Clank! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated – Darkest Magic
Clank! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated – Darkest Magic Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Read This Page Before Looking at Anything Else in This Box!
- Before Your First Game
- Setup
- Before the Game
- 1) Prepare the Map and Clank! board
- 2) Prepare the Dragon Bag
- 3) Create the Bank
- 4) Take Your Personal Components
- 5) Read the Prologues and Contracts
- 6) Stock the Reserve and Adventure Rows
- 7) Place Remaining Tokens Around the Boards
- 8) ???
- 9) Determine Player Order and Add Starting Clank!
- 10) Draw Opening Hands
- The Goal of the Game
- Taking Your Turn
- Speeding Play
- Actions
- Board Features
- Card Effects and Game Terms
- Ending Your Turn and Dragon Attacks
- Health and Damage
- Example Turn
- Contracts
- Milestones
- Marks and Reputation
- Game End and Scoring
- End of a Campaign Game
- Campaign Details
- Field Reference Guide
- Credits
Read This Page Before Looking at Anything Else in This Box!
For the best experience, and to preserve the surprises of the campaign, take special care with these components and use them only when told.
The Book of Secrets and Journals
These are storybooks. Read only passages the game instructs you to read. You may re-read passages at any time, but never follow their instructions again unless the game tells you to. Passages in the Book of Secrets are numbered, and should always be read aloud to the whole group. Any player may do this, but when a specific player causes a passage to be read, the story is directed at them, and they make any decisions presented.
Each player has their own Journal for the character they play in the campaign. Journal passages are lettered. We encourage you to also read these aloud, though you may summarize (if you wish to play faster, or aren't comfortable reading to the group).
When you read any passage, read it completely. If you stop in the middle to follow an instruction, make sure you go back and finish. Mark the checkbox for each instruction as you go, to make sure you don't miss anything.
Cardporium
This box contains cards you'll add during the campaign. Do not shuffle the cards inside!
Each card has a unique number along the right edge. (They're inside the Cardporium in numerical order.)
If you were told to fetch card 001, you would look for the card at the right.
Token Sheet
This envelope contains components you'll add during the campaign. The punch sheet inside is divided into groups labeled numerically, like 24.
Sticker Sheets
This envelope contains stickers you'll use to modify game components during the campaign. The sheets are in alphabetical order, with groups labeled numerically on each sheet.
If you were told to fetch sticker A13, you would look on sheet A, in group 13.
Sometimes you'll add a "rules sticker" to this rulebook. Some of these cover empty spots (creating new rules), while others cover existing text (revising the rules). The number of a rules sticker tells you which page it goes on.
Rules sticker 20b would go on the back cover, in the second empty spot.
Whenever you fetch a new component from the Cardporium, Tokens envelope, or Sticker Sheets envelope, try to do so without looking closely at anything else (nearby cards, or stickers or tokens on the same sheet, for example). Show the new component to all players (or read it aloud), before placing it where instructed. It's a permanent addition to your game. (Until you're told to destroy it, at least…)
We strongly suggest that more than one player read this Rulebook, to help ensure all rules are followed correctly.
You should also check for any rules updates and answers to Frequently Asked Questions in the FAQ document at: darkestmagic.com/faq
If you have played the original CLANK! A Deck-Building Adventure or CLANK! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated, look for this symbol on the bottom of some pages. It highlights rules differences from those games.
Ready to play? Follow the Setup instructions on the next two pages.
Before Your First Game
Each player chooses one of the four characters to play for the entire campaign. You can read the information inside the front cover of each character's Journal to help you decide. Each player names their character, and writes it on their deck box and Journal. (The Ambitious has a family name included.)
Each player also chooses a player color to use for the campaign. From A13, cut each color and shape of stickers apart; store the stickers of your color in your deck box between games. (You can fetch the remaining sticker sheet A at the start of each game for quick access.)
Setup
Before the Game
Check the Mission Reports document. Identify your current game, then go to the specified Prologue passage in the Book of Secrets. Read the SETUP section (found in a box like this one). Carry out these instructions first, before continuing with the setup steps below. One player can even do this before other players arrive at the table to begin playing.
1) Prepare the Map and Clank! board
a) Identify the current game of your campaign on the Mission Reports document. Place the map board on the side indicated for this game. (The "Northrim" side is shown at the right.)
b) Place the Clank! board above the map board, leaving space for a row of cards between them.
c) Place the Dragon Marker on the Rage Track of the Clank! board.
- In a 4-player game, place it on the first space.
- In a 3-player game, place it on the second space.
- In a 2-player game, place it on the third space.
2) Prepare the Dragon Bag
Place the 24 black cubes in the Dragon Bag, and set the bag next to the map board.
3) Create the Bank
Create a Bank next to the map board, containing the gold tokens (valued 1, 5, and 10).
Shuffle the minor secret tokens face down and add them to the Bank.
4) Take Your Personal Components
Each player takes the Journal, figure, and deck box for their character. Inside the deck box is your starting deck, which contains at least these 10 cards: 6 Burgles, 2 Stumbles, 1 Sidestep, and 1 Scramble.
Each player takes 30 Clank! cubes, 3 destination markers, and the mark stickers of their player color, forming a personal supply in front of them. They also take the disc of their color, attach it to their figure's base, then place the figure on the HQ space.
5) Read the Prologues and Contracts
Read this game's Prologue passage (identified in the Mission Reports document) aloud from the Book of Secrets and carry out its instructions.
From their Journal, each player reads aloud (or summarizes, if you're in a hurry) the passage specified for this game. They carry out its instructions.
