Svea Rike: Batalj

Svea Rike: Batalj Rulebook

Table of Contents

THE NEW REGENT CARDS

WAR (OPTIONAL)

A war against a neighboring country takes place. The player who currently controls the most troop symbols (counting all Fief cards, History cards and Event cards) may choose against which country. In case of a tie, a die roll decides.

PLUNDERING

When you draw a Regent card that says "Plundering" in the current era, the players who wish may set out on a plundering expedition; see the full rules for Plundering below. Nothing special happens for the other players.

CHANCELLOR

The Regent dies prematurely and a regency government is appointed under a Chancellor. The player who currently controls the most crown symbols may leaf through the pile of Regent cards and choose one that applies during this round.

ARCHBISHOP ELECTION

Move the Archbishop card one step to the left (to the next player clockwise) each time you draw a Regent card that says "Archbishop election" in the current era. See the full rules for the Archbishop below.

ENLIGHTENMENT

During this regent period, players who choose the activity Arts, Culture & Science may freely choose among the remaining History cards from the current time period, not only among the face-up ones. However, after each browsing of the History cards the pile must be returned (minus any cards that were possibly removed from it).

TRADE BLOCKADE

All income from trade is halved during this regent period. This does NOT apply to players who can immediately play the Event card "Blockade Runner".

THE ARCHBISHOP

At the start of the game, the Archbishop card is given to the eldest of the players. (If you prefer, you may instead roll the die to see who gets it.)

The Archbishop card stays with the player who was initially given it until either:

a Regent card with the text "Archbishop election" that applies to the current era is drawn, or
a player plays an Event card with the text "Archbishop election".

Each time either of these occurs, the Archbishop card is moved ONE STEP TO THE LEFT, to the next player clockwise.

The player who currently holds the Archbishop card must keep it lying face up in front of him on the table. The card shows that one of the family's members holds this office. The holder of the Archbishop card shall, each time he takes his turn, collect 1 gold from each of the other players. He does this at the start of his turn. As soon as the card holder has announced the collection, no one may play the Event card "Intrigue within the church leadership" at that time.

ABOUT THE ARCHBISHOP BEING ASSASSINATED

If someone plays an Event card with "Archbishop assassinated!" on the player who currently holds the office, the Archbishop card is temporarily set aside. The player who played that Event card, however, must keep it until the end of the game, when it counts as -1 AP in the final tally, since it is a stain on the family's honor to have had such a high-ranking person assassinated.

As soon as a new Regent card or Event card with the words "Archbishop election" is drawn or played, respectively, the Archbishop card returns to play. The die then decides which player it goes to first. If the Event card "Manipulated archbishop election" is played, the player who played it decides who becomes the new archbishop.

NEW RULES FOR WAR

To use the rules below, the new Regent cards must be shuffled into the old ones before the game begins, as must the new History cards with Artillery and the new Event cards that concern war. Read through the special rules that apply to old Event cards that have to do with war before you begin – these cards get new effects under these new rules.

As soon as a Regent card shows that war breaks out, take out the Battlefield and the Soldier game pieces. Basically, the war proceeds in the same way as in the basic game – trade relations with that country cease, the War marker is placed, and so on; see the original rulebook – but since the Batalj expansion contains a more advanced mechanism, it becomes considerably more exciting! It also puts your tactical ability to the test; a single mistake can be just as devastating as a stroke of genius can be decisive!

Each army has three different kinds of game pieces: FIELD MARSHALS (mounted), ARTILLERY and SOLDIERS. The players control and roll together for Sweden's soldiers; the enemy's actions, however, always follow the predetermined rules below. Any one of the players may make the enemy's dice rolls.

(The printed text refers to a picture of the battlefield as being on the "previous page". In the photographed booklet the map is on page 3, labelled below.)

THE BATTLEFIELD

The battlefield is divided into eight different areas: six Front sections (left flank, centre and right flank of each side) and the two armies' Reserves.

The Front sections. The three SWEDISH front sections are marked in blue on the battlefield, and the three ENEMY front sections in red. (Wherever the rules say "enemy front section", the red front sections on the map are always meant.)

The Reserve. The Reserve is used not only for regrouping troops, but also houses the armies' staffs and artillery. Any number of troops may be placed in the Reserve.

(Pictures on the page: Soldier, Field Marshal, Artillery.)

THE BATTLEFIELD MAP

(Map labels as printed on the battlefield picture, translated: Enemy's left flank; Enemy's Battle (centre); Enemy's right flank; Enemy's front section; Enemy's Reserve; Sweden's right flank; Sweden's Battle (centre); Sweden's front section; Sweden's left flank; Sweden's Reserve.)

