Solo edition 1.15.1: one human house plays against computer rivals. Online rooms and hot-seat setup are removed.
Tutorial, version 1.13.0
On the opening screen choose who commands each house: Human, Computer (Novice, Veteran or Master) or Absent. At least two houses must take part. Choose the length (8, 12 or 16 rounds) and the victory total, then press Begin the Age. With more than one human, the screen is curtained between turns so each player's schemes stay secret.
| Do this | Mouse or touch | Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| Select an agent | Roster on the right, or click its token | 1–5, Tab for the next agent who has not acted |
| Ask for counsel | ☉ Counsel (a gold ring marks the advised province) | C |
| Move it | Click a glowing province | — |
| Act | Press an action button (the chance is shown) | — |
| Undo a move | ↶ Undo this move | U |
| Direct Conan | Direct Conan on the map, then click a gold-ringed province | H |
| Review your turn | Review turn above the End turn button | R |
| End your turn | End turn; unused orders open the review | E |
| Pan / zoom | Drag; wheel or pinch; the + − ⤢ buttons | Arrow keys; + − 0 |
| Details | Hover over a token, Conan or a province | — |
| Strategic overlay | Highlights important board targets without changing the rules | O |
| Tactical planner | Plan move & action under your agent, Plan Conan, or Game controls | P |
| Strategy brief | Game controls → Strategy brief | B |
| Center active | Game controls → Center active | Space |
| The chronicle | Chronicle button | L |
| Look elsewhere | Click or drag on the overview map in the corner | M shows or hides it |
| Every key | All keys (?) in the controls panel | ? |
| Rival moves | Dashed trails on the map since your last turn | T shows or hides them |
| The Ledger | Under the houses on the left: every house's deeds this age | — |
| Keep the story | Save the chronicle, on the final screen | — |
Press R or choose Review turn above the End turn button. Review lists every surviving agent that can still act and any remaining Conan orders. Plan orders or Plan Conan opens the Tactical Planner for that piece without changing the game.
If you end now previews victory points from great cities (subject to the tribute cap), Conan's service (including his Warlord bonus), and control or crown schemes that are ready to complete. The displayed projected score is your score after those awards. Reaching the target does not declare an immediate winner: victory is decided at round end.
Round income includes territory and applicable relic/monument bonuses, or zero during famine. If other houses still have turns, this is an estimate because holdings may change. Carried relics score on delivery to your capital.
Available recruitment and monuments appear under Optional spending. Go to spending controls to make a purchase normally. All offers use your current treasury; one purchase can make another unaffordable.
End turn opens this review when an agent or Conan still has unused orders. Choose Continue turn to return, or explicitly confirm End turn with unused orders. Close and Escape cancel without advancing. Pressing E repeatedly cannot skip the review. If every order is spent, End turn advances immediately.
Each round: an event card is drawn and Conan's desire is redrawn; if he serves no one he wanders (and may fight a monster on his own); from round 3 Xul the Undying strides toward the richest city and holds a dark rite; then each house takes a turn, the first house changing each round. At the end of your turn you collect tribute. At the end of the round each house collects gold (1 + provinces held) and Conan's bond shortens by one.
Press P during your turn, or choose Plan move & action beneath your selected agent. The selector also includes Conan when he serves you and can still act. Spent pieces are omitted.
Choose a reachable province to compare the road route, local rivals and friendly agents, monsters, loose relics and available actions. Percentages are the current rules' success chances. Previews apply relic delivery on a copy of the board, so their VP and action odds include any power gained on arrival. No live movement, gold, dice or schemes change while you compare.
Inspect on map centers the destination without moving. Move here commits only the road move, then you choose your action in the normal controls. Conan can use his remaining one or two road steps. Agents follow their existing movement limits and event closures; wizard translocation remains an action. The planner shows local forces, not future enemy moves. Ordinary agent moves can be undone unless they delivered a relic. Close or Escape cancels the preview.
Every agent may move once and then act. Warriors, wizards, courtesans and assassins move one province along a road; thieves move two (a Roofrunner three). Wizards can also translocate to any great city as their action. An agent that has acted cannot move. While Conan serves you he can be moved up to two provinces and then given one order.
