ORC (2019) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Pieces and Roles
• Setup
• Turns
• Moving onto an Occupied Square
• Movement
• Victory

Contents

• 1 game board
• 10 Pork-tribe pieces
• 10 Hobgoblin-tribe pieces

Pieces and Roles

The six roles are King, Jester, Soldier, Archer, Knight and Chariot. The Pork-tribe pieces and the Hobgoblin-tribe pieces have the same roles and the same number of each role.

From the front, all pieces look the same. The role of a piece is identified by the mark on its back.

The number of pieces of each role per player is shown in the Movement section below (printed on the back cover of the leaflet).

Setup

1. Sit on opposite sides of the board, facing each other. Orient the board so that the castle squares at each end (the 5 squares marked with a castle icon) are on your own side.
2. One player takes all 10 Pork-tribe pieces. The other player takes all 10 Hobgoblin-tribe pieces.
3. Place the pieces on the 10 starting squares (the squares with a dot in the centre). Place each piece so that its picture faces the opponent. Pieces may be placed on any starting square, in any order.
4. Decide who goes first by rock-paper-scissors or a similar method. The game begins.

The leaflet's setup diagram shows that the backs of a player's own pieces are visible to that player (with their role marks), and the backs of the opponent's pieces are not visible.

Turns

• Players take turns alternately.
• On your turn, choose one of your own pieces and move it. You must move a piece; passing is not allowed.
• Once you have finished moving a piece, your turn ends and it is your opponent's turn.

Moving onto an Occupied Square

If the square a piece would move to already has another piece on it:

1. Your own piece: you cannot move onto that square.
2. An opponent's piece: remove the opponent's piece and move onto that square.

Removed opponent pieces are no longer used in the game. Keep them near the board, with their backs showing, so that both players can see the back of each removed piece.

Movement

Each role moves as follows. The number of pieces of that role per player is shown in parentheses.

• Soldier (×3): moves one square in the cross directions (orthogonally: forward, backward, left or right).
• Archer (×3): moves one square diagonally.
• Chariot (×1): moves forward any number of squares, until it captures an opponent's piece, or until it reaches a wall or runs into one of its own pieces.
• Knight (×1): moves to the square that is 2 squares forward and 1 square sideways. A piece in between is jumped over.
• King (×1): moves one square in any direction.
• Jester (×1): moves one square in any direction. The Jester cannot capture opponent pieces.

Translator's note: the leaflet says only that the Jester cannot take an opponent's piece. It does not separately state whether a Jester may move onto a square occupied by an opponent's piece; this transcription follows the leaflet's wording as printed.

Victory

There are three ways to win. The first player to achieve any one of them wins.

1. Remove the opponent's King from the game.
2. Your King reaches any one of the opponent's castle squares (the 5 squares with a castle icon).
3. Make the opponent remove your Jester (the opponent takes your Jester).

If conditions 2 and 3 are achieved at the same time, condition 3 takes precedence.