A Battle Through History Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Materials
• Setup
  • Board Setup
  • Player Setup
• Game Conventions
• Game Flow
• Phase 1: Time Travel
  • 1.a Activate the Gears of History
  • 1.b Prepare for the Battle
  • 1.c Time Jump
• Phase 2: The Battle
  • 2.a Conquer Units on the Board
  • 4. Course of the Battle
    • Resolution of a Combat Line
    • Damage and Defeat of Units
    • Victory in Battle
  • 5. Rewards at the End of the Battle
  • 2.b Challenge Another Player
• Phase 3: Restoration
• End of the Game
  • Elite Units and Heroes
  • Relics
  • Prowess in Battle and Honor of the Arms
  • Example
  • Victory
• The Dice
• Unit Cards
• Links
• Warfare Tokens
• Heroes
• Relic Cards
• Special Abilities on Cards and Tokens
  • Ability Examples
• Examples of Battles
  • Pär's First Battle
  • A Battle Between Chris and Joakim

Game Materials

• 4 Quadrants for the main board (to be assembled)
• 1 Gears of History board (to be assembled)
• 12 Time-traveling tiles
• 2 Special dice (1 Strong die and 1 Risky die)
• 108 Unit cards, including: 40 Base Units (1 set of 8 cards for each Sabaton); 60 Elite Units (15 for each of the four Eras); 8 Hero Units (2 for each of the four Eras)
• 32 Relic cards (8 Relics per Era)
• 8 Damage counters
• 20 Prowess in Battle tokens (4 for each Sabaton)
• 20 Link counters (divided by Eras)
• 20 Warfare tokens
• 8 Honor of the Arms tokens
• 1 Round Track and its counter
• 1 Headquarters counter (to be assembled as shown)
• 5 Attacker Boards (1 for each Sabaton)
• 1 Defender Board (changes hands)
• 5 Sabaton miniatures

Setup

1. Assemble the Gears of History board and arrange the main board as shown in the figure.

2. Shuffle the Time-traveling tiles face down and place them in a pile near the main board.

3. Mix the Warfare tokens face down and place them in a pile.

4. Divide the cards as follows:

   • a. Separate the Relic cards, shuffle them, and place them in a face-down deck near the main board in a location accessible to all players.
   • b. Split the Unit cards between the Base Units and the Elite Units.
     • b1. Base Units must be split into 5 decks according to the Sabaton they represent.
     • b2. Elite Units must be split into Eras (according to color and reference number), creating 4 decks.

   PLEASE NOTE: Unit cards all have the same back, so that during the game, a player can "hide" their strategy from the other players.

5. Choose your preferred Sabaton miniature and take the corresponding Attacker Board, 8 Base Unit cards, and 4 Prowess in Battle tokens.

6. Place the Damage counters, the Link counters, and the Honor of the Arms tokens near the main board, accessible to all players. Keep the Combat dice nearby as well. Then place the Round Track next to the board and place its token on the "1" space.

7. The Defender Board (shared by everyone) can temporarily be set aside. It will pass from player to player as needed. The Defender Board has a Combat side used during the game and a side with a summary of the ways one can earn victory points on the other side.

Board Setup

8. Draw 2 Time-traveling tiles from the pile and after turning them face-up, slide them into the Gears of History board following the direction of the arrow until the Active Position is reached. The tiles will make the cogwheel rotate, determining the starting situation of the game. (Insert the tile into the Gears of History and push gently.)

9. Draw 3 Warfare tokens from the pile and place them face-up on the matching spaces on the Gears of History board.

10. For each Era, follow these steps using the Elite Unit decks created earlier (Step 4b2):

    • A. Set the Heroes aside.
    • B. Shuffle the rest of the deck face down. Draw 3 cards and put them face-up on that Era's spaces on the board.
    • C. Add the Heroes to the remaining deck and shuffle again. Place it face down near the main board.

    Leave room for a discard pile next to each Era.

Player Setup

11. Place your Attacker Board in front of you with the combat side up (the other side is used when scoring victory points at the end of the game). Your Attacker Board has 4 slots. During battles, you will deploy Unit cards from your hand here, from right to left, starting from the "Battlefront." This board also has a "virtual slot" (to the left) that can hold a card added through the Reinforcements action (see Phase 2: The Battle). The board also shows the Attacker icon, the type of dice to use in battle according to the number of cards deployed by the Attacker, and the Relic reward obtained by an Attacker who wins a battle, based on the number of cards deployed by the Attacker.

