Island Siege
Island Siege Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Base Game Contents
- 36 colonists (9 in each player color)
- 4 imperial boards
- 60 cards: forts, ships, and buildings. This includes 24 cards from the Ramparts expansion.
- 13 black stones
- 13 gray stones
- 13 white stones
- 4 fleet tokens (1 in each player color)
- 16 "One" coins
- 6 "Five" coins
- 4 "Ten" coins
- 4 starting forts (1 per player)
- 4 reference cards
- 4 attack dice
Set Up
Place the coins and stones to the side of the table in the general supply and shuffle the rest of the fort, ship, and building cards together to form one face-down deck within reach of all players.
- Each player then places an imperial board and a Starting Fort card face in their play area.
- Each player selects a color and places the matching fleet token and nine colonists on their imperial board, with three colonists in each section.
- Each player places one black, two gray, and one white stone onto the matching flag spaces on their Starting Fort.
- Each player takes one black stone and one white stone into their personal supply.
- After setting up forts and personal supplies, the general supply will always start the game with 5 of each stone (5 gray, 5 white and 5 black). Put the remaining stones back in the box as they will not be used.
- Each player draws three cards, keeps two for their starting hand, and gives the third to the player to their left (at the same time). Note: Passing to the left is only for the starting hand, not for future draw actions.
Randomly determine the starting player. The starting player will start the game with the Action Phase. If there are more than two players, Player 3 will start with one colonist already on their starting fort. Player 4 will start with two colonists on their starting fort.
PLAYER SETUP EXAMPLE: The imperial board contains nine colonists. The starting fort contains two gray, a black and a white stone, and the personal supply in the quarry area of the imperial board contains two stones. Their fleet marker is placed in the dock.
Playing the Game
Players take turns until one player is declared the winner. A player's turn consists of three phases, played in order:
- Victory Phase
- Colonize Phase
- Action Phase (starting player starts in this phase)
I. Victory Phase
During the Victory Phase, the active player checks if they won the game. There are two ways to win:
Colonist Victory
If the active player has no colonists on their imperial board at this time, they have successfully colonized the Caribbean and win the game!
VICTORY PHASE EXAMPLE — COLONIST VICTORY: The player wins if their imperial board holds no colonists during the Victory Phase, OR...
Economic Victory
If the active player has twenty or more coins and has more coins than all other opponents, their prosperous colony dominates the New World and they win the game! Score piles should always remain visible for all players to count.
VICTORY PHASE EXAMPLE — ECONOMIC VICTORY: ...they have at least 20 gold, and more gold than all other opponents.
II. Colonize Phase
During the Colonize Phase, the active player places one colonist from their imperial board on to each of their forts. The colonists must be taken from the bottom-most spaces of their imperial board. Each fort has a limited number of spaces where a colonist can be placed — the round spaces at the bottom of the fort card. If there are no empty colonist spaces on a fort, then no new colonists are placed on that fort.
Imperial Board
The imperial board has three levels. When a level has no colonists on it, the player gains that ability:
- If no colonists are on the top level, the player wins during the Victory Phase!
- If no colonists are on the middle level, the player gains the extra (different-colored) die when attacking and rolls four dice as long as this section remains empty.
- If no colonists are on the bottom level, the player gains one extra re-roll when attacking.
When forts, ships, and building are destroyed, colonists are returned to the imperial board. Similarly, if colonists are removed or destroyed, they are returned to the imperial board. These colonists are filled from the top most level first, no more than three colonists per level.
IMPERIAL BOARD EXAMPLE: After the Colonize Phase, there are four colonists remaining on the player's imperial board. Since the bottom section is empty, the player may re-roll one extra time during attacks. When the second/middle level is clear of colonists, the player gains the fourth dice when attacking.
III. Action Phase
During the Action Phase, the active player returns their fleet token back to their imperial board and then must do one of the following actions:
- Draw Cards
- Build One Fort, Ship, or Building
- Attack One Fort
Draw Cards
The active player draws three cards, chooses two to add to their hand, and gives the third card to an opponent of their choice, who adds it to their hand. If at any time the deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.
