Conquest Rules

The Risky Game of War

For 2 to 6 players / Ages 10 to adult

INTRODUCTION & STRATEGY HINTS
You are battling to conquer the world. To win, you must launch daring attacks,
defend yourself on all fronts, and sweep across vast continents with
boldness and cunning. But remember, the dangers, as well as the rewards,
are high. Just when the world is within your grasp, your opponent might
strike and take it all away!

1. Conquer whole continents: You will earn more armies that way.

2. Watch your enemies: If they are building up forces on adjacent
territories or continents, they may be planning an attack. Beware!
3. Fortify borders adjacent to enemy territories for better defense if a
neighbor decides to attack you.

EQUIPMENT
1 Braille Game Board 

5 Dice

Deck of 56 CONQUEST cards
6 Sets of armies, each a different color

The Game Board.

The game board is a map of 6 continents divided into 42 territories. Each continent is a different color and contains from 4 to 12 territories. The numbers along the bottom (northern) edge of the board indicate the number of armies you will receive for a set of cards you trade in, as explained further on.

Each continent has it's own shape associated with it and on borders between continents there is the shape of the continent on one side of a line and the shape of the bordering continent on the other side.

The Armies.

There are 6 complete sets of armies, each containing 3
denominations of army pieces. Each army has a different shape.

Infantry (worth l) with no ridge

Armor (worth 5 Infantry) with a ridge on the edge of the pieces

Helicopters (worth 10 Infantry, or 2 Armor) with two ridges on top of each other.

All have circles on the bottom of them so they can stack on top of each other or to fit into slots on the board on each of the territories.

Start the game by placing Infantry pieces; later in the game, you may trade in 5 Infantry for
1 Armor, or 2 Armor (or 1 Armor and 5 Infantry) for 1 Helicopter.

The 56 CONQUEST Cards: 42 marked with a territory and a picture of
Infantry, Armor, or Helicopter and 2 “wild” cards marked with all three pictures,
but no territory 

OBJECT OF THE GAME
To conquer the world by occupying every territory on the board, thus
eliminating all your opponents

SETUP
Unlike most games, RISK demands careful planning before you actually
start to play. This Initial Army Placement sets the stage for the battles you’ll
fight later on.
INITIAL ARMY PLACEMENT consists of these steps:
1.Select a color and, depending on the number of players, count out the
“armies” you’ll need to start the game.

If 2 are playing, see instructions later in this document.
If 3 are playing, each player counts out 35 Infantry.
If 4 are playing, each player counts out 30 Infantry.
If 5 are playing, each player counts out 25 Infantry.
If 6 are playing, each player counts out 20 Infantry.
2.Roll one die. Whoever rolls the highest number takes one Infantry piece
from his or her pile and places it onto any territory on the board, thus
claiming that territory.
3.Starting to the left of the first player, everyone in turn places one army
onto any unoccupied territory. Continue until all 42 territories have
been claimed.
4.After all 42 territories are claimed, each player in turn places one
additional army onto any territory he or she already occupies. Continue
in this way until everyone has run out of armies. There is no limit to the
number of armies you may place onto a single territory


To complete game SETUP:
5. Shuffle the pack of CONQUEST cards and place it,
face down, by the side of the board. This pack forms the draw pile.
6. Whoever placed the first army takes the first turn.

PLAYING
On your turn, try to capture territories by defeating your opponents’
armies. But be careful: Winning battles will depend on careful planning,
quick decisions and bold moves. You’ll have to place your forces wisely,
attack at just the right time and fortify your defenses against all enemies.
Note: At any time during the game, you may trade in Infantry pieces for the
equivalent in Armor or Helicopter if you need to, or wish to.
Each of your turns consists of three steps, in this order:
1. Getting and placing new armies;
2. Attacking, if you choose to, by rolling the dice;
3. Fortifying your position.

GETTING AND PLACING NEW ARMIES
At the beginning of each turn, calculate how many new armies you’ll add
to your territories based on . . .
1. The number of territories you occupy;
2. The value of the continents you control;
3. The value of the matched sets of CONQUEST cards you trade in;
4. The specific territory pictured on a traded-in card.

