Ninelands
Appendix
Glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Claim / domain | The cells your pieces cover (tinted). Nobody builds there. |
| Reach | How far a piece claims; pasture costs 1, mountains and moor 2, lakes stop it. |
| Land | One of the nine (16, 25) regions with a name and a flag. |
| Rule a land | Alone: hold at least half of its cells. Duel: hold more of its cells than the opponent. |
| Held cell | A cell with your piece or in your claim; in duels: where you are stronger. |
| Strength | Duels and bandits: castle 3, knight 2, farmer and bishop 1; adds up. |
| Contested | Equal strength – the cell belongs to nobody. |
| Law | The special rule of a map. |
| Map code | Short code that rebuilds exactly the same map. |
| Glory | Rating from rated online duels. |
Costs and yields
| Cost | On pasture | On pasture with lake | On a treasure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castle | 0 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
| Knight | 10 | 5 × 2 | 7 × 2 | 20 × 2 |
| Farmer | 0 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
| Bishop | 15 | 5 | 7 | 20 |
Castle and farmer can't stand in the moor, so herbs go to knights and bishops.
Factions
Looks only – the rules are identical. Orcs and pirates unlock when you finish the first campaign; the computer always plays a different faction than you.
| Faction | Castle | Knight | Farmer | Bishop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom |  |
 |
 |
 |
| Orc horde |  |
 |
 |
 |
| Pirates |  |
 |
 |
 |
Profile pictures
| Picture | How to unlock |
|---|---|
 |
Default for everyone |
  |
With an account |
 |
Win the first campaign station |
  |
Finish chapter 3 / chapter 6 of the first campaign |
 |
Finish the first campaign |
  |
60 / all 96 stars of the first campaign |
  |
Solve 10 puzzles / 30 puzzles with 3 stars |
  |
Map of the day 7 / 30 days in a row |
  |
Beat the computer on Medium / Hard |
 |
Beat Hard on a 15 × 15 map |
  |
Win an online duel / 10 rated online duels |
 |
3 stars on a 12 × 12 or 15 × 15 map |
Keyboard
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| 1–4 or C K F B | Pick castle, knight, farmer, bishop |
| Arrow keys, Enter | Move the cursor on the board, place |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo |
| ? | Rules of this map |
Colour-blind friendly
In a game's settings (wrench icon) you can switch on colour-blind friendly. Then colour is never the only sign: in duels player 2's land is striped and their pieces stand on a dashed base (also in the duel bar), and a field you can't build on gets a dashed frame instead of only a red one.
Sound
Sound at the top right opens the volume sliders for music and sound effects. The speaker button next to it mutes everything with one tap and remembers it; your slider settings stay as they were. Moving a slider turns the sound back on.
Credits
Pixel art: 16x16 Mini World Sprites by Shade and octoshrimpy (CC0). Music: Dreamscape (part I) by Vee Ray (CC BY-SA 4.0). Game, rules and this guide: Ninelands.