Army of Darkness: The Board Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Component Overview
  • Game Board
  • Characters
  • Action Cards
  • Sand Timer
  • Arthur's Knights
  • Dice
  • Research Cards
  • Necronomicon Cards
  • Threat Tokens
  • Event Cards
  • Deadites (Enemies)
  • Evil Ash
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Objective: Reveal and Defeat Evil Ash!
  • 1. Deal Actions & Events
  • 2. Open the Necronomicon
  • 3. Planning Phase
  • 4. Evil Ash Event
  • 5. Players and Enemies Act
    • a. Action Phase
      • Movement Examples
      • Action Cards
      • Defeating Enemies & Priority Order
      • Action Card Examples
    • b. Enemy Phase
• Ending the Game
• Solo Play Variant
• Appendix: Game Board Areas
• Appendix: Difficulty Adjustments
  • For an Easier Game
  • For a Harder Game
• Important Terms
• Quick Reference
  • Round Sequence
  • Interact Areas
  • Activation Order
  • Defeating Enemies & Priority Order
  • Enemies

Components

• 6 Dice
• 40 Plastic Standee Bases
• 1 Sand Timer (60 seconds)
• 6 Boards: 1 Folding Game Board, 4 Character Boards, 1 Evil Ash Board
• 85 Cards: 22 Actions, 8 Wounds, 8 Necronomicon, 18 Research, 30 Events, 5 Evil Ash, 4 Player Reference
• 40 Standees: 1 Ash Williams, 1 Linda, 1 Wiseman, 1 Lord Arthur, 1 Evil Ash, 1 Evil Sheila, 4 Flying Deadite, 6 Archer Deadite, 9 Shield Deadite, 9 Axe Deadite, 6 Arthur's Knight
• 45 Tokens: 28 Threat, 3 Castle Walls, 4 Siege Ladder, 8 Banner, 1 Catapult Operator, 1 Evil Ash Health

Component Overview

Game Board

The game board shows an aerial view of the castle and the surrounding landscape. This is where the action of the game takes place; standees and enemy tokens move around the map, battling and interacting with rooms of the castle.

The board is divided into 25 Areas, which are sections of the board visually divided by artwork such as walls, objects, or cracks in the ground. Most Areas are named for convenience.

Areas are connected by Movement Arrows. These come in 5 colors, and are used by enemies to advance toward the castle in a randomized pattern. White Arrows have special rules.

Siege Ladder Tokens: During the game, these tokens get placed against the castle and add Movement Arrows for the Deadites, helping them bypass the castle walls.

Castle Wall Tokens: The three sides of the castle that have ruined wall artwork are each covered by a wall token. Initially, these tokens begin on the side showing good condition, but are flipped to the damaged side and eventually removed as the Deadites lay siege to the castle.

Banner Tokens: The six Areas around the edge of the board show the approaching Army of Darkness and cannot be Moved into. Each Area is marked with a Banner Token. At the end of each Round, one of these Banners is flipped, either advancing the arrival of Evil Ash or increasing the number of Deadites attacking the castle.

Characters

Each player chooses a Character to play and takes the appropriate standee and Character Board. The standee represents the character's location on the board while the Character Board provides additional information divided into the following sections:

1. Character Name, Artwork, and Quote.
2. Stats: These are used with various Actions. The Fight and Interact stats indicate the number of dice (referred to as "Fight Dice" or "Interact Dice") that this character rolls when performing those actions. The Command stat determines the number of Knights this character gets to Activate with a Command action.
3. Special Ability: Whenever a Character uses a Special Action card, this is the unique effect they resolve.
4. Action Slots: During the planning phase of each Round, players choose Action cards and put them into these slots. This determines the sequence of Actions they will perform during the Round.
5. Saved Action: This slot is reserved for a fourth Action card. This card is saved from one Round to the next so that Characters can better plan their Actions.

Action Cards

This deck of cards is shuffled and dealt to the players each Round. It is used to program which Actions they will perform over the course of the Round. Each card provides an Initiative number (6), and an effect (7). Most also have a Movement value (8).

There are 6 types of Action Cards:

• Wild: This card can be used as any of the others.
• Command: Move and Attack with Arthur's Knights.
• Fight: Fight Deadites in your Area.
• Scout: Move quickly and reveal threats.
• Interact: Use the abilities of Areas within the castle.
• Special: Use the special ability on your character board.

