The Nile Ran Red Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Lords of the Sand
  • Set Up
  • The Cards
    • God Cards
    • Unit and Obelisk Cards
    • Icon Cards
    • The Four God Cards
  • Playing the Game
    • Concentrate Step
    • Assemble Step
      • Generating Icons
      • Playing Unit Cards
      • Playing Unit Cards (Continued)
      • Other God Abilities
      • Play Example
    • Obelisk Step
    • Culling Step
    • Other God Abilities
  • Ending the Game and Scoring
    • Scoring Example
• Crimson Sun
  • Set Up
  • The Cards
    • Follower Cards
    • Temple Cards
  • Playing Crimson Sun
  • Player Turns
    • Draw Step
    • Action Step
    • Follower Step
    • Abilities
    • Temples
    • Temple Step
    • Resolving Temples
• Rise of the First Dynasty
  • Set Up
  • The Cards
    • Action Cards
    • Edict Cards
    • Land Cards
    • Region Cards
    • Supremacy Marker
  • Playing Rise of the First Dynasty
  • Aeons
    • Current Region
    • Action Selection
    • Player Turns
      • Conquest

Lords of the Sand

In Lords of the Sand, 2-4 players each take on the role of one of four different Egyptian Gods: Anubis, Thoth, Sobek, and Khnum. Each God has its own unique agenda and special abilities, with the end goal being to assert domination over a fledgling Egypt, setting the stage for the Aeon of Man.

Throughout the course of the game, players use Units, complete their court, use special abilities, and build Obelisks. With a combo-driven card system, as cards are played, additional actions may spawn multiple abilities, but a limited action system keeps downtime to a minimum.

Each player scores points for Obelisks he has, his leader, and the cards in his Court.

Set Up

Using whatever method they choose, each player chooses a God card and places it face up in his play area. Return any remaining God cards to the box. Then, shuffle together the 64 Unit cards and deal 4 to each player. Place the remaining Unit cards in a face down deck in the middle of the play area. Place the 8 Icon cards in the middle of the play area. Players use whatever method they choose to determine a Starting player. The Starting player takes the first turn.

The Cards

Lords of the Sand uses several different types of cards.

God Cards

God cards represent a unique God. Each God card contains several pieces of important game information. These are covered later in the rules.

The God card has these parts:

• A. Chosen Unit Type
• B. God's Icons
• C. Leader Slot
• D. Court Slots
• E. God's Abilities
• F. Obelisks Slot

Unit and Obelisk Cards

Lords of the Sand revolves around the playing of Unit cards. Unit cards all have a name, a type, and a God they belong to. Each Unit card also has a Cost Icon, two Leadership Icons, and an Ability.

A Unit card can either be played as a player's Leader, into his Court, or discarded from his hand for its Special ability.

The Unit card has these parts:

• A. Unit Name
• B. Cost Icon
• C. Unit God and Type
• D. Leadership Icons
• E. Ability

The back of each Unit card is an Obelisk card. Obelisks are built a variety of ways and are worth points at the end of the game. All cards in a player's hand and in the deck are Unit cards unless otherwise stated.

Icon Cards

These cards represent the 4 Icons that are generated and used by the players to play Unit cards. The four Icons are the green Ankh, the purple Blades, the orange Scarab, and the red Crook and Flail.

The Four God Cards

The God cards are printed in the rulebook with these abilities (Sobek's card is not shown in the rulebook pages):

ANUBIS – God of the Dead. Anubis' Chosen Unit Type is the Entombed.

• Leader Ability: Master of Death. During your Concentrate Step, after drawing your card for the turn, if your Leader is an Anubis and/or an Entombed card, return 1 card from the discard pile to your hand and discard 1 card from your hand.
• Assemble Ability: Anubis Rising. During your Assemble Step, you may play 1 Anubis card for no cost.
• Court Ability: Growing Shadows. Whenever an Anubis card and/or an Entombed card enters your Court, a player of your choice chooses and discards 1 card from his hand.
• Divine Ability: Soul Gather. If you have 2 or more Units in your Court that are Anubis and/or Entombed cards, whenever you destroy a Unit card, move the destroyed card to your hand instead of the discard pile.
• Obelisk Requirement: Lord of the Afterlife. During your Obelisk Step, if 5 or more non-Obelisk cards were moved to and/or from the discard pile, build 1 Obelisk.

