Dungeons & Dragons: Conquest of Nerath Board Game
Dungeons & Dragons: Conquest of Nerath Board Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Components
- The Warring Realms
- How to Win
- Ways to Play
- Setup
- Order of Play
- Dice
- Reference Cards
- Event and Treasure Cards
- Dungeon Guardian Tiles
- Turn Sequence
- Sea Transport
- Step 3: Fight Battles
- Step 4: Reposition
- Step 5: Reinforce
- Step 6: Collect Income
- Appendix: Piece Descriptions
- Land Pieces
- Flying Pieces
- Sea Pieces
- Glossary
- Rules Summary
- Credits
Game Components
- 1 game board
- 1 rulebook
- 1 storage tray
- 5 reference cards (1 for each realm, plus a Quick Reference card)
- 252 plastic figures (63 for each realm):
- 80 Footsoldiers
- 24 Siege Engines
- 24 Fighters
- 24 Wizards
- 32 Monsters
- 12 Castles
- 16 Storm Elementals
- 16 Dragons
- 24 Warships
- 50 plastic chips (40 gray, 10 red)
- 80 control markers (20 for each realm)
- 2 team markers (Vailin/Nerath, Karkoth/Iron Circle)
- 30 Dungeon Guardian tokens
- 80 Event cards (20 for each realm)
- 30 Treasure cards
- 80 Gold tokens (50 1 Gold, 30 5 Gold)
- 16 dice:
- 6 6-sided dice
- 4 8-sided dice
- 3 10-sided dice
- 2 12-sided dice
- 1 20-sided die
The Warring Realms
Here's a quick overview of the four realms, including suggestions about each one's strengths and weaknesses. You can choose which realm to play, rolling dice for order of selection, or pick one randomly by placing one control marker from each realm in a cup, then drawing blind.
Dark Empire of Karkoth (Karkoth) The warlocks who rule Karkoth wield terrible powers of necromancy and shadow. Their undead armies hold a dozen lands in thrall, enforcing their demands for tribute and new conscripts. Karkoth enjoys an aggressive starting position but has the weakest Event cards. If you enjoy a straightforward land war, this is the realm for you.
Vailin Alliance (Vailin) Elven lands allied with mercantile human city-states, this realm benefits from prosperous trade routes and elemental control, giving it the best navy in the world. If you want to rule the seas, consider playing the Vailin Alliance.
Iron Circle Goblin kingdoms, mercenaries, and warlike cities unite under the Iron Circle to create the world's strongest armies. The Iron Circle's wizards also command infernal forces, adding the element of surprise to its Event deck. This realm is best for someone who wants to play a balanced force.
Nerathan League (Nerath) These feudal survivor states—mostly human and dwarven—are all that remain of the fallen Empire of Nerath. The League is on the verge of collapse, caught between the aggressive forces of Karkoth and the Iron Circle. However, it has the strongest Event cards, representing brave heroes who flock to the Nerathan banner. If you enjoy the underdog role, escaping certain death in the nick of time, consider the Nerathan League.
How to Win
The winner is the player who achieves the game's victory condition first. Victory conditions depend on the length of the game. Before starting, decide whether you want to play a short, medium, or long game.
Alliances: If you play an alliance game, the victory conditions are a bit different. See the "Alliances" sidebar below.
| Game length | Victory condition |
|---|---|
| Short | 13 victory points at end of game round |
| Medium | 20 victory points at end of game round |
| Long | Control all Capitals or collect 8 Treasures |
Short and Medium Game
For a short or medium-length game, players keep track of victory points (also called VP) on the Victory Points track.
At the end of each game round (after each realm has completed its turn), check to see if any player has reached the needed VP total. If you have at least the required VP total and have the most victory points, you win. If two or more players' VP totals are tied, play another game round and check the totals again at the end of the round. Continue until one player has the most victory points at the end of a game round.
For example, in a short game, the Karkoth player reaches 13 VP on her turn. The Vailin, Iron Circle, and Nerath players all get a chance to score victory points on their turns, too. If the Nerath player ends up with 13 VP too, no one wins yet—all players play another turn, and check their VP totals at the end of the game round.
Victory Points
Victory points measure success in completing various actions, as summarized in the following table. See "Victory Points" on page 16 for more information.
You receive victory points as soon as you complete the specified action. However, all players check their realms' VP totals at the end of each game round to see if there's a winner.
| VP | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Conquer an enemy land space |
| 1-3 | Play a Treasure card |
| 5 | Conquer an enemy Capital |
Long Game
Each realm has a Capital: Karkothi Throneholds (Karkoth), Vailindor (Vailin), Citadel of Iron's Grasp (Iron Circle), and Mithralfast (Nerath). In a long game, you play until you control all Capitals, regardless of how many victory points you accumulate. If you control each enemy player's Capital at the end of your turn and you still control your own Capital, you immediately win.
You can also win a long game by plundering dungeons to collect Treasure cards. If you have at least eight Treasure cards (both in play and in your hand) and have more Treasure cards than any other player at the end of the game round, you immediately win. Otherwise, play another game round and check again at the end of the round. Continue until one player has the most Treasure cards at the end of a game round.
Ways to Play
Four people can play the Conquest of Nerath game as a free-for-all competition or pitting alliances against one another. With fewer than four, one or more players control an alliance.
In an alliance game, allied realms cooperate with each other. Neither ally can attack the other or conquer its territory. One ally's pieces can move freely into or through the other's spaces.
See the "Alliances" sidebar for a summary of the alliance rules.
In a free-for-all game, each player controls one realm and can attack any other player at any time. Players are free to strike any kind of arrangement among themselves, but there are no binding agreements, so anyone can break a deal at any time. To move a piece into a space controlled by another player, even one you are "friendly" with, you must attack that space.
2 Players
Player 1: Karkoth and Iron Circle Player 2: Vailin and Nerath
Each player controls two realms, which are allied with each other.
3 Players
Player 1: Vailin and Nerath Player 2: Karkoth Player 3: Iron Circle
One player controls the allies Vailin and Nerath. The Karkoth and Iron Circle players are allied against them.
4 Players (Alliances)
Player 1: Karkoth and Player 3: Iron Circle Player 2: Vailin and Player 4: Nerath
Each player controls one realm, but Karkoth and the Iron Circle are allied against Vailin and Nerath, who are allied with each other.
Alliances
The following rules apply to allied realms.
Shared Victory: In an alliance game, the allies' shared achievements determine victory, as summarized below.
| Game length | Victory condition |
|---|---|
| Short | 20 shared victory points at end of game round |
| Medium | 30 shared victory points at end of game round |
| Long | Allies control all Capitals or collect 12 Treasures |
Moving: You can move pieces into or through any friendly space—one controlled by you or your ally. If your ally has pieces in the space, your pieces can share that space without fighting. See "Step 2: Move" below.
Battle: You and your ally cannot attack at the same time, since each player can move pieces only on his or her own turn. However, if your pieces and an ally's pieces share the same space, they all defend the space together. See "Step 3: Fight Battles" below.
Conquering Territory: Since you attack only on your turn, you cannot "share" conquering a space with your ally. If you attack an enemy land space in your ally's starting territory and win, you liberate it for your ally. See "Conquer Spaces" below.
Free-for-All Agreements
If you're playing a free-for-all game, you aren't formally allied with any other player, and the alliance rules do not apply.
You can make an agreement with a player to cooperate against other players and not attack each other, but you still cannot move through each other's territory or share the same space without fighting. If you move your pieces into a space containing the other player's pieces, even one you are "friendly" with, you trigger a battle, and you conquer the space (if it's a land space) if you win.
You can certainly make informal agreements in a free-for-all game. Such deals, though, carry no inherent protection: All players are free to switch allegiances, break deals, or backstab so-called allies at any time. Examples of such agreements include the following.
- Coordinating attacks against another player.
- "Swapping" land spaces by leaving them undefended.
- Discussing intended moves, purchases, and piece placement with another player.
- Using Event cards against someone who attacks another player you have an agreement with.
Setup
Once you've decided who will play which realm, set up the game for play.
Game Board
The game board shows part of the Dungeons & Dragons world. It is divided into a number of land spaces, sea spaces, and dungeon entrances (spaces marked with a door symbol).
