Yuan: l'Art de la Guerre – Chine Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Material
• Set up
  • Free scenario without bidding
  • Free scenario with bidding
• Goal of the game
• Detailed description
  • Tile
  • Village and City
  • Free, controlled and enemy province
  • Adjacent and connected
  • Group of provinces
  • Cost of actions
• Tour sequence
  • I. The Wheel of Time
  • II. Planning
  • III. Resolution
• Development
  • Colonization
  • Expansion
  • Automatic urbanization
• Fortification
  • Urbanization
  • Reinforcement
• Militarization
  • Recruitement
  • Attack
  • Combat / Attack
  • Automatic urbanization
• Fortification after attack
• Income
• Army upgrades by Clan
• IV. Victory control
  • Tie management
• Optional rule: The Rivers
• The Clans
• Scenarios
  • Mystic Island - 4 players
  • Foreign Invasion - 3 players
  • Generalized Conflict - 5 players
• Special situations
  • Expansion Level III
  • Simultaneous attacks
• Two different boxes
• Game aid

Material

• 15 Territory tiles
• 4 screens
• 4 Clan boards
• 4 pencils
• 34 Chão (printed money, pronounced "chao")
• 1 Wheel of Time
• 72 Villages
• 56 Cities (Towns)
• 36 Armies
• 18 Temples
• 24 Ramparts
• 28 level markers (action / non-action cubes)

Set up

• Indicate turn 1 on the time wheel, place it where everyone can see it.
• Choose tiles according to the number of players. On the back of the tiles, the number of players and the letter of the tile (to be used for imposed scenarios) are indicated:
  • 8 tiles for 2 players
  • • 4 tiles for 3 players
  • • 3 tiles for 4 players

You can play Yuan in several scenarios (Free or Imposed, see end of booklet), with or without bidding. Territory tile assembly and capital city placement will then be different.

For your first game, we advise you to play a free scenario without bidding!

Free scenario without bidding

1. Distribute the Territory tiles evenly to each player. Each player in turn places a tile in the center of the table next to another. Repeat until the last Territory tile has been placed (with 4 players, one player will place one less tile than the other players).
2. Place a Temple on each Hill Province.
3. Place one City per player (of a different color) on a Province (other than Mountain and Water) in agreement with your opponents.
4. Each player randomly picks one of the colors in play. They will then play this color and Clan for the duration of the game (when placing Towns, players don't know what their starting color and Town will be).
5. Each player takes a pencil, the folding screen, Villages, Towns, Armies and the Clan board.
6. Each Clan takes 4 Chão (printed money, pronounced "chao").
7. Make the necessary Chão deductions from each Clan, if you're playing with Clan powers (see The Clans).

Free scenario with bidding

1. Distribute the tiles to each player. Each player in turn places a tile in the center of the table, next to another. Repeat until you reach the last "Territory" tile.
2. Place a Temple on each Hill Province.
3. Place Cities at random on Provinces (other than Mountain and Water) (in agreement with all players).
4. Each player takes 6 Chão.
5. All players, at the same time, make a hidden bid in their hand. They then reveal their bids simultaneously. The player who has bet the most spends the Chão and chooses his capital and therefore his Clan.
6. Repeat this type of bidding until all players have a Clan.
7. Each player takes a pencil, a folding screen, Villages, Towns, Armies and a Clan board.

REMARK: In the event of a tie, repeat the auction between the players who bid the most. In the event of another tie and if all players bid the maximum (6), determine the winner at random.

Also, if you're playing the Power of Clans, in auction mode, don't take into account the financial adjustments of each Clan.

Goal of the game

At the end of each round, the Clan that controls a number of Temples greater than or equal to the number indicated by the time wheel wins the game! In the event of a tie, the Clan with the most Mines wins. In the event of a new tie, it's the Clan with the most Chão, or failing that, the most Armies.

Only use Clan powers once you've mastered the rules of the game. Playing the game once usually gives you a good grasp of the mechanics, and allows you to use this option.

During a game of YUAN, you are allowed to talk and negotiate your future actions with your opponents. You can't, of course, show off your programming until all the other players have finished theirs, but this can help you immerse yourself in the role of Clan leader.

But, as Sun Tzu's treatise makes clear, be sure to assess your enemies' intentions.