KHNUM – God of War. Khnum's Chosen Unit Type is the Soldier.

• Leader Ability: Recruit. During your Concentrate Step, after drawing your card for the turn, if your Leader is a Khnum and/or Soldier card, name a Unit type and reveal the top 3 cards of the deck. Place all cards of the named type into your hand. Place the remaining cards on the bottom of the deck in any order.
• Assemble Ability: Army of Khnum. During your Assemble Step, you may play 1 Khnum card for no cost.
• Court Ability: Assault. Whenever a Khnum card and/or a Soldier card enters your Court, you may destroy a Unit in another player's court with the same name as that card.
• Divine Ability: Sandy Portent. If you have 2 or more Units in your Court that are Khnum and/or Soldier cards, whenever you reveal cards from the top of the deck, reveal 2 additional cards.
• Obelisk Requirement: Lord of War. During your Obelisk Step, if you destroyed 2 or more Unit cards, build 1 Obelisk.

THOTH – God of Magic. Thoth's Chosen Unit Type is the Priestess.

• Leader Ability: Ancient Scrying. During your Concentrate Step, after drawing your card for the turn, if your Leader is a Thoth and/or Priestess card, draw 3 cards and then choose and discard 2 cards from your hand.
• Assemble Ability: Ascension of Thoth. During your Assemble Step, you may play 1 Thoth card for no cost.
• Court Ability: Grand Enlightenment. Whenever a Thoth card and/or a Priestess card enters your Court, draw 1 card and discard 1 card from your hand.
• Divine Ability: Reverberation. If you have 2 or more Units in your Court that are Thoth and/or Priestess cards, whenever you play a card for its ability, if that card has the same name as a card in your Court, you may add it to your Court instead of discarding it.
• Obelisk Requirement: Lord of Fate. During your Obelisk Step, if you played 3 or more Unit Abilities this turn, build 1 Obelisk.

Playing the Game

Lords of the Sand is played over a series of player turns. Each turn is broken down into 4 steps: Concentrate, Assemble, Obelisk, and Culling.

After a player has completed these 4 steps in order, his turn ends, and the player to his left takes a turn. This continues until a player has built 5 or more Obelisks. Once a player has 5 or more Obelisks at the end of his turn, each other player receives 1 additional player turn, and then the game ends.

Concentrate Step

The player draws 1 card. Then, if he has an appropriate Unit card in his Leader Slot, he uses his Leader Ability.

Assemble Step

During the Assemble Step, the player performs the following actions in any order he chooses:

• Generate Icons (limit of once per player turn)
• Play Unit Cards
• Use his God's Assemble Ability (optional)

Generating Icons

Icons are used to play Unit cards. There are 2 different sources that a player can use to Generate Icons: his Leader's Icons, or if he does not have a card in his Leader Slot, from his God's Icons. If a player has a Leader, he may only generate his Leader's Icons.

To Generate Icons, he takes the Icon cards indicated by his Leader's Leadership Icons (or if he has no Leader, his God's Icons) from the middle of the play area and places them in his play area. As a player uses Icons, they are returned to the middle of the play area. A player may only Generate Icons once per turn.

For example, if LBJ's Leader is the Tithe Collector, when he Generates Icons during his Assemble Step, he will receive these 2 Icons: the Ankh and the Scarab.

Playing Unit Cards

Unit cards may be played from a player's hand 3 different ways: into the player's Leader Slot, into any of the player's 3 Court Slots, or for its ability. To play a Unit card, the player reveals the Unit card, uses 1 Icon (indicated by the card's Cost Icon), and then plays the card. Note that 2 Identical Icons may be spent to play 1 card, regardless of its Icon Cost.

For example, it costs 1 Crook and Flail to play the Stoic Sovereign.

