Catacombs Conquest
Catacombs Conquest Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Sword Team Character Discs x2
- Skull Team Character Discs x2
- Sword Team Cards x28
- Skull Team Cards x28
- Elzra's Wall System: Corner Segments x4, Short Segments x8, Plastic Stands x12
- Ranged Discs: Wave/Power Wave Disc x1, Longbow Disc x1, Fireball Disc x1, Missile Discs x2
- Crystal Obstacle Discs x5
- Punchboard x1, including a Sticker Sheet x1, Double Sided Sword Team Turn Tracker x1, Double Sided Skull Team Turn Tracker x1, and Double Sided Health Tokens x24
Sticker Instructions
There are a number of stickers that must be manually applied to the wooden discs.
The colour of the wooden disc is shown by the colour of the box surrounding the sticker. For example, an orange box means an orange piece would be used.
In the top-left corner of the box, the size of the piece to be used will be filled in. For example, a small piece.
Sort the wood pieces by size and colour. You can use the reference circles of Extra Large, Large, Medium, Small, and Extra Small discs to determine the correct size.
When two stickers appear in a single box, this means that their piece is double sided. Apply both stickers to either side of the wood disc.
Peel the sticker from the sticker sheet and carefully line the sticker up with the circular wood disc, and lay it down one side to the other. Then firmly press it down to ensure it is stuck to the disc.
Repeat this process for all of the stickers.
Game Overview
Catacombs Conquest is a combination of Elzra's Dexterity Game System with a strategic card game component. The game can be played by two to four players. In two player games, players control both characters on that team.
There are two teams: the heroic Sword Team and the villainous Skull Team. Players on each team share a deck and draw their own hand of cards at the start of the game.
Players take turns playing cards from their hands to perform various actions and abilities with the goal of eliminating all of the Health Tokens from the opposing team's Health Pool.
The Health Pool refers to a team's active collection of Health Tokens that represent their team's total health. A team must have the most health tokens at the end of the game in order to win. In the case of a tie, the team with the most cards left wins.
Each Character Disc belongs to a team and represents a player in the play area. Character Discs on the same team are teammates while Character Discs on the opposing team are enemies. For players to be successful they must skilfully flick various discs within the physical play area to attack the enemy team.
Various shots are performed either by flicking a Character Disc or a Ranged Disc (fireballs, etc.) in order to strategically move and attack. When damage is inflicted after a successful attack, the enemy team loses a number of Health Tokens.
The shot types are: Rush, Melee, Critical Melee, Missile, Longbow, Fireball, Wave, and Power Wave.
Five Obstacle Discs are placed in the play area and can be moved by the players at the end of their turn. These can be used for cover and to thwart the enemy team's plans.
Wall Setup
Four folding corner segments and eight short segments form the walls, creating an arena on your play surface which prevent the game pieces from leaving the table. It is suggested that you play on a smooth surface with plenty of room for the players to stand around as to allow for playing at different angles.
- Set up the four corner sections. Attach a plastic stand to the end of each corner section such that half of it protrudes.
- Join a short wall segment to each end of the corner pieces.
- Attach the remaining short wall segments to each other using the plastic stands. Push the wall segments together so they are touching.
Important Note: Take care when inserting the cardboard walls into the plastic stands as to not damage them.
Obstacle Placement
At the start of each game, the five Obstacle Discs are placed evenly in the centre of the play area. They should not favour a particular side, and both teams should agree on their placement.
Team Setup
Each team places their Character Discs in a corner on their team's side. A disc must only be as far from a corner as necessary to easily flick them.
Both teams have a pool of Health Tokens that are shared between the players on a team. By default each team starts with 8 Health Tokens, however, players can add or remove tokens to adjust the game length as desired (more Health Tokens results in a longer game).
The Health Tokens are double sided. Simply flip them on to the side with the emblem of the team they are representing.
During the game, players may acquire or capture Health Tokens to heal damage. Players may have more Health Tokens than the starting amount. The unused Health Tokens are called the Health Bank.
Card Decks
Each team will shuffle their card decks so that they are in a random order. The team the cards belong to is easily identified by the cards' back side.
At the start of a two or four player game, players will each draw four cards from their team's deck.
At the start of a three player game, the player on their own team (controlling both Character Discs) draws eight cards. The two player team draws four cards per player.
When a player plays a card, it is removed from their hand and placed in their team's "discard pile." Cards cannot be drawn from the discard pile. When no cards are left to draw from a team's deck, the discard pile is not automatically reshuffled. The discard pile can be reshuffled using the Reset ability on a card (for example, the Phoenix).
