4. Battle

Battle

Battle resolution, dice mechanics, casualties and Crown defeat

Generals of Kaladan: Age of Crowns is a player elimination game, and its main elimination mechanic is epic dice battles.

Battle is the decisive way to seize territory, remove enemy forces and eliminate rivals. Movement alone cannot enter an enemy tile. Only battle can break resistance.

Battle Fundamentals

Defeating all enemy units in battle is the only way to enter an enemy tile.
You may only attack from one tile, against a single opponent's tile. No multi-tile battles.
A battle occurs ONLY between two adjacent tiles: it is a tile-to-tile battle.
All units on both tiles must take part in the battle. There is no opt-out.
Outcomes are decided by rolling attack dice against defense dice.
Armies from different realms cannot share the same tile.

When Does a Battle Occur?

You declare an attack against an adjacent enemy tile during your Action Phase.

A battle is mandatory if you try to enter a tile containing an enemy unit or Crown.
Two armies may never occupy the same tile.
Only one battle may be initiated per turn.

Battle Sequence Overview

Every battle follows this sequence:

Declare the attack: from which tile, and against which tile
Declare Magic card use (both players independently choose whether to use a Magic card)
Determine attacking and defending units
Determine dice pools
Roll all attack and defense dice simultaneously
Sort each player's dice from highest to lowest
Compare dice one-to-one (highest against highest, and so on)
Assign casualties
Resolve survival and Crown status
If the attacker wins: mandatory invasion
If the defender wins: the defender holds position
If a Crown is defeated: eliminate the player and transfer their Special Unit

Magic Cards

Before a battle begins, either player (or both) may choose to use their Magic card.

Declaration order

After the attack is declared, but before units and dice pools are determined:

The attacking player declares first whether they will use a Magic card.
The defending player then declares whether they will use a Magic card.
Each player decides independently whether to opt in or opt out.
Once both declarations are made, the decision is final and cannot be changed.
The content of the Magic cards is only revealed after both players have declared.

This gives both players an equal chance to strengthen their forces before the battle is resolved.

During the gold spending phase (Purchase Phase), players may:

Swap a Magic card for an unused one from the deck for 2 Gold
Buy an additional Magic card from the unused deck for 4 Gold

Only Magic cards that save units lost in battle may be declared after the battle.

Dice Pools and Simultaneous Rolling

Both players roll all their dice at the same time.
No totals are added. Each die is judged on its own.

Who wins?

Sort each player's dice from highest to lowest, then compare:

Highest against highest
Second highest against second highest
Third against third
And so on

For each pair, the side with the lower die loses one unit. A tie in a pair causes no casualties.

Dice count limitation

If one side has more dice than the other:

Only as many dice are compared as the smaller side has
The extra dice of the larger side are ignored
Only that many units can take part in one-to-one comparisons

Battles are decided by matched pairs of dice, not by raw quantity.

Determining dice for each side

Dice pools come from:

Units on the attacking tile
Units on the defending tile
Castle bonuses (if the defending tile is a Castle)
Terrain bonuses (as set out in the rules)

Each unit's dice are listed in Units.

Mandatory Invasion

If the attacker defeats all the defending units, the attacking army must invade the tile with the maximum number of units the tile's capacity allows. They may still move one unit back in their Reinforcement Phase to keep control of the tile they came from.

Examples

Attack wins from a Forest (4 units) into a Mountain (capacity 3): invade with 3 units, leave 1 behind.
Attack from a Mountain (3 units) into a Field (capacity 4): invade with all 3 units.

If the Defender Wins

The defender stays on the tile.
Defenders do not move after winning.
Only the attacker's defeated units are removed.

Casualties

Defeated units are removed from the board permanently.
The defeated general chooses which of their units are lost.
The victor adds the units they defeat in battle to their graveyard.
Special Units are the only units that may return: they go back to their owner's reserves and can be respawned during the next Purchase Phase for 2 gold.

If a Crown Is Defeated

The player is eliminated immediately.
All their remaining units are removed from the board. They do not join any graveyard.
If the final battle was in the defeated player's Castle, their Castle passes to the victor.
If the battle was not in the Castle, the Castle becomes a free tile that any remaining player can occupy.

The defeated general's Special Unit

The defeated general's Special Unit changes owner and joins the victor's reserves. It may be deployed next turn for 2 gold. Any unused Magic cards from the defeated player's realm can now be bought by the player who defeated them, for 4 gold.

Special Unit Respawn Rules

A Special Unit costs 2 Gold to respawn, during the gold spending phase (Purchase Phase).
Special Units also cost 2 Gold to upgrade.
If a Special Unit is defeated in battle, it loses its upgrade and returns to your reserves, ready to be redeployed in your next Purchase Phase.

Official Battle Resolution Guide

A complete battle, step by step.

Step 1: Deployed forces and tile bonuses

Army	Tile	Dice pool
Attacking army	Forest	5 dice, including +1 D10 Forest attacking bonus
Defending army	Mountain	3 dice, including +1 D10 Mountain defending bonus

Step 2: The simultaneous roll

Both generals roll their entire dice pools at the same time into separate trays. No totals are added; each die is judged on its own.

Attacking army rolls: 7 (D12), 9, 9, 1 (D10) and 2 (D8)
Defending army rolls: 12 (D12), 9 and 2 (D10)

Step 3: Sort and compare

Pair	Attacker	Defender	Result
1	9	12	Defender wins
2	9	9	Tie
3	7	2	Attacker wins

The dice count limitation rule: the defender only has 3 dice, so the attacker's remaining rolls of 2 (D8) and 1 (D10) are ignored. No fourth comparison is made.

Step 4: Casualty resolution

	Attacking army	Defending army
Wins	1	1
Losses	1	1
Ties	1	1

Each side loses 1 unit.

Rule reminder: each player removes 1 unit from their army, and the defeated unit goes to the opposing general's graveyard, unless it is their Special Unit, which returns to its owner's reserves instead. For example, if the eliminated unit is Nanchi (Special Unit), it returns to its player's reserves instead of being removed.

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