Great to learn

Rules of the Game

Twenty steps, and a six-minute process to learn. The game is still rich in strategy — and it never ends the same way twice.

Download the official rules (PDF) ▶ Learn by playing
Teaching someone? Read these aloud in order. Most groups are playing properly by step 10 and finishing their first game inside half an hour.
  1. Setting up
  2. To set up the game, lay a play mat in front of you with the rectangles closest to you.
  3. Separate all Land cards — they're blue and green on the face. Place them in the far right rectangle. This is your Land Pile.
  4. Place all other cards in the rectangle just to the left of the Land Pile, face down. This is your Deck.
  5. Pull the top Land card from the Land Pile and place it face up just left of your Deck. Your civilization starts in this Land, and your goal is to protect that country.
  6. Pull 5 cards off the top of your Deck and look at them. Don't let your opponent see them. This is your Hand.
  7. Taking a turn
  8. The youngest player goes first. They can play or discard up to three cards from their hand. The first round is world peace — no one may interact with an opponent.
  9. Interrupt cards can be played on any player’s turn. On your own turn, an Interrupt played from your hand while you still have plays left counts as one of your three cards; once you have used your three, or on someone else’s turn, it is free.
  10. Play your strongest Characters above the Land you want to defend. All Lands must have at least one Character. Unoccupied Land may be claimed by someone in the same continent, or by an existing Explorer.
  11. Events, Technology and any other non-Character or Army card is placed above the Deck.
  12. There are 2 rectangles in each column, but you can place up to 4 Characters above each Land. Only 1 Army per Land.
  13. Explorer cards discover a new Land when played. Grab the top Land from your Land Pile and place it in the first row to the left of your existing Lands. There is no limit to the number of Lands you can have.
  14. Morale & winning
  15. Some cards give you Morale points, tracked at the top of each mat. If you reach 3,000 you win. In order to attack, your Morale must be above 800.
  16. Combat
  17. You may attack an opponent's Land in the same continent. To attack, you declare which Lands will be competing.
  18. The Attacker counts the first number in the bottom right corner of all the Character and Army cards in the attacking Land.
  19. The Defender counts the second number in the bottom right corner of all the Character and Army cards in the defending Land.
  20. Whoever has the highest points wins. Interrupt cards from your hand will help defend your country during an attack.
  21. If the Defender loses the battle, they lose one Character from that Land to the Discard Pile, just above the Land Pile, face up.
  22. If the Attacker loses, they lose 100 Morale points from their civilization.
  23. You may attack twice per turn, unless a card such as the Alamo tells you otherwise.
  24. At the end of a battle, if there are no cards defending the defending Land, the Attacker may claim it and put it in their first row.
  25. The first person to collect all their opponent's active Land cards is the winner. This is World Domination.
Have a question the rules don't answer? Email office@historicalconquest.com — we answer them in the weekly newsletter.

Print the rules

Everything here is also available as a PDF you can print for the table.

Official Playing Rules

Page 1 is the rules, page 2 an example play mat. The set we ship with the game.

Download PDF

Rule Sheet

The front-page quick reference — the one most players keep beside the mat.

Download PDF

Comprehensive Rules

A deeper, fully worked set prepared by a fan, Victoria H. — every edge case covered.

Download PDF
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