Unfold and place the game board in the center of the play area within easy reach of all players. It's best for each player to sit near the corner containing the Capital of his or her starting realm.
Each realm's starting land spaces have colored borders, matching the color of that realm's symbol and pieces.
| Realm | Color | Realm icon |
|---|---|---|
| Karkoth | Black | (skull-and-horns icon) |
| Vailin | Gold | (leaf icon) |
| Iron Circle | Red | (chain icon) |
| Nerath | Blue | (crown icon) |
Sea spaces have no special color, even those that have pieces starting in them. The ten dungeon entrances are not controlled by any realm.
Piece Silhouettes: Many of the spaces on the game board have silhouettes printed on them in the controlling realm's color (black, gold, red, or blue) to show where that realm's starting pieces are placed. See "Pieces," below.
Pieces
Pieces are plastic figures that represent your realm's troops. Each realm's pieces correspond to that realm's color.
Plastic Chips: You can use chips to save space in crowded areas and more easily tally up your pieces. Each gray chip represents 1 piece; each red chip represents 5 pieces. For example, if you have 6 Footsoldiers in a single space, you can place 1 Footsoldier piece on top of a single red chip or a stack of 5 gray chips.
The strength of your forces isn't limited by the mix of plastic figures and chips available in the game. If you don't have enough to mark all your stacks, or if you run short of chips, you can use something else to identify your pieces, such as a slip of paper with the name written on it.
Control Markers
These small cardboard circles are printed with each realm's color and symbol. You use control markers to show that you have conquered land spaces that formerly belonged to enemies. Control markers also indicate players' current VP totals on the Victory Point track.
Set aside each realm's control markers where its player can easily reach them. None are in play at the start of the game.
Treasury
Running a realm isn't cheap. You need to pay for new pieces by spending Gold from your treasury. These tokens, in the shape of gold bars, come in denominations of 1 Gold and 5 Gold.
Each realm has a starting treasury, as shown in the following table. The realm's reference card also lists this information.
| Realm | Starting treasury |
|---|---|
| Karkoth | 10 Gold |
| Vailin | 11 gold |
| Iron Circle | 12 Gold |
| Nerath | 13 Gold |
The starting treasury for each realm is based on turn order. For example, Karkoth gets to go first (see "Order of Play," below) and places its newly purchased pieces on the board before anyone else, so that realm starts with the smallest treasury. Nerath goes last and is likely to lose a lot of pieces and territory, so its starting treasury is the largest.
Each realm collects income at the end of that player's turn. The realm's starting income depends on the number of land spaces it controls and is listed on the realm's reference card. This number goes up and down as the realm conquers or loses territory. See "Step 6: Collect Income" below.
Order of Play
Conquest of Nerath is played in game rounds. During a game round, each realm takes a turn. At the end of each game round, check to see if any player has won the game.
Realms take their turns in the following order.
- Dark Empire of Karkoth
- Vailin Alliance
- Iron Circle
- Nerathan League
If you are playing two allied realms—for example, in a two-player game—you simply take each realm's turn in the normal order. For example, if you are playing both Karkoth and the Iron Circle, on Karkoth's turn you move that realm's pieces, fight its battles, and buy new pieces, while the Iron Circle does nothing. Then, when the Iron Circle's turn comes around, you do the same for the Iron Circle while Karkoth does nothing.
Dice
Conquest of Nerath includes different types of dice. Players roll attack dice in battle, which is discussed starting on page 14. Keep the dice near the game board, within easy reach of all players.
| Number of sides | Description |
|---|---|
| 6 | Green, cube-shaped, like dice found in many games. |
| 8 | Blue, diamond-shaped, with sharp edges and triangular faces. |
| 10 | Red, diamond-shaped, with smoother edges and lozenge-shaped faces. |
| 12 | Black, rather round, with five-sided faces. |
| 20 | White, round, with twenty triangular faces. |
Whenever a card tells you to roll attack dice, it lists the number of dice beside that die's symbol. For example, 4 (6-sided die symbol) means you need to roll 4 6-sided dice.
You can find more multi-sided (polyhedral) dice at most hobby stores.
Reference Cards
Each realm has its own reference card, stating the realm's name, its Capital, its base income, and its starting treasury. The card also includes a setup chart that lists the realm's starting pieces and their starting spaces on the game board.
Place all the realm's starting pieces on the game board as shown in the setup chart.
TIP: To make sure you have set up your realm correctly, check that the silhouettes in the land spaces containing your realm's pieces match its color. No realm starts with its pieces in a land space belonging to another realm, or in a dungeon entrance. Then check that any pieces starting in sea spaces are correctly placed (some sea spaces have similar names). Spaces on the board also include silhouettes of the starting forces to help you check your setup.
Summary of Play: The reverse of the reference card shows the turn order, the sequence of steps in a game turn, and the phases in a battle round. It also provides an area for the realm's Event deck and discards.
Quick Reference Card: This card summarizes the various pieces, victory conditions, and the rules for exploring dungeons. It also provides space to stack the Dungeon Guardian tiles (and discards) and Gold tokens, as well as a space for the Treasure card deck.
Event and Treasure Cards
The game includes two different types of cards: Event and Treasure.
Event Cards: Each realm's starting Event deck contains twenty cards. Shuffle each deck separately and place it face down where indicated on the realm's reference card.
At the start of the game, draw two Event cards for your realm. These cards form your hand. From then on, each player draws one Event card at the start of his or her turn. See "Step 1: Draw" below.
Treasure Cards: This deck contains thirty cards. Shuffle the deck and place it face down where indicated on the Quick Reference card. Whenever your Heroes plunder a dungeon, you draw a Treasure card. See "Plunder Dungeons" on page 16.
An Event card shows its name, play instructions, realm icon, rules text, flavor text, legal text, and card number. Play instructions state when the card can be played — either at a specific time, or "PLAY IMMEDIATELY."
A Treasure card shows its name, play instructions, Power entry, Property entry, victory points, legal text, and card number.
Dungeon Guardian Tiles
There are thirty cardboard Dungeon Guardian tiles, each in the shape of a dungeon door. Shuffle the tiles and place 1 Dungeon Guardian on each dungeon entrance on the game board. Place the rest of the tiles face down in the indicated space on the Quick Reference card.
A Dungeon Guardian tile shows its name, attack dice, special ability (if any), and reward (if any) on its face; the back is a plain dungeon-door design.
Turn Sequence
Each realm's turn consists of six steps, which take place in a fixed sequence.
- Draw
- Move
- Fight Battles
- Reposition
- Reinforce
- Collect Income
You must draw an Event card and collect income if you can, but all other parts of the turn sequence are voluntary. When you finish your Collect Income step, your turn is over. Play then passes to the next realm in the turn order.
When every realm has completed one turn, the game round ends. If nobody has won, a new game round begins.
Step 1: Draw
You begin each turn by drawing an Event card from your realm's Event deck. Event cards can influence the game in a variety of ways, such as providing a surprise benefit in a battle, allowing you to move pieces in unusual ways or place new pieces on the board, hindering an enemy or destroying enemy pieces, or stealing Gold. Each realm's deck is different, reflecting its unique nature and strengths.
Each Event card's play instructions state when it can be played. Unless this text says "PLAY IMMEDIATELY," you don't have to play the card right away; you can keep it in your hand until you decide the time is right. You can have any number of cards in your hand.
Once you play a card, follow its rules text, then discard it face up beside the Event deck in the indicated space on your realm's reference card. If your deck ever runs out, simply reshuffle your discarded Event cards to form a new deck and continue drawing normally.
The flavor text at the bottom of an Event card provides some background information on the world or provides an in-game commentary. It has no effect on game play.
Step 2: Move
In this step, you can move any or all of your pieces from the spaces they occupy to other spaces. Each piece can move a number of spaces up to its Move number. Each space it moves into has to be adjacent to the space it moves out of; that is, the spaces must share a common border. For example, a Footsoldier has a Move of 1, so it can move from the land space it currently occupies into a land space adjacent to it.
A piece can move less than its Move number. For example, a Dragon has a Move of 3, so it can move 0, 1, 2, or 3 spaces during this step. You don't have to move any pieces if you don't want to.
