CONQUEST

CONQUEST is a CCG (collectible card game) developed by me on an idea posed by a friend. Like all of my projects, it sits in my head for months, even years, at a time before I do anything physical about it. I thnk it's more a matter of mental fine-tuning than procrastination, but to each their own.

What follows are the rules for CONQUEST. If you have any suggestions, ideas, or see anything that needs adjusting, let me know. hell, if you want to leave a comment aboutt he game, let me know.

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CONQUEST
A CCG for two or more players
Starter Pack includes two (2) pre-made playable decks, two (2) dice, and two (2) playing mats
ages 10 and up

INTRODUCTION

What you now hold before you is perhaps the greatest CCG endeavor imagined. CONQUEST is more than any other collectible card game on the market; this is the only CCG that successfully blends various gaming genres… the tactics of tabletop war miniatures, resource management from turn-based RTS, movement planning taken from chess… and more!

In CONQUEST, you are the leader of a small nation who must build the defensive and offensive structures to face against your nation’s enemies. Whether you develop strong defensive measures in anticipation of an attack, or set forth your own armies to stop the threat before it starts, you must be prepared.

You will not be alone in this; should you desire, you may organize a Cabinet of key advisors, elected officials who will bring great benefits to your cause. And, never forget your nation’s population, whose taxes pay for your machinations.

There are many methods at your disposal to achieve victory… how well your nation’s capabilities prove to be is a direct measure on your leadership skills.

Just remember: your enemies plot and conspire as well…

TO START

To begin play, you should have the following items

• A deck of CONQUEST cards, separated into two stacks: one Population stack, and one Military stack
• One six sided die (now referred as a d6)

You may decide to use a field map, or more commonly called a playing mat, to keep your forces more organized and in-line, but it isn’t necessary. Additionally, the more dice you have, the less you will have to roll.

There is one more thing you will need: an opponent with his own deck!

*Tactical advice: It is entirely up to you if you want to share dice (but don’t put it past your opponent to cheat and jinx your dice!)*

Some quick advice on deck construction

• There is no limit to the number of cards you have in your deck. Smaller decks may allow you to get the cards you need sooner, but larger decks allow for more options.
• A themed deck, one which all cards (except population) have the same border color, receives additional benefits or penalties. More on that later.
• You only need two basic card types to play: Population and Military, but this limits your nation’s potential.

CARD TYPES

There are four distinct card types: Population, Cabinet, Military, and Black Ops. Each card category may contain different sub types.
• POPULATION This is the spirit of your nation. Without a population, you will not be able to generate the needed revenue to expand or develop your forces. Your population is your greatest asset; the larger of a population you maintain, the more revenue you can bring in… which allows for a stronger military presence! Additionally, it does not cost anything to place a Population card.

*Tactical advice: just because the card says it is a Population card doesn’t mean it is without special abilities… the National Guard is a Population card that can also be used to serve in the Military*
• CABINET Even though not necessary for play, the addition of this card type brings to you special abilities you normally would not be able to get. It must be noted that these are named cards, meaning you are limited to one card per name.

For example: You can only have one “Sung Mae” in your deck. However, it should also be noted that your opponent may also have one “Sung Mae” in play the same time you do!

Cabinet cards come from within your Population stack, and can only be placed on the field after a success vote
• MILITARY Being the most heavily used card type, Military cards contain a lot of information; each card has on it numbers for firepower, damage resistance, range, starting rank, strengths, movement, and cost.

You may have noted that the back of the CONQUEST cards depict concrete brickwork. This is because some cards, Military cards in particular, can be used to construct fortifications.

Military cards must first be paid for with generated revenue before being placed on the field.
• BLACK OPS A lawful and honest leader would never support the use of these missions… but this is war, and all is fair. By meeting all the criteria detailed on the card, you shall be given a chance to severely cripple your opponent’s war effort.
*Tactical advice: as powerful as Black Ops cards are, they do come with an equal (if not a greater) penalty*

THEMES

A themed deck is simply a deck that follows a particular doctrine. All Military and Cabinet cards have a colored border, and when all of these cards have a matching border color, it is considered a theme. Some Military cards gain a bonus when themed, while some Cabinet cards only grant abilities or bonuses to cards of a similar color.

