Rivality Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Setup
• Turn Structure
• Attack!
• Additional Rules
  • Mana Well Tile
  • Entrenchment
• End of Game and Scoring
  • End of the Game
  • Scoring
• Solo Mode
  • Setup
  • Phases of Play
  • Movement of Your Magician
  • Movement Rule for the Opposing Magician
  • Casting Your Spells
  • End of the Solo Game
  • Scoring (Solo)
• Expert Rules
  • Delayed Spells
  • Besieged Tiles
  • Scoring (Expert)

Overview

Goal of the game: Score the most victory points by controlling as many terrain tiles as possible.

The tiles: There are 4 types of tile: Mana Well, Dolmen Plain, Cottage and Fortress. Each tile represents both a piece of terrain with constructions and a powerful spell that the magicians (played by the players) cast. Depending on its power, each spell summons a number of stone Golems out of the ground, at a greater or lesser distance from the Magician who summons them.

Presentation of a tile (here a Fortress):

• The "broken shield" icon means that the Golems summoned by this spell ignore the effect of Magic Shields.
• Summoning spell that may be cast in front of the tile (top edge).
• Summoning spell that may be cast to the left of the tile.
• Summoning spell that may be cast to the right of the tile.
• Victory points scored at game end by whoever controls the tile (bottom-right number).
• Fortresses are protected by a Magic Shield. The two shield icons below the illustration indicate that the shield always destroys the first 2 Golems that attack it.

Tile values:

• Dolmen Plain (value 1): gains 1 victory point. Has no shields, so it never loses a Golem when attacked (unless an opponent has entrenched there, see Entrenchment below; the original cross-references this as "page 10", but the rule is printed on page 9).
• Cottage (value 2): gains 2 victory points and has a Magic Shield that destroys 1 Golem per attack (1 shield icon is shown under the illustration as a reminder).
• Mana Well (starting tile, value 3): gains 3 victory points, plus other advantages (see below).
• Fortress (value 4): gains 4 victory points at game end and has a Magic Shield that destroys 2 Golems (2 shield icons are shown under the illustration as a reminder).

Shields: Fortresses and Cottages are protected by Magic Shields. Each shield icon at the base of a tile means that, when enemy Golems enter this tile, one of them is immediately destroyed by the shield. If the number of attacking Golems exceeds the number of Shield icons on the tile, the excess Golems break through the defence.

Golems and diamonds on the spell icons: Some sides of the tiles show symbols (Golem silhouettes and diamonds) that correspond to Golem-summoning spells on the Battlefield. Each Golem silhouette represents one Golem; depending on the spell, between 1 and 4 Golems may appear. The number of diamonds shows the exact distance, in tiles, at which the Golems will appear.

Examples of spell icons:

• 4 Golem silhouettes followed by 1 diamond: summons 4 Golems on an adjacent tile.
• 3 Golem silhouettes followed by 2 diamonds: summons 3 Golems 2 tiles away.
• 2 Golem silhouettes followed by 3 diamonds, with a broken-shield icon: summons 2 Golems 3 tiles away. The broken-shield icon associated with the spell indicates that your Golems ignore losses caused by Magic Shields.

Setup

Place the starting tile (Mana Well, value 3) in the centre of the table.

Two players: One player takes the 30 Salmon Golems and the opponent takes the 30 Mauve Golems. The 20 Turquoise Golems stay in the box.

Create two draw piles of 12 tiles each (one for each player):

• The first pile consists of the tiles that show a small white star at the bottom right (next to the victory point value of the tile).
• The second pile consists of the remaining tiles.

Each player shuffles their pile and checks that the tile at the bottom is not a Fortress; if it is, they shuffle again.

Three players: Each player takes 20 Golems, and the third player uses the 20 Turquoise Golems. Excess Golems stay in the box and are not used (10 Salmon and 10 Mauve Golems). Set aside the 6 Fortress tiles, shuffle them face down, and deal two to each player. The remaining tiles are divided equally and at random among the participants, who add them to their Fortresses and shuffle everything face down. Each player shuffles their pile and checks that the bottom tile is not a Fortress; if it is, they shuffle again.

