Romance of the Three Kingdoms – Board Game Rule Book

Romance of the Three Kingdoms – Board Game Rule Book

Index of Contents Introduction . Foreword . Contents . Game Modes Initial Layout . Scenario Games . Random Maps Movement . Map References . Resident Garrison . Land Movement . Water Movement Combat Phase . Maneuvers . Debates . March . Defense . Tactics . Battle . Duels . Occupation . Regroup Deployment Phase . Card Actions . City Actions Game Objectives . Conquest . Overthrow Advanced Rules . Regent Bonus . Capital Takeover . Tributes . Treachery . Naval Ambush

Foreword

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a strategy board game. The game recreates the Three Kingdoms historical period in China. During that time (second century a.C.) the Han Dynasty was falling apart and local warlords disputed for the dominance of the land. Players portray these warlords and the game objective is to conquer all rivals or a significant number of territories to gain supremacy.

Some special rules are printed in italic format as optional for advanced players.

Contents

• 1 game board

• 6 capital city markers

• 450 army chips (75 Army chips of six different colors)

• 24 production chips

• 2 dices of 6 sides (2d6)



• 40 Officer cards

• 40 Special cards

• 40 Weaponry cards

• 40 Tactic cards

• 24 Regent cards

• 1 Rulebook

• 1 Scenarios Booklet

Game Modes

The game can be played in three different modes:

• Historical Scenarios: represent particular circumstances of the Three Kingdoms period. Players embody the most important characters of the moment. See Historical (and Generic) Scenarios Guide for further reference.

• Generic Scenarios: are balanced divisions of the map by the number of players. Players may choose to use the recommended character, but as there is no real historical reference, they can also be chosen freely.

• Random Map: all players draw a random Regent Card and occupy the character historical capital territory and the adjacent territories. Anything can happen!



Initial Layout

Players choose a color for their faction and occupy the game board as follows.

For Scenario games:

• A capital city marker in the territory set as capital for that faction in the Scenario;

• 4 armies in the capital city territory set for that faction in the Scenario;

• 2 armies in each city territory and 1 in every port and wall included for that faction in the Scenario;

• Two cards of each type (Officer, Special, Weaponry and Tactic);

• A card of the type set as bonus for the Regent card drawn;

For Random Map games:

• A capital city marker in the territory set as capital for Regent card drawn;

• 4 armies in the capital city territory;

• 2 armies in three city territories listed in the Regent card;

• Two cards of each type (officer, special, weaponry and tactics);

• A card of the type set as bonus for the Regent card drawn;

The Regent Card

Capital City territory

Other Starting Cities

Regent Bonus Card

(Bonus Card Deck)

Regent Name

Regent Bio

Each game turn has two stages: deployment and combat. At the beginning of the game, the initial layout serves as the deployment stage of the first turn. When the initial layout is completed for all players, everyone rolls a 10-face dice (d10) and the highest roll starts the combat stage of the turn.



Map References

There are only a few elements on the game map:

• Cities, such as Chang An, Luo Yang or Chen Liu below, are represented by “stars”. The green area with the brown perimeter around a city is referred to as a City Territory.

• Ports, such as Jie Xian, Guan Du and Bai Ma, are represented by “shields”. The green area with the brown perimeter around a port is referred to as a Port Territory.

• Walls, such as Tong, Hu Lao and Hu, are represented by “towers”. These mostly represent the narrow mountain passes frequently used in the novel to set up fortifications or ambushes for large armies. The green area with the brown perimeter around a wall is referred to as a Wall Territory.

• Land Roads are represented by the white dotted lines. Keep in mind that territories (of any kind) are considered adjacent if directly connected by land roads. So the cities of Luo Yang and Wan may seem to be adjacent territories but they aren’t. On the other hand, the cities of Wan and Chen Liu don’t seem adjacent but they actually are. See the “Land Movement” entry below for further reference.

• There are also five Maritime Areas in the game board (Yellow River, East China Sea, Lower Great River, Upper Great River and River Han). The Upper Great River and the River Han maritime areas are considered adjacent.

