Chaos Arena

Chaos Arena Rulebook

Table of Contents

Introduction to Chaos

Welcome to the world of Wyrd Daemonics! You are now in possession of the new, third edition Chaos Arena.

The Game

Chaos Arena is a tactical simulation of armed conflict (war) made within the great tradition of classic two player beat-em-up board games like chess and hnefatafl, but set in a fantasy world (probably a disc).

Chaos Arena has, unlike the static and linear chess, a random factor added to it. This takes the form of dice, chaos cards and a choice of spells to alter the flow of the game. Because during conflict - just as in life - nothing is static and linear. And so, while playing, you'll have to learn to change your tactics to suit the altered conditions of the game as it progresses.

Art

We would like to stress the fact that Chaos Arena is not a game. It is an art form (as are magic, sword fighting, war, cookery and synchronised swimming). So, when you're involved in playing Chaos Arena you are actually participating in a most subtle and enlightened expression of art within the parameters of a realm intrinsically connected to our own through sympathetic resonance in the morphic field ... ahem ...

Sex

All through Chaos Arena we refer to players in the masculine "he" form and all the character cards are (very) male. This is for two reasons:

It is easier to write a rule book using only one form of sexist terminology - in this case male.
Fighting in warfare has traditionally been a privilege claimed by men who have always felt that they were better suited to wield weapons (of mass destruction) because weapons are basically dick replacements for the lesser endowed.

Of course we don't want to be branded as a bunch of sexist bastards, so if there are enough comments sent to our web site (www.chaosarena.com) we will see to it that a Chaos Arena expansion set will be written in the feminine "she" form and will have two all female war bands included.

1. What have we got here?

So you've just opened this groovy box of bits. First of all, let's check you've got everything. For this purpose Chaos In Motion Games has included within this very rule book a parts list. Here it is:

Parts List

1 Rule Book (if it's not here AND you are reading this, something VERY strange is going on!)
4 six sided dice (square things with dots on)
1 Game Board (unfold it, have a look: coloured side up)
24 Character Playing Pieces (black & white discs, 12 good, 12 evil)
24 Character Cards (12 good, 12 evil)
32 Spell Cards (16 good, 16 evil)
45 Chaos Cards
12 Arrow Counters (pretty shiny coloured discs not unlike throat lozenges)
1 black linen pouch (to store all the bits and pieces in)

Extra stuff, not necessary for the game:

2 empty Chaos Cards (to create your own karma/item Chaos Cards, see chapter 7 - Sharing the Chaos - for more details)
3 cards holding the entire Zap Code, to which some of us adhere zealously (scary, isn't it?).
1 Portable Morphic Resonator. Place this card upon your person (in wallet, pocket, g-string or other) for increased attunement to the creative waves resonating through the Morphic Field. Let the chaos flow ...

2. A look at the Cards

In Chaos Arena you get to use a lot of cards of which there are three types.

Character Cards

There are 24 Character Cards (12 good, 12 evil), depicting all the members of each war band. You use these to keep track of the condition of your war band during play.

The card shows: the type of character; flavour text; special abilities; the playing piece symbol; and the statistics:

"MOV" - The number of hexes a character can move in one Movement Phase.
"OOMPH" - How well a character fights in combat.
"DMG" - The amount of damage (in lives) a character inflicts if he wins a fight.

The reverse (wounded) side applies only to characters who can survive more than 1 life damage: the Mage, the Knight and the Berserkers.

Chaos Cards

There are 45 Chaos Cards. When drawn they dictate the exact type and amount of diverse arcane items, vile demons and unspeakable goings-on being unleashed upon your war band as they stumble through the Chaos Arena. These cards basically show you what you find and/or encounter.

Each card shows its name, a description of its effect, and flavour text. The type of Chaos Card is one of "Good Karma", "Bad Karma", "Item" or "Special".

Spell Cards

There are 32 spell cards (16 good, 16 evil). These cards depict all the spells each Mage has at his disposal. You get to pick a few of these at the start and use them throughout the game to blast and confound your enemy.

Each spell card shows its level (0, I, II or III), its title, its target and duration, and a description of its effect.

3. Let's play the game

So what IS the Chaos Arena?

