Conquest of Nerath Boardgame at Nerd Cave

Sunday 3rd November 2013

One of the more intimidating games present within the Nerd Cave Board game pile is Conquest of Nerath, which is a Dungeon and Dragons produced game with the company supplied summary outlining 'Four great realms contend for domination of the known world.'  It furthers 'You fight battles to defend your lands or seize those of your foes and send brave heroes to uncover the ancient secrets buried in fearsome dungeons'. Four players are able to play and you assume the role of a warlord reigning over one of the four realms with each one having there only strengthens and weaknesses. The four realms are as follows;

• Dark Empire of Karkoth - Warlocks and their undead army, who benefit from a strong starting position but have weak event cards
• Vailin Alliance - Elves with prosperous trade routes and the strongest navy.  
• Iron Circle - Goblins, Wizards and mercenaries who have the strongest armies and the ability of surprise within their event cards.  
• Nerathan League - A combination of human and dwarf, who have the weakest territory but have the best event cards.  

The ultimate aim of the game is to achieve the stated victory conditions which differ dependant on the length of the game that you select;

• Short - 13 victory points at the end of game round, if tied, then the game continues for another round. 
• Medium - 20 victory points at the end of game round
• Long - Control all capitals or collect 8 treasures

The Victory points are achieved through the completion of various tasks, with one for taking of an enemy territory, one to three for playing a treasure card and five for conquering an enemy capital.



There is two versions of play, that being with a set alliance at the start of the game where the players are then able to freely move through their allies territories or a free for all game where all players start alone and need to negotiate any possible alliances.  Within this second version, the ability to move through the land of an ally is not allowed.   The second version appears the most interesting as it provides the means for backstabbing and negotiation between opponents.

Players decide amongst themselves as to whom will receive which realm.  Each realm then has a set starting position on the map shown by a different colour; black (Karkoth), yellow (Vailin), red (iron circle) and Nerath (blue).  The sea spaces have no special colour even though a realm may have troops starting in them and the dungeon entrances are controlled by no one.  The board also has silhouettes on tiles of the game board to show where the starting pieces for each realm are positioned.

Pieces represent armies, with each figurine represent one troop and the chips that can be placed underneath representing five.  You are not limited in the number of troops that you may have by the presence of figurines or chips, as anything else can be used in lieu of these when the pieces run out.  The possible pieces in the game and there relative abilities are listed below;

• Footsoldiers - Cheapest troops, plentiful but weak.  
• Siege Engines - Provide good cheap combat strength, slow but very powerful on offense
• Monsters - Fast and hard hitting, can break through enemy lines to cause havoc.  
• Fighters - Move fast and fight well.  Can also explore dungeons and fight at sea.  
• Wizards - Can slay enemies before they have a chance to fight back.  Can explore dungeons and fight at sea.
• Castles - Serve as gathering points for new troops and are strong on defense.
• Storm Elementals - Control powerful gusts of wind, can move freely on land or sea.  
• Dragons - Most powerful and expensive pieces in the game, hard to kill, fly quickly and can attack on land or sea.
• Warships - The backbone of your naval fleet, which transport troops and defend against enemy fleets.

Each realm has a set starting position, troops, base income, treasury, deck of twenty event cards and thirty treasure cards.  At the start of the game, players draw two event cards and draw an additional one each game turn.  The treasure cards are obtained through pillaging a dungeon.  

The Dungeon guardian tiles are shuffled and distributed randomly facedown to the dungeon entrance on the game board.  The control markers are used to demonstrate that you have taken a territory that formally belonged to an opponent.  The base income of each team changes dependant on the number of territories that are controlled.  The game has a set order of realms, with the realms playing turn within the following order;

1. Karkoth
2. Vailin
3. Iron Circle
4. Nerath

The game turn sequence consists of the following steps;

