A fantasy strategy game of conquest
The journey begins
Build the map, summon your creatures, and carve out a realm — before your rivals carve out yours.
Safety net: end a turn with no creature on the board and you receive 1 gold.
Each turn grants 3 actions. Spells and abilities are free — they cost neither gold nor actions — though abilities activate only once unless stated. When your actions are spent, announce the end of your turn.
Reading the board
Your seat decides your orientation — every card you play is turned to face where you sit. Your creatures and claimed lands are readable from your side of the table, your rival’s from theirs, so positions and allegiance are discerned at a glance.
Take a tile and its land card turns to face you. Lose it, and it turns away.
Up to six players — one per side of the hexagon. Introduced at setup, step 5.
Play a creature card with its matching land card, pay its gold cost, and place it on that land tile.
Move one of your creatures to an adjacent tile. Land cards stay behind — territory endures.
Attack an enemy creature on an adjacent tile. Strength modifier plus a die roll decides the day.
Collect gold equal to the value of a land tile your creature occupies. Each tile harvests once per turn.
Draw a card and ready your next manoeuvre.
The art of conquest
Summoning requires both a creature card and its matching land card. Pay the creature's gold cost, place your land card on its tile in your orientation, and set the creature on top. Each land card summons only once — afterwards it marks your control of the tile.
Move onto a tile holding another player's land card and turn it to your orientation — it is yours. Unoccupied land is there for the taking, so defend what you claim.
Spend an action to harvest gold equal to the value on a land tile your creature occupies. A creature may harvest several tiles in a turn, but each tile yields only once per turn.
Both sides roll a six-sided die and add their strength modifier. Win by 4 or more and the enemy is destroyed. Win by less and the defender must retreat to an adjacent unoccupied tile beyond the attacker's reach — with nowhere to run, they fall, and the attacker claims the vacated tile.
Nine realms
Every creature and every land belongs to a biome. Match the land and be buffed; mismatch it and be debuffed. Consult the chart whenever a creature interacts with a new land tile.
Match — ConditionedGain one gold when your creature enters or leaves.
Mismatch — ScortchedLose one gold when your creature enters or leaves.
Match — HiddenGain +2 strength when defending.
Mismatch — TangledYour creature can not enter and leave this biome on the same turn.
Match — Acclimatized+2 strength.
Mismatch — Frostbitten−2 strength.
Match — RangedAttack creatures from an additional tile away; on success, move into the new tile without changing ownership of the skipped tile.
Mismatch — Exposed−1 to all rolls.
Match — Resourceful+2 gold when harvested.
Mismatch — IsolatedSpells and abilities that directly affect this creature do not work.
Match — Negotiator+2 gold for each adjacent allied creature, −1 gold for each adjacent enemy creature when harvested.
Mismatch — Haggled+1 gold for each adjacent allied creature and −2 gold for each adjacent enemy creature when harvested.
Match — EvolvedCompletely skip swamp tiles for 1 action; only costs 1 action to move into or out of.
Mismatch — StuckCosts 2 actions to move into or out of.
Match — LuckyWhen you enter, roll a die — on a 6, gain 4 gold.
Mismatch — UnluckyWhen you enter, roll a die — on a 1, discard two non-land cards from your hand.
Match — NocturnalA creature can navigate out of a cave in any direction.
Mismatch — TrappedA creature may only exit this tile from the direction they entered; spells and abilities are not affected by this restriction.
Biome movement restrictions apply to battle retreats too: a defender that cannot legally leave its biome is destroyed, even with open tiles nearby — unless the biome simply costs extra actions to cross.
Ten lineages
From angelic hosts to risen undead — every creature bears a type, a biome, a strength modifier and, for some, a lightning-bolt reaction.
The path to victory
Before the first tile is placed, agree on the size of a winning realm: 3–7 connected land tiles. Fewer tiles make quick skirmishes; more tiles make long campaigns.
“I am in check.”
Complete your chain, announce it at the end of your turn, and hold it until your next turn begins — the realm is yours.
Rule of thumb: eight minus the number of players.