Detailed description

Tile

A tile is composed of 7 "squares" made up of different types of terrain. There are three types of terrain on Territory tiles:

• A. Mountains (grey background) are impassable.
• B. Lakes (with blue backgrounds) enable connections (Water boxes).
• C. Provinces, recognizable by their name, generate resources for more powerful actions. There are four different types:
  • Rice paddies for Development actions
  • Mines for Militarization actions
  • Forests for fortification actions
  • The Hills do not generate resources, but are the locations of the initial Temples.

Village and City

Village. A Village in its color symbolizes that you control this Province.

City. A City has the same effect as a Village, but can also generate more powerful effects. A second Town in the same Province means that the Province produces twice as many resources.

Rampart. One Rampart around a City gives a defense of 2 (on the wood side). Two ramparts around a city make the city indestructible and generate a defense of 1 on adjacent provinces (second rampart on the stone side).

Armies. They have a Strength of 1. A maximum of 3 armies can be in the same province at the end of the turn.

Free, controlled and enemy province

A free province is a province with no occupants (town or village). It may contain a Temple.

A controlled province is one that contains at least one Village or Town belonging to its own Clan.

An enemy Province is one containing a Village or Town from a Clan other than your own.

Adjacent and connected

An adjacent province is a province next to one of its own provinces.

A connected province is one linked to another by a lake (or river), regardless of the number of Water squares.

Group of provinces

A group of Provinces is a set of adjacent Provinces belonging to the same Clan, whether Villages or Cities.

EXAMPLE: in the situation shown in the booklet, we identify 3 distinct groups.

Cost of actions

Each action has a cost in Chão depending on its level: Level I costs 0 Chão, Level II costs 4 Chão, Level III costs 7 Chão.

The cost of programmed actions is paid at the start of the resolution phase. You therefore need to have enough Chão to program your actions, but a reduction in cost is possible depending on the type of Province controlled.

The real cost of actions. As seen above, the cost of actions depends on their level. This cost can be reduced by the number of Provinces controlled per type (Rice, Forest or Mine). Each Province controlled reduces the cost of the action linked to the type by 1.

• Rice paddies: for Development actions
• Forests: for Fortification actions
• Mines: for Militarization actions

EXAMPLE 1: if we want to perform a level II Development action (Rice paddy) and we control 2 Rice paddies, the action will cost us only 2 Chão instead of 4. No Chão if we control 4 Rice paddies or more.

EXAMPLE 2: if we want to do Development I, Fortification III and Militarization II, it will cost us 11 Chão (0 for Development I, 7 Chão for Fortification III and 4 Chão for Militarization II). If we control 4 Rice Fields, 5 Forests and 2 Mines (or produce their equivalent, thanks to the Town which doubles production), the cost will be 4 Chão. As Development I costs 0, controlled Rice Fields are ignored. Fortification III costs 7 Chão, minus the 5 Controlled Forests, giving a final cost of 2 Chão. Militarization II costs 4 Chão, minus the two controlled Mines, giving a final cost of 2 Chão. The total cost of the turn, to be paid at the start of the resolution phase, is therefore 4 Chão!

Tour sequence

I. Update the wheel of time II. Planning III. Resolution IV. Victory control

I. The Wheel of Time

At the start of each round, except the first, turn the wheel one notch to determine the number of Temples you need to control in phase IV to win.

II. Planning

Each clan must simultaneously plan which actions it will undertake this turn, hidden behind its screen. There are two possibilities:

• Write down the name of the Province where it intends to play, which we'll call the Target Province. And place an action or non-action cube in the level I, II or III action box for each type of action - Development, Fortification, Militarization - that he intends to carry out in the targeted Province. It is therefore possible to carry out from one to three actions, of the same or different levels, on a Province in the same turn!

  IMPORTANT: only one Province can be targeted per turn!

• Pass your turn: don't indicate any Province or action. The player is considered to have passed his turn, and will earn 6 Chão in the "income" phase of the resolution.

III. Resolution

Each Clan simultaneously removes its screen, clearly showing the Province it is targeting this turn. All Clans then pay and perform their actions simultaneously, in the following order:

1. Development
2. Fortification
3. Militarization - Army creation
4. Militarization - Attack
5. Fortification - Following attack
6. Income
7. Upgrading Armies, Temples and Provinces

IMPORTANT: as shown in the resolutions, you can't do Development after an attack! Each action will specify the order of priority in the event of identical target Provinces between several players, or equivalent actions on adjacent Provinces.

