TAH WARS: Dice Tower Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Round and Phase Summary
• Quest Cards
  • Trade Quests
  • Attack Quests
  • Defend Quests
• Phases in Detail
  • Phase 1: The Quest Board
  • Phase 2: Give Orders
  • Phase 3: Recruit & Trade In (buy dice & crowns)
  • Phase 4: Navigate and Take Actions
  • Health
  • Variants

Components

• 6 Dice Towers
• 48 Cubes
• 1 Move Stick
• 6 Sets of Dice (7 dice each)
• 6 Player Boards
• 2 Double-Sided Boards (4 Maps)
• Quest Cards
• Trade Cards
• Summary Cards

Setup

• Choose one of four maps and place it in the centre of the table.
• Give each player a player board with the matching castle, dice, and cubes.
• Each player starts with 8 Shield, +1 Attack, 5 Health points, 2 of each resource, and 0 crowns.
• Place each die on their respective place on the player boards.
• Shuffle the deck of quest cards and reveal 4 cards face up next to the deck.
• Each player now places their castle at the edge of the board that's closest to them. All castles should have the same approximate distance between them, and be pointing to the centre of the board.
• Choose a first player and give them the first player marker.
• To start the game, in turn order, each player will use their tower to launch their D4, D6, and D8 onto the board. (D4 means 4 sided die, D6 means 6 sided die, etc.)

Round and Phase Summary

The game is played in rounds, and each round has 4 phases.

Each player will do Phase 1 first, then in turn order, each player completes phase 2, and so on.

Below are the 4 phases of each round:

1. Quest Board: In player order, they will accept or remove a quest card.
2. Give Orders: In player order, for each of their dice on the board, they can gather or increase.
3. Recruit & Trade: All players, at the same time, recruit and trade in resources.
4. Navigate, Deploy Army & Complete Quests: In player order, they will move or rotate their tower and launch their dice. At the end of their turn, they may complete a quest card.

Quest Cards

There are 3 types of quest cards: Attack, Defend, and Trade.

The colour and icon in the circle on the quest card will tell you what terrain you need to have your castle and dice on to complete the quest.

The 5 terrain types on the board are: Rivers, Forest, Mountains, Neonite, and City. They are also outlined in the corresponding colour.

If you have an active quest next to your player board and meet the requirements at the end of your turn, you can discard it and gain the reward listed on the card in phase 4 (after deploying your dice).

Trade Quests

Trade quests are simple to complete:

• If your castle is on the terrain and you have the resources, you can trade them in for the reward.
• Pay the listed resource at the top of the card for the reward listed at the bottom, then discard the card.

You can only do this at the end of your turn in phase 4 (after deploying your dice).

Completed quest cards go to the discard pile next to the deck.

Attack Quests

To complete an Attack Quest, your castle must be on the terrain listed on the card and you must have dice on the same terrain area as your castle.

• Add up the numbers on your dice, with the bonus you get from your castle's attack value. If you have enough to equal or pass the number needed, you defeat the enemy and complete the quest.
• Get the reward listed and discard the card.

You can only do this at the end of your turn in phase 4 (after deploying your dice).

Defend Quests

To complete a Defend Quest, your castle must be on the terrain listed on the card and you must have dice on the same terrain area.

• Add up the numbers on your dice, with the defence value of your castle. If you have enough to equal or pass the number needed, you successfully defend the locals from that enemy and complete the quest.

Get the reward listed and discard the card. You can only do this at the end of your turn in phase 4 (after deploying your dice).

Phases in Detail

Phase 1: The Quest Board

In turn order, each player will choose ONE of the following options:

• A) Take a face up quest card from the lineup and place it next to your player board. You can only do this if you do not already have 2 quest cards. Replace the card from the line up with a new one from the top of the deck.
• B) Draw a quest card from the top of the deck and place it face up next to your player board. You can only do this if you do not already have 2 quest cards.
• C) Discard a quest card from the line up and replace it with a new one from the deck. If you already have 2 quests cards, you MUST choose this action.

