Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Crypt Hunters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Getting Started
• Set Up
• Important Game Terms
• Power Cards
• How To Play
  • Round Sequence
  • Phase 1: Add Tiles
• Phase 2: Stormcast Eternals Activation
  • Move Action
  • Attack Action
• Phase 3: Remove Tiles
• Phase 4: Chainrasp Reinforcements
• Phase 5: Chainrasp Activation
  • Move Action
  • Drift Action
  • Attack Action
• Winning the Game
• Special Tiles
• Campaign Game
  • The Stairwell
• Achievements
• Burdens

Components

In addition to this rulebook, Crypt Hunters contains the following components:

• 3 Attack dice
• 2 Round Sequence cards
• 10 Stormcast Eternal power cards
• 10 Chainrasp power cards
• 32 Crypt tiles
• 10 Wound counters
• 1 Winch marker
• 1 Chill marker
• 1 Fear marker
• 1 Gloom marker
• 1 Overwatch marker
• 1 Consecrated ground marker
• 4 Stormcast Eternal character cards (Orris Suresight, Eryk Hauntscorn, Astrid the Deliverer, Valiant)
• 2 Chainrasp character cards (Dreadwarden, Chainrasp)
• 14 Citadel Miniatures (Stormcast Eternals and Chainrasps; unassembled and unpainted)

Getting Started

Crypt Hunters is a game for two players in which you fight for control of the Ten Thousand Tombs. One player controls the heroic Stormcast Eternals. The other player controls the ghastly Chainrasps and lays out the ghost-infested tombs.

Object of the Game: In order to win, the Stormcast Eternal player must first find the Winch tile, and then get to the Hyshian Illuminator tile in the depths of the crypt. The Chainrasp player wins if all the Stormcast Eternals are slain.

Set Up

Follow these steps to set up a game of Crypt Hunters.

1. Decide who will control the Stormcast Eternals and who will control the Chainrasps. Whoever controls the Stormcast Eternals is referred to as the Stormcast Eternal player and whoever controls the Chainrasps is referred to as the Chainrasp player.
2. Place the Entrance tile (shown below) within easy reach of both players.
3. Place the Castigator models and Valiant on the Entrance tile. These models are referred to as 'Stormcast Eternals'.
4. Take the Chainrasps and place them in front of the Chainrasp player. These are referred to as 'lurking Chainrasps' as they have not yet entered play.
5. Place the Hyshian Illuminator tile (shown below) face up within easy reach of the Chainrasp player.
6. The Chainrasp player takes the remaining tiles and shuffles them face down in a stack.
7. The Chainrasp player places that stack on top of the Hyshian Illuminator tile, face down. This stack is referred to as the 'crypt stack'.
8. The Chainrasp player shuffles the Chainrasp power cards, and places this deck face down within easy reach. They then draw the top three cards from this deck and look at them, keeping them secret from the Stormcast Eternal player. These three cards are referred to as the Chainrasp player's 'hand'.
9. The Stormcast Eternal player shuffles the Stormcast Eternal power cards, and places this deck face down within easy reach. They then draw the top three cards from this deck and look at them, keeping them secret from the Chainrasp player. These three cards are referred to as the Stormcast Eternal player's 'hand'.
10. Place a round sequence card in front of each player.
11. Take the dice and place them within easy reach of both players.
12. Keep this rulebook near to hand in case you need to refer to it.
13. Draw tiles from the crypt stack and place them until you have placed one in each location the Stormcast Eternals have line of sight to (see above). How to draw and place tiles is explained in 'Add Tiles' over the page. An example of what the battlefield might look like is shown to the right – there will be a tile connecting to each of the six paths on the entrance tile, and if any of these have straight paths on them, further tiles will have been placed until no further lines of sight can be drawn.

Entrance tile, Stairwell tile and Hyshian Illuminator tile are shown in the rulebook as illustrations.

Stairwell Tile: The Stairwell tile (shown above) is only used in Campaign games (pg 10) – it's best to leave it in the game box until you need it.

Spectral Hordes: There is no limit to the number of Chainrasps available to the Chainrasp player. When Chainrasps are removed from the battlefield for any reason, they are placed to one side and can be placed back on the battlefield later by the Chainrasp player in a number of ways. Chainrasps that are not on the battlefield are called 'lurking Chainrasps'.

