Daring Eagle
Daring Eagle Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Capture your opponents' Units.
In Order to Win, You Must
- Maneuver your Units around the playing board, vying with your opponents for a superior strategic position.
- Develop and maintain a hand of cards that will be used to assist your movement around the board and as additional combat points during combat engagements.
- Attack your opponents' Units and capture them by deploying a superior number of combat points. In the event of a tie, each player captures the other player's Unit.
- In a four-player game, the first player to capture 5 of their opponent's Units wins the game.
The Game Pieces
The Game Board
The double-sided game board features a playing surface divided into a 12 x 12 grid of playing squares. Players begin the game by deploying their Units in the back two rows of one of the four quadrants.
Standard game play uses the gold side of the game board, which has Defensive Emplacements already in place (more on these later). A variation of game play using the green side of the game board allows players to strategically position their own Defensive Emplacements prior to beginning play.
The Unit Playing Pieces
Units are color coded to distinguish up to four players: Gold, Green, Blue and Red. There are two types of Unit playing pieces: Divisions and Brigades.
- Divisions - Powerful but slow. Divisions are worth 15 combat points and can move up to two spaces in any direction unless blocked by Defensive Emplacements (see below).
- Brigades - Quick but not as powerful. Brigades are worth 5 combat points and can move up to three spaces in any direction unless blocked by Defensive Emplacements (see below).
The leaflet shows a movement diagram for each Unit type. The Division diagram shows the Division moving up to two squares in any of the eight directions; the Brigade diagram shows the Brigade moving up to three squares in any of the eight directions.
The Defensive Emplacements
Travel over, through or into Defensive Emplacements requires an Engineering Resource card.
There are 25 Defensive Emplacement game pieces that may be deployed before or during a game. During the game, a player may use a Defensive Emplacement card to deploy a Defensive Emplacement game piece on any square adjacent to any of their Units.
During the game, a player may use an Engineering Resource card to remove from the Game Board any Defensive Emplacement game piece adjacent to any of their Units.
The Playing Cards
There are 92 playing cards in the game deck. Players draw a card from the game deck at the end of their turn. A player may not begin their turn with more than three cards in their hand.
Each card features rules describing its use.
- Combat Cards: Air Strike Cards +15 (2); Armored Cards +15 (2); Division Cards +10 (8); Brigade Cards +5 (15); Resource Cards +3 (9).
- Other Cards: Defensive Emplacement (6); Engineering Resource (8); Anti-Aircraft (6); Airlift (8); Retreat (6); Forced Retreat (6); Draw Two (4); Free Move (4); Move +One (4); and Special Forces Cards (4).
(The number in parentheses after each card type is the number of cards of that type in the deck.)
Some Important Game Concepts
- A player may not begin their turn with more than three cards in their hand. Because players draw at the end of their turn, it is possible at times to have more than three cards; in fact, it is a defender's advantage. However, players must discard down to three cards before moving any of their Units.
- Units may only move in a straight line; either up, down, left, right or diagonally. Divisions may move up to two squares. Brigades may move up to three squares.
- Units have a Combat Point value. Divisions are worth 15 points. Brigades are worth 5 points. These points are used to determine the victor in a Combat Engagement. The Unit with the most points wins and captures the opponent's Unit. The victor keeps the losing Unit for purposes of score keeping.
- Winning is determined by the total number of Units captured - both Divisions and Brigades, not the number of Combat Points captured.
Playing the Game
Game Setup
- Assign Units
- 2 players - 4 Divisions, 7 Brigades each
- 3 players - 3 Divisions, 6 Brigades each
- 4 players - 3 Divisions, 5 Brigades each
- Deploy Units - Players begin the game by choosing one of the game board quadrants as their home base. Their Units may be initially deployed in any configuration in the rear two rows of their quadrant (see example at right).
- Shuffle Cards - The playing cards should be shuffled and placed face down where they are easily accessible to all players. Players begin the game with no cards in their hands.
The leaflet's setup example (a diagram beside the Deploy Units text) shows Units placed in the rear two rows of each quadrant of the board, with a Playing Cards pile and a Discards pile marked beside the board.
Order of Play
The players determine who will play first, and play proceeds clockwise around the board.
A Player's Turn
- Discard (if necessary) - Players may not begin their turn with more than three cards in their hands; therefore, it may be necessary for a player to discard before moving any of their Units.
- Move and Play Cards - A player must move one of their Units. Players may play as many cards as they have.
- Draw a Card - A player's turn ends with drawing a card.
Combat Engagements
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To attack an opponent, a player moves an attacking Unit into the same square as an opponent's Unit (the defending Unit). Only one Unit may attack at a time.
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The attacking Unit is required to initially play more combat points (using Combat Cards if necessary) than the defending Unit.
Example: A Division (15 pts) can attack a Brigade (5 pts) without additional combat points. However, a Brigade (5 pts) must play an additional 11 points to attack a Division (15 pts). 5 pts (Brigade) + 11 pts (Combat Cards) > 15 pts (Division).
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The defending Unit may then counter-attack with additional Combat Cards in an attempt to capture the attacking Unit with overwhelming combat points or to cause a tie (see below).
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This attack and counter-attack continues until the combat is over.
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Combat is over when one player refuses or is unable to play more points; or is removed from the playing square through the use of an Airlift, Retreat, or Forced Retreat card. The victor then removes the defeated Unit from the playing square. All cards used in a combat engagement are discarded.
Example:
- a. Green attacks Red by moving a Brigade into a square occupied by a Red Brigade.
- b. Green plays a +3 card, bringing his combat value to 8pts (Brigade 5pts + 3pts = 8pts).
- c. Red responds by playing a +5 card, bringing his combat value to 10pts (Brigade 5pts + 5pts = 10pts).
- d. Green responds by playing another +3 card, bringing his combat value to 11pts (Brigade 5pts + 3pts + 3pts = 11pts).
- e. Red surrenders. Green removes Red Unit (keeping the playing piece for purposes of score keeping) and maintains occupation of the playing square. All used cards are discarded.
Ties: After the initial attack, either Unit in a combat engagement may attempt a tie by playing a matching number of combat points rather than a superior number. The other Unit may then choose to accept the tie, or counter-attack with more combat points. In the event a tie is accepted, each player captures the other player's Unit and both are removed from the playing square.
Winning the Game
The first player to capture the required number of opponents' Units wins the game.
The number of Units that must be captured to win the game is dependent on the number of players:
- a. 2 players: All opposing Units must be captured.
- b. 3 players: A total of 6 opponents' Units must be captured.
- c. 4 players: A total of 5 opponents' Units must be captured.
Players should feel free to set their own victory conditions. Adding to the number of Units required for victory can dramatically increase the length of the game. However, not requiring that all Units be captured in a two person game can prevent a prolonged chase.