This expansion for the Age of Conan Strategy Board Game introduces a new set of game components, represented by miniatures from the Cyclades Board Game. These miniatures are used to represent four unique Mythological Creatures.
The Age of Conan game, although it may appear at first to be a war game like Risk, does place a lot of emphasis on players taking control of Conan in the game and guiding him on his adventures. This expansion builds on this aspect of game play, providing four Epic Quests for Conan to go on, and making his adventures an even more important part of the game.
In this text, I assume that you will also be using my Ravenloft Expansion rules, which add further to the flavour of the game. If you do not also own the Castle Ravenloft game, or do not like those rules, just ignore all references to the Ravenloft Heroes. This expansion is designed to be playable with the Age of Conan game alone, and its primary purpose is to provide Conan with the Epic Quests.
Components
I originally designed this expansion for use by people who owned both the Age of Conan and Cyclades games. If you do not have the Cyclades game, you can use substitutes for the miniatures and cards that are required. All other components are those used in the Age of Conan game.
The Cyclades miniatures are used to represent four unique Mythological Creatures - the Minotaur, the Medusa, Polyphemos and Chiron.
The Mythological Creature cards for these four are used as Epic Quest cards, and replace the current Conan Adventure card in play whenever the Conan Player announces an Epic Quest to destroy one of the Mythological Creatures (see below).
Setting Up
Each Mythological Creature miniature is placed in a different province at the beginning of the game. Polyphemos is placed in the Pictish Wilderness, the Minotaur in Ghulistan, the Medusa in the Tundra and Chiron in the Black Kingdoms.
The four cards depicting these Mythological Creatures are set aside next to the board.
Mythological Creatures
Each Mythological Creature miniature represents a unique creature. These creatures never leave their home province.
Mythological Creature Effects
A Mythological Creature causes massive disruption in the province in which it is present. It makes the province harder to conquer, and less worth controlling.
A Mythological Creature has the same effect on a Military Contest Roll in a province as a Raider Token. If a Mythological Creature is present in a neutral contested province, the defender (the player who is rolling for the province) counts any axe results in his contest roll as successes. However, a Mythological Creature cannot be removed from the board in the same way that a Raider Token would be at the end of a Contest Roll. It continues to cause axe results to count as successes until the province is subjugated and the creature itself can be eliminated by a player army. A Mythological Creature can only be attacked by a player army after a player has subjugated the province, and placed a Fort in it.
A Mythological Creature has no effect on a Military Contest Roll between two players in a province.
In an Age Change Phase, a player controlling a province with a Mythological Creature in it loses an empire point for that creature. A Mythological Creature would not normally be in the same province as a player army in an Age Change Phase, but if this happens, the creature cannot be eliminated by removing an army unit. If a player controls a province containing both Raider Tokens and a Mythological Creature, he can still choose to discard the raider tokens by removing an army unit, but the Mythological Creature still remains in the province until eliminated by either a Military or an Agent Contest.
Mythological Creatures are never removed from the board when resolving raids during an Age Change Phase.
Eliminating Mythological Creatures
A Mythological Creature can be eliminated in two different ways.
- It can be destroyed by a Military Contest initiated by a player army, but this can only be carried out if a player already has a fort in its province.
- It can be eliminated as the result of an Agent Contest.
Military Contests
A player can initiate a Military Contest against a Mythological Creature only if he already has a fort marker in its province.
A Military Contest against a Mythological Creature is conducted as though it was a Siege against another player army. The Mythological Creature will defend as a single army unit, but can only roll a single contest die. It does not use the province rating when defending.
The attacker can roll the same number of dice that he would if he were making an attack against another player army. If Conan is present and controlled by the attacking player, he adds an additional contest die to the number of dice rolled (up to a maximum of six dice). The attacker can use a Strategy Card or a Sorcery Token to reroll the results of his die rolls if he wishes.
- If the attacker wins the contest roll, the Mythological Creature is destroyed and is removed from the board.
- If the attacker loses the contest roll, he must remove one unit from his army. He must then decide if he wants to continue with the attack. If he decides to give up, his army remains in the province but the contest is over. If he chooses to continue with the attack, he goes on to another contest roll.
Contest rolls continue until either the creature is destroyed or the attacker has no army units left.
If a Mythological Creature is destroyed in a Military Contest, no Epic Quest Rewards are awarded. This is the case even if an Epic Quest has been declared against it. Such rewards are only awarded if the creature is eliminated in an Action Contest.
