The Codex of Conquest

The World

Four great factions have long contested dominion over six untamed territories. No single realm holds the power to simply crush its rivals; supremacy must be earned through cunning expansion, shrewd investment in the realm's stock markets, and the ruthless elimination of any outpost that dares stand in the way.

Players take the role of ambitious lords: commanding their faction's forces across the board, raising the value of their holdings, and trading stakes in rival powers. Sometimes the greatest fortune comes not from conquest, but from knowing when to invest.

The Four Factions

The Board

The realm is divided into six territories, numbered 1 through 6. Each territory contains a grid of individual plots where pieces are placed. Territories share borders, and a faction's connected group of pieces can span across territory lines. Those cross-border connections count when determining group sizes and conquest outcomes.

Starting the Game

A game supports 2 to 6 players. Before the first turn begins:

• Each player chooses one free share of any faction. This share costs nothing and counts toward your final score.
• The first player to act is chosen at random.

Your Turn

On your turn, proceed through these steps:

1. Trade (optional): Buy or sell shares before you roll.
2. Roll the Dice: Two dice determine your action for this turn.
   • A number die (1-6) reveals which territory you must place in.
   • A colour die reveals which faction's piece you place. The die has six faces: one for each of the four factions plus two Joker faces.
3. Joker: If the colour die shows a Joker, you may freely choose any faction's piece to place in the rolled territory.
4. Place Your Piece: Place the piece on the rolled territory, following the placement rules below. If no valid placement exists for your roll, this step is automatically skipped.
5. Trade (optional): Buy or sell shares after placing. You may buy a maximum of 5 shares in total across your entire turn.
6. End Turn: Confirm your turn to pass play to the next lord.

Placement & Conquest

Pieces of the same faction that touch each other (horizontally or vertically, across territory borders) form a connected group. Group size is the number of pieces in that group.

In other words: you can only push into enemy territory when your group will be larger than theirs.

Conquest

When you place a piece such that your group is larger than adjacent enemy groups, those smaller enemy groups are removed from the board. Their pieces leave play permanently and do not return to supply.

Stock Price & Group Size

A faction's stock price equals its largest connected group size × 1,000.

• When you place a piece that grows the largest group of a faction, its price rises. You immediately receive the new stock price as income, plus a dividend equal to the price increase for every share of that faction you hold. All other shareholders also receive that per-share dividend.
• When the largest group of a faction is destroyed by conquest, the price drops to reflect the new largest group. All shareholders except the conquering player lose wealth equal to the price drop per share they hold.
• A faction is not listed on the market until at least one piece of that faction exists on the board. Unlisted stocks cannot be bought.

The Stock Market

Trading shares is as important as placing pieces. During your turn you may:

• Buy one share of any listed faction at its current market price. Up to 5 purchases are allowed per turn in total.
• Sell one share of any faction at half the current market price. There is no limit on how many shares you may sell in a turn.

You may hold as many shares as you can afford. Shares have no expiry.

Bankruptcy & Elimination

A price drop can push your balance below zero. When that happens:

• You must perform a forced sell: sell one share (at half price) until your balance is no longer negative. You choose which share to sell each time.
• If your balance remains negative and you have no remaining shares that can be sold, you are eliminated. Your pieces remain on the board, but you take no further turns.

Note: The conquering player who triggered the price drop is never affected by that drop themselves.

Winning the Game

The game ends immediately when either condition is met:

• Any faction's stock value reaches 15,000, meaning a connected group of 15 pieces of that faction exists on the board.
• Any faction exhausts its supply of 20 pieces. Once 20 pieces of a single faction have been placed over the course of the game (including pieces later removed by conquest), that faction is spent and the game ends.

The player with the highest total wealth wins. Your total is your cash plus the value of all shares you hold. Each share is worth the current stock price of its faction.

All four factions count toward the final tally, not only the one that triggered the end.