Yield Rulebook

1. Story Introduction and Gameplay........................................................................................ 1

2. Goal of the game................................................................................................................. 2
3. Components overview......................................................................................................... 2
5. 1 Game Round and the different Phases:........................................................................... 3
5.1. The Strategy Phase.................................................................................................... 3
5.2. Battle phase:.....................................................................................................................4
5.3. Conquer phase:................................................................................................................ 4
5.4. Recruitment AND recovery phase.................................................................................... 5
6. End of the game:................................................................................................................. 5
7. Maps.................................................................................................................................... 5
7.1. Streets and Locations....................................................................................................... 6
7.2. Fortresses.........................................................................................................................6
8. Strategy cards and their actions.......................................................................................... 6
8.1. Movement......................................................................................................................... 6
8.2. Strategy cards...................................................................................................................7
8.3. Ambush Action..................................................................................................................9
8.4. Conquer Action................................................................................................................. 9
8.5. Upgrade Action................................................................................................................. 9
8.6. Ritual Action....................................................................................................................10
9. Battles................................................................................................................................10
9.1. Battle cards.....................................................................................................................10
9.2. Initiating Battles.........................................................................................................11
9.3. Fighting Battles......................................................................................................... 13
9.3.1. Initiative..................................................................................................................13
9.3.2. Playing cards......................................................................................................... 13
9.4. Battle Outcomes: Draw, retreat, chase and destroy................................................. 15
9.5. Resolving Battles with Multiple Players.................................................................... 18
10. Asymmetric Player Powers - Leaders..............................................................................19
11. Variant: Team Mode......................................................................................................... 21
Glossary:......................................................................................................................................23

1. Story Introduction and Gameplay

The game is set 43 years prior to the events in Hidden Leaders. The Emperor is still alive and
reigns over Oshra with an iron first. But now his own daughter starts a rebellion against him. In
addition to Lemron calling to arms, Leaders of the most powerful Houses are gathering their
Armies as well. They want to extend their influence in the power vacuum of a civil war. Will you
be victorious in battle and emerge as the most powerful dynasty of Oshra?

You represent Leaders of powerful Houses and move 3 Armies across the board. You recruit
Units, conquer Fortresses and defeat your opponents in order to achieve the most victory points
at the end of the game.

2. Goal of the game

The players try to conquer and keep control of the most valuable locations called Fortresses.
Their value may change according to different player actions such as upgrading, sacrificing or
conquering them. After completing three years (=rounds) the game ends and each player adds
up the value of all Fortresses (represented by tokens) that they control. The player who has the
highest total tokens wins the game. In case of players having the same amount of victory points,
the tied player which is the starting player or is closest to the starting player in turn order wins
the game.

3. Components overview
Game components:

● 2 double sided board with 4 maps, one for each player count (2, 3, 4, and 5 players)
● 72 battle cards (values 3, 4, 5 and 6 in three colors)
● 15 meeples (3 per player), +1 bonus Champion meeple
● 1 starting player marker
● 30 strategy cards, a set of six Strategy cards per player
● 75 player Fortress tokens, 15 tokens per player
● 15 neutral Fortress tokens
● 16 dials, 1 per player +1 bonus dial
● 1 battle AND round tracker board
● 5 Player and game help sheets
● 1 Rulebook

4. Setting up the game

1. The last player to have seen a castle or likewise is the starting player.
2. Place one neutral token on each Fortress location (roman numerals)
3. You select one of the designated starting Fortresses (listed below) and place your player
token on this Fortress which brings this Fortress value up to 2 victory points.
a. 2: Player, Starting Fortress III and V
 b. 3: Players, Starting Fortresses II, VI, VII
c. 4: Players, Starting Fortresses: I, III, VIII, X
4. Your receive three Armies
5. In turn order, you place the three Armies on your starting Fortress and/or on the
locations next to your starting Fortress
6. You distribute a combined total of 12 Units among your 3 Armies as you see fit.
However, each Army must at least consist of 1 Unit
7. You receive your set of 6 Strategy cards indicated by your House icon
8. You draw 10 Battle Cards from the Deck and then discard 3 cards face up to start the
game with 7 hand cards.
9. The game begins with the first year (=round)

Note: Players may want to distribute the Units among their Armies in different ways. Some may
want to have one strong Army and two weaker Armies, others may want to have three Armies
with an equal number of Units. The decision is yours.
Also note that the way Units are distributed is permanent. Armies cannot be combined or
exchange Units among them. They can only be reinforced by recruitment in the recruitment
phase (see 4.3.) or be diminished in battle.

5. 1 Game Round and the different Phases:

The game is played in a series of three years (=rounds), each of which is divided into four
phases: The Strategy phase, the Battle phase, the Recruitment phase (skipped in 3rd round)
and the Conquer phase. The game ends after 3 rounds have been played.

Regardless of the number of players, the game always lasts for 3 rounds.