Phase 2: Give Orders

In turn order, players gather resources from the board, with their castle and their dice:

• A) You only get 1 resource from the terrain your castle is on. If your castle is on a border, you choose which resource from either of the terrains your castle is touching. The City gives you 1 of any of the resources available in the game.
• B) You choose to GATHER or STAY for each die you have on the main board. Starting with the die with the lowest number of faces and going up (d4, d6, and so on):
  • GATHER: Take the number on the die in resources according to the terrain it is on. Place that die back on your player board to be bought again later. Increase the amount of that resource on your player board. If you gather a die from a city, you only get one resource of your choice, regardless of the number on the die. If the die is on a border, you can split the resources you gather between those regions. If you are entitled to more than the limit allowed for a resource you get ONE of the resource on the line below.
    • Example: if you have 4 fish and gather 2 fish, you go up to 5 fish and gain 1 wood as well. If you already have 5 wood, you get 1 stone and so on.
  • STAY: If you leave a die on the board, flip it to the next face number. This allows you to gather a little more during the next round. Note that leaving a die on the board can be risky because it gives other players the opportunity to knock it into another terrain, into another number, or even off the board.

Phase 3: Recruit & Trade In (buy dice & crowns)

Here you will recruit population (dice) using your resources and buy a crown if you have 3 of each resource. This phase of the game can be done by all players at the same time to save time OR in turn order.

The box at the top of your player board is your population area (active dice area). To add a die to your population, you need to spend resources matching the die you want to buy. The cost is the number in the circle next to the die (example: to buy a D8, you must spend 3 Stones). When purchased, move that die to your population box.

The 4-sided die (D4) is always available, always active, and you do not pay to recruit it. All dice can be used to Gather OR Attack, except the 20-sided die, which can ONLY be used to perform attacks. To buy the D20, you must spend 1 of each resource.

You can also trade in 3 of each resource for 1 crown during this phase.

Phase 4: Navigate and Take Actions

(move or rotate your tower, deploy dice, and complete quests)

In player order, you can move OR rotate your tower, then take actions.

• MOVE: If you choose to move your tower, you can slide a few inches in any direction while making sure not to rotate it while doing so. If you want to move at maximum distance, you can use the movement stick. Place one end of the stick against the base of your tower and slide along it, make sure you are still touching the stick at the end of your move (still without rotating your tower).
• ROTATE: If you like your spot on the board, you can rotate your tower to face any direction, keeping it on the same location. There must always be enough space for a D20 to easily pass between towers.

After moving OR rotating, you can deploy the active dice from your population onto the board.

Deploy Active Dice: Using your tower, deploy any number of active dice that are in your population box. Choose a die and drop it through the top of your tower to slide it down onto the board. You can choose the order in which you drop them, and can reserve dice for other rounds.

Attacking: You can use your dice to attack other towers, but can only attempt 1 attack per turn. Declare which die or dice are Attackers. Launch the dice using your tower. Add the numbers on each attacking die that touched another tower to your castle's attack bonus. If the total is equal to or higher than the defender's tower defence value, the attack is successful! You can hit more than one tower with each die, which also counts as a trick shot (explained later).

Successful Attack:

• Remove all dice that hit the tower(s).
• The defender loses ONE health.
• The attacker gains ONE crown.

Important: After an attack, whether successful or not, the attacker will raise their attack stat by 1 and the defending player raises their defence stat by 1.

Dice that launch an attack but do NOT touch any other towers stay on the board for gathering later on, with the exception of the D20 which is only an attack die, and is always returned to the player board after an attack.

Dice that do touch the defending tower(s) are returned to the player's board for future purchasing. If you do not declare which dice are "Attacking" and they do touch another tower, they are considered gatherers, so remember to declare your attacks.

Trick Shots: You can try to attack 2 or more towers in 1 declared attack. If your opponents' towers are close to each other, you can bounce your attacking dice off one of them to hit the other. If you do, your attack is calculated as normal against EACH of the opponents defences and you win a Crown for each successful attack, but you only increase your Attack stat by 1 afterwards.

Once you've deployed your dice, your turn ends and the next player takes theirs. When all phases are done by all players, pass the first player marker to the next player and start a new round.

Die Off the Board? If a die goes off the board when deployed from your tower, you return it to your population box at the end of your turn. However, if another player knocks your die off the board, the die goes back on your player board to be purchased again.

Winning the Game: When a player reaches 5 crowns, they trigger the final round. If they are the only player with 5 crowns at the end of that round, they win. If 2 or more players have 5 crowns at the end of that round, "Sudden death" begins. Keep playing until a player gets a 6th crown to instantly end the game and be declared the winner.

Health

(Choose one of the following before playing)

• When your health drops to 0, you are Eliminated!
• OR
• When your health would drop to 0, you lose 1 crowns instead.

Variants

• Team Play is possible if playing 4 or 6 players.
• First to 5 crowns wins immediately.
• You cannot acquire the winning crown by trading in ressources.