Development

Colonization

Targets a free Province (owned by no one).

Level I (0 Chão / Rice paddies). Acquire the free Province adjacent or connected to one of the Provinces you own, as well as the free Provinces adjacent to it, by adding one Village per Province (for special cases, see Automatic urbanization).

Level II (4 Chão / Rice paddies). Same as Level I colonization, but with the income phase gain of 2 Chão.

Level III (7 Chão / Rice paddies). Acquire the Free Province and adjacent Free Provinces by adding one Village per Province. (PRECISION: anywhere on the tiles, not necessarily adjacent or connected to one of our Provinces. For special cases, see Automatic urbanization.)

Expansion

Target one of its Provinces.

Level I (0 Chão / Rice paddies). Acquire free Provinces adjacent to the target Province group by adding Villages.

Level II (4 Chão / Rice paddies). Identical to Level I expansion, but with the income phase gain of 2 Chão (this action is possible even if it doesn't acquire new Provinces).

Level III (7 Chão / Rice paddies). Build a Temple and immediately steal 2 Chão from the Clans adjacent to the Temple.

Automatic urbanization

After the end of a colonization, if the newly created group from the targeted Province does not contain at least one Town, the Village in the targeted Province (the first Village) instantly becomes a Town. All the following actions will then apply to a Town and no longer to a Village.

EXAMPLE: the Blue Clan colonizes a Province with the Colonization I action, placing a Village on the Province and on all adjacent Provinces. At the end of this phase, no Town is adjacent to the group of Villages created, and the first Village (the targeted Province) becomes a Town. Any further action during the turn will therefore apply to a Town and not to a Village.

Fortification

Urbanization

Target one of its Villages.

Level I (0 Chão / Forest). No effect.

Level II (4 Chão / Forests). Turn the Village into a City.

Level III (7 Chão / Forests). Turns the Village into a fortified Town. Replace the Village with a Town and place a wooden rampart around it (defense 2). Add an Army to the Province!

Reinforcement

Target one of its Cities.

Level I (0 Chão / Forest). Add a City to the first. Doubles the production of the city in the upgrade phase.

IMPORTANT: you can never increase the production of a doubled City.

Level II (4 Chão / Forests). Turns the town into a fortified city. Placing a wooden rampart around the town (gives a defense of 2) and adding a town to the first one doubles its production.

IMPORTANT: you can never increase the production of a doubled City.

Level III (7 Chão / Forests). Turns the City into an indestructible City. And gives a defense of 1 to all adjacent Provinces. Add an Army to the Province!

REMARK: Indestructible City: as its name suggests, the City can no longer be destroyed, but its armies can be attacked! This action does not double the City's production, but if it already did, the doubling is retained.

EXAMPLE: for a fortified Town, place a Rampart on the Wood side. If you want to turn a City or an already-fortified City into an indestructible City, place 2 Ramparts (for a City) or 1 Rampart (for a fortified City) on the Stone side. So, the symbolization of a fortified Town is to have a single wooden Rampart, and that of an indestructible Town is to have two Rampart walls, including the one above in Stone.

Militarization

Recruitement

Target one of its Cities.

Level I (0 Chão / Mine). No effect.

Level II (4 Chão / Mines). Add an Army to the Province.

Level III (7 Chão / Mines). Add three armies to the Province!

IMPORTANT: at the end of the turn, each province may receive no more than three armies; any surplus armies are destroyed and returned to the clan's available stock.

Attack

Target an enemy province.

Level I (0 Chão / Mine). Attack an enemy province adjacent or connected to at least one of its armies.

Level II (4 Chão / Mines). Attack an enemy province adjacent or connected to at least one of its armies and add an army from your reserve to the battle.

Level III (7 Chão / Mines). Attack an enemy Province adjacent or connected to at least one of its Armies and add an Army from your reserve to the battle. In the event of victory, carry out a force 1 attack on adjacent enemy-occupied provinces (this attack takes place after any other enemy attack).

REMARK: the number of armies for each clan is limited. If all armies are in play, no new ones can be created.

IMPORTANT: whatever the level of attack, all armies beyond the first, adjacent or connected to the targeted province, must attack.