12. Keep your Sabaton miniature in front of you. It will be used starting from the first round.

13. Mix your 4 Prowess in Battle tokens face down and place them in front of you. At the start of the game, the Prowess in Battle tokens have to be shuffled and kept face-down.

14. Draw 1 Relic card and keep it face up in front of you (not on the Attacker board).

    PLEASE NOTE: All Relic cards acquired during the game must be visible to everyone and placed beside your Attacker Board.

15. Shuffle your 8 Base Unit cards face down, creating a deck, and place it in your personal area. Leave room for your discard pile. Then draw the first 4 cards to create your starting hand.

If there are fewer than 5 players, put all the components linked to the Sabatons that are not in use back in the box.

PLEASE NOTE: The entire area where these elements are placed is considered to be your Personal Area.

The Defender Board has 3 slots for placing cards (from left to right starting from the Battlefront) and a "virtual slot" (further to the right) that can hold 1 card added through the Reinforcements action.

Game Conventions

• Deployment: The Attacker deploys their cards on the Attacker Board, always from right to left starting from the position closest to the Battlefront. The Defender deploys their cards on the Defender Board always from left to right starting from the position closest to the Battlefront.
• Army: The term "Army" refers to all of the cards in a player's possession, whether in their hand, their deck, or their discard pile.
• Attacker-Defender: The term Attacker always identifies the active player whereas their opponent, be it a Unit from the main board or another player, is called Defender.
• Battlefield: During battles, the battlefield is located in a player's Personal Area and it is composed of the player's Attacker Board placed to the left of the shared Defender Board.

Graphic note: in the iconography of the game, a card belonging to the deck is always shown in white, whereas a card belonging to the discard pile is shown in gray.

Game Flow

Whoever has accomplished the most heroic feat (whatever it may be) starts the game and takes the Headquarters counter. Whoever has the counter also has the task of moving the Round Track token on its board at the end of each Round.

The game is played over 6 Rounds (or 8 if you decide to play a Long Campaign). Each Round, every player completes one turn going clockwise, starting from "Headquarters."

Each player's turn consists of the following phases, ALL of which are mandatory:

1. Time Travel
2. The Battle
3. Restoration

Phase 1: Time Travel

To complete time travel, you must:

• 1.a Activate the Gears of History
• 1.b Prepare for the Battle
• 1.c Time Jump

1.a Activate the Gears of History

At the beginning of each turn, 12 cards lay face up on the main board, 3 for each Era, with different abilities and potentials. On your turn, you must choose which Era to "jump" into (i.e., move your Sabaton), basing this choice on the Elite Units present in that Era that you want to conquer, OR alternatively you can choose to face another player (see Phase 2: The Battle).

To achieve a Time Jump, you must insert at least one Time-traveling tile and, if desired, up to a maximum of 3 into the Gears of History board, using the same procedures seen in Board Setup.

PLEASE NOTE: There can only be 2 Time-traveling tiles on the board at a time. When you draw a tile and insert it into the Gears of History by sliding it to the Pending Position, it will push a tile out, which must be placed in the discard pile.

If the tile you just pushed into the Active Position satisfies your strategy, you do not need to draw any more and can proceed with your turn. Otherwise, you can draw a second one and insert it and so on up to a maximum of 3 tiles.

At the end of this procedure, the tile that is in the Active Position determines which of the Eras you can actually "jump into".

1.b Prepare for the Battle

When you insert a Time-traveling tile, the Gears of History will rotate, determining all the options and actions available to you, namely:

• Draw the Warfare token that the Time-traveling tile in the Active Position is pointing to (the indicator of the Warfare token that can be taken).
• Carry out the 2 Actions indicated on the Gears of History indicated by the main board (if you want to) (the Active Actions for the active player; each is shown by an Active Action indicator).

PLEASE NOTE: The only 2 Active Actions are those indicated by the arrows on the main board. Active Actions can be carried out in any order or not carried out at all if the player doesn't deem it necessary.

In detail, there are 4 possible actions:

• Draw 2 cards from your personal deck and add them to your hand.
• Look at your discard pile and choose 1 card to add to your hand.
• Dismiss a Unit from your hand and draw 1 card from your personal deck. The dismissed card is removed from play for the rest of the game and must be put back in the box.
• Shuffle your discard pile together with your deck to create a new deck, then draw 1 card and add it to your hand. If your discard pile is empty, shuffle your deck and draw anyway.

PLEASE NOTE: The drawn Warfare token must be placed in your Personal Area and can be used during Phase 2: The Battle. You cannot have more than 3 Warfare tokens in your Personal Area.

