Tàin
Tàin Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Inside the box
In this box you will find the following components:
- 4 clan boards representing the land of the clans
- 1 foreign kingdom board with turn track
- 4 sets of 18 tokens in clan colours
- 4 player screens in clan colours
- 25 yellow cattle counters
- 12 red jewel counters
- 1 active player marker
- 1 black turn marker
- 1 rulebook, in three language versions
If any of the game components is missing from the box, please contact us at [email protected] and we will send it to you as soon as possible.
Game components
Clan boards
Each clan board is divided into two parts: the pasture (1), where the cattle belonging to the clan is placed and the house (2), where the jewels are kept and the captives held. There are also five pairs of slots where clan tokens can be placed on the board (3), marking the entrances to the lands of the clan (three on the pasture and two in the house). Each pair of slots can hold an entrance-guarding token (3a) and a scouting token (3b).
Foreign kingdom board
The enterprising Celts sometimes invade the foreign kingdom to raid their pastures. The kingdom board consists of two token slots, where raiding clan members can be placed (1), the pasture (2), from where the cattle can be stolen and the turn track (3) showing the progress of the game.
Clan tokens
Each player starts the game with 18 tokens in one colour, representing the resources of his clan, which he can use during cattle-raiding: clansmen who can take part in cattle raids or guard their chieftain's belongings and clever tricks to outwit the opponents. There are five kinds of clan tokens:
- Chieftain (1 token): He is the head of the player's household. An old, cunning Celt who spent most of his life cattle-raiding, this game holds no secrets for him.
- Warrior (2 tokens): A Celt at the peak of his abilities: strong, clever and courageous. He can steal his neighbour's cattle easily and will not hesitate to take his enemies captive.
- Boy (6 tokens): A youngster who will become a warrior one day, but is already practising by guarding his clan's pastures and joining his first raids.
- Chieftain's daughter (1 token): A Celtic beauty, she does not take part in raiding the neighbours, but she guards her clan's belongings fiercely and can repel the invaders.
- Bluff (8 tokens): A clever trick that makes it harder for the opponent to guess from which direction the raid is coming.
Player screens
You should keep the tokens, which are not currently used for raiding and are not discarded, hidden from the opponents' eyes behind your screen. On the inside of the screen you will find a summary of all possible raid outcomes and point rewards.
Game setup
Carefully punch out the cardboard tiles and counters from their frames before you play the game for the first time.
Place the foreign kingdom board in the middle of the table and put the turn marker on the "1" field on the turn track.
Each player now chooses a clan colour and takes the clan board, 18 tokens and a screen in appropriate colour.
Each player places his clan board on the table, near the foreign kingdom board. Then he sets up the screen in front of him and places all his tokens behind the screen.
Each player receives five cattle counters, which are placed on his pasture, and three jewel counters, which are placed in his house. The unused cattle are placed on the foreign kingdom board, and unused jewel counters are returned to the box.
The player with most red hair has the first turn. He receives the active player marker.
Turn sequence
The game lasts eight turns, unless one of the players wins earlier (see below). Each turn is divided into three phases: scouting, raid and resolution.
Scouting phase
Beginning with the active player, all players take turns to place clan tokens, face down, on the clan boards. During your turn, you can place one token in any of three places:
- On your own clan board, on the inside slot of any entrance. This token is guarding the entrance.
- On another player's clan board, on the outside slot of any entrance. This token is scouting. NOTE: The chieftain's daughter can never be scouting.
- On the foreign kingdom board, on one of the token slots. This token is raiding. Each player can only have one raiding token during the turn. NOTE: The chieftain's daughter and a boy can never be raiding (their tokens cannot be placed on the foreign kingdom board).
Only one token can be placed on each slot. If a slot is already taken, no other token can be placed there.
When you have placed your token, it is the turn of the player to your left. If you do not want to or cannot place any more tokens, you can pass. Once you have passed you cannot place any more tokens during this scouting phase.
