Battle Bosses
Battle Bosses Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup
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Each player places their nine map tiles to create the battlefield.
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Each player places their Boss in their starting space, designated in this example by stars (note: hex tiles do not have actual stars.)
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Each player shuffles their deck and draws 5 cards.
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Then each player chooses any number of cards in their hand, sets them aside and then draws back up to five. Then each player shuffles the set-aside cards into their deck.
Gameplay
Choose a player to go first at random. The starting player takes a turn as follows:
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At the beginning of each player's turn. they roll their 4 white base dice. On the first turn of the game, the starting player only rolls 3.
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For each energy symbol rolled, the player gets an energy token from the supply and for each crystal symbol rolled, the player gets a crystal token from the supply. For example, if you roll 1 crystal symbol and 1 energy symbol on one die and 2 energy symbols on the other die, you would take 3 energy and 1 crystal from the supply.
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If a die shows an Overload symbol, the player gets the energy shown on the die face, but they also get to reroll the Overloaded die and keep whatever resources it shows. This can be repeated if the player keeps rolling overloads until they have no more Overloaded dice.
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On their turn, after rolling dice, players can:
1.) Spend energy to use the abilities of their boss and minions or any abilities granted by upgrades.
2.) Players may use abilities and play cards in any order as much as they want on their turn.
3.) Spend crystals to play cards from their hand on their turn. Crystal can be saved between turns to save up for more expensive cards.
When a player is done using abilities and playing cards, they draw back up to five and end their turn.
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Players use energy to use the abilities of their boss or minions. Any energy not used goes away at the end of the turn.
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Players use crystals to play cards in their hand on their turns. Crystals can be saved between turns to save up for more expensive cards.
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After rolling, players can:
1.) Use abilities of their boss, minions, or on upgrades they have in play.
Using Abilities
Most bosses and minions start with an ability to move around the board, an ability to create minions, and a special ultimate ability. Minions' movement ability allows you to move any number of minions in the same space together. Each ability can be used any number of times during a turn. Some Bosses, such as Mecha Bot, have a special token which has abilities described on the minion card. Some abilities, such as Mecha Bot's second ability, require an additional cost to use them. The additional cost's text is in yellow and is highlighted in blue.
Example, Mecha Bot (boss, 15 max health):
- Ability 1 (1 energy): Move Mecha Bot 1 Space.
- Ability 2 (1 energy, plus the additional cost "Discard a card"): Sacrifice a Drone and make a Land Mine on its space.
- Ultimate Ability: The Singularity (7 energy): Make 6 Drones in Mecha Bot's space.
Example, Drone (minion, 1 max health):
- Ability 1 (1 energy): Move any number of Drones 1 space to an adjacent space.
- Ability 2 (2 energy): Make a Drone in Mecha Bot's space.
Example, Land Mine (token): When an enemy unit enters a space with a Land Mine, sacrifice it and deal 1 damage to that space. Enemy units in that space may not move on their next turn.
Playing Cards
There are two card types in Battle Bosses: Effects and Upgrades. Effects have an immediate effect and then go to your discard pile. Upgrades stay in play and typically have a continuous effect on the game. Often, they will give your boss additional abilities that you can use with energy. Sometimes there are special types of Upgrades such as Promotions that upgrade your minions or tokens. If an Upgrade is destroyed or sacrificed, it is put into your discard pile.
Example cards:
- Upgrade Card (Vanguard Commander, cost 2): Whenever Ryu moves, you may move any Samurai in the same space along with her.
- Promotion Card (Strength of Will, cost 2, Upgrade · Promotion): It costs enemy units 1 additional energy to move into a space that a Samurai is in. only your Samurai.
- Effect Card (Lightning Strike, cost 3): Choose a space up to 2 spaces away from Ryu. Destroy all enemy minions in that space and then move Ryu into that space.
Combat
There are four types of combat in Battle Bosses:
1.) If one or more minions are in the same space as enemy minions, the minions immediately attack each other and will destroy each other one to one until only one side has minions remiaining in the space. The attacking player chooses which minions are destroyed first.
2.) If a boss moves into a space with minions, they will immediately attack the minions and destroy them, taking one damage symbol (damage) for each one.
3.) At the end of a player's turn, if they have any minions in a space with an enemy boss, they attack that boss and deal damage to them equal to the number of minions in the space. Then destroy those minions.
4.) At the end of a player's turn if their boss is in a space with an enemy boss, they brawl the enemy boss, dealing 1 damage.
Note: If a minion is dealt damage for any reason, it is destroyed.
Arena Mode
Arena Mode is a 3v3 or 2v2 way to play Battle Bosses that is inspired by popular MOBA video games. There are a few concepts that are new to Arena Mode compared to standard Battle Bosses. We recommend that you read the rules for standard play before reading these rules.
For a glossary of terms, refer to the back cover.
Set up and turns are similar to Battle Bosses 1v1, with a few differences.
- You play on the 6 player or 4 player arena map boards vs the individual tiles.
- Each player chooses a boss to play as and places them on one of their team's spawn spaces.
- Randomize the neutral camp tiles and place one on each neutral camp space.
- Teammates take their turns simultaneously, although we recommend each team performs actions 1 at a time.
Bases
Each team has a base, with adjacent spaces being the spawn spaces for the team's bosses. Bosses cannot move into bases, but minions can. Special tokens such as treasures or land mines cannot be placed in bases. Each base has 20 health in 3v3 or 15 health in 2v2. If a team's base takes damage equal to its health, they are eliminated and the other team wins. Abilities that heal damage, cannot heal damage from bases unless expressly stated.
Example base tile (Zone 1, Omega Base): 20 health. Bosses and pets cannot enter bases.