Wounds (9): These 8 cards are added to the deck of Action cards as the horde of Deadites wear down the players. If all of these cards are in the Action Deck, players lose the game. They have the same card back as other Action Cards.

Sand Timer

When players are planning their Actions each Round, they must discuss strategy and program their Action cards in 60 seconds of real-time!

Arthur's Knights

These 6 Knight standees are allies that help defend the castle by stalling Deadites. Players can Command them to move and fight, and additional Knights can also be added to the map using the Armory Area.

Dice

Fighting and many other Actions use these custom dice to determine the results. The dice have the following faces:

• Hit: these are successes when you Fight and Interact.
• Shield: some effects grant bonuses for this icon, but it has no default effect.
• Critical: counts as both Shield and Hit.
• Deadite Shield: used by some enemy effects (e.g. the Shield Deadite uses them to block Hits).
• Deadite Skull: successes when Enemies attack.

Research Cards

As they raid the trunk of Ash's car, players gain access to a variety of beneficial effects. These Research cards come in two types:

Items: These are held by a character and provide either a permanent bonus or a powerful discard effect.

Upgrade: These cards are placed beside the game board and provide a permanent bonus to all Characters or Knights (the card will specify).

Catapult Operator token: This token is placed by the Artillery Training Research card and improves your Artillery.

Necronomicon Cards

If they dare, players can draw from the Necronomicon deck. Those cards will help you find Evil Ash sooner, but the book is cursed and you may wind up suffering the effects. You'd better say those words correctly!

Threat Tokens

Most Enemies begin the game as Threat tokens, which represent Deadite forces marching toward the castle under the cover of darkness. These tokens are placed face-down (so the ? side is visible) and advance toward the castle until they are revealed by entering an Area containing a Character or a Knight.

After they are revealed, Threat tokens are put back in the supply and can be placed again. Threat tokens that say "None" are decoys and they are removed from play (put back in the box) after they are revealed.

Event Cards

As players perform Actions during the round, Event cards are drawn to determine how the Approaching Army proceeds with their siege of the castle. Each Event card has a name (1) and an effect (2). Most events have a diagram showing where new Threat tokens are placed (3) and a Movement Arrow (4) that determines which Threats and Enemies move and attack. Some Events have Surges (5) that draw another Event.

Deadites (Enemies)

There are 4 types of Deadites in the game, each possessing a unique special ability and represented by a different standee:

• Axe Deadites are just fodder for your blade.
• Shield Deadites might block your fight actions.
• Archer Deadites hang back and attack from afar.
• Flying Deadites are fast and tough to stop.

Evil Sheila is a unique Deadite with several special abilities to mess up your plans.

Evil Ash

Evil Ash has a standee, a deck of cards, and a board. The board tracks his total Health and which events to resolve each Round.

Evil Ash Cards: Each of these cards has a name and an effect. They function similarly to Events, and one is resolved each Round after Evil Ash appears and personally joins his siege on the castle.

Evil Ash Board: In addition to listing Evil Ash's two special abilities, this board shows Evil Ash's Health track. Players win by reducing Evil Ash's Health to zero. Each Round, Event cards (and an Evil Ash card) are dealt into the slots along the bottom of the board.

Evil Ash board text: "I want every black-hearted, worm-infested, son-of-a-bitch that ever died in battle! We'll storm their castle and take my book!"

• Fearsome: Whenever players roll dice for an Action that affects Evil Ash's Area, each Shield result cancels 1 Hit result.
• Brutal: When Enemies in Evil Ash's Area Attack, he adds 3 dice, and all Deadite Shield results count as Deadite Skull results.

Setup

Note: You can play with 1 player. In addition to these setup rules, see "Solo Play Variant" on page 18.

1. Game Board: Place the game board in the middle of the table.

2. Castle Walls: Place a Castle Wall token over each of the 3 ruined castle entrances on the game board. The wider wall token goes over the Gate Area.

3. Knights: Place 1 Knight standee in each of the following areas: North Courtyard, West Courtyard, East Courtyard. Place the remaining 3 Knight standees in an "Armory supply" beside the Armory space on game board.

