Dwarves of Aquilon
Dwarves of Aquilon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Goal of the Game
- Components
- Contents of the Booklet
- 2-Lord Game
- 5-Lord Game
- Setup
- Anatomy of the Board and Cards
- Overview of a Game Turn
- Bravery Value and In-Game Effects
- Turn of Play
- End of Era 1: The Evaluation of the Orders
- End of Era 2 and End of the Game
- Cognars with a COLOURED Rank
- Cognars with a WHITE Rank
- Cognars with a BLACK Rank
- Glossary
Goal of the Game
Gather in your fortress-state the most prestigious dwarves and Cognars (Heroes and Heroines) to obtain the highest Bravery Value and win the game.
Do not hesitate to consult the glossary on the annex page if a term seems unclear.
Components
- 5 individual boards
- 91 Dwarf cards of 5 Orders:
- A: 20 Order of the Shield cards
- B: 19 Order of the Temple cards
- C: 20 Order of the Wanderers cards
- D: 16 Order of the Forge cards
- E: 16 Order of the Talion cards
- 3 Gem Exchange markers
- 5 gems: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
- 5 Elite Cognar cards
- 1 Liquor Certification card
- 23 Cognar cards, including 1 Ally and 5 Mercenaries
- 12 Pariah tokens
- 60 talions, including:
- A: 25 bronze talions (1 set per Lord): 0x5 | 2x5 | 3x5 | 4x5 | 5x5
- B: 34 gold talions of the Royal Treasury: 5x2 | 6x2 | 7x3 | 8x2 | 9x3 | 10x2 | 11x3 | 12x2 | 13x2 | 14x2 | 15x1 | 16x1 | 17x1 | 18x1 | 19x1 | 20x1 | 21x1 | 22x1 | 23x1 | 24x1 | 25x1
- C: 1 talion 3 - Exchange (see Kardum's power, p. 14)
- 3 tavern signs
- 1 Royal Treasury (to assemble)
- 5 card holders (to assemble)
- 1 score pad
Remember to assemble the Royal Treasury and the card holders before your first game, following the numbering of the notches.
Contents of the Booklet
Setup (p. 4); Turn of play (p. 8); Anatomy of the board and cards (p. 6); Overview of a game turn (p. 6); Bravery Value and in-game effects (p. 7); End of the Eras (p. 12); Order Cognars and neutral Cognars (p. 14); Glossary (p. 2, annex).
2-Lord Game
All the rules of this booklet apply.
During the Entrance of the dwarves and dwarf women, put 3 Dwarf cards in each tavern each turn.
In the first and third taverns: each Lord chooses a Dwarf card in the order defined by the bids, and the last card, not taken, is discarded.
In the second tavern: the Lord with the highest bid chooses a Dwarf card, which he puts in his army, then discards one of the two remaining cards. Finally, the opposing Lord no longer has a choice: he must take the remaining card and place it in his army.
5-Lord Game
All the rules of this booklet apply, however:
During setup, add the Dwarf cards with a symbol at the bottom right to the corresponding Era 1 and Era 2 decks.
Setup
- Give each Lord an individual board and 5 bronze talions (A).
- Take the following gems:
| Number of Lords | Gems |
|---|---|
| 5 Lords | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| 4 Lords | 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| 3 Lords | 3, 4, 5 |
| 2 Lords | 4, 5 |
Give one at random to each Lord. Place it in the cavity of your individual board, face up (B). 3. Place the 3 tavern signs in the centre of the table in the following order: the Yjdad's Tankard, the Roasted Grognard and the Hungry Halberd (C), and the Gem Exchange markers (D). 4. Place all the Cognar cards (E) and Mercenary cards (F) on 4 card holders, slightly overlapped, with the left part of the cards visible. 5. Place the 5 Elite Cognar cards (G) at random, then the Liquor Certification card, on a card holder, slightly overlapped, with the left part of the cards visible. 6. Take the Royal Treasury (H) out of the game box and check that each talion is stored in its intended slot. 7. Leave the cards showing a symbol at the bottom right in the game box if you play with fewer than 5. 8. Take the Era 1 cards and shuffle them together. Place the deck next to the Royal Treasury (I). 9. Do the same with the Era 2 cards (J). 10. Place the talion 3 - Exchange (K) and the Pariah tokens (L) next to the Royal Treasury.
