Legends of the Three Kingdoms (2023) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components and Partial Explanations
  • Structure of Legend Cards
  • Legend Standee
  • Target Cards
• Set Up
• Game Goal
  • Quick Setup
• Game Process
  • A - Legend Action
  • B - Legend Skills
  • C - Strategy Cards
• Example of a Complete Turn
• Important Rules
  • Cavalry and Infantry Dice
  • Territory Ownership
  • Attacking Enemy Territories
  • Morale and Legend Skills
  • Transfer Troops to Occupy a Territory
  • Defending Legend
  • Defeating a Legend
  • Recovery
  • Rising from the Ashes
• Game Ends
  • Merit Column Limitation
  • Resource Calculation
  • Merit Calculation
• Matters Needing Attention
  • Attack Process
  • Running Out of Cards
  • Insufficient Faction Cubes
• Cards List

Game Components and Partial Explanations

• Game Board x 1
• Legend Cards x 40 (Wei, Shu, Wu, and the Warlords, 10 each)
• Legend Standees x 40 (Wei, Shu, Wu, and the Warlords, 10 each)
• Troop Markers x 12
• Target Cards x 20
• Merit Columns x 4
• Faction Cubes x 200 (Wei, Shu, Wu, Warlords, and Rebels, 40 each)
• Cavalry Dice x 4
• Infantry Dice x 16
• Strategy Cards x 128 (Wei, Shu, Wu, Warlords, 32 each)

Structure of Legend Cards

Each Legend card shows: the Character Name, the Courtesy Name, the Faction Affiliation, the Skill Name, the Skill Type, the Skill Effect, the Morale Cost for Using Skills, and the Character Introduction.

Legend Standee

Each Legend standee has a Legend's Soldier (the figure on the base) and a Rotatable Base showing the Range (0-5).

Target Cards

Each Target Card has a Competitive Target (the scoring condition shown with a Most icon and its points) and Normal Targets (scoring conditions shown on the card face).

Set Up

1. Each player selects a faction they wish to play and takes all the components of their chosen faction: Wei (blue), Shu (green), Wu (red), or Warlords (yellow). The components are: 40 Faction Cubes, 1 Merit Column, 10 Legend Cards, 32 Strategy Cards, and 10 Legend Standees.

2. Each player shuffles their Legend cards, randomly draws 5, and chooses 3 to place in the Merit Column as the Legends to be used in this game.

3. Players set up the standees of their selected Legends on the troop markers, adjusting the troop strength to 5. The remaining Legend cards and standees are returned to the game box and will not be used in this game. Set the Range of each Legend's Soldier to 5.

4. Unfold the game map. Each player places all of their Legend standees and 3 faction cubes at their faction's starting point. Place 2 rebel cubes (black) in each remaining area of the map.

   • Starting Area: Wei — Yanzhou; Shu — Bashu; Wu — Jiangdong; Warlords — Chang'an.
   • Rebel Cubes (Black): If no player is present at the starting point, place 2 rebel cubes there.

5. Shuffle the 20 target cards, and each player randomly draws 2, choosing 1 as their objective for this round of the game. The unused target cards are placed face down back in the game box and will not be used in this game.

6. Each player takes 1 cavalry die and 4 infantry dice.

7. Each player shuffles their strategy cards and places them face down next to the Merit Column, reserving a space for a discard area. Then, draw 2 cards as the starting hand. The game begins with the player who most recently read "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", proceeding in clockwise order.

Game Goal

In the game, defeating enemy Legends or capturing enemy territories will earn merit points. When a player's merit points reach the limit, the game enters the final scoring phase: all players calculate the merit points on their Merit Column and from their target cards. The sum of these points determines the winner, who gains the highest merit points wins the game.

Quick Setup

1. Choose a faction and take all components of that faction.
2. Draw 5 Legend cards, choose 3 to place in the Merit Column.
3. Set up the selected Legend standees, adjusting troop strength to 5.
4. Place 3 faction cubes and 3 Legends at the starting point, and 2 rebel cubes in other areas.
5. Draw 2 target cards, choose 1.
6. Take 1 cavalry die and 4 infantry dice.
7. Draw 2 strategy cards and begin the game.

Game Process

The game proceeds clockwise, with each player's turn consisting of the following two phases, in order:

1. Action Phase. Players can perform the following actions in any order:

   • A - Legend Action: Each Legend may perform 1 Legend action.
   • B - Legend Skills: Each Legend may use their skills multiple times.
   • C - Strategy Cards: Players may play multiple strategy cards.