Epic Quests
Whenever a new Conan Adventure is started, the player who wins the bid for Conan can declare an Epic Quest to destroy one Mythological Creature. The Conan Player places the Mythological Creature card for the creature of his choice in the Current Adventure space on the board. This card (known as the Epic Quest Card) replaces the Adventure Card that was just drawn, which is discarded. A new Adventure Card is drawn from the reserve pile and placed at the bottom of the Adventure Deck. The Adventure Tokens on the track are removed but not discarded. Instead, they should be returned to the cup or bag from which Tokens are drawn for each new Conan Adventure. The Conan Destination Marker is then moved to the province in which the creature to be destroyed is present. The Epic Quest continues until that Mythological Creature is destroyed.
An Epic Quest cannot be declared at the beginning of the game, but only after the first Conan Adventure has ended. It can only be declared when a player first wins the bid for Conan. An Epic Quest cannot be declared once the first Adventure Token for that Conan Adventure has been taken off the adventure track.
During an Epic Quest, Conan must always be moved towards his current destination in the Conan Player Turn. He cannot remain in another province, or be moved away from the destination province. However, the Conan Player does not gain any Adventure Tokens for moving Conan, as there will be none on the Adventure Track.
Conan can also be moved by using a Court + Conan Die during an Epic Quest, but only towards his destination province. During an Epic Quest, Conan is totally dedicated to the destruction of the Mythological Creature, and he will pursue this end with single-minded ferocity. If the Conan Player moves Conan with a Court + Conan Die, he places a Raider Token either in the province occupied by Conan or in an adjacent province, before or after moving Conan.
A non-Conan Player who uses a Court + Conan Die during an Epic Quest, does not take an Adventure Token, but may place a Raider Token either in the province occupied by Conan or in an adjacent province. However, a non-Conan Player who uses a Court + Conan Die cannot move Conan. All players still perform a Court Action as they usually would after the Conan Action.
When Conan reaches his destination province, he cannot leave it until the end of the Epic Quest. While in the destination province, Conan can only be used to start Action Contests against the Mythological Creature that is the target of the Epic Quest. He cannot be used in any other way until the Epic Quest ends, unless he is neutralised in an Agent Contest, and has to be stood up in order to function normally again.
Action Contests
Conan can attack a Mythological Creature by starting an Action Contest against it. If you are playing with my Ravenloft Expansion, Mythological Creatures can also be attacked by the Ravenloft Heroes.
Conan
Conan can initiate an Agent Contest either in the Conan Player Turn, or by using a Court + Conan Die.
Conan can attack any Mythological Creature at any point in the game. However, a player can only claim an Epic Quest Reward for eliminating a Creature when an Epic Quest has been declared against it. If a Creature is destroyed without an Epic Quest being declared, no Epic Quest Reward is awarded.
To attack a Mythological Creature in the Conan Player Turn, Conan must not also have been moved on that turn. He cannot be moved into a province and attack a Mythological Creature. If he does attack a Mythological Creature, he cannot then also move out of the province.
When Conan attacks a Mythological Creature for which an Epic Quest has been declared, and the contest is successful, the Mythological Creature is removed from the board and the Conan Player gains an Epic Quest Reward.
If Conan is used to attack a Mythological Creature for which an Epic Quest has not been declared, he foregoes the progress of the current Conan Adventure. The leftmost token on the adventure track is removed and returned to the reserve pile. This happens even if the objective of the current Conan Adventure is in the same province.
If the Conan Player uses Conan to attack a Mythological Creature at the beginning of his turn, he can still use a Court + Conan die to move him after that.
Conan can also be used to attack a Mythological Creature by using a Court + Conan die. This can be done even if Conan only moved into the province at the beginning of the turn. If Conan uses a die to attack a Mythological Creature, he cannot also add a Raider Token or move. The effect of the die is used up for the attack.
A Court + Conan die cannot be used by a non-Conan player to attack a Mythological Creature.
Ravenloft Heroes
If you are using my Ravenloft Expansion rules, a Ravenloft Hero can also start an Action Contest against a Mythological Creature. A Ravenloft Hero initiates an Action Contest by using a Ravenloft Action. If both Ravenloft Heroes are in the province, they can only start a single Action Contest against the creature as a joint action (when they are in the same province, the Ravenloft Heroes will always help each other and act as a team). This works to their advantage, because they can roll four dice instead of two in the Contest Roll.
