Bloc by Bloc: The Insurrection Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• A. Overview
  • The Factions & the State
  • Object of the Game
  • Components
  • The City District Guide
  • Road Structure of the City
• B. Setup
  • I. Create the City
  • II. Finish Setup: Deploy Police & Create Factions
• C. Gameplay
  • Round Overview
  • A Faction's Turn
  • Step 1. Roll Action Dice
  • Step 2. Faction Actions
  • Action Details
    • Basic Actions: Movement
    • Basic Actions: Barricades
    • Advanced Actions: Looting
    • Advanced Actions: Occupy
  • Making Reaction Rolls
  • Attack Actions
  • Step 3. Police Ops
  • Riot Cop Movement
  • Barricades Stop Riot Cop Movement
  • Reference: Types of Police Ops Cards
• D. Sunrise
  • I. Police Repression
    • Barricades Protect Occupations from Evictions
  • II. District Liberation
  • III. Next Night
• E. Endgame
  • The Insurrection is Successful — the state districts are occupied
  • The Insurrection Fails — time runs out & the military arrives
  • The Insurrection Implodes — a faction loses all blocs & occupations
  • Winning & Losing the Game
• F. Variants
  • First Game
  • 2 Player
  • Difficulty Levels
  • Cooperation Modes
• G. Occupation Abilities
  • Shared Occupations
  • Prisoners Occupations
  • Neighbors Occupations
  • Workers Occupations
  • Students Occupations

A. Overview

The Factions & the State

In Bloc by Bloc, each player controls one of four factions participating in the insurrection. Throughout the game, the word faction refers to the player. Each faction is identified by a specific color. The common enemies of all factions are the police and the state identified by the color white.

• Workers — yellow
• Prisoners — orange
• Neighbors — green
• Students — purple
• State — white

Object of the Game

For the insurrection to succeed, the factions will need to cooperate to occupy all state districts in the city before the military arrives in 8 nights. Any faction can occupy any of the state districts.

However, each faction also has its own secret agenda with a set of specific tasks that faction must complete in order to win the game. Some factions have Social agendas that require the insurrection to succeed. Factions with Social agendas can win the game along with any other faction that also has a Social agenda. Other factions have Vanguardist or Nihilist agendas that require the insurrection to fail. Factions with Vanguardist or Nihilist agendas must secretly undermine collective efforts and are playing to win the game alone.

• 4 players: All 4 state districts must be occupied for the insurrection to succeed.
• 3 players: Only 3 state districts must be occupied for the insurrection to succeed.

To win, a player must complete all necessary tasks detailed on their faction's Agenda card (see Winning & Losing the Game).

2 player games are played without agendas and require all 4 state districts to be occupied for the insurrection to succeed (see Variants).

Components

• 25 District Tiles
• 40 Blocs in 4 colors (10 per faction)
• 40 Barricades
• 20 Occupations in 4 colors (5 per faction)
• 30 Riot Cops (white)
• 6 Riot Vans (white)
• 7 Action dice
• 1 Reaction die
• 30 Loot tokens (also known as: Popular Expropriation)
• 60 Loot cards
• 34 Police Ops cards
• 10 Agenda cards
• 25 Manifestation cards
• 1 Countdown marker
• 4 Faction mats in 4 colors (1 per player)
• 1 Countdown board
• 1 Police Morale & Staging Area board
• 1 Police Morale marker
• 1 First Faction marker
• Plus 1 Rulebook & 4 Cheatsheets

The City District Guide

To understand the insurrection, you must first understand the city. In each game of Bloc by Bloc, the city is made up of a randomly generated 5 x 5 grid of district tiles. Each district tile has two sides: a repressed side and a liberated side. At the start of the game, all districts are repressed and, over the course of the game, factions work together to liberate districts one at a time to get crucial advantages and a range of important boosts (see District Liberation).

Each district tile shows:

1. Type: There are 8 types of districts: workers (yellow), students (purple), neighbors (green), prisoners (orange), state (white), public (grey), highways & commercial.
2. Occupation Site: An occupation site indicates a location where the faction that matches the district type may build one of their occupations. For example, only the Prisoners faction may build an occupation at occupation sites in Prisoners districts. Any faction can build occupations in public and state districts.
3. Difficulty: Each district has a difficulty number that shows how hard it is for factions to accomplish actions in that district. Higher numbers are more difficult. The difficulty on the liberated side of a district tile is always one less than the difficulty on that tile's repressed side.
4. Police ID & Letter: Each district has a unique Police ID that the Police Ops deck references to determine police movement and deployment. The pointer below the Police ID shows the correct edge of the district to use when flipping the tile after successfully liberating the district, ensuring that the district tile does not change orientation. The letter to the left of the pointer is only used during setup.
5. Shopping Center: Shopping centers are locations that factions can loot in order to draw cards from the Loot deck. Some districts have more than one shopping center. Shopping centers never appear on liberated districts.

