The Quest
Venture out from your castle, collect four pieces of gold, and safely return home.
Sound like a simple quest?
Then step into the Realm!
Use this page to get started.
It takes just 2 minutes to set up. Then don't wait!
Simply start playing, refering to the rules and tiles pages as you go.
RoA is very quick to learn, very fun to play.
Quick start
Place the large tiles on the gameboard:
Castles go face up on each corner
Holy Ground goes face up in the centre
Lochs may be placed anyhere face up
Now shuffle the smaller tiles. Place them face down on random squares to to complete the grid.
Choose your avatar and battle dice.
Place your avatar on its home castle and your health counter on its starting value of seven.
You're ready to roll!
Begin
Each turn consists of moving and potentially fighting. Tunnels transport you. Gold can be discovered by landing on tiles, or won through battle. But beware, a loss may lose health.
You’re ready to begin your quest. Refer to subsequent pages as you uncover tiles and battle for gold.
Now enter the Realm and seek your fortune!
Life & Death
The health indicator keeps track of your health status. Start on seven as indicated, and adjust according to your battles and fortune.
If your health score reaches zero you are dead. Your quest ends, and:
Your castle is breached. The next player to arrive at your castle can steal all your gold.
Your weapons and special pieces are removed and remain on the tile where you died. The next player to land on the tile takes all.
Moving
Roll the six-sided die to see who starts. The highest number goes first, and play moves clockwise.
You can move from tile to tile, horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Players can step on, or land on any tile except for the lochs.
The centre tile is Holy Ground – a safe space. You can’t be attacked or robbed on this tile, nor can you launch an attack from this tile.
If you land on a face-down tile, you must flip it over and see what fate awaits you. Tiles with a black border are used only once. If you land on a tile which is already face-up, no acton is taken.
Tunnels are the only tiles which remain active throughout the game once turned over. You may move from tunnel to tunnel in one step.
Possessions
As you turn over tiles you will come across weapons and protective items. Collect these as you go. Simply clip them onto your avatar and carry them with you for later use.
Any acquired gold is transferred to your castle.
Weapons
These include swords, sceptres, battle axe, and dagger.
Protection
These include the peace treaty, armour, and the piece protector.
Possessions can be used only once, after whch they must be returned to the box.
See the tiles page for more information.
Battle
After a player has moved they may decide to fight another player. You must be on the same space as another player to attack. If you have a sceptre however, you may attack another player from anywhere.
Make a declaration of who you are going to attack. A battle consists of a diced roll and the use of weapons that the player may have, and may choose to use. Weapons add points to your battle score and the highest score wins.
The attacker always rolls first, using the attack dice (20-sided +10-sided) and choosing whether to use weapons to add to the score.
Then it's the defender's turn. The defender rolls the defence dice (20-sided + 12-sided) and may also choose to use weapons as they see fit, to add to their total score.
The highest total score wins and:
the loser loses 1 health point
attacker may win up to two gold pieces from the losing player if successful (note that the attacker doesn’t lose any gold pieces if the attack fails)
a suit of armour may be used to prevent the loss of a health point
if the defender has a sceptre and loses, the sceptre is lost back to the armoury
a Piece Protector may stop a single piece of gold from being stolen by theft or lost in battle
After a weapon is used, it must be returned to the armoury.
