Classic Warlord
Classic Warlord Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction to How the Game Is Played, the Board and the Equipment
There are 600 regions on all 8 boards. Each region falls into one of the following 6 categories:
- Mega Cities (yellow) are a selection of giant cities with special strategic locations.
- Key Regions (red) are densely populated political and economic centres.
- Rural (green), Mountains (brown), Sea (blue) and Lightly-populated (white) are the other regions.
The game contains Rules, a Questions-and-Answers Guide, 8 Map-Boards and the following Equipment:
- Packs of 200 counters in 7 different colours. Each player selects a pack of counters for his armies.
- A pack of 150 square black counters 'black splats'. These are used to mark radioactive regions.
- Red interlocking units. These make up A-Bombs.
- White interlocking units. These make up H-Bombs.
- A dice. Players use the dice in a strategic, bluffing, and calculating manner. It is never thrown.
Classic Warlord can be played over all 8 boards or over many combinations of fewer boards. New players are advised to have a quick practice-game over just the south-west corner section. Games played with just 1 or 2 boards should finish well within 2 hours. When using less than 8 boards, some regions on the edge of a board will only half-appear. Where that happens, only include in the playing area those regions that have got a name.
Choosing the Mountain Starting Points and Creating Tiny Empires
Players sit around the board(s) and take turns to play. As there is a very small advantage in being the first to play, draw lots to decide who starts. The first player puts one of his armies on any mountain region of his choice. Then the second player puts one of his armies on any mountain so long as it is not adjacent to the first player's mountain (adjacent regions share a common boundary). Player three puts one of his armies on any mountain that is not adjacent to either of the first two players' mountains...until every player has got one mountain.
Each occupied mountain is an example of a tiny one-region empire.
Next, check if there are enough spare mountains left for every player to get a second one (again making sure that it is not adjacent to a mountain already occupied by the player or by anyone else). If so, everyone takes a second mountain, then a third etc until there are not enough mountains left for every player to take an extra one.
At this point, the mountain-allocation stage of the game is over. All players have the same number of mountains. They are ready to extend their empires. They set about colonising empty regions and attacking enemy-held empires.
The Three Phases of a Player's Turn
- Phase 1: Firing and exploding bombs. By-pass this phase and go straight to Phase 2 if you have no bombs. Bombs do not usually appear until 3 or 4 rounds have passed.
- Phase 2: Claiming extra armies for each of your empires and adding them to the board.
- Phase 3: Moving your armies into empty regions and attacking enemy-held regions.
On his turn, a player must complete Phase 1 before starting Phase 2 and complete Phase 2 before Phase 3 starts.
Phase 1. Firing H-Bombs and A-Bombs
Although bombs don't appear on the board till 3 or 4 rounds have passed, it helps players to have some advanced knowledge of what bombs do. But for new players, feel free to abstain from bomb-firing, bypass Phase 1 and just focus on army manoeuvres. It is possible to have a good game, sometimes even to win, without ever firing a bomb in anger.
There are 2 types of bombs, A-bombs (made up of red interlocking units) and H-bombs (white units ditto). No more than 1 bomb can be sited on any region but a bomb can have its range extended by adding an interlocking unit to it. A 1 unit bomb can cross up to 1 boundary before exploding, a 2 unit bomb up to 2 boundaries, etc.
Players win bomb-units by being aggressive. An A-bomb unit is won for each successful army attack. An H-bomb unit is won every time an A-bomb is fired off. A player sites his bomb-units as soon as he wins them but cannot use them until his next turn. Bombs stay on their original site until they are fired off or detonated. Some are just kept as deterrents.
Phase 1(a). Firing off H-bombs
H-bombs can only be fired off right at the beginning of one's turn. They can explode on any region that lies within their full range.
The explosion site and all regions next to it have "radioactive" black splats put on them. There is a wider devastated area made up of these radioactive regions and all regions next to them. In this devastated area, all armies are lost and all bombs explode on their site.
(Diagram: effects when an H-bomb explodes on Madrid. Key: black splat; devastation boundary.)
Phase 1(b). Firing off A-Bombs
A-bomb firing follows immediately after H-bomb firing (if any).