If you run out of unused tokens or there are no more free slots to place your tokens legally, you have to pass.
Example: Patrick is the active player this turn. He places his first token on Brigitte's clan board, in one of the outside slots on her pasture; this token is scouting on her pastures. Next, it is Brigitte's turn and she puts her token on her own board, on the inside of the entrance where Patrick's token is scouting. Her token is now guarding this entrance. Arthur is the next in turn and he places his token on the foreign kingdom board. He will not be able to raid with any more tokens this turn; although there is one more slot free in the foreign kingdom, only Patrick or Brigitte will be able to use it.
It is Patrick's turn again, who chooses to scout on Arthur's board this time, placing a token at one of the entrances to his house. Brigitte uses the other free slot in the foreign kingdom and places her token there, which means that Patrick will not be able to raid during this turn at all. Arthur places his token at one of the entrances to Patrick's house, and so on, until everyone passes.
NOTE: If all scouting and raiding slots are taken and players can only place tokens on their own boards, you can skip the turn order to make the game faster. All players can then place as many entrance-guarding tokens on their own board as they want at the same time. The order of placing the guarding tokens is not important.
Raid phase
Each player reveals all the tokens on his board, flipping them face up. All bluff tokens are then removed from the boards and returned to their owners, who put them face down on discard piles in front of their screens, so other players cannot see which tokens their opponents have already used.
The result of the raid to the foreign kingdom is then resolved, followed by clan boards of all players.
After deciding the outcome on each board, the players take their used tokens and place them face down on their discard piles. NOTE: Never mix discarded tokens (including bluff tokens) with the unused ones!
Foreign kingdom raid
After removing the bluff tokens there can be only chieftain and warrior tokens left on the foreign kingdom board. Different combinations of these tokens have the following outcomes:
- If there is only one chieftain or warrior on the board, the player who placed the token takes one cow from the foreign kingdom pasture and places it next to his board. Remember, each player can send only one clansman (or bluff) per turn to the foreign kingdom, even if there is a free slot left.
- If there are two warriors or two chieftains on the board (both players placed identical tokens), each player takes one cow and places it next to his board.
- If there is one warrior and one chieftain, only the player who sent a chieftain to raid the foreign kingdom takes one cow. The other player does not get anything.
The foreign kingdom can be raided even if there are no cows left on its pasture. The players cannot steal any more cows, but they can use up their tokens faster. Still, only warrior, chieftain and bluff tokens can be placed there.
Example: After revealing the tokens it turned out that Arthur sent a warrior to the foreign kingdom, while Brigitte sent the chieftain. Arthur takes his warrior token and puts it on his discard pile. Brigitte also discards her token, but she also takes one cow and places it next to her board.
Clan household raid
When the foreign kingdom raid is resolved, the players take turns to resolve the raids on their boards, starting with the active player. You can scout both on pastures and in houses of other players and both types of raids follow the same rules, with one exception: after successfully raiding a pasture you take one cow from the owner and after successfully raiding a house you take one jewel (or free one captive, see below).
After the bluff tokens are removed there can be the following combinations on the clan board:
- If any token (chieftain, warrior or boy) is scouting at an entrance that is not guarded (no tokens were placed there or a bluff token was removed), the raid is automatically successful (the player who placed this token takes a cow or a jewel from the opponent).
- If a token is scouting at an entrance guarded by the same type of token (i.e. a chieftain meets a chieftain, and so on), the raid is not successful (cows or jewels stay with their owner).
- If a boy is scouting at the entrance guarded by the chieftain or chieftain's daughter, the raid is not successful.
- If a boy is scouting at the entrance guarded by a warrior, the raid is not successful. In addition, the boy is captured; the owner of the clan board takes the boy's token and puts it next to his board.
- If a warrior is scouting at an entrance guarded by a boy, the raid is successful.
- If a warrior is scouting at an entrance guarded by the chieftain, the raid is not successful.
