In King's Forge, the players are peasant craftsmen and craftswomen hoping to advance their careers and win a place at court and the title of King's Forge. They will do so by successfully crafting 4 items from a posted list prepared by the King himself.

Components

• 91 dice
• 33 craft cards
• 18 gather cards
• 2 reference cards
• 1 victory card
• 4 dock tiles
• 4 smithy tiles
• 2 Automatic 6 tokens
• 2 +1/+1 tokens
• 1 first player anvil token
• 1 game board
• Rulebook

Setup

The board includes slots for cards, places for the stocks of dice, and dock locations. Alternatively, you may use the dock tiles instead of the game board to save space.

1. Each player takes a smithy tile and chooses a side as their shop's mascot.

2. Each player takes 5 metal dice and places the dice on the table to form their supply. The remaining dice form the stock and are placed in the appropriate areas of the board.

3. Shuffle the craft cards. Take a number of cards off the top of the pile based on the chart below and return the remaining cards to the box as they will not be needed for this game:

   • 2-PLAYER GAME: 9 craft cards
   • 3-PLAYER GAME: 10 craft cards
   • 4-PLAYER GAME: 13 craft cards

   Sort the selected craft cards from low to high based on the rank number in the upper right corner of each card.

   Place the 3 lowest ranked cards on the appropriate board spaces. Keep the remaining cards in rank-order, splaying them so that the dice icons on the right edge of every card are visible.

4. Look through the gather cards and pull out the North Mine, South Mine, East Forest, and West Forest cards; these cards are each marked with a symbol, which means they are used in every game.

   Shuffle the remaining gather cards and add 7 random gather cards to the 4 cards pulled out previously. Return all unused gather cards to the box. Shuffle all 11 gather cards and place them on the appropriate board space.

5. The player who last built something takes the first player anvil and starts the game with the gather phase.

Gather Cards

Gather cards represent the shops, merchants, and important gathers around your village where you can obtain resource dice and special abilities.

Each gather card has 2 possible actions, 1 at the top of the card and 1 at the bottom of the card. Only 1 action may be used when you claim a gather card.

The squares in each action area on the gather cards represent the dice cost to claim the card for that particular action:

Any die may be used.

Only wood (green) dice may be used.

Only gem (red) dice may be used.

Either gem (red) or magic (blue) dice may be used.

Dice placed on a square with this icon are returned to the stock instead of your smithy tile at the end of the round.

Any text or icons on a gather card represent a special ability or action you may use as appropriate during the gather and/or craft phases of the current round.

Dice: Identifies dice you receive by claiming certain gather cards. Icon changes color depending on the type of dice you are to receive.

Anvil: Identifies a gather card that is always included in every game of King's Forge.

Supply: The dice you gain as result of this card are added directly to your supply of available dice. They do not go to your smithy tile as usual.

Flip: Allows you to flip 1 or more dice (as noted on the gather card, itself) to their opposite face. For example, a 1 becomes a 6, a 2 becomes a 5, etc.

Re-roll: Allows you to re-roll 1 or more of your dice, as noted on the card itself. This does not allow you to re-roll dice that are already in use on a gather or craft card.

Dice Bonus: Allows you to add the noted number to any 1 die. The bonus can only be applied once and only in the round in which you acquired the gather card.

The bonus cannot be held over for a future round. If the value is 2 or higher, it must be applied to a single die; the bonus cannot be split among different dice.

If the card allows multiple dice bonuses, each must be applied to a different die; they cannot be combined to affect a single die. Dice bonuses from separate gather cards, however, may be combined for use on a single die. Dice bonuses can temporarily raise a die value above 6.

Claiming Gather Cards

When you claim a gather card, move it to the table in front of you and place the required dice from your supply on the card. Dice used on a gather card are not available for any other use that round.

Typically, you recover your dice from gather cards at the end of the round, but if the box is marked with an , the die you placed on that box is consumed and instead returned to the stock at the end of the round.

Some gather card actions do not have any squares, so choosing those actions cost you no dice. Even so, you may only choose ONE action from the claimed gather card. The no-cost action is NOT an extra action.

