Crown of Ash
Crown of Ash Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Setup
- Gameplay Overview
- How to Win
- Resources
- Fighters
- Automatons
- Bolstering
- Amending Fighters
- Structures
- The Citadel
- Combat
- Combat Cards
- End of Round
- Turn Order
- End Game Scoring
- Player Powers (Advanced Mode)
- Solo Mode and AI Players
- Overview
- AI Gameplay
- AI Actions
- AI Combat Cards
- Glossary of Iconography
- Credits
Components
Game Board
- Raisable Fighter Tier I
- Raisable Fighter Tier II
- Raisable Fighter Tier III
- Gold Resource Worker Space
- Defending Fighter Positions
- Initiate Combat Worker Space
- Region Control Indicator
- Structure Location
- Build Structure Worker Space
- Citadel
4 x Player Mat
- Victory Point (VP) Track
- Resource Storage Area
- Refresh Worker Space
- Combat Card Discard
- Fighter Graveyard
- Available Minions
- 4 VP tracker Cubes
- 4 Bulk VP Tokens
- 1 Active Player Marker
Round Tracker
- Tiered Fighter Decks
- Round Marker Track
- Citadel Victory Points
- Player Turn Order Track
- Player Count Indicator
- 1 Round Marker
- 2 Dice
- 1 King Control Token
Cards and Tokens
- 44 Fighter Cards (32 Raisable, 12 Starting)
- 1 King Card
- 6 Fate Cards
- 7 Solo Mode Cards (6 Action & 1 Fighter Track)
- 20 Combat Cards (5 Per Player)
- 16 Minions (4 Per Player)
- 28 Control Tokens (7 Per Player)
- 4 Turn Order Tokens (1 Per Player)
- 20 Bone Resources, 2 Bulk Bone Tokens
- 20 Ash Resources, 2 Bulk Ash Tokens
- 12 Blood Resources, 2 Bulk Blood Tokens
- 12 Sulphur Resources, 2 Bulk Sulphur Tokens
- 27 Structure Tiles (4 Starting, 12 Tier I & 11 Tier II)
- 30 Gold Coins
- 8 Bolster Tokens
- 4 Power Tokens (1 Per Player)
Setup
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Place the Game Board centrally.
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Give each player a Player Mat and the corresponding Control Tokens, Minions, Combat Cards and 3 Starting Fighter Cards.
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Place a Score Tracker Cube on '0' of each Player Mat.
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Place the Round Tracker next to the board, clearly visible to all players, showing the side indicating the correct amount of players.
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Separate the Fighter cards into three decks by the Roman numerals at the base of the cards I, II, III.
In a 1/2 player game, remove the four Tier II cards for 3/4 play only (indicated with a 3/4).
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Shuffle each fighter deck and place face-down next to the matching indicated area of the Turn Tracker, creating three tiered Fighter decks, low (I), mid (II) and high (III).
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Populate the raisable Fighter spaces at top of the board with cards from the corresponding decks.
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Place the King Card and token centrally in the Citadel (Central Region) of the game board.
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Shuffle and deal a single Fate Card face-down to each player and return the rest to the box.
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Remove the four Starting Structures (indicated with a sun symbol) and deal to each player at random.
In a 1/2 player game deal two to each player.
In a 3/4 player game deal one to each player, return any spare tiles to the game box.
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Each player places their Starting Structure Tiles onto the matching location on the board.
Then places Control Tokens into those regions, to show ownership, along with an Attack Value '1' Starting Fighter to defend.
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Divide the remaining Structure tiles by the I & II shown on the reverse. Shuffle each set separately and place face-down in a single stack next to the corresponding area at the base of the board with the II tiles at the bottom and I at the top.
Draw 4 tiles and place face-up alongside the stack.
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Take a Turn Order Token for each player and randomly distribute them onto the Round Tracker to determine the player order for the first round.
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Place the Round Marker onto the 1st (left-most) round indicator of the Round Tracker.
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Place the Resources, Gold, Dice and Bolster Tokens in reach of all players.
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Deal 2 Gold to each player.