5.1. The Strategy Phase

The Strategy phase consists of 4 seasons, during which players will simultaneously choose 1 of
their Strategy cards from their hand. The chosen Strategy cards are revealed and performed in
turn order. After every player has played and performed 4 Strategy cards, they take all cards
back on their hand and continue with the Battle phase (4.2.)

Example of 1 Season:

1. You secretly choose one of your (remaining) Strategy cards from your hand and place it
face down in front you. This is done simultaneously with the other players.
2. Once you and all other players have selected their strategy card, starting with the
starting player and 1 player after another you either:
a. Reveal your Strategy card and perform the actions printed on it
 b. OR: Keep the card face down and draw 5 cards instead (If the hand exceeds 10
cards they must discard down to 10 after they completed drawing)
3. After a player has ended their turn, the next player in clockwise order who has not yet
taken their turn performs either option “2.a” or “2.b” of their Strategy card.
4. Once all players have taken their turn by performing their Strategy card or by performing
a Draw action, all players continue with the next season by selecting another action card
5. You repeat steps 1.-4. a total of 4 times until all players have played and performed 4 of
their 6 Strategy cards. After this, the Battle phase starts and players resolve any
imminent battles (see chapter 5.2.)

Please note, there is no automatic passing of the “starting” player token. Instead, once a player
uses the “Ritual” action they can give the starting player token to any player (including
themselves). The starting player token is then locked for the remaining season and can only be
changed in the next season again.

5.2. Battle phase:

During the battle phase, any Armies that are adjacent to enemy Armies will participate in a
Battle. This may result in multiple Armies from multiple players engaging in a single Battle. If
there is more than 1 Battle, the starting player decides the order in which Battles are fought.
Each Battle is resolved one at a time, and Armies may (have to) retreat. A winning Army may be
able to pursue retreating Armies, or Armies may be destroyed as a result of Battles. If no Armies
are next to enemy Armies, the Battle phase is skipped without a Battle taking place. Details on
how battles are fought see chapter 9.

5.3. Conquer phase:

In this phase, Armies that are located on Fortresses (indicated by a stack of player tokens on
certain Locations) that currently do not belong to players controlling the Armies already, perform
the Conquer action and therefore take control over these Fortresses. To indicate this, place a
player token on it. This permanently increases the value of this Fortress by one. Any previous
player tokens remain on the Fortress. The tokens are never removed when a Fortress is
conquered and therefore changes ownership. For this reason, Fortresses that change
ownership several times increase in value by adding player tokens.

For each Fortress conquered, players draw two cards from the Deck and add them to their
hand. Then, players must discard one card from their hand per Fortress conquered or discard
down to 10 hand cards if they would otherwise exceed their hand limit.

As an example: Alex has 7 hand cards and conquers 2 Fortresses. She draws 4 cards up to a
total of 11 hand cards, then discards 2 cards which leaves her with 9 hand cards. Tony, on the
other hand, has 9 hand cards and also conquers 2 Fortresses. He draws 4 cards up to a total of
13 hand cards, then discards 3 cards (instead of only 2) which leaves him with 10 hand cards as
this is the hand limit.

5.4. Recovery AND recruitment phase

First, all players that lost Armies prior to this phase now place their lost Armies on one of their
Fortresses. This army has half the Units compared to when the army was destroyed (rounded
down and with a minimum of 1, see: 7.4.). If a player does not control any fortresses, no army
can be recovered.

Next, the players reveal cards from the Deck. All players add Units equal to the number on the
revealed card to their Armies by freely distributing it across their Armies, marking their new
value on their Army Dials. The maximum Units an Army can have is limited to 15. How many
Units an Army has is kept a secret to the other players.

The number of cards revealed and Units added is determined by the current year.

Year 1: 1 card

Year 2: 2 cards

Year 3: no cards

For example, the players reveal a “6” in the first year. Every player then gains 6 recruitments
points that they can distribute across their Army. Markus decides to add 6 Units to his Army #1
to boost this Army. Lisa decides to add 2 Units to each of her 3 Armies.

6. End of the game:

After three years (=rounds) have been completed, the game ends and players count the values
(=tokens) of all the Fortresses that they control. Each player takes all player tokens on
Fortresses which they control and add them together. The number of player tokens is the
amount of victory points.

For example, Markus controls a total of three Fortresses that are worth 2, 4 and 5 points adding
up to a total of 11 victory points. Lisa controls a total of 4 Fortresses that are worth 1, 2, 2 and 3
adding up to a total of 8 points. Markus wins because he has more victory points than Lisa.

If two players have the same number of victory points, the player who is closest to the starting
player in turn order wins.
7. The Board and Armies

7.1. Maps
Each side of the board shows 1 Map of different parts of Oshra. There are different maps for 2
players, 3 players, 4 players and 5 players (indicated by icons in the top right corner of the
map). Maps consist of clusters of 3 different types of locations represented also by colors and
shapes of the different Locations: Forest (green), Wetlands (blue), Town area (red). The roman
numerals on specific Locations are used when setting up the game.