TIP: If you have a hard time remembering whether you moved a piece or not, try this simple trick. Whenever you moved a piece, lay it on its side or turn it upside down. Once you're done moving all the pieces you want to, turn all your pieces upright again and continue to the next step.
The game board does not "wrap." For example, pieces can't move directly from Kharavas to the Forbidden City, or from the Dawnforge Mountains to the Scarlet Principalities.
Transferring Pieces: Some Event and Treasure cards allow you to transfer pieces between spaces by removing the pieces from a starting space and placing them in a destination space. (The card states whether the destination space has to be adjacent or not.) Such transfers do not count as movement.
Friendly and Enemy Spaces
For the purposes of moving, the game board is composed of three kinds of spaces: friendly spaces, enemy spaces, and dungeon entrances.
Pieces can move freely into or through friendly spaces, but they must stop when they enter an enemy space (even an empty one) or a dungeon entrance. Doing so triggers a battle. See "Step 3: Fight Battles" below.
There is no limit to the number of pieces that can occupy a space.
Impassable Territory: Each space on the board has a name. Two areas of impassable territory (in the northeast and southwest corners of the board) do not count as spaces. They do not have colored borders and do not count as part of the game board. Pieces cannot enter or move through these areas.
ALLIANCES AND MOVEMENT: You can move your pieces into or through any space controlled by you or your ally. If your ally has pieces in the space, your pieces can share that space without fighting. You still have to move your own pieces on your own turn, and you can't move an ally's pieces.
Land Spaces: Whether a land space is friendly or enemy depends on who controls it. A land space's controller is the realm whose pieces occupy the space or who has a control marker in it, if it contains no pieces. If no enemy controls a realm's starting land space, the space is controlled by that realm.
A friendly land space is one controlled by you, or by an ally in an alliance game.
An enemy land space is controlled by an enemy realm.
Sea Spaces: A sea space is an enemy space if it contains enemy pieces. Otherwise, it is a friendly space.
Dungeon Entrances: These special spaces, marked with the symbol of a door, represent infamous ruins and fortresses. They are haunted by terrible guardians, and most pieces cannot enter them.
Hostile to All: Dungeon entrances are not friendly to any realm. However, cards and effects that refer to "enemy spaces" do not apply to dungeon entrances.
Attacking
Whenever you move pieces into an enemy space or a dungeon entrance, you attack that space. Move the pieces you want to take part in the battle into that space. You'll fight the battle in the next step.
Pieces can move from more than one space to attack a single enemy space, as long as they are able to reach it. Likewise, you can split your pieces so that they move from one space to attack several spaces.
TIP: Before you start fighting your battles, make sure you're finished moving all your pieces in this step. Sorry, but you don't get to see how a battle turns out before deciding where the rest of your pieces will go this turn.
Movement Basics
Pieces move in different ways, depending on their type. Some pieces can perform special actions while moving.
Land pieces and sea pieces can move only into or through certain kinds of spaces. Flying pieces can enter and end their movement in any kind of space. See the "Piece Descriptions" appendix on page 19 for more information.
Land Pieces: Footsoldiers, Siege Engines, Fighters, Wizards, and Monsters are all land pieces. They can enter only land spaces and must end their movement in land spaces (but see "Sea Transport" below). Castles are also land pieces, but they cannot move.
Dungeon Entrances: Only Heroes can move into dungeon entrances to face the terrors within. Fighters and Wizards are Heroes. Heroes must stop moving as soon as they enter a dungeon entrance, and they must fight the Dungeon Guardian in the Fight Battles step (see "Exploring Dungeons," on page 14).
Sea Pieces: Warships are sea pieces. They can enter only sea spaces and must end their movement in sea spaces.
Flying Pieces: Dragons and Storm Elementals are flying pieces. They can move through and end their movement in land spaces and sea spaces.
Flying pieces can move through enemy spaces without stopping. A flying piece that ends its movement in an enemy space must attack that space. Dragons and Storm Elementals cannot move into dungeon entrances—they can fly over them but not land there.
Sea Transport
Land pieces can't move into sea spaces. However, Warships can load land pieces, carry them through friendly sea spaces, and unload them in enemy or friendly coastal spaces.
Coastal Spaces: A land space is a coastal space if it is adjacent to a sea space.
Flying pieces can move freely between sea spaces and coastal spaces. Crossing the boundary between a sea space and a coastal space counts as moving 1 space.
Islands: An island is a land space that is entirely inside one or more sea spaces, such as the Winterskull Lands. Islands also count as coastal spaces.
A land piece cannot move onto or off an island unless it is carried by a Warship. However, flying pieces can move over sea spaces and end their movement on islands.
Transport Rules
A Warship can carry up to 2 land pieces. The land pieces embark onto the Warship from a coastal space and debark into another coastal space.
A Warship must stop moving when it enters an enemy sea space, triggering a battle. Pieces that debark into an enemy coastal space make a sea landing against that land space. See "Sea Landings" on page 13.
Warships cannot carry Castles, Dragons, Storm Elementals, or other Warships.
ALLIANCES AND SEA TRANSPORT: Your Warships cannot transport land pieces belonging to an ally, since each player moves and attacks his or her pieces only on that realm's turn.
Loading: Warships can move before and after loading. A Warship can move 0, 1, or 2 sea spaces before loading land pieces. It can even load them from different coastal spaces along its path. Any distance the Warship moves before picking up a land piece counts against its movement for the turn; for example, if it moves 2 sea spaces before picking up a land piece, it cannot move any farther that turn.
Transporting: Land pieces cannot move before they embark onto a Warship. They must begin the Move step in the coastal space from which they will embark. Once the Warship arrives at the destination, each land unit it is carrying can debark into a coastal space adjacent to the sea space it is in. Transported land pieces cannot move any farther after debarking.
Transported pieces don't have to debark. They must remain on a Warship that does not end its movement adjacent to a coastal space. However, if the Warship is destroyed, any pieces it is carrying are destroyed as well.
Unloading: Once a Warship unloads pieces it is carrying, its movement is over for the turn. It cannot "drop off" one piece and then keep moving to unload another piece on the same turn.
A Warship can unload its carried pieces into a single land space or two different ones that are adjacent to its sea space. It cannot unload carried pieces onto another Warship.
Bridging: If a Warship moved 2 sea spaces before it loaded land pieces, it can unload those pieces only into another coastal space adjacent to the sea space it is in. A Warship can also load and unload pieces without moving at all. Moving land pieces across a sea space in this way is sometimes called "bridging." Bridging is a quick way to move land pieces across a narrow passage just 1 sea space wide, such as the Saris Strait or Skallen Reach, or even Lake Surth (the landlocked sea space within Karkoth's territory).
Step 3: Fight Battles
In this step, you fight out the battles you triggered by entering enemy spaces and dungeon entrances during your turn. No new pieces can join a battle once this step has begun, unless an Event card allows it.
All battles take place at the same time, but as the attacker, you resolve each one separately in whatever order you wish. The defender (the player whose space you are attacking) can't choose the order of attacks.
Sea Battles First: If you have battles in sea spaces and in land spaces, you must fight all the sea battles first. After all the sea battles are done, you fight the land battles (including sea landings; see "Sea Landings" on page 13).
ALLIANCES AND BATTLE: You and your ally cannot attack at the same time, since each player can move pieces only on his or her own turn. However, if your pieces and an ally's pieces share the same space, they all defend the space together.
You and your ally decide among yourselves how to take damage in battle. If you can't decide, divide the total number of hits scored against that space in half, then each take half the damage as you choose. If the number of hits is odd, the ally with the most pieces in that space takes the "leftover" damage; if you each have the same number of pieces in the space, decide randomly which ally takes that damage. If more hits are scored against one ally than he or she has pieces to lose, the other ally has to take all the remaining damage.
TIP: When you have Dragons in a battle, you should have them each take 1 damage first. If they should survive the battle, they will be completely undamaged again. Whether you win or lose, Dragons let you effectively ignore some of the hits your opponent scores against your pieces, so you can fight longer.
Battle Basics
You fight battles by rolling attack dice. (Rolling attack dice is also called "attacking" or "striking.") Different pieces roll different kinds of attack dice, but they all fight the same way. Pieces roll attack dice whether they're attacking (on the attacker's side) or defending (on the defender's side).
