Huang
Huang Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Optional Rules
- Gamefound Exclusives
Board Symbols
- River space
- Capital of warring state
- Market area
Setup
Place the board in the middle of the play area. It shows China during the warring states period.
Place 1 yellow Governor tile on each of the marked board spaces. These represent the capitals of the 7 warring states. Put all remaining tiles into the bag and shuffle them.
Place all the pagodas next to the board. Divide all the victory point markers by colours and place them by the board. Place the unification marker by the board.
Each player chooses a dynasty: Tiger, Rabbit, Rat or Goat. Each dynasty has 5 leaders, one of each colour. Each player places a screen in front of them, and places their 5 leaders in front of the screen. Put any spare screens and leaders back into the box.
Each player draws 6 tiles from the bag and places them behind their screen. A further 6 tiles are drawn from the bag and placed face up in the Market area of the board.
Option: If playing a 2-player game, you may agree to shorten the game by removing 24 tiles from the bag unseen into the box.
States
Tiles and leaders with a common edge are adjacent. Tiles or leaders are linked if they are adjacent or if they are connected through a chain of adjacent tiles and leaders.
A state is one or more linked tiles and at least one linked leader on the board. As long as a state only contains leaders of different colours, everything is peaceful. Conflicts arise when there are 2 leaders of the same colour within one state.
Positioning a Leader
You control a dynasty of 5 leaders. Each leader in your dynasty has the same appearance, but is one of 5 different colours, corresponding with the 5 tile types: Governor, Soldier, Farmer, Trader, Artisan.
A leader can be:
- Placed on the board (from in front of your screen), OR
- Repositioned from another space on the board, OR
- Withdrawn from the board and placed back in front of your screen.
When placing or reposition a leader on the board, the following restrictions apply:
- A leader must be placed on an empty space.
- A leader can only be placed adjacent to a yellow Governor tile.
- A leader cannot be placed in such a way as to unite states leading to a conflict. (Note: As long as no conflict arises, a leader may be placed to unite 2 or more states.)
- A leader cannot be placed on a river space.
If the last yellow Governor tile adjacent to one of your leaders is removed from the board, the leader is removed and returned to in front of your screen.
Play
Choose a starting player at random. Play proceeds in a clockwise order from that player.
During your turn, you must resolve 2 actions. There are 5 possible actions. You may choose 2 different actions, or the same action twice. You may do these in any order:
- Position a leader
- Place a tile
- Discard 2 blue Farmer tiles to cause a peasants' riot
- Discard 2 green Trader tiles to establish a pagoda
- Replace up to 6 tiles from behind your screen
Place a Tile
There are 5 different types of tiles: Governor, Soldier, Farmer, Trader, Artisan.
To place a tile, take a tile from behind your screen and place it on the board. The following restrictions apply:
- A tile must be placed face up on an empty space.
- Blue Farmer tiles can only be placed on river spaces. (Farming needs irrigation).
- No other tile type can be placed on a river space.
Special Green Trader Tile and Blue Farmer Tile Effects
- After placing a green Trader tile on the board, you may choose 1 of the face-up tiles from the Market area and place it behind your screen.
- After placing a blue Farmer tile, you may continue to place additional blue Farmer tiles within the same action, as long as the next tile is always played adjacent to the previous tile and the placement of the previous tile did not lead to a war or the placement of a new pagoda.
Victory Points
There are 5 types of victory points:
- Yellow – representing Order
- Red – representing Power
- Blue – representing Food
- Green – representing Trade
- White – representing Wealth
A victory point is gained for placing a tile under the following circumstances:
- If the tile is placed in a state, and this state contains a leader of the same colour, then a victory point of that colour is gained by the player controlling that leader.
- If there is no leader of the respective colour, but there is a yellow Governor leader within the state, then a victory point of that tile's colour is gained by the player controlling the yellow Governor leader.
If several blue Farmer tiles are placed within the same action, a blue victory point is gained for each of these tiles if the above circumstances apply.
No victory point is gained if the tile is placed so that it unites 2 or more states leading to a conflict. (Note: As long as no conflict arises, a victory point is gained if the above circumstances apply).
Victory points are kept hidden behind the players' screens. At any time during your turn, you may exchange 5 markers valued at "1" for 1 marker valued at "5".
Discard 2 Blue Farmer Tiles to Cause a Peasants' Riot
To cause a peasants' riot, reveal then discard 2 blue Farmer tiles from behind your screen face down into the box. Then choose any 1 tile from the board and discard it face down into the box. This can include a starting yellow Governor tile placed on a capital space. That space has no effect after set-up. The space where the tile was removed becomes empty.