Like an H-bomb, an A-bomb can explode on any region within its range but the effect is smaller. Only the explosion-site has a radioactive black splat put on it. The devastated area too is smaller: just the explosion site and regions next to it. Just like with H-bomb explosions, within the devastated area, all armies are lost and all bombs explode on site.
(Diagram: effects when an A-bomb explodes on the Irish Sea.)
On firing an A-bomb, an H-bomb unit must immediately be added to a non-devastated region in the firing empire. So, no A-bomb can be fired that leads to its empire's suicide. Also, the newly placed H-bomb unit cannot be exploded during the turn of the player who has placed it.
Note the effect of chain reactions. Within a devastated area, all bombs detonate on site. This can cause more regions to become radioactive and widen the devastated area, causing more bombs to detonate etc.
What happens later to radioactive and devastated regions? A black splat stays on a radioactive region for the rest of the game. Armies can never re-enter it. But armies can re-enter any non-radioactive devastated region.
Phase 2. Adding Extra Armies to Each of a Player's Empires
First, a player works out how many distinct empires he's got at the start of Phase 2. That's easy when the game begins. All he's got are a few single-region mountain empires. Later, when the empires get bigger or merge, use the simple rule: "If a region shares a boundary (i.e. is adjacent) to an empire, it is part of that empire."
Then, for each of your separate empires, add extra armies to them, claiming...
- 1 extra army automatically, whatever the nature of the empire,
- +1 extra army for each (yellow) Mega-City held,
- +1 extra army for every 2 (red) Key Regions held,
- +1 extra army for every 3 (green) Rural Regions held.
Note. Having lots of armies on one region does not help a player get more armies. 1 army holding a region is as good as 10 from an extra armies point of view.
Extra armies must only be added to the empire from which they have been claimed. But within that empire, you are free to distribute them any way you like: all on 1 region or spread over several. All extra armies must be added to all one's empires on the board before any Phase 3 moves or attacks are made.
Phase 3. Army Moves and Army Attacks
During Phase 3, you have complete freedom as to the order in which you mix moves with attacks.
How to Move Armies
You may move some of your armies out of a region subject to 2 conditions:
- (i) you must leave at least 1 army behind,
- (ii) you can only move armies into an adjacent region currently unoccupied by you or anyone else.
Examples of moves that you cannot make:
- You cannot move into a region that you already occupy.
- You cannot move out of a region leaving it empty.
- You cannot move into an empty region from 2 directions.
- You cannot move into a non-adjacent region.
How to Attack Enemy-Held Regions
If you have 2 or more armies on a region, you may attack an adjacent enemy-held region. You must not combine armies from two or more of your regions to make an attack.
The Attacking Procedure
- The attacker secretly selects any number on a dice not greater than the number of armies on the attacking region.
- The attacker hides the dice under a cup.
- The attacker says from where and to where he is attacking and challenges the defender to guess the secret number.
- After making a guess, the defender lifts the cup and inspects the dice.
Has the defender guessed correctly?
- If YES: Remove from the attacking region the number of armies that was guessed. You have completed this particular attack. You may attack again or move or attack elsewhere.
- If NO: Look at the empire of the successful attacking armies. Immediately add 1 A-bomb unit either to a region without a bomb or to a region already possessing an A-bomb (which has its range increased by 1). Remove just 1 army from the defending region. Then, has the defending region lost its last army?
- If YES: The number of armies last staked on the dice must move in from the attacking to the defending region (even if the attacking region is left empty). You have completed this particular attack; you may attack again or move or attack elsewhere.
- If NO: You have completed this particular attack. You may attack again or move or attack elsewhere.
Special Rules of Attack
- For attacks on a mega-city: you must not select "1" on the dice.
- For attacks on a mountain: you must not select "4", "5" or "6".
- For attacks from sea to land: the defender makes two simultaneous guesses. If just one of these guesses is right, the defender wins.
- For attacks into a sea region: no dice is used. All of the defender's armies are removed. Then, some of the attacker's armies must move in to the now-empty sea-region just as if it were any other empty region. No A-bomb units are granted for these into-the-sea attacks.
On finishing all the moves and attacks he wants to make, a player's turn is over and the next player's turn begins.