- If a warrior is scouting at an entrance guarded by the chieftain's daughter, the raid is not successful. However, the daughter is kidnapped; the player who placed the warrior takes her token and puts it next to his board.
- If the chieftain is scouting at an entrance guarded by a boy or a warrior, the raid is successful.
- If the chieftain is scouting at an entrance guarded by the chieftain's daughter, the raid is not successful.
If a situation arises during the game when the opponents made more successful raids than the player has cows or jewels left at this point (e.g. two raids on a house where only one jewel is left), the active player takes his spoils first (or a player on his left if he was not raiding) followed by other players according to the turn order.
When one clan board is resolved, the board of the player to the left is resolved next. When all boards are resolved, the next turn begins.
Example: Tokens on Arthur's (green coloured) clan board are revealed. Then the bluff tokens are removed. Next, the situation at the entrances is resolved:
- A chieftain is scouting at an unguarded entrance. Patrick (playing with red tokens) takes one cow from Arthur's pasture and places it next to his board.
- A scouting boy faces a guarding warrior. Not only the raid fails, but Patrick's boy is captured and Arthur takes the boy's token.
- A scouting warrior meets a guarding boy. The raid is successful and Brigitte (playing with blue tokens) takes one jewel from Arthur's house.
- A scouting boy meets a guarding boy. Because the tokens are identical, the raid is not successful.
Resolution phase
As the new day dawns on the Irish grasslands, the clans check their victories and losses.
First, place your plunder from this turn in your house (jewels and captives) or on your pasture (cows), respectively. NOTE: The plunder cannot be taken from the player who won it during the same turn. It can be stolen again (or the captives freed) only during next turn, when the cows are on his pasture and the jewels and captives in his house.
Next, check if any of the players won this turn (see below).
If you run out of tokens and do not have any left behind your screen, you can take all tokens from your discard pile and put them back behind the screen. You can use them in the next turn.
Finally, move the turn marker up one field on the turn track.
Captives
If your warrior captured a boy or the chieftain's daughter, you place the captive token in your house during the resolution phase. The token stays there until it is freed; the owner cannot take it when he takes back his discarded tokens.
To free your captive, you must scout at the entrance to the house where the captive is kept. If the raid is successful, you can take the captive token and put it on your discard pile, but you cannot take any jewels. If you successfully sneak into a house where your captive is held, you cannot choose to take the jewels instead; the Celtic honour does not allow it.
If there are several captives belonging to one player in a house, he may choose which one he is freeing. The players cannot free other players' captives or re-capture them (take them to his house).
Example: During the last turn a boy from Patrick's clan scouted Brigitte's pasture and was captured by her warrior. During last turn's resolution Brigitte placed the token of the unlucky boy in her house. To free the boy, Patrick places a face down token at the entrance to Brigitte's house. If the raid is successful, he can take his captive and put the token on his discard pile. He does not get any jewels from this raid though – if he wants to get them, he can place another token at the entrance to Brigitte's house and hope that both raids are successful. If only one of them is successful, Patrick has to free the captive first.
Winning the game
The game ends when at the end of turn one of the players has eleven cows on his pasture or when the eighth turn ends. When the game is over, all players sum up their wealth:
- Each cow token on a player's pasture is worth 2 points.
- Each jewel token in a player's house is worth 3 points.
- Each boy captured by a player and still in his house is worth 1 point.
- Each chieftain's daughter captured by a player and still in his house is worth 5 points.
- Each player who has 11 or more cows on his pasture when the game ends gets 3 points extra.
The player with the most points wins the game. When there is a tie, the number of cattle, then the number of jewels and finally the number of unused tokens still behind the player's screen decide the outcome. If these numbers are also the same, the game ends with a tie.
Example: At the end of the fifth turn there are 11 cows on Brigitte's pasture. Besides that, she has one jewel and one captive (a boy from Patrick's clan) in her house. She counts her points: (11x2) points in cattle, 3 points in jewels, 1 point for the captive boy and 3 extra points for her 11+ herd; a total of 29 points.