4. Banner Tokens: a) Set aside the 3 Banner tokens showing Evil Ash. b) Shuffle the remaining 5 Banner tokens and deal 3 of them face-down. Return the others to the box without looking at them. c) Shuffle the 3 Evil Ash Banner tokens and 3 other Banner tokens together without looking at them, and place one face-down at each Approaching Army Area on the game board.

5. Create the Enemy Reserve: a) Sort all of the Deadite standees by type, assemble them with plastic bases, and place them beside the game board to form the Enemy Reserve. b) Flip all of the Threat tokens face-down and shuffle them. Place them in a pile beside the game board.

6. Place Starting Threats: Place Threat tokens from the reserve face-down in each Area outside the Castle that does not contain a banner token. (A Threat token marked with a solid border is placed for games with 2-4 players; a Threat token marked with a dashed border is placed for games with 3-4 players.)

7. Prepare Evil Ash & Enemy Decks: a) Place the Evil Ash Standee and Board beside the game board as shown, leaving room below for a row of cards. b) Place the Health token on the Evil Ash Board, on the space corresponding to the number of players. c) Shuffle the Evil Ash deck and place it beside the Evil Ash Board as shown. d) Shuffle the Event deck and place it beside the Evil Ash Board as shown.

You are now ready to play!

Gameplay

Objective: Reveal and Defeat Evil Ash!

All players win if they can survive until Evil Ash appears and then reduce him to zero Health. Evil Ash has zero Health when the Health token reaches the Defeated space on the Evil Ash Board.

All players lose and the game ends immediately if either of the following conditions are met:

• Players add the last Wound card to the Action deck; the Deadites have beaten them!
• At the end of a Round, there are more Enemies than Characters/Knights in the Altar Area; one of them slips through and steals the Necronomicon!

The game is played over a series of Rounds until players either win or lose. During each round, the following phases occur in order. Each of these phases is explained in more detail below.

1. Deal Actions & Events
2. Open the Necronomicon
3. Planning Phase (Real Time)
4. Evil Ash Event
5. Players and Enemies Act (do this 3 times) a. Action Phase b. Enemy Phase
6. Army Phase
7. Clean Up

1. Deal Actions & Events

Deal 4 Action cards to each player, then flip the rest face-up and place them in a discard pile beside the game board.

Important: Players should not look at their Action cards yet. Wait until the Planning Phase!

Next, deal an Event card face-down to each of the 3 Event slots at the bottom of the Evil Ash board. If Evil Ash is in play, also deal 1 Evil Ash card face-down to the Evil Ash slot, otherwise leave that slot empty. If there are not enough Event or Evil Ash cards to fill the required slots, deal as many as possible then reshuffle the corresponding discard pile to form a new deck and deal the remaining cards.

2. Open the Necronomicon

Flip the top card of the Necronomicon deck face up.

3. Planning Phase

At the beginning of this phase, flip the Sand Timer. Players have 60 seconds to complete everything they can during this phase.

First, each player picks up their hand of 4 Action cards plus their Saved Action from the last Round. Note: for the first Round of the game no one will have a Saved Action card.

Next, players program 4 Action cards from their hands face-down to their own character boards. They may discuss their plans while doing this, but remember the timer!

Three of a player's Actions will be placed into the First, Second, and Third Action slots below their Character Board. The fourth Action card will be placed beside the Character Board as a Saved Action. If the player has a fifth Action card, it will be discarded face-up to the Action discard pile.

End of the Planning Phase: When the 60 second timer has run out, any Action cards that were not placed into a slot below a Character board are discarded face-up to the Action discard pile. Any players who didn't get to program Actions will be able to do less in this Round.

4. Evil Ash Event

Skip this phase if Evil Ash has not arrived yet. If there is an Evil Ash card in the slot below the Evil Ash board, reveal it and apply its effect. Note that several Evil Ash cards (such as "Bloodbath") have continuous effects that last until the end of the Round.

(Example card, Bloodbath: "This round, Critical results also count as Deadite Skull results.")

5. Players and Enemies Act

The Action and Enemy Phases are performed 3 times.

a. Action Phase

Each player reveals the Action card in their First Action slot. Each Action Card is numbered, and no two Action cards share the same number (aside from Wounds). Players take turns resolving their Action Cards in order from lowest to highest. The effects of each Action are listed below. All Action cards also share the following common rules:

Optional Effects: Both the Movement and Effects of Every Action card are optional. For example, if you program a Fight action to use its 1 Movement but there are no Enemies in the Area you move into, you do not have to resolve the Fight effect of the Action Card.