Attack Dice: Each piece rolls the appropriate attack die in battle. For example, a Footsoldier rolls a six-sided attack die (6), while a Monster rolls a twelve-sided attack die (12). Pieces' attack dice are shown in the "Piece Descriptions" appendix (starting on page 19) or in the Piece Summary on the back of this book.
Scoring Hits: You score a hit if you roll a 6 or higher with a piece's attack die.
Attacking and defending pieces roll at the same time. For ease of play, the attacker rolls and scores hits first, and then the defender does the same. After that, both players' pieces take damage for that battle phase.
Taking Damage: Whenever one of your pieces scores a hit, the opposing player decides which piece takes the damage. Both players choose the order in which pieces take damage. Pieces are destroyed when they take 1 damage.
You can't have the same piece take all the damage; you have to choose a new piece for each hit scored.
After taking damage, both players remove any destroyed pieces, then continue with the battle. Pieces destroyed in battle return to their owners' supplies.
Battle Sequence
Battles take place over a number of battle rounds. Each battle round consists of several phases.
- First Strike:
- Roll First Strike attacks.
- Take First Strike damage.
- Roll other attacks.
- Take damage.
- Press attack or retreat: Attacker chooses.
- Determine battle results:
- Conquer spaces, Run Amok, plunder dungeons.
First Strike
Some pieces have the First Strike special ability. All Wizards have First Strike, but Treasure and Event cards might give other pieces that ability.
Pieces with First Strike roll their attack dice before other pieces, both when attacking and when defending. If they score hits, the opposing pieces take that damage immediately, before they have the opportunity to strike back.
Simultaneous First Strike: If both the attacker and the defender have pieces with First Strike, the First Strike attacks happen at the same time. Both sides score hits and take damage before continuing with the rest of the battle. For example, if an Iron Circle Wizard is among the pieces that attack a space containing a Vailin Wizard, both Wizards roll their First Strike attack dice before the other pieces roll.
Durable
Dragons have the Durable special ability. A Dragon can take the damage from a single hit without being destroyed. Treasure and Event cards might allow other pieces to survive multiple hits.
If such a piece takes damage but isn't destroyed, don't remove it from play. You can indicate that it took the damage by laying the piece on its side or turning it upside down. If the piece takes no more damage, it recovers at the end of the battle and can be used again. Turn it upright again to show this.
Castles
These pieces represent large buildings rather than groups of creatures. When a Castle takes damage, it isn't destroyed. Instead, it becomes inactive and plays no more part in the current battle: It can't roll attack dice or take damage. Mark an inactive Castle by turning it upside down.
At the end of the battle, the Castle can be used again. Turn it upright again to show this. However, it might be captured by the attacking player. See "Determine Battle Results" on page 15.
Sea Battles
Sea battles take place in sea spaces. Only flying pieces, sea pieces, and Heroes carried on Warships can fight in sea battles.
Carried Pieces in Sea Battles: Heroes can fight in a sea battle while carried by a Warship. Other land pieces (Footsoldiers, Monsters, and Siege Engines) are simply cargo; they cannot fight in a sea battle.
Land pieces that cannot fight in the sea battle cannot take damage. If a Warship takes damage, it is destroyed along with all land pieces it carries (including Heroes).
Sea Landings
A Warship can unload carried land units into an adjacent enemy coastal space. The debarking pieces trigger a new battle or join a battle that is already occurring there. Doing this is called making a sea landing.
If one or more of your Warships move into a friendly sea space, you must declare what coastal space you are attacking during the Move step, just as you would for any other attack. If they move into an enemy sea space, you must first fight a sea battle before you can land your pieces to attack the coastal space.
Sea Battles: If you have to fight a sea battle with the transporting Warships, you don't have to declare the sea landing unless you win the battle. If you destroy all enemy pieces in the sea space, your surviving carried land pieces can debark into the coastal space they are going to attack.
If any of your Warships carrying pieces are destroyed in the sea battle, the carried pieces are destroyed and cannot fight in the land battle that follows.
Embarked Heroes: Fighters and Wizards carried by your Warships can first fight in a sea battle, then make a sea landing and fight again in the land battle. They can even debark into a dungeon entrance.
Combined Sea Landings and Land Battles: You can make a combined attack against an enemy coastal space, using pieces that moved there from other land spaces as well as those that made a sea landing. In that case, all your pieces form into a single attacking force, and you fight only one battle. However, if you lose any Warships carrying land pieces in the adjacent sea space, the pieces they carried can't help with the land battle (they were destroyed before the land battle started).
Exploring Dungeons
When your Heroes move into a dungeon entrance, they explore the dungeon. Doing this triggers a battle with the horrible creatures that protect the treasure hidden within. Flip over all the face-down Dungeon Guardian tokens on that dungeon entrance.
Exploring a dungeon follows all the usual rules for battles. Since your Heroes moved into the dungeon entrance, you are the attacker and the Dungeon Guardian is the defender. The opponent sitting to your left rolls attack dice for the Dungeon Guardian.
If the dungeon entrance contains multiple Dungeon Guardians, you fight them all simultaneously. The opponent controlling them decides how to take damage.
If your Heroes retreat from the dungeon (see "Press Attack or Retreat" on page 15), the Dungeon Guardian token remains face up on the dungeon entrance—all other players know what's there now.
Not Pieces: Dungeon Guardians do not count as "pieces." For example, if an Event or Treasure card allows you to remove an enemy piece from play, you cannot use that card against a Dungeon Guardian.
Attack Dice
Each Dungeon Guardian's token shows what attack dice it rolls. For example, the Medusa's token shows a (20-sided die symbol), so it rolls 1 20-sided attack die. Just as with any attack, it scores a hit on a roll of 6 or higher.
If a Dungeon Guardian has only one attack die, 1 damage is enough to destroy it.
Multiple Attack Dice: A Dungeon Guardian tile showing multiple attack dice represents an especially tough creature or a large group of creatures. For example, the Troll's token shows 8/8, so it rolls 2 8-sided attack dice; the Beholder's token shows a 6 and a (20-sided die symbol), so it rolls 1 6-sided attack die and 1 20-sided attack die.
Each time you score a hit against such a Dungeon Guardian, it loses one of its attack dice (it chooses which). If you lose the battle or retreat, all the surviving Dungeon Guardians return to full strength, ready to face the next Heroes exploring the dungeon.
Special Abilities
Some Dungeon Guardians have special abilities that help them in battle. If a Dungeon Guardian has a special ability, it appears below the attack dice on its token.
First Strike: The Medusa is an example of a Dungeon Guardian with First Strike. It rolls its attack dice before any other pieces in the battle round, just like pieces with First Strike. If there are multiple Dungeon Guardians, all those with First Strike attack at the same time. Your Wizards attack them at the same time, as well as any other Heroes that can make First Strike attacks (usually by using an Event or Treasure card).
Heroes Need 7+/8+ to Hit: The Dungeon Guardian is extra tough or interferes with the Heroes in some way, so that they fight at a disadvantage. For example, the Troll has this special ability. A Hero scores a hit against it only on an attack roll of the specified number or higher (7 or 8). If the dungeon entrance contains multiple Dungeon Guardians, the disadvantage affects all the Heroes' attack rolls during that battle—even against Dungeon Guardians that would otherwise be easy to hit.
Exception: If an Event card grants a Hero a bonus to attack rolls, the card's bonus "trumps" this special ability. For example, the Veteran Warlord card allows each Nerath piece to score a hit on an attack roll of 5 or higher. If the Nerath player is exploring the dungeon and plays this Event card, his or her Heroes still score hits on rolls of 5 or higher, even against a Troll.
Reward: Some Dungeon Guardians have their own hoards. At the end of the battle, if you won, your realm gets an extra reward in Gold. This reward is in addition to the Treasure gained from plundering the dungeon (see "Plunder Dungeons" on page 16).
Press Attack or Retreat
Once you start a battle, you have to fight at least one battle round. A battle round ends after all pieces have rolled attack dice and both sides have taken damage and removed destroyed pieces.
If pieces remain on both sides at the end of a battle round, the attacker decides whether to continue the battle (press the attack) or give up (retreat).
If you press the attack, start another battle round. If you decide to retreat, follow the rules described below.
