Apocalypse Chaos
Apocalypse Chaos Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introductory Game Goal
In the introductory game, your objective will be to defeat all Bosses found in the deck. Once you are familiar with the game mechanisms, you will be ready to move on with the campaign that starts on page 20.
Components
- 20 Custom dice (5 per color)
- 4 Hero standees
- 1 Scientist standee
- 5 plastic bases
- 4 Hero boards
- 10 Room tiles
- 5 Barricades (1 extra for player created missions)
- 8 plastic pillars
- 30 Enemy/Equipment cards (left card with stripes - Boss [red]; right Enemy with no stripes - Grunt [gray])
- 1 Card Super Boss/Scientist
- 90 Tokens
- 52 Life Point tokens: 6x (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6); 4x (7, 8, 9, 10)
- 5 Life markers
- 4 Vortex tokens (bright side - open; dark side - closed)
- 15 Fire tokens
- 2 Block Actions tokens
- 3 Move tokens
- 3 Grenade tokens
- 2 Dimensional Airlocks tokens
- 4 Object tokens (back - Science Object)
Introductory Game Setup
Shuffle Room tiles I through VI and choose 4 randomly. Place these on the table to form a 2x2 square. The remaining 2 Room tiles will be placed on pillars above any two of the rooms on the table (see illustration).
Take as many Vortex tokens as players (starting with number 1) and place them on the borders of the Room tiles (called areas) as shown below:
Areas: Each section of the board that is adjacent to Room tiles where Enemies are placed.
Life Points tokens, Fire tokens, and Grenade tokens are sorted and placed available to all players.
Each player takes a Hero standee and the corresponding Hero board, as well as the 5 dice in their color, and places these in front of themselves. The blue player takes the two Block Actions tokens and places them near his board. Each player also takes a Life marker and places it on the top space (heart) of their Life Gauge.
Beginning with the Starting Player (determined randomly) and proceeding clockwise, each player puts their standee in one of the rooms. No player may place their standee in a room already occupied by another player's standee.
- Grenade tokens
- Life Point tokens
- Fire token
- Room tile
- Enemy/Equipment card (placed in an area)
- Hero standee
- Vortex token
- Hero board
- Life marker
- Block Action
Setup for the Enemy cards
Sort the Enemy cards into Grunt and Boss piles and shuffle the individual piles; Boss cards are marked with one to three stripes (indicating their level) in the upper left corner. All cards should be sorted faceup, as Equipment is found on the reverse side. Then, create a single Enemy pile to accommodate the number of players, according to the table below. Shuffle the Grunts and Bosses chosen for the "Top" portion together before adding them to the top of the deck.
Distribution setup
| Deck | 1 player | 2 players | 3 players | 4 players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top | 4 Grunts + 2 Bosses | 5 Grunts + 2 Bosses | 5 Grunts + 3 Bosses | 6 Grunts + 3 Bosses |
| Middle | 1 Boss | 2 Bosses | 2 Bosses | 3 Bosses |
| Bottom | 2 Grunts | 2 Grunts | 2 Grunts | 3 Grunts |
Any remaining Enemy cards are returned to the box. Players are never allowed to count the number of Enemy cards in the pile.
Phases of a Round
The game is played in a series of rounds, and ends once the objective is completed (all Bosses defeated in the introductory game), or all players are defeated. Each round consists of the following 4 phases:
A. Arrival of new Enemies B. Prepare the Heroes C. Global Offensive D. End of round effects
Phase A: Arrival of New Enemies
Starting with Vortex 1, and proceeding numerically through to the highest numbered Vortex, place an Enemy card next to each Vortex (Enemy cards are oriented so that the top of the card is adjacent to the Room). Cover the Enemy's Life Point value with an equivalent Life Point token (during this phase, all Life Point tokens should show the same color). Continue placing Enemy cards until all Vortices receive at least one Enemy card (or see Assault below).
When drawing a new Enemy that has the radar symbol, immediately add a new Enemy on the same Vortex token. If there are no more Enemies in the deck, this triggers an Assault.
Note: If a Vortex is closed, no Enemy card is placed there. After placing Enemies, any Vortex tokens that are facedown are now flipped faceup in preparation for the next round.
