Kopis
Kopis Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 board (6x6 grid)
- 16 Faction tokens (8 per colour: Black & Red)
- 4 Stronghold tokens (2 Black and 2 Red)
- 1 'last move' Bastion marker
Scoring
At the end of the game, the tokens will score as follows:
- Each token orthogonally adjacent to an enemy stronghold: 0 points
- Each token orthogonally adjacent to a friendly stronghold: 2 points
- Each token orthogonally adjacent to both an enemy stronghold and friendly stronghold: 1 point
- Each captured opposing faction token: 1 point
Setup
Basic Version Setup
Place the 4 Strongholds in the centre of the board, as shown. Arrange the 16 Faction tokens around the board, 4 on each side, as shown. Make sure that a player has the counters of their Faction in front of them and to their left. Place the "last move" Bastion marker next to the board (Fig. 1). Everything is ready, let's start!
Advanced Version Setup
The rules of the basic version are followed except for the first point, the arrangement of the Stronghold tokens. In this version, recommended for experienced players, arrange the 4 Stronghold tokens as desired in the board, it is not valid to place the pieces in the first row of each side. The Strongholds are placed by the players in alternating turns, two Strongholds per player or you can have one player place their Stronghold, then the other player place two of theirs and the first places their second one (Fig. 2).
Gameplay
Storm the Castle Mode
As the first player, you slide one of your Factions on the board by moving it according to the orientation shown in the example (either vertically or horizontally on any of the 6 rows or columns on the board). It must "butt up" in that single move to either another Faction or Stronghold pushing one or more tokens already on the board by a maximum of one square (Fig. 3); this last condition is necessary for the move to be considered valid. At the end of the move the 'last move' Bastion marker is placed on the Faction token just placed (Fig. 4-4A), this indicates that the opponent cannot cause that Faction to be pushed in the next turn as it has taken up a defensive position. Alternate each player as they move their Factions (Fig. 4-4B) until they are all played for the game to end and total up the Victory Points as per the table. This version of the game ends in 16 moves, 8 per player.
Capturing Factions
If a Faction token is pushed off the board, it is captured and removed from the game. Each captured token is worth 1 point at the end of the game (Fig. 5).
If an opposing or friendly Faction token is on the edge and appears to be blocking the exit of another token in an attempt to capture it, this is not in fact the case and the opposing Faction token can still be captured (Fig. 6).
Strongholds cannot be pushed off the edge of the board. Strongholds can block the capture of Factions once they are on the edge of the board.
Variant
Sudden Death Mode
Factions move orthogonally across the board, one square per move. They must enter play on the square of the board opposite them, which also constitutes a move (Fig. 7). The game ends as soon as one of the players moves their 8th Faction onto the board. All Victory Point (VP) scoring is the same as the "Storm the Castle" mode. All other movement, Bastion placement on the last Faction moved and Stronghold pushing rules and constraints are the same including capturing Faction tokens. Factions cannot pull Strongholds but only push them.