• Sea Lines are represented by blue dashed lines and connect all ports allowing sea travel. All ports in the same or an adjacent Maritime Area are considered adjacent to each other with some restrictions. See “Water Movement” below for further reference.

Resident Garrison

When you place your first army in a territory, that army becomes the “Resident Garrison”, and cannot be moved away, leaving an “empty” territory. The only two ways a territory can become “vacant” is either by using a Collaborate Special Card or when the territory is under attack and both defender and attacker annihilate each other in the battle.



Land Movement

As stated before (see Map References), movement over land can only be carried out between adjacent land territories; that is, those directly connected through Roads (white dotted lines).

Observe below that the cities of Luo Yang and Wan may seem to be adjacent territories (they share a frontier) but they aren’t (they are not connected by a road).

On the other hand, the cities of Wan and Chen Liu don’t seem adjacent (they don’t share a border) but they actually are (they are connected by a road).

These variations represent mostly the predominant rough mountainous landscape. In actual fact, the left half and most of the southern part of the game board is highland country. While the terrain may erect impassable barriers between some areas, it also leaves some narrow corridors as “shortcuts” for the clever General.

Water Movement

Movement over water can only be carried out between adjacent Port Territories; that is, those directly connected through Sea Lines (blue dashed lines). Bypassing territories is allowed in water movement, but only if those are occupied by your armies or by other player’s armies that won’t attack your fleet (see “Right of Passage” below).

Departing from a Port Territory in a certain Maritime Area (say, River Han) you can only disembark in a Port Territory of the same Maritime Area, or an adjacent one (in this case, the Upper or Lower Great River areas).

For example, if departing from Xin Feng port, if you control the Port Territories of Jie Xian and Din Qiu, you can move up to the Guan Du port directly. If all eleven ports in way are yours or “allied” ones, you could continue right up to Qu A ! ! (see Game Board).

• Right of Passage: you can bypass Port Territories of another player if both agree to that (meaning he won’t attack your bypassing forces). For example, you can depart from Xin Feng port, bypass the other player territories of Jie Xian and Din Qiu, and attack the port of Guan Du. Of course, this may be risky if the Treachery rule is in effect (more on that in the “Treachery” and “Naval Ambush” entries below).



Combat Phase

Once every player has performed his deployment, combat takes place, starting the player that deployed his forces after everyone else (“last placing, first attacking” initiative rule).

The player begins this stage of his turn by performing his chosen number of Offensive Action sequences, these being:

• Maneuver: the player uses a Special Card at hand;

o Debate: many Special Cards will require the player to perform a Debate challenge against the targeted opponent;

• March: his armies invade an adjacent enemy territory;

o Equip: player may choose to equip his armies with a Weaponry Card;

o Assign General: he may choose an Officer Card to lead them;

• Defense: the defender performs his Maneuvers and March his forces to the field to meet the invader’s challenge;

• Battle: opponents may use a Tactic Card; combat between armies is then resolved;

o Duel: during battle, a Duel between the army leaders may occur;

• Conquest: if the attacker eliminates all defender’s forces he conquests the territory and the attacking armies stay in the invaded territory for the remaining of the turn;

Once all his Offensive Actions are done, the player can rearrange his forces in two ways:

• Occupy: his armies that haven’t moved yet, may move to occupy a neutral (vacant) adjacent territory. No attacking is required.

• Regroup: the player may move the rest of his armies that haven’t moved yet to an adjacent territory under his control. Remember that the Resident Garrison cannot be moved out of its territory (see above).

Special Card’s Move: Bear in mind that your armies may be moved beguiled by the enemy; armies that have moved in the turn, willingly or not, cannot perform any other action. They can, however, attack in the same turn they have defended against an enemy attack.

Your enemy can use a Misinform special card to move your armies away, which counts as a “Regroup” move for them.

Some Perturb special cards also leave your armies stranded in a province leaving them no chance to “March”, “Occupy” or “Regroup”.

Also, playing a Reinforcements special card counts as a premature “Regroup” move for the army, so those cannot move again in that turn.

Combat continues in a clock-wise order until all players have performed their moves.



