Book the Fourth
Rules of the Watch
the ordinances set down by the Ferrum
These forms are drawn from the Chronicle of the Ferrum, set down across the forty-six Watches. They describe how the seven peoples engage in the ancient dance — kingdom and parley, war and Watch. Read what is needed. The chronicle waits.
The Gathering
the players assemble; the Watch is named
Before the Watch, there must be those who would stand it.
A new Watch begins when two to four rulers gather at a hall of their choosing. Each takes the name of one of the seven peoples and raises their banner. No two rulers may bear the same banner; the colors are sacred. When all are seated and a host has called the Watch named, the chronicle opens.
- 2 to 4 rulers per Watch (4 is the fullest table).
- Each player chooses one of seven peoples and a unique color.
- The Watch begins when the host calls it named.
The Founding
two settlements, two roads — and no city yet
The first work of any Watch is to claim the land. No city rises in the founding — those come by labor, not by gift. Each ruler plants a settlement and lays a road from it. Then — in reverse order, that the late-comers may not be punished — each plants a second settlement and a second road. From these two hearths are all greater things made.
The founding is binding. A hearth set in poor land is a hearth for the rest of the Watch. The Ferrum advise patience, and a careful eye for the soil that sits beside the hex.
- Each ruler places: 1 settlement, then 1 road. Snake-order around the table.
- Then in reverse: a second settlement, then a second road.
- Settlements must sit on hex intersections, never adjacent to another settlement, city, or road-end already placed.
- The founding is free — no resources spent.
- After placement, each ruler draws 1 starting resource from every tile touching their first-placed settlement. The second hearth awaits the turn of the wheel.
The Reckoner's Ledger
what each thing demands — in stone, in grain, in gold
Every work of the Watch has a price. The ruler who reads the ledger first, reads the game.
Of settlements and cities
A settlement is a hall, a mill, a scatter of hearths — the founder's first claim to the soil. It yields one measure of every adjacent tile's resource per round, and counts for one victory point.
A city is a settlement grown — but not in bushel or grain. Before the Sundering the cities drew twice the harvest of their lesser kin; the old chronicles bear it out. After the burning, the soil grew stingier, and now city and settlement reap the same measure. A city's worth is told elsewhere: two victory points in place of the settlement's one, a single tile made its own to improve, walls to be raised, and armies to be recruited within it. A ruler may hold no more than 4 cities in any single Watch.
Of roads and armies
Roads are cheap to lay and long to build. They bind a kingdom together and open the only paths by which armies may march. 7 continuous segments earn the Warpath trophy.
An army is raised at a city, one unit at a time, and stands inactive until its ruler spends the cost to wake it. Active armies may move and strike; inactive armies defend where they stand. A stack may hold no more than 5 units, and may not be split.
Of walls and improvements
Stone walls are timber and masonry raised around a city against the Unbound. A walled city lends its garrisoned knight one measure of bulwark beyond the city's own standing. Wooden walls are a lesser craft, raised about a settlement — coarse palisade and sharpened stake — lending a garrisoned knight the same single measure of shelter. Palisades burn with the hearth that bore them: if a settlement is razed, its wooden walls fall with it.
An improvement is built upon a tile adjacent to one of your cities — a Granary for grain, a Mill for wood, a Quarry for stone, a Goldmine upon the rare yellow earth. Each tile may bear only one improvement, and each belongs to the ruler who built it. Where there was a Marketplace in the old ledgers, the Ferrum now strike it through — the gold is wrested from the earth, not traded at a stall.
| Work | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement | 1 Grain · 1 Wood · 1 Stone | +1 VP. Yields 1 of every adjacent tile's resource per round. |
| City (from settlement) | 2 Grain · 3 Stone | +2 VP (replaces the settlement's +1). Yields 1 of every adjacent tile's resource. May host one improvement and be garrisoned by knights. |
| Road | 1 Wood · 1 Stone | No yield. Counts toward the Warpath trophy. |
| Army unit | 1 Grain · 1 Wood · 1 Stone | Recruited inactive at a city. +1 strength to its stack. |
| Activate a stack | 1 Grain or 0 Gold | Required to move or strike. Lasts the round. |
| Work | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Granary | 2 Grain · 3 Wood | Built on a grain tile adjacent to your city. +1 Grain per round from that tile to the owning city. One improvement per city. |
| Mill | 3 Wood · 2 Stone | Built on a wood tile adjacent to your city. +1 Wood per round to the owning city. |
| Quarry | 2 Wood · 3 Stone | Built on a stone tile adjacent to your city. +1 Stone per round to the owning city. |
| Goldmine | 1 Grain · 2 Wood · 3 Stone · 2 Gold | Built on a gold tile adjacent to your city. +1 Gold per round to the owning city from that tile. |
| City Walls (stone) | 3 Stone | Raised at a city. +1 strength to the knight garrisoned there (stacks with the city's own +1). Inert if the city has no garrison. |
| Wooden Walls | 3 Wood | Raised at a settlement. +1 strength to the knight garrisoned there (stacks with the settlement's own +1). Destroyed if the settlement is razed. |
Of the chronicle
The three great decks of the Ironkeep — Warfare, Growth, Politics — are drawn at a cost as well. Each draw takes one card of the ruler's choosing, hidden until played. The Ferrum have lately struck the old commodity price from the ledger: gold alone now opens the deck, for gold alone is the coin of knowledge.