Combat / Attack

At least one Army present on the Territory must take part in the initial attack (you can't initiate an attack just by creating an Army. Ex: Level II Attack does not allow you to attack with this newly-created Army if at least one existing Army does not take part in the combat).

The attacker cannot decide which armies will join the targeted province. All armies adjacent or connected to the targeted province must attack, and will therefore no longer be on their home province to defend it.

When armies clash, they each have a value of 1.

In the event of a 1:1 tie, they annihilate each other. In the event of a tie, the advantage goes to the defender. You need one more Army than the defender to take his Province.

In the case of fortification, the armies face off first, and if the attacker still has armies, their strength is compared with the fortification's defense.

REMARK: for a defense of two, three armies are needed to take the Province.

Surviving armies remain in the targeted province.

If the attacker wins, the defender loses his province. All Villages, Towns and any Rampart are removed. If the defender's province group has no Towns left, any Armies are removed and Villages are replaced by those of the attacker.

Once all attacks have been resolved, the automatic urbanization rule below can be applied.

Automatic urbanization

After a successful attack, if the newly acquired Provinces are not part of a group containing at least one Town, the Village of the targeted Province instantly becomes a Town. All subsequent actions will then apply to a City, not a Village.

EXAMPLE: the blue Clan attacks the HU Province with the Attack Level I action, destroying the targeted Town. Adjacent Villages which no longer have a Town in their group are replaced by Villages belonging to the attacker. At the end of this phase, if the newly-acquired Provinces are not part of a group containing at least one Town, the first Village (the targeted Province) becomes a Town. The next programmed action is a level II fortification, so this will be a reinforcement (since it targets a Town) which will add a wooden Rampart and double production!

Fortification after attack

Following an attack, a clan can program a fortification. The rules for fortification after an attack are identical to those for fortification on page 13. This fortification follows a successful attack and cannot be carried out if the attacker has not conquered the targeted province! In this case, exceptionally, the Chão expenditure for this fortification is reimbursed.

Income

• Possible gain of Chão, through Development.
• 6 Chão gain for passing his turn.

Army upgrades by Clan

Each Clan upgrades its Clan Board, where it adjusts the markers for controlled Temples, Rice Fields, Forests and Mines. On the Territories, it removes surplus armies from the Provinces (reminder: maximum 3 armies per Province).

IV. Victory control

After each Clan has upgraded its Temple control, check if any of them meet the victory condition by controlling as many Temples as indicated on the time wheel.

If a Clan controls the required number of Temples, it's victory!

In the event of a tie, it's the Clan that controls the most Mines. In the event of another tie, it's the Clan with the most Chão, and finally the most Armies.

Tie management

Here is a priority system for cases where several clans act on the same provinces in the same turn.

Colonization or Expansion:

If several Clans target the same Province for colonization, their action is cancelled, as are any subsequent actions (fortification and/or Militarization). This means that they do not spend any Chão sums required for these actions. However, each Clan gains 6 Chão (as if it had passed its turn).

If several Clans, through the Colonization or Expansion action, were to extend their territory by adding Villages around their targeted Province, there are two possible scenarios:

1. Clans must place a Village on a Province that is not their target Province of the turn, nobody places a Village, the Province remains empty.
2. One of the clans must place a village on a province which is not its target province of the turn, and another clan has targeted this province. This clan has priority and takes the province.

Attack:

If several Clans attack the same Province. First, resolve the mutual attack of the attacking Clans' armies using the same combat rules: 1 vs 1, they annihilate each other. And only if there are still attacking Armies left, the attack on the Province is resolved!

Optional rule: The Rivers

A river is the link between two adjacent provinces. These Provinces are no longer adjacent, but remain connected by the river.

A "passable" river is one between two adjacent Provinces with no enemy armies.

Two Provinces are "connected" if they are adjacent, or if they are linked by lakes or navigable rivers.

The Clans

Clan Huan (Whyte). Starting Chão -3. You can only have one City with doubled production at a time, but it will have quadrupled production. A new action to double a City's production replaces the previous one.

Clan Zhuang (Blue). Starting Chão -3. You can borrow up to 6 Chão. You must repay the loan at the end of the turn, or spend your next turn repaying the loan!

Clan Luong (Purple). Starting Chão -1. Level III fortification actions cost 1 Chão more, but the City will double its production.