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER

There are some rules that are exceptions to part of what is said in the rest of the rules. REMEMBER THESE:

No more than FOUR game pieces may ever stand in a front section (Field Marshals plus Soldiers). Nor may more than ONE Fief card ever lie in a front section.
Both armies must always have at least one SOLDIER in their Reserve (Field Marshals and Artillery do not count as soldiers here).
A Field Marshal may NEVER stand alone in a front section.
Attacks ALWAYS take place along the battlefield's "lengthwise" direction; you cannot attack diagonally or sideways.

THE BATTLE

In brief, a field battle proceeds as follows:

The troops are deployed: the Swedish troops according to the players' wishes, the enemy troops at random with the help of the strength cards.
All artillery, both Sweden's and the enemy's, fires.
Sweden begins the attack, and enemy losses are removed.
The enemy makes a counterattack, and Swedish losses are removed.
Sweden may, if the players so wish, advance its troops into empty enemy front sections and/or from its Reserve into a front section of its own, and/or retreat from a front section to the Swedish Reserve.
The enemy advances in the corresponding way (but never retreats!).
Repeat steps 2 to 6 until either side's Reserve is empty.

WHO WINS?

The side that first manages to remove all soldiers from the opponent's Reserve wins! At the very moment the last SOLDIER is removed, the battle is over. This therefore also happens if Field Marshals or Artillery remain in the Reserve.

DRAW. Should a situation arise where it is evident that neither side can win the battle, the battle is declared a Draw. Such a battle has NO consequences whatsoever, except that the players who took part in the battle lose the troop maintenance they had already paid. (Event cards that were already played and had an effect during the battle are, however, not returned.)

1) FORM THE STRENGTH CARDS

SWEDEN

Each player selects the Fief cards and Military cards with which he or she takes part in the battle and, after internal discussion, places them in the Swedish front sections and Reserve as follows:

1) Fief cards

a) Place one (optional) Fief card in the Reserve.

b) Place the other Fief cards in Sweden's front sections; however, only one (1) may be placed in each.

c) Place all remaining Fief cards in the Reserve.

d) Place one blue soldier per troop symbol on the Fief cards.

2) Field Marshals

a) Field Marshal cards may be placed in any area that also contains a Fief card.

b) Place a blue field marshal on each Field Marshal card and then remove the cards.

3) Artillery

a) Place all Artillery cards in the Reserve and immediately replace them with blue artillery game pieces.

4) Other Military cards

a) Other Military cards (e.g. the Finnish Cavalry) may be placed in any Swedish front section that currently contains fewer than four game pieces, or in the Swedish Reserve.

b) Place a blue soldier on each other Military card and then remove them.

5) Finally

Remove all Fief cards in the Swedish Reserve.
Check that there are no more than four game pieces in any Swedish front section; surplus game pieces must be moved to the Swedish Reserve.
Check that at least one blue soldier stands in the Swedish Reserve; if not, move one there from any front section.

THE ENEMY

Draw from the pile of remaining Regent cards one card more than the number of participants in the game. (So if you are, for example, three players, you draw four Regent cards for the enemy.) If you have reached the Age of Liberty (Frihetstiden) and are fighting Russia, you draw three cards more than the number of players instead. The Regent cards drawn in this way form the enemy's strength cards.

Place the enemy's strength cards at random, each one either face up or face down, in the three enemy front sections. If the enemy has only three cards, the enemy's left flank (opposite Sweden's right flank) is left empty. If the enemy has more than four cards, the cards that do not fit into the front sections are placed in the Reserve instead. Then turn the cards face up and replace them with red soldiers, field marshals and cannon. All cannon game pieces are placed in the Reserve.

Return the enemy's strength cards (the Regent cards) and reshuffle that pile.

THE SET-UP WAR GAME

(Picture caption and labels, translated:)

The enemy's strength cards (= Regent cards) are placed at random (= face up or face down) in the enemy's front sections, replaced by the corresponding game pieces, and then removed from play. At least one card is placed in the Reserve.
The Swedish strength cards (= Fief and Military cards) are laid out according to the players' wishes and the rules above. Then the corresponding game pieces are placed on top of the cards; finally, all cards in the Reserve and all Military cards are removed.
All artillery, both Swedish and enemy, is placed in the respective Reserve.
At least one Fief card must be placed in the Reserve. This is removed, however, before the battle begins.

(Caption below the picture:) REMEMBER that there may never be more than four game pieces (soldiers + field marshals) on one and the same Fief card! All surplus game pieces automatically go to the Reserve.