7.2. Locations and Streets

Locations refer to any spaces on the map. These include points with and without Fortresses
(=tokens). They have different shapes which represent the 3 different types of locations: Square
for red/town locations, Diamond for green/forest locations and Circle for blue/wetlands locations.
Some Locations show a roman numerical value which is needed when setting up the starting
positions of Armies and Fortresses at game start.
Streets are connections between Locations. Armies must move across streets. They must end
their movement on Locations and cannot end their movement on a street.
Two Locations that are connected via streets are considered adjacent for the purpose of battles
or movement.

7.3. Fortresses
Locations with 1 or more neutral or player tokens are called “Fortresses”. Fortresses can
change their value and ownership over the course of the game. The top token determines who
is in control of a Fortress. If Fortresses have a neutral token on top, they are not controlled by
any player. If Fortresses have a player's token on top of the stack, they are controlled by this
player. 1 token is added when a fortress is conquered by an enemy Army, up to 2 tokens are
added as part of the “Upgrade” Strategy card ability and 1 token must be discarded from a
self-owned Fortress when performing the “Ritual” Strategy card. Locations without a token can
never be conquered or upgraded.

7.4. Armies
Armies are represented by different meeples on the board. Each player controls 3 Armies: 1
Archer meeple, 1 Infantry meeple and 1 Cavalry meeple. These Armies, although they are
shaped differently, share the same ruleset and traits, but may have varying unit values. They
perform actions based on the Strategy cards played. At the beginning of the game, players have
to distribute a total of 12 Units across their 3 Armies and adjust the value on their respective
Army Dials. These values are kept secret and are only shown to all players when initiating a
fight. Armies can have a maximum of 15 Units. If an Army would be destroyed in Battle, instead
reduce the current Unit value with half its value, rounded up. Place this army aside, it will be put
back on the board in the Recovery and Recruitment phase (5.4.).

Example: If an Army with 3 Units is destroyed, you need to reduce the value on the Dial to 1.

8. Strategy cards and their actions

8.1. Movement
As movement actions are part of each Strategy card and essential for navigating across the
map in order to achieve victory, rules for movements will be explained here first before diving in
the specific Strategy cards. For all movements the following rules apply:
● Movements are performed by playing Strategy cards or as part of the Battle Outcome.
● Movement actions allow players to move Armies from their current Location on the map
to an adjacent Location that is connected by a street. The term “Move X” refers to
moving Armies across X Streets to a Location.
● Armies can move on the same Location as other Armies by the same player. They still
are considered individual Armies which have separate Units. They cannot merge into a
bigger Army but add their Units together in a battle.
● Armies can never move onto the same Location which is currently occupied by another
player's Army.
● For movement the region type or color of the Location does not matter.

For example if a player performs the "Move 2" Strategy card, they can move 1 Army to a
Location 2 streets away or move 2 Armies each to a Location 1 street away from their current
Location.
Example: The violet player decides to move the Army in the middle with “Move 1 AND
Conquer”. They can move 1 the Army up to conquer the Fortress (1), move 1 to the right to
avoid a confrontation with the yellow Army (2) or move 1 down to join their 2 Armies. However,
they cannot move their Army to the left because this location is occupied by a yellow Army.

Note that a “Move” action can be taken to move Armies to different Locations with different
regions. You have to pay attention to the region type of these Locations, as these will determine
which Battle cards you can play face up.

8.2. Strategy cards

Strategy cards form the first set of hand cards next to the Battle cards, which are kept separate
from each other. The 6 Strategy cards are a core part of the game and in each of the 3 Strategy
phases all players in turn order play 4 of these 6 cards. They have the following traits:

● 1 Strategy card is chosen simultaneously. The cards are only revealed one by one after
each player has selected their action.
● In Turn order, the chosen Strategy card is revealed and its actions are performed
● Strategy cards consist of 1 or more actions which are represented by actions on Banners
on the bottom of the card.
● If more than 1 Banner with actions is present on the card, choose a Banner and perform
up to all listed actions on the chosen Banner.
● The order in which the actions on one card are performed can be chosen by the active
player.
 ● Actions can only be performed by the player who actually played the Strategy card and
cannot be shared or performed by players other than the current player.
● Actions are optional and can be skipped by the player if they don’t want to perform them.

In short you can perform the following actions with them:

● Move all: Perform “Move 1” with each of your Armies.

● Move 2: You may perform Move 2 with 1 of your Armies OR perform Move 1 with two
Armies.
● Conquer AND Move 1: You may perform “Move 1” with 1 of your Armies and
immediately conquer any Fortresses on which any of your Armies stand.
● Ambush OR Move: You choose to either ambush adjacent Armies which immediately
initiates one Battle at a chosen location and gives you a +6 bonus to your Units OR
perform “Move 1” with 1 of your Armies.
● Upgrade AND Move 1: 1 of your Armies performs Move 1 and upgrade up to 2 of
Fortresses you control by 1.
● Ritual: You reduce the value of 1 of your Fortresses by 1 and copy another Strategy
card. The first player to do so in one season can also give the starting player token to
any player they like.