Note: A peasants' riot may divide a state into 2 or more parts. If a peasants' riot removes the last yellow Governor tile adjacent to a leader, that leader is removed and returned to its player. If a tile is removed from below a building (pagoda, granary or the royal palace), then the building is also removed and placed next to the board – see Pagodas and Optional Rules sections below.
Special Blue Farmer Leader Effect
- If you have your blue Farmer leader in front of your screen (hence not on the board), this leader may (but does not have to) represent 1 of the 2 required tiles. You then only discard 1 blue Farmer tile from behind your screen to cause a peasants' riot.
Discard 2 Green Trader Tiles to Establish a Pagoda
This action is described under the Pagodas section below.
Replace up to 6 Tiles from Behind the Screen
You may discard up to 6 tiles from behind your screen face down into the box. Then draw the same number of tiles from the bag and place them behind your screen.
End of a Turn
At the end of your turn, after resolving 2 actions, collect victory points for any pagodas you control – see Pagodas section below.
Finally, refill your tiles by drawing from the bag so that you end your turn with 6 tiles behind your screen. If other players have fewer than 6 tiles at this point, they also refill their tiles to 6. If there are fewer than 6 tiles left in the Market, these are also replenished from the bag. Then it is the next player's turn.
Pagodas
There are 5 types of pagodas: Court, Garrison, Granary, Market, Workshop.
After placing a tile, you may establish a pagoda if the tile has been placed such that it creates a 'triangle' of 3 tiles of the same colour, provided that:
a) the tile placed does not create a war; and b) none of the three tiles of the triangle is yet supporting another building (pagoda, granary or the royal palace).
You then take a pagoda of the corresponding colour from next to the board and place it on the triangle. If no such pagoda is available, take a matching pagoda already placed on the board and reposition it.
The decision to establish a pagoda is optional.
Note: The tiles forming the triangle remain face up and they still count when located under the pagoda. In particular, adjacent leaders are still supported by yellow Governor tiles under a yellow pagoda.
A pagoda provides victory points. At the end of your turn, check if 1 or more of your leaders is in the same state as a same-coloured pagoda. For each such leader, gain 1 victory point of the leader's colour for each same-coloured pagoda in the same state.
Note: While the placement of a tile can allow the yellow Governor leader to gain victory points in other colours (in the absence of the respective leader), this does not apply for pagodas.
Now we are able to describe the outstanding action:
Discard 2 Green Trader Tiles to Establish a Pagoda
To establish a pagoda on a 'triangle' of tiles that has been created earlier by any player, reveal then discard 2 green Trader tiles from behind your screen face down into the box. Then establish a pagoda of the corresponding colour on the given triangle. If available, take the pagoda from next to the board. If no such pagoda is available, take a matching pagoda already placed on the board and reposition it.
Special Green Trader Leader Effect
- If you have your green Trader leader in front of your screen (hence not on the board), this leader may (but does not have to) represent 1 of the 2 required tiles. You then only discard 1 green Trader tile from behind your screen to establish a pagoda.
Conflicts
A conflict occurs when there are 2 like-coloured leaders in a state. There are two different types of conflicts:
- Revolts
- Wars
An action does not end until the conflict is resolved and all states only contain leaders of different colours.
Revolts
A revolt occurs when a leader is positioned in a state that already contains a leader of the same colour. During a revolt, the player positioning the new leader is the attacker. The player who controls the existing leader of the same colour in the state is the defender.
Resolve revolts as follows:
- The attacker and the defender draw their strength from yellow Governor tiles adjacent to their leaders. It is possible that a yellow Governor tile counts for both leaders.
- First the attacker, and then the defender, may increase their strength by committing to the conflict any number of extra yellow Governor tiles from behind their screens, placing them face up in front of their screens.
Whoever has the higher total strength (total number of yellow Governor tiles plus yellow Governor Leader effect) wins the conflict. If there is a tie, the defender wins.
The consequences of a revolt are as follows:
- If you are the loser, you must withdraw your leader from the board.
- If you are the victor, gain 1 victory point in the colour of the conflicting leaders.
- Both players then discard their committed yellow Governor tiles face down into the box.
Yellow Governor Leader Effect
- If you have a yellow Governor Leader in front of your screen (hence not on the board) and you are participating in a revolt as an attacker or defender, this leader may (but does not have to) add 1 extra strength to your side.