Retreat
Retreating ends the battle. Only the attacker can decide to retreat. Defending pieces must stay in the attacked space, even if you'd like to get them away from an overwhelming attack.
All attacking pieces retreat. You can't have some pieces withdraw while others stay.
Retreat to Adjacent Space: The retreating pieces move from the attacked space to any friendly land space adjacent to it. It doesn't have to be the same space they came from. If more than one adjacent land space qualifies, you can split the retreating pieces between them as you choose.
Flying Pieces: Flying pieces can retreat to a friendly sea space adjacent to the attacked space. They will be able to move again in the Reposition step (page 17).
Retreat to Warships: If there are no friendly, adjacent land spaces to retreat to, but you have one or more Warships in an adjacent sea space, your pieces can retreat by embarking onto those Warships. Usually, this situation happens only if you attacked by making a sea landing.
The retreating pieces cannot move or debark afterward—their movement is over for the turn.
If the Warships cannot carry all the retreating pieces, any pieces that cannot embark are destroyed.
Retreating from Sea Battles: The rules for retreating from a sea battle are the same as those for a land battle, except that sea pieces must retreat to a friendly, adjacent sea space.
Land pieces carried on a retreating Warship cannot retreat to an adjacent coastal space or another Warship.
Determine Battle Results
If all pieces (or Dungeon Guardians) on one or both sides have been destroyed, or the attacker retreats, the battle ends. It's possible for both the attacker and the defender to lose all their pieces at the same time!
If all the attacking pieces are destroyed, or if the attacker chooses to retreat, the attacker loses the battle. The defender retains control of the space, even if all the defending pieces are destroyed.
Conquer Spaces
If all the defending pieces are destroyed and at least one attacking piece survives, the attack succeeds. The attacker conquers the space if it is a land space. All the attacker's pieces that survived the battle move into the conquered space.
Conquering Capitals: If you conquer a land space that is an enemy Capital (Karkothi Throneholds, Vailindor, Citadel of Iron's Grasp, or Mithralfast), you score 5 victory points instead of 1.
If your Capital is conquered, you are still in the game. However, the following penalties apply until you retake your Capital:
- You might be limited in how many new pieces you can place (see "Step 5: Reinforce" on page 17).
- You collect only half the Gold you normally would be entitled to (see "Step 6: Collect Income" on page 18).
Capturing Castles: Unlike other pieces, Castles aren't removed from the board when they take damage. They remain in the space but become inactive for the rest of the battle. If you conquer a land space containing a Castle, you capture it. You cannot use a Castle to place new pieces on the turn you captured it—even if you recaptured your own—but you can in subsequent turns.
Exception: If you recaptured your Capital this turn, you can place new pieces there.
ALLIANCES AND CONQUEST: Since you attack only on your turn, you can't conquer a space together with your ally. When you conquer an enemy land space, you take control of it—you score victory points and collect income for it. If you subsequently lose that space to an enemy attack, and your ally conquers it on his or her turn, he or she scores VP and collects income for it.
If you attack an enemy land space in your ally's starting territory and win, you don't conquer it and you don't score VP. Instead, you liberate it for your ally. Your pieces remain in that space, but the space immediately reverts to your ally's control. Card effects that refer to conquering a space still trigger when you liberate an ally's space.
If you liberate an ally's Capital, it is available for placing new pieces on that ally's next turn (see "Step 5: Reinforce" on page 17).
Run Amok
Monsters have the Run Amok special ability, which lets them rampage across the countryside.
If you win a battle in a land space on your turn, any of your Monsters that survived the battle can use Run Amok. The Monster immediately moves to an enemy land space, adjacent to the attacked space, that contains no enemy pieces. The Monster conquers that space.
Your Monsters cannot use Run Amok to advance into friendly spaces.
Plunder Dungeons
If you win a battle against all the Dungeon Guardians in a dungeon entrance, your Heroes get to plunder the dungeon. Draw the top card from the Treasure deck. You draw just one card regardless of how many Heroes survived the battle or how many Dungeon Guardians they fought.
You keep Treasure cards in your hand until you decide to play them.
Playing Treasure Cards: When you decide to play a Treasure card, place it on the table face-up in front of you. Unlike Event cards, Treasure cards remain in play for the rest of the game. You can have as many of your Treasure cards in play as you wish.
Each Treasure card's text states when it can be played. Once you play the card, you immediately score the number of victory points listed on the bottom of the card (see "Victory Points," below).
Many Treasure cards have special effects that grant a benefit when you play them.
Power: The Treasure card's Power entry represents a single-use ability that takes place as soon as you play the Treasure card. For example, the Horn of Valhalla allows you to add 3 new Footsoldiers to a single friendly land space.
Property: The Treasure card's Property entry represents an ability that is in effect for the rest of the game. For example, the Horn of Valhalla lets you add 1 new Footsoldier to a friendly land space once at the start of each of your turns. Most Treasure cards have a Property.
Victory Points
You score victory points (VP) for conquering enemy land spaces and claiming Treasures. Immediately advance your realm's control marker the appropriate number of spaces on the Victory Point track.
Conquest: If you conquer a land space in an enemy's starting territory (as shown by the space's border), you score 1 VP (or 5 VP if it is a Capital). If the enemy retakes that space but you conquer it again on a later turn, you score the VP again. However, you do not score victory points for retaking a land space that originally belonged to you at the start of the game.
LIBERATING ALLY'S SPACES: If you liberate a space in an ally's starting territory, neither you nor your ally score victory points for conquering that space.
Treasure: Whenever you play a Treasure card, you score the VP listed on the card.
Step 4: Reposition
During this step, some of your pieces might be able to move again. Special rules apply to this second movement.
No New Battles: You can't start a new battle by moving a piece into an enemy space during this step. If there is no eligible friendly space within range, the piece is destroyed.
Exit Dungeons: Heroes that successfully explored dungeons must exit after plundering them. During this step, move each of your surviving Heroes to a friendly land space adjacent to the dungeon entrance, or to a Warship in a friendly sea space adjacent to the dungeon entrance. Multiple Heroes can move to several spaces if you wish.
Restocking: Dungeons have a way of attracting creatures. After you defeat the dungeon's inhabitants, others move in from the depths of the Underdark. Place 2 Dungeon Guardian tokens on the vacant dungeon entrance. If Heroes manage to defeat both, they can plunder the dungeon again (drawing another Treasure card).
Fly Away: During this step, your flying pieces can move to any friendly land space they can reach with their Move. Just as with their normal movement, they can move over enemy spaces as long as the destination space is friendly.
If you conquered an enemy land space this turn, the space is now friendly during this step, so your flying pieces can land there safely.
Storm Elementals can end the Reposition step in friendly sea spaces. Other flying pieces must end in friendly land spaces or they are destroyed.
Step 5: Reinforce
In this step, you buy new pieces with the Gold in your treasury and place them on the game board.
Buy New Pieces
You can buy as many pieces as you can afford of any type. See the "Piece Descriptions" appendix or the Piece Summary at the back of this book.
Pieces cost from 1 to 5 Gold each. When you buy new pieces, return the total Gold you spend from your treasury to the general supply.
WHICH PIECES SHOULD I BUY?
Deciding which new pieces you need most is a challenging part of the game. Here are some suggestions to help you make this decision.
Where Will I Attack? Consider which enemy realms you want to attack next (and in turns after that) and what spaces you want to target. Then choose new pieces that will best do the job against the enemy pieces in those spaces.
Where Will I Be Attacked? Look for places where enemies threaten you. Then choose new pieces to counter them, based on what's in those enemy forces.
Strengths and Weaknesses: Different pieces have different uses, depending on your goals. For detailed information, see the "Piece Description" appendix starting on page 19.
If you're still not sure what to buy, try this: 2 or 3 Footsoldiers, 1 Siege Engine or Warship, 1 Fighter or Wizard, and 1 Monster or Dragon. The total cost is between 9 and 13 Gold, giving you a good selection of pieces.
Place New Pieces
After buying your new pieces, place them in any friendly land space that contains one of your Castles. You can place new pieces only at Castles you have controlled since the start of your turn.
Placement Limit: You can place any number of pieces in your Capital space. At any of your other Castles, you are limited to placing only 4 new pieces.