Place any group contracts (just fetched in the Prologue, or remaining from a previous game) in a contracts row. Place any solo contracts (just fetched, or taken from your deck box) in your personal supply.
In a 2-player game, each player fetches contract Burn the Midnight Oil (2p) (002-003 in the Cardporium) for themselves.
In a 3-player game, randomly choose one player with the fewest boxes checked on Burn the Midnight Oil (3p) (004) to fetch it for themself and check one of their boxes on it.
If there are any contracts that the Prologue instructed you to fetch but weren't named there or in the Journals, put them in their character's tuckbox or else in the Filing Cabinet.
6) Stock the Reserve and Adventure Rows
Add the Goblin monster card to the reserve row, along with a pile of shuffled Mercenaries and Longswords, a pile of Explores, and a pile of shuffled Employee Handbooks.
Shuffle the adventure deck and deal a card face up to each empty slot in the adventure row (which has 6 slots below the Clank! board).
Certain cards cannot be part of the adventure row at the start of the game. If you reveal any cards that have the Dragon Attack symbol along the right edge (even if it's part of Arrive text), set them aside and replace them with another card. Once you have six legal cards, shuffle any cards that you have set aside back into the adventure deck.
Leave room next to the adventure deck to form an adventure discard pile during the game.
(If any cards with Arrive text are in the adventure row at the start of a game, carry out that text before the first player takes their turn.)
7) Place Remaining Tokens Around the Boards
a) Place the mug tokens near the HQ space, one for each player.
b) Place the market items in the Market Area of the Clank! board. (The different market items are listed on the back cover of this Rulebook.)
c) Place the various artifacts face up on the spaces marked with their corresponding values. (Not all of them are used in every game. Return artifacts without a space to the box.)
d) Shuffle the ore tokens face down. Place them at random on their marked spaces, then place the rest in the Bank.
e) Shuffle the major secrets face down. Place one at random on each major secret space and each major-then-minor secret space, then place any extras in the Bank (separate from the minor secrets).
8) ???
This step of the setup will be revealed during the campaign.
9) Determine Player Order and Add Starting Clank!
Choose a player at random to take the first turn of the game. Play will proceed clockwise from there. The first player places 3 of their Clank! cubes in the Clank! area of the Clank! board. The second player places 2 Clank! If there are additional players, the third player places 1 Clank! and the fourth places none.
10) Draw Opening Hands
Each player shuffles their starting deck, places it face down in their personal supply, and draws five cards from it. The starting player begins their first turn.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: New components that were not a part of CLANK! A Deck-Building Adventure are used in steps 4-8 of Setup. In step 3, minor secrets are placed in the Bank instead of on the board. (Major secrets are placed on the board, though extras are put in the Bank.)
The Goal of the Game
Put simply, you have two goals in each game (whether you're playing the campaign or not):
- Retrieve an artifact token and escape back to HQ.
- Beat your opponents' scores to be declared Employee of the Month.
But it's actually not quite as simple as that.
For one thing, CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic is a deck-building game. Each player starts with their own small deck containing the same cards, but they'll acquire different cards during their turns. Because cards can do many different things, each player's deck (and strategy) will become more and more different as the game unfolds. Developing your deck (and strategy) is a key to success.
Also, CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic is a legacy game. (Are you making sarcastic shocked sounds?) You'll play several games in an ongoing campaign. During this campaign, you'll accept a variety of contracts to promote your franchise and the greater reputation of Acquisitions Incorporated. Players can cooperate in this to some extent, making decisions as a group, dividing up exploration, and foregoing actions that might make things harder for each other. Or you can be as cutthroat as you like, looking out for yourself first and foremost. (You might want to be discerning about when to help and when to hurt; your fate is tied to your friends' in some ways.)
Taking Your Turn
Players take turns in clockwise order.
You start each of your turns with five cards in your hand. The one requirement of your turn is that you must play all your cards before ending it, but you may play them in any order you choose. Cards you play go to a "play area" in front of you, where they remain until the end of your turn for easy reference.
Most cards generate the resources you need to take actions. There are a variety of actions you can take during your turn, described in Actions (on the next page). You may take each action as many times as you like, so long as you have the resources required to do so. You can wait to take actions until after you've played all your cards, or take actions between your card plays if you prefer.
Most cards produce one or more of the following resources:
- SKILL, used primarily for the Acquire a Card action.
- SWORDS, used for the Fight a Monster action (and sometimes as part of the Movement action).
- BOOTS, used primarily for the Movement action.
Skill, Swords, and Boots pool as you generate them, so you may play multiple cards to gather the resources for one action. You may also split the resources made by one card to take multiple actions. Any Skill, Swords, or Boots you don't use during your turn are wasted, so try to make them count!
Cards also often generate gold, Clank!, and card draws:
GOLD. Whenever you gain gold, take it from the Bank and put it in your personal supply. Each gold is worth 1 point when the game ends, but you can also use it during the game, such as for the Buy from the Market action.
CLANK! Whenever you make Clank! (for example: "+1 Clank!"), add that many cubes from your personal supply to the Clank! area on the Clank! board. (If your supply is empty, you skip this.) It's also possible to remove Clank! For each negative Clank! you get, remove one of your Clank! cubes from the Clank! area. If you don't have enough there, you can still remove Clank! later if you add any later on in the turn. Any leftover negative Clank! is lost when your turn ends.
CARD DRAWS. Whenever you get to draw one or more cards, draw from your own deck, not the adventure deck. Whenever you need to draw a card and have none remaining in your deck, shuffle your discard pile (without adding any cards currently in your play area) to form a new deck.