Wars
Wars occur when 2 or more states are united through the placement of a new tile, and the new, larger state contains leaders of the same colour.
Place the unification marker on top of the unifying tile. It remains there until the war is resolved. The unifying tile does not have any other effect – it does not reward victory points, count towards strength (if red) or allow you to take a tile from the market (if green).
Wars are resolved as follows:
- All warring states draw their strength from red Soldier tiles in the state, and supporting red Soldier Leaders not on the board.
- Starting with the player to the left of the player who played the unifying tile and progressing in a clockwise order, each player may now increase the strength of 1 warring state of their choice by committing any number of extra red Soldier tiles from behind their screen, placing them face up next to the board close to the supported state. They may also contribute their red Soldier Leader (see below). All the players may contribute to the war, even if none of their leaders is involved in the conflict. The player who played the unifying tile is always the last player to contribute.
Whichever warring state has the highest total strength (total number of red Soldier tiles plus red Soldier Leader effect(s)) wins the war. If there is a tie, the player who played the unifying tile decides which of the tied states wins.
The consequences of a war are as follows:
- Note the total strength of each losing state (if more than one). Then simultaneously remove all conflicting leaders and all red Soldier tiles from all the losing states. If the tile placed that led to the war was a red Soldier tile, do not remove it, it is not considered to have participated in the war. Only non-conflicting leaders remain in the losing states.
- For each leader removed and returned to its player, the player who controls the like-coloured leader in the winning state gains 1 victory point in that colour.
- Compare the total strength of all the losing states (if more than 1 losing state). The highest of these totals now defines the number of red Soldier tiles that must also be discarded by the winning state. First discard all the red Soldier tiles committed for the winning state. If this number is not sufficient, then the player who played the unifying tile chooses and removes red Soldier tiles from the winning state itself until the total number of discarded red Soldier tiles matches the required total.
After the war, remove the unification marker and place it by the board. The tile underneath the unification marker remains in place.
Red Soldier Leader Effect
- If you have a red Soldier leader in front of your screen (hence not on the board), you may (but do not have to) use this leader to count as 1 extra strength for one of the warring sides.
Example
Scott, the Rat, places a tile to unify 2 states. This causes a war. No victory point is gained for this placement, instead the unification marker is placed on the new tile.
Currently, the state on the left has strength 2 (2 red Soldier tiles) and the state on the right has strength 4 (4 red Soldier tiles).
Monica, the Tiger, follows Scott in clockwise order. She is the first to commit extra tiles. She places 2 red Soldier tiles from behind her screen next to the state on the left where her leaders are.
Gerry, the Goat, follows next. He does not want to commit extra tiles, but as his red Soldier leader is not on the board, he decides to use this leader to support the state on the left.
Finally, the order comes back to Scott to commit extra tiles. The current strength is 5 for the state on the left, and 4 for the state on the right where his leaders are. Scott commits 3 red Soldier tiles from behind his screen and places them next to the state on the right.
The state on the right wins the war. The conflicting red Tiger and yellow Tiger are removed from the losing state and returned to Monica. The 2 red Soldier tiles on the losing state are also removed. The red tile under the unification marker is not affected. Scott gains 1 red victory point for his victorious red leader, and Gerry gains 1 yellow victory point for his victorious yellow leader. The green leader and the blue leader remain unaffected as there are no conflicting like-coloured leaders.
The total strength of the losing state is 5. The 3 committed tiles for the state on the right are not enough to match this total. Therefore, Scott, who played the unifying tile, must remove 2 more red Soldier tiles from the victorious state on the right. This also causes the red pagoda to be lost and placed next to the board.
All the committed and removed red Soldier tiles are discarded face down into the box. The unification marker is removed, and the war is over.
Game End and Winner
The game end is triggered when a player who is attempting to draw a tile for any purpose is unable to do so because the bag is empty.
At this point, all players remove their screens. Each player totals the number of victory points they have in each of the 4 colours (yellow, red, blue, and green). They then freely allocate white victory points to any colour. (Each white victory point is wild and can count as any other colour.) The colour in which a player has the fewest victory points is their victory point total.
The player with the highest total is the winner. In the case of a tie, the tied players determine in which of the 4 colours they have their second fewest victory points and compare these, and so on.
In the event that players are tied across all non-white colours, the player with the fewest white victory points is the winner.
In the unlikely event that there is still a tie, no one wins. No state is able to unite the empire. The warlord Xiang Yu takes control, and the period of the Eighteen Kingdoms (see Eighteen Kingdoms) arrives early.
