The Combat Phase

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Combat is the sixth of the seven phases of each round. It does not always happen: there is combat only where Movement left generals of different players on the same hex. If you have no pending encounters, the phase passes straight through.

Attacker and defender

On every contested hex the roles are already settled before the phase begins: whoever arrived first defends, and whoever arrived later is the attacker. The same holds after a battle — the winner of a hex becomes its defender in later battles, for as long as they stay there.

These roles matter because the defence bonus (wall or city) belongs to the original defender, and because only the original attacker may play Siege Weapons.

Stage 1 — Declare

Each side opens the Combat window and decides whether to attack. Nobody is forced to fight: if neither side declares, no battle happens on that hex at all, and the encounter simply expires at the end of the round.

The window describes the situation you are in:

• you are besieged — you can attack to try to break out, or stay put and let the siege continue;
• you are besieging — you can press the attack, or keep the siege going (and let the wall melt one more round);
• you ended up on the same hex — with no siege and no declared attack, you may attack or simply ignore your neighbour;
• you are being attacked — there is no way out: all that is left is choosing how many troops to answer with.

Whoever declares first becomes the aggressor of that battle.

Stage 2 — Respond

Once one side declares, the other must respond, choosing how many troops to commit — even if their turn in the phase has already passed. They get an extra turn just for that, and nobody’s turn ends while a declared battle is still unanswered.

Committing troops — what you commit, you lose

Each general commits up to the number of troops they command, and the settlement’s owner may also commit garrison troops.

Here is the rule that costs the most to whoever ignores it: committed troops are lost either way — whether you win or lose the battle. Committing is sacrificing. The winner keeps the hex, but goes home without the troops they threw into the fight.

The losing side loses more still: the hex’s whole garrison is wiped to zero and every one of their generals there becomes a captive of the winner (losing, along the way, every item they carried).

Effective strength

The winner is decided by comparing the two sides’ effective strength:

Attacker = strength of the committed generals (+ item bonuses) + committed troops + Mercenaries (+4)

Defender = the same + the defence bonus + the **Ark** (+3) + Mercenaries (+4)

The defence bonus comes from the wall or the city and melts with each siege round:

That bonus is cancelled in three situations: when the attacker plays Siege Weapons, when they entered the settlement with the Secret Passage, and — easy to forget — when the defender is the one who declares the battle. Counter-attacking means stepping out from behind the walls, and the bonus does not apply.

The Ark’s bonus is the exception: nothing cancels it.

And one rule that decides close fights: the attacker must be strictly greater. Equal strength means the defender wins.

Cards playable during a battle

A general carrying the Squire survives an Ambush or an Assassin: the squire dies in their place.

Stage 3 — Conquer or loot

If the battle was over a settlement and the attacker won, they are given a choice — an extra turn just for it:

• Conquer — take ownership of the settlement with its walls and developments intact. If it was a judge’s city, the **title comes with it**.
• Loot and Slave — destroy the settlement and carry off its riches: 20 coins for a village, 30 for a city, plus 6 per development. The settlement is razed and leaves the game for good — and the choice adds +3 Wrath of God.

Looting pays more immediately, but destroys a settlement that would have counted toward a Judge title — for the other players too. Razing too much shortens the game for everyone.

Canaanite invaders

Battles against the Wrath of God invaders follow their own rules: the Canaanites never take or become captives. A defeated invader pair dies, and every general defeated by invaders is executed. When the invaders win, the settlement is always razed — no choice, no coins, no wrath.

Reviewing and following up

A battle already committed stays available in the Combat window, marked ✓ Locked in and showing, read-only, the troops committed and the cards played.

Once the phase ends, both sides of each battle get a notification with the Battle Report: each side’s strength line by line, the cards used, the generals killed or captured, and the settlement’s fate.