How to Play

War Chest

2-4 players 30-30 min 7.8 Board Game Geek Rating

War Chest combines bag-building with tactical warfare. Players draft military units, then draw three coins per round to perform actions like deploying troops and capturing strategic locations. Victory requires placing all your control markers on the board while managing both active battlefield forces and reserve units awaiting deployment.

Published 2018

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the board

Put the board in the middle of the play area

Choose factions

Each player chooses a faction and takes 1 matching bag, 1 Royal Coin, and 6 Control Markers

Prepare your bag

Put your faction's Royal Coin into your bag

Mark starting locations

Place one of your Control Markers onto each of the two matching starting locations on the board

Determine units

For your first game, use the recommended units; otherwise shuffle the 16 Unit Cards and deal 4 face-up to each player

Collect unit coins

Take the Unit Coins matching your 4 Unit Cards

Fill your bag

Put 2 Unit Coins of each type into your bag together with the Royal Coin (9 coins total)

Create your supply

Put the remaining Unit Coins in piles next to the matching unit cards to form your supply

Determine first player

Flip the Initiative Marker; the player whose faction matches the face-up side takes initiative and the marker

Note play area

In a two-player game, do not use the outer darker hexes of the board

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Draw coins

At the start of each round, draw 3 coins from your bag into your hand, hidden from your opponent

Refill empty bag

If your bag is empty when drawing, refill it with coins from your discard pile, shuffle, then continue drawing

Alternate actions

Starting with the player holding the Initiative Marker, take turns using coins one at a time until both hands are empty

Deploy a unit

Place a coin face-up into an empty location you control to create that unit type on the board

Bolster a unit

Place a coin face-up on top of the matching unit already on the board to make it harder to remove

Claim Initiative

Discard any coin facedown to take the Initiative Marker from your opponent (cannot be done if you already have it or had it earlier this round)

Recruit

Discard any coin facedown, then take any one coin from your supply and place it face-up into your discard pile

Pass

Discard any coin facedown and take no other action; you may still use remaining coins normally

Move

Discard a coin face-up to move the matching unit one space into an adjacent empty space

Control

Discard a coin face-up to have the matching unit claim the location it occupies; place your Control Marker there (replace opponent's marker if present)

Attack

Discard a coin face-up to attack an adjacent enemy unit; remove one coin from the target and return it to the box permanently

Use Tactic

Discard a coin face-up to execute the special ability described on that unit's card

Royal Coin limitation

The Royal Coin can only be used for facedown actions

Track discards

Face-up discarded coins remain visible until reshuffled into the bag