Important Game Terms

The Battlefield: Previously added tiles, including the Entrance tile, are referred to as 'the battlefield'.

Paths: Paths are areas of tiles that the Stormcast Eternals can move along that can connect one tile to another. The path is highlighted in green in the examples in the rulebook.

Line of Sight: If an imaginary line can be drawn between the centre of one tile and the centre of another tile, and that line does not leave the paths connecting those two tiles, any models in either tile are said to have line of sight to the other tile. Models always have line of sight to the tile they are in.

In the example in the rulebook, Astrid the Deliverer has line of sight to the highlighted tiles, and does not have line of sight to those in grey.

Power Cards

• Each player has a hand of three power cards.
• Each player can play up to one card in each round.
• The instructions for when a card can be played and what effect it has are detailed on the card itself.
• When a card is played, the player that played the card follows the instructions. A player can always choose not to play a card.

How To Play

A game of Crypt Hunters is played over a series of rounds. In each round the players will play through a series of phases. Once each phase has been played through once in the following sequence, a fresh round will begin. Players keep playing rounds until one player wins.

Round Sequence

A round consists of five phases.

• Phase 1: Add Tiles.
• Phase 2: Stormcast Eternals Activation
• Phase 3: Remove Tiles.
• Phase 4: Chainrasp Reinforcements
• Phase 5: Chainrasp Activation

Each player has a round sequence card to remind them of this sequence during the game.

Phase 1: Add Tiles

In the Add Tiles phase, the Chainrasp player adds tiles to the battlefield as explained below. In the first round, you will already have added tiles to the battlefield, so you can skip this phase. When the Chainrasp player can no longer add tiles, this phase ends and phase 2 begins.

• Step 1: Determine if new tiles could be placed.
• Step 2: Draw tile.
• Step 3: Place tile.

Step 1: Determine if new tiles could be placed. If a Stormcast Eternal would have line of sight to a tile were it to be added to the battlefield on the end of a path, then this phase continues – proceed to step 2. Otherwise this phase ends and phase 2 begins. In the example in the rulebook, tiles would be added in the green locations, but would not be added in the red location.

Adjacent Tiles: Any tile that is touching another tile is said to be adjacent to it. In addition, if a model is in a tile that is touching other tiles, they are said to be adjacent to those other tiles.

Step 2: Draw Tile. The Chainrasp player takes the top tile of the crypt stack.

Step 3: Place Tile. The Chainrasp player can now add that tile face up to the battlefield using the following rules.

1. A tile can be placed adjacent to another tile as long as when it is placed, a Stormcast Eternal can draw line of sight to it.
2. A tile must be placed so that at least one path on that tile connects to at least one other path on the battlefield.
3. The Chainrasp player cannot place a tile so that a future tile could not connect to a path on it unless they have no other choice. This is called 'creating a dead-end'. If there is no choice and the Chainrasp player must create a dead-end, they must create as few as possible. Paths that end in this way are called 'dead-ends'.

The rulebook's example shows the potential placements of a single tile with a sharp corner. Tiles marked with a cross symbol are not allowed by following the above rules. Tiles marked with a tick symbol are permitted.

Once a tile has been placed, return to step 1 until no further tiles can be placed.

Phase 2: Stormcast Eternals Activation

In this phase, the Stormcast Eternal player can activate each Stormcast Eternal on the battlefield once. After each has activated, the phase is over and the Remove Tiles phase begins.

When a Stormcast Eternal activates, it can make two actions. Each of these actions can be a Move action or an Attack action, in any order or combination. For example, it could make two Move actions, one Attack action and then one Move action, two Attack actions and so on.

Move Action

When a Stormcast Eternal makes a Move action, it is called moving. When a Stormcast Eternal moves, it can move into an adjacent tile to which it has line of sight a number of times equal to its move value.

A Stormcast Eternal cannot move into a tile that contains any Chainrasps.

When the game begins, there will be four Stormcast Eternals on the Entrance tile. This is the only time more than two Stormcast Eternals can be on the same tile. In the first Stormcast Eternals Activation phase, at least two of the Stormcast Eternals must move from the Entrance tile. Apart from at the start of the game, no more than two Stormcast Eternals can be on the same tile.