Some cards have effects that depend on tokens you have, other cards in your play area, or things you have done during your turn. You get a card's effects regardless of the order in which you play your cards.
- Freelance Ranger says "If you have another companion in your play area, +Boot." You get the Boot whether you play another companion before or after you play the Freelance Ranger.
- Wayfarer's Blade says "If you have an artifact, Boot." If you pick up an artifact token after playing Wayfarer's Blade, you still get the Boot.
Once you've played all of your cards and taken all the actions you wish, declare the end of your turn. (See Ending Your Turn and Dragon Attacks, page 10 for details.)
Speeding Play
CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic has a complete story full of details, choices, and humor. You can really take your time with it. If you'd prefer it played faster, here are some tips: designate one player to fetch all the sticker sheets. Designate another to fetch all the cards from the Cardporium. Maybe designate one player to read from the Book of Secrets. When one player is reading instructions, other players can be executing them.
Planning some of your own turn during others' turns will help too; as will helping process the end of their turn. Not all of these tricks will work for your group, and that's fine; use what helps, and do what feels best.
Actions
Acquire a Card
You can use Skill to acquire blue cards (with blue banners) from the adventure row.
The Skill Cost of a card is found in its lower right corner. Once you pay the cost, place the card in your discard pile. It does nothing now, but you'll have the chance to draw and play it later once you reshuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.
Do not immediately replace a card taken from the adventure row with a new one from the adventure deck.
You may also acquire cards with yellow banners from the reserve. These card stacks are present in every game. The supply is limited, and can be depleted if players acquire enough cards from the reserve.
Fight a Monster
Monsters are the cards with red banners in the adventure row. Instead of acquiring them with Skill, you fight them using Swords.
The Swords required to defeat a monster are found in its lower right corner. When you fight a monster in the adventure row, you gain the reward listed in its DEFEAT text. Then the card is placed in the adventure discard pile (not your own discard pile). Do not immediately replace it with a card from the adventure deck.
You may also fight the Goblin in the reserve. It is not discarded when defeated; each player may fight it multiple times on each of their turns, earning its reward each time.
Movement
Boots are how you traverse the map board. Each Boot lets you move along one path to a new space. (Many spaces have special properties, described in Board Features, pages 6-7.)
All paths require at least one Boot. Some paths have additional requirements and rules:
- A path marked with a footprint icon requires two or three Boots total, as shown. Some of these are "mountain paths" (marked in gray stone). Certain tokens can interact with them.
- A path with monster icons deals one damage to you for each icon when you move through it. (See Health and Damage, page 10 for details.) For each Sword you pay, you prevent damage from one icon.
- A one-way path is shaped like an arrow, and can only be used in the direction of that arrow. You can't move through it in the opposite direction.
- Some paths on the board lead to a waypoint rather than a space. When you move along a path with a waypoint at the end, read the indicated passage from the Book of Secrets.
Buy from the Market
If you're on a Town space, you may buy a token from the Market area of the Clank! board.
All items are available in each Town, each for a cost of 7 gold (which you pay by returning the gold to the Bank). Place each item you buy in your personal supply. You may possess only one item of each type (but as with all actions, you may take the Buy action more than once in a turn, buying different items).
All the Market items are described on the back of this Rulebook.
Take an Artifact
If you're on a space with an artifact token, you may pick it up and place it in your personal supply. Unlike other tokens described later in Board Features (page 7), you do not have to pick up an artifact when you first enter the space.
You can't take an artifact token if you already have one. Once you've picked one up, you're stuck with it. Choose carefully! You might want to pass up one artifact to go after a more valuable one elsewhere.
When you take an artifact token, move the Dragon Marker up one space along the Rage Track. Once you have an artifact, you should try to make your way back to the HQ space.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Paths with a three-footprint icon cost three Boots. When you Buy from the Market, you may not buy more than one of the same item. Also note that you can Take an Artifact at any point in your turn—you can do it as long as you remain in a space with an artifact, and don't have take it when you first enter.
Board Features
Caves
There are no rules for Caves, but some cards and passages refer to them.
Forests
When you enter a circular space—a Forest or Candy Forest—you become exhausted: you cannot spend any more Boots on the Movement action for the rest of the turn.
You may still spend Boots for other purposes (for example, to complete a contract requiring Boots).
You can still move via Teleport (described in Card Effects, page 9). However, even if you do, you remain exhausted and can't spend Boots on the Movement action this turn.
Hills
There are no rules for Hills, but some cards and passages refer to them.
HQ
The space you start from each game is your HQ. Returning there with an artifact is the goal of the game. (See Game End and Scoring, page 16.) Once you leave HQ, you cannot return empty-handed; you must Take an Artifact from somewhere on the board before you return.
Mountains
There are no rules for Mountains, but some cards and passages refer to them.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Forests work like Crystal Caves from CLANK! A Deck-Building Adventure. Towns work like Markets. Other Board Features are new, so you should read this section in full.
Rewards
Some spaces on the map board give you something when you enter them. You don't have to end your turn there, but you only get these rewards once each turn; you must re-enter that space on a later turn to receive the reward again. (You may enter more than one space of the same type during a single turn, receiving a reward from each one.)
The rewards you can receive include:
- Minor Secret — Take one minor secret at random from the Bank and reveal it. The minor secrets are described on the back of this Rulebook.
- Major Secret — Take the major secret token from the space and reveal it. If the token from your space was previously taken, you do not get to take one from the Bank. The major secrets are described on the back of this Rulebook.