Movement: All Action cards (except Wounds) grant Characters the ability to Move 1 or more Areas. For each Area a Character is allowed to Move, they may travel between two adjacent Areas connected by a movement arrow of any color. They may even travel in the opposite direction of the Movement Arrow. The direction of these Arrows only matters for Enemies.

Move Before or After: A Character may perform the Movement portion of an Action Card either before or after the rest of the text on the Action card.

Castle Wall Tokens: Characters cannot move through Castle Wall tokens, but can use the white flying arrows around the edge of the castle to climb up and down the walls.

Approaching Army: Characters cannot move into the Approaching Army Areas around the edge of the game board unless they are using the Scout Action card. Enemy standees and Threat tokens do not stop Characters or Knights from Moving into or out of an Area, but any Threat tokens in an Area you Move into are revealed.

Revealing Threat Tokens: At any time, whenever a Threat token occupies the same Area as a Character or Knight, it is revealed and immediately replaced with the matching Enemy standees if possible. This means Threats can be revealed when a Character or Knight moves into a new Area, or when Threat tokens follow Movement Arrows during an Enemy Phase. If there are not enough Enemy standees of the type listed, place as many as possible. If there are none, no Enemies are placed. Once revealed, Threat tokens are placed in a discard pile beside the game board, to be reshuffled later.

Movement Examples

For their First Actions of the Round, Ash has programmed a Scout 4 card, and Linda has programmed a Fight 10 card.

Ash resolves his Action first and jumps down to the West Tower (following the white Flying arrow) (1). As Ash enters the West Tower Area, the Threat tokens there are revealed: "Axe x2" and "None." Ash sends the Axe x2 token to the discard pile and places 2 Axe Deadite standees there (2). The "None" token is returned to the box. Ash uses his remaining Movement to reach the North Courtyard (3).

Linda resolves her Action second. Since the Deadite in her Area does not stop her from leaving the North Courtyard, she begins by moving into the West Courtyard, revealing the Threat token there: "Shield x2." (4) Perfect - she's now in a position to resolve the rest of her Fight Action card.

Action Cards

Wild (1-3): This Action can be used as any of the following Action cards (except a Wound), and includes the Movement listed on the chosen Action card. (Card text: Treat this card as an Action card of your choice: Scout, Command, Fight, Interact, or Special.)

Scout (4-5): Move up to 3 Areas. During this Move, you may Move into Approaching Army Areas and reveal any Banner tokens in Areas you Move into. You may not end your Movement in an Approaching Army Area. This Action gives you 3 Movement and is the only way to reveal Banner tokens outside of flipping one during the Army Phase. This can help you find Evil Ash sooner. As with other Movement, you also reveal any Threat tokens in Areas you Move into.

Command (6-9): Move 1 Area. Activate Knights equal to your Command stat. Each Knight may Move 1 Area. Then, each of those Knights may resolve a Fight in their Area, rolling 1 die. For each Hit result, they defeat 1 Enemy in that Area. You must defeat Enemies in Priority Order (see below).

This Action lets you choose a number of Knights on the game board to Activate, up to your Command stat. For each activated Knight, you may Move it 1 Area. After you have finished moving any/all of your activated Knights, you may resolve a Fight in their Area(s), rolling 1 die for each Knight you activated. If multiple Knights Fight in the same Area, you must roll their fight dice together.

Fight (10-13): Move 1 Area. Resolve a Fight in your Area by rolling your Fight dice, plus 1 for each Knight there. For each Hit result, defeat 1 Enemy in your Area. You must defeat Enemies in Priority Order (see below).

Resolve a Fight in your Area, rolling dice equal to your Fight stat. If there are any Knights in your Area, roll an extra die for each. You do not add dice for other Characters in your Area. With this Action, it is possible to roll more dice than are included in the box. In that case, roll all 6, record the results, and reroll the remainder you need.

Interact (14-18): Move 1 Area. Roll your Interact dice to use your Area's ability.

