Dungeon Lords

Set up the game by placing the progression board with the purple marker on the first space and event tiles on designated spots. Place the main game board centrally, stocking food cubes, battle cards (silver swords for year 1), tunnel tiles, and gold tokens. Place the silver paladin for year 1 and player cubes on the wickedness track. Set up the far lands board with battle cards (gold swords for year 2), trap cards, adventurer tiles (silver backs for year 1, gold for year 2), and monster tiles (silver backs for year 1, gold for year 2), and blood cubes. Each player receives a player board, three imps, three gold, three food, and three goblins, along with their colored order cards (two face-up, rest in a deck). Each player also places three cross-shaped tunnel tiles to form their initial dungeon layout.

The objective of Dungeon Lords is to become the most infamous Dungeon Lord by successfully building and managing your dungeon. This involves attracting powerful monsters, setting cunning traps, and strategically fulfilling orders to gain infamy points. You must also defend your dungeon against invading heroes, minimizing the negative points incurred from unfulfilled orders and heroes who manage to conquer parts of your dungeon.

A game of Dungeon Lords unfolds over two years, each divided into four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. In each season, players take turns assigning their imps to various action spaces on the main game board to gather resources, recruit monsters, build rooms, or set traps. Actions are resolved in a specific order, and players must carefully plan their moves to outmaneuver opponents and prepare for the inevitable hero attacks that occur at the end of each year.

Scoring occurs at the end of each year and a final scoring at the end of the game. Players earn infamy points for successfully built dungeon rooms, recruited monsters, and captured heroes. Points are also awarded for fulfilling orders. Conversely, players receive negative points for unfulfilled orders, defeated heroes, and certain other conditions. The player with the highest total infamy points at the end of the second year wins the game.

The game concludes after the second year, which consists of eight seasons in total. Following the final season, a comprehensive scoring phase takes place. Players tally their infamy points from various sources, including their dungeon's construction, the monsters they've recruited, the heroes they've captured, and the orders they've fulfilled. Negative points from unfulfilled orders and defeated heroes are then subtracted. The Dungeon Lord with the highest infamy score is declared the winner.