Assault
When an Enemy card must be placed (even due to an Enemy with a radar symbol), but the Enemy deck is exhausted, an assault occurs. Roll a die: add a "-2" Fire token to the Room tile that depicts the rolled icon. If there is no Room tile depicting the rolled icon, roll a second time. If the second roll yields an icon that is not depicted on a Room tile, no Fire token is placed this round. If two or more Room tiles depict the rolled icon, the token is placed in the room with the fewest Fire tokens. In case of a tie, the players decide in which of the tied rooms to place the Fire token. There can only be one Assault per round, regardless of how many Enemies were unable to be placed due to the exhausted Enemy deck.
Phase B: Prepare the Heroes
Players roll all their dice and place them on their individual boards. During this phase, players may speak to each other to organize their attack.
The following Dice Actions may be performed in the order of each player's choice.
- A player may give up to 2 of their own dice (without changing the rolled icons) to other players and/or may receive up to 2 total dice from other players. In other words, a player may not have fewer than 3 of their own color dice and no more than 7 dice in total. Players may not give up other players' dice.
- A player who has 2 dice with the same icon (a pair) may combine them to be used as any other icon. The matching dice are stacked on top of each other and the die on top may be changed to the icon of the player's choice.
Positioning dice on the Hero board
Initiative: Each die with the lightning-bolt icon may be placed next to the Initiative space to increase or decrease an Initiative by 1. A die depicting the star icon allows the player to choose their Initiative.
Room Activation: Players may assign dice their Hero's Room Activation Reserve. During his turn, a Hero may activate a room they occupy by moving a die (matching the icon of the room) from their Room Activation Reserve to an empty activation space in that room.
Each room may only be activated a maximum of 3 times each round (see page 10).
External Support Team (EST): Players may also place dice on their EST space. If the number of dice all players have collectively placed in these spaces is equal to the number of players, the EST will activate at the beginning of Phase C. The icons on the dice do not matter.
The anatomy of a Hero board
- Initiative
- Life Points
- Movement
- Melee
- Ranged
- Defense
- Special Ability
- Room Activation
- EST
- Dice Actions
EST example in a three player game: the number of dice placed on EST spaces is equal to the number of players. The EST will activate in Phase C. The symbols on dice assigned to the EST are not important.
Players place their remaining dice on their boards, matching the icons rolled with those on their board. Dice depicting the star icon may be assigned to Initiative or to either of the two action abilities that the Hero specializes in (abilities marked with a star).
The more dice with the same icon placed on a line, the better the resulting action will be. Simply place the dice on the boxes of each board and the value of the action taken will be in the next visible box.
For this type of attack, the player must place dice showing the ranged or star icon. Because 2 dice are placed here, the resulting action has a power of 3.
Equipment cards: Some Equipment cards require dice to activate them. Equipment cards indicate which icon they require (if any) and what effect they have. See below for further information on the symbols found on Equipment cards.
To use this card (Pocket Medikit, +1 Health), a die with the Initiative icon must be placed on it.
After all dice are placed, proceed to Phase C. Note that dice may not be changed once Phase C begins.
Phase C: Global Offensive
After all players have assigned their dice, phase C begins. If enough dice were assigned to the EST, it activates. Then, Enemies and Heroes perform actions in Initiative order.
EST attack: If there are enough dice to activate the EST, all Enemies (including Bosses) in an area take 1 unstoppable damage (armor/shields offer no protection). If an Enemy is eliminated, no player gets the Equipment card. The EST attack is possible only once per round.
As presented on page 3, here are the 8 areas of the introductory game.
Initiative order
After resolving the EST attack, players and Enemies perform their actions in Initiative order, starting with 1 and proceeding in numerical order.
Note: Since the Enemies' Life Point tokens are also used to track whether or not they have been activated, you should always ensure that all Life Point tokens show the same color at the beginning of Phase C.
In case of a tie in Initiative between an Enemy and a player, the player goes first. If there is a tie between players, players choose their order.
In case of a tie between Enemies, the Enemy in the lower numbered Vortex goes first, proceeding from Vortex 1 through Vortex 4, area by area. If multiple Enemies are tied in the same area, the Enemy with the highest remaining Life Points goes first: if still tied, the players choose the order of activation.
