Horus Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Play
  • Action 1: Draw a tile from the bag and place it
  • Action 2: Play a Horus Card
  • Action 3: Place a tile based on the Horus Card
  • Action 4: Place a Kingdom Stone based on the Horus Card
  • Action 5: Draw a new Horus Card
• Tile Placement Rules
  • The Regions
  • The River
  • Extending the River
  • The River Changes Course
  • The Nile Card
  • The Temple of Horus
• Game End
• Scoring

Components

120 Tiles 80 Kingdom Stones (in 4 colors) 50 Horus Cards (tan back) 4 Nile Cards (purple back) 1 Bag

Setup

In Horus, no game board is setup ahead of time. Instead a variable game board develops during play from the tiles.

There are four different types of tiles: Desert, Hill, Field and Swamp.

The tiles have three different backs (tan, purple and silver). There are also River/Necropolis tiles. At the beginning of the game, the tiles must be sorted according to the colors on their back side.

All tiles with tan backs go into the bag and are mixed.

The tiles with purple backs are sorted based by type (Desert, Hill, Field and Swamp) and placed into four face-up stacks. The fifth stack is composed of the River/Necropolis tiles (see illustration). Now the three starting tiles with the silver backs are placed as shown into the center of the table. These three tiles form the beginning of the River. On the River tiles, two Boats and a Step Pyramid are shown.

Each player takes the 20 Kingdom Stones of one color and a Nile Card. Unused Kingdom Stones and Nile Cards are placed back into the box.

Shuffle the Horus Cards. Deal each player a hand of five cards. The remaining Horus Cards are placed face-down near the center of the table.

Game Play

The youngest player starts. Players take turns in clockwise order. A player's turn consists of five actions which are implemented in the following order:

Action 1: Draw a tile from the bag and place it Action 2: Play a Horus Card Action 3: Place a tile based on the Horus Card Action 4: Place a Kingdom Stone based on the Horus Card Action 5: Draw a new Horus Card

Action 1: Draw a tile from the bag and place it

At the beginning of his turn the player draws a tile from the bag and places it adjacent to one or more tiles already in play. See the placement rules below.

Action 2: Play a Horus Card

In this action, a Horus Card is played from the player's hand. The illustration in the center of the Horus Card shows a type of tile. The number in the corners of the Horus Card determines where a kingdom stone must be placed during Action 4.

Action 3: Place a tile based on the Horus Card

The player takes a tile from the appropriate stack (based on the Horus Card played), and places it adjacent to one or more tiles already in play (see example 1).

Cards with a black question mark in the center allow the player to select and place a tile from any stack, including River/Necropolis tiles.

Action 4: Place a Kingdom Stone based on the Horus Card

A Kingdom Stone is placed onto a tile based on the number on the Horus Card. A Kingdom Stone may be placed into a region which is composed of exactly as many tiles as the number shown on the Horus Card. If the card has question marks in the corners instead of a number, the player may choose to place the Kingdom Stone into a region of size 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Only one Kingdom Stone may be placed on each tile.

Exception in the first round
In the first game round, each Horus Card counts as a "1". In the first round, if a
Kingdom Stone is placed, it must be placed into a region which consists of a single
tile. Once each player has taken a turn, the numbers on the cards are valid and the
game continues normally.

The placement of Kingdom Stones is completely independent from the placement of tiles. The Kingdom Stone does not need to be (but may be) placed into the region in which a tile was just placed.

A Kingdom Stone may only be placed on a tile if the region has the proper size and the tile is empty.

If a region consists of six or more tiles, no further Kingdom Stones may be placed on the tiles of this region. In addition, no Kingdom Stone may be placed into such regions using Horus Cards with question marks instead of numbers.

The number of Kingdom Stones in regions of six or more tiles can still change only if one of the following cases occurs:

(1) Regions of the same tile type are connected. For example, if two separate Hill regions are merged into a single larger region, then all Kingdom Stones count.

   or

(2) A Kingdom Stone is moved from one region to another using a Nile Card. See below.

Example 1: Sanne plays black. She chooses a "Desert 5" card (A). She must first play a Desert tile (B). She expands the Desert region to 7 tiles, which she already controls with two Kingdom Stones. Then she places a Kingdom Stone (C) into the Hill region consisting of 5 tiles. She could have placed the Kingdom Stone on the Field region which also consist of 5 tiles.

In rare cases, it's possible that no Kingdom Stone can be placed. In such a case, skip this action.

Action 5: Draw a new Horus Card

In this action, the player's hand is refilled to 5 Horus Cards. The Nile Card does not count as one of the hand cards. This player's turn is now over. The player to their left now takes a turn.

In the rare case that the Horus Card draw pile is used up, the discard pile is reshuffled into a new draw pile, with the possible exclusion of cards representing a depleted stack (see Game End).

Tile Placement Rules

New tiles, whether they were drawn from the bag or from a stack, must be placed adjacent to a tile already in play.

Tiles can be placed complete edge against complete edge, or with only half an edge touching each other. Each tile edge has a mark in the center to make it easier to align in the latter case.

Example 2: The Hill tile (A) was placed such that it shares a complete edge with the River tile (B). Swamp tile (C) was placed such that it shares only half an edge with Swamp tile (D). The Field tile (E) is not placed correctly, because its corner does not line up with the notch of the Desert tile (F). The Desert tile (G) is also incorrect, since it lies diagonally with respect to the other tiles.

Since tiles may be placed to share complete or half edges with other tiles, empty areas may form. A player who knows to use these empty areas gains an advantage against his opponents.

