DEFENSE
CANTABORIA – Legacy of Ayathgaron
Game of the fabled western continent of Cantabria!
Adapted by Stephen J Wells © 2010, from “Borderlands” a Future Pastimes Creation © 1982, Eon Products, Inc.
In CANTABORIA – Legacy of Ayathgaron, play begins with tribes occupying an isolated continent – the fabled land mass far to the west of the more familiar lands of Cantabria, Griffildi, Khalkidia and Municipia. The tribes struggle to forge nations in a land ravaged by terrible plagues and successive wars, infested with undead hordes and subject to despotic, decadent remnants of once-great nations. They harvest timber; raise horses; create magic, mine iron and gold; and try to live in peace. As play progresses the tribes trade resources to each other and develop boats, cities, and weapons. Poorly defended borders attract raids by ambitious neighbors. Diplomatic maneuvers and threats may hold off aggression for awhile, but only strategic development and strong defenses will assure safety. The first player(s) whose tribe occupies 3 cities will found a civilization and win the game.
CANTABORIA is based on BORDERLANDS: a game of trade, technological development, territorial conquest, and diplomacy in the barbaric future.
EQUIPMENT
MAP OF CANTABORIA: showing 36 territories, bounded by rivers, mountains and/or political borders (grey).
PLAYER TOKENS: Eight different colours of player token each showing a Warrior and a number 1. Twenty tokens to a set.
RESOURCE PRODUCTION SITES: 16 Round discs: 4 Forests, 3 Horse breeding grounds, 3 Magical universities, 3 Iron mines, 3 Gold mines.
RESOURCE TOKENS: 20 each for Timber, Horses, Magic, Iron, and Gold.
DEVELOPMENT TOKENS: 12 Riverboats, 20 Weapons, 12 Cities.
OBJECT
THE WIN: The object of BORDERLANDS is to be the first player(s) to occupy 3 cities at the end of the attack Phases. Sometimes a player or players will have more than 3 cities at the end of the Attack Phase. In this case the player or players with the most cities win(s).
OPTIONAL WIN: For a longer game, players may agree at the start of the game to forbid joint wins. In this case play continues until one player has 3 or more cities and has more cities than any other player at the end of the Attack Phases.
SETUP
MAP: The map is set out. (Reverse the creases to help the map lie flat).
RESOURCE PRODUCTION SITES: The round Resource Production Sites are shuffled and placed face-down to one side.
RESOURCE PLACEMENT: In turn, players now randomly place the resource productions sites face down on the map, one per territory. When all sites have been placed, they are turned over to reveal which resources will be produced in which territories. Because there are more territories than resource sites, many of the territories will not contain sites and will not produce resources during the game.
PLAYER PLACEMENT: Each player now selects 20 Warrior tokens of the same color, and rolls the die to determine who places first. High roll places first. Players now place their Warrior tokens into any territory which is not already occupied by a token as follows: the first player places one Warrior token anywhere, then the player to the right places one token, etc. continuing around the map until all territories are filled. Warrior tokens are always placed in the left hand side of the rectangle which is found in each territory. At the end of player placement, every territory on the map will have one Warrior token in it. Important: The player who places last will be the first "lead player." Unplaced Warrior tokens are kept to one side off the map as a reserve.
TOKEN SEPARATION: The various types of resource tokens should be separated and set to one side for easy access.
CYCLE
1 Development
2 Production
3 Trade
4 Shipment
5 Attack
BORDERLANDS is played in Cycles, with one player remaining LEAD PLAYER for an entire Cycle. Each Cycle is made up of 5 PHASES: Development, Production, Trade, Shipment, and Attack. The Development and Attack Phases always take place. Production, Trade, and Shipment are determined by a roll of the die.
If you are Lead Player, you will be the first to play in each Phase, and then the player to your left plays in that Phases and so on until each player has had a chance to play. Then the next Phases begins. After a complete Cycle of 5 Phases is over the player to your left becomes the new Lead Player and a new Cycle of Development, Production, Trade, Shipment, and Attack Phases begins.
As Lead Player, you keep the die in front of you to show you are the Lead Player. The first Lead Player is the player who placed last during the Set Up.
Note: On the first Cycle, players have not yet received resource tokens, so the Development Phase is skipped.
