Legacy of Yu

To set up 'The Legacy of Yu', first place the main game board in the center of your play area. Place the campaign book and the rule reference sheet nearby. The resource tray, containing various tokens and cards, should be accessible. Shuffle the citizen cards and place them face down in their designated area on the board. Similarly, shuffle the barbarian cards and place them face down. Separate the canal cards and hut cards by level (1-2, 3-4, 5-6) and place them in their respective areas. Place the starting buildings (farms, outposts, huts) on their designated spaces. Finally, place the flood token and your boat token on their starting positions.

The primary objective of 'The Legacy of Yu' is to successfully complete a campaign, which involves building the entire canal system and surviving the final round. This is a cooperative legacy game, meaning the game evolves with each play, and your successes or failures will influence future games. The ultimate goal is to overcome the challenges presented by the Yellow River's floods and barbarian incursions, ensuring the survival and prosperity of your civilization.

A round in 'The Legacy of Yu' consists of three main phases: the Harvest Phase, the Action Phase, and the Upkeep Phase. During the Harvest Phase, you collect resources (citizens, provisions, wood, stone) based on your current board state and unlocked abilities. In the Action Phase, you can perform various actions by spending resources or cards, such as constructing canal sections, building structures (farms, outposts, huts), interacting with citizens to gain benefits, or fighting barbarians. The Upkeep Phase involves advancing the flood token, drawing new barbarian cards, and refreshing your available actions.

'The Legacy of Yu' is a cooperative campaign game, and as such, it does not feature a traditional scoring system. Instead, the game focuses on win or loss conditions for each individual game within the campaign. Your success is measured by whether you achieve the specific objectives of the current scenario and avoid any of the immediate loss conditions. The narrative progresses based on these outcomes, influencing the difficulty and available options in subsequent plays.

The game can end in several ways. You lose immediately if the flood token reaches the last space on the flood track, if all barbarian spaces on the board are filled, or if you need to draw a citizen card but the citizen deck is empty. To win, you must successfully construct all sections of the canal and then survive the entirety of the round in which the last canal section was built. This means you must complete all phases of that round without triggering any loss conditions.