Conan: The Shadow Kingdom
Conan: The Shadow Kingdom Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Shadows Linger
Suggested Heroes (2): King Kull (Atlantean Axe, Leather Armor), Brule (Cutlass, Javelin, Leather Armor)
The game starts with the Heroes' turn.
The Heroes deploy in the area indicated on the setup diagram.
After setup, Heroes do not move any gems from their Reserve zone to their Fatigue zone.
During setup, the Overlord selects the tokens numbered 1 through 3, and places one in each room (as shown on the setup diagram), number side down.
The Overlord starts with 9 gems in their Reserve zone, 0 gems in their Fatigue zone and places the recovery token showing a recovery value of "3" in the Book of Skelos.
Thulsa Doom has the Whirlwind and Teleport spells.
The Serpents Manifest: Replace up to 4 Bossonian Guards with Serpent-men. You may not have more than 5 Serpent-men of a single tile type on the board at one time. You may never have more than 10 Serpent-men on the board at once.
Winning the Game
The Heroes win immediately once they've acquired the Serpent Armlet AND there are no Serpent-men on the board.
The Overlord wins if all Heroes are killed OR if there is at least one Serpent-man on the board at the end of turn 8.
Special Rules
Tokens: When a Hero enters a room containing a token, flip the token. Each token represents something different. The 1 token represents the Serpent Armlet, the 2 token represents the Portcullis Lever, and the 3 token represents nothing but a waste of time.
The Serpent Armlet: The Heroes need to acquire the Serpent Armlet to win the game, but it also provides a bonus. Heroes in the same area as the Armlet may ignore Jinx and Protected (The Armlet does not need to be equipped). When the 1 token is revealed, replace it with the Halo of Mitra token. Once a hero spends 1 for a simple Manipulation to pick up this item, place this token around their base. It has zero weight and may be thrown, passed, or dropped like any other item.
The Portcullis Lever: When the 2 token is revealed, Heroes may pull the Portcullis Lever to seal off the castle and trap all trespassers. To do so they must be in the same area as the 2 token and spend 1 for a simple Manipulation. When they do this, all areas highlighted in yellow can no longer be crossed or accessed by any means. Use whichever tokens you wish to denote this. Any miniatures (including Bossonian Guards) in these blocked zones are trapped. Immediately remove them from the board, and place any Serpent-men back in the Overlord's pool; they may be brought back via the Event tile. Thulsa Doom is the exception. If he is trapped in any of these areas, he may still make his way back to an area of the board still in play. To do so, he must use his Teleport spell to cross over any blocked areas.
The Guards: The Bossonian Guards represent Kull's elite fighting men, the Red Slayers. Under Thulsa Doom's spell they are in a catatonic state, unable to move or speak, making it easy for Serpent-men to usurp their identities. For game play purposes, they are used by the Overlord to replace with Serpent-men. For all other purposes, they may be ignored. Guards are ignored for the purposes of determining Whirlwind damage. Bossonian Guards do not count for determining victory conditions; if all Serpent-men have been removed from the board, but there are still Bossonian Guards, the Heroes still win.
Chests: During setup, the Overlord places two chests on the board as indicated by the setup diagram. A Hero must score 1 on a complex Manipulation to open the chests. The asset deck contains: Throwing Knives and a Life Potion.
Chapter Two: The Serpent's Coils
Suggested Heroes and Equipment (4): Conan the Conqueror (Spiked Mace, Scale Mail), Zenobia (Kris, Leather Armor), King Kull (Akbitanan Sword, Chain Mail), Brule (Cutlass, Net, Leather Armor, Throwing Knives)
Substitution suggestions: King Conan or Amra the Lion may be substituted for Conan the Conqueror. Octavia or Shevatas may substitute for Zenobia. N'Gora may be substituted for King Kull. Balthus may be substituted for Brule.
The game starts with the Heroes' turn.
The Heroes start with NO gems in their Fatigue zone.
The Overlord starts with 5 gems in their Reserve zone, 5 gems in their Fatigue zone and the recovery token showing a recovery value of "5" in the Book of Skelos.
The Overlord will use the Princess miniature and Zenobia tile to represent the imposter Zenobia. Randomly place 1 green-faced token and 2 red-faced tokens face down in the areas indicated. Place the Son of Set tile and Giant Snake tile in the Overlord's area (but not in the River).
Serpent Strike occurs in the following order:
- Replace any laid down Bossonian Guards or Khitan Acolyte miniatures with previously killed Serpent-men miniatures. If a Serpent-men tile was flipped, turn it back over. No more than 5 Green Serpent-men and 5 Beige Serpent-men miniatures may be on the board. If a tile has been dredged, the miniatures cannot be returned to the board.
- Activate the Son of Set (2 Life Points).
- Activate the Giant Snake (2 Life Points).
- If the Son of Set or the Giant Snake has been killed the Overlord may remove Conan the Pirate or Zenobia's laid down miniature and tile from the board to return one of the snakes (2 Life Points) to the area the laid down miniature was in. If there isn't enough room in the area, you may place the miniature in an adjacent area. This is usable once per Event activation. Remove the Event tile if all the associated miniatures are off the board.
Substitution Suggestions: Black Dragons may substitute for Bossonian Guards. Demon of the Earth may substitute for the Giant Snake. Scourge of Set may substitute for the Son of Set.
Winning the Game
The Heroes win if they find the secret stairs, destroy the venom barrels and kill the imposter Conan and Zenobia before the end of turn 8.
The Overlord wins if all four Heroes are killed OR if the Heroes fail to meet their objectives.