Four players: Form two teams and sit around the table so that two members of the same team are not next to each other. Use only the Salmon and Mauve Golems; the Turquoise Golems are not used. Each team uses the same Golem supply and the same draw pile.

Team members may not give each other any information during the game about the tiles they hold.

Starting hands: Each player draws 2 tiles and looks at them. The most venerable player is declared first player, and the game can begin. You may also use any method of your choice to determine the first player.

Mulligan: If the first player cannot summon Golems from the starting tile on their first placement, they may discard their two tiles and draw two others, then play. The draw pile is then reformed and shuffled.

"Let the war of the Golems begin!"

Example setup for 2 players:

• Mauve Magician: his Magician pawn, 30 Golems (the supply), and 2 tiles in hand, which he may consult. Draw pile for the Mauve player.
• Salmon Magician: his Magician pawn, 30 Golems (the supply), and 2 tiles in hand, which he may consult. Draw pile for the Salmon player.
• Starting tile: always placed in the centre of the playing area.

Turn Structure

The area in the middle of the table where the tiles are placed is called the Battlefield, and the active player is the one whose turn it is.

At the start of the game, the Battlefield consists of a single tile: the starting tile. During the game, you place tiles that gradually complete the Battlefield.

Control: A tile is said to be controlled by a player (or team) when that player has more Golems on the tile than any other opponent. Each tile can hold at most 5 Golems. For example, if you have 3 Golems on a tile and your opponent has 2, you control the tile.

When two factions are tied, the tile is said to be contested and nobody controls it.

Starting with the first player, then clockwise, each player must during their turn:

1. Choose and place one of their 2 tiles on the Battlefield.
2. Place their Magician plus one Golem on the tile that has just been placed.
3. Apply the effects of their tile (Summoning Spells).
4. Draw a new tile to complete their hand, unless the pile is exhausted (see below). The next player then plays.

A tile may be placed anywhere on the Battlefield, provided that it is adjacent on at least one side to a tile already placed. You may orient the tile as you wish, so as to best aim its spells.

Any tile occupied by a Magician can never be attacked (see below).

Example:

1. The first player chooses a Dolmen Plain tile and places it next to the multicoloured Mana Well (starting tile).
2. He takes care to rotate the tile so that its Spell (range of one tile) faces the starting tile, so he can take control of it with 2 Golems.
3. He immediately places his Magician with a first Golem on the tile he has just played.

Reminder: the number of silhouettes is the number of Golems that will be summoned, and the number of diamonds is the distance in tiles at which the Golems will appear.

Attack!

Each tile (except the starting tile) allows one or more Summoning Spells to be cast, in different directions depending on the tile.

When a Spell should make Golems appear on an empty space on the Battlefield, the Golems simply do not appear and the spell is lost. The same applies to spells that would target a tile occupied by an enemy Magician.

Once the Golem or Golems have appeared on the destination tile through the spell, two important things must be checked:

Golem limit: After placing your Golems, check that the tile holds no more than 5 Golems. If it does, the active player removes enemy Golems until only 5 remain on the tile. There may therefore still be enemy Golems on the tile after the combat is resolved.

If Golems belonging to several opponents are present, the active player first removes those of the opponent with the most units on the tile. In case of a tie, the active player chooses which unit to remove. They never remove their own Golems, unless they are alone with Golems on the tile and the limit of 5 is exceeded.

Shields: If the destination tile is controlled by an opponent and is a Cottage or a Fortress, the attacking Golems lose a number of units equal to the number of Magic Shield icons shown on the destination tile (unless the spell cast shows a broken-shield icon, see page 3). Cottages have one and Fortresses have two.

If your spell summons no more than two Golems, there is no point in attacking an enemy-controlled Fortress: "You shall not pass!" (a famous magician's quote).

Once this count is made, place the remaining units on the tile.

Cottages and Fortresses, reminder: As soon as a player has a majority on one of these tiles, they control it. They benefit from the protection of the place, which takes the form of Magic Shields.

Note: Dolmen Plains have no Magic Shield. You therefore never lose a unit when attacking them (unless an opponent has entrenched there, see Entrenchment below).