Pictures of dice on a gather card represent new dice you acquire by taking the chosen action. Newly acquired dice are placed on your smithy tile and are not available for you to use during the current round.

Tokens

There are 2 types of tokens that can be acquired during the game. Tokens must be used in the round they are acquired; they cannot be held over for a future round.

The silver +1/+1 token is used just like a Dice Bonus to increase any 2 of your dice by 1 point each.

The gold Automatic 6 token is used to change 1 die of yours from any value to a 6.

Craft Cards

Craft cards represent the items that the King wants you to craft to see if you are worthy to be the new King's Forge.

Each craft card has a number in the upper right corner used to sort the craft cards in order of difficulty. Low-numbered cards are easier to craft while high-numbered cards are more difficult or require resource dice that are more difficult to obtain.

This sorting number does not represent victory points or any other scoring mechanic.

The color of the dice spaces on the right edge of a craft card represents the type of resource dice needed to craft the item. The pips on each die space represent the minimum value of each needed resource.

So, the dice you roll in the crafting Phase must match the colors shown on the card, and the values must be equal to or greater than the pips shown on the card.

Game Play

Each round of King's Forge consists of 3 phases:

1. Gather Phase
2. Craft Phase
3. Cleanup Phase

Starting with the first player (the player who has the anvil this round), all players in clockwise order perform all the actions in each phase before moving on to the next phase.

Once all players have completed the cleanup phase, the current round ends. The first player anvil passes left to the next player, and a new round begins.

1. Gather Phase

To begin the gather phase, the first player deals 4 gather cards face-up to the center of the table and then chooses an action:

• Claim a Gather Card
• Visit a Dock Location
• Pass

If a gather card was claimed or discarded, the empty space is refilled with the next card on the gather deck and the next clockwise player makes a choice of actions. This continues, player-by-player, until there are no more face- up gather cards or all players have passed.

Claim a Gather Card

In order to visit a gather, you must have the number and types of dice required to use 1 of the 2 actions listed on the card.

Move the selected gather card in front of you and place the necessary dice from your supply on the card action you have selected.

Only 1 action may be selected on a gather card, and any dice you place on the card are not available for any other use in this round. You must use one of the actions on the gather card you take.

If the chosen action yields 1 or more new resource dice, those new dice are immediately moved from the stock to your smithy tile. These newly acquired dice may not be used for any purpose during the current round.

Since the resources in the game are finite, you may claim a gather card and find that some or all the dice granted by the action are not available in the stock. Take only the dice that are available in the stock when you claim the card. You may not come back later and take dice you were unable to claim.

If the gather deck has not yet been exhausted, flip over the top card from the gather deck to refill the position of the gather card that you claimed.

Visit a Dock Location

There will be times when you need a certain resource or bonus, and none of the available gather cards provide what you need. The docks are a place where you can (usually) find what you are looking for...for a price.

To visit a dock location, choose a face up gather card from the center of the table and place it face-down in front of you. If there are no face-up gather cards remaining, you may not visit the docks.

Then, select an unclaimed action on a dock location and place the required resource dice from your supply on that action. All of the actions on the docks are available to all players, however, once a specific action is used, no other player may use that same action this round.

So, if you spend 3 dice at the docks to obtain a gem die, the next player to visit the docks for a gem die will need to use the 4-dice action instead.

Tokens received from the docks are for use in this round only. If you do not use it, you forfeit it at the end of the round. Dice received from the docks go to your smithy card as usual.

During the cleanup phase, all dice that were placed on docks are returned to the stock.

Pass

If you decide that you do not want to claim an available gather card or an available docks action, or that you want to save the rest of your dice supply for the craft phase, you may choose to pass. A player that passes cannot take any further actions during this gather phase. No gather cards are removed from play and the next player continues the gather phase as usual.

If you are the first player to pass in this gather phase then you may either take 1 metal die from the stock and add it to your supply or take a +1/+1 token for use in this round's crafting phase.