Rolls are two six-sided dice plus skill (1–3 stars) and modifiers, shown as dice beside each result. Opposed rolls (duels, strikes, curses, beguiling, lifting a relic) compare both sides. Duels and curses that win narrowly send the loser limping home; a wide margin kills.
| Agent | Way to win Conan | Roll | Bond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrior | Spar | 2d6 + skill ≥ 9 | 3 rounds |
| Courtesan | Charm | 2d6 + skill ≥ 9 (8 in a great city) | 3 rounds |
| Thief | Heist (2 gold) | 2d6 + skill ≥ 8 | 2 rounds |
| Wizard | Bind | 2d6 + skill ≥ 7; failure: the wizard is slain | 2 rounds; then he refuses that house for 2 rounds |
| Assassin | Discord (rival's hero only) | 2d6 + skill ≥ 8 | breaks the rival's bond |
Points: secret schemes (3–4–4–4–6 VP each); a relic carried to your capital (+3); tribute at the end of your turn (+1 per great city held other than your capital, at most 2, and +2 while Conan serves you); a fulfilled saga (+3); vengeance in a blood feud (+1); a monument raised (+1).
Spare gold can raise a monument in your own capital while you hold it, from the Raise a monument buttons on the right: one a turn, each kind once. The first costs 5 gold and each later one 2 more. Each is worth +1 VP and lends a lasting benefit.
| Monument | Benefit |
|---|---|
| City Walls | Rival agents cannot sway or bribe in your capital (they may still seize it by force). |
| Hall of Heroes | Your agents win or turn Conan at +1 (spar, charm, heist, binding, discord). |
| Grand Bazaar | Caravans bring 1 extra gold to your treasury each round. |
| Barracks | Your recruits arrive with at least two stars of skill. |
When one of your agents dies at a rival house's hands (a duel, a murder, a curse or its backlash, its guards catching your thief, or Conan in its service), your house swears a blood feud against that house for 3 rounds; it is shown under your house's name. While it stands, your agents duel, strike and curse that house's agents at +1 (marked "feud +1" on the action). The first life you take back pays +1 VP and settles it, but the house you avenged yourself on swears a feud of its own. Deaths to monsters, Xul or a hangman swear no feud.
Twelve achievements are kept across games in this browser and shown on the opening screen; deeds won in an age are announced on its final screen. Each is earned by a human house:
| Deed | To earn it |
|---|---|
| Victor of the Age | Win an age. |
| Lord of the Four Realms | Win an age against three rival houses. |
| Bane of Masters | Win an age against a Master computer house. |
| The Swift Age | Win by the end of round 5. |
| Without a Scratch | Win without losing a single agent. |
| Kingmaker | Win Conan's service three times in one age. |
| Keeper of Relics | Carry three relics home in one age. |
| Teller of Sagas | See two of Conan's sagas fulfilled in one age. |
| Monster-Bane | Have two monsters slain in your name in one age. |
| Bane of Xul | Destroy Xul the Undying. |
| Blood for Blood | Avenge three blood feuds in one age. |
| Builder of Wonders | Raise all four monuments in one age. |
A house that has reached the victory total at the end of a round wins (the highest total if several have). Otherwise the leader after the last round wins; ties go to gold, then to surviving agents.
Every other house loses when the winner is declared. A house cannot be eliminated: slain agents can be recruited again at your capital for 4 gold each, one per turn, so the fight goes on to the end of the age.
The game saves itself after every change. Save saves at once; after reloading, choose Resume saved game on the opening screen. New game returns to the opening screen; Play again on the final screen starts over. Saves from every earlier version are converted when resumed.
Press O to mark high-value board targets: rival great cities, loose relics, living monsters, Conan's current saga target, and Xul. The overlay is informational only and does not reveal secret schemes or alter movement, combat, or scoring.
Press B or choose Strategy brief from the Game controls for a board-state summary: standing, treasury, territory, current schemes, assets and up to five suggested strategic priorities. Press Space to center the map on the selected agent, Conan, a selected province, or your capital.