Zone Control Rules
Starting Out:
The game starts out with 4 players and each player starts out with 32 pieces. The 32 starting pieces are placed on the colored squares in each starting zone. The players role the die to determine who begins first. The largest number begins and the order proceeds clockwise from that player. The player begins by rolling each die once. The player can move any amount of pieces totaling up to the number he or she rolled. A player is allowed to move horizontally and vertically but cannot move diagonally. A player cannot jump or destroy other pieces directly; only when a zone is being challenged does this happen.
Occupying Zones:
The object of the game is to control the most zones by the time the clock, which is set for 45 minutes, runs out. To control a zone, a player can move any number of his pieces into an unoccupied zone and that zone is automatically under their control. A player can move his or her pieces inside an unoccupied zone at any point. Once in that zone, the player can move those pieces about the various squares inside the zone or can leave the zone if he or she wishes.
*Middle Zone Bonus: The middle zone of the zone control board is worth 2 zones in determining the winner.
Overthrowing Zones and Challenges:
Once a player has taken control of a zone, the other players can attempt to overthrow that player by moving any number of their pieces into any of the 14 squares surrounding the zone. The attacking player can initiate a challenge whenever they are ready too. This allows the attacking player to build an attack rather being forced to attack with a small amount of pieces. The challenge begins when the defending player takes his or her pieces inside the zone and rolls them all at once. This player adds up the total numbers he rolled and the challenging player proceeds to roll his pieces stationed in the area surrounding the zone. The challenging player then counts his total numbers he rolled. If the challenging player's total number is larger than the occupying player, then the challenging player wins the zone, the occupying players pieces are sent back to the starting grid, and moves into the zone. When moving into a zone, the winning player can place his or her pieces anywhere inside the zone that they choose. However, if the occupying player wins and successfully defends his zone, then the challenging player's pieces are moved back to their starting grid.
Attacking Rules:
Although attacking is very straight forward, there are a few guidelines to abide by during an attack:
* As already stated, the attacking player, not the defending player, decides when to initiate the challenge.
* The defending zone is limited to only the 9 square zone. Any pieces in the area surrounding the zone are not allowed to be involved in defense of the zone.
* Losing Pieces are sent back to the starting grid in the farthest possible square from the playing grid.
* The attacker cannot have an advantage greater than two pieces in a challenge.
* If the attackers advantage is greater than two he will only roll two more die than the defender has and this will make the challenge unfair and lopsided.
* In accordance with the previous rule, a player can only challenge with 11 or less pieces. Because the maximum amount of pieces a player can have stationed in a zone is 9, the attacking player cannot have more than a 2 piece advantage. As a result, the maximum number of attacking pieces is 11.
Determining the Winner:
Once the time runs out, each player counts how many zones they occupy. The player occupying the most zones when the time runs out wins the game. If two or more players both occupy the same amount of zones then the player with the most game pieces in their controlled zones wins. If in the end both players are still tied each player will initiate one final challenge and each player will roll 6 dice, total their roll number and whoever has more is the winner.