Exception: If you control only one Castle during this step, the placement limit does not apply.
Captured Castles: You cannot place new pieces at any Castle that you captured during this turn, including those you recaptured from enemy control.
Exception: If you retook your Capital from an enemy this turn, you can place new pieces there.
New Castles: If you buy a new Castle, you must place it in a friendly land space that contains no other Castles and that you controlled since the start of your turn.
On the turn you place a new Castle, you cannot place other new pieces in its space.
TIP: Try to place your new Castles in land spaces you can easily defend against enemy attack. Losing a Castle is a big setback—not only can't you place new pieces there, but your enemy can build an army in the midst of your territory!
No Castles: If you control no Castles, you can still buy and place new pieces. All the new pieces must appear in the friendly land space that is closest to your Capital. If multiple land spaces are the same distance away, you can distribute your new pieces among them as you wish.
Warships and Storm Elementals: Warships can't enter land spaces, so you must place new ones in any friendly sea space that is adjacent to a land space containing an eligible Castle. If you wish, you can also place new Storm Elementals in friendly sea spaces adjacent to your Castles. Even though they don't appear in the land space, these pieces still count against a Castle's placement limit.
If you buy a new Warship, you can place it carrying new land pieces that you buy on the same turn.
If you buy new land pieces at a Castle in a coastal space, you can place them on an existing Warship in an adjacent sea space.
Moving New Pieces: Once you have placed your new pieces, they can immediately move from the space where you placed them to any friendly space they can reach with their Move. Doing this lets you position new troops to defend against enemy counterattack.
New Warships carrying new land pieces can immediately move, carrying those pieces, and unload them in a friendly land space. However, you cannot move an existing Warship that you placed new land pieces on.
Enemy Sea Spaces: You cannot place your new Warships and Storm Elementals in enemy sea spaces, even though they can move through them after you place them.
No New Battles: You can't trigger any battles with new pieces by moving them into enemy spaces. New flying pieces can move through enemy spaces as long as each finishes this movement in a friendly space.
Step 6: Collect Income
The last thing you do in your turn is collect income for your realm. Each land space that you control produces 1 Gold. Add the total Gold you collect to your realm's treasury.
Each realm has a base income equal to the number of its starting land spaces, as summarized in the following table. Your income changes from turn to turn, depending on your and other players' actions.
| Realm | Base income |
|---|---|
| Karkoth | 15 Gold |
| Vailin | 13 Gold |
| Iron Circle | 13 Gold |
| Nerath | 14 Gold |
Count up the land spaces you control that aren't in your realm's starting territory. Subtract from that the total of any of your starting spaces you no longer control. Add the result to your realm's base income to get the total Gold you collect this turn.
LIBERATED SPACES AND INCOME: You don't collect income from a land space you liberated for an ally. If that ally still controls the space on step 6 of his or her turn, he or she collects income for it.
No Capital: If you do not control your Capital space during this step, you collect only half the Gold you normally would be entitled to (round up). For example, if you control 9 land spaces, you would collect only 5 Gold.
A captured enemy Capital produces only 1 Gold for its controller.
Appendix: Piece Descriptions
The Conquest of Nerath game contains nine different types of pieces, which are summarized here.
Each entry includes the piece's name, its silhouette, a brief description, and basic statistics for the piece: its cost, the attack die it uses, and its Move number. Finally, each entry describes in detail any special ability the piece has.
Each realm has its own selection of plastic figures to represent its Footsoldiers, Heroes, Monsters, and Dragons. Although these figures look different from each other, they all follow the same rules.
Piece Summary
| Name | Type | Cost | Attack die | Move | Special abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Footsoldier | Land | 1 | 6 | 1 | — |
| Siege Engine | Land | 2 | 8 | 1 | Powerful Attack |
| Fighter | Land | 2 | 10 | 2 | Explore Dungeons, Battle at Sea |
| Wizard | Land | 3 | 10 | 2 | First Strike, Explore Dungeons, Battle at Sea |
| Monster | Land | 3 | 12 | 2 | Run Amok |
| Castle | Land | 4 | 20 | — | Place Pieces, Can Be Captured |
| Storm Elemental | Flying | 3 | 8 | 2 | Capsize, Hover |
| Dragon | Flying | 5 | 20 | 3 | Durable |
| Warship | Sea | 2 | 8 | 2 | Sea Transport |
Land Pieces
Footsoldiers, Heroes, Monsters, Siege Engines, and Castles are land pieces.
All land pieces other than Heroes can fight only in land spaces. All land pieces other than Castles can move through sea spaces only while carried by a Warship.
Footsoldier
Footsoldiers are the backbone of any army. They are cheap, although they are not strong in battle. Footsoldiers hold your territory and defend it against weak enemy attacks.
- Karkoth: Skeleton Warrior
- Vailin: Elf Archer
- Iron Circle: Hobgoblin Soldier
- Nerath: Human Infantry
Cost: 1 Gold Attack Die: 6 Move: 1
Footsoldiers have no special abilities.
Siege Engine
These hard-hitting pieces make up for their slow speed with good combat power, especially when attacking.
Cost: 2 Gold Attack Die: 8 Move: 1
Powerful Attack: Each of your Siege Engines rolls 2 8-sided attack dice when attacking and can score 2 hits if both rolls are 6 or higher. Siege Engines cannot use Powerful Attack when defending.
Hero
Great champions and adventurers, Heroes can take on whole armies or slay the most terrible of monsters. Fighters and Wizards are both Heroes.
Heroes can explore dungeons and fight while at sea.
Explore Dungeons: A Hero can move into a dungeon entrance and fight the Dungeon Guardians within. If any Heroes survive the battle, their controller draws a Treasure card. See "Exploring Dungeons" on page 14.
Battle at Sea: A Hero who is carried on a Warship can roll attack dice in sea battles, both when attacking and when defending. However, if that Warship is destroyed, the Hero (and any other carried piece) is immediately destroyed. See "Sea Battles" on page 13.
Fighter
These Heroes ride their fierce mounts into battle, boldly facing multitudes of enemies.
- Karkoth: Wraith Warlord
- Vailin: Elf Noble
- Iron Circle: Bugbear Champion
- Nerath: Human Knight
Cost: 2 Gold Attack Die: 10 Move: 2
Wizard
Warlocks, shamans, battle mages, or sorcerers—these Heroes wield powerful and destructive magic.
Cost: 3 Gold Attack Die: 10 Move: 2
First Strike: Wizards have First Strike, so they roll their attack dice before other pieces, both when attacking and when defending. If they score hits, the opposing pieces take damage immediately, before they have the opportunity to attack. The opponent chooses how to take the damage as normal. See "First Strike" on page 13.
Monster
Monsters are big, powerful brutes. A Monster can destroy a squad of soldiers with a single swing.
- Karkoth: Zombie Hulk
- Vailin: Treant
- Iron Circle: Iron Golem
- Nerath: Stone Giant
Cost: 3 Gold Attack Die: 12 Move: 2
Run Amok: A Monster can move again immediately after winning a land battle.
If you win a battle in a land space on your turn, any of your Monsters that survived the battle can use Run Amok. The Monster can immediately move to an enemy land space adjacent to the attacked space that contains no enemy pieces. The Monster conquers that space. See "Run Amok" on page 16.
Castle
These fortifications defend land spaces with batteries of ballistas and ranks of archers. Newly mustered troops assemble at Castles.
Cost: 4 Gold Attack Die: 20 Move: —
Castles cannot move and can only defend in battle. Once you have built a Castle in a land space, it remains there for the rest of the game.
Only 1 Castle can be built in any land space.
Place Pieces: You can place your newly bought pieces at Castles you have controlled since the start of your turn. You can place as many new pieces as you want in your Capital, but no more than 4 new pieces at any other Castle, unless it's the only castle you have left. See "Place New Pieces" on page 17.
Can Be Captured: If a Castle takes damage in battle, it is not destroyed. However, it becomes inactive and cannot roll attack dice for the rest of that battle.
If a space containing your Castle is captured, the opponent who captured it now controls your Castle and can use it to place pieces and defend that space. See "Capturing Castles" on page 15.
