Kemet: Blood and Sand Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Material
• 2. Setup
• 3. In-Game
  • Victory Points
  • Day Phase
  • Actions
  • Battle
  • Night Phase
• Glossary

1. Material

Components: 1 game board, 64 Power tiles in 4 colors (16 ruby, 16 sapphire, 16 diamond, 16 onyx), 10 Creature miniatures, 6 Mercenary miniatures, 33 Divine Intervention (DI) cards, 2 special Battle cards, 80 Victory Point tokens, 5 silver and 5 gold Action tokens, 20 Veteran tokens, 5 Statue tokens, and a player aid. Per player (5 colors): 12 Unit miniatures, 5 Action tokens, 1 individual board, 1 Prayer marker, 1 Order marker, 8 Battle cards, 3 Pyramids (in 3 parts each), 4 "Buy a Power tile" tokens, 4 Pyramid tops.

The board's zones: Districts (each City has 3, outlined by Walls), Temples, The Sanctuary of All Gods, and Deserts (land zones with no City, Sanctuary, or Temple). Some zones have a Harbor (Military/red or Trading/blue) or an Obelisk, which affect movement.

Power tiles show a level (1–4), color, and cost (1–4 Prayer points), and a phase icon showing when they're active (Day, Night, Battle, Action, or Creature). Battle cards show Strength, Damage, Unblockable damage, and Defense values. DI cards show the phase they can be played in and a potential Prayer-point cost.

2. Setup

Common setup: Place the board (purple-storm side up) in the configuration for the player count. Randomly select the Power-tile colors by player count (2 players = 2 colors/26 tiles; 3–4 = 3 colors/48; 5 = 4 colors/64) and place them faceup, sorted by color and level. Place the 2 special Battle cards, each Creature on its Power tile, Divine VP tokens on the Domination and Sphinx tiles, a Temple VP token on each Temple, and the rest of the tokens in supply. Shuffle the DI cards into a facedown deck. (For 2 players, in each color remove the Action Divine Power tiles and any duplicates so there is only one of each tile.)

Individual setup: Each player chooses a City (their color), taking the matching individual board, "Buy a Power tile" tokens for the selected colors, an Order marker, a Prayer marker on the "7" space, 5 Action tokens, 12 Units, 8 Battle cards, 2 drawn DI cards, and 9 Pyramid parts (3 of each level) with the tops for the selected colors.

Before starting: Randomly place Order markers on the Turn Order track (leftmost = 1st player). Each player places 5 Units in each of two Districts of their City (keeping 2 in supply), then places 3 levels of pyramids into their Districts (max 2 levels per District), placing a "Buy a Power Tile" token in each corresponding color on their board. In reverse turn order, each player takes a level-1 Power tile matching one of their pyramid colors.

3. In-Game

A game is played over a series of Rounds, each consisting of a Day Phase followed by a Night Phase.

Victory Points

Permanent VP (square tokens, cannot be lost) are gained in battles, by buying specific Power tiles, or during the Night Phase by controlling at least 2 Temples or the Sanctuary. Temporary VP (round tokens, may be lost) are awarded for control of each Temple and each level-4 Pyramid.

Order of rules precedence (highest wins): DI card > Power tile > expansion > game rules.

Day Phase

In turn order, each player takes their turn as the active player and plays and resolves 1 of their 5 Action tokens, continuing until all players have resolved all 5, at which point the Day Phase ends. You may play a DI card with a Day Phase icon anytime during your turn except during a Combat.

Equilibrium rule: At the end of the Day Phase, each player must have at least 1 Action token on each of the 3 levels of the pyramid on their individual board.

Silver/Gold Action tokens: Play a silver token on an empty Action space alongside a normal token for a bonus action. Play a gold token on the gold Action space (top of the pyramid) to buy multiple Power tiles (only 1 gold token per Round). Resolve each action fully before the next.

End of game: If, on your turn before playing an action token, you have at least 9 VP (Temporary + Permanent) and no other player has more VP, you immediately win.

