Bellum
Bellum Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Components
From the note on the front page of the source: if the effect of a card contradicts the rules, the effect of the card takes priority over the rule.
Creature Cards
- Illustration
- Power
- Name
- Type (Creature)
- Clan
- Ability / Effect
- Purchase cost
- Purchase effect
- Pile the card belongs to
Example: Achilles is a Creature - Soldier, power 6. Its Rallying ability reads: "You may put into play a Soldier creature from your hand (it may attack this turn)."
Spell and Relic Cards
- Illustration
- Name
- Type (Spell or Relic)
- Clan
- Ability / Effect
- Purchase cost
- Purchase effect
- Pile the card belongs to
Example: Sword of Damocles is a Spell - Soldier. Its Interruption ability reads: "To be played when a creature suffers damage from one of your Soldiers. Deal 3 damage to this creature."
Example: Altar of Sacrifice is a Relic. Its Permanent ability reads: "Whenever you sacrifice a creature, place a damage token on the Altar of Sacrifice. When you place the 5th token, flip the Altar of Sacrifice."
Relics do not belong to any clan.
2. Setup
Before beginning a game, carry out the following steps in order:
- Each player chooses a city to represent them and places the 4 cards associated with that city in front of them, face up on the side showing the city's name.
- Each player builds their draw pile with 1 copy of each Base card (cards marked as belonging to the "Base" pile). Both players therefore have an identical Base deck, which forms their draw pile. Each player chooses a space next to their draw pile to be their discard pile.
- Gather and shuffle all cards that share the same pile number (I to IV) to make 4 separate piles. Cards numbered with a "Bis" must be shuffled and placed beside their pile (II Bis beside pile II). All cards are placed face up showing their pile number. The top card of each pile is therefore visible, and removing a card automatically reveals the card beneath it. If a card in a pile is face down, or is in the "Flip" pile ("Retournez"), turn it over.
- Cards whose pile is "Outside" ("Extérieur") are left out of the game for now. They will be played later through the effects of other cards.
- The first player is chosen at random. Each player shuffles their draw pile. The first player draws 2 cards and the second player draws 3 cards.
The game can begin!
3. General Principle
Bellum is a confrontation game in which the players embody the Greek cities of Athens or Sparta. The players fight to plunder the 4 districts of the opposing city.
At the same time, they can make offerings to Olympus during the game to buy cards in order to build a personalised deck suited to the situation. These cards represent more powerful, even legendary, creatures (Medusa, Achilles, ...), spells to cast, or relics to build.
The players take their turns alternately and must constantly weigh buying cards against fighting the opponent. The best tactician will raze all the districts of the enemy city and become the master of Greece!
4. Description of a Turn
A player's turn consists of the following phases, in order:
a. The start of the turn b. The combat phase c. The play phase d. The offering phase e. The end of the turn
a. Start of the Turn
The active player carries out the effects of "RALLYING" (icon) on the creatures placed in front of them, if they have any.
Once all rallying effects have been resolved, they may play spells from their hand. They must fully resolve the effects of one spell before playing another spell.
b. Combat Phase
The active player may launch a combat.
- If they do not, the combat phase ends immediately and the active player moves on to the play phase.
- If they do, the following steps are carried out in order.
Declaration of attackers
The active player declares as many of their creatures as they wish as attackers, from among the creatures placed in front of them.
Then, if a creature with the "ASSAULT" ability (icon) has been declared as an attacker, its effect is resolved.
Defence phase: declaration of defenders
The defending player may assign, for each attacking enemy creature, one of their own creatures as a blocker:
- A creature cannot be assigned to block more than one creature.
- An attacking creature cannot be blocked by more than one creature.
If no creature has been assigned to block an attacking creature, that creature is considered unblocked.
Resolution of combat
All of the actions below are carried out simultaneously:
- Each creature deals damage equal to its power to the creature assigned to it. Damage suffered by a creature is represented by tokens. If a creature receives as much damage as (or more than) its power, it is destroyed and placed in the discard pile of its controller.
- If one or more creatures are unblocked, the defending player flips over one district of their city, in ascending order. That district is considered plundered. The defender may resolve the effect of the card's "PLUNDER" (icon), if any. If several creatures are unblocked, only one district is plundered.
c. Play Phase
The active player may play cards from their hand. They must fully resolve the effects of one card before playing another card.
How a card is played depends on its type:
- Spell: It resolves the effect of the card, then places it in its discard pile.
- Creature: It places the card in front of them. The card goes to the discard pile only if it is destroyed or if its power reaches 0 (or less).
- Relic: Relics are placed in play permanently and cannot be destroyed.