Five Areas within the Castle have effects that can be activated. When you use an Interact Action, resolve the ability of your Character's Area:

• Laboratory: Roll your Interact dice. If you get at least 1 Hit, take 1 face-up Research card, then draw another so there are always 3 face-up to choose from. If there are not enough Research cards remaining, reshuffle the Research discard pile to form a new deck.
• Armory: Add 1 Knight from the supply here. If all 6 Knights are in play (i.e. there are none in the Armory supply), Interacting with this Area has no effect.
• East Artillery and West Artillery: When Interacting with one of these Areas, choose an Area outside the castle on the same half of the game board as the Artillery Area you are using: Reveal all the Threat tokens in the chosen area, place any standees, then roll your Interact dice. Defeat 1 Enemy there, in Priority Order, for each Hit result rolled.
• Altar: Roll your Interact dice and resolve the text on the face up Necronomicon card. After resolving the card's text, place it in a discard pile beside the Necronomicon deck. If the Necronomicon deck becomes empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. You can only Interact with the Altar once per round; nothing happens if there is no face up Necronomicon card.

Special (19-22): Move 1 Area. You must pick 1 of 2 options when you resolve a Special Action. Either:

• Perform the Special Action listed on your Character Board, or
• Look through the Action discard pile, take 1 Wound card and return it to the Wound deck.

Wound (23): Return this card to the Wound deck. This Action card does not provide any Movement. It has only one effect, which is to return itself to the Wound deck. This effectively forces you to rest to heal the Wound. Unlike other Actions, all Wounds are numbered 23. If multiple Characters program Wounds in the same Action slot, they all resolve at the same time.

Defeating Enemies & Priority Order

Whenever you defeat Enemies, they are returned to the Enemy Reserve. Unless otherwise specified, you must remove Enemies in the following Priority Order. For example, you cannot apply Hit results to defeat Archer Deadites if there are Axe or Shield Deadites in the same Area. It also means you cannot apply Hit results to Evil Ash unless you've dealt with all other Enemies in that Area first.

Axe Deadite > Archer Deadite > Shield Deadite > Flying Deadite > Evil Sheila > Evil Ash

Action Card Examples

Scout Action - see Movement Examples above.

Command Action: With his Command stat of 2, the Wiseman Activates 2 Knights, moving each of them into the West Courtyard. Then, he rolls a die for each Knight to Fight the Deadites there (Linda can't help because Fight and Command actions don't activate other Characters). The Knights roll Hit and Shield. The Hit must defeat 1 Axe Deadite because that is the lowest-priority enemy present. The Shield only applies with some Upgrades, and has no effect here.

Fight Action: After the Wiseman resolved his Command Action, Linda follows up with her Fight Action. She rolls her 3 Fight dice, plus 2 more dice for the Knights there - nice coordination! The result is Hit, Hit, Hit, Deadite Shield, Deadite Skull. This would be enough to defeat all 3 Deadites, except for the Shield Deadite's special ability, which cancels 1 Hit for each Deadite Shield rolled, up to the number of Shield Deadites there. As a result, the Axe Deadite and one Shield Deadite are defeated and returned to the Enemy Reserve.

Interact Action - Artillery: Moving into the West Artillery Area of the castle, Arthur uses his Interact Action to fire upon Threats approaching the castle. He chooses an Area with 3 Threat tokens to reveal: Archer x2, Shield x1, and None. He places those standees, puts the None Threat into the box, and puts the others in a discard pile. Then, he rolls 2 dice (his Interact stat is 2), and gets Hit and Deadite Shield, defeating 1 Enemy. Due to Enemy Priority order, it must be one of the Archer Deadites. Note the Shield Deadite's ability does not protect against Artillery, only Fight Actions.

Ash's Special Action - Boomstick: Each character has a unique Special Action. Seeing a group of Deadites entering the castle, Ash attempts to thin them out with his shotgun. He rolls 3 dice - blammity-blam! He gets Hit, Hit, Deadite Shield! Since this is not a Fight Action, the Shield Deadite's ability doesn't apply, and since Ash's Special ability lets Ash ignore Priority Order, he decides to use this opportunity to defeat the Flying and Shield Deadites.

b. Enemy Phase

Reveal the left-most unrevealed Event below the Evil Ash Board. This corresponds to the First, Second, or Third Action Phase players just completed. Use that Event to resolve the following steps:

A. Effect B. Place New Threats C. Activate Threats & Enemies

A. Effect

Read the Event card's text and follow its instructions if possible. If an Event card instructs you to do something that isn't possible because there are no appropriate tokens or targets, do as much as possible and ignore the rest of the effect.