Actions

• Pray: Gain 2 Prayer Points (PP).
• Buy a Power tile: Buy a Power tile of the same color as a Pyramid you control that is at least the same level. Place your Action token on a matching "Buy a Power Tile" space (in your City) or any space with a Buy token (for a Pyramid in an opponent's City), paying PP equal to the tile's level. You cannot buy a tile with the same artwork as one you own; a bought tile is owned for the whole game. Some tiles are Creatures—place a Creature in one of your Districts where you have a Troop (max 1 Creature per Troop; a Creature is not a Unit, doesn't count against the 5-Unit Troop limit, and in Battle adds only its bonuses).
• Raise a Pyramid: Raise the level of an existing Pyramid, or raise a new Pyramid in a District without one (placing a Buy token of that color). Pay PP equal to the sum of the levels raised (e.g. level 1 → 3 costs 5 PP). Each Pyramid lets you buy Power tiles of its color/level; each level-4 Pyramid gives 1 Pyramid VP to its District's controller; each Pyramid lets Units in its District teleport to any Obelisk space for 2 PP.
• Recruit: Spend X PP to recruit X Units from supply into 1–3 Districts of your own City. Recruiting into a District an opponent controls triggers a Battle (you are the attacker).
• Move: Move 1 Troop per its Movement value (a Land move and a Teleportation). Land move: move to a directly adjacent space or between 2 Harbors over the Nile. Teleportation: spend 2 PP to teleport a Troop from a Pyramid District to an Obelisk space (once per Move; doesn't use Movement value). You may move part of a Troop, add Units in spaces you pass, and use each kind of move once. Entering an opponent's Troop's space ends your move and triggers a Battle. Walls: you may only enter an opponent's District from a space adjacent to its Wall. After a move (and any battle), if you control a Temple or level-4 Pyramid, take its Temporary VP (returning it if you later leave the zone empty).

Battle

The attacker triggers the Battle; the defender opposes; no other player may play DI cards. Resolve in order:

1. War Council: Each player secretly chooses 2 Battle cards—one discarded face down (never revealed), one to be played. Each may hide DI cards with a Battle icon under their Battle card (the only time DI cards are played in Battle; bluffing about them is allowed).
2. Confrontation: Simultaneously reveal cards and spend the required PP.
3. Resolution: The player with the most Strength wins (ties go to the defender). Strength = number of Units in the Battle + the Battle card's Strength + bonuses from Power tiles, the tied Creature, and DI cards + 1 if the Battle is in the player's own City District.
4. Casualties: Each player loses Units equal to the opponent's total Unblockable damage, then equal to the opponent's Damage minus their own Defense. A winner who lost their whole Troop is still the winner.
5. Reward: If the attacker wins and still has a Troop in the zone, they gain 1 Battle VP. A defender who is the "Champion" gains 1 Veteran token. Each player who gained no VP gains 1 Veteran token.
6. Loser's aftermath: Recall the Troop (return all its Units to supply, gaining PP equal to units returned minus 1); or, if the winner still has a Troop present, Retreat (the winner moves the loser's Troop to an adjacent empty space, not a foreign City District); or, if the winner has no Troop remaining, Stay in the Zone.
7. Winner's aftermath: The winner decides to recall their Troop or stay in the zone.
8. Battle ending: Discard the played Battle card face up (the war-council card stays face down, never revealed); if a player has discarded all their Battle cards, they take them all back. Played DI cards are discarded face up.

Night Phase

Resolve in order:

1. Offering: The controller of the Sanctuary of All Gods may remove 2 Units of that Troop to gain 1 Divine VP.
2. Delta Temple control: The controller of the delta Temple may remove 1 Unit to gain 5 PP.
3. Temple control: Each player controlling at least 2 Temples gains 1 Divine VP.
4. Adoration: Each player gains the PP shown on the Temples they control (other than the delta Temple).
5. Prayers: Each player gains 2 PP.
6. Divine Intervention: In turn order, each player draws 1 DI card and may discard pairs of Veteran tokens to draw 1 more per pair.
7. Conscription: In turn order, each player may discard Veteran tokens to place that many Units in free Districts of their City, then discards any remaining Veteran tokens.
8. Awakening: Each player takes back their Action tokens.
9. Destiny: Move Order tokens below the track; starting with the fewest VP and ascending, each player chooses their position on the Turn Order track (ties broken by whose Order token was leftmost previously).

Glossary

• Power tiles are grouped by Pyramid color: Ruby (Strength and Movement), Sapphire (Defense and Recruitment), Diamond (Prayer points and DI cards), Onyx (Strength and Defense)—16 tiles per family across 4 levels.
• Prayer points (PP): the central resource (ankh icon), spent to trigger actions; never more than 11 PP.
• Controlling a zone: you control a non-City zone if you have a Troop in it, and a District of your own City if no opponent Troop is in it; losing all Troops on an opponent's level-4 Pyramid District or a Temple returns the corresponding Temporary VP.
• Free zone: a zone with no opposing Troop, which you can enter without triggering a Battle.
• Units and Troops: all a player's Units on one space form a Troop (max 5 Units). A Troop may temporarily exceed the limit while moving, provided the limit is met at the end of the Movement action.
• Cards: hand size is unlimited (the number of each card type is public, but the cards are secret). Reshuffle the DI discard pile when the deck is empty.