The elements are calling the citizens of Esfah. However, some are hearing their call differently. They have risen up against their leadership and formed new alliances that cross species to overthrow the current hierarchies. In response, the leadership have formed alliances, or none at all, and are countering the militants who are taking control of the land. Can you, with the aid of other commanders, capture the terrain from the vile militants?

There is this great little game originally from Lester Smith and produced by SFR, Inc. with beautiful dice called “Dragon Dice®”. I appreciate the dice and the concept so much that it seemed fitting for there to be house rules.

The Militants of Esfah rules are a collaborative capture the flag style game and present an alternate way to play the game! Unless stated otherwise, the standard Dragon Dice rules are used.

I truly hope you enjoy them and buy some dice from SFR, Inc. because it’s difficult to play Dragon Dice® with out, well, Dragon Dice®.

Objective

The objective of this game is for the non-shadow players to collect two-thirds (rounded down) of all terrain brought to the table from the shadow player.

Basics

As mentioned earlier, all games follow the standard rules. There will be the standard set up of each player’s own force. Also, each player will construct 1 more force that will serve as template forces. More on this later! Each player will bring 2 terrain dice to the game. A horde roll between the non-shadow players determines the starting terrain.

Each player takes turns as the shadow player. This includes choosing the force that will be encountered. So, if a new terrain is placed on the table, more on this later, the current designated shadow player chooses a terrain not in play and the force encountered there. The current shadow player is designated based on turn order. So, second player in the turn order is shadow player for the first player, third is for the second, and last has the first player as their shadow player.

Once the shadow player is defeated either in combat or the terrain is moved up to the 8th face, add another terrain. If the shadow player still has an army, their army retreats to the new terrain. If a shadow army is defeated, the current shadow player chooses one of the template armies and places it at the new terrain.

In any case, if there are more terrain, move the players to that terrain, as well. The players or shadow player may at any time return to any previous terrain and capture it, so it might be good to leave some units there.

Implemented House Rules

In addtion to the base game rules, there are some house rules developed by Josh Cavalchini.

There are two house rules implemented by Militants of Esfah that are related to turn order and marches. The house rules for first turn, which means on the first turn the person who wins the horde roll may only do one march, are implemented. Additionally, the house rule that is implemented is that all armies must march.

Another set of house rules implemented are the reserves modifier die. You’ll need a separate 6 sided die that is place in the summoning pool area. The first turn after the player has dice in the reserves, place the die next to it with the “1” side up. Every turn after, the die is incremented by 1. All die rolls are modified by the value of that die. For example, if the die is 3, all rolls are modified by 3. Once all dice are removed from the reserves army, the die returns to the summoning pool area.

Next, magic rolls may be performed at any face on the terrain. However, at non-Magic faces, only Reserve magic may be cast.

The final house rules are surround dragonkin. First, dragonkin are now units and are treated as such with all their effects in play. Second, this means they may go to the graveyard, cast magic, and carry equipment. Next, no longer will dragonkin be part of the summoning pool. Finally, bringing back dragonkin are simple. They may be brought back with the elemental spell “Resurrect the Dead”. They may also be brought back by Eldarim ability “Dragonkin Handlers”.

Game Conclusion

Once all armies are defeated or all terrain are captured. The shadow player wins if they are the only surviving army or has captured all terrain. If the players capture at least 2/3 (round down) collectively, they win.