Flying Pieces
Flying pieces can move through and fight in both land spaces and sea spaces. They can move through enemy spaces without stopping to fight, but a flying piece that ends its movement in an enemy space must attack that space.
Dragons and Storm Elementals cannot move into dungeon entrances—they can fly over them but not land there.
Flying pieces can move twice per turn, first in the Move step and then in the Reposition step. Flying pieces without Hover (see below) must end their Reposition step in a friendly land space. If they cannot do so, they are destroyed. See "Step 4: Reposition" on page 17.
Storm Elemental
This maelstrom of living elemental energy is a threat on land but far more dangerous on the open sea.
Cost: 3 Gold Attack Die: 8 Move: 2
Capsize: A Storm Elemental in a sea battle rolls 2 8-sided attack dice, both when attacking and when defending.
Hover: A Storm Elemental can end the Reposition step in a friendly sea or land space.
Dragon
Dragons are the mightiest creatures in the world. A single Dragon is more powerful than a battalion of soldiers.
- Karkoth: Black Dragon
- Vailin: Gold Dragon
- Iron Circle: Red Dragon
- Nerath: Silver Dragon
Cost: 5 Gold Attack Die: 20 Move: 3
Durable: A Dragon takes 2 damage to destroy. A Dragon that takes just 1 damage suffers no ill effects; once the battle ends, it returns to full health.
Sea Pieces
Sea pieces can move through and fight only in sea spaces. They can never move into or attack land spaces.
Warship
Armed with a dangerous ram and several small catapults, a Warship is reasonably effective in battle. However, its real strength is its ability to transport troops across bodies of water and launch seaborne invasions of enemy territory.
Cost: 2 Gold Attack Die: 8 Move: 2
Sea Transport: A Warship can load up to 2 land pieces from any adjacent coastal space and carry them up to 2 sea spaces, then unload them in another adjacent coastal space. Warships cannot carry Castles, Dragons, Elementals, or other Warships. See "Sea Transport" on page 11.
Glossary
adjacent: Spaces are adjacent if they share a common border.
alliance: In games with fewer than four players, or a four-player alliance game, certain realms form alliances. The rules for alliance play are a bit different than in free-for-all play. See the "Alliances" sidebar on page 4. Reminders about alliance play also appear in call-out text throughout the rules.
ally: A realm you have an alliance with.
attack: Whenever you move pieces into an enemy space or a dungeon entrance, you attack that space. Attacking a space triggers a battle.
attack dice: Pieces involved in a battle roll attack dice, whether they are fighting on the attacker's or the defender's side. Each kind of piece rolls a particular attack die: 6, 8, 10, 12, or 20-sided. Dungeon Guardians also roll the attack dice shown on their tokens.
attacker: You are the attacker whenever you trigger a battle by moving pieces into an enemy space or a dungeon entrance on your turn.
battle: You trigger a battle when you attack a space. See "Step 3: Fight Battles" on page 12.
Battle at Sea: Heroes have the Battle at Sea special ability. A Hero can fight in a sea battle while carried by a Warship.
battle round: Battles take place over a number of battle rounds. Each battle round consists of several phases. See "Battle Sequence" on page 13.
bridging: This term is used when a Warship transports land pieces from one coastal space to another without moving. See also Sea Transport, below.
Capital: Each realm has a Capital space, which also contains a Castle. Capital spaces are: Karkothi Throneholds (Karkoth), Vailindor (Vailin), Citadel of Iron's Grasp (Iron Circle), and Mithralfast (Nerath). Capitals are worth more victory points when captured. See "Conquering Capitals" on page 15.
Capsize: Storm Elementals have the Capsize special ability. A Storm Elemental rolls 2 8-sided attack dice in sea battles.
capture: When you conquer an enemy land space containing a Castle, the Castle is not destroyed. Instead, you capture it and can use it to place new pieces on the following turn. See "Capturing Castles" on page 15.
conquer: When you attack an enemy land space and win, you conquer it and score victory points. You control the space and collect income for it. See also liberate, below.
control: You control a land space as long as it contains your pieces or has your control marker in it. No one controls sea spaces.
damage: Whenever one of your pieces scores a hit, the opposing player decides which piece takes the damage. Both players choose the order in which pieces take damage. See also hit, below.
debark: Land pieces debark from Warships carrying them into coastal spaces. See "Sea Transport" on page 11.
defend: Whenever another player attacks a space containing your pieces, your pieces defend by rolling attack dice.
defender: You are the defender if you fight in a battle on someone else's turn. The other player is the attacker. Dungeon Guardians are always defenders.
Dungeon Guardian: Dungeon Guardian tokens are placed on dungeon entrances. Heroes that explore a dungeon entrance must defeat the Dungeon Guardian before they can plunder the dungeon.
Durable: Dragons have the Durable special ability. A Dragon takes 2 damage to destroy.
embark: Land pieces embark from coastal spaces onto Warships that will carry them. See "Sea Transport" on page 11.
enemy space: An enemy space is either a land space under the control of an enemy realm or a sea space that contains enemy pieces. If a land space is under control of an enemy realm but does not contain any pieces, it is still considered an enemy space.
Event card: You begin each turn by drawing an Event card from your realm's deck. Event cards can influence the game in a variety of ways. Each Event card's play instructions state when it can be played. You can have any number of Event cards in your hand. See "Step 1: Draw" on page 9.
explore: When Heroes move into a dungeon entrance, they explore the dungeon. They must fight the Dungeon Guardian and, if successful, can plunder the dungeon.
First Strike: Wizards have the First Strike special ability. They roll their attack dice before other pieces, both when attacking and when defending. The opposing pieces take any damage from First Strike hits immediately, before they have the opportunity to strike back. See "First Strike" on page 13.
friendly space: A friendly space is either a land space controlled by you (or by an ally in an alliance game) or a sea space that contains no pieces or your (or an ally's) pieces.
game round: During a game round, each realm takes a turn in order: the Dark Empire of Karkoth, the Vailin Alliance, the Iron Circle, and the Nerathan League. At the end of a game round, the game round ends and a new one begins.
Gold: Your realm earns income in the form of Gold, and you spend Gold to buy new pieces.
hand: Your hand contains your Event and Treasure cards that you haven't played yet. There is no limit to the number of cards you can have in your hand.
Hero: Wizards and Fighters are both Heroes. Heroes can explore dungeons and fight in sea battles while carried by a Warship.
hit: A piece scores a hit in battle with a roll of 6 or higher on its attack die. Enemy pieces take damage equal to the number of hits you scored. See damage, above.
Hover: Storm Elementals have the Hover special ability. They can safely end your Reposition step in sea spaces.
income: In the last step of your turn, you collect income for your realm based on the number of spaces you control. See "Step 6: Collect Income" on page 18.
Iron Circle: One of the realms (player positions). The Iron Circle is an aggressive collection of goblin kingdoms, mercenaries, and warlike cities.
island: An island is a land space completely surrounded by water, such as the Winterskull Lands. Islands count as coastal spaces.
Karkoth (Dark Empire of Karkoth): One of the realms (player positions). Power-mad necromancers command undead hordes to seize ever more territory for the Dark Empire of Karkoth.
liberate: If you attack an enemy land space that was part of an ally's starting territory, you don't conquer it when you win and you don't score VP for that space. Instead, you liberate the space for your ally, who takes control of the space and collects income for it. Card effects that refer to conquering a space still trigger when you liberate an ally's space. See "Alliances and Conquest" on page 15.
move: When a piece moves, it leaves one space and enters an adjacent space. Each of your pieces can move a number of spaces up to its Move number during your Move step.
Nerath (Nerathan League): One of the realms (player positions). The Nerathan League is a loose association of feudal states that survived the fall of the Empire of Nerath.
phase: Each battle round consists of several phases: First Strike attacks and damage, other attacks, other damage, press attack/retreat, and determine battle results. See "Battle Sequence" on page 13.
piece: A piece is a plastic figure representing a realm's military forces.
- land pieces: Footsoldiers, Siege Engines, Fighters, Wizards, Monsters, and Castles are land pieces. Land pieces cannot enter or fight in sea spaces (but see Sea Transport, below).
- sea pieces: Warships are sea pieces. Sea pieces cannot enter or fight in land spaces.