What follows is a partial listing of colored themes.
• BLUE grants an extra die to be used to determine firepower, and gains a +1 to its Movement; all Military unit costs are doubled (except for fortifications)
• RED is given an extra die for damage resistance, while vehicle Movements are reduced by 1
• YELLOW doubles the Population (each Population card counts as two),and Military units cost 1 less; firepower, damage resistance, and range are all reduced by 1.
Unless otherwise stated, all bonuses and penalties for themes are listed on specific Cabinet cards.

FIELD MAP

On the field map there are four fields, organizing and separating your forces. If you do not have a field map, please use the following chart to better setup your nation.

POPULATION CENTER . . . . . . . . . . MILITARY – Front Rank . . . . . . . . . . RECOVERY
MILITARY – Second Rank
CABINET

If you are not using a field map, you must make sure that the center field… both Military ranks and Cabinet… are aligned with your opponent’s. This is crucial for the Movement phases.
• Population Center This is where your Population cards will be placed.
• Military – Front Rank Some Military cards state that they need to be placed on the Front Rank when deployed; all other units may only move into the Front from elsewhere.
• Military – Second Rank Unless otherwise stated on the unit’s card, all Military units will start in the Second Rank, but then may be moved to the Front.
*Tactical advice: There are only six open positions in each Military Rank, but don’t worry if you run out of room… an existing unit may be replaced by a new one! Simply move the old unit to the Recovery Area, and place the new unit in its place. Of course, the new unit must come into play from the Second Rank*
*Tactical advice: Think of the Ranks like this… you wouldn’t have a vital Base of Operations on the front line, would you, or a military airfield?*
• Cabinet Here is where your elected Advisors sit. There can only be up to six members at a time.
• Recovery Any Military unit that has been destroyed, or any Population card that has been killed, gets moved into the Recovery area. Some Advisors allow for these cards to be returned to their initial stacks…thus, recovery!
*Tactical advice: Black Ops cards get placed face down on your side of the table; they do not take up a slot on the field map*

TERMS

Cost represents how many Population cards you must tax before a particular unit is deployed (placed).
Damage Resistance is how durable the unit is; the greater its resistance, the more damage it can take.
Firepower determines the strength of the weapon being used, and how much damage it can inflict.
Fortifications are defensive measures constructed instead of placing a military unit. Any placed military unit may be turned into a fortification, but no fortification may be made into a military unit. All fortifications cost four tax points, and have a damage resistance of 10.
*Tactical advice: Some Military units may only be placed on top of fortifications, such as a Gun Turret. In this case, the fortification gains firepower*
Generating Revenue is just a fancy way to say that you have turned a Population card sideways to produce the funds needed to place a military unit. Under normal conditions a Population card remains vertical; when taxed, the card lays horizontal.
Movement. One of the unique features of CONQUEST is that, unlike other CCGs, your cards are supposed to move. Whether to get out of range of enemy fire, or to occupy enemy terrain, the Move count determines just how spaces your unit may move.
Range determines how many ranks a weapon may fire, or how far away an enemy unit may be hit
Strength shows that some military units are designed for a particular adversary; as such, those units will gain a bonus in their firepower roll. For example, an RPG, while effective at killing a squad of troops, is devastating against ground vehicles. The RPG will get a bonus when facing against a tank.
Taxing is the action of turning a Population card sideways, representing the segment of the Population which has been, well, taxed. As a general rule, one Population card can generate one tax point, which is spent in the placing of military units, or to fund a Black Ops program. Any unspent tax money is returned to the general population; you will not be able to tax and then store those points.
Voting is a simple process between an Advisor and the Population. Instead of having a cost (as do military units), an Advisor has a vote count; if the number of Population cards within your Population Center equal (or are greater than) the Vote Count, the Advisor can be placed in your Cabinet. Population cards do not have to be taxed. However, if at any time during game play your Population count drops and its number is less than the vote count, that Advisor is removed from the Cabinet; the advisor is then returned to your stack of Population cards, with the stack being shuffled afterwards.