Some cards may be played at other times and/or under certain conditions, which are then specified directly on the card with the mention "INTERRUPTION" (icon).
d. Offering Phase
The active player may buy as many cards from Olympus as they can and/or wish. To do so, they choose and discard a card from their hand, then place the purchased card in their discard pile as well.
Purchase costs with prerequisites
Some cards have prerequisites on the clan of the card to be discarded, represented by the coloured symbols:
- Oracle / Soldier / Demon / Mythological / Any card
Cards marked with a BIS represent legendary characters. To buy these creatures, the pile associated with them must first be emptied, and the player must discard 2 cards of a specific clan, represented by:
- Oracles / Soldiers / Demons / Mythologicals
Effects linked to purchasing cards
Some cards have an effect when they are bought, represented by the following icons:
- (Tartarus icon): The active player may set aside any card from their discard pile, except the card that has just been bought. That card is considered to be in Tartarus.
- (Put-into-play icon): The active player puts the purchased card into play instead of placing it in their discard pile.
e. End of Turn
During this phase the active player draws 3 cards. If they have more than 5 cards, they discard cards until they are down to 5 cards in hand.
The opposing player then becomes the active player and takes their turn.
5. End of the Game
The game stops immediately as soon as all the districts of one player's city have been plundered. The opposing player is then declared the winner.
6. Appendices
a. FAQ
Can a creature that attacked block during the opponent's turn?
Yes. Nothing prevents a creature from attacking one turn and blocking the following turn.
If several effects are triggered at the same time (e.g. several creatures with a "DEATH" effect are destroyed during a combat), in what order are they resolved?
When several effects are triggered at the same time, the active player decides the order in which they are resolved. They must choose the order of all the effects before the first of them is resolved.
For example, if several creatures with a "DEATH" effect (icon) are destroyed during a combat, the attacking player decides the order in which the effects are resolved.
What happens when I have no cards left in my draw pile?
When your draw pile is empty and you must draw, shuffle your discard pile to form a new draw pile.
What happens when I do not have enough cards to draw 3, even after shuffling my discard pile?
You draw as many cards as possible.
What happens if I have several Demons with a "RALLYING" effect that requires a sacrifice?
You resolve these effects one after the other. A Demon that was sacrificed does not resolve its "RALLYING" effect (icon). For example, if you have 2 Demons whose rallying requires sacrificing a creature, you may sacrifice one of the two. In that case you do not need to sacrifice a second creature.
b. Glossary
Assault: The effect described after this word is triggered when the creature is declared as an attacker, before the opposing player carries out their defence phase.
Shield: When a creature with a Shield token suffers damage, that damage is ignored and the Shield token is removed. It is impossible to decline to use a Shield token.
Clan: The clans are: Soldier, Mythological, Demon, Oracle. Cards of type "Relic" do not belong to any clan.
Discard: Discarding a card means placing it from your hand into your discard pile.
Deployment: The effect described after this word is triggered at the moment the creature arrives in play, wherever it comes from.
Destroy: Destroying a card means moving it from play to the discard pile. A creature that is sacrificed, or that dies because its power reaches 0, is considered to have been destroyed.
Free (purchase): A card bought for free requires no card to be discarded in order to be bought. The purchase effects of a card bought for free are resolved normally.
Interruption: Some cards may be played at times other than those normally foreseen. In that case, the moment is described after this word.
Death: The effect described after this word is triggered at the moment the creature is destroyed. This effect is optional, at the discretion of its controller.
Olympus: Olympus represents the 4 piles of cards from which players may buy cards.
Permanent: The effect described after this word is valid for as long as the card is in play.
Plunder: The effect described after this word is triggered when the district is plundered. There is no effect when, later in the game, another district is plundered.
Power: The power of a creature represents the amount of damage it deals to an enemy creature during combat, and a creature is destroyed if its power reaches 0 (or less). Power is never reset: if a creature's power drops by 1, 1 token is placed on it.
Rallying: The effect described after this word is triggered at the start of the turn. If a rallying effect can be carried out, it must be carried out (unless the card states otherwise). All rallying effects must be resolved before the active player may continue their turn.
Sacrifice: Sacrificing a creature means destroying one of your creatures.
Tartarus: Tartarus represents the area where cards that have been set aside are placed. There are two ways to place a card in Tartarus:
- Via the purchase effect of certain cards, symbolised by an icon (the source text prints this icon as "XX", a placeholder; the icon is the one shown in section 4.d)
- Via the effect of the Forge of Hephaestus (the source names this forge but does not describe its effect anywhere in this document)
Card types: The different card types are: Creature, Spell and Relic.