BattleCON: Fate of Indines Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Unique Abilities
• Fighting Styles
• Attack Pairs
• Triggered Effects
  • In-Time Triggers
  • Conditionals
  • Optional Triggers
  • Recycle
• Eliminate the Opponent to Win!
• Styles and Bases
  • Example Attack Pairs
• Fighter Materials
  • Finisher Cards
  • Reference Cards
  • Unique Ability Card
  • Switch Style Card
  • Standups
• Other Materials
  • Overloads
  • Force
  • Life
  • Active/Reactive Cards
  • Super/Ultra Reference
  • Revenge Reference
• Unique Ability Materials
  • Tokens & Counters
  • Status Effect Cards
  • Markers
  • Special Cards
    • Forms
• Game Setup
  • 1. Fighter Selection
  • 2. Board Setup
  • 3. Fighter Setup
  • 4. Finishers & Initial Discards
• Play Sequence
  • Set Phase
  • Ante Phase
  • Reveal Step
    • Priority Tie? - Clash!
    • Tiebreakers
    • Finishers
  • Start of Beat
  • Active Player Attack
    • Guard & Stun
  • Reactive Player Attack
  • End of Beat
  • Recycle Phase
  • Time Over
  • Defeat
  • Next Beat
• Movement
  • Cannot vs. Do
  • Advance
  • Retreat
  • Pull
  • Push
  • Close
  • Teleport
• Other Effects & Keywords
• Multiplayer Rules
  • Multiplayer Rules Summary
  • Team Setup
  • Team Movement
  • Team Ante
  • Team Reveal + Priority
  • Targeting Attacks
  • Who is "The Opponent"?
  • Team Force
  • Defeat in Multiplayer
  • 2-vs-1: Super Fighters
  • 3-vs-1: Ultra Fighters
• Organized Play & Online Play

Game Overview

You can skip the rulebook and watch a tutorial video at the link below: www.level99games.com/BattleCON

Unique Abilities

Each fighter possesses a Unique Ability (also called a "UA") that gives them access to powers no other fighter has. Some UAs are simple, while others are complex. Learning and mastering both your own UA and your opponent's UA is the key to victory.

Each fighter's Unique Ability is rated according to its complexity. More complex abilities have more specific interactions or use more special materials. Here's a quick guide:

• Novice - Simple abilities that are recommended for quick, casual games, as well as for teaching others.
• Intermediate - Slightly more difficult abilities with the potential for complex interactions.
• Advanced - Complex characters who have many moving parts.

Fighting Styles

You can get a sense of how a fighter's Styles and Unique Ability support combat from their class, which is listed on their Unique Ability card:

• Slugger - Great defense and offense. Aim to out-trade by resisting disruption and pouring damage into the opponent consistently.
• Tactician - Utilize spacing and positional setups to control the board and put opponents at a disadvantage.
• Mage - Draw power from technical abilities. Rely heavily on activating these effects to maintain and press advantages in combat.
• Disruptor - Attempt to stun opponents, dodge retaliation, or muddle enemy abilities. Force the opponent to play around your answers.
• Brawler - Control the opponents and the pace of combat by using consistent, well-rounded attacks, often landing hits to inflict statuses.
• Tinkerer - Use flexible abilities to craft attacks, often stacking multiple buffs or triggers to adapt to the situation.

A fighter's class and complexity have no bearing on their strength. Novice characters can compete evenly with Advanced ones, and each class is balanced to deal with others. It's most important to find and use a fighter that resonates with your personal play style.

All of the cards and other components that belong to a fighter are collectively known as the fighter's "kit." These components are bound to a specific fighter and cannot be mixed and matched among fighters.

Attack Pairs

Fighters have two types of cards called Styles and Bases. Combining one Style with one Base forms an attack pair, which has all the effects and stats that are printed on both cards.

Attack Pairs are Recycled after use, locking up both cards in the pair for two complete beats (rounds) of combat. Be wary of what cards you have access to and what your opponent can and can't do during their turns. Use their limitations to your advantage.

Example: The attack "Soaring Shot" would have 1~5 Range, 2 Power, 3 Priority, and 2 Guard. It also has all the special effects of both cards combined.

Triggered Effects

The special effects of your attacks are not carried out all at once. These effects are triggered by reaching certain moments during play. Then and only then are they carried out.

• When a player has two or more triggers with the same timing, that player performs the triggers in the order they choose.