Road Structure of the City

6. 4-Way Street Intersection: The majority of districts have a standard 4-way road intersection giving blocs and riot cops full orthogonal access to and from adjacent districts.
7. 3-Way Street Intersection: Some districts have a 3-way road intersection giving blocs and riot cops orthogonal access to and from 3 adjacent districts while blocking access from a fourth direction.
8. Highways: Highway districts connect two separate sets of diagonally adjacent districts. The connected districts are treated as adjacent districts. Blocs and riot cops never stop on highways while moving from one adjacent district to another.
9. Metro Stations: Blocs may move between any two districts that both have metro stations without using the streets. Riot cops never use metro stations.

Edge of the City: All streets and highways ending at the edge of the 5 x 5 grid of district tiles that make up the city are treated as dead ends.

B. Setup

Bloc by Bloc can be played on any 5 x 5 grid of district tiles arranged in any order and orientation as long as an open path exists between all districts using only roads and highways. Feel free to use the city generation process detailed below or experiment with creating your own city to play in.

I. Create the City

Follow the steps below to randomly generate a unique city for each game of Bloc by Bloc.

1. Sort the districts repressed side face up into three piles by letter: Sort the 25 district tiles (repressed side face up) into three piles based on letter (A, B, or C). The letter is located in a corner next to the Police ID.
2. Shuffle each of the three district piles: Make sure to shuffle each pile in terms of the tile order within the pile while also shuffling the individual orientation of each tile.
3. Shuffle and place the Manifestation cards face down in a 5 x 5 grid: Leave about 1" between each card.
4. Arrange the district tiles on top of the Manifestation cards without reorienting each tile to face the same way: Place the top district tile from the A pile on top of the Manifestation card in the top left corner of the grid so that the district tile completely covers the Manifestation card. Then, place the top district tile from the B pile on top of the Manifestation card directly to the right of the A district tile you just placed. Finally, place the top district tile from the C pile on top of the Manifestation card directly to the right of the B district tile you just placed.

Continue placing district tiles from each of the three district tile piles in ABC order to complete the 5 x 5 grid. When the end of a row is reached, place the next tile directly below the last tile you placed to create a zigzag pattern.

The final tile placed in the bottom right corner of the grid should be the last district tile from the A pile. All Manifestation cards should be completely covered by the district tiles and there should be about 0.5" between each of the district tiles.

Do not change the orientation of each district tile as you place it in the grid. Do not reorient the tiles to all face the same way.

A correctly generated city has the tiles in a repeating ABCAB / ACBAC / BCABC / BACBA / CABCA zigzag pattern with shuffled orientation — do not reorient the tiles to all face the same way.

II. Finish Setup: Deploy Police & Create Factions

1. Set up the Countdown board: Place the Countdown board next to the city. Put the Countdown marker on the 8 nights left space.
2. Set up the Loot: Shuffle the Loot deck and place it face down next to the Countdown board. Make sure there is room for a discard pile. Put the loot tokens in a pile next to the Loot deck. Put the barricades next to the loot tokens.
3. Set up the dice: Set the action dice and reaction die next to the city.
4. Deploy police to state districts: There are 4 state districts. State districts are labeled State and have a white occupation site. Place 1 riot van in each state district's occupation site and place 3 riot cops next to each riot van.
5. Set up the Police Morale board: Place the Police Morale board next to the city and put all remaining riot cops and riot vans in the Staging Area on the Police Morale board. Place the Police Morale marker under Timid on the Police Morale track.
6. Set up the Police Ops deck: Shuffle the Police Ops deck and place it face down next to the Police Morale board. Make sure there is room for a discard pile. See Variants to modify setup of the Police Ops deck for varying levels of difficulty.
7. Randomly assign a faction to each player: Randomly assign each player one of the four factions. Pass out the matching faction mat and corresponding pieces (5 occupations and 10 blocs). Place all occupations & blocs in their corresponding locations on each of the faction mats. Give each faction 1 cheatsheet. Put any unused pieces back in the game box. Deal 2 Loot cards (face down) to each player. Players may look at their Loot cards.
8. Assign Agendas: Shuffle the Agenda deck and deal 1 Agenda card to each faction. Put the rest of the Agenda cards back in the game box without looking at them. See Variants to modify setup of the Agenda deck for varying levels of cooperation.
9. Choose starting districts: Each faction must choose one of their own districts as their starting location by placing their Start occupation in that district's occupation site. Each faction places 2 blocs next to their Start occupation.
10. Determine First Faction: Roll to determine First Faction. The First Faction takes the First Faction marker and begins the game.

Do not show your Loot cards or Agenda cards to other factions.

C. Gameplay

Round Overview

Each round is 1 night. Each night has 2 parts:

I. Sunset: Each faction takes a turn, which is made up of 3-5 actions and ends by drawing Police Ops cards. The First Faction takes their turn first, followed by the faction to their left, and so on in clockwise order.

II. Sunrise: After all factions have taken a turn, Police Repression and District Liberation take place. Then, the Countdown marker is moved forward 1 night and the faction with the First Faction marker passes it to the faction on their left, who then becomes the new First Faction.