Player turn
On each player's turn, that player will perform all actions which have dice assigned to them, in the order of the player's choice. When the player performs an action, he moves ALL dice assigned to that action off of his board. Only those dice assigned to defense remain until the end of Phase C.
Actions in Detail
Movement
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Move into an adjacent room
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Move up to 2 rooms
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Move up to 3 rooms
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Move to any room (even to one in a different ship)
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Diagonal movements are not allowed.
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The facing of the Hero is not important.
-
A Hero may not end its movement in a room already containing 2 Heroes.
-
A Hero may not split its movement with another action, such as moving into an adjacent room, then attacking, then moving again. It is possible, however, to move again with a special ability (Equipment card or Room tile).
Room as adjacent — rooms stacked on pillars are adjacent to the rooms above/below them as well as to their horizontal neighbors.
Attacking
Melee Attack: A Hero on the bottom tile attacks an Enemy next to its Room tile.
Ranged Attack: The Hero attacks an Enemy this is at least one Room tile away from him.
The direction that the Hero is facing does not matter. A Hero may never attack another Hero.
A Hero chooses one Enemy as its target and deals damage to that Enemy equal to the strength of the attack. Change the Life Point token for that Enemy accordingly.
A Boss may not be attacked when one or more Grunt Enemy cards are present in the same area at the time of the attack.
A Hero may not split a single attack action between multiple Enemies. For example: a ranged attack of 4 cannot do 1 damage to one Enemy and 3 to another. However, multiple attack actions can target different Enemies and you may perform other actions between separate attack actions. For example, a Hero may perform a melee attack against one Enemy, perform a movement action, and then perform a ranged attack against the same Enemy or a different one. Also, some effects will allow a Hero to target multiple Enemies in the same location, in which case all targeted Enemies (including Bosses) suffer the same amount of damage.
Enemy Elimination: When an Enemy's Life Point total reaches or drops below zero, it is eliminated. The player who eliminated the Enemy takes the Enemy card, flips it over, and places it, Equipment side up, in front of them. This Equipment card takes effect immediately.
Defense
Shield: This action takes effect in response to Enemy attacks.
The Defense action reduces the damage taken from all Enemies until the end of Phase C by an amount equal to the amount of icons in the next available square.
Example: A 5-point attack on a Hero with 3 Shields reduces the damage to 2.
Shields of Heroes in the same room add together to reduce all attacks by the sum of the players' Shields. Each Hero then suffers the same amount of damage (if the damage exceeds the Shields).
Example: An Enemy attacks for 5 points of damage. Two Heroes are in the room, one with 1 Shield and the other with 2 Shields. They would reduce the attack by 3 and thus only take 2 damage each.
Whenever a Hero takes damage, reduce its Life Gauge by a number of spaces equal to the amount of damage taken.
Hero Elimination: If a player has no more life points, i.e., when the life marker reaches the last circle, that Hero is removed from the game, as well as any Equipment cards and all of his dice not currently being used by other Heroes. Those dice currently being used by other players are removed from the game as soon as they are no longer used.
Then, the other players have 2 more rounds in order to eliminate all Bosses; if they fail to do so, the players lose the game.
Special Ability
Each Hero has a special ability that may be activated. The more dice assigned to a special ability, the more powerful it will be. Abilities that target Enemies may only target those Enemies on the same spaceship as the Hero using the ability.
Note: Adjacency refers to those Enemies that can be targeted by the Hero's melee or ranged attack.
Blue Hero
- Block 1 action (an entire circle) of an adjacent Enemy.
- Block 1 action of any one Enemy.
- Block 2 actions of any one Enemy or 1 action each of any two Enemies.
The player chooses which action and which Enemy to block. The player puts one (or more) Block Action token(s) on the Enemy card as a reminder; after all Enemies have activated, the token(s) are returned to the player.
Green Hero
Restore 1, 2, or 3 Life Points to a Hero (or split amongst Heroes) in the same ship as you (including yourself).
Purple Hero
- Move 1 adjacent Enemy 1 space in any direction.
- Move any one Enemy 1 space in any direction.
- Move any one Enemy 2 spaces, or any two Enemies 1 space, in any direction.
Red Hero
Choose an adjacent area. Perform an Unstoppable melee attack that deals 1, 2, or 3 damage to ALL enemies (including Bosses) in that area.