2) ARTILLERY BOMBARDMENT

The Artillery cards give the artillery's STRENGTH, i.e. the die result required to kill one enemy game piece. (Example: if the artillery has strength 2, an enemy is killed if you roll a one or a two.) The enemy's artillery always has strength 2.

Before each attack, you roll the die once for each artillery game piece, and then immediately remove the losses. Roll for both the Swedish and the enemy artillery!

The losses inflicted by artillery are always taken from a front section; the cannon do not reach as far as the opponent's Reserve. The players always choose for themselves which soldiers are to be taken as losses, on both the Swedish and the enemy side. It is permitted to have a Field Marshal retreat instead of removing a soldier game piece (see under "Losses" below).

3) SWEDEN ATTACKS!

Determine which Swedish front sections are to attack. If the front section does not contain a Field Marshal, there is a certain risk that whole parts of the front section will have to retreat, so sometimes it may be wise to refrain from attacking!

Roll the die once, in turn, for each of the attacking Swedish front sections. If the die result is LOWER THAN OR EQUAL TO the number of pieces (Soldiers + Field Marshals) standing in your own attacking front section, you may remove as many enemy pieces as the die result shows.

Remember that you can only attack "straight ahead", as the arrows show, not diagonally or sideways.

Example: There are two Swedish soldiers and one Swedish field marshal (three game pieces in total) on the left flank, and the die result is "2". You must then remove two soldiers from the enemy's right flank, i.e. the front section opposite.

IF THE DIE ROLL IS A FIVE

If the die roll is a five, ONE Swedish soldier must retreat from the attacking front section to the Reserve. This does NOT apply if one of the attacking pieces was a Field Marshal!

IF THE DIE ROLL IS A SIX

If the die roll is a six, TWO Swedish soldiers must retreat from the attacking front section to the Reserve. This does NOT apply if one of the attacking pieces was a Field Marshal!

ATTACK FROM THE RESERVE

Regardless of how many game pieces stand in the Reserve, only two at most may be used for one attack. (The die must in that case likewise show a one or a two for the attack to succeed.) If the attack succeeds, you may remove the corresponding number of enemy soldiers from any front section. You never retreat from the Reserve, even if you roll a five or six.

Regardless of how many pieces stand in the Reserve, you may only attack with them once per round.

LOSSES

When you inflict losses on the enemy, or the enemy inflicts losses on you, these are always taken from the area on the battlefield that is OPPOSITE the attacking soldiers. (When attacking from the Reserve, the players choose for themselves where the losses are taken.)

FIELD MARSHALS

Instead of letting a soldier be lost, you may choose to retreat to the Reserve with a Field Marshal.

Example: You have three soldiers and a Field Marshal, and two pieces are to be lost. You may then choose instead to remove just one soldier as a loss, and move the Field Marshal to the Reserve. (The enemy ALWAYS does this if it can, including in artillery bombardment.)

This also means that if you have one soldier and one Field Marshal in a front section, and one of them is taken as a loss, you MUST move the Field Marshal back, since he may never stand alone in a front section.

ARTILLERY

Artillery can never be removed from play or retreat.

FIEF CARDS

Fief cards are never removed from play. If all soldiers on top of a Fief card are killed, the card is placed in the Swedish Reserve.

IF THE LOSSES EXCEED THE NUMBER OF SOLDIERS

(The start of this heading is cut off at the left edge of the printed page photo, and parts of this passage are blurred; the legible wording is given and gaps are marked.)

IF THE LOSSES EXCEED THE NUMBER OF SOLDIERS. If either side inflicts on its opponent a greater loss than [illegible in photo] that are currently in that front section, [illegible in photo] the other losses (they are taken from some neighbouring front section or from the Reserve).

4) THE ENEMY ATTACKS!

The enemy's attacks proceed exactly as Sweden's. The enemy always attacks if he can.

5) SWEDEN REGROUPS

Sweden's regroupings take place in five steps, which MUST be taken in the correct order. You do not have to carry out all five steps. Each step may be carried out any number of times, but each individual card or game piece may only be moved ONCE during each round.

Move a Fief card (with all game pieces that are on it at that time) one step backwards to an empty area.
Move a soldier from a Fief card to the Reserve.
Move a Fief card (with all game pieces that are on it at that time) one step forward to an empty area (i.e. from the Reserve to an own adjacent front section, or from an own front section to the enemy's front section opposite).
Move a soldier from the Reserve to a Fief card in a SWEDISH front section.
Field Marshals may move completely freely: simply move them to the area where you want them to stand. They may, however, NEVER stand alone in an area.