When a player chooses to play a card into his Leader Slot, he simply places the card into his Leader Slot. If he currently has a card occupying his Leader Slot, the original card is moved to 1 of his Court Slots, and the new card is placed in his Leader Slot.

When a player chooses to play a card into 1 of his Court Slots, he simply places the card into 1 of his 3 Court Slots. If a card would enter his Court, but the player has no Court Slots open, he first chooses and moves a card occupying 1 of his Court Slots and moves it to the discard pile and replaces it with the new card. Note that moving a card to the discard pile due to having a full court is not considered "destroying a card."

Note that when a card enters a player's Court, it may trigger his God's Court Ability. Court Abilities are not optional.

Playing Unit Cards (Continued)

When a player chooses to use a card for its Ability, he reads the card's ability, completes the card's ability to the best of his ability, and then moves the card to his discard pile. This does not constitute "discarding a card."

When a card's Ability says to "Play a card," it costs no Icons to do so.

When a card's Ability says to "Destroy a card," the card is Destroyed, or sent to the discard pile.

Each God has an Assemble Ability that allows the player to play 1 card that belongs to his God each turn for no cost.

It is very important to note that a player may play any Unit, regardless of the God that Unit belongs to, as long as he has the required Icons.

Other God Abilities

Each God also has a Divine Ability. This is a passive ability that may occur at any time during the game, as indicated by the God's Divine ability.

Play Example

It is Jeb's turn, and his God is Thoth.

Jeb draws 1 card during his Concentrate step. Since he has a Priestess in his Leader Slot, he uses his God's Leader Ability, which allows him to draw 3 additional cards, but then must choose and discards 2 cards from his hand.

He moves on to his Assemble Step. He uses his God's Assemble Ability to play 1 Thoth card for free, which he does. He plays it in his Leader Slot, so his old Leader card is moved to his Court. Since a Priestess entered his Court, his Court Ability triggers, and he draws 1 card and discards 1 card from his hand.

He then Generates Icons, and generates 1 Scarab and 1 Blades. He spends the Blades Icon to play this 1 card for its Ability. He uses the card's Ability, and then moves it to the discard pile. He has no card in his hand to use for the remaining Icon.

Obelisk Step

During the player's Obelisk Step, he may be able to build Obelisks, depending on what he accomplished during his turn. To build an Obelisk, the player takes the top card of the deck and places it face down in his Obelisk Slot.

If the player's Leader Slot and all 3 Court Slots are occupied, he builds 1 Obelisk.

If the player has accomplished his God's Obelisk Requirement, he builds 1 Obelisk. Note that every God's Obelisk Requirement is completely different.

In the above example, Jeb would not build any Obelisks, since his Leader and Court Slots are not full, and he did not accomplish his God's Obelisk Requirement, since he had to play 3 or more Unit Abilities during his turn to do so, and he only played 2.

Culling Step

The player must end his turn with 3 cards in his hand. He discards any number of cards in his hand until he has 3 or less cards in his hand, and then, if he has fewer than 3 cards in hand, he draws cards until he has 3 cards in his hand.

Example: Tyler has 4 cards in his hand at the beginning of his Culling Step. He chooses and discards 3 of them. He then draws 2 cards.

If at any time during the game, there are no cards remaining in the deck, the discard pile is immediately shuffled together to form a new deck.

The player then returns any unused Icons to the middle of the play area.

After a player's Culling Step, his turn is over. If he has 4 or less Obelisks, the player to his left takes a turn. However, if he has 5 or more Obelisks, he has triggered the end of the game. Each other player receives 1 additional turn, and then the game ends. Once the end game is triggered, it cannot be stopped, even if the player who triggered the end of the game ends up losing any Obelisks.

Other God Abilities

In addition to the God Abilities covered in aforementioned steps, each God also has a Divine Ability. This is a passive ability that may occur at any time during the game, as indicated by the God's Divine ability.

Ending the Game and Scoring

When the game ends, players score points. Each Obelisk the player has is worth 3 points. Each card in the player's Leader Slot or Court Slots is worth a number of points as follows:

• Units that belong to his God AND are his God's Chosen Unit Type: 4 points
• Units that belong to his God OR are his God's Chosen Unit Type: 2 points
• Units that belong neither to his God or his God's Chosen Unit Type: 1 point

The player with the highest score has asserted his influence and now rules Egypt in the time before man. If a tie exists, the player with the most Obelisks wins. If a tie still exists, those tied players enjoy a shared reign over ancient Egypt.

