Three kings. One map of northern Spain.

Someone is going to lose a castle and blame the cards.

Manoeuvre and fight for mastery over the kingdoms of Castilla, Aragón, and Nájera-Pamplona.

War of the 3 Sanchos Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

War of the 3 Sanchos is a 1-3 player area control game set during an 11th-century conflict in medieval Spain. Each player controls one of the three King Sanchos.

The game is played in rounds. One player is the Commander each round and plays a card from their hand.

That card does two things simultaneously: it gives the Commander Command Points to spend freely on their own actions, while the other two Sanchos must carry out the actions printed on their section of the card, whether they want to or not.

The Commander chooses when to take their own turn relative to the other players, which is where most of the tactical manoeuvring happens.

Command Points can be spent to Recruit (bring troops from supply to reserve), Deploy (move troops from reserve onto the board), Move (reposition troops or the King across regions), Fortify (place troops into a Garrison space to hold a castle or tower), Attack, or Besiege.

Combat uses a column-based dice system. Each side rolls a number of dice based on troops involved, plus bonus dice for CPs spent on the attack and a special King’s Guard die if the King is present.

Dice are placed under their rolled value on a battle chart. Starting from the highest column, any column with a single die means its owner removes that die and eliminates one opponent’s die and matching piece. Columns with multiple dice cancel out with no losses.

At the end of each round, both sides of any active siege lose a troop, which grinds Garrisons down.

How do you win?

Controlling home castles is worth 3 points, neutral castles 2, and towers 1. Points are tracked live and gained or lost immediately as Garrisons change hands.

Reach 10 victory points for a major victory at any point during the game, or have the most points when the card deck runs out.

Main Mechanisms

Area control, card-driven actions, dice combat, and hand management.

USP

The card system is the heart of it. When you play a card as Commander, you give your opponents their actions for the round.

Picking a card that allows your opponents to do something you don’t want them to do is just as important as what you do with your own CPs.

Theme

The three kingdoms have different profiles due to the starting position and card distribution.

Aragón favours besieging, Castilla fortifying, Nájera attacking and moving.

Setup

Straightforward. Place troops per the scenario and deal three cards to each player.

Components & Artwork

The board is attractive and clearly laid out. The card design is functional with colour-coded action sections per kingdom. The dice pool, score track doubling as a battle chart, and token set are all clean and practical.

Ease of Teaching

The core turn structure is simple enough. The combat resolution takes a full combat to get.

Similar Games

8 Minute Empire scratches the same light area control itch in less time, though it lacks the tactical depth of the card system here.

Blood Rage shares the card-drafting when you’re thinking about what you give opponents as much as what you take.

War of the 3 Sanchos Review

Positives

The card system rewards forward thinking.

The column combat system is a really good mix of random and deterministic, as the reroll step adds an extra layer.

Negatives

The forced actions on non-commander turns can cause real analysis paralysis.

If anyone at the table isn’t pushing aggressively for territory, one player can run away.

Summary

A tight, historically grounded area control game with a genuinely clever card mechanism that rewards thinking.

Jesta ThaRogue