Note: When attacking a Cottage or a Fortress that is contested (tied), nobody controls the tile and the shields have no effect. You may therefore summon Golems there without suffering losses.

Note: Spells that summon Golems at a range of 3 tiles ignore the effect of Shields (no Golem losses). A broken-shield icon is associated with these spells as a reminder.

Example tile placements:

Example 1 (start of the game): The Mauve player has invested the Mana Well with 2 Golems. The Salmon player cannot attack the tile with the Mauve Magician (forbidden).

Example 2 (turn 2): The Mauve player chooses a new tile. This time he places a Cottage. Its tile lets him cast a Spell (range of 2 tiles) that makes 3 new Golems appear on the Mana Well. The limit of 5 Golems per tile is exceeded. The active player (Mauve) may therefore destroy two enemy units, and the two Salmon Golems return to their owner's supply.

Next, he attacks the Mana Well. He chooses a spell that generates 2 Golems on the Well. Since the total number of Golems present does not exceed 5 (the maximum per tile), no Golems are destroyed during this action. The second Spell of the tile, which summons 2 Golems at a distance of two tiles, is lost because no destination tile lies where the Golems should appear.

The Mana Well is now entirely in the hands of the Mauve player, who then benefits from the Entrenchment bonus (see page 9).

Example 3: Salmon places a tile that lets him activate the two Spells on it by rotating it to the right. The Spell (range of 1 tile) lets him make 2 of his Golems appear on a Dolmen Plain controlled by 4 enemy Golems. In total, 7 Golems are on the tile, and the attacker (Salmon) removes 2 Mauve Golems and takes control of the tile because he becomes the majority. At the end of the combat, 2 Mauve Golems and 3 Salmon Golems remain.

The second spell summons two Golems at two tiles' distance to the right of the placed tile. At two tiles' distance is a Cottage already controlled by Salmon. The fact that there is no tile immediately to the right of the placed tile does not prevent his Golems from appearing, as long as a tile lies two spaces from the spell's origin tile. The Salmon player may therefore place two Golems to reinforce the Cottage garrison.

Important: The Cottage's Magic Shield protects against attackers, not against reinforcements, of course. Had the Cottage been controlled by the Mauve player, one of the two Salmon Golems would have crashed against the shield.

Additional Rules

Mana Well Tile

The starting tile is a unique tile with several special features:

• It offers 3 victory points.
• The player who controls the Mana Well at game end controls the contested tiles and scores the corresponding victory points.
• It breaks ties in the final score, awarding the win to whoever controls it.

Entrenchment

As soon as you control a tile of the Battlefield with 5 of your Golems, those Golems are said to be entrenched. That tile then gains one additional Magic Shield.

Thus, a Plain with entrenched Golems now has one shield, a Cottage goes to 2 shields, and 5 entrenched Golems in a Fortress gain 3 shields!

Note on the source: the Dolmen Plain entry in the tile-values section cross-references this rule as "page 10"; in the printed book it appears on page 9.

End of Game and Scoring

End of the Game

The game ends if one of these conditions is met:

• All players have played their last tile.
• One of the players (or teams) has placed ALL of their Golems on the Battlefield. In that case, the game stops immediately.

Note: Exhaustion of the tile pile does not end the game. Players keep playing until all tiles are exhausted. They therefore have only a single tile to play on their last turn.

Advice: Always keep an eye on your opponents' Golem supply. By eliminating as many enemy units as possible on your turn, you limit the risk of them ending the game by placing their last Golem.

Scoring

Each player (or team) takes the Battlefield tiles they control, except the tile where their Magician stands (that tile is never counted).

The player who controls the Mana Well also takes any tiles on which they are in a tie.

Tiles that are not allocated (because the tie was not broken by the Mana Well) are not counted. This happens in a three-player game when two players each have 2 Golems on a tile, and the third player, who controls the Mana Well, has only one Golem on the contested tile.

Each player then calculates their score by adding up the value of the tiles they have taken. The winner is the player with the most victory points.

Tie-break: In case of a tie, the player (or team) controlling the Mana Well wins the game. In a three-player game, the Mana Well's owner wins even if they are last on score, provided that their two opponents are tied.