6) THE ENEMY REGROUPS

1 & 2. The enemy never retreats voluntarily, so steps 1 and 2 are skipped.

The enemy always advances with as many soldiers as possible.
Move a soldier from the enemy's Reserve to each of the enemy's front sections. If there are not enough soldiers left in the Reserve, they advance first to the front section that has the fewest soldiers in it, and second to the front section that has the most Swedish soldiers opposite them. If there are still several alternatives, the die decides.
Field Marshals always try to stand at the front, in the front section that has the most Swedish soldiers opposite them. (If several front sections are then to choose from, the die decides.) They never remain in the Reserve if they can avoid it.

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Advance through the opponent's front sections and attack the troops he has in the Reserve. When all soldiers in the opponent's Reserve are killed, the battle is won!

CHANGED EFFECTS OF CERTAIN EVENT CARDS

The Battles of Kliszów, Narva and Breitenfeld, and the Crossing of the Great Belt. Play at any time during the war and then remove all soldiers from one chosen enemy front section (but not the Reserve).

The Battle of Poltava. Play at any time during the war. When you play this, you place a further five soldiers in the enemy's Reserve, and move all Swedish soldiers that are in the enemy's front sections to the Swedish Reserve.

The Swedish Steel Bites. During this round of the field battle, it counts as if all Swedish front sections contain four soldiers.

Supply Train. Play at any time during the war, and top up the Swedish Reserve with three soldiers.

Superior Tactics. Sweden may re-roll all "failed" dice rolls during this round of the field battle, but only once each!

RULES FOR PLUNDERING

If PLUNDERING is written on the Regent card, each player, when it is his turn, may choose Plundering as his Activity. He may then not, in the same move, devote himself to any of Agriculture, Trade or Culture & Science.

All players who wish to take part in Plundering must announce this after the Regent card has been drawn. Place the Plundering map (= the reverse side of the Battlefield) beside the ordinary game board. The player or players who intend to plunder then place one of their family markers on either Lübeck or Stettin, at their choice. These two cities form the "start squares". All the Plundering tiles (20 at the start) in the bag are mixed face down, after which the Riksgälden (the Treasury), unseen and at random, places 14 of them, one on each city circle. Leftover Plundering tiles are returned unseen to the bag.

The other players who did not choose Plundering must wait for their turn until after the plundering is finished. They choose their activity exactly as normal, and receive no special effects from the Regent card.

HOW THE PLUNDERING PROCEEDS

The plundering players take turns in the order of play (determine this with the help of the family markers before the plundering; the same turn order applies throughout the whole plundering). Each time it is a player's turn, he rolls the die and moves at most as many steps as the die shows; it is permitted to move fewer. Two players may not stand on the same point or circle (except the start squares), but it is permitted to pass one another.

If you come to a city with a Plundering tile on it, you may, if you wish, stop there (but then you forfeit any surplus pips on the die) and in the same move turn the tile face up. You are, however, never obliged to turn over a tile you land on or pass; it is optional.

Tiles with loot. If the tile shows a loot (with value in gold) or a Cultural Treasure (with value in AP), take the tile and place it in front of you until further notice.

Tiles with Imperial troops. If the tile instead shows Imperial troops, your own army has been ambushed and destroyed. All loot and Cultural Treasures you have just collected, as well as the tile with Imperial troops, must immediately be put back among the leftover Plundering tiles in the bag. You are then "out" and may do nothing more during that round of play (spelvarvet).

(Note: the printed text uses the Swedish word "spelvarvet" for the round of play; it is translated here as "round of play".)

RETURNING WITH THE LOOT

A player may decide at any time to begin returning to either Lübeck or Stettin, regardless of which city he started in. As soon as he has managed to get back to one of these cities, it is settled that he keeps, for the rest of the game, all the loot and/or Cultural Treasures he gathered during that plundering expedition (unless an Event card says otherwise). They are then counted in the final tally at the end of the game.

END OF THE PLUNDERING EXPEDITION

When all the plundering players have either returned to one of the start cities or been "eliminated" by running into Imperial troops, the plundering phase is then over. The other players then carry out their moves in the normal way and in turn order.

EVENT CARDS AND PLUNDERING

A player who is plundering may not play any Event cards, and no Event cards may be played against him. If, during earlier plunderings, so many tiles have been taken that fewer than 14 remain in the bag, the Riksgälden (the Treasury) chooses on which city circles to place tiles.

(The photograph of this page does not show the "sidan" footer, so the page number could not be confirmed from the photo; it follows page 7 in the sequence of photographs.)