Turn Trackers are provided to show which Character Disc performs an action next. Remember to flip your team's Turn Tracker over after your turn has been completed.
Important: the Turn Tracker dictates which Character Disc takes an action on a team's turn.
Turn Summary
The first team to take an action is decided randomly by the players.
During their turn, each player does the following:
- The player draws a single card to their hand from the team deck.
- The player chooses a card to play and completes the shot sequence and/or abilities on the card. In most cases, the card is then discarded.
- The player performs a Rush shot using any one Obstacle Disc of their choosing.
- The player flips their Turn Tracker to the opposite side.
Turns are played in the following order:
If the Sword Team is chosen to go first: Sword Player 1, Skull Player 1, Sword Player 2, Skull Player 2.
If the Skull Team is chosen to go first: Skull Player 1, Sword Player 1, Skull Player 2, Sword Player 2.
Advanced Rule (Optional)
Experienced players can draw a card at the end of their turn instead of at the beginning. The entire game is played this way by all players. Consequently, all players draw one more card at the start of the game than normal.
Cards and Shot Sequences
Each card shows:
- Team Emblem — The team this card is played by is identified by this emblem (Sword or Skull).
- Character's Class
- Character's Name
- Character's Role — Leaders, Creatures, Spell Casters, Hunters, Fighters, Explorers.
- Character's Star Sign — Moth, Coral, Spider, Lizard, Rat, Atolla.
- Shot Sequence — Describes the action (shots) the player may take when the card is played.
- Ability — An additional action that takes effect during or after the shot sequence on the player's turn. Not all cards have abilities.
- Armour — Indicates this card is capable of blocking damage and/or abilities. Not all cards have armour.
All cards have a shot sequence. These shot icons describe the shots a player takes when playing that card. All shots in the shot sequence are mandatory.
The shot sequence icons are read left to right, connected by "Then" arrows. For example, a sequence of Melee Shot, then Rush Shot, then Fireball Shot means: upon playing the card, the player performs a Melee shot, then a Rush shot, then a Fireball shot.
Example card: Ughurth, "Behemoth." Ability — Stunned: If you damage an opponent, then on their turn they discard a card, ignore its effects, and perform a Rush shot.
Shot Types (Attacking)
This is where the player's dexterity skill comes into play. There are three types of shots in the game: Rush shots, Melee shots (Melee and Critical Melee), and Ranged shots (Missile, Fireball, Longbow, Wave, Power Wave shots). All shots involve flicking a disc within the play area. The Reference section at the end of this manual explains in detail how each shot is performed and how much damage it inflicts.
Melee shots and Rush shots are performed by flicking the player's Character Disc. Ranged shots are performed by first placing the appropriate Ranged Disc within 1" (2.5 cm) of the Character Disc and flicking it. The Ranged Disc is removed from the play area after the shot is completed.
Which shots a player may perform are determined by the shot sequence on the card being played during that player's turn.
When a player's Character Disc is hit by a shot that inflicts damage, that player's team loses a number of Health Tokens from their team's Health Pool. A single shot can inflict double the amount of damage if it hits both enemy Character Discs directly. Different shots inflict different amounts of damage. One Health Token is lost per damage inflicted, and returned to the Health Bank.
Teammates cannot damage each other; there is no friendly fire.
Abilities and Armour
On some cards, located under the shot sequence, appears text that describes rules for an ability. By default an ability is triggered after the shot sequence is completed, unless the rules for the ability state a different condition (e.g. damaging an opponent).
Example abilities:
- Formilus, "Marauder" — Capture Life: If you damage an opponent, you capture one Health Token.
- Mayra, "Querling" — Heal Life: Take two Health Tokens.
- Ughurth, "Behemoth" — Stunned: If you damage an opponent, then on their turn they discard a card, ignore its effects, and perform a Rush shot.
When the armour icon appears on a card, it is placed face up on the table and retained after being played. It is not placed in the discard pile. During an opponent's turn, a player can choose to use one of their retained armour cards to immediately block all damage inflicted by a single shot.
Any effects from an opponent's card that has an ability that depends upon damaging an opponent to take effect are also cancelled for that shot. The retained card is then placed in the discard pile.
On a two player team, retained armour cards can be used by either player.
Moving Obstacles
Obstacles in Catacombs Conquest are unique in the way that they are able to be manipulated by the players. Obstacles are allowed to be moved in two ways:
- By being bumped by player pieces or ranged pieces during regular play. When an obstacle disc is struck at any time by a disc, the obstacle disc will remain wherever it has moved. It is not returned to its original position.
