Shadowlord

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Shadowlord is a board game published by Parker Brothers. In it, two to four players, each representing a "master" of one of the four Greek elements (earth, fire, wind, and water) battle each other, and a non-player character called the Shadowlord, to become master of the universe.^[1]

1 Rules

[edit] Rules

[edit] Object of the game

The object is to destroy the armies of your opponents, and of the shadows, before the timer runs out and the shadowlord wins and the game is over.

[edit] Objects

Below is a list of objects required to play the game and their purpose.

Power Rings: These are the rings that the discs that are in play go in.
Character discs: These specify the name and power level of the characters.
Spaceships: These are required to move, and also to lay claim to galaxies you are not currently in.
Power cards: These are used in battle, explained later.
Battlefield: A big blue board where battles (explained later) are held.
Universe: The board that the game is played on. Each space is a galaxy, and the corner galaxies are "building stations" (explained later).
Power Stone: An object put into a spaceship slot on the power ring that allows an extra power card to be drawn in battle (explained later). Initially owned by the shadowlord, but can be taken from him if he is defeated in battle.

[edit] classes

Below is a list of the classes and their description.

Masters: Power level: 10. These are the most powerful and important characters in the game. If a master is killed, that player is out of the game.
Warrior: Power level: 6. These are the second most powerful, and are the most useful as decoys in battle.
Merchant: Power level: 3. Merchants are capable of doing battle, but are most useful for building spaceships.
Diplomat: Power level: 0. A diplomat never fights, however, they are the only characters who can overturn character discs.
Shadows: Power levels: 3-10. Shadows are the antagonists of the game.

[edit] Initial board setup

The Shadowlord is placed in a black power ring, given one of the power stones and five black spaceships, and placed in the center galaxy (the one with the castle in it). The minor shadows are placed circling the Shadowlord and are given one black spaceship each. A protagonist character disc is placed face down in each of the other galaxies except the home planets of the masters. Each player chooses a master and is given one warrior, one diplomat, and three spaceships with which they can distribute to the three members of the force any way they choose. The three allies for each player are placed on the master's home planet.

[edit] Gameplay

Players roll the die to see who goes first. A turn takes place with the following actions in this exact order.

1. Draw Power Cards: Draw at least one, and an additional one for every corner galaxy you control. You can either place them underneath a portrait for or face down in your attack hand (for use in battle).

2. Roll the dice and follow the directions of the corresponding number on your guide card that you roll.

3. Build spaceships: You get three spaceships for every merchant you own, three for every corner galaxy you control, and you can discard cards from your attack hand (added to in step one) and redeem it for the corresponding number of ships.

4. Move: You may move any chracter with a spaceship in its power ring you like, but you may only move as many spaces as that character has spaceships. If you are the first player to cross into a galaxy, you may discard your spaceship onto that galaxy, and you control it.

5. Move a minor shadow: Each shadow can only be moved one galaxy at a time, and they never discard their spaceship and own the galaxy. The Shadowlord is never moved.

6. Do battle: Battle occurs when a character moves into another galaxy that another player controls or occupies without his or her permission. Shadows never give permission to cross into the galaxies they occupy.

Battle consists of the following: Each character in the galaxy (or a character of the defenders choice if the galaxy is controlled by the presence of a spaceship) is placed on the battlefield. Each participating combatant may choose one (and only one per character) power card from underneath its portrait or from the generic attack hand. The attacker places this extra card face down, while the defender places it face up. The attacker then turns up his extra card. A power card is drawn from the deck for each character in the battle, with the one controlling a power stone being able to draw yet another power card, and the players total up their side's power levels, spaceship count (only spaceships in the character's power ring count), and the value of all their power cards, and whichever side has the highest total, that player wins the battle. A card is then drawn for each of the losing characters, and that number is how many spaceships they loose. If a character is penalized more spaceships than it has, that character dies and is liquidated from the alliance. If the master dies, that player is out of the game entirely. If a player defeats a character with a power stone (either the Shadowlord or the one who took the power stone from the Shadowlord), that character then takes possession of the power stone. At the end of battle, all cards used are discarded.

If the Shadowlord still holds the power stone, every time the deck of power cards are reshuffled, the power stone timer (which looks exactly like the power stone itself, so it does not matter which one is which) is moved up a slot in the power stone timer base. If the timer reaches the final slot, the game is over and all players loose.