“There is only one true battle. The battle between good and evil.”
Princess Kelly, The Enchantress.
Introduction
Welcome Gatekeepers, Battlegates is designed to be versatile. We encourage you to find new ways to set up your kingdom. We will continue to create new game and character pieces, to keep the game interesting.
Prince Paul the Elder.
Overview
Contents: 1 Battle board, 1 Divider, 1 Board connector, 8 Brick walls, 6 Gates, 6 Long gates, 10 Perimeter stone walls and 2 armies. Each army consists of 1 Gatekeepers, 2 Crusaders and 2 Archers. 1 Die with 6 sides numbered 1-4 (1-2-2-3-3-4) and 1 deck of 34 playing cards.
Objective: To kill all of your opponent’s character pieces.
Set up: Remove the battle cards and insert the two pegs supplied into the empty holes. Tap lightly with a hammer if necessary. Each player starts with 4 brick walls, 3 gates, 3 long gates and one army. Character pieces may start the game on any of your starting portals.
Put the board on a level playing surface in between the two opponents and place the divider across the middle of the board by putting it in the space between the side stone walls on both sides of the board so it stands up on its own. The two players should not be able to see their opponents’ side of the board.
Both players now set up their side of the board starting with the placement of their army on their starting portals as identified by the 5 circles on their side of the board. Next, they each use the 10 game pieces to construct a maze on their side of the board. The pieces may be placed individually or in one of many combinations. See the combinations page for examples but not all possible combinations are shown.
Combinations
This section will show you examples of how pieces can be placed on the board along with some basic combinations. There are more possible combinations than shown in these examples. There are only a few restrictions to game piece placement and those are explained in the rules section. How the movable pieces interact with player pieces is explained in the game play section.
Brick Walls
Brick walls are set over two posts and are fixed pieces on the game board. They may be set individually or connected to as many of the other walls as desired and in any orientation as long as they are placed over two posts.
Gates
Gates are set over one post and can pivot during game play. They may be set individually or in pairs. When set as a pair they may be set at 90 degrees or in a straight line at the beginning of the game. They may also be set at the ends of walls, and this limits the range of motion to 180 degrees.
Long Gates
Long gates are set over one post and can pivot during game play. They may be set individually, in pairs or in combination with a gate. All three of these combinations can pivot. It may also be combined with a wall and when that is done the piece can no longer pivot and acts like a wall.
Single board boarder setup
Rules
- The winner of the game is the last person to have character pieces on the board.
- At no point, either during set up or during game play, can any of the castle entrances be blocked off by a wall or long gate. A gate may block a castle entrance. If a gate is blocking a castle entrance no other game piece may be on the same post.
3. Player pieces can move forward, backward and sideways.
4. Player pieces may never move or shoot an arrow diagonally or occupy the same square more than once during a single turn.
5. The number indicated by the dice roll is the number of spaces you must move on your turn. A dice roll can apply to the movement of any character piece or pieces but if used by one of your archer’s arrows the full dice roll is used.
The roll may be split over as many character pieces as you would like but all moves awarded must be used. EXAMPLE: A roll of a 3 can be used by one character piece moving 3 spaces, 3 pieces each moving 1 space or 2 pieces,1 piece moving 1 space and another piece moving 2 spaces. If a player only has one piece remaining it must move all 3 spaces.
6. Killing an opponent: An opponent can be killed by either a ground attack, the shooting of an arrow or the playing of a card. A Ground attack: A player piece can only kill an opponent’s player piece through movement with an exact roll of the dice. If the opposing player’s piece is 2 spaces away and a 3 is rolled a kill is not allowed by spitting this roll over 2 of your pieces. Shooting of an arrow: An Archer can shoot in any of the four movable directions. The arrow will travel the entire roll of the dice and cannot be split. If you roll a three and your arrow travels three spaces without hitting any obstacles or player pieces your turn is over. If you roll a three and your arrow travels 2 spaces and hits a wall or gate it stops there, and your turn is over. If you roll a three and your arrow first hits an opponent’s player piece at 1,2 or 3 spaces away, the player piece is killed, you score a point, your archer does not move, and your turn is over. If one of your archers is in your castle, they may shoot out of either entrance on your turn. Playing a card: If a card allows you to climb or scale an obstacle and an opponent’s piece is on the other side, they are killed by a surprise attack and the dice roll portion is forfeited.
7. One gate may not move another gate unless they are on the same post.
8. At no time may two player pieces occupy the same space other than to kill an opponent.
9. The Keep is a one space connection of the two castle entrances. It can be used by its owner or allies as a shortcut between the entrances or as an area of refuge. Only one character piece can be in the castles keep at any one time. If a character piece is in the keep when an opponent’s piece enters that castle the player piece is killed. This is the only time an exact roll is not needed for a ground attack. An archer may not shoot into an opponent’s castle.
Game Play
Both players roll the dice to see who goes first. The person with the highest number deals three cards to each player and goes first. A player’s turn consists of two phases. First the card phase. In this phase you draw a card then play a card and the action on the card is carried out. If you do not want to play a card you must discard a card. The card phase has ended, and the dice phase begins. Roll the dice and move your player piece or pieces as described in the rules. Once all moves are completed the player’s turn has ended and the next player takes their turn.
Battle Cards
- Scale a brick wall. When next to a brick wall you may move to the other side of the wall. If an opponent’s player piece occupies that space it is killed and removed from the board. You receive one point, and the dice portion of your turn is forfeited.
- Climb a gate. When next to a gate you may move to the other side without moving the gate. If an opponent’s player piece occupies that space it is killed and removed from the board. You receive one point, and the dice portion of your turn is forfeited.
- Move a brick wall. Move any brick wall to any other open position on the board. You may not block any entrance to any castle.
- Move a gate. Move any one gate to any other open position on the board. You may not block any entrance to any castle. Combinations may be broken up as long as only one piece is moved, and the other is returned to its original position.
- Rotate 90 Degrees. Rotate any gate or gate combination 90 degrees. All affected player pieces move with the gate.
- Rotate 180 Degrees. Rotate any gate or gate combination 180 degrees. All affected player pieces move with the gate.
- When playing a 4-player game using two Beginnings battle decks is recommended.