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Give the Active Player Marker to the first player.
Gameplay Overview
On a player's turn, they assign a single minion to do their bidding.
- The Active Player places a single worker.
- They complete the associated action.
- At the end of their turn they may raise a fighter.
- Pass the Active Player marker to next player.
Main Actions
GATHER Gain the resources needed to recruit powerful undead Fighters. (See Resources p8)
BUILD Build and improve Structures to offer better resources and earn additional Victory Points (VP). (See Structures p12)
BATTLE March Fighters into battle to take control of other players' Structures. (See Combat p16)
REFRESH Immediately take all used Combat Cards back into the player's hand. (See Combat Cards p18)
End of Turn
At the end of their turn (before passing the active player marker), a player can raise a single Fighter from the 6 available, by spending the resources shown on the card. (See Fighters p9)
How to Win
Crown of Ash takes place over 4 rounds, each consisting of 4 turns.
A round ends after all players have taken 4 turns and assigned all of their minions. Victory points (VP) are then gained based on each player's controlled Structures and for the central citadel if occupied.
Players then retrieve all their minions from the board, resurrect any Fighters from their graveyard back to their hand and clear the buildable Structure tiles, ready to begin the next round.
At the end of the 4th and final round, in addition to the controlled Structures and citadel, players also score VPs for their Fate Card and any resources on their player mat. (See End Game Scoring p20)
The winner is the player who has earned the most Victory Points, proving themselves the most worthy Lord and seizing the crown to the Kingdom of Ash.
In the result of a tie, the tied players add VP for the other two kinds of Fighters not shown on their Fate Card.
If still tied, the King Slayer (The player with the King Control Token) wins the game.
Resources
Basic Resources
Through the art of Alchemy the dead will rise.
There are 4 basic resources in the game. These are used to raise undead Fighters to join your forces: Bone, Ash, Sulphur, Blood.
How to Gather Resource
To gather resources a player places a minion onto a vacant space at the desired Structure. They immediately take the corresponding resources offered by the Structure from the supply and place them onto the storage area of their player mat.
Dashed spaces only available in 3 and 4 player games.
Owner's Tax
If using a Structure controlled by another player, the owner immediately gains the Owner's Tax shown on the right side of the tile, from the supply.
If a player uses a Structure that they control, they DO NOT get the Owner's Tax but instead can amend the defending Fighters. (See Amending Fighters p11)
Special Ingredients
Combat cards and some Structures offer Special Ingredients. These allow the recipient to choose any basic resource from the supply.
Gold
The noblest of the seven metals with the power to create and corrupt.
With gold the ruins will be rebuilt and the land will provide once again.
Gold is an incredibly valuable resource in the kingdom. It is primarily used to build or improve Structures but can also be used in-place of any other resource to raise Fighters to your cause. (See Raising Fighters p9)
How to gain gold
Gold is always available by placing a Minion onto the large resource space at the top of the board. There is no limit to the amount of Minions that can use this space.
But, the most effective way to obtain gold is through participating in combat. (See Combat Cards p18)
Fighters
- Fighter Kind
- Attack Value
- Required Resources
- Fighter Tier
Attack Value
All Fighters have an Attack Value displayed on the top left of the card ranging from 1 to 6. The higher the score, the more powerful the Fighter is in combat.
Raising Fighters
To fight and die in the service of your lord was a great honour... An honour that no-one expected to experience more than once.
At the end of a player's turn if they have the necessary resources, they may raise a single Fighter from the 6 available at the top of the game board.
The player returns all the resources shown at the base of the desired Fighter card to the supply and takes the card into their hand.
Fighter Kind
Each 'Kind' corresponds to a resource in the game. The matching resource forms a large portion of what is required to raise the fighter.
Although not required, pairing fighters of the same kind adds bonus Attack Value (See Bolstering).
Raising Fighters with Kinds that match your Fate Card will award additional Victory Points at the end of the game. (See Fate Card p20)
Replenishing Fighters
After a Fighter is raised, it is immediately replaced with a new Fighter from the tiered deck, matching the symbol at the space on the board, I, II or III.