By combining various types of resource tokens (gold, timber, iron and magic) you may develop cities, weapons or riverboats. To develop one of these, the necessary resource tokens must be located together in one territory. For each development you make, simply remove the appropriate resource tokens from your territory and replace them with the development token. The development token is placed in the same territory from which the resource tokens were taken.
Determination: No die is rolled. Development always takes place. The Lead Player goes first, making any chosen developments, followed by the player to the left and so on.
Combinations: The following resource tokens can be combined into the corresponding development tokens.
1 Iron + 1 Magic develop into 1 Weapon.
2 Gold develop into 1 Weapon.
1 Timber + 1 Magic + 1 Iron + 1 Gold develop into 1 City.
4 Gold develop into 1 City.
2 Timber develop into 1 Riverboat DURING THE FIRST PRODUCTION PHASE IN WHICH RIVERBOATS ARE BUILT. Thereafter, 3 Timber develop into 1 Riverboat.
Note: Development is irreversible. A player may not “cash in" development tokens for resource tokens.
Placement: Always place the development tokens in the territory from which its resource tokens were taken.
Weapon: Place a weapon in the printed rectangle to the right of the Warrior and horse (if any). One weapon per territory.
City: Place the City directly below the printed rectangle. One city per territory.
Boat: A Boat is placed on the section of the river which borders the territory in which the boat was developed. A boat can not be developed in a territory which has no river or lake border. A boat developed in a territory bordered by a Lake may be placed in the lake on the shore of the developing territory instead of a bordering river. Place one of your reserve Warrior tokens on the Boat to indicate ownership.
After all players have developed any combinations they wish, play passes to the Production Phase.
Production is the spontaneous appearance of the appropriate types of resources in the territories containing Resource Production Sites.
Determination: The lead player rolls the die to determine if resources are produced during this Cycle.
If a 1, 2, 3 or 4 is rolled, then there is production.
If a 5 is rolled, there is NO production and play passes to Phase III TRADE.
If a 6 is rolled, players vote to determine whether or not there will be production (with the Lead Player voting again to break a tie, if necessary.).
Placement: If there is production, the Lead Player and then the other players, in turn to the left, place one resource token in each territory they control which has a Production Site in it. Thus, a Forest will receive one Timber token, a University one Magic, etc. Place the resource token next to the resource production site. Exception: Horses are placed in the rectangle to the right of the Warrior as long as there is no Horse already in the rectangle.
Limitations: Generally, if there is already a resource token in the territory of the proper type, NO NEW TOKEN IS PRODUCED. Exception: If a Horse already exists (See Horses 6.c.) in your Horse breeding ground territory, you may place the new Horse in any horseless territory that you occupy adjacent to the breeding ground territory, or in any horseless territory that you occupy which is connected to the breeding ground territory by a string of your territories, each adjacent to the next and each already containing a Horse. Thus, you develop a herd which automatically expands out from the breeding ground territory.
After every player has placed the appropriate resource tokens, Phase III begins.
Trade is the exchange of resource tokens between players who have at least one common border between them.
Note: The trade need not necessarily take place across that common border, but if 2 players do not have at least one common border, they can not trade at all.
Determination: The Lead Player rolls the die to determine if Trade will take place during this Cycle. 1: 4, yes; 5, no; 6 vote as described above. If there is no Trade, play passes to Phase IV SHIPMENT. Once Trade is determined, all players eligible to trade may do so simultaneously.
Rules of Trade: Trade is subject to these rules.
You may trade as many times as you wish and in whatever amounts and types of resource tokens you wish as long as at least one token is traded by you and at least one token is received by you, during a trade.
The tokens you trade may come from any territories that you occupy and the ones you receive may go into any territories that you occupy.
You do not have to trade if you don't want to.
When there is a conflict as to who will place the traded tokens first, the Lead Player does so, and then players to the left.
Trade Examples: 1 Timber for 1 Gold; 2 Magic for 1 Horse; 1 Gold for 1 Gold. Trading "like" tokens is one way of moving your resources to a better location.
After all players have made all the trades that they can agree on, Phase IV begins.
