MAGE KNIGHT LANDS OF CONQUEST Basic Rules

PREMISE
This multiplayer variant of Mage Knight uses the concept of settlements which your army will fight to gain control of. By occupying settlements you gain a continual supply of gold which may be used to purchase more warriors for your army. Each turn you will also draw a card from the Conquest Deck that produces a random effect.

Note that in Mage Knight Lands of Conquest the term warrior refers to a Mage Knight figure. A figure is a game piece that can be given actions. Warriors are figures, but not all figures are warriors. (for instance "the beast", which is explained in Advanced Rules)

OBJECT
There are no victory points in Mage Knight Lands of Conquest. At the beginning of the game each player will designate one warrior as his captain. If a player's captain is eliminated, that player is eliminated from the game. A player wins when all of the other players have been eliminated from the game, or when he has occupied all of the settlements on the battlefield. (It is more common for the game to end in the former way)

SETUP
Some preparation is necessary before a game of Mage Knight Lands of Conquest can begin. First, construct the battlefield using standard Mage Knight terrain. In addition, a number of town settlements are to be placed all over the battlefield in such a way so that no town is less than 10" from any other town, and no less than 2" from any terrain or from the edge of the battlefield. (Some space surrounding a town is necessary to allow for upgrades later in the game) The following is recommended:

For a 2-player game a 3' x 3' battlefield with 7 or 8 towns.
For a 3-player game, a 3' x 4' battlefield with 10 or 11 towns.
For a 4-player game, a 4' x 4' battlefield with 13 or 14 towns.

It is also recommended that you vary which faction symbols are on the towns that you play with.

Shuffle the Conquest cards and place the deck where everyone can reach it easily.

Assemble the troops for hire. Throughout the course of a game your army will change as old warriors die and new warriors are purchased. New warriors are purchased from a large pool of warriors shared by all players that is called the troops for hire. Players should decide beforehand how large to allow the troops for hire. For a "standard" game assume that the troops for hire may contain any 25 warriors from each of the seven factions represented in Mage Knight Lands of Conquest, a total of 175 warriors. Multi-dial figures (dragons, chariots, etc) and Titans are not allowed in the Troops for Hire.

If your table is not large enough to accomodate both the battlefield and the Troops for Hire, place the latter somewhere nearby as players will "go shopping" frequently. It helps greatly if the warriors are organized according to faction.

Prepare pen and paper for use in keeping track of players' gold supplies. Each player begins the game with 60 gold.

Now each player must choose any one warrior from any faction to be his captain. Deduct the point value of a player's chosen captain from his gold supply. After every player has picked a captain, each player may purchase up to three additional warriors from any factions with his remaining gold if he wishes to.

Once every player his his starting army, roll dice to determine who is the first player. Beginning with the first player, each player in turn places his starting army on any unoccupied town. (warriors' center dots must be within the border of the town) Now the game is ready to begin! The first player takes his turn.

TURN ORDER
There are four phases in a turn.

"Gain Gold"---You gain 2 gold for each settlement that you occupied at the start of your turn. A settlement is considered occupied by you if one or more of your warriors has its center dot on it, and if no non-captive warriors controlled by an opponent have their center dots in the same settlement, and no enemy warriors are in base contact with any of your warriors that are in the settlement. (If more than one player controls a non-captive warrior on the same settlement, nobody occupies that settlement)

"Draw a Card"---Draw a card from the Conquest deck and follow the instructions on it. All players draw from the same deck. Effects are resolved immediately unless the card instructs otherwise. Place the card in the discard pile afterwards. When the game reaches the point in which the deck has run out, simply reshuffle the discard pile.
Some cards instruct you to place warriors or various items on the battlefield. When doing so, always assume that you cannot cover or obstruct existing warriors or previously placed items.

"Action"---This is the phase in which you give actions to your warriors per standard Mage Knight rules. (Note that many rules differ from standard Mage Knight rules. These are discussed later) Regardless of your army you always have two actions each turn. There are some ways to increase this number.

"Buy Troops"---You may spend gold to purchase new warriors from factions of which you occupy a settlement with the corresponding symbol. You may not purchase a unique warrior that is currently on the battlefield.
When purchasing a warrior, mark off the point value of the purchased warrior from your gold supply, then place that warrior in a settlement that you currently occupy, and that you occupied at the start of the turn. The faction the purchased warrior belongs to must match the symbol on the settlement it is placed in. A new warrior comes into the battlefield at its starting position and with one action token (as if it had been given an action that turn). You must wait until this phase of your turn to purchase troops.

SETTLEMENTS
Strategy revolves around occupying settlements which are dispersed throughout the battlefield. There are three types. At the onset of the game all of the settlements are towns, but they may be upgraded to forts, and then to castles when the appropriate Conquest cards are drawn. A warrior is "in" a setlement if its center dot is within the settlements' borders. Settlements are not considered terrain, but they function similar to terrain.

TOWNS: No more than 4 warriors may be in a single town. A town is treated essentially as if it were clear terrain.