Territories. At the beginning of every turn (including your first), count the
number of territories you currently occupy, then divide the total by three
(ignore any fraction). The answer is the number of armies you receive. Place
the new armies on any territory you already occupy.
Example: 11 territories = 3 armies
14 territories = 4 armies
17 territories = 5 armies

You will always receive at least 3 armies on a turn, even if you occupy fewer
than 9 territories.

Continents. In addition, at the beginning of your turn you will receive
armies for each continent you control. (To control a continent, you must
occupy all its territories at the start of your turn.) To find the exact number
of armies you’ll receive for each continent, look at the chart in the lower
left-hand corner of the game board.

CONQUEST CARDS
Earning Cards. At the end of any turn in which you have captured at
least one territory, you will earn one (and only one) CONQUEST card. You are
trying to collect sets of 3 cards in any of the following combinations:

 

3 cards of same design
(Infantry, Armor, or Helicopter)

1 each of 3 designs 

any 2 plus a “wild” card

If you have collected a set of 3 CONQUEST cards, you may turn them in at the
beginning of your next turn, or you may wait. But if you have 5 or 6 cards at
the beginning of your turn, you must trade in at least one set, and may
trade in a second set if you have one.

 

Trading In Cards for Armies. 

At the beginning of subsequent turns,
you may trade in matched sets of cards and take additional armies based on
the total number of sets anyone has traded in so far. For quick reference,
keep traded-in cards face down under the top edge of the game board
to mark the value (in armies) of the next trade

5 sets traded in so far: next set will be worth 15
The first set traded in - 4 armies
The second set traded in - 6 armies
The third set traded in - 8 armies
The fourth set traded in - 10 armies
The fifth set traded in - 12 armies
The sixth set traded in - 15 armies

After the sixth set has been traded in, each additional set is worth 5 more
armies. Example: If you trade in the seventh set, you get 20 armies; if you
trade in the eighth, you get 25 armies, and so on. “First” and “second” set,
etc., refer to sets traded in by anyone during the game. Thus, if you trade in
the third set in the game, you receive 8 armies, even if it’s the first set you
have traded in.

Occupied territories.

If any of the 3 cards you trade in shows the picture of
a territory you occupy, you receive 2 extra armies. You must place both
those armies onto that particular territory.

Note: On a single turn, you may receive no more than 2 extra armies above
and beyond those you receive for the matched sets of cards you trade in.
Hints: No matter how many armies you receive at the start of your turn,
deploy them carefully-either to prepare for an attack or to defend against
one. It is good military strategy to move your armies to the front, heavily
fortifying territories that border enemy territories.

ATTACKING
After placing your armies at the beginning of your turn, decide if you wish
to attack at this time. The object of an attack is to capture a territory by
defeating all the opposing armies already on it. The battle is fought by a roll
of the dice. Study the board for a moment. Do you want to attack?

If you choose not to attack, pass the dice to the player on your left. You
may still fortify your position, if you wish (as described later).

If you choose to attack, you must follow these rules:
You may only attack a territory that’s adjacent (touching) to one of your
own, or connected to it by a dashed line. Examples: Greenland may
attack the Northwest Territory, Ontario, Quebec and Iceland. North
Africa may attack Egypt, Western Europe and Brazil. At the western and
eastern edges of the board, Alaska is considered adjacent to, and may
attack, Kamchatka.

You must always have at least two armies in the territory you’re
attacking from.

You may continue attacking one territory until you have eliminated all
armies on it, or you may shift your attack from one territory to another,
attacking each as often as you like and attacking as many territories as
you like during one turn.

TO Attack.

First announce both the territory you’re attacking and the one
you’re attacking from. Then roll the dice against the opponent who
occupies the opposing territory.

Before rolling, both you and your opponent must announce the number
of dice you intend to roll, and you both must roll at the same time.

You, the attacker, will roll 1,2 or 3 red dice: You must have at least one
more army in your territory than the number of dice you roll. Hint: The
more dice you roll, the greater your odds of winning. Yet the more dice
you roll, the more armies you may lose, or be required to move into a
captured territory.

The defender will roll either 1 or 2 white dice: To roll 2 dice, he or she
must have at least 2 armies on the territory under attack. Hint: The more
dice the defender rolls, the greater his or her odds of winning-but the
more armies he or she may lose.

