- BGG rating
- 7.5
The Great Wall: Ancient Beasts
- 1–4 players
- 120–180 min
- Complexity 3.5/5
- 2021
- BGG rank
- BGG #531
- BGG rating
- 7.8
The Great Wall
2021
Rules assistance for The Great Wall
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–4 players
- 120–180 min
- 13+
- Complexity 3.9/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for The Great Wall
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Great Wall is a board game released in 2021 for 1–4 players, 120–180 minutes per game, and ages 13 and up. It was designed by Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Łukasz Włodarczyk, and Robert Plesowicz and its main mechanics are Income, Area Majority / Influence, and Secret Unit Deployment.
Expansions
- BGG rating
- 8.1
The Great Wall: Black Powder
- 1–4 players
- 120–180 min
- Complexity 4.1/5
- 2021
- BGG rating
- 7.6
The Great Wall: Iron Dragon
- 1–4 players
- 120–180 min
- Complexity 3.7/5
- 2021
- BGG rating
- 8.1
The Great Wall: Stretch Goals
- 1–5 players
- 120–180 min
- Complexity 4.0/5
- 2021
- BGG rating
- 8.2
The Great Wall: The Endless Tide Scenario
- 2–5 players
- 2022
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About the game
The Great Wall is a new asymmetric worker/soldier placement game with engine building themes and a twist in form of a constantly attacking AI (Mongolian Horde) that requires players to sometimes cooperate in order to defeat it. This is a new major board game from Awaken Realms. Players will control ancient clans in China trying to defend against invading Mongolian hordes and build a Great Wall. While every player will want to win (by earning VP = Honor) they also need to sometimes cooperate to defend against the hordes. Each clan will be asymmetric through its chosen Leader (resource production/starting resources/starting workers and units) and this asymmetry will increase as the game progresses (players will hire Advisors with unique skills, often creating unique engines). In The Great Wall, the players take the role of Generals defending the Wall against the Mongol Horde. The game is played over a series of turns called Years, each divided into 4 parts called Seasons. During Spring, new barbaric hordes invade the fields in front of the Great Wall and prepare to launch their assault. Summer is the time when generals prepare for the assault and mobilize their forces. During Fall, players take their turns, playing Command cards, resolving their effects and Activating Locations to gain various benefits. In Winter, the last layer of Defense is activated, then, the hordes try to assault the Walls. During the course of the game, players will create their own unique engines based on their clan strength as well as interact with other players during all phases of the game, trying to get the most Honor points, which can be gained in a lot of different ways. At the end of the game, the player with the most Honor wins. —description from the publisher
Categories
Mechanics
Publishers
- Delta Vision Publishing
- Korea Boardgames
- Maldito Games
- YOKA Games
- Awaken Realms
- Albi
- CrowD Games
Questions and answers
The Great Wall supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Great Wall is 120–180 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Great Wall for ages 13 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Great Wall has a complexity rating of 3.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a heavy game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Great Wall belongs to these categories: Fantasy, Economic, and Territory Building. Its main mechanics are Income, Area Majority / Influence, and Secret Unit Deployment. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Great Wall are: Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Łukasz Włodarczyk, and Robert Plesowicz. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Great Wall as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.