• Maneuvers refer to the strategic preparations made before battle. A player may choose to use a Special Card at this point to weaken the enemy’s position. Only one Special Card of each type can be used in each turn. If you have two “Sabotage” cards, you cannot play them both on the same turn, not even against different players.

• Debates are verbal challenges among characters under the player’s control. Many Special cards require you to perform a Debate feat to produce the card effect. During Debates, both attacker first, and then defender, may decide to use any of the specific Officer or Special cards that give bonuses under these situations. Once these cards are shown, both players roll a d6 dice (or the proper dice for the Cards played) and the higher roll wins.

• March is when a player’s armies invade an enemy territory adjacent to their position. It is done so by moving up to 3 armies at a time (a tandem) from one, two or three different territories under his control to an adjacent enemy territory. A player does not need to call out all his marches at once: attacks can be decided tandem by tandem.

See below two examples of armies being marched from different territories.

In one case, the attackers fall upon Wan from Shang Yong, Wu and Chen Liu. All these lands are adjacent because they have Roads connecting them directly.

The other example is a naval attack on Guan Du, from Jie Xian and Din Qiu, supported by a land force from Chen Liu. Remember that Port territories – in the same Maritime area or an adjacent one – are considered adjacent if all ports in between them are occupied by your own forces or “neutral” ones (see Right of Passage above).

Whether its armies come from the same territory or not, in battle, the attacking tandem will share the Weaponry, Officer and Tactic cards the attacker decides to use.

The word “tandem” will always be used referring to a group of one to three armies – the range of effect of a Weaponry Card –.



• Equip and Assign General: After marching his armies, if he wishes, the player may equip these armies with Weaponry. In that case, he must play the desired Weaponry card (only one) from his hand, in the board game, facing down. He can also choose to provide his force with a leader, so he plays an Officer card (only one) also facing down.

Siege equipment (Catapult Towers, Battering Rams and Warships) and armies not equipped with a Weaponry Card are considered Swordsmen, and fight with a d6 dice.

• Defense: All armies in the invaded territory participate in its defense. So at this point, the defendant has to analyze the situation and choose whether he wishes to perform strategic maneuvers of his own (play a defensive Special Card), and use a Weaponry or Officer Card (only one of each) to assist his defensive tandem.

• Battle: Tandems placed, and Weaponry and Officer Cards being presented, the Cards are turned over, and the players (attacker first) may choose to use a Tactic Card (only one) to improve the effectiveness of his force. Notice that almost every Tactic Card requires a Weaponry Card to be in use in the tandem.

Attacker rolls a dice for the first army, then the defender does, and the player with the lower result of both looses an army. A tie means both (single) armies are destroyed. This may result in the territory being left vacant, and left free to be taken (occupy) by the first arriving. Combat goes on until the entire attacking tandem is destroyed or all defendant armies in the territory are. Battles are “do or die” clashes; there is no withdrawal after battle has started. ¡Being a General in the Three Kingdoms time was a risky business!

After a tandem of armies (attacking or defending) is destroyed in battle, its Weaponry Card is lost. If the battle ends with one tandem not having lost a single army, the Weaponry card is preserved.

The last tandem standing gets to keep his Officer Card.

All Tactic Cards used are always removed after battle.

Each card can only be used once in a turn, so Cards used during the turn and not lost, remain shown (“turned”) until recovered in the Deployment stage.

Regent’s Bonus Card is permanent, so it’s never lost, but “turned” after use for the remaining of the turn.

With this mechanics, an attacking tandem can loose 3 armies at the most in each battle. But with the right combination of cards and a share of luck, the attackers can wipe out a numerous defending force.

• Duels: When during battle, both players roll a dice of 1, a Duel occurs. In that case, both attacker first, and then defender, may decide to play any of the specific Officer or Special Cards that give bonuses under these situations. Once these cards are shown, both players roll a d6 dice (or the proper dice for the Cards played) and the higher roll kills all armies in the loosing tandem, plus all Officer Cards attached to it. Ties in Duels are unaccounted and must be re-rolled. Duels happen even if the tandem has no Officer Card assigned to it. Cavalry rolls of 1 force a Duel, independently of the dice of the opponent.