A Faction's Turn

A faction's turn has 3 steps:

1. Roll action dice: At the start of your turn, roll 3-5 action dice.
2. Faction actions: Take 1 action with each action die you rolled.
3. Police Ops: At the end of your turn, draw 1-3 Police Ops cards and resolve each card one at a time.

Step 1. Roll Action Dice

At the start of your turn, count the number of blocs you currently have in the city. This determines the number of action dice you must roll for that turn. Do not add the dice together. Each rolled action die is used to take one action during that turn. After completing the action, place the used action die to the side.

• Minimum: roll 3 action dice.
• 6+ blocs: roll 4 action dice.
• 9+ blocs: roll 5 action dice.

Step 2. Faction Actions

There are 11 types of actions in 3 categories. In order to take any action in the city, you must have at least one bloc in the district where the action is taking place. In other words, you must use your blocs to take all actions.

What is a Clash? A clash with police is any time a bloc is in the same district with riot cops or riot vans. Basic actions and advanced actions can only be taken by blocs that are not in a clash. Attack actions can only be taken by blocs in a clash.

Basic Actions (not in a clash) — to take a basic action, you must use an action die of any value.

• Movement
• Barricade District
• Barricade Occupation
• Dismantle Barricade

Advanced Actions (not in a clash) — to take an advanced action, you must use an action die that is equal to or greater than the difficulty of the district where the action is taking place. After completing each advanced action, you must make a reaction roll (see Making Reaction Rolls).

• Looting
• Occupy District
• Swap Occupation
• Destroy Occupation

Attack Actions (only in a clash) — to take an attack action, you must use an action die that is equal to or greater than the difficulty of the district where the attack is taking place. You must only make 1 reaction roll for all attack actions in the same clash (see Making Reaction Rolls). Each bloc can take an attack action once per clash each night.

• Defeat 1 Riot Cop
• Kick Out 2 Riot Cops
• Attack a Riot Van

Action Details

Basic Actions: Movement

Movement allows you to reposition blocs to different districts in the city. To take a move action, use an action die of any value. Choose one or more of your blocs that are not in a clash with police and move them to another district by following an open path. An open path is a route of any length between two districts in the city that uses any combination of streets, highways, and metro stations. You may move more than 1 bloc (known as a mob) at a time, spending only 1 action die, as long as all of the blocs start in the same district and end in another district together.

Blocs can:

• Move through barricades
• End a move in a district that contains riot cops or riot vans

Blocs cannot:

• Move through any districts that contain riot cops or riot vans
• Move through dead ends or off the edge of the city
• Move diagonally except by using highways
• Move out of a district that contains riot cops or riot vans

Example A: The Workers faction takes 1 basic action to move a mob of 3 blocs between adjacent districts.

Example B: The Prisoners faction takes 1 basic action to move a mob of 3 blocs across the city using a combination of roads and the metro.

Basic Actions: Barricades

Barricades temporarily stop riot cops from moving between districts (see Barricades Stop Riot Cop Movement). Barricades can also be used to protect occupations when police attack at sunrise (see Police Repression). To take a barricade action, use a die of any value. Choose a district where you have one or more blocs that are not in a clash with police. There are 3 types of barricade actions:

• Barricade District: Place one barricade between the district and any adjacent district. Each connection between two adjacent districts can hold a maximum of 3 barricades. (1 barricade stops 1 riot cop; 2 barricades stops half of riot cops; 3 barricades stops all riot cops — see Barricades Stop Riot Cop Movement.)
• Barricade Occupation: To protect any occupation from riot cop attacks by building a barricade, place one barricade on top of the district tile, next to the occupation. Each occupation can be protected by a maximum of 4 barricades.
• Dismantle Barricade: You may dismantle any barricade currently built in the city. Return the dismantled barricade to the barricade pile.

Example A: The Neighbors faction takes 2 basic actions to build 2 barricades around a district using one of their blocs.

Example B: The Prisoners faction takes 3 basic actions to build 3 barricades protecting an occupation using one of their blocs.

Exchanging Loot: During your turn, you may trade or gift Loot cards with any other faction that has blocs in the same district as your blocs. This does not count as an action and an action die is not required.

Advanced Actions: Looting

Loot gives you a range of different one-time bonuses depending on the specific card. To take a loot action, choose a district that has a shopping center and one or more of your blocs that are not in a clash with police. Use a die equal to or greater than the district's difficulty and draw 1 Loot card. Make a reaction roll after taking your loot action.

Each shopping center can be looted twice:

• 1st time — Graffiti: Place a loot token graffiti side face up on the shopping center.
• 2nd time — Burn: Flip the loot token so the burn side is face up. Burned shopping centers can no longer be looted.