Shipment is the movement of resource tokens and/or weapons from one territory you occupy to another territory you occupy. Shipment may be made by foot, by horse, or by riverboat. In the rules for this Phases, the term "tokens" means any resource tokens and weapons.
Determination: The Lead Player rolls the die to determine if Shipment will take place during this Cycle. 1: 4, yes; 5, no; 6, vote as described above. If there is no shipment, play passes to Phase V ATTACK. The Lead Player ships first and then the player to the left, etc.
Rules of Shipment: Normally you may make one of the following shipments:
By Foot: You may move any number of tokens across a line or a river to an adjacent territory which you occupy.
By Horseback: You may move a horse from one territory you occupy to an adjacent territory you occupy, and then again to another of your territories adjacent to the second. During this move you may pick up and drop off any number of tokens anywhere along the route.
By Horse Chain: You may move any number of tokens along a chain of territories, picking up and dropping off tokens as you wish, as long as:
Each territory is occupied by you and has one of your horses in it.
Each territory is adjacent to the previous one.
By Boat: You may move a boat back and forth along a river past up to 8 border lines (counting on both sides of the river) picking up and dropping off your tokens as you wish in any of the territories which you occupy, or you may simply move your boat without shipping any extra tokens. b) You may not, however, move a boat between territories on the map where it is forbidden by superior force. (See boat passage rule 6.B.2.)
Number of Shipments: Normally, each player may make one shipment. That is, you may make one of the 4 types of shipments as listed above: either by Foot, or by Horse, or by Horse Chain, or by Riverboat.
Extra Shipment: At the beginning of the Shipment Phases for each 3 territories you have more than the number of territories the Lead Player started with, you have earned an extra shipment move of any type listed above. For example; in a four player game the lead player starts with 9 territories; so, if you manage to get 12 territories, you would earn an extra shipment. If you had 15 territories, you would have 2 extra shipments, and so on.
Limitations: If at the end of a shipment you have 2 horses or 2 weapons in one territory, one must be removed from the map. You may only have one Horse and one weapon in any territory.
After all players have made all of the shipments that they are allowed, play passes to Phase V.
You may successfully attack another player's territory if you occupy a territory adjacent to it (across line or river or reachable by riverboat) and can command a greater point value bearing on the attacked territory than the occupying player can command. Once point values are totaled, if you have more points than the defending player has bearing on the territory, you replace that player’s Warrior with one of your own from off the map. The defending player's Warrior is removed from the map.
Determination: The Attack Phases always takes place. No die is rolled. The Lead Player has first opportunity to attack, then the player to the left, etc.
Limitations: You are allowed one attack. If you are successful, you are allowed either one more attack or one shipment as defined in the shipment Phases regardless of whether or not shipment took place during this Cycle. After you have completed your attack(s)/shipment, play passes to the player on your left. If you can not or do not choose to attack, play passes to your left. NOTE: During the first Cycle, players may NOT opt for the second attack. They may make a shipment after a successful attack.
Point Values in a Territory: The points in a territory are always showing in the rectangle in that territory (or just below it for a city). Every territory always has at least one' point in it for the player's Warrior. The maximum number of points that a territory can have is 8: 1 for the Warrior, 1 for a Horse, 3 for a Weapon, and 3 for a City.
Point Values Bearing on a Territory
To decide how many points bear on a particular territory the following point values must be totaled:
OFFENSE
All of the points which you bring into the territory using the rules of shipment which apply to making an attack.
All points in adjacent territories and/or adjacent boats which are controlled by you or your allies.
One additional point for the Warrior which you bring in from off the map from your reserves to occupy the new territory.
DEFENSE
All of the points showing in the territory.
All points in adjacent territories and/or adjacent boats which are controlled by you or your allies.
In other words, when all of the above cases are totaled for their appropriate side (attacking or defending) then the side with the higher total wins the battle.
Point Values:
Warriors (Army) 1
Leader 1, Lord 2, Hero 3 (aka 'Weapons')
Horses (or other mount/animal) 1
Riverboat 1, Ship 2
Castle 1, Town 2, City 3
Attacking: To make a successful attack you must command a greater point value bearing on the territory than the defensive player who controls the territory you are attacking can command. When you can do so, you simply remove that player's Warrior from the territory and replace it with your own Warrior from off the map.