These marches in (up to) 3-army tandems can be repeated in the same turn as long as there are armies available.

• Occupy: After a player has perform all his Offensive Actions, his armies that haven’t moved yet, may move to occupy a neutral (vacant) adjacent territory. No attacking is required. When occupying a Capital city territory, the Capital Takeover advanced rule may apply (see below).

• Regroup: the player may move the rest of his armies that haven’t moved yet to an adjacent territory under his control. Remember that the Resident Garrison cannot be moved out of its territory (see above).

In standard terms, the Right of Passage (see Water Movement above) applies to both Offensive Actions and Occupy/Regroup moves. But that may not be the case if the Treachery advanced rule is in effect, so ¡beware of Naval Ambushes!

Once all players have performed their combat moves, the deployment stage follows, starting with the player that has attacked first in that turn and following in a counter clock-wise order (the “attacked first, places first” deployment initiative rule).



Deployment Phase

Once every player has performed his combat moves, Deployment takes place, starting the player that performed his combat moves after everyone else in the last turn (“attacked first, places first” initiative rule).

First of all, the player recovers all “turned” cards (used and not lost) in his combat turn. Then, the Card Actions are performed, and finally, City Actions are carried out. Once the player finishes his deployment phase, the next player in a counter clock-wise order does, until all players have executed their actions.

• Card Actions: are extra Deployment Actions allowed by some Regent Cards, Special Cards (Unique Items) or by Officer Cards that portray members of the royal council (Council Cards). All Card Actions must be executed by the player before his City Actions take place. Again, remember that each Card can only be used once in a turn.

• City Actions: are Deployment Actions performed in each City Territory that the player controls. These are:

o Recruit: the player places an Army chip in the City Territory.

o Outfit: the player draws a Weaponry Card

o Drill: the player draws a Tactic Card

o Employ: the player draws an Officer Card

o Sovereign: the player draws a Special Card

Remember, you can only perform one City Action per City Territory under your control. Port and Wall Territories do not bestow extra Deployment Actions.

Production Chips are used to keep track of which cities have already performed their Deployment Actions. When a player has many cities under his control, he can choose to use these chips, placing one of them over each city he owns before carrying out his City Actions. Each chip is removed when each Action is executed, until all of them are.

When everyone deployed their forces, the last player that deployed starts the combat stage (“placed last, attacks first” initiative rule).



Game Objectives

• Conquest: The most usual ending of the game is one player achieving the Common Objective of a certain number of cities under his control. The other being wiping out all his enemies without achieving that amount, but that is hardly the case.

The Common Objective depends on the number of players in the game.

o In a 3-players game, the objective is to become Emperor.

o In a 4-players game, the objective is to become Regent.

o In a 5-players game, the objective is to become Duke.

o In a 6-players game, the objective is to become Baron.

These titles are achieved by controlling the stated number of City Territories at the end of the Combat Phase, after all players have concluded their attacks.

Port and Wall territories do not sum up to reach the objective quantity, unless more than one player reaches the Common Objective at the same time. In that case, these territories are also accounted. If the tie still prevails, another turn must be played.

• Overthrow: If a player conquers all Capital City Territories of all the other players wins the game. Although this is difficult to achieve completely, the partial accomplishment of this objective has mayor implications.

Vassalage: Capital City Territories are of the outmost importance in the game. The main reason is that conquering an enemy Capital means you subdue the whole enemy faction to your side.

When you conquer an enemy Capital you can account for all the territories of the deposed enemy as if they were your own for the purpose of reaching the Common Objective only.

For example, in a 6-players game the Common Objective is to control 16 cities. At the end of the Combat Phase, if you control 10 cities yourself and the faction you have subdued controls 6 more, then you have won the game.

Keep in mind that the vassalage takes effect at the end of the turn. So, the defender may try to take back his invaded Capital if he didn’t attack in that turn yet.

For as long as the vassalage endures, the Vassal Regent’s Bonus of the Regent Card applies to the Ruling Regent.