Now then, let's have a look at the board. This is the Chaos Arena, the scene of a thousand gruesome battles, a thousand senseless killings, a thousand mindless mutilations (sound good so far, eh?). So basically it's like a chess board but with more trees and doodahs on it.

The Chaos Arena - unlike most traditional arenas - is NOT a fresh, clean, sandy-floored place with nice white marble columns, band stands and suchlike. Far from it; through the centuries parts of it have grown into thorny, tangled woods. Fetid swamps with lethal lakes of sulphurous bubbling muck have sprung up from the tortured ground. The fortified buildings that once stood here, have long since been blasted into crumbling ruins. And (this is the real nasty bit) over countless years the amassed bulk of raw magick concentrated in this one place has torn the very fabric of reality allowing the denizens of the Nether Regions in to feast upon the carcasses of the dead and the dying, warming themselves by the flickering bursts of random sorcery.

This is your play ground ... enjoy it!

Getting ready to play

Place the game board in the middle of your playing space (eg: a table, the floor, your bed, a large strawberry merengue). You'll need about 80 x 120 centimeters to play comfortably.
Sort the cards by type (chaos cards, good and evil spell cards, good and evil character cards).
Shuffle chaos cards and place them face down next to the game board.
Each player chooses a side; good or evil.
Place your character cards, healthy side up, at your side of the board.
Place three arrow counters on each archer character card.
Each mage selects his spell cards. This is an important step, as this decides your strategy. So take your time. Select the following number of spells:
- always take "wave 'em in the air" (level 0)
- choose 3 spells of level I
- choose 2 spells of level II
- choose 1 spell of level III
Place your spell cards face down in front of you. Make sure to keep them secret from your enemy!
Decide which player starts the game; sarcastic bitching, threats of violence and spineless whining are allowed in getting your way and are even warmly recommended by Chaos in Motion.

4. Order of Play

Chaos Arena is played in turns; each player gets to do all sorts of stuff in his turn. To let things run smoothly there is an ironclad order in which things happen during each players' turn. This is it:

A - Introduction phase
B - Action phase
- movement
- fighting combat
- shooting arrows
- swapping items
C - Chaos Card phase
D - Spell casting phase
E - Spell preparation phase
F - Turn ends

4A. Introduction Phase

At the start of the game only the two Mages are in the Arena; one on each Entrance Teleportal. The rest of your war band is waiting to be summoned outside the Arena. Keep their Playing Pieces on their corresponding Character Cards until they come into play.

At the start of each subsequent turn you must summon one new member of your war band onto your Entrance Teleportal who MUST move into the Arena this movement phase. If he doesn't, this character dies (messily) at the end of your turn. Once your characters step off the Entrance Teleportal they cannot step back onto it again.

First character into the Arena MUST be your Mage.

4B. Action Phase: Movement

The board is divided up into hexagonal spaces (referred to as "hexes").

Each character has a Move score. This is the maximum number of hexes he can move in a turn as indicated on his Character Card. Chaos Cards and Spells can alter this maximum. Of course you can choose to move less hexes or none at all.

A character cannot move through a hex that is already occupied by another character.

The Entrance Teleportals cannot be moved over by characters already in the Arena.

Bush - a Bush does not alter movement*.
Woods - if during movement a character is entering, leaving or moving through Woods his movement is reduced by 1 hex.
Swamp - moving along the Swamp path is safe, although you still suffer a 1 hex movement penalty. Diverting from the path is risky, all characters trying this must roll a die: on a 4 to 6 they survive, on a 1 to 3 they drown and die. Scouts are more agile and only drown on a roll of 1.
Walls - cannot be moved over, e.g. you'll have to move around them. You cannot fight through (or over) a Wall.
Lakes - a character trying to move over a Lake or who ends his movement on a Lake drowns and dies immediately.

(* but may seriously screw up world balance)

4B. Action Phase: Fighting Combat

Single combat

Whenever two opposing character Playing Pieces touch in your action phase, you may choose to start a fight.

To fight a combat both players roll a die and add their characters' total Oomph score to the roll.

The highest total wins the combat.

The loser takes damage (see "Damage").

In case of a draw, no damage is dealt and this combat is over.

Example of Single Combat:

a Good Berserker attacks an Evil Knight. The Good Berserker has found the "Light Elfy Sword" item.