Enemy Actions
Enemies are activated one at a time, based on their Initiative. You must perform all the actions indicated on the bottom of the Enemy card, from left to right. When there is a tie for Enemy Initiative in different areas, activate the Enemies in Vortex 1 first, area by area, then proceed with Vortex 2 through Vortex 4. If there is a tie for Enemy Initiative within the same area, the Enemy with the most Life Points is activated first. If the enemies have an equal number of Life Points, the players choose the order of activation. When an Enemy has performed all its actions, flip its Life Point token to its other side to remind players that it has been activated this round. Important: Life Point tokens remain on an Enemy when it moves.
Anatomy of an Enemy card
- Name
- Radar symbol
- Life Points
- Actions
- Initiative
- Boss Status
Enemy action icons
Moving: The arrow indicates the direction to move. The number of arrows indicates how many spaces to move. i. Move 1 space to the right ii. Move 3 spaces to the left
Acrobat: The Enemy jumps to the furthest area in its line of sight.
Sniffer: Move clockwise as many spaces as needed to face a room (or platform) containing one or more Heroes.
Armor: All damage done to this Enemy is reduced by the number next to the Shield icon.
- For this Shield 1 icon, an attack with strength of 2 would make him lose 1 Life Point.
Attack: The fist icon indicates a melee attack and the gun icon a ranged attack. The number indicates the strength of the corresponding attack. i. Melee strength 3 ii. Ranged strength 2 (both against all Heroes in a room)
Max Attack: This is an Unstoppable attack (ignores armor). i. Unstoppable melee strength 3 ii. Unstoppable ranged strength 3
Flight Ability: Enemies with this ability attack the Hero (or Heroes) on a tile and all platforms above it, according to the method of attack used (melee or ranged).
Grenade: A Grenade token is placed in a Room tile according to the method of attack used (melee or ranged). During Phase D, any Heroes in a room with a Grenade token suffer 2 damage. Grenade tokens are removed at the end of Phase D.
Regeneration: The Enemy regenerates 1 Life Point. Change its Life Point token to reflect its new Life Point total. If the Enemy is at full health, no regeneration takes place.
Enemy Actions example: Melee attack 4 AND Ranged attack 4; then the Enemy moves one space to the right, to the next area; then Melee attack 3 AND Ranged attack 3.
Attack
An Enemy always attacks all Heroes in the Room tile it targets and all Heroes suffer the same amount of damage (it is not split amongst the Heroes).
Melee attacks: The Enemy attacks all Heroes in the Room tile directly in front of it. If there are no Heroes in target Room tile, the melee attack does not happen.
Ranged attacks: Enemy ranged attacks may never target a Room directly in front of it. An Enemy's ranged attack targets the first Room tile (beyond the one it is adjacent to) that contains one or more Heroes, in the Enemy's line of sight (the direction the Enemy is facing).
If there are no Heroes in the Enemy's line of sight, the ranged attack instead targets and destroys the highest pillar of the closest platform in the Enemy's line of sight and range. If there is no legal ranged attack target in the Enemy's line of sight, the attack is skipped.
This Enemy targets the adjacent room with its melee attack and the one farther away with its ranged attack.
Platforms: An Enemy may not attack a Hero on a platform (exception: Enemies with wings).
Once three of the four pillars supporting a platform are destroyed, the Room on that platform is destroyed and is removed from the game (as are any tokens in that Room). All Heroes in the room directly below the destroyed Room suffer 4 damage and are moved to an adjacent Room of their choice. All Heroes in the destroyed Room suffer 4 damage and are placed in the Room directly below. If there is no Room directly below the destroyed Room, the Heroes are immediately eliminated.
Phase D: End of Turn Effects
Once all Heroes and Enemies have performed their actions, Phase D begins.
1. Players lose Life Points for different conditions:
Fire
All Heroes in a Room tile with Fire tokens take Unstoppable damage equal to the total value of Fire tokens in the room.
Grenade
All Heroes in a Room tile with Grenade tokens take damage equal to the total value of Grenade tokens in the room. This damage is Unstoppable. Once the damage is applied, all Grenade tokens are removed from the board.
Enemies lose Life Points in conditions described under Objects on page 13.
