Khan Rulebook

Table of Contents

Aim
Contents
Preparation
Overview of Playing the Game
Playing the Game
Triggering the End Phase
End Phase
Scoring
- 2 examples of scoring the largest conquered territories
Victory

Aim

Each player invades areas by placing his yurts onto the board. A player can then conquer two or more adjacent areas by laying one of the variously shaped conquer tiles over the yurts (not all the yurts need to be the player's own). Conquer tiles will bring the player victory points – the larger the conquer tile, the greater the number of victory points. At the end of the game, the players with the largest connected conquered territories will gain additional victory points. The player who then has the most points is the winner.

A board with a landscape made up of 132 small land areas divided up into 6 regions (with each region having a different landscape). The contested lands are split by a river, made up of 22 blue river areas, over which bridges can be built. Most of the areas around the edge are bordered by 'the surrounding territories'. There are also courts for the rulers (8 colored spaces with their images). In front of each of the "courts" there are 5 spaces for neutral yurts. Also on the bottom of the gameboard there are spaces for neutral yurts.

72 cards (9 cards in each of the 8 colors of the rulers)
6 special cards: 'High morale: carry out a 3rd action'
4 special cards: 'Great Khan protection: protect your own yurts'
4 special cards: 'Support of the gods: protect neutral yurts'
4 special cards: 'Scout the land: reserve a tile'
8 rulers in 8 different colors (that are not related to the player colors)
60 black yurts
160 yurts (40 in each player color) (All yurts are considered to be unlimited)
38 shapes with their victory points
- 29 conquer tiles (4 'two spaces', 2x4 'three spaces', 5 'four spaces', 12 'five spaces')
- 9 bridges (5 'three spaces', 2x2 'four spaces')
Surrounding territories:
- Mountains (22 land areas)
- Ice (20 land areas)
- Tundra (22 land areas)
- River (22 river areas)
- Stony desert (21 land areas)
- Sandy desert (22 land areas)
- Tropical forest (25 land areas)
Game board

Preparation

Lay out the board on the table.
Lay out 40 neutral yurts: 5 black yurts in front of each of the 'courts' of the rulers. Place the remaining neutral yurts on the spaces on the bottom of the board.
Arrange the bridges and conquer tiles next to the board so that they are all clearly identifiable.
Each player receives the yurts of his color, as well as the following number of special cards:

Type of special card	2 players	3 players	4 players
High morale: carry out a 3rd action	2	2	1
Great Khan protection: protect your own yurts	2	1	1
Support of the gods: protect the neutral yurts	2	1	1
Scout the land: reserve a tile	2	1	1

Players keep their special cards laid out face-up in front of them.
Place the 8 rulers on the preset areas. (Note that after the first game you can place the 8 rulers on any available land areas if you prefer, though it is recommended that they are spread out reasonably evenly).
Randomly select a start player.
Over one or more rounds, each player in turn places one of his yurts on a land area, in a region that still has no yurts in it:

No. of players	2	3	4
Placement rounds	3	2	1

Shuffle the cards. Each player is dealt a hand of 4 cards which they keep secret. Place the remaining cards as a face-down draw-pile on the lower space on the board. The discarded cards will be put face up on the upper space on the board. If the draw-pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile and place these cards face-down on the lower space as a new draw-pile.

Overview of Playing the Game

Turns are taken clockwise in player order:

A turn consists of the active player carrying out the 5 steps in the given order.

Drive out a ruler and place a neutral yurt.
Carry out 2 actions (passing on one or both actions is not permitted):

EITHER 2 separate actions in any order, which can also be the same one done twice:
- A. Invade (Place a yurt according to the card)
- B. Drive out a ruler
- C. Conquer (Place a tile)
OR a combined double action:
- D1. Invade anywhere (Place 1 yurt) AND
- D2. Discard cards
Put special card back in the box (if applicable).
Use a special card (optional).
Replenish hand of cards.

Playing the Game

1. Drive out a ruler and place a neutral yurt

Turn over the top card from the draw-pile and place it face-up on the discard pile. The turned over card indicates which ruler will be driven out and in which direction he will flee.

The ruler is moved to the first empty land area in the direction indicated, moving up to a maximum distance of 3 spaces. An empty area is one that has no yurt, ruler, bridge, or conquer tile on it. River areas are counted as part of the total distance but the ruler never stops on the river. If there are no empty areas within the 3 space distance, or the ruler runs out of spaces (i.e. he hits the edge), he moves in the next clockwise direction instead (for example, moving 'south' instead of 'southeast', or moving 'north' instead of 'northwest'). A neutral, black yurt is put in the area from which the ruler was moved. This yurt must be taken from one of the spaces in front of the court of the moved ruler.

Example: A grey (Seljuk) card is turned over. If it indicates 'north' the grey Seljuk ruler would move one area to the north.