The Good player rolls two dice (because he is rolling for a Berserker) and uses the highest score. He rolls a 2 and a 5. The highest roll is 5, he adds his OOMPH (4) and the "Light Elfy Sword" bonus (2) for a total of 11.

The Evil player returns the favour by rolling a 3 (he rolls just 1 die) adding his OOMPH (5) for a total of 8. This means he looses the combat. The Evil Knight takes 1 point of damage, flipping his card over to the "wounded" side.

Group combat

When two or more of your characters are close to the enemy, they may choose to attack as a group. For such a combat you add all their total Oomph scores together and add this to your die roll.

If you win, you add up the total damage scores of the characters in your group to determine the total lives damage dealt to the losing character(s).

To fight in groups each participant must touch at least 1 enemy character.

If you lose a group combat, your weakest characters die first, in the following order: Scout, Archer, Warrior, Berserker, Knight, Mage. If this group contains more than 1 character of the same type - and not all have to die - you pick the survivor(s) yourself.

Example of Group Combat:

2 Good Scouts (Oomph 1) and 2 Good Warriors (Oomph 3) take on an Evil Knight (Oomph 5) and an Evil Scout (Oomph 1). The Good Archer cannot participate since he does not touch an enemy playing piece.

Good player rolls a 1 (+1+1+3+3) = 9 Evil player rolls a 4 (+1+ 5) = 10 and wins the combat!

The evil characters do a total of 3 lives of damage (the Evil Knight deals 2 lives, the Evil Scout deals 1 life of damage). Both Good Scouts die; the Good player decides to spare the life of Good Warrior number 2. Good Warrior 1 takes the remaining point of damage and dies.

Damage

If a character takes damage, he loses the amount of lives as specified by the attackers' Damage score.

If a character loses a life, he dies. Remove his Character Card and Playing Piece from the game. Any items carried go to the Discard Pile.

Some characters can take (slightly) more damage than others (Berserkers, the Knight and the Mage). If one of these characters takes 1 life of damage, flip their character card to show the "wounded" side. If a wounded character takes more damage, they die and are removed from the game along with any items carried (which go to the Discard Pile).

4B. Action Phase: Shooting Arrows

To shoot an arrow, roll 2 dice and deduct penalties for cover (if your target is directly behind a Wall, in a Bush or in the edge of Woods consult the Cover Table on the back of the manual).

Compare the resulting score to the Arrow Table on the back of the manual.

Arrows deal 1 life of damage.

Maximum range for shooting arrows is 6 hexes.

An Archer may fire once per turn. Discard one of his Arrow Counters (even when he misses).

An Archer can only shoot an arrow if he does not move this turn.

You may fire an arrow over a Wall, over a Bush, over a Lake and over other characters.

You may not fire an arrow over Woods.

You can shoot arrows into or out of 1 hex of Woods.

You cannot shoot a character that is touching your Archers' Playing Piece.

Example of Shooting Arrows:

Evil Archer 1 can move or shoot, he decides to shoot. What can he hit?

Good Scout 1 is only 3 hexes away but behind Woods so cannot be shot.
Good Berserker 1 is 3 hexes away but in a Bush (-1 on the archers' die roll).
Good Warrior 2 is 2 hexes away and in the edge of Woods. He can be shot, but has cover (-2 on the archers' die roll).
The Good Mage is (wisely) 7 hexes away, so he's out of bow range (6 hexes) and cannot be shot.

The Evil Archer decides to take a shot at Good Warrior 2. He rolls two dice: a 4 and a 6, for a total of 10. He deducts 2 for cover, leaving a total of 8 which is enough to hit a Warrior (see the Arrow Table on the back of this manual). The Warrior takes 1 life damage and dies...

4B. Action Phase: Swapping Items

Characters whose Playing Pieces are touching, may swap item Chaos Cards anytime during the Action Phase either before or after but not during movement.

You may swap or give away item Chaos Cards within your own war band as often as you like, however any item Chaos Card may only be used once in your action phase.

4C. Chaos Card Phase

The Arena is full of random magic and wandering nasties, as well as goodies left behind by former combatants. The more characters you have roaming around in the Arena, the greater the chance of finding something wyrd. Or something wyrd finding you...

Never ever roll for a Chaos Card during the first turn! After all, the nasties don't know you're here yet.