- Players move any single obstacle disc at the end of their turn. At the end of each player turn, they are permitted to perform a Rush shot using any single obstacle disc of their choosing. This can be used strategically to push their own pieces behind cover or to push away enemy pieces to thwart an attack. As it acts as a Rush shot, the obstacle will not do any damage. The obstacle disc remains wherever it ends up.
Three or Four Players
In Catacombs Conquest, a team may be controlled by either one or two players. There are a few considerations in this scenario.
When there are two players on a team, each player is assigned a Character Disc. When only one player represents the team, that person plays both discs. Every individual turn is tied to each Character Disc, and as such, a one player team doesn't get to perform both Character Disc's actions on a single turn.
With two players on a team, each player shares the same discard pile, however each have their own hand of cards.
An armour card that has been retained on a team may be used by either player on that team, no matter who played the card.
Winning the Game
The game immediately ends when:
- A team has lost all their Health Tokens from their Health Pool.
- All the Health Tokens in the Health Bank are used up.
- A player cannot play a card from their hand when required.
When the game ends, the team with the most Health Tokens is the winner.
In the event of a tie, the team with the most cards remaining in their hand(s) is the winner.
Advanced Rule (Optional)
When a team runs out of cards to draw from their deck, but still has cards in hand, they will lose one Health Token at the beginning of each of their following turns while their cards are depleted. In a sense, they are on their last stand.
They may recover from this situation if they can play a card which reshuffles their discard pile and resets their deck (for example, the Witch Hunter or Phoenix — both have a Reset ability: "May immediately shuffle your discarded cards back into your deck.").
Walls and Playmat
Normally the legal play area for a game of Catacombs Conquest is defined by the cardboard walls. When a wooden disc ricochets off a wall and hits an opponent's Character Disc, it never inflicts damage.
When playing with a rubber playmat, the surface of the mat defines the play area instead. In the event that a Character or Obstacle Disc slides off the mat, simply place that disc back on the playmat approximately where it left.
Catacombs Conquest supports the use of an optional 24" x 14" (61 x 35.5 cm) playmat. A playmat can provide a better flicking experience than the surface of a table. Official Catacombs Conquest playmats are sold separately.
The Catacombs Conquest playmats have faint circles that indicate where to place Character and Obstacle Discs at the start of the game. This enables a consistent and fair setup for all players.
Quick Tutorial
The following tutorial demonstrates the basic turn actions that the player will perform and how the first few turns of the game may play out. Note that in reality, wood pieces will move and bounce around more than portrayed in this demonstration. The Sword Team will play first in this scenario.
Turn 1: Play Card
The player first draws another card from the deck to their hand. They then choose a card from their hand and use their Character Disc to perform the card's action. In this case, the player chooses to play the Berserker Mage (Salavi, "Berserker Mage").
- The player flicks the disc to perform the melee shot, but cannot easily hit the target player, so they use it to move their piece into position.
- The player uses the Rush shot to continue to move their Character Disc into position.
- Now having a clear shot, they execute their final Melee shot and inflict one damage point to the other player. The Skull Team loses one Health Token.
Turn 1: Move Obstacle
At the end of their turn, the player always gets to perform a Rush shot using any Obstacle Disc of their choosing. In this case, the player's Character Disc is right up next to the enemy, giving the enemy an easy shot on them.
The player flicks a nearby obstacle to bump the pieces around to defend themselves against the enemy player's imminent retaliation. The Obstacle Disc strikes both player pieces, and the Character Discs rebound off the barrier walls.
Turn 2: Play Card
Having already taken damage at the beginning of the game, the Skull Team needs to strike back. The player draws an additional card from the deck, and then chooses to play the Tomb Zombie card (Phalomoru, "Tomb Zombie").
- The player performs the first Rush shot.
- The player performs the second Rush shot, manoeuvring around the obstacle.
Some cards, such as the Tomb Zombie, have an ability in addition to their standard shot sequence. In this case, the Tomb Zombie's Surprise Attack ability ("May play another card from your hand.") allows the player to play another card from their hand immediately.
Turn 2: Card Abilities
Using the Tomb Zombie's ability, they decide to play the Marauder card (Formilus, "Marauder" — Capture Life: "If you damage an opponent, you capture one Health Token.") directly from their hand.
- The player performs their Rush shot to get into position to shoot.
- The player performs the Missile shot, striking the enemy team.
As per the Marauder's ability, the first Health Token that the Sword Team loses from the Missile shot, is flipped over and added to the Skull Team's Health Pool. Additionally, as the Marauder has armour, he does not go to the discard pile. Instead, he is placed face up on the table so his armour can be used later.
