KUMO Hogosha
KUMO Hogosha Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Box Contents
- 1 Game board (Rotating Arena)
- 1 Rotating Arena tile grid
- 1 Rotating piece
- 4 Player boards (clan)
- 2 Rulebooks
- 1 Stone of Balance
- 12 Kumotori dice (6 orange and 6 black)
- 4 Action Markers
Introduction
The active movement of a Kumotori is shown on the upper face of the dice. Each face on the Kumotori represents a stance – the Movement options for your faction. The core game includes the Sumo Clan, but other clans may be available in the future to enrich the Kumo Hogosha experience.
The Player's area is the Player Board plus the Prison.
Game Objective and Ending
To win the game you must push the Stone of Balance outside of the Rotating Arena into the opponent's camp.
Setup
- Place the Stone of Balance into the center of the Rotating Arena.
- Choose a Player Board and place the 6 Kumotori of your color on it.
- You perform at least 5 actions each round.
- Plus up to 3 actions from prisoners in a 2 player game.
- In a four player game you share 8 actions as a team, plus up to 2 actions from prisoners.
- Player position: sit at your Player Board across the Rotating Arena from your opponent, with your Action Marker beside your board.
For 2 Players
Each turn, the active player must perform 5 actions (plus up to 3 additional actions from Imprisoned Kumotori, see Imprisoning). One of those actions must be the mandatory action, Turning the Rotating Arena. The other four actions can be any combination of the following: Turning the Rotating Arena, Placing a Kumotori, Simple Movement, Active Movement, Changing Stance, or Freeing from Prison. The actions can be taken in any order and may include repetitions as long as at least one of the actions is Turning the Rotating Arena.
Turning the Rotating Arena: Turn the Rotating Arena 90° clockwise or counterclockwise. You must perform this action at least once on your turn.
A) Mandatory Action
The mandatory action can be completed at any time during a player's turn. It counts as 1 of 5 actions.
B) Possible Actions (6)
- Turning the Rotating Arena: Turn the Rotating Arena 90° in any direction. You may perform this action more than once each round, choosing which direction to rotate each time.
- Placing a Kumotori: Choose one of the Kumotori from your player board and place it on any space on the closest row of the Rotating Arena, choosing any face to be on top. This is the Stance of your Kumotori, which determines what Active Movement it can perform.
- Simple Movement: Move a Kumotori to an orthogonally adjacent space. Note that some Stances forbid this action and that you cannot use this action to move diagonally.
- Active Movement: The top face of your Kumotori displays its Stance, which determines how this action works. Each Stance has its own movement rules which are described in the Kumotori's Clan Rulebook. The core game includes the Sumo Clan, but other clans may be available in the future to enrich the Kumo Hogosha experience.
- Changing Stance: Choose a Kumotori on the Rotating Arena. Select any face to be on top, keeping it on the same space of the arena.
- Freeing from Prison: Place 1 of your Kumotori from an opponent's prison onto your Player Board.
Imprisoning
Certain Active Movements, such as Throw, allow you to Imprison a Kumotori.
To do so, remove the Kumotori from the Rotating Arena and place it into your Prison and gain an action this turn. You receive bonus actions each turn equal to the number of Kumotori you have imprisoned. Regardless of how many Kumotori you imprison, you may perform a maximum of 8 total actions per turn.
4 Player Rules
A) Setup
To play with 4 players, form 2 teams.
Teams choose a single color of Kumotori and sit opposite from each other around the Rotating Arena.
Each player places only 3 Kumotori of their color on their player board. During the game, players can control any Kumotori of their color that is on the Rotating Arena or Imprisoned, but can only place Kumotori from their own player board.
Play proceeds clockwise round the table, alternating between the teams.
B) Playing the Game
Each team performs a total of 8 actions (plus up to 2 bonus actions from imprisoned Kumotori) each round.
Each player in the team must take between 3 and 5 actions per turn, spending those actions from the team's pool of actions. The mandatory action of Turning the Rotating Arena only needs to be performed by one of the team's players.
Each team can only imprison up to 2 opponent Kumotori. When performing the Freeing from Prison action, place the freed Kumotori on the Player Board of the team member with the fewest Kumotori on their board.
Sumo Clan Stances
Each Kumotori die has six faces, one per Stance. The face showing on top determines what Active Movement that Kumotori can perform.