The gather phase ends once all players have passed or there are no more face-up gather cards and at least 1 player has passed. If it occurs that there are no face-up gather cards and no 1 has passed yet, the next player in turn automatically passes and receives the first-to-pass benefit.

2. Craft Phase

Beginning with the first player and advancing clockwise, each player has 1 opportunity to craft any of the 3 items currently on display near the center of the table, or to steal any item that was crafted by another player earlier in this same round.

When it is your turn to craft, take all of the unused dice in your supply and roll them. Dice that have been placed on gather cards or docks tiles are used and may not be rolled. Dice on your smithy tile cannot be rolled until the next round.

Crafting an Item

You craft an item by matching your rolled dice by color and value to the dice requirements on 1 of the 3 craft cards on display near the center of the table. The values of your dice must meet or exceed the dice values shown on the craft card.

If you can allocate an appropriate color and value die to every die square on a craft card then you have crafted that item and you move the craft card to the table in front of you and place your allocated dice on the card so that other players know it was you who completed that craft card.

However, you don't actually claim the card until the end of the crafting phase.

Now that there are only 2 craft cards on display, move the lowest rank craft card from the waiting line to the center of the table. This item is immediately available to craft.

If you have enough dice of the proper colors and values, you may complete more than 1 item on your turn, including any craft cards that were just moved to the center of the table.

Any rolled dice that cannot be used to complete a craft card on display at the center of the table are placed on your smithy tile and your crafting turn is over.

Dice Manipulation

If you chose gather card actions with a dice-roll bonus or you acquired a +1/+1 or Automatic-6 token from the docks or as a first-to-pass benefit, you can manipulate the dice after you've rolled them. You can only manipulate your own dice, not dice belonging to another player.

Manipulated dice are physically changed; if you have a +1 ability and apply it to a die showing a 4, you turn the die so that it shows 5.

Manipulated dice can temporarily have their values raised above 6. If a die's value is boosted above 6, place a die of any kind under it to represent +6 to the die value on top. For example, a 2-metal with any die under it counts as an 8-metal.

Stealing a Craft Card

Even if you complete the requirements of a craft card, you do not claim that card until after the crafting phase. Until that time, other players may steal the card from you by crafting a better version of that item during their turn.

To steal a craft card, you must be able to allocate dice to that card that are each at least equal to the dice the other player already has on the card AND at least 1 of your dice must be of a greater value than 1 of the dice currently on the card.

If you successfully steal a craft card from a player, move the dice from the craft card to that player's smithy tile, then move the stolen craft card in front of you and place your own dice on it.

Your freshly-stolen craft card is not necessarily safe, however; it can be stolen again by another player crafting after you on this same round if they can roll or manipulate the right dice values.

If you roll your dice and the values do not allow you to craft 1 of the available cards, your craft turn is over and you pass.

It is possible that you will have no dice in your supply when the craft phase begins or that the dice you do have do not match the colors needed for any of the available craft cards. In this event, your craft turn is over and you pass.

After all players have taken a craft turn or passed, the craft phase ends and the cleanup phase begins.

3. Cleanup Phase

The cleanup phase has 3 actions that are taken in order:

Claim Craft Cards

If you completed 1 or more craft cards and those cards were not stolen, move all dice from the craft cards to your smithy tile.

Tuck the completed craft cards under your smithy tile with the rank numbers showing so that other players will know how many items you have crafted.

A craft card under your smithy tile cannot be stolen from you. When 1 or more players have 4 craft cards under their smithy tile, the game ends.

Gather Resources

All dice on the docks and gather card squares marked with an are discarded back to the stock. Unused dice and all remaining dice on gather cards are returned to that player's smithy tile.

Reset for Next Round

Pass the first player anvil to the left. That player collects all 11 gather cards, shuffles them, and places the deck face- down near the center of the table. A new round begins with the gather phase.

End of the Game

The game is over at the end of any round in which at least 1 player has claimed 4 or more craft cards (5 craft cards in a 2-player game). The player with the most crafted items at the end of the game is the winner!

If 2 or more winning players have claimed the same number of craft cards, the player possessing the craft card with the highest rank number is the winner.

Continue Reading