PLAY

SET UP
• Have your Population and Cabinet cards separate from your Military and Black Ops. Population / Cabinet cards will be on one stack, while the Military/Black Ops will be on an other.
• Shuffle cards, maintaining separate stacks. Opponent will cut your stacks.
• Each player rolls one die; the highest number goes first; play order goes either towards left or right, as determined by the first player.
• Each player draws a total of six cards, in any amount from any (or both) stacks.

PREP PHASE
• On the beginning of the turn, the player returns all Population cards back into normal position. The player may set forth no more than one Population card. Cabinet members do not count towards this limit.
• Tax the appropriate amount of Population cards to place no more than two Military cards. Black Ops do not count towards this limit.

COMBAT PHASE, ATTACK
• Move any Military unit up to the move count posted on the unit’s card.
• Player One cannot declare an attack on the first turn; however, Player 2+ can declare an attack on the first turn.
• Attacking Player must announce the attack, and identify which units are attacking, and what units are the intended targets. Player attacks with each card individually, rolling the number of dice equal to the unit’s firepower. At the same time as the attack has been made, defending player rolls an amount of dice equal to his unit’s damage resistance for each attack. Whoever rolled a higher total wins that combat; if attacking player wins, defender’s unit is destroyed, and will be placed in the Recovery Area.
*Tactical advice: Some units have counter-strike capabilities, which gives the defending unit a chance to attack its attacker, even if defender had been destroyed; as this is a combat situation, chances are both units would be firing at each other. Roll dice and determine results the same way as a normal attack. When counter-strike has been resolved, remove all destroyed units.*
• If any military unit has remaining move points, that unit may finish its move, using only the remaining unspent points.

RESOLVE PHASE
• Player draws a number of cards so that his hand (the number of cards he is holding) totals six
• Complete or perform any special abilities granted by Advisors or Black Ops
• Turn now goes to Player Two; repeat play from the beginning of the Prep Phase. The round ends when game play goes back to Player One.

VICTORY
Victory can be attained by a variety of means: when your opponent has no remaining Population (and is unable to replenish the Population Center); if you occupy all of your opponent’s territory (within the Military Ranks); if your opponent is no longer able to maintain an army; and finally, if your opponent has been assassinated and has not been able to be replaced.
IN FINISHING
From all of us at Zodiac Publications, I would like to thank you for purchasing CONQUEST, and I hope you have found it as enjoying to play as it was for us to design. Please visit us at www.zodiac-publications.com/conquest for information on the latest releases, events, tie-ins… and even feel free to leave a comment or make a suggestion!
Michael Lee Strandt

All I have to do is make the damned cards!

NECRO POST!

I was cleaning out one of my end table drawers the other evening, and I came upon... err, I came across... (phrasing)... I stumbled upon my printed instructions for this game. I read through the instructions, saw a couple things that could be altered, but was wondering why the hell didn't I follow through with this concept? I mean, it's a simple enough game design, has numerous points of strategy. I may try to build some cards, at least two decks, just to play test things.

Anyway, this game got me to thinking of the other games we've discussed or attempted, as well as the other games I've thought of, and why they never went beyond the concept phase. Look at the originality of Hyper Galactic Reaction Team Force 5! or hell, just a simple look at the entire selection of games we've thought about and posted, not to mention that one aerial robot combat game I was developing, where different robot parts or weapons could be swapped out.

There's some good potential here, and I for one am going to try to see if it can be brought to life.

(Big words, I know. Must be a geeky mid-life crisis thing.)