MAGE KNIGHT WORLD CONQUEST

For 2, 3, 4, or 6 players

OVERVIEW: Mage Knight World Conquest is a variant on Mage Knight that creates battles on epic scale. Players fight to control key points of the Mage Knight world with the goal of eventually conquering each of the nine regions of the world map – one for each faction.

WHAT YOU NEED:

All the materials needed for a standard Mage Knight game (dice, rulers, etc.)
A 3’x 3’ map divided into 36 equal squares, or “territories”. These will be explained later on.
A pencil and paper to keep track of gold totals and to mark troop movements around the map if push pins or thumbtacks aren’t available
A deck of standard playing cards

SETUP:

Each player assembles a 300 point army from a single faction containing one unique warrior (no more, no less)
Create a pool of warriors next to the game – the bigger, the better. This is the pool that you will purchase warriors from.
Label each of the 36 territories with a faction. You should have six territories for the Atlantis Guild, six for the Necropolis Sect, six for the Elemental League, six for the Black Powder Rebels, three for the Knights Immortal, three for the Orc Raiders, three for the Mage Spawn, two for the Shyft, and one for the Draconum. Territories from the same faction should be adjacent to each other. All of the territories from a faction together form a “region”.
Each player rolls a pair of dice to see who goes first. Once that is decided, the winner chooses a territory that is the same faction as his/her army. This will be his Head Quarters. Go clockwise around the players until everyone has picked out a Head Quarters. The army of every player begins in their HQ.

TURN STRUCTURE:

STEP 1: Draw a card from the deck of playing cards, called the Weather Deck (explained later). If you run out of cards, just reshuffle the discard pile.

STEP 2: All warriors in your HQ territory heal one click.

STEP 3: You receive fifteen gold for each territory you control or twenty gold for each territory that is part of a region you control.

STEP 4: Pay the “upkeep” of your armies (15 gold per army). Upkeep represents the money that must be spent in order to keep your troops well supplied with food and weapons and to provide them with shelter.

STEP 5: You may purchase warriors from the pool set aside at the start of the game or purchase upgrades for a territory’s defenses. To purchase a warrior, subtract its point total from your gold total and add to an army you control. You may only buy warriors from factions whose territories you control.

STEP 5: You may perform “troop movements” here.

WEATHER:

“Weather” is a new effect in Mage Knight that changes the circumstances of every battle. Every turn, you draw a card from the Weather Deck that adds a new weather effect to the map. To determine where the weather is placed, roll two standard dice (one at a time). The first die tells the column and the second tells the row. Put a marker of some sort in the corresponding territory to show that the weather will start there. Weather effects last a certain amount of turns depending on what suit they’re from. Clubs last one turn, diamonds last two, spades last three, and hearts last four. You also roll a D6 on each turn to see if an effect moves to different territory. On a roll of one or two, there is no movement. On a three, move one territory north, on a four, move east, on a five, move south, and on a six, move west. Note: some effects do not move. Here is the list of weather effects:

Ace: Fog – Treat the entire game board as if it were hindering terrain, except for elevated terrain. Note: the Stealth special ability does not directly apply to Fog. However, all warriors with Stealth get +1 defense for the entire battle.

Two: Clear Skies – Do not add a weather effect to the board.

Three: Flooding – Treat the entire game board as if it were shallow water terrain, except for elevated terrain. Note: Flooding does not move between territories.

Four: Clear Skies – Do not add a weather effect to the board.

Five: Light Rain – Reduce the range of all warriors by one.

Six: Clear Skies – Do not add a weather effect to the board.

Seven: Heavy Rain – Reduce the range of all warriors by two.

Eight: Clear Skies – Do not add a weather effect to the board.

Nine: Light Snow – Reduce the range of all warriors by one. Also reduce the movement of all warriors by one unless they have Flight.

Ten: Clear Skies – Do not add a weather effect to the board.

Jack: Blizzard – Reduce the range of all warriors by one. Also reduce the movement of al warriors by on unless they have Flight.

Queen: Clear Skies – Do not add a weather effect to the board.