Anatomy of the Board and Cards
Individual board: Gem cavity; Command zone; Tavern slots; Purse; Bravery Value track of the Order of the Shield; Army. Printed on the board: "You start with know-how in liquor production, and your Malt symbols earn you 1 point at the end of the game" and "You own 1 Occult symbol from the start for the Order of the Temple".
Dwarf card: Order; rank that may contain Points; card to use in a 5-player game (symbol); power; Malt symbol.
Elite Cognar and Cognar cards: Name; Order; rank that may contain Points; power of the card, visible on the card holder; power of the card, visible when the cards are in a column.
Overview of a Game Turn
Preparation of the turn
- Entrance of the dwarves and dwarf women. Place X cards of the current Era in each tavern. X = the number of Lords.
- Bids. Place your talions face down on each Tavern slot and in your purse.
Resolution of the taverns
- Revealing the bids. Reveal your talion on the Tavern slot currently being resolved. The talion of highest value determines the active Lord. Ties are broken by gems.
- Active Lord's turn. Choose a Dwarf card from the tavern being resolved, then apply any effect of the Order of the Talion or the Order of the Wanderers. Recruit a Cognar if applicable. Perform the talion exchange if you played your talion of value 0. Then it is the turn of the next Lord, determined by the descending order of the talions, or of the gems in case of a tie.
- Gem exchange. When each Lord has played, exchange the gems among the Lords who were tied for a given talion value when the bids were revealed. Then move on to the resolution of the next tavern. Resume at 1. Revealing the bids.
Next turn
When all the taverns have been resolved, take your talions back in hand and move on to the next turn.
Bravery Value and In-Game Effects
An example of point counting is on page 13.
The Order of the Shield
Its Bravery Value is equal to the value located on your individual board corresponding to the number of ranks owned.
The Order of the Temple
Its Bravery Value is equal to the sum of their Points multiplied by the number of Occult symbols present in your fortress-state, comprising your army and your Command zone.
Warning: if you placed Cognar cards with a Black rank in this column, their Points are added to the Bravery Value of the Order of the Temple once the multiplication has been done.
The Order of the Wanderers
When you recruit a card of the Order of the Wanderers and you already have a card of the same value in the Wanderers column of your army: place a Pariah token on the rank of the card you have just recruited.
At the end of the game, the Bravery Value of the Wanderers column is equal to the sum of the visible Points, that is, those not covered by a Pariah token.
Clarification: the Pariah token only hides the value of the card. It does not cancel its rank nor the Malt symbol on it.
The Order of the Forge
Its Bravery Value is equal to the sum of their Points plus the number of different runes, squared, present in your fortress-state, comprising your army and your Command zone.
The Order of the Talion
When you recruit a Dwarf card of the Talion, you must upgrade the talion that was used for its recruitment by adding +1 to it. At the end of the game, its Bravery Value is equal to the sum of their Points.
Talion upgrade
When you recruit a Dwarf card of the Order of the Talion, immediately add 1 to the value of the talion that enabled this recruitment. In other words, you exchange this talion for the talion of the next higher value present in the Royal Treasury.
If the talion in question is a 0 talion, add 1 to one of the talions in your purse, then proceed with the exchange normally (see Exchanging talions, p. 11).
Refer to page 11 for the rules on discarding talions and the special case.
Example: Celine recruits a Dwarf card of the Talion by bidding a talion of value 5, which she transforms into a value 6.