Turn 2: Move Obstacle
The player now performs their obstacle Rush shot, using a nearby obstacle to position themselves behind cover to protect themselves against the green player.
Turn 3: Play Card
It's now the Sword Team's turn again, and their second player draws a card from the deck. They decide to play the Royal Archer card (Serangan, "Royal Archer").
- The player flicks their disc to perform the Rush shot, putting themselves in better cover.
- The Longbow shot has the unique ability to be shot from a teammate's Character Disc. The player flicks their Longbow disc and inflicts damage.
- The player flicks their second Longbow shot and misses.
Turn 3: Move Obstacle
To end their turn, the player performs a Rush shot using an obstacle. The player decides to protect one of their Character Discs from the gray player, whose turn is next, by flicking the obstacle in between the two.
Turn 4: Play Card
It's the last player's turn on the Skull Team. They draw another card into their hand, and then play their Behemoth card (Ughurth, "Behemoth" — Stunned: "If you damage an opponent, then on their turn they discard a card, ignore its effects, and perform a Rush shot.").
- The player flicks the disc to perform the Critical Melee shot, rebounding off an obstacle and inflicting two damage.
- The player then uses the Rush shot to escape to safety.
The Behemoth's Stunned ability is activated. As a result, on their turn, the Sword Team player will have to discard a card from their hand and then perform a single Rush shot. Additionally, the Behemoth has the armour icon, and so his card is retained face up on the table so that his armour can be used later in the game.
Turn 4: Move Obstacle
To end their turn, the player performs a Rush shot using an obstacle. The player decides to add some protection to the gray player while starting to clear a line to the purple player for an attack.
Turn 5: Stunned!
As the Sword Team has been stunned, their turn is less effective. The stunned player draws a card then plays a card, but its sequence and abilities are ignored. The player may only perform a Rush shot with their Character Disc. They then perform their obstacle Rush shot.
Turn 6: Play Card
It is now the Skull Team's turn again. They draw a card, and then they play the Witch card (Lenore, "Witch").
- The Skull Team player uses the Rush shot to get into position to attack.
- The player uses the Power Wave and inflicts two damage to the Sword Team. Note: the Power Wave allows a player to discard a card from their hand to inflict an additional point of damage.
The Skull Team player ends their turn by positioning one of the obstacles between them and the enemy.
Turn 7: Play Card
The Sword Team can finally make their move. They draw a card, and play their Querling card (Mayra, "Querling" — Heal Life: "Take two Health Tokens.").
- The player performs their Rush shot.
- They designate the blue player as the target, and perform their Target Fireball shot, but miss.
- As per the Target modifier, they get to try again, hitting the target.
The Skull Team decides to activate the Behemoth's dormant armour, stopping damage the Querling's target Fireball shot from taking a Health Token.
The Querling's Heal Life ability is used, allowing the Sword Team side to take two Health Tokens from the Health Bank.
Play continues in this fashion until a team wins.
Reference
Rush Shot — The player's Character Disc is flicked to reposition it. Inflicts no damage if it strikes another Character Disc.
Melee Shot / Critical Melee Shot — The player's Character Disc is flicked at an enemy, inflicting one point of damage. If the icon has a red fill, it inflicts two points of damage.
Wave Shot — The Wave shot disc is placed beside the player's Character Disc and flicked at an enemy, inflicting one point of damage.
Missile Shot — The Missile shot disc is placed beside the player's Character Disc and is flicked at an enemy, inflicting one point of damage.
Longbow Shot — The Longbow shot disc is placed beside either Character Disc on the friendly team and flicked at an enemy, inflicting one point of damage.
Power Wave Shot — The Power Wave shot disc is placed beside the player's Character Disc and flicked at an enemy, inflicting two points of damage. After a successful hit, the player can discard a card in their hand to inflict three points of damage instead of two.
Fireball Shot — The Fireball shot disc is placed beside the player's Character Disc and is flicked at an enemy, inflicting one point of damage.
Target Modifier — A Ranged shot may have the target icon around it. The player designates an enemy Character Disc as the target. If the player misses the target, then they may flick once more from where the Ranged Disc ended up. Only the targeted Character Disc is damaged.
Starting Card Draw — 2 or 4 players: draw 4 cards each. 3 players: 2 player team draws 4 cards each, 1 player team draws 8 cards.
Turn Summary
- Draw one card from your deck.
- Play a card from your hand:
- Perform card's shot sequence.
- Perform ability (if card has one).
- Discard card (or keep face up for retained cards, i.e. armour).
- Flick Obstacle.
- Flip Turn Tracker.