The Vassal Sovereign continues playing but he cannot attack or be attacked by the Ruling Sovereign. The Capital territory remains in the hands of the Ruling Sovereign until the circumstances change (see next).



Vassal Sovereigns continue playing freely until one of these situations change their status:

• Invasion: The ruling sovereign looses the vassal’s Capital City Territory; the vassalage is transferred to the new controller of the Capital City Territory.

• Annihilation: The vassal sovereign looses all his territories.

• Independence: The ruling sovereign looses all his territories but the vassal’s capital city. The vassal’s capital city is automatically restored to him with a free resident garrison. So the ruling sovereign is actually annihilated.

• Emancipation: The ruling sovereign Capital City is conquered. The ruling sovereign vassalages are not transferred. Instead, they conclude and all vassals capital cities’ are automatically restored to them, each with a free resident garrison.

Each location depicted in the Game Board is full of history. Luo Yang was capital city in the late Han Dynasty. The Emperor was facing the massive Yellow Turbans Rebellion, fostered by Zhang Jiao, native of Ye. When Luo Yang was occupied by the tyrant Dong Zhuo, a coalition of nobles tried to recapture it, which led to important combats near Hu Lao. It was then that the tyrant decided to move the imperial capital far away to Chang An. One of the coalition leaders, Cao Cao, vanquished the usurpers and moved the Court to the safety of Xu Chang. He then struggled for supremacy with the other major leader of the noble’s coalition, Yuan Shao. And the balance finally favored Cao Cao in the decisive battle of Guan Du.

Advanced Rules

• Regent Bonus: Each Regent Card has a particular “bonus”, bound to the Regent based on actual historical happenings. When the bonus is a card, this card is permanent, so it’s never expended, but “turned” after use for the remaining of the turn. It cannot be stole or given as tribute either. Only for as long as the Regent is a vassal of another player, his Bonus applies to the Ruling Regent.



• Capital Takeover: Once the resident garrison defending a Capital is finally destroyed, the attacker must choose whether to Duel or Debate against the defending Regent. The attacker must win the challenge to control the Capital city. Otherwise, the last Army is restored and the attackers must call off their invasion for the remaining of the turn.

• Tributes: As a common fair-play rule, players are not supposed to warn other players of potential dangers or generally give advice to them. As an exception, once a turn, during his Deployment and after all his City Actions, a player can give a single Weaponry Card to another player publicly stating very briefly what he expects about its use. The favored player needs not to reject nor comply with the donor’s statement. Only one tribute action is allowed per player per turn. Two players cannot tribute each other in the same turn.

• Treachery: This rule basically means that whatever two players agree to do, the word may not be kept by any one of them. The chances to betray an opponent are as numerous and varied as the possible “pacts” that can be forged between players. Players are strongly advised to state right from the start of the game if treachery will be allowed. Of course, advanced players ¡are strongly encouraged to allow it!

“All warfare is based on deception”

Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Chapter 1.17. Forefather of Sun Jian and his sons, Sun Ce and Sun Quan,

founders of the Kingdom of Wu (see Regent Cards).

• Naval Ambush: One particular maneuver is possible only if Treachery is allowed in the game. The Naval Ambush uses the Right of Passage rule to beguile the enemy (or your trustful ally) and attack him when or where he doesn’t expect you to. Think of this when you consider a Right of Passage petition:

o Disclaimer Tactic: ¿Does “Right of Passage to Attack” means also “Right of Passage to Regroup” afterwards?

o First Time Only Tactic: ¿Does “Right of Passage” includes another tandem if a first one is defeated?

o In-way Sightseeing Tactic: ¿What if the passing fleets suddenly find a more suitable landing site in their way through your territory?

o Warm Welcome Tactic: ¿Didn’t I told you about the “take a beating” coastal navigation toll on foreign fleets? ¡It’s just a bureaucratic procedure!

This board game is based on the videogame “Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI” by Koei Company Ltd. a subsidiary of Koei Tecmo Holdings Co. Ltd. Hope you enjoy this game as much as I did myself. Keep thinking!

Juan Patricio Carballal from Buenos Aires, Argentina

[email protected]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms – Board Game Rule Book

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