DRAW CARDS EXAMPLE: Draw three cards and give one of them to any opponent, face-down.
Build a Fort
To build a fort, the active player chooses one fort card from their hand and places it next to their other forts (relative position doesn't matter). Each fort has a flag on one of its spaces showing either white, gray, or black. The player then takes one stone from the general supply that matches the color of the flag and places it on that space. They then place any number and color of stones from their personal supply on the other spaces of the fort.
Note: It's not necessary to fill all of the spaces of a fort and the player can even choose to contribute no stones from their personal supply. Each space can hold one stone.
Note: If no stones of the flag color exist in the general supply, then treat that flag space as if it had no flag – contribute stones from the personal supply as normal.
FORT EXAMPLE: This fort has a black flag, so the player adds one black stone from the general supply to the spot with the flag. Here, they also add a white, black and gray stone from their personal supply. The player collects 3 gold for stones used from their personal supply.
Scoring: For each stone used to build the fort from their personal supply, the active player scores one coin and adds it to their score pile. Players do not score coins for the free flag stones.
Note: Due to attacks, a fort will lose stones over time. The only way to repair a fort is to build buildings as described below.
Build a Building
To build a building, the active player chooses one building card from their hand and places it below one of their forts; that fort must have a number of colonists greater than or equal to the cost on the top left of the building card. The player then moves that many colonists from the fort to the building.
Scoring: The active player scores a number of coins shown on the bottom of the building card.
Repair: In addition, the building allows the player to repair the fort. When built, they take one stone (of the color shown on the bottom of the card) from the general supply and places it on an empty stone space on that fort. If there are no stones matching that color, or if there is no empty space, the benefit is forfeited.
Note: A fort may hold any number of buildings. A building stays below the fort until either it or the fort is destroyed.
BUILDING EXAMPLE: The Chapel requires three colonists be available on a fort. Place the building below the fort, move three colonists from that fort onto the building, and score three coins. In addition, optionally add one black stone from the supply onto an empty black space on that fort. If the fort did not have an empty black space available then the stone would be forfeit.
Build a Ship
To build a ship, the active player chooses one ship card from their hand and places it next to their imperial board; one of their forts must have a number of colonists greater than or equal to the cost on the top left of the ship card. The player then moves that many colonists from the fort to the ship.
Scoring: The active player scores a number of coins shown on the bottom of the ship card.
SHIP EXAMPLE: The active player's Starting Fort has four colonists. Three of those colonists are moved to the ship to build it. The player then scores four coins.
Attack a Fort
To attack, the active player places their fleet token in front of one of an opponent's forts that does not already have another player's fleet token. Only that opponent's ships, buildings, etc. may be targeted. The active player rolls three dice (or four dice, if the middle section of their imperial board is empty). They may then re-roll one or more of those dice again. Some ships have a reroll symbol (a circular arrow). This allows one extra re-roll. Clearing the bottom section of the imperial board also allows an extra re-roll.
Resolving the Attack
Once the attacking player is done rolling the dice, they follow these steps in order:
- Leadership
- First Wave Attack 3a. Reinforce or 3b. Second Wave Attack
- Destruction
1. Leadership
The imperial board and some ships have abilities that allow the attacker to use one or more Leadership symbols (a ship's wheel icon) from their roll to gain different effects. These abilities can be used more than once provided the attacker rolls enough Leadership symbols.
2. First Wave
Next, the attacker chooses one color from among their dice to be the attack color. The attack color must appear on at least one of the dice and must be either white, black, or gray. All dice of that color must be used in the attack.
In the event that only Leadership or Second Wave symbols are on the dice, it is not necessary to choose an attack color.
The attacking player chooses one stone from the defending fort for each dice matching the attack color. The chosen stones must match the attack color. The chosen stones are destroyed (returned to the general supply). Defensive bonuses, which are explained later, can affect how stones are chosen and destroyed. See rules below on defensive bonuses.