Special Rules
Map Notes: Normal map rules apply (see game board rules on page 5 of the Tome of Skelos). The red door is considered part of the wall and may not be used. Chair combat bonus (yellow die) and table/bar top elevation bonuses apply.
Oversized Units: The Giant Snake and Son of Set follow the rules for Oversized Units on page 3 of the Tome of Skelos.
Bar Top areas: The Giant Snake or the Son of Set do not pay the extra movement point to enter a bar top area. When either snake enters a bar top area place a Wrecked Wall token. This area is now treated as a normal area.
Secret Stairs: When a Hero enters a room with a grey token, flip it over. If it has the green mark, the Hidden Stairs have been discovered. If a red mark is shown, replace the grey token with a Pit token. A Hero that discovers a Pit token suffers 1 red die (no rerolls) of damage that cannot be defended. A Hero with Leap can avoid the damage by rolling 2 or more on 1 red die.
Pit Trap: It costs 1 extra movement point to move out of an area with a Pit token, unless a Hero has the Climb skill. Overlord units are not affected by Pit tokens.
Serpentine Deception: When Conan the Pirate, Zenobia, a Bossonian Guard or a Khitan Acolyte is killed, lay its miniature down in the area. (See Event) If all miniatures of a tile are laid down, flip the tile.
Net: A Bossonian Guard or Khitan Acolyte with a Net icon is removed from the board when they are killed.
Venom Barrels: A venom barrel may be destroyed with a Complex Manipulation with a difficulty of 4. A Hero may add the dice bonus from 1 of their Melee weapons.
Poison: A character with the Poison skill rolls 1 extra yellow die when performing a Melee Attack.
Doors: Require a complex Manipulation of 2 to open. Overlord units can move through them for 1 extra movement point and remove the door.
Chests: Require a simple Manipulation to open. The asset deck contains: Nemedian Poniard, Heavy Spear, Atlantean Axe, Life Potion x2, Conan's Great Sword.
Chapter Three: Night of the Kings
Suggested Heroes (3): Conan the Conqueror (Scale mail, Conan's Great Sword, x3 Bossonian Guards), King Kull (Atlantean Axe, Chain Mail, x3 Bossonian Archers), Brule (Akbitanan Sword, Throwing Knives, Leather Armor).
The game starts with the Heroes' turn.
After setup, each Hero moves 4 gems from their Reserve zone to their Fatigue zone.
The Overlord starts with 8 gems in their Reserve zone, 4 gems in their Fatigue zone and places the recovery token showing a recovery value of "5" in the Book of Skelos.
When either Event tile is activated, the Overlord may choose one of the 3 options below.
- Reinforcements: 5 reinforcement points.
- Aura of Doom: Choose a Hero. That hero must move 2 gems from their Reserve zone to their Fatigue zone, and all other Heroes in their area must move 1 gem from Reserve zone to Fatigue zone. Heroes can only move gems if they have them. This effect does not cause wounds. This Event option is still available if Thulsa Doom has been killed as his infernal essence yet lingers until his skull is destroyed.
- Raise the Scourge: Activate the Scourge of Set. When activating the Scourge during this Event, do not move its tile in the River.
Substitutions: The 3 Bossonian Guards may substitute for 3 Black Dragons. The 3 Bossonian Archers may substitute for 2 Crossbowmen (use the green tile).
Thulsa Doom has the Yog's Hunger and Set's Halo spells.
Winning the Game
The Heroes win, once Thulsa Doom's skull has been burned.
The Overlord wins if all Heroes are killed OR if Thulsa Doom's skull has not been burned by the end of turn 8.
Special Rules
The Serpent Armlet: All Heroes in the area with the Serpent Armlet may ignore Jinx. In addition, Heroes in adjacent areas benefit from the Serpent Armlet's effects if the area with the Armlet is Occupied. The Serpent Armlet has an encumbrance value of 0 and is subject to the same rules as other items for passing, throwing, dropping, etc. Use the Mitra's Halo token to represent the Serpent Armlet. Note: The Armlet does not need to be equipped by a Hero to confer its benefits.
The Scourge of Set: The Scourge of Set is an abomination created by the necromantic sorcery of Thulsa Doom. During its creation, Doom bestowed some of his immortal essence to the beast and is therefore part of it. As long as the Scourge of Set is alive, Doom may neither be targeted nor harmed by any attacks. Once the Scourge has been killed, Doom may be targeted normally. The Scourge of Set has 10 Life Points. For this scenario the Scourge of Set is considered an Oversized unit (see page 3 in the Tome of Skelos).
Thulsa Doom: Thulsa Doom cannot be targeted by an attack until the Scourge of Set has been killed. He may still activate and affect Heroes with his Skills as normal. Thulsa Doom has 10 Life Points. When Thulsa Doom is killed, remove his miniature and replace it with the skull token, which represents his skull. The skull has 1 weight and is subject to the same rules as all other items (for passing, throwing, dropping, etc.). Thulsa Doom has the Attack From Beyond skill for this scenario.
Destroying the Skull of Thulsa Doom: Being an immortal necromancer, Doom can only be destroyed if his skull is obliterated. To do this, the Heroes must place it in the area containing the large brazier at the top of the stairs (marked on the diagram with a green orb icon). It may be dropped or thrown into the area. As soon as it's there, the Heroes win the game.
Bossonian Troops: Both Conan and Kull have allies they may command via the Leadership skill. Though they have been assigned their own tiles, they may activate one another's allies. To avoid confusion over which hero's gems have been used to activate the tiles, you may want to use red gems for Conan's Hero Sheet and blue gems for Kull's.