2. Draw Phase. Players may draw 2 strategy cards, then discard down to 6 cards in hand. If a player has fewer than 6 cards after drawing, they need not discard. Players can also choose to skip the entire draw phase, neither drawing nor discarding cards.

A - Legend Action

The selected Legend can choose to perform one of the following actions: Move, Recruit, or Attack, or choose to skip their turn.

• Move: The Legend moves to an adjacent area.
• Recruit: Can only be done in areas without enemy Legends. Roll 1 cavalry die and 4 infantry dice to increase the Legend's troop strength according to the number of troop markers shown on the dice.
• Attack: Launch an attack on an enemy Legend in the same area or an enemy-occupied area. Roll dice equal to the Legend's current troop strength, reducing the enemy's troop strength by the number of troop markers rolled. The dice rolled must include 1 cavalry die. For the rules on capturing areas and defeating Legends, please refer to P9/P10.
  • Attacking an Enemy Legend
  • Attacking an Enemy-Occupied Area
  • Number of Dice Rolled for Attack = Legend's Current Troop Strength

B - Legend Skills

When recruiting or attacking, in addition to troop markers, the dice results may also include another marker: a morale marker. If a morale marker appears in the results, immediately place a number of faction cubes equal to the morale count on the corresponding Legend's card, indicating that the Legend has gained that amount of morale. In the game, morale is mainly used to unleash generic Legend skills or active Legend skills.

There are three types of Legend skills:

• Generic Legend Skills: All Legends can use this skill during their own action phase. It costs 2 morale points and allows the player to roll an additional infantry die in their next attack. It can be stacked.
• Active Legend Skills: Players can only unleash these during their own action phase, spending morale equal to the number in the bottom left corner to activate the specific skill and its effects.
• Passive Legend Skills: Regardless of whose turn it is, once the passive conditions are met, the skill must be activated, executing its effects.

Legend skills do not consume a Legend action. If there is a special description on the Legend card, follow that description. In case of description conflicts, prioritize in the following order:

Priority Order: Passive Legend Skills > Active Legend Skills > Strategy Cards > Basic Rules

C - Strategy Cards

Before playing a strategy card, players must first discard cards. The number in the top left corner of the strategy card indicates the number of cards you need to discard face up. After discarding, you can play the card and execute its effect. Discarded strategy cards and those whose effects have been executed are placed in the player's own discard area.

The structure of a strategy card shows: Discard Quantity, Card Name, and Card Effect.

Some strategy cards can enhance Legend actions or Legend skills, and effects can be stacked. For example, Zhang Fei launches an attack on an enemy Legend. He consumes 4 points of morale to release his Legend skill "Fury Unleashed" and then plays two strategy cards, "Heroic Stand" and "Slaying Hua Xiong When Wine Still Warm". The result of the roll is a troop marker, and due to the effect of the Legend skill, a morale marker is transformed into a troop marker. Additionally, because of the effects of the two strategy cards, the attack not only deals double damage but also affects all enemy Legends in the same area. Therefore, Zhang Fei inflicts 4 points of damage on both Cao Cao and Sun Quan.

• Fury Unleashed (Active, cost 4): When Zhang Fei attacks an enemy Legend, all morale markers rolled will be converted into troop markers.
• Slaying Hua Xiong When Wine Still Warm (discard 2): Play when attacking an enemy Legend; this attack will deal double damage.
• Heroic Stand (discard 1): Play when attacking an enemy Legend; this attack will damage all enemy Legends in the same area and cannot be "Surprise Attack".

Example of a Complete Turn

Sean is from the Shu faction, and his three Legends are Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. It's Sean's turn, and he enters the action phase. Guan Yu starts the turn with 5 points of morale.

Step One: Liu Bei performs the Legend action, Recruit. The roll results in a troop marker and 2 morale markers, so Liu Bei's troop strength increases by 1, and morale by 2. Liu Bei spends 2 points of morale to activate his Legend skill "Winning Hearts with Virtue", giving Guan Yu and Zhang Fei +1 morale each.

Step Two: Zhang Fei performs the Legend action, Attack on an enemy territory. The roll results in a troop marker and a morale marker, so the enemy territory's troop strength decreases by 1, and Zhang Fei gains +1 morale.

Step Three: Guan Yu spends 6 points of morale to activate his Legend skill "Heroic Passage", moves once, and then attacks Cao Cao. Simultaneously, Sean plays the strategy card "Slaying Hua Xiong When Wine Still Warm" (discarding 2 cards from hand first). The effect of this card is that this attack on the enemy Legend deals double damage. The roll results in a troop marker, so Cao Cao's troop strength decreases by 2. Guan Yu performs the Legend action, Attack on Cao Cao. The roll results in 2 troop markers, so Cao Cao's troop strength decreases by 2.

