Clash of Rage

Description

(The content and mechanics may change until the release date) • Setting For centuries the arrogant Elves have controlled the world. Only a few indomitable clans still hold the line and struggle against their tyranny. However, in recent times the rule of the Elves seems to have weakened, certainly as the result of many years of corruption and self-indulgence. With their guard lowered, now is the perfect time to try to regain control! Become the leader of a clan, train your troops, equip them, and move out to reclaim the land stolen by the Elves! To reign supreme, you have to vanquish the Elves and defeat any other clan that gets in your way! • Goal You must conquer the cities of the Elves to strengthen your clan, and fight against the enemy clans. For each city under your control you earn a certain amount of Victory Points based on the level of the city. As soon as a player reaches or exceeds 30 VPs, the current game round is played to the end and the player with the most Victory Points wins. For a longer game, play up to 50 VPs. • Description and setup Victory is achieved through conquest. The players build a different ‘world’ at the beginning of each game by arranging the modular map tiles. The tiles contain multiple different regions, sometimes separated by obstacles (mountains, lakes, etc.) Some regions host the cities of the Elves (an unplayable faction, and the villains of the story), others hold special locations (goldmine, witches’ den, inventor’s workshop, etc.), and on each tile there is also a teleportation portal (all portals are interconnected, to avoid the map from being too broken up and compartmentalized). At the beginning of the game, each player chooses the clan they want to embody: The Steamfield Barony, the Bohorg tribe, clan Godleif, or the Army of the Tomb. Then each player chooses an empty region and places their clan’s Stronghold there - this region cannot be attacked by other players, and is also where units are recruited and sent out to conquer the world! Elves are placed in all areas where there are Elven cities, and then random equipment cards are drawn to make up the black market. The black market will change during the course of the game, as items sell out and new ones are added. • Shopping phase Each round is divided into two phases: Shopping and Action. During the Shopping phase, players will - in order that changes each turn – take turns either buying equipment from the black market, or passing. By shopping at the black market players acquire new equipment which they then assign to their units (each clan has 3 different types of units, which complement each other). There are two kinds of equipment- hand gear (weapons, shields, tools, items, etc.) and body gear (armor, capes, etc.) Each unit can equip both. If the player does not wish to continue shopping, they may ‘pass’ instead, which allows them to pick their place in the order of play. Thus, the sooner a player finishes up with their purchases, the better their position in the ensuing Action phase will be. As soon as all players have wrapped up their shopping, they may recruit units in their Strongholds, and then the round continues with the Action phase. • Action phase During this phase, in order of play (which is determined during the Shopping phase, as described above), each player will be able to move their units and resolve the resulting battles. Each player gets a number of movement points, depending on their clan (some are slower than others) and the number of captured Elven cities. Each movement point allows a group of units to move to an adjacent region (regardless of the number of units). So the players must manage these points in order to expand their kingdoms, but also to strengthen and protect their positions. Some clans are more offensive in nature, and others more defensive, but the risk of sudden invasion is always present due to the access to teleportation portals- the situation may change dramatically at any moment in the game! When a player finishes their movements, they immediately resolve their battles in all areas where their units are facing enemy units or Elves. When engaging against the latter, they are controlled by one of the opposing players. Battles are resolved through a series of alternating battle actions made by the attacker and the defender, starting with the defender. For their battle action, the player may either Retreat (returning their units safely to their Stronghold, but giving up the area to their opponent) or stay and Fight. Fighting is resolved by rolling a number of dice depending on the statistics of the units, with each roll resulting in a Hit or Miss. Hits are used to eliminate enemy units, and if one player’s forces are unable to destroy any units, they receive a Rage token which improves their damage until the end of the battle. Rage allows even smaller and weaker forces to defend themselves in a pinch, and it may also be used in combination with certain abilities. Some units also provide ‘Shields’ which protect the entire force from incoming damage, and others allow friendly units to reroll their combat rolls or bring other unique abilities to the fray. All units can synergize and boost each-other’s performance, which is why it is important to pick forces carefully, equip the right gear for the right unit, and to quickly eliminate certain enemy units in order to break the opposing force’s dynamics.At the end of a battle, if the enemies have been eliminated or forced to retreat, the region is seized along with any bonuses it provides. Once a player has concluded their Action phase, they collect loot from the areas under their control, and calculate their Victory Points from the Elven cities they occupy (the bigger a city is, the more VPs it provides, but also the harder it is to conquer), then the next player’s Action phase begins. If a player reaches a certain amount of Victory Points (normally 30), every other player gets to finish their action phase and at the end of the round the player with the most VPs wins the game! • Clan Specializations During the course of a game, a clan’s Specializations will become unlocked. Each player receives 4 unique Specializations at the beginning of the game, and will be able to activate two of them. Specializations provide bonuses to the player and change the way the game is played, making each game feel different, even when using a clan the player is very familiar with. There are 2 tiers of Specializations: Normal, which provide a moderate bonus, and Binding which provide a stronger bonus but also impose a certain penalty on the player (for example, ‘Plunder’ lowers normal income, but allows extra gold to be gained when playing aggressively, and ‘War Fury’ cancels all of your forces’ Shields but grants them a large damage bonus). Players have to plan their strategy by considering the regions' terrain, their force’s composition and gear, and their clan’s Specializations, and must carefully balance the risks of combat when deciding on their tactics.