Notes on Loot cards:

• Remember Loot cards cannot be revealed to other factions, but you may tell them (truthfully or not) what you have in your hand.
• Most Loot cards can only be used during your turn, while others may only be used during Police Repression or District Liberation.
• There is no limit to the number of Loot cards you can have in your hand.
• You may use multiple Molotov Loot cards in the same attack action.
• When the last Loot card has been drawn, reshuffle the discard pile to create a new Loot deck.

Advanced Actions: Occupy

Occupations you build in the city give you ongoing abilities you can use each turn (see Occupation Abilities). To take an occupy action, choose a district that has an occupation site and one or more of your blocs that are not in a clash with police. Use an action die equal to or greater than that district's difficulty. Make a reaction roll after taking your occupy action. There are 3 types of occupy actions:

• Occupy District: Take an occupation of your choice from your faction mat and place it in an empty occupation site. You can only occupy districts corresponding with your faction, state districts, and public districts. You may use an occupation's ability as soon as it has been built, including in the same turn.
• Swap Occupation: Take an occupation of your choice from your faction mat and replace an existing occupation. You can only swap occupations in your own districts, state districts, and public districts. Swapping another faction's occupation: In state and public districts, you may swap out another faction's occupation for one of your own. The swapped out occupation returns to the faction mat where it started. If the occupation is protected by barricades, you must dismantle all of them using one barricade action per barricade before you can swap out the occupation.
• Destroy Occupation: Remove one of your occupations from the city. Draw Loot cards equal to the difficulty of the district the occupation was removed from. Place destroyed occupations back in the game box. They can never be built again during the game.

Example A: The Workers faction takes 1 advanced action to build 1 occupation in a district using one of their blocs.

Example B: The Neighbors faction takes 1 advanced action to swap their Comrade Cafe occupation for the People's Kitchen in a district using one of their blocs.

Example C: The Students faction takes 1 basic action to dismantle a barricade and 1 advanced action to swap out a Prisoners occupation for an occupation of their own using one of their blocs.

Making Reaction Rolls

After each advanced action and after all attack actions in the same clash, you must immediately roll the reaction die:

• Roll a 1: The cops are called! Immediately take 1 riot cop from the Staging Area and place it in the district where you took the action. If there are no more riot cops in the Staging Area, you got lucky: do nothing.
• Roll a 2: Immediately draw and resolve 1 Police Ops card (see Police Ops).
• Roll a 3, 4, or 5: Nothing happens.
• Roll a 6: If you have built the People's Kitchen occupation, then you get an extra action (see Occupation Abilities).

Attack Actions

Blocs can attack riot cops and riot vans to push back the state's control of the city and expand the insurrection. To take an attack action, choose a district with one or more of your blocs that are currently in a clash with police. Use an action die equal to or greater than that district's difficulty. Make one reaction roll for all attack actions taken during the same clash. There are 3 types of attack actions:

• Defeat 1 Riot Cop: Take an attack action to defeat 1 riot cop and send it back to the Staging Area.
• Kick Out 2 Riot Cops: Take an attack action to kick out 2 riot cops into an adjacent district. You may choose any connected and adjacent district to relocate kicked out riot cops. If riot cops are kicked out through barricades, the barricades are dismantled.
• Attack a Riot Van: To destroy a riot van, it must be attacked 3 times in the same night. To mark when a riot van has been attacked, flip it on its side after the first attack and flip it upside down after the second attack. After the third attack, the riot van is destroyed. Put destroyed riot vans back in the game box.
  • Damaged riot vans do not respond to orders from Police Ops cards for the remainder of that night.
  • Riot vans that have been damaged but not destroyed are repaired at sunrise and are set back upright. Riot vans require 3 attacks in the same night to be destroyed.
  • If a district has a riot van and riot cops, you may choose whether to attack the riot van or the riot cops.

Example A: The Prisoners faction takes 1 attack action to defeat 1 riot cop and send it back to the Staging Area using one of their blocs.

Example B: The Workers faction takes 1 attack action to kick out 2 riot cops into an adjacent district.

Clashes: Each bloc can attack once per clash each night. In order to take multiple attack actions in the same clash, you must use multiple blocs.

Example C: The Prisoners faction takes 2 attack actions to defeat 2 riot cops using 2 of their blocs. A third riot cop in the same district cannot be defeated in this clash since the Prisoners only have 2 blocs in the district.

Example D: The Workers faction uses 1 bloc to take 1 attack action to defeat 1 riot cop in one clash, a basic action to move to another district, and a second attack action to defeat 1 riot cop in a different clash.

Step 3. Police Ops

At the end of your turn, check the Police Morale track to determine how many Police Ops cards to draw. Draw and resolve each card one at a time and place resolved cards face up in the discard pile next to the Police Ops deck.

Police Morale Increases: If a Police Ops card says +1 Police Morale, immediately move the Police Morale marker forward 1 step on the Police Morale track. Only draw the number of Police Ops cards specified by the Police Morale track at the end of your turn. If you draw a card which increases Police Morale, this increase does not change the number of cards you draw. All increases in Police Morale take effect during the next faction's turn.

