The Great Wall: Black Powder Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• New Soldiers
  • Monkey Clan - Warrior Monks
  • Panda Clan - Bombers
  • Dragon Clan - Flamethrowers
  • Snake Clan - Crossbowmen
  • Turtle Clan - Tank
• New Horde Cards
  • Battering Ram
  • Siege Trebuchet
  • Siege Ladders
  • Elite
• Special Rules
• Towers
• War Machines
  • The Ballista
  • The Cannon
  • The Rocket Launcher
• Component List

Setup

Setup the game as normal, except for the following changes:

3. Place the Time token on its '+1' side.

4. Each player takes their Special Soldiers (each Clan has different Special Soldiers!) in addition to all the other components.

5. Prepare the Horde deck: First, remove 3 card types from the basic Horde deck (for a total of 9 removed cards) at random. Then add the 4 new types of Horde from the Black Powder expansion to the deck (for a total of 12 added cards). Shuffle all the Horde cards to and place the deck on the top side the board.

6. Draw a number of Horde cards equal to the number of players +1, and place them on the Wall Sections as normal.

7. Do not place any Barricades. Instead, place a 1st level Wall in each Section. Place the 4 Towers in the areas indicated on the graphic (X).

8. Shuffle the Black Powder Advisor cards into the Advisor deck and deal 2 random face down cards to each player.

9. Each player Upgrades 3 Overseers to level 1 in 3 Locations of their choosing.

10. Set up the War Machines. In Tea order, each player places 1 War Machine on 1 Wall Section (X). Each of the 3 War Machine types must be placed once. The 3 remaining models are placed next to the board, along with the 3 War Machine Help cards. Shuffle the Rocket Shoot cards to form the Rocket deck and place it near the board.

You are now ready to start the game.

Note: the printed setup lists only the changed steps, numbered 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 18 and 19; the other steps are unchanged from the base game. The graphic for step 8 marks the Tower areas with an X and is not reproduced here. The printed text reads "Shuffle all the Horde cards to and place the deck on the top side the board" and "Players may place 1 Spearmen"; these are transcribed as printed.

New Soldiers

Monkey Clan - Warrior Monks

Cost: 2 Wood, 1 Chi

Effect: A Warrior Monk covers 1 Vital spot and can Attack any Horde card on a given Wall Section.

Panda Clan - Bombers

Cost: 1 Wood, 1 Gold, 1 Chi

Effect: When Attacking, a Bomber is placed in a Firing spot and deal 1 Wound to any 1 Horde card on that Wall Section. Immediately after Attacking from the Wall, a Bomber may be placed on the Horde card in the first row, just like a Spearman.

If the Bomber is left in the Firing spot, it will also Attack in the Winter's Firing phase and may still be placed on a Horde card after attacking.

Dragon Clan - Flamethrowers

Cost: 3 Wood, 1 Chi

Effect: A Flamethrower can only Attack a first row Horde card. When placed on a Vital spot, it deals 1 Wound to each adjacent Vital spot (not diagonally).

Snake Clan - Crossbowmen

Cost: 2 Gold, 2 Chi

Effect: When Attacking, a Crossbowman is placed in a Firing spot and deal 1 Wound to any 1 Horde card on that Wall Section. When a Wound is dealt, the controlling player places a special Snake Clan token on the Vital spot instead of a Wound marker. When the Horde card is Defeated, each Snake Clan token on the card counts as 1 Soldier. Snake Clan tokens also protect the player from getting a Shame token in case of a Breach, and they are not discarded when a Breach takes place. A Crossbowmen also Attacks in the Winter's Firing phase.

Turtle Clan - Tank

Cost: 2 Wood, 2 Stone, 2 Gold

Effect: A Tank can only Attack a first row Horde card. It covers up to 4 Vital spots and may be placed even if it doesn't cover 4 spots (because some of them are missing), as long as it covers at least 1 spot and is placed inside the Vital spot's grid. It may also be placed on Vital spots already covered with Wound markers (but not with other Soldiers), but the player does not get rewards from these spots. The Tank is immune to War Machines.

Bombers and Crossbowmen do not grant 2 Honor when a Horde card is Defeated on the same Wall Section.

New Horde Cards

Battering Ram

Special ability: After the Assault phase, swap the Battering Ram with the Horde card on the next upper row of the same Wall Section. If the Ram reaches the first row, destroy 1 Wall level of this Wall Section.