Count the amount of characters you have on the board.

Roll 1 die, and consult the Chaos Card Table (on the back of this manual).

If your roll indicates a find, you must first choose one of your characters to handle the encounter.

Draw one Chaos Card and reveal it.

If it is a Good Karma or Bad Karma card, the character must deal with it immediately, by following the instructions on the card.

If you've drawn an item Chaos Card, you must place it - face up - on the chosen characters' card.

Once an item is held, it may never be thrown away (no, not even the useless items) although it may be swapped with other characters, lost or discarded because of some Karma Chaos Cards.

If the chosen character already has an item, you must immediately discard the newly found item.

All items may only be used once per action phase.

Good and Bad Karma chaos cards that involve random movement, are dealt with using the Random Movement Indicator in the center of the board. Roll 1 die to determine the direction.

Random Movement / Teleportation

Random movement / teleportation can move a character over a Wall or other characters, but never onto an occupied hex. If this is about to happen, you must stop one hex short of the hex you would have landed on.

Random movement / teleportation can move a character outside the Arena. As the Arena floats 5000 feet up in the air, the character has a lovely view of the surrounding countryside, before dying messily on the ground below. Nothing can counter this (no, not even the Ring of Levitation).

Random movement / teleportation onto a Lake ends in a splash and a lot of bubbles (the character dies).

Random movement / teleportation into the Swamp (not on the path) means the Swamp rules apply (see "action phase: movement").

No Chaos Card ever affects the Entrance Teleportal.

4D. Spell Casting Phase

Casting spells is a tricky business and requires a lot of preparation. Only a spell that has been prepared in the previous turn (by placing it on the Octo Altar) can come into effect during the spell-casting phase. No spell can be cast during the first turn, as you haven't got any prepared yet.

To cast a spell you must:

turn your prepared spell face up, announcing it's name to your enemy.
indicate the target character or target hex.
consult the Spell Card for it's effect and deal with it.

Each spell may only be cast once.

Some spells have an instantaneous effect ("Claymore's Anti Personnel Spell"): discard the Spell Card after dealing with the effect.

Some spells stay active longer (for instance: "Armadilko's Shellbacked Missile Cover"), in which case you place the Spell Card, face up, with your Mage or the target character's card. This shows that the spell is active.

Some spells have a certain range and must be cast on a character or a specific hex within that range.

As a rule of thumb: you can cast a spell only on those hexes and characters that your Mage can actually see. So into the edge of the Woods is possible, but not over the Woods unless the spell specifically states "anywhere in the Arena".

Spells with a range can be cast up to their range, but may also be cast at targets that are closer by.

No spell ever influences the Entrance Teleportal.

7 Hex Area

There are several spells that affect a '7 hex area' on the board. A '7 hex area' has one hex in the middle with six adjoining hexes touching it, forming a circle. Ranges for these spells are counted from their central hex.

Concentration

A Mage preparing or casting a spell must concentrate. While concentrating, a mage cannot move or attack (although he may defend himself). If he does move or attack the prepared spell is lost.

Some spells remain in effect after being cast, only as long the Mage keeps concentrating on them. Preparing a new spell will also break concentration.

If your Mage is moved around by a Karma type Chaos Card effect, or takes a life damage, his concentration is NOT broken and the spell effect remains.

4E. Spell Preparation Phase

At this moment you may choose to prepare a new spell from your chosen hand. This is an optional phase; you do not have to cast a spell each turn.

Pick one spell that you would like to cast next turn (remember, it's effect only comes into play at the very end of your next turn, so try to anticipate the action). Place the chosen Spell Card - face down - on the Octo Altar on your side of the Game Board.

Tell your enemy that you are going to cast a spell next turn.

You may prepare only one spell at a time and once chosen and placed on the Octo Altar it may not be changed for another one.

Your Mage may not move or attack during his next action phase, while he is preparing his spell.

You may voluntarily "break" your spell, by moving or attacking with your Mage during the next action phase in which case you discard the Spell Card. You do not have to show the discarded Spell Card to your enemy.

5. Winning the Game or Losing It

The game ends at the exact moment that one of the Mages dies. The remainder of that turn is never played and the surviving Mage is the winner. He and the remainder of his army are instantly teleported to a nice bar, with cold drinks and pole dancing succubi.

