Game rules

Hadrian’s Wall rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 21 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Hadrian’s Wall plays 1 to 6 players, all at the same time: each Roman General builds a fort and a wall on two Sheets over six Years. Here are the essential rules, setup and scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 6
Play time: 30 to 60 minutes
Winner: Most points after the sixth Year

Hadrian’s Wall quick rules

The goal: You are a Roman General. Over six Years, you build your fort and wall, attract citizens and fight off the Picts, filling in your two Sheets with a pencil. Everyone plays at the same time; most Victory Points wins.
Start of a Year: Turn over a Fate Card: everyone takes the Workers and Resources pictured at the bottom. Each player draws two Player Cards, keeps one as a Path Card and makes the other their Prospect Card, which gives more rewards. Then each player gains the rewards from their Sheets: Resource Production, Hotel, Workshop and Road.
Actions: Everyone acts at their own pace: return Workers or Resources, then fill in boxes, gaining what their icons show. Tracks are filled from left to right. Whatever is left at the end of the Year goes back to the supply.
Defend and build: Three Cohorts defend your wall. The Wall Guard and the Wall advance them; the Fort unlocks the Cippi, the Wall and the buildings, and the Granaries unlock the next columns.
Citizens: Five Citizen Tracks, advanced with Civilians, unlock the right Sheet: Market, Theatre, Ludus Gladiatorious, Gardens, Temples, Baths, Courthouse, Diplomats and Scouts. Almost everything earns Attributes: Renown, Piety, Valour and Discipline.
The Picts attack: At the end of each Year, Fate Cards attack your Cohorts, based on the Year and difficulty. A Cohort holds if it has at least as many filled boxes as arrows against it. Repelling everything gives the Valour on the grey flag; each attack that gets through gives one Disdain instead. Favours from Temples and Diplomats ignore cards.
End of the game: After the attack at the end of the sixth Year, each player adds up their four Attributes and their six Path Cards, then subtracts their Final Disdain. With 1 or 2 players, a Neutral Deck adds extra Prospect Cards.
Beginner pitfalls: An empty Cohort can be costly from the very first attack. Nothing carries over from one Year to the next. And Path Cards are worth up to 18 points: choose them with care.

How to score Hadrian’s Wall

The four Attributes: Renown, Piety, Valour and Discipline: 1 point per filled box on each track, 25 at most per track.
Path Cards: Each of your six Path Cards scores 0, 1, 2 or 3 points based on its goal: completed Wall sections, Landmarks, Large Buildings, filled Temples, Trade Goods…
Final Disdain: Circled, unfilled Disdain boxes cost more and more: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18 points, then 22 from 9 Disdain.
Ties: The player with the least Disdain wins, then the one who scored the most from Path Cards; otherwise the victory is shared.

Worked example

Mia has 14 Renown, 18 Piety, 20 Valour and 11 Discipline: 63 points. Her Path Cards score 12 points, and she has 2 Disdain left, for −3. Total: 63 + 12 − 3 = 72 points.

Common mistakes

Counting Disdain at −1 each: the scale climbs, 4 Disdain already cost 7 points.
Going past 25 on an Attribute Track: points beyond that are lost.
Forgetting the tiebreaker: least Disdain, then Path Cards.

How to set up Hadrian’s Wall

Setup takes five minutes; then all players play at the same time.

The supply

Shuffle the Fate Cards into a facedown draw pile in the center.
Place the Workers and Resources within everyone’s reach: this is the Main Supply.Soldiers, Builders, Servants and Civilians; the Main Supply is unlimited.
Agree on a difficulty level: easy, normal or hard.Easy for the first games. Difficulty sets how many cards each attack uses.

Each player

Each player takes the 12 Player Cards of one Roman General.
Everyone takes a Player Board in 2 parts, one of each Sheet and a pencil.The Sheets are for playing; the final score is recorded in Ludingo.
Place your 2 Sheets side by side, with your Player Board above them.
Shuffle your Player Cards into a facedown draw pile to the left of your Player Board.

With 1 or 2 players

Shuffle an unused set of 12 Player Cards: this is the Neutral Deck.Each Year, reveal 1 of its cards with 2 players, 2 solo.

Frequently asked questions

Who goes first in Hadrian’s Wall?

Nobody: all players take actions at the same time, each at their own pace, during every Year.

How many Fate Cards for the Picts’ attack?

It depends on the Year and the chosen difficulty: the number is printed on the left Sheet.

How much does Disdain cost in Hadrian’s Wall?

More and more: 1 point for one Disdain, 7 for four, 22 from nine.

Ludingo’s Hadrian’s Wall sheet was last reviewed on 21 October 2026, based on: pixiegames.fr, rulebook (PDF), BoardGameGeek.