Scoring Example

In this example, Jacki is Anubis. She has 4 Obelisks, worth 3 points each, for a total of 12 points. Anubis' Chosen Unit Type is the Entombed. She scores 2 Points for her Leader, which is an Entombed card. She Scores 4 points for the Anubis Entombed card "Dark Guardian" in her Court. She scores 1 point for the Thoth Soldier in her Court. And she scores 2 Points for the Anubis Vizier in her Court. Her total score is 21.

Crimson Sun

In Crimson Sun, 2 players take on the role of fledgling leaders locked in conflict over the rule of ancient Egypt. Playing units of 4 unique gods a variety of different ways, the players build their forces and attempt to conquer the 4 Temples. The player with the most Temples and/or most powerful Dynasty wins the game.

Set Up

Place the 4 Temple cards face up in the middle of the play area in a straight row.

Shuffle together the 52 Follower cards, and separate them randomly into 2 decks of 26 cards. Give a 26 card deck to each player, face down. Each player shuffles his deck.

Then, the Draft begins. Each player begins and ends the Draft with a face down deck of 26 cards.

Each player draws the top 6 cards of his deck. Each player chooses 3 of those cards and places them face down in his play area, and passes the remaining 3 cards to the other player face down.

Next, each player draws 4 cards and selects 2 cards to place face down and 2 cards to pass face down to the other player. This is repeated 4 additional times.

Each player should end up with 26 face down cards. A player may not look at the face down cards in his deck until they are drawn. The players shuffle their decks, and place them face down, and each player draws 3 cards from his deck. Note that each player will have his own discard pile.

The Cards

There are 2 types of cards used in Crimson Sun: Follower cards and Temple cards.

Follower Cards

Crimson Sun revolves around the drafting, drawing, and playing of Follower cards. Each Follower card represents a Follower of 1 of the 4 Gods (A). Each Follower card has an Action Value (B), as well as a Zeal Value (C). Finally, each Follower card has 1 or more Abilities (D).

Temple Cards

There are 4 Temple cards and each card represents an important Location that can be conquered. Each Temple corresponds to 1 of 4 Gods. Players play Followers face down to these Locations. Temples that a player gains add 9 Zeal to the player's overall Zeal at the end of the game.

Playing Crimson Sun

Crimson Sun revolves around the playing of Follower cards to gain actions, strengthening Dynasties, and conquering the Temples. The player with the most Zeal at the end of the game wins. Players alternate taking turns until there are no face up Temple cards remaining.

Player Turns

Each player turn is broken into 4 steps: Draw, Action, Follower, and Temple.

Draw Step

The active player draws 1 card from his deck. However, if prior to drawing, the other player has more cards in hand, the player draws 2 cards instead. If the active player has less cards in his Dynasty than the other player, he draws 1 additional card.

Action Step

During the player's Action step, the player has 2 choices. He either gains 1 action and proceeds to his Follower Step or he may choose and discard 1 Follower card from his hand to gain a number of Action to use during his Follower Step equal to the discarded card's Action value.

For example, if LBJ discards this card from his hand during his Action Step, he would gain 2 Actions to use during his Follower Step.

Follower Step

During the Follower Step, the player spends actions to play Follower cards from his hand 1 of 2 ways. He may either play it face up into his play area or he may discard it. It costs 1 action to play 1 Follower card.

If the Follower is played into his Dynasty, the player chooses 1 of the card's 2 Abilities and follows it to the best of his ability.

If the Follower is discarded, the player reveals the card from his hand, performs both of the Follower's Abilities in whatever order he chooses, and then the card is discarded.

For example, Jeb chooses to discard this card from his hand to use both of the card's Abilities. He draws 1 card and places the top card of his deck into his Dynasty.

Additionally, at any time during the Follower step, the player may spend 1 Action to draw 1 card from his deck.