Example: Valeriane recruits a Dwarf card of the Talion by bidding her 0 talion. She must transform a talion from her purse and decides to transform her 3 talion into a 4. As there is no 4 talion in the Royal Treasury, she takes the piece of directly higher value available: a 5 talion, then proceeds with the exchange normally (see Exchanging talions, p. 11).
Turn of Play
The game is played over 2 Eras.
- With 2 to 3 Lords: each Era consists of 4 game turns.
- With 4 to 5 Lords: each Era consists of 3 game turns.
Preparation of the turn
1. Entrance of the dwarves and dwarf women
Place X cards of the current Era, face up, in each tavern. X is equal to the number of Lords present for the game (except in 2-Lord games, see p. 4).
2. Bids
During this phase, each Lord plays simultaneously.
- Look at your 5 talions, then place a talion of your choice, face down, on each Tavern slot of your individual board. The 2 unused talions are placed face down in the purse of your individual board.
The value of the talion bid will determine the order in which each Lord plays during the resolution of the various taverns.
The Lords observe the population of each tavern to estimate the appropriate bids according to their needs and what the others are likely to bid.
Resolution of the taverns
Resolve each tavern one after the other, starting with the Yjdad's Tankard. When the resolution of the Yjdad's Tankard tavern has been carried out, move on to the Roasted Grognard tavern, then to the Hungry Halberd.
1. Revealing the bids
This phase takes place simultaneously.
- Reveal the talion on the Tavern slot of your individual board currently being resolved, and that one only. The talion of highest value determines the active Lord. If several Lords have bid a talion of the same value, the tie is broken by the gems: the gem of highest value wins the tie (see Resolving ties, below).
Resolving ties
In case of a tie in the value of the talions played for a tavern, the order of play is defined by the value of the gem owned by the tied Lords. You become the active Lord if you own the gem of highest value. Resolution continues in descending order of the gems until each tied Lord has played.
Example: Serge (gem 3) played his talion of value 5, Celine (gem 5) and Valeriane (gem 1) played their talion of value 2. Serge therefore becomes the active Lord. When his turn is over, it will be Celine's then Valeriane's turn to play.
2. Active Lord's turn
Placing a Dwarf card in your army
In the following order:
- Choose a card in the tavern being resolved, then place your Dwarf card in your army, not forgetting to apply any effects of the Order of the Talion or the Wanderers.
- Recruit a Cognar if the conditions are met.
- Perform a talion exchange if you played your talion of value 0 (see Exchanging talions, p. 11).
When you choose a Dwarf card from the tavern being resolved, place it in your army immediately:
- by creating a new column, if you did not own Dwarf cards of that Order,
- by adding it to an existing column corresponding to that Order, if you already owned some.
Ranks must always remain visible.
In descending order of the talions bid, or of the gems in case of a tie on a talion value, the next Lord becomes the active Lord and starts his turn.
Recruiting a Cognar
When placing a Dwarf card in your army, if you create a line composed of one rank of each Order, you must immediately choose an available Cognar.
- A Cognar with a Coloured rank corresponding to one of the 5 Orders is placed in the matching column of your army. If a new line is completed by placing it, immediately recruit a new Cognar. Several lines can be completed by the placement of a Cognar.
- A Cognar with a Black rank, or an Ally with a Multicoloured rank, is placed in your army, in the column of your choice (see Order Cognars and Neutral Cognars, p. 16). This can lead to the creation of a new line of 5 different Orders, and therefore to the recruitment of another Cognar.
- A Cognar with a White rank is placed in the Command zone, to the left of your individual board.
Example: Serge recruits a Dwarf card and completes a line composed of one rank of each Order. He immediately recruits a Cognar card. He chooses Ulrog, whom he places in his column: the Order of the Forge.
Several lines completed by placing a Cognar. Example: Serge places a Dwarf card in his army. He thus creates a second complete line of ranks and then recruits Fey, whom he places in his column: the Order of the Temple.