When all the Police Ops cards have been drawn and are in the discard pile, reshuffle the entire discard pile and place the complete Police Ops deck face down.

Riot Cop Movement

The majority of Police Ops cards give orders to move riot cops into adjacent districts of the city. Any time there are 2 or more riot cops in the same district, it is considered a group. All groups must follow the orders detailed on the Police Ops card. When a group of riot cops move, they always leave 1 riot cop behind.

• Groups of riot cops follow orders to move into adjacent districts.
• Solo riot cops hold position.
• Riot cops in clashes hold position and do not move.

If a group of riot cops is in a district adjacent to another district of the type specified on the card, move the group into the adjacent district while making sure to leave 1 riot cop behind. If there is no adjacent district of that type, the riot cops don't move.

If there are 2 or more adjacent districts of the same type, riot cops will move into the district with the highest or the lowest Police ID. Check the Police ID priority specified at the bottom of the Police Ops card.

Example A: A group of 5 riot cops is in a commercial district adjacent to a Workers district when a Police Ops card is pulled ordering groups of riot cops to move into adjacent Workers districts. 4 riot cops move into the Workers district leaving 1 riot cop behind.

Example B: A group of 4 riot cops is in a commercial district adjacent to 2 Workers districts when a Police Ops card is pulled ordering groups of riot cops to move into adjacent Workers districts. The Police ID priority specified on that card is Highest. The group of riot cops moves into the adjacent Workers district with the highest Police ID leaving 1 riot cop behind.

Paramilitary Operations, Reactionary Mobs & SWAT Raids: These cards order all groups of riot cops to move into the adjacent district with an occupation or with the highest or lowest Police ID (depending on what is specified on the card). Make sure to leave 1 riot cop behind.

Riot cops can move along open paths between districts following the city's road and highway structure but never use the metro.

If it is possible for a group of riot cops to move into an adjacent district using 2 different highway districts, they travel along the path with the fewest barricades.

Barricades Stop Riot Cop Movement

When riot cops are ordered by a Police Ops card to advance into an adjacent district but there are barricades blocking the way, some or all of the riot cops are prevented from moving. To determine how many riot cops are prevented from moving and how many are able to advance, count the number of riot cops in the group that are being ordered to move (do not count the 1 riot cop that is always left behind).

• 1 Barricade stops 1 riot cop. The rest of the group advances into the specified district.
• 2 Barricades stops half the riot cops (round down). The rest of the group advances into the specified district.
• 3 Barricades stops all riot cops.

Example A: A group of 4 riot cops is ordered to move into an adjacent Prisoners district after being ordered to do so by a Police Ops card. 1 riot cop is left behind, 1 riot cop is stopped from moving by 1 barricade, and the remaining 2 riot cops advance into the Prisoners district. The barricade is dismantled.

Example B: A group of 6 riot cops is ordered to move into an adjacent Neighbors district by a Police Ops card. 1 riot cop is left behind, half of the riot cops (rounded down) are stopped from moving by 2 barricades, and the remaining 3 riot cops advance into the Neighbors district. Both barricades are dismantled.

Example C: A group of 5 riot cops is ordered to move into an adjacent Students district by a Police Ops card. 1 riot cop is left behind and the remaining 4 riot cops are stopped from moving by 3 barricades. All 3 barricades are dismantled.

Barricades do not stop riot vans from moving. Whenever barricades successfully stop police from moving, all the barricades are dismantled and returned to the barricade pile.

Reference: Types of Police Ops Cards

Police Ops cards issue a number of different orders to riot cops and riot vans in the city. Some cards refer to districts with a police presence. Any district that contains a riot van and/or 1 or more riot cops is considered to have a police presence.

• Riot Cop Movement: Various groups of riot cops (not riot vans) stationed throughout the city move into adjacent districts (see Riot Cop Movement above).
• Heavy Reinforcements & Light Reinforcements: Each riot van deploys 1 or 2 riot cops into its district. If there are not enough riot cops in the Staging Area, deploy the specified number of riot cops to each riot van, starting with the riot van in the district with the highest or lowest Police ID (depending on the Police ID priority specified on the card).
• Tactical Retreat: All solo riot cops return to the Staging Area. Riot cops are solo when they are alone in a district without other riot cops, a riot van, or blocs. Riot cops in clashes do not retreat.
• Strategic Rotation: In any district with a group of 7 or more riot cops, 6 riot cops stay in the district and the rest return to the Staging Area. Districts with 6 or fewer riot cops are not affected.
• Emergency Reinforcements: If there are fewer than 4 riot vans in the city, deploy 1 riot van from the Staging Area to the highest Police ID district with a police presence that does not already have a riot van. There can never be more than 1 riot van in any district. If there are no more riot vans in the Staging Area, nothing happens.
• Maneuvers: Riot vans are repositioned to the districts with the highest Police ID that have a police presence, one van per district. If all riot vans are already positioned in the districts with the highest Police ID, nothing happens. There can never be more than 1 riot van in any district.
• Metro Lockdown: Factions are not allowed to use the metro when taking move actions for the remainder of the night. Place the Metro Lockdown card on the Countdown track for the rest of the night as a reminder. Discard at sunrise.
• Police Chief Fired: Set the Police Chief Fired card aside. Shuffle the Police Ops deck and discard pile together to form a new Police Ops deck. Place the Police Chief Fired card as the first in the new discard pile.