If it showed 'southwest' or 'west' the Seljuk ruler could not be driven out in the indicated direction as the first 3 areas are occupied by 1 conquer tile, 1 neutral yurt and by the river to the south-west and by the bridge to the west. So since the indicated direction is blocked the ruler tries other directions in clockwise order. In this case he must flee 1 space to the north-west.

The light blue Russian ruler has only 5 possible destinations; this is because he is standing next to the edge of the map.

If a ruler is about to be moved and there is only one yurt remaining in front of the court, the ruler will not be moved but will simply be swapped over with the yurt. Place the ruler in his court. A ruler will likewise be exchanged for a yurt if he is about to be moved but there are no empty land areas up to 3 spaces away in all of the 8 directions. If there are any black yurts remaining in front of that ruler's court they are added to the common supply.

If a card is later turned over that would move a ruler who is no longer in play, a further card is turned over until a ruler can be moved (or removed). As soon as the 5th ruler is removed to his court on the gameboard, the end phase begins.

2A. Invade: Place 1 of your own yurts according to the played card

According to the played card the player places one of his yurts. By playing a card with one of the 6 landscapes (mountains, ice, tundra, sandy desert, stony desert and tropical forest), the player places one of his yurts in an empty area of the region that bears the same landscape as the card. A joker (with the Khan symbol) is a card permitting placement on any empty land area. If the card shows a river, the player places a yurt in an empty land area that has a side adjacent to the blue river. Also some cards have an image that indicates 'the surrounding territories' and the player then places a yurt in an empty land area which has a side adjacent to the surrounding territories.

Note: Most of the areas around the edge are adjacent to the surrounding territories, except for a few in the mountain region (4 areas), the sandy desert region (3 areas) and the tropical forest region (4 areas).

Yurts are only ever placed in land areas, never on river areas or in 'the surrounding territories'.

2B. Drive out a ruler

The player declares which of the rulers he is going to drive out. He then turns over the top card of the draw-pile. The color of the ruler on the card is ignored. The ruler is moved in the direction indicated by the dial on the card, according to the rules for driving out a ruler, detailed in section 1 above. A neutral black yurt from the common supply (bottom of the gameboard) is placed in the area from which the ruler was moved.

2C. Conquer

The player takes one of the shapes – conquer tile or bridge - from next to the board (tough luck if the suitable shape is no longer available!) and places it over areas containing yurts. The player must have the relative majority of owned yurts in the conquered areas – neutral yurts are ignored. In other words, the player must cover at least one of his yurts, and no other player may own more yurts than him in the areas to be covered by the shape.

If the player is the only player with the relative majority of covered yurts (ignoring neutral yurts): The player puts one of his yurts on top of the shape.
If the player and one or more of the other players each have the relative majority of covered yurts (ignoring neutral yurts): Each player that has the relative majority puts one of their yurts on top of the shape.

The shape can be turned up the other way so as to use its 'mirror-image' shape. Yurts are considered to be unlimited, so they must be taken out from under the tiles when they are conquered!

Note: There are no restrictions on conquering or building bridges across the borders between regions.

Placing conquer tiles: All the spaces under a conquer tile must be areas that contain yurts.

Example 1: Yellow could place all the shapes onto the specific areas as shown apart from the 2-space one. He does not require a majority in relation to neutral! Green could place the 2-space shape to cover neutral and Green. No-one can place a 2-space conquer tile over the two areas both occupied by neutral yurts, as no-one has a relative majority there.

Example 2: Red could place the conquer tile 1, Yellow 2, and Blue only 3. Conquer tile 4 can be placed by Red or Yellow. Either way, they 'conquer together' and both a red and a yellow yurt would be placed on top of the shape. Rulers cannot be covered over!

Placing bridges: With a bridge, areas are conquered on both sides of the river. Bridges must cross over the river and at least one land area with a yurt must be covered along each bank of the river. (As invading is not possible on the river, one yurt less than the size of the bridge is required, and in the exceptional case of the river-bend, which can only be crossed with the 'L'-shaped bridge, two yurts less). Bridges may be built side by side.

2D. Invade anywhere: Place 1 of your own yurts and discard cards

The player places one of his yurts on an empty land area of his choice and then discards any number of his cards (0-4). This is a double action, counting as both actions for his turn!

3. Put special card back in the box (if applicable)

If the player has a special card in front of him with a yurt placed on it (from his last turn) he takes the yurt back and puts the card back into the box.

4. Use a special card (optional)

The player now has the option of using one of his special cards.

High morale: 3rd action. By using the 'high morale' card, the player can immediately carry out one further action:

Example 1: AAC: Twice invade with a yurt according to the cards, conquer.
Example 2: ACC: Invade with a yurt according to the card, conquer twice.
Example 3: DC: Invade with 1 yurt anywhere, discard cards, conquer.
Example 4: BBC: Drive out a ruler, drive out another one (or the same one again), conquer.

After use the player puts the special card back into the box.