For example, this "March!" Event card instructs you to choose a Threat token to move following a Red Arrow. If there are no Threat tokens in play, or none that can follow Red Arrows, nothing happens.

March!: If any Threat tokens can move following a yellow arrow, choose one of them and move it.

B. Place New Threats

Refer to the diagram on the card and place new Threat tokens from the Enemy Reserve in the Approaching Army Areas shown. Use the Banner tokens to help distinguish the Areas. For games with fewer than 4 players, do not place Threat tokens in Areas listed for more players.

• For a 3-player game, do not place a Threat token in an Area listed as "4p."
• For a 2-player game, do not place a Threat token in Areas listed as "3p" or "4p."

If there are not enough Threat tokens in the Enemy Reserve to place in the indicated Areas, place as many as possible (starting with the Areas marked "2p"), then shuffle the face-up discarded threat tokens to make a new pile and place the rest. If there still aren't enough, place as many as possible.

C. Activate Threats & Enemies

Enemies in Areas that can follow a Movement Arrow that matches the Event card will Activate. Enemies in the Altar Area or that can follow a white Movement Arrow will also Activate regardless of the Movement Arrow on the Event card. See White Movement Arrows below. Follow these two steps:

1. If there are Enemies in the Altar Area, they attack any Characters or Knights there. See Enemy Attacks below.
2. Enemies and Threats in an Area that can follow a Movement Arrow matching the Event card will Activate. Resolve areas with Activating enemies in the sequence shown in the diagram (Activation Order, see the Appendix below), starting at the Laboratory/South Courtyard/Armory (1/2) and continuing outward (increasing numbers).

Enemies in each Area do one (or both) of the following:

• If there are Characters or Knights in that Area, Enemies attack them. After attacking, Enemies will move if they are not Pinned (see below).
• Enemies and Threats Move following the matching-colored Movement Arrow leaving their Area. All of the limitations below apply to Enemy Movement.

Pinned Enemies: If there are any Characters or Knights in the Area, they Pin Enemies. Each Character and Knight Pins one Enemy so that it cannot move. Enemies are always Pinned in Priority Order. Flying enemies are never Pinned.

White Movement Arrows: White Arrows are considered to be all colors that are not already shown leaving an Area. Flight arrows are only used by Flying Enemies. Siege Ladders are used by all Enemies (including Flying Enemies). When a Siege Ladder token is placed, it covers an existing Flight arrow in that Area.

Castle Wall Tokens: While intact, these tokens prevent enemies from using the non-white Movement Arrows at the West Wall, Gate, and East Wall to enter the castle. When Enemies in one of these Areas cannot move because they are blocked by the Wall, all Enemies in that Area that are not Pinned lay siege to the Wall: roll a die for each Enemy and Threat token there (even Flying Enemies). If there is at least 1 Deadite Skull or Deadite Shield result, the wall suffers 1 damage. Undamaged Wall tokens are flipped to the damaged side. Damaged Wall tokens are removed and returned to the box, revealing the rubble artwork on the game board. Once the Castle Wall token is removed, Enemies can follow these Movement Arrows as normal and enter the castle. Unpinned Enemies that lay siege and remove a Wall will then immediately Move into the castle following the Movement Arrow that caused the siege.

Enemy Attacks: Whenever Enemies attack, roll a die for each Enemy standee in that Area. For each Deadite Skull result, players must choose to either return 1 Knight in the Area to the supply or add 1 Wound card to the Action Deck. If the Wound deck is now empty all players lose the game!

Before proceeding to the Army Phase, you will have performed three Action and three Enemy phases.

Enemy Phase Examples

In the First Enemy Phase of the round, players reveal the First Event below the Evil Ash Board: "March! If any Threat tokens can move following a yellow arrow, choose one of them and move it."

They choose one Threat token to Move following a Yellow Arrow. Next, they place new Threat tokens in the Approaching Army Areas, according to the diagram on the card. In this three-player game, three Threat tokens are placed where shown. The 4p token is ignored (1).

Enemy Activation: Next, players check the board for all Areas that contain Enemies/Threats and a Red Movement Arrow (matching the Event card). Then, they Activate those Enemies starting with the Altar and proceeding outward.