Run
A Kumotori in this stance cannot perform the Simple Movement action.
The Active Movement for this Stance moves the Kumotori two spaces in any combination of vertical and horizontal movements.
Jump
The Active Movement for this Stance moves the Kumotori over any number of pieces in a row to the next free tile vertically or horizontally, jumping over any number of other Kumotori and/or the Stone of Balance.
Throw
This Active Movement for this Stance moves an orthogonally adjacent Kumotori belonging to any player to an empty tile adjacent to the Kumotori performing the movement.
If this Kumotori is adjacent to the active player's camp and moves an opponent Kumotori, this movement can instead imprison that opponent Kumotori, winning an action for the active player.
Grab
To perform the Active Movement for this Stance, the performing Kumotori must be orthogonally adjacent to another Kumotori belonging to any player.
This movement moves both Kumotori one space vertically or horizontally.
If this movement pushes an opponent's Kumotori into the active player's camp, instead imprison that opponent Kumotori, winning an action.
Block
The Active Movement for this Stance allows this Kumotori to move on top of an orthogonally adjacent opponent's Kumotori, unless that opponent Kumotori is orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to the Stone of Balance.
That Kumotori is now blocked, and cannot perform movements. If at least one of your Kumotori is blocking an opponent at the beginning of your turn, you must perform Simple Movement actions to move those Kumotori off on this turn (unblocking the opponents).
Kumo
A Kumotori in this stance cannot perform the Simple Movement action. The Active Movement for this stance is the only Sumo movement that can shift the Stone of Balance.
To perform it, you must have 2 Kumotori in the Kumo Stance orthogonally adjacent to each other, with one of them orthogonally adjacent to the Stone of Balance.
When you perform this movement, move the Stone of Balance one space horizontally or vertically.
Legend – Expert Version
For the Expert Edition you have to apply the following rules:
- At the beginning of a player's turn, if he has at least 3 Kumotori left on his Character Tray, he must place at least one Kumotori on the Rotating Arena.
- Under no circumstance can your Kumotori leave the Rotating Arena, not even in the "Kumo" position.
FAQ
Can I turn the Rotating Arena multiple times? You must turn the Rotating Arena 90° at least once per turn for the mandatory action. You can turn it more often if you wish. Each 90° turn counts as one action.
Can I push my own Kumotori off the Rotating Arena? No, only your opponent's Kumotori. It is a matter of honor.
Can I place my Kumotori anywhere on the Rotating Arena? No, you must begin by placing your Kumotori on the first row of the Rotating Arena (by your Player Board).
Can I pick up my Kumotori from the Rotating Arena and place him back on my Player Board? No, you can never pick up your Kumotori from the Rotating Arena.
Do I have to use all five actions? You can choose not to use all five actions, but you must respect the following:
- One mandatory action is to turn the Rotating Arena 90°;
- You must place at least one Kumotori on the Rotating Arena provided that at least three Kumotori are in your Player Board; this remains mandatory in the Legend Version;
- The "Block" movement means that the blocking Kumotori must "unblock" the opponent's Kumotori in the next round. Therefore this is a mandatory action.
The player is otherwise free to use less actions than the five available.
How do I get additional actions? Whenever you push an opponent's Kumotori off the Rotating Arena you get one additional action for each removed Kumotori. You are entitled to this (these) additional action(s) until your opponent retrieves his Kumotori from your prison. You lose one extra action for each Kumotori recovered by your opponent.
Can I apply my movement to more than one opponent's Kumotori, such as apply the "Grab" movement on two Kumotori at the same time? No, your movements are always for one Kumotori only.
In the "Block" movement I must move to an empty square in my next turn. What will happen if my Kumotori in the "Block" movement is surrounded by other Kumotori, leaving no neighboring empty tile? You always move to the nearest empty tile (even if it is farther than expected).
Can I block an opponent's Kumotori who is already blocking one of my Kumotori? Yes, you can climb and block an opponent's Kumotori who is blocking one of your Kumotori. No more than three Kumotori should be stacked at any time.
Can I push an opponent's Kumotori from anywhere off the Rotating Arena? No, you can only push an opponent's Kumotori into your own player area (2 player game) or into yours and your teammate's player area (4 player game).