Abilities

Each Follower Card has at least 2 Abilities. Abilities only occur when the Follower is played from the player's hand. If a Follower Card would enter a player's Army from anywhere aside from the player's hand, none of the card's abilities are performed. The player chooses the order in which actions are performed. Abilities are not optional, and must be performed to the best of the player's ability.

Several of the cards have a third, Passive Dynasty Ability. Cards with this Dynasty ability have the ability listed in an additional text box. Dynasty abilities are ongoing.

For example, this Follower has a passive Dynasty ability. He gives all Kuk Followers in the player's Dynasty +1 Zeal.

Temples

If at any point during the player's turn, he has no cards remaining in his deck, each player shuffles together his discard pile and deck and draws 1 card. Then, each player, beginning with the other player, places a card from his hand face down on his side of a Temple of his choice. Finally, the other player chooses a face up Temple and flips it face down.

Temple Step

The player may place up to 3 Follower cards from his hand face down on his side of a non-face down Temple card(s). Note that each individual Temple prevents Followers of 1 of the 4 Gods from being played at that Temple, and additionally, each Temple boosts Follower cards of the indicated God that are played there.

Any face down Temple cards are resolved. If there are more than 1 face down Temple cards, they are resolved in an order chosen by the player.

Resolving Temples

When a Temple is resolved, each player flips all face down Follower cards on his side of the resolved Temple face up and adds together the Zeal of the revealed cards. The player with the most combined Zeal wins the Temple, and moves it to his Dynasty. The player who did not win the Temple moves up to 2 of his revealed Followers to his Dynasty. Then, all remaining revealed Follower cards are moved to the discard pile.

In the event of a tie, all revealed Followers are moved to the discard pile and the Temple is flipped face up.

In this example, the Temple of Shadow has been flipped face down and must be resolved. The Temple of Shadow gives +1 Zeal to all Kuk cards played at it. Tyler has a combined Zeal of 5 (2+2+1 to his Kuk Follower). Justin has 6 Zeal (2+3+1 to his Kuk Follower). Justin wins the Temple of Shadow and moves it to his Dynasty and moves his 2 Follower cards to his discard pile. Tyler moves his 2 Followers to his Dynasty.

Ending the Game and Scoring

After a player has taken all 4 steps of his turn, if there are any remaining face up Temple cards, his turn ends and the other player takes his turn. However, if there are no face up Temple cards remaining, the game ends.

Each player adds together the total Zeal of all cards in his Dynasty. The player with the highest Zeal wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player with the most followers wins the game.

In this example, Tyler has a total of 51 Zeal. He gains 9 Zeal for each of his Temples. His 2 Horus Followers are worth 5 Zeal. His Swamp Lord adds +1 Zeal to his Kuk Followers, making his 4 Kuk Followers worth a total Zeal of 13. His War Lords each add +1 Zeal to his Maahes Followers, for a total of 15 Zeal from his Maahes Followers.

Rise of the First Dynasty

In Rise of the First Dynasty, 3-5 players vie for control over ancient Egypt, by conquering lands, stealing lands, and protecting their lands from other players. With clever planning, a little guesswork, and a helping hand from the Gods, the player with the most lands wins the game.

Set Up

Shuffle together the 24 Edict cards and deal 2 to each player. Place the remaining Edict cards in the middle of the play area. Separate the 50 Land cards into their respective piles (Desert, Nile, Delta, and Underworld) and place them to the side of the play area. Shuffle together the 10 Region cards and place the deck in the middle of the play area. Give each player 1 set of 3 Action cards (1 Conquest, 1 Command, 1 Prosperity). Give each player 2 Desert Land cards. Using whatever method the players see fit, give 1 player the Supremacy card. Then the game begins.

• For a 4 Player Game, remove 2 Desert Region cards from the Region deck.
• For a 3 Player Game, remove 1 Desert Region card from the Region deck.

The Cards

There are 5 card types in Rise of the First Dynasty.

Action Cards

The game revolves around playing Action cards, as well as guessing what Action cards the other players will play. Each player has the same 3 Action cards.