Example Order: If a player performs the “Conquer AND Move 1” Strategy card, they can either
choose to first Conquer Fortresses and then Move 1 or vice versa.

Let’s look at all the Strategy cards in more detail.

8.2.1. Move all Strategy card

You may perform “Move 1” with all of your Armies. Remember that you can perform these
movements in any order.
 8.2.2. Move 2 Strategy card

Banner 1: You may perform “Move 2” with 1 of your Armies.

Banner 2: You may perform “Move 1” with 2 of your Armies. Remember that you can perform
these movements in any order.

8.2.3. Conquer Strategy card

Take control of all enemy or neutral Fortresses that are currently occupied by at least 1 of your
Armies immediately. Put a player token on each of these Fortresses. This permanently
increases the value of these Fortresses by 1. Then, draw 2 Battle cards from the Deck for each
Fortress you conquered and discard 1 card for each Fortress conquered from your entire hand
(just as in a regular Conquer Phase). If you then still have more than 10 hand cards after
discarding, discard further down to the hand maximum of 10 hand cards.

In addition to the Conquer action, you may perform “Move 1” with 1 of your Armies. Remember
that you can perform this movement before or after the Conquer action.
 8.2.4. Ambush Action Strategy card

Banner 1: You may choose 1 of your Armies that is adjacent to an enemy Army and
immediately initiate 1 Battle. It follows the regular rules for Battles and may involve many Armies
by several players. At the Start of Battles you get a temporary bonus of +6 Units until the battle
ends. Only one battle can be triggered with this action. If several battles would be possible, you
choose which battle you wish to fight.

Banner 2: You may perform “Move 1” with 1 of your Armies. Remember that you can perform
this movement instead of the Ambush action. This might be an option if you decide to not initiate
a Battle or can’t do so.

8.2.5. Upgrade Strategy card

Upgrade up to 2 of your controlled Fortresses by 1. This is done by placing 1 of your player

tokens on top of the already existing tokens on each of up to 2 of your Fortresses. The
Fortresses do not change ownership in any way. You can never upgrade a Fortress by more
than one point with this action. If you control only one fortress, you can also only upgrade it by
one point.
Please note: If a player runs out of player tokens, they can replace their player tokens with
neutral tokens and put them on the bottom of the token stack so as to not change ownership of
the Fortress.

In addition to the Upgrade action, you may perform “Move 1” with 1 of your Armies. Remember
that you can perform this movement before or after the Upgrade action.

8.2.6. Ritual Strategy card

This card is special as it lets you copy and perform 1 of your other Strategy cards (it doesn’t
matter if the designated Strategy card is in your hand or was played already). Follow these 3
steps in given order:

1. Remove 1 token
Remove 1 token from the bottom of 1 of your Fortresses. This way, ownership of the Fortress
does not change as the top player token stays the same. If the last token is removed from 1 of
your Fortresses, the Fortress is completely destroyed and cannot be conquered or upgraded for
the remainder of the game. If you don’t control any Fortresses you can perform this Strategy
card without removing any token.

2. Choose an action
Then, choose and perform 1 of the five other Strategy cards (Move 2, Move All, Conquer, Fight
or Upgrade). Observe all rules that hold true for the chosen card. Keep in mind that the chosen
Strategy card can be any Strategy card no matter if it currently is in your hand or already played.

3. Give Starting Player marker

If you are the first player to have chosen and performed the Ritual Strategy card this Season,
take the starting player marker and give it to any player free of choosing. This player can be
yourself, any other player or the same player as before. This may change the starting player for
the upcoming Season. In the current Season, continue players’ turns in clockwise order.
Any other player after the first player to perform the Ritual action in the same season cannot
change the starting player.
9. Battles
9.1. Battle cards
Battle cards form the second set of hand cards next to the Strategy cards, which are kept
separate from each other. They have a number value printed on the upper left corner and are
used for 2 actions:

1. In the Recruitment phase they are revealed to determine how much additional Units all
players can distribute amongst their Armies.
2. During a Battle they are used to temporarily increase the Units of Armies by the value
shown on the card until the end of a Battle.
a. You can add the number value printed on the Battle card to your Armies’ Units
value if it matches a region type (red, green, blue) with any of your fighting
Armies’ Locations.
b. Players can also decide to place a Battle card from their hand face-down (that
does not match the region) to add a Units value of 1.

Battle cards have 3 different colors (blue, green and red) that correspond to the colors of the
regions on the map. There are four cards for each color and values are available in equal
numbers

● 6 Battle points (illustrated as cavalry)

● 5 battle points (illustrated as heavy infantry)
● 4 battle points (illustrated as spear fighters)
● 3 battle points (illustrated as archers)
 9.2. Initiating Battles
During the battle phase the players determine which Armies are involved in battles. Armies
engage in Battles if they are standing on connected Locations next to one or more enemy
Armies. If Armies are next to several enemy Armies (of same or different players) all Armies
engage in one big battle (see 9.4.).