2. Then, make sure all Enemy Life Point tokens show the same colored side (red or gray).
3. Finally, player retrieve their 5 colored dice and begin the following round.
End of the Game
If all the Bosses have been eliminated, you have succeeded! The remaining Enemies flee, and the players win.
If a Hero has been eliminated, the remaining Heroes have 2 more rounds to defeat all the Bosses. If they fail to do so, the players lose.
If all Heroes have been eliminated, the players lose.
Difficulty Level
Boss Levels: you may choose to play using only the Bosses from a particular level: Level 3 Bosses are tougher than level 2 Bosses, which are tougher than Level 1 Bosses. This ensures a more even difficulty.
Training Mode: To decrease the difficulty of the game, you can reduce the Life Points of an Enemy by 1 or 2, when it appears. Simply place the appropriate Life Point token on it when it appears.
Room Tiles
Room tiles may not be occupied by more than 2 Heroes at the same time (a Hero may move through a room with 2 Heroes in it, but may not end its movement there).
A Hero may activate the room he occupies by moving a die (matching the icon of the room) from his Room Activation Reserve to an empty activation space in that room. Each room may only be activated a maximum of 3 times in each round.
Rooms I-VI. These Room tiles are used in the beginner games. Rooms VII - X. These represent rooms on an Enemy spaceship and should be used by more experienced players. The reverse side of these four tiles may be assembled to form the Enemy ship in Mission 6.
You may mix different rooms as you see fit.
Air Duct (Room I): For each die a Hero uses to activate this room, add 1 to that Hero's shields to defend against damage taken in this room only. This protection only affects that Hero (it can be added to other shields that are protecting the Hero). Note: In the introductory game, this room should not be on a platform.
Promethium Tank (Room II): The Hero activating this room performs an Unstoppable melee or ranged attack (depending on which side is activated). The attack targets all Enemies within the specified attack range of this room. The amount of damage is equal to the number of dice used to activate the room.
CryoScan (Room III): For each die a Hero uses to activate this room, he turns a Vortex token of his choice facedown.
Displacement Chamber (Room IV): The Hero activating this room immediately moves to any room on any spaceship.
Medical Bay (Room V): For each die a Hero uses to activate this room, he restores 1 Life Point. Note: In the introductory game, this room should not be on a platform.
Depressurization Chamber (Room VI): For each die a Hero uses to activate this room, he increases the power of his attacks (melee or ranged) performed in this room by 1.
Destroyed Rooms: The back of tiles I through VI are used to indicate a destroyed room. A Hero may not enter or cross a destroyed room. Enemies move around these rooms according to normal movement rules.
The Dome (Room VII): For each die the Hero uses to activate this room, the Hero may create one barricade. The Hero places the barricade(s) wherever he wishes, on the outside edges of a room (not on platforms) on the same spaceship. Note: Only 4 built barricades may be in use at any time in the campaign missions.
Displacement Chamber (Room VIII): The Hero activating this room immediately moves to any room on any spaceship.
Control Room (Room IX): For each die a Hero uses to activate this room, he receives one Movement Action token. The Hero places these Movement Action tokens onto an Enemy card (or cards), each one replacing a movement action depicted on the Enemy card(s). The Hero chooses which direction the Enemy will move, and which side of the Movement Action token to use (1 or 2 arrows). Each Enemy must be within melee or ranged attack of the room. The player may split the Movement Action tokens between Enemies, as they wish, as long as only Movement actions are replaced. The Enemy, when activated, will move according to what is depicted on the token. Once an Enemy finishes its activation, remove the tokens and return them to the supply. Note: Only 3 Movement Action tokens may be in use at any time.
Engine Room (Room X): Any die used to activate this room is placed in the center of the room tile and will stay there until the end of the game. Once there is a number of dice in this room equal to the number of players, the mission objective is complete. If this Room tile is placed as a platform, and ends up destroyed, it is impossible to complete the mission. Note: When not used in a mission, this room has no special ability.
Dimensional Airlock
It is possible to create and play on two spaceships that are connected by Dimensional Airlocks. The Dimensional Airlocks must be placed along the Enemies' movable path, as Enemies must be able to move between spaceships (see example below).
Moving between spaceships: Enemies move in Initiative order as described above. Any Enemy that passes an airlock token will exit out the other airlock token, continuing in their original movement direction. However, any airlock leading to a spaceship containing no Heroes or Object tokens is ignored by Enemy movement.