In the example in the rulebook, Astrid the Deliverer cannot move into any adjacent tiles until either Orris or Valiant leave the Entrance tile. On the other hand, Orris can use one action to move into any adjacent tile, or can choose to use both his actions to move twice, going past Eryk. Note that he cannot move into the tile that contains the Chainrasp.

Attack Action

When a Stormcast Eternal makes an Attack action, it is called attacking. If a Castigator has line of sight to a tile that contains one or more Chainrasps, they can make an Attack action against the Chainrasps in that tile. If they do, the Stormcast Eternal player makes an attack roll by rolling a number of attack dice equal to the Attack value on that Stormcast Eternal's character card. For each hit result, the Chainrasp player picks one Chainrasp on that tile to be slain. Slain Chainrasps are removed from the battlefield and become lurking Chainrasps.

Attacking with Valiant: When Valiant attacks, it can only make an Attack action against Chainrasps in a visible adjacent tile.

Phase 3: Remove Tiles

In this phase the Chainrasp player removes all tiles to which the Stormcast Eternal player's models do not have line of sight, unless by moving one space along a path a Stormcast Eternal would have line of sight to that tile. Any tiles that are removed from the battlefield are placed in a pile. This pile is called the discard pile.

In the example in the rulebook, only the tiles marked with a cross symbol would be removed, as the other tiles are in Orris' line of sight, or would be if he were to move one space onto the Entrance tile or one space to the end of the corridor.

Lost in the Crypt: After the Chainrasp player has removed tiles from the battlefield, it is possible that there will be two separate battlefields with no adjacent tiles. If this happens, the Stormcast Eternal player chooses which battlefield to continue playing with. The other tiles are discarded. Any models on that battlefield are slain. If a Stormcast Eternal is slain, they are removed from the battlefield and their miniature is placed on their character card.

Phase 4: Chainrasp Reinforcements

In the Chainrasp Reinforcements phase, the Chainrasp player picks any empty tile that does not have each of its paths connected to another path, and is not a dead-end. Then they place one lurking Chainrasp model on that tile for each of its paths that is not connected to another path, up to a maximum of 3. They repeat this until each of those tiles has had the appropriate number of Chainrasps placed in it. Then place one lurking Chainrasp on each empty Soultrap tile (see Special Tiles).

Chainrasps cannot be placed in, or enter, a tile that has 3 Chainrasps or any Stormcast Eternals in it.

If there are no lurking Chainrasps, skip this phase.

In the example in the rulebook, one Chainrasp is placed in each of the tiles marked A. Two are placed in the tile marked B as it has two paths leading from it. One is placed in the Entrance tile (C) as it has one unconnected path. None are placed in the tiles marked D as these have Stormcast Eternals in them.

The Dreadwarden: During this phase, and when playing power cards, the Chainrasp player can only place the Dreadwarden on the battlefield if there are at least 4 other Chainrasps already on the battlefield. For all rules purposes, the Dreadwarden is treated as a Chainrasp.

Phase 5: Chainrasp Activation

The Chainrasp player can make three actions in this phase, unless the Dreadwarden is on the battlefield, in which case they can make four actions. Each action can be any of the following:

Move Action

When the Chainrasp player makes a Move action, they pick one Chainrasp on the battlefield. That Chainrasp can be placed into any adjacent tile.

In the example in the rulebook, if the Chainrasp player made a Move action and picked the highlighted Chainrasp, they could place it in the tile marked A or C. They could not move it to the tile marked B as it has the maximum number of allowed Chainrasps.

Drift Action

When the Chainrasp player makes this action, they pick one Chainrasp on the battlefield. That Chainrasp then drifts by being placed in another tile they have line of sight to. They will 'drift through' both the tiles the drift action began and ended in, as well as the tiles that line of sight was drawn through, even if one of those tiles contained 3 Chainrasps. Any Chainrasps on tiles that have been drifted through can also be placed in the same tile as the Chainrasp that just drifted, up to a maximum of 3.

Note that Chainrasps cannot draw line of sight through Stormcast Eternals.

In the example in the rulebook, if the Chainrasp player made the Drift action and picked the Dreadwarden (in the tile marked A), they could place the Dreadwarden in any of the tiles marked B, C or D. If they placed the Dreadwarden in the tile marked D, they could choose to take up to two Chainrasps from the tiles marked A, B or C and place them in the tile marked D, along with the Dreadwarden. The Dreadwarden could drift to the tile marked E instead, but could not drift to the tile marked F, as it does not have line of sight to that tile.