In general, Armies never engage in Battles if they do not have a connection (=Street) to enemy
Armies. In addition, Armies can never participate in two different battles during the battle phase.
After they fight one battle, the Army is “deactivated” and is not considered for any further battles
that might follow in the current Battle phase. To indicate this, place all Armies which have
participated in Battles onto their side. They are put back up again after all Battles have ended.

Example 1: Markus (yellow player) fights against Roxi (purple player). Both of Markus’ Armies
are involved in the battle as they have a direct connection to an enemy Army (see red circle).
Roxi’s 2nd Army cannot participate in the battle, because it is not adjacent to any enemy Army.
Example 2: 3 Armies of the teal player, 2 Armies of the gray player and 1 Army of the orange
player are standing like shown in the picture above at the start of the battle phase. In this
extreme example, there are two battles: One Battle happens between 2 teal Armies, 1 gray
Army and 1 orange Army. The second Battle happens between 1 teal and 1 gray Army. Battle 2
is independent from battle 1 because both Armies from the smaller battle (gray and teal) are not
connected with any other enemy Army that is involved in the bigger battle.

9.3. Fighting Battles

A Battle is broken down into the following steps:

Reveal Units: Players who are participating in the current Battle reveal the (combined) Units
values of all their participating Armies by showing their Units value on their Army dials.
Remember to hide this information again after the Battle as .

Set Units value: Set the initial Units value of each player by placing a player token onto the
respective spot on the Battle Tracker. In case an Ambush action was played, add +6 temporarily
to the Units value.

Determine Initiative: The Player with the lowest current Units value gains initiative. Initiative
can change multiple times.

Playing cards: The Player currently having initiative can perform the following 3 actions: Yield,
Accept Draw or play Battle cards.
Battle outcome: The losing player deducts the difference between their and the winning
players' Units value from their Armies and marks them on their dials. Then, their Armies are
moved to free adjacent Locations if possible.

9.3.1. Initiative
Initiative is a term used to describe that 1 specific player is able to take actions during Battle for
as long as they have Initiative. At the start of battle the player with the least Units value gains
initiative*. Initiative may change any number of times during a battle, but at any time only 1
player can have initiative. If the weaker player reaches the same Units or a higher Units, the
initiative to play battle cards moves to the now weaker (or equal) opponent.

* If both Armies start the Battle with exactly the same Units value, the player who is first in turn
(closest to the starting player) order has the Initiative. If the player decides not to play a card,
the initiative moves over to the second player. If this player also decides to not play a card, the
Battle ends in a Draw.

9.3.2. Playing cards

The Player currently having initiative can perform the following 3 actions:

● Play battle cards (details see chapter 7.4):

○ You may play Battle cards as long as you have initiative. Add up the number
value printed on the battle cards with your current Units value. Remember to only
play battle cards on the matching region type (green, red, blue) your fighting
Armies currently occupy.
○ If you can’t or won’t play any more battle cards, you need to Yield..
● Yield: You can or must Yield and accept the losses to your Armies. If the difference
between the winning and losing Armies (total value) equals or exceeds their Units value,
the Army is destroyed and taken off the board (details see “Battle Outcome” below).
● Accept Draw: When receiving initiative from opposing players and having the same
Units value as all other players participating in battle (and only then!) you can accept the
outcome of the battle as a draw. Neither Army will lose Units value, nor move or be
moved. The state of the board stays the same after the current battle.

Players play cards taking turns based on who has Initiative. The battle always ends either
because the player with the initiative accepts a Draw or because the weaker player accepts
defeat by yielding (or cannot play any cards anymore).

Please note that this explanation is for battles in which two different players participate in. If
three or more players are involved in a battle, see chapter 9.4. “Battles with more than 2
Players”.

Example:
Roxi (violet) and Lisa (orange) engage in a battle. Roxi has one Army with a unit value of 6 and
can only play red battle cards. Lisa has two Armies with unit values of 5 each and can play both
red and blue battle cards. This is a very favorable position for Lisa.

Markus (green) fights with two Armies against Andreas (blue). Andreas can only play BLUE
battle cards face up in this battle. Markus can play battle cards from GREEN and RED face up
in this battle in any combination or quantity that he likes. However, Markus cannot play any
BLUE cards face up.

With his two Armies of 5 Units each, Markus has a total Units of 10. Andreas' Army just has 6
Units. Andreas must now play battle cards or face a costly defeat (-4).

Andreas plays a “3 blue”. Thus Andreas now has 9 Units. He has still 1 less than Markus and
decides to play another card.

Andreas plays a “4 (blue)”. Now Andreas has 12 Units. He has 2 more than Markus.
Because his Armies stand in the red and green region Markus can play red and green cards in
any combination or quantity he likes. Markus plays a “2 (green)”. Thus now has 12 Units and is
still one behind. He follows up by playing a “3 (red”) Now he has 15 Units compared to Andreas’
13.

Andreas decides to play a “2”. He is still weaker than Markus with 14 vs 15.

Andreas decides to play no more cards and accepts his defeat. His Army will only lose 1 Unit
because of the close difference.

