Backstab Heroes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Game
• Setup
• Game Sequence
  • 1) Reveal Monster
  • 2) Play Action Cards
  • 3) Monster Phase
  • 4) Treasure Phase
  • 5) New Round
• Further Rules
  • Position in the Hero Group
  • Monster Cards
  • Action Cards
  • Reaction Cards
  • Treasure Cards
  • Winner

Components

This game contains:

• 55 action cards
• 30 treasure cards
• 22 monster cards
• 1 Starting Player card
• 1 "Spearpoint" card (Speerspitze)
• 1 "In the Shadows" card (In den Schatten)
• 25 damage markers
• 13 medal markers (Ordensmarker)
• 1 "Action" marker
• 1 "Treasure" marker

The Game

This is definitely not a cooperative game! The players are indeed forced to cooperate to a certain degree, but in the end only the one who grabs the most treasure wins.

During the game the players (aka "the heroes") encounter 8 monsters. They must defeat these, because only then do the monsters drop treasure. So far, so simple.

The catch: the heroes regularly change their position using action cards. The hero who stands at the very back of the hero group (back position) has a greater chance of getting the treasure, while the hero who stands at the very front (front position) mostly has to take the main damage from the monster, but often goes home empty-handed. All other heroes stand in the middle (middle position), which can bring both advantages and disadvantages.

Setup

Sort out of the monster deck the cards marked "Fat Monster" and shuffle them. Do the same with all cards marked "Not Quite So Fat Monster", and with all cards marked "Rather Normal Monster".

Draw 1 "Fat Monster" card and place it face down on the table. This card forms the bottom card of the monster deck.

Draw 2 "Not Quite So Fat Monster" cards and place them face down on the monster deck.

Draw 5 "Rather Normal Monster" cards and place them face down on the monster deck.

You now have a deck of 8 monster cards. Do not shuffle it!

If you absolutely must shuffle something, shuffle the action card deck now. Deal each player 4 action cards. These action cards form the player's hand. Form the remaining action cards into a deck with the card backs facing up. Place the "Action" marker next to this deck.

Now also shuffle the treasure cards into a face-down deck. Place the "Treasure" marker next to this deck.

The markers serve to keep the two decks apart, since they share the same back. And before you grumble about it: yes, that was intended!

Place the two cards "Spearpoint" (Speerspitze) and "In the Shadows" (In den Schatten) within easy reach on the table. Also lay out the damage markers within easy reach.

Randomly determine a starting player and give them the Starting Player card.

Game Sequence

The game is played over 8 rounds. Each round consists of 5 phases:

1. Reveal monster
2. Play action cards
3. Monster phase
4. Treasure phase
5. New round

1) Reveal Monster

Reveal the top card of the monster deck and place it in the middle of the table. The player sitting closest to the card reads the card out in full.

2) Play Action Cards

Each player now secretly plays 1 action card or 1 treasure card from their hand in front of themselves. The players do this simultaneously. Because action cards and treasure cards have the same back, it is not apparent which kind of card a player has played.

In the meantime, the players may confer and devise strategies. What they may not do is voluntarily show a card face up (this is only allowed when the text of a card explicitly asks for it). In addition, no player is obliged to keep to any agreements made! (To stress this once more: this is not a cooperative game.)

As soon as all players have laid down their card, the starting player begins. They reveal their played card, read it out in full and carry out its effect (this is called activating the card). If it is an attack card (symbol: the red attack symbol), damage markers equal to the damage dealt are placed on the monster card. Effects that target "a hero" may also be applied to oneself, but cards for "another hero" may not. After being revealed and resolved, a card initially stays face up on the table.

Then the next player clockwise reveals their card and carries out its effect. This continues until all players have revealed their cards. Players may not pass their turn; they must reveal their card. Note: a player may play treasure cards that have no effect. In this case the player merely reveals that they hold that card (whether that is clever is another matter).

Once all cards have been revealed and resolved, they are placed on the discard pile (if they are action cards) or taken back into hand by their owner (if they are treasure cards).

3) Monster Phase

Check whether the damage markers on the monster card are sufficient to defeat the monster. Each monster has a monster strength (monster strength symbol) on its card, which depends on the number of heroes (the more heroes take part, the higher the monster strength).