In attacking you may move a Horse, a Weapon, or both into the attacked territory if you can do so in one shipment move as described under the shipment Phases either by Foot, by Horse, or by Boat.
Note: You are not making a shipment, but rather are using the same guidelines for moving weapons, horses, and boats for your attack (except of course you do not yet occupy the territory you are moving into). You may not move non-point bearing tokens (gold, magic, iron, timber) in an attack. You may not make more than one such move on your attack.
For example, the simplest attack would be to replace your opponent's Warrior with your own from off the map, given that you had more points bearing on the defending territory than did the defending player.
A complex move would be to move a Horse and Weapon from two territories away through an adjacent territory that you control into the defending territory thus giving you 4 extra points bearing on the defending territory. Another complex move might be to bring a riverboat from a point up river down to a point adjacent to the defending territory, thus tipping the balance in your favor. You may not, however, bring a Horse inland from one territory and then bring your riverboat down as well, as you would then be making two moves.
After negotiations with any other parties occupying adjacent territories or boats (see H. Alliances), if you have the point advantage, you make your attack move, win the attack, and replace the defending player's Warrior with your own from off the map. If, after analyzing the situation, you don't have more points than the defensive player, you may look elsewhere for an attack. If you do not attack, play passes left.
Defending: If you are the attacked player, then all of your points both in the territory and adjacent to the territory count towards your defense. In addition, if any other players commit to your defense, all of their points in adjacent territories or boats count towards your defense. If the total of all your points is equal to that of the attacking player, no attack can be made and the attacking player must look elsewhere. NOTE: You may not move any tokens in defending your territory.
Alliances: If you occupy territories or boats adjacent to an attacked territory YOU MAY CHOOSE (invited or not) to lend your points to the attacker or the defender, or you may remain neutral. You may not move any tokens to help in an alliance. To ally, simply state that you are committing your forces on behalf of one player or the other. The alliance is for the current attack only.
Taking over an Attacked Territory: When you win an attack, you remove the defending player's Warrior and replace it with your own from off the map. All other tokens in the territory are now yours, including a Weapon, City, Horse or other resource tokens.
When all players have had an opportunity to make their attack moves, the CYCLE is over. The player to the left of the Lead Player becomes the new Lead Player and a new CYCLE begins with the DEVELOPMENT PHASE.
Cities
Production: Your territory which has both a city and a resource production site in it will produce either 2 magic, 2 iron, 2 gold or 2 timber depending on the site type. It will not, however, produce 2 Horses.
Also any of your territories which are adjacent to your territory with a city in it produce 2 each of the appropriate resource tokens, (again with the exception of Horses).
If two such resource tokens are already in the territory, none are produced.
If only one such token is in the territory, one more is produced.
Two cities adjacent to a resource site do not compound the effect. You only get 2 resource tokens.
Attack/Logistics Shipment
For each city you hold, you are entitled to a shipment before you make your first attack in each Cycle. This shipment takes place during the attack Phases and is not part of the shipment Phases although it is made under the rules of shipment. Note: You may make logistics shipment(s) only if followed by an attack.
Boats
River Boats as Territories: Boats are always considered territories for the purposes of adjacency, attack, and counting how many territories you occupy, but you may not build a city on a boat. You always put your Warrior token on the boat as soon as it is built. Boats must always be between just 2 territories on opposite sides of a river or bearing on one territory from a lake. The boat is treated like an island territory, located between 2 territories on opposite sides of the river. The boat is adjacent to both and bearing on both. But this does not prevent the two territories from being adjacent to each other as well. Several boats may line up single file between the same two territories each being adjacent to those two territories and to the boat immediately up: river and to the boat immediately down: river from itself. Boats may lie beside each other only while passing. If stopped by the "boat passage rule," the passing boat falls behind the boat it tried to pass.
Boat Passage Rule: A boat may pass between any two territories on the river as long as it can surpass the point values in these 2 territories. Whenever the player(s) controlling these 2 territories forbid passage, if the total points in the territories are greater than or equal to those on the boat--including the boat, the Warrior, possibly a Weapon, and possibly a Horse-- the boat may not continue navigating the river but must stop when it comes between these 2 territories.