9.4. Battle Outcomes: Draw, retreat, chase and destroy

Once a battle ends there are two outcomes: Either the battle is a draw or one player wins the
battle and the other players lose.

Draw: When the Units of both Armies in a battle are the same, the player with the initiative to
play battle cards has the option to not play any more cards and the battle ends in a Draw. All
Armies involved remain in their current positions, no Units are lost, no one wins or loses and no
Chases or Retreats will be performed.

Defeat/Victory: If the player with the lower Units value (Armies Units + played cards) chooses
to stop playing cards or runs out of cards, they lose the battle. Their Army loses an amount of
Units equal to the difference in Units between them and the winning player. The defeated player
must update the value of their Armies on their Army dial. If more than 1 Army is involved, the
defeated player has to assign all losses to a single Army (at the losing player’s choosing). Any
losses exceeding the Units value of the chosen Army is then deducted from the next
participating Army and so on. After an Army is defeated, there are 3 possible outcomes:

● Destroy: If an Army's Units value drops to zero or below, it is immediately destroyed and
removed from the Map. Also, if any losing Army can’t retreat to a free or self-controlled
Location, that Army is destroyed regardless of their Units value. The winning player
immediately may perform a free “Upgrade Action”. Thus this player may upgrade up to
two of their Fortresses by 1 player token following all the upgrade rules (see chapter
8.3).

Destroyed Armies are taken off the map. However, their Units value is not reduced to
zero but is reduced to half the Units values they started the battle with (rounded down to
a minimum of 1). Destroyed Armies can be retrieved in the “Recruit and Recover” phase
(see chapter 5.4). In this phase, previously destroyed Armies may be placed onto
self-controlled Locations with Fortresses.

Example: Lisa’s Army of a Units value of 3 is destroyed in battle. She puts the Army off
the map and reduces the Units value on the dial to 1.
 ● Retreat: All defeated Armies with 1 or more remaining Units must retreat to an adjacent
Location. The winning player chooses the order in which Armies retreat but must ensure
to not destroy Armies by cutting off Locations and Location the losing Armies move on.
The general movement rules still apply. Therefore, the Army cannot be moved onto
spaces controlled by enemy Armies, but may be moved onto Fortresses or onto other
Armies of the same player. If no valid movement is possible, Armies are destroyed (see
above).
● Chase: The winning player has the option to "chase" 1 Army that has retreated (or has
been destroyed) by moving 1 of their own Armies to an adjacent Location previously
occupied by a defeated Army.

Note. Every defeated Army can only be chased by one victorious Army that is also adjacent to
it. A retreating Army can never be chased by two Armies at the same time or by an Army that
does not have direct access to the space it previously occupied (in the case of
multiplayer-battles). Also, a victorious Army can never chase more than one Army at the same
time. If any other (inactive) Army should happen to share the space with an Army that was just
defeated, it must retreat following the same rules as the defeated Army.

Example chasing an Army: Andreas’ teal Army is defeated by Alex’ 2 gray Armies. The teal
Army must retreat. Alex decides to move the defeated Army up (as it is the only viable position).
Then, Alex decides to chase the defeated Army with 1 of their Armies. They pick the lower right
Army outside of the Fortress and moves it to the space previously occupied by Andreas’ teal
Army.
Example chasing with 2 Armies: Alex wins with 1 gray Army against Markus’ 2 yellow Armies.
Alex moves both Armies of Markus away by one space. Then he decides to chase the Army in
the Fortress to occupy it in the following Conquer phase.

9.5. Resolving Battles with Multiple Players

If there are Armies of more than two players involved in the same battle, the Battle rules still
apply and play out as follows:

● The player with the lowest Units value always has the initiative and plays cards until they
are no longer the weakest player or decide to yield.
● If the weakest player reaches the same value as the lowest players after them, initiative
is passed to the weakest player next in turn order.
● If a player who has initiative decides to play no more cards and loses the battle, the
damage is always calculated based on the Units value of the currently strongest player.
At this point, the player leaves the battle and is involved again only in the Battle
Outcome step.
● The remaining players continue until there is 1 winner or all remaining players agree on
a draw if all have the same Units value.

In detail, the Battle goes as follows:

● All players determine their total Units by adding up all their Armies that are involved in
the battle and put 1 of their player tokens onto the corresponding space on the Battle
tracker
● The player with the lowest total Units is the weakest player and always has the initiative
to play battle cards (if two players have the same lowest value, turn order decides)
 ● Once a player (with Initiative) plays so many cards that they are no longer the weakest
player, the initiative immediately moves over to the now weakest player. In case of a tie
the next player in turn order has to now play cards.
● If one player has the initiative and decides to play no more cards (or can’t!), this player
immediately receives damage equal to the Units difference between them and the
strongest player. The player immediately reduces the value of their Army dial according
to the difference. If the Army is destroyed, this counts as destroyed by the currently
strongest player
● If players after taking losses still have Armies, all their Armies are now out of the battle
and will retreat once the battle is over for all players
● Then again, the remaining players determine who is the weakest player. This player has
now the initiative to play battle cards. If two players are tied, turn order is followed
starting from the starting player.
● The players continue the battle until there is exactly one player left who is declared the
winner of the battle or until all remaining players are equal in Units and all of them accept
a Draw
● After the battle is over, all defeated (and not destroyed) Armies of defeated players must
retreat to an adjacent Location. The winning player decides the movement for all
retreating Armies. However, this player must retreat all Armies if possible (The player
may not cut off a retreating Army with another retreating Army if preventable). The
winning player may then decide to Chase defeated Armies that are next to their Armies.
● If the rest of the players agreed on a Draw, no one can chase a defeated player and the
player can decide for themselves to which space they want to make their 1 retreatment
move. If they cannot retreat and are destroyed, no player can upgrade up to 2 of their
Fortresses by 1, because there is no winner of the battle.

10. Asymmetric Player Powers - Leaders

There are 4 Leaders that the players can choose from. Each Leader comes with two asymmetric
abilities which significantly change or add to the existing rules. If at any point rules contradict
each other, the asymmetric abilities overrule the rules printed in this rulebook. If you play the
game for the first time, we recommend not to use any leader abilities to learn the basics of the
game.

10.1. King Keralon

A: 4th Army
The player commands 4 Armies instead of 3.

At the beginning of the game,4 Armies are placed. The player uses them just like they would
use 3 Armies. The player still distributes only 12 points across these 4 Armies. The “Move all”
Strategy card allows you to move all 4 Armies (which can cause up to a total of 4 movements). If
the 4th Army is destroyed it may be recovered just like any other Army.

B: Champion
The player receives a +2 bonus on each face up battle card played in battle in which the
Champion participates.

Replaces 1 of your 3 Armies with the Champion/fourth Army meeple. This special Army is your
“Champion”. If the Champion participates in a Battle, add +2 Units to all Battle cards that are
played. Therefore, a 3 counts as a 5, a 4 as a 6, a 5 as a 7 and a 6 as 8 Units. This bonus only
counts for cards that are played face up. Face down cards still only add +1 Units. If more than
one Army of you engages in the same battle, all of your Armies profit from the Champion’s
bonus +2.

10.2. Lemron

A: Move 1 of your Fortresses by one step when using the “Ritual” action

Whenever you use your “Ritual” Strategy card you may decide to move 1 of your Fortresses to
an adjacent Location. Move the entire stack of tokens without changing its order or value.
The Fortress can be moved regardless of the presence of Armies on Locations. Fortresses can
be moved on top of other Fortresses controlled by this player which combines them for the rest
of the game. Fortresses cannot be moved onto locations where a neutral Fortress or a Fortress
controlled by another player is present.

B: Place tokens outside your Fortresses

Whenever you perform the “Upgrade” Strategy card you may also place your 2 player tokens on
any location currently occupied by one of your Armies in addition to existing Fortresses. This
allows you to “build” new Fortresses with a value of one on locations that do not currently hold a
Fortress. You can never use this ability to place a player token on an enemy Fortress or on a
location where none of your Armies is present. This ability may also be performed when the
“Upgrade” Strategy card is copied with the “Ritual” Strategy card.

10.3. Basil

A: Whenever 1 of your Armies would lose Units, instead add that much Units
Whenever you lose a battle and your Armies lose Units, add that much Units to your Armies
instead of losing them. This way, your Armies grow in size with every battle you lose. You can
only add Units that you would be able to lose. For example, an Army with a Units of 2 can only
add their current value of 2 to their Units and end up with 4 Units, regardless of the actual
difference in Units between the losing and winning Armies. Armies that would be reduced to
zero Units (or below) also gain Units equal to their current Units and not the actual Units
difference.
With this ability, Armies can only be destroyed if they are forced to retreat but there is no place
to retreat to. In this case the Army is taken off the map as detailed in chapter 9.3 “Battle
Outcome”.

B: Destroy 1 Army to win the game

When you destroy 1 enemy Army the game immediately ends and you win the game. Enemy
Armies are “destroyed” when either they are reduced to a Units of zero as a result of battles or
enemy Armies have no valid Location to retreat to. If someone else destroys an Army, this never
counts for you, regardless of whether you were part of this battle or not. This might happen in a
Battle with multiple players and the weakest player yields or can’t play any more Battle cards,
the Unit difference destroys the weakest Army and you are currently not the strongest player.

10.4. Vymar

A: Your face down battle cards count as +3 Units instead of +1

Whenever you play a battle card face down (e.g. if the card does not fit the region type) you add
+3 Units instead of +1 in this battle.

B: Add +1 movement when playing the “Ritual” Strategy card

Whenever you play the “Ritual” Strategy card you gain an additional +1 movement action that
you can use as part of this action in any order. Thus you may use Ritual as:
a) a “move 3”
b) “Move all AND move 1”
c) “Move 2 and upgrade
d) “move 2 and conquer”
e) or “Move 2 OR move 1 AND fight”

10.5. Pavyr

A: When playing your “Ritual” card you may steal battle card from opponents
As part of performing your “Ritual” card you may perform a “steal action”. For this action you
announce a “region” (green, blue, red). Every player has to give you one of their battle cards of
this region for each of their armies that is next to one of your armies. You have to discard down
to the hand limit.