D. Sunrise

After all factions have taken a turn, do the Sunrise sequence in the following order.

I. Police Repression

All police units unleash their attacks as soon as the sun rises. Any bloc or occupation in the same district as riot cops or riot vans at sunrise is in danger.

A. Repair Riot Vans: All riot vans that were damaged but not destroyed during the night are repaired and reset to their original upright position.

B. Riot Vans Attack: Riot vans attack everything in the same district: they defeat all blocs, evict the occupation, and dismantle all barricades protecting the evicted occupation. Riot vans do not dismantle barricades around the district. Give defeated blocs and evicted occupations back to the factions they belong to. Place dismantled barricades in the barricade pile.

Example: A riot van ends up in an occupied Neighbors district with two blocs at sunrise. Both blocs are defeated and the occupation is evicted.

C. Riot Cops Attack: Each riot cop can attack once. A group of riot cops has the number of attacks equal to the number of riot cops in the group.

Riot cops defeat blocs: All riot cops always direct their attacks first towards defeating any blocs in the same district with them at sunrise. A single attack by a riot cop against a bloc in the same district defeats the bloc. If there are multiple blocs in the same district as a group of riot cops, each riot cop defeats one bloc.

Example A: 1 Workers bloc is defeated by one riot cop in the same district at sunrise.

Example B: 3 different blocs are defeated by 3 riot cops in the same district at sunrise.

Riot cops evict occupations: Riot cops use additional attacks to evict occupations only after they have first defeated all blocs in the district. If there is an occupation but no blocs in the same district as a riot cop, the attack evicts the occupation. If there is an occupation and multiple blocs in the same district as a group of riot cops, the riot cops first defeat all blocs and then use any additional attacks to evict the occupation.

Example C: A Students occupation is evicted by 1 riot cop in the same district at sunrise.

Example D: 2 Workers blocs are defeated by 2 riot cops in the same district at the sunrise but the occupation survives.

Give defeated blocs and evicted occupations back to the factions they belong to. If blocs from more than one faction are in a district when riot cops or riot vans attack, the faction with the most blocs in the district decides which blocs are defeated. If there are an equal number of blocs from multiple factions in the district, the faction that took their turn first that night chooses which blocs are defeated.

Barricades Protect Occupations from Evictions

Riot cops must first dismantle all barricades protecting an occupation before they can use an attack to evict the occupation. Each barricade on top of a district protecting an occupation requires one attack from a riot cop to be dismantled. If a group of riot cops has additional attacks after defeating all blocs in a district and after dismantling all barricades protecting an occupation, any remaining additional attacks successfully evict the occupation.

Example: 2 barricades are dismantled by 2 riot cops in the same district at sunrise but the occupation survives.

Return dismantled barricades to the barricade pile.

II. District Liberation

Each sunrise following Police Repression, factions have the opportunity to liberate districts. Liberating a district always gives crucial advantages and a range of important boosts to the factions:

• Liberating always lowers Police Morale.
• When a district is liberated, a Manifestation card is drawn that unleashes a unique, beneficial event.
• After a district has been liberated the difficulty of that district falls by 1.

Districts can never be liberated if there is a riot cop or a riot van in the district. If more than one district can be liberated, liberate the district with the lowest Police ID first. A district tile that has been liberated can never return to its repressed side.

How To Liberate a District:

Only occupied districts without a police presence can be liberated. After Police Repression, if the total number of blocs in a district with an occupation is equal to or greater than twice the district's difficulty, the district is liberated! The blocs participating in the liberation of a district can belong to any faction. Occupations can never be built on commercial districts or highways. This means neither district type can be liberated.

A. Clear the district: Set aside all components resting on top of the district tile including blocs, loot tokens, barricades, and the occupation. Place loot tokens back in the loot token pile. Do not return components to the factions they belong to. They will be placed back on the district in Step C.

B. Draw the Manifestation card: Pick up the district tile. Do not change the district's orientation. Pull out the Manifestation card that is underneath that district tile.

C. Flip the district: Flip the district tile over so that the liberated side is now face up. Make sure to flip the district tile according to the direction arrow below the Police ID to ensure that the orientation of the district is not changed after liberation. Put the occupation, blocs and barricades that were set aside in Step A back on the district.

D. Resolve the Manifestation card: Read the Manifestation card out loud. After resolving it, put it back in the game box.

Example: After Police Repression, 8 blocs are in an occupied Prisoners district with a difficulty of 4. The district is successfully liberated and the Manifestation is resolved with an impact determined by the liberated district's difficulty of 3. Since blocs from all factions helped liberate the district, all factions benefit from the Manifestation card.