The Action Contest Roll
An Action Contest Roll is conducted in the same way as Military and Intrigue Contests, by rolling contest dice. The absolute maximum number of dice that a player can roll in any Contest is six.
During the contest, the attacker rolls first. Then, the defender rolls. If the two players roll the same number of successful die rolls, the defender wins the contest.
A successful die roll is determined by the result rolled on the contest die. The attacker counts any Hit, Hit + Conan and Hit (Attacker) results as successes. The defender counts Hit and Hit + Conan results as successes. Conan always counts a Hit + Conan result as two successes instead of one. Shields, Axes and Misses are always counted as misses in an Action Contest. The party with the higher number of successes wins the contest.
Strategy Cards can never be used in an Action Contest. Sorcery Tokens can never be used to reroll the results of an Action Contest.
Number of Dice Rolled
A Mythological Creature always acts as the defender in an Action Contest. It can never be used to initiate an Action Contest. In an Action Contest, a Mythological Creature can roll five contest dice (as opposed to a single contest die when in a Military Contest).
The number of dice rolled by the attacker is determined by the identity of the attacker.
A. Conan rolls four dice in an Action Contest.
B. The Ravenloft Heroes can each roll two dice in an Action Contest. If both Heroes are present, they act together and roll four dice in the contest roll. If only one is present, she only rolls two dice.
Outcome of an Action Contest Roll
The winner of the contest roll is the one who rolls the higher number of successes.
- If the attacker wins the contest roll, the Mythological Creature is destroyed.
- If the Mythological Creature wins the contest roll, all attacking characters will be neutralised. The characteristics of a neutralised character are detailed below.
Neutralised Characters
A character becomes neutralised if he or she is unsuccessful in an Action Contest against a Mythological Creature. The character’s miniature is tipped over to indicate this, and he or she must forego his or her next turn. The miniature remains in this position until its next turn, when it can be stood up again to indicate that the character is now active again. As long as the character is neutralised, he or she does not have the effects on Military and Intrigue Contest Rolls that he or she normally has.
If Conan is neutralised he remains in this state until he can be stood up, either during the next Conan Player Turn, or by using a Court + Conan Die. If he is only stood up in the next Conan Player Turn, he cannot attack the Mythological Creature as well, or move out of the province he is currently in. If he was neutralised when attacking a Mythological Creature for which no Epic Quest had been declared, he is considered to have foregone the progress of his current Adventure The leftmost adventure token on the adventure track is removed and returned to the reserve pile. This is done even if he is already in the province which is the objective of that Adventure, because he would have been unable to further that Adventure due to his injuries.
If Conan was neutralised in an attack against the Mythological Creature that is the target of the current Epic Quest, he will continue to attack that creature as soon as he can. This cannot be done on the same turn that he is stood up, but must be done on the next Conan Player turn, or when the next Court + Conan Die is used.
Only the Conan Player can use a Court + Conan die to stand Conan up when he has been neutralised. A non-Conan player using a Court + Conan die can take an adventure token from the adventure track, but must go on to his Court action without standing Conan up.
Once Conan has been stood up, he exercises all the effects that he would normally have for being present in a province.
If a Ravenloft Hero is neutralised, she remains in this state until the next Ravenloft Player Turn, when she can be stood up again and becomes active. The Ravenloft Hero cannot move or undertake any actions on the same turn that they are stood up, but must wait for the following turn before she can operate normally. If both Ravenloft Heroes attacked the Mythological Creature and were unsuccessful, they will both be neutralised together.
Ending an Epic Quest
An Epic Quest ends when the relevant Mythological Creature is destroyed. If the creature is destroyed in a Military Contest, no Epic Quest Reward is awarded. If it is eliminated as the result of an Action Contest, an Epic Reward is awarded to the attacking player.
If Conan eliminated the creature, the reward is given to the Conan Player. However, the Conan Player does not draw an Adventure Token as an additional reward as he would do for successfully completing a Conan Adventure.
If the creature is destroyed by a Ravenloft Hero, the Epic Quest Reward is awarded to the Ravenloft Player.
The Epic Quest Card is then discarded and the next Conan Adventure is drawn. Players bid for control of Conan as usual and play continues.
Epic Quest Rewards
An Epic Quest Reward consists of: -
Six Gold Tokens
Two Sorcery Tokens
The attacking player can also draw one Kingdom Card and one Strategy Card.
Looks awesome!
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