PLEASE NOTE: If you forget to carry out one or more actions before deploying Units on the Attacker Board, you will not be able to take them later.

1.c Time Jump

Each Time-traveling tile shows 2 Eras (for example, Era II OR Era III). You can jump to 1 of the 2 Eras on the tile in the Active Position by placing your Sabaton anywhere in that Era's area of the board. The Time Jump determines the end of your Phase 1.

BEWARE! It is never in any way possible to "stay still" in the same Era. Therefore, if the Time-traveling tile in the Active Position points to the Era your Sabaton is in, you will be obliged to jump into the other Era shown on the same tile (or, if possible, add another tile to the Gears of History).

Phase 2: The Battle

After choosing the Era to jump into and placing your Sabaton on the board, you must:

• 2.a Conquer Units on the Board, OR
• 2.b Challenge Another Player

2.a Conquer Units on the Board

The Attacker can attempt to conquer Elite Units (or Heroes) on the main board with the aim of adding them to their Army and collecting Relics.

The Attacker chooses the Unit card they want to face from the 3 that are on the board in the same Era their Sabaton has jumped into. Before placing it on the Defender Board, you must check the following:

• If the chosen Unit is not Linked to other cards (see the Links section), then that Unit will be faced alone.
• If the chosen Unit is Linked to one or more other cards (see the Links section), then the Attacker may decide to face one or more of those Linked cards also.

1. Once the decision is made, the Attacker takes the Defender Board and places it in their Personal Area, aligning it to the right of their Attacker Board. There they deploy the newly chosen Elite Unit card (or cards). The Defender Board has 3 slots for placing cards (from left to right starting from the Battlefront). It also features a "virtual slot" (further to the right) that can hold 1 card added through the Reinforcements action. The cards deployed must maintain the Links they may have had on the main board.
2. At this point, the Attacker may deploy 1 to 4 Units from their hand, placing them from right to left in the slots of their Attacker Board (starting from the position closest to the Battlefront).
3. Before the battle, it is necessary to complete the conditions of engagement for both sides and resolve in order: Reinforcements, Links, Assault, Warfare tokens, and Assignment and Roll of the Dice.

Reinforcements. If the Reinforcements icon appears on 1 or more Units (for the Attacker and the Defender), add a Unit "at the back" of that side's line-up for each icon (i.e., in the first empty slot starting from the Battlefront).

• For the Attacker, reinforcements are deployed by drawing the top cards of their deck and placing them on empty slots up to the virtual one. If the Attacker has no more cards in their deck, no reinforcements will arrive.
• For the Defender, reinforcements are deployed by drawing the top cards from the Era deck corresponding to that Unit to occupy the slots to the right, up to the virtual slot. If there are no more cards in that Era's deck, no reinforcements will arrive.

PLEASE NOTE: In both cases, if the reinforcement Unit also has a reinforcement icon, proceed again as described above. But be careful: the "virtual slot" for both the Attacker and the Defender represents the last possible position where Unit cards can be placed. Excess reinforcements are lost.

Links. In the case of Links (see the Links section), both on the Attacker's and the Defender's Units, place the matching Link token on the Linked cards.

Assault. If the Assault icon appears on 1 or more Units (both for the Attacker and the Defender), eliminate 1 Link token from the opposing side for each icon. The Link tokens must be removed starting with those closest to the Battlefront.

Warfare tokens. The Attacker can assign up to 3 Warfare tokens to their deployed Units, but a maximum of 1 token for each Unit.

Assignment and Roll of the Dice. The dice are assigned to the contenders according to the number of cards deployed by the Attacker on the Attacker Board (see the Dice section for more details).

• If there are 3 or fewer units on the Attacker Board, the Attacker will be given the Strong Combat die and the defender gets the Risky Combat die.
• If there are more than 3 units on the Attacker Board, the Attacker will be given the Risky Combat die and the defender gets the Strong Combat die.

At this point, the Attacker rolls the dice, assigning them as just described. The dice are rolled only once and their result, which is added to the other values as described below, is valid for the whole battle.

STRATEGIC NOTE: The number of Unit cards deployed by the Attacker directly affects the assignment of the dice to the Attacker and the Defender and can also determine whether or not a Relic is won at the end of the Battle. The choice of the number of Units you deploy therefore has considerable strategic importance!

4. Course of the Battle

Whether it is Phase 2.a or 2.b, the battle begins with the roll of the dice. Once the dice have been thrown, no changes can be made to the deployments.