| Deck | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Warfare | 3 Gold | One card, drawn hidden. |
| Growth | 3 Gold | One card, drawn hidden. |
| Politics | 3 Gold | One card, drawn hidden. |
Of exchange
A ruler may barter upon their own turn, as often as their stores allow. The rates are fixed by the Ferrum and set down below.
| Give | Receive | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Gold | 1 Grain, Wood, or Stone | Gold is coin of every kind — spent for any commodity the treasury lacks. |
| 2 of one commodity | 1 Gold | 2 measures of grain, wood, or stone for a single coin. |
| 4 of one commodity | 1 of another commodity | The old bank rate — 4 for one, across the three great goods. |
- Settlements and cities must sit on hex intersections, never adjacent to another of your pieces.
- A settlement may be upgraded to a city only by its owner.
- Roads extend from your own cities, settlements, or other roads — never across water.
- No more than 4 cities and 5 settlements per ruler at any time.
- Each tile may bear only one improvement; improvements are permanent, save the Goldmine which falls if its city is razed, and wooden walls which fall with their settlement.
- Hand limit: 3 cards. Cards played or sacrificed go to a discard pile; when a deck runs empty, its discard is shuffled back to form the new deck.
- Rates of exchange: 2 Gold for 1 commodity, 2 commodity for 1 Gold, 4 commodity for 1 of another commodity. All traded on your own turn, without limit.
The Turn of the Wheel
production, building, drawing
Each ruler takes a single turn in order. On their turn they may build what their treasury allows, draw from the great chronicle (see chapter VII), move their armies, or parley with another ruler at the table. When they have done what they will, the next ruler rises. When all have taken a turn, the round closes — and the wheel turns: each tile produces for every adjacent piece, be it settlement or city. Improvements add their +1 to the owning city's yield from the improved tile.
A ruler may hold no more than 3 cards in hand at any time. Cards held longer than that must be sacrificed to the discard pile.
- One turn per ruler per round, in seated order.
- On your turn: build, draw cards, move armies, propose trades or truces.
- Round-end: each tile yields 1 measure to every adjacent settlement or city (the yield is the same for both). Improvements add +1 to their owner's city yield from that tile.
- Hand limit: 3 cards. Excess cards are sacrificed to the discard pile.
The Parley of the Table
of open speech, free trade, and the absence of oaths
In the elder Watches there were formal alliances — oaths sworn between two rulers, private channels of correspondence, trophies awarded for constancy. The Ferrum have struck that chapter from the ledger. Alliances proved too often a snare for the swift and a comfort for the slow; the Sundering taught that no oath outlasts need.
In their place stands the Parley of the Table. Every ruler speaks openly, and every ruler hears — there is no private channel, no sealed word. Any ruler may offer terms to any other: resources for resources, a measure of grain for a coin of gold, a promise not to strike before the next moon. Offers are made in the proposal, answered with accept, reject, or counter. What the table hears, the table remembers.
There is no formal peace and no formal war. Any ruler may, at any time, march upon any other. There are no protected neighbors and no unprotected either. The only shield is the wall, and the knights that stand upon it.
- No alliances. No sworn pacts. No private channels.
- Any pair of rulers may trade: propose a bundle, receive accept, reject, or counter. Trades are public to the table.
- Any ruler may attack any other at any time. There is no contact gate, no declaration of war.
- Informal truces may be spoken at the table and kept — but the Ferrum enforce none of them. The word is only as good as the ruler who gave it.
- The Warpath trophy (longest road) and the Horde Captain (largest host) are granted as before, and are not touched by this chapter.
The Arts of War
armies, fortification, and the moment of attack
An army is recruited at one of your cities and stands inactive until you spend the cost to wake it. An active army may move along your road network, or strike. There has been no formal declaration of war in Thairen since the Sundering, and the table now knows no alliances either — any ruler may be marched upon at any time.
Combat is calculation, not chance. Compare effective power — stack strength plus fortification bonus. The greater wins. Both sides lose units equal to the smaller force's effective power. Ties favor the defender. A garrisoned knight gains +1 for standing within a settlement or city, and a further +1 if stone walls ring the city or wooden walls the settlement — so a knight in a walled city stands at +2, a knight in a walled settlement the same.
The Ferrum have added one further ordinance, and sealed it in red wax. Assaulting a city or settlement now costs the attacker 1 extra unit above all combat losses, whether they carry the gates or are thrown back — even victorious assaults leave bodies at the gate. A raid upon an open field incurs no such tax; this toll is the cost of battering a hearth.
- Maximum army strength: 5 units per intersection. Stacks may not be split.
- Activation cost: 1 grain or 0 gold for the entire stack.
- Effective combat power = stack strength + fortification bonus.