ATTACK RESOLUTION EXAMPLE: The attacking player has these dice results (after rerolls): white, black, Second Wave symbol. The defending fort looks like this: one white stone, two gray stones, and one black stone. The player must choose either black or white as the attack color (the Second Wave symbol cannot be chosen). They choose white and remove the white stone from the opponent's fort. They then choose to gain reinforcements and collect one black stone from the general supply. Since the player gained reinforcements, they cannot perform a second wave, so the Second Wave symbol they rolled has no effect. However, had they instead chosen a second wave attack, they could have then destroyed any one of the other stones in the second wave attack using the Second Wave symbol. In any case, the fort survives because it still has stones on it.
3a. Reinforce
The attacking player may add one stone to their supply for each of the remaining dice (of the non-attack color). The stones must match the color of the remaining dice of white, black, or gray. No stones are gained from Leadership or Second Wave dice. If there are not enough stones in the general supply of a particular color, a player will forfeit those that are missing.
3b. Second Wave
Alternately, a second wave attack occurs. For each Second Wave symbol rolled, the attacker destroys any one stone in the defending fort.
4. Destruction
The fort is destroyed if it has no stones. First, place the fort in the discard pile, then all of its buildings (in any order chosen by the owner). Then, all colonists from those cards are returned back to that player's imperial board, filling the top-most spaces first. The attacking player returns their fleet token to their imperial board.
Open Waters
In the event that no opponent has a fort that the active player can attack, they may still take an attack action. The active player rolls the dice like normal, but only the Leadership and Reinforce steps occur. A player cannot use the Open Waters rule if there is at least one opponent with fort(s).
OPEN WATERS EXAMPLE: There are no forts the player is allowed to attack, so they perform an Open Waters attack. They roll three dice, then re-roll one of them with the result white, black, black. They take two black and one white from the general supply.
Defensive Bonuses
The are two ways to make a fort stronger against a first wave attack.
Connected Stones
Stones that are connected horizontally or vertically to other stones of the same color are considered connected stones. Connected stones cannot be destroyed in a first wave attack unless the number of dice matching the attack color is greater than or equal to the size of the group. Connected stones can be destroyed in a second wave attack like normal using Second Wave symbols.
Note: When trying to destroy a chain of four or more connected stones with only three dice, the first wave attack will always fail to destroy any stones so the second wave must be used to break up the connections using the Second Wave symbol.
CONNECTED STONES EXAMPLE: This fort has two connected black stones. If the roll result is gray, white, black and during the first wave the player chooses black as the attack color, the first wave attack will fail. If the roll result is gray, black, black and during the first wave the player selects black as the attack color, they can destroy both black stones.
Protected Stones
A stone that has a stone in front of it in the same "column" is considered a protected stone. Protected stones cannot be destroyed in a first wave attack. However, they can be destroyed in a second wave attack using the Second Wave symbol.
A stone can be protected even if there are one or more open spaces between the "protector" stone and itself, as long as they are in the same column and the "protector" is in front.
A protected stone may become unprotected during a first wave attack when its "protector" is destroyed. In that case, it becomes vulnerable to being destroyed during that wave if it is the same color as protector cube.
PROTECTED STONE EXAMPLE: This fort has one white stone that is protected. The roll result is gray, Second Wave, white. No matter the chosen attack color during the first wave, the white stone can't be destroyed. However, during the second wave, the white stone can be destroyed with the Second Wave symbol.
CONNECTED & PROTECTED EXAMPLE 1: This fort has three white stones that are connected (the middle one is also protected). The attacker rolls white, white, white. During the first wave, they choose white as the attack color. There are enough white dice symbols to bypass the connected rule and destroy the white stones. However, the black stone prevents the attacker from destroying the middle white stone. Final result.
CONNECTED & PROTECTED EXAMPLE 2: This fort has three white stones that are connected (one of which is also protected). During a first wave attack, the attacker needs to roll white, white, white to destroy any of the white stones. Stones are destroyed one at a time, so the protected white stone would still be destroyed.
NO DEFENSIVE BONUSES EXAMPLE: None of these stones are connected or protected. The attacker's roll result is gray, gray, gray. During the first wave attack the player selects gray as the attack color. Both gray stones are destroyed, but the third provides no benefit and cannot be used for reinforcements.
Ghost Captain Solo Rules
Overview
A vengeful rival once thought dead has returned to haunt your colonization efforts.