Sean draws 2 strategy cards, ending his turn.

Important Rules

Cavalry and Infantry Dice

Unless specified otherwise, when attacking, the dice rolled must include a cavalry die. For example, if you use a Legend with 3 troop strength to attack an enemy, you roll 1 cavalry die and 2 infantry dice. In the game, cavalry and infantry dice are communal resources; players can borrow dice from each other if needed temporarily.

Die faces:

• Cavalry die: 5 faces show a troop marker and 1 face shows a morale marker.
• Infantry die: 1 face shows a troop marker, 2 faces show a morale marker, and 3 faces are blank.

Roll table:

Troop strength	Roll when attacking	Roll when recruiting
1 Troop	1 cavalry die	1 cavalry die and 4 infantry dice (applies to 1-4 Troops)
2 Troops	1 cavalry die, 1 infantry die
3 Troops	1 cavalry die, 2 infantry dice
4 Troops	1 cavalry die, 3 infantry dice
5 Troops	1 cavalry die, 4 infantry dice	Cannot recruit at 5 troop strength

Territory Ownership

Placing faction cubes on a territory, regardless of the number of cubes, signifies that the territory is occupied by that faction. Each territory can only have cubes of one color and a maximum of four cubes. The limitation of faction cubes on a territory is 4.

Attacking Enemy Territories

Players can reduce the number of faction cubes in an enemy territory by attacking. When a player removes the last faction cube from an enemy territory, they receive 1 faction cube from the enemy, which is placed in the Merit Column as 1 point of merit reward.

Morale and Legend Skills

Each Legend's morale limit is 6. Once this limit is reached, no more morale is gained. Unless specified otherwise, the activation of Legend skills does not consume a Legend action, and there is no limit to the number of times they can be activated.

Transfer Troops to Occupy a Territory

When a player's Legend clears an enemy territory of faction cubes, that Legend can immediately transfer troops into the territory: for every 1 troop strength reduced from the Legend, 2 faction cubes can be added to the territory. This is the only way to transfer troops into a territory in the game, and a Legend cannot reduce their troop strength to zero in this way. A maximum of 4 faction cubes can be placed in a territory. Legends can also choose not to transfer troops, but the territory will then be reoccupied by rebels, and the player must immediately place 4 rebel cubes in that territory.

Defending Legend

If your Legend is in a territory you occupy, enemy Legends cannot attack the city in that territory and must attack your Legend first.

Defeating a Legend

When a Legend reduces an enemy Legend's troop strength to zero through attack, it is considered that the enemy Legend is defeated. The defeated Legend's standee is removed from the board and placed back on their respective Legend card, and all their morale is cleared. The victorious side receives 2 faction cubes from the defeated side's supply and places them in the Merit Column as 2 points of merit reward. In special circumstances, a player's Legend may defeat a Legend from the same faction; in this case, the player does not receive merit.

Recovery

When a Legend is defeated and stays on their Legend card, the player can adjust the Legend's troop strength to 2 and enter a "recovery" state. In this state, the Legend cannot activate their skills, and the skills activated by other Legends or strategy cards played by anyone have no effect on them.

Rising from the Ashes

When a Legend enters the "recovery" state, during the player's turn, that Legend can only perform the Recruit action:

• The Recruit action on the Legend card still allows for the gain of morale.
• If the Legend's troop strength is less than 5 after recruiting, they continue to stay on the Legend card.
• If the troop strength reaches 5 after recruiting, the player must immediately place the Legend in a territory owned by them or where another of their Legends is located. If there are no territories on the game board owned by the player or occupied by their Legends, the player can place the Legend in any territory.

Game Ends

The heading is split across two pages in the source: "Game" is printed at the edge of the first page and "Ends" at the top of the next.

Merit Column Limitation

• 2-player game: 15 Merit Points
• 3-player game: 13 Merit Points
• 4-player game: 12 Merit Points

When a player's Merit Column reaches the limit, they trigger the end-of-game condition. All players complete a compensatory round to ensure an equal number of turns. Then, the final settlement phase of the game begins:

Each player's total merit = Merit Points in their Merit Column + Merit Points from accomplished target cards. The player with the highest total merit wins the game.

Resource Calculation

Players can remove all Legends from the map for easier calculation.

Settlement of occupied territories: Regardless of the number of faction cubes on a territory, it is considered that you have gained 3 resources from that territory.

