For Whom The Web Rocks
Torres - Rules
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For Whom The Web Rocks
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Torres is © 1999 by Ravensburger / Rio Grande Games.
These rules appear courtesy of Jay Tummelson and Rio Grande Games.
A
strategy game of castle building and knights for 2 - 4 players aged 12 and up.
A series of devastating tornadoes, unleashed by enemy mages in the recent war has left all the king's castles in ruin. Only the foundations remain of these once magnificent monuments. The war not only robbed the king of his castles, but also of his youth. The now old king must choose a successor from among his sons. He has charged them with rebuilding his castles and promised the throne to the one who can rebuild the tallest and largest castles.
Each prince has 6 knights to supervise the building. Tired of war, the king requires that the building be done in peace and a spirit of co-operation. Thus, the princes may not attack each other or the castles being built. Two or more princes may work together on a castle with their knights competing to control the highest towers of the castle. The king will spend each year in a castle and will reward knights guarding him accordingly.
Once each year, the king will tour the castles, to judge the progress of each son. After the third tour, he will choose his successor and prepare for death.
1 game board, 92 tower blocks, 24 knights, 4 scoring markers, 1 king
40 ACTION cards
4 CODEX cards (action summary cards)
3 PHASE cards (describe the phases and scoring)
8 MASTER cards (to be used in the master version)
The board has a scoring track circling the outer edge and an 8 x 8 area for castle building. The starting locations for the 8 castles are marked within the castle building area.
The players earn points at the end of each of the three years for each castle where they are represented by a knight. The score is the product of the surface area of the castle and the level where the knight stands. The player who collect the most points over the three years is the winner.
It is important that all players understand how the levels are counted. The level of a knight is the height above the board of the tower where the knight is standing.
Torres is played over three years or phases. At the end of each phase the players' positions are scored.
The first phase lasts for four rounds. The second and third phases last for three rounds each (except with two players when all three phases are four rounds each). Each player takes one turn in clockwise order in each round.
Before each phase, the players take tower blocks from the common supply. The number to be taken is printed on the PHASES card. The players stack the tower blocks as shown on the PHASES card. These blocks are the players' personal supplies for this phase.
Example with four players:
The youngest player starts and play follows clockwise around the table.
On a player's turn, he has 5 action points (AP) top spend in any order on the following actions, which are also summarised on the CODEX cards.
Add a knight (2 AP per knight)
Each new knight is placed on an empty space (on the board or on a tower block) adjacent to a knight of the same colour already on the board. When a new knight is placed, the following rules apply:
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Move a knight (1 AP per space)
A player may move as many knights as many spaces on a turn as he has APs. Unless altered by playing one of the special action cards, the rules for moving a knight are:
Note: The tower blocks have doors on all four sides. The knights may use these doors to travel through the castles! This means that a knight can enter a castle through any door and come out from any other door of this castle. This costs only 1 AP. When moving through a castle, a knight cannot go up levels, but may descend as far as he chooses (unless, of course, a special action allows different movement). In this way a knight may pass through as many castles in a turn as the player spends APs.
Place a tower block (1 AP per block)
The stacks of tower blocks before a player indicate how many turns he has left in this year/phase. In a player's turn, he may only place the tower blocks from one of the stacks before him. He may, however, choose any of the stacks. A player may choose to build fewer blocks in a turn than were in the stack he chose. In this case, he may distribute the unused blocks on any other stacks in his supply with only the restriction that no stack may ever be taller than three blocks. A player may never add more than three tower blocks in a turn.
If the player has more unused blocks than will fit on his remaining stacks, the extra blocks are returned to the common supply. The extra blocks may not be used to create new stacks. If a player has blocks remaining at the end of the phase, they are returned to the common supply.
Except when special action cards allow otherwise, the following rules apply to the placing of tower blocks:
| In the example to the right, the black castle has a surface area of 5 spaces, but cannot grow larger in surface area and is limited to 5 levels. |  |
Acquire action cards (1 AP per card)
A player may acquire up to two action cards per turn. A card may not be used in the same turn it is acquired. The cards may be held until played.
Play 1 action card (0 AP)
A player may play at most one action card each turn. A player may not play an action card on the same turn it is acquired. A player may play an action card at any time during his turn by placing it face up on the table and performing the action described. He then returns the card to the box, removing it from the game.
See the complete description of all action cards later in these rules for more information.
Move along the scoring track (1 AP per space)
A player may spend 1 AP to move his scoring marker forward on the scoring track one space. APs are usually used for scoring when there is nothing else the player wants to do.
Only one scoring marker is allowed per space on the scoring track. If a marker would stop on a space that is already occupied, it is moved to the next empty space on the track. Thus, a player might use this action to gain several points if his marker were immediately behind another marker on the scoring track.
The castle positions
At the end of each year/phase, the player's score their positions. A player receives points for each castle where he has one or more knights, but only scores once for each castle regardless of the number of knights he has there. However, knights of different colours (belonging to different players) on a castle will score. The players receive points for each castle equal to the product of the number of spaces in the surface area of the castle and the level of their highest knight.
Example: Anna's highest knight stands on level 3 and the castle has a surface area of 5 spaces. Thus, she earns 3 x 5 = 15 points for this castle and moves her scoring marker forward 15 spaces on the scoring track. She would earn no additional points if she had a knight on level 2.
When a castle has knights of different colours, each player scores points for their knight. Other players' knights have no affect on each other.
The players are scored in clockwise order starting with the starting player. If a player's marker would be on the same space as another's after scoring all his castles, he should move his marker to the next empty space on the scoring track. Thus, there will be no ties.
The king's bonus
After all players have scored their castle positions (including those in the king's castle), the king's bonus is scored. Each player who has a knight in the king's castle will receive the king's bonus if the player has a knight on the appropriate level as shown below:
When scoring after the first phase:
5 bonus points if the player has a knight on level 1 of the king's castle.
When scoring after the second phase:
10 bonus points if the player has a knight on level 2 of the king's castle.
When scoring after the third phase:
15 bonus points if the player has a knight on level 3 of the king's castle.
Several players may earn the king's bonus by having their knights in the king's castle on the appropriate level. If a player has a knight in the king's castle on the appropriate level, the player scores both the king's bonus and the castle position score. If a player has a knight in the king's castle that is not on the appropriate level, the player will only receive the castle position score.
If a player has two knights in the king's castle on the appropriate level, he does not score the king's bonus twice. A player might have one knight on the appropriate level to receive the king's bonus and another at a higher level for the castle position score (example F). If neither knight is on the appropriate level, the player only receives the castle position score (example E).
| (Example E): At the end of the first phase, the player has two knights in the king's castle. Unfortunately, neither are on level 1 so the player only scores the castle position of 4 x 4 =16. Had this been the second phase, the player would have also scored the king's bonus of 10 points for a total of 26. |  |
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(Example F): At the end of the first phase, the player has two knights in the king's castle, one on level 1 so it scores the king's bonus of 5. The other is on level two and scores it position as 4 x 2 = 8. Thus, the player receives 13 points for the king's castle after the first phase. |
The new phase begins after all players have scored their castle positions and received their king's bonus, if applicable. The players take tower blocks from the common supply as indicated on the PHASES card.
The player who has the lowest score may now move the king. The player may place the king on any empty space of any castle on any level he chooses. The player need not move the king. If there is no empty space for the king, the player does not move it. Play then continues with the player who was given the opportunity to move the king.
The game ends after the scoring following the third phase. The player with the most points is the winner.
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© Keith Thomasson June 20th 2002 |
