THE SHATTERED MARCHES: BANNERFALL Extracted from the Grand Tome for standalone reference. III. THE SHATTERED MARCHES: BANNERFALL ==================================================================== 1. IDENTITY AND AIM Bannerfall is the territorial middle game of the series. It is about expansion, pressure, towers, and clean magical conflict. It should feel strategic and interactive without requiring player mats or multiple subsystems. Players: 2 to 4 Time: 25 to 45 minutes Complexity goal: medium-light 2. COMPONENTS Per player: - 8 Banner markers - 3 Tower markers, one begins on the board as the Home Tower - 1 score marker - a way to track mana Shared: - 1 Bannerfall map with 13 regions - markers for 8 Crown points - reminders for the three public spells 3. THE BANNERFALL MAP Bannerfall uses 13 regions. Center: - Starfall Keep Inner ring, clockwise: - Northwatch - Dawnmere, Ruin - Eastford - South Barrow, Ruin - Greyfen - Old Abbey, Ruin Outer ring, clockwise, each outside the matching inner region: - Frostgate outside Northwatch - High Moor outside Dawnmere - Redwall outside Eastford - Thorn Coast outside South Barrow - Moonfield outside Greyfen - Blackpine outside Old Abbey Adjacency: - Starfall Keep is adjacent to every inner region - each inner region is adjacent to its two neighboring inner regions - each outer region is adjacent to its matching inner region - each outer region is adjacent to its two neighboring outer regions Explicit outer ring clockwise adjacency: Frostgate adjacent to High Moor and Blackpine High Moor adjacent to Frostgate and Redwall Redwall adjacent to High Moor and Thorn Coast Thorn Coast adjacent to Redwall and Moonfield Moonfield adjacent to Thorn Coast and Blackpine Blackpine adjacent to Moonfield and Frostgate Explicit inner ring clockwise adjacency: Northwatch adjacent to Dawnmere and Old Abbey Dawnmere adjacent to Northwatch and Eastford Eastford adjacent to Dawnmere and South Barrow South Barrow adjacent to Eastford and Greyfen Greyfen adjacent to South Barrow and Old Abbey Old Abbey adjacent to Greyfen and Northwatch Matching links: Frostgate to Northwatch High Moor to Dawnmere Redwall to Eastford Thorn Coast to South Barrow Moonfield to Greyfen Blackpine to Old Abbey 4. SETUP Each player begins with: - 1 Home Tower on a chosen outer region - 2 additional Towers in reserve - 8 Banners in reserve - 1 mana - 0 Crown Home Towers are normal Towers. Choose player order. In turn order, each player chooses a different outer region and places their Home Tower there. Set all Crown scores to 0. Set all mana to 1. Recommended starts: 2 players, opposite outer regions 3 players, every second outer region 4 players, any four distinct outer regions 5. SEQUENCE OF PLAY On your turn: 1. gain mana 2. take 2 actions 3. score Crown Then the next player acts. 6. ACTIONS CONJURE Place 1 Banner in an empty region adjacent to a region you control. A region is controlled if it contains your Banner or Tower. MARCH Move 1 of your Banners into an adjacent region. If the destination is empty: move your Banner there. If the destination contains an enemy Banner: remove that enemy Banner and place your Banner there. If the destination contains an enemy Tower: downgrade that Tower into an enemy Banner. Your Banner does not move. The action ends. FORTIFY Replace one of your Banners with one of your Towers from reserve. You may not Fortify if you have no Towers remaining in reserve. CAST Pay the mana cost for one public spell and resolve it. 7. SPELLS BLINK Cost: 1 mana Effect: One March this turn may move through 2 adjacent regions instead of 1. Resolve only the final destination. Restrictions: - the path must be legal region-to-region adjacency - the first crossed region is ignored for conflict and occupancy - only the final destination is resolved FIREBALL Cost: 2 mana Effect: Choose a region adjacent to one of your Towers. Remove an enemy Banner there, or downgrade an enemy Tower there into an enemy Banner. You may not use Fireball on a region adjacent only to a Banner. A Tower must be the source. SUMMON HOST Cost: 2 mana Effect: Place 1 Banner in any empty region adjacent to one of your Towers. 8. CONTROL AND CONFLICT A region may contain at most one control piece: - one Banner, or - one Tower Towers do not move. Banners move by March or arrive by Conjure and Summon Host. A Tower that is downgraded becomes a Banner of the same owner in that region. A Banner that is removed returns to supply and may be used again later. 9. MANA At the start of your turn, gain: - 1 base mana - plus 1 mana for each Ruin you control The Ruins are: - Dawnmere - South Barrow - Old Abbey There is no storage cap in the base game. 10. SCORING At the end of your turn, gain Crown as follows: KEEP +1 Crown if you control Starfall Keep RUIN MASTERY +1 Crown if you control at least 2 of the 3 Ruins CONNECTED REALM +1 Crown if you control a connected realm of 5 or more regions You may score all three in the same turn. Maximum 3 Crown per turn. Connected realm means a continuous chain of regions you control using normal legal adjacency. 11. END OF GAME The first player to 8 Crown wins immediately. If multiple players reach 8 in the same round, use tie-breakers: 1. most regions controlled 2. most Towers on the board 3. shared victory 12. CLARIFICATIONS A player may be attacked before their first turn, but because starting pieces are Home Towers, a single March cannot eliminate a player's opening presence. A player controls a region if their Banner or Tower is there. There is no neutral control token. A region with a Tower still counts as one controlled region even if it began as a Home Tower. Fireball may target only adjacent regions from one of your Towers. Blink affects only one March and does not itself grant extra actions. A player may Conjure into any empty adjacent region even if that region borders enemy pieces. A player with no Banners in reserve may still March and Cast. A player with no Towers in reserve may still play normally, but cannot Fortify. 