If I is empty, replenish from II If II is empty, replenish from I If III is empty, replenish from II
If two decks are empty, replenish from the remaining deck.
Once all decks are empty, Fighters are left unreplenished.
Automatons
- Fighter Kind
- Attack Value
- Return Deck Tier
- Required Resources
- Fighter Tier
What are Automatons?
Automatons are powerful fighters that require fewer resources to raise compared to other fighters, but only stay loyal for a single combat encounter.
How to raise Automatons
Automaton Fighters are raised in exactly the same way as other fighters by spending the resources at the base of the card.
Where Special Ingredients are required, any resource can be used. (See Special Ingredients p8)
Automaton Combat
After combat (win or lose), Automaton Fighters are immediately shuffled back into the Tiered Deck matching the icon in the top right corner (before resolving each player's combat card reward and compensation.)
Defending
Unlike regular Fighters, Automaton Fighters do not move into defensive positions after taking control of a Region but instead are returned to the fighter decks. Instead players can only place Automatons into defensive positions is via the Amend action. (See Amending Fighters p11)
End Game Penalty
When a player resolves their Fate Card, any Automaton Fighters under their control receive negative VP equal to the Roman Numeral at the bottom of the card.
Bolstering
What is Bolstering?
Bolstering is an advantage gained for matching fighters of the same Kind in combat.
Grouping Fighters of the same Kind is not required, but for each Fighter matched in combat an additional 1 Attack Value is added; both when attacking and defending.
Players place a bolster token (flipped to the appropriate side) next to the matching fighters to show the advantage.
+1 Attack Value for a matching pair.
+2 Attack Value for a set of three.
Amending Fighters
When a player builds in, or gathers resource from a region that they control, they can amend the Fighters defending that region.
The player can add or exchange any defending Fighters with ones from their hand or remove the existing Fighters entirely, returning them to their hand.
Note: You may never exceed 2 Fighters in an outer region.
Example
The player places a minion at a Structure in a region they control and gains three Sulphur resources.
They then take the opportunity to amend the defending Fighters. They take the Starting Fighter back to their hand and add in two Blood Fighters from their hand to defend the region.
They then add a Bolster token to the matching Fighters to show the Attack Value gain.
Structures
What are Structures?
Mighty towers once stood looming over the land like loyal knights in full plate armour. Now long abandoned and fallen to ruins, the process of rebuilding will be costly.
Structures determine what resources to gather from the game board and the Structures a player controls will determine how many VPs they will receive at the end of each round.
- Gold Cost
- VP value
- Resource offered
- Owner's Tax
- Structure Tier
Building a Structure
To build or improve a Structure, a player places a minion onto the building space location at the base of the game board. The player then pays the amount of gold displayed in the top left corner of the desired Structure from the four available face-up Structures tiles.
There is no limit to the amount of minions that can use the build space.
Immediate Gain
Upon building or improving a Structure, that player immediately gains the resource offered by that Structure.
Placement
Purchased Structure tiles are placed in uncontrolled regions or on top of any Structure already controlled by the player.
Uncontrolled
If previously uncontrolled, the region immediately becomes controlled and the player places one of their Control Tokens to show this. The player may then add up to 2 Fighters from their hand to defend the Structure.
Controlled
If the region is already controlled, the player places the new Structure tile on top of the existing Structure and may amend any Fighters defending the Structure. (See Amending Fighters p11)
Note: Players cannot build in regions controlled by other players.
Immediately replace the purchased Structure with a new tile from the stack.
Defending Structures
Throughout the game, players will attempt to attack and gain control of other players' Structures.
Only fighters already placed in a region being attacked, can defend it. Players should ensure that structures are appropriately defended in advance.
Defending fighters can only be changed by Amending. (See Amending Fighters p11)
Players may choose to leave a region undefended. Undefended Structures have an Attack Value of 0. Defending players must still use a Combat Card and retain the advantage of winning on a tie if attacked. (See Combat on p16)
Structure Tiers
Buildable Structures come in two tiers I & II.
At the start of the game only tier I tiles will be available which offer fewer resources and less VP than tier II.