Manifestations: Each Manifestation card unleashes a unique event that immediately benefits the factions. Most Manifestation cards directly benefit the factions involved in the District Liberation. Also, the impact of most Manifestation cards is directly correlated to the difficulty of the district calling the Manifestation. The harder it is to liberate a district, the stronger the Manifestation.

Example (Solidarity Convoy card): Each liberating faction may draw loot based on the liberated district's difficulty — difficulty 2: 1 Loot card; difficulty 3: 2 Loot cards; difficulty 4: 2 Loot cards; difficulty 5: 3 Loot cards and -2 Police Morale.

III. Next Night

After Police Repression and District Liberation, move the Countdown marker forward 1 night on the Countdown track, pass the First Faction marker to the left, and start the next night!

E. Endgame

The game can end for the following reasons:

The Insurrection is Successful — the state districts are occupied

The insurrection is successful if the required number of state districts are occupied (by any combination of the factions) after completing a full night (including the 3-step Sunrise sequence).

• 4 players: All 4 state districts must be occupied for the insurrection to succeed.
• 3 players: Only 3 state districts must be occupied for the insurrection to succeed.

The state districts do not need to be liberated. As long as an occupation is in each state district's occupation site after completing a full night, the insurrection is successful.

The military is forced into action and deploys troops to the streets of the city in extremely complicated conditions that are not in its favor. A massacre is avoided and the revolutionaries stand their ground. A tense stalemate ensues. The liberated zones of the insurrection remain autonomous and vibrant with potential. Suddenly, it seems anything is possible...

The Insurrection Fails — time runs out & the military arrives

The insurrection fails if the required number of state districts are not occupied after completing the final full night on the countdown track (including the 3-step Sunrise sequence).

The military launches repressive counter-insurrection operations on its own terms. Helicopters fill the skies as assault teams cordon off districts of the city and conduct brutal house to house raids. Many revolutionaries disappear and a wave of reactionary violence scares all remnants of the insurrection off the streets and into hiding. Years of sadness follow.

The Insurrection Implodes — a faction loses all blocs & occupations

The game ends immediately if any faction has no more blocs or occupations in the city. All factions lose the game and Agendas are ignored.

The insurrection implodes. Local police forces have no trouble restoring their authority and brutally crushing the last scattered remnants of the weakening revolt. The military is not even needed. All is lost.

Winning & Losing the Game

At the start of the game, each faction is assigned an Agenda card (see Setup). All Agenda cards contain 2 options for you to pursue. To win, you must complete all tasks for one of the options on your Agenda card.

Social Factions — your faction is in solidarity with all other social factions. If you have an Agenda card that is marked Social, you have a choice between 2 sets of tasks that both require the insurrection to succeed. You are playing to win the game cooperatively with all other social factions.

• If the insurrection is successful: if you have completed all tasks for one of the options on your agenda card, you win the game! If you were not able to complete all tasks for either of the options, you lose the game but your faction survives.
• If the insurrection fails: you lose the game and your faction is destroyed.

Vanguardist Factions — your faction aims to seize power after the insurrection. If you have an Agenda card that is marked Vanguardist, you have a choice between 2 sets of tasks that both require time to run out and the insurrection to fail. You are playing to win the game alone.

• If the insurrection is successful: you lose the game and your faction is banished from the city.
• If the insurrection fails: if you have completed all tasks for one of the options on your agenda card, you win the game! If you were not able to complete all tasks for either of the options, you lose the game and your faction is destroyed.

Nihilist Factions — your faction is intent on the negation of everything, including the insurrection. If you have an Agenda card that is marked Nihilist, you have a choice between 2 sets of tasks that both require time to run out and the insurrection to fail. You are playing to win the game alone.

• If the insurrection is successful: you lose the game and your faction is banished from the city.
• If the insurrection fails: if you have completed all tasks for one of the options on your agenda card, you win the game! If you were not able to complete all tasks for either of the options, you lose the game and your faction is destroyed.

Sectarian Factions — your faction is split between contradicting vanguardist & social tendencies. If you have an Agenda card that is marked Sectarian, you have a choice between one Vanguardist set of tasks that requires the insurrection to fail and one Social set of tasks that requires the insurrection to succeed. You can play to win the game cooperatively with all other social factions or play to win the game alone. It's your choice.

• If the insurrection is successful: if you have completed all tasks for the Social option on your agenda card, you win the game! If you were not able to complete all tasks for the Social option, you lose the game and your faction is banished from the city.
• If the insurrection fails: if you have completed all tasks for the Vanguardist option on your agenda card, you win the game! If you were not able to complete all tasks for the Vanguardist option, you lose the game and your faction is destroyed.

F. Variants

First Game

For your first game of Bloc by Bloc, make the following adjustments during Setup to make the game easier to learn.

