Getting Started:
Begin each game with a minimum of 50 cards (no maximum!), customizing your deck to fit your objective. Each starter deck contains 50 cards. Each booster set of 10 additional cards allows you greater opportunities to customize your deck with cards that will improve your chances of winning the game. Create your customized deck with any combination of cards from starter decks and booster sets.
Before play begins, take out all land cards from your deck and place them aside. Shuffle remaining cards and place them face down to your right (this pile will be subsequently referred to as your player’s deck). Place your land cards above your player’s deck. Take one land card (of your choice) and place it face up on the playing surface directly in front of you (your “battlefield”). This card represents the country where your civilization will begin. Later in the game, other land cards may be played to increase your land holdings. Draw five cards from the top of your player’s deck to use as your first hand. You may only look at the cards in your hand and the cards already in play on your battlefield space.
Set Up:
Each player begins the game with 500 morale points. Have one player serve as point keeper. Morale points are the only points recorded during every turn. In basic game strategy, the player who is the first to obtain 3000 morale points wins the game. (See Alternative Game Winning for other optional ways to win the game.)
The first two rounds of play allow you time to set up your civilization and to prepare for future battles. No attacks are permitted until the THIRD round, although playing any other cards that might hurt your opponent are allowed.
To set up your first civilization, choose character and army cards from your hand to protect your land and lead your troops. Character and army cards are placed above each country (or group of countries within one continent—See Gaining Land below). A maximum of four characters and two armies are allowed to protect any number of countries on each continent. (Anytime during the game, characters may be removed from your battlefield to your discard pile during any turn to be replaced by any other character in your hand who may benefit your strategy.) Certain characters allow transportation from one continent to another (see Transporting Cards). You must have at least one character protecting each continent. If you have no character guarding your land, that land card becomes forfeit and your opponent may take possession of the land card if he has a character to protect it.
You may play up to three cards per turn unless you play a card that indicates otherwise. After playing three (or fewer) cards, your turn is ended unless you decide to attack (see Attacks below) and you must take cards from your player’s deck to add to your hand for a total of five cards to be used on your next turn. (Note: Certain character cards, when placed on your battlefield, permit you to hold six cards in your playing hand. This bonus continues for every round that that character remains on your battlefield.)
Gaining Land:
An explorer card in your hand allows you to add a new land card to your battlefield (see Explorer Cards to learn of explorer cards’ other useful abilities). Pick the top card off of your land card pile. Countries from the same continent must be placed with any other land cards from that continent, and the same characters protect all countries located in the same continent. If your new land card depicts a country from a continent not yet present on your battlefield, place the new land card next to your other land cards and place character and army cards from your hand to protect the new country. Try to place as many character cards (no more than four) and army cards (no more than two) as possible to protect each country and continent from attacks by your opponent during his turn (see Attacks).
Using Event Cards:
Event cards may be played at any time during your turn. Read the ability plate (which is the second block of text from the bottom). The instructions on each card’s ability plate will tell you how that card can affect you or your opponent. After use, place the event card on your discard pile.
Unwanted Cards:
If you pick a card from your player’s deck that won’t benefit your playing strategy, place it on your discard pile without playing it. Remember, though, that your are allowed the use of only three cards during your turn, and a discarded card from your hand counts as one of those three cards.
Explorer Cards:
All explorer cards have abilities that may not be listed on the card itself. Besides allowing you to gain a new land, all explorer cards can transport any character or army to another continent IF the explorer card and the desired character or army card are on the same continent at the beginning of the that turn. In order to move a character or army to another continent, however, you must move the explorer card to the desired continent during one turn and you must then wait until your next turn to move the character or army card to that new continent.
Discard Pile:
When you are finished with a card or if a character is killed, hurt or otherwise disabled, place these cards face up in a pile to the right of your player’s deck, creating your discard pile.
ATTACKS
Restrictions:
Characters and armies may only attack an opponent’s country that lies within the same continent as the attacking land. For example, if you own the Germany land card and have amassed enough strength points through your German protector cards to make you confident that you could defeat your opponent in an attack, you are limited to attacking your opponent’s countries that are in Europe. If you attack with your Egypt card, you can only attack an African country on your opponent’s battlefield. Remember, each continent must have at least one character protecting that continent. A defenseless country may be seized by your opponent during his next turn if he has a character to defend the land.
Determining the Winner of an Attack Using Strength Points:
In a Historical Conquest attack, the player who has the battling country with the most strength points is declared the winner of the attack. Strength points are found in two areas on the cards. First, certain character and army cards have information about adding a certain number of strength points (found in the ability plate of the card, second block of text from the bottom), and, second, certain cards have numbers found in the lower right hand corner that represent additional strength points. The first of these corner numbers indicates the points given if you are the ATTACKING force in the battle. The second number represents the strength points for that card if you are the DEFENDING force in the battle. To calculate total strength points for your country that is involved in the attack, add all strength points found in all cards that are associated with the affected country (both in the right hand corner and in the abilities plate, second block of text from the bottom on the card). Note: A few cards allow armies to team up and combine strength points during an attack even if they are on different continents. Every card’s ability plate explains any special abilities or points awarded.
Claiming the Victory vs. Losing the Attack:
If your total strength points are greater than your opponent’s for the countries involved in the attack, you are declared the winner of the attack. As victor, you may choose any of your opponent’s characters to be killed (discarded). Also as victor, if you are the attacker, you may attack one more time during your turn, with the same rules as the first attack. If an opponent has no character cards left to defend a defeated country, an army card may be discarded. If NO character or army card remains to protect a country, the opposing player may seize the country if he has one character or army of his own to protect the newly acquired country. (Note: Your characters do not die if they are attacking your opponent’s land, only the player defending has the chance to lose characters, armies, and then land.) If, in the attack, the attacker loses in battle, he loses 100 morale points for every battle lost.
Winning the Game:
The standard method of winning Historical Conquest:
The first player to acquire 3000 morale points wins the game. For variety, players may try a game with one of the following winning strategies:
Alternate ending #1: Players count the number of rounds while keeping track of morale points. At the conclusion of the 25th (or what ever number players agree to) round, the player with the highest number of morale points wins the game.
Alternate ending #2: Players may increase the winning number of morale points (4000?).
Alternate ending #3: Players may continue attacking until one player obtains all of his opponent’s lands.
Alternate ending #4: Players may fight for world domination. The player wins by obtaining a predetermined number of countries (10? 20?).
Alternate ending #5: Choose your own winning strategy… the possibilities are endless…
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