B: Your Fortress add bonus point in fights

Whenever one of your army is involved in a fight your fortresses which are connected to at least
one enemy army who is part of the fight will grant you bonus points equal to the victory point
value of the fortress. The bonus points are added to the total units for this fight.
11. Game Variants
11.1. Team Mode Two vs Two

With four players, the game can be played in teams of two players each. In general, the players
keep control over their own Armies and can only move them, recruit for them or play battle cards
for their own Armies. However, they add up their victory points (=neutral and player tokens) in
the end. This way, every player plays independently with the following modifications:

Movement:
Players can move their Army on spaces that are currently occupied by an allied Army, just as if
this Army would be their own Army.

Conquer:
Every player marks their own Fortresses they conquer, which is relevant for placing defeated
Armies in the Recruitment phase. In addition players can never conquer Fortresses that belong
to allied players.

Battle:
In battle allied players add up their Units as if they were the Armies of a single player. The
initiative to play Battle cards always moves to the team with the lower score. Every player can
only play battle cards for the territories that their Army occupies. When a team has the initiative
to play battle cards the allied players must agree on who plays a card next. They still can only
play one card at a time. Players cannot play battle cards if their Army is not involved in a battle.

Players can never initiate a battle against their allies.

Scoring / End of Game:

The victory points of allied players are added together at the end of the game. The player’s
always win or lose as a team.

Table talk and hand cards:

The players are not allowed to show each other their hand cards (both Strategy and Battle
cards). However, they may talk about them freely. This will also allow the other team to gain
insights on what they are planning and doing. In general, all table talk is open and allowed,
however it is always subject to the other players listening. The amount of details shared and
strategies discussed will thus depend on the strategies of the players and the attentiveness of
the other team.
By default, it is not allowed that the teams retreat for a secret discussion on their strategy,
unless this option is made explicit and made available to both teams.

11.2. Two vs One (WIP)

There is also an experimental 2 VS 1 mode for three players which works like the 2 VS 2 mode
described above with the following modifications:
Setup:
Both teams play with 4 Armies in total. Team A with 2 Armies each, the third player with 4
Armies (use the power of the yellow player with the 4th army meeple). The team distributes 7
Units each at the beginning of the game. The third player places 14 Units.
The team each draws 5 starting hand cards and discards 1, the player draws the regular 10 and
discards 2.

Draw Action:
When performing a draw action the two players only draw 3 cards and keep 2, while the single
player draws 6 and keeps 4.

Glossary:
Action: part of a Banner on a Strategy card represented by an icon. Players may perform
actions to Move across the board, Ambush, Conquer Fortresses and upgrade or reduce the
value of your Fortresses.

Banner: part of a Strategy card. A single Banner may contain several (different) actions. It is
also possible that a Strategy card consists of 2 Banners. This is indicated by a gap in between
the Banners. Players must only perform all listed actions on 1 Banner.

Year: This term refers to game rounds. 1 Year consists of Strategy, Battle and Conquer Phase.
The game ends after completing 3 Years.

Season: Each Strategy phase consists of 4 seasons. In each season every player plays 1
Strategy card.

Army: Armies are represented by meeples on the board. Each player controls 3 Armies and
performs actions with them. They have a maximum of 15 Units. If an Army is destroyed in
Battle, reduce the current Units with half its value, rounded up.

Unit: Units show the power of Armies which is a value between 1 and 15. Units can be added to
an Army by recruiting or be killed in battle.

Battle Card: These cards represent temporary Units players may add to their Armies during
battle or are able to add permanently to their Armies during the Recruitment phase. Battle cards
are separated from your Strategy cards and form your hand.

Strategy Card: The 6 cards used by the players perform Actions during the Strategy Phase. In
each Strategy phase players play a total of 4 out of their available 6 cards. Strategy cards are
separated from your Battle cards and form your hand.
Region: Each map has different regions. There are forest regions (green), wetland regions
(blue) and town regions (red). The Regions in which Armies stand restrict which battle cards can
be played during Battle.

Army Dial: Dials to keep track of your respective Armies and their Units. In general, the Units
are kept secret from other players. When a Battle starts, players show each other the Unit value
on the dials of all participating Armies.

Location: Locations refer to any spaces on the map. These include points with and without
Fortresses.

Streets: Streets are the connections between Locations.

Player token: These tokens are used to indicate to which player a Fortress belongs and how
many victory points a Fortress is worth. They are also used to temporarily track the Units during
a Battle on the Battle tracker.

Leader: Players represent Leaders. They each have asymmetric abilities which change and
contradict this rulebook. Each Leader has 2 asymmetric abilities, which are shown on the A/B
sides of the Player boards.