Bosses
Bosses in Arena mode have reduced health, as reflected on their Arena mode dashboards. Some of them also have modified abilities, to better suit a team-focused environment, so be sure to check out your Boss to see if their abilities have changed before playing. When a boss is eliminated in Arena mode, they respawn in any of their team's spawn spaces and deal 3 damage to their base.
Example, Doc Splosion:
- Regular boss dashboard: 15 max health. Growth Serum. Ability 1 (1 energy): Move Doc Splosion 1 Space. Ability 2 (2 energy, plus the additional cost "Discard a card"): Heal 1 damage. Ultimate Ability: Eureka! (7 energy): An opponent sacrifices an upgrade and you return an upgrade from your discard pile to play.
- Arena mode dashboard: 8 max health. Growth Serum Mk.3. Ability 1 (1 energy): Move Doc Splosion 1 Space. Ability 2 (2 energy, plus the additional cost "Discard a card"): Heal 1 damage from a pet or boss. Ultimate Ability: Doomsday Device (7 energy): Destroy a boss.
Fog of War
There are 7 Fog of War zones on the Arena map. The seven zones on the map are: Alpha Base, Alpha Spawn, Cool Zone, the Wastes, Hot Zone, Omega Spawn, and Omega Base.
A boss's abilities and cards can't affect units or spaces other than the zone they are in and any adjacent zone. This includes allies' and enemies' cards and abilities that choose a boss or space plus all cards and abilities stating "all enemy bosses" or "all bosses".
Neutral Monsters and Pets
In the center of the map, place face down neutral monsters in the neutral monster camps as indicated on the board from the neutral monster tile deck. They are wild creatures, monsters, and characters that can be defeated by either team for rewards. In combat, they function similar to bosses. Any cards or abilities you have that damage a boss can be used to damage neutral monsters or pets as well. The first time a boss enters a neutral camp space, flip over the tile revealing a monster.
Example tiles:
- Spawn Point: Next neutral monster spawns in 3 turns. Neutral monsters deal 1 damage every turn to all units in its space.
- Phoenix (neutral monster, 6 max health): Reward: Heal 4 damage from all allies and your base.
If a neutral monster is destroyed, by taking damage equal to its health, the player that destroyed it gets whatever reward is listed. If multiple teammates are responsible you may chose who gets the bonus when relevant. Once a monster is defeated, place the next neutral monster onto the neutral camp space. Then, place three energy counters on the time marker logos. Remove an energy at the beginning of each team's turn. When the last marker is removed, flip the monster face up on the space.
Some monster's reward is that when you defeat them, you gain them as a pet. When this happens, you put the minion's pet tile into the space where it was defeated and the player who defeated it gets the monster's pet dashboard and puts it with their other dashboards. The monster has abilities which cost energy, just like a boss or minion, it brawls like a boss, and all cards, abilities and combat treat it like another boss. If it is eliminated by taking damage equal to its max health, it is removed from the board and its dashboard is removed from its controller's play area.
Example, Sky Whale: Neutral monster tile, 4 max health. Reward: Gain this monster. Pet dashboard, 5 max health: Ability 1 (1 energy): Move Sky Whale 1 space to an adjacent space. Passive: Allied units may move with Sky Whale. Pet tile, 5 health.
Transcription note: the PDF text layer of this section contains stray characters at two points ("energyncounters" and "petl"). The printed page reads "energy counters" and "pet", and this file follows the printed text.
Combat Including Neutral Monsters or Pets
Similar to bosses, at the end of each turn, neutral monsters deal damage in the following order:
1.) If you have minions in a neutral monster's space at the end of your turn, they deal 1 damage to the monster and are destroyed as long as there are no enemy bosses.
2.) If your boss or any pet monsters you control are in the monster's space at the end of your turn, and there are no enemy bosses or pets in that space. If there are enemy bosses in that space, you brawl with that enemy boss instead.
3.) The monster deals 1 damage to each unit in its space at the end of each turn as long as it survives. For example, if your boss is in a neutral monster's space, it will take 1 damage at the end of your turn, and 1 additional damage at the end of the enemy team's turn.
Additional Damage Rules
When damage is dealt to a space or when minions deal damage at the end of a turn, pets will protect bosses similar to minions and bosses protect neutral monsters. Damage dealt to a space is dealt in the following order:
- Minion
- Pet
- Boss
- Neutral Monster
- Base
Glossary
UNITS: Refers to bosses and minons, collectively but not special tokens.
DAMAGE TO A SPACE: Choose a space on the board and deal damage to any enemy minions there first (the player dealing the damage may choose which minions they damage first). Leftover damage is dealt to any enemy boss in that space (ie. if a card instructs you to deal 3 damage to a space and you choose a space with 2 enemy minions and an enemy boss in it, destroy those two minions and deal 1 damage to the boss.)
UNITS: Refers to bosses and minions collectively, but not special tokens.
GET: If a card says to GET resources, take them from the supply.
STEAL: If a card says to STEAL resources, take them from the opponent. If no opponent has the stated resources, take as many from them as you are able.
HEAL: If a card instructs you to heal, you may remove damage from the chosen boss.
CONTROL A SPACE: You CONTROL A SPACE if you have a unit (boss or minion) in that space and there are no enemies in that space. Special tokens do not give a player control of a space.
BRAWL: A word referencing Boss to Boss Combat. Bosses Brawl at the end of a players turn.
Symbols
- Energy: the blue swirl symbol.
- Crystal: the magenta gem marked with a 1.
- Overload: the die face marked with a swirl and an overload icon.
- Damage: the red and yellow warning triangle.
For FAQ and info on recommended multiplayer tile layouts and rules sets, visit us at kess.co/battlebosses!