following in order:

1. If you have less than 3 cards, bring your hand up to 3.
2. Draw 1 card.
3. Play cards if you wish. (Some cards will be played out of this order.)
4. Attack if you wish.
5. Collect spoils. This indicates the end of your turn.