Wonderland's War

Scope and setup: this guide covers the 3–5-player base game over three rounds, each with a Tea Party and War phase. Use one matching A/B/C/D set of Ally abilities and each faction’s starting bag, active Shield and Quest setup. Two players use separate rules for an excluded region, five Tea Party cards, Local Resistance and two-stage Castles.

Tea Party: normally move clockwise to an unoccupied space containing a card and gain its effects, subject to faction powers such as Alice’s movement exception. At the Head of the Table, pause to roll for Shards and refill spaces with neither a Leader nor a card; pass the Head at most once per turn. Once you hold four cards from this round, use your next turn to place your Leader in any region. Finish when all Leaders are placed.

Madness and recruitment: after the Tea Party everyone adds one regular Madness chip to their bag. Each player tied for most Shards adds another and discards half their Shards, rounded up. One group of units on a card normally goes into a single region. New Ally chips enter the bag; recruited Wonderlandian figures enter a region immediately, while items provide their matching chips. If a Madness distribution step lacks enough chips for equal distribution, nobody gains chips for that step; most-Shard players who cannot receive that extra Madness do not discard half their Shards.

Battle and draws: resolve regions clockwise from the Starting Battle marker. You need a unit to participate; a Castle alone is not one. Starting strength comes from present Leaders, Wonderlandians and Castles, not Supporters. In a contested battle everyone must draw the first chip simultaneously; later choose simultaneously to draw or halt with an empty hand. Halting prevents further draws. Non-Madness chips resolve abilities and add strength; Madness and busting resolve before other effects.

Madness, Shields and busting: Madness adds no strength and removes one or two units as shown; remove your Leader last. An active Shield can block the entire chip and return it to the bag, flipping the Shield down. Losing all units means busting: strength becomes zero, Active chips Exhaust immediately, their end-of-battle benefits are lost, and the Shield repairs. Filling the fourth Madness space returns Madness and Exhausted chips to your bag. If you also bust, Exhaust Active chips first. Refreshing alone does not repair a Shield.

Ending and region rewards: end when everyone has halted or busted, someone reaches 25 strength, or the sole active player leads outright. Multiple players reaching 25 on the same draw tie. A non-busted sole winner gains the round’s region points and a Castle, at most one Castle per player per region; a sole second-place player gains half the region award; tied second-place players split that second-place award evenly, rounding up. Tied first-place players each choose points or a Castle, with no second-place award. An uncontested region needs no draws and offers points or a Castle.

Quests, Forging and circulation: non-busted players may complete one Quest Feat at battle end. A Forge symbol at your final strength space and Active Forge chips provide opportunities to move Active chips to the leftmost empty Forge-track spaces for rewards. Newly unlocked abilities do not apply retroactively to that battle. Afterward remaining Active chips Exhaust and Madness stays on its track. Before another round, return Exhausted and Madness chips to bags, leave surviving units in regions, and keep Shields in their current state.

Final scoring: after round three add earned points, Castle values (normally 3–6 each according to your Forge track) and Quests. A completed Feat or Objective alone is worth three points; completing both on one Quest is worth nine. Lose one point per remaining Shard. Highest total wins; ties favor fewer Shards, then more units on the board.