- Major-then-Minor Secret — Take the major secret token from the space and reveal it. If the token from your space was previously taken, take one minor secret at random from the Bank and reveal it.
- Ore — Take one ore token from the space and reveal it. If all the tokens from your space were previously taken, you do not get to take one from the Bank.
- Gold — Take the amount shown from the Bank.
- Healing — Heal 1 damage. (See Health and Damage, page 10.)
Some effects put tokens on spaces. When you enter one of these spaces, take those tokens.
Keep all your tokens in your personal supply. If you would take a token from the Bank and there aren't any left there, take nothing.
Runestones
Some spaces on the board are marked with a runestone (1-12). Runestones have no game effect, but may be referenced by storybooks or contracts. Each runestone has an arrow pointing to the next one, to help you locate them.
Towns
While you're on a Town space, you may take the Buy from the Market action (described in Actions, page 5).
Waypoints
A waypoint is any space (or end of a path) on the board marked with a number. The number refers to a passage in the Book of Secrets. When a player arrives at a waypoint, pause their turn to read the corresponding passage in the Book. (They resume their turn afterward.)
Some tokens may present additional waypoints. When you reveal a waypoint on a token, read the corresponding passage.
When a sticker with a waypoint is applied to a player's space, they must leave and return in order to read the corresponding passage.
Card Effects and Game Terms
Acquire
A card's Acquire text is carried out one time, the moment you acquire it from the adventure row (not when you play it later from your hand).
Adventure Row
When you're instructed to "add" a card to the adventure row, place it in an extra slot to the right of the six slots below the Clank! board. Carry out any Arrive text on newly added cards, but ignore any Dragon Attack icon on them. Do not replace cards in extra slots.
After Your Turn
When a card instructs you to do something after your turn, set it aside and continue the rest of your turn. Come back to it at the end of your turn. (You can put it on top of your deck to help you remember.) Other players can then continue the game as you carry out the instructions; just make sure you finish before starting your next turn.
Always-Active Text
Some cards have text in a purple box like this. This text is active from a player's hand or from the adventure row, as indicated.
Contracts have text in a purple box like this. This text is active from a player's supply or from the contracts row.
Some cards have "always active" text that puts them into your play area from your hand and draws you a card. If the event described occurs while the card is in your hand, you may announce this and put the card into your play area. Immediately draw a new card from your deck to replace the card from your hand. (This works the same as React, from CLANK! Adventuring Party.)
You do not use any of the resources or text on a card at the time you put it in your play area. Instead, it remains in your play area until your next turn comes. On that turn, it joins all the other cards you'll now play: you get its resources and carry out its text just as though you'd played it normally.
Arrive
A card's Arrive text is carried out immediately when the card is revealed in the adventure row (before any Dragon Attack that may also have been triggered by refilling the row).
If any cards with Arrive text are in the adventure row at the start of a game, carry out that text before the first player takes their turn.
Available
Cards in your hand, play area, and discard pile are available to you, as are cards in the adventure row and adventure discard pile. An "available blue card" is a card with a blue banner that's in any of these places.
Danger
For each Danger card in the adventure row, you pull an additional cube from the Dragon Bag during each Dragon Attack.
Destroy
When you're instructed to destroy a card, permanently remove it from your copy of the game. This is not the same as trashing a card.
When you're instructed to destroy a map space, from T2, apply a "remnant" sticker (of the closest size) over it, leaving the runestone visible. Trash any tokens on it. Return any player cubes on it to their supply. It's still a space you can enter.
Discard
Some cards allow you to discard a card (face up to your discard pile). You can only discard cards in your hand that you haven't played yet. The card does not have its normal effect, which means discarding can be a useful way to get around cards that generate Clank!
If you're asked to discard a card to get something, you must actually discard a card to get it.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Many rules on these pages will be familiar, but pay attention to: Adventure Row, After Your Turn, Always-Active Text, Available, Destroy, Point Stickers, and Scratch a Box.
Each Player
Most of the time, when "each player" is required to do a thing, the order will not matter. In the rare case that it does (for example: when taking a limited resource), begin with the player taking (or ending) their turn and proceed clockwise. (Ignore players who have escaped or who have been knocked out; see Game End and Scoring, page 16 for more details.)
Point Stickers
When you're instructed to apply a -1 sticker to a card, never cover other points; it always reduces what the card is worth by 1 point.
+ (Plus)
Some cards have a plus sign attached to the Skill, Swords, or Boots they provide. This is meant to point you to the card's text, which may provide more of the same resource that the card has already given.
Freelance Ranger always provides at least 2 Boots. Its text says: "If you have another companion in your play area, +Boot." This makes for a total of 3 Boots when you play any number of other companions.
Scratch a Box
When you're instructed to "scratch a box" on a card, scratch off a single covered area completely, revealing what is beneath. When you scratch a card with multiple boxes, choose any one of them.
When you're instructed to "scratch a box on a monster in the row," identify the leftmost monster in the adventure row with a scratch-off box and scratch it off. (If this reveals Arrive text, carry it out only if that card was revealed in the row this turn.)
Whenever you mark a card with any scratch-off boxes, scratch one of them off. (See Marks and Reputation, page 14.)
You may never scratch a box on a starting card except when specifically instructed to.
Teleport
Teleportation is a special form of movement that takes you directly from one space to another. No Boots are required for this move (though you remain exhausted if you entered a Forest this turn).
Often, teleporting takes you to an "adjacent space:" one connected by a path to your current space. You ignore any icons along that path, and can even teleport against the arrow of a one-way path.
