Small Worlds rules v1

Small Worlds. (rules in text form is a work in progress)

video tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cw44w094g0

---Basics:---

Octagonal tokens with numbers [1,3,5,10] keep track of victory points "VP".
Each player starts with 5 VP and each players VP are kept secret like a secret hand of cards.
VP-token may be openly exchanged with the VP-bank if necessary.
The games board has a turn counter. at the end of the last turn the player with the most VP wins.

Tribes have unique abilities set by their race&ability combinations that are different for each game.

Each player always has 1 active tribe that may retreat
during other players turn
and attack/expand during its players turn.
Each player may have multiple tribes in "decline" that no longer attack or expand.
Each player controls 1 active tribe and many "declining" tribes.
At the end of a players turn he gains victory points "VP" for each tile that any of his tribes occupies.
Active tribes have special abilities. Tribes with better abilities have smaller populations == less "race tokens".

-----Setup:-------

video setup and demo run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck9PkTRvGWY

Player count sets what board you play on.
More players require more spaces for all their tribes.
Boards with more players have less turns per player.

A game lasts for as many turns as turn counters on the board.
"Crown/king token" == turn counter.
A copy of it may be used to track who's players turn it is.

Each tribe has its unit-token pile placed next to the board
to be drawn from.

One "lost tribe" tribe-token is placed on each tile with a stone-square. Lost tribe tokens are an npc-tribe in "decline".

One "mountain-token" is placed on each Space that has a round-mountain symbol on it.

Special tokens for special races/abilities are placed next to the board.
They only become relevant if a tribe for it comes into play.

Ability-tokens are shuffled up in 1 face-up-pile.
Race-tokens are shuffled in 1 face-up-pile to their right.

Draw 5 ability token and 5 race token to randomly/blindly to generate 5 more visible ability&race combinations == 5 tribes.
The tribes must be placed in clear positions "1st, 2nd 3rd..." this is the "tribe queue".
the open piles of ability/race tokens IS a 6th queued tribe that can be chosen by a player.

---a players turn---

At (the start of a players turn) that player can either "decline" OR "expand" (this is a players choice !).
- if (a player has active tribe race tokens on the board)
   Expand:  goto "a.x)" (this may not be a players first turn)

- Decline: goto "a.y)" (this is a players first turn, and it may be any turn of any player)


a.y) Decline:
- if (you have one tribe that is already in decline) remove all race-token of the tribe that is already in decline.
  (each player may only have 1 tribe in decline and one active tribe (except for the "spirit"-ability))
- If (you have an active tribe) you flip over the ability and race token of your active race, indicating that the race is in "decline"
  a race in decline loses all its special abilities and may no longer "b) expand" or attack.
- If (you have an active tribe) for (each Space that is occupied by any of your tribes) remove all race tokens, leaving only 1 race token per space.
  flip all your race tokens to the "declined side", indicating that these tokens can no longer expand/attack.
- goto "a.z) chose a tribe from the "tribe queue":" ... You chose a new tribe and expand it from the border...

a.z) Chose a race from the "tribe queue":
- Chose one of the 6 races in the "race queue" may cost you your own VP as an investment:
  choosing the 1st tribe costs 0.
  You may chose to "bypass" the 1st tribe and chose a later one, by putting one of your 1 VP on the 1st tribe.
  You may chose to "bypass" the 2nd tribe and chose a later one, by putting one of your 1 VP on the 2nd tribe.
  You may chose to "bypass" the 3rd tribe and chose a later one, by putting one of your 1 VP on the 3rd tribe.
  You may chose to "bypass" the 4th tribe and chose a later one, by putting one of your 1 VP on the 4th tribe.
  You may chose to "bypass" the 5th tribe and chose the last one, by putting one of your 1 VP on the 5th tribe.
  If (you somehow lack the VP to bypass a tribe) you can not bypass that tribe and must pick it.
- Take the tribe infront of you and gain all "VP" that may have been placed on it previously.

- queuing the "tribe queue"
  if (the 1st spot in the queue is free) move the 2nd spot to the 1st spot. This frees the 2nd spot.
  if (the 2nd spot in the queue is free) move the 3nd spot to the 2rd spot. This frees the 3rd spot.
  if (the 3nd spot in the queue is free) move the 4nd spot to the 3rd spot. This frees the 4th spot.
  if (the 4nd spot in the queue is free) move the 5nd spot to the 4rd spot. This frees the 5th spot.
  if (the 5nd spot in the queue is free) move the 6nd spot to the 5th spot. ...
  no matter what, the 6th spot will now show a new tribe that added to the end of the "tribe queue" with no VP on it.
  The VP on any tribe follow the tribe in the queue up to the 1st spot (as if they are the tribes treasury).

- The player who chose a new tribe takes as many race tokens on the hand as the two big numbers on the race AND ability combined, also adding any special ability tokens.
  This sets the initial population size, the players "active tribe" and its abilities.
- goto "a) start a new tribe on the board."

a) start a new tribe on the board.
- Chose 1 Space to start your tribe, expanding on to that Space:
-- Any Space that is connected to the border of the board
-- ...OR...
-- Any Space that is connected to water, if that water is connected to the border of the board.
- You expand on that space, following all the rules of "b) continue to expand". then goto: "b) expand"

a.x) continuing to expand: (you did not decline a tribe this turn)
- if (your race has token on the board) take ANY token of your race off the board into your hand. You may leave spaces empty =="abandon a space". You may not empty/"Abandon" ALL spaces.
- start with "b) continuing to expand"

b) expand:
if (you have 2 or more tokens left to be placed)
- expand to another Space that is connected to a Space that your tribe already expanded to.
  you must place 2 tokens on each Space you want to occupy.
  if (there is any other token on a space) you must place +1 token for each other token on the space. mountains count as such token.
if (you have 1 token AND you lack tokens to place them on one more space)
- you can roll the "reinforcement dice". the number of dots on your roll counts as additional token.
  you may only once roll the reinforcement die. it ends your expansion. goto "c) stopping your expansion"


c) stopping your expansion.
if (you have any number of tokens left on your hand) (including 0 tokens)
- for (each space) if (a Space has tokens from multiple races in it) the race that has less tokens on an space is "defeated".
  if (a race is defeated in any space) 1 token of the defeated race in that space is discarded/killed and
  all other token of the defeated race ONLY in that space are retreat/taken back to the controlling players hand.
- Take all tokens of your expanded race off the board, only leaving 1 token on each space.
  You may not leave any space empty == "abandon a space".
- "redeploy" as many tokens from your hand as you want on any token of the same race.
- if (any player has tokens in their hand) all players "redeploy" (retreaded tokens) in clockwise order for each player!
- continue to "d)"

d) Collect victory points:
- for each (space that ALL his races occupy) The player who just "expanded" gets +1 VP. This includes races in "decline".
- if (a race token gives additional VP)   , check the conditions for additional VP. (explained when it shows up)
- if (an ability token gives additional VP), check the conditions for additional VP. (explained when it shows up)