Battlecrest: Fellwoods Base Game
Battlecrest: Fellwoods Base Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Fellwoods Map Set (6 Landmark Cards)
- Akhena Hero Set (1 Hero, 1 Health, 4 Action Cards)
- Mutiny Hero Set (1 Hero, 1 Health, 1 Minion, 3 Action Cards)
- Akhena and Mutiny AI Sheets (for solo play, requires Imperator expansion)
Key Concepts
Warriors: Warriors are the characters controlled by the players. The main warriors are Heroes. Some Heroes have secondary warriors, called Minions.
Allies vs Enemies: For each player, allies are the warriors controlled by that player and enemies are the warriors controlled by an opponent.
Active/exhausted/primed: Action Cards are active when vertically oriented, and become exhausted when rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Exhausting a card will prime its crest (see Ability Modifiers).
Adjacent: A card is adjacent to another card if they are touching side-to-side (orthogonally) or touching corner-to-corner (diagonally).
Flip Icon: This card is immediately flipped over as part of resolving the effect.
Map Sets
Each Map Set's Landmark Cards define the battle area, or map, and offer abilities and effects (shortcuts, bonuses, and hazards) that warriors can turn to their advantage.
A Landmark Card shows the following features:
- Start indicator
- Card type - Set name
- Landmark name and number
- Map effect (inactive)
- Map effect (active)
- Landmark ability
Hero Sets
Each player uses a Hero Set that represents the player's warriors and their health and abilities.
All Cards show a start indicator and a card type - Set name.
Hero / Minion Card shows the warrior name, special ability name, and special ability.
Minion Card additionally shows the healthy / wounded icon, movement value, and defense value.
Health Card shows the health-tracking diagram, the healthy / wounded icon, and the primed crest (on wounded side).
Action Card shows the Action Card name, abilities, crest, defense value, and movement value.
Setup
Players perform Map Setup. Then, each player performs Player Setup and Warrior Placement. Place each card with its "START" side face up.
Map Setup
Shuffle the six Landmark Cards together.
Using the Fellwoods Map Diagram, randomly place one Landmark Card in each landmark (L) position. Ensure that the cards are oriented in the same direction. Heroes (H) and Minions (M) will be placed later on in Warrior Placement.
Player Setup
Choose your Hero, and take their Hero Set. Set the AI Sheets aside; those are used for the Imperator solo mode only.
Create your Action Row by placing your Action Cards, oriented vertically, in front of you (their order has no effect). Place your Health Card above your Action Row in the starting position shown on its health-tracking diagram.
Randomly choose a player to go first.
Warrior Placement
Using the map diagram as reference, the first player places their Hero on the (H) starting position adjacent to the higher-numbered Landmark card. The second player places their Hero on the other (H) position. Minions (if any) are placed adjacent to their Hero on the (M) position.
Gameplay
Players take turns until one player's Hero is defeated. Each turn, the active player chooses 2 different player actions, and performs them one at a time in any order.
Each chosen player action must change the game state in some way, such as moving a warrior to a new location, damaging a warrior, or changing Action Card or Landmark Card states.
Player Actions (choose two different actions)
Move - Move one or more of your warriors, one at a time, up to their movement value. A Hero's movement value is the sum of movement values on all of their active Action Cards. A Minion's movement value is listed on their Minion Card (see Movement Rules).
Activate - Choose one of your active Action Cards, exhaust it, and use that card's abilities (see Card Abilities).
Prime - Choose one of your active Action Cards and exhaust it without using any of that card's abilities (this only primes the card's crest).
Refocus - Flip each of your exhausted Action Cards to its opposite side. Then, make those cards active by returning them to their vertical orientation.
Winning the Game
The player who defeats their opponent's Hero wins the game!
Card Abilities
Abilities listed on a warrior card will be performed by that warrior. Only Heroes may perform the abilities on all other cards.
Multiple-Ability Cards
When Activating an Action Card with two abilities/stars, you may skip one, or resolve both in order. You may not skip all abilities/stars on a card.
Ability Keywords
Attack: Allows the warrior to attack one or more enemies.
March: Allows the warrior to move up to the given number of spaces, following movement rules.
Force: Allows the warrior to move any other warrior (ally or enemy) up to the given number of spaces. This follows movement rules, except that the target can be Forced through any warrior (not just allies).
Ability Targeting
When a warrior uses an ability that targets another warrior, the target must be within that ability's specified range. Range is calculated by counting spaces orthogonally, including spaces with landmarks or other warriors.
Short Range (sword icon): The target must be exactly 1 space away (touching side-to-side).
Medium Range (double-arrow icon): The target must be adjacent.
Long Range (bow icon with number): The target must be at least two spaces away, and at most the given number of spaces away. (For example, a long-range ability with the number 4 means that the ability may only target a warrior that is 2, 3, or 4 spaces away.)
Multiple Targets (target icon with number): The ability may target up to the given number of warriors (all must be in range). Each warrior may only be targeted once, and the active player chooses the order of resolution. Map bonuses only apply to the first target.
