Exile in the Forest

[There is currently an issue with the rule book being too small. Please download a PDF copy from this page while I work to fix it!]

The five Pandava brothers are exiled to the forest for 12 years before they can claim the throne of Hastinapura. But there is no doubt their evil cousins will not relinquish it when they return and so those 12 years must be spent gathering allies and weapons to prepare for war.

You'll be exploring a map, dealing with events as you move, and defending against attacks with lots of dice. There are four kingdoms whose allegiance you seek and you can do quests for each one of them as well as personal quests to improve yourself for the coming war.

Each player character can upgrade their number of attack and defense dice as they complete quests and survive events.

There are only twelve years to get prepared for the war.

Unboxing Video (game has changed a little since this video: the board is now static and not modular)

How to Play video:

This game is based on the longest story in the world and a pillar of Hinduism, The Mahabharata. The location of the ancient kingdom of Hastinapura and the battlefield of Kurukshetra can be visited today. Hindu children grow up on these stories.

All artwork is from 1) photographs I took in India, 2) free clip art made for use in boardgames, and 3) public domain images

Variations: If you'd like to you can adjust the difficulty up and down. For example, try increasing the difficulty by only allowing one turn per player per year or using the middle combat numbers from the start. Try decreasing the difficulty by giving two reputation per kingdom event card and staying with the first set of combat numbers.