Warlord Darts Rules

A territory war on the dartboard. Claim, fortify, and conquer land next to your own, and hold the biggest empire through a full round to win.

Overview

Warlord is a territory war on the dartboard. The board is a map: each of the 20 segments is a territory, and so is the Bull. Players claim neutral territories, fortify their own, and conquer their opponents'. Win by holding more territories than anyone else and keeping your empire through a full round.

Segment values do not matter — the 1 is worth exactly as much as the 20. What matters is position: you can only act on territories next to land you already hold. Warlord is for 2 to 8 players, with a solo mode for one.

Game Setup

The round limit sits at the top of the game options. The more players, the fewer rounds you need, so Dartly recommends a limit for each player count. Solo has no round limit.

The Map

• 21 territories: the 20 segments and the Bull. The outer bull and the bullseye are the same territory.
• Neighbors: each segment borders the two segments next to it on the board — the 20 borders the 5 and the 1. The Bull borders every segment.
• Strength: every territory is either neutral, with strength 0, or owned by one player with a strength of 1 to 3.

At the start of every leg, each player gets a home segment at strength 3. The homes are spread evenly around the board, so two players start opposite each other, and the whole layout is rotated at random every leg. Everything else, the Bull included, starts neutral.

Dart Force

The ring a dart lands in decides its force — how much strength it adds or removes:

Reach

A dart only has an effect on a territory in your reach: your own territories, their neighbors on the board, and the Bull, which is always in reach. Own the Bull and the whole board is in your reach.

What a Dart Does

• Your own territory: adds the force to its strength, up to the maximum of 3.
• A neutral or enemy territory: removes the force from its strength. When the strength drops to 0 or below, the territory is yours, and the force left over becomes its new strength (at least 1, at most 3). A triple claims a neutral territory at full strength 3.
• Out of reach, or a miss: no effect. The dart still counts as one of your three.

Every dart takes effect at once, and your reach is updated after each one. A territory you take with your first dart can open up new neighbors for the next, so one turn can chain several captures.

Opening Round

In the first round of every leg, the first player throws only 1 dart, the second player 2, and everyone else 3. This takes away the advantage of grabbing land first. Solo has no opening round.

Winning by Domination

You win when your turn comes around and you hold at least the target number of territories (the Bull counts) and more territories than every other player. In practice you have to keep your empire through a full round in which every opponent gets a turn to break it.

The target depends on the number of players. In overtime it drops by 1 every round, but never below 1:

For example, with two players the target is 12 territories up to round 10, then 11 in round 11, 10 in round 12, and so on.

The Siege

When a player who is not throwing already meets the win condition for their next turn, they are holding the board and a siege banner appears. Everyone else gets one turn to break it: take enough of the holder's territories to drop them below the target, or catch up with their territory count. Whoever breaks the siege is credited with it in the statistics.

Leader Points

After every turn, the player who alone holds the most territories scores one leader point, no matter who threw. A tie for the most territories scores nothing. Leader points do not decide domination — they only count when the round limit is reached and for the final standings.

Round Limit

If nobody dominates, the leg ends once every player has taken the chosen number of rounds. The player with the most leader points wins. A tie goes to whoever holds more territories, then to the higher total strength, and if that is level too, to the player seated later in the player order.

Once someone wins, the leg is over — nobody plays on for the remaining places. Everyone else is ranked by leader points, then territories, then total strength. In a multi-leg match, legs won count first.

Solo

With one player, the goal is to own all 21 territories in as few darts as possible. The leg ends the moment the last territory falls. Solo has no opening round, no siege, and no round limit.

Game Flow Example

Alice and Bob are a few rounds into a leg. Alice owns the 20 and the 1. Bob owns the 3, the 19, and the Bull at strength 1. Alice throws:

Alice now holds 5 territories to Bob's 2, and the Bull puts the whole board in her reach. The Bull is in Bob's reach too, though, and at strength 1 a single outer bull takes it straight back.

Statistics

Dartly tracks every player's territories claimed, conquests, territories lost, largest empire, Bull captures, sieges broken, and effective darts — darts that changed the board. In solo games it records the darts you needed to conquer all 21 territories.

Starting Player Rotation

In multi-leg matches, the starting player rotates between legs. The first leg starts with the designated starting player, the second leg with the next player in the order, and so on. Every new leg also gives everyone new home segments and resets the board and the round count.

Confirmation Mode

Confirmation Mode is an optional setting you can turn on when creating a game, or toggle mid-game from the top bar. Tapping the dartboard opens a magnified 1.5× overlay showing the segment you hit, its two neighbors, and the Bull — tap the correct segment to confirm the score, or tap outside the overlay to cancel with nothing scored. It's especially useful in Warlord, where neighboring segments are different territories and one wrong segment changes the map. Misses are always registered immediately and skip the confirmation step.

Strategy Tips

• Keep your empire compact: misses land next to the segment you aim at, so they hit your own land instead of being wasted.
• Break every siege: when someone holds the target, everyone should attack them. Every territory you take from the holder counts twice: one less for them, one more for you.
• Fight for the Bull: it is always in reach, borders every segment, and puts the whole board in reach of whoever owns it.
• Claim with triples: a triple on a neutral territory takes it at full strength 3, so it is much harder to win back.
• Fortify your borders: a territory at strength 3 takes a triple, or at least two darts, to conquer. Reinforce the ones next to your opponents first.
• Stay the sole leader: if the leg may reach the round limit, every turn that ends with you alone holding the most territories earns you a leader point.

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