Example: Serge places a Shield card in his army. This creates a complete line composed of one rank of each Order. He then recruits Volgrir, who, by completing 2 lines at once, lets him recruit 2 new Cognars one after the other.
3. Gem exchange
When each Lord has played his turn, exchange the gems among the Lords who were tied for the same talion values when the bids were revealed, then move on to the resolution of the next tavern. Resume at 1. Revealing the bids.
Exchanging gems
At the end of the resolution of a tavern, a gem exchange is carried out among the Lords who were tied for a talion value at the time the bids were revealed. Once the exchanges are done, the gems are put back in their respective cavities.
The gem exchange takes place at the end of the resolution of each tavern in order to guarantee the order of play of the Lords.
Clarification: even if you transform your talion with the power of the Order of the Talion during your turn, if you were tied when the bids were revealed, you must carry out the gem exchange.
- Tie between 2 Lords: the gems are exchanged between them.
- Tie between 3 Lords: only the gem of lowest value and the gem of highest value are exchanged. The gem of median value is not exchanged.
- Tie between 4 Lords: the gem of lowest value and the gem of highest value are exchanged. The two other gems are exchanged between them.
- Tie between 5 Lords: the exchange takes place as with 4 Lords. The gem of median value is not exchanged.
Example: Serge (gem 3) and Anne (gem 1) played their talion of value 3; Valeriane (gem 5), Alex (gem 4) and Jean-Marie (gem 2) their talion of value 0. Serge plays first, then it is the turn of Anne, Valeriane, Alex and finally Jean-Marie. At the end of the resolution of the tavern: Serge and Anne carry out a two-way gem exchange. Valeriane, Alex and Jean-Marie carry out a three-way gem exchange. Alex therefore keeps his gem 4.
Exchanging talions
When you play a talion of value 0:
- reveal the talions placed in your purse,
- add up these 2 talions,
- discard the talion of highest value,
- take the talion corresponding to the sum from the Royal Treasury and place it in your purse,
- put the talions of your purse back face down.
Important: when you play a talion of value 0, you take a Dwarf card from the tavern being resolved before carrying out the talion exchange.
Discarding talions
During an exchange or a transformation, a talion must be discarded.
- If it is a bronze (red) talion, this talion is put back in the game box and will have no further use for the rest of the game.
- If it is a gold talion from the Royal Treasury (yellow), this talion is put back in the slot corresponding to its value in the Royal Treasury.
Special case
If the talion of the desired value is not available in the Royal Treasury, take the first available talion of the directly higher value.
In the rare cases where there are no more talions of value higher than the desired value, take the first available talion of directly lower value in the Royal Treasury.
Warning: you cannot take from the Royal Treasury a talion of the same value as the one you have just discarded during an exchange or a transformation.
The talion of value 0 can never be upgraded by a power of the Order of the Talion.
Example: You must upgrade your talion by +1. However, the Royal Treasury contains no 4, and the talions of value 5 and 6 have all been taken. Your 3 therefore becomes a 7.
Next turn
When all the taverns have been resolved, take your talions back in hand and move on to the next turn.
End of Era 1: The Evaluation of the Orders
At the end of the turn in which the Era 1 deck has been exhausted, an Evaluation of the Orders is carried out. The Lord who owns the most ranks in each Order is joined by an Elite Cognar. In case of a tie for an Order, the Elite Cognar in question joins nobody. Gems do not break ties during the Evaluation of the Orders.
The Elite Cognar cards and the Liquor Certification card are awarded in the order of placement on the card holder, then place them in your Command zone.
ATTENTION! Majorities are determined by the number of ranks present in each Order of your armies, and not by the sum of their Points or the number of cards.
(Illustration: a card with 1 rank, a card with 2 ranks and a card with 3 ranks, to show the number of ranks.)
The person owning the most ranks in the Order of the Shield recruits Tiss: at the end of the game, score 2 points for each rank present in your column of the Order of the Shield.