Trash
Some cards and tokens can cause you to trash a card. This removes the chosen card from your deck entirely, which is a great thing to do to the relatively weak cards that make up your starting deck. Place trashed cards in the game box.
When trashing a card from your play area, remember that you still get its resources and effects! (You can turn it sideways as a reminder, then put it in the trash when you finish your turn.)
Note that trashing a card is not the same as destroying it! Trashing is not permanent; at the end of the game, return a trashed card to the place it originally came from (a player's starting deck, the adventure deck, etc.), to be used again in your next game.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Take care not to confuse "trash" with "destroy." Trashing is the same as in CLANK! A Deck-Building Adventure, and is not permanent. In the campaign, you will destroy cards, permanently removing them from your copy of the game.
Ending Your Turn and Dragon Attacks
Once you've played all of your cards and taken all the actions you wish for your turn, you end your turn. You then do the following, in order, before the next player (proceeding clockwise) begins their turn.
1) Clear Your Play Area and Draw a New Hand
Put all of the cards from your play area into your discard pile. Keep this discard pile face up, to easily distinguish it from your deck.
Draw five new cards from your deck in preparation for your next turn.
2) ???
This step of ending your turn will be revealed during the campaign.
3) Refill the Adventure Row
If any of the six card slots in the adventure row below the Clank! board are empty, refill them all with new cards from the adventure deck, one at a time, left-to-right. (There should be no empty slots at the start of the next player's turn.)
In the rare case that there aren't enough cards in the adventure deck to fill the row, shuffle the adventure discard pile to form a new face-down adventure deck.
4) Check for a Dragon Attack
If any of the new cards just added to the adventure row has a Dragon Attack symbol, the dragon Frigus attacks! The dragon attacks only once, no matter how many Dragon Attack symbols were revealed. Also note that only new Dragon Attack symbols cause an attack. Cards that remain in the adventure row for multiple turns do not repeatedly trigger attacks.
To execute a Dragon Attack, take all of the cubes in the Clank! area and put them in the Dragon Bag. Shake it up and draw a number of cubes from the bag equal to the number shown in the Dragon Marker's current space of the Rage Track. Each black cube drawn is set aside in the Bank, but each colored cube represents damage dealt to that player. Undrawn cubes remain in the bag—they might still be drawn out later. (The more Clank! you make, the more likely the dragon is to notice and attack you. Managing your noise level is key to survival!)
Some Arrive text specifies a condition in which the card "has a Dragon Attack symbol." If the condition is met when that card arrives, treat the card exactly as if there were a Dragon Attack symbol printed on it now, causing a (single) Dragon Attack.
The dragon's rage level increases throughout the game. Every time an artifact is picked up, and whenever a Dragon Egg (a type of minor secret) is discovered, advance the Dragon Marker one space along the Rage Track. This may cause more cubes to be drawn in the next attack. The more cubes being drawn, the deadlier the game becomes. Tread carefully!
In the rare case that the Dragon Bag is empty after an attack, the game ends immediately—all remaining players are knocked out.
5) Resolve Contracts
If you completed a contract this turn that has instructions to follow "after your turn," read it now, and finish following its instructions before your next turn. (See page 12 for more on contracts.)
Health and Damage
Each player's health is tracked on a Health Meter on the right side of the Clank! board. When you take damage during the game, place your cubes on the Health Meter of your color, starting on the leftmost space.
- If the damage came from a Dragon Attack, use the cubes that were pulled from the Dragon Bag.
- If the damage came by some other means, take the cubes from your personal supply. You can't voluntarily take damage this way (for example, moving along a monster path without spending a Sword) if you have no cubes in your supply, or if doing so would fill your Health Meter!
Some effects can heal damage you've taken. When you heal, return the rightmost cube from your Health Meter to its supply. You can use your cubes again later for more Clank!
If your Health Meter is ever completely filled, you are knocked out. (See Game End and Scoring, page 16.)
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Resolve contracts as the final step of ending your turn. The game ends immediately if the Dragon Bag is ever empty after an attack. If the adventure deck is ever exhausted, reshuffle the adventure discard pile to replace it.
Example Turn
The green player takes her turn, playing these five cards:
She carries out the text on her cards as she plays them, adding 1 Clank! to the Clank! area for her Stumble, and earning 1 gold from Merchant Marine.
She has a total of two Boots. She uses one of them to move along a path with a monster icon and spends one of her three Swords to avoid taking damage from it. The space she enters is a Forest, so she can't spend any more Boots to move this turn, and ignores her second Boot.
The green player has two Swords left and spends them to defeat Winter Wolf in the adventure row. Its DEFEAT text lets her take 2 gold from the Bank. She then places that monster in the adventure discard pile.
She has a total of 3 Skill. She spends 2 of it to acquire a Cautious Step from the adventure row, placing the card in her own discard pile. (She has just acquired the card; she won't get the Boot or text from it until she reshuffles her discard pile, draws the card, and plays it.) She does get -2 Clank! from Cautious Step's ACQUIRE ability, so she removes the Clank! she made earlier. (She has another -1 Clank! left over, which she could use later in the turn if she were to make more Clank!)
The green player declares the end of her turn. She puts all the cards she played in her discard pile, then draws five new cards for her next turn.
Next, it's time to refill the adventure row. After the green player's turn, two of the six slots below the Clank! board are empty, so two cards are now revealed from the top of the adventure deck to fill the empty slots. Both have a Dragon Attack symbol, triggering a single Dragon Attack.
All the cubes in the Clank! area are placed in the Dragon Bag. The Dragon Marker is currently on the fifth space of the Rage Track, so four cubes are drawn from the bag.