End of Round
At the end of each round the face-up buildable structure tiles are cleared and set aside and new tiles are drawn from the stack eventually revealing tiles from tier II.
If there are no tiles left in the stack shuffle the set aside tiles and create a new stack to draw from.
Resurrection Structure
The Resurrection Structure doesn't offer resources but allows a player to immediately return all Fighters from their graveyard to their hand.
Upon being built, the player can immediately return their Fighters from their graveyard to their hand. They may immediately amend using these Fighters. (See Amending Fighters p11)
Victory Points
At the end of each round, players score the VP value of all the Structures under their control shown on the bottom left of the tile.
In addition to the face value, 1 additional VP is scored for each Structure tile covered over by the top tile.
Examples: a tile showing 2 VP with 1 tile covered scores 3pts; a tile showing 2 VP with 2 tiles covered scores 4pts; a tile showing 2 VP with 3 tiles covered scores 5pts.
The Citadel
What is the Citadel?
The once beating heart of a thriving kingdom, the Citadel now stands as a monument to its destruction.
The Citadel is at the centre of the game board and is occupied at the start of the game by the King.
The Citadel doesn't offer any resources, but instead awards a significant amount of VP at the end of each round to the player occupying it.
The amount of VP depends on the round as is shown on the turn tracker.
At the end of the round, the player controlling the Citadel gains the VP shown under the round marker. In this case 5 VP.
Conquering the Citadel
The first player to conquer the citadel must defeat the King. The attacking player must use a single Combat Card and up to 3 Fighters to beat the King's Attack Value of 5.
The King does not use a combat card.
The player resolves their Combat Card as normal and, if victorious, takes the King Control Token, returns the King Card to the game box and moves all attacking Fighters into the Citadel to defend, adding one of their Control Tokens to show control.
The King Token will be a tie-breaker at the end of the game. (See End Game Scoring p20)
Defending the Citadel
Unlike the King, players occupying the Citadel must still use a Combat Card when defending, but retaining control of the Citadel is difficult.
There is no limit to the amount of times the Citadel can be attacked and no way for the occupier to amend the defending Fighters. So a player must commit the Fighters, knowing they will only return once defeated.
Attacking the Citadel
There is no limit to the amount of times the Citadel can be attacked, but the location of the attack affects the total Attack Value.
The left and right flanks of the Citadel are more vulnerable but can only be attacked once per round.
- +1 to attacker's Attack Value
- +0 (No modifier applied)
- -1 to attacker's Attack Value
The front of the Citadel can be attacked any number of times per round.
Combat
Initiating Combat
To initiate combat a player places a minion onto a vacant combat space in an area controlled by another player and announces their intentions.
Combat can only be initiated if the attacker has at least one Fighter in their hand to participate.
The attacker selects up to two Fighters from their hand (up to three for the Citadel) and plays them face-down on the table for the defender to see.
Note: The defender cannot add additional Fighters to the combat from their hand.
Both attacker and defender then select a single Combat Card from their hand and place it face-down on the table.
Both players then simultaneously reveal their cards and compare the combined Attack Value of the Fighters, Bolster tokens (See Fighters p9) and Combat Card (See Combat Cards p18).
The winner is the player with the highest combined score. Defender wins on a tie.
Combat Outcome
Defender Wins If the defender wins, the attacker discards the attacking Fighters to their graveyard.
Attacker Wins If the attacker wins, they gain control of the area. The defender discards the defending Fighters to their graveyard. The attacker must move all attacking Fighters into the newly controlled area and exchanges the Control Token with their own to show control.
After battle both players resolve their Combat Cards gaining the reward based on whether they won or lost the battle (See Combat Cards p18). Used Combat Cards are discarded face up in the middle of the owner's player mat.
Example — Offensive Attack Value
6 + 2 = 8
('6' from the Fighter + '2' from the rolled dice of the Combat Card = '8')
Player wins control of Structure and gains a Victory Point.
Example — Defence Attack Value
3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 6
('3' + '1' from the Fighters' base Attack Value, + '1' as the Fighters are matching 'Kinds' (See Bolstering p11) and + 1 from the Combat Card = '6')
Player loses control of the region but gains a resource of their choice.