Attack Action

When the Chainrasp player makes an Attack action, they pick one Chainrasp on the battlefield and one adjacent tile that contains at least one Stormcast Eternal. That Chainrasp, and each other Chainrasp on the same tile, attacks that tile. Note that the Chainrasps do not need line of sight to the tile they are attacking. The Chainrasp player then makes an attack roll by rolling one attack dice for each attacking Chainrasp. For each hit result, the Stormcast Eternal player must choose one Stormcast Eternal on the tile being attacked to be injured.

Each Chainrasp can only attack once per round.

When a Stormcast Eternal is injured, place a wound counter on their character card. If a Stormcast Eternal has as many wound counters as the Wounds value on their card, they are slain. Remove a slain Stormcast Eternal's model from the battlefield and place it on their character card.

Winning the Game

If a Stormcast Eternal is on the Hyshian Illuminator tile at the end of any round, the Stormcast Eternal player instantly wins.

Before any Stormcast Eternal can move onto the Hyshian Illuminator tile, the Stormcast Eternal player must have the Winch marker (see Special Tiles).

If the Stormcast Eternals are all slain, the Chainrasp player wins.

It is possible that the tiles can end up being placed in such a way that no matter what the Stormcast Eternal player does there will be no way to remove any further tiles, trapping the Stormcast Eternals in an eternal loop. If this happens the Chainrasp player wins.

It is also possible that the Winch tile is removed before the Stormcast Eternals have claimed the Winch marker, or that the Hyshian Illuminator is removed before a Stormcast Eternal is on it at the end of a round. If either of these happen the Chainrasp player wins.

Special Tiles

Certain tiles have distinct rules and are referred to as special tiles. These rules are listed below. Special tiles are still considered to be tiles.

• Soultrap Tile: Soultrap tiles have an additional effect in the Chainrasp Reinforcements phase (see Phase 4).
• Abyssal Tile: When a Stormcast Eternal enters an Abyssal tile, they cannot make another move action this round, and their current move action ends. When a Stormcast Eternal starts a round in an Abyssal tile, the first move action they take that round has no effect.
• Spear-trap Tile: After a Stormcast Eternal moves into a Spear-trap tile, the Stormcast Eternal player must immediately roll an attack dice. If the result is a hit, the Stormcast Eternal is injured (see the wound rules under Phase 5, Attack Action).
• Winch Tile: A Stormcast Eternal model cannot move into the Hyshian Illuminator tile unless the Stormcast Eternal player has the Winch marker. When a Castigator ends their activation on the Winch tile, give the Winch marker to the Stormcast Eternal player.
• Stairwell Tile: The Stairwell tile is only used in Campaign games (see Campaign Game).

Campaign Game

A Campaign game adds an extra level of difficulty for both players. The Stormcast Eternal player must make their way through a much longer crypt, but has more power cards to help them do it. In addition, if they are lucky they might even find the tile they are looking for more quickly than normal.

To play a Campaign game, set up a game following these steps instead of the ones on page 4 (see Set Up).

1. Place the Entrance tile within easy reach of both players.
2. Place the Stormcast Eternal models on the Entrance tile.
3. The Chainrasp player takes the Stairwell tile and places it within easy reach.
4. Then they place the Hyshian Illuminator tile to one side – it will be used later.
5. The Chainrasp player finds the Winch tile and places it to one side. They then take the remaining tiles and shuffle them face down in front of them in a stack.
6. They then take the top 9 tiles from the stack and shuffle those tiles together with the Stairwell tile, and then places the stack of 10 tiles in front of them, face down.
7. Then they take the other 19 tiles, shuffle in the Winch tile and place them on top of the first 10 tiles, face down, to form the crypt stack.
8. The Chainrasp player shuffles the Chainrasp power cards, and places this deck face down within easy reach. They then draw the top three cards from this deck and look at them, keeping them secret from the Stormcast Eternal player. These three cards are referred to as the Chainrasp player's 'hand'.
9. The Stormcast Eternal player shuffles the Stormcast Eternal power cards, and places this deck face down within easy reach. They then draw the top five cards from this deck and look at them, keeping them secret from the Chainrasp player. These cards are referred to as the Stormcast Eternal player's 'hand'.
10. Draw tiles from the crypt stack and place them until you have placed one in each location the Stormcast Eternals have line of sight to it.
11. Begin the first round.