One cube is black; it is set aside, affecting no one. The second is yellow, so the yellow player takes 1 damage. The last two cubes are both green, so the green player takes 2 damage.
Contracts
Acquisitions Incorporated makes money by fulfilling contracts. Satisfied clients pay the bills, and grateful clients help us find new ones. Complete as many contracts as possible. It's literally your job.
Contract cards represent the quests you undertake for Acquisitions Incorporated. During the campaign, you'll be told to fetch contracts from the Cardporium. Each time one is introduced, read the front side out loud—but do not reveal or read the back. If the contract has any SETUP instructions, carry them out immediately. (At the start of each game, you will also carry out the SETUP for any contracts you have remaining from previous games.)
A contract card is never shuffled into any deck. Instead, place it in the contracts row if it's a group contract, or in the personal supply of the designated player if it's a solo contract.
Each contract describes how a player can complete it, by fulfilling certain conditions and/or paying certain costs. A group contract can be completed by any player, or sometimes even multiple players working together. A solo contract can only be completed by the player who has it in their supply. When you complete a contract, put it in your supply; you are "the check player": flip it over and resolve it (as described below).
It is also possible to fail some contracts, most often by not completing them before the deadline indicated at the bottom. Deadlines always come before scoring a specified game. When you fail a contract, flip it over and resolve it (as described below).
Contracts can persist from one game of the campaign to the next. At the end of a game, if a contract hasn't been completed (and its deadline has not yet come), keep it for the next game. If you're not playing the next game immediately, the steps for the End of a Campaign Game (page 17) tell you how to store them.
Contracts with a white banner are group contracts; Contracts with a yellow banner are solo contracts.
SETUP instructions often place markers to help you remember important places.
The deadline tells you when the contract will automatically fail.
Resolving Contracts
When you complete or fail a contract, flip it over and read the back. Read any story there (in italics) only if it was completed. Follow the instructions in order. Check off the boxes as you do, to ensure you do everything the contract says.
- Always boxes — Always check these boxes and follow their instructions, whether you completed or failed the contract.
- Complete boxes — Check these boxes and follow their instructions only if you completed the contract.
- Failure boxes — Check these boxes and follow their instructions only if you failed the contract.
Only the check player(s) (who completed the contract) score the points on the back (unless otherwise specified).
When instructed to do something AFTER YOUR TURN, set the contract aside and continue the rest of your turn. Come back to it when you draw cards at the end of your turn. (You can put it on top of your deck to help you remember.) Other players can then continue the game as you carry out the contract's instructions; just make sure you finish before starting your next turn.
If you reach a section of the contract that awards points or is labeled "AFTER SCORING," stop reading and return it to the contracts row or your supply (depending on whether it's a group or solo contract). At the end of the game, return to any resolved contracts and add any points you earned to your score. After you've determined final scores and begin following the steps for the End of a Campaign Game (page 17), finish reading the "AFTER SCORING" section.
Example
Here's the back of a contract.
The first instruction has an always checkbox, so you do that whether the contract was completed or failed. Fetch the listed cards from the Cardporium. (You may have another player do this while you continue your turn.)
The next set of instructions all happen after your turn, so ignore them until then.
You only follow the four failure instructions if you failed this contract, perhaps because the deadline came before you could complete it.
You only follow the two complete instructions if you completed this contract. You would read an entry from your Journal, and then score 15 points for the contract at the end of the game.
Finally, you are instructed to destroy this contract after scoring (again, regardless of whether it was completed or failed).
Checkboxes and Cube Tracks
To complete some contracts, you must fulfill the same condition multiple times.
- Some contracts indicate this with a number of checkboxes. Check a box off (from left to right) each time you fulfill the condition. The last box is always a star; when you check it, you complete the contract.
- Other contracts indicate this with a series of boxes where cubes can be placed. Each time a player fulfills the condition, they place a cube from their personal supply in the next available box. (Fill each row from left to right, starting from the top.) Some of these boxes indicate a number of players; the contract is completed when you place a cube in the box matching the number of players you have. If the boxes have no numbers, then the contract is completed when you place a cube in the last box (which has a star). Cubes on incomplete contracts do not carry over between games.
Completing the contract at the right requires nine cubes in a 4-player game, seven in a 3-player game, or five in a 2-player game.
Destination Markers
Many contracts ask you to travel to a particular space on the board. Their SETUP instructions tell you to place a destination marker; use a neutral one from the Bank for a group contract, or one of your player color (from your personal supply) for a solo contract.
When a contract is completed, you may return any associated destination markers to their supply.
Ties
If a contract asks for the player with the most/least of something, and two or more players are tied, they each do what that text instructs (potentially each scoring the contract).
Milestones
Your job at Acquisitions Incorporated won't be easy. Or safe. Or pleasant. It'll leave you harrowed. Broken, probably. But you'll grow as a person. Or at least, your resumé will look better.
The growth of your character is tracked on the back of your Journal. Certain passages (on contracts, in the Book of Secrets, and in your Journal) earn you MILESTONE stickers. These are usually found on sticker sheet M, which you can keep handy during the campaign.
Apply each MILESTONE sticker you earn to the next available space on the back of your Journal (starting with number 1). Some cards and later passages may refer to these milestones.
The third, ninth, and fifteenth spaces mark significant growth for your character. After the game in which you cover one of these spaces, read the indicated passage from your Journal.
You may sometimes be instructed to put a mark sticker in a space on the back of your Journal, or to cross out one of your MILESTONE stickers. In both cases, the space is filled.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Contracts have many new features not present in CLANK! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated, including solo contracts unique to your character. You should read these pages in full.