The battle takes place across 3 Lines of Combat which must be resolved in this order:

1. Long-Range Combat
2. Medium-Range Combat
3. Close Combat

Once a Line of Combat has been resolved and any damage caused to the opposing sides has been assigned, move on to the next Line of Combat. After Close Combat has been resolved, the Battle is over. Nothing else can be done except considering the result of the battlefield, determining the winner, and assigning the rewards.

Resolution of a Combat Line

The resolution of each Line of Combat is identical:

The Attacker adds up all the values of their Units deployed on the Attacker Board related to the Line of Combat in question. They must also add any bonuses from their Warfare tokens and the bonus (or penalty) provided by the die assigned to them.

The same calculation is made for the Unit cards deployed on the Defender Board, adding any bonus (or penalty) provided by the die assigned to the Defender.

PLEASE NOTE: In both cases, if the total value is negative, it is always considered to be equal to 0.

The difference between the total values of the Attacker and the Defender determines the amount of damage inflicted on the opponent.

Example: During Medium-Range Combat, the Attacker has a total value of 3 and the Defender 2, so the Defender suffers 1 damage.

Damage and Defeat of Units

Damage is applied immediately at the end of each Line of Combat and before moving on to the resolution of the next one. Damage is assigned to Unit cards starting from the Battlefront. The damage that each Unit can suffer is indicated by the number of Damage Icons on that card.

PLEASE NOTE: Any Unit defeated during the resolution of a Line of Combat must be turned face down and will no longer participate in the Battle.

Example: A card with a Long-Range value of 0 will not add any value during the resolution of the Long-Range Line of Combat. It has only 1 Damage Icon, so if during that step it suffers 1 damage, it will be defeated. If so, it is turned over and it will not be possible to use its excellent values for the following Lines of Combat. The positioning of Units more or less close to the Battlefront must always be evaluated with caution!

Victory in Battle

If, after the resolution of Close Combat, there are no face-up (surviving) Units on either side, both sides are annihilated and no one wins. Otherwise, the side with the highest number of surviving Units wins the battle. If the number of Units is equal, victory goes to the Attacker.

See the Battle examples at the end of this rulebook.

5. Rewards at the End of the Battle

However the battle ends (defeat, victory, or both sides annihilated), the Attacker may "recruit" all defeated Units on the Defender Board at the end of the battle. These Units are added to the Attacker's discard pile.

The Defender's Elite Unit cards that survived the battle go to the discard pile of the Era they came from.

Additionally, if the Attacker has won, they may be entitled to take a Relic card depending on how many Units (both defeated and survived) were deployed on their Attacker Board, as shown by the icons on the Attacker Board.

• If the Attacker occupied the virtual slot of their board with one of their units, they are not entitled to any Relic.
• If the Attacker deployed 4 Units, they take the first card of the Relic deck.
• If the Attacker deployed 3 Units, they draw the first 2 cards of the Relic deck, choose 1 to take, and place the other in the Relic discard pile.
• If the Attacker deployed 2 Units, they draw the first 3 cards of the Relic deck, choose 1 to take, and put the others in the Relic discard pile.
• If the Attacker deployed 1 Unit, they draw the first 4 cards of the Relic deck, choose 1 to take, and put the others in the Relic discard pile.

Once the battle is over, move on to Phase 3: Restoration.

2.b Challenge Another Player

The Attacker can challenge 1 player whose Sabaton is in the same Era as their own, with the aim of gaining their Prowess in Battle tokens and stealing a Relic card.

Combat between two players in the game is exactly the same as combat against Units coming from the main board, except for the changes described below:

1. Whoever is attacked becomes the Defender, takes the Defender Board, and puts it in their Personal Area, aligned to the right side of their Attacker Board to create the Battlefront. For this battle, the Defender will deploy cards exclusively on the Defender Board. The Defender plays first and can deploy up to 3 Units in the slots of the Defender Board and can then assign up to 3 Warfare tokens to their deployed Units (at most 1 token for each Unit).
2. The Attacker deploys their Units and their Warfare tokens exactly as shown in Phase 2.a.
3. The conditions of engagement are resolved exactly as seen in Phase 2.a. Assignment and Roll of the Dice work exactly as shown in paragraph 2.a.
4. Course of the Battle proceeds as shown in Phase 2.a.
5. Rewards at the End of the Battle vary as described below:

If the Defender has lost, he is entitled to take 1 Honor of the Arms token (from the common supply) for every 2 Units of the Attacker that he managed to defeat.

