A Typical Turn

Each turn has several phases, which are as follows:

Resource Gathering - the player collects resource cards for each of their soldiers on the board and may trade resource cards with other players.

Purchasing - the player may spend their resource cards on items in the cost guide.

Special Abilities - the player may use special abilities for any structures they have on the board, including those just purchased.

Commands - the player may command tiles with soldiers to move or attack.

Fortify - At the end of the turn, the player may add one soldier for each base tile he is connected to.

For the complete Rules, download the reference kit below

Summary

Read an overview of the gameplay and then download the complete rules below.

The Objective

The goal of the game is to capture 20 enemy soldiers. The first player to do this wins. However, if all of one player's soldiers have been captured (they have no more on the board or in their reserve pile), then the player who has the highest number of enemy soldiers captured wins.

Board layout and Base Tiles

The board is comprised of 7 Base Tiles and 6 kinds of Resource Tiles, with 12 extra Resource Tiles to be added to the board during gameplay.

The board is made up of hexagon-shaped tiles set up in a large hexagon shape. These tiles consist of six different kinds of resource tiles as well as a base tile in the middle of the board and at each of the six corners. Each time the board is set up, the location of resources is randomized. Players will place their soldiers on resource tiles based on which resources they would like to collect and which parts of the board they'd like to control.

As players move soldiers from tile to tile, they leave behind Possession Markers to claim those tiles as part of their territory.

Soldiers can never be placed on base tiles. However, a soldier's territory must connect to a base tile or the soldiers in that territory will die. If you expand too far away from a base tile, another player could move in behind you, separating your territory from a base tile and capturing your soldiers

Attacking

The most common way of capturing enemy soldiers is to attack. You can command the soldiers on one tile to attack enemy soldiers on an adjacent tile. (Some upgrades allow you to attack tiles that are further away.) When attacking, each player rolls two dice. The player whose dice have a higher sum captures one of the other player's soldiers. (A tie favors the attacker in this game.) This continues until the attacker stops his attack or until all of the soldiers on the attacking or defending tile have been captured.

Resource control

Possession Markers are placed to identify territories you control. Territories (highlighted) must remain connected to a base tile or all of the Soldiers in the territory will die.

Resource cards are earned for each Soldier on the board and can be spent on a wide range of upgrades and abilities.

Each turn you may collect one resource card for each soldier you have on the board - corresponding with the resource tiles they occupy. Some players position their soldiers on the board in order to earn specific resources for a specific upgrade, while others may try to control certain resources in order to limit their enemy's access to them. You can tell a lot about your opponent's strategy by what resources they are focusing on.

Spending your Resources - What upgrades and abilities will you choose?

On your turn, you can trade resource cards with other players regardless of whether or not they are your ally. Your resource cards can be spent on a wide variety of items to help you win.

Basic Purchases include Reinforcements, which lets you add soldiers from your reserve pile onto the board; Exploration, which lets you add a tile to the edge of the board and place a possession marker on it; and Secret Weapons, which lets you draw from the Secret Weapons Card deck for one of several very powerful single-use perks - like jailbreaking captured soldiers or blocking an enemy's nuclear strike.

Purchasing Secret Weapons cards gives you a one-time use perk that can dramatically impact the game if the card is played at the right time.

You can also spend your resource cards on Upgrade Tokens, which permanently improve the all of your soldiers in the territory of your choice - such as giving them the ability to attack tiles that are further away, increase the value of each dice roll, and enhance their mobility around the board.

Upgrade Tokens are placed in the middle of a territory and permanently improve all of the soldiers in the territory.

Special Ability Structures can be purchased and placed on the board to provide additional abilities such as calling down a nuclear strike on an enemy tile or paratrooping some of your soldiers from one side of the board to the other. Structures can only be used once per turn and many of them require you to spend additional resources per use. Unlike Upgrades, Structures can be stolen from you if another player manages to infiltrate the tile that the structure is placed on.

Structures give you access to Special Abilities, but can be stolen from you if the enemy takes over the tile your structure is on.

Download

Download the Reference Kit

The Reference Kit includes:

• Printable Rule Book

• Printable Cost Guide

• Printable Secret Weapons Deck Reference Sheet