Edict Cards

Edict cards are powerful cards that do a variety of things.

Land Cards

Players obtain, steal, and destroy Land cards throughout the course of the game. Each Land card is 2 sided, with a normal side and a Blessed side. Blessed Lands are worth more points, but are also bigger targets for the other players.

Region Cards

Each Aeon, 1 of these 10 Region cards is revealed. This dictates what the Current Region is for the Aeon, allowing players to gain Lands of that Region.

Supremacy Marker

This card simply indicates which player is the Scribe for the Aeon.

Playing Rise of the First Dynasty

Rise of the First Dynasty is played over a series of Aeons (or rounds). During each Aeon, a new Region card is revealed and each player secretly chooses what Action he will use for the Aeon, either: COMMAND, CONQUEST, or PROSPERITY.

Based on the action each player chooses, and the actions chosen by the other players, each player receives a number of different actions to use during his turn, ranging from conquering new Lands, to destroying Lands, or playing Edict cards.

Players score points for the Lands they have conquered at the end of a number of Aeons.

Aeons

Rise of the First Dynasty is played over a series of Aeons. Each Aeon is broken into several parts, completed in this order: Current Region, Action Selection, Player Turns, and Clean Up. The player with the Supremacy Card is The Scribe for the Aeon, begins the Aeon, and is responsible for doing several things. Once all of these parts have taken place, the Aeon ends and a new Aeon begins.

Current Region

The Scribe reveals the top card of the Region deck and places it in the Region Discard pile. The top card of the Region Discard Pile is the Current Region.

Action Selection

Each player chooses his Action for the Aeon, and chooses his Command, Conquest, or Prosperity Action card and places it face down in his playing area. Once each player has placed a card face down, each player reveals his face down card. These cards remain face up for the remainder of the Aeon.

Player Turns

Once each player has revealed his selected action, each player, beginning with the Scribe and continuing clockwise, takes 1 turn. During a player's turn, that player is granted actions based on the Action he chose, and the Actions chosen by the other players.

Conquest

If the player chooses Conquest as his action, he may Conquer 1 Land of the Current Region or he may Steal 1 Land from another player. When a Land is Conquered, it is taken from the side of the play area and placed in the player's play area, normal side up. If there are no Lands of the Current Region remaining on the side of the play area, he Conquers no Land. To Steal a Land, the player takes 1 Land from another player and places it in his play area.

Then, for each player who chose Command, the player may Conquer 1 additional Land of the Current Region or he may play 1 Edict card from his hand. To play an Edict card, he simply reveals the Edict card from his hand, performs the card's Ability, and moves it to the Edict discard pile.

Prosperity

If the player chooses Prosperity as his action, he may Bless 1 of his Lands or he may discard 2 Edict cards from his hand to Conquer and Bless 1 Land of the Current Region. To Bless a Land, the player flips the Land to its Blessed side.

Then, for each player who chose Conquest, the player may Bless 1 additional Land or he may draw 1 Edict card. If ever there are no Edict cards remaining, the player shuffles the Edict discard pile to form a fresh Edict deck.

Command

If the player chooses Command as his action, he may play 1 Edict card or he may exchange 1 of his Lands for another player's Land. To Exchange a Land, the player chooses 1 of his Lands and another player's Land, and those Lands are moved from one player's play area to the other player's play area.

Then, for each player who chose Prosperity, he may draw or he may play 1 Edict card. At the end of a player's turn, he must discard down to 3 Edict cards.

NOTE: For the second part of each Action, if the player is granted more than 1 Action, i.e., he chose Command and 3 other players chose Prosperity, he may draw or play Edict cards in whatever order he sees fit. For example, he may draw 1 Edict, then play 1 Edict, then draw another Edict.

Clean Up

The Scribe shuffles together the Edict discard pile and Edict deck. Each player returns his Action card to his hand. The Scribe passes the Supremacy card to the player to his left. If there are any remaining Region cards left in the Region deck, a new Aeon begins. Otherwise, the game ends.

Scoring

Each player adds together the total point value of his Lands. The player with the highest score wins. In the event of a tie, the player with the least Deserts wins.