Toy Battle rules: how to play and how to score

Toy Battle quick rules

The goal

Each player places their Troops on a Terrain made of bases connected by paths. You win immediately if you place a Troop on the enemy headquarters, or if you reach the Terrain’s Medals objective.

Your turn

On your turn, one action only: place a Troop from your rack on the Terrain, or draw two Troops from your reserve. Your rack never holds more than eight Troops.

Troops

Each Troop has a strength from 1 to 7, except Kwak, the joker duck, and most have an effect applied when placed: Star draws, Jumbo discards an adjacent enemy Troop, Hook ignores the connection rule…

Where to place a Troop

On an empty base, on one of your bases, or on an enemy Troop with strictly lower strength, covering it; only the top Troop counts. Or on the enemy H.Q., never your own.

Connection

Your Troop must be connected to your H.Q. by a path passing only through bases you occupy. An empty or enemy base breaks the path.

Medals

As soon as you occupy all the bases around a region, you take its Medals, and you keep them even if you later lose the region.

Special bases

Each Terrain has its own special bases, with an effect described on the player aid, applied after the Troop’s. To start, you can play without them.

End of the game

Enemy H.Q. captured or Medals objective reached: immediate victory. If a player can neither draw nor place, the most Medals wins; on a tie, the player who ended the game loses.

Beginner traps

Don’t cut your own connection, only cover strictly lower strength (except with the joker), and protect your H.Q.: one Troop on it is all your opponent needs.

How to score Toy Battle

Medals

The Medals taken by controlling regions. Reaching the Terrain’s Medals objective wins immediately; so does capturing the enemy H.Q., whatever the number of Medals.

Ended the game

Optional, to break ties: the player who could neither draw nor place. If Medals are tied, they lose.

Won by

Optional, for the record: enemy H.Q. captured, Medals objective reached, or more Medals when a player is stuck.

Worked example

Emma and Jake play until Jake can neither draw nor place a Troop. Emma has 4 Medals, and so does Jake: 4 each. Jake ended the game, so Emma wins.

Common mistakes

• Thinking the most Medals always wins: a captured H.Q. wins on the spot.
• Giving back Medals when you lose a region: you keep them until the end.
• Forgetting that on a Medal tie, the player who ended the game loses.

How to set up Toy Battle

Setup takes about 2 minutes. For a first game, use Castle Field and play without the special base effects.