The trigger timings are:

• Reveal - Triggers when players flip over their Attack Pairs, but before priority is tallied and the Active Player is decided.
• Start - Triggers after the Active Player is decided, but before players attack.
• Before - Triggers just before a fighter's own attack.
• Hit - Triggers if the fighter's attack hits the opponent, before damage.
• Damage - Triggers if the fighter's attack deals 1 or more damage, after damage is dealt.
• After - Triggers just after a fighter's own attack, regardless of whether the attack hit or missed.
• End - Triggers after all attacks are finished resolving.
• Recycle - Triggers just before players pick up the cards from their Discard Piles and discard their Attack Pairs.

In-Time Triggers

Some triggers occur outside the normal order. These trigger in response to the opponent's actions, your actions, or to various conditions.

These In-Time Triggers are colored purple. They happen after all other triggers associated with a timing are performed. For example, a trigger "When you are hit..." happens after all Hit triggers are performed, but before damage is applied.

In the extremely rare case where there are multiple In-Time triggers that need to happen at the same time, perform all of the Active Player's triggers first, in any order that player wishes, then perform all the Reactive Player's triggers, in any order they wish.

Conditionals

Many triggers have conditions attached after the timing. Most are self-explanatory. Here are a few examples:

• Before, Range 1: (must be at range 1 to the Opponent to use)
• End, you were hit: (must have been hit during this beat to use)
• Hit, 3+ held Frost: (must have 3 Frost Counters to use).

Unless otherwise noted in the condition, only consider events that happened during this beat and the components currently held by players. If you don't fulfill the conditions, you must skip the trigger entirely.

Optional Triggers

By default, triggered effects are mandatory, and must be used when they come up. Some have the "Optional" keyword, which means that a player may choose to perform them or not (and may move to the next timing even if optional triggers were not performed).

Recycle

After cards are used in an Attack Pair, they go to your Discard Piles. Each beat, you pick up your oldest Discard Pile. Be careful to manage your resources so that you can respond to your opponent at every moment throughout the duel!

Eliminate the Opponent to Win!

Attacks will deal damage, which reduces the opponent's life. Reduce the opponent's life to zero to eliminate them! In a standard duel, the first player to eliminate the other wins. In multiplayer, all members of a team win once all members of the opposing team are eliminated.

Styles and Bases

Attacks are formed by pairing any one Style and any one Base.

Bases are fundamental tactics. Every fighter can throw a heavy punch, use some kind of projectile, perform a quick backstep, or lunge forward. These techniques are represented by the six standard Bases which all fighters share: Grasp, Drive, Strike, Shot, Burst, and Dodge. Most fighters also bring at least one Unique Base to their kit.

Styles encapsulate how a fighter attacks. Even if two fighters throw the same heavy punch, their personal Styles alter the power, speed, and range at which the attack hits. Most Styles are unique to the fighter who owns them, with the exception of Switch, which all fighters share.

Both Styles and Bases have the same stats and text, and their layouts mirror one another. Line them up to create customized Attack Pairs. Your attack is the sum of both cards' matching stats, as well as the triggers and effects on both cards.

1. Name - The name of the card. Styles and Bases pair together to form the name of the attack. For example, the 'Stealthiest' Style and the 'Grasp' Base combine to form the 'Stealthiest Grasp' attack.
2. Range - The Range of the attack determines where it hits.
   • Add minimum and maximum Range separately. For example, Range 03 + Range 23 = Range 2~6.
   • If a Range stat lists a single number, treat that single number as both a minimum and maximum. For example, Range 3 = Range 33. Therefore, Range 3 + Range 01 = Range 3~4.
3. Power - Power determines how much damage will be dealt if the attack hits the opponent.
4. Priority - Priority determines whose attack executes first during a beat. Higher Priority allows you to act quicker, potentially hitting and stunning the opponent before they are able to hit you.
5. Guard - Fighters may become stunned when they take damage. Guard represents resistance to stun. If the damage a fighter takes during a beat exceeds their Guard, they become stunned and cannot attack.
6. Effects - The triggered effects of both sides of the pair are performed during specific parts of the Beat, as indicated by their colored timings. More on this later.
7. Nametag - If a card is exclusive to a particular fighter (most cards are), it will have that fighter's name here. Otherwise, the type of card will be detailed here.
8. Watermark - This tells you which game and which edition of that game a particular card is from. BattleCON 4th Edition cards have a single ● before the game's 3-letter indicator.

Example Attack Pairs

Barbed Grasp

• Range: 1~2
• Power: 2
• Priority: 6
• Guard: 0

Experienced Strike

• Range: 3~4
• Power: 6
• Priority: 4
• Guard: 6

Fracturing Drive

• Range: 1~2
• Power: 6
• Priority: 4
• Guard: 0

Fighter Materials

Finisher Cards

Each fighter has a double-sided Finisher card that they can use during play. The Finisher card looks like a Style, except that it has a complete border around the edge. A Finisher is not half of an Attack Pair - it replaces the entire Attack Pair and is not modified by a Style or Base.