The winner, whether Attacker or Defender, chooses 2 Prowess in Battle tokens from the loser. They secretly look at those tokens and keep only 1 for themselves, returning the other to its owner.

PLEASE NOTE: The winner can only draw Prowess in Battle tokens displaying the image of the Sabaton they defeated.

If the winner of the Battle is the Attacker, depending on how many Units (both defeated and survived) were deployed on their Attacker Board, they may be entitled to take a Relic card from the Defender.

• If the Attacker occupied the virtual slot with one of their Units, they are not entitled to any Relic.
• Otherwise, the Defender must shuffle their Relic cards and place them face down in front of them. The Attacker will draw according to the same criteria as Phase 2.a. Depending on how many cards they have deployed, they draw 1 Relic card from the Defender or look at 2 or more and choose 1 of them. The Defender takes all the other cards and puts them back in their own Personal Area, face-up.

Once the battle is over, move on to Phase 3: Restoration.

Phase 3: Restoration

After the rewards are collected, all Unit cards on the Attacker Board (both defeated and survived) go to the Attacker's discard pile.

In case of a battle between two players, all Units on the Defender Board (both defeated and survived) go to the Defender's discard pile.

All Warfare tokens used during the battle (even those on surviving Units) must be discarded into the Warfare tokens discard pile, which is shared.

All Link counters return to the common supply.

Put the dice back into the common supply.

The empty spaces on the main board corresponding to any Units that were engaged in battle must be filled with cards drawn from the deck of that Era and turned face-up. If a deck runs out, shuffle its discards and create a new deck. If necessary, do the same with the Warfare tokens.

If any of the players engaged in battle (be it Attacker or Defender) has less than 4 cards in their hand, they must draw from their deck until they have 4 cards. If their deck does not contain enough cards, they draw from there until the deck runs out and then take their entire discard pile, shuffle it, and create a new deck from which to draw until they have 4 cards, total.

At this point, if the active player is the last player in the final Round, the game is over (see End of the Game). Otherwise, the turn of the person to their left begins.

End of the Game

At the end of the agreed number of rounds (usually 6), the game ends.

Flip your Attacker Board to the side that shows a victory point track, put your Sabaton on the "0" box, and begin counting the victory points gained during the game through Elite Units and Heroes, Relics, Prowess in Battle tokens, and Honor of the Arms tokens.

Elite Units and Heroes

Gather your Army, including all Elite Units and Heroes (from your deck, your hand, and your discard pile) but leave aside Base Units, which do not score any points.

• Every Elite Unit is worth 1 victory point.
• Every Hero is worth 3 victory points.

Relics

For each Era, you get points based on the number of Relics from that Era you have:

• 1 Relic belonging to the same Era = 1 victory point
• 2 Relics belonging to the same Era = 2
• 3 Relics belonging to the same Era = 4
• 4 Relics belonging to the same Era = 6
• 5 or more Relics belonging to the same Era = 9

Prowess in Battle and Honor of the Arms

Every Prowess in Battle token won from an opponent gives you the number of victory points shown on it.

Ignore Prowess in Battle tokens belonging to your Sabaton and still in your Personal Area. Since they were not won from an opponent they are not worth points.

Each Honor of the Arms token = 1 victory point.

Example

The game has ended, and Tommy counts his victory points:

• 1 for each Elite Unit (3 in total)
• 3 for the Hero card Lion from the North
• 5 for the Prowess in Battle token obtained in a battle against Hannes
• 6 because he collected 4 Relics from the same Era (Era IV)
• 1 because he collected 1 Relic card from Era I

Tommy moves his Sabaton to 18 on the point track.

Victory

At the end of this count, place your Sabaton on the square corresponding to the total obtained.

The Sabaton with the highest number of victory points is the winner. In case of a tie, the winner is whoever has collected the most Relic cards. In case of a further tie, whoever has the most Heroes. If the tie remains... you must play again!

STRATEGIC NOTE: A Battle Through History is a tactical game, full of interactions that depend on the positioning of cards in the line-ups, the skills of Units during battle, and a small dose of unpredictability provided by the dice; but above all on the strategy of the players and their attitude to dare or defend themselves. Each battle will be a great challenge, always different!

The Dice

In this game there are 2 dice: The Strong Combat die and the Risky Combat die. The dice are rolled only once per battle and can have values that affect multiple Lines of Combat.