FORTS: No more than 6 warriors may be in a single fort. Warriors may move into, out of, and through a fort as if it were clear terrain. However, a fort is treated as if it were hindering terrain when the line of fire is contained completely within the fort, and as blocking terrain when the line of fire passes through the border of the fort.
Stated another way, a warrior that has its base completely inside a fort may not participate in range combat with warriors outside of the fort. This position is called protected.
A warrior that has part of its base outside of the fort, but its center dot in, may participate in range combat with warriors outside of the fort as long as the line of fire to or from this warriors' base does not pass through the border of the fort. This position is called on watch.
Increase the defense value of a warrior in a fort by one versus range combat attacks. (Range combat between two warriors in the same fort is no different than if they were in hindering terrain)
The Magical Blast special ability, an exception to these rules, is not considered hindered or blocked by forts.

CASTLES: No more than 9 warriors may be in a single castle. A warrior may move out of a castle freely, but a warrior's base may not pass through the border of a castle that is not occupied by the player that controls that warrior (as if the border of the castle were blocking terrain) unless it is through the entrance marked by two black lines, or unless that warrior has the Flight special ability. In addition, close combat is not allowed between a warrior that is in the castle and a warrior that is not even if the two warriors are in base contact. Treat them as if they were not in base contact. (no break away rolls, no free spins, no capturing, etc)
Castles are similar to forts where range combat is concerned. A warrior that has its base completely inside a castle (protected) may not participate in range combat with warriors outside of the castle. A warrior that has part of his base outside of the castle, but its center dot in (on watch), may participate in range combat with warriors outside of the castle as long as the line of fire to or from this warriors' base does not pass through the border of the castle.
Increase the defense value of a warrior in a castle by two versus range combat attacks. (Range combat between two warriors in the same castle could be thought of as "double hindering terrain")
The Magical Blast special ability is not considered hindered or blocked by castles.

When upgrading a settlement from town to fort or from fort to castle, temporarily remove all of the figures that are in the settlement (they should generally be warriors controlled by you, or enemy captives), replace the settlement upgrade in the exact location and facing as before (refer to the arrow in the center), and then place back the figures in the newly upgraded settlement, arranged however you please. It may be necessary to shove warriors that were barely outside of the settlement or whose bases were partially covering it over a bit, so that their center dots are not in the newly upgraded settlement.
Remember that an upgraded settlement retains its original faction symbol.

CAPTORS AND CAPTIVES
The warrior that controls the movement of a captive and that must stay in base contact with it at all times is called a captor. The rules governing captors and captives differ from standard Mage Knight rules. There are several ways in which a captive warrior may become released.

A captor may willingly release his captive at any time during the turn of the player who controls the captor.
A captor may attack his captive with a close combat action, in which case the captive is released immediately (but still takes damage from the attack if it is successful).
A captive may be given a special escape attempt action in which the player who owns the captive rolls a die:
On a 1-5 the attempt is unsuccesful. The captive may not move, but may spin to face a new direction.
On a 6 the captive becomes released and may move his speed value. Treat it like any warrior that has just broken away from base contact with a warrior controlled by an opponent.
Whether the attempt is unsuccessful or not, that warrior gets an action token like any other action.
A captive may never be given an escape attempt action if it would cause it to be pushed. (Nor is a captive warrior ever pushed when it is moved in a move action with its captor) A captive may not be given an escape attempt action if it is in a fort or castle occupied by the player who controls its captor.

A player may switch the captor of a captive to another warrior he controls at any time during his turn if both the old captor and the new captor are in base contact with the captive. However, the new captor may not be given a move action that turn if the old captor had been given an action that turn (this is to prevent a captive from moving twice in one turn). A demoralized warrior may not become a captor by switching in this way.

In Mage Knight Lands of Conquest capturing is done primarily for the purpose of pawning off the captive for gold via the sold into slavery card in the Conquest deck.

OTHER RULE CHANGES
When a warrior is eliminated, return it to the pool of Troops for Hire.
In Mage Knight Lands of Conquest, the Necromancy special ability is different in the following ways:

Zombies and Skeletons are the only legal targets for Necromancy. (per the regular Necromancy rules, Zombies and Skeletons come in at full strength)
A warrior brought onto the battlefield by Necromancy must come from the Troops for Hire. It is irrelevant whether or not this warriors has been on the battlefield previously. (per the regular Necromancy rules, the warrior that is brought back does not get an action token for being brought back)
A player must pay the point value in gold of the warrior he is bringing onto the battlefield in order to use Necromancy.

In Mage Knight Lands of Conquest the Healing and Magic Healing abilities have been deliberately weakened. Whenever a successful healing roll is made two clicks of damage are healed. (In the case of a critical hit, three clicks are healed) A die is never rolled to determine the number of clicks healed.

In Mage Knight Lands of Conquest movement formations and range combat formations may consist of two warriors.

THE COMMAND TOWER
During "Buy Troops" phase a player who occupies a castle may purchase a command tower for 10 gold. (Use a rook from a chess set) For each command tower in any castle a player occupies at the start of his turn, he gains one extra action that turn. A player purchasing a new command tower places it anywhere in any castle he occupies that does not already have a command tower. It may not be placed so as to prevent entrance into the castle. The command tower is treated as blocking terrain.

PLAYER ELIMINATION
If a player's captain is eliminated, that player removes all of his warriors from the battlefield and returns them to the Troops for Hire. The eliminated player's gold supply is erased.

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