To Decide a Battle. Compare the highest die each of you rolled. If yours
(the attacker’s) is higher, the defender loses one army from the territory
under attack. But if the defender’s die is higher than yours, you lose one
army from the territory you attacked from; put it back in your clear plastic
box. If each of you rolled more than one die, now compare the two
next-highest dice and repeat the process.

Notes:
In case of a tie, the defender always wins.
The attacker can never lose more than 2 armies on a single roll.

Capturing territories.

As soon as you defeat the last opposing army on
a territory, you capture that territory and must occupy it immediately. To
do so, move in at least as many armies as the number of dice you rolled in
your last battle. Remember: In most cases, moving as many armies as you
can to the front is advantageous, because armies left behind can’t help
you when you are attacking. Also remember you must always leave at least
one army behind on the territory you attacked from. During the game,
every territory must always be occupied by at least one army.
Ending your attack. You may end your attack(s) at any time. If you have
captured at least one territory, first take the top CONQUEST card from the draw
pile. (No matter how many territories you’ve captured on your turn, you
may take only one CONQUEST card.) Your last step is to fortify your position, if
you wish (see below). Finally, pass the dice.

Eliminating an opponent. If during your turn you eliminate an
opponent by defeating his or her last army on the game board, you win any
CONQUEST cards that player has collected.
If winning them gives you 6 or more cards, you must immediately trade
in enough sets to reduce your hand to 4 or fewer cards, but once your
hand is reduced to 4,3, or 2 cards, you must stop trading.
But if winning them gives you fewer than 6, you must wait until the
beginning of your next turn to trade in a set.
Note: When you draw a card from the deck at the end of your turn (for
having won a battle), if this brings your total to 6, you must wait until
your next turn to trade in.

FORTIFYING YOUR POSITION
No matter what you’ve done on your turn, you may, if you wish, end your
turn by fortifying your position. You are not required to win a battle or even
to try an attack to do so. Some players refer to this as the “free move.”
To fortify your position, move as many armies as you’d like from one (and
only one) of your territories into one (and only one) of your adjacent
territories.

At the end of your turn, you may fortify armies from one to another territory.
However, before you can do this, you must occupy all the territories in
between. Example: If you want to move armies from South Africa into
Brazil, you must first occupy the Congo and North Africa, thus forming a continuous "path"

Remember to move troops towards borders where they can help
in an attack!
In moving your armies from one territory to another, you must leave at least
one army behind.

WINNING
The winner is the first player to eliminate every opponent by capturing all
42 territories on the board.

 

CONQUEST FOR 2 PLAYERS

This version is played like regular RISK with one important exception:
Along with your armies and those of your opponent, there are also
“neutral” armies on the board that act as a buffer between you and your
opponent. This feature gives the 2-player version much the same strategic
flavor as the regular RISK game.
SETUP
INITIAL ARMY PLACEMENT
You and your opponent each select a complete set of armies. Then either of
you selects a third set to be “neutral.” Take 40 Infantry pieces from each of
the 3 sets and claim territories in the following manner:

Shuffle thoroughly and deal the cards, face down, into 3 equal
piles. Both you and your opponent choose a different pile. The
remaining pile is “neutral.”
Place one of your Infantry onto each of the 14 territories shown on the
CONQUEST cards in your pile. Your opponent does the same. Then place one
“neutral” Infantry onto each of the remaining 14 “neutral” territories.
After every territory on the board has been claimed, you and your
opponent take turns placing your remaining armies: Place 2 Infantry
onto any 1 or 2 of the territories you occupy. Then place 1 “neutral”
army onto any “neutral” territory you want, placing it to block your
opponent’s possible advance.
To complete game SETUP:
4. After all the armies have been placed on the board, return the two “wild”
cards to the CONQUEST card deck, shuffle the deck and start to play.

 

ATTACKING
On your turn, you may attack any territory adjacent to one of your own.
Whenever you attack a “neutral” territory, your opponent rolls to defend
that “neutral” territory.
“Neutral” armies cannot attack and never receive reinforcements during
the game.
WINNING
To win, be the first to eliminate your opponent by capturing all of his or her
territories. You do not have to eliminate the “neutral” armies.
Usually, all “neutral” armies are eliminated before the end of the game. If
this happens, don’t worry. Play continues until one player defeats the other.