The person owning the most ranks in the Order of the Forge recruits Redwin: Adds 1 unique rune.
The person owning the most ranks in the Order of the Temple recruits Aral: Adds 1 Occult symbol.
The person owning the most ranks in the Order of the Talion recruits Ordo: Immediately carry out an exchange between your 2 talions of lowest value (excluding the 0) and take the talion corresponding to this sum from the Royal Treasury. Unlike a normal exchange, discard the talion of lowest value during this exchange.
The person owning the most ranks in the Order of the Wanderers recruits Brum: at the end of the game, he is worth 13 points. In addition, at the end of the game, before the final count, Brum lets you remove one token from a card of your Wanderers column.
Liquor Certification
The person owning the most Malt symbols in his fortress-state, counting the army and the Command zone, wins the Liquor Certification card, to be placed in his Command zone.
At the end of the game, this person will gain 1 additional point per Malt symbol present in his army and his Command zone.
End of Era 2 and End of the Game
At the end of the turn in which 0 or 1 card of Era 2 remains, count your final Bravery Value by adding up:
- your Bravery Value for each Order of your army (see Bravery Value and in-game effects, p. 7),
- the Bravery Value of your Elite Cognar cards and White-rank Cognar cards present in your Command zone,
- your number of Malt symbols: as a base, score 1 point per Malt symbol in your fortress-state. Each Malt is worth 1 more point if you own the Liquor Certification, and 1 more point again if you own Gurdan AND Borogam in your Command zone,
- the total value of your talions.
Count more easily with the Nidavellir app (App Store / Play Store).
Example of a count (Serge's score sheet): Order of the Shield: 40 points. Order of the Temple: 6 x 2 (Occult symbols) + 23 = 35 points. Order of the Wanderers: 30 points. Order of the Forge: 4 x 3 + 3 squared = 21 points (as printed). Order of the Talion: 52 points. Elite Cognar cards in the Command zone (Tiss and Oberon... as printed): 2 x 5 + 15 = 25 points. Liquor Certification: 2 x 10 = 20 points. Talions (22, 16, 25, 0, 7): 70 points. Serge thus obtains a final Bravery Value of 293 points.
The Lord who has the highest final Bravery Value wins the game and reigns over the most dominant fortress-state of the region.
In case of a tie, the tied Lord with the most Elite Cognars wins. If the tie persists, the victory is shared.
Cognars with a COLOURED Rank
These Cognars are placed in your army.
The Order of the Shield
- VOLGRIR: Has 2 ranks.
- ABOKAR: Has 1 rank. > At the end of the game, score 1 point per rank present in the Shield column.
- SVARA: Has 1 rank. > After placing her in your Shield column, look at the first 5 cards of the Era 2 deck, choose a Dwarf card, place it in your army and shuffle the 4 other cards back into the Era 2 deck.
- Special case: if it is the last game turn of Era 2, take the last remaining Dwarf card, face down, from the Era 2 deck.
The Order of the Temple
- ARARUN: Has 2 ranks. Adds 2 points and 1 Occult symbol.
- SRIZA: Has 1 rank. Adds 2 Occult symbols.
- FEY: Has 1 rank. Adds 5 points.
The Order of the Talion
- DERDHR: Has 1 rank. Adds 13 points. > When you place him in your Order of the Talion column, upgrade one of your talions by +5. Choose a face-up or face-down talion from your individual board or your purse (except the 0). Discard it and put in its place the talion taken from the Royal Treasury.
- Clarification: if you choose to recruit a Dwarf card of the Order of the Talion with Svara's power, upgrade the piece of the tavern currently being resolved.
- KARDUM: Has 2 ranks. Adds 5 points. > When you place him in your Order of the Talion column, take the talion 3 - Exchange and put it in place of your 0 talion, which is immediately discarded.