(2) The group of Deadites in the East Courtyard attacks, rolling 3 dice: Hit, Deadite Skull, Deadite Shield. The Hit is ignored, but the Deadite Skull either causes players to add a Wound to the Wound deck or return the Knight there to the supply. Players choose to take the Wound. Two of the Deadites are pinned in Priority Order (one by the Knight, one by the Wiseman), so the Shield Deadite follows the Red Arrow into the Armory.

(3) Next, the Threats in the West Tower do not have a Red Arrow leaving their Area; they do nothing.

(4) The Enemies and Threats at the Gate attempt to move, but siege the Wall Token because they are blocked. They roll 3 dice and get Hit, Deadite Skull, Deadite Shield; either of the black die faces cause the Wall to flip to its damaged side. Then, the Flying Deadite moves into the North Courtyard following the White Arrow.

(5) The Archer Deadite does not Activate because there is no Red Arrow leaving its Area. If there were, it would Activate and Attack the Knight in the East Artillery instead, because it's in an adjacent Area.

(6) The Threat token at the East Wall moves into the East Courtyard, and is immediately revealed.

(7) This Threat token moves to the West Tower.

(8) The token in the Staging Area doesn't move, but the Threat placed in step (1) now moves to join it.

6. Army Phase

Once players have completed all three Action and Enemy Phases, play proceeds to the Army Phase, where Evil Ash's siege of the castle progresses. In this Phase, Players collectively choose 1 face-down Banner token. Reveal it and apply its "When revealed..." effect. Then place enemies in each Area with a face-up Banner token.

Placing New Enemies: Each revealed Banner token shows a type of Deadite in the circle at the top. Place one standee of the type shown in the Approaching Army Area with the Banner token.

Evil Ash Appears: When the third Banner token showing Evil Ash has been revealed, place the Evil Ash standee in the same Area. Now, players need to defeat him to win the game!

Activating Evil Ash: Once placed, Evil Ash functions mostly the same way as other Enemies: he Activates to follow Movement Arrows shown on Event cards and Attacks any Characters or Knights in his Area before doing so. See Enemies in the Appendix below for Evil Ash's special abilities.

7. Clean Up

To finish a Round, players discard all Action cards from their Character Boards to the Action discard pile (except their Saved Actions). Combine all discarded Action cards to form a new deck and shuffle.

If no one used the Necronomicon this round, place the face up card into a discard pile beside the deck.

Discard all Events and Evil Ash cards from the Evil Ash board, then begin a new Round, starting with a Deal Actions & Events Phase.

Ending the Game

Once Evil Ash has been placed, the end of the castle siege is in sight! Players must defeat Evil Ash to win the game.

Defeating Evil Ash: Players defeat Evil Ash (and immediately win the game) by reducing his Health to 0. This works the same way as killing Deadites: using Hit results through any Action or effect, except that each Hit result reduces Evil Ash's Health track by 1 (move the Health token 1 to the left) instead of defeating him. Players will need to hit Evil Ash a number of times depending on the number of players. Due to the Enemy Priority Order, dice results can only be assigned to Evil Ash if there are no other Enemies in his Area. When Evil Ash is defeated, the players have won, and the game ends immediately. All the other Deadites flee.

Solo Play Variant

You can play Army of Darkness the Board Game by yourself using the following variant rules:

• Setup: Follow all instructions for a 2-player game; you will choose and control 2 characters.
• Deal Actions & Events Phase: Deal yourself one hand of 8 cards instead of 4 per player. When you pick up Saved Actions, they both go into the same hand and can be used for either Character.
• Planning Phase: You may program an Action card from your hand to either Character Board.

Appendix: Game Board Areas

The diagram on the game board page shows where all of the Areas appear on the game board. Characters can only move between adjacent Areas if there is at least one Movement Arrow between them.

Castle Walls: When the castle wall tokens are destroyed and removed, they affect the Areas around the castle, causing some Areas, such as the East and West Artillery, to no longer be adjacent.

Appendix: Difficulty Adjustments

Once you are familiar with Army of Darkness the Board Game, you can introduce any of the following rules to adjust the difficulty for a more casual game or a greater challenge!