If the two territories are occupied by different players, and you can secure assent from one, you may total your boat points plus the assenting player's territory points and compare this total to the forbidding player's total to determine if you may pass. If a second territory remains neutral, the test is simply the boat's points against the forbidding territory's points.
You may ask for passage before attempting your boat move, whether shipping or attacking. If you are refused you may attempt another move instead.
Horses
There are a number of points concerning the Horse tokens which have been covered in the rules. Below is a summary:
Production: Horses received during production are placed in the rectangle, not on the resource production site. If there is already a horse in the producing territory, you may place the horse in an adjacent territory which you occupy, and which does not contain a horse or you may place the horse in another territory which is connected to the producing territory by territories which you occupy and which each contain a horse. Thus you begin to build horse: chains. Adjacency to your city DOES NOT allow you to receive 2 horses.
Shipment: You may use horses to ship in two ways: Either by moving your horse up to two territories, picking up and dropping off tokens along the route or by shipping tokens along a chain of horses, that is, a group of your territories connected one to another by adjacency and each containing a horse. You may move your tokens along this horse chain picking up and dropping off tokens as you wish.
Attacks: When attacking you may move a horse into an attacked territory from two territories away as long as you occupy the territory you are passing through and your horse ends up in the attacked territory. You may carry a weapon with you. You may not attack by horse chain since the chain does not end in a territory occupied by your horse.
Prohibitions: If at the end of any move you have 2 horses in one territory, you must remove one from the map.
Tokens
Token Quantities: If you have all your Warrior tokens in use and need more, you may use a second set or other indicators. All other tokens however, can not be supplemented. In cases of conflict the lead player always receives tokens first and then to the left.
Weapon Restrictions: You may only have one weapon in a territory at the end of your move. If you have more than one weapon in a territory, you must remove one from the map.
Adjacency
Lakes: The lakes at the source of both branches of the river are not considered part of the river for purposes of adjacency: territories across the lake from each other are not adjacent to each other. A boat located in a lake must always be adjacent to one and only one territory on the shore. A territory may not forbid a boat· on the lake to pass by it or stop adjacent to it.
Adjacency: Any territories sharing a common border along a line or a portion of the river are adjacent. Two land territories which both border a lake but have no other common border, or which meet only at a point, or which have no common borders at all, are not adjacent.
A boat is adjacent to the two territories on either side of the river.
BORDERLANDS is an intensely strategic game calling for careful perception and planning. In addition, it is highly diplomatic. Negotiations, alliances, pacts, threats, etc. are crucial to both the fun and the skill of this game. You will develop your methods of playing, but here are some general comments for the beginner.
Locating Your Warriors: Good location is very important to your early success. It is of course important to occupy territories where resources will be produced. Production, trade, and shipment may well take place during the first Cycle and can enhance your position considerably. Horses are especially important early on as they will tip the balance your way in the first attacks. For the long term development, you will want to have resources of several different types so that you can combine them. If resources are close together, that makes your shipping much easier. Try to locate resources so that you can build a city that bears upon and increases the production of several kinds of resources. You also want to consider locating so you can defend your holdings. Because your territories will be able to defend each other, a compact position is much easier to defend than one spread out all over the map. In a large game people with central positions tend to be chipped away at by people pushing inward from the edges, so you may want to take a position in one comer of the map. Of course, the more isolated you are the less opportunity you have to trade as you may not be adjacent to some players. Finally, you will want to consider your position in the first play sequence. Are you the Lead Player and thus have the first attack? Or are you at the end of the line where you will have to bear several attacks before you can be aggressive? If you attack early, you can afford to be spread out more, figuring that you can consolidate your position by taking over a territory from an opponent. If you attack late, you need to pay special attention to placing so that you can defend your territories by controlling adjacent territories.
Trading: Trading is generally advantageous, because it quickly enhances your position. But you do not want to provide an immediate opponent with the weapons components or horse which will soon be used against you. Trade also helps you move your resources out of the territories which produce them so that you can produce more next turn, and helps you move your resources to where you want them rather than having to move them by several slow shipments. It is important to be able to trade with all other players, so you should keep a close eye on your adjacency situation so that no trading partner is cut off from you, unless you fear attack and prefer buffer zones.