The Strong Combat die always grants a bonus that is added to the values of the Unit cards. The faces are as follows:

• Twice: +1 in long-range combat
• Twice: +1 in medium-range combat
• Once each: +1 in close combat
• Once each: +2 in close combat

The Risky Combat die can award bonuses or penalties to multiple Lines of Combat. The faces are as follows:

• Once each: +1 to every Line of Combat
• Once each: -1 to every Line of Combat
• Once each: +3 in close combat
• Once each: -1 in long-range combat
• Once each: +2 in medium-range combat
• Once each: -1 in medium-range combat

Unit Cards

All Unit cards, whether they are Base Units, Elite Units, or Heroes, show the same information but what varies is their strength and Abilities.

Elite Units grow proportionally stronger as the Eras progress. On a tactical level, on average, Era IV cards are more powerful in long range combat while Era I cards have more Reinforcements and Link icons.

A card shows: the values for Lines of Combat valid for that Unit (for example 0 Long-Range, 2 Medium-Range, 2 Close Combat); the amount of damage it takes to destroy this Unit; the area where Reinforcement and Assault icons can be found, if present; the area where Ability icons can be found, if present; the Link with another Unit (if any) on the left and/or right; and the name of the Unit and the Era it belongs to.

PLEASE NOTE: Unit cards in a player's possession (whether in their hand, deployed or in the discard pile) can never be stolen by another player. They are personal. The only way to remove them is to voluntarily discard them with the Dismiss action on the Gears of History.

Links

Some Units show the image of half a shield in their upper left or right side (or both). The shield represents a Link that this Unit may have with others (of the same Era or of different, but consecutive Eras). For example, if there is an ERA II Unit Linked to an ERA III Unit, and you attack one of them by moving your Sabaton to ERA II (or to Era III), you can attack both of them.

There are 4 types of Links and they correspond to each of the 4 Eras.

In Phase 2.a, if the active player wants to conquer an Elite Unit on the board and it has one or more Links that match Links on other cards, they can decide to attack one or more linked Units, at their discretion. Fighting multiple Units and defeating them awards great loot, but it is much more difficult!

When one or more Linked Units are deployed together (by the Attacker or the Defender), the corresponding link counter must be placed where the full shield image is formed.

A link counter confers an important advantage because it absorbs the first damage intended for either of the 2 Linked Units (see "Pär's First Battle").

A Link in a line-up can be removed before a battle if an assault icon is present on a card of the opposing side. Links are always removed starting from the Battlefront.

Warfare Tokens

Warfare Tokens mostly modify Line of Combat values or reproduce abilities on the Unit cards and perform the same functions. If the stack is empty, take the discards from the supply and create a new stack.

PLEASE NOTE: A token played on a Unit becomes bound to that Unit, disappears if it is defeated, and cannot be moved during the battle.

Most tokens must be played during the engagement (just before a battle), but some can be used at other times.

• Tighten up! This token can be used during your turn or when you are challenged by another player to create a better hand. It has the same function as on the Gears of History (see 1.b Prepare for the Battle).
• Chase: This token can be used at the beginning of Phase 2: The Battle to challenge a card of your choice from the discard pile of the Era you just moved your Sabaton into and face that Unit instead of one of the 3 exposed on the main board. This is really useful if a Hero has ended up in the discard pile and you feel strong enough to pull them out and try to defeat them.

Heroes

The Hero cards, 2 for each Era, represent special Units, very strong and therefore difficult to conquer. You must always pay close attention to your strategy to defeat them.

Heroes always have the Reinforcement icon, which will add a card to the line-up they are in. They also always have the possibility of a double Link, which will strengthen them even more. Finally, they have special Abilities.

This strength gives those who defeat them a great advantage because it makes them available to their Army, in addition to the fact that they are worth 3 victory points at the end of the game.

But beware: The services of each Hero can be used by a player only once during the entire game. So, if you have gained a Hero during a previous turn, the first time they are deployed (placed from your hand or arrived as a reinforcement) will also be the last time.

At the end of any battle in which you have deployed a Hero (whether as Attacker or Defender), do not return it to your discard pile. Instead, set it aside (for example under your Attacker Board). You cannot use that Hero again. At the end of the game, it will still be counted towards your score.

Relic Cards

Relic cards must stay in your Personal Area and must always be visible to all players.

The importance of Relic cards is fundamental to win the game: the more Relics one manages to collect, the more points they score, especially if the Relics belong to the same Era.

It is therefore essential to try to deploy your Unit cards during battle to ensure the conquest of Relics. But it is equally important to try to conquer Relics from the same Era to score more points.

If the Attacker won the Battle and has deployed few Unit cards in their line-up, they may have more choices when drawing Relic cards.