Great Khan protection: Protect your own yurts. A player can only use a 'Protect your own yurts' card if no Great Khan protection card of another player currently has a yurt on it. In addition, in the 2-player game, a player cannot use a 'Great Khan protection' special card on two consecutive turns.

The player puts one of his yurts onto the card. While it remains in use (card contains a yurt), none of the other players may place a shape in a position that covers an area containing a yurt belonging to the protected player. If another player wants to conquer where the protected player would also have the relative majority ('conquering together') then this is still possible as long as the protected player agrees. If the protected player refuses then the other player cannot carry out this action.

Remember: While a 'Protect your own yurts' card is in use, no other player can protect his own yurts.

Support of the gods: Protect the neutral yurts.

2 or 3 players: A player can only use a 'Protect the neutral yurts' card if no other player is currently protecting them. In addition, in the 2-player game, the same player cannot protect the neutral yurts on two consecutive turns. The player puts one of his yurts on the icon of the neutral yurt on the card.

While the 'Protect the neutral yurts' card remains in use, none of the other players may conquer an area that contains a neutral yurt in any region. 'Conquering together' where areas with neutral yurts are involved is still possible as long as the player protecting the neutral yurts agrees.

Remember: While a 'Protect the neutral yurts' card is in use, no other player can protect the neutral yurts.

4 players: The player puts one of his yurts on the card, on the box indicating the region of his choice, but not that of a region where another player is already protecting the neutral yurts.

While the 'Protect the neutral yurts' card is protecting a particular region, none of the other players may conquer an area that contains a neutral yurt, in that region. 'Conquering together' where areas with neutral yurts are involved is still possible as long as the player protecting the neutral yurts agrees.

Scout the land: Reserve a conquer tile/bridge tile.

2 or 3 players: When a player uses a 'Scout the land' card, he puts one of his yurts on top of one of the conquer tiles or bridges next to the board. He then puts the card back into the box. While the yurt remains on the tile, the other players cannot use any of the tiles that match that color/shape combination. The other players can still reserve different shaped conquer or bridge tiles or tiles of a different kind. When it is the player's next turn he must take back his yurt from the tile.

4 players: When a player uses a 'Scout the land' card, he chooses one of the conquer or bridge tiles next to the board and puts one of his yurts on top of it. He then puts the special card back into the box. The other players cannot use this tile while the yurt remains on it. The other players can still reserve any other tile. When it is the player's next turn he must take back his yurt from the tile.

5. Replenish hand of cards

If the player now has less than 4 cards, he takes cards from the draw-pile until he again has 4 cards in his hand.

Triggering the End Phase

5 Rulers back in their courts. As soon as the 5th ruler has been placed on his court, all the rulers still in play are now swapped over with a black yurt from the corresponding court of the rulers. If this occurs during phase 1, the turn of the player immediately ends. He will start the end phase. If this occurs during phase 2, the player ends his turn normally. However, it's not anymore possible to choose action 2B (Drive out a ruler). The player to his left will start the end phase.

End Phase

From now on, the turn of a player consists of conquering twice i.e. placing two shapes (conquer tiles/bridges). Neither normal cards nor special cards may be played. Restrictions from any special card still in use remain in effect until the player who has played it has his next turn. If a player cannot conquer at least once he misses his turn. The game ends as soon as no-one is able to conquer anymore.

Scoring

Each player adds up the point values (in yellow) of the conquer tiles and bridges on which he has a yurt. Where players 'conquered together' the points are equally divided up between them; if needs be, rounded up in the players' favor.

There are bonus points (10, 6, 3) for the 3 largest sizes of contiguous conquered territory. The size of a contiguous conquered territory is the total number of spaces (land areas and river areas) covered by shapes directly connected to each other by at least one side of a space and which all have the same player's yurt on them (including shapes that were 'conquered together'). A player can only score one of the bonuses. If there is a tie, it's solved in favor to the player with the second (if tied third and so on) largest territory.

In the very unlikely case that 2 players have the same number of territories with an identical amount of spaces, both of them will get the full victory points. The bonuses for any remaining places (2nd or 3rd largest size of territory) are still fully awarded.

Note: Where tiles have been 'conquered together' each player involved counts the full number of covered spaces towards his territory. A single shape may belong to territories of two or more players.

2 examples of scoring the largest conquered territories

Player	RED	YELLOW	BLUE	GREEN
Size of the conquered territories	37, 12, 8, 3, 3, 2	32, 20, 8, 4, 3, 2, 2	32, 18, 12, 3, 3, 2, 2	32, 10, 7, 5, 5, 4
Victory points	10	6	3	0

Player	RED	YELLOW	BLUE	GREEN
Size of the conquered territories	24, 20, 17, 8, 5, 2, 2, 2	24, 20, 17, 8, 5, 2, 2, 2	20, 20, 14, 12, 11	20, 18, 7, 5, 5, 4
Victory points	10	10	6	3

Victory

The player with the highest sum of points is the winner. If there is a tie, the winner is the tied player who owns the larger territory.