Chanting Conquest

The seizing objective zones wording was updated with the April rules update and I think it is worth digging into in a little more detail. Scoring rules are available in both the Tournament Scenario Pack and the Core Rules. If the Tournament Pack is being utilized it does replace the scoring rules in the Core Rules.

It is probably easiest to look at ability to score or contest as a sort of hidden stat. Light stands count as 0 scoring stands and 1 contesting stand each. Medium and Heavy stands count as 1 scoring stand each. Monster stands* instead of counting as their normal class always count as 3 scoring stands.

In order to score a zone a player must have BOTH more scoring stands AND more total stands than their opponent. For example Player A has 3 medium stands and 1 light stand in a zone while Player B has 3 light stands. As we tally this up Player A has more scoring stands (3 vs 0) and more total stands (4 vs 3) so player A will score. This is a little bit awkward initially as player A does not have more scoring stands than player B has contesting but currently contesting stands really only count into the total stands pool.

Let’s look at some more examples

1: Player A has a Tontorr with a Chieftain in a zone while his opponent has 3 Ashen Dawn. The Tontorr is a monster so it will count as 3 scoring stands AND the Chieftain is still considered to be a character stand even though it physically is on the same stand. Characters count as the same type as the regiment they are in so the Chieftain will also contribute 1 scoring stand as it would be a heavy. The 3 Ashen Dawn are heavies so they count as 3 scoring stands. In this case Player A has 4 scoring stands and 4 total stands while his opponent has 3 scoring and 3 total stands so Player A scores the zone.

2: If we use the same example as above but now add a mounted squire to the zone for Player B NEITHER player will score. This is because while Player A would still have 4 scorings stands vs 3, both players would have 4 total stands in the zone, preventing player A from scoring.

3: Player A has 4 stands of Stryx in a zone while Player B has 3 stands of Flame Berserkers. In this scenario while Player A has 4 total stands vs 3, neither player has any scoring stands in the zone so the zone is not scored.

There are several rules and abilities across the game that modify how a stand is treated for scoring. Some of these rules allow a regiments command stand to count as additional stands “for the purposes of Seizing Objectives” These rules DO ALLOW a regiment of otherwise light stands to contribute some scoring stands but only the amount specified in the special rule. Let’s use our previous example to show this

4: Player B has an Ardent Kerawegh cast RANCOR on the above Flame Berserkers. RANCOR allows the Flame Berserker command stand to count as +2 stands for the purposes of seizing objectives. Now Player A has 4 total stands to Player B’s 5 AND Player B has 2 scoring stands while Player A has none. Player B will score the zone.

There are a number of other rules that also impact scoring. For example the Hold Raegh supremacy ability allows a medium or heavy regiment the Raegh is attached to to always count as seizing the zone they are in. In the instance two regiments with abilities that allow them to always score zones are in the same zone those abilities offset and normal scoring rules are used instead.

There are a number of spells, such as the Scion of Conquest’s Discordance, that prevent an enemy regiment from being able to Seize a zone. Those abilities may stop your opponent’s regiments from counting as Scoring but they DO NOT stop those stands from contesting or counting toward the total stand pool.

In scenarios with Objective Markers in zones if the Objective is considered to be friendly to a player those Zones cannot be scored by an opponent until the Objective Marker is destroyed regardless of what special rules the opponent may have.

To recap in order to score a zone you must have BOTH more TOTAL stands and more SCORING stands than your opponent. There are special rules that allow stands to count as additional stands for the purpose of Seizing zones and those rules DO ALLOW light regiments to add scoring stands to the pool. Rules that prevent seizing do not impact total stand requirements for scoring and rules that allow a regiment to always score a zone will offset if both players have regiments with those abilities in the same zone. Finally friendly objective markers in zones ALWAYS prevent an opponent from being able to score that zone.

Hopefully those examples help clarify how to count stands for scoring zones and make tallying up scoring at the end of each round a little bit easier.

As always thanks for reading
-K

*in previous versions of the rules light monsters specifically only counted as 2 scoring stands. That has been removed and as written all monsters regardless of class would count as 3 scoring stands. Currently the only light monster in the game is Quatl and it is currently unreleased.