For an Easier Game

• Whenever you reveal a Threat token labelled "None", do not return it to the box; place it in the Threat token discard pile instead.
• Each character draws a random card from the Research deck at the start of the game. Put any Upgrades into play.
• Once Evil Ash arrives, do not program a Third Event each Round.
• Play the Planning Phase without the sand timer.
• Remove all six Surge cards from the Event Deck.

For a Harder Game

• During the Deal Actions & Events phase, always deal a fourth Event card to the Evil Ash board in the Evil Ash slot. Once Evil Ash is in play, deal his card on top of this 4th Event and resolve both at the same time, Evil Ash card first.
• When Enemies siege the Castle walls or Gate, they always succeed in dealing 1 stage of damage instead of rolling.
• Use only 5 Wounds in the Wound deck.
• Use a different time-keeping method and play the Planning Phase with a 45 or even 30-second timer!

Important Terms

• Area - Sections of the game board divided by artwork of walls or cracks in the ground.
• Adjacent - Areas that share a common border edge.
• Activate - Enemies that Attack and/or Move in the Enemy Phase.
• Black Shield (Deadite Shield icon on the dice).
• Black Skull (Deadite Skull icon on the dice).
• Castle - All of the Areas of the game board within the castle walls (Artilleries, Armory, Laboratory, Altar, the Pit, and all 4 Courtyard Areas).
• Command - Action for moving and attacking with Knights.
• Critical - icon on the dice.
• Enemy - A standee that is not a Character or Knight. Threat tokens are not considered Enemies, but can be replaced with Enemies once revealed.
• Enemy Reserve - Pool of Enemy standees.
• Fight - Action for attacking and removing Enemies.
• Health - Token & Track on Evil Ash's board.
• Hit - icon on the dice.

Quick Reference

Round Sequence

1. Deal Actions & Events
2. Open the Necronomicon
3. Planning Phase (Real Time)
4. Evil Ash Event
5. Players and Enemies Act (do this 3 times): a. Action Phase, b. Enemy Phase
6. Army Phase
7. Clean Up

Interact Areas

• Armory: Roll your Interact dice. If you get at least 1 Hit, add 1 Knight from the supply to this Area.
• Laboratory: Roll your Interact dice. If you get at least 1 Hit, take 1 face-up Research card, then draw a replacement for it.
• Altar: Roll your Interact dice to resolve effects on the face-up Necronomicon card.
• Artillery: Choose an Area your Artillery Area can target (W and E on the diagram). Reveal Threat tokens there. Roll Interact dice and defeat 1 Enemy for each Hit result you rolled.

Activation Order

Whenever you Activate Enemies, resolve their Attacks and Movement in the order shown on the back-cover diagram, lowest to highest area (1 to 7). The diagram numbers each Area 1-7 for the West (W) and East (E) halves of the board.

Defeating Enemies & Priority Order

Whenever you defeat Enemies in an Area that contains more than one type of Enemy, you must remove them in the Priority Order (top to bottom) of the Enemies listed below. For example, if there are Axe Deadites and Shield Deadites, Axe Deadites must be removed first.

Enemies

• Axe Deadite: Always defeated first if present.
• Archer Deadite: If there are Characters/Knights in an adjacent Area (following any arrow) when this Enemy would move, it Attacks instead of Moving. It also Attacks Characters/Knights in its Area like other Enemies.
• Shield Deadite: During a Fight Action, each Deadite Shield result (up to the number of Shield Deadites in the Area) cancels 1 Hit result.
• Flying Deadite: This Enemy uses Flying Arrows and is never Pinned.
• Evil Sheila: Each time you perform an Action that affects Evil Sheila's Area, roll 1 fewer dice. If you roll any Deadite Skull results during that Action, discard your next programmed Action card.
• Evil Ash: Once in play, resolve an Evil Ash card each Round. Evil Ash begins with 2 Health per player. Players defeat Evil Ash by reducing his Health to 0. This works the same way as killing Deadites by using Hit results through any Action or effect, except that each Hit result only reduces Evil Ash's Health track by 1. Evil Ash also has 2 abilities on his board:
  • Fearsome: Whenever players roll dice for an Action that affects Evil Ash's Area, each Shield result cancels 1 Hit result.
  • Brutal: When Enemies in Evil Ash's Area Attack, he adds 3 dice, and all Deadite Shield results count as Deadite Skull results.