This is also the main reason to attack another player: taking a Relic card from them has the double advantage of weakening them and strengthening yourself.

PLEASE NOTE: If the Relic deck is empty, take the discard pile, shuffle, and create a new deck.

Special Abilities on Cards and Tokens

In general, as long as a Unit card with an Ability icon has not been defeated, the Ability remains valid, so an Ability could be used for more than one Line of Combat.

• Heroic Death: If a Unit with one or more Heroic Death icons is defeated, it automatically inflicts damage to the opposing side equal to the number of Heroic Death icons on it (damage is always inflicted starting from the Battlefront, as normal).
• Accuracy: This Ability prevents Heroic Death, but applies only to the first damage inflicted, up to the number of Accuracy icons. All Heroic Death triggered by that damage is completely cancelled.
  • Clarification: If a side inflicts 5 damage and has 2 Accuracy icons, only the first 2 damage can cancel Heroic Death by the opposite side. Units destroyed by the third (or later) damage can use Heroic Death as normal.
• Diversion: A Unit with this Ability (or the corresponding Warfare token) suffers the first damage inflicted by the opposing side.
  • Clarification: If a side inflicts 3 damage and the opposing side has 2 Diversion icons, the first 2 damage are inflicted on that card and the third, according to the normal rules, goes to the Unit closest to the Battlefront.
• Relaunch: Units with this Ability (or the corresponding Warfare token) allow their side to re-roll the die assigned to it a number of times equal to the number of Relaunch icons in their line-up. In Combat between two players, if the icon appears on both sides, the Defender must re-roll first.
  • Clarification: If the icon is present in the Defender's line-up during Phase 2.a "Conquer Units on the Board" (i.e., when the Defender's line-up is from the game board), the die is re-rolled by the Attacker (acting as Defender) only and exclusively if it has a negative value for the Defender.

Ability Examples

Heroic Death: The battle starts with Long-Range Combat and the Attacker inflicts 1 damage to the Persian Immortals, defeating them. As soon as they are defeated, the Persian Immortals activate their Heroic Death which inflicts 1 damage to the Attacker's first Unit, defeating the Trebuchet (since the Trebuchet Unit can only absorb 1 damage)...

Heroic Death / Accuracy: The battle begins with Long-Range Combat and the Attacker inflicts 2 damage. The first is inflicted on the Persian Immortals, defeating them. As soon as they are defeated, the Persian Immortals activate their Heroic Death, but since the Attacker's Vitruvian Scorpio card has the Accuracy icon that prevents Heroic Death, the Attacker does not take any damage. The Attacker's second damage (still from the Long-Range Combat) defeats the Carthaginians and resolves the entire battle...

Heroic Death / Diversion: The battle starts with Long-Range Combat. The Attacker suffers 1 damage. This damage would be inflicted on the first Unit, closest to the Battlefront, but the Attacker (fearing a negative die roll) has purposely placed their Diversion Warfare token on their Spy Unit. This way, the Spy Unit attracts the damage. It is defeated and activates Heroic Death, whose immediate damage is inflicted on the Bantu Ruga-ruga of the opposite side. In Medium-Range Combat, the Attacker gets 3 while the Defender, having lost the troops at the Battlefront, gets only 2 (1 from the Unit + 1 from the dice), so the Attacker inflicts 1 damage to the Ballonabwehrkanone, which is therefore defeated.

Examples of Battles

Pär's First Battle

1. Pär noticed some interesting cards in Era II. He inserts Time-traveling tiles into the Gears of History until one reaches the Active Position that allows him to Time Jump into Era II.
2. The tile in the Active Position also allows him to take the +2 in Close-Combat Warfare token. He takes it because it is a very strong token, and places it in his Personal Area.
3. By inserting the Time-traveling tile in that position, he has rotated the Gears of History and now the two actions that it allows are: drawing 2 cards from his deck and choosing a card from his discard pile. The game has just begun and his discard pile is empty, so he cannot take that action, but he decides that it is more important for him to stay in Era II, even if that makes him lose an action. He draws 2 cards from his deck and now he has 6 cards to choose from.
4. Pär confirms that he wants to go to Era II by placing his Sabaton on the board in that Era's area. He then decides that he wants to conquer the Trung Sisters, which have a Link. He could choose to fight only the one card, but he wants to try to conquer both.
5. He places them on the Defender Board which he has placed to the right side of his Attacker Board.
6. Pär decides to deploy his Catapult card as the first (starting from the Front) for two reasons: it has a Long-Range combat value, which is the first Line of Combat, and if it is defeated he will not lose points for the later Lines. Then he deploys an Archer and a Conscript.
7. Reinforcements, Links, Assault, Warfare tokens, and dice assignment must be resolved before the battle begins. Both of the Defender's cards have a matching Link, so Pär places the corresponding counter between the two Linked cards. The Trung Sisters also have an Assault icon, which would have broken any Links in Pär's line-up, but there are none. However, the third card deployed by Pär has the Reinforcement icon, so he must add the top card from his deck to his line-up, which is the Spy. Pär decides not to use his Warfare token, so he does not put it on any card.
8. At this point, the dice must be assigned. Since Pär, with the addition of the reinforcement, has exceeded 3 cards in his line-up, he will be assigned the Risky Combat die, while the Defender will have the Strong Combat die. He rolls both dice and to his great relief his Risky die gives him +1 to every Line of Combat. It couldn't be better. The Strong Combat die, on the other hand, grants his opponent +2 in Close Combat.