1. Draw - Drawing an event card, which will outline on it when it can be played.  With the exception of the cards which state play immediately, all other cards are up to the players discretion as to when he wishes to play them.  Once played, the card is added to a discard pile.  If the cards ever run out, then reshuffle the discard pile and continue.  There is no limit to the number of cards that can be held within your hand.  
2. Move - You can move as many pieces that you wish, up to the stated move number of each piece. A piece can move less than its stated move number or not move at all. There is no limit to the number of pieces that can occupy a space and as soon as a piece enters either an enemy territory or a dungeon entrance, the battle will need to be resolved in the next step.  Pieces can move from multiple locations to attack the single enemy territory. Sea spaces are only enemy territory if there is an enemy piece within them.  Only fighters and wizards can move into dungeon entrances.  Dragons and Elementals are able to fly over enemy spaces or dungeon entrances without stopping, when they stop they must fight the enemy if they finish in an enemy territory.  A warship can carry up to two land pieces, with the land piece not able to move prior to embarking on a warship or after it disembarks. If a warship is destroyed, any transported troops also perish. A warship ceases movement once it disembarks transported troops.  
3. Fight Battles - The Attacker gets to decide the order by which attacks occur and the defender gets no option in this decision.  The exception to this is that all sea battles must occur prior to land battles. Troops attacking an enemy territory when they disembark remain in the vessel for the purposes of these battles prior to them doing their sea landings battle.  The Steps in battle are as follows;
1. Roll attack dice - Each piece rolls a different number of attack dice, outlined on their piece description.  You score a hit if you roll a six or higher with an attack dice. 
2. Taking damage - When a hit has been rolled, the defender decides which of their units take that hit, however a single unit cannot take multiple hits, with a new piece having to take the second hit.  
3. First strike - Some units have a first strike ability, which allows them to roll there dice both as an attacker and a defender prior to any other units and hits are taken by opponents prior to them being able to strike back.  All wizards have this ability, but also other units due to the presence of event card effects.  If both parties have first strike units, then this is done simultaneously.  
4. Durable - A dragon has a durable ability which means that it can take the strike from a hit without being destroyed.  If it fails to take sufficient hit within a combat turn to kill it, it will recover completely at the end of the turn.  
5. Castles - When a castle takes hit it isn't destroyed, rather it takes no more involvement in the battle.  After the end of the turn it is back to normal, however it may have been captured by the opponent if he now holds the game tile where it is located. 
6. Sea Battles - Heroes can fight in sea battles however all other pieces are merely cargo and cannot be involved.  
7. Dungeon Exploration - If a hero fighting a dungeon guardian opponent retreats, that dungeon guardian remains face up and is now known by all opponents.  Dungeon guardians are not considered pieces for the purposes of event card effects.  If a dungeon guardian rolls more than a single attack dice, it requires multiple hits to kill.  If a single hit is struck, it merely loses the ability to roll one of its attack dice.  However at the end of the turn if has not perished, it returns to full strength.  Some dungeon guardians require a roll of eight or above, instead of the usual six.  This requirements carries over to all dungeon guardians being fought in the one battle even if they do not state it on the card.  The one exception to this is the effects of an event card which trumps this attribute of the dungeon guardian.  If you are victorious in defeating all the dungeon guardians you then draw a treasure card which you can decide to use when you please.  When played treasure cards remain in play for the remainder of the game
8. Press Attack or Retreat - One battle round always has to be played, however if units exist after this battle round, you have the option of continuing to battle or retreating.  All units must retreat together, and you are able to move to an adjacent friendly tile (not necessarily the one you came from), a friendly ship or for flying creatures a friendly sea tile.  In the event that the warship cannot carry all the retreating units, any that remain are destroyed.  
9. Conquer Spaces - If all the defending pieces are destroyed and atleast one attacking unit remains (if all attacking units are destroyed, the defender retains the space) then the attacker has conquered the space.  If the enemy has conquered your capital, you may be limited in the number of units you can place and you only receive half the gold you earn each turn.  A castle becomes yours if it captured, however you have to wait a turn before placing new units in it. This requirement to wait a turn does not apply for recaptured capitals.  
10. Run Amok - When a monster survives a battle that you are victorious in, it has the option of moving into any adjacent enemy controlled territories that have no troops within them.  
4. Reposition - You can not start a new battle within this stage, and consequently if there is no friendly space for your troop to move to, it is destroyed.  Heroes have to move away from the dungeon guardian entrance tiles in this phase to a friendly tile adjacent.  The Dungeon Guardian tokens are refreshed, so that there is now two present rather than the previous one.