Components
1 Ghost Captain Card
Setup
Set up the game as you would for two players with the following exceptions:
- Instead of having the other player on the other side of the table, set up each player side by side, so that all card text is readable.
- Place the coins and cubes in the middle of the table between the two players.
- The Ghost Captain will have a face-up hand of eight cards that should be laid out on the table from left to right above all other components.
- From your starting hand, you will still pass a card to the Ghost Captain (which goes on the right of his hand), but he will not give one to you.
- Place the Ghost Captain card face-up.
- You will take the starting turn as normal during the Action Phase.
Playing
Play the game as you normally would with the following changes:
Your Turn
During your Leadership Phase of an attack, you may use two leadership symbols to turn the Ghost Captain card face-down until your next turn. While it is face-down, you may make all decisions for the Ghost Captain, ignoring all of his rules except which action he takes.
Ghost Captain's Turn
The Ghost Captain is very determined and will always choose his actions in a predictable way:
Build: If the Ghost Captain can build any card in his hand and is not under threat of losing via a colonist victory next turn, then he will build. One exception is that even if he is under threat, he will still build if it gives him an immediate economic victory.
Attack: In all other cases, the Ghost Captain will attack.
Draw: The Ghost Captain will never take the draw cards action.
Ghost Captain: Build
If multiple cards could be played, he will always choose the left-most card.
Forts: The Ghost Captain will only build a fort if he has enough stones to fill in all of its non-flag spaces. See the Behavior rules for how to place the stones.
Buildings and Ships: See the Behavior rules for determining which fort to build a building or where to pull the colonists from.
Ghost Captain: Attack - Target
The Ghost Captain will always attack the fort with the fewest cubes. See the Behavior rules for dealing with ties.
Ghost Captain: Attack - Rolling
Dice: The Ghost Captain will always attack with four dice.
Re-roll: The Ghost Captain will never re-roll.
Ghost Captain: Attack - Resolving
Leadership: The Ghost Captain will always use leadership symbols to destroy a ship if two or more are rolled, then use remaining leadership symbols on any abilities he may have.
Attack Color: The Ghost Captain will always choose an attack color that will destroy the most cubes. See the Behavior rules to determine ties among colors or which positions to destroy.
Second Wave & Reinforcements: The Ghost Captain will always choose a second wave attack if the symbols are present and there are cubes left to be destroyed, otherwise he will take reinforcements.
Ghost Captain - Behavior Rules
The ghost captain is stubborn in his ways and will make decisions based on the following rules (unless otherwise specified):
Bound to the Sea: When faced with a decision to choose among cards or cubes that differ in position, he will always choose the option closest to the sea (furthest from where you are sitting). This applies to choosing among buildings and stone spaces.
Greedy: When faced with a decision to choose among cards or cubes that differ in position (that can't be resolved by Bound to the Sea), he will always choose the options closest to the coin pile. This applies to choosing among forts, buildings, ships, stone spaces, and cards in his hand.
Colors: When faced with choosing a color, he always chooses them in this order: pink, black, white, gray. This applies to choosing among cubes to places on a new fort, etc.
Ghost Captain - Other Rules
If a card ability mentions "may", he will never use that ability.
If a card ability mentions a quantity of "any", then he will choose zero.
If the Ghost Captain would draw a card (or is given a card), it goes to the right-most position in his hand.
If the Ghost Captain must choose a card to discard, it is the left-most card.
When building new forts for either player, build in the spot furthest from the coins.
Monuments Expansion Rules
Colonization is a noble yet dangerous endeavor. Those who have gone before us and made the ultimate sacrifice must be honored.
Components
2 Monument Island Boards
Setup
Place the two monument island boards in the center of the table (with the monuments side up). Place the supply cubes on their respective islands - gray stones go on the island with the gray stones, white stones go on the island with the white stone, black stones go on the island with the black stones, and if you are playing with the Coquina expansion (see Coquina Expansion rules), the pink stones go on the last island.
Note: If you are not playing with the Monuments expansion, the reverse side of the board (showing just cubes) can still be used to hold supply cubes.