Finishers have two sides. During Setup each player selects which Finisher they wish to use and reveals them simultaneously.

Reference Cards

Reference cards detail your fighter's Styles and Bases, and are primarily for the benefit of your opponent. BattleCON is an open-information game, meaning that all players know which cards their opponent has at all times. The reference card makes it easy to track this by looking at the colors of Styles and Bases in the opponent's Discard Piles.

The position of all game components is public information and these components can be viewed by any player at any time (except while an Attack Pair is face-down during the Set Phase).

Unique Ability Card

Every fighter has a Unique Ability (UA), and every UA changes the game in drastic ways. These abilities provide new rules that supersede any typical game rules. They often come with new materials such as Tokens, Markers, or Counters to keep track of their varied states.

The Unique Ability Card details a fighter's UA and any extra materials provided with it. UA cards detail setup steps, which put these materials into play before a duel begins.

Any triggers on your Unique Ability are applied during every beat of the game.

Switch Style Card

The Switch Style is available to all fighters. When used in an Attack Pair, it activates a Finisher or generates extra Force, a resource used during ante to improve your stats.

This Style cycles through your discard just like any other Style.

Standups

Each fighter has a Standup which tracks their position on the board. Two standups can never exist in the same space on the board.

Other Materials

Overloads

All fighters are able to use the three Overloads by trashing 2 Force. These Overloads are always available to a fighter, and each Overload can only be used once per beat by each fighter.

Use the Overload Tiles to track when you've claimed these bonuses for a beat. Force that you trash to use Overloads is removed from the game, and is never returned.

Force

Force Counters are spent to activate Overloads. Force Counters also form the clock for a duel. Once the pile is empty, the game will end after the next beat. Whenever a fighter gains Force for any reason, it comes out of this shared pool.

Life

Life Counters are useful for tracking your life. Start with Life counters equal to your starting life (typically 20). Remove them from the game when you take damage.

Active/Reactive Cards

These Status cards can be used to track who is the Active Player and Reactive Player. Using them is optional, but they can be especially handy in multiplayer games.

Super/Ultra Reference

These cards are used in multiplayer games, and give extra bonuses to the lone player in a 2v1 or 3v1 duel.

Revenge Reference

This card details bonuses that a surviving player gains when their teammate is defeated. It is used only in multiplayer games.

Unique Ability Materials

These components are specific to fighters, and come with them based on their Unique Abilities. Terms used to describe the movement of these pieces are included here for reference.

Tokens & Counters

Tokens can be used during the Ante Phase. Players have a Supply Area and a Depletion Area. When a Token is used or spent, it moves into Depletion. When a Token is regained, it moves to the Supply. Tokens are always circular.

Counters have no innate effects. They exist only to keep track of resources, and are gained and spent through other game effects. Counters are pentagonal.

If not otherwise stated, Tokens and Counters begin in a fighter's Supply.

• Regain - Move the specified Token/Counter from Depletion to your Supply. (When Force is gained, it always comes from the shared pool).
• Spend - Move the Token/Counter to your Depletion. Do not gain any innate effect on a Token. Usually spending happens in conjunction with some other effect on a card.
• Deplete - Move the Token/Counter to your Depletion. Do not gain any innate effect on a Token.
• Use - Gain the innate effect printed on the Token, then move it to your Depletion.
• Trash - Return the specified Token/Counter from wherever it is to the box, removing it from the game.

Status Effect Cards

Most bonuses to fighters last only for the current beat. A few that persist to future beats are represented by cards. The card can be put into play as a reminder that you have a particular status.

Each Status Effect Card has a symbol on it, to help you remember which Style, Base, or Finisher generated the effect.

These cards are reminders only, and have no inherent effects beyond those printed on the cards that generated them.

Markers

Markers may be on the board, like standups, but do not usually interfere with a fighter's movement. A fighter's UA will explain how to set up any Markers they possess.

If not otherwise stated, Markers begin a duel in a fighter's Supply. Typically, multiple Markers with the same name cannot occupy the same space.

• Place - Put the specified Marker from your supply or from the board (your choice) onto the specified space. If no restriction is specified, place anywhere!
• Shift - Move the specified Marker a number of spaces indicated in either direction.
• Withdraw - Return the specified Marker from the board to your supply.
• Trash - Return the specified Marker wherever it is to the box (removing it from the game).