- Fortification bonus (garrisoned knight only): field +0, settlement +1, city +1, walled settlement +2, walled city +2.
- Higher effective power wins. Both sides lose units equal to the lesser power. Ties go to the defender.
- Assault tax: attacking a city or settlement costs the attacker 1 extra unit, win or lose. Open-field strikes pay no such toll.
- Taking a city or settlement razes it — the site is destroyed, not occupied. Wooden walls fall with their settlement; stone walls and improvements fall with their city.
- An active army that moves and strikes deactivates afterward.
The Great Chronicle
cards drawn from three deep wells of knowledge
Beyond the work of the wall, every ruler may draw upon the chronicle itself — fortunes and follies set down across the Watches by those who came before. Three decks are kept in the Ironkeep: Warfare, Growth, and Politics. Each ruler may draw from any of the three on their turn at the prescribed cost (see The Reckoner's Ledger for draw costs); what they draw is theirs alone, hidden from the table until played.
Some cards lift kingdoms. Some break them. Some are kept secret to the end, revealed only at the moment of victory's declaration. What follows is the Ferrum's full catalog, drawn for the reader's instruction.
- Three decks: Warfare, Growth, Politics. Each draw costs 3 Gold.
- Hand limit: 3 cards (revealed hidden VP cards do not count).
- Played and sacrificed cards go to a discard pile. When a deck runs empty, its discard is shuffled back to form the new deck — no card is lost forever.
- Hidden VP cards must be revealed on your own turn to count toward victory.
The Warfare Deck
Of soldiers, sieges, and the iron of clans. Drawn most often by those who would defend the wall — and by those who would test it.
commons
rares
legendarys
hidden victorys
The Growth Deck
Of land, harvest, and the long labor of building. The Highkin and the Stoneborn favor it; the Wandersfolk know its roads best.
commons
rares
legendarys
hidden victorys
The Politics Deck
Of envoys, gold, and the hidden word. The court of the Realms of Men is its first home, but no people are without its art.
commons
rares
legendary
hidden victorys
The Horde of Ulgareth
the Watch's burden, shared
Ulgareth does not wait for the rulers' games. 7 moons after a Watch begins, the wheel turns past one of its old hinges and the Unbound spill from the Ashenwaste. The Ferrum sound the great horn, and every ruler's active armies are committed as one — all hands on the wall.
But before any sword is drawn, a Harrow is drawn. Seven calamities ride with the Horde — a grain field salted to dust, five roads lost to ash, a city demoted to a settlement, three stacks choking in the smoke. One Harrow fires with each landing, no matter how the defense goes.
Those who stand largest on the line are honored. Those who stood thinnest must surrender a city. If Ulgareth breaks the wall 3 times, the realm falls — and the ruler with the highest chronicle claims a Pyrrhic crown.
- Landfall every 7 rounds. The track counts down from 7 moons.
- At landfall a random Harrow card is drawn and its effect resolves first, no matter the defense.
- Every ruler's active armies commit automatically — no bidding. Total defense is compared to Horde strength (total cities on the board).
- Defense holds (defense ≥ strength): the ruler who committed the most active armies gains +1 VP. If tied, each tied ruler draws one free tech card of their chosen deck.
- Defense breaks (defense < strength): the ruler who committed the fewest active armies must forfeit one of their cities — they choose which. The city is reduced to a settlement; walls and adjacent improvements are destroyed. If several rulers are tied for the thinnest line, each must forfeit. A ruler with no cities surrenders nothing.
- Every committed army deactivates after resolution. The track resets. The next landfall comes 7 moons hence.
- If 3 landfalls succeed, the Watch ends in pyrrhic ruin.
The Seven Harrows
the calamities that ride with Ulgareth
Seven Harrows form the deck Ulgareth carries. One fires each landing and then rotates to the bottom; every Harrow shows itself at least once before any repeats.
- The Blighted Earth — a random grain tile is scorched to desert, permanently.
- The Ashen Wind — five random roads across the realm burn.
- The Great Desolation — a random non-desert tile becomes desert, permanently.
- The Cracked Seats — a random settlement is destroyed; its slot is returned to its owner.
- The Broken Crown — a random city is demoted to a settlement. Walls and any adjacent improvements are destroyed.
- The Black Lung — three random army stacks are destroyed entirely.
- Creeping Rot — a random tile improvement is destroyed.
The Declaration of Victory
the chronicle's last entry
13 victory points end a Watch.
A ruler may declare victory only on their own turn, only when their visible total — pieces, trophies, revealed hidden cards — reaches 13. Until then, the chronicle remains open.
If the Horde has been allowed to devastate Thairen 3 times, the Watch ends regardless. The highest VP among the rulers claims a Pyrrhic victory — a name the Ferrum will record without comment.
- Victory threshold: 13 visible victory points.
- Declaration is a turn action — only on the declaring ruler's own turn.
- Hidden VP cards must be revealed to count toward the declaration.
- If 3 Horde invasions succeed: the Watch ends; highest VP wins (Pyrrhic).
recorded by the Ferrum