The Regions

When a tile is placed, it becomes part of a region. A region is a group of touching tiles of the same type. The symbols on the tiles are only for decoration.

Regions do not have a size limit. Theoretically a region can consist of all 20 tiles of the same type.

Example 3: The Hill region (A) consists of 4 tiles. The Field region (B) is only three tiles, because the Desert tile (C) separates it from Field tile (D). The River (E), Temple of Horus (F) and Necropolis tiles (G) are never part of any regions.

At the end of the game, players receive points for the regions which they control. The value of each region is the number of tiles composing it. In the example 3, the Hill region (A) would be worth 4 points, the Field region (B) only 3. An individual tile, such as (C) or (D), forms a region worth only 1 point.

The River

At the beginning of the game, the starting tile with the Step Pyramid and the two starting tiles with the Boats are the only tiles in play. The tiles with the Boats represent the ends of the River. Over the course of the game, the River becomes longer and wider as more River tiles are added.

If one or more tiles are completely enclosed by water, they count as an island. More than one region may be on an island. The values of island regions are doubled.

Extending the River

The River is normally extended by drawing a River tile from the bag. In such a case, the River tile must replace one of the two Boat tiles. The replaced Boat tile is then placed adjacent to the placed River tile like any other tile (complete or half edge).

After the drawn River tile and displaced Boat tile are placed, the player must draw a River/Necropolis tile from the stack.

Each time a River/Necropolis tile is drawn, the player has two choices:

• River: The tile may be placed on any open space adjacent to the River, or replace a Boat tile. If the player should decide to replace a Boat tile, he may place the Boat tile adjacent to any River tile. However, no tile - not even the Boat tile - may be placed in such a way that it blocks the continuation of the River.

• Necropolis: Necropolis tiles have the same placement rules as other tiles. However, they are never part of a region, even if two or more Necropolis tiles lie next to each other. Kingdom Stones may not be placed on a Necropolis tile. With a Necropolis, a player can make regions more difficult to expand.

Example 4: Torsten draws a River tile (A) from the bag and replaces the upper Boat tile (B), shown in its new location. Then he draws a River/Necropolis tile from the stack and places it as a Necropolis (C). Later, Sarah draws a River tile (D) from the bag and replaces the other Boat tile (E). She then draws a River/Necropolis tile from the stack and plays it as a River tile (F). She could also have replaced one of the Boat tiles and moved it in turn to a place of her choice, for example at (F).

The River Changes Course

It can happen that a player changes the River direction or divides the River. That is, the River may extend in three or more directions or "forks". Regardless, the River only has two ends (where the Boat tiles lie). Other forks can be blocked at any time with other tiles.

Example 5: The River has four "forks", (A), (B), (C) and (D). Two of these forks - (B) and (D) - are the Boat tiles. These can move and are not allowed to be blocked. The tiles (A) and (C) are normal River tiles. They may be extended or blocked, but may not be moved.

The Nile Card

Each player gets a Nile Card at the beginning of the game. This card shows two River/Necropolis tiles. This card may be played by each player only once in the game instead of a Horus Card.

The Nile Card allows the player to place two River/Necropolis tiles. Afterwards the player moves one of his Kingdom Stones from a region bordering the River into another region bordering the River. The Kingdom Stone may be taken from any tile in the region even if it does not touch the River. Likewise, the tile onto which the Kingdom Stone is moved does not need to touch the River.

After a Nile Card is played, it is removed from the game.

The Temple of Horus

A special green/gold tile depicts the Temple of Horus. It is in the bag at the beginning of the game. If the Temple of Horus is drawn from the bag, it must be placed adjacent to the River in such a way that it does not touch either a region tile or a Necropolis. If the temple cannot be placed, it is removed from the game.

In the course of the game, however, tiles can be placed next to the Temple of Horus. Each region which borders at least one tile of the Temple of Horus doubles in value. However, a region can never score more than 10 points.

No Kingdom Stone may be placed on the Temple of Horus. The temple is never part of a region. It only increases the value of the adjacent regions.

Example 6: Kathrin draws the Temple of Horus (A) from the bag and places it next to a River tile (B). At this time there were no adjacent regions. Later, André placed a Desert tile (F) next to the temple. Later, Field region (D) and Hill region (C) connect to the temple. The Field (D) is worth 8 points (4x2). The Hills are worth 10 points (6x2=12, but the maximum value of a region is 10). The Desert with the Temple of Horus (F) is worth 2 points (1x2). The other Desert (E) scores only 1 point.

Game End

The games ends if two of the five stacks are empty. The player who depleted the second pile finishes his turn.

Note: As soon as a stack is depleted, all players discard their Horus Cards for tiles of this type and draw back to 5. Future drawn Horus Cards of this type are discarded and replaced immediately.

Scoring

The player with the most Kingdom Stones in a region controls that region. In the case of ties, all tied players score the full points. For each region which a player controls, he receives 1 point per tile in that region.

The score of the region is doubled if the region touches the Temple of Horus or if the region is on an island in the Nile. If both apply, the score is quadrupled. Note: No region can be worth more than 10 points, even if it consists of more than 10 panels and/or the score is doubled or quadrupled.

The player with most points is the winner of the game. If there is a tie, all tied players share the victory.

Example 7: Barbara plays white. She has 26 points (6+4+3+5+8). Kathrin, playing yellow, has 22 points (6+2+10+1+3). Dominique, the black player, has 19 points (4+5+10). Peter, who plays blue, has only 18 (6+1+3+8). Barbara wins the game.

The numbers in the illustration correspond to the values of the regions.