- flying pieces: Dragons and Storm Elementals are flying pieces. A flying piece can move through or into both land and sea spaces and can fight in both land and sea spaces. A flying piece can move over dungeon entrances or enemy spaces without stopping. All flying pieces get a second move during the Reposition step. See "Flying Pieces" on page 11.
plunder: If your Heroes successfully explore a dungeon, they plunder it. Draw a Treasure card. You draw just one card per dungeon entrance regardless of how many Heroes survived, or how many Dungeon Guardians they fought. See Treasure card, below.
Powerful Attack: Siege Engines have the Powerful Attack special ability. When fighting as the attacker, a Siege Engine rolls 2 8-sided attack dice instead of 1.
realm: The four realms are the player positions: the Dark Empire of Karkoth, the Vailin Alliance, the Iron Circle, and the Nerathan League. Each player controls a realm (sometimes two, in alliance games).
Run Amok: Monsters have the Run Amok special ability. After winning a battle in a land space, a Monster can immediately move into an adjacent enemy space that contains no pieces. See "Run Amok" on page 16.
sea landing: Land pieces can debark from Warships into an enemy land space, making a sea landing. Those pieces then fight a battle in that land space. See "Sea Landings" on page 13.
Sea Transport: Warships have the Sea Transport special ability. A Warship can load up to 2 land pieces from any adjacent coastal space and carry them up to 2 sea spaces, then unload them in another adjacent coastal space. See "Sea Transport" on page 11.
space: The game board is divided into a number of spaces. Each space has a name.
- land space: A land space has a colored border. Impassable territory has no colored border and does not count as a land space.
- sea space: Sea spaces are dark blue spaces that separate land spaces.
- coastal space: A land space is a coastal space if it is adjacent to a sea space. Islands count as coastal spaces.
- dungeon entrance: This is a special space, marked with the symbol of a door. Only Heroes can enter dungeon entrances. See "Exploring Dungeons" on page 14.
steal: When you steal Gold from another realm, you take the Gold from its treasury.
step: Each realm's turn consists of six steps, which take place in a fixed sequence: Draw, Move, Fight Battles, Reposition, Reinforce, and Collect Income. See "Turn Sequence" on page 9.
transfer: Some Event and Treasure cards allow you to transfer pieces between spaces—sometimes even nonadjacent spaces. Remove the pieces from the starting space and place them in the destination space. Such transfers do not count as movement.
Treasure card: When your Heroes plunder a dungeon, you draw a Treasure card. You keep Treasure cards in your hand until you decide to play them, and in play. Each Treasure card's text states when you can play it. When you play a Treasure card, you immediately score the number of victory points listed on the card. See "Playing Treasure Cards" on page 16.
- Power: A Treasure card's Power entry represents a single-use ability that takes place as soon as you play the card.
- Property: A Treasure card's Property entry represents an ability that is in effect for the rest of the game once you play the card.
treasury: Each realm starts with a treasury of Gold that it uses to buy new pieces. When you collect income for your realm, you take the Gold from the supply and add it to your realm's treasury.
turn: During a game round, each realm takes a turn in order. Each realm's turn consists of six steps, which take place in a fixed sequence. See "Turn Sequence" on page 9.
Vailin (Vailin Alliance): One of the realms (player positions). The Vailin Alliance is an association of elven lands and mercantile human city-states.
victory condition: You win by achieving the victory condition for the length of game you are playing. The victory condition for short and medium games is having a certain number of victory points at the end of a game round. For long games, the victory condition is controlling all Capitals or collecting a certain number of Treasure cards. See "How to Win" on page 3.
victory points (VP): You score victory points for capturing enemy land spaces and for playing Treasure cards. See "Victory Points" on page 16.
Rules Summary
A condensed reference, printed on the back cover of the rulebook.
Turn Order: 1. Dark Empire of Karkoth 2. Vailin Alliance 3. Iron Circle 4. Nerathan League
Sequence of Play
- DRAW: Draw one Event card from your deck.
- MOVE: Any or all of your pieces can move.
- FIGHT BATTLES: Fight all the battles you triggered this turn and score VP.
- REPOSITION: Your flying pieces can move again. Heroes exit dungeons.
- REINFORCE: Buy, place, and move new pieces.
- COLLECT INCOME: Take Gold equal to the land spaces you control. Your turn now ends.
Battle Sequence
- FIRST STRIKE: Roll First Strike attacks. Take First Strike damage.
- ROLL OTHER ATTACKS.
- TAKE DAMAGE.
- PRESS ATTACK OR RETREAT: Attacker chooses.
- DETERMINE BATTLE RESULTS: Conquer spaces, Run Amok, plunder dungeons.
Piece Summary
| Name | Type | Cost | Attack die | Move | Special abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Footsoldier | Land | 1 | 6 | 1 | — |
| Siege Engine | Land | 2 | 8 | 1 | Powerful Attack |
| Fighter | Land | 2 | 10 | 2 | Explore Dungeons, Battle at Sea |
| Wizard | Land | 3 | 10 | 2 | First Strike, Explore Dungeons, Battle at Sea |
| Monster | Land | 3 | 12 | 2 | Run Amok |
| Castle | Land | 4 | 20 | — | Place Pieces, Can Be Captured |
| Storm Elemental | Flying | 3 | 8 | 2 | Capsize, Hover |
| Dragon | Flying | 5 | 20 | 3 | Durable |
| Warship | Sea | 2 | 8 | 2 | Sea Transport |
Victory Conditions
Free-for-All Game
| Length | Victory condition |
|---|---|
| Short | 13 VP at end of game round |
| Medium | 20 VP at end of game round |
| Long | All Capitals or 8 Treasures |
Alliance Game
| Length | Victory condition |
|---|---|
| Short | 20 shared VP at end of game round |
| Medium | 30 shared VP at end of game round |
| Long | All Capitals or 12 Treasures |
Victory Points
| VP | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Conquer an enemy land space |
| 1-3 | Play a Treasure card |
| 5 | Conquer an enemy Capital |
Exploring Dungeons
- ATTACK DUNGEON ENTRANCE
- Move Heroes into the dungeon entrance.
- Flip over Dungeon Guardian tokens.
- BATTLE DUNGEON GUARDIANS (see Battle Sequence)
- PLUNDER DUNGEON (only if you win)
- Draw the top card from the Treasure deck.
- RESTOCK DUNGEON (only if you win)
- Add 2 new face-down Dungeon Guardian tokens to the dungeon entrance.
Storing Game Pieces
The storage tray has a labeled compartment for each realm's game pieces, plus compartments for all dice and all cards. Stack all 5 reference cards and place the stack on the game board, fold up the game board and place it on the tray, then place the rulebook on the game board.
Credits
Design: Richard Baker Development and Additional Design: Richard Baker, Peter Lee, Mons Johnson Editing: Jennifer Clarke Wilkes D&D Senior Creative Art Director: Jon Schindehette Art Director: Keven Smith Cover Illustration: William O'Connor Game Board Illustration: Adam Gillespie Token Illustrations: Wayne England Graphic Design: Keven Smith, Emi Tanji Product and Packaging Design: Veronica Vail Multimedia Manager: Ryan McCarthy Miniatures Art Director: Ryan Sansaver Production: Nick Bartoletti, Nicholas Isaac Prepress Manager: Jefferson Dunlap Imaging Technician: Travis Adams Production Manager: Godot Gutierre
Playtesting: Jim Ansaldo, Rich Baker, Darren Barnes, Adam Childers, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Ciabhan Connelly, Cameron Curtis, Ryan Dickey, Karl Fischer, David Galuska, Mons Johnson, Toby Latin-Stoermer, Peter Lee, David Noonan, Bill Slavicsek, Dwayne Stupack, Darien Stupack, Rodney Thompson, Colin Walsh, Steve Winter, Mike Wyman, Warren Wyman
©2011 Wizards of the Coast LLC, P.O. Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, U.S.A. Manufactured by: Hasbro SA, Route de Courroux 6, 2800 Delemont, CH. Represented by: Hasbro Europe, 2 Roundwood Ave, Stockley Park, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB11 1AZ, UK. Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Conquest of Nerath, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Wizards characters and the distinctive likenesses thereof are property of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. ® denotes Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Office. All rights reserved. MADE IN CHINA.