ILIOS
ILIOS Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 40 Warriors: 10 each (of four kinds)
- 6 Powerful Warriors
- 4 Iron Weapons
- 2 Oracles (oracles are played the same as warriors)
- Expansion tiles: 2 Side Jump Horses, 2 Diagonal Jump Horses, 2 Straight Jump Horses, City of Troy
- Back of expansion tiles - used as Wastelands
- 38 disks each in four different colors
- 2 bags
A typical game uses a 7 × 7 board; a short game is played on the 5 × 5 area.
Set to Play
Place all the warriors and two oracles in a bag. Choose a player to go first. Players take turns to:
- Randomly draw 3 warriors from the bag and keep them hidden from other players in their hand.
- Place a wasteland on any open square on the board. Skip this step for a 5 × 5 game.
- Place an iron weapon on any open square on the board. For a 2 player game, the first player places a second iron weapon tile.
Play
Players take turns to deploy, raid, plunder, and reinforce in up to 4 steps per turn.
Step 1: Deploy
Place one warrior from your hand, turned in any direction on an open square. Your warrior must point to at least one adjacent tile occupied by an opponent's disk (A), or an unoccupied iron weapon (B). It may point to more than one adjacent tile, as long as at least one tile is occupied by an opponent's disk (C).
If you are unable to deploy a warrior on any square, you must first prove it by revealing your hand. Then you may place your warrior on any open square.
Step 2: Raid & Occupy
If your warrior (D) points to an unoccupied iron weapon (E), you occupy it by placing your disk on top. If your warrior points to a tile with an opponent's disk (F, G), you raid & occupy by removing your opponent's disk and replacing it with your disk (H, I). Then place your disk on the warrior you deployed (J). A wasteland cannot be occupied (K).
Step 3: Surround & Plunder
Only when a tile is completely surrounded on all eight sides, by other tiles, including wastelands, disks, or the edge of the board, can it be plundered (L). The surrounded tile is removed from the board and kept aside by the player whose color disk occupies the tile. The occupying disk remains on the board (M).
If a surrounded tile is occupied by another player, that player plunders even though it's your turn!
Deploying a warrior can result in surrounding more than one tile, therefore more than one tile is plundered.
Example: Blue player places warrior N. Warrior O and P are now raided and the orange disks are replaced with blue disks Q, R, and a blue disk is placed on N. Warrior R and S are now both surrounded by the edge of the board and other warriors. Blue player plunders R and orange player plunders S even though it is not their turn.
Step 4: Reinforce
Randomly draw a tile from the bag and add it to your hand.
End of Play
Play ends when no open square remains. Count your plunder by adding the numbers on your plundered tiles. The winner is the player with the most plunder. In case of a draw, the player who has the most disks on the board wins. If the players tie in the number of disks on the board, there is more than one winner.
Troy Expansion
The climax of the battles of Troy was the capture of the fortified city of Troy, which was only taken with the Trojan horse. Capture Troy yourself with the aid of the horses and oracles.
The rules remain the same, plus the following:
Place Troy on the center square of the board. Instead of the expansion tiles, use the back side of the 8-warrior tile for wastelands, one per player. Place expansion tiles and remaining warriors in the bag.
Play
Steps 1 & 2
An oracle deploys and raids just like warriors. Horses are different. Instead of pointing to an adjacent tile, a horse jumps over open or occupied squares (including wastelands) to raid. A side horse can raid up to eight different tiles, a diagonal and straight horse can raid up to four different tiles. (Illustrated: Side Jump, Diagonal Jump, Straight Jump.)
Step 3: Surround & Plunder
Troy is raided the same way as other tiles. But two conditions must be met before you can plunder Troy:
- It is already surrounded.
- Your disk occupies Troy.
Then Troy can be raided with your horse and removed from the board.
Example: Troy is surrounded, and is occupied by orange player T. When the orange player raids Troy with a horse U, Troy is plundered V. When blue player raids Troy with a horse W, the orange disk is replaced with a blue disk X with Troy remaining on the board.
Step 4: Reinforce
Oracle's Power – if you are unhappy with a tile you have drawn, each turn, each oracle you have in your plunder allows you to return a tile to the bag, and draw again.
End of Play
Add to the plunder from the expansion tiles: Troy is worth 16, oracles 8, side jump horses 8, and the diagonal and straight jump horses 6. If Troy is not plundered, it remains on the board and is not scored.