13. OPTIONAL HOUSE TWISTS These remain public and small. Use them only if all players want a little more character. PYROMANCER The first Fireball you cast each round costs 1 less. STONEBUILDER Once per game, one Fortify costs no action. STORMCALLER Once per round, one Blink path may pass through an occupied friendly region without restriction. SUMMONER The first Summon Host you cast each round costs 1 less. Use one twist per player at most. 14. EXAMPLE TURN Red controls Redwall with a Home Tower, Eastford with a Banner, and South Barrow with a Banner. Red has 3 mana. Start of turn: Red gains 1 base mana and +1 for South Barrow, a Ruin. Red now has 5 mana. Action 1: Red uses Fortify at South Barrow, replacing the Banner there with a Tower. Action 2: Red uses Fireball from the new South Barrow Tower into Thorn Coast, removing a Blue Banner. End of turn scoring: Red does not control Starfall Keep. Red controls only 1 Ruin. Red controls Redwall, Eastford, and South Barrow, only 3 connected regions. Red gains 0 Crown. 15. STRATEGY NOTES In Bannerfall, tempo is often stronger than raw area count. Towers matter because they project Fireball and Summon Host. The best towers are usually near Ruins or on routes toward the Keep. Do not chase all three scoring conditions every turn. Most winning lines are built on one stable source of Crown and one contested source. ==================================================================== IX. BANNERFALL EXTENDED FOLIO ==================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------- IX.A. BANNERFALL START RECOMMENDATIONS -------------------------------------------------------------------- For two players, opposite starts are strongly recommended: Frostgate versus Thorn Coast or Blackpine versus Redwall For three players, the cleanest starts are: Frostgate, Redwall, Blackpine or High Moor, Thorn Coast, Moonfield For four players, use: Frostgate Redwall Blackpine Thorn Coast for the cleanest beginner experience. These preserve space and make the first few turns readable. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IX.B. BANNERFALL FAQ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Can I Conjure from a Tower if I have no Banners on the board? Yes. Control comes from Towers as well as Banners. Q. Can a Tower be downgraded more than once in the same turn? No. Once downgraded, it is no longer a Tower. Q. If Blink passes through a region with an enemy Banner, do I fight there? No. Only the final destination matters. Q. Can Fireball target diagonally or by visual closeness? No. Only legal adjacency matters. Q. Do I gain mana from Ruins controlled by Towers? Yes. Any control piece works. Q. If I Fortify my last Banner in a region, do I still control that region? Yes. The Tower controls it. Q. Can I Conjure into Starfall Keep if adjacent and empty? Yes. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IX.C. OPTIONAL ADVANCED BANNERFALL MODE -------------------------------------------------------------------- If your table wants Bannerfall to sit a little closer to Crownfall without becoming Crownfall, use all of the following together: Advanced House Twist Each player chooses one twist from the optional set and it remains fixed for the game. Season Marker At the start of the game reveal one season: Ash Wind, Fireball costs 1 less once per player per game Long Roads, the first Blink each round is free Hard Winter, Fortify costs 1 less mana if your table has added mana costs to Fortify as a house rule Ruin Bloom, first player each round to newly control a Ruin gains +1 bonus mana Longer Victory Play to 10 Crown instead of 8. Use this mode only after several base games. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IX.D. CANONICAL BALANCE NOTE FOR BANNERFALL -------------------------------------------------------------------- If your table finds that Fireball overwhelms the game, do not rewrite the spell first. Instead test these changes in order: 1. Ensure the map is being used with the canonical adjacency. 2. Ensure players begin only with Home Towers and no extra Banners. 3. Ensure players are remembering that Fireball must originate from a Tower. 4. Raise victory to 10 Crown before changing spell costs. Only after those checks should you consider changing Fireball's cost. -------------------------------------------------------------------- IX.E. BANNERFALL EXAMPLE MIDGAME -------------------------------------------------------------------- Blue controls Frostgate Tower, Northwatch Banner, Dawnmere Tower, and High Moor Banner. Gold controls Redwall Tower, Eastford Banner, Thorn Coast Banner. Green controls Blackpine Tower, Old Abbey Banner, Moonfield Banner. Blue's turn begins. Blue gains 1 base mana and +1 for Dawnmere. Blue has 4 mana. Blue wants the Keep and a 5-region chain. Action 1, Conjure into Starfall Keep from Northwatch. Action 2, Blink March from High Moor through Eastford into South Barrow, because the path is legal and only the final destination resolves. South Barrow is empty, so Blue occupies it. Blue now controls Frostgate, Northwatch, Dawnmere, High Moor, Starfall Keep, South Barrow. At end of turn Blue gains: +1 Keep +1 two Ruins, Dawnmere and South Barrow +1 connected realm of 5 or more Blue gains 3 Crown. This example demonstrates why Blink is a tempo spell rather than merely a mobility spell. ====================================================================