Siege Trebuchet

The Siege Trebuchet card may only be placed only in the 3rd row of the Horde slots and cannot move closer to the Wall. After the Assault phase, destroy 1 Wall level of this Wall Section.

Siege Ladders

Special ability: If the Siege Ladders card is in the first row of the Horde slots, the Defense value of the Wall is reduced to 0. Additionally, if a Breach occurs, all Soldiers on this Wall Section and in the Rest Zone are Killed, and all War Machines on this Wall Section are destroyed.

Elite

The Elite Horde card has no special abilities.

The Battering Ram, Siege Trebuchet and Siege Ladders models are placed on their respective Horde cards.

Special Rules

1. When a Wall level is destroyed, all Soldiers occupying Firing spots on that Wall Section are moved to the corresponding Rest Zone.

2. If all Wall levels are destroyed, the players are considered defeated and they all lose the game immediately.

Towers

Towers are a new type of defensive structures raised by builders to meet the need for expanded vision of the incoming Hordes. Each Tower can hold up to 1 Spearman.

Players may place 1 Spearmen from their pool on a Tower when one of these two situations occurs:

1. When a player builds a Wall level, they may place 1 Spearman in one of the Towers next to that Wall Section.

2. When a Horde card is Defeated, the player who claims the card may place 1 Spearman in one of the Towers next to the Section where the Horde card was Defeated.

If the Tower is already occupied, the player may return the occupying Spearman to its owner's pool and replace it with a Spearman from their own pool.

Spearmen in Towers alter the Breach effects for their owning players. In Winter, at the end of the Assault phase, a player with a Spearman in a Tower gains 2 Honor for each Unbreached Wall Section next to that Tower. On the downside, that player gets a Shame token for each Breached Wall Section next to that Tower.

When a Wall Section is Breached, all Spearmen occupying Towers next to that Wall Section are immediately removed (they are not Killed).

War Machines

Players can use War Machine to inflict severe damage to the incoming Hordes. War Machines occupy Wall Sections, and each Wall Section can hold up to 2 War Machines.

Players Shoot with a War Machine when one of these two situations occurs:

1. When a player builds a War Machine, they can Shoot with it immediately.

2. When a player places a Spearman in a Tower, they may Shoot with 1 War Machine occupying a Wall Section next to that Tower.

The printed rulebook labels this item "2. 2."; it is transcribed here as a single numbered item.

There are 3 types of War Machines: the Ballista, the Cannon and the Rocket Launcher. Each type has a specific effect and a different building cost.

The Ballista

• Building cost: 4 Wood
• Shoot cost: none
• Effect: Deal 2 Wounds as indicated on the Cannon Shot card, to any single Horde card in the Ballista's Wall Section.

The Cannon

• Building cost: 2 Stone, 2 Wood
• Shoot cost: 2 Stone
• Effect: Get 1 Honor. Deal Wounds as indicated on the Cannon Shot card, to any single Horde card in the Cannon's Wall Section.

The Rocket Launcher

• Building cost: 4 Gold
• Shoot cost: 1 (the printed cost shows the Wood, Gold, Stone and Chi icons together; the printed rulebook does not state whether this means one of each or one of any)
• Effect: Get 2 Honor. Choose any 1 Horde card in the Rocket Launcher's Wall Section. Draw 1 card from the Rocket deck and deal all the Wounds indicated on that card.

The following paragraphs are printed in the Rocket Launcher column but apply to all War Machines:

Any Wound dealt by a War Machine that would cover a Vital spot already containing a Wound or a non-existing spot of the affected Horde card is wasted.

Any Soldier occupying a Vital spot covered with a Wound inflicted by a War Machine is Killed. It may be Saved the normal way. If that Soldier belongs to another player, the shooting player gets a Shame token (even if the Soldier is Saved). The shooting player only gets 1 Shame token, regardless the number of Soldiers belonging to other players Killed.

War Machines may be built in the Builders' Encampment. A player who builds a War Machine gains 4 Honor and may immediately Shoot with it.

Component List

Depending on your version, your game will contain meeples or miniatures.

• 15 Special Soldier (3 for each Clan)
• 6 War Machine
• 9 Siege Engine
• 6 Snake Clan tokens
• 12 Horde cards
• 3 War Machine Help cards
• 6 Artifact cards
• 5 Special Soldier Help cards
• 12 War Machine Shot cards
• 12 Advisor cards
• 4 General cards
• 4 Towers
• 8 Stickers Sheet