Combat Cards
Using Combat Cards
Combat Cards represent the player's own influence as a powerful Necromancer in battle. Each player has an identical set of 5 Combat Cards with values of 0,1,3,4, and a dice, that bolster the Attack Value in battle.
- Attack Value
- Winning Reward
- Losing Compensation
- Flavour Graphic
Once battle has been initiated, both attacker and defender must select a single Combat Card from their hand to use.
If using the Combat Card featuring the dice: (After the card is revealed) The player rolls a single dice and the added Attack Value is equal to the amount of pips shown. From 1 - 6.
Rewards & Compensation
Depending on the outcome of the battle, each player receives the reward or compensation shown on their own Combat Card.
Players gain the items shown in the top 'green' section for winning, or the bottom 'red' section for losing.
The only exception is the 'black' section of the '0' card which allows the loser to choose either to:
- force the winner to discard a single Fighter (winner's choice) from those involved in the battle to their graveyard, even if this means a region is left undefended.
- return a single fighter, of their choice, from the fighters in their graveyard or from those just defeated to their hand.
Discarding Combat Cards
After battle, the used Combat Card is discarded face-up on the centre of the player's mat.
Only the most recent Combat Card is visible and players are not allowed to look through opponents' discarded Combat Cards.
Once all Combat Cards have been used, the player immediately takes all 5 back into their hand.
Players can refresh their Combat Cards early by placing a minion onto the Combat Card refresh space on their player mat.
End of Round
Once all players have finished assigning their minions, the round is over.
At the end of the round players:
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Score for each of the areas they control.
Adding the points earned from the Structures with an additional VP for each covered tile in the stack. If the Citadel is occupied that player gains the VP displayed on the turn tracker.
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Retrieve all their minions back to their player mat.
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Return any Fighter cards from their graveyard to their hand.
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Clear and redraw the 4 buildable Structure Tiles.
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Progress the turn tracker to the next round.
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Allocate the turn order for the next round.
Turn Order
Going sooner in Crown of Ash allows players preferential access to worker spaces and raisable Fighters.
Going later gives advantages to conquering and building.
For the first round, turn order is decided by shuffling the player turn tokens and randomly placing them onto the turn tracker.
Subsequent rounds are decided by the player with the lowest VP at the end of the round.
If the lowest scores are tied, the player with the lowest potential VP from currently controlled Structures determines order.
If scores are still tied, a high dice roll between the tied players determines the player who decides.
Accessibility
Some players may find variable turn order difficult to track. In this case it might be beneficial to keep the turn order in a clockwise direction and the player with the lowest VP chooses the starting player.
End Game Scoring
When to score
At the end of the 4th round the game is over and final scoring begins. Players score for the areas they control as with each of the previous rounds, but also score VP for resources in their storage area and for their Fate Card.
Resource Points
Players gain 1 additional VP for every 3 matching resources and for every 2 gold they have in their storage area at the end of the game.
Example: 2 Gold → 1 VP. 3 matching Bone resources → 1 VP.
Fate Card
At the start of the game each player is dealt a secret Fate Card that offers additional VP at the end of the game.
Each player's Fate Card displays 2 kinds of Fighters that award additional VP at the end of the game when those kinds of Fighters are raised.
Players gather all their Fighters raised throughout the game from the board, graveyard and their hand and separate them by kind.
The Fighter kinds not displayed on the player's Fate Card can be set aside. The Roman numerals displayed at the bottom of each card that indicate which tier of deck they are drawn from are totalled and added to that player's VP score.
The player with the highest VP wins the game and claims the Crown of Ash.
In the result of a tie, players also score for the 2 kinds of Fighters not included on their fate card.
Example — Fate Card Scoring
I + I + III + I + I = 7VP
Player Powers (Advanced Mode)
As an advanced gameplay mode asymmetric powers can be added to increase the game's complexity.
Each player's power is represented by a Power Token. At the start of each round the token is flipped to the 'charged' side, indicating that a power can be used.
