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This set of rules offers an alternative format for playing WarBonds, where players split into 2 teams (2v2 or 3v3). Team 1 is composed of players 1, 3, and 5. Team 2 has players 2, 4, and 6. Each player’s war camp will have a designated starting location on either 2v2 or 3v3 battle maps. Additionally, each settlement has a designated location on these battle maps. Settlement 1 (S1) still starts with 2 growth tokens, while S4 & S5 (2v2) or S6 & S7 (3v3) start with 2 level tokens. Each player on Team 1 will place their protection marker on S5 (2v2) or S7 (3v3), while Team 2 places their protection markers on S4 (2v2) or S6 (3v3). These S4 & S5 (2v2), or S6 & S7 (3v3) are special team settlements; they cannot gain or lose growth or level tokens. Teams work together to achieve victory using the following modified rules.
Players start with 0 gold. Units in other player’s armies are considered an “ally” if they are on the same team. Each team cannot have a mix of good and evil warlords (except with Vilna). Players are not eliminated if their warlord dies, or their war camp is destroyed; their units do not retreat when this occurs. Upon death warlords lose all their held leadership and are only removed from the battle map. They will respawn at the Start of the next round within their war camp or team settlement borders. When a war camp is destroyed it will not respawn and is removed from the game. Place a plains terrain tile onto a destroyed war camp’s battle map space. With these changes, the standard elimination victory is not possible.
Victory occurs when all enemy war camps are destroyed, or the enemy’s team settlement is destroyed. Victory also occurs when any non-team protected settlement reaches level 4 (non-team settlements function the same as standard play). If the war camp of any single player reaches level 4, their team is immediately victorious. When a warlord dies or a war camp is destroyed, the enemy team gains 3 war tokens. If the final blow was dealt by an enemy player, they gain all 3 war tokens. If the final blow was instead dealt by an ally (aka: deny), the enemy team still gains 3 war tokens, but the ally player decides how to split and distribute these tokens amongst the enemies’ war camps. The Influence the Public event becomes a team vs team bid. Each warlord can contribute leadership for their team’s total bid. The team that wins the bid distributes their 2 war tokens however they choose. Both options (Incite a Revolt & Enforce Order) for influencing the public are available to the winning team, unless all of their warlords are Chaos (cannot Enforce Order), or all of their warlords are Law (cannot Incite a Revolt).
Persuade works as normal. Every War Speech and Battle Cry event deploys 1 free squad unit (Wandering Spirits, Mercenaries, Children of the Night, Corpse Garden, or Domesticated Corvus) for each player's war camp; each player chooses their 1 free squad unit in player order. If a war camp is destroyed, that player does not get a free unit spawn during these events. War camps cannot convert to caravans, and can never move. All players on a team collectively decide how their team settlement’s turn is handled, but only 1 player can deploy from it. Each player on a team will gain gold during Collect from their team settlement, in addition to their individual non-team protected settlements.
For those who would prefer a more casual, or quicker 3+ player session of WarBonds, you can adopt the following arcade rules. A new end-game condition occurs when any player’s warlord dies, or their war camp is destroyed. When this occurs, the game immediately ends with the player who has the most war tokens as the victor. When killing another player’s warlord, or destroying their war camp, you are only awarded 2 war tokens instead of the typical 3. If a player eliminates themselves, all other players gain 1 war token. Exchange each Level token for 3 war tokens. For every 3 leadership exchanged, a player gains 1 war token. For every 6 loyalty exchanged, a player gains 1 war token. In the event that there is a tie for the most war tokens, then the player with the largest army size is the victor. If army sizes are tied, then the highest ID numbered player will be the victor.
For those who would prefer a more casual play session, or play without the player elimination rules, they can instead adopt the alternative arcade rules. These rules also allow for new players to join a game session that is currently running. When a player is defeated, either by having their warlord die or their war camp gets destroyed, they are temporarily removed from the game. When this occurs all of the defeated player’s assets, except the war camp on the initiative table, are cleaned up from the initiative table and battle map. Any damage dice on their war camp is removed. If possible, remove 1 level token from their war camp. That player cannot participate for the remainder of the current round; but, they are able to select the same or different warlord to start the next game round with. They will also restart with 100 gold. Essentially, a defeated player is resetting their player space and resources as if they were starting a new game from the beginning.
Note: When defeated, a player only loses 1 level token, if possible. Retain any accumulated war tokens.
Additionally, at the start of a new round, new players can join the current game session. New players will set themselves up as if they were starting from the very beginning of a new game. When a new player joining a game session causes the total player count to increase, this additional player must also grab 1 new settlement to place onto the Battle Map and Initiative Table. Placement of this new settlement occurs just prior to when that player selects their war camp’s starting location. The new settlement cannot be placed on top of a war camp, and must be 7 or more spaces from another settlement; or the furthest possible location if closer than 7 spaces. Any existing terrain tile at the new settlement’s location is removed. The settlement will start with 2 growth tokens, for every Influence the Public event that has already occurred.
All newly starting players, in player order, will select their war camp’s starting location on the Battle Map. As typical, their war camp must be 7 or more spaces from another player’s war camp, and 2 or more spaces from a settlement. In the rare case that war camps cannot be placed onto the Battle Map, the player can ignore these restrictions. Once all restarting and newly joining players have finished their warlord selection and war camp placement, the game round can start as normal. By having players restart, or new players dynamically join a game session midway through, the elimination victory condition will no longer be possible.
In games with 4 or more players, the optional diplomacy rule can be applied. This rule allows players to exchange any amount of their currently held gold to each other. This negotiated exchange of gold occurs once, at the end of each game round. When the CTI moves onto the Concede slot, in addition to the concede check, players can give their currently held gold to any other player(s) of their choice. Unlike with Concede, the exchange of gold occurs in a player order based on those with the most currently held gold making their exchanges first. After negotiations are complete, the normal concede check is handled before the CTI moves onto the next slot. By using diplomacy players are encouraged to make lucrative deals amidst play. However, sly players may promise payment for an immediate advantage, only to then cancel their payment of gold when Concede occurs. Diplomatic negotiations are prone to broken promises, strengthening bonds with allies, and other strategic subversions.