If the damage markers are equal to or higher than the monster strength, the monster is defeated. In this case, the hero who dealt the most damage in this round receives 1 medal marker (if there is a tie, none of the heroes receives a medal). Then draw as many treasure cards face down from the treasure deck as indicated in the treasure entry (treasure symbol) of the monster card (the more heroes take part, the greater the number of treasures). The monster card is then removed from the game and returned to the game box.

If the damage markers are not sufficient, the monster retaliates with a counterattack. Carry out the instruction under the "Counterattack" entry of the card. No treasure is laid out. The monster card is then removed from the game and returned to the game box.

A counterattack mostly deals damage to one or more heroes. In this case the affected heroes place the corresponding number of damage markers in front of themselves. It is also possible that no hero suffers damage, for example if the monster attacks the hero in the front position but no hero is currently in the front position.

4) Treasure Phase

If one or more treasure cards are lying face down, the treasure distribution now takes place.

It begins with the hero who is "in the shadows" (In the Shadows symbol). If no hero is in the shadows, it begins with the starting player.

That player takes all laid-out treasure cards, looks at them, selects one and passes the remaining cards to the left-hand neighbour at the table. That neighbour does the same, and so on until all cards have been distributed.

If more treasure cards were laid out than there are heroes taking part, the surplus cards are removed from the game. For example, if 5 treasure cards are laid out but only 4 heroes take part, each hero in turn receives one card and the last card returns to the game box.

Drawn treasure cards always go into the hand of their player.

5) New Round

At the end of each round, each player may discard 1 action card from their hand unused. Then all players draw action cards until they again have 4 action cards in hand (treasure cards are not counted for this, so a player's total hand size can end up well above 4).

The starting player passes the Starting Player card to the hero who is "in the shadows" (In the Shadows symbol). If no hero is currently "in the shadows", they pass the Starting Player card to their left-hand neighbour. A new round then begins with phase 1.

Action card deck empty: If the action card deck is empty, the discard pile is shuffled and laid out as the new action card deck. If there are monster cards or treasure cards in that pile, a player was not paying attention. Work out among yourselves whom to blame and how to deal with it.

Further Rules

Position in the Hero Group

Each player embodies one hero, and each hero is in one of three positions: front (front symbol), middle (middle symbol) or back (back symbol). At the start of the game all heroes are in the middle.

During the game, however, heroes are forced by action cards to leave their middle position and take up the other positions instead. A hero standing in the front shows their position by laying the "Spearpoint" card (Speerspitze) in front of themselves. A hero standing at the back shows their position by laying the "In the Shadows" card in front of themselves. All players who have no position card in front of them automatically stand in the middle.

Important: Only one hero can stand at the front and only one at the back. When a new hero takes one of the two positions, they take over the corresponding position card. The player who previously held that card automatically moves to the middle.

Monster Cards

Monster cards depict the vile monsters that must be defeated. Each monster card has 3 entries:

1. Monster strength. This small table gives the monster strength in relation to the number of heroes. The top row stands for the number of heroes, and the number below it shows the respective monster strength.
2. Treasures. Below this is the number of treasure cards that are drawn and distributed when the monster is defeated.
3. Counterattack. If the monster is not defeated, it retaliates with a counterattack. Afterwards it runs off and takes all of its treasures with it.

Action Cards

Action cards are either attack cards, which deal damage to a monster, or they have an effect on another hero. Attack cards are marked with the red attack symbol; all other action cards are marked with the action symbol (the grey "Action" symbol). Treasure cards bear the treasure symbol (the gold symbol).

Reaction Cards

Some action cards contain the note "Reaction card" (Reaktionskarte) in their card text. In contrast to normal action cards, such cards cannot be played regularly and then revealed. Instead, a player may play them from their hand when the condition stated on the card is fulfilled.

Treasure Cards

Treasure cards grant their player victory points. Some of them also have an effect when they are played instead of action cards. Treasure cards have the same back as action cards, so other players cannot tell whether an action card or a treasure card was played.

Winner

The winner is the hero who has the most victory points at the end of the game. To determine this, all treasure cards are shown face up and the victory points depicted on them are added up. Each damage marker reduces the victory points by its damage value. If a player has, for example, 4 victory points and 3 damage, they receive only 1 victory point.

Victory points can also go negative.

Sometimes it is not the richest hero who wins, but the one who most skilfully kept out of the brawl in which the monsters thrashed their companions.

The hero who has the most medals at the end of the game may proudly boast about it, while the other heroes make fun of them behind their back. (Medals have no monetary value and bring no victory points.)