Raiders of Scythia

To set up the game, place the main game board in the center of the table. Shuffle the mission cards and place two face-up in the Scythian village, then place a face-down mission card on each of the four square plunder fields, adjusting the number based on player count. Return any remaining mission cards to the box. Place all gold, equipment, weapons, and livestock tokens into the plunder bag. Draw loot from the bag and place the indicated amount on each plunder field, with loot in Greece placed in the rectangle. Place remaining loot, coins, komi, provisions, wounds, and dice next to the board. Each player chooses a color, places their score marker on '0' of the score track, and takes three coins, one provision, and one blue worker. Return unused workers to the box. Shuffle the animal cards, form a draw pile, and reveal three face-up. Shuffle the hero cards, reveal the number of players plus one, and then shuffle the warrior cards, placing one next to each revealed hero. Players, starting from the right of the first player and moving counter-clockwise, choose a hero and their corresponding warrior, placing them on their player board. The remaining hero and warrior are returned to the box. Finally, each player draws five warrior cards, keeps three, and discards two.

The objective of Raiders of Scythia is to accumulate the most victory points by the end of the game. Players achieve this by strategically hiring warriors, training animals, plundering settlements for valuable resources, and successfully completing various missions. Careful management of resources, effective combat strategies, and smart mission selection are key to outscoring your opponents and emerging as the dominant tribe.

During your turn, you have two main action choices: 'Work' or 'Raid'. If you choose to 'Work', you place one worker from your supply onto an available village location on the main board and perform that action once. Afterward, you retrieve a different worker from any other village location and perform that action once as well. Village actions include hiring warriors (paying coins or removing wounds), gaining provisions (based on worker color), discarding cards for coins or equipment, buying animals (eagles for coins, horses for equipment), or completing missions (by paying required resources). If you choose to 'Raid', you place a worker of the correct color next to a settlement. You must have the minimum number of warriors indicated and pay the required provisions and wagons. You then calculate your attack strength by summing your warriors' and animals' attack values, adding komi if desired, and considering warrior abilities. You then roll the indicated number of dice (plus one gold die if gold is present on the settlement) to add to your attack strength. Compare your total attack strength to the settlement's requirements to determine victory points and wounds received. Wounds are distributed among your warriors, with any warrior receiving wounds equal to or exceeding their strength being discarded. Finally, you collect all loot and any underlying mission cards from the raided settlement.

At the end of the game, after all players have taken their final turn, victory points are tallied. Players receive points for each warrior on their player board, points for each trained animal (eagles and horses), points for each completed mission, and points for any remaining loot in their supply. The player with the highest total victory points wins the game.

The game concludes when either only two plunder fields or two mission cards remain on the main game board. Once this condition is met, the current player finishes their turn, and then every other player, including the player who triggered the end condition, takes one final turn. After all players have completed their last turn, the game proceeds to the scoring phase to determine the winner.