Once used a player flips the token to its 'uncharged' side. Players cannot use powers again unless 'recharged' either automatically at the start of the round or via the refresh space on their player mat.
When using the refresh space, players still return all discarded Combat Cards to their hand, but also charge their Power Token.
Visio
Unveil — When attacked, Visio may reveal all face-down attacking fighters before players select their Combat Cards.
Forewarn — In Combat, once cards are selected but before being revealed, Visio may use their power to attempt to predict which Combat Card an opposing player is using. If correct the card is reduced to Attack Value '1'.
Nox
Fence — At any time on Nox's turn. Nox may exchange up to 3 basic resources of any kind for any other basic resources from the supply.
Exhume — Nox may raise a single fighter at the start of their turn. This Fighter may be used immediately.
They may still raise a fighter at the end of their turn if they wish.
Mors
Command — At any time on Mors' turn. Mors may reposition any Minion placed on the board to another location on the board to open up, or close off, worker spaces.
No action is triggered by the moved worker.
Overturn — Mors may re-roll the result of any dice roll.
Fortis
Reinforce — At any time on Fortis' turn. Fortis may add, remove or exchange one of their fighters on the board (including the Citadel) with 1 from their hand, or from another location they control on the board.
Fortify — At any time on Fortis' turn. Fortis may flip the Bolster token on a pair of their Bolstered fighters to increase the Attack Value from 1 to 2.
Solo Mode and AI Players
AI Deck
Crown of Ash includes an AI deck for solo play but can also be added to 2 and 3 player games.
The deck consists of 1 Fighter Track card and 5 action cards that, when revealed, dictate what action the AI will take.
Setup Solo Mode
- Setup the game as you would for a 2 player game but without including the King Card and Token.
- Designate the AI one of the Necromancers.
- Shuffle the AI action cards and place them face-down beside the AI player's mat.
- Place the Fighter track card onto the storage area of the AI player's mat.
- Place a VP tracker cube onto the top square of the track of the Fighter track card.
- Place one of the AI player's Control Tokens into the Citadel and select a random Fighter from one of the tiered Fighter decks in to defend it, according to the desired difficulty level (See p23).
Targeted Action Card
For an increased challenge, players can replace the 'I' Action Card with the targeted Action Card indicated with a target icon. (See Additional Challenge p24)
Determining Difficulty
To adjust the difficulty of the AI simply add different Fighters to the Citadel during game setup. Players can tailor this however they like but as a general rule:
Easy — 1x tier I Fighter
Medium — 1x tier II Fighter
Hard — 1x tier III Fighter
Overview
How does the AI work?
The AI closely mimics a human player; placing Minions, raising Fighters, attacking, building and scoring Victory Points. But the AI's actions are determined by a deck of action cards.
How is the AI different?
The AI player:
- starts occupying the Citadel
- does not gain or use resources, instead any time the AI would gain resources it gains a VP per item instead
- plays its Fighters open for all players to see and always attacks and amends using the strongest possible combination available
- always takes its turn last
- does not use a Fate Card
Non-Solo AI
The AI can be added to 2 or 3 player games to act as a buffer between players, resulting in less direct conflict.
Set up the game as normal (Including the King card and control token) for the desired amount of players including the AI.
It is recommended that players first play the game without including the AI to get a good grasp of the rules.
AI Gameplay
AI Turn
On the AI's turn roll a dice to determine what region the AI interacts with, then flip an Action card to determine what action is taken.
Determining Region
Each of the 6 outer regions correlates to a face of the dice from 1 to 6 clockwise around the board. Whichever region the dice shows will become the region the AI interacts with.
Action Cards
The AI action cards determine what action the AI takes on its turn. Each turn after the region is determined, the top card of the action deck is revealed and the AI attempts to perform a single action from left to right until it is successful.
- Use resource space
- Player Controlled
- AI/Un Controlled
- Attack Region
- Attack Citadel
- Build Structure
- Use closest resource and raise a Fighter
Once all action cards have been used, reshuffle the Action Cards and place face-down ready to be drawn from again.
