Dragonchess Player's Guide

This is a land of dragons. It is a land with towering mountains and treacherous storms, a land that is as likely to kill you as rock you to sleep. Riddled with pitfalls, yet promising much if only you can get to it. Luckily, you are safe within your kingdom. And what is your kingdom? Well, that is up to you. Is it a place of vinegar and violence? Of hardiness and determination? Of swiftness and aid? The journey you are about to undertake will tell the land just who you are.
It will be a dangerous journey. From the firey breath of dragons to the watery depths of the tides, from the overwhelming perils of your own mind to the most dangerous thing of all: other people. You may lose comrades along the way, but if you can make it to the horizon, the glory will be yours...

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Welcome to Dragonchess.

You have been tasked with guiding a troupe of travelers from your kingdom to the opposite horizon. Simple enough, except you must reach your destination before the other troupes can reach theirs, and keep as many of your travelers alive as possible in the process.
Suitable for two to four players, ages 6 and up.

How to Win

Get all of your tokens (the ones that survive, at least) to the opposite side of the board from your home kingdom. This goal is called the target kingdom. If multiple teams get all their members to the target kingdom within the same round, then the player with the most surviving team members wins.

The Board

The dragonchess board is composed of 64 segments. Select a map from the map booklet and arrange the tiles according to the image you choose. The more complex the map, the more difficult the game will be. Played every map available? Try randomly generating one with a few dice rolls or check out the Dragonchess Expansion for more gameplay options!

Getting Started

First, set up your board according to the desired difficulty level (see The Board for more information).
Each player will then roll a d4. The player with the highest roll gets to choose which side of the board they would like to start on first, the rest following according to the number they rolled. If there are any ties, the players involved should roll against one another to determine who goes first in the choosing process.
Once you choose your side, place your kingdom card on that side of the board and put the corresponding color tokens on the card. The number of travelers in each troupe (and thus, the number of tokens you should place on your kingdom card) is determined by the number of players.

• 2 players = troupes of 6
• 3 players = troupes of 4
• 4 players = troupes of 3

It is suggested that you choose sequential tokens starting from the smallest (i.e. 1-3, 1-4, or 1-6). This will keep things making sense. But do what feels right. It will be up to you to keep track of which token goes when. Once the kingdoms are all set up, the same order will be used for gameplay.

Playing the Game

The game is composed of rounds in which each token gets a turn. The players will take turns moving each token in their troupe, going in the order that they rolled at the outset. A round comes to an end when the final player has moved their final token. Then it starts over again.
A token's turn is composed of two parts: the move and the action.
On its first turn, a token moves off of the kingdom card and onto the board. A token can move onto any tile adjacent to its kingdom card. On each subsequent turn, the token can move one tile in any direction (including diagonally) using its movement. It cannot, however, occupy the same tile as another token. In order for a token to count as having reached the target kingdom, it must use a move to step off of the board and onto the kingdom card.
There are five actions a token can take:

ATTACK - cause 1d4 damage to another token
DEFEND - block any incoming attacks, taking no damage
AID - assist another token, blocking any effects from hazards or attacks
OVERCOME - weather an environmental hazard, avoiding effects from hazards on the current or following turn
SPEED - move an additional tile (does not allow diagonal movement)

Tokens can affect other tokens as long as they are within one tile of their target, including diagonally.
In addition to dealing with opposing troupes, tokens must also overcome the board itself. The board has a number of environmental hazard tiles. When a token moves onto a tile marked with a hazard, they suffer that effect. However, if a token uses an action to overcome the hazard or receives aid from another token. There are six kinds of hazards:

DRAGON - causes 1d4 fire damage
TIDE - causes 1d4 water damage
STORM - causes 1d4 air damage
KINGDOM - causes the token to immediately move one space towards the home kingdom, lateral only
NIGHT - causes the token to miss its next turn

Each token has six health points (hp), which you can track on your troupe card. These represent how much damage the token can take before it "dies" and must be removed from the board.
Two things to keep in mind: first, if your troupe finishes moving into the target kingdom within the same round as another troupe, the troupe with the most surviving tokens wins. This gives an incentive to help opposing tokens edge closer to death. However, the second thing to note is that if a player has every token in their troupe save for one in the target kingdom and the final token dies, that player now has all of their troupe in the target kingdom. If no one else finishes moving into the target kingdom in the same round, or if any other completed troupes have fewer surviving tokens, this player has won.
So think carefully before you go swinging willy nilly.
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Best of luck, travelers.