• Play in Fully Cooperative Mode: Do not deal out any Agenda cards. All factions will work together to help the insurrection to succeed.
• Show Loot cards: Play with your Loot cards face up so all factions can work together.
• Play on the Easy Difficulty Level: Use 1 Paramilitary Operations card in the Police Ops deck. Place the other 2 back in the game box.

2 Player

For games with 2 players, the rules are the same as for 3-4 players with the following changes:

• Play in Fully Cooperative Mode: Do not deal out any Agenda cards. All factions will work together to help the insurrection to succeed.
• Each player plays 2 factions: Each player will play 2 of the 4 factions. Assign factions randomly. Each faction has its own Loot cards. Standard rules for exchanging Loot cards between factions still apply.
• The insurrection is successful: if all 4 state districts are occupied.

Difficulty Levels

The difficulty of Bloc by Bloc can be adjusted for each game by changing the number of Paramilitary Operations cards in the Police Ops deck during Setup.

• Easy: Use 1 Paramilitary Operations card in the Police Ops deck. Place the other 2 back in the game box.
• Medium: Use 2 Paramilitary Operations cards in the Police Ops deck. Place the other 1 back in the game box.
• Hard: Use all 3 Paramilitary Operations cards in the Police Ops deck.

Cooperation Modes

By changing the composition of the Agenda deck during Setup, Bloc by Bloc can be played in various cooperation modes in which factions are more or less likely to be pitted against each other.

• Cooperative Mode: Before dealing Agenda cards to each player, look through the Agenda deck and put the Nihilist and Vanguardist cards in the game box. Shuffle the remaining Agenda cards and deal 1 to each faction. Put the rest of the Agenda cards back in the game box without looking at them. All factions will now have the option to play cooperatively and win the game together.
• Conflictual Mode: Before dealing Agenda cards to each player, look through the Agenda deck and set aside the Nihilist card and the Vanguardist card. Shuffle the remaining Faction Agenda cards and set aside 1 card (face down) for each faction. Put the rest of the Agenda cards back in the game box without looking at them. Add the Nihilist and the Vanguardist cards to the cards that were set aside. Shuffle all of the set aside cards and deal 1 to each faction. Put the rest of the Agenda cards back in the game box without looking at them. The game will now have a higher probability of including a Vanguardist, a Nihilist, or both.

G. Occupation Abilities

Each occupation gives you a different ongoing ability that you may use during your turn. All factions have 3 occupations that are identical and 2 that are unique to each faction. Occupations in liberated districts give enhanced abilities. You may use an occupation's ability as soon as it has been built, including in the same turn.

Shared Occupations

• Faction Start: At the start of your turn, before rolling action die, form 1 additional bloc in the district where this occupation is built if you have less than 5 blocs in the city. Liberated Ability: Form 1 additional bloc if you have less than 8 blocs in the city.
• Assembly Hall: Use an action die of any value to form 1 additional bloc in the district where this occupation is built. You may use this ability once per turn. Liberated Ability: You may use this ability twice per turn.
• People's Kitchen: Rolling a 6 on any of your reaction rolls (see Making Reaction Rolls) gives you 1 extra action die. Immediately take an unused action die and roll it. Use this action die on this turn. You cannot save it for another turn. Liberated Ability: Rolling a 6 on any of your reaction rolls gives you 2 extra action die. Immediately take 2 unused action dice and roll them.

Prisoners Occupations

• Molotov Factory: When you use a Molotov Loot card, increase its strength by an additional +2. For instance, a +1 Molotov becomes a +3 Molotov, and so on. You may use this ability once per turn. Liberated Ability: You may use this ability twice per turn.
• Scavengers Hideout: For each loot action you take, draw 3 Loot cards. Choose 2 to keep and discard the third. Liberated Ability: For each loot action you take, draw and keep 3 Loot cards.

Neighbors Occupations

• Guerrilla Garden: Build 3 barricades using only 1 barricade action on and around the district where this occupation is built. Liberated Ability: Build 3 barricades using only 1 barricade action on and around any district of this type.
• Comrade Cafe: Graffiti loot actions at all shopping centers become basic actions for you. Basic actions can be completed using an action die of any value and do not require you to make a reaction roll after. Liberated Ability: Graffiti and Burn loot actions at all shopping centers become basic actions for you.

Workers Occupations

• Strike Hall: Occupy actions become a basic action for you in the district where this occupation is built and adjacent districts. Basic actions can be completed using an action die of any value and do not require you to make a reaction roll after. Liberated Ability: Occupy actions become a basic action for you in the district where this occupation is built, adjacent districts, and all districts of this type.
• Propaganda Workshop: Draw 1 free Loot card each turn without having to use an action die. Liberated Ability: Draw 2 free Loot cards each turn without having to use an action die.

Students Occupations

• Social Center: Take 1 free move action each turn without having to use an action die. Liberated Ability: Take 2 free move actions each turn without having to use an action die.
• Hackerspace: Use an action die of any value to draw 2 Loot cards. Choose one to keep and discard the other. You may use this ability once per turn. Liberated Ability: You may use this ability twice per turn.