Fighter Track
The Fighter track card is placed into the resource storage area of the AI's player mat. It is used to indicate which tier Fighter the AI should raise when prompted. (See Raise Fighter action p25)
Additional Challenge
To increase the difficulty further, players can add-in the Targeted Action Card (See Targeted Action Card p22).
Instead of being determined by a dice roll alone, this card will make the AI attack the 'least' defended region, or build on its 'most' defended region.
Attack least defended region / Build on most defended region
The 'least' and 'most' defended regions are determined by overall Attack Value of the defending Fighters in those regions.
Where tied, the selected region is on, or closest clockwise to, the Determined Region.
AI Actions
The AI takes a single action on the revealed card from left to right. If not possible, it attempts the next in the sequence.
The actions are:
Use resource space
The AI places a minion onto a vacant resource space in the determined region. It gains 1 VP for each resource it would have gained.
If the structure is controlled by another player, that player gains the Owner's Tax.
If controlled by the AI, amend the defending fighters with the strongest possible combination available.
Player Controlled
If the region is controlled by another player, the AI performs the action in this section of the action card.
AI/Un Controlled
If the region is controlled by the AI or is unoccupied, the action in this section is performed instead.
Attack Region
The AI places a minion onto a vacant combat space. They then use the strongest possible Fighters (up to 2) and the top combat card to attack.
Attack Citadel
The AI places a minion onto a vacant combat space. They then use the strongest possible set of Fighters (up to 3) and the top combat card to attack.
Build Structure
If the region is owned by the AI or is unoccupied, the AI places a minion onto the build space and builds the right-most available Structure tile for free.
It then amends the defending Fighters with the strongest possible combination from their hand and gains VP for each resource it would have gained.
Use Closest Resource
If none of the previous actions could be taken, the AI places their minion on a vacant resource either in the determined region or closest available clockwise resource space. If none are vacant, place the minion onto the gold resource space.
The AI then gains 1 VP for each resource it would have gained and then raises a fighter.
Raise Fighter
After placing a minion on the closest resource space, the AI raises a Fighter for free. The Fighter raised will depend on which tier the Fighter track indicates.
Each time a Fighter is raised, the tracker cube is moved down until it returns to the top of the track.
The Fighter raised is the right-most available fighter that matches the tier on the Fighter track.
AI Combat Cards
The AI Combat Card deck is shuffled and placed face-down next to the AI player's mat.
During combat the top card from the shuffled AI combat cards deck is placed face-down on the table and is only revealed once the player has chosen theirs.
Combat cards are discarded as usual. Once all combat cards have been used, the deck is reshuffled.
Reward & Compensation
Instead of resources the AI receives 1 VP for each item it would have gained from its combat card.
Losing with the '0' Combat Card
- If the AI was attacking, it causes a casualty.
- If the AI was Defending, it returns the strongest fighter from its graveyard to its hand.
Glossary of Iconography
Worker Spaces
- Resource (page 8)
- Building (page 12)
- Initiate Combat (page 16)
- Refresh (page 18)
Fighter Kinds (page 9)
- Sulphur
- Blood
- Ash
- Bone
Structure Tiles (page 12)
- Gold Cost
- Victory Points (VP)
- Special Ingredients (page 8)
- Owner's Tax (page 8)
- Resurrect Fighters (page 13)
Combat Cards
- Attack Value (page 9)
- Winning Reward (page 18)
- Losing Compensation (page 18)
- Gold Reward
- Victory Points (VP)
- Special Ingredients (page 8)
- Inflict Casualty or Return Defeated fighter (page 18)
Credits
Copyright Lawton Design Ltd 2023
Design Richard Lawton | Development Thomas Brook Solo Development Alwyn Wong | Art Vadim Mishin, Rafael Nobre Graphic Design by Richard Lawton | Writing Natalie Gardiner Rulebook Editing/Proofreading Mike Hughes, Jack Dunbar, Joakim Engfors, Michael Maners, Thomas Nugent Playtesting Thank you to all the playtesters and to Playtest UK and VPT. Founders Pledge Thane McLean Wiest, Cameron Winston