Clan Goujian (Yellow). Starting Chão -1. When a fortified or indestructible City is built, all adjacent undefended enemy Provinces are rendered neutral. But your fortified Towns will only have a Defense of 1.

Scenarios

Mystic Island - 4 players

Imposed initial placement of tiles and first cities (shown on the map in the booklet). The White Clan may not recruit Armies or attack with Armies outside its island.

Foreign Invasion - 3 players

Mandatory initial placement of tiles and first cities (shown on the map in the booklet). Mandatory placement auctions.

The Yellow Clan is automatically controlled by all players.

In each attack phase, each Yellow Army attacks the connected enemy Province with no Army or defense. In the following order of priority:

• Village (if more than one, in alphabetical order).
• City (if more than one, in alphabetical order).
• If there is no undefended Village or City, the Army does not move.

The Yellow Army is indestructible. If it is no longer connected to its first city, its territory becomes a city at the end of the turn.

Generalized Conflict - 5 players

Scenario only possible with the two boxes, China and Mongolia: Imposed initial placement of tiles and first cities (shown on the map in the booklet). No special rules.

Special situations

Expansion Level III

If two Clans build a Temple at the same time, and have to steal from each other, they steal nothing from each other.

On the other hand, if they both have to steal from a third Clan (which hasn't built a Temple), each takes 1 Chão and then a second. If they can't steal, they take nothing more. In short, they must have stolen the same number of Chão.

Simultaneous attacks

Several clans attack adjacent provinces at the same time.

1. For simultaneous attacks that are successful on different Provinces, the actions are performed in a certain order:

   • Each Clan removes the enemy Village or Town and acquires the targeted Province by placing one of its Villages there. (In the case of level III attacks, the Clan also removes Villages or Towns due to adjacent Force 1 attacks, if successful.)
   • If an enemy group is left without a Town, it will be destroyed. Each Clan which has caused the destruction of the group or sub-group places one of its Villages on these Provinces (before removing the enemy Village).
   • If the attacker is the only one present on a Province, it is under his control. He leaves his Village there.
   • If several attackers are present on a Province. The province is freed.
   • Automatic urbanization rules apply after the attack (page 15).

   EXAMPLE: the Blue Clan attacks the Yellow City and the Yellow Clan attacks the Blue Village. Everyone takes possession of the target Province. The Yellow Clan no longer has a City (for the moment) in its group, so the Blue Clan takes possession of the Yellow Village. On automatic urbanization, the two newly conquered Provinces become Towns.

2. If two Clans attack the same group of Villages in different Provinces, each attacking Clan becomes the owner of the Villages it has isolated.

   EXAMPLE: the Blue Clan attacks the Yellow Village, isolating one Village from the group and taking possession of it. At the same time, the Violet Clan attacks the Yellow Village, isolating a single Village from the group.

3. If the attack of several Clans destroys Provinces that would not be destroyed by the attack of only one Clan, these Provinces are set free.

   EXAMPLE: a Village group with two Towns belonging to the same Clan: if both Towns are destroyed in the same turn (i.e. by two different Clans), the Provinces become free again (empty), and there is no sharing between the attacking Clans. Exception: if one of the two attackers is in Level III Attack action, he will take possession of the adjacent enemy Provinces using the Force 1 bonus attack.

Two different boxes

You can play up to 8 players with these two boxes (China and Mongolia). The rules are the same! The bidding and clan rules are unchanged and remain the same.

The only differences will be:

• Clan powers, Clan colors, Province names, the effect of volcanoes in the Mongolia box or rivers in the China box and different scenarios.
• When setting up, divide the choice of tiles according to the number of players:
  • 5 players: take tiles for 4 players from one box and the 3rd player from the other box. 19 tiles in all.
  • 6 players: take the 4 player tiles from one box and the 3rd and 4th player tiles from the other box. 22 tiles in all.
  • 7 players: take the 4-player tiles from one box and the 3-player tiles from the other box. 27 tiles in all.
  • 8 players: take all tiles from both boxes. 30 tiles in all.

Game aid

Material: Village, City, Army, Rampart, Temple.

Provinces: Free Province; Controlled Province; Controlled Province with Village; Controlled Province with City; Province with defense of 1; Indestructible City; Province with controlled Army; Enemy Provinces.

Actions: Connected Province; Adjacent Province; Replace; Add; Steal; Attack.