Special Cards

Some fighters possess special cards with 2 states, active and inactive. While active, they apply their effects to all of a fighter's attacks. Any stats on these cards are also applied to the fighter's attacks while they are active.

• Activate - Turn a card face-up, making it active.
• Deactivate - Turn a card face-down, making it inactive.
• Active - A face-up card is active.
• Inactive - A face-down card is inactive.
• Trash - Return a card to the box, removing it from the game.

Forms

Forms are Special Cards that describe a persistent state, stance, or mode for a fighter. Forms are exclusive - activating a Form causes any other Form to become deactivated. Many Forms are printed double-sided to show that activating one side automatically deactivates the other.

• Become - Turn the Form face-up, activating it. Turn any other Forms on this fighter face-down, deactivating them. You cannot 'become' a form if you are already in that form.

Game Setup

1. Fighter Selection

Each player chooses one fighter. They take all of that fighter's Styles, Unique Base, and a Switch Style card to form a starting hand. Each player should also find any tokens, counters, markers, or extra cards that their fighter uses and place them into play as specified by their UAs. Both players also take a complete set of Bases: Strike, Drive, Dodge, Grasp, Burst, and Shot.

Each fighter has a Reference Card that details their Styles and Bases. Trade Reference Cards with your opponent so you have an idea of what their capabilities are.

Fighters' complete kits are listed in the Character & Story Guide. The name of the fighter a card belongs to is listed in the bottom left of the card.

Some fighters come with special cards of a particular type. These stay on their side of the board, either face-up (active) or face-down (inactive) as indicated by the fighter's setup instructions.

Status cards may come into play during the duel. Keep them with your reference cards until they're needed.

2. Board Setup

Place standups on the third and fifth spaces respectively, so that each fighter is on its owner's left hand side of the board.

• Use the Life Counters to track life, starting with 20 life per fighter.
• Give a random player the Active Player Marker.
• Place the 45 Force Counters in a pile to the side. Then, each player takes two of these from that pile.
• Give each player 3 different Overload Tiles: "Power Up!", "Defense Up!," and "Speed Up!"

Keep your active statuses and forms together with your UA card. Boards may look different from game to game, but their basic layout is the same. Trade reference cards with your opponent so you each know what the other is capable of. Your finisher should remain in sight but out of the play area. 45 Force Counters form a pool and serve as the game's timer. Usually, anything that doesn't start in your discard piles starts in your hand. Keep your fighter's UA card handy to reference your custom setup and special abilities. Most fighters begin a duel with 20 life. Some Tokens and Counters begin in the supply. Others begin in depletion according to your fighter's setup instructions.

3. Fighter Setup

Perform any Setup steps listed on your fighter's Unique Ability card, simultaneously and secretly. Along with these Setup steps, choose and reveal one side of your Finisher. Set it to the side of the board with the chosen side face up.

4. Finishers & Initial Discards

Each player chooses two Bases and two Styles*. These will form two Attack Pairs that should be placed in Discard Piles 1 and 2 respectively. These cards will not be available at the start of the duel but will become available soon (the Attack Pair in Discard Pile 2 will be the one you retrieve first). Make sure your Discard Piles are separated so you can tell them apart.

* When learning the game or trying a new fighter, the cards in your hand marked '1' and '2' form the starting Discard Piles. These are optional, but are intended to help you set up the game and jump into a new fighter quickly.

Play Sequence

Each Beat of the game proceeds through these phases: Set, Ante, Reveal, Start of Beat, Active Player Attack, Reactive Player Attack, End of Beat, and Recycle. If there's a tie for Priority during Reveal, a Clash occurs.

Set Phase

Players will choose one Style and one Base to set face-down, forming an Attack Pair. Each player chooses one Style and one Base from their hand and places those cards face down. A legal Attack Pair always has one red-backed and one blue-backed card.

Any Style can pair with any Base, regardless of colors or symbols.

Once both players have Attack Pairs placed down in front of them, move on to the Ante Phase.

Ante Phase

Players will take turns using any antes provided by their Unique Abilities, Overload Tokens, or their opponent. This continues until both players pass in succession.

A fighter's UA will often provide them with additional Ante Actions, Tokens, or other effects which can be used during ante. Every fighter also has access to the three Overload Tiles, which can be used by trashing 2 Force each. Each fighter may only use each Overload Tile once per Beat.

Antes are always optional. Antes are not triggers.

Starting with the Active Player, players take turns anteing or passing. Even after a player passes, they may still ante later on in the turn, as long as the Ante Phase has not ended yet.

Once both players have consecutively passed on anteing (that is, two passes in a row), move on to the Reveal Phase.

• A Limited Ante can be used only once during the beat. Other kinds of antes can be used as many times as the owner wants.
• Some fighters provide their opponents with ante options. These [Opponent] antes can never be used by the fighter themselves. Instead, the opponent may use them during the ante step.

Reveal Step

Both players simultaneously flip their face-down Attack Pairs. Any Reveal triggers are performed at this time, with the Active Player resolving all effects, then the Reactive Player doing the same.

After performing all Reveal triggers, check the Priorities of both attacks (considering any modifications from tokens, Styles, and passive special abilities). The player with the higher Priority becomes the Active Player.

Priority Tie? - Clash!

A Clash occurs if both players have the same Priority when it is time to determine Active Player. In a Clash, both players play a new Base face-down from their hands, without picking-up previously revealed Bases.

They simultaneously show the new Base and put it on top of the old one, hiding the original Base and forming a new attack. In the rare case that there are Reveal triggers that were not executed previously or which are on the new Base, perform those now.

Check to see if another Clash has occurred. If it has, clash again. Otherwise, pick up all the other revealed Bases, assign Active Player to the fighter with higher Priority, then continue as normal. Only the Base that was actually executed during this beat will cycle into your Discard Pile.

If either player runs out of Bases, skip directly to the Recycle Phase.

Tiebreakers

Some attacks have a triangle (▲) after their Priority Stat. This is called a tiebreaker. When such an attack is tied in Priority with another attack, it wins the tie instead of causing a Clash. If both attacks have tiebreakers, then the current Active Player wins the tie and retains this status.

• If either Attack Pair has a tiebreaker (▲), then a clash cannot occur during this beat, regardless of any other game effect.

Finishers

The Switch Style can cause your Finisher to replace your attack pair during Reveal. Just follow the steps on the Switch Style. This will cause the Switch Style to be removed from the game, so only one Finisher can be used per fighter per duel!

Start of Beat

In this phase, the Active Player performs all of their Start triggered effects. Then the Reactive Player performs all of their Start triggered effects.

• Even Stunned fighters must perform their Start triggers.
• When a single player has 2 or more triggers with the same timing, that player performs those triggers in any order they choose. This is true for all timings and all triggers.

Active Player Attack

If the Active Player is not stunned, that fighter performs their attack now.

Once an attack starts, it must be carried out completely. Any effect which causes damage to the attacker or stuns them does not stop the attack mid-way through.

Guard & Stun

When a Player takes damage exceeding their Guard, they become stunned. When a player is stunned, they do not attack during the Active or Reactive Attack steps! It's important to dodge incoming attacks, have a high Guard, or have a high Priority in order to get your attacks through.

Guard prevents you from becoming stunned due to taking damage. If the total damage you have taken is less than or equal to your Guard, you resist the Stun, and can still carry out your attack.

A player carries out their Attack by performing these steps, in order:

• Perform all Before triggered effects.

• Check if the opponent is within Range. Range is counted in spaces, with the space occupied by the player being space 0. Once you hit a fighter, any movement inflicted before dealing damage does not negate the hit.

• If your attack hit, perform any and all Hit triggered effects.

• If the opponent was hit by your attack, they take damage equal to the Power of the attack. This damage is reduced by any Armor the opponent possesses, then they lose that Armor.

• If 1 or more damage was dealt, Damage triggered effects are performed. If any damage was done, the opponent may become stunned.

• Perform all After triggered effects, regardless of whether or not the attack hit or did damage.

• If a player's life is reduced to zero or fewer points at any time, the duel immediately ends, with the remaining player declared the winner.

Reactive Player Attack

If the Reactive Player is not stunned, that fighter performs their attack now, just like the Active Player.

The Active Player can still be stunned. Usually it doesn't matter, since they've already attacked, but it can be important for some effects.

End of Beat

In this phase, the Active Player performs all of their End triggers. Then the Reactive Player performs all of their End triggers.

• Even Stunned fighters must perform their End triggers.

Recycle Phase

The Active Player performs all of their Recycle triggers. The Reactive Player then performs all of their Recycle triggers. Even stunned fighters must perform their Recycle triggers.

Then, both players perform these steps simultaneously:

1. Pick up their second (outermost) Discard Pile and add it to their hand.
2. Move their first (innermost) Discard Pile into their second Discard Pile.
3. Move the Attack Pair they just played face-up into their first Discard Pile.
4. Each player takes 1 Force Counter from the Force Counter Pile. A player with 7 or fewer life takes an additional Force Counter. If you have more than 10 Force after this, trash any excess.

• Recycling Finishers - On the Beat when a player uses a Finisher, they remove the Finisher from the game, and do not recycle their Discard Piles as normal (skipping steps 1-3 above).

Time Over

At the end of the Recycle Phase, if the Force Counter Pile is empty, then the duel has timed out. Use Counters from the box to give each fighter the full amount of Force they are entitled to if there is not enough left in the pool. One final beat is played, and if there is no winner after this final Beat, the player with the highest remaining Life total wins.

If both players have the same Life total at the end of the final Beat, the Reactive Player is declared the winner.

Defeat

When a fighter's life is reduced to 0, that fighter is immediately defeated. Defeated fighters are removed entirely from the game, and all of their effects stop working immediately. If all of your opponents are defeated, you win!

Next Beat

If no player has won the game by defeating all opponents, continue on to the next Beat by returning to the Set Phase!

Movement

Many effects cause fighters' standups to move. The only way to move is by these effects.

Movement effects all follow a few rules:

• Players cannot move past the edges of the arena.

• Movement effects are mandatory. If an effect says 'advance 1 or 2 spaces', then the player must move either 1 or 2 spaces forwards. You cannot choose to remain where you are. If an effect says 'Move 3 spaces', you must move exactly 3 spaces (if you cannot, then you don't move).

• When moving, move into and out of each space on the way to your destination, one at a time. This is true of all types of movement, except Teleport.

• When moving, hop over opponents and do not count the spaces they occupy against your movement. You can never move into the same space as an opponent's standup.

• If a legal movement is possible then it must be taken. If no possible legal movement can be made, then the movement is ignored entirely.

  • Example: an effect says "Push or Pull 1" and the opponent is against a wall, then you would be forced to choose the Pull 1 effect, since the push 1 effect cannot be carried out.
  • Example: an effect says "Advance 3" but there are only 2 spaces open in front of you. The instructed movement cannot be legally made, and would fail to be carried out.

• Effects that move in steps (ex: Pull 1 per Counter spent) add all these movements together, then apply one singular movement.

  • In that example, spending 3 Counters would create a "Pull 3" effect, not three separate "Pull 1" effects.

• Any effect which checks to see if a player "has moved" or "cannot move" considers all movement effects - both moving under your own power and being moved by opponents.

Cannot vs. Do

Any effect that says "cannot" takes precedence over other effects. For example, an effect that says "you cannot Advance or Retreat" will prevent any effect that instructs you to advance or retreat. An effect that says "you cannot be stunned" will take precedence over an effect that says "you are stunned."

Advance

Advancing brings you closer to the opponent. If you would advance further than the distance between you and the opponent, you keep moving in the same direction. Thus, longer advances can be used to create distance.

Retreat

Retreating moves you away from the opponent.

Pull

Pulling brings the Opponent closer to you. Like Advance, this movement may carry the Opponent past you, and can be used to create distance.

Push

Pushing moves the Opponent away from you.

Close

Close is shorthand for "Advance as far as possible, up to the amount specified, but not past the Opponent." Any effect that interacts with Advance interacts similarly with Close.

Teleport

Teleport is shorthand for "Advance or Retreat directly to the space specified, without entering or leaving any of the spaces in between." Any effect that interacts with Advance or Retreat interacts with Teleporting in that direction. You can never teleport into a space occupied by another fighter.

Other Effects & Keywords

These pages detail how to perform most other triggers in BattleCON. You don't need to read all of these to get started. Just reference them as they come up in your games.

• Terms that describe the movements of components (pick up, deplete, activate, use, etc) are detailed under Unique Ability Materials, above.

• Triggers and their conditions are detailed under Triggered Effects, above.

• Standup Movement is detailed under Movement, above.

• Armor X - Armor decreases the damage taken from attacks. Armor gained from different effects adds together.

  • Once Armor reduces damage, it is consumed. If you are hit multiple times (for example, in multiplayer), Armor will only prevent the first X damage dealt to you.

• Avoid Attacks - Prevent all hits (or certain kinds of hits) from being landed on you. When the opponent checks their range during the "check range" step of attacking, the attack does not hit regardless of your actual position on the board. Avoid takes precedence over conditional and special hit effects as well.

• Become Active Player - You become the Active Player, and take the Active Player status card. The opponent becomes the Reactive Player.

  • In multiplayer, other players then become Reactive Players in order of their Priority.

• Conditional Triggers - You can only choose to perform triggers with conditions that you fulfill. If you can no longer choose to perform triggers due to all your remaining triggers having unfulfilled conditions, move to the next timing. Likewise, if a previously unfulfilled condition becomes fulfilled, you must carry out that trigger before moving on to the next timing.

• Chip X - The target player (the Opponent by default, if no target is specified) loses the amount of life specified. This cannot reduce a player's life to zero. If it would, they will remain at 1 life instead. Chip does not count as "Damage", never stuns fighters, and is not reduced by Armor.

• Discard Styles/Bases - Some effects make you discard more Styles and Bases from your hand. These go to the Discard Pile specified and cycle normally. If no Discard Pile is specified, they are discarded with your current Attack Pair.

  • During the Set Step of a beat, if a player somehow has no Styles or no Bases in their hand, Discard Piles recycle again (without performing 'Recycle' triggers), leaving one pile temporarily empty.

• Eliminate a Fighter - The fighter is defeated and removed from the game.

• Fixed Stat (*) - Some cards have an asterisk after one or more of their stat values. In these cases, that stat is defined entirely by that side of the Attack Pair. Ignore any modifiers to the stat - even those on the other side of the Attack Pair.

• Ignore Armor - When a fighter is hit by one of these attacks, their Armor is considered '0', regardless of its actual value. The Armor is not "used up" when hit by such an attack (this is relevant in multiplayer).

• Ignore Guard - When a fighter is hit by one of these attacks, their Guard is considered '0', regardless of its actual value.

• N/A Range or Power - Attacks with a Range of N/A do not hit the opponent. Attacks with a Power of N/A do not deal damage when they hit (regardless of any other bonuses to power that may be present).

  • Special effects on these cards can often change your range, overwriting the N/A with a different value.
  • If a game effect needs to check the numeric value of your Range or Power, the "N/A" can be read as "0". The total Range or Power also becomes "0".

• Pick Up Styles/Bases - Picked up Styles and Bases move from wherever they are into your hand.

• Perform a Trigger - Do all the steps on the trigger, just as if it had been activated normally.

• Regain Life - These effects cause the targeted fighters to regain life as specified. Your total life can never exceed your starting life.

• Spend Life/Counters - You may spend the specified resource for the given effect. You cannot spend your last point of life, and you cannot spend life or counters that you do not possess in your supply.

• Stat becomes X - This alters your entire stat to the specified value, ignoring all active bonuses, penalties, and printed values to Range, Power, Priority, or Guard.

• Stun Immunity - You cannot be stunned by any effect or damage. When a card has Stun Immunity, a Shield replaces that card's Guard rating, as a reminder of this effect. This shield icon can be read as "0" if any game effect cares about the numeric value of a fighter's Guard.

• Tiebreaker (▲) - If any fighter has a tiebreaker modifying their Priority, then a clash will not occur. Instead, the fighter or team with the tiebreaker will win Priority. If both teams/fighters have a tiebreaker, then Active Player remains with whoever held it during the previous beat.

• Vulnerable - Opponents ignore your Armor and Guard, meaning that damage cannot be reduced and any damage will stun you (unless you are Stun Immune).

• You/Opponent is Stunned - The specified fighter becomes stunned. This ignores any Armor and Guard the opponent may have, but will not bypass Stun Immunity. A fighter can only be stunned once, so this has no further effect on a stunned foe.

• You cannot take more than X damage at a time - This is applied when a fighter is taking damage, after Armor has already reduced the incoming damage. Any incoming damage in excess of X is prevented. Damage that is prevented does not count towards stunning a fighter.

• Your life cannot fall below 1 - No matter how much damage the fighter takes, any damage that would put them below 1 life is prevented. Damage that is prevented does not count towards stunning a fighter.

Multiplayer Rules

The multiplayer rules are recommended for advanced players who are already familiar with BattleCON. With these rules, 3 or 4 players can play BattleCON together all at once! Advanced players can also use these rules to operate both fighters and participate in highly tactical single-player battles.

You may need to combine multiple BattleCON games or use generic tokens to have enough Force and Life tokens to support additional players.

Multiplayer Rules Summary

• Team Movement - Jump over both allies and enemies when moving. No two standups can ever occupy the same space. Advance can be either direction as long as you are moving towards an opponent. Retreat can be either direction, as long as you are moving further from an opponent.
• Teams Share Force - Each team member takes Force individually during Recycle, but the pool of Force is shared among the entire team. Each fighter can use each Overload Tile separately.
• Determining Priority - Team members decide among themselves their action order when tied. There are never Clashes in multiplayer. If a clash would occur and no player has a tiebreak, the team with the Active Player Status gains a tiebreak.
• Targeting Attacks - You hit the nearest opponent within Range on either side.
• Targeting Triggers - "The Opponent" is the nearest opponent, OR the one you just Hit when performing Hit and Damage Triggers. [Opponent] antes can be used by any fighter player who sees you as "the Opponent" (that is, if you are the nearest opponent to them).
• Defeat in Multiplayer - Your remaining teammates share a copy of the Revenge Reference Card. It is possible to have multiple copies of these effects in play. All of the fighter's components are removed from play immediately.

Team Setup

Players select their fighters as usual in a team game. If one team is disadvantaged (as in a 2v1 or 3v1 battle), they can use a Super or Ultra fighter to balance the odds.

Team play uses a 9-space board (found on the reverse of the 2-player game board). One fighter must begin the game on the team's starting space, and other team members start in the spaces behind this fighter, arranged as they wish. The team that randomly begins with the Active Player status should place first.

The Force Pool starts with 20 additional Force for each character in the game (65 in a 2v1 game, and 85 in a 2v2 or 3v1 game).

Team Movement

Fighters skip over both allies and enemies when moving. Because of this, a single movement effect can skip multiple spaces.

Team Ante

Ante passes between teams. On your team's Ante, any one character may Ante. Afterward, Ante passes to the other team. The Ante phase ends when each team passes in succession. Teammates share a single Force pool. Each member of the team may use each Overload Tile separately.

Team Reveal + Priority

Clashes cannot occur in multiplayer games.

During the Reveal Step, the Active Player Status goes to the team with the single highest-priority fighter during reveal, and the remaining player order is assigned by descending priority.

In the case of any ties in priority, where neither side has a tiebreaker, the team with the Active Player Status breaks that tie in their favor. If members of the same team are tied for priority, they may decide among themselves which order to act.

Starting with the Active Player, and continuing in Priority Order, each player carries out their attacks individually, just like in a standard game of BattleCON.

Targeting Attacks

Attacks can hit the nearest opponent within the attack's range in either direction. After this, they deal damage and activate their effects as normal. You must choose and hit an opponent in range if possible.

In Multiplayer, it is possible for players to be hit multiple times. Guard is applied against the total damage taken during a beat. So even if the first hit doesn't stun the opponent, successive attacks can more easily inflict stun and penetrate defenses.

Just as a reminder, When triggers are only performed once. Whenever triggers can be performed multiple times.

Who is "The Opponent"?

Cards in BattleCON use "the Opponent" to refer to the player who can be targeted by their effects. In multiplayer, this situation is a little different, since there are multiple opponents. In this case, "the Opponent" refers to the enemy fighter that fulfills specific conditions:

The Opponent is the nearest enemy fighter on either side of your standup. If all enemies are on the same side, this is fairly simple. If you have enemies on both sides, you get to choose between the closest one on each side. As usual, you must always choose a legal target for the effect if one exists.

• Hit and Damage triggered effects work differently. For these effects, the Opponent is always the fighter you just hit, regardless of their range.
• For effects triggered by being hit or avoiding certain hits, the Opponent is the player attempting to hit you.

For fighters who provide ante actions to the Opponent, these antes are available to any fighter who sees you as "the Opponent". (That is, any enemy fighter to whom you are the closest enemy fighter in one direction.) The enemy team may only use such an Ante once per beat, no matter which enemy fighter used it.

Team Force

Each member of the team takes Force separately (1 normally, 2 if at 7 life or below), and adds it to the team's total. Defeated team members generate 2 extra Force each turn.

A team's total Force cannot exceed 20.

Defeat in Multiplayer

When a fighter is eliminated, all of their game components (standups, markers, status effects, tokens, etc) are removed from play, along with all of their cards. Put the Revenge Reference Card into play to remind your surviving team members of the bonuses they get. In a 3v1 game, it is possible to have 2 copies of the Revenge Reference Card (along with all their cumulative bonuses).

2-vs-1: Super Fighters

Super fighters are more powerful fighters capable of taking on two opponents at once. The Super Fighter Reference card will explain how to set up your fighter on one side, and what bonuses they receive during the battle.

3-vs-1: Ultra Fighters

Ultra fighters are extremely powerful fighters capable of taking on three opponents at once. The Ultra Fighter Reference card will explain how to set up your fighter on one side, and what bonuses they receive during the battle.

Organized Play & Online Play

You can play BattleCON at your local game store or community venue to earn points and score awesome promo cards! Visit www.level99games.com/organized-play to learn more!

You can now play BattleCON Online! Visit www.battleconnection.com to learn more about the online game and register your account! Participate in solo adventures, battle against masters from around the world, and dive into the deep lore of the world of Indines!