King: Haven’t thought of anything yet

Jokers: Earthquake – This is a special weather effect that happens and then leaves the map immediately. The terrain type of whatever territory this effect occurs in is changed to “wasteland” and all warriors in it take one click of damage.

TROOP MOVEMENTS:

You have one movement for each army you have. Troop movements allow you to move your armies between territories. There is no limit on the distance you can move an army as long as you move it between adjacent FRIENDLY OR NEUTRAL territories. Once you have reached your final destination, each of your opponents has the option to respond to your movement (any number of your opponents may respond). If any players choose to use this option, then move at least one army of their choice to the territory your army is in (they can only move armies that could do so legally on their turn). They must pay five gold for each territory they move through unless the army being moved is adjacent to or in the territory in question. Then take your armies over to a game board and play out a standard Mage Knight game with these special rules:

Before the start of the battle, each player sets up terrain as normal AND any castle pieces, banners, outposts, forts, or castles they have in that territory.
At any time, a player may choose to withdraw from a battle. If they do, remove all warriors they control that have not been captured or eliminated and then move them (on the map) to any territory that they could legally move to.
Unless a player withdraws, battles are to the death.
Captured warriors are added to the army that captured them or may be “ransomed” off to any other player for any gold total you can agree on.
Add twenty-five gold to your gold total if you win a battle
Whenever a warrior is eliminated, add half its point total, rounded down, to the gold total of the player that eliminated it.
Eliminated warriors are returned to the buying pool.
The victor of the battle gains control of the territory that was being fought in as long as they can buy and place a banner there (if they did not have one there already).

IMPORTANT: Withdrawing removes your banners, outposts, forts, and castles from the game permanently. If you reoccupy the territory, you must pay for these upgrades in full.

ARMIES:

Armies in MKWC are not like armies in normal Mage Knight. Over the course of a game you might amass a good number of them. Each army must have one unique warrior in it that is its General. If this General is eliminated then at the end of the battle your army is “disbanded” and cannot move between territories (it can still fight if it is engaged in the territory that it lost its General in). To turn disbanded groups into usable armies then move a unique warrior into a territory with them and simply declare them an army. (A unique warrior is not considered an army even though it takes troop movements. This means opponents may not respond to its movement.) To transfer troops between armies, move them into the same territory and move the warriors between them. If an army withdrawals from a battle it may not move for a turn.

OCCUPYING TERRITORIES:

In order to occupy a territory, you must move into it and then face off against your opponents if they wish to do so. Whether they do or do not, you will lose control of a territory after your army moves away unless you purchase a banner for twenty gold.

UPGRADING DEFENSES:

Once you have a standard banner in place, you may upgrade to various defensive establishments:

n Banner, 20 gold: Represent the banner with a quarter. This is not a true upgrade because it does not provide any benefits for your units, but it allows your units to move away after claiming a region and allows future upgrades. Opponents’ warriors may attack the banner with a close combat attack – if they do, assume the banner has 12 defense. If a hit is obtained, remove the banner.

n Outpost, 75 gold: A 2” x 2” square. One side is the entrance. If you move a warrior you control through the entrance into the outpost, it is considered “on guard” (there may be up to four warriors on guard at once). It gains +1 defense against ranged attacks and is considered to have a 360 degree front arc. The outpost has a defense of 17 and must be dealt six clicks of damage to be destroyed.

n Fort, 150 gold: A 3” x 3” square. It has a one inch entrance on one side. Again, your warriors may move through this and become “on guard” (there may be up to six warriors on guard at once), gaining +2 defense against ranged attacks and a 360 degree front arc. The Fort has a defense of 19 and must be dealt 10 clicks of damage to be destroyed.

n Castle, 300 gold: A 4” x 4” square. It has a two inch entrance on two sides. Your warriors may become “on guard” as with the other upgrades (there may be up to six warriors on guard at once), except that they gain +3 defense against ranged attacks. The Castle has a defense of 20 and must be dealt 16 clicks of damage to be destroyed.

IMPORTANT: During the setup for a battle, you may place warriors on guard in an outpost, fort or castle.

VICTORY:

To win a game of MKWC you must control all of the territories (and therefore all the regions) on the map.