Example: Salmon and Mauve finish with 23 points. Turquoise finishes with 19 points but controls the Mana Well... Turquoise wins the game.

Solo Mode

Will Souramoun lead you by the wand?

Setup

Do not use the starting tile; return it to the box. Choose one of the two starting colours; the other will be used by your virtual opponent.

Create two tile piles as for the two-player setup. Shuffle each of the two piles, then set up the Battlefield as follows:

1. With one of the two piles, place 3 rows of 4 tiles face up in front of you, all oriented so the illustration faces you. These are your lands. Place them from left to right and top to bottom, in the order of your draw pile.
2. Do the same above your lands, but this time leave the tiles face down and orient them so the illustrations are upside down. These are your opponent's lands, not revealed at the start of the game (12 tiles).

Your opponent's army is led by the mage Souramoun: 30 Golems of the opponent's colour, plus the Souramoun Magician.

Your army of Golems is led by your Magician: 30 Golems of your colour.

The 4 tiles of the bottom row of your lands (12 tiles revealed at random) form your Entry Point.

Phases of Play

Each turn consists of 4 main phases:

1. Movement of your Magician.
2. Movement of the opposing Magician.
3. Casting of the opposing Magician's Spells.
4. Casting of your Spells.

Entry of your Magician: On the first turn, your Magician must enter the Battlefield through one of the 4 tiles of the bottom row, called the Entry Point. Choose one of these 4 tiles, bearing in mind that the Spells of the chosen tile will be activated later. As in the base rules, your Magician is always accompanied by a Golem taken from your supply.

Movement of the opposing Magician: Then place the opposing Magician so that its position is perfectly symmetrical to yours (mirror effect), with the boundary between your tiles and your opponent's tiles (the central axis) as the midline (see examples below).

Whatever your Magician's movement, the opposing Magician always moves so that it lies in the same column as yours and at exact symmetry with respect to the central axis. Note that the two Magicians can never end up on the same tile.

Casting the opposing Magician's Spells: Once the opposing Magician has arrived on its destination tile, if that tile is not revealed, reveal it with the illustration "upside down," then apply ALL the Spells of the tile.

If the Spells leave the Battlefield, they are not applied. If a Spell makes Golems appear on an unrevealed tile, reveal it (still "upside down") and place the corresponding number of Golems on it. If the Spell makes Golems appear on one of your tiles, there are 2 cases:

1. You do not control the tile: place the opposing Golems as planned. They now control your tile.
2. You have defenders: apply the usual combat rules, taking the Magic Shields into account.

Unlike the base rules, the presence of your Magician does not prevent your opponent from attacking you.

Example: The opposing Magician moves two tiles down (mirror effect). It casts its spells and summons 3 Golems on the tile where your Magician stands. One of the opposing Golems is destroyed by the shield of your Cottage. However, the opponent, with 2 Golems, takes control of your tile. Your Spell-casting phase does not take place (you no longer control the tile).

Bad example: The player moves their Magician two tiles straight ahead and adds a Golem as in the base rules. "This is the perfect example of what not to do."

Movement of Your Magician

On the following turn, you may move your Magician freely from tile to tile, provided you only pass through tiles where at least one of your Golems is present (whether or not you control the tile). Your Magician may therefore move several tiles in the same turn.

You must end your movement on an empty tile (revealed or not). If it is an enemy tile (not revealed), remember to place it revealed "upside down."

Movement Rule for the Opposing Magician

The opponent has no constraint and always activates the tile it arrives on, even if it is occupied by your units. The opposing Magician ignores them. Remember that each time the opposing Magician moves, you must add to it one Golem taken from its supply, even when Magic Shields are present.

Casting Your Spells

If your Magician still controls the tile on which it has moved, cast all the Spells of the tile using the same procedure as for the opposing Magician. You may summon Golems on the tile where the enemy Magician stands.

If you no longer control the tile on which your Magician stands, because your opponent captured it during its Spell-casting phase, you may not cast any Spell. If a Spell makes Golems appear on an unrevealed tile, reveal it (still "upside down") and place the corresponding number of Golems on it.