Example, as the figure shows:

• Sean: Population x3, Rivers x1, Farmland x1, Trade x4, Minerals x3, Horses x3.
• Danzer: Population x4, Rivers x4, Farmland x5, Trade x3, Minerals x1, Horses x1.

Merit Calculation

Example, as the figure shows:

• Sean's total merit: 24. Merit Column (15), Most Trade resources (5), 3 Minerals (3), 1 Farmland (1). Sean wins.
• Danzer's total merit: 23. Merit Column (13), Most Farmland (4), 3 Trade (2), 4 Population (4).

The target cards used in the example:

• Wealthy People, Prosperous Country: If you won the most trade resources at the end of the game to earn 5 merit points. (Most trade resources: 5 merit points.)
• Creating a Path Through Mountains: At the end of the game: For every 2 mining resources owned, earn 3 merit points. For every 1 farmland resource owned, earn 1 merit point.
• Bumper Harvest: If you won the most farmland resources at the end of the game to earn 4 merit points. (Most farmland resources: 4 merit points.)
• Endless Stream: At the end of the game: For every 2 trade resources owned, earn 2 merit points. For every 1 population resource owned, earn 1 merit point.

When scoring the most resources, if tied with other players, score as usual. If multiple players have the same total merit, they share the victory.

Matters Needing Attention

Attack Process

During the attack on an enemy Legend, both sides may need to play strategy cards for interaction. Therefore, the attack process can be standardized:

1. The attacking side announces the attack.
2. The attacking side plays strategy cards to strengthen the attack.
3. The defending side plays strategy cards in response.
4. The attacking side rolls dice for resolution.

Following the process and patiently waiting for the other side to complete their actions can prevent unclear rulings.

Running Out of Cards

If the strategy card deck runs out during the game, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.

Insufficient Faction Cubes

If there are not enough faction cubes during the game, use other items as substitutes.

Cards List

Legend cards (10 per faction):

Shu (green)	Wu (red)	Wei (blue)	Warlords (yellow)
Liu Bei	Sun Quan	Cao Cao	Dong Zhuo
Guan Yu	Zhou Yu	Dian Wei	Lv Bu
Zhang Fei	Huang Gai	Xu Chu	Yuan Shao
Zhuge Liang	Lv Meng	Guo Jia	Yan Liang
Zhao Yun	Lu Xun	Sima Yi	Gongsun Zan
Ma chao	Lu Su	Xiahou Dun	Hua Xiong
Huang Zhong

Strategy cards, Shu (32 total):

• Deploying Troops and Legends x 10
• Seeing Through x 2
• Drums Resound to the Sky x 2
• Gathering Strength, Poised to Strike x 2
• Huarong Path x 2
• Honoring the Worthy and Lowering the Proud x 2
• Oath of the Peach Garden x 2
• Borrowing Arrows with Thatched Boats x 2
• Slaying Hua Xiong When Wine Still Warm x 2
• Three Heroes Fight with Lv Bu x 2
• Heroic Stand x 2
• Surprise Attack x 2

Strategy cards, Wu (32 total):

• Deploying Troops and Legends x 10
• Seeing Through x 2
• Drums Resound to the Sky x 2
• Concealing One's Abilities and Biding Time x 2
• Huarong Path x 2
• Support and Endorsement x 2
• Divide and Conquer x 2
• The Beautified Trap x 2
• Viewing an Old Friend in a New Light x 2
• Victory Achieved with Ease x 2
• Heroic Stand x 2
• Surprise Attack x 2

Strategy cards, Wei (32 total):

• Deploying Troops and Legends x 10
• Seeing Through x 2
• Quenching Thirst by Thinking of Plums x 2
• Gathering Strength, Poised to Strike x 2
• Cutting Off the Beard and Discarding the Robe x 2
• Unstoppable Momentum x 2
• Divide and Conquer x 2
• The Beautified Trap x 2
• Discussing Heroes over Wine x 2
• Commanding the Feudal Lords with the Emperor as Hostage x 2
• Heroic Stand x 2
• Surprise Attack x 2

Strategy cards, Warlords (32 total):

• Deploying Troops and Legends x 10
• Seeing Through x 2
• Drums Resound to the Sky x 2
• Gathering Strength, Poised to Strike x 2
• Huarong Path x 2
• Mengde Offers a Sword x 2
• The Grand Tutor Wields Power x 2
• Tyranny x 2
• Shooting Halberds at the Gate x 2
• Unstoppable Momentum x 2
• Heroic Stand x 2
• Surprise Attack x 2