Course of the battle.

• Pär adds up his values on the Long-Range Line of Combat and gets 2: 1 from his cards and 1 from the dice. The Defender has 0. Pär therefore inflicts 2 damage. 1 is absorbed by the Link (which is then removed) and the other defeats the unit closest to the Battlefront.
• Pär adds up his values on the Medium-Range Line of Combat: again he gets 2, 1 from the cards and 1 from the dice. The Defender has 1. Pär therefore inflicts 1 damage and places a Damage counter on the card. Since that Unit can absorb 2 damage, it is not defeated.
• Now Pär adds up his values on the Close Combat Line: he gets 2 again, 1 from the cards plus 1 from the dice. The Defender gets 5, 3 from the card and 2 from the dice. The Defender inflicts 3 damage starting from the Battlefront, so Pär turns his first 3 cards face-down, since they can all absorb only 1 damage each.

Pär is the winner of the battle! Since the surviving Units are equal in number, the Attacker wins. Pär did not manage to defeat both cards, but he can feel satisfied. The Defender's Elite Unit card that was defeated (Genoese Crossbowmen) goes into his discard pile along with all 4 of the cards he used in the battle. This Elite Unit will reinforce Pär's Army for the rest of the game (and will be worth 1 victory point at the end of the game).

But there is another reward: Since Pär deployed 4 cards, he also gains a Relic. He draws 1 from the deck (and this will be worth some victory points at the end of the game according to the rules of Relic cards, see End of the Game). The Era II card that was not defeated (the Trung Sisters) is placed in the Era II discard pile.

A Battle Between Chris and Joakim

Chris jumps into the same Era where Joakim's Sabaton is and decides that he wants to challenge him. Joakim takes the Defender Board and puts it in his Personal Area on the right side of his Attacker Board. Joakim, who has been challenged, deploys first. He deploys 2 cards and uses 1 of his Warfare tokens.

At this point, Chris deploys his cards. Since he wants to use the Strong Combat die, he places only 3 cards. He does not use any Warfare tokens. Chris placed a card with Accuracy to counter Joakim's Unit with Heroic Death at the Battlefront, but he can do nothing against the token with Diversion (see Special Abilities on Cards and Tokens) which "attracts" the first damage inflicted by the opponent.

There are no Reinforcements or Links, so the Assault deployed by Chris has no effect. The dice are assigned according to the number of cards deployed by the Attacker. Chris gets the Strong Combat die and rolls +1 in Long-Range Combat, while Joakim rolls +1 to every Line of Combat on the Risky Combat die.

Course of the battle.

• Chris adds up his values on the Long-Range Line of Combat and gets 2, 1 from his cards and 1 from the dice. Joakim gets 1 from the dice. So Chris inflicts 1 damage to Joakim. Joakim, using the Diversion token, attracts the first hit to that Unit, which can absorb up to 2 damage and is not defeated. He places a Damage counter on the card. Please note: If Joakim had not played the Diversion token, Chris' damage would have fallen on the Unit at the Battlefront which would not have activated its Heroic Death, since Chris deployed a unit with Accuracy.
• On the Medium-Range Line of Combat, Chris and Joakim both get 2; no damage for anyone, so the battle is resolved on the Close Combat Line. Here Chris scores 3 while Joakim scores 5, and the Defender inflicts 2 damage to the Attacker.

Joakim wins the battle! He takes 2 of Chris's Prowess in Battle tokens, looks at them and keeps the one with the highest value in his Personal Area, returning the other token to Chris.

Please note: If the Defender wins, they are not entitled to a Relic card or Honor of the Arms tokens.