Optional Rules
Rogue Bandits
During the period of the Warring States, gangs of rogue bandits terrorised the lands. To unify the empire and establish peace, these bandits must be defeated.
Components: 10 size-3 tiles.
Rules
There are 10 Bandit tiles with symbols corresponding with 10 spaces on the board. Five of these locations, randomly determined, are used in a game.
— Bandit location
To determine the locations, shuffle the 10 tiles face down. Reveal a first tile to determine a corresponding placement location, then reveal another tile and place this other tile face up in the determined location, while discarding the first tile into the box. Continue in this way, until there are 5 Bandit tiles on the board and 5 Bandit tiles in the box.
During play, leaders may not be placed next to a Bandit tile. Furthermore, you may only place a tile adjacent to a Bandit tile if that tile unites the Bandit tile with a state with at least as many red Soldier tiles as bandits shown on the Bandit tile.
No victory point is gained for placing the tile, instead the unification marker is placed on the unifying tile.
If there is a red Soldier leader in the state, the player who controls this leader receives as many red victory points as there are bandits shown on the Bandit tile.
The player who placed the unifying tile then chooses and removes as many red Soldier tiles from the state as shown on the Bandit tile. The Bandit tile is removed from the board and discarded into the box. The bandits are defeated! The unification marker is placed by the board again.
Note: the Rogue Bandits optional rule cannot be combined with the Eighteen Kingdoms optional rule.
Eighteen Kingdoms
Huang is set during the period of the Warring States (475 – 221BC). The seven states that fought during this period were finally united in 221BC under the emperor Qin Shi Huang, leader of the Qin dynasty.
But the period of peace was short-lived. Qin Shi Huang died in 210BC, and within two years most of the empire was in revolt against his son. Amidst an atmosphere of rebellion, retribution and great famine, the warlord Xiang Yu took power in 206BC, splitting the empire into 18 states.
Xiang Yu's rival Liu Bad waged a long revolt against him. After Xiang Yu's death, Liu Bang reunified the empire and became the first emperor of the Han dynasty (202BC – 220AD). Tributes of grain from the former state capitals began to pour in.
You can replay this dramatic period of Chinese history using the Eighteen Kingdoms optional rule.
Note: counting the homeland of Qin itself, there were 19 states in total, each with their own state capital.
Components: 1 board (reverse side), 19 granaries.
Rules
The Eighteen Kingdoms optional rule uses the reverse side of the main board. This introduces a new board layout with more capitals and different topographical features. It also introduces granaries that provide an alternative source of victory points.
Place a yellow Governor tile and a granary on each of the 19 capital spaces on the board.
Due to the new path of the rivers, there are no opportunities to establish blue pagodas – these can remain in the box. Instead, the granaries now allow the players to gain additional blue victory points.
If you end your turn with your blue Farmer leader in a state that contains more than 1 granary, you can remove all but the last granary from that state, and place them behind your player screen.
At the game end, each granary counts as 2 blue victory points.
Gamefound Exclusives
Royal Palace
After the unification, the royal palace of the state of Qin became the palace of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang.
Components: 1 royal palace building
The palace was a magnificent building, and it can be added to the game using the following rules.
Rules
The royal palace can be established on 4 yellow Governor tiles if these form the corresponding shape. The same rules apply for the royal palace as for pagodas, including the '2 green Trader tiles' and 'Peasants' Riot' rules.
The royal palace does not provide victory points. Instead, if at the end of your turn you control the yellow Governor leader in a state with the royal palace, draw up to 7 tiles behind your screen.
Note: the royal palace can be used with any optional rule.
Dragon Dynasty
The Dragon Dynasty is a fifth player expansion. The fifth player uses the same set-up and play rules as the other players.
Note: the Dragon Dynasty can be used with any optional rule.
Credits
Designer: Reiner Knizia | Art: Bartłomiej Jędrzejewski | Creative Director: Jaro Andruszkiewicz Gamefound Campaign Manager: Adrian Turzański | Editor: James Buckley | Production: Agata Jurczyszyn 3D design: Maciej Krasuń, Mateusz Kamiński, Bartłomiej Płóciennik | DTP: Katarzyna Jasińska Playtesters: Reiner Knizia thanks all the playtesters who contributed, in particular Iain Adams, Drak, Gavin Hamilton, Martin Higham, Ross Inglis, Kevin Jacklin, Chris Lawson, and Dave Spring
© Dr. Reiner Knizia, 2023. All rights reserved.
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