It is possible to be a total wimp and admit defeat before your Mage dies; sometimes this can shorten an otherwise lengthy game. Obviously the other player then wins the game and gets to call you names.

6. Tricky Stuff

Some of the Chaos Cards and Spells may require a bit of extra explanation to avoid ugly scenes of physical violence over conflicting interpretations of the situation.

Tricky Spells

Level 0 - Wave 'em in da air This non-spell - just like a 'real' spell - may be used only once. Discard it after use.

Level 1 - Dastardly Petrov's Dimensional Passage Your Mage may travel to any hex within 8 hexes, even one he can't see. The casting Mage is transported at the moment the spell is revealed.

Level 1 - Tortuga's Trundelling Testudo If your character is forced to move more than 1 hex (by teleportation, getting kicked etc.) it will not break this spell.

Level 1 - Selebungol's Shocking Surprise If more than one character attacks your Mage, you get to choose which enemy character takes 1 life damage.

Level 3 - Nosferat's Unrefusable Offer Once control over an enemy character has been established, the 'captured' character can be made to move any distance away from the controlling Mage. You can indicate a 'captured' characters' playing piece by putting it on top of a dead characters' discarded Playing Piece.

Level 3 - Moorcocks' Gruesome Gibbering Possession This horror must be used as a character, that moves instead of the Mage during the action phase. It does 1 life of damage to ALL characters touching it, after it has moved. The possessed character can move to any hex on the board - even onto other characters and Lakes. It may move no more than 1 hex per turn.

The possessed character cannot be killed, it ceases to exist at the moment it's controlling Mage moves, attacks, decides to cast another spell or dies. Remove the character from play.

In the event of both Mages controlling a Gibbering Possession, there must always be at least two hexes distance between the possessed characters due to Firblestick's First Law of Daemonick Repulsion.

To indicate a possessed character, flip his playing piece over and adorn it with some dried raisins, seaweed or a coin.

Level 3 - Maicrowave's Moronic Mindmush Demon This demon claims 1 life of both Mages before he destroys the spell effects. So any healing spells (i.e. 'Hanzaplasts' Enhancing Band-Aid', 'Naghouls' Nefarious Necrosuction' etc.) in play still get to function normally before they could be destroyed.

Tricky Chaos Cards

Whenever it says 'this character' on a Chaos Card it obviously means the character who is currently in possession of the Chaos Card.

Good Karma - A Roleplayer, Quenya Mac Enya Taking an 'extra turn' means that this character only gets an extra Action Phase (including movement, combat, etc.) but does not roll for a Chaos Card at the end of this extra turn.

Item - Bad Evil Drugs You may of course choose not to use the Bad Evil Drugs - just say 'NO', making it a 'useless item'.

Item - Big Hamma Although this item cannot be used by Scouts or Archers, it can be carried by them - thus becoming a 'useless item' to them.

Item - Lazer Bolt Gun Firing the gun counts as a combat; you may not fight another combat or shoot an arrow in the same Action Phase in which you have fired the Lazer Bolt Gun.

Item - Three Arrows Only an Archer can use this card - although other characters may carry it. An Archer with this card gets three new arrows only when he has used up his own arrows (recycle the used Arrow Counters).

Item - Hallelujah! it's a Spellbook Only a Mage can use this card - although other characters may carry it.

Item - Book of Soggy Matches, Small Plastic Kitschy Souvenir, Giant Flaming Sword These useless items prevent the character holding them from picking up some really nice, interesting and useful stuff. Their sole purpose is to irritate you. Are they working?

Item - Glovvies of the Elvish Poet In the incredibly unlikely event that a character holding the gloves draws the 'Doppelganger' Chaos Card, the game should theoretically grind down to a horrible standstill (work it out yourself). Therefore this battle must be fought with poetry: the player who can spew up the longest ad-lib poem on the spot wins the combat.

Item - the Weights of Sin A character with movement 1, who gets the Weights of Sin cannot move until he loses the item.

Bad Karma - Dirty Magazines, Horny Succubus, Consolius Demon If a character is incapacitated by any of these Chaos Cards he may not do anything in his next Action Phase (turn his playing piece upside down to illustrate this). However, he does get to participate in the subsequent Chaos Card phase.