Marks and Reputation
The success of any business is largely determined by its reputation. Acquisitions Incorporated expects you to establish your franchise's reputation and continue to grow and improve it. To do that, you're going to have to make your mark as an exceptional employee.
Making Your Mark
Throughout the campaign, you will have opportunities to mark blue cards (that is, cards with a blue banner). To do this, apply a rectangular mark sticker of your color (from the personal sheet stored in your deck box), in the middle-left of the card. Most often, you will "mark an available blue card." (A card is "available" in your hand, play area, or discard pile; as well as in the adventure row or discard pile.) You can never mark a monster, reserve, or starting card. In the rare case there's no legal card to mark, mark a milestone in your Journal instead (see below).
When you mark a card with any scratch-off boxes, scratch one of them off. Other benefits of these marks—to you specifically and to all players as a team—will be revealed as the campaign progresses.
Unless specified, you cannot mark a card that's already marked. (When specified, place additional marks to the right of existing ones.)
Map spaces — Sometimes, you will be instructed to mark a space on the map board. Apply a large, circular sticker from your personal marks sheet near the center of the space. (Do not cover other icons on that space. If a sticker ever adds paths or spaces to the map that cover a player's mark, they replace the missing mark, unless that space is being destroyed.)
Milestones — When you're instructed to "mark a milestone space in your Journal," apply a rectangular sticker from your personal marks sheet to the next available space on the back cover. It counts as a milestone, filling the space.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: These two pages describe entirely new features of CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic. You should read them in full.
Game End and Scoring
A game ends when all players have gone "off the clock." There are two ways a player can do this:
You voluntarily go off the clock when you escape by entering the HQ space with an artifact. Finish taking the rest of your turn, then before refilling the adventure row, remove your figure from the board and all your Clank! cubes from the Clank! area. Also take one of the mug tokens near the HQ space; it is worth an additional 20 points!
You're involuntarily taken off the clock when you're knocked out. This happens when your Health Meter is full (as detailed in Health and Damage, page 10). Lay your figure on its side. If you don't have an artifact, or if your figure is in the Danger Zone of the board, well… that's bad for you. Instead of counting your score as described below, you score 0 points. (There are additional effects if you're playing the campaign; see End of a Campaign Game, on the next page.)
Once a player is off the clock (by either means), they stop taking regular game turns. From then on, they add no more Clank! to the Clank! area. They take no damage from cubes drawn from the Dragon Bag. They neither draw nor play cards, and they take no regular game actions. The player is unaffected by anything that would affect a "player" or "all players" except contract backs and storybook passages.
Whenever a turn comes for a player who is off the clock, they execute a special Dragon Attack: take all the cubes in the Clank! area and put them in the Dragon Bag, shake it up, and—ignoring the Dragon Marker's current space on the Rage Track and any additional Danger in the adventure row—draw exactly four cubes (or, in a 2-player game, six cubes). Damage is taken as usual.
Once all players have gone off the clock, flip over any incomplete contracts that have a deadline "BEFORE SCORING" for this game and follow the instructions on the back (see Contracts, page 12). Then, each player (who retrieved an artifact and wasn't knocked out in the Danger Zone) counts their score as follows:
- The value of their artifact. (You can't score any points without one!)
- Points from any other tokens they acquired (including their mug token, if they reached HQ).
- Points equal to the amount of gold they accumulated.
- Points awarded by cards in their deck, including their hand and discard pile. (The top right corner of each card shows the amount it's worth.)
- Points awarded by completed contracts. (The back of each contract shows the amount it's worth to each player who completed it. It may offer additional points if you completed it in the same game it was fetched from the Cardporium.)
- Negative points (-1) reduce your score.
The player with the most points is the winner of this game! (In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most valuable artifact is the winner.)
If you're playing the campaign, continue to End of a Campaign Game (on the next page).
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: The Depths of CLANK! A Deck-Building Adventure are now known as the Danger Zone. There is no Countdown Track when a player goes "off the clock" (escapes or is knocked out); read above to see how eliminated players are handled. When a player escapes, they remove all their Clank! from the Clank! area.
End of a Campaign Game
When you finish playing most board games, you simply return all the components to the box and start over again next time you want to play. Because CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic is a legacy game, there's more to ending the game than just totaling scores and determining the winner.
During the campaign, complete the following steps at the end of each game.
1) Fill Out Your Mission Report
Fill in game scores in the appropriate row of your Mission Reports document. (Determine scores as described in Game End and Scoring, page 16.) Record the winner's name in the provided column. (If everyone scored 0 points, there is no winner; leave the column blank.)
2) Memorialize Your Fallen Comrades
Each player who scored 0 points this game makes their mark on the space of the map board where they were knocked out. (If that space is already marked, cover the existing mark with the new one.)
3) Clean Up Contracts
Carry out any "AFTER SCORING" instructions on contracts. Destroy any flipped contracts with no instructions on the back.
If you are not immediately playing the next game of the campaign, store any remaining group contracts in the game box where you store reserve cards, and solo contracts in their player's deck box.
4) Read the Epilogue Passage
Read aloud from the Book of Secrets the Epilogue passage for the game you just completed (as specified on the Mission Reports document). Carry out any instructions the passage gives you.
5) Sort Components
Return starting cards to their owner's starting deck. Return reserve cards to their stacks in the reserve row. Return blue cards and monster cards to the adventure deck. Sort trashed cards the same way. Each player should end up with only their starting cards (the 10 they started with, plus any additions).