Shipping: One of the keys to the game is to maximize your shipping. If you bring your resources together quickly, free up resource sites for more production, and bring fighting forces to key spots for defense and possible attacks, you have mastered much of the strategy necessary for a win. The horse: chain move enables a great deal of shipping activity on one move. You should use it if you have horses available. Boats are perhaps the most useful of all for shipping. They can move a great deal of material back and forth for you if you are fortunate enough to be located along the river. As you acquire more territory, you can get a second, and even a third shipment move. These are quite valuable and will make you so powerful that other players would be wise to cut your holding down so that you don't qualify for the extra shipment.
Attacking: You should almost always attack if you can. By doing so you expand your holdings, bolster your defenses, possibly acquire new resources, and earn a valuable shipment (or another attack). Since the attack possibilities are visible to .all, there should be no surprise element. However, the map is varied enough and the shipping into: an: attack moves are complex enough so that many people will not see a weak spot in their defenses until it is too late. Keeping a close eye on the map and every change that is made on it will help you guard against this yourself and let you spring unsuspected upon an opponent's treasure trove or city and take it as your own. Since the support of others is often necessary for a successful attack, diplomacy is vital. Seeing what other players need, and what they fear, and offering ways to help them in return for their help will make you a power to be reckoned with. You should be careful in an attack not to bring too much of your strength into a position that you can't defend. It may be wise, after an attack in which you had to bring a lot of force to bear, to ship some of it back so that it still bears on the territory you just took, but is not left sitting there in a vulnerable position.
Developing: Unless you develop your resources you will be left far behind your opponents. The usual question is "guns or butter," whether to immediately make a weapon or whether to ship in enough resources to make a city in another turn or two. A weapon is of equal strength in a fight, is mobile; and because production, trade and shipping do not always happen, you may have to wait quite a while for your city. Nevertheless, it is usually advisable to wait unless your resources are immediately vulnerable. There is some moral odor attached to the player who makes the first weapon, unless the player is sorely besieged. In addition, the city's ability to increase your production and allow logistics shipments are of great use as the game continues. Most importantly, cities are the path to the win so you are that much closer to your ultimate goal.
Many players don't ever seem to have enough time to make boats, but they are highly useful, and you ought to consider them carefully. If your territories lie along a river, or if a weaker player's territories do, a boat may well be the best early goal. With a boat you can quickly aggregate many resources, and make sudden, brilliant raids deep into the territory of another player's accumulated wealth. This capacity will generate both fear and respect, which good diplomacy can parlay into maximum gains for you.
General Points: BORDERLANDS is a game of cunning diplomacy, clever administration, and naked aggression. Good will is usually helpful, but ultimately you will probably have to stab someone in the back. Recognize this and play it in that spirit. While double or triple (or even quadruple) wins are possible, generally someone will emerge as the solo winner. Carefully watch your opponents' positions, and be prepared to point out how joint action is necessary to counterbalance a strong player. When you are an early player in the Cycle, secure the allegiance of others in common goals and deflect attention from yourself; when you're a late player, take advantage of opportunities for surprise moves which lock in advantages for you which can't then be taken away. Remember, someone is going to found a civilization. It might as well be you.
Two-Player Game: The 2-player game is excellent. While trade and diplomacy are of course minimal, the head-on-head struggle maximizes other Chess-like aspects of play. Timing is probably the most important. In a 2-player game go for a concentrated position which will allow you to ship and develop resources faster than your opponent. Without trade or joint attacks to worry about, the player with the ability to build power quickly has the advantage. In addition, careful attention to lead and second player status is important. As second player you have two attacks, and then two more next turn as lead player before your opponent can respond. Use those four attacks to decimate your opponent's position. But, when the tables turn, be sure to pay close attention to your defenses to prevent your opponent from adopting the same strategy. It is even harder to find time to build boats in the 2-player game, but if you can do so, they are highly effective in helping you speed shipping and development. As offensive pieces, boats are highly vulnerable with 2 players, but if adequately defended and used during your prolonged attack Phases, they will be well worth having. Above all, go for maximum advantage whenever you can, and never let up thereafter.
CREDITS:
Design & Development: Jack Kittredge, Peter Olotka, Bill Eberle
Cover Art: Dean Morrissey
All Other Art: Linda Bound