The Order of the Wanderers
- OOSRAM: Has 1 rank. Adds 15 points. > It lets you remove 2 tokens from your Wanderers cards at the end of the game, before the final count.
- DROH: Has 2 ranks. Adds 10 points. > It lets you remove 1 token from your Wanderers cards at the end of the game, before the final count.
The Order of the Forge
- ULROG: Has 1 rank. Adds 2 unique runes.
- TALA: Has 2 ranks. Adds 6 points and 1 unique rune.
- TORUN: Has 1 rank. Adds 12 points and 1 unique rune.
Cognars with a WHITE Rank
These Cognars are placed in your Command zone.
- GURDAN: Adds 22 points and 1 Malt symbol.
- BOROGAM: Adds 14 points and 3 Malt symbols.
- JORUN: Has 1 unique rune. Adds 3 points per different rune that you own in your army and your Command zone at the end of the game.
- OBERON: Adds 15 points. > Place him in your Command zone, then take his Ally card Ga'at and place it in your army, in the column of your choice.
- GA'AT: Has 1 Multicoloured rank. Adds X points depending on the column in which he is placed: 1 additional rank for the Order of the Shield column, 2 points for the Temple's, 9 points for the Wanderers', 4 points for the Forge's and 6 points for the Talion's.
Association GURDAN and BOROGAM
If you manage to associate these 2 Cognars in your Command zone: at the end of the game, you will score 1 more point per Malt symbol present in your army and your Command zone.
Cognars with a BLACK Rank
These Cognars are Mercenaries and are placed in your army, in the column of your choice.
- TADGAR: Has 1 rank. Adds 24 points.
- AKAB: Has 1 rank. Adds 23 points.
- LYGDR: Has 1 rank. Adds 21 points.
- DAWN: Has 1 rank. Adds 20 points.
- WAL: Has 1 rank. Adds 22 points.
You may recruit 1 Mercenary card only if, by placing it in a column of your army, you complete a new line allowing you to immediately recruit 1 other Mercenary card. In other words, Mercenaries must be recruited at least in pairs. If you manage to recruit 3, or even 4 in a row, well played!
Clarification: if only one Mercenary card remains available, you cannot recruit it.
Example: Serge places a Forge card that completes a line of ranks. He then recruits Tadgar, because when he places him in the Forge column, this creates a new line of ranks. This lets him recruit Lygdr, whom he places in the column of the Order of the Temple.
Glossary
- Army: Zone located to the right of the Lords' individual board, used to place the Dwarf cards and the Cognar cards of the Orders in the corresponding columns.
- Purse: Lower zone of the individual board with 2 notches, used to put the 2 talions not bid, face down, during a game turn.
- Cognar: Slang for Heroes and Heroines. Powerful character recruited when a line composed of one rank of each Order is created.
- Gems: Precious stones used to define the turn order in case of a tie on the Lords' bids. They are placed in the cavity of the individual board.
- Rank: Insert on the left side of each Dwarf and Cognar card, indicating the card's possible Points.
- Evaluation of the Orders: Majority count carried out at the end of Era 1, used to win Elite Cognars and a Liquor Certification.
- Era 1: First part of the game, consisting of 4 game turns with 2-3 Lords and 3 game turns with 4-5 Lords.
- Era 2: Second part of the game, consisting of 4 game turns with 2-3 Lords and 3 game turns with 4-5 Lords.
- Gem Exchange markers: These markers are there to remind tied Lords (who had the same talion value when the bids were revealed) of their gem exchange before moving on to the resolution of the next tavern.
- Dwarf: Character recruited in the taverns, belonging to the 5 different Orders: Shield, Temple, Wanderers, Forge, Talion. "Hairy One" (Poilu) designates a dwarf in his prime.
Dwarf cards in play
With 2 to 4 Lords, and with 5 Lords, a table of card counts per rank value is printed (values 2 to 13 and so on); the cards marked with the 5-player symbol are added only in 5-Lord games.