Bad Karma - Magical Whirlywind 'All characters within 6 hexes' really means all characters: friends as well as enemies. See the section on Random movement / teleportation in the Chaos Card phase chapter for more details.

Bad Karma - Cugel Demon Cugel will not automatically take the Object of Fascination (unless it's your only object) because he knows what it is; he designed it himself.

Bad Karma - Doppelganger You must fight a character that is your EXACT duplicate in EVERY DETAIL (right down to the flowery underwear). You roll the dice for yourself, your enemy rolls for the doppelganger.

Special Cards - Prime Inquisitor Frater Sic, Illuminated Lorekeeper Miez, Irritating Spam Hyper Cyberlinks, the Zap Code cards and the Portable Resonator These cards do not affect the game mechanics in any way whatsoever. They cannot be placed on characters, they are not items, they are not spell effects, they have no Karma, their sole purpose is to fuck with your head. We're like that. Do with them whatever you like.

We of the Temple of Chaos have noticed during our many years of Ludomancy (Game Magic) that there is no small amount of virulent Chaos festering within the seething minds of the Games Community at large today. We wish to tap this veritable arterial spray of inspiration by asking YOU (the humble gamer) to assist us in maintaining a maximum level of Random Chaos within the design parameters of any future expansion releases for Chaos Arena. What this boils down to is: we want to steal your ideas.

We know you're bound to make up all sorts of wild ideas for new Chaos Cards (you always do).
We want you to pick out your very best idea, put it on one of the blank Chaos Cards we've so generously provided for you.
Add it to your deck of Chaos Cards and play with it.
If it's crap, throw the card away and try again.
If it's any good, scan it and send it to us ([email protected])
If we really, really, really, really, really, REALLY like it we might possibly consider incorporating it in a future expansion set. We might even mention your name (if it sounds cool enough).

Reference Tables

These tables are printed on the back page of the manual. The rules above refer to them.

Order of Play

A - Introduction phase (place a new character)
B - Action phase: movement; fighting combat; shooting arrows; swapping items
C - Chaos Card phase (possibly draw a Chaos Card)
D - Spell casting phase (cast spell comes into play)
E - Spell preparation phase (put down a new spell)

Movement Table

Woods - into, out of or through woods: -1 hex off your Move score.
Walls - you cannot move through or fight over a wall.
Bush - no movement penalty.
Water - cannot be crossed; a character that ends up in the water drowns (dies).
Swamp, along the path - into, out of or through swamp, on the path: -1 hex off your Move score.
Swamp, not along the path - into, out of or through swamp, not on path: -1 hex off your Move score. Each turn roll 1 die: 1-3 drown (character dies); 1-4 survive (nothing happens) [as printed; see note below]. Scouts only drown on a roll of 1.

Note on the Swamp entry: the table as printed reads "1-3 drown" and "1-4 survive", which overlap on 1-3. The body text of the Swamp rules (4B Action Phase: Movement) says that on a 4 to 6 they survive and on a 1 to 3 they drown, and that Scouts only drown on a roll of 1. The body text is the reading transcribed in this file; the printed table line is reproduced as printed.

Arrow Table

Arrows have a 6 hex range. Throw 2 dice, add results and subtract possible cover penalty (see Arrow Cover Table below).

5 or lower - You've missed
6 or higher - hit a Scout or Mage
8 or higher - hit an Archer or Warrior
10 or higher - hit a Berserker
12 - hit a Knight

Arrow Cover Table

If your target is hiding, the penalty to your roll is:

In a Bush - -1
In the edge of the Woods - -2
Directly behind a Wall - -3

Chaos Card Table

Characters of your army on the board; roll 1 die, draw a Chaos Card on a roll of:

1 or 2 - 1
3 or 4 - 2 or lower
5 or 6 - 3 or lower
7 or 8 - 4 or lower
9 or 10 - 5 or lower
11 or 12 - draw automatically (no roll required)

Board Diagram Labels

The original manual shows a labelled photograph of a set-up. Its labels name: Entrance Teleportal, Walls, Woods, Bush, Swamp, Lake, Random Chaos Indicator, Random Movement Counters, Prepared spell on the Octo Altar, Arrow counters, Chaos Cards, Discard Pile, Good and Evil war band cards, and the Good and Evil hands of spell cards.