The winner of the game (as noted on the Mission Reports document) takes the "Employee of the Month" card from wherever it is, which may be the Filing Cabinet or another player's deck. They add the card to their starting deck for the next game (storing it in their deck box, if you are not playing that game immediately). If no player won, store "Employee of the Month" in the Filing Cabinet.
Return any gold, secrets, ore, market items, artifacts, and other tokens to the Bank, including any you set aside or put in the box during the game.
6) Continue?
You may choose to continue directly into the next game of the campaign. If not, each player stores their starting deck in their deck box (along with their Clank! cubes, player destination tokens, personal marks sticker sheet, and solo contracts).
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: This page details the steps you take at the end of a campaign game. You should read it in full.
Campaign Details
Joining a Campaign Mid-Way
CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic is best when the same players play the same characters every game. If you do start a game with a player who didn't play the previous game, they either choose an existing character no one else is playing this game, or start a new one—choosing a Journal and naming that character.
When you play a character that wasn't present in the previous game, catch them up:
- Read each Prologue passage in that character's Journal for each game before this one, in order. (You may skip the story text for now, but follow all instructions.)
- Your contracts from these passages should have been stored in your character's tuckbox. Retrieve them, and resolve them however you like.
- If you need to mark any cards, mark a random eligible blue card from the adventure deck and set it aside.
- Mark milestone spaces in your Journal until you have as many total milestones as whichever pre-existing character has the fewest.
- Identify which pre-existing character has scratched-off the fewest cards in their starting deck. Scratch off the same number of cards in your own deck.
If you missed more than one game:
- Each player not joining the campaign for the first time finds all their marked cards (in the adventure deck and elsewhere), counts their total marks, then chooses up to half of those cards to set aside, offering the rest to you.
- If each of those players has more total marks than you and at least one has twice as many as you:
- Among the cards offered to you, cover one mark of each of those players' colors with a mark of your own.
- Repeat this process until you have as many marks as any of those players or none of them have twice as many as you.
- Determine which of those players has the fewest marks. For each mark you have fewer than that player (possibly zero, depending on how the last step ended), reveal cards at random from the adventure deck until you find a card that is eligible to mark, then mark it, and set it aside.
Missing a Game
If any players miss a game of the campaign, be sure to fetch "Burn the Midnight Oil" from the Filing Cabinet (see step 5 of Setup, page 3).
Building Character
Until you have completed the campaign, do not use the Upper Management Pack or the "C" Team Pack with CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic. Once you have completed the campaign, you can then use those character packs with the unique copy of this game that your choices have created.
After the Campaign
Once you have completed the campaign, read 82 to prepare to play further games.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: This page describes how to join a campaign in progress, what to do when a player misses a game, and how to ready your copy of the game for play after the campaign.
Field Reference Guide
Market Items
(The remaining market item spaces are empty at the start of the campaign; rules stickers will fill them in.)
Pick Axe — You may use mountain paths (marked with a dark border) without paying extra Boots. (Also worth 5 points.)
Major Secrets
Chalice — Worth 7 points. It is not an artifact.
Greater Treasure — This token counts as 5 gold. You may keep it until the end of the game or spend it normally.
Potion of Greater Healing — Use during your turn to heal 2 damage. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
Potion of Greater Strength — Use during your turn to generate 4 Swords. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
Minor Secrets
Dragon Egg — Advance the rage level by one. Keep this token—it is worth 3 points.
Potion of Healing — Use during your turn to heal 1 damage. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
Potion of Strength — Use during your turn to generate 2 Swords. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
Potion of Swiftness — Use during your turn to generate 1 Boot. (Keep until you use it, then return it to the box.)
Trash a Card — At the end of this turn, trash a card from your discard pile or play area. Return the card and this token to the box.
Treasure — This token counts as 2 gold. You may keep it until the end of the game or spend it normally.
Differences from earlier CLANK! games: Many market items and secrets differ from CLANK! A Deck-Building Adventure.
Credits
Game Design: Jay Treat
Design Direction: Paul Dennen
Executive Producer: Scott Martins
Art and Graphic Design: Anika Burrell, Clay Brooks, Leah Falin, Julianne Stone, Nate Storm, Raul Ramos
Card Illustration: Anika Burrell, Allan Santos da Silva, Bruno de Mello, Ernst Eskelsen, Derek Herring, Humble Squid Creatives, Luiz Lanzarin, Rastislav Le, João Mileski, Raul Ramos, Alecksander Ribeiro, Tropa Entertainment
Writing: Jay Treat and Andy Clautice
Production: Evan Lorentz
Additional Game Design: Andy Clautice and Paul Dennen
Game Development: Phil Amylon, Corey Burkhart, Justin Cohen, Julia Duga, Evan Lorentz, Kevin Spak, Caleb Vance
For Penny Arcade — Additional Writing: Jerry Holkins
Cover Art: Mike Krahulik
Design Direction: Francisco Villaseñor
Special thanks to: All of the awesome Dire Wolf Digital team members, and their friends and families, who helped to playtest CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic.
CLANK! Legacy 2: Acquisitions Incorporated — Darkest Magic © 2024 Dire Wolf Digital, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by: Dire Wolf Digital. ACQUISITIONS INCORPORATED and the "AI" logo are registered trademarks of Penny Arcade, Inc. Acquisitions Incorporated and the Jim Darkmagic, Omin Dran, Môrgæn, and Viari characters are properties of Penny Arcade, Inc. © 2010-2014. All rights reserved. Dire Wolf and the Dire Wolf logo are registered trademarks of Dire Wolf Digital, Inc.