End of the Solo Game

The game ends immediately when one of two cases occurs:

1. One side has placed all of its Golems.
2. You no longer have an empty tile to which you can move your Magician.

Scoring (Solo)

• Beginner mode: each side totals the points of the tiles it controls. The best score wins. In case of a tie, you have lost.
• Normal mode: Souramoun also takes the points of the contested tiles.
• Seasoned mode: = Normal mode, plus remove one point of victory from each of your controlled tiles if at least one enemy Golem is on it.

Whatever the mode, remember that tiles where a Magician stands are worth no points.

Expert Rules

This game mode demands more concentration but offers greater strategic possibilities (not compatible with solo mode). The setup is identical to the base game.

Delayed Spells

In the base rules, you may have noticed that a Spell which could not be cast, for lack of a destination tile, is lost.

Spell resolution for delayed Spells always occurs after the active player has placed their tile and cast all their Spells. Thus, a tile may very well be placed so as to attack and control a tile that is supposed to cast a delayed Spell. In that case, the active player who takes control of that tile also benefits from the delayed Spell.

Under the Expert rules, this is not the case: lost Spells can be activated later, as soon as a tile is placed at the location from which the Spell can be cast. This means that a tile with a Magician can now be attacked via delayed Spells.

When a player may cast several delayed Spells, they choose the order in which to cast them.

This mechanic opens up important tactical possibilities, such as:

• Planning in advance the reinforcement of a tile placed later.
• Preparing traps and swinging control of an enemy tile at the moment it is placed.
• Taking control of a tile and benefiting from its delayed Spell.

In a three-player game, the player seated to the left of the active player casts their delayed Spell(s) first, then the next player.

Delayed Spells coming from a contested tile never apply.

It is always forbidden to place a tile in order to attack another tile occupied by an enemy Magician. Only a delayed Spell allows this.

It is very important, when you place your tile, to check whether the neighbouring tiles do not target the location you have chosen. Important: It is forbidden to change the location or orientation of your tile once placed.

Besieged Tiles

When a player controls the 4 tiles adjacent to another tile, that tile is said to be besieged. The besieger automatically takes control of it. The enemy Golems on it are returned to their respective supplies, and the besieger places one Golem taken from its supply on it.

In a three-player game, two opponents may besiege a third player's tile (or a contested tile). When the siege takes place (taking control of the 4th tile connected to the besieged tile), the player with the greatest number of besieging tiles takes control of the besieged tile. In case of a tie, the player who took control of the 4th besieging tile takes control. Taking control of a besieged tile always takes place once all Spells have been cast.

Example: A master stroke. Salmon places a tile and casts a summoning of 4 Golems on a Cottage controlled by 2 enemy Golems. One of the 4 Golems is destroyed by the Cottage's shield. The remaining 3 Golems take control of the Cottage. The Fortress above it is therefore besieged because the 4 tiles surrounding it are controlled by Salmon. Mauve removes its 5 Golems, which it had thought safe in their Fortress. These are replaced by one Salmon Golem taken from the player's supply.

Example of application of the Expert rules: Salmon controls a Dolmen Plain whose Spells were not activated when the tile was placed. The Spell to the right of the tile is powerful, since it summons 3 Golems against anyone who places a tile there. Salmon's weak point is that he has only one Golem on this tile. Mauve takes advantage of this to attack Salmon's tile. Mauve places another Dolmen Plain tile that summons 2 Golems on Salmon's tile. Salmon loses control of his tile to Mauve, who then benefits from the delayed Spell of the tile. Mauve summons 3 Golems that reinforce the tile it has just placed. A nice move! Had the tile placed by Mauve not had a Spell in Mauve's favour, Salmon would have taken control of the tile by entering it with 3 of his Golems; the presence of the Mauve Magician has no effect on the application of a delayed Spell.

Scoring (Expert)

The calculation is done as in the base rules, with one difference: every controlled tile on which at least one enemy Golem is present loses one point from its value. A Dolmen Plain in this case is worth zero, a Cottage is worth only one point, and a Fortress three points.

Reminder: tiles occupied by a Magician are worth nothing.