Playing
Whenever, in a single turn, a defending player returns a certain number of colonists to their imperial board (as indicated below each island) due to an attack, they have the option to build a monument. To build a monument, that player must first select a supply island without a monument and where they meet the minimum death toll. Then, they must pay the stone cost as listed on the island. Finally, they take a colonist from their imperial board and places it on the monument space on that island.
This colonist represents a monument, and it remains on this island for the rest of the game. Finally, the player gains the number of coins listed on the island.
Captains Expansion Rules
A leader with good foresight and tactical skills will plan for victory. This expansion allows players more opportunities for battle surprises.
Components
20 x Captain Cards
Setup
Shuffle the captain cards to make a face-down deck.
Playing
During the Leadership phase of an attack action, the active player may use leadership symbols in two new ways:
1. Draw a Captain Card
The active player may use one leadership symbol to draw one card. This may be done any number of times provided the leadership symbols are available. If the captain deck is empty, reshuffle the discard pile to make a new deck.
2. Play a Captain Card
The active player may use leadership symbols to play a captain card. The required number of leadership symbols are on the top left of the card. Follow the instructions on the card and place it in the captain deck discard pile.
The Captains
The captains portrayed in Island Siege are fictional, but our Kickstarter backers have given them names, and we've provided them each a theme.
ALBERTO DE LA PRIETA - TREACHEROUS LEADER: Captain de la Prieta enjoys the loyalty of his crew, but is feared by other captains and governors for his treachery. His variety of underhanded skills include Sabotage and Espionage.
OMAR THE MAGNIFICENT - WEAPONS EXPERT: Captain Omar's skills are straightforward - adding two white, gray, black or red results to attack rolls. When used at the right time, even forts with protected and connected cubes can be annihilated.
SIDRE ROBICHAUX - NAVAL STRATEGIST: Sidre Robichaux borrows tricks from Captain Omar, like adding results to attack rolls. But if the acting player controls ships they can return the Captain card to their hand after playing it!
MARIA DE NOVO - THE GREAT TACTICIAN: Captain de Novo has a variety of skills that let her manipulate cubes on an opponent's fort and draw cards from the main deck.
Captains Expansion Notes
Cards from the base Island Siege game that mention cards, hand or deck refer to the main game cards, not the Captains expansion cards.
A few cards will allow a player to put a colonist on another player's card. These "infiltrators" do not interfere with normal function of the card, specifically they do not block colonist spaces on forts or ships. They are returned to their owner's imperial board when the card they are on is destroyed.
Coquina Expansion
Coquina is a stone made up of shells used as a building material for forts. It was very soft, so instead of breaking apart when hit by cannonballs, walls made of coquina would absorb the cannonballs, remaining intact.
Components
6 x Coquina Cards
5 x Pink Stones
Setup
Shuffle the Coquina cards into the main deck. Coquina cards include the following:
Forts: Decoy Fortress, Peninsula Fort, Safe Harbor Buildings: Lookout Point, Explorer Headquarters Ships: Barbary Ape
Note: all of the Coquina cards can be identified by their pink flags or stones except the Barbary Ape ship.
Playing
Since there are no pink sides on the attack dice, pink stones can only be removed from enemy forts by using the Second Wave symbol during a Second Wave Attack!
Quick Reference
1. Victory Phase
COLONIST VICTORY: The player wins if their imperial board holds no colonists during the Victory Phase
OR
ECONOMIC VICTORY: Has at least 20 gold, and more gold than all opponents.
2. Colonize Phase
Move one colonist to each friendly fort.
3. Action Phase (Choose One)
DRAW: Draw 3 cards; give 1 to an opponent. BUILD: Build one fort, building or ship. ATTACK: Move fleet to fort, roll and resolve.
Order of Attack
I. Leadership — Use Leadership abilities (leadership symbol).
II. First Wave — Choose one attack color (white, black, or gray). Destroy fort cubes.
IIIA. Reinforce — Gain non-attack stones (black, white, gray).
OR
IIIB. Second Wave — Destroy any 1 fort stone with each Second Wave symbol rolled.
IV. Destruction — Discard fort with no cubes and its buildings. Return colonists and fleet.