Equipment Cards
If a die is placed on a card, it is returned to the Hero during Phase D. Equipment can only be used once per round unless otherwise noted.
Anatomy of an Equipment card
- Phase use
- Item Name
- Effect (text)
- Effect (icons)
- Permanence
Permanent / Single use: Permanent — You keep this card and may use it once per round. Single use — Once the card is used, it is discarded.
You cannot activate this card if standing on a platform tile.
Place a die matching the icon on the left side of the card to activate its effect (right). Any icon may be placed here (question-mark icon).
The Hero moves into an adjacent room.
The Hero moves up to 2 rooms away.
The Hero moves another Hero in the same spaceship into an adjacent room.
You can re-roll one die. [2 dice icons]: You can re-roll one or more dice.
You can flip one die to its opposite face. [2 dice icons]: You can flip one or more dice to their opposite faces.
You can change the face of one die to show the star.
You can select the face of one of your dice.
You can increase your non-zero (melee or ranged as indicated) attack by the value printed.
You attack (melee or range) at your maximum value, regardless of the number of dice assigned to that attack action.
All Enemies suffer an Unstoppable melee or ranged attack. Type and value of attack are indicated on the card.
Restore the health of your Hero or any other Hero on the same spaceship. The number of Life Points restored is depicted on the card.
Your Hero receives a personal Shield bonus against all attacks during a round. This bonus can be added to other Shields gained through dice placement and Room tiles.
Objects
Scientific Objects
Each Hero can carry only one Scientific object. During Phase B, a Hero may take an Object token from the room his Hero occupies and place it next to his Hero board. The Hero must assign a die to the object for as long as he wishes to carry it. A Hero may decide to drop the object at the end of his turn, in which case the Object token is placed in the room occupied by the Hero. The die assigned to the object is then set aside until Phase D when it will be retrieved as normal. If a Hero is eliminated while carrying an object, the token is placed in the Room tile the Hero last occupied.
Sacred Relic: This object may not be dropped and a die must be assigned to it every round; it is needed to attack the Enemy "Sternploeeg."
Toxic Object: This object may not be dropped; the Hero keeps it until he is eliminated or until the game ends. At the end of every round, during Phase D, the Hero loses 1 Life Point (unless he is in the same room as the Scientist).
Repair Kit: This object can reduce Fire damage by 1 point, repair a destroyed pillar, or repair a damaged barricade. The Hero must assign a Room Activation die and a die with any icon. In order to repair a barricade, the Hero must be in the same room as the barricade. In order to repair a pillar or decrease Fire damage, the Hero must be in the same room or an adjacent one.
Grenade: By assigning any die with a Movement icon, the Hero may place a -1 Fire token in an area within melee range. At the end of the round, during Phase D, all Enemies in this area take 1 Unstoppable damage. The Grenade object is then returned to the supply.
Barricades
Construction
Players can build up to 4 barricades for protection (the included fifth barricade is for player-created scenarios). You can build one barricade on each side of a room, but you cannot build barricades on platform tiles. A barricade placed between two Room tiles will block the movement of Heroes in both directions, as well as the ability to climb onto a platform (see diagram).
Destruction
If a barricade suffers a melee attack of 3 or greater, it becomes damaged. Lay the Barricade token down in the room to indicate that it is damaged (it can be repaired with the Repair Kit object). However, if a damaged barricade suffers a melee attack of 3 or greater, it is destroyed. Remove the Barricade token from the room. The barricade may be rebuilt later (using the Dome tile). Heroes may choose to attack barricades, if they wish. Any melee attack of 2 or less is stopped by the barricade and has no effect.
Protection
Barricades create a layer of protection between Heroes and the Enemies. As long as there is a barricade between a Hero and an Enemy, Enemy melee attack are performed against the barricade instead (Hero melee attacks are not blocked by Barricades). Other types of attacks (ranged, unstoppable) ignore barricades and deal damage as normal.
SuperBoss
This powerful Enemy is the Grand Chief of the strange lifeforms that have been attacking your ship.
Only the Hero carrying the Sacred Relic can damage him. No other Hero may damage him, regardless of the type of attack used.