The Stairwell

If, at the end of a round, at least one Stormcast Eternal is on the Stairwell tile and the Stormcast Eternal player has the Winch marker, the Stormcast Eternal player has completed the first stage of the campaign – it is now time to set up the second stage as they delve deeper into the crypts. Follow the steps below to set up the next part of the Campaign.

1. Place the Entrance tile within easy reach of both players.
2. Place any Stormcast Eternals that have not been slain on the Entrance tile. Remove any wound counters from their character cards.
3. The Chainrasp player takes the remaining tiles, except the Stairwell tile, the Winch tile and the Hyshian Illuminator tile, and shuffles them face down in front of them in a stack.
4. The Chainrasp player then takes the top 9 tiles from the tile stack and shuffles those tiles together with the Hyshian Illuminator tile, and then places the stack of 10 tiles in front of them, face-down.
5. They then take the other 19 tiles and place them on top of the first 10 tiles, face down, to form the crypt stack.
6. Draw tiles from the crypt stack and place them until you have placed one in each location the Stormcast Eternals have line of sight to it.
7. Begin the first round.

Victory conditions remain the same for a Campaign game as for a regular game.

Achievements

Once you've got the hang of Crypt Hunters, you can track your achievements in the game – make a note of who claimed each achievement first, and when they achieved it.

Achievements for Either Player

• UNRIVALLED: Be the first to win a game as both the Stormcast Eternal player and the Chainrasp player.
• VICTORY AFTER VICTORY: Win three games in a row.
• HORRORS ABROAD: Win a game while on holiday.
• CHAMPION OF BATTLE: Win a game while affected by two Burdens (see below).
• LORD OF BATTLE: Win a game while affected by three or more Burdens.

Stormcast Eternal Player Achievements

• ON CAMPAIGN: Win a Campaign game.
• UNBLEMISHED VICTORY: Win a game where no Stormcast Eternal is slain or injured.
• CLOSER THAN YOU THINK: Win a game where the Hyshian Illuminator is connected to the Entrance tile.
• HERO OF THE HOUR: Win a game where Valiant is the only surviving Stormcast Eternal.

Chainrasp Player Achievements

• SWIFT VICTORY: Win a game where more than 16 tiles remain in the crypt stack at the end of the game.
• NOT EVEN CLOSE: Win a game without the Stormcast Eternal player claiming the Winch token.
• UNWORTHY OF MY ATTENTION: Win a game without placing the Dreadwarden on the battlefield.
• TOO FAST TO HUNT: Win a game where Valiant is the last Stormcast Eternal to be slain.

Burdens

Players can also choose to test their mastery of the game by playing with one or more of the Burdens below. Only one player can apply Burdens during a game, but they can apply as many as they like. Each Burden restricts a player's actions, or modifies the rules of the game to make it more challenging. Winning while one or more of these conditions is in place is considerably more tricky, and is a worthy achievement in itself.

Stormcast Eternal Player Burdens

• FRACTURED COMMAND: Win a game without using Orris Suresight's Castigator-Prime ability.
• BEEN THROUGH A LOT: Win a game where each of the Castigators begins the game with only 1 wound remaining.
• LIMITED AMMUNITION: Win a game where each of the Castigators only rolls 1 attack dice when they attack.
• LETHAL ENVIRONMENT: Win a game where every special tile also counts as a Spear-trap tile.
• STACKED ODDS: Win a game where, when setting up the crypt stack, you shuffle the Hyshian Illuminator and the Winch tile into the bottom 10 tiles in the stack.

Chainrasp Player Burdens

• GHOSTLY EBB: Win a game without placing more than four Chainrasps on the battlefield at any time.
• DEATHLY PATIENCE: Win a game without making a Drift action.
• GREEDY GHEISTS: Win a game where no tile contained more than one Chainrasp at any time.
• WHO NEEDS 'EM: Win a game without playing any power cards.
• DREAD TRIUMPH: Win a game where every Stormcast Eternal is slain by an attack action that includes the Dreadwarden.