Movement Rules
These rules cover all movement, including the Move action and movement abilities such as March or Force.
Movement Details
- A warrior who moves must finish their movement before another warrior moves.
- Warriors move orthogonally, one space at a time, up to the given movement value.
- Every space a warrior moves into or ends on must be adjacent to a landmark.
- Warriors can move through allies but not through enemies (unless moving them with Force).
- Warriors may not move through landmarks unless using shortcuts (see Map Shortcuts).
Map Shortcuts
Shortcuts allow warriors to move through Landmark Cards in specific ways, as represented by arrow icons. When a warrior is touching a shortcut icon side-to-side, they may move to another space orthogonal to that Landmark Card as indicated by one of the arrows on that shortcut icon. Using a shortcut counts as moving one space.
Attack Resolution
An Attack consists of three steps, resolved in order:
1. Attack Step: The active player announces the attacking warrior, at least one valid target (see Ability Targeting under Card Abilities), and the total attack value (see Ability Modifiers).
2. Defense Step: If the Attack targets a Hero, the defending player may exhaust one (and only one) of their active Action Cards to defend with the defense value of that card plus any map bonuses (see Ability Modifiers). You may defend with an Action Card that has a defense value of 0.
If the Attack targets a Minion, they always defend with the defense value shown on the Minion Card plus any map bonuses.
3. Damage Step: If the target warrior defends, subtract their defense value, if any, from the attack value. The remaining attack value is the damage applied to that warrior.
Health and Damage
A warrior can either be healthy (heart icon) or wounded (broken heart icon). These states are represented by the two sides of their Health Card or Minion Card.
Heroes: The position of a Hero's Health Card in relation to their Action Row represents their health (use the health-tracking diagram as a guide). When the Hero takes damage, slide the Health Card to the right a number of spaces equal to the amount of damage.
Example: Akhena takes 2 damage, so her Health Card slides 2 spaces to the right.
If a healthy Hero's Health Card reaches the position with the flip icon, flip it to its wounded side and place it as shown according to the new health-tracking diagram. Then, continue applying any remaining damage to that Hero.
If a wounded Hero's Health Card reaches the skull icon, that Hero is defeated!
Minions: When a healthy Minion takes any amount of damage, flip its card over to its wounded side and then stop applying damage. When a wounded Minion takes any amount of damage, it is defeated and removed from the game.
Map Hazards: When a warrior enters a space touching an active hazard, or if an inactive hazard touching a warrior becomes active, that warrior takes 1 damage. Hazards are not Attacks, and cannot be defended against. If a player action or ability triggers a hazard, immediately resolve the damage, then continue the action or ability.
Special Abilities
Rather than being Activated, abilities on Hero, Minion, and Landmark Cards require special conditions or stars to use.
Star-Powered Abilities
Some warriors and landmarks have star-powered abilities that require a star to use. When a player Activates an Action Card with one or more stars, each star that is not skipped (see Multiple-Ability Cards) must immediately be used to resolve a star-powered ability. Resolving the star-powered ability is considered a part of that Activate action.
Landmark cards each have a star-powered ability which can only be used by Heroes (not Minions) within long range (bow icon) of the landmark. Ranged landmark abilities calculate range from the Hero's location, not the landmark's location.
Each unique star-powered ability can only be used once per turn, even if an Action Card grants multiple stars.
Ability Modifiers
The following icons affect the strength of certain abilities and effects.
Crests and Crest Bonuses
Each Action Card has a crest symbol on the left edge; the crest is primed when the card is exhausted and the symbol rotates to the top-left corner. Each Health Card also has a permanently-primed crest on its wounded side.
Some abilities and defense values have a crest bonus. These add +1 to the value for each primed crest of that type shown on that Hero's cards.
Map Bonuses
Whenever a warrior is touching a map bonus icon and meets a specific condition (such as attacking, defending, or moving), that bonus is added automatically (it is not optional). Then that Landmark Card is flipped over, and lastly the action or ability resolves.
Each symbol grants a bonus of +1; if bonuses from multiple landmarks trigger simultaneously or if a map bonus shows multiple icons, these effects stack.
Attack: Attack abilities gain +1 attack value.
Defense: Defending against an Attack gains +1 defense value.
Long Range: Long Range abilities gain +1 range (does not apply to Short Range / Medium Range abilities).
Movement: Move actions and movement abilities that start from this location gain +1 movement value (does not apply to Force).
Force: Force abilities performed from this location gain +1 movement value.
Team Battle Mode
Additional official rules for Team Battle Mode, supporting 3-4 players, are published separately by Button Shy Games. A link to the Battlecrest Wiki, FAQ, Community Resources, and Team Battle Mode rules is provided on the rulebook via QR code and at https://bit.ly/3w6nQ30.
Credits
Design: Dustin Dobson & Milan Zivkovic
